That same snore. That same obnoxious and utterly deafening snore that her new tenant would give as she slept echoed throughout the zebra's house. Her head was already beginning to ache from the second night she had had to endure it.

It was one thing having to deal with her during the day, but to have to tolerate her during even the night? Zecora felt a sigh and a grumble escape her as she wondered how little sleep she had managed to get last night. Had it been an hour? Maybe a few minutes? It wasn't particularly worthwhile, however much it might have been.

"Geez, what happened to you?" She remembered her guest asking her the next day, having likely noticed the bags under her eyes. Zecore simply glowered at her. She was barely able to hold her anger, taking in a calming breath before answering.

"... In case you had not guessed, something enabled my loss at a good rest." Zecora returned. Unfortunately, her implication had seemed to go over her guest's head. Or at least she thought that she wasn't aware of what she had implied.

"Really? Hm, I slept like a log."

The amount of willpower that she had needed to muster – And barely managed to summon forth – in order to halt herself from, quite literally, kicking her 'guest' out of her home was astounding.

Now, just as it had been in that previous night, the sound of snoring echoed through the air. For once though, Zecora was relieved by this.

She had been waiting for her guest to fall asleep for quite some time now. She even went so far as to give up her own bed to her and wait in the living room in the hopes that it would quicken the process.

Zecora's ear twitched once – then twice – at the sounds of noisy rest in the other room. A hoof of her wandered to her temples as she began to make her way outside of her living room and into the forest.

She took great care to silently close the door behind her. She barely gave out another breath as she gained some distance from her abode before finally deciding she was far enough to relax a bit.

It had been a few days now since Zecora had last seen Jeremy and his other companions. Were it not for her sudden surprise 'visitor', she would have gone to check on them sooner. Now more than ever though, she especially had need to see them. The information that had been provided to her by her 'guest' was something of notable value.

She had to be careful, however. After all, whether her tenant is indeed an old friend of Jeremy's or otherwise, she still felt it necessary to keep word of his location as tight-lipped as possible. That, and she didn't want her to begin to influence Jeremy as she had threatened to do some time ago.

Grass tamping below her hooves, Zecora gave out another sigh as her migraine began to fade and she made her way down the long-memorized mental path that led to Halfy's home.

A short ways behind her, a stray leaf fell from a tree to the grass below, its branches rustling against some sort of new weight that had planted itself upon them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Within the other of the very few residences that lied in the Everfree Forest, a flood of silence filled the space within as opposed to the noise that filled that of Zecora. Yet, the fault just as equally was held by those who resided in it.

Between the wooden walls of the scantily built home – made by the partially sighted earth mare – Halfy, Nightmare Moon, and Chrysalis went on in their own quiet minds and surroundings, unwilling to make even the slightest of sounds.

It was not because of the same reason as the previous nights that they had gone through these moments though. It was not an air of boredom and uncertainty that kept them silent this time. Instead, the air was heavy; a combination of tension, uncertainty, and concern filled the space they were in. Chrysalis was practically choking on it, though some of it was her own that had mingled with the mix.

It had barely been one day – a single, ever so nerve wracking day – since Jeremy had told them of his fear of the light. Or rather, since he was given no other choice but to have done so.

In fact, it was because of this mental stress that they had believed that they had caused him that he was not there in the first place. It was over an hour past the time that Halfy would normally have woken him up by now. But, upon the request of both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis, she had allowed for him to sleep in. In doing so, she had givnd up a large portion of her own rest. Even now she would nod off from time to time before then shooting her eyes open and giving her head a shake. The process repeated ad nauseum every now and then.

Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis had both felt guilty in their own regards. Nightmare Moon for having accused and attacked Chrysalis as she had done in the previous night, not even having given her any chance to explain herself when it had occurred. Chrysalis, for what she had done to Jeremy.

Though she did not do it with purposeful or malice-driven intention, she had still brought out another side of Jeremy that she had never seen before. One of complete terror and utter vulnerability. She couldn't help but to have imagined if, given the circumstances, she would have done the same that Nightmare Moon had done to her were their roles reversed.

