Her Forest

by AliziaRoElier

Rating: teen
Tags: Human, Main 6, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Other, Adventure, Big Macintosh, Random
Length: 37769

A human finds himself in the Everfree forest hours before Celestia's final moments. A day later, he finds himself in the world of Celestia's youth - a world of magic. And somehow, the Everfree fits into everything. But how?

Day Roark is used to odd things happening to him, but he never expected that he'd wake up in the middle of a forest on an alien planet doomed to destruction. He also never expected to witness the death of a goddess who names herself Celestia. In the final hour before her death, Celestia makes the choice to send him back to the Equestria of her youth, back billions of years to when magic still called Equus home and she could care for her subjects. But why does he have such a strong link to the Everfree? And why does she send him, an unknown human, back to her youth - before ponykind outgrew their home and left for the stars?

The Everfree holds many secrets and Day just received the keys.

Things you should know:
Previously named To Witness the Death of a God, a semi-serious oneshot.
Character and Genre tags will be added as needed.
This is AU until or unless I feel like retconning this to be inline with Season 3 and 4.
I'm prone to change story mood on a whim, mind the emotional whiplash.

Published 2013-02-25 03:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-09 00:27:09 UTC

Wake

Day slowly opened his eyes to bright light that filtered through the green forest canopy. The hard light bit into his eyes and he hissed in discomfort. The light was overwhelming. He blinked slowly in an effort to adjust to it and slowly his discomfort disappeared and was replaced by confusion. The light was unlike anything he’d ever seen. Rather than the white light he was expecting, the light above him was scarlet - brilliant and disconcerting. The light reminded him of the color of diluted blood in a test tube.

He looked around himself for clues about his location. He was under a forest canopy. The ground beneath him was hard but covered in a soft layer of moss and felt uncomfortably wet. His usually organized mind started to panic. As was his habit, he started to speak to himself as he thought.

“Okay. Okaaay. I’m in a forest. Obviously not on Earth anymore. Earthlike planet at least and that’s a start.” He sat up from his supine position and then stood up. His hands sought the comforting presence of his walking stick and he used it to stand up on the slippery moss.

“I have the clothes on me.” He examined himself finally, “Scratch that. I have my clothes and a backpack. I have my walking stick.” He tentatively reached up to his face and felt for his glasses. “Uhhh... okay, no glasses but apparently that’s alright, my vision’s perfect.”

He turned and opened the backpack at his feet. “Hmm... I didn’t pack this but whoever did has to be involved in this.” He pulled out each item in and on the pack and laid them out beside it. They were sealed in vacuum-packed bags. “Three sets of clothes not including what I’m wearing. Five MRE boxes... that won’t last long. Uhh... rope?” He examined the neon green and blue rope more closely. “Maybe fifty feet of it and what the hell is it made of? It’s like... metal or something.”

His previous panic started to subside in the face of his methodical cataloging of the backpack’s contents. “Hmm... collapsible pot, compass, ball... thing? Hmm... I can figure that out later. Axe-hammer. Some kind of variable lens?” He examined the object and curiously turned it about. It was a foot long rod that had mounted on it five objects that looked like magnifying glasses. The could turn about the common axis of the rod. He looked through it. “Hmm... acts like a telescope I guess... or maybe a fire starter?”

Suddenly the background noise of the forest increased in volume and Day looked around warily. He haphazardly packed the items back into the bag except for the axe-hammer, compass, and metal ball. He through the bag on his bag just as the forest went silent as quickly as it had grown loud. He stuffed the ball in his pocket and hooked the axe on a knot on his walking stick. He examine the compass for a moment and slowly spun around to find North. As soon as he found it he started walking in that direction. The lack of sound unnerved him more and more as he walked uninterrupted and unmolested for an hour. Two. Three. By the fourth he had to stop.

“What the hell am I doing? I don’t know where I am, where I’m going, fuck if I know why either...” The silence didn’t provide him an answer and he didn’t really expect it to. He looked up at the forest canopy and the unnaturally bright red light that filtered through it. “Well... I guess I could be dreaming... unlikely considering I feel like crap. So, let’s assume I’m awake. I’m in or on a world with a red sun presumably. And breathable atmosphere. And earth-like ecosystem. Like the uncanny freaking valley considering how freaked out I am at the moment.” He started to pace. No sooner had he started that the world seemed to bend around him and he was in a clearing.

His nervous rating went through the roof and he looked around wildly. “Jesus... fuck... what?”

I assume that you’re wondering what is happening?

Day let out a high-pitched yelp of fright and turned around to the oddest sight he’d ever laid eyes on. In front of him was a pedestal and atop the pedestal was a horse. A white horse with purple eyes and a slowly billowing, multi-hued mane and tail. They were both at least fifty feet long. It was smiling at him pleasantly but he could read nothing from its face. His mind temporarily shut down trying to understand how a horse could smile.

Day stared and stared. Blinked. Shook his head. Blinked again. The horse was still there. It watched him and continued to smile enigmatically.

“Okay. Stay calm. I’m on another planet. There’s a telepathic horse on a... throne.” He looked up and his eyes widened. “Uh... there’s a red giant star right above us and I’m not burned to a crisp. I’m going to take it back. I’m dreaming. I have to be dreaming.”

His speaking aloud did nothing to quell the panic Day felt.

I can assure you, you are not dreaming.

Day didn’t know how to respond to the horse’s attempt at what he assumed was reassurance. His mind shut down again and he looked up to stare at the red sun. Curiously, even staring at the light directly did not bother him now.

“If I’m not dreaming... that means this is real?” He asked.

Quite.

“Oh.” he squeaked, “Just wanted to make sure. I mean, this is impossible but hey, whatever I guess this means I’m dead. Not sure if that’s better but whatever. I mean, talking horse. Telepathic talking horse. Forest. Backpack of camping stuff I didn’t pack. Perfectly functioning compass even though there's a flipping STAR right above us. Sure, I can handle this. Totally can handle this.”

The horse’s smile seemed to widen into a truly amused grin while it listened to him ramble on. No, you are not dead either. You are very much alive.

Day’s rant sputtered to a stop and he deflated. He fell to his knees. “Oh... hmm... I... um... have no idea what to say to that.”

His nervousness and fear vanished underneath the crushing apathy of a man unable and unwilling to comprehend what was going on around him.

The horse watched Day slip into a shock induced slump. It’s eyes narrowed and a thoughtful expression replaced its smile.

This world will end soon. The words seemed to come reluctantly from the horse’s mind. I welcome it. Long have I waited for a chance at death. But you... you are young and I can feel it in my bones that you are not meant to die here...

Day looked up at the horse in confusion. He didn’t know what it was talking about.

“What?”

The horse jumped off of its pedestal and walked to Day’s side. It sank to its knees and then laid down on its belly next to his kneeling form. The horse’s billowing mane and tail wrapped around them in a wide ring.

Long ago this world was a thriving metropolis. A city covered the planet from pole to pole. This forest was sacrificed to its creation. Long before that, this world was steeped in magic from its core to its moon to its sun. Magic saturated its being and all life danced to a single purpose - all life but this forest.

The forest you find yourself in was never meant to be removed, never meant to be tamed. My children’s pride could not accept this. They slowly devoured it, removed it... destroyed it. They embodied everything the forest was not. They were order and law, Harmony and Innocence. They could never accept that this forest was meant to be.

They once called this forest the Everfree.

Day found himself entranced by the horse’s story but felt compelled to ask, “But why am I here? What am I here for?”

The horse’s smile returned. I do not know. Truthfully, you are the first I have spoken to in thousands of thousands of years. Perhaps you are the reason I could not bring myself to die.

The horse looked up at the shining red star overhead and sighed. Almost as if it had a tangible weight, Day could feel the burden of the years that the horse claimed to have lived. That one sigh contained so many intangible abstracted feelings he could only name a few: sadness, hope, and a soul-crushing, weary loneliness.
I have felt compelled to hold back the sun’s expansion for so long now. I did not understand why. Perhaps... no... you are the reason I have held back the sun. I can feel it.

Day looked at the horse incredulously, “So... I’m keeping you alive. Huh. I can’t help but ask again, what am I doing here?”

The horse looked down at Day with mild amusement. I think... you are here to bring about my death. I think you are here because of all the beings I have known, you are the most in tune with this forest. I think you are here because the forest does not wish to be alone.

The horse leaned down and nuzzled his chest. Day continued to stare at the horse incredulously. The whole situation was so completely bizarre that he couldn’t do anything but accept everything at face value and move on.

The forest is alive. It feels and wishes. It thinks and contemplates. It dreams. I can feel you and your mind. You feel it as well, do you not. The forest calls to you. It cries for attention and you... you are the first that can give it.

The mane and tail around them started to billow more strongly as if in a powerful storm. But for now, it does not matter. You are not meant to be here in this time. You are not meant to die. I will send you to a time where you may live in peace.

Day’s eyes widened and he tried to rise and found he could not. “What are you doing? What do you mean send me to a different time? Who are you? What are you?”

The horse looked into his eyes with its own purple, tired ones. I am the final goddess of this world and I have held many names. Dawn... Light-bringer... She Who Scorches and Destroys... but I have always prefered my first name, my birth name. Once, long, long ago I was known as Celestia.

Celestia’s eyes started to shine a gentle, white light on him.

Live well, Day Roark. Celestia’s smile turned into a mischievous half-smirk. See you on the other side.

A flash of golden light replaced Day beside Celestia. She looked up at the sun she had tended to for billions of years and her soft smile returned to her face. She closed her eyes and let her hold on the sun slip away.

Perspective

Green forest canopy once again covered the sky. Day groaned in frustration and at the sudden ache he felt in all his limbs. It felt like he’d been twisted into a ball and shoved through a thin tube. The backpack on his back made it uncomfortable to continue laying on the ground so he decided to sit up. Day looked around for a moment.

“Great... great... this again.” He looked up and took note of the light filtering through the treetops, “Huh... okay white light. I guess that means I really went back in time? Or maybe I’m back on Earth?”

His hopeful thoughts were immediately crushed when a nearby bush rustled violently and three massive wolves stepped out - wolves made of wood and had glowing vermillion eyes. He jumped to his feet and scrambled to find purchase in the once again slippery ground. He picked up his walking stick and pulled off the axe-hammer from it’s place on the knotted wood and held it out in front of himself in what he hoped was a threatening manner. He hoped that the blatant trembling in his arms would go ignored.

The wolves watched him silently and made no move to approach him. One laid down on its belly and another sat on its haunches. The wolf that remained standing chuffed a breath and its tail twitched. Day held up his axe-hammer for a minute and then two. Time passed agonizingly slowly as the standoff continued. Day kept up a solid internal monologue while he waited for the wolves to attack him.

When he finally realized half and hour later that his initial panic had completely dissolved to boredom he decided that he’d had enough of the wolves’ silent staring.

“What do you want?” Perhaps they were like the horse from before. The wolf that had laid down stood up and took a tentative step toward Day. Its head was lowered cautiously and it kept itself low to the ground as took slow steps toward him. Day lowered his axe-hammer slowly, ready to raise it at a moment’s notice. The wolf stopped in front of him and remained bowed close to the ground a few steps away from Day. It seemed to wait for him to make the next move.

Day considered the wolf’s oddly submissive behavior skeptically, “You know. I don’t believe this. At all. Nope.” Despite his words he hooked his axe-hammer on his walking stick once again and tentatively took a step toward the wolf. It did not as much as twitch as he cautiously approached it. When Day was within arms reach of the wolf he paused uncertainly, “Uh... what now?”

The wolves beyond the submissive one stood up and slowly walked toward him. Day took a cautious step back in response.

A light wind blew through the trees behind him providing slight resistance to his steps. Day paused.

As if reacting to an invisible signal, the wolf that first approached him took another step forward once again putting itself within arm’s reach. It looked up at him expectantly.

When Day met its eyes, he felt the echo of... something. It was like a brief whisper in his ear and a slight tingle on his skin and it was clear to him what it was. In an instant, snippets of instinctive knowledge and impressions danced in his mind before falling silent. Rather than startle at the alien experience, Day almost felt relieved - like he’d been holding his breathe for a long time and had just for a moment been able to exhale to relieve the desperate need to breathe. The wolf shuffled forward minutely.

Day tentatively raised his hand and brought it toward the wolf’s head. “I hope I don’t regret this...”

He patted the wolf’s wooden head gently. The bark that surrounded it’s body like fur felt rough and dry but yielded like soft skin. The contrast was odd. “Huh, I expected this to feel different...” Beneath his hand the wolf huffed and pushed up into his hand. The sensation of exchanging knowledge returned more strongly. The wolf’s actions gained context as Day slowly petted it.

“You’re... an ambassador? No, envoy? Uh, teacher?” The impressions that flowed from the wolf were difficult to understand. It was as if he were listening to one half of a conversation through a door behind a wall. He could understand just enough to trust the wolf to not attack him but he couldn’t understand its motives.

One of the wolves moved around and nosed Day’s pocket. Day looked down at it and reached inside where he assumed it wanted him to. He pulled out the metal ball that he had found in his backpack earlier. Before it had a dull metallic sheen like brushed steel but now it was shiny orange and its surface was perfectly reflective. The wolf he was petting laid down again and gently took Day’s free hand in its teeth. It pulled him down until he was sitting. Day removed his backpack and put it beside him.

“Right. So, now what?” He looked at the wolf in front of him. It used a paw to bat at the hand holding the ball. Day put it down between them. Immediately, the ball started to unfold like an origami figure. Impossibly, the unfolding seemed to pass underneath him without his feeling it. It continued until it had made an orange circle large enough to comfortably fit him and the three wolves within its circumference. Day stared at the metallic orange mirror beneath him incredulously.

He looked up at the wolf. It stared back. The feeling of understanding flow between them again and Day tried to interpret what the wolf was projecting. It felt apologetic.

“What?” Faster than he would react, the wolf bound forward explosively and swiped its wooden claws across Day’s face. Day howled in pain as he felt the claws leave four lacerations across his right cheekbone and he brought up his hands to defend himself. Blood streamed down his face and he groaned loudly. The wolf quickly took a few steps back to get out of range of any counterattack Day could have made. The pain was magnificent and he could barely think through the burning claw marks. Blood slowly dripped past his finger and down his hands and arms. It slowly gathered at his bent elbows before it dripped to the orange mirror.

The first drip coincided with the sound of sizzling and he looked down to stare blearily at the boiling blood. More blood joined it and started to vaporize as well. As each drop slowly shrank and the pain in his face faded Day started to notice that the faint sliver of information he had felt before was becoming stronger. After dripping blood for a minute, the amount of information he was receiving had tripled. Another few minutes and it had tripled again.

With a mental snap, the information went from a steady flow to a torrential flood. He suddenly knew more.

The forest was an oblong, misshapen ring with a circumference of exactly 7777 miles. It covered more than half of the continent and extended to the west to an ocean. The world was a single continent, pangaea. In the surrounding mile there were 257 large creatures, 1349 small creatures, a network of plant life that was constantly sharing information, and billions of insects - and he knew everything about each and every one. The timberwolves were sorry. He knew that to the north, a baby sparrow had fallen out of its nest. Its impact had crushed exactly 445 moss rhizoids. The forest welcomes you.

The pain from the claw marks took a far backseat to the pain of the sudden information overload that immersed him. Day clawed at his temples in an effort to get rid of it. He continued to bleed.

He passed into unconsciousness.

Metamorphosis

The timberwolves kept watch over Day’s unconscious form as the forest slowly adapted. Beneath him the orange disk rippled and shivered rhythmically with the beat of Day’s heart. The forest was calm around him and a thick aura of anticipation seemed to manifest itself in every creature’s mind while Day slept. Hours passed as Day’s clawed face stopped bleeding. The orange circle did not retain even a hint of a stain from his spilled blood when the last of it boiled away. The timberwolf that had clawed Day walked to his side and laid down to wait.

~%~

In a small dark corner of Day’s mind, he was free from the torrent of information he somehow had gained access too. In his diminished mind space he was reduced to a collection of base instincts and impressions. He could do little more than express fear and confusion and anger mixed with spurts of conflicted curiosity and happiness. Time passed slowly. He couldn’t remember a time where he wasn’t a shadow in his mind and he could not imagine life outside of his dark place.

Day Roark. The name speared into his mind like a lance of light and sound. He knew it was him and yet not. It was his voice, his mind and yet not.

Day Roark. Come back to me. In his dark place he heard the overlapping voices that threatened to enter. He instinctively shrank away in his mind from the vast presence that called to him. His own voice spoke to him with the force of a multitude beyond.

You are Day. You are mine. I will make you mine.

~%~

The timberwolf stirred at Day’s side as it felt the orange circle beneath it shift and retract slowly into it’s previous ball. When it had finally refolded itself into a ball, it rolled on its own power toward Day’s slumped over form. It shrank to the size of a raindrop and slowly rolled its way into Day’s open mouth.

The timberwolf laid back down and continued to wait. It did not react when Day’s body began to glow a light sky-blue, directly opposite to the wolf’s and the balls vermillion color. The glow started softly, barely visible underneath Day’s skin and streaming out of his mouth and nose with each breathe. It grew stronger with each passing second and breathe. The glow finally reached its maximum brightness and a low buzzing sounded from Day’s body. His breath caught and he stopped breathing.

An instant later, Day’s body disintegrated to powder that was drawn into the light.

~%~

Without warning, Day’s dark hiding place was flooded with light. He could no longer hide from the forest and its insistent need to flood him with information. It cascaded against Day’s fragile mind like a waterfall upon a river rock. He felt like he was drowning in the sensation of supersaturation. Every feeling, every change in the forest was instantly transmitted to him and forced into his mental view for consideration and integration. He felt like he was once again floating for an eternity except rather than silence and emotion he was forced into loud, incessant noise and calculation.

Over the sound of the forest, Day heard a loud crack and then the sound of shattering glass - suddenly everything was clear. Gone was the feeling of being overwhelmed. His mind rapidly built itself around the torrent of information the forest was providing him. The flow was diverted and divided, redirected and reconstructed. Like a network of rivers, Day forced everything into it’s own flow of information. The torrent was divided into little streams that he spilt again and again until what was once a single torrent of unorganized sound was divided into so many calm tributaries and streams.

Well done, Day Roark.

~%~

With a gentle pulse of light, the metal ball that had entered Day’s body disintegrated. In it’s place, it left behind a single speck of vermillion light. The light slowly grew over the course of a minute, extending straight lines of vermillion light through the surrounding sky-blue glow. Slowly, the orange light and the blue light began to pulse in synchronicity with each other. Inside the network of light, metal slowly began to grow from nothing. It was alive and bright and the forest around it burst into an excited state of rustling plants, singing birds, and bellowing animals. The feeling of excitement raced outward quickly until the entire forest seemed to roar out in celebration.

The metal followed the development of a human baby. Inside the nimbus of blue and orange light, the baby developed in fast-forward. After a minute, the baby had grown to normal size. After another ten, the baby resembled a toddler. After an hour, it had grown into a young adolescent.

The forest slowly silenced and awaited its child to finally awaken.

~%~

His rebirth into the world surprised him. Day sat up slowly. In the time it took him to sit, he had completely surveyed the forest around him even the parts he could not see. He felt no pain or fear only a deep contentment akin to being held in the arms of a loving parent. Beside him, the timberwolf that had clawed him slept peacefully, the other two long gone. He could feel them running in the forest behind him.

He stood up and looked around, everything looked new to his eyes. It was like being a child again, knowing that what he was seeing was only a small part of what was and that if he only reached out he would know more.

He looked at his hands, cool metallic blue brushed metal. Alien skin. Alien hands. They were proportioned differently than he was used to. His finger and arms were longer. With a start he realized he was taller than before. With a sense of childlike wonder he examined himself. His skin was warmer than before and his vision sharper. He didn’t breathe. It didn’t seem like he needed to. His ears were slightly pointed and his face sharper. Elfin. It felt right. He felt right.

He examined his memories. Though he knew he should not, he could not resist the feeling of bewilderment he felt when he looked at them. He knew they were his memories but they seemed alien, incomplete. He looked down at the timberwolf at his side. It had woken up while he was learning himself.

Day’s thoughts aligned with the wolf and suddenly it could speak.

I’m sorry... Its mental tone was sorrowful. A quick exchange of memory between them and the timberwolf completely outlined his regret at having to maul Day’s old face.

Day raised a hand to his cheek and brushed it idly. He continued to feel the deep calm of the forest on his mind. He reached down to pet the wolf’s wooden skin with his metal hand. The contrast between them felt oddly fitting in his mind.

“Meh. It’s fine. I know I should probably be insane now but I can’t feel anything other than calm.” His matter-of-fact admission forced him to consider his situation. He was in a forest. He’d been turned into a metal elf. He could feel the forest around him for a bit more than a mile. He knew things about the forest that he should not. Everything felt fine but it should not have.

Abruptly, the entrance of a new animal to his sphere of knowledge forced his attention away from his idle introspection. It was something alien. Something the forest could not tell him anything about. It moved like a void through the forest perceivable only through the sense of nothingness it made in its surroundings.

It was large, and seemed to change shape continuously like an amorphous blob. The forest herded its smallest charges away from the void and toward Day. Day could feel the fear the little ones had of the approaching creature. The forest calm burned away to a feeling a grim determination. The forest wanted it out, whatever it was. He would do so for it.

Instinctive knowledge flooded Day’s mind like a library unpacking itself. Around him panels of shimmering blue light came into being covered in script he had never seen before but could read without issue. His fingers danced across the panels and soundlessly wisps sprang into being around him. They flew into trees to hide while Day continued to manipulate the glowing panels around him. With a final tap, the panels flashed and faded from view. He could feel the void approach him and turned to face it and his face blanked to a determined expression.

