“...Max.”

I groaned softly as I slowly regained consciousness. With a thick blanket of drowsiness still hanging over me, I kept my eyes closed, hoping to drift off to sleep once more. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but I knew for a fact that it was too damn early for me to be up without a reason.

“...Max.”

Still closed, I felt my right eye twitch as a soft voice reached my ears, barely audible. It was feminine and soft-spoken, that much I could tell. Other than that, it was too quiet to make out what it was saying exactly.

As I laid there, my tired mind slowly processing the voice, I realized that it was familiar to me, but I couldn’t place it. I was reminded of a comforting presence in a time of great agony and stress, when my entire body was wracked with pain. My closed right eye twitched again.

“...Max.”

Dimly, I was aware of something standing beside me. Something large, and radiating a peaceful aura that seemed to calm my very soul. I felt the faintest sensation of feathers being dragged across my skin, causing goosebumps to break out as the gentle sound of cooing filled my ears.

The feeling continued, and I felt myself slowly drifting back off to sleep, a content sigh escaping my lips.

The feeling of something touching my leg caused me to jerk awake. My eyes snapped open and I sat up quickly, drawing a sharp gasp from someone standing right beside me. Whipping my head around, I stared into the startled face of Celestia, her hoof resting upon my leg.

I was lying on the couch in one of the guest rooms of the palace. We had arrived yesterday after our little visit to Octavia’s house, just as the sun was setting. My three guards had gotten the room beside us, leaving Twilight and I to our own room (something that made Avera laugh every time she said it).

There had been a small dispute between me and Twilight about sleeping arrangements, seeing as there was only one bed in the room. She had insisted on sharing it, saying that it was big enough for the both of us. I, of course, had disagreed. Not because it wasn’t big enough; it was a king sized bed, after all. I declined because she appeared embarrassed by the thought, her cheeks flushing and unable to look me in the eye.

I’m such a good person.

Still, she had continued to push the offer of us bunking together. I, naturally, had solved the problem by picking her up and tossing her onto the bed before collapsing onto the couch in the corner. She had tried to pick me up with her magic, but I had tossed a pillow in her face, disrupting the spell. I had received the pillow being launched back at me by Twilight before she dropped the matter and we both fell asleep.

As I laid there, getting my breathing under control, Celestia gave me a sheepish smile.

“I apologize,” she whispered, keeping her voice as low as possible. “I did not mean to surprise you like that.” I nodded, rubbing sleep from my eye. Glancing around, I looked towards the clock, only to see that it was just barely past seven in the morning. Fuuuu… too early.

Turning back to Celestia, I gave her a questioning look.

“Come with me,” she whispered, motioning with a hoof. “I have something for you.”

I pushed myself up off of the couch and tiptoed behind Celestia as she silently made her way past the bed that contained the still-sleeping form of Twilight. Reaching the door, she pushed it gingerly, swinging it open on the well-oiled hinges.

As we both stepped out into the hall, she closed the door behind me with a soft click. Turning, she gave me a warm smile.

“It’s good to see you again, my dear human,” she said softly. “I’m sorry I was not present when you arrived last night, but there were some last-minute things I had to attend to in order to be free today.”

Nodding my head in understanding, I covered my mouth with my hand, stifling another yawn. This just caused Celestia to laugh softly, her eyes twinkling.

“I see that somepony isn’t a morning person,” she said, laughing again as I shook my head. “Well then, follow me and we’ll get this over with quickly, and get you back onto your… couch.” She paused, giving me a bemused look. “Why were you sleeping on the couch?”

~Because Twilight’s sleeping in the bed~

“But…” she paused again, before sighing softly and shaking her head. Giving me a small smile, she just motioned down the hall with her head.

The soft clip-clop of hooves on marble echoed down the corridor as I fell in step beside her. We walked in silence for several minutes, Celestia just enjoying my company, and myself too tired to really care that nothing was being said.

Eventually, Celestia glanced over at me, a quizzical look on her face.

“So, how has your time in Ponyville been?” she asked.

~Decent~ I signed. ~Despite several strange events and a few mares~ This earned a chuckle from Celestia.

“Yes, I did suspect that might be the case,” she said. “Twilight has often written to me about your adventures. I do find most of them rather humorous, and they give Luna a good laugh as well. We made sure to send that particular Scratchers a substantial donation for their troubles.

“However, not all of the letters we receive carry good news,” she said, her face becoming solemn as she stopped suddenly. “There is one particular letter that caught my attention, actually.”

Her horn lit up with a soft, golden glow as she magically lifted up the sleeve of my shirt, exposing the still-healing bite mark on my upper arm. The bruising had all but vanished, leaving behind only the scabbed-over teeth marks.

“Remarkable,” Celestia breathed, eyeing the wound closely. “Truly remarkable, to have survived an infected human bite. You are extremely lucky to have such an amazing immune system.”

Giving the bite mark one last look, Celestia resumed walking. Pulling down my shirt sleeve, I followed after her.

~I don’t feel lucky~ I signed. ~I feel stupid. I should have known what the bells meant, but I blindly continued on my way and ended up getting into trouble~

“Well, hindsight is twenty-twenty,” she laughed. “There are certainly times where I’ve kicked myself for not having seen something coming. The Changeling Invasion, the Griffon War, the Rise of Nightmare Moon. There are many things that, in retrospect, I could have prevented if I was paying attention. However, there is nothing we can do about the past, but learn from it and move on.

“Have you learned anything from your mistake?” she asked, giving me a playful smirk.

~Yeah~ I signed. ~Twilight can be scary when she’s upset~

“I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the lesson you were supposed to have learned,” Celestia said, rolling her eyes.

~But it was a good lesson, nonetheless~ I countered. ~As long as I keep my owner happy, I’ll be happy~

Celestia paused, giving me a searching look before slowly resuming her walk, the smile absent from her face.

“Tell me,” she said, her tone calculating, “how do you view Twilight?” I blinked, giving her a confused look.

~What do you mean?~

“It’s just, you have referred to her as ‘your owner’ more often than not. And you have just expressed the belief that in order for you to be happy, she needs to be happy. Is that how you really view her? As your owner? Your master? The one you must please in order to be at peace?”

I scoffed as I scrunched up my face, shaking my head.

~No~ I signed. ~The term ‘my owner’ is more of a nickname than anything else. As for wanting to make her happy, that’s more because of the fact that I put her through a lot of undue stress~

“Undue stress?” Celestia asked, cocking an eyebrow.

~The pit, the timberwolves, the manticore attack, the gala, the infected human~ I listed off, causing Celestia to blink. ~She might not admit it, but I can tell that those have been stressful times for her, which is why I want to make her happy~

“Are those the only reasons?” Celestia asked, a small smirk playing across her lips.

~Well, it doesn’t hurt that’s she cute when she blushes~ I replied, a smirk of my own on my face.

“That she is,” Celestia chuckled as she came to a stop outside of a large pair of golden doors. They were emblazoned with a picture of the sun and moon crossing in the middle of the sky.

Looking at me, Celestia motioned her head towards the doors. “I have a quick little something I have to take care of before we continue on. Do you mind waiting a second?” Shaking my head no, I leaned against the wall as she opened the door with her magic and slipped inside, making sure the doors closed behind her. From the other side of the doors, I heard the sound of a muffled conversation. There was a quick, barking laugh before silence fell again.

As I waited, I glanced out of a nearby window at the world outside. The sun was just beginning to break over the horizon, coloring the snowy landscape in a glorious pink color. The stars slowly began to wink out one by one as the sun continued to climb higher into the sky.

I glanced back over at the door as it swung open. Celestia walked out, as well as—to my surprise—Luna. The latter of the two blinked in surprise upon seeing me standing there before giving me a warm smile. “Ah, good morrow, Max.”

~Morning, Luna~ I signed before covering my mouth as I yawned again. ~What are you up to?~

“Lowering our moon for our sister’s sun,” Luna answered, giggling slightly at my display of exhaustion. “We have done our duty for the night. Now we must see about getting a quick nap in before today’s activities.”

I just nodded sleepily, not really caring. I had already had a long discussion with Twilight about this during my first few weeks staying with her. I wasn’t going to get in another argument with the two mares responsible for it.

As Luna turned and trotted down the hall, Celestia looked to me.

“You know, you were more than welcome to join us,” she said. “It’s quite a sight, so I have been told. We even have a few humans wander into the garden in the morning and evening just to watch us.”

~I’m good, thanks~ I respond as we begin to walk again. I walk beside Celestia, using her head and crown to help keep the light of the rising sun out of my eye. Celestia seemed quite content to walk in silence, a small smile upon her face.

After a few minutes we rounded the bend in the hallway, approaching the guest room again as we made a full circuit.

As we came to a stop in front of the door, Celestia blinked before chuckling softly to herself.

“My goodness. I was enjoying your company so much, I nearly forgot my original reason for wanting to see you.” Turning to face me completely, her horn lit up and, in a flash of white, three large tomes were floating beside her¹.

My face lit up at the sight of the books, and a large grin flashed across my face.

~Are those what I think they are?~

“Indeed,” Celestia said with a smile. “I must admit, I was quite surprised to receive a letter from you, but after reading your request, I must say I was more than happy to help. Using the instructions you sent in the letter, I was able to successfully navigate through your device. After finding the three books you indicated, it was just a simple matter of using a quick spell to transcribe them onto actual paper.”

~And the second part of the request?~ I asked, giving her an uneasy look. The request had been asking a lot, and I wasn’t sure if she would appreciate what I had asked of her.

Her soft smile calmed my nerves.

“As you asked, after completing the transcription spell, I had Luna use a simple memory-revision spell to erase the knowledge of the contents of the books from my mind. As it stands, after you give them to her, Twilight will technically be the first Equestrian to read them.”

~Excellent. Thank you~ I signed before reaching forward and taking the books from her. Turning them around in my hands, I ran my eye over them, a small smile touching my face. I cracked one of them open and flipped through the pages, all of which were filled with words.

Pausing on a random page, I read several sentences before closing the book and glancing up at Celestia.

“Are they to your liking?” she asked, her ears perked. When I gave her a nod, she smiled. “Splendid! I’m sure Twilight will enjoy this gift, especially since it’s from you.”

I returned her smile before yawning again, my jaw cracking. This earned another giggle from Celestia and I shot her an annoyed look.

“Sorry,” she apologized, “it’s just that, with all your scars, you have a fearsome look. However, when you yawn like that, it’s just plain adorable. Especially when your tongue pokes out.

“Here,” she said, her horn lighting up. The door to the guest room swung open silently, and she motioned towards it with one of her wings. “I’ll let you try and get a little more sleep before the day truly starts.”

As I entered the room, Celestia closed the door behind me with a soft click, plunging me into semi-darkness. From the sounds of her breathing, Twilight was still fast asleep. Moving as silently as possible, I tiptoed over to my bags and slipped the books inside. They would stay there until we left for breakfast, at which I would hide them under one of the couch cushions until later.

Making sure the bags were secured, I then turned and flung myself back upon the couch, a content sigh escaping my lips as I sunk into the cushions. Slowly, the sweet embrace of slumber found me again, and I drifted back off to sleep.

The sun slowly rose above the city of Manehattan, causing the snow covering it to glisten. The ponies that called the monstrous city their home were beginning their respective days.

City workers labored on clearing the snow off of the streets and sidewalks. Garbage collectors began their daily routes, hurrying along to get back to their warm homes and families as quickly as possible. Last-minute shoppers flitted from store to store, looking for any deals on possible presents for loved ones. Groups of carolers happily sang Hearth’s Warming Eve songs on street corners, ringing silver bells as they tried to spread their good cheer to any who were willing to stop and listen.

Festive decorations covered shops and buildings, and tinsel hung from every street lamp. Foals ran through the street, pulling each other along on sleds and flinging snowballs with reckless abandon. Pegasi were flying clouds around, snowing on any unsuspecting soul they could find. Good cheer was abound as everyone prepared for Hearth’s Warming Eve.

Nobody was aware of the group of ponies that were slowly slinking their way through the underbelly of the city. The small, six-pony squad made their way through the tight alleys, their white camouflage armor helping them blend into the background.

“I can’t believe I agreed to this,” Ivory Pyre growled, stalking through the shadows cast by the large, towering buildings, trying very hard to remain out of the sunlight. As she walked, she tugged on her skull-pattern kerchief, pulling it higher up her muzzle. The tinted visor of her helmet was pulled down low over her eyes, hiding them from view.

“Well, Ms. Breeze did say this was our best bet for finding the warehouse,” Stacker replied, adjusting a strap on his own armor. “That, and Princess Celestia agreed to it as well. Besides, you had the entire train ride to think of something else, but you didn’t. So deal with it.”

“I joined the guard to get out of the back alleyways,” Ivory grumbled, skirting around a particularly full dumpster.

“Well then, look at it this way,” Stacker said, smirking. “The sooner we find the target, the sooner we can get out of here.”

“It’s not far now,” Sunny said, glancing around the corner of a building before moving forward.

“This guy better be able to help us,” Ivory muttered, “otherwise this is just a huge waste of time.” Sunny glanced back at the complaining unicorn before looking sideways at Stacker.

“What’s her problem?” she asked, keeping her voice low. Even so, Ivory’s ears twitched and she glanced up at Sunny.

“Just ignore her,” Stacker said, keeping his eyes forward. “She’s just a little grouchy in the morning. She’s more of a night pony after all, has issues with the early morning hours.”

“Ah, that would explain it,” Sunny said before giggling.

“I don’t have problems with mornings!” Ivory called from the back. “I’d just prefer it if they came later in the day!” This just caused Sunny to laugh louder. “What’s so funny?!”

“S-sorry,” Sunny choked out. “It’s just, I’ve heard somepony say that exact thing before.”

“Really?” Stacker asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Who was that?”

“Max,” Sunny replied with a smile. “He isn't exactly the most active in the morning either.”

“Ya hear that, lieutenant?” Stacker called back over his shoulder. “You think like a human!” This earned chuckles from the other guards, as well as a low growl from Ivory.

“You’re all gonna get demoted,” she huffed. Stacker opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted when Sunny stopped abruptly, almost causing him to trip over her.

“We’re here,” she said, motioning to the building in front of her. As the guards glanced up at the building, Ivory snorted loudly.

“It’s a loading bay on an abandoned factory,” she grunted.

The building before them was in shambles. The windows were boarded up with decayed wood, the glass cracked or, in some cases, missing. The paint had faded and chipped, exposing the brick beneath. The loading bay doors were rusted to the point of having holes in them. Beside one of the loading docks, a large cart sat on broken wheels, covered in a large tarp. Garbage scattered the ground, empty bottles and plastic wrappers sticking out of the snow.

“What were you expecting? A penthouse suite?” Stacker asked as one of the guards examined a nearby pile of litter with distaste.

Not waiting for Ivory’s response, Sunny trotted forward, towards the door that the cart was in front of. Lifting her hoof, she gave the door several hard kicks, causing a loud, metallic clack to echo around the area. Silence fell as the group waited for a response.

“Dusty? You home?” Sunny called out after a long pause, pounding on the door again. She jumped in surprise, letting out a yip as a loud cough came from the covered cart behind her. The guards tensed as something under the tarp began to move.

After a few seconds, a pony stuck their head out from beneath the tarp. It was a stallion, his light brown coat matted and dirty. His dark brown mane hung around his face in thin, greasy strips, clearly in need of a good wash.

The stallion blinked his bloodshot eyes, glancing around at the group of ponies gathered around the cart. As his eyes landed on Sunny, they narrowed and he squinted at her, a confused look on his face.

“Oi, Sunny, ‘s that you?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “It’s been too long, lass.” Pulling a large pipe out from under the tarp, the stallion clamped the bit in his teeth before giving it a long pull. He held it in for several seconds before exhaling, a large torrent of purple smoke escaping his lips. A content smile crossed his face before he dissolved into a fit of coughing a few seconds later.

“Aw, Dusty,” Sunny sighed, staring down at the coughing stallion from her perch on the loading dock. “You know that stuff is bad for you, so why do you do it?”

“Not to mention highly illegal,” Ivory said coldly, her hidden eyes glaring at Dusty. Dusty scrunched up his face, blinking dumbly at the armored ponies.

“...what are ya, a guard?” he asked, his eyes slightly unfocused.

“The shit I put up with…” Ivory muttered under her breath. Dusty ignored her, or just didn’t hear. Lifting the pipe to his mouth again, he took another pull on it before glancing back over to Sunny.

“Ta’ what do I owe this visit, sweetflanks?” he asked, the pipe still clamped in his teeth. Scrabbling against the cart, Dusty pulled himself out from underneath the tarp, revealing a pair of tattered wings, feathers sticking out haphazardly.

“I need your help, Dusty,” Sunny said as the stallion flopped onto the snow-covered ground. Sitting up, he checked his pipe for any damage that could have happened from the fall. Once satisfied that it was unharmed, he put it back in his mouth and stood up.

“Help?” he asked, purple smoke wafting from the corners of his mouth. “What kind of help do ya need, Sunny?”