The thought was... odd.

Halfy watched cautiously from the 'sidelines' as the two occasionally glanced to each other, though never for more than half of a second, nor would they ever seem to notice the other doing so. It was like an endless cycle.

She knew that the two were dancing around each other, waiting for something. At the same time though, there was something else interesting going on.

Since Jeremy went out to get some air the night prior, the two had not fought even once. They hadn't even given one another the smallest of ill-mannered gestures. As to why, she could only guess. Guess and watch.

-------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-------------------------------------

I was starting to really regret letting him sleep in. If that wasn't painfully obvious by now.

It had been three hours since the time that the earth mare, Halfy, would have usually woken Jeremy up and brought him downstairs. And, for one reason or another, those three hours were absolute torture.

Peace and quiet is nice and all, especially when compared to the absolute chaos of the last few days. But this? It was just utterly ridiculous.

If he'd have just woken up and come downstairs, I could start another 'debate' with him, or vice-versa. At least then I wouldn't be so bored.

Instead, I was stuck there with a half-conscious mare with bags starting to form under her eyes on my left and the shadow alicorn that had attacked me just in the corner of the room.

Of course, I wasn't particularly fond of her at the time. Granted, I hadn't been fond of her in general, but after the previous night, she was on thin ice. I swore that if she had tried anything, I would have...

I'd have...

I didn't need this. It wasn't worth my effort to think that through back then, and it's especially not worth my effort now. My mind was already in enough of a mess without thinking about that irritating alicorn.

The dull throb in the back of my head went on ignored as I absentmindedly scanned over what few points of emotions I could see around me, each created by those I currently shared the home with. It was simple enough to see the timid anxiety of Halfy, likely prompted by the impermeable silence that currently surrounded us all. Nightmare Moon's emotions were, though visible, blurred by her mental shields. They had seemingly weakened since last night.

Before, I wouldn't have seen so much as a tingle. I raised a brow at this but didn't comment. What use would that have done anyways?

Even Jeremy's emotions were visible, if not slightly more difficult to see and scrambled due to him being upstairs and asleep. There was an odd mix among this organized chaos though. An almost fake sense of peace. Whatever he was dreaming of, I could only wonder.

I wasn't able to linger on this for long, however. Coming slowly but surely towards the house was yet another mass of emotions.

"... Oh great." I had thought to myself, my eyes rolling as another pair of emotions came into my sight . That zebra from before was easily discernible from them. Their emotion held a notable amount of relief for some reason.

Still, I suppose I couldn't complain. After all, anything was better than the quiet room that we all were dealing with at the time. That, and I supposed that I could go so far as to say that the tea that she made was acceptable. My mind wandered ever so slightly as I watched the two mass of emotions approaching the house.

I suppose it was because of how much my mind had been in such a mess that it took me so long to realize what was wrong with what I was seeing.

Realization dawned on me in an incredibly violent form. My head and neck jolted upright and my eyes widened as I looked to the pair of emotions again, making sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me. Why had there been two?

The subsequent knock on the door drew the attention of Nightmare Moon and Halfy within an instant, their eyes moving from their unfocused states to the sealed entrance. I barely took notice of the two as they glanced to me. Their confusion and curiosity were placed to the last of my priorities as I kept an eye on the two emotional entities. Only now did I notice that the emotion of the other was a sense of smugness and self-satisfaction, my teeth involuntarily tightening together as the possibility of some sort of spy quickly came to mind.

There was another empty silence after the echoing knock faded. Neither I nor the other two in the room moved from our places at first. Before long though, I heard hoofsteps. Halfy's aura beginning to shift and move along with her as she soon passed by me on the couch and made her way towards the door.

My eyes narrowed, much like the ones I could practically feel still burning at me, as Halfy took hold of the door in her hooves. Then, just as she opened it, the other, unknown mass of emotions changed. It dissipated within an instant, leaving only the zebra's as it seemingly moved in a flash upwards. Just like that, it was gone.