The creature came into view and he blinked. It wasn’t one creature or void. It was six. Six small, brightly colored horses. He stared at them. They stared back. He blinked again. They six blinked back.

The mounting tension Day had been feeling from the forest suddenly melted to relieved mirth and he started to guffaw. His previous calm didn’t want to return.

“Oh god... haha... here I was getting ready for... haha, an attack...” He had to sit down as his laughter turned to semi-hysterical giggles, “Oh god... hahaha... I was afraid of Shetland ponies.”

The six horses stared at him incredulously.

Oops

Day couldn’t stop laughing at the hilarity of the situation. Here he was, in the middle of a forest, the Everfree forest, his forest on a planet he didn’t even know the name of. He was prepared to obliterate whatever might threaten his forest and the one thing he couldn’t possibly prepare for had to come meet him. He wasn’t even human anymore, he was some kind of metal elf. In the back of his mind, while he laughed hysterically in front of the bewildered, brightly colored shetland ponies, he wondered if he hadn’t really gone insane. He could feel the forest affirm that he was in fact, quite sane and rational but he couldn’t quite believe it. Everything was just too weird. His entire day was just too weird.

Slowly, the bewildered confused expressions on the small horses’ faces changed to one of annoyance and mild anger. They shuffled together and away from Day’s laughing form and finally took note that a timberwolf was laying placidly at his side. The timberwolf’s vermillion eyes watched them unblinkingly while its champion was indisposed.

“What’s the big idea!?” The blue pony’s voice cut through Day’s laughter and forced him back to seriousness. It took an aggressive step forward and leveled an impressive glare at him - for a short cute pony. They might be short and colorful but they were still a threat despite their innocent appearance. Abruptly, Day stopped laughing and rolled to his feet to give them an emotionless, appraising stare.

He still couldn’t know anything about them. As far as the forest was concerned, they did not exist. They could disrupt everything with their presence but they weren’t there in a way the forest could transmit to him. He tilted his head and studied them more closely. Two seemed like normal horses or at least as normal as brightly colored shetland ponies could be. Two were winged and from his own memories their name came unbidden - pegasi. The last two were horned, though rather than the usual two that most horned mammals had they had a single medium-length horn growing from the middle of their heads.

The ponies shuffled nervously at his abruptly changed demeanor and his too scrutinizing expression. The blue pony who had spoken scowled harder at the silence and made to speak. Before she could, Day let the wisps that had hidden in the trees glowed a bit brighter, enough that the six horses in front of him would notice them. The blue pony closed her mouth. He took a moment longer to consider how to address them and spoke.

“You scared the little ones.” He said cryptically. His words came out blandly with a slight edge of aggression. The ponies blinked at him in confusion and looked around at the wisps. “Not them.”

Their heads whipped back to him comically. The purple unicorn turned her head so quickly Day would not have been surprised to find she got whiplash. He blinked and he decided he could have some fun. He lifted a finger and pointed to his right.

The group turned to look in that direction for a moment and, seeing nothing, returned their gaze to him. He pointed up. They looked up. He blinked again.

“I can’t believe they’re falling for this...” He murmured. He was struggling to contain another round of laughter at their ridiculous actions.

The purple unicorn returned her gaze to him and looked at him suspiciously, like it was starting to catch on. He stared back in an effort not to laugh. It was a valiant effort. The timberwolf at Day’s side huffed a breath, almost like a sigh, and got up to walk away. If it could have, Day supposed it would have rolled its eyes. He could feel the exasperated amusement that seemed to roll off it. Day watched it go with a smile.

As soon as it had left the clearing, Day turned back to the ponies and his expressionless face gave way to an amused grin. He tried to copy the smile Celestia gave him. He waited for one of the ponies to speak.

After a few moments of uneasy silence, the purple unicorn stepped forward slowly and spoke, “Hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle. Could you... um... tell me what you’re doing in the Everfree forest?”

Day blinked. The question was not at all unexpected though now that it had been posed to him, he had no idea how to answer the pony’s question. How could he possibly explain that he’d been brushing his teeth before bed only the night before, been enveloped in a green light, woken up in a forest on a dying planet, spoken to a goddess, been sent back in time by said goddess, woken up in a forest AGAIN, and been changed into... whatever he was. He couldn’t help but snort and laugh at his own inability to explain anything.

The unicorn’s expression soured at his laughter. Day quickly held up a hand and brought his laughter under control before attempting to answer.

“I’m sorry. It’s just, I’m not entirely sure how to explain that. I’m pretty sure the universe went insane about a day ago and I’m not even sure what the hell I’m doing here.” He picked up his backpack and walking stick. He looked at his axe-hammer distastefully for a moment before picking it up with a thumb and index finger and throwing it into the forest away from himself and the ponies. The forest provided him with the information of where the ponies entered the forest and he started walking in that direction.

The ponies started stepping back as he approached them. The purple unicorn quickly rejoined her friends and the blue pegasus took flight and flew straight to him to hover in front of him and glare aggressively. She opened her mouth to speak but Day quickly clamped a hand on her muzzle to prevent her from speaking. The pegasus’ eyes widened and gave him a disbelieving look. Day couldn’t help but snicker at her put out expression.

The orange pony yelled, “Hey! let ‘er go!”

Both unicorns’ horns lit up and the orange pony took a length of rope tied into a lasso out of her saddlebags. Day quickly let go of the pegasus’ muzzle and took a step back. Before he could say anything a blue hoof, curiously a matching shade to his own blue metal skin, swung out and punched him in the face.

A metallic clang sounded out through the trees as hoof struck unyielding metal. Day blinked in surprise. It was one thing to observe that he was shiny and seemed to be made of metal, it was quite another to have the fact confirmed in such a definitive manner. He didn’t even feel the punch. It wasn’t even enough to move him. He blinked belatedly in surprise completely forgetting the fact that he’d just been assaulted.

“Wow... I... honestly didn’t expect that. How can I POSSIBLY be made of metal?” He asked out loud with a note of incredulity. Meanwhile, the pegasus that hit him was cradling her smarting hoof and glaring at him.

The pink pony spoke up, “Well, it’s probably because you picked up that super-rare, super-duper advanced alien technology a dying god decided to give you and you activated it because of your supernatural connection to the forest that will survive a supernova.”

Day had no idea how to respond to that while the pink pony’s companions turned to look at her with looks ranging between resignation and amusement. The blue pegasus hover in his face again, “Listen you jerk! I don’t know what you are but you’d better leave if you know what’s good for you!”

She poked him in the chest to punctuate the last few words of her threat. Each clang of hoof against metal seemed to undermine her threat a little more as she seemed to do her best to ignore the fact that she hadn’t even dented him before.

Day decided that he should open negotiations with the only pony that hadn’t seemed afraid of him or hostile - the pink one.

“Umm... not to be rude, pink Shetland pony, but is she for real?”

The blue pegasus seemed to take offense at being ignored and began to try to push him with no success. The two unicorns and the other pegasus seemed to be watching the scene with a look of extreme confusion and disbelief. Day couldn’t blame them.

“Yeah, but Dashie’ll calm down soon. And it’s rude to say someone’s from Shitland.” The pink pony smiled innocently at Day when he snorted at her slip of the tongue. Her smile grew. Day narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“You have a knack for saying things you shouldn’t...” Day said neutrally. The pink pony hopped towards him in a way that should have been impossible to accomplish and ignored his statement confirming to Day she knew exactly what he was saying.

“I’m Pinkie Pie. What’s your name?” The blue pegasus, Dashie, finally gave up her futile attempts to push Day around and true Pinkie’s prediction gave up with a frustrated growl. She glared at him and returned to the group of ponies now watching with cautious interest.

“Day... Day Roark.” He looked around and decided he really did need to mention something about the forest. “Um, again, not to be rude or anything but the Everfree doesn’t really like you all... could we take this somewhere else?”

Behind Pinkie, the yellow pegasus gave a small almost inaudible gasp. The purple unicorn gaped, “Wait. You know what the forest is feeling?” The unicorn’s earlier caution went out the window. She was looking at him with open curiosity. It made Day a bit nervous.

“Yeah. Sure. Can we please take this somewhere else?” He said evasively.

“No.” The strong negative came from the blue pegasus and the orange pony simultaneously.

“We ain’t lettin’ ya’ anywhere near Ponyville. We can talk here.” The orange pony was looking at him with mild hostility. Day considered for a moment and consulted with the forest for a moment. It disliked their presence greatly but it could understand their need to protect their homes. Day retrieved the location of a clearing close to them that would lighten the irritation the forest felt at the six ponies’ presence.

Day sighed and nodded, “Fine. There’s a clearing about a quarter mile southeast of here that we can go to.” He turned around and started walking away. It was a few moments before he could hear the sound of hooves following him. As they walked, he winced whenever they forced the smaller forest creatures to flee before their path and away from their homes.

After a short but guilt ridden walk through the forest the procession of metal elf-thing, six ponies, and a handful of wisps entered a placid clearing with a calm lagoon surrounded by tall grass and a few willow trees. It was almost the most ideal scene of peace and calm that Day could picture in his mind. He walked to the edge of the lagoon and sat down right before the shallow decline that led to the water’s edge. The six ponies followed his into the clearing slowly and a bit suspiciously, all except Pinkie who just bounced to his side and boldly laid down next to him. She smiled up at him innocently.

He snorted but didn’t comment. Her companions gave her exasperated looks but didn’t seem too surprised or upset by her friendliness. Absently, Day pet Pinkie like he would a cat and she surprisingly started purring. He blinked and looked down. Innocent smile. He should have expected something like that.

“I guess we have time now for an explanation...” Day started when the ponies stood in front of him. Pinke was the only one who had opted to relax in front of him. His eyebrows scrunched up as his manners bugged him to offer them a seat. He motioned in front of him, “You might as well sit. I don’t think this is going to be a quick explanation.”

They hesitated for a few moments before the first sat - the purple unicorn that was still looking at him with her disconcerting curiosity. The two pegasi sat next followed reluctantly by the orange pony the still had her lasso out and the white unicorn that looked at the ground distastefully. When the group was comfortably situated, Day started.

“Before I begin, would it be fine if I had all your names? You have mine, after all...”

The purple unicorn spoke up when she saw Pinkie was too busy purring. “Well, like I said I’m Twilight Sparkle. You know Pinkie Pie now. The white unicorn is Rarity. The blue pegasus that... um... punched you... is Rainbow Dash. The orange pony with the lasso is Applejack and finally, the yellow pegasus is Fluttershy.” Day nodded to each in turn as they were introduced to him, though his nod to Fluttershy caused her to make a small meep and hide behind her pink mane.

Day remembered his wisps were still floating around them and decided that as long as they were being civil to each other they didn’t need to be out and about. With a thought, a panel appeared to his front left away from Pinkie Pie. He flicked his fingers around the panel for a moment and the wisps winked out of existence. A moment later the panel faded out of view. He returned his attention to see the two unicorns gaping at him. If Twilight’s curiosity was uncomfortable before, then now it felt like she was stripping him with her eyes. It was disconcerting coming from a being not of his own species.

He decided he needed to say something, “Um... I’m not going to lie. You’re looking at me really creepy-like, Ms. Sparkle...”

The unicorn seemed to ignore his discomfort and just launched into questions, “What was that? Who are you? What are you doing here? What do you mean the Everfree doesn’t like us? How do you know? Why do you know?”

Day wilted under the barrage of questions and looked down to Pinke for guidance. He pleaded with his eyes for her to intervene. She continued to smile at him innocently.

Day threw up a hand as if to ward off her verbal barrage, “Hold it. Too many questions at once. And stop looking at me like that.”

Her eyes were still studying him like he was something to pick apart. He sighed, “Okay. Okay. Fine.”

“I guess I can start with the simplest question. The Everfree doesn’t like you because it can’t see you. You’re like a... void... a black hole or something. It’s like you don’t exist to it. Oh, and you scare all the smaller animals.”

The yellow pegasus gasped again and her eyes filled with tears. Day wasn’t sure how to handle that so he continued, “Uh. From what I can tell the Everfree covers most of the continent. It’s... annoyed... that you six are invisible to it when most of everything isn’t.”

Somehow without him noticing, Twilight had pulled out parchment and a quill and was diligently taking notes. He shook his head incredulously but continued, “Um, I know this because somehow or another the forest likes me.” Instinctual knowledge once again filled into Day’s mind and unpacked itself. He cocked his head and closed his eyes while the knowledge filed itself away in his mind. “And I’m the forest’s son? Champion? Something, I guess. I’ll get back to that when I understand it better. Uh. I’m not entirely clear on the technical why for all this but I’m guessing it had something to do with some clichéd combination of fate and good luck...” He trailed off when he felt a hoof poke his ribs with a dull thunk.

He looked at Pinkie’s meaningful look before adding tentatively, “and alien technology given to me by a dying god?”

Pinkie nodded and went back to purring. Day restrained himself from reacting.

Day looked back to see that Twilight had a stack of parchment a foot high. Her friends were starting to give her odd looks. Day didn’t want to ask how she could possibly have taken so many notes. He hadn’t even said much.

“Uh... the holographic panel you saw was... um...” He examined the information he’d received earlier in greater detail than before. He’d been reacting and using what seemed to be the quickest and most powerful way to defend himself before when he’d first brought them up but hadn’t had time to adequately study the information he’d learned. His head slowly turned to the side and his eyes closed slowly over the course of a minute as he learned. All the ponies except Pinkie started to get impatient at his lack of response.

Before they could speak, he forced himself to pay attention to them and leave the fascinating panel documentation for later. “The panels are structured conduits for magical power to be shaped at higher than 100% efficacy. They amplify and digitize the natural magical output of a being until it manifests as an individualized interface with the users’ subconscious.” He recited the opening line to the manual he’d found in his head. He noticed everyone but Twilight seemed to be lost. “In other words, it’s a tool to make my magic work.”

Day sighed, “And your first question. I’m not entirely sure how exactly to explain this part. Um. You wouldn’t happen to be satisfied with me just saying that the universe went temporarily insane yesterday and leave it at that would you?”

Pinkie poked him in the side and glared. Day sighed, “Alright fine.”

“Last night, I was in my apartment on Earth.” Day held up a hand to stall Twilight’s inevitable questions. He was glad that her companions seemed to leave all the questioning to her. He at least knew how to shut down a single person. He would be completely lost trying to stem a tide of questions from all of them at once.

“Let me finish.” Day said firmly, “I was about to go to bed when my walls started glowing green. I didn’t know what was going on and I have no idea what happened. All I know was that I was knocked unconscious sometime before the green light disappeared. I woke up in the middle of a forest, from what I could gather this forest, with some minor... fuck it... some MAJOR differences. Somehow I had a backpack and my walking stick. I wandered around for a while until I found this clearing...” Day paused, “Um... not this this clearing, I mean a clearing.”

“Anyway, there was this white horse sitting on a pedestal. Actually, it was a telepathic horse but who cares. She started telling me about how the world was about to end and that the forest needed me and that it wasn’t my time to die or something like that. Anyway, the horse... she called her self Celestia she s-”

“Wait. You know Princess Celestia?” The purple unicorn’s uncomfortable gaze turned positively alarming. Day panicked.

“Uh... No! Noooo! I don’t know anyone like that. She called herself the Light-Bringer too and something about Scorching and Destroying. Totally can’t be her! Princesses don’t destroy things!” Day looked anywhere but at the unicorn’s rather lewd/bookish expression.

The orange pony’s eyes narrowed and she made to speak but somehow Pinkie Pie popped up behind her and clamped a hoof over her mouth. She smiled at Day. Day blinked. He looked down. Pinkie was smiling innocently at him again. He looked up. The same innocent look was on that Pinkie’s face. His eyes narrowed but he had a feeling that his sanity, as solid as it was after his... change... would be best served by not questioning.

“Aaaaanyway, she sent me back in time. And I woke up in the forest again... where I was clawed in the face by that timberwolf and turned into this...” He finished lamely. He knew he’d skipped a lot of stuff with that story but he honestly didn’t understand it himself all that much. Despite his calm demeanor he still didn’t know where to begin processing the last day emotionally.

“That’s it?” Twilight questioned skeptically. Day refused to look at her, “Not really, but the rest of it I don’t even understand yet. This...” he motioned to himself, “Isn’t natural. I wasn’t metal when I got here. I was flesh and blood. I was shorter and... human... not elfin.” He wasn't sure she really understood his description without context. He realized he could show her though.

His panels came to life and he deftly directed his magic to reflect his will. Without much ado, his metal body shortened and filled out. The metal skin was replaced with soft flesh once more and the impossibly sharp detail of the metal softened to the more organic lines of his original body.

The panels faded and he looked at them with his fully human eyes.

“This was who I was before.” Day looked up and noticed the sun was starting to set. “You all might want to leave. It won’t be long until nightfall. The Everfree has waited long enough for you to leave. I won’t be able to stop it if it decides to kill you if you remain at night.”

Pinkie stood up. He noticed her clone had disappeared. “But what about you?”

Day smiled slightly, “Well, I could sleep in the forest, but that would suck... so I was going to stealthily follow you in the shadows until you reach the outskirts and sneak into... you called it Ponyville right?... to rent a room for the night.”

Twilight spoke up and Day’s stomach flipped, “You could stay with me. I’d even let you stay for free...”

A scary daydream passed through his mind where Twilight had him strapped to a table. He was unsure if she was studying him for science or for something else. He shuddered, “Uhhh... haha... no thanks Ms. Sparkle...”

“Oh! Oh! You can stay with me and the Cakes! It’ll be so much fun! We can play Dungeons and Dragons and eat Doritos and drink Mountain Dew and oooooh we can play Xbox!” Pinkie Pie bounced around him excitedly. The other ponies stared at her in confusion while Day attempted to hold in his laughter. She was a better troll than anyone he’d ever met. He was sure that had he still been human his head would have exploded by this point.

“Alright. Thanks Pinkie Pie.”

Evasion

The troupe of six ponies and a human walked through the forest toward what Day assumed was the town of Ponyville. They traveled in silence, except for when Day would speak up to warn them away from the random obstruction or hidden hazard one of the ponies were about to blunder into. As they walked, Day realized more fully just how ill suited they were for the forest - almost exaggeratedly so. Every small noise caused them to shy nervously closer to each other, they were completely oblivious to the small markers around and beneath them that signaled a creature's burrow or the blatant markings wolf packs left behind to mark borders with other packs. After the tenth time having to direct them around the forest Day could feel the its irritation merge with his own. He stopped and let out a frustrated growl.

“Why don’t I lead for now. I can tell the general direction we need to go in and you six are disturbing everything...” Pinkie Pie bounced around him in a circle.

“Okey dokey lokey! I’m sure the forest doesn’t like us messing everything up right, girls?” She looked at her friends expectantly. Any objections they might have given were immediately quashed.

“It’ll be faster anyway. You need to be out of the forest by nightfall.” He started walking towards the forest border again and deftly maneuvered around the landscape, “Step where I do exactly. It’ll be easier that way.”

Their pace picked up considerably when Day didn’t need to constantly stop them from wandering. His irritation faded and he decided to strike up conversation.

“So, why are you all here in the forest? You couldn’t have come in without noticing the forest is blatantly trying to make you leave.”

Twilight spoke from immediately behind him. Day resisted the urge to jump away.

“This morning, I received a letter from Princess Celestia. She felt a large surge of solar energies coming from the Everfree forest and since Ponyville is on its border she wanted the six of us to investigate. We were gathering supplies for our mission when the entire forest started going into an uproar. I wouldn’t be surprised if everypony in Canterlot heard the forest and they’re a hundred miles away. You wouldn’t happen to know about that would you?”

Day rolled his eyes though the ponies behind couldn’t see, “Nah, totally wouldn’t. Link to the forest. Coincident story. Nope. Can’t think of a connection.” Belatedly, he hoped his sarcasm wouldn’t offend anyone too badly.

Twilight remained silent for a moment before commenting, “You’re very strange. You know that?”

Day walked silently for a few minutes. He could feel six sets of eyes on him while they waited for him to reply. Internally, he attempted to puzzle out the unicorn’s meaning. There were so many ways he could interpret her statement. He decided to go for the most obvious. “Well... yeah. I know for a fact that if it were any other day I would be curled up in a ball right now completely insane and crying my eyes out. I’m not sure exactly why I’m not so freaked out by all this at the moment, but I’ll figure it out eventually. Unless that wasn’t what you were referring to?” Silence followed his statement.

~%~

The group behind him breathed a collective sigh of relief when they suddenly burst out of the dense underbrush of the untamed forest onto a worn dirt path. Day guessed it was the path they used to enter the forest in the first place before abandoning it to find him deeper into the forest.

“Um... pardon me...” Day almost didn’t hear the small whispery voice addressing him. He wasn’t even sure it was actually meant for him, so he turned around and looked at the group expectantly. The only two ponies that hadn’t spoken yet were the yellow pegasus that almost started crying earlier and the white unicorn that had disliked sitting near the lagoon.

“Excuse me...” Day turned his attention to the yellow pegasus. He wasn’t too sure, but it seemed like she was shivering. Day wondered if he was really that scary, he wasn’t even blue anymore. Fluttershy took a breath to steady herself and asked her question, “Umm... how... is there a way to learn more about the forest?”

The forest’s interest spiked and Day looked around at the trees. It was difficult sorting through what the forest wanted. It was conflicted. Day tried to filter out the background noise and focus on the pegasus, “I don’t know. But is this really the time? We’re right near the edge. Let’s get you all to safety then we can deal with this again.”

Fluttershy nodded silently but didn’t hide behind her hair again. Day decided to take that as a sign of victory or something like that. He turned around and started walking down the path.

“How did this path get here? The forest knows what it is but hasn’t actually reclaimed it... which is weird. I’m getting the impression the forest will always retake its own land if someone upsets it.”

