Of Copper and Glass

by TheFoxern

Chapters

• 1: Gala
• 2: Storytelling
• 3: The Last Request of Pop Pots
• 4: Sentences and a Trial
• 5: Drips
• 6: Museum Blues
• 7: A Missed Life

1: Gala

If there was one thing that she hated more than anything it was the Gala, even if her dress for it was pretty. It wasn't so much the actual Gala that she hated so much, more so it was the ponies that were attending. Merely because she was a, as they put it, little filly, they thought that they did not need to treat her with respect. Shouldn't they show at least some sort of respect for her? After all, she was a Princess.

She wondered how long she could avoid going down there. How long she could simply sit and stare at herself in the mirror before somepony came and got her. It was truly a lovely dress and had been custom made for her. But that was how all of her dresses were, Miss Rarity wouldn't have it any other way. It flowed and swished in a regal manner, shimmering in bright colors. The contrast of the colors against her black fur was lovely. She hoped Miss Rarity would actually be at the Gala this year, most of the outfits she was going to see would be of her design.

Slowly she got up with a heavy sigh. There were several ponies that she was hoping to not see, but at the same time there were several that she wanted to see. The Grand Galloping Gala was a rare time for her to see several ponies all at once. Her mother might even come, though that was very unlikely. It didn't bother her that her mother didn't attend; she was too busy to be bothered with such trivial things as Gala's and parties. She wished that it was the same case for her so that she didn't have to go.

There was a knock on the door and it opened. “Glass? Are you still here?”

She looked over at the door and then up at Princess Luna. “Yes yes, just fiddling with my dress,” she said as she took one last look at herself and brushed back back her copper colored mane. No matter how hard she tried it always seemed so messy.

“There are many ponies looking for you.” Princess Luna moved back into the hall to let her pass.

It didn't bother her that Luna was informal with her, as she respected her to no end. Princess Luna had been her teacher for most of her life, as well as Princess Celestia. “I'm sure there are...” Glass said with a sigh. “That pony from Griflon no doubt...”

“Sir Burra is not that bad,” she said with a smile as Glass made her way into the hallway with deliberate slowness.

Glass's face scrunched up in disgust as a shudder ran down her back. “He is disgusting, to say the least. And rude. And...” She waved her hoof flippantly. “A jerk.”

“He is the son of Griflon's ambassador.”

“Adopted son,” she retorted and then sighed. “My apologies Princess...”

“Another bad letter?” Princess Luna said as she looked into the room, the floor and desk were covered in pieces of paper.

“She still wont let me come see it...and she has canceled her visit once again...”

Princess Luna moved over to her after closing the door. She smiled down. “It will be all right little filly. She merely wants it to be-”

“Perfect. I know. That is what she says in her letters every time I ask.” They began to make their way down the hallway. “She is not here, is she?”

There was a moment of hesitation but Luna shook her head. “I do not think she is.”

“She wrote that she might come, but I did not believe it...she despises these events more than me.” She could already hear the Gala from here as the noise of it echoed up the hallway. “It's because they remind her of him. I think the reason she doesn't visit me is because I remind her of him...”

“That is not true little one.” They were at the top of a staircase now, leading down to a bridge into the main castle. “She wants to make things better, so that you and her can live together.”

“I understand the difficulties...there's a lot of magic that needs to be undone, but it's been so long...” From there she could see down into the outer courtyard where there were many ponies milling about.

“You must have patience little one. You are still young and have a long life ahead of you,” Princess Luna said as they both moved crossed the bridge and went into the main castle. The place they were looked out over the very large crowd.

Glass looked over at Princess Celestia, who was in her usual spot, greeting ponies. “Princess Celestia says the same...” They were making their way down into the main room. “But it's hard and I don't want to...”

“Things will get better little Glass, when you least expect it.” With that she parted, having other duties to attend to during the Gala.

So she was left alone to think and to look at the crowd that stood between her and Princess Celestia. If she could just make it to her, nopony would bother her for the night. “Ah, Princess Glass. So good I finally found you.” But it seemed that she would not get the chance.

“Burra.” She looked at the roughened little foal in front of her. It bothered her that he was taller.

“I...I wanted to apologies...for my rudeness a few months ago,” he said as he fidgeted. He was the color of mud with a dirty brown mane, but his eyes were a striking red. She would never understand why a griffon ambassador would adopt somepony like him. He was socially awkward and had no sense of etiquette or proper procedure. She was educated, while he seemed to have crawled off the streets.

“I think you made yourself quite clear. After all, according to you, I'm nothing but a pompous freak. Nothing but a freaky filly,” she said as she moved past him and amongst the legs of the other guests. He had been attempting to court her and doing a very poor job of it. She had thought it...cute, at first. Then it was just annoying. So she turned him down and he got mean.

Those words had hurt. She'd heard them a lot. Most often when ponies thought she wasn't listening. It came with being half changeling and half pony. Burra was the only pony to ever get away with it. Most ponies tended to...well, she never saw them again if they got too vocal about her. After all, she was a Princess of the changelings, as well as of the snow. “Good evening, Princess Glass,” somepony said as she moved past them.

“Please- pardon me, Princess Glass- excuse me, can I just- sorry, please-” He was struggling to try and follow her.

“I am afraid I cannot speak.” She did not recognize the voice, but assumed it was somepony attempting to get to her mother through her. Many tried to get an audience through her, but she always sent them to Chestnut, which sometimes seemed cruel. She moved faster as she tried to get away from Burra and this new pony. She wished that ponies would get out of her way, but it seemed that the faster she wanted to go, the more ponies got in her way. After ducking under a buffet table she seemed quite sure that she lost them. Her eyes closed as she took a few moments to catch her breath. “Jerk...”

