As I focused on her magic, my senses began to fade too fast for me to react. Just as soon as they faded, they returned or so I could piece together. When my sight returned, I saw I wasn't in Nightmare Moon's temporary cell. Where I stood reminded me of the dreamscape within my first few nights I was in Equestria. The difference was that the massive dreamscape looked like it was also jumbled with different locations. I could see parts of Canterlot, Ponyville, what looks like some kind of western town, and many more. Almost like a jigsaw with pieces from other puzzles. That's when other pieces jumped out at me. The mall I use to visit when I was a kid, the school hall in an old high school I use to go to, and even my old room on earth.

Standing in the middle of it is some kind of being. It sort of looked like a patchwork alicorn, I can at least tell it's female. Stepping closer I could see tale-tell signs of who it is or more who they are. I saw pieces of myself, Luna, and Nightmare Moon all pieced together. Well sort of pieced together, while two-thirds of the parts are normally female. It seems like the parts of them that are me was changed to be female.

As I got closer and past a mirror that seems to be in one of the guest rooms belonging to Canterlot Castle. It seems that even I have been jumbled up. Unlike the mare before me, I was made of mostly different forms of me. My wings were one of my fully draconic wings, and the other one was my normal feather-covered with the scaled crest much like Discord's. My right arm from the plate up was Shadow's shoulder, but my chest was mostly my satyr with the scaled bits of a draconic form. My left arm from the shoulder down to the elbow was equine with the elbow to the forearm that was rather flesh, and my hand was a dragon's claw. My tail was a mixture of draconic with bits of chaotic. My legs while covered with pants felt mostly furred with seconds of scale. My eyes were mixed, my left was like my draconic eyes but blue with a blacken white of the eye. While the right eye had its normal whites, the eye was the same diamond as when I was running on chaotic magic. Slowly making it closer to the figure, I kept myself at the ready.

“So it's time to end this.” Said the figure as if the figure wasn't obvious who it was. Nightmare Moon turned around as I saw that she didn't show any emotion, like a poker player.

“Depends,” I said grabbing two chairs as I got closer. “Is there a way we can co-exist?” Placing the chair down for her, I moved the other one a few feet away and sat down.

“Why would I co-exist with you?”

“Because you are tired of this as much as I.” Which was the truth, mentally I spent days on what I would do to her. But it mainly came down to two things, either kill her or imprison her.

“You do not know what I feel like.” She said getting up into my face.

“Nightmare Moon, think it out for a moment. Out of everything that's happened and the times we've butted head. You can't say that you're tired of being on the losing side. So what's the harm in talking it out?” Gesturing with my hand a offered the seat again. She growled for a moment before taking it. Glaring me down with one of my own eyes, I will admit was kind of freaky.

“What did you have in mind?” She asked crossing her leg with her arms crossed under her bosom.

“A... sort of a new game plus.”

“A new game plus?” She asked confused.

“Are you familiar with the concept of reincarnation?”

“You want to reborn me?” She asked standing up almost knocking over her chair in the progress.

“In a way. Not from a foal, but something close to it.” I asked looking up at her.

“And why should I give up this body?” She asked.

“Because it's not a complete body, after your defeat when the girls found the elements and the one in the dreamscape. You stopped being whole, I mean look at you. You have parts of both I and Luna.”

“Look at yourself. Your just as much a mashup as I am.” She said angry as she got up into my face.

“But if you noticed, every part of me is still me. Either being dragon, pony, satyr, chaotic, shadow, or human. It is just in different states of being.”

“So what, your just going to suck out all of your magic and put me in another body?” She asked.

“Well... more make you another body.” That got her to look at me a little confused and wary of me.

“How?”

“It's a mixture of harmony and chaotic magic. To break it down, I would be taking two ponies DNA to create you a new body and speed up it's growth to a point. Then put you into the body. The only downside to it is the possible Proto-soul that the process will create.” She looked at me.

“Explain.” She asked... well more command.

“Shadow was created out of the Proto-soul that remained in my body when Grimwand created my body. Since a pony body wasn't meant to house a human soul. So it, sort of split in a way. If not split, maybe close to expanding in a way. Shadow and I are able to share feelings and memories between us. So if the same case would happen. You wouldn't be alone, and have someone to share your memories and feelings with.” Making sure my gaze didn't leave her eyes as I spoke.