“How about you put that thing out for starters,” Stacker growled, waving a hoof in front of his face, trying to dissipate the purple haze slowly consolidating around the group. “Seriously, what if a city guard came around and saw you?”

Dusty snorted, a cloud of purple smoke erupting from his nostrils in the process.

“Guards will never arrest a pony with a huge pipe,” he chuckled. “Why? They fear this pony. They know that he sees further than they can, and he will trap them with ancient logic.”

Smiling, Dusty lifted the pipe to his mouth again to take another pull, but yelped when it was encased in cloud of red magic and jerked out of his hooves. It hovered in the air for a brief moment before, with a loud crack, it was split in two. The contents fell onto a snow pile in a smoldering heap, followed shortly by the shattered remains of the pipe.

As Dusty stared down at the smoking remains in shock, Ivory growled, “Did you see that coming?” Dusty’s gaze snapped up and he glared at Ivory through bloodshot eyes. Before he could do anything, however, Sunny jumped between the pair.

“Ivory, please, don’t do that again,” she said, glancing at the scowling unicorn before turning her gaze to Dusty. “And as for you, calm down. I know for a fact you have another pipe in your cart. The sooner you help us, the sooner you can get to it.”

“...Still don’t know what ya need,” Dusty grumbled, rubbing the side of his head with a hoof.

“We need to get into the warehouse where Darkflare is storing Van. Since you feed him, you know where it is and have the keys to get in,” Sunny said. Dusty winced when Sunny said Van’s name, his wings twitching at his side. His ears splayed backwards and he rubbed the back of his neck.

“...Do ya really have to go see that beast again already?” he asked, glancing off to the side. “I really don’t fancy seeing ‘im again so soon. I was hopin’ to not go back for a couple o’ more days.”

“Sadly, yes,” Sunny said, a grim look on her face. “This is rather important too, so—”

“Wait,” Ivory said suddenly, taking a step forward. Dusty yelped in surprise as she grabbed him with her magic, pulling him towards her.

“What do you mean you 'don’t want to see him again so soon'?” she asked, her voice cold and deadly. Dusty struggled in her grip, trying to break free.

“Oi, let me go, ya crazy mare!”

“Tell me!” Ivory growled, dragging the pegasus further along the ground. “What did you mean?”

“Your boss, Darkflare, came through late last night and went to see ‘im!” Dusty shouted, flapping his wings uselessly.

“What?!” Sunny yelped as Stacker swore under his breath. Stopping his struggling, Dusty glanced over at Sunny, a confused look on his face.

“I thought ya knew,” he said. “Aren’t y’all part of his gang?”

“Not anymore. I quit,” Sunny said. “What do you mean Darkflare came through last night? He’s supposed to be on the run!”

“Didn’t look like he was on the run to me,” Dusty grunted, wincing as Ivory’s magical grip dug into his neck. “He just waltzed in shortly after midnight last night with a group of unicorns and demanded that I take them to the warehouse. Since ‘e’s paying the bits, I didn’t think nothin’ of it. I took them, unlocked the door, then left. I swear!”

“You are going to take us there as well,” Ivory growled. “Right now!”

“And why would I do that?” Dusty asked, his eyes narrowing as he glared at the unicorn. “Ya broke my pipe. Why should I help you out?”

With a flash of her horn, Ivory pulled Dusty forward until they were nose to nose. Grabbing the bottom of her bandana, she yanked it down at the exact moment she used her magic to lift her tinted visor.

Dusty’s eyes shot wide open, the color draining from his face in an instant. His pupils shrunk to pinpricks as he opened his mouth in a silent scream. His wings flared wide in an instinctive fight-or-flight response, and he kicked his hooves feebly through the air.

“You are going to take us to the warehouse,” Ivory growled, her voice low. From her position, Sunny couldn’t see Ivory’s face, but she could practically feel the fury wafting from the unicorn. It sent shivers down her back, and caused her wings to flex as if preparing for flight. Beside her, Stacker tensed up, looking like he was preparing to jump in and break up the pair.

Dusty just stared at Ivory in horror, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly. Ivory snarled, shaking him with her magic. “Do I make myself clear?!”

“Okay, okay!” Dusty yelped, flailing his hooves. “I’ll take ya, I’ll take ya! Just put me down, ya demon!” The magic around his neck instantly fizzled out and Dusty fell to the ground in an unceremonious heap.

Pulling her bandana up over her muzzle again, Ivory lowered the visor before glancing back over her shoulder at the others.

“Ms. Breeze,” she said, her voice steely. “Grab our new friend here and get him walking. We’re moving out, now!”

“Come on, Pinkie!” Rainbow whined, hovering beside the pink pony. The mare in question was currently splayed out across my lap as I scratched lazily at her belly. Her eyes were closed and she had a content smile on her face, squeaking occasionally as my fingers hit a particularly sensitive spot.

Digging my fingers into her fur, I couldn’t help but chuckle softly at Pinkie’s antics. Her hooves were crossed over her chest in a cute manner, and her tail swished back and forth in a lethargic display. In this position, I could easily see the slight pudginess of her belly; a testament to all of the sweets she’s consumed.

She gave out an adorable squeak—her eyes flicking open for a brief second before closing again—as I ran my hand over the side of her stomach. This just caused Rainbow to huff in aggravation.

“Come on,” she whined, waving her hooves in front of her. “Just tell me how you got him to forgive you! I’ve been trying for, like, forever!”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Primrose said, speaking up from her spot beside me, “but there was a mountain of food involved, and a lot of popping up in random places, and she did actually say the words ‘I’m sorry’ to him… over and over… and over again.”

We were currently in the throne room of Canterlot palace. Pinkie had gone all out in the party planning, and the entire room had a festive feel to it. Tinsel and streamers hung from the pillars and ceiling, the usual sun and moon banners replaced with ones bearing snowflakes. Several pine trees had been brought into the room and thoroughly decorated. Candles flickered happily along the walls.

The biggest change, however, was the massive fireplace that Twilight had been able to magically create. Located along the side wall of the throne room, it stood nearly six feet tall. A large fire crackled merrily away within, spreading warmth throughout the entire room.

I was sitting on the steps leading up to Celestia and Luna’s throne, Pinkie having quickly claimed my lap shortly after I had sat down. Primrose was lying across the top step, completely bare of her armor except for her tinted glasses, which were perched on top of her head.

The others were gathered around the fireplace, chatting softly with one another. Luna had yet to arrive, and Celestia had excused herself to go find her. Rarity was talking with Fluttershy, the pair of them giggling occasionally at whatever it was they were discussing. Avera was napping while Twilight was chatting with both Ebony and Applejack, the latter of whom was snacking on some food that came from a buffet table nearby.

Every so often, Twilight would shoot a glance over in my direction, her brow furrowed slightly.

“But, I can’t cook,” Rainbow grumbled, crossing her forelegs as she glared at the floor. Primrose just shook her head, sighing heavily before placing her joint back in her mouth.

“Of course that’s the one she goes for,” she muttered under her breath so that Rainbow couldn’t hear her. Glancing back up at Rainbow, she gave her a deadpanned look. “Well, you better figure out a way to make it up to him. Pinkie was able to do it, so I’m sure you can too.”

“Come on,” Rainbow whined again. Turning, she stuck out her bottom lip, giving me a pouting look.

“Come on, big guy,” she whimpered. “You know I didn’t mean to leave ya hanging. I thought Pinkie was still with you!”

“Yeah, Pinkie said something similar,” Primrose growled, the end of her blunt flaring as she inhaled. “Look, if you’re just gonna whine about this, please go away. I’m sure Max ignoring you for a couple more days isn’t the end of the world.” Rainbow groaned loudly before throwing her hooves into the air and floating away.

I watched her go for a few seconds before returning my attention to Pinkie. You know, when you get right down to it, ponies have amazingly soft stomachs. As I scratched away, I wondered idly if Twilight would allow me to do this to her. I’m pretty sure that it would help relieve some of her stress. Heck, Pinkie was practically a puddle of mush in my lap.

As if to confirm the fact, Pinkie hummed happily, groaning loudly as I dug into a particularly plushy part of her stomach.

“Thank the Maker she left,” Primrose sighed when Rainbow was out of earshot. “Her voice was starting to grate a little.” Pulling the blunt from her mouth, she glanced over at me. “So, have you really not forgiven her yet, or are you just teasing her at the moment?”

~A little of column A, a little of column B~ I signed, causing Pinkie to whimper in distress as I stopped scratching her. ~In truth, I’ll probably start paying attention to her again once we get back to Ponyville~ Returning my hand to Pinkie’s stomach, I chuckled again as her distraught expression turned back into one of contentment.

“Good,” Primrose said, clamping the blunt in her teeth again. We fell into silence after that, the batpony puffing away while I continued to provide Pinkie with belly scratches.

~Hey, got a question for you~ I signed suddenly, looking back over my shoulder at Primrose. She blinked once before cocking her head to the side.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked.

~When we were visiting the cellist yesterday, why were you so tense around the unicorn?~ Primrose froze, her ears quivering slightly. ~We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to~ I signed quickly. ~I was just curious~

Primrose was silent for several seconds, staring intently at the floor, before sighing heavily.

“Lambs don’t belong in a wolf’s den,” she muttered softly, her ears splaying backwards. I was unsure of what she meant, but after a quick glance at her face, I decided to drop the subject and we just sat there in silence.

After a few minutes, the sound of the main throne room doors opening caught my attention. As all of us turned our gazes toward the doors, one of them swung open slightly. I blinked in surprise as Shining Armor poked his head in.

“Shining!” Twilight cried, standing up quickly and hurrying forwards. A smile touched Shining’s face before he withdrew his head. A moment later, the door swung open wider and he walked in, followed shortly by Cadance.

I blinked again, my eyes widening. A very large—and very pregnant—Cadance.

As she walked in, a smile on her face, I couldn’t help but stare at her abdomen. It had grown immensely, now clearly bloated. She walked with the tenderness of one who carried a precious burden, which, given her state, she did.

I wasn’t the only one to notice. Twilight slid to a halt, her eyes widening in shock as she stared at Cadance. This just caused Cadance to giggle, covering her mouth with a hoof.

“Does this mean that we aren’t doing our usual greeting?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with mirth. Shining snickered as well, smirking at his gobsmacked sister.

Twilight just sat there, gaping at the pair before a loud squealing noise escaped her lips and she dashed forward, a large smile on her face.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” she squealed, dancing on her hooves in front of Cadance. The others weren’t far behind, swarming the pair as they cried out congratulations. I let off a loud ‘omphf’ as Pinkie launched off my lap, her back hooves barely missing my groin by inches.

The only ponies that hadn’t moved to enclose the pair were my guards: Avera was still passed out in front of the fire, Primrose was lying beside me, and Ebony was just watching with a small smile on her face.

As I sat there, rubbing my stomach where Pinkie had used me as a launching pad, Primrose glanced at me, raising an eyebrow.

“Not going over to congratulate the lucky couple?” she asked, a small cloud of smoke escaping her nostrils. I just shook my head, watching the giggling group of mares with a growing smirk on my face.

“What’s the matter? Not a foal kinda guy?” Primrose asked, her tone playful. Once again, I shook my head, giving the group one last look before turning to face the batpony.

~It’s not that~ I signed. ~I just don’t see what the big deal is~

“What, are you blind?” Primrose asked, giving me an incredulous look. “I know you have a foggy eye, but you should still be able to tell that she’s pregnant.”

~I can see that~ I signed, snorting as I rolled my eyes. ~I just don’t see what the big deal about it is~ Primrose opened her mouth to say something, but I kept going. ~Bloated stomach, nausea, increased urination, raging hormones, cravings, fatigue. It all sounds horrible, and not like something you should congratulate someone about~

“Sooo, you aren’t even the littlest bit excited about this?” Primrose asked, cocking an eyebrow as she motioned towards the group.

~Sure I am!~ I signed as I got to my feet. ~I’ll just wait for her to squeeze the foal out before I start swooning over it~

“You have, by far, the weirdest way of thinking I have ever seen,” she said, slowly shaking her head.

~Hey, until it’s born, it’s just a parasite~ I signed, a playful smirk on my face letting her know I wasn’t completely serious. Straightening my saddlebags, I turned and stepped down the stairs to the throne and began heading towards the side doors.

“Oi,” Primrose called after me, scrambling to her hooves, “where do you think you’re going?”

~To take a piss~ I signed, glancing back over my shoulder. ~Don’t wait up!~ With that, I pushed open the doors, and proceeded to wander down the hallway, heading towards the bathroom.

Even as she congratulated Cadance on her pregnancy with the rest of her friends, Rainbow’s mood didn’t improve much. Watching out of the corner of her eye as he got up and left the throne room, she couldn’t help the frown that touched her muzzle.

She could understand that Max was probably upset about her leaving him alone before the infected human attack, but it wasn’t completely her fault! The snowstorm had been scheduled for later in the evening, but some featherbrained idiot in Cloudsdale had gotten jumpy and released the storm clouds early.

She had to find cover. Not only was flying in a blizzard dangerous, it could have been lethal. Despite her natural resistances to the cold, her pegasus magic couldn’t have protected her long in those conditions. Plus, that kind of weather was a wing-killer. All those frozen particles would cling to her wings. That was a one-way ticket to the hospital, and she didn’t do hospitals.

So, when the snowstorm had hit unexpectedly, she did what she had been drilled to do since an early age: she had flown to the nearest cover she could find and waited it out. Finding shelter in one of Applejack’s older barns that was never used anymore, Rainbow had waited out the storm. Even when the bells were tolling in Ponyville, she stayed where she was, believing that Pinkie had stayed with Max and would see him safely home.

It hadn’t been until the storm had quieted down and she had flown to Applejack’s did she learn about the attack on Max. Oh, how that had destroyed her. The Element of Loyalty leaving one of her friends alone during an infected human attack? She was pretty sure that she had almost made two sonic rainbooms on her way to the library to see him. However, by the time she had gotten there, the magic dome had already been raised, locking her out.

The next four days had been the longest in Rainbow’s life, and she barely got any sleep during that time. Unable to sleep, and unable to be with her injured friend physically, she had decided to be with him in spirit instead. She had spent most of the four-day quarantine circling the library, guarding it.

She knew that she didn't need to; Twilight’s skill with magic shields was second only to her brother, but still, it made her feel better than sitting at home doing nothing.

Then one morning she had awoken from her brief nap to find that the dome had been dropped. She had zipped around town, searching for Max in desperation. Sure, Fluttershy had said that according to Twilight, Max was unaffected by the infected human’s bite, but Rainbow had to see it just to be sure.

It had taken her several hours to find him, but when she did, she couldn’t believe her eyes. There he was, out walking around as if nothing had happened. That had been totally awesome in her opinion, and made her respect for him grow even more. He had faced down one of the scariest things Rainbow could think of, and had come out on top.

But then she found out that he blamed her and Pinkie for getting him into the situation by abandoning him. Oh, how that word had hurt her to hear it applied to her. Abandoned. She hadn’t abandoned anypony since Discord had corrupted her when he had first escaped.

Now one of her best friends, and the awesomest human in Equestria, believed that she had abandoned him. Needless to say, she had to correct that immediately, but he was refusing most of her attempts to apologize.

Why can’t he just accept it and move on? Rainbow grumbled silently to herself as she watched the others chat happily amongst themselves. I mean, he was much more forgiving that one time I accidentally gave him a black eye, for Maker’s sake!

Brow furrowing, Rainbow continued to feel sorry for herself until she was snapped out of her funk by someone pulling on her tail.

Glancing down, she opened her mouth to tell Pinkie to cut it out, but paused when she saw, not her pink friend, but Shining Armor staring up at her.

“Is everything alright?” he asked when she floated down closer to him.

“Yeah,” she said, giving him a confused look. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, it’s just that you appear to be glaring at my wife,” Shining said with a chuckle. “I hope we haven’t done anything to upset you.” Rainbow’s eyes widened and she immediately flailed her forelegs in front of her.

“No, no, no, I wasn’t glaring at her!” she said quickly. She paused, before continuing, “Okay, so maybe I was, b-but it has nothing to do with her. Just got something on my mind, is all.”

“Care to talk about it?” Shining asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Eh, it’s nothing big,” Rainbow said, glancing to the side as she chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Just something between me and the big guy.”

“Max?” Shining asked, cocking his head to the side. “Is this about the play fighting you two do? He isn’t hurting you, is he?” Shining’s eyes narrowed, his ears perking up.

“No, nothing like that,” Rainbow said quickly, shaking her head. Shining visibly relaxed before perking up again.

“Does it have something to do with recent events?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. “Like Max getting attacked by an infected human?” This caused Rainbow to inhale sharply, her eyes going wide.

“How do you know about that?” she asked.

“Twilight wrote us a letter,” Shining replied with a shrug. “Still can’t believe it myself, but I don’t think it’s something Twilight would joke about. Did you have something to do with it?” Rainbow’s ears splayed backwards, and she lowered her head slightly.

“...Yeah,” she muttered, “I did.”