Her brow wrinkled slightly as something changed and she peeked out from under the table. It was silent and nopony was moving. In the silence, all that could be heard was a soft clink, a pause and then a clink. Slowly she made her way out from under the table and towards where everypony was looking. And then a voice rang out, “Sorry I'm late. Seems I lost my invitation.”

Then she saw him, standing before Celestia. A gray blue pony with a copper mane, wrapped in a black cloak. She walked slowly up the large path that he had made in his entrance. She should feel everypony behind her staring at her as she made her approach. Her legs felt weak and her heart beat faster and faster. Celestia was looking at her, over the ponies head. She had to do something. Say something. They were speaking to each other. Say anything. She couldn't hear what they were saying over the pounding of her heart. Get his attention. He looked immense, the feeling was indescribable; it was no wonder ponies moved out of his way so quickly. Do something. She would have to get his attention from Princess Celestia. Speak. She stood several hooves behind him. “Father?”

~

If there was anything that Copper was sure of now, it was that he hated time travel. He absolutely hated it, especially now as he stared up at the castle. Of all the times the Doctor could have dropped him off, it had to be during the Gala. But that was not entirely his fault, that was his blue box. He had said that it was as close to when Copper left as they were probably going to get. “Blasted thing...” he muttered as he crawled through a bush and into the garden. He shook his head to loose a branch and made sure that his cloak was not snagged before he headed quickly through the garden.

“I do believe this is quite an interesting year,” a pony was saying not too far from him.

He looked over at the pony and the griffon he was talking to. A griffon at the Gala? Things had certainly changed. “Excuse me,” Copper said as he approached the two of them with a smile. “Would any of you happen to know if Princess Celestia is still greeting attendees?”

The two of them looked Copper up and down with a look of curiosity, the pony with a bit more disgust. “As she always is,” the pony said.

“I do not believe that she gets away from that throughout the Gala,” the griffon said.

Something was vaguely familiar about the griffon, but he couldn't be sure what it was, after all, it had been two years. “Thank you,” Copper said as he made his way towards the ball room. He would have to make his way through that first.

“By Celestia...did you see his leg?” the griffon hissed to the pony.

“That I did,” the pony whispered back.

“You don't think...”

“Impossible.”

Good, they were not following him, yet. They would know who he was soon enough. He looked down at the battered metal that encased his leg. It would be good to get it off, but he was not looking forward to it. There had been quite a lot of physical pain getting it on and he could only imagine how much it would hurt taking it off after so long. “Pardon me,” he said as he brushed past two ponies speaking near the doorway.

They stared at him. Everything looked so much the same, just as it had the last Gala he had attended. Music was playing from one side of the room, but his focus was on the main hall, where Celestia would be sitting. He was not sure if everypony was getting out of his way because they recognized him, or if it was simply the way he looked. He had to admit he was not dressed formally. The battered bowtie and a large black cloak, plus the clink of the his leg that happened with every step. Whispers followed him after several moments of silence and they consisted of, “Is that?” “Who is that?” Then someone finally said it, “It's Copper Feather...”

There was the wave of realization and then everything went silent as he laid eyes on Celestia. It was like a wave of silence that filled the entire room. The crowd parted in front of him as he walked forward; the only thing that could be heard was the clink of his leg. He would have much preferred to have entered through the main doors, that would have been far more dramatic. It took a moment before Celestia noticed him and she smiled. There was no end to how amazing she looked. “Sorry I'm late. Seems I lost my invitation,” he said as he walked to the stairs and was quite surprised to see that she had come down them to meet him.

“Oh Copper...it is so good to see you,” she said, her voice was surprisingly soft and caught him off guard.

He couldn't help but smile. “I feel the same. I...I-” she held up her hoof, the smile never leaving her face. He nodded and took a deep breath, there would be plenty of time to talk. Nothing but time now. “I trust you have been well?”

She nodded in response. “Oh yes. I see you're a little...worse for ware.”

At least she was honest, that made him chuckle as he nodded. “I'm afraid it has not been an easy two years for me.” His brow wrinkled slightly as he noticed that she was no longer looking at him, but past him.

“Father?”

Copper felt his shoulders sag and his legs nearly buckled. It was such a small voice that seemed so familiar, as though he had heard it in his dreams. Slowly he turned and looked at the little filly looking up at him. There was no doubt in his mind as he took in every inch of her. Black fur, a long crooked horn, black wings with colorful insect like frills for feathers, sharp little fangs, copper mane and copper eyes with slits instead of pupils. He knew those eyes well. Those were his eyes. But...there was no way that this filly was two years old; she was much older.

Words failed him. His mouth was dry and his tongue felt like it was stuck to the roof of his mouth. It was as though everything was screaming inside him, like he would explode. He had to says something. He tried a few times but words didn't come until after the tears. “You must hate me...” was what he managed to say.

But before she could respond, a very familiar pony stepped between her and him. “If she doesn't, I sure do.”

His eyes moved upwards slightly and he brushed the tears from his face. “Ah, Chestnut...I thought you might be here.”

“Don't give me that,” Chestnut said and took a step towards Copper. Copper didn't budge; she hadn't expected that and was now only a hoof away. “We've had a number of you ponies thinking you can just show up and say things and expect to just be accepted.”

His brow wrinkled slightly as he thought a moment. “You mean imposters? Ponies were impersonating me?” he said as he looked back at Celestia.

She nodded. “Oh yes. A few of them truly believed they were you.”

“But most of them were just after something,” Chestnut said and Copper turned back to her. “And she supports every single one of them.” Chestnut was looking accusingly at Celestia. “No matter how obvious it was.”

Copper smiled slightly. “I see. I can imagine that they were not difficult to discern?” He knew that there were many reasons to try and be him, as he knew a lot of ponies and had quite a lot influence.

“Some of them were difficult,” Celestia said with a chuckle. “Especially the ones who truly believed they were you.”

