Well, I wasn't expecting this outcome, well... sort of. To be honest, I had expected Celestia to snap at some point at me. More yelling and not murderous intent as of right now. After shadow stepping, I found myself down in the crystal caverns that Twilight had told me about when she was teleported away from the wedding. Lucky for me, this gave me something to work with. So using some of the time, I made myself makeshift shields and a few crystal throwing daggers.

That's when I heard the sound of someone teleporting in. Without even taking the moment, I go behind the closest crystal that I could keep low. Using the reflection from one of the newly made daggers. I saw it was the angry Celestia who ported in. Oh fuck me running, she was going to find me. Shadow grabbed one of the daggers and shot past Celestia by going from shadow to shadow and suddenly threw it further away from us. She sharply turned and fired that direction. The explosion lit up the cavern and almost blinded me like a flashbang.

This is bad... after using the extra magic to turn Luna bipedal, it really drained a lot out of me. Even if I did re-summon the torch, it would leave Celestia directly to me. Damn it Storm think... wait. Picking up both of my shields, I began to curl up keeping them close till I could feel Celestia walk away. Which felt like it took hours but I'm only sure it was a few minutes. Once the light from her mane faded away, I began to slide out and head away from the faint lights. As I walked down the path, I saw quite a few blasted crystals. Even a large out cove as my mind began to click. This was where Twilight found Cadence during the wedding. This means, if my nightmare was true all I had to do was head further past and I will find the spiral track that leads me to Starswirl's lab.

Taking a chunk of crystal, I began to chew on it. Granted that it wasn't as flavorful as a full gem, but it was filling enough for me as I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. It's useful since I can cause the crystals to grow rapidly. So bland or not, at least I won't grow hungry. It wasn't long till I arrived at the track spiral. Which looked a lot sturdier in my nightmare then it does here. Even so... I know I was going to have to traverse. With my wings spread I began to hop from rail to rail as I went closer down to the center.

“Storm.” Said a very sing-song voice of Celestia as I began to turn my head behind me as I saw her grinning darkly.

“Oh fuck me running,” I said as I pulled my wings in and suddenly drop like a rock to avoid a ball of magic from the Murder Princess. That was followed by my wings snapping back open to catch my fall before I grabbed the under support to the rails. Seriously, what's got Celestia to suddenly have a murder boner for me. Before she could fly over and go after me. I decided to jump down from support to support until I finally found purchase on the ground. Then I took a full sprint before jumping down the rest of the way until I found my way to the old sewer system.

If memory serves me, Celestia had these decommissioned when the newest ones were built for the larger city came into being. It made me wonder how much of the nightmare was created off of real life. Course I didn't have much time to think, because I did have a princess on my ass. With that thought back in my head, I began to dash down the sewer making random turns. Mostly in case, I was still being followed. That was till I found myself at a dead end. Oh, this is not my day... at all.

“Got you.” That got me to freeze up before turning around to see Celestia with her horn glowing almost blindingly. “I'm done with these games.”

“What is your problem?” I growled as I kept my shields at the ready.

“You...” She said between heavy breaths. The more I looked the more I can see that she's burning herself out at both heads. Was I really stressing her out that much? Before I could say something she fired another ball of magic at me. Using one of my knives hidden in my hand behind the shields. It connected with the ball and it was enough to cause the ball to explode between the two of us. So, that's how the spell works, it only blasts upon contact with something. That's good to know. Looking down at the hole made, I saw more caverns below. “I know what you used.” My gaze snapped back up to her before sending another ball of energy. Using another dagger to deflect the blast.

“Enough of this Celestia. Seriously what the fuck is your problem? Is winning mean that much to you that you're willing to kill your student's fiance.” That's got her to faultier enough as her eyes turned back before I took the chance to come closer. “Did you even ask your sister what happened after I jumped off the balcony?”

“Ah... No...” She said stepping back.

“So let me guess. You just assumed I did something wicked to your sister because I make her look different?” I stepped closer, as I was not starting to really get pissed off.

“I... may have...” She said continuing to step back as I used my wings to jump over the whole.

“Then you decided to chase me to try and kill me just because you couldn't take the time to find out what happened? All because of what?” I said getting right into her face as it was my turn for my hair to be engulfed in flames. Unlike Celestia's who has turned back to normal now, mine was turning black causing the room to freeze. “Because you were a little stressed at a game, that you demanded that I play.” she just stared at me before turning her gaze away. “You know what, I'm done,” I said dropping my shields, my daggers, and the only thing left was the hunk of crystal I keep on me as I walked past her.

“Storm I-”

“No.” I interrupted as continued past her.

“But-”

“No,” I said as I summoned the torch in front of me and drew in enough magic. With my mane like it was, the normal bright rainbow glow didn't even engulf the room like normal. It was barely even noticeable before me, so there was no way for Celestia to see it.

“Please let-” Was all she got out before I snapped my fingers and with that teleported away. I found myself outside of Canterlot on the rail tracks with my bag again. From there I jumped off and began to glide towards Ponyville as I wanted nothing to do with the place. Even the hour it took me to fly glide back didn't quench my anger one bit. So instead of going straight home, I went and landed in a cloud high enough above the town. The only one I knew would ever find me was Rainbow but she's probably lying about in a cloud herself.

Fluttershy wouldn't fly this high unless it was for one of her animals, and Twilight was still learning how to fly. That and most of the other pegasi don't fly up here unless they are on the way to Cloudsdale when it's on the route. So I sat down and laid back as I tried to come down. Something I didn't quite take into account was I rapidly cooled down the cloud making it suddenly turn into a snow cloud. The only reason I found that out was when the cyan blur decides to descend upon the cloud. Well... not directly, she decided to fly around till she found me laying on the cloud. It seems that my tail was poking out the bottom as she came to check to see if it was really me or Discord playing trying.

“I thought you were up in Canterlot?” Dash said hovering over me.