“How so?” Shining asked, keeping his voice soft and kind. Behind them, Rarity squealed at something that Cadance had just said, a large smile on her face.

“Well, Pinkie and I were supposed to be watching him at the time,” Rainbow said, avoiding Shining’s eyes. “We had asked Twilight if we could borrow him for the day, and she agreed. A snowstorm blew in early, and we lost track of him in the weather… and then he got attacked by the infected human on the way back to the library.”

“Where were his guards?” Shining asked, cocking his head to the side. “I was under the impression that Princess Celestia and Luna gave him three guards to look after him so this sort of thing wouldn’t happen.”

Rainbow winced, lowering her head further.

“We… asked if Max could leave them behind,” she muttered so softly that Shining had to lean in to hear her. “They stayed behind at the library.”

“Why would you do that?” Shining asked, blinking in surprise before his eyes narrowed. “It’s their job to look after Max. If something bad happens to him, they are the ones that get in trouble. That’s like… that’s like somepony telling you to ignore the weather for a day, then getting mad at you when it storms.”

Rainbow winced again before closing her eyes and gritting her teeth.

“I know,” she ground out, “Twilight’s already given me a hard time about it, and the big guy is ignoring me. It’s just, those guards—” she paused, licking her lips as her eyes flicked over to the ponies in question “—I don’t like them. Especially the pegasus. She gives me the creeps. Always watching us, the other girls and I, like a hawk.

“I mean,” Rainbow huffed, looking up as her wings twitched, “it’s not like we’re a threat to him. We’re his friends, for Maker’s sake!”

“They’re just doing their jobs, Rainbow,” Shining said, shaking his head slightly. “You can’t blame them for that.” Rainbow sighed, her head drooping along with her wings.

“I guess not,” she breathed, her ears folded against her head. Shining eyed her for a brief moment before a small smile touched his face.

“As for Max, I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” he said. Rainbow glanced up at him from beneath her bangs, giving him a confused look. “From what I’ve seen and my own past experiences, humans, as a species, are extremely trusting,” he explained. “They have to be, seeing as they need us ponies to look after them most of the time. A human trusts his owner to look after him, feed him, provide him with shelter and lodgings. That’s why some humans will defend their owners and handlers with unsurpassed loyalty.

“Max is no different,” Shining continued. Rainbow opened her mouth to interrupt, but was silenced when he raised a hoof. “Granted, he might be more intelligent than most of the other humans here in Equestria, but the concept still applies. He has to trust us. It might not seem that way, but it’s true. He needs to trust us to keep him safe, and to protect him from ponies who would use him for personal gain.

“When he went out with you and Pinkie, he was placing his trust in your hooves. When you got separated from each other—intentional or not—it got him attacked, and his trust in you was broken.” Rainbow felt her eyes begin to water, and gritted her teeth, blinking back tears.

“However,” Shining said, causing her to perk up, “I can’t see Max holding a grudge against you for long. Especially after a few months of wrestling together.” Shining paused, a small frown touching his lips. “He’s not being mean to you, right? Just ignoring you?”

“Yes,” Rainbow started to say, but stopped, her brow wrinkling. “Well, sorta. This morning I asked him to pass me the apple juice, and he did. He just won’t acknowledge me.”

While Rainbow was talking, Shining’s frown slowly became a smirk, his eyes narrowing mischievously.

“So, he’s just ignoring you,” he muttered, rubbing his chin with his hoof. After a few seconds, his smirk grew and he gave Rainbow a calculating look.

“You want him to acknowledge you, right?” he asked suddenly. Rainbow blinked before nodding slowly. “Well, I can think of a way that might work.” Glancing back over his shoulder at the group of gossiping fillies, he made sure that they were distracted before turning back to Rainbow.

“I have it from a reliable source that you and Max are keeping score on who bests who, is that right?” Rainbow nodded. “And he’s winning?” Rainbow nodded again, and Shining’s smile grew. “It so happens that he’s also besting me in that department.”

Glancing over his shoulder again, Shining then leaned close to Rainbow and whispered, “How would you like to get him back?” Rainbow’s head snapped back and she gave Shining an incredulous look.

“W-what?” she asked, an ear twitching.

“How would you like to get him back?” Shining repeated, the smirk still on his face.

“What do you mean?” Glancing around one more time, Shining’s horn lit up and the saddlebags upon his back opened. A bundle, wrapped in pale-pinkish light, emerged from the bags and hovered in front of Shining.

Rainbow eyed the bundle of clothing for a brief second before her eyes widened. “Is that…?” Shining just nodded.

“It is. I had it specially made up in the Crystal Empire. Had to guess on some of the measurements, but I think it worked out for the best. I was planning on breaking it out later tonight when Max wasn’t expecting it, but...” Shining trailed off, shrugging his shoulders as his smile grew.

Rainbow stared at the light yellow dress that was hanging in Shining’s magic, a small frown on her face. Her eyes darted back and forth between him and the dress.

“I-I… I don’t know,” she said as she chewed on her bottom lip. “I don’t think that would be the best idea.”

“Why? Because Max is mad at you?” Shining scoffed, rolling his eyes. “This isn’t going to make Max dislike you. It’s a prank, nothing more. If anything, it might loosen him up a little.”

Reaching out, Rainbow ran a hoof absentmindedly over the silk dress, her mind racing. On one hoof, she didn’t want to upset Max further. He might be a very forgiving person, but she didn’t want to push him further. She should just lay low and wait for him to forgive her before she tried anything.

Then again, on the other hoof, the dress was one of the frilliest things she had ever seen, with pink ribbons and bows adorning it. It would be sweet payback if they could manage to get Max into it. Especially after that pumpkin incident on Nightmare Night.

Rainbow’s mind continued to race for several minutes, her eyes locked firmly on the dress as she waged a mental battle with herself. The dress would put her almost even with Max in the prank department, but it could also ruin her chances of making up with him. Rainbow was a mare of action; she wasn’t used to doing this whole 'think of the consequences' thing.

Her hind legs twitched as she shifted from hoof to hoof. Finally, she opened her mouth to give Shining her answer, but she was interrupted by the side door to the throne room opening.

Turning her head, Rainbow watched as Max walked back into the room. His head was hung low, his focus on his hands as he tried to buckle his saddlebags back around his waist. As the clasps clicked together, a quick smile touched his lips. The smile disappeared as quickly as it had come, however, when he glanced up and saw both Rainbow and Shining staring at him.

His one good eye darted back and forth between the two of them quickly before it drifted to the article of clothing floating between them. It was a few seconds before his eyes widened, and he took a step back.

Time seemed to freeze as the trio just stood there, staring at each other in silence for that brief, breathless moment in time. Max eyeing the dress, Rainbow and Shining staring at Max, the latter with a large, evil smirk on his face.

Then, everything sped back up. The other ponies chatted happily around the trio, oblivious of what was going on around them. Max took one last look at the pair before turning and sprinting back out the door he had just came through.

Rainbow paused—just for a heartbeat—before a large, devilish smile crossed her face. Yanking the dress out of Shining’s grasp, she covered the distance between herself and the door with a single flap of her wings, tearing after Max. With a whoop of joy, Shining raced after her, slamming the door shut behind him.

I tore down the hallway, my bare feet pattering against the marble floor as I ran for my life. Behind me, I could hear the swish of wings and the pounding of hooves, my tormentors hot on my heels.

I hadn’t seen much when I had returned to the throne room, but the look in Shining’s eyes and what he had been holding was enough to tell me that it was time to run. That dress…

I shivered slightly, increasing my pace to try and put as much distance between me and them. There was only one reason Shining would have a dress and had been staring at me like Freddy Krueger, and I was hellbent on not finding out what he had planned. I know that revenge is a dish best served cold, but this is ridiculous!

I zipped around the corner, startling several guards that were patrolling in the opposite direction. Their wings flared, and they shouted in surprise as I was forced to jump over them to avoid crashing. The sound of crashing metal and a loud yelp told me that Shining had not been so lucky.

I was going to risk a glance back, but decided against it as the rug beneath me slipped slightly. As I scrambled to regain my balance, I felt something small and furry slam into my back. Staggering into the wall, I yelped in surprise as Rainbow’s hooves wrapped around my chest.

“Gotcha!” she cried happily as her grip tightened on me. I grunted, trying to pry her off of me as I pushed myself off of the wall. Stumbling due to her extra weight, I fell to the ground, landing on top of Rainbow.

She gasped in pain as the air left her lungs, her grip on me loosening. I pulled myself free from her hold, scrambling on my hands and knees for several feet before standing back up. I resumed running down the hall, leaving Rainbow behind to catch her breath.

My legs pumped as hard as I could get them to, my breath coming in short bursts. Paintings, windows, and startled guards zipped by as I ran as fast as I could. Reaching the end of the corridor, I dashed up the staircase that was located there.

I was halfway up the stairs when the sound of wing beats reached my ears again, a clear warning that Rainbow was back in the game.

“You’re not getting away this time, big guy!”

Sonofabitch! I groaned inwardly, closing my eyes briefly. Of course Rainbow was already behind me again; she was fast and nimble. My only saving grace was the fact that we were indoors, the narrow corridors working more in my favor than hers.

Reaching the top of the stairs, I made a quick right, shooting down what looked like a small passageway that was meant for servants. I had to crouch slightly to avoid hitting my head on the ceiling of the passage, my shoulders brushing the walls as I ran. I could hear Rainbow scrabbling to follow me, her wings too wide to fit in the enclosed space.

The corridor took a sudden right angle, and my arms slammed against the wall, followed by my body, as I tried to make the turn without smashing my face in. A quick glance behind me showed me that Rainbow had given up flying and was now chasing me on hoof, a determined look in her eyes. I gulped loudly before returning my eye forward.

I shot out of the side passageway, startling a gray unicorn stallion, his dark gray mane streaked with white. His eyes remained locked on me as I ran around him, the blue orbs boring into me as I took off down the open space before me. The sound of wing beats told me that Rainbow was now airborne again.

“You’re just making it worse for yourself, big guy!” Rainbow shouted from behind me, almost bowling over the unicorn as she zipped by him. A quick glance told me that she still had the dress held tight in her hooves.

I was halfway down the hall when a loud crack rent the air. There was a flash of white light and then Shining Armor was standing in front of me, a triumphant look on his face.

I yelped in surprise, my feet skidding across the floor as I tried to stop quickly. Shining’s horn lit up as he threw up a magical barrier between us. Unable to stop in time, I slammed into the shield, hissing in pain as my injured arm smashed into the magic shield.

Shining’s shield shimmered once before disappearing in a crackle of energy. His eyes widened as I careened into him, both of us falling to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Lying there, my eyes rolling in my head as my arm throbbed in pain, I heard Rainbow land beside me. There was a brief pause before her head appeared above me, a smirk on her face.

“Gotcha now, big guy,” she chuckled, staring down at me. I just groaned, my vision still unfocused as my brain bounced around within my skull. Rainbow’s smirk slowly slipped from her face, replaced instead by a look of concern.

“Hey, dude, are you okay—” Groaning, Shining stood up, rubbing his head with his hoof. Unfortunately for both ponies, due to their positions, as Shining rose, the top of his head slammed into Rainbow’s jaw. This caused her to fall onto him, causing him to crash back onto the floor.

Taking advantage of the fortuitous circumstance, I untangled myself from the pile and stood up. I took quick stock of my surroundings, my gaze falling onto a nearby door. Opening it, I glanced inside before an evil smile touched my lips.

It was a supply closet for the cleaning crew.

Hurrying back to the dazed ponies, I grabbed both of them, one in each hand, and proceeded to chuck them both into the closet. Shining fell headfirst into a mop bucket, while Rainbow landed in a pile of dirty towels.

As both of them groaned in discomfort, I closed the door and dragged one of those small, decorative pillars in front of it. Once that was done, I turned and sprinted down the hall, determined to put as much distance between them and me before they recovered and continued the chase.

Several minutes later saw me dashing down a deserted corridor, the only sound being that of my feet upon the floor. Chancing a glance behind me, I doubled-checked to make sure that neither of them were coming up behind me. I didn’t want any more sneak attacks.

Unfortunately, in the brief moment that I glanced over my shoulder, I failed to notice the staircase approaching from my front. I let out a loud yelp as my foot met open air, and I tumbled down the stairs head over heels.

Luckily for me, the staircase wasn’t a big one; only a dozen steps or so. I landed on my stomach with a loud grunt, just narrowly avoiding biting my tongue. My bags burst open, spilling their contents upon the floor. Journals and charcoal sticks went flying in a flurry of paper.

There was the sound of shattering glass followed by something splashing across my face. I grimaced as some of the bitter tasting substance got in my mouth. Immediately, a large spike of pain erupted in the back of my head, fading just as fast as it had arrived. It was followed by a slight numbness in my hands and feet, as well as a weird tingling sensation across my skin.

Skidding to a stop, I remained on the ground, my eye closed as I felt the room spin around me. After several minutes, my sense of vertigo started to lessen, and I tentatively cracked my eye open.

I noticed something lying beside my head, and I blinked several times as it slowly came into focus. My eyes widened when I realized what it was. The jar that the Vagabond had given me had slipped out of my bag and shattered upon the floor, its contents pooling outwards in a large pool of rainbow liquid.

And some of it had gotten in my mouth.

I reeled backwards quickly, scrambling into a sitting position. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I noticed that the way I was sitting felt weird, but I ignored it. Spitting, I tried to clear my mouth of the unknown substance. I had planned on having Twilight take a look at it, but never got around to it. There was no telling what was going to happen. I just prayed that if it was a poison, it would act quickly and painlessly.

After several minutes of nothing happening, I slowly began to relax, my breathing returning to normal. Reaching up, I wiped my muzzle with my foreleg, trying to clean the liquid off of it.

As I lowered my arm I froze, my breath hitching in my throat. I slowly lifted the limb back up, staring wide eyed at the sight before me. Cautiously, I tried to move my fingers, but that only resulted in the sole of my hoof flexing slightly.

As I stared down at my new appendage in horror, only one thought came to mind.

“...What the fuck?!”

The Coming Dawn hooves pounded against the snow-covered ground as they hurried down the back alleys of Manehattan, taking care not to be spotted by the revelers out on the main street.

Ahead of the group, Dusty fluttered along, his wings beating furiously as he tried to stay in front of the guards. Every so often he’d glance back, eyeing them fearfully. Sunny wasn’t sure what Ivory had shown him, but she had never seen Dusty move this fast in his life. He was a lazy stallion who would sometimes not eat because that entitled getting up off his flank. To see him running (or more like stumbling along quickly) at all was a shock to Sunny.

Rounding the far corner of a building, Dusty landed with a thud, sliding on a patch of hidden ice. Lifting a hoof, he pointed at a small warehouse several blocks away.

“That’s the one,” he panted, his chest heaving as his lungs struggled to draw air. “That’s the one you want.”

“Excellent,” Ivory growled. Stalking forward, she grabbed Dusty by the scruff of his neck with her magic and forced him forward. “Get moving. You’re unlocking it for us.”

“Alright, alright, I’m movin’!” Dusty yelped, his legs scrambling beneath him. He cast another fearful look at the unicorn before turning and darting off down the street, his tail tucked beneath him. Snorting, Ivory ran after him, the rest of the squad following behind her.

Sunny gasped for breath as she ran, a cramp in her side twinging with every step she took. Stacker ran beside her, barely winded from their run.

He must have incredible endurance, Sunny thought as she glanced sideways at him. With all this armor on, I feel like I’m about to pass out.

“So, there’s one thing I’m curious about,” Stacker said suddenly, snapping Sunny out of her thoughts. Swallowing thickly, she licked her lips, clearing them of foam, before responding.

“What’s that?” she gasped, lungs burning.

“Darkflare hates pegasi, right?” Stacker asked, keeping his eyes forward as he ran. Sunny nodded. “Then why does he pay one to feed his human?”

“Who’s the first... one that Van’s... going to attack… if he gets out… during feeding?” Sunny asked between large gulps of air. Stacker paused, his eyebrows creasing for a moment before returning to their original position.

“Hadn’t thought of that,” he muttered under his breath. Sunny just puffed and wheezed beside him, trying her best to keep up.

They eventually reached the warehouse, the group settling around a small door located on the side of the building. As Dusty fumbled with a set of keys he pulled out of his wing, Ivory glanced back at the rest of the guards.

“Alright, here’s the deal,” she said, her voice low. “We don’t know what we’re going to find in here. For all we know, Darkflare is waiting for us. Keep together, and be ready for anything.” Turning to one of the guards, a unicorn mare with a short green mane, she added, “Arcane shields up once we get inside.” The mare nodded once, before a soft glow surrounded her horn.

Still catching her breath, Sunny reached up and patted the pouch on her hip, double-checking that her Iron Hoof was still there. Beside her, Stacker did likewise, checking his hunting knives before resheathing them. Around them, the other guards were checking their weapons as well.

“Oi, I got it,” Dusty called out suddenly, his words followed shortly by a loud clunking sound. Stepping back, he threw the padlock off of the door and pushed it open.

