Just Blink

Chapters

Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Prologue/ Chapter One
PSA (Feel free to skip)

Chapter Two

Just BlinkDigital_HexChapter Two

The airship ride took the entire night and almost a full day following.

Did I get any sleep? Nope, because my second-cousin Shining Armor, Captain of the Equestrian Guard, spent the entire fragging time teaching me about the past decade in Equestria. I'd heard of some of it, such as Nightmare Moon returning, but when you live on a separate continent you usually don't get a whole lot of up-to-date news.

While he gave me a general overview about Equestrian society in the past twelve years, he eventually got to the part where Twilight really popped up. And boy did she pop up.

Any and every time Celestia so much as blew her nose, it seemed like Twilight and her friends were called in to fix something, even if there didn't seem to be anything to fix. I mean, sure, they saved Equestria from complete chaos at least a bajillion times over, but seriously, how bad was the Equestrian Guard back home? Our outpost at Anville, high in the griffon kingdom, a separate charter of land owned by Equestria, had absolutely no problems holding it's own against the rogue griffon factions that raided it almost weekly. Or, attempted, to raid it, as I should point out.

Finally, long after day break, around noonish the following day we left the home of the feathered ones, he told me the really important news:

“Twilight is now an alicorn princess.”

… Hold the phone- captainoftheguardsaywhatnow?

“Huh?”

Shining Armor gave a soft chuckle, having long returned to his friendly demeanor. He was a totally separate colt inside and outside of battle.

“I know, hard to believe, right? I guess she earned her wings, at it is, by finishing some spell. No clue what it does, but apparently it was enough for Celestia. And hey, can't argue with her, right?”

My eyes told him I definitely intended to argue with her.

“Whoa whoa whoa, are we talking about the same Twilight Sparkle?! The same one that I only met once, and in that short span I actually taught her something about magic?!”

I fell on my back, looking up at the ceiling openly.

Well there you have it, apparently anypony could become an alicorn princess.

“I thought she had magical deficiencies, I had no idea she was the fragging child-prodigy of Princess Celestia!”

“Nah, you only met her right after she was accepted to Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns.”

I sat up bolt-right.

“She was an academy student at that age?! She was barely- she is barely- older than I am!”

“I know,” Shining Armor said, chuckling. “She's smart.”

“She must be a complete genius,” I commented before falling back against the floor. By now, the hard wooden planks beneath my hide were as welcoming as a soft cloud pillow, it was all the same to me after all these years.

“Well, she did always specialize in one particular field of magic, and if I do recall it started right after you left,” Armor said, still chuckling softly to himself about some inside joke only he was privy to. I looked around and saw a few other guards grinning at his statement.

Why was I the only one out of the loop?!

“Oh yeah?” I countered. “What field was that?” I asked as I blinked upright, now sitting back in my chair. I could see Equestria on the horizon.

“Teleportation.”

I sputtered. I just sputtered. There was nothing I could do other than sputter. Well, I guess falling out of my newly reacquired chair counts as something, but still.

I could hear a round of laughter go around the cabin.

“More influential in her life than you thought, huh?”

I rubbed my head as I blinked back into my chair, cringing.

“I guess,” I answered.

“It'll be alright, Blink. This is just a temporary security detail until we can find a counter-spell to whatever Marelin planned for us. It shouldn't take long at all,” he assured me.

“Do you even know what spell she might be using?” I asked innocently enough. Shining Armor shook his head 'no', the goofy smile still plastered to his face.

I groaned.

“Well, at least I'll be able to catch up with Twilight. It'll be good to talk with some family.”

“Hey,” Shining Armor whined, waving a hoof over himself.

“Oh, I've gotten enough of you, dude. I'll take Twilight.”

The round of laughter that elicited lasted until we reached a little town in the north of the south-eastern desert, at a little town called Dodge Junction. It wasn't really a town, more of a little community along the rail line.

“Why are we docking here?” I asked Shining Armor. He responded to me by tossing me my saddle bag.

“This is your stop. We're circling back to Baltimare, have to alert the coastline cities about the threat from the griffon kingdom. We still have to assume the griffon king is now dead, so in all sense, we failed the mission. The only thing left to do is prepare for a possible war.

“You, on the other hoof,” he said as he picked me up with his magic, taking me to an open door hatch.

Gulp.

“Are taking a train to Ponyville.”

With that, he pushed me out the door.

Let me repeat that: HE PUSHED ME OUT THE FRAGGING DOOR.

“BUUUCK YOOOU!” I screamed as I fell, trying to get a lock on myself with my magic. It didn't take too long for me to teleport safely o the ground, but that wasn't the point. He'd pushed me out of a moving airship! The nerve...

“Hey pal,” I heard somepony call to me. I turned to see a tired old pony standing next to a train that looked as if it were about to set off.

“You going to join us?”

I sighed and teleported over to him, passing him and entering the train. The inside wasn't shabby but it was definitely plain. More wooden flooring for me. I know my hide was thick and all, but I would have killed for some shag carpet at that point.

I reached into my saddle bag to remove my bits bag for my ticket aboard the express.

“Your ticket was paid for in advance,” the old pony said as he closed to door.

Well okay then.

I dropped the bag unceremoniously back into my bag before settling down into a seat. I saw the sun beginning to dip in the horizon.

“We are off to Ponyville,” the conductor said before moving up the train. Moments later, the car I was in lurched forward.

“I took out a book from my bag, completing the three items I had in there: a single charge cuff, my bag-o-bits, and the book I was currently opening.

And what could that book have been?

Why, a spell-book. I had a promise with Twilight I fully intended her to break.

Then I realized that she'd become an alicorn princess specifically through completing a spell of her own.

I tossed the book aside as I fell the other way, falling asleep instantly.

Thankfully, I was the only one on the two-car train.

The conductor woke me when he made it to the station in Ponyville. The sun had dropped from the horizon not too long ago, the moon beginning its glorious trail across the sky.

I took a deep breath, preparing myself as I collected my book, stowing it in my bag before departing the train, tossing a bit at the conductor and blinking away before he could throw it back. Hey, I could give tips, couldn't I?

I looked around, spotting a massive oak tree not far away from the train depot that I assumed was the Golden Oaks Library, as Shining Armor had described it. I guess this was where I was going to be staying.

I trotted over, but right as I knocked on the door, my horn lit up, Shining Armor's voice ringing through my mind.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, but I don;t think that Twilight needs to know she is in danger, so it would be best if you don't mention that you are there to provide security. Good luck!”

I felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of my face as the door opened. What was I going to to say?! I thought Shining Armor had set this up for me already, but judging from his message, I was completely on my own! What was I going to do, be all, “Hey I know we haven't seen each other for over a decade and all but I really wanted to visit you and maybe hang out here a week or two until I decide to leave for no apparent reason?”

NO!

“Oh, why hello...”

I snapped back to reality to find a white unicorn mare had answered the door, her fashionable purple mane bouncing as she cocked her head to the side, waiting for a response.

“Are you here for a book? I'm so sorry, but I regretfully inform you that the library is closed,” she said with a small frown, as though she didn't want to be telling me this.

“Ah, uh...” I stammered, shaking my head. “Is Twilight here?” I asked, trying to peer around the mare.

“Oh, you're here for Twilight?” the mare asked, casting me a suspicious look. “I don't believe I've seen you around, do you know her from somewhere?”

The words live here sparked an idea in my head. It was a rather cheesy idea, but it was a way nonetheless that I might convince Twilight to let me stay here for a little while.

“I'm her second cousin,” I said, turning slightly so she could see my cutie mark. I'd seen Twilight's cutie mark once before, and I had realized we shared the light purple central star in both of ours. However, while hers was flanked by five smaller stars, mine had a winged set of keys on each side.

“Oh! Well, let me get her...”

The white mare stepped away from the door, heading back inside. She'd left the door open a crack, although I'm sure it was more as a courtesy of not closing it in my face as opposed to inviting me inside, so I sat down on the mat outside.

A few moments later, I heard the steady clopping of hooves and the door swung open again, revealing the white unicorn. She ushered me inside, a tiny smile on her face. She motioned for me to be silent, pointing me along the wall. A curtain had been set up in the center of the room, a curtain that I went ahead and assumed Twilight was behind.

“Rarity, was that the last dress you had?” I heard Twilight call out from (of course) behind the curtain. There was no mistaking Twilight's voice; she still sounded like the little filly I remembered.

Rarity stifled a laugh as she magicked over a picture Twilight had on a table nearby. I recognized it immediately.

It was the last family picture we'd all had together, all the family up to great-grandmother Iris Haze. It was when I'd actually met Twilight, and as I remembered, we were on completely opposite sides of the picture. That night had been the last time I'd been in Equestria until then. I was actually rather surprised that she had such a picture.

“How'd you notice me in this picture?” I hissed to Rarity.

“I'm a designer,” she hissed back. “I can pinpoint little details like that rather easily, dear.”

“I see,” I mumbled, tossing the picture into the air and catching it shakily with my magic to return it to its original position. If I'd tried simply levitating it from where I'd been with any motion to it, I would have probably drained my entire reserve of mana. Yeah, I wasn't very efficient at anything that wasn't teleporting.

“Rarity?” Twilight called again.

“Ah, yes dear,” Rarity said, stumbling through the curtain.

They began a hushed conversation on the other side of the curtain, one I guessed that I wasn't supposed to hear.

The funny thing about curtains, they don't exactly block sound that much.

“You didn't tell me that you had a member of your family coming here!” Rarity said, a tinge of excited glee in her voice. Was it really that rare for- never mind.

My heart started racing.

“Family?” Twilight asked, voice full of confusion. I smiled a little bit, knowing I was the source. Ah, such beautiful confusion.

“I don't remember getting any letters... and I certainly don't recall sending out any invitations...”

I would have taken warning at her words, which seemed intimidating at first, but the way in which she said them was almost hoping. Perhaps she was optimistic as to who it might be.

A thick cloud of purple magic wrapped the curtains, and before I could so much as twitch they were cast aside. My heart stopped.

There was Twilight Sparkle, wearing a simple purple dress with light magenta design stitching. She was...

I had to blink to make sure I was seeing this right.

She was absolutely beautiful, breath-taking. Shining Armor had told me she was an alicorn now, but having only seen the Princess Celestia once in my younger years, this was officially the second time I'd seen such an ethereal creature. Hard to believe she was my second-cousin.

I had a small urge to bow to her, show some sign of respect, but instead-

“Howdy,” I said as I tipped a hoof from my forehead. “Long time no see, eh cuz?”

She was speechless. The look on her face was sheer shock. I knew she recognized me, but I don't think she actually realized that I was truly standing not five paces away from her, the first time after twelve years. It must have been like seeing a ghost.

However, why was seeing me so suddenly such a dramatic event for her? I was doubtful that I was the only cousin she hadn't seen in a while, and to top it off we'd only met once before.

She snapped out of her trance, raising a leg in a victorious pose.

“I think I won the bet,” she said with a giggle, stretching her giant wings for emphasis. I smiled.

“I guess you did,” I said, my smile turning into a sincere smirk.

We held eye contact for a while, not daring to look away. I realized I'd missed the studious little unicorn- excuse me, alicorn- more than I'd originally thought.

Rarity coughed next to Twilight, gathering our attention.

“Twilight, won't you be a dear and introduce me to your...?” Rarity asked, slowly approaching me.

“Ah, this is my second-cousin, Aural Blink,” Twilight said as Rarity raised a hoof to me. I mentally rolled my eyes as I took and it offered a simple, dignified kiss to the hoof. I'd had to impersonate royalty before, I knew the motions well enough.

“I'm rather surprised you remembered my name,” I admitted. “It's been over twelve years, after all.”

Rarity gasped.

“You two haven't seen each other in over twelve years?! That's horrible!”

“Yeah,” I said, sharing a look with Twilight. “The four of us moved to Anville, which is an Equestrian outpost in the northern part of the griffon kingdom.”

I bit my hoof after saying that, knowing I just said something I really hoped they wouldn't pick ask about.