A familiar phrase came to mind as I witnessed this. One that Jeremy had said a few times.

It was rather similar to something ponies said, but there was a particular flair to how he had said it.

"Ah, right... Fuck."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The shifting and trotting of fur and hooves could barely be made out beyond the wooden door that Zecora patiently sat herself before. A sigh of silent thankfulness escaped her at the blessing that was her escape from her unwanted, though unfortunately inevitable, house guest. No more snoring. No more 'show boating', as she often called it. Zecora preferred to call it an oversized ego. And finally, no more 'jokes' or ignorant wordings... If only for the rest of tonight.

Clearing her throat and mind as the door finally began to creak open, Zecora gave a friendly smile as Halfy greeted her in her usual friendly manner. "Hello Zecora." She said to her neighbor of sorts, a small part of her mind giving a silent and withheld laugh at the thought.

"Hello to you as well, my friend. I do hope you don't mind me visiting again.' Halfy smiled even more at this, more than welcoming to a sudden change in the overall tone of her previously silent and tension-filled home.

"Not at all. Please, come in." While Halfy witnessed a zebra simply give a thankful nod as she stepped into the wooden home, Chrysalis spotted what may as well have been the emotional equivalent of a cheer. The changeling wasn't sure whether she should have laughed or raised a brow at this.

Nightmare Moon, upon seeing the zebra, made her way over to greet her in a similar manner of friendliness as Halfy. Though it was admittedly a little more outgoing.

"Ah, Miss Zecora! 'Tis a great joy to see thee-"

"SHHH!" Chrysalis hushed, all the pony's in the room's eyes slightly widening in surprise as they turned to her. She met their gazes with a glare. Wordlessly, Chrysalis bobbed her head upwards. This seemed to be effective in terms of reminding Halfy and Nightmare Moon of the still sleeping member of this house just upstairs. Though Nightmare Moon did not appreciate being interrupted in such a matter, she also couldn't really say that she was angered by it. After all, Chyrsalis was right, loathe as she might have been to admit it. Jeremy was still resting, and it would be best if they kept their tones down.

"... Yes, well, do forgive us for that small... pause..." Nightmare Moon picked up, her voice now in a whisper as she turned to Zecora once again. She quickly took notice of her confused expression and made to explain. "Sir Jeremy has not yet joined us at this moment, and it is best if we remain more-"

"I think she gets it." Chrysalis insistently interrupted, rolling her eyes as what she believed to have been an upcoming and ongoing explanation of the shadow alicorn. Much to her surprise though, she didn't detect even the slightest amount of hostility from Nightmare Moon. Appearance wise, that is. What was more surprising was that she also didn't detect any hostility in herself. Nightmare Moon simply shook her head.

Nightmare Moon had no interest in starting another argument with the changeling. Not for some time, at least. Not when she had been an instigator no more than 24 hours ago.

"Now then, is there any particular reason that you came over?" Chrysalis asked, a brow raising as she skeptically looked to the striped pony of foreign origin. A large part of her mind was still very much focused on the earlier entity that she had seen from before.

"I... do not see why you are attempting to act so implicit. I have simply come over for a visit." An almost smirk-like smile tugged at Zecora's lips as she gave her half-lie to the powerless changeling, making sure to leave out any detail relating to-

"Alright... now, whats the other reason?" Chrysalis went on, a smirk of her own appearing as Zecora's was all but ripped away from her. Zecora's eyes then instead widened as Chrysalis smugly pointed out the inconsistency that she had sensed from the zebra. Nightmare Moon and Halfy, in the meanwhile, shared a questioning glance between one another as they watched the scene play out before them.

"What is it that you mean?" Zecora quickly began, Chrysalis now seeing a clear layer of caution overcoming her. "I do not see why you would make this claim in such a method to demean." Chrysalis rolled her eyes, obviously not believing her statements for even a moment.