“There, I got ya’ in. Can I go now?” he asked, turning to glance at Ivory as he slowly started to slink away. He paused when she held out her hoof.

“The key, if you’d be so kind,” she growled. Dusty placed the key on her hoof, careful to not allow his own to touch hers. Once that was done, he turned and shot off down the street, leaving a cloud of snow in his wake.

“You sure we should let him go?” one of the guards asked, eyeing the retreating pegasus with a sneer.

“He’s not a threat,” Ivory said, moving to stand beside the now open door. “Let him be. He’ll have enough nightmares as is.”

As the rest of the guards moved to stack up next to Ivory, Sunny fell in line behind Stacker.

“Remember,” Ivory said as she peered through the doorway. “Stay close, stay alert, and be prepared.” She paused briefly before moving forward through the door and into the warehouse. Everypony else filed in after her, their heads swiveling around as they took in every detail.

The warehouse was silent. Faint sunlight streamed through the dirty windows, illuminating the spacious room. Crates were stacked high, nearly touching the ceiling in some places. Dust covered most of the surfaces, cobwebs filling the cracks and holes. Near the ceiling, nearly invisible to the naked eye, barbed wire dangled, waiting patiently for any unsuspecting pegasi that might wander in.

As the guards moved through the maze of crates, the two unicorns both kept up a magical barrier: a three square feet of energy that hovered in front of them like a shield. It swiveled with their heads, always staying in front to provide ample protection.

Nearing the center of the room, Ivory paused, staring at something on the ground.

“Sergeant, check this out,” she said, calling back over her shoulder to Stacker. Moving forward, he glanced over her shoulder, a small frown touching his face when he saw what she was pointing at.

“The dust on the floor has been disturbed,” he said, his gravelly voice quiet. “Looks like the colt was telling the truth. Darkflare’s been through here.”

“Right,” Ivory muttered, staring down at the hoofprints clearly visible in the dust. She was silent for several seconds before lifting her head and glancing to the left.

“The tracks go off in that direction,” she said, pointing towards a large gap in the wall of crates. “Seeing as there are no tracks returning, they’re either still here, or left by a different door.”

“So… what’s the plan?” Sunny asked, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. Ivory and Stacker glanced at each other briefly before Ivory spoke.

“We follow the tracks and see what Darkflare was up to.”

“We already know what he’s up to,” Sunny countered. “He’s here for Van.”

“In that case, he’s probably long gone and we have nothing to worry about,” Ivory replied, starting to follow the tracks in the dust. The rest of the guards moved after her, and Sunny was forced to follow, lest she be left behind.

The Coming Dawn followed the tracks carefully, skirting openings and peaking around corners in case there were any ponies waiting in ambush. The only sound that could be heard throughout the warehouse was the muffled movements of the guards. Even so, Sunny couldn’t help shake the feeling that something was watching her. Glancing around, she saw that there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary anywhere. Just some crates, boxes, barrels, and an old mirror with a tarp cloth hanging haphazardly atop it. Nonetheless, she stroked the Iron Hoof through the pouch again, making sure that it was still there.

As the group neared the back wall of the warehouse, Ivory paused again, her nostrils flaring. She let out a confused grunt before reaching up and pulling her bandana. Moving her head around like a dog seeking a scent, she sniffed again before asking, “Does anypony else smell something burning?”

The rest of the group froze, lifting their noses in the air to sniff as well. Sunny scrunched up her face at the smell of smoke. It was faint, almost nonexistent, and if it hadn’t been for Ivory pointing it out, she would have missed it completely.

“Yeah, something’s burnin’ alright,” Stacker grunted, looking around as he continued to sniff.

“Some restaurant burning its food?” one of the guards offered. Ivory shook her head slowly.

“Highly unlikely,” she said. “For one, none of the buildings around this one were restaurants.” She glanced over her shoulder, giving the guard a deadpan look. “Plus, how many restaurants do you know of that are open on Hearth’s Warming Eve?”

“Residential?” another guard asked. “ Somepony burning their holiday supper?”

“No,” Stacker said, “it’s not that.” Sunny glanced over at him, noting that his ears were perked and he was gazing forwards with an intense look on his face.

“What makes you so sure?” the guard asked. Stacker said nothing, just lifted a hoof and pointed. Glancing in the direction he was indicating, Sunny’s eyes widened in alarm when she spied what he was staring at.

Visible through the crates, in the back of the warehouse where the records were kept, a dull light shone through the office windows. Even from where she was standing, Sunny could make out the telltale flicker of flames. A slight haze hung over that part of the building as well, giving further evidence to the fact that a fire was currently growing.

“Buck,” Ivory growled, her eyes narrowing beneath her glasses.

“Why would they light a fire in the warehouse?” the unicorn guard asked, staring at the glowing windows through the magic barrier in front of her.

“Getting rid of information and resources,” Stacker said. “Everything burned is one less thing we can use against them.”

“Come on. It doesn't look that big. We should be able to put it out,” Ivory snapped, moving forward. Beside her, Stacker started forwards as well. Sunny followed with the rest of the guards, the other unicorn bring up the rear, her shield still active.

As the ponies neared the back of the building, the smoky haze became much thicker, hanging over their heads and forcing them to cough. The distinct sound of crackling flames slowly become audible the closer they got. Sunny’s eyes begin to water as her nostrils burned. She could still see fairly well, but the smoke was slowly becoming denser and denser as the unseen fire continued to grow.

When they were standing beside the office doors, Ivory paused and glanced over at Stacker. Through the glass of the door Sunny could see the orange light flickering, an occasional ember jumping into view. Even with the door closed, she could feel the heat coming from the other side. Her instincts were telling her to run, to fly, or get as far from the flames as possible. However, the determined expressions on all of the other guards’ faces kept her from fleeing. If they can do it, you can do it too.

“Alright, sergeant,” Ivory said, having to speak loudly to be heard over the crackle of the flames. “When we go in, you and the pegasi try and save as much as you can. Corporal Shine here—” the unicorn mare’s ear twitched as she was mentioned “—and I will work on putting out the flames. Is that clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Stacker grunted, pulling out a bandana of his own and wrapping it around his muzzle, trying to block out the smoke. The other guards did the same, Stacker pulling an extra one out of his pouch for Sunny.

Once they all had their mouths and nostrils covered, Ivory turned to the office door. Pausing for just a second, she dropped her shield and wrapped the door handle in a red glow.

“On three,” she growled. “One… two… thr—”

CRUNCH

A loud shriek behind her caused Sunny to jump. It was followed quickly by the sound of something wet and meaty hitting the floor and a loud gagging noise. Wheeling around, it took Sunny’s mind a brief second before it registered what she was seeing.

And when it did, she froze, her heart stopping in her chest.

Standing there, the orange, flickering glow from the fire casting demented shadows upon his frame, was a human. He was tall, standing at a height that—Sunny believed—would allow him to stand eye to eye with Max. Wearing only a dark pair of tattered pants, most of his lithe body was exposed. Muscles rippled across his frame, scars accenting the flesh. A trio of fireballs, all spinning around each other, were branded upon the right side of his chest. His left hand was wrapped around the throat of one of the pegasus guards, who was struggling to break free.

The sound of groaning drew Sunny’s eyes to the ground. Corporal Shine lay at the human’s feet, her horn sparking uselessly as blood slowly pooled around her head. Quickly jerking her eyes back up to the human, Sunny flinched as his cold gray eyes glared down at her. His lips pulled back in a silent sneer, revealing his teeth, many of which had metal caps on them, giving them a sharpened look.

As Sunny took a step back, away from the human, she heard Stacker swear behind her.

“Is that…” he asked, not finishing his question. Sunny nodded anyways, her ears splaying backwards as her pupils shrunk.

“Van,” she whimpered, taking another step back.

Van growled softly, his eyes darting between the remaining guards, his posture relaxed even as the pegasus continued to struggle in his grasp.

“What the buck is he doing here?” the remaining guard shouted. “I thought Darkflare came to get him!”

“Fire behind us, mad human in front. This complicates things,” Stacker grunted, moving to stand in front of Sunny, his wings spread wide.

“No, it doesn’t,” Ivory growled. “It makes our job easier. Now we don’t have to track him down!”

“And how do you plan on restraining him?” Stacker shouted, not taking his eyes off of Van. As the human slowly turned his head to face him, the heckles on the back of his neck raised.

“Easy,” Ivory sneered. “Magic!”

Sunny’s eyes widened and she whipped around, crying out, “No, wait! Don’t!”

It was too late, however.

As Ivory’s horn lit up, Van’s eyes immediately snapped to her. Letting out a loud barking snarl, he pulled his arm back and chucked the pegasus guard at Ivory with strength that didn’t seem possible considering his thin form. Ivory didn’t have any time to react before the pegasus crashed into her, sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

“Shit, lieutenant!” Stacker cried. The shout caused Van’s attention to snap to Stacker instead.

The whites of Sunny’s eyes were showing as Van slowly lifted his right hand, brandishing a large sledgehammer. Behind her, the sound of crackling flames had evolved into a roar, and she could practically feel the hair on her flanks beginning to curl. Instinctively taking a step forwards to avoid the flames, Sunny flinched as she realized that she had brought herself closer to Van.

“Pick your poison,” Stacker muttered, his wings twitching by his side, half spread. “Shall we burn in fire, get attacked by a human, or get tangled above in barbed wire?” Sunny just whimpered in response.

Van charged.

Swinging the hammer in a wide arch, the human brought it crashing down with a roar. Moving on instinct alone, Stacker rolled to his left, pulling Sunny with him. The hammer smashed into the floor where the pair had been standing seconds before, a shower of sparks erupting from the head.

Following through with his roll, Stacker flipped to his hooves, pulling his hunting knives out in the process.

“Try and take him alive,” Ivory cried out from beneath the pegasus guard as she tried to push him off her.

“Are you mad?!” Stacker shouted back, not taking his eyes off of Van. Holding his knives in a defensive posture, he interposed himself between the human and Sunny, his wings spread wide.

“Princess Celestia requested him alive!” Ivory shot back, struggling underneath the weight of the stallion. Her horn was still sparking uselessly, her magic unavailable. “Use the tranquilizers!”

“The princess isn’t exactly here right now, is she?” Stacker growled as Van began to stalk closer. “And how the buck are we supposed to get close enough to tranquilize him? I really don’t want to become this big boy’s dinner!”

“Just do it!” Ivory yelled, managing to free one of her back legs from the unconscious guard.

Stacker opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off as Van let out a terrible, ear-splitting roar before dashing forward, the hammer raised above his head.

After everyone had calmed down from the initial excitement of finding out about Cadance’s pregnancy, the group had retreated back to the fireplace, enjoying the warmth the flames provided.

Resting upon a cushion, Cadance was laid out on her side, making sure to keep pressure off of her swollen stomach. The rest of the mares had grouped around her, with the exception of Avera, who was still asleep, and Primrose, who was still sitting by the thrones, puffing on her joint. The batpony still eyed the group from a distance, ears perked.

As Cadance readjusted herself into a more comfortable position, Twilight couldn’t help but squeal again for the umpteenth time.

“Ohhh, I can’t believe I’m going to be an aunt!” she cooed, clapping her hooves together happily. “I can teach them all sorts of spells I know, it’ll be so much fun. It’ll be like having my own student!”

“Easy, Twilight,” Cadance smirked. “We don’t even know what it’s going to be yet. Wouldn’t want you to get all excited only to find out it’s going to be a pegasus, now would we?”

Twilight blushed, giving her a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Cadance said, her smirk turning into a warm smile. “I must say, you’re only about half as excited as I was when I found out I was having a foal. You should have seen your brother, walking around the castle in a daze, the biggest grin ever on his face.” She giggled into her hoof. “It was one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen.”

“Do you have any idea what gender it’s going to be?” Fluttershy asked softly, peeking out from beneath her mane. Cadance just shook her head.

“Nope, although Shining is hoping for a colt. Truthfully, I’ll be happy either way, as long as they’re healthy. Although—” she paused, poking her bulging belly gently with the tip of her hoof “—with how big I’m getting, I have a sneaking suspicion that it might be twins.”

“Oh, you aren’t that big, darling,” Rarity said, batting her mane. She paused, eyeing Cadance out of the corner of her eye. “Although, it must be tiring, walking around like that. I can’t imagine you’re able to fly anymore.”

“True,” Cadance said with a giggle. “Thankfully, I was never a big flyer, so it hasn’t hindered me much. And it’s not as tiring as you might think. The biggest issues I’ve had is the morning sickness, and crazy cravings.”

“Cravings?” asked Pinkie, perking up. “You mean, like for chocolate chip cookies and pies and cakes?”

“Yes,” Cadance replied, “but also chocolate-covered mushrooms, pickles smothered in mustard, and deep fried grapefruit.” As everyone stared at her in fascinated horror (Rarity looking positively green), Cadance just shrugged. “You’d think it’s disgusting, but they’re all surprisingly good.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Rarity said uneasily, covering her mouth with a hoof.

The sound of the main throne room doors opening drew the group’s attention, and they watched with some amusement as Shining and Rainbow walked back into the room. Glancing around, Shining spotted his wife by the fire and immediately headed in her direction.

“So, did you manage to get Max?” Cadance asked her husband as he reached her.

“What?” he asked, rubbing tenderly at a small bump on his head. “Oh, um… no. He managed to get away from us.” Shining gave her a sheepish smile before collapsing onto a cushion next to her, nuzzling her neck lovingly. Rainbow did likewise, lying down next to Pinkie before starting to preen her wings, trying to get the feathers back into position.

“You left Max out there, alone, without his guards?” Twilight asked sharply, her eyes widening. Before she could get too worked up, however, Ebony rolled her eyes.

“Relax, Twilight. We’re in Canterlot Castle. There are at least four guards for every noble here, and everypony is probably at home with their family. I doubt anything bad will happen before he can get back to the throne room.”

“You say that, but the last time we were here, Blueblood tried to kidnap him,” Twilight replied, her ears splaying backwards. This earned confused looks from Cadance and Shining, but neither pressed the issue.

“You really think Blueblood is going to try again, after what happened?” Ebony asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s not Blueblood I’m worried about,” Twilight muttered. “It’s the nobles. You know how they are with the humans of the other nobles.” Ebony sighed before shaking her head.

“Nothing bad is going to happen to him,” she said. “The worst that will happen is he’ll probably get lost and need to be escorted back here by a guard.”

“I guess,” Twilight said, biting her lip. “It’s just—”

“And,” Ebony continued, cutting off Twilight, “I know for a fact that you have a location spell active on him right now, letting you know where he is at any given moment.”

“East Wing, near the bedrooms,” Twilight murmured, her horn glowing softly. She slowly lowered her head as the others stared at her.

“Twilight, why do you have a locator spell on him?” Cadance asked, shaking her head. “I don’t think that’s entirely necessary.”

“Trust me, it is,” Twilight defended. “You don’t know the kind of trouble that Max can get up to when he’s by himself. Heck, there are even times he’s with somepony where trouble seems to find him. Ever since he got attacked by the infected human I’ve been placing the locator spell on him, just so I’ll know where he is.”

“Will that help you protect him?” Shining asked, cocking an eyebrow. Twilight flicked her ears, glancing away.

“No… but it makes me feel better.”

“Normally, Ad’d agree with ya on that Cadance, but Max does seem tah attract a lot of attention,” Applejack said.

Rarity slowly turned her head to smirk at the farmer. “You’d know that from past experience, wouldn’t you, darling?” A large blush crossed Applejack’s face and she lowered her hat, her ears splaying backwards.

Choosing to ignore the statement, Cadance just shook her head.

“I still think that’s over the top,” she sighed, shifting slightly on her cushion. She winced as her back legs squeezed together. “Ohhh,” she groaned, “that’s one thing that I’m not happy about.”

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked, worry in her voice. Cadance just nodded, wincing again as she shifted her legs.

“Yes, although I must say that I’ve never noticed how much my legs rub against my teats until they became tender. The increased size doesn’t help much either,” she added with a weak chuckle. Glancing over at Rarity, she smiled.

“I may have to commission some skirted saddles from you, Rarity.” The fashionista gave her a large smile.

“Certainly, darling. I’d be more than happy to make you some. Although,” she added, cocking her head to the side, “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at saddles the same way again after what Max has told me about them from his world.” Immediately after saying that, Rarity’s eyes flew open wide and she clamped a hoof over her mouth.

Glancing over at Twilight, her ears splayed backwards at the intense look the mare was giving her.

“What was that?” Pinkie asked, cocking her head to the side.

“N-nothing, darling,” Rarity said uneasily. “I was just saying that I would be happy to make Cadance some saddles!”

“Noooo,” Pinkie said, shaking her head. “You said something about Max, and saddles, and his old world. What do they use saddles for there? Oh, oh, I know! They use them for a special type of sport involving hurdles, jumps and obstacle courses, right, right?!” She bounced in her seat, a large grin on her face.

Rarity stared at Pinkie for several seconds before sighing. “I’m not getting out of this, am I?”

