Twilight and I walked down to the castle entrance, where we were greeted by Zecora. I thought she looked tired compared to when we arrived, as if she hadn’t slept. By her feet was what looked like a heap of leather at first. It had a faint, unpleasant odor.

“By the hour’s end we must be gone, so please be swift and put these on,” the striped lady pointed to the leather heap. When I took a closer look, I saw that they were clothes made from leather, not unlike that Zecora herself wore. Hers looked to be new: the tares and cuts that had been left by my spell weren’t there. Putting on the clothes made the smell stand out even more. Were they fresh? Was that what she had been doing while we slept? Hunting animals and making us clothes from their hides?

“And where would we go?” I asked as Twilight and I started to get out of our old torn clothes and into the new ones. It wasn’t as though I would have any say in the matter, since I was still largely ignorant of this world beyond Ponyvile, but I still wanted to know. After weeks of struggling to figure out was the heck was going on around me, at least I wanted to be on the same page as everyone else before we left. I wanted know what reasons Twilight and Zecora had for choosing our destination. I was so focused on waiting for an answer I didn’t even remember to be a little embarrassed at undressing in front of Zecora.

“The Crystal Empire,” Twilight answered me. I was about to laugh, but she looked completely serious. Zecora nodded in agreement.

“But isn’t that, you know, part of Celestia’s kingdom?”

“My brother and sister-in-law rule there. If anyone can help us against the Changelings, it’s them.”

“You unleashed a dangerous force; it would be wise to investigate the source. You cannot always be on the run; for then our battle will never be done.” Zecora said solemnly.

“But why would they be the best ones to help us fight the Changelings?” I pressed Twilight.

“Cadence was the one they replaced when they attacked Canterlot. My brother would never let himself be tricked by another Changeling after that. Both of them have known me since I was kid so we can trust them. They know I would never… that I could never try to kill Luna or betray Equestria. And they’d never believe Celestia would believe that. If they aren’t already Changeling thralls, they’ll know something isn’t right.”

“And how do we know they’re not thralls?” I asked, skeptically.

“We don’t have much choice but to assume they’re not, do we? We don’t have anywhere else to go: the rest of Equestria thinks I’m a traitor so they’ll be waiting to turn us in or kill me themselves. We’ll have to go to the Crystal Empire sooner or later anyway.”

“Why?”

“Because we need to kn-“

“No, we don’t.” I interjected with no small amount of desperation in my voice. “Not if it means putting you in danger. We barely escaped the last time, and that was with just a few soldiers.”

Twilight sighed, and gave me a smile. “I have to save my friends. At least… I have to try. I… I know you want protect me, but…”

“But you’re a hero,” I replied, flatly. There was no getting around that. She had leapt into action we discovered the Changeling imposters, and she didn’t see why I had been hesitant to do the same. “You’d never be able to live with yourself if you didn’t do everything you could.”

“I’m sorry,” She said sadly.

“Don’t be. You’re a great person. I’ll… follow wherever you lead.”

I had a hard time saying the last sentence. I knew there wasn’t much of a choice, but it still bothered me. After escaping the Changelings, something compelled me to be braver than I thought I was. But, after the encounter with Celestia’s guards, I didn’t know anymore. What if I hurt Twilight the next time the magic was unleashed? I imagined the body of the soldier I had killed, but it had Twilight’s face looking out from the helmet instead. Even Zecora hadn’t gotten away unscathed. And what worse, what if I wasn’t fast enough the next time? I wasn’t even sure I could control this new power. I had only been able to use it when all hope seemed lost. Would it take that kind of desperation to trigger the attack again? Would I find a way to control it in time to protect Twilight?

I saw a tear shining in to Twilight’s eye, but she quickly wiped it away with her hand and turned to Zecora. “Do you have any ideas for what to eat? We’ll have to keep away from settlements as much as possible.”

“Herbs and plants are my trade; from that much food can be made. If we have need of meat, there are plenty of creatures that are easy to eat.”

I smiled to myself, looking at the floor. I felt a bit useless in this group. I neither had any useful knowledge, nor would I be much help in getting us to the Crystal Empire. The best I could hope for was that if we were attacked, the magic I had unleashed before would activate again. But I didn’t hold out much hope for that. If we ran into the Guards again, they would target me first before attacking Twilight and Zecora.

