Alex sat in silence, staring down at his cracked heirloom. His gaze wasn’t alone however. “This sword has been in my family for a long time…”

“I can tell how much it means to you. Just the way you look at it… you’re angry.” Nicholas sighed. Alex was overwhelmed by the events that just transpired. He didn’t know who to be more angry at… Chrysalis, or Elizabeth. They’d sure go great together.

“Why?” Alex’s sudden blunt tone startled him.

“Why what?”

“Why are you so interested in me?” Alex asked. Nicholas just stared at him, trying to think of an answer. “Not that I’m complaining, I’m just curious.”

“I guess because of… Cecil.”

Alex cocked his head. “Your brother?”

“Well, I was the little brother my whole life. I guess I just wanted to know what it felt like to be… him.” Nicholas seemed to trail off at the end. Alex couldn’t help but smile a genuine, happy smile.

“You know, when you first came around here, I didn’t know what to think. You were smug, arrogant…”

“Kay, got it…” Nicholas tried to say.

“Pretentious.”

Nick just stared at Alex, waiting for him to finish.

“With an overinflated ego the size of Equestria.”

“I’m hungry, want a snack?” Nick added.

“But you have grown to be one of my favorite ponies in this town. You were (or tried to be) a mentor, and you taught me some things. And in many ways, besides Torrent… you have been a brother to me. And that’s never going to change.”

Alex paused, looking as if he was about to say something. His train of thought was obstructed by the sadness in Nicholas’ eyes. This is the first time he really looked up at him, but it seemed that he had been crying. Alex could only stare at his friend, his mouth parting slightly to speak, but no words came out. “Nick?” Alex finally uttered.

Nicholas was trying everything in his power to hold back his tears. Alex had only ever seen him like this one other time, and that was after Nicholas spilled his guts. After realizing that he had made a big mistake…

“Nicholas… what happened?” Alex grabbed Nick’s hand with a small surge of anxiety gripping his heart. He had a feeling his words weren’t the only thing making him cry.

“I just remembered something.” Nicholas’s voice was barely coherent.

“What did you remember?”

Nicholas opened his mouth to talk, but nothing came out. This was different than when Alex did it, this time it seemed forced. After a failed attempt at speech, Nicholas’ face scrunched up in time for more of his emotions to run down his cheeks.

“Nicholas, talk to me!” Alex blurted. The poor teenager couldn’t bare to see his friend cry without at least knowing why. Nicholas’ breathing slowed, along with the fluids trickling down his face. Although Alex could still see the sadness in his eyes, the situation seemed to have calmed slightly. It took some time for Alex to register that Nicholas was staring at something. Alex tracked his eyes to the sword that was still in his hand.

“Can I hold it for a moment?” Nicholas asked. Alex had many thoughts rush through him; He was afraid. Why would he want his weapon?

“You’re not committing seppuku, are you?” Alex chuckled quietly. Nicholas’ lips curled into a smile momentarily before returning to a frown.

“Can’t hurt to try.” Nicholas shrugged. His tone gave Alex the impression he wasn’t entirely joking.

“I really hope this is just your dry sense of humor peeking through.”

Nicholas’ lack of reply only managed to tie the knot in Alex’s stomach further. His hand was still out, waiting for the sword to transfer possessions. Alex, against his best wishes, handed him the sword. It’s not like he can die anyways, right?

Nick ran his hand up the sword slowly, feeling the cracks that ran around the once-proud blade. Once his hand reached the top, it wrapped around the weapon. Alex’s brows furrowed, growing more curious now. “What are you doing?”

Alex saw a purple liquid start to run down the cracked blade. He immediately recognised it as Nicholas’ blood. Alex’s mouth slipped open to speak but could only stare at the liquid running down his weapon. As the fluid ran through the cracks it seemed to radiate a gentle light. The purple blood becoming bioluminescent, only seeming to stick to the cracks as it dripped down the steel and onto the ground below. As soon as the trickle stopped, Alex looked up to see the wound on Nicholas’ hand already closed. The cracked blade still shone of the light momentarily before the purple stained valleys shifted slowly to a silvery white that was identical to the sword’s color. Alex attempted to trace the cracks, but could no longer see them. In awe, his hand slid up the blade, feeling no trace of damage to his precious heirloom.