“What about her?”

“Luna?”

“Celestia. Do you really think she would let me walk around Equestria?” She said leaning down and glared more into my eyes.

“She wouldn't have a say. Ponyville and Cloudsdale are my jurisdictions. So while we do it and till your use to your new body. You will have to stay in either location and if you do have to go somewhere. You will be escorted by someone I trust.” I answered as I got up.

“If it's any of your guards they wouldn't put up a fight against either one of the princesses.” She said walking back to a section of a Ponyville bed.

“No, I would have Shadow Guard you.” That got her to shiver.

“You want that abomination to 'guard' me? What are you nuts?” She said getting up before she deflated a moment. “Look at who am I talking to, your nuts as all Tartarus.”

“Look, Shadow will mellow out around you. But that's if you don't double-cross us, and all I ask is one simple thing.”

“What?”

“Just follow the rules and live your life. I'll help you get comfortable as best I can.” She looked at me a little conflicted and that was followed by a lot of silence. “Look, I get it. Your scared because this is giving up everything you are to be someone else. Take it from someone who was forced the choice. It's not the worst outcome, to be honest. You're around ponies that will help you and you will be free to be who you want to be.”

“But you're asking me to stop being me!”

“Do you think I changed much from who I was on earth?”

“I've seen you change. You've never been as confident there as you are here in Equestria.”

“Confidence can be easily faked, I will admit that there are times I am afraid. When you stabbed me, it scared me to no end that I was going to die.”

“You've been stabbed before.”

“Doesn't change that I have been scared here in Equestria, that's the thing. Even when I was scared I still fought on. Between you, Vermon, Grimwand, and anyone else.” That got her to sit back down and lean forward. “How about this, I will house you within me along with Shadow.”

“You can't house both of us, you'll burn yourself out.”

“Not completely, Shadow and I have been working on expanding ourselves.”

“Why? Being completely full was your trump card against ponies like me. Why give that up?” She asked eyeing me with suspicion.

“Because of this something like this.” I watched her right eyebrow raised. “Are you familiar with the black books?”

“I'm familiar with them.” She said rather coldly.

“I'm tied to the thirteenth book.”

“The death book?” She said moving away from me.

“Yeah.” That got her to look at me in fear.

“Of course, I would have to have been fighting with the owner of the death book. For the creator's sake, my luck is non-existent.” That got me to laugh, and laugh hard. Seriously, after all this time the one person truly scared of me was after the fact. It was completely comical to me. “Stop laughing, this is not funny!”

“Are you kidding, this is fucking hilarious. Seriously, out of everyone I faced to have Nightmare Moon afraid of me. I thought to have Chrysalis afraid of me was the top of it, but now I've seen everything.” That got me laughing even harder to the point I fell back in laughter.

“Wait Chrysalis is afraid of you? What did you do to her?” She said smirking.

“Besides flash fry, a few of her changelings snapped off her horn, and gave her a shock to her system that would say that caused her to drop like a rock while she still was smoking from the lightning.”

“Wait, the big bad changeling queen got electrocuted?” I nodded at this. “Oh, that's funny.” She said as she began to laugh. So far we have at least broke the ice.

***---***

It felt like a day in the scape before things faded out and back into the room in Canterlot Castle. Where Nightmare Moon was when I started this, I just saw the Moon Helm as it sat on the stone. Standing up I was felt light-headed for a moment, that it caused me to fall back onto the floor.

“Storm are you alright?” Luna asked worriedly.

“Just... getting used to the full well of magic again, it's a little bit of a rush,” I said getting back onto my retaliative feet. “Let's get out of here.” Walking towards the door I saw both Lily and Nightling nod at me before following in step behind Luna and I. The castle was in its normal top form as the four of us headed towards the main entry. That was before three of Princess Celestia's guards stopped us a few halls away.

“Your highnesses, Princess Celestia requests both of you presence in the throne room.” Said the guard in the center.

“Regarding what?” I asked as I was rather annoyed.

