'Fuck, this hurt.' I grumbled as I extracted myself from the rubble of the house that I crashed into. Starlight surely didn't pull any punches on me, that last blast that she threw at me drove me right through the roof and two floors with only the ground being able to stop my momentum. I knew that practice was necessary and with my insane Stats girls wouldn't be much of a challenge for me, she was much closer to what I needed and even with all her Power she was only able to keep up with me while I didn't use either [Teleportation] or [Murciélago]. With the last one I was actually risking bisecting her with a slash, her shielding wouldn't be able to withstand a hit from a sword that carried enough force behind it to carve through still like through air.

With a flap of my wings I shot up and emerged from the hole that I made upon my entrance, my [Magical Sense] was constantly tracking my opponent so I didn't need to search for her. I instantly could see several baseball sized balls of Mana heading directly towards me, I only pushed myself harder as my right hand became a blur and my blade cleaved each and every of them in two. With their integrity broken the Magical Bullets shattered as I moved directly towards their creator, Starlight was hovering in place and glowing with her Magical Aura to support herself in the air and to shield her from the damage. She already upped the density of her Spell so I wouldn't hurt her with my new Strength, and I could still tell that it put a strain on her to try and tank my blows one after another without having the time to catch her breath.

In a moment I was right in front of her, my blade connecting with her forearm as she blocked the blow. I was pushing her to her limit with my superior speed, I had no actual style and fought more like a berserker that relied more on natural instincts than an actual tactic or some kind of Art of the Blade. There were no rhyme nor reason to each of my strikes as I wailed on her, but, at the same time, I was pushing her harder and harder as with each Level of my [Sword Mastery] my attacks were becoming stronger, faster and more precise. Our exchange was making the air hum with Power, Starlight's Magic clashing with my insane physical strength and speed, she was taking much more hits but responded with blasts from her horn that connected and left marks on my body when I wasn't able to block them with my blade. She had Skill and Experience backing her up, when we were resting she told us how she actually studied Martial Arts as a part of her training to increase her Stamina and therefore capability to keep up with High-Grade Magic's demanding nature. Her self-levitation and shielding ate through her body's reserves at a rather slow but steady rate as she managed to master the Spells to the point where hey weren't as demanding as when she first learned them. She admitted that, at first, she could only lift herself from the ground for about two minutes tops after which she felt as if she ran a marathon, one thing that the girl had in spades was the determination as she literally forced herself to keep going until she could fly freely without collapsing half-dead afterward.

I leaned to the side to avoid another small but fast blast of Magic, this one was probably her Spell that covered its target in a crystal prison. I already experienced this one once, she didn't have enough mastery over it just yet to actually entrap me fully but one limb at a time was more than enough to force me to disengage. It was really hard to keep myself in the air with only one wing working, while the another one was frozen in place by a thick layer of artificial transparent rock. I didn't know a counter for this one, so I just flexed my wing and shattered the coverage through the pure brute strength and instantly shot towards the smirking girl that found me tumbling through air amusing.

'Not going to work this time.' I grinned as the edge of my sword managed to slightly penetrate the shielding and almost touch the skin of her left shoulder, the sudden threat of an actual injury threw Starlight off as she backpedaled and left me with an opening. I pulled my sword back and then performed a lightning fast thrust right towards her solar plexus, the impact sent her flying backward as the force of it drove the air out of her lungs. I followed and with a twist delivered a powerful kick right into her stomach, it didn't let her recover and she crashed right into the tall building that I was pretty sure belonged to the Royal Guards. I barreled after her, right through the hole she made in the roof with my right foot aimed directly towards her chest.

Starlight's eyes widened and she managed to roll to the side at the last moment, my leg only crashed into the ground and created a wide crater that took most of the floor down. Not pausing I threw myself to the side to avoid a powerful blast of Mana that tore right through the wall on my right, my opponent was already hovering over the collapsed ground and ready to continue. I blurred forward, the palm of my left hand covering her face and driving her straight through the wall, as soon as we emerged from the building I heaved and threw Starlight forward with all of my strength. She flew back like a shining comet, her form tearing through the wall of the next building and then going right through it with losing much of its momentum.

I didn't wait for her to collect herself and shot upward into the sky, it was easy to follow the trail of dust clouds that were raised by Starlight's body crashing through buildings. I flew over the trail and so how the last cloud suddenly exploded and the whole fucking building flew right at me at an insane speed while also spinning like a drill! It was only a one-story house, but I sure as fuck didn't care as it was coming at me with enough force to crush any normal person! I didn't bother dodging, using my own [Telekinesis] was also out as it would mean that I would lose through disqualification, there really wasn't all that many options for me to work with.

'This is going to hurt.' I dove forward and right towards the place where I could sense Starlight was, she wasn't going to get away with throwing fucking buildings at me! I pushed my body to its maximum speed and put my left fist forward while putting my sword in front of me face to shield me at least from some debris, the impact wasn't as hard as I imagined it to be as I tore through the wood and thin stone with ease and come out from the other side. I didn't bother looking to see whatever happened with the building as I adjusted my course to fly directly towards my opponent with my sword at the ready, the payback will be sweet.

