NFA: Hello everyone. I want to thank those that reviewed to this point :3 I really NEVER EVER thought I would have any review as I am quite accustomed to getting none in the past, or maybe some flames… you know, that is depressing for a writer. Anyway, I am here to say thanks, give some notes, comments and continue on working as well as to ask a question, not to complain. This is a big NFA so it may take a while, but read it please.

First things first: With thanks out of the way let me tell you:

[These are for Reviewers in Fanfiction.net. I will also do for those here or in DA... though the latter is pretty much guaranteed to not get any comments :p]

A Ugly Faic: He is going to survive obviously… at least for now that is. The state, however, is what should worry you :3 And I do not mean physically.

Nobodyreallyimportant: Well, she has been a ruler for one thousand years and counting, she should be good at giving nudges without being noticed, or making it so blatant that you don’t think it is her. I do not want to portray her as bad or a tyrant, but the impression is there until all is told.

Solrac III: Of course there is information that is being held back :3 I have been writing for 13 years now, I know good ways to make something interesting and Celestia, or anypony else, is not going to tell everything right away (Much less Celestia, duh x3). As for multiple pairings? Well, I am not a romantic writer if I must say, I have made a LOT of adult stories but have never touched love much and this is my first try, though I do want to explore the romantic side that this may have since, so it may be like that :3

Now in the side of notes: While this story is mostly about Adventure and Fantasy in the world of Equestria, there may be some adult teemed moments, namely:
The swearing I love to put in my stories. I grew up with it and I see swearing as a pretty inoffensive way of venting. The one doing it will be Jonathan, so there is not much to it.
Sex, if I finally put it in here, is a much bigger issue for most. I grew up with a pretty open mother and father that, to this day, have no problems talking with me about everything. Sex, as I understand it, is a good way of bonding and sharing physical contact between friends that desire it when they both want to. I think that people misunderstands quite a lot the term of open relationships but I do like the concept of them, so I don’t see it as a bad thing here though if I do it I will mark those sections like HELL so if any of you don’t want to read you can avert them.

This is not the sharp frigging point of the iceberg though, not my friends; the little thing that is going to make it bleed is the horror, gore and etc… sections. I do not plan in making many of this, with luck there will be few and then it will be done, however think that I openly said that Jonathan’s duty includes trying to help the girls in their heads to help them with their darkest side. Now mix that idea with Pinkie and Fluttershy plus what you saw in the series and the fact that I make serious stories (For the most part) and have experience with horror, monsters and such. Those two are the ones I have the most defines of how their dark side would be, with Twilight and Rarity going not far behind.

Those sections will not be pretty and you all will have to sit through them, so I want you to understand that when you see a *** [Some kind of WARNING message] *** under the title it is something more serious than you may think. On the other side we have the sadness that will also be a part of the story, while I don’t like to give spoilers away I need to tell you that it is going to begin HERE, so you have been warned.

I am sorry if some of you do not like this and want to stop reading by now, but it is how I had intended this to go from the start. While I am a writer that does plan little so it is more interesting to write, I do make the guidelines and go along with them until the end, so this is something that is going to happen and there is no point in discussing it because I won’t change my mind in this dark stuff.

Got it? Then onwards to the story! I was going to ask about submitting this to Equestria Daily but seeing that there is a no porn/gore rule I am pretty frakked. Yea, porn is not for sure but gore it is going to happen sooner or later, even if only a bit (I hope) and because it is necessity… Yet they frigging uploaded Cupcakes theme, all of fucking it. When you wrap your mind around it you give me a good reason. (Full on rant given if you poke me about it, but it is fucking huge)

It had been right the instant when they began to walk down the stairs when Twilight had felt the pang of magic all around her. The seemingly infinite stairs were lighted from nowhere with enough light around them to see perfectly well in what should have been pitch black darkness, and she knew the only pony with dark vision was Princess Luna, so this was forcefully a magic incantation from old times. However she had much in her mind as they walked down, one thing was to explain Fluttershy what her newest friend was.

“So… umm… what are you? If… if you don’t mind me asking that is” Fluttershy walked besides Twilight to ensure she was as far as possible from J as she could.

Twilight found it a bit funny as Fluttershy had always been the best with creatures, maybe not battling or knowing them (Though the last was probably not as true as Twilight thought), but she was indeed the best treating with them. If they had a non understandable language Fluttershy could easily talk to them, if they did have one it didn’t matter because Fluttershy could calm down a dragon just by talking to it if she had the courage. That she walked away from a human only made Twilight more nervous than she was as it was obvious that Fluttershy knew how dangerous a creature could be by simply taking a look at it.

“I am a human, something that doesn’t exist in your world” J had a bit of a monotone and Twilight thought she knew why.

She hadn’t seen his face when the fillies had entered her house, but she was sure that the hate she knew he had was from the fact that these little girls had suffered something far worse than he had: They had… they had probably lost their parents. Twilight didn’t want to think about it but they probably were now alone in the world. That creature had taken away their parents, their friends and their way of life. For J it had been a different childhood but he had enjoyed his family until the last moments, to see something so young and so innocent being torn apart.

‘It had been too much, too much for his good side to bear’ Twilight sighed mentally. J was not innocent, not like she or her friends were; she had to keep telling herself that even I she didn’t want to believe it, not after what had happened before. She wanted to believe that there was enough good to salvage him and make him happy again, however seeing such sadness, such cruelty, unfolding where he thought he could be safe? It had made a tear in his mind’s preconceptions.

“What is a human?” Fluttershy perked her ears up and looked questioningly at her friend.

“It is a hominid creature like the Diamond Dogs: Walks in two legs, has arms and hands, a complex internal system and a very versatile brain” Twilight blurted out, showing her nervousness as she had given away to her rambling “Eh, sorry Fluttershy. They are a species from another world you could say, I summoned him yesterday thinking we would need help since it seems more powerful creatures and more complex problems seem to follow us as of late”

“I see…” Fluttershy still didn’t seem to want to look at him “But he seems so… dangerous now. Is it safe for us or other peaceful creatures?”

“Oh believe me Fluttershy, he wouldn’t dream of harming us” Twilight couldn’t help but let a gentle chuckle escape her lips at that. If there was one thing she was sure of is that he would NEVER harm them, however the look of wonder in her friend made her explain a ‘bit’ of the truth “As his summoner he can’t do something that I command him not to, also Princess Celestia made sure that he would not need meat and that he could feel magic. He would never want to harm us and even in the impossible chance that he did, it wouldn’t end well for him” As she gave him a look to see if he had reacted Twilight wasn’t sure if to be sad, angry or simply let it go, but it seemed like Jonathan hadn’t even paid any attention to her.

“Are you ok Twilight?” Fluttershy whispered, which was a hay of an accomplishment given her usual tone.

“I am... worried” Fluttershy noticed the pause her friend had made when she was about to talk, but she said nothing “He is acting different than I had hoped. He is focused on this and I don’t know if it is good”

“Why so? Didn’t you say it was safe?” Fluttershy gave J a look as he had taken a few steps in front of them “I mean, I don’t know what to think… but if you say he is nice…” She hesitated saying the last part and, unlike her, Twilight did say something.

“He IS nice, don’t doubt it” She almost raised her voice, making Fluttershy take a step back “Sorry, sorry Fluttershy” Twilight pleaded giving her a hurt look, she hadn’t meant to almost yell at her “But he has been only a few hours with me, maybe I can’t even say it has been a day, and I have only seem him angry to an extent” The young mare gave J a look as the light began to dim “I think seeing the two young girls so fearful and alone has hit him hard…”

“I think I can understand” Fluttershy looked away a bit ashamed “It is the first time I am willing to ask somepony to… to hunt down something” The nice yellow mare pegasi let a few tears roll down her cheeks as she thought about the young fillies hurt, covered in blood and screaming for their parents “I have heard of creatures eating each other for food, I… I can accept that… t-to an extent” She sniffed, unable to imagine such a thing “It is the n-natural way of l-l-life… but to kill so many innocent ponies? It is not h-hunting, it is simply horrid”

Twilight tried to comfort her friend, but she didn’t know what to say. The monster they would go to hunt probably was massive, mad and bloodthirsty if it had attacked so many ponies and got them all but the young ones. In fact she couldn’t help but think about it as she finally got Fluttershy to stop walking so she could give her friend a hug to try and help her to calm down.

Why had the monster left two fillies run away? It didn’t make any kind of sense if you stopped enough to think about it with a cold head. The thing had these ponies under its watch for a week, which meant that the cave probably was deep enough and had food and water or all the ponies would’ve ended up dead in three days, five tops, without water since the caves are usually cold and humid enough to help fight dehydration, but only to an extent.

The creature also had the obvious knowledge of its home and the skill to hunt anything it wanted with ease as well as the intelligence to target dangerous targets first, this had dawned to her as the girls had said that the strongest earth pony had been the first to die: Hard Hoof, a pony that was one head taller than most ponies and could even break an apple tree in half with one strong kick. It had been Apple Jack’s idol when she was young, at least as far as her friend had told her.

By now it could be simply that she was giving it too much credit, but the thing had, without even getting near them, hurt three of the six friends in this city, and it looked like it was almost specifically. The fillies had gone to Fluttershy, Fluttershy brought them to her and the news dawned like the coldest of rains upon her. When Apple Jack was told of this she would probably be enraged, not only for her hero from when she was young, but because she hated anyone getting harmed in a much different way than Fluttershy.

It only made her wonder how many of her friends would be hateful of such a creature with a single action from its part. Twilight couldn’t help it as she felt the color drain from her: She was sick and still wanted to puke like this morning when J told her the truth, however this time it was for a different reason as she realized she was going to head straight to a monster that seemed to be wishing for her and her friends to come specifically.

“Girls, are you alright?”

