At least, a tame chapter ^^ I am going to outright say that the next few chapters (Except one in particular) are going to be nice, or so I hope, depends on how much I develop each of them and if they are more or less than I had hoped. There will be no violence (Except maybe a fight or two), drama (I hope), and much less gore or sex in here, only more character development and friendly stuff :•3

I think the conflict generated by now is enough to keep up tensions for a while, so as every good conflict has, this one has made everyone earn a little rest and some peace. However with me peace means new problems, though they aren’t so serious if compared to the others I have already laid in front of you.

This all means that, while I seem to portray J as the main character, there are others and all their stories add to the total of things and it all sums in the end to see how and why things turn on that way. With that said, we do begin with J, but because it is required…

Also, for a very large review :3 there is also a nice answer:

This is for Shadowfire117

The bad ending… I am really thinking about it mind you. I keep on thinking only in the good ending and I SINCERELY hope people want it, yet I am a man of my word whenever I can keep it, so I would feel bad if I took this away, even if I feel bad now for giving the chance to the readers. Do not get me wrong here, I do respect the choices and likings of everyone but each time I try to think of the ending with drama I… I have problems. Being ‘in character’ when I write I tend to imagine as lively as I can, so… you can understand my dilemma, I hope.

Now, about the realistic part? Heh… I think someone got me wrong here :3 It is realistic, yea, but to an extent. This is a world of magic where amazing things can come to happen, so it is not THAT realistic. So what is the problem here?

The problem is that Jonathan is from a different world and he sees things differently, he feels like he doesn’t deserve what he is getting and will only think otherwise if he sees himself change, something that may be easier or harder, or literally impossible. He has made mistakes, he had tried to force things to be right when he had made them wrong, only to worsen them and, ultimately, he took lives away more than once in his desperation. He is a pessimist, for he has known only one side of the story most his life, the one that is told by those that hurt others, be it willingly or not.

The magic in Equestria makes things go well for those who wish for them and who think they deserve them because it would do well for all. If J does not see that he will ultimately fail, as would any other creature in Equestria, as did Nightmare Moon. (This, of course, is how I envision things, not how they are, I suppose :3)

Now, how about the knights? Except the Onyx knight the others were good, whole or in part, because even with humanity back then every creature was good to some extent, the monsters killed only because that was their nature and they needed to eat. The Onyx knight was… well… you will see what it was in chapter 10 or 11, depends on how fast I develop things.

Thanks for the review and, already, sorry if this response isn’t what you weren’t hoping for, but I did answer things how I think them so I hope you do not mind :3.

Also, on a side note, I do like review you all! I am as much an artwhore as I am a reviewhore :p as far as it is a review made with some sense and tact. As said before I got my share of flaming so if you want to say something, both good or bad, I hope you are backed up with some sense there. I kill myself to try and develop a nice story and I only want to know why it is being enjoyed or why NOT (though I am hopeful the second case scenario is not that common).

This being said, I have to stress it all out again: I do not own MLP and yadda yadda yadda, nor do I base myself as much in fandom as I do in what I judge correct or what I create. Also I try to use as many official characters as I can :3 (Thank the latest chapter for Rarity’s parents being added and not some OCs :3… Also Rarity’s hair when wet x3… DO NOT JUDGE ME 83!)

Lol, drama queen x3.

From the Cardboard Box of Nobodyreallyimportant

It had been hours since he had gone to sleep, in fact J was sure that he was nearing the end of his dream as he rested near the shore of a lake under the moonlight in one of his preferred dream settings that he so carefully tried to bend to his will each time so as to perfect the picture to the extent it was today. With him lying on the soft grass and sighing after the first dreamscape had been made in this new world, he could only rest and appreciate how beautiful it all was.

A huge crystalline lake, a dense forest surrounding it, a big full moon on the sky and dozens of stars shinning back at him. The perfect embodiment of calm as the crickets sang their song and the water moved on its own to simulate the sound of the sea when times were calm.

He would never believe there was something better than this.

“Enjoying the night?” a voice called out, one he had heard only once before when he got here.

J only turned his head to see Nightmare Moon walking slowly towards him until she sat down and laid back, her face inches away from his. If she had wanted to, being of the same ilk, if not the exact same, as Luna, she would probably had whatever she wanted from him and after yesterday he could imagine quite a lot of things. However the mare didn’t seem to look at him in longing for any kind of thing, at least none he could understand right now as her face did show some kind of emotion he could not describe even if he wanted or tried to.

“Yea, yea I am,” he said, finally. “I hadn’t needed to form a dreamscape since I was very young. It took me the whole night”

“And you have done beautifully; if you don’t mind my compliments,” Nightmare Moon gave a lighthearted chuckle. “I hadn’t seen a pony or a human with such a mental capability in one thousand years”

“Yeah, well I tend to dwell in my mind a lot, or at least, I did,” J said as he looked towards the moon. “It was one of the few ways to be happy. Now I don’t really need it, I think, but I would like to have someplace to go if my mind gets saturated or if I need to calm down.”

“Already trying to escape reality?” J shot her a cold glance but Nightmare Moon simply chuckled, meaning it as a joke.

“Maybe…”

“You should use the free time you have to relax, Jonathan, you will need to put everything in your head in proper order,” The mare on the moon told him with a sincere smile. “I guarantee you that I actually want you to do at least some things right, if not all.”

J simply arched an eyebrow as he looked at her with an inquisitive glance, “Why?”

“I am dying, and unlike any illness in Equestria, mine can’t be cured,” Nightmare Moon was as blunt as a pile of rocks, but she was still smiling nonetheless. “Luna knows, Celestia knows and now YOU know”

The human had only one reaction. His jaw hit the floor and rolled away.

“Why are you telling me this then,” he asked, bewildered. “What do you hope to accomplish that way?”

“Is it always like that with ‘villains’ and humans, right? You have to get something from everything,” she snorted, her smile disappearing. “If you do not remember it clearly enough, then let me allow to tell you that I was Luna’s friend and advisor before things turned grim. Why, you will even find what happened and why I turned like that soon enough,” she grumbled a bit, but unlike the first time she appeared in front of all the brony community and the whole Equestria, she was nice and only slightly offended. “However it is true that I do want something from you, and I would understand that you told me to go screw myself, if you don’t mind me sounding so unladylike”

“Then what are you waiting for?” he asked in a dejected tone. Whatever this was, it most likely wouldn’t be good. “You pretty much barged in here uninvited, I was unfriendly to you, and you were brash with me. Shot away, things wouldn’t be worse than now.”

“I want you to bear my essence.”

There was one simple thing that the dreamscape had lacked until this point, one thing that J had always had ready and, in fact, working when he was in one of these ‘homes’ of his. It was a little thing called music.

It only took Nightmare Moon seconds to get closer before she embraced J, sharing with him her own emotions with whatever magic she was using. He wasn’t sure of how it worked, but J could swear he felt the sadness, one worth more than a thousand of years, envelop him as Nightmare Moon gave him a taste of how she had felt since the day when she had, for reasons still unknown to him, forced her best and only friend, her ‘mother’, Luna to the moon.

The mood seemed to fit with the one given by one certain song from a very specific game: Mardek, the OST: Sorrow.

As the harp began its melody Nightmare Moon backed away from him, yet the music continued even as J felt his previous mood returning to him as the feelings evaporated like they were nothing.

“I never was a real creature, only an essence created by a powerful alicorn. She, Luna, was as much my friend as she was my mother in a certain sense, but in the material plane I was nothing,” Nightmare Moon got up and looked up towards the moon, the music slowly approaching its crescendo before she continued, “and I will be less than nothing in a few days. Luna has been cured, she has been accepted and I have been rendered a bad memory she doesn’t want to have anymore. Without her support, I will cease to exist. And yet, I was never real, so there will be no sadness once I depart.”

“Some would be saddened.” J chimed in with the music taking away some of his happy thoughts, but mostly the one crushing it to a certain point was Nightmare Moon herself.

The mare was basically smiling, even thought she had said that she would basically ‘die’, or if she was counted as a psychic essence; destroyed or dissipated. However she seemed to bear no sadness and have no regrets, at least none past the only one she had that troubled her mind.

“I know, but it is for the best,” she admitted, her smile not leaving her face. “I told you that I hoped for you to make the right decision in time. That time is now. Will you let my essence reside within your body and mind; or will you let me dwindle away when the time comes?”

J would have liked to think about it more, but the music and the feelings he could sense were coming from Nightmare Moon along with his own would hardly let him think about it in peace.

“Will it have any drawbacks for me or anypony else?”

The black mare shook her head, “None. I will live through you and, in fact, may have this, my form, infused on your soul and mind so I will be ‘alive’ in a sense. I can even act as a confident for you, if you so want.”

“Anything else?” J frowned. He wasn’t buying it now. There had been something in Nightmare Moon’s words that somehow seemed… lacking. “I think you are hiding something.”

“And I will continue to hide it until the right time,” that was a firm, and quite harsh, reassurance as Nightmare Moon stomped the ground with a hoof. “I am giving away my life and I do not mind it if you refuse, but I have only one hope, a single gleam of survival, and it is going to remain with me to the bitter end.” Those words had been as harsh and maybe as violent as the first time the mare had appeared in the show, “I am sorry but I won’t tell you, I… I can’t tell you”

There was a long silence as the music stopped and J got up from where he was lying on the ground.

“You expect me to make the right decision when I do not know everything?” his tone was firm, his expression harsh and for some reason he wanted to turn away and wake up. He didn’t, and Nightmare Moon couldn’t take her eyes away from him as he walked besides her to rub at her ethereal mane.

“You can remain here if you want,” J offered her a little smile. “Yesterday I said I would change my ways at last, and I will begin by caring more. You can live within me, if that is what you wish.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, unsure and, uncharacteristically of her, worried, “You don’t know everything…”

“Nor do I need to,” he admitted. “If it was something bad then I would probably have Luna here biting your head off, or more likely I would be awakened by Celestia somehow. They aren’t here, so I am pretty sure it can’t be too bad,” for a moment he looked worried enough at the thought of ‘Trollestia’ waking him up to say “Gotcha.” It was silly, though, and after a moment he couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of such a thing.

“The only thing I ask for is one you may know already,” he sat down and let out a tired yawn, indicating that he was going to fall asleep here and, return to the real world, “Be sincere with me in everything, as I am with anyone.”