"... In case you haven't noticed," Chrysalis answered, another smirk on her face as her horn began to shine and one of the cushions below her fluffed itself in a black-green glow, "I'm not exactly as 'powerless' as I was before." Satisfied with the comfortableness of her place of relaxation, Chrysalis tucked her legs further underneath her. She watched with some matter of amusement as Zecora's face and emotions changed into several forms and shapes. Most of them expressed some variation of shock.

This went on for another moment or so. Zecora continued to stammer for another set of rhythmic words that she could form into an adherent sentence. Before long though, a thought suddenly came to her. One of realization.

To Chrysalis' unease now, the two once again switched facial expressions with each other as Zecora now aimed a knowing smile at the changeling monarch. It didn't take any more than one glance at her before both she, as well as Nightmare Moon, took notice of what she had likely realized.

"... The only way that this sort of event have I missed, would be if she and Jeremy had-..."

Both the larger mares in the room cut her off.

"Please do not speak of it."

"Shut it." The two blinked before looking towards one another with raised brows, likely not having expected to hear the other respond in similar ways at the same time. They just as promptly looked away though.

Zecora did not lose her smirk, but she abided by their requests nonetheless. A satisfied look sat on her face as she calmly sat herself down; She was already ribbing at Jeremy about this in her mind. "... Though I will not go against what you see fit... I will still think of it."

Her words drew a glare from Chrysalis.

"... Just shut up and make your stupid tea."

-------------------------------------

"I... was not aware that he had been so horribly effected. Even such a result, I had not expected." Zecora said to the three in what seemed like a whisper, her head low and ears splayed back.

Nightmare Moon, Halfy, and Chrysalis had – after some silent discussion between one another – of course told her of the events of the previous nights. There were several details they left out, but they managed to get out the more recent discovery that they had made about their human companion.

After all, Zecora was an old and well-known friend of Jeremy. If there was anyone they believed should at least know about his... limitation, it would be her.

In doing so however, Nightmare Moon and Halfy shared downtrodden looks much like that of Zecora, their tones taking a similar turn. Chrysalis, though she did not physically show it, was affected negatively by this recounting of events as well. Her own guilt flared for a moment before she just as quickly managed to gulp it down alongside her tea.

She gave a mental chuckle as to how similar she and the others seemed to relate this drink to a round of hard ciders, but other than that she remained relatively thought-free and wordless throughout the time.

She had even forgotten, or at least put aside, that earlier anomaly that she had seen Zecora with on their way here. She preferred to be more focused on the now.

"Sir Jeremy... did indeed suffer a greatly amount. We had known of his relative stay from the condition he had been in upon our finding of him, but..." Nightmare Moon trailed off for what must have been the fifth time since the three's explanation had begun, though she had already said enough for everyone else in the room to fully understand her meaning.

"... To think that the princesses would allow such a thing to occur. That-"

"Oh please!" Chrysalis interrupted, her voice having momentarily gained volume before she quickly regained control of it with a cough. "That 'kind princess' of yours is anything but that. She was willing to allow the extinction of my entire hive, to send her own sister to the moon because she couldn't pay attention to what was happening to her, and then to trap us all inside of a prison – starving me in the process – for little more reason than to keep us weak! The fact that she ordered the guards to do what they did to Jeremy is no surprise to me at this point!" As she finished off her rant, her drink trembling slightly in her magical grasp from the sheer intensity with which she had let out emotionally, an air of quiet entered the room.

Halfy, Zecora, and Nightmare Moon alike looked to her surprised, and almost dumbfounded. Nightmare Moon especially, considering how Chyrsalis had taken into account what she had gone through, along with herself and Jeremy. In fact, she had been half-expecting that she only would have mentioned her own struggles, rather than anypony else's.

Chrysalis was not phased by these looks, another bit of tea being raised up to her lips as she took another sip. Looking back to the three with a raised brow, practically screaming 'what are you looking at?', Zecora cleared her throat to move on.