The sobbing from Fluttershy came to a stop and Twilight relaxed just enough to turn and look at her newest friend. He still had a harsh expression, but he was truly concerned for them both and it showed, something she was grateful for.

“Yea, Fluttershy was…” Twilight wanted to be gentle with what she said, but it was obvious that Fluttershy was depressed beyond belief for once.

“I suppose you hate the idea of the ponies from the circus harmed… or worse” J didn’t need to see her nod her head to know the answer, but he let her do it anyway so as to go slowly and to let her relax a bit more “I also bet that you hate the idea of going there to hurt the creature that did it”

This time Fluttershy did more than nod “Not hurt… stop it” Her tone was but a whisper “I don’t want anyone harmed by that thing again. It-it could do horrible things in the forest! More than this time, if that is even possible” She looked away, sad and without capacity to understand how something could be so cruel. Not even a dragon in full rage had made so much damage in ages “I haven’t… I haven’t desired to harm a creature in all my life” Fluttershy sniffed “But this thing is going to hurt or kill innocent ponies and creatures. I would never let that happen”

“Then relax”

Twilight saw how J took a gentle change of his expression as his hands went for Fluttershy. He rubbed gently her neck and made sure that she was looking at him in the eye.

“I have never enjoyed violence Fluttershy, but I suppose I have used it as a solution in times where I should have used my words” His voice was sad and even with obvious embarrassment he was looking at Fluttershy straight to the eyes, much like he had done with Twilight “I made mistakes in my life, a lot of them cannot be undone, but I made them for things that happened to me and when I thought I had no other choice. I suppose it doesn’t mean anything here but I cannot let go, I refuse to, until I see that those things are the past and that I am different” He gave her mane a gentle stroke and wiped Fluttershy’s tears gently “I wish to use the strength I have now to help you all, I won’t harm anyone that does not deserve it, and in this land it is very hard that such a thing comes to happen. However this creature seems to be pure evil and I cannot abide it, I don’t care if it is wrong this time for I am going to go there and save anyone I can, taking down the thing so it doesn’t do this again”

He sighed heavily and looked down for a moment. Twilight knew that Fluttershy would find it very weird, not that anypony else would not do so, but to J it was going to mean more than her friend knew. How she would take it is what worried Twilight, as well as how J could take her response.

“Will you hate me if I have to kill that monster for what it has done?”

There it was, said and done. Fluttershy was startled by the question, not because she couldn’t figure that he was going to face the beast to kill it, but because she didn’t thought that the human that she had just meet was asking if she was going to hate him for doing what was needed.

It was a known fact that Fluttershy was a coward to an extent and that she hated violence with a passion, she wouldn’t even approach something that got her scared and so usually nopony gave her much credit or heard her out outside of how to take care of animals. This time she seemed willing to come and found out someone that was concerned on what she thought of what he was going to be forced to do when almost nopony asked her as it was hard enough to get her to talk or to simply hear her speak. For her it was a shock and she didn’t know how to respond properly.

“N-no of-offense but… why do you care?” She asked in a hushed voice, not much louder than her usual tone “I barely know you…”

“Because it is important to me” J told her with a shy look “Twilight summoned me, I am bound to her, and I know in the little time that we have been together that I am her friend” For some reason that last word didn’t come out as he had planned it, at least he hopped that the quick glance he threw at Twilight wasn’t noticed by any of the two mares “It means I cannot go back to my world and that I will have to live with her, be with her whenever she wishes and thus, be with all of her friends, including you” His look was sad now, but by now it was only to an extent. He had to live with the fact that he would not go bath and both the good and the bad that came with it “I may miss my home but this is my new one and she saved my life, so I am going to repay her helping while I create a new life for me and maybe make new friends… with you all if you want” He sighed. It was not how he wanted to meet the shyest of all the ponies, but he would have little time after this “If this is how we are going to meet I don’t want to make a first bad impression, yet in my first day here I will have to do what Twilight summoned me for: fighting off monsters that are dangerous, and in this case, kill this one. This will have consequences, and one I don’t want is you hating me for it”

“I… understand”

Let’s be honest here: This was not the worst way to meet Fluttershy, not if J thought about it. However this was as bad as it could get in the range of ‘messed up’ and he was almost sure of the outcome: Fluttershy would pull away and distant herself from the violent human before her. It would make sense that, even with the need to do so, Fluttershy would find his willingness much too obscure for her usual demeanor and her love for nature.

It didn’t make much sense to him that she was now hugging him as gently as if he was wrapped in cotton candy.

“I don’t like the idea of harming anything… I have never liked it” She half whispered, though it was one of her louder tones “This… this is a monster… not a creature of the forest. Even hydras and dragons don’t do this, I… I don’t know what to do this time” J could feel that the poor mare was crying again on his shoulder “I only ask… can… can I wait outside of the cave when we arrive? I don’t want to see it”

“Ssssh… relax” J tried to comfort her gently as he looked pleading at Twilight for help.

“You can wait outside of the cave Fluttershy, we may need a medic and you know how to heal both ponies and any animal in the forest” Twilight said with as much of a gentle tone as she could, also broken and sad by this point “But I hope it is not needed and that we can go out of that place as… as happily as we can, knowing what we will find”

“Thanks…” She said finally, pushing away from J “And I understand what you say… I can be your friend if you want, I mean, if that is ok… I have seen bad ponies, and how others didn’t mind hurting those they could” Fluttershy gulped, not wanting to remember those things “But you don’t seem like those ponies, so I would like you as a friend too if you will live here”

For the first time after the news J smiled, his somber and serious look fading away as Fluttershy said those words. It seemed to be contagious as the mares soon turned up with a brighter mood; at least Twilight as Fluttershy was still shocked for all that had transpired that day.

“You don’t know how much that means to me, thanks Fluttershy”

Twilight had to chuckle a bit as Fluttershy recovered that little smile she used to have until she came through her door. She knew her friend wouldn’t be alright for a while, but making a new friend and seeing how he worried for others even when he didn’t know them was something that could connect with the yellow pegasi. It was obvious that humans were way more complex than ponies sometimes, or simply that J had enough experiences to have the right words in most cases, something that he didn’t like, Twilight was sure of that.

Her train of thoughts broke as, suddenly, the lights went out, they had been dimming the whole time but only now it was noticed that the darkness had enveloped them all when Fluttershy finally gave a little cry of fear. While that made both J and Twilight laugh a bit, warming the mood some more, Twilight had to admit that right now she could find anything scary with all the news, so she used a little of her magic to shed light over the place and see that, for some reason, they all were at the bottom of the stairs. It was impossible by all means that from taking one step after another they hadn’t noticed that, for some reason, they had reached the bottom.

“This is weird…” She said with a worried look “I had sensed magic here, but this is different”

“Weird? This makes me think of a game of my time that had stairs that went up and up until you got all what it asked for” J had to admit that old Super Mario 64 got to him at some point “Maybe we did something? Wait for the lights to fade?”

“I don’t know… Is there something here to give us a clue?” Twilight took a look around, but all she could see was what seemed to be a door a short distance away, out of the range of her light.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy called for her in a scared tone “We entered through that? Was it so close?”

Twilight and J turned to look up the stairs, only to see that the secret door was practically closed, but no really that far away, maybe thirty steps at most. It was all a mystery on itself, but when Twilight tried to open it with magic to let in more light the door closed with a loud *SLAM*. Even with dread over them nothing else happened as the light had already faded and they knew there was a knob at this side of that door, so either with their hooves, magic or with J they could get it open.

At least she hoped.

“Well, whatever it happened, it means we have to continue” Twilight tried to sound confident, but she wasn’t, at all “I saw a door there, let’s check it out”

Turning again, everypony saw the door not so far as before, probably because the light now was all coming from Twilight’s horn and they could see their surroundings a little better, but little else. It was of a blue/green coloration, probably eaten away by only Celestia knows how long, as there were a few patches of black, holes and… rust? Twilight got closer and tried to use her magic to peel some of the paint, only to get a little shock on her horn.

“Ah! That stung” She wimpered, hiding behind J out of reflex as she knew of some materials that would do that to an unicorn “That thing is made of Lunar Metal” Twilight seemed a bit afraid of the thing now, something that caught the attention of both Fluttershy and J “It is made with meteorites that sometimes fall from the sky at night and can zap any unicorn that tries to use magic near it. If the owner of whatever has been created with metal doesn’t want a specific unicorn inside they will get these kinds of zaps, though they can be worse”

“Want me to open it then?” J asked as he examined the door, finding a nice, yet rusty, know at the perfect size for a person “It does seem like someone wanted this for a guy of my size”

“Would it be dangerous?” Fluttershy chimed in with worry “This is scary and we don’t know what could be in there…”

“Hey, if I have to wander towards the wolf’s mouth let me say something:” He offered a nervous smile as he took the few steps needed to grip the knob “What is the worst that could happen?”

And then he opened the door.

Nothing happened.

“Oh hell, that was a relief, another cliché adverted” He smiled while looking back, noticing something on the back of the door “Heh, want weird? This is weird… Twilight, could you give me some light?”

“But the door will zap me again if I come close” She whined.

It was not that Twilight was scared of anything like this, but her training had shown her how much it could sting and how long the Lunar Metal could absorb a unicorn’s magic (even for the Element of Magic herself). J only gave her a reassuring look and motioned her to get closer as she pointed at a rusty metal plate that was now on both the front and the back of the door. If he was sure of it then she had not a reason to doubt her friend, however she did hope it would sting little to nothing this time.

As she got closer the metal slate changed to bright silver like color with no rust, something that picked her interest as she got close enough to read what it said.