As I approached her I felt another spike of Mana, without thinking I lifted my sword and struck the incoming wide beam of Magic. I wasn't sure what Starlight did but it actually demonstrated a very admirable level of resistance as I tried to cut it, the damn thing actually managed to slow me down somewhat but just bearly. She was learning frighteningly fast and could adapt in a matter of days, there really wasn't a way for her to invent Spells on the fly as the only reason I could do it because 'The Gamer' let me skip some steps and all the ever made were based on raw manipulation of Mana. I didn't let my musing distract me and pushed forward, but what I didn't anticipate was another spike and several small spheres spinning around the beam in a perfect circle suddenly coming at me with much more speed than I thought it was possible for her. The last thought I had before the impact was that the cheeky girl actually was holding back on me, or at least no pulling out her trump cards for this whole time.

And then I was thrown backward by a very powerful explosion.

I felt my back impacting the ground as a tumbled while tearing a trench in the street that I landed on, it was a surprisingly short flight and a very sudden landing. I twisted around and managed to push myself up with my left hand, again being airborne I was able to stop my momentum with my wings and then straighten myself as I looked a the destruction caused by the attack. My shirt was mostly gone, pants were torn and I lost my shoes some time ago so it wasn't anything new, the fact that I was flashing my newly purchased bra around irked but I ignored it as I tried to sense where Starlight was. I was thrown backward for several dozen meters, I wasn't sure how much power did she put in that attacks but that was pure bullshit and I was honestly considering just throwing in the towel after that display of her capacity for combat.

I found her not too far away, and her Mana felt rather weak and I could tell that she wasn't using her shielding anymore. With a beat of my wings of I shot forward and in her direction, this was probably the end as she obviously was out of juice and I really needed a change of clothes as what I had now was holding onto a good word and a prayer. It took me a several second to reach her and what I saw actually made me chuckle, Starlight looked like she just went through the most torturous workout of her life, sweat was dripping from her forehead as she lay on the ground and panted. I landed near her and dispelled my sword, our spar was over and I honestly didn't feel like continuing even if my partner could stand up.

"What...*Pant* would...*Pant* it...*Pant* take...*Pant* to...*Pant* keep...*Pant* you...*Pant* down?!" She groaned from her position.

"Don't know." I answered as I plopped down near her in a cross-legged position. "Booze?"

"Not...*Pant* funny!" She wheezed out.

"Here, this will help." I pulled a bottle of water from the Inventory and removed the cap.

I stretched my hand and tipped the bottle, letting the edge of its nozzle touch her lips and a little bit of water leak out for her to swallow. She hungrily drank the liquid life with me increasing the flow little by little until the whole thing was empty, Starlight released a breath of satisfaction and closed her eyes.

"Better." She muttered.

"You're really good." I said as I put the bottle back and pulled out another one for myself. "If I wasn't so durable and an Alicorn I would've been toast from the first time you hit me, I'm pretty sure that you can fight one on one with a Royal Guard and win right now."

"Thanks." She said quietly. "When I joined you I would've never thought that you were such a hardcore taskmaster, I never managed to push myself this hard before and it says a lot because I used to juggle huge boulders to train my Magic and force my Mana Pool to grow faster."

"Well, it depends on what you actually expected out of our little group." I shrugged and finished my own water and put the bottle back into Inventory. "Did you think that we were going to have tea-drinking gatherings and slumber parties while talking about all things cute and fluffy?"

"With how you owned my ass back then?" She snorted. "No chance."

"Then don't complain." I lay down near her and straighten my legs while putting my hands behind my head. "Why do you think I train myself so harsh? Why do you think I push myself beyond the limits and even further to reach the new heights?"

"..." She turned her head and looked at me with a searching look. "Why?"

"Because I refuse to lose my friends." A small smile appeared on my face. "You probably didn't notice in your small remote village, but the return of Nightmare Moon wasn't such a peaceful event as many not present would be led to believe. I don't know all the details, but what I know is that we aren't living with an 'Eternal Night' haunting our asses because of sheer dumb luck. There was no fight, no actual meaningful resistance and no actual plan of retaliation upon her victory. All the population was doing back then was panicking and then celebrating as if nothing happened, six civilians with no actual clue what they were doing or an actual understanding of what was happening managed to reactivate the Elements of Harmony by the power of sheer dumb Deus-Ex-Machina." I chuckled. "I was afraid, I feared that there won't be a sunrise again and how I and my friends would fare against the new life that was almost upon us. While it would've been possible to adjust with time, the first several years of full nocturnal existence could've potentially taken many lives and claimed many types of plants and species that don't have Magic to help the adjust."

"So what, now you want to protect Equestria?" There was only a tiny bit of sarcasm in her voice.

"No, just my friends." I said without hesitation. "No matter how I may look from the side, but I'm no 'Noble Hero' and I only do what I want to do because I want to do so. Right now I want to make sure that I would never lose what is precious to me, you remember what I told you about the whole deal with the Ascension?"

"Yeah, and I'm still can't wrap my mind around the sheer idea of that." She chuckled. "From what you told me... It does sound legit, but, at the same time, I can't help but wonder why nobody actually managed to do so till now? Princesse Cadenza aside, there must have been others that were able to perform something absolutely outstanding in their own field of practice. Lack of a suitable Energy Source on hand? Maybe." Starlight hummed. "If your theory about surpassing the limits of oneself is true, and with you being an example I'm inclined to acknowledge it, then it will take something phenominal to force someone to Ascend without some lucky fluke like the one you had."