While I was worrying, something else came over me. The voice I had heard earlier. I had tried to forget it since then, but now I realized something. Something other than Luna, Sombra and Molly had gotten access to my mind. Ugh, why was everyone trying to get inside my head? If this kept happening, I might as well go schizophrenic and save them the trouble of driving me crazy.

“Are you alright? Did you hear voices again?” Twilight broke my line of thought, sounding concerned. I looked up, seeing Zecora raise a skeptical eyebrow at me. Just fucking great. If she thought I was hearing voices again she’d probably tie me up and leave me behind. I hoped that the fact that had killed someone to protect her counted for something in Zecora’s mind. I felt a chill run up my spine as I thought about it.

“No, but I was thinking everyone who’s been in my head since I got here. Between Luna, Sombra and Mo- the Changeling, it’s starting to get really annoying.”

“Luna only goes into your dreams though,” Twilight said, giving me an encouraging smile. “And she visits everyone’s dreams at one time or another, so you don’t need feel like she singled you out.”

“Luna impacts more than she seems, it is no small mater to visit another’s dreams.”

Zecora’s comment didn’t make me feel better, but I appreciated that she was being honest with me. Twilight raised an eyebrow at her now, making me think that what Zecora had said didn’t necessarily match her view of Luna.

“I haven’t heard from the Changeling since you gave me your cure though,” I broke in, addressing Zecora before Twilight could object to her statement about Luna. She gave me a slight bow in return, accompanied by a smile.

“What is it like when Sombra comes into your dream?” Twilight asked. I had to stop and think about it for a moment, because I couldn’t really say it had felt like anything. Not the same as the Changeling, at least, which had been persuasive in ways beyond the words she had spoken. I could’ve sworn I had felt Molly’s physical presence when she appeared. But it wasn’t like that with Sombra at all.

“Umm.” I scratched the back of my head. “It feels a lot like when Luna enters my dreams. Like I’m awake and really in a different place.”

“Really? That’s what it feels like when Luna’s there?”

“That’s what it felt like.”

I got the last piece of clothing on that Zecora had made for me. It was oddly comfortable to wear, even if it felt slightly heavier than normal clothes. Not heavy, but heavier. I probably wouldn’t notice in after awhile.

“This moment can be spent to mourn,” Zecora began, looking at Twilight. Why did she speak in rhymes? I still had no clue. “Should you wish to honor the passing of the Night’s Alicorn.”

“Zecora, Luna isn’t dead,” I said, in a tone that made it sound like this should be as obvious as the sun rising in the morning. I didn’t know if was supposed to be common knowledge, but when I thought about for a second, I realized that Zecora probably had no way of knowing when Luna had appeared to me.

“Luna visited my dream after we came here Zecora. She said that Alicorns never truly die and that her spirit lives on even when their body doesn’t” I explained

“She told me that too,” Twilight added. Zecora had looked as though she wanted to question me about Luna’s appearance. Probably wondering how I could be sure Sombra or Molly hadn’t tricked me into believing Luna was still alive. I know I certainly would have wanted to that if I were her. She seemed surprised when Twilight confirmed my story.

“So the Royal Guard’s accusation was very odd; he’s probably being manipulated, poor sod.” Zecora said.

“Actually…” Twilight said, scratching the back of her neck “…It’s not exactly common knowledge. In fact, unless Luna entered his dreams and told him herself, none of them could have known she wasn’t really dead. If the Celestia in Canterlot is a Changeling she probably wouldn’t have known either.”

Zecora frowned “Too keep such a thing secret is most unkind, especially for her subjects’ peace of mind.”

II wasn’t sure I agreed with Zecora on that. That it wasn’t something known by most people could work out in our favor. Like Molly not anticipating that I could resist her control. If we were lucky, anyway.

The striped lady seemed to disappear a bit into her thoughts. “You said Sombra was in your mind as well? What did he want, praytell?”

“He said something about ‘shards’ and bringing him back to life. Or, at least back to physical form.”

She just nodded in return. Twilight and I looked at one another, not really understanding what she was getting at or trying to find out. Did she have any knowledge of what I was talking about at all?

“Do you know something about this?” Twilight asked her before I could. Zecora shook her head.

“It could be just my mind wondering; it certainly sounds interesting. But what it means I do not know; now we must go.”