“I do not know Prince Firestorm, sir.” He said as I became rather agitated as I clenched my right fist.

“Fine,” I growled a bit. “Lily, Nightling go ahead and head to Twilight and find out if she's learned anything else.” They both slapped a salute before they went past Celestia's guards. “Lead the way.” I watched the guards do the same as mine before they walked past us the other way. Luna walked beside me as we followed as I saw her gaze at me with worry. As I was fighting hard to keep my raging thoughts silent, especially so I don't broadcast them. We got to the throne room door which was already open and I could see Celestia sitting on her throne with her legs tucked to the side. Luna and I entered as the door behind us were closed.

“Hello Sister and Mr. Firestorm,” Celestia said sliding her hoofed feet out and stood up.

“What do you want Princess Celestia?” That got her to wince a little before walking towards us.

“I have just received reports that Nightmare Moon was captured.”

“And dealt with Sister,” Luna commented, Celestia paused again at this.

“Dealt with how?”

“Firestorm was the one to do it,” Luna answered without meeting her eyes, all while I stared her down just as much as she began to do the same.

“What did you do?”

“Returned my magic back and removed Nightmare Moon from the Moon Helm,” I answered in a tone that I knew she didn't like hearing, cold and precise. I could see she wants to yell at me because of my choice, but she knows that I know that she's done much worse. Especially with war's, she fought in herself.

“Did she suffer?”

“No,” I said just as coldly. “I may be angry, but I'm not a monster.” There was a bit of silence as I know she was trying to hold back her link to me. I do say, try because I could see Luna's look to her sister like the two of them were in the middle of a conversation over the link. “If there isn't anything else, then I have business to get to.” Turning around, I began to step away.

“There is one last thing.” Stopping, I turned back to see her hand me an ornate golden key with a carved ruby handle. “This key allows you direct access to the Canterlot Archives from any door and if you use it inside the archive you can return back through any door you've gone through.” Carefully, I eyed the key silently before I looked up at her. “It's not a trap.”

“Why?”

“Because I want this to be an olive branch between us.” Magically I picked up the key and floated it over to me before I drew a circle under. Once done, I dropped it into my magical storage box.

“Thank you, Princess Celestia,” I said with a slight nod before I turn to leave again. Walking down the hall I could see the Castle staff watch me. Some mixed with worry, some of them with fear, some with admiration, and some with a sense of curiosity from what I could tell. Part of me wondered if Celestia was spreading some kind of rumor, and if was the case. Why give me a magical means for me to enter and exit under her nose. Something was not adding up to me. Celestia was trying to play nice as a front, but it seems like she was playing me to be something to worry about to others. After I made it outside, I began to make my way down to the shopping district. As I worked to piece this very large puzzle together. Which I couldn't keep really focused on as I was dealing with the odd looks I was getting by every pony I passed. They were giving me a rather wide birth as I walked down till I took a side street. Till I found the familiar outlook overlooking the mountain edge. Leaning on the rail I looked down at the Everfree Forest down below as I could see some of the damaged I caused during my fight during the combat trail.

“She has an underlining motive.” Said Moon's voice.

“So I wasn't the only one that caught it,” I said back.

“That makes three,” Shadow commented next. “I would suggest we don't use that key unless we have too.”

“I agree until we have more information. I'm going to keep with my plan to avoid the castle as much as possible.”

“A wise choice,” Moon said as I held my right arm out and saw the change upon the base. The last time it was mainly black with old trim. But with my newest guest as well as her pool of magic, I had to offload a lot of it into my prosthetic which changed it to have a more stardust texture to it. Using the piece of Changeling horn in it, I started to keep it looking like my previous prosthetic to hid the fact that I have Nightmare Moon in my head. Not even Luna knows about her at the moment and I wasn't sure if I should say anything. She and Moon don't really agree with each of us and for her to know I have her in me may sway her to see me as an enemy as well. “I know you're putting a lot on the line for me.”

“I gave my word, as long as you keep yours.”

“I know, so what's your plan.”

“Are you familiar with the artifacts of-”

“Harmony, yes. I'm familiar with the legends about them. Why?” With a flick of magic Laughter's Pendant appeared in my hand. “Their real?!”