“I was.” Was all I said as I used my magic to bring over another cloud for her. She took it and sat down.

“When did you get back?”

“Not too long ago.”

“Why are you up here? I thought you were afraid of heights.”

“I am, but my mind is elsewhere so it doesn't matter,” I said turning to look up at the sky.

“Okay... so what happened?” She asked eyeing me.

“What makes you think something happened?”

“Besides the fact that your mane is black fire, the cloud your on is snowing under you.” She said pointing with her hoof. I turned over to that it was indeed snowing under me.

“So it is,” I said as I went back to laying down. “But what does it matter?”

“Dude, seriously if something is bothering you. I want to help out.” She said floating over on her cloud and began to poke me.

“Look, Dash, there is something that no one can really deal with but me. But if you want to help. Do you mind dropping off a message for me to Nightling in Canterlot?” I said sitting up and conjuring myself a quill and parchment. It didn't talk long to scribble out a note for Nightling and Lily to return with the new guards.

“No problem, I will be there and back in a snap.” She said with a smirk as I handed her the scroll. She took it in her mouth and flew off with a loud whoosh. With that, I laid back down taking a few deep breaths. Seriously, why does my life have to be this screwed up? It was supposed to be a harmless game, but it had to be blown out of proportion because Celestia couldn't get out of her own head. This was just getting frustrating to deal with, I think at this point I'm just done dealing with her. It would be irreconcilable of me to avoid Canterlot completely. But... the Castle is now out of the question... mostly because not it's official, I can't trust Celestia.

“Oh... um... hi Storm.” I leaned my head back and saw Fluttershy floating looking at me.

“I take it, it's still snowing?” I asked leaning overseeing that it wasn't snowing.

“N... no. It's just... I saw you all the way up here and I got worried.” She said and with that, I scooted over and patted the cloud next to me. She took the hint and landed next to me.

“So, what's up?” I asked as I stretched my legs out so they hang over the side a bit.

“Well... it's just... I saw the look on your face. Like something was really bothering you, and I wanted to help. If you don't mind.” Fluttershy said from behind her mane.

“It's nothing important right now. Just... a lot on my mind.”

“I... I won't pretend to understand. Especially with all the weight on your shoulder. But... your not alone in all this. You have all of use to help carry some of the burdens along with you.” She said to give me a warmhearted smile.

“I know I have the support of all of you. That you girls want to try and help carry the weight of each other. I know Twilight worries because of all that's happened and I get the feeling Spike is right in the same boat for another reason. But even now, there is this level of separation between everyone and me. Even Discord can't really understand how it feels.” I said holding out my right claw as the metal clacked together as I flex them. That was followed by my left hand joining it as I interlaced the two.

“What do you mean?” She asked eyeing me.

“Well... how did you feel when you were suddenly thrown into the limelight for being an element bearer?” I asked.

“It was scary, that now my quiet little life changed into something more... public. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to take care of my animals.” She said shifting a little on the cloud.

“Well... it's sort of like that, but with the added weight that my choices carry. I mean with a flick of a word, make things better or make things worse. Then I have to make sure I keep myself in check for the public eye.” I felt Fluttershy's hoof against my shoulder.

“It's not fair to you.”

“I know Fluttershy, and Twilight is going to be right there in it. But it's just... I'm so tired of it all.” Slowly crossing my legs as I leaned back gently. “Tired of being up on a pedestal with enemies all around.”

“It's not really that bad... is it?” Fluttershy asked looking at me worriedly. I remained silent as all I could think about was that Celestia and I were now enemies, not in the direct sense anymore, but we won't see eye to eye. Even with over a thousand years of experiences and she still jumps to conclusions without checking the facts.

“I'll talk to you later Fluttershy, I'm going to go for a fly to clear my head some,” I said as I slipped off the cloud and used my wings to hover a bit. “We'll have to talk again soon.” With a smile, I turned and flew off towards the everfree forest. Namely to the castle within the woods, since it's easily spotted from the sky. It didn't take me long to get there and entered to find a destroyed pedestal, that once housed the elements. Slowly walking up to it, I began to spread my sense around and it confirmed a thought I had. Grabbing the base of it, I began casing a strength enchantment to move the base to show a hidden set of stairs under it.

“Well that's unsettling,” Shadow said as I summoned a ball of light that hovered over my head by good food. Slowly descending into the stairwell, I had noticed a few differences from the nightmare and real life. Mostly in the color of the stone which in this case was more like chiseled marble with black tiled flooring.

“How many secrets does this place have?” I said before reaching into my bag and pulling out my tablet. With a few swipes I began to take photos, so I can layer them into one large image later. That's when I noticed something to kick this into something bigger. Towards the end of the hall which leads into another room was a few carving of what looked like a sword in some kind of aura.

“You don't think that's what I think you're thinking it is?”

“It's very possible,” I said gently putting my left claw on it. I turned and looked into the new room and it was definitely not the arena like the nightmare. While that room was massive, this one was relatively big almost as big as the throne room. Just lacking the ornate nature like the one in Canterlot. It still had the white walls that were cleared with only handles that hold up something. Even the thrones were different. Besides the fact that there were two of them. Both of them were made out of black stone and large enough for a being of my size. With each set, a light clack was heard as my hoof struck the stone that echoed throughout the room. “I doubt both of them would have a hidden throne just sitting under the castle like this.”

“Maybe it isn't theirs.” Shadow countered.

“It's more than likely, but just something doesn't feel right. First was the script and now a second throne room. Something is not sitting right.” I commented as I turned and decided to sit in one of the thrones. Nothing happened, and I wasn't sure if I had expected something to happen. Maybe it was just my jadedness after absorbing too much fantasy and science fiction that made me expect something to happen. “What am I going to do?” My mind had finally decided to jump back to what was really bothering me.

“She dug her own grave with that one,” Shadow said before coming out of my shadow to look at me directly in my face.