You and me both, lady, I thought to myself. Twilight seemed disappointed, but both of us caught up with the striped one quickly. She had started to walk out of the entrance without waiting for us.

**

I wasn’t sure how long we had been walking, but I was getting increasingly confused as to where we were. Zecora had abandoned the use of paths altogether, leading us through seemingly random assortment of bushes and trees. From time to time she stopped and examined something like the ground or bark on the trees, before setting off in a new direction. Twilight and I were content just following along.

Neither of us questioned straying from the well used paths through the forest; from now on we couldn’t risk coming into contact with anyone. Now the Royal Guard knew we knew they were after us and they knew we were in the area around the Ponyvile. We could only assume they would not give us a chance to surrender peacefully next time, and that they were actively pursuing us. And after the way I had destroyed those four Guards in the library, it was a foregone conclusion that they would be coming after us in full force.

We had stayed away from Zecora’s hut, and we hadn’t even stayed in the castle very long even though it was supposedly forgotten. By now we had left the Everfree Forest, and were passing through Kyne-knows-where in hope of eventually getting to the Crystal Empire. There was something surreal about all of this. I was out here, like I was part of a frikkin fantasy novel. I was reminded of a scene from the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. That part where the Nazgul attacked Osgilliat and Sam told Frodo about the stories he listened to as a child. He said that the most important stories were about people who could have turned away from their quest at any time, but still kept going. I couldn’t remember if that speech was from the books or they had added that in for the movie, but I distinctly remembered Frodo and Sam never going to the ruined city by the river. I doubted if Sam would say what I was going through at the moment was one of those important stories, because I didn’t really have anywhere else to go. But Twilight: she could’ve convinced Zecora to take us someplace far, far away and leave the Changeling threat behind. But she didn’t.

Thinking about it gave me an uneasy feeling in my gut. I had said it before, many enough times, but I had to keep reminding myself that Twilight was a hero. Not by accomplishments alone, but her attitude, the way she carried herself. Her resolve made me feel ashamed, and more than a little astonished. Twilight was attractive, intelligent, a frikkin princess, and a hero. So what the hell did she see in me? Even after I had been passed between almost every horny girl in town, albeit as much due to chance as Pinkie Pie, she still wanted to have a committed relationship with me? I wasn’t sure if I should be filled with pride or wonder what was wrong with Twilight.

It gnawed at the back of my mind that someone like her could actually consider me to be a hero. I hardly thought so, but Twilight credited me with exposing the fake AJ and Sweetie Belle, and saving her in the Diamond Tunnels. I certainly didn’t feel like a hero.

“Twilight,” I whispered. Both Twilight and Zecora looked at me and I made a gesture signaling I wanted us to stop for a bit.

“What?” Twilight looked at me with concern in her eyes. I felt a swarm of butterflies fill my stomach.

“Well, I-“ I started, but had to stop for a moment. This was going to be hard to say. “I want to say this before anything happens. If anything happens. Twilight, I love you. I don’t know what you see in me, but whatever happens, I want you to know, for sure, that I love you. Wow, that probably sounds like a stu-”

I had to fight back some tears while I said it, but I didn’t have to worry about Twilight seeing them. She didn’t even wait for me to finish before she embraced me in a tight hug. Even Zecora seemed to smile, before she turned away.

“Of course it is not stupid!” Twilight protested and broke the hug, before she gave me a kiss on the forehead. She had a wide smile. “Come on, we better get moving if we’re to defeat these Changelings.”

Heh, I thought. My silly little reassurance hadn’t shaken her resolve. Now that I’d finally said it I felt this odd sensation, like I was walking around with a big dumb grin on my face. Like nothing was wrong in the world. She already knew I cared for her, but it had felt good telling her now. And she looked like she was glad to hear it.

Author's Notes:

Back from the dead. Sort of. Well, it feels like I am actually back from the dead, but I am here now.

Anyway, the second Lost Chapter is out, and you should totally check out the New blog post about it and see if you can figure out the New password. And if you couldn't Guess the former password for the 1st Lost Chapter, it has been changed to the same password as the New one. Old password was "Pinkie Pie", by the way.

http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/381102/the-lost-chapters-part-2-is-here-and-more <--- The second Lost Chapter. Make sure to check it out. There are 3 Points of View of the story there, showing some of what is going on in Equestria while Anon is running aruond like a mad dog on Twilight's leash.