Since I left Earth, my sleep has been haunted by a variety of nightmares. They range from simple fears of just being killed to grand theatrical productions of all manner of terrors.
For the last year or so the dreams are of burning light, pain, and some monstrous nameless sorrow. This night was no different. Until...

A touch...
Soft warmth...
peace...

It has been so long... so very long since I could just sleep, untroubled by fear and pain.

---

I opened my eyes to pink and blue. It took me a moment to realize that Pinkie Pie was almost nose to nose with me, and likely had been for a while just waiting for me to wake up.

I blame my subsequent actions on lack of coffee causing my brain to malfunction. Seeing how close Pinkie was, I extended my tongue and licked her nose. For the record it did not taste of cotton candy or bubblegum, but there was a hint of confectioner's sugar and flour.

Pinkie sputtered and moved back a little. "Naughty. I've got a coltfriend. You should at least let me check if he wants to watch before you do that. Not now though, I’m handing out invitations for your Welcome to Equestria (we know the trip sucked but we're glad you're here now) Party." Don't ask how I could hear the parentheses in her voice, I just did.

“Pinkie, I just woke up, I’m really not up for a party.” I groaned.

She tapped me on the forehead and reached into into her mane. And then I had to do a doubletake as she pulled out a cup of steaming hot coffee and handed it to me. She kept that in her mane? How the? I don’t even… Screw it, it’s coffee.

I took a sip and received another shock. The coffee was exactly how I preferred. Dark French Roast with two sugars and no cream.

"It's official, you are my favorite pony. This is the best coffee I've had in years." I said to the grinning pink face that still was about a foot away from mine.

"Of course it is silly. You've been drinking that stuff they used for coffee in the other world. Eeew." Pinkie said, scrunching up her face in distaste.

"Trace made me coffee yesterday." I pointed out.

"Mine's better." Pinkie replied.

"Point for you. This is great coffee," I admitted.

I heard a mumble, and felt something move behind me. I turned over and saw that at some point last night Blitzen’s bed had been moved next to mine, and she’d been laying against my back all night.

I looked back to Pinkie to see she was holding out a card to me. The invitation to the party no doubt. I took the card from her mouth.

“Now don’t try to skip the party. You don’t want me to have to drag you there.” Pinkie told me in a joking voice as she stepped out of the room. At least I hoped she was joking.

I looked over at the sleeping pony behind me and wondered if I could actually stay in this world. Or was this friendship another one I'd have to cut short? Maybe it was best if I did. Given what was coming, it was likely a kindness.

From what I'd gathered, she'd had a hard life before I dropped into it. Would she be strong enough to deal with me leaving? Or would that be the final straw that destroyed her? Would it be better done quickly, or when cruel fate had its way?

Why was I so damned concerned anyway? We just met yesterday, we barely said anything to each other, but it felt like I was trying to tear my own heart out when I thought of leaving…

Blitzen snorted a little and opened a bloodshot eye.

"Good morning." I said, as quietly as I could.

A grunt was her eloquent response.

She looked at me for a moment as the fog of sleep started to lift from her eyes. Several emotions crossed her face too fast for me to try and figure out.

"Did we?" Her face was a mix of embarrassment and terror. "Did I..." she backed away from me and slid off the bed, taking a moment to stand on wobbling legs.

Just then, the door opened and Doctor Emerald walked in. Blitzen tried to sneak out the door as Emerald approached me, but I saw her and gave her a look that I hoped told her I wanted to talk later.

Emerald levitated the other bed back to its original place and took the monitor tabs off of me. A parcel of folded cloth he levitated to me was revealed to be the dress Rarity had made for me last night.

"Interesting," he said as he looked at the EEG readout.

"Yep, that's me. All the interesting stuff goes on in my head." I told him, “So what’s so interesting?”

Emerald levitated the printout to me, showing the oldest part with its spiky waveform.

“This is when we started to monitor you. You seem rather agitated, and not experiencing restful sleep.” He said. He then showed another part, a smoother less jagged line. "This is from when the night nurse says Miss Blitzen pushed her bed to yours and put her hoof over you."

"So that's what happened..." I said to myself.

"In light of this and similar observations from the other humans, I suggest you sleep with Miss Blitzen if she is amenable to such." Emerald told me.

After I rebooted my brain from emergency shutdown, I gave Doctor Emerald my best 'say what?' look. "I'm going to assume you just meant actual sleeping. Because to a human, that could mean I should um... have sex with her." Was my face red? It certainly felt that way.