“I know, but Twilight's not going to like what happened.”

“And Twilight will understand. She knows you don't do stuff without a reason, and to be honest. You know as much as I, that Celestia needs to be knocked off that pedestal. Especially in her eyes.” Shadow said getting right up in Storm's face.

“I suppose your right,” I said getting back up. “You know how odd it is getting a pep talk from yourself?”

“Well, we are an odd pair,” Shadow said and I couldn't help but chuckle lightly at that.

“That's true.”

“But I think we should keep some distance between Celestia, her guards and us.”

“At least outside of official business,” I said as I began to move back towards the hallway. It didn't take me long to get back into the main castle before I noticed it was night time. My guards should be back by now, and instead of having them panicking that I'm missing in action. With a flap of my wings, I flew up to the clouds above the Everfree forest and walked, jump, and glided my way back to the main streets of Ponyville. I watched a few ponies going around lighting up the lanterns throughout the streets magically. Which left the town to have this peaceful nighttime air to it. Which helped my already stressed mind relax a bit. Not by much, but it was enough to help me keep going without a mental breakdown.

That was short-lived as outside the library was the royal chariot of the royal sisters. The only thing that helps me be at ease was that it was the nightguards that were stationed by it. Slowly walking up, I opened the door after ducking under the from to see both bipedal royal princesses standing in the main lobby. That got me annoyed since this was not a headache I wanted to deal with at the moment. Especially after seeing the changes in Celestia's body compared to her sisters. As she also had a very womanly body and a larger bosom almost by a full letter size. Not even counting the fact that she was at least half to a full foot taller than me. She was wearing a full draping white dress with golden trim.

“What do you want?” I said very bluntly.

“Storm!” Twilight said rushing over to me. “This is the prin-”

“I know who they really are.” I bluntly said not taking my eyes off of Celestia. “But my question was directed directly to her.” I continued before I growled the word “Princess.” Luna looked worried as she turned her gaze back and forth between the two of us.

“How did you know?”

“Who do you think did this?” I said very bluntly.

“You did this?!” Twilight yelled in surprise.

“Yes, but that doesn't change my question,” I said almost growling at the princess.

“I wanted to apologize for my-” She began to say.

“Not accepted.” I bluntly said cutting her off.

“Firestorm!”

“Twilight, knock it off.” I angrily said that caused her to back up. “I'm not accepting any apology from you, Princess Celestia.” I continued using her title. “Especially after what you almost did. For a ruler of Equestria, you let your emotions get in the way. Especially when you've gotten on me because I decided to play the political game my way.”

“I know.” She said as her head lowered. Twilight looked back and forth between the two of us. I know at this point my mane was glowing white with how angry I was with the regent of the sun. “I shouldn't have attacked you like that.”

“You think?” I snapped back.

“Wait attacked?!” Twilight yelled in surprise snapping her gaze to her mentor.

“Shamefully, I have to admit. I did attack Firestorm after I very stressful misunderstood. I had thought he may have been taken over again and was using chaos magic to corrupt my sister.” Hearing the reason from her own mouth did not help my anger, in fact, it got worse as my blazing white mane began to turn pure black and suck in all of the heat. To the point that everyone there could see their breath.

“Why would you think that?” Twilight asked taking a step closer to the princess.

“It was because of a bet between us that had gotten out of hoof.”

“A bet?”

“Storm and my sister was playing a game where Storm hid cards that would dye her fur if it was touched with magic. After only two hours she had gone through two-thirds of the number of cards with her having triggered them.” Luna answered the floating question.

“That was forty cards!” Twilight said looking in disbelief at her mentor.

“I wanted to have him stop this game, but which I will admit my mind came up with the worse conclusions to this game. What was worse was when I saw that Storm had changed how Luna looked into something closer to him. After it was part of the bet that I would suffer that fate. I may have let-”

“You had. Don't fucking lie.” I interrupted preventing her bullshit.

“I had snapped and let the stress get the better of me. I had attacked Storm magically.” She said not meeting Twilight's or I's gaze.

“But you should know Storm isn't even up to his full strength magically. That was... cruel of you to attack him in a way he couldn't fully defend against.” Twilight said now getting angry.

“I know, and as one of the rulers of Equestria. I am sorry for what I did.”

“And as a pony?” Twilight asked beating me to the punch.

“I regret it.” She said almost crying.

“Do you regret doing it or the fact that you didn't finish the job?” I growled as my right claw began to creak from the strain I was putting into my metallic fist.

“I regret everything, that I let my anger and the stress to get to me. I'm willing to accept any punishment either one of you wants to give me.” She said getting onto her knees and bowed her head.

“Why should I?” Is all I asked.

“What?” She asked looking up at me.

“Why should I punish you? That would be the easy way out for you and still having to make up for all of the other mistakes you made.” I continued before shaking my head. “That would be letting you off with a warning and you will have to make up for this in the right way.”

“How do I do that?” She asked.

“Figure it out, until then. The only time we will speak is 'only' official business. That means, I will only visit the castle when I need to do something officially, and your guards aren't allowed around me unless it's official business. Do I make myself clear?” I said with a stone-cold edge tone to my voice.

“I understand Storm.”

“That's either Prince or Mr. Firestorm from now on, Princess Celestia.” I pointedly stated and that got her to look scared at me. Before she lowered her head with a nod.

“I understand Mr. Firestorm.” She said turning to look at Twilight who looked like she was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. I know this wasn't fair to her, being stuck between a fight with her mentor she knew as a filly as well as the ruler of Equestria, and her soon to be husband.

“Sister, I think it would be best if you returned to Canterlot,” Luna said looking worried as she was observing my attitude in all this.

“I believe your right,” Celestia said getting up. “I will see you at home.” With that, she went to the door.

“Princess Celestia,” I said, having not taken my eyes off her.

“Yes, Mr. Firestorm?” She asked facing me.