Sadly J wasn’t able to last long enough to see Nightmare Moon nod or not, in fact if she had tried to say something after he asked for such a little thing, then J would have not heard it. He simply fell back and banished towards the real world, leaving behind a speechless Nightmare Moon whom was wondering if what she had done was the right thing.

It had been not so long when she had returned to her own mind and that the sane personality she had finally overcame what had overtaken her so long ago. The truth was, depressing though; she was her own self again, immaterial and insubstantial, but she was back to how she began. Did she miss a physical body? No, she didn’t, but she did miss the feeling of kinship with Luna, one that was now gone and that, after Discord had tried to take over and Luna had recovered her powers, had shown her how dire her situation was. The mind that had created her didn’t want her inside it anymore.

One thousand years on the moon was enough to make one do nothing but think; effectively making such a long time seem much shorter than it really was. It all simply meant that they had, mentally, spent much less time than Celestia waiting for their freedom, but they had been arguing and battling in one single shared mind for the time that they waited.

‘And I have no family now…’ Nightmare Moon looked down, dejected.

“Has he agreed?”

The voice of Luna took Nightmare Moon’s attention, but just a part of it as by now she had wiped the sadness and memories away and she was looking forward to the maybe not so distant future.

“He has.”

“I honestly thought he wouldn’t,” Luna admitted, sitting in front of Nightmare Moon, though still quite far away in the dreamscape. “In fact I had expected him not to.” She had a neutral and quite expressionless tone, “I hope you did nothing ‘special’ to get him to comply with this.”

Nightmare Moon snapped to attention and gave Luna the most distasteful glare she could. While Luna had had no magic in her but that of a normal unicorn until the last celebration, now she could either appear as her ‘real’ form or her more ‘regal’ (Or godly) one. She, more often than not, went out simply as ‘Luna’ after that night, but even with such a ‘cute’ and gentle form in display she did have a very dark and powerful side after spending such a long time battling her inner demons.

And Nightmare Moon was tired of being that specific demon Luna wanted to expel.

“I guarantee you, PRINCESS, that I did nothing, in fact I didn’t even tell him what you told me I should keep to myself, even if I was tempted to simply do so to give you a huge ‘SCREW YOU’ that I cannot force out simply for a lack of a middle finger,” She pointed her hoof towards Luna to emphasize her point. “But he had asked me to be completely sincere with him and I will be, for I am in him now and not in you.”

“Much like a demon then, Nightmare Moon,” Luna retorted with a hateful glare, “A deal is sealed and you take what is ‘rightfully’ yours afterwards. Know that I have done this simply for the time we shared as friends, an old debt I no longer want to have hovering over me. However, if you do something other than what we agreed on I will destroy you”

“Don’t be so almighty with me, Luna,” Nightmare Moon chuckled. “You are plotting now instead of your sister, she at least tells Jonathan of her plans now. You on the other hoof…”

“I am not plotting,” Luna spat, not looking towards her dark reflection anymore. “I am getting rid of you and, hopefully, giving you a second chance I hope you don’t ruin like before.”

Luna vanished after that; Nightmare Moon’s only reaction to such an abrupt thing was to snort and smirk, “Seems I am the demon, yet you still retain some of that darkness within you, don’t you, dear Luna?” For the first time she let out a half hearted laugh, much warmer and ‘human’ than the one she gave the first time when she was back after one thousand years. “I will still perish in a sense; yet in the future I may be a better pony than you. Mark my words, Luna” She looked into the ether, knowing full well that the princes of the night could still hear her “Watch what you do more than what others do.”

Twilight had awoken with a shudder for some reason. It was not too late in the morning, in fact it was around… 8:30? What perfect timing! She smiled as she saw the clock, but she practically beamed after she finally felt the arms of J wrapped around her, which brought up the best and the worst of this morning.

She sighed, ‘I don’t wanna get up… But I guess I have to.’

She forced herself apart from J and turned to give his forehead a kiss.

‘Thanks for everything…’

Gently jumping away from the bed; she felt… empty. Since the incident, mere days ago, when she was not as close as she could to J she felt empty, fearful and alone. When Rarity came to her she felt happy too, until she too went away. Maybe she only wanted her friends close? Those she would readily call her family? Those she loved? Maybe the need for someone didn’t mean that she was clingy towards J, but that she did love him and wanted him closer than anypony else.

‘After all… only Fluttershy was there with me too, but we both know that I like the idea of having a whole family too much.’ Twilight chuckled at that, ‘I think the only one in my circle of friends to think like this is Rarity, so she would understand if I talked to her? Maybe it would be a nice thing to do today, that way I will force myself away from the library.’

Suddenly, something fell of the bed and hit the floor with a loud clattering noise. There was the sound of it rolling across before it touched her hoof.

Twilight looked down to see the same stone that had been delivered the past night. She could even read the words without need to take the stone up, yet once she did… her curiosity and worry chimed in like a pair of vultures. With her magic she made the stone levitate, with her hooves she touched it, and with her inquisitive mind she searched for a meaning that would satiate her worries.

Yet what she found was something else.

She no longer saw the library; in fact there was only a whirlpool of blackness with a little grey area where she saw a hoof and a hand together. It soon turned to a clearer color, almost white except for a lavender hoof and a hand she knew was from Jonathan.

“Will I ever see you again?” She heard her own voice, yet it was broken and sad.

“I… I doubt it.” J’s voice followed promptly with the same feelings, if not much darker ones, permeating those words. “I… you…”

“I know. I… understand.” Twilight’s voice echoed, laced with sadness. “But… but she will miss you too.”

“I-I am sorry Twilight.” There was a deep breath and Twilight could swear she saw tears falling down on what little she could see of the scene. “I don’t want to do this…”

“Sssssh…” She heard her own sniffs and then a kiss. “I understand… I can’t leave her… she will be hurt enough once she knows what you have to do.”

“Thanks, Twilight.” There was a long silent moment before the hand disappeared from the picture. “Goodbye.”

Twilight let go of the stone for a second, luckily her magic was still holding it by instinct and she avoided further harm to the already obviously damaged garment. However the wellbeing of the stone was the last of her worries now as she hid it under the bed in pure instinct.

‘Another vision? Why? Why of THAT?’

She shuddered as she looked around, only to see that J was still asleep and that, like most days when she woke up this late, Spike had already been gone for a while. I only left her with a few precious minutes to worry about whatever this meant.

‘Is he going to leave me in the future? Is… is he going to love somepony else more than me? Will he leave her too? It… it is… it is very much possible’ She ended up sighing as she walked the stairs down to the main floor of the library ‘He is human after all, maybe in the future there will be a way to return to that ‘Earth’ of his’ She basically spat the name in her mind ‘Maybe… maybe I displeased him somehow? I mean, my visions seem to be precise to this point so this may be the truth that lies within the future, yet I don’t know the reasons. What will happen that will push him away? Why will he leave me?’

Yet, before she opened the door towards the main room, she chuckled and offered a nervous smile to nopony but herself.

‘I am being ridiculous! It may not even come to happen! I mean, even Luna and Celestia had visions, or so the princess told me, and not all of them came true! So maybe this will not happen after all,’ she cheered a bit and finally opened the door so the sun from the windows would illuminate her smile. ‘I am not going to worry anymore. I just KNOW we will have some peaceful days now and I SO want to spend them being happy, I’ve had… enough sadness for a lifetime.’

“I feel fucking gooooOOOSHIT,” J’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

*WHAM!*

‘Well, if nothing else, he knows how to cheer someone up in the morning.’ Twilight fought not to laugh as she looked back to the almost nude figure of J lying on the ground, groaning as he rubbed his chest and face after meeting the floor face first. She would need to remember to change the bed’s disposition or this would probably repeat itself a few times. “Had a good night’s sleep? Because asking how you are feeling seems silly to me right now,” she chuckled as J sent her a killer look.

“Good enough, I suppose,” he groaned, getting up and walking over to get his clothes. “I would have liked a much better wake up call, but it is good enough. At least you weren’t in the bed or I would have dragged you down with me,” J snickered at that, “now that would’ve been awkward.”

“I reckon it would, yes,” Twilight chuckled nervously as she rubbed one of her forelegs. “But nothing of that right now, I think a good breakfast is in order, even more if Spike has been cooking with help of Owlowiscious.” At least she hoped the poor owl had been helping Spike, he did cook well, but so soon in the morning? She would hate to see diamond bits in her bowl, “If you are hungry after making sure my floor was so clean that is.”

“Oh ho, are we feeling funny this morning,” J chuckled as he got dressed, Twilight cleaning his clothes with a bit of magic as she nodded. “Well as ‘filling’ as your floor was, I think I could eat something else, yes.”

“Good then,” Twilight gave out a smile, though it was forced and it showed, “Then let’s go fill our tummies”

“Twilight.”

The mare froze. The tone had been gentle, but mostly a whisper, almost as if in fear to speak. Twilight looked back, only to see that J was advancing slowly towards her with a concerned face she had not seen since that day.

“Are you ok?” he asked, his voice full of concern.

It took a second for her to react, but Twilight could only let out a half smile with sad eyes looming over J as he came closer to embrace her, his concern sincere and his worry very real. Yet that was all she needed and, with a deep sigh of content, she embraced him back.

“I worry too much, probably like you,” she confessed. “I cannot help it, not after such a change. I have been against Nightmare Moon and Discord; I will probably be against something else after this… But this was the first time I lost someone only to gain someone else, in fact not only one, but many,” Twilight didn’t know if she was hurting him, but the more she talked the stronger her grip became. “I now fear for the little girls, I fear for my cousin, I fear for you,” she felt him tense up and nuzzle at her gently, bringing her up as he took her in her arms. “And… it is silly, we haven’t even truly made anything to be together, not yet at least… but I fear you may leave me.”

“I promise you,” Twilight finally tore her head from where she let it rest against his shoulder so as to see the gentle smile J was giving her, “the only way I would ever leave you is if I died, Twilight.” That made her smile, but also sent a shiver down her spine. “Now don’t worry your pretty egghead self about that.”

‘Well, that killed it,’ she gave him a stern but playful look.

“And let’s eat something,” with a wink she took her towards the kitchen.

She nodded and simply let him take her away; Twilight Sparkle was, basically, in pure bliss. If the things that had took place a few days ago hadn’t happened at all she would truly admit she was in some kind of heaven; she had her friends caring for her more than ever and she had a male for herself in some way, she also had fillies of her own, though that last part made her sad again as she thought of the price to pay and that they weren’t really of her own to begin with.

