Disclamier: I own nothing!

Sorry about the disapperance everyone! I'm back now.

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Twilight kept her head low. embarrassed was an understatement for the violet unicorn. She, like any filly or mare, had entertained the idea of a mysterious stallion saving her from danger. She would then fall in love with that stranger due to them being gentle and compassionate. But her mysterious savior was neither gentle nor compassionate.

He had rummaged through the body of the large thing and had taken a few things that he found. He had also taken the now dead Blaze's horn and slipped it into a pouch of some sort. He then cut away at the strange cloth that the larger thing had on.

"What are you doing?" Twilight stuttered.

The thing looked at her and said, "It's polite to offer your name before you ask questions."

Twilight puffed her cheeks but didn't say anything. Best to not make this thing angry. "Alright then. I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"Gerald Ravenhill," he replied. "I'm making something that will help me support your weight without hurting you too much."

And that was how Twilight found herself with this ridiculous harness on. Four straps went up from her sides so that Gerald could help support her weight but that didn't change that fact that she felt stupid. She had complained about it when he first started putting it on her, saying stuff about not wanting a dead person's clothing touching her and what not but Gerald had ignored her protests and slipped the hard cloth on her all the same.

Twilight looked up and asked, "Where are you taking me?"

"To my home," he answered. His voice was rough, nothing like what Blaze's had been but then Blaze turned out to be a...she shuddered. Maybe it was better that Gerald didn't sound like Blaze after all.

"Your home?"

He nodded. "There really isn't any other place that you can go and it is against me to let you fend for yourself. I helped you, so now it is my responsibility to see that through.," he said. "Don't get me wrong, though. As soon as you're able to walk I will kick you out."

Twilight didn't say anything to that. If she was in Equestria she would be appealed by the way this man was treating her but this wasn't Equestria and he was most certainly not a pony, but then with the way Blaze acted she wasn't sure she wanted to be around a fellow pony for a little bit.

"Can I ask you a question?" she asked.
"You just did," he said curtly. He kept his eyes moving and would check behind them about every ten or so steps.

Twilight stopped herself from growling in displeasure and instead asked, "Can I ask you two questions?"

"And that was your second."

Twilight sighed.

"Just ask your question."

She looked at him for a moment. Never, in all her days, had she ever met a creature that frustrated her more than this thing but she shook that thought off and asked, "What are you?"

"What do you mean, 'what am I?'"

"Like, umm, I'm a unicorn pony. What are you?"

He glanced quickly at her and asked, "You're joking right?"

"I'm new here."

"Even that excuse wouldn't justify why you don't know what I am." He was silent for a moment and then asked, "Where are you from, little one?"

"Little one?" she asked appealed.

"You are smaller than me," he explained.

"Right. I'm from Equestria."

He didn't stop like Blaze had but he did turn toward her and gave her more of his attention. "You do realize that is impossible?"

She sighed. "I was told that before, but I am." She told him about Rainbow Dash's trick, accident, and fall. All the while he listened carefully but still sent the occasional glance around.

"So you were in the middle of teleporting and then found yourself here?" he asked.

"Exactly!"

He thought about her story for a minute. She could understand his position. With the supposed field that block anyone from entering Equestria it would be hard to believe anypony that said they were from there.

"I'm not saying I believe you," he said suddenly and interrupted Twilight's thoughts, "but I'll accept the story for now. To answer your previous question, I'm a human."

"A human?"

"You're looking at one."

She nodded thoughtfully and asked, "So there are kinarithi, orcs, humans, and ponies in this land?"

He rubbed his chin and said, "There are also Benthilly, dwarves, elves, and several other races. Ponies are not as alone in world as you thought they were."

He pointed to a building and said, "Here we are."

Twilight looked and was unimpressed. Apparently Gerald's home was one of the many duplicate buildings that she had seen before. She knew that they were different because they were in a different part of the city but it made for an eerie feeling like she hadn't actually moved from where she had first appeared.

"It's, ah, nice," she said slowly.

He chuckled lowly and replied, "It's a piece of shit but there's a roof over my head so I can't complain all that much."

He helped her up the few stairs that lead to the front door and lead her inside. It was cramped with a kitchen/dining room to the left through an open doorway. Stairs just to her right lead up to the next level.

"I'll have to set you up in my room," he said as he nudged her gently to the stairs.

"No I couldn't," Twilight said. "I'll just stay on the floor somewhere."

He chuckled and said, "I'm not giving you a choice, little one."

The flight of stairs wasn't too large but to Twilight it felt like ten or twenty flights. Every time she would go up a step her side would shoot off new bout of pain and she hissed with her eyes clenched shut until it abated. She felt a weary satisfaction when she made it to the top and was led into a small room.