"..." She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She was honestly out of words to say. And even if she had then, what should she say?

Even Halfy had attempted to speak up, raising a hoof in a timid attempt of doing this. As she did so, however, a sudden noise stopped them.

"Wo~oah!" A muffled voice could be heard yelling, followed by the sound of loud thumps and crashes. The entire room jolted in surprise, everypony immediately scanning around the room in their attempts to isolate the source.

Not having recognized what little she had heard of this voice, and removing Jeremy from the list of causes as a result, Chrysalis glanced upwards towards the ceiling where it had come from.

Though his emotions had become much more scrambled now, for whatever reason, Jeremy could still be easily sensed upstairs in Halfy's bed room. More concerningly though was that an even further off and fainter aura could be seen in the same direction. It showed surprise, irritation, and hints of panic. Chrysalis easily pieced together what this all had meant.

"... It's on the roof."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a familiar scene. I wasn't really sure where I had seen it before, but somewhere in the back of my head I just knew I had seen it.

Probably.

Still, it didn't really matter to me at the moment. I was just happy laying back against the floor, gazing at the moon above me just as it gazed back.

As I stared into its glow, I could swear I could hear a faint hum in the back of my mind and color surround the edges of my sight. I began to recall some more negative memories. Practically involuntarily.

The book on Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis' near death experience, the apologies that I had owed Nightmare Moon and most recent argument I had with Chrysalis. Even the events of yesterday had begun to come into light at some point of this.

Chrysalis walking towards the closed window curtains, her magic surrounding the coverings and, with a single flick of her energy, her opening the window. I remembered her exposing me to the sun. And yet, just as I was about to verbalize that thought, as though I was compelled to explain what I had been so afraid of, something stopped me.

"Wo~oah!" As a series of tumbles and a loud yell rippled through the calming scene before me, my eyes felt as though they shot themselves open twice.

********************************************

My breath hitched as I practically spasmed out of bed, a bead of sweat rolling down my head and unto my cheek while several shallow pants escaped me.

For a moment, I just stayed where I was, trying to just figure out my who was who and what was what in my surprised state. As I eventually gained my bearings back again though, I gave out a quiet groan and moved my view to the window. The curtains were drawn still, but I could see from the lack of light peering slightly around the sides that there was no sun.

Night had already fallen, by the looks of it. Some time ago in fact. This caused me to raise a brow, swinging my legs out of the bed and standing up before opening the curtains ever so slightly to peer outside.

A part of me panicked as I did this, still vividly remembering what had happened yesterday. I pushed through it through.

I couldn't help but to wonder - as I confirmed my theory about it already being late at night - as to why Halfy, or anyone for that matter, hadn't woken me up yet.

I worked out a crick in my neck before deciding to make my way downstairs.

From the stairway, I could hear faint whispers coming from the living room. A yawn escaped me as the steps creaked lightly below my feet; my eyes shut while my mouth did the exact opposite.

I have to say, despite apparently not having been woken up, it actually felt really nice to have slept in a little. Like I had taken a moment to recharge, if that makes any sense.

As my feet finally met the floor again rather than steps, I could more easily overhear the voices in the other room.

"What dost thou mean?!"

"What do you think I mean!? Something is on the roof!" My brow once again rose as I heard Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis talking to one another in a whisper. Chrysalis's words bounced around in my head.

There had been something on the roof?

"W-well, how can we be sure?" I then heard Halfy add in.

" 'How can we be su-' Are you kidding me!? I can sense its emotions! I know it's there! Just like it was behind the zebra when she got here!" I blinked at this, my still relatively groggy mind wondering if she had meant Zecora.

"Then why did you not warn me of what I did not see?" Yeah, that was Zecora. I couldn't help but to think that I had really overslept.

"Oh sure! Just tell you that I thought I saw something behind you, despite not actually seeing it. Why did I ever think you wouldn't believe me?"

Rolling my eyes at the apparent 'situation' – I honestly figured it was probably nothing – I grabbed hold of the doorknob and opened the door as another smaller yawn made its way out from me.