"We will just have to keep trying then." I smirked. "What about you? Are you going to try?"

"Why not?" She shrugged and then grimaced, probably her body protesting against any actions from her sore muscles. "And I'm pretty sure that if I was to refuse Twinkleshine won't let me live it down until I will change my mind."

"Indeed." I agreed sagely. "Does it bother you? The fact that the girls accepted you so easily?"

"Yes." She nodded. "I feel as if I don't deserve it, as if it's a lie and the only thing that should be present is scorn and rejection, that I shouldn't be forgiven so easily for what I have done." She sighed and then chuckled. "But then I look at them and there is nothing that I could even try to interpret as hostility in their eyes, just one day is enough for them to take me in and see me as a part of their group. How? I was ready to never have friends in my life anymore, I felt the pain and I'm now regretting my blind and selfish decision. I hid like a coward, tried to live in denial and lie to everyone including myself, I almost ruined the lives of others who trusted me and went to extreme lengths to basically cover my own fears and insecurities..." She turned her head a looked at me. "And then you came, broke everything that I put so much effort into building, shattered the illusion I was living in and then kicked my ass all over the place like nothing. You took away everything that I worked so hard on acquiring, and then gave me something so much better that I can't even describe it."

"Your point?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Just who are you?" She asked with pleading eyes. "You did all that for what? You already said that you didn't care about the citizens of the town, then why did you do it?"

"Because I decided that I wanted you to join our group." I answered truthfully. "You're cool, strong and skilled. You can perform Magic that any normal Unicorn will struggle with while you cast Spells after Spell without a problem, you was literally wasting your potential in that backwater little hamlet." I shrugged.

"... Was that all?" She asked, there was a note of uncertainty in her voice.

"No, that was why I dragged you here to join us." I said. "Why I did all the other things? Because you were alone, and nobody deserves to be alone in this World. You was hurting, afraid and lonely and all of the pain you channeled into keeping your little lie going. I saw this and decided to help, there is literally nothing more to that than this." I shrugged and looked her right in the eyes. "If you're looking for a deeper reason or some higher meaning then you should look somewhere else, I did what I did because I wanted to and that is all to that." I turned my head and looked directly into the sky. "I'm just selfish like that."

I left out the fact that originally I was planning on cutting off her horn and dropping her into Tartarus, or the fact that my main reason for searching her out was to prevent her from going Kyle Reese on Twilight's ass later on. Thank God that [Gamer's Mind] let me be such a good liar, or at least let me hide the half-truths behind the calm mind and cold head. But what I said was the truth too, after I saw the information from using [Observe] on Starlight I couldn't just leave her there and I obviously couldn't just throw her to the wolves that were Twilight and her merry cult. Well, I got myself a friend, that counted for something, right?

Suddenly I heard Starlight moving and then I felt as something was laid upon my stomach, I didn't even need to look as I felt something wet touched my skin. I just extended my hand and let her grab it with her own, her hold was tight as she held onto me for reassurance and support. For whatever tough exterior she displayed and for whatever power she had, Starlight was still a Pony and they were incredibly social and rather fragile beings and she was still only starting to recover from years of pain and grief that ate at her mind and heart and craved deep wounds in both. Time and support, that was what she needed the most right now and I was going to provide both in spades.

"Thank you." I heard a whisper.

I squeezed her hand reassuringly.

'When did I become such a good conversationist?' I wondered.

Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Lemon Hearts Increased by 5,000.

You're now Revered with Lemon Hearts.

Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Minuette Increased by 5,000.

You're now Revered with Minuette .

Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Twinkleshine Increased by 5,000.

Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Starlight Glimmer Increased by 5,000.

You're now Revered with Starlight Glimmer.

'... What the fuck?' I blinked at the sudden flood of Notifications.

"Should we let you two finish?" From the corner of my eye I could see Lemon standing with her arms crossed and with a smirk on her face. "Or can we join on the team-bonding moment?"

Minuette was behind her while Twinkleshine was on the side and looked at us with a strange glint in her eyes. I sighed, the whole time I was talking with Starlight I suppressed my [Magical Sense] and therefore didn't detect their arrival, we were in no danger and therefore I had no reason to actually bother with keeping my guard up. These three probably sneaked up on us and heard me, this was becoming absurdly problematic and not even funny anymore.

"Just come here." I groaned.

The three girls snickered but obliged nonetheless, with Shine claiming my left arm to hug against her chest and my left shoulder to lay her head upon as she snuggled up against me. Bonding moment or not, we all were kind of sweaty and smelt, but it didn't make us move or pull away. Minuette laid her head on my chest along Starlight and used her left hand to pull the surprised Unicorn closer to her, while Lemon used my left thigh as a pillow, the only reason I wasn't uncomfortable and Shine's grip didn't cut out the circulation in my arm was the fact that I was far tougher than normal.

"You're surprisingly comfy." Said the toothpaste-haired girl.

"Just be quiet and don't ruin the moment." I groaned.

