Night had been what one could think of a blast now that Twilight thought about it. Right after the talk and discovering that Pinkie Pie had been there the whole time (Which had made her haw touch the floor if you were to get her to tell you the truth) Luna had taken them to the library with her teleportation, bid her farewells to everypony and left them to discuss what they had seen. At first Pinkie had wanted to throw a small party for J, seemingly not caring for all the news that had befall upon them, Twilight wanted to sleep and think it thoroughly with a clearer head.

J made his opinion known pretty easily by entering the tree house and lying on top of one of the many piles of books that Twilight had left behind after her latest study. She would lie if she said that she didn’t blush at the realization that she had let herself go a bit as there were mountains of books everywhere, but at least it did help to make Pinkie Pie head out to sleep, even if she did so with a pout and puppy eyes.

Right now the sun was slowly getting up and she hadn’t had any sleep all day. She was way too worked up about last night, not only was it true that she had managed to summon a human, but it seemed that humans and more creatures lived here, in Equestria, a long time ago. What had the princess done then? Why there were no records or other humans in this world now? Had there been more than a little war between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon as the princess had told her? Or was this all a lie? For once Twilight found herself questioning her teacher, her first and, for a long time, only friend.

However if we put all those questions aside, what was she going to do now? She had, no matter how she looked at it, one powerful creature (technically) under her control (again, technically). She was unsure of what to do with him. What if she was wrong and there was no real need of him in the end? She was sure that after a while he would be happy here, if he wasn’t already, but she was worried that she may have condemned him, no matter how much she tried to tell herself that she had saved his life as she had been told. For her it was simply always in her mind, she was always telling herself that she had messed things up, in fact she wasn’t even supposed to make it happen and it had been basically a ‘prank’ of shorts from the young princess.

“I messed up big time” She thought out loud.

Ruffling in her bed for a few more minutes didn’t seem to calm her anymore than she was, meaning that she wasn’t, at all. Twilight had to accept that she had messed up and relax, even with J seemingly perfectly ok with it she wasn’t so sure about how true his feelings were. Hay, if she had been thrown into a weird place like him she would be out there throwing a tantrum and so freaked out she would blow the place up by accident if anything at all got her too scared.

*Gurgle*

“Just perfect, my stomach has a mind of its own yet again” She gave a heavy sigh and just got away from the bed.

Down the stairs and to the kitchen, at least that was no different than everything else today or… well, yea, it kind of was. You would hardly ever think you would see a human in your kitchen eating a hay sandwich, for Celestia’s sake, you wouldn’t even think you would EVER see a human in the first place as it was unlikely you KNEW about them.

J just gave her a shy smile and a little wave of his hand. The man had taken his clothes off and washed them, Twilight could see them outside over one of the branches. She was thankful that at least the man had decided to keep on his shorts and probably clean them later once he had something to cover his privates. Sadly it didn’t leave much to the imagination when she saw his body covered in scars here or there and many signals of old wounds or maybe beatings. She didn’t have to know about medicine to understand that it did seem that J had quite the unpleasant life.

“I hope you don’t mind I took some of this?” He asked as he pointed at the bread and hay “For some reason it tastes like… like… I don’t know how to put it, but the smell was pleasant. I suppose whatever Celestia did to me it did turn me into some kind of ‘vegan’” Even after the last night the young man seemed to be quite happy. Twilight did hope it was true, but at least it made her smirk.

“Don’t worry; I have plenty more from where that came from. Also if the Princess did what I think, umm… let’s say you better don’t try to eat meat anymore, it could be bad for your tummy, to put it mildly” The mental image of what could happen made her cringe and give away a weird smile “Otherwise you should be more than fine now that you are healed, at least I hope”

“Perfectly well, thank you” He gave her a sincere smile and showed that he could move quite well, though it was quite obvious he was, at least, shore “I can’t say that I will be running a marathon anytime soon, but I am fine”

“The important thing is that you are ok” Twilight smiled gently as she used her magic to put together a sandwich of her own so she could calm down her hunger “Of course I don’t know what to do now. How could I break the news to Ponyville? To my friends it will be easy, I doubt Pinkie Pie is going to keep quiet since this isn’t supposed to be a secret. I am not sure what to do now”

“You think too much all the time Twilight” J chimed in with a grin “Why not relax and let it play out? Remember that while books are important, as well as planning, some things have to come naturally and there is no way to get prepared for it”

“You do seem to know about me quite a lot. I had the impression that I was missing out on something important yesterday and I still get it” The mare had an inquisitive look and she didn’t seem to be the one to drop it anytime soon. At least she could admit she liked him being honest and, also, that he was quite intelligent. Her friends were perfectly fine but a cultured mind to talk to was rare “So care to share before anything else happens? Because this seems the perfect time for an interruption”

“Twilight, are you sure you want me to tell you about what I know?” The human asked with a raised eyebrow and a serious look.

“Pretty sure thank you” She gave a big smile with an assuring look on her face “If we are going to work together we need to know everything, right?” However as he gave her a deadly serious look she wasn’t so sure “Right?”

“Depends. I don’t know how you would take that in my world you girls are a series of cartoons we see on TV, pretty much like you saw that tale when Celestia used her mane to tell it” J wasn’t sure of how Twilight was taking the news, but if she asked she did deserve the truth “More or less you are all a fantasy in my world, a tale for young girls that, ironically, worked better with grown up men because you all, this world, the history behind it, was better made than almost anything that the people had come up with in the latest years” He couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at that “It is funny when you think about it, but in your case I suppose you don’t know if to laugh or to simply cry”

“I think I am going to puke” Twilight replied flatly “We are… not real? How? Why? I don’t know what to say now!” She seemed to be ready to lose it yet again.

“Hey, relax Twilight.” He placed a hand on her head to rub her mane gently. “In my word you were supposed to be a fantasy, but I am here and I am alive am I not? There were theories about anything we did or imagine being real, that humans were able to see other worlds and creatures with their imagination. I am not sure if believing it or not, mostly because I don’t understand it though it is true that I saw your girls in that cartoon and that I am here now. Whatever the people in my world think it doesn’t matter for you are real”

“I h-have to calm down, I don’t know what to think.” She was pale and her stomach seemed eager to spill the recent ingested contents right now “I am going to be sick.”