“Nope!” Pinkie exclaimed happily. Beside her, Twilight nodded her head, her curious gaze still locked on Rarity.

“I’ve talked with Max about his world many times, and I don’t remember him saying anything about saddles,” she said, her wings twitching by her side. “When did he tell you?”

“Of course he hasn’t told you,” Rarity muttered under her breath, her voice so low the others couldn’t hear. Closing her eyes, she sighed again before lifting her head. “It was shortly after we had finished up at the human show. We were on our way back to the library when I asked him about it. Rather, I asked him about ponies from his world.”

“Why in tarnation would ya do that?” Applejack asked, frowning slightly.

“Remember when he showed us the pictures of his home?” Rarity asked, earning a nod from most of the group. Shining and Cadance’s eyes widened, but they kept their comments to themselves. “Well, I happened to notice a distinct lack of ponies in the pictures, and decided to ask him about it. The answer was… rather startling.”

“Why do you say that?” Pinkie asked, still bouncing in place.

“Because,” Rarity said, closing her eyes, “it turns out that ponies from his world are—pardon me saying—as stupid and animalistic as the humans in ours. Humans there use saddles on ponies as a way to dominate and control them. It gives the human a place to sit while they use the pony as a beast of burden.”

The silence that followed that statement was deafening. Rarity winced as everyone stared at her with varying levels of shock on their faces. The smile had completely left Pinkie’s face, and she had ceased bouncing. The only pony that seemed unaffected by Rarity’s words was Rainbow Dash—having heard it from the human’s mouth—who was still preening her disheveled wings.

“Wait just a darn moment,” Applejack said suddenly, pushing her hat back on her head. “Are ya tryin’ tah tell me that, on Max’s world, we’re nothin’ but a bunch of dumb animals?”

“It would seem that way, yes,” Rarity said solemnly, nodding her head.

“Ah’m sorry, but that there’s a mighty big pill tah swallow,” Applejack said, shaking her head. “Ah don’t think Ah like the sound of that, bein' a wild beast.”

Surprisingly, it was Fluttershy who spoke up next.

“Now hold on,” she said, her normal quiet voice stronger than usual. She was looking at Applejack with a small frown on her face. “We shouldn’t get all worked up about this. Imagine it from Max’s perspective. He was taken from a world of intelligent humans and forced into our world. Is it so hard to see it in reverse?”

“Ah’m just sayin’, imagine comin’ across a pony that was just a mindless animal,” Applejack argued. “That just doesn’t sit right with me.”

“It’s something that Max has to go through every day,” Fluttershy countered. “Besides, it’s not like we’re going to encounter any of them here in Equestria. They’re all back on Max’s world, where they belong, with their herds and families.”

“Ah suppose you’re right,” Applejack grumbled, looking off to the side. “Ah still don’t like it, though. Not bein’ in charge of your own actions.”

“You just don’t like it because you have an entire farm full of humans,” Rainbow grunted, her teeth clamped around a few feathers. Applejack opened her mouth to reply, her angry expression telling that she was readying herself for an argument with her winged friend, when Rarity cut in.

“That is neither here nor there,” she said, glaring at the two. “You asked me what Max had said, and I told you. It was because of that conversation I was thinking of putting a halt to my saddle line. I was thinking about possibly taking up socks instead—”

“Twilight, are you alright?” Cadance asked, her voice sounding worried. The sudden question caused everyone to glance at the pony in question.

Twilight was staring off into the distance, her pupils the size of pinpricks. Ears pressed tight against her head, she sat there, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly, her breaths coming in quick bursts. Her wings were hanging limply by her side, and every so often her body trembled slightly.

“Twilight, darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked, placing a hoof on her shoulders. Twilight flinched, her jaw clicking shut as she swallowed thickly. Opening her mouth again, she spoke, her voice barely audible as she continued to stare into the distance.

“...dumb beasts.” Rarity glanced around at the others, clearly confused. When all she got was a couple of shrugs in response, she returned her attention back to Twilight, chewing on her bottom lip.

“I’m sorry, darling, I didn’t quite catch that,” she said, a weak smile on her face. “What did you say?”

“Ponies from his world are dumb beasts,” Twilight said again, this time slightly louder. Her voice sounded strained, as if she was trying to stop herself from crying. “We remind him of dumb beasts. We look similar to animals to him.”

“Indeed, a rather interesting predicament, isn’t it?” A musical voice spoke up from behind, causing everyone to jump. Glancing around, they watched as Princess Celestia approached, a small smile on her face. Behind her, Luna trotted along, still blinking sleep from her eyes. Her ethereal mane, while flowing regularly, also seemed to stick out in several directions in an odd case of bedhead.

“Princess,” Twilight said, trying to greet her mentor normally, but her voice cracked halfway through. Celestia walked up to the group, her smile remaining on her face as she drew nearer.

Leaning down to nuzzle Cadance when she arrived, Celestia said softly, “It’s good to see you again Cadance, and congratulations. I wish you and Shining Armor good luck in the trials ahead, even though they will prove to be happy ones.” Cadance returned the nuzzle, sighing happily.

“Thank you, auntie,” she cooed. “I’m looking forward to it, but what did you mean ‘an interesting predicament?’”

Lifting her head, Celestia let her eyes drift over the assembled ponies before coming to a rest on Twilight.

“I was informed of the relationship between ponies and humans on Max’s home world by Avera—” she nodded at the pegasus, who was still snoozing, oblivious to the world around her “—who learned it at the same time as Rarity. I must say, while I did find it rather alarming at first,” she said, nodding towards Applejack this time, “I must say that I am rather pleased to know of this information.”

“Why would you be pleased about that?” Cadance asked, her eyes widening.

“Because it speaks volumes about him, doesn’t it?” Celestia said, a twinkle in her eye as she smiled. “Despite the fact that we remind him of animals from his home world, he still treats us with respect and dignity that, frankly, I do believe some of us don’t deserve.” Seeing the confused faces before her, Celestia explained, “Though he is as intelligent as us, we tend to still occasionally treat him like we treat the humans here in Equestria. Be it in mannerisms, or just in how we act around him—” Rarity shot Applejack a smug look “—we, myself included, sometimes forget that he isn’t the same as the humans we are used to living with.

“That being said, I have yet to hear of a case where Max grabbed a saddle and rode a pony around,” Celestia chuckled. Rainbow froze, her face buried in her wing. Her body stiffened and her ear swiveled around, pointing at Celestia. The part of her face that was visible slowly began to darken into a blush.

“He views and treats us the same way he would treat any other intelligent creature,” Celestia concluded. Moving behind Twilight, she slowly lowered herself, her legs folded beneath her as she sat down. Luna, still half-asleep, quickly nuzzled Cadance before joining her sister.

After getting comfortable, Celestia leaned her head down and nuzzled Twilight, who seemed a bit calmer than she was before, but still looked somewhat tense.

“I agree with Tia,” Luna said, stifling a yawn with her hoof. “Although, Max did have a more… abrupt introduction to the idea than we did.”

“True,” Celestia said with a nod. “We each learned of it in a somewhat controlled environment. Max was thrust into it without a choice. That just makes my point even more stronger.”

“T-that is a good point,” Twilight spoke up, running a hoof through her mane. “Getting caged unexpectedly by a species you used to think was unintelligent could be a real shocker for anypony. That might actually explain some of his behavior during his first week in Ponyville.”

“Y’all mean that week he was troublesome?” Applejack asked.

“Yes,” Twilight nodded. “It was a very stressful week, although he did work hard at making it up to me afterwards.”

“Speaking of making it up to you,” Celestia said suddenly, a smirk slowly playing across her muzzle, “has he given you your present yet?” Twilight perked up, craning her head back to look at Celestia.

“Present?” she asked, blinking in confusion. “What present?”

“I’ll take that as a no,” Celestia chuckled softly, shaking her head. Upon seeing Twilight still giving her a confused look, she just smiled. “It’s not my place to reveal what he has planned, although I will say that I think you’ll like—”

scritch scritch scritch

Celestia frowned, her ears perking up as she glanced at the throne room door, the others quickly following suit. The sound continued, just barely audible over the sounds of the fire. It sounded like a pony was outside, fumbling with the massive rings that made up the door handles.

As the scratching continued, Luna peeked over her sister’s shoulders.

“What’s that?” she began to ask, but was cut off by a loud thunk coming from the doors, followed by muffled swearing. There was a brief pause before another loud thunk was heard. One of the doors groaned before slowly beginning to slide open. A quiet murmur rippled through the observers as a gray stallion slipped between the gap in the doors.

Twilight frowned as she watched the stallion draw nearer. She couldn’t recall ever having seen him before in the palace, and court wasn’t open today.

He walked with a pronounced limp, his legs moving as if he wasn’t sure which hoof should go where next. His head was lowered, his messy brown mane hiding his face as he kept his eyes firmly on the ground in front of him. Narrowing her eyes, she could just make out something held in his teeth.

The group watched the unknown pony approach with a mixture of caution and curiosity. Behind her, Twilight could feel Celestia shift, preparing to stand. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a curious look on her mentor’s face as she eyed the stallion closely.

Turning her gaze back to the stallion, Twilight felt her breath hitch in her throat when her eyes landed on the saddlebags perched up on his back. They were clearly not designed for a pony, the opening facing forwards instead of up. Dyed black, she could just make out her cutie mark upon the sides of the bags.

There was no doubt in her mind: those were Max’s saddlebags.

Why does he have those?! Twilight thought, fear rapidly growing in her chest. Images of Max lying in a puddle of his own blood at the bottom of the pit filled her mind, causing the small embers of panic to flare into an inferno. Immediately lighting up her horn, she cast the locator spell, preparing herself to teleport to where her human was the instant she had his location. She would leave her friends to deal with this stallion.

It took a few seconds for the location spell to activate fully, but when it did Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. It was still working, which meant that, where he was, Max was still alive. She concentrated, focusing on the spell. According to her spell, her human was right… in… front of her?

“Wha…” Twilight muttered, staring at the stallion in shock, her mind reeling as she tried to figure out what was going on.

Behind her, Celestia shifted again.

“Can I help you, my little pony?” she asked as the stallion stopped a few feet away. Everyone was staring at him, each with a different expression on their faces, going from curious (Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie) to cautious (Shining, Rainbow and Applejack) to confused (Cadance and Luna).

The stallion was silent for a moment, his head still lowered, before he spat out the object clenched in his teeth. It clattered to the ground with a sharp tinkling sound, instantly recognizable as the remains of a shattered jar.

As the stallion licked his teeth and lips, grimacing slightly, Twilight could feel her heart racing. Her ears were perked and she was staring at him with horrified fascination. It can’t be…

“Yeah,” the stallion suddenly said. His voice held a strange accent that sounded familiar, yet Twilight couldn’t quite place it. The sound of his voice caused a shiver to run down her spine. She knew that voice; it had been troubling her dreams for quite some time now. With her heart beating in her throat, she watched as he lifted his head and his messy mane fell away from his face, revealing it.

Twilight couldn’t help herself; she gasped. Around her, she heard several of her friends doing the same. The stallion had a large, familiar scar running across his muzzle to his right eye, which was milky white in color.

Ignoring the gasps around him, he glared up at Celestia with his one good eye before speaking, “Figure out what’s wrong, and fix me.”

Celestia jerked back, her eyes widening in shock.

“Max!?” she squawked, jumping to her hooves. She stared down at him for several seconds, her mouth opening and closing silently. Around the group, eyes widened and jaws fell open as everyone suddenly realized who the strange stallion was.

“What… what happened to you?” Celestia asked when she finally found her voice.

“The fuck if I know,” the stallion—Max, Twilight reminded herself weakly—growled, swaying slightly on his hooves. “I was running away from these two—” he jerked his head towards Shining and Rainbow, nearly collapsing as his legs shifted underneath him “—when I finally managed to lose them. I then tripped down some stairs, and when I landed, this thing—” he managed to kick the jar remains without falling “—shattered and I got some of its contents in my mouth. The next thing I knew, I was like this.”

“You can talk,” Celestia stated dumbly, a blank look on her face.

“Yeah, the only good thing to come out of this,” he grunted, a displeased look on his face.

“You’re a pony, and you can talk.” Celestia blinked several times before her gaze slowly drifted down to the cracked glass jar in front of her. As she picked it up carefully in her magic, Pinkie jumped up, a huge smile on her face.

“Yay!” she cheered, bouncing around the ponified human. “Maxie can talk! I can throw him a ‘hurray for not being mute anymore’ party, as well as a ‘congratulations on becoming a pony’ party!” Throwing her legs around Max from behind, she picked him up in a big hug, nuzzling him as she did so. He grimaced, whimpering weakly as she squeezed the air from his lungs. His tail thrashed back and forth as he squirmed.

“Pinkie… can’t breathe,” he wheezed, face turning blue.

“Oops, sorry, Maxie,” she giggled, releasing him from her grip. Max fell to the ground with a yelp, his legs failing to support his weight. Despite herself, Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at the sight; he almost looked like a newborn deer, unable to walk on its spindly legs. The sound caused Max to glance over at her. His ears perked up, and tail wagged upon seeing her, only causing Twilight to blush a deep crimson.

As Max struggled to get to his hooves, the sound of laughter suddenly filled the air. Rainbow had fallen onto her back, kicking her hooves in the air as she roared with laughter, nearly choking on her own spit. Tears streamed down her face and she rolled back and forth, cackling with uncontrolled mirth.

“Aw, man,” she wheezed out in between gasps for air. “This is better than what we originally had planned!” She sat up, hiccuping slightly as she wiped tears from her eyes. Glancing over at the unamused pony-Max, she snorted once before breaking out in laughter again.

“Glad you find this so amusing,” Max growled, eyeing her with annoyance. His teeth ground together, and an ear flicked against the side of his head.

As Rainbow continued to laugh uproariously, Twilight couldn’t help but gawk at the pony standing before her. He stood just slightly bigger than her brother; a good head taller than her. Muscles rippled underneath his steel-gray coat, giving him an athletic look. The fur around his chin and fetlocks was shaggy, giving him a scruffy look that actually worked for him. A brown mane, highlighted with some blonde strands, hung down in front of his face. His only good eye was a rich chocolate brown and seemed to twinkle slightly in the firelight.

Overall, he was a rather handsome stallion, and Twilight could feel her cheeks beginning to heat up the more she stared at him. Every so often he would flick his head in cute manner in order to get the hair out of his eyes. It was a familiar movement that she recalled Max used to do back when he had longer hair.

Twilight was snapped out her musings by Celestia humming thoughtfully.

“This looks like a Transformation Potion, with pony hair as a catalyst,” she said, slowly spinning the bottom half of the jar in her magic. Tipping it upside down, she watched as a single drop of rainbow liquid fell from the cracked glass. “No doubt that when it got in your mouth, you transformed into a pony.”

“Wait!” Twilight cried suddenly, her eyes widening in alarm. “Where in Equestria did you get this? The one I was brewing isn’t complete yet!” It took her a few seconds for her mind to realize what it was she had just said. She squeaked, hooves flying to her mouth as her cheeks burned red.

Max gave her a confused look, his right ear twitching. “I got it from Zecora’s cousin when we went to get your supplies. I didn’t know what it was at the time and was going to ask you, but forgot.” He cocked his head to the side as he gave Twilight a curious look. “Why are you brewing one?”

“N-no reason,” Twilight stuttered out from behind her hooves. “It was a... side project, for curiosity’s sake.”

“Looking to transform yourself into a human, hm?” Twilight’s ear flicked as Celestia whispered into it. She could practically hear the smirk in her teacher’s voice. “You know, I know a simple spell that can do that exact same thing, and last for as long as you can maintain the magic.” Twilight’s cheeks grew even redder, and she hid beneath her mane, her wings twitching by her side. She heard Celestia chuckle softly before straightening up.

“It’s a rather difficult potion to make,” she said to Max. “It takes a while to brew, but when it’s complete, it’s truly a remarkable thing. Just add a few hairs of any species you desire, and upon drinking, you’ll become that species.”

“So, I’m stuck like this?” Max asked, his ears drooping in dismay. Celestia glanced up from the remains of the jar and gave him a reassuring smile.

“No, the effects of the potion are merely temporary. The amount you ingest determines how long it’ll work, and seeing as you didn’t drink the entire potion, it’ll only last for a little while.”

“How long is 'a little while'?” Max asked, his eyes narrowing. Twilight’s ears twitched and she tried her hardest to hide the dopey smile that was fighting to work its way onto her face. She could listen to his voice for hours without losing interest. The gruffness of it, the strange accent; it was unique, especially considering that he was usually mute.

“Considering you said you just got a little in your mouth, I’d say a few hours, maybe less,” Celestia replied, lowering the jar. Max sighed, lowering his head as his ears drooped again. “Why?” she asked, giving him a curious look. “Is there something wrong with being a pony?”