“Oh my...” Rarity said.

“Yeah, I-”

Twilight interrupted me.

“-Rarity, I'm not trying to be rude, but isn't Sweetie Belle waiting for you? We were supposed to be done almost an hour ago, after all.”

Rarity gasped, her magic grasping each and every object I assumed to be hers in the room. Dresses on hangars, folding curtains, fold-out mannequins, all of it was shoved and crammed onto a luggage cart and pushed out the door by Rarity.

“So sorry to cut this short, Aural,” she said as she struggled with her things.

“It's just, Sweetie Belle can be rather a hoof-full when left alone, so-”

“No problem,” I assured her, laughing slightly. “And it's Blink, Miss Rarity.”

“And it's Rarity to you,” she told me, throwing me a wink before she slipped through the door after her cart. I heard her scream down the road after her things.

“That's Rarity for you,” Twilight said, her wings secured at her sides.

I finally took a decent look around the room we were in. It was... a library. Big surprise. I guess she was as book-hungry as when I'd met her.

She trotted over to me before throwing a big hug around me, catching me slightly by surprise before I warmed up to her touch, returning it briefly before we pulled away. It took me a second after we separated to realize I was looking down at her slightly; I was taller than her, now.

“You know,” Twilight said, tears forming in the edges of her eyes, “It took me almost four weeks of waiting for you to show up for me to realize the going-away party was for you.”

I rubbed the back of my mane awkwardly. “That's... quite sad, honestly.” I chuckled slightly.

“Yeah, it is!” Twilight laughed. She had a wonderful laugh.

“But I took what you said to heart,” she said as she brought a hoof to her chest.

“I really improved a lot after that, actually.”

“Yeah, Shining Armor said you were particularly fond of transportation spells for a while after I left. Still are, as he said.”

“You've spoken with Shining Armor? When was this?”

“On the airship over here,” I said, rolling along without realizing where the conversation was inevitably heading.

“You took an airship here? Where from?”

“We were doing an... operation, in the griffon kingdom. He led me and two others on a mission recently.”

My mind was subconsciously telling me to shut up, that I was saying too much, but I reasoned she had a right to know this stuff. I mean, she was a princess now and all.

“Oh,” Twilight said, looking a little upset.

“What's wrong?” I asked her.

“I don't want him doing anything too dangerous.”

“He wasn't,” I said firmly. Lie number one.

“Okay,” she said, visibly perking up.

“Still, that doesn't explain one thing,” she said, cocking her head to the side.

“Oh?”

“What are you doing here?”

I gulped hard. Do or die time.

“I, uh...” I stammered, looking around, willing myself to use the excuse I'd come up with.

She blinked twice, starting to give me a suspicious look.

I had to say something.

“I'm looking for a house here.”

She blinked in surprise.

“What?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I stuttered, taking a deep stabilizing breath. “I was going to look for a house here, you know. Shining Armor keeps telling me I need to find a place to settle down, after all that's happened.”

“What all has happened?” Concern flooded her face.

“N-nothing,” I assured her. Lie number two.

“Nothing serious, at least.” Still technically lie number two.

“But he suggested I look in Ponyville; he said you loved it here and all, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Wow, I was actually surprised I'd followed that excuse all the way through without completely falling apart. I was normally pretty bad at excuses, mainly because I rarely made and/or used them.

Twilight gave some thought to this, looking off to the side.

“Okay,” she said as she returned her gaze to me.

“Okay?” I asked her.

“Okay!” she said, excited. “I could always show you around town! We're planning for the Great Apple Ball, after all, so the town will be even more festive soon! It's the perfect time to look around the town, meet the ponies. Everypony here is so friendly, I'm sure you'll love it!

“But I take it you don't have anywhere to stay, right? That's why you're here?”

She wore a smirk that was half amused and half knowing. She really could put two and two together after all. So far she was leagues ahead of her brother. Too bad what she believed was a lie.

“Y-yeah,” I admitted. “I don't really know anypony here, so-”

“Great!” Twilight exclaimed, hopping into the air with excitement. “You can totally stay here! As long as you need!”

She seemed a little too... willing.

“Is there any particular reason you're so willing and excited for this?” I asked.

“This is good news,” Twilight explained, “because you could help out around town while you browse. It'll help you get situated with the ponies so much quicker, plus we could use all the help we can get! The Ball is in two weeks, after all!”

I saw what she was doing. She was offering me board for assistance around town. I admit, I was impressed. She already had a plan.

“Sounds good,” I said with a smile. Two weeks was just about the time Shining Armor wanted me to stay by Twilight's side, after all. Plus, after Shining Armor explained the meaning behind Marelin's threat, I wanted to keep my eye on my cousin.

“Yeah!” she said with a huge smile, throwing another bear hug at me.

“This is going to be great!”

I couldn't wipe the smile from my face. I hadn't seen any family (besides Shining Armor, and him only recently) in, well... a while. It was nice.

“You can use the basement room,” Twilight said as she pulled away, giving an excited flap of her wings.

“I'll have to clean it up, of course, but it should be plenty accommodating for you!”

“Thanks,” I said, ruffling her mane with my hoof. She giggled.

A quiet thud sounded from up the staircase to our right.

“Oh, we should... probably be quiet. Spike is asleep, after all.”

“Spike?” I asked. Was there somepony else here as well?

“Yeah, he's my assistant. He's the baby dragon I hatched during my entrance exam for Princess Celestia's school, and he's been with me ever since!” she said proudly.

“Nice.”

“Right, so... this way!” she said, opening a door underneath the staircase that revealed...

… Another staircase. Nice.

“After you,” I said, holding the door open with a small prick of magic. It was about all I could manage, but it was enough.

Twilight looked at the small purple burst holding the door open for her, then at me. She raised a brow.

“You're still not good with physical magic?” she asked.

“N-nope,” I said, shifting my magic slightly.

She noticed my slight studder and stepped inside the door way, lighting some candles along the stairway. I noticed they gave off no smoke. Nifty.

I took a deep breath of relief as I stepped inside the stairwell, letting my magic drop.

“That should be a rather simple spell, you know?” she said as we descended the stairs.

“Yeah, I'm really only good at teleporting spells,” I admitted.

“Fair enough,” Twilight said. “I've been struggling with transfiguration, we all have our strengths and weaknesses.”

“True,” I added.

We reached the foot of the stairs, where Twilight lit a few more candles. I studied her as she did so, how she performed the spell. It seemed like a simple combustion spell, but I knew she had some kind of ward or hex on it to prevent it from growing or dying out. She really was good at magic.

“You'll have to teach me how to do that sometime,” I said as I looked around the newly-illuminated room. It was a storage room for (what else?) books. She had a big piece of machinery under a tarp hidden in the corner, something I did not want to go near. Ever.

There was a simple bed along the wall, a lamp on a small table next to it. That was it, everything there was to the room.

“Huh, I guess Spike really did clean up the room a bit,” Twilight said as she ran a hoof along the floor, coming up with a very thin layer of dust.

“Recently, too,” she added.

“Well, I appreciate it,” I said, taking off my bag and setting it down next to the table.

Twilight yawned deeply, in turn causing me to yawn even deeper. This set off a string of yawns between us, almost as if we were trying to out-yawn each other.

“That's enough of that,” I said as I clamped my mouth shut after the fourth minute of the little competition.

“Yeah, well, I'll show you around town tomorrow morning then, m'kay?” she said, eyes drooping slightly.

“Sounds good,” I said.

She began climbing the stairs.

“Want me to wake you up in the morning?”

“That would be nice,” I called back to her. I didn't get a response other than the door closing. I assumed that was a yes.

I looked back around the room, eyes falling eventually falling on the table. I hadn't noticed before, but a small book was tucked between the lamp and the wall. Curious, I prodded it out with a hoof and blew the dust off the cover.

A single tear welled up in my eyes.

It was the same spell-book Twilight had been reading the day I met her. The spine was well-worn, and the book had definitely seen better days, but it looked as comforting as a teddy bear would have.

Sighing, I flicked on the lamp, using my magic to extinguish the candles. Extinguishing spells were pretty simple, but they still took a bit out of me.

Cracking open the book, it fell open to the last page I'd seen, the teleportation page. However, there were now little notes scrawled in-between the lines of text, clean font and evenly spaced. If the ink hadn't been a purple color, I might have mistaken it for actual text in the book.

I smiled as I laid my head down, looking at the diagram. She'd taken the liberty of drawing the direction the magic should move along the flute, how much energy should be applied per second, all sorts of things I never truly thought about. She had magic down to a science.

I never remembered closing my eyes, but before I knew it, I was asleep.

My dreams were never pleasant. They almost always started out innocently enough.

This time, I was sitting in a swing, alone in a playground atop a hill. I recognized it as the playground back in Anville. Rocky formations dotted the playground, natural formations the foals would use as pretend mountains and the such.

“Blink...”

I looked around, searching for the source of the sound. It had come from all around me, yet nowhere at the same time.

“Bliiink...”

There, right behind me. I teleported, now facing directly behind me.

There was a dark purple filly, her white mane the same wild mess it had been the last time I'd seen her. Her horn was crooked, having been broken. Blood drained slowly from an open wound along it. Her eyes were closed.

“D-Dream...” I gasped, feeling my legs go weak.

“Why'd you let them do it, Blink?” Dream asked me, her voice exactly the same as it had been ten years ago.

“Why'd you let them hurt me?”

I fell to my face, tears forming. This was the way the dreams always went, this was my reminder to never fail.

“Why weren't you there?”

I looked up, wanting to say something to comfort my little sister, the sister I would never see again.

That was a mistake.

Her horn imploded into her face, just as it actually had. Her blood splattered everywhere, but I couldn't see it. I couldn't see anything.

Through all the tears, I blinked.

Chapter Three

Just BlinkDigital_HexChapter Three

I woke up to Twilight shaking me awake.

“What- oh, hey,” I groaned, rubbing my head. It felt as though I'd taken a club straight to the noggin. Wouldn't have been the first time.

“You were screaming,” Twilight said, concern apparent on her face.

“Was I?” I asked, now rubbing my eyes. They were wet. “What time is it, anyhow?”

“It's a little bit before seven,” she informed me.

“Oh-” My eyes shot wide open. “I didn't wake you, did I?”

“No,” she said her face still serious. “I was already up, but...”

She gave me a pleading look.

“You were screaming for somepony to leave her alone.”

I sighed, one of my hooves subconsciously rubbing my horn.

“Who is she? What... what happened?”

“N-nothing,” I mumbled, throwing my back hooves out of the bed. I landed on the floor stiffly, legs sore and tight.

“Are you-” Twilight began, but I cut her off.

“I'm fine, honest,” I said, now giving her my best pleading face. “Can we just... forget about it?”

“But-”

“Please?” I was trying my hardest not to be rude, but I really didn't want to talk to her about it.

Twilight locked eyes with me. I could see she had good intentions; she wanted to help me. We might have only met each other once before, but we were still family. Family helps family.

After a few minutes (yes, she was that stubborn) she sighed, dropping her eyes.

“Alright,” she said, taking a step backwards.

I decided to ruffle her mane with my hoof, garnering a small smile from her. I must have reminded her of her brother, doing that to her when she was younger.

“So, seven o'clock, eh?”

“Oh!” Twilight said before flashing out. I heard her hoofs click against the floor upstairs, Rolling my eyes, I blinked out, appearing right next to her in the main room. She was browsing one of the many bookshelves that spanned the walls of the room.

“If we're going to go look around Ponyville, and you really are interested in moving here, then you should really get to know the area,” she explained as she levitated a purple book down from the bookshelf.

“We have Ponyville History,” she said as she placed the book on the floor next to her.

“Twilight...”

“Oh, there's Creatures of Equestria, too- there are so many odd animals that live around here, it's a good guide-”

The book went atop the other, beginning a stack I knew wasn't going to stop growing any time soon.

“Twilight-”

“Maybe Flora and Weeds, it's useful!”