“Very much so and I'm tied to each of them, but I'm missing one.”

“Which one?”

“Magic.” Letting out a sigh, I stared out into the sky. “The problem is thanks to Starswirl the sword was tossed into another world.”

“Of course he did. If it's not the sirens, it's something else.”

“Sirens?” That caught my attention. “So the legends about them were true.”

“Yeah, they caused a lot of problems.” She said with a tone that I could swear she was smirking.

“Regardless, I have the means to go where the artifact is.”

“Why haven't you gone to get it?”

“I've had to rely on one of the other artifacts for magic, and I haven't had a chance to recover from it. Plus with my latest game of 'who is going to attack me today', I just haven't had to for strength to do so yet.” I explained with a bit of snark.

“Well, it's not my fault you got in my way,” Moon commented as I could just feel her crossing her arms at that.

“Well fuck you too,” I said running my claw through my mane. “Look, I'm going to lay it out for you. We will be making this trip soon since I've gotten a lot of my magic back.”

“So what should I expect on this trip?”

“Not a clue, it could be like earth, it could be another Equestria, and could be a completely different world altogether.”

“It wouldn't be your first rodeo,” Shadow commented.

“What?” Moon commented sounding completely confused.

“It's complicated. I ended up visiting another Equestria in a human body, and I've revisited my earth.” It makes me wonder how Max was doing. Man, it has been quite some time since I thought about him, that or anyone really from my old life. After the whole Nightmare from Grimwand it just kind of hurt to think about them. Leaning on my elbows I placed the thumbs of my claws against my head as I just continue to think about those I haven't in a long while. So much so I kind of lost track of time and where I was as I just closed my eyes to just zone out.

“A bit for your thoughts?” I heard from behind me. Almost out of habit, I flew up in the air and turned around to see Twilight looking up at me with worry.

“Holy shit, Twilight don't scare me like that.” Landing back down I slowly walked over and began to gently hug her.

“Sorry, just you looked worried and I didn't know how to help.” She gently nuzzled her head in gently into my chest.

“It's alright, just a lot on my mind.”

“You can say that again.” Shadow snarked.

“Shut up Shadow.” Twilight shot back and I couldn't help but smile.

“That's my mare,” I said.

“And your my stallion.” She said smirk up at me. Before I knew it, we began to kiss rather deeply.

“Gag me with a spoon.” said a voice above up. Twilight and I looked up to see Dash hovering over us.

“And what's wrong with us kissing Dash, Jealous?” Dash blush and puffed out her cheeks at my comment.

“I'm not Jealous.”

“What do you need Dash.” Sitting down on the rail with Twilight doing her best to sit in my lap. Something I hadn't noticed till they were in front of me. Twilight's wings aren't as large as mine, even smaller than Luna's. I don't know if that's because of the magic I used or that she's just the newest Alicorn or not.

“Spitfire asked me to deliver this.” Dash reached into the set of saddlebags she had one to pull out a scroll. That's when I noticed she had her Wonderbolt garb on. As soon as she pulled it out I gently took it from her magically. Skimming through it I could see the point she wanted to get across.

“She wants me to come and inspect the troops, sort of speak,” I said rolling it up and with a flip-up and teleported it onto my desk back in Ponyville. Twilight has been helping me with my summoning and returning of objects at well. So far this was the longest I could send it without having to do a dragon to dragon sending. I don't think Spike would have enjoyed that feeling, I should know.

“Why all of a sudden?” Twilight asked.

“It makes sense since Cloudsdale is one of my cities that I have jurisdiction over. So I would have to do regular inspections.” I answered.

“This would be one of them.” Twilight tacked on.

“Correct. Tell Spitfire I will come to the academy in a few days, but to expect two of my guards with me.”

“Is one of them Lily?” Dash said sounding annoyed.

“Lily will be one of them, Yes.”

“Fine,” Dash said before zipping off.

“What's got her tail in a twist?” Twilight commented.

“From what I hear, Lily has been rubbing ponies the wrong way. Just like another griffon I had from what I heard.”

“Gilda, She was one of Dash's friends from flight school. She didn't agree with ponies and it ended up putting a sour taste in every ponies mouth.”