Oddly enough the moment I stepped into the room whatever talking had been going on all came to a stop. All eyes were instantly on me: not a word, or sound, was made by anyone. This included myself, what with the whole scene being more than a little concerning.

Eventually though, I did regain my words.

"... Um... Hi?" I never said I regained a lot of them. Just that I regained them.

"... S-Sir Jeremy..." Nightmare Moon greeted – sort of – in return, her voice seeming to struggle just to say that. "You are awake." I blinked at the obvious statement.

"Well, yeah. Something woke me up." I scratched against the back of my head as I noticed the four seem to visibly flinch at the statement. "Speaking of, Halfy, how come you didn't wake me up this time?"

"Oh, um, well, y-you see, it's that-"

"We asked her not to." Chrysalis interrupted, drawing my and Halfy's attention. I could already guess that 'we', in this case, meant her and Nightmare Moon, considering how the two glanced to one another. I also found myself growing very concerned that something else had happened between the two while I was asleep.

"Why's that?" I inquired, crossing my arms in the process. "I mean, not to say I don't appreciate the extra rest, but I didn't really need it." Zecora was the first to answer this time.

"I believe that they are attempting to repay what they believe to be grievance from yesterday." Again, I blinked.

"Really? Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, you didn't have to-" I felt myself freeze. A reset. That's all I could describe it as while I thought over what Zecora had just said. "... Zecora... How did you know about...?"

Despite trailing off, Zecora seemed to easily understand what I had meant, her eyes widening before she hastily placed her hoof over her mouth as it would take back way she had said. Nightmare Moon and Halfy seemed to be surprised as well, while Chrysalis practically burned a hole into Zecora's head.

"... You... told her?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... You... told her?"

Okay, now I had somepony else to get a bit of revenge upon.

Honestly, SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO TELL HIM THAT SHE KNEW! Not yet at least. The reason that Nightmare Moon and I had agreed to tell her in the first place was because we figured she should at least know. That way, she wouldn't make any stupid mistakes. Stupider than usual, it had seemed.

Instead, she flat out admitted that she knew right away?

Yanking my attention away from the emotional source I sensed to still be stationed on top of the house, I looked towards Jeremy as his emotions momentarily flared. Shock, panic, anger. All of this exuded from his unmoving body.

He didn't seem to know what to feel, I would say.

"When did you-... Why did you-..." Shutting his eyes, he took in an audible breath through his nose, pinching its bridge as he now began to gain a more visible and clear emotion. He had settled for the moment on irritation.

Before I or seemingly anypony else knew it though, Nightmare Moon had already begun to break her stunned silence... In a rather unorthodox way.

She practically bowed towards Jeremy, a look of nothing but sheer guilt and hope for forgiveness upon her face as she looked to him. "Oh, please, Sir Jeremy, do pardon us!" She began. "We simply felt as though she should know! After all, she is an old companion of yours, and we believed that-... That-... Please do not be angry."

Obviously, she didn't quite feel any better about last night. I couldn't really be sure about it but the way she sounded, along with how she was acting; It seemed like there was more guilt to her than she let on, though she obviously didn't want to reveal that.

Again, I felt Jeremy's emotions shift several times over. It was as if I was watching the four seasons change within a matter of seconds, violently and abruptly. To my surprise though, they finally came to a rest on one particular emotion... Calm.

"... It's fine." He said, pulling his hand away from his face and looking to us again. More specifically, he looked to Nightmare Moon. The alicorn, in return, seemed surprised by this, her eyes widening as she looked to him again.

"Really?" I asked, a brow raising as I did so.

"Yeah... Yeah it's fine." He uttered. "You said it yourself, after all," he focused his attention to Nightmare Moon. "She's an old friend of mine, and if you two know, then..." He took in a quick breath before continuing. "Then she has the right to know too."

I honestly was not expecting that. Especially after how he had reacted yesterday. "You seem surprisingly... placid about this..." I observed aloud, to which he shrugged.

