Luna and I play with Lupus for a while until something catches his attention and makes him run out of the room. I look over to Luna and we stare at each other for a moment, smiling warmly. It's taking every fiber in my being not to kiss her right now, and I can tell she's trying just as hard to fight it. It doesn't even feel as if I'm fighting myself. It feels as if there's something within me fighting to get to her. Though it's truly tempting, I know I shouldn't, it would end horribly... for everyone.

"Luna... you should get going... Celestia is probably waiting," I tell her quietly.

"Yeah... so... is that it. What happens now?"

"Well, you're going back to Canterlot and getting some sleep, I'm going to continue preparing for Storm's training, and life moves on."

"What about us?" she asks as she steps forward, looking at me with pleading eye's.

"We... stay friends. I'll always cherish what we had, but we move on with our lives."

"...OK. I'll try..."

"No. You will. Trying implies likely failure, you will move on. You will find happiness, wherever it may be, you will find it. And when I die, you will be sad, but you will move on. You will not succumb to a lonely heart; you will find the answer to your happiness." She wipes a few tears away before she gives me a hug, holding me tightly.

"If you believe I will... I'll do it..." I return the hug and hold her for a moment before I break it off and stand up. "I guess this is goodbye then."

"No way, you'll see me again." She gives me a smile before she teleports out of my room. I sigh and head down stairs, I seriously hope I didn't make the biggest mistake in my life. I walk down the steps to find Lupus staring at the door, standing perfectly still. "What's got you all worked up?" I say as I open the door.

"Miles! Have ya seen... WOLF!" Applejack yells as she jumps back. "Why in tarnation do ya have a wolf in yer house!"

"Do you see how fluffy he is?" I say as I ruffle the top of his head. He walks out and sniffs Applejack a few times before he trots back inside. "Do you need something?"

"Ah.... yeah...YEAH! Have ya seen Applebloom taday? She was supposing ta come home yesterday but never did."

"I haven't... you don't think she went back into the forest, do you?"

"Ah sure hope not..." she says worryingly.

"Well let’s get looking for her then" I say as I step out and shut the door, "where's Big Mac?"

"Ah don't know. He didn't come last night either." She says with a deep look of concern.

"Well, maybe they're together, let’s check everybody's houses first, maybe they went to visit and decided to just visit someone and ended up staying the night."

"Alright... I'll check at Rare's, why don't you start at Fluttershy's."

"Can do. Let's meet at Sugarcube corner in an hour." She nods and runs off towards Ponyville. If I remember correctly, Fluttershy lives just east of me, so I head east. After several minutes I find her place and run up to the door. I knock loudly a couple of times only to find that the door wasn't shut properly.

"Fluttershy..." I call out as I slowly step inside. Again, I don't get a response. It's quiet... too quiet...then again, it is Fluttershy. I walk inside and look around a bit. There's a fireplace to the right, a set of stairs to the left, and furniture in the back. Everything seems to be decorated to resemble nature and gives off a peaceful vibe. In every nook and cranny there seems to be a hole or small box with some sort of little stair way to them. I don't get it, but whatever, her house. I hear some shuffling upstairs and walk up to investigate. I come up to what I assume is her room and open the door to find Big Mac behind Fluttershy, pounding away at her back side. Fluttershy has her face buried in a pillow, sticking her back side in the air as Big Mac holds onto her. He looks over to me and freezes mid hump to stare at me. I try my best not to, but I eventually look down to see his member sticking half way out of Fluttershy.

"Uh..."

"GET BACK TO WORK!" Fluttershy yells in a voice that shakes the very core of my being as she looks back to Big Mac, making him... get back to work. I quickly shut the door and run down stairs. Why do things like this always happen to me... why can't I ever knock! When I get to the bottom of the stairs I can see the scared faces of all the small animals hiding in the small boxes. I see a small white rabbit shaking in the corner, trying to comfort itself. It pulls out a carrot to eat but takes a look at it and tosses it aside, shaking even harder. Oh sweet Barbra... he walked in on them too. I walk over to him and sit next to it and pick it up, holding it close to me as I rub it's back.