“Property of Knight Jonathan” At first she was speechless, but then she simply laughed gently “Ooooh, who made you a knight?” Twilight smirked, noticing finally that she had not been zapped “Hey, I am ok…”

“I don’t understand a thing, but if this says it is mine you can go in any time you want Twilight” He gave her a smile and she blushed slightly “Now thought, let’s see what is in here”

Twilight stepped forth just a moment, walking back as she heard the whine of her friend Fluttershy whom had stayed behind. Offering the yellow mare a gentle smile she got her cowardly friend to come back to her side just as J walked forward thanks to the light that was being shed over the darkness. Twilight had to admit that Fluttershy had many talents, but her fear got the better of her, which this time meant that they were losing precious seconds each time she was scared of something.

When the pair of mares got inside they could see a perfectly smooth floor made out of grayed out wood as well as many stands covered in dust in what once had been a huge main room that seemed to be able to hold a gathering of maybe twenty ponies or so. It was pretty much as big as Sugarcube Corner, but not as colorful. It was shaped like a diamond with the blunt top being where they were now and the tip ending on a door with two at its sides and two at both sides on the middle section of the room. Literally it seemed to be a perfect place for meetings more than anything.

While the light was pretty dim even with Twilight trying her best, J had taken a look at every door and then had tried to even open all of them as Twilight and Fluttershy took a look at everything they could. In the end they got close to J as he found the only one that could be opened being the one at the other side of the entrance door. He didn’t seem to notice or care, but as the mares got closer they found a grey and heavy sign in the door that said ‘Jonathan’s Room’.

“This is way far too weird” Twilight spoke up as she and Fluttershy got in the room to find J looking at a sphere so bright that it lighted the whole room up. It was behind a glass that made the light look blue, much like light at night when there were no clouds.

The place was much smaller than the main room, but it still had a few stands, dusty and rusty equipment that ranged from armors to some form of clothes, some weapons she didn’t know and pictures, a wardrobe, cupboard and a few bookcases here and there with also some devices covered in dust nearby as well as a ragged king sized bed. To her it meant nothing but curiosity, to him they were part of his life and he had no time, nor the right mind, to delve on it.

“I don’t know this all appeared here” He said, catching both mares by surprise “I mean you girls had gone slow and haven’t noticed” He chuckled, rubbing at the glass “But there are many weird things here, many things from my world, many memories… There are a few I don’t know off, like this, and this” J pointed at the glass and the orb, then tossed a book to the bed.

Twilight picked the book from the bed and read out loud “The order of the Knights: Protectors of Equestria” She have it an odd look and looked at Fluttershy whom only shook her head in confusion.

She opened the book and passed pages quickly in search for any kind of clue of what was all of this. Most things she found at first was of history she had heard not of, probably before the one thousand years story that happened after both sisters had their fight (one story she now wanted to hear more about) and some back-story of the ‘Protectors’. As interesting as it was in her quick search for information she found nothing about that orb or whatever was doing this here, in Ponyville.

However it didn’t take her long to find the mention on an orb of light in the ‘Squires to Knights’ section, so she read out loud “Spheres of Magic are crafted by unicorns when they share a bond with a humanoid so the former gains the latter as their defender and the whole town they reside in. These protectors are called Knights and are gifted with the capabilities to use magic and to gain some kind of cuttie mark in their backs when their link to their companions and the whole of ponykind is strengthened. A squire is how every Knight begins after touching a Sphere of Magic as it is the moment where they gain their first weapon and shield as well as their armor, equipment that will only appear when it is needed and that will grow in strength as the Protector does its duty”

“That sound ominous” J chuckled as he lifted the glass away from the sphere, letting bright white light envelop the place “Let’s see if it is true”

Touching the sphere a bright flash flooded the vision of everypony, forcing Twilight to close her eyes alongside Fluttershy and even J as the light got him much latter than it should. When it faded enough and the eyes of the mares had recovered they opened to show the new room.

It lacked mostly everything but the bed, all that once occupied it was gone, even in the outside all that had once been covered in dust and rust was now gone like it had never been there. However now there were lights, candles and little orbs of magic that served as permanent light sources in perpetual dark areas that at least Twilight had seen, courtesy of Princess Celestia (In fact it was one of the easiest spells to make as to see at night and read more comfortably). The room was repaired and well maintained, as if it was new, with the door painted in a vibrant blue with the dark green metal sinning vividly. Both mares wondered how that had happened, but it seemed something else was changed alongside that.

The clothes J wore had turned into a grey metallic look; they even looked as tough as real metal, to the point where there were bolts allocated in the joints with layers of metal in the weak points and even a pair of gauntlets and reinforced boots had taken the place of the clothes that were there before (Or in the case of the hands, that weren’t). Even the hood had changed and now was a metal coif that covered J’s head with ringmail and a little visor to let him see through it with ease even thought it would be pretty impossible for something to get in without a huge amount of force or precision.

All in all, for what Twilight had seen in her books of mythology, he was like a real ‘knight’ even if his ‘armor’ was little more than metal that looked like cloth. He only lacked the weapons… the ones that, almost on cue, appeared in both of his hands.

On his right hand a long sword, much like a long gladius made out of brilliant almost silver like metal, appeared. It had a brightly colored golden hilt with an amethyst on its base with the blade being decorated with what seemed to be the wind blowing in the form of white streaks that crossed it from bottom to the tip of the sword. On the left hand he got a round shield, not much bigger than the commonly seen in games as it was made little and round for easy blocking of incoming attacks in hand to hand combat. Its grey metal was adorned with green laurel leaves imprinted on it to make a crown with a little spark of magic in the middle, much like Twilight’s.

And then, much like they came, they went. It only took a little flash this time but they were replaced by J’s normal clothes with the weapons and gauntlets disappearing on thin air as a little pair of bright silver rings came to rest on each one of his index fingers.

“Oh man… I feel frigging dizzy” He said, falling on his rear as Twilight supposed the flash had left him seeing the world spinning around him.

“But are you ok?” Fluttershy came closer to him, giving him a nuzzle.

“Yea… only dizzy as hell. I see the world spinning around me” J groaned, trying to get up.

Twilight gave out a little sigh of relief as she heard him. She wanted all but to see her new friend hurt from all of this and also didn’t want him unable to come with her. Even if he would be unable to move Twilight was going to go to that cave, she needed to and she knew that today all of her friends were occupied for one reason or another. Rarity had to go with Apple Jack to Canterlot as both had an order from Princess Celestia (One for dresses and another one for food specifically) while Rainbow Dash was at Cloudsdale preparing a new trick. As for Pinkie… well… she was preparing J’s party and in this situation her goofiness could harm her more than help her friends out.

“Then if you are ok, should we go now?” Twilight left the book in the bed as she turned “I do not want to pressure anypony but if we are to maybe find someone…” She cut her words there as she heard a whimper from Fluttershy “Then we better go now”

J only gave a nod as he groaned, still half blind and feeling lightheaded to an extreme. Fluttershy helped him get up tried to fly low to help him walk a few steps until he regained his vision fully. This would be a long trek and even if she was a bit worried around him he was going to be needed by the end of it.

“You got it all, Miss Augusta?” Celestia asked from her throne to the pony with a generally grey color “I designed you specifically for this task because I have to go right away to an important meeting alongside my sister. We will be back by nightfall if everything goes well, but you must arrive to Ponyville in a few hours and remain with the Mayor until we go there in person to ask for you to come back”

Octavia, with her Cello strapped on her back and a little note strapped to her side, nodded. Celestia knew that Octavia would not say so out loud in her throne room, in the street or even in private, she was way too serious for such a thing, but she hated the assignment she had been given.

At that Celestia had to suppress a smirk. She was manipulating things again, but again it was for a greater purpose, though she doubted some of the girls would enjoy her meddling, much less Octavia. While the young mare wanted to be a famous musician (And she already had quite a success mind you), she still wasn’t satisfied with how good she was. She had lost it at the Gala, her first appearance in such an important festivity, and she hated it, in fact she hated somepony in special.

“Your majesty, I know it is not my place to ask, but why me?” Celestia was genuinely surprised when Octavia finally used her sweet voice to ask such a bitter question, not for her tone, but for the angry feelings that were hiding behind it.

“Because I know you want me to have faith in you dear, you want to be a famous musician some day and I know you have endured much to get so far, however you have yet to finish one very important quest to show me that you ARE indeed worthy of doing this” For once Celestia was glad to say things as they were without hiding anything or bending it too much, she felt liberated with such freedom “And knowing your story Miss Augusta, I think you should make peace with yourself because I am going to make sure that somepony in special is back here very soon to attend to your solo”

Even with her usually stoic expression the young musician gave her a hateful look for a single second. It was not uncommon, they loved her, all her subjects, but sometimes they did hate to hear her decisions, much more so when it was the ones they knew were good but didn’t want to hear.

“I suppose that if I beg you to elect another messenger but me it will be futile” Octavia gave a look of defeat to the princess.

“I am sorry my dear, but all my closest friends and advisors have duties. Even if I sent the letter myself it would not arrive in time seeing the actual state of things in Ponyville, something you will learn when you arrive and that will also help your current problem” Celestia gave the young mare a pleading look “Please Miss Augusta, I would be more than grateful, and you may get something unexpected from your troubles that will be much more rewarding than any fame you may wish to bring back money to your parents”

“If you say so, your majesty. Then excuse me and I will be in my way” Octavia bowed, waited for Celestia to nod and then walked away.

Celestia watched the grayish pony walk away as she gave out a heavy sigh of tiredness. This was all going way too fast for her previous plan, and yet she had to have this delivered the way she had planned to help one of them. She had to wonder if the rush of things would do any harm even without the luxury of time to worry about it…

“Tia, are you ready yet?” Her sister chimed in from her side to bring her out of her wonder just as Octavia crossed the gates “We need to go now or we are not going to make it on time while saving power”

“Yes, yes I am Luna, I was just wondering…”

“It will be alright” Luna nuzzled her sister “Just relax it and let’s see how it goes. In the worst case scenario… it will still help your plan, and I hope it does help them”

“I don’t know Luna; I just don’t” Celestia gave a sad look to her younger sister “After so long I thought we could live a normal mortal life happier than this, without problems… I don’t want to bring this to him even if I basically told him it was my order” She bit her lip “I wonder… I wonder if this will harm Twilight too. I have rushed things just to ensure they go as I think they should”

“After you told me about all you saw? I would hate to see them hurt as much as you would sister… but if it is true? I don’t know what else to do Tia, you are the one that always managed the kingdom and who studied under mom and aunt. If you think it is the right way then… what else could you do?” Luna trailed off, not wanting to say more.