“Just so you know, if I was going to go for your crown. Those cards would have been lethal in more than one ways.” That got her to shake from that as both Luna and Twilight's gaze snapped at me both of them in surprise, then back at the regent of the sun who looks shaken to her core as she left. There were a few moments of silence after she left and we saw through the window as the chariot was pulled away towards the capital. In that time, I sat down in one of the chairs with Twilight in the one next to me.

“Was that necessary?” Luna asked not in anger but worry.

“Yes.” I bluntly stated still seething in rage.

“What did you mean by 'go for her crown'?” Twilight asked and I looked to Luna.

“What he meant was that, after the Princess Summit. My sister had asked him to try and go for the throne after she had talked to him shortly after you got back from the other world. He turned it down and instead of going with this 'game' of theirs so there wasn't any harm. It looks like this backfired rather harshly for my sister.” She answered.

“But why?”

“She had come to worry that Storm may want to go for the throne of Equestria meaning that he would have to go through both her and I.”

“That's crazy! Storm wouldn't do anything like that.”

“I know, he wasn't one for power.” She said folding her arms under her bosom. “And I still think that's the case. But my sister had it in her head that he was just another villain waiting to happen after a lot of her skeletons were dragged to light by him.”

“There is a difference between what one thinks and what one does,” I said with a sigh before running my claws through my mane before pulling it back as there is a bit of frost on it. I watched the room get some of its light back as my mane dropped back into place. “I'm just tired of this game.”

“Game?” Both Twilight and Luna asked.

“Just... “ I began as I rubbed over my eyes and down over my mouth for a moment. “I'm just tired of playing this double standard game with her.” Slowly dragging out my phone and pulling up the images from the little hallway. With a snap, copies of them appears in eight by eleven sheets appeared in front of me that I grabbed. “Especially when I have more important things to worry about.” Then I tossed them on the table before me.

“What are those?” Twilight asked picking up a few in her magic while Luna got the rest in hers.

“These are carvings under the statue that housed the Elements of harmony, in the old castle,” I said snapping myself up another copy of one photo in particular.

“Wait, under the stature? How did you move something so huge?” Twilight asked surprised.

“I am part Earth Drony,” I commented with a smirk.

“True, but not every Earth Pony can move something that massive and so far the only one that I've seen pull something that close was Big Mac dragging a house.”

“I'm honestly not surprised by how big he is,” I commented. “But I used the strength enchantment to be able to move it completely.”

“But with your limited magic, you shouldn't have had the power to even cast it,” Twilight asked before I hold up my left hand and in a flash of prismatic magic, The Infinity Torch appeared.

“I've been using it very sparingly only when I needed it. So far today, I've used it twice. One to change Luna into this form. The second time was just after the Celestia chase. I'm pretty low on magic at the moment after that.” I said as a few drops of blood came out of my nostrils and dripped onto the photo in my other hand.

“When did you figure that out?” Twilight asked rubbing her temple with her hoof.

“A few days after waking up from the tunnel collapse,” I answered as I took enough to get my nose to stop bleeding before making it disappear. “So far, I've used it maybe three times. But regardless, this is much more important.” I answered holding up the photo to show the carving of the sword that looked like the Sword of Magic the last artifact of harmony.

“Is that what I think it is?” Twilight asking pulling the photo over to her.

“I believe so Twilight Sparkle,” Luna commented leaning over her to look at it. “But why is there a carving of it there of all places?”

“My guess was that there were ruins there well before the castle was there. But was buried over time so they didn't notice it when they built the castle on top of it.” I said leaning back shaking off the sudden headache that was trying to set itself in. “But the problem right now is I need to sit and translate this wall.” Moving the photos so all of the walls were visible as I had taken a lot of photos making sure that I could line them up to keep it a solid image.

“That is a possibility, but I don't think that's the case,” Luna commented as we both look at her.

“Well, the artifacts of harmony disappeared shortly after the events with the Dark One. Which the castle wasn't even a thing at that point. But by the look of these images, these aren't older than the castle.” Luna says as I took a better look at the image. Then's when used the photos and enlarge them.

“These look like they were magically molded to the shape,” I said having to notice that there wasn't any scraping or chipping on the stone. Something I was familiar with as I had used it quite a few times. Since the hallway wasn't wet or at least damp, I could rule out eroding. So it had to be magically made, the problem with that is figuring out when it happened.

“It surprises me anyone knows Old Ponish.” Luna tacked ongoing over the images.

“Wait... Old Ponish? By any chance do we have a translating guide for it?” I said turning to Twilight.

“We might let me go see,” Twilight said heading back upstairs while I leaned back in my chair again lost in thought for what felt like hours, but was probably twenty minutes at most. Before I was talked to again.

“Do you think you'll ever forgive my sister?” Luna asked as I lifted my head from the back of the chair.

“I don't know, I really don't. She attacked and was out to kill. That's something very hard to forgive.”

“She forgave me for it.”

“After a thousand years, and it wasn't you directly. Just Nightmare Moon using your body.” I said with a frown. “And remember, I'm not from here and I have a different set of morals I play by. While I would like to think I wasn't an eye for an eye. I'm not foolish enough to know that I can stand by it.”

“Does that mean your-” She began to question.

“No, I'm not going to attack her. But that also means I'm not going to forgive her. At least not anytime soon. So let's drop the subject.” I said going through the photos again and tried to decode it myself. That's when I noticed a word popping up. “Egg?”

“Egg?” Luna asked looking confused.

“Yeah, the word 'egg' keeps showing up over and over again.”

“It could be referring to the gem and stone egg from the pedestal,” Shadow said coming out from the shadow of my wing.

“Wait, when was this?” I asked completely confused.

“It... was after the Nightmare Moon incident,” Luna answered looking awkwardly.

“Why am I just hearing about this now?” I asked annoyed.

“To be honest, I had forgotten about it in loo of trying to find her. But... didn't you say he was going to need it to find the Artifact of Magic?”