I stretched my wings to provide girls with at least some comfort and support, laying on the stony ground probably wasn't very comfortable even with me as a pillow. Internally I facepalmed, only in Equestria something like this was possible as in a Real World something like this would only occur after a very drunken night and most of us would probably be lacking most of their clothes in the end. This place made touching fluffy moments a norm, and that both felt strangely touching and extremely creepy as I honestly had no idea how to properly act when such open and blatant displays of affection were actually accepted and encouraged.

'This place is made from Sunshines and Rainbows, you knew that Jess.' I mentally counted from ten to zero. 'Endure it, just endure the sappy moments that make Disney look bloody and brutal.'

I left Starlight and the girl to sleep the night off at my house, Starlight took my bed as I just didn't need it and the girls took the floor and the couch. I just deployed an Illusion Barrier and flew off, I needed to work out my current frustration that I had no idea where the fuck Tartarus was. Books only provided a vague information about its location and the landmarks were erased by time, I actually was considering breaking the Royal Library and to Hell with any consequences. Putting out heads together only made a migraine spread, it would require a lot of time to figure out where the damn entrance was and even then I would need to know how to enter it without having to blast my way in as I wasn't sure I had the firepower to break in even in the Illusion Barrier.

'Honestly, Canon seriously did its job to amend a lot of facts about Tartarus.' I grimaced as I neared the Everfree Forest. I could potentially try and dig for information from the Golden Oak Library, but even then I'm pretty sure that Twilight won't leave something as valuable as the directions to this World's special maximum security prison lying around. Oh, I was pretty sure that she knew where it was but there was no indication that anyone else in her circle of friends also did so, with the obvious exception of Spike and the logical exception of Sweety Drops who now went by Bon Bon. It was frustrating to be so close to something and not being able to reach it, the whole thing gave me a headache and the only reason I was even in the Everfree right now was to let out some steam and probably earn myself a couple of Levels.

Due to my [Flying] being of a higher Level than before and me being actually far more comfortable in the air I reached the place far faster than before and even managed to somehow land right near Zecora's hut. Some things were missing, like the masks and other decorations, but the place was obviously a home where the local Shaman lived and I honestly had no clue about most of her history besides that she was good at potions and lived here. The Fanon was strong here, as it also mixed rather unevenly with Canon and caused several things to blur about the origins of the woman and where did she come from, I was a fan of Zebrica's Theory. The local version of Africa sounded kind of cool and I should really find a way to visit it at a later date, maybe even take the girls with me so they would experience the life outside of Equestria and see that the World was far bigger than what they expected it to be.

'Pity I can't approach her today, it would've been an interesting experience.' I shrugged and started walking away from the hut before stopping and looking back at it. 'Well, one little glance won't hurt, right?'

I used [Teleportation] to appear on the highest branch of the nearby tree and then crouched behind the leafs, it would be impossible to notice me without actually looking and I could always sneak into the Illusion Barrier at a moment's notice. I was actually one of the people who thought that the Zebra in question was honestly unappreciated and there literally wasn't all that much done in Canon to explore her Character or even give her anything that could even be considered a meaningful role. She was used as a tool to show how Ponies are bumbling idiots and racists, then as a tool for another Pony to get a lesson out of it and in the end as a cheap exposition-supplier to give Twilight directions so she won't get lost in a straight line. The whole thing showed just how much Ponies were portrayed as some kind of a Masters of the World and everyone not of their kin was either Evil or a tool to be used so Ponies could get something out of it.

'I'm pretty sure that Griffins' backstory was shown only so Ponies could fix things up via pissing all over their culture and injecting their values into a completely different species' culture.' I grimaced, there were low blows and then there were things like what Pinkie and Dash did in Canon. I was honestly rather disgusted with their absolutely wanton butchering of what was actually important about the Idol of Boreas, it was the cultural symbol and the fucking legacy of their ancestors and these two apparently were able to replace it with fucking coockies. Good thing they never tried to do so with Zecora or she would've turned out to be like one of those singers from the sixties, who didn't carry guns and didn't rap.

I brought down the Illusion Barrier and could see the light inside the hut, Zecora was making something and I could see her through the window as she put some strange greenish-gray roots into her boiling cauldron. What actually surprised me was her Level and how actually strong she was when compared to the Ponies I saw on the streets, but on the other hand I could kind of understand it as she lived in the Everfree Forest where everything was out to kill you. Well, it was more in lines with Ponies simply being afraid of the place where things happened naturally and not under their direct control, which was actually a lot more homie than what I saw so far around the place.

<Shaman>
LV35 Zecora

The only non-human things I could see about her was the tail, her dark skin and cyan eyes were an expected traits, as were the golden rings around her neck and both wrists. She actually didn't have a mohawk like in Canon, her hair was rather short with long bands framing her face and on the back barely reaching her neck. Her earrings weren't as ridiculously big as they were in Canon, still with the thicker low part and thinner upper one but at least now they didn't look like they were supposed to tear of flash from a single step. Her hair was of an very bright gray color with its darkening into almost black at the ends of the lower parts. She wore a strapless variation of a sports bra with black outlines and black zebra stripes over the white fabric that hugged her rather sizable chest. Around her waist there was some kind of a belt with the golden solid belt that supported a loincloth that reached down to her ankles, it left kind of little to the imagination here. She also wore a bracelet around her left thigh and slightly above her right ankle with the same coloration as her bra. Also, I could see black zebra stripe-like tattoos on her biceps and thighs with a smaller tattoo that was similar to her Cutie Mark over her navel. The nails on her hands and feet were painted black, which kind of gave a strange dangerous vibe that instantly was dispelled by the warmth in her eyes and a rather friendly disposition that she displayed and [Observe] confirmed.