“I don’t know what I could do, and I do know this is the best way” The goddess looked away, ashamed “But I don’t have to like it, not anymore. These are not the dark times, we should not hope it is only a few hurt, or worse” Celestia got up and walked away with her sister “We should have none hurt, as unlikely as it sounds now. That is what I should have been worrying from the start, there is no future if it has such a price”

Luna said nothing this time. She knew that after that thing came back it was obvious that there were going to be some cases where ‘hurt’ would be the best case scenario if something went wrong. The only thing the young moon princess hopped for was that the Elements and their Protector could at least stop this one for a time; Celestia would take it on her own hooves to stall the thing after that.

Surprisingly the trek had been quite shorter than any of them had thought. Once J had regained his sight and balance he had been on full march and they all had been able to trot their way to the cave quite fast thanks to J’s constant training and his stamina as well as for the girls’ natural muscles that made them able to run for a long time. Even thought they were a small distance away from the cave right now they needed to regain their breath and make a plan.

The cave on itself was HUGE; at least the opening was big enough to fit a house inside. In the mud there were dried marks from charts on the outside, as if the ground itself wanted to show that others had gone in. The outside was muddy and dark, yet you could see the stones and how fragile the thing was since it looked about to break down on itself. One had to wonder how anypony would risk it going inside such an obvious hazard, no matter how was the time; of course the storm a week back was kind of a little monster on itself…

“It looks like it would want to eat me” Fluttershy gulped down, her imagination flowing with whatever creatures could dwell there.

“We agreed you would wait here Fluttershy” Twilight assured her “If Apple Jack or Rainbow Dash were here they would accompany us, but you should not go in such a dangerous place, even less with what we may… see” She gulped down “Will you be ok here?”

“I will, I promise” Fluttershy gave a gentle nod as some birds chirped nearby “Some of my bird friends are around here after the news hit, if something comes I will be warned in time, but I hope I don’t have to leave you guys…”

“It will be alright, just stay safe” Twilight gave her friend a gentle hug as she tried to digest the fact of what she was about to do “I hope we have something good to share with the young girls when we get out of this”

“Me too Twilight” Fluttershy looked down as her friend broke the hug “I hope all goes well in there… will you look after her?” She asked to J with almost teary eyes.

“I will die before I let anything happen to her, I promise with my life Fluttershy” He practically bowed. It was the first time he was going to have to do this and if he had to with Twilight or any of the others nearby he would not change his ways of old “I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I will not hesitate if it is needed”

Fluttershy, not really knowing what to say about it, simply nodded and gave a shy smile. She had never had to see someone so willing to die for someone else, in fact with her friends she had only seen some violence at best, even the royal guard wasn’t expected to give their lives away for Celestia as there was no prospect of such a danger that Celestia would be in danger and nopony else was up to be a danger to the others.

As she looked towards the cave however, she could swear she saw something lurking in the darkness, looking outside, for them.

“I suppose we should go then” Twilight broke the eerie silence “I will light my horn and we will walk in together. If there is something waiting in there it will be far easier for us to fend it off if we are together. It is obvious this thing went for the strongest first so the others would get scared and scatter thanks to what the fillies told us, so there should be a lot of places to hide or some tunnels inside for some of them to survive for almost a week”

“For the looks of it I could guess even a sub level” It was not that J knew much of caves, it is simply that he had played too much Diablo and even in Equestria a ‘bad’ thing would have a little domain for itself “If we are unlucky there will be even a few little new creatures in there after so many… accidents came to pass in here”

“How are you so sure?” Twilight looked at the cave with renewed fear.

“Power attracts those that seek it one way or another. If there are other monsters that want to hurt ponies then they will seek one that does so openly, like in this case” J explained, this was lore of any kind of game or story “It is all an assumption mind you, but with all the fantasy books and movies we have in our world? This looks pretty much the case for either a harsh welcome by a powerful creature or a lengthy trek killing not so powerful monsters that have little love for anything that gets near their home”

“I don’t know for what I should be cheering now” The mare of magic offered a nervous smile “The fillies didn’t mention anything about smaller monsters though, so I do hope it had stayed like that” She took a deep breath and faced the cave again “Let’s go”

“Stay safe” Fluttershy whispered as the pair walked towards what she was viewing as certain doom, however if there was anypony still alive in there… she could only wish them the best of lucks.

After that it was time for darkness. Getting close to the cave seemed to give off a humongous shadow over the pair as they approached.

For Twilight it translated in insecurity: The plan had been shaggy and quickly placed together, wait… who did she want to lie? It was not a plan, it was a general idea of how to make one of them survive long enough to take a look at whatever was inside if the thing ambushed them right on the spot. She didn’t know what to do, what to think, what to prepare or what she would be able to manage in the case that they found wounded. Deep inside of her mind there was a little filly that had tried all her life to be the most intelligent and capable, but only had managed to seclude herself from the real world and real experiences to find out old dusty books with things she probably would never ever understand if she found in person or if she had to live them. The only thing she could think was her family now and how few of them were there… as well as how few times she had seen them for the past years.

In the case of J, he was scared beyond belief: Violence, yet again, had called at his doorstep. He would have to harm or kill again to protect life, something that he didn’t want to, but that he would have to do. It made him squirm when he thought no one was looking, it wasn’t because he feared he had to do this, it is the fact that deep down, sometimes right on the surface of his being, he enjoyed that violence. He felt a surge of power when he was doing the things he did with only a little pang of guilt. For him it was good, but he felt bad afterwards… would it feel good again, or would it make him sunk deeper into his state of self loathing? Whatever the case he had promised Fluttershy that he would use her strength to help, if not for Twilight or for Celestia, he had to keep that promise and do his best.

Once they entered the cave it made itself evident that the few seconds that had taken to cross the line between safety and danger had been way too much for them and their minds. The first thing that J did was to look at the sides and then, very quickly, upwards. Again he hated the idea of being killed like most characters in the movies or horror games and was quite pleased to see that only stones and mud covered the huge walls of the enormous space. Luckily there was nothing except that there were a huge amount of cracks on the ceiling of the cave.

‘This smells bad’ He thought with a little growl escaping his lips.

Twilight, however, could only shake as she used her magic to light the whole area, forcing her mind to the maximum. She was afraid, afraid beyond belief as she thought back to the fillies; she wanted so much to see someone alive here that she didn’t take real notice of something that moved next to her. It was no surprise then that she screamed in fear as she saw a pony skull fall from somewhere that J had passed to look at as he focused on the ceiling. As it crashed right at her side the thing creaked, opening its maw as hideous laughter filled the air, practically freezing Twilight as the inhuman sound rotted in her mind. The only thing that both of them did was to jump at the scare, even more so as a tentacle shot out from the skull and struck the ceiling, breaking the already unstable surface and throwing a hail of stones downwards.

“Twilight, move!” J cried, pushing Twilight away just in the nick of time as he ended up receiving the blunt of the incoming force on his side, burying him alive.

It took Twilight a moment to recover, but when she did she could only see the entrance being covered in rocks and J missing from the scene and the huge entrance collapsed, covered in rocks that didn’t let even a single sunray through.

“J-Jonathan! Are you there?! J! Answer me!” She screamed frantically as she tried to dig where she thought J should be.

“Heheheheheeeeeeh…”

Twilight jumped, startled, as she turned to see the skull from before rising slowly under the blackened tentacle as it filled it whole, creating soon yellowish mimicries of eyes and a dark blue tongue that looked as sick as the soon formed body that came together with bones and a dark meat as well as putrid fur that were more a way of mockery than a real pony body. Not even the mythical zombie was so horrid to the eye as this thing.

“Worrying for a creature of old… when you ssshould worry about you?” The mimic spoke with the jaw opening and chattering with its teeth even when the voice didn’t seem to come from it “Sssuch obviousss missstake from an Element… it isss a pity you didn’t bring your friendssss… it would’ve been fun indeed” The voice was tired and ancient, but had an evil tone that wasn’t helped by the undead puppet.

It turned out to be even worse as more of those creatures came from the shadows towards the light coming out of Twilight’s horn. Now the façade had dropped and the darkness that remained showed what was left of the circus: Its carriages and even some of the ponies. There were little more than bits and pieces of what once had one of the best, if not the best circus that had existed, while the ponies were left but to the bone… or maybe the number of dark creatures in front of her. It was a horrifying sight that didn’t get any better as they began to talk.

“And to think…”

“That I…”

“Worried ssso much…”

“To catch you…”

“Ssso much planning…”

“Ssso much pain…”

“Ssso many new… sssoulsss”

The voice kept on coming from random directions, sometimes from one of the creature as they chattered and sometimes from empty objects or even from her own mouth as it hang open without speaking in her actual shock.

“To think that you and I want the sssame…” The one in front of her said “Control… we want control… To make sssure nopony isss harmed ever again… To confront thossse that caussse pain…” It chuckled darkly as every creature took a step forward “You know what I am, Twilight Sssparkle… I am Krabtopobosss… The Contro, as are you… And I am what your mind… desssiresss the mossst!”

Without another word the closest to Twilight lunged at her, its body soon growing bone spikes and even changing to create tentacles and ragged, horrid appendages. Twilight used her magic to push the creature away, however what she had intended with her spell was to make it crash to the ground as she had tried to multiply gravity without control. What could have very well caused the thing to flatten against the ground with a sickening crunch, an idea that seemed to be delightful to her frighten mind, had failed to achieve its goal.