The room was spartan, incredibly so. There was a bed, a chair, and a desk. That was all. No niknaks. No pictures. Just bare wall and clutter free surfaces.

"I thought you said that I would be in your room." Twilight said as she looked around.

Gerald helped her onto the bed and said, "This is my room."

"But it's so, empty," she whispered as she continued her visual search of the room.

He pulled off the harness that had supported her weight and she laid down on the bed. She adjusted until she was comfortable and then laid her head down.

Gerald pulled the single chair over to the side of the bed and said as he sat down, "Tell me about yourself."

Twilight looked up at him. To be fair the human had saved her from those thugs and allowed her entry into his home so why would she not tell him about herself? She told him about her childhood. About her parents and big brother. About Princess Celestia and Canterlot. About her friends and Ponyville. She hadn't realized how long she had been talking until she let out a small yawn.

Gerald chuckled the same chuckle he let out a few times before. It seemed forced and sounded like it didn't hold any happiness, any joy. It seemed to Twilight that it was something he did mostly out of habit than anything and it made her heart ache a little.

"Why don't you laugh?" she asked quietly. She had meant to just say it in her mind and her eyes widened when she noticed that she had actually said it. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I shouldn't have asked that. I mean, I can be such an id-"

"It's fine," he said and then let out the same humorless chuckle. "I'm going to go get you something to eat. Anything you like?"

She bowed her head and answered, "I like daisies and sunflowers."

Gerald nodded and walked to the doorway. He stopped and said, "I'll be out for a little while. I'll wake you when I get back so that you can eat."

Twilight watched him leave and winced when she heard the front door close.

"Twilight you are such an idiot," she said to herself. "How could you ask something like that?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Alright, worry about that later. Right now, I have to figure out where Equestria is and then return home. No big deal. Nothing to worry about. I'll need a map and a few days worth of food and I'll be set."

She continued her planning until Gerald returned and she ate three daisies and two sunflowers. She was surprised at how much she ate but justified it with her teleportation and the stressful day events.

Gerald watched her eat and asked her a question from time to time but otherwise allowed her to eat in peace.

Twilight laid her head down, sleep making her eyelids heavy and she asked, "Gerald, where is Equestria from here?"

"To the east," he answered. His voice sounded distant, like he was answering from a different room or from behind a wall.

"Can you take me there?" She fell asleep before she heard an answer.

-Return to Equestria: Love and Blood-

Gerald reclined in his chair heavily as he slowly drank a mug of water. He would have prefered a cup but the owner of the home he lived in only had mugs. Gerald had been renting a room from the owner for four months and in that time he had gotten to know the old dwarf well enough to call him friend.

The dwarf's name was Hrothgar Ironbeard. His clan-name was appropriate because all of Ironbeard blood had a distinct iron color hair that shone like the true metal when it was oiled for battle. Hrothgar had a large beard, typical of a dwarf, and long hair that he allowed to do as it pleased. His brown eyes were similar to Gerald's own: hard, stern, and cold. But the dwarf had a sense of humor that belied his serious disposition.

"So, you have a unicorn in your room, do ya lad?" the dwarf asked with a heavy dwarvish accent.

"Yeah," Gerald said as he put his mug of water down. "She claims to be from Equestria."

"Equestria?" Hrothgar asked. He took another drink of his honey mead and said, "That's great for her."

Gerald sent him a look and said, "You can't possibly believe that."

"It's not a matter of believing, lad. She says she is from that place and until proven otherwise her word is all you've got."

"She's not right in the head, dwarf," Gerald growled. "I can't decided if I should leave her out in the streets or bring her to a Benthilly sanctuary when she's able to move by herself."

"Bring her to a sanctuary? You wouldn't do that to the poor thing," the iron haired dwarf commented as he refilled his mug.

Gerald's lips curled slightly and he asked, "And what makes you think I wouldn't?"

"Because you're you, stupid boy."

The brown hair human laughed darkly and said, "I think you've had too much to drink."

"Not enough is more like it. Why, I just got in a few bottles of kinarithi wine today I'll have you know. I know it isn't very dwarf like but that wine might be my most favorite drink in the all the lands."

"No doubt you've drunken all of it already."

"I have not, there are still two bottles left," Hrothgar shot back.

Gerald lean forward and asked, "Out of?"

"Now that's not important. I have the damned two bottles, that's what counts," the dwarf barked.

The two broke into laughter that brought tears to the dwarf's eyes.