“Relax Twilight, I took it better coming to a place I thought was fantasy than you knowing that in my world we THINK you are a fantasy” J couldn’t help but smile as he kneeled to give Twilight a little hug. He knew that the lavender unicorn enjoyed the contact of her friends and he hopped that this would calm her down. “Come on, don’t think about it ok? Relax, please, I don’t want you sad”

“It will be hard not to” She gulped down her nausea. “I mean, you can’t lie to me, I am sure of it, my spell and Princess Celestia’s own should prevent you to, not that I think you have any reason to” Twilight at least thought she was sure of it “Don’t mind them thinking we are not real or anything, but it is NOT comforting to know that humans are seeing my life in another world”

“Heh, it is not the worst of it all believe me, and I would never lie to you Twilight” J couldn’t help but snicker as he got up to finish his food, even though Twilight was giving him quite a weird look “You don’t want to know, really Twilight, please”

“What can be WORSE than what you told me?” Twilight wasn’t sure if it was because she was naturally curious and inquisitive or if she really thought there could be no worse (Or weird) than the one he had told her already.

Man, was she wrong.

An hour and a half later Spike would get up to see J sitting near the entrance door, fully clothed, while reading a book to hide his ashamed face while Twilight, blushing fiercely and unsure of what to think this time, busied herself getting every book in its place. Spike wasn’t sure of what had happened, he simply shrugged and went to fetch himself some food.

“We shall never speak of that again, ok?” Twilight said as fast as Spike was out of the room.

“Eeyup” While ashamed about what he told Twilight, J was still up for a joke, at least he could imitate Big Mackintosh quite easy. Twilight, thought, gave him a serious glare “Ok, ok, I promise I won’t” He chuckled.

“Thanks” Twilight sighed, relieved

“But again, you should relax Twilight, sooner or later they will ask, and one of the things I hate the most is liars” He spoke with a very sincere face and maybe even a bit of a harsh tone “I can either tell them I can’t say because you asked me to, or tell them the truth”

Twilight bit her lips “Is there no other way? I don’t know how they will take it”

“I can show them most the things once Celestia does send me what I asked her for, though now that I think about it I don’t know how she is going to get it to work” J shrugged though, knowing that Twilight hadn’t a clue about what he was saying “But at least we have a few days until that and afterwards they won’t want to know as much as you did with some luck. Decided what to do in the meantime yet?” He tried to change the topic.

“First of? I am going to ask Rarity to make you more clothes” The velvet mare gave a little blush “If we ever get any mark from a fight even with Princess Celestia’s incantation our fur doesn’t let it show. I wouldn’t want anyone seeing how much pain you had to bear, not all people understand it and I know you don’t want to give them any reason to ask”

“No, no I wouldn’t” He admitted plainly.

After that Twilight had to admit that the silence that took the place was eerie to say the least. She had wanted to ask but at the same time she was all too sure of the outcome of any question regarding those scars as the questions would be either dodged or simply not answered. It had been made clear that any question she made he would answer trustfully, even if it pained him, or not answered outright if she allowed. Of course she could command him to answer, but she did want him to be happy here as there was no way for him to come back to his place, forcing him to do something was not what she wanted.

Princess Celestia didn’t like him, but she was not one to lie, besides she offered to make a ‘copy’ of him, much like one of the legends she had read about a ‘reborn’ pony that had been given life again by the princess for his services. If she knew enough about the supposedly fantastic incantation she was sure that her teacher would use a small part of J (A bit of blood, hair or something, there is no need for real harm) to give ‘a new life’. She was unsure of how it would work if the person was still alive, but Princess Celestia was the best magician in Equestria. At least he would have no reason to worry about his mother and that satisfied Twilight to some extent.

“So what do you think about it now that you are calmed down?”

J cut her train of thoughts suddenly, making her drop some of the books she had been piling up by instinct after so many years spent in a library. At least that made her giggle a bit, she knew she should stop spacing out when she was thinking of something too hard.

“Sorry, what do you mean J?”

“Well I did tell you about the fanfiction, fanart and other things, as well as the pairings and… the rest” He tried not to say out loud and it was obvious that Twilight was thankful as she was blushing profusely “So… what is your opinion about that?”

“I… don’t know?” She gulped, rubbing her hoof against the floor “I mean, I suppose the fanfiction and art about us as homage are nice, even if I don’t like the idea of people watching my life without me knowing, I do have secrets and a ‘private life’ you know?” Twilight’s blush only grew brighter “But the pairings? The… the… the ‘adult’ stuff? I suppose they are free to do whatever they want; it is not like it is us for real, but… I am a bit embarrassed to think about it”

J couldn’t help but chuckle as he left the book in the floor “I know about that, I mean what is your view on such ‘adult’ stuff” He gave away a bit of a naughty grin at Twilight’s reaction “I am curious about how your kind sees relationships and the like, nothing else, however I can understand if you don’t want to share the information after some of the things I said”

“Oh… Oh!” Her blush only intensified “Don’t worry about that but, well… I… don’t know? I mean, I had never thought about it. Ponies don’t have any kind of prejudice you know? We can marry or not, be with anypony we like as far as it is a mutual feeling and we don’t worry about sexes or any other thing. Usually a pony will marry another if they have a kid, but it is not really necessary” Finally Twilight calmed down a bit, she wasn’t as worried now as the question wasn’t as personal, of course it would be a lie if she told you she didn’t feel a bit silly “We are content having friends or some very close companions, I do not know if it is like your species does it where you live”

“It is nothing alike, and I do mean nothing” Twilight tilted her head in curiosity “I mean that where I am from people don’t see ‘gay’ people or ‘bisexual’ people like they are ‘normal’, you know?” J was adamant of putting emphasis to those quotes “What I want to say is that a gay or bisexual person is a person, that is it, you should respect them and that is it, yet a lot of humans do hate them with a passion that is worrisome, much like they hate other people that don’t share their religion or that has different skin or that simply has been born in a different country. Unlike here, where you may have dark creatures or monsters, in Earth everyone is a monster, or hides one within. Even the most nice friend you got could someday turn or you and without even hitting you, simply speaking, could do you so much harm that you wish you would be dead for any kind of disagreement or when they found out something you like that they hate” He gave a long and tired sigh as he finished “That is why I like it here, even the worst are much best than what I have in my world”

Twilight’s eyes were by now filled with little tears. She was not so emotional most the time, her upbringing focusing in magic, studies and such had still an effect on her that simply meant she didn’t feel as much in some things yet. Of course she had shared happiness a lot with her friends, she even had a nervous breakdown like everypony else, but actual sadness? She hadn’t had any of that since she almost blew it when she was young, even the few sad moments these last three months had been only so brief that they had made an impact, but only to show a good and warm lesson in the end.