"It's alright, it's ok... we'll get through this..." I say as I rock back and forth. He grabs onto my arm and holds on tightly. After an unknown amount of time I hear hoof steps coming down the stairs. I look up to see Big Mac making his way downstairs. He walks before me and stands there awkwardly, trying not to look me in the eye's.

"So... Miles....can ah help ya?" He asks as he rubs the back of his head.

"Y-yeah... I mean no... I mean is Applebloom here?" Please say no.

"Nnope... why?"

"She never came home last night. Applejack was looking for both you and her, so I decided to help."

"Where is Applejack now?" he asks in a worried tone.

"We're supposed to meet at Sugarcube corner in a bit..."

"Then let’s get going" he says as he runs out the door. I set the rabbit down and run after him. I try to keep up with him, but he simply runs too quickly for me to keep up. We make it to Sugarcube corner where we find Applejack waiting at a table.

"Big Mac, ya know where Applebloom is?"

"Nnope."

"Carnsanit! I checked all of their usual hang out, but they aint there either."

"Hey are you guys looking for the girls?" Pinkie asks as she pops up from underneath the table... why was she down there?

"Yes! Have ya seen them Pinkie?" Applejack asks.

"Yeah! They came here yesterday talking about going to Zecora's."

"So they're at Zecora's... where's that?" I ask.

"It's... in the Everfree Forest." Applejack says with a gulp.

"Alright, here's the plan. You two go home and gather whatever supplies you can, meet back at my place as soon as possible, got it?" They nod and run off to the farm. I run back home and go straight for my room. I put on my armor and take all of my weapons, except for my rifle. I go down stairs and see Lupus sleeping on the couch... probably for the best. I walk outside and wait for them to show up. When Applejack and Big Mac finally show up I follow them to Zecora's. We head towards Fluttershy's place and take the path into the forest, slowing our pace as soon as we enter the tree line.

"Keep an eye open fer them... they could be tryin ta find their way back." Applejack says as we walk down the path. We nod and start to look out into the forest. I don't see anything noteworthy... just tree's and random plant life. "What's that?" Applejack says, getting me to look over. On the ground is a solid trail of scorch marks, about a half meter thick, going across the path.

"What the fuck made this?" I say as I kneel down and investigate the marks.

"Looks like elemental serpents ta me," Big Mac says as he looks over the trail. "They went a that way," he says as he nods to the left.

"Alright, new plan. You two go to Zecora's and check to see if they're there, I'm going down this way...:"

"And why do ya get ta go after the snakes on yer own?" Applejack asks.

"Because if it's an elemental creature, I'm going to fair the best."

"And how's that?"

"My magic makes me resistant to most elements. Fire, ice, electricity, none of them truly cause me pain. Now get going to Zecora's. If I don't find them, I'll meet you two there, got it?"

"Eeyup." I turn and follow the trial through the forest. I hear Applejack protest a little, but complies after Big Mac runs off. After a while I start to see more trails converging to a single point. I pull out my sword with my right hand and my revolver with my left as I take cover behind a tree. I peer over to see the serpents laying in a pit together. they seem to all have the same basic structure, a skeletal structure being made of what looks like stone with the core of them being made of various elements. Some are filled with fire where others have electricity or ice filling them. They have flat wide heads with eye's made of their prospective element. They seem to be about the same size of the young snakes I fought last time, maybe a little skinnier due to their elemental innards. I try to see if the girls are anywhere around here when I hear hissing behind me. I turn around to see a fire snake about to strike me.