“Twilight-”

“There's always Unexpected Survival Spells, you wouldn't realize how often I use them.”

“What the-”

“Fruits of Labor is also a good one!”

“Twilight!”

There was no stopping her.

“Incredible Facts is a must, as well as Myths of Old. Although, they really aren't that old, as we run into them every-other weekend-”

“TWILIGHT!” I barked, causing her to jump.

“Oh? What-”

I pointed at the mountain of books beside her. It was taller than her.

“What?”

I raised an eyebrow, then looked bside me, pretending I was looking up at a giant, horrifying creature. She got the message.

“I do suppose it is a tad too many books for now...” she mumbled, slowly browsing the covers as she levitated back a few of the books.

I shook my head at the remaining stack. It still stood flank-height!

A few more books returned. Now four stacks of five books each. Uh-uh.

Twilight began studying the covers intently, trying to decide which books were the most important at the moment. I saw one of them titled Potent Probabilities. What that book was supposed to do to help me around town, I had no idea.

“Twilight, I really don't need to read any books, actually,” I told her. No response.

“Plus, Shining Armor already gave me the general run-down of the town, so I probably know all of the important facts about this place.”

She looked up, looking doubtful.

“Okay, some of the important facts!”

She narrowed her eyes.

“A few?” I reached.

She sighed, a slight smile coming to her lips.

“It's no use,” she said, throwing her hoofs in the air in a mock tantrum. “You are hopeless!”

I suddenly heard a rough scraping sound from up the stairs. Looking up, I saw a small purple dragon with green fins and a yellow belly at the top step. He had a round belly, and judging by his side I assumed he couldn't have been even close to reaching maturity. Had to have only been a decade or so in age, still technically a baby by dragon standards.

“Oh, Spike. Glad to see you're awake!” Twilight greeted the baby dragon, who upon reaching the floor gave a huge yawn, blinking his green eyes.

“Mornin' Twilight,” he mumbled sleepily.

“Alright, sleepy head, I have a list of chores for you on the counter, so as soon as you've had a little breakfast I expect you to get right on them. Okay?”

“Yeah, 'kay,” Spike yawned as he slipped into the kitchen. I doubt he even saw me through his entire trek. Twilight gave a soft laugh.

“That's Spike. He's still waking up right now, but talk to him later and I bet you'll be friends immediately.”

“I bet,” I murmured. Twilight didn't catch what I said.

Twilight, meanwhile, was magically unfurling a map of Ponyville, apparently scratching the route we'd take onto it.

“Alright, let's go!” she said excitedly.

Following her out, I closed the door behind us and was immediately assaulted by the morning sun. It got bright out here a lot faster than in the griffon kingdom, what with it's mountainous terrain and northern location.

And so began our adventure across Ponyville.

Twilight showed me the town hall, explaining the entire history behind it. Trotting around, offhoofedly introducing me to various townsponies along the way. Going through the marketplace, right as it was beginning to set up. She had a by-the-book description for everything in this town.

I mean EVERYTHING.

“And that is why it was called the Everfree Forest,” she said as we returned from the edge of the great woods. To me, it looked like just another forest. Apparently they didn't have a lot of those here, though. Must have been fascinating to the townsponies and such.

The sun was now high in the sky, getting close to noon. I was feeling a tad bit hungry. I was about to voice my thoughts about getting some food, but Twilight interrupted before I could. Or should I say, her stomach interrupted.

GRRROOOooowwwlllLLL...!!!

Twilight jumped suddenly at the sound her stomach made, looking sheepish as a tinge of red came to her face.

“I suppose it's about time to get some food, yes?” she asked.

“Sure thing,” I said. “What's a good place here for some chow?”

“Chow?” Twilight asked, cocking her head.

I facehoofed.

“Food,” I explained.

“Ah,” understanding washing through her face. “There's always Sugar Cube Corner! Oh, Pinkie Pie might even be working!”

I cocked an eyebrow. That name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place a color palette to the name.

“Oh, Pinkie Pie- she's one of my good friends. You know about the elements of Harmony, right?”

Oh, so that's who Pinkie Pie was. Shining Armor had given me a rough overview of the elements of Harmony, Twilight representing the element of Magic. Figures. I believed that Pinkie Pie was... Fun? Happiness? Parties? He used a lot of single words to describe Pinkie Pie, I had them confused a little.

“Oh, right. You guys only saved Equestria, like, a bajillion times by yourselves.”

“Not a bajillion,” she said, looking rather humble. “But, it was a few...”

We shared a laugh as Twilight stopped in front of me. In front of us was a rather odd building. It resembled a gingerbread house, but it was... well, a freaking house/cafe monstrosity. I didn't know if we were supposed to go in or simply eat the building. Twilight walked straight in, so I decided to follow suit. The smell of baked goodness wafted out the door, and suddenly I was in a sugar-induced paradise.

“Ah, Twilight! How good to see you!” a rather chunky (but not fat) blue pony from behind the counter said, organizing the display treats. Atop the counter was a rack of bagels and cupcakes, and there were a few tables inside the store.

“Hello, Mrs. Cake!” Twilight said with a smile, approaching the baker lady. She then turned to me.

“Blink, this is Mrs. Cake, she runs Sugar Cube Corner with her husband.”

“Mr. Cake?” I guessed.

“You've met?” Mrs. Cake asked me, face almost dead serious. Almost.

“Anyways,” Twilight said, interrupting the horrible joke that was about to occur, “is Pinkie Pie here?”

“I'm sorry dear, but she isn't. She insisted on taking the twins to the park, and dashed out before I could say anything! At least she finished all of her chores before she left,” Mrs. Cake said, a somewhat distant look in her eyes.

“Ah,” Twilight commented, “I suppose that's okay. This is Blink, my cousin from Anville,” Twilight said, setting a hoof on my side. “I was showing him around, and we thought we'd pick up something for lunch. What do you have?”

“Well, Princess,” Mrs. Cake said with a giggle, “We just pulled out some fresh muffins-”

“MUFFINS!!!”

We turned to see a gray pegasus entering the shop, a small bag of bits clenched in her jaw. How she managed to shout and not drop the bits amazed me.

“Ah, hello Ditzy!” Mrs. Cake said, suddenly looking a little nervous. “I'll help you in just a moment.”

“O-kay!” Ditzy said happily. I noticed her gold eyes were slightly cocked, one pupil aiming a bit further up and more centered than the other.

“We'll take two,” Twilight said rather quickly, passing over four shiny bits. I hadn't even seen her pull them out.

“Oh, we can't charge royalty!” Mrs. Cake insisted, pushing the bits back.

“No no, I couldn't,” Twilight said, levitating the bits over and dropping them directly in front of Mrs. Cake.

“I might be a princess, but that doesn't mean I'm any different than anypony else here!” Twilight said. Her voice was soft and sincere, making Mrs. Cake sigh in defeat.

“If you're not going to give up on this,” Mrs. Cake said as she pulled out a bag, two muffins sitting warmly inside. I have no idea how she already had those prepared, being an earth pony and all. Did she have a unicorn in the back pre-wrapping everything?

“Nope!” Twilight said with a grin, making Mrs. Cake smile.

“Well here you go, sweetie! Hope you two enjoy!”

“We will,” Twilight said as we left. “Have a nice day!”

I waved to Mrs. Cake as I left. She returned it, but then started cowering as the gray mare approached her. I was out the door before I saw any more.

“So, what's it like being a princess anyhow?” I asked Twilight. That was something I was rather curious about; she didn't seem to be doing anything particularly regal.

“It isn't really any different than when I was Princess Celestia's student here. I suppose that's because I'm still a new princess, so there isn't really too much for me to do right now, but until then I'm looking over Ponyville just as I used to.”

“Interesting,” I commented as we headed to a table with an umbrella over it.

Sitting down, I saw that we had a perfect view of the marketplace. The day was starting to pick up, with a healthy stream of ponies browsing the goods spread throughout the stalls.

I had just bit into my wonderful golden muffin when Twilight started waving frantically, trying to get somepony's attention.

“Howdy!”

An orange mare, well built and wearing a stetson, trotted over casually, bumping hooves with Twilight before looking me up and down. Twilight took a small bite of her own muffin as Applejack grew a smug look on her face.

“Who's this, your coltfriend?”

I spat my muffin out at the same time that Twilight did. We ended up covering the orange mare with half-chewed muffin. Such a shame, it was a good muffin.

“A-Applejack!” Twilight sputtered.

“Ah'm right, ain't ah!” Applejack announced, a victorious look on her face.

“Applejack, you-”

“Ah am right! Ha! Shoot, why didn'tcha tell me, Twi?” Applejack asked, wrapping a leg around me while laughing loudly. “I bet you two have even been bumpin'-”

“APPLEJACK!” Twilight shouted.

“Wha?” Applejack asked, her words grinding to a halt. She didn't realize it, but I was suffocating in her legs; her leg was literally wrapped around my neck, strangling me. My legs were flailing madly in the air, and I was unable to break from her grip. She had a lot denser legs than griffons.

“This is my cousin,” Twilight barked, face redder than a Zebraik Lava Skipper.

“This is yer-”

I gasped for breath as her leg unraveled from around my neck. Screw ten years of military training, that bitch was strong!

“Didn't see that comin',” Applejack said rather feebly, pawing at the ground with a hoof. I could sense her embarrassment; she wanted to up and disappear.

“Neither did I,” I choked out, rubbing my neck to get blood flowing back to my brain.

As soon as the last star faded from my vision, I lifted a hoof to Applejack, who bashfully bumped it with her own.

“Aural Blink.”

“Sorry 'bout that,” she said. “Ah'm Applejack, one o' Twilight's friends.”

“Element of Honesty, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, how'd you guess?” she asked. I rolled my eyes.

“The six of you are on the visitor pamphlets for flights into the country,” I joked. Applejack laughed. Good.

“Out of country, huh? So what brings ya here?”

“I'm looking to move into the area,” I said coolly, having committed my excuse to memory.

“Well shoot, that's great! We could always use more... toned, stallions around own,” she said, looking me up and down again. I cocked an eyebrow towards Twilight. She facehoofed.

“So Applejack, how are the preparations for the Great Apple Ball coming along?”

“We're a tad behind, honestly,” Applejack sighed. “We just don't have the bodies to finish anything on time-”

A sonic boom cracked above our heads.

“LOOK OUT!” screamed a rather feminine voice.

Twilight and Applejack immediately dropped to the ground. I looked around like a moron, trying to find out what made the noise.

Suddenly, it hit me.

Chapter Four

Just BlinkDigital_HexChapter Four

CRACK!

I saw stars, and suddenly everything went black.

I half expected to be unconscious, but instead I was suddenly very warm, like a thick blanket had been tossed over me. A feathery blanket.

“Rainbow Dash!” came Twilight's muffled gasp. The blanket above me moaned and shuffled, flopping off of me. I stared wide-eyed into the sky, terrified to move.

“Sorry, Twilight,” a voice sounded next to me. Must have been the blanket.

“It's not me you need to be apologizing to!” Twilight chided.

“What-” the voice started, but then was cut off. I assumed the owner (a she, it seemed) had finally noticed she FRAGGING TACKLED ME.

“Oh, sorry dude,” she said, and suddenly I felt her helping me to my hooves. I turned to face her.

She was a cyan pegasus, with a wind-swept rainbow-hued main that was cut short and wild. Her tail was similarly colored, while her eyes were a deep rose, cerise.

“No problem,” I huffed, brushing some dirt from my side.

“So, Twilight!” the pegasus- hadn't Twilight just called her Rainbow Dash?- Rainbow Dash said excitedly.

“Yes?”

“You promised I could teach you some flying tricks later, riiight?”

“Yes,” Twilight said suspiciously, “I do recall...”

“And it's later, riiight?”

Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Yes, it is Rainbow Dash, but I'm busy at the moment showing Aural Blink here the town.”

Rainbow Dash turned back to me, looking me up and down.

“Who is he, your coltfriend?”

Twilight and I both facehoofed simultaneously, groaning. How long would it take to explain this?