“No,” Max replied slowly. He continued to stare at the ground for a few seconds before glancing up at Celestia. “...and yes. It’s more like a series of minor annoyances than anything else. I’m not used to walking on all fours, but it feels almost natural to me. Hooves have different traction than feet and I fell more times than I’d like to count just trying to get back here. I feel like a newborn. It took me forever to fold up my clothes just using my mouth and to get them back into my bags. Same thing with my notebooks. This fur is rather itchy, there’s a muzzle constantly in my vision, and these ears won’t stop twitching and moving on their own!” he said, his voice slowly rising into a scream before he placed his hooves upon his ears, which had been twitching and swiveling throughout his entire explanation. Another giggle escaped Twilight’s lips.

“Aw, what’s the matter? Can’t control your ears?” Pinkie asked with a large grin on her face. “It’s easy. Look!” Her ears began to flap up and down before beginning to alternate. Behind her, Rainbow began to snicker again, biting on her bottom lip to try and control herself.

“Pinkie…” Max sighed, closing his eyes, ears drooping. “Stop. Please, just stop.”

“Sorry,” Pinkie said, smiling sheepishly as her ears returned to their normal positions.

“It’s alright,” Max sighed again. “It's just… this isn’t as fun as it looks. Sorry if I’m a little snippy.”

“Well, you were right when you said that there were some benefits to this,” Rarity said, a small smile on her face. Upon Max giving her a confused look, she chuckled softly, “We can actually have a conversation with you without having to wait for you to write out a response.”

“Yippie,” Max said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Sighing again, he reached a hoof back and unfastened his saddlebags, allowing them to slide off his back and onto the floor. Another gasp traveled through the group as a cutie mark was revealed: a red human hand print, fingers spread wide.

“Yay! Now I can throw you a cute-ceañera as well!” Pinkie cheered as she began to bounce around again. Max groaned loudly before falling backwards onto his flank. Unfortunately, the way he was sitting exposed a rather personal part of his anatomy, giving everyone in the room a very clear view of it. Cheeks lit up around the room, and several mares stared unabashed. Twilight’s face flushed, and she could feel her wings slowly beginning to stiffen.

“Um, Max,” Rarity coughed, glancing away only to look back at him out of the corner of her eyes. “Darling, you’re kind of… exposing—” The glare he shot her was more than enough to silence her, as well as cause most of the others to look away as well.

“I’d like to see you all do better if the situation was reversed,” Max growled, pulling his saddlebags into his lap, covering himself up in the process. “I could just see it now: humanized ponies stumbling everywhere, trying to figure out how to walk properly on two legs.” He trailed off as he began to root around in his bag, digging through the contents with a small frown on his face.

“Several ruined notebooks, soaked pair of clothing, broken charcoal sticks,” he grumbled, trying to pull a rainbow-soaked notebook out of his bags with his hooves but failing spectacularly. Watching him struggle, Twilight giggled again before standing up and moving to sit beside him. Her horn lit up and she levitated the ruined notebooks out of the bag.

Glancing up, Max gave her a grateful smile, his tail wagging, before resuming his digging. “My only comfort is knowing that I took Twilight’s gifts out of here before we left our room, otherwise those would be ruined too.”

“You… you actually got me something?” Twilight asked, her cheeks lighting up for the umpteenth time in the past hour. Her heart started to pound in her chest at the possible meaning behind the present. Usually such things were reserved for family during Hearth Warming Eve. Friends rarely, if ever, got presents for one another.

“Well, duh,” Max chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Of course I got you something! I know how much crap I make you put up with, so it’s kinda my way of saying thanks… and I’m sorry.” He gave her a quick smile before burying his head into his bag, trying to reach the depths.

Twilight swallowed thickly, her mind beginning to race, before standing up, her legs shaking beneath her.

“Excuse me for a second,” she practically squeaked out, before turning and hurrying towards the doors, determined to get some air. Behind her, she could hear the others beginning to talk with Max, Pinkie and Rainbow teasing him about his transformation.

She had almost made it to the door when she was stopped by a hoof grabbing her shoulders. Yelping, she jumped, only to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw it was just Cadance with a concerned look on her face.

“Twilight, are you okay?” she asked, her eyes scanning Twilight’s face with worry. Twilight flinched before giving Cadance a weak smile.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Just getting a little too warm by the fire. Gonna go cool off.” She made to turn back to the door, but was stopped again by Cadance.

“Twilight.” She said the name slowly, drawing it out, and causing another flinch from the mare in question. “What’s wrong? Come on, you can tell me.”

“...I don’t have a present for Max,” Twilight whispered, staring at her hooves. Cadance cocked an ear and leaned in closer.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

“I don’t have a present for Max,” Twilight said, slightly louder than before, her ears splaying backwards. This caused Cadance to blink in surprise. For a few seconds she stared at Twilight, before her face scrunched up, a confused expression on her face.

“Is that what was bothering you?” she asked. “I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I didn’t get Auntie Celestia or Luna anyth—”

“Not a big deal? Not a big deal?!” Twilight hissed, an eye twitching. “Of course it’s a big deal! He got me something and I didn’t get him anything! I mean, if it was some silly get together I could understand that, but this is Hearth’s Warming Eve for Maker’s sake!” Twilight groaned softly as she danced in place. “Oh, how could I be so stupid! I should have planned for if he got me something. Friends don’t usually get friends stuff for Hearth’s Warming. I mean, I didn’t even get the others anything. Well, I got Spike some books and some rare gems, but that’s beside the point! Only special someponies get each other gifts, and he got me something and I didn’t get him anything and now he’s going to think I don’t care about him. How am I supposed to show him I care about him more than a friend if I can’t even get him a present for Hearth’s Warming Eve?!”

“Twilight, calm down,” Cadance said firmly, grabbing ahold of the panicking mare. “Take a couple of deep breaths, calm down, it’s going to be fine. It’s—” she paused, her brow furrowing slightly before her eyes widened. “You haven’t even told him how you feel yet?!” she yelped, staring at Twilight in shock. The answer was clear in Twilight’s guilty expression.

“Twilight,” Cadance said, slowly shaking her head. “We talked about this months ago. You still haven’t told Max how you feel about him? What could possibly be stopping you?”

“It’s never felt like a good time to tell him,” Twilight whined, her ear twitching sporadically.

“Twilight, it’s never going to be a good time,” Cadance said, still holding onto Twilight’s shoulders. “There’s not going to be a ‘perfect moment’ to tell someone you love them. The sooner you tell him, the sooner you can move on to loving one another!”

“I don’t even know if he likes me like that!” Twilight cried, her gaze darting to Max, who was still digging through his bags. “For all I know, he just wants to be friends! What if I ruin our current friendship trying to pursue a romantic relationship?”

“He got you a Hearth’s Warming Eve present,” Cadance deadpanned. “That should tell you how he feels.”

“But he said that was just a way of saying sorry for all the stress he’s put me under,” Twilight whimpered, her ears twitching madly.

“Twilight—”

“No, I’m sorry, Cadance,” Twilight said quickly, pulling herself from Cadance’s grip. “I’ve… I’ve got to get some air.” Turning, Twilight opened the throne room doors and dashed through them, leaving Cadance to stare after her, a concerned look on her face.

“Oh, come on, dude. It can’t be that bad!”

I ignored Rainbow, continuing to root around the inside of my saddlebags, trying to remove all the remains of broken jar. I smiled to myself as I managed to find one, a large shard that was hiding beneath my folded up shirt. Now, all that remained was to get it out without cutting myself.

Glancing down at my hoof, a small frown touched my face as I studied it. Tentatively, I tried to flex my nonexistent fingers again. The bottom of my hoof rippled as I did so.

I continued to stare at it for a few more seconds before shrugging. Reaching into the bag, I placed my hoof on top of the glass shard, and flexed my muscles, mentally closing my invisible hand around the glass.

Slowly, I pulled my hoof from the bag and, to my surprise, the glass came with, stuck to my hoof like a magnet to a piece of metal. I couldn’t help but stare at the piece of glass in wonder, shaking my hoof slightly as I tried to dislodge it. It didn’t move. Gradually, I relaxed my grip, imagining myself opening my fingers. The piece of glass was still for a moment before falling off my hoof and landing on the ground with a sharp clatter.

As I stared at the discarded shard, I heard Fluttershy giggling, probably at my awed expression. Nudging the glass with the tip of my hoof, I snorted once before returning my attention back to my bags.

“Aw, come on!” Rainbow cried as I ducked back into the bags. “You can’t still be mad at me. This isn’t even my fault! Besides, this has to be better than what Shining and I were going to do to you!”

“I’d prefer the dress,” I grumbled, face half-buried in my bag.

“Oh, come now, darling,” I heard Rarity speak up. “It can’t be that uncomfortable being a pony. All of us have been since birth.” I lifted my head out of the bag and eyed her with a blank expression.

“My legs bend in ways they shouldn’t,” I deadpanned.

“You’re being too negative about this,” Rarity sighed, rolling her eyes. “This is truly an amazing experience, isn’t it? I mean, just look at yourself, darling. You make such a handsome stallion, if I do say so myself. Although—” she paused, glancing over my new form with a critical eye “—the things I could do to your mane.”

“You put any ribbons in my hair and I’m leaving,” I said. “Besides, this is thankfully temporary, so no touching the hair… mane… whatever.”

“All the more reason to do it now!” Rarity chirped happily. I paused, glancing up to give her an unamused look.

“You’re no fun, darling,” she pouted.

A loud snort from behind me stopped my retort. Lifting my head, I glanced over my shoulder and a bemused look crossed my face as I watched Avera stir. She sat up, yawning before blinking dazedly. Her eyes slowly drifted around the room before stopping on me.

She paused, obviously still half-asleep, before a tired smirk flitted across her muzzle. “Hey, good lookin’—”

“Finish that sentence and I’ll rip your wings off and shove them so far up your ass, you’ll be spitting out feathers for a week,” I growled, eyes narrowing. Avera blinked before frowning.

“Ouch.”

“Do forgive Max, darling,” Rarity said. “He’s feeling a little… brutish at the minute.”

“Max?” Avera glanced between Rarity and me, a bemused look on her face. Her muzzle scrunched up, an ear flicking, before she stood up with a grunt. As she staggered off, I heard her mutter, “I’ve got to stop drinkin’ cider before bed.”

I rolled my eyes before picking up my bag in my hooves, fumbling with it slightly. Turning it upside down, I scattered the remainder of my stuff onto the floor in front of me.

Running my eyes over the upturned contents, I moved my bags back into my lap before beginning to sift through stuff. I pushed the ruined notebooks to the side, intent on throwing them out later. The ones that survived the soaking I placed on top of my bags for later use. I tossed aside the severely broken charcoal sticks, but decided to keep most of the other ones. Even when broken in half, they were still usable.

As I reached for my clothing, I paused, my new ears perking up at the sound of approaching hoofsteps. They twitched with each clip-clop, tapping against the side of my head. Huffing, I tried to ignore them as I glanced up. I blinked in surprise when I saw Cadance heading towards me, a small frown upon her face.

As she stopped in front of me, I felt my ears lower and my tail pressed against my flank.

“We need to talk,” she said, her voice firm. Her eyes darted to the others for a second before returning to me. “In private,” she added.

“O-okay,” I said, blinking in confusion. Taking one last glance around at my stuff, I placed my saddlebags off to the side and shakily moved to stand up. Cadance moved forward to help me up, and I gave her a grateful smile in return. With that, she led me away from the fire, towards the center of the throne room.

When we were a far enough distance away that she was sure no one was going to hear our conversation, Cadance suddenly stopped and turned, eyeing me with a critical gaze.

“So,” she said finally, “how are you?”

“Um… good,” I said slowly, one of my ears folding against my head as I gave her a confused look.

“That’s good.” There was a brief pause. “How is it living with Twilight?”

Slowly, my eyes drifted down to stare at my changed body. They flicked back up to Cadance and I said, “Well, it’s certainly not boring.”

“I can see that,” Cadance replied, her eyes drifting to my foreleg. Her brow furrowed and a small frown touched her muzzle. Glancing down at my leg as well, I tried to figure out what she was staring at. There, just barely visible beneath the gray fur, you could still see the healing bite mark the infected human had given me.

“Does it hurt?” she asked.

“Only when you hit it,” I said with a shrug. “Nurse says it’s healing fine. It’ll probably leave a scar, though.”

“Pinkie said that she and Rainbow are responsible for that, and you blame them,” Cadance said, nodding to the bite mark. It was more of a question than a statement, like she was wanting confirmation.

“'Blame' is such an ugly word,” I said, scrunching up my face. “It’s more like… they’re responsible and I’m disappointed with them? It’s hard to explain. I don’t really hate them, but I don’t totally forgive them yet. Make any sense?”

“And what about that one?” Cadance asked, pointing a hoof at my muzzle, causing me to go cross-eyed. Due to the new, extended appendage, I could actually just barely see the scar on my nose. “Do you still blame Twilight for that one?”

My gaze instantly snapped back to Cadance, my eyes narrowing and ears splaying back.

“That one is not Twilight’s fault,” I snorted, my tail lashing back and forth in aggravation. Cadance’s eyes widened for a brief moment before returning to normal.

“But you acquired it due to Twilight’s actions, no?” she asked, head cocking to the side. “The same as with Rainbow and Pinkie.”

“They are not the same,” I grunted, an ear flicking against my head.

“How do you figure that?” Cadance asked, her brow furrowing in confusion. “All ponies involved did something that resulted in you getting hurt.” Her eyes narrowed, ears perking up. “Why are you so quick to pardon Twilight?”

“I’m not—”

“How do you view Twilight?” Cadance inquired suddenly, cutting me off. I froze, my eyes widening as she asked me the same thing Celestia had asked me earlier this morning.

“...What?” I asked dumbly.

“What is Twilight to you?” Cadance asked again, her face devoid of any emotion. She stared at my face with an intense look of concentration, her eyes practically drilling through me.

I paused, one of my ears twitching involuntarily.

“She’s a very good friend to me,” I replied, “and I will do anything for her.” Instead of smiling, however, a frown crossed Cadance’s muzzle.

“Do you only see her as a friend?” she asked.

“I don’t view her as my actual owner, if that’s what you’re implying,” I huffed, the ear starting to tap against the side of my head in at a quicker pace. It, combined with the look of pity Cadance was giving me, was starting to get on my nerves. What’s with all these questions?

“That’s not what I was implying,” Cadance said, shaking her head. “I was asking if you see her as anything else besides a friend. A… sibling, perhaps? An older or younger sister?”

“Wouldn’t know,” I said, my right eye twitching as I tried to ignore my flapping ear. “I was an only child back home.”

“That’s not… ugh,” she groaned, rubbing the bridge of her muzzle with a hoof. “Look, I’m just asking if you only view Twilight as a friend!”

“Why are you making such a big deal over how I view Twilight?” I asked, scrunching up my face. Luckily, my ear finally stopped twitching, and instead flattened out against my head as I cocked my head to the side.

“I can’t believe I actually have to do this,” Cadance muttered under her breath, stomping a hoof in frustration. Closing her eyes, she sighed before glancing back up at me. “What I’m trying to say is that Twilight lov—”

Pain—indescribable pain—erupted in the back of my head, causing me to cry out involuntarily. Stars exploded in front of my eyes as I collapsed to the ground, my legs no longer holding my body aloft. I heard Cadance shout something, the alarm in her voice clearly audible. Someone was screaming.

I jammed my hooves against the side of my head as another eruption of pain lanced through my head, causing my body to convulse. More shouts were coming now, the sound of pounding hooves barely reaching me over the roaring sound slowly filling my hearing. Something grabbed me roughly and flipped me onto my back.

Pushing through the pain, I cracked my eye open. Primrose was standing over me, yelling something. However, despite the fact that her lips were moving, no words reached my ears, just the ever-growing scream. Twilight suddenly appeared beside her, her horn glowing softly, a horrified look on her face.

Another burst of pain, worse than the one before, ripped through my entire body, causing me to cry out. It felt like something was moving inside of me, rearranging my bones and muscles in the process. The last thing I saw before my eye shut again in agony was the two of them leaping back, their eyes widening in shock and alarm.

The screaming had grown now to an almost deafening shriek, and I could feel my new ears folded tight against my head, trying in vain to block out the noise. Then, without warning, another voice was added to the screaming, then another, and another, until it sounded like there was an entire horde of tormented souls surrounding me. The darkness all around me seemed to be singing with the cries of the damned.

As I laid there, my body feeling like it was being torn apart from the inside out and the unholy screaming ringing in my ears, I whimpered pitifully, tears flowing down my face. I was blind to the outside world, unsure of what was going on or what was wrong with me. I could only pray that the pain would stop, or that I would pass out.

Luckily or not, it was the second option that was given to me, and I could feel myself slowly slipping into unconsciousness as the pain grew too much to bear. My last, conscious thought before I slipped away was the realization that there was something else there, beneath the screaming. A single word repeating, over and over again.

"...rise ...rise ...rise.”

“No, no, no, no, no!” I chanted fearfully, dancing on my hooves, unsure of what to do.

Before me, Max was still thrashing around, clearly in pain. Forcing magic down my horn, I quickly bathed him in it, trying my best to help him. I could feel the chaos magic running rampant throughout his body, and it surged upon being touched by my own magic. It lashed out like an enraged beast, practically traveling down the arcane trail back to my own horn.

