A Cartoonist in Equestria

Chapters

Chapter 2: Where Am I? (Re-Re-Edited)
Chapter 3: I Come in Peace (Re-Re-Edited)
Chapter 4: I'm Fluttershy (Re-Re-Edited)
Chapter 5: Act of Kindness (Re-Re-Edited)
Chapter 6: Ponies 101 / Harold's Dream (Re-Re-Edited)
Chapter 7: Run, Harold, Run! (Re-Re-Edited)
Chapter 9: A Splitting Headache (Re-Edited)
Chapter 10: The Gang's All Here (Re-Edited)
Chapter 11: Pain Reliever (Re-Edited)
Chapter 12: The Road to Canterlot Castle (Re-Edited)
Chapter 13: Equestria's Forbidden History (Part 1) (Re-Edited)
Chapter 14: Equestria's Forbidden History (Part 2) (Re-Edited)
Chapter 15: Generous (Not) to a Fault
Chapter 16: A New Change of Clothing
Chapter 17: Questioning Loyalty / Cuteness Overload (Re-Edited)
Chapter 18: Interview with a Human
Chapter 19: The Night is Young
Chapter 20: The First Night
Chapter 22: Smile Though You Heart is Aching
Chapter 8: The Princess and the Human (Re-Re-Edited)
Chapter 21: Another Day, Another Bit
Chapter 1: I Wish Upon a Star (Re-Re-Edited)
Cancellation

Chapter 2: Where Am I? (Re-Re-Edited)

“Where am I?”

These three simple little words ran through Harold’s head as he lied on the flower bed, waiting for his strength to slowly return. His eyelids closed themselves over his eyes, blocking the unforgiving rays of the sun from straining his eyesight. At the moment, Harold's eyes, lungs and brain were the only parts functioning in his body, as if it was a factory slowly regaining power after a blackout. Harold wriggled his fingers and curled them into a fist, the simplest step into his ability to move his muscles. He started off shaky at first, but his hands acted like a weight while Harold pushed himself up off of the ground and into a sitting position.

“Good Lord from above, what happened?” Harold thought to himself.

Suddenly, a throbbing pain surged inside of his head, his palm instinctively covering his his forehead and shielding his closed eyes. Already, the bright blue shy and the sunlight had created a severe migraine, as if a nuclear bomb was threatening to explode with a brief moment of pain. The ringing in his ears was just as loud as it was painful. He felt he was about to go deaf while his senses struggled greatly to rehabilitate themselves to normal.

It was fortunate enough that the pain had lasted five minutes, what seemed like painful hours to Harold. Hissing his teeth in synch to the throbbing pain, Harold's pain eventually subsided, giving him enough strength to think over the slight headache he unwillingly earned. He reviewed what happened to him last night, or however long he was passed out for.

He recalled what happened to him during the night he passed out. First, he had to pull over into a grassy field, staying there for the night to eat and rest so he would prepare for yet another burning day of bike-riding. He pulled over into the tall grass, made himself a cheese sandwich, turned his iPod on and began to sadly reminisce all of the times he spent with Lana; he even remembered the last few moments he spent with her, images and sounds that would never be easily drained from his mind. He remembered breaking down and screaming into the sky and asked for a sign. He didn't remember much else, except for the winds changing unexpectedly.

That's right. Harold remembered now.

There was that tornado. That big, dark funnel of doom had touched down in the fields, one mile behind where Harold was trying to settle in for the night. Harold remembered feeling so scared that he got on his bike and pedaled it down the highway, pouring all of his strength and speed so he would outrun that swirling vortex of death. But it was no use. Harold remembered feeling himself being pulled inevitably into the storm, beaten mercilessly by the breakneck winds until he blacked out, both from exhaustion and multiple injuries. When he came to, he found himself lying in a bed of flowers.

But where exactly did he find himself in?

With no other but to face the light, Harold removed his hand from his forehead and unshielded his eyes, letting the sunlight shine onto his eyes. His eyes fluttered open, and his field of vision was met with a plane of blurriness. Eventually, Harold’s blurry vision eventually cleared up for him, allowing him to see the area he found himself transported to. At first glance, he didn't believe what he saw. After gently rubbing his eyes, Harold looked around and found himself in a state of shock and awe.

He saw himself sitting in a flower bed among a great green field, filled with luscious colors of green, purple, white and dots of yellow in the centers. A line of trees on the far side of the field stretched on for miles, bordering the snowcapped mountains mounting up to the vast blue sky. The celestial blue sea was abundant with fluffy white clouds, some of them creating a white fluffy ring around the two of the taller mountains. The fluffiness of the clouds was nothing else that Harold had ever saw before in his life.

As a matter of fact, this whole field was nothing like Harold saw in the pictures at home. Everything about the field seemed so peculiar, the appearance and height of the mountains catching Harold's growing suspicion. Although Harold scored a "C+" in his grueling geography class, he could easily tell that the field and the very flowers inhabiting it did not appear in any map, brochure or digital photograph. Crossing his arms and huffing with disapproval, Harold came to a theoretical conclusion.

"Oh great, now I'm playing the part of Dorothy," he said to himself.

References to "The Wizard of Oz" aside, Harold took another good look around the field, tapping his finger on his crossed arm with patience. He turned around behind him and looked the second half of the scenery. There, he saw a slightly dense forest where the fourth row of trees became less visible no matter how much Harold squinted to see it better. Then he noticed a single tree stump sprouting from the ground, sitting in the clearing a good distance away from the forest. What leaned and lied on the tree stump were two items that caught Harold by surprise.

“My backpack! My bike!”

Feeling a rush of energy moved within his muscles, Harold got up and ran towards two of his beloved items, nearly staggering when he finally jumped to his feet. He unzipped his backpack and quickly rummaged through all of his stuff, bringing them all out one at a time and assessed the possible damages done by the tornado. To his complete surprise, there were no damages to be found. His bike had no dents, scrapes or scratches on the metal, though his tires were still a little flat from the continuous riding. His backpack had no found rips, exposed material or broken strings. The food content, his sketchbook and his drawing tools all remained in one piece.

Harold was thankful that his possessions weren't hurt by the tornado. If would've been a real tragedy if anything of great value were to be destroyed. Suddenly, a shocking realization swept across him. He had nearly forgotten about the well-being of his most beloved treasure!

“Oh no! My locket! Please tell me it’s not...” Harold stretched the collar of his shirt out and thrust his hand inside, groping the inside of the cotton garment until his fingers felt something cold and metallic. Gently gripping it and pulling it out, Harold looked around his locket and sighed with relief, seeing his beloved trinket devoid of scratched, dents or dirty smudges.

“Oh. Oh, thank God you’re alright. Thank God,” Harold said, heaving heavy breaths of relief before he threw his back to force a giggle out. Then he took his shirt and rubbed the golden texture of the locket, wiping away any possible smudges from its refined beauty. After giving it a few firm, gentle scrubs, Harold hugged the locket to his cheek and kissed it lightly before he tucked it away, safe in his shirt to avoid it being spotted by any possible thieves or muggers.

That was when something puzzling flashed across his mind.

Harold jerked his head around, taking in the view of the field again while many conundrums jumbled inside of his mind. Something didn't feel right. A tornado of immense size and wind power had enough power to kill a single human being in a minute, and yet, he was sitting down on the stump, feeling very much alive as the next guy. Harold specifically remembered his stuff getting torn apart by the swirling winds, and now they were somehow unharmed and in one piece. He was biking down the endless, barren plains when the tornado happened, but he found himself stranded in the middle of a field with mountains, trees and flowers. No trace of any trailing destruction left behind.

What was going on here? How did Harold and his stuff end up in this unknown field? More importantly, how did they survive such a terrible ordeal? Was he in a dream, induced by sever head trauma that lapsed him into a coma. Did he... die? Was he finally in Heaven?

Harold huffed a worried sigh, looking up to the blue sky, his fingers nervously drumming his arms. This couldn't possibly be what Heaven looked like. If this was Heaven, then he would've met with the spirit of Lana right about now. Not only that, but Heaven was paradise riding among the clouds, so Harold quickly dismissed his death theory. If this really was Heaven, the lands would actually be an endless plain of clouds looking over the mortal people, unaware that a higher force was watching over him. So this had to be some sort of dream. There was no way a tornado that powerful would fling him all the way out here and expect that he and his stuff remained as good as new. Who knows; maybe he did survive, but a blunt force was applied to his brain, so he fell into a really long coma.

Harold nodded in accord to his own theory. It seemed highly plausible; after all, the human teen had vivid dreams about being out in the warm ocean, only to wake up to find his bed wet and smelled like pee. So, if this was a dream, then Harold would have to try some measures to assure that he was alive and well in the material world. Harold reached over and pinched his fingers on his forearm, wincing and grunting with pain. When he released his pinching, Harold opened his eyes and found himself in the same field.

Now, Harold wasn't one for masochism and accepting the theory of an unknown phenomenon right off the bat. But, in this case for the bewildered teenager, Harold would have to pinch his arm again, adding in more time to hold his skin and applying more force to the pinch for better results.

Harold took his arm again, pinched it for about fifteen seconds and then released it, grunting in pain once more. When he looked up, he still found himself sitting in the same field like before. Harold pinched his arm again, holding it again for about thirty seconds. He looked around, and still, he was in the same field. Harold tried once more for about forty-five seconds... one minute... one minute and fifteen seconds... one and a half minutes... and he was still in the field.

Harold groaned with disappointment and fell on his back, looking up to the sky as his arms marked the diameter of the stump. His arm was bruised red, the mark of a failed wake-up experiment. Rubbing his arm, Harold thought of another way to ensure that what he saw and felt was all a dream. Then he perked with an idea. Usually, in the cartoons he read and watched, in order for the main character to escape the dream world, he would have to sleep in the dream world and wake up in the real world. It seemed like a long shot, but what other choice did he have? He needed to wake up so he could fulfill his promise.

Harold gently closed his eyes, his eyeball muscles still a little bit sore from the strain. Three minutes slowly came and went. Harold lied down on the stump with his eyes closed hoping to see if he would wake from this strange but wondrous "dream." He doubt he would now, but he was sue that someone might spot his immobile and send him off to a hospital somewhere. Hopefully it wasn't like the money-grubbing HMO hospitals in New York City. He would have hell to face with his father if he ever returned home.

When five minutes finally passed, Harold opened his eyes and looked up from his lying position. Apparently, the theory about sleeping in the dream world was also a hoax, so that meant he wasn't dreaming at all. Regardless, Harold felt distraught as he kept lying on the tree stump, heaving out a stressed sigh. Where exactly was he? Was this really reality and not some top government experimental dome that monitored his every move? How did he get here? The most important question was one that Harold had to know: where exactly was he??

Suddenly, Harold felt his face assaulted by a tabloid newspaper. Harold squawked surprised as he tried to fight off the paper covering his entire face, smacking the paper off before he grabbed it to examine the news of the world. He needed to know where he was and what day it was since he woke up from his blackout, so it was convenient that a stray newspaper was flying with the breeze. According to the newspaper, the date on the top center of the newspaper said March 15th, 2014.

The date sated Harold's question about what day he woke up on. The previous day was the 14th of March, so this was the fifth day since he ran away from his home. Harold read the newspaper, trying to get the answers he needed; where he mysteriously landed, if there was any civilization nearby, the whole nine yards.

As he looked through the newspaper, Harold only found himself growing confused with every passage misspelling the names of cities, like "Manehattan," "San Flanksisco" and "Trottingham." The pictures published in the newspaper depicted strange buildings, and horses dressed in tuxedos, high-class dresses and tattoos plastered on their flanks. The more Harold read through the paper, the more agitated he became. The nerve of these people subduing their horses to clothing and tattoos! What sort of newspaper was this anyway!?

Harold turned the pages to the front page and read the title.

Equestria Daily.

TING!

That’s when Harold first felt it, like something cracked deep within his brain. A deep throbbing began to thump in his brain, cold sweat trickling down his forehead and slight dizziness taking him. Harold didn't know what caused this strange sensation... this strange "sense" as he would call it. It felt like something forgotten had been unlocked, and the name of the land he was in was the figurative key. Equestria... why did sound so familiar to him?

With his hands losing all sense of feeling, the tabloids were released from his grip, drifting away with the spring breeze.

==================================================================

In the heart of Equestria, just southwest of Canterlot Mountain, there was a small town called Ponyville. The town was mostly lined with timber-framed cottages, thatched rooftops providing those buildings with cover and display. Local shops brightened the town with various odd shapes and colorful patterns, lighting the town with its most beautiful splendor. A great circular clearing stood around the center of Ponyville, and in that very center, a tall round tower rose up over the buildings to symbolize the heart of the prospering village. Ponyville's history, friendly townsfolk and its apple farm were among the many highlights of the village's culture, but that was only half of what it was famous for.

In one part of Ponyville was a gigantic tree that stood out from the rest of the village, hollowed out to be used for as a home and the public library. The Golden Oaks Library, a landmark considered by the citizens, featured two floors and a basement, a kitchen, a bathroom and the main library lobby built and expanded on the ground floor. The upstairs floor featured another part of the library, adding in a pony-sized bed and a balcony where an astronomical telescope was placed to observe the stars. The glass windows on the upper floor were framed specifically to resemble patterns of branches. On the front door was an image of a lit candle while the sign out front depicted an open book.

Sure, the Golden Oaks Library looked like an ordinary library, carved into the interior of a tree. But, if a local from Ponyville would overhear from another pony that it was just another boring place to read books, then that local would scold him or her about saying such stuff to the library. It wasn't because the tree had a longer history than the town Ponyville ever did, but because the library was a residence to Equestria's newest and youngest ascended member of Equestria royalty: Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight Sparkle, and her baby dragon assistant, Spike were both taught and raised by Princess Celestia herself when Twilight was only a unicorn. It was with the Magic of Friendship that Ponyville's premiere librarian had recently ascended into an alicorn after she finished an incomplete spell cast by Star Swirl the Bearded, Twilight's historic hero and the strongest unicorn who had ever lived.

Twilight's coat was colored a lavender color, a dark purple mane and tail streaked with brilliant pink and regular violet stripes. The mark on her flank was a raspberry six-pointed star, layering over a white six-pointed star while five similar but smaller stars surrounded it. The golden crown that she wore on occasion reached behind her ears and in the very center was a magenta jewel, greatly resembling Twilight's starry mark.

Twilight's horn emitted a similarly colored aura, levitating the books in the air as she carefully skimmed through the books from the history section of the library. She closed the book and let it fall to the floor, then turned her attention to the center of the ground floor. “Spike, where are the books I requested on the complete biography of Star Swirl the Bearded?”

“Right here, Twilight.” Spike, the baby bipedal dragon, carried about seven books in his arms which contradicted with the strength of his young draconic muscles. He barely stood taller than an average sized filly, but his height was enough to reach up to the base of Twilight's neck. His scales were pale color, his underbelly, ears and spines a lime green shade and his pupils like reptilian narrow slits. When Twilight magically lifted the books out of Spike's grasp, the struggling weight took its toll and the baby dragon's arms deflated with exhaustion and dropped like expired party balloons.

"Thank you, Spike," Twilight said nonchalantly, opening up the books and immediately examining them.

"Hey, Twilight? I don't mean to sound so skeptical about this," Spike said, massaging his burning forearms. "But why are you so interested in researching this guy in the first place? I know he's the guy who made those spells that you practiced, including the one that turned you into the princess you are now, but haven't you already read up on him when you first began your studies in Canterlot?"

"That was different, Spike," Twilight said, focused intensely on her books. "When I first studied under Princess Celestia, I only read up on his spells that he conjured up before the founding of Equestria. But ever since I've learned to control my magic, I wanted to research on Star Swirl the Bearded's life so bad that I made it my own personal project to write my own biography on him."

"Okay, I get why you want research the guy, but why do you want to do it today?" Spike asked. "Doesn't Princess Celestia have any royal duties for you to do?"

"Princess Celestia hasn't assigned me any royal duties today, Spike. We would both know she's assigning me any duties if she sent me a letter through you." Spike couldn't argue with Twilight's statement; he knew exactly well when Twilight was correct. As a newborn dragon, Celestia enchanted Spike's fire to magically transfer parchment scrolls and anything attached to those notes between her and Twilight. As of today, there weren't any notes that Spike recently belched out worth mentioning. The baby dragon could never argue with that.

"But there is a plus side to this, Spike. I haven't been able to catch up on my research since I first moved here, so this may be one of the only times I have to continue my assignment." Twilight quickly skimmed the pages and examined every highlight of each chapter. Then her face grew contorted with confusion, an eyebrow cocked up to display her reaction.

"Hmm? Well this is certainly strange," she said, looking back in her book.

"What? What's strange?" Spike asked.

Twilight quickly moved another book towards her, skimmed the pages for their highlights and moved on to yet another book. "These books never say exactly how Star Swirl became the greatest unicorn that Equestria ever knew. All they keep saying is that Star Swirl was a regular old unicorn who conjured and perfected every known spell in the book; but when Princess Celestia and Luna became princesses, his fame became well known across the whole land of Equestria and nothing else. This doesn't make any sense."

Twilight quickly skimmed through the contents of her last book for any important information, only to find herself disappointed with unsatisfying results. She slammed the book shut, let it fall on the meticulously stacked books and turned to her dragon assistant. "Spike, could you go into the basement and find some books relating to Star Swirl the Bearded? One of those books has got to have information on how his name was really made around the world."

Spike lifted his index claw. "Um, Twilight, don't you think that looking through those books might come up with the same result?" he asked. "Because if you keep trying to find answers you want, you'll just end up obsessing over the same thing until--"

"Spike," Twilight interjected. "Books. Basement. Star Swirl. Research. Now."

Spike grunted, turning to the staircase deadpanning. “And here I thought my arms wouldn’t get any more sorer than they already are.”

All of a sudden, Spike clutched his stomach and his cheeks inflated, feeling a rising pang inside. He belched out green flames that magically transformed into a scroll, sealed in a red ribbon and a gold seal with a horseshoe engraved in the piece. “It’s a letter from Princess Celestia,” Spike stated as Twilight levitated the scroll to her. “So what was that you were saying about not having any duties?”

Twilight gave a deadpanned look to Spike, who grinned under her gaze. She rolled her eyes and unraveled the ribbon, opening the scroll for her to read. Twilight's eyes traveled along the written text, thoroughly traveling along to the paper before she shot them back to the left side corners of her eyes. She gasped when she fully read the growing crisis stated by her former mentor.

My former faithful student, Princess Twilight Sparkle.

You and your friends must come to Canterlot as soon as possible.

A few minutes ago, Luna and I sensed the presence of an all-too familiar threat somewhere in Equestria. The bringer of this threat is a creature not from our world. I cannot give you anymore details through this letter, Twilight, for I fear it may draw the attention from our old foes.

I need you and your friends to assemble in Ponyville square. I have already sent chariots to escort you to Canterlot Castle. They will arrive shortly. Tell nopony else, especially Spike, of what I am about to tell you today.

Sincerely,

~Princess Celestia

"Twilight?" asked Spike. "What's wrong?"

Twilight sighed as she magically rolled up the scroll and tossed it in the nearby wastebasket with her magic. “Spike, help me gather the girls for Ponyville square," Twilight said, her voice becoming serious and direct. "Princess Celestia needs us in Canterlot, pronto!”

Chapter 3: I Come in Peace (Re-Re-Edited)

Harold didn't know what he was feeling. His head swam in a miasmatic sea of confusion, sweat trickling down his face and shocked blue eyes staring out into the depths of space. The only sound Harold could hear was the beating of his heart, unaware that he grasped the air where he held the drifting newspaper. It was because of the name of the newspaper that he felt completely perplexed. The name, "Equestria" sounded familiar... strangely familiar.

Harold swore he knew that place from somewhere but he couldn't put his finger on it. It was the strangest feeling; like a nagging voice ranting somewhere in the deep recesses of his brain, Harold felt something reawaken inside of him from a long slumber. Gripping both sides of his head, Harold tried to dig deeper into this feeling, this "sense" as he called it. Equestria, the name of the land, had to be planted somewhere in his memories. As he tried to push forward into finding the answers he needed, Harold felt his head throb with pain. Something was keeping him from finding those answers. What was it about Equestria that made Harold feel this way? Why couldn't he remember!?

Then a sharp pain veered Harold from his thoughts, like a thorn had pricked his frontal lobe. The pain was excruciating. Harold felt like his head would explode like an atom bomb, splattering it over the fresh, green grass. It took only a matter of moments for the migraine slowly shrunk away back into numbness. Harold massaged his temples, trying again to ponder his current predicament, only for it to be washed away with the ebbing pain. Everything that Harold wanted to know, from how he arrived in Equestria and his familiarity with this place to how he would find a way back to the main highway was completely lost.

Disappointed, Harold back fell into a slump on the stump, wondering what he was supposed to do now. He had to get out of this crazy place. He needed to find a way out and get back to the main highway. It was the only was that Harold could ensure that his promise to Lana could finally be fulfilled. Where was he supposed to go? What was he going to do now? Then, a tiny flicker of inspiration was lit.

Maybe a little drawing and some classic music would help him to clear his head. Not only that, it was also an opportunity to see if he could break out of his "artist's block." This land he found himself in inspired him to draw once again. Harold brought his backpack to his lap and unzipped it, reaching for his sketchbook inside. He brought out his sketchbook and a Ziploc bag, containing colored pencils of every sort, from ebony black to bright white. Lying on top of the pencils was a black mechanical pencil which he received as a Christmas present last year.

Clicking the back of the pencil, Harold reached in his pocket and pulled out his iPod. Like his bike, backpack and everything else inside, the iPod showed no significant or insignificant damage. Harold turned his iPod on. The battery life was revealed to have twenty-eight percent left, having so little time left in this place to be powered up. Harold switched the music to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 since he decided that the sunny, peaceful setting deserved the gracefulness of Ludwig's music. Also, it helped him to concentrate and block out any unnecessary distractions while he drew.

Harold shifted in his seating and looked out to the distant field. He began to quickly scan the field, his eyes recording every detail he could see; the distance of the field, the height of the mountains and the wispy curls of the passing clouds. Every hill became a smaller mound in the distance and the tiny brush trees bordered the uprising mountains, increasing in size as Harold trailed the trees coming closer with his eyes. All of the field were slowly being developed in his head as if his eyes and his mind were a digital camera. Within minutes, Harold fully captured the scene and every little detail inside.

Harold hit "play" on his iPod and he began to draw.

The first thing that Harold did was outline the hills. A good cartoonist not only had to start with the basic lines and curves before he could add in any detail, but to start with a gentle stroke so the mistakes could be easily erased. So, he started off with outlining the closest hill to him, a declining curve which sloped downwards to the right until it slightly became horizontal, reaching the end of the sideways-turned sheet of paper. Then he added in another hill, starting from the right side of the paper, crossing the near midsection of the slope and to the left side. Finally, the third and final hill was added in, a very slightly curving arc stretching across the paper. Harold gave his outlines a more visible lining, erasing the excess lines after doing so.

Harold went on to the mountains. It was fairly easy to draw the mountains here in Equestria, just drawing three steep humps and curving them perfectly like a hill on a roller coaster. The snow covering the peaks of the mountains were quite simple as well, like drawing stalactites with a curvier point. When the mountains were done being drawn, Harold drew smaller curves at the base of the mountains, signifying the location and the sizes of the trees he was adding in. Within the arcs of the curves, Harold drew in even smaller, abundant curves where the treetops were with careful precision. Finally, to end the outlining session, Harold carefully added in the clouds, starting off as underdeveloped overlapping circles on top of a flat line with a curved side. Harold added in small arcs between those circles, drew the wispy curls at both ends and used the curls to finish detailing the clouds. The excess lines were all erased and shavings fell onto the paper, only to be blown away by Harold's breath. The tall strands of grass and the flowers were added into the foreground, thus marking the ending of the sketching.

With the field now outlined and out of the way, it was finally time for Harold's favorite part of the drawing: coloring his artwork in. Harold reached for his pencil bag and pulled out several colored pencils. The colors he carefully chose for this artwork were three different shades of green, two shades of sky and light blue, purple, white and yellow. As a cartoonist, Harold learned to choose the colors of an art piece and determine which shade was the most appropriate for his drawings. As such, Harold chose a light shade of green for the grass and colored in the grass, moving the pencil into one single diagonal scribbling pattern so he would mess it up by mixing it up with a different scribbling pattern. Next, Harold went for the trees, using the two duller shades of green.

This was where it go tricky for Harold, because he was still a growing student when it came to mixing colored pencils. Harold took the shades of green and began to lightly stroke the trees with a lesser dull green, coloring only the bottom half of the trees with that color. He mixed in the duller green color with the other green shade, which came out well much to Harold's surprise, coloring in the rest of the trees. Harold set his green pencils into the bag and moved on to the sky, where he planned to mix in the light blue and the sky blue into one single sky. He took the light blue and lightly colored in the bottommost part of his drawing, leaving some of the sky glowing white around the base of the mountains. Then he advanced his light blue pencil up to the middle of the sky, careful not to color over the clouds. When the light blue finally served its purpose for this drawing he took the sky blue and carefully mixed it in with the light blue, filling in the rest of the sky.

Harold smiled at his drawing. His ability to mix in colors must've grown since his month of depression and sadness, after Lana had passed away. When Lana died nearly a month ago, Harold suffered from total pain, sadness and isolation. There was no drawing he would have done that helped to express how he felt during that month. It was then that Harold first suffered "artist's block," the two words that most artists dreaded suffering from. Up until now, Harold could not find the inspiration to draw anything, even with the most beautiful of nights giving him peaceful slumber. But now... now it was different. It was as if the land itself was open to be shown in the most artistic and meaningful way by Harold's hand.

As Harold put away the two shades of blue into the bag, a noise caught his ears. Despite Beethoven's music playing inside his earphones, Harold could hear that noise over the volume, coming from the forest behind him. Putting his music on pause, Harold turned to the forest, removed his earphones and listened closely. It sounded like singing echoing from all the way in the forest, sung by an angelic voice calling out to him in a soft and beautiful melody. For a moment, Harold felt himself entranced by the song. Then he snapped himself out of his trance, shook his head and stood up from the stump. He knew the singing meant that there was civilization nearby. If he could find whoever was nearby, then she would direct him back to the main highway.

Tucking his iPod away in his pocket and packing his artistic tools in his backpack, Harold stood his bike up and traversed into the forest, following the sweet sound of the music. The forest he traveled through was fairly thick, most of the area covered with gargantuan trees and oversized brush. Harold heard the sounds of fauna inhabiting the forest chirping, croaking and chittering in a perfect chorus as rays of sunlight peered down through the trees, giving spots of bright illumination to reveal his path through the thick flora. It was everything that a peaceful forest was that Harold would ask for.

Harold stopped in the middle of the forest. He put a hand to his ear, drowning out the sounds of the animals. Through the singing birds and the buzzing cicadas, Harold heard the singing become louder, the harmonious tune nearly lulling him into a blissful trance. His eyes slowly fluttered closed, but an unconscious slap to the face helped him to wake up from the trance. As he listened closer, Harold heard the song of a bird, repeating the sweet sounding notes with a heavenly whistle. It was just as Harold thought; he was getting closer to civilization.

Harold trudged through the forest, pushing away branches and giant leaves away from his path with one hand while traveling the bike by the handlebars with the other. He walked, and walked, and walked non-stop towards the mysterious voice singing such a heavenly hymn to be repeated by an obedient bird. In five minutes of walking through the forest, Harold spotted an opening, glowing with white, radiant sunlight. Harold carefully tiptoed over to the opening and set his bike down against the tree, kicking his kickstand down before he crouched behind the brush.

It was a nasty thing to do, Harold knew that already, but what other way was there to determine the owner of the voice being either benevolent or bedeviling?

Through the opening of the edge of the forest, Harold peeked and saw something that peaked his interest by tenfold. He saw a cottage, approximately two stories high with a shrubbery roof sitting near a small creek. Birdhouses and small mammalian holes were decorated all over the front yard while a small dock was housed underneath a small bridge, all housing birds and animals of different size and color. The design of the cottage itself reminded Harold of the Shire from the "Lord of the Rings" movies.

The beautiful voice began to sing once again, hitting a few octaves repeated by the bird's musical whistle. Harold knew the singing was coming from inside of the cottage. Harold stroked his chin, a plan slowly formulating inside of his head. If this place was where the owner of that voice lived, then maybe, just maybe she would be able to help him find a way back to the main highway. Harold nodded in accord to his own plan. It was a long shot, he knew that too, but it was the only way to ensure him that he was a step closer to his dream of being a cartoonist and fulfilling Lana's promise.

Suddenly, the hinges on the door squeaked while the wooden portal slowly swing open. Harold ducked himself behind the brush and waited to see the owner step outside and reveal herself. What he saw instead resulted in a mix between confusion and wonder.

Stepping out from the doorway was a yellow-colored pony, a long pink mane drooping from the top of its head. Her flank was plastered with tattoos of three tiny blue butterflies with pink wings and two curly antennas. Perched on top of the pony's back was an adult blue jay, its stomach area wrapped up in gauze and bandages just below the feathers. Harold felt his inner anger boil inside, clenching his fist tightly. The owner of the cottage had the absolute nerve to color her pet pony like she was promoting Easter weekend, and it wasn't even April yet! And what was with the blue jay being wrapped up in bandages!? The owner must've been a veterinarian and yet, she totally disregarded the pony's health by dying it yellow, pink with three tattoos on the side of its butt! Just what was it that these people with coloring and dressing up their pet horses!?

Before Harold rose up to confront the owner, he saw the blue jay fly away from the pony's back, perched atop of a branch next to a birdhouse. The pony sprouted wings from its sides and fluttered up to that same branch, smiling with joy. Harold felt himself gasp then vigorously rubbed his eyes, dumbfounded by what he saw at first. Then after blinking rapidly a few times, Harold looked back and saw that pony still hovering in the air... with it's wings still attached to its sides, flapping majestically like a bird!

Harold felt himself appalled by this turn of events. Had he seen this right!? Had he just saw a pegasus, a mythological horse with bird wings planted on its sides!? This was unreal... no, unreal wasn't even the right word that he could describe what he felt! Pegasus were supposed to be fictional creatures! There was no way Harold was seeing what he was seeing! He knew that tornado did a lot more damage to his head than he realized! How else would he be able to witness a fictional creature, even learn to combine colors in his drawing!?

"Okay, Mr. Blue Jay," the pegasus said in the most gentlest of voices. "Now you stay out of the forest for three days and get plenty of rest and your tummy will be healed in no time at all. Come see me if you feel any discomfort in your tummy area."

Harold's jaw dropped when he heard the pegasus talk. This wasn't possible! There was no way that pegasus talked to that blue jay, and understood what the bird was telling her! What in the name of God was going on here!? Harold felt his body assaulted by little electrical currents running through his veins as he was hit by a shocking revelation. That pegasus and that voice... she couldn't have been who he thought she was!

But it was. The yellow pegasus fluttered over to the blue jay and, to Harold's complete horror, began to sing an unfamiliar tune. The blue jay repeated the tune, earning another smile from the pegasus as she nuzzled the bird.

"There, that's better. It seems your singing is now back to normal," said the pegasus. The bandaged bird whistled happily before it turned and hopped back into the birdhouse. "Oh, you're welcome. I'm glad I was able to help."

Harold's heart sunk like a stone and fell backwards on his behind. No, there was no way that was her, but there was no denying it now! The owner of that sweet song belonged to that talking pegasus! Harold felt his whole heart stop at that moment, nervous beads of sweat trickling down the side of his face. He had enough of this nonsense! He had to get the hell out of here before this whole situation drove him mad! Harold quickly and quietly got up and turned to fetch his bike...

SNAP!

... and flinched as the sound of a broken twig coincided with his flattening sole. He looked down and saw it was a twig, a conveniently fallen part of a tree which Murphy's Law happened to conveniently place it just for him, so he would be discovered right out in the open. Harold reluctantly turned his head, his half-fearful, half-crazed face meeting with the frightened and curious look of the pegasus. None of them moved or made a sound as their surprised looks locked on to each other like a couple of owls staring at each other from a good distance away. The silence between them was deafening, even the forest's were drowned out by their reactions, until...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

“WWWWAAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!”

Both Harold and the pegasus screamed after one another and darted behind the nearest tree they could find. Harold panted heavily and clasped his hand around his heart, the organ beating like a tribal drum. The drops of nervous sweat became a monsoon of cool bodily saltwater pouring down his head and soaking the collar of his shirt. Harold swore he felt his pants become wet too, but he hoped to God that was sweat.

Harold swallowed down some air and saliva before he reluctantly peeked his head out from around the tree, seeing the pegasus do the same. With a brief yelp, both of them retreated their heads back, shaken by the big scare they experienced. Still, Harold felt ashamed of himself. To think he was easily scared by a flying pony just because it had wings and a sweet voice! Like Lana always said, "don't judge the cover by the book unless you've read more than three chapters of the novel." In this case, Harold was afraid just because the creature he saw was possibly a friendly pegasus, though he wondered if the pegasus was thinking the same thing.

Swallowing one final time, Harold slowly turned away from his hiding place, the pegasus doing the same. Carefully they inched towards each other, not making any sudden movements that would send them into another brief moment of panic. When the two finally came close enough together, Harold reached his hand towards the pegasus's hoof, the tip of his fingers making contact. Like a static shock, Harold and the pegasus jumped back with a yelp, but they did not run away. Instead they stood their ground, though the pegasus hid her face inside of her mane, looking at him with shy, puppy eyes. It was... rather cute for Harold. His heart was already pounding out of shock to be reacting to the pony's timid cuteness.

“P-P-Please... d-d-d-don’t eat m-m-me,” the pegasus squeaked as she shivered like a frozen animal.

Harold tilted his head, a plain but dumbfounded expression grown on his face. Did she really expect that Harold was going to eat her just because he was a human? Not that he would blame the pegasus for being scared of him. She probably hadn't seen a human like him in all of her life.

Forcing a friendly smile on his face, Harold squatted down to the pegasus's level and held his upturned hand to her. "Hey, it's okay, little fella. I'm not gonna hurt you or anything," Harold said calmingly. "I'm not even thinking about eating you. I would never eat or harm any living creature, alright? There's no need for you to be afraid of me."

Harold's assurance seemed to calm down the pegasus. She managed to stop her trembling, but she kept her face hidden from the long curtains that was her mane. If Harold didn't know any better, he would say the pegasus was just like he was when he was younger: timid, afraid and nervous. To him, he was looking at an incarnation of his easily scared side in the form of a delicate, female winged pony. The pony drew circles in the dirt with her hoof, giving Harold a single second of sideways glances before looking away to ground. Harold may have said he was a vegetarian, but that did nothing to ease the nervousness of meeting another intelligent creature. Breathing deep through his nose, Harold reluctantly broke the awkward silence between them.

"I should probably start off with the introductions, then," Harold said, not believing he was talking to a mythical flying pony. "Hi, my name is Harold DeMatt. In case you were wondering, I'm called a human or homo sapiens if you prefer the scientific terms. I take it you haven't seen my kind around here before?"

The pegasus glanced back up to Harold and shook her head. She turned her attention back to the ground, drawing another circle in the dirt while Harold sighed lightly. Turned out there was no other humans inhabiting this strange yet wondrous land, much to his dismay. The ice-breaking between him and the pony didn't work either. Scratching his head, Harold came with another way to help himself break out of the awkward moment. It was then that an idea popped up inside of his head.

"You know, back where I come from, we have ponies like yourself, but they didn't have any wings," Harold explained to the pegasus. "In fact, those sorts of ponies don't exist back home. They don't talk, they don't sing or tend to the needs of animals. Come to think of it, the closest I came to a talking horse is Mr. Ed. That reminds me, you wouldn't have any television around here, do you?"

The pegasus looked at Harold with confusion. From the way she eyed him through her elongated mane, Harold assumed there was no technology in Equestria, let alone a simple television set. "Oh, sorry I asked," he muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "I can't believe I'm asking this, but do you have a name for yourself, Miss Pegasus?"

The pegasus kept her glance towards the unknown creature. She looked away from him and mumbled something inaudible, making it hard for Harold to make out what she said. "I'm sorry, what was that you said?" Harold asked.

"Mumm. Mumm Fruterrmmsh.”

Harold leaned in a little closer. The mumbling was made audible and a little clearer, but the words were still scrambled. "One more time, please?" he asked politely.

A few seconds of silence passed through them like ghosts. After using that time to muster up a little bit of courage, the timid pegasus looked Harold in his curious eyes and squeaked her name out, this time loud enough for him to just barely make it out.

"I'm... I'm Fluttershy."

=====================================================================

BAM!

The door to the Golden Oaks Library swung open, slamming the outer wall. Twilight Sparkle cantered out of the library and into the open streets of Ponyville, carrying Spike on her back. Spike held on to Twilight's neck as she galloped past the denizens of Ponyville, ignoring the formal greetings given to her. Wether it was a nice "hello," a wave of their hoof or a respectful bow to their newest princess, Twilight would've addressed such politeness and insist they treat her as a fellow pony, not a member of royalty.

But that wasn't today. Today, she was on a mission to assemble her friends, the Elements of Harmony and respond to Princess Celestia's urgent matter. She was too busy to even acknowledge the ponies' politeness, though she cast them a sideways glance while she galloped to her friends' houses. Spike managed to keep his hold on Twilight's neck while his adoptive sister jeered around a turn and made a beeline for Sugarcube Corner.

"So, what's the big mission, Twilight?" Spike asked. "Aren't you gonna fill me in on this mission? Maybe I can help out, too. You know, like how I helped out when you entrusted the fate of the Crystal Empire to me while we were fighting King Sombra."

Twilight kept her eyes on the path, not looking back to Spike riding on her back. “I’m sorry Spike, but Princess Celestia says this mission is strictly on a need-to-know basis,” she informed. "The letter said not to speak to anypony else besides my friends of the coming crisis and I'm afraid that includes you too, Spike."

The baby dragon groaned dishearteningly and lowered his eyes. "Don't take this the wrong way, Spike. It's not like I don't want you come to Canterlot with the girls and I," Twilight explained. "It's just that this is a very important emergency from Princess Celestia and she asked it to be confidential. She doesn't want anypony who stumbled upon any piece of information to be a target for our enemies. That's why I can't tell you, Spike, because I don't want to see you hurt."

Spike inhaled deeply and sighed, still feeling crestfallen. "I understand, Twilight."

"I knew you would, Spike," Twilight said before she slowed her galloping to a halt. "Oh, good, we're here."

Spike looked up from his disheartening gaze and looked up to the building that Twilight stopped at. The place was Ponyville's premiere bakery and sweet shop, Sugarcube Corner. The building resembled a giant gingerbread house, complete with a roof with frosting curled around the edges of the rooftops. The two top floors that towered over the building resembled two cupcakes stacked on one another, with pink icing and three lit candles on top of the topmost cupcake. Sugarcube Corner was known for its sweets and its lounging area, and it happened to be the home of one of Twilight's dear and most important friends.

Twilight approached the front door and heaved a worried sigh. "Okay, Spike, let's put on our best smiles and pray that Pinkie Pie's home. I have a bad feeling that this has to be the biggest emergency that Princess Celestia has informed me about."

“What kind of emergency!?”

Twilight yelped as she jumped three feet into the air by the high-pitched cheery voice. Spike was thrown backwards from Twilight's back and plunged head first into the soil beneath him, leaving only the rest of his draconic body to wriggle and push himself out. The young alicorn hovered in midair with her wings as she turned and glared at the pink pony lying on the ground, rolling on the dirt while she giggled away at the scared reaction.

“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight grumbled.

The pink pony was called Pinkie Pie, short for Pinkamena Diane Pie. As her name suggested, Pinkie Pie's coat, mane and tail were all colored pink, up to the point where her happy demeanor was tickled pink. Her mane and tail appeared poofy as her personality and her flank depicted three balloons, two of them blue with yellow strings and one yellow with a blue string. Pinkie Pie wore a smile that seemed to never go away, except for when she was sad or angry if somepony broke her signature Pinkie Promises.

That same smile was plastered onto Pinkie's face as she kept laughing to the comical scared reaction from her best friend forever. Wiping a tear and snorting in between breaths, Pinkie Pie finished laughing while Twilight lowered herself to the ground. "Oh, Twilight! You and Spike should've seen the looks on your faces! It was priceless!" Pinkie Pie said, returning to her giggling.

“Pinkie! You know how much I hate it when you do that!” Twilight snapped.

“Aww, come on Twilight, lighten up! You know as well as everypony else in Ponyville that all of my jokes are all in good, clean fun!” Pinkie Pie replied with a high chortle. "Besides, everypony gets a good laugh if you get scared out of your wits even though nopony intended fo you to jump like a scaredy-cat!"

Twilight stared at Pinkie Pie with a look, half-deadpanning and half-glare before she heaved a calming sigh. "Yeah, we'll see if you can still get to have your 'good, clean fun' after we get back from Canterlot. Princess Celestia informed me that there's a growing threat somewhere in Equestria and she needs us and the girls to meet up at Ponyville square right away!"

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie's bubbly laughter popped to halt which was replaced with a shocked gasp. “A threat!? Somewhere in Equestria!?" Pinkie Pie gasped once more, holding the sides of her head with her hooves. "Oh no, what's happening!? Is Nightmare Moon back to plunge Equestria into eternal night again!?"

“No, Pinkie. It’s a...”

“Is Discord creating chaos again!?”

“Pinkie, this is a...”

“No, wait, let me guess! Are the changelings invading Canterlot again!?”

“Pinkie...”

“Oh no! I bet it's even worse! The flour factories were all shut down by some greedy fatcat and now they stopped making bags of flour!!”

“PINKIE PIE!!!”

Twilight's newly acquired Royal Canterlot Voice compelled Pinkie Pie's slight hyperactive panicking to screech to a halt. She was reluctant to use the Voice, since she wasn't one to raise her voice out for any reason whatsoever. If by any chance she couldn't throw her voice in whether it was an angry throng or Pinkie's mindless chattering, an exception had to be made. Twilight brought a hoof to her chest and breathed in, then exhaled while extending her hoof outwards. She trotted up to Pinkie Pie and formed a little huddle with her, keeping her voice to a dull roar.

"Look, Pinkie, this is a very serious and private matter. Like I said, Princess Celestia said she needed us and the girls out to Ponyville square so we would meet up with her sent chariots to bring us to Canterlot," Twilight informed solemnly with a face as somber as her tone. "I'll explain the situation with you and the others on the way. Meanwhile, I need you to round up Applejack and Rarity while I look in the skies for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash."

Twilight grabbed both of Pinkie's cheeks and brought her close to her face, seriousness burning into the pink pony's eyes like a laser. "And don't tell everypony else but our friends about this," Twilight ordered through her teeth. "This mission is highly confidential. One little slip of the tongue and our enemies could hear about it, you understand?"

Pinkie nodded, whimpering an affirmation between her squished cheeks. Twilight released her grip on Pinkie’s face, dropping her to the ground with an “OOF!” and sighed. "Alright, then. Pinkie, you go find Applejack and Rarity and bring them to Ponyville square. I'm gonna look in Cloudsdale and see if I can find Rainbow and Fluttershy there. Remember..." Twilight narrowed her eyes and roughly poked Pinkie in the chest. "...keep this mission between us and the girls. No blabbermouthing. Got it?"

To keep her word, Pinkie Pie zipped her hoof across her mouth as if she was closing a zipper, a serious expression given before the serious scowl turned into a cheerful smile.

With much done, Pinkie Pie bounced up and turned to the opposite direction and trotted off to the outskirts of Ponyville, singing a jovial, pointless tune. Twilight rolled her eyes. This was a mission that was supposed to be taken seriously, but it was obvious that Pinkie Pie didn't take it that seriously. She would never understand how Pinkie Pie would smile while the fate of Equestria stood on the brink of an upcoming crisis. After shaking her head, Twilight levitated Spike from the dirt upside down, the dragon spitting out earth soil from his mouth.

"Spike, this is no time to be playing in the dirt," Twilight mildly scolded, placing Spike face-up on her back. "Come on, we need to get to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy before the chariots arrive. You might want to hold on tight, though. This is gonna be a bumpy ride."

Twilight unfurled her wings and positioned herself in a ready flying stance. Spike wasn't done spitting most of the dirt from his mouth before Twilight shook her flank, building enough speed for her takeoff. "Wait a minute, Twilight. I'm not ready to flyyyyYYYYIIIIIIEEEEEE!"

Before Spike could finish his sentence, Twilight took off to the sky like a rocket, leaving behind a magenta contrail. At the speed of Mach Five, Twilight zoomed through the skies in the direction towards Cloudsdale with Spike hanging on to her back for dear life as his stomach began to churn from the high speeds. With the hands of time not on her side, Twilight had to make her visit to Cloudsdale short and quick before the chariots taking her and her friends to their next destination arrived.

Chapter 4: I'm Fluttershy (Re-Re-Edited)

"So your name is Fluttershy, right?"

Harold sat on the ground in an Indian-style pose, his hands on his knees to support his rocking balance. An awkward silence passed them like the spring breeze rustling through the tree leaves. He and the pegasus named Fluttershy were both scared of each other, although Fluttershy's fears were made highly apparent. She hadn't trembled with fear ever since Harold assured her he was harmless, but she shied her gaze away mostly to the ground.

"That's actually a pretty name," Harold complimented, his voice shaking nervously. "Fluttershy; I like it. It certainly fits a timid little pony like you." Fluttershy cast yet another brief glance to Harold, giving off a tiny whimper before she looked back to the ground, continuously drawing circles into the dirt.

Truth be told, Harold was just as afraid as the pegasus was just by talking to her. He could sympathize with Fluttershy for being afraid of the whole world, always wanting to live somewhere away from society and hiding his face in a mask so strangers wouldn't look at him conspicuously. But deep down, something inside of him told him that Fluttershy was a good-hearted pony. He knew if he went out of his comfort and talk with the pegasus, she would help him to know where he was and if there was a way out of Equestria.

That's when a voice screamed inside of Harold's mind, to the point where he almost jumped. This was what Harold called, the Conflicting Voice. The Voice was a series of mocking and brutal thoughts that conflicted with Harold's wanting to do something beyond his comfort zone and festered him with thoughts of people rejecting him, whispering about him behind their backs. The voice was harsh and abusive, like it was hearing his father, Ahab's voice inside of his head.

"Oh, that's so typical of you, you little accident! While you're sitting around and watching the pony become cuter, you're missing every opportune moment to fulfill that empty-headed hollow promise you made to your sister!" The Conflicting Voice barked, making Harold cower to his shoulders. "If you really want to do something useful for yourself, then go up and ask her! Ask her for some help! Ask her for directions out of this crazy place! Do something! I can't even believe you're afraid of a talking pony!"

Harold rubbed his arm nervously. He knew he had to ask Fluttershy about Equestria and if there was any possibility of a way out, but what else could he say? How would he even ask her? Harold couldn't start a conversation with someone without turning it into an awkward moment for him or the other people around him. Even if he did try and carry out that conversation, they wouldn't listen to him anyway. He was the son of Ahab and Deveraux DeMatt, the world's most controversial married couple who deeply wounded the state of New York with greed and power. Everyone knew that every word they spoke was dripping with acidic poison and soon, so would their own children.

That was why Harold was so reluctant to ask the pegasus. Every moment where society either shunned him or beat him to the ground drove him to become a socially-impaired introvert. Harold was afraid that whatever he said would either be ignored by the pegasus or it would intimidate her more than she already was. If he slipped this little meeting with Fluttershy up, she might never help him find a way out of Equestria.

But then again, this also spelt opportunity for him. If Harold kept sitting there staring at Fluttershy all day, what good will it do if he can't talk to her, especially since he had a long way to go before he could fulfill his promise to Lana? After all, Lana always wanted him to go and talk to people, socialize, even making some friends along the way. This was precisely what she always wanted Harold to do, wouldn't she?

"Well, of course this is what your sister wanted you to do, you twit!" The Conflicting Voice snapped. "Come on, you're sitting right in front damned horse with wings, not some viper with hooves! They're all worthless vegetarians like you, so try and grow some guts for yourself, you peon!"

Harold clamped his ears shut with his hands, silencing the voice from his head. Then he combed his hands through his hair and stretched, his hair spiked up by the days-old grease as he breathed through his nose. His unsettled nerves calmed themselves and the chemicals were exhaled from his lungs while he hummed the tune of “Southampton Dock”. In a short time, Harold finally regained control of himself and the Conflicting Voice was gone for now.

Still, Harold couldn't argue with the voice. If he needed to more about this place, he needed to muster up some courage and talk to Fluttershy. She might know he could get back to the main highway and maybe not, but it never hurt him to ask. Clearing his throat, Fluttershy "eeped" as Harold spoke to her in a gentle tone.

"Umm... Miss Fluttershy, right?" Harold asked, earning a nod from the pegasus. "Miss Fluttershy, I understand from you that none of my kind has ever made it to this place before. Is that true?"

Fluttershy nodded once more. "Well, I know this might sound a bit off, but I sorta need your help," Harold explained with mild quaking in his voice. "You see, I was traveling by myself on the main highway when all of a sudden, this giant tornado swept me off my feet and I somehow ended up here by mistake. I was wondering if there was a way out of this... Equestria place and back where I came from. It's really, really important for me that I know how I can go back."

Fluttershy squeaked something inaudible then shook her head, causing Harold's eyebrows to raise with surprise. "So, what you're saying is that you don't know where the main highway is?" Harold asked.

Fluttershy nodded her head. "Is that a yes to 'you know where the main highway is' or a yes to 'you don't know where the main highway is?'" Harold asked, mildly irritated by the lack of specific answers given.

Once again, Fluttershy nodded her head, Harold becoming slightly annoyed. "Have you even heard of a main highway before?" he asked. With a shake of her head, Fluttershy squeaked like a mouse, loosely translated to "mm-mm." Harold sighed in disappointment. He had only met the only other living thing for God knows how many miles and she didn't know what the main highway was. Harold was at his wit's end and he slapped his knees out of frustration to prove it. At this rate, he would never accomplish what he set out on his journey for.

"Alright, Miss Fluttershy, I guess I'd better be going," Harold sighed. "I would say it was nice meeting you if it weren't for certain circumstances such as this. I'm sorry if I wasted most of your time, so I'll let you get back to your physical rehab for birds and... other animals."

Once more, Fluttershy whimpered something indecipherable as she shyly looked away from Harold. The human clicked his tongue and inhaled through his mouth, a hissing, whistling sound made by his slightly yellow teeth. "Okay... well, I guess I'll be taking off now," Harold said, slowly standing up, wiping a bit of dirt from his pants. "It was nice meeting you, Miss Fluttersh--AAHHH!"

As soon as Harold turned to walk away in the opposite direction, a familiar knife-sharp pain ran through his head. The migraine returned to torment the poor boy, just as he predicted it would sooner or later. This migraine, however, felt even more potent than the last one. The excruciating pain was so powerful, that it made Harold yelp as he fell back to the ground on his behind.

At the sight of the human's suffering, Fluttershy suddenly broke from her timid shell. As if someone flipped the switch on her personalities, Fluttershy gasped and rushed to Harold's side, the latter covering his eyes with his hand. "Oh! Oh my goodness, you're hurt!" the pegasus gasped, putting a hoof on his forehead, only to make Harold wince with pain. "Oh, you poor thing! Are you alright!? Where does it hurt!? Have you felt this way before, and if so, when did you first feel it!?"

"Miss Fluttershy... please... one at a time..." Harold grumbled, rubbing his temples whilst trying to cope with his migraine.

"Oh... oh, sorry," Fluttershy meekly apologized, shrinking back away from the human.

Harold slowly massaged his forehead, every attempt to dull the migraine failing as painful surges coursed through his brain. "God, I knew this would eventually happen again, but I didn't think it would be this powerful," he complained. "I first felt this way when I woke up with the sun shining in my eyes. It managed to go away several minutes ago, but now it--AAAUUGGHH!"

Another surge of pain ran through Harold's head. Fluttershy gasped, now fully concerned for the pain the human was going through. "Oh my, you're in even worse condition than I thought! With a migraine like yours acting up constantly, you shouldn't be outside where the sunlight could do more damage to your head!"

Fluttershy firmly grasped Harold's arm and gently hoisted him up on his feet. Harold almost slipped with his footing, since the migraine not only affected his ability to think but also his ability to walk. "Come inside my cottage. You need to lie down and rest while I make a special herbal tea and give you some remedies for your head."

"Thank you for the offer, Fluttershy, but I'll be fine," Harold said. "Really. Just give it a few minutes and--"

"Oh no, no, no, no!" Fluttershy interjected. "I insist that you come inside so I can treat your head right away! It's the only way to get rid of it and prevent it from ever coming back!"

Before Harold could protest to Fluttershy's intentions, the pegasus began to gently lead him to her cottage. Her grip on Harold's arm was both gentle and firm, causing him to submit to this warm feeling over his agonizing pain. Harold questioned why Fluttershy was doing this for him. When they first met, Fluttershy was too afraid to talk to Harold, though he tried to make good conversations to help her out of her shyness. But when she saw he was in pain, she wasted no time in being concerned for his health. She was even leading him into her home so he would be cured of his migraine. Harold didn't know why she was being so polite to him. Reginald and Lana were the only two people from home who had ever gave him something he was receiving now: kindness.

This kind side of Fluttershy was nothing Harold had ever seen before. Even as he tried to resist being guided gingerly into her home, Harold couldn't help but wonder more about this side. Fluttershy seemed to give off this atmosphere that was, in a way, so familiar to him. In one minute, she was cowering before an unknown bipedal creature who appeared in her front yard; the next minute, she was caring for him. In fact, she had almost immediately gained his trust. Harold knew, because he allowed her to touch him. Back in New York, Harold was constantly enduring the barrage of beatings at the hands of Drake Singer, his two dumb lackeys or the teachers for drifting off for a split second. He even endured some of the rough tugging from the maids at home as they tried to change him in or out of different suits, uniforms and tuxedos. To this day, Harold would allow only the people he could find trustworthy and comfortable to make direct contact with him.

And yet, somehow he allowed Fluttershy to make contact with him. Harold didn't know the reason why he could trust her. Maybe it was because of the way she was concerned for his infliction. Maybe it was because of how her voice was like warm silk, soothing and soft to tame even the most wildest creatures in the world. Maybe it was because... because her kindness somehow reminded Harold of Lana.

A smile grew across Harold's lips, the thought of comparing Fluttershy with Lana giving him a soothing feeling.

BONK!

"OOOWWW!"

Harold was too deep in thought to notice the oncoming doorframe. The human's height was slightly taller that Fluttershy's, just about a size and a half, but he was tall enough so his head could touch the doorframe. And Harold did so by unknowingly running into it and hitting it on his forehead, the very same place where his migraine first acted up.

Harold yelped and gripped his head, wincing from the pain as he hissed in pain. The impact on his forehead caused his migraine to intensify by tenfold. Fluttershy gasped and covered her mouth with her hooves. “Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry! If I’d known you were too big for the door, I wouldn’t have cause you so much more pain and--!”

"It's alright, Fluttershy," Harold interjected, raising a hand to quiet the pegasus. "It wasn't your -AAH!- fault. I should've been paying more attention where I was going." Harold backed up, nearly staggering while doing so and examined his height compared to the size of the door. "Besides, I'm not too big for the door. I only hit my forehead on the side of the frame. It's no big deal, this is something I can handle."

Fluttershy sighed with relief. "I suppose that is good to hear," she said. "But we must get you inside, quickly. We can't afford to let your migraine worsen by the minute."

"Umm, alright." Harold gently massaged his temples with his rotating thumbs. A pair of caring frontal hooves wrapped around Harold's arm and gently tugged him along, guiding him into the interior of the cottage. Something inside Harold aside from the Conflicting Voice told him he should trust Fluttershy. He couldn't describe what it was, just a warm little hum whispering softly in his ear. Harold stopped for a moment and turned to Fluttershy, who followed suit with his actions.

"Uhh... thank you for what you're doing for me, Fluttershy," Harold said shakily. He never thanked anyone else for being kind to him before and his social skills were as rickety as an old rope bridge.

"You're welcome, Mr. Harold," Fluttershy replied. "I'm just glad I'm able to help out."

Fluttershy gently led Harold into her cottage, Harold ducking away from the doorframe to prevent a repeat of the incident a minute ago. As Harold finally went into the foyer of the cottage, Fluttershy tilted her head, smiling while she wondered about the human. She knew he was like her timid self in so many ways, but all the while, she also saw kindness deep down inside of him. He seemed formal by calling him "Miss," and appeared to be a long ways from home. For some unknown reason, he even trusted her completely the minute she became concerned when his head was in severe pain. Why this was, she didn't know.

As soon as Fluttershy went inside the cottage, she closed the doors behind her.

=====================================================================

Twilight boosted her speed to Mach Six.

Her past few months of learning how to fly from both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had paid off so well. Fluttershy taught her how to delicately hover without wearing out her newly-earned wings while Rainbow Dash taught her how to fly as fast as an average pegasus, even faster at certain times. It was at this certain time that Princess Twilight Sparkle flew at those high speeds, a glint of determination shining in her eye. She had to hightail it to Cloudsdale to search for Rainbow Dash, Spike hugging her back while his face turned greener than his lime green spine.

"Whoa! Slow it down, Twilight!" Spike yelled out over the wind. "I cant handle this sort of air travel!"

"I can't slow this down, Spike!" Twilight shouted back to the airsick dragon. "Princess Celestia's chariots will be in Ponyville shortly and I need to get Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy before they get there! You just need to keep your lunch down, we'll be at Cloudsdale in a minute!"

"But that's exactly what you said five minutes ago!" Spike's cheeks suddenly inflated and he covered his mouth, following a sickly gurgle from his stomach. He swallowed down the blocked vomit and winced a disgusted face. "Oh boy, I think that leftover sapphire and turquoise soufflé surprise wants to make a surprise exit."

"Just hang on, Spike! Once we find Rainbow Dash, we'll be heading down to Fluttershy's afterwards!" Twilight yelled back. "She'll get you all better, I-- WHOA!!"

Suddenly, Twilight found herself making a beeline towards the backside of a flock of geese. The V-shaped flock had recently returned from their winter vacation from down south, where the buffalo tribes from Appleloosa hunted these majestic birds from the sky for the sport of obtaining feathers for their tribal caps. Twilight quickly dove to the left, swerved around a couple of clouds and flew back into her destined path but not before she heard the geese squawk at her something that would be translated by Fluttershy. She was pretty sure whatever the geese honked at her were goose-related curses.

"Whew! That was close!" Twilight turned and looked to her back. "How are you holding up there, Spike!?"

Spike held on for dear life on Twilight's back, his claws digging into her mane for support. The baby dragon's airsickness worsened up when Twilight swiftly maneuvered through the airborne obstacles, his little arms quivering like jelly. Spike, however, had enough strength to pull himself up back on Twilight's back and into a slump, appearing to be paler than his previously pale color from the incident.

Spike shakily raised a clawed thumb up.

"I'm just doing super," he grumbled, letting himself melt in Twilight's back.

Twilight managed to stifle a giggle. "Don't worry, Spike, we're just about there!"

A minute and a half passed quickly as Twilight and Spike soared through the open skies of Equestria at the speed of sound. Twilight swerved and dodged around every cloud and every flock of birds she encountered on her flight, while Spike struggled to keep his lunch from spilling at dizzying heights. It wasn't long before Twilight and Spike finally managed to reach their destination, a city of clouds floating a mile or two above the ground. A lot of soft white buildings were built on the pillowy ground, held up by strong pillars made up of the same cloudy material. Waterfalls poured from the edges of the clouds, one of them being a rainbow-colored waterfall.

The city of Cloudsdale.

This aerial city happened to be the hometown of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, two of them among Twilight's circle of friends whom she sought out desperately for the emergency. Fluttershy hadn't visited Cloudsdale ever since the day she fell to the ground for the first time, so Rainbow Dash had to be around the floating city somewhere. Some of the pegasus ponies who flew by at the time Princess Twilight arrived to Cloudsdale turned tale and zipped back to the city and spread the news of her unexpected arrival.

Twilight gently eased off of her speed as she approached the center of Cloudsdale, fluttering her wings just as Fluttershy taught her how to do. With the gentlest of ease and royal graciousness, Twilight landed exactly in the center of the Cloudsdale square and kept her wings unfurled. Every pegasus around her bowed to her presence with respect, causing the lavender alicorn to sigh.

Twilight still couldn't get over how everypony so near and far to her would treat her like they would to both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Ever since her coronation, Twilight began to feel uncertain about holding the high title of the Princess of Magic and Friendship. The bowing and being called "highness," "majesty" and on rare occasions, "liege" was becoming quite as comfortable as lying on a rock-filled mattress. She still insisted on being treated as Twilight Sparkle, not Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Spike slowly felt himself slide off of Twilight's back, too weak to even hold on to her soft coat. Out of reflex, Twilight quickly lit her horn up and gently placed Spike back on her back and materialized a seatbelt around his waist area.

"Be careful you don't fall, Spike," the alicorn instructed. "You are a baby dragon, but you're no pegasus. You'd fall all the way through the clouds and down to Earth unless I conjured up some wings for you."

"I know, but in the meantime, could you conjure up a barf bag for me? I can't... really..." Spike couldn't finish his sentence as a sickly gurgle rose from his stomach and up to his mouth. Twilight flinched and quickly conjured up a single paper bag and levitated it into Spike's claws. The baby dragon lurched forwards and heaved his lunch, earning a few disgusted grimaces from Twilight and most of the pegasus ponies, even making some of them physically sick from the sight. When the terrifying part was over, Spike released his barf bag and moaned, lying flat on his adopted sister's bag.

Twilight used her magic to make the bag and its sick contents vanish into thin air. Shivering from having to carry a sick dragon on her back, Twilight quickly scanned the area for any sign of either Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash. There was no such luck. With a quick ahem! and standing in a regal posture, Twilight began to address the citizens of Cloudsdale in her Royal Canterlot Voice.

"ATTENTION, CLOUDSDALE!! HAS ANYPONY SEEN RAINBOW DASH AROUND HERE!? IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT I FIND HER RIGHT AWAY!!"

The pegasus ponies raised an eyebrow in confusion. They turned to one another and muttered if they knew what the definition of the word, "imperative" meant. Most of the pegasus replied they didn't know, some just shrugged their shoulders while others shook their heads. Twilight facehoofed herself and slowly dragged her hoof down her face, a deadpanning look wiped on her visage as she remembered a similar time when the word "imperative" also confused Spike. Twilight took in another breath so she could use her Canterlot Voice again.

"IT MEANS IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT!"

A wave of "ooh" passed through the crowd and the pegasus ponies grew a relieved smile. Then they turned and gave Twilight a series of mixed answers, ranging from "no" and "I don't know," a shake of their head and the shrugging of their shoulders. Every answer given to Twilight had no doubt made her sigh with disappointment with dissatisfaction.

"Uggghhh... she must be sleeping in a tree again or something," Twilight groaned as she spread her wings out. "Come on, Spike. Let's go see if Rainbow Dash is reading Daring Do in her room, or at least doing cloud duty in Ponyville." Twilight trotted a few paces and readied her wings for her to fly. She only brought herself a couple of feet above the ground when all of a sudden...

“WWWWHHHHHAAAAAA!!!! LOOK OUT!!!”

Before Twilight could even turn to react to the warning, a cyan blue blur with a rainbow contrail crashed into the princess, knocking her and Spike to the cloudy ground and rolled twenty feet before stopping in a pile. Spike was thankful that Twilight managed to strap him down to her back with a materialized seatbelt; although, thanks to the rolling, Spike felt even more sicker than ever to the point where his face was on the borderline of white and light pale purple and lime green.

Pegasus ponies everywhere gasped as they saw their princess tackled to the ground and turned their narrow glares to the culprit lying on top of her. She was a cyan blue pegasus, her wildly-styled mane colored with the six colors of the rainbow. While the colors of red, orange and yellow on her mane were visible from the top of her head, the other colors of blue, green and violet hung down on the lower part of her mane. Her Cutie Mark was a simple white cloud with a tri-colored lightning bolt dyed in stripes of red, yellow and blue.

The cyan pegasus slowly pulled herself up from the pile and looked down to the fallen forms of Twilight and Spike. She let out a nervous chuckle as she looked around and was subjected to angry glares from her fellow ponies. "Uh, sorry about that, Twilight," the pegasus said. "I guess I did one too many backflips with that last trick."

Twilight groaned as she tried to lift herself off the ground, gazing at the pegasus with a stink eye. "Rainbow Dash..."

"Here. Let me help you up," said Rainbow Dash. She extended a couple of hooves to Twilight and lifted her up off the cushiony ground, the alicorn nearly losing her balance from the impact. "Sorry about that the rough landing, Twilight. I was trying to perfect this move to show the Wonderbolts for next month's Grand Galloping Gala and I can't seem to get that last backflip right."

"That's pretty obvious," Twilight replied flatly. "For somepony who recently made lead pony in the Wondebolts Academy, your moves are still comparable to a dilettante daredevil."

"Oh, lighten up, egghead," Rainbow Dash said. "I've got all month to practice my trick. Sure, I may have a long ways to go before I can make it as the next Wonderbolts captain, but that's why I take most of the time to practice. You know what they say..."

"Practice makes perfect," Twilight interjected. "I know; I'd say you do need more practice. Look at what you did to Spike." Twilight gestured her hoof to Spike, clinging to her back like a scared cat stuck on the branch of a tree. His pupils were the size of pinpricks and his teeth grit with fear and shock.

"Ah, don't worry about it, Twilight," Rainbow Dash chortled, waving her hoof down. "I'm sure that Spike will look back on this one day and laugh. But enough about me, what brings you up to these parts of the woods?"

"I got a letter from Princess Celestia just a few minutes ago. According to the confidentiality, Princess Celestia said..." Twilight looked around her scenery, where the pegasus ponies looked at the two of them with a mixture of blank faces and wonder. She leaned forward and whispered everything written in the letter into Rainbow Dash's ear, which made her eyes widen with surprise.

"Oh, so it's that sort of emergency?" Rainbow Dash asked in a whisper.

"Yes, and Princess Celestia has already sent chariots to escort us to Canterlot. That's why it's important that we get the girls together at Ponyville square and meet them without being a minute late," Twilight explained. "That reminds me, have you seen Fluttershy anywhere today?"

"I have yesterday. She said something about giving her blue jay some physical..." Rainbow Dash twirled her hoof, trying to remember the pronunciation of the right word. "...reha... rehabilitation today. She should still be at her house right now."

"Then we have to get to Fluttershy's house immediately! We need her with us by the time the chariots arrive and we can't afford to keep them waiting! If we keep the chariots waiting, then we'll keep Princess Celestia waiting, and possibly Princess Luna too!" Twilight thrusted her hooves up to Rainbow Dash's face and grabbed her by the cheeks. She lowered Rainbow Dash's face at an even level with her face. "And trust me when I say that Princess Celestia does not like to be kept waiting during emergencies like this!"

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash shot her hooves out and broke free of Twilight's restrain on her face and hovered over the clouds. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down there, sister, there's no need to freak out over this!" Rainbow Dash replied. "Look, I know you're really worried about meeting the chariots, but you've really gotta relax! You don't wanna get totally stressed out over this like you did that time, do you?"

Twilight cringed at the reminder of that day when her fears of tardy work got the best of her. She could still vividly remember the day when she cast a "Want-It, Need-It" spell on her doll, Smarty Pants to create a friendship problem which nearly got her into some serious trouble with Princess Celestia. If it wasn't for her friends' intervening, Twilight would've been demoted to magic kindergarten.

"Alright, here's how this is gonna go down," Rainbow Dash said. "We're gonna go get Fluttershy and bring her to town. If we go right now, then we can hightail it back to the town square so we can meet the girls and not be late when the chariots are sent out! It's simple!"

"I don't know, Rainbow Dash," Twilight replied uncertainly. "What if the chariots arrive in Ponyville by the time we get to Fluttershy's cottage?"

"Hey, don't worry about that. We can totally get down to Fluttershy's in three minutes flat."

"Are you sure about that?" Twilight asked uncertainly. "Because the chariots will probably take about fifteen minutes to reach Ponyville."

"That depends," Rainbow Dash replied. "How long did it take you to fly up here?"

"About four minutes."

"Then we have plenty of time, Twilight. If we leave now, like right now, we can even beat the others to the square!" Rainbow Dash flew straight up in the air, did a loop-de-loop and began to hover five feet from the ground. "Come on, Twilight! What are you waiting for, Hearth's Warming Eve? We're burning daylight here!"

Twilight's uncertain face grew to a confident smirk. This was the Rainbow Dash she knew well; she would do anything to help her friends out in such a coming crisis, such as keeping Twilight's uncertainty in check. Rainbow Dash may have failed to see the situation with Twilight's anxiety before, but after the Smarty Pants Incident, she vowed to help her friends and keep them in check. After all, Rainbow Dash represented the Element of Loyalty. She was the mare who helped keep the alicorn's confidence with herself when she and Fluttershy volunteered to teach her how to fly.

It was what friends did best for each other.

Without a second too soon, Twilight spread her wings and shot up into the air and quickly descended downwards to the outskirts of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash followed suit and the two winged ponies made a beeline towards Fluttershy's cottage. What they were unaware of at first was the surprise visitor awaiting treatment for his head from the Element of Kindness herself.

Chapter 5: Act of Kindness (Re-Re-Edited)

Harold had never been inside of a cottage before; not the ones he usually heard in bedtime stories with Lana, anyway. Usually, where there were cottages, there were sometimes wooden structures holding up a rocky interior with a grassy roof hanging over their heads, just like the roof to Fluttershy's cottage. In this case, however, Fluttershy's cottage was more modernized and really beautiful, more than the Seven Dwarves' cottage in "Snow White."

When Harold first walked inside, he was met with the foyer of the cottage, a staircase on the leftmost wall leading upstairs into the upper floor and an unlit stone fireplace with a chimney on the right. Next to the chimney was a little pet bed sitting near a birdcage with tiny wooden stairs extending down to the floor. As he looked up, Harold could see a little passageway run through the rafters of the ceiling and out the hole leading back outside. A green cabinet on his left had another set of tiny staircases next to it leading into the next room, a bag of bird food lying at the foot of those steps. Looking back to the chimney, there was also another set of tiny stairs, wrapping around the chimney. It was clear to Harold with the tiny stairs, the beds and the birdcages that Fluttershy kept a variety of pets in her home, all of them of small stature.

Harold felt his arm wrapped in a gentle hold by a pair of friendly hooves, leading him into the open room just ahead of him. Fluttershy cautiously walked the human into the living room, careful not to worsen Harold's migraine with a slight increase in pace. She had many an experience with treating animals with head pains, and if there was one thing she learned it was to be careful with how to fast she carried them to give them their treatment.

The living room had a cozier feeling on the inside as well as the foyer. A couch and an armchair sat near the living room wall, both upholstered in green padded fabric, a little round table sitting between the two green furniture. A lamp stood behind the couch and near the window to give Fluttershy some light while she was read a book she took off from the bookshelves built into the walls. On the floor was a round rug with a design of a flower in the center, the outlines and the outer circle colored teal and the inner circle turquoise. Finally, a few animal beds, a small number of birdhouses and a single mouse hole decorated the room for a comfortable living space for the animals.

Harold was colored impressed. So far, this place was considerable for being added into Harold's little gallery of artworks saved in his black sketchbook.

Fluttershy gently led Harold to the couch near the window in the rear section of the room. She gingerly turned Harold around and firmly seated him on the soft green cushions. "There you go, Mr. Harold," said Fluttershy. "Now you just sit here and relax while I get you a special homemade headache remedy from the kitchen. I'll even bring some bandages for that welt on your forehead."

"Really? I've got a welt on my head?" Harold looked up to his forehead, not seeing the aforementioned crimson bump forming in the area where he hit his head on the doorframe. Harold brought his fingers up to the bump and lightly tapped it, then winced to the stinging sensation that followed. It felt like someone gave him a quick touch with a red-hot fork, only with lesser degree burns.

"Oh my! Don't touch that, Mr. Harold!" Fluttershy gasped. "Touching your injury like that will only make it worse! You just sit tight while I go get the bandages for that swelling!" With a quick thrust of her wings, Fluttershy flew upstairs to her room to retrieve her first-aid kit tucked safely under her bed.

While Fluttershy was occupied with finding her medical kit, Harold kept his seat on the couch just like she ordered him to. The stinging sensation depleted in only a few seconds. Harold was tempted to rub the area around the welt, but he quickly shook that urge off and kept his arm down so he wouldn't let it touch it. When his urge had settled down, he took this time to look around the room and up at the ceiling where birdcages and birdhouses hung from the leafy vines wrapped around the rafters.

Looking closely, Harold saw what he though to be a few birds duck their heads away into the birdhouses as soon as they saw him glance their way. From the corner of his eye, Harold saw a couple of mice, one big and one small retreat into the sanctity of the hole in the wall and disappeared. Harold heaved a saddened sigh; he wasn't surprised that the mice and the birds would hide from him. They were afraid of Harold, and he silently agreed. They were afraid of going anywhere near the unknown bipedal giant carrying a big bag on his back. Every animal probably thought he was going to snatch them away, cook them and eat them for lunch.

But there was one thing they hadn't figured out: Harold was a vegetarian. Because of a personal and traumatizing moment, Harold could never eat meat, not from how his mother's pet boa demonstrated right before his very eyes. He cursed his mother, Deveraux and her snake, Delilah for scarring him for life. If it weren't for the both of them, Harold would never have earned a lit cigarette butt on his left side.

The sound of multiple gusts of air turned Harold's attention to the staircase, where Fluttershy returned with a green first-aid kit carried by the handle in her mouth. She set the kit down gently and opened it up, rummaging through the contents before she took out two different rolls out of the box, one a roll of tape, the other a roll of plaster bandages.

Without a second missed, Fluttershy ripped a good piece of the bandage with her mouth and placed it over the welt on Harold's forehead, even allowing him to hold the bandage in place while she stuck four tiny pieces of tape over the edges. Harold couldn't deny that placing the bandage on the welt made him wince from the stinging at first. After a moment of enduring the stinging sensation, Harold felt the pain deteriorate and he smiled, though touching the welt only brought back the pain for a brief time.

"Hey, it doesn't hurt anymore," Harold simply said, looking cross-eyed up to his forehead. "Thanks a lot, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy smiled lightly to Harold's compliments. "You're quite welcome, Mr. Harold. Now, if you could sit still for just a little longer, I'll be back in a minute with my special homemade headache remedy and a pot of chamomile tea brewed especially just for you."

Before Harold could reply with a confirmation, Fluttershy fluttered her wings and flew into the room to his left, presumably the kitchen. There, Harold heard the clinking and clanging of pots and pans ring from the kitchen, followed with the sound of water running into a metallic dome. It didn't take someone above Harold's intellect to know that Fluttershy was filling up a tea pot full of water. In a few minutes, when the water would boil and the teapot whistled, Fluttershy was going to come out with a cup of chamomile and some of that remedy she spoke of.

While Harold didn't mind being treated for his newly chronic migraine, he wasn't a big fan of tea. He could never stand the taste of the herbs, even if it was sweetened with lemon, milk or honey. Still, Harold couldn't deny Fluttershy's grateful hospitality. He hadn't received this much medical attention since the last time Reginald treated his flu symptoms with his medical expertise.

Now that Harold thought about it, Fluttershy seemed to possess that similar expertise, only applying that to any animal in need of health and care. Did that make him as much of an animal to Fluttershy as she was to him?

Harold shook his head and clasped it with his hands. "Get a grip, Harold! You're letting this get to your head!" he thought to himself. "Surviving a gigantic tornado like the one last night is unlikely, but waking up in some strange place with a talking mythological pony!? Come on, Harold, pull yourself together! There's no way that all of this is real! This must be a part of the severe brain injury caused by the tornado! You can't be seriously believe that everything around you, including that pegasus is real, do you!?"

To be honest, Harold didn't know what to think. Not only had the migraine affected his logical reasoning, it also hurt to try and counteract that reason. Every time Harold thought of all the vivd and surprisingly real sensations when he arrived in this unknown place, it caused a growing pain somewhere in the very center of his brain. It was as if something was throbbing painfully inside of his head, making perfect synchronization with his heartbeat.

Harold was brought out from his thinking by a series of repeating thumping noises. Harold looked to the couch and saw a snow-white rabbit standing on the cushion next to his, his arms crossed and a scowl written on his face. Harold didn't know what the rabbit was glaring at him for, most likely because he was a strange creature in Fluttershy's household that did not belong here.

With a gentle smile, Harold slowly reached his hand out to pet the rabbit. "Hey there, little guy," he said with a gentle voice. "Aren't you just the cutest little rabbit I've ever seen?"

As Harold's hands inched closer to the rabbit's head, said bunny slapped it away from him and resumed his arm-crossing. "Well that was just rude," Harold said, flabbergasted. "I was just gonna pet your head. Is that how you treat every guest who's suffering from a really bad headache?"

As if on cue, the little rabbit hopped over to Harold and began landing his attacks on the human being. The rabbit rapidly kicked his thigh then proceeded to punch his sides with his little paws, unaware that the attacks were having no effect whatsoever. Harold cocked his head curiously as the kicking and the punching were reduced to nothing but little thumps, barely even making his nerves react with soreness.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

A teapot's whistle drew Harold's attention to the doorway, which died down as Fluttershy presumably took it off the stove. A minute later, Fluttershy trotted out of the kitchen carrying a wooden tray on her back, consisting of a porcelain teapot, two teacups on a saucer, a glass jar on honey with a wand inside and a small porcelain jar sitting next to the teapot.

"I'm sorry for the wait, Mr. Harold. It took me a bit of time to find the remedies and make the chamomile tea, but once you've taken them, your headache will--." Fluttershy was cut off by a gasped when she saw her pet rabbit give Harold a beating on his thigh. Her big, soulful eyes were narrowed down to a cute, but strict scowl.

"Angel Bunny! For shame, you know better than to fight with our guests!" Fluttershy scolded her pet.

The rabbit known as Angel Bunny ceased his fighting and turned to Fluttershy. Angel pointed to Harold a couple of times and waved his arms sideways, a "no-no" gesture telling his master that Harold was no good for the household. Fluttershy became less amused as she knew what Angel told her through his actions. Her tone dropped to that of a calm and direct disciplinarian.

"Now, Angel, you must treat Mr. Harold like a guest. Just because you do not like him for being another species doesn't mean you should be mean to him," Fluttershy explained, pointing to the young human. "Now, I want you to apologize to Mr. Harold for hitting him. Do you understand?"

Angel Bunny replied with a shake of his head.

Fluttershy's eyes only narrowed further by Angel's rude behavior. "Angel Bunny, I don't want this to become an issue, especially in front of our guest. You have to say you're sorry to Mr. Harold this very instant, young bunny or you won't earn any of that special salad for dinner tonight."

Again, Angel Bunny shook his head.

"Angel, please. All I want for you is to..." Fluttershy was cut off when Angel Bunny hopped over to Harold and gave him another beating, having heard enough from his master. Angel Bunny kept punching, kicking and occasionally biting Harold on the pant leg, all of which proved to be ineffective against the human. Fluttershy stammered with her words as she tried to reason with Angel, all control slipping away from her.

“Angel, don’t you dare... now Angel, be nice to... Angel... I... Angel!”

Fluttershy's yelping voice was the last straw. She lost her patience with Angel Bunny and now it was time for his behavior to be changed. She snapped her head towards Angel Bunny and did something she was reluctant to use on even the most misbehaving creatures; she widened her eyes, let her blue irises expand and narrowed her small eyebrows. Such a gaze from Fluttershy released a wave of intimidation towards Angel Bunny, causing him to freeze with fright and shiver under the cold eyes of the Stare.

Harold looked to Angel Bunny as he shrunk back under the Stare's frightful hypnosis. To his curiosity, Harold looked at Fluttershy then felt a chill run up his spine. As he looked into the eyes of the pegasus, Harold felt himself glued to his seat as if someone stuck a frozen knife in his nerves. He saw something cold and dark in Fluttershy's Stare... the very essence of fear.

Angel Bunny continued to cower under Fluttershy's Stare, feeling compelled to do what she first asked him to do. Hastily, Angel pulled a sign from behind his back with the words "I'm Sorry" written in big black words. When the sign was shown to the human, Angel Bunny quickly hopped off of the couch and into the kitchen to hide from Fluttershy and her accursed Stare.

Fluttershy switched her Stare off with a blink of her eyes before she turned to happily look at Harold. "I'm very sorry about Angel Bunny's behavior, Mr. Harold. He's usually like this whenever we have a guest at our house and... um, Mr. Harold? Are you feeling okay... if you don't mind me asking?"

Harold was still overwhelmed by Fluttershy's fearful Stare, the effects keeping him frozen as a montage of images flickered through his head like a Stanley Kubrick movie. He saw the dark, nightmarish image of Fluttershy looking angrily into his soul, the glimmer in her blue irises reflecting his abundant fears right back at him. The pictures all appeared in brief flickers before they reverted back into the dark eyes of Fluttershy's Stare.

A picture of poisonous asps and vipers, slithering over, under and through their fellow serpents. Their forked tongues flapped in the air, a hissing noise resonating throughout the entire snake pit.

Fluttershy's Stare.

A close-up of a box scorpion thrusting its deadly tail into the foot of its unfortunate victim, leaving her wriggling on the ground until she stopped moving completely.

Fluttershy's Stare.

A first-person view of standing on the very top of the Empire State Building, then falling down 103 stories to the concrete sidewalk.

Fluttershy's Stare.

The picture of the inside of a slaughterhouse, processing meat from the bodies of the slaughtered animals. Their bodies dangled on the meat hooks on the conveyor belt while the meaty, bloody remains were stacked on the wooden tables.

Fluttershy's Stare.

The first-person view of an entire classroom, the students pointing, laughing and jeering at the viewer while the schoolteacher watched on in a stoic, uncaring manner.

Fluttershy's Stare.

Another first-person view walking down a crowded street. The people all gave the viewer a suspicious glance while some of them cleared a path for him walk through, their eyes burning bright with a deep fiery hatred.

Finally, Fluttershy's Stare.

Harold was lost in a mashup of psychological horror, all thanks to the effects of the Stare. Fluttershy did her best to grab his atgtention. She waved her hoof in front of his face, called out his name, anything that would bring him back to reality. After half a minute of waiting for a response, Fluttershy regrettably knocked Harold on the head with her hoof, which brought his mind back to the real world. The regrettable part was she knocked Harold on the head, the first place where his migraine acted up.

"AAH!"

Harold responded to sudden surge of pain with a painful yelp that nearly made Fluttershy jump out of her coat. He clasped his head and bent over, hissing through his teeth while he struggled to cope with the pain. "Oww! Fluttershy, what'd you go and do that for, anyway!?"

Harold immediately regretted snapping at Fluttershy when he saw her shrinking back from him, the look of terror tearing up in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Mr. Harold," Fluttershy squeaked, nearly sobbing. "I thought the migraine was acting up again and you weren't responding to me calling out to you. I only gave you a slight tap to your forehead and I..."

Harold's regret grew into his chest like a pulsing wound as Fluttershy began to sob, covering her eyes with her hooves. "I... I... I never knew how sensitive you are to getting tapped on the head," Fluttershy cried before shrouding her face completely in her hooves.

A new wave of panic coursed through Harold's nerves. Looking around the room, Harold looked up in the rafters and in every corner to see Fluttershy's faithful animals, revealing themselves from their hiding places while they gave him an angry look. Harold swallowed nervously as the small woodland animals began to slowly but menacingly swarm into the room. He realized too late what the consequences were for making Fluttershy cry, whether it was intentional or unintentional. Quickly thinking, Harold turned to the weeping pegasus.

"Hey, look, I didn't mean to make you cry..." Harold shot his head around the room, his fear rising as the mob of mad animals advanced towards him with blood red glowing in their eyes. "Look, Fluttershy... I'm sorry for yelling at you like that. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

Fluttershy sniffled and wiped her eyes, then moved them to meet with Harold. "It's okay, Harold. I know you didn't mean to yell at me like that," she said, sniffling. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. After all, I did tap you in the place where your head was hurting the most. I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay. I guess we're both sorry now, aren't we?"

Fluttershy sniffled once more, then giggled. "I guess we are."

Harold gently smiled. He took a sideways glance to the animals in the foyer, all of them sitting up on their rumps before they retreated back to their original hiding places. It was like they were broken from a spell that influenced them to become angry animals if someone happened to make Fluttershy cry. Heaving a relieved sigh, Harold looked back to Fluttershy.

"So, Fluttershy... about those remedies..." Harold reminded.

Fluttershy suddenly perked up, her ears reaching maximum height. "Oh yes, the remedies," she said, setting the tray down on the table between the chair and the sofa. "First things first, you have to apply this remedy to your forehead and the pain will clear up in no time at all."

Fluttershy took the porcelain jar and gently held out to Harold, who gingerly took it from her cupping hooves. Harold removed the lid of the jar and peered inside. The jar was filled with a nearly transparent yellow liquid, sloshing around its fragile white walls as he gently moved it. Harold felt a strong scent burn in his nostrils. He smelled a distinct smell of peppermint, most likely wafting off from the yellow liquid.

"Is this... peppermint?" Harold asked.

"Why, yes, Mr. Harold. That's exactly what it is," Fluttershy said. "It's peppermint oil. I use it whenever a patient of mine is coming down with a headache. I thought it would be useful for your headache as well."

"Maybe it's also useful as a substitution to smelling salts," Harold thought with a giggle. "The smell is powerful enough to wake up a sleeping elephant." Harold reached his hand into the jar and swished his fingers around in the oil, pulling out two oil soaked fingers with a strong smell of peppermint. He gently rubbed the oil on his forehead around the bandaged area, a cold sensation cooling his skin.

Then, as soon as the peppermint oil was settled on his forehead, Harold immediately felt something in his head. He felt the painful effects of his migraine drain away from his head, as if someone pulled the plug and let the bad stuff pour out. The pain slowly but gradually diminished from his system with every breath Harold exhaled. The migraine became numb and number until finally, Harold felt nothing.

"Hey! My head doesn't hurt anymore!" Harold exclaimed awestruck.

Fluttershy smiled, a small satisfied hum escaping her throat. "See? It's like I said, Mr. Harold; when you applied that oil to your forehead, your migraine cleared up in no time at all." Fluttershy took the teapot and poured the hot water into the cup. She dipped the chamomile teabag into the steaming clear water several times until the water turned into a golden herbal drink.

The scent of the water transformed into a peaceful aroma of chamomile herbs, something that Fluttershy found solace in smelling before she added in the honey dripping from the honey wand. Mixing up the flavors of chamomile and honey with a stir of a spoon, Fluttershy gently handed over the teacup and saucer to Harold. "Here. Now drink this up and it'll clear up whatever's left of that migraine."

Harold reluctantly took the teacup from Fluttershy's hold. He smelled the aroma of flower herbs mixed in with honey and slightly grimaced. He could taste it already, and it didn't settle to well with his taste buds either. Harold took the teacup and sipped it, letting the flavors of the tea flow over his tongue which nearly made him choke before he forcefully swallowed it. The honey didn't do much to sweeten it up. He wasn't a fan of consuming honey directly unless it was mixed in with cereal.

Fluttershy cocked her to her right, looking curiously at Harold as he cleared his throat and pounded his chest. "Well? Did you like the tea?" she asked.