Once again, Twilight was the one to answer his question, “The path leads to the Castle of the Sun and the Moon. “

Day waited for an explanation that would actually mean something to him but as the minutes ticked by and the forest exit came into view he realized that Twilight considered her answer to be a complete explanation. When they all stepped past the border of the forest, Day turned around.

“You know, that doesn’t mean anything to me right? There are twenty seven structures inside the forest. All ruins.”

The creepy look was back. In the back of his mind, he knew that the unicorn probably didn’t mean anything by it. Sure, it looked like he was being stripped with her eyes and sure her eyes were extremely odd in and of themselves but he couldn’t stop the part of him that squirmed from the close scrutiny. He held up a hand to stop the question forming on her lips.

“No. I’m not taking you anywhere near them. I don’t think you understand just how much the forest doesn’t like you. You’d be dead before the first night even ended. Painfully dead.”

“Oh yeah! We went all the way to the castle Twilight mentioned and back without a scratch! Explain that!” Rainbow Dash once again zoomed forward to hover aggressively in Day’s face. She didn’t even need to hover so high this time as he was in his human form.

Day consulted the forest for a moment and received an odd answer. He received the barest impression of a thousand years previously, when a powerful being asked for a future boon and alliance. It was familiar, like a blurry picture where the outline reminded him of a close friend.

Day spoke slowly and uncertainly, “There was... a covenant?... some kind of pact that the forest was bound to. It wasn’t allowed to hurt you. In return... it received... something... room to expand maybe? Something like that...”

“But what about all the obstacles we faced? The tree’s and the bridge and everything else?” Twilight once again was the one to ask the questions. Day shrugged helplessly, “Not sure what you’re talking about. The forest explicitly had nothing to do with you while you were within. It didn’t help or hinder you it just... existed.”

The group made their way toward the town that sprawled at the base of the hill the Everfree resided on. As they made their way down, Day started to feel unease from his distance to the forest. It was still there, present and alive, feeding him information as before but it was like he was reading faded out words in on second rate paper. It was harder and harder to understand as he moved away. Unwillingly, he had to come to a stop. He turned to look at the forest. As delicately as he could, he probed the connection to find out why he was unable to go farther.

The ponies were looking at him and he raised a hand just in case they were going to say something. Day’s uncomfortably stretched connection to the forest took longer than usual to tell him what was wrong. The forest was afraid.

Day took a few steps back to the forest and felt the link marginally grow clearer. He turned to look at the ponies, “I... don’t think I can follow you all. The forest is... not letting me go yet.” Day concentrated again, “Maybe in a few days I’ll be able to leave. Maybe. Once the forest gets over its... abandonment issues...?” The feelings the forest were sending him were much clearer when he examined them more closely. “I didn’t think that was possible...”

Outside of the forest, it seemed like Day had a separate set of emotions - something he hadn’t even realized he was missing while they’d been in the Everfree. They weren’t all too strong, but he could feel them there waiting to come to full force. It was a curious sensation having three separate sources of emotion. Each was distinct... the first set was from the forest and he could easily tell where it came from, not that it really helped him untangle it from the second set of emotions. Those he could tell came from him, or rather they were of this new body he had acquired. They were intimately wrapped with the forest and only the faintest divide separated the two. Sympathetic and parasympathetic pathways between himself and the forest were what allowed them their connection and they were absolutely required for him to function.

The last set of emotions were different. They were distant and they felt alien to him, but they were familiar. He knew what they were of course and he wasn’t very surprised to feel them - they were his human emotions. The part of his mind that could never be changed, the part he’d been born into and lived for so long, they were him and yet not and he really didn’t know quite how to process them anymore. The dual sensation of familiarity and detachment was confusing. He was aware of all the emotion he should be feeling but it was like reading about them in a book in the place of a narrator rather than a character. He could feel the panic, anger, revulsion, resentment, and fear were there but he was detached from them.

His self-examination only lasted a few seconds before he had to pay attention to the ponies in front of him. Apparently, something in his expression as he dove inward had tipped them off that something was wrong. He took a few steps back to establish his connection to the forest more fully. As he suspected, it helped him mask his human emotions by a fraction, just enough for him to be able to think clearly.

“It looks like I’ll be staying in the forest after all...” Day started, “At least sleeping on the ground won’t be uncomfortable anymore.”

Pinkie bounced to his side, “It doesn’t bother you at all?” The rest of the ponies probably thought she was talking about having to stay in the forest but Day knew better. She had a knack for knowing things she should not.

“I’m... not sure. I wasn’t expecting this. Well, I was but I didn’t think I’d...” He trailed off uncertainly. He took another few steps back in the direction of the forest. Consequently, his formerly human emotions faded further. In the back of his mind, he knew he was doing so as an escape. He REALLY didn’t want to deal with those emotions. It would be painful and messy, basically all kinds of unpleasant.

“You all should go. This is about as far as I can get from the forest and it’s a bit close for comfort for you all seeing as the forest is still planning on trying to kill you.” His inner turmoil was affecting his judgment and he couldn't help his blunt presentation of the forest’s intentions.

The yellow pegasus spoke up, “Well... you see... I live right on the edge of the forest... you could... stay with me.”

Day blinked, “Wait. You live on the forest’s edge and you haven’t been eaten? Or attacked?” He thought back to the forest’s interest in Fluttershy’s request to learn how to communicate with it. The conflicted feelings suddenly made more sense. Despite loathing creatures like her, it knew that she was different from them. He gave her a far more interested look than before, suddenly she wasn't just a shy pony on the sidelines. He didn’t even realize his gaze was eerily familiar to Twilight’s. Fluttershy hid behind her hair.

The white unicorn spoke for the first time, “That doesn’t seem proper, Fluttershy. You can’t just invite stallions to your home unsupervised.” The emphasis she placed on the last word forced an indignant sound from him.

“Hey! It’s not like I’m going to steal from her or something!” Day felt legitimately insulted.

“She doesn’t mean that silly! She means that you’re going to go all -” Pinkie stood on two legs and her expression changed to the single most terrifying thing he’d ever seen. It was like she’d taken Twilight’s expression and plastered it on her own face with a twist of malice and a promise of insanity. He felt mortally afraid for his sexual continuance.

As suddenly as she’d assumed it, her expression changed back to her usual playful grin. She completely ignored Day as he tried to restart his heart and chirped, “Don’t worry Rarity. Any pooooosibility of that happening is long gone now!” She looked back at him and her terrifying expression was back for an instant before disappearing. He was unable to get his heart to start correctly. The other ponies, who had not seen Pinkie’s rapeface, wondered why Day was pale as a sheet and trembling. In some small corner of his mind, he couldn’t help but marvel at Pinkie’s ability to throw him through a loop.

“Uhh. R-r-right.” Day confirmed haltingly. It occurred to him that he should feel more insulted than before but he couldn’t. He turned to his only means of escape.

“Which way to your house?”

Author's Note

Camouflage

Fluttershy’s house reminded him of Hobbiton, there was no way around it. Day couldn’t help but snicker at the comparison while he sat at her table and watched her move around the house completing her evening chores. Everything was low to the ground and conformed to what he assumed was pony aesthetics and physiology. It wasn’t anything too radically different from what he expected to see, though that was inherently odd. Cushions replaced chairs. The sofa was perhaps a bit deeper than a human design. The table was lower to the ground and oblong. He was once again struck by the eerie similarity between this new world and his own. He expected everything to be completely bizarre but aside from the circumstances everything just wasn’t. He was brought out of his musing by a quiet but confident voice.

“Would you like something to eat?” Fluttershy’s previously shy demeanor seemed to have disappeared when they had stepped into her home. Day puzzled at the change in the pegasus’ demeanor. He hadn’t expected it at all.

“I don’t think so...” It’s been hours and I haven’t felt hungry at all. Or thirsty... maybe because I’m made of metal? Either way, no thank you but thanks for the offer.” Fluttershy nodded and walked out of the room to the kitchen. Day got up from his cushion at the table and followed her. She was efficiently pulling out a combination of dried herbs and fresh vegetables from her pantry and refrigerator. Day couldn’t help but gape at the oddity and blurt out the first question that came to mind.

“How in the HELL do you have a refrigerator?”

Fluttershy looked at him oddly, “I got it when Twilight first came to town. Most ponies have to use a perpetual ice box and those are terribly expensive. Twilight was kind enough to enchant one for me when she found out I didn’t even have those.”

Day examined the refrigerator, “So it’s powered by magic instead of electricity?”

Fluttershy nodded slowly, “I suppose. Almost everything modern does. I don’t know how it works exactly, just that the enchantment is much easier than the perpetual freezing charm ice boxes use.”

She turned back to her food and started to prepare what looked like a stirfry. Day took in the rest of the kitchen and the appliances that once again held an uncanny resemblance to the Earth analogues he knew. He could identify a stove and a dishwasher along with a coffeemaker and toaster. There was a stainless steel sink of brushed metal whose texture reminded him of his own metallic skin. He started thinking aloud.

“This is so weird... everything’s like home just, modified for ponies instead of humans. How is that even possible? It can’t just be random coincidence that ponies think and dream and create the same as humans.”

A knock at the door startled him out of his thoughts. Fluttershy shut off her stove and walked past him silently. She had heard everything he’d voiced but thankfully hadn’t commented. He idly hoped he hadn’t given her the impression that he considered ponies inferior to humans with his badly worded ramblings.

As she walked to the door, her entire demeanor shifted back to the shy one she’d displayed before entering her home. Day resolved to ask her about it as soon as the unexpected visitor left. This almost instinctive shifting of personalities was fascinating.

She stopped in front of the door, “H-hello?” She called through the door in a halting shy voice.

“Fluttershy? It’s me, Rarity, darling! I just came to check up on you.” A voice spoke through the door. Fluttershy let out a quiet sigh and shook her head before falling back into character, opening the door tentatively, and peaking out.

“Rarity? Checking up on what? It’s only been a half hour.” Fluttershy opened the door wider and stepped back to let the white unicorn come in. Day leaned against the doorframe to the kitchen and watched the two ponies interaction. He was starting to see some of why the forest was interested in about this pegasus.

“Of course, dear! But you can never be too careful about these things! We wouldn’t want anything to happen would we?” Rarity gave Day a hard stare. Day wondered what exactly he’d done that was so suspicious but he stayed silent. He sat back down on his cushion at the table.

“Oh... well, I was just finishing making dinner. Would you... like to stay for a while?”

Internally Day wept. The evening just got more complicated.

~$~

Day’s patience for overbearing friends lasted about ten minutes. Before he said something rather rude to the suspicious unicorn he decided his time would be better spent examining his backpack and walking stick. In the whirlwind of events that had taken place over the course of the day, he hadn’t given them much thought, merely taken them for granted and at face value. That he had either pointed toward some kind of intelligent intervention. He stared out the window while he thought and rolled the staff between his hands contemplatively. He was careful not to voice aloud his stream of consciousness.

So, first that green light. There wasn’t anything weird going on to begin with... not weirder than usual anyway. Just a normal night like usual. Then the first forest. He frowned. I wasn’t freaking out then either. But that was before all this... what was I thinking? He thought back to his trek through the forest. It had been silent, no wind, no animals but it hadn’t started that way. This isn’t making any sense. And Celestia... how does she fit into all this? A being with the power to hold back the sun, a sentient forest, and time travel... how are they connected? Of course, this is assuming this all happened for a reason but I refuse to think this is all just a string of random events. So everything starts with that light.

His contemplation was interrupted by a genteel, he assumed it was meant to be polite, cough. “Excuse me, Mr. Roark, aren’t you going to eat something?” Rarity asked.

Day blinked and looked back from the window, “No thanks. I don’t think I’ll need to eat. I’m not exactly... squishy... anymore.” With an uncomfortable jolt, he realized he couldn’t smell anything. Not the food or the ponies or his surroundings - a byproduct of not breathing.

“Huh... I’ll have to catalogue all the stuff that’s different about me sometime...” he murmured to himself before looking out the window again. He wasn’t trying to be rude, but he didn’t have anything to really talk about with his host and her guest and he felt puzzling over his predicament would better serve his time.

He tried to ignore Fluttershy’s concerned looks and Rarity’s suspicious ones for the rest of the night.

~$~

As soon as Rarity had run out of excuses to remain in Fluttershy’s home, she was skillfully herded out the door. If Day had not been looking for it, he would have missed the tension that slowly accumulated during the visit between Fluttershy’s shoulders and wings. By the time she was ushering her friend out the door, she looked exhausted. Day imagined that having to put on her air of submissive, shy temperament would be incredibly draining.

“Why do you do it?” He didn’t bother beating around the bush. He was pretty sure she would understand what he was asking.

Fluttershy opened her mouth as if to answer but closed it instead and walked over to the couch to sprawl along its length. A few minutes passed before she spoke, “Because its easier to hide in plain sight than to make an effort that can be detected. If I tried to avoid everyone, they would take more notice of me but if I act fragile and shy, I’m more likely to be ignored. They’re good friends and they mean well, but around my animal friends... they just aren’t very good. This way, if I want to interact with them they are forced to wait for me rather than coming at their own time.”

Day pondered this for a moment and asked the obvious question, “So if that personality is camouflage, is this one,” he gestured vaguely at her, “one as well? Am I seeing the ‘real’ Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy laughed quietly, “Maybe. Maybe not. I am who I need to be when I need to be. Maybe that is the real Fluttershy.”

A knock at the door stopped Day from continuing his questions.

Eternity

Had Day not been annoyed at the constant visitor’s he would have found Fluttershy’s head bang funny. As soon as they’d heard the knock on the door she’d given out a small whispery scream of frustration and repeatedly banged her head down on the couch cushion. Her wings fluttered spastically above and beside her. She tiredly donned her submissive personality and went to open the door. And promptly shut it in whoever’s face it was that was on the other side.

Fluttershy looked back at him tiredly and with an expression of grudging resignation, “I’m probably not going to be able to ask about the forest tonight. I had a plan and everything too.” She motioned to the closed door and sighed, “It’s for you.”

Day snorted, “You invited me here so we could talk about the forest?” He got up to open the door.

“Well, yes, and because it was the right thing to do.”

Day nodded and opened the door. He immediately shut it as well.

“Um... is it normal for a horse’s mane to billow around like that? Celestia’s did but then, she was a sun goddess... I think...” Outside the door, he could hear a frustrated grumbling.

Fluttershy laid down on the couch again, tucked her head under a wing, and spoke from beneath, “Only for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

“Oh, crap... so... I just slammed the door on the face of a goddess?”

His question was timed with the door behind him slamming open. Before he could fully turn around to look, a blue furred foreleg sped toward him and clotheslined him with a clang reminiscent of a deep bass bell tolling.

It was a curious sensation to be knocked off his feet. He, in the time it took him to flip over in place, he was able to take in a few details of the room. Fluttershy was looking at him calmly. He wasn’t in any pain despite having to have been hit with the force of a freight train. The blue horse, presumably Princess Luna, was watching him flip with the most satisfied grin he’d ever seen. That was all he could get before his face slammed into the floor and left a large dent in the floorboards.

“My... that was intensely satisfying.”

Day didn’t bother to get up, just spoke into the floor.

“I’m sure you have a very good reason for busting in here and fucking laying me out!”

Day understandably raised his voice at the end of his statement. He turned his head to the side to look up at the blue Princess with a single hostile eye.

“You called Us a horse. What other action did you expect Us to take?” The Princess asked in a genuinely curious voice. Day wasn’t sure if she was serious. Luna seemed to pick up on his bewilderment.

“Oh... We apologize... We forgot We had not met you yet and We assumed that your future actions were indicative of your past self and you would understand that We were prematurely fulfilling the precedent of ‘laying you out’ when you insult Us.”

Day opened his mouth, considered his response, and closed it again. There were so many contradictory phrases and concepts packed into that explanation he didn’t know where to start picking it apart. He decided he would be best served by rolling over and sitting up.

“That has to be the most confusing explanation I’ve ever heard... so you forgot that I didn’t know about some kind of habit you have of punching out strangers?”

“No, We forgot when it was that We were appearing and what is acceptable as to Our behavior in reference to your person.”

Day turned to Fluttershy who had remained quiet during their exchange and realized she was trying to hold back laughter. His eyes narrowed, “What’s so funny? I just got punched out!”

Fluttershy attempted to hide a snort but couldn’t quite manage, “Well... you aren’t hurt are you? And you did call Princess Luna a horse. And you have to admit that the pattern of odd things that happen around you are just the smallest bit funny.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, his human emotions reached a previously untold high. Day sighed and stood up to face the blue pony. She was shorter than the Celestia he’d briefly met and her mane and tail much shorter. Physically, she was only half a foot taller than the ponies he had met in the forest and seemed to embody the traits of all three types of ponies he’d met.

“You have a horn and wings...” he commented idly. He noticed the large tattoo she had on her flank, “and an ass tattoo.” He turned around and looked at Fluttershy’s flank to notice that she had one too though significantly smaller. As he turned around but before he could ask anything, he received a hoof to the face. Again.

He let out a yell of frustration, “What!?! I didn’t even DO anything!”

“You were leering at Our and dear Fluttershy’s flanks like a common stallion of low breeding. It was insulting.”

Day spluttered, “Oh my ffffuuuuuck. I’m not even a pony. Why does everyone assume I’m some kind of cross-species pervert? First that Rarity pony now you! You look like h-,” he stopped himself before he got punched, “ponies from my own world! Why would I be looking at you like that?”

“Well, you do have the ability to change shape. Perhaps you unconsciously display amorphous sexual attraction to everything.” If Day wasn’t so upset, he might have realized that the Princess was looking at him with a sort of grim sadness.

Day finally shifted from his human form back to his elfin form. He couldn’t concentrate enough to maintain it. Beneath his new emotions, the human ones were clawing at his mind more strongly than before. He could feel them trying to get free and he ruthlessly began suppressing them beneath with the help of the forest nearby but was only partially successful. He looked up when he felt slow, heavy hoofsteps stop by his side. He didn’t look up until a blue hoof ringed in electrical charge entered his vision.

“We are sorry.” The hoof touched his chest and everything exploded into agony for a moment before freezing up. His body snapped upright and froze. He couldn’t move anything, not even his eyes. He could still think and he could still feel, but it was like his body was refusing any kind of physical changes. The world swung oddly and he found himself on Princess Luna’s back.

“Dear Fluttershy, could We ask you not to speak of this to your friends? This must be done and We cannot afford any distractions.” The Princess’ words seemed gravely solemn - a stark contrast to her earlier tone. She didn’t offer more explanation to the pegasus but it seemed she did not need to.

“Of course, Princess. We’re glad we could help.” Day couldn’t understand how she could be so accepting of everything.

“Thank you. We will hopefully return him by morning tomorrow. Evening at the latest.”

Day couldn’t do anything as Luna carried his immobilized body out the door. She walked down the path away from Fluttershy’s home in the direction of the forest. He could feel its feelings getting stronger. When she reached the edge of Fluttershy’s property she spoke.

“We apologize for this, but We need you cured more quickly than was planned.” She started to walk away from the forest slowly and kept up a steady stream of one-sided conversation. Day’s panic began to mount. “We would usually not intervene in this situation. Our view is unique and the few times We have interfered with the lives of our subjects have never ended well. You see, we can see everything our entire history and all of our future. It is a terrible thing to know your own fate.”

The distance from the forest exceeded what he had reached when exiting it with Fluttershy and her friends. His human emotions started to gain strength and no amount of concentration could suppress them. His panic peaked and though he could not move, he tried to scream at her to stop. Gone was his unnatural acceptance of his circumstances. All the emotions he could not feel earlier returned.

Before anything, thick roiling stifling suffocating clouds of fear, panic, rage, and confusion raged through his mind and flashback took hold of his mind.

The green light it looked like sickly pale vomit. It was horrifying. Whispers were coming from the wall and they were telling him things. He’d never see his family again. He’d lost his sisters. His mother and father. His body was slowly disintegrated in what felt like the most painful way possible. And the whispers continued. Depravities of the worst kind were described in detail. Comments designed to prey at his fears interspersed with threats of torture and pain continued for as long as his ears remained whole. He stayed conscious as even his brain was destroyed even though he could have sworn it was impossible. The last thing to disappear were his eyes.

He came to beside Princess Luna and discovered he could move when he started to thrash around like he was being tortured. Another electrified hoof to his chest immobilized him and he was once again trapped in his mind. Luna’s face loomed over him.

“You are very strong, Day Roark, to have survived thus far. We know what you have been through to arrive here even though you are not aware of it all yet. You tell us soon. We know you will survive.”

His vision blurred.

Everything was dark. Nothing existed here and nothing could reach him. At least he was free of the pain. So he existed. And existed. And existed.

And existed.

He could feel the passage of time acutely. It was its own form of torture. A day went by of nothingness. Two. Five. After seven, he started speaking to himself just to alleviate his boredom. His mind slowly unravelled itself in the dark nothing. He could feel himself breaking and yet he was outside of himself and he didn’t exist at all. The triple feeling reached a critical point when his mind shattered.

And still he existed. His other perspectives slowly fell to insanity. Years and years and years went by of nothing. And then there was nothing left but a pitifully twisted and twitching scrap of his mind.

His body overcame the the magical binding Luna had placed on him and he screamed. He screamed longer and louder than his human body would have been able to. He felt Luna pick him up from his prone position on the ground and hug him tightly but he didn’t care, he just kept screaming in the face of the dual tortures he’d just remembered. She pulled his head to her chest and rocked him slowly. She spoke gently in his ear.

“We know what it is like to survive in agony though it has not occurred. And We know what it is like to exist in great nothing as we lived it not so long ago. It will be okay, Day. Calm... be calm... it will all pass and you will be free.”

His screams quieted slowly. In some small, small corner of his mind he realized he wasn’t crying. Luna’s hooves made small circles on his metal back. She continued to speak.