"Ahem... Yes, I only meant sleeping. However your reaction suggests you may need to have a more detailed conversation with Miss Blitzen than I had thought." Emerald said after a moment.

I sighed deeply. "Doctor, I don't really think it matters how I sleep."

I paused to think of how to explain what I meant, covering that pause with the entertaining exercise of trying to put on the dress without getting out of bed or showing anything. Once mostly covered I did the mental shift that turned me back to my human form.

"Look I'm messed up. I may not look it now, but if you'd seen me before I came here, you'd have been horrified. I know you want to help, but I'm not sure if there's enough left of me to be helped." I said with a sigh.

Emerald was looking at me with more than a little concern. "Miss Asher..." he began.

"Doctor, if you've got a good psychiatrist on staff, I'd like to see them. I... I don't think I can deal with this on my own. In the meantime however, I need to get some air," I said as I got out of the bed and walked toward the door.

Emerald stepped in front of me, "I can't stop you, and perhaps a walk will do you some good. But please promise me you will come back later so you you can talk to the counselor."

I looked down at the floor for a minute before I spoke. "You have my word. I will come back here."

Emerald stepped out of my way and I found my way out of the hospital. I was on my own for the first time since I arrived.

I looked around Ponyville, and had to restrain myself. The part of me that was still a little girl wanted nothing more than to hug every pony I saw until I forgot about the shitshow that was my life.

However, I was sure randomly hugging strangers was not going to do much to keep ponies from thinking I'm crazy, and I did not want to go to whatever the ponies had for a looney bin.

I was just walking wherever my feet would lead me when I saw something that gave me pause. My brain tried to process what I was seeing. It was a rather large creature, like some kind of lion/bird mix. It seemed to be talking to the nurse from last night.

It spotted me and started walking towards me. I couldn't really tell with the beak, but it looked angry about something. Its hackles were raised and its tail was lashing as it held me with a piercing glare.

Oh crap, angry giant lion/bird thing walking right toward me... Don't say anything stupid. Don't say anything stupid.

"Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong." Too late.

The creature paused for a moment in apparent confusion and said with a decidedly masculine voice, "No, I don't think I need a trombone at the moment. I just wanted to have a word with you."

I nodded, not trusting myself to say anything.

"My name is Gary. You're the new human, right? Eleanor?" He asked.

I managed to squeak out, "Maybe."

"I just wanted to point out that griffons, that's me, don't take too kindly to having others make time with our females, " he said pointing to Nurse Redheart with a what looked to be a very sharp claw, "That's her."

"I can honestly say I did not consciously intend to make time with your female. For what that's worth," I said carefully, trying not to act too frightened in case that woke some predatory instinct in him.

"But your subconscious was getting the message out loud and clear," Redheart said as she walked over to us.

"First: You should keep control of your shellcracked magics. Second: Don't mess with a griffon's mate unless you're willing to die for her," he told me. The twitching of his tail indicated he was still upset but seemed to be calming down.

"I have the charm locked down, and I promise if I'd known she was with someone even my subconscious wouldn't cross that line," I told him.

"Too bad though. I was thinking you and I could give my big strong predator a really special night," Redheart said with a saucy wink.

I was trying to figure out a diplomatic reply when suddenly our increasingly disturbing conversation was cut short by the roar of what had to be some unholy beast. The roar was followed by screams and before I even decided what to do, I was running toward the town square. Right towards the frightful noise.

I felt a shift in the air as Gary shot past me, and he reached the square first.

As I reached the town square I beheld a scene of horror. In the middle of the square was something that looked like a giant boar. Its shoulders stood a couple feet higher than my head. Its own head was at my level and so massive it seemed the creature could barely lift it. The creature had already destroyed several carts. I didn’t see Roseluck’s cart or flowers so I gave thanks that at least she likely wasn’t hurt. However I could see that others were injured.

I saw a strangely familiar orange coated mare trapped under an apple cart. Next to the cart was an unconscious mare I didn't recognize.

Gary leapt at the beast, talons extended. The beast turned its head and snorted a vile gray-green cloud. A second later, the cloud cleared revealing a new horror. The gryphon I'd just had today's most awkward conversation with had just become a stone statue. Nurse Redheart seemed just as petrified, staring at the statue of what used to be her boyfriend.

Oh gods I hope there's a way to fix that here. I don't want to think he may be dead just because he got to the creature first.