“But they were all fakes and we managed to keep them away from her.” Chestnut was positioned directly in front of Copper between him and the little filly. “And they will always be fake. Copper is not coming back.”

“Chestnut,” Celestia was speaking as she moved up beside Copper. “I have had my reasons, but-”

“No!” She stomped her hoof, glaring at Celestia. “Copper is gone. He's never coming back.” She suddenly struck him across the face. “And you need to realize that!” Chestnut took deep breaths, now glaring at Copper.

He was still standing. He had expected to be floored. After a moment he said, “Since when do you hold you punches?” He straightened back up and rubbed his jaw.

“No...you can't. It can't.” Again she struck him, but it was even weaker than the first. “You can't just...show up!”

Copper took a deep breath. He knew he was going to be struck again though it was the gentlest hit he'd probably ever received. “Chestnut, it's all right. Everything is going to be fine.”

“No!” she shouted and hit him again, and then again. “You can't do this to us! You can't do this to me!”

He gently stopped her hoof and pushed it towards the ground. “It's all right, Chestnut...”

“No...” She was crying. He had never seen Chestnut cry nor had he ever expected to see her do so. “You can't do this...not after so long...not after ten years.”

He hated time travel. “I'm sorry.” He truly hated time travel. “If I could, I would never have left.” There were not enough words to describe how much he hated time travel. “But I couldn't.” Copper could fill a thousand libraries with a thousand books each with thousands of pages and it would not even begin to describe how much he utterly hated time travel. “And I tried so hard to come back.”

She was sobbing now, still trying to hit him as if it would make everything better. “You're not allowed to come back,” she sobbed.

Copper placed his hoof gently on her shoulder and gave her a soft smile. “But I am. I know it hurts. I know you didn't want me to leave. I didn't want to leave. I...I thought I could make it back...” He looked back at Celestia. “I couldn't even say sorry for not being able to come back...” He looked back at Chestnut and gently brushed tears away. “Now stop that.”

“I do not hate you...”

He blinked and looked past Chestnut at the little filly who seemed to have found her voice. “I...” He moved around Chestnut so that he could look at her. He did not want to stop looking at her. It felt like at any moment she would simply cease to exist. “I would hate me...”

She shook her head slowly. “No you wouldn't. You would want to, but you would be too happy to be upset.” She gave him a small smile.

There was no doubt that she was the most beautiful thing he had seen in his entire life. “I-” he stopped and took a deep breath. “What is your name little filly?” he said as he sat down.

After a moment of hesitation and a few nervous shifts she moved closer to him. “Feathered Glass.”

He could not help but smile more. “Named for your wings...much like me.” She nodded. “And...where is your mother?”

“Freud Valley,” Celestia said as she moved once again up beside him. “It's where she spends all her time, trying to undo the damage that's been done. She has been trying to make it a suitable place for Glass.”

Copper nodded slowly and for the first time looked around. It seemed that many ponies had left and the ones that had stayed had gone back to doing whatever it is one is supposed to do at a gala. He looked down at the little filly. His little Glass. “I'm sure there is a lot of work to do...well over a thousand years worth of damage...”

He watched as the face of the little filly scrunched up in annoyance. “Oh of course everypony always sides with the Princess,” she muttered.

Celestia laughed and Copper looked back at her in confusion. “Oh she is impatient. She wishes to be with Queen Chrysalis down in Freud Valley but has not been allowed.”

He looked down at the little filly again and smiled. “Well...I'm sure she will be on her way here when she hears of my return, isn't that right Chestn- where'd she go?” Chestnut was gone.

“Probably to go and tell mother you're here,” Glass said as she once again moved towards him. She seemed so hesitant but at the same time curious.

“Oh that is good, that means she will be on her way quickly,” Copper said with a smile. He took a deep breath and looked around. Nothing had changed.

“You wont go to Freud Valley?” the little filly said hopefully. He would not leave her here as he went there.

He shook his head. “Oh no. I...” He hesitated a moment and then sighed. “I am not fit for travel... In my current state I should not even be standing.”

Suddenly everypony seemed very concerned. “Ah! You should have said earlier,” Celestia said as she gently touched him. Copper nearly fell over.

“I will be fine for a little longer,” he said with a chuckle as he struggled a moment.

“Glass, please take Copper up to one of the spare rooms...”

Glass nodded furiously as she jumped up and hopped back and forth a bit. “Yes. Of course.”

He chuckled softly as he began walking. “Unless you have had a major remodeling in the last ten years, I know where they are.”

“Ah. Yes. Of course...yeah,” Glass said as she fidgeted.

He looked back at her. “Well? Come on. I may need some assistance.”

She practically ran to his side. “Y-yes!”

He chuckled softly as he continued walking. The hallway that he was looking for was exactly where he thought it was and it was devoid of ponies. But of course it would be, there was a Gala after all. He paused a moment at a lift and pushed the button beside it. He glanced at the little filly, who had not taken her eyes off him. He gave her a smile and she quickly looked away. He reached out with his bare hoof and gently touched her. She flinched slightly and he pulled his hoof away. “Sorry. I...”

She moved closer to him and placed her hooves onto his shoulder. She was so light. He looked down into those Copper eyes and smiled. “You are more than I imagined,” she said softly.

“Really? A battered pony like me?” He could not help but smile at her. “I would think that you would be disappointed. I knew a lot of the stories that they told of me...all of them were an exaggeration. Painting me in an absurd light.”

There was a smile on her face as she shook her head. “No. You're more than all that...more than I imagined. A little dirty...but...none of the books could have ever come close.”

The lift arrived and his brow furrowed. “Books?” he said as he slowly made his way into the lift. He was wearing down. It wouldn't be long before he collapsed.