“We could not let you continue as you were. A thousand thousand times this has played out and each time, we were powerless to change it. No more! We are so sorry, Day, but there was no other way to change the path of things. You... you are the crux of everything. The forest and Celestia and the Elements and the future and the past. Everything. Everything is connected to you.”

The last thing he saw before he finally fell blessedly unconscious was Luna’s ethereal mane and and the vast endless expanse of starfields.

Reawakening

Emotional trauma was extremely unpleasant to wake up from. Day came slowly to consciousness amidst a swirl of emotional backlash. While only a dull echo of his recent experience, he couldn’t help but shy away from the agony he’d felt. Insanity and pain - that was what his mind had to endure for so long. Locked away deep inside his mind were memories that spanned eons and yet only moments seemed to have passed for him. He could feel they were there, but now that he’d remembered them in full they were like an intellectual exercise - the trauma was there but the experience was once again detached. And in spite of being forced to essentially decend into insanity, he was still whole. He didn’t know what to make of his experience. The backlog of emotions made it hard to think clearly. So many things overlapped in his mind: sorrow for leaving his family behind combined with the loneliness of the void and the smaller loneliness he felt away from his family which stacked neatly with the rage and pain and fear of dying and existing in the void which warred with a sense of rightness which permeated everything. The last emotion served to terrify Day more.

He lay quietly and listened to his surroundings while he tried to calm down. He could hear the comforting sounds of the forest coming from his left - a quiet thrum of life and the harmony of chirping birds, chattering little ones, and occasional sounds from the larger forest creatures. To his right was the peaceful pseudo-silence of a field only broken by the sound of wind disturbing grass. He couldn’t tell if he was alone or if Luna was still with him. The forest slowly fed him information of what it had seen and heard during the night. The additional load of information forced him to wake up fully and he managed to finally push away his emotions until he could function. His eyes opened and he sat up slowly with a groan.

“Ah... you are awake.” He turned his head to the right and saw Luna laying beside him with a few feet of space between their sides. Her eyes were bloodshot and her head hung tiredly. She looked sleep-deprived and care-worn. Her ethereal mane billowed slowly and the stars within flickered bleakly.

For the first time since he’d arrived, Day felt angry, rage-filled. He struggled to keep his voice even, “Yes. Now what the fuck happened?” He failed to maintain an even tone.

Luna’s head hung lower dejectedly, “I-I... needed to change everything. You were here a-a-and I knew if I... acted... I could save everything - save Tia, save you, all my ponies... everything.”

“That’s all well and good but that doesn’t. Answer. My question.” Day rubbed his eyes tiredly. The screeching sound of metal on metal reminded him that he wasn’t human anymore. His previously suppressed panic immediately jumped to the fore. He stared at his hands that suddenly terrified him.

“What’s happened to me?” He asked in despair.

“You... ‘tis hard to explain something like this. I suppose the first thing you should understand is that this,” Luna gestured tiredly at his blue metallic body, “is a gift. I realize you do not see it as such now, but truly if it had not been given to you things would be much worse.”

Day snorted, “Yeah right. I’m a fucking metal blue elf.”

“You would have been returned to the void.” Luna replied quietly.

Immediately, Day cringed at the memory that resurfaced. He deflated and his anger abated slightly, “Okay... maybe you’re right. But still this is orders of magnitude more screwed up than I usually deal with.”

Luna shrugged helplessly, “I do not know anything about your previous life or experiences. You never tell me of it nor did you speak while you slept or relived your death and isolation.”

She continued before he could speak, “Everything that has happened - at least until I arrived at Lady Fluttershy’s home - were predetermined. Your death, isolation, awakening, and transformation were all planned and executed and will always continue to be executed. Everywhere but here, that is.”

Luna’s roundabout language and confusing explanation made Day anger return and he almost yelled, “But. What. Happened?”

Luna sighed, “I defied the Creator. I took you from the path it designed and bent it - destroyed it. Everything that should have happened will change. I changed your future. What you saw in the forest the first time you awoke. It will happen. You will meet my sister at the end of her life and she will send you here, to this time, as a last mercy to one who provided her a reason to die.”

Luna straightened and she adopted a determined expression, “But also, you will not meet her. You will have a second future - one that begins here and continues on to that time and place. Everything that was - is; you will force time and destiny to change and bend.

“I forced you to confront your memories; the ones the Creator locked away for another time and place for you to uncover. I needed you to see. Now, I need you to understand. We are parts in the Creator’s machine and it is watching. I, to borrow one of your phrases, through a wrench into its machine and now we are here, temporarily free from the path that was determined for us.

“The Creator cares nothing for us. He will sacrifice us for the continuance of its project, he has before many times and in many places. No longer.”

Day interrupted, “I’m sure you feel strongly about this but I don’t really believe you. So, you’re saying that God... the all-powerful being that supposedly made everything... fated me to come to this world, meet a demi-god, and turn into a robot? Oh, and I can’t forget the torture of dying and the emptiness of the void.”

His earlier anger had disappeared into a sort of sick fascination with Luna’s explanation. Everything he’d experienced so far had been through a shield of emotional repression and now that he was fully capable of feeling again, he couldn’t help but start laughing at the sheer impossibility of everything.

“And I’m arguing... haha... with a horse about God. Haha-hehe, this is such bullshit,” Day’s laughter turned hysterical and his earlier panic once again attacked him, “I just want this to end. It’s too much.”

He collapsed on the ground and let his despair wash over him, “You know, today was supposed to be normal. I was going to see my sister. She’s getting married in a month. She had a friend she was going to introduce to me.” Day’s new body seemed to lack the ability to cry though he desperately wanted to.

A blue draped itself over his torso. Day couldn’t even muster the motivation to knock it away and couldn’t help but admit that it was a somewhat comforting though alien experience.

“I do not know what I can do to help you.” Luna said softly, “But I do know what it means to lose our family. And I know what it means to wish to go home when everything in the world stops you. I am sorry that this has happened to you.”

Day remained silent and gave in to the urge to wallow.

~^~

He didn’t keep track of how long they remained silent. All he had to go by was when the princess succumbed to sleep and laid her head down next to his shoulder. Her wing remained where is was.

Day stared up at the sky and tried to think. He felt slow and off-balance. He idly wished for the fake calm he’d had before - at least then, he could think clearly. He started with what he knew most intimately, the forest.

“Of everything that’s happened... I think the forest’s the one thing I can handle. At least it hasn’t tried to kill me or anything. And it’s... nice... like a safety blanket or something.” The forest’s connection was once again running smoothly in his mind after the large influx of information about the goings-on from his night spent unconscious. Interspersed with the raw, factual information were bits of emotions and impressions from the forest and its tenants that made his calm and peaceful. It knew he needed comfort and it tried to provide.

“I can sort of see how this new body is a gift. Aside from the headache, there’s nothing wrong with me.” He looked at his hands and shuddered, “Nothing except I’m blue. And I look like an elf. I can’t believe I’m starting to freak out about this now. How did I accept it the first time?”
Luna’s wing shifted on his chest and came to rest beneath his chin.

“At least I can feel, though I’m not even going to ask how that’s supposed to work.” He stroked his fingers through the downy feathers on the wing’s bone structure. His sense of touch seemed unchanged though now that he was paying particular attention to it, he acknowledged it might be a bit clearer. His fingers’ exploration coaxed a slight shiver down the length of the wing. He stopped to make sure Luna was still asleep before resuming his stroking.

“What the hell do I do now?” He gently banged his head against the ground. “There’s no way that God or The Creator or whatever put me here. But she thinks so. And she’s got a reason for me to be here - a purpose.” He closed his eyes and draped his free arm over them with a quiet clink of metal against metal. “Do I help her? If anything, I’m alone here. I’ve been sent to the past.”

A pang of resentment and anger at the situation raced through him but he forced it under the surface again. It was still there and he could feel it normally, but he didn’t want to be distracted. “I’m not going back. I don’t have the time to dwell on it, as much as I would love to hit something it won’t fix anything.”

The forest sent him a bit of sympathy, “And the forest needs me. It all comes back to that doesn’t it... Celestia and the forest, me and the forest... I can’t walk away from that.

“So... I help her... At the very least, she’s trying to save people or at least she says she does. And honestly, Celestia looked like she wanted to die when I saw her and that’s depressing in an of itself - a demi-goddess wanting to die - that’s just disturbing.” His fingers stroked down the wing on his chest following the layers of coverts and primaries. The feathers were surprisingly waxy and pliant. They bent at the slightest pressure.

He couldn’t help the feeling of optimism that welled up from inside, not that he knew where it was coming from considering everything that had happened. “So, all I have to do is save a demi-goddess by helping a demi-goddess using a forest and my own natural charm. Shouldn’t be too hard. Hopefully. Or something.”

He looked down his body and noticed that all the feather beneath his hand had fluffed up and the wing beneath him was rigid. He poked at it gently for a moment to find out what he’d done when he heard a quiet squeak next to his ear.

He turned to look at a very red-faced Luna.

Catharsis

Day looked at Luna’s face. Then the trembling rigid wing. Back to her face. He slowly put together a picture of what he’d probably just done. He swallowed.

“I... just molested you in your sleep didn’t I...?” He pushed the wing up slowly with a single finger and slowly wriggled away. With his anger gone and most of his previous trauma and problems under control he was easily able to remember her standing declaration of “laying him the fuck out” when he did something she deemed inappropriate.

“I- you- you swine!” Luna spluttered angrily. Her expression darkened and she slowly rolled onto her hooves. Her entire body trembled in fury. He refused to acknowledge any other reason for her to shake. "Get over here!"

Day jumped to his feet and sprinted away like his life depended on it. A small corner of his mind reminded him he was essentially indestructible but he ignored it. He was too far gone in his fear of reprisal. The same small part of him also acknowledged that running from the enraged alicorn was the funniest thing he’d ever done.

“Don’t kill me! I didn’t know!” He turned to sprint into the forest and made the edge just as a beam of searing hot plasma jumped past his shoulder. He almost stopped in shock before the forest informed him that nothing had been hit by it and that everything was running away from him and his pursuer. With the forest in his mind, the small part of him from before rose up and he started grinning playfully while he ran further.

“Hey! Don’t you go burning down my forest!” He put on a burst of speed and grabbed a tree to change direction quickly. “Catch me if you can!”

He heard a strangled angry cry of frustration from behind and he started laughing.

The forest whipped by him while he ran feeding him information about his path and the best places to change direction and run or the best cover to hide behind for a moment. The rush of information and the extreme speed at which he was running worked wonders on his previous stress. He was back in his forest, his new home and he was playing! Only the slightest tinge of sadness marred his play.

He ran faster than he ever could before, a combination of knowing exactly where to step, planning a route that was perfect to keep him in the lead, and the new speed his metal body could generate all culminated into a protracted and wild run. Behind him, angry shouts had changed to amused threats and posturing. No longer in danger from the alicorn, Day could examine her while they ran. WIth a start he realized that he’d fallen back to sprint beside Luna.

If he was raw speed and agility, she was grace and finesse. The difference between the Princess and the six ponies from the previous day was obvious. They were ill-suited to the forest. They bumbled obviously through underbrush, disturbed burrows and plants, and crushed everything in their way. Luna flowed through and around everything like water. Combining her wings with her magic, she could sprint without fear through or above the obstacles in front of her. A quick jump and a flap of wings carried her over entire tracts of underbrush and homes. Short range teleportation aided her around dense copses of trees. He even saw her body dissolve to smoke and flow through a patch of brambles.

The forest eventually informed him just how far in they had gone. In just twenty minutes they’d run almost ten miles from the border of the Everfree. He dodged around a tree before gently tapping on Luna’s shoulder.

“We need to stop. We’re already really far into the forest.” To reinforce his words, he grabbed a passing tree and used it to bleed off a portion of his momentum. He needed to repeat the process three more times before he reached a more manageable speed. His new metallic body was significantly heavier than his old human one and so he had to be more careful managing his momentum. Beside him, Luna did not have the same problem. She disappeared in a flash of teleportation and reappeared a moment later perfectly still. Day wondered if he was able to learn to teleport - it seemed a ridiculously convenient skill.

He grinned at her sheepishly and leaned against a tree, “That was fun. I’m sorry about... um... before.” Luna approached him.

“Oh yes... about that.” She darted into his personal space and once again the clang of metal covered hoof rang against suddenly flipping blue elf. “Do not do so again!”

Day flipped in the air three times before slamming into the ground with a heavy thud. The forest around him came to life as the wildlife once again returned to their homes. He moaned into the dirt despite not feeling any pain from the punch or his subsequent meeting with the ground.

He spoke into the dirt, “Oh come on! I didn’t even know what was happening! And how does that even work? Wings? As sexual objects?” He got onto his hands and knees and then stood up. He checked his jaw to confirm he hadn’t been hurt. He couldn’t even detect a dent. “I’m not even a hor- I mean a pony! It’s not like I wanted to cop a feel or something.” He said indignantly.

Luna snorted, “I am aware. I was merely educating you. As Princess of the Night and your ally and your,” her voice dropped and he couldn’t hear the next few words, “I reserve the right to hit you when you do something wrong.”

Day shook his head. His earlier anger at the alicorn refused to return despite her outright confirmation that she would beat the crap out of him. Part of him couldn’t help but acknowledge it was amusing in a way and he couldn’t deny there was something about the pony before him that prevented him from truly being angry with her.

He sighed, “Fine... fine...” He took a moment to study her before asking, “Why are you so comfortable with me? Not that this wasn’t fun, but it is kind of unusual.” With a start he realized something was missing from his link to the forest. “Hey! The forest doesn’t hate you! I mean yeah, you’re a demi-goddess but still.”

Luna started walking in the direction they’d come and Day followed, “That is a complicated answer.” She paused and seemed to think over her words before speaking haltingly, “I know you... have known you... will know you... for a long time. Before when I explained that I intervened in your future, I didn’t explain how I knew to do so... I... see the future. Not everything, just mine. I know everything that will happen to me. I can remember dying just as clearly as being born. I can see Celestia’s future students and I can see mine, simply because they cross paths. Before me, I see my entire life. Or saw. My actions have changed everything and nothing will settled again for a while.

“I plan to use this time to change the future. While it is still in disarray, it is like clay. It can be molded and changed. But I needed the right tools, so to speak, and that is where you come in. I trust you because you were... a friend... in that future - are a friend in this future.”

Day took a few minutes to absorb Luna’s revelation. Around them, the forest had quieted to its natural state of organized excitement. Day basked in the feeling of rightness that came from the forest as they walked. “So. That’s why you keep talking about the future like its the past. That... has to be confusing.”

“Only to others. It is normal for me. I have lived like this for a very long time.” Luna smiled at him before stopping. She looked up at the sun that had crept past the midpoint in the sky, “Perhaps I should fly back to the border of the Everfree it would be faster than walking. You will meet me at the edge?” She extended her wing and stood poised to takeoff.

Day nodded, “Yeah. See you there.”

With a few powerful downstrokes, the alicorn burst through the canopy and flew toward the forest’s edge. Day started sprinting back toward the edge once more.

~*~

After fifteen minutes of blurred trees and rapid fire sensory overload, Day burst out of the forest’s edge and started to slow down. It was the first time he’d had to give the blank field any particular attention. While he looked out for uneven ground and the odd burrow or hole, he looked around. The field extended to the horizon as far as he could see in front of him. To his left, a large hill rose up to block his view beyond. To his right, the forest’s edge and the grassland extended as far as he could see. Beyond, he could see a tall mountain - a plateau really - on which a large castle was situated. He didn’t see Luna.

When Day finally bled off the rest of his speed and came to a stop, he looked up into the sky. It was completely cloudless except for a few thin wisps far above.

“Huh... well this is kinda rude.” Day spoke his thoughts aloud. He looked around himself once more before sitting down in the grass. “Nothing to do but wait I guess - she’ll come back eventually. Maybe.”

Day decided that with the time he had, he should examine himself more, specifically his newfound magic. Earlier, he’d found a manual in his head - an imaginary book he could flip open and read. There were thousands of pages of technical data about how his panels worked, what they could do, theoretical applications, and where they resided while out of view. If the ponies around him hadn’t been impatient he could have happily examined it for hours.

He looked around idly with a distracted expression as he mentally opened the book to the page he’d left off and started to read. Around him, vertical panels of blue light sprang into being to display his thoughts. Each panel was covered in squiggles and runes that, to anyone else, would be completely indecipherable. Each rune continually changed shape in place, switched position with adjacent runes, even blinked out of existence to float freely around him. Day switched his attention between the first chapter of the manual and the panels that had begun to rotate around him.

Panels blinked in and out of existence while their information was updated. He reached up a hand and touched a rune on one.

The panel, despite being made of light, made a series of clicking sounds and disassembled itself.

“So, this magic is like my body...” The first few pages of the book went into detail how magic was generated and channeled in his body naturally. It went on to explain just why it could no longer do so. He grudgingly acknowledged that it was eerily convenient that he had such a complete guide to everything - it implied to Luna’s Creator story was plausible, even probable - and Day did not want to think of the implications that would make if he accepted her story as fact.

“It makes more sense to think I’m a robot, well, android I guess. That explains how I can have a body made of metal.” Day tried really hard not to have an existential crisis. Without the eerie - he acknowledged it as such - control over his emotions that he’d arrived with he could feel the panic well up inside. “Am I even alive anymore? I mean, yeah, sci-fi has artificial intelligence but we never actually got to the point where it was anything other than fiction.

“What is it that makes me alive? I think and I feel and I dream... but I don’t eat, last night’s sleep was a special case, I don’t breathe... I can’t even have kids anymore. Oh god, I don’t even want to think about having a fucking soul!” The last few words he shouted. The panels around him whirled, spun, and turned around him in agitation. The chaotic blur of movement reflected his inner turmoil. The forest started to feed him calming feelings and sensations that Day that he could find comfort from. For the first time in a while, he could hear the forest’s voice - a harmony of voices and whispers and bellows and roars.

You are my child. You are a child of my enemy and my own desires. You are mine. And you are alive where it matters.

His surprise delayed him from responding to the forest and it faded away back to its quietude.

“Thank you.” His panic slowly ebbed away while he considered the forest’s declaration. As long as he had the forest, at least someone or something would define him in a way he could accept.

It was good enough.

Unpleasant

Night had fallen before Day heard the sound of wings descend from above. For nearly five hours, he’d absorbed the book in his mind. He barely noticed the time as he’d done so. It was a fascinating book; the panels could serve as so much more than tools to direct his magic. They were a perfect medical tool, a powerful combination of diagnostic equipment and repair magics. They served as a direct link to his mind - the runic language that flowed across its surface was the purest representation of his subconscious - information dense and concise. WIth his newly enhanced mind, he could use them to examine his memories with perfect accuracy and extract anything he had experienced before.

Four light thuds behind him in the grass announced Luna’s landing, “I’m sorry for abandoning you here. My sister called for me and I could not delay.” Day turned around and smiled at Luna’s apologetic expression.

“It’s fine. I got some time to think and I really needed that. Plus, I’m not the most polite person sometimes so I’m fine with the occasional rude gestures from friends.” Day stood up and patted the Princess on the shoulder. “Where to now? And what did your sister need? I’d like to meet her sometime, she was so... ancient... when I met her before,” his brow furrowed, “meet her later... whatever... She was so detached, like she was only giving me passing attention.”

Luna laughed quietly, “You can refer to everything in the past tense. You will eventually explain to me your scientists’ concept of relativity theory - so I also know of it now - you can consider your current time and place as your reference frame and speak of everything that will occur to you from your perspective in the future as the future and what has occurred to you in the past.”

Day was unsure if her explanation was supposed to confuse him more or genuinely clear away his confusion. He decided to just deal with the problem as it came.

“Alright, I guess.” He replied.

“We will return to Ponyville. The Elements will be curious and worried about you by now, provided dear Fluttershy has done as I requested. You need to be careful around them, especially Twilight Sparkle. She is Celestia’s personal student and she has earned that position many times over. If she even suspects anything of my plans, she could derail everything. She is a great asset to have, but for what we must do, she is ill-suited.” Luna looked toward the hills, “Ponyville is many miles beyond those hills if you follow the forest’s edge. I had to carry you away from the town so that nopony would come for you. You were very... loud...” She cringed at her last statement.

Day nodded, “Let’s hope I don’t have a repeat then. That was unpleasant.”

Day started walking toward the hills, “You know... it’s only been two days since I got here... three at most since I’m not really keeping count. Is every day as exciting as these?”

Luna followed him, “Well, no. Life here is much like yours was on Earth.”

Day raised an eyebrow and she spoke before he could, “You tell me all this eventually. Which means I know of it now. Which means you will not tell me later, but since the information exists already in my mind in this moment, the information is not lost.”

Day blinked stupidly, “That pretty much breaks every rule of time travel ever. So... no paradox?”

“I am a goddess. What did you expect? Also, timeline continuity and self-repair.” Luna smiled widely and Day knew that she knew that he was trying to understand how that could possibly work. And since she knew the outcome of his thoughts because he would voice them, she knew now. Which meant he wouldn’t tell her...

Day groaned, “I thought Pinkie Pie was bad. This is worse. So much worse.”

Luna nodded and laughed, “Yes, but I’m used to it and that’s all that matters.”

When they reached the top of the first hill, they stopped to admire the view. Before them, hills and valleys extended as far as they could see. The forest’s edge wrapped around the base of the hills and occasionally crept up and over a few and dipped into the depressions and valleys formed between. The cloudless night ensured that the moon was unobscured and bright above them. It was so much closer than the moon that belonged to Earth and had he not already seen a star so close to the planet without any effect, he would have questioned how the world could exist so peacefully without tectonic activity.

“The trip to Ponyville will take a long time if we merely walk, would you like to run instead? This time you can chase me while I guide you.” Luna spread her wings and adopted a haughty expression and dared him to accept. Day laughed.

“Fine, just how far are we?” Day asked.