“No,” I decided to tell her, “I am her cousin from Anville, over by the griffon kingdom.”

“I didn't know you had an earth pony for a cousin!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, looking perversely excited. I cringed. I could feel Twilight do the same thing behind me.

My horn, as compact as it was, was easily hidden within my mane.

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” I said as I slumped. “I feel my soul dying a little bit more as we speak.”

“What?” she asked as my spirit floated from my mouth. “What did I say?”

Twilight trotted over to me, using her magic to part my mane a little bit. There was my nubby little horn, the disgrace of me.

“That wasn't very nice, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said sternly.

“What?! I didn't see it!”

I shook once, twice, then remained still.

“Not like I'm self-conscious about it or anything, hehehe...” I mumbled, barely loud enough for the three mares around me to hear.

“Oh- oooh...” Rainbow Dash said, realizing what she'd said.

“Ya got to be a little more sensitive about those things, sugar cube,” Applejack said as she and Twilight prodded me until I rose to my hooves.

“I'm... sorry?” Rainbow Dash said, obviously confused about what to say. She honestly hadn't known I was a unicorn.

“It's alright,” I relented. “I get it more often than one would think.”

I then stopped to think before turning to Applejack.

“Hold on- did you think I was an earth pony, too?”

“Well, ah, uh...” Applejack stumbled over her words, pretty much answering for herself.

“I didn't want to say anything!” she ended up revealing.

“Fair enough,” I said, letting the incident run down my hide like a slimy- never mind. I decided in my mind that I needed to get a hair-cut soon. Having griffons not realize I was a unicorn until it was too late was one thing, but this... was just humiliating.

“So, anyways,” Rainbow Dash jumped back in, “Let's go Twilight!”

With that, Rainbow Dash scooped up Twilight and blasted off straight up into the sky.

I barely had time to scoop my jaw up from the ground before Applejack decided to comment.

“That girl needs to slow down sometimes, I swear.”

I assumed she was referring to Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, well now I've completely lost my guide for the day,” I grumbled as I returned to nibbling on my forgotten muffin. It was still delicious.

“Your guide? Oh, right, Twi was showing you 'round town, wasn't she?”

“Yep,” I confirmed.

“Well, did she tell you 'bout the Great Apple Ball?” she asked excitedly. Jeez, were all of the ponies here this excitable?!

“She mentioned it briefly, something about... well, I don’t remember most of what she said about it, to be honest,” I admitted.

“No problem, sugar cube. Y'see, the Princesses are big on these dances and the such, but they're tired of the lot from Canterlot always making it so... stiff.”

I nodded. I'd been to Canterlot exactly... once, almost twelve years ago when I met a certain purple filly. The ponies there definitely seemed... stiff, to put it one way.

“And y'know how Twilight recently became an alicorn, obviously, so the Princesses decided to have a big 'ol dance here in Ponyville celebrating Twilight's recent- er, what's the word?”

“Ascension?” I guessed. Applejack nodded.

“Yeah, that one. Now, the only place in Ponyville really big enough for a big dance is the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, so that's where mah family comes in!”

“The Apple family?”

“Yessiree!”

“But I still don't get one thing,” I voiced. “Why do the Princesses want to have the dance in Ponyville? And what is keeping the snobs from Canterlot away?”

“Ah, well y'see,” Applejack explained, “Twilight would never have gotten to where she is today if she hadn't have come to Ponyville, or at least she says so- personally, ah think she would have gone done it anyways, but she insists it was us who helped her- so she wants to repay the town for helping her. So, the only ponies getting an invite are residents of Ponyville!”

She ended her explanation with a big grin on her face. It was scaring me slightly.

“Okaaay...” I said. “So... I'm guessing you have a lot of work to do, right?”

“Darn toot-in!”

I continued munching away on my muffin until it was gone. Applejack still had this expectant look on her face.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Alright, I'll cut to the chase,” Applejack said. “Could you help out at Sweet Apple Acres 'til Twilight's done doin' her thing with Rainbow? It would be mighty appreciated!”

I considered the option. It would be a neat, helping assemble a dance. Hey, I was seventeen years old and I'd never been to a dance before, so lay off me. I was perfectly aware of what symbolism dances carried. It wouldn't hurt to help out a little bit.

“I suppose it wouldn't hurt-”

Applejack suddenly reared up on her back legs, whooping loudly.

“That's just great! Here, let me make sure Apple Bloom and Granny Smith are fine watching the stall for a little bit, then ah'll show you to the farm!”

With that, she trotted away back to the stall, where she began talking with an older green mare and a small, yellow filly with a red mane and a big bow in her hair. After conversing with them briefly, she rushed back over to me, she rushed back over, grabbing one of my hooves and dragging me behind her.

“C'mon!” she insisted, and I teleported beside her. It surprised her momentarily, but she took on a determined face and charged ahead.

A race, eh?

It's on, girl, I thought as I picked up my pace, returning to her side. She was pouring out the strength, a wild smile across her face. I wasn't pressing myself all too hard, but what I wasn't feeling in my legs I was feeling in my lungs. I always felt my asthma rather quickly, but seeing as it hadn't actually hindered me since I was younger, it never really mattered. If anything, it drove me harder to succeed.

I overtook her, ending up in front. I looked back, wearing a smug grin, but I barely had time to see the edge of her tail disappear down a bend.

Then I realized, I had no idea where we were actually heading.

Growling to myself, I teleported back to where Applejack had turned, seeing her off a ways ahead of me. A quick blink later, we were once again neck and neck.

“Hey, no fair!” Applejack complained when she noticed I was back next to her. “Teleportin' is cheatin'!”

“And knowing the directions is a fair handicap?”

She smirked before she took off like a rocket, working her legs like pistons against the ground.

With only a tad more effort, as well as much more labored breathing, I kept pace.

We took a bending path, and before us I saw a big red barn and silo, with a nice two-story house out front. Homely.

Applejack's face was utter concentration and dedication. She wanted to win, badly.

Naturally, I bled forward dramatically, hopping the fence surrounding the house and even having enough time to catch my breath and lean against the house on an elbow in a completely cocky manner before she made it.

“You mad?”

She laughed, taking the defeat rather well.

“Well, I sure wasn't expectin' a unicorn to be built so... well, built in general. I think the only unicorn I've seen with more than a single slab of muscle on him was Twilight's brother, Shining Armor!”

“Well, seeing as he's the one who trained me, not too surprising!” I countered.

“That-” she started, but then stopped. “-actually makes sense, a bit.”

I shrugged off what sounded like a subtle jab at me and turned to face the fields before me, ripe with full apple trees.

“So, what did you need me to help with?” I asked.

Suddenly, a heavy yoke was dropped over me and a firm swat at my backside delivered. I reared up on my back legs instinctively, whinnying in surprise before turning to glare at Applejack.

“Not. Funny.”

“Was a little funny,” she insisted, trying to contain a burst of laughter.

I looked over the heavy yoke over my shoulders. It wasn't heavy enough to cause serious discomfort, but...

“Why am I wearing this?” I asked. Meanwhile, Applejack was attaching a big plow to the back of it.

Oooh...

“Yeah, funny thing is, I'm not going to be able to pull this,” I tried to explain to Applejack.

“Nonsense,” she grunted as she hefted a thick strap over one of the pegs. “Even I can pull this, though not for long.”

“No, I don’t think you understand. I'm built for running and... that's about it. Agility and speed, not... strength and endurance.”

“I'm sure you'll do just fine!” she insisted as she finished attaching the heavy plow to my yoke. I could feel the strain the straps were already pulling against, and I hadn't even started moving yet!

This was going to be a long day.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I fell into an exhausted heap the instant the yoke was lifted from my shoulders. I felt the stitches in my sides, the tearing pain in my lungs almost unbearable. My hide was dirty and drenched in sweat, and I had the aroma of a wild beast.

Applejack slapped my on the back, congratulating me on my work. I looked around me in my miserable state.

The entire southern field was plowed of all the dead crops the family hadn't been able to focus on. The huge plot of land was now bare and ready to be used for the ball two weeks off.

I was incapable of feeling joy in this. Applejack assured me that I had done well.

I didn't care. I hurt.

“Ah remember the first day ah wore mahself out that bad,” Applejack reminisced, apparently feeling empathy towards my state.

“Had to spend a couple hours in the spring, ah was so tense!”

Somehow, I felt the energy to turn to her and utter a few words, barely a phrase. Actually, it was a single word, laced with desperation and hope. A word that would set my future on a peculiar path. Not a bad path, but not necessarily one I would have chosen right away. It was just, well... peculiar.

“Where,” I croaked out.

Applejack pointed past the edge of the southern fields, towards the small peak of a rocky cropping that was on Ponyville's western edge.

“Just follow a little path that way for, er, ah'd say three miles. We've got a little shack built at the edge, and the spring's right past it! Ya might have to do a little climbin', though...”

Somehow, defying every and all laws of pain and tolerance that I knew of, I staggered to my hooves and made it to the edge of the field, disappearing into the brush.

Sure enough, there was a little trail. Key word here: trail. It couldn't have been used in years, it was so overgrown and tight. I almost got lost a couple of times, but after what felt likes hours (it was probably barely a half hour, actually) I fell out of the forest, cackling like a madcolt.

“HA! TAKE THAT, ACCURSED WOOD!”

I took in the scene before me. The rocky was before me was, unlike the forest I'd tore through, very clean and actually looked maintained. A tidy wooden shed stood before a path chipped into the rock, leading upwards a few stories before it looked like it evened out.

I peeked in the shed, seeing a few clean, pressed towels sitting neatly on a shelf, along with a rack for wet towels and an empty bin sitting atop a small stool. Homey.

Turning my view upwards towards the lip of a nearby ledge, I teleported up and almost fell straight into the steaming water. The cuts and bruises I'd earned while hacking and stumbling my way through the... forest would... disappear...

I facehoofed.

Why hadn't I just teleported to the shed in the first place?! Surely there were ways to have done so accurately, I was aware of a few very such measures at the moment! Why, I could have teleported straight up in the air and looked for the springs from there, teleporting straight to them! I could have even been teleporting paces in front of me along the trip, shaving not only time but energy and many scratches from my journey!!

I sighed as I slipped into the blissfully warm water, the setting sun in the west making the water ripple gold.

The spring was actually pretty well designed, I doubted it was completely natural. The entire spring was facing north, with a perfect vantage both west and east. However, there was absolutely no wind. None at all. The lips of the spring were perfectly studded to block everything, and several draining pools held old leaves and even a few branches that had managed to end up in the spring.

The warm water was like heaven to me, soothing my body immediately. I could feel my muscles unclenching as I fell below the surface, closing my eyes and holding my breath. My mane floated lazily about me. I let my limbs sprawl out, just laying underneath the water, relaxing. I knew I only had a few minutes tops to enjoy the bliss, but what bliss it was.

Suddenly, the water rippled towards me, and I was vaguely aware of a muffled splash. Internally sighing, I carefully surfaced, not creating any ripples of my own.

Twilight was on the opposite side of the spring as me, back to me. She sighed heavily as she dipped herself into the spring, steam ruffing her coat.

I felt the blood rush to my face before I had the decency to realize what was happening.

She lowered herself down, down, under the surface of water before bursting from below, spreading her wings wide, stretching them in a rather compromising manner. Her wet mane clung to her face in some places, others it flung about in wet strands.

I had conflicting emotions as she arched her back before throwing it down, crackling her spine while quietly moaning. The blood was going to another head, if you catch my drift.

Finally, Twilight ended her unintentionally attractive showing and flopped into the water, leaning against the back of the spring and throwing her head back, tongue lolled out.

Well then, I guess she really liked hot springs.

Meanwhile, I was frozen in place, too petrified to move. Let's take a look at my situation as it ran through my mind at the time:

1.I had just watched my cousin provide a rather stimulating show of relaxing herself short of, well... the other way.

I had no interaction with mares in the other way, so I was naturally petrified.
I'd just gotten a boner over my cousin.
If I moved, I'd be discovered in all my glory.
I did not want to be discovered.
Don't move.