He rubbed a tear away and took another drink. Hrothgar let out a few more laughs and then asked, "So, what are you going to do with the unicorn?"

"Not sure, truthfully," Gerald remarked as he looked out the dark window that was next to the table.

The dwarf studied Gerald for a moment and said, "You should take her."

"To Equestria?" Gerald said in disbelief. "That's ridiculous."

"That's your responsibility," the dwarf said seriously. "It became your responsibility, lad, when you took her into this home and by doing so offered her your protection."

"What was I supposed to do, let her be raped and set up as a whore?" Gerald snapped.

Hrothgar smiled and said, "That's what everyone else would have done in this gods-forsaken city. But that isn't you. You don't turn your back when people need help, you don't ignore it.

"Listen to me, lad. You've got nothing here. I'm your only friend and you are among my most trusted but that doesn't change the fact that you are wasting away here. I see it in your eyes, boy. You are bored and not just that but sick with the world. You want to do something and this is your chance. Take that unicorn back to her home and if it turns out that she isn't actually from Equestria than you find out where she is really from."

"Hrothgar, I can't just-"

"You can and will. Answer me true, would you be able to live with yourself if you pointed that pony in a direction and then let her go alone?"

Gerald didn't answer.

"I thought so. I'll have a wagon ready for you with supplies," Hrothgar concluded and gulped down his mead before filling it up again.

Gerald smirk and muttered, "Thanks."

"Don't thank me, boy. You're going to have to put up with that pony until you get her home and you know the dangers that lurk the roads."

"Her being a unicorn doesn't help things either," he sighed. "We'll have to travel to Marthok and resupply. From there we'll head to Blacksand and get a boat to take us to Klar. Then we head to the Wraithmarsh Forest. Should take about a month altogether, that's under the assumption that she can actually get past the field which I have my reservations about."

"You've got a plan," Hrothgar said with a wink. "Start with the first step, that one's always the hardest."

-Return to Equestria: Love and Blood-

Twilight opened her eyes slowly. She was pleasantly warm from the sunshine that bathed her and stretched slowly. A large yawn worked its way out of her but it turned into a yelp of pain when she moved her side wrong.

She was confused. Why did her side hurt? Sure she had a strange dream where she was transported to a strange place with creatures she had never seen before but that couldn't...have...happened...

All of her thinking stopped when she noticed that she wasn't in her tree home. She was in a clean room that while furnished still had the feeling that it was empty. This wasn't her room, this was the room from her dream.

That meant that it wasn't a dream. Her heart rate accelerated and her mind went a mile a minute. How was she going to get home? Where was she really? Where was Equestria?

She stopped her thoughts and said to herself, "Twilight, stop. Just stop." She took a deep breath and continued talking to herself. and organized her thoughts and then presented them to herself.

"Okay, what happened yesterday? I went to watch Rainbow Dash do a trick but it went bad and I had to save her. Then I found myself here when my teleportation spell went bad. After that I saw several creatures that I have never seen before and was attacked by another pony. I was then saved by a strange being that called itself a human."

Gerald, that was his name. He had saved her, taken her in, and fed her. She was appreciative and thankful about him saving her but she was still scared of him and the brutality he committed. He didn't seem to believe her when she told him she was from Equestria either, something about an impenetrable field or something like that.

She shook her head, causing her purple mane to fly around. She needed to focus. She would deal with the field when she got to it. The first obstacle she needed to tackle was actually getting to the field and that would involve finding out where Equestria was located and waiting for her side to heal. She hoped Gerald wouldn't mind her staying with him until she was ready for traveling and than she would be out of his hair.

Her attention moved to the door when she heard it unlatch and in walked a new creature. It had a long iron colored mane on its head and face, longer even than the first human she saw, and looked like a human but was shorter than Gerald by a fair amount. It was still taller than her but than she was only 9 hooves so it wouldn't be that hard to be taller than her (1 hoof=4 inches).

It looked at her with dark brown eyes and said in a deep booming voice, "So, you are up, lass."

She nodded, keeping her eyes on the creature, and asked, "You're a...human, right?"

The thing roared with laughter that didn't die down for several minutes. "He told me that you didn't know about humans," he said gasping for breath, "but to not know what a dwarf is...you truly must be from Equestria."

Twilight bowed her head and apologized softly.

"Now now, lass," the apparent dwarf said, "there's no need for you to do that. Here," he laid a plate full of daisies and sunflowers on the bed, "eat up. You have a long day ahead of you."

She gulped down a sunflower hungrily and blushed when she became aware of her lack of manners. She had a rough day before she had gone to sleep so it was no surprise to her that she was starved but that didn't excuse her of not showing manners.