"You wouldn't happen to be friendly, would you?" The snake strikes at me, sending a plume of fire at me as it tries to snap its jaws onto me. I quickly push myself away from the tree and avoid the attack. I line up my revolver and blast a hole in its head. It shakes its head a bit then turns to me, readying to strike again. OK, standard bullets won't work here. I back up and holster my weapon as I raise my sword. it strikes again, I roll forward and stab my sword into its skull. Once I land the attack I flare my hand and turn my sword into a conduit of ice, turning the snakes head into an ice ball. I take my free hand and slam my palm into the ice, flaring my magic and shattering it with a blast of energy. The flames on the body burn out as the body drops to the floor. I start to back away from the pit, hopefully I can get away without any of them noticing. I start to walk away when I hear a shaking behind me. I turn around to see the skeleton of the snake start to shake as it begins to fill with ice.

"You've got to be kidding me." I say as the ice snake rises up and readies to attack. Before it can attack, four more slither up and start hissing to one another. There are two fire, one electric, and one that seems to be a form of raw blue energy. The energy one strikes at me, blasting me back as a wall of energy hits me in the chest. I hit the ground and immediately shoot my hand forward, bring up my shield up just in time to stop the two fire snakes from biting me. I flare the magic in my sword and swing it around above me, sending a wave of energy around me and sending them flying back. With them away from me I stand back up and sheath my sword, I don't think it'll be much help right now. I turn and raise both my hands to get ready for the next attack to find all of them have dropped whatever element they were and now lay on the floor as piles of skeletons.

"No way... that was too easy." I start to back away from the bones for a second only to stop when they start shaking again. They all rise up again only this time as green energy. What the fuck does green energy do? Probably better not to know. I bring up my magic to my elbows and shoot a beam of soul fire into the center of the group, making a huge explosion appear that sends me flying back. I crash into the ground and roll for a but before I jump to my feet and try to find the snakes.

"AW COME ON!" I yell as the soul fire snakes charge me. I turn and start to run away as the snakes send small beams of soul fire at me, barely missing and making small explosions appear before me. Hmm... I haven't tried using the same element yet, couldn't hurt. I throw a ball of soul fire at the closes one and turn it to ash. The others stop their charge and look to the pile of ash and wait. After a few seconds of nothing happening I start throwing balls of soul fire at them, killing two more and scaring the other two away. I start to chase after them, but stop when I remembered why I was here in the first place. I turn and run to where the pit was and start investigating it. Nothing tells me that they were here, no hair, hoof prints, blood, nothing. So I turn and follow the scorch marks back to the path. Once I find the path I turn and run towards Zecora's home. After a few minutes of running I stop and look at what I presume is her home. It's another one of those tree houses, but this one seems more... wild. I start to walk towards it when the door opens and all off the Apples walk out.

"You found her!" I say as I run up to them.

"I was never lost!" Applebloom pouts. "I just told thum that I told Zecora that I was gonna watch her house while she visits her family."

"An why didn't ya tell us earlier about this?" Applejack asks.

"Ah thought ah did," she says as she twiddles her hooves around.

"Well, from now on, iffin yer going to be going down here, ah want ya ta ask one of the grownups ta go with you, OK?"

"Can I ask Miles?" She asks with a hop in excitement.

"Well... if he's willing ta, sure." Applebloom turns to me and gives me the biggest smile she can muster. D’aw... how could I say no.

"As long as I don't have anything going on I'll be more than happy to take you down here."

"Yes!" she yells as she joyfully skips forward. What did I just sign up for?

"Thank ya kindly fer watchen after mah kin Miles" Applejack says to me as we walk after her.

"Don't mention it. After helping me so much, it's the least I could do." I say with a shrug.

"What did ah do ta help?" She asks modestly as she blushes slightly, tipping her hat to hide her face.

"You gave me a job, filled my home with food, and not to mention just being an overall descent person. I really appreciate everything you've done for me."

"Aw shucks, ah'm jus doing the right thing. Anypony would do that much."

"EEyup."

"So... didja find the snakes?" Applejack say before I could respond to her prior statement.

"Yeah."

"And?" Big Mac asks.

"A little disappointing. I didn't even get injured." I say, making them both facehoof.

Thanks to Taco Town for picking the enemies for the forest. Thanks for reading, and like always, Brony on!