At least she hopped that the girls had fun in the barn with Apple Bloom… and that Silver Spoon did behave as she promised.

Silver Spoon was in HELL!

Well, not really, but by Celestia this was humiliating! When her mother had taken her from school, taken her to their manor and then cleaned her up as best as she could in such a short amount of time Silver Spoon had been SCARED out of her wits, not that she would admit that to anyone though. Once she knew of her mother’s plan though, she relaxed.

New FRIENDS! She had practically turned her mother deaf with such a loud “SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” when she heard the news, mostly because, if she had to say the truth, she felt terribly lonely.

She loved Diamond Tiara deeply as a friend, they had grown together after all with Diamond Tiara’s mother being the heir of a family of miners that, once Ponyville had been established, pledged to the local noble to mine in the nearby mountain, only to find a deposit of gems that, like in any other place, replenished itself regularly thanks to the magic lingering in there. That local noble had been family of Celestia, VERY distant mind you, but family of the alicorn nonetheless… and it had been Silver Spoon’s ancestor.

Much like her mother, Silver Spoon had inherited the corresponding cutie mark and, as such, the obligation of being a lower noble, but a noble nonetheless. She had to be proper, she had to be with members of the society that were up to her standing, and the only other family in Ponyville that was rich and had attained such a rank was the Goldie family.

Though unlike their ancestor, the Goldie family had not always ‘Gold’ in their name (Diamond Tiara was an example), they did always have a name motif that had to do with precious metals or jewels. They had grown to be refined instead of the filthy miners they had once been, also they had grown to like the finer things in life and it seemed that in the blood of the family lingered a disdain towards the common pony.

Something Silver Spoon could relate to and that, as of late, was putting her at odds with her mother.

Yes, it was true; Silver Spoon saw those with less education, manners and form to be less than her but, who would say otherwise in her position? She had a gifted brain; if she desired to train she would even have a gifted body, all thanks to her blood. Everypony else had less than she did and still could be as good, like Diamond Tiara had shown her. The only thing that the grey filly did not have, and that she knew of, was the capacity to give speeches, to be forward, to not be… frightened when alone.

‘After all,’ she sighed inwardly, ‘most bullies are cowards, aren’t we?’ That made her cringe, but it was true. ‘I wonder… do I dislike them enough to be a bully after this?’

Silver Spoon finally looked to her side and, as she did, she saw the room in the barn all lit up as the wind opened the window slightly. Before this the red barn room had been mostly obscured except for a small tendril of light that went all the way besides Silver Spoon’s bed, the reason as to why she was awake.

The room was beautiful, at least for a commoner; Red and white wooden planks making the walls, door and window frames, uncolored ones for the ceiling and the floor. Sparse furniture, but a lot of beds, since the Apple Clan was usually so numerous than two or three couldn’t cut it. The room was also very spacey, almost as much as Silver Spoon’s own, but much more filled with necessities instead of with toys.

And that is what made Silver Spoon loathe this, yet also it was exactly what made her think.

She hated how plain it looked, how… poor. The filly had grown to embrace eccentric things, or something out of the ordinary, to be happy having a LOT of things and, sadly, few people around. She had grown to be of the nobility and could hardly understand how ‘normal’ ponies could see fun or beauty in things that, to her, were so lowly that she wouldn’t spare them a glance.

It was only because Cheerile was an old friend of her mother that Silver Spoon had initially accepted to learn in a public school so as to not anger her mother (And because she didn’t yell at her like some private teachers). The second reason was because Cheerile was the sister to Berry Punch and Scootaloo’s mother, Whirlwind, a former Wonderbolt, that Diamond Tiara had decided she was a ‘prestigious enough teacher’ for her too (No one in Ponyville would usually admit it, but Berry Punch had invented most the actual beverages that were common at adult parties).

So, why did she like Rain Berry and Final Test? Well, she hadn’t seen her friend for a time even before she went away because her mother had been trying to prepare (or better say, force) her to learn about how their family did business. Silver Spoon had simply been STARVED for someone that would like her, someone that would talk to her… and because both fillies weren’t quite like the rest it made the grey filly all the more interested after seeing them.

Pegasus and unicorn sisters? Believe her when she says that it was rare, in fact she could compare Scootaloo to them, why? Because a filly usually grows like the mother as the mares have the strongest genes, unlike in some species. Rain was small and meek while Final was quite bigger, stronger and had a lot of character. Silver Spoon filled right in the middle of them both, so when Rain returned the other day feeling happy and open she had changed little, but now she would talk and would make Silver Spoon feel in place as both of the girls were quite smart and each of them had some topics she liked.

Rain liked poetry and was good at writing, a noble art, though she was very shy and liked to fantasize a lot, so she could create many, many things within her head to surprise Silver Spoon, and that had been in less than an hour! Final was a bit more crude, but she knew enough of gymnastics and the body that she could maybe grow to be one of the first pegasi stronger, and yet more knowledgeable, than an Earth pony. They weren’t brutes or stupid fillies, and they had told Silver Spoon of their loss, so even if she was mean she would not make fun of them.

They had bonded, as strange as it sounded to her, and she liked it.

And then Apple Bloom had to come by and messed all up… or rather Silver Spoon had messed it up.

While Diamond Tiara disliked the common ponies almost by instinct, Silver Spoon disliked the Apple Clan because they were rich, in fact they were richer than most nobles, like the Carrot Clan, Orange Clan or any other family of farmers: They were rich, they had to live up to their end, but they could chose whether to stay as farmers or to do something else entirely, segregating from the clan and earning a cutie mark that had nothing to do with the fruit, vegetable or plant their family cared for.

Silver Spoon could not.

It was her legacy, her duty, and her curse. She had been born with her cutie mark already on her flank, much like a lot of the noble families.

‘It isn’t fair,’ she said to herself, letting a tear run down her cheek. Luckily she didn’t have the glasses on and she wiped it off quickly, ‘I have to be like this, I’m forced to! Why does Apple Bloom get to have more friends and more adventures and a happier life than me? She has to work all the time, she has to earn her keep, while I have all the time in the world and all the money I will need, that my family WILL need until Equestria is no more… if that ever happens’ Silver Spoon sighed and leaned back on her bed, ‘I hate her, I hate her and her friends… and now my new friends hate me too.’

She had told Apple Bloom what she thought of her and her family right there, thinking that Rain and Final would back her up, hay, she even thought Rarity and her mother would back her up!

How foalish of her.

Rain had cringed at the names and Final had scolded her with a stern look. Rarity had said “And I thought you at least had some manners, young lady,” while her mother basically agreed and added “I thought she had, expect to be grounded for a few days, missy.”

Apple Bloom, of course, said that there won’t be any need of comments or punishments… because she would give her enough punishment!

It had been only by the… creature’s intervention that she hadn’t been hurt. Rain and Final had been talking with Apple Bloom near her about the ‘human’, how he had killed the monster that got their parents and how he was making sure Twilight would be happy again as well as to protect Ponyville from now on.

However they had said nothing to her, so Silver Spoon hadn’t had the courage to open her mouth. Even after Apple Bloom invited them all to the barn it had been her mother, and not the filly, who had said that she would go.

‘Funny punishment, mother,’ Silver Spoon gritted her teeth in anger.

She had to admit that the Apple Family had been nice enough after that, even Rain and Final had shrugged her words and forgiven her of such an act she had done so early in their newfound relationship as friends, but she had to promise to never say something like that ever again (in front of them at least) since they had also made friends with the little yellow work pony.

To her it was NOT fair, it was not fair that Apple Bloom was now friends with her two new friends and it was not fair that they had ‘forgiven her’.

She began her life in a position she didn’t like, she had to be proper and she had to be ladylike, yet her mother basically had escaped those duties after she had grown up and had received her parents’ blessing so she would watch over Ponyville while they retired like every single generation before them. Of course her grandparents, like their parents before, came back a time afterwards to see if their daughter was doing ok as per tradition.

Seeing her being friendly with the plebe infuriated them to no avail, in fact Silverlight had told her that her father hadn’t punished her because she was pregnant at the time. Yet their rage had been felt and so they had taken care again of the family’s nobility, the money and, in fact, everything… until Silver Spoon was born.

They had given an ultimatum then. They would have another child IF Silver Spoon wasn’t what they were expecting for the bloodline, and they would judge once she reached maturity (Ten years of age) no matter if she had developed into an adult or not. Afterwards they had left and, as far as Silverlight told her, her mother had given the rudest of gestures to her father.

However, pushing away how much her mother loathed her father, their words basically meant that the younger sibling would inherit the family title and her mother would be disowned.

As far as her mother had told her, this had only happened once in their family’s story as there was always one single foal, this also included in the family traditions that she, Silver Spoon, would HAVE to marry her mate when she grew up, even if she didn’t like him. Her mother had been very lucky in that aspect as Silver Spoon knew for a fact that her grandmother didn’t stand her grandparent, but both of them were stuck up as hay and that made them stick like glue… sometimes.

And so here she was! Forced to live a life she both enjoyed and detested, while someone as rich and as powerful (technically) as Apple Bloom went to school, did some chores for her sister and then had all the time in the world to go ‘cutie mark questing’ with her friends whenever they liked.

Even Diamond Tiara had been luckier than Silver Spoon in that regard, though she had gained it a few months after birth when she stole a little diamond from her mother because she liked the glistening gem. Diamond Tiara was good with them and she seemed to like to cut them in beautiful shapes, though she wasn’t just limited to diamonds and could cut all gems. One of her dreams was, in fact, to someday carve statues of the princesses from giant gems.

Diamond Tiara had a very special talent, even if she was naturally stuck up (enough to blind anypony but Silver Spoon to her good traits); yet Silver Spoon both loved and hated her for it.

‘This is not fair… not fair at all,’ she quietly sobbed, ‘I don’t want any of this! I want my friend back! I want my new friends! And I want to go out, and play and get dirty in the mud, and get scrapped when I fall! I want to be a normal filly!’

Yet Silver Spoon could not, she would not, both because she loved her lifestyle, because she loved her mother and also because she feared a life of mediocrity as a commoner, with her luxuries inaccessible to her and with such uneducated and uninteresting ponies to be the ones she would need to call ‘equals’.

A nightmare and a dream, two in one, yet… which side would be stronger over time?

Whatever it was that her future was hiding from her, Silver Spoon knew that she enjoyed being a bully because she thought that anyone that befriended Apple Bloom deserved the treatment. They could have befriended HER instead of the yellow work pony! A more beautiful, educated and obviously gifted pony that only lacked the character to be outspoken and charismatic like Diamond Tiara.