'Was she this young in the show?' Honestly, she was probably in her younger twenties and actually twenty-one in reality. I honestly thought that [Observe] was broken for a moment, because I could swear that Zecora was in her thirties at least by voice and behavior alone! Fuck, did everyone in this World decided to screw me over and destroy my perception of Canon? Well, at least she was as badass as I expected her to be, her Stats were monstrousous and on her Physical Stats alone she could probably give Starlight a run for her money right up until the Unicorn will stop holding back and will blast the Zerba into bits or will just fly up and then start tossing her around with [Telekinesis]. The girls? She would kick their asses like nothing, and that would be with her being blindfolded and her arms tied behind her back for a good measure.

My [Magical Sense] was giving me a constant hum from the surrounding, it was like the concentration of Mana in the air was far thicker than anywhere else and I honestly could've expected this from the Everfree Forest. This place was the last stronghold of Nature against the oppression it suffered from the Ponies, I kind of liked this place already and I was honestly interested if there was really a Spirit here like in some Fanon or not. I could see Zecora putting up the cups on the table and preparing... tea? Was she waiting for someone? I was pretty sure that 'Bridle Gossip' didn't happen just yet, so she had no contact with the citizens of Ponyville and therefore...

It was then that she opened the small window of her hut and looked out, but more importantly was that she looked directly at me!

"It would be rude not to invite such a mighty guest~." She stated with a smile. "Come in so the wonderful brew won't go to waste~."

'... And she really rhymes her speech.' Was the only thought that I had before I finally managed to snap out of my stupor. With a shake of my head I just decided to go with the flow, this was so bizarre that I honestly couldn't care less about the specifics at the moment. With a flash of [Teleportation] I appeared right in front of her door and pushed it open, this land really dislikes locks and that bothered me in more ways than one. Looking inside I could actually feel the small desire to squee like a fangirl because Zecora's home was awesome! She was literally the owner of the Which Doctor's Secret Layer only cracked up to eleven, with the old masks and shelves carved upon in walls with what can only be some ingredients for her concoction, the wooden stylized kitchen table attached to the wall and a huge cauldron near the wall and over the fire. I honestly was confused how she can have a fire inside an actual living tree, but then I noticed a hole over the boiling brew that could only be an improvised ventilation hood.

All the furniture was carved from solid blocks of wood, all handmade and looking very impressive. A quick [Observe] showed me what the masked at were hanging from the walls meant, I was kind of surprised when too only slightly different ones had quite a different meaning behind their expressions. Another big hollowing in the wall, right under one of the windows actually, was serving as the bed which at the moment was covered with a leopard-themed covers.

"A nice place you have here." I couldn't help but say. "So, may I know the name of someone who invited me for a tea?"

She chuckled and motioned me to take a seat, the chair was made without a back but was surprisingly comfortable for a solid brick of wood. As I sat down I saw her pouring tea from an old ceramic-looking teapot into a couple of ceramic cups, a quick series of [Observe] told me everything I needed to know and even the fact that the tea I was being served was one of the stronger brews with a slight calming effect on the nerves in it.

"Zecora would be my name~." She answered as she served the cups and I accepted one myself. "May I inquire the same~?"

"Moon Dancer." I took a sip from the cup, damn it was a strong brew that hit right where it counted. "I'm honestly surprised to meet a Zebra in the Every Forest, with all the critters and the population of the nearby town freaking out that Nature keeps its reigns here I thought that with reputation alone nobody would dare take a residence here."

"While the tales may speak badly of this infamous place~." She answered as she put the teapot back on the fire and sat on the opposite side of the table. "I find it comforting to find things here moving at a more familiar pace~. Many herds of the rare kind grow in these woods~, no Pony comes here to claim the countless goods~. While my journey led to me being here~, I have to ask how you found yourself near~?"

"Personal interest, I was heading for the old ruins deeper in the woods and saw your house." I moved my wings a little. "You can only fly so far without properly knowing the layout and not get lost without the landmarks. It took me some time to get here from Canterlot and there were a lot of hoops that I needed to jump through to not be seen, being a bit on the rarere side tend to get annoying."

"I knew not of the new Princess being admitted on a throne~, how long ago have in your new life you been born~?" She actually looked curious.

"Several days, and I'm not a Princess." I snorted. "The Title means nothing to me, and nobody would force me to wear a crown. I'm hiding my status as an Alicorn so not to be instantly dragged and crowned for the sake of Equestria's fancy little political shows."

"Wouldn't wearing the crown be the greatest honor~?" She quirked an eyebrow. "Wouldn't it be a dream come true to be the title's owner~?"

"Nope." I smirked. "At least it's not my dream." I took another sip of the tea, it was still burning hot but the flavor it left me with was worth it. "I'm actually interested how come you're here? Zebrica is really far away from here, I'm not even sure the locals know that it exists at all."