Harold shuddered from the taste of the tea, feeling its bitter taste of flowers and honey flow down his throat. Twitching from the flavor, Harold shakily lifted his arm up, pointed his thumb to the ceiling and forced a weak smile. "It's... good," he fibbed. "Yeah, it has this exquisite flowery, sweet mix to it. In fact, I can feel my headache getting better already. Thank you for the tea, Fluttershy."

"Your welcome, Mr. Harold. I'm glad the tea is helping with your headache," said Fluttershy as she beamed with a smile. "Oh, you know what? That reminds me, I have to feed everyone their lunch." Fluttershy got off the couch, hovered in the air and turned to face Harold. "I hate to leave you like this again, Mr. Harold but I have take care of my animals, first. If there's anything you need from me, please don't hesitate to ask, okay?"

"Okay. I'll keep that in mind."

Fluttershy beamed with a smile and gently flew away back into the kitchen. When Fluttershy was well out of sight, Harold did a double-take around the room, making sure no one saw him do what he did next. Using his hand, Harold reached back and opened the window by a crack and tossed the chamomile tea from the mug. He never looked back after throwing the tea back out the window, a tactic used in shows to make themselves look casual.

After he set his mug down on the table, Harold leaned back and slowly moved his hands up his face, breathing deeply though his nose. Now that his migraine was gone, it was time that Harold focused on the matter at hand. He needed to figure out a way out of this "Equestria" place. Since Fluttershy had no existing knowledge about the human race, let alone where the main highway was, Harold had to find a way back to Earth. It was the only way for him to fulfill Lana's promise. If he needed to get out of "Equestria," he needed an insider look about where he was and hopefully find a way back.

Harold was compelled to go up and call in Fluttershy's favor, but for some reason, he couldn't. He felt himself held back to the couch by doubt and worry. What if Fluttershy didn't know how to find a way back to Earth? What would happen to Harold if he got stuck in Equestria, possibly forever? How was he supposed to fulfill his promise if he couldn't get back to Earth?

Suddenly, Harold felt his hand slap him on the face by an invisible force.

"Perfect. You really are such a little pain in the ass, aren't you?" the Conflicting Voice said. "All you do is worry too much and you let yourself get held back! That's why you've failed to make friends, you little twit! Because you're so scared about what would happen that you'd have to turn tail and run! You make me sick to my stomach! That is, if I had a stomach to throw up from."

Harold sighed and combed his fingers through his greasy hair. What was he going to say to her? Was he going to go up to her and say something like, "Hey, Fluttershy, I was brought here by a tornado so I was wondering if you knew a way for me to get out of Equestria and back home?" No, Harold wasn't like that. He wasn't the guy who would go up to people and ask them for anything that he desired, like for help for an upcoming quiz or if they wanted him to be part of a game they played.

All of that resulted in a little part of hell on Earth for him. Harold never received the attention, and even if he did, they would snidely remark how dumb he was for not taking notes in class or they would take that tetherball and see if the ball would hit him on the face and knock him to the ground. He was afraid to ask for help, except for whenever Lana or Reginald were around. They helped him out with what he needed and tried to give him a little supporting push.

Harold supposed he could ask Fluttershy. After all, he compared her with Lana in terms of kindness just a few minutes ago, so it would make sense for him to go up and ask her for help.

"Was that part not obvious enough, you dumb clod?" the Conflicting Voice remarked. "It make perfect sense for you to ask that pegasus! What doesn't make sense is why you're growing a pair and not going up to ask her right now! Get on your feet! Go to the kitchen where she's at! Talk to her! Do something useful for once in your miserable life!"

Harold ultimately complied with the Conflicting Voice. Desperate for the Voice to stop screaming out of intimidation, Harold slowly rose to his feet and stretched himself out. He walked to the kitchen doorway, where Fluttershy served Angel Bunny with a wood bowlful of salad, consisting mainly of lettuce, cucumbers and carrots. Fluttershy gently nudged the bowl to Angel Bunny while the latter rabbit turned away from the meal with disdain.

"Come now, Angel Bunny. This is the same salad you tried and liked very much remember?" Fluttershy asked, only to get Angel Bunny's shaking head with reply. "Why don't you try a bite? I heard salad is very good for you. Don't you want to grow up and become a strong, healthy little bunny?"

The salad bowl suddenly flew past Fluttershy's face. Angel Bunny punted his meal across the room with his foot and crashed it on the wall, leaving a mess of lettuce, carrots and cucumbers sliding down the wall while the bowl fell face-down on the floor.

Before Fluttershy could say anything, the rebellious bunny hopped towards the back door and jumped to the knob, twisting it to open the wooden portal. As the door opened to a crack, Angel Bunny hopped out into the outside world, leaving Fluttershy alone to clean up his mess... again. "Angel Bunny, sometimes I wonder why you have such an awful attitude."

Harold curled up his hand into a fist and knocked on the doorway three times.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"EEP!" Suddenly, Fluttershy dove behind her magic-powered refrigerator, instinctively out of shock. She poked her head around the corner and sighed a breath of relief as she saw who it was. "Oh, it's you, Mr. Harold. Sorry, you just frightened me is all."

Harold smiled, stifling a giggle. "Sorry about that, Fluttershy. Didn't know you were that jumpy."

"I am. I'm ashamed to say that being jumpy is one of my traits," Fluttershy lamented, her yellow cheeks turning a shade of vermillion as she looked away to the floor. "I can't help it, really I can't. Sometimes, whenever there's something so close makes such a sudden movement or a sound, I just get so scared that I freeze up on the spot."

"Can't help who you are, huh?" Harold asked. "I've known that feeling for a long time myself."

Fluttershy looked back to Harold, her eyes casting her timid glance towards him. "You have?"

"Yeah. I... have a hard time fitting in with my own people and I feel cast out myself. It's something you have to live with, you know?"

"I guess that's true." Fluttershy finally turned her head to Harold, all levels of timidity depleted from her. She sat on her haunches and looked at him curiously. "Is there something that I can do for you?"

Harold leaned on the doorframe, his left hand shyly rubbing the back of his head. "I think so. You would do something for me if I asked you, right?" Fluttershy nodded her head. "Well, I'm not sure how to say this because I haven't asked many of my people for favors. I guess it's hard for me to ask you for favors too, but maybe if I explained something to you, you might get a better understanding first."

"Umm... okay."

Harold breathed through his nose and sighed, looking up into space as he explained what he could recall happened to him. "Four, or maybe five days ago, I left my home to fulfill a promise to someone, someone very special to me. I was traveling down the main highway out from my hometown for four days when I stopped one night to eat and rest.

"While I was eating my supper that night, there was this great big tornado that touched down one mile behind where I was. It was like..." Harold spread his arms out, his hands clawed and cupped to make a size comparison. "...this big from a distance away and a whole lot bigger up close. I tried to escape it, but I got sucked in and I was getting whipped by it until I blacked out."

Fluttershy covered her mouth, gasping. "Oh my! You didn't get hurt badly now, did you?"

"That's the thing. I was hurt badly and I blacked out because of it," Harold said. "But when I woke up, I found myself in a big field next to the forest, and to top it all off, I wasn't hurt and neither was my stuff. I thought everything was all just a big dream caused by a severe blow to my head that caused me to go in a coma. At first, I thought this place wasn't real and a very vivid figure of my dream... but now? Now, I'm not so sure anymore."

"How did you find out this wasn't a dream?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, I tried to wake myself up. I closed my eyes for a few minutes, pinched myself on the arm." Harold showed Fluttershy a red mark on his arm where he pinched himself. Fluttershy gasped mildly at the sight. "In the end, I couldn't wake myself up from this dream so I assumed that this was either real or it was a vivid vision."

"Oh my. You must have had quite a hard time."

"Yeah. But that wasn't the least of my problems," Harold said. "When I was wondering where I was, a newspaper suddenly flew in my face and I got the name of this whole place. When I did..." Harold gently massaged his temples. He could still feel his first experience with that sensation. "...I had this strangest feeling come over me. It's like I somehow knew this place, but at the same time, I didn't. When I tried to dig deeper, it just disappeared. I still can't shake that feeling off."

Fluttershy tilted her head, her eyes wondrous as Harold continued his story. "This is where you come in, Fluttershy. You're a pony and this place is called Equestria, so I assume that this place is populated with ponies and such. I... I was wondering if you could..." Harold swallowed a nervous lump in his throat as he found himself reluctant to speak the words he never thought he would use before.

"I was wondering... if you could... teach me all you about Equestria?"

Harold instinctively winced from the question, a rain of sweat trickling from his pores down his body. He didn't believe what he said, but he actually said it. He actually asked to be taught on an unknown place, despite his hatred of school. Because of the many traumatic moments he had while he was stuck in that prison he called a private school, Harold was reluctant to learn about stuff like science, mathematics and geology.

But this was different for him. Harold was in a place called "Equestria" and Fluttershy was the only pony around who knew more about this place than he ever did. That was reason enough why Fluttershy beamed with a friendly smile. "Well, if it's a lesson you want, Mr. Harold, then I'll be happy to give you a lesson."

Harold perked up, very surprised. "Really?"

"Of course. I'm more than willing to help out any creature in their time of need," Fluttershy said, smiling. "After all, that is what friends are for."

Harold suddenly felt a twinge of surprise jolt in his chest, like a friendly static shock. "Wait. You consider me to be your... friend... even though we've just met?"

Fluttershy fluttered up to Harold to meet him at eye level, the beautiful friendly smile still stretched across her muzzle. "Why, yes, Mr. Harold. I've never seen or taken care of an intelligent otherworldly creature from another planet before! I also see something good within you, Mr. Harold, which is why you are now my newest friend."

Harold felt a little touched squeak escape his throat. There was a word he never thought he heard or used for a long time: "friends." He never really had much friends, nor did he need any use for them. After all, who wanted to be friends with him when he suffered in New York? No one did, and the "friends" of the people who wanted Harold to suffer all ganged up on him like he was a shriveling, cowering kid. If there was one person he relied on the most, it was Lana, and she was now long gone.

But Fluttershy's case was completely different; she wanted to be friends with Harold. He, the only human walking among an intelligent winged pony who was cared for his affliction and was willing to help him in every way she can. Harold couldn't help but smile as Fluttershy led him back to the couch.

"Where would you like to being your learning?" Fluttershy asked.

"I think I might need to start with something basic," Harold requested. "I think we'd better start with the population."

"Alright, then," Fluttershy confirmed, clearing her throat gently. "We'll begin your lesson with the four different types of ponies in Equestria..."

==================================================================

Pinkie Pie trotted carefree into the outskirts of Ponyville, singing her jovial tune. Cupcakes, candies, chimicherries, cherrychangas, chimicherrychangas and meeting with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were among the many jumbled thoughts running through her head as she reached the entrance to Ponyville's premiere apple farm, Sweet Apple Acres. This country-side apple farm was known for harvesting top quality apples and the only location where everypony could get their hooves on their world famous Zap Apple Jam once a year, as well as being the first residential family in Ponyville.

That family was the Apple Family, and Granny Smith was the last founding mare of Ponyville. If it weren't for her explorations into the Everfree Forest and finding that Zap Apple Jam, Ponyville wouldn't have existed in the first place. Neither would Granny Smith's granddaughter, and Pinkie Pie's truthful friend would have existed to be chosen by the Elements of Harmony as the Element of Honesty. It was that same mare who not only was honest, but also a bit overprotective and sometimes stubborn as a mule.

She got that side from her Pa.

It was on this day that the mare worked in the orchards, harvesting fresh, ripe apples from the trees with only a kick from her hind legs. Pinkie Pie had happily trotted into the orchards and found a couple of fellow Earth ponies harvesting and hauling a load of apples to the barn. The first pony Pinkie Pie saw was a red burly stallion, with an orange mane and a brown yoke worn around the lower part of his neck. He had three freckles on each side of his face and his Cutie Mark was half of a green apple, which showed the exposed core, seeds and all. This was Big Macintosh, Ponyville's quiet but strong stallion who mostly said "Eeyup" and "Eenope."

The second pony Pinkie Pie saw was the exact same mare she was looking for. She was an orange mare, a blonde mane wrapped up in a little red band. She wore a brown Stetson cowboy hat, had three freckles on each side of her face like Big Macintosh and her Cutie Mark were three red apples, all having a single brown stem with a little green leaf on each stem. The cowgirl pony's strength was admirable, having athletic capabilities that rivaled that of Rainbow Dash's. She could kick a football at about one-hundred yards and she barely put her full strength into those kicks. Afterwards, as a sign of pride, she crossed her legs while smiling.

"Applejack! Hey, Applejack!" Pinkie yelped as she trotted up to the mare.

The mare named Applejack turned to Pinkie, a smile cracked across her face. "Well, howdy do there, Pinkie Pie," Applejack greeted in a southern-accent voice. "What brings ya here ta Sweet Apple Acres? Y'all need some apples fer yer apple cinnamon cakes?"

"No," Pinkie said, tilting her head and smiling innocently. "I'm just here to tell you that Twilight needs you and Rarity out in Ponyville Square shortly. She said something about Princess Celestia informing us of another emergency and the fate of Equestria resting in our hooves again."

"What!? Another emergency!?" Applejack gasped, her shock turning into a pout. "Oooohhh... and just when Ah was in the middle of Applebucking Season, there had ta be another danger risin' in Equestria." When Applejack was done muttering, she turned to her hyperactive friend. "So what's the emergency, Pinkie? Did Twilight say?"

"Eenope," Pinkie replied. "But I bet it was super-duper important that Twilight couldn't tell me what the emergency is, or I would go around blabbing it out to everypony and that would make the super-duper secret mission not a super-duper secret mission anymore!"

"Ah guess that explains why Twilight didn't tell ya," Applejack sighed. “Fine, Ah’ll come with, but Ah'll have ta make up fer lost time once Ah get back. Big Macintosh, can ya hold down the fort while Ah'm gone?”

Big Macintosh turned to Applejack with a stoic nod and a simple, "Eeyup."

"Good." Applejack turned to Pinkie and tipped her hat down over her emerald green eyes. Everypony in Ponyville knew that even the slightest forwards tip of her hat meant the country pony was going to get serious. "Alright, Pinkie Pie, let's go an' get Rarity. We've got a meetin' with the Princess ta attend to."

With that said, Applejack turned around and cantered off towards the Ponyville limits. Pinkie Pie squealed happily and reared herself upwards, kicking her hooves up before she took off bounding towards Applejack's direction, gaining enough speed in every bounce until she was close by the country mare and kept an even pace. While Pinkie Pie obviously took this expedition as fun and carefree, the cowpony kept a narrowed iron-hard look on her face, a look of determination to answer the summoning from Princess Celestia herself.

That determination followed the Element of Honesty as she and the Element of Laughter made their way to their destination: The Carousel Boutique, where Rarity, the Element of Generosity resided.

Chapter 6: Ponies 101 / Harold's Dream (Re-Re-Edited)

"Four different types of ponies?" Harold asked. "There are four different types of ponies here? In Equestria?"

"Why yes, Mr. Harold," Fluttershy answered. "Here in Equestria, our population of ponies range into four different types. There are pegasus ponies, like me, then there are Earth ponies, unicorns and alicorns."

Harold slumped back into the couch, combing his hair whilst blowing a surprised sigh. He was surprised by a couple of facts that Fluttershy pointed out. One of those facts was the existence of a unicorn and Earth ponies living in harmony. Just like the pegasus that was Fluttershy, Harold had only heard of unicorns through myths and legends. Unicorns were the ponies with the single horn on their head which, according to legend, was a conduit for great magical power. He once read in one of C.S. Lewis's novels that the unicorns were used in great wars against the minotaurs, giants and other unruly creatures that stalked within Narnia. He could still see the cover on one of Lewis's books of a delicate white unicorn standing at a sideways view, blood dripping from its long horn.

Even so, Harold was surprised by the species of unicorn living in this unexplained land. At one point in his life, Harold thought unicorns didn't exist, a make-believe story told especially to little girls as a bedtime story so they would sleep through the night. Then again, this place was called Equestria, the "eques" part of the name being Latin for "horse." It made sense to Harold that unicorns, Earth ponies and pegasus ponies lived together in one land under one sun.

Then there was the alicorn.

Harold never heard of this pony before and he read through the books of mythological he could find at the library. He couldn't recall any story about the fourth type of pony. The alicorn species was very new to Harold, but for some reason there was a sense of familiarity with that word. It almost frightened him, like an invisible specter breathing down his shoulder.

Alicorns. Just what were they?

Harold raised his hand. "Uh, Fluttershy. What are alicorns, exactly?"

"I'm glad you asked," said Fluttershy. "Alicorns are ponies with the horn of a unicorn and the wings of a pegasus. In Equestria, alicorns hold the royal title as a Princess of Equestria."

A sudden chill ran through Harold's nerves like an electric current as he was surprised by the title held for the fabled "alicorn." "A... A princess?" Harold asked. "You're joking me."

"I'm not," said Fluttershy with a mildly serious tone. "An alicorn holds the title of princess in Equstria. The reason why it is, and I'm just speaking from everyone's common knowledge, is because alicorns contain a really powerful magic, one that even the most powerful wizards in Equestria combined can't beat. Their magic, appearance and regal status help identify all alicorns as a princess. Why, even an ordinary pony can ascend into an alicorn by creating a new magic that has never been made before."

"Wait! Is it possible for an ordinary pony to become a princess!?" Harold asked.

"Of course, because a dear friend of mine had recently ascended into an alicorn." At that moment when Fluttershy said this, Harold felt himself stunned with surprise. His jaw dropped, his eyes widened and breath shortened while he processed the words, "dear friend" used in that last sentence. The words "dear" and "friend" was used to describe how close she was with her acquaintance. If Fluttershy's friend really was an alicorn princess, then Harold needed to do what he could so that he did not get on that alicorn's bad side.

Now that Harold was given a brief introduction to the alicorn ponies, he could imagine what they looked like with their appearance and their title as a princess. In his mind, Harold pictured a stairway made of stone, leading up into the heavens which shone with its majestic holy light. Within that light came a tall horse, a tall horn protruding from its lifted head and wings unfurled like an angel. At the horse's hooves were a following of ponies bowing to her, all unicorn, pegasus and Earth pony alike, each feeling unworthy to be within the presence of such a divine power. The horn was glimmering at its tip as if the sunlight reflected off of it, giving the alicorn an even greater presence of divinity.

Well, that was how Harold pictured it, anyway. A somewhat vivid vision of an alicorn worshipped like some goddess by those of a lower power. Why Harold pictured the alicorn this way, he didn't know.

Fluttershy cleared her throat, bringing Harold back to his senses. "Moving on with our lesson," said Fluttershy. "Each and every pony in Equestria all have a special role in the prosperity of Equestria. The pegasus ponies like myself... well, actually, not like myself... they help to schedule and maintain the weather, like what days are rainy, what days are sunny, even when the days become brisk and cold.

"Earth ponies are ponies without any wings and horns. As I recall, you told me you had Earth ponies on your world, but not as intelligent as us, right?" Harold nodded his head. "Well, Earth ponies live on the ground, but they're known for their manual labor and the contribution into creating cities, just like the town of Ponyville.

"Finally, there are the unicorns," Fluttershy added. "Like I said earlier, all unicorns contain a magic that they channel through the horns on their foreheads. Their magic allows them to do tasks that Earth ponies and pegasus normally won't do, although most of today's unicorns use their magic to levitate objects."

This was becoming interesting to Harold, for some reason. His eyes trailed down to Fluttershy's flank, spotting a pink color plastered on the mound of yellow. "You know, that reminds me," Harold said, a finger pointed to the pegasus's sides. "I've been meaning to ask you about this Fluttershy. What's with the butterflies on your, uh... hindquarters?"

Fluttershy perked and stood up, turning to look at her three pink butterflies near her long, pink tail. "Oh this? This is my Cutie Mark. It's a symbol that appears on our flanks to represent our true potential we discover at a young age." She rubbed her hoof over her decorated flank, smiling at the moment she obtained her Cutie Mark. "Let me tell you a story of how I got my Cutie Mark when I was just a filly. When I was little, I lived in the town of Cloudsdale, a city made up of clouds. Only winged ponies have the magic to walk on clouds."

"That's something new," Harold thought. "I read in legends back home about a winged horse named Pegasus helping the hero, Perseus defeat a sea monster and rescue the princess in distress, but I don't recall them lying on top of any clouds. I think it's best to not mention that Pegasus was born from Medusa's blood."

Fluttershy continued with her story. "But back home in Cloudsdale, I was picked on and bullied because I have this fear of heights and going to flight camp only made things worse for me. But one day, a friend of mine defended me and challenged these three bullies to a race. I was on a cloud waving a checkered flag, but I was knocked down accidentally and fell down to Earth, but I didn't get hurt from the fall. Instead something cushioned my fall. Do you know what cushioned my fall?"

"No."

Fluttershy slowly rubbed her Cutie Mark again, giving Harold the answer he needed. "A passing rabble of butterflies," she answered. "I fell into a passing rabble of butterflies. I never heard of such creatures before or the ground because no pony ever told me about the ground back in Cloudsdale Elementary. Everything was so pretty and the animals were all so wonderfully amazing, I just couldn't control my excitement for the first time.

But when I was exploring the ground and the forest, a powerful explosion happened and it frightened all of the animals away. These poor scared animals needed my help, so I calmed them down and told them that everything was all right. And then, the animals came out of hiding and at that moment, these butterflies appeared on my flank and I dedicated myself to become an animal caretaker."

"Oh, I get it. Butterflies were the very first animals you encountered when you fell to Earth and those same butterflies appeared as your Cutie Mark," Harold guessed.

"Exactly my first guess," Fluttershy said, she and the human giggling. "Oh, what about you, Mr. Harold? Does your species of pony obtain a Cutie Mark?"

"No. Our ponies aren't as intelligent as your own kind... eh, no offense."

"None taken. So, does your kind obtain Cutie Marks yourselves?"

"No," Harold answered. "But humans don't need any Cutie Marks to have a special talent. There are people who work hard to become a famous chef, an intelligent scientist, an amazing singer. Everyone has at least one special talent, maybe even more. Heck, even I have a special talent of my own and I discovered it when I was only three years old."

"Really?" Fluttershy asked, her eyes glimmering and wings slowly unfurling with growing exhilaration. "What is your special talent?"

Harold slid his backpack off of his shoulders and set down on the floor. He unzipped the zipper and carefully reached inside, pulling out his black sketchbook with both of his hands and revealed it to Fluttershy. "My special talent happens to be drawing," he said, smiling. "Would you like to look at what I've drawn?"

"Oh, yes. That would be lovely," Fluttershy nodded.

Harold flipped open his sketchbook and showed the first entry to Fluttershy. The timid pegasus gasped wondrously as she observed the admirable work drawn on by a combination of pencil and colored pencil. Harold's artwork was something that Fluttershy had never seen before and she already liked what she saw. The use of the pencil strokes, the careful selection of color and the message behind each drawing was purely exceptional.

The first entry depicted a teenage human girl, her side in view, standing amidst a field of brilliant white flowers. Her long blonde hair flowed down to the middle of her back, decorated in a variety of yellow and whited daffodils tied in her locks. Her face was lifted towards the sky and her eyes were closed, her right hand placed on her chest and her left arm extended outwards, her hand open to release white feathers from her palm, which flew away with the invisible winds.

The next drawing held some sentimental value for Harold. The drawing was of a bright and starry night sky, and facing the background of the dark mountains and the brilliant lights of New York City, was a rooftop facing towards the left, the moon at the top right corner giving off a light of serenity and tranquility. On the rooftop was the silhouette of two children, the taller figure sitting on the right next to the shorter figure. The night sky was illuminated with the millions to billions of stars ranging in many different sizes from the smallest twinkling to the bright big glow. Streaking across the night sky towards the left to the mountains was a comet, extending its reach to the distances unknown. The drawing depicted one of Harold's only happy childhood memories

The third drawing was of a superhero character that Harold had been meaning to work on somewhen in the near future. Because to the tragic times that hit the DeMatt household, Harold was unable to progress with this character. The character was a human hero, wrapped up in a white cloak and a hood that shadowed his unseen face, save for the lime-green eyes glowing from beyond the darkness. The "White Phantom," as Harold called him, wore a thick ghost-white armor chest plate under the cloak and silver gauntlets that beamed the same lime-green light from his gloves. A white belt with silver orbs was strapped around the White Phantom's waist, the circular buckle a round green emerald that glinted across its smooth exterior. The White Phantom stood in thin fog with a dark background, making the cloaked human stick out like a sore thumb.

Harold had carefully flipped through these images and more before he routinely stopped for a minute so Fluttershy could observe his handiwork. Fluttershy, in the sense of the word, was mesmerized by the artworks the human poured his heart into creating. Gasps of "oh my's" and "oh my goodnesses" became a common reaction with every drawing revealed by Harold. At one of the drawings, Fluttershy stifled a giggle as she observed a silly drawing.

It was a picture of a scrawny human jester, wearing a golden Mask of Comedy posed with his right leg on his left knee and his hand over his eyes as if he was on the lookout into an unseen distance while keeping perfect balance on a bubble. He wore a tuxedo that was black on the lower half, purple at the top half and the front part covered by what resembled a smiling chest plate. His pants were blue-and-yellow striped trousers, the stripes running down to his fancy tap shoes. His triangular purple hat was decorated with indigo silk stripes with white linen with green ends hanging from his hat. On his hands, he wore bright yellow gloves whilst the background was decorated in colorful bubbles.

Harold knew exactly which drawing made Fluttershy giggle.

He knew because Lana once giggled at the drawing, too.

After Harold showed Fluttershy the picture of "The Fool," he thought it was best to close his sketchbook for the time being and placed back in his backpack. When Harold zipped his backpack, shut, he looked up and Fluttershy hovering in the air, barely holding her enthusiasm together like broken fragments of a porcelain vase. Harold's art and perfect execution left her so excited, Fluttershy had the urge to shout so softly like she normally did on certain occasions.

"Oh my! I never knew a creature... um, I mean a human like you was so talented!" Fluttershy exclaimed softly from the top of her lungs. "Your drawings are just so incredibly wonderful and so wonderfully detailed, I... I... I just don't know what to say!"

"You like what I've drawn?" Harold asked.

"Like it? I love it!" In a burst of excitement, Fluttershy zoomed up into the air into a graceful corkscrew like an aerial ballet. Fluttershy stopped and perked, realizing her mistake before she grinned sheepishly and blushed, floating down to the ground. "Umm... I mean, they're very good, Harold! I've never seen your world before and I think your drawings are so detailed. Where did you learn to draw like that?"

"I learned it myself," Harold explained. "You see, when I was three years old, I had the abilities to draw pictures that was years ahead of any other three-year-old who could draw. I have a... thing where I could capture anything I see for more than five seconds and capture it like a camera. Whether it was people, places or objects, I drew them near-perfectly until I turned ten years old. So, in a way, I've been drawing for all of my life."

A stunning feeling swept through Fluttershy. Using the feathers on her wings, Fluttershy counted the years when Harold first began drawing before comparing it to the number of years she first took care of animals. When the final count was made, the pegasus perked with exhilaration. Harold's been at his drawings longer than Fluttershy did with being an animal caretaker! From the looks of his artistic ability, Fluttershy could say the human never once grew tired of it, either!

"Oh, my. You've been at this for a long time," she muttered.

"I guess I have," Harold replied.

"May I ask you a question... if you don't mind?" Fluttershy asked, earning a nod from Harold's head. "Why do you draw the way you draw?"

Harold was caught off-guard from the question. Not once had he been asked why he drew pictures, nor did he know why he drew in the first place. "I don't know," Harold said, adjusting his seating on the couch. "I mean, why do climbers climb mountains and why do swimmers swim in the ocean? I guess it's because it's there. I don't really know. I guess it makes me happy, you know?"

"Oh. I guess that makes sense... a little."

With much said, Harold came to a realization of his artistic talents, conducting his hand movements like a conductor did to his orchestra. "Actually, you know what? It's not just making me happy that's the real reason why I draw," he said, grabbing Fluttershy's full attention. "I'm drawing because someone close to me once told me my drawing was a special gift, a gift that I had to use wisely. If I used that gift wisely, I would go far in life. But if I happened to squander that gift, not only would I waste my potential but my life would hit a dead-end and there would be no going back."

"Oh my. That is a good reason for you to draw," Fluttershy said.

"It sure is," Harold agreed. "And I'm planning on using my gift to one day fulfill my dream and become a cartoonist." Harold reached in his shirt and pulled out his locket, holding it in the palm of his hand, engraved side facing up. "To that end, I was given this locket by that special someone close to me. She gave it to me to remind me to keeping reaching for my dream of being a cartoonist and to never give up. In exchange, I promised her I would fulfill that dream and make something that I never made in my life before."

Harold looked up to Fluttershy, staring at him with wonders plentiful. It appeared he monologued his thoughts again without thinking first. Harold put his locket back in his shirt and uncomfortably shifted in his seat cushion. "Uhh... yeah," he stammered, his face beet red with embarrassment. "A-A-Actually, that last part's a silly thing to... to promise, I know."

"Silly?" Fluttershy gasped. "Oh no, no, no, no, no. I actually think it's a great thing to promise."

"R-Really?" Harold asked. "You really think so?"

Fluttershy beamed with a smile as she fluttered towards Harold and hovered next to his seat. "Of course. I can see you're devoted to fulfilling your special... umm, human. That's also why she gave you that locket you took out, right? She must've known you would keep such a valued possession to remind you of who you're fighting for and what you're fighting for. I know deep down you must feel the same way."

Harold felt a shiver course through his heart. He didn't want to admit it, but Fluttershy was spot-on with her theory. Just like Lana when he was just a little baby, Fluttershy saw something good in Harold and approved of his lifelong dream of becoming a cartoonist. She even treated Harold the same way she would treat another pony: with kindness, caring and understanding, not like some hideous, bloodthirsty monster.

At first glance, Fluttershy was frightened by Harold, possibly from the surprise they both received from each other; but from the way the two otherworldly creatures interacted, the fact of that matter was they were both sentient beings, both sharing the same timidity but are motivated to act and help one another out. Harold had never received this much kindness since Lana died.

That's when it dawned on him.

Maybe Fluttershy was like Lana.

The way they cared for the people in need...

The way they supported Harold of his dream...

The way they were so... kind.

Harold turned his head away and averted his gaze to the painting of flowers on the side of Fluttershy's wall. Comparing the facts to himself, Harold came to believe that Fluttershy was like a remnant of his late sister's kindness, made flesh, blood, fur and wings.

TINK!

Both Harold and Fluttershy both shouted a startled yelp. The sound of something, like pebbles being thrown at a glass window came from the upper floor inside of Fluttershy's room. With a scared whimper, Fluttershy ducked and hid herself behind Harold, not knowing that the human was just as scared to investigate as she was. “W-W-What was that?”

"I don't know," Harold said, his heart racing from the sudden jump scare. "It sounded like something hit a window."

“Do you think it was a bird?”

"I hope not. I hate hearing about birds flying into windows."

"The poor baby, I hope he's not hurt," Fluttershy said, revealing herself from behind Harold. "Come on. We have to see if the bird is okay."

With a reluctant nod, Harold and Fluttershy walked to the front door and looked up the flight of stairs, the upper floor looking empty and spacious like an old abandoned cabin. Empty spaces and the dead silence were two of Harold's mile-long list of fears. The nightmares at midnight and the basement alone were enough for Harold to make him step back and simply say, "no." However, in a case such as this, Harold had Fluttershy by his side and knew somewhere deep down that she wouldn't leave him for anything else.

Of course, that all changed when another sound came banging on the front door.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Hey, Fluttershy! You in there!? Open up!"

Fluttershy gasped as she recognized the hoarse voice. "Goodness! That must be Rainbow Dash!" she said before turning to Harold. "I'm sorry, Mr. Harold, but I have to answer the door! I think it sounds important!"

"Huh!? B-B-B-B-But what about investigating the noise!?" Harold asked, pointing his shaking finger up the staircase. "Th-There's no way I can do it alone!"

Fluttershy gently led Harold up to the stairs by his arm, a gentle gesture to help him take the first few steps up to independence as if it were. "Don't you worry, Mr. Harold. I'm just going to be down here talking with my friends. If you see anything or if you need anything from me, meet me downstairs or just holler. Okay?"

"But Fluttershy--!"

"Okay?"

"But--!"

"Okay?"

Harold whimpered as Fluttershy's kind, soulful eyes stared directly at him. He couldn't bring himself to go against the pegasus's wishes, not since she was kind enough to take him in and help him calm his headache. If he did, then Fluttershy's treatment would've been wasted on account of cowardice. Harold looked up the stairs and swallowed nervously. With a reluctant climb of his foot, Harold slowly walked up the flight, disappearing from Fluttershy's view as she turned to the door.

Fluttershy heard the muffled sound of Rainbow Dash's voice mixed in with Twilight's voice through the wooden door. When she opened the door, Fluttershy knew her instincts were correct as she saw both Twilight and Rainbow Dash conversing with each other before they turned to their timid friend. "Hello, Twilight. Hello, Rainbow Dash. What brings you here?"

Before either Twilight or Rainbow Dash could answer, Fluttershy spotted a strange pale purple shape clinging to the young alicorn's back. Upon closer inspection, Fluttershy saw mounds of pale green sprouting from the back of that same shape, followed with a painful moaning. Fluttershy gasped as she knew that the moaning and the purple-and-green colors belonged to Spike, who laid on Twilight's nape, his stomach threatening to spew out his late breakfast from the rough flight and nearly being knocked off of Twilight's back and through the cloudy ground.

"Spike!" Fluttershy up to Spike and gently scooped him in her forelegs, placing him belly-side up so his stomach wouldn't be disturbed like it already had been. "Poor Spike. Did Twilight take you flying again?"

The baby dragon groaned, his entire face turning a shade of green paler than the surrounding trees. Spike's stomach gurgled which released gas that traveled up his throat and into his mouth, causing his cheeks to bulge before he released a sickly burp. Fluttershy winced from the smell; it smelled like half-digested sapphire and turquoise soufflé surprise.

"Oh, dear, this is worse than I thought!" Fluttershy yelped. "I simply must get you something to soothe your sickness right away!"

Fluttershy quickly but steadily flew Spike back into her cottage, gently settling the baby dragon on the green couch. Then, in a fit of slight panic, Fluttershy quickly flew to her cupboard and threw out some excess stuff to find a jar of fresh mint leaves. Mint leaves had the potency to soothe aching stomachs, and who better to use the aromatic plants on than Spike, the airsick dragon? After all, if mint oil helped to soothe Harold's pounding headache, then consuming mint leaves would prevent Spike from suffering any stomach pains.

Twilight trotted up to Fluttershy, who managed to pull out a glass jar full of green leaves, and sighed. “Fluttershy," she said, keeping her composure. "I really hate to cut your medical procedures short, we need to be going right away. I got a letter from Princess Celestia, saying that we need to be at Canterlot to answer an emergency.”

Fluttershy suddenly froze and gasped, turning her shocked face to Twilight while holding onto the jar of mint leaves in her hooves. “An-an emergency!?" she asked, frighteningly. "Oh dear, that sounds terrible! What's the emergency!? Was there an earthquake in Manehattan!? Is there a dragon running loose somewhere in the outskirts of the Everfree Forest!? Has Discord turned back to chaos again!?"

"Pinkie guessed the last one, but that's not the emergency," Twilight said. "The emergency will involve your ability to communicate with animals, so you're more likely to be our trump card, if we happen to come across it."

"It?" Fluttershy parroted, growing nervous. "What is 'it?' Is 'it' a dragon? A manticore? A cragadile? A flesh-eating chimera who always argues how to eat little ponies?"

"No." Twilight sighed before she broke the news to Fluttershy as calmly as she could. “According to Princess Celestia, there is a creature of non-Equestrian origin somewhere in Equestria. She said the creature will bring a grave and terrible threat to all of Equestria.”

The jar of mint leaves fell on the floor, breaking the glass into sharpened shards.

Fluttershy fell into complete silence. Had she heard correctly!? Did Twilight say a non-Equestrian creature was going to bring a threat to Equestria!? But Harold was the only creature from another world that accidentally landed in Equestria! The shock of these news were so great that Fluttershy stood petrified with a shocked reaction frozen on her face. Rainbow Dash groaned from Fluttershy's reaction, facehooving herself and shaking her head.

"See? I told you Fluttershy wouldn't take the news too well," the pegasus stated.

"Well, excuse me if my theory of her become vital to this mission became a total flop," Twilight retorted.

"You know well how Fluttershy is when somepony mentions a 'non-Equestrian creature' or an 'alien invader.' Don't you even know that those three winged jocks in Cloudsdale nearly gave her a fatal heart attack because of that little stunt?"

"I would've known earlier if you told all about it before we got here."

"Hey, it slipped my mind! How am I supposed to remind you of something else important in some big time crunch!?"

"If you weren't so busy napping in Applejack's trees, reading Daring Do or showing off your dangerous aerial stunts, then you would've remembered right now that Fluttershy has an immense fear of aliens, thus proving how being too relaxed can alter your memory bank. Isn't that right, Fluttershy? Fluttershy?"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash both turned to Fluttershy. Fluttershy continued to stand as still and frozen as a statue would, adding in a frozen frightened face. The immense shock upon learning the news had already shut down every system coursing through the timid pegasus's body. This had to be a mistake! There was no way Harold could be the creature Twilight referred to! This had to be some big misunderstanding... right? Twilight and Rainbow Dash gave each other worried glances then turned back to their timid friend.

“Umm, Fluttershy? Are you feeling alright?”

==================================================================

The ponies of Canterlot, the high-class, ritzy equines who indulge in being rich, posh and proper, always regarded Ponyville as an uncouth town. What most of those ritzy ponies failed to realize was that there was only one pony in Ponyville who was not only a Canterlot pony by heart, but also Ponyville's one and only premier fashionista. The fashionista, going by the name of Rarity, was revered by ponies everywhere in Equestria for her fashion designs and her ability to create clothes with such pizzazz.

As such, a fashionista like Rarity needed a place for her work, a certain building that was both festive and inspirational. There was one building that fulfilled her said qualities: the Carousel Boutique. As the name suggested, the Carousel Boutique was a building near the center of Ponyville shaped like a merry-go-round, including the French designs and the silhouette cut-outs of ponies along the edge of the second floor, imitating the qualities of a regular carousel. The roofs were diamond-patterned with pink and lavender diamonds, the sign on the shop was of a pony mannequin with reigns and a saddle on with a spiral pole running through the dummy and at the top of the orange and yellow-striped spire was a waving orange flag.

On the inside of the prestigious building awaited the walls as decorated as the walls on the outside. The floor level had some spacious room on the floor layered with three different shades of lavender. A few round overheads, festively decorated to match the atmosphere of the boutique, provided the spacious room with much smaller rooms bordered by majestic magenta curtains. Underneath one of the overheads, in between those curtains were many bureaus and mirrors working as a substitute for makeup or changing rooms.

Another overhead provided storage for created clothing, mostly saddles, hung up by hangers on a wheeled hanger rack. The third overhead, which was presumably the workroom due to the big circular table with a yellow and orange flower-shaped pattern in the middle, was occupied by a white, delicate unicorn. Her curly mane and tail were colored indigo and her eyelids were shadowed in baby blue. Her Cutie Mark depicted three diamond-shaped diamonds, symbolizing the unicorn's talent for fashion designing with the help of sparkling gems.

The unicorn, Rarity used those same sparkling gems to help give her latest designs an outstanding sparkle as she levitated little dots of diamonds on the hemline of a white shirt modeled around a pony mannequin, bordered with small indigo loops. The diamonds latched on with the help of a cerulean aura cast from Rarity's horn, almost like a puzzle piece fit with its other four-hundred and ninety-something brothers.

As soon as the diamonds were placed on the dress, Rarity's aura faded, followed with a posh laugh. “Oh, Rarity, darling, you are really going to outdo yourself this time,” the unicorn praised herself in a Mid-Atlantic accent. “Once Fancy Pants sees your newest line of fashion, you’ll be the newest talk around Canterlot. I just need one more piece to go with this dress and she will be--”

SLAM!

Rarity jumped at the sudden slamming of her shop's front door. Turning around, Rarity saw the ponies responsible for nearly damaging her doors at this time of day. Much to her deadpanning, the ponies were Applejack and Pinkie Pie, the latter continuously yipping about her “chimi cherries,” her “cherry changas” and her "chimicherrychangas." Applejack's expression was a volatile mixture of relief and annoyance, since Pinkie Pie hadn't silenced herself and she entered the home of her posh polar opposite.

“Applejack, Pinkie Pie, darlings. Honestly, what on earth do you think you’re doing, slamming my doors at this hour?" Rarity scolded slightly. "Don’t you know that the Carousel Boutique doors can come off the hinges if you open it like a reckless...?”

Rarity's gaze trailed down to the carpet and gasped at a horrid sight. It was so horrid for her, she couldn’t even bear to see it with her own eyes. Applejack recently galloped through a mud puddle on her way to the boutique with Pinkie Pie following suit. Now a brown trail of liquid mud led to the hooves of the country pony and the party pony. Rarity felt faint, nearly losing her composure as she observed the mess.

“My floor! Oh, my beautiful floor! It’s ruined! All ruined!" Rarity wailed, falling to her hooves as a dramatic diva would. "Don’t you realize how long it took me to clean the stains off the carpet from the last time you tracked mud on my floor!? It took me two whole weeks to get it all out of the carpet! Two! Whole! Weeks!” Rarity fell to her belly, clutching her head and sobbing as she knew her once beautiful floor was desecrated by the most unholy of all earthly elements that was dirt.

Applejack grunted to Rarity's overreaction over the tracked mud. The unicorn's ranting about dirt was nothing new. "Rarity, would ya quit fussin' over the mess and come on over ta Ponyville square?" asked the country pony. "Twilight's expectin' us ta meet with her and..."

Rarity shot her head up with a gasp. "Quit fussing over the mess!?" Rarity echoed a she snapped her contorted visage into Applejack's surprised face, venom dripping with every spoken word. "Quit fussing over the mess!? Applejack, you've got my nice clean floor all dirty with your muddy little hooves and you expect me to quit... fussing... over... the mess!?!"

Rarity's face twitched violently to a borderline psychotic look. Applejack and Pinkie Pie slowly backed away a few paces as Rarity's face twisted and turned, grinding her teeth together like nails on a chalkboard, the sign of a persnickety unicorn with steam building up inside of her that would eventually explode, leaving a desolate crater and mushroom cloud over where the Carousel Boutique's ruins. But Rarity was smarter. With a few deep breaths and a groan similar to a bull, Rarity hummed delightfully, her innocent mask plastered followed with a quick flutter of her eyebrows.

Daintily clearing her throat, Rarity recomposed herself and turned to Applejack and Pinkie Pie, both having a scared look on their face. "Oh, well. I could always clean my floor up again. It's no big deal." Rarity clicked her tongue then turned to Applejack. "Now, Applejack, it was rude of me to interrupt you mid-sentence. What was it that you were saying before I cut you off?"

"Well, before ya nearly went flyin' off the hinges about this here floor," Applejack said, pointing her hoof down to the muddied floor. "Ah was sayin' that we got trouble a-brewin'. Pinkie Pie told me that Twilight needed us and the girls ta meet up at Ponyville square. She said it was mighty important."

"Important? At a time like this?" Rarity turned to her incomplete fashion design, a small groan echoing from her "o"-shaped lips. "But I was in the middle of putting on the last touches of a fashion line. The Canterlot Fashion Exhibit is featuring all Equestrian fashion designers to step forward and show off our latest fashion lines. Can't this wait while I...?"

"No can do, sugarcube," Applejack interrupted. "If we don't meet up with Twilight, then there might not be a tomorrow OR a Canterlot ta hold that fancy-schmancy stuff." Applejack gripped Rarity's tail by her teeth, which made the unicorn yelp with surprise. "Now come on, we're burnin' sunlight!"

Then, like a plow horse with half the strength of Big Macintosh, Applejack dragged Rarity by the tail while the latter was flopped on her belly with an "OOF!" "Now wait a minute, Applejack!" Rarity snapped as she felt her belly burning with floor rash. "Before you take me outside and drag me like some dusty old doll, can't I at least know what in the wide world of Equestria is going on first!?"

"Ooh! Ooh! I know, I know!" Pinkie Pie piped up, bouncing high enough to touch the ceiling with her mane. "Well, first it started off when I woke up this morning and I was feeling so hungry I could eat some chimicherries, or cherrychangas for breakfast, but I compromised and I said, 'Why don't I just take my chimicherries and chimicherries and make chimicherrychangas!?' So I took my chimi..." Applejack pressed her hoof on Pinkie's head like a button, and Pinkie's eyes began to spin, her voice going so quick it sounded like a fast-forwarding tape recorder with a powerful sugar rush.

With Applejack's hoof released from her head, Pinkie Pie continued with her centuries-long story of her morning in Ponyville. "...so then I said to Gummy, 'Hey, Gummy, I felt my ears flop, my eyes flutter and my knees twitching! That means somepony is about to walk into an open door,' so then I opened my door, I hear this 'Ow!' and sure enough, there's Mr. Cake holding his snout with his cupcakes..."

Applejack pressed on Pinkie Pie's head again. Pinkie Pie fast forwarded with her story, this time a few seconds longer before Applejack released Pinkie's head to play out her story. "...then Twilight said to Spike, 'Okay, Spike, let's put on our best smiles and pray that Pinkie Pie's home. I have a bad feeling that this has to be the biggest emergency that Princess Celestia has informed me about,' so then I said, 'What kind of emergency!?' and she just jumped like you wouldn't see anypony do when I go up to them and join in on their conversation! So I was on the ground laughing while Spike was stuck headfirst in the dirt and Twilight..."

Applejack pressed on Pinkie's head, causing her to fast forward by a second until she released her head once more and continued at a normal speed. "...then she told me that Equestria was on the verge of danger and ordered me to bring you and Applejack to Ponyville square for some chariot escorts all the way up to Canterlot and I had to keep it between her and I and the rest of you girls because the mission was super-super-super top secret and if I ended up slipping the mission to anypony else, then our enemies would know of the mission, and if they knew the information of the mission, then they could take over the whole world with that information and MMMPH-MM-MMMMMPHHH!!"

Pinkie's story was finally stopped with Rarity's hoof shoved in her mouth, reducing her voice to only a muffle. "Now wait just a minute, darling. Did you say we're going to Canterlot soon? As in this very soon, very soon?"

"As in right now, very soon," Applejack answered sincerely before she chomped on Rarity's tail again. "C'ngong, lesh go."

"But wait! I was headed to Canterlot for the Fashion Exhibit tomorrow!" Rarity whined. "All I needed is one more piece for my fashion designs and they'd be complete! Can't this wait another minute!? I only need it to pack it up in an airtight bag! I need to pack for the next three days I'm staying in Canterlot Suite! I even paid for the train ride, for Celestia's sake!"

"And ya better hope for her sake that ya get ta Ponyville square!" Applejack interjected. "Rarity, when was the last time ya took a break from makin' yer fancy-schmancy dresses?"

Rarity went completely silent. She moved her gaze up to the ceiling as she recalled her three days of hard laboring over the creation of her dresses. Rarity worked endlessly, through most of her nights and all through the days, eating only a few times and taking three-hour naps. Now that she thought about it, Rarity could feel her stomach become slightly empty, her eyelids weighing themselves down and the tendency to yawn become slightly empowering. Just when was the last time she actually rested herself for a good amount of hours? Rarity sighed, giving in to the facts that lied before her.

“Oh well, I guess taking a break from my work doesn’t sound like a... bad idea. It's starting to become quite musty in this shop, anyhow,” Rarity sighed, turning to her incomplete work of art. "Alright. I'll come with you to Canterlot immediately."

"Glad ta hear yer comin' with us, Rarity," Applejack chuckled. "Come on, let's get a move on so we can meet Princess Twilight." Applejack lunged her mouth to grab Rarity's tail again, only to have the spiral tail pulled away from her by Rarity's reflexes.

"Ah, might I come along with you without you dragging me through the dirt this time?" Rarity asked.

Again, Applejack chuckled. "Sorry, Rarity. Force o'habit, Ah guess," she chortled. "Now come on. We have a couple of chariots ta catch."

Applejack cantered out of the door to the Boutique, Rarity following behind and Pinkie Pie bouncing along with the unicorn. Pinkie Pie giggled to the recent events and Rarity tried her best to zone it all out, but was unable to. “Oh, Rarity, you looked so funny when you were about to explode!" Pinkie Pie chortled. "First you were like grrrrrr, then your teeth were like screeeech, and your face was like bleuuuggghhhh, and me and Applejack were like, 'Oh dear Celestia, she's gonna explode,' but you never exploded and you--!”

“Pinkie Pie,” Rarity interjected, stopping Pinkie Pie from continuously speaking her thoughts. She looked at her with a deadpanned look, keeping the party pony quiet as she scolded her in a whispering voice. “Darling, do me a favor and never speak of my near meltdown ever again.”

“Okay," Pinkie said. "Hey, Rarity! Guess what?”

Rarity sighed. “Yes? What is it, Pinkie dear?”

“Chimicherry, cherrychanga. Chimicherry, cherrychanga.”

Rarity could only scream as Pinkie Pie chanted the dreadful cherry deserts like a broken record player, and it was just as annoying as well. The unicorn prayed to Celestia that she wouldn't do something she would regret, starting with the slow cracks of her composed visage.

Chapter 7: Run, Harold, Run! (Re-Re-Edited)

The trip upstairs to Fluttershy's bedroom had to be one of Harold's scarier moments, for lack of a better term. The combination of the wooden structures and the sheetrock walls did a good job of dampening the noise downstairs into a dull roar as Harold continued to climb up into his host's room. A wood smell wafted into his nostrils, a clear indication that Fluttershy's room sat directly underneath the second floor ceiling, the arrangement built into the shape of the slanted roof.

As Harold climbed up to the top step, he could see his suspicions were correct. The ceiling really was slanted to form the roof, a few support beams stretching here and there across the room. Single, thin vines stretched across and around the beams. A couple of birdhouses hung from the ceiling by swaying hooks, a few nests placed at the corners of the horizontal and diagonal beams. The stone chimney from downstairs stretched up through the floor and through the ceiling, the only opening visible being the log fireplace placed in its orifice.

The only piece of furniture in the room was a blue-painted bed, neatly made and looking cozy. Her quilt consisted of a diamond pattern with butterflies in the middle, half of the diamonds colored orange with the pink butterfly wings and the rest with the other way around. Adding in the windows, the two colored pictures hanging over the bed and a shelf on the chimney with a few frames and a painting of a vase of flowers, Fluttershy's room gave an air of comfort and a homely feeling.

Harold was impressed by Fluttershy's living conditions. From what he could tell earlier, Fluttershy's cottage was near the edge of the forest away from the nearest town, a defense mechanism to help isolate Fluttershy from the rest of her native civilization. Yet, despite from being away from her fellow ponies, Fluttershy took great care of this house, even providing sanctuary to all the woodland creatures without a home. While animals were prone to making a mess indoors, there wasn't a single trace or smell of their leavings.

Either Fluttershy loved to clean after her animals or they were more intelligent than Harold could give them credit for. It didn't matter, since Fluttershy did a good job keeping her house shipshape.

TINK!

The same rapping noise shocked Harold back to reality; this time, the noise sounded like something was hitting the window. It sounded like someone was chucking pebbles against the glass, or a little bird was pecking at the transparent wall, wanting to be let in. Harold crept over to the window where the sound was heard and slowly opened the windows, just around the time when the front door downstairs slammed shut. Bending over to get a better look outside, Harold saw nothing out in Fluttershy's yard, nothing but the green grass, the surrounding trees and the little stream running along and under the bridge.

No matter how much he looked, Harold didn't see anything. It must've been a bug that slammed into the window by mistake. Shrugging his shoulders with disappointment, Harold turned away to report back to Fluttershy when he was stopped by the coo of a familiar bird. He turned around and saw, sitting on the edge of the window, a pure white dove, cooing gracefully before it carefully scratched the feathers of its uplifting wing with its beak.

Somewhere, deep down inside, Harold felt his chest well up.

Doves were Lana's favorite birds.

She loved these birds, not just because they were the aviary symbols of peace, the same peace Lana dreamed of bringing back to New York and beyond, but because they symbolized how she brought up Harold like a mother would. Harold distinctly remembered what Lana told him about her when she was a baby, about four-and-a-half years before he was born. When she was a baby, being very intelligent for a child her age, the very first words that Lana spoke were, "Dove, dove."

Harold smiled a saddened smile. If Lana was here now, she would've been swooned over how majestic the dove looked as it scratched its beaks on its feathered wing. Then, the dove jerked its head towards Harold's direction, making him gasp with surprise as it spread its wings and flew over to him. Harold whimpered a little and flinched; he didn't want the bird to peck him to death like he was in a Hitchcock movie set in Equestria.

A pair of taloned feet made contact on Harold's left shoulder, causing him to slam his eyes shut. He didn't want his eyes pecked out, he needed them to see what he was drawing. Harold slowly creaked his left eye open, seeing the dove perched on his shoulder like a statue, its black eyes looking straight in his. For a moment, the dove and Harold just stared at each other, neither of them budging a muscle, save for the bird's constantly cocking head. Then, with careful and steady movement, Harold lifted his hand up next to the dove, curling his fingers to form a perfect perch for the bird.

The dove stared at Harold's hand for a moment or two. Then it lifted its foot from Harold's shoulder and placed it on his fingers, eventually moving its other foot to his hand. Harold slowly turned his hand and its avian passenger towards him and smiled. He remembered watching on late Saturday mornings when the sun was at its brightest in spring and the birds flocked about outside. Lana would sit on the edge of the stone wall somewhere in the gardens where the land declines into a hill, facing towards a majestic apple blossom tree. Perched on her fingers was a small, yet melodious chickadee chick, singing back the tune Lana hummed to it just like Snow White.

Harold had no idea how Lana was attract and sing to a bird like the way she did. She had this way with animals that no one else did, where she show them a bout of kindness and it was somehow returned back to her. Whatever that way was and how she did remained a mystery, even to Harold.

Suddenly, a sickly burp resonated from downstairs.

The unexpected sound was enough to make Harold jump, thus startling the dove on his hand away and flying out the window, leaving behind a trail of white feathers. Harold ran to the window, watching as the dove flew away from sight, becoming a silhouette shrinking down an disappearing in the distance. He groaned as the one reminder of his sister literally flew out the window. Why, he wanted to go downstairs and demand what was going on downstairs and why his memories were so rudely interrupted!

Then, sounding from the open window in the lower floor, came a new voice. It was another feminine voice, one which gave Harold a sinking feeling in the depths of his brain. “Fluttershy, I really hate to cut your medical procedures short, but we need to be going right away. I got a letter from Princess Celestia, saying that we need to be at Canterlot to answer an emergency.”

TING!

Harold's body jolted as the "sense" slammed him out of nowhere, like a bully's fist to his face, which he constantly received on Earth. That girl's voice downstairs and the name, Princess Celestia somehow triggered that crippling headache feeling again. It was like something was trying to break out of his skull using a jackhammer. Why did both the voice and the name pound him!? Whose voice was that he heard downstairs!? Why did it sound so familiar!?

Harold kept a hand placed firmly on his forehead as he continued to listen in on the conversation in Fluttershy's foyer.

“An-an emergency!?" Harold heard Fluttershy squeak worriedly. "Oh dear, that sounds terrible! What's the emergency!? Was there an earthquake in Manehattan!? Is there a dragon running loose somewhere in the outskirts of the Everfree Forest!? Has Discord turned back to chaos again!?"

"Pinkie guessed the last one, but that's not the emergency. The emergency will involve your ability to communicate with animals, so you're more likely to be our trump card, if we happen to come across it."

"It? What is 'it?' Is 'it' a dragon? A manticore? A cragadile? A flesh-eating chimera who always argues how to eat little ponies?"

"No." Then the voice said something that made Harold's blood run cold. "According to Princess Celestia, there is a creature of non-Equestrian origin somewhere in Equestria. She said the creature will bring a grave and terrible threat to all of Equestria.”

Harold froze with shock, not before his legs stumbled him back against the wall. He hadn't heard right, had he!? That voice said that a creature not from Equestria was going to bring a threat to the land, did she!? Was that voice referring to Harold!? Then his nerves froze him in the spot when he realized something devastating: the pony was talking about him! Harold must be the creature bringing that threat to Equestria, seeing as how he was the only human to be stranded among a populace of ponies!

But he'd never want to hurt the ponies! He could never stand his ground in a physical fight; this had to be some big mistake! Then again, he could not deny that he was the only non-Equestrian life form in Equestria! Harold had to get out of there, unless he wanted to be discovered, locked up and the key tossed into the garbage! What's worse was, if he was discovered with Fluttershy around him, they might lock her up as well for harboring a possible criminal!

Gripping his locket with frantic anxiety, Harold jerked his head around for a way out. Sure enough, he remembered that he opened the window to investigate the rapping noise. It was the perfect way out, if Harold hadn't considered the fact that the window led to the roof. Surely, the ponies might see him trying to sneak out, but what other choice there to escape? At least it was better than to pull Fluttershy down with him once he's been thrown in the dungeons or something along the lines.

“Umm, Fluttershy? Are you feeling alright?” came the voice downstairs.

Harold inhaled a deep breath as the voice gave him a green light to attempt his escape. Carefully, he lifted one leg over the window sill and carefully placed his foot on the shrubbery roof. Like all shrubbery, this roof created a slight rustling noise, provoking Harold to draw his foot back and wait to see if the noise caught the attention of the ponies.

Fortune smiled down on him; the ponies never heard anything.

Harold carefully placed his foot into the shrubbery roof and climbed over the sill, placing his other foot and later, himself entirely into the bushes. When Harold was finally in the bushes, he assessed his situation. Somewhere, hidden under the rooftop brush, there was a decline in the roof that led down to the edge. With the brush obscuring his path, Harold wouldn't be able to feel where he was going, let alone see the rooftop period. A tumble or a slip, then the sensitive pony hearing would pick up on his activity and he would be caught.

Harold swallowed and began to inch himself down the declining roof. Clutching the bush branches to make sure he wouldn't make a sound, Harold climbed down stealthily, miraculously without making a slight rustle or a peep. His sneakers helped create enough traction to prevent him from sliding all the way down and to help him feel the very edge of the roof.

Yet, somehow, one twitch and the loss of footing later, Harold found himself sliding off the roof into the bushes below.

“AAHHHH!”

CCCCRRUUNNNCCCCCHHHH!

Harold groaned as the impact from the fall and the branches in the bush sent a series of searing pain throughout his entire body. He lifted his head, his eyes half shut from the impact and his face covered with leaves and twigs. An odd scent wafted in his nose. He was lying in the bushes where he threw the bitter tea away in secrecy. For a minute, the pain in Harold's body gradually subsided, but that wasn't nearly enough time for him to realize too late of his fatal mistake.

"Huh? Did you hear something?" the familiar voice asked.

"Yeah. It sounded like came from outside," a hoarse, tomboyish voice answered.

Harold gasped with shock. The ponies must've heard him when he screamed and fell into the bushes, and the simple sounds of their hooves trot-trot-trotting towards the window he was under only added to his worries. Harold gulped the nervous lump in his throat and squeezed his eyes shut, his body cringing as he waited for the inevitable capture and the possible life sentence in some dungeon. He wasn't ready for that moment, but then again, this was just the universe playing dice with his life again, this time with the odds of him getting dragged around like an unwilling criminal very high.

On one hand, the chances are that Harold would be banished from Equestria and left to roam the world on his own.

On the other hand, he would be placed in the dungeon he feared being locked up in.

If for some reason that the other two options were not punishable enough, he would be banished and locked in a dungeon in the place he would be banished to instead.

However, fate played Harold a wild card as he heard galloping hooves rush over to the window near the bushes he laid in and heard Fluttershy's quivering voice rise. "Noise!? What noise!? I didn't hear any noise!!"

Harold turned his head to his left, catching Fluttershy's yellow back against the open window, her wings spread out to obscure the view from both sides. Trickling down the back of her head, Harold saw beads of sweat traveling down her nape, clear signs that Fluttershy was intensely nervous as she tried her best to hide and defend him, but in a losing battle with her friends. Harold knew there wasn't much time left.

He quickly rolled out of the bushes, ignoring the rustling noises he created, and quickly snuck around the corner. Then, he brought his head around the corner and saw a cyan head pop out with a messy, multicolored mane for her hair. An intake of air was halted as Harold quickly brought his head back and out of sight. Luckily, he heard the cyan head, matching the hoarse voice he heard earlier, dismiss the noises as nothing before the window closed with a creak! and a click!

Harold slumped himself against the wall, placing a hand at his chest and he took a deep breath. "That was a close shave there," he muttered silently to himself. "If Fluttershy hadn't been there for me when she did, then we would've been in big trouble."

As he recovered his breath from that suspenseful moment, Harold looked and saw at the edge of the forest, his bicycle leaning against the very same tree where he left it. Then he was struck with an idea. If Harold could make his way across the yard and to his bike, then he could use it to escape so that he wouldn't get caught. That way, even if Fluttershy's friends would suspect something, they would be too late to track him down; he would be long gone before they realized it. Harold had nothing to lose, so he had to go along with his plan.

Harold slowly crept up to a crouch and snuck around the back, stopping once to peek through the windows, seeing only the form of Fluttershy and the cyan pony conversing with one another. From what he could tell, Harold saw the cyan pony sport a mane composed of the seven colors of the rainbow, all drooping down her messy, punk-styled hair.

For some reason, he had a sudden craving for Skittles.

Hungry feelings aside, Harold ducked back down and stealthily made his way across the yard, straight towards the bushes ahead. He paused for a moment and turned his head back, looking at Fluttershy's cottage through the corner of his eye, with a warm smile spread across his lips. He was grateful for Fluttershy for taking care of him when he needed it, and for the brief introduction on Equestria and the equine citizens residing within the lands. But Harold couldn't stay for long; not when he was the wanted creature her friends were looking for. He couldn't risk getting Fluttershy into trouble because of him, so this is the only thing closest to a "thank you" for taking care of him.

Harold turned back and continued to creep towards the border of the forest when, all of a sudden, he heard the distinct sound of a creak! At that moment, Harold's body was brought to a stand-still.

Someone was opening the window, looking out the backyard that he tread across.

He had been spotted!

Turning back, Harold could see a small, pale purple figure, with a lime green chin, belly and spines, leaning over the windowsill with both clawed arms. Judging by the claws and the faint appearance, Harold could tell that the creature wasn't a pony, but a small, bipedal reptile standing less than half his height. Both Harold and the clawed lizard stared at each other with a tense silence thick enough to cut with a butter knife. Then the reptile quickly turned back and called back into the cottage, only calling out the first part of a name before regurgitating off the window.

"TWILI-URBBBLBBBLEGGGHHHH!"

==================================================================

“Uhh... Fluttershy? You okay? Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy remained in the same spot where she stood stiff and frozen, like Twilight when she was turned to stone by the cockatrice but made flesh. Her mind was pulled in a tug-of-war between denial and logic, almost to the point where her mind would rip like paper.

On one part of her brain, Fluttershy couldn't accept the fact that Harold was dangerous. Even though Fluttershy had just met him not too long ago, she could tell that he was a kind, gentle soul. Despite his ape-like appearance, Harold was a good artist and he traveled a long way for someone he loved. Plus, she couldn't forget the fact that Harold explained to her he was a vegetarian. That was when the logical side of her brain took over. Twilight mentioned of a non-Equestrian creature becoming the one to bring great danger to the entire equine nation. Harold was obviously that creature. If that was the case, then the "kind, gentle soul" Fluttershy came to know was wither an act or some sort of defense mechanism against a power he feared the most.

What was Fluttershy to do now? Could she tell Twilight and Rainbow Dash about Harold? Could she help him escape for his life by keeping her friends busy? Could she even trust Harold?

No, what was she thinking? She couldn't rat out Harold, for that would be a direct violation of the same kindness she tended him with! She needed to keep Twilight and Rainbow Dash busy while he made his escape, and she needed to be fast about it. Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at her with a mix of both worry and suspicion. They would ask questions soon, and she knew they would keep on digging until Harold somehow made his escape.

That moment would come as Twilight and Rainbow Dash tried to grab her attention as she stared deep into the distant space. Twilight, being one for not directly approaching the problem too brashly, called Fluttershy's name and waved her hooves in front of her eyes, Rainbow Dash poking the pegasus while trying to call her out with a raised volume.

“Fluttershy? Are you okay?” Twilight asked as she gently waved her hoof. “Would you like a glass of water?”

"Hellooooo!? Equestria to Fluttershy!? Is there anypony home!?" Rainbow Dash called as she poked her hoof in Fluttershy's side, having no avail as a result. Rainbow Dash groaned with annoyance and planted her hoof on her face, slowly dragging it down before she was forced to go through with her final resort.

"Fluttershy! Angel Bunny just stole a bag of carrots and he won't share them with the other bunnies!"

The trick seemed to snap Fluttershy from her shocked reverie. Fluttershy's eyes widened with shock before they were narrowed down, her voice raised into a strict, scolding tone. "Angel! I thought I told you to share with all the other bunnies! Well, mister, since you've already gotten two strikes today, you're going to be grounded for a week with no--!"

"Ahem."

"EEP!" Fluttershy jumped like a startled cat when Twilight cleared, leaping a few feet in the air before flipping upside-down midair and falling on her back. After blinking her eyes a few times, Fluttershy saw the upside-down images of Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle standing over her, a look of confusion on Rainbow's face and a look of suspicion on Twilight's. Fluttershy couldn't help but swallow the lump in her throat before letting a nervous giggle emanate from her chest.

"Oh, hello, Twilight, Rainbow Dash. When did you girls get here?" she simply asked.

Rainbow Dash deadpanned before she groaned with annoyance once more, rolling her eyes whilst doing so. "Fluttershy, we've been here for a few minutes already. You even showed us into your home."

"I... I did?" Fluttershy took a moment to remember what happened before she was shocked by the news, perking up as it all came back to her. "Oh yes. I did let you two in, didn't I?"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash both exchanged glances as the alicorn trotted up to Fluttershy, helping her off the floor with a helping hoof. "Fluttershy, is there something that's bothering you?" asked Twilight. "You seem a bit worried today... well, a bit more than usual."

"Yeah. Care to fill me in on what's been bothering you?" Rainbow Dash said as she hovered in the air with a fierce, protective expression. "Because if it's somepony pickin' on you just for a good laugh, then they're gonna get the old, 'one, two, buckle my horseshoe' from yours truly." Rainbow Dash brought her hooves and made quick, jabbing movements like she was fighting somepony poni a poni, which worried Fluttershy greatly.

"N-No, Rainbow Dash. Nopony's been bothering me today," Fluttershy answered.

"So why are you acting afraid, Fluttershy? You were standing so still, it was like you were stared down by a cockatrice!"

"Oh, that..." Fluttershy took the moment to collect her thoughts and come up with a fib, despite her strong dislike of lying to her friends. She looked over at the table and spotted Harold's empty mug, and an idea sprung up in her head like a fresh spring daisy.

"...I was suffering from a headache earlier this morning," Fluttershy explained through a sheepish grin. "Yes, I woke up to a sharp pounding in my head and I had to get rid of it. So I came downstairs, brewed up some of my special herbal tea and applied my peppermint oil on my forehead." In order to convince her two friends, Fluttershy gently brought her hoof up to her forehead, squeaking out a shy "owww."

Sure enough, Twilight was convinced by this act as she brought a hoof onto Fluttershy's shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," said Fluttershy. "The headache tends to come back and they're more painful than the last."

"And I'm assuming you went to see the doctor for your headache, right?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh, no, I couldn't go out in my condition. I was lucky to have my animal friends nearby to help take care of me."

"Really? Then you wouldn't mind telling me whose saddlebag that belongs to?" Rainbow Dash said, pointing to a familiar light blue sack set next to the couch. Fluttershy's eyes widened. Harold completely forgot his saddlebag... or backpack, as he called it... when he went upstairs to go investigate the noise! Now, with Harold's backpack left behind, Twilight and Rainbow Dash won't have any trouble tracking down Harold! Twilight lifted the backpack with her magic and gazed into the intricate deigns of the bag while Rainbow Dash turned and faced Fluttershy, her masked nervousness beginning to crack.

"Fluttershy, you had company here earlier, didn't you?" Rainbow Dash asked, giving her timid friend a stink eye. "I guess that explains the tea and that saddlebag."

"Actually, that doesn't look like any saddlebag I've ever seen before," Twilight noted after she took a brief observation of the sack. "The straps don't appear to be designed to be held up by hooves and the bag itself looks too saggy to be worn by anypony. Not unless..."

Twilight trailed off as a thought ran through her head, prompting her to turn to Fluttershy, who cowered under her disappointed, suspicious gaze. "Fluttershy, is there something you're hiding from us?"

Fluttershy did her best to swallow the extra lump in her throat down, and every word she kept locked up threatened to burst themselves out of her mouth. It took all the willpower Fluttershy built up to keep herself from talking, but the suspicious stares and glares proved to be a bigger obstacle to get around than she thought. The timid pegasus felt she could no longer keep her secret, and she opened her mouth to speak.

“AAHHHH!”

CCCCRRUUNNNCCCCCHHHH!

All three winged mares jumped to the outside sound a scream and the crunchy, rustling in the bushes. Fluttershy felt a mild sense of relief that the mild distraction bought her time to collect her breath if she hadn't realized that the noise belonged to Harold. He must've slipped at the edge of the roof, and that mistake drew the attention of Twilight and Rainbow Dash as they turned to the window where the noise was heard.

"Huh? Did you hear something?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah. It sounded like came from outside," Rainbow Dash answered as she and Twilight went to the window.

Fluttershy gasped and, in an instant, was snapped out of her timidity before she darted around her friends and blocked the window, her limbs and wings spread out to cover most of the view from the outside. "Noise!? What noise!? I didn't hear any noise!!" Fluttershy blurted out.

Rainbow Dash grunted impatiently. "Fluttershy, we don't have time for this," she said as she forcefully moved Fluttershy away from the window and stuck her head out. Turning her head a few times, the tomboyish pegasus looked around and listened closely, only for her to see the yard completely empty. "Huh. Probably just one of your animals, Flutters."

Rainbow Dash closed the window before she continued. "But I bet a bag of ten bits that you're hiding something from us on purpose. Care to explain why, Fluttershy?"

"Oh, umm..." Fluttershy tapped her chin with her hoof before another little lie ran through her head. "The animals must be playing a game of 'hide n' seek' going on outside, and I didn't want you girls ruining their hiding spots."

"Really? So who's it?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I don't know, I've been cooped up in here all day."

Twilight grunted as she brought a hoof over her eyes, shaking her head. "Fluttershy, we can't go on any longer with this. If you can't cooperate with us, then we won't be able to catch the chariots to Canterlot on time. Princess Celestia really needs us to meet with her as soon as possible, but with the way you're resisting us, it's really making things difficult. Either you tell us what's really bothering you or we'll have to drag you to Ponyville by force."

Fluttershy gulped for the final time, feeling the pressure of keeping Harold's wellbeing a secret weigh her down like a lead weight. She didn't like to snitch on her friends, nor did she like to keep secrets from them either. She knew Harold was a good human and she would never let anything bad happen to him, but she couldn't deny the reality of the situation or the possible outcome is she kept resisting Twilight any further. Her internal dam was weaving with cracks and it was only a matter of seconds until she would explode like Pinkie Pie's confetti shooters.

What the mares were completely unaware of, around the same time, was a sickly Spike throwing the blankets off of his scaly body so he would get up and open the window for some fresh air. Spike grumbled as his stomach felt itself churn in an unnatural way while he stood on the couch, reaching his claw to turn the hatch and swing the window open by a crack. When he opened the window with a creak!, he saw something that made his cold blood run colder.

He saw a bipedal, ape-like creature standing out in Fluttershy's yard, with greasy, blonde hair wearing a grey-and-red shirt, blue pants, and shoes over its feet. The ape creature looked back at Spike with bright, fearful blue eyes as it stood as frozen as the sick drake. Spike whimpered a little inside, but couldn't bring himself to scream for a moment. Then, as if lightning ran through his veins, Spike quickly turned back into the cottage and to Twilight, just as his lunch lurched up into his throat and out his mouth.

"TWILI-URBBBLBBBLEGGGHHHH!"

Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy all jumped as Spike's scream interrupted their conversation, all reeling in disgust at the messy puddle of dragon bile and half-digested sapphires and turquoises that spilled all over the floor. Twilight and Rainbow Dash did not hesitate to canter around the puddle and around Spike, and looked out through the window, only to be met with the sight of a retreating, bipedal creature sprinting its way to the windows. Fluttershy trailed behind and peered over her friends' heads and gasped as she saw Harold run into the edge of the forest, where he first appeared from when they first met.

"That must be it!" Twilight immediately called out. "That must be the creature the Princess referred to in the letter!"

"Wait, Twilight! There must be some mistake!"

"GET 'EM!" Rainbow Dash interjected before Fluttershy could finish.

Then, after hearing the mares' voices raised and pointed directly at him, the ape-like creature gave a little boost in its speed as it grabbed a bicycle leaning against a tree, jumped on the seat and quickly pedaled into the woods. Rainbow Dash was the first to react by taking off into the air like a rocket and flew at a level below the tree line while she disappeared into the forest. Twilight jumped out of the window herself as her horn glowed magenta, cantering off into the woods, leaving Fluttershy in her cottage, absolutely stunned. The only thing she knew what to do and how was to go after Harold, too, and see to it that neither Twilight nor Rainbow Dash would hurt him.

"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy panicked as she flew out of the window, leaving Spike's weakened body lying on the couch while the regurgitated bile began to stain the rug.

==================================================================

It wasn't until the little sick drake called back into the cottage and puked that Harold was unable to budge from his spot. Of course, the real motivation to run came when Harold heard the hooves canter their way to window before he snapped into a sprint, and made a beeline for the forest's edge. He had only made it so close to the edge when he heard the two mares say something that provoked him into giving a little boost in his sprint.

"That must be it! That must be the creature the Princess referred to in the letter!"

"GET 'EM!"

"Oh, sugar honey iced tea!" Harold thought as he grabbed his bike and kicked up his kickstand. He hopped on his seat and quickly pushed his pedals on his feet, riding off as quick as he did with his fated encounter with the tornado. In order to gain a little extra speed and distance, Harold quickly shifted his gears to the full power at nine, feel and hearing those gears clicking as they were in perfect synchronization with the number. Sure, Harold's legs would probably be worn out from the extra given strength on the bike pedals, but hopefully, if he happened to get away from the mares closing in on him, it would be all worth it.

"Don't let it get away!"

Harold turned his head and saw an incoming cyan blur closing in on him, flying straight towards him like a drone programmed to maneuver past the trees to take him down. As the blur came closer, Harold saw the narrowed-eye glare of the pegasus pony on his tail, which caused him to yelp in surprise before he began to maneuver and sway around the trees in a vain attempt to lose the pegasus.

"Hey, you! Get back here, you monkey!" she shouted as she trailed Harold's movements.

Harold gave another surprised yelp as he swerved around and between a couple of trees, hoping to shake the pegasus off of him. Unfortunately for him, Rainbow Dash was an expert flyer, and she had been practicing her flight skills around forest areas so she would show it off to the Wonderbolts the next time they came to Ponyville. So, with her training, Rainbow Dash cut Harold off as he swerved around a few trees, causing him to turn his bike and barrel between two skinnier trees. Rainbow Dash did a nose dive towards Harold, but he quickly outmaneuvered the tactic by riding towards the pegasus and made a sharp right turn towards a big tree. Realizing that the ape creature was trying to use the tree as a means to escape her, Rainbow Dash quickly pulled up and hovered as she spotted where he was riding off to.

"Oh no! You're not getting away from me that easily!"

With that, Rainbow Dash quickly slingshotted after Harold while he made a big turn around the trunk of the big tree, the chase leading into one complete circle, to another and to another. Then, as Rainbow Dash realized where this was going, she hovered in the air, attempting to stop Harold by surprising him while he rode around the tree for another time. Rainbow Dash quickly hovered in position and waited for the ape creature to come around the tree. She waited for five seconds, which passed into ten seconds, quickly transitioning into thirty seconds. By the twenty-fifth second, Rainbow Dash knew something was up. She flew around the tree and spotted her target riding off into the distance, having realized that Harold knew she would pull a trick like this.

Luckily, Harold happened to ride off into the direction where the forest was a might thicker, the only way to slow, if not stop, the pegasus down. He heard in a distance behind him, an angry, tomboyish yell, which then followed with a whoooosh like something just shot straight up in the air. Reluctantly, Harold looked back and saw Rainbow Dash attempting another nose dive at him, the blue-and-rainbow-maned pegasus using all of her speed and strength channeled into this one attack.

"I've got you now, you big ape!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she chased the creature down at the speed of a cheetah. Harold screamed for a brief moment before he used all the strength he had into making it into the thicker part of the forest, but the odds of doing were slim. In fact, with the rate of how much speed Rainbow Dash gained, the odds only became quite slimmer, and she was only mere feet away from catching Harold.

However, a tiny glimmer of hope shone in Harold's eye as he spotted something dead ahead.

There was a dead and petrified tree in the forest that he rapidly approached, big enough for him to go around and evade the pegasus's nose dive. This next move was going to be close, but if Harold played it right and wait for the opportune moment...

"Now I've got you!" Rainbow Dash shouted over the winds of her breakneck speed. "You've got a lot of nerve, coming here to Equestria and bringing some sort of threat with you! If you mess with my home or my friends, then you're gonna have to mess with the one and only Rainbow Dash, newest recruit to the Wonderbolts!"

This moment was exactly the same moment Harold counted on. With Rainbow Dash's ego getting in her way, Harold veered off to the right as the pegasus came only inches at the back of his bike, the latter pony yelping in surprise when her target suddenly turned away from her. She never took the moment to realize that she was about to have a head-on collision with the petrified tree before it was too late for her.

"WHOA!"

CRAAAAAAACCCCCCCKKKKKK!

As fate would have it, Rainbow Dash flew headfirst into the tree, getting only her head and front hooves stuck while her flank, hind hooves and multicolored tail wriggling frantically to try and pull her out. The tree helped muffle Rainbow Dash's Equestrian-related profanities while she struggled to break herself out, but with no avail.

Fluttershy quickly, but daintily passed overhead the forest tops while scanning downwards to find Harold before Twilight or Rainbow Dash did. Sure enough, by coincidence, Fluttershy spotted a familiar, cyan shape wriggle at the base of the old, dead tree and gently soared downwards near its position. With a quick and gentle flutter, Fluttershy landed near the tree and recognized the thrashing, cyan blue shape with a rainbow tail and a fimilar Cutie Mark. This was Rainbow Dash all right, but it looked like as if Harold managed to outmaneuver Equestria's Best Young Flyer.

“Oh dear! Rainbow Dash, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked.

“Does it look like I’m alright, Fluttershy!?” Rainbow Dash snapped from inside the tree.

“Well, umm...you sound alright,” Fluttershy mused shyly, causing the tomboy pegasus to groan in response.

“Whatever! Just get me the buck out of this tree!”

==================================================================

Harold looked back as he scanned the area for any sign of Rainbow Dash following him, seeing nothing but trees and brush that made up the entire forest. With a relieved sigh, Harold turned back to the front with a pleasant smile, only to see too late that he was headed for a rocky path, leading down a rockier hill.

With a yelp, Harold was sent hurtling down the steep downhill grade with many bumpy surfaces making it difficult for him to take control of his bike. Each bump sent a soreness in Harold's bottom, not to mention in his family jewels, and that made it intensely difficult to control the bike and think through the sharp pains coursing the lower half of his body. The bike may have been outfitted with shock absorbers underneath the seat, but it did nothing to stop Harold from nearly bouncing off his seat. His overconfidence was going to cost him greatly.

That cost came in the form of a big, round rock that the front tire of the bicycle hit. The bike and its owner were catapulted into the air and over the rocky hill, letting gravity become Harold's enemy yet again as he screamed and waved his arms as he fell headfirst to the stones. All screams for help seemed to backfire on Harold as he saw himself heading for a big stone, bigger than the size of his head. With the combination of the velocity of Harold's fall, adding the power of a head-on impact at a thirty m.p.h. speed and the heavy density of the stone, the collision with the stone would be enough to end Harold's life in a gross fashion.

At least it would be quick. Just a bump on the head with the rock, a few paints of crimson here and there, and a moment of pain.

And then... silence.

Harold squeezed his eyes shut, for he did not want to see his own demise happen to him.

Chapter 9: A Splitting Headache (Re-Edited)

Ponyville was especially busy this time of day.

Everypony was out and about in the streets, going about their mundane business. Every mare and stallion took their posts at the stands, vending goods to their fellow ponies. Little fillies ran around the streets, playing joyful games of tag and bouncing their ball to each other. Yes, the daily lives of every colorful pony in Ponyville seemed to go perfectly well today.

Everypony, except for three certain mares awaiting their feathered friends in the Ponyville Square. Applejack anxiously paced back and forth on the dirt road, creating a tiny rut left by her hoofprints. Rarity sat on her haunches, using her baby blue magic to file her hoof. Pinkie Pie bounced around the two mares in a complete circle, continuously chanting “chimicherry, cherry changa, chimicherrychangas.”

The three mares stayed still in the middle of the square, watching and waiting on the verge of impatience for any signs of their three equine friends. To their dismay, they never found any signs of their arrival. No Twilight Sparkle. No Rainbow Dash. No Fluttershy.

“Now what’s takin’ them so dang long!?” Applejack asked impatiently. “Princess Twilight is never late when she’s called fer an emergency from Princess Celestia!”

“Now, now, dear Applejack, you must be patient. I’m sure there is an explanation for why Twilight and the others aren’t here at this moment,” Rarity said elegantly, touch her chin in thought. “Maybe Twilight is having a little trouble with finding Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy. They’ll be along.”

Rarity cringed lightly as Pinkie Pie bounced around her with her repetitive chatter of her desserts ringing in her ears. “Pinkie, dear?”

“Uh-huh?” Pinkie answered while she continued to bounce in her circle.

“Will you please refrain from speaking those Celestia-awful dessert pastries of yours!?” the alabaster unicorn shouted, her speech once again dripping with venom. “You are making me lose my temper!”

Pinkie Pie stopped to giggle. “Aww, come on, Rarity! You know as well as I do that chimicherries, cherry changas and chimicherrychangas are soooooo good! Why just last night, I was thinking about chimicherries and cherrychangas and I didn’t know why, but I got hungry just thinking about them, so I baked a dozen of them last night and I ate them and they were soooooo good, that know I can’t stop thinking about how good they are!”

*Squee!*

An awkward moment passed for the three mares. Applejack and Rarity both stared at Pinkie Pie awkwardly while the latter wore a large, squeaky smile on her face.

Rarity daintily cleared her throat. “Umm...yes. I can see that.”

Pinkie began bounding in her circular path once more, returning to her cherry dessert wrap mantra, much to Rarity’s annoyance. Applejack approached the alabaster unicorn, still teetering on the edge of both impatience and worry.

“What Ah’d like to stop thinkin’ about mahself is why Princess Twilight and the others ain’t here already,” she complained. “She wouldn’t take this long jus’ ta respond ta Princess Celestia’s letter. Ah’m startin’ ta think there’s somethin’ bad mighta happened ta them while they were on their way here. Somethin’ real bad.”

Rarity chuckled in disbelief, waving her hoof down. “Oh, Applejack, you really must learn to be patient. Sure, Twilight is a bit tardy than usual, but if we know our friend like the back of our hoof, she’ll make an appoint to be here before the chariots arrive. Nothing more.”

“An’ if she don’t make it here?” the cowgirl pony asked pessimistically. “What happens if we keep the Princesses a-waitin’ on us?”

“Have a little faith, darling. Twilight will come along any minute now.”

“But--”

“Any. Minute. Now.”

All of a sudden, Pinkie’s bouncing and repetitive chattering was rudely cut off by a brief, but violent shudder in mid-air. The sudden quaking quickly halted the small discussion between Rarity and Applejack and they turned their gaze to their friend’s antics.

Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense was tingling.

The Pinkie Sense was one of Pinkie’s most outstanding features, next to her hyperactive demeanor and her strange ability to break the laws of physics. When one part of her body received a strange sensation, it was an indication that something was about to happen a few seconds before it actually happened. Pinkie’s twitching tail meant something was about to fall and her itchy nose meant there was an angry swarm of bees flying nearby.

But the shuddering she felt at the moment was different. This shuddering was a doozy. Pinkie Pie didn’t usually know what the doozy actually meant, but it meant something big was going to happen. Very big. The doozy knew exactly where the event would take place.

“What’s wrong, Pinkie Pie?” Applejack asked with concern. “Is it another doozy? What’s yer Pinkie Sense tellin’ ya?”

“I don’t know,” the pink pony said. “But the doozy says something’s gonna happen at this moment...” Pinkie Pie observed her second brief shuddering very closely. “...and it’s gonna happen at the meadow. You know, the one with a little stream running through and the forest on the other side?”

“The meadow!? Land sakes!” Applejack yelped. “That’s near where Fluttershy lives!”

“But if Fluttershy is anywhere near that location, then Twilight must also be there too!” Rarity realized with a gasp. “Oh my! Rainbow Dash could possibly with them as well! This is simply dreadful! What do we do!?”

“Ah’ll tell ya what we’ll do!” Applejack answered, tipping her Stetson hat forwards. “We’re gonna go get ‘em before that doozy of Pinkie’s happen!”

Rarity turned her gaze to the pink pony, feeling an overwhelming urge of uncertainty. “Um, Pinkie Pie? This doozy of yours. It’s not going to put anypony in danger is it?” she asked. “I nearly fainted twice when Twilight told what almost happened to my little Spikey-Wikey with that horrid hydra at that ghastly bog. I don’t want a similar problem happening to my friends again.”

“I can’t guarantee that, Rarity,” Pinkie said, her body shuddering once more. “Uh oh! Looks like the doozy’s gonna happen in 3... 2... 1...”

CRACK!! BOOOOOOOM!!

A clap of thunder and an explosion of light shook all of Equestria. All at once, everypony froze as the light flashed through Ponyville, blinding them for about seven seconds. Then, in the meadow down in the distance, a strange magenta light illuminated a quarter of a mile outside of Ponyville, shooting off rogue strikes of lightning.

All of this happened in the same meadow Pinkie Pie predicted where it would happen.

Everypony gathered at the square or the edge of the town, shocked and awed by the intense glow of magenta illumination. Most of the citizens stared at the lights with absolute silence, taking in the hum that resounded with the light, but different questions and murmurs were passed around like mad.

“What’s going on!?”

“What is that light!?”

“There’s lightning in the meadow! Didn’t the pegasus ponies schedule a clear, sunny day?”

“I don’t think those are thundercloud lightning bolts, guys!”

“Somepony check the muffins! Make sure my muffins are all right!”

“What on Earth could be causing that light!?”

Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie stared at the spectacle with much surprise. Though the citizens of Ponyville was unaware of what was causing the light show, it didn’t take long for the three mares to recognize the owner of the magenta light. They could easily tell from a mile away the magic light belonged to their dear friend: one Twilight Sparkle.

“Come on girls! Ah think Princess Twilight needs our help!” Applejack shouted, cantering off into the meadow with Rarity and Pinkie Pie following close behind.

==================================================================

“Twilight, you gotta calm your magic down!” Rainbow Dash called out to her alicorn friend over the loud hum of her giant-sized aura. “You’re letting your magic go outta control!”