So that's how I remained, not breathing, my head barely breaking the surface of the water. After a few minutes, it felt like the blood in my head was starting to boil when Twilight turned, throwing her torso over the side of the spring and giving me a wonderful view of her flank, her wet tail dropped between her thighs. The stars on her cutie mark winked at me.

I tried to take a breath, but all I got was a mouthful of scalding water. And thus started the coughing. Trying to remain hidden resulted in me thrashing. As soon as I stopped breathing, my vision started getting black.

I sputtered for air, desperately trying to refrain from creating ripples in the water, but it was no use. My head was getting light. The heat was getting to me. Twilight had been smart in letting herself cool off, while I'd been in for twice as long and had spent most of the time fully submerged. Idiot.

The last thing I saw was Twilight look over her back, eyes half-lidded until she spotted me practically drowning. They shot open in surprise.

The blackness overtook me. It was a warm blackness.

Was it worth it, hiding from Twilight while she gave me that... show?

Even in my dream-like state, I had my answer.

Totally.

Chapter Five

Just BlinkDigital_HexChapter Five

Being unconscious is weird.

I've been unconscious before, but it never gets any easier to deal with. I suppose everypony has a different reaction to being unconscious. A lot of my fellow soldiers say that it's almost as if they close their eyes at one place and when they open them, they're somewhere else. Others say it's like a deep sleep, no dreams.

Me? I take a nice stroll down memory lane. I suppose I should be worried that this might be the fabled “life flashing before my eyes” spiel, but it never feels like some dramatic montage. No, it's just as I said before: a stroll.

This time, it was a flash-back to almost ten years earlier. I hadn't relived this particular instance in... quite a while, actually.

There I was, a tiny little unicorn, my mane long and unruly, with a quick curl at the end. I was still bruised from a few nights prior, a night that continues to haunt me.

I was sitting in a recruiting center in Anville, the only station in town. I knew the ponies there, notably the recruiter. He was a rather bulky unicorn stallion named Roadblock. A reasonable name, I supposed.

“Aural Blink!”

My small body turned to face the voice. It turned out to belong to Shining Armor, much younger. He was still in the early-recruitment officer training corps, the fancy school for the richer ponies.

I saw the tears well up in my eyes, I could feel the relief from seeing him. Even with the pain, though, the tears welled up but did not spill. I didn't shed a single one. Shining Armor rushed over to me, pulling me in a big hug.

“I heard what happened, I was- I was- I don't even know what I was, nor am!” he practically shouted. Roadblock had turned his attention to us.

“Did they... Did they really...?” Shining Armor asked. I nodded solemnly.

“My stars...” he gasped. “Even Dream?”

I felt a single tear roll down my face. I hadn't been strong enough to save her, I wasn't strong enough to even hold in a fragging tear. I could feel the spite for myself.

My response was a single shudder down my body. Shining Armor leaned in closer, holding me reassuringly. Protectively.

“I'm- I'm-” he tried to say, but I stopped him.

“Don't say it,” I'd croaked out, my voice cracking.

“Everypony else has already said it, so please... just don't...”

Shining Armor sighed, nodding against me.

After a few minutes, he pulled away.

“So this is your answer?” he asked me, motioning to Roadblock. Well, he was really meaning joining the Equestrian Guard, but the symbolism wasn't lost on me.

“I'm not going to fail again,” I'd spat out. “I'm going to get stronger! I swear!”

Shining Armor patted my shoulder reassuringly, smiling.

“Well, if this is what you want to do...”

“It is!” I assured him.

Roadblock then spoke up. “Alright, Blink. You're all set.”

Levitating the papers he'd been reviewing, he tapped them against his horn and they disappeared in a small orb of energy, sent away to Equestria.

“Now to see what the princess thinks.”

Roadblock leaned back in his chair, looking out the window between us. It overlooked the entire village and the bay. To the left, one could even see the charred remains of my old house...

“So why does the princess have to personally review me?” I asked Shining Armor. “You weren't any older than I am when you joined!”

“Actually,” Shining Armor countered, “I was two years older than you are now. And secondly, I had my parents permission to join. You... well, seeing as this cannot happen, you have to get a royal waiver. Seeing as my family is technically the closest relation you have, we have full responsibility over you.

“However, seeing as you aren't in Equestria, the same rules as back home don't apply here. If we were in, say, Reindehoof, this would be much easier, as the laws there are much more explicit. But seeing as Anville is such a recent addition to Equestrian lands, and we are still trying to work out rights here, you require the explicit permission of the commander-in-chief of the Equestrian Guard.”

“I still don't get why it takes so much trouble to let in one lousy colt,” I huffed.

“Well, your asthma doesn't help,” Shining Armor pointed out.

“Hey, I have it handled!” I yelled back.

“Neither does your lack of expertise in general magic.” he continued.

“I'm good at teleportation spells...”

“Yes, and that coupled with your lack of a cutie mark might be what saves you. The princess is very considerate when it comes to new recruits. I'm sure you'll be accepted,” he assured me.

“I hope you're right...” I sighed.

And thus we waited. Moments turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours. The sun was just beginning it's early decent when Roadblock's horn spat out a response.

Roadblock read over it once before his lips split into a massive grin.

“You're in, kid.”

I could feel the relief I'd felt then. That moment, that moment then was possibly one of the most important moments of my life. I'm pretty big into the whole destiny thing, but I still wonder what might have happened if I hadn't made it, if I'd been rejected.

“Alright then,” Shining Armor said, standing. “When will the airship be here?”

“Five minutes,” Roadblock answered gruffly.

“Five?!” Shining Armor asked, startled. “they must have cleared you a while ago, then! Let's go!”

With that, Shining Armor grabbed my hoof and pulled me after him, darting out the door. In the distance, we could see the outline of the blimp in the distance.

“Why are we in such a hurry?!” I asked.

“If we're going to have any chance at making it to Fort Starswirl tonight, we need to leave as soon as possible! We can't travel there at night, and there's a storm heading this way, estimated to last upwards of a week. We need to hurry!”

Shining Armor and I flew through the buildings, climbing the many rocky hills that dotted the city. We were practically built upon a mountain, the village buildings connected by narrow walkways. There was still a few piles of snow that hadn't melted in the early summer sun. The same sun that was only going to be up for another hour at most.

“There, it's docking!” Shining Armor shouted. Sure enough, the dirigible had made contact and was waiting patiently at the docking station alongside the town's cliff-edge.

I cast a quick spell upon Shining Armor, locking my magic onto him.

“What are you-” he began, but was cut off a second later as I teleported both of us right onto the dock.

“-doing?” he finished before looking around, impressed. “You might just make it, kid.”

He punched me lightly on the shoulder before tearing up the boarding plank, with myself close behind him.

“Alright, let's go!” he shouted, the boarding plank closing behind us. A moment later, the airship rocked back as we took off, heading for Fort Starswirl.

I got a quick look around the cabin. There was a green pegasus looking through some gear along a wall, along with another pony, although he was... a little different. For starters, he was huge. I mean huge as in I was surprised the airship could even hold him. He was ripped, huge slabs of muscle slapped to him all over. His coat was a deep, burnt orange, and he had a short crop of red hair. He was an earth pony, so his size wasn't all too surprising, but... well, it was still pretty surprising. He was massive!

“Ah, Shining Armor. Good ta see ya, lad!” the massive pony bellowed, throwing a huge hoof over Shining Armor's shoulders. Shining, having just hit his teens, was tiny compared to him.

“You too, Painful Authority!”

I watched as I rubbed my ears vigorously, making sure I heard that right. Did he just say Painful Authority? How did he end up with that name?

“So, this be the boy, eh?” he asked, his Scandineighvian accent thick. He looked me over with his sharp yellow eyes.

“Yes, this is my second-cousin, Aural Blink. He's the newest recruit at the corps.”

I did a double-take towards Shining Armor.

“Corps?! As in the officer training corps?!”

Shining Armor nodded.

“Whoa, whoa! I thought I was just going in as a regular soldier!”

Shining Armor chuckled lightly. The green pegasus I'd noticed earlier trotted over, holding a few rolled scrolls in his mouth. Shining Armor grasped one of them with hi magic, unfurling it and showing it to me.

“This is your test results from the Equestrian Vocational Aptitude Battery, particularly your Military Equivalence Score.”

I looked at it, frowning. I'd remembered that stupid test from over a year ago, it'd seemed so easy.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Do you see your score?”

I looked at the scores. All across the board, they were in the 90's. My MES was a 97.

“Yeah, and the teacher had said that my score was bad.”

“She did what?!” Shining Armor and Painful Authority cried out, falling backwards. The green pegasus rolled his eyes.

“This is how she explained it,” I started, not realizing why they were so shocked. “If you got a one, then that meant that you were in the top one percent of that field. Isn't that how is works?”

“The opposite, actually,” Shining Armor sighed, rolling up the paper. “It works just like any other test, Blink. You did extremely good on it.”

“Yeah, but I didn't get a 100 on it...” I pouted.

“First off,” Shining Armor began, “you can only get a 99 on it. Second off, this is meant for ponies my age, who haven't been able to find a job in their particular field due to their cutie mark, or want to do a civil duty and join the Guard.”

“So...?” I asked him.

“Here's my test scores from last year,” Shining Armor said, levitating both my scroll and a scroll with his results in front of my, right next to each other for easy comparison.

I outscored him in every category. His MES was a 93.

“And this is Painful Authority's from five years ago- wait, that means you need to take another one!” Shining Armor turned to yell at Painful Authority as he set the next scroll next to mine on the other side.

Again, I'd outscored him in every category, even more so than I had Shining Armor. Painful Authority's score was a 76.

“I still don't get what you're saying...” I said.

“What I'm trying to say is that you have the testing scores to get through the schooling portion of the academy easily.”

“Wait, what academy!?”

“The Early-Recruitment Officer Training Corps academy, duh!”

“Who said I wanted to go there?!” I yelled. Shining Armor and Authority grew stern-faced.

“That's what we're here to ask,” he started slowly. “You could do so much, you could go so far. Think of what you could accomplish, what you could do for our country. Officer training is going to be so easy for you, we just need to find a field for you. That's why we need you to decide, do you want to try this?”

“I was fine with just being another soldier,” I huffed.

Shining Armor and Authority both gave big laughs. “Not with these scores you aren't. Do you realize what the average score is for the regular soldier?”

“No,” I admitted.

“Thirty-nine. That's three points above the minimum to join. Trust me, this is obviously something you were meant to do.”

I thought about it. This could definitely be... interesting.

“Will I be in charge of a bunch of other ponies?” I asked.

Shining Armor shared a quick look with Painful Authority.

“Depends. We do some cognitive tests and physical examinations when you get to the academy, so... we don't know. It all depends on what you're good at, what you can do.”

I returned to thinking. It was definitely attractive, being an officer. Do remember, I was eight at the time in question, so all I thought of officers at the time was the ponies who talked with ambassadors from other countries and never got to see any of the action.

Boy was I wrong.

“I... I guess it could be cool,” I said.

Painful Authority set a hoof on my shoulder, squeezing it firmly.

“Now listen here, boy. I know ya just got through a rough time, yer still goin' through it I'm sure, but ya need to grow up fast, ya hear? This isn't some game we're playin' here, this is serious. Do ya want ta become an officer, or not?” His voice was strong and firm, not friendly but not aggressive either. I'd heard this voice before, from my dad. This was an adult question he was asking me.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself. I looked straight into his eyes.

“Yes. I want to become an officer.”

He cracked a big grin, taking his hoof off of my shoulder.

“Well then, I guess yer our newest recruit. From now on, ya shall address me as Captain Authority. This here isn't yer cousin anymore, it's First Lieutenant Armor. You are Cadet Blink. Are we clear, cadet?”

“Yes... sir?”

“Good,” Captain Authority said, grinning. As he turned, I got a good look at his cutie mark: A crossed hammer and rail spike. Painful. Makes sense.