“Oh yes. There's tons of them, all about your life.” She followed him quickly inside and hit one of the buttons. “Most ponies have read them now, they're very popular.”

“Books...”

“Mhm. The last two are the most popular. Pony of the Gears and Crossed Gears. I could never decide which were my favorite personally, cus there are just so many...”

“There are books about me?” He would most definitely have to speak with Celestia about this.

“Yes. Nine of them. They start off with your days in flight school and your injury, and then your schooling and how you went and spoke with Nightmare Moon, and your first mission to Zebrica and then you go-” she stopped and her face reddened slightly as she saw Copper sitting and smiling at her. “But of course you know what the books are about...” She kicked at the ground absentmindedly. “Cus they're about you...”

He chuckled softly. “That's a tad unfair...you know everything about me and I know nothing about you...”

She fidgeted slightly and ran a hoof over her mane. Copper noticed how her mane was quite unmanageable, just as his was. “But...you're here now.”

Copper smiled and nodded. The lift came to a stop and the doors opened. “Yes...and I am not going to leave.” He stumbled out into the hall and she rushed to help support him. She had obviously gotten a lot of that absurd changeling strength as she was able to help him stay up quite easily. “I'm afraid I'm rather useless at the moment...” he muttered as they moved down the hallway.

“You just need time to recover,” she said, smiling up at him. “You always get beat down, but you always get up.” She paused a moment. “Eventually.”

He chuckled softly and nodded as they moved into a room. “Fairly sure I said that at some point.” Copper had seen the inside of these rooms quite often as he stayed in them whenever he had been in Canterlot for extended periods of time. It was easy with her help to get over to the bed and he sat beside it. “I think...I will be more comfortable without this...” he muttered as he pulled the cloak and bowtie off. Then he began undoing the straps wrapped around his body.

Glass looked very concerned now. “Are...are you really going to be all right?”

He looked down at himself and his battered form. He was missing patches of fur from where he had been burned and had quite a lot of cuts and dried blood. “I think I will be much better after a bath...but first I need to get this thing off.” He shifted slightly as he began undoing latches on his metal leg. Two years he had not removed it. Bathing was difficult with it on, but he had not had many opportunities to bathe anyways.

“Can...can I help?” Glass said as she watched.

There was a moment of hesitation, but then he nodded. “I need some basic tools.” He tugged on something a moment and then frowned. “And probably a can opener.”

She nodded furiously. “All right!” Then she ran from the room.

“I...” He sighed softly and chuckled. He had not even told her what sort of things he would need. He leaned against the bed a moment and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths.

“So it's true...” His eyes snapped open and he saw Princess Luna standing in the doorway. “You are back.”

He nodded slowly and smiled slightly. “Yes. As much as it is a surprise to everypony and me.” He had for a moment thought that he had slipped into sleep and gone to the dreamscape. He rubbed his face with his bare hoof.

“I...saw Glass on my way here...she said that you require tools?” Luna came inside the room slowly.

“To get this off,” he said as he wiggled the metal leg. “I've had it on too long. The longest that I had thought I'd have to wear it was a year, maybe two, but that was taking into consideration that I would be removing it occasionally and improving it.” He took a deep breath as he held up the leg and twisted it slightly, looking at it in the light. It was scratched and dented. It had far exceeded the lifespan that would have predicted.

“Does it still have the...blade?” Luna asked hesitantly.

Copper was aware that he made everypony nervous. Probably even Celestia, but she knew that he'd do nothing against her. Luna however, still feared he held a grudge. He nodded slightly in response to her question and with a slight twist of his arm in a certain way there was a shnict and the large blade revealed itself. But it was as battered as the leg itself, the blade nicked cross its length and the tip was missing. Copper stared at it for some time before he sighed and retracted it with a shink. “It has seen more battles than it was designed for...” He stared wistfully at the ceiling. “But the same could be said of me, dontcha think?”

“You have been through a lot...” Luna agreed and finally she sat down.

“I hear there are books about me?” He looked at her and she nodded. “That is...curious. I am sure that must have taken quite the effort.”

“You will have to speak with Celestia on that matter. She seems to be the only pony who knows the author...but I have read through them...”

“I am sure you hate the first one.” She sagged noticeably. “You must not punish yourself so much. It...” He hesitated a moment and then sighed. “It was my fault. I have found out a lot in the two years I was trying to get back...and it's my fault, not yours.”

There was a clattering as Glass came back into the room with a large bag of tools. She was out of breath. “I didn't know what you needed, but when I told the pony who it was for he gave me this bag.”

“Ah...this is one of my old tool bags,” he said as he watched Glass pull it over to him quickly. He stood up and headed towards the bathroom. “If you do not like the sight of blood, I suggest not watching.”

Glass hesitated. “You're going to bleed?”

“Probably. Just a little I would think though, if at all.” He stopped at the tub and looked at her, she was standing beside him with the bag open.

“Could...I perhaps help?” Luna said as she came into the bathroom as well.

“Do you not wish to return the the Gala?” Copper asked, tilting his head to the side.

She shook her head. “I'm afraid that what little entertainment there was has left with you.”

He chuckled softly as he climbed into the tub. “Right then...”

It took several minutes to explain to the two of them that it wasn't dangerous to him to remove as long as they listened to him. In the end they hardly helped, besides handing him tools. “All right...let's hope this goes-” he grunted softly as he tweaked the last thing and blood seeped from a few cracks in the metal. He took deep breaths. That had hurt a lot more than he was ready for, but as the device came apart and revealed his leg, it wasn't that bad. The black lines that had been the source of his injury had faded away, leaving nothing behind. He tossed the device from the tub onto the floor, it would need to be destroyed as soon as possible.

“Are you okay?” Glass said, leaning over the tub to look at his leg.