“About thirty miles, so twenty minutes at your sprint.” Luna replied. She bounced on her hooves energetically before taking off without another word. Day followed a moment later.

~!~

The moon was almost directly overhead when they arrived at the outskirts of Ponyville. Most of the houses were still lit from within, the ponies inside clearly awake. The streets themselves were quiet and only a few ponies were out so late. Those that were turned to stare at the town’s new arrivals curiously. All were familiar with their Night Princess, not many ponies but those that stayed up late knew that she frequently visited the town while her subjects slept. She made it a point to speak with the few night ponies she came across.

The tall being beside her was a mystery. His height and bipedal stance was intimidating to anypony who saw him. His skin seemed to reflect the light of the moon perfectly while simultaneously fading into the night-blue sky.

Luna and Day quickly made their way down Ponyville’s main boulevard toward the tall oak tree at the other end of town. Day ignored the eyes that followed him as they went. He was sure that if their positions were reversed, he would have stared at them as well. He tried to not let it bother him.

Luna spoke quietly, “When we arrive at the library, I am going to speak and act a bit differently than now. I am not usually so... demonstrative around my subjects. Don’t worry if I seem cold or formal.”

Day nodded but remained silent. After a few minutes, the library tree came into view and Luna quickly ushered him to the door and knocked. They waited for a few moments before the clopping of hooves grew louder and stopped at the door before opening. Twilight Sparkle’s face broke into a relieved grin and she immediately yanked Day into the treehouse.

“Thank Celestia, you’re still here. Fluttershy wouldn’t say where you went and we all thought you’d run back into the forest. No one wanted to help me look for you.”

Day looked at Luna uncomfortably and she interjected herself into Twilight’s monologue, “Twilight Sparkle, We required his assistance for the day, We apologize for the inconvenience. Our sister knew of the circumstances.”

“Oh,” Twilight paused for a moment, “wait, so Princess Celestia knew that he was in the forest?”

“No, but the energies she felt could only have been a few possible circumstances,” Luna replied slowly, “the Everfree is not a place that will tolerate her magic often.”

Day filed the conversation away for later. Luna’s wording was too specific to be anything other than intentional. Her magic worked just fine and Celestia lived in the forest of the future - something didn’t make sense.

Day sat on a cushion at a nearby library table and looked around. The room was round and large, unnaturally so. From the outside, the room should have been much smaller. Day guessed magic was probably used to expand the space within the tree. Like Fluttershy’s furniture, tables were low to the ground and were surrounded by blue and lavender cushions. Bookshelves were half the height he was familiar with at his public library.

The language on the books spines was completely alien to him. It almost reminded him of Braille or Morse code. It was a series of dashes, slashes, dots, and smudges. Frequently, the symbols overlapped or even occluded others behind them. He got up and pulled a random book from the shelves and sat back down. He opened it to a random page. He wasn’t completely sure but it almost looked like the script was written diagonally from left to right and top to bottom on the left page and then flipped to read bottom to top left to right on the right page. At least, something that resembled an arrow at each corner of the page directed him to think so.

He shut the book, closed his eyes, and muttered, “Either that’s the most efficient or most annoying way to write I’ve ever seen.”

A dull clang of metal accompanied the hoof that smacked the back of his head, “We believe you just insulted the form of writing We invented. Perhaps you can explain why?”

Luna’s expression looked foreboding and insulted, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Day could see a carefully hidden amusement just barely shining out. Twilight was staring at the Princess in shock at her casual and childish action.

“Hey! I didn’t know! But you have to admit, changing directions in the middle of writing is annoying.” Day defended.

“Princess! You can’t just go around hitting anypony!” Twilight recovered from her shock and finally spoke up.

Day looked at Twilight quizzically, “What do you mean she can’t? She’s a goddess. She can do whatever she wants. And don’t refer to me as a pony. I’m not a pony.”

Luna spoke before Twilight, “Twilight Sparkle helped Us adjust after Our return from banishment. She makes it a point to remind me of modern pony etiquette whenever We visit.”

“You were banished?” Day asked Luna. She didn’t seem the type to break laws.

Luna looked out a window uncomfortably, “Yes. For one thousand years, we were chained to the moon.” She looked back at him and their eyes met. For a moment, Day could see triple. He saw the void he survived and felt the loneliness and emptiness within, he saw Luna chained down in the cold, hard vacuum of space staring down at the planet she called home, and he saw Luna’s eyes - tired, ancient, and possessing hard earned wisdom and depth.

Their eyes remained locked on the other for an unknown amount of time before a cough reminded them of where they were and their gazes broke away. Twilight Sparkle looked at both of them with a curious but extremely uncomfortable look on her face.

“We almost killed everypony on this planet. It was a fitting punishment.” Luna said quietly. A small spike of anger rose up in Day’s chest and he wanted to disagree. No one should have to endure something like that, even if they had almost committed genocide.

Luna apparently noticed his expression and spoke, “We know. Believe Us... We know what you are going to say. It changes nothing.”

Day caught the emphasis in her words and remained silent. He was speaking to a goddess that would know what he said before he said it, nothing he could say would change her mind. He had more difficulty pushing away his anger. While he was occupied, Twilight Sparkle spoke.

“What are you two talking about?” She was looking between the two of them nervously. Day’s anger had manifested for a moment between the two as a heavy feeling of dread. Even she, awkward as she was, couldn’t help but notice the undercurrent and double meaning of their conversation.

“It does not matter, Twilight Sparkle, simply a difference of opinion.” Luna replied. Day shook his head sadly but let the matter drop.

“So, no offense to Twilight, but why are we here Luna?” He remembered her opinion from earlier that Twilight was the last person that they needed interfering with her plans.

“We needed to deliver her something. And she needed to know that you were still alive and well.” Her horn flashed once and a scroll faded into existence. She magicked it in front of Twilight and opened it for her to read.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she read, diagonally down the page, her expression darkened then saddened.

“We are sorry, Twilight, Our sister does not wish for his existence to become common knowledge.” Luna looked at Day significantly and said, “Our sister has decided that she is not to study you. Nor is she to accompany us while you work for me. We are going to Wyrmhold, the dragon sanctuary far south of us.”

Day frowned but nodded slowly. It didn’t seem wise to outright ban her from studying him. It was like telling her not to think of elephants. It would focus her attention on them rather than remove it.

Twilight rolled the scroll up and nodded, “I understand. When do you leave? Do you have everything you need?”

“Two days hence, at the latest.” Luna replied, “We plan to ask dear Fluttershy to accompany us. Her actions with the dragon you and your friends met a few years ago were extraordinary. If she wishes to come, she has until then to decide.”

Twilight looked worried for a moment before nodding. “It’s getting late. We should get some rest.”

Luna nodded and looked at Day, “We know you are incapable of sleep. Perhaps you could spend this time learning Our language and writing.” Day could hear the undercurrent of amusement in her voice.

“You don’t sleep?!” Twilight asked incredulously before blushing and looking away, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”

Day looked at Luna for a moment and silently tilted his head in Twilight’s direction. She seemed to get his meaning, “Twilight... while formal research is forbidden, you can still ask questions. Our sister is not unreasonable.”

Day picked up where she left off, “I’m not really... alive... anymore...” He could feel the forest, which had been mostly silent focus on him and send him a feeling of displeasure. “Okay, maybe I am, sort of. The point is, this mind and this body don’t need to rest. They operate completely on magic - ambient magic. I don’t eat. I don’t sleep. I don’t breathe. I don’t do a lot of the things I used to do.” He finished lamely. He didn’t know how much more to give away.

Twilight nodded slowly with a faraway look on her face, “That’s... well not impossible seeing as you exist... but really hard to believe. Ambient magic was only theorized to exist last year. That you prove it simply by existing is far-fetched.”

Day shrugged, “I’m only telling you what I know. It’s up to you to believe it or not.”

~()~

Day stared at the primer in annoyance. After four hours of attempting to puzzle out the symbols that comprised the complicated system of glyphs and symbols, he was no closer to understanding it than before. It didn’t help that he had no one to help him. Luna had left as soon as Twilight had decided to go to bed. Twilight was presumably asleep. He looked up at the clock only to realize that the numbers were unreadable. The only reason he could even tell time was because they were arranged in the same way as the analog clock he was accustomed to on Earth.

Day quietly closed the frustrating book and closed his eyes to think. He idly noted that he’s done so a lot over the last fortnight. This time his thoughts drifted to the forest and its interest in the pegasus Fluttershy. He opened his eyes, brought a panel online, and slowly started connecting all the information in his head like a puzzle.

He murmured quietly to himself while he toyed with the glyphs, “She’s really something. She acts like the forest scares her but she lives on the border. The forest itself likes her, well, tolerates her at least. I never actually got to ask about their ass tattoos... maybe that has something to do with it?

“The amount of times that she’s come up in conversation is interesting. Let’s say there is some over-arching design to all this. Luna brings her up and she’s apparently coming with us wherever we’re going.” Day needed to start another panel because he’s run out of room on the first to hold information. “She’s drawn to the forest and its drawn to her. She hides from her friends. Luna seems like she has some kind of... relationship with her - calling her dear at the very least implies they’re close. But do the rest of her friends know that?”

His panels expanded and fragmented into full information nets that ran the entire circumference to the room. The glyphs pulsed and shifted and changed rapidly as the connections and possibilities he considered came to him more quickly. Soon, he’d lost himself in his thoughts and flitted from one topic to another. The blue light of the ever shifting web flared brightly every few moments.

“The orange pony, Applejack, she backed up the blue pegasus Rainbow Dash. On the walk back they remained a foot from one another. The white unicorn Rarity stuck near Twilight. Twilight followed me the closest beside Pinkie Pie. Rarity watched Pinkie Pie closely when she turned around and threatened me with rape. Applejack watched Rarity. Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy oddly. She might know something - or suspects it.”

Day had long since started speaking to himself at a normal volume and his web had brightened enough to light the room brightly. He didn’t notice Twilight behind him until she gasped. He ignored her and continued.

“Pinkie Pie isn’t what she looks like. Can’t be. Even with magic, she can’t know what she did - unless she was meant to know. Again, evidence of God or the Creator or something orchestrating this. Which makes me wonder if Celestia was too. Honestly, she could have committed suicide millions... billions... of years before s-

“What!?” Twilight’s shrill yell snapped him out of his thoughts. Around him, the carefully constructed web of information wavered and sparked. With a final flare of light, the web collapsed inward and condensed until it comprised a single rune on a single panel.

“Princess Celestia would never do that!” Twilight’s horn lit up and she lowered her head aggressively. Day watched incredulously as the unicorn burst into red flames that quickly changed to white and then finally a deep violet. Impossibly, the wood and other flammables around her were completely unharmed by the magical inferno. Day remained completely frozen on the spot. He could feel the magic coming from Twilight like waves crashing against him.

“What are you?! You show up in the forest, IN THE EVERFREE, and you claim a link to it. You have this impossible story about time travel, and the Princess, and Earth. You make art from light and magic and you lie about my friends. And on top of everything, you think the Princess should KILL HERSELF!?”

Her flames flared brighter for a moment before dying completely. As suddenly as her anger had come, it disappeared in the wake of something more disturbing - sadness. She looked at him pleadingly, “What’s going on...? You can’t be serious about the Princess... tell me you don’t really think that.”

Unexpected

Day's panel flickered and then died out. Internally he berated himself, he couldn’t believe how careless he had been. How could he have gotten so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t realize she might walk in at any moment and hear him. He searched futilely for something to say but couldn’t think of anything meaningful or even coherent. Nothing he could possibly say would end well or at least in a way that would work well, especially if he needed to hide things from her like Princess Luna asked of him. It might have been an act, though he didn’t believe it, that she was putting on to get him to tell her more about himself and his past. Still, he couldn’t leave her so distraught. After a minute of internal struggle and awkward silence that left him uncomfortable he couldn’t think of anything else he could do, so he did the right thing.

“Sit down. This is going to take some explaining.” Day sat down on a cushion at a table and pulled another one in front of him. He leaned against a table as Twilight slowly and cautiously approached him. Before she could sit, they heard a knock at the door. Day looked at the clock in surprise.

“It’s the middle of the night...” He growled, “Do people... ponies... come here this late usually?” He started worrying that the unintended lightshow he’d just put on had drawn attention to the library. The last thing he wanted was some kind of spectacle made of him and the oddity he admitted he was.

“No...” Twilight replied quietly. She crossed the room to the door and peered out a peephole. She suddenly yanked the door open and pulled a pony in - an impossibly pink and bouncy one.

“Pinkie! What are you doing here?!” Twilight questioned her friend tiredly. Her expression smoothly shifted to mild exasperation and she cut Pinkie Pie off before she could even begin speaking, “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Can you come back later? When it’s day time?”

Day titled his head and watched the pair. Twilight seemed to have an air of patient annoyance around her, as if she were barely reining in a wish to lecture Pinkie Pie. He supposed that for such an analytical pony, Pinkie Pie was the ultimate in mindblowing happenings and conversations - not the best thing to deal with in the wee hours of the morning. Pinkie Pie was different than the evening before. She still had a big smile on her face and her eyes seemed alight with happiness but there was something else there: something alien and off. She looked haunted.

Day interrupted, “I think she should stay...” Both mares looked at him simultaneously, one with gratitude and the other with mingled anger and exasperation.

“Thanks, Day! You’re the only one that lets me ignore the Machine. That’s never happened before - can I marry you?” She quietly bounced over to Day’s side and laid down next to him on a magenta pillow that had suddenly materialized beside him.

Twilight shook her head and closed the front door before sitting down. Day would have answered back jokingly to Pinkie’s request under normal circumstances but her words were making serious alarm bells go off within him. It wasn’t helping that the alien look in her eyes had changed to a complete and all-encompassing feeling coming from her.

“Of course he won’t Pinkie. You can’t just go asking anypony that.” Twilight answered after a few seconds of silence. Day shook his head.

“Hold on a minute...” Day said quietly. Twilight gaped at him incredulously, “Don’t look at me like that. I don’t mean marrying her.”

Pinkie Pie shuffled closer to his side and bumped up against his metal hips. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Day made a note to change his clothes soon he only just realized how tattered they seemed after running through the forest.

“What’s the Machine?” Day asked Pinkie. He unconsciously emphasized the word. It had power - meaning beyond what it literally defined.

Pinkie Pie shuddered, shook her head, and closed her eyes. Her voice was perfectly flat and emotionless when she replied, “You know it. You saw it. In the cold, cold, lonely, lonely, dead, dead void.”

Twilight stared at her friend almost fearfully. The penultimate word Pinkie spoke was heavy - literally so. Around them, the air crushed inward and became utterly cold and still for the briefest of moments. Instinctually, she knew no mere magic could conjure up the effect she just felt and it was terrifying.

Day looked into Pinkie Pie’s eyes for a moment longer, into the alien presence and intelligence that hid behind the facade of happiness, joy, and laughter.

“Yes.”

“What?!” For the second time that night, Twilight’s angry cry filled the library. She stared at her friends and Day like they were insane. She looked back and forth between Day’s serious face and Pinkie’s unusually serious and thankful one so quickly Day wondered how her neck didn’t snap.

“I’ll explain, if you let me. I wasn’t before but... things just changed. There’s nothing I can do about Celestia’s order to you, at least in the legal sense, but honestly I don’t care. So, would you like to know what’s going on. Really going on?”

He continued before she could even respond, “Princess Luna defied God. And I don’t mean in the way you’re thinking. From what I understand, you have two goddesses that are your rulers. In my old world, they would rate as minor demi-gods - the spawn of the true God. Not just a being that controls the sun or moon or night sky, but one who created everything. One who made complexity, causality, reality - the stuff everything can exist within and the conceptualization of reality in the first place. It is the first observer and the last.

“Honestly, I didn’t believe Luna when she told me about this. Even if the idea exists in my old world, believing it is something entirely different than understanding it. Too many things that are happening that are coincidence; but too much has happened for me to ignore this anymore. This whole thing started, from my perspective, three to four days ago. Something, presumably God, took me from my home and killed me. Tortured me. And left me in the void. It was horrible.”

Day paused for a moment to push the memories away. Twilight immediately filled the silence with questions, “Where were you from? What’s torture? What’s this void?”

Day replied, “I was from a planet named Earth, assuming this is the same universe, it’s somewhere out there.” He pointed up through the roof. “As for time, I don’t know anymore. I spent a long time in the void, I know it was a long time but not how long, there is nothing there. You are nothing when you’re there. When I woke up in the forest the first time, I could have been older than Celestia or a few minutes older than when I was killed. I don’t know when I am.

“I... don’t know if you’re serious about that second question. You don’t know what torture is?” Day asked.

“I’ve never heard of the term. So no.” Twilight replied. Day looked down at Pinkie Pie and she shook her head. Day was surprised, he at least expected the pony that knew so much of what she should not know to know.

“Then I’m not telling you.” Twilight opened her mouth to protest but Day held up a hand. “No. I know this seems silly and arbitrary but I refuse to introduce such an evil concept to you. I’ll speak to Luna about it, but I won’t be responsible for contaminating your culture with something so... sick and disgusting.”

“For your last question... I don’t know what it is. It just exists. Or doesn’t. I don’t know. I can’t explain it. It’s like being in a box in the dark without knowing you're in a vacuum sealed box except you don’t think the box is there when it really is there while not actually being there.”

“What?” Twilight deadpanned. Her confused expression was back. Day shook his head.

“Told you. Moving along. Luna went head to head with God and she won. She broke its plans, changed everything. She knew what was going to happen to Celestia and she knew that I was the only chance she would have to change anything. She didn’t explain why, just said that I was part of God’s original plan for their lives.”

Twillight interrupted, “So Princess Celestia-”
“I don’t know. According to Luna, everything is in disarray. Nothing is set in stone anymore. We’re making a new future now. The end point will always be the same but our path, our actions - those are going to be different.”

“So now we’re here. Luna didn’t want to involve anyone, well, except for Fluttershy I guess and I think you heard what I thought about that, right?” Day waited and was rewarded with a nod in confirmation.

“You weren’t supposed to be in on this, I wasn’t clear why, but now you are. Honestly, I don’t think we could stop you if you really wanted to interfere. Luna says the future is completely uncertain, but she’s acting like she knows exactly what’s going to happen.” He paused for a moment. “Well, she does, but only to a certain extent. Point is, I’m arbitrarily adding you to the party.”

Pinkie made a series of celebratory sounds and held up a cardboard sign that read “Congratulations! Twilight Sparkle has joined the party! All characters gain +10% bonus to experience gain!”

Day looked at the sign and snorted. Twilight looked confused.

“As for Pinkie... I’m not going to marry her. Hmm, that might be interesting though... but anyway, I’m not marrying her. She’s being exposed to the void and I won’t let that continue. If that means she needs to stay near me, then so be it. I won’t let anyone be hurt by it after I spent so long there...”

Pinkie Pie repeated her music from before and somehow changed the words on the sign to read “Congratulations! Pinkie Pie has joined your party! All characters gain Laughter Aura and Day Roark gains his first wife! Day receives a +15% bonus to staying power!”

Twilight looked confused again. Day looked up at the sign and choked.

“What!?”

Author's Note

And absolutely nothing can go wrong from this point on.

Thanks to DVAN56 for pointing out an error.

Recruiting (Or Day is a Crazy Person)

The night ended quickly after Day’s story. Twilight excused herself to go to bed and offered Pinkie Pie her guest bed for the night. Day was surprised to learn that she had no guest room, rather she roomed her guests in her own loft.

Pinkie Pie dragged him up the stairs to the room and forced him to stay there for the last few hours of darkness. Day felt awkward sitting at Pinkie’s bedside and watching her and Twilight sleep. He felt like he was stalking them or something, he felt like a creeper. It didn’t help that Pinkie Pie had pulled out a little statuette and placed it on her bedside table on her other side - a suspiciously boxy, green statuette.

Before Twilight had fallen asleep, he made sure that she was okay with him staying in the room. She had shrugged and replied, “Well, I guess so. If Pinkie trusts you... and you’re married... or whatever it is - joined to your party. Then it’s fine.”

He couldn’t even think aloud for fear of awaking either mare up. It was a boring few hours.

When the first rays of light finally broke over the horizon, Day stood up. His metal body didn’t seem to be at all stiff or achy despite having sat perfectly motionless for three hours. His eyes didn’t have any difficulty staring into the bright morning sunlight either. If he hadn’t had his new body forced upon him, he would have spent more time admiring how much better it was compared to his old one. He quietly exited the room and made his way to the first floor. A bit of exploration yielded a bathroom on the far side of the tree. He entered and closed the door quietly.

He looked around for a moment. It was similar to his apartment’s bathroom. Along a wall, there was a shower tub combo, on the other a sink and toilet faced the door. Both were lower to the ground. The sink didn’t have handles but instead had buttons. He pushed the right button. It clicked into place and cold water came out of the spigot. The left turned on hot water. It seemed there were only three temperatures.

The shower controls were arranged the same way with the exception of a slider beneath the two binary choices. Quick experimentation told him it controlled the temperature of the water more finely than the simple arrangement of the sink.

Before he started stripping down, he came to a realization.

“Oh fuck me! I don’t have my bag.” He’d left his bag at Fluttershy’s cottage. He hadn’t expected Luna to essentially kidnap him. He’d planned on staying with her for a while. He snorted, “Well so much for that idea. I’ll just have to shower now and get a change of clothes later.”

He stripped down and got under the shower. In a few moments, the water washed away the dirt and grit that had somehow latched itself to his smooth metal skin. It took a few moments before he realized three crucial things. First, he had no... orifices... other than his ears, eyes, and mouth. Second, he was extremely disturbed by a certain part of his male anatomy not having a hole. Third, he felt a pony hugging him from behind.