In this case it was different. She was intelligent enough to know, even with a lesser social skill than most, that J was speaking from experience. Who knows what he could answer her if she asked the question she wanted to ask before? Maybe she would hate to discover the answer, but if she was going to befriend him and she had shared some of her opinions after he told her the truth, then she wanted to know the WHOLE truth.

“Do you know it from seeing, reading or… from personal experience?” She asked finally, taking his attention once more “Are those scars…?”

“As I told you before, I am a furry, I also explained to you what it meant” J went right away to the talking, his tone plain as it was obviously something he didn’t like to talk about “In some places it is hated with fervor, in others it is as common as it gets and nobody cares. Some people would actually try to justify brutality with the rumor about us being… some very nasty things. Even after years it is still very bad, but much like the gay people or the ones that had AIDS, it will pass with time” He chuckled and waved it off as if it was nothing “But yea, some are from that in special, mostly the impact blows as I got in a fight in school once when I had a supposed friend of mine find a picture that was simply a furry fursona from a mutual friend. I got an expulsion after I had broken my ex-friend’s fingers in his right hand when he got most of the worst bullies after me and my other buddy” He chuckled a bit with a very sad look. Twilight thought she saw a tear running down his cheek before he pried it off “After that though, we found a lot of people that weren’t in the fandom but did think of it as a great place to find beautiful artwork and promising artist or writers. My friend even got a proposal to work in a new cartoon movie, though I don’t know how it is going for him as haven’t seen him in a month now, I suppose his schedule is tight”

“About the cuttings you have not to worry Twilight, most of them are from training with my mother as sometimes we go a bit overboard and the practice equipment can break and indeed cut when forced. However some are not, like this one” He showed his arm where he had a nasty cut going from the elbow to the shoulder “A girlfriend of mine was a lesbian, but didn’t had the heart to tell it to the boy that had a liking to her, in fact he found her with the one that is now my friend’s ‘bride’” He chuckled a bit at that “I still don’t know why but it sounds weird ‘Bride and Bride’” He smiled halfheartedly “But personal humor asides, the guy took it bad, and I mean BAD with capital letters. I think when he found out something in his head snapped because the next day I got a call from my friend saying there was a madman with a knife that had broken in her house and was yelling what he would do to her so they would be together forever” J covered his arm and gave Twilight a sad look as he left the end of the story to her imagination “I break my back for my friends Twilight, literally, even though most of them ended up leaving the city I was living with my mother in hopes to find a better place where there were less closed minded companies”

“Are you angry with them for doing that?” Twilight was definitely sad after what she had heard. She supposed there were way worse things in his world, but se preferred to not think about it “They did leave you even if they had good reasons…”

“Of course I am not angry” He gave her a gentle smile this time, looking cheery again “Though I will indeed miss them now…” In a moment he turned sadder than Twilight. J was obviously thinking about his world and things he would never do again. Even thought he knew that living here would be a dream come true, almost no one ever thought of the price to pay “But I am sure that if Celestia does what she says they won’t have to worry about me, nor will my mother, dad or my sisters, so it is ok. I can begin anew here and at least I think I have a friend” He gave a wink to Twilight, smiling again. She supposed he was good at giving such facades but at least what he said was true.

“Don’t doubt it, you got a friend here” She smiled, wiping the tears from her eyes as she gave him a hug.

Twilight was sure that J still didn’t know how the ponies could do it and it was really weird him out a bit, so she made sure to weird him as much as she could if it made him smile. For some reason it made her laugh gently, soon cheering him up and exchanging that face to a happier one as he begun to laugh wholeheartedly, rubbing her mane and keeping her close in the hug. She didn’t know it, but even thought J had his favorite pony as Pinkie Pie in all aspects (The funny, the cute and the friendly), he never say he didn’t like any of the other girls, and this was being quite hard for him to be this close to one of the most innocent creatures he had known without trying to take that innocence away. Probably she wasn’t that kind of ‘innocent’, but compared to him she was a saint.

“You know you are blushing, don’t you?” Twilight chimed in with a big grin.

“Oh I am?” It only made him blush all the harder “I suppose it is a different thing being near someone I had wanted to meet as well as giving her a hug to calm her down than and actually giving her a hug when she wants to give it willingly” He waved one hand dismissively, but neither did break up the hug “Besides… you technically are my hero now you know? I have survived a lot of things, but yesterday would’ve been my last if it weren’t for you”

Now it was her time to blush slightly.

“You are just saying that to flatter me” She gave a gently chuckle “I know I messed up, no matter if I did help, though I am grateful that even with a mess being made I could help someone”

“No, I mean it” J pulled her off a bit to push her head up gently enough so she could look him in the eyes. The young mare was being too headstrong with the supposed mistake. She took very hard each failure and it was showing “You saved me, it wasn’t your intention but you did. You could’ve probably summoned someone else in their dire need but it was me, mistake or not, and for that I am the most grateful man. I owe you my life and I want you happy for that, so no matter what you ask or what you want to do you have my loyalty Twilight, I won’t let you down and I certainly won’t let you be sad for this”

She couldn’t look at him in the eyes for a few seconds, but in the end she had to believe what he was saying and stop thinking of what she did as a messed up episode on her life, another mistake the supposed unicorn of magic had made. Twilight blushed and nodded as she looked at him.

“Thanks” She said getting a bit closer again “That-that does mean a lot to me…”

For once she didn’t care that all over her was slowing down as she thought, she had to make sure that this was alright for she had been thinking about it since he begun to open to her like a book.

He had been nice even with her being sure of that she had messed it up, she had been friendly and even with him probably being capable of ditching her or doing anything he wanted, he had been nice and had stayed with her. She was sure that if the human had wanted, if J had desired for it, even with broken bones he could have escaped from Princess Celestia being as tired as she had been yesterday if he was as powerful as she supposed. His loyalty was not only for a debt, he liked her genuinely and wasn’t put off by anything on her, even when he knew of the past of his race here and that it would be all but a gentle ride if someone else knew about it, he stayed, with her.