“I did,” Shadow said smirking.

“When were you going to tell me this?” I shot at Shadow looking annoyed. “On top of that how the fuck did you even know, I was going to need that egg thing.”

“Oh, that's easy, when I was 'working' with Grimwand. I got a chance to go through his old books and it had mentioned something about an egg-shaped keystone. So I figured it was important enough to keep away from him.” Shadow said with a smirk.

“And the ties to the Artifact?”

“Just... something about it jumped out at me, that felt needed. Especially after finding the Artifact of Honesty.”

“So, let me get this straight. You found out information about a possible lead to an artifact of harmony and you've had found said 'keystone' while in control. Why didn't you tell me after I had woken up?” I asked now quite annoyed.

“Forgot.” He said with a shrug.

“I hate you.” I shot back with a flat look.

“I love you too, brother.” He said grinning before nuzzling into my cheek.

“Well, now we know where some of my snark went too,” I said rubbing my face annoyingly. That's when I noticed Luna coming over and sat on the arm of the chair.

“Storm” Luna said putting her hand on my shoulder.

“You know you've been in that form for a few hours, and yet you've picked up a lot of human mannerisms,” I commented noticing how natural she started to act in that form.

“Well, I've seen how you act.” She said, “And I sort of... copied them.”

“Give it time,” I said with a smile. “You'll get use to it... well until the week is over.”

“Maybe we can do this again. After everything is said and done.” She said smirking before she began to play with my mane.

“Time will tell... Time will tell.” I said with a sigh.

“You sure you don't want her in the herd?” Twilight asked causing both of us to jump. Unfortunately for Luna, she wasn't ready for the sudden jolt which caused her to fall into my lap with her rather soft rump. That caused me to have a bit of sharp pain, namely in my crotch that Luna suddenly landed on it.

“Storm?” Luna asked turning towards me after hearing me suck in air through my teeth. All I could do was whimper a little at the pain. “Are you alright?”

“No...” I groaned as Luna finally got up as my hands decided to descend upon the spot. “Why there?” I asked more to myself. Then both tried to help but I used my claw to hold up a finger and after the pain feel away. “Fuck you universe, you jerk.” Slowly standing up I took a much-needed breath.

“I'm so sorry Storm, are you going to be okay?” Luna tried to apologize.

“Yeah, just give me a moment,” I said leaning against the wall. “Granted, not the worst one but still... ouch.”

“What was the worst one?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Applejack from the other world,” I said remembering getting bucked by those legs in Max's body, fucking hell did that one hurt. Bad enough that I was taken to a hospital for it. “But back to the point, before the blow to my stallionhood. Let me ask this, why are the two of you so... gun-ho about a herd?” They both looked at me questioningly like I just said the dumbest question in the world. “Don't get me wrong, I'm not against it. But it's just I get why Luna is for it.” Walking across the side of the room. “What I don't understand you Twilight.”

“It's just... I've never had somepony fall for me let alone two... I just don't want to hurt any pony's feelings.” She said looking ashamed.

“Are you forcing yourself into this?” I asked worriedly.

“No...” She said a little hesitantly. Both Luna and I looked at each other.

“Twilight Sparkle?” Luna piped up and walked over. “Tell me the truth, does it really bother you that I find both of you attractive?”

“N-no...” Twilight answered as her left ear flops a little, and I could tell that little tick was a sign of her being a little nervous.

“I know ways of making you talk Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said grinning.

“Correction, we have ways of making you talk, Twilight Sparkle,” I said as my fingers began to wiggle.

“That's not fair, you both are bipedal!” Twilight whined, which was short-lived as I snapped my fingers and Twilight too joined the bipedal club. At a cost of my extra magic, I got from the torch but, it was well worth the headache setting in. She eep'd at the sudden change as I rushed over and picked her up. After flipping her over my shoulder, I began to climb the stairs with her. “Storm let me go!” She screamed as Luna trailed shortly behind. Course out of the three of us, I didn't bother giving Twilight clothes as not to be overly changing her. That didn't stop her from pounding my back to get me to put her down, without stopping to realize she was anthropomorphic just like Luna.

“This is going to be fun,” Luna said grinning behind me as we entered the loft.

***---***

It had been several hours since I had left Luna and Twilight in the loft, to have some fun. Well... sort of at the very least. It seems that Twilight and Luna talked me into a 'trial run' of sorts. Let's just say, I was not expecting how my second life has gone so far. Can't say that I could complain about some of it. Okay, maybe I can complain about some of it. Especially the parts where I've damn near died, but that comes with living. Right now I've spent that last ten minutes hard translating the book from old ponish, and dear god I thought decoding English was a nightmare. This was closer to decoding Japanese for the first time, as some of their words have more than one meaning. Regardless, I have a few lines decoded and let's say it's a complete mess. I have it written all over the lab on boards, sheets, and even using the computer to try and speed it up. Sadly, the hardware is not fast enough to my liking to get the job done fast enough. God, this must be how Twilight feels when she tries to understand how Pinkie works. It's fucking maddening to look at.

So far I got out of it was that I needed my hand on the egg and to speak a spell. One that I haven't found yet, and it's supposed to take me to the world with the sword. Which left me to wonder if this meant closer to a pocket dimension or something closer to universe hopping as I did with Max. Then it begs the question that if it's the latter, will I have a way back? I mean I have the plans still that was sketched in Max's journal which I had gotten to read the few passages that were written in it. Course if I had to use that, there is no way to be sure I would have everything.

“God this is fucking annoying,” I said running my claws through my mane. “No it can't be just 'Magic' and it's done.”

“Course, nothing is ever that easy,” Shadow said as he appeared out of my shadow looking just like my equine form.

“Fucking tell me about it,” I growled. “Seriously, all this for a fucking sword.”

“Magical Sword.”