She coughed lightly and said, "Sorry. Thank you sir, for the food, it is most generous of you."

"No need to thank me, lass," he said, "and don't call me sir. Hrothgar is my name. Hrothgar Ironbeard."

"Ironbeard," she said slowly. "Is your beard really made of iron?"

Hrothgar busted into his booming laughter and managed to say between breaths, "No, lass. My clan name comes from the color of our hair."

Twilight went back to eating her food, trying hard to beat down her embarrassment for asking such a dumb question when something that Hrothgar said earlier click in her mind. "I have a long day ahead of me?" she asked. "But with my side hurt I can't do anything useful."

"Who said anything about you doing anything, lass? You've got a long day of travelling ahead of you."

"Traveling?" she asked slowly.

Hrothgar sat down on the wooden chair in the room and said, "Well, you won't be returning to Equestria by laying down on that bed."

"Returning to Equestria?" she whispered to herself. Excitement rose inside her and she asked hurriedly, "You're taking me back to Equestria? You believe me?"

The dwarf held up his large meaty hoof with the same strange appendages that humans have and said, "Now hold on, dear. I'm not taking you back and I have no reason to not believe you."

"If you're not then who is? Wait, firstly, you believe me?"

Hrothgar nodded and said, "Why sure I do, lass. No reason not to."

"But what about the field?"

"What about it?" he asked. He fixed her a soft stare and said, "You say you're from there and I choose to believe you. Nothing more than that."

"Th-thank you," she stuttered. She felt like crying with joy. Finally someone believed her and was willing to help her. "But then, who is taking me back?"

"My dear friend Gerald Ravenhill will be escorting you back to your home," Ironbeard answered proudly.

Twilight shivered when she remembered the tall human. His brown hair, green eyes, and the way he brutally killed those...she shivered again.

Hrothgar leaned forward in his chair and asked, concern in his voice, "What's wrong lass? You cold or something?"

"No, it's, um-"

"You're scared of Gerald, aren't you?"

She nodded slowly. The human had saved her life so in all regards she shouldn't have been scared of him but something inside her was struck with horror when he killed Blaze and his human partner.

"Mind telling me why, lass?"

She explained her feelings to the dwarf and when she finished he had a sad look on his face.

"I understand your feelings, lass, but try to understand Gerald as well. He came across you being attacked and matters handled themselves the way they happened. The thing you need to understand is that Gerald doesn't like to kill, despises it really."

"He's killed before?"

"That is for another time. Tell me, what would have happened if Gerald didn't kill those men?"

"Well they would have learned from their-"

"They would have attacked, raped, and whored out other young girls. They would have killed those girls slowly with a life that none should be forced into. You need to understand that sometimes killing, sometimes death is the only suitable option available. Gerald understands that and as such he did what he thought was right."

"There is never a time for killing," she said more heatedly that she intended and the dwarf gave her a reproachful look.

"That is naïve talking, lass," he said heavily. He sighed and continued, "I wish I could see the world through your eyes and find the good in others, hope that others will do the right thing. But, I've been let down and betrayed too many times in my days for me to have such a look on life. Some day you may understand, lass, some day."

He folded his hands over his barrel chest and asked in a lighter tone, "Are you scared of me, lass?"

"No, I don't have a reason to," she answered.

"Then you have no reason to fear Gerald. He is one of the most trustworthy men I know and since he has offered you his protection he will let no harm come to you."

"He offered me his protection?"

"By letting you into my home he has offered his protection to you. It is mostly a dwarf custom but Gerald acts more like a dwarf than a human sometimes. What I'm trying to say, lass, is that Gerald is a kind man, cold, but kind and will do everything in his power to keep you safe on your journey back to your home. Maybe, just maybe, he will find the peace he has been looking for on this little adventure."

"Peace? What do you mean?"

"Gerald has had a hard life and that's all I'll say on the matter. The rest is for him to tell." He picked up her now empty plate and asked, "How's your side treating you?" he asked as he motioned toward her side.

"It hurts," she said honestly. "I'm not sure I'll be able to move by myself for a little while."

Hrothgar nodded. "It's a good thing that you won't need to move much for your journey."

She gave him a questioning look and he clarified, "Gerald acquired a wagon and several days of supplies earlier this morning. He has been preparing for the journey since he woke up."

"But he can't just leave his home so easily," she exclaimed in shock. "What about all of his friends? What about-"

"He understands what he is leaving, lass," the dwarf cut in. "This trip will be better for him than you might realize."

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So, I don't really have much to say... Blarg!

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Unitl next time...
Unbiased Abyss