“Alright, get some rest. We'll wake you when we get to Fort Starswirl,” Shining Armor told me.

I trotted over to a small wooden shelf with a pad on it, nestled into the wall of the cabin. I shuffled around for a minute before giving up, resting my head. I closed my eyes, and the next thing I knew, I was out.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

“Blink...”

I groaned, my head feeling heavy.

“Bliiink...”

Why was I wet?

“BLINK!”

“AH!” I shouted, snapping up. I almost tumbled off the side of the spring wall- oh look, here we go.

I fell forward, the air whipping at my wet form. It took me a few seconds of screaming uncontrollably to remember I could teleport, and then I was back where I was, now falling back wards. I splashed unceremoniously back into the spring.

I thrashed around before feeling with my hooves that the spring was barely leg-deep in this section. I stood up, the water not even reaching my hocks.

“You okay?” Twilight asked me, looking at me with a face that was a cross between concern and fright.

“Yeah, I'm f-”

The memory of what had led up to me being unconscious fled through my mind, stopping me mid-sentence. I felt my face flush.

“Fine! Perfectly fine!” I said quickly, turning away from her. This was bad.

“Are... Are you sure? You were unconscious for a few minutes, I was afraid you'd drowned!”

“As I said, I am fine! No need to worry!” I said robotically.

“Al- alright...” Twilight said, and I heard her slip back into the water.

“How'd you find this place?” she asked me.

“Applejack told me about it, I've been helping her on the farm all day.”

“Oh,” she said, letting the conversation drop. Probably going back to enjoying herself. How much was she enjoying herself, though...?

A quick gust of wind managed to sneak it's way to me, ruffling my wet coat. I shivered in the breeze.

I slowly peeked over my shoulder. There Twilight was, her waist floating on the water towards me, her front legs spread against the spring, neck thrown back, wings splayed out-

My horn let out a few sparks. I snapped my head back furiously.

“You enjoy that?” Twilight laughed. I facehoofed.

“Of course not!” Then I realized my mistake. “Enjoy what, exactly?”

“Busted,” Twilight cackled, flicking some water my way. I sighed, defeated. Like Hell I'd show her that, though.

“I have no idea what you are talking about. You are my cousin, there is no way I'd even think that.”

“Ahuh,” she said, disbelieving. “Think what, exactly?” I turned back, shooting her a glare. She was now sitting in the spring, giving me a smug look. Her wings were half-cocked.

“Alright, alright, I'm dropping it!” she said, shrugging.

“So, how'd you find this place?” I asked her as I trotted over to a deeper section of the spring, near the center. I could sit down and still have my head and half my neck above the water.

“Applejack showed it to me after my first winter wrap-up here. I've used it ever since.”

“Winter wrap-up?” I asked. “What's that?”

I could feel Twilight lift an eyebrow at me from behind my back.

“You've never been a part of a winter-”

“I grew up mainly in Anville, and spent the rest of my life in the griffon kingdom and further east. They don't have whatever you're talking about over there.

“Oh, okay... well, Winter Wrap-up is-”

She then went on the explain exactly what winter wrap-up was. I should have taken notes, she was so descriptive. Here, each of the ponies had a specific part to play in cleaning up the town after the last snow of the season. Funny, everywhere else we simply let it melt away like normal folk. This country continued to surprise me... Yeah, that probably sounded treasonous since I was FROM said country. Too bad.

“So nopony moves the clouds in Scandineighvia?” Twilight asked me.

“Nope, they move on their own.”

“And nopony cleans up all the snow?”

“Well, when there is too much snow and we need the snow moved for something important, then we do. Other than that, though, no. We let nature run it's course.”

“That sounds...” Twilight thought a moment before finishing. “Illogical and uncalculated. It's uncanny.”

“You know what it sounds like to me?” I asked. Twilight shook her head.

“Normal.”

Twilight laughed. I didn't realize I'd made a joke.

“We have two very different ideas of normal, Aural Blink.”

“You bet we do,” I agreed.

We were now sitting a body distance away from each other, hanging our bottom legs over the spring. I looked up, leaning back on my front legs. The stars in the sky were beautiful.

I let my mind wander. The last time I'd just sat back and looked at the stars had been a while ago. It had been the last day of the academy, the day before I graduated. It had been a good day.

Looking back, today had been a pretty good day, too. I'd been given a by-the-book tour of Ponyville, had met a few of Twilight's friends, and had even gotten a good workout at the farm!

It was a good day.

Chapter Six

Just BlinkDigital_HexChapter Six

The night air was cool above the springs, steam hanging like a thick cloud. The sun had just set recently, so Twilight had conjured up a few balls of light that floated over the springs. We were wading in the spring's warm waters, enjoying the comfort.

“So how was Applejack?” Twilight asked me out of the blue.

I cast her a look.

“Like, what's my take on her?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“She seemed...” I thought back to my long day of work. She was a hard worker, I'd seen that much. She really loved her home and job. She was strong, had a good build, had some very nice curves-

I coughed, blushing.

“She was nice enough. Really loves the place, I noticed, very passionate.”

“That's Applejack for you,” Twilight agreed. “She's living her dream, why wouldn't she be? This is where she belongs.”

“Mhm...” I mumbled.

Silence surrounded us again. Off in the distance, we could hear a bird cry through the night. The leaves of trees rustled below the edge of the spring. It was peaceful.

“What about Rarity and Rainbow Dash? I know you didn't really get to meet them, but what about them? They're some of my best friends.”

I thought back. Rarity had seemed rather... interesting, to say the least. My guess was she was of a rich, snooty background. But that didn't really seem to fit; she was friends with Twilight, and there was no way that Twilight could be friends with a rude pony. I'd have to get a second take on her.

Rainbow Dash seemed to be the opposite of Rarity. I'd known been in the company of Rainbow Dash for all of a minute, and I had a pretty good idea of her. Tom-boyish, not only from her voice but from how she acted, how she presented herself. She was brash, aggressive, blunt, but she apparently cared for her friends. She'd been wanting to practice flying with Twilight, and had jumped on the chance. I could only find one word to define what she was: loyal to a fault.

I had my own stereotypes of them, but I'd learned a long time ago that it was best not to judge others without giving them a chance to prove themselves.

“I don't know yet. Like you said, I barely met them.”

“Fair enough,” Twilight said. Silence overtook us for a time.

A frog croaked nearby. Turning, I looked at it. It was a green forest frog, sitting on the warm stone surrounding the springs. I doubted it would jump into the spring, but it seemed to enjoy the heat of the rock surrounding the water.

“You know, Rainbow Dash was asking about you.”

I was perplexed, to say the least. I was surprised, to put it bluntly. I was shocked, to put it honestly.

To put it simply, I did not expect this.

“Oh?” I asked. I pictured Rainbow Dash in my mind. The cyan pegasus was... winged? I really didn't know enough about her to have a good idea of what to imagine her like.

“Yeah, she seemed to be rather... interested.” She chuckled evilly.

“You seem to enjoy this bit of taboo knowledge,” I scoffed.

“What can I say, this is the first time that Rainbow has ever showed any interest in a stallion that isn't Soarin.”

“And Soarin is..?” I asked.

“You can't be-” She then remembered where I'd been for the past forever. “Oh, right. Soarin is a Wonderbolt, which is a group of hyper-popular stunt pegasi. They're pretty good, having shows here and there.”

“Sounds dreamy,” I commented, slipping into the water slightly. This Rainbow Dash character, she must have idolized him.

“She idolizes him,” Twilight informed me. Figures.

“That's nice,” I said. My legs were now fully submerged.

“Yeah, she-” Twilight began, but suddenly stopped.

I waited for her to continue, but she made no intention of finishing her thought.

“Everything good back there?” I asked, turning. She was looking directly at me, a curious look on her face.

“Yeah, just- turn back around.”

“What?” I said, cocking an eyebrow.

“Turn back around,” she commanded me.

“Okay...” I said, returning my gaze back to the frog. It croaked as my eyes settled back on it.

I waited. A few minutes clicked by, and she hadn't said anything.

“So, see anything that strikes your fancy?” I asked her.

“Did you always have this mark on the back of your head?” she asked me.

“What mark?” I asked, now slightly concerned.

“I'll take that as a no...” she commented. A quick flash of light erupted from behind me, and then Twilight levitated a suspended field of magic before me. It was an image of me sitting in the water, from behind- she'd taken a picture of me! I was about to ask what she was showing me, but then I saw it. A small circular mark below my right ear, almost hidden by my mane and only a few shades darker than my coat. It was easy to miss.

“No, never seen that before,” I said, trying to get a closer look at it.

“It looks like a hex of some sort,” she said.

“Like a curse?” I asked.

“Kind of,” she explained. “It's a physical latch on something using magic, usually to create a catalyst for a complicated spell.”

“Huh, that's weird,” I said, suddenly very interested in the frog. This was bad.

I knew exactly how I got this. The feeling of Marelin's magic washed over me again, making me shiver. This was very, very bad.

“You have no idea how you this?” Twilight asked me from behind.

I made a quick evaluation of my choices. I only had two.

I could tell Twilight everything, tell her about Marelin and the threat she had hanging on Twilight, tell her exactly why I was in Ponyville. I could reveal the entire situation to her right now. Surely I couldn’t be blamed if it were a matter of such importance, right?

Or...

“Nope,” I lied. “Never realized I had it. Might have had it for a while. In fact...” I then launched into a grand tale of when I was stuck in a manticore pit a few years back, having to fight my way through them to get to a demented Zebraik witch doctor. A story that started off true, but ended with yet another lie.

“-and I probably got it then,” I finished. I desperately hoped she would fall for my lie.

A few seconds passed before I heard her flick her hair out of her face.

“Alright. Let me know if something happens to it, or something like that. Make sure it doesn't change shape, size, or start throbbing unbearably. Oh, I want to do some tests on it so bad!”

I was about to tell her off, but she actually interrupted herself.

“Buuut, my friends tell me that I shouldn't be putting everypony through those tests, so I won’t. Just... keep an eye on it, 'kay?”

“Alright,” I said.

We remained in the spring for quite a while longer until I finally decided to get out.

“I'm heading back to the library, what about you?” I asked Twilight.

“I'm going to stay out here a bit longer,” she said while looking up at the night sky. I also looked up. The sky was beautiful. I always was a sucker for a good view.

“Alright, I guess I'll see you in the morning,” I said as I shook myself dry. A quick teleportation spell later, and I was in the center of the library. It was an easy task to teleport to somewhere I'd already been, given it was in the same general area as where I originally was. Seeing as the library was in the center of town, it was only about ten or so miles, a quick jump for me. Now, cross-country jumps... those take quite a bit out of you.

Spike was already asleep, or at least wasn't downstairs so I assumed he was in bed. I trotted into the kitchen and opened the fridge, searching through the delectable innards of the cold storage until I found what I was looking for: a pitcher of orange juice. Grabbing the handle with my teeth, I set it on the counter and got myself a glass, pouring a cup of the orange goodness.

After my meticulous series of actions, the pitcher of orange juice was safely returned to the inside of the refrigerator, and I had a delicious cup of orange juice. Downing the drink, I decided to turn in for the night.

Once in the room, I repeated the spell I'd seen Twilight perform to light the candles. It took just a second, and suddenly there was a clean, bright flame in the candle next to the door. It was pretty awesome, really.

I pulled myself onto the bed and grabbed my bag, unloading the contents. The book landed on it's cover, the charge cuffs falling on top of it while my bag of bits flopped out last. I moved the bag of money to the bedside table, adding the cuffs to them a moment later. I was left with the book.

Opening it up, I flipped to my least favorite page: levitation. I read the passage, committing it to memory. I'd read this passage so many times before, I already memorized more than half of the words on the page.

I read each step-by-step instruction on the basics of casting the spell, studying them. Finally, I decided to try out the spell.

I reached out with my magic, grabbing one of the cuffs from the table. My magic enveloped it faintly for a moment, allowing me to lift it maybe a hoof's distance before my magic sputtered out, dropping the cuff.