J had made her feel better by assuring her of what she had done had been the right thing. Hay, he had shared a truth he knew would not sit with her well, but he had done because she wanted to know and because he thought her as a friend and that she deserves every little bit of information she wanted to know. He had her dark side, as anypony else, he had been done ‘bad’ things, but the kind and friendly side that he had showed her seemed sincere and she loved it, she didn’t care if she had darkness inside. If they ‘cured’ Princess Luna she knew J could be ‘cured’ too. Besides, J liked every one of her friends, including her, at least for their characters, their personalities and little things that made them unique. It meant that if he didn’t like any of them physically, he at least did like them for who they truly were, not what they were, it was something far more important to her.

All those reasons were enough for her. It was right, and all she had told him was true: Ponies had no problems with these things, they were very open and they loved friendship of any kind. Twilight was more than sure that if the others liked him they would share her opinion in this matter.

Kissing him was a good idea.

“Twilight? What are you… hmmp!”

J did neither struggle nor push her away, she was still embracing him and he hadn’t taken his arms away either. It only made it feel all the better for Twilight as she pressed in, finally kissed him in the lips and found not only that he didn’t mind, but that he took her closer as they shared the kiss happily. She had to admit she was a bit ashamed as she had been almost sure he wouldn’t refuse, but J was one of the first males (or females for that matter) to catch her interest at all. This was not her first kiss, but it was one of the few she really enjoyed.

It was also so different. While sitting and with her body against his he was barely taller than her, there was not so much size difference like this and she enjoyed it as she pressed her body against his. It felt warm and maybe even a bit alluring as he stroked her mane and her back slowly. Twilight had never thought how different it would be from a pony to something different, probably because the only intelligent kind of creature she knew of were the Diamond Dogs (besides dragons) and they had more like paws than hands like a human in comparison, but the slow and delicate work that J could do with his? She thought she could melt right there.

For J, however, it was something different.

He loved it alright, for him these Ponies, like to most people that watched the series, weren’t animals, nor were they persons, he could not say what they were for sure but he knew that if anyone else could do this, it wouldn’t be wrong. They were intelligent, could decide what to do and chose not to do anything they thought was wrong. If Twilight wanted it, he was not going to deny her at least a kiss like this. He thought it was maybe too fast, he didn’t know what this could bring, but he couldn’t care as much as he should. This was bliss.

Still, there was a problem.

‘I think this is exactly what I told you not to do’ A voice spoke in his mind, but he didn’t break the kiss. Of course the other kind of need sink down quite quickly as he found out who’s voice was it.

‘Celestia?’ He thought in worry as he opened his eyes wide, luckily Twilight was seemingly enjoying it enough to close hers and let it all play out.

‘If it wasn’t because you didn’t force anything I would smite you right here right now’ While this was not a change from yesterday to J, the goddess was meaning it to its full extent this time even without an angry tone in her voice. She wasn’t doing it in spite of him, but because she worried about Twilight ‘I don’t want you harming any of the Elements of Harmony, much less Twilight. If you do so I will make sure you suffer for it, understood?’

‘But I didn’t do anything!’ He thought bitterly. He hadn’t seen this coming but hell would freeze if he broke the kiss until Twilight wanted. That would hurt her feelings, he knew it very well ‘I was simply trying to be nice and sincere with her. I do want her to like me as a good friend if I can, not because you told me to, but because it is what I want. I… I hadn’t foreseen this happening and I am sorry, but I do not mind this result’

‘And that is exactly what she and the others will like, much like anypony else’ Celestia sounded halfway to happiness and halfway to an angry rage now. She wouldn’t tell him but this was dangerous ‘I know that your good side will appeal to them, we do not look for physical traits most the time Jonathan, we seek for the character, the personality, the soul, that we want’ She cleared for him ‘Besides, you give away pheromones and every one of the six friends will know that you like them, probably to the point where they will know that you do LIKE them in that kind of way. We are not animals and we don’t act on such instincts, but I do not want any broken hearts, not even yours, so make it clear to everypony because they will not get as angry or sad as if you lied to them’

‘I won’t lie to them, but this may hurt Twilight anyway…’ He closed his eyes, pressing on the kiss. He wanted to think of anything tut the conversation now.

J couldn’t help but let a tear escape his eyes as Twilight finally broke the kiss and pushed away gently. He didn’t need to force it as he did look happy and she looked even happier, so telling her it would be better to not go further than that would hurt both of them if he messed up. For him it had never been a problem to think with the correct brain all the time, however J did have a girlfriend or two, as well as a few chances that begun with such a kiss. He hated with all his being every failure and every ‘goodbye’ he had. He wished, practically begged Celestia it wasn’t like that this time. If nothing else he didn’t want to lose a friend over this.

‘She will understand, tell her what you think is right’ This time her tone was gentle, like the good princess he had seen in the cartoon ‘I am sure she will understand if you do it gently and don’t push her away. I know you will do well, for your own well being’ It was not threatening, but the truth. If he messed up Twilight would all but hate him in the worst case.

“I am sorry” Twilight said finally with a huge blush and a smile on her face as she gently cuddled against J. At least she was the one to begin this potential drama “I didn’t mean for that to happen so quickly, but… you are so friendly and nice, not at all what I had wanted to summon and at least” She gave a sincere smile “If nothing else, THAT in special makes me happy. You stayed with me, you told me the truth when I asked you for it even when you knew it could change my view of you, you didn’t even try to get away from Princess Celestia even if she was maybe a bit too rough with you and you know the dangers that the story of your kin has here, yet you stay loyal to me” She gave him a nuzzle “I like that, very few ponies except my friends had ever shown me that kind of friendship. I am sorry if I weirded you out, I know you told me ponies are small horses in your world and not… not like us”

“It didn’t weird me out Twilight” J replied with a smile, giving her a little kiss on the cheek that bought her some confidence back “But it does worry me”

“W-what? Why?” She asked, worried now that she might have done something she shouldn’t, that from being ‘forgiven’ one mistake she would gain another one much worse.