Rainbow Dash’s pleas for Twilight to stop her magic fell on deaf ears. Twilight was suffering from too much pain to even look at her tomboyish friend. Her horn shot a barrage of magic lightning bolts, running amok at every speed and at every angle of the meadow, leaving Rainbow Dash to perform aerial stunts to avoid them and Fluttershy to cover. Her eyes, white and glowing as pure light, stared off into the great void, completely unaware of the newly created chaos she reeked among the lush green fields.

The objects fired in the range of Twilight’s lightning bolt were the first victims of the uncontrollable magic. The trees became giant pieces of peppermint candy canes. The stones from the top of the cliff levitated in Twilight’s aura, all shapes and sizes floating endlessly into the sky. The grass became a small circle of color-clashing diamond patterns.

Celestia knew what would happen if anypony was struck by Twilight’s magic.

Fluttershy cowered behind the magenta sphere, covering herself from the lightning with her mane pulled down over her face with her hooves. Harold could only back himself up to the walls of the magenta sphere, no way out and no way to avoid the lightning bolts. The aura’s hum was like a loud bass resounding harmfully in Harold’s eardrums and he covered his ears to protect his sensitive hearing against the noise.

Harold couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. Somehow or rather, Twilight was feeling the “sense,” the same damnation that bothered Harold since the moment he learned Equestria’s name. However, the way Twilight exhibited the symptoms of the “sense” was completely different. With her magic more powerful as an alicorn than previously as a unicorn, Twilight’s “sense” became a dangerous force to be reckoned with. With her magic out of control, Twilight would not last until that little spark of life finally diminished for good.

“Just what in God’s name is going on here!?” Harold thought, barely heard himself think over the noise.

“Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy squeaked from behind the sphere, jumping to a lightning bolt striking the ground next to her. A ladybug struck by the lightning grew to the size of a cab carriage. “This is terrible! It’s like living the moment when Twilight first lost control of her magic as a filly!”

“And I bet we know who’s responsible for this, don’t we, Mr. Hue-Man!?” Rainbow Dash shouted brashly, performing a loop-de-loop and a few barrel rolls, narrowly getting hit by the lightning bolts before she hovered a yard away from the sphere. “Now I can see why Princess Celestia considers you a threat!”

“Rainbow Dash, you leave him alone!” Fluttershy yelled back at the tomboyish pony. “I can’t believe what you’re doing to Harold, Dashie! All you do is point hooves at him and blame him for everything that happened today because he intended for all this to happen!”

Fluttershy paused for a moment as a worried thought ran across her head. “Umm...I mean you never meant for this to happen, right Harold?”

“What? Of course not!” Harold replied, exasperated. “This was an accident! An honest mistake! I swear, I would never do things on purp--!”

KSSSHH!!

“OH MY GOD!”

Harold’s rebuttal was rudely interrupted. Out of nowhere, a powerful lightning bolt struck through the sphere, creating a web of slowly-expanding cracks. The bolt only struck the sphere just above Harold’s head, but the weight of this scared-witless boy was too much for the fragile state of the sphere’s floor.

CRASH!

The sphere disintegrated, and its human prisoner fell on the grass with an “OOF!” Harold gasped for the sweet-tasting oxygen, feeling free from the intoxicating feeling of claustrophobia. After a few breaths of air, Harold chuckled lightly, feeling so relieved that he was finally out of the sphere for what seemed like days to him...if only two certain things hadn’t washed away this exciting feeling away.

First off, there was the serious matter of Twilight Sparkle. Her magic was on an unstoppable rampage and there was no cover against the magical lightning bolts. Then there was Rainbow Dash. She called out for his blood for humiliation and for somehow bringing harm to her friends.

“Oh my! Harold, are you alright?!” Fluttershy called out, rushing to Harold’s side worriedly. She helped lift him up from the ground by his arm. “You’re not hurt from the fall, are you!?”

“I’m okay, Fluttershy. I only fell an inch from the sphere,” Harold answered, slightly smiling. A lightning bolt zipped by and Harold was reeled back away by a reflex. “Whoa! Come on, we gotta go find cover somewhere! I don’t want anyone getting hurt!”

Harold turned to run to a safe distance from Twilight’s magical chaos. Then he met the angry raspberry eyes of Rainbow Dash, hovering just inches away from Harold’s scared blue eyes.

“Oh no you don’t! I’m not letting you take another step away from here unless you fix this mess of yours, pal!” Rainbow Dash chided, roughly poking the human in the chest until he tumbled onto his rear. “I knew there was something about you from the first time I saw you that didn’t seem right, and by Celestia, I was right! You planned this out from the beginning, haven’t you!?”

“Plan!? What are you talking about!?”

“What are you, dense as lead!? Look at what I’m talking about!” Rainbow Dash gestured a hoof towards the scene of chaos for Harold to see. Harold gasped lightly, now knowing the damage he’s accidentally created.

Overgrown cacti, houseplants and candy stood where trees used to stand. The stream of clear water was now a river of fizzy cola. The fish inhabiting the water puffed up like a helium balloon, wiggling their fins, desperately gasping for water. In the center of it all, Twilight began to wriggle slightly in her aura, causing her horn to shoot out a swarm of magenta beams. She looked like she was in a lot of pain.

And it was all Harold’s fault.

Harold looked down to the grass with his newfound guilt suddenly weighing him down. With this uneasy feeling giving him heartache, Harold said only one word. One word he regretted saying. One word that nearly sent Rainbow Dash flying up the wall.

“Oh.”

“‘Oh!?’ ‘Oh!?’ Is that all you have to say for yourself!? You create all of this chaos and the only thing you have to say is ‘oh!?’”

Rainbow Dash flew directly in Harold’s face, further intimidating the human. Harold inched himself backwards towards the river and the pegasus inched towards him at a similar pace. She was like a predatory animal, cornering its smaller, weak and defenseless before it made the big pounce.

“You come to Equestria, you stalk Fluttershy’s house, you damage my pride as Equestria’s Best Young Flier by crashing me into a tree and you let Twilight’s magic go haywire! And ‘oh’ is all that you can come up with!? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re a spy!”

Harold felt a familiar sense of fear coming form this unfriendly encounter with Rainbow Dash. It was the same feeling he experienced back on Earth, during all the times that Drake Singer and his boys backed him into a corner at school. He knew how this would go down and he needed someone to save him.

But this time, Lana was not here to save him and Harold knew perfectly well why.

Harold tightly gripped his locket, nearly breaking to the point of shedding tears.

“B-But... But I didn’t mean to... I... d-d-didn’t want this...”

“Oh, save it!” Rainbow Dash snapped, reeling her hoof back. “I’ve had enough of you and your lies!”

Rainbow Dash thrust her hoof towards Harold’s face. As if by instinct, Harold quickly shielded his visage with his hands, yelping distressfully as he expected yet another beating to happen. But the strike never happened. Harold peeked through his fingers and saw Fluttershy holding back Rainbow Dash’s attack. The gentle pegasus's face brimmed with sweat as she trembly held the striking hoof back with the full extent of her strength.

“Rainbow Dash, please stop! Violence is never gonna solve all of our problems!” Fluttershy grunted, her grip on Rainbow Dash beginning to break.

“Speak for yourself, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash replied brashly. “I’m gonna solve this problem before he does any more damage to anypony else!”

Fluttershy’s grip was nearly at its breaking point. Adding the sweat from the struggle of retaining Rainbow Dash’s hoof, it was only a matter of mere moments before the cyan pegasus gave Harold the beating of a lifetime. Harold whimpered, clutching his locket even tighter and covered his face with his other hand.

“Please, Rainbow Dash, don’t hurt him!” Fluttershy begged. “It wasn’t his fault that Twilight’s magic went out of control! This was an accident and you know it too!” Rainbow Dash looked to Fluttershy, still stewing in anger and denial as the yellow pegasus continued to keep her vise grip on the cyan hoof. “Please, Rainbow Dash. Don’t hurt him. I know you're angry with him, but you have to put it all aside! Twilight wouldn’t want you to hurt him and neither will I.”

With anger still taking hold, Rainbow Dash looked at Harold, his backside nearly over the edge of the stream. He kept one hand shielded over his face and the other hand on his locket. He was trembling and breathing shakily, tiny little sobs resounding from the cracks of his fingers.

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. There she was, Twilight floating in the aura, wriggling in intense pain. Beads of sweat dripped from the alicorn’s head down her face and evaporated into oblivion. A small tear formed at those burning bright white eyes and flowed down her cheek. She desperately wanted the pain to stop.

Then Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy, still holding back the raised hoof. Fluttershy’s face was saddened and scared, brimming with tears. She wanted Twilight’s pain gone too. Rainbow Dash turned back to Harold, who whimpered to tears underneath his hand. Even he wanted Twilight’s pain gone as well.

Rainbow Dash sighed sadly, lowering her hoof to her waist.

“Okay, Fluttershy. I won’t hurt him,” the tomboyish pegasus sighed. She turned to Harold, who uncovered his face after seeing her disarm her hoof. His eyes were still moistening from the fearful tears that leaked from his eyes, but he felt himself exhale slowly with relief. He was given the chance to live another moment today.

“But don’t think I’m not gonna take my eyes off of you for one split second,” Rainbow Dash stated, drawing her suspicious glower closer to Harold. “You may seem harmless right now, but you’re still that creature Princess Celestia warned us about. So if you as much as make a move on my friends, I’ll personally take you down. Capiche?”

Harold nodded his head.

“Good. Now what are we gonna do with--?”

“KYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH~!”

The two ponies and the human jumped to a shrill screeching noise. They knew whose voice it was and the amount of pain its owner was suffering from.

“Oh no! Twilight!” Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy shouted in unison.

Twilight screamed a bloodcurdling scream before she flashed opened her white, glowing eyes. The aura began to quickly expand. The lightning bolts bulleted out to places beyond the meadow now: to the mountains, to the skies and towards the location of the two ponies and the human who took cover at the edge of the transmogrified stream.

In short, Twilight’s magic became uncontrollable, more so with every painful waking minute.

Even with Harold, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy huddled against the edge of the cola river, it would be a matter of those short minutes before Twilight’s magic lightning bolts would strike them all down, one by one. They could try and run away from the chaos, but it wouldn’t feel right leaving just Twilight behind to suffer. There was no way out of this situation, providing a miracle would come along and save them from a horrifying fate.

This also seemed unlikely.

“Poor Twilight. Just look at her,” Fluttershy whispered fearfully, curling up into a trembling ball. “She looks like she’s in absolute pain.”

“I know. Look at how much she’s struggling in there,” Rainbow Dash concurred, sharing the same worried feeling with her timid friend and the human she was still suspicious of. “It’s like she’s got a massive headache or something. If Twilight keeps creating this much chaos, then she may not live to see another day.”

Suddenly, something in Harold’s mind clicked.

“Headache... headache...”

“Oh. I just wish there was some way to help Twilight,” Fluttershy said.

“Help Twilight... headache... help Twilight’s headache!”

“THAT’S IT!”

Harold’s burst shocked both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy backwards and all three of them tumbled into the river of cola, just before a lightning bolt struck where they sat. Groping for the multicolored ledge, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Harold hoisted themselves onto the dry land, all soaked from head to toe in the sweet and sticky drink.

Rainbow Dash coughed the cola that seeped into her lungs and shook her self off to dry. Her wings were wet and sticky, so flying was made nearly impossible for her. “What’s...*cough, cough*...what’s the big idea, scaring me like that!?” the cyan pegasus sputtered to Harold, hacking out the cola from her lungs. “Now how am I supposed to fly with my wings all wet down and stuck down!?”

“Eh...sorry,” Harold stammered. “But I think I have an idea as to how we can save your princess friend. Fluttershy, do you still have some of that peppermint oil you used to cure my migraine with?” he asked the other pegasus, who also coughed out the fizzy drink, but with a more gentle volume.

“Y-Y-Yes...*cough*...Yes, Harold,” Fluttershy stammered, still shaken up from both Harold’s outburst and the dunk in the cola river. She reached back behind her pink, elongated mane and pulled out a familiar porcelain jar filled with the strong-scented peppermint oil she used on Harold’s forehead earlier today. She stashed it away for a special occasion just in case Harold’s migraine acted up again in the dungeons...if Harold was sent to the dungeons. That all depended on what Princess Celestia had to say first.

Harold took the jar from Fluttershy and clasped it gently with both hands on the round sides and an idealistic spark flaring inside. “This is it! This is how we can save your princess!” Harold stated, boggled by the sudden shock of his idea. “All we have to do is apply some of this oil where her head hurts and the pain will be gone! Simple as that!”

“Yeeeeeah, I don’t know,” Rainbow Dash replied skeptically. “I mean, how do we even know that using that stuff would help stop Twilight’s magic? We don’t even know if a dab of that oil would even work on alicorns with headaches!”

“No, but that’s a risk we have to take,” Harold responded, holding the jar of oil to Rainbow Dash. “Besides, I’m not sure if just a small dab of this fine peppermint oil would do the trick myself. That’s why I’m planning to throw it all over her head.”

“Ah, no, no, no, no. I’m not gonna let you get Twilight covered with that stuff.”

“Why not?” Harold looked at his arms spread out to his sides, then down at his shirt. “We’re wet, sticky and we smell like cola. It’s only fair that we cover her with this sweet stuff before her magic spreads out past the meadow.”

“Except, we have to get through that.” Rainbow Dash pointed her hoof out to the scene.

The barrage of lightning bolts doubled within minutes of the trio’s dwindling action. Two lightning bolts came crashing down near the three. One lightning bolt expanded the height of a small ladybug to the size of a Volkswagen. Unsheathing its wings, the once graceful ladybug rapidly fluttered its wings, sounding quite similar to the propellers of an old air plane. The gusts from the wingbeats nearly blew the three mammalians back into the cola stream as the ladybug hovered into the air and into the the blue skies.

The other lightning bolt struck a little white flower with a yellow center. The flower grew in size, to the size of a two-story house. It grew sharp, vicious teeth, dripping green liquid that puddled underneath its jagged orifice. The flower bellowed out a roar at the three, spraying them with the green substance that drenched them in a slimy, wet mess. The roar left the hair on their heads sticking out behind them and their eyes as wide as dinner saucers.

“That does it!” Rainbow Dash broke the silence, swiping the jar from Harold and hovering in the air. The ferocious flora’s roar must’ve dried the pegasus mares’ wings off. “We’re splashing this stuff on Twilight’s head before this whole situation gets a whole lot worse!”

Rainbow Dash took off towards the lightning storm. Her intention to save Twilight in the eye of the storm was potent, despite the sticky and unsafe shape her wings were in. The carnivorous plant roared again and lunged itself into Rainbow Dash’s direction. Harold and Fluttershy gasped in utter horror as the flower prepared to devour the cyan pegasus.

“Rainbow Dash, watch out!” Fluttershy shrieked.

Rainbow Dash turned just in time to see the shadow of the flower’s upper jaw loom over her. Narrowing her eyes, Rainbow Dash backed herself out from the darkness of the flower’s maw in a flash. Then, using her ability of supersonic speed, the cyan pegasus darted forwards and bucked the flower in the jaw, knocking it down backwards in one shot. As the flower laid crumpled on the multicolored grass, Rainbow Dash looked down at the plant with a smug smirk.

“Ha! Think you could make a meal out of me, Equestria’s Best Flyer and current Wonderbolt in-training!?” she yelled triumphantly at the beaten flora, proudly holding up the hoof with the jar of peppermint oil in it. “Well, too bad, you overgrown weed! You’re never gonna eat me, Rainbow Dash, Equestria’s fastest--!”

KZZZZZT!

“WHOA!”

A random lightning bolt zipped past Rainbow Dash’s head, just inches from the left shoulder and her cheek. The shocked reaction caused Rainbow Dash to flail with her arms...dropping the jar she so carelessly carried in her grasp. The jar flipped in the air, the lid fell off and the contents spilled all over.

Fluttershy gasped as the final hope for helping Twilight was falling to the ground. Without a second thought, the timid pegasus broke out of her shyness shell and dashed out into the field and straight into the storm. With desperation and bravery acting as the adrenaline coursing through her veins, Fluttershy ran straight through the bullets of bolts, ducking, jumping and even rolling to avoid getting struck and end up as part of the chaos. Her eyes were fixated on the jar which neared its landing on the ground.

Using all the strengths in her hind legs, Fluttershy jumped, hooves extended outwards to catch the jar. Harold’s breath was still; Rainbow Dash chewed on her hooftips nervously. Fluttershy dove onto the ground just as the jar fell down...and down...and down...right onto her forehooves. The jar landed upside, all of the oil contents spilled inside and was topped off with the lid. Ten points to Fluttershy for such an amazing catch.

Everyone sighed in relief. But then, a swarm of magic lightning bolts attacked Fluttershy, striking near and around the pegasus. Fluttershy darted off to her left with the jar held daintily in her jaws. A lightning bolt struck right in front of her, blocking her escape and caused her to yelp. Fluttershy turned tail and ran the opposite direction, only to be stopped by another lightning bolt strike. She turned and ran towards Harold’s direction, but once more, another lightning bolt prevented her escape. Fluttershy yelled out in fear and ducked down flat to the ground, both forehooves covering her head.

“Oh no! Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash yelled, dashing in to save her friend. Her attempts to dive for Fluttershy was unfortunately cut off by an onslaught of lightning bolts, making flight nearly impossible for her.

Harold watched on in shock as Fluttershy was stuck in the line of lightning bolts. He knew it was only a matter of seconds before a stray lightning bolt would strike Fluttershy and turn her into God knows what. If that happened, Harold would never pay her back in kindness for all that she’s done for him. There was no way he would let that happen to her!

Quickly getting on his feet, Harold ran straight into the lightning storm, screaming his head off. Running into the field of freaky lightning was truly a terrifying experience for Harold. He dodged off to the sides, rolled on the multicolored clash and ducked away in order to avoid being hit by the raw magical energy dispersed all over the meadow.

Miraculously, Harold found himself lying on the ground next to Fluttershy. He crawled over to the trembling pegasus, still clutching the jar of oil close to her. Without a second thought, Harold scooped her up in his arms and proceeded out of the lightning storm.

“Are you okay!?” Harold asked Fluttershy.

“Y-Y-Yes. I-I’m fine,” Fluttershy squeaked. “But we have to go back! We have to cure Twilight’s migraine!”

“Are you kidding me!?” Harold said loudly, his arms sore from carrying Fluttershy. “You almost got hit with those bolts! There’s no way we can go back without putting ourselves at risk of getting hit again!”

“I know, but this oil is all we have left to save Twilight!”

Harold gazed down to the jar. He heard the peppermint-scented liquid slosh around in its porcelain walls with every stride he took away from the storm...and away from curbing Twilight’s painful migraine. Harold groaned exhaustedly as his arms became intensely sore and beet red carrying Fluttershy. He skidded his running to a halt, turned tail and dashed back into the storm.

“Woof! For someone who flies gently in the air, Fluttershy doesn’t feel light,” Harold thought to himself, running in the lightning storm with Fluttershy in his weakening arms. The pattern was becoming familiar for Harold: run into a lightning storm, try and get the oil on Twilight’s aching head, retreat back out because the lightning storm suddenly became stronger. The two were on the home stretch to Twilight and sorting out the magical mayhem once and for all...

...But then, fate turned a cruel hand. A lightning bolt struck the ground in front of Harold, causing him to stumble around and trip over his shoe in shock. The stumbling sent Fluttershy soaring out of Harold’s arms with the oil jar still in her clutches. The two landed belly-first on the grass, nearly grazed by the low-riding lightning bolts.

Rainbow Dash gasped as she saw her timid friend get caught in the line of fire. “Hold on Fluttershy, I’m coming!” she shouted, taking a mad dive into the storm. The lightning bolts made flying extremely difficult for the cyan pegasus, but she was driven by the urge to save Fluttershy and end this madness.

As for Harold, his luck was changed for the worst. He staggered up on his sore arms and coughing what was left of the wind that was knocked out of him. An oncoming electric hum immediately caught his attention...and not in a good way. Harold turned his gaze and saw a lightning bolt flying directly towards him. He tried to scream, but there was no sound coming out of his mouth. He tried to move, but he was frozen in both fear and exhaustion.

This was finally the end of Harold DeMatt.

Time seemed to slow down. Slowly and inevitably, the lightning bolt was just mere inches away from directly hitting him in the face.

Then he felt a rough shove at his side, causing him to turn to his left. He looked in fright as he saw Fluttershy pushed him away from the path of the lightning bolt with a scared and deeply concerned look. With a split second and her final effort, Fluttershy pushed the jar of oil from her hooves and into Harold’s chest.

The lightning bolt struck Fluttershy.

In a flash of horrifying light, Harold saw the scared and valiant form of Fluttershy drop down hard on the grass. The Fluttershy he knew for only a little while and loved was gone. There was only a statue, a lifeless stone figure of a pegasus with a scared face and outstretched hooves. A desperate move for the sake of a friend’s life.

“FLUTTERSHY!” Rainbow Dash glided above the grass speed down the barrage of oncoming lightning bolts at jet speed. In all the pandemonium that took place, Rainbow Dash was too distraught to even notice the single lightning bolt that struck her side. The cyan pegasus yelped in sharp pain, then fell to the ground. She looked back at her sides and made a horrifying discovery.

Her wings were sent to oblivion.

“No.” The cyan ex-pegasus whimpered before she scrunched her face up in intense sadness. Sorrowful tears began to well up in her raspberry eyes. She squeezed them shut as she cantered off to the lifeless stone body of Fluttershy, sadly looming over it. “F-Fluttershy? Fluttershy?”

The stone pegasus said nothing.

Stone was stone; cold and lifeless.

Rainbow Dash turned her head away from the statue, her eyes squeezed shut and the tears running down her cheeks. Silently, she sobbed to the ground to mourn her fallen friend, Fluttershy. Fluttershy, the timid caretake of the animals of the forests; the pony who represented the Element of Kindness; the pony who became Rainbow Dash’s first true friend. Now she was nothing but a formed piece of rock.

Harold sat on the ground, still as Fluttershy’s stone body. The lightning bolts all zipped past him as he stared off into the abyss, his mind torn apart by the witnessing of Fluttershy’s passing. His arms creaked and shuddered as he placed them on both sides of his drooping, weighing head.

“Why Fluttershy? Why did you take that hit for me? Why did you save a nobody like me?? Why did you even help me??” Harold shook his head violently as memories of that dreadful day began to deluge in his mind. The day his sister died in front of his eyes and in his arms.

“No. No! This is not how I wanted to repay you, Fluttershy! I never came here for you to make me go through this again! I didn’t make it this far on my journey for you to die for me! Please, Fluttershy, you have to wake up! You have to! I want to learn more about Equestria! I want to learn how to be friends! You have to help me get back to Earth because there’s too much riding on my sister’s last wish! So please, Fluttershy, wake up! Wake up!! Wake up!!!”

Harold opened his mouth, sounding off tiny cries. In a fit of sadness and the memories of the worst day of his life overwhelming him, Harold shot his head backwards and bellowed out to the blue skies above.

“LANA!”

Chapter 10: The Gang's All Here (Re-Edited)

The silence inside the halls of Canterlot Castle became very foreboding. Everypony took an early leave for the day, no questions asked, no questions answered. A multitude of armor-clad unicorn and Earth stallions kept a strict watch over the walls of the castle, while the armored pegasi looked down from the skies over the fair city of Canterlot.

Nopony knew exactly why the Princesses ordered a watch on Canterlot of all days, but they knew it was something serious. Not since the Changeling invasion of Canterlot during the royal wedding of Captain Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza had there been a 24/7 watch with a big number of soldiers staring down at the citizens with hardened glares. Only this time, the issue at hoof was not issued to the citizens of Canterlot, nor the guards were informed of the matter.

That was something both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna decided to keep highly classified.

The grand hall of Canterlot Castle echoed with the dainty and regal hoofsteps of Celestia’s nervous pace at the top of the red carpet staircase. She whipped her head towards the windows, her patience and calmness hanging by only a thread as she watched for Twilight Sparkle and her friends to arrive to Canterlot.

Celestia sighed sadly.

She knew something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.

Celestia resumed to pace the top of the stairs with her uneasiness beginning to get the best of her. As the alabaster alicorn turned in her nervous trot, Luna kept watch over her sister, feeling the same unsettling feeling within her. Heaving a sigh of melancholy, Luna went over to Celestia and laid a hoof on her shoulder. “Fear not, dear sister. Have faith that Twilight Sparkle and the others will be here soon,” the dark blue alicorn said reassuringly. “Once they arrive, they’ll be able to resolve the matter soon.”

“That’s just what I’m afraid of, Luna,” Celestia said, not looking to Luna from her drooping head. “For once in my life, I am not sure if Twilight Sparkle and her friends will be able to resolve this matter this time. Twilight has faced many enemies in the past, but this is one foe she may not be able to defeat, even with the powers of the Elements of Harmony on her side. I’m afraid this time, Equestia will fall into ruin.”

“But surely you know that Twilight has saved Equestria many times before as well. If you know your student better than I do, than you must know that Twilight will do everything in her power to prevent His return and--.”

“AND WHAT!?” Celestia snapped at Luna, eyes brimming with scared tears. “What will she do to save Equestria from Him!? What will she do to resolve this matter before He returns!? What will she do to survive His wrath!? Answer me that, Luna!”

Luna shrunk back in terror as Celestia towered over her, glowering into her cyan eyes. Celestia’s raging eyes were like a javelin piercing into Luna’s soul, shattering every shard of hope she had to comfort her sister.

“Celestia?”

“Have you forgotten what He did to every pony and every woodland creature that now reside in the Everfree Forest!? Have you forgotten what He did to you to transform you into Nightmare Moon!? Have you forgotten how many ponies gave their lives to end His reign!?”

Celestia lowered herself into Luna’s face, the latter’s eyes as wide as dinner plates and leaking bitter tears. “Have you forgotten what He did to Terra!?” Celestia asked with her voice cracking at the aforementioned name.

Luna gasped mildly, nearly choking into small sobbing. Her eyes watered as she remembered losing the pony known as Terra to the forces of darkness during those dark times. The thoughts of losing Terra, the images of Luna being turned into Nightmare Moon and the distinct memories of the ponies and the innocent animals subjected to the darkness caused her sadness to fester inside like a deadly disease. Luna couldn’t help but shed a sorrowful tear.

“We... I wished that every day, Tia. For the past thousand years, while I was sealed away in the moon, I wished I could forget the pain and the suffering he subjected us to.” Luna looked at her sister with a face of extreme sadness. “By the nine-hundredth year, I got my wish, Tia. Up until this day, I forgot all the dark times He put us through and I told myself never to look back.

“But now that His dark presence has been felt, we can no longer ignore the fact that His return is almost upon us! The pain we once felt will return along with the near-death of Equestria! There can be no way for us to prevent it from happening again!”

Luna dropped her head down, breaking into tears. Her sobs somehow brought Celestia from her overly anxious stupor. Then Celestia, being a dear and caring sister, trotted over to Luna and pulled her in with her wing in a comforting embrace, joining in with the shedding of tears as well.

“What are we going to do, Tia?” Luna asked, sniffling hard.

“I don’t know, Luna,” Celestia answered, pulling Luna closer to her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut. Teardrops leaked down her delicate white face as she turned to the windows to the blue skies beyond the stained glass. “I just don’t know.”

All of a sudden, a purple light flashed before Celestia. The light dissipated, and its place, a parchment scroll tied in a red ribbon. Celestia was relieved to know the scroll was sent from Twilight Sparkle. She also deduced that she used her advanced teleportation spell on this roll of paper because she didn’t use Spike’s dragon fire to send her the scroll. He must’ve gotten sick from her flying again.

Though Twilight didn’t have any success using the spell on living creatures, she could still manage to teleport small objects. The object, for instance, was the scroll that Celestia opened with her golden aura. Celestia read the contents of the scroll once, then twice for clarification. After reading the scroll a third time, Celestia’s eyes widened in surprise. Luna’s concern grew ever more slightly as she observed her sister’s shocked reaction to the letter.

“Sister, what’s wrong?” Luna asked.

Celestia kept her shocked gaze to her scroll, ignoring Luna’s question. Of the four times the alicorn read the letter to herself, the fifth reading remained a shock to her.

“No. This is not possible. How can it be so?” Celestia wondered, reading the letter a sixth time. “Am I reading this letter correctly? Have I gone mad with all this pressure I felt this morning? There is no way Twilight mentioned in this letter that a human made his way to Equestria! Not since...”

Celestia gasped as she realized the identity of the human.

“Oh no. Mother help me.”

CRACK!! BOOOOOOOM!!

Celestia and Luna both jumped to a loud explosion, like a giant clap of thunder before they were enveloped in a quick flash of light. The castle shook from the tremor of the explosion; the chandeliers dangled and rung like little crystal wind chimes; and every window, transparent or stained-glass nearly shattered from the high volume of the explosion.

Recovering from the sudden tremor, Celestia and Luna looked around the castle to asses any damages. While there was no real damage done to the castle, except for making their ears ring for about five seconds, Celestia and Luna both spotted an unusual glow shining from out of their windows.

The alicorn sisters looked out beyond the stained windows. There, in the meadow just beyond the borders of Ponyville, was a strange magenta light, expanding slowly, minute by minute. Lightning bolts shot from the light to the sky above and to the edge of the meadow, creating mayhem around that area. Celestia easily recognized the raw magic. She had not seen this much raw power for over ten years ago.

“Tia, what is happening?” Luna asked. “Who is creating such powerful magic?”

“Twilight Sparkle. Something must’ve made her magic run loose again,” Celestia said dryly, narrowing her eyes at the chaotic scene taking place at the meadow. “It seems that we are two steps closer until He reveals himself, dear Luna. If what His minion said 1,000 years ago is true, then this day doesn’t prove good for not only the wellbeing of our subjects, but for the entire Earth as well.”

Luna looked at the side of her sister’s stoic and serious face in worry. The two watched outside the windows of the hall as the magenta light continued to grow bigger.

==================================================================

“AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!”

*GASP*

“AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Over the loud hum of Twilight’s magic aura and the electrical currents of the flying lightning bolts, Harold’s wailing of despair echoed the loudest throughout the meadow. His eyes were bloodshot from the tears rolling down his face, lifeless even. His upturned head faced the heavens, bellowing out his intense pain.

He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it.

But he did.

One minute ago, his newfound friend, a kindly yellow pegasus with an outstandingly long pink mane was struck with adrenaline as she saved him from that lightning bolt. Now she laid there, on the blue-and-red diamond patterned grass, a stone statue with a fearful look on her face. It was because of Harold that Fluttershy lost her life to save him.

Harold could barely breathe with his crying depriving him of his oxygen. Fluttershy’s sacrifice reminded him too distinctly about that dreaded day. That rainy day when Harold’s life changed for the worst. The day when he became a broken body containing a scarred, beating heart. The day that happened only one month ago.

The day that Lana died.

February the 14th, also known as St. Valentine’s Day.

The holiday on Earth that brought hearts together was the day that shattered Harold’s fragile heart in a sick, ironic way. He remembered that day well like it was yesterday. As he bawled up towards the blue skies, the images and the buried pain from last St. Valentine’s Day began to eat their way into his brain.

As clear as crystal, Harold saw himself falling onto his backside on the street crosswalk onto the other side of the lane. He remembered the terror he felt as he saw the yellow Camaro’s fender inches away from Lana. Harold never did see the face of the driver’s shadowed figure, but he remembered the scared look on Lana’s face just before the Camaro hit her square on.

Harold saw himself now, cradling Lana’s head in his lap. Her face was decorated in bright red bruises and painted with crimson trickling down the left side of her face from her hairline. The pouring rain did nothing to wash away the blood from Lana’s visage, nor did it comfort the pain coursing through Harold’s upturned face.

Then there was that image. The image of Lana’s final smile as she closed her eyes for the last time.

Now, as the lifeless stone body of Fluttershy laid under the barrage of lightning bolts, Harold felt he was reliving the exact same moment in a world full of ponies. Harold dropped his down. His tears dripped from his chin and formed a small puddle of the bitter liquid on the grass as his sobbing’s volume matched with the hum of the aura.

As for Rainbow Dash, she took this loss harder than the human’s exhibitions of sorrow. The sadness of losing Fluttershy, her one and oldest friend was overwhelming. The burning rage towards Harold boiled deep inside her. The pain of a newly broken heart nearly made Rainbow Dash stagger as the ex-pegasus shot her upset glance to Harold.

“What do you have cry about!? This was your fault that Fluttershy’s gone in the first place!!” Rainbow Dash snapped. Harold’s familiar pain was too great for him to hear the former pegasus proceed to chew him out. “I hope you’re happy with yourself, Hue-Man!! I just lost my best friend because she had to stick her neck out for you!! Now you have the guts to cry over her dead body!? If it weren’t for Fluttershy protecting you, I would’ve loved nothing more than to... to...”

Rainbow Dash felt a lump form in her throat before she could she could finish confessing her urges to beat Harold into a pulp with her very own hooves. It felt like the spirit of Fluttershy held her violence back, as the timid pegasus’s voice echoed through her head.

******************************************************************************

"Yes, Rainbow Dash, I knew that he was the creature warned you about. But do you want to know something else? I knew that he was at my cottage all this time! That's why I had to stall you two for time until he made his escape! The nerve of you both for treating him like some wild animal!”

"I was afraid you would take him to Princess Celestia and throw him in the dungeon. I couldn't let you two do that to a child because I thought it would be a bit unethical if you did."

"All I care about right now is for the wellbeing of my friend. I mean, just look at him. This poor boy has been through enough as it is, and both of you are treating him like he's some common enemy."

"Look, I know this may sound exaggerated, but that 'thing' you're referring to, Dashie? He's called a human, and I know this may sound crazy, but deep down in my heart, I can see that he is a gentle soul! He wouldn't want to harm anypony unless he was provoked! Now look at what you're doing! All you're doing is keeping him locked away like an animal against his freewill and acting like a bully! Have you two no shame!?"

“Because that’s what friends are for, Rainbow Dash! And as a friend, I’m going to do everything I can to help him on his journey back to his own world so he could fulfill a promise he made to somepony near and dear to him! If you can’t accept that, then I'm not coming with you to Canterlot!”

"Twilight, if helping a friend means facing a punishment from Princess Celestia herself, then that's something I have to take."

“Rainbow Dash, please stop! Violence is never gonna solve all of our problems!”

“Please, Rainbow Dash, don’t hurt him! It wasn’t his fault that Twilight’s magic went out of control! This was an accident and you know it too! Please, Rainbow Dash. Don’t hurt him. Twilight wouldn’t want you to hurt him and neither will I.”

******************************************************************************

All at once, the voices of Fluttershy came crashing down on Rainbow Dash. She grit her teeth down hard and yelled out mourningly to the sky, unable to bottle up her feelings any longer. Rainbow Dash threw herself over Fluttershy’s cold stone body and wept hard into her granite hair.

She was sorry she couldn’t save Fluttershy from a horrifying fate. She was sorry she couldn’t take the hit instead of her friend. She was sorry she wanted so desperately to beat Harold for causing Twilight’s magic to go berserk by accident. Most of all, she was sorry she wasn’t there to help stop this madness.

Now, in her sickening feeling of conflicting rage and despair, Rainbow Dash was reduced to hugging the statue of Fluttershy and shedding bitter tears. Her cries were not as loud as Harold’s, but it was nonetheless, heard from a quarter of a mile away. The volume of the crying was proven as Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up and swiveled to the far distance of the meadow.

“Twilight!? Fluttershy!?”

Rainbow Dash lifted her head and gazed towards the meadow’s distance. Through the distorted vision of her tear-stained eyes, she spotted shapes of orange, white and pink gallop over the small hill beyond the radius of the lightning storm. Rainbow Dash cracked a relieved smile as she saw her friends, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie come into clear focus, wearing worried masks on their scared faces.

As the three mares galloped to the meadow of the magical chaos where Pinkie Pie predicted moments before it happened, she, Applejack and Rarity were rudely met with lightning bolts striking near them in an erratic pattern. Applejack ducked away from a bolt, her Stetson hat flying in the air and landing back on its owner’s head. Rarity yelped dramatically as she skidded away from each striking bolt that hit the ground. Pinkie Pie jumped jovially into the chaos, singing her little tune while she jumped over and under the lightning bolts.

Rainbow Dash’s saddened face instantly transformed into a face of reassurance. “Guys?” Suddenly, she jumped up and cantered off towards her friends with the magical lightning bolts shooting alongside the cyan pony without grazing her or the mares she ran off to. Tiny droplets of tears trailed behind Rainbow Dash as she launched herself at Applejack. “Guys!”

“Rainbow Dash!? What in tarnati--OOF!”

Before Applejack could finish her question, Rainbow Dash tackled her Iron Pony rival. With the speed of her hooves and the force of the impact, both mares were spinning in circle of blurred orange, blue and rainbow colors. The spinning mares hit a rock sticking out of the ground, flew up in the air and landed at the bottom of a small hill. When the dust finally settled, Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked on and saw Rainbow Dash hugging Applejack in a vise grip, sobs muffled into her chest fur.

Applejack hacked a cough from the force of the impact. Looking down on the tomboyish pegasus clinging tightly to her chest, Applejack wriggled her forehooves until they popped out of the grip and pushed Rainbow Dash off of her.

“Rainbow Dash! What in Celestia’s name is goin’ on here!?” Applejack yelled as she glowered down at the cyan pony on the ground. Her stern expression turned to worry as Rainbow Dash looked at her with her big, glimmering, tearing eyes. “Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh guys! I’m so glad you’re all here!” Rainbow Dash wept. She quickly hugged one of Applejack’s hooves, who pulled it away out of her grasp.

“Rainbow Dash! Just what in tarnation is goin’ on!?” Applejack asked. “Why is there lightning shootin’ all over like Trixie’s fireworks!?”

“And darling! What in the name of Celestia happened to your magnificent wings!?” Rarity gasped, pointing to the empty space between her mane and her Cutie Mark.

“And why is there super-delicious peppermint twist sticks left out in the field when there is nopony else to gobble them up!?” Pinkie Pie asked frantically. She jumped in the air and revved her hind legs to dash to the candy cane trees in the chaotic lightning storm, only to have Applejack’s lasso tied around her tail before she could take off. Pinkie Pie ran in the air for about five seconds before she bellyflopped on the ground.

“Settle down there, Pinkie Pie! This ain’t the right time ta think about eatin’ sweet stuff, this here’s serious business!” Applejack chided as she spat her lasso out of her mouth. She turned her attention to the tearful, wingless Rainbow Dash lying flat on the ground. “Rainbow Dash, what’s goin’ on with this crazy weather, and why are yer wings missin’... and why are ya cryin’?”

Rainbow Dash wiped her tears away from her eyes and sniffled. “Alright. Alright. You all know about Princess Celestia’s letter to Twilight, right?” Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie all nodded simultaneously to her question. “Did she ever tell you guys what she wrote in that letter?”

“Eenope.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“I’m afraid not.”

“Well, Princess Celestia said that some alien creature was gonna bring down Equestria! So when Twilight and I went to Fluttershy’s to pick her up, Spike saw the creature stalking around in her backyard! We chased him all the way down here and...” Rainbow Dash buried her face into her hooves. “...and he did something to Twilight.”

“What did he do ta Twilight?”

“I don’t know, AJ!” Rainbow Dash snapped, shocking Applejack a foot backwards. “I don’t know what he did and how he did it, but that creature caused Twilight’s magic to go haywire! We all pitched in to calm her magic down but things got out of hoof! That creature was about to be hit by Twilight’s magic, then Fluttershy... she... she...”

Rainbow Dash was cut from her story as she felt herself compelled to sob into her hooves again. She pointed her hoof to the field over the top of the hill, gesturing the three other mares to witness the chaos Rainbow Dash referred to.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity peeked over the top of the hill. Past the mound and into the lightning was a field plunged into an array of madness, much more chaotic that Discord’s reign over Ponyville. The grass was a blot-like mess of bright multi-colored diamond pattern quilts. The trees nearby were either tall pieces of candy, giant houseplants or floating in midair. The fish bloating like a balloon were lifted high up into the sky. Not surprisingly, the passing clouds became levitated piles of cotton candy.

In the center of it all was none other than Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight squirmed greatly in her own magic, subjected to every painful throbbing headaches that surged through her horn. The pain was weakening her mentally and physically at the minute, by the minute.

Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie caught the glimpse to their right of what they assumed to be the “alien creature” Rainbow Dash mentioned. His head was drooped down, letting his slightly long brownish-blonde hair block the views of his tear-stained eyes. His clothes, much to Rarity’s disgust, were wrinkled and stained with dirt. Lying at his knees was a statue of a pegasus pony.

There was something about the statue that seemed familiar... too familiar.

Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie all squinted to get a better look at the statue. The stature had a long mane and tail reaching past her underbelly. Her big shy eyes had shrunken pupils etched in the center. Their eyes were caught by three butterflies pictured on her flank.

Then the three mares gasped.

They lost their composure as they soon realized the statue lying at the creature’s knees was Fluttershy. Although they weren’t exactly there when the incident with Twilight’s magic began, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie developed the sad picture of how Rainbow Dash’s story would’ve ended. It ended with the cost of their dear friend’s life for the life of the alien creature.

“No,” Applejack whispered. “Is that statue...?”

“Yes.”

“And that creature,” Rarity whimpered. “Is that...?”

“Yes.”

“And Twilight?” Pinkie squeaked. “Did that mean-meanie pants...?”

“Yes.”

The mares were abruptly brought to tears by the horrifying confirmation of Twilight’s magical rampage and of Fluttershy’s lifeless form. Rarity covered her mouth with her hoof in shock. Applejack placed her hat to her chest and bowed her head down. Pinkie’s mane deflated from its usual puffy form as her tears poured from her eyes like a fountain. The three mares joined Rainbow Dash with mourning their fallen friend, all four mares huddled in a pile of saddened orange, cyan, white and pale pink

Then Applejack grit her teeth hard. She snarled an angry cowgirl’s growl as she slammed her Stetson hat onto her head. “Why, that no good, two-bit varmint!” Applejack yelled, snorting steam from her nostril. “How dare he come ta Equestria an’ put our friends in harm’s way! Ah oughta buck him to Appleloosa so cousin Braeburn can buck him to the badlands!”

“I’m afraid I have to agree with you, Applejack,” Rarity concurred. “Have you taken a good look at that thing? His mane looks so rancid and his garments are... ugghhh... so garish, not to mention filthy. I’m sorry, but that creature has got to go!”

“Yeah! I say we go over there and teach that mean Mr. Alien Pants a lesson by giving him a one-way ticket to the moon with my Party Cannon!” Pinkie Pie screeched angrily, earning two agreeing chants from the cowgirl and the fashion designer.

“Hear, hear!”

“Wait!”

Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie galloped no more than 3 steps when they were blocked from their path by the wingless Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were narrowed down, puffy and crimson from her shedding tears. Her cheeks were soaked to the skin as a reminder of the sadness she felt from minutes’ past. Heavy breaths were hissed through gritted teeth as Rainbow Dash glowered at them with her defensive stance.

“Are you guys crazy!? You can’t go rushing in the meadow just to give that guy a good thrashing!! If you go out in there, you’re all going to end up like Fluttershy!!” Rainbow Dash yelled, pointing to Fluttershy’s statue form.

“But what are we supposed ta do now, Rainbow Dash!? If we can’t go out in the meadow we’re nothin’ but sittin’ ducks out here!” Applejack rebutted.

“Ducks...”

Pinkie Pie pouted her lip sadly, pulling a happy photograph from her mane of her and Fluttershy sitting together in Sugarcube Corner, smiling like there was nothing wrong in the world. Fluttershy had a nice vanilla milkshake sitting on the table while Pinkie Pie sipped her strawberry milkshake in her hooves.

“I remember when Fluttershy cared the little duckies so much, she would lead a bunch of them to the lake so they could live like a family...” Pinkie Pie suddenly clasped the photograph to her chest and wailed herself another fountain of tears. “I MISS FLUTTERSHY ALREADY!”

As the bubbly pony wept for Fluttershy yet again, Rarity trotted over to her and pulled her in for a comforting embrace. Her mascara ran down her face in synchronization with her flowing tears as she gently rubbed the back of Pinkie’s back.

“Pinkie Pie, I miss our dear Fluttershy as much as you do,” Rarity assured the weeping pony. “But we must put her death aside for the sake of saving Twilight’s life. If we don’t stop Twilight from releasing anymore magic right now, then we may lose another dear friend in no time at all.”

“And that’s not the worst of it,” Rainbow Dash added. “If Twilight keeps using her magic, it might spread to Ponyville. Heck, it could even spread throughout all of Equestria and that’s gonna make a certain draconequus very happy! We have to stop Twilight before she turns Equestria into Discord’s newest playground!”

“So how do ya propose we do that, Rainbow?” Applejack asked.

Rainbow Dash turned her gaze to the sad form of the human, who miraculously was still alive and kicking in the field. She looked on emotionlessly as she saw the human rocking himself back and forth. He sung a tune to himself, but she couldn’t hear the words he mouthed.

“Don’t worry about that, AJ. We already had a plan forming when things went horribly wrong with Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash answered, looking away from the traumatized human. “Besides, with all of you guys here, I’m gonna need all the help I can get.”

“Rainbow, in all my life, this must be the first time Ah’ve heard ya asked somepony ta help ya out,” Applejack said tilting her Stetson hat over her eyes. “But an Apple never refuses ta help a friend in need. Ah’m more than willin’ ta help you sort this situation out.”

“Indeed,” Rarity replied with a slight smile of determination. “I cannot bear to live with myself if I allow this commotion to continue without me to help clean this mess. You may count me in.”

“Ooh, ooh! I wanna help! I wanna help!” Pinkie Pie piped up, her sadness suddenly switched to happiness. “I’m not gonna lose anymore of my bestest-best friends today! I promise to help my bestest friends in any way I can! That’s my Pinkie Promise!”

Rainbow Dash knew there was truth within her friends’ promises. She cracked a sporting grin and pulled her friends in for a huddle. “Alright guys, let’s do this thing. We’re not doing this only for Fluttershy but for Twilight as well.”

“Eeyup.”

“Absolutely.”

“LET’S DO IT!”

“Alright." Rainbow Dash pulled the three mares closer into a more tightening huddle. "Listen up, girls, ‘cause here’s what we’re gonna do.”

==================================================================

Harold couldn’t breathe.

His breaths were drained away slowly with every cry wailed from his newly broken heart.

Even if he could breathe, he would only have a little bit of time to suck in the oxygen needed before he could sing the verses of “Goodbye Blue Sky” to himself in a slurred tone. He rocked himself back and forth slowly as his consciousness faded from the lack of oxygen with his crying, bit by bit.

He figured he would pass out with the lack of oxygen and go about the rest of the day subconsciously like a stringless puppet. He figured a lightning bolt could help put him out of his misery and reunite him with Lana in the afterlife. He figured that this Princess Celestia would lock him in the dungeons for accidental regicide and lock him away in the dungeons until the end times arrived. Maybe he would be executed for such a heinous crime.

Either way, he didn’t care.

He was gonna die one way or another for those crimes.

This was not the first time he thought such depressing thoughts. Harold went through this phase many times, but this deep layer of depression was similar to the feeling he felt for a week after Lana died. After the burial ceremony in the old cemetery, Harold fell deeper and deeper into the abyss. His parents, Ahab and Deveraux DeMatt, refused to bury their only daughter at the foot of the apple blossom tree in the mansion gardens because it would “desecrate the beauty of the gardens their people worked so hard to make.”

The apple blossom tree was like Paradise on Earth for Harold. It was the premiere place for him to hang around with Lana, playing with each other, having picnic lunches on the weekends or taking long naps under the shining sun. The butlers, maids and gardeners all agreed that seeing the two of them together underneath the apple blossom tree somehow made their day brighter.

But since Lana’s death, the tree was nothing but a sprout of forking wood. No blossoms had bloomed since that terrible day. Neither had Harold’s spirit, not for nearly a month at least until the night he decided to run away from home. Now it had been only five days since his departure from New York City and already he slipped back into the dull grey clouds of his mind.

Truly, Harold was a broken youth.

But then a noise snapped him from his harrowed stupor. To Harold, it was the sound of eight... twelve... no, sixteen hooves beating upon the transmogrified grass and into the field of chaos. Reluctantly, he looked up from the grass that bore red-and-blue diamond patterns and saw the last pony he wanted to see. He saw Rainbow Dash gallop into the heart of the storm, followed by three more mares covering her back.

It didn’t take a genius to know that the other three mares were Rainbow Dash’s other friends.

The first mare that caught Harold’s eye was the orange Earth mare. Her blonde mane was tied in a red tie, hidden underneath that brown Stetson hat. Her eyes were like emeralds, her cheeks dotted with white freckles. Her Cutie Mark depicted three red plump apples moving rhythmically with her hind legs. Harold could tell that pony was from the countryside.

The white unicorn mare also drew his attention. Her delicately curled indigo mane and her baby blue eyeshadow mixed well together with the alabaster coat, like she was a walking mixture of blueberries and vanilla yogurt. Her Cutie Mark was a trio of light blue diamonds. Much to Harold’s chagrin, he could tell by the state of her mane, tail and makeup that she was a sort of ritzy pony.

Then there was the pink pony. With the exception of her cerulean eyes and the three balloons as her Cutie Mark, Harold saw that everything related with this pony was pink. Her entire coat was colored pink. Her poofy mane and equally coiffured tail were both colored pink. Even her personality was tickled pink. Harold figure that this particular pony would stand out easily in a crowd.

But with the three mares and Rainbow Dash cantering into the chaos, Harold knew they were there to help Twilight Sparkle curb her of her pain. They must have formulated a plan while Harold kneeled in the same spot without ever having a lightning bolt even graze an inch of his skin. Now their plan was in motion and there was nothing Harold could do to help.

Nothing except watch the entire ordeal resolve from the sidelines.

Author's Note

Next chapter: The whole ordeal will resolve.

Chapter 11: Pain Reliever (Re-Edited)

“Okay. Does everypony understand the plan so far?”

“Eeyup.”

“I certainly do.”

“Loud and clear, captain!”

“Alright then. Let’s do this!”

Rainbow Dash broke up the huddle with Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie and led them into the field of chaos. Each of the four mares wore a determined look on their face, narrowed eyes as they simultaneously gazed at their common target: Twilight. As soon as they reached near the location where the enchanted lightning became more frequent, the four mares took that as their cue to break formation and scattered themselves through the maze of pouring bolts.

Just like before, the mares quickly and cautiously navigated their way through the storm. Rainbow Dash used her supersonic trot, the closest she could come to in superspeed without her wings, to guide herself through the oncoming barrage. Applejack cantered head-on into the storm, lasso gripped in her teeth and steam snorting from her nostrils. Rarity galloped her way into the chaos, using her baby blue aura to snatch the jar of peppermint oil out from Harold’s hands. Pinkie Pie casually bounced her way around the lightning, giggling like a careless schoolgirl while the lightning failed to hit their bounding target.

All four remaining mares met up at the eye of the storm where Twilight was centered in the slowly expanding aura. Twilight’s eyes still revealed the blinding white glow as her horn shot randomly into every direction outside of the meadow. Rainbow Dash placed herself in front of Twilight; Applejack and Rarity took to the sides; and Pinkie positioned herself and her Party Cannon behind Twilight.

Their plan was fairly simple: First, Applejack and Pinkie Pie needed to restrain Twilight with the lasso and the party streamers. Once she was tied up, all nice and tight, Rainbow Dash needed to tackle the alicorn down to the ground and attempt to get through to her using her voice. If that didn’t work, then Rarity would have to drop the peppermint oil onto Twilight’s horn, thus nullifying the pain and putting an end to the chaotic magic once and for all.

Simple enough, if only Twilight’s magic wouldn’t be such an obstacle.

But that would put the four mares’ loyalty to the test.

Now, it was time to see if Rainbow Dash’s planning paid off nicely.

“LET’S PARTY!!”

BOOM!!

With two little words said, Pinkie Pie slammed her hooves on the smooth metal surface of her Party Cannon. Bunches of streamers and confetti were shot out to the alicorn like a gigantic speeding bullet. The shot, unfortunately, caught Twilight’s immediate attention as she looked behind her to the incoming streamers. As if the horn had a mid of its own, Twilight suddenly shot a magical beam at the streamers, causing them to shoot upwards into the sky and explode like a short firework display.

“Oooooh. Pretty,” said Pinkie Pie, who became entranced with the colorful lights.

“Pinkie Pie!! What are you nuts!?” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Get out of there before something happens to you!”

But it was too late. Twilight’s horn lit up and shot another beam, this time, directly at the party pony. The beam struck Pinkie Pie in the chest, causing her body to flash. Immediately after she was struck, Pinkie’s mane grew a lighter shade of pink and instantly grew to cover her whole body from sight. Soon, Pinkie Pie was hidden deep beneath the fibers of her own mane, transmogrified into a sweet gigantic pile of cotton candy.

Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity all gasped in unison as they bore witness to another of their friends stricken by Twilight’s own magic. While Applejack and Rainbow Dash stared on in hopeless silence, Rarity took the magical effect the worst as she felt her corneas would burn from the horrid sight of Pinkie’s newly wrecked mane. In the unicorn’s point of view, Pinkie’s mane was like a living nightmare.

“Pinkie Pie!? Are you alright!?” Rainbow Dash asked concerned.

At first there was silence. Then, from underneath the thick layer of cotton candy, everypony could hear muffled giggling resound from deep inside the sweet confectionary. Everypony sighed a breath of relief, knowing their friend was unharmed by Twilight’s magic.

“Hey! It’s dark in here, and everything looks pink to me! Ooh! Ooh! I’m seeing dark pink!” Pinkie Pie giggled, following with the gobbling of her own candy hair.

Suddenly, Rarity began to scream dramatically. “Good heavens, Pinkie, darling! Just look at yourself! Your wonderfully styled mane. Your natural puffy tail. Your vibrant shade of pink! It’s all ruined now! All!! Ruined!!”

Rarity began to wobble back and forth, the fragile jar still in the embrace of her magic aura. Using her magic, she also levitated a luxurious couch from nowhere underneath her and fainted belly-up on the rich, red cushion. To complete this drama scene, Rarity fainted with her hoof across her forehead.

“Please, somepony! Take her out of my sight before I shall go blind!” the alabaster unicorn said hoarsely.

“For the love of Celestia,” Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath before turning to the cowgirl. “AJ! You’re up!”

“Eeyup.” Applejack took the lasso in her mouth and began to twirl it. A loop in the rope began to take shape, wide enough to fit a pony like Twilight inside and capture her in the tightest of all tight squeezes. Applejack threw the lasso around Twilight and pulled the loop around her waist in a firm, yet gentle hold.

“Twilight! Twilight, it’s me! It’s Applejack!” the cowgirl pony shouted with her teeth gripped on the rope. “We’re here ta help ya, Twi! Try ta control yer magic!”

But Twilight couldn’t hear Applejack’s pleas. Instead, she turned her gaze to long braid of fiber wrapped around her. Her horn lit up and struck the lasso with another beam, engulfing it in a glowing magenta light. The light traveled down to Applejack’s end, which the latter released as she whinnied “Whoa Nelly!” in surprise.

With new life breathing into the fibers, the lasso undid its grip and lifted itself off of Twilight. The rope then used the loop to gaze at a shocked Applejack with evil, angry eyes. Though the rope lacked the quality of eyesight, it had Applejack locked dead in its sights like a snake staring down its prey before it could devour it. The cowgirl pony gulped in fear and slowly scooted away from the rope, only to have it slither towards her in the same pace.

“Easy now, little feller. Ah’m Applejack, yer owner. Remember?” the cowgirl stammered, trying to reach out to the enchanted rope. “Ya remember that time when we saved Ponyville from gettin’ flattened by Mooriella and her stampedin’ kin? There was also that time when we hogtied Rainbow Dash while she was under Discord’s mumbo-jumbo? Ya remember all that, right?”

The rope failed to comply its master. Instead, it kept slithering towards Applejack, ready to pounce her like a Timberwolf of the Everfree Forest. Applejack’s face was soaked in protruding sweat, as she knew the truth of the current matter.

The serpent-like rope was about to rub out its first prey.

“Aww, ponyfeathers,” Applejack murmured.

Without a second’s hesitation, the cowgirl pony quickly turned tail and cantered away from her own predatorily rope. The lasso, however, lunged at Applejack like a cheetah and wrapped around her hind leg in a blink of an eye. The rope yanked back hard and Applejack was thrown hard on her back. The enchanted rope then quickly wrapped itself around the immobile cowgirl pony and began to squeeze her in a slow death grip like a boa constrictor.

“Hey! Nopony tries to strangle my friends and gets away with it!” Rainbow Dash fumed, charging herself at the rope like a bull.

The rope somehow sensed the aggressive approach of the cyan pegasus, like the whiskers on a cat. Using a free end that wasn’t squeezing the life out of Applejack, the rope wrapped itself around Rainbow Dash’s torso and threw her towards Rarity, where she was inevitably tackled. Rainbow Dash and Rarity were sent tumbling across the field until the force of friction finally held the two mares back. This also left Rainbow dash sprawled all over Rarity’s belly in a nearly awkward position.

“Rainbow Dash. Could you be a polite young mare and please get off of me?” the alabaster unicorn said without a trace of emotion. “The grass stains will set in my fur, and I already had it treated in the spa just yesterday.”

Though it was with great reluctance, Rainbow Dash ultimately complied with Rarity’s request. She rolled off of Rarity and onto the grass belly-up, while the latter daintily lifted herself up. The posh unicorn brushed the dust off of herself with her hooves, the jar of peppermint oil still held in her magical grasp. With a helping hoof, Rarity hoisted the wingless pegasus up from the ground.

“Now then, Rainbow Dash, we must get this oil to Twilight quickly,” Rarity said, gazing at the porcelain jar with slightly squinting eyes. “Watching Twilight struggle with her migraine is making even my head ache badly. Let us be sure that this plan of yours can wor--.”

ZAP!

While Rarity was too preoccupied with conversing about the state of Rainbow Dash’s plan, Twilight’s horn shot another beam directly at her head. Rarity was caught off mid-sentence in a sudden blink of light. After the light dissipated, Rainbow Dash reeled back an inch with a gasp. There was no way in Tartarus that Rarity was going to like what the magic beam did to her.

“Rainbow Dash!? What did she do to me!? What did Twilight do to me!?”

“Uhhh...” Rainbow Dash wanted to speak, but she didn’t know how to put it lightly without throwing her friend into a panicking frenzy. Nothing like this has happened since the day Trixie Lullamoon came to Ponyville.

“Quick! Somepony get me a mirror! Somepony get me a mirror!” Suddenly, a lightning bolt happened to strike near where Rarity stood, transforming a small patch of grass into a round puddle of reflective grass. Upon first glance, Rarity’s pupils shrunk at the horrid figure staring back at her: a unicorn mare who looked like Rarity whose mane was frizzled and colored an ugly shade of green.

An ugly pale shade of green.

An ugly seaweed pale shade of green.

Rarity screamed bloody murder with enough high decibels to shatter the mirror. Rainbow Dash and the human spectating this plan both quickly covered their ears against the shrill screeching. In response to the screaming, Rarity turned and cantered around the field of chaos, tears leaking from her closed eyes as she miraculously avoided direct contact with the lightning bolts.

If the unicorn’s panic wasn’t enough to put the plan in jeopardy, then maybe the jar of peppermint oil she kept hold in her aura being dragged where she ran around to would. Noticing this dilemma unfold, Rainbow Dash took off after Rarity, yapping at the hysteric unicorn like a dog chasing after its companion with a toy in her mouth.

“Rarity! Get back here with that oil! That’s the only thing we need to stop Twilight’s magic!”

“OH, MY HAIR! MY BEAUTIFULLY COIFFED HAIR! IT’S TOO GREEN! TOO GREE-HEE-HEE-HEEN!”

As the unicorn and the former pegasus ran recklessly through the field of raining lightning bolts, Twilight’s head veered towards the two mares, her horn lit up once more, preparing to fire once more. The beam was shot and soon, both Rarity and Rainbow Dash suddenly found themselves floating above mid-air, encased in Twilight’s magenta aura. Rarity’s aura dissipated and the jar of peppermint oil fell on the ground, little drops of the fluid seeping from the top. The magic rendered the two mares immobile, save for the eyes and their mouths.

“Gaaahhh... great! I can’t even move my own hooves!” Rainbow Dash grunted as she struggled in vain to move herself by an inch.

“Oh, this is simply horrible! We’re trapped!” Rarity whined, piercing through Rainbow Dash’s ears. The latter wished the magic had stopped the unicorn from flapping her gums. “Not only has Twilight turned my beautiful mane into a hideous green mess, but now I can’t move! Oh! Oh no! I have an itch on my back! Somepony please scratch it for me!”

“Uh, Rarity? Does it look like anypony’s gonna scratch your back for you?” Rainbow Dash deadpanned, motioning her eyes to her friends all affected by Twilight’s magic.

“Ehh... no?”

“Yeah. I didn’t think so either.”

Suddenly, both Rainbow Dash and Rarity felt themselves being compressed in the aura. As it turned out, Twilight’s horn lit up brightly, allowing to aura to shrink, causing them to be squeezed like a couple of bugs crushed in a tightened fist. Like an orange squeezed in a closing vice clamp, the two trapped mares felt their life being slowly squeezed away into oblivion, a miserable ending to their lives for a miserably failed plan.

Rainbow Dash gazed at her surroundings, her vision blackened by her fading consciousness. In her aura, she saw Rarity’s eyes close, her baby blue eyeshadow revealing the position of her beautiful azure eyes. She saw Applejack struggle with her own traitorous lasso, her orange face turning a deeper shade of blue with every passing minute. She saw the growing pile of cotton candy where Pinkie Pie once stood. Munches, gobbling and loud chewing resounded as the pink pony ate her way through her own mane.

“Hey, everypony was right! My mane really is cotton candy! Hee hee hee hee hee!”

Above all else, she saw Fluttershy, her true friend, lying on the ground as a lifeless stone statue. Her face was frozen with the same concerned look she wore when she saved Harold from Twilight’s own magic. A mute reminder of her previous failure to save her timid, yet kindest friend she ever knew.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy.”

A tear dropped from Rainbow Dash’s eye.

Everything went black.

==================================================================

Harold watched on in speechless silence while Twilight’s magic did the other mares in. He didn’t criticize them for failing trying to help break Twilight from the effects of the “sense,” but all in all, they failed. Miserably. For a minute there, when he watched Rainbow Dash and the three mares try in vain to help the alicorn, Harold could see as clear as day what the latter saw inside all of the ponies he met. Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy. The mares.

Inside the mares, he saw friendship.

Friends.

A word missing in Harold’s personal vocabulary. Sure, Harold knew the definition of “friends” very well: someone who came to trust and care for another. He never knew what it was like to have friends on Earth, since no one else wanted to be friends with a DeMatt. Although, there was only one friend he could account for on Earth, but that was a long time ago.

One month to be exact.

The only friend he had in the world gave her life to save him from being killed.

But these ponies...these friends of Princess Twilight...something tugged Harold from the inside of his chest. The way they risked their lives to save their one friend, to help that one friend whether it meant costing their own existence to save her. For one time in his life, Harold began to understand what it meant to be a friend. To stick out for one another.

But then...

...how did these ponies end up the next victim of Twilight’s magic?

It was because he introduced himself to her. Looking back at the first sign of Twilight’s rogue magic going ballistic, Harold figured he was a threat. Not an intentional threat, though, just someone being dealt with many bad hands. Should these ponies perish because he had caused this incident to happen, his whole world would crash down on him like a ceiling of two-way glass.

Harold fell to his knees and held his hands to the sides of his head. He stared off into the ground, conflicted about what to do now. On one hand, if he saved saved Twilight, he might get passing marks. Although, there was the possibility that he would be convicted of assaulting a member of the Equestrian Royal Family. On the other hand, he could sneak out from the storm, unscathed. But to do so would be like instigating these ponies to their death. Then again, he would turn into a frog trying to desert the chaos.

Harold felt his back weigh down heavily from every possible scenario that he could think of, like an elephant fell on him from above and sat on his shoulders.

ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!

Harold jumped a inch off the ground as the giant elephant at the edge of the forest trumpeted through its elongated trunk. The elephant was originally four different trees, transmogrified by Twilight into four pillars of gray flesh until the body and the head sprouted like a potted plant. Harold twisted his pinkie in his ear to null out the soreness before he tried to remember where he left off.

Oh, right. What was Harold supposed to do now?

“Nothing! Just sit there and do nothing!” the Conflicting Voice commanded in Harold’s head. “They were gonna beat you to a pulp and turn you in to the dungeons anyway! Between you and me, they all deserve the shock therapy your friend is giving them!”

Harold shook his head and gripped it once more on the sides, trying to drown out the voice in his head. The ponies didn’t deserve to be left behind to writhe in so much pain. He had to help them somehow! He needed to save them! Otherwise, if he would survive this ordeal but the Equestrian residents didn’t, he’d never live it down.

“What’s not there to live down!? You know you couldn’t help them even if you wanted to, like those other times you turned down to help them!” yelled the Conflicting Voice, causing Harold to drop beads of cold sweat off of his forehead. “There’s nothing you can do now and you know it! You’re weak! Pathetic! Useless! You’ll never live up to even helping an old lady cross the street! Why do you even bother when everything is hopeless...”

Harold shook his head as the Conflicting Voice pierced into his brain like prodding needles. His heartbeat’s volume amplified, drowning out the noise in his head but not the poison festering inside. Though he admitted he was weak, he definitely wasn’t pathetic! He wasn’t useless! He could help anyone if he wanted to! All he wanted was to do good like Lana did when she was alive!

That’s when it hit him.

When Lana was alive, Harold aspired to do good like his beloved sister did. Even though they were cast out for being the the children of Ahab and Devereaux DeMatt, Lana did everything in her power to secretly help those affected by her parents’ misanthropic actions. No matter if the good deeds turned out for the best or for the opposite, Lana would never back down from helping those in need.

But where would he start? How can he help the ponies in such a tight spot?

“Run.”

Harold shot his head up with shock. He quickly looked around the field of chaos, searching for the source of the voice. A glint of gold shone in Harold’s eye and he looked down to his chest. There, dangling on the gold chain around his neck was his precious locket. It appeared to him like a message descended from the higher planes above.

That’s when Harold realized it.

It wasn’t just any spiritual message.

It was a message in the form of her voice.

“It...it can’t be,” Harold muttered to himself. “Is it...?”

“Run to the two mares.”

Harold shot his gaze to Rainbow Dash and the alabaster unicorn, both entrapped in Twilight’s crushing aura. Sitting underneath the two suffering mares was the peppermint oil jar, the yellow liquid spilt slightly from the top. With an audible gasp, Harold immediately knew what the heavenly voice implied him to do.

The human teen gripped his locket, swallowing in a bout of nervousness. He quickly got up on his feet and dashed to the two mares, across the line of magical fire on his right. Unfortunately, Twilight’s attention was drawn to Harold in plain sight and her horn began to emit another beam. Surely, the beams would easily hit Harold since it did away the other ponies easily.

“Break to the left.”

Twilight’s horn glowed, then shot the beam at Harold. The human quickly sidestepped to the left as the beam struck the ground. The magic from the beam created a crater, filled with creamy marzipan. Harold wiped the sweat from his brow and sighed, relieved that her voice had saved him from becoming a puddle of delicious goop.

“Roll on the ground! Quickly!”

Harold’s gaze was shot quickly towards another one of Twilight’s incoming beams. Complying to the voice, Harold ducked down and rolled to his left as the beam hit Pinkie Pie’s continuously growing cotton candy mane. The hair color drastically changed from pink to yellow and quick muffled giggles were heard from within.

“Hey look! First I had a cotton candy mane, now I have a lemon-flavored cotton candy mane! Hee hee hee hee hee!”

The slobbering munching resounded once more. While Pinkie Pie became occupied with gobbling up her mane, Harold made a beeline for the jar underneath the mares floating in the levitating aura, that was Rainbow Dash and Rarity. As he did so, he was at first unaware of the scene with Applejack squeezed into oblivion by her own lasso.

The rope perked up as it magically felt the human’s footsteps pass on by. An evil hiss echoed as the freed end of the rope shot its braided yarn to the ankle. With the magical lasso now a predatorily snake, the rope intended to make Harold its second victim in joining Applejack with a slow and breathless death.

“Look out! Behind your leg!”

Harold screeched his running to a halt and quickly looked behind him. There, he saw the enchanted rope prepared to strike his ankle like a king cobra. The rope struck, but Harold quickly lifted his foot just before the yarn could reach his ankle. Then with a powerful stomp, the rope screeched in pain before it fell lifelessly to the ground. The rope also loosened its death grip on Applejack as she laid flat on her back, wheezing and hacking for the sweet Equestrian air.

After the rope was finished, Harold turned away and began running to the spot where Rarity and Rainbow Dash were levitated in Twilight’s aura. Underneath the two mares in plain sight was the jar of peppermint oil, waiting for somepony to use it on Twilight’s massive headache.

Harold navigated through the storm of lightning bolts, whereas Twilight’s horn continued to shoot beams aimed directly at the boy. This was proven to be a challenge for the horn as the sweet voice directed Harold through the rain of unstable magic. With each whisper into his ear, the human dodged through the magical barrage, through every striking lightning, past each beam intended to turn him into a frog and around every obstacle created by the magic.

“Go to the left.”

Harold did what she told him to. He veered off to the left as the beam turned a little gray pebble into a growing pile of fancy colorful rocks. The growing mountain of red, yellow, green, blue, purple and magenta piled by about ten feet until it collapsed all over the diamond-patterned grass.

“Over to the right.”

Harold ran off to the right. Another beam nearly brushed against his cheek while it struck an unfortunate bluebird flying by the scene. The once pretty bluebird turned into a giant grotesque condor. The bird squawked an ungodly call before it changed course flew off into the desert looking for some carrion to eat.

“Jump.”

The human jumped like the voice said as yet another beam flew under him. He tumbled forward on the grass, a good foot apart from himself and the peppermint oil. Harold crawled over to the porcelain jar on his arms like a soldier in those movies he saw and grabbed it before he turned on his back and got up on his feet.

This part was going to be tricky. Harold needed to somehow get past the shooting magic head-on without ever being hit. Luckily, he had her voice guiding him so curing Twilight of the “sense” would be less of a challenge.

Swallowing his saliva with butterflies fluttering wildly in his stomach, Harold sprinted head-on into the storm. The peppermint oil’s scent wafted in the air as the yellow transparent fluid leaked on Harold’s hands. With every careful stride and narrow dodging, Harold felt his leg muscles weaken by the minute as he struggled to retain his breath from all the running he did. He swore he lost 5 pounds this past week.

No, there wasn’t time to think about such trivial matters. What mattered was smearing some of this oil on Twilight’s head so this chaos would finally stop. And Harold did so as he steered away from the lightning and the beams like the voce told him so. Twilight’s horn, however, began to get clever as it lit up and shot a beam near Harold’s feet, causing him to fall backwards onto his rear and some of the oil to spill. As Harold climbed sorely on his feet, he was met with a bombardment of beams, the first one headed towards him...

...and with no means of escaping these beams.

“Look out, Harold!”

It was too late.

The beam struck him in the chest.

The jar of oil was sent flying, all of its contents spilling on the grass while the porcelain jar shattered into a million pieces on a nearby rock.

Harold was shot backwards as he felt the full force of the beam push him away. His eyes squeezed shut as he waited for the magic’s effects to take hold. Whether it was transformation, transmutation or transmogrification, he would never know. What he did know was that he would be gone. Twilight would never get cured. The mares would suffer underneath the wrath of Twilight’s magic. Harold would never fulfill his promise to Lana. Now all of Equestria would be lost unless the heavens sent forth a miracle of sorts.

And it did.

Harold opened his eyes as he laid flat on his back. He looked at the sky, lit up with lightning bolts and magenta beams shooting across the sky. The grass was slightly ticklish on his arms as he tried to move them plus his hands, fingers and legs.

Lucky for Harold, they did move.

Reluctantly, the human sat himself up. Everything spun a little while he looked down on his body for any residual signs the he could’ve been affected greatly by Twilight’s magic. He checked his arms. They seemed to be intact. His legs, his clothing, even his face were all still intact. Still, there was one thing that kept troubling Harold: What did Twilight’s beam do to him? He scratched the bare area of his chest from a little itch that somehow...

Harold’s eyes suddenly widened.

“Oh no.”

Checking his shirt from the inside and groping around the legs and the pockets inside of his pants, Harold began to panic. His locket was gone!! The one treasure he held so dearly was missing!! He quickly got up and scoured through the grass, searching frantically everywhere for any glint of gold, any engraved image of a rose with a star above it, and chain that might lead him to finding it!! Without the locket, Harold felt the end of the world would occur at this moment.

“No. No. No. No. NO!! NO!! NO!!” Harold thought, hastily searching the dirt. “Where is it!? Where’s my locket!? Dammit, where’s my locket gone!?”

This his blue eye made contact with a golden shine.

Harold turned to the beckoning glint and gasped. Floating in a spherical aura struck by Twilight’s magic, was his locket in an deconstructed view. Like watching all of the parts and components of a vehicle slowly rotating on the computer screen in an exploded view, Harold looked in absolute shock as he saw his precious trinket all separated in the orb of floating light. He saw everything floating in there. The two halves of the golden covers floating in a complete orbit; the gold chain used to hold it around his neck; even the tiny cylindrical hinge to help open the space within the locket.

But in the middle of it all was a photograph, circled around by the parts of the deconstructed locket.

It wasn’t just any other ordinary photograph. This was a special photograph, one taken by the head butler, Reginald by almost eight years ago. It solely served Harold as a constant reminder of all the good times he had with Lana up until her recent death last month. The day the picture was taken depicted one of those good times.

The picture showed the image of a happy seven-year-old Harold held close in the lap of his twelve-year-old sister, Lana. Harold laughed in the photograph, something that he now couldn’t ever since that dreaded day came to pass. He was being tickled in the forehead by his sister’s affectionate kiss. Her left arm held him close to her while her right hand tussled his brownish-blonde hair.

The two were like peas in a pod, both laughing away the world’s worries like the sun would finally rise above New York on the very next day. This photograph symbolized the deep bond Harold had with Lana, like she was the loving, caring mother he never had. It clearly showed how much devotion he felt towards her for all of the good she had given him in those early years.

Now that devotion was callously split apart by Twilight’s unstable magic.

Harold felt his chest well up with saddened discomfort. He fell to his knees and slammed his head on the ground, fists clenched in frustration. He couldn’t hear her voice begging him to go on any longer. The jar was broken and all the oil was spilt all over the diamond-patterned grass. What’s worse was, he didn’t know what to do anymore.

There was, however, one thing he could possibly do now.

Surrender.

Accept the failure right now and give in to Twilight’s magic. Maybe then, he would receive the mercy of a quick death by a beam.

Harold looked up to his floating locket, wanting to gaze at it one more time before he would be finished off quickly. Suddenly, something came to light. As he looked at the photograph of him and Lana together, Harold was suddenly met with an epiphany of some sort. When Lana was alive, she never gave up to help what was really important.

The strong scent of peppermint burned in his nostrils. Harold checked his hands, all soaked and sticky with the residue of the oil. It all made sense to him. There was still one chance left for Harold to help the ponies out. If Lana didn’t give up to anything back then, he wouldn’t give up now.

Getting up on his feet one last time, Harold launched himself into the bombardment and straight into Twilight’s magic aura. Her horn lit up once more to shoot one more beam at Harold, but that was more than enough time for him to pounce headfirst inside the aura. All too soon, the shocks from the white light inside coursed inside Harold’s nerves and increased his heartbeat by tenfold. But just as he gave in to the electrifying sensation, the unthinkable happened.

Harold tackled the lavender alicorn. He hugged her torso in a strong and firm embrace as his fingers smeared the remedy onto her horn and her forehead. The peppermint oil’s effects immediately kicked in as Twilight’s empty white eyes grew back its signature violet eyes.

A bright gleam of light flashed from her horn. Its illumination slowly engulfed the entire meadow and other outside areas as the light reversed the magic done in by Twilight’s horn.

Then everything went white.

Chapter 12: The Road to Canterlot Castle (Re-Edited)

All was silence.

Complete, blissful silence. So quiet that you could not even hear your own blood rushing.

Then the tranquil sounds of nature began to share its glorious tune. The cool, gentle spring breeze licked through the green grass, rustling it and the leaves of the nearby trees. Flowing water trickled over the bedrocks in the small stream as the water ran down into the wilderness. A pair of songbirds shared their harmonious singing with each other as their flittering wings carried them across the great blue sky.

Everything once again became blissful peace. To Harold, it was just another tranquil wake-up call for him.

“Ooohhhh... what happened?”

The human’s eyes opened slowly and slightly as his senses regained at a sluggish pace. Warmth and fuzziness spread on his arms and his cheek as he held on to something slightly plushy. A female’s slow breathing resounded very close to his sensitive ears while he felt his belly move in synch with a pattern of slow rising and slow falling movements. His forehead felt tiny hot gusts as his eyes fully opened to meet his gaze with his environment.

An extreme close-up view of many tiny lavender fibers.

Harold shifted his gaze just slightly upwards. He saw himself face-to-face with the young alicorn, Twilight. She slept deeply on the grass, possibly due to the exhaustion of having her magic running amok. Her mouth was slightly open which explained the quiet breathing and the movements on Harold’s belly. Her head was also laid on the human’s arms...

...and the human was on top of her, hugging the alicorn close to him.

“WAAAUGH!””

Shocked by the awkward position, Harold tumbled off of the alicorn and fell flat on his back with a painful “OOF!”

The human teen slowly sat up on the grass, rubbing the backside of his pants. While he nulled the soreness away from his backside, Harold looked to the meadow and the vast field around him.

He then let out a small gasp. Not a gasp out of pure terror, but one out of astonishment.

The meadow and everything residing in it all reverted back to normal. The red-and-blue diamond pattern grass was back to its natural color of green. All of the trees were no longer giant pieces of candy, oversized houseplants, or even a humongous elephant. The flowing river of cola returned to become a brook of pure running water. Every fish affected by the chaos magic were no longer any oddly shaped balloons, but actual minnows and trout swimming along the currents.

The human laid back on his back, smiling with satisfaction.

He did it. He actually did it.

It wasn’t easy, but he somehow finally managed to make it through this catastrophe. Admittedly, it was terrifying for Harold to run into the line of magical fire, but he couldn’t have done it without her help. If it wan’t for her guidance, Harold would’ve ended up worse than the ponies did with Twilight’s magic, including Twilight herself. Even when all seemed lost at that brief moment, Harold took one final chance to turn the situation around and he succeeded doing so.

Success...

It was happiness made flesh, like the warm and fuzziness of a heavy quilt wrapped around his body.

And he loved it, every gentle feeling of it.

A female’s groaning soon snapped Harold out of his thoughts. He sat up and looked around the meadow, spotting the slow rising forms of the four mares, straggling themselves up on their hooves. Rainbow Dash and the alabaster unicorn were the first two to stand up. The tomboy pegasus’s prized wings were magically reattached to her sides, looking as good The unicorn’s seaweed-like mane returned to its gloriously coiffed indigo form. The cowgirl pony stood up on her hooves, where her once rebellious lasso laid at. The pink pony was one of the last few to groggily get up, munching on her puffy tail like it was still made out of lemon-flavored cotton candy.

“Ugghhh... my head,” Rainbow Dash grunted, rubbing her hoof on her aching forehead.

“Is... is everypony... okay?” Applejack asked in between every heavy breath.

“I should hope so,” Rarity responded hoarsely. “All this excitement has already messed up my perfectly done mane.” Rarity bounced the nadir of the big curl in her mane as she responded to the cowgirl pony’s question of their wellbeing. Her eyes suddenly widened. She nudged her mane once more for confirmation before she pulled it in front of her face. Then she let out a shrill but excited shriek.

“AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH-HO-HOOOO! My mane! My beautifully coiffed mane is back!” Rarity cried, nuzzling her hairstyle. “Oh, my beautiful mane! I missed you so! I promise I will never part ways with you again!”

Rainbow Dash unfurled her cyan wings, then flew up in the air with a double corkscrew and a big loop. “Aww, yeah! Guess who’s back in the flying business, boys!” Rainbow Dash began to dance whilst hovering in the air with her two reunited wings. “Uh-huh! Uh-huh! It’s me! It’s me! I’m back in business! I’m back in business! Ow!”

“Phew! Ah’m glad that’s over mahself,” Applejack said, turning a glowering gaze to her traitorous lasso. “Ah’m gonna lock this here varmint in the barn fer a month. ‘Til then, Ah’ll have ta use its replacement in its stead.”

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie shot up out of nowhere, her grin showing an wide set of white teeth. “Oh girls, you’re not gonna believe this! I just had this most incredible dream where we were all gathered at a meadow, then we saw Twilight letting her magic go crazy and we saw Fluttershy as a statue with some weird creature kneeling next to her! I know! Crazy right!? So we went in to stop Twilight’s magic from creating chaos all over Equestria and I shot streamers from my Party Cannon but Twilight turned my streamers into fireworks and I thought they were pretty and then I was struck by magic and my mane grew and grew and grew until it grew all over me and it turned into cotton candy and it was super delicious! But here’s the fun part! My mane turned into this ultra-super-delicious lemon-flavored cotton candy, then I woke up and now for some reason my tail’s missing and my tummy’s feeling all--HACK!”

Pinkie Pie suddenly threw herself on her four hooves, her back arched up like a at. She began to hack and wheeze from her throat, much to the disgust of her friends. She hacked and hacked until a big gooey wad of wet pink hair came soaring from her mouth and onto the grass. The other mares shared an expression of disgust while Pinkie Pie spat what remaining hairs were left behind in her mouth.

PTOO! PTOOEY!

“Wait a minute! That wasn’t all a dream!?” Pinkie asked loudly, earning a series of smug-grinned head shaking from her friends. “Yeeeuuuggghhh! I need a gallon of mouthwash and fast!”

Pinkie Pie pulled a full gallon of Colgate’s Mint Mouthwash from the inside of her mane. She undid the cap and poured the whole thing in her mouth, her cheeks puffed up like she was part squirrel. After a quick series of swishing, sloshing and squelching, Pinkie Pie spewed the torrent of mouthwash from her mouth, followed by the quick little giggles from her friends.

Harold snickered a little as well as he watched the pink pony perform her antics. He then heard a noise sound next to him, like long and painful groans. Twilight’s violet eyes creakily opened, blinking twice before she could keep them open for more than ten seconds. Her mane was frazzled from lying on the grass and bags sagged underneath her bottom eyelids. She inhaled through her teeth as she gingerly rose to her haunches, her horn throbbing from using too much excess magic.

“Ugghhhh... what happened here?” Twilight groaned, rubbing her throbbing horn with her hoof.

Through her grogginess and blurry vision, Twilight saw herself in the same meadow where she was in the middle of her interrogation with the human teen a moment ago. That’s when it all came back to her. After a brief discussion with both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, Twilight asked the human for his name. The human spoke it.

That’s when she felt a sharp pain at the base of her horn before she suddenly blacked out.

Now Twilight woke up, having little recollection of the events that unfurled in the meadow. Every piece of the long twenty minutes of her magic running afoul were either broken or blurred. She vaguely recalled of her own magic striking down her friends; how much chaos she created; she even had little memory of the human’s name. However, she did recall seeing the shape of a biped pounce on her and tackle her to the ground, smearing the homemade remedy on her forehead.

Everything else was just a blank.

The only evidence there left for Twilight was aching horn, the sudden appearances of Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie and the strong smell of peppermint. Her eyesight returned to normal as she took one more look around the meadow. Then her gaze was fixated on the human teen sitting on the grass, staring back at her.

Both Twilight and Harold exchanged glances, showing little emotion in their eyes. The two mammals sat in the same spot, not making any movements nor making any sounds. Their silence was so suspenseful, they could hear the gentle spring breeze rustle the short meadow grass. For a moment of two, after keeping their looks locked with one another, Harold opened his mouth to speak.

“Ummm...”

“YOU!”

Before Harold could turn his head in response, a loop of a lasso wrapped around his torso and abruptly yanked him away from Twilight. He was flung on the ground on his back, unable to undo the tight rope binding his arms to his sides. An orange hoof pinned him down by his chest, rendering him completely immobile. He was then subjected to icy glares of the other four mares, looming over him with an angry intent gleaming in the white of their eyes.

“I thought I warned you not to make a move on my friends, Mr. Hue-Man,” Rainbow Dash growled, cracking her hoof like she was preparing for a beat down. “Now that you’ve chosen to ignore my warning, I’m gonna have to teach you some manners.”

“Indeed,” Rarity interjected, trying to keep her composure while she scorned the youthful human. “Have you even seen the way you’ve dressed yourself? Your tattered rags are the perfect example of crimes against fashion.”

“You’re lucky Ah’m grateful to ya fer savin’ mah hide back there, boy. At first Ah wouldn’t have hesitated ta buck ya all the way into next Tuesday,” Applejack said while she kept her hoof held firmly on Harold’s chest, her emerald eyes piercing his soul like a spear. “But now Ah’m thinkin’ of havin’ ya buck all of mah apple trees fer the rest of yer life.”

Pinkie Pie popped next to Harold, staring at him with a look comparable to an angry lion. “Me too! I would’ve loved to launch you all the way out of Equestria with my Party Cannon! Although, you did turn my mane into delicious lemon-flavored cotton candy, so...” Pinkie Pie reached behind her mane and pulled out a cupcake. The frosting was translucent liquid soap, complete with suds building up and tiny bubbles floating into the air. “...I’m thinking of giving you a soap-flavored cupcake instead!”

Harold felt himself unable to move, not by the weight of Applejack’s hoof but by intense fear. The human sensed the murderous aura emanate around the four mares, their stares just as frightening as the pony next to her. He tried to scream, but his voice was dammed by fear. He had to face it, Harold was about to get yet another beating of his lifetime... this time by four colorful ponies.

He closed his eyes, waiting for the worst to happen.

“Everypony stop!” Twilight barked.

Harold shot his eye open. Over his chest, he saw the approaching figure of Twilight trot towards him and the four towering mares, wearing nothing but her lavender coat and a stoic face. She gave the human teen a moment’s glance before she sighed lightly and turned to her friends, speaking to them in a mild authoritative tone.

“Girls, what are you all doing here? And more importantly, why are you ganging up on him like that?”

Without missing a beat, Rainbow Dash flew over to Twilight with a hoof aimed at the bound teenager. “Twilight, the reason we’re all ‘ganging up on him like that’ is because he was the one who caused your magic to run wild! Don’t you even know how close we were to losing our lives just to help you!?”

“Maybe not, but that doesn’t justify as to why you had Applejack tie him up.”

“Because he’s the guy who made this mess!”

“No, Rainbow Dash. He’s the one who helped clean it all up.” A choir of collective surprised reactions echoed from the four mares. Twilight used her magic to gently unbind the rope around Harold and lifted him up onto his feet. The human stumbled backwards from being abruptly lifted by the magic and stumbled onto his rear. “I don’t know if Harold had actually intended for my magic to go wild like you said, but he also stopped my magic and helped save our lives. You should all be thankful he did that for us. Otherwise, we wouldn’t all be here right now if it weren’t for him.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up! Are you saying you trust this guy because he saved our flanks back there!?”

“I’m not saying I fully trust him one-hundred percent.”

“Well, I’m not trusting this guy one-hundred percent myself!”