"To see the World on a journey I departed~, three years went past since it started~." She took a sip from her tea. "I found this wonderful and mystical woods~, here Nature shows her real moods~. I went to the nearest town several times~, but the doors were closed and missing the chimes~."

'Alright, it does get a little annoying after awhile.' I took another sip from my cup, so far I was pretty sure that there wasn't much I could do to make her not tell anyone and judging by what I was reading from my [Observe] she really wasn't all that comfortable with such a hostile reaction from Ponyville.

"Don't take it personally, most of the town are bumbling alarmists that tend to fear and shun anything that is out of their comfort zone." I shrugged. "You're new, you don't look like them and don't act like them and you literally came out of nowhere from the Everfree Forest. I'm pretty surprised that they didn't call for the Royal Guards already, ignorance and superstitions are a lifestyle here."

"You sound like you don't see yourself part of the lot~, you seem to know their answer to a dot~." She looked at me questioningly.

"Because I saw how this 'lot' acts whenever they are pressed, they turn into a singular mass of bumbling idiots and follow the loudest voice." I snorted. "You saw the whole thing with the Nightmare Moon, right? They literally were crashing into each other while trying to stampede their way towards any direction that would take them further away from her. Royal Guards went up, got blasted once and went down for the count like a group of freaking fairies! It took six civilians, an insane amount of luck that would need all the stars to align in line to happen again, and Nighty not taking them all that seriously for her to be brought down and dragged back in line. I'm pretty sure you sensed shockwave from the activation of Elements of Harmony, right?"

"I did feel the wave of Power passing by~, the Mare's downfall was the reason why~?" She looked rather surprised.

"Yep, and they managed to do it for the reasons beyond my understanding." I grimaced. "You have pretty good senses if you picked on me here, how strongly did you feel the pulse was?"

This question actually brought a small smile on Zecora's face. She reached out and pulled a tiny bottle with a black cord wrapped around its neck and bluish powder inside it from the small box that was also on the table, it wasn't that hard to notice that the content was actually glowing slightly with a ghostly white light. I actually almost choked on my tea when I used [Observe] on it to find out what the strange device did, Zecora was good and I couldn't help but agree with the Fanon that she knew her way around the place.

"My Inner Vision may not be up to par~, but other methods served me well so far~." Her smile widened from seeing my expression. "I see you recognized this rather simple construct~, I didn't know that in this land Ponies knew of tricks this obstract~. Mana flows from you like a roaring waterfall~, it's not that hard to detect such Power after all~."

"Damn, a special powder that absorbs Mana." I looked the small thing over. "And you also managed to make it ignore your own and the ambient one in the air from the Everfree Forest. This is really impressive, the locals can only make something like this with a complex Runic Arrays carved into devices that would serve as anchors and conductors for the Mana in question, and it takes a lot of Skill and Experience to actually tune it so it won't give false alarms. Damn, I knew that Zebrica's Shamans were impressive but this is something on a whole new level of that!"

"Your prize fills me with joy~, but you don't need to be so coy~." The fire of curiosity that was in her eyes actually made me want to back away slightly. "You avoided any other scrying on my part~, what Mystics did you use to bypass my art~?"

"In basic terms? An overlapping pocket dimension that was layered over the real one and I was able to move freely in it." I shrugged, the thoughtful expression on her face that followed by an understanding and then shock actually were worth spilling the beans on it. "I can create one on a whim, and it lets me stay undetected and sneak past most of the defenses that normally would stop anyone on their tracks."

"You can create a Spiritual Realm on demand~, such an act may only be performed by a masterful hand~!" Even in her gobsmacked state she still managed to rhyme. "Who taught you such a complex Spell~, they must be wise in Art and be off rather well?"

"Actually, it was more of an accident on my part." I took a bigger gulp from the cup, the tea cooled down a little. "I made this by accident and so far nobody could actually replicate it, it's a rather easy and don't need Mana to actually be used. The point here his concentration and the desire for it to work, I'm honestly not sure if there anything else as I bothered with figuring out. It lets me practice without anyone seeing, no collateral damage either as some of my tricks are rather destructive."

"You trick may be an accident one of a kind~, but you should keep it uniqueness in mind~." She didn't inquire more at least. "And of old deserted Castle that you seek~? Going there alone shows that your heart isn't meek~."

"Mostly? Knowledge." I shrugged. "I already visited that place once, looted it for all the books that were there and walked away. I'm trying to see if I missed something, what I'm seeking wasn't in the books and I thought I could let out some steam while getting a workout against Timberwolves and maybe a Manticore."

"These beasts won't serve as a challenge to your might~, you won't find anything that even close to a satisfactory fight~." Zecora sounded almost sad about it. "I trained to protect myself at homeland~, but nothing here can against me stand~. Keeping my skills sharp becoming a chore~, these creatures after a time becoming a bore~."

'No fucking wonder, your Stats are all out of the fucking Charts!' I actually had to use [Gamer's Mind] to suppress a snort. [Observe] was telling me more as I was putting pieces together and actually had to cringe at the implications of what this whole thing sounded like, apparently Equestria literally was the East Blue of the World here and it can be seen. When I was walking the streets I honestly never saw anyone who breached the bar of Level Seven, Starlight and now Zecora broke this rule because of their extensive circumstances and the fact that they weren't keeping the standard mindset of the local population. Starlight trained herself to the bone, being constantly reminded that she lost her friend because of the fact that she was lagging behind and all that was in her head was catching up to him and ending the pain that her loneliness was causing her. Zecora arrived here from Zebrica, and while Moony's knowledge wasn't actually extended beyond the most basic geography I could conclude that things there were following the Natural Order instead of the one that was Enforced by Ponies.