Realizing that I was doing more harm to him than good, I ceased the flow of magic running down my horn. The surge of chaos magic died down, but still continued to flow heavily through his body, like an eddy in a river.

Unable to revert the process currently taking place within Max, I chose to do the next best thing. Flaring up my horn one last time, I quickly cut his consciousness from his body, sending him into a dreamless sleep.

The surge of chaos magic nearly consumed me, and I quickly teleported away.

The Archmage froze mid-step, his breath catching in his throat. A shiver ran down his body from the tip of his horn—which sparked horribly—to the base of his tail. His eyes flashed white for a brief moment before returning to their regular icy blue.

“What the…” Blinking slowly, he turned his head, staring through the solid wall beside him towards the source of the disturbance. The chaos magic was so intense, he could practically feel the world around him shift slightly. His eyes narrowed slightly before widening in shock.

“I don’t believe it,” he muttered under his breath, one of his ears twitching. “That’s not possible.” Concentrating for a moment, his horn lit up with a golden glow. His eyes flashed white again, before fading, leaving behind a shocked look in the blue depths.

“That’s not possible,” he repeated. He didn’t want to believe it, but the magic signature didn’t lie. Neither did the source.

It was that goddamn princess’s pet!

The Archmage snarled, his eyes narrowing. It just wasn’t fair. This wasn’t fair. Out of everything that could have happened, it had to be this. The thorn in his side, the one piece of the puzzle that didn’t know its place, and it had suddenly gained—

“No,” he grunted as the magic around his horn died suddenly. Breathing a sigh of relief, he shook his head, chuckling softly. The magical signature was correct, but it wasn’t as strong as it should be. The source was only temporary, soon to be gone. Even now he could feel the chaos magic slowly dispersing.

“Enjoy your taste of godhood, kid,” the Archmage growled, turning and continuing down the corridor. “It won’t happen again.”

Deep within the Royal Gardens, covered in a thick layer of snow, thin cracks slowly began to form across a particular stone statue. It trembled once before falling still again. The cracks faded, but the minute damage they had caused remained.

Twilight sighed heavily as she headed back towards the throne room, her hooves clicking softly against the marble floor. Her quick walk around the palace hadn’t done much for her stress, but at least it had given her some time to get a quick breather.

Reaching the large doors, she paused for a second, took a deep breath, then pushed the doors open and slipped inside.

Glancing around the room as she closed the door quietly behind her, she noted that everyone was still where they were when she had left. Princess Celestia and her friends were still sitting in front of the fireplace. Shining was talking quietly with Luna. Primrose was watching everything from her spot by the thrones. Cadance was talking to Max.

Twilight froze, her eyes widening as she inhaled sharply.

Cadance was currently talking to Max, and by the expression on her face she wasn’t happy. Max, on the other hand, just sat there, his muzzle scrunched up in clear confusion. With his head cocked slightly to the side and one ear perked up, Twilight couldn’t help but notice that his body language was similar to that of a foal’s: unsure of what to do with his body.

As she watched, Max said something to Cadance, which in turned caused her to snort, stomping her hoof in frustration.

“Cadance, what are you doing?” Twilight whispered fearfully, her ears folding against her head as she moved quickly forward. Please, Cadance, don’t tell him anything. Not like this. I’m not ready!

She had crossed about half of the length of the throne room when Max’s whole body stiffened suddenly. He cried out, his legs crumpling beneath him as he fell to the floor.

“Max!” Twilight cried in horror, her shout mirrored by Cadance. He clutched his head in his hooves, his whole body twitching and jerking sporadically. His cutie mark began to glow with an eerie blood red color.

At Twilight and Cadance’s cry, Celestia’s head whipped around, her eyes widening when she saw the convulsing stallion. She was immediately on her hooves, with Luna close behind her, startling those who were sitting around them. Primrose was airborne in an instant, streaking towards Max like a bolt of lightning.

Max cried out again, snapping Twilight out of her shocked daze. Shaking her head, she raced forward, her brain beginning to try and figure out what was affecting her stalli—her human.

As Twilight drew nearer, Primrose landed beside Max with a thud. Cadance quickly stepped aside, allowing the batpony to grab the twitching stallion by his withers and flip him over.

“Max,” she shouted, grabbing his head in her hooves. “Breathe! Remain calm and breathe. Everything is going to be okay!” Twilight slid to a stop beside Primrose, staring down at Max in horror. His eyes were barely open, with tears of pain sliding down his cheeks. Instinctively, she pushed magic through her horn, but paused as she realized she didn’t know what to do. She was unsure of how to help her human without causing more damage.

Max’s eyes shut and he cried out as his entire body jerked suddenly. There was a loud crack, and Twilight and Primrose jumped back, yelping in shock. Twilight could only watch in alarm as Max’s body started to warp and shift, the muscles beneath his fur rippling like water as they elongated.

The sides of his head suddenly split open as two large ram horns erupted forth, one black and one white. The hair upon his right foreleg slowly began to recede back into the flesh as the hoof crumbled away, allowing five digits to emerge from the end of the limb. The flesh of his left foreleg twisted and convulsed until it tore apart, revealing dragon scales and a dragon paw. His right hind leg morphed into that of a wolf, the claws scraping against the floor as it shifted and moved. The hoof on his back left leg grew, the entire limb shifting into that of a goat’s. His tail slowly hardened, becoming thicker and longer until it formed that of a shark’s, the fin slapping weakly upon the ground. Wings flared up upon his back, one that of a bat, the other that of a butterfly, the different shades of the rainbow all mixing through the membrane.

As the transformation died down, silence fell over the throne room, all the ponies standing motionless. The fire continued to crackle in the background, unaware of the drama happening around it. The new creature’s chest rose and fell weakly as its breaths came in short, uneven bursts.

Twilight swallowed thickly, her brain trying to wrap around what she was seeing. Lying there where her human-turned-stallion once was, his mismatched limbs splayed out at awkward angles, was Discord.

She blinked, her eyes narrowing slightly. No, the limbs weren’t right. It wasn’t Discord, but it was still a draconequus nonetheless.

Steeling herself, Twilight took a tentative step forward, then another, and another.

“Twily, wait!” Shining called out, but she ignored him, slowly approaching the unconscious draconequus. His body had grown, now nearly sixteen feet in length from his muzzle to the tip of his tail.

Circling around him slowly, she inched towards his head, which was still that of a pony’s. Leaning over his body slightly, she stared down at the draconequus’s face. The gray fur of his muzzle was marred by a scar that ran to his right eye. Upon peeling the lid back as gently as possible, she was greeted by a milky orb.

She couldn’t help but breathe a small sigh of relief at the sight. Firing up her locator spell, she double checked what her eyes were telling her. It came back positive. It’s still Max.

Straightening up, she glanced over her shoulder at the others, who were waiting with baited breath.

“It’s Max,” she said weakly, a slight tremor in her voice. “I’m not sure how… but it’s him.”

“But… that doesn’t make sense,” Ebony muttered, stepping forward cautiously. “The potion was pony-based. How did it change him into a draconequus?”

“Forget why,” Primrose growled, eyeing Max’s transformed body curiously. “I want to know what made it take so long to change him. Those potions are supposed to be instantaneous, aren’t they?”

“Yes, and they’re also not supposed to be painful,” Twilight added, watching the rise and fall of Max’s chest, her mind racing. What had happened to cause the potion to not only change Max into a pony, but a draconequus later on? Was it permanent? Was this going to cause irreversible damage to Max? What did it all mean?

Her musing was cut short as a golden glow surrounded Max’s body. Looking around, she watched as Celestia slowly and gingerly lifted him off of the ground, suspending him in midair. His long tail dragged along the ground, his wings twitching once before falling still again.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked.

“Moving him to a better spot,” Celestia replied as she began to levitate Max towards the fireplace. Glancing over her shoulder, she gave Twilight a strained smile. “We’ll get him comfortable before we figure out what’s going on.”

Twilight blinked before nodding and falling in step behind her teacher. The others soon followed, and the ponies slowly gathered around the fire and the unconscious draconequus.

Sunny yelped as the sledgehammer came down inches from her head. Rolling to the side, she avoided a second swing, the head of the hammer hurtling by overhead, missing her by mere inches.

As she scrambled to her hooves, she stifled a cough. The room was slowly filling up with smoke, and it was beginning to seep through her mask and into her lungs. Blinking tears from her eyes, she looked around quickly, only to duck as the hammer came swinging past her from the opposite direction of its previous attack.

Van growled as he hefted the hammer, holding it in both hands as it rested upon his bare shoulder. Behind him, the inferno roared, sucking in more and more oxygen as the fire continued to consume the warehouse.

“N-now, Van,” Sunny stammered as the human took a step towards her, “calm down. Stop! Stay! Please? If you stop I’ll give you some nice, tasty mea—OH SWEET CELESTIA!” Sunny dove to the side as the hammer arced through the air towards her. Sparks leapt into the air as it glanced off the ground with a metallic thud.

“Any time! Now would be appreciated!” she yelled, tucking her tail between her legs as she dodged and weaved.

“I’m looking! I’m looking!” Stacker shouted back. Ripping the lid off of one of the crates, he glanced inside. Upon seeing it filled with cloth, he swore before kicking it aside and moving on to the next crate.

“There isn’t any meat in these things!” he shouted at Sunny as he continued to look through the crates.

“There’s got to be!” Sunny yelped, dropping to her stomach to avoid another attack. “Otherwise, we’ll be the meat!” Van lunged for Sunny again, managing to grab a hold of her helmeted head. Reaching up quickly, she undid the straps around her chin. The helmet was promptly ripped off her head as she squirmed free. Van took one look at the piece of armor before tossing it aside, his gaze locking onto the fleeing pegasus.

“How did I get picked to be the distraction?!” Sunny screamed as she raced around the room in circles. She leapt over boxes and crates, constantly reminding herself not to fly too high, lest she get tangled in the barbed wire above her. Van raced along behind her like a dog chasing a cat, plowing through anything that stood in his way.

“Corporal Shine and Private Cloudspire are down, and Corporal Thunderspark is currently battling the fire. Besides, you’re the quickest!” Stacker replied, cracking open a barrel and peeking inside. “Hay? Why is somepony keeping hay in a barrel? That’s just stupid.”

“Horseapples!” Sunny yelled as she shot past Stacker. “I know for a fact that you are faster than me!” Stacker ducked down behind the barrel as Van charged past.

“Okay, so I delegated the job to you,” Stacker said, standing back up once Van had passed. “That’s how it works. The newest member of the team gets the shittiest jobs.”

“I hate you so much right now,” Sunny growled, ducking through an open barrel. Stacker just chuckled.

“Love ya too, darlin’!”

As Sunny jumped over one of the crates, her back hoof clipped the edge of the wood. With a yelp, she tumbled to the floor, skidding to a stop several feet away. That tumble was all Van need to close the gap.

Sunny rolled onto her back with a groan, only to freeze when she saw Van standing over her, his teeth bared. Time seemed to slow down to the point where Sunny could’ve sworn she saw individual embers lazily drift off of the fire behind Van. The hammer was held high in his hands, the head glinting in the light of the flames.

It was in the brief moment of time that Sunny dimly remembered one of the things her mother had taught her when a younger Sunny had started wandering the streets of Canterlot alone.

Moving—almost instinctively—Sunny’s hind leg cocked backwards, her muscles coiling like a spring. It quivered briefly, before shooting out and nailing Van dead center in the crotch.

Despite herself, Sunny had to give Van credit: he took that blow like a champ. He staggered backwards, grunting in pain as the hammer fell from his grasp. As he stumbled around, Sunny pulled herself to her hooves. Dashing forward, she grabbed the hammer in her hooves and tried to fling it into the fire. She was stopped however by the sheer weight of the instrument.

“Oh dear Celestia,” she groaned, eyes closed and muscles straining. “Why does this thing weigh so much?” She continued to strain until, suddenly, the hammer jerked into the air. Not expecting the sudden movement, Sunny was pulled with it, her back hooves leaving the ground completely.

Opening her eyes, Sunny froze, her blood turning to ice. She was dangling by the handle of the hammer, which was currently being held up by an angry-looking Van. His face was close to hers, their noses practically touching. She could smell his rancid breath, the scent of meat and decay lingering in her nostrils.

“How did you recover so quickly?” she asked the human. She paused, her brow furrowing as her ears splayed backwards. “Darkflare had you neutered, didn’t he?” Van blinked once, his lips skimming back as he growled. Sunny swallowed thickly before giving him a nervous smile.

Van roared.

“Sorry!” Sunny cried as she released the hammer, her hooves scrabbling to find purchase upon the ground when she landed. As Van roared again, swinging the hammer above his head, she cried out, “Staaacker!”

“Lieutenant, we could really use some help over here!” Stacker called out, tossing an empty crate onto the floor.

“I’m trying,” Ivory growled, a snarl of pain on her face as her horn sparked uselessly. Standing off to the side beside the unconscious guards, she was rubbing her horn with her hooves. “The damn bastard managed to hit my horn mid-cast. I’m trying to get the energy flowing again, but the pathways are still backed up. I’m getting magical feedback!”

“Well, any time for it to start working again would be wonderful!” Sunny shrieked, almost jumping into the fire because she was too focused on Van. The human just plowed through the embers, ignoring the burns on his feet as he focused solely on Sunny.

“It’s not that simple,” Ivory huffed, wincing as her horn continued to spark.

“What do you mean 'it’s not that simple'?!”

“Try flying after you’ve been hit in your wing joint!” Ivory snapped.

“I’m seriously thinking about starting to fly now—GAH!” Sunny cried out in shock as one of Van’s hands wrapped around her hind legs. Her hooves slipped out from under her and she hit the ground hard. The impact forced her pouch open, and the Iron Hoof skidded across the floor and out of reach.

Sunny barely had a second for her mind to register the pain before she was flipped onto her back. Van glared down at her, still holding tight to her leg. Slowly, he began to lift the hammer over his head, his gray eyes focused intently on her face.

Sunny opened and closed her mouth wordlessly, trying to call out for help, but the words failed her as her throat constricted. There was a brief pause before the hammer dropped, as Van swung it at her head with all his might.

Sunny closed her eyes, waiting for the blow.

It never came.

Cracking an eye open, Sunny glanced up, confused. Van was still crouched over her, the hammer quivering inches from her face. The human’s entire body was frozen, his gray eyes wide. His mouth was slightly open, and he had a look on his face that almost seemed to Sunny to portray shock.

The hand holding Sunny relaxed, releasing her. She watched in shock as Van, the cold-blooded killer, completely lost interest in her and slowly got to his feet. Turning, he stared at the far wall, the hammer hanging limply in his hand. He blinked, before chirping softly, the weird sound ending in a slight growl. He inclined his head slightly before straightening back up.

There was a moment of silence, filled only with the roar of the fire, before Van returned his attention back to Sunny. Raising his hammer, he took a step towards her only to be stopped when a red glow surrounded his body.

“Got ‘im!” Ivory cried out, her horn glowing with the same colored aura.

With a flap of his wings, Stacker appeared, jamming two needles into Van’s pinned arms. The human roared, writhing about in the magical grasp as the tranquilizers went to work. Slowly, his muscles began to relax, and his eyelids started to sag.

“How much sedative did you give him?” Sunny asked as she unsteadily got to her hooves, adrenaline still coursing through her system.

“Double dose,” Stacker said with a shrug, watching as Van slowly slipped into unconsciousness. “30cc, I believe. Maybe more.”

“That’s a lot,” Sunny said, moving to stand beside him. “What if it’s too much and he dies?”

“Oops,” Stacker said, the tone of his voice indicating that he didn't really care. Sunny just stared at him blankly before slugging him as hard as she could in his shoulder.

“Ow,” Stacker grunted, rubbing his shoulder. “What the buck was that for?”

“I spent all that time running around, dodging Van and his hammer and potential death, only to have you possibly kill him with an overdose in sedatives?!” Sunny threw up her hooves, huffing, “You know what? Forget it. I don’t care. You can carry him back to the train. I’ve had enough exercise for the day.”

“Calm down,” Ivory said as she trotted up. “You did splendidly, Ms. Breeze.” Glancing over at the fire, Ivory grunted, her face contorting in discomfort before a barrier of red magic formed around the flames. Slowly, the barrier began to shrink, slowly smothering the flames until they died out completely. The barrier continued to move forward, phasing through the walls and crates as it made short work of the flames.

“And why couldn’t you have done that earlier?” Sunny asked as she watched the dying flames with a blank expression.

“My magic wasn’t working,” Ivory grunted, sweat dripping down her brow. Sunny shook her head.

“No, I meant before Van attacked.”

“It takes a lot of magic and concentration to do this,” Ivory replied. The barrier wavered slightly as she spoke. “I was going to save my magic for Van, but then he horn-blitzed me.”

“Whatever,” Sunny grumbled, trotting forward and picking up her discarded Iron Hoof. Slipping it back into her pouch, she closed the clasp.