~_~

Twilight looked at Day and Pinkie Pie amusedly. Currently, they were at the breakfast table waiting for Spike to come down to eat.

“Oh come on, Day, it wasn’t so bad was it. It was just a hug. In the shower. Wet.” Pinkie Pie was standing on the ceiling with her suction cup horseshoes. Her puffy mane defied gravity and remained exactly normal on her head. She was looking down on Day who was attempting to hide under the too-low table.

“Bullshit! That was freaking disturbing. Your hooves were moving down! Down!” Day looked up at Pinkie and glared. The second he’d registered that the pony that had joined him in the shower was Pinkie Pie he’d run away screaming (like a little girl). He still hadn’t forgotten the disturbing face she’d displayed in the forest.

He shuddered, “Just. Don’t do that again! Keep your hooves to yourself and yourself out of my shower.” He was prevented from continuing by the sound of steps coming down from Twilight’s room. He looked over and quirked an eyebrow.

“What the hell is that?” He asked.

Twilight looked at him oddly before remembering he hadn’t met Spike yet. “This is Spike. He’s my assistant here in the library and my adopted brother.”

“Huh. I didn’t expect that at all. How exactly are you supposed to help me and Luna if you’re taking care of a kid?” He questioned.

Twilight’s eyes widened, “I hadn’t thought of that! I can’t just leave Spike here alone...”

“What’s everypony talking about? And is that the human?” Spike sat down and stared at Day. Apparently, it was a common occurrence for Pinkie to be on the ceiling because he didn’t even look up at her. Presumably, Day was the far more interesting occurrence. Day got the impression that Spike was very laid-back - chill - and he could probably get along with him. It helped that he was a male dragon. Day was getting tired of everyone being female.

“Yup! That’s Day. He’s a super powerful, super smart human-elf-god from another world and he’s here to change reality! Isn’t this great! And he’s married to me!” Pinkie chirped from the ceiling.

Spike blinked and opened his mouth then closed it. He blinked again, “You married Pinkie Pie?”

Day let his head slam on the table, leaving a dent. “Of all the things you could have asked about, marrying Pinkie Pie is the one you’re curious about?”

Twilight spoke up, “Well... we’ve already fought and defeated two gods. My friends and I defeated Nightmare Moon and with Discord, Spike helped a bit. Not to mention some of the stuff we all do like negotiating with buffalo and almost destroying the town with spells and potions.”

Spike interrupted, “Annnnnd marrying Pinkie Pie is crazy. No offense Pinkie Pie.”

She winked at him, “No problem! It is crazy. And he’s crazy. So am I. It works out.”

Day was sure he’d have had a headache if he was still human. As it was, the forest had to send him calming feelings through their link to keep him from ruining the table with repeated head bangs.

“I take it back, this is the most screwed up thing I’ve ever had happen to me. Screw everything else that’s happened. I’m talking to a purple unicorn, a pink pony on the ceiling, and a purple and neon green lizard about marrying a crazy person.” Day sat up, “You know what. I’m just going to go with it. It’s either break down - again - or adapt.”

Spike nodded, “Yeah, that’s everypony’s reaction when they move to Ponyville.”

Day looked at Twilight, “Well, you might as well bring him along. I’m sure I can convince Luna to let you two come, why not one more?”

Twilight looked apprehensive, “I don’t know. I don’t want him to get hurt...”

Spike snorted, “Twilight, I’m not a baby anymore. I may look small but while you were off in Canterlot because of Discord I was perfectly fine looking after myself. I’m a dragon, I’ll be fine.”

Twilight shook her head but Pinkie Pie interrupted her rejoinder, “Let him come, Twilight! He can have so much fun! Just think of all the gems we’ll find on the moon! Oooh, and he can send ice sample from the rings of Effon straight to Celestia! Do it! For science!”

She walked across the ceiling and down the wall while Twilight deliberated. She took off her shoes and sat next to Day who started petting her mane. She purred happily. After a few moments, Day realized that Pinkie had once again made an impossible statement. He wasn’t sure if it was a bad thing that he didn’t even react.

“Fine... Spike can come.” Twilight said. Spike pumped his fist.

Pinkie raised a sign. “Congratulations! Spike has joined your party! All members gain +5% attack power! Spike is invulnerable to fire!”

Day didn’t even blink.

Author's Note

A few more chapters and we'll start the adventure.

I need a vote. CMC or no CMC? Tally will be below.

Yes: 5
No: 0

You know. I probably should have guessed this outcome. Let the foal x alien shipping begin!
[\spoiler]

Recruiting (Or Day Resigns Himself)

Breakfast proceeded surprisingly well after their party recruitment shenanigans. With two ponies to feed, Spike decided hay waffles were the order of the day. Of course, Day didn't partake of the fluffy goodness. He felt vague disappointment that he wouldn't ever eat again. As an experiment, he'd tried a waffle - unfortunately it was like sucking on sand. It was tasteless and dry - even with syrup. He supposed it was convenient that he didn’t need to take the time, but he was still waiting for breakfast to end regardless. If he had to wait for others to eat, he should at least be able to enjoy a breakfast with them.

While he waited, Day contemplated how exactly he’d break the news to Luna that he’d essentially wrecked all her plans by inviting Pinkie Pie and Twilight and Spike along. He was fairly sure that she hadn’t expected to be accompanied by anyone but him. She would probably punch him. In the teeth.

“How do you all think I should tell Luna about this?” He asked the group who was just finishing their food and taking their plates to the kitchen sink. “She was pretty serious when she said that Twilight would wreck her plans, but I don’t think she even thought I’d add so many more people.”

Twilight started washing the dishes in the sink with her magic and stood against the counter while Spike and Pinkie were in the other room. She looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking.

“Well, just tell her the truth. I forced your hand and I was about to melt you into a pool of glowing metal. I was completely overwrought because I was eavesdropping and heard something I shouldn’t have. That way, she understands that this was all unavoidable.”

Day looked at her skeptically, “And inviting everyone else along?”

She shrugged and dried off three plates simultaneously, “I have no idea how you’ll explain that. I’m sure you’ll think of something clever.”

Day snorted, “Well that was surprisingly helpful.”

He decided to change the subject to something Twilight might actually be able to help him with, “I have a semi-important few questions for you. Why do you have tattoos on your butts? And how are wings sexual objects?”

Twilight’s reaction was highly amusing. Her eyes widened and the plates and rags froze in the air surrounded by her magical aura. She spluttered for a moment, completely unprepared for the abrupt subject change. Day considered it fair play when she didn’t have any really useful advice for him.

“You... what... why do you know that wings are sexual objects?” Twilight stammered. Day looked away suddenly regretting bringing up this specific topic.

“Well... I kind of... played with Luna’s wings while she was sleeping.” Day replied.

Twilight’s shock must have ruined her magical control because her horn’s light flickered and went out. The aura surrounding the plates followed a moment later and the plates and rags fell to the floor with a loud clatter.

“You WHAT?” Twilight exclaimed.

Pinkie and Spike entered the kitchen, drawn by her shout. They watched Day with interest. It wasn’t hard to figure out he had done something. Again.

He ignored Twilight’s outburst and turned to Pinkie and Spike, “Hey you two. Twilight was just going to explain why ponies have tattoos on their butts.”

“No! No-no-no! You do NOT get to just get out of this! You molested Princess Luna!” Twilight exclaimed from behind him. Before anyone could react, they heard the sound of the front door opening. Day looked up at the ceiling and mouthed thank you.

~`~

Day had spoken way too soon. He wasn’t sure how things had gotten so out of hand so quickly but he blamed Twilight. Her outburst had been loud - loud enough to be heard outside. It just so happened that the visitor to the treehouse library had not been an adult but rather three impressionable fillies. Of course, the three small ponies wanted to know what molestation was and why Twilight was yelling about it.

It said something about the average Ponyvillian’s mindset that they didn’t spare Day’s appearance a second glance. Obviously, they were used to weird things or ponies (people) showing up in town. Day noticed that the three girls didn’t have their ass tattoos.

“So, he,” the orange pegasus looked at Day with an expression approaching awe, “touched Princess Luna’s wings? And he wasn’t sent to the moon?”

“Wait, that’s a thing? Being sent to the moon?” Day asked incredulously. He couldn’t believe that the moon could possibly be a good prison. Perhaps he was being naive, but he refused to believe that the ponies had some kind of death penalty. It didn’t fit with their generally cute and innocent demeanor.

“I mean, she chased me into the forest. And tried to fry me with plasma once...” Day trailed off and finished contemplatively, “No, Luna wouldn’t do something like that. She knows what it’s like.”

The sudden mood change was a bit difficult for the group to take and they looked at Day’s serious expression in surprise.

“What?” The pegasus asked. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, all things considered - Pinkie Pie answered.

“Don’t worry, Scootaloo, Day’s just being a Gloomy McGloomypants about Princess Luna being the Mare on the Moon.” Pinkie Pie chirped. Unoticed by the rest of the room, her eyes flicked to Day’s and she shook her head minutely. Day got the message.

He nudged Twilight beside him and motioned with his head toward the three fillies.

“So, what did you three need this morning?” Twilight asked them. Day couldn’t help but ask immediately afterward why they weren’t in school.

“Today’s a weekend!” The yellow filly exclaimed. She had an amusing look on her face that resembled panic.

“We need a few books, Ms. Sparkle. And Rarity wanted to see you... she said she wanted to talk about-” The unicorn filly made some kind of gesture with her hooves, “‘that strange blue creature that disappeared from Fluttershy’s cottage’.”

Day laughed, “I’m not strange! I’m... uh... different.” The entire room, even the fillies, gave him a dubious look. He couldn’t help but laugh that Pinkie was shaking her head with a look of disappointment on her face.

“Stop looking at me like that!”

~`~

Day wasn’t entirely sure why the entire group decided to go see Rarity at once, but he couldn’t exactly complain. The distance from the forest seemed to seriously curtail his link to it, to the point where he actually felt lonely. Not just the normal loneliness he’d felt before, but more like the traumatizing entirely horrible and inescapable loneliness of the void. It made him more than slightly uncomfortable - which was why he was actually enjoying the walk to the brightly colored and oddly shaped shop Rarity called home.

The town itself was about as normal as he could have expected. The shadowy silhouettes he’d observed the night before were brightly colored in the daylight. He shouldn’t have been surprised but like most things he’d seen, the houses, shops, and stalls were strangely reminiscent of home - or at least their general shape were. The detail work everything sported seemed like a blend of Candyland and a throwback to 15th century peasant villages. All the buildings had thatched roofs, they all had large detailed wood trimming around the edges of the houses, and each one was painted in impossibly bright colors yet matte colors. Like most things pony, everything was slightly lower to the ground than he was used to. He hadn’t spared it a thought before, but he definitely needed to be careful entering and exiting doors. If he had been human, his height would not have been at all a problem. Now... well, now he was at least seven feet tall.

He took comfort in the fact that the buildings seemed to be multi-floored. He briefly wondered why a race of quadrupeds would even want to complicate their lives with stairs (clearly easier to navigate as a biped) but he figured they had a good reason and resolved to ask another time. Along that vein, a pile of questions had started to appear in his mind; despite having been thrown into the whole situation blind he was still curious about the world around him. He decided to break into the idle conversation around him.

“So... no one explained to me why you all have ass tattoos.” None of the ponies reacted to his language. Apparently, human curses didn’t seem to follow him into this world. He filed another question away about pony curses that he’d ask later when there weren’t any impressionable youth around.

“What are ya’ talkin’ about? Nopony has donkey tattoos.” The yellow filly - Applebloom - Day remembered. Her and her friends’ names had come up in conversation while they were walking.

Day pointed to Twilight’s flank and the large pink star upon it, “I mean that thing.”

“That’s her cutie mark! It symbolizes her special talent.” Sweetie Belle explained. She shuffled around to show him her flank, “Nopony gets one until they know what their special talent is. Ms. Sparkle’s cutie mark means that her special talent is magic.”

All of a sudden a confused expression plastered itself across her face, “Wait... Ms. Sparkle... what exactly does that even mean? Is it a special kind of magic? Or all magic?”

Twilight tripped and stumbled for a moment and replied haltingly, “N-n-no nothing... like that... “ She looked away uncomfortably. By this point they were close to Rarity’s Boutique and Twilight was saved from having to explain.

Day wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking at. The building looked like a tall carousel - the kind of cheap looking ones you find in malls. It looked ridiculous. He barely controlled his laughter and interrupted Twilight’s non-answers.

“What...,” he snorted, “is that? Rarity works here? It looks like crap.”

Twilight sent him a grateful look.

“Yeah, I think the same thing when Sweetie Belle invites me over.” Scootaloo said. Day raised an eyebrow and she spoke before he could, “Not sure what ‘crap’ is but I can tell when somepony is trying to keep from laughing. Mom is like that all the time.”

“Oh good, so its not just me.” Day replied.

Sweetie Belle looked like she wasn’t sure to be insulted or not.

“Wait... you live here? Is Rarity your sister?” Day asked her.

“Yeah, and she’s going to yell at me now that I brought you here. She hates when anypony laughs at the shop. It came this way! She had to name the shop after it.”

“Why would she yell at you?” Day asked in confusion.

Sweetie Belle looked away but didn’t have anytime to reply before Rarity appeared in the doorway of the shop and called out to them. Clearly, Day was the first being she saw because her face immediately morphed to something approaching disdain. He supposed it was to be expected. He hadn’t exactly been talkative when she was visiting Fluttershy. Mostly he’d stayed silent and tried to avoid looking at her.

“Sweetie Belle! When I asked you to find Twilight for me I didn’t mean for you to bring everypony along too!” She chastised while she approached the group.

Sweetie Belle looked away contritely. Unfortunately for her, she turned just so that Day couldn’t help but see an angry scowl on her face. He filed away the anomaly for later.

“It’s not her fault Rarity. Everypony just happened to be at the library when she and her friends gave us your message. I’m sorry if bringing everypony is a problem.” Twilight said. She gestured to the group, “Pinkie was sleeping over and, well, Day came back last night. And we need to talk.”

Rarity thought for a moment and nodded, “I suppose, that is acceptable. I guess we don’t need to spare much thought to him now that he’s returned.”

She turned and started walking back to the boutique, “Come in, we can sit in the studio and talk. Girls, Spike, why don’t you go out and play for a while?”

Day interrupted, “Actually, they need to be part of this too. Well... Spike does anyway. If you three would like to go that’s fine.” He smiled down at the fillies.

Pinkie Pie shook her head, “No... they need to be here too.”

Day blinked, “What? Hell no.”

Pinkie Pie looked up at him with the most adorable puppy eyes he’d ever seen. He lip slightly quivered.
“Oh come on! That’s not fair! Why do they need to be here, then?”

“Readership poll.” She replied in a solemn voice that utterly contrasted with the cute look she was using to bend him to her will.

It was at that moment that a rainbow colored streak slammed into his head from above.

~`~

“Fun fact, running into solid steel at speeds over 100 kilometers per hour is a sure way to commit suicide. How the hell are you even alive?” Day asked Rainbow Dash incredulously.

The group was scattered around Rarity’s studio while they waited for her to return with tea. The last few minutes had been extremely hectic. Rainbow Dash’s divebomb sneak attack was partially successful. He wasn’t exactly sure what she was really trying to accomplish, but she was at least able to knock him over. The sheer amount of torque that the collision had generated had been stunning. She’d knocked him off his feet and sent him skidding and tumbling for at least twenty feet where he came to rest in some rose bushes, further destroying his clothing.

Rarity had thrown a fit at the state of his dress when he managed to pull himself out. She momentarily overcame her dislike for him to offer her services as a seamstress only for Day to turn her down. He explained about his bag and walking stick that he left at Fluttershy’s cottage and what it contained. Momentarily appeased, the mare invited them in. Twilight had to carry Rainbow Dash inside with her magic - she’d been knocked out cold by the collision.

Day watched Dash slowly shake her head and wake up. He held off making anymore sarcastic comments.

“Pegasi magic helps them survive fatal collisions,” Twilight explained from a divan, “there are documented cases of pegasi crashing at speeds over 200 kilometers an hour with only a few broken bones.”

“Huh...” Rainbow Dash grunted, “Oh my head...”

She finally met Day’s eyes and groaned, “Oh what the buck! I didn’t even dent him?”

Day laughed, “Oi! Little filly ears are shattering!”

He pointed to the group of fillies sitting around a low table and asked Pinkie, “I’m assuming buck is the analogue to fuck?”

He wasn’t sure if she was the best to ask, but assuming she had knowledge she shouldn’t...

“Yeah, isn’t it weird how your world copies ours?” Pinkie question cheerfully.

“No. Yours copies ours.” Day replied firmly and immediately regretted it.

“I see, so your arbitrary distinction of “observer” automatically implies that you are not being observed? That there isn’t some television series called My Little Human: Violence is Commonplace? Isn’t that a little biased? You gotta open your eyes, maaaaaaan!”

She said the last bit in a slow drawl that reminded him of a hippy. Day just stared at her silently and tried not to go insane.

“What’s television?” Sweetie Belle asked. Her question saved Day’s sanity.

“See! See! You’re just trying to confuse me! There isn’t a TV show like that here!” Day exclaimed.

Pinkie just shook her head, “Silly filly, television hasn’t been invented yet.”

And there went his sanity again.

“What the buck are you two talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked with a hopelessly lost expression on her face.

Everyone was saved from having to continue when Rarity returned with a large tea set levitating at her side. She smiled at Rainbow Dash.

“It’s good to see you awake Rainbow Dash, but now that you’re here we can do something about that atrocious mess you’ve made of your mane.” She said. The tea set settled on the fillies’ table and nine tea cups were soon filled and given to everyone in the room.

Day leaned over and whispered in Pinkie’s ear, “So... is she always like that?”

“Mhmm, she’s the town fashionista. Oh, and gem master... and she’s the Element of Generosity.” Pinkie whispered back.

Day nodded and added another few question to his ever-growing list. That was the second time he’d heard the term “Element”. He could tell it was more than just the literal word - it had meaning that he didn’t quite understand yet.

Twilight cleared her throat, “Rarity, can we worry about that later? We have something kind of important to talk about right now.”

Both Rarity and Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight with slight surprise.

“What’s up Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked seriously.

Twilight opened her mouth once but nothing came out. She looked down contemplatively for a moment before turning to Day, “Wait a moment... do they need to know?”

“Twilight! We can’t go on a super awesome mega-adventure through time, space, and forest without inviting Rainbow Dash and Rarity!” Pinkie yelled before Day could reply, “That would be like... having a box of cupcakes and not sharing!”

Day rubbed his eyes habitually before realizing he didn’t get tired anymore and dropped his hands, “Ugh... this isn’t a field trip...”

He tried to think while Pinkie repeatedly poked him in the side. It was obvious what outcome she wanted.

“Yeah, fine. Go ahead...” Day sighed in defeat. He could see where this was going. It was all laid out in front of him. She would explain about his arrival to Equestria and how he interpreted it. She’d tell them Luna’s reaction to everything and the subsequent destruction of the timeline to save Celestia’s life. She’d make an inspirational speech about how it was the right thing to do to help him and Luna and why it had to be done by them. Inevitably, Rarity would need to bring along Sweetie Belle - which would necessitate the two others fillies asking their families if they could go.

And so it was.

There were a few things that Day for sure knew at the end of the conversation. First, Luna was going to murder him. Second, ponies were insane.

After all of Twilight’s explanation and story telling, only one thing really stuck.

“You married Pinkie?”

“Congratulations! Rarity has joined your party! All characters gain a +10% accuracy aura!”

“Congratulations! Rainbow Dash joined your party! Aerial reconnaissance unlocked! All characters are 20% cooler!”

“Congratulations! Sweetie Belle has joined your party! All characters gain a +5% boost to experience gain! Kldvi Hfrg unlocked!”

“Congratulations! Scootaloo has joined your party! All characters gain a +5% bonus to stealth!”

Recruiting (Or Day's Fan is Clogged) [Alternatively, it ALL escalated quickly]

Somewhere in the middle of Twilight’s speech of righteous duty, Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep. Day couldn’t blame her. Unfortunately for him, she woke up just as she was explaining about the night before and heard the tail end of the explanation about him and Pinkie Pie. Comically, her eyes bugged out of her head and she immediately shot up to the ceiling to glare down at him. Rarity was taking the “news” a bit better though she had a dark expression on her face as well.

“You married Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash asked. Her glare was like concentrated lasers.

“Dammit, Twilight...” Day murmured, “No. Why does nobody get this? How could we have gotten married? At best this is an engagement.” He didn’t realize what he said until it had already come out of his mouth. A loud gasp came from behind him.

“Day, do you really mean it! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, this is the best morning EVER!” Pinkie Pie bounced next to him excitedly. Rarity’s restrained expression blossomed into full blown hostility.

“God dammit. No. Noooo. I’m not engaged. I’m not married. Pinkie’s making this all worse.” Day said frantically. Rarity looked like she was about to spike him through the chest and roast him.

Beside him, Pinkie Pie deflated and she adopted her unfair puppy dog expression once again. Day saw it out of the corner of his eyes and had to resist the temptation to look at it full-on... that way led to madness. From the table, the fillies - joined now by Spike - looked like they were about to explode from suppressed laughter. Spike had tears flowing down his face and he silently shuddered where he sat next to Scootaloo. Day frantically thought for a way to get out of the situation.

“Umm... uh...” Day stood up slowly, “well, this escalated quickly. Why don’t I go to Fluttershy’s and get my stuff? And um, you guys can talk this over?”

He edged his way to the door without incident. A moment later he slipped out and sprinted away toward the library.