“That makes sense, I mean first impressions and all,” I said with a light smile. “Now where were we?” I asked as Twilight turned back around with a smile on her face. We gently leaned in with our noses touching before we went in for the kiss.

“Excuse me your highnesses.” Said a voice behind Twilight, and I could see it plastered on her face as well as mine. We turned to see Ironclad in his new set of armor. He used to wear a modified day guard. But since he's joined mine, we had to do a rather extensive rework to factor in his prosthetic limbs. We decided to darken his prosthetics especially when he decided to forgo his armor if need be. So we decided to make his armor the second level of sorts. More attachments than a full suit. With that, we modified it so he could slide it on and off at his choice. We also gave him two different sets of helmets. One for heavy-duty and a lighter one for everyday use.

“Yes, Ironclad.” I made it no secret I was slightly annoyed.

“I thought you would like our weekly report.” He said before handing over a scroll. Opening it up it looked like business as normal as this was my second report from them.

“Thank you Ironclad.”

“Your welcome Sir.” He said with a salute before walking off.

“With that out of the way. Shall we try this again?” Twilight said leaning in again as we went for another kiss. We gently pressed our noses together making sure not to have our horns to get in the way. Slowly leaning in our lips slowly began to press into each other as-

“Your Highnesses.” said a voice behind Twilight.

“Oh for Celestia's sake,” Twilight growled before turning back. “Can't you see we are a little busy at the moment.” We turned to see one of Celestia's guards stand there looking a little scared.

“Sorry Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia requested your presence in the throne room.” Said the guard.

“Go ahead Twilight, I'm going to look around a little bit more before heading. Maybe do a little window shopping, I'll meet you at Donut Joe's when your done talking to the Princess.” I said with a warm smile on my face.

“If you're sure,” Twilight said with a little worry. She knows how angry I am with Celestia and how much the two of use are at odds. She's not happy with her either but she still had that familiar feeling as she was her teacher and almost second mother to her. Which hasn't made any of this easy for her.

“I'm sure.” Twilight nodded and followed the guard as I watched her go. “Hate to watch her go-”

“But love to watch her leave.” Shadow finished for me.

“ug, Stallions,” Moon commented.

“Oh don't lie, you know you enjoy the view too.” Shadow comment and I could just hear the smarmy smirk on his face.

“Fuck off Shadow.”

“Oh, she is,” I commented with a smirk.

“Fuck off Firestorm”

“Oh don't hate the player, hate the game.” I couldn't help but lightly laugh as I turned back to look over the rail again. With a smile on my face, I used my wings to raise myself onto one of the nearby roofs and I touched down to walk across it. As soon as I got to the edge of that roof I used my wings to hop onto the next one, then the one after that, and the one after that. “You know Canterlot isn't too bad of a place to stay.”

“Outside the castle,” Shadow commented.

“What would you think Twilight might say if we decide to get ourselves a sort of away home up here?”

“Probably mixed.”

“True...”

“I do see some appeal to it. A home here, away from Celestia's prying eyes.” Moon tacked on.

“That's part of my thinking.”

“And this would give you a place for your guards away from the others,” Shadow commented.

“That's a plus too. Maybe, I should look into a place. If not home, maybe a base of operations up here.” That got me thinking more about it. Just like Ponyville was getting a bunker so why not Canterlot? It would give the guards I send on missions up here a place to stay.

“Having a few in different cities would be a rather tactical idea,” Moon commented.

“I would have to start small as I only have sixteen guards,” I commented till I turn and descended onto the street. Looking around I could see the tiered structure of Canterlot. It starts with the train station, before its the lower quarter, the shopping, dining, and entertainment, followed by the higher quarters, then the manors, and finally the castle itself. “Wait...” Taking to the air again I hovered over the city as I looked back towards the castle. “Shadow are you thinking what I'm thinking?”

“I don't know Fire, how would you fit three different clouds in a bottle?” Shadow commented.

“Okay, Pinky,” I said with a smirk as I flew towards Donut Joe's as I had an idea and I couldn't wait to share it with Twilight.