“How did you-... whoa.” Alex exclaimed, tearing the blade from Nick’s hand and gazing upon the once great craftsmanship now returned to it’s former glory. “Since when could you do that?”

He was met with no response. Curious, Alex gave a tilt of his head to look at his friend. There were more tears running down the pony’s face. That lingering dread began knotting around his stomach once more, leaving Alex once again with questions he had a feeling would stay just that, questions. “You know something, don’t you? Something bad...”

Alex barely caught the twitch of Nicholas’ eye. With one simple nod, Alex found that knot around his stomach growing so tight that the bile in his stomach couldn’t even get through, regardless of how much it wanted out. “The only reason you’d hide something is if it was dangerous for us to know. At least tell me that much.”

Nicholas once again gave a nod after a short period of silence. “I bet they thought of you and your friends as ants.” The quiet earth-pony finally spoke. Alex was so adjusted to the screaming echoes of silence ringing through his body that the first utterance of sound made his heart leap into the wall of his chest. With a now increased pulse, he glanced up and asked,

“You mean Elizabeth and Gregory, right?”

Nicholas’ eyes tracked Alex for a few seconds before he continued, slipping the conversation away from his question. “That’s what we are, ants. And they’re just cruel children staring down at a bug that wandered too far from it’s nest.” He deadpanned, his eyes looking almost vacant as he spoke. Alex had no idea what Nicholas had discovered. He was never like this, never this gloomy. Nicholas was generally the most eccentric, strange pony he knew (next to Pinkie of course). The sudden mood swing had brought Alex closer to an edge that he didn’t want to peek over. One that was dark, and as he grew closer, made him feel colder inside.

“That’s enough.” Alex stood up. This time it was Nick’s chance to be startled by the quiet observer. “There’s enough grief around here without naysayers and cynical babble. I came to Ponyville to get away from that.”

Nicholas’ mouth just shut, staring at the young pony as he continued.

“I have everything I never had. I have a marefriend I would die for… And I have Rainbow Dash, and Red. They may not be my actual parents, and they may not be Scootaloo’s parents, but they sure act like it. The love they show each other was something alien to me before I arrived in this town. And now that I see that, I’m sure as hell not going to let this fire be stamped out by someone simply because they want to.”

Nicholas saw Alex gripping the sword tightly, the blade shaking with his unsteady grip. Alex began to speak after the quivering weapon slowed to a stop, “So no, you’re wrong about one thing.”

Finally giving a word in edgewise, “And what would that be?”

Alex’s frown looked forced, but as he spoke his next words, it slowly formed to a grin. His confidence certainly showed at that moment. “They’re not cruel children, and they aren’t about to step on us. You’re right in the fact that they think we’re nothing, but that’s what will be their undoing. They’re not really looking at us at all because they think we’re already dead. But I am no ant. I am a venomous spider. Now I’m crawling up their leg, ready to bite... all because they were too arrogant to look down.”

The sword was thrust down, impaling itself into the hard floor. Alex was unaware, but Nicholas took notice to how deep and easy the weapon went into the ground. As if that was what he was looking for the entire time, the hopelessness faded, and a smile crept up on Nicholas’ face. The words brought him to his feet, now standing beside Alex. “I have to go see Twilight.” Nicholas said, turning and walking to the door. Alex’s grin failed almost immediately and quickly melted to a blank canvas, and the only colors that filled the white was confusion.

“I, uh… Alright. Glad you’re feeling better.” Alex gave a slow shrug. “You are feeling better, right?”

“You should get a medal for heroic speeches.”

“What I-”

“Yeah yeah, ‘we will not go quietly into the night’ and all that. Really, I’m inspired. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go make a request.”

Before Alex could say another word, the front door slammed shut behind Nicholas. After standing there for another bout of deafening silence, he just fell back onto the couch and stared straight ahead, brows furrowed. “Alright…” He muttered, staring down at his sword. “Sad, bled on my sword, sad again, happy… then rode his menstrual cycle out the door.”

The pony stared at the weapon for a solitary moment. “I think I’ll call you Tampax.”