“Oh god, oh god, they’re going to kill me. Never mind I can’t actually be hurt but still.” He talked to himself as he sprinted. His enhanced reactions made it so it was effortless to dodge any pony that was in front of him. He eventually reached the library tree without incident and used the wide trunk to bleed off his extreme speed and momentum. When he stopped, he had to take a moment to reorient himself. He was once again within range of the forest and it had an hour or so of information to pass to him along with a myriad of emotions and impulses. The core-deep loneliness he’d felt before completely disappeared in the wake of his forest, his home. It didn’t even bother him that he felt more familiar with the forest than anything else he’d encountered on this world.

For a brief moment, he considered just running into the forest and leaving everything behind. He still had time to do so; Luna wasn’t back yet. He could hide. He could escape the insanity he’d found himself in and just tend to the forest like every instinct was telling him too.

But he didn’t. Once he was finished, once he was free of whatever destiny had in store for him, then and only then he could rest. The forest called to him, sang to him now but he’d made a promise and he was going to keep it.

He followed a hunch and queried the forest for Fluttershy’s cottage. Immediately, the forest gave him a reply and sent him its exact location in a combination of visual and emotional data. Day smiled, “So, you do watch over Fluttershy, don’t you... that’s why she’s never had a problem with you trying to kill her... why is that?”

He hadn’t expected an answer, but he received one in reply. It was a different voice than the one he heard before. It was the forest but also not of the forest, like it was disembodied. Considering the voice was already untethered from a corporeal form, he was unsure how he came to that specific impression but he just knew it was right.

We see her as our child, a perfect match for a union between the families of royalty, wilderness, understanding, and time. See what we know, Guardian.

He saw.

~{}~

The trip to Fluttershy’s cottage was very quick. Unsurprisingly, the distances that he remembered would take him awhile to traverse as a human were trivial in his new form. Despite casually sprinting at an excess of 30 kilometers an hour many times now, he hadn’t truly appreciated the speed he was moving. It would have been breathtaking had he still performed that function.

He walked up to Fluttershy’s door and knocked. Inside, heard the soft sound of hooves clopping against wood that paused at the door. Then he heard a voice he didn’t expect to hear.

“Hello?”

Internally, a little voice was screaming at him to run, run away quickly and not say anything. Of course, he didn’t listen.

“Luna? It’s Day. Why are you here? And talking through Fluttershy’s door? From the inside?” His rapid fire questions came in a very nervous voice that he was sure she would catch on to.

The door opened and Luna stepped out before shutting the door behind her. He could hear a second pony moving about frantically. The occasional bump or mutter could be heard through the door.

“We... I... well, that is...” Luna looked around shiftily before meeting his eyes, “I and dear Fluttershy are... together...”

Day seized on the opportunity. He was saved! He could hold off on telling her about the others. At best he was running on borrowed time, but who cared, it was another few precious minutes where he wasn’t running for his life. Idly, he marveled at how messed up his morning was.

“Wow... talk about a conflict of interest,” Day said. He tried to act nonchalant, “totally going on a dangerous adventure and the person you want on it is conveniently your...”

Luna looked away sheepishly, “Marefriend or consort. No, royalty doesn’t marry. We are immortal, marriage would be painful.”

“Hmm, gee I wish I cou-” Luna cut him off.

“Oh please, you were, what is the phrase?” She raised a hoof and tapped her chin contemplatively, “Forever alone, is how I believe you will put it?”

Day opened his mouth then closed it.

“Fuck.” He replied. Then a thought hit him. “Hold on a fucking minute. You already know don’t you...?”

Luna’s expression burst into blistering fury, “Since about the time you opened your mouth... I explicitly said not to involve Twilight Sparkle. AND YOU DID BESIDES! WITH ALL HER FRIENDS NO LESS! AND YOU TRIED TO HIDE IT FROM ME!”

He didn’t bother replying to Luna’s shout. The very earth shook with her anger. You don’t stand up to that. He ran like the wind, ran like the devil was after him, ran like his life depended on it.

Within a few steps he could see his shadow in front of him. From behind, a wave of light and heat was building where he had left Luna behind. He could feel what it was - plasma. Star matter. He ran away from the forest, if he was going to die then he’d protect his forest. The forest watched silently, but Day got the distinct impression that it was laughing at him. He could figure out what was so funny as he was about to be vaporized in a cloud of ionized air.

In the space of a few seconds, he had moved a hundred yards. A few more put a hundred more. It wasn’t enough. From behind, he felt the roiling magic suddenly shift away. In a moment of clarity through his panic, Day made a note to examine his ability to sense magic so finely. Then the panic crashed down upon him when Luna and her floating ammunition of star stuff materialized in front of him. Luna’s eyes were closed, wings flared, and her horn alight with a dark blue glow. She opened her eyes. They shined with the color of the swirling matter above her.

A bright, impossibly fast lance of plasma shot toward him and Day instinctively raised a hand to intercept it.

His metal skin danced with eldritch light and electricity and the lance bounced off the back of his hand. The skin quickly heated up, the blue turned a bright white and shined the light of molten metal. He couldn’t believe it, but the shining white didn’t melt immediately off but remained cohesive on his body. The pain was incredible, like sticking his hand into a campfire.

“Owwwwww, son of a bitch!” Day yelled and swore. The lance expended itself and impossibly, the metal of his hand cooled in a second. The pain disappeared and was replaced with a bone-deep stiffness. He could barely move his fingers.

Luna’s plasma storm started to flash lighting from the edges to the surrounding area. Lightning arced everywhere: into the ground, up into clouds, into his forest. The thunder cracks that accompanied the electrical discharges were enormously loud. Another plasma lance slammed into his opposite shoulder and leg before he could react. Pain and numbness soon followed the strikes. He barely paid attention. Internally, the forest’s amusement had disappeared with the first lightning strikes against the treetops. Day could barely feel his body now, so consumed he was with damage reports and the fury of the forest. His own anger mounted.

“Enough!” He yelled after the next lance against his chest coincided with a nasty multiple strike against a tree that sheltered the burrows of some little ones. Around him panels jumped to life, manipulated by sheer force of will, the panels drew on his body’s magic to block the strikes. On the edges of the forest, thin earthen spires shot up into the sky and started drawing away lightning strikes from the forest. Tangible filaments of blue and vermilion light wove themselves around Day’s body in a shimmering armor. Panels morphed from information carriers into weapons and shields that rotated around him.

The next lance of hot gas slammed into a floating concave hexagon and ricocheted into the sky. The impact gave off the solid clang of a bell. Day retreated into his mind. Something other took over.

Thousands of wisps flew out from the forest to whirl overhead. The phantom lights’ swirling patterns stopped and redirected lightning strikes back at the combatants where Day’s shield intercepted each one and redirected them out into the sky safely.

The weapons changed into more shields as Luna continued directing her impromptu cannon at him. Strikes came faster and faster until the shields could not stop every strike and a few made it through. Day retreated farther into his mind and the other took further control. The wisps tightened their swirling dome and began redirecting strikes back at Luna. He wings snapped out and the lighting fell upon her with no effect. He entire body lit with electricity but it was efficiently redirected into her plasma. Strikes continued unabated.

The other attempted to move on the offensive, and a few panels returned to weapons and shot toward Luna. Each triangle bristled with more light filaments that curved wickedly like shining brambles and thorns. Each blasted into Luna’s wing joints precisely where they folded against her side and whirled around, tearing away skin and muscles. The burrs barely had any effect on Luna’s concentration. He body regenerated as quickly as he could damage it.

Other grudgingly acknowledged the amount of skill and experience the goddess must have to ignore the damage he was doing to the most sensitive parts of her body while simultaneously controlling her plasma and reabsorbing lightning strikes like they were candy. It calculated for a moment.

The earthen spires compressed and crushed and hardened. The line of thin spires shifted to solid iron. The shift in the other’s attention cost it dearly.

Day returned to his body as multiple shields failed and his armor disappeared. The hexagons shuddered under the immense heat and kinetic force of the plasma lances before simply disappearing from existence. His entire body flared white under the un-countered onslaught. Just before he lost consciousness, he couldn’t help but think - Well... this sure escalated quickly.

Author's Note

When I went back and read this, I realized I added in a lot of cliffhangers.

Par for the course I guess.

Understanding

Waking up was unpleasant.

Day’s eyes opened with the quiet shriek of protesting metal. Abruptly, multiple streams of information assaulted him. Light stabbed his eyes painfully, and sound just as suddenly came back to him. He could hear ponies speaking around him, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying. The forest immediately began pumping emotional and technical information into his mind. His joints and limbs and torso actually felt like metal - he could barely move. Everything felt hard and stiff.

Everything was overwhelming and disorienting and he could barely concentrate. The voices around him seemed to raise in volume, pitch, and speed. Faces floated above him and looked down at him with concern. Day tuned out the sounds and images. His forest called to him - needed him. Day withdrew from external contact. His eyes closed and he instinctively shut off his ears. He couldn’t hear the tortured protest of bending metal as his humanoid form shifted into a nondescript cube of blue metal.

In the darkness of his mind, a world slowly came into being. it was small but it was his. Day stood, naked and human, in a clearing in his forest. The sky above was a calming clear azure and there was a pleasant breeze blowing into the clearing. Phantom lights floated up out of the ground and grass. They fell up into the sky to disappear from view.

Vermillion eyes opened at the edge of the clearing and a timberwolf entered. Day knew what it was, an avatar of the forest, the same one that had triggered his metamorphosis. Day approached it without fear, he could feel the forest’s need to have contact with him. He sat beside it and patted its rough bark.

The earlier rush of information slowly trickled over into him. The spires had done their job well. After he’d been flash-cooled unconscious, the plasma had dissipated into the sky and released a massive amount of heat and electricity. The spire had absorbed them all, redirected the excess energy into the ground, and remained standing. The forest edge had taken a fair bit of damage from lightning strikes before Day had moved to protect it. Little ones and larger animals had to abandon their homes for a time and the forest had barely stopped itself from catching fire and damaging itself further.

The forest relayed the ponies’ actions after Luna had calmed down. She and Twilight had levitated his body to Fluttershy’s cottage. Behind them, the earlier group - Pinkie, Spike, the Crusaders, Rarity, and Dash - trailed them and whispered among themselves. Of all the group, Pinkie and surprisingly Spike seemed to have worried angry expressions that they kept sending at Luna’s back. The forest immediately collected a pack of timberwolves and directed them to intercept the group at the cottage gate. Six wolves quickly exited the forest and met the ponies. They bowed their heads and waited for the ponies to react.

Luna bowed her head in return and turned to the group. She said something to the group and nodded to the timberwolves. The wolves turned around and walked up the path to the cottage. They laid down as a group just next to the front door. The ponies cautiously walked by them to enter the house.

The forest ran out of information for him when they entered. It had no direct way to observe the goings-on within Fluttershy’s home. Day received the final bit of information from the forest in silence. He had no real idea how to proceed now.

The timberwolf bumped his chest and nuzzled him. The forest spoke, Why are you here? You held such conviction before - nothing has changed.

Day quirked an eyebrow, “I just got the crap beat out of me...”

And you brought that on yourself, through your careless actions. The wolf seemed to give him a disapproving look.

“Well, she... she didn’t need to do that. She could have just... I don’t know... yelled or something.” Day said weakly. He didn’t want to come across as a being, well, butthurt but he couldn’t help it.

The timberwolf just stared at him and Day sighed.

“Yeah, yeah - I have to keep my end of the promise. It’s just... everything’s happening so fast. It’s been... what... five days?... since I got here.”

Things are only going to get worse from here, Champion. Take it in stride. The forest will always be here for you. Now go...

~*~

Day opened his eyes and realized that he was in a very odd state. Conveniently, he was in front of a mirror. As a shapeshifter, he hadn’t really put much thought into just what he could turn into. His sole experience was changing back into a simulacrum of his human form. In the mirror, he beheld himself as a cube - a literal box with eyes on a featureless face.

He blinked in shock, “What the fuck?”

His voice seemed to emanate from nowhere - he had no mouth. He didn’t know how he could hear himself without ears, but he figured there was some kind of logical explanation. He felt hooves pick him up and turn him around.

“Day! You’re alright!” He stared into Pinkie’s cyan eyes. Her mane was straight and hung limply from the crown of her head. He could see it slowly fluffing up and reverting to her usual style.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Day said quietly, “You don’t look so good Pinkie...”
Pinkie smiled and her mane puffed up more, “Typical, you get blown up and you what to know if I’m alright...”

Day blinked, “I don’t think that’s exactly-”

“Shut up and run with it, Day.” Pinkie cut him off.

She placed him on a table facing everyone else in the room. Everyone in the room was staring at him with confused expressions on their faces. He didn’t really blame them.

“Alright, this can’t be the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen.” Day said grumpily. Their stares were unnerving.

Day considered them for a moment before doing the equivalent of a mental shrug and shifted form again. Instead of his human or elfin form, he decided to try something new. The cube elongated and sprouted legs. A head and neck shot out and features fully formed. After a few more seconds, his form stabilized into that of a pony - a blue metallic stallion.

The earlier stiffness seemed to have completely left him because he felt no resistance when he stepped off the table. He walked around in a circle and examined his backside. After the first rotation, he fell over.

“How the hell do you walk like this? Gravity is all weird.” Day complained. He hadn’t looked at the ponies in the room. He was too busy trying to regain his balance. The silence was getting to him.

He looked at the ponies again, “Alright. What? What’s wrong now?”

Spike surprised Day again by speaking for the group, “I think you broke them... how are you so calm right now?”

“Huh... well, normally I’d be freaking out but I’m not normal anymore and honestly, so much fucked up shit’s happened in the last few days I’m done freaking out about it. I’m pretty sure I could watch you all have an orgy or something and be completely okay with it.”

Day probably should have engaged his mental filter before speaking because that seemed to bring the ponies out of their stupor.

Rarity looked at him scandalized, “You could see us WHAT?!” The ponies around the room looked at each other with varying looks of disgust and nervousness. “We would NEVER do something like that.”

Day tried to shrug but found he couldn’t in this pony form. He concentrated for a moment before shifting smoothly into his tall, elfin body. He shrugged and looked down.
“Whatever, just an example, though Spike looks interested.” The mares in the room immediately turned to Spike to glare at him. Day snickered. “I need some clothes.”

He looked around for his bag. It was against a wall on the far side of the room next to Fluttershy and Luna. He stood up and walked over to them for his bag. Both tensed up and watched him approach nervously. Day kneeled in front of them and pulled his bag over. He could feel the tension in the room. It was like everyone expected him to attack them or something. He searched through the bag for a moment and pulled out a vacuum sealed bag with a change of clothing, suspiciously the correct size for his elfin form. He hadn’t had the time to notice this detail when he’d looked through the bag the first time. The tension mounted when he ripped open the bag and he just couldn’t take anymore.

“Alright, let’s get this cleared up now then. You guys are making me nervous. I’m not going to attack Luna. She’s not going to attack me,” He gave her a significant look, “again. Would you all just calm down? I’m just getting clothing.”

“You have to admit, anypony else would be angry right now - furious.” Twilight spoke up. Luna interrupted her before she could continue.

“They don’t really understand you, Day. It’s normal to fear you, at least for now.” Luna said quietly. She still had a tense and nervous expression on her face but she did her best to suppress it.

“Hell, I don’t understand me. This is all just too much for me to deal with. The only way I’m going to handle all this is just accepting it and moving on.”

He pulled on a shirt and the rest of his clothing silently. When the rest of the room decided he wasn’t going to spontaneously explode on them they started to relax. Day decided to move the conversation along, “Alright. So what now?”

“We are going to see Applejack and ask her to join us.” Luna said. She looked frustrated, “Now that everypony in the room knows about our... mission... it would be folly not to have all the Elements accompany us. Better to have them all join us than to separate them and lose such a valuable resource.”

Day nodded sat on a cushion, "So... before we go, just to confirm, are you not going to kill me now?”

The previous calm was replaced by confusion and tension. Before Luna could answer Rainbow Dash made a frustrated whine.

“Oh come on! Stop changing topics so fast!”

Pinkie Pie giggled, “See, he’s the perfect husband for me.”

“Nope! Not husband. Stop it Pinkie!” Day exclaimed to head off any conversation down that topic.

Luna sighed minutely and replied, “No. We... are sorry for Our actions. We should not have attacked you so - or harmed the Everfree.”

Day nodded, “Good enough for me.”

Congratulations! Her Highness Luna has joined your party! All characters gain "Confused as Hell" status. Please visit the [ERROR] to associate.

Congratulations! Fluttershy has joined your party! All characters gain Beaskspeak Translation Aura! Talk to ALL THE PONIES!

Author's Note

If you can't tell, I'm a bad hand at pacing.

Applegate

“No fucking way. No. FUCKING. Way.” Day said deadpan. He was staring at a wooden ring. It was made of some kind of organic substance, but it wasn’t any kind he could recognize. It was bright red, the color of a fire engine, and it had no grain. He would not have been able to identify it had he not been specifically told what it was by the Apple family’s eldest and most genius son.

That was another thing that was bothering him. Day could not believe anything that had happened in the last hours of daylight of his sixth day in this world.

When they’d arrived at the farm he hadn’t expected much more than the hasty descriptions the ponies he followed gave him. It was an apple orchard, the Apple family ran it, they sold apple products to half of Equestria. It seemed fairly normal, all things considered. So after an explanation by Luna and Twilight about what was going on, what had happened in the last two days, and their offer to Applejack and her sister Applebloom of a spot in their group he expected a fairly quiet evening getting ready for the adventure.

What he’d actually received was a crash course in trans-dimensional warp fields and and nth planar temporal displacement. His new friends had forgotten to inform him that the Apple family’s eldest son was a mathematical and scientific prodigy. Who’d built a portal. With Pinkie’s help.

And he wanted to come along.

The red stallion remained silent at his side and chewed his stalk of hay thoughtfully. On his other side, Spike nonchalantly chewed on an emerald. Day wasn’t exactly sure where he’d gotten it but he wasn’t about to ask.

“So... you built a Stargate. Out of wood. And you need me to move it into the forest so we can gather enough power to turn it on.” Day said flatly. “Are you insane?”

“Eenope.”

“Great.”

~^~

“So that’s what Luna’s attempting, Applejack. We’d really like it if you could come along. We know it’s just the start of the growing season, but with time travel, that won’t really matter anyway...” Twilight finished.

Applejack rubbed her chin thoughtfully with a hoof. She looked at her family in the room. Granny Smith was sleeping soundly in her rocker - no help from her in decision making. Applebloom was giving her puppy dog eyes.

“No offense, Princess, but is bringing along three fillies an’ a baby dragon really a good idea?” Applejack questioned. She didn’t want to bring her little sister along. Unfortunately, she could tell without even looking that she wouldn’t have Big Mac’s agreement for this adventure.

“We...” Luna paused. Pinkie was incessantly poking the base of her wings, “Yes, Pinkie Pie?”

“The fillies need to come with us! Applebloom has a highway to find, Sweetie Belle needs to meet some aliens, and Scootaloo... is a ninja... You wouldn’t stop three fillies from meeting their destiny would you?!”

Pinkie Pie finished with a flourish and gathered the three fillies in question to make a quadruply-strong puppy dog face.

Day couldn’t help but note that it was a bit more threatening and disturbing than it was cute.

Luna seemed to be at a loss, “No?”

Applejack shook her head and sighed, “Does nopony see how this is a bad idea?”

The rest of the group shuffled their hoofs, claws, or feet and refused to make eye contact with anyone else. Day could see the cogs in her head making connections.

“Fine... fine... me an’ Applebloom with with y’all. Somepony’s got ta keep you all level-like.”

“Ah’m coming too...” The deep bass voice from the side startled the group, well, the group minus Luna. The red stallion leaned forward and looked everyone in the eye. “Y’all are going to be traveling through time and space and that’s always been ma dream. Now, I won’t claim to understand everything that’s goin’ on but if ya need a way to move through time, I got it.”

Luna didn’t look at all surprised to hear that a farmpony had access to a time machine. Day narrowed his eyes and resolved to ask her later if this had been originally part of her plan.

“Uh... right... just how exactly did you come across this time machine?” Day asked carefully.

“Ah built it a’course.” The stallion replied.

Applejack was shaking her head, “Big Mac... your fancy mathematics can’t help us here. This is pure magical stuff.”

Day snorted. If this stallion really had built a time machine, it wasn’t merely “fancy” it was miraculous.

“Alright, let’s hear it then. How’d you build it, Mr. Big Mac.”

“Well, it’s like this...”

~^~

After an hour of non-stop scientific and mathematical jargon, Day couldn’t take it anymore.

“Alright, alright. Good enough for me. Luna? Are we using his gate... time machine... thing or not?” He looked at the demi-goddess desperately.

“Yes.”

And so, he found himself before a fusion of mathematics, science, magic, and Pinkie’s insanity. He wondered just how exactly he was supposed to cope with everything.

The ring looked exactly like the kind he’d seen in Stargate. It had a ring of symbols around the edges and chevrons that ran on a track around the sides. He could recognize the red symbols as letters and numbers of the Equestria written language, but beyond that, he couldn’t really understand what it said. The ring was attached to a dais with a ramp that led to its top. The entire assembly was on a rolling platform.

“So... we’re moving this? Tonight?”

“Eeyup.” Big Mac moved his stalk to the other side of his mouth.

“Day... I have to say this before we go on this crazy adventure. You are honestly the weirdest thing Ponyville’s ever seen. I don’t think Discord managed to make this much chaos and randomness.”

“I...” Day didn’t really know how to respond to that, “Is that supposed to be an insult?”

“Nah, I just figured you should know.” Spike tossed the rest of his gem into his mouth.

“Right... let’s just get this to the forest edge... it should be far enough into the forest that it will be powered up tomorrow morning.”

“Congratulations! Applejack has joined your party! All members gain a +20% resistance to stupidity! (Protip: You started out with two points in this skill.)

“Congratulations! Applebloom has joined your party! Access to the Machine unlocked!”

“Congratulations! Big Macintosh has joined your party! All robotic and cybernetic party members gain Repair aura!”