I frowned. This happened with pretty much all of my physical magic. Sure, I was excellent at teleportation, and elemental spells came easier to me than to some, but I was horrible at physical magic. Telekinesis was not going to come easy.

Flopping backwards onto the bed, I groaned in disappointment. I'd been studying up on that spell the entire train ride, too! Why was it so difficult to perform this simple spell?! Telekinetic abilities were usually one of the first range of spells young foals learned, but I still could barely perform them better than I could as a foal!

Glaring up, I rolled onto my side, letting my gaze shift back to the cuffs.

Screw what the book says, I thought. Just cast the fragging spell!

I closed my eyes and sent all of my magic into my horn, reaching blindly. I didn't try and direct my energy like the book had said, I simply let it go.

I heard the THUNK of heavy metal hitting heavy wood. Opening my eyes, the cuff was gone.

I sat up and peered over the side of the bed. I could barely make out the sight of the cuff resting on the floor...

… On the opposite side of the table. I'd pushed the cuff away from me instead of picking it up!

“AH!” I groaned in frustration.

Closing my eyes, I decided to just go to bed. I put out the candles, and slowly I settled into a restless sleep.

Chapter Seven

Just BlinkDigital_HexChapter Seven

“Now son, don't go past the last flag at the edge of town. Past there are the feral griffons. They aren't like us, they don't like ponies. Can you promise me you won't go past the last flag?”

I wish I'd listened to my dad.

I was in another of my lucid dreams, my memories. For a pony who wanted to forget them as much as I did, I sure remembered my past pretty well.

And there I was, passing the last flag of the town. Anville was small, built on the side of a mountain, and there were warning flags surrounding the town, in three circles. The first, smallest circle of red flags was actually still inside the town, and the flags had torches on them for airships to find the docks that were at the termination of the town.

The second ring was the green flags, which ringed the actual town limits. They were pretty self-explanatory.

The third ring, though, were the blue flags that marked the furthest possible expansion point of the city, defense-wise and structure-wise. The town defense couldn't see anything past the blue flags, especially the woodlands to the west of the town. It was a thick forest that swept down the west side of the mountain. Many said there was a gang of feral griffons and other beasts that lived in there, waiting to each little children that wandered in. I figured this was just a little fairy tail meant to scare the foals from venturing in.

This was true, to an extent. If only I'd known that the feral griffons weren't so... feral.

There was a small path in the northern part of the town, hidden behind some of the buildings pressed up against the mountains that actually went under part of the town, making for a hidden secret passageway. I was the only one to know it existed, as I was the only colt small enough yet adventurous to follow it.

I watched my small, immature form squeeze in, sliding down the gravelly path until I popped out on the other side of the large cliff in the northwest corner of the town. The forest stretched before me. I cast one look back, and off I went.

If I could have screamed at myself, I would have.

The dream opened up before me, almost like a horror movie that you've seen before. I knew every step that I was taking, as I'd taken them before. On and on, through the forest I marched, until I was outside of the den to Hell.

Inside, I could hear the sounds of cackling griffons, one of the bands that made residence inside of the woodlands. In that moment, I realized that the stories were true.

This wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't heard them talking with somepony. It was a deep, feminine voice.

“Yes, I saw a young filly in town, surely she would be a great catalyst. Her body would be... perfect for the spell.”

“And you expect us to just go in, nab the bitch, and not have any fun?!” An older griffon barked.

“Don't worry, you may take her as a reward- and yes, I mean it. Do what you wish, but she must be breathing by the time you bring her to me.”

“Got it, boss. So, when do we head out?”

“Now.”

Instantly, dozens upon dozens of griffons burst from the top of the den, spilling into the sky. They swooped back down, hugging the tops of the trees so they wouldn't be spotted as easily from town.

I was frozen in place, but what followed was what frightened me to this day.

“So what's she look like, anyways? How will I know which one to nab?”

“She's a young filly, no cutie mark. Her coat is a dark shade of purple, with a snow-white mane.”

My heart, beating at hyper-speed a split second early, stopped. Just, stopped.

“She answers to Dream.”

The next second, it was dark outside. In reality, I'd blacked out, but this was a dream so I couldn't really black-out then, could I?

I watched myself teleport back, making short rapid-fire blinks forward. As I got closer to town, I heard the screams of ponies, the crackling of flames. Something bad had happened, something very bad.

I followed the secret tunnel back up, not wanting to be caught. As soon as I returned to the surface, I saw what I'd been hearing.

Dead ponies and griffons littered the ground, slung across the road and spiked on rocks jutting from the ground. A few houses were on fire, but were being put out by some of the survivor ponies. There were still screams, but they were from further in town. I rushed towards my house, which was the closest to the western wall bordering the woodlands.

I was stopped before I got there by a guard I recognized that worked with my dad.

“Aural Blink, where were you!” he cried, eyes wide in fear.

“I was... hiding,” I lied, not understanding quite what was going on. Hey, the lie made sense to me at the time; surely, anypony would be hiding from whatever was going on.

“What happened?” I asked him.

“Your dad was stationed at the west wall, standing guard. I guess your mother sent him out to find you. Then-”

Suddenly, a huge explosion rocked the entire mountainside, a huge pillar of flame rocketing up. I knew where it was coming from. My house.

I teleported towards my house, charging forward. The griffons had demolished the western wall, tearing a giant hole in the wooden palisades. They'd rearranged them as a barrier blocking access to my home, which was half alight with flames. Guards were fighting griffons one-on-one on both sides of the palisades, but we weren't making any progress towards the house.

I blinked past the combat, reaching the house unnoticed. The windows were all boarded up from the inside, the thatched roof on fire with an ethereal flame I knew to be magic.

Blinking inside, I slipped as soon as my hoof touched the floor. I came crashing to the wooden flooring. I groaned, rubbing my hoof on my head. It left a slick smear on my head. I pulled it away to see it was blood.

I shrieked, stumbling backwards into something soft and warm.

I craned my head slowly to the side, locking eye-to-eye with the stallion I was leaning into.

“D-dad...” I choked.

He was dying, almost dead. His chest was torn apart. My mom was crumpled behind him, either unconscious or a corpse.

“Blink... where were you...” he asked slowly, breathing hard for him. He was going to slip any second.

“I- I was in the woods! What happened!”

“I told you not to do that, son. I went to... look for you. Your mother was worried. I must have left the wall unwatched too long, they must have... saw it. I-”

His eyes suddenly bugged out, and he went still. I was still waiting for him to finish his sentence when he passed. It took me almost a full minute to realize he was never going to speak to me again.

“Dad... DAD!” I cried, rubbing my face into his dirty, sooty mane.

“What was that?” I heard the raspy growl of a griffon down the hall, in the kitchen.

I gulped before teleporting up, into the room I shared with my sister.

I shouldn't have.

I saw her, white mane pulled up by a griffon's claws, her back legs pulled apart so they could violate her that much easier. Her purple coat was covered in many bleeding nicks and bruises.

“D-Dream...”

It took the griffons in the room a split second to look away from their perverted act and seize me.

“DREAM!” I screamed, punching and squirming as they grabbed me. I tried to teleport away, but my rapid teleporting from early meant I was too low on magic. I was never very good at storing a lot of magic, or keeping a lot on me.

“Look at this, the little guy knows the bitch!” The bigger griffon, the one mashing his hips into my sister's, croaked in glee. I locked eyes with my sister. I saw the fear, the pain, the torment she was going through. I could even see the life starting to drain from her eyes.

“It's going to be okay, Dream! We'll get out!” I shouted, still struggling. This elicited a laugh from the griffons. The one who was holding me slashed down, trying to silence me. All he managed to do was slice a clean rip in my leg.

I knew that without magic, I was powerless. I had to act.

My mind went on auto-pilot. I remembered a spell my dad had taught me when I was younger, about siphoning magic from others. I cast out a net, looking for any magic in the area. Surprisingly enough, my sister hadn't used any magic at all. I then saw why.

They'd broken her horn.

I cringed before plunging my aura into the weeping appendage, linking my mana pool with hers. A stream of magic strung itself between our horns. A moment later, I had enough energy to perform a single spell.

A single spell was all I needed.

I closed my eyes, and we disappeared from the room, the both of us.

We popped back on the far side of town, on a narrow strip of land that nopony had built on and had no road attached to it, near the north-east of the town.

I walloped in joy. We were safe! We'd made it! We were free! We both flopped onto the dirt of the ground, laying there for a few moments. I was steadily beginning to feel better, much better in fact.

“We're free, Dream! We made it!”

I turned to see Dream looking at me with a sense of relief. We were alive. She opened her mouth to say something, but her eyes suddenly darted to pinpricks. Something was still wrong.

I hadn't dropped the spell. I lifted my leg to my eyes to see as my body began using the magic to heal myself. The hide and flesh on my leg slowly began stitching itself together until it was gone completely.,

I looked back to Dream. She looked like she was going to be sick. She still was trying to say something.

“Y-you said you were going to s-save me,” she whispered as she collapsed to one hoof.

“S-so why do I-”

That's when her horn imploded into her face, severing the connection between us. I was showered in a torrent of her blood as her body keeled forward.

“Dream!”

Hours passed before anypony turned away from the battle raging along the house to see us, and all of the griffons in the house and defending it were slaughtered. All of them.

I spent the entire time weeping over the body of the sister I'd never see again.

. . . . . . . . . .

“That is... tragic, we must say.”

I looked up. Blackness surrounded me, and I seemed to be floating.

“I'm still in my dream, aren't I?” I said, hanging my head in defeat.

“Yes, we are... apologetic to what you have been through.”

I looked around.

“Who's talking to me? Who are you?”

“Ah, my apologies,” said the voice, and suddenly I was sitting in a small pool of light. Another pool of light appeared a few paces away from me, and I was rather surprised by who I saw.

It was fragging Princess Luna.

Chapter Eight

Just BlinkDigital_HexChapter Eight

“Princess... Luna?”

“Yes, it is us.”

“How are you... in my dream?”

Luna looked as though she suddenly remembered something very important.

“Ah, our sister allows us to use our dreamwalker spell. We wander the dreams of ponies, learning what we can from their ambitions and their fears.”

“And how is that of any importance to you two?” I asked.

“It is unknown to us exactly what our sister wishes to learn from our adventures, but as for ourself, we wish to learn how others confront their fears in their own dreams.”

It took me a few seconds to connect the drops.

“So... you have nightmares as well?”

“Yes, we do,” Luna sighed. “We have had them quite frequently since we returned from our banishment.”

“Oh right, I'm sorry about that. It must have sucked, being trapped up there for a thousand years.”

“It is in the past,” Luna said, finishing the conversation. “But as for you...”

I shuffled uncomfortably. I didn't like talking about my past with anypony. I lied to keep all of it bottled up, or at least away from people who didn't care either way.

“How do you plan provide security to the Princess Twilight Sparkle if you are plagued by these nightmares?”

I was actually rather surprised by her question.

“Come again?”

“We said-”

“No, I get what you were saying,” I interrupted her, “but you aren't going to go off about how everything is going to be okay, baby me and victimize me about what happened?”

“As we said,” Luna said, “it is in the past. Why do you wish to relive it?”

“I don't,” I said, growling at myself. I realized it looked as though I was growling at Luna herself.

“Sorry,” I apologized. “It's just, everypony always wanted to keep apologizing that everything was going to be okay, that it wasn't my fault. But it was. It was all my fault.” I felt a tear break through my eyelids. Stupid dream tears.

Luna looked on.

“Tell us, do you feel this way about all of the griffons that you have killed, about the enemies to the Equestria that have died by your hoof?”

I look at her, shocked.

“Wha- no! They had it coming! I feel nothing for their lives,” I growled.

Luna sighed.

“Perhaps you would relieve yourself of these nightmares if you learned to confront your own fears.”

“Fears? Ha! I have none,” I laughed bitterly.

“Then why are you so afraid to admit that you aren't truthful to yourself?”

I gave her a look.