"I take it in Zebrica things usually aren't this calm and peaceful?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it~!" Her eyes actually twinkled as she smiled. "It flicking as a fire of a candle that was only just lit~!"

"Oh, do tell!" I smiled, this was going to be interesting. "Living in Equestria you tend to miss things from the other side of the border, and most of the population never bothers to learn so I'm really interested how things are outside of this land."

'While it probably wasn't as productive as I thought it will be, this day certainly was much more interesting than I expected it to be.' I smiled as I flew towards the Canterlot, there were things that I found out that I honestly wasn't all that sure I cared to think about so far. Zebrica was actually a thing, they were basically an Africa of this World and life there wasn't as bad as you may think as the Tribes were mostly peaceful and lived their lives by the principals of their lands. I honestly didn't know what that meant, but I also wasn't going to ask Zecora to explain it to me as it would've interrupted her tale. I wasn't all that surprised that she was so welcoming, living alone in the Everfree Forest must've sucked royally for her, if Twilight and her pets will pull the same shit as they did in Canon I would probably stab at least one of them for being ignorant superstitious bastards. Zecora was lonely and I made sure to promise that I will visit her as soon as I will be free and I will also bring so friends over, I would need to ask the girl to buy some food so we wouldn't be leeching on her fridge like that. Maybe a cake?

Hell, she was actually awesome and I would gladly hang out with her more as soon as I'll get some free time and end a couple of threats before they will manage to actually do damage. The stories she told me of her land were also very interesting, I could actually understand why she decided to live in the Everfree as it reminded her of home with it actually following the Natural Order of things. No Pegasi trying to control the weather, no idiots that are trying to kill the 'Wild' part in the 'Wild Animals' expression, none of this fuckery with trying to force plants to grow as you think they should. Yes, her own Tribe did some serious farming to supply them with part of the food, but they never bothered with all the routine that made me shudder in the 'Winter Wrap Up'.

I didn't think that it will be such a hard task for me to find some information on Tartarus, but apparently there were things that even Ponies new not to speak about in the open. My visit to the Castle was also kind of useless as the only new thing I was to check the room that used to contain the Elements of Harmony. [Observe] revealed nothing new, so all I could do was to head home and hope that I would be able to dig something from the library, some things were left untouched if nobody thought that they were unimportant and even the trail of breadcrumbs at the moment was better than nothing. It was kind of sad that Ponies tend to not care about forgetting the bad things that happened with them, Discord and Nightmare Moon were only the small examples of such things.

'Also, the Sirens.' I reminded myself. This was actually one of the things that I also tried to look up, there was a book about them and it even counted as historically accurate documentation of the events that happened back then. In reality, it was a thick tome about how bad they were, how Starswirl was a 'Hero' and how he saved everyone by banishing them to the other Dimension. If not for the fact that the events were actually described and all the opinions about them were outlined and weren't affecting the information presented I could've just labeled this book as propaganda and throw it away. I wasn't honestly sure just what those three did as the only thing I got were the small snippets of their final acts before banishment, these girls were old and I'm pretty sure that they weren't even suspecting how much time have passed in Equestria during their absence. I wasn't sure if they were simply Quasi-Immortal like Alicorns or the connection between World was just that wonky that they misalign so much that the effect of a Time-Dilation actually started taking place.

And that actually brought me to the question of Sunset Shimmer and the fact that she was going to be arriving sometime in the future, the whole mess that she would cause along with me being rather active could make things far worse than they were supposed to be. Well, I already was planning on wreaking Canon with an aluminium baseball bat, I already made Fifth Season mostly invalid with Starlight not being there to cause the events of 'The Cutie Map - Part 1', 'The Cutie Map - Part 2', 'The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 1' and 'The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2'. There were things that I wasn't very comfortable with and one of them was Time-Traveling, it was the most complex and problematic thing to work around and I was honestly not sure if I would be able to handle something like that no matter how thoughtful I would prepare. The mood soured by the thoughts about the things I should be preparing for I decided that it was pointless to stall anymore and just used [Teleportation] to appear right home, it wasn't worth flying it back anyway when the heart being no into it. As I dropped the Illusion barrier I heard a startled cry and the sound of someone falling onto the floor.

"Don't do that!" I turned around and saw Lemon sitting on the floor. "Seriously, a little warning would've been appreciated."

"Sorry about that." I looked around. "Where're the others?"

"Minuette is reading, that book you gave got her hooked." Lemon got up and shrugged. "Shine is sleeping, she's was too tired after the training and still didn't wake up. Starry..." She gained a thoughtful expression while I inwardly snickered at the nickname that our new friend already got herself stuck with. "I'm pretty sure she left for a walk around Canterlot, she actually was pretty interested in that bookstore that you visit so much and I pointed her towards it."