“Hold on a minute!” Pinkie Pie piped up, zipping in front of Harold at the blink of an eye. “If we keep agreeing to disagree about trusting this guy, then let your Auntie Pinkie be the judge of that!” With that said, Pinkie Pie shot her face into Harold’s with scowling eyes that gazed into his soul. Harold felt minor discomfort from having Pinkie’s face an inch away from his while the latter continued staring at him with piercing cerulean eyes. Nothing particular happened for a moment or two. Then all of a sudden, Pinkie Pie felt little nicks crawl through her nervous system.

First came the wobbling hind legs.

Next was her mane, the hairs standing up on edge like that of a startled cat.

Finally, her eyes poured out a torrent of tears like a public park fountain.

With the tears shed, Pinkie Pie’s combo had ended. She wiped her tears away before her face beamed with a wide smile, a glimmering toothy grin that shone at Harold while Pinkie turned to Twilight and her friends. Judging by the considerable width of her smile, Twilight and the others knew she bore the good news.

“It’s okay, girls! He’s all good!”

The four mares all gave a series of surprised “HUH!?” in perfect unison. Pinkie Pie giggled at their appalled reaction as she began to explain the meaning behind her combo. “Eeyup! Check it out! If my hind legs are all wobbly and my mane is standing on edge, then that means that somepony that I just met is totally trustworthy! But if my eyes are all watery like they were a minute ago, then that means that somepony has been sad and lonely for a long, long, LOOOONNNGGG time!”

“Sad and lonely?” Twilight echoed, turning to Harold with a concerned glint in her eye. “Mr. Harold, is that true?”

“Y-Y-Yeah...” Harold stammered wearing a saddened smile. “I suppose it’s... true.”

The human teen drooped his head down, hiding away the mild sadness forming on his face. He reached for his chest to grope his locket, hoping to feel comfort and calmness from the texture and expertly done engraving on the gold only to discover a bare spot. Harold gasped as he searched the inside of his shirt, frantically looking for his beloved treasure. When he found nothing, not even a single gold chain strapped around his neck, Harold searched his pants and in the grass but to no avail. Anxious little whimpers began to sound out of his mouth as Harold searched in vain for his locket.

“Where is it!? Where is it!?” Harold blurted, combing the grass in a panicking state. “Oh God, I can’t find it! I can’t find it!”

“Can’t find what?” Twilight asked worriedly. “What is it that you’re looking for?”

“My locket! I can’t find my locket! I left it out here somewhere because your magic struck it and now I can’t find it!” Harold’s voice cracked as his anxiety began to take hold of his emotions. He felt the strong urge to shed frightened tears but he did not feel his head doing a rough double take around the meadow for his trinket. “I can’t find it! I can’t find it!!”

“Might this be what you were looking for?”

All of a sudden, everyone around the area, Harold included froze in their place. It was like some higher power had pressed the pause button on time itself before the ponies and the one human turned to the pony with such a familiar yet sweet voice. Five pairs of surprised eyes widened and collective gasps resounded as everyone saw Fluttershy slowly trot up to the group, locket dangling by the chain in her mouth. Her legs walked without difficulty, like she was never turned to stone at all.

Fluttershy trotted up to Harold, his hand beckoning for the gold locket to be put in his palm. She carefully placed in Harold’s hand before he took it back to his chest, placing the chain around his neck. All at once, his fears and worries were washed away. He placed his hand on his chest with relief as the feeling of joy reignited inside of him.

“I found it lying in the grass when I was coming up to see you and Twilight,” Fluttershy said smiling. “You must take better care of where you put your personal belongings, Harold. It could get lost, stolen or severely damaged.”

“FLUTTERSHY!”

All of a sudden, Fluttershy was tackled to the ground by a cyan blue blur. The timid pegasus and her attacker both tumbled a few feet away from the group before friction dragged them along the dirt, causing dust clouds to form. The dust settled and Fluttershy found herself entrapped in a bear hug by her good friend, Rainbow Dash. Everypony except Twilight and Harold cantered over to the scene with the two pegasi and surrounded them both, eyes leaking bittersweet tears and smiles plastered on their faces as they felt such joy of seeing Fluttershy alive.

Fluttershy, however, had no recollection of having been turned to stone. In one moment, she was trying to save Harold from being struck by Twilight’s magic; in the next moment, she found herself laying on the grass next to Harold’s locket sprawled all over the ground. It was as if she had woken up from a good night’s sleep, the feeling of fatigue slipping away like sand. Now it was a slight feeling of confusion for Fluttershy because she wondered why her friends circled around her with teary eyes and relieved smiles. Had she missed something?

“Fluttershy! You’re okay!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she pulled the timid pegasus tighter in her embrace. She began to bawl into her chest fur, unable to dam her emotions while Fluttershy looked on in bewilderment. Seriously, had she missed something important? “Oh, Fluttershy! I-I-I’m so happy that you-you’re ali-hi-hi-hive!”

Applejack chuckled lightly to Rainbow Dash’s heartwarming display, putting her Stetson hat over her chest. “Well would ya look at that? Rainbow Dash is getting all sappy-like,” the cowgirl pony teased, only to be shot with a glare from the aforementioned pegasus.

“I am not getting sappy!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she wiped the tears away from her eyes. “It’s just liquid pride! Totally different thing!”

Well, that answered her question.

Rainbow Dash was never this sappy before.

With a gentle wiggle of her hooves, Fluttershy was gently released from Rainbow Dash’s tight grip. Applejack and Rarity galloped up to the timid pegasus while Pinkie Pie scowled at Rainbow Dash, who wore a sheepish smile. Nopony gives bear hugs! Nopony... but Pinkie Pie!

“Fluttershy, darling, are you all right!?” Rarity asked through her shaking voice. “We were afraid we lost you for good!”

Applejack came up to Flutteshy next, laying a hoof on her shoulder. “Yeah. Everypony thought you were... you know...”

“Me? Oh no. Actually, it feels like I’ve just waken up from a nice nap.”

Twilight chuckled as she and a reluctant Harold walked up to the gathering ponies. “Yeah, that’s what my parents said when I accidentally turned them into potted plants during my entrance exam,” the alicorn said, placing her hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder where Applejack had her hoof on. “I’m so sorry if my magic did something to you, Fluttershy. I didn’t have any control over it.”

“It’s okay, Twilight, I understand. It was all just a big accident. Isn’t that right, Harold?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah... s-sure,” Harold said quietly but awkwardly.

Fluttershy smiled once again at the human teen. Then her satisfied grin turned into a smile as a troubling thought crossed her mind. “Umm... Twilight? Am I still going have to face a penalty?” she asked, shocking everypony around her. “I know you said that harboring one of Celestia’s most wanted is a major crime, but I was only trying to protect Harold. He would never hurt anypony on purpose and he even proved it to all of you today.”

That’s right. Harold almost forgot about what Fluttershy did for him back at her place. She tried to hide him from the prying eyes of both Twilight and Rainbow Dash but it ended with a bad note when he was discovered by some sick kid in her cottage. Now that Fluttershy revealed that she harbored a wanted creature from Twilight, Harold knew the repercussions would be immense... not just to him, but to Fluttershy as well.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack both exchanged looks of worry. The same went for both Pinkie Pie and Rarity as Twilight thought hard about her decision. With a reluctant sight, the lavender alicorn turned to Fluttershy and once again laid a hoof on her shoulder.

“Well, Fluttershy, I’m not sure about the punishment,” she said solemnly. “I mean, you kept the human a secret from us and we all know he’s the creature Princess Celestia mentioned in her letter. That would mean your course of action to protect him is also like an act of harboring a wanted criminal.”

Fluttershy drooped her head down, closing her eyes as she awaited the inevitable sentence to be carried out.

Then Twilight looked down on the poor pegasus with a warm smile, though the latter was too scared to look. “However, I believe that you had the right idea to protect him from harm, Fluttershy. If you hadn’t, then my magic would’ve accidentally destroyed both me and all of Equestria.”

Fluttershy perked her head up, her eyes wider than usual with surprise. “Does that mean that I won’t have to face punishment!?”

“I’m still not sure about that. That’s something that Princess Celestia and I will have to discuss later on today.” The Twilight turned to Harold who gently wiped both faces of his locket with his wrinkly T-shirt. “As for you...” she said, shocking the human out of his trance. “...I want to thank you for saving us all, Mister... uh, DeMatt, was it?”

“Y-Y-Yes, your highness,” he stammered. “Harold DeMatt.”

“Mr. DeMatt, I want to thank you for saving everypony’s lives here today. It seems that I was wrong to judge you as a threat by your appearance. For that, I extend my sincerest apologies to you.” Harold rubbed the back of his head, blushing and feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Not once in his life had he been thanked by someone else for the good deeds he did for his people, nor did he receive any apologies from them for all the wrongdoings they did to him, intentional or accidental.

It felt... warm to him.

“However...” the lavender alicorn continued, her tone sounding mildly stern and authoritative like a princess should sound. “...I haven’t put my complete trust in you yet, Mr. DeMatt. You maybe harmless now, but we’ll have to wait and see if Princess Celestia can determine you as a threat to our kind or not.”

“But did-didn’t you send a letter t-to your Princess a-a-about me?” Harold asked nervously.

“Yes. Yes I did.” Twilight looked up to a silhouette of Canterlot Castle settled at the side of the tallest mountain, a look of concern pasted on her face. “But I’m surprised the Princess hasn’t responded to my letter already. I had to use a long-range teleportation spell just to send it over to her, but she hasn’t written back to me.”

“Why would you send a letter to the Princess?” Pinkie Pie piped. “Isn’t it Spike’s job to do that?”

“It is, but Spike got sick when he went flying with me. He didn’t have enough strength to even move at all, so I had to leave him to recover at Fluttershy’s and use an alternative use of magic to send my recent letter regarding Mr. DeMatt to Princess Celestia.”

“And if I’m following this, you made scared Spike into throwing up in a paper bag,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing an accusing glare at Harold.

Harold shrunk back a little by the second round cold and icy glares all gazing at him from the other four mares. With nothing left to do, he threw his hands up in a defensive stance. “Look, it was an accident, alright? Completely unintentional mistake. I never meant to scare your Spike in the first place.”

“Au contraire, my fine otherworldly visitor,” Rarity chipped in, brashness made known in her voice. “My little Spikey-Wikey got sick because he saw the way you horrendously dress yourself. Why, I would hardly think that scaring him to retch would qualify that as a mistake.”

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean?” the alabster unicorn parroted. “Why darling, have you checked yourself in a mirror lately? Look. The colors of your shirt is just plain and bland, like refrigerated macaroni and cheese! Your trousers are simply just too noisy, even for you! And those wrinkles and grass stains... uggghhhh.” Rarity felt her stomach churn, like she would be the next pony to retch from seeing Harold in his current state. “Have you by any chance been sleepingin the grass lately?”

“Uhhh...”

How could Harold answer that question ever so lightly without causing the unicorn to have a bird?

“No matter, I’ll have to take you home to my boutique,” Rarity said nonchalantly, tugging Harold by the lower part of his shirt. “I’ll have you washed cleaned and changed out of your ghastly attire before we may present yourself to Princess Celestia.”

Rarity only took three steps away from the group with Harold in tow. Then a flash of golden light shone right next to Twilight, revealing another parchment scroll tied with its red ribbon and sealed with a golden horseshoe imprint on the piece. Using her magic, Twilight unraveled the ribbon and thoroughly red the contents inscribed in the paper.

“You’ll have to postpone that appointment another time, Rarity. I just got my reply from Princess Celestia.”

“Well go ahead, sugarcube, read it,” Applejack said. “What does it say?”

“Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I had received your letter a little while ago. I admit to having trouble with replying to your message earlier, due to some mysterious magic forces preventing me from doing so. I assume that Spike was also sick today, so it took me some time to teleport this letter to your exact location without irritating his sickness.

In your last message, the details of the creature you subdued came to a great surprise both to me and my sister, Princess Luna. We are both unsure if this creature is in fact the very same creature we fear would jeopardize our way of life. Since you have managed to capture this ‘hyooman,’ we have no choice but to allow you to take him with you to Canterlot.

Mind you that Canterlot is now under the effect of a 24-7 watch. Attached to this letter is the Royal Emblem of Equestria. This emblem will allow your visitor special entry into the castle, but only under the watch and protection of Equestrian Royalty.

I also hoped you didn’t forget the chariots I sent for you in Ponyville. They might be waiting for you in Ponyville right about now

My sister and I will be waiting for you and your visitor in the main hall of the castle. I wish you all a safe trip.

Sincerely,
~ Princess Celestia, Diarch of Equestria.”

“Royal Emblem? What does the Royal Emblem look like?” Twilight questioned.

Twilight shifted the scroll slightly upwards, the curled bottom of the scroll quickly unraveling with an item with a light weight falling on the grass below. The item was a circular medal with a sun engraved in the very center. The interior of the sun gleamed a bright yellow, surrounded by the orange flares all facing clockwise. It was no doubt the Royal Emblem attached in the letter, made especially for Harold.

Twilight levitated the emblem into Harold’s hands. He pinned the emblem into his shirt, on the left side of his chest. He didn’t know why, but the place where the emblem was attached to solely reminded Harold of the old Western movies he used to watch with Lana at home on a late Friday night. That night was the only time those two could actually live in peace, with their grueling parents making shady deals or wasting their money with gambling, drinking and unhealthy pleasures. Harold and Lana would sit in the living room, having a nice dinner while watching such classic movies, like “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” “A Fistful of Dollars” and “Cowboys and Aliens.”

Oh, what blissful memories the emblem brought back.

He wished he could watch at least one of those movies before he ran away. Luckily, he packed a few of those selected movies in the front pocket with the cash he stole from his parents, the same movies that brought him nostalgia just by looking at the front covers.

“Look! Look! Up in the sky!!” Pinkie Pie shouted, pointing her hoof straight up in the air at a couple of silhouettes soaring through the blue sky. “It’s a bird!! It’s a dragon!! No, it’s... it’s... !!”

“It’s the chariots that Princess Celestia sent for us!” Twilight finished for Pinkie Pie. The figures were made apparent as the silhouettes took the form of two regal big-seated chariots, each one pulled by a white pegasus stallion wearing gold armor and Roman-style helmets. “Come on, girls, we haven't got time to lose! We have to get back to Ponyville, pronto!”

“RIGHT!”

With that said, the mares turned and galloped towards the direction of Ponyville, where the latter town was actually closer to the meadow than anyone else expected. Rarity’s horn continued to glow its baby blue aura, unaware of her passenger being dragged along by the back of his shirt. He screamed over the speed of the ponies’ cantering while deep tracks were carved in the grass by the heels of his shoes.

Fluttershy was the first and only one to notice the human’s distress and, without missing a beat, galloped under him as she turned him over on his belly by her toothy grip on his shirt. While doing so, Rarity’s magic wore off and Harold fell on the kind pegasus’s back with an “OOF!” Soon, the human teen found himself grasping onto Fluttershy’s neck while her cantering rocked him slightly roughly. Adding the human’s size and weight of 120 pounds onto the pegasus’s lighter body weight, Fluttershy began to slow down as her friends began to pass her, save for Rainbow Dash, who kept a close eye on him just in case he tried anything rash while securing her suspicious look.

“By the way, I never got to thank you for saving my hide back there,” Harold said softly over the sounds of cantering hooves beating the ground.

“Don’t mention it,” Fluttershy replied. “I just didn’t want anything to happen to you because you’re my friend, and friends are all that matters to me in this world.”

Friend.

That word had somehow brought a new meaning of life to Harold as he felt something tug inside of his heart. It felt like a warm and fuzzy sensation, like being wrapped up in a heavy blanket, sitting next to a blazing fireplace on a dark and cold Christmas Eve. He couldn’t exactly describe this sensation, but Harold was enjoying the feeling making a new friend, let alone being called “friend.” It made him... smile for the first time in a month.

Then he was abruptly brought out of stupor by a rough prod of a hoof lay on his shoulder. Startled slightly, Harold reeled it back and turned to see none other that Rainbow Dash staring at him with narrowed eyebrows and an unsatisfied frown. “What were just thinking about right now?” Rainbow Dash asked, making Harold even more nervous than ever.

“N-N-Nothing,” the human answered. “I-I-I just got... a little distracted.”

“I’m sure you did,” the pegasus deadpanned. “What were you thinking about? Fluttershy?”

“N-No, I...”

“Rainbow Dash, you leave him alone,” Fluttershy warned gently, giving her friend a stern look. “Harold’s been through a lot today. So could you please leave him be until we get to the castle?” The cyan pegasus sighed with defeat. Then she shot the human another look and held her hoof to her eyes then at Harold’s.

If he didn’t know any better, he could’ve sworn that Rainbow Dash was saying “I’m watching you” with a hoof gesture. The gesture may not have used two fingers in Equestria, but all in all, it was still just as intimidating.

==================================================================

The rest of the trip down the meadow went without a word. During that time, as he rode on Fluttershy’s back, he pondered hard about a certain subject. When he was thrown around in the tornado that supposedly sent him here, Harold couldn’t exactly piece everything that happened when he blacked out. He recalled little of feeling himself floating out in the endless depths of darkness, but there was one single moment he remembered somewhat strongly.

He remembered seeing her; he remembered hearing her voice; he remembered her soft touch on his cheek.

Harold shook his head, placing his hand on his forehead as the other pieces of that moment become blanks. He didn’t know if it was real, or if it was just another blurry dream. There was no way he could possibly hear her, nor see her. Lana was dead for a month. There was no possible way she was the one who guided him through the lightning storm. It must’ve been the adrenaline talking. The rush must’ve caused him to hear voices in his head.

But then again, this was her voice.

There was no denying that she spoke to him, even from the afterlife.

“Then that means you’re here with me, aren’t you, Lana?” Harold thought. He held his locket to his face, bearing a sad smile. “I guess you are watching over me from Heaven. The way you helped me and these ponies... these friends. They all stuck out for one another, even if they had to risk their lives just to do so, like you. Maybe that’s what I never made before. Friends.”

After the ponies and their human tagalong arrived at a dirt road in the meadow, crossing a stone bridge that led over the same brook, they soon arrived at the edge of their awaited destination: the town of Ponyville. Harold was in awe as he stood at the outskirts of this fair town, greeted with a big red “Welcome to Ponyville” sign. He slid himself off of Fluttershy (much to her relief) and got a good look at the village. Perfect stone houses each topped with a straw roof. Ponies of different colors and sizes trotting around in the distance. By Harold’s count, this was a town with a majority of mares populating this town, dwarfing the stallions.

Still, it made Harold feel good. Even though they were all equine creatures, it was good for Harold to see a happy thriving town for once. Ponies standing around, chatting up a storm about their spa treatments or the wellbeing of their little fillies. Young equines running around happily, pinwheels held in their mouths. A grey pegasus mare with a bright blonde and golden cross eyes flying clumsily as she tried to deliver the mail. Harold knew this was a peaceful society.

No talks of war.

No problems with their economy.

No signs of the hungry or the homeless.

The human’s eyes watered as he became envious of their lifestyle.

“According to the letter Princess Celestia sent me before,” Twilight informed, snapping the human out of his sentimental daze. “The chariots she sent us are supposed to meet with us in Ponyville square. We can’t afford to keep them waiting much longer. Come on girls.”

Harold gulped nervously. Slowly, he walked into Ponyville, one hand grasping the locket at his chest, the other holding onto Fluttershy for security. He felt reluctant to take a step further into the town, seeing as he was the only human walking in a town filled with ponies. One sight of him and they would all freak out, like he was a monster. Being ostracized was one of the many fears Harold was cursed with, thanks to his bad experiences in New York City. He prayed to Heaven that his fear didn’t come to light.

“It’s okay, Harold. I’m sure that everypony in Ponyville will take kindly of you,” Fluttershy reassured the scared human.

“I don’t know, Fluttershy,” Harold said lightly, sweat beginning to protrude from his head. “What if these ponies don’t like me because of who I am? In fact, what if your princesses don’t like me for the same reason? I-I-I mean...”

Fluttershy raised her hoof to Harold’s mouth, shushing him in a whisper. “Shhh. It’s okay, Harold, you have my complete support. After all, with me helping you along your journey, what could possibly go wrong?”

As if by coincidence, a blue unicorn mare came trotting out from a building, most likely the local dentist’s office because Harold could make out what appeared to be a single tooth on a wooden sign hanging from the metal rod. She had a white mane with a blue streak running through. Oddly enough, her Cutie Mark was an hourglass. Maybe her talent had something to do with clocks? Harold didn’t know.

The mare known as Minuette was the only pony nearby when she spotted Twilight and the Elements of Harmony trot into town, returning from her little errand. “Ah, Princess Twilight! We’ve been looking all over for you! Hey, you’ve been at the meadow recently! Right? Because everypony’s been wondering if you knew what happened in the mead--.”

Minuette suddenly went dead silent as her eyes met with the tall bipedal creature. Her pupils suddenly shrank as she stared at the human. There was something about him that frightened her. Was it his towering height? Was it his body structure? Was it face? Even she couldn’t point out what made him so... fearful.

“Umm... hi?”

“EEEEEEEEKKK!! A TALKING MONSTER!!”

Minuette shrieked from the top of her lungs, prompting Harold to quickly cover his sensitive ears against the shrill volume of the mare’s screaming. Everypony suddenly shot their shocked gaze to the noise, where those gazes also fell on the human teen. Minuette turned tail and cantered back into the town, screaming her head off.

“EVERYPONY, RUN!! THERE’S A MONSTER IN PONYVILLE!!”

All at once, the other ponies screamed in terror as the panic spread through like wildfire. Everypony frantically galloped around the streets and took refuge inside the nearest buildings. Shopping carts were toppled over, spilling fruits, treats and beautiful household items all over the dirt. Now they were nothing but jam, squash or shards mercilessly flattened by the scrambling ponies. In a full minute, Ponyville became a barren ghost town. Shutters were slammed shut. Doors and windows were locked. A tumbleweed rolled along with the gentlest of breezes. The only living creatures standing out on the streets were the Mane Six and Harold, who drooped his head down and rubbed his arm gently.

Why did Fluttershy have to jinx the entire situation here and now?

“No surprise here,” Rainbow Dash said flatly. “I already placed ten bits that everypony would react this way.” Suddenly, Rainbow Dash was met with deadpanned looks from her friends, each face showing no appreciation for the pegasus’s attitude. “What?”

“Nothing,” Twilight replied, holding her hoof to her forehead with annoyance. “Come on. Let’s just get to the chariots.”

The group all walked down the streets, again, not uttering another on their way down the streets. The street was now in a disarray from the town-sized panic attack, nearly making Rarity dizzy from its horrid sight. Through the shutters of the windows, Harold could feel the citizens inside stare at him with both fear and uncertainty. He knew of this uneasiness since he received the same kind of treatment from his own people on Earth, albeit on the streets or in his school.

Oh, how Harold hated those stares. It was like fear had festered inside of his chest, a webbing plague choking his fragile spirit. Only these stares weren’t the same stares that Harold glanced through the corner of his eye. The stares his fellow humans glared on him consisted of fear, hatred and anger. Their eyes alone had made Harold distant from everybody else in school, unless it happened to be Drake Singer and his droogs who were all fixing to beat him in public again.

Now the only comfort he could find right now was with Fluttershy. For some reason, Harold felt he could trust Twilight with her being a princess and all, but Fluttershy’s gentleness and kindness were all that he needed at that moment. Her smile and her voice were both like reflections of Lana’s kind demeanor, the same kindness she had planned to use to save the people of New York City.

But alas... her plan never came to pass.

Her kindness will now and forever be a memory to Harold.

Clop-clop-clop, clop-clop-clop, clop-clop-clop, clop-clop-clop...

Then a quick clatter of heavy hooves cantered up the street, mixed in with a faint ringing of metallic armor. Approaching up the street were a two pairs of armored pegasus stallions rushed over to where Harold and the Mane Six were. It appeared they were investigating the source of the panic when they heard the bloodcurdling screams about a monster and witnessed the terrified ponies running about frantically.

That’s when their stoic gazes fell on the biped walking among the ponies. They readied their battle stances, intimidating the creature by further while they barked their orders at him.

“You there! Halt, creature!”

“Step away from Princess Twilight Sparkle at once!”

“Do it now, or you’ll be met with extreme force!”

Harold reeled back in shock as the soldiers slowly made their way towards the human. Walking backwards to avoid being subdued by the soldiers, Harold found himself stopped by Fluttershy’s hoof gently placed across his back. As the soldiers drew near, Twilight stepped in front of the soldiers’ path with a stern look.

“Stand down, good sirs. He’s been given special clearance from Princess Celestia herself,” she said with mild authority in her tone.

“If that’s the case, then the creature must show us his proof of clearance!”

Fluttershy nudged Harold on the soldier, who motioned her eyes to the Royal Emblem on his shirt. He gripped the emblem and showed it to the soldiers, all standing down without missing a beat. “Then you may come with us as well,” one of the armored stallions said. “But we must not dawdle. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are both waiting for you at the castle. Follow us.”

The soldiers turned and trotted back to the chariots, with the Mane Six and Harold following suit. They reached Ponyville square, where two chariots awaited to be seated by Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony. Harold inspected the designs of both chariots with close precision. The chariots resembled two Volkswagen Beetles, festively designed in gold with soft red seats and images of Twilight’s Cutie Mark planted above the seats and on the front. Each chariot had enough space to seat up to four ponies, hopefully enough to fit one human.

Harold reluctantly boarded one of the chariots, alongside Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie boarded the other chariot as Harold stroked his hand on the velvet cushion seats. They were soft and comfortable, definitely made for royalty and nobility. Since he came from an infamous rich family, Harold was no stranger to these kind of cushions.

“Are you seating comfortably, Harold?” Fluttershy asked, earning a slight nod from the boy. “Just wait until you get to Canterlot, Harold. You’re going to love it there. The city and the scenery are both so beautiful, Canterlot Castle is so majestic. But the best part is, the castle is perched on the side of a mountain, so you get to see almost all of Equestria from high up.”

High... up?

Harold felt a lump form in his throat as he tried to piece together what Fluttershy had said just now.

A whole city and an enormous castle...

...built at the side of a mountain...

...thousands of feet into the air.

This didn’t suit well for Harold. He was deathly afraid of heights. Any height as tall as a three-story building was alright with him, but when it came to anything taller... say, a castle at the side of the tallest mountain... that’s when Harold wants out before his anxiety gets the better of him.

The scared human tried to budge himself out of the chariot, but it was too late. A sudden jerky movement made him fall back into his seat. The guards pulling the chariot unfurled their wings and began to ascend into the skies. Higher and higher the chariot and its passengers climbed, along with Harold’s anxiety. He gripped the seat cushions hard and hummed an unfamiliar tune, but it didn’t do him any good. In fact, the tune he hummed played a contribution in shortening Harold’s breath while his panicking grabbed the attention of Twilight, Fluttershy and a skeptical Rainbow Dash.

Both Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other with increasing concern. The latter pegasus wrapped her hooves around the human as she tried to shake him off of his frightened trance. “Harold? Are you alright? Do you need a paper bag?” she asked lightly.

“Judging from the way he’s been acting, I’m guessing he does need a paper bag,” Twilight said, watching while Harold’s face slowly became pale white like a ghost. “Look at him. He’s hardly breathing and he’s unresponsive to us calling him. I believe he has an extreme case of acrophobia.”

“Hang on, let me see if he’s got that acro... acro-whatever,” Rainbow Dash declared. She gently placed on hoof behind Harold’s head and gently tapped it without any effort. Then the human bent over forwards like a timbering piece of wood, still wearing his frightened face. “Yep. He’s got acro-whatchamacallit alright. And I thought it was Fluttershy who’s always afraid of heights.”

Ignoring Rainbow Dash’s snide remark, Fluttershy pulled Harold back in his upright position, then whipped out an empty paper bag from behind her back. She handed the bag to Harold, the human unconsciously swiping it from her hooves and brought it to his mouth. The bag inflated and deflated with every frightened breath Harold huffed and puffed. With growing concern, Fluttershy and Twilight leaned towards each other for a quiet conversation, with Rainbow Dash listening in on the two mares talking.

“Twilight, I’m afraid that being in the air isn’t really good for Harold,” Fluttershy whispered. “What do you think happened to him that could’ve made him afraid of heights?”

“I’m not sure, Fluttershy,” Twilight replied in the same whispering volume. “But I read once in the Guidebook to Psychological Fears that somepony’s biggest fears are stemmed off from a traumatic moment they’ve experienced in the past. From the way I see it, Harold must’ve had a moment in his life when his fear of heights are now made apparent. I wonder what could’ve happened?”

“Gee, I dunno. Maybe Hair-Old fell from someplace high?” Rainbow Dash interjected sarcastically. The two mares shot glares at her for her unsympathetic tone. “What? It’s obvious. He takes a big fall, he breaks something, now he’s scared of heights. Duh!”

“Rainbow Dash! For shame! Are you gonna keep picking on Harold all day!?” Fluttershy chided lightly.

“I’m not picking on him, Fluttershy! I was just guessing about Hair-Old’s fear of heights because it’s so obvious from how he’s reacting!”

“Well, Harold’s fears aren’t worth picking on him, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight added in. “Don’t you know how bad you would feel if we picked on you and your fears. Honestly, Rainbow, you could at least show some empathy for the poor guy.”

“I’m not showing any empathy for the ‘poor guy...’” Rainbow Dash quoted with her hooves. “...unless if this happens to be all one big act he’s putting on for us.”

Both Fluttershy and Twilight gasped exasperatingly, taken aback by how far over Rainbow Dash crossed the line. “Rainbow Dash! How dare you call Harold a faker!” Fluttershy yelled, breaking out of her timid shell once more. “You should be ashamed of yourself! You’re going to apologize to Harold once we reach Canterlot!”

“Yeah, Rainbow Dash! What’s your deal, anyway!?” Twilight scolded. “Are you not going to stop blaming Harold for something you did recklessly back there!?”

“Not even if Princess Celestia says he’s A.O.K. in my book!”

All three winged mares all engaged in a single argument, the noise all but muffled to Harold. As he continued to breathe inside of the paper bag, memories of his traumatic experience with heights flooded back to him. The pain, the humiliation, the aftermath. Like all acrophobics, Harold was afraid of heights for the same reason, though unknown to most who suffered from this fear.

It wasn’t the heights that actually bothered people.

It was the drop.

It was how far you fall from that drop.

It was what happened next after you land from that drop.

Harold slammed his eyes shut. Then that most humiliating and embarrassing day all came back to him. He was eleven years old at the time. On that day, when Drake Singer and his bulldogs nearly crossed the line with their so-called “fun” and “entertainment” by hanging Harold from that flagpole by his school jacket... that day had contributed into scarring part of the boy’s life from days on end.

He still had the scar underneath his right arm to prove it.

******************************************************************************

“Please, Drake, this isn’t funny! Let me down!”

Harold’s pleas for mercy did nothing to repel Drake Singer’s decision of hanging him form the school flagpole, which sprouted next to the school sign. They caught him alone in the schoolyard earlier that day, when Harold was sketching the kids playing on the playground. Al Keith and Roger Hayes snuck behind him and dragged him away from his sketching spot, Al’s golem-like hands covering his squealing mouth as he thrashed and struggled vainly against their strong grip. Then they took the sleeves of his jacket and forced them up on the strings of the flagpole, pinning them with clothespins as weakened restraints with Harold's arms tied tightly inside. Roger did his part and hoisted the jacket in the air to the top of the pole, its poor, unfortunate owner caught in the sleeves.

Now Harold struggled in his jacket, thrashing him to keep himself from falling from such a big drop. All around the schoolyard, he saw Drake and his bulldogs standing at the base of the pole, laughing hysterically to his misery. As he looked around, he saw a crowd of students and most of the faculty, watching and joining along with the mocking laughter as well.

"Please, Drake, don't do this! Let me down, please! I'm too high up!"

Drake Singer finished his chuckle before he looked up to his primary target with a smug grin plastered on his face. "No, I think you're fine the way you are. Now everyone here can see you just perfectly," the bully said as a few, semi-psychotic chuckles escaped from his throat, "Besides, I already found the situation you're in quite hilarious!"

Drake threw himself back and laughed as Roger tapped his hulking gorilla friend in the chest, both of them joining in with the laughs. Most of the gathering crowd began to cackle as well while a small handful began to take out their cell phones. They were going to either record a video of Harold's growing humiliation on their phones or even snap pictures of his saddened face appearing from behind the proverbial cracks.

The crowd roared louder with their laughter. Harold tried to struggle himself out of this mess, but found no point in doing so. Every move he would make would just make the situation worse. “Here’s the deal, Harold,” Drake explained, wiping away a tear from his eye. “Your father took the money this city had and ruined the lives of anyone born in the middle-class or lower. Now look at us: hunger, poverty, foreclosure... even homelessness. Did you know how bad of an environment the backstreets are for people like us to live in? That's because the homeless shelters are jam-packed with my fellow victims of your daddy's greed. Some of us don't have the money to see a doctor or buy food from the market, and do you know why that is?"

Harold tried to answer through his grown sobs, but couldn't even squeak a word out of his breath. Drake shot a cruel finger up to Harold as he declared his answer. "Well, the answer is obvious! It's because Daddy Ahab squandered our insurance money and literally kicked us to the curb!" The crowd began to boo and jeer at Harold as they waved their hands downward and shook their fists at him. To Harold, this hateful, lynch mob was like the last group of people a prisoner would see before he would be executed wrongly for the sins of another person.

That other person happened to be his father, Ahab. Now he was going to pay the price for his actions.

Drake turned back to his followers with his trademark smug grin and preached to his followers, consisting of mostly everyone in the school. "My fellow New Yorkers! The boy you see now on the flagpole is the son of Ahab DeMatt, president of DMCorp Insurance and national symbol of greed and power! He is most likely the next in line to inherit his father's home, his company and his fortune!"

Drake stuck his arm out at the crowd and smoothly glided over the crow. "Our money, by the way, and the only charitable work he might do is pity us by feeding us table scraps after his dinner! Are we gonna sit idly by while the DeMatt family blows our greenbacks on sex, gambling and stogies!?"

"HELL NO!!!" the crowd jeered.

"Are we gonna sit in silence while our future generations will be considered dirty, grubby trash!"

"HELL NO!!!"

"And so, without further ado, I give you all a commemoration to all the homes we lost, all the money stolen from right under our noses and all the actions that might come to pass! I give you one of the biggest American tragedies that are yet to come! I give you New York's favorite pariah, Harold Doormat!" Drake motioned to Harold with his hand as the sea of students roared with a tempest of howling laughter.

The venomous words, the cruel laughter and the pain growing began to seep deep inside Harold's heart. The salt rubbed in his formed wounds were the pictures taken on the students' cell phones, soon to be posted on the Internet where everyone around the world would laugh at his misery, the laughingstock of the world. Harold's face became warm with the tears flowing down his face as he began to weep, and tried desperately to plead with tormentor.

"Drake! Plea-ea-ea-ease! You don't understand! None of you do!" he bawled.

The lead bully held up his hand to the crowd, and the gathering populace fell silent to a whisper. Drake grinned and casually strolled over to the sign, placing his elbow on the side and resting his cheek on his palm. "Go ahead, Harold, tell us. What don't we understand?"

Harold sobbed. "You don't know what it's like living when my parents are home! You don't know what they've done to me and Lana! You don't even understand how hard it is to build a good life at home when mom or dad are around!" he cried to the crowd, most of them skeptical of his story. "They hate us! They hate having Lana and I around as much as they hate you altogether! Mom and dad have been so bad to us, you haven't even seen the bruises they left on my body!

"Look, I'm sorry for what my dad did to you all, and I'm sorry for all that you had to endure!" Harold continued. "But please, you have to understand, I want my dad gone as much as you do, Drake! I don't want to become the target for you guys to beat up, spit on and humiliate! I just want us to get along and stop him too, but the way you all treat me is making my life so hard, I can't take much more of it! This isn't the answer to solving your problem, Drake! This is only making everything worse for me!

"Please, Drake, all I'm asking you is to stop this before we get hurt! Tying me up to this flagpole and laughing at me will never help, Drake, I just don't want to hurt anymore!"

Drake simpered lightly as he stood up from his place at the sign and placed his hands in his pant pockets. "How touching. Surely, you have a gift of art and begging for mercy," he said calmly before he turned away and walked. "Unfortunately, it's too late for that now. That damage has already been done. You can't really fix what's already been broken, Doormat. Your daddy kept all the ritzy people in his class and tossed us out on the street."

Drake groped a small, squishy and moist object in his pocket and pulled it out, none too visible for anyone except for Al and Roger to notice and see. "Sorry, Harold Doormat, but like Donald Trump, he's one of the baddest people still living here today, and I intend to find a way to hurt him for good. But for right now, I'm just gonna enjoy the moment of you 'hanging' around the school area where everybody can see you."

"Please, Drake. You don't have to do this..." Harold's plea was interrupted when the rotten tomato Drake kept stashed in his pocket for this special occasion flew straight into his chest and exploded with a wet SPLAT! The impact knocked some of the wind out of him, and all he was left with was a horse, raspy voice. Al and Roger exchanged winks, took their respective tomatoes out of their pockets and proceeded to pelt the poor boy with the rotten fruit.

Soon, the crowd now roared with laughter, louder than ever. Students of every grade, teachers, janitors... even the principal and vice-principal all guffawed at the display of humiliation while some of the students took out a part of their lunches and threw it at Harold. The pain was too much for Harold to bear. There he was, tied to a cold, metal pole, hanging at about four or five stories high above the ground while he was littered with rotten tomato juice, banana mush, luncheon meat sandwiches.

He was now Harold Doormat, an eleven-year-old boy on a metal pole who became the object of ridicule, hate and scorn, as well as a living compost pile where everyone chucked their organic lunches at him from a good distance and good arm power, too. Harold could hear the laughter, see the pointing fingers and feel the photographs snapping his sad state and posted on the Internet. He could even see himself on the headlines on the news, which would subject him to more mockery and pain.

Harold could take no more of this. His lower lip began to quiver and, with nothing to dam his emotions any longer, Harold cried out in a volume that would make Al Pacino feel envious. He didn’t care if anyone else would laugh at him shedding tears. He wished he never went to school anymore. He wished he was never born in such an evil household anymore. In fact, he wished he would end it all, drop down from this height and never breathe again.

“DRAKE SINGER!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY BROTHER!?”

Everyone jumped at the shrill voice screeching from the main doors of the school. Members of the crowd reluctantly turned around and saw Lana standing on the top step of the main building. The crowd backed away as Lana stomped her way down the steps, all intimidated by the crimson, angry aura wafting from around her body. Her stomps would be enough to crack the very marble steps which, besides her record history of being a red belt in martial arts, gave the bystanders another incentive to stay out of her path.

Once Lana made her way to Drake and his goons, she got close enough to the lead bully to pull him close to her by the collar of his shirt. Drake, being so calm and collective, kept his self-satisfied demeanor intact to the point where he wasn't afraid of the vengeful glint that shone like hellfire in her eyes. “Well, hello, Lana. Nice to see you again,” Drake said nonchalantly. “You seem a little tense today. What’s the matter sweetheart, did you have that time of the month again?”

Somewhere in the crowd, an "oooh" rang out which followed with a few more asinine students. Lana, in sense of the word, was not pleased with the mocking humor and brought his mug into hers. "What... the hell... do you think... you're doing... to my brother!?!"

"What does it look like, baby doll?" Drake asked, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm commemorating everything your daddy's done and all the things he could've done. Your little brother was unfortunate to have been alone by himself, and we had no flag to help remember those who lost everything that they owned, so we used him as a substitute. We were planning on letting him down after we were done with him, honestly."

"What you were doing is getting on my bad side, Drake!!" Lana yelled. "Harassing my brother is one thing, but humiliating him like that is crossing the line! Hasn't he suffered enough by your own hands!?"

"Is that a trick question, princess, or are you planning on keeping count?" Drake asked.

Lana was reaching her boiling point. Not only had Drake Singer scarred Harold for life by hanging him by the flagpole for all of New York to see, he had also allowed the entire world to see for how frail and insignificant he really was. A shade of crimson boiled onto Lana's angered face as Drake gave the deciding blow to the teenage girl. "Hey, you do know what Lana spelled backwards is, right?"

With that remark, Lana yelled as she hoisted Drake by the collar and threw him like an oversized plush toy into the metal pole, the vibrations reverberating up to Harold's position. Harold was so surprised by his big sister's action that he was completely unaware of the clothespin that slowly undid itself by the vibrations. Al Keith and Roger Hayes both looked on in pure exasperation as they witnessed their leader’s head used to ring the pole by the furious blonde teenage girl. Al growled like a wild bear, enraged by how much nerve Lana had hurting his best pal.

“That’s it, witch! You’re mincemeat!” Al roared before he lunged at Lana like a wild bear.

Luckily, having much skill in most known martial arts, Lana quickly ducked away from Al's arms by falling onto the ground, kicked her feet into his lightly pudgy belly and sent him flying headfirst into the grass a good distance away from him. With Al incapacitated by the throw, Roger took advantage of the time to bring a right cross to Lana's face, but missed when she moved an inch away. Roger attempted to sock Lana in the face with a left cross and an uppercut with his right hand only for his arm to be gripped by Lana and flung over her shoulder, landing on top of Al's mound-like body.

This left Drake Singer the only one still standing, his lust for fighting triggered subconsciously by the blow on the metallic pole. He rubbed the forming bump where his head hit and looked at Lana like how a hungry, feral wolf would against its opponent.

"Oh, it's on, baby doll," he snarled, cracking his knuckles. "It's so on."

Lana stood straight and firm in a composed posture, following up with a boxer-ready pose and a fighting glint in her eyes. Drake growled before he rushed towards the teenage girl, bringing a fist back so he would rearrange her face. It was fortunate that years of learning mixed martial arts paid off, because Lana easily took her arm and countered the punch, reducing the damage by little. Then Lana used this counter as an opening to swing her leg around and sweep Drake off of his feet and flat on his back. Drake grunted as the impact knocked the wind out of him, leaving Lana the only fighter standing victorious.

Harold couldn't help but watch with complete awe as he witnessed his sister single-handedly defeat his tormentors so easily. He was at a loss of words and he didn’t know why. Maybe the humiliation rendered him too afraid to speak. Maybe it was the way his sister fought off Drake and his bulldogs to help him in his hour of desperate need. Maybe it was how high up he was from the ground.

It didn’t matter to him. All that mattered was that Lana had come at his hour of desperate need and that was enough. Through his misty eyes, Harold saw Lana look up to him, a face wrought with a combination of worry, concern and relief.

That’s when he felt his arm slipping out of his sleeve.

Harold yelped in panic and gripped the inside of his sleeves, but still felt himself slipping out like a viscous bucket of pouring maple syrup. He looked over and went wide-eyed as he saw the clothespins, the only thing that kept him tied onto the rope, slowly inch away, a couple already popped off. With his body weight slowly shifting out, Harold would fall off of the flagpole and all the way to the ground. Such a fall would easily injure him badly, or worse.

Harold struggled with all his might to keep himself from falling, but it did him no good. He was doomed to drop like a lead weight.

The only thing he could do now was call out to his sister for help.

“LANA!”

Lana was snapped out of her basking when she heard her little brother's voice cry for her in distress. She looked up and gasped frighteningly as she saw Harold thrashing in his loosening uniform, vainly trying to keep himself from falling down. Quickly looking around, Lana’s glance was caught by the ropes. If she could get to the ropes, she could lower Harold to a safe height before he could fall.

“Hang on, Harold!" Lana assured her brother. "I’m coming!”

Harold tried to hang on as long as he could possibly manage. When Lana took the first few steps, a pair of clammy hands gripped her ankles, which caused her to fall forward and land on her face. She didn't have time to recover as she was pinned down by a big hunk of excess muscle and fat piled on her, courtesy of Al Keith's crushing weight. Looking back, she saw her self restrained at her ankles by Roger's cold grip and stuck by Al laying on top of her like a dog pile. Then a pair of dirty school shoes came into Lana's sense of hearing and she turned to see one of those shoes kick her in the face.

Drake chuckled as she squatted down, not nearly to Lana's height but low enough for her to see his twisted face grinning at her. "Now who's crossing the line?" the bully asked before he forcefully connected his shoe into her face.

Harold watched helplessly as Lana was put in the same position that he was in, thanks to the devious efforts of Drake Singer and his three bovine followers.To make matters worse, Harold's only hold was slowly slipping off and already another clothespin started to snap. With that snap, one of Harold's sleeves was broken down, causing Harold to drop and swing down and his captive shoulder to pull by the traction.

The reaction was enough to cause Harold to scream out in pain, and everyone to look up, including Drake and his bulldogs. Lana looked on horrified as she was forced to watch her baby brother hang on by the strings of his sleeve and cry out. She tried wriggled desperately out of Al's strong weight on her back, but she couldn't budge an inch.

Harold didn’t fare any better. As he tried and hold on to his jacket, despite the agonizing pain in his shoulder, Harold could feel his jacket slipping from clothespins’ hold. He tried to reach out to reach the rope, but the effort of doing so had also snapped the few remaining clothespins off of his uniform jacket. A couple of jerky movements from each clothespin sent Harold closer and closer to his fall. The scared kid glanced in horror as the jacket began to slip from the clamp of the last clothespin.

“Oh no.”

The clothespin snapped.

Harold found himself falling four or five stories as his whole body plummeted down the pole, screaming while the harsh laws of gravity did him in. Horrified screams and gasps fell through the crowd as Lana saw her brother fall down until he fell on the school sign with a KRAKKK! Then, all at once, a cry of agony rang out all across New York as Harold's body fell on the ground, him wriggling like a fish out of water.

“HAROLD!!”

Lana quickly used her head and butted her nape in Al's nose, prompting him to grunt as he used hands pinning down the girl to cover his nose. She pushed Drake away and ran over to her injured brother, knelt down before him and gently scooped him into her arms. Her face started to contort with sadness and worry as she held Harold in her lap, feeling a warm pool of crimson stain her clothes.

“Oh-- Oh God! Oh God, Harold!! Are you alright!?” Lana screamed worriedly as she tried to keep Harold as conscious as she could.

The worried and cowering crowd all backed away slowly, some of them retreating back into the school. Drake, Roger and Al all got up and observed Lana cradling her hurt brother in her arms. Lana's weeping face slowly transitioned into a face of pure anger, and she directed her glowing, red glint to the bullies and everyone in the crowd.

"How could you? How could you all do this to him!?" she began to scream. "You! All of you! You did this to him! You've all bullied him, picked on him and laughed at him whenever he was at his weakest, but now look at what you've done to him! He could die any second now and the only thing you're doing is stand by and make a mockery of him by sending your pictures on the Internet!"

Some of the crowd began to scatter back into the building while a select handful were brave enough to finish hearing the daughter of Ahab DeMatt lash her tongue at them. "You all should be ashamed! As human beings, you should all feel ashamed! If my brother doesn't pull through, then I hope whatever you did to hurt him in every way was worth it! Because I ought to have you all pay for what you've done to him!

"Now get out! All of you... GET OUT!"

The rest of the bystanders jumped to the shrill volume and quickly ran back to the building. Drake, Roger and Al stood by for a moment before he tapped Roger with the back of his hand, and the three went back to the school. Lana kept Harold cradled in her arms while the boy slowly faded into a world full of black. The excruciating pain was too much for Harold to comprehend, and its agonizing sensation was lulling him into unconsciousness.

“Harold! Harold, look at me! Look at me!! Are you alright!?”

Harold slowly lifted his eyes and turned to Lana. The fall had knocked his strength away, but the only remaining strength he had was to speak to her through raspy, sobbing breaths. “Lana... my arm... I... I think it’s... broken...”

Harold's eyes slowly closed as the last thing he saw was his sister call out for him, just before he allowed the darkness to overtake him.

“Harold! Wake up! Please wake up!! HAROLD!! HAROLD!!!”

******************************************************************************

“Harold!? Harold!!”

*GASP*

Harold abruptly woke up from his dream, gasping for air with what little oxygen was stored in his lungs. His found himself sill holding the paper bag over his mouth, wrinkled from the intense deflation in his breathing. Three pairs of eyes watched him cope with his fear of heights, two of those concerned pairs belonging to Twilight and Fluttershy. The third pair belonged to Rainbow Dash, who looked at him with impatience. With the level of concerns in those gazes, Harold figured he passed out from hyperventilation while the chariot rode up into the sky.

Harold removed the bag and placed his hand at his stomach, sore from the attempt to expunge the carbon dioxide in his system. Fluttershy came up to him and held him in her hooves for comfort. “Oh, Harold. Are you feeling alright?” the timid pegasus asked, holding him closer to her. “You blacked out shortly after we took off for Canterlot. I was so worried that you were gonna pass away from all that breathing and I...”

Harold gently pushed Fluttershy away, wanting some space to recover from his anxiety attack. “I-I-I’m okay, Fluttershy. Really,” the human teen said, looking up in the sky with a worried face. He took his right arm and turned it upwards, revealing a slightly curved scar running along the bone area. “I-I-It was just a ba-bad dream. That’s all.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay, Harold,” Twilight said, disembarking from the chariot and onto a path of concrete and stone. “We arrived here just five minutes ago. It wouldn’t be right if we left you in the chariot in your condition.”

“Wh-Wh-Where is here?”

Twilight gestured her hoof for Harold to see. The sun shone brightly in his eyes, causing his vision to blur for a moment or two. When his eyes finally adjusted, he looked in awe as he gazed upon a silhouette of a giant-sized castle, complete with a moat and a drawbridge. The tallest ivory tower that loomed over the smaller ones stood up as high as the Empire State Building, the actual size nearly comparable to the Taj Mahal. The tops of each tower were decorated gold domes that shone with the bright sun. Despite his stature exceeding those of the ponies, Harold felt small, like an ant before a picnic basket.

“This is where I studied under the private tutelage of Princess Celestia.” Twilight turned at the human with a brightened and somewhat enthusiastic smile. “Harold DeMatt, welcome to Canterlot Castle. The capital of Equestria and home of the Two Royal Pony Sisters.”

Chapter 13: Equestria's Forbidden History (Part 1) (Re-Edited)

“Wow. So this is Canterlot Castle,” Harold muttered under his breath. He stared speechless in complete awe at the monolithic ivory castle, spanning up near towards the peak of the mountain. The walls were like ten feet taller than the maximum height of a fire engine’s ladder, littered by armor clad stallions. The grand scale and the structures of the castle grabbed his attention the most. The colors of the whitish hue in the exterior the towers and the gold peaks that topped them both combined perfectly, like classic rock and orchestra music.

Harold had been listening to Pink Floyd for about four years, so he would understand.

But there was something bout the castle that drove Harold to wonder about the most. It was this sense of familiarity, a feeling similar to when he first met Twilight Sparkle. It was not like the castle at Disneyland, but it was something else. Something that Harold couldn’t point out exactly what it was. What was it, he wondered?

“I take it you’re impressed by Canterlot Castle,” Twilight said, snapping the human from the depths of his own thoughts. Harold nodded a few times as Twilight explained what Canterlot Castle meant to her. “This is where I spent my foalhood as the personal protege for Princess Celestia. I spent many a night here, studying magic and learning the history of Equestria. To me, this castle is like my second home. I sure do miss spending my days in the library.”

“Yawn,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, clearly lost by the word, “library.” She put her hoof over her gaping mouth to feign the said action. “Yeah, that’s great and all, Twilight, but there’s one thing that I’ve gotta know: where in the world of Equestria are the rest of the girls!? They all should’ve been here by now!”

“You don’t have to look any further, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight answered. “Look.” The pegasi and Harold turned their attention to the sky. Another chariot touched down near Twilight’s chariot, carrying the three mares Harold came to know as Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Both Earth ponies wore a deadpanned face, the pink pony’s nuzzled closed tightly and leashed by Applejack’s lasso. Rarity’s face took the form of a pony who was on the verge of a mental collapse. It was easily seen with her eyes shrunk down to pinpricks and a crazed toothy frown forming at her mouth.

The chariot came to a complete stop. Applejack led Pinkie Pie out like a leashed dog. Rarity yelled for joy as she bellyflopped from her seat and onto the grass, hugging the ground like it was her long-lost lover. “Land!!” the unicorn shouted, kissing the grass with passion and relief. “Sweet, sweet land!! Oh, how I dreamt of this moment when I could finally meet you again!!”

Rarity returned to her kissing, much to the confusion amongst the winged ponies and the human. “Can anypony explain to me why Rarity is kissing the ground like that?” Twilight asked, prompting Applejack to spit the rope from her mouth.

“It’s like this, sugarcube. After we took off in the sky in our chariot, Pinkie Pie began ramblin’ about her chimicherries, cherrychangas and chimicherrychangas. Rarity tried to politely ask her ta stop, but Pinkie Pie kept on goin’ and goin’ like one of Granny Smith’s records and Rarity almost went stir-crazy on us. So we had ta stop the chariot so Ah could shut Pinkie’s yap, at least until we get here.”

“Well now that we’re all here, I think it’s fair that you keep your end of the deal,” Twilight said. “Please untie Pinkie’s mouth, Applejack.” Reluctantly, the cowgirl managed to comply to the alicorn’s orders. She pulled the rope with her teeth, causing the knot to untangle and loosen around Pinkie Pie’s nuzzle. The latter pony inhaled loudly as she breathed in fresh oxygen through her mouth. With a series of small gasping, Pinkie Pie turned her scowling attention to Applejack.

“AJ! That was totally mean of you to do that to me!” Pinkie Pie chided.

“Well, we asked ya politely to quit yappin’ about yer desserts!” Applejack argued back. “Don’t ya see how mad ya nearly made Rarity!?”

Pinkie Pie pondered the question with a hum and her hoof touching the bottom of her lip. “Mmmmm. Nope, I can’t say I have,” the party pony remarked. “All I kept thinking out loud about my homemade chimicherries, cherrychangas and chimicherrychangas, but Rarity had to be such a party pooper about them and I just cooouuuuldn’t refuse to think about them! Ooh! Ooh yeah, that reminds me, I even made up a song about them! Here it goes! Chim--MMMPPH!”

Before Pinkie Pie got into her usual descriptive five-minute fast-motion stories, her mouth suddenly zipped closed to a magic zipper encased in Twilight’s aura. The alicorn cast the spell to quiet the bubbly earth pony quiet before she began to discuss the matter at hand. “Listen, Pinkie Pie, we don’t have time to listen to a song right now. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are waiting for us in the castle. We all need to take this emergency seriously. That goes for you too, Pinkie.”

The aforementioned pony muffled a whine behind her enchanted zipper teeth. Twilight led the group to the walls of the castle, grabbing the attention of the strict watchful eyes of the stallion guards from their posts. The stallions’ faces were serious and intimidating, like the ones who pulled the chariots here to Canterlot. Their gazes were like a hawk’s, striking fear to those unfortunate to be in their path. Some of those guards readied their spears, aimed at the human boy. It was fortunate for Harold that the guards also spotted the Royal Emblem of Equestria was pinned to his shirt, so no spears were thrown.

It was a miracle that such a little medal would protect Harold from any harm. He wondered what it was like for a representative of the citizens of New York to beg for his parents’ to cease their wrongdoings in their offices. Rumor had it that Ahab or Devereaux made sure their word never got out to the people. They were all involved in an “unfortunate accident.”

“Wow. There are more guards here than in the night before my brother’s wedding,” Twilight observed, noticing the big number of soldiers patrolling the wall. “I guess that Princess Celestia must’ve ordered a 24/7 watch all over Canterlot this morning. The question is, from what?”

“Uhh, hello? Isn’t it obvious?” Rainbow Dash chipped in, shifting her head at Harold. “They must’ve gotten the message about an alien creature that’s said to bring down all of Equestria. Isn’t that right, Hair-Old the Matt?”

“It’s Harold,” the human corrected. “Harold DeMatt.”

“Whatever. Just keep walking, hue-man.”

With that, Rainbow Dash pushed the human forward by his back. Harold almost stumbled forward and onto Applejack, but his fall was stopped as he was caught by the embrace of Fluttershy’s wings. Fluttershy gently propped the human back on the heels of his feet and brushed the dirt off of his shoulders, unaware of the violent urges buried deep down inside Harold.

He wanted nothing more than to get back at Rainbow Dash for all that she’s been putting him through lately, what with the jeers, the threats and the way she pushed him around. No matter how much he wanted to fight back against those who would push him around, he didn’t have the strength or the heart to do so. Instead, he would have to go along with what was intended for him in the Grand Scheme of Things and move on.

If moving on was that easy, Harold wouldn’t feel so down like he did at the moment.

Harold and the Mane Six eventually approached the grand gates leading inside to the grand hall of Canterlot Castle. Standing before the illustrious golden doors to him was like waiting for the moment before he would be judged at the Pearly Gates by Saint Peter. One wrong sin and it would be all over in an instant for Harold. He felt completely nervous to meet an alicorn princess, his trembling nerves getting the best of his fears. He wasn’t ready to meet the princesses up close, but he didn’t see any other choice.

“Well, here we are. We’re at the doors to Canterlot Castle,” Twilight stated, turning her gaze back to the other ponies as well as the human teen standing amongst them. “Now I need everypony to remember one thing: this has got to be the biggest emergency that Princess Celestia has ever called on us to answer so far. That’s why I need you all to be on your best behavior and no mouthing off. That goes double for you, Rainbow Dash.”

Everypony turned their deadpanning to Rainbow Dash. She looked at everypony with confusion, never feeling so cornered before in her life. “What!?” the cyan pegasus asked loudly.

“Nothing,” Twilight sighed, trotting up to the door. “Alright, everypony. Let’s go.”

The six ponies ventured towards the monolithic doors. Harold remained behind from the group, still feeling unsure and doubtful about meeting the princesses. He took his locket from his shirt and ran his thumb over the engraving, hoping that it would curb his nervousness. Fluttershy was the first and only pony to notice Harold stick behind, who hung his head downwards and gazed at the ground.

Without any hesitation, Fluttershy hovered in the air and flew back to the human. She laid a reassuring hoof on the back of his shoulder, snapping him from his nervous trance. “Don’t be afraid, Harold,” she whispered. “Princess Celestia is one the most understanding ponies in Equestria. I’m sure she’ll understand what you’ve been through today.”

“Yeah...” Harold replied meekly. “But Fluttershy, what if she doesn’t like me for who I am? You’ve seen how those ponies back there reacted to me. I’m really worried that she might treat me like the way the others treated me.”

“Oh no, Harold. Princess Celestia is the most kindest of all ponies. She would never treat you like a monster, even if you are from another world.”

“I know, but--.”

Fluttershy placed both hooves on Harold’s shoulder with complete reassurance. The human kept himself and his tongue still as the pegasus gazed into his worrisome eyes. “Everything will be fine, Harold,” Fluttershy spoke with softness yet with seriousness in her tone. “Believe me, everything is going to be alright. I won’t let anything happen to you while I’m around. I promise.”

Harold remained silent for a moment. It was at that moment that Harold saw truth in Fluttershy’s eyes. It wasn’t because of how much he trusted her; it was because she said the exact same thing Lana told him on his first day back to school after his full two-week recovery from his compound fracture injury. Harold sighed with minor relief, still keeping his grip on his locket. He reluctantly walked to the doors, where the others waited for both Fluttershy and the human at the base of the doors.

“Alright, Harold. Time to face the music,” Harold thought to himself as Twilight opened the doors.

==================================================================

Princess Celestia kept her pace at the top of the stairs of the main hall, the hoof tracks creating a small circle. As her concern grew with every passing minute, her patience shrunk to only a mere thread. Her mind began to question the reason behind the late arrival of Twilight and the Elements of Harmony. Did something happen to them? Were they attacked by their foes on their way here? Did they succumb to Twilight’s uncontrollable magic? More importantly, did the human manage to capture them and harm them in any way?

All of these questions remained unanswered to her. She would have to send out a small search party if Twilight and the others didn’t get to Canterlot shortly.

Princess Luna watched moodily as her sister continued to pace anxiously, easily seen with how indelicately her hoofsteps became. The only thing the Princess of the Night could do now was watch Celestia succumb slowly to her worries. She wanted so badly to try and calm her sister down, unless she wanted to be met back with the Royal Canterlot Voice figuratively slap her in the face. Luna sighed, feeling as if all hope might be lost if Twilight couldn’t make it.

SLAM!

The doors slammed open, drawing Celestia and Luna’s attention to the entrance. There, they saw Princess Twilight Sparkle and four of her friends gallop inside, much to Celestia’s needed relief. “Princess Celestia! I am so sorry we arrived late!” Twilight apologized, she and her friends stopping at the base of the stairs.

“Thank you for coming, Twilight. You have no idea how much it means for me and my sister to see you all here and now.” Celestia breathed a sigh of relief, regaining her composure and standing tall and regally. “I was told you have the creature you described in the letter, Twilight. Where is this ‘hyooman’ that I’ve heard much about?”

CREEEAAK!

The doors to the main hall slowly creaked open, revealing the aforementioned “hyooman” who walked in reluctantly with Fluttershy gently escorting him inside. Harold stroked his locket with his thumb, shyly looking around at the intricate interior designs. He soaked in the marvelously done decor, the colorful glass windows and even the meticulously designed tapestries into his head like a mental image sponge. He would have to draw it all on paper later.

Then his eyes fell onto Celestia.

TING!

Harold grunted in pain as he held his hand to his temples yet again, feeling the “sense” strike him from out of nowhere. His gaze at the pure white alicorn triggered a response somewhere deep inside of his head. It wasn’t like the aching feelings of dizziness and headaches. Instead, it felt warm, like a deep feeling of fondness grow on the inside of his chest.

Harold didn’t know why he felt that way. It could’ve been her ethereal multicolored mane flowing along invisible winds. It could’ve been her golden regalia worn on her head, around her neck and on her hooves. It could even be the stoic magenta eyes looking down upon him from the throne. But... what was this unknown feeling? Why did he feel this way?

“I appreciate you for bringing him here, Twilight,” Celestia said. She turned to the dazed human, clearing her throat gently to present herself to Harold who was snatched from the depths of his thoughts by the simple and elegant noise. “Welcome to Equestria, Mr. Hyooman. My name is Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria and Princess of the Sun. The one you see standing beside me is my younger sister, Princess Luna. She governs Equestria during the night and holds the title of Princess of the Moon.”

Luna looked down on Harold from the top of the stairs with narrow eyes and a flattened frown.

“Charmed,” the dark blue alicorn said.

Harold rubbed the back of his head nervously as he stared back at the two princesses wearing a plain but wondrous expression. “Uh... H-H-Hello.”

Celestia stood tall at the top of the stairs, looking down at the esteemed “hyooman” like she did to her subjects in a crisis like this. “I know our presence seems to be very intimidating to you, ‘hyooman,’ and I completely understand. But if you are willing to cooperate, you may find our chance meeting to be hospitable. Is that understood?”

Harold paused. There was something about the tone of voice the princess spoke that somehow drew his attention further. Her voice sounded warm and relaxing. Somehow or rather, the sound of Celestia’s voice and its tone calmed his unsettled nerves down. It was like... motherly to him. Harold couldn’t describe how the voice felt to him. Just... motherly.

“Y-Y-Yes, your highness,” Harold finally stammered out.

“Very well. Do you have a name for yourself?”

Harold slowly made his way to the bottom of the staircase, his legs wobbling like Jell-O. He gripped his locket tightly to his chest and cleared his throat. “I-I-I do, your highness. My name is D-DeMatt. Harold DeMatt. I-I’m from another Earth f-f-from New York City i-in the State o-o-of New York.” Harold bowed down to the princess, though his body trembled while he bent over to show the princesses his respects. “At you’re service.”

“A polite young colt,” Luna said to her sister with a light chuckle. “I think I like him already.”

Twilight stepped up to the bottom of the staircase, her face showing great concern. “Princess Celestia. With all due respect, could you please tell us why we were all summoned here to Canterlot?” the alicorn asked, cutting straight to the point. “Something’s been bothering me ever since you told me in your letter about a non-Equestrian creature being considered a threat. Does this have something to do with the confidentiality about the letter? Is something bad really going to happen to Equestria? Why is he--?”

Celestia raised a hoof to silence her former student. She then looked down at her visitors with the most serious of looks. Not even Twilight had seen a face more distressing on the princess before, and she had been her student for more than ten years!

“All of you, follow me.”

Celestia and Luna both led the group up the stairs and into a long, narrow, empty hallway on their right. The empty stone walls echoed with the eerie dead silence. Despite the group of trotting hooves, dainty clattering horseshoes and the small squeak of leather sneakers, the emptiness kept everypony on the tip of their hooves. Harold, however, was the only one to keep on his toes. After all, he was the only creature in the group with feet.

“I understand that the recent circumstances have left you all with many questions...” Celestia started off as they turned into the Western wing of the castle, another long corridor stretching down for what seemed like miles. “...and I do apologize. But now that we are all here, it is about time my sister and I revealed to you the real reason you are all here.” Celestia turned her sad eye to Harold. He knew it wasn’t a good omen to see an alicorn princess look at him with such unhappiness. “I’m afraid to say, it does involve our most esteemed guest.”

“Yeah. No kidding,” Raindow Dash deadpanned.

“Rainbow!” Twilight snapped.

“This is much different than you think, Rainbow Dash,” Luna stated with a slight raise in her volume. “Very much. But first, Celestia and I must reveal to you one of the biggest secrets we have kept hidden from all of our subjects. This is a secret that very few know about over the years. We call it, Equestria’s Forbidden History.”

“‘Equestria’s Forbidden History?’” Twilight echoed, everyone but the alicorns looking at each other with a mixture of confusion and worry.

“Yes. I’m afraid so,” Celestia answered. Twilight could feel the reluctance inside of her mentor’s voice. “In the past, there were dark times during the beginning of our reign that we were afraid to make public to the citizens of Equestria. Very, very dark times. In fact, there were times in Equestria’s past we wanted to forget because of the unspeakable atrocities that happened during that time.”

“U-U-Unsp-sp-speakable at-t-t-troci-ci-cities?” Fluttershy whimpered. The pupils in her eyes shrunk at the very speculative thought of what could’ve happened during certain past eras. She hid herself behind Harold, her head poking from behind his back. That wasn’t fair. Harold was supposed to hide behind her guide, not protect her.

“Yes, Fluttershy. There were times in the past that we deemed too vile and too gruesome that we were forced to lock those memories away deep inside of our subjects’ subconscious.” Celestia sighed, the shakiness of that breath riddled with fear. “In order to help fill in the time gap between those horrid times and the time when the atrocities ended, Luna and I imbedded false memories of the duration into their heads. Though we were reluctant to do so, we saw no other choice but to cover up the pain. All evidence of those times were erased but we kept the records safe inside the Chamber of the Forbidden Times.”

“So basically, it’s like Men in Black except with ponies,” Harold thought to himself. “How... quaint.”

“Where is the Chamber of Forbidden Times?” Twilight asked.

“This is one part of the trip you would find commendable, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said. “The Chamber is hidden inside Star Swirl the Bearded’s Magical Study.”

Suddenly, Twilight zipped in front of the princesses in the blink of an eye. Her mouth was grown into a wide, dimply smile and her eyes sparkled like twinkling stars. “No way! Star Swirl the Bearded!? The same Star Swirl the Bearded who created over two hundred spells and now has a shelf in the Canterlot library of magic named after him!? The same Star Swirl the Bearded with a magical wing hidden somewhere in this castle!? That Star Swirl the Bearded!?”

Celestia nodded. Twilight’s grin grew wider, sounding off with a squee! “EEEEEE! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! This has to be a dream come true! I’ve always wanted to go to Star Swirl’s magical study since I began studying about obscure unicorn history! The spells! The magical artifacts! The untold tales about his adventures! I bet I can get all of Star Swirl’s history so I could help fill in the blanks of how he became the most important unicorn in Equestrian history!”

“Who’s Star Swirl the Beaded?” Harold asked in a whisper.

“Some kooky old unicorn that Twilight reads in her books,” Rainbow Dash answered flatly. “Trust me, she’s so head over hooves with this guy, she could go back in time and marry him.”

Celestia laid a hoof on her former student’s shoulder. In an instant, Twilight’s excitement was drained by her serious face. “I am sorry to disappoint you, Twilight,” Celestia said apologetically. “But this isn’t the time to research your favorite historic figure. This is a time to answer to a call of an old threat, one that I thought we would never face again.”

“What are we up against, anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“You are about to find out,” Luna replied.

The group went through a double wooden door, leading to a foyer with a staircase that led to an upper level of the castle. As they ventured upstairs into the upper level, they saw the white walls become dull stone bricks, leading to a room guarded a red velvet rope, held up by two chrome stanchions. A sign poked out from behind the left stanchion, reading a warning sign to anyone who came across it:

“RESTRICTED ACCESS WING”
* “No Admittance” *

Somewhere deep down inside, Harold thought he saw that sign before. These hallways didn’t make him feel any different either. In fact, these halls... these corridors... they all gave him such a foreboding feeling, it was nearly terrifying, to say the least. Celestia’s magic allowed the red tape to be unhooked delicately from one of the stanchions and attached to the other, giving the visitors safe passage inside the study deep inside of the caverns of Canterlot Mountain.

The spacious study, though it was perceived only as the entrance, shared similarities to that of a museum basement. Boxes of different sizes, ranging from the size of the caverns to the size of regular cardboard boxes decorated the study alongside giant shelves ancient and porcelain knickknacks. Past the ancient items used by Star Swirl was the real study, barricaded by two gigantic light blue doors, studded with two giant stars, each one having its upmost point reaching upwards beyond the other four points.

Everypony stared in awe at the magnificence that was Star Swirl’s study. Even Twilight enjoyed the trip to the caverns herself. Her pupils expanded to the point where her violet eyes became inch-thin rings. Moans of pleasure rang from her mouth, a puddle of drool dripping form her orifice. If anything, Twilight was staring before the Pearly Gates of a fangirl’s paradise.

But that was far as the princesses could take them.

“What we are about to show you all may disturb you for the rest of your days,” Celestia informed. “Be prepared for what comes next. Are you ready, Luna?”

“Of course, my sister.”

Everyone took a step back as Celestia and Luna stood before the doors. They closed their eyes and lit their horns, suddenly cringing their faces. Then their horns lit with oozed with purplish magic, sparkling dark lightning as their eyes glowed a fearful green with a shadowy aura. Celestia and Luna shot their dark beams at the stars, turning them as black as night before webs of darkness spread all over the door. The door was transformed into a decaying stone arch, studded with dark red gems, the apex being a dark crystal. Inside the arch was a downward stone staircase, dimly lit with glowing turquoise crystals. The shadows alone brought a feeling of fear to everyone in the entrance, the princesses included.

“This is the entrance to the Chamber of Forbidden Times,” Celestia explained. “This is a secret room that can be opened only by alicorn magic. Inside, there are archives and tools of all the horrid times in the past that Luna and I have kept secret from history. It also holds the answers you seek.” Suddenly, Celestia’s ears perked up. She jerked her head around the caverns. She thought at first she heard an evil laugh resound somewhere in the halls.

An evil, yet familiar laugh.

“Princess?” Twilight asked with growing concern.

“Let’s go,” the ivory alicorn ordered. “We cannot dawdle any further.”

With that said, Celestia and Luna both descended into the staircase. Everyone looked at each other in worry before they closely followed the princesses down into the chamber. Harold and Twilight both took a single step inside the chamber when they felt it.

Fear.

The very essence of fear caused them to suddenly stop walking as they unwillingly savored every terror coursing through their veins. Their hearts beat as loudly as drums. Their breaths shortened, unable to take in all of the oxygen. Their bodies trembled greatly as they hugged themselves to calm themselves. But that tactic had no avail.

“What... what is this feeling? It felt like every hair on my head is standing up!” Harold thought to himself, gripping his head out of insecurity as his eyes widened with intense fear. “This feeling... this terror! It’s scaring me! I can’t make it go away! Make it stop! Make it stop! Somebody, please make it stop!”

“Harold?”

Fluttershy’s sweetened voice brought the human from his frightened stupor. Her gentle hoof laid on his shoulder, the warm touch purging his fears away from his system. Harold looked at Fluttershy, who continued wearing her concerned expression for her friend. The other ponies gathered around Twilight. The young alicorn herself was wide-eyed with fear and her breath was shortened too. As it turned out, Twilight was feeling the same terror like Harold did a minute ago. How was it that she felt the same feeling while nopony else did?

“Harold, are you feeling alright?” Fluttershy asked, her voice purging away the human’s fears. “You looked like you were scared near to death by something scary.”

Harold shifted his shoulder away, prompting Fluttershy’s hoof to retract away back to her. “I... I’m alright, Fluttershy,” Harold fibbed meekly. “Really. I’m okay now.”

In truth of the matter, Harold wasn’t okay. He was still shaken up from this unknown feeling of terror, leaving him to ponder about it. What was that feeling just now? Why did he feel it? Was it somehow connected to the “sense” in any other way? More importantly, why was Twilight the only one who felt what he felt? Harold didn’t know. All he knew was that it took the effort of her other friends to snap her out of her frightened trance and calm her down. Feeling the familiar rush of insecurity, Harold rubbed his arm as he and the ponies followed closely to the princesses into the deep bowels of Canterlot Mountain.

==================================================================

“Princess Celestia, I still don’t understand what’s going on,” Twilight told her mentor as she and the others descended deep down inside the mountain. “I can get why you wanted to keep all of the worst times a secret from everypony else. But I still never got the reason as to why you wanted them to be a secret in the first place.”

Celestia looked to her sister. Luna gave a single approving nod, proving that it was time that they told the truth of the current situation they were in. Celestia sighed then turned back to her faithful student-turned-alicorn. “Twilight? Do you remember the play you put on in celebration of Hearth’s Warming Eve?”

“Of course,” Twilight replied. “It was a story telling of how Equestria was born.”

“Would you care to tell the exact same story to Harold?”

“I’ll be glad to do so.” Twilight turned to Harold, prepared to give a history lesson to the human. “Now pay attention, Harold. This is really interesting stuff. Before Equestria was born, there were three tribes of different ponies living at the time. There was the Unicorn Tribe, the Pegasus Tribe and the Unicorn tribe, and they all shared a deep hatred for one another. The Earth ponies had to grow food for the pegasi and the unicorns in exchange that the pegasus ponies could provide them with weather and the unicorns to raise and lower the sun and the moon.

“But one day, a dreadful blizzard came along and cut the food supply short. The leader of each tribe, Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane and Commodore Puddinghead--.”

“THAT’S ME!! I PLAYED THAT PART!!” Pinkie Pie piped up.

“...all gathered in one meeting to discuss what to do, but the meeting didn’t end well. So, the leaders, along with their second-in-command, Clover the Clever, Private Pansy and Smart Cookie set out to find new land to inhabit. They ended up finding a new land, of course, but it turned out they claimed the same spot of land at the same time. Of course, they ended up fighting over who claimed the land when another blizzard swept across their location. In order to escape the blizzard, the tribe leaders and their second-in-command took shelter in a nearby cave.

“But once they went in the cave, the tribe leaders began to fight again, this time over where their side of the cave should be. It wasn’t before long that the blizzard began to sweep up inside in the cave. Clover the Clever deduced that the blizzard was the work of windigos, evil snow spirits that feed off the hatred from everypony and creates a strong snowstorm with every hate and loathing it consumes.”

Harold went silent, very intrigued by how the story went.

“Oh, man,” he muttered. “What happened next?”

“Well, the tribe leaders continued to argue, eventually becoming frozen by their own hatred for each other. It just left Clover the Clever, Private Pansy and Smart Cookie to fend for each other. But then, their growing friendship and their warm hearts kept them from being frozen by the ice of the windigos and they used the Fire of Friendship to melt away the windigos. Afterwards, the ice freezing the leaders thawed and they learned the meaning of warmth and harmony once more and they dubbed the land, Equestria. Since then, we have celebrated a holiday called Hearth’s Warming Eve, where we gather around once a year to gather with our families to sing carols and celebrate the founding of Equestria.”

“It almost sounds like Christmas in Equestria here,” Harold thought to himself.

“I still don’t buy it,” Rainbow Dash added in, her face written in disbelief. “What does the story have anything to do with why we’re here? And why is Hair-Old the center of the whole, ‘bringing a great threat to Equestria’ business? He looks like he couldn’t even swat a fly!”

“Ummm... I don’t swat flies,” Fluttershy deadpanned. “Am I going to bring a threat to Equestria, Dashie?”

“Uh...”

“Despite what you all may think, Rainbow Dash brings up a valid point,” Celestia pointed out. “The story has plenty to do with our current situation. It all started years after the founding of Equestria, when the three pony tribes, Earth ponies, pegasus and unicorns alike all lived together in harmony. After many years of peace and prosperity, another civil conflict was waging once again, this time over which tribe leader was the most worthy to take the throne of Equestria.

“Many fights and wars waged on for years, until the tribe leaders had come up with a solution. They would create a leader with the strength and the high morale of an Earth pony, combined with the powerful magical properties of a unicorn and the graceful flight of a pegasus. In short, they would create the first alicorn to ascend to the throne of Equestria and unite the three tribes of ponies into a single harmonious civilization.”

“So that’s how the idea of the alicorns came to be,” Rarity exclaimed, drawn in by the development of the story. “Oh my, this is becoming quite the interesting piece of history.”

“I know, right!?” Pinkie Pie yelped, holding a bucket of popcorn in her hooves. “Best history lesson EVER!!” Pinkie Pie threw her nuzzle deep down into the popcorn and gobbled them up noisily. Twilight rolled her eyes before she stepped up to Celestia to address another one of her concerning questions.

“Princess, there’s something I don’t get. If the idea of the alicorn was created over a millennium ago, then how were you and Luna born?” she asked.

“That is an excellent question, Twilight,” Celestia said, brimming with a slight smile. “After spending a lengthy amount of time theorizing the possible ways to successfully create an alicorn, Princess Platinum recruited her tribe’s best unicorns to cast a magical spell conjured up and assisted by none other than Star Swirl the Bearded himself.”

Suddenly, Twilight perked up like she was a deer shone in the headlights of a carriage. “Wait a minute! You’re joking, right!? You’re not saying that you and Luna were both created by Star Swirl the Bearded now, are you!?” Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle lightly to her former student’s sudden display of enthusiasm.

“How do you think Star Swirl earned the title of Equestria’s greatest unicorn? Surely not just by creating over two-hundred spells that you’ve mastered in you’re studies.”

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Twilight screeched with bursting eagerness, her shrieking ringing out from all the way outside of the castle walls. “OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH!!! This has got to be the story of the century for me! My mentor and her sister created by the biggest name in unicorn history! He must’ve been like a great friend to you! Better yet, he must’ve been like your dad even!”

Harold huffed silently through his nose as he heard one of his most resentful words. Dad. Father. Pop. Every synonym relating to the word “dad,” let alone the word “dad” itself left a bitter taste in his mouth. It was because of his wrecked relationship with Ahab DeMatt that most of Harold’s problems were stemmed off of. Now here he was, watching Twilight go fangirl crazy because the princesses had a famous unicorn for a father.

It figured. He was officially feeling jealous at this moment.

“Now hold on one minute,” Rarity interjected, raising her hoof in the air. “This is the story of how you and Princess Luna came to be, isn’t it? So why would you insist on keeping it a secret hidden in this musty old cellar?”

Celestia sighed once more, this one out of silent fear. “Because our creation was what brought Equestria to its darkest times.”

Everyone but Celestia and Luna gasped. They hadn’t expected that the creation of divine-like beings like Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to be the signal to their so-called “dark times.” No one dared speak up, not even a scared whimper from Fluttershy as they made their way to their designated destination: A lone wooden door, guarded by twin crystals that glowed a bright orange-yellow like torch fire. The door was carved from a thick layer of petrified Everfree Forest tree bark, a perfect fit for an unsettling setting if everypony were to agree so.

Celestia and Luna’s horns lit up, enlightening the seals written in Equestrian runes in the color of their magic aura. A CLICK! was heard from within the door and it opened to reveal a gaping cavern, though not as tall as the entrance into Star Swirl’s study. Old cobwebbed shelves were lined against the craggy walls, filled with stacks of decaying parchments and scrolls. Old newspaper articles, the old one-page articles from The Equestria Times ranging from serial killers to anti-Celestiism terrorist groups, leaned against the walls on top of each shelf. Glass display cases contained magical artifacts imbued with dark magic. Guillotines, racks and spring-loaded metal masks with spikes on the inside were among the many Medieval-like torture tools to be placed in the more spacious areas of the corridor, stained in rust and dry crusts of blood.

Rarity and Fluttershy felt they were going to faint from such a repulsive sight. To Harold, it was like Jigsaw set up shop here and completely forgot about it for hundreds and hundreds of years. At that moment, Pinkie Pie’s overbearing curiosity nearly got the best of her as she picked up the metallic nail mask and stuck her face inside to see.

“Ooh! What does this do!?” she asked, accidentally activating the switch to set off the springs.

“Pinkie Pie!? What are you doing!?” Twilight screamed. “Put that down, now!”

As soon as the alicorn screamed her order, Harold ran over and smacked the mask away from Pinkie’s hoof and onto the cold, stone floor. The springs unloaded and the mask clamped shut with a sharp, metallic screech that prompted Harold to flinch and cover his ears. Pinkie Pie turned with a sheepish smile as she became the subject of hardened expressions from Twilight, Celestia and Luna.

“YOU INSOLENT FOAL!! HAVE YOU NO REALIZATION OF WHAT YOU’VE ALMOST DONE TO YOURSELF!?!” Luna scolded the party pony, wings unfurled and her Royal Canterlot Voice blowing her away like a hurricane. “THESE INSTRUMENTS AND ARTIFACTS HAVE BEEN LOCKED UP IN HERE FOR MANY HUNDREDS OF MOONS FOR A GOOD REASON!! THEY ARE MOST UNPREDICTABLE, UNBEARABLE AND HIGHLY DANGEROUS, EVEN ON THIS DAY!! YOU WILL NOT TOUCH, NOT LOOK OR NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT GOING NEAR THESE DESTRUCTIVE OBJECTS, LEST YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!! THAT GOES FOR ALL OF YOU, TOO!!”

Luna turned and pointed her hoof towards Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy, who all held either one of the tools or one of the dark magic artifacts in their hooves. Quickly, they placed the items back where they belonged and casually whistled or muttered false conversations with each other. Celestia laid her hoof on Luna’s shoulder, who calmed herself with a deep breath. The ivory alicorn levitated the mask back on its original placing and ordered the group to carry on.

The group trekked through the deep recesses of the mausoleum of blood-stained devices and gut-wrenching stories of murder and terrorist acts scribed on the parchment paper. The caverns grew darker and darker as they made their way to the back of the caverns, stopping before yet another wooden door. The Everfree Forest wood door was carved in with a crimson symbol on the front, resembling a pony’s skull covered by a pointed hood, a downwards curve drooping from the “jaw joints” with an eye etched at the bottom.

Twilight and Harold both froze at the spot. At the moment they looked at the door, they felt a deeper sense of terror build up inside of them once more. For some reason, an internal voice screamed inside of them, warning them of impending danger. It sounded like, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter!”

But what was the reason for this fear? Why did they have a premonition that whatever lied beyond that door was something bad? Something beyond scary? Why Harold and Twilight the only ones who felt this disturbance in the air? Whatever the case, there was no turning back now. Celestia had already opened the door, revealing a darker cavern inside, partially lit by a sickly green glow of the crystals. Again, the sinister shadows continued to creep the cavern’s visitors.

Everyone slowly stepped inside, already feeling their bodies shudder. The cold, dismal darkness itself terrified the visitors. But Harold and Twilight knew there was something else in the room besides the room itself that scared him witless. That feeling amplified as the door shut behind them, engulfing them in the empty darkness.

Celestia and Luna both lit their horns, the crystals stuck in its walls illuminating in reaction. Like a glow-in-the-dark sticker, two different types of crystals lit either a bright golden light or a calming shade of blue. Within minutes, the cave was glowing with the crystals, but it revealed something bad. Something far more evil that the instruments of torture in the corridor. At first glance, the setting itself scared everyone.

Applejack whinnied and hid her face in her Stetson hat.

Fluttershy yelped and hid herself behind Harold.

Rarity fainted with shock.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie zipped to each other and hugged each other for protection.

Twilight and Harold were frozen stiff, petrified by what they saw.

The front of the room revealed a glass display case, showcasing seven robes colored midnight black with red streaks throughout the cloth. A tome with a seal of golden pony skull in the front and titled with golden ancient Equestrian letters sat open on a rack, revealing black ink written in the same pre-evolved language. In the center of it all was an empty burlap sack, tied around the neck by brown string, adding in seven turquoise beads for both magic and show. The display itself wasn’t what everyone feared the most.

They feared the dark stained glass window looming over the case. At the near-bottom of the window, depictions of seven unicorns, all garbed in the same black-and-red cloaks, stood in a perfect U-formation. The center one larger than the other six and their horns sparked with dark lightning, like the same magic Celestia and Luna casted to access this place. In the center of the window, there was a shape, depicting a creature that was neither pony, nor human.

It was a centaur... no...

...no, it was a demon, complete with its set of horns spurting from both sides of its head. The upper half of the centaur demon was of a hulking gorilla, muscular and deadly. Its dots made for the eyes were as yellow as fear itself. Its skin was crimson like blood and his beard and sideburns were as white as a phantasm. Its hair, horns and clawed fingernails black as midnight, like the lower half of its body. It wore a black tunic and black wristbands and it carried the same burlap sack in its raised hands. Sprouting from within was like a rainbow, though it was like a serpent with seven hues of black and dark gray, twisting around the top, with seven ghastly figures of the same unicorns embedded it its dark smoke.

No one dared to say a word as they looked upon the window.

Only Celestia and Luna were the only ones to speak.

“This is why we are all here,” Celestia spoke. “This is one who will bring ruin and destruction to Equestria.” Celestia looked to the image in the window herself, riddled with a mixture of fear, terror and seriousness.

“His name... is Tirek.”

Chapter 14: Equestria's Forbidden History (Part 2) (Re-Edited)

Tirek.

The name of the demonic centaur depicted on the heinous stained glass window. His name alone made everypony, even Celestia and Luna themselves break out in a nervous sweat. No one could budge an inch from their spot, as if the essence of fear clamped around their ankles like iron and bolted them down to the floor. Though Tirek was only a stained painting depicted on the luminous glass, the centaur’s appearance was all the more reason why Celestia considered him a great threat.

He looked like the embodiment of pure evil itself. To Harold, he was the Satan to all ponykind.

“T-Tirek, your majesty?” Twilight squeaked, still shaken by the appearance of the illustration.

“Yes. Tirek is the demon of darkness and evil who is also the most feared creature in deepest pits of Tartarus. He was also the first and easily the most dangerous enemy that Luna and I have ever fought during the beginning years of our reign.” Celestia sighed shakily, as if she was intimidated by the ghosts of Equestria’s past. Twilight felt a lump in her throat, never seeing her mentor this scared before. Had Tirek done more damage to her than Nightmare Moon did one thousand years ago? More than Discord? King Sombra even? Twilight didn’t know, but she was about to find out.

“So what happened?” she asked.

Celestia sighed once more before she resumed her story. “Well, after Star Swirl the Bearded successfully performed the spell, our creation began an uproar within the citizens. Everypony was discouraged about having what they considered us either winged unicorns or horned pegasi take the throne of Equestria. But Star Swirl convinced us to make them see otherwise. Together, the three of us alicorns revealed to them our power that not even the whole tribe of unicorns could measure up to.”

“Wait. Wait a second. Did you say ‘the three of us?’” Twilight asked. “As in you, Luna and Cadence?”