Author's Note

And yes, there are/will be robots in the group.

Shit's about to get weird, mares and gentlecolts.

Horror (What Has Been Seen)

Horror (What Has Been Seen)

“Hold on…” Day requested. He, Spike, and Big Mac had been pulling the Gate down the dirt path from Sweet Apple Acres to the Everfree for a few minutes silently. The walk had been surprisingly uneventful: no ponies spontaneously popping up, no random acts of violence, and most importantly- no questions.

“I haven’t actually checked if the forest even wants us to put this thing inside it,” Day said. His companions slowed to a stop without commenting and looked at him oddly.

“Err… you do know that a forest is made of trees… right?” Spike asked slowly.

“I’m well aware,” Day replied dryly, “I don’t know how much Twilight told you abo-”

“Nothing. I kinda just go with the moment. I learned really early that Twilight could be… er… high strung and it was the only way to survive.” Spike interrupted him. He looked thoughtful for a moment, “I also learned to tune out her explanations so I wasn’t paying attention back at the farm.”

“I don’t think you explained yourself to me either,” Big Mac provided helpfully.

“Oh. Uh. Short story. Time travel. The forest is alive. Luna recruited me.” Day spoke in clipped phrases. He’d opened his connection the Forest wider and couldn’t really devote his attention between the slightly complicated explanation of his arrival and trying to speak, after a fashion, with the Everfree. It seemed to be okay with the Gate itself but he was getting some conflicting feelings about something to do with it. A single aspect of the Gate was irritating to the Forest’s ability to know everything within its borders.

“The Everfree is fine with the Gate…” Day started speaking slowly, “there’s something about it though that the Forest doesn’t like. It should be fine though. Mostly.”

“That’s very firm. Very sure.” Spike said sarcastically and picked up the rope and yoke that he had been wearing to help pull the large red platform that the Gate resided on. Big Mac decided not to comment and picked up his yoke as well and continued on. Day placed his own yoke awkwardly on his shoulders and followed them.

~!~

The only group of males in the group walked back into the Apple family’s living room, took a single moment to assess the situation playing out in front of them, and promptly walked back out.

“We speak of this to no one.” Day announced after they’d walked a decent amount back to Ponyville.

“Agreed.”

~!~

After the horrifying sights at the farm, Spike decided for the group that some time away from Twilight and her friends was absolutely essential to the continued mental health of his fellow men. He was particularly concerned that the normally stoic expression on Big Mac’s face was currently replaced by broken terror.

Spike thoughtfully provided the shaky stallion a hand getting into a booth at Sugarcube Corner where he bonelessly collapsed. Day sat across from the two without comment.

“Are… is that…” Day began to ask delicately after a few moments of somber reflection.

“Never seen it but I’m not surprised.” Spike replied promptly.

“But-”

“Drop it.” Spike interrupted him. “What happened there will never be spoken of.”

“BUT-”

Spike flailed his arms wildly, “A-ba-ba! Never. Spoken. Of. Ever.”

A blue mare with a kind expression approached their table, “What can I get you, dearies?”

Day sighed, “I followed them. I’m just along for the ride.”

“Hayfries and a sapphire and ruby milkshake, please.” Spike requested.

The mare turned to Big Mac and paused before asking, “Are you okay, McIntosh? You’re looking a bit sick, dear.”

Big Mac dry swallowed, “Ah’m fine. Ah’ll have… ah’ll have a dozen spiced apple donuts, if yah have ‘em. And some AJ… I mean… some water.”

The mare gave Big Mac a second worried glance, “If you’re sure. I’ll have that right out for you.”

Day looked around after she’d left. The café they were in was moderately sized and very pink. Ponies were lined up at the counter ordering baked goods like a normal bakery and a few others were sitting around the room at the tables set up strategically to face the myriad types of baked goods on display. It all was so familiar. Day contemplated the almost uncanny similarity between Earth and this new world he’d been so carelessly deposited into.

Day’s thoughts were interrupted before they could really begin by a bright yellow stallion sliding into the booth next to Big Mac. He was very different from Big Mac, where Big Mac was stocky and well built this stallion was lanky and soft. Day idly wondered if all stallions were so varied in shape. The mares all seemed to be of the same builds and heights- and whether they truly out-numbered the stallions. In all of Ponyville, it seemed like they were the only males other than Spike.

“You alright there, Mac?” The newcomer asked. Big Mac nodded; he had recovered a bit in the ordered chaos inherent to a busy, well trafficked café.

“Yeah, Carrot, Ah’m fine. Just a bit shaken up s’all.”

“You look like you’ve gone through a war, Mac. That AJ is still in the back.” Carrot replied cheerfully.

“No need. I just need some peace and quiet and Ah’ll be okay.” Big Mac shook his head and he looked a bit more alert and normal.

“Something tells me that this won’t be the worst thing we’ve ever seen.” Spike commented. He seemed like he was going to continue but the blue mare returned before he could speak again and deftly slid their orders on the table. Day couldn’t smell the dozen apple donuts in front of him but they looked absolutely delicious- and freshly made.

“Wait. WAIT. Those look like they literally just came out of the fry. You’ve been gone for two minutes. I call bullshit!” Day exclaimed. He wasn’t sure why the fact that the donuts were fried so quickly bothered him compared to all the other crazy happenings around him but he really couldn’t help it.

“Magic, dearie, magic. We have these new EasyBake ovens that can cook anything!”

Day interrupted her, “Stop right there. Forget I asked.”

Author's Note

Getting back into the swing of things.

EXIT: Chapter named.

Intermission Tres

Day, Big Mac, and Spike were left alone for a few calm hours- at least long enough for Big Mac to reattain his usual stoicism. They spent their entire time at the Sugarcube Corner talking with Carrot Cake the co-owner of the Corner, gentleman, scholar, and apparently veteran of the Great Custard War of 997. Day didn't exactly believe him.

"So you're telling me there was an honest to god war, fought outside Ponyville, solely with types of weaponized custard? By pastry chefs? Not buying it." Day snorted through the ridiculous question because he kept imagining 300-esque fight scenes with a group of ponies charging each other and screaming their heads off.

Carrot Cake nodded earnestly and picked up his glass of Applejack Daniel's. Some time ago, he had decided that stallionly stallion time required apple whiskey. Day was slightly miffed that he could not partake of what he assumed was a particularly strong specimen of the Apple family's most popular product. Funny how universal inebriation was.

Carrot took a sip, "Yeah, that was a bad few months. Trenches everywhere between Ponyville, Manehatten, and Canterlot, checkpoints on the roads... there was a custard bombing on the train early on. No one trusted the rails afterward til after the hostilities finally ended."

Carrot Cake shuddered and took another drink, "The worst of the fighting happened right before the finals for the Custard Competition. Only three teams left at that point, Cup, Pinkie, and I for Ponyville, The Brown Souffle Kitchen in Manehatten, and the Whip twins representing Canterlot's College of Fine Culinary Arts."

Carrot Cake continued in a slightly haunted tone, "There were hundreds of ponies that signed up at first but after they all got knocked out of the running in the heats... they joined up under the finalists banners. That was the worst part. Each faction had spies from towns and cities close to the finalists' homes and businesses. I don't know how we would have survived without Pinkie's super senses."

Carrot got a far away look in his eyes, "She saved us on the day we were supposed to take an armored carriage to the neutral fairground where the finals were going to happen. I'll never forget it. Tail twitch left, right foreleg spasm, ear flop, tongue waggle, gasp... she didn't hesitate. Just slammed us down to the ground before the carriage exploded with Strawberry custard. We were lucky. A few ponies were caught in the blast... they've never been the same. Berry Punch doesn't like to talk about it but she didn't pick up the habit of high functional alcoholism until after she was released from the hospital."

Spike spoke up suddenly. Day had forgotten he wasn't the only one to be stone-cold sober at the table. What he heard left him in shock.

"That snooty Delicate Whip was talking about that in Donut Joe's. Said she couldn't believe you and Cup had survived..." Spike said darkly. He was on his third milkshake, "when Joe heard the casualty reports for that, he almost tossed her out on her flank. If he hadn't been their spymaster... well... he did his job."

Carrot nodded, "That shade and consistency was very distinctive, it was an open secret during the finals that the Whips had tried a last minute assassination. Of course, none of that information is admissible in the courts but we know. We all know."

Day shuddered at the ominous and slightly slurred tone, "Wait. WAIT. You know about this too Spike? You're not both fucking with me?"

Spike nodded, "I wasn't in the fighting, mostly support staff and communications. But almost all the foodies in the city were involved in the war. They left the fighting to the chefs though. No one without baking experience could have lasted past the front."

Carrot's nostrils flared and he huffed angrily, "At least Canterlot was civilized about it. I don't know how many kids I had to cream that were on the Manehattan front. The Kitchen was a disgrace. They sent out their store clerks like cannon fodder... anything to get more hooves on the ground."

Day grew concerned when his eyes gained a far away look and he knocked back a full glass of AJ, "There was a kid... couldn't have been 16... he'd been shoved into one of my custard pits. He just didn't stop laughing. Just kept eating and eating and the laughter. I hear him in my sleep sometimes and he never ever stops. Why was he laughing!?!!"

Carrot almost screamed his question at the end of his haunted rant. Cup ran over at the sound of her husband's distress.

She took in Spike's grim expression, Day's worried incredulity, her husbands tears, and Big Mac's stoic and thoughtful stare. She slid into the booth next to her husband; Spike gracefully slipped under the table to sit next to Day and leave room for Mrs. Cake.

"The War?" Cup Cake asked quietly. She slowly rubbed her husband's shoulder and leaned into his side.

Spike nodded and slid his empty milkshake glass to the side, "Yeah."

He sighed and shook his head, "I never thought you three had it so bad out here... Donut Joe never had too much information to act on here. I just assumed that most of the war was quiet out here."

It went unsaid that he'd been caught up in the very Canterlot attitude that Ponyville was an unimportant town of backwoods dirt ponies beneath their notice. Spike found it slightly shameful that he'd had that attitude, if more softly and delicately expressed than the borderline classist view common to the Canterlot socialite.

Cup nodded, "Don't worry, dearie. It's not the first or last time Ponyville's been overlooked. This time though..."

She grinned mischievously, "Did you know that Joe has a little sister? And a niece?"

Spike shook his head, "He never mentioned any family..."

Cup laughed, "Well, he would have been terrible spymaster if he had. Though now that you're here I guess you won't tell anyone... his sister is none other than Colgate and his niece in Colgate's daughter Skitty."

Spike laughed, "Skitty! You mean Cheep-Chirp is related to Joe. Oh man... and Colgate? She... hates sugar. Are you sure?"

"Oh, yes. Ask her about the Sonic Brush-style sometime." Cup replied smugly, "She was the Mint Breeze. I'm surprised that you never put it together, actually."

Spike paled, "She was the Breeze?"

Cup's smile turned almost predatory but she didn't reply.

Day finally spoke up, "Am I missing something?"

Spike shuddered, "The Breeze was an unknown pony that started operating in the middle of the war... right after Joe volunteered for the... position... of... spymaster."

Spike trailed off and his expression turned to wonderment, "He was a double agent. Oh my dear sweet Celestia, he was a double agent!"

Cup Cake sighed, "Not just a double agent. He and Colgate... they were..."

Author's Note

I... don't know where this came from. Wrote the entire thing on my phone...

Smile

After Cup had finished retelling Joe and Colgate’s finest hour, she looked up at the clock and let out a relieved smile. Day and Spike followed her gaze to see that clock read almost seven o’clock. Day looked out the window to confirm that, indeed, it was starting to get dark and that if he wanted to get his things and avoid the mares that he had just seen g- never mind. He shut down that the line of though before it could start. He returned his attention to Cup and Carrot; the former was gently guiding her drunk husband out of the booth and toward the door behind the counter that presumably led to their living quarters.

Day tapped Spike wordlessly to signal his desire to leave the booth. As a group, the three males left the Corner and walked out into the fresh evening air. Day seemed to garner less stares than the previous night when he had walked through the town with Luna to the tree house library.

“Where are you staying tonight, with me and Twilight?” Spike asked. They had started walking in the general direction of Sweet Apple Acres though their reluctant gait made sure that their progress would be minimal for a time.

“I need to get my things from Fluttershy’s first. Then I guess I’ll stay over. I don’t really need to though. Since I don’t sleep, I was thinking about exploring the Everfree. It’s different just knowing something is there in the forest and going to look at it firsthand… hoof… whatever…” Day replied, “I kind of want to check of that castle Twilight mentioned too, now that I think about it. What was it…? The Castle of Sun and Moon?”

“If yah mean the ruins on the Everfree path, then that’s it.” Big Mac spoke before Spike could answer. Instead, Spike shrugged and continued on without commenting.

“Yeah, that’s it. I don’t know why the forest hasn’t reclaimed the thing yet. It said there was some kind of agreement that meant it would leave it alone but there wasn’t much else it was willing to tell me. Or could tell me. Talking to the forest is kind of weird,” Day replied.

“I think being able to talk to the forest in the first place is weird. Just leave it alone,” Spike advised, “there are some weird stories Twilight researched about it when we’d just moved to Ponyville. I read some of her reports on the place and they read like ghost stories. They were just,” he paused and searched for a word that could adequately describe his disquiet at the time of reading her theories on the castle but gave up and waved vaguely.

“Ain’t nothin’ good come out of that forest in all the time Ponyville’s been standin’. Ah know yah have that connection, but you’re the only one that’s ever had it. Ah’d say you leave it alone for now; best not ta poke at somethin’ you don’t understand.” Big Mac offered.

Day was going to retort defensively that maybe the ponies were the problem and not the forest but thought the better of it. First, he wasn’t sure if their problem with the forest stemmed from historical fact or from innate disquiet with the forest itself. Secondly, he could tell that the indignant emotions he was feeling were actually coming from the forest and not his elfin body or his old human self. He absently sent the forest a calming memory-sensation of fingers carding through his hair. He was still getting the hang of mostly wordless communication. So far, asking questions had been easy but he had not tried replying in the wordless manner that the forest usually spoke to him.

Day’s unresponsive attitude encouraged the group to simply walk quietly toward the farm and take advantage of the last few minutes of calm that they had before re-entering the whirlwind of crazy that was the most famous mares in Ponyville on sugar highs from Apple family pastries. Day had not gotten the chance to truly appreciate the new world he had been in since he’d entered into it. He had always been doing something distracting or dealing with something overwhelming in the five or six short days since he’d arrived. When he took the time to contemplate it, he really had been lucky that he had been summoned or whatever it was to this world. It was almost unreal how idyllic Ponyville and the surrounding land really was. Back home, he would have needed to drive at least a hundred miles to find the kind of wide open and untouched land that was between Ponyville proper and the Apple family farm.

Along the path to the farm, the Everfree receded until it was a bare smudge of green against the sky and the brilliant backdrop of the setting sun. In places, knolls and hills obscured the forest and hid pieces entirely away from view. Where the knolls were absent, the forest cast long gray shadows onto the tall grass and occasional ponds that formed in the depressions between hills. He could feel animals come into and out of his sphere of knowledge as they made short forays out of the shelter of the trees to congregate at some watering hole or choice patch of grass.

On the other side of the path, a great grassland extended far far in the direction of the rising moon. Its glow was still suppressed by the light of the sun and so it was faint against the sky. Beneath it, the horizon was lit up in mixing blues and pinks where the dusk was starting to spread out across the plains. Day could see the approaching border of darkness just as it overtook the large peak of a distant mountain.

He had not realized that he had stopped to look around at the sights in awe until he felt a small claw touch his thigh. He looked down to see Spike looking at him in concern.

“It’s really something, huh…” Spike gestured to the approaching antipodean and the clashing colors in the sky where the moon was beginning to make real headway in coloring the sky black and lighting the world in moon and starlight.

“You could never see something like this at home. The cities block out all the sky for miles and miles around them.” Day said in a hushed voice. He suddenly felt a strong yearning for the familiar empty sky he’d always known. It may have been dull. It may have been something he always complained about- that he wanted to be able to see the stars. It was home, though. Even if this world he’d found himself in was more beautiful and exotic than anything on Earth, even with his resolution to help Luna- all he wanted was to go home.

“You two can go on ahead. I just wanna stay here for a bit. Tell the others I’ll be along in an hour or two.” Day asked Spike and Big Mac. His somber expression and tone left no room for them to argue.

~^~

Day sat and watched the moon rise higher in the sky. Spike and Big Mac were probably nearing the farm and for the life of him, he could not decide if he wanted to join them. He was committed to helping Luna but the amount of intense happenings that he had to deal with just deemed much greater around the stressful atmosphere he’d dealt with since his arrival. He felt he was due a good long while to sulk but before he could really slide into a good brood he felt a warm pressure sort of curl and press against his back and side.

“You don’t have to be a Sulky Pants, you know,” Pinkie’s cheerful greeting began, “You know, I still haven’t thrown you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville Mr. Alien’ party yet. That would cheer you up.”

Her cheerfulness sharply declined as she spoke when she noticed that Day hadn't really reacted to her attempt at pulling him out of a mood.

“I’m not sure that’ll fix this, Pinkie,” Day finally spoke after a minute of silence. He started running his hand down her mane, “It’s been five days. Just five, and I’m already drowning. How the hell am I supposed to help Luna fix Celestia? Who’s going to take care of Spike and the Crusaders? What if someone gets hurt? Fucking… just why me? WHY ME DAMMIT!?!”

His last question ended in a wordless shout of anger and he agitatedly rolled away from Pinkie Pie and stood up. He stalked a few steps and glared toward the plains and the moon. He sagged a bit when he felt Pinkie press up to him again.

“I just want to be alone, Pinkie…” Day murmured.

“Nope.”

Day growled but didn't bother moving away, “What is it that you want then?”

Pinkie answered in what seemed like non sequitur and in a surprisingly serious tone, “Did anyone actually tell you what our Cutie Marks are for? Mine and the girls, I mean?”

Day sighed and didn't bother to reply. He didn't think it would really stop Pinkie from talking anyway, but it was worth a shot.

“Twilight’s is magic. She says her talent is magic, but the girls and I know better. Just being around her is magical, the most amazing things happen around her and we wouldn't have ever become friends without her. She holds us all together without even trying. Fluttershy’s talent is for animals, it’s her ability to speak with them and understand them and empathize with them. She just understands better than any pony I know, what they could be feeling and how to make it all better. Applejack’s is for her love of apples. It’s a simple talent, but it’s honest and she just wasn't able to lie to herself that apples weren't her life- her pride and joy. Rarity’s gems symbolize her talent for beautification; she is a reflection of her mark, beautiful inside and out. Of all the places she could be, with all she could accomplish with her talent, she chose to live in Ponyville as diamond in the rough. Rainbow’s mark is the reason we are the ponies that we are. She is lightning; her one-in-a-million-gazillion chance rainboom all touched us in the same exact moment and made us who we are. Without her, Twilight would be just another Canterlot unicorn, Fluttershy would have been a scared little slip of a mare in Cloudsdale, Applejack would have been the ice queen of Manehatten, Rarity would have left Ponyville for the fashion scene in Prance, and Rainbow would have just been another Flight School drop-out…”

As she trailed off, Day couldn’t help but want to ask about the obvious omission. He’d initially wanted to ignore her but something about the passion in her voice compelled him to listen. He’d heard her serious, giggly, somber, and threatening but this new expression of her personality was definitely more of interest to him than any of her previous outbursts of chatter. He wasn't above admitting that she had him enthralled.

“And. You?” Day asked. He sat down again and Pinkie followed.

Pinkie had to fight the urge to give him a great big smile and answered as dryly as she could, “I’m great at parties.”

Day let out an involuntary snort and his somber mood lifted.

“I’m Laughter. My talent is to light up a room and get everypony to smile. What would be the point of having such good friends if we couldn't have a great time together each and every time we’re together?” Pinkie finally gave in to the urge to smile hugely at Day now that he was smiling. She couldn't help it; it was her favorite thing to do.

Her mission complete, she laid her head in Day’s lap as a silent request for him to resume stroking her mane. He had fingers and she was going to take advantage of them before her friends came looking for them.

Glimpse: The First

It watched.

Every race, when sufficiently advanced, comes to make fundamental observations about the world around them.

Time is relative to frame of reference.

Magical inertia is overcome by conscious manipulation and imagination.

E=mc2

Observation introduces change.

The accumulation of hard facts and figures, the rote memorization of information on a species-wide scale, shapes a people until they attain the tools to survive. The world was designed to be so, according to its plans.

It watched.

Ponykind had finally reached a point in its development where they could leave their cradle-planet and explore their greater home. Magical pulse drives mounted on reinforced frames of titanium and arcanite ventured forth from Equus to learn about their solar system.

Celestia’s magical power was accurately measured away from her center of influence. Colonies and outpost spread throughout their home system. Time went by.

It watched.

Curiosity is a powerful force and the unknown an irresistible pull. It knows - it designed it that way.

It watched Celestia watch her ponies leave her domain. Like a parent watching her children leave home for the final time, she wished them well with the heaviest of hearts.

She was alone.

Its design continued to function.

And it was glad.

Glimpse: The Second

Clockwork has a major ridiculous flaw. If even one piece is removed, the entire construct falls apart. Worse, if even one part is unaligned, the entire assembly can and will be damaged as the disturbance propagates through the system. All the complex beauty of a one part translating to another and another and another suddenly becomes impossible.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately for the Creator, its creation was not a clock. It was more complex. The creation could still operate. The balance of the world was still firmly in place. Still, it could feel it when one section shattered. Destabilized. Unfolded and cascaded failures and operational changes like a cancer. In one moment, its entire machine imploded in an attempt to stop the damage from continuing - exactly like it was designed to do.

It laboriously coaxed its creation from the ashes until it ran once again.

Everything changed.