Any other ponies apparently had already fled, except two small children... Foals? Fillies? Nevermind, proper terminology could wait. The creature had the two backed up against a wall and was clearly intent on making a meal of them. The pink one whimpered and I realized I couldn’t let that happen.

Hoping I wasn’t about to end up just adding myself to the creature’s meal plans I ran and leapt between it and the children. The beast growled and tried to gore me with a tusk. Standing between the beast and the children I felt something I had never felt before: Purpose. I would not let these children be harmed.

I had a brief pang of guilt as I realized I'd destroy the dress Rarity had made for me when I transformed, but there was no other choice.

"Henshin!" I yelled. If I was gonna act like some kind of hero, I'd at least invoke the spirit of one I could kind of relate to. I heard the fillies gasp behind me as metal took the place of flesh and my clothing was torn to ribbons. I crossed my arms to block the next attack and what looked like some kind of force field covered them, deflecting the blow.

A ripple of rainbow light spread out from me, and I could see what I was going to do next in a strobing cascade of phantom images of myself. It was the anima power of the Starmetal Caste: Inevitable Fate.

First a swift jab with my right fist striking the beast's nose. "You."
Then a left hook to its jaw. "Will."
A spinning kick. "Not."
Sidestep a slashing tusk. "Harm."
Pull back my left fist. "Them!"
"Piston Driven Megaton Hammer!" I shouted as I activated the charm, sending power down my arm into what I hoped would be a knockout punch. Steam hissed from my elbow as I struck. However I'd forgotten that the charm had a drawback at the moment, and a fair amount of the force was lost as my arm detached on impact. Still I'd succeeded at slamming the monster’s head into the ground and focussing its attention on me. Which was probably not a good thing, as it spun around faster than something it's size should be able to and used its clublike tail to send me flying into a wall.

The impact knocked the wind out of me. The wall showered me with bits of plaster and dust. Feeling a bit dazed by the impact, my mind decided to focus on irrelevancies for a moment. How does getting the wind knocked out of me even work with this robotic chest?

While I was pondering this, the monster had stepped toward me, and it roared in my face. I gagged at the stench assaulting me. “Never heard of breath mints?” I choked out as I tried to breathe.

I shook my head to clear it, and saw that help had started to arrive. Trace and Twilight Sparkle were approaching from behind the monster. Seeing them I thought of a plan to stop the monster.

I jumped at the monster, narrowly avoiding the tusks and held onto its neck. I hoped my weight would slow it down and I felt that weight increase. In a moment I had the monster’s head pinned by my increased weight as my personal gravity had increased substantially. The monster’s body thrashed about, trying to throw me off its head. Trying to hold on with one arm wasn't easy, but somehow I managed.

“I can’t get a grip on it with it thrashing like that! The scales are magic resistant!" Twilight exclaimed, horn lit, obviously trying to get a hold on the monster.

Magic resistant scales certainly presented a problem. Just needed a way to hit the creature where the scales wouldn't protect it. A new plan formed. This was gonna hurt...

"Trace! I need you to cast that lightning spell at me! I'm going to conduct it past the scales." I shouted.

"What about you? Taking the brunt of a thunder spell could kill you!" He responded, as he moved into position.

“Lightning resistant frame charm, I’ll be fine.” I said, hoping he wouldn’t notice a bit of uncertainty in my voice. I didn’t know if I had that charm. Even if I did, it would only protect against natural lightning, not a directed blast.

I jammed the stump of my robotic arm into the creature's mouth.

"Now!" I yelled.

"Thunder!" Trace called out. A bolt of lightning shot from his hand to me, and my vision blurred as my body spasmed.

After a moment my vision cleared. I'd managed to maintain my hold, but the monster was now thrashing harder trying to break free of my grip. The arm in its mouth had been crushed when it bit down, but was still connected. Hurt like hell. I felt the monster starting to draw in a deep breath, likely to spit out another cloud of petrifying gas.

"Again, stronger!" I shouted.

"Eleanor, that's insane! A stronger bolt will kill you for sure!" Trace replied.

"No time! It's gonna use a breath weapon, hurry! Besides, I barely felt the last one!" I shouted back.

"Thundara!"

This time the bolt came from the sky, all one point twenty-one gigawatts of it slamming right into my chest. White fire burned through me, and I only had time for one last thought before pain tore the world away from me.

Maybe this time,
Maybe now I can rest...

Next Chapter: Chapter 8: Parties Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 17 Minutes