“It is not something bad Twilight, but I do worry that you like me” He sighed “Celestia told me that your kin likes personality and how one is, not what one is, that is much like me but is exactly that what I find a problem” While J wasn’t sure if he could tell Twilight about the whole thing, he did hope Celestia didn’t mind him giving out some vague information that wasn’t a lie “I doubt you are as new as the cartoon may have given out to a relationship or… other things, but that you liked me so fast may mean that your friends may like me this way too if how I am allures to them” J blushed a gave a chuckle “I am not bragging though, I am not the prettiest thing in existence Twilight, nor the most charismatic or friendly, however I try to please my friends and make them happy as well as like me. Much like Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy I only want my friends to like and love me and I will do anything to protect them and ensure they won’t abandon me, even if it didn’t worked well on Earth here it may have some unexpected results in here thanks to how things run” J sighed and shook his head, he had to forget about it as soon as he could but for now he could distract himself gently rubbing Twilight’s mane to comfort her “However here it may also include another kind of more personal love, and I don’t know if you all would be ok with that” He chuckled “Hell, even being a male of a species that enjoys that kind of things I am not sure if I would like it with such chances of hurting someone. I could hurt your feelings or your friend’s, I wouldn’t be able to live with that here, ever”

This time she had to bit her lip. Twilight wasn’t all that sure of what to say to him. She did hope that no one in his world had seen that in a few occasions the six friends had shared ‘very close friends’ as he had put it, in Equestria it was not uncommon for that and no one was ashamed of it (as far as it was in private), but how would he react if he was presented the chance? And in fact, how would any of her friends react? How could she? In a single day she had felt him as a close friend and she had liked him, his character and how sincere he was as well as how kind when he could be. In a way it was what you could call love, but it was too soon to say if it was true or just the fixation with something new, dangerous and exciting.

It was not something common for a pony to feel possessive of another, even when it was their mate; Pinkie had confirmed it MANY times as Mrs. and Mr. Cake had some ‘parties’ of their own. If she was indeed in love she would know with time, but in the meantime that he and her friends knew each other and maybe had some interactions (or something else) together didn’t bother her. It could definitely be a problem in the future, yes, but with luck this would take time to mature and she was going to be sure to not be so foolish again, for the sake of her new friend and her five best friends. He told her to let things run its natural course before, she was sure to give it a try.

The beautiful things had to take time to mature, and she was not going to be the one to rush things. For once she had someone different and she didn’t have any books to tell her what to do, only her conscience saying that she should let things run its course and tell the truth.

“I understand your worries” She said finally, granting J the chance to breathe again. Twilight couldn’t help but giggle a bit as she saw how nervous the young man had been “I would like to talk with you about this matter latter on, with more patience and being calm. It is unlike me to lose it like that and I should have asked you first, but I assure you that as far as you do not force anything and you are sincere me and my friends will be more than happy to comply” Twilight gave him a kiss on the lips that obviously both of them enjoyed, though she had yet to finish “Sharing is common in Equestria in all its senses, J, if any of my friends like you that way you will be welcome with each one of us with the level of trust or… companionship each one of us shows to you. If you do feel something STRONGLY for any of them however, you should tell, and if you are uncomfortable with anyone or any of this you should tell too”

He nodded and took her again in a gentle hug “I will, I do like the idea… but I don’t see it happening and working. All my life I have tried to find the one for me Twilight, failing miserably each time. I am not sure how it will play in here”

“Better than HER past tries I am sure”

The voice of spike made both of them jump in place. The young baby dragon had been placing the books in their places like nothing was happening during the whole ordeal. He had the same stoic face he had in the cartoon when he was working and didn’t seem all that impressed or interested on what Twilight had been doing with a completely different species.

“I mean, you know she is an egghead and you haven’t thrown her away already, that is a lot more than most the guys she was hooked up with” Spike chuckled.

“Spike!” A huge blush appeared on Twilight’s checks.

“Come on Twilight” Spike gave her a serious face for once “Everyone of your friends tried to hook you up with someone, none of them worked, granted that none of your friends have a boyfriend or girlfriend either, but at least they all could find someone that matched with them more or less, at least for a time” At that he gave a little laugh as he turned to his usually jovial side “Come on, even I tried to get you a date and you scared the poor colt away. You know I see you like a good friend, even a mother, more than my boss Twilight, and I want you happy. I know you don’t need a colt for that but I know you feel lonely when your friends are away, you want something else”

She gave a nervous smile as she looked at both males in the room. Twilight wasn’t sure of what to say and didn’t want to mess up again, but she didn’t want to rush it and mess it up either. She had no plan and her mind was getting too worked up while part of it went back to the kiss.

“As tempting as it may be I will respect Jonathan here” She smiled as she said his whole name, though he didn’t seem to like it very much. That gave her another thing to wonder about so to keep her mind busy “So first I will let him meet everypony else and see how it goes, ok?” Twilight tried to give her most sincere smile, but she was more than obviously nervous.

“Thanks” J gave her a little hug that took her by surprise; though you wouldn’t see Twilight complain “I just hope I didn’t mess up Twilight, I would hate to hurt… anyone’s feelings” However the three on the room knew that the phrase hadn’t been said as he had thought it.

Spike was going to say something more when a knock made everyone in the room jump. Someone was coming to the library? There was no time to hide J without a good excuse to make anypony outside wait for Celestia knows how long.

“Y-yes?” Twilight called, hoping for the best. In other words: Someone she could turn down.

“Twilight? Are you in there? I have something to tell you… umm… that is if you are not busy?”

Oh hay, it was Fluttershy. Way to jinx it Twilight.

“Of course Fluttershy, come right in” Sighing in defeat, Twilight signaled Spike to open the door.

She couldn’t tell Fluttershy to wait or go away, she would think that she had bothered her in any of both cases and would walk away quite quick. The shy Pegasus girl was one of the nicest, thought Twilight had to admit she found quite irritating the fact that she would let anyone push her around like that and that Fluttershy was never up to the challenge except if someone else was in trouble. Yet she was such a good friend… how would she take the little news she had to share? And more important, what would she want now? As far as Twilight knew everypony had some plans for today but Pinkie Pie.

When Spike finally opened the door a pair of fillies before Fluttershy could even mutter a word. The first was a young blue pegasi with grey feathers at the end of her wings as well as white short hair that was ruffled both in the tail and in the head. The second one was also blue, but was a little unicorn that looked a bit younger than the pegasi, also she had a red like mane with small dots of white hair running through the middle of her hair and tail, and both gently combed to look fluffy and cute.

Neither of them had cutie marks and both practically barged in yelling for help while Fluttershy tried to calm them down. None of them had even noticed J as he was still as a statue, probably everypony in the room thought that he was just that as Fluttershy seemed to be in such a mix of sadness and worry that she didn’t seem to care while the pair of young fillies were wailing at Twilight without making any sense between their mixed screams.