“I know!” I said standing up and pacing about the room. “I mean look at it. The Infinity Torch was under the Crystal Empire in this world, Canterlot had the Bands of Generosity. Still in this world.”

“Grimwand had Honesty's Mask.”

“In this world.” I pointed out.

“How did we get the Pendent of Laughter?” Shadow asked looking at me as I returned his gaze trying to figure it out. Before we both snapped our fingers and pointed at each other.

“Dreamscape battle with Grimwand.” We both said at the same time.

“In this world-ish,” I said.

“Saddle Arabia had the Cape of Kindness.”

“In this world,” I said quietly. “So out of all of these, why is the sword the only one not in this world?” I think finally asking the important question that's been wailing at me for a while now.

“Well from what I've seen some of these ponies like to offload their problems on other worlds. I mean look at Sunset. She went to another world because of the pressure. Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon. Hell Starswirl threw creature after creature into other worlds. Why not a large magical sword?”

“But why though? I mean out of that list, the sword is the one that doesn't make sense. It's a tool to be used to save Equestria.” I asked slamming my palms onto the table. “It doesn't add up.”

“What if he did it because of Sombra?” That gave me pause.

“Was Starswirl around during that time?” I asked.

“Had to be, it was a little over a thousand years ago that the Crystal Empire was banished and it's back. He was around for Nightmare Moon and she's back. So he had to be around during that time because he was Sunbutt's teacher after all.” Shadow said looking over the sheets on the table.

“Sunbutt. I'm going to have to remember that one.” I said with a smirk. “But, let's say it was because of Sombra. Was he afraid of him getting it with the Infinity Torch?” I asked summoning all of the Artifacts I was tied to so they hovered just a foot under the ceiling. “I mean he had unlimited magic.”

“At the cost of not regaining his own. Which I know you're already feeling since you drained from it three times now.” He was right, the downside of it was that I felt drained more than before after casting the spell on Twilight.

“I know, but each one of these comes with a drawback. The Torch makes it that you take longer to recover your own magic. The Bands give everyone in the area a magic boost indescribably meaning even foes get it.”

“The mask makes it that no one can lie around people and the wearer can't lie.”

“We don't know the side effects of Laughter or Kindness,” I said looking up at them.

“That's true,” Shadow said looking at them with me.

“What about those doors?” Shadow asked.

“Doors?”

“In your dreams, you had gone through most of them. Kindness had that whole metal snake thing.” Shadow commented and I snapped my fingers remembering now.

“Your right and Loyalty had the whole flying out of body experience,” I said shaking my hand with the pointer out. “Then Honest was that whole trial. God the prosecutor being your own mother, that is nuts.”

“And to have the judge be a giant dragon mom and having a pony defendant is also your mother. Fuck we got screwed hard on that one.” Shadow said laughing.

“I know right? I just worry what the hell the magic door is going to be like.” I said running my hand through my mane.

“Can't be as bad as laughter, having to do stand up without being prepared,” Shadow said with a smirk.

“Oh haha, I couldn't use some of my A material from earth. Thank god I'm a better bard then I am a stand-up comedian.”

“Well, they are rather entertaining stores, especially the one about the painful pizza. That was fucking golden.” Shadow said with a smirk.

“Fuck, and there's no telling what would happen if you failed one of those fucking things. Seriously five doors, all in one shot. The fucking odds of that.” I said rubbing stretching my neck a little.

“Well, you have the strangest set of luck I've ever seen,” Shadow commented with an overplayed shrug.

“Just wish it was all the time, then I wouldn't have to deal with shit like this,” I said holding up the images I was transcribing. “Like seriously this place has magic and I can't wave it around and poof...” That's when an idea popped into my head and almost stupidly brilliant idea.

“What are you thinking?” Shadow said eyeing me like he knows something popped into my head.

“Something extremely stupid,” I said before rushing off to grab something from my safe. After grabbing the blacken prosthetic and slotting it in. I gave it a test snap as I dropped through the floor and found myself back into the basement. “Chaos magic gotta love it.”

“You sure that's a good idea?” Shadow said picking up the photos.

“Am I ever sure when I do something extremely stupid?” With a grin on my face. I picked up the forty-first edition guide to old ponish and then waved it through the images of the scripture. With a flash of light, the words flew up into the air before it flew right into my skull. That was followed by everything turning black... and a thump.

***---***

“You really are an idiot you know that right?” Shadow said looking down at me as I come too and it looks like I'm not in the basement anymore.

“Where the hell am... I'm in the kitchen. Okay, what happened?” I asked rubbing my forehead from the feeling of a thousand spikes being jammed into my frontal lobe.

“Well as you said, you did something stupid. I'm not sure what but it was something that laid your ass out flat. After that, I had to drag you up to the kitchen so I could get a better look at you. From what I can tell, you're fine bodily. But sadly...” He said letting hang in the air for a few moments.

“But sadly?”

“I can't find a count for your stupidity.” He said with a smirk before I reached over and slapped him on the back of the head.

“Not funny!” I growled. “Do you still have those photos?”

“Well... the backup ones. Makes sense now why you wanted them.” He said as they slide out of his hand.

“Okay, that is like two thirds creepy with a forth cool,” I said pointing at it.

“I know right?” Shadow said handing them over to me.

“Crystal touched where I must be, through the air, overland, and Sea. I tear a hole into the skies, so I can see this world with my eyes.” I began to read out loud.

“Holy shit...” He said with his mouth dropped. “You seriously know old ponish now?” He asked.

“Yeah... sort off. It's one of those I can read it if it's in front of me. But I can't remember any of it otherwise. Like a subconscious ability.”

“That's got to suck.”

“Right? I mean seriously it blows Twilight's mind if I suddenly walk in and boom, old ponish greeting.”

“She may have a mental meltdown. You heard the story of her trying to figure out Pinkie, think about how much she would try to get you to do it to her if she knew you could do that.” Shadow said and I had to take a moment with my finger up like I was about to say something.