And yet here she was, basically alone except for the new girls in town… and technically befriending the mare she hated the most.

“This sucks,” she whispered quietly, her voice quivering as she cried silently so she would wake up no one else “I hate it.”

“Silver Spoon” Rain Berry, the one sleeping besides her, muttered as she awakened halfway. She was barely whispering and the other two fillies didn’t seem to notice “Is something the matter?”

“Yes, yes it is,” she whimpered, making sure her voice was not too loud. “You two are going to hate me now because I can’t STAND THAT PONY!” Even with her whispering voice it was obvious that she was angrier than ever as she pointed a hoof towards Apple Bloom.

“Why?” A simple question, but it had no easy answer.

“Because she is what I cannot be,” Silver Spoon let her tears run, “I have to be a proper lady or my grandparents will disown me, my mom and my dad. I have to ‘the pinnacle of pony society’ or some… some garbage like that.” The little filly wiped away her tears, “But I also don’t like normal ponies, I don’t like how they are comfortable with what they get, that they don’t seem to want to improve, that they are… not the best, none of them tries.”

There was a few seconds worth of silence as Rain digested that, “It sounds to me that you are angry, but not at her or at the other ponies”

Silver Spoon simply turned her head towards Rain with a questioning look on her face.

“I mean, look, we come from a circus and you like us,” she smiled gently. “Yea, I usually buried my head in every book I could get, and I can’t use magic, so I am pretty weird… probably why you like me.” Rain snickered, “But I think that it is not all, you liked me because, after I told you all that, you saw I had to do things, a lot of them, to be the best I could, to be something like you… and that, I think, is the problem.”

“How so,” Silver Spoon was glad that there was another filly with the mind of an adult (Or almost) like her, otherwise this conversation would’ve been quite awkward… well… more than it was already.

“Well, I could be wrong, I mean, I had a lot of people around me, but I knew them all my life, so I never had much experience with anyone ‘normal,’” she chuckled. “However that means I did only have one sided views of them, they were my family, but everyone in the circus had a problem or another. One of them, the ballerina, was the daughter of a noble from… oh, I don’t remember.” Rain placed a hoof on her chin. “She was called Diva Loba, never saw her cutie mark and we never talked much, the others said she had ran away from home because her mother wanted her to be something she didn’t like, more or less like you, but in your case your mom doesn’t seem to want you to be so ‘regal’ or something.”

“My mom is usually with the local brewer or with one of her two sisters,” Silver Spoon sighed. “She has a lot of friends, I had one until yesterday, and she is gone for a while…”

“But that is because you live in a way you don’t like,” Silver Spoon tensed up as she looked at Rain. “You say you don’t like Apple Bloom, but you really don’t like yourself.” Rain poked her tongue out playfully “It can be solved easily. Don’t act like you think you should, act like you want to! Here, try this, lets sleep a bit more and after breakfast we go out and play. You don’t get all uppity and we all get dirty and sweaty.” The little unicorn snickered at her friend’s expression, “I know it sounds kind of wrong but I assure you, you will have fun.”

The idea hit her and it was… appalling, to say the least, yet it also was delightful in so many ways. For a fact she knew that Applejack was a very mature mare for her young age (It couldn’t be more than 25), while her sister, of 7, and was mature in a certain way that only infuriated her. However they two shared what Silver Spoon could not: Freedom and friends. Now, however, one new friend was offering her a chance to do exactly that thing.

‘Even if for some damned miracle my grandparents see it,’ she took her glasses and got on her hooves. ‘I won’t care… I WON’T!’

“Today I will have fun,” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

“Ah heard ya! Now let me have ma sleep,” a pillow flew across the room to hit Silver Spoon square on the face.

“Why you… oh, rodeo pony you’re going to get it now!”

Apple Bloom had been awake for a while and was smirking even as Silver Spoon lunged towards her with both her and Apple Bloom’s own pillow in her hooves.

“Let’s go to war!”

“Thanks again Bon Bon, you always help me with these,” Pinkie Pie smiled at the mare in front of her who waved a hoof in embarrassment.

“I’m always glad to help you Pinkie,” she said with a small smile. “Besides, yesterday you seemed to feel kind of down so this is the least I could do.”

Sugarcube Corner was empty at this hour of the day in Saturday, not because no one wanted pastries, but because if there was any party planned (Not one of those surprise planning’s Pinkie had all the time) the final touches were being made this day in most occasions. Of course after yesterday, well, not many people would like to come. Don’t get me wrong here, everyone loved the Cakes and Pinkie, but to see her depressed as she had been yesterday…

It hurt a lot of people, and it hurt very badly.

So now Bon Bon, both a competitor and a friend to Pinkie, had decided that she would give Pinkie the best medicine: A huge bag of candies of her own making.

“Yeah… thank you and I’m sorry for being depressed yesterday,” Pinkie looked down for a moment, looking somewhat sad again before she perked up. “But I had a visit from Rarity in the night and she assured me all was ok, so I’m not sad anymore.”

Bon Bon looked worried once Pinkie had said that, “Rarity came over? What was the problem Pinkie? Why were you so sad? You didn’t say anything to me yesterday.”

“Oh… do you know of the new guy in town,” Bon Bon nodded, though she looked towards the door as if a bit scared. “Well, you can say we got in an… an argument, yeah! That’s it” She smiled nervously, “It was my fault though, much like when I’m making a party and it has too many pranks”

“Pinkie, that only happened once,” Bon Bon gave her a hurt look, “and I don’t mind anymore, you know it’s all ok now.”

“I didn’t mean it like that Bon Bon,” Pinkie poked her with her hoof. “I know things are ok between us, I mean that, like I got you angry at me for a day, I did with him.”

“Ah, I see,” Bon Bon nodded, “But all is ok now, no? I mean, he looked kind of scary the other day…”

“Its fine, I swear,” Pinkie chuckled. “In fact I got a party prepared for tomorrow already! Want to come by?”

“I better not” Bon Bon had a bit of a hurt look on her “You know how much Lyra talks about those supposedly fantastic creatures?” Pinkie nodded with a grin plastered on her face “Well… since that human came her she seems thrilled to get to know him, I am kind of envious, you know?”

“Oooooooh,” Pinkie couldn’t help but chuckle. “Why would you be worried? Lyra has been with you since I meet you! I still think I saw it earlier than you two.” The pink mare winked at Bon Bon, making the poor mare blush.

“Heh, thanks Pinkie… but I still say I won’t come,” she seemed adamant on that and simply turned towards the door. “It is not that I fear she is going to go with him or anything, but we have been together almost nine years and we haven’t been with anyone else once in all that time,” Pinkie didn’t need to see Bon Bon’s face to know she was smiling. “I know we are an odd pair to remain faithful to each other like that, but… she is all I have in more than one sense. I think it would hurt a lot to see her with someone else.”

“I know what you mean Bonnie,” Pinkie gave a little smile even if her friend wasn’t going to see it. “Thanks again for the candy! I will bring you some muffins after the party, I promise.”

“Thank you Pinkie, see ya around,” Bon Bon waved a hoof and went out of the shop towards her home.

After she was gone, Pinkie sighed. She still felt down, but after she had a talk with Rarity and got to know how bad Jonathan was feeling, she felt she needed to do something. The poor pink mare knew that she needed to make a very special party for him to repay his kindness. He was, after all, trying to extract the bad she had inside.

Anyone less knowledgeable than her, less experienced in both the real and the surreal, wouldn’t know of the Nightmares or a lot other monsters in the world. Pinkie did, she liked to study them. In fact she liked to study EVERYTHING! Why? Because if she knew what could happen at any moment she knew when to throw the bestests parties of the whole world! When it was appropriate for her to do so, of course, you wouldn’t want to throw a party in a bad moment and get the people angry or sad instead of happy.

Still she usually didn’t know what happened inside of her head when she slept, in fact she was no dream walker, the only dream walkers in Equestria were all unicorns thanks to their magic, and even so they were very low in numbers (Yes, she had checked). However the other day she had been awfully aware of what had traversed her mind and, while she was happy that the outcome had shown her how caring and how friendly her new (and only) human friend was, it still sent shivers down her spine.

‘And it doesn’t help that there are sick stories in his world,’ her gaze hardened as she looked nowhere in particular.

There were a few very, very sick stories where they, she or her friends, were the protagonists. Some were fun, some were horrid and some did give her nightmares of the biggest caliber, but it seemed that they all had something that was true. Inside of each of them there was a little lump of darkness, one that nopony but them had.

If this wasn’t one of the few things she took seriously, she would laugh at how weird it was that different worlds or realities had so much in common. Of course if she didn’t take this seriously, then she would have to think seriously about Vamponies and other things that weren’t real and that she had seen only when she warped through space and time in the background (she was a very learned mare indeed). Though Zomponies on the other hoof… you had a real and very, very nasty thing right there.

The bell of the entrance rang and Pinkie was forced back to reality just in time to see the four girls coming inside the pastry shop.

“Why did ya hafta tell ma’ sister the truth,” Apple Bloom whined. “Ah would’ve liked her ta think her idol was still up an’ kickin.’”

“Well, she asked,” Rain answered timidly as she shrank behind her sister’s form. “I don’t like to lie; and Jonathan would have told her when she asked. Besides, all of them are going to hear it once Twilight tells them what happened and all.”

“Ah… well, yeah, Ah suppose your right,” The young work pony sighed a bit before cheering up again, she didn’t want to look sad in front of the pink pony. “Allo Pinkie!”

“Hey there girls,” Pinkie giggled. “How are you today? Something you want?”

“Sis sent us here ta get her candy apples,” Apple Bloom said with a little smile. “She’s feeling a bit down now after some bad news.” There was a quick glance towards Rain.

Pinkie could tell that she wasn’t angry at Rain, in fact she knew why and how of all of this was happening, so she did understand. Apple Bloom was quite a lot like her sister in that if someone did hurt her friends, even by accident, she would get quite testy for a while towards that pony.

She shook her head before responding, “Of course!” In a second there was a big basket full of candy apples for the little filly. “Miss Cake had them prepared before I woke up! Your sis does like a lot her candy apples every week and also…” She rummaged under the counter with a little grin before showing a little bag of cupcakes, muffins and other pastries, “I did these yesterday when I was feeling a bit down, I intended to eat them but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to it.” She snickered a bit and pushed it towards the girls, “If you want them you can have them.”