“Please I can’t hear anything!” She cried out when they all wouldn’t quiet down. The yell at least got the three to relax, though both fillies were crying and Fluttershy seemed about ready to “Now, slowly, tell me what is the problem”

The fillies only cried louder, so it was Fluttershy who talked “These little girls came to me today at morning, one of my bird friends told me he had seen the girls and a group of carts hiding in a cave in the Everfree Forest to guard from the horrible storm that hit us that day. He said no one came out at morning, so he thought they all had decided to rest there…”

“But?” Twilight didn’t like one single bit where this was going already.

“Well, you know that most big creatures are the ones that live in the caves, but they prefer to hunt under the rain or at night, so he thought nothing of it, but… umm…” Fluttershy soon had her eyes filled with tears. Someone so sensible usually was sad easily, but this time it was obvious she had a good reason “But when he came back today he found these fillies running away, screaming in fear and covered in blood and gasses” The yellow pegasi was crying and sobbing hard “My bird friend bought them home and I used the potions you made for me in case any of the creatures near the forest was too strong and evil to talk to, they are healed and clean but they…”

“That monster ate our friends!” The young pegasi cried out “Mommy and daddy made us run away while they distracted it, but they didn’t fallow us, we heard screams!” She wailed.

“I want mommy back!” The young unicorn cried as she hugged her sister’s flank.

“Please girls, calm down…” Twilight bit her lip; the sudden change from a happy (yet awkward and shy) moment had changed to one of sheer horror “How many ponies were in those carts?”

“It was… It was the Circus Fly-Off” Fluttershy sobbed.

Oh-Celestia.

“But that circus had at least forty ponies! No creature, no matter how big, should have attacked them if they were in a group! They had even powerful magicians and one of the strongest Earth ponies I have heard of besides Apple Jack!”

“Uncle Hard Hoof was the first to go” The young unicorn mumbled under a now ragged a broken voice after so much crying “The monster got all of our family…” She sniffled, unable to cry anymore.

Twilight couldn’t help her tears by now. It was not only that the circus had been famous even when she was young, she had attended once when they came to Canterlot, it was that if it was true there had been a lot of good lives lost to a wretched monster. If Princess Celestia had battled them long ago Twilight wondered why she had left them alive, though a second after questioning herself that horrid thing she realized that she probably had to do something as horrid with the humans as eradicate them. Even if monsters were dangerous they didn’t deserve such a fate, however it was hard to think of that if so many ponies had perished.

“But then… what do you want me to do?” Twilight was sad and nervous beyond belief, if they had been attacked so long ago it was a miracle that these fillies were still alive, in fact she very much doubted that their parents were still on this world now.

“Twilight”

Almost screaming is how she found herself as J’s hand was placed over her shoulder, though Twilight was the one to take this little movement the better since the two fillies and Fluttershy moved away, even more scared than before.

“Do you have any weapons a human can use? Or maybe you know of some near here? This is going to be my first day on the job”

He had a stoic face, very much like if he was made of stone. Twilight didn’t know why but all the nice on him seemed to have been locked away for now, it was still there, but instead of taking the news like Fluttershy or she had done he had a look that told how much anger he was suppressing. While something told her that he wouldn’t do anything stupid, or to harm them, it was blatantly obvious that he was also decided on making sure whatever had done this wouldn’t do it again.

“I-I think I have. Princess Celestia told me this library had a basement where there were very old things that some ponies had locked away after Canterlot had been created” She used her magic to slowly move one of the selves that Celestia told her about, revealing what seemed to be a hidden stairs “We can go and take a look”

“Twilight umm… what is he?” Fluttershy asked as she looked at the human in front of her. She was still crying and sniffling, but her worry about what she had in front of her was also gnawing at her pretty deeply.

“A friend” Was all that Twilight responded “Spike, can you escort both fillies to The Mayor? She has a good way with kids and may be able to get them some help” Twilight looked at both fillies “I am sure my friend will try his best to find your parents. Wait for us to come back and try to rest, ok?”

Both kids gave a nod, still crying as Spike signaled them to fallow him. Twilight knew Spike was not the most friendly baby dragon ever, and he was a bit rude, something that seemed to have changed little after the intelligence spurt yesterday, but he was as much as a caring being as her other friends. He would do a good job, probably he would make sure to keep them company until she came back.

Once they were gone she sighed and got off J “Ok everypony, let’s go down here…” Besides, this would be as good as it could get to explain J to at least one of her friends.

Celestia had been watching J all day; in fact she was going to do it every day at any chance she got either like this or with the link she had with him after the pact was made. She had to make sure it would all end how she had hoped. Today there were no duties, no schedules and no nothing, she was supposed to be relaxing but after yesterday she could not, she hated lying to everypony, including the human, though what had happened a little while ago had left her a bit disheartened. If things didn’t go right Twilight could end up feeling… well…

“Tia, we need to talk”

Though she knew that Luna would come to talk sooner or later, Celestia had really thought she would come sooner, not by teleportation to catch her red hooved like she had done now, but sooner anyway. For some reason it seemed to disappoint her little sister to see her not surprised, even more so to see her spying on the human and now two of the elements of harmony without losing a bit of concentration.

“I suppose you have questions?” Celestia chuckled while she continued her vigil. After all she had a mirror like screen to see what happened near J and she could look at her sister without losing too much detail.

“Why are you spying on him?” Luna asked, maybe a bit worried.

“Making sure all goes well, of course” Celestia didn’t change her expression as she said so.

Luna had hoped that her sister took it a bit more seriously, maybe that she would at least stop her incantation, but it didn’t seem to be going to happen any time soon.

“What was that?” Celestia gave her an ‘excuse me?’ look “Why the over the top charade yesterday? Why so angry? I know you are not like that, at least not anymore sis. I can believe… maybe I would understand that at first you would be shocked and angry, and by the way I know the shock was genuine, but the rest? You were too harsh on him for no good reason!”

“Then I did a good job with that facade” Celestia gave a guilty smile as she looked down, quite ashamed “I didn’t want to go overboard, but it was necessary, I needed everypony thinking I hated him and that I would be so willing, with some pressure, to give help him and give him what you had promised. It is not like what I did with you that time so long ago, that was unplanned and I was literally angry, depressed and hardly thinking rationally, this time I have a plan. One doesn’t live one thousand years without picking something up dear sister” She gave her a gentle smile this time, patting her side so Luna would sit down.

When she did Celestia formed another little mirror, showing her the scene where she had worried herself to such an extent that she had to stomp in and act. While she was unsure of how long she would have to act like she was hateful or at least resentful of what humans did.