“Yeah...” He tried to reach for the nozzle to turn the tub on but couldn't seem to reach it. It glowed and twisted on its own. “Thank you, Luna.” He let the water run over the leg. It burned slightly, but it also felt very good. “Doesn't seem to be any damage,” he said as he took a deep breath and examined it. It was the first time he'd seen the leg in two years. He'd almost forgotten that he had the three long scars.

“That is very good,” Glass said as she smiled at him.

Copper started to wash the dirt, grime and dried blood out of his fur. He felt odd. It was as if he'd just torn off his own leg and thrown it aside like garbage. He could not remember the last time that he had actually washed in an actual bath tub. The last time he had cleaned himself up was in a stream. “Honestly it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would have been. I was worried about a lot of things, but it seems that I still have feeling and the legs mobility has returned...” Luna turned off the water and there was a towel that floated to him and positioned itself as though it were ready to begin drying him. “Luna, there is no need to treat me as a child.” He couldn't help but chuckle as he took it and began drying off.

Luna shifted slightly and looked away from him. “My apologies.”

“It's fine. It's nice to know that ponies are still concerned for me after so long.” He made an attempt to get out of the tub, but failed. He sighed softly. “But I do believe I'm at the end of my rope now.”

It was easy to get out of the tub with Glass and Luna's help. “You just have to take it easy now,” Glass said, smiling at him. “There's no need for you to work so hard now.”

He looked at her and smiled slightly. “There's always more work to do...”

“Ah but she is mostly correct,” Luna said as they helped him onto the bed. “We are at this moment, stable. There are little things going on, but they are domestic things with little to no consequence either way. Equestria has not known this level of tranquility since its founding.”

His brow furrowed slightly, but then he relaxed. “So I'm not needed...”

“Not at the level you were,” Luna says with a glance towards Glass. “Equestria does not need you, but there are many ponies who do.”

Glass climbed up onto the bed and sat looking at Copper. She had a very thoughtful expression on her face and Copper couldn't help but smile at her. “What is it my little Glass?”

She smiled even more and shook her head. “You look more like I imagined you now.”

“Good,” he said softly as he sank into the comfort of the bed. This was a rest that he knew was well deserved. But Luna was right. Equestria may not need him, but there are ponies like Glass who need him.

2: Storytelling

There was a conversation going on, though it was in a politely hushed tone. Copper was unsure of when he had fallen asleep, but as he sat up slowly the conversation seemed to stop. “Ah, Copper.” He looked at the pony who was sitting at the foot of the bed talking with Glass, who was perched at the bottom of the bed.

He swallowed slightly and smiled. “Miss Rarity,” he said softly. “I'm so glad to see you.” She was as lovely as he remembered, though a bit older. But that was what happened to ponies, they got older.

“I'm sorry for waking you,” she said as she moved around the bed to the side. “I was just having a conversation with Princess Glass.”

“It's fine.” In truth it was, he would much rather talk with one of his friends than sleep. “I believe I have you to thank for the beautiful dress Glass is wearing?” Glass fidgeted under Copper's gaze.

Rarity nodded. “Oh yes. Glass is always a joy to work with and design for. I was hoping to catch you while you were still awake, but I couldn't just leave the Gala.”

Copper waved his hoof vaguely and stared at it, remembering that it was no longer metal. “Completely understandable. The Gala is, if it has not changed, the grandest...” He hesitated as he searched for the proper word. “Party in Equestria.”

She seemed to notice the change of leg as well. “Yes it is, but a pony like you takes precedence over something like this.” There was a slight pause. “I had heard that you had to wear some sort of prosthetic?”

“Oh yes, but it's not necessary anymore. At least I hope not, there will be a few days of trial to fully assess whether my leg is healed or not.” With the way she was staring at his leg he held it out to her for closer examination.

“It does not look bad,” she said with a smile. “The way that Twilight described it and from the way it was described in your books I had thought it would be worse.”

A cold sensation ran down his spine. “You have...read the books?”

“Oh yes,” she said with a nod. “We all have. I must say that I found your thoughts on me quite touching.”

He cleared his throat and reached to adjust his bowtie, something he'd found himself doing quite a lot. “Ah-” it was not there. He looked over at the table where his cloak was folded, the bowtie lay atop it.

Rarity looked over at it and the bowtie lifted slowly. “You still have this lovely bowtie...but it seems to have had it quite rough. And the gem has cracked.” Then she spotted the cloak. “Ah, but this...” The cloak lifted as well and unfolded. “This... I have never seen material like this. Where ever did you get it?”

The look she gave him caused him to cough slightly as he turned his attention to the cloak. “I... Well I'm afraid I stole it. Not on purpose,” he added quickly. “I had planned to return it, but...a lot happened all at once and I don't even know how I would return it.” He sighed softly as he reached out and touched the brooch, which was two interlocking gears.

“Well it is quite wonderful, soft but very sturdy...” Her focus was entirely on the cloak.

“I...actually have a plan for it.” She looked at him with a look of longing; he knew she did it on purpose. If she had read the stories on him...if it had gone into any detail, she would know how he felt. But he smiled. “But you may borrow it and see if it is possible to recreate the material.” There was a certain glint in her eyes. “Actually you will be able to help me with it.”

“Oh?” Her head tilted to the side slightly.

“I'll give you the details later, as long as you aren't too busy.”

“My dear Copper, I will always have time for my friends.” There was a certain feeling that Copper got that made him feel like he had missed something. He never voiced how truly thankful he was for his friends in Ponyville, but perhaps the author had somehow gotten that through.

“I'm glad...” he paused as he settled back down. “I'm glad that after all this time, I'm still you're friend.”

“You'll always be our friend, Copper. Time isn't going to change something like that.” He couldn't help but smile as he took a deep breath. “Ah, but I must be going now. I have a train to catch. I just stopped by to see how you were. Celestia stopped everypony from sending letters about you, but she sent one to Twilight. So she'll probably be here sometime today.”