“Excuse me?”

“Our sister has explained your history to us, especially on how dependable a soldier you are. You seem to dislike killing, but when it comes down to it, you have absolutely no problem with it. Why are you afraid to admit that you enjoy it?”

“I don't enjoy it!” I countered. “They have it coming!”

“Oh, so if they deserve to die then you are to be their executioner?”

“If it so be,” I muttered.

“We understand where your hatred for the griffons comes from, and we understand that you are upset with yourself for holding such rage against another species, but you must accept that the rage is there and grow from there instead of trying to distance yourself from every event that goes by.”

“But I don't care!” I shouted. “If they must die, then I am doing my job by finishing them!”

“Then why show hesitation beforehand? Why do you try to refrain from killing in the first place?”

“That's because-” I started, but I stopped myself. Why did I try and refrain from killing if I was so convinced it was necessary? Why was I so bothered by the thought of it, but had absolutely no problem with actually doing it.

“It's because you enjoy it. Because you feel as though you are making up for that night.”

I sighed, hanging my head limply.

“... Isn't that right?”

I nodded shamefully. It all made sense. I'd always tried to push it away from my mind, and now was the first time I actually let myself stop and think about it. I was trying to run away, trying to take out my anger for that night on the griffons and anypony that stood in my path.

“It is alright.”

I looked up, cocking an eyebrow at Luna.

“How is it alright?”

“Because you are admitting it now.”

And with that, I woke up

. . . . . . . . . .

I blinked as I woke up, rubbing my eyes. My internal clock said it was some time after eight. Groaning, I threw myself out of bed, stretching my stiff legs as I stumbled up the stairs. I spent too long in the spa with Twilight.

Heading into the kitchen, I found Spike reading a cook book.

“What'cha making, squirt?” I asked Spike as I grabbed an apple from a fruit basket, sitting down at the table.

“Twilight was feeling really sore from her flying practice with Rainbow Dash yesterday, so I'm making her some soup.”

“Why soup?” I asked him.

“I don't know, she just said she wanted soup!” he said, suddenly extremely jittery, almost as if he was scared Twilight was going to barge down and question why it was taking too long.

“Mmm, I see.” I said, not really seeing anything but at the same time letting him return to making the simple soup. I don't know why he needed a cook book for it, but oh well. He was a baby dragon, after all.

A sudden knocking on the front door grabbed my attention.

“Can you get that?” Spike asked. “I need to finish this!”

I slid from my chair and trotted over to the door, opening it up to reveal a rather skinny black stallion, with a wispy head of transparent-silver mane and almost white eyes. He had on a slight smirk until he saw me, in which it changed into a quick frown. I didn't like him instantly.

“Is Twilight Sparkle home?” he asked me. “And more importantly, who are you?”

“I'm her cousin,” I started, “And she's busy at the moment.” I leaned against the door frame as he scowled at me. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

“I suppose I could leave it with you, if you're just her cousin.” He reached back and removed a small envelope from some black saddlebags that I hadn't even noticed he was wearing. He was that skinny. Dang son, eat some food!

He passed the envelope to me, which I flicked up with a quick burst of magic, catching it neatly in my teeth.

“Haff a nife day,” I said before promptly closing the door in his face. I enjoyed that part.

Tossing the letter onto the table, I took a glance at it. A simple yellow envelope, with Twilight's name written carefully on the front. Interestingly bland.

“What's that?” Spike asked me, coming out of the kitchen with the bowl of soup on a tray. I had to say, the soup looked... picture perfect?

“An envelope for Twilight, some guy just dropped it off.”

“Ahuh,” he said, eying it curiously before shrugging it off and beginning to climb the stairs. “I'll let her know she has a letter.”

I nodded and prepared to return to the kitchen when there was another knock on the door.

Sighing, I answered it to find Rainbow Dash hovering outside.

“Twi- oh, Blink. Uh, hi?” she said, trying to look past me into the library, avoiding eye contact with me.

“Hey Rainbow Dash, what's up?”

“Nothing, but where's Twilight?” she asked, sounding somewhat nervous yet aggressive at the same time.

I eyed her suspiciously. “She's upstairs, in bed. Apparently you were rather relentless with her yesterday, so she doesn't feel well.”

“Oh,” she stated bluntly. “And here I was thinking she could handle it!”

“Guess you were wrong,” I said, chastising her. Suddenly, Spike ran down the stairs.

“Blink! You've got to help me!” he plead desperately, literally throwing himself at my hooves.

“Oh?” I asked as I raised the leg he was grasping, holding him aloft and dangling from my appendage.

“Yes! Twilight needs some things from town, but she needs me to do all of the chores around the library at the SAME TIME! Something about being more efficient! I don't even know how it makes sense!”

“So...”

“Can you get the stuff she needs from town while I clean the library? Pleeeaaase?” he begged.

I sighed in immediate defeat. I hate kids, especially sad, begging kids.

“Fine. Give me the list.”

He quickly shoved the list towards me and pushed me out the door, into Rainbow Dash.

“Okaythanksbye!” he said quickly before slamming the door shut.

“... What just happened?” Rainbow Dash asked, still body-to-body with me.

“I don't know,” I said as I teleported a short distance away from her. “But I might as well get everything on the list. It wouldn't hurt to do a little shopping, right?”

I took the list and snapped it out, expecting a relatively compact scroll to unfurl. Instead, I was surprised to see a couple paces of parchment roll out, all scrawled on in small font.

“... This might take a while.”

Rainbow Dash dropped to the ground, looking over the middle of the list.

“I know where some of the stuff here is,” she said. “I could show you around, if you want. Point you where you can find the stuff.”

“I don't know,” I said, thinking.

“Hey, it's a simple question,” she said, suddenly rather aggressive. “Either take my help or leave it, I'm just trying to be nice.”

I grinned. Short and to the point, I liked her already.

“Well if you're offering, then sure thing.”

She lit up, returning to the sky before dropping down to hover next to me.

“Alright, first place to stop is...” she said as she scanned the top of the list.

“Sugar Cube Corner!”

Her smile suddenly dropped.

“Oh no.”

“Oh no?” I asked, suddenly very worried. “Why oh no?”

“Because Sugar Cube Corner means...”

She looked around dramatically, as if she was looking for somepony.

“Pinkie Pie.”

She paused for dramatic effect before cracking into a grin.

“Is that supposed to mean something?” I asked her.

“You'll see,” she said before taking the lead in front of me, heading further into town.

“You'll see...”

Chapter Nine

Just BlinkDigital_HexChapter Nine

“So where are you from?” Rainbow Dash asked as we made our way through town. She was pumping her wings slowly, matching pace with me. I was so jealous of her for those appendages, they looked fragging awesome.

“Anville,” I said. “It's not in Equestria, it's-”

“In the griffon kingdom, I've heard of the place.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You've heard on Anville? You don't exactly seem like a geographically literate mare, no offense.”

“Hey, I'm allowed to know stuff!” she shot back, almost hurt. “And I happen to have heard it from my friend Gilda, she just so happens to be a griffon herself!”

“Then that feathery bi-” I began, but stopped myself short of blatantly insulting Rainbow's friend. I stomped along silently, fuming to myself. Maybe Luna was right, maybe I did have a problem with griffons.

“What do you know about Anville?” I asked her.

“Just that it's a small little outpost of a town in the northern part of the country.”

“Sounds about right,” I commented. “What about you? Are you from around here?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head side to side. “Nope, I'm from Cloudsdale. I moved here a while back, though, and I definitely consider Ponyville as my home.”

“Must be nice, being able to call somewhere your home,” I muttered under my breath. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash didn't seem to notice I'd said anything.

We trotted along like that in silence for a little bit until Dash pointed out our destination: a building that literally looked like a fragging gingerbread house. It was deliciously disturbing. We made our way over, but was cut short as a young colt suddenly burst from the building, a tiny white stallion with a wild green mane. He scrambled from the door, shouting out one word as he tore down the street.

“CROOOSSSSS!!!”

I raised an eyebrow. Rainbow just shrugged.

I cautiously opened the door, peeking inside. It was bland, having just a front counter wish a display case faced with glass inset in it. Nopony was inside.

“Hellooo?” I called in cautiously before stepping a single hoof over the threshold. The second my hoof touched the floor, all Hell broke loose.

“SURPRIIISE!” A high-pitched voice called from right above me. I fell to my side, refusing to react more than that in fear of hurting somepony. That didn't stop me from shrieking at the top of my lungs.

“WHAT THE BUCK WAS THAT?!”

I can handle being tortured by griffons and worse, but two days and I was already going to have to start monitoring my heart rate. I stared above me, where a pony clad in a form-fitting black jumpsuit was dangling above the doorway. A thick poof of pink mane protruding from the front of the face opening was enough to fill my mental bubble of who she was.

“Pinkie Pie?” I asked. She nodded eagerly, blinking her large blue eyes.

“What was that?” I asked again. She cocked an eyebrow, then snapped to attention when she realized what I was talking about.

“Oh, that?” she said, her voice barely muffled from the cloth covering her mouth. “This is your surprise party! So... Surprise!” She emphasized her point by waving her hooves around the room. This resulted in her falling right onto my midsection, her hoof connecting with my stomach. Painfully.

In my agonizing pain, I looked around the, er... empty room.

“Er, Pinkie?” I coughed out. She sat down on my stomach and cocked her head to one side, waiting for me to continue. I rolled my eyes, which were currently bulging out of my head.

“Could you get off of me?” She wasn't fat, but damn she wasn't light!

“Oh, sorry!” Pinkie Pie said as she crawled off of me, then offered to pull me up. I refused her hoof respectfully, instead blinking back to my hooves.

“Secondly,” I continued, “this is a party?” I asked. We were surrounded by... a whole lotta nothing. Lots of it.

“Weeell,” Pinkie Pie began, “I wooould have had a much bigger party prepared, but I only knew that you were going to be here because Digit appeared this morning and the only reason that he would have appeared here was if something really bad was going to happen and if something really bad was going to happen then you were going to have to be here to stop it so I knew that you were going to be here but that was only like two minutes ago tops so I did the best I could but I hope you like it anyways and LOOK BAGUETTES!” she ended while shoving a bouquet of baguettes in my face.

I was still trying to comprehend what she was talking about when Rainbow Dash set a hoof on my shoulder.

“Yeah, I don't know what she's talking about half the time either,” she said while touching down next to Pinkie, wrapping her in a tight hug, both of them smiling huge grins.

“But that's why I love her!”

I raised an eyebrow. “oh?”

Rainbow Dash too cocked an eyebrow, not understanding what I meant until 3... 2... 1-

“That's not what I meant!” she shouted angrily, whacking me upside my head. “She's one of my best friends, you turn-signal.”

“Ahuh,” I muttered, rubbing the side of my head.

Pinkie Pie opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly her eyes lit up and she rushed out of the room, only to return a split second later with a pig bag of... stuff.

“Oh yeah, Rainbow Dash! Twilight is probably waiting for this stuff! Can you get it to her? Please? Pretty please?”

I flicked up the bag with a quick but exerting levitation spell and caught the handle with my teeth.

“Will do,” Rainbow Dash said as we left, waving to the strange pink pony within.

“Fwat was shat avout?” I tried to say through the bag, but it wasn't working very well. Rainbow noticed and grabbed the bag from me, setting it on my back.

“What was that about?” I asked her.

“What, Pinkie? That's just how she always is.”

“Ahuh,” I said as we passed by a park. While we were walking by, I saw the white colt from earlier, sitting next to the single tree in the park. He was looking at the tree with a strong focus.

“Hold this for a second,” I told Rainbow Dash while passing her the bag before I took off towards the colt.

“Hey!” I called out to him. He turned to me, and I saw his eyes. They were charcoal black, with pink irises. I remembered seeing those eyes before, but where...

I snapped back to reality as I saw the colt turn tail and run. I didn't bother chasing him.

“You alright?” Rainbow Dash asked me as I returned to her.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” I lied. “Let's go.”

Chapter Ten