“Ooooohohohooo… Very well played, Twilight Sssparkle… but without the other elementsss… your magic doesss not work” The creature walked towards her this time, obviously unscathed after the attack “If you had that human… it could be… different… However asss it ssstandsss… you are… my next hossst”

Another of the creatures came closer “But I wonder… Why fight me?” The creature said with what Twilight could only imagine was a smile as it forced more ‘substance’ onto its face for the expression “You want control… control over all thingsss… You desssire to protect everypony… Let me in, and I will grant that wisssh to you…”

Twilight only backed away, unable to say anything as she felt utterly alone and helpless for the first time in such a long time that it seemed a whole life to her. She could not deny that in her most wicked dreams she had found the urge to control, maybe to usurp Celestia’s power? They were nightmares, the worst she had ever had, something she wanted no one to know and that this creature seemed to be most aware of.

“No! I want nothing like that!” She finally cried out as she backed away from the creature until her rear touched the fallen rocks “You killed my friend! You will have none of me!”

“Sssuch a pity… you would have made a… decent hossst for a while” All the creatures said in unison “Your losss… you could have ssseen your aunt and cousssin… one more time”

“W-what?”

No response and no hesitation came from the creatures as one of them lunged at her again, this time not even surprised or seemingly affected by the weaker magic coming from Twilight thanks to her confused and scared state of mind. For her it all became a blur of slow motion, much like what happened when she thought deeply about something.

As the creature approached she could not help but think back to her friends, how happy she had been with them and how happy she had been under Celestia’s wings as well as with her little Spike. It had been marvelous to study under her teacher’s gaze, befriending her sister after the events three months prior and having her friends sharing a life together with fun and adventures during the best three months she had ever had in her life.

All of it coming to such a sudden end just after seeing how strong she was; summoning a creature that had been eradicated from the surface of Equestria one thousand years prior, befriending him and even sharing a kiss. Maybe in the future it had only meant friendship as they had stated, but it is in moments like these where you wonder what could it be in the future, one you would not have anymore.

With all of it accounted in her mind she looked back at her mother and father, how little time they had shared together after the studies began, how she missed her mother’s magical lullabies that made her sleep dreaming of the stars and how the security her father offered made her feel warm and safe even in the darkest of days.

She was not prepared to die, she did not want to, but seeing the creature so close now Twilight knew that her pitiful strength compared to a Earth pony would just grant her a few seconds of bittersweet time at most. It was not worth the pain to just die a moment afterwards knowing that the best of her efforts would simply be a glimpse, a failure, in this battle that no mortal mind could win.

“LEAVE HER ALONE MOTHER FUCKER!”

Dust and rocks came out flying in what seemed to be a simple explosion when J came out from under the rocks that had supposedly crushed him. He had his ‘armor’ on him, the weapon and shield prepared and, even being covered in dust, rock and blood, he charged towards the creature that was about to hit Twilight, delivering a powerful blow to its neck in the nick of time.

However this was not one of the movies he had told her about, nor games or the like. He had been fast and almost dramatically saved her, but even if the hit meant the creature was probably dead and that she was safe it didn’t mean she was unharmed, in fact she had to use all her will to not scream thanks to what happened afterwards.

The body of the creature slowly disintegrated as the connection between head and body became severed by the blow from J’s sword, but as it still held intact one of the tentacles lased at Twilight’s flank, hitting her whole left side. It hurt like if a hundred needles were being pushed through her. Luckily the spell from Princess Celestia helped as there was no visible wound, unlike what was obviously not J’s case as the light from her horn showed blood coming from the joints in the legs, some of the chest and even down his face.

It didn’t seem to bother him though “NONE OF YOU LAY A HAND ON HER OR I KILL YOU ALL!”

“Sssuch a wassste of sssuch a wonderful sssoul…” Was all that the creatures said as a light blue ball of light escaped the only bone intact from the defeated creature; the skull “Couldn’t you have died in peace?... It wasss the tranquility you desssired… I granted it to you, why ssslap my generosssity in return?... Humansss, alwaysss the worssst of creaturesss… I don’t know how the Order could sssummon sssuch a foul beassst”

“Don’t like me? Then get used to me, I am here to stay” J croaked with a weak voice.

Twilight, now in pain, had to lie down to calm down. She could only see as another of those creatures jumped against J’s form from the side, only to have its lower jaw and body cut down with a slash, followed by a trust towards the skull of another monster that charged at him.

Whatever this creature was, it stopped the puppets. It had lost three… ‘bodies’ in a rapid succession of unplanned events and it was obvious that the remaining ones, twelve as far as Twilight could count, weren’t up for the task. The thing had said it had lost a soul with the first one and, as if on cue, two more blue orbs erupted from the remains of the other two that had been destroyed a moment ago. Twilight didn’t know what it meant, but three loses against one single enemy didn’t seem good odds no matter what.

However she had to be truthful here: It had been three bodies lost, but J was in no condition to repeat that feat again, in fact she didn’t need magic to see how harmed he was. She could see his left arm dangling lifelessly, probably broken. His legs were shaking and in this moment of pause he coughed, blood spurting to the ground. Probably this all meant that he had internal injuries, more broken bones and his lungs were filling with blood or something else.

It was far too hard for her to comprehend how it was that he was standing, but between the magic bound made by a goddess and his supposedly upgraded body capabilities through the summoning, Twilight didn’t see it so impossible. Who did she want to lie? The best case scenario she had in mind was for him to drop dead at any moment now, he had lasted way too much and he had even saved her for certain death once. For all she cared the debt was paid and she wanted nothing more for him to run, but even if he would obey such an order from her he was trapped here too.

“Your body can’t sssussstain you much longer…” One of the thing said, growing closer “Lie down… lie down and let me finisssh you quickly… or sssuffer far more than you wisssh for”

“I hate liars” J spat with as much strength as he could “I promised… I promised I would defend her with my life it such thing came to pass… I will do so… until the last consequences” His breath was ragged, his legs shaky. He could barely held himself together “You cannot… you cannot tell me to abandon her and succumb. I won’t, I won’t do… and I will give my life… if I can try to save the ones still here”

“Oh but you want to ssstop” Another of the creatures came close with the voice picking up a dark chuckle.

A third one flanked J until he drew his sword towards that one, pushing it away “What isss to you anyway? Ssshe isss a ‘new friend’, nothing elssse… only a burden, an enchantresss that took you away from real friendsss and family… Why pledge loyalty… when you didn’t want thisss asss much asss you sssay?”

“Lies! I wouldn’t want this if I knew they lied to me” J coughed some blood, almost kneeling, standing back up as another creature approached “She has been sincere… she has been… and I will honor my word!”

“And what sssays you haven’t been lied to?” It chuckled darkly “For all you know… Celessstia made everything up… Sssend a copy of you to your world? Sssuch nonsssenssse” All the creatues laughed darkly “Ssshe would need to lossse the bit of immortality that ssshe hasss left… Who would do that if they had a sssane mind?... Ssstop lying at yourssself… you know… I am right… I am order… I know of control”

“And you are a monster, a monster that killed for no reason!”

J sprung forward, slashing one single time to cut through three of the creatures just before the fourth kicked him in the gut, sending him back against the stones with a dry *THUD* and snapping of bones. Twilight couldn’t help but feel sick as the man swallowed the pain, didn’t offer even a grunt and held tightly on his weapon and shield, getting up as best as he could to place himself between her and the nine remaining creatures that now grew closer.

“I kill… to protect… I kill… to control… I kill… becaussse it isss… what I ssshall do… for all eternity” They all said in a chorus of voices, all the same but all different “Sssoulsss controlled… protected… I keep within me… For sssuch a long time I… hungered for it… You don’t know… what isss to be banissshed from… reality… You don’t know… what it isss… to be exterminated… jussst becaussse of… what you are… jussst… because we did… the only thing we were…. sssupossed to do…”

“There are always options” The breath and voice of J were beyond ragged. He was about to fall down.

“That isss why you hate yourssself… isssn’t it?” The creature said in a serious tone, for once not mocking him “You think… you could have prevented all… thossse wrong decisssionsss? You… you are a worssse monssster than usss… You want to do sssomething… but you only do what you know… You want to be rightful… and you only create more wrongsss… You sssicken usss… You aren’t… necessssary… only a pessst!”

All of the creatures charged towards J whom could only defend himself to the best of his actual capabilities. Twilight tried to use magic, only pushing the creatures away slightly with each one of her attacks. However with each frustrated attack one of the creatures fell down and the soul escaped, not that it seemed to bother the others anymore as J kept on swinging his sword until only four remained.

Still, by that time the human could not go anymore and he finally collapsed in the ground as Twilight couldn’t use her magic in time, granting her protector the painful blows and cuts from four shagged monstrosities that only stomped, lashed and tried to cut him with their appendages and malice. J could only cough and mutter curses, not willing, and not capable, of going down even with that onslaught. His body was too though to die too soon and his mind too headstrong to give on it in any case.

His bones, however, didn’t work that way. The armor held him intact, but with the pain coursing through his body and his bones broken he would move no more.

“Sssuch a pity” The creatures pushed away to reveal the battered body of J. Amongst the seemingly perfectly kept armor and weapons his body was covered in blood and his time was already short “Brother could have ssseen to you ssso nicely… it isss sssuch a wassste to let you die… Alasss you didn’t sssucumb… if anything, I have to praise you for your loyalty… or condemn your guilt”

Three creatures stayed besides J while another one came closer to Twilight “Asss for you… my little Control… You and I will be… very clossse in a sssecond”

*CRASH!*

“I don’t think so, Krabtopobos!”