***---***

Sitting in the room got rather boring rather fast but since I was to be observed over the next few days. Twilight went back to Ponyville because she needed to take care of stuff there. She was picking up some of my duties because of me being unable to do so. Even though I told her all she needed to do was said one of the guards up with the paperwork. But as she puts it “I'm going to need the practice for when I have duties myself.” I couldn't blame her to be honest. It's nice to get a trial period of what to do.

Something I kind of wish I still had, but sadly that really didn't come to pass. Regardless I was still in my private hotel room looking over some files as I realize that I'm going to need medics for my future plans. I had set a special request for Heartshy in that if not in an official capacity then in a teaching role to newer guards. So far, nothing from him yet and honestly I hope he does. This would give us at least a standard squad. A unicorn, pegasus, earth pony, and a medic. Truth be told I want at least each of them to have some on hoof medical knowledge to help in case. With Moon's help, she's been helping me formulate my future plan and back up plans. Surprisingly enough that she rather forthcoming with all her combat and military experiences.

On top of that, it seems that Moon has gotten along with Shadow and I rather well. Out of a lot of the ponies I've come across. Nightmare Moon or Moon as I've been calling her as of late is more combat and on the fly tactical. We've been even going as far as seeing if she could take over a part of my body. She's able to take over small bits my horn or an eye. This leads us to a discovery that means the most to us. Something we found out is that my three horns all conduct magic just like a unicorn horn. So we decided to make a plan where both Moon and Shadow will take one of my back horns and cast from them. Which we did try, mainly with a simple light spell. Hovering over me were three orbs of magic, a black, orange, and blue all spinning around each other like an atom.

We were waiting for the next check-up, as the doctors wanted to check the integration of my magic with my weakened magical veins. Which I hope is good news as I will need to use a lot of magic relatively soon. Because I could really use some good news after everything that's happened.

“Hey... Uh... Firestorm?” Moon said sounding apprehensive.

“What's up, Moon?”

“I... I just want to say sorry for what I have done to you.” That got me to sit up from the bed that I have been laying on.

“What brought this on?”

“Just... been thinking... you're dealing with a major risk with me being in here and with everything I've done to you... I just wanted to say sorry.”

“Okay?” That was followed by a few moments of silence after that.

“Just... okay?” Moon asked.

“What did you expect me to say?”

“I don't know, just something more than okay.” She said sounding a little annoyed.

“Look, Moon, I will level with you. Honestly, I get it. You want to make sure your in the good graces of the 'pony' that is supposed to help you but with our history that is a rather hard thing to do. Top that with the fact that it's been only a few days and I know It feels like I'm lax with it. That's furthest from the truth. Frankly, I only trust you so far and if you do fuck up. I will put an end to you.” That was followed by silence for a bit.

“That is... fair. I wouldn't expect any less than any pony with power.”

“Honestly Storm is probably the easiest of beings to get along with,” Shadow commented.

“If you say so.” I shot back, I would have said more before the doctor opened the door and gave it a light knock.

“Your Highness?” Heartshy said stepping into my surprise.

“Did not expect to see you here, I thought you were in Cloudsdale.”

“Princess Luna requested that I would come down to deal with this as I was just told a few hours ago about what happened.”

“So much for getting messages out in a timely matter,” I said scratching my chin.

“I did get your letter.” He said reaching into his saddlebags and pulled it out. “I can not enlist like that. But I will help train some of your guards. If they know how to do a decent job then maybe I wouldn't have to patch you up all the time.” He said with a smirk.

“Am I getting a hint of a joke there,” I said smirking back.

“Well, one of my colleges said some levity may help with my demeanor.”

“Couldn't hurt, so what's the prognoses doc?” I said getting up to my hooves.

“It's a bit of an oddity, to say the least,” Heartshy said holding up the clipboard in his wing. Something I found interesting that some pegasi would use their wings as a set of hands. Only those that have very strong wings. Even Dash has used them as fingers to count. Which it took a bit but even I can do it now, but I don't do it that often.

“What's so odd?”

“Your thaumic lines are almost tripled in strength. Which never has happened before in Equestrian history.”

“Well to be fair, I don't think having your magic ripped and taken back as that has happened either.” He looks at me for a moment before using a hoof to adjust his glasses.