The four fillies cheered as Apple Bloom took the candy apples and passed the pastries and other delicacies to Final, whom didn’t even try to hold herself down as she rummaged for one cupcake with red frosting.

“Hey! Leave some for the rest of us,” Silver Spoon whined.

“Not like I’m going to eat everything,” Final muttered between bites as she eyed the bag greedily. “I mean, there is a lot!”

“You COULD.” Silver Spoon giggled at Rain’s retort to her sister, though Final wasn’t as happy to hear that little comment “What? You are a pegasus, you eat a lot and you burn it fast! Don’t act like you didn’t eat a whole cake yourself at that party.”

“You are so mean sometimes,” Final faked being hurt as she took a donut and began to chow down.

Pinkie couldn’t help but chuckle at the girls as they forgot about everything and demolished the poor pastries. ‘So nice to be so carefree,’ she giggled to herself. ‘I wonder how long until the girls notice I am more serious than I look,’ Pinkie simply poked her tongue out, laughing at her own serious acting before the bell that signaled another visitor took her attention.

“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner,” she said between giggles before she found out who it was and what face she had. “Dashie? Why the long face? You never come here looking so worried.”

Rainbow Dash seemed to have one of the angriest faces Pinkie had seen her with, and that meant a LOT coming from a fellow prankster like Pinkie. She had seen Dash angry to the point of bursting a few times, but here she seemed to have more or less no emotion at all, like the time she had been angry at her dad after a discussion she had with him. It felt like…

“Give me a few of those cupcakes Pinkie, I don’t want to talk.”

The girls looked up at Dash as she passed them without so much of a glance, normally Rainbow would ask Apple Bloom about Scootaloo if she wasn’t around, even about Sweetie Belle if Rainbow was really cheery and wanted to hear the latest problem the young unicorn had been in. However, today Rainbow didn’t even notice about the new girls she hadn’t seen before, even if she wasn’t as excited about new ponies in town like Pinkie she did like to know about everyone so everyone knew about HER.

“Well I only have three of the special ones Dashie, I didn’t thought you would want any before the party tomorrow,” Pinkie eyed her friend with a bit of a worried look before she took a little tray with three rainbow colored cupcakes she made for her. These cupcakes were made mixing a LOT of flavors in one single pastry, something strong, sweet and filling, like Dash liked them “I hope it is enough.”

“That’ll be fine, thanks,” Rainbow simply mumbled those words before she took one of the cupcakes and began munching on it with a bit of distaste in her face. It couldn’t be the flavor (Pinkie had eaten one before Bon Bon came and didn’t eat the rest thanks to the bag of candy in front of her right now), but it seemed that even her favorite sweet wasn’t cutting it for Rainbow today.

For the girls that hadn’t know her, or that didn’t know much of her (*couch* Silver Spoon *cough*), Dash looked positively like someone you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. Her face turned into an even deeper scowl as she finished the cupcake. Her eyes were a bit bloodshot and her wings flapped randomly, sending little shockwaves of air that threw the poor Rain on her side when she tried to get close. Whatever had happened, Rainbow was in a sour mood no one would want, much less if it involved being near her.

But Apple Bloom did know of Dash and this was all but normal.

“Miss Rainbow,” she got closer to the angry pegasus whom simply spared her a glance, “What has happened?”

“Not your problem kid. Beat it,” the adult pegasus simply used her wing to push the young filly aside.

“B-but what is the problem? I have never seen you like that, if Scoot was here she would…”

“DON’T TALK ABOUT THE RUNT!”

Rainbow had dropped the second cupcake she had picked up and turned to give Apple Bloom a death glare, almost baring her teeth at the filly like a predator.

The poor filly was scared, more than even Rain whom cowered behind her sister together with Silver Spoon. Apple Bloom wasn’t sure what to do. Whether to flee or to cry seemed to be the only options, but for once she was not all that sure of how to react to someone’s words and actions. Not even Pinkie was sure of what to do, as this was much, much different of what the poor party pony had thought would happen with her friend.

“Where were you yesterday? Oh yea… You took the medicine from Twilight, gave Scootaloo some minor relief, and then presented to her the new girls and told her of those stupid little plans to turn the prick there,” Dash pointed at Silver Spoon, “into a decent filly,” Rainbow Dash spat with distaste. “Good way to give her some happiness before she was screwed over!”

Apple Bloom was backing away from Dash by now, slowly and carefully, fearing what the rainbow manned pegasus would do, “W-what do ya mean?”

“YOU LEFT HER AFTER THE DOCTOR TOLD HER SHE WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO FLY, EVER!”

The news hit everyone very much like if a tidal wave had suddenly washed away Ponyville, which in this case meant the same to Apple Bloom as she had been robbed of something very dear to her. Her friend’s happiness.

Whenever Scootaloo talked about Dash she always said that she was her fan because she thought, with great pride, that they were a lot alike. Dash never let anyone down, never quit and always tried for her best, even if it looked like it was a lost cause. The young pegasus filly always dreamed of how she would someday fly and was ashamed that at her age she wasn’t able to do much more than support her weight a few seconds in the air, though she marveled at how fun and how daring she could be by giving speed to her scooter when the gang went around in their cutie mark crusades.

Apple Bloom had never understood why Scootaloo looked at Dash with such longing, granted the pegasus was her sister’s best friend, had a great character and was willing to do anything for her friends (except when napping). Now, of course, she understood.

After Discord and Nightmare Night it had been obvious that Scoot had been gradually getting less playful from time to time and that she had even missed a few days in class. Her mother and her father had told Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom that Scootaloo sometimes got sick because.. How did they explain it?

“You see,” Apple Bloom remembered Scoot’s mother talking to her, “Most times the young foals take mostly after the mother, like your friend Sweetie Belle or you, so they have a better complexion to be a pegasus or a unicorn.” At the time she wasn’t aware, but as she remembered the scene she saw Scoot’s mom with a very sad expression. “I married a Earth Pony, and yes, I know it is weird to get together in marriage but… we both loved and still love each other too much to be healthy,” that made the scene perk up a bit, but only a bit. “However my family is linked to Earth Ponies a lot. You know, my sisters are Earth Ponies themselves, so Mush had the better genes and… Scootaloo only gained some of mine.”

So, what she could understand meant that Scoot was so strong with her body because she was more like an earth Pony than a pegasus?

“B-but…”

“NO BUTS! You left her alone when she needed you,” Dash walked towards Apple Bloom. Whatever the reason for her being so angry about this, it was obvious she wasn’t going to hear anyone out. “She is the only one that seems to take what I want seriously, to see me succeed and, even if it is a bit selfish, the only one that is proud to be my first fan! I could only encourage her, make sure she even did like her mother and joined the Wonderbolts someday…” The blue pegasus’ expression changed to one of sadness and pain, “I am her idol, not her friend… not… at least not her best friend,” when she said that, she eyed Apple Bloom with malice. “Her best friend left to enjoy time with new buddies!”

Rainbow Dash took a step forward then, scaring Apple Bloom enough to scramble towards the door of the pastry shop as the other fillies moved away. There was little she could do and Rainbow Dash was basically out of it, as it showed when Pinkie tried to talk to her and even pull at her tail; ending up in a crate of chocolate as Dash flicked her tail in such a way that the party pony was hurled away like a ragdoll. The only thing Pinkie could do afterwards was pop her head out of the crate and struggle to free herself from within the sweet mess as she stared at what was happening.

The scene only made Apple Bloom more terrified about her situation. She thought about turning and running until she could run no more, but if she had learned something about Rainbow Dash with all the time she and her sister seemed to quarrel over anything they both were good at, is that if she was determined to do something, she would do it.

Now, the question was: What did she want to do now?

“I am going to show you what happens to those that betray their friends…” The tone was not the one Dash had before; it had changed to a deeper, harsh tone. Not by much, but it was there. Her face also had turned into a mockery of glee as she approached Apple Bloom, her smile much like what a predator before sinking its teeth into its prey. Apple Bloom couldn’t take it anymore, she closed her eyes, turned and…

And then, in a flash, Dash turned her back on the filly and bucked.

*CLANG!*

The metallic sound was met with Apple Bloom’s muffled cry as she rubbed her muzzle as, just as she tried to bolt away, she had crashed against something hard. Once the filly opened her eyes she saw the towering form of J, clad in his armor, looking down at her with his eyes as the only thing she could see of him.

However he soon turned his gaze somewhere else, “Whatever has happened, I think what you were about to do was beyond uncalled for, Dash.” J was looking directly at the cyan pegasus.

“Dash! What were you doing!?” Pinkie’s yell caught the blue mare’s attention for a moment and, thankful to see the face of Dash returning to normal, Pinkie pushed the remains of the crate aside “What got into your head? Did you turn loco on me?”

“I-I don’t know,” Dash’s voice became normal again, her eyes faded back to their usual color, though they were still a bit red. Not evil red, buy the bloodshot redness that indicated she had been crying a lot. “I felt so angry after talking with Scootaloo… I felt so… so betrayed,” she sighed. “I thought I could help the girl get on the clouds, I mean, there are a lot of mixed pairs out there, I never thought it would happen to poor Scootaloo… she reminds me of myself at her age.” The cyan mare looked down, “I suppose I simply was blinded by rage after I heard about how she only wished that she was better so she could meet the new friends and rub it in Silver Spoon’s face.”

“HEY!”

Everyone chuckled a bit and Pinkie felt relaxed, though there was still a problem. She knew enough to be sure that, if there was no immediate threat, Jonathan would’ve had his clothes back by now. Then… why was he still in armor and so readily looking?

“Jonathan? Is… has Rainbow calmed down? Can I come in?”

Like glass breaking, that was what it sounded like when Dash’s eyes turned to the previous color and she looked at the human with hate fueled rage. Pinkie wasn’t sure what she should do, in fact, she had no time to do much of anything as Dash whirled around to face the human, scaring poor Apple Bloom from under his protection.

“YOU! This is your fault! After you came here all this SHIT happened to us,” it was not the first time Dash had sworn, but it threw her, and everypony else, back a step, “and you got Twilight to like you! You got everypony to like you! Well, you know what? YOU CAN’T FOOL ME!”

With all that said and done Dash reared for a second and then launched herself forward like a guided missile, even leaving some dust and a trail of rainbow like energy at her wake.