Light poured in from the outside as the rocks that once blocked the entrance flew away, disintegrated by magic that came from both goddesses as they came to the rescue. Twilight could say that she had never missed her teacher so much than this day, nor had she wanted to run towards her and hug her like she would to her mother.

In a flash of multicolored light Celestia made her body feel rested and recovered, the pain gone from her flank and the fear erased from her mind. The same thing could be say about J’s bothered body, though he didn’t make any kind of movement for the time being. In her usual fashion Twilight couldn’t help but seek a reason that, in this case, would mean the body on itself was probably still feeling the trauma even if the magic had taken rid of it.

Luna, on the other hand, threw three dark spheres towards the creatures near J, dismissing whatever possessed the bones just before throwing a dark light at the remaining one before Twilight, encasing it on a dark translucent crystal of some kind from which the creature tried to escape to no avail.

“You have no right to do thisss!” The creature spat “The Element isss mine! I webbed thisss trap for her! Begone you wretched light!”

“Shut up you monster!” Luna shouted just as she helped J on his feet, though the poor man looked about to fall down again “You have done enough as it is to even speak up!”

“My sister is right” Celestia’s frown was meet by fear from the creature; Twilight noted “You were supposed to be imprisoned after our last meeting. This time I won’t be so gentle with you, forty more souls to your count are forty too many”

“You can’t! You wouldn’t harm anyone!” The creature roared.

“You harm my subjects, you receive what you deserve” Her eyes turned white and within the prison of the creature another made out of pure light appeared, slowly closing in on it “Don’t think I don’t know about your stalling. Your real body will be petrified when this one succumbs. When I find you I will make sure you don’t awake a second time”

Yelling and squirming, the creature tried to escape even as the trap squeezed it until… Twilight had to think about something else as she heard the yells. It sickened her, but she thought this was a just punishment for such a wretched creature. Once it came to pass she looked up at her teacher whom had a sorrowful face.

“I am sorry… should I have known about this sooner I would have prevented it, but the creature was well hidden. If I hadn’t a connection with Jonathan I would have never found out until it was too late. I thought I could reach this location faster and it was again a mistake on my part” Twilight could swear Celestia was about to cry “I am ashamed of my failure towards those that believe in me”

“Princess Celestia…” Twilight had a lot of questions, also wanted to check on J and to know what had happened, but one thing pressed her the most “I am sorry but I have to seek for survivors”

The goddess nodded and took but a second, letting her magic flow through her horn and towards the surroundings. A light gushed towards the carts and one through a crevice she hadn’t seen before. Soon it was all over the place as Luna waited patiently with J at her side, she seemed to be offering him support and telling him a few things as her horn was pilling up bones and creating what seemed to be graves, a dark and dirty job that Twilight didn’t wish the young princess would do.

“I found three ponies… One of them is long gone, probably right after the young fillies escaped” Celestia took away the attention from her sister and brought Twilight back to her “Another has… just passed, I am sorry” She hung her head low “But the third is alive, even if barely. I doubt she is going to make it”

“Can… can you bring them here Princess?” Twilight asked. She had at least arrived in time to find someone, but not how she had hoped for. She wanted to at least her what he or she had to say for the young ones if the surviving pony was one of the parents.

“Yes, give me a moment”

The light from Celestia’s horn soon focused in the crevice, almost as if it solidified, illuminating it like if the sun was inside the cave. It soon took out three ponies it transported over it insubstantial ‘body’, gently taking them near the cave entrance to let them lie gently over the ground in front of Twilight. The first thing she could notice was that they were intact, thanks Celestia, but after her initial concern was taken care of (She didn’t know how longer she could go without losing her lunch) the horror struck her again.

The first one was a pony she knew very well from three months prior: it was Trixie. She had her clothes on, even if a bit ragged, some spots on her fur were showing patches of red that she didn’t want to even inspect, but it was obvious that whatever had happened to her it had taken her life not long ago as she wasn’t breathing but at least she didn’t look as bad as… what was left of the others in this place.

However horror came to despair as she saw the other two and heard the coughs of one of them.

“Aunt Proud Nightsky? Uncle Fire Flight?” Her voice broke down as she recognized the unicorns before her.

Her uncle, Fire Flight, was a unicorn with light yellow mane and blue fur that had a cutie mark of a magic wing, almost transparent. He was one of the masters of levitation in Equestria and had courted her mother’s sister, Proud Night, at the same time as her father had courted her mother. He was a very nice pony and while she had seen him as scarcely as her aunt, he was a very dear memory to her. Now seeing him battered and broken before her… the only thing that could make this slightly bearable was that at least he was intact, though it was obvious that something important had been broken and he had died probably without pain.

“Twilight… it is so good… to see my niece at- at least once more” The sweet voice of her aunt called to Twilight, making her turn her gaze away from her broken uncle with tears already forming on her eyes.

Proud Nightsky was called so thanks to her dark blue mane and almost pitch black fur as well as the clouds hiding a couple of stars as her cutie mark. Unlike most unicorns she could blend with darkness almost at will, being that the only kind of magic she could use for some reason that her mother had never explained to Twilight. However she was very warm and nice any time she came to visit and had been the one to give Twilight her first book. Now, after a couple of years after her last visit, she had her mane roughed, a couple of bold spots on her fur and some deep wounds and nasty bruises, but her opal colored eyes were still looking at her with the same candid glow as the first day.

“I am sorry we couldn’t… get to see you at Ponyville with your friends… I got our boss to get us there after our last job… but it seems we took a detour we should have evaded…” She coughed a bit of blood as Celestia tried to heal her with her powers “Your majesty, please… don’t waste your strength with me… bring my daughter back, please… is the only thing I want… if you can’t give me that back… let me die”

“Your daughter?!” Twilight blurted out, her eyes as big as they could get as little streaks on her chest showed the few tears she had been able to shed.

“Never… told you?” Proud asked with a faint smile “You know Twilight… when you were born… I was besides my sister… in labor… with your cousin… You two were born the same day… but you had a little… defect…” She coughed again; she was closing her eyes slowly, forcing them awake as best as she could “You absorbed your cousin’s magic… part of it… as well as mine and your mother… We didn’t know if that… could happen again… but your uncle and I decided… it was time to move away only… only in case. We loved you as much as our daughter… but we feared for what could happen to you… or to our little Trixie”

She tried to get up bur promptly fell down with a slight groan. Even though her wounds were more than obvious she didn’t seem to feel much of it. Twilight couldn’t help but cry at how obviously close her aunt was to her death.

“She… grew well… don’t you think?” Proud let go a tear as she looked towards Trixie, getting Twilight to look at her with wide eyes as her aunt pleaded to Celestia “Ple-please… your highness… bring her back… I lived a long life… she deserves the same… Her kids need her…”

“Her kids…” Twilight’s mind wasn’t able to wrap around all the information it was receiving, not fast enough at least.

Celestia, though, simply nodded “I can, while I have no immortality now my dear Nightsky I still can give something in exchange for what your dear niece did for my sister three months ago. Now talk to her… I am sorry to say your time grows short and… and that this will be your last time together” She turned so nopony would see her cry again. There had been many mistakes, many things she hadn’t foreseen, this was going to hurt her beloved student, her friends and probably many more that she didn’t want to have pained by her actions.

“Y-your cousin… did a pretty… stupid things seven years ago… much like… most of us as young… mares” Proud told Twilight with a little smile as she focused on her again “A young… pegasi came to the circus… and… they… they connected… very well” She smiled as her eyes looked back to the past “However he… he left when he learned she was pregnant… Trixie couldn’t take it, she… she gave birth to her twins and left” Proud swallowed, not wanting to cough anymore blood because she knew she would not stop this time “The little pegasi, we… we called her Final Test for how… how she did incredible things again and again… even when she was just a filly. Her sister was so… so small… she looked so little… ma-maybe it was… for what happened when Trixie was born… she could not conceive… a good unicorn” Proud coughed, stopping herself for a moment “We called her Rain Berry… We took them as our own daughters… Trixie came back by chance three months ago and… and we took her back, but she didn’t want to tell the young ones… They call her ‘aunt Trixie’ and I had to see her pain everyday… Please Twilight… take Trixie with you… if the Princess brings her back… I want her to have a family again”

“I p-promise aunty, but please don’t go…” Twilight begged between sobs “Please don’t leave…”

Proud could do little but laugh gently “My dear… I have to… You always asked me to stay… whenever you caught me alone…” She offered her niece a little smile “But for once I can say I can’t… without an ulterior motive… I am sorry… I am so sorry that… that we had to go away every time… but now… please… Take care of Trixie… and your little… nieces… good-goodbye… my little Twilight”

With that Proud Nightsky finally let her eyes close, coughed one last time and… simply stopped breathing.

Shock took root inside Twilight’s mind. She couldn’t cry, she didn’t want to; she didn’t want to believe this, her mind refused to. She just stood there, unable to do anything as her eyes were flooded with tears that refused to go down her cheeks. The young mare simply stared at both her aunt and uncle, even when Luna brought them to their final rest besides the bones of everypony else. Inside her mind she thought this hadn’t happened, that it was just the near death experience that had wanted her to go back to her parents and her friends to share more time with them and much less isolated in her library with those dusty books. For her this was much worse that she had ever imagined, something that was killing her inside as her feelings didn’t find the strength to vent out and cry.

Twilight didn’t notice it, but the time passed quickly. Celestia took no less than three hours with her magic to do what she had promised to: bringing back Trixie. The young blue mare could only cough at first, but to Celestia it was at least a relief to hear her breath and to see that she was alive and sound, even though Celestia had barely enough energy left to heal her whole and she would have to rest for a day or two.

However it felt bittersweet.