“Not exactly, Twilight Sparkle. Princess Cadence merely ascended to an alicorn much like you have,” Luna answered, almost sounding loud for using her indoor voice. “Star Swirl originally created three alicorns to rule over the three celestial bodies of Equestria: the sun, the moon and the Earth. I govern the moon and the night while Celestia governs the sun and the daytime. But there was one other alicorn who ruled over the Earth.”

“Really? Who was it?”

“The other alicorn...” Celestia sighed sadly. “...was the first alicorn to be created. Princess Terra.”

“PRINCESS TERRA!?!” shouted the Elements of Harmony.

“Yes. Princess Terra, in a way, was our eldest sister. She was the first alicorn to be created by Star Swirl the Bearded and governed the Earth and everything that flourished in the world. She was also the kindest and most generous pony who ever lived, giving food and shelter to the all of the ponies who were poor and lost hope. She was the best sister anypony could have.”

Celestia’s eyes glimmered with moisture while she sadly smiled, Luna following suit. Everypony felt touched by the story of the princesses’ unheard-of sister, even to the point where Harold’s tears trickled down once down his cheek. It sounded to him like this Princess Terra that Celestia spoke of would get along fine with Lana. The kindness, the generosity, trying to get their own kind to see the light of hope. If Princess Terra were here right now, she would sympathize with her for being a good sister figure to both Celestia and Luna.

But Harold knew the story did not have a happy ending. He could see it clearly in the faces of the two regal alicorns.

“But Princess, if Terra is both you and Luna’s sister, then how come I haven’t heard of her until today?” Twilight asked, not knowing she was going to regret that question.

“You have seen her, Twilight,” Celestia answered. “She’s just not the way she is now when you first encountered her.”

“Huh?”

Everypony tilted their heads in confusion, Pinkie Pie’s forehead clonking into Rainbow Dash’s. Once again, Celestia’s cryptic speech left them all baffled. “Perhaps I shall elaborate with another story,” the ivory alicorn said. “During the years after the coronation of Terra, Luna and I, rumors began to arise of a cult of seven fanatical unicorns gathering somewhere in the dark recesses of the mountains. The cult was known to unicorns then as the Sin Eater. It was said that they stole a book containing dark magic from our royal libraries. They would use it to summon a powerful demon locked away in Tartarus.”

“Tirek,” guessed Twilight.

“I’m afraid so. When we got word of what the unicorns were prepared to do, my sisters and I scouted the mountains for any trace of the Sin Eater. We managed to find out where their gathering was, but by the time we got there, it was too late. Tirek had been summoned, and in return, he stole the dark hearts from each member of the Sin Eater and converted them all in his most deadliest weapon. The Stormbow of Darkness.”

“The Stormbow of Darkness?” Twilight squeaked.

“Indeed. The Stormbow of Darkness is a sentient being of darkness itself. It holds the great and terrible power to transform anypony and any living creature into a monstrous creature,” Luna explained, pointing her hoof to the empty burlap sack in the display case. “The Stormbow’s power was too great for even Tirek to control. So he contained the dark being inside this enchanted sack for him to wield at certain times. But somehow the Stormbow has escaped its prison and it’s loose somewhere in Equestria. I dare not think where it could be or what it’s scheming at this moment.”

“Princess Luna, was this Stormbow really all that bad?” Applejack asked.

“You have no idea, Applejack. The Stormbow of Darkness not only has the power to turn animals into the creatures that now reside in the Everfree Forest, but its influence could turn even the most pure-hearted ponies into pure evil, including me. The Darkness fed off of my jealousy, my anger and my resentment towards my sister for her subjects who praised the sun more than I with the moon. With it, I became the one pony I feared of becoming... Nightmare Moon.”

Everypony gasped. Now they knew the true origins of Nightmare Moon and the various creatures the Mane Six encountered in that cursed forest. Who knew that a living shadow had caused so much pain for Celestia for over one-thousand years? Although, it made perfect sense. Envy was one of the Seven Deadliest Sins of Ponykind and the darkness itself implanted that sin inside Luna. And Luna was envious towards Celestia for getting more attention in the daytime than she did during the night.

Everyone looked at the sack, feeling fear course their their nerves. A bad vibe resonated in the air, even with just a sideways glance at the sack. Out of the nine who gazed into the hollow emptiness of the bag, Twilight and Harold both felt the evil vibes the most. They felt a stronger terror take hold, staggering back a couple of steps with widened eyes and shaking breaths. Harold held his hand over his heart as it beat rapidly near the point where he could collapse from a heart attack while Twilight fell on her haunches, giving herself a bear hug to calm herself.

This feeling. Never before had the two felt this much fear ever. Why? It was just an empty woven bag with beads on it, meant to contain a dark force. But why... why did they feel this way? Why did this little old sack scare them so much that it made them drop to the floor!? Why were they the only two people in the room who felt what they felt while the other ponies didn’t!? Why!? Why!?

“Harold!? Twilight!?” Fluttershy gasped, prompting the others to turn to the two. “Guys, what’s happening to you!?”

The ponies quickly gathered around the two, both wriggling on the cold stone floor like decapitated snakes. Harold whimpered painfully as grasped his head with his hands while Twilight flopped on her back, her hooves still wrapped around her body. Five of the Mane Six were scared stiff, not knowing what to do in their condition. All they could do is try and snap the two out of their seizure-like scare by yelling to them.

“Harold! Twilight! What’s wrong with you two!?” Fluttershy screamed panicking.

“Twilight! Please restrain yourself!” Rarity yelped. “You’re gonna frighten yourself to death!”

“Hold yer horses, sugarcube!” Applejack yelled. “We can’t do nothin’ when y’all are movin’ around like mad!”

“Hey, Twi! Snap out of it, will ya!? I don’t want to lose another pony today!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“They’re not responding! THEY’RE NOT RESPONDING!!” Pinkie Pie screamed deafeningly, turning to the invisible wall she loved to stare at in her spare time. “HEY, YOU OUT THERE AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN!! HELP!! IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE!?! WE REALLY, REALLY, REALLY NEED HELP!! NOW!!”

As the Mane Six tried to shout out to Harold and Twilight, Pinkie Pie yelping out to nowhere, Celestia daintily trotted up to the suffering duo, her horn lighting in her graceful golden light. Her horn flared and the golden light washed upon everypony, draining their panic away from their nerves. Harold and Twilight felt their fearful bodies become calm, eventually feeling their terror subside like the calm sea after the passing storm.

Celestia sighed with relief. She knew this would happen eventually, but she kept a stoic and relieved face as her little ponies surrounded both Harold and Twilight, all feeling both frantic and concerned.

“Are y’all alright!?” Applejack yelled.

“You’re both not hurt, are you!?” Fluttershy whimpered, her voice shaking with tiny sobs.

“What on Earth happened to you two!?” Rarity screeched. “Honestly, I thought I was going to faint!”

“Yeah! Totally! It looked like you two were having a seizure or something!” Rainbow Dash yelled, throwing her hooves up in the air.

“Thank Celestia that you two are alright!” Pinkie Pie cut in, giggling like a schoolgirl. “Literally! Hee hee hee hee hee hee!”

The two were disoriented at first, their worlds spinning around like a merry-go-round, but made a quick recovery in under a minute. They nearly stumbled over to their sides as they staggered up with their footing. It was lucky for them that Twilight’s friends were around to support them, to keep them from falling back down into the ground. Celestia cleared her throat, prompting the others to turn to the ivory alicorn who trotted up to Twilight and Harold.

“Are you two feeling alright?” she asked in a motherly tone as if she concerned for her children.

“I’m fine, Princess Celestia,” Twilight answered.

“Yeah. Me too,” Harold replied.

“That’s a relief to hear. Now where were we in our story when we were interrupted?”

“Umm... you were talking about Princess Terra, Tirek and the Stormbow of Darkness?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, of course. That’s right.” Celestia regained her composure before she continued on with her story. “It was after Tirek was just released from Tartarus. Using the powers of the Stormbow of Darkness, Tirek nullified our magic and purged our prospering lands into a barren wasteland, turning most of the woodland creatures into horrible beasts, like the manticore and the timberwolves. We tried every tactic to prevent the forces of darkness from taking over Equestria, but in the end, we failed miserably. Tirek managed to single-hoofedly overthrow Equestria and made our previous castle his own personal fortress using his dark power.

“But all hope was not lost. There were some who resisted. The original founders of Equestria, their loyal apprentices and their armies met up in secrecy, Luna, Terra and myself included. We planned out our revolt against the tyranny of Tirek for the sake of Equestria, and a great war was waged for many days. The battle was hard fought and the forces of Tirek were drawn back into the fiery pits of Tartarus where they once came.

“But the victory of the battle had a far greater cost. We lost a good number of ponies brave enough to join us in our quest. Among those casualties were Star Swirl the Bearded and Terra.”

Everyone felt their hearts leap into their throats. Their eyes watered as Celestia’s voice dropped into sadness, a tear rolling down her cheek. “Princess, I’m so sorry to hear about your sister,” Twilight lamented. “I’m sure she was a great alicorn. Star Swirl too, I imagine.”

“Thank you for your condolences, Twilight, but Princess Terra is not gone. As I said, she’s just not the Terra that Luna and I used to know and loved anymore.”

“Wh-What do you mean? What’s happened to her?”

“Twilight, you’ve met her in person on a couple of occasions,” Celestia said. “You’ve met her during the changeling invasion of Canterlot during your brother’s wedding. She was the one who took the form of my niece to feed off of your brother and usurp the throne of Equestria. She was also the one who kidnapped your friends’ sisters when the Secretariat Comet passed over Equestria.”

Twilight’s body almost went into complete shock. She remembered now. She remembered that mare... that wicked mare who kidnapped her old foalsitter, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and took her form on the eve of her brother, Shining Armor’s wedding. The doppelganger’s cover was blown, but her changeling minions had already cracked the the protective barrier surrounding it. Though she was defeated by Shining Armor and Cadence’s love, she eventually returned when a mystical comet flew overhead Equestria. She gained an enormous amount of power, but she was proven no match against the magic of Twilight Sparkle.

Now it all made sense. The decaying alicorn who stood a foot taller than Celestia. The cryptic clue of Princess Terra’s “loss of life” during the battle with Tirek. The way Celestia lost so easily when the bug-like pony blasted her to the tiled floor of the altar. This unexpected development changed everything.

“No...” she muttered.

“I’m afraid so,” Celestia confirmed sadly, her head and Luna’s drooping downwards like dying malnourished plants. “During our great battle, Tirek attempted to use the Stormbow’s power on Star Swirl the Bearded to consume the love from everypony else, but Terra had taken the hit for him instead. With it, she was transformed into a foul creature with the ability to consume somepony’s love for one another and taking the form of that pony. The Terra you have met during your brother’s wedding has been long gone.

“She had become Chrysalis, the current Queen of the Changelings.”

Everypony gasped in a chorus, some voices shaking with sadness, others brought to mourning tears. Harold kept his face hidden from the ponies. He didn’t want to show his sympathy for having lost a dear sister himself. After all, Terra descended into the path of a wicked old bug. It didn’t feel right for him to join in on the teary eyes when the sister the alicorns lost was forced down the path of evil. But still, he did feel a smidgen of heartbreak like the rest of the ponies, his chest tightening in a knot.

“Oh, Princess... I’m so sorry,” Twilight whimpered. “I didn’t know that Chrysalis was your sister at the time. I can’t believe that was her that I went hoof-to-hoof with. Those changelings were probably also her children. I feel just awful.”

“There’s no need to feel sorry, Twilight,” Celestia said, slight sadness in her tone. “There is no way for us to break her out of Tirek’s influence. Luna and I had desperately tried to reason with her, but it was too late. Terra had been long gone by then, and with it, our chance to defeat Tirek once and for all.”

“But how did you defeat Tirek? Surely, there was something that you used against him?” Twilight asked, causing her mentor to smile.

“There was, Twilight. When Terra was transformed, the future of all ponykind was laid upon mine and Luna’s shoulders. We were sure we were going lose this battle. With the power of the Stormbow of Darkness, our resistance was quickly wearing thin and most of the prisoners had become rampaging dragonic-like creatures. In a last-ditch effort to end the dark times, Star Swirl and the founders of Equestria had done the impossible: They sacrificed their lives and the Fires of Friendship to create the magic so powerful that it would bring peace and harmony throughout Equestria.”

“The Elements of Harmony,” Twilight guessed with awe.

“Indeed. By connecting the hearts of our land’s founders, the magic within them... Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, Generosity, Honesty and Magic... had more than enough power to defeat Tirek and end his reign of terror. With the power of the Elements of Harmony, Luna and I banished Tirek back into the deep fiery pits of Tartarus from whence he came and we imprisoned the Stormbow of Darkness within this enchanted sack, thus ending his tyrannical reign once and for all.”

“Alright, Princesses! Way to go!” Pinkie Pie yelped.

“I thought that we had ended Tirek’s threat once and for all,” Celestia added stoically. “But as we sealed the Stormbow into the sack, it left us a disturbing warning. It showed us visions; visions of a creature not of a different world who would aid in the return of its master and once more bring forth everlasting ruin to Equestria.”

Everyone, including Harold gasped with shock. “So that’s why ya see Harold as a threat ta everypony,” Applejack deduced. “This boy’s gonna help that Stormbow varmint bring back that no-good minotaur, Tirek. Ah guess Ah also know why Rainbow Dash is so afraid of him.”

“Am not!” the pegasus interjected.

“It’s not how you think it would be, Applejack,” Luna said, lifting a hoof towards the distraught Harold. “We have discovered that the creature we see before us now is not entirely evil. But in order to aid the Stormbow of Darkness in the revival of its master, the creature has to become a host by giving in to the darkness of his heart. Once he has lost sight of what he holds precious to him, then it is a sure sign that the Stormbow will ultimately return. I should know, for that has happened to me just before my transformation.”

A small gasp came from Harold. He gripped his locket in his hand, the tightening muscles causing it to shake vigorously. Fluttershy became worried as she distinctly recalled the conversation with him back at the cottage. He once said that his locket belonged to somepony special, someone that he made a solemn promise to before he left on his journey. If that was the case, then...

“But there are two ways to help prevent the coming of Tirek,” Celestia said, with regret heard in her voice. Everyone could tell that they were not going to like either way. “The first way is to send him back to his home world. After I send him back, I will cast a spell so that nopony else will remember his arrival to Equestria.”

“A-A-And the other way?” Fluttershy asked, worried about the wellbeing of Harold.

Celestia sighed, clearly not liking the option that she would speak of. “We will have to channel the powers of the Elements of Harmony and turn him into the stone. His body will be preserved, but he will have to be moved to a hidden area in the Canterlot Gardens.”

“NOOOO!” Fluttershy screamed, much to everyone’s surprise. She scrambled to Harold and stood in front of him, her wings spread out in defense. Applejack and Rainbow Dash attempted to pull her away for fear that she would defile the princess, only for the pegasus to wriggle in resistance.

“You can’t do this to him, Princess Celestia!” Fluttershy yelled defensively. “Harold would never dare to harm anypony! Please! There has to be another way!”

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy, but I can’t see any other way,” Celestia said solemnly. “This is not my decision to make. This is a decision that our esteemed guest can only make for himself and that decision is final.” The ivory alicorn reluctantly turned to Harold, who kept his face hidden away from everypony’s view. “I know that you mean no harm, Mr. DeMatt, and I know how big it is for me to put you through all of this. But I have to do this for the sake of my subjects. That is why I am leaving you with two options: you can return home or you may remain hidden away in the Canterlot Gardens. It’s your choice.”

The room grew into dead silence. Harold gripped his locket, unsure of he what he could do. If he was sent back to Earth, possibly back to New York City from where he seceded, then he would have to face the repercussions of running away from home and the other stuff that happened during that same day. What was worse was that he would forget all that he did during the short hours he’d been there.

But being turned to stone was even worse, as far as Harold could tell. He didn’t want to know what it felt like being turned into a statue like Fluttershy did during that incident in the meadow, becoming a cold, lifeless body of solid rock, hidden away from civilization for all eternity. It was a cruel fate worse than death itself. It wasn’t because stone could not eat, breathe, talk or move. It was because he would never fulfill his promise to Lana. Harold wanted to live to make the spirit of his late sister proud, but he didn’t want to return home. He wanted to stay and be happy for the first time in nearly a month, but he didn’t want to become stone.

What was he to do now?

The mares all watched in suspenseful silence as Harold kept his mouth still, his hand trembling while he held his most valued treasure. Nopony knew what thoughts ran through the human’s head at the time, though it looked like he was in the middle of a drastic conflict between the two of Princess Celestia’s choices. Fluttershy nervously chewed her hooftips with her clattering teeth. Twilight tried her best to keep her composure. For the first time ever, Rainbow Dash felt a twinge of fear for the sake of Harold.

The decisions piled up on Harold like lead weights on his shoulders, the pressure becoming great enough to tense up. His gripping hand shuddered, the locket’s chain making a series of tiny clicking noises. Then he took a deep breath. The human’s grip on his locket calmed down and he let the gold drop from his hand. From what the ponies could gather, Harold had finally made up his mind.

The answer first came out in small, inaudible whimpers; then it came out in one single, yet powerful word.

“No.”

The answer shocked everypony to the point of gasping. Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Pinkie Pie all stared with widened eyes and slackened jaws, Pinkie’s jaw stretching all the way down to the stone floor. Fluttershy and Rarity both gasped and covered their mouths with their hooves. Applejack pulled her hat over her eyes, not wanting to see how badly this would end. Luna looked in horror as she saw her sister’s eyes narrow to the human’s defiance. She knew he pushed one of her biggest buttons.

“What did you just say?” Celestia asked, her tone dropping with her displeasure.

“No. I-I can’t go back. I won’t go back to Earth, even if you had no other choice.” Harold’s balled up his fists, which shuddered with growing nervousness. “But... I don’t want to be turned to stone either. I’ve come too far for me to end my journey now. I can’t stop here... I can’t...”

“Well, I can’t very much have you linger around this castle while you are presumed to be harbinger of our foe’s return,” Celestia said, her voice becoming stern by the minute. “I am only giving you two options that can only be beneficial for the wellbeing of my subjects. I have given you these options for your own choosing and whichever one you choose is final.”

“So what!? You think that by getting rid of me and wiping everyone’s memories of me, you’d be saving Equestria!? That sending me off will prevent that demonic centaur from coming here and turning all of you into bug ponies!?” Harold shouted, hints of sobbing rising in his voice. “You think that I would be so heartless as to even hurt any of you because I feel like it!? Because you think that my appearance would cause everyone to run and hide from me!? Because my people eat meat and I don’t still means that I’m already a menace to your peaceful society!?”

“Harold, please. Be careful how you talk to the princess,” Twilight warned the human. “You have no idea what she might do to you if you continue to speak to her like you are right now.”

“But what about me, huh!?” Harold continued, ignoring the warnings of the lavender alicorn. “Have you thought about what would happen to me if I picked one of those two damned options!? Don’t you even realize how I would even feel if you took away all of the happiness I felt when I came here!?”

“Harold!” Twilight snapped.

“DON'T YOU EVEN REALIZE HOW LONG I’VE WAITED TO BE HAPPY AGAIN!?”

The room fell into complete silence. The Mane Six stood shocked as they witnessed the human raise his tone against the equally surprised princess. With his arms shaking and fists clenched tightly, Harold fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands. He began to break down in tears in his palms, and for once, it attracted the empathetic looks from the ponies around him.

“Harold? Are you feeling okay?” Fluttershy asked, saddened by her human friend’s sadness.

Harold shook his head. “No. No, you don’t understand... none of you do. You don’t even know what it was like for me to be the son of two of the most hated people on Earth. My parents only goal in life was to obtain money and power. In return, they had everyone in New York except the high-class families thrown out into the streets! They never even had a qualm for the people they hurt! Not to my people! Not to the animals they killed to make coats! Not even their own children!

“And I was the one who had to pay for their crimes! I’ve been beaten up, ridiculed, publicly humiliated, and for what!? For being a part of a family who took away my people’s money, their homes and their businesses away! I was made the unwilling scapegoat for my parents’ crimes! It... It was literally tearing me apart!”

“Oh, come on. That can’t be true,” Rainbow Dash interjected. “You’re only making this story up just so you could get all the attention.”

“No! It’s all true!” Harold snapped, shocking Rainbow Dash by a foot. “Just take a good look at me! Look at what I’ve had to go through!” He pulled up the side of his shirt, revealing his torso all spotted with bruises, lined and scarred with scrapes. A scar ran under his right arm and little circular lesions marked where his mother doused her cigarette out on. Everypony gasped by the horrid state of the human’s body.

“These were all of my past fifteen years on Earth! These are all the fights that the bullies dragged me in through school! My parents’ punishment at my home! Fifteen years of pain, torture and humiliation, and I still haven’t gotten used to the pain!” Harold sobbed, burying his face in his hands again. “I tried so hard to convince everyone that I was nothing like my parents, but they wouldn’t let me! They thought by beating me, their frustrations and anger would be vented and my father would restore things back to normal! But that didn’t happen! All it did was make everything worse! There was no one else in the world who ever so much as cared for how I felt! No one!”

Fluttershy trotted over to Harold, pulling him in for a gentle embrace. “But what about your special somepony you told me about, Harold? Despite all that you’ve been through, you must’ve felt happiness when you with her?” The human's weeping suddenly grew exponentially. Fluttershy looked at the human with great concern, knowing there was something she said that made Harold feel this way.

“Harold... what’s wrong?” she asked.

Harold drew a shaky, sobbing breath before he answered. “She’s dead, Fluttershy.”

The mares gasped with shock, Fluttersy's being the loudest. The tragic facts unraveling before them had somehow caused their hearts to break, some nearly brought to tears. Fluttershy pulled away from her to look at him, her eyes showing extreme sadness. “Wh-Wh-What...?” she asked.

“My ‘special somepony...’” Harold continued, stopped by sobbings between words. “She was my sister, Lana. She died nearly a month ago, trying to save my life. She was the only one who cared for who I was and how much hell that I went through. All she ever wanted to do in life was to restore hope and undo all of the bad deeds that my parents wrought in my sick country... but she died before she could get that chance! When she died... in my arms...” Harold lifted his arms, both of which shook as he cradled the air where Lana laid before her eyes closed a final time.

“It killed me. It really, really killed me! I’ve been so alone... so depressed during that month, that I forgot what it was like to smile! I never knew what it was like to be happy until I came here! I... I thought that by staying here, I would feel happy again and probably move on with my life!” The human’s uplifted palms clenched into shaky fists. His sobbing began to be made clear with every word he spoke.

“But now I can’t! I can’t move on because you’re trying to make me forget all of my happiness and how warm it was just so you can save your own kind!” Harold pointed his finger to Princess Celestia, making her gasp in exasperation. “All I ever wanted was to be happy! I just wanted to feel happy and help me to finally recover from my loss!

“But how could I even feel this way if you’re gonna send me back home where you’ll take away every record of me being here, or if you’re just gonna leave me petrified in your gardens for the birds to poop on me!? How could you even tell me what you want me to do without giving a single thought of helping me instead of hurting me!? Maybe you can’t because... because... BECAUSE I’M A DANGER TO YOU PONIES!?”

Harold finally broke down crying, wailing up to the ceiling before he lowered his crying face down to the floor. Fluttershy pulled the human teen into her embrace, his cries muffled into her chest fur. She gently rubbed her back and shushed him, assuring him that everything was okay. Everypony looked on sadly while they watched Harold cry in the comfort of Fluttershy’s embrace.

“My-my-my parents even said that my pro-promise to Lana wa-was nothing b-but an empty promi-hi-hise!” Harold cried while Fluttershy nuzzled his forehead for affection, shushing him gently and telling him that everything was going to be okay. Like a mother comforting her own weeping child, Fluttershy rocked him gently and hummed a gentle tune to calm him down. While the pegasus tried her best to comfort the brokenhearted boy, Twilight turned to Celestia and narrowed her eyes down into a serious glare.

“If I may have a say in this, Princess Celestia, I have to agree with Harold,” Twilight said with a stern, direct voice. “I don’t approve of how you want to save Equestria from Tirek. This isn’t right! He’s just shown you how sad, alone and depressed he was on his world! And now your two options have only caused his pain to grow worse!”

“Twilight, I would watch how you’re talking to me, young lady,” Celestia warned.

“No, Princess! I have to get this out in the open! You can’t just send him back home... or turn him into stone when he’s at his weakest right now! Instead, you should be thanking him! You and all of Equestria must’ve seen my magic go haywire earlier today! Well, when my powers got out of control, Harold was the one who saved us all and helped calmed my magic down! If it weren’t for him, then none of us would be here to answer to your threat!”

Celestia gasped, her eyes grown wide. Her student’s words struck her like a spear. Had she really been thoughtless of the creature’s feelings? Was this any different from a thousand years ago, when she ignored Luna’s distress about how the ponies slept through her beautiful night for the sake of her subjects during the daytime? Was she really that low as to put Harold through a similar situation?

“Please, Princess. I’m asking you reconsider your options,” Twilight said, her voice becoming calm and concerned. “I know you have the best intentions of keeping Equestria safe from Tirek, but I think Harold has never known in his life what the magic of friendship is all about. That’s why you sent me to Ponyville in the first place.”

Celestia paused and turned to the scene unfolding before her own magenta eyes. She saw the distraught human cradled close to Fluttershy, sobbing his sorrows into her yellow fur. The more Celestia looked at him, the more she came to realize what she saw in him. It was like she was looking through an enchanted mirror to her past, when she mourned the loss of Terra... then Luna, when she banished her to the moon for a full millennium.

That’s when it came to her. Celestia was going to take all of his newfound happiness away from him. If she commenced with the decisions she laid out for the human, then she wouldn’t live it down. Like all the other hard decisions she made in the past... banishing Luna, mindwiping her own subjects, expelling Sunset Shimmer from her tutelage... these two would haunt her for days on end.

Sending him back in his current state was no excuse for saving Equestria.

“Please, Princess, could you at least give us a chance to help him?” Twilight begged. “If not for him, then for me?”

With a heavy sigh, Celestia slowly trotted past Twilight and approached Harold. Fluttershy pulled him in tighter as the alicorn stood over them with a stoic face. Harold flinched back, retreating his head back into Fluttershy’s chest. All the other ponies, save for Celestia and Luna, squeezed their eyes shut and waited for the painful sentence to pass.

“Very well then, Twilight, it seems you have left me with no other choice,” Celestia said in an equally stoic voice. “I, Princess Celestia of Equestria, do hereby decree that the human, Harold Gabriel DeMatt of Earth...”

Harold gulped fearfully, mixed in with the bitter saltiness of his own tears.

This was it. He was going to be sentenced to a fate far worse than death.

“...shall remain in Ponyville under the watchful eye of Princess Twilight Sparkle until he has learned the true meaning of friendship.”

The room fell into dead silence... again. Everypony shot a surprised look to Princess of the Sun, their pupils the size of pinpricks and mouths gaping open. Pinkie Pie’s jaw literally hit the floor, a gap big enough to hold a swarm of parasprites, even more when they would multiply. Harold looked up from Fluttershy’s chest fur, just as surprised to hear the sentence himself. His cheeks were stained with his shed tears and his eyes were stained red from his sobbing. His eyes also met with Celestia’s gentle smile as she knelt down to his level.

“I now understand the pain you have endured in the past, Harold,” Celestia said with deepened sympathy. “The loss of your loved one must have been indeed tragic, but your devotion to her has driven you to move on in your own pursuit of happiness. Am I correct?”

“Y-Yeah,” Harold sniffled, rubbing a tear from his eye.

Celestia smiled gently once more. She got up on her hooves and reached one out to him, helping him back on his feet. “Very well, then. Harold DeMatt, you have my permission to stay in Ponyville for as long as it takes to help you recover from your loss. Twilight and her friends will help you to settle down until you are ready to return to your home world.”

“R-R-Really!? You... you really mean it!?” The human whimpered surprisingly.

“Absolutely.”

Harold slowly beamed with a smile. His reddened blue eyes began to glimmer with tears again, this time out of heartwarming joy. He felt warmth and happiness blossom like a luminescent flower, glowing deep within the recesses of the dark cracks of his broken heart. Unable to contain this feeling of happiness, Harold rushed to the merciful princess and wrapped his arms around her neck for a gracious hug. He sobbed once more into her delicate white coat, soaking the carefully cleaned and groomed fur. It was nothing that Celestia couldn’t groom later tonight.

Ignoring her drenched fur, she pulled Harold closer to her with her elegant wings, embracing him in a gentle feathery hug and set the side of her head on his forehead. “Thank you! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you so much!” Harold cried, his voice muffled by the fur. “You have no idea how much this means to me!”

“Don’t thank me for this, Harold. Thank your new friends,” Celestia said, turning the human around to face the Mane Six. “These are the ponies who are forever in your debt for your noble deeds of saving them and my former student from a terrible fate. Now they will aid you in your quest to regain your long-lost happiness and I will put their trust in your own hooves.”

“They’re called hands, actually,” Harold replied with a slight smile.

“Oh! My mistake!” Celestia chortled, following with a slight giggle. She looked past over his head to Twilight and her friends, all looking back with bewilderment and surprise. “Twilight, I will be leaving young Harold in your care for the time being. I trust that you and your friends will take good care of him and make him feel welcome into our community.”

“We’ll do our best, Princess,” Twilight said, turning to her friends. “How about you, girls? Are you up to the challenge?”

“Oh, yes,” Fluttershy said.

“You bet!” Pinkie Pie chirped.

“Eeyup,” Applejack replied.

“It would be rude of me not to,” Rarity declared.

“Meh. Whatever,” Rainbow Dash muttered.

Celestia smiled, humming lightly while doing so. “Then it’s settled. Harold Gabriel DeMatt shall remain in Equestria until he has found the magic of friendship and true happiness in his heart,” she declared. With that said, five of the Mane Six cheered out loud and trotted around him. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes with disapproval but she reluctantly joined the group gathering.

Harold stood where he still stood, surrounded by ponies who welcomed him, gently patting him on his shoulder and told him about all the stuff about Equestria that he was going to love. He looked around him, then slightly tilted his head upwards. For the first time in nearly a month, Harold did something he never thought he would do up until now.

He smiled.

Once more, his tears of joy leaked down from his eyes. As if the heavens above had granted him a second chance, Harold also felt something he never felt before in his life. Salvation. Hope. Redemption. These blessings were all he needed to open a new door, a door leading on into a better life. That open door also presented himself with an opportunity to finally fulfill his promise to Lana.

But right now, all Harold wanted to do was soak in his unearthed feelings and chuckled.

==================================================================

Unbeknownst to the nine, two enemy spies listened in on their entire discussion. These two spies were disguised as pegasi in the Celestia’s Royal Guards, thus the real guards were wrapped up in a cocoon somewhere in the deepest, darkest recesses of the castle’s drink cellar. The spies had gained easy passage into the castle earlier that morning for infiltration by orders of their queen. When Princess Luna assembled the guards and informed them of the 24/7 watch, the spies hid themselves in the hallways of the castle using their invisibility spell.

For hours and hours, the spies stood by as they waited for Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and the Elements of Harmony to pass through these halls and inform them of an oncoming threat. Eventually, those ponies passed through those hallways, unaware of their presence hidden along the walls. What they did not account for was a naked bipedal creature wearing rags on his body walking amongst them.

Its appearance was repulsive, even to these spies. It was like watching a shaved monkey being led to its cage, the only hair on its body being on its head. Its clothing was wrinkled, stained with dirt, grass stains and body grease.

And ponies said they (the spies’ species) were ugly to look at.

As the ponies trotted down the halls, the invisible spies followed suit, listening carefully and taking careful mental notes. They saw what they needed to see. The creature, the entrance to Star Swirl the Bearded’s study, the door that was opened by the power of the alicorns’ magic. The information they gathered was so interesting, one of the spies couldn’t help but giggle impishly. That was when Celestia heard that laughter echo off the walls.

When the group of ponies led the creature into the deep, dark pits of Canterlot Mountain, the spies followed them silently. Unfortunately, Celestia had been prepared for any intruder who wanted to use this opportunity to peek inside the Chamber of Forbidden Times and put up a magic barrier around the entrance to prevent them from sneaking inside.

It was also unfortunate that she didn’t consider putting up a soundproof barrier along with it. Every word they heard with the use of their sound-amplifying spell made more the easier to eavesdrop on their discussion. When the meeting was over, the spies retreated outside to the castle, though it took precise timing to sneak past the guards. Once they were out of sight and in position, the spies undid their magic and appeared once more with the same disguise they wore before. Then, with a flap of their wings, the two “guards” quickly flew off, out of sight from the other guards.

It was time they shared their report to their queen.

==================================================================

The first few steps outside of Canterlot Castle to Harold was like walking with legs made of Jell-O.

It was a natural reaction to the real nerve-wracking experience of meeting royalty up close, especially if it happened to be Equestrian royalty. Having to defy Princess Celestia’s options of being sent back to Earth or be turned into stone took a lot of courage for him to muster up. But, in the end, everything turned out better than anypony expected. Not only had Celestia given him a reprieve and granted him permission to stay, but now he was one step closer to fulfilling his promise. With five of his newest friends beside him, Harold felt that the scales of fortune were finally tipping in his favor.

If only Rainbow Dash had put her trust into him; then his friend count would rise to six.

“So, Harold,” Twilight said, grabbing his attention. “Now that Princess Celestia agreed to let you stay in Equestria for the time being, what do you want to do?”

Harold pondered for an answer for only a moment. In a split second, he immediately realized what he wanted to do. “I don’t know. Maybe... maybe you can show me around Ponyville?” Harold asked, cracking a nervous smile.

Twilight herself also beamed with a smile. “Alright. If that’s what you want, then we’ll take you on a tour of Ponyville,” she said with high spirits. “So where do you want to go first? We can always start at the Golden Oaks Library where I live. I hope you like reading a book once in a while, because I have a bunch of them stacked on my shelves. I have fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, how-to-do books..."

Before Twilight could say another word, a delicate a-hem was heard, the posh voice belonging to Rarity. “Pardon me for the interruption, Twilight, but I believe that he still has an appointment due to spruce up his appearance,” the alabaster unicorn informed. “I simply cannot let a young colt like him walk around Ponyville. Not while he looks like a living ragamuffin.”

Harold immediately recalled what Rarity told him when they first met just after Twilight’s magic burst. He was subjected to her criticism about his current state of being a nomad, a wandering human who paid no attention to dirt for the past few days. It was understandable. Not having a decent shower in days and sleeping in the grass with a backpack for a pillow would do that to someone like him.

Twilight turned her attention back to Harold. “What do you think, Harold?” she asked. “Do you want to go with Rarity? She’s the best at making clothes, and I’m sure she won’t be having any trouble with making you a new set of clothing.”

Harold looked down and around himself. Since he never had a decent shower in the past few days, he felt himself become increasingly greasy and breaking out in little zits at his hairline. His clothes, once a fashion of sleep clothing that he found comfortable to wear, were wrinkled and stained with dirt and smears of grass green. In addition, his hair was starting to grow over his eyes, blocking some of his view and shimmering with nearly a week’s supply of hair grease.

There was no doubt in his mind. Harold needed a good wash and a new set of clothes.

“Alright. I go with you to your shop, Miss... Uhhh...”

“Rarity,” the unicorn introduced herself. She stood up on the tips of her hooves and patted the human on the head. “Oh, and there’s no need for the formalities, Harold. A polite young colt such as yourself should know by now that we are now officially friends, so there’s no need to label us as ‘Miss.’”

Rarity drew her hoof back and looked at it with disgust. Her delicate white hoof was stained with a smear of brownish-yellow, presumably the unwashed grease from Harold’s hair. Both the human and the unicorn sheepishly smiled at each other. It took Rarity all of her resolve to prevent herself from going about her usual ranting about dirt, for fear of offending the already sensitive Harold.

“Uuugh... let’s refrain from making physical contact until you’re all cleaned up. Deal?”

“Deal.”

With that said, Harold boarded the chariot with Rarity, both wheeled vehicles waiting outside of the castle. Twilight and Fluttershy joined in with them, with Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie boarding the other chariot. Harold closed his eyes, seeming calm and smiling on the outside, but thinking and leaping for joy on the inside. He had dreamed of the day when the silver lining finally cracked through the grey misty clouds that formed in his depressed soul. It had taken one month and four days for him to wait until he had finally felt the blanketing warmth of salvation wrap around him.

As the human became lost to wonders of finally smiling again, he became blissfully unaware that the chariot started smoothly towards the edge of the cliff. The chariot, pulled by the armored pegasus stallions, began to descend towards Ponyville. Harold was too deep in thought to notice that he was traveling a thousand feet above the land, despite his vulnerability to his acrophobia. It was also natural for him to block out all other senses while he was under his blissful spell, like the ponies conversing with one another and the feeling of a slanted downwards motion.

Harold opened his eyes to the vast blue sky.

Then he looked down at the bottom of the chariot where the ground had been. His blood ran cold as he saw and finally felt himself dropping down in the chariot. His breathing rate shortened, becoming shorter as he let out a scream that rivaled that of Rarity’s shrill screech or Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voice.

“AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

==================================================================

Celestia and Luna watched from their main hall windows as they saw the Elements of Harmony and their new human friend, Harold disappear down Canterlot Mountain. The two alicorn sisters were alone. It was the opportune time for Luna to speak her concerns with her sister, growing suspicions plaguing her mind ever since the human walked through the doors to the castle.

“Sister, are you sure that letting him go is a wise decision?” Luna questioned. “You know that the human is the creature that was said to bring Him back from Tartarus.”

“I cannot say myself, Luna. I know the decision I made has considerable risks to it.” Celestia kept her stoic gaze to the window for a moment. She turned and walked along the hallways to her chambers, her sister following close. “But Harold has felt loneliness for most of his life, despite the company of his now late sister. I have the upmost confidence that Princess Twilight and her friends can help him find the magic of friendship he sought for so long. Once he has, then we may be able to send him back before the return of Tirek can come to pass.”

Luna looked at her sister, raising an eyebrow of disbelief. “Is that why you let him stay in Equestria?” she asked. “Or was it because there was something else about the boy that peaked your interest?”

“What is it that you’re referring to, Luna?” Celestia asked gently.

“Sister, we have lived over a thousand years and I know that you keep secrets hidden from me, despite how much you try and hide it,” Luna said, leaning over into Celestia’s personal space, her narrow eyes spelling distrust. “I saw your eyes widen when you read that letter sent from Twilight Sparkle, not to mention how surprised you seem when the boy introduced himself to you. Let us not forget that moment when he and Twilight Sparkle felt that crippling fear when we entered the Chamber. How is it that you knew how to counter the effects of that fear, when nopony else felt it? Is there something you are hiding from me, Celestia?”

Celestia ceased her regal trotting. She knew her sister was onto her and her little secret whenever she called her by her own name. Luna had the amazing ability to uncover her subjects’ deepest, most secretive secrets inside and out their dreams, and Celestia was no different. All she could do now was sugarcoat the truth, but that still wouldn’t stop Luna from discovering her secret.

Celestia sighed. “I am not keeping any secrets from you, Luna.”

Luna narrowed her eyes. She knew that Celestia obviously lied to her; she was nervous, so she would pause for a moment before she came up with some ridiculous excuse or a false statement. Whenever she did, she would trot as daintily as she could to her chambers to separate herself from her own subjects. Nopony, not even Twilight Sparkle knew of her nervousness like Luna did. Even when Celestia tried to put on a straight face, the Princess of the Night could smell a coverup from a mile away.

Celestia resumed her walk down the halls, leaving Luna behind to stare as she disappeared around the corner. With a deep sigh, Luna shook her head with disapproval. “I know you are not trying to keep your secrets from me, sister,” she said to herself. “That is why I will determine what you are truly hiding and why you were hiding it for yourself.”

Luna turned and trotted back to her chambers. After a hectic day like this, she needed to catch up on her sleep.

Chapter 15: Generous (Not) to a Fault

The streets of Ponyville became repopulated during the absence of their princess. Ponies began to sweep around the streets, cleaning up any mess left behind by the riot the creature caused when it walked into their once-great village. Worried conversations and prejudiced murmurs were exchange with one another, all of them about the creature who strolled with Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony. Now that fear they all shared had swept through Ponyville like a plague, festering into uncertainty and growing detest.

“Did you get a good look at that thing?”

“Yeah. It made me want to hurl. Seriously, where did that thing come from?”

“I doubt that it came from the Everfree Forest. That thing is too ugly to even live in there.”

“There’s no way I’m letting that beast walk anywhere near my foals until I see it get out of Ponyville.”

As the ponies discussed the creature with one another, they failed to notice another pony trot into town, recently getting off the Friendship Express from a week-long vacation to San Flanksisco. Her name was Lyra Heartstrings. She was a minty green unicorn mare, having a light teal mane with a white streak. Her Cutie Mark was a golden lyre, a small portable hoof-held harp that signified her talent with playing that heavenly instrument.

Although Lyra’s Cutie Mark spoke true to her talent, that wasn’t how Ponyville would exactly define her. If anypony knew much about Lyra Heartstrings, it was that she was easily overcurious when it came to something new and unexplained. But sometimes, her curiosity also got her into trouble. As a foal, Lyra was once told by her parents that little fillies and colts were delivered by the storks and dropped by the doorstep of their new parents. Intrigued by the subject, Lyra ventured over to the Golden Oaks Library and found a book of that same subject.

After reading page after page of that book, Lyra needed five weeks of therapy to clear those images and those words out from her mind. When the sessions were over, she vowed never to make a foal with somepony else ever. But the long five weeks of therapy did nothing to wipe her curious tendencies from her head clean.

Now, whenever Lyra finds something that fascinated her, she would stop at nothing to observe it up close or far away. Even though her friends tried so hard to put that something out of her mind, her ambition to learn more would get her into sometimes serious trouble. On this particular day, her curiosity peaked again as she listened in on the ponies’ whispering while she passed by.

One of those ponies spreading those whispers was Lyra’s best friend, Bon Bon. She was a tan Earth mare with a blue-and-magenta curly mane. Her Cutie Mark were three pieces of candy, wrapped up in yellow-and-blue striped wrappers. The other pony was Roseluck, another Earth mare who ran the local rose stand. Her mane was a raspberry-like hue, with a light shade of pink running through. Her Cutie Mark was a single rose, though it was the only rose with its shape intact. Roseluck’s formerly beautiful roses were now crushed into organic potpourri during the town-sized panic attack, one-hundred-thirty-seven bits down the drain.

As Lyra trotted down to meet her friend, she could’t help but overhear their conversation as they swept up Roseluck’s roses and repaired her stand.

“How can anypony like Twilight even stand to look at it?” Roseluck asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe that creature gives off some sort of pheromone that attracts ponies so it could eat them up for lunch,” Bon Bon replied, giving off a dissatisfied snort. “For all we know, Twilight and her friends are probably monkey chow right now.”

“Gee, you think? I wouldn’t be surprised if Princess Celestia turned that thing into stone right about now, especially after what it’s done to Ponyville.” Roseluck lifted the leg of her tarnished stand up and attached the wheel to the pegs. She spun the wheel to test its rotation, which made a few successful turns without any wobbling.

“You what I have to say about that?” the candy mare asked. “I’d say the next time we see that thing come into our town again, we should get a mob together and run it out of town. If we see something walking through our streets on two legs that isn’t a dragon, then we’re just gonna have to chase it back to Everfree Forest where it belongs.”

“Run what back to the Everfree Forest?”

Bon Bon and Roseluck turned to the familiar voice. To their much-needed relief, it was Lyra, who stood next to them and listened in on their discussion. “Lyra! You’re back!” Bon Bon shouted, quickly pulling the unicorn in for a hug. “Thank Celestia you’re here, Lyra! You won’t believe what happened earlier this morning! It was a complete bedlam!”

Lyra pulled away from Bon Bon’s hug and gave her a plain, curious stare. “Okay, I’ll bite. What happened here and what’s this I hear about a ‘thing’ coming into Ponyville?” she asked.

“Errr...” Bon Bon quickly drew back from Lyra, darting her eyes back and forth, realizing too late of her mistake. If she told Lyra of the creature that came to Ponyville, then her curiosity would once again get the best of her. Bon Bon had no idea of the creature would do to her but she had a few good ideas of what it might do. It might eat her, maim her... mate with her even. Bon Bon needed to take advantage of Lyra’s other weakness.

Her gullibility.

“It was, uhh... a slight parasprite infestation!” Bon Bon fibbed, sporting beads of sweat dripping down her head. “Yeah. A parasprite came into town and started eating everything in town. It began to multiply and everypony was in a full panic! Isn’t that right, Rosie?”

“Hmm?” Roseluck turned to Bon Bon. The latter pony motioned her eyes to Lyra for help, but she eventually got the message. “Oh. Oh yes, a full town-sized panic,” she said, giggling nervously between every few said words. “It was horrible. A-A-And somepony had to borrow Pinkie Pie’s instruments and lead them back to the Everfree Forest. That was all... just... a slight... parasprite... infestation. Heh, heh.”

Lyra kept her curious blank stare to Bon Bon, blinking twice and tilting her head slightly. “Okay, I guess that makes sense.” Bon Bon and Roseluck looked at each other, then sighed a breath of relief. “But what was that I heard about some ugly beast walking through Ponyville? Was there something that I missed?”

“Uhh... that ugly beast?” Bon Bon stammered worriedly. “That was just, uh... a, uh...”

“That was just a statue that Princess Twilight brought along from her trip to Mehayco,” Roseluck interjected. “It was pretty hideous. It had everypony retreat back to their homes until Twilight took it out of the town. You know how those Mehaycans are, always making statues scary enough to make even Nightmare Moon wet herself.”

Roseluck and Bon Bon both darted their eyes towards each other and then to Lyra for a few times. Both Earth mares grew an uneasy smile and their faces were dripping a shower of nervous sweat like a shower nozzle turned on only slightly. Lyra looked on emotionlessly as she tried to piece both her friends’ unsettled nerves and the story together.

Lyra eventually grew a smile. “Okay. That makes a lot of sense. I once went to Mehayco once and a statue of Ahuizotl literally scared the living daylights out of me. To this day, I still haven’t looked at a Rottweiler the same way again.”

Again, this was another mess that Bon Bon and Roseluck helped avoid. They sighed once more, and wiped the sweat away from their forehead before they turned to their unicorn friend. “All in all, I’m glad that you’re back in Ponyville, Lyra. How about you tell us how your trip went while we help clean up the streets?”

“Well, what do you wanna know?”

“Why don’t you start with when you got to San Flanksisco?” Roseluck asked.

“Okay. It started off when I got off the train. I went to--”

“Hey, look! Princess Twilight is back!” shouted a Ponyville citizen.

Everypony looked up to the sky and saw two regal chariots descending from the sky. Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy was on the chariot further ahead of the other, which held Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. The citizens of Ponyville were joyed to see their newest alicorn princess safe and sound, not harmed by the creature at first. But then their joy quickly turned to horror as they saw the fourth passenger sitting with Twilight, blowing into a paper bag.

The passenger, to everypony except Lyra’s horror was the same creature they saw earlier.

As the chariots touched down onto the streets of Ponyville, the ponies began to shuffle away from the site. Some brought their foals inside their homes and slammed the doors. Other ponies hid behind the buildings, behind shrubbery, inside trash cans and other places they could find. The rest stood outside away from the area, casting cold sideways glances towards the Elements of Harmony and the creature they hitched along.

Lyra looked on enticed by the unknown animal that sat with Princess Twilight and her friends. There was something about it that intrigued her. The appearance of the creature; the rags it wore on its body; the short mane formed at the top of its head... even those spider-like things at the end of its hooves that grasped the paper bag.

What did Spike call them again? Oh right, fingers.

Lyra’s intrigued was interrupted when she felt her tail yank her away from the area by the strong clamp of Bon Bon’s teeth. They cantered their away around the alleyway and at the back of a building, with Bon Bon and Roseluck pinning the mint-green unicorn against the wall, their hold on her shoulders as gentle but firm. A stern look in both of their eyes had also gave way to the real reason behind their nervous lies.

“Ohhh, I get it now,” Lyra spoke. “That ‘ugly beast’ I heard about was--!”

“Lyra!” Bon Bon snapped, her glowering gaze piercing through the unicorn’s very soul like a lance. “Lyra Heartstrings, I know exactly what you’re thinking, and the answer is NO! You are not going anywhere going anywhere near that thing! You will not look, you will not hear, you will not even think about that animal! Got it!?”

“Thinking what?” Lyra lied through her teeth. “I’m not thinking about anything.”

Roseluck rolled her eyes with disbelief. “Right. Like I haven’t heard that one before,” she scoffed.

“Are you calling me...” Lyra brought her impish smiling face close to Roseluck’s. “...a ‘lyre?’”

“Lyra...” Bon Bon sighed, shaking her head. “Look, nopony’s accusing you of lying. But I don’t want you going off and watching that creature. You have no idea what it might do to you if you get too close to it.”

“Do you?” the unicorn asked.

“No, but I’m not taking that chance.” Bon Bon let her grip loose and fell to her hooves and pointed a scolding hoof at her. “Now listen to me and listen closely. That thing was the one who caused the widespread panic here in Ponyville and most of our businesses were ruined today because of it. The last thing I would want you to do is see you spying on that thing! If I catch you doing so for even a split second, then I’ll have to kick you out of my house faster than you could ever realize it! You understand!?”

“But I don’t think--”

“Do. You. Understand!?”

Lyra snorted with disappointment. “Fine, mom!”

“I don’t really appreciate that tone either, Lyra. Let this be a warning to you.” Bon Bon looked around the corner of the building to check the area. There was no sign of Twilight, the Elements of Harmony or the supposed “monster” anywhere. “Looks like the coast is clear. Come on. Help me clean up the streets so we can prepare steam sweet corn and fruit salad for dinner later tonight.”

“Oh, goodie,” Lyra mumbled, hanging her head low.

The bitter taste of disappointment was left on the unicorn’s tongue. All she ever wanted to do was observe the creature herself, learn from it and watch how it moved and held stuff with its... fingers. If Bon Bon could at the very least say “yes” for this one, then their relationship wouldn’t be once again questioned, especially if it had been no more than ten minutes since she returned to Ponyville. Bon Bon promised to kick her out more than one time when she became overly curious during those other times.

But Lyra didn’t care. Bon Bon never tossed her out for all those other times and she certainly wasn’t going to toss her out for this one. All she wanted to do was wait for the perfect moment for her to be alone and watch the “monster” for herself.

==================================================================

“It’s alright, Harold. Just breathe in and breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.”

Fluttershy’s calming voice and breathing coaching helped Harold to come back from his petrified stupor. The sensation of the wheels landing on the ground was like a therapeutic hug, gentle and dulcet, washing away all of his fears. His world spun around him slowly as his vision struggled to regain itself into normalcy, thanks to his bad habit of hyperventilating at such high altitudes. Yet, as he saw through his dizzying vision, Harold noticed the streets usually abundant with happy equines were empty, save for the few that had the courage to stay but chose to look away in disdain.

Twilight glowered at her fellow ponies’ behavior disappointingly. She then turned her attention back to Harold, glued to his seat while he covered his belly with his hand, taking in the sweet Equestrian oxygen to soothe his burning lungs. “So...” he gasped. “How long was I out for?”

“About ten minutes,” Twilight answered. “I was actually surprised that you didn’t start screaming when we descended from Canterlot Mountain. I’m guessing that you were so happy with Princess Celestia letting you stay here that you failed to notice we were going downhill until you saw where we were.”

“Yeah, that... sums it all... up.”

Twilight giggled lightly. “I guess it does.”

As Harold slowly got off of the chariot, the twin chariot with Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack riding along touched down alongside the first. While the other three of the Mane Six disembarked the chariot, Fluttershy gently nudged Twilight close to her and huddled down. Fluttershy then spoke to her in her usual whispery voice.

“Umm... Twilight? Don’t you think that having Harold out in the open is good for him?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well... do you remember when Ponyville went into a panic the first time they saw Harold?” Twilight answered with a slight nod. “I’ve been thinking since we heard Harold’s tragic story. You see, he had problems making friends back on his world because of whatever his parents did to them, right? If that were true, then...”

Fluttershy worriedly bit her lower lip, daring not to think about the outcome with the only human walking amongst their own ponykind. Lynch mobs, riots, death threats. These horrid ideas were all the least of her worries for the poor boy, though not as horrifying as before when Twilight listed the possible punishments Celestia would inflict on her for taking her pet phoenix, Philomena.

Twilight laid a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. She looked at her with the same reassurance Princess Celestia once gave her during the time she wanted her to help Discord reform from villainy. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. Harold will be in good hooves,” said Twilight. “Princess Celestia entrusted this mission to us and I won’t plan on letting her or Harold down. I promise.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

“You Pinkie Promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

With a wave of her hoof, Twilight dismissed the armored pegasus guards, all of which gave a nod approvingly. The chariots and their drivers all took off into the sky back to Canterlot. As Harold watched the chariots disappear into the distance, he felt his shirt nudge, pulled by Rarity’s baby blue aura.

“Right. Come along, darling, let’s get you all spruced up and ready like there’s no tomorrow.” With that said, Rarity began to trot along the street, dragging the bewildered Harold through the dirt road with her magic. When the unicorn and the human got farther and farther out of everypony’s hearing range, Twilight called on five the Mane Six and gathered around in a huddled formation.

“Okay, everypony, here’s what we need to do,” Twilight started off. “We all need to play our parts and help Harold feel welcome in Ponyville. Rarity is taking him first to the Carousel Boutique to have him washed, trimmed and in a new set of clothes. While he’s doing so, all of you need to come up with a plan to help him feel welcome and meet up at the library early tonight.”

Twilight turned her glowering gaze to Rainbow Dash.

“All of you. That means you too, Rainbow.”

“WHAT!?” Rainbow Dash screamed. She rocketed away from the group and hovered in the air for a good ten feet from her friends. “Why do I have to be a part of it!?”

Twilight followed suit and flew up close to Rainbow Dash’s face. Her narrowed eyes pierced through the tomboy pegasus’s soul like a sharp lance, paralyzing her in mid-air except for her flapping wings. “Because you’ve been pessimistic all day and we’re all tired of it, because you’ve done nothing but avoid contact with or say anything positive about Harold, and because Princess Celestia assigned this task to all of us, and there is no way that even you can turn that task down now.”

Twilight’s scowling face inched closer to Rainbow Dash’s raspberry eyes. The look alone would kill, but instead, slowly brought the somewhat boastful pegasus to the ground, her willpower losing to that fearful stare. It was a good thing that she witnessed the various times that Fluttershy used her Stare on disobedient animals, or she would never have learned to do so by herself.

“Is that a good enough answer for you?” Twilight asked sternly.

“Uhh... yes?” Rainbow Dash squeaked.

“Good. Now I’ll be going to Rarity’s in a little while to check up on her progress with Harold. Would anypony care to join me?”

“Sorry, sugarcube. Ah’m afraid Ah’ve got mah hooves full right now,” Applejack answered. “Ah’ve got until tonight ta finish applebuckin’ the orchards or there won’t be any fresh apples ta sell at mah stand. But if it makes ya feel better, Ah’ll be comin’ by later tonight.”

“Me too!” Pinkie Pie chirped. “I have to go back and work double-time for all the hours I put off today. Those yummy-yummy-in-my-tummy cupcakes won’t bake themselves, you know!”

Applejack and Pinkie Pie turned and walked back to their humble abodes, the latter pony singing her pointless happy tune. This left only Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Fluttershy alone in the square. “So, Fluttershy. Do you want to check up on Harold too and see how he and Rarity are getting along?” Twilight asked.

“Oh. I’m sorry, Twilight, but I’m afraid can’t stay for long,” Fluttershy said solemnly. “I’ll be bringing over all of Harold’s stuff to the library, but I have to go back and take care of Spike’s tummy-ache. Hopefully, he’ll be just fine by tonight... umm, that is if you don’t mind?”

“I understand completely. I’ll see you tonight.”

Fluttershy smiled lightly before she gently took off into the sky. She turned and fluttered down the direction to her cottage, leaving Twilight to smile. For a minute, everything seemed to be peaceful silence. Then that silence was broken as Rainbow Dash heaved a bored hoarse sigh and stretched her forelegs. She took off into the sky, but not before being stopped yet again by Twilight.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” the young alicorn asked.

“I’m gonna go take a nap,” Rainbow Dash answered. “Why? Are you gonna stop me from doing that?”

Twilight flew up to the tomboy pegasus, an imploring look spread on her face. “Listen, Rainbow, I know you don’t approve of Harold because of the history the two of you had today, but could you at least give him a chance? He’s been through so much on his world that he needs our support to help him take that first step into a better life. The first thing that would be helpful for the both of you is to show how grateful you are to even be alive and apologize for picking on him.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but groaned like the idea had put her in conflict with herself. Twilight laid both of her forelegs onto her shoulders and looked deeply into her eyes. “Please, Rainbow Dash. Can you do this, even for just one time? I’m not asking out of Princess Celestia’s orders, I’m asking this as a dear friend.”

Rainbow Dash drooped her head down, moaning with confusion. She gently pulled away from Twilight’s grip and began flying away. She then stopped and looked back at the hovering alicorn, both eyes positioned as if she was lightly saddened or something. It looked as if both certainty and uncertainty had waged war within her.

“I’ll think about it,” said Rainbow Dash.

With that said, she zoomed off in the distance, leaving behind a brief rainbow contrail in the sky.

Twilight stared off towards the horizon as the rainbow streak faded away into oblivion. Gently, she landed on the ground and stood in the square, all alone with barely anypony in sight. Was this how they were going to treat Harold? Running away and hiding from him like they did when Zecora came to town? Would they call him names and spread nasty rumors behind that back? Twilight didn’t know, but she feared the answer would come along, sooner or later.

With an exhausted sigh, Twilight turned and walked down the path to the Carousel Boutique.

==================================================================

Harold was entranced by the inside of Rarity’s home-slash-workplace.

The interior coloration and glamorous designs had left him in a hypnotice state of awe. The colors of the giant circular pattern that made up the entire floor; the festive details on the furniture and on the walls of the workroom; even the name, “Carousel Boutique,” was just as jubilant as it looked on the inside as it was on the outside. To Harold, it was like walking through an carnival of dainty colors, except without the exploding fireworks and the garish clothing. Those sorts of old tatters weren’t even allowed fifty feet anywhere near the Carousel Boutique.

“I take it that you enjoy what you’re seeing,” Rarity asked. She was earned a subconscious “uh-huh” from Harold, still under the spell of the interior decoration. “Well, you certainly seemed to have enjoyed it the first minute you walked in here. Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, Mr. DeMatt. This is where I make everything chique, unique and magnifique.”

Rarity closed the door behind her. The bell perched over the doorway made a light ringing noise as the door hit it from the sides. Rarity once again cleared her throat, grabbing Harold’s attention like it did for the past couple of times. “Now, why don’t you make yourself comfortable and quickly wash up in my bathroom?” she asked, her tone gracefully and posh. “You’ll find it next to my room, upstairs, the first door at the end of the hallway. I’ll be up in a few minutes to collect your... *ahem* ...attire and give them the washing they deserve.”

“Thank you, Rarity,” said Harold. Then something important dawned on him, where it made him snap his fingers. “Hey, now that you mention it, there’s something I’ve gotta take out first.” He reached into his pocket and took out his iPod. The headphones were wrapped around the intricate rectangular design, the little earbuds dangling in the air. Harold set the iPod on the designing room table, grabbing the curious attention of Rarity.

“Harold, darling? What is that interesting device that you’re holding?” she asked.

“Oh, this thing? It’s my iPod.”

“Your... eye-pod?”

“Yeah. It’s a piece of technology from my world that I use to listen to any kind music that I have in here. Think of it like a little music player, though it can also store movies and games in it. Just be careful not to get water or any moisture on it. This kind of technology can be easily fried with just the smallest drop of water.”

Rarity leaned down to the iPod, taking in and observing its unique features. “Hmm. Well, it seems to possess such advancements to your kind’s technology in contrast to our Equestrian technology. Yet, it can also be easily damaged to water or even the slightest molecule of moisture,” she said, making a mental note to herself. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Mr. DeMatt. I shall keep watch over this like a mother does over her own foal.”

“That would’ve been nice for me,” Harold muttered under his breath, then turned and saw Rarity giving him a cocked eyebrow. “I-I mean that’s nice for what you’re doing for me.”

“Oh, don’t mention it, dear. I wasn’t made the Element of Generosity just by giving away a few bits to the local Ponvyille Sunshine Orphanage,” Rarity said with a slight giggle. “Now run along, Harold. We have so much to prepare for before I can give you your much-needed makeover.”

With that, Harold turned and ran to the staircase. If he remembered correctly what Rarity said, the bathroom was upstairs next to her room, the first door at the end of the hall. Or was the door on the right Rarity’s room? He didn’t know, she never really specified on that part. Without a moment’s hesitation, Harold climbed upstairs into the hallway. There, he saw that door, which had been slightly opened to a crack. A quick glimpse inside revealed to be the bathroom.

Although, it wasn’t like the bathroom Harold had thought would match the strikingly beautiful decor. He expected it to be more of a slightly spacious bathroom complete with a porcelain white tub with a delicate pink curtain, hung up by several golden shower curtain rings. No, it was just an ordinary bathroom. The walls were decorated in mint green square tiles. The bathtub was a regular, rectangular tub with three layers of shower curtains all held up by durable shower curtain rings.

Still, it had a shower nozzle, a porcelain toilet and a mirror with white bulbs perched over the looking. That was a plus for him.

After he stepped inside the bathroom, Harold undressed himself and turned on the water. It started off cold, then it became warm. He turned on the shower, the rainfall of clear, cleansing water spraying from the nozzle down to the clean bathtub floor. The delicate hum of the water rushing in through the pipes was like calming music to him, next to the sound of trees rustling in the winds.

He stepped in the shower, letting the shower warm him up and the water running down his body. Already he felt the loose layers of grease flow from his hair and body down the drain. The warmth itself was bliss; blissful and heavenly. Like God’s tears pouring down and washing away his troubles from today, Harold felt himself cleansed all over. He scrubbed the rest of the loose dirt from himself before he went on to the shampoo. It was a third-quarter full bottle of tear-free volumizing shampoo guaranteed to make his hair smooth and clean. Harold squirted a nice amount of the shampoo on his hands and lathered it in his hair, turning his hair into a beehive of sudsy foam.

Harold chuckled lightly. He distinctly remembered the bath nights back at home when he was only a baby. Lana would sit at the side of the bathtub, taking advantage of the shampoo back home to turn his hair into funny hairstyles, among them being the foamy beehive in his hair, a spiky mohawk that ran through the center of his head. Heck, she even used the hairstyle of “Astro Boy” that made them giggle and laugh, making several rare evenings a night to remember.

He wished he could go back in time and relive those exact moments again.

Heaving a saddened sigh, Harold rinsed his hair out, shampoo, four-day-old grease and all. He took the bar of lilac-scented soap and rubbed it on the scrubbing brush, foaming suds forming along the bristles. Then he meticulously scrubbed his body of any dirt, ridding himself of the soil and the body grease from even the hardest places that he couldn’t reach without the use of the brush. With a final rinse, Harold was finally clean, his hair now a brighter brownish-blonde and his body smelling like a fresh spring meadow. He turned the water off and pulled back the shower curtains.

“Did you have a good shower, darling?”

“AAAHHHH!!”

With a panicked yelp, Harold quickly pulled the shower curtains over himself when he saw Rarity in the bathroom, holding his clothes in her baby blue aura. “Rarity, what do you think you’re doing in here!?” he asked loudly. “Don’t you know I’m not decent at the moment!?”

“I only came in here to collect your clothing,” Rarity said. “And as I recall, this is my house and I am free to do whatever I please.”

“Free to do whatever you please!?” Harold parroted. “Listen, I know this is your house, but you should’ve knocked first before you came in here! I’m completely naked, Rarity! You can’t just walk in when someone is showering, changing or not having any pants on! It’s indecent!”

“But you don’t see me walking out in public with any clothes on.”

“That’s because you have fur covering your entire body!”

“Darling, just what is the matter is you!?” Rarity asked, her tone dropping into exasperation and slowly into scolding. “You’re simply acting so uncouth! This is not the way I expected out of a young colt like yourself to thank me for taking you in and offered to have you washed up, have your mane trimmed and outfitted into something more comfortable!”

“Well, it’s not like I wasn’t counting on having my privacy invaded somewhere!” Almost immediately after he said those words, Harold regretted ever snapping back at Rarity. The alabaster unicorn narrowed her eyes, her boiling anger rising like she would tower over Harold.

“Oh, so you all you want is your privacy!?” she hissed angrily. “Fine! You may have your privacy!”

Rarity turned around in a flash, stomping her way out of the bathroom door. She turned her snout upwards and sighed a humph! as she slammed the door behind her. Harold remained still in the bathtub, bewildered by how angry a generous unicorn like Rarity could easily get. This was the first fight he had in Equestria and already he felt his stay was tilting downhill. He was to be blamed in part for the fight. After all, he could’ve told Rarity to politely leave the bathroom, but his shocked nerves saw to it that he drove her out instead.

He wondered if Rarity would accept an apology.

“Why the hell would you apologize to her!? You had a good reason to drive her out, you twit! She walked in on you while you were naked and showering!” Harold felt himself jump at the unexpected arrival of the Conflicting Voice. The sound of the voice was surprisingly similar to that of his father, Ahab’s voice, that which was still as intimidating. “That prissy little horse should’ve known better to walk in here and look at you naked like some bestial pervert! If you ask me, she deserved to be yelled at! Serves her right for violating your privacy!”

Harold shook his head violently, turning the Conflicting Voice into little gasps of wind. Still, the voice had a point. Rarity shouldn’t have walked in the bathroom while he was getting himself cleaned off. She probably didn’t mean to do so, she came to collect his dirty laundry. Harold wondered if it took just one reasonable apology in order for her to forgive him for being so rash.

He could only hope so. He could’ve explained that privacy was a strict law among humans in the first place. “I guess I’ll have to add that part into my apology as well,” Harold thought to himself as he grabbed the nearest cotton towel and wrapped it around his waist.

Needless to say, the towel he wore was a bit shorter here than the ones back on Earth. It was like wearing a mini-kilt made out of cotton. He needed some more towels so he didn't look like a native at a remote island.

==================================================================

As soon as the bathroom door slammed behind her, Rarity stomped her way downstairs to her workroom, fuming at the way her own guest drove her away from the bathroom. Her bathroom in her house, she would add. She held in her magical grasp the heaping pile of deeply-stained clothing she volunteered to help clean up and take measurements with. Now she questioned herself if she was willing to do so with the way Harold acted towards her.

“The nerve of some ponies!” Rarity yelled at herself. “Why, in all of my years of being the most generous pony in Ponyville, I have never been tossed out for doing something nice for somepony! All I did was go into the bathroom to gather up his dirty clothes! And what am I repaid with!? Getting tossed out of my bathroom-- in my house, I might add-- because a young colt like him needs his privacy!”

With her mind clouded by anger, Rarity threw the clothing onto her worktable.

CLINK!

Then the sound of something metallic snapped her out of her resentment as she turned to the clothing. Underneath the wrinkly, stained folds of Harold’s dull shirt, a single gold chain stuck itself out like a little tail. Rarity gasped then frantically levitated the clothes in the air and pulled out a circular item, split open in two at a single point at single point in the circumference. To her absolute horror, it was Harold’s pendant. He must’ve forgotten to take it off before he took his clothes off and was left in the pile that Rarity threw so callously.

Now, it was broken. The two halves were nearly split open.

This would not bode well for Rarity.

“Oh no!! What have I done!? I’ve broken Harold’s most precious treasure!!” Rarity shrieked, suddenly covering her mouth with her hooves. If she continued her yelling, Harold would come down from the bathroom and see what the commotion was about. With a deep breath, Rarity lowered her panicked voice by a couple of notches and levitated Harold’s pendant towards her.

“Just look at what I’ve done to you!” she yelled in a whisper. “This is all of my fault! I shouldn’t have been mad at Harold! And now, because of my fit of anger, I’ve destroyed such a refined piece of gold that he held so dear! If he finds out what happened, he’ll be so annoyed! Oh, I can see it now! He’ll unfriend me! Scorn me! Loathe me! Despise me! Look away from me with such disdain! Oh... Oh my... I feel so faint, I...”

Rarity lit her horn as she fell, landing on a fainting couch that she always pulled out from nowhere whenever she was about to fall. As she laid on her red velvet cushions catching her breath on her exquisite pillow, Rarity gazed at Harold’s most prized possession in her telekinetic grasp. Upon close inspection of the golden pendant, Rarity saw this was no necklace, but a locket containing precious memories of its somewhat crestfallen owner. To her relief, the locket wasn’t broken; she must’ve accidentally hit the switch on the rim that opened the cover when she threw the clothes onto her worktable.

With curiosity getting the best of her, Rarity peeked inside the locket’s interior. Then she gasped as she saw the photograph inside, her delicate eyes threatening to release her bittersweet tears. Rarity saw Harold, no more to be around seven years old, held in the gentle grasp of a girl who kissed him on the forehead while she tussled his blonde mane. If she didn’t knew any better, Rarity immediately assumed the girl to be the late sister Harold referred to in the Chamber of Forbidden Times.

What was her name again? It was on the tip of her tongue somewhere, but she just couldn’t find it.

But as the teary-eyed unicorn looked harder into that photograph, everything became as clear as crystal to her. It was as if Rarity somehow saw how strong the bond was between an older sister and her little brother. Words could not describe how touching it was for Rarity to see Harold so happy he was with his sister.

The way he laughed in his sister’s arms.

The way she tussled his mane

The way she pecked him on the forehead with an affectionate kiss.

The way that both of them smiled like there wasn’t a care in the world.

Rarity didn’t know how deeply she saw Harold’s love and devotion to his sister was; but she could tell how strong the bond was. Very strong. As she peered deeper into the photograph, Rarity could somehow feel a spectrum of Harold’s emotions glimmering from the gold surface underneath the light. She felt Harold’s joy, happiness and love; but around the same time, she also felt his pain, his sorrow and his sadness. But the two happy, loving people in that photograph... the way they played with each other... it touched Rarity somewhere inside her heart that brought her eyes to water.

It was like reliving that moment when she saw the drawing Sweetie Belle did for her and waved it off before she realized almost too late how important sisters were to each other. Maybe that was why Rarity was move by the photograph. Because like her, Harold knew how important his sister was to him. Somehow or rather, Rarity now fully understood the reason he kept the locket in refined shape while his clothes were the complete opposite.

It was a symbol. A symbol of Harold’s love and devotion to his sister.

There was no way he would let even a speck of dirt ruin that symbol.

DING-DING!

Rarity gave a startled yelp upon hearing the bell ring from over her door. Quickly, she placed the locket on her worktable and pushed her fainting couch out of sight just in time to see her customer walk through the door. There, she saw Twilight trot into the shop, smiling with relief as she closed the door behind her, the bell ringing loudly once more.

“Hey, Rarity. I just dropped by to see how everything’s going so far,” Twilight said.

“Well, I cannot deny that we’ve had a bump or two in the road,” Rarity admitted. “He drove me out of my bathroom a few minutes ago when he finished his shower because he needed some ‘privacy.’”

“Privacy is probably a custom among Harold’s own kind,” Twilight pointed out. “Maybe that’s why Harold wears those clothes. It’s most likely that walking around without any clothes on is a big no-no on his world.”

“If that happens to be the case, then he still shouldn’t have forced me out of my own bathroom.”

“You probably caught him by surprise. That could be part of it.”

Twilight then spotted something on Rarity’s cheek. It looked like a black watercolor running down from her delicate cerulean eyes. It was most likely that the liquid was Rarity’s mascara. “Rarity, were you crying just now?”

“Hmm?” Rarity looked to Twilight puzzled, but then remembered the tears she shed when she saw the photograph of Harold and his sister. “Oh, I wasn’t crying, darling, it was only allergies,” Rarity said, wiping her tear away. “Since we are headed towards the middle of springtime, the pollen count tends to up every year and they become unbearable for my eyes.”

Twilight raised her eyebrow, skeptically. “Really? Because the last time I checked on my weather calender, it said the pollen count was going to be low today.”

“Twilight, darling, who exactly are you going to believe? Some silly little graph on your bedroom wall or my own eyes?”

Despite Rarity’s attempts to sway Twilight’s suspicion, the latter alicorn was still not convinced.

“No matter, that is a story for another time! Right now, I have to trim Harold’s mane and fit him for a nice fresh set of clothes.” Rarity tapped her chin with her hoof and pondered for a moment. “But all I need is to take his measurements and come up with a design for his clothing. That might prove to be quite a challenge for me, considering that he’s not even a pony.”

“Neither is Spike, but you helped make him that costume during that incident with the extra ticket,” Twilight said. Both mares giggled when they remembered when Rarity made a stylish saddle dress for the Grand Galloping Gala. Though Spike protested against being involved in “girly stuff,” Rarity dragged the young drake into a fitting consisting of a blue outfit, a blonde wig and a green sombrero.

“I guess that’s true. Harold is bipedal just like Spike,” Rarity concurred. “Therefore, I think I may be able to create Harold’s new clothing in no time at all! Ooh, speaking of which, I think I’ll check up on him and see if he’s ready to have his haircut. I refuse to have him walk around Ponyville without looking like those ruffians in Cloudsdale. I’ll be back down in a minute.”

With that said, Rarity turned and went back upstairs, feeling giddy and excitement shiver through her body as she disappeared up the steps. Twilight sat down at the worktable and eyed the dirty pile of clothing. She scrunched her nose with disgust. This was like looking at a moldy hayburger she once found under her bed when Spike hid it for emergency snack time only. The odor from his shoes was no different than the green, hairy, gooey cheese that was hidden between those two fungi-covered buns. Twilight levitated the Ponies Today magazine from the wicker basket next to one of the dressers and began to read it when she heard noises coming from the upstairs.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

“Oh, Harooooolllld,” Rarity said in a muffled sing-song voice. “Are you ready for your haircut?”

CREEEEAAAK!

“GAH!!!” Twilight perked her head up from her magazine and listened in on the commotion. “Rarity!! What did I just say about knocking!?”

“If I recall, you said I should knock first before I can come in. Plus, you have something around your waist, so that gives you...” A momentary silence passed. Twilight wondered what made Rarity quiet all of a sudden. “Harold dear, what is that hanging between your legs? May I take a good look at it?”

“AHHH!! Rarity, get out!! You’re not supposed to see me like this!! What are you even doing up here, anyway!?”

“Well, I came up here to ask you if you are ready for your haircut. It seems to me that you’re too occupied with wrapping my towels around yourself to even be nowhere near ready to get yourself trimmed.” Rarity’s tone of voice sounded it was dropping. From what Twilight could tell, it sounded like she was slowly becoming agitated with impatience. “No matter, I can always come back in a little while and see if you’re still making a hideous dress out of my towels.”

“N-N-No, wait! I-I-I’m sorry for screaming at you earlier, it’s just that you startled me is all!”

“Oh, don’t pay any mind to that, darling. I should’ve known better than to violate your privacy while you were indecent.”

“Just like you did right now?”

“Touche,” Rarity replied with a giggle. “Anyway, I just came up to tell you that I’m ready to give you your haircut, now that you’ve been cleaned and dried off.”

“Alright. Just let me get this...” Twilight heard Harold grunt, followed with a relieved huff. “Okay, I’m ready.”

“Splendid, darling. Right this way, please.”

With that said, the bathroom door closed following a series of hoof steps and footsteps coming down the stairs. Twilight looked up from her magazine and saw Rarity proudly trot down the stairs, telling him about how she might do his hair and in what style he so desired. His naked waist was wrapped down to his knees with a few of Rarity’s towels, like a skirt made out of white absorbent fabric.

Twilight looked in curiosity as she saw Harold’s naked body, ignoring the scars, bruises and few of the burn lesions where his mother, Devereaux doused her lengthy cigarette. The human’s body had somehow intrigued her. There was barely any hair on him, except on his head. His shape was slightly slender enough to see the outline of his ribs at his chest. Being a vegetarian benefitted in his now healthy shape, though there was rarely any muscles in his arms because he probably lacked the protein in his four-to-five day diet.

Twilight tapped her chin, wondering what she had in her cupboard that contained protein for him.

“Now then, without any further ado, let’s get your extreme makeover started,” Rarity said, revealing a hairstyling room behind the huge curtain built next to the staircase. “Mr. DeMatt, if you will be so kind as to enter here, please?”

“Thank you, Rarity,” Harold said meekly. “Oh and please, call me Harold. Mr. DeMatt was my father, and I hate him for that.”

Rarity stared at him blankly for a second before she daintily cleared her throat. “If that is what you wish for, then I won’t hold it against you. Now then, Harold, if you would please?”

With that said, Harold walked past the curtain and into the shadows. Rarity began to follow him, but not before Twilight stopped her with a concerned hoof laid down on her shoulder. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Rarity?” Twilight asked. “I know you you’re doing this out of generosity and all, but...”

“But that is exactly why I’m giving him a makeover,” Rarity interjected. “I have a theory, Twilight: If somepony is sad and needs a helping hoof, then the first thing you should do is to be as generous as you possibly can. Show them that you mean well by offering him gifts that reflects the type of pony who he really is.”

Rarity suddenly perked.

“Ooh! Idea~!” she sang out loud.

“What? What ideas have you got?” Twilight asked.

“You’ll soon find out,” Rarity replied, inspiration gleaming in her eye. “But first... makeover!!”

With that said, Rarity retreated into the hairstyling room and closed the curtains. Twilight looked astonished, not seeing her so inspired to prep up an attire for an entirely different creature. But, if Twilight knew Rarity well, she would get the job done and surprise her with an outfit of her own design. While Twilight waited for the haircut to be done, she levitated the Ponies Today magazine and read up on a recent article on page 33.

It was an article of the discovery Blueblood's scandalous relations with a Saddle Arabian mare.

Author's Note

This is a complete redo of my previous fifteenth chapter, "Generous Givings" which didn't really appeal to me at all. I felt like the story was plowing through like a bad episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, so I decided to make this a two-parter with different. So, I wanted to reintroduce Lyra Heartstrings, go into detail about Harold's washing and Rarity's discovery of his bond with his late sister. The next chapter will be Harold's haircut, his fitting and making the designs of his new clothes.

I hope you all enjoy!

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Chapter 16: A New Change of Clothing

Rarity had only walked inside the curtains when she turned the lights to the hairstyling room on. The sudden flash of lights provoked Harold to cover his eyes for a moment, but his eyes eventually adjusted to the light. The hairstyling room was like an average barber shop. A salon chair was made of polished reflective metal, green cushions covering the seats and the back. The desk sat in the back of the room with drawers containing scissors, spray bottles, a magically-powered razor and other basic materials for styling someone’s hair. Finally, a big vanity mirror sat atop the back of the desk, watching everything in its own reflective perspective like it was a god looming over everything and everyone in sight.

Harold was met with a face he barely recognized at first sight. He saw himself as a scarred and bruised half-naked teenager, using Rarity’s towels to robe himself at the waist, hair covering nearly half of his pure blue eyes. It was no wonder that Rarity insisted that he got a haircut from her. He almost looked like the punk kids that he came to resent in New York City.

Rarity closed the curtains and cleared her throat, turning Harold’s attention to her. “Alright, Harold. If you would so kind as to sit down, we may begin your mane trimming.”

Harold complied and lowered himself in the chair, feeling the cool, squishy cushions on his back while he ritualistically sat still and stoic. Rarity wrapped a dark green poncho on Harold and tightly knotted the white strings on the back of his neck. The poncho had only reached up to the human’s knees, much to his own dismay. But then again, Harold was a foot taller than all of the other ponies in Ponyville, so he couldn’t really argue with that concept.

Rarity lowered the chair to the minimum height and leaned him backwards so she would get a better look and angle at Harold’s hair. She hummed a little while inspecting the hygienic state of the hair, even to the point of wearing her red thick-rimmed glasses, which doubled as a dual-lens magnifying glass, to help her look at his hair at a more smaller scale. After Rarity was done with her inspection, she tilted Harold into an upright seating position but kept the chair at the same height.

“Despite how thoroughly you’ve washed your hair, Harold, it still resembles a moss drooping off of a tree branch in the Everfree Forest.” Rarity opened a drawer and took a pair of scissors, a comb, a spray bottle and a hair brush out with her magic. After setting the hair brush down on the desk, Rarity levitated the other tools around Harold’s head. “But, with my help and my knowledge in hairstyling, I’ll turn that depressing willow into a healthy young tree!”

“What’s the Everfree Forest?” Harold asked.

“Oh, it is a horrid place, Harold! A simply horrible, and not to mention, unsanitary place!” Rarity quivered with the memories of going into the Everfree Forest all flooding back into her mind. All of the creatures she encountered, all of the danger and the creepy places she explored. All of the times in the forest were enough to make the fashionista alone shiver with fright.

“The Everfree Forest are the woods nearby that borders Ponyville from the outskirts of Equestria,” Rarity reluctantly explained. “Needless to say, the forest doesn’t function naturally just as the rest of Equestria does.”

“What do you mean?” Harold asked.

Rarity gulped nervously. “Well, the plants grow, the animals take care of themselves, and the clouds move... all on their own!” There was a slight panic heard in Rarity’s voice. The alabaster gasped dramatically and, with her horn glowing in time, pulled her fainting couch out of nowhere just as she landed on the soft red cushions.

“So?” Harold shrugged. “What’s so scary about that?”

Rarity gasped and perked her head up like a deer facing headlights. “‘What’s so scary about that!?’" the unicorn repeated. "Why darling, haven’t you been listening!? The Everfree Forest is home to some of the most ugly and ferocious plants in Equestria! The weather changes on its own without you even knowing it and the beasts that lurk within the forest are as vile and ferocious as they can be! Timberwolves, manticores, parasprites, even the Ursa Major and the Ursa Minor! Trust me, Harold, if you went up against one of those creatures, they would gobble you up whole on the first chance they can get!”

Rarity then stopped for a moment and pondered, her hoof tapping her bottom lip. “Of course, there was that one sea serpent I met in the river who wasn’t as ferocious as I thought. I believe his name was Steve or something? Steve Magnet?”

“Umm, Rarity?” Harold asked, snapping the alabaster unicorn from her thoughts. “You were still on the subject of the Everfree Forest?”

“Oh, you’re right, Harold. I’m terribly sorry.” Rarity daintily cleared her throat, composing herself once more, then went back into her near hysterical mode. “What I’m trying to say is, darling, is that no matter what you do, you must stay out of the Everfree Forest. A young colt like yourself wouldn’t last ten minutes in there without somepony to be there with you.”

“I’ll take that into consideration,” Harold said. “Though, I’m still not sure what’s so damn scary about growing plants and changing weather.”

WHAP!

“OW!”

Harold jerked forward when he felt something swat him at the back of his head. It was a rolled-up February edition of Ponies Today that Rarity kept leftover with top Equestrian model Fleur de Lis on the front cover in a flirtatious pose. Rarity looked at him crossly as she unrolled the magazine and gently inserted back into the wicker basket near the salon desk.

“Harold, we’re not allowed to use that sort of language in this household,” Rarity scolded lightly. “It’s vulgar, crass and highly uncouth. I refuse to acknowledge somepony with a potty mouth, especially when he’s in the presence of mares like myself and around small children. You understand?”

“Yes, ma’am. Sorry, ma’am,” Harold apologized, rubbing the spot where he was hit on the head.

“It’s alright, Harold. You just have to be careful what you say around everypony, okay?” Rarity opened up the drawers with her magic and, from each drawer, took out a pair of scissors, a comb, a spray bottle and the magic razor. Rarity set the razor aside on the salon desk but kept the other tools enveloped in her magic.

“Now then, if there are no further interruptions, let's get your mane trimming underway, shall we?” With that said, Rarity began to cut Harold’s hair, her tools orbiting around his head like out of control satellites orbiting around a planet. Using her magic, Rarity used the comb to gently pull on a portion of Harold’s hair, using the spray bottle in case the comb got stuck somewhere on the strands. When the hair was secured by the comb, Rarity cut the strands off with precision, meticulousness and a series of snip-snip-snips made by the slicing of the metallic scissors.

While the hairs were cut from the human’s head, the tufts slowly and gracefully floated downwards onto the stone cold floor. A pile of blondish-brown puffs began to form on the floor while Rarity looked at the precise lengths of her cuts with her glasses. It had been no more than five minutes when the haircut was already halfway done. The backside and the top of Harold’s head was already expertly trimmed and Rarity was ready to move on to the front, starting with the sides that covered up most of Harold’s ears.

“Oh my, you’ve certainly let your mane go,” Rarity lamented. “Tell me, Harold, do they have a barber shop where you come from?”

Harold chuckled lightly to Rarity’s light bantering as he kept as still as a statue, staring motionlessly into the vanity mirror and at the reflection which looked back at him. “Of course we have barbers on Earth, Rarity,” Harold answered. “It’s just that I never really visited the local barber shop in all of my life. Come to think of it, I've never even visited the city that much either."

"Wait! Come again!? Did you just say that you've never actually got your mane done by a barber before!?" Rarity yelped, almost swooning with disgust as Harold shook his head. "My word! How ever did you even get your mane trimmed then!?"

"At home," Harold answered. "I usually got my haircut every so often, say around two weeks or so. My mom hired a hairstylist who, besides checking her hair for any split ends, gave me a haircut on every other Saturday morning. She kept saying that with the right scissors and with a regular hair appointment, then I would go out looking presentable towards everyone in the whole wide world."

“Really? And did you enjoy looking presentable?” Rarity asked smugly.

“No. I hated the way she cut my hair. Just plain hated it,” Harold said with a dissatisfied humph! "She always cut my hair so short, I couldn't even comb it over with my fingers. Whenever I went in with a good head of hair, I always came out looking like a dork to everyone. I was so embarrassed, I just wanted nothing more than to hide my head in a paper bag until my hair starts to grow back. Then, two weeks later, I have to go back for my appointment and it's the same cycle over again."

"And you let yourself go through with this, coming out looking like balding monkey?"

"I had to. My parents said that's the best way they could save money on haircuts. God, I hated them for that."

“Well, not to worry, my dear boy. You haven't lived your life until you've been treated with my fabulous hairstyling technique," Rarity said, feeling both giddy and proud of her previous works with hairstyling. "Whenever somepony comes in with a case of bad hair day or needs a good trimming, I just cut them into a style that suits them and they walk into Ponyville feeling fresh and satisfied. You should ask Sweetie Belle about it. I giver her such a fabulous mane trimming once in a while and she never complains about it."

“Who’s Sweetie Belle?” asked Harold.

“Oh, she’s my little sister. She’s about ten years of age and, bless her little heart, she’s still looking for her Cutie Mark.” Rarity giggled with every memory of Sweetie Belle desperately trying to find her special talent flooding back into her mind. “Why, she and her friends made themselves a club dedicated to finding their special talent by going around town doing these silly little jobs and stunts. I daresay that sometimes, those three can get themselves into trouble, with or without them knowing.”

Harold couldn't help but laugh a little. He could relate to the times he and Lana played tag around the house, only to find themselves in trouble with Reginald for running in the halls. “Come on, Rarity, they’re just kids. Just give them time and then they’ll find out what they’re the best at. Remember, children are the future.”

Rarity giggled once more, covering her smile behind her hoof. “I guess that’s true. They are still very young at age. But, when the time comes, they’ll get their Cutie Marks and that will be a big milestone in their lives.”

“No doubt about it.”

Rarity pulled the sides of Harold’s hair with her comb, her scissors going snip-snip-snip as the hair floated down onto the floor. The piles of hair were spread out across the floor which, if they were all combined with each other, made a pile the size of an average fully-grown cat. When Rarity finished trimming with the right side of Harold’s head, she began to advance to the other side. It was then she was met with something on her mind, something that she would regret asking in a future time.