He blinked and his brow furrowed. “Celestia stopped ponies from sending letters?”

Rarity shrugged. “That's what ponies are saying.”

There was a few moments of thought but he nodded slowly. “All right... Well, good day, Miss Rarity. I don't want you to be late for your train.”

She reached out and laid a hoof on his leg. “Try and take it easy, all right? I think you've done enough for anypony.” He did not respond. There was an oddly comfortable silence before she smiled and said, “Sleep well, Copper. Farewell Glass.”

Copper watched as she left and closed the door behind her; he noticed that she also took his bowtie. Glass crawled up and laid down beside him. She had been quiet throughout the conversation and now that he looked at her he could see why. “There is no need for you to stay up.”

Glass rubbed her face and yawned. “Do...I have to go back to my room?”

He chuckled softly and shook his head as he relaxed more. “Of course not.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Good,” she said softly and she struggled out of her dress. He watched as she folded it up gently and then laid it where the cloak had been, before he closed his eyes.

His eyes opened as he felt her wriggle under the blankets and up against him. He watched as she tucked into his side and he couldn't help but smile. “Comfy?” he said softly as he ran his hoof gently over her mane.

She gave a soft grunt in response, which caused him to chuckle. This felt...odd to him. But it was not a bad odd. This was a situation he had not been in before. Here was this little filly; his little filly. He was a father. The more he thought about it, the more he worried about it. He had very little memories of his own father, though the most vivid one was very nice. Something about sitting on a bridge, overlooking a pond. Feeding ducks and talking about flight school...

Copper sighed softly as he relaxed once more before he closed his eyes. He was sad that he missed out on so much of her life, but he was determined to be there for her for as long as she wanted him to be. He wondered if she thought it was odd for him to suddenly be there. She had accepted him so quickly... It was not long before he fell back asleep.

~

His eyes opened slowly at the knock that came at the door. He shifted softly and stopped when he heard a soft grumble. He chuckled softly as he looked at the door. “Come in,” he said, trying to be loud enough to be heard but not to disturb Glass.

The door opened and he was met with the sight of Celestia. “Good afternoon, Copper. How are you feeling?”

“Much better,” he said as he rubbed his face and then held his bare hooves towards the ceiling. “Glad to be free of that metal thing...”

“Then you leg has recovered?” she said as she entered the room, sitting down beside the bed.

“Time will tell. But I know for certain that it does not need something that drastic.” He flexed his leg a bit, looking at it. It would take time to see if it were truly healed.

Celestia nodded slowly and then looked around. “Where is Glass? I would have assumed she would not wish to leave your side.”

“Oh she is here,” he said as he lifted the blankets enough so that Glass was visible. “She was more tired than I it would seem.”

Again she nodded slowly. “She idolized you. She did not believe you would return, but she truly hoped that you would.”

“Where as you knew I would be back,” he said as he gazed at her. She had not changed in the ten years that he had been gone.

“If anypony could, I would believed you could.” She gave him a large smile. “But I really must know...how did you get back?”

“That is the question, isn't it?” he said as he relaxed back into the bed. “It's a very long story.” He glanced at her. “But I'm sure your mysterious author will know all about it.”

She smiled even more and chuckled softly. “Oh so you have been told of the books?”

“Yes. And I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it, honestly. How much of my life was divulged? And more importantly, who wrote them?”

“Well, I can assure you that nothing you did not want put out to the world is in them,” she said, still smiling at him. “Because you wrote them.”

His brow wrinkled as he stared at her. It was a moment before he spoke again. “Some sort of magic, I assume?”

She nodded. “Oh yes. One that is quite old...but it is so that a pony can retell their life. It allows those who are gone a chance to give one last thing to the world.”

He sighed softly and nodded. “That...makes sense...but I don't like it. Now everypony knows my entire life.”

“They only know what you wrote. I made slight adjustments here and there, but it is your life in your own words.”

Copper still wasn't sure. He would have to read the books himself. Whether he wrote it or not wasn't the point. Everypony knew his life, and he did not do a lot of nice things. “It feels like cheating,” he said with a sigh.

She laughed. “You always say that about magic.”

“Because it is.” He looked down at the little lump of blanket that was by his side. “It's cheating your way around things. Magic causes so many problems...”

“But it also does a lot of good,” she said as she looked over to the window, with its curtains drawn. They opened themselves when her horn glowed and Copper flinched at the sudden light. “As you well know.”

He sighed heavily as he closed his eyes. “Yes, I know.” He rubbed his face and sighed again. “But I suppose if it was done by magic so that it was I who wrote them...I guess I feel a bit better about it.”

“Now then.” She folded her hooves on the side of the bed and looked at him expectantly. “How did you get back? If it was a simple matter of using the Shattering again and just coming through, you would have been back immediately.”

“Yeah. But unfortunately...the Shattering is a type of magic and the place I went didn't have any magic.”

“No magic at all?” He looked down at Glass, who's head had just found its way out from under the blanket.

He shook his head and then smiled slightly. “I guess I have a bit of a story to tell...” he said and then sighed.

Celestia smiled slightly before she stood up. “You do not have to tell me now. I will read of it in the next book.”

Copper frowned at her. “I do not like the sound of that.”

“Well, perhaps this time you could write it yourself,” Celestia said with a smile and then took a deep breath, looking outside. “But unfortunately I have duties to attend. I will speak with you two again later. Food will be brought up shortly.”

Copper bowed his head slightly. “Thank you, Celestia. There's much that we need to discuss still, but...it can wait.”

She smiled at him. “We have a lot of time now. Rest well.”

The door closed behind her and Copper looked out the window. “Will you...tell me?”

“Hm?” He looked at Glass, who was sitting beside him now.