“How are they?” she asked, motioning with her head towards the two downed guards.

“Minor concussion for both,” Ivory said, glancing sideways at the guards. “Corporal Shine has a minor laceration on the side of her head where Van hit her. They’ll need to see the medic and will probably be hospitalized, but they’ll live.”

As Sunny returned to stand next to the Stacker, Corporal Thunderspark emerged from one of the destroyed windows of the office. Pulling himself through the window, he fluttered to the floor, his singed wings flaring to slow his descent. He was completely covered from head to hoof in soot and ash, his once pristine white armor now a sickly charcoal gray.

As he landed, he pulled the bandana covering his muzzle down, exposing the white fur—untouched by ash—beneath it.

“You find anything useful?” Ivory asked him as she lowered Van’s unconscious body to the floor. Thunderspark removed his goggles, wiping them with a hoof as he tried in vain to clean them.

“The fire was definitely magical in origin,” he grunted. Sunny had to resist the urge to snicker as a cloud of ash billowed from his mouth. Coughing, Thunderspark shook his head before continuing, “Not sure if it was on a delay, or if Darkflare was here minutes before us. Either way, the fire made short work of everything in there.”

“Still don’t see how he got here without detection,” Stacker tsked. “It would take days to walk here, the trains are too risky for somepony on the run, and there’s no way he teleported here.”

“We’ll worry about that later,” Ivory said, before waving a hoof at Thunderspark. “Please, continue.”

“Well, I tried my best to figure out what was important and what was just clutter. Unfortunately, that was harder than it sounds. From the look of things, Darkflare acquired this warehouse from a previous owner who left most of their stuff behind. There were shipping manifests that were older than I am in there.

“However,” Thunderspark continued, pulling his goggles back onto his head, “I did notice something I found odd. Before the fire got to them, I noticed two cages in there. Both appeared to have recently housed humans. I’m guessing Van was one of them, but I didn’t see signs of a second human anywhere.”

“Did Darkflare have a second human you’re not telling us about?” Ivory asked Sunny, her eyes narrowing.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Sunny said, shaking her head.

“That’s not all,” Thunderspark cut in. Reaching into his burnt bags, he pulled out a stack of charred papers. “This was sitting on one of the desks.” He handed them to Ivory, who began to leaf through them.

Curious, Sunny moved to stand beside Ivory, glancing over her shoulder at the papers. Her eyes widened when she saw what was upon them.

On the papers, partially obscured by the singed edges, was a list of humans. Each one had a picture of their face, followed by a quick description of characteristics and where they were located. Most of the pictures had large X’s through them, but some remained unmarked.

As Ivory continued to look through the dozen or so sheets, Sunny eyed the pictures of human faces. A mature male, his brown hair cut short. His face was marked. A young female with short, fiery red hair and green eyes. Her face was marked as well. An older male, black wispy hair hanging in front of a gaunt face. Another mark. A young male with blonde, curly hair. His picture wasn’t marked, and under location it simply read “UNKNOWN”.

“A shipping order for humans?” Stacker asked incredulously as he eyed the list. “Why is Darkflare looking for these particular humans?”

“I’m not sure,” Ivory said as she gathered all the papers back together and slipped them into her bags, “but we’ll report it to Princess Celestia when we get back to Canterlot. It could just be the list of humans he uses in pit fights, or it could be something else.” Turning, she gave Thunderspark a small smile.

“Good work, Corporal. Did you manage to salvage anything?”

“As a matter of fact,” Thunderspark said with a smirk. Reaching into his bags again, he pulled out a severely burnt piece of paper. “This was beside the list,” he said, handing it to Ivory. “Most of the words are illegible, but if you look hard enough, you can make out some of what it says.”

Ivory stared at the paper for several seconds before a large smile spread across her muzzle.

“Well, well, well,” she chuckled as she passed the note to Stacker. “It appears we’ve hit a lucky break.” Taking the note, Stacker glanced at it before smiling as well.

“No wonder they were trying to burn it,” he laughed. “Maker’s sake, this is good.” Glancing over Stacker’s shoulder, Sunny eyed the note.

…manifest of… …gathering of humans for… …digging under… …National Treasury… one week prior to the spring solstice… ...prior knowledge… …Canterlot…

“This is perfect,” Stacker said, handing the note back to Ivory. “They’ve practically given us themselves on a silver platter. The location, the time, how they plan on getting in. We’re golden!”

“I don’t know,” Sunny said with a frown. “This doesn’t seem like Darkflare. For starters, he was never one to write down his plans. Besides, I can’t see him wanting to break into the National Treasury. That’s not his style.”

“Cockiness can make ponies do stupid things,” Ivory said, folding the note and tucking it in with the list of humans. “He’s running on a high right now: escaping from dungeons beneath Canterlot and eluding the guards. He thinks he's on top of the world, and that’s when ponies make mistakes.”

“I don’t know,” Sunny said, chewing on her lip. “I still don’t like it.” Ivory rolled her eyes.

“Look, we aren’t going to do anything about it right now. There’s plenty of time between now and the intended date. We still need to get back to Canterlot and report to the princess.”

“I guess,” Sunny said with a sigh.

“Good mare,” Ivory said, pulling her visor down and covering her muzzle with her skull bandana. “Now, Stacker, grab Van. Thunderspark, help me with Corporal Shine and Private Cloudspire. Mind their heads. Ms. Breeze, if you would kindly begin to lead us out of this warehouse, I would like to be gone before the fire brigade arrives.”

Sunny sighed again before picking up her helmet. She started trotting through the destroyed crates towards the exit, the others following close behind her.

I groaned as I slowly regained consciousness. The first thing I became aware of was the fact that I was lying somewhere semi-comfortable. My body was warm, covered by what felt like a blanket, and I could hear the crackle of a fire nearby. The gentle murmur of hushed voices filled the air, letting me know that wherever I currently was, I wasn’t alone.

Groaning again, I cracked my eye open, wincing in pain as light assaulted it. I stirred and lifted my leaden arm into view. A small smile touched my lips when I saw a hand. Not a hoof, but an actual human hand. I flexed my fingers gingerly before letting my arm fall back down to my side.

As it landed on a cushion with a soft thump, a soft gasp made me suddenly aware of a presence nearby. A lavender face suddenly entered my vision, violet eyes looking down at me with concern.

“You’re awake,” Twilight said softly. “Um… how do you feel?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but the moment I tried to speak, pain seared up in my throat, causing me to cough. Twilight’s eyes widened in alarm.

“Careful,” she murmured, placing a hoof on my chest. “The potion wore off. You’re mute again.”

~Did anyone get the name of the Ursa that mauled me?~ Twilight giggled before leaning back out of my sight. A few seconds later she returned, a glass of water hovering beside her.

“Thirsty?” she asked. Reaching up, I grabbed the glass and, with Twilight’s help, carefully lowered it to my lips. I sipped at it once, wetting my throat, before taking a large gulp. Once I was satisfied, Twilight levitated the glass to the side, placing it upon the ground.

She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by a voice speaking up behind her.

“Is he awake?” the voice asked. I quickly identified it as Celestia. Twilight glanced over her shoulder, nodding.

Gritting my teeth, I reached up and grabbed a hold of Twilight’s shoulder, causing her to squeak in surprise. She slipped her wing behind me, helping me as I pushed myself up into a seated position.

As I rose, I glanced around at my surroundings. I was still in the throne room, sitting atop a pile of cushions near the fireplace. Everyone was gathered around, sitting in their own little circles as they chatted quietly. By the light streaming in through the stain glass windows, I hazarded a guess that it was late in the evening.

As I situated myself, leaning on Twilight for support, I noticed that Celestia was sitting just in front of me, her legs tucked beneath her body.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, a soft smile on her face. I groaned loudly, causing her to giggle, as well as causing the others to turn and look at me.

~What happened?~ I asked Celestia, my arms moving sluggishly. She tilted her head to the side, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

“Well—”

A pink blur slammed into me, causing me to topple backwards onto the cushions with a yelp.

“YAY! Maxie’s better!” Pinkie cried happily as she proceeded to squeeze the life out of me. “It was so scary! You started twitching and screaming and crying and then your body started to change. I was so scared, although you did look kinda cool, but it looked painful too! I don’t like seeing my friends in pain. And then it stopped and Princess Celestia grabbed you and was all like ‘let’s get him comfortable so we can—’”

Pinkie’s muzzle, suddenly surrounded by a golden aura, closed with a click. The aura then slowly covered the rest of her body, lifting her off of me and depositing her onto a nearby cushion.

I sat back up, rubbing my chest as I gave Celestia a grateful smile.

“As Pinkie was so enthusiastically trying to say,” she said as the light around her horn died, “you had an adverse reaction to the Transformation Potion.”

~What happened?~ I asked again. Celestia frowned, her brow furrowing.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” she asked. I frowned as well as I sorted through my hazy memory.

~I was talking to Cadance, then there was pain in the back of my head. It felt like someone was ripping my body apart from the inside, then nothing~

“Well, the ripping sensation you felt was your body changing, again,” Celestia said. “However, instead of a pony this time, you were transformed into a draconequus. The same species as Discord.”

~But I thought the potion was only supposed to change me into a pony~ I signed with a frown. Beside me, Twilight shifted, leaning her shoulder further up against me.

“Normally, yes,” Celestia nodded. “You must understand, in order for the potion to work, it uses a small amount of harmonious magic. The magic in the Transformation Potion is only supposed to change you once, depending on what hairs you mix into the solution. However—and this is just speculation, mind you—I believe that the chaos magic residing inside you reacted with the harmonious magic from the potion in a perverse manner and transformed you into a draconequus, a being born of chaos.

“This theory is supported by the fact that you could talk while you were a pony,” she continued. “With the chaos magic no longer focused, it was running rampant throughout your body, which caused the change.”

~So, when the potion wore off?~

“You returned to normal,” Celestia said with a smile.

I hummed thoughtfully as I rubbed the bridge of my nose. My head still throbbed slightly, and despite the fact I had just regained consciousness, I was exhausted.

Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes and sighed heavily.

“You okay?” Twilight asked me, her wing twitching against my back.

I cracked open my eye and glanced sideways at her. ~Yeah, although I’ve got to stop hanging out with you ponies if this is how it’s going to end up~

“What do you mean?” she asked, ears splaying backwards. I chuckled softly as I began to list off events.

~Nightmare Night, the Gala, this. It seems like every time we get together for a big event, something weird happens~

“I do believe that is what you call coincidence,” Luna spoke up from beside Cadance.

~Yeah, well, coincidence hurts~ I signed before rubbing the back of my head. Slipping my legs beneath me, I slowly stood up, swaying slightly, my legs feeling like jello.

As I stood up, Twilight quickly got up with me. Positioning herself beside me, she allowed me to lean upon her for stability. Celestia watched me curiously.

“Where are you going?” she asked, not unkindly.

~Bed~ I signed before yawning loudly. A warm smile spread across Celestia’s face and she nodded.

“That would probably be for the best,” she said. “You’ve had a trying day, and I do believe I got you up earlier than you’re used to. Go, get some rest, and hopefully you feel better in the morning.”

“Sleep well, and sleep deep,” Luna added.

I had only managed to take a couple of steps before my path was blocked by a cyan wing. Blinking, I glance down at Rainbow, cocking an eyebrow. She fidgeted, shifting her weight from hoof to hoof as she chewed on her lip. She looked up at me, her ears splaying backwards as her tail tucked between her legs.

“Look, I…” she began before trailing off. Wincing, she glanced over her shoulder at Shining, who gave her what looked like an encouraging smile. Turning back to me, she sighed before seeming to steel herself. “I… I just wanted to say that I’m s-sorry for what happened. If Shining and I hadn’t been chasing you, you wouldn’t have tripped and gotten turned into that… thing. I understand if you don’t want to forgive me, but I just wanted to say… sorry.” She said the last part in a squeaky whisper, her gaze dropping to the floor. After a few seconds she glanced back up at me through her bangs.

I stared down at her with a blank expression as my mind processed what she had said. Under my scrutiny, Rainbow’s ears splayed backwards, and she lowered her head slowly. She opened her mouth to say something, but instead gasped when I reached out and scratched behind her ear. I gave her a small smile before patting her on the head. A smile of her own touched her muzzle, and her wings twitched by her side.

“Thanks,” she muttered before quickly hurrying off to sit with Pinkie.

I moved to start walking again, but paused when my eye landed on Cadance. Frowning slightly as I remembered our interrupted conversation, I turned towards her.

~What was it you were going to say before I passed out?~ I asked. Twilight hesitated for a second before translating.

Cadance blinked once, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. She glanced over at Twilight before sighing and shaking her head.

“Nevermind,” she said, giving me a weak smile. I studied her for several seconds before shrugging.

~Goodnight, then~ I signed with Twilight translating. ~And congratulations~

“Thanks,” she replied, absentmindedly rubbing her swollen belly with a hoof.

“See you two in the morning,” Twilight added before beginning to lead me towards the side door.

As we exited out into the side hall, I sagged against Twilight.

“Come on,” she said, adjusting her wing to better help support me. “Let’s get you to bed.”

We walked down the hall in silence, Twilight practically having to carry me as my legs refused to work properly. When I stated my concern to Twilight, she had said that that was a minor side effect of the potion. My legs were having to relearn how to work again, after having their structure drastically changed.

“They should be back to normal by morning,” she said, giving me a reassuring smile.

As our room came into view, I paused, blinking owlishly as my mind suddenly reminded me of something. Glancing down at Twilight, I asked, ~Where are the guards?~

It wasn’t Twilight who answered me.

“We’re still here,” came a voice from the shadows. Tilting my head to glance over my shoulder, I stared at the pair of red eyes gazing at me from out of the darkness from behind a pillar.

“You gave us quite a scare there, big guy,” Primrose said, her wings adjusting by her side. Her eyes were glowing softly in the shadows, and I could tell by the looks of them that she had recently been in sunlight.

~Where are the others?~ I asked, trying my best to sign as I leaned against Twilight.

“Shortly before you woke up, Ebony took a sample of your blood to some of the Healers in the Royal Infirmary,” Primrose said. “She wanted to get it tested to see if there were any lasting ill effects from the sudden and traumatic transformation. Avera went with her.”

~So, you’re on watch duty then?~

“Seems that way,” she said with a chuckle. She ran her eyes over me before adding, “Get some sleep, Max. You look tired.” With that, she skulked off, keeping to the shadows as she moved down the hallway.

Twilight’s horn lit up as she opened the door to our room, helping me inside before closing it gently behind us. I sat down on the couch as Twilight moved to light a fire in the fireplace.

When her back was to me, I lifted up the couch cushion next to me and pulled out the three tomes hidden underneath. I double-checked them quickly before placing them on my lap and replacing the cushion.

There was a brief flash of light as Twilight’s horn sparked. An instant later flames crackled to life in the fireplace, and warmth began to slowly seep into the room.

“There we go,” Twilight said with a smile. “Now we can—” Her words died in her throat as she turned around and saw the books sitting in my lap. I held them out to her, a small smile on my face.

~Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve, Twilight~ I signed as she took the books in her hooves.

“W-what are these?” she asked, holding the books gingerly in her hooves. She slowly glanced over the covers, her ears splaying backwards.

~Books from my old world that I thought you might like~ I signed. ~I had Celestia help me out with getting them off of my device~ She stared at me for a moment before glancing down at the books in her grasp. ~You’ll be the first pony to read them, too~ I added.

Twilight ran a trembling hoof over the cover of one of the books, blinking back the tears that were threatening to roll down her cheeks. Swallowing thickly, she sniffed once before glancing back up at me.

“But…” she said, her voice quivering, “but, I d-didn’t get you anything.”

I chuckled softly before smiling. Sliding off of the couch and onto the floor, I knelt in front of her.

~You didn’t have to get me anything, Twilight~ I signed. ~You’ve already done so much for me. There’s no way I’ll ever be able to repay you~

Twilight just stared up at me, an awed look on her face. Slowly, her bottom lip began to tremble. Gingerly placing the books down onto the floor beside her, she then flung herself at me, wrapping her forelegs around my neck. I could feel tears rolling down her cheeks as I returned the hug, my neck becoming damp where she nuzzled it.

“Thank you,” she said softly, rubbing her cheek against mine. “Thank you so much.” I just squeezed her a little tighter, running my hand absentmindedly down her back. I felt her shiver slightly before humming happily. Her wings unfurled and she folded those around me as well, enclosing me in a cocoon of lavender feathers.

We stayed that way for several minutes, neither of us willing to break the embrace. Beside us, the fire crackled softly, adding an amorous atmosphere to the room.

Too soon, however, I was brought out of the calming atmosphere by a jaw-cracking yawn. Twilight giggled, her breath tickling my ear.

“Somepony is really tired, isn’t he?” she asked. I grunted, nodding my head slightly, causing my cheek to rub against hers. “Then we better let you get some sleep.”

There was a pause.

“You aren’t sleeping on the couch tonight.”

Another pause.

~Yes, I am~

Author's Notes:

[1] Frankenstein, The Divine Comedy, Don Quixote