“It was… fast?” Luna gave out a little chuckle as she saw the kiss unfold, though that didn’t took her questioning look as she turned at Celestia again. Her big sister sighed and continued.

“It is a bit of a byproduct” Her sister told her as she watched the two mares and t he human reach the stony underground of the library “A summoner that calls for a companion usually gets attached to them very personally, though most times they are monsters or other creatures that do not care that much for it beyond loyalty. In this case it is way too different as , while his good side will probably attract almost any mare (or maybe colt) that he meets if they are in contact with them for long and get to know him to some extent, Twilight is quite the different matter and it needs TACT” Her look of concern was genuine and Luna had to sigh inwardly as she had seen that in her sister only for three other creatures, one of which was her “If it goes too fast it can end badly and in obsession or something else entirely. I am sure that this little romantic stunt will probably happen with one or more of Twilight’s friends thanks to how they all are, so I want to make sure that Jonathan and Twilight are both ready for it and that he understand how things work here. I didn’t enjoy meddling in my student’s affairs, I want her happier than she is, but I had to step in so this wouldn’t ruin what I did yesterday”

“What do you mean sis? Your act yesterday was a farse, but I didn’t see what it could do” Luna wasn’t impressed nor surprised, however she hadn’t had any hopes for her sister to tell her outright what she had done “I thought you said you weren’t going to lie anymore…”

“Nor do I want to, but this case is very special”

While the group traveled through the little dungeon Celestia used the other mirror to show three sheets of generic armor, one made out of gold and silver, another of common but beautiful metals and another one made of what seemed to be black stone. Each one of them had a shield and a sword as if they had humans inside; it was so life like that Luna didn’t look impressed as they all moved within the image.

“You see, if it had been a normal human that is either good or bad by nature I would’ve minded it, my dear sis. I admit I had been rough before I read his mind, but after that I became much, much more worried than I thought possible” The metal armor took a step back and the other two faced each other “Thanks to what Twilight had done, Jonathan had been turned into a Knight. Do you remember how the stories go from our time dear?”

“Umm…” Luna gave a nervous smile “No?”

“Knew it” Celestia gave her a gentle nuzzle before she explained the old lore “The Knights were those humans that displayed loyalty to the best mages of our time back when they existed, it was even possible to get other humanoids as knights, even the Diamond Dogs if they were intelligent and loyal enough, though they have reverted to a bit of a savage state in this age” She gave a sad sigh, obviously concerned about that “There were, as for everything else, different kinds to identify them”

The golden armor lunged forward with its sword trying to connect with the dark one.

“The most common and loved of our time, the ones that made most of the myths that exist today, were the Order of Lore: Loyal, determined and always on the side of the law and the people. They were usually the only ones to appear within our old kingdom thanks to us, ponies, being loyal and friendly by nature. No human with dark intentions would ever submit to serve our nation when our royal family had power” Celestia looked like she had her mind wandering back in time for a while “Back on our days we only got one, and too late”

The dark armor, not caring for Celestia’s explanation, took a step aside when the golden one lunged. It used its knee on the golden one’s chest, making the other fall before he crushed it chest plate with a boot. Luna was sure that if the thing had a voice it would’ve laughed as it cut the helmet away with one single slice.

“The Knight of Onyx was unique back then, but it was the complete opposite of the Golden Knight: He was ruthless and crazy, he commanded the monsters that attacked us and he was behind all the chaos. He was the reason why all ended up… like this” She looked down and begun to cry openly “The reason of why we lost so much”

This took the younger sister by surprise as Luna hadn’t seen her sister cry in a long time, she had been sure to hide her tears from her as she showed her the whole story three months prior. Whatever was crossing her mind now was something painful, as painful as what had happened so long ago. However she soon realized what it was and her concern grew as it was the real reason of why she did hate, at least partially, the humans to this day.

“Tia?”

‘Don’t go back! You can live as long as us now! Let me heal you! Come back…!’

“Tia, are you ok?” Luna gave her a nudge “Don’t think about it, please. I don’t want you sad, you already have enough on your back trying to be who you aren’t… and you still have to tell me why you do it”

“Sorry dear, sorry” Celestia wiped her tears and cleared her throat as the last armor came from behind the victorious Knight of Onyx to impale the armor with one powerful trust, thus breaking also the mirror with a dramatic but almost inaudible crunch “Some of our unicorns weren’t truly nice, nor were they really evil, they stood in the middle and did what they thought was right. The Grey Knights were the humans or humanoids with carefree spirits back then, they weren’t common and weren’t special, but their actions most the times either saved or doomed people”

Celestia absorbed the remains of the mirror with her horn as she took control of the remaining one, showing the group again as they found a door in their part. The underground had turned gloomy and Twilight had her horn sparkling with magic as she talked to Fluttershy who now seemed more at ease near J.

“Jonathan is going to be a Grey Knight; I have no doubt of it. It means he will do what he thinks is good, however he has a great problem within his mind that may turn his neutral sheet to something darker” Celestia gave a gentle cuddle to her sister, nuzzling her under her wing as she explained herself “He can’t let go of everything he has done, he is too self conscious of his actions and he knows he can lose his temper so easily that he won’t care who was the cause and who to harm if the right buttons are closed. If he is lied to, he will lash out at least verbally, if his friends are in danger, he will protect them no matter who is the one threatening them, it can go to the point of killing the opposition” Celestia lied her head gently over her sister’s as she took both crowns away with her magic “I wish things don’t go that badly, that is why I wanted him intimidated so he knows it won’t be accepted here if things go grim. He has to learn to control himself and he has to learn to wish for a happy life without violence, however he grew up with training and taught how to be a soldier from his world. His mother is a good woman, but she was unable to teach him properly as she hadn’t had a proper teaching of how she should use her own talents”

“You think he can be a danger then?” Celestia gave a nod to her younger sister “But he looks so nice, I know he IS nice” Luna tried to beg to her sister.