“Harold, may I ask you a personal question?”

The human felt himself freeze for a moment. His eyes followed Rarity through the mirror, her blue eyes gleaming with insecurity and reluctance, as well as his. “Umm, sure,” Harold replied. “What do you want to know?”

“It’s about your sister. What was she like on your world?” Rarity asked, slight hesitation in her voice. “You know, like how close were the two of you before she... well...?”

“Oh, that...” Harold sighed through his nose. He looked up to the ceiling and folded his hands, his fingers locking into place while the only noises in the room were the hum of Rarity’s magic and her scissors going snip-snip-snip. “I suppose you could say that she and I have been close together ever since I was born. Very close. She was always there for me when I needed it. When I was born, my parents refused to lift a finger to take care of me. They said I was weak, fragile, pathetic even. But Lana saw something more inside of me and she must’ve seen what I was going to do with my life. That’s why she raised me as a baby. Lana knew I was going to bring such great things to everyone I met. She said I would be the herald for all good things to come, so hence the homophonic name.”

“Oh my. Your sister must’ve had her hands full just to raise you on her own,” Rarity complimented.

“Oh, I didn’t say she raised me on her own,” Harold replied. “Lana had some help from Reginald and from some of the maids who worked at home.”

“Reginald?”

“My head butler,” Harold said. An “ahh” escaped from Rarity’s lips while she continued to attentively trim his hair. “When Lana passed away last month, Reginald was the only guy I could rely on during my depression. Before I left my home for good, Reginald helped to see me off so I could get a good head start on my journey. I wanted him to come with me, but he chose stay back in New York City. He said something about personal problems of his own and he needed to pay for them by becoming the butler in my family."

Harold shifted slightly in his seat while he continued his story. "Still, I can't deny that he's done so much for me and Lana in our childhoods. He helped heal us when we were sick or injured, helped us when we got stumped on our homework and always cooked the most delicious meals we've ever eaten when my parents were out of town on business."

"But you do miss him, don't you?" Rarity asked in a somber tone.

"I do, actually. Reginald may not have been there for me the same way Lana was, but he was still there for me, nevertheless. He was always there when I needed some help to cope with my loss. He was... like a grandfather to me, y’know?” Harold sighed as he kept his gaze on the ceiling, looking at it as if it was deep space. "Sometimes, I wonder how he's holding up with me being gone. I just hope that he’s endured my dad chewing him out for helping me run away in the middle of the night. Guess we’ll never know, will we?”

The room fell into a depressed silence. The only sounds of Rarity's magic and her scissors proved to be nowhere near enough to change the mood from its somber state. Rarity herself fell under the sway of gloom emanating from Harold. She began to wonder, what would happen if she were in Harold's shoes? If she lost somepony she loved the most, like Sweetie Belle, for instance, what would she do?

Would she make her little sister proud somehow and search for a way to give her life another chance?

Would she run away in hopes to escape her painful life and find a new life where pain was nothing but a memory?

What would her mother and father feel if she ran off on her own in pursuit of her own happiness?

More importantly, what would Sweetie Belle do if she lost Rarity? Would she do the same thing?

Heaving a sigh, Rarity levitated the scissors and the comb to Harold and began trimming the left side of Harold's hair, shortening it in less than two minutes. “Regardless of what you said, I must commend your sister and your butler for raising such a good-hearted young colt like yourself. They've simply done a marvelous job at that,” the alabaster unicorn complimented. “Now, if you could just close your eyes for a minute, please? I don't want your hair falling into your eyes."

Harold complied, closing his eyes while Rarity levitated the comb and scissors to the the front of Harold's hair. The scissors snipped through the human's hair, which fell on the poncho, on his face or onto the floor. When the hair stopped falling, Harold began to open his eyes. To his surprise, his vision was shaded by a couple of white hooves covering his eyes, completely blocking his view of the mirror before he could get the chance to see his new hairdo.

"Not just yet," Rarity sang. "I've just got to do one last thing first." Suddenly Harold's face was attacked by the tiny fibers of Rarity's hairbrush sweeping his hair. While Rarity hummed a tune to herself, Harold became the subject of delicate, yet firm sweeps of the brush, passing through his hair, his face and on his arms. These sweeps only made Harold struggle, but they were muffled by the passing bristles passing through his face for a double sweep. As the brush finished its slightly rough sweep, with the addition of having taking the poncho off, Rarity removed her hooves and revealed the human teen to the mirror.

"And she is..." Rarity kissed the tip of her hoof and motioned it in the air like a Neightalian stallion, even to the extent of using their native accent. "Finito!"

Harold opened his eyes to the mirror and gasped lightly. He saw himself before the mirror, though he felt he was looking at someone else for a moment or two. But as he continued to look into the mirror, he could see himself becoming that someone else. His hair had been cut perfectly in half, not too short from his head, not too long either and parted down the middle. His bangs remained at the same length, but they were separated by the middle into two other bangs which extended down to only his eyebrows. The extraordinary work that Rarity had done left Harold speechless. There were no words to describe how he felt at the moment.

"Isn't it splendid, darling? Just look at yourself," Rarity said, flicking her mane back with pride. "You look like you'e finally seen your true self hidden away all this time. I’ll give you a moment to take it all in. Feel yourself becoming as refined as a freshly polished diamond. Bask in the glory that is the new and improved Harold Gabriel DeMatt.”

Harold touched his hair and tussled it. It was so easy to comb over with his fingers now, he couldn’t really complain about it. He felt as if this was just step two of his rebirth, one step closer until he could rise from the ashes like the legendary phoenix. Looking back, the way that Harold’s hair was covering the top half face made him look like the punk kids he came to resent in New York, the sort of people who had a thing for hard rock and modern pop music. Now that punk kid was transformed into a timid, good-hearted teenager with the passion for drawing and classical music.

“W-Wow, Rarity. This is the best haircut that I’ve ever gotten,” Harold said meekly. “Thank you so much.”

“Think nothing of it, darling. I’m only here to do what’s best for you because we’re friends now, are we not?” Rarity stifled a giggle before she extended a hoof out to Harold. “But that is only step one into your complete transformation into the new you. The next thing we have left to do is to get your clothing situated. Come along, Harold.”

Harold took Rarity’s hoof and stood up from his seat. As he did so, he felt something drop, followed by a cool breeze running between his knees. Harold froze. He looked down to his private area only to make a horrifying discovery: his makeshift skirt feel from his waist! The possibility was the knots must’ve loosened themselves when he sat down in the chair. Now, with no towels to help cover up his privates, Harold was completely naked and exposed... right in front of a lady, he might add.

Feeling flustered, Harold looked up to Rarity. The fashionista’s face turned from delicate white into a ripe red grape tomato while she continued to stare with intrigue. “Oh my,” Rarity squeaked. “Harold, is that what you didn’t want us to see?”

Harold didn’t know what to do next. He was standing in front of a mare, completely naked and very embarrassed. He began to whimper while his face changed from tan into a bright shade of red. Little shocks of electricity flowed through his nerves as Harold did the only thing that he could ever do at a time like this.

Scream.

==================================================================

“The controversial scandal involving a relationship between Prince Blueblood and a married Saddle Arabian has moved into its third day today.

“In the afternoon of March 10th, a maid working for the Casaflanka Hotel was making her rounds cleaning the rooms of the grand four-star hotel when she accidentally witnessed an affair between the infamous Equestrian playcolt prince and a married Saddle Arabian mare. The local police say the hotel guests staying there heard a mare scream, then came cantering down three flights of stairs down to the ground floor, where she alerted the authorities of what she witnessed. Prince Blueblood and the mare were detained ten minutes later and will be placed under the watchful eye of his aunt and ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia.

“When asked about this rising scandal, Princess Celestia simply shook her head and stated: ‘I can’t speak for the actions on behalf of my nephew. No matter how hard I tried to change his ways, Blueblood will always be the same spoiled prince as he is today. No other comment.’”

“A hearing at the Day Court will be held next month a week following Prince Blueblood’s return to Equestria. According to some speculation, the ponies who will testify against Prince Blueblood will be--”

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

Twilight nearly jumped from her seat, nearly dropping the Ponies Today from her magical grip. From behind the curtains, a fracas went on in the hairstyling room, which consisted of screams, whinnies and the sound of someone falling down on the floor. Setting the magazine on the worktable, Twilight cantered over to the curtains to investigate the commotion. She forced the curtains open with her hoof and stormed right in the room.

“What’s going on in here!?” Twilight demanded. “I heard sompeony screaming and I came over to see what's happened! Is everything okay in--!?” Twilight fell into an immediate silence. Her eyes drooped back and her eyes bulged out, gazing upon the most unpleasant scenario she had ever witnessed.

Harold was lying on the ground flat on his back, his towel skirt becoming loosely undone around his waist. Rarity laid awkwardly on his chest, her face just mere inches away from his. Rarity's face and Harold's face came so close to accidentally locking lips with each other, if it weren't for the unicorn's muzzle. They turned and looked to Twilight, the both of them exchanging blank stares with the lavender alicorn.

That lavender alicorn then slowly backed away and exited the room, pretending she did not see what she thought she saw. When Twilight was clear from the hairstyling room, she trotted back to the table and buried her face in the magazine. In a situation like this, Twilight figured it was a good idea to skip ahead to the article of Sapphire Shore’s charitable concert in Vanhoover.

But Twilight should have known then that Harold and Rarity's "intimate kiss" had more to it than it met the eye. They looked like they would kiss each other intimately, yes, but in reality, they were trying to get the towels retied around Harold’s waist. The floor had grown slick with Harold’s hair that the latter slipped backwards while he tried to wrap it around, despite Rarity’s magic wrapping around the corner wanting to help him. When Harold’s heel met with a tuft of hair, he fell backwards on his rear, which also sent Rarity flying on him since she had a pull on the corner. Rarity safely fell on Harold on his chest, inches away from his face.

That was when Twilight stormed in on them.

Now, when Twilight had fully exited the hairstyling room, Harold gently nudged Rarity off of his chest, making her land on her back. Rarity sat up and looked at Harold. An awkward silence hung overhead for only a moment or two. Then, Rarity cleared her throat daintily, breaking that silence and easing the tension between them.

"Harold," Rarity said firmly. "We are not speak of this to anypony else. Do you understand?"

"Y-Y-Yes, ma'am," Harold repeated stammering. "H-Hey, Rarity?”

“Yes, darling?”

“Did you put on marshmallow-scented body wash or something?”

==================================================================

A lot of things happened after Harold and Rarity stepped out of the hairstyling room.

First, Rarity had to retie the towels around the human teen’s waist. To make sure that they wouldn’t fall off, Rarity tied the knots tight enough to leave little red marks on Harold’s skin.

Second, they had to explain what happened during that uncomfortable moment between the two to Twilight. Though she seemed skeptical about the story at first, Twilight was both a good listener and very understanding. Otherwise, this was one moment both Rarity and Harold would never live down, unless Twilight had to use a memory cleansing spell to wipe that moment from their pasts clean from history.

Finally, the measurements went underway.

Harold stood on the tabletop while Rarity used a tape measure to calculate the length and width of his arms. Then she went for his leg and hip size so she would make a new pair of pants for him. She even asked for his foot size so she could make him a new pair of sneakers. Harold insisted he didn’t need a new pair of sneakers, he already owned a nice pair sneakers. They just needed a good spit-shining was all.

Still, Harold was thankful to Rarity for providing him with some much-needed comfort. She provided him with a shower, a fresh haircut, and now, he would receive some soft cotton-like clothes that he so desired wearing. The rough material in his school uniforms made him chafe and they caused him to break out in a rash. The only pieces of clothing that Harold found comfort in was his cotton fabric pajama attire. To Harold, the cotton in his pajamas was like applying lotion to his rash, just a cooling, soothing sensation where the soreness of the rash just disappeared in an instant. He just couldn’t wait to see if Rarity’s fabrics would provide that same soothing relief.

When the measurements were finally made, Rarity asked Harold to come upstairs to her “inspiration room” where she would enact her idea she had before she gave him his haircut. Harold was slightly impressed with the decor of the room. Two opposing shades of brown and tan made up the tile floor. A queen-sized bed with a canopy sat in the left corner of her room. Faceless, colorless pony-shaped mannequins... or ponyquins in this case... sat by the wall. A working desk with a bulletin board and various desks sat aligned with each other to make up the right side of the wall.

But the whole room was in a total mess. Everywhere that Harold saw was nothing short of a messy room with colorful fabrics and materials covering nearly every inch of the room. It was like someone drove an entire rainbow through a wood chipper and into a dust devil.

“Alright, Harold. I’m going to give you an insight on my new idea for your new clothing,” Rarity said. Lighting her horn, she grabbed most of the fallen materials from the floor with her magic and placed them on her already messy desk. After Rarity cleaned up nearly the entire floor, she turned to Harold with a slight grin.

“Now tell me, darling,” she said, clicking her tongue. “What do you know of the emotional spectrum?”

“Easy,” Harold responded with a shrug. “The emotional spectrum is a series of colors that match the mood you’re in, like using red to express that you’re feeling angry and so forth. A lot of artists use those colors to express themselves in the form of their artwork.”

“You seem to know a lot about the basics of color,” Rarity complimented.

“I do. Knowing how to use colors is like basic elementary for artists like me.”

“Well, what if I told you that I would be using that very same spectrum in the form of your clothing?”

Harold suddenly shot Rarity a surprised look. Using an array of colors to reveal his emotions in his clothing was like saying he was going to wear a uniform made up of nearly 1,000 mood rings. Harold didn’t know what he felt. Surprised, maybe, but he also felt a mix of other emotions that had enough power to make a single mood ring explode.

Rarity stifled a giggle as she watched Harold stand in place, a slack-jawed face written in his visage. “I see that you’re taking my idea rather well,” she teased. “Now before you get ahead of yourself with what you're thinking, allow me to tell you about my new idea. Though my idea is indeed experimental, this is one experiment I hope to be worth looking at.

"When you told us of your terrible tragedy on your world, I could deeply empathize with what you had to go through." Rarity levitated a foot-high stack of paper and a small piece of willow stick charcoal from one of the drawers, oddly enough to be the only organized thing in the room. "But, when you also mentioned how strongly devoted you were to your sister, I was inspired to create a new attire based on that very same devotion. And so, with your help and my expertise on creating this new design, we will create the perfect outfit to help express all that you've felt during your hardened years!

"What do you think, Harold? Doesn’t that sound like the perfect idea?" Rarity asked. “Harold?”

No response came from the human teen.

He was still frozen in his place with the same surprised look on his face.

Rarity gently poked him on the chest, only to be unresponsive to that action as well. “Harold, are you feeling alright darling?” Rarity asked without having any luck. “Harold, darling, can you say something, or at the very least, move? You’re starting to frighten me-WHA-HA-HAAA!”

Rarity whinnied with surprise when two fleshy arms suddenly wrapped around her belly and hoisted up to Harold's chest in bone-crushing hug. Tears leaked from his eyes as he spun around in circles, causing Rarity to become dizzy near to the point of nauseousness. "Oh, Rarity! That's the most perfect idea I've ever heard!" Harold sobbed, overcome with joyous emotion. "I... I... I've always wanted some clothing that helped express myself! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

“You’re welcome darling,” Rarity said. “Now, would you be so kind as to put me down, please? I can’t... really... breathe...”

“Oh!” Harold dropped Rarity to the floor on her hooves, which she slipped on and fell on her belly and began to cough. As she choked to regain her breath, Harold began to feel nervous, afraid that he accidentally hurt his unicorn friend trying to show his gratitude. "Oh, Rarity, I-I-I'm so sorry!" Harold stammered shakily. "I-I-I didn't mean t-to hurt you! I-I-It's just that w-w-when you told me y-your idea, I was so happy and I couldn't c-c-control how ha-happy I was and..."

Rarity raised a hoof to silence the boy. She coughed a couple of times and trailed off with some wheezing, but she managed to catch her breath and breathe normally. "It's quite alright, darling. I'm used to receiving these sorts of hugs," Rarity reassured. "Besides, you didn't do any real damage to me. You might of suffocated me, yes, but you were just showing me how much you appreciate my generosity. There's no harm in showing your gratitude."

"B-B-But, Rarity..."

Rarity extended a hoof to Harold's lips, which in turn silenced his words and fears. "Hush now, Harold, there's no need for you to fret over a silly little thing like this. You simply must learn how to not take even the smallest things so seriously, darling. It won’t be very good for your hopes of rebuilding your life from scratch.”

Harold gently lowered Rarity’s hoof from his mouth, his head turned away with embarrassment.

“Sorry. It’s just... every one of those ‘little things’ usually got to me so much on Earth. I tried so hard just to enjoy the little things, but it felt like something was holding me back, ya know?”

“Harold. Look at me, darling.” Harold turned and looked at Rarity. Just like her tone in her voice, Rarity’s look was gentle yet firm, almost like that as if a protective mother’s instincts kicked in. “Harold, I need you to listen to me and listen good. Right now, you are in a tight spot where you are trying to move on from your life and I understand how that might feel. But, in order to move on, you have to stop letting the little things get to you. If I was in your, uh... shoes right now, I would do something that you seem to be reluctant to do.”

“What would that be?”

“Live life a little,” Rarity answered. “Don’t let the little things stray you from your path. If I was down with my life and there was nothing left for me to help push me through, then ask yourself: ‘What would Pinkie Pie do?’”

Rarity patted the back of Harold's shoulder blade and stifled a giggle. "Why, it's obvious, darling: you just have to laugh. If you feel your days being clouded by sadness and doubt, you just throw your head up to the sky and laugh those horrible away.”

To illustrate her point, Rarity tilted her head to the ceiling just lightly and began to laugh. Her laughter was expectedly posh and delicate, but nevertheless amusing for Harold to see. A grin slowly crept onto his face and snickered a little. Then that snickering turned into laughter. It wasn’t because of watching Rarity laugh, but because of how shaky her laugh was. Once again, Harold felt a gentle hoof pat his back as the alabaster unicorn delivered a similar smile back to him.

“There now, darling. Do you feel any better?” Rarity asked.

Harold finished his laughing, wiping away a tear in his eye.

“Yeah. I feel a lot better now, Rarity. Thanks a lot.”

“It’s no trouble at all, darling. I’m just glad I could get you to laugh away your troubles.” Rarity then perked up before pondering off into her own thoughts. “But then again, Pinkie Pie will know that I’ve made you laugh without her consent. I’ll have to bake her some cupcakes in order to get on her good side.”

“Uh, pardon me?” Harold asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing, Harold. I’m just wondering how I should avoid Pinkie’s bad side. When it comes to making others laugh and feel happy, Pinkie has a sort of a sixth sense about it.” Harold’s eyebrow cocked up with confusion while Rarity cleared her throat to recompose herself. “But never mind that. Now is the time we put our creativity to the test.”

==================================================================

Cramping back.

Fluttering eyes.

Tightening stomach sphincter.

Pinkie Pie was abruptly interrupted from mixing the cupcake batter for her Pinkie Sense Combo. She knew exactly what this Combo meant: somewhere in Ponyville, somepony just made somepony else laugh without even letting her know ahead of time first. The stomach tightening also meant that very same pony used her signature sage advice that she’s given everypony else’s! Whoever this pony was would be forced to bake Pinkie Pie cupcakes for a whole month before she could truly forgive them... unless they also had a meaningful apology planned out ahead.

Either that was what she felt, or...

“Nah, it’s probably just those chimicherrychangas I had for breakfast!” Pinkie chirped to herself.

Pinkie Pie went back to mixing the batter, humming the “Cupcake Song” while doing so. Who knew what she had in store for the advice-stealing pony that she would eventually track down and find? Only time would tell.

==================================================================

Rarity levitated a piece of willow stick charcoal into Harold’s hands. It wasn’t anything like his favorite black pencil, but it had to suffice. “Fluttershy tells me that you are an artist of sorts,” said Rarity. “I was told all your work you did in your little sketchbook. From what I’ve heard, you’re quite the young artist, are you not?”

“Actually, I’m a cartoonist,” said Harold. “But yeah, my only goal in life is to draw. I’ve always wanted my drawings to be made into comic books or make it into the newspapers.”

“Splendid, darling, absolutely grand! That’s exactly what we need for our little project! With a strong, vivid imagination like yours combined my fabulous fashion skills, we will create an outfit worthy of the first human to set foot in Equestria!” Rarity took a slip of paper from her amazingly high stack of paper and slammed on the desk with her hoof. That motion was almost as if Rarity was ready to take on this imaginative challenge.

“So, Mr. Harold,” Rarity asked, narrowing her eyes whilst smiling. “Shall we get started?”

Harold looked at the charcoal held in his fingers. He could tell there was a message that was trying to get across to him, but he didn’t know what. As he looked to the charcoal, he could feel an open window of opportunity waiting for him to crawl through. With a determined smile, Harold put the tip of the charcoal on the paper and nodded.

“Alright, Rarity. Let’s do this.”

“Excellent. Now, let’s discuss what colors you want in your outfit.”

==================================================================

Twilight was nearly done with reading her second magazine. It had been an hour since Harold and Rarity went upstairs to get Harold’s clothing situated. While Twilight wanted nothing more than to check up on their progress with the clothing, but Rarity insisted that she waited until they were finished with the designing and the fitting. But she knew it was going well. She could hear voices coming from the upstairs. The last half hour was spent on them discussing the colors and the designs to be added in. The next twenty minutes was assumed to be the time frame when Rarity was creating the outfit and getting Harold fit for his clothing. Finally, the last couple of minutes were made with the fashionista complimenting how marvelous Harold looked.

Twilight smiled. She couldn’t wait to see how everything turned out.

Then the sound of hoof steps and footsteps signaled the main event.

Twilight set the magazine down as Rarity was the first to reach the bottom of the stairs. The unicorn cleared her throat and motioned a hoof to the stairs, beaming with pride. “Fillies and gentlecolts!” she started. “It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you all, appearing for the first time ever, the new and improved Harold Gabriel DeMatt!”

As if on cue, Harold walked down the stairs and into the ground floor. Twilight gawked as she saw him in his new outfit, barely even recognizing him at first sight. Harold’s new clothing was comprised of a simple short-sleeved T-shirt, covered over with a long-sleeve jacket. His T-shirt was colored blue with a simple yellow streak running around the neck of the shirt. The yellow streak ran down to the chest where it broke into a circle at the chest area, then ran down to a horizontal stripe near the bottom half of the shirt. It was there where three horizontal yellow streaks decorated that half of the shirt.

His jacket was a bright orange color, with white decorating the collar, the edge of the sleeves and the bottom edge. A rectangular-shaped chest pocket was added in the left side, presumably to tuck his iPod away instead of his pants pocket. His pants were a simple pair of denim jeans, a softer kind of material that soothed most of the scars on his legs. As an added bonus, Rarity even allowed Harold to wear his shoes, despite her pleas to make him a new pair to replace his because of how dirty they were. The only thing different was that Harold wore his shoes without his socks on, since the only pair he wore were going into the wash.

And his backpack was still at Fluttershy’s house.

That was a minor inconvenience.

Still, Harold’s new appearance came to Twilight as a surprise, just like Rarity promised. Seeing the boy in his new clothes certainly blew her mind, like Pinkie Pie’s Party Cannon overstuffed with many party items. In that mind, she saw Harold, shy, timid and friendly all wrapped in one bipedal body and in new colorful clothes. For some reason, Harold’s new appearance brought Twilight’s memory into something hidden, locked deep away inside of her brain. Twilight tried her best to pry that lock away from her brain, but she couldn’t. It was as if looking at Harold alone somehow emitted strange magic towards her, and her alone.

Why was this, she wondered.

“I take it from your speechlessness that you like what you see,” Rarity said, suppressing a giggle from escaping her. “Harold and I worked so hard in coming up with the best combination of colors and design that we were just like jumping fountains of ideas. But then we came up with the perfect clothing and it turned out so well, I was simply ready to burst!”

Harold giggled shyly. “Yeah. We still have the burnt mess in your room to prove it,” he said. “What do you think of my new clothes, Twilight? Twilight?”

In reaction to having her name called out, Twilight snapped back into reality. She shook her head and regained herself, then proceeded to answer the question. “Huh? Oh yeah! Yeah, that looks great on you, Harold!” Twilight said, impressed at the midpoint. “I love the way it turned out on you! It’s like I’m seeing the real you, now! But, umm...”

“Is there something wrong, darling?” Rarity asked.

“No, thee isn’t, Rarity. It’s just...” Twilight hesitated for a moment before she came out with a critical question. “What’s with all the colors?”

“Oh, that. That is an experiment with colors that popped in my head earlier! I call it, 'Emotional Spectrum Fashions!!'” Rarity declared proudly, even putting a hoof onto her chest for good measure. “It’s like taking all of your emotions, all of your personal feelings and turning them all into a matching color! Then we apply that technique into making that clothing and one-two-three, we have a fashion!”

“Don’t you like what we’ve done with it?” Harold asked.

“No, it’s not that,” Twilight answered. “I just wanted to know what the story behind the colors on your new outfit.” Twilight squinted at Harold’s new shirt and new jacket, getting a better observation on the clothes. “But now that I look at it, it really does match your personalities well. But what about the design on your shirt?”

“I came up with half of the design. Well, the top half to be more precise,” Harold said, pointing to the circle in his chest. “I thought to myself if I was going to have a new shirt to express how I’ve felt this past month, I could also show what I’m fighting for.” Harold took the locket from the pile of clothing and placed it around his neck. The locket sat dead center of the circle, revealing his treasure for the whole world to see.

“See?” Harold pointed to the locket. “I came up with the design myself. Rarity thought the other three lines would represent the horizon that I was heading for while I was traveling down the main highway.”

“It’s true,” Rarity said. “And the story of how he got here was intriguing, as well as mysterious.”

“I know. Harold told me all about it too when I had him trapped for our interrogation,” Twilight said. “But nevertheless, you both did a great job with the shirt. It looks like you’ve really outdone yourself this time, Rarity.”

Rarity giggled, waving her hoof down with modesty. “It was nothing, Twilight. I’ve really had much fun with Harold today. I hope we can meet each other again soon enough, darling.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it for the world, Rarity,” Harold replied as he slipped his iPod into his new pocket.

Twilight focused her magic through her horn and opened the door. The lavender alicorn and the young human both walked out of the Carousel Boutique, leaving the door behind them open. As they made their way to the Golden Oaks Library, Rarity stepped out to the door and waved a departing hoof towards them.

“So long, you two! I will see the both of you real soon!” she sang.

Harold and Twilight walked around a street corner until they were out of sight. As soon as Rarity was about to turn and walk back into the boutique, something caught her in the corner of her eye. To her left, standing a good distance away from the building, she saw a trio of ponies eyeing the Carousel Boutique suspiciously and the occupant at the edge of the door. Rarity couldn’t hear what they were saying, but their facial pattern and their mouthing said otherwise. She knew what they were saying.

They were saying stuff about Harold, Princess Twilight, the Carousel Boutique and her.

Rarity watched as the trio turned away while keeping their gossiping faces plastered on. She gasped offendedly and went back into the room, slamming the door behind her. “Those ruffians! How dare they say something like that about Harold behind their back! They should know better than to talk about Harold like that and pass their gossip all over town!” Rarity yelled to herself. “I mean, sure, just because Harold accidentally scared the town earlier doesn’t mean they should talk about him out of fear and disrespect! Of all the most uncouth things I have ever witnessed, that has to possibly be the... MOST... UNCOUTH... THING... EVER!!”

Rarity stamped her hoof in frustration.

Then she spotted the heaping pile of dirty laundry on her worktable.

Harold’s old change of clothing sat on the table, left to rot and fester the beauty of Rarity’s boutique. It was as if the clothes themselves were mocking Rarity of her cleanliness, her persnicketiness and her fear of becoming dirty. Rarity reeled back a little as she looked at the stained, greasy pile of dirty laundry, then sighed with slight disgust.

“Oooooh. I guess it’s time I gave you all a proper scrubbing.”

Rarity turned to get her laundry hamper, her detergent and a hazmat suit from her broom closet.

Author's Note

First off, I want to apologize to everyone for getting this chapter so late. There have been many issues I had to deal with, including writer's block and helping a rookie to proofread and improve his story. But now I'm back, and I've added in Part Two of Rarity's treatment for Harold and I replaced the cover art with Harold's design, as well as the locket etching in the back. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.

Oh, and for those of you wondering:

1.) I've did some research on the colors and what they represented:

Blue = Sadness
Yellow = Happiness
Orange = Endurance
White = Purity

The backstory: Harold had a saddened life and a part of it was happy. But he endured those sad times and continued to have a pure heart about it. I hope that makes sense to you all.

2.) Harold is a homophone for "herald," a person or thing viewed as a sign that something is about to happen. I'll get to why he was named Harold later.

Chapter 17: Questioning Loyalty / Cuteness Overload (Re-Edited)

“Boy, that Rarity is quite the seamstress, isn’t she?” Twilight asked, smiling weakly to cover that unsettling feeling coursing through her veins. “That new outfit certainly looks good on you, huh?”

“Yeah. It’s a good fit,” Harold replied shyly, pulling the collar of his jacket over the sides of his head to hide his shy face. “It’s a good fit.”

Twilight and Harold both feared to say another word. Shortly after leaving the Carousel Boutique from getting his haircut and his new clothes fitted, Twilight and Harold turned into the main street of Ponyville only to be met with a less than friendly atmosphere. The equine citizens of Ponyville looked at both their newest princess and her primate companion, an array of mixed reactions ranging from a cold sideways glance to an cold steel glare. Ponies pulled most of their foals close to them or quickly took them inside of their buildings, not letting them out until the “monster,” or “creature,” or any name they muttered under their breath passed by.

Twilight lowered her head shyly, subjected to soaking in those stares and their murmuring as if she was a figurative sponge. Harold tried to shield his eyes away from those glances himself, but it was futile. He had already seen their faces long enough to know that those images were burned into his mind like a CD-ROM. Harold may not have made out what they said, but he knew exactly the words their mouths had motioned.

Freak... monster... beast... creature...

Those words and their glares hit Harold where he was easily the most vulnerable: in his heart.

Poor Harold. He really wished that Lana was beside him right here and now, holding him close to her while she told off the Ponyvillians for talking smack about him and the Elements of Harmony behind their backs. Unfortunately, for obvious and tragic reasons, she wasn’t around to do so. Now he had to appease to them somehow, something that was way beyond his comfort zone. Harold was a born introvert to most people and he would stay that way. Plus, if he never really convinced the people of New York in the past, what made him think he would convince them now or later?

“So anyway...” Twilight started off nervously, breaking the unsettling silence between them. “Now that you’re gonna be staying with me at the Golden Oaks Library, why don’t you tell me more about your world? I'd love to record what other information you have of your world. I might even have to share that much information with Princess Celestia once we're done."

"Umm... sure, I guess."

Oh, great.

This was just what Harold needed.

Another insider on the now-declining country he knew well as the United States of America.

He had to tell Twilight more about himself and the gloomy, depressed world he lived in for so long. If he told her much about the world he lived in now, all that he would find instead was the pain, sadness and loneliness. He was sure Twilight would ask him about the history of his people, but what would he do if she asked him about today's world? Would he tell her about the poverty-stricken New York state where the rich towered over the middle and low class denizens who lived on the streets? About the current war going on in the Middle East? What about the corporate businesses and the Congress mucking up the current United States Healthcare? The sort of Healthcare where the only citizens getting the better treatment were the terrorists locked away in certain maximum facility prisons? The sort of prisons that Ahab DeMatt funded using the money he so grabbed with his greasy, grubby hands?

Would he sugarcoat the sad reality of the United States and lie to Twilight?

No. He couldn't lie to a member of royalty. It would be a sort of capital crime if he lied to royalty.

With no other option left, Harold sighed as he knew what had to be done.

"I'll have to face the music... again," he thought to himself.

Twilight and the anxious Harold made their way past the cold stares and the whispers of the ponies in Ponyville, both of them not daring to peep a single word. Unless they wanted the ponies to spread even more smack talk behind their backs, Twilight and Harold needed to keep quiet. The reception was bad enough when Harold first set foot into town, but now it got worse ever since the ponies saw him return in the royal chariot. They must’ve thought the Princess would’ve dealt with him while he was in Canterlot. What a bitter disappointment.

It was only a little later when Twilight and Harold finally reached the Golden Oaks Library. Harold had to process what he saw for a minute, but then he finally got the joke: the giant hollowed-out tree was the library. Windows, patios, balconies and a front door were added in through the bark of the tree. If Harold didn’t know any better, he’d say that the library was just asking to be joked at.

This was what he would call, "a tree house."

“Umm... wow. This is the library you were talking about?” Harold asked for confirmation.

“Yes it is. This is also my home where I could be closer with my friends,” Twilight explained. “When I first came to Ponyville, before I became an alicorn, Princess Celestia arranged for me to stay in this library so I would handle the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. But since I discovered how wonderful it was to be learn about the magic of friendship, Princess Celestia decreed I would have to stay here so I could learn more about being friends. Ever since that day, I’ve been staying here at the library. It’s sort of my third home.”

“Wow. That’s quite the story, Princess Twilight,” Harold complimented.

"Thank you, Harold," Twilight replied. "Oh, and there's no need to address me as 'Princess.' We're friends now, so there's no need to be so formal, alright?"

"Oh. Alright."

Twilight focused her magic on the door. With the door wrapped up in a magenta aura, Twilight telekinetically opened it and motioned Harold inside. As the human teen walked inside, Twilight turned her head around to look at the citizens residing in the streets. All of the ponies out in the streets gave her an unamused glare, then turned away without saying another word. Their prejudiced silence was like a razor piercing into Twilight. Her heart felt like a shard of glass pierced her heart. She guessed she knew how Harold felt walking through the populated town, being the target for such horrible disdain.

Twilight closed the door, as quickly and as calmly as she could.

A tear dropped from her eye, as if she was hurt to see everypony in Ponyville shun the young human out of fear.

Harold, however, never noticed Twilight’s sadness. He was instantly entranced by the interior of the library, everything on the inside appealing to him as if by some mysterious force. The whole library room was hollowed out to fit a crowd of little foals. The shelves that were carved out lined the whole walls, colorful books decorating them in different shades of the different colors of the rainbow. A table sat in the middle in the room, and perched in the middle was a wooden head of a horse. The ceiling depicted a sun, similar to the Sun Cutie Mark plastered on Princess Celestia’s flank. Near the back of the library were two sets of staircases, one leading upstairs, the other leading down.

Twilight wiped her cheek dry from her tear and turned to face Harold. She put on a smiling mask and looked at Harold, observing his admiration to her home-slash-tree-slash-library. “So, how do you like my library so far?” Twilight asked. “Is it comfortable? Is it cozy?”

“It’s...” Harold pondered to think of the right word to use. “...woody.”

“Well, of course it’s woody. We are inside of a hollowed-out tree after all.”

“And you live here?” asked Harold.

"I do," Twilight said with a nod. "Like I said, this place is also my home away from Canterlot. I've been looking after this tree for a few years now and I've only read most of these books. Maybe during your free time, you can read one of these books. It's really fascinating."

"Thanks, but I already have a pastime of my own," Harold said. Then he looked around, quickly feeling himself becoming somber. He was reminded of something important that he lost hours ago. "Shoot, that's right. Most of my stuff are still packed away in my backpack, and that's still at Fluttershy's house. I'm not sure what to do right now since I don't have my stuff with me."

"Oh, don't worry about that. Fluttershy said she's gonna grab your things and bring them on over here," Twilight assured Harold. "In the meantime, I have to reorganize my shelves today. Maybe you can read one of my books so you'd have something to--"

CREEEAAK!

Twilight's suggestion was interrupted by the opening of her library door. She and Harold turned and saw Fluttershy hovering inside, forcefully pushing Harold's bike by the handlebars, the left handlebar weighing down by the light blue backpack hanging by the straps. Fluttershy was able to wheel in Harold's bike until the rear wheel was fully inside of the library and stopped. Carefully, she let the bike fall onto its side, panting with relief knowing that her task to carry the heavy load was done.

"Hi, Fluttershy," Twilight greeted.

"Hey, Fluttershy," Harold greeted along.

Fluttershy panted for a second, then happily turned to face her two friends. "Hi, Twilight. Hi, Harold. I see Rarity gave you the makeover you needed. You look wonderful."

Harold rubbed the back of his head, blushing.

"Aww, thanks Fluttershy."

"Yeah. Thank you so much for bringing over Harold's stuff, Fluttershy," Twilight stated happily. "Harold was saying that he was missing his things and you happened to get here just after he mentioned his stuff. Nice timing."

"Oh, thank you," Fluttershy replied softly.

"By the way, how is Spike feeling?" Twilight asked.

"Oh. Spike is doing good, Twilight," Fluttershy said with a nod. "I gave him a mug of emerald tea for his stomach an hour ago. His tummy is starting to feel better, but he's got a headache from dehydration when he threw up. He's drinking his fluids now, but he'll be walking back home in a few hours."

"That's good to hear. You're still on for tonight, right?"

"Of course."

"Good. I'll see you then."

"Okay, then. Goodbye, Harold."

"Bye, Fluttershy," Harold said, smiling and waving her off.

Fluttershy smiled, then turned and fluttered out of the library. While Twilight closed the door behind the butter-yellow pegasus, Harold stood his bicycle up and kicked the kickstand down, sliding his sky blue backpack off of the handles. Then he sat down and rummaged through his backpack. He took out his black sketchbook, his pencils and a jar of peaches from his backpack. He felt really peckish, what from spending an hour working on his clothes with Rarity and having barely much to eat while he traveled down the main highway.

Twilight looked as Harold assembled his stuff in front of him. Raising a curious eyebrow, Twilight trotted over and pointed at the objects that he revealed from his backpack. "What do you have there, Harold?” she asked.

“It’s my pastime that I was talking about,” Harold said. “My favorite pastime is to draw.”

“You like to draw?” Twilight asked.

“Of course,” replied Harold. “My passion for drawing started when I was only three years old and they’ve gotten better over the years. I’ve always dreamed of becoming a cartoonist. I’ve learned to draw people, animals, even creating my own fictional cities. Although, I'd like to learn how to create a storyline for my characters, but I don't have much experience with writing.”

"Well, you're welcome to ask me for help in case you want to write a story, or an essay even," Twilight replied smiling. "Writing also happens to be my strong suit, next to magic, and I'm more than happy to teach you how to write out a carefully written essay." Twilight then looked around the room. With all this time speaking to Harold, Twilight took her time off of reorganizing her bookshelves so she would make the place more presentable to the local populace.

"Unfortunately, I won't have time right now to teach you to write an essay. I need to sort my shelves out and then I'll be right with you."

"I might as well help you," Harold offered. "I'm good at sorting things out myself."

"There's no need for you do that, Harold. You're my guest, so you should sit down and make yourself comfortable." Twilight trotted up to a set of bookshelves in the back of the library. Then she stopped walking, turning to Harold with a grateful smile spreading on her face. "Still, thank you for offering to help me out but I think you should relax. You've had a hectic day saving me and my friends from a terrible fate. You've earned it."

"Really?" Twilight gave Harold an affirming nod. "Thank you, Twilight."

"You're welcome, Harold. Now then, where to start?"

Twilight went back to the shelves and lit her horn up again, putting her hoof near her magical conduit for better concentration. All of the books in the library were levitated off the shelves, orbiting around Twilight in a formation of a dome, much to Harold's amazement. With careful precision, she gently inserted each book into a different shelf, sorted by the category of literature and arranged in alphabetical order, from 0 to 9 and from A to Z. The last time she sorted them by color and book height, the categories and the alphabetical titles were as scrambled as Spike's breakfast eggs. The customers that came in to check out the books were confused beyond comparison, prompting Princess Twilight to mentally note to herself not to arrange them by color and/or book height again.

Harold pulled himself and his stuff to the round table, watching Twilight magically reorganize the books while doing so. He was bummed that he never got to help Twilight out with restocking the shelves with the books, since one of his special traits was being meticulous. Still, he was happy about one thing: he finally had his free time to draw. Harold placed his jar of peaches on the table, hungrily sampling one of the slices. Four to five days of being stored inside a backpack with its fellow peaches and dried apricots and they still tasted as sweet as its juice.

After eating a slice of the peach, Harold wiped his juicy fingers and set himself on a seat next to the table, holding his sketchbook in his lap, his black mechanical pencil turning in his fingers. Harold placed his headphones into his ear, waiting for any inspiration that would help him concentrate and reflect the drawing he would do. He turned his eyes up to the ceiling. He wondered who or what he was going to draw, a good way to help him emerge from his artist's block.

Would he draw the main highway at night? He had to admit, those nights he spent sleeping in the fields near the roads were serene and tranquil under the glow of the full moonlight. Perhaps he could draw that fateful tornado? It was possible he could, since the twister was the one that sent him to...

That was when inspiration finally struck him.

Equestria.

He could draw something related to Equestria.

Harold could try and draw a part of the land of Equestria. Maybe he could try and draw Canterlot Castle? No, that would be a bit of work for him and a whole lot of paper just to get every single detail on the castle. Maybe he could draw Ponyville, but he didn't get a good look it on account of the pony populace staring down at him like a pack of vultures. Just what was it about Equestria that Harold wanted to draw so badly?

That was when another idea struck him in the same spot.

The answer was so obvious, Harold never even noticed it in front of him.

He would draw the ponies in Ponyville, the ones that took kindly to him. Fluttershy was the first of the Mane Six to take kindly of him. She did take him into her home to help with his throbbing headache. She protected him from turning into a statue and kept Rainbow Dash from striking his face. Heck, she even stood up for him when she felt Twilight and Rainbow Dash were ganging up on him, as well as trying to save him from Princess Celestia's decisions. To Harold, Fluttershy deserved a special drawing in his book... to be more precise, his sketchbook.

Rarity also took a liking to him. At first, she was repulsed by his ape-like features, his hygiene and the state of his clothes, but that was in the past. Now, Harold felt thankful for her generosity. She allowed him to wash himself up, got his hair cut and helped him design and create a new set of clothing for him to wear for the duration of his stay. To be honest, Harold was skeptical about Rarity himself because of her posh demeanor. She always seemed so high class for a pony who lived in a small town community. But, in the end, Harold discovered that Rarity was not as ritzy as he came to believe. There was an old saying, "Never judge a book by its cover." Harold needed to learn how not to do that in a future time for him.

Then there was Princess Twilight Sparkle. There was something about the alicorn that Harold liked, but he didn't know what. From what Harold could tell, during the interrogation, Twilight seemed studious, smart and determined. Was that what he liked in her, or was it her ability to cast such powerful magic? Her magic seemed to be the strongest source of energy Harold ever saw, enough power to last the city of Manhattan a full year with clean energy. After he saved her from her out-of-control magic, Twilight showed how grateful she was to Harold by vouching for him to Princess Celestia. If it weren't for her, Harold would've been sent back home or become a permanent statue in the Canterlot Gardens.

Harold was sold.

He knew exactly who to draw in his sketchbook.

Harold opened his sketchbook to a fresh blank page. Clicking his mechanical pencil, Harold observed Twilight through the depleting dome of books being restocked onto the shelves. It was a tad tricky for him to observe Twilight from afar, seeing how there were books obstructing his view. Within moments, Harold captured his view in his eidetic memory, the picture slowly developing in his mind like a classic Polaroid photograph. Then he turned on his iPod, twenty-five percent of his battery life shown on the top right corner of the screen and gently inserted the headphones in his ears.

He switched the music to "The Sorceror's Apprentice" and began to draw.

=====================================================================

Rainbow Dash lied down on a small puff of cloud, the cloud she fibbed she would be sleeping on, peering through the windows of the Golden Oaks Library through a pair of binoculars. After adjusting her lenses, Rainbow Dash saw her friend Twilight rearrange her bookshelves with her magic and the young human scribbling on his pad of paper. What caught her suspicion were the pair of wires the human stuck in both of his ears. She wasn't sure exactly what they were, but she theorized it to be a part of some sort of sinister alien plot. Rainbow Dash set her binoculars down. She narrowed her raspberry-colored eyes into a hardened stare, glaring at the library from afar.

"I know what you're trying to do, Mr. Hue-Man. I'm not taking my eyes off of you for one second," she said, bitterness dripping from between her gritted teeth. "I'll be watching you. I'll know when you're gonna turn and backstab my friends for your own personal goal. If you do, you'd better believe I'll be there, Hue-Man. I'll be there."

"Hi, Rainbow Dash!"

"GYAAAHHHH!!"

Rainbow Dash jumped when a younger, tomboyish voice caught her by surprise. Jerking her head around, Rainbow Dash saw her Number One Fan standing on the same cloud, beaming with a smile. She was a young pegasus filly, sporting an orange coat and a purple messy mane, though not nearly as messy as Rainbow Dash's. There was no Cutie Mark on her flank and her wings were stubby for a pegasus filly of her age, but she wore a purple helmet with two white stripes running down the helmet. She also wore a smile, knowing she was on the same cloud as her idol and sister-figure.

"Scootaloo! You scared me!" Rainbow Dash scolded, then suddenly covering her mouth after barely realizing her mistake. "Uh... I mean, you broke my concentration!"

"Oh! Sorry, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo apologized. "I didn't know you were doing something that required a whole lot of concentration!"

"It's all cool, squirt. You just need to learn how to not take somepony by surprise. You'll never know what a pegasus pony might do while she's laying on a cloud." Then Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow and looked back to Scootaloo with confusion. "By the way, how did you get all the way up here? Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"We got out early!" the pegasus filly chirped. "Plus, I kinda flew up here?"

"Wait. You mean you actually flew all the way up here?"

"Nope."

Scootaloo pointed down at the ground to a recently demolished rose vending cart. Roses, parchment paper and splintered wood littered the ground, and in the midst of the rubble was a purple scooter, wedged into the ground by the front part like it catapulted somepony off of it. A lone wheel on the scooter turned until it slowed down, then ceased to spin. Roseluck looked on perturbed as her beloved rose cart was once again wrecked into pieces. The mare looked up to the filly in the cloud and waved her hoof at her threateningly.

"Uh-huh," Rainbow Dash replied blankly.

Rainbow Dash laid back on her belly into a hidden crouch on the cloud, her gaze narrowed to the library. Scootaloo looked at her for a moment and then followed suit, laying right next to her idol with the same rock hard glare towards the distance. After a minute of glaring out into the distance, Scootaloo decided to break the silence with a question.

"So, what are we doing up here? Are we spying on somepony?"

"Something like that," Rainbow Dash answered.

"Really? Who?"

"He's not much of a who, squirt. He's more of a what." Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash with a baffled look. Rainbow Dash passed her binoculars down to the filly, who looked through them, adjusting the focus for her to see the library clearer. "Just look through the ground floor window, squirt. Tell me what you see there."

"Umm, okay." Scootaloo peered through the glass window of the Golden Oak Library. She adjusted the lenses to help see through the glass window of the library, then began to take note of everything that went on inside. "There's nothing going on inside, to be honest. All I see is Princess Twilight doing stuff with her books again. There's nothing new about that."

"Look at the table in the library," Rainbow Dash ordered.

"Alright."

Scootaloo adjusted her lenses again and slowly moved her vision up to the circular table. At first there was nothing that she saw. But as she watched, she saw something else residing inside of the same room as Twilight was. She saw a slender figure resembling a monkey, carrying a black rectangular object and wires stuck in its ears. Scootaloo gasped as if she was shocked by the cold, but her tiny pea-sized pupils said otherwise. In her state of being frightened by the alien-like ape, Scootaloo felt herself become numb with fright, almost dropping Rainbow Dash's binoculars from her hooves in the process.

"Oh... my... Celestia..." Scootaloo squeaked. "Is that...?"

"Yep," Rainbow Dash replied blankly.

"And... and... and did Princes Twilight...?"

"Yep."

"But... but shouldn't the Princess...?"

"She let him stay for as long as he liked."

"HOLY MOTHER OF CELESTIA!!"

Rainbow Dash quickly wrapped her hooves around Scootaloo's mouth, hushing the little filly. Ponies on the ground level jumped at the shrill sound and looked around for the source of the noise. They shrugged it off and continued on with their daily lives while the two pegasus ponies kept hidden on the cloud.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Keep it down, Scoots!" Rainbow Dash whispered loudly. "You'll blow our cover this way if you keep screaming like that! Understand!?"

Scootaloo gave a muffled "mm-hmm" along with a nod. Rainbow Dash uncovered her hooves from the filly's mouth and picked up her binoculars, looking through them once more at the library. Scootaloo laid next to her sister-figure and looked at her, her face contorted with much concern and anticipation. "So what's the plan, Rainbow Dash? How are we going to rescue Twilight from that... that thing?"

"Nothing." Scootaloo's face was then molded into that of a confused pony. "We're just gonna lie down here and do nothing."

"Nothing?" Scootaloo asked.

"Exactly. I don't trust that guy one bit, even if Princess Celestia said he was free to stay here in Equestria for as long as it takes. I'm keeping an eye out on him. Making sure he doesn't do anything suspicious or otherwise." Rainbow Dash lowered her binoculars and peered at the library, sipping a glass bottle of apple juice, which she pulled from the inside of the cloud, through a straw. After washing down the apple juice, Rainbow Dash resumed to keep watch through her binoculars.

"Wait. Is that what you're gonna do? You're gonna stakeout on this cloud in case that creature does anything bad?"

"That's my plan, squirt. If I catch that Hue-Man doing something to Twilight, I'll kick his flank to the moon faster that you can say, 'horsefeathers.'"

"Catch, huh? Catch..." Scootaloo tapped her chin, then perked up. "That's it! I know how I can get my Cutie Mark!"

"Oh no, Scoots. What are you planning this time?" Rainbow Dash groaned disapprovingly, facehoofing herself and shaking her head.

"The perfect way to get our Cutie Mark! I can picture it now..." Scootaloo brought her hooves up and spread them across her field of vision, as if she could see herself in her vain attempt to earn her Cutie Mark. "Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and I go barging into the library, we catch the monster and then we bring him in to the dungeons so he won't be proven as threat to you or Princess Twilight!"

"Hey, Scootaloo? I don't think that's gonna wor--"

"And if we don't get a Cutie Mark in alien capturing...!" Scootaloo continued, interjecting her idol through her excitement. "Then we can at least get a Cutie Mark in saving a princess of Equestria!"

"Scoots, I don't think that's a good idea--"

"Yes! That's a perfect idea! With me, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle capturing the monster, we can become local heroes! Or better yet, we'll become Equestria's newest heroes!" Scootaloo gasped. "That's perfect! We can be...!" Uncontrollable with excitement, the young pegasus jumped off of the cloud, hanging in midair by her stubby, flittering wings. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ALIEN HUNTERS AND PRINCESS RESCUERS!! YAY!!"

"Scoots!!"

Scootaloo looked back to Rainbow Dash, holding her head with a panicked face. "What is it, Rainbow Dash? That sounds like a bad idea, doesn't it?"

"NO!! It's not that!!" Rainbow Dash snapped. "You're flying in midair! You know you're not ready to fly yet!"

"Wait. Am I really flying?"

"YES!!"

"Oh." Scootaloo regrettably looked down at the ground below her. The height seemed so high for her that even the very view seemed to induce vertigo in her. With her wings flittering, Scootaloo began to scream, flailing her hooves until she plummeted down to the ground. Rainbow Dash looked down from the cloud as she saw Scootaloo fall like a lead weight, following a CRASH! and a spray of daisies and splintered wood splashing into the air. Rainbow Dash winced from the crash, but was slightly relieved that her Number One Fan was still alive. All in all, Rainbow Dash tucked herself deeper into the cloud and out of sight as Scootaloo shyly apologized to the furious owner of the wrecked daisy vending cart.

"Oops. Sorry, Daisy."

=====================================================================

Harold felt proud of how his progress with his drawing came so far.

In only a few minutes into Paul Abraham Dukas' masterpiece, Harold was only halfway done with the sketching of Princess Twilight Sparkle. His drawing was very simple, as were the other great cartoonists in the past who cooked up superheroes and popular goofy characters most would find in the Sunday funny papers. All he had to do was start with a good-sized circle and crosshairs representing the head and the face angles, looking to the right up at the ceiling. The snout on Twilight's face was even angled to face the same direction.

Next, Harold drew two large ovals for eyes, each one separated and spaced by the vertical crosshair. There, he draw another layer of lines on the ovular shapes, but trimmed their shape down to match the alicorn's magenta eyes perfectly. Once that was done, he added in two smaller ovals in each eye, looking up into the ceiling. He filled in the smaller ovals lightly (the right eye overlapped the snout, so he left most of the pupil unmarked before he could erase those excess lines out) and added in two smaller ovals to represent the reflection shown on her eyes. After adding in the nostrils and the slight smile, Harold drew the horn on her forehead, her mane, the pink and violet stripes marked at a different hue by the pencil and her equine ears.

Afterwards, Harold came to the body. Twilight's body was drawn in the shape of an oversized bean, no bigger than the circle for Twilight's head. The frontal hooves, the rear hooves and her furled wings were just as easy to draw, as was her tail, but adding in the Cutie Mark was a bit tricky. Harold tried to remember; how many of those tiny white stars surrounded Twilight's Cutie Mark? Six... no, five. Five little white sparks surrounded the two larger sparks decorating Twilight's flank.

With a medium layer of pencil lines outlining the Princess of Magic, Harold was almost done with his newest creation. He began to add in three-dimensional rectangular prisms all around her, signifying her books that was levitated in the aura of her magic. Before he could add in more to these books, tomes and reference guides, something unexpected happened.

BAM!

Twilight and Harold jerked upwards to the sound of the front door slamming open. Twilight's focus and her magic were both broken, and with it, the magic levitating the books around her dissipated. The books then fell on Twilight like a monsoon, piling up into a small mound of tomes. Harold turned his attention to the door, spotting three little silhouettes standing at the edge of the entrance.

The silhouettes turned out to be three fillies, all wearing a determined heroic face, but had no Cutie Mark on the side of their flanks. The filly on the left was an Earth pony, yellow coat and a red mane. A big pink bow was attached to the back of her mane, twice the size of the filly's ears. Over her neck and down to her little hooves was a lasso, very similar to the one Applejack used to restrain Harold before.

The filly in the middle was a small pegasus, sporting an orange coat. Just like Rainbow Dash's mane, the pegasus's purple mane was styled to express the form of her tomboyish attitude. On her back, she carried a fishing net, something she borrowed from Fluttershy after she claimed to be going fishing for her pet ferrets and her bear friend.

Finally, the filly on the right was a white unicorn, her curly mane colored in a dull tone of pink and purple. She carried an oversized butterfly net on her back, hoping to throw it over the alien's head and use the netting to disorient his vision.

Twilight poked her head out from the pile of books, her horn skewering the spine of one unfortunate novel, and jerked her head around towards to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle standing just outside of the library entrance. "Girls, what do you think you're doing!?" Twilight demanded. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of reorganizing my--!?"

"Don't worry, Princess Twilight!" Scootaloo interjected. "We're here to save you!"

"We're here ta save ya from that alien over there!" Apple Bloom added.

"And we're not gonna let anything happen to you while we're around!" Sweetie Belle piped.

"For we are..." The fillies took their hooves and raised them in the air triumphantly, each hoof touching each other as they chanted in unison, "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!"

Scootaloo used her raised hoof and brought it down like a hammer, pointing in the direction towards Harold. "And we're gonna prove ourselves to be heroes by capturing that alien over there!" she shouted. "Come on girls! LET'S GET HIM!"

"YEAH!"

Before Harold could make another move, he felt himself pounced on by the trio of fillies, all screaming a war cry while bringing their "weapons" down on him. Scootaloo entangled Harold's body with the fishing net, making his writhing and wriggling out of the net virtually impossible. Sweetie Belle threw the butterfly net down on him, obscuring most of his with through two or more layers of netting. Finally, when Harold was getting tired from his vain efforts of escaping the fillies, Apple Bloom threw the rope around Harold's arms and waist, though nowhere near as tight as how Applejack normally made the constriction tighter.

With Harold lying down defeated by the three attack, but cute fillies, the Cutie Mark Crusaders stood atop of Harold's chest. Harold groaned from the combined weight of the young fillies while they shouted triumphantly from the top of their lungs. "YAY! WE DID IT! WE'RE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ALIEN HUNTERS AND PRINCESS RESCUERS!!"

All three fillies quickly jerked their head around towards their flanks, a hopeful smile spread across their lips. Then their smile turned into a despondent frown when they saw nothing appear on their flanks. The Cutie Mark Crusaders groaned. Despite all of their best efforts to "capture the alien" in order to "save" the princess, the Cutie Mark Crusaders hadn't earned their Cutie Marks, just like all of the other times when they tried so hard to accomplish something in their lives. Feeling down on themselves with defeat, the fillies turned and formed a huddle on Harold's chest.

"What do you think went wrong with our capture?" Scootaloo asked her teammates.

"Maybe we didn't tie it up right in our nets," Sweetie Belle guessed. "I thought for sure that butterfly nets would work on it."

"Ah think it might have somthin' ta do with tryin' ta immobilize him with mah sister's lasso as well," Apple Bloom said. "Ah must've miscalculated somewhere with usin' mah strength to tie the lasso and testin' with what knot to use against an alien of his size and features."

"What are you, a physics professor?" Scootaloo asked. "I only thought fishing nets would be great for catching big fish like this guy here."

"Well obviously, that didn't really work out for ya, didn't it?" Apple Bloom remarked.

"At least it had better results than what your so-called lasso skills did to hold him down."

"Hey! Ah'm learnin' how ta be just as good at rustlin' up some critters as mah big sister is! And don't ya dare call me a physics professor, ya big dodo!"

"Don't you dare call me a dodo! I still don't know what that name even means!"

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo pressed their snouts together, forming mad scrunchy faces directed at each other. Their eyes were narrowed, burning with the fires of rivalry sparked by their little tussle over name-calling and creature capturing. Sweetie Belle forced both of her hooves in the middle and attempted to separate the two fillies from commencing into a physical fight, begging them to quit their fighting. What they weren't aware of was the presence of Twilight Sparkle staring down at them half-eyed with disapproval.

"Girls."

With one little word, Twilight managed to stop the fillies from fighting any further. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle all looked up to the disappointed alicorn and shrunk under her gaze. Without any words spoken, the three fillies slowly crawled off the "alien," Twilight using her magic to undo the lasso, the fishing nets and the butterfly net off of Harold. When Harold was finally free of his restraints, Twilight turned to the fearful fillies, all lined up in a small row.

"Girls, what was this all about?" Twilight asked, plainly but firmly. "I was trying to reorganize my library and my guest was trying to relax when all of a sudden, you three barge in here and messed everything up. If that wasn't enough, you three went and attacked my guest just so you three could earn your Cutie Marks. I'm disappointed in all of you."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders drooped their heads down, afraid to meet Twilight's gaze. Their ears also dropped back as they gave a forlorn apology. "We're sorry," they said.

"Oh no, girls. If there's anypony you should be apologizing to, that would be him," Twilight said pointing a hoof towards Harold. "Now then, girls, which one of you got the idea of attack my guest?"

Both a yellow hoof and a white hoof pointed out towards Scootaloo, who sat in the middle. Twilight turned to Scootaloo, who shrunk even further. "Scootaloo. Care to tell me how in Equestria you came up with the idea of attacking my friend for your Cutie Mark?"

The pegasus filly turned her shamed gaze away, rubbing her hoof insecurely. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I only thought I was doing something to protect you because I saw that... whatever he is in the same room with you and I thought he was dangerous. So I got the girls together and we did what he had to do just so we could protect you from getting hurt... or worse."

Twilight exhaled deeply through her nose. "I know you have the best intentions to protect me, and... well, I appreciate all that," she stated solemnly. "But that still doesn't explain why you decided to attack Harold out of the blue like that."

"Well, Rainbow Dash and I were watching you guys from a cloud a good distance away from the library," Scootaloo explained. "When she told me she was gonna stake this place out on a cloud so she could catch the alien doing something bad, then she would--"

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up," Twilight interjected. "Rainbow Dash gave you the idea to come over and attack Harold?"

"Not really. All she ever wanted was to keep you from getting hurt."

"Really?" Twilight asked, becoming as stone cold as a ferocious statue. "And is Rainbow Dash still hiding on a cloud nearby?"

"Yep. It's the cloud that's just a little ways from here. You can't miss it."

Twilight looked out the window, spotting a lone cloud floating ten feet above the Ponyville road. In the center of the white, plush cloud was a little rainbow tail, sticking out from its owner's pathetic attempt to hide herself inside the cloud. Twilight narrowed her eyes. Rainbow Dash lied to her when she said she was going to take a nap earlier. It was just a cover-up so she could examine Harold's actions just because she didn't trust him.

This was really getting ridiculous. Rainbow Dash was supposed to the Element of Loyalty, for Pete's sake! She shouldn't go and spying on Harold just because Princess Celestia said he would contribute to the fall of Equestria. Breathing deeply through her snout, Twilight stormed out of the library and slammed the door behind her, stamping her way to Rainbow Dash's hiding place. Flapping her wings, Twilight hovered up to the cloud, the colorful tail still exposed and inhaled to prepare for her Canterlot Voice.

"RAINBOW DASH!!"

"WAAAAAHH!"

POMF!

In one moment, Rainbow Dash was hiding headfirst in the cloud, trying to avoid a hewing out from her recently ascended pal. In the next moment, she found herself jumping off in shock, plunging headfirst into the soil below. After much wriggling and writhing, Rainbow Dash popped her head out of the ground, spitting out dirt and pebbles from her mouth and turned to face Twilight.

"What the hay, Twilight!? What'd you go and use your Canterlot Voice on me for, anyway!?"

"You know perfectly well, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight snapped. "You said you were taking a nap in the clouds! Well, Scootaloo told me that you and her were spying on us on your cloud instead of thinking of ways you could do to support Harold in his time of need!"

"Yeah!? So!?"

"So, you were supposed to think of supporting Harold, not spying on us like some paranoid mare!"

"Hey, you heard what Princess Celestia said, right!? She specifically told us that Hair-Old was going to help bring all of Equestria down on its knees and he's starting by fooling you all into a trap! Well guess what, sister?" Rainbow Dash said, knocking on her head vigorously. "He's not getting to me! I'm not letting him outta my sight until he either acts or if he's going back home!"

"Rainbow, that is not what the Princess said!" Twilight argued. "She said that Harold is the unwilling pawn into bringing Equestria down on its knees! He's not evil and you know it well, too!"

"Either way, I'm not letting my eye off of him!" Rainbow Dash brashly replied. "Just because he had a sob story and some scars on his body doesn't mean he won't turn around and stab you in the back! If that really happened to you, then don't come crying to me for protection!"

Twilight furrowed her brows. Her face was turning crimson, angered by the cyan flier's words against Harold. "Rainbow Dash, you're acting like a foal! Haven't you even seen how truly sad he was because of what happened to him on his world! He's sad because somepony that he loved had passed away and he's been alone ever since! If you were in his shoes right now, how would you even feel if somepony close to you, like Fluttershy and Scootaloo passed away in your hooves!?"

Rainbow Dash shot her eyes wide open, gasping. Her shocked reaction reverted into a maddened stare, but felt rage burning inside of her. "Don't you ever say that about Flutters and Scoots, you hear me!?" Rainbow Dash yelled, pointing her hoof close to Twilight's nuzzle. "Don't you ever bring up how they're gonna bite the big one! I'm not gonna sit here and let you lecture me about when somepony close to me dies!"

"Answer the question, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight ordered. "How would you feel if somepony was dying and you were there when they were passing away!? Well!?"

Rainbow Dash growled, doing her best to leash the wild animal woken up inside of her. Twilight had the absolute nerve to bring up the topic of death, especially when it involved two of her closest friends! Didn't Twilight know how she felt when her magic struck down Fluttershy earlier!? She felt devastated! She felt angry! She felt saddened. She felt... alone...

So... so alone...

The anger inside Rainbow Dash subsided like a cooling effect on a muscle sore. Stricken with guilt, she turned her head away from Twilight, the epiphany finally dawning on her. This must've been what Harold felt like when his sister died in his... claws? It didn't matter what he called them. Rainbow Dash finally felt a sliver of sympathy for the Hue-Man, as she herself witnessed Fluttershy's temporary demise earlier today. She choked a little, holding in her other urge to get sappy in front of everypony, thinking of what Scootaloo would feel if she lost her favorite idol in front of her, too.

In fact, she wondered how Scootaloo would react, knowing how she treated Harold like a bully. Like the same kind of bullies in Cloudsdale who made fun of Fluttershy because she was afraid of heights. If that was the case, then Rainbow Dash was already stooping low to their level. With every encounter between her and Harold that she could remember, another epiphany swept over Rainbow Dash like the passing wind.

She was reminded of somepony bad from Harold's world. His parents... or a bully, even.

She was becoming the very same ponies that she came to hate the most.

She was becoming a bully.

Twilight laid her hooves on Rainbow Dash's shoulders, the same sad look etched on her face. "You understand now, don't you, Rainbow?" she asked gently. "What you're feeling right now and what you've felt when my magic turned Fluttershy into stone? That was the same feeling Harold felt when he lost his sister. He's been lonely ever since and he's turning to us for our help, even turning to you for your help as well.

"That's why I need you in on this, Rainbow Dash. You're the only pony I know who's completely loyal to her closest friends. If you want to prove yourself to be the Element of Loyalty, then could you please help Harold feel welcome to our pony kind?" Twilight asked. "I understand you're uncomfortable with this, but this is the only way to ensure that Harold can have a new, happier life."

Rainbow Dash groaned, turning her gaze away from Twilight's eyes to the dirt road. "Mmmhhh. I don't know, Twilight," she mumbled. "After everything I did to him, I'm not sure if he'd like to see me anymore."

"Hey, you don't have to worry about that," Twilight said, a slight smile spreading across her lips. "I'm sure Harold is very understanding. All you have to do is apologize for treating him badly and he'll forgive you. It's as simple as that."

"I... I still don't know, Twilight. I'm just not good at apologizing to somepony who I gave a hard time."

Twilight rested her other hoof on Rainbow Dash's shoulder, holding her in a firm and reassuring grip. "Don't worry, Rainbow Dash. I'll help you follow through with your apology." She flicked her head in the direction of the library. "Come on. Let's go back and see how Harold and the girls are holding up."

Twilight turned and walked back to the library, Rainbow Dash reluctantly following her. Twilight made it to the door, opening it slightly with her focused magic. "Harold? Do you have a moment you can spare?" she asked, opening the door all the way. "Rainbow Dash and I would like to--"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash gasped as they saw a horrifying scene inside of the library. There, fallen on the wood floors like a petrified statue was Harold, foaming at the mouth and eyes glassy like crystal clear pond water. His hands clawed at his chest, presumably over his heart, and a painful expression spread all over his face. The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood at his feet, completely terrified to the point where they couldn't scream, cry or panic.

"GIRLS!! What happened!?" Twilight screamed. "How did he end up like this!?"

"I don't know!!" Sweetie Belle responded with a scared yell. "We were talking for a moment... a-a-and this happened!!"

Twilight quickly galloped to Harold and put her ear to his chest. She didn't hear his heartbeat nor did she feel his pulse. "Ahh, this isn't good. Harold's gone into cardiac arrest! If we don't defibrillate him in time, then he's going to die in a few minutes!" Quickly jerking her head around, Twilight faced the horrified cyan flyer. "Rainbow Dash, go out and find me a thundercloud! I need the lightning to help bring him back to life, now!"

"On it!"

Rainbow Dash quickly gave a quick salute, then took off like a rocket, leaving a rainbow contrail behind. Twilight looked back to the traumatized Crusaders, standing over the lifeless body of the human they just met like the scared little children they were and trotted up to them, hoping they would give her the answers she needed. "Girls, I want you to calm down and tell me everything that happened while we were talking outside," Twilight asked calmly, keeping the Crusaders' nerves settled. "Do you think you can do that?"

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo all looked at each other worriedly, then reluctantly turned to Twilight. After giving a single nod of their heads, the fillies sighed deeply and told their tale of how Harold came to have his first heart attack.

******************************************************************************

Twilight had only stormed outside of her library when the incident happened. Harold was watching Twilight stomp towards Rainbow Dash's cloud through the window, witnessing his host chew out the cyan flyer like a wild dog. It was around that time when he heard a pitter-patter of little hooves move towards him, one of those hooves tugging on his jeans legging. Harold turned to see three of the fillies who attacked him, their heads down and ears drooped back in shame, adding in a solemn, guilty look on their face.

That wasn't good. Harold was prone to all things cute on his world. Kittens or puppies living in a cardboard box on the streets were cute enough, but in Equestria, that was all about to change. Harold felt his heart beginning to beat like a drum base, skipping every beat as he continued to look down at the ashamed fillies. Their saddened looks were admittedly cute. Too cute. If the fillies happened to present themselves as cute to Harold, then he would easily die from lethal cuteness.

One of the fillies, the pegasus Twilight named Scootaloo was the first to trot up to Harold, and looked at him with sorrowful, glistening eyes. "We're really sorry we attacked you, mister," Scootaloo said apologetically. "We didn't mean to attack you like that."

The small yellow filly wearing the big pink bow stepped up to Harold next, her big orange eyes and saddened pout was cuter than Scootaloo's face. "We all thought you were a scary monster who wanted ta eat Princess Twilight up fer lunch," she said in a Southern drawl. "Ah guess we were dead wrong about that, too."

Finally, the snow-white unicorn filly was the last to step forward shamefully. She cocked her head slightly to her right, her big emerald green eyes shone with sorry tears and her frown reached down to both sides of her chin. "Can you ever forgive us for accidentally hurting you?" the unicorn asked in a squeaky voice. "Please?"

The two other fillies joined with the unicorn, bring their adorable remorse faces next to each other and gave Harold their puppy dog eyes. "Please?"

Harold's heart rate spiked like an alcoholic drink. Gripping his chest, he felt his breath shorten as the Cutie Mark Crusaders presented their best and their deathly cute faces. Once again, the fillies looked at Harold with sad apologetic looks, inching their faces only by little, but close enough for Harold to feel his heart rate beat like a jackhammer. Then the fillies asked a single question, one that finally slew the human teen.

"Pleeeeaaaassseee?"

"HRRRRNNNNNNGGGGG!"

Harold's heart stopped beating.

The combined levels of adorableness was proven to be too powerful for him, and with it, he fell to the floor on his back. He wriggled like a fish out of water, saliva foaming in his mouth and his blue eyes becoming transparent silver. He stretched his arm out to the ceiling, which shook as he tried to reach out for help for his dear life, even gurgling with his own saliva while trying to call out for help, too.

Then, with no more breath left to draw, Harold stopped moving. He lied on the floor of the Golden Oaks Library in a position that made him look like a victim of murder, hands clasping over the area where his heart laid inside of his vessel of flesh. The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked over his body, silent and frozen like the air of death wafting in the room. They were too scared to run, cry and scream bloody murder over witnessing the possible death of the creature they tried to apologize to.

Only one thing that ran through the fillies' minds as they looked down on the body.

They've unwillingly become Cutie Mark Crusaders Creature Killers.

******************************************************************************

"That's when y'all came in here wantin' ta talk ta this critter over here!" Apple Bloom yelled, panicking.

"But we didn't know that the creature would react to us being near him by having to roll over and die! Honest!" Sweetie Belle added.

"All we did was say we were sorry and gave our sad looks to show how sorry we were!" Scootaloo cried. "We didn't mean to do this to him!"

"I know you didn't mean to, girls," Twilight said assuringly. "From what I can gather, Harold must suffer from an acute case of cuteness overload; a condition where somepony's heart gives out from an extreme level of adorableness. If I didn't know any better, I'd say your apologies and your looks were way too much for Harold's heart to handle and he ended up suffering from cardiac arrest. I just hope Rainbow Dash gets back here with that thundercloud. Without it, we can't use the lightning to help restart his heart."

Suddenly, as if Twilight's wish had come true in that moment, Rainbow Dash returned to the library in the blink of an eye, carrying a darkened cloud in her hooves. Quickly, without taking the time to compliment on Rainbow Dash's work to bring in the thundercloud, Twilight lit her horn, forming two cables out of thin air, each of them having a metallic clip on one end and a metallic paddle on the other. Twilight attached the clips onto the thundercloud and placed the paddles over both sides of Harold's chest, which she made bare by levitating his T-shirt off of him. When both cables were placed in position, Twilight jerked her head around to Rainbow Dash's direction.

"Rainbow Dash! Give that cloud a single kick!"

The cyan flyer reeled her hind hooves back and bucked the cloud, causing a clap of thunder that made the Cutie Mark Crusaders jump. A current of lightning was transferred through the cables to the paddles, creating a slight electric hum. "Girls, I need you all to move back while I perform the defibrillation," Twilight advised. The fillies all moved backwards towards the back of the library, giving them a safe distance as the alicorn readied the paddles.

"CLEAR!"

Twilight threw the paddles over Harold's chest, causing the body to jump from the high voltage shock. There was still no response from Harold, and Twilight began to feel completely nervous for his wellbeing. There was no way she would let him die today, not especially since she promised Princess Celestia she would help him through his pain. "Rainbow Dash! Give that cloud another kick! This time, kick it harder!"

Rainbow Dash saluted. She buckled her hind hooves and then released them into the cloud, using a bigger ounce of strength into that kick. The thundercloud clapped, sending another current on lightning through the cables and into the cables. Twilight shouted, "CLEAR!!" and threw the paddles down at Harold's chest.

Harold's body jolted in response to the shock.

Still no response.

Twilight moaned with nervousness. If she didn't bring Harold out of his state, then Celestia would have her hide for failing to even keep him alive for no more than three hours! Panicking like the three little fillies huddled at the bookshelves, Twilight frantically turned to Rainbow Dash, her eyes widened and pupils showing complete alarm. "Rainbow Dash, quick! Put all of your strength into that cloud! I can't let Harold die here and now! Not on my watch!"

Once more, Rainbow Dash buckled her hind hooves and forced them into the thundercloud, a large clap of thunder loud and big enough to shake the whole library, even resonating through the glass windows. The thundercloud reverted back to white as the last of the lightning was channeled into the paddles. The electric hum was loud enough for everypony's ears to fold back in order to prevent them from being blown out of their skulls, but the noise wasn't enough to keep Twilight from throwing the paddles up in the air and forcing them down at Harold's chest.

"CLEAR!!!"

The paddles made contact with the bare chest. Harold's body shot up to the ceiling in response to the biggest shock it received, crashing into the ceiling before falling back to the floor, flat on his back. When Harold fell on the floor, his entire body was blackened with soot, even giving off black smoke that smelled like he was baked in an oven. Everypony held their hooves to their crinkled nose, preventing the burning smell from assaulting their sense of smell, and watched while Harold's body lied unresponsive on the singeing wood.

At first, there was no sign of movement or bodily sound.

Then Harold's fingers twitched, gripping the hard wood floors while the prints pushed his arm up. Then Harold's body slowly and shakily rose up from the floor, placing his hand over his straining eyes and grunted to the pain. Harold removed his hand from his eyes, only to find his entire vision blurry like the badly adjusted lens on a photographic camera. After blinking a few times, Harold's vision quickly readjusted to its normal eyesight, finding his field to be populated with five ponies all giving him a look of concern.

An awkward silence fell onto the library foyer.

Then Harold broke the silence with a slurry, but carefully chosen question.

"Alright... what the hell just happened?"

Twilight trotted up to Harold, taking the question to be the cue for her explanation. "Your heart gave out when these three little fillies tried to give their formal puppy-eyes apology," she said. "We were afraid you were going to die any second, so I had Rainbow Dash help me bring you back to life by shocking your heart. You would've been long gone if Rainbow Dash wasn't around to help transfer all of that lightning into your system."

Harold turned to Rainbow Dash, confusion and wonder written all over his face. "You... you actually saved my life?" he asked. "Why would you do that?"

Rainbow Dash groaned, rolling her eyes while bearing an insecure face of her own. "Because... I-I-I was wrong about you about before... and I realized that trying to prove somepony against their goodwill was wrong. And..." Rainbow Dash looked back to Twilight, the latter motioning her head as if she was nudging her to do something she never thought of doing.

The pegasus sighed, then inhaled deeply before she finally said the last thing she thought she'd say.

"I'm sorry."

Harold cocked his head, his expression blank like a piece of unused paper. He processed those two little words his equine tormentor spoke of, though it came out as fuzzy as a broken signal. Once the signal was made much more clear to him, a slight smile slowly cracked across his lips, followed with a hand extended towards the surprised Rainbow Dash.

"It's alright, Miss Dash. I've already forgiven you for giving me such a hard time at first," he said, cracking into a single giggle.

Rainbow Dash cocked up her eyebrows, surprised by how quickly the human forgave her. "Wait, that's it? You forgave me?" she asked, equally surprised. "After all this time, after I tried to beat you down with my bare hooves, you're just gonna say that you already forgave me?"

"Why not?" Harold replied. "My sister always said I had to forgive those who would dare to hurt to me and apologized, whether they had a good reason to or not. I admit, I wanted to get back at you for pushing me and all, but I knew you had a good reason to be suspicious of me and my actions. But I guess we can put that behind us and start over. Whaddya say?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Eh, sure. Why not?"

Harold leaned forward slightly, bringing his reaching hand out that asked for a friendly shake and smiled. "Alright, I'll start. Hello, my name is Harold Gabriel DeMatt from New York City. What's your name?"

"Rainbow Dash, the Best Youth Flier and future Wonderbolts. Nice to meet you," the pegasus introduced herself, reaching her hoof out to shake Harold's hand.

Suddenly, her hoof was grabbed by Harold's hands and was firmly and gently shaken by the smiling teen. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rainbow Dash. Let's hope we can be good friends in the future, huh?"

Rainbow Dash retracted her hoof back to herself and looked to the floor away from Harold's gaze. "Yeah... I'm sure we will."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were the next ponies to trot up to Harold, still wearing their guilty faces, this time for almost putting him to permanent sleep with their cosmic-level cuteness. Just like before, the Crusaders stepped up to Harold's feet, looking at him with their saddened, glimmering eyes. It was fortunate that Harold had the ability to momentarily adapt to the cuteness levels.

"We're sorry for almost killing you, mister," Scootaloo said.

"We didn't know how our cuteness would be so deadly," Apple Bloom added. "If y'all passed away, Ah wouldn't live it down fer the rest of mah life."

"Can you ever forgive us again?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Please?"

Harold's smile grew wider, then it followed with a slight chuckle escaping his lungs. "Oh, come on, girls. There's no need to apologize for what you've done; you just didn't know how much cuteness I could handle, even from three little cuties like you." Harold gently squeezed Sweetie Belle's cheeks, which caused her to giggle from the ticklish feeling. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo followed suit, all three fillies filling the entire room with laughter.

"So, wait. Does that mean you forgive us for almost killing you?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Harold smiled. "Of course. Why wouldn't I forgive you three? You're just the cutest little fillies I've ever seen."

"Aww, that's so sweet of you to say that," Sweetie Belle said, blushing.

"Sweet!? Try sappy!" Scootaloo shouted. She feigned a gag and put her hoof in front of her open mouth, her tongue hanging out, as an indication that she was becoming physically sick by the sweet feelings. "There's no way that calling me cute is gonna bring a rockin' hardcore pegasus like me down to the ground! I'm too tough for you to even make me blush!"

Scootaloo felt she was being looked at. She turned to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, both looking back at her with a mischievous smile. Her eyes widened and her tiny pupils began to bounce around in the whites of her whites, nervousness taking hold as she accidentally blurted out the word, "what?"

"Oh, nothin'," Apple Bloom said smugly. "Ah'm just admiring that little shade of vermillion ya have on yer face."

"Ooooh, Scootaloooo. Don't tell me that a 'hardcore pegasus' like yourself is blushing," Sweetie Belle cooed.

"I'm not blushing!" Scootaloo snapped. "I'm just having a fever is all!"

"Really? Ah think Ah know what ya must've caught."

"Yeah. I think you must've caught..." Sweetie Belle nestled herself to Scootaloo, who reeled back from her playful and impish behavior. "...the love bug."

"I did not!" Scootaloo snapped.

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Scootaloo then gave a battle cry and leapt at her fellow Crusaders like a lioness would do her prey. A big dust cloud began to form where the Crusaders began to fight, a fray of hooves, heads and wailing sen and heard from the cloud. Tails were bitten, hooves were jabbing into the other fighter's sides and stereotypical names were thrown around. There hadn't been this much fighting amongst the fillies since they took that field trip to the Royal Canterlot Gardens.

Harold, Twilight and Rainbow Dash watched the fight with a blank expression, then turned to each other, sharing a mutual deadpanning look. Twilight lit her horn to stop the fight, but she was stopped by Harold's palm, the latter shaking his head. He needed to stop the fighting by himself, a good way to help build up his social status. Harold stood up and walked over to the growing cloud of fighting fillies and squatted to their level, hands held out to stop the fray.

"Girls, girls! Could you three not fight in here?" Harold asked as politely as he could. "You're making more of a mess than you did when you all came in here."

All at once, the fighting stopped and the dust settled down. When the dust cleared, Harold saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders piled up on the floor, displaying something even cuter than their sad, shameful eyes. Sweetie Belle nommed on Scootaloo's wing, who pinned Apple Bloom down to the ground. Apple Bloom's hooves were pushed into her friends' tummies, all three of them looking at them with big, innocent eyes.

"Hmm?"

“HHRRNNGG!”

Suddenly, Harold collapsed on to the floor, his heart completely stopped a second time. Like before, Harold wriggled on the floor, foaming at the mouth and his eyes becoming glassy, clear pools. Then Harold stopped moving, gripping his heart with both clawed hands. The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood at their ground, wide-eyed in shock, then began to run around the library, creating an even bigger ruckus than before.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash both exchanged a deadpanned look, then facehoofed in unison.

"Not again."

Author's Note

I wanted to get the CMCs introduction and Rainbow's apology over with.
What can I say? Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and other little fillies can give you the cuteness overload!

Chapter 18: Interview with a Human

In the hour following the unexpected visit from the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Harold finally got his chance to help Twilight reorganize the shelves. Twilight thoroughly instructed Harold to stock each shelf with a specific genre and arrange them in alphabetic order. Harold covered the fantasy, general fiction and reference guides on one area of the library while Twilight covered science fiction, history and modern life books.

During this time, Harold took his time meticulously putting away the books, silently singing classic rock songs, good pop tunes and humming orchestral pieces like “Hotel California,” “Fireflies” and the “Final Fantasy I-III Medley.” Twilight evidently enjoyed listening to the music as she almost accidentally put two books in the wrong genre.

What better way to pass two-and-a-half long hours of restocking the library books than to listen to a little Earthly human music?

Harold and Twilight laid flat on the library floor, gazing at the ceiling and the colorfully restocked bookshelves circling at the edge of their line of sight. Neither one of them moved a sore muscle and gave each other time to catch their breaths.

“Hoo-wee, Harold...I’ve never seen somepony so organized...as much as you are,” Twilight said panting. “Of course, that’s...coming from somepony who...knows how to organize homes...and Equestrian events.”

“As Moses would say...‘I am who I am,’” Harold said proudly in between breaths. “Being organized is one of the many...blessings I was born with alongside my drawing, writing and...handwriting skills.”

“No kidding,” Twilight concurred nonchalantly, recalling the human’s sketches in his sketchbook.

“So...now what?”

Harold’s growling stomach gave him the answer he wanted. The peaches he had earlier weren’t enough to help tide him over for lunch. Twilight looked the human, who wore a sheepish grin and a shade of red on his smiling cheeks.

“I guess you’re right,” Harold said playfully to his stomach. “I don’t think fruit and cheese sandwiches are gonna help settle you down, either.”

Twilight giggled. “I think lunch would be a good idea, too. I haven’t eaten anything today since I got the letter about you this morning.”

“Me neither,” Harold said. He brought himself to his feet. “I could go for a salad or something. I’m getting sick of having the same three-course meal for the past 5 days.”

“I think there’s a little bit of salad left in the refrigerator,” Twilight said, stretching her hind hooves. “Come on, I’ll show you where the kitchen is.”

“Right behind you, Twilight.”

Twilight led Harold into the kitchen, where a good portion of salad was kept in a wooden bowl in the fridge. The human grabbed a small bottle of Berry Punch’s Homemade Vinaigrette and poured a dab of it onto the leafy greens, the red tomatoes and the flat cucumbers. Twilight made herself a daisy and grass sandwich and filled two glasses of water. As soon as they sat back down in the library, the two began to feast on their midday meal.

While Twilight chomped on her sandwich, she began to have thoughts about Harold.

Never before had she seen a foreign, otherworldly creature come to her land before...or, at least that’s what she thought. She half-expected this human to be conspiring a plot to demolish Equestria from under her newly-royal hooves, but through careful observation, the human displayed kind, gentlecoltly and playful personalities. She had doubts that the human was the right creature to help bring Tirek back from Tartarus and rain darkness all over the land.

But something crossed her mind. One was why the ponies of Ponyville won’t open up to him. Surely, Harold wouldn’t want to leave without the town of Ponyville take a breath of relief, knowing the human would be gone from their lives, but would they at least give him a chance?

The other was a strange feeling to Harold. It wasn’t the feeling of love, or Cadence would’ve noticed it right away. It was like the feeling of a magnet when opposite sides attract each other, but at certain times, the same sides repelled them back a little.

Why she had that feeling, she wondered why.

“Twilight? Twilight?”

Twilight was brought out of her dreamland as she saw Harold look back at her with salad stuffed in his mouth. The sandwich stood still in the alicorn’s mouth with her magic as the yet again awkward moment washed over them.

“You okay Twilight? You looked like there was nobody home.”

Twilight smile sheepishly with a *squee.* The squeak had no cutesy effect on Harold.

“I’m fine, Harold. I was just thinking about stuff.”

Harold picked up a forkful of salad.

“Like what?”

“Like...oh, how should I put this?” Twilight took her time before getting her feeling off of her chest. “Do you feel like maybe we’ve seen each other somewhere before? You know, like somewhen in the past?”

Harold stopped his fork before he entered it in his mouth.

“Doubtful,” he said without hesitation. “Although, I keep having weird feelings of deja vu ever since I’ve arrived here. Which is weird, because why would I know this place when we live apart from each other by millions of lightyears?”

“I guess you’re right,” Twilight concluded, finishing the last of her sandwich.

Then she perked up.

“Oh, that’s right! Thanks for reminding me, I’ve been meaning to ask you about your world!”

“Dammit!” Harold screamed inside. Twilight’s once peaceful mood turned to a feeling of curiosity and excitement.

“Wait right here, I’m gonna go find a parchment scroll and a pen!” Twilight galavanted off to the upstairs to go find her mentioned supplies and commence with the plans for the interview.

Harold earned himself a forehead slap and dragged his palm down his face for being so stupid as to remind Twilight of the planned interview. Now he had to tell Twilight of the economically desolate home he calls New York City. He had to come up with a plan first. Harold couldn’t lie through her teeth, since lying to royalty gets you a one-way ticket to the iron bars.

...

“Nope. I guess I’ll have to go along with it.”

Harold heard the quick hoofsteps of Twilight tritting-trotting down the stairs magically bringing along the scrolls and a quill pen in a gold inkwell. Twilight sat down and gave a frantic smile that brought a slight feeling of mental discomfort to the boy. A few quick dips of the quill pen signaled Harold to try and put his game face on.

“So?”

Twilight’s single word left Harold confused.

“What?”

“Tell me what your world is like!”

Harold jumped a little out of his seat.