For Pinkie, J and everypony else, all of this was happening in slow motion, though everyone knew what was going to happen as Pinkie noticed that, even in his position, Jonathan was not going to move the shield fast enough. Truth be told, with the speed Rainbow could manage on a takeoff she could easily lift Jonathan and carry him away, which was going to happen with no doubt it seemed.

Pinkie wanted to do something, to get in the way or to scream so Twilight could prevent this, but she had to be realistic as she knew her ‘skills’ could only be used for fun or something that was linked to her element. This was not a moment for laughter, even though she knew it would not be a moment for crying either, only one to get serious for a moment. Yet there was one precious word that she didn’t have to say, but that everypony old enough was thinking would define this scenario quite well, one that J himself felt more than inclined to say.

“Well fuck.”

“I can’t believe Spike threw me out of the library! And much less that YOU helped him to do it!”

J was chuckling as he looked away, making comments on how nice the day was going to be as he evaded the violet unicorn’s stern glare. Of course, why wouldn’t he be smirking? He had picked Twilight on his arms and had ‘guided’ the mare out to take a stroll towards Sugarcube Corner after Spike had told them that he could take it no more.

Twilight was not angry, only a bit edgy, so it had been perfectly clear for her to vent it as she had tried to educate J on everything she could. Her mind was basically overloaded as she tried to think of a sensible explanation of what she had saw, what she was feeling, and how to break it all on him. It was quite a problem because, and believe me here, it would be hard to simply tell this simple thing to the guy you were turning to be more than fond of; “I know you are going to leave me.”

Yea, that would be FRIGGING perfect after she had managed, somehow, to gain someone that liked her because of how she was, not what she was. She had found some of the males she had been hooked up with wanted only to meet Celestia, or to see if the privileges that Twilight had could be ‘shared’, but they didn’t stick much longer after they found out that it was not what they thought. Others had found it nice to have a rut in the hay with a pretty egghead, but definitely her character wasn’t what they had wanted of her…

Now though, now she had found someone that liked her because she was smart, he also thought she was funny on her own way and, well… she WAS a bit clingy, but not in a weird way, and J had confessed that the other girls he had been with had wanted little of him but the little money he often had or simply sex, so they were more or less alike. Of course she would hardly fool herself there, because to think that it was all would’ve been wrong.

He had admitted that he liked her, but that he also liked the other girls as all of their personalities appealed to him. It was not bad, but she had hopped Jonathan would take a special liking to her, which he did, but she still wanted something more.

‘You have to think about something else,’ she thought with a groan, ‘like, why do you worry too much? You already said it was possible to be wrong! Come on, enjoy this a bit will you?’

With a little and silent chuckle she shook her head as she looked back up to see J staring at Sugarcube Corner. Curious as to why J would turn his face into that image of seriousness he had until yesterday night, Twilight took a look and saw her.

Like if she was drunk, Rainbow Dash walked towards the pastry shop, not even caring to evade any incoming ponies. She simply shrugged through them like they were little to nothing. A few glittering points were falling from her cheeks here and there, Twilight knew they were tears, but not why she was crying.

“That’s weird,” Twilight muttered; concern lacing her voice but still unsure of what she should do, “should we check it out?”

“Well, we were going there anyway,” J replied as he picked up the pace, “but something smells rotten.”

Twilight just nodded and sped up her trot to a canter now that they had seen Dash. She had never seen Rainbow cry except when she had ‘betrayed’ them that time with Discord, or when she broke one of her wings after trying to get her Sonic Rainboom on one of her latest practices. Now though, it looked like the former option could be more valid for this.

There were multitudes of conjectures she could make of course, three months knowing her best friends let her glimpse their thoughts, so she could easily summon a dozen reasons as to why her friend would be crying. None of them involved Jonathan suddenly covering his whole body in the armor that the magic was supposed to provide when there was some danger close by and ready to pounce at somepony.

“Jonathan?”

They had reached Sugarcube Corner much faster than she thought, probably because her mind was spending her time on something else, namely wondering what the HAY was going to happen if J was in his armor.

“What is the matter?” Twilight was getting nervous when they reached the door. “You know what? Never mind, I am going to check on this myself,” she muttered, but was stopped before she could take a single step forward.

“No, you don’t.”

Twilight was halted by J’s shield. She looked upwards to see his worried gaze. it feel good to see that he was worrying about her, but the feeling was washed away when she heard a crash and Rainbow Dash’s menacing tone.

“Wait here until it is safe,” It was a request, not an order, so Twilight nodded and leaned against the side of Sugarcube Corner as Jonathan went in.

It couldn’t have taken more than a few seconds, but for Twilight the time had twisted to a painful crawl, so when she heard that something biological had collided with something metallic (her mind was basically thinking in technobabble by this point) it sent a warning message across her mind so hard that it literally was a miracle that she remained put.

‘What is going on?’ She shuddered at the thoughts that formed in her head; she didn’t even let a minute pass by before she asked, “Jonathan? Is… has Rainbow calmed down? Can I come in?”

Unbeknown to her, she had messed up. A moment afterwards she heard a yell, what sounded like discussion and…

“JONATHAN!”

It had been pure instinct. She had jumped in shock as she saw Jonathan being dragged into the air by none other than Rainbow Dash.

“Twilight! Twilight!” The violet mare saw Pinkie running outside, “something is wrong with Dashie! She is angry and- and sad and-”

“PINKIE,” Twilight all but screamed, “you tell me on the way ok?! Dash got Jonathan so we are going to help.” It was then when the fillies poked her heads out of Sugarcube Corners, Apple Bloom scared out of her wits, “girls, go call our friends now, tell them to follow the rainbow, ok?”

There was a small nod from most of them. All except Silver Spoon; who looked like she had joined the group in the worst and strangest of moments.

‘Ok, let’s recap today,’ Jonathan thought as they passed over a field at full speed, ‘I made my dreamscape, still don’t know how I did that after so many days of restless sleep. I had a good time with Twilight not to mention a nice breakfast. It’s not even midday yet and I am in trouble so… what is the keyword again?’

“FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!”

‘Aaaah, yes, that’s it. You got this.’

He didn’t know what the hell was wrong with Rainbow Dash. Ok, that was a flat out lie. Rainbow Dash was almost as crazy as Pinkie Pie, but in a more subtle and harsher way. The girl was a flamboyant tomboy; she loved to make sure that everyone knew she was the best. While she could be a lazy ass and act like a grumpy old man (or woman), Dash was always loyal, friendly and also quite gruff with her words. She usually meant well, in her own way.

So yeah, that she had almost beaten Apple Bloom and was now carrying him (around 150 kg of weight plus all the armor? He wasn’t that big of a nerd, so he wasn’t sure) at such a speed that should probably break a normal human’s spine was out of any kind of contest he could summon to his mind. What was happening here? All he knew about this pony was an angry girl sometimes, but not THIS violent towards someone that hadn’t done anything wrong.

‘Hey Vinnie, you’re not asking the proper guy.’

‘W… ok, my mind is fucking broken,’ he groaned as he grasped the situation fully.

He had his sword, he had his shield, he was geared up and Rainbow had both hooves shoved right through the armor in his chest. repeat: SHIT.

‘That’s right, buddy boy, its m- listen to me, Dammit!’

For some reason, though, the metal wasn’t puncturing him, so he was not wounded and he was almost sure the clothes (Well, armor now) would repair themselves by magic once Dash took her hooves out. Speaking of which, the rainbow maned mare had her eyes practically red with black dots where the iris and pupil should be. It was weird as fuck to J, but more questions than answers were expected at this point.

‘If only you had decided to LISTEN TO ME!’

However questions were a second rate problem right now, his imminent crash, on the other hand, was a first grade FUCK.

Dash had decided that the outskirts of town, near the road that went towards Apple Acres, was a good enough place to land, and by that I mean going straight downwards at such speed that the only reason she wouldn’t create a sonic rainboom was because she was too close to the ground.

‘This is going to hurt like hell.’

‘LET ME TAKE OVER YOU, YOU MORON!’

The impact had the same as thunder, probably felt the same as getting hitting by lightning too, but J could hardly tell as the world went black.

The dreamscape was perfectly still, there was peace in here, at least as much as there can be in a pained mind. It had changed little since J had created it, but that was how the dreamscape. It all stayed still, forever.

However there were things that could destroy it. A great mental shock, changing something major in the overworld (reality) and, obviously, death would dissolve it.

The first reason was simple. A dreamscape is a place where a dreamer, usually one that is quite aware of his condition, can create anything. A shock hard enough to the mind can destroy it, the same for the second reason as major changes usually create stress, make one feel insecure and, in the less than probable chance that it doesn’t happen, the mind becomes wrapped in a lot more things that are usually more important than comfort in an artificial world.

For obvious reasons, the third is not going to be made part of this talk.

Now, why is this all important? Well, because normally the dreamer would appear standing in a safe place in the dreamscape; NOT FALLING FROM THE SKY INTO THE FRIGGING LAKE!

*SPLOOSH!*

“*GASP!* FUCK! That was harsh.”

It had been a second of immersion thanks to the force of his will helping him get back on the surface, though being greeted by a smirking Nightmare Moon floating inches away from you would not be what most would call ‘gratifying’.

“You know, you should watch your mouth a bit more,” she chuckled, “as well as yourself. As long as I share my essence with you I die if you cease to exist.” To be on the receiving end of a hard stare from what could be called the demon queen of the moon was not as menacing as J had thought, mostly because she would hardly do anything to him as far as he knew, “Also I would like to address a problem I did not foresee within your mind.”

“A problem? What problem? If you are worried because I am crazy it is quite late for that,” despite his situation J couldn’t help but chuckle. Better to laugh than to cry.

“Oh, I’ll make you cry, be sure of it.”

On the shore, near the forest that surrounded the dreamscape, a dark figure melted out of the darkness began to approach. It seemed to have no legs, but it was roughly the same height as J, maybe a bit taller, not as broad shouldered and with lanky arms that ended in four digits. Its face was devoid of any form or detail except for two beady red eyes.

And it was fast enough to reach him in seconds, pulling him out of the water and throwing him towards solid ground. Luckily, in the dreamscape one could not feel pain because, otherwise, he was sure a bone or two would’ve been broken. He realized with a growing sense of unease that his armor didn’t seem to follow him into here.