"I've had some time to think things over, I guess. Besides, in hindsight, it's better that Zecora learn this way than by example, right?" Honestly, all it took was a few extra hours of sleep and suddenly he was an exemplary philosopony? Really?

Nightmare Moon raised her lowered head from the floor, though she did so cautiously just in case Jeremy would change his mind.

Halfy and Zecora, who had both been quietly sitting to the sides of the situation, gave one another a quick glance before then looking to the human again. I could easily see the relief practically pouring from them. Especially from the zebra, who also had a jovial amount of joy exuding from her at the willingness of her friend to share such a thing – his fear and reasoning – in understanding.

"I-I'm glad you think so." Halfy added, her voice still soft in its volume.

"... Yes. I suppose that I much rather prefer that you don't lose your mind whenever somepony finds out that you're afraid of the light. It's already bad enough dealing with you sane as is." To my oddly pleasant surprise, this drew a chuckle from him.

"You aren't exactly a joy to deal with yourself." He rebutted, finally...

If you were to ask me before, I would have told you that there was nothing about him that I had "missed". That it was just entertaining to have somepony that was willing to at least try to converse with me as an equal, even if they very clearly weren't.

What would I say if you had asked me now?

I would say that you should focus on you own business before I string you along the side of an oar and have a ship full of sailors use you for rowing practice.

"Ahem. I... think we should focus on the matter at hoof." I eventually said, rolling my forehoof at him and the others in a sort of 'moving on' motion.

Jeremy's brow rose at this. "Oh yeah. What exactly is the matter anyways?"

Almost out of instinct, I felt my eyes dart to the rhyme-obsessed monochrome on my left. "Well, as it turns out, somepony led something else here." She rolled her eyes at me, an air of annoyance forming about her. "Now, it's on the roof."

Glancing between each of us, Jeremy pursed his lips in what looked like thought. "Well... Crap... That's not good. Did you manage to get a look at it?" I shook my head in response.

"Hardly. I saw it because I could sense its emotions. And if that wasn't enough, we all heard it." For a moment, he turned his head away from us, muttering something that I could barely make out to say 'so that's what woke me up'. Just as quickly though, he turned it to us again.

"Okay, yeah, that's a problem." He said. "Though, considering how it managed to apparently follow Zecora without her noticing and get on the roof so quietly - for the most part - you think it's safe to assume that it had wings on it?"

Halfy gave out a gasp next to me. "D-do you think it's another pony? A member of the guard?" I quickly dismissed this theory of hers as I took another glance to the being.

"Doubtful. It's too big to be a pony."

"Perhaps... is it another alicorn?" I chuckled loudly at Nightmare Moon's suggestion as well.

"Please. You and I both know that those princesses would never be bothered to do something like this on their own." As if I was wrong either. After all, why would they have been looking for us when they had so many guards. Let alone the fact that they had no idea where we were. Tartarus, I barely had any idea where we are.

As I searched mind for an answer, or at least some sort of plan, I could hear Jeremy's footsteps as he walked by me, likely to find someplace to sit. Or ay least, that's what I had thought.

But, of course, its never so easy with him.

"I'm gonna go check." All of our eyes widened at what must have been the exact same time as he said this, each of us turning towards him.

"What?!" I exclaimed. "Are you mad?! Why would you-"

"Because nobody else seems to have any ideas." This promptly quieted me. Not from shock this time though, but because I honestly wasn't sure of how to respond.

"I-... You-"

"Will be fine." He cut me off, giving a curt smile as he grabbed the front door's handle. I hadn't even noticed him walking towards it. "Besides, whatever it is, in pretty sure we can take it. Didn't the two of you actually beat Celestia once?"

While he was technically correct, I was only able to do that because of all the love energy I had gotten from that Shining Armor fellow. As for Nightmare Moon? Well, I wasn't really aware of how that particular situation had gone.