“W-What do yo-you want to knew...know?”

Twilight was getting jumpy in anticipation. She was like a dam full of 1,000,000 questions that suddenly burst, spilling the mess of questions all over the library that would be beyond cleaning up.

“Everything! I want to know what your world is like! Your religious beliefs, your governments, your holidays, the food you eat, the places you travel, the history, the sights, the famous landmarks! Oh dear Celestia, I’m so excited, I think I might explode!”

Twilight jumped at the last word “explode” and hovered above the ground with her wings flapping excitingly as the pony the wings belonged too. She hadn’t felt this way since she first went to the Grand Galloping Gala, which turned out to be a disaster at first.

Harold sat on his seat, a blank expression imprinted on his face.

Was this how royalty reacted when they were interviewing an alien?

Twilight noticed the face and fluttered gently back down to her seat. She had about an awkward and embarrassed visage as she stroke the ground with her hoof. To Harold, the mysterious travel to another world had been nothing but ponies and awkward moments.

Twilight cleared her throat to recoil herself from her jittery feeling.

“As I was saying, what is your world like? I’d like to hear the different stuff about your Earth. Maybe I could send the information to Princess Celestia to show her what I’ll be learning from you.”

Harold sighed.

“Would you like to hear the good parts or the bad parts?”

“The good parts, obviously,” Twilight said. “I don’t want you to get caught up in your depressed world you told me and my friends about.”

Harold sighed again.

At first, he thought he was gonna tell how sad New York City and every other major city in America was, littered with homeless people, desperate muggers and the misanthropic rich people towering over the middle class. Now Twilight wanted to know the silver lining in the clouds.

“Let’s see...There are seven continents on Earth: North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and Antarctica. Seventy percent of the world is covered by water, leaving us with the thirty percent of land. Everybody in the world has a different culture and different history. Would you like to hear about the prehistoric Earth?”

“I’d love to!”

Harold took a moment and began to look back on the history of his Earth.

“Back a few million years ago, extinct lizards called dinosaurs ruled the world. The seven continents were once one big continent called Pangaea and over time, seismic shifts drifted the continent apart, so different continents and islands were brought about. Millions or hundreds of thousands of years later, dinosaurs went extinct, but our early ancestors evolved into humans and now, here I am, intelligent and adaptable.”

“Ooohhhh,” Twilight said. She scribbled like mad as she recorded the history of the seven continents coming together. “Go on.”

“Let’s see, after the dinosaurs went extinct, humans came up as apes and started living in tribes. We grew intelligent, we adapted to our environment and we invented stuff, like weapons, fire and tools.”

“Interesting.”

“Very. As the million years went by, we grew less hair, more brainpower and started speaking in different languages. My English language, along with my bloodline, came from a group of pillaging warriors called the Vikings.”

Twilight finished scribbling the notes down before asking: “What were the Vikings like?”

“Vikings were extremely tough. They had hairy faces and they were rough, but they had good knowledge of hunting, blacksmithing and storytelling. In fact, the first story humans ever wrote down was the story of Beowulf.”

“Oooohhhh....Beowulf. I’d like to hear that story.”

“Maybe for another time,” Harold said, knowing that there was some pretty graphic details in the story. “But for now, I could fill you in on how the United States of America was founded in the 18th century.”

“I’d love to hear it,” Twilight replied.

The interview went on for a couple hours. Harold told the history of America, how it was once 13 different Colonies founded by the British and the settlers and the Boston Tea Party that signaled the Revolutionary War. After England’s defeat to General George Washington, the Colonies brought the Declaration of Independence and the new democratic government to light and the nation prospered.

Harold told Twilight of the wars the United States were brought into, like the two World Wars, Korea and Vietnam. As graphic as it sounded to Twilight, she filled in three parchment scrolls, double sided and went on to a fourth parchment, where Harold shared the customs and the holidays his people celebrate. The next half hour was made comparing and contrasting human and Equestrian holidays, from Christmas and Hearth’s Warming to Halloween and Nightmare Night to St. Valentine’s Day and Hearts and Hooves Day.

“Wow,” Twilight said intrigued and captured. “I never thought our worlds would be so similar.”

“I know. What a big coincidence,” Harold agreed.

“Now, about technology. What is your technology like?”

“Well, that’s all depending on what’s the most advanced piece of technology you ponies have in Equestria.”

“Advanced technology....advanced technology.” Something in Twilight flickered as she thought of the most complicated machinery in Equestria. “Oh, yes! We have a train engine at the end of Ponyville, called the Friendship Express. We have speakers to amplify music and film ing machines for the flicker theaters here in Ponyville.”

Harold paused.

“Aaaaannnnndd that’s it?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Nothing on television, telephones or cars?”

“I never heard of those,” Twilight said confusingly. “Are they pieces of your technology?”

“Wow. Where have these ponies been?”

“Yep. I guess that’s another thing we differ in after all: Our level of technology.”

Twilight unrolled a fifth parchment scroll and dipped the quill in the inkwell as the alicorn leaned in closer to hear about the human’s technology. “I’d like for you to tell me a few examples of technology, like that silver, rectangular device you had with you while I was putting the books away.”

“Oh.” Harold took his device from his new jacket pocket and showed it to Twilight.

“This is an iPod. It was developed for entertainment by a company called Apple. This device is run on by a very small battery that powers it for about 36 hours. It can play music, play movies, play games and all. You can only listen to the music through these headphones, earphones or on a speaker.”

Twilight’s eyes widened as if the iPod put her in a hypnotic trance. A small sparkle glinted in the dinner plate sized pupils.

Harold sat there mystified by Twilight’s display of intense interest.

“Umm...would you like to listen to a song?”

“WOULD I!?”

Harold jumped back with his ears clamped against the sudden shrill shriek of the studious alicorn. It took a second for Twilight to realize her mistake. She chuckled nervously and cleared her throat.

“What I meant to say was: I would.”

Harold rolled his eyes with a smile. He took his iPod out and turned the screen on. It had about 14% of battery life left before it could finally die out. He put an earphone in his ear and the other in Twilight’s. Harold switched the iPod to one of his all-time favorite songs and the two started rocking to the beat.

The fiddle solo ended, alongside the song Harold and Twilight were jamming to. This was a feeling Twilight felt like no other. After hearing the perfect combination of the piano’s tune, the beats of the drums and the intensity of the electric guitars, Twilight felt she had finally gotten enjoyment out of her life.

“Wow,” was her only response.

“I know, right?” Harold said gleefully. “I also have some orchestra music, hard rock, a bit of pop and only one rap song.” He checked the screen on his iPod again.

“Damn.”

“What?” Twilight asked, appalled by Harold’s use of minor profanities.

“My power is at 10% power. It’ll turn off on its own unless I can recharge it by plugging it in an electrical outlet.” Harold looked around the library. “Sad to say, there are no outlets here in Equestria. Now I’m gonna have to draw without the aid of music.”

“No problem,” Twilight said, lighting her horn up. “Just leave it to me.”

“Hey, what are you--”

Twilight zapped the iPod with magical electricity. The surge was sent through Harold’s body and into the music playing device. The battery icon on the screen sported a lightning bolt symbol inside. Harold shivered painfully as he was getting fried yet again by the same alicorn who took him in.

Twilight killed the juice before it got the chance to kill Harold.

Harold, covered in cartoon-degree burns coughed out black smoke before he fainted, iPod still in hand. Harold gazed at his music player and was very surprised by what Twilight did to it.

The battery read 100%

“Twilight?” Harold asked worrisome. “What did you do to my iPod?”

“Simple. I created a lightning bolt that helped recharge its battery up to 100%. Not only that, but I increased the battery life up to 72 hours. So now, you can listen to your iPod without having to worry about the percentage going down every few minutes or so.”

Harold was exasperated at first, but he eventually grew a smile on his face.

“Thanks, Twilight. I really appreciate this.”

“Anytime,” Twilight said. Now, how about the other examples of advanced human technology?”

“Damn, this pony has a one-track mind, doesn’t she?” Harold thought to himself.

=====================================================================

The two armored pegasi that spied on the Elements of Harmony in Canterlot flew over a dusty desert, stretching on as far as the eye could see. The ground was cracked with drought. A cow’s skull laid next to a lone cactus as tumbleweeds rolled into the infinite wasteland. Ten yards past the cactus was a dark and depressed forest, a part still unknown to all ponykind. Its trees completely blocked out the sun as the pegasi stallions ventured onward to a jagged mountain range.

Inside the mountainside was a cavern, covered in sickly, transparent, green slime. The pegasi entered the cave and started to change. Small green rings appeared at their hooves and enveloped them completely, transforming into a hideous creature.

The armored stallions transformed into a pony with dark-gray skin tone and bulbous, light blue eyes that spelled tricky and sinister. They had a horn bent upwards, insect-like wings and fangs stick from their mouths. Their hooves had holes in them like they were Swiss cheese.

The bug-pony hybrids walked past others of their own kind and trotted through a tall door in the stone wall leading to a gigantic cavern. Inside the cavern was a hybrid more devious and dangerous than the other hybrids.

The features were similar to the bug-pony hybrids, but bigger. Her mane was long and transparent. Her belly was transparent green and she sported a small crown on her head next to her jagged horn.

The big hybrid laid on her side on her couch with her eyes closed, surrounded by her personal assistants. One of the hybrids disguised as the pegasus guard went over to her and whispered something in her ear.

Her green, reptilian eyes shot open. She bore an evil smile, followed by a wicked cackle.

“Excellent. It seems the Stormbow’s prophecy is finally coming true. Soon, all of Equestria will belong to my master.” The queen turned back to her two spies. “Keep an eye on this creature. Make sure he loses sight of his most precious treasure.”

The spies changed into two Earth mares and galloped out of the throne room, closing the door behind them.

The hybrid queen turned over on her couch and towards a green crystal ball near the worn-down furniture. Past the swirling clouds inside, the insect-like alicorn cackled once more as she saw the bipedal creature silently mouthing out words to her old adversary and bane of her existence, Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Just you wait, creature. Soon, very soon, you will be the key to bringing down all of Equestria. When that happens, my master will pull the Midnight Chariot and lead this pathetic planet to bring the darkness to all worlds in the universe!”

Queen Chrysalis cackled once more. The evil laughter echoed throughout the caverns, prompting the other Changelings to laugh alongside their queen.

=====================================================================

“...and that’s when cellular phones, or cell phone, became popular. People could send messages or call them whenever they’re on the go. Now they have cell phones that let you go on the Internet (it’s a bit complicated to explain) AND do the things my iPod can do.”

Twilight frantically wrote on the scroll that would’ve been enough to cause a fire with all that speed and friction.

“Ooooh! This is exciting! I’m learning all about the world of an intelligent life form from another planet!” Twilight’s voice was like that of a child obsessed about to get a succulent lollipop from the candy store. “Oh this is gonna grab Princess Celestia’s interest like Rainbow Dash to the Daring Do books!”

“Um, Twilight? Are you okay?”

Twilight brought a hoof in front of her.

“I’m fine, Harold. It’s just that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to talk with an alien and I’m the only one taking it!” Twilight *squeed* and squealed lightly like a fan girl. Her weird behavior got Harold to step back cautiously.

“Okay...”

Twilight rolled the parchment up and placed it among the stack of five double-sided scrolls. She looked outside the window of the library and checked on the town clock sitting somewhere in the field.

3:24 PM.

Where did the time go?

She looked back to Harold.

He looked as if he was ready to drift off to sleep for having to go 3 hours, 24 minutes and 32 seconds of talking about his Earth without taking a break from the interview. She could read his feeling like a book, as well as the behaviors he was exhibiting at the moment. Harold was shaking his knee uncontrollably like he was anxious for the interview to end.

“Why don’t we take a break?” Twilight asked, breaking the silence. “We’ve been at this all afternoon.”

“You’ve read my mind,” Harold said.

Then something caught his eye. It looked like a mint green unicorn’s horn poking from one corner of a nearby window. The human went over silently, but the horn quickly retracted from the glass and disappeared.

Harold rushed over and looked out the window.

It was like reliving the scene at Fluttershy’s cottage earlier this morning.

The pubescent human looked around and found nothing. Literally nothing, because there was nopony around the area of the library. Harold shrugged his shoulders and closed the windows.

“What did you see?” Twilight asked him.

“I thought a saw a green unicorn horn nearby, but now it’s gone.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “It’s probably Lyra Heartstrings. She’s a unicorn who’s good with the lyre, but at times, she can get overly curious.”

“Oh. Okay...”

Harold looked back at the window before he went back to his seat to listen to his magically recharged iPod. After putting the songs on Random Shuffle in the Relaxing Music Playlist, Harold slumped back to the table and began to lose himself into a world of blissful tranquility, thanks to the slow strums of Roger Water’s guitar ringing in his ears.

=====================================================================

Lyra Heartstrings popped out of the bushes, mad at her horn for creating a close call of almost being discovered by the human and getting caught. Her horn levitated her quill pen and scroll with her light green aura and grinned.

It looked like Twilight Sparkle wasn’t the only pony who got an opportunity to have a one-on-one time with the alien. She was listening through the tree bark with her sound amplification spell she used on her hearing, so it was like listening through a stethoscope. Like Twilight, Lyra scribbled everything Harold said on the scrolls for her to keep all to herself.

The mint unicorn stuffed her scrolls in her saddlebag as she smiled with joy and pride.

Now she had everything she wanted to know the human species. Oh, what a glorious day for--

“Lyra!”

Bon Bon’s screams was like having the Royal Canterlot Voice in her right ear. She screamed in pain as she quickly undid the spell she put on herself. With a good twist of her hoof in her ear, she turned annoyingly to the Earth pony with had a disappointed scowl of her own.

“What the hay was that for, Bon Bon!? Can’t you see I was researching this human by my--”

“Lyra Heartstrings, you listen to me and listen good! I don’t want you going near that monster, seeing that monster or even thinking about that monster! If I catch you doing something that involved him for just a mere second, I’ll kick you out of my house! You understand!?”

Lyra rolled her eyes, snorting. “Fine, mom!”

“I don’t appreciate that tone either, Lyra.” Bon Bon confiscated the unicorn’s saddle bag with the parchment scrolls inside. “Now come on. I need you to help me prepare steamed sweet corn and fruit salad for tonight’s dinner.”

"Oh, goodie."

Lyra hung her head low.

She wanted to know all about the human herself. If Bon Bon could only approve of the strange biped creature, Lyra’s friendly relationship wouldn’t already be strained as it was the other times she got into trouble for being overly curious. Bon Bon promised to kick her out if she did that once more, but Lyra didn’t care for that right now.

All Lyra had to do was wait for the opportune moment to be alone with him.

Chapter 19: The Night is Young

Harold laid flat on his belly in the middle of the library. His face was firmly planted into the ground while his arms and legs were pinned down by the law of gravity. He tried to move a single bicep in his arm but it was no use.

Harold was the victim of boredom.

How did boredom get the best of him?

******************************************************************************

“I wanna know,

Have you ever seen the rain?

I wanna know

Have you ever seen the rain

Comin’ down on a sunny day?”

Harold sat on the same seat in the library, listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival play their classic tunes while he was lost in the spiritualistic world he called tranquility. He listened to all 52 calm rock songs and his battery dropped only by 1%.

Thank you, Twilight.

The aforementioned pony tapped the human’s shoulder. Harold yelped from shock as his meditation was shattered, along with his slightly sensitive nerves. He turned back and saw Twilight smiling at him, levitating big stacks of papers that weighed a ton.

“I have some paperwork for me to do, Harold,” Twilight informed the boy. “In the meantime, try to do something and entertain yourself. I’ll prepare some dinner once I’m done with these.”

“That’s okay, Twilight,” Harold reassured the alicorn. “You have all the time in the world to finish those up.”

“Actually, since my latest incident with your unexpected, and mysterious by the way, arrival, I’m a bit behind on all this paperwork. They’re all due back to Canterlot by later tonight,” Twilight informed grimly to the human.

“Oh, okay. Carry on then,” Harold said using a mock-British accent.

Twilight trotted upstairs to her room while Harold stayed downstairs in the foyer of the library and quickly skipped over “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Harold remembered hating this song for its pointless operatic section so much, Lana downloaded it onto his iPod as a practical joke.

The time was 3:39 P.M.

******************************************************************************

Having listened to all that music until the quarter after 4 and completing his drawings, Harold found nothing to do. Equestria didn’t have any TVs for him to watch, let alone have TV studios and broadcasting systems. Radios were nonexistent in this world. So what now?  Until Twilight was done, Harold would have to entertain himself.

“I’m getting so bored, dear Twilight, dear Twilight,

I’m getting so bored, dear Twilight,

So bored.”

Harold’s parody of Harry Belafonte didn’t entertain him at all. He was done with listening to music for today, so there had to be something else he could do. Maybe he could take a full tour of the tree?

Nope. It’d be impolite to him if he walked around the house without having his host show him around.

Could he try out a book?

Nuh-uh. He didn’t feel like reading.

Could he go visit Rarity for some company?

Fat chance. Those ponies gave him the stink eye and talked smack behind his back.

Harold clasped his head as he growled furiously into the wood.

“GAAAAHHHHH! I’m...so...BORED!”

The human couldn’t help but roll on the floor, screaming “Bored! Bored! Bored!” repeatedly until he found himself flat on his back near the library door, staring at the ceiling. There was a cobweb forming on the top shelf to the right of the library door. Harold sighed.

“Gimme a B!”

*Clap clap*

“Gimme an O!”

*Clap clap*

“Gimme an R!”

*Clap clap*

“Gimme an E!”

*Clap clap*

“Gimme a D!”

*Clap clap*

“What’s that spell? BORED!”

Harold cupped his mouth and imitated the crowd going wild. At least he had something to do while Twilight was getting her usual royal business done. But that something wasn’t enough to help Harold cure his conflict between laziness and restlessness. He felt like something inside him was dangerously mixing together and he could explode and bring about a mushroom cloud over the library. That was Harold’s feeling of boredom.

The pubescent human grunted.

“When is Twilight gonna finish her paperwork? I’ll have enough bored here to build a two-story house with a basement.” Harold clasped his hands together and started praying out loud. “Please, Lord, I’ll give you my soul just to have some excitement right about now!”

BAM!

The door smacked Harold directly into his face.

“Not like that,” Harold murmured.

Who the heck slammed the door, anyway?

“Twilight...I’m home.”

Harold’s mind suddenly clicked. He heard that voice before. It was the sound of a little boy’s voice echoing from the other side of the door, the same voice that blew his cover over at Fluttershy’s cottage. Harold sat up covering his nose where the door got him badly and looked to see who the pony was that caused him double damage today.

To his surprise, it was no pony.

It was a big lizard. A big, purple lizard with green spines and a green belly.

And it talked!

“Robert Ripley, eat your heart out.”

“Twilight, are you home? Could you make me a mug of tea wi--*BUURRRRPPPPP!*--with honey and crushed emeralds in it?” The lizard belched out green flames out of the sickness of his stomach, confirming that the lizard was a dragon. A pretty sick dragon, to be precise. Harold cringed at the creature’s slightly hoarse voice.

Either that, or it was the red liquid that started flowing out of his nose.

“Spike? Is that you?” Twilight called from upstairs.

“No, it’s Fancy Pants, but I’m hopped up on balloon gas,” Spike joked weakly. The alicorn trotted downstairs to the foyer. She had a mix of relieved and concerned feelings for the young dragon.

“Spike, you’re not still sick, are you?” Twilight laid her hoof on the young reptile’s forehead for five seconds and confirmed her diagnosis.

“Yep. You’ve gotta fever. You’re probably dehydrated from you’re earlier vomiting.” Twilight gave Spike a small shove to the staircase. “Now go on and get some bed rest, young dragon. I’ll make you some tea and give you some medicine for your stomach.”

“Medicine” was the code word to jump Spike back a couple inches.

“No way, Twilight! I’m not gonna taste that awful stuff again and that’s final!”

“Spike,” Twilight said sternly. “Regardless of whether it tastes good or not, you have to take the medicine. Otherwise, you’ll go through the night with an aching stomach and a bad night’s sleep. You want the pain to go away, right?”

Spike huffed defeatedly. “Yes, Twilight.”

Twilight trotted into the kitchen to cook up the tea while Spike staggered to the staircase leading to the upper floor. “Oh, Celestia. I’m never flying with--*BUURRRPPP*--with Twilight ever again.”

“Tell me about it,” Harold said subconsciously, preoccupied with covering his bloody nose. “I could barely breathe when I flew with her and I was riding in a chariot.”

Harold and Spike suddenly stooped and shot looks at each other. The crimson-faced human found himself staring at the green-faced dragon, both at a loss for words for a moment or two. Then the screaming came.

“AAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHHHH! IT’S YOU!!”

Twilight dropped the teapot in shock. The spilled teapot left behind a big puddle of freshly-drawn water on the floor, motivating her to storm her way into the foyer with a maddened look upon her. There, she saw Harold and Spike in a battle of blowouts that put a lot strain to Twilight’s hearing.

“Alright, tough guy! Who are you!? What are you doing in the library!?”

“I should ask you the same thing!”

“This library is my home and Twilight’s home!”

“...And Twilight invited me into her home!”

“Likely story! Tell me who you’re working for or I’ll belch out a fireball at you!”

“You’d better not! Rarity made these clothes for--”

“Hang on! How do you know my sweet Rarity!? What did you do to her!?”

“Why do you think I did anything to--HMMPPPH!”

“HMMPPHHMMPH!”

Both Harold’s and Spike’s mouths were zipped closed and covered with a metal plating. Near the kitchen doorway stood a very stressed out Twilight, who was lighting her horn and trying her best to keep her composure without freaking out. Her glint in her eye was like a spear striking into their fearful souls.

“Before I raise my Canterlot Voice again, let me make this perfectly clear,” she said with venom in her voice. “One: This is a library and I want it to be a silent place for anypony to enjoy reading or studying. Two: You both are frightened by each other and I agree on that logic, but that doesn’t give you the right to fight over something petty like who saw who in Fluttershy’s yard. And three: If I hear you two fighting again, I will personally kick your flanks out until you’ve learned your lesson. Is that understood?”

Spike and Harold both whimpered and nodded in unison. Twilight undid the spell, leaving both of them to kneel down and gasp for air. They looked up to an unimpressed alicorn standing over them with her gaze fixated on Spike.

“Now then. Spike, this is Harold the human. He’s been living it hard on his world and needs time to recover from his loss, so I want you to treat him nicely.” Spike looked away with his scaly head low away from Twilight’s view. The alicorn turned to Harold, still covering his nose. “And Harold, Spike is my number one assistant, so I need you too--Harold, is your nose bleeding?”

Harold’s face was red from his nose to his mouth. It was about time somepony would notice his condition.

“Nope. My head is a strawberry and the dragon juiced me some by slamming his door in my face.” Twilight wasn’t buying his joke one bit. He knew, because Twilight had the same face on her like she did during his interrogation and heaved a sigh.

“Hang on, I’ll get a tissue.”

Twilight levitated a nearby box of tissues and brought to Harold, where he greedily grabbed a big handful, stuffed it to his nose and held his head up high to help reduce the bleeding.

“I’m gonna get Spike’s tea ready. Spike, you keep Harold company while I get your tea fixed up.”

Spike suddenly waved his arms in protest. “Uh-uh! No way, Twilight! There’s no way I can hang around with this guy around, knowing he’s the one who got me sick at Fluttershy’s cottage!” Harold felt a bit crushed by the dragon’s words against him staying, leaving Twilight more disgusted with Spike than ever.

“Spike. Come in with me to the kitchen please. I need to talk to you in private”

The young dragon grew uneasy. Whenever Twilight’s voice became neutral, stoic and stern, it meant Spike got himself in deep trouble. The bad part for him was that he had to comply to Twilight’s command or refuse and fester the situation.

Spike felt his legs sag like weights when he followed Twilight into the kitchen, not from sickness, but from nervous intimidation. The teapot was lying where she dropped it and the water formed a big puddle that spanned all over the floor. Spike had his eyes on the floor, daring not to look up at his adoptive sister.

“I’m disappointed in you, Spike,” Twilight said, cutting to the point already. “I was disappointed in how you treated Harold in there. I was expecting more from a young dragon like yourself to be hospitable to our guest, but you let your personal grudge get the better of you instead.”

Spike looked away from Twilight, rocking on his heels and his claws behind his back.

He was too ashamed to even say a word.

“Furthermore, Spike,” Twilight continued. “You’ve neglected to realize that you actually hurt Harold’s feelings back there. Just because he’s an otherworldly creature doesn’t mean you can turn him down like that.”

“But Twilight--”

“Don’t ‘but Twilight’ me, young dragon. I thought we went over this after that little squabble between you and Owlowiscious.”

Spike groaned sadly.

Twilight leaned a little closer into Spike’s face. Her once strict face turned into a mask of concern and sadness. “Spike, this is important that you listen to me. Harold lost someone he loved not too long ago and Princess Celestia entrusted me and my friends to help him back on his feet. And now Ponyville is afraid to even look at him because he’s...”

“Different?”

“Exactly. Remember how scared some of the Ponyvillians were when they learned I brought along a baby dragon?” Spike immediately recalled when he and Twilight first touched down to Ponyville. Several Ponyvillians were afraid of the baby dragon at first because of the other oversized, greedy dragons.

“Yeah. Everypony gave me a funny look, but they eventually warmed up to me.” Spike looked back at Harold pinching his nose with his crimson-colored tissue bunch in the foyer. “Oh, I get it now. Everypony won’t open up to him like they did to me at first, right?”

“And like when Zecora first came to Ponyville,” Twilight added. “But that’s why I need your help, Spike. He’s all alone and we need everypony’s support to help him back on his feet. We have to start by helping him make friends.”

“So what do you want me to do about it?” Spike asked.

“For starters, you can go apologize to Harold and make up with him.”

The young dragon nervously rubbed his arm and groaned. Twilight turned his body around by the hoof and showed him to the living room. Before Spike set one foot into the room, Twilight leaned her face next to the dragon’s ear.

“Go on, Spike. You’ve made friends easily, this should be a synch.”

Spike walked over to the human, who wiped he last bit of blood from his nose.

=====================================================================

Harold dabbed the blood-soaked tissue to his nostril before the liquid became a crumbly, red dust. A little taste of copper remained in his mouth, for Harold accidentally hocked the blood up into is throat.

Of all the times that Harold’s blood was spilt, this had to be the most comical way he’s ever been through before. There were times when Harold was hit in the face by fists, lockers and sneakers and he would lose a little or some of his vital bodily fluid. But getting slapped silly by a wooden door that came at him at like 30 m.p.h took the cake.

He couldn’t tell whether it was funny, or if it was painful.

After a few dabs on the nose, Harold looked up to see a crestfallen dragon nervously twisting his right foot on the wooden floor. Harold quickly deduced that the dragon...Spike, was it?...was feeling nervous about making friends with a different creature like himself.

“Uhh, hi,” the dragon spoke nervously.

“Hey.”

Harold could easily tell this was going to be a slow coversation.

“Listen, I just wanted to apologize for what I said earlier in front of you,” Spike lamented, looking away shamefully. “It was wrong for me to say all that mean stuff. So...” Spike held his claw out to Harold. “Friends?”

Harold reluctantly reached out for Spike’s claws, but he managed to safely clasp those claws, which hoisted him off of the floor. One more tissue dab on the nose and Harold tossed into the wastebasket.

Ten points!

“I guess so. Friends.” Harold sounded stuffed up a little.

Spike rubbed the back of his scaly head with a gleeful smile. It felt like an elephant was lifted off of his back.

“I guess this what making amends feels like, huh?” Harold asked

“Yeah. That was a silly thing to get mad over,” Spike said, giggling a little. “Getting mad at somepony for accidentally scaring me like that. I’ve had moments when I would shoot a fireball towards whatever made me jump. You were lucky I was sick earlier today.”

“Yeah. What was your name again?”

“I’m Spike.”

“Hi, Spike. I’m Harold from a planet called Earth.”

“Wow. Talk about a coincidence. This planet is called Earth, too,” Spike pointed out.

“I figured as much.”

“So, what is your planet like, Harold? Is it a nice place?”

Harold tipped his hand like a teeter-totter, giving Spike the old “so-so” gesture.

“Not at the moment, Spike. Currently, my world has gone into some sort of economic crisis, you know?”

“Oh. Sorry to hear about that.”

“Yeah.”

First, there was a brief silence.

Then Harold started to laugh hard. He was laughing to the point where his laughs became funny little gasps of air that hooked Spike into a bout of curiosity.

“What’s so funny?”

Harold held his hand out to Spike, gesturing that he needed a minute before his fit of laughter subsided. “I was just thinking about when I scared you...back home, I was always so jumpy towards the slightest things, like a maid coming around the corner or a ladybug landing on my shoulder.” Harold wheezed from another laugh.

“But this one time, I woke up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom for a drink of water. I was going back to my room when I saw this thing at the end of the hall. It was big, it looked like it had big eyes and these big tusks. I was so scared that I ran into my sister’s room crying and that thing managed to follow me into her room.”

Harold fell into another fit of laughter. Spike looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“So what was so funny?”

Harold waited until his laughing cooled off a little. “When that thing came in to my sister’s room, my sister went up and tackled him to the ground. I flicked on the switch--” Harold cracked up as he got to the punchline. “It was the head butler Reginald! He was wearing a mud mask and had cucumbers over his eyes!!”

“Wait, you mean--” Spike’s mouth wriggled and he burst out laughing onto the floor. “You mean some old dude was doing a girly makeover and he scared you out of your wits!?” Spike continued his laughing as Harold joined in on the fun.

“I know! Funny part was, the next morning, Reginald came down with a black eye where my sister socked him!”

The two rolled on the floor laughing. Tears were running down the cheeks and onto the floor. The human and the dragon laughed until their lungs and their sides became intensely sore.

BUUUUURRRRRPPP!

Harold immediately ceased his laughter after hearing the belch, followed by a small gurgle and a moaning of pain. He saw Spike clutching his aching stomach while lying sideways on the floor.

“Are you alright?” Harold asked with concern.

“I’m fine, Harold. It only hurts when I laugh.”

Spike chuckled a little before his stomach cramped again. Twilight came in with a small mug of steaming tea wrapped in her aura. There seemed to be tiny bits of pure green gemstones floating at the surface of the drink as Twilight helped Spike off the floor.

“Come on, Spike. I’ve got your tea ready, now it’s off to bed for you.”

“Awww, Twilight. Can’t I stay up a little longer?”

Spike’s sickly burp answered that for him.

“Sorry, Spike. Your stomach caught a bug after you regurgitated earlier today, so you have to get plenty of bed rest.” Twilight showed Spike to the staircase. “Up to bed, Spike. I’ll check on you tomorrow morning.”

The dragon went slowly upstairs with his tea in his claw. He almost spilled his drink staggering halfway up the stairs.

Harold sat there on the spot he was laughing on. As he watched Twilight care for the young dragon, he couldn’t help but reminisce about the times Lana cared for him when he felt sick. She’d feed him soup and tea whenever he caught the stomach flu and had Reginald keep watch over him when she couldn’t stay with him for long. The best part was, he didn’t have to put up with school on those days.

But from seeing how Twilight and Spike were bonding like sister and brother...

Harold started leaking tears.

Twilight sigh snapped Harold out of his thoughts. He felt the need to wipe the tears off of his face before the alicorn could take notice.

“Now that that’s done, we should go over your living arrangements for staying here in Ponyvi--” Twilight stopped when she saw Harold wipe some moisture from his eyes. “Hey, are you crying again?”

Harold perked up.

“Hmm? Oh, of course not. Something must’ve gotten in my eye.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“Harold, you’re not lying to me, are you?”

“No, I’m not lying.” Harold wiped his eye again, covering his fingers to pull an eyelash to help hide his sadness. “See? An eyelash just fell into my eye. Tricky little buggers aren’t they, eyelashes falling randomly into your eye.” Harold chuckled and shivered nervously, raising many questions in Twilight’s mind.

“Okay, just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

Harold sighed with relief.

“Anyway, I wanted to talk about your living arrangements in Ponyville. Since you don’t know your way around town that well, I though it’d be best if you’ll bunk with me for the time being.”

Harold nodded his head.

“Fair enough.”

Another silent moment passed.

...

“Sooooo, what do you want to do?” Twilight asked the human, who shrugged his shoulders in response.

“You got me. I’m so bored I might just pass out.”

Twilight yawned.

“You know, me too,” she said tiredly. “I’m just nearly done with filling out the paperwork and I’m already tuckered out from signing legal documents and approving somepony’s crazed law of outlawing cherry pie a la mode. I think I’m gonna lie down for a bit.”

With that said, Twilight fell onto the floor, belly up and wings sprouting to the sides and eyes closed.

“Not a bad idea.”

Harold copycatted Twilight’s belly up fall, minus the wings.

The two laid there on the floor together, one of the duo awake to stare at the wooden ceiling. The stressful feeling of an eventful day had drained most of their energy right out of their system, evidently shown with the human and the alicorn lying on the floor together.

Harold looked at the alicorn to his left. He was receiving some sort of unknown, fuzzy feeling just by looking at her. Her bangs cutting across her face with the purple and pink streaks. Her intelligence. Her eyes. This wasn’t a feeling of love, but it was something else. Something forgotten.

“Twilight...why do I know you?”

Harold closed his eyes as he felt himself drifting into a deep sleep.

...

SLAM!

FWEEEE!

“SURPRIIIIIISSSEEE!”

Twilight and Harold awoke screaming with a jolt to the slamming door, noisemakers and the screaming of a happy pink pony carrying her Party Cannon. Twilight gazed at the doorway to see Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy standing just outside.

“Pinkie Pie! What in the wide world of Equestria are you doing!?”

“Well, duh! Isn’t it obvious!?” Pinkie Pie gleefully answered Twilight with a question. “It’s a surprise party!”

“A surprise party!? But...but I wasn’t informed we’d have a party right now! Spike is upstairs sleeping and now...” Twilight pointed a hoof towards the shocked and shaken Harold backed into the wall opposite to the door. “Look what you did to Harold!”

Pinkie Pie giggled. “Oh, Twilight, you silly-willy filly! That’s how a surprise works! Because if we just came inside first and then shouted ‘SURPRIIIIISSSEEE’ afterwards, then it wouldn’t be much of a surprise party and Harold wouldn’t be surprised him with his party if we didn’t surpri--MMPPPHHHMPHHMMMMMPHHH!”

Applejack cut her pink friend’s speech short with her hoof in her mouth...again.

“Long story short, this here’s Harold’s surprise party fer him.”

Harold stopped shaking all of a sudden. “A party? For me?”

“Why of course, darling!” Rarity exclaimed. “We thought we could all pitch in and give him the proper Ponyville welcome he deserves.”

“If only there were anypony else joining in for this party,” Rainbow Dash muttered. She received a deadpan look from the cowgirl pony who heard the whole thing. “What? It’s true.”

“We don’t want you to think we were inconsiderate if we just went about our day without showing you kindness, so we organized a surprise party for you.” Fluttershy shot her eyeballs back and forth and shrunk down into her mane. “Ummm...that is if you don’t mind.”

“Ah...eh...oh guys, I...”

Harold felt completely speechless.

He struggled to find the right words that were scrambled by this moving feeling inside him. He fell on his knees and found his body sagging downwards as Fluttershy broke out of her shyness and rushed over to support him.

“Oh my. Are you alright, Harold?” the yellow pegasus asked.

“I...I’m fine, Fluttershy. It’s just, well...” A tear started to fall while Harold’s voice cracked from this touching feeling. “No one else has ever shown me this much kindness before. I’m just so...happy that you’re all doing this just for me.”

Rainbow Dash sniffled a little and wiped a tear from her eye.

“Aw, quit the waterworks would you? You’re gonna get me all sappy.”

Pinkie Pie bounced over to the saddened boy and gently patted his back with her pink hoof. “Aw, don’t be sad, Harold. I know a perfect way to dry up your little wetty-wetty face.” Pinkie pulled a cupcake behind her back and held it in front of Harold’s face.

“Cupcakes?”

Pinkie Pie nodded, her head sounded like a rubber duck’s squeaking.

“Thanks, Pinkie, but I shouldn’t eat sweets before dinner.”

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie gasped in exasperation.

“You’re saying no to Pinkie Pie’s cupcakes?” Rainbow Dash asked, slightly peeved. “Pinkie Pie’s bucking awesome cupcakes?” Rainbow Dash received an “mm-hmm” from the human. “Oh, come on! Pinkie Pie makes the best cupcakes in the whole entire world! It’ll make all the best bakers in the world look like second place losers!”

After Rainbow Dash mentioned it, Harold could see the pastry chef back at the mansion bowing down to Pinkie Pie who stood on top of an altar made entirely of the sweet, delicious pastries. The human giggled slightly.

“Thanks and all, but I’ve got a routine about dinner. First dinner, then desserts.”

“Oh, don’t be modest, darling,” Rarity chimed in. “Pinkie’s cupcakes are just simply delicious.”

“The toast of the town,” Applejack said.

“The sweetest thing you’ll have ever tasted,” Fluttershy stated.

Harold looked back down at the pink earth pony. Her eyes were getting big and watery. Her sad, pouting lips and her deflated mane and tail spelled out incoming trouble for Harold. If Pinkie looked at Harold with her head down and her eyes gazing at him, it would mean another cuteness overload attack.

“Well, if it means not getting another shock from Twilight. I’ll try it out.”

Pinkie’s mane went poofy again as Harold took the cupcake from her and bit down into it.

Harold’s mind went blank when he savored the cupcake. The cupcake was moist, sweet and, most importantly, delicious. It was like his taste buds conducted an orchestra of flavors in his mouth, all playing in perfect synchronization.

The ponies looked on as the human boy sat in the spot, lost to his own fantasy world.

“So?” Pinkie’s question broke Harold into reality. “How do you like it?”

Harold stared blankly at the cupcake in his hand. “Well, Pinkie, this cupcake is...oh, how should I put it?” The human suddenly shot his face into Pinkie’s. “THE BEST CUPCAKE I HAVE EVER TASTED IN MY LIFE!”

“Really!?”

“Really, really!” Harold shoved the rest of the cupcake in his cake hole. “Oh, man! I haven’t had something this sweet since forever!” Harold swallowed the cupcake down. “My God. I’ll tell you, if you and my mansion’s pastry chef competed for best cupcakes in the world, you’d win by a landslide!”

Rainbow Dash chuckled.

“See? What’d I tell you? Best. Bucking. Cupcakes. Ever!!”

“I’ll say! Is there more!?”

“There’s plenty more where they came from...” Pinkie Pie zoomed to the door and back with her most potent weapon. “So let’s PARTYYY!!” The pink pony reared her front hooves to blast her Party Cannon.

“No, Pinkie, wait! Spike is still--”

=====================================================================

*BUUURRRRRPPPPP*

Spike’s sick belching woke him from his slumber.

That, and the fact he could hear voices ringing up loudly from downstairs, and the door was closed.

It was difficult for the young dragon to rest early while he was enduring the stomach bug he caught earlier that day. The tea he was drinking seemed to work on his stomach OK, but there was still some lasting symptoms that needed to be working out.

Spike turned over to his mug next to his basket bed.

It was half-full, but still warm.

The dragon sat up in his basket to easily guzzle down this comforting drink, mixed with honey and crushed emerald dust. He brought the mug to his mouth.

BOOM!

Spike jumped to the sound of a cannon shot in the library. The tea spilled at the jolt, causing Spike to yell in pain as he was covered his belly and his bedcovers with the hot liquid and the crushed emeralds. Now Spike was getting mad. What a perfect waste of a good stomach remedy!

“Just let it go, Spike. Don’t get involved in this.”

Spike grumpily turned over in his sheets and covered his head with pillow.

How was he gonna sleep with all that racket downstairs!?

=====================================================================

Harold clapped his hands over his ears as he painfully recoiled from the Party Cannon’s loud blast. He was amazed at how in a split second, the cannon transformed the library into a party palace, courtesy of Equestria’s most hyperactive pony.

Colorful balloons, streamers and confetti decorated the interior. Tables of cakes, punch and sweet pastries galore appeared at the walls. For Harold, it was yet another sight to behold.

Harold uncovered his hands. He could hear nothing. The blast was powerful enough to cause him ear pains and temporary deafness. He looked over and saw Twilight arguing with the giggling and carefree Pinkie Pie. His hearing quickly returned and heard the following argument between Twilight and Pinkie Pie.

“...Spike is still sleeping, Pinkie, but now you’ve woken him up! How many times did I have to tell you!?”

“Mmmm....Sorry, lost count.”

*Sigh* “Pinkie Pie, what am I gonna do with you!?”

“We can have a party, here and now.”

Twilight sighed once more in defeat. There was no way she could get through to the party pony without her jovial attitude constantly changing the subject. Twilight turned back to the human, twisting his pinkie in his ear.

“What do you think, Harold?”

Harold shrugged.

“I don’t see why not.”

Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped into the air. “Alright! LET’S PARTY!!!”

“Shhhhh!”

Pinkie froze in midair and saw Harold holding his index finger sideways in front his lips and pointed his thumb to the upstairs. It was an indication to Pinkie Pie that told her Spike was trying to sleep.

“Oops. Sorry,” Pinkie said in a whisper. “Let’s party!”

=====================================================================

“So let me get this straight. You got scared because some old guy who lives at your mansion was trying to make himself look pretty?”

Rainbow Dash rolled on the floor laughing after hearing Harold’s story of Reginald accidentally scaring him in the middle of the night. Everypony was gathered around in a circle, feasting on sweets, drinking punch and listening to some good stories of Harold’s life.

“I know, huh?” Harold washed down his cake slice with some punch. “So the next morning, Reginald woke up with a black eye and my parents wanted to know why his eye was black. He said he walked too fast to the bathroom, slipped on the loose rug and he hit his eye on the doorknob!”

Everypony, including Harold hooted with laughter.

“And did your parents believe him?” Fluttershy asked.

“I wouldn’t say,” Harold answered. “Except the next morning, all of the rugs in the hallways were removed and sold to some rich furniture store company nearby Time Square.”

The mares once again giggled at the story. Rainbow Dash wiped a tear away from her eye. “I tell ya, Harold. Despite what you’ve been through in your world, you must’ve had some good times in your foalhood.”

“Uh, ‘childhood,’ Dash,” Harold corrected. “And yes. Good times were often rare at home. Most of the happier days in my life involved Lana and my parents or the bullies being away.”

The mares suddenly paused.

“What?” Harold asked.

“You were bullied back home?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah. Why?”

“How come ya never told us ‘bout that, sugarcube?” Applejack questioned concerningly.

“I don’t know. I guess it was personal stuff,” Harold explained.

“Those jerks! How could they rough you up and get away with it!?” Rainbow Dash smashed her hooves together. “I oughta teach them a little lesson about bullying.”

“I agree. Those ruffians may as well taste my unladylike skills,” Rarity snarled.

“Don’t bother, you two. Drake Singer and his bulldogs are rotting away in different maximum facility prisons as we speak.”

The mares gasped.

“They went to prison!?” Fluttershy squeaked and shrunk back. “They sound like bad humans. Very, very bad humans.”

“Yep. That’s one good thing that happened before I took my journey.” Harold sipped a little bit of punch. “Nowadays, I wonder how they’re surviving the slammer. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. Bottom line, they’re paying for what they did to me and Lana.”

The mares looked at Harold as he held his cup with two hands.

They could feel the anger barricaded inside him.

It really dampened the mood on the party.

“So, what am I gonna do tomorrow?”

The mares were caught off-guard by Harold’s question.

“Huh!?”

Harold dug deeper into his question to explain to the mares better. “What I mean is, what am I gonna do tomorrow? You know, like visit some of your homes, maybe make some more friends and all.”

Pinkie Pie quickly raised her hoof.

“Ooh, ooh! I know, I know! You should totally come over to Sugarcube Corner! You’ll get to see how I make these wonderfully, yummy cupcakes AND you get to meet Mr. and Mrs. Cake, their foals Pound and Pumpkin and my pet alligator, Gummy! I bet Gummy would be happy to meet you!”

Harold did a spit take at Rainbow Dash’s face.

“You’ve got an alligator living in your home!?”

“Uh-huh.”

Harold scooted out of the circle and held his arms defensively.

“Oh, no no no no! There’s no way I can go to your home with an alligator living at your place!”

Pinkie Pie giggled.

“Oh, don’t worry, silly. I named him Gummy for a reason. He’s got no teeth, so if he bites you, it’s not like a painful, teeth-gnashing, eating-you-alive-in-three-bites feeling, but it’s more of a tickly, little funny-feeling-in-your-whole-nervous-system feeling.”

Harold lowered his arms.

“Well, as long as Gummy acts friendly to me, unlike that rabbit at Fluttershy’s house.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Gummy is totally the best pet alligator anypony can have in the wide, wide, world of Equestria!” Pinkie Pie’s mouth opened wide and shoved a whole cake in her mouth with her tongue.

“Heck, as long as we’re talkin’ ‘bout visitin’ other ponies’ homes, you should visit mah home at Sweet Apple Acres,” Applejack chimed in happily. “Ah’ll get Granny Smith, Big Macintosh an’ Apple Bloom an’ mah dog Winona ta warm up ta ya some.”

“Warm up. Nice.” Harold shot up suddenly. “Wait a sec, you’re related to Apple Bloom?”

“Yep. She’s mah little sister. Why, you’ve met her?”

“Yeah, earlier this afternoon. She and two other fillies barged into the library and tickle attacked me with nets and a rope.” Harold looked up and stroked his chin. “Now, what were the other two fillies called again?”

Rarity almost choked on her punch. “I beg your pardon, but did you say my little sister Sweetie Belle and her friend Scootaloo attacked you earlier today?” She asked daintily.

“Oh, you’re Sweetie Belle’s sister!?” Harold asked surprised. “Wow, that’s amazing! I met the little sisters of two of the first six ponies I’ve met on this weird trip!” Harold pointed a finger towards Rarity and Applejack as he explained his astonishment.

“Don’t forget three,” Rainbow Dash butted in. “I’ve taken Scootaloo under my wing not too long ago.”

“I sit here corrected,” Harold said flatly.

Rarity cleared her throat in a refined manner. “So you say you were attacked by Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. They didn’t do any damage to that newly created outfit I made especially for you, did they?”

“Of course not, Rarity. They were tickling me instead of hurting me. The three of them apologized to me afterwards and I died momentarily from those cute little faces.” Harold’s face blushed when he remembered those cute, but lethal sad faces.

Fluttershy gasped. “Oh my! You died!?”

Harold shrugged his shoulders. “Well...Twice.”

“Twice!?”

“Yep,” Harold said to the four mares, minus Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

“What was it like being...you know...not of the living anymore?”

Harold proceeded to answer Rarity, despite him having some blank memory what the afterlife felt like. “Ummm...Well, I was floating around in a dark void. Then there was a light and I saw my dead sister. She came over to me and shocked me a couple times. I woke up and was fried like an egg.”

“I had to use a defibrillation spell to restart his heart,” Twilight added. “Twice.”

“And the Cutie Mark Crusaders did this to you!?” Pinkie Pie yelped.

“It was an accident. I didn’t know their cuteness could kill.” Harold smiled. “And believe me, I died happy, seeing how cute those little fillies were with those big eye and those sweet little faces.”

Harold stopped himself. The six mares were looking at him awkwardly.

He was speaking some sort of baby language used when his people talked to babies.

...

Harold cleared his throat. “B-Bottom line though, they became three of my newest friends.”

Applejack chuckled. “Well, wallop mah withers, Harold. If Ah didn’t know better, Ah say you’ve already made over ten friends in one day.” The cow mare grabbed Harold’s arm and vigorously shook it as a sign of their newly established friendship. “That’s good work, sugarcube. Yer alright after all.”

“Th-Th-Tha-a-a-ank y-y-you-ou-ou-ou, A-A-Appleja-a-a-ack.”

Twilight tapped Applejack’s shoulder.

“Uh, Applejack?”

“Yes, Twi?”

“That’s enough.”

“Oop. Sorry.” Applejack released Harold’s arm, with the latter left shaking his arm hard until Fluttershy stopped him. Harold smiled sheepishly, making both Rainbow Dash and Rarity giggle from the display.

“Golly, Ah felt a bit o’ muscle in them arms o’ yers, Harold,” Applejack commented. "Say, how’d ya like to help me out with handlin’ the apples at the farm? Ah could always use an extra set o’ hooves around the house.”

Harold looked at Twilight for an answer.

“As long as you’re back by tomorrow evening,” Twilight responded. “We’ve got an interview to finish.”

“Hoo-wee!” Applejack howled. “It’s settled then. Ah’ll be seein’ ya at the farm tomorrow.”

“Aww, no fair!” Pinkie Pie whined. “I wanted him to come by Sugarcube Corner tomorrow!”

Applejack trotted over to the pink pony and laid a hoof on her shoulder. “Oh, don’t feel bad, sugarcube. Ya said he can visit Sugarcube Corner and he will. Ah don’t mind waitin’ fer him ta drop by the farm, even if it means visitin’ in the late afternoon.”

“Just as long as he Pinkie Promises me to drop by the shop for at least an hour,” Pinkie said. Harold scratched his head.

“Pinkie Promise?”

Pinkie used her hoof to put an “X” at her chest, made fluttery wing movements and smack her eye while chanting, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

“Okay...” Harold made the “X” at his chest, repeated the fluttering wing movements and covered his eye with his hand and restated the chant. His movements and patterns were almost as perfect as Pinkie’s.

“Oh, and one more thing I should mention,” Pinkie Pie jumped in. “Once you’ve made your Pinkie Promise, you cannot break it because breaking a promise is the fastest way to lose your friend...” the pink pony shot the human a glare. “FOR-EVEEERRRRR!”

Harold inched back from the glare.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie Pie yawned. “Wow, I’m tired. I’m ready to go beddy-bye right now.”

“I agree.” Rarity yawned and pardoned herself. “Today was a rather...crazy day.”

The yawn spread like a contagion around the room. It was 6 P.M. in the evening an yet, everypony was feeling tired. The events of today must’ve drained their energy and now they had to call it a night.

“Well, I gotta get going,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ve gotta help the Ponyville weather team with tonight’s storm.”

Rainbow Dash flew out of the door with Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy following behind her. The three mares stopped trotting and turned to give an approving smile to the tired human boy.

“Ah’ll see ya tomorrow, Harold,” Applejack said.

“Sweet dreams, Harold,” Fluttershy squeaked.

“And remember, Harold...” Pinkie shot Harold another glare. “For-evvveeeerrrrr.”

Harold yawned loudly. “Alright. See you girls later.”

Pinkie’s face turned back to her chipper mood as she bounced out of the library along with Applejack and Fluttershy. Rarity and Twilight were the only mares left in the confines of the tree’s main floor.

“Twilight, do be sure to give my little Spikey-Wikey my wishes on a full recovery.”

"I'll be sure to tell him."

With that said, Rarity trotted daintily out of the library, closing the door behind her with her magic. Twilight sighed tiredly as Harold got up and stretched himself.

“What do you think, Harold? Bedtime?” she asked through her growing fatigue.

“You read my mind,” the aforementioned human concurred.

The two drained mammalians sulked their way upstairs to Twilight’s room so they could wrap themselves up in a nice, warm blanket on top of a soft mattress. Harold sighed blissfully, lost in a cloud of joyous thoughts.

For the first time in a month, Harold was finally going to get a good night’s sleep.

Chapter 20: The First Night

The moonlight shone over the sleepy town of Ponyville. Ponies were heading in their homes, their eyes baggy, red and droopy from another sunny, but fairly abnormal day. Window lights shut off one by one as the shining moon blessed them all with a peaceful rest.

Harold and Twilight sluggishly made their way to the alicorn’s room, keeping the light inside dim for the young dragon snoring as loud as a foghorn. Harold took off his orange jacket and hung it on the rack next to the doorway as Twilight readied the other bed for her bipedal guest.

“Here’s where you’ll be sleeping tonight,” she said finishing with a yawn. “I hope you find it cozy and warm for you.”

“Believe me, Twilight, any bed could do good for me.” Harold stretched himself. “I’ve been sleeping on the ground for the past four days and not once ever had anything to cover me up at night.”

“Then this will be perfect for you. The mattress is the most comfortable mattress in all of Equestria. Good for a good night’s sleep.” Harold looked at Twilight with a confused look. “Or so the slogan says,” she said sheepishly.

“I just hope you don’t have to give your money back,” Harold mumbled under his breath.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Harold proceeded up a small staircase with more bookshelves carved underneath. He looked over and saw a desk with inkwells and a stack of papers the same size as the papers Twilight carried with her aura. Presumably, they were the same papers Twilight said she was signing earlier today.

The young human teen found the bed Twilight readied for him. With a big yawn, Harold slipped off his shoes and pulled the covers over him. The bed felt like he was lying on a cloud and silk sheets were to his comfortable feeling. Harold felt himself drifting away when he closed his eyes.

“Ahhhh, yeah,” he said in joyous bliss. “This is comfortable. Looks like your money’s safe.”

“It’s like what I said,” Twilight replied. She herself slipped underneath the soft and comforting sheets. “Most comfortable mattress in Equestria.”

“Yeaaaahhhhhh...”

“Yeaaaahhhhh...”

A moment of silence fell upon the room, save for Spike snoring in the room, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that Harold finally found salvation in his life. The start of his day was rocky, but as the day grew older, the ponies he befriended grew friendlier. But if friends weren’t what Lana wanted to make, then what was?

“Hey, Twilight?”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks.”

Harold could hear Twilight turning over in her sheets.

“For what?”

“For everything,” Harold said with a smile. “You took me in since I have no home to live in now, you stood up for me in Canterlot Castle and you managed to help me make friends today. That's why I'm thanking you right now.”

“It’s nothing, really. The magic of friendship is what I do best. In fact, friendship is the reason I became a princess in the first place.”

“Really?” Harold opened his eye towards the sleeping alicorn. “How?”

“On the day before I became a princess, Princess Celestia sent me Starswirl the Bearded’s own spellbook. I chanted his final unfinished spell in his book and the Elements of Harmony switched colors and the special talents of my friends.”

Harold snickered.

“How’d that turn out?”

“A disaster,” Twilight answered with a humph. “But using my knowledge of friendship, I helped return the special talent of my friends, finished the spell and the next thing you know...POOF! I become an alicorn and now everypony’s bowing down to me.”

“Sounds like royalty has its ups and downs.”

“It does,” the alicorn said, sighing sadly. “I miss the days when I was studying as a regular old unicorn.”

“You’re more than just a unicorn, Twi--”

TING!

“Oh, what now, ‘sense!?” Can’t you see I’m too tired to even care right now!?”

“That’s what my foalsitter said when I was little,” Twilight said, heaving a heavy yawn. “Well, I’m bushed. Goodnight, Harold.”

Harold yawned and turned over in his bed.

“Goodnight, Twilight.”

“Hoo.”

“Goodnight, owl.”

...

“Owl!?”

Harold suddenly thrashed in his bed and shot up. He came face to face with an owl, staring blankly in the human’s face. On Earth, owls were one of the freakiest, but majestic birds he ever saw at night. Now he was staring one in the face.

...

“Um, hi. Who are you?”

“Hoo.”

“Uh, you. I’m asking you who you are.”

“Hoo.”

“You.”

“Hoo.”

“You!”

“Hoo.”

“I don’t know if your wise attitude can understand what I’m asking. What. Is. Your. Name.”

...

“Hoo.”

“Chuck Norris. You happy now!?”

“Hoo?”

Harold grunted. This stereotypically wise bird was giving him as much of a hard time like Lou Costello did to Bud Abbot. And in this moment, it was reliving the famous “Who’s on First” comedy skit. The only laughing audience was the lavender pony silently giggling to the funniest play of words she ever saw.

“Don’t worry. That’s Owlowiscious, my pet owl. He helps me at night when I’m studying.”

“Thank you.” Harold turned to the bird. “See? It was easy, you just had to tell me your name is all.”

“Hoo.”

“Never mind.” Harold swatted Owlowiscious away from him and turned face-down on his pillow. He felt a bit of discomfort inside his chest and groped around to find the culprit. His locket. Lana’s locket.

Of course. He forgot the locket was hanging around his neck.

Harold gently lifted it off from his neck and set it on the nightstand next to him. At least he didn’t have to lose it when he wakes up in the morning. Now he had a good place for it so he could remember where he last put it.

Before he set off to dreamland, Harold opened up the locket once more to observe the photo of him and Lana being happy together. He could feel a sad feeling dwell inside him, but at the same time, he felt happiness. Lana was in a better place and he was free from the devil’s grasp forever.

“Goodnight, Lana. See you in the morning.”

Harold turned over and instantly fell into a deep sleep. Equestria was now a serene land with everypony sleeping to the glowing mystery of the beautiful moon hanging in the night sky. Tomorrow would hopefully be a good day.

******************************************************************************

Young Harold and Lana were running in the backyard of their mansion, screaming happily and giggling as they gave to chase to each other around the apple blossom tree. It was a beautiful day, the sun shining, warming the two inseparable siblings playing ther weekly game of tag in the gardens. The white petals tickled their noses as Harold reached his arm for Lana who darted behind the tree.

The human boy giggled. There was no way she could hide from him now.

He jerked around and turned to the direction towards where Lana would normally pop out from. He jumped out.

But Lana was nowhere to be seen.

Harold was smarter than that. Usually at these games of tag, Lana would hide somewhere in the tree to avoid getting caught by her playful little brother. Silently and swiftly, he climbed up the twisting branches of the tree. He knew every inch of this gorgeous flora.

And yet, Lana was still nowhere.

“Lana? Where are you?”

At times like these, Harold would here the soft giggling of his sister coming from the branch above him.

No response came.

Harold became increasingly worried. His sister, his guardian and his only playmate had disappeared. He continued climbing up the tree, knowing she might be somewhere in the gardens. Harold reached to the top and looked around the area. There were gardens all around, meticulously trimmed hedges, very well-done flowers and expertly tended vegetable plants near the walls of the mansion. To add to the fear of loneliness, no Lana.

“Lana! Big sis! Where are you!? You’re scaring me!”

...

"Lana, this isn't funny anymore! Please come out! You're scaring me!"

...

“Lana!? LANA!?”

...

Harold started to hyperventilate in panic. Where was Lana!? What happened to her!? Why wouldn’t she come out of hiding!?

Then an ominous glow caught the corner of Harold’s eye. He looked in the distance and saw the gardens were suddenly on fire. The inferno blazed to the mansion, surrounding the once shining blue sky into an ash-gray plane surrounded by clouds of smoke and hellfire.

Then the fears came to light.

In the distance, Harold saw a silhouette of a horned creature that was neither man nor pony.

It was the demon centaur.

The manly appearance and the stallion body were standing in the middle of the inferno. Its yellow, glowing eyes met with the fearful blue eyes of Harold’s. It reached for something dangling from its neck. It appeared to be a bag of some sort.

He opened the bag.

Then a fog of black and eerie glowing purple shot from the confines of the sack. It went dead straight for Harold, knocking him out the tree and tumbling on each branch on the way down. The human laid on the dry grass, scratched and bruised by the fall. All around him, he could see humanoid shadows of people with a sneering face worn upon them. The shadows were pointing at Harold, laughing at him and taunting him for his pain and their pleasure.

Harold clutched his head and curled up in a ball.

Those voices...those stares! Those laughs!

They were like ice picks poking the inside of his sanity.

“LANA!! HELP ME!!!”

Then above him was the shadow, the same one composed of the same blackness and purple glow like the one released from the sack. Harold was frozen in fear. He couldn’t move a muscle. To make matters worse, he couldn't breathe. The shadow was changing form. In half a minute, the shadow quickly changed from a smoggy cloud to the shape of a human figure. But this wasn't an human figure, this was...

“No...”

The shadow’s face grew a smile forged out of pure evil. It lowered its head towards Harold’s right ear. Its words were like a chorus of Satanically-possessed corpses rising from the grave to feast on the mortal souls. And Harold's mortal soul was stricken with fear by the shadow's three words.

“Let...me...OUT!!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO--”

******************************************************************************

“AAAUUGHH!”

Harold shot up in his bed in the middle of the night. Beads of sweat rolled down his body as he shakily regained his breath. The only noise in the bedroom was the snoring of Spike, wrapped up in his blankets like a crepe. Harold slapped himself all over his head and torso and hugged himself. Thank goodness for him, it was a nightmare.

But it felt vivid.

Very, very vivid.

Harold was never scared like that in his life. For the next hour, he clutched his locket close to him, wishing Lana for her to help him until he built up the courage to fall back to sleep. But in the bed next to his, Harold was too afraid to realize that Twilight was tossing and turning while she was making scared noises of her own.

Like Harold, Twilight was suffering from a vivid nightmare of her own.

******************************************************************************

“Twilight, you must control your magic! You’ll destroy this palace if you keep this magic up for long!”

“I can’t...I...”

“Your Majesty, we must get you to safety immediately!”

“No, Lieutenant! Twilight Sparkle must learn to calm her magic or she’ll end up destroying not only Canterlot, but herself as well! That is why she must do this on her own!”

“But Your Highness--”

“Lieutenant Armor, I know Twilight is your sister and you are concerned for her wellbeing, but she must learn to do this on her own! You will only make the matters worse if you were to get hit by her magic! What I am giving you is a royal order! Stand down or you will get hurt!”

*Sigh* “Yes, Your Highness.”

“Twilight, you must focus! Concentrate on locking your raw abilities away!”

“Mmmmm-gnnnn! I can't..hold out...much longer!”

“Your Majesty, get out of there! Her magic is spiraling out of control!”

“Twily!”

“Twilight!”

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMZZZZZAAAAP!

“Twily! Are you okay?”

"Unnngggghhh...B...BBBFF?"

"It's okay, kiddo. I'm here. I'm here."

“Her magic! It stopped!”

“Yes, but the fluctuations of the sudden stop in her magic seem to have created a portal into another world.”

“Wait...I think I see something coming through the portal!

“Quick! Close it before it gets through here!”

"No, we can't! If we close it, it would risk harming that one's life!"

"Send it back, now! Quickly!"

“Too late! It’s coming through!”

ZZZZZAAAAP!

“_____ __ _? ____ ________ __ __ ____? ___ ___ ___ ______?”

“Princess Celestia, what is that thing?”

Author's Note

The end of the first day of ACIE. Now I must be off to bed. I have a job interview tomorrow afternoon.

Chapter 22: Smile Though You Heart is Aching

Chapter 22: Smile Though Your Heart is Aching

“Mr. and Mrs. Cake, I’d like you to meet my very new, very cool and very out-of-this-world-because-technically-he’s-not-from-our-world best friend, Harold DeMatt!!” Harold and the Cakes exchanged awkward glances as Pinkie Pie chortled out the introductions between the human and her employers.

“Harold DeMatt, I’d like you to meet my employers, Mr. Carrot Cake and Mrs. Cup Cake! I’ve been working for these two for many many years and they’ve been a second mommy and daddy to me!!” Pinkie pulled the two blushing Earth ponies close into a little huddle.

Harold felt a bit envious at that moment. He should’ve had a second mommy and daddy on Earth, away from his first so-called mom and dad.

Pinkie was ready to blow in excitement. “Oooooohhhhh, this is gonna be so much fun! We can get acquainted with each other, bake super delicious cakes, cookies, cupcakes, then Harold can watch me work....*GAAAAASSSSSSPPPPP!* Harold, how’d you like to help me bake!?”

“Actually, Pinkie, I’m not really--”

“Pinkie, dear, can we see you in the kitchen?”

Cup grabbed Pinkie’s poofy tail by the teeth and dragged her away into the kitchen, with the square-chinned stallion following close behind. The three Earth ponies left Harold standing alone in the room, wondering if he should’ve let Pinkie know that he was bad at baking ahead of time. But the absence of the Earth ponies gave him an opportune moment to capture the colorful interior decoration and the display cases filled with many sweet pastries in his head.

Drawing Pinkie Pie for later would be a cinch for him.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Cup and Carrot dragged Pinkie into the confines of the kitchen for an emergency meeting.

“Pinkie Pie, I never thought I’d say this, but your friend cannot work here!”

Pinkie Pie was taken aback by Cup’s order. “WHAAAATTT!? You’re saying no to Harold helping out with baking the cupcakes!? That’s just rude! Wait, is this because he’s a human!? Now that’s beyond rude!! It’s infinitely rude!! IT’S ETERNITY-LY RUDE!!” Pinkie was cut off by Carrot’s hoof to her mouth.

“You didn’t let her finish,” he replied.

Cup regained her composure from Pinkie’s outburst. “What I was gonna say, Pinkie, is that your friend Harold cannot work here because of how everypony would react to an alien working in Sugarcube Corner. You say he’s a good colt, and we believe you. We really do. But I’m not sure what that’ll do to business.”

“Besides..” Carrot pointed a hoof towards Harold, who looked through a rectangular gap he made with his hands and thumbs. It was as though he was capturing the shop in his like a camera. “Your friend doesn’t seem to be the baking-type pony, or whatever he calls himself.”

Pinkie’s face grew saddened. Her moistening pupils grew to the size of dinner plates.

“Can’t he just watch me bake?” she asked, pouting her quivering lips.

The Cakes rolled their eyes and inhaled through their teeth.

“I don’t know...” Carrot said.  Pinkie continued her sad, soulful face. “Please, Mr. and Mrs. Cake? Harold’s life was all doom and gloom, and that made me sad because he’s been so lonely and that made him so sad and so I got to thinking that he needs somepony to make him feel happy again.”

The Cakes looked at the human standing outside of the kitchen doors. He was viewing the shop through the rectangular gap he made with both of his hands. It was as if he was viewing the shop through a camera.

“Come on, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, can’t you give him an hour, two hours tops? If not for him, then for me?”

Once again, the Cakes looked at each other. They huddled into one of the corners of the kitchen, inaudible murmurs ringing from the couple. They looked back at Pinkie Pie, who kept her sad visage incredibly for seven minutes and the human observing the interior. In those short minutes of discussion and debate, Cup and Carrot sighed and trotted to their apprentice, weak smiles decorating their face with uncertainty.

Carrot built his courage to tell Pinkie their decision. “Alright, Pinkie. We’ll let him stay just this once.”

In one split second, Pinkie’s face turned from blue to pink.

“You will!? Great! Wait right here!”

Pinkie Pie zoomed out the kitchen, leaving the double doors swinging until they stopped. While Pinkie Pie was conversing with Harold in the store, the Cakes had a small conversing of their own.

“You really think this is such a good idea?” Carrot asked his wife.

“I’m not sure myself,” Cake said back. “But if Pinkie is fine with this, then maybe we should be too.”

The doors flipped open. The Cakes saw an amusing display of Harold being pushed into the kitchen by Pinkie Pie. The human’s heels were dragged into the wooden floor as he wore a plain expression upon his face. As part of Pinkie Pie’s subconscious ability to bend the laws of physics, she somehow reduced the traction on his shoes, making it easier for her to push Harold like he was a hockey puck sliding on a waxed floor.

“Ooooh, this is so exciting! We’re gonna have the bestest time getting to know each other! I just know it!” Pinkie pulled the Cakes in for another embrace, adding more muscle and one human in the mix. Pinkie’s grip was starting to take its toll on everyone else’s lungs. “We get to have cookies, hear about our lives, draw pictures...”

“Uhh...Pinkie?” Cup squeaked.

“Harold can watch me bake, we can play with Pound and Pumpkin...”

“Pinkie?” asked the blue-faced orange stallion.

“Ooh! We can sing a song! Okay, let’s see...what song should I sing? Oh! I know!” Pinkie cleared her throat and proceeded to sing, unaware that her friends were drifting into unconsciousness from asphyxiation.

“My name is Pinkie Pie (Pinkie!)

And I am here to say (I can’t breathe!)

I'm gonna make you smile and I will brighten up your day!

It doesn't matter now (My consciousness is fading!)

If you are sad or blue (I think I see the light!)

‘Cause cheering up my friends is just what Pinkie’s here to do!”

“PINKIE!”

The giggling pony stopped her singing and looked at the human with a joyful smile.

“Yes?”

“Your...choking us...to death,” Harold said with his voice raspy from lack of breath.

With an “oops” from Pinkie, she firmly released her employers and the boy. Weakened from asphyxiation, the Cakes and Harold collapsed to the ground, coughing out the compressed carbon dioxide and breathing in the clean, fresh oxygen. A full minute was required for the choke hold victims to struggle themselves up on their legs. When the trio came to, they looked at Pinkie with a deadpanned look.

And she reflected the look with a sheepish smile.

“Sorry,” Pinkie muttered.

Harold gripped the counter behind them and leaned back, heaving out a relieved sigh. The Cakes were scolding their employee for nearly choking them to death and took away her corn cakes for the night.

Or so Harold heard.

He didn’t know, he was getting the room to stop spinning around him. He covered his sore eyes to simmer the pain down by a little. From the cracks of his fingers, he saw the Cakes trot out of the kitchen, giving Pinkie angry gazes out of the corner of their eyes. The latter pony still wore her smile, although she was not enjoying the moment.

Harold lowered his hand showed Pinkie his deadpan look.

Pinkie still wore her smile on her face.

“Sooooo, how about I show you how to make cupcakes?”

Harold heaved a stressed sigh.

There was no getting through a pony who joked and smiled like there was no problem a minute ago. Of course, how could he with those big eyes, that innocent smile and her head cocked to the left?

“Sure, I guess.”

=====================================================================

Harold’s prized bicycle stood at the outside wall of Sugarcube Corner. The bike was all alone in the pony populated town, cold, vulnerable and helpless. It was nearly in plain sight and easy for somepony with the nerve to either steal it...or worse.

Unfortunately, the bike would suffer the latter.

Creeping behind the back of the shop were two sinister looking unicorn mares. One was a pink unicorn mare, with a purple mane and tail with one streak of lavender running through. Her Cutie Mark were three gemstones. The other unicorn wore a white coat and sported a pink, curly mane and tail. Her Cutie Mark depicted three stars.

The unicorns had about them tools, carried in a sickly green magical aura. These tools would become the end of Harold’s bicycle as they knew it.

“Ready?” the white unicorn asked her horned associate.

“Ready.”

The mares levitated a hammer, some wrenches and a screwdriver. They crept up to the two-wheeled vehicle, now about to meet a painful end. If the bicycle had a sentient mind, it would’ve screamed for Harold’s help.

=====================================================================

“Okay, so let me recap this a bit slowly.”

Harold was given a singing lesson by Pinkie about making cupcakes. She was singing the Cupcake Song so fast, she could’ve had a career as an auctioneer instead of a happy singing baker and party planner. The human rubbed his temples as he tried to remember what Pinkie sung to him in step-by-step mode.

“All I have to do is take a cup of flour and add it to the mix, right?”

Pinkie “mm-hmmed” the human. She poured the cup of flour into the mixing bowl

“Then you take a little something sweet, not too sour and a bit of salt, just a pinch.”

Pinkie dropped a batch of delicious sweets into the mix. Chocolate pieces, jelly beans, lollipops, candy corn, you name it. Harold’s mouth was already watering just by looking at all of the candy.

Pinkie continued the explained version of her song.

“Baking these treat is such a cinch. Now add a teaspoon of vanilla.”

The pony slammed on the handle of the teaspoon full of vanilla that landed perfectly into the batter. Three more identical spoons full of vanilla were flung right into the bowl.

“Add a little more, and you count to four and you never get your fill of...”

“Oh boy, here we go,” Harold thought, rolling his eyes.

“Cupcakes! So sweet and tasty!

Cupcakes! Don’t be too hasty!

Cupcakes! Cupcakes, cupcakes, CUPCAKES!”

Pinkie appeared out of nowhere at every angle as she finished the last of her song, giggling after she finished her last note. Harold raised a confused eyebrow.

“Pinkie, how do you do that?”

Pinkie looked at her new friend curiously. She tilted her head to the left and gave him a plain expression.

“Do what?”

“That...that thing. That thing where you just popped out of nowhere...a-a-and that thing you did at Canterlot Castle.” Harold rubbed his head. “Now what is the saying in my world? Breaking the laws of physics?”

Pinkie Pie perked up.

“Oh that! Hehehehe, that. I’ve always been doing that ever since I first smiled! I don’t know how, but I’ve learned to master it over the past 10 years! Hehehehe!”

“Umm, okay, I don’t think that answered my question, but what about those little body movements you made in the field?” Pinkie cocked her head again. Harold sighed again. “You know, your hooves wobbling, your hair sticking out on edge, you know what I’m saying?”

“Oh, that’s my Pinkie Sense! And if I hadn’t told you about my Pinkie Sense before...”

“No you have not,” he said blankly.

“Fair enough. Harold, one; Pinkie zero.”

“When did we start keeping score?”

Harold walked into the kitchen while Pinkie Pie started explaining the basics of her so-called Pinkie Sense.

“Aaaaanyway, the way my Pinkie Sense is quite simple. I get all of these tiny nickly feelings all over the body and they all mean different things. Like when my tail is twitching, it means something’s about to fall. If my ears are flopping, that means somepony just got mud splattered all over.”

“Okaaaay,” Harold replied flatly. “So does your Pinkie Sense allow you to break all laws of physics?”

“Hahahahaha, oh silly-willy, my Pinkie Sense doesn’t do that. I can break all of the universal laws of physics without the use of my Pinkie Sense.” The pink pony stretched her hooves outwards to her sides. Her left hoof stretched outwards, suddenly reappearing to clap the right hoof, jumping Harold backwards.

Pinkie smiled proudly.

“See? Hehehehehee!”

Harold rubbed his temples as he tried to contemplate the pink pony’s unknown ability.

“Okay? Is your Pinkie Sense what got you to trust me in the first place?”

“Of course, they were different little feelings and I call them combos. Remember when my hind legs wobbled and my mane stood on edge? That means anypony I first meet can be trusted!”

Harold mindlessly bumped into the refrigerator. A pan standing at the edge on top of the fridge started tilting downward. Then, all of a sudden, Pinkie jumped in the air. She felt a vibration in her cotton-candy tail.

“TWITCHY TAIL! TWITCHY TAIL!!”

“Huh?”

CLANG!!

The pan Harold knocked over landed on his head. He gripped his head, feeling a bump already forming on his scalp. He felt ridiculous. He felt like he was living a Saturday morning Looney Tunes cartoon.

Not that it mattered. He felt he was in a cartoony world.

“You alright, Harold!?” Pinkie asked concerned.

Harold grunted in pain. His hurt moaning turned into a giggling fit.

“I’m fine, Pinkie. I don’t think mistakes like these are very common on Earth.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Pinkie’s lips wriggled. She dropped to floor, hooves spread out to her sides and laughed. The giggling coming from this hyperactive little pony was quick, high-pitched...also kind of cute. The laughter felt like a contagion spreading airborne to another host. Harold found his lips wriggling and started chuckling alongside the pony, falling flat on his back.

The two giggled in unison, for a moment or two. They they looked at each other, somehow provoking them to laugh once more.

This was a strange feeling for Harold, but it also felt good. Rare were the moments he shared a good laugh, especially the ones he shared with Lana during his time on Earth. He looked at Pinkie Pie once more, lost in her world blissful giggling. Harold had a sort of epiphany at the moment he looked at her. This pony may not take a lot of things seriously, but she giggled and yukked like there was no problem in the world.

To Harold, Pinkie was the joyful side he never once grew.

CRASH!! BAM, BAM, BAM!! CLING!! CLING!!

A mixture of noises outside silenced all moments of laughter. Harold and Pinkie’s moment of fun came to a screeching halt. They sat up with a jolt and looked outside the window. There, they saw a hammer, wrenches and a screwdriver levitated in thin air.

That’s when it hit the human.

“Oh, crap!! My bike!!”

Harold got to his feet and strode out the door. He went around the corner of the sweet shop. What he saw in front of him caused his breath to cease and his knees to collapse onto the dirt. Pinkie and the Cakes soon followed after the human. They were shocked and appalled by what Harold saw.

They saw what used to be his bike, now a sad pile of metal and junk. The metal frame was severely bent out of shape. The tires were slashed and deflated. Nuts and screws were scattered all over the area. The chain was broken and destroyed.

Harold gripped his head in anguish.

Someone destroyed a prized possession of his.

Reginald gave him this bike for his 13th birthday.

Now it was nothing but a scrap heap.

The poor human was reduced to tears, thereby angering Pinkie Pie.

“WHAT!? How dare somepony come over here and destroy somepony else’s property!! Alright, whoever you are, come out and show yourself!! I’m gonna ban you from ever setting hoof in Sugarcube Corner forEEVVVEEERRR!!”

What everypony didn’t realize was hiding in a couple of rain barrels were the unicorns responsible for the destruction of Harold’s only means of transportation. Their eyes gleam a sinister green light as they transformed into a couple of Ponyville ponies and secretly joined in the crowd of ponies witnessing this spectacle.

Harold balled up his fist and smashed it into the dirt.

“This is all my fault,” he said sadly.

“No it’s not, Harold,” Pinkie said, snorting afterwards. “It’s whoever smashed that doohickey of yours’s fault! When I get my hooves of her, she’s getting a ride via my Party Cannon!”

“No, Pinkie, it is my fault,” Harold replied. “Reginald gave this bike to me when I turned 13. In all this excitement, I left my bike all alone out here and I completely forgot to take it inside.” Harold’s eyes began to once again, leak tears. “And now someone comes along, callously smashes it and...and...NOW IT’S WRECKED! TOTALED! DESTROYED!”

Some of the ponies trotted away from the scene, whether the feeling was pity, sorriness or cynicism. Harold pounded the ground as he shouted the state of which his bike was in. He covered his face in his hands and started weeping.

“Reginald. I’m so sorry,” he muttered.

Then from the upper level of the bakery, another noise sounded upstairs. The noise snapped everyone’s gaze to the second floor window. It was a noise that Harold hadn’t heard since he was a little kid: The sound was the crying of one...no, two babies in a single room.

The three Earth ponies started to panic.

“Oh dear, Pound and Pumpkin must’ve woken up to that noise!” Cup shouted.

“Pinkie! You know what to do!” Carrot exclaimed.

Pinkie gave her employer a soldier’s salute. She rushed to the kitchen cupboard and dragged a whole bag of flour behind her before she hightailed it upstairs. The bag hit Harold, spinning him around rapidly before he fell on his behind all dazed and once again dizzy. Past his dizziness, he could hear quick hoofsteps into the room with the two crying babies.

“What does Pinkie need the bag of flour for?” Harold asked the Cakes.

“Oh, Pound and Pumpkin enjoy seeing Pinkie Pie get hurt in funny ways, like getting flour all over her or landing her flank on something pointy.” Carrot looked at Harold with shrunken pupils. “That makes sense, right?”

“I guess,” Harold said. “I enjoy seeing slapstick from time to time.”

The baby foals’ cries grew louder upstairs.

“Now what is going up there?” Carrot called up from the kitchen.

From the floor up above, everyone heard Pinkie rush to the staircase.

“Oohhhhhh! Mr. Cake, Mrs. Cake! Come quick, come quick!”

The Cakes and Harold rushed to the staircase, knowing full well that this was an emergency. Pinkie appeared to be covered in flour from head to hoof, leaving a trail of fine white powder.

“Pinkie, what happened? Why are the babies still crying!?” Cup asked anxiously.

“I-I don’t know! I tried everything to calm them down! I covered myself in flour, I slipped and fell on the jacks, I even tried singing a song but I can’t get them to stop crying!” Pinkie squished her ears to her head. “Oh, Celestia, make them stop!”

Cup and Carrot cantered upstairs to comfort their children.

Harold followed after, curious as to see how the married couple calmed their foals down. On the third step, Harold and Pinkie exchanged looks with each other. There was about a hundred witty things he should say about the flour-covered pony but he couldn’t decide on which.

Then Pinkie sneezed.

A cloud of white dust shot from her nostrils onto the wood of the staircase.

“Gesundheit,” said Harold.

“Thank you.”

The human teen ventured upstairs into a room where the foals were kept in their room. To his astonishment and confusion, the foals were fraternal twins, one a small pegasus colt, the other a unicorn filly. He could see the parents hold them in their hooves, cradling them and shushing them, reassuring that everything was alright.

But the foals kept crying.

The Cakes were losing the battle.

“I don’t understand, why can’t they stop crying!?” Cup shouted over the crying.

“I don’t know honeybun!” Carrot replied loudly “They don’t seem hungry or have a dirty diaper!”

“Is there something anypony can do!?”

Harold let out a small cough. It successfully snagged the attention of the two Earth ponies.

“Ummm...if it’s not to much to ask, maybe I could--”

“NO!!”

Harold reeled back from the Cakes’ simultaneous outburst. He knew the two were stressed out by the foals’ crying but they didn’t have to snap at him like that. He wondered if he couldn’t be of any help to everypony around him. Probably because he was different.

Harold began walking back downstairs, his crestfallen head lowered in hurt. He clutched his locket at his chest again. Like his bicycle outside, Harold felt like a wreck.

“Wait!!” Harold looked back at the Earth ponies. Their forehooves were extended towards him, clutching the screaming foals in their gentle grasp. Harold looked in the couple’s eyes. They were red, burning, and wide, all signs that the Cakes were on the brink of insanity.

“Please do what you have to do!!” Carrot said. “We can’t get them to calm down!!”

“Uhhhh....”

“Please!!”

At Cup’s screeching request, Harold gingerly grabbed the foals and cringed. The wailing of the foals was so loud, their yelling rung loudly into his ears, creating an aria of pain in sensitive ears. He opened his eye and got a look at the baby ponies.

Their eyes were watering. Their scared expression called out for someone to deliver them sanctuary from a dark nightmare. Harold couldn’t put his finger on it, but he felt a warm and soothing sensation from seeing these babies cry.

He felt like he knew what it was like for Lana to care for him as a baby.

And he knew the perfect song to calm the little ponies.

******************************************************************************

Harold slowly lifted his eyelids up. He found himself lying in his bed, feeling a strange, encasing sensation on his right arm. He looked over and gasped.

A cast.

There was a medical cast on his arm.

Then it hit Harold. He remembered what happened before he lost all consciousness. He was tied up by his jacket on a flagpole by Drake Singer and his two drooling hound dogs, Al Keith and Roger Hayes. Everybody was there. They were laughing at him, pointing at him. Pictures were taken and sent on the Internet.

And Lana was there. She fought off Drake ang his goons.

But then he fell. He fell like his pockets were filled with lead.

Lana tried saving him, but she nearly failed to do so.

Harold felt a surge of pain in the arm so great that he passed out by the magnitude of the hurt. Now he woke up to a cast wrapped around his arm. Harold tried moving it and cringed. Not only was his arm broken, but now he couldn’t even move it.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

Harold shot his attention to his bedroom door. A tall, elderly man with a big pointed mustache and a small gray goatee stood by the door, opening it for the young lady who walked in with a sad face.

“He’s awake now, Miss Lana,” the man said with an olden British voice. “You can only visit him today for ten minutes, but after that, he has to sleep for the rest of the day.”

“I understand. Thank you, Reginald,” Lana said.

Reginald closed the door behind him. Lana turned to her little brother lying in bed, her delicate blue eyes glistening in moisture. She ran up to him ad hugged him, burying her face into his neck.

“Oh, Harold, thank God you’re alright,” Lana cried muffled by her face buried into his neck.

“Big sis? Wha...what happened?” Harold asked.

“When you passed out from your broken arm, I called Reginald up and we carried you in here.” Lana retracted her face, her face saddened, but her smile indicated relief. “I was so worried about you that I couldn't stop panicking...but now you're okay.”

“H-How long was I out?”

“About a day and a half. Luckily, Reginald was there to help stop the bleeding.”

Harold looked at his sister, shocked and worried.

“B-B-Bl-Bleeding?”

Lana sighed reluctantly. “When you broke your arm, you had a compound fracture. Your arm bone was sticking out of your forearm and...Oh, God it was so disgusting, I...” Lana gagged a little. “Reginald had to deal with the fracture by himself. He fixed it good, but then he told me to tell you...” Lana trailed off and looked away, indicating that she afraid to share with him, the bad news.

Harold sat up in his bed.

"Tell me what?"

Lana sighed again.

“You won’t be able to use that arm for another two weeks.”

Harold’s eyes widened.

“TWO WEEKS!?”

Lana nodded. “I know this is a big a shock to you, Harold, believe me. But with how bad the shape of your arm was in, Reginald told me that you can’t use it for another two weeks until the tissue and the muscles are all healed up.”

Harold started to stammer and stutter with his words. With all of this shock of not being able to use his favorite arm, he started to cry. The feeling of humiliation added onto his crying. The worst part of it all was, he could never draw with that arm out of commission for two whole weeks.

“But none of that matters now," Lana said with relief and joy. "What matters is that you’re okay.”

Lana wrapped her arms around Harold for another embrace. She rocked him gently as she hushed the boy and combed his hair with her hands. Harold choked on his sobs and he muttered something that sent a jolt into his sister’s spine.

“I don’t want to go to school anymore.”

Lana gasped a little and pulled back from her brother.

“Wh-What?"

Harold clenched his fist as he repeated his statement.

"I said I don't want to go to school anymore."

"Why not?”

“WHAT DO YOU THINK I MEAN BY WHY NOT!? I MEAN I CAN’T GO BACK TO SCHOOL ANYMORE, NOT AFTER WHAT THEY DID TO ME!!” Harold felt himself crying out from his painful feeling of humiliation. Lana inched back upon having Harold snap back at her. “I’VE BEEN HUMILIATED, LAUGHED AT, POINTED AT!! NOW MY PICTURES ARE GOING ALL OVER THE INTERNET AS WE SPEAK!! NOW EVERYONE IN THE WORLD’S GOING TO LAUGH AT ME!! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE, LANA, I JUST...I...I...”

Harold gasped in an intake of oxygen.

“I JUST WISH I WAS NEVER BORN!!”

Lana covered her mouth in shock. This was severely saddening to hear come out of her brother, wanting to wish he never existed at all. Being gentle and all, Lana took Harold’s hands off of his face and held them in hers.

“Harold? Look at me, young man.”

And he did so, his sorrowful eyes meeting her concerned eyes.

“Don’t you ever, EVER say anything like that again, okay? Don’t EVER wish you weren’t born or alive, okay?” Lana hugged Harold once more. Warm, salty tears rolled down his neck to the collar of his shirt. “You’re the only reason why my life has a purpose, little brother. If I lost you in any way possible, I just can’t imagine what I would do without you.”

Harold sniffed and wiped a tear from his eye.

“Really? You mean it?”

Lana smiled at him.

“Of course. I thought I was going to be alone in this sick country until I heard your first baby screams come from mom and dad’s bedroom.” Lana held her brother’s hands together in hers. “You’ve got a future planned in front of you, Harold. I don’t want you to ever throw your future away.”

Once more, the brother-and-sister team pulled each other in for a hug. As the two squeezed each other in this embrace, all of the sadness and pain lifted from Harold’s broken spirit.

“I’m sorry, Lana. I never should have said that.”

“It’s okay, Harold. I’m sorry I never stopped you from hurting your arm.”

Harold sadly looked at his arm again. He had a bunch of plans in the future in store for him, and all of it required his trusty right arm.

“But, what am I gonna do without using my arm?”

Lana gave her brother a heavenly smile. “Don’t worry. We’ll come up with something else for you tomorrow. I promise.”

Harold smiled.

The doorknob at his door turned slowly, revealing Reginald standing at the door. He cleared his throat, indicating that Lana’s visiting time was over. Lana got up to walk out of the door when Harold asked her something.

“Lana?”

“Hmm?”

“Before you go, could you...maybe sing me that song that you’re so good at singing?”