“Will you tell me the story? I mean...the only stories I ever get about you are from the books or from what ponies say...”

He looked at her a moment and then smiled. “I don't see why not. You and I are going to be together for a very, very long time now.”

She smiled back at him and nodded vigorously. “Oh yes.”

“Now then...” He shifted a bit to get into more of a sitting position. “Where shall I start...”

~

His eyes snapped open. “Oh good, you're awake, I-”

Shnikt. The magic around his leg shattered and he sliced off her arm. He hit the ground as she screamed and took several steps back. He got back up with slow, deliberate motions. That was what he was fighting for, he had to remember that. He was fighting to save ponies. “Again with the hand...” she grumbled as she flexed her newly grown hand.

Copper looked at where the hand he had cut off had been. It evaporated into black smoke as he stared at it. He was tired and he was still crying. He took a deep breath, as he stared her down. “Raven...Other...it doesn't matter anymore.”

She arched a brow, smirking at him. “Oh? And why is that?”

“It doesn't matter...because the outcome is the same.” He looked up at her and took a deep breath. “It doesn't change the fact that I have to beat you.”

She smirked at him and stood in front of him. “Oh? And you think that you can?”

“Yes.” He buried the blade into her chest once again, gritting his teeth as he did.

“Urk...oh Copper...you think that you can beat me...by just...stabbing me?” She grabbed hold of his arm, but he continued to push. She stared at him as she was forced backwards.

“No.” It had taken all that he could muster, but he had done it. After all, if he had done it once, what was stopping him from doing it again? He rushed forward and tackled her through the rift he had made.

They had gone through and he panted softly as he looked down at the hard dirt under his hooves. He looked back through the large crack in the air at Twilight, Celestia and Chrysalis, all of whom stared at him. He took a deep breath and called out, “I'm sor-” Snap, “-ry.” He stared at the air where the rift had been. He couldn't hold it open.

“So this is your plan?” She flung him away and he skipped across the packed surface. “Pathetic. So you take me away from them? That will not save them. I can just go back.” Madam Raven straightened up. “Do you even know where we are, dear Copper?”

Copper looked around. The ground was dried and cracked in all directions, the sky seemed to burn red and something blocked out the sun, making everything seem much darker than it should be but at the same time it was bright. There was nothing around except for a dead tree on top of a hill. “I don't,” he said as he got up and dusted himself off. “But it doesn't matter.”

“Oh Copper... How foolish of you. You drag me somewhere you have no knowledge of.” Her slimy black tongue ran over her beak. “I have already won here.”

“Doesn't matter,” he said as he adjusted his bowtie slightly.

“Doesn't matter? Do you even know what that means? This world is as good as dead, and I-” she stopped and the gloating face she was making quickly melted away.

Copper smirked. “Oh? Just realized?”

“No...” she said as her claws dug into the ground.

“Oh yes. I don't know all the rules to your petty little game, but I know this one.” He smirked a bit more. “And you went through first. That means you forfeit that world. I win.”

“No!” Magic shattered as Copper threw up his hoof.  Again and again she lashed out, each spell shattering in turn. The time he had spent practicing had more than prepared him. Her magic was already weaker and was getting weaker with each spell she threw. Eventually she stopped, collapsing onto the ground and breathing heavily. “Damn it...”

Copper stood a few hooves away from her, staring her down. “You've lost, Raven.”

She chuckled softly. “Utterly. The Other has already abandoned me...I really should learn to not play with my food...”

“You wont have the chance to make that mistake again,” Copper said as he walked towards her.

There was a smirk on her face. “You may have saved that world, but you've doomed us both...this world is going to die. Surely you can feel it with your new power? There is no magic here...and we have burned up all that came with us.”

“As I said, it doesn't matter. The Other, and you, can't do anymore harm to anypony.” Copper was watching her closely and could practically watch her whither away.

He found it annoying that she could still smirk at him. “But what will you do now, Copper?” Her tongue ran over her beak. “Butcher me? Torture me? Make me feel for my crimes? Feast upon my corpse for sustenance in this barren world? Oh what poetic justice that would be...”

“No.”

She sat up and laughed. “Oh Copper. Even now you play the good little pony. So you'll just leave me? After the atrocities that I've committed. The hundreds upon thousands I have butchered and devoured...” She took a deep breath. “Oh but I would much prefer my end to be like that. Come on, Copper... You know you want to. You want to slice me to pieces, hack off my limbs. Butcher me. I was going to do the same to you...and to your little Queen...and every single pony. But no. You stand there with your self righteousness and think so highly of yourself. Or are you just going to sit there and allow me to feast on you? Allow yourself to die another pathetic death while all your loved ones- gluck!”

“No.” He watched as she clutched her throat. “I'm going to slit your throat and watch as you bleed out.” The blade retracted with a shink.

All he got was a gurgle in response.

“Put pressure on it. I want you to hear as much of this as possible.” He sat down in front of her, watching as the blood pooled around her. “The world, any world, would be better without something like you. A monster.” There was a chill down his spine and he felt as though something was standing behind him. “But you are going to die, Raven. And not quickly. You've got a lot to answer for.” Her eyes were wide as she stared past him. “I only hope that the death of this world is as cruel as the one in ours. You deserve to suffer, but it wont be me who torments you. It will be your own life that does that. Your actions. We all pay for what we have done when it comes to an end.” Her eyes seemed to find him. For the first time that Copper had ever seen her, she looked terrified. “I will not even try to imagine what awaits you wherever you're going. I'm sure nothing I could think of could come close.”

She gurgled and spluttered as she tried to breath. Her blood looked like oil, pooling around her body as she tried to do anything.