To her this was not how it was supposed to go; it was going to be a lesson to J. For him it was to be willing to do what he hated only when it was absolutely needed, to understand that his strength would help save people, something that she was unsure the man had learned after it ended up like this. Instead she had to look at the only survivor of this mess, giving her back her life in exchange of something she would never use anyway but that she would miss as much as she missed… It didn’t matter; it would serve her right as it would be a remainder that she was the one responsible for this mishap. If she had done things right Twilight wouldn’t have had her little premonition, J wouldn’t be here and her family would still be intact.

J, on the other side, was the one that seemed to take it the best. While Luna had tried to cheer him up telling him that he had done everything he could he simply had thought of this as a failure. He knew that there was nothing else to be done but he was now supposed to do what he hated to help, only to find that it had done nothing, absolutely nothing. Triexie was going to be ok? Such an outcome was not enough. It is not that he hated the character in the cartoon; it is that he now had to live with the fact that he could save one of three, three possible survivors, not one. Not only that but Celestia, as little as he liked her right now, was going to sacrifice something to bring Trixie back. He had failed Twilight, had failed t he survivors, the young fillies and even Celestia as he had taken too long to come and was defeated too easily.

By the time any of them were back to any kind of normality Luna had already taken Fluttershy to the cave, now as clean as she could’ve made it using the carts and the stone around to make a little burial ground. The young yellow pegasi could hardly contain her sadness and an obvious nausea, but she held there for her friends.

“Will they… will they be alright?” She asked to the moon goddess.

“My sister will be for sure, give her a few days. She knows it is not her fault but she will take this hard… the thing that did this took… took something from her a long time ago” Luna shook her head to not think about it “Jonathan will have to come to terms that he did all that could and that it is what matters. He used his strength and his training to take and deal punishment from those that harmed the weak and that could not defend themselves, even though for him it is a lesson that may not be learned easily” She gave a glance towards Twilight “Twilight is… she is something different. We will have to see”

“I am sure she will be… given enough time” Fluttershy was unable to take a single step towards her friend. She needed time and she knew it, besides it would only hurt her more if she saw that Fluttershy was practically crying too “But it is going to get dark soon, they all need to move when Princess Celestia is finished”

“I am done” Celestia said without looking away from Trixie “I had finished a while ago but we all needed time” She gave a loud sigh “This was not how it was supposed to happen. I never knew about this creature coming back until it was too late and I didn’t know we would take so long to get here by flying. Had I know about this when it happened a week ago everypony should be safe, however as it stands now…” She gave a look of pity towards Trixie whom had just lost everything she had in her life but two girls that didn’t know who their mother really was “I don’t think I deserve to be the goddess of the sun anymore”

“Tia, you did what you could, we both did and so did Twilight and Jonathan” Luna pleaded to her sister “Please, calm down… I am sure we will find any other thing like this one if they are roaming around”

“She is right your majesty”

Twilight had left the spot where she had been standing for the past three hours, her mind finally wrapped around what had happened and her desire to go back to her home and rest overcoming her need to cry. She would have plenty of time for that when she was alone; in fact she was hoping that Spike would remain with the young ones until she felt any better. The reason was pretty obvious as they all saw her distraught face and how barely her emotions were in check.

“You did all you could. I am just sorry because I couldn’t be here sooner myself…”

“My dear student, the duty to protect Equestria is of my sister and me. The Elements of Harmony, you and your friends, should only intervene when it is needed” She looked back at the human, still away, now looking at the makeshift graves with a somber look as the armor and weapons had been gone a long time by now “I knew since I meet him that he could be a danger. When I learned of this I wanted him and you to investigate and to see if this could change him, to make him see he is needed and that he should change his ways to not think he is guilty of all what he had to do, or at least to forgive himself… I had never thought it would end like this. It was enough pain for everyone to know that we lost good ponies here, but for you to know that you lost part of your family… I doubt I could feel more useless and cruel now”

“You did what you thought was right, your majesty” Twilight bowed, but her tone was a monotone without much feeling now “I know you, like anypony else, does not always make the best decisions, I also know you sometimes hate the ones that you have to take, I was with you when some of those came to happen. I would have been pained by this one way or another, at least in this case I could help…and I saved part of my family”

“It is still not enough to redeem myself Twilight. I did something very wrong today hoping for the best…”

“Princess, don’t worry” Twilight got closer to give her teacher a gentle nuzzle, even if Celestia felt it empty and forced “I know you did what you thought was the best. However I would… I would like to have the next few days to myself”

“Don’t worry, you can take as much time as you need” Celestia returned the nuzzle to her young student and looked at the sun as her internal clock told her that it was time for her sister to rise the moon “However you should be on your way. Let Miss Fluttershy help you with Trixie on the way back as Jonathan will have his own bones still too weak to support both of the weights” Turning just to give Fluttershy a gentle look she continued, as she was not willing to let Twilight escape her field of vision as worried as she was “I trust you can take care of the young Trixie until she recovers?”

“Of course, Princess Celestia” The shy mare let out a barely audible reply, mix of fear and mix of respect “But… umm… what should I tell her?”

Turning yet again Celestia saw how J finally turned, his eyes red and his face wet. Probably the poor young man had it with this and how the world he thought was practically perfect had been messed up. In fact Celestia thought that he was probably blaming himself by this point, even if he knew perfectly well that even in the series that he saw this world was never as peaceful and perfect as he thought. To pop such a sweet and innocent hope to someone that had lost most of them was… cruel, at best.

“I wouldn’t worry about that. There will be one to take care of such a thing, you just keep her safe” Fluttershy nodded at the request of the princess “Now though, pick her up gently and try to not use much magic while handling her. She needs to take it very slowly and the incantation does not react kindly to other magic”

She saw Fluttershy nod, Twilight took some time but nodded at her teacher before walking besides Trixie, lifting her with the help of a quick spell so both could carry the unconscious mare on their backs. They left the cave soon afterwards with Fluttershy trying to drag her friend away of the place that had been the witness of something she wished she didn’t know.

As she looked back at them Celestia almost missed J passing in front of her, however once he was almost outside of the cave she cleared her throat and caught his attention, making him stop and turn to show the face that now gave all but the nice smile he had sported for most his stay in here. This close it was obvious he had cried, that his eyes were bloodshot and that he probably felt the pain of not the blows from before but his extremely guilty conscience.

“What do you want?”

“To talk” Celestia wasn’t hurt by his harsh and bold tone and demeanor, he had earned the right to show it “Luna, leave us and make sure Twilight is well… at least as much as she can be now”

Nodding, Luna took off as she began to raise the moon in the sky. The stars watching as the events unfold before them, seeing how two powers in doubt of their own actions came to clash in a way they hadn’t since they had meet. One single day now looked like a little eternity with how much had happened in so few hours.

“Jonathan, I am sorry for what I have done to you” Celestia began, trying to look at the human and make eye contact, but she wasn’t capable of “A single day, it took a single day to make me hate my decisions of what I did and what I have done. I am sorry for the pressure and hate I have showed you, I had thought of you as a danger, as someone that would not forgive himself and that would succumb to dark temptations if they came to pass… When the young fillies told you about a monster powerful and daring enough to attack such a big circus with so many powerful and skilled ponies I knew of what it was, yet instead of going to help right away I let you prepare and take your chances against this creature as I thought it would be the perfect chance to force improvement on you, or to get rid of you right away”

J didn’t say a word, he simply stared at Celestia. She was incapable of looking at him but he was more than capable to glare daggers at her form. He had hated himself for being so slow and useless; to have to use what he hated to try and then fail to save ponies… and Celestia could have been here, maybe not on time to save them three, but on time to save two of them. She could have made this easier for Twilight and, even if he hated to be so selfish, for him.

“I do not know what it will take for you to forgive me; I can take my deal away from you and break it without harming you if you want. I will even grant you a single wish you desire if you say the word as far as it doesn’t harm anypony” She finally dared to look at him in the eyes “Just… just forgive me please… I didn’t want to do what I did… I just feared for Twilight and everypony in Ponyville, you have to understand…”

“Princess” J cut her off as he walked right in front of her face “If you are sincere, tell me: What did you give to bring back Trixie? Tell me what happened and then, maybe, I will decide if you are to be forgiven”

“What did I give? Why would you want to know that?” Celestia didn’t know what to say, if she did say the truth he would consider it to be not enough.

“What would you sacrifice for your subjects? You wanted me here to learn a lesson and the only reason I haven’t slapped you in the face was because at least Trixie could be saved” His demeanor was calm and his voice even, but the look in his eyes did say something else altogether “From Canterlot you took more time than us, you would have found no one alive, yet you came to ensure that you saved us at least, and for that I am grateful. However there was no warning, there was no insight of what we could see here. You didn’t tell me what you knew and it almost cost Twilight not only her family, but her life. For me that is a form of lying, something that you know perfectly well what means to me”

His accusatory glare hurt Celestia more than any physical harm that she had expected from him, something that made her rise in a mix of guilt and anger.

“I would sacrifice everything for them” She said, stomping the ground as she got serious, glaring at him “I would spill my own blood if that was necessary. I love everypony like if they were my children, for I have seen them grow, wither and die, I have lived a whole age seeing how they loved and how their feelings were broken, returned and how things played for them. I am as old as half of your written story and wise as I am I would give my hooves to ensure that it was changed so my sister and I would have lived our lives and died of old age long ago instead of still having all this bitterness burning on my mind” She glared at him, her eyes watering fast “You want to know why I didn’t tell you? It is because what you found here was what made your kind do what it did, it is because a Nightmare got the key piece on the move, because humans that have darkness in their hearts are what could destroy Equestria. If I had told you, then you wouldn’t have fought against it as you should. You would have been lost to the nightmare and you would have taken Twilight’s life before plunging this world into darkness again”

Now, crying, Celestia didn’t want to stop. If she was going to spill it then better that he knew all that he needed to, even if it hurt her to remember all way too soon than she had wanted to. Telling her sister had been a depression all on itself, one that she had to hide, but one that she didn’t want to revive again. And so she locked it back in her mind until yesterday. Seeing how the man in front of her was losing her cool was enough to know she was making an impact, but she wanted more than that for the memories flooded her and the pain and guilt in her soul demanded more from her.