I blinked and then remembered that Moon Dancer actually had a very set routine before I came to be here, she always visited the same bookstore and the same library without fail. I was actually thinking about doing the same, but before that I would need to hide my wings somehow or there would be questions I wouldn't want to answer to no matter what. I would also need to visit the local Mystical Shops, I had enough Bits to buy the Alicorn Amulet and it also made me able to find if at least anyhting in that particular shop was worth the effort of finding it other than the damned trinket.

"Good." I nodded. "She really needs to relax a little more, there is no more need for her to constantly look over her shoulder."

"Should I be concerned about you not being against her new and rather unhealthy obsession with getting herself to surpass her own limits?" Lemon raised an eyebrow. "If you gave her the same speech..."

"I don't see you complaining about what came out of it." I smirked at her, Lemon answered with a deadpan stare. "I saw how all three of you pushed yourselves, I'm pretty sure that you never tried as hard as you did in the last days."

"That's because of you." She said. "I don't know what you did, but you somehow managed to get us to follow you into this madness you call training. I was honestly hoping that it was something akin of a phase, and then Starlight came and I saw what you was capable of after less than a week! Moony, this isn't normal! Nobody gets so much stronger in just several days!" Lemon looked at me pleadingly. "And the worst part? I know you Moony, and I know that each and every word you said to us were nothing but the truth. For whatever reason, you managed to drag even me onto your crazy bandwagon, and that is saying something as I was very skeptical about it. But the I saw you clashing with Starry and it hit me like a train, everything you said was real and you was serious about it no matter how crazy it sounded."

"I find your lack of faith in my credability disturning." I commented drily.

"Oh, be quiet!" Lemon snarked back. "You just came to us with this, did you really think it would be so easy to accept? But after seeing all this, I'm pretty sure that whatever your plan for us is..." She shrugged. "Well, you'll get us there, right?"

"Yep." I nodded seriously.

"So, any idea what Royal Title should I call dibs upon?" Lemon smirked at my half-lidded glare. "Maybe 'Princess of Hearts'? But I think it will bother Princess Cadenza too much, or will encourage her to take her role more seriously." She hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe 'Princess of Celebrations'? Nah, it will sound too cheesy..."

"Oh, shut up already." I sighed. "You can come up with what to stamp on your badge later, right now I want to know if you actually have something good to tell me as my mood is a bit sour at the moment."

"Do I look like an entertainer?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Nope, but even a crappy joke will do." I walked towards the nearest chair and sat down. "One good thing happened today was that I made a new friend."

"Oh, do tell." Lemon pulled another chair from the kitchen with her Magic and sat right in front of me. "Should we prepare another welcoming banquet?"

I snorted, our little celebration for Starlight was very homey and lasted only one evening, we did it mostly to demonstrate that we were welcoming her with open arms. The little things were the ones that made the most impact and the feelings behind the gestures that mattered the most. We were showing her that she didn't need to run anymore, didn't need to hide or build the walls around her wounded heart.

"Nah, she has her own place to stay and I promised her to take you all there for a visit." I smirked. "Zecora is cool, I met her when I was in the Everfree Forest."

"Wait, she actually caught you?" Lemon blinked.

"Nah, more like I underestimated her capabilities at detecting Mana." I smiled sheepishly. "She's a Zebra and a Shaman to boot, I honestly had no chances there to sneak past her."

"Wow, that is cool." She hummed. "Wait, Zebra? As from Zebrica? I thought that they never ventured beyond their borders and lived in their own Tribes around the country."

"Not entirely true." I grimaced. "You need to refresh your knowledge about them, Zecora is a traveler and she came here and decided to stay in Everfree as it was rather close to her home when it came to weather."

"I know that they don't have Pegasi controlling the weather there, but it's really hard to imagine." She frowned. "And weird too. How do they actually make do in such an environment?"

"They live pretty nice actually, she told me about her homeland and damn I really want to visit there." I smiled a little at the memory fo the rather animated discussion we had. "Their studies of Mysticism are ncredably detailed but also rather abstract from what Ponies are used to, I'm so going to take a long leave and go there just to see one of their traditional celebrations!"

"Yeah, you would be interested in that, right?" She smirked. "I'm actually quite curious too, their traditions should be practically ancient when compared to what we have, it will be like having a trip to the past."

"Heh, agreed." Something suddenly clicked inside my mind and my eyes widened.

'Some traditions doesn't change and that means...' I really wanted to bash my head against the wall, I was so stupid that I had to restrain myself with [Gamer's Mind] not to start cursing. All this time I was looking for some direct description of Tartarus, some kind of mentioning that could potentially lead to me being able to locate it from the small clues that I would be able to collect. I never bothered to look at the bigger picture and think much more simple, Ponies were not that complex as I was imagining them to be and therefore I only had to make a small change in the direction of my search to pinpoint the exact location of Tartarus! 'Because there is no smoke without fire...'

Author's Notes:

A/N: Alright, this Chapter was refusing to be written and it took me some time to actually figure out how to find Tartarus. There is no way Celestia would simply let others know where it is and how to get there, it would be downright retarded and I have no clue what kind of dementia she would need to suffer from to do so. Twilight I can understand, she was her student and therefore was told. But normal common folk? Nope, can't see it. I also posted Zecora's Stats, and I really want to know your opinions here!
As usual, your comments, suggestions and criticism are welcomed!