"If that's not strong enough to deal with a threat, then I don't know what is." And with that, along with one last chuckle, he pushed the door open and made his way outside.

In retrospect, either I or Nightmare Moon could have probably just pulled him back and held him down with our magic...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the grass tamped below my feet, tickling me softly as it did so, I could barely notice Zecora, Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, and Halfy peeking their heads outside through the opening in the door. Thankfully though, they didn't reveal themselves further than that, keeping themselves relatively out of sight.

The scene was still pretty funny though. They had all stacked their heads on top of one another what with the limited space they had as they watched me. Halfy was at the bottom, followed by Zecora, Chrysalis, and Nightmare Moon.

I vaguely recall thinking of some weird tiki tower as I gave out a chuckle and walked further out into the clearing that Halfy's house resided in. Once I had a fair distance, I turned around and looked to the roof, where Chrysalis had supposedly last sensed whatever it was that had been up there.

All I saw though was an empty roof.

Scratching the back of my head, I shook off what little lost nerves I had, constantly reminding myself that I'd be fine and that this was nothing. I honestly don't know where the idea of me going outside on my own had come from. Maybe I just wanted to do something to show that I was able to help despite my fears? Maybe I was trying to prove something to myself? I couldn't tell you if I tried.

Whatever the case, Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were right there, so I at least knew that whatever risk I had had been marginally limited.

Not wanting to risk calling out to Chrysalis to ask her where it might have gone, I glanced around the clearing to see if I could find anything that would tip me off.

Fortunately – or would it have been unfortunately? – I managed to spot something off to the side. A small, almost impossible to make out discoloration among the green of the grass and forest around me.

My interest piqued, I made my way over to the discoloration, practically feeling the eyes of my friends as they continued to watch me from the door. A shudder escaped me as the thought of something else watching me came to mind.

It was only once I was close to the odd sight I had seen before that I was able to really discern what it was. I bent down and picked up the object of interest before holding it up to the moonlight.

In my hand was a feather. A rather rough and sturdy one too. It was practically a pure white, with the only more distinguishable feature being its purple edges... Heh. I could recognize those feathers from anywhere nowadays. Back then was no different.

Pretty much everything fell together at that point: The reason that whatever it was, or rather whoever it was, had chosen Zecora to follow. Its speed and flight. The voice that I could barely recall had woken me up.

So, as the bush far off to my side started to rustle, I only found myself smiling rather than flinching nervously.

"... God damn it, I should have seen that coming." I said with a chuckle, allowing the feather to fall from my hand as I was pretty much shoved from my entire right side by a sudden force. With a small ache from my still not entirely healed ribs, I was sent into a tumble with what felt like talons grabbing me and continuing to push me along the floor.

This went on for a while. I was only able to get glances of the familiar figure I 'fought' against, the grass and new sense of weight against me keeping me from getting a clear sense of what was up and what was down.

Finally, with one last grunt, the tumbling stopped as I was then firmly placed with my back against the floor and a weight on my stomach.

Despite the dizziness that I felt, I managed to look up at my 'captor'. I quickly took notice of the white and purple feathers that scattered themselves into a solid layer along most of her head and neck, with two wings to her sides and a light shade of brown fur spread throughout the rest of her. Her talons were close to her as a smug smile came to her beak, her thin tail wagging lightly behind her and brown eyes practically gleaming with amusement. I almost rolled my eyes right then and there at the familiar position and the nostalgia that came from it.

She had always been one for 'surprise attacks'.

"S'up." She said. "Looks like I win again." A joking though slightly honest tone could be heard in her voice.

This time I did roll my eyes, giving a chuckle as I crossed my arms below her and gave a smile of my own. "I wouldn't say that was really a win, but hey, you do it every time, so I probably should have seen that coming."

"Got that right!" She practically harumohed with a laugh, her tail again swishing behind her.

"... It's nice to see you again, Gilda."

Next Chapter: Chapter 22: Unforeseen, But Not Unwelcome [Here Again] Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 23 Minutes