“You were so happy to let me take over when that damned warthog almost got your sister,” the voice echoed from everywhere as if it spoken from a massive crowd of people surrounding him, but once J opened his eyes he saw only the shadowy figure right over him. “We have lived through many insane fights, and until we got here you enjoyed letting me have control so you didn’t feel that bad after it was over. Why have you stopped? WHY AM I TRAPPED HERE AND WHY DON’T YOU HEAR ME ANYMORE!?”

While the voice, once it was so direct and so emotional, sounded familiar, J was not sure about this thing. It was a humanoid? Yea, weird as hell, but humanoid… so it probably wasn’t from Equestria. Right there and then he stopped his line of thoughts though, he only had one question.

“What the fuck are you?”

The thing laughed, sounding much like nails on a chalkboard. “What am I?! For fuck’s sake,” it chuckled, rubbing what you could suppose was its chin with one hand, “you have been fucking insane most your life and you don’t recognize the voice in your head? You disappoint me, kiddo.”

“Hey, I may joke that I’m a little insane, but that’s it, not even when I think I AM insane am I serious,” J got on his feet with a groan, turning to look at the shadow in front of it and how its legs seemed to be replaced with a ghostly tail. “Besides, just what do you mean about the voice in my head?”

“Are you fucking kidding me, kiddo?” another unearthly laugh filled the dreamscape as Nightmare Moon took a seat beside J before the figure pointed at the human, “You are fucking crazy, your mind is broken in so many pieces that I’m impressed that you have enough willpower, unlike others before you, to keep me from taking control of this body altogether.” The darkness where its mouth should be ‘opened’ to reveal an empty red void “Which is to say, that you are damn lucky to still have any control at all.”

“Just… what the fuck are you?”

The J’s question made the creature chuckle as dark music began to play in the dreamscape: Autumn days.

“I, I am you,” it responded. “I am humanity in its purest form, what it has made of itself in history. I am the darkness that fills every pore of the damned creatures that populate your species, a demon, if you will. I am, in one world, survival… which for your kin means little more than evil nowadays,” it chuckled. “I have no gender, I have no form, I am what you make of me, but in many ways I am much more than you, while being much less.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, mostly because I can’t make sense of your spiel,” J groaned as he rubbed his eyes.

The creature groaned in disappointment “Fine, then let’s go with this, shall we? Let me explain,” the thing smiled again, something unnerving and horrible. “I am you, a part of you that most people lock away. I am your survival instinct, your hate, your desire and your lust. I am what forces you to be better, what makes you desire to defend yourself and those you hold dear, the thing that wants you to fuck like an animal, the one that wants you feeling both the worst and the best,” It chuckled lightly. “I almost got out, once. The Russians were conducting an experiment to see what would happen if they deprived people from sleeping. The subject’s personalities disintegrated and I took over. The Russians panicked and killed the subject’s bodies before I was able to do anything.” The creature sighed before continuing, “You can call me Lathro, and remember one thing; you won’t get rid of me. I, my essence, will pass down from mother or father to son and daughter. The children of your children, all of them, will have me as their curse and their angel, much like you and. Every. Single. Other. Human. Alive,” the creature poked him J the chest with each word.

“That’s crazy,” J spluttered after a moment of shock, “something is very wrong here…”

“No, it is not,” both turned to look at Nightmare Moon. “When humans still lived in this world they knew of their inner demons, they adopted forms in their dreams to try and lure them to do ‘bad’ things,” she didn’t need fingers to quote that word, J knew what she meant by ‘bad.’ “However until the end no human in here was successfully tempted, I imagine with the calming magic that Equestria exudes had a positive effect on them. You, on the other hoof,” she pointed at J, “have been shocked with it, so your animalistic needs and darker side are just as empowered as you are,”

“You heard that Jonathan, agreement straight from the pony demon’s mouth. It seems you won’t be able to write me off as a hallucination or a bad dream anymore,” the figure chuckled. “So now… let’s get to fighting.”

“Fighting? You mean… fighting Dash?”

The dark figure nodded.

“Hell no, fuck you,” J yelled.

With a disappointed sigh Lathro snapped his fingers.

J let out a pained yell as he was thrown back in his body, not even a millisecond after the collision with the ground, but now he felt EVERYTHING. The pain, the pressure and the force as Rainbow moved away from him in slow motion, letting him bounce from the sheer force he had been hit against the ground with.

The laces of pain were unbearable, but much worse was seeing how the sky was spinning as your body bounced from the ground, turned nearly 270º and faced a hoof that was speeding incredibly towards your face until it made contact.

Helmet or not, that HURT.

Again Jonathan appeared from somewhere else aside from his usual standing position. To be specific: his form appeared in the woods, suffering the force of the kick that had hit him in the real world, crashing through the forest until he found himself lying where he had been before leaving his mind.

“As long as Nightmare Moon has magic I can stop time and make you see reason, Jonathan,” the voice of Lathro was composed and calm this time, “We have around five minutes left of it though, so I do ask that you let me return fight her or we are basically screwed.”

J, however, did not get up, did not look at him and, almost, did not answer. “But… I don’t want to hurt them,” his voice was hoarse and he felt on the brink of tears because he was simply powerless, “and much less let YOU hurt her. If you are my worst side, then you are as responsible as I would be for…”

“Yes, I am, and I don’t care,” Lathro groaned, becoming bored with this. “Either you fight and we have the rest of the time in peace here or you let Rainbow Dash kill you if your friends aren’t fast enough.” With a chuckle he added, “Besides, I thought you would like to purge the piece of Nightmare she has in her.”

J only gave the shadow an empty stare as he wondered what he meant by that.

“*Sigh* Look at this,” Lathro tore at the dreamscape, forming what seemed to be a mirror to the real world. “Exactly… here.”

The creature pointed at Dash’s forehead where a mass of something began to move slightly as it was touched from within the mind of the human. J couldn’t really tell what it was though; it only looked a shade darker than Dash’s fur, so it was quite hard to see. However a closer examination did reveal a small piece of… something that was covering Rainbow Dash’s eyes and part of her mouth.

“I don’t know why and I don’t fucking care how, but a bit of a nightmare seems to have embedded itself into Dash. If you want to be on good terms with the other ponies, which includes sex, more adventures and the like, something I WANT happening, then you have to save her sorry hide,” Lathro grinned maliciously. “However you don’t have to get me wrong here, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get me wrong in fact. I want you to save her because your life is basically tied to the Mane six. You help them, they help you, everyone is happy and I get what I want.”

“You’re an asshole,” J growled between gritted teeth, “and I had you in me the whole time? I understand why I was how I was now…”

“No, you don’t,” the shadowy creature grunted as he grabbed J’s arm to pull him closer, “I am part of you, do you understand what it means? That it is you, only YOU, who ultimately decides what to do. I will try to make us survive, my best interest is only to SURVIVE, with any kind of extras such as a nice girl on your bed or the excitement of a fight simply being secondary, but appreciated.” With a grin Lathro again opened the fabric of the dreamscape, “So this is basically a survival test where we work together and you come to terms with the fact of WHO you are. You fight, you subdue her, you place the tip of your sword on her forehead and the magic burns the nightmare that is spreading on her. Afterwards we are rewarded by being friendly with everyone and, maybe, some good pony flank,” the smirk on the creature intensified. “So there you GO!”

With a loud yell J felt Lathro launch him towards the opening in the dreamscape, effectively returning him to the real world once more as the shadowy creature chuckled.

“Idiotic creature,” It snickered. “Far too good for its own damn good. Wonder how long I will be able to remain here if he keeps trying to change…”

“Hopefully not too long,” Nightmare Moon stomped with indignation. “I thought I would never see such a dark thin within a human’s mind. In fact I thought it would be impossible, yet here you are”

“Do not try to be righteous with me, sister. Now that you are here I can look back at all the dark desires and hopes you had in your little head both BEFORE and AFTER,” Lathro grinned as he approached Nightmare Moon, gently touching at her from all sides as his darkness spread to envelope her. “But relax… I approve of what you are planning; in fact it is the same thing I want, what I NEED. Who would’ve thought that a pony would be the one thing to help me out with that little goal of mine.”

“You are a sick, sick being,” the black mare growled.

“Hmph,” The shadow receded from her, “If survival means being sick, then both of us are beyond saving.” It spared a glance towards the mare before disappearing, “Remember this, princess. You are goddess no more as far as we share this body.” After nearly dissipating only a reverberating chuckle could be heard, “and remember something my dear, something you should have already thought once you came here and found me out.”

Its eyes were the only thing visible as Lathro drew closer to the once goddess of the moon.

“We are in this together, or he will know of your little plan.”

The pain resurged through his mind as J found his body crashing down against the soft ground, trashing around as he made contact with the earth after the savage kick Rainbow Dash had given him. J couldn’t stop the rolling over the ground, much less the bouncing, he could only grip at his weapon and shield as strongly as possible because, even if he didn’t want to believe it, he thought that anything he left behind would be used by the cyan mare to end him quicker.

Once the force subsided and he came to rest on the ground, his body pained but not broken, J did his best to get up fast and on the ready. It was only thanks to that, and only that, that the shield came to protect his face as Dash came at full speed to give him another kick.

*CLANG!*

“OW! OW! OW! FRIGGING HAY!”

Dash had connected with way too much force. She hadn’t broken anything but her hoof felt on fire after the shield had absorbed such a strong force. Her nerves basically told her to stop all motion and sit down, her mind only backing up those natural thoughts as she feared of being harmed, in fact it showed on her face so much that J thought he was seeing someone that was more of a bully, scared of getting what she thought she deserved, but wanting to continue as she had done if she got away with it. It was a look he had seen since he was young, so he could easily read it.

However, he shook his head and tried to push at Dash’s back, between her wings, with the shield, “Dash, stay put.”

“GET AWAY FROM ME,” she bucked with all her might, catching J between his legs in a very private area.

“FFFF-ACK!”

Right there and then J had to remember something: This was no fancy story. He had seen much and had done a lot, but in reality this little fight wouldn’t end with him, only warm him up. Even in pain, as he looked at Rainbow, who was still on the ground and seemingly unable to fly by the pain she herself was feeling, he saw that the mare was fighting whatever was in her and she would not end him, though her body would probably do whatever was in her hooves to give him a lot more bruises.

The gist of that was that Rainbow Dash didn’t want to hurt him; however what was forcing her to do this was maybe way too strong for the pony at this moment. She needed help, no matter how much she hurt him, and she was basically pleading him for help even if her face showed rage and fear in unison. The only thing he could do was to pin her down and force what was inside of her to leave.