Copper sat and stared, watching as the light slowly went from her eyes and the gurgling and twitching stopped. Then he stood and turned to the side. Shnikt. He tested the ground with the blade, the ground was quite solid. He took a deep breath as he plunged the dagger into the ground and began cutting chunks from ground and tossing it to the side. It was rough work, but he needed time to think and it was something to do to keep himself busy. It was an hour before he was satisfied with the hole and shoved the lifeless body into it. The dagger retracted and he stared at the body in the hole. He felt like he should say something. Even if he hated her, he still felt like he should say something. “Stay there and rot.” Of course, it didn't have to be something nice.

He began covering the corpse with dirt. “What is it doing?” He froze and turned back.

There were three figures standing not terribly far away, all of them pony shaped. “I believe he is burying the bird thing.”

“Hello?” Copper said as he watched the three of them.

“Why would he do that? We could probably eat the bird...”

He couldn't tell who was speaking, but he went back to pushing dirt into the hole. “You do not want to eat this thing.”

“What is it though? It is...oddly shaped as us.”

Copper was eventually satisfied that the body had been buried. “What do we do with it?”

He turned to look at the three who had gotten closer and now that they had he realized that they were Nightguard bat ponies. Copper cleared his throat. “What exactly is going on?” Copper said, starting to get a little frustrated now.

“Can we eat it?”

Shink. “All right. It's one thing to ignore me, but there is no way in Tartarus that I am going to tolerate talk of me being eaten.” All three of the ponies scrambled quickly away from him.

~

There was a knock at the door and Copper stared at it a moment. Glass had not even noticed, far too wrapped in his story. “Come in,” he said and she blinked, looking back at the door as it opened.

“Hello, Copper.” Twilight looked just as he remembered her, though taller.

He smiled as he sat up once again; he had laid down during his storytelling. “You made good time.”

“Yes.” She smiled as she walked up to the side of the bed, giving Glass a smile as well. “Hello, Glass. I hope you studies are going well?”

Glass groaned and pulled the blanket over her head.

Copper laughed and gave her a soft pat. “I'm surprised you weren't at the Gala. Honestly I'm surprised everypony wasn't at the Gala.”

“Well...usually I am there, but it's the same thing every year. Pinkie threw a Not at the Gala Party, which was much more fun.”

He chuckled softly. “Figures the year I show up everypony's off at a better party.”

“The only one who actually went was Rarity, but she's sort of obligated to go. She has a lot of important clients and they all go to the Gala and expect her to be there,” Twilight said as she took a good look at him. “You look just the same.”

Again he laughed. “Yeah. Beat up and sour.”

“That's not what I meant,” she said with a chuckle.

“I know.” His expression slowly melted into a frown as he looked down at Glass. “It was only two years for me... I've missed out on so much...” He pet Glass softly and she looked up at him with her head tilted to the side. “Too much.”

“But you're here now,” Glass said with a smile.

“Two years...well that would explain why you don't look any older...but how does that work?” She had on a familiar expression, the one she adopted whenever she was thinking.

“Time travel, to be as simple as possible. Courtesy of the Doctor.” Her expression didn't change. “You would have to ask him about it, because I'm not allowed to.”

“Well, if I ever see him I'll have to talk to him. But...It's so good to see you. When you went through that thing...”

“I thought of it as a rift...” he said, nodding.

“Yes well, you went through the rift...and then it shut and none of us knew what happened.” She sat there for a moment, simply looking at him and he could think of nothing to say. “It took a while to realize that you weren't coming back.”

Again he nodded and sighed. “I know. I...I'm probably going to say it a lot, but I thought I could make it back. I don't know what everypony felt like, but to me I...I felt like I abandoned everypony.”

“That's not fair,” Glass said as she moved closer to him, leaning against him. “There were many different factors that you couldn't possible have known.”

He chuckled softly as she pet her again. “Yes that's true. How are things in Ponyville?”

“Oh it's very good. Though I don't often get to go there myself. I've been in Fraud Valley a lot.” She did her best to avoid looking at him and assumed what he would ask. “It's...bad. The magic was very dark and it wasn't just let to sit. Over the thousand years it wasn't just left to fester, somepony kept pumping it with dark magic.”

“Courtesy of Raven I suppose...” He sighed heavily, closing his eyes.

There was a moment of hesitation before Twilight asked, “What happened to Madam Raven?”

Copper hesitated as well. “I-”

“He killed her,” Glass cut him off. Twilight stared at her and then looked over at Copper. “He slit her throat and watched her die.”

“Then I buried her,” Copper added, as if that would make everything better.

“You...killed her? Just like that?” Twilight said slowly.

He sighed and nodded. “Yes. And I don't feel any remorse about it. I honestly thought I would, but as she was laying there bleeding out...I didn't feel anything. I didn't feel happy, I didn't feel sad. It was just...something that had to be done.”

Twilight glanced at Glass. “I'm not sure if this is appropriate to talk about in front of a filly.”

“Well...” Copper adjusted a bit. “If what Celestia told me about the books is true and the author is who she said it is...I'm sure there's no need to censor myself, as Glass has read them all.”

“Celestia...told you who the author was?” Twilight was staring at him, and then suddenly she moved closer to him, staring at him. “Who is it? No one but her knows and she has refused to tell anypony.” It seems that the subject of him murdering Raven was being shelved for a more important matter: Books.

“Yes...she...did... I was not aware that it was supposed to be some big secret.” His brow furrowed slightly as he tried to think why she would hide it.

“Oh yes. It's been a rather big mystery. A lot of ponies have spent years trying to figure it out, comparing other writers and such,” Twilight said in her usual tone of excitement when she was talking about books. It was a comforting familiarity.

“Very interesting...” She was giving him an oddly pleading look. Apparently she was among the ponies who had tried to figure it out. He was debating on whether to tell her, or to keep her in the dark, but that seemed cruel. She obviously cared quite a lot about it from the way she was looking at him and fidgeting. “Well, according to Celestia, I'