“You make a good point... shit...” I said before grabbing the photos and the sheets of paper so I can finish my translation. “Well, at least now we have what we need. But that leaves a question.”

“What's that?”

“Are you coming with me or am I going alone?” I asked as I look over my prosthetic claws.

“Do you really think I'm going to leave your sorry ass alone in another world?” He asked as the blackened tint began to pull back to show the golden color my claws used to have to leave it so that just the claws themselves was their normal golden color but the rest of it remained black.

“Well, it wouldn't be my first time in another world.”

“True, luckily Vermom doesn't know dick about soul magic,” Shadow said before laughing. “Though I will admit that Max guy was odd.”

“Fucking tell me about it.” Using my claw I drew a circle in the air and put my hand through it as space there rippled as I pulled out Max's Journal.

“That's new.”

“It's a personal pocket in space I can have access to.”

“Well yeah, but you never did explain how you made it.”

“Remember the Tardis?”

“The one from that old British show?”

“That's the one.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out what looks like a small cube attached to a chain. “The spell itself expands the area within here.”

“Okay, and the hole in space?”

“Oh, that's just a little gate like a spell that I can reach into to put or grab something.” Just like before I reached in and pulled out one of my knives. “I use it to keep a few things hidden that come in handy to have. And with the chaotic magic, I don't have to worry too much about not having access to it.”

“Let me guess, it's protected from Mr. Saturday Morning Cartoon?” With a sharp pain in my right arm slide out of the sleeve and I tossed it into the portal.

“Even Celestia and Luna can't access it. No magic but my own can affect it.”

“How did you swing that one?”

“With Nullerite”

“Nullerite?” Shadow said looking confused.

“It's a special kind of stone that once processed blocks out any kind of magic but that of the one who processed it. Twilight had tried to break into the box one time when I said I hid her book in it.”

“Was that why you got sent out the window?” He said sounding curious.

“Yeah... she got a little... over-energetic trying to break into it,” I said rubbing the back of my head. God, I remember that day especially when she sent me flying over Sweet Apple Acres. “Twilight was a little nuts that day.”

“I heard that.” I heard Twilight said behind me causing me to whip around and all I saw was one of Shadow's Dragon heads coming out of the ground with a smirk.

“Okay, that was a dick move Shadow,” I said giving him the death glare. “When did you learn to mimic Twilight's voice?”

“I've been doing that for a while,” Shadow said before causing two dragon heads to snake out behind his back.

“Course they aren't the only ones I can mimic.” Said the left dragon head sounding like Celestia.

“But that's only the tip of the iceberg.” Said the right head sounding like Luna.

“I thought I did a good job, but you blow me right out of the water.” Slowly going over to the table I sat down as best I could in one of the chairs. “But all joking aside. We need to plan.”

“You know how well plans go with us,” Shadow said as the two extra heads disappeared into Shadow's back. “But I get what you're getting at. So what's the idea's on the table.”

“First I'm thinking about augmenting my prosthetic some more.”

“With what?”

“Chrysalis' horn” There was a few moments of silence between Shadow and I. He only stared at me with a mixture of a critical eye and a glare. As if everything decided to lay upon us like a heavy blanket.

“Why?” He asked and I only held up my right arm.

“Because it may be the only way I can feel whole.”

“You know you'll never be whole,” Shadow said leaning against the fridge eyeing me.

“You think I don't know that?” I said running my right claw through my hair. “After that spell you used. Any chance to reconstruct it disappeared and this was my only option.”

“You think I don't know that?”

“Oh, I know you know that. But you can change your appearance where you fit in. I don't really have that much of an option. Satyr or Drony, I always stand out. It's...” I simply sighed.

“You never really did get grow out of that introvert-ness did you?” He sighed too. “I get that you can act extroverted around everypony. Even when those girls like to drag your ass around.”

“Fucking tell me about it.” getting back into my seat. “Like Rarity, Dash, and Pinkie are like the biggest offenders there. Just Pinkie always wanting to do large parties or pesters me when I mainly chill in the corner.”

“Dash isn't much better. It seems she's been hunting my ass down when I decide to split off for a little bit.”

“When the fuck have you done that?” I asked not realizing it.

“I've been doing it off and on. I keep enough of me here just in case of an emergency. Enough that I can create a shadow weapon.” Shadow said before his shape morphed into a unicorn. Almost as big as big mac.

“Compensating for something?” I asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Na, just thought I would try out a bigger build. Your form is too thin for my liking.”

“Please tell me you're not turning into those meat heads that use to beat me up in school.”

“Oh shut up. Unlike you, I prefer having the strength to do what needs to be done. Especially if Sun-ass tries to go on a murder mission.” That sent a chill down my spine.

“God that shit was scary.” Just thinking about someone hunting me like a wild animal like that. I don't know which was worse that horror of my nightmare trip with Grimwand or Celestia trying to kill me.

“That bitch is lucky I couldn't kill her,” Shadow said before taking a more centaur form.

“Please don't talk about my sister like that.” Shadow and I turned to see Princess Luna in the doorway wearing only one of the orange robes that I had Rarity make for me.

“And why not? That bitch decided to go gun-ho without seeing what was really going on.” Shadow countered.

“I'm not saying what she did was right. But I get where she was coming from. She had just got me back from Nightmare moon after being stuck on the moon for a thousand years. On top of that, having my form changed may have just been a tipping point. Since she's been worried that you two would take Equestria's throne from her.” Luna explained.

“She can't seriously think either one of us wants that mess?” I asked waving my hand a passing gesture.

“What one says and what one does are two different things. I mean you've unearthed a lot of Equestria's darkest secrets.” Luna countered.

“Only because I'm tired of being blindsided. Especially from you and her.”

“That is true, we have been rather unfair to you. As it's only been about a year since you arrived and you've had things thrust-ed upon you.”