“When that happened I didn’t lose simply my sister, my only family and one of my three friends” She said with tears in her eyes “I lost the only pony that had known me since I was young and then I lost my love! Do you know what I parted ways here?! I parted ways with the only thing that I will never be able to share with the one I had loved! I am barren until the day I die, for I have no one to share it thanks to one stupid man!”

As if a ton of bricks had hit him, J found himself on the ground with Celestia towering in front of him. She was crying and looking at him defiant, not with hate but with the look of someone that had lost almost all that she had dear in life with the tiniest of sparks keeping her together. She had now lost ponies to an ancient evil that seemed to signal that whatever had happened in the days of old could happen again. With him as the first piece in the board the princess had been reliving sadness, coupling with her latest failure as she harmed her young student and made him feel worthless in his new life.

“Does it seem enough of a sacrifice to you? I had to live my life alone, rebuild a nation from its ashes and condemn a whole species so the Nightmares could be banished, so the rest of us could live” Her voice breaking, her eyes and cheeks full of tears “The humans that lived here were gentle and nice… only one turned to be cruel and he took everything away from me” She cried, her hair veiling her sad expression.

“I… I am sorry Celestia… I didn’t know” J got up; approaching the crying goddess slowly and insecure of what to do “I know you had your reasons to hate me…”

“No, no I had none” She sobbed, getting her hair out of the way “I should stop living in the past and question the what ifs… much the same as you should do” The sun goddess calmed herself, looking straight at him “Even with this I know you won’t change, not yet, you need time. I am sorry about my outburst but you deserved to know… and I didn’t saw any kind of way around it but to let my feelings come out this way” She tried to smile again, only showing sorrow from a thousand years of survivor’s guilt “But I hope you understand now that what I asked you is not only to save yourself, but to save my little student and her friends. They have darkness within that will call for the Nightmares and I need you willing to redeem yourself or you will not redeem them. They, and my sister, is all I have left” J turned his head away, but Celestia made him look at her again “Take your time Jonathan, I have never asked something impossible, no matter how many mistake I have made. I just hope I make no more in what is left of my life”

“C-Celestia… I… don’t know if I can” J tried to look away, but once more Celestia forced him to look at her “I made so many mistakes, I didn’t even save the ponies here, I almost let Twilight get killed and I was too harmed and scared to do anything” His tone was bitter, his face sad and without more tears to cry “I was broken… and you had to save me… even when I thought all I would do was hate you” He embraced the goddess, unable to cry but feeling a mix between happiness and sadness “I am sorry… I shouldn’t have hated you for that; I should’ve known you did that for my own good… I was… I was just… bitter and angry at all that had happened”

“We both made mistakes, some of them paid dearly” The goddess returned the favor as she wrapped her wings against him “But your duty now is not to be sorry. I want you to ensure Twilight comes out of this as best as her young mind can”

J pushed gently to break the embrace. He felt like he didn’t deserve such a thing for so long. Maybe someday he could play innocent and share a day with the goddess and her sister, plus all the friends together if he did things right. Now though… a few seconds and a few tears was as much as he felt like he deserved.

“I will Princess. She is my friend… I would do anything for her” He assured to the goddess with a serious and calm face, at least the best he could offer.

Celestia simply smiled, relaxing as best as she could “Thanks Jonathan. Then go back with them, help her through the night… You don’t need the powers of a goddess to know this is going to be the worst night in her life” As much as she wanted Celestia could not break the sadness on her voice or in her expression “Also, take this” With a small flash of light a little pouch popped out in front of J “Use it tonight, she will need it. The spell is easy and will only last a day if she doesn’t want it permanently”

Looking curiously at the bag J had to ask “What does it do?”

“Depends on what she wants” Was all that Celestia had to say “Now go back, me and my sister will make this a decent place of rest for the poor souls that lie here. It will take some time, but we will make a safe road towards Ponyville so when it is time you all can come to visit them”

Knowing he would get nothing else from Celestia, granted that he had received much more than he wanted or hoped for, J nodded. It would be a long walk home and the night sky, for once, didn’t calm his thoughts.

The trek back home had been… sad, to say something. Fluttershy had been trying to cheer up Twilight to no avail and J had been little help as he knew not how to get the little egghead away from what had happened. Once they got out of the forest Twilight had helped Fluttershy take Trixie to her home, leaving her in the sofa on the first floor as without magic it would be way too dangerous to handle Trixie in fear of what could happen if the magic from Twilight and Celestia reacted, also it was risky to let J, whom was still fragile, hold her and take her upstairs.

After that they had said their goodbyes, or at least J had, and left the cottage back to walk towards Twilight’s house as the moon slowly rose in the sky. Whether it was blind luck or something else the two of them made it back to her house without anyone’s nose poking out to catch a glance of the human. It had been two days now and he hadn’t been discovered, but tomorrow, he felt it, he would need to walk away from the tree house for a while, alone.

Once inside her house Twilight didn’t care about anything anymore. She let out a loud sob and began to cry, she didn’t notice that Spike was not there and that J was trying to give her any comfort, she simply got away and went to her room, climbing the stairs with J following close behind her to ensure that the young mare didn’t fell as she wobbled like she was drunk under the tiring and painful sensations she was feeling.

The bed, for once, felt so small and lonely for her as she got between the sheets. It was then when she saw that, as she had hoped, Spike wasn’t there. After all of this and when she got something she wanted Twilight couldn’t help but felt even worse. Now her night would end up being as lonesome as she had hoped at first, but it was not until now when she understood how much needed someone there with her, to help her, to understand her, to have a shoulder where she could cry.

“Twilight…”

Wide eyed, Twilight turned to see that, even without noticing him; J had followed her and was kneeling in front of her bed. A look of concern washed through his tired face and even those bloodshot eyes from his crying were now sad again, but not for what had happened but for concern towards the young mare.

“I know you may want me gone but… Celestia wanted me to use this on you tonight” He pulled the little pouch, opened it and, after seeing a silver like dust, poured it over Twilight as it spread all over her bed “She said that the effect depends on what you want. I do not know if it will help you as what you want may be… impossible to achieve for this but…” He got closer and gave the mare a gentle embrace “I hope I can help”

As he hugged the broken Twilight the bed expanded, growing until it filled the whole upper level just enough to be large enough to hold two people, people, not ponies Twilight noticed. She wanted someone, not somepony, to be with her tonight because Fluttershy had an important duty to fulfill now and because she had her Knight and Protector. She couldn’t help but give a faint but sad smile at how corny it sounded, yet it gave her a little warm inside her now cold and sad body. Finally she looked him in the eyes and simply said.

“Sleep with me tonight” She begged with teary eyes “Don’t leave me alone…”

Surprise, amazement and maybe fear crossed J’s eyes as she heard Twilight. He looked at her and could only see her eyes pleading with al her soul for him to stay. No friend of her seemed to be available and the only shoulder she could cry on, that she seemed to want to cry on, was his.

He had endured this short but traumatizing endeavor with her and there would be none better than him to understand what she was going through. She had lost people very dear to her and, to J; it meant that she had her soul torn away. It hadn’t been the intention Celestia had when she had left both Twilight and him go there, but J had to admit that the harm done to the loving mare would take time to heal, intentional or not.

J got up gently, not taking his hands from Twilight until he showed her that all he wanted to do was undress. It didn’t take long and he was soon in his shorts, something that at least made his friend smile a bit as she looked away embarrassed. To him it meant the world that it lightened her mood even a bit. He had never been able to stand around to see a friend hurt and not be able to help them smile. When Twilight gave that little smile it brought back some of the warmth he had once felt when he had been swarmed with friends. Maybe, with luck, he could someday feel it again if he did as Celestia asked him and found a way to forgive himself.

In a quick motion he got into the bed, letting Twilight look at him again. Sighing sadly she moved forward, cuddling against her newest friend for comfort and warm as she let her sobbing take her again while drenching J with her tears. She felt somewhat happy to have someone with her tonight, but the loss would be bitter for a long time, much more if Trixie or the young girls reacted badly.

“I don’t *sniff* want to *sniff* lose my family” She let out as she tried to held together “Oh Celestia *sob* this is… this is *Sob* the worst day of my life”

“Sssssh… relax, let it all out…” J had been in this position before. It was not a solution anyone wanted, but crying until slept got you usually made the tension dissipate to an extent.

And she indeed cried, for hours. The night was young still but Twilight would continue crying until the moon began to descend, slowly giving way to prepare for a new day. J didn’t move from where he was; he embraced his friend and held her close, letting her vent until she was so tired that slept got to her. Only then did he close his eyes and pulled her tightly against his body.

‘Whatever the cost, I don’t care what it is. Neither you, nor your friends will have to cry like this ever again’ He swore within his mind, anger rising inside of his very being.

As you have seen, this chapter has drama, my first try at drama to be precise. I hate it, I hate it with PASION, but a good writer knows that drama is necessary when making a serious story. As much as I prefer to laugh over crying (Well, yea, like most people) I made the story knowing I would hate making some of it, like this section here. I am going to be sincere and tell you all that it took me a real long time, for my taste, to write this section as I tend to get as much in character as I can, so yea… I cried…

I like to expand the story of the characters, mine of otherwise, if their story is vague and open. I thought that I had to strengthen Twilight’s character, and so I gave her this. I felt like an asshole as I wrote this, but at the same time it felt right for the story to go this way, it is what I thought was fitting and how I could explain more things while getting some more in motion. I do hope that no one is angry at me for all of this, but after all of this being done it will either make you wish for more… or it will make you all stop reading it.

Until next time.