Lana looked at Reginald for the answer. The elderly butler looked at her for a moment, then nodded once. The long-haired girl turned back smiling and kneeled down at the side of Harold’s bed. She brushed his hair gingerly as she began to sing her song.

******************************************************************************

Harold sat himself down on the floor. He cradled the two little foals in his arms and proceeded to sing the one song that helped him sleep through restless nights and the darkest nightmares.

Now this song was passed down to two crying baby ponies.

“Smile though your heart is aching

Smile even though its breaking

When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by

If you smile through your fear and sorrow

Smile and maybe tomorrow

You’ll see the sun come shining through, for you.”

The unbearable wailing of the scared foals simmered down as they heard this unknown melody sooth their fears and their worries. They opened their eyes to an unknown creature singing sweetly into their ears as he continued his song.

“Light up your face with gladness

Hide every trace of sadness

Although a tear may be ever so near

That's the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what's the use of crying?

You'll find that life is still worthwhile

if you just smile.”

The little pony babies started to giggle. Harold’s heart melted at the sight and the sounds of the laughing foals, bubbling over with happiness and smiling to the young human’s muse. A tear fell from his smiling cheek as he finished his song.

******************************************************************************

“That's the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what's the use of crying?

You'll find that life is still worthwhile

if you just smile.”

Lana looked down to her little brother, sleeping peacefully underneath his warm silk covers. A smile was found on his face as his guardian bent down and kissed him on the forehead.

“Good night, little brother. Sweet dreams.”

Lana walked out of the room, closing the bedroom door behind her by a crack. Harold turned in his sleep, hugging the pillow to his face. As he drifted off into a peaceful slumber, seven words rang out from his mouth, unaware that Lana was listening in.

“Good night, big sis. I love you.”

******************************************************************************

The foals yawned.

They buried their heads in Harold’s jacket and drifted back into their deep sleep.

The Cakes and Pinkie looked in amaze and awe as they witnessed how the human calmed two little foals with only just one song. Pinkie Pie bounced up to the human cradling little Pound and Pumpkin in his arms.

“Awwwww, look at them. They’re sleeping like a baby. Well, figuratively speaking of course,” Pinkie chortled, earning a gentle “sssshhhh” from Harold. The Cakes trotted up to Harold and took their babies from his arms and placed them together in the crib. The little pegasus sucked on his hoof.

Harold smiled sadly.

He felt his heart warm just by looking at the foals resting with each other in the same crib. He now knew what it was like for Lana to raise him as a baby.

Harold walked downstairs with Pinkie happily bouncing after him.

“Wow, that was amazing, Harold! I heard you were a great artist from Fluttershy, but I never imagined you were so great with kids! What’s your secret!? Did you foalsit for the other foals on Earth!? Did you take lessons of raising a foal!? No, wait, wait, wait! You learned from your sister, haven’t you!?”

Harold stopped at the last step and turned to Pinkie in bewilderment.

“How’d you know about that!?”

Pinkie cocked her head to the right and leaned onto Harold’s T-shirt.

“My Pinkie Sense told me soooooo,” she said in a singsong voice, pulling her head back.

Harold stood at the edge of the steps, looking on as Pinkie Pie bounded back to the kitchen, humming her tune as the doors squeaked back and forth. He wondered how Pinkie guessed it was Lana who taught him this song from heart.

Maybe it was Pinkie Sense?

Maybe it was mare’s tuition.

Either way, she somehow knew of “Smile.”

And smile he did when he walked back into the kitchen, grabbing his sketchbook and his art supplies he left on the counter. He put on a little Pink Floyd action and started to draw a circle on a fresh page of paper.

Author's Note

Sorry I was so late with this chapter. I was busy getting this chapter just right and I was focused making on another fanfic (not my one-shot story). SO anyway, here's the chapter, hope you enjoy it and positive feedback would be great.

Smile, written by Charlie Chaplin, sung by Nat King Cole: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rkNBH5fbMk

Chapter 8: The Princess and the Human (Re-Re-Edited)

Harold's world was pitch-black dark, mostly because his eyes were squeezed shut.

He didn't know if he had died from the collision when he was catapulted headfirst into the huge stone. He didn't know if he had survived the fall and missed the stone by a matter of mere inches. All that Harold could remember up to this point was he tried to make a getaway from a couple of crazed ponies on his bike, him outsmarting the cyan, tomboyish pegasus. Harold may have outmaneuvered the pegasus with only a sharp right and a petrified tree, but he never saw where he was going, and where he went was down a rough, rocky hill. It took one fateful rock to stop the front wheel, and Harold was catapulted from the seat of his bike into the air and dove headfirst towards a heavy stone.

The swiftly approaching stone was the last thing that he ever saw.

Now Harold was floating in the familiar darkness, like the same darkness that brought him to Equestria in the first place. He didn't know whether he was dead or alive. There was only one way to found out, but it was a risk he had to take.

Harold opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was a smooth, gravely surface, rounded perfectly the way a huge stone would be, just inches away from his nose before the tip of it could touch the stone. The strange thing about the rock, Harold noticed, was how it had changed from sand white into sparkling magenta. While he pondered the strange conundrum, Harold suddenly felt himself being pulled back away from the stones and was levitated in mid-air by the same magenta flowing around his body. That actually explained the sudden change in the stone's color.

Then, while Harold was held up in the air by surprise, the sparkling magenta popped into a perfectly round, nearly-transparent sphere, encasing him inside the tight prison. Harold swallowed and began to breathe rapidly as a fearful feeling coursed through his nerves. He suffered from the longtime condition of claustrophobia, the fear of tight or enclosed spaces, one developed by the many times when Drake Singer stuffed him in his locker. Harold knew the reasons to be afraid of tight spaces, among them being the lack of air and the inability to move around.

Harold's claustrophobia took hold of him as his skin glimmered with sweat, and his heart ready to jump out from his throat. He was on the brink of having a serious mental breakdown. He slammed the palms of his hands against the reinforced spherical walls, every hit he made creating a slight ripple as the feeling of panic overwhelmed him. "Let me out! Let me out!! Someone, please let me out!!"

A cacophony of hooves clop-clopping on the rock drew Harold's attention to his right. There, he looked and saw with shock, a lavender unicorn trotting towards him, her horn glowing the same magenta glow as the sphere. What caught Harold's attention the most was her spread wings, unfurled at full length as if she was showing who was the authoritative figure and who was the wrongdoer. Harold scuffled in his seating so he sat on his knees, pressing his hands onto the round walls and transferring his weight into them.

"Hey! Hey! Let me out of here!" Harold begged. " Please, I don't do well in tight spaces! I can't breathe in--!"

"That's enough," the alicorn ordered. Her stone cold gaze forced Harold's pleas back inside his throat as she came closer to the spherical prison. "Look, don't bother trying to break out of my sphere. I enforced the walls with unbreakable magic, able to withstand any escape attempt you might try to pull."

"Please! I'm begging you!" Harold shouted with a hint of panic in his voice as he began to pant rapidly. "Let me out of here! I'm really claustrophobic! I need air! Please! I can't breathe! I can't breathe!! I ca..."

Harold suddenly slouched himself back against the walls of his prison sphere, arms hugging across his chest as he began to hyperventilate. His body rocked vigorously in reaction to his growing anxiety and his breathing became nothing but audible wheezing, desperately reaching out for air. The alicorn sighed, her frown still plastered on her muzzle as she used her magic to expand the sphere into a larger size, opening a few holes no bigger than Harold's head near the top so that he would be allowed to receive his precious oxygen.

All at once, the air holes and the bigger sphere began to take a therapeutic effect on Harold. His breathing managed to slow down, him taking a few shaky breaths before he became completely calm. It took only a moment before Harold was flushed of his anxiety attack and he pried his hugging arms from his chest and laid them down on the curving floor. Then he heaved out a relieved sigh, slumping down comfortably in a lying position. The cool temperature of the magenta sphere seemed to help put Harold at ease.

"Are we feeling better?" the alicorn asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harold was snapped from his reverie, almost having forgotten that he was in the presence of a pony princess. "Oh, umm... yes, I am feeling better," said Harold as he sat up in the sphere he was unwillingly trapped in. "Th-Thank you for helping me with my..."

"Don't thank me yet," the alicorn interjected. "You and I have a lot to talk about."

There was something in the princess's tone that turned Harold's slightly tanned skin into pasty white. Perhaps it was the way it sounded disapprovingly when she talked to him, considering the fact Harold was the non-Equestrian creature he heard would bring a terrible to danger to the land. Not that he could blame her for trying to protect her home, but Harold wanted to protest that it was all a big mistake. Then again, he saw crime movies about innocent people testifying their innocence only to be brought down by the detectives interrogating him, so protesting was an option scratched off.

Suddenly, the magenta aura around the alicorn began to glow again. Harold, out of instinct, flinched back against the walls of his round prison. He remembered distinctly about what Fluttershy said about alicorn ponies, how their magic was unrivaled by the most powerful unicorns. If that was true, then the alicorn he beheld would turn him into a toad, or reduce him into a pile of ash, or even turn him into a toad then reduce him to a pile of ash!

Harold covered his eyes as the pony's horn flashed a white light, feeling his hand grab his locket. Surely, this was the spell that would send him into the next world, where he would never fulfill his promise to Lana. He gripped his locket tight enough to leave some scarring on his hand, though the scars wouldn't matter considering that he would be in the afterlife after this.

Again, he didn't know if he was dead or alive, just like before. He didn't feel his body burst into fire, so that ruled out the possibility that he was reduced to a pile of ashes and soot. That meant that he was either alive and well, or he was alive and transformed into a little brown toad. Just like before, all he had to do was open his eyes to see if he had remained intact, unharmed or untampered by the alicorn's magic.

Harold once again opened his eyes.

He saw himself sitting in the sphere, facing the confused eyes of the equine princess levitating a quill pen, an ink cartridge and a single parchment scroll, all surrounded by her magenta aura. Harold quickly inspected his hands, both front and back, and saw that they were perfectly normal. He used those same hands to check his torso and feel his face and found that there was no evidence that they were altered by the princess's magic themselves. Finally, he checked the backside of his pants to see if any tail grew out of it. Luckily for him, there wasn't any stubble around his bottom, so he was relieved to find that he hadn't been turned into an animal.

"What are you doing?" the princess asked.

"Well, umm..." Harold slumped back shyly, twiddling his thumbs together while turned away. He was a bit embarrassed that his nervousness caused him to jump the gun with the alicorn's magic. "Y-You used your horn to produce magic, so when you lit up your horn, I thought you were gonna turn me into a toad... or something else."

"Relax," the princess mare ordered her prisoner. "I won't use my magic to hurt you. In fact, I can only use my magic against somepony or something when they pose a great threat to Equestria." Harold knew that the alicorn was referring to him as a something rather than just a person. He cowered back as the pony's stone cold glare stared down at him, feeling small and insignificant against the colossal, magical might of the royal mare. "Besides, I'm just writing a letter to my former mentor. I'm sure she would love to have a word or two with you."

Harold was slightly relieved to learn the alicorn wasn't going to hurt him. Still, he mentally slapped himself for thinking the pony was going to use her alicorn magic to harm him, a bit of a nasty habit he picked up whenever he was under the impression that a fellow student was about to make a move on him. That was something that ten years of being beat up and shoved into tight lockers did to him. When the alicorn cleared her throat, Harold watched and listened as the princess began to write her letter, dictating her thoughts out loud.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

Earlier today, you informed me in a confidential letter about a creature not from Equestria that would bring a dangerous and incredible threat. You also told me to gather my friends, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony and meet with you in a private meeting in Canterlot. Well, Princess, I'm here to report that I have captured what appears to be an intelligent creature who is not from Equestria itself.

A few moments ago, my friend, Rainbow Dash and I visited Fluttershy and informed her of the situation at hoof. While we were doing so, Spike spotted the creature wandering outside in Fluttershy's yard and we gave chase to it while it road on a vehicle similar to that of a bicycle. The creature managed to outrun Rainbow Dash, but after it lost control of his bicycle, I happened to save its life by ensnaring it and encased it in my magic before I created a protective sphere to safely contain it. I am currently keeping it contained as I am writing this letter down to you.

The creature appears to be a bipedal creature of mammalian origin, standing about 5' 3'', blondish-brown hair, blue eyes and is wearing dirty clothing on its body. Judging from the size and the appearance, I can only assume that this creature is a descendant of the hominid family, possibly male, and still in his youth. His species name is commonly referred to among his own kind as... um..."

The alicorn trailed off from her letter and looked towards Harold, her eyes slightly narrowed. "I need your species name and scientific name, if you please."

"Uh... hu-human..." Harold stammered. "I am a human. H-Homo sapien in scientific terms..."

"Right. How you spell 'human?'"

"H-U-M-A-N."

The alicorn gazed at Harold for a short moment before she went back to her letter, still dictating what she wrote down on the parchment. "His species name is commonly referred to among his own kind as a human, the scientific name being homo sapien. I'll figure out who this human is, where it is he came from and why he came to Equestria. In the meantime, I will be awaiting a reply from you so you may help determine what we should do with this human and see if he really is the danger to all of ponykind.

Sincerely, your former faithful student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle."

"Princess Twilight Spar--"

TING!

Harold yelped as the "sense" smacked him out of the blue, causing him to scoot back and cover his head. The "sense" felt as powerful as ever, having more intensity than when he felt it at the meadow. Princess Twilight Sparkle. That was the name of the lavender alicorn. It was like he knew that name, yet at the same time he did not. Where has he heard that name, and why did it hurt so much?

"Hey, are you alright?" the alicorn, Princess Twilight Sparkle asked as she watched Harold suffer with his migraine.

"I-I-I'm fine, Your Highness" Harold replied, rubbing his temples. "I've been having this headache ever since I came here. It's nothing, really."

Twilight Sparkle raised her eyebrow and hummed out of both intrigue and suspicion. "I'll have to look into your headache when I have the chance," she said as she wrapped up the scroll with her magic and sealed it with the red ribbon and gold stamp. With a flash of magenta light, the scroll disappeared and in its place was a glowing, magenta orb which shot off into the stretch of horizon, where the tallest mountain with the castle built alongside was located. Twilight then turned to Harold, conjuring up another scroll sincerely for her taking notes.

"Alright, human, as princess of Equestria, it's my duty to protect the citizens of Ponyville and Equestria from what we believe to be potential threats. Therefore..." Twilight gave her quill pen a quick dip in the ink cartridge and prepared to write her notes down. "...as per the 'Equestrian Princess Interrogation Code', I'll have to ask you a few questions and you have to answer them honestly. If you try and lie to me, I'll know and determine that you can't be trusted around everypony in Equestria. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Harold froze. Somehow or rather, he felt cornered as if he felt trapped more than ever in the magenta sphere. He feared that the game of quid pro quo with the alicorn princess would lead up to personal questions, ones mostly involving his troubled youth. There were times from Harold's messed-up childhood that he couldn't tell without fighting the urge into breaking down into tears, but he had no other choice. He had to explain his story to Twilight Sparkle, princess of Equestria and the highest power in the land of ponies. He needed to answer them with all sincere honesty, no exceptions to top it all off.

“Well?” Twilight asked with a near-impatient tone. “I’m waiting.”

Harold breathed slowly and deeply through his nose. There was no way he could avoid the questions, so he figured he had to go through with this interrogation. He was reluctant to do so, but if he lied to royalty, whether it was either human or pony, then he would be considered untrustworthy, and he never did anything to provoke such action. With a reluctant sigh, Harold meekly said, "I understand."

With that said, Twilight's nuzzle cracked a smile and she sat down on her haunches, prepared to supply Harold with the questions. Harold rubbed his thumb over the engraving on the locket, the one thing close to comfort for him, other than the air holes in the sphere. To tell the truth, he wasn't fully ready for the questions. Being interrogated would require a "good cop, bad cop" routine, and he did not like getting chewed out by the bad cop. If Twilight was the good cop, where was the bad cop to back her up?

"Okay, let's begin," Twilight finally said. "First off, I'd like you to tell me your name. I'd also like you to tell me about your world of origin and how you arrived in Equestria."

Harold rubbed his thumb over his locket's engraving, nervously tracing the shape of the rose written on it. "Do I have to answer them in that specific order?" he asked, though not sure why he asked such a question.

"It doesn't matter which order of answers you give me, so long as you give me the answers I'm looking for," Twilight stated as firmly as her gaze towards the human.

"Right," Harold muttered while he inhaled a calm and collecting breath. He took his free hand and nervously rubbed the back of his head before he explained a little part of his backstory. "W-W-Where I come from is a planet called Earth. I'm from a country called the United States of America, born in the state of New York."

Suddenly, Twilight's scribbling quill pen ceased its movement as her glare narrowed towards Harold's direction, raising an eyebrow for added effect. Harold became slightly unsettled by the way Twilight looked at him, knowing well that there was something in what he said that she didn't believe. "Excuse me, but would you mind repeating the planet where you came from?"

"E-Earth. I-I-Is there something wrong, Princess?" Harold asked.

"Actually, there is," Twilight answered. "Don't you know that the planet you're currently on is called Earth?"

Harold's body jolted upwards with surprise. "WHAT!? Wait a minute, wait a minute! Are you saying that the planet I'm on right now and the planet where I came from is called Earth as well!?" Twilight nodded her head only once. Harold felt his whole body slide alongside the concave walls of the sphere until he curled into a shocked slump. "I don't believe this. I thought this place was called Equestria!"

“No, Equestria is just the country. This planet, the planet we’re currently on, is called Earth,” Twilight explained before she narrowed her eyes further to meet with harold's widened eyes. "In fact, if you really came from another planet that's also named Earth, then why don’t you prove to me that you’re not lying about the name of your planet?”

“Uh, okay. Umm...” Harold sat up in an Indian-style pose and curled his index finger over his lips, quickly pondering a way to convince the young alicorn that his homeworld was called Earth. Then, in the snap of his fingers, Harold came up with the perfect solution. He would have to list out the key points that made his planet Earth, his planet Earth.

"Okay. My planet Earth is one out of eight planets that revolve around our Sun called the Solar System, one dwarf planet being the lone wolf. Seventy percent of our planet is covered with water and our population span to about, uhh... over seven billion people." Harold rubbed the back of his head as he attempted to make a little joke to the royal alicorn. "Seven billion minus one because... well, I got transported here... heh, heh, heh..."

Unfortunately, Twilight didn't share with Harold's sense of humor as she was too busy writing down the notes from what the human had told her. Despite her stoic, princess look, Twilight felt fascinated by these facts on the inside, making a mental note to ask Harold for more on his world. "That is quite interesting. None of the details you've mentioned about your world matches all of the details in our world, save for the name."

Twilight scribbled the last of the additions on the parchment scroll before she finished with a single tap of her quill pen. She then turned back to Harold which seemed to perk him up with surprise. "So I guess you are from a planet that's also called Earth. Would you care to tell me how exactly you ended up here, in Equestria of all places?"

"I'm not sure myself," Harold said forlornly. "All I know is that recently, I was riding my bicycle down the main highway when this big tornado hit a mile behind me. I tried to pedal away as fast as I could, but I got caught up in the vortex and I blacked out. When I woke up, I found myself here. I didn't want to believe it was real, but given everything that's happened today, I had to accept that this entire place was real."

"A tornado brought you here? You're kidding," Twilight stated flatly.

"I wish I was kidding, but I'm not," Harold said before pondering the very last minute he could remember before he blacked out. "Although, it is strange. When I was caught in that tornado, I remember getting so badly hurt, I couldn't think straight. My bones were broken, my limbs were twisted like a pretzel and my stuff being severely damaged along with me. But when I woke up here, I felt completely rejuvenated and refreshed, almost as if I had a good night's sleep. To top it all off, all of my injuries healed up completely and the damage to my stuff just seemed to have disappeared like they were as good as new."

"Hmmm. If you what is true, then there must be a logical explanation for your mysterious arrival," Twilight noted. "Do you have any idea what could've brought you here?"

"Not really. I don't even have any idea exactly how long I blacked out for until today," Harold said forlornly.

"Then I guess that's a mystery worth looking into. Once I get in touch with Princess Celestia, I'll ask her if she could help look into this mystery, too," Twilight said as she finished up her record. Once Twilight jotted down the last of her notes, she took one careful glance at the human boy over the top of the scroll, moving only her eyeballs upward to get a better view of him.

There was something about him that captured her interest, but she didn't know what it was. Twilight observed how the human shrunk himself against the sphere walls shyly, constantly shifting in his seat so nervously it was like interrogating Fluttershy. The way he was dressed in those dirty clothes and the condition they were in indicated that he changed into a fresh set for about four days, not even for one single time. From the shine on his dirty blonde hair, Twilight could also assume he hadn't washed himself around that same time as well.

But there was something else about the boy that also caught Twilight's interest. It wasn't from observation, rather it was a gut feeling, a flitter of one hundred butterflies tickling her stomach walls. Twilight almost felt like she had some sort of attraction to the human teenager she couldn't explain, but it felt like magnets pulling towards each other, with alarms ringing somewhere deep in her mind. She didn't like that feeling, but then again, she didn't like it when exactly one book was accidentally misplaced on her library shelves, so she discarded that feeling and moved on with her interrogation.

"Okay, now I'd like to ask you to give me your name," Twilight said, bringing Harold's attention to her.

"Oh. Oh yes! My name is--."

“YOU!”

All of a sudden, the magenta sphere was slammed hard by a cyan blur. While the speed and impact did not have nearly enough power to even dent the sphere, it did, however launch it and its poor prisoner into the air, spinning at incredible speeds while flying over the rocky hills and into the grassy meadows nearby. Harold was rolled around and bounced inside the spinning sphere, now realizing the horrors that laundry had to go through when they were placed in the washing machines and the dryers.

The sphere touched down on the grass and rolled thirty feet away from the foot of the cliff, until finally, it stopped near a small, running river with a forest on the other side. Harold groaned groggily as he tried to stand up, his dizziness and the minor bruising he suffered becoming a big challenge for him. He had one more reason for wanting to escape his spherical prison, and that was to not spill any vomit all over himself or on his clothes. A rising level of nausea was proof enough that Harold needed to get out and quickly.

Before Harold could even make a move, he looked past his swirling vision and saw a cyan-colored shape touch down near the sphere. Harold rubbed his eyes to help ease the dizziness and blinked twice, but not before he reeled back with shock. Standing before him was the same pegasus that chased him down into the forest with her messy, trademark rainbow mane and that furious fervor blazing in her raspberry-hued eyes.

It was Rainbow Dash, and from the looks of it, she looked absolutely peeved.

Without warning, Rainbow Dash suddenly flew into the outer sphere walls, her anger and speed just enough to make Harold jump back onto the other side of the round interior. Rainbow Dash, the self-proclaimed newest member of the Wonderbolts reserves, the fastest flier in Equestria and the Element of Loyalty, was no doubt ready to get revenge for the humiliation she suffered at the hands of the human, who was riding on a bicycle in less than half the speed that she intended to use to catch him. Instead, all that speed ever did was give an opportunity for the human to suddenly veer off in a different direction while she got half-stuck in a petrified tree.

With Harold trapped inside Twilight's impenetrable sphere, this was the perfect time to give the human a piece of her shattered pride and corner him like a scared puppy. “Alright, tough guy! You’ve got five seconds to explain yourself! Who are you!? Who are you working for!? What were you doing near Fluttershy's house, huh!? Were you sent here to destroy Equestria!? WHOA!"

Before Rainbow Dash could get through to the human, she was yanked back at her multicolored tail by Twilight's magic. “That’s enough, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight scolded. “There’s no need for you to go rough on him! I was in the middle of interrogating him!"

“No need to go rough!?” Rainbow Dash spat. “Twilight, I just got my flank handed over to me by a rag-wearing primate! I was just this close to getting him with my own two hooves! This close! But that monkey humiliated me by making me crash into that tree with that slow piece of scrap metal he was riding on!”

"Rainbow Dash, you're being ridiculous! First off, that 'rag-wearing primate' is called a human and he prefers it that way. Second, you were the one who flew recklessly into that tree in the first place!"

“Recklessly!? Twilight, that hue-man distracted me from looking where I was flying and I was twenty percent faster than that banged-up bicycle of his! Don’t you realize how much humiliation I’ll have to endure at the Wonderbolts Academy because some hue-man outmaneuvered Equestria’s Best Young Flyer riding some junkyard sculpture!?”

“Human, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight corrected flatly, "and I’m pretty sure that nopony is gonna find out that he escaped ‘Equestria’s Best Young Flyer’ if you don’t make a such a big deal out of this!”

“How am I making a big deal!?”

"STOP!"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash jumped at the sudden raise in Harold's voice and turned to him. Inside the sphere, they saw the human boy breathe heavily, eyes widened, teeth barred and arms hugging his chest. The two mares' bickering over Harold had unintentionally triggered his outburst, the remnant of his distaste for fighting. Harold realized his outburst shortly afterwards and cleared his throat, feeling slightly timid by his raised voice.

"Look, I-I'm sorry I screamed like that, a-a-and I'm sorry for whatever I did that might have mixed things up," Harold apologized shyly. “B-Bu-But please understand that this w-w-was all a big mis-misunderstanding. I would never... ever... think of putting anyone in harm's way unintentionally and..."

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute!” Rainbow Dash brashly interjected the stuttering human. “Are you saying that you wouldn’t hurt a fly, but with you being here and being labeled as a threat by the Princess herself was all some misunderstanding?” Harold whimpered “mm-hmm” and nodded his head slightly furiously. Rainbow Dash, however, was not convinced. “Yeah right! What a load of horse apples! Do you really expect me to believe that story!?”

"N-No, but..."

"Exactly!!" Rainbow Dash shrieked, making Harold jump before she thrusted a hoof in his direction. "So don't think I'm onto your trick here--HEY!!"

Once again, Rainbow Dash was pulled back by Twilight's magic holding onto her tail and dragged her back to her. "Rainbow Dash! What's gotten into you all of a sudden!?" Twilight snapped.

"Isn't that obvious!?" Rainbow Dash shot an accusing hoof at Harold. "It’s that hue-man, Twilight! I don’t know what planet he’s from nor do I really care! What I do care about is that he’s the guy that Princess Celestia told us to look out for, and boy was she right! He’s just buttering you up like bread so he could eat you for dinner...like bread!”

“For your information, Rainbow Dash, he’s from a planet that’s also called Earth,” Twilight informed. "And don't worry about him, he looks like the type who isn't part of a carnivorous species." Twilight looked back to Harold with a raised eyebrow. "You are part of an herbivorous species, aren't you?"

Harold rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "N-No, we humans are omnivorous, but I'm--"

“AH-HA! I knew it!” Rainbow Dash interjected, shocking Harold with his back flat against the wall. "His kind does eat meat! I bet they sent him here to Equestria so they could abduct ponies and bring them back home to use us as food!"

“Rainbow Dash! Let him speak!” Twilight interjected, her glare preventing the tomboy pegasus from speaking anymore harsh words.

Harold reached to his throat and swallowed the giant lump forming in his throat. "A-Anyway, we humans are an omnivorous species, but I'm a vegetarian. There are some of us humans who choose not to eat meat and they move on to other food groups, fruits, vegetables and all, and I happen to be one of them."

"But you humans still eat meat, right?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, almost all of my world population does. I don't know how many, though, probably ninety or ninety-five percent."

“Yeah, I'm sure those are the right numbers,” Rainbow Dash replied flatly, pushing the magenta sphere with a hard, intimidating poke. “Listen here, hue-man, I’m still not buying any of that crud you’re trying to sell here. If you so much as hurt anyone of my friends, or even touch on hair on their mane, I’ll personally kick your flank to the moon. Got it, punk?”

“RAINBOW DASH, WAIT!”

Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Harold all looked up and saw Fluttershy as she flew down to the sphere and landed in front of it before she stood in a defensive stance, her face bold with vindication. In a blink of an eye, Fluttershy unsheathed her yellow wings which backed Rainbow Dash away from her until she stood alongside Twilight, both surprised by her act of protecting the human.

“Fluttershy, get away from that guy!” Rainbow Dash shouted to her timid friend, trying to verbally move her away from Harold with no avail. “Don’t you know that’s the creature Princess Celestia said was gonna bring Equestria down!?”

Fluttershy gulped as she forced herself to break from her shyness and emerge as a serious protector. "Yes, Rainbow Dash, I knew that he was the creature warned you about," she said, her adorable, cute voice dropping into a serious tenor. "But do you want to know something else? I knew that he was at my cottage all this time! That's why I had to stall you two for time until he made his escape! The nerve of you both for treating him like some wild animal!”

Rainbow Dash and Twilight openly gasped with shock while Harold did so silently. To have Fluttershy come out to her friends about her protecting the human at the cost of her getting caught was appalling even to Harold. No one on Earth ever stuck out their neck for him whenever it was convenient. Not since that awful day...

“Now, wait a Celestia-darn minute, Fluttershy! You mean to tell me you knew about that hue-man this whole time and you didn’t tell us!?” Rainbow asked loudly, earning one hard nod from Fluttershy. “I can’t bucking believe this...”

While Rainbow Dash cursed under her breath, holding a hoof to her face and shaking her head disapprovingly, Twilight gently approached the timid pegasus. “Fluttershy, why were you hiding him from us? Were you afraid we would do something bad to him if we found him?”

Fluttershy swallowed hard, clearly the sign of her defending side putting on a conflicting strain with her usual timid demeanor. "Yes, Twilight, I was," she admitted. "I was afraid you would take him to Princess Celestia and throw him in the dungeon. I couldn't let you two do that to a child because I thought it would be a bit unethical if you did."

"But Fluttershy, you don't even know if that hue-man is dangerous," Twilight argued. "He may be at a young age, but Princess Celestia specifically said that this creature might bring down Equestria and therefore, that makes him wanted by the crown herself. Don't you know that the penalty of harboring a wanted fugitive is either banishment or thirty years in the dungeon?"

"Yes, Twilight, but I don't care about the penalty," Fluttershy stated, looking back to Harold then back to Twilight. "All I care about right now is for the wellbeing of my friend. I mean, just look at him. This poor boy has been through enough as it is, and both of you are treating him like he's some common enemy."

"You don't even know if that thing really is an enemy!" Rainbow Dash snapped.

"And you don't know that either!" Fluttershy retorted, her eyes narrowing down at her lifelong friend. "Look, I know this may sound exaggerated, but that 'thing' you're referring to, Dashie? He's called a human, and I know this may sound crazy, but deep down in my heart, I can see that he is a gentle soul! He wouldn't want to harm anypony unless he was provoked! Now look at what you're doing! All you're doing is keeping him locked away like an animal against his freewill and acting like a bully! Have you two no shame!?"

“Oh, come on!” Rainbow Dash snapped. “That’s the same gullible talk that nearly drove a wedge in our friendship when you were trying to reform Discord!"

“Well, that worked out in the end, didn’t it!?”

“Oh, give me a break, Fluttershy! This is a completely different matter! Why are you even letting that monkey off that easy!?”

Fluttershy brought herself to the magenta sphere, hugging it like she was protecting a helpless, innocent woodland creature while Harold looked on in astonishment. “Because that’s what friends are for, Rainbow Dash!” said Fluttershy, with a bold tone. “And as a friend, I’m going to do everything I can to help him on his journey back to his own world so he could fulfill a promise he made to somepony near and dear to him! If you can’t accept that, then I'm not coming with you to Canterlot!”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash gasped appallingly. Having Fluttershy refer to the human being as a friend and keeping him a secret from both of them was one thing, but to refuse to come to Canterlot under the Princess's orders for the sake of preserving the human boy's life was another thing. Fluttershy knew the consequences for her actions, but that was a risk she would take for a friend.

That was also brought to Harold as he felt something twinge in his heart. The way Fluttershy was so protective of him, it was like watching Lana protect him from the demonic hate of society all those years ago. "Fluttershy..."

"Fluttershy, failure to attend to Princess Celestia's summoning is a major crime. Not only would you be held on charges of harboring one Equestria's most wanted, but you would have to face in a bench trial with the Princess as a judge, and at the very least it'll mean you'll be put in the dungeons for life," Twilight warned. "Are you sure you can handle that?"

"Twilight, if helping a friend means facing a punishment from Princess Celestia herself, then that's something I have to take," Fluttershy stated.

Twilight sighed, dragged her hoof down her face and stamped it lightly with frustration before she began to pace back and forth in a straight line. "Great. Just perfect. This is just what I needed," she grumbled to herself. "I'm faced with one complicated dilemma only to fall into an even more complicated dilemma. First I needed to go around Ponyville and tell my friends to meet Princess Celestia, then I find this human walking around Fluttershy's house. If that's not the least of my problems, now we find out that one of my friends had kept a wanted creature a secret from us!"

"Heh. Feelings mutual," Rainbow Dash mumbled. "That monkey just shattered my pride as a future Wonderbolts reserves member."

Fluttershy gasped, appalled by her friend's behavior. "Rainbow Dash, shame on you!" she snapped. "Harold is not a monkey! He's a good human and a good artist, too!"

Something snapped inside Twilight's head. It felt like glass shattering into a million shards when she heard the human being named "Harold" by Fluttershy. There was something about the name, "Harold" that was starting to pound in her head like a painful throbbing. It felt and sounded familiar. Too familiar. The growing headache prompted her to stop pacing as the conversation between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash continued.

"Hair-Old? That's his name?" Rainbow Dash asked skeptically, a snicker escaping her cyan lips. "Oh, I get it. You're planning on keeping him as a pet too, huh?"

"No, I am not!" Fluttershy growled. "I told you, Harold is trying to fulfill a promise to somepony special and he's just trying to find his way back home!"

"Oh, so he's trying to get back home, huh? Well, the sooner he can find his way out of here, the better."

"Rainbow! You should know better than to pick on Harold like that! You should say you're sorry to him right now!"

"Why should I!? It's not like he's got any feelings or anything!"

"That's enough, the both of you!" Twilight barked, causing the bickering to end as she turned to the human. "Excuse me, human, but I heard Fluttershy called you Harold. Is that correct?"

"Y-Yes it is, your highness," stammered Harold. "My name is DeMatt. Harold DeMatt."

Twilight froze.

A whelming sense of dread overtook her senses as she compared the name to the human boy. Harold DeMatt. As she matched the name with the appearance of the human boy, Twilight's head swelled up inside, like there was something in her brain that was powerful enough to make it explode. Twilight's heart rate sped up and her hearing was limited only by the sound of her heartbeat drumming in her ears.

Harold DeMatt.

What was it in the name that struck Twilight as familiar?

Harold DeMatt.

Why did that name sound familiar?

Harold DeMatt.

"Harold DeMatt..." Twilight uttered.

That was when she felt that painful TINK!

“KYYYAAAAHHHHH!”

CRACK!! BOOOOOOOM!!

Suddenly, in a fit of searing pain in her horn, Twilight screamed and ear-shattering shriek before her magic exploded like thunder, shocking everyone back. Magenta sparks flew from Twilight's horn until the aura of magic surrounded its magical conduit enveloped the horn in high intensity, wrapping itself around the alicorn's body. Twilight's violet eyes flashed into a white light as she was lifted in mid-air, five feet off the ground without the use of her wings. Streaks of white lightning started to crack and fly out uncontrollably from the aura and into distances unknown.

Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Harold all witnessed in horror as the alicorn wriggled in her own aura, writhing in shocking pain. Rainbow Dash backed away slowly while Fluttershy took cover behind Harold's spherical prison. All that Harold could do was back himself against the concave walls until he couldn't push himself into the safety of the walls any longer.

Then, he noticed something about the princess's fits that caught his attention. He saw the cold sweat trickle down her forehead, starting at the base of her horn. He saw the way she clutched her head in her hooves, meaning she was suffering from the worst headache in her life. He saw how the alicorn lost control of her senses the way he did earlier.

"No way!" Harold thought as a realization slammed into him. "Is that what I think it is!?"

"Rainbow Dash, what's happening to Twilight!?" the pegasus yelled, back in her frightened state.

"I don't know, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash shouted, glaring at the human. “Why don't you ask your 'friend' over there!? Maybe he knows what's going on!"

Despite the brash spatting of the tomboy pegasus, Rainbow Dash was correct. Harold knew exactly what was going on with Twilight, from what the symptoms appeared to be similar to the same feeling he felt when he learned the name of the pony-inhabited land. The headache, the sweat, the loss of control over the subject's body.

Harold knew very well what it meant.

It meant Princess Twilight Sparkle was feeling the “sense!”

Chapter 21: Another Day, Another Bit

Princess Celestia yawned as her biological alarm clock awoken her from her peaceful and graceful slumber. A brush wrapped in golden light floated to the Princess of the Sun and stroked her messy ethereal mane. Gently she brought her royal regalia, horseshoes and her crown to her. She gave herself a good stretch of her legs and walked out to go raise her beloved sun from its nightly slumber.

Celestia walked out to the balcony where she raised her sun daily. She lit her horn into her golden light. Little by little, the great orb of light rose from behind the mountains. The once shadowed Equestria was blessed by the warm light radiating by the sunrise. All Royal Night Guards switched posts with the Royal Day Guards as Celestia walked from her balcony to the hallways.

Daintily stepping through the hallways decorated with stained glass windows, Celestia yawned and prepared herself for the Day Court to begin. When she walked through the main hall of Canterlot Castle, she spotted her sister Luna, who looked out of the windows at the staircase. She did not utter a word.

“Good morning, Luna. Have your guards caught the Blurry Thief yet?”

Luna did not respond to her sister’s morning welcome.

“You may rest, sister. I’ll be taking the day shift now.”

“How could you?”

Celestia turned to Luna. The dark alicorn’s tone sounded very peeved.

“Luna?”

“HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO YOUR OWN STUDENT AND THAT POOR BOY!?”

Luna turned to Celestia. Her face was soaked by tears mixed in with a very angry and upset face. To complete this negative feel, Luna used her Royal Canterlot Voice towards her own sister. This alone was enough to reel Celestia back.

“What are you speaking of, Luna?” the ivory alicorn asked.

“I’M SPEAKING OF WHAT YOU DID TO TWILIGHT SPARKLE AND THE HUMAN NAMED HAROLD! I VISITED THEIR DREAMS, CELESTIA! I LOOKED THROUGH THEIR MEMORIES! I’VE SEEN THE MEMORY LOCKS YOU’VE ENCHANTED WITHIN THEIR SUBCONSCIOUS! YOUR MEMORY LOCKS! YOU’VE USED THOSE SPELLS ON THEM, CELESTIA! HAVE YOU NOT REALIZED WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THEM WHEN THOSE LOCKS FINALLY BREAK!?”

Celestia held her breath in shock. Then she sighed.

“Luna, listen to me. FIrst off, do not use the Royal Canterlot Voice on this situation. Nopony must know what we did to our subjects. Second, there is a good reason why I was forced to use the spells on them. And lastly--”

“A GOOD REASON!? WHAT GOOD REASON IS THERE WHEN YOU LOCKED THE MEMORIES OF TWILIGHT AND HER NEW COMPANION!? I’M BEGINNING TO THINK THEY’RE NOT NEW COMPANIONS AT ALL, CELESTIA! AND YOU’VE NEGLECTED TO TELL THEM THE SIGNS OF HIS RETURN! ALL OF EQUESTRIA MIGHT FALL BECAUSE OF...BECAUSE O-O-OFFFF...”

Luna broke down sobbing again. Celestia trotted over to her sister and nuzzled her.

“Luna, there is another reason for your behavior isn’t there?” Luna whimpered an “mmm-hmm” as she sniffled again.

“When...When I went into the boy’s dreams...I saw Him.” Celestia’s eyes widened. “He was invoking a nightmare, Tia. He and the Stormbow are trying to break him. I...I dug deep into his memories...” Luna sobbed once more. “Oh, Tia, it was sad I...I..”

Celestia wrapped her sister in her wing’s embrace.

“Luna, if talking about it cannot do you any good, then you must show me. What was it that you saw last night?”

Luna sniffled once more and lit her horn a night sky blue. She connected it to Celestia’s horn, wrapping it in the blue aura as the ivory alicorn could see what Luna saw. The nightmare and the memories of Harold DeMatt.

=====================================================================

The sun shone through the glass windows of the Golden Oaks Library. Harold slowly opened his eyes to the warm and gentle light. They were encrusted with gunk and crust. After a nightmare like that, Harold barely kept himself asleep by only a couple of times. He looked at the clock outside in the field.

6:48 A.M.

“Perfect,” Harold complained in his head. “Not only did I not get my 8-hour sleep, now I wake up so early in the morning. Stupid nightmare.”

Harold tried in vain to shut his eyes back into a sleeping state for five more minutes. Unfortunately, his eyes were burning and watering, so he couldn’t keep them closed by five seconds. He finally gave up on sleeping, stretched himself, slipped on his shoes, put his locket on over his head and proceeded to the staircase leading downstairs.

“Morning, Owlowiscious.”

The owl perched up on the rack was sleeping his way through the daytime. Harold put on his new jacket and proceeded downstairs.

It took all of Harold’s counterbalance to prevent him from taking a nasty tumble down the stairs. Tiredly, he searched every room in the foyer until at last, he found the beautiful white throne waiting for him to do his morning business, to which he did.

FLUSH!

“Ahhh, that’s a relief,” Harold muttered.

Then something sweet swept through his nostrils. It smelled like batter frying on a frying pan in the kitchen and eggs being cooked sunny side up. He could hear the sizzling of the frying pan and the happy humming of a little boy echoing from the kitchen.

“I knew something was different. I didn’t hear Spike snore when I woke up.”

Harold walked in the kitchen and found that his senses were correct. Spike was happily tending to the eggs while he flipped a stack of pancakes onto a plate on the counter. Another stack of pancakes sat on another plate, only these breakfast treats were decorated in rubies, sapphires and emeralds.

“Morning, Spike.”

“AAHHH!”

In response to the sudden shock, Spike flipped the eggs from the pan onto Harold’s eyes.

“AAAUUUUGGGGHHH!”

The human screamed in pain as the egg burned into his face, causing him to run around the library yelling, “Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!” repeatedly. Spike jerked himself around for a solution to end Harold’s painful experience. He looked and found an empty glass. He quickly filled it with water and splashed it on the human’s face.

The eggs sizzled their last as Harold slipped them off of his eyes. The area around the eyes were red and slightly burnt, but no other damage was done. Harold opened his burnt eyes and looked at Spike, who smiled sheepishly.

“S-Sorry about that, Harold,” the young dragon apologized shakily.

“No, Spike it’s fine.” Harold touched the burnt areas and winced. “I guess that’s one way to wake up in the morning.”

Spike laughed nervously.

“But seriously, Spike, you’ve gotta stop getting scared every time we make eye contact. That’s becoming a common mistake here in this household.” Harold dabbed a cold, wet cloth to the burnt areas at his eye.

“Sorry. I’m still trying to get used to having an alien living in our house,” Spike explained.

“I just hope all of Ponyville does the same.”

*GRRROOOOWWWWLLLLL*

Harold’s stomach grumbled.

“You know, speaking of food, let’s have breakfast. I’m starving.”

“Okay.” Spike grabbed a plate and grabbed four pancakes and set them on the platter for Harold. “What do you want on your pancakes? Berries, butter, maple syrup.”

“You know, berries would sound nice,” Harold said as he poured himself a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. “And maybe a dab of maple syrup, too. Could I have the eggs that also stuck to my face?”

Spike slipped Harold the eggs, while adding a mix of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries at the topmost flapjack and covered them with a bit of the sweet syrup that oozed viscously downwards underneath each crack. Harold’s mouth became a waterfall of pouring saliva as he observed this array of pancakes and eggs served to him.

Harold took the first bite.

Then he found his mind going blank. The sugary sweetness of the syrup, mixed with the fluffiness of the pankcakes, adding in the tartness of the berries were enough to snap him back and wolfed down the

“Delicious!” he shouted. “These are the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten!”

“I’m glad you like it,” Spike said, chowing down on his gem-encrusted breakfast. “I’ve taken culinary classes in Canterlot when Twilight and I lived there.”

“Wow. You must’ve scored an A+ in that class because this is good!” Harold gulped down the pancake slices and went for another bite. “And I mean, really good!”

Spike blushed. “Awww, come on.”

The young dragon bit into his pancake and munched it. The gems he crunched on raised so much questions for Harold.

“Hey, how come you’re eating gems in your pancake? Doesn’t that hurt?”

Spike swallowed his pancake before he answered the human. “Oh that? Well, I eat gems. Since dragons usually go for...*shudder*...meat, I prefer to eat these little beauties, plus whatever everypony eats.” The dragon munched on another piece. “And don’t worry, dragon teeth are harder that rock, so I can chew them no problem!”

“Okaaaayyy.”

That also raised so many questions. But since it was breakfast time, Harold didn’t want to spoil it with asking.

Coming from upstairs, the duo heard Twilight’s groaning along with a set of hoofsteps coming downstairs. They looked at the staircase and suddenly broke out in laughter.

Twilight came down looking like a wreck. Her eyes were baggy, red and decorated with crust. Her mane was frizzy, messy and totally out of shape. Her wings were messed up and drooping like a dying houseplant.

“Good morning, Sleepy Beauty,” Harold said, suppressing his giggle. “Get a good night’s sleep?”

Twilight yawned and rubbed her eyes. “Actually, Harold, I didn’t get a good sleep. I had a nightmare last night.”

Harold’s giggling suddenly stopped, but that didn’t stop Spike from laughing. “Which nightmare was it? The one where you were at the graduation ceremony and wore nothing but a pantyhose on stage!?” The dragon laughed until he fell off the counter.

“A nightmare? Last night?” Harold put his index finger knuckle under his lower lip. “Strange. I do remember hearing tossing and turning at Twilight’s bed last night. I wonder if she was dreaming about something worse than me?”

Twilight levitated her plate with the pancakes and added butter and maple syrup, a classic pancake combination. She ate her pancakes with her eyes half shut while she levitated a mug of coffee to her mouth and drank it.

“What was that dream last night?” Twilight thought as she finished her sip. “All I heard were voices. I recognize those voices and I recognize the time, but I can’t remember when that whole scenario took place. It happened ten years ago, but...when was that?”

“Twilight?”

The alicorn stopped eating and looked at Harold. At least he looked better than she did when she got out of bed.

“Twilight? Do you need to get to bed again? You look like you were spacing out again.”

“I’m fine,” Twilight grumbled. Her vision came into focus better as her eyes slowly opened all the way. “Hey, Harold, is your face alright? The areas around your eyes look kind of red.”

“I’m fine,” Harold mimicked. “I just had a little disagreement with breakfast.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t wake up to that, Twilight,” Spike said. “He was so loud, he would’ve came in second place in Equestria’s Canterlot Voice Competition.”

“And who would come in first?”

“You would, Twilight.” Spike giggled and Harold broke into a smile.

Twilight laughed back sarcastically with a deadpanned look. “Heheheheh, not funny. Spike, could go out and get the mail for me?”

Spike got up and walked the door to the mailbox. A few seconds later, Spike came in with a bunch of envelopes in his claws, all being thrown away as the dragon plainly read off the mail. “Bills, bills, bills, magazine, magazine subscription, packaged letter, bills, bills...Huh, that’s weird.”

Both human and alicorn turned to the dragon.

“What? What’s weird?” Twilight asked.

“There’s a parchment scroll addressed to one ‘Monster and Princess Twilight Sparkle. From Mayor Mare.’”

“She means me, doesn’t she?” Harold asked with his spirit slightly crushed.

“Well don’t just stand there, Spike. Read it to us,” Twilight ordered.

Spike cleared his throat and opened up the letter.

“Dearest Princess Twilight Sparkle,

It has come to my attention that the ponies of Ponyville are complaining about a monster living in the confines of your home. As Mayor of Ponyville, I must recommend we meet in private and talk regarding the monster.

As much as I hate to respond to the morbid and mildly disturbing complaints about this two-legged beast, I am the voice of Ponyville ponies and I will do anything to help maintain the wellbeing of our fair pop-u-lace?”

“Very good, Spike,” Twilight cooed. “Please keep reading.”

And Spike did so.

“Therefore, we must meet today in the Town Hall at noon and discuss how we may be able to deal with this situation.

Sincerely,

Mayor Mare, Mayor of Ponyville.”

Twilight and Harold sat on the stools, appalled, mortified and exasperated.

“WHAT!? Mayor Mare is against having Harold staying here!?” Twilight yelled.

“I don’t know, Twilight. That’s up for her to decide.”

“Ponyville has a mayor?” Harold asked.

“Of course we do. She helps me with political business.” Twilight leaned closer into the teenager’s face. “Why? Did you think just because I was a Princess that I would rule over our fair town?”

Harold stammered.

“How am I getting out of this one?”

Twilight huffed. “That doesn’t matter now. What matters is making sure Mayor Mare is comfortable with having you stay in Ponyville. She’s no princess, but she does hold some power in her house.”

“So what are gonna do, Twilight?” Spike asked, worried for his new bipedal friend.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea, Spike. I’ll talk to the Mayor and convince her to let our esteemed guest stay in Ponyville.” Twilight turned to the human. “Meanwhile, you will be visiting Pinkie Pie and Applejack like you promised. Now might be a good time for you to go while everpony is still in their houses.”

Harold felt a bit hurt. “You mean now? But why?”

“Because I saw how uncomfortable everypony made you feel when you first arrived here. You don’t want to take that chance, do you?”

The human pondered a bit. “No I do not.”

“Good. Why don’t you get your stuff together and get going before everypony’s out and about?”

Harold gave a salute to Twilight’s order. “Will do, Your Highness.”

With that said, he quickly obtained his sketchbook, art supplies and his iPod before he walked out of the door with his trusty bicycle by his side. Thank goodness for Twilight’s close observation. Windows were shut. Birds were singing their melodious tune. Only a few ponies were out on the streets, most of them setting up their shops for their business to thrive daily.

Harold looked both ways like he was crossing the street. Then, in a creeping creeping silence, minus the spokes of his bike going “click, click, click, click,” he rode off into the direction of Sugarcube Corner.

As soon as the human rode off from the library, Twilight took advantage of this time to ponder how she could convince Mayor Mare to let Harold stay. Of course, Spike sat himself on the counter, edgy and suspenseful for Twilight’s meeting.

“So what’s the plan, Twilight? How are you gonna get through to the Mayor?”

Twilight tapped her chin with her hoof. “I’ve got a good idea how, Spike. Don’t worry, everything’s going to be just fine.”

“That’s what worries me the most,” Spike mumbled.

=====================================================================

Pinkie Pie zipped and zoomed all over Sugarcube Corner, getting everything ready and organized for the arrival of her new otherworldly friend. Watching this display of excitement were two Earth ponies who owned the sweet shop. One was a slightly chubby blue mare with a pank mane that looked like icing covering her head. The other was a yellow stallion with an orange mane and a square chin.

The husband-and-wife team were both wearing an uncertain look for their apprentice and #1 employee.

“Pinkie, dear, are you sure you’re alright with that...thing staying over here?” the mare asked shakily.

“I’m sure as Celestia I am, Mrs. Cake,” Pinkie said jovially. “Don’t you worry about a thing. Harold’s a really, really, REALLY good guy once you get to know him better like me and Twilight and Rarity and Rainbow--”

“I-I-I’m not sure about this, Pinkie Pie” the stallion said. “What of our foals, Pound and Pumpkin?”

“No worries, Mr. Cake. I totally promise that he won’t hurt them one bit!” Then a knocking was heard coming from the door. Pinkie’s eyes expanded for she knew who was outside the shop. “It’s him! I’ll get it!”

The pink pony shot to the door and opened it, revealing to be none other than...

“Hiya, Harold! How’s my new hyoo...hue...ummm, how’s my new friend doing!?”

“To be honest, Pinkie, I’m a bit tired.” Harold rubbed his still drowsy eye. “I had a wicked bad nightmare last night.”

“Awww, I’m sorry to hear that,” Pinkie Pie said, grabbing the human’s arm. “Well, come inside! I want you to meet the owners and my employers! I promise that they’re super super nice!!” The pink pony pulled her human companion inside, leaving his bicycle just outside of Sugarcube Corner.

=====================================================================

A shocked Celestia could not dam the tears when she saw what Luna saw. She saw only pain, sadness and misery embedded in the memories of Harold. The way the human described the world he lived in was put mildly compared to living the memories of Harold’s life.

“My stars,” Celestia muttered. “I thought the Earth Harold described was depressed like he said it was, but I never thought of it as both cruel and destitute.”

The ivory alicorn trotted to her sister and shared another wing embrace. In a moment of silence, they shed their tears in deepest condolences for the boy’s sudden tragedy. Celestia gently undid the embrace, slipping on another stoic mask to her face and proceeded to her throne room.

“Tia. What can we do now?” Luna asked her sister.

“You go get some rest, Luna. I’ll contact Twilight Sparkle first thing after the Day Court goes into intermission. I must have them know everything that has happened in Harold’s tragic life.” Celestia looked back at Luna with a saddened smile. “Trust me, little sister. Everything will be fine.”

The dark alicorn turned and trotted her way back to her room for her daytime rest. Celestia continued trotting to her vast throne room for her Day Court to begin with a happy smile on her delicate visage. But deep down inside, she was filled with both sorrow and regret.

“Harold...I’m so sorry I put you through all of this.”

Chapter 1: I Wish Upon a Star (Re-Re-Edited)

A roar of laughing jeers and mocking giggling echoed through the school hallway. Ten-year-old Harold DeMatt laid on the floor with his face in the tiles, hiding his faint sobs of despair. His sky blue backpack was unzipped and its contents spilt all over the floor. Three students towering over Harold looked down on him, each with a wicked sneer on his face. A sneer that significantly meant they were enjoying the pleasure of seeing Harold squirm and cry.

The three students beating the poor lad were the local bullies. The lead bully of the pack was the “high and mighty” Drake Singer, a messy brown-haired ruffian with a scar running through his right eyelid. Following by his side were two lackeys, Al Keith and Roger Hayes. Now, Al Keith was someone that people would call a slow-thinking golem, a balding hulk-like figure with the I.Q of 60 and muscles ripped all over his body as if he was high on steroids. His anger matched his persona as well. Roger Hayes was a skinny guy with long curly hair, making him look like a walking mop. His hair covered his right eye, his left eye bloodshot and baggy with fatigue. To that end, he earned the nickname, "Red-Eyed Mophead," mostly "Mophead," due to his appearance. What he lacked in figure he made up for in lightweight wrestling.

But then, there was their leader, Drake Singer. He was a little shorter that Roger was, only about an inch. He had messy brown hair and a scar on his right eyelid which he got during a fight in the streets. He was known for being calm, cool and collective, though only when he didn't participate in a fight. Whenever Drake was landed a hard blow or the first to draw blood, his calm demeanor would be swapped with someone dangerous, a fierce force to be reckoned with. All three of the bullies were in the 6th grade remedial class, all stricken with poverty and homelessness. Their only needs of therapy was the use of violence and taunting, Harold unfortunately being the maitre'd for their mashing.

On this particular day, Drake showed an example of his mashing.

“That’s a real bad dent you’ve put in your locker, Harold. Here, why don’t we try fixing that?”

It was the third Tuesday of the month, or what the bullies called, Locker Day. It was a day when the bullies marched down through the hallways, stuffing any unfortunate soul who happened to be near their locker when they passed through. Their victim was mostly poor Harold, whose slow and steady pace made him an easy target. Drake opened Harold’s locker door and had Roger and Al shove him in the cramped storage, headfirst. Drake peered down into the locker and watched as Harold sobbed and struggled to reposition himself in a more comfortable position.

“You can fix the indent better now, can’t you Harold?” Al and Roger laughed at the cruel antics their leader inflicted on Harold as Drake continued to mock him, festering his torment further. “As a matter of fact, Harold, why don’t you stay in here to ‘chill’ for the rest of the day? I’m sure somebody won't mind you being stuck in here. In fact, I won't mind anyone who would have the guts to let you out of here.” Drake threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh, the crowd joining in on the mocking laughter.

“I mind.”

The strict voice caused the laughter to cease almost immediately.

Everyone in the halls turned and saw a fifteen-year-old girl gaze at the three bullies with her piercing glower. She had long blonde hair, bright blue eyes like sapphires and a face carved from angels that looked just as beautiful even when she was in an angry mood. The girl walked to the three bullies vigorously with the crowd of gathering students nervously backing away from her path. Everyone knew that Lana had a red belt in martial arts, the third highest ranking in that class and they backed away for fear of her wrath if they tried to mess with her or her little brother. The bullies, however, fearlessly kept their ground as Drake combed his messy hair with his fingers.

“Well hello, Lana. Fancy seeing you here around these parts.” Drake said while he slammed the door, trapping Harold inside. Metallic pounds and desperate screams were heard from the inside of the locker, making Lana's anger boil only by slightly. “Don’t you have a geography class you have to be at right now?”

“I have a free period to study, Drake, but you coming on to me is not the reason I’m here,” Lana said in a stern voice whilst pointing to the small metal storage. “You're going to let my brother of his locker right now and walk away. If you do that, then there won't be any need for another fight.”

Drake shook his head. “No can do, beautiful. You know me and the boys, it’s Locker Day. We just take whoever’s in the hallways alone and stuff ‘em in their lockers. It’s a sort of tradition,” he said nonchalantly, combing his hair with his hand. "You know what they say, you can't really break tradition."

“I don’t care if it’s some crappy international holiday. Just let my brother go and no one has to get hurt.”

Drake feigned fear with a mocking “ooh” sound. “Ooh, I’m so scared. Whatcha gonna do, Princess? Run home to your parents and tell them about our bad behavior and get us expelled? Try as you may, sweetheart, no one’s gonna listen to any kid of some greedy arrogant douchebag and some animal killing witch who just made ten species of endangered animals extinct.”

Princess. Sweetheart. Two of the many little words that would bring the Bruce Lee out of Lana. And it was at this moment that the fighter side of Lana would make an example of the three rich kids. Now, Harold could barely see what was happening through the sloping tops outside of the claustrophobic locker, but he heard enough to know what went on. First he heard his sister’s footsteps run down towards the lead bully and then heard a KRAAK! It was then followed by a high-pitched male screaming. Harold started snickering, for he knew what happened outside.

Lana had kicked Drake in the nuts.

Harold heard the tumblers of the locker unlock and saw his locker door open to reveal his older sister reaching out for his hand. It was a good thing that he entrusted her with his locker combinations for emergencies such as this. Harold firmly gripped her hand and felt himself gently pulled out of his steel cage. He looked over to see the “high and mighty” Drake Singer rolling on the ground in pain, screaming like a little girl while his hands covered his broken groin. Everyone in the halls stood near the walls like a statue, their eyes widened and their mouths open to create a gawking face.

Drake’s two flunkies gave both Lana and Harold a mean, murderous look. Harold whimpered under the stares of his tormentors and hid behind Lana, the latter laying a reassuring hand on his head. He could only watch Lana from the sidelines as she stood her ground against the forces of Al and Roger.

“What the hell did you do to him, DeMatt!?” asked the obviously brain-dead Al.

“Oh, you’re paying for breaking our boy’s balls right now, you damn wench!!” Roger growled.

Lana sighed disapprovingly. She turned and shot the two bullies a scowl, a stare that was powerful enough to make ten tough men cower with fear. Al and Roger were immediately drawn back from the stare, a sure warning that the two bullies that Lana would do worse to them than just a simple nut shot to Drake's family jewels. Al and Roger stood still for a moment, shuddering and whimpering masculinely. Then they quickly picked up Drake by the legs and started running down the hall, dragging their leader’s head on the ground behind them.

“If we ever see the either one of you anywhere in these halls again, you’re dead meat!” the two bullies shouted back as they turned around the corner of a nearby hall, out of sight. The spectators hanging around the walls all gave both Harold and Lana a cold stare before they quickly vacated the hallway, paying no more mind to the spawn of the world's most hated people. When the last student turned around and left the halls, Lana turned around and wiped the dust off of Harold's uniform and fixing his messed up hair.

“Are you alright, Harold?” Lana asked.

“I am now,” Harold said, smiling. “Thanks, big sis.”

"You're welcome, little brother. I'm just glad I got to you before they did any more damage to you." Lana quickly gathered up Harold’s school supplies from the floor and stuffed them back into his backpack. She kissed him on the forehead and patted him on the shoulder. "You'd better hurry up to your next class now, Harold. Your teacher is going to flip out if you're only a minute late again."

Harold smiled back, but his face quickly melted into melancholy as he felt something bother him. In all the years he spent in school, the students and the teachers had bullied him and beaten him senseless, but he never got to ask why they did what they did to him. Harold turned his gaze away to the tiled floors and rubbed his arms nervously as mustered up the courage to ask the question he so desired to ask his sister.

"Lana? Why do people hate us?"

Lana deeply breathed through her nose. She knew Harold would ask the question she feared, but it had to come out sooner or later. She knelt down on one knee and placed both hands on his shoulders, looking squarely in his eyes. "Well, Harold, it's because of our parents, remember? Our father took control of everyone's lives by taking away their wealth, their homes and their hopes while our mother made most of the planet's endangered animals extinct so she would make clothing and perfumes from them. It's because of this that the people came to resent the name of the DeMatt. They only see us as evil and wicked as they would see our parents and we can't change that now."

Harold lowered his head in shame, but he was lifted back up by the chin with Lana's hand. "Oh, but what do they all know? We're nothing like mother and father, right?" Lana asked. "After all, after with what they both put us through, we both agree that we'll never be as wicked as they are now. Right?"

"Right," Harold nodded, but still feeling distraught with shame and gloominess. "But Lana, how can we convince everyone that we're nothing like mom and dad? Everyone hates us and they won't even listen to a word I say. Nobody else besides Reginald wants to see--"

Lana raised her index finger to Harold's lip, gently shushing the boy and smiled. “Don't worry, Harold. There are plenty of people in this world who would want to listen to you. Just because we were born under a bad family doesn't mean we are bad people. If you need anything, just absolutely anything at all, then I am always right here with you..."

“Right here with you...”

“Right here with...”

“Right here...”

“Right...”

******************************************************************************

15-year-old Harold woke up with a small gasp. He sat up from the grassy field that he laid upon, his backpack used as his head pillow. The bright sun hung overhead the highway. A gentle breeze swayed through the fields with the grass and Harold’s greasy hair flowing with the tame winds. The sound of passing cars echoed through the open road, making it the perfect day to travel down the road. Sure, it seemed like a perfect day for Harold to ride his bicycle down to wherever the road took him. Though, to be honest, none of the days that he lived through had ever defined it as “a perfect day.” There may have been a silver lining, yes, but the rest of his days were nothing but gray and cloudy.

Today was day four since Harold’s lone pilgrimage out onto the open road. Day four of escaping the pain, captivity and the hate that was wrongly forced upon him. Day four of finally being free of the mundane tortures of school, homework and beatings. Day four of venturing to fulfill his promise to Lana. More importantly, it was day four of finding a new way to help bless the fifteen years of his life with a second chance.

In all that time, Harold never washed himself since there was no pond nor rain to shower the dirt off. He wore the same clothing everyday: a light gray T-shirt with the upper half and the sleeves red, a pair of polyester pants with a soft interior, dirty socks and a pair of white sneakers with grey front tips. The backside of each article of clothing were stained with dirt, probably from Harold lying on the ground every night.

Around his neck was his most prized possession: a round, circular, gold locket with an engraving of a rose with a star on top etched on the front. It was clean as a whistle, in mint condition and a memorabilia to Lana.

His weighing backpack was light blue and loaded with the necessary survival items for going out alone in the world, including bug spray and a flashlight. On the night before he started his journey, Harold emptied his school supplies out and stuffed in one loaf of bread, a block of cheese, three glass jars of peaches, six bottles of water, a can of dried apricots, a sketchbook and a Ziploc bag full of different assortments of pencils and erasers. He had $142.67 worth of stolen money from his parent’s safes stashed in the front pocket, plus DVDs of classic movies that brought him fond memories of him and Lana together. The latter and the survival items were all presented to him, thanks in part to his head butler, Reginald.

The bicycle that Harold rode down the highway was white with a black leather seat and gears that shifted up to nine. The tires were a little flat thanks to Harold riding it nonstop all day for the past three days. The only times that Harold allowed himself off the bike was for eating meals, resting, bathroom breaks and hiding from the law. After all, he did run away from home. Home. Harold hated the very thought of home. In fact, he hated those thoughts so much, that it was the only thing on his mind while he aimlessly rode his bike down the main highway out of New York.

It was on this day, one month ago that Lana had passed away when a yellow-and-black Camaro, the black stripes running along the front of the hood, struck her when she tried to save Harold from getting hit himself. She passed away moments later, but not before handing down her locket, originally a Christmas present from Harold back to him. Lana had smiled gracefully, even when she drew her final breath. Drake Singer was there and so were Al and Roger, along with a crowd of witnesses who saw the unfolding scene themselves.

During the following month, Harold slumped into a deep depression. His big sister, one of the only few people he loved and loved him back, was gone forever. There was no way of seeing her again, except only in his dreams and memories. The New York City Police Department found the car, but couldn't find out who drove it. Harold lost his faith in humanity that day. He decided if the people of New York were beyond saving, despite how much Lana tried and helped them, there was exactly no point in helping them anymore. To that end, Harold took his bike, a load of cash like chicken feed to his estranged parents, his possessions and rode off into the night.

Ever since then, Harold was fuming murmurs and mutterings about the people who tormented him, humiliated him, hurt him even. Most of these murmurings were pointed towards his parents and the private school he was forced to attend. Today, in the late afternoon, Harold's complaining reached day four as he expunged his hatred from his system, all of which dripped with the sweat running down from his head. He wasn't fond of this much exercise he had in four days, but what better way was there to let his repressed anger and hatred out than pedaling his bike and moaning his loathing out?

“Mom, dad, I hope the both of you are proud of yourselves,” Harold murmured as he pushed his gears to five. “You two really made me sick to my stomach. First you made people suffer by taking away their money and homes, then you took pleasure in watching them squirm. And then you had the gall of saying my dreams and my promise to Lana would amount to nothing but a pile of ash and dust.” The day seemed to have quickly reverted into the late afternoon as he continued to pollute the air with thoughts of disgust at his home in New York City.

“Thinking back, I’m glad I ran away from you two posers. No one would miss me back at home. In fact, nobody would even notice that I was gone for this long.” Harold sighed. “Nobody would want to find me. I’m just the son of some corporate sleazeball with a B to C- grade average. Even if you two did went out looking for me, I would've been already long gone before you or your three bloodhounds would. You ritzy, self-centered, putzes.”

Harold humphed at the thought of his school. “The school wouldn’t miss me either. Drake and the other two can find someone to beat up in their prison cells for all I care. The teachers can just give my desk up to the firewood pile. Who cares? I'm never gonna go to a school like that ever again. Scratch that, I don't ever want to go to another school again.”

Then, one more thing ran through Harold’s thoughts as he rode along the road, the sun setting on the horizon. “Reginald, you hated mom and dad just as much as I did. You wanted me to fulfill Lana’s promise and you helped to see me off from that place. You even packed some of the necessary stuff I needed to survive in the wilderness... so why didn't you come with me? Why?"

A sharp pain in Harold’s belly interrupted his thoughts. It felt like a stomachache, but it was more of a wasting stomach feeling. The pain meant only one thing: “Guess it’s time to eat.”

Harold pulled over to the field next to the road, stepped off the bike and put the kickstand down. He sat himself against a nearby rock and took out his “dinner.” He unzipped his backpack to reveal what food he had left: half a loaf bread, a small block of cheese, a jar and half of peaches, two and a half-full bottles of water and several dried apricots. Harold made a cheese sandwich with peaches on the side and the half-full bottle of water to drink. He took his iPod out of pocket with about 32% of battery life left. He put the song to “Aerith’s Theme,” took a bite out of his sandwich and sat there quietly, observing the tranquil night sky above him, with the moonlight shining with serenity.

“The night sky sure is beautiful tonight,” Harold thought to himself. “Lana, I wish you were here to see the sky with me. We always loved watching the night sky together.” Harold pictured a strong image of him and Lana sitting on the roof of their mansion home in the sea of stellar lights. They sat close with their heads leaning on each other as a comet sailed through the majestic atmosphere.

Harold bit down on his sandwich hard as tears of sadness started to leak out of his eyes.

“I remember all of the times you used to stand up for me whenever Drake Singer and his two flunkies gave me a rough time.” Harold wearily chuckled at the image of Locker Day at school when Lana nailed Drake Singer in the family jewels. Everyone around the scene were taken aback, with their mouths gaping open in shock.

“Lana, before you died, you told me to not get angry in your name. I even promised you I would reach out for my dream and make that one thing in my life I never made. But... you had to give your life up... because of me...” One final image of Harold with Lana ran through his head. Harold was in the middle of a crosswalk, holding his dying sister across his lap while she held up her locket to him. Red streaks of blood flowed down her face, mixing with the downpour as they washed into the drains.

“It’s not... it’s not... fair.” Harold could briefly see an image of Lana’s smiling face in the heavens before it disappeared. With his sadness breaking out of the bottle, Harold threw his head and screamed.

“IT’S JUST NOT FAIR!” Harold bellowed towards the night. “GOD!! HOW COULD YOU TAKE MY SISTER AWAY LIKE THAT!? WHY DID I HAVE TO SUFFER A MONTH OF PAIN AND SADNESS BECAUSE YOU TOOK HER BEFORE SHE COULD DO SOMETHING RIGHT FOR THIS SICK COUNTRY!? IS THIS A PART OF YOUR SICK PLAN!? IS YOUR PLAN FOR ME TO SUFFER FOR LIFE UNTIL I DIE!? WHY WAS I THE ONE WHO HAD TO SUFFER FOR MY FAMILY!! WHY!?! WHY!?!”

Harold clutched his locket at his chest before he yelled up to another spirit in the heavens. “LANA! YOU TOLD ME THERE WAS ONE THING I NEVER MADE IN MY LIFE, BUT THEN YOU DIED BEFORE YOU COULD EVEN TELL ME!! WELL, WHAT WAS IT, LANA!? WHAT WAS IT THING I'VE NEVER MADE BEFORE!?” He gripped and he gripped until his hand was bruised from holding his sister’s locket. He held his bruised hand as he bawled out to the sky in tragic pain, his throat becoming hoarse with every scream aimed to at the night sky.

“LANA!! YOU ONCE TOLD ME IF I EVER FELT ALONE, I SHOULD LOOK UP TO THE SKY AND BELIEVE THAT YOU’RE HERE BESIDE ME!! WELL, LOOK AT ME LANA! I’M LOOKING UP AT THE SKY RIGHT NOW!! IT’S YOUR TURN, SO SHOW ME!! SHOW ME THAT YOU CAN HEAR ME RIGHT NOW, LANA! SHOW ME A SIGN!!” Harold started trembling before he broke down in tears and sobbed with his face buried in his hands. His fingers dug into his forehead as he choked on his breaths, his salty tears flowing down to the corners of his mouth and onto his tongue.

Then, as if the pleas of a heartbroken teenager’s were being answered, something strange started to happen. The once nightly gentle spring breeze quickly turned into strong gusts and gales. Black clouds rapidly moved in, shrouding the serene moonlight and the glowing stars into darkness.

Harold uncovered his face from his bruised palms and took notice of the wind and the sudden darkness. The wind seemed to be moving towards the direction opposite of the clouds' movement. Harold worriedly looked behind him to see what was attracting those close, a regrettable decision he made in his life. What he saw next shrank the runaway’s pupils to pinprick size. In exactly one mile away from where Harold settled down, a giant dusty spiral formed, attracting dust, dirt and dark clouds. The pavement was shredded like paper before they became the unwilling part of the tornado's wrath.

It was moving towards Harold.

It was moving fast.

“Aw, crap!” Without a moment of hesitation, Harold quickly gathered up his food, kicked the kickstand up off his bike and rode off away from the tornado as quick as a flash. Fire burned in his legs as Harold poured almost all of his energy into pedaling his bike, but his efforts were all in vain. Clouds of dust and grass from the highway flew into Harold’s eyes, scratching his vision and slowing him down greatly. Pavement from the highway started to crack and rise towards the spiral. The tornado’s suction power was so potent, it could suck up any unfortunate object or person within one-hundred yards away, including Harold and his bike. Harold felt himself lifted up by an invisible force, his bike flipped upside-down and its owner hanging onto its handlebars and was launched backwards into the dark spiral of doom, welcoming its victims into its vortex.

“LANA! LAAAAANNNNNAAAAA!”

His screams for help was drowned by both the volume of the storm as he was forcefully sucked into the storm. His fingers, so tightly latched onto the handlebars had snapped off, leaving Harold screaming like the kid he was, flying around the cyclone and whipped around the center. The sudden spinning action of the winds beat Harold worse than the beatings he undeservingly received at school. His backpack was ripped open by the extreme gale force and all of its contents were scattered among the swirling dust. His bike was crunched was the sudden breakneck whiplash while it moved closer into the eye of the storm. Harold held on to every little fiber of life he had left for him, but all too soon, his consciousness began to fade. He couldn't speak, see anything or even think straight. All of his senses were numbed and slowly meeting their way to death's door.

“No. I can’t die.... not like this... not now..." Harold thought to himself. "If I die now, I can never fulfill my promise to my sister.” Harold's vision faded into pure darkness, the dust and the flying rubble helping to shroud what little light was left to glow. His consciousness were ripped asunder, falling like broken glass and shattering into oblivion. Harold's eye leaked a single tear; he deemed himself as a pathetic failure. With his death, he would never find peace for he couldn't fulfill his promise to Lana. With his last breath, Harold looked up to the center of the storm, seeing his world fade away with the sucking winds.

Harold’s vision began to fade away into black, along with his consciousness. All the swirling dust and the rubble around became all but misty and dark. A tear started to form in his eye. He felt himself a failure, unable to finally fulfill his promise to Lana while he clung to his last moments in the mortal world. With his last breath, Harold looked up to center of the tornado, watching the wrathful cyclone as it sent him to Heaven to his sister's warm embrace.

“Lana, if you’re out there... is it possible that you could... you could give your brother another chance? Please?”

The tear dropped.

Then everything went black.

Harold floated in the abyss of eternal darkness, the one-way barrier between the mortal world and the spiritual world. Time had no meaning; everything seemed to flow on for what felt like an eternity. Reality had no absolute meaning in the dark void. It was only an empty blackness where Harold's sorrowful soul was drifting aimlessly, waiting until he would find himself before the gates of Heaven or the gates of Hell. For his sins of wanting wrath and living under his sister's shadow, Harold would probably kept in the dismal plane of Limbo, never moving on until he did what he promised to do on the mortal world.

Suddenly, from beyond the nonexistent darkness, a feminine voice called out to him. The voice was soft, gentle and calm. More importantly, the voice sounded familiar... a very familiar voice.

“Harold... Harold...”

Harold slowly opened his eyes, seeing the never-ending darkness stretching on to infinity. Then a beacon of light shone beyond the void, rays of bright, merciful illumination shining the darkness away. Harold looked at the center of the light and saw a silhouette of a person, her figure thin and slender without too much fat on her body, all wrapped in a dress of white woven silk. Her blonde hair reached down to the middle of her back, her sapphire blue eyes sparkling in her shaded figure. As the figure got closer, Harold could clearly see her face, a beautiful smiling visage carved in by the angels. Harold gasped lightly, for he knew that smile anywhere; the same calming smile that helped to calm even the most disturbed creature.

“Lana... is that you? Is this all real? Am I... really dead?” Harold felt a fear well up inside of his chest, a familiar fester growing with his worries and insecurities. A hot tear leaked from his eye, rolling down to his cheek. The ethereal girl reached over to Harold and caught the tear with her finger and traced up his cheek, the touch like a kiss of sunlight warming his cold, frigid skin. When the ear and its trail of moisture was wiped from Harold's face, the girl looked at him and smiled.

"Yes, Harold, it's me," Lana said gently, her voice as calming as her grin. "It's alright, little brother, I'm here." Lana reached over and slowly pulled Harold to her by his back, wrapping him in the most gentle and the most warm embrace he ever received. Harold felt himself become powerless in Lana's loving hug and every defense to hold his tears back lowered themselves. Then, he began to cry, burying his face his sister's chest. Lana stroked his hair and cooed in his ear, pulling him in tighter in her embrace.

“Lana... I’m sorry. I’m afraid that I couldn’t fulfill your promise.”

Lana pulled Harold from her hug and looked him in the eyes, wiping his tears forming in the corners of his eyes. She shook her and smiled, partially calming Harold of his sadness. "No, Harold. It's not your time to die yet, little brother," Lana assured her scared brother. "What you are feeling is a deep sleep. You will wake up from this sleep, but when you do, you must find out what it was you haven't made in your life."

Harold inhaled shakily from his sobs. He felt a new worry come across him, as he heard his beloved sister's tone become serious and direct. "But... but Lana, I don't even know what I haven't made before. Even if I did know what I've made, why is it so important? What was it that I've never made before?"

“You will find out in the near future, little brother. Everything that you've asked me will be revealed in due time” Lana gently pulled Harold into her arms for another embrace, whispering in his ear. “I have to go now, Harold. You're about to wake up, and I cannot keep you stuck in Limbo forever."

Lana pulled herself from Harold's grip and slowly retracted into the light. Harold reached his arm out, but was too late; Lana was beyond his reaching distance, not wanting her to go back into the light. "Lana, wait! You still haven't told me what it was!! What was it that I've never made!? Please, tell me! Tell me!"

"I'm afraid I can't, Harold. That is something that you are going to have to find out for yourself." A saddened smile spread across her lips once more, a crystalline tear forming in her eyes as she disappeared into the light. Then the light expanded outwards towards Harold, eliminating every darkness that wrapped him inside of its cooling hold as Harold shielded his arm against the intense illumination. "Goodbye, little brother."

“Lana. Lana, wait!”

Then everything went white.

Then the white reverted into black.

First there was silence, a gentle and tranquil sound of nothingness that helped put anybody to a peaceful slumber.

Within minutes of the silence, the gentle sounds of a gentle spring breeze were heard, slowly starting off as a dull roar, then building into the breezes rustling through the treetops. A beautiful duet of singing songbirds sung their precious tunes before it was replaced by the rhythmic flapping of wings. The sunlight's golden rays gave warmth and comfort for the body sprawled out in the grass, relaxing the soreness in his muscles. The bed on which he laid upon helped alleviate the pain on the back of his body, giving off a pleasant fragrance that drifted off with the winds.

That's when it hit him.

Flowers. Harold was lying down in a bed of flowers, the texture of the petals helping to lower the pain in his arm muscles.

Harold laid in the flower bed, motionless and too tired to open his eyes. He let the sunshine help him slowly regain his strength, just enough strength so he would open his eyes. In minutes that seemed to last for hours, Harold felt his pain drain from his system, until at last he fluttered his eyes open to a squint. The sea of bright blue loomed over Harold's exhausted body, the sunlight slowly shining in his eyes. Harold squinted his eyes, trying to prevent the strain of the sun's glare from doing any damage to his eyesight, but managed to adjust to the brightness. As he looked up to the endless sky, his mind began to rework its primary functions, a single question running through the depths of his brain.

“Where am I?”

==================================================================

“It was yet another beautiful night, Luna. Tell me, were you and your Lunar Guards successful in catching the thief last night?”

In the mysterious land, where the sun shone true and the grass was healthy and green, there was a tall mountain. Along the face of the mountain was a majestic city, built to watch over everything that happened in these fair lands. The majestic city, known to locals as Canterlot, contained a large castle. The castle walls were gleaming white and the tops of the towers were decorated with fancy patterns of yellow, gold and black hues. In one of the halls was a dining hall with a table as long as a school bus. Sitting at the opposite ends of the table were two of the land’s most regal and royal ponies, eating their breakfast, sipping tea and discussing the events of the previous night.

The ponies sitting on opposite ends of the table weren’t just any mere ponies. Both of these ponies had horns and wings. Such ponies with both horns and wings in creature mythology were referred to as alicorns. They both wore regalia over their bodies, crowns perched on the top of their heads, horseshoes placed in their hooves and necklaces worn around their delicate swan-like necks. In this strange land, the two sister ponies held the title as Princesses of Equestria, each governing the daytime and the nighttime.

The tallest alicorn sitting on one end of the table was colored an ivory white with a mane flowing with an invisible wind. The four colors that flowed with the mane ranged from pink, light green, indigo and turquoise, giving off tiny white sparkles. Her crown, necklace and horseshoes were pure gold, the first two accessories she wore had a purple diamond etched in the front. Her flank depicted an image of the yellow sun with orange flares rising from the center. To her subjects, this alicorn was Princess Celestia, wise immortal ruler of Equestria and Princess of the Day.

The shorter alicorn was colored a navy blue, her mane like the night sky flowing with the unseen wind also. Her regalia was pure ebony black and her necklace depicted a white waxing crescent moon, although her shoes were made a lighter blue. Her flank had what looked like a giant black ink blot, the image within depicting a similar crescent moon. This alicorn was named Princess Luna, the alicorn formerly known as Nightmare Moon, younger sister of Celestia and Princess of the Night.

Luna sipped the tea prepared by her servants, the cup encased in a navy blue glow just like horn was. After drinking the tea, Luna delicately placed the cup on the saucer, the glow surrounding her horn and cup disappearing. "Unfortunately, sister, the thief had managed to elude our best elite of Lunar Guards yet again," Luna informed. "The thief had managed to outrun and outwit even the best of my guards. He is both cunning and fast but we still underestimated him."

“That’s not all surprising” Celestia said nonchalantly. She lifted her teacup to her lips, her horn wrapping it up in a golden aura and daintily sipped the drink. “There had been times in the past when thieves and robbers would somehow evade our Guards with just the bat of an eye. Have you resorted to using her magic on him, my sister?"

"I have, Celestia," Luna replied. "But this thief has an extraordinary set of abilities. For one, the thief was completely immune to my magic and he is only an Earth pony. To make matters stranger enough, he runs at a speed that rivals the speed of the Element of Loyalty. Do we have to send her and the Wonderbolts in to catch him?"

"No, Luna. There is no need to send the Wonderbolts in unless I decide how big of a threat he is to our kind." Celestia stifled a giggle, using her magic to keep her teacup floating in midair. She rubbed her chin with her hoof and pondered the situation. "Although, I will have to send Twilight Sparkle a note telling her to be cautious about this 'Blurry Burglar'. We mustn't let a clearly experienced thief rob every noble of their valuables dry."

Celestia's lips was only inches away from making contact with the rim of her teacup...

TING!

Suddenly, both of the alicorns felt a powerful jolt in the magic force, powerful enough to make them gasp in fright. Celestia's magic was abruptly halted and her teacup fell to the red rug, shattering into a million pieces. As the tea stain settled into the fabric of the rug, Celestia and Luna found themselves petrified in their chairs, a minute of fearful dead silence passing them like an omen of ill will. Luna turned to her older sister, the fear clearly etched onto her face. “Sister, you've felt it too, haven’t you?”

“I’m afraid so, Luna. This sensation is a feeling like no other," Celestia said, scared emotionlessly. "I have not felt this feeling since...”

Luna gasped from realization and covered her mouth, hot fearful tears springing from her eyes. The Princess of the Night sobbed quietly while Celestia remained motionlessly in her seat. Her eyes were as big as her teacup saucers, staring out into the dark recesses of space. Celestia regrettably closed her eyes, a dark image in her mind she thought she would forget for 1,000 years.

Celestia could see it now. She saw an ancient village in the earlier days of Equestria in ruins, the buildings all set ablaze in raging fires and dark eroding smoke. A giant shadowy figure stood in the midst of the burning village, staring at her with gold piercing eyes. The monstrous creature had the top half of a hulking muscular gorilla, curvy pointed horns protruding from the sides of its head. A silver ring hung from its nostrils and its eyes burned with the dark fires of hell. The bottom half of the monster was that of a stallion, leaving death and destruction wherever it went. From the monster's neck was a burlap sack, pulsing with dark purple light like a disembodied beating heart.

The monster turned his head, showing its glowing yellow eyes. One brief look from the demon's eyes was enough to send Celestia into a world of fear and sorrow. She felt herself shudder and frozen as the monster took the pulsing bag and opened up the drawstrings, releasing a torrent of darkness towards her...

“CELESTIA!”

Celestia was snapped from her nightmare by the sound of Luna's yelling, gasping loudly even. She whipped her head around and found herself in the dining hall where she previously was before she fell into that scared trance. Celestia gasped and looked to Luna at the opposite end of the table, seeing Luna's face wrung with concern and sadness. "Dearest sister, are you feeling alight?" Luna asked shakily.

Celestia huffed with her breaths, but she eventually recoiled from her dark vision. Clearing her throat, Celestia reluctantly looked of to Luna, trying to mask her fears behind stoicism. "I'm okay, Luna. Really, I am," the Princess of the Sun said, lifting herself off of her seat to look out the glass windows. "But I fear that is more than I would say for the wellbeing for my subjects. A dark feeling like can only mean one thing, Luna; He is going to return and bring Equestria into everlasting darkness."

Luna quickly jumped off of her seat and cantered towards Celestia, tears dampening her navy blue fur and hugged her tight. "What do we do, sister? You know as well as I do we can't stop His return, no matter how much we can try!" Luna sobbed, burying her face into her sister's chest fur. "We cannot let Equestria fall like He nearly did all those years ago! We've already lost too many good ponies because of him!"

"And we won't, Luna. Not this time." Celestia brought a hoof around Luna's nape and pulled her in for a hug, her wing carefully stroking her back. “Luna, I need you to be strong and listen to me. You must assemble the guards. Tell them to do a watch around Canterlot, 24-7. If the guards see or hear anything suspicious, then they must not hesitate to subdue and question. I’ll inform Twilight Sparkle of the situation and tell her to bring her friends. The Elements of Harmony must know of Equestria’s Forbidden History if they are to know what they are up against.”

Celestia wiped the tear from Luna’s face and lifted her chin with her hoof. “Do you understand, Luna?” she asked.

Luna took a deep inhale, breathed out of her mouth and looked up to Celestia's eyes. “I understand, sister.” With those three little words said, Luna quickly galloped out of the dining hall with two of the Royal Guards quickly following her. Celestia’s horn glowed which brought a scroll with a quill pen out of nowhere. With a few quick dips of the pen, she began to write a letter on the scroll and dictated what she had to write on the paper.

“My former faithful student, Princess Twilight. You and your friends must come to Canterlot as soon as possible...”

Author's Note

Please note: The YouTube links are for the music in Harold's iPod.

Cancellation

To all those who's read this story and come to have liked it or not, I'm sorry.

As many of you know, I have applied the "Cancelled" tag onto this story and have not come back to progress on the job. The reason for that is, I've been falling far behind in my story. This story (my very first fanfiction) started all the way from the end of Season 3, and I've done too much to get this story to be more likable and recognized, but things kept getting in my way. My life, my college, my constant writer's block. I tried to revamp most of the chapters to my liking, but I kept getting blocked with revamping a chapter featuring the Cutie Mark Crusaders with some progress, but not a whole lot.

Now that Season 5 has aired, I saw no point in continuing my story any longer. I've been at this story for a couple years now, and despite writing my other stories to help me break out of writer's block, it only helped by a little. I've had so many ideas, so many chapters planned out in my head, so many feels, but I just couldn't see some of those ideas working in the fututre. I know you're all disappointed about me canceling my story, and I appreciated the comments and the feedback from you all, but I decided to put this story away for good and work on my other fanfiction. If I'm lucky enough, I might come back with a short story that's comedic and random.

Again, I am so sorry to all of you who loved this story. But, this is the hardest choice that I've had to make in my writing.

With much regret, I declare that "A Cartoonist in Equestria" is now officially canceled.

Sincerely,
~Autismo555