“That is true, but it seems that your system has over-compensated for the returned magic. Which so make it being taken again harder to do... hopefully. From this, it seems your magical recovery has returned to normal which is good. I recommend staying here for a few more days to make sure.” He said making a few notes with a quill in his teeth.

“I can do that, but if I may ask. Will the strengthening of my thaumic lines cause any problems down the line?” That was the question.

“From what I can gather, the only problem is when you have to use a lot of magic that it may forcibly constrict and cut off the flow.”

“That could be a problem.”

“I plan to have a few scans done to check to see if these are accurate these scans are.”

“Keep me posted, and I will let you know when I have the troops ready for training.” Heartshy nodded and headed off as I laid down for a bit of rest. Staring at the ceiling I thought about everything that has happened so far. So far it has been a rough ride, but one I don't think I could ever give up. Especially Twilight, I will admit that our relationship has been rocky at points. Honestly, no relationship is perfect and I wouldn't have it any other way. The thing I worry about is how long I may have to be until I see her again when I make the jump.

“You'll survive,” Shadow said my eyes began to close as the embrace of sleep as for the first time in a long time. I fell into a dreamless sleep, and it was nice.

***---***

After the few days of scans and so forth a few things had been confirmed. My magical veins sort of speak had indeed strengthened, as they were able to hold stronger magics. Here's the kicker to this, we had identified my mysterious third well of magic, draconic magic. This brought my magic well count up to five. Unicorn, Shadow's, Moon's, Draconic, and Chaotic magic. Which with my strengthened veins, that's a lot of power to push through if I had too. It still leaves the question of what would be the outcome if all that magic was used at once? Regardless, I was at the point of preparing for my trip and I will admit.

I am scared.

Not scared of coming back and I have the means to do so thanks to Discord who was 'kind' enough to teach me about universal jumping. Which most time to find a desired universe I had to make a waypoint of sorts. In this case more a beacon of the sort that I have already placed in the Castle of the Pony Sisters in the Everfree. This way if my re-entry to this universe is violent then no one would be harmed. Luna has promised me that she will have guards to keep track and give her reports as well as Twilight through my guards. Lily was given orders that while I was gone that she and Nightling is to work together to train the other guards and protect Twilight. Lily has been verbally against this, but as her 'master' she has to follow my orders. Which is still a very weird feeling about all this.

What scares me is what I could find there. One thing I have always submitted to the multi-universe theory. Which has been proven to me so it's more multi-universe fact than anything else. With that in mind, the possibility of me running into horror after horror is a very real thing. That has left me wondering what horrors to come, is it a wasteland like from the Fallout games or will it be something straight out of H.P. Lovecraft. Thinking of that, I have had things brought to me to prepare. Between weapons, jewels, coins, military rations, and many other things. I think I have most of it prepared. Finally was my disguise that I will be using for this travel to help cover my form. We plan to go with the Nerada disguise to help keep things hidden. Just, in this case, it will be me wearing it. The mask has been fitted with a special pocket that allows me to hide my horn. My other two horns will be covered with my cloak and my mane. That leaves my wings as the last problem and so far I had to use some chaotic magic to cause the cape to let my wings pass through. The side effect is that it causes the light to wrap around them and hide them. They aren't noticeable unless you look for the light shift in the area where my wings would be. Almost like a bit of an image shifted by a pixel in a massive image. It's not really noticeable unless you are looking for it directly.

That leaves a means to defend myself, outside of magic. A knife would be easy to hide, but against a sword, I wouldn't stand much of a chance. That's not even counting if this place has firearms. Which I'm already at a disadvantage with, as I don't know if a shield spell would have enough stopping power. The most I could do in that case is avoid getting hit. Which with my track record was not looking promising. This is the problem with the unknown, you don't know what to prepare for and even so, you can't prepare for everything. There are just too many factors that leave this so up in the air that it terrifies me to no end.