“I know he is, but he has to learn to forgive himself first so as to live with what he did and to hope for the best. However for a long time the only things happening to him had been bad: Losing friends slowly but steady, sometimes by betrayal. He also got lucky a few times and found someone he could call a girlfriend, someone he hoped was the one for him, only to lose her way to quick for one reason or another. It didn’t help him any how unlucky he was as he had the ones dear to him hurt while he saw his mother’s pain”

The sun goddess closed her eyes slowly. She was so sad about the man in so many ways she wanted to cry. She had seen sadness so big once and it was hers. While this wasn’t, by her standards, so cruel and he hadn’t suffered for that long, for a human it could be enough of a motive to do something drastic. She wanted to believe that what she did was the right thing, but it was hard for her to do so even knowing that this was the best case scenario. In fact Celestia had her doubts that when J was finally told about this he would not punch her square in the face. She knew she would deserve it, but no matter how she looked at it, this wouldn’t be fair no matter how necessary it was and it pained her heart even if she wanted to turn it to stone like many years ago.

“Unlike us he was not going to have a happy ending, no matter how positive he was all the time: he knew there would be another one to push his buttons, way too many sad moments and just too much pain for him to bear. His hopes for a happy end were running so short that he had thought of ending it all, I saw it in his mind. The only thing keeping him away of such an end was his family” She tried to give her sister a smile as she looked down at her “At first I thought that he would try something this night right away, however after what happened before I do know he is not going to do anything so foalish” At that the smile on her muzzle grew, but ever so much “Maybe, with luck, he will give himself some more time and see that what he learned during his life could benefit us all. However there is the problem that this is the time for him to learn the Duties of a Protector, and he is going to be burdened with more than just loyalty towards someone for both his life and his friendship”

“And what is that sis?” Luna rested her head on Celestia’s forelegs, relaxing at last now that she knew that her sister would, with some luck and a gentle nudge, drop the façade the next time she saw J.

“You didn’t saw it but I was here Luna: There is a monster that has… ended many pony lives. It spared only two young fillies, and I am sure he did that to call the attention of the Elements” At that Luna sprung on her hooves, looking at the mirror intently as the door was finally opened “This is the first time he is going to see something that cannot die, not only that but that it want the death of everything else or the complete control of everything that moves. He is going to have to fight against the worst our world has to offer and I can’t help him, I can’t help him or the ones alive where he is going to go even if I want to. I saw what had happened too late and the thing is waiting for the Elements and their protector”

“Can’t you help him? Why?! If you are talking about ‘that’ thing then I don’t want any harm to anypony else” Luna had her eyes watering now. The last time she had even thought about ‘that’ thing those images came back “No other creature would have harmed ponies, maybe one, maybe even done something horrid to one, but more? No matter how big that is not hunting and it is not protecting one’s territory. There is nothing else I can think of that is capable of being cruel by nature”

“Even if I could I won’t do anything Luna” Celestia tried to give her sister a pleading look, but hers was one of such sadness that she could hardly change it, much less when Luna pushed away from her in a bit of shock “If I can use any power to help what they are going to find there, I will do, but if it is impossible to bring them back… then… Then I hope for him to learn a valuable lesson and to take care of what he thinks is just” She saw how her sister opened her mouth to protest but Celestia stopped her “Sis, this thing has to be done. He has to put his will in saving not only his own life, but those he finds dear, for other reason than fear and instinct. He has to forge his new character and has to show his determination to be better, not only to me but to his own self. If he fails we will lose him forever… and I will step down to save Twilight and her friend Fluttershy”

“…” Luna looked down at her sister with a cold stare “Would you let him die?”

“If he doesn’t change? Yes, I don’t want to, but it could bring something horrid in the future or keep Twilight and her friends alive and happy” Celestia was crying profusely now, not caring to maintain her façade anymore.

Celestia hid her face from her sister as her cry was too much for her to bear now. The many outcomes she had seen. All of them made someone else sad, but two showed pure destruction and misery, and some showed almost perfect bliss. She wasn’t sure of what to do, she only knew that she had to help this happen, or the future was going to be one of those bleak ones. But here she was, knowing that whatever she did she would harm people dear to her, her subjects, friends or family. How could she chose the right thing when none of them looked like they would fit on her desires of a perfect and blissful future?

“I am sorry sis, but I don’t want to lose you again, not you not Twilight and not her friends” The sun goddess sobbed “I know you probably hate me now, I am no better than all those years ago when I yelled at you. I thought I was in control and I only ended messing up everything, not only that it seems like I am going to mess up again even when this is the only thing I can think of. I am a horrible, horrible pony…”

She stopped once she felt her sister give her a hug. Celestia was still sad and crying, but she knew Luna only wanted her to smile again as she took her close.

“I am sorry you will do what is right sis, I am sure you want to do the best for everypony so I will be here with you to help if I can. I don’t want to leave you to do everything alone again this time. If you say it is the right thing to do I will support you to the end” She gave her sister a gentle kiss on the cheek and wiped her tears away with one wing “But promise me that if it is needed, if he is in danger but he can change somehow without this, you will help. I know he is good inside and he will forgive his past shins and change if we nudge him in the right way. Please sis, for me?”

The sun goddess nodded, smiling a sad smile “I promise, I promise my dear sister” She tried, but Celestia couldn’t stop crying.

She knew that if the ‘thing’ made him doubt what he had found, what he now thought he loved, he would be gone way too fast for them to do anything. Luna would be a great help if needed, at least she would offer support, but if J’s resolve wasn’t strong enough he would be no more, and not by her hoof, he would end all of this thanks to his own insecurity and the belief that he was not worthy of this. It was not how Celestia had wanted it, she thought this creature would take much longer to act, in fact she had hoped it would do so without harming anypony, not like this.

If J died the connection between Twilight and him would break and Twilight would need much help nursing a broken heart again. If he survived, then the attraction wouldn’t dwindle, so her only desire if today things turned out alright was that they two worked it out very slowly and that Twilight would learn to control her feelings. She was young and, much like her friends, a bit too hormonal driven as they all were young mares that wanted somepony to love them. It would be the next problem to avert but Celestia knew it was time away, a long time, if it ever happened.

She was able to see the last bit of the group underground as J took his new possession Celestia simply let go of the spell, her mental connection with him more than enough for the time being. Now she only wanted to enjoy this hug with her sister and to clear her mind. She was going to be sincere with him the next time he came to the castle and she needed to tread carefully or if she had made any progress and he had survived it all would end in nothing but a sorrowful night.

‘Goddess’ She thought, still sad as she looked at the sun ‘This is so hard, even after so long…’ She hid another tear that rolled down her cheek ‘I miss you… it would be so easier with you here today’ Hiding her sadness Celestia gave her sister another gentle kiss, trying to smile as she waited for the young man’s upcoming confrontation and the future of the Elements of Magic with… or without a Protector.