“I am going to send you back from where you came,” Dash muttered with a loud growl, “and then everything will be as it should,”

“Don’t be stupid,” J tried to get on his feet again, he had the determination but his privates were in pain even with the armor having blocked the devastating kick. “If you do that you will only harm your friends.” He turned his gaze upwards to look at the azure mare in the eyes “Do you want to see Twilight sad again? Do you want to be hated by one or more of your friends?” Dash recoiled a bit. “Do you want to hate yourself for what you want to do?”

“N-no… I-I don’t…”

Whatever had tried to grab a hold of Dash was either weakened somehow or it couldn’t fight the pure loyalty of the mare to such an extent. Her fear to betray her friends, to harm them, to scare them for real or to see them crying was too much for poor Dash. She could be mean, she could yell a lot, but she could not force pain upon them and she would never do something that ensured someone else was going to be miserable because of her.

And so her eyes became hers again, her face returned to normal and the dark shade in her face ‘jumped’ away, landing on the green grass, hissing at the sun.

“I… I… W-what happened,” she groaned, suddenly falling flat on her belly, “I was… talking with Scootaloo… I remember crying and then…”

A stabbing sound, a loud cry of pain and Dash remembered what she had done.

“OH CELESTIA,” she looked towards J whom was stabbing his sword angrily into what had been inside Dash. The thing had been screamed, but was now dissolving into nothing. “What is that,” she asked.

“A Nightmare, or part of one,” he grunted as the armor dissipated, revealing his body anew… though he had a few bruises all over, “And now it is gone.”

The blue pegasus blushed as she looked at him, “It may be gone, but your face is going to get me ashamed for a while.”

J simply chuckled as he touched the bruises on his face, wincing in pain as he did such a stupid thing. “Well, could be worse,” he sighed with a smile, “at least the crotch had stronger plating. Don’t know whose magic I have to thank, but hell, it did a good job.”

“Yea… about that? Don’t mention it to anyone,” Dash blushed heavily. “I am never going to live this down, it is very hard to say ‘I am sorry’ for my type, you know?”

“Why Dash, it took you a long time to remember such a fact?”

Both looked towards the new voice. One of them was impressed and had to wonder about a little possibility right away, because it was outright needed. The other was slack jawed and could barely mutter a single word, not sure of what to say.

Whatever it was, though, would soon be meet by the rest of the Mane six as they finally approached the scene.

It had been little more than five minutes ago, maybe six, maybe seven, but it had been a very short time… one that appeared, for the mare and the filly within the cottage, to be an eternity.

Rain Berry was shuddering a bit, but she did well hiding it on her small form. She had told Fluttershy about what had happened and the yellow pegasus had left in a hurry, saying a lot of ‘sorry this and sorry that’ to the cause of the poor filly’s anxiety.

Trixie, of course, wasn’t much better.

For a long time now she had been trying to get out of the big picture and fade into the darkness. She had been doing her best to stay away of everything, even her parents, until that fateful day… if it wasn’t for someone else, though, she would probably done much, much worse than simply fading on the background. Trixie simply shuddered at the though, because if she had done that then she would be even in a much worse position as she would’ve left her little girls alone.

‘Not that Final wants Trixie as a mom though…’ She thought, dejected.

“Mom,” Trixie snapped back to attention, looking at her little girl as she approached the sofa where she rested since yesterday, “when are you going to come back? I miss you…”

“Sorry dear I… Trixie’s mind is taxed,” Trixie whined as she looked away. “Too much in Trixie’s mind to think clearly, many, too many messes made.”

“You are giving me excuses mom, you know I am way smarter than that,” The little filly looked at her mother, hurt. Trixie knew she would feel worse if she looked back at her. “Mommy, I just… I just want to know why you went away, why you didn’t want to tell us… why you still won’t tell me.”

“Because it would show I was selfish, very, very selfish,” Trixie admitted, lying back on the sofa, “I initially ran away to find your father, but it changed after a while.”

“How so?”

Rain was looking at her intently as she approached, jumping gently on the couch to nuzzle against her mother’s front legs, smiling gently. They both knew it had been a very bad week, that there had been horrid things happening, that they had lost a lot and also that still some problems were surging now (Luckily not towards them), but Rain was happy to be with her mother, to know that there was at least some family that she had not lost.

“You see… your dad was a noble you know? One of those rare ponies that have some of Celestia’s blood in them, but he only shared the part of the unicorn and, for a time, wanted to be away from his family. I never knew how he found Trixie interesting at all,” Trixie blushed at the memory. “However his parents were spying on him and Trixie, so when they found out I was pregnant… they did all they could to take your dad away.”

“But… why? If dad didn’t want to be a noble, why did their parents want him to be one?” Rain could not help but think back at the talk she had with Silver Spoon in the morning.

“Because they wanted him to, because they thought I was an affair, because Trixie’s person was not a noble herself. They are the kind of nobles more common my dear and I don’t like them,” Trixie sighed tiredly as she nuzzled at her little girl, enjoying her smile. “It… was the hardest thing to do, leaving you and your sister behind, but I wanted to find him. Trixie’s conscience wouldn’t let her do anything else for I wouldn’t live with a peaceful mind if I didn’t do all I could to make us a whole family.” She seemed to be courageous and decisive on her words, but once she finished that sentence she slunk down under her mattress so only her head was visible, “But once I did… I… Trixie was not for him anymore.” She sighed, “His parents had gotten him into a wedding they had planned since his birth, if he left with me he would have nothing and, knowing his parents, they would come for Trixie and her kids.”

“But then you found him soon, right?” Trixie nodded, though she was a bit surprised that her little girl would care little about her father. “Well, he could have decided to come, grandpa and grandma would’ve protected us all, but if he didn’t want to, well, I don’t much care,” she smiled as she gave her mother a hug, “I’ve got you and that is good enough for me.” Trixie couldn’t help but smile as she hugged her little girl back “But mom… why did you take so long then?”

Trixie opened her eyes wide and looked away, letting Rain go from her embrace as she looked past time and space now, basically remember to the day when she made the worst mistake of her life.

“I… had issues,” She admitted with a tired nuzzle to her little girl. “I thought I could change his mind for a time, it didn’t work obviously and only got him angry after a few months. I felt bad, alone… Trixie’s mind didn’t take it too well and it didn’t help Trixie at all, so I grew angry, lonely, and desperate for praise and for a way of living to show I could be great, that Trixie’s family would be what anypony could desire!” Trixie had gotten on her lower hooves, standing up on the sofa and opening her front legs like if they were arms so as if to embrace the whole picture in her mind, “Trixie supposes she lost it then, Trixie’s mind was too tasked, too… broken. Trixie’s brain told her she could do anything she wanted because Trixie’s magic was the best there is! Of course, Trixie’s heart already told her that it was too late for such a thing and that she should go back to her family. I was stupid and tried to mix both, running across Equestria, making a name of myself and, basically, making everypony hate me because of how boastful I ended up being.”

Trixie sat down, resting tiredly against the back of the sofa, “Trixie ended up thinking of nothing else but Trixie’s reputation, she wanted to be the best magician ever since Trixie was a little filly! But Trixie knew her specialty in magic served only for show, she was not going to be any kind of unicorn mage anytime soon.” She couldn’t help but chuckle sadly at that, “Trixie spent years doing what she thought was right, only to see that she had transformed herself into a,” she gave her little girl a shy smile, “into somepony I disliked. Trixie doesn’t know how to admit to Twilight that she helped Trixie out of that… though the end was almost all too true for Trixie back then, three months ago.”

“What do you mean by that mommy? I… I don’t think I understood that.” Trixie could see how her little girl was eyeing her with a bit of fear.

“After the Ursa Minor incident Trixie tried to go around and perform a few more times, but everyone laughed at Trixie and she was never taken seriously anymore,” She looked outside towards the forest once more, “It is funny, Trixie was saved in the forest before she did something very stupid, then Trixie found her family again after so long and… well, she supposes Trixie deserved what happened later.” Trixie hugged her little girl closer to her and spoke in the first person again, “I didn’t intend such sadness to befall you, my dear. I am so sorry.”

“Mommy…” Rain snuggled back, hugging her mother with all the love she could.

“But… But promise I will make it better now, I only wish I could thank the one that helped me back then,” Trixie gave her little girl a kiss on the forehead, “But I don’t know where she should be right now”

Rain perked up almost immediately, “Who helped you?”

“Oh, it was very weird if I have to tell you the truth my dear, I mean, I never thought one of her kin would help one of mine out.” Trixie seemed a bit nervous as she said that. “But… well, if someday she comes here I would like you to call her auntie, ok?” Rain nodded with a smile. “Ok, then dear, I hope someday you met your gryphon auntie…”

“GILDA!?”

Everypony looked at the gryphon, carrying heavy bronze plate armor on her chest, sides, between her wings and also covering her neck with flexible plates. The talons were reinforced with mail that ran all the length until they meet with the main armor and Gilda’s face was almost covered entirely by a helmet.

“Yeah Dash, my name hasn’t changed.”

The gryphon gave her old friend a wink and took a large poleax from the ground where she had left it. With the front head, the one similar to an ax, being made of silver like metal that resembled a beak and the second part, the one of the lance, resembling a talon forged in black metal, Gilda simply looked what one would call…

“Badass,” Rainbow chuckled as her friends stood to attention behind her and J, still waiting for an explanation and now wondering why this gryphon was back, “But… how?”

“That for letter, Dash, now I have business here,” she pointed towards the human, “With him, to be specific”

With no more words, Gilda jumped to the air, the poleax heading straight at J’s head. He could simply sigh, exasperated, as he thought.

‘Why me?’

This was a very, very simple chapter that I wanted so the plot would advance. It has nothing overly complicated or overly fancy, not even a hard to do battle and such, besides it will get complex again in the next (and number 11) again. I hope everypony had a good time reading it :3 I wanted to make easy chapters for a while and this was basically the first of the batch.

See you next time ^^ also: I am turning this to be like Vampire the Masquerade, or at least its damn politics. How? I drop a lot of hints and I try to make no sense ^^ I love mind games :3

Note: The ‘Russian’ part of the background for Lathro in this story is made by the guy in the cardboard *snickers*. If you like it give him some credit ^^ If not, well, you can think of it as a flat out lie since Lathro will do that pretty much a lot. He is a jack of all trades, which includes he is basically there to fool everyone.

From the cardboard box of nobodyreallyimportant

Aggghhhh… the editing for this chapter is finally done! I hope you enjoy it.