“You think?” Both Shadow and I said at the same time looking annoyed.

“That and having ponies eavesdrop on use has not been the greatest either. Speaking of which, how long have you been standing there?” Shadow asked.

“Since a little after Storm woke up from some kind of magical mishap,” Luna answered.

“What tipped you off?” I asked.

“I felt a magical disturbance after Twilight had fallen asleep and I wanted to check,” Luna answered.

“Yeah, numbnuts over here decided to mix a translation spell with chaotic magic,” Shadow said thrusting his thumb at me.

“Admittedly with mix results. I can read Old Ponish but only while it's in front of me.” I explained.

“Then you figured out what that writing was on the wall?” Luna said coming into the kitchen more.

“Yeah, its a set of instructions to use the egg to hop into the same dimension as the last artifact of harmony,” I explained.

“Same dimension?”

“Starswirl decided that having the sword remain here was dangerous. So he decided to do the same thing as everything else dangerous and chuck the sucker into a different dimension. Just like he did with the Sirens.”

“Then when do you plan to-” Luna tried to ask.

“When I have my magic back at full without the infinity torch. Plus I plan to have back up magic. So probably within a few months.” I cut here off.

“Backup magic?” She asked curiously.

“Your talking about those Mana Batteries, aren't you?” Shadow asked curiously.

“Yeah, I've been playing around with the method and I found out that I can create the batteries in different shapes. While it's harder to focus on it. It does open up possibilities for me.” using my storage spell I reached in and pulled out a test tube tray but instead of test tubes in it. There were eight different solid Mana Batteries fully charged. “These are the test batch I was able to form. So far they have kept their charge the longest out of the other batch.”

“How do you pull the magic from them?” Luna asked as I pull one of the tubes out opened up a slot in my prosthetic before sliding it in.

“They were made with me in mind. After the whole Nightmare Moon ripping off my magic. I thought of having backup power. The problem with it is that after they are used.” I said holding up my arm. The glow from the rod disappeared and the once solid rod turned back into normal water and splashed out. “It loses all of their property so they are one-shot wonders.”

“So they are only good for a quick boost but worthless afterward?” Shadow asked.

“Yeah, Gem's are about the same as the only way they are useful is by eating them. While filling, it does pose the problem having to keep thousands of them on hand and having to force myself to eat when full could also be a problem.”

“I can see the problem,” Luna said before looking at me. “Why didn't you use that instead of using the torch from before?”

“I forgot about them to be honest. Just...” I sighed quietly. “By the way what was done with Chrysalis' horn?”

“More then likely the royal archmage has it for study, why?” She asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“I was wondering if I could get it or at least a large fragment of it.”

“Why?” She said almost defensively.

“Because I want to add it to my prosthetic.”

“Again, why?”

“He wants to be able to change his prosthetic so it looks like a normal limb.” Shadow cut to the chase.

“Then I think I can get you a piece of it later today.” She said as it more than likely was past midnight.

“Alright. Would you mind if I sent one of my guards with you to retrieve it?” I asked getting up with a yawn.

“That's fine.”

“Good. I think I'm going to go lay down. This dragon has been up too long and he needs his sleep.” With that, I headed up to the loft to see a sprawled out Twilight Sparkle on top of a very messy bed. “What the hell did I miss?” I asked before saying screw it and slide in as best I could. As soon as Twilight felt someone there she latched on to me as if I was a lifeline or a stuffed bear... to be honest... not half bad.

***---***

“And why am I going again?” I asked Dash after she had dragged my flank out of bed. Miss Prismatic Missile decided that I needed to go on a fly with her to the Wonderbolts training field.

“I told you, Spitfire asked me to make sure you come up here yesterday and I forgot with all that mopping you did,” Dash said as I was gliding along. Mostly because I was still trying to wake up after being dragged out of bed.

“Did she say why?”

“Nope.”

“Great, just fucking great,” I mumbled as I saw the platform in the distance. “So I have to ask... why are you in uniform?”

“Well, we are going to the training field.” She said flying literal circles around me. There was a bit of silence before my prosthetic began to vibrate lightly. Pulling it in front of me I pulled up the screen I upgraded it with.

“You know that we-” Shadow began to say in my mind before I interrupted.

“That we aren't alone. Yeah, I noticed I can't three.” I shot back.

“There's seven. Some of them are hiding in the clouds to keep out of sight. But why then move to catch up, I spot them.”

“Dash, I need you to do me a favor,” I said looking at her.

“What's that?” She said gliding up to me.

“I need you to fly ahead and get some backup,” I said drawing a circle in the air and reached into it.

“Back up for what?”

“Dash, this isn't the time to question me. We aren't alone and if I have to fight. I rather not have you in the crosshairs.” I said pulling out a mana bar and my red bladed sword.

“Relax, you've got the coolish-” was all I let her get out.

“Dash, this is an order,” I said very bluntly. “Even a trainee understands that.”

“Are you sure, because I can take on a few ponies.”

“Dash, I don't know if they are ponies or worse. That's why I rather have back up and I can bet I'm the target here.” She looked at me with a cocked eyebrow. “Royalty with a rumor that I'm attacked a lot sounds like an easy target to me doesn't it.”

“I'm not going to leave you to deal with them alone.” She countered.

“Dash, your faster than I am and you can be there and back in a blink of an eye. So do me a favor and 'follow the damn order Dash.'” I growled as I was not starting to see red almost literally. The red was starting to creep around the edges of my vision.

“Fine. Don't get your flank handed to you or I will do it myself.” She said and took off like a bullet. With that, I flipped back and began to hover in the air before turning to those following me.

“You can come out now, I know all seven of you are there,” I said loud enough as I keep my sword at the ready.

“I see some of the rumors weren't true.” Said a very gruff voice as seven figures began to fly out from behind the clouds and both Shadow and I had the same thought as we both said at the same time.

“Ah, shit.”

[End of Chapter]