I've been sitting in the loft back in Ponyville as I have been trying to calm my mind for sleep. Twilight was laying next to me in one of my shirts as she only had a few more hours in her anthropomorphic form. I gently played with her mane as I was lost in thought thinking about what was to happen tomorrow. Just... I'm lost wondering what Twilight will have to go through while I'm gone. Hell, there's no telling how long I am going to be gone since there is no telling how time flows between universes. Max's was from an earlier year then mine if that's anything to go by.

Slowly getting up from the bed, I made my way over to the edge and glided down to the floor. With a soft thump, I landed then made my way to the kitchen. As I walked in I saw Spike sitting at the table with a small plate of gemstones and a glass of milk. His gaze shot to me in surprise.

“Storm?” He said with a mouth full of gems, that was followed by a gulp. “What are you doing up so late?”

“Couldn't sleep,” I said going over to the fridge to get myself a glass of milk. “Just thinking about tomorrow has me worried.”

“That's when you are going off on your trip?” He asked looking a little confused.

“Yeah.” Sliding the chair back, I sat on down across from him.

“Where are you going?”

“Didn't Twilight tell you?”

“Twilight said you were going too far away, something like when we were in that other world,” Spike said before taking a drink of his milk.

“Something like that, the difference is that I have to travel there a harder way and I don't know how long I will be gone.”

“How come?”

“I just don't know how long it will take me to finish my mission.” I didn't want to scare Spike with the aspect of different times in different universes.

“I'm sure you can do it. Nothing really has ever stopped you.” Spike said with a smile.

“I can only try my best,” I said with a smirk. “So what's got you up? Besides the case of the munchies.”

“Just... couldn't sleep either.”

“How come?”

“Well... I've been having Nightmares and they've been keeping me up.”

“Tell me about them.” There were a few moments of silence.

“They... start with me waking up here... alone. Like no one was ever here, but just me. When I go outside I see everypony just look at me in fear. Just like when I grew out of control.” This sounded very familiar to me.

“And you feel like the world is against you like your just one in a vast sea of ponies?” That got him to look up at me before looking away.

“Trust me, Spike, I know how it feels.” That got him to look back up at me. “Being the only one of your kind here always makes you feel out of place. Like an extra puzzle piece to a finished puzzle.”

“Kind of like that. Is there any kind of advice you can give to help?”

“To be honest... there are a few things. Don't really think about it like that. It leads to a very depressing swirl that a dragon your age shouldn't have to deal with and you are not really alone here Spike. While I am going to be gone, I will need some dragon to be the dragon of the house and help defend it if something happens. Do you think you can do that for me?” Spike nodded slowly.

“Yeah, I think I can do that.”

“You think?”

“I... I can do it.” That got me to smile as I gently patted him on the head.

“Spike,” I said drawing a circle and reached through it into my little pocket space.

“Yeah?” He asked as I pulled out a small knife with a holster I had made.

“Here.” Placing the knife in front of him. “I am going to trust you to hold this and to only use it to defend yourself.” Spike looked at it before gently taking it. Sliding it out of the holster to show a redden steel blade. I had the guard's blacksmith make a few scaled alloy ingots from my scales. With that I had them craft me a few weapons including a gauntlet for my left arm, as well as a knife. But in the case of this knife, I have had this one made for him. This was supposed to be a gift after I had trained him, but with my timing, I didn't want to leave him like this.

“Storm... are you sure?”

“I'm sure Spike and if you ever think you're in danger. Go to Nightling or Lily, alright?” I said giving him a serious look.

“I will,” Spike said putting the knife back in the holster and held it close. “Why don't we get back into bed, we have a long day ahead of us.” With that, I picked up our dishes and placed them into the sink before we headed back up to the left. I helped Spike into his bed and showed him where I put the knife so he could find it in the morning. With that, I went back up to the loft and slid into bed next to Twilight. Slowly sliding my arms around her and held her as sleep began to finally take me. Because I am going to need every bit of it...

As tomorrow is a new page in my journey.

[End of Chapter]

Author's Notes:

Okay, so I will admit. I may have rushed a little on this chapter as this is so far the shortest of all my chapters. The reason being I have been chomping at the bit to get to this next arc. Hence the title of this chapter. That being said, I hope everyone enjoys the arc coming up as I have had this on the back burner for a while now.

And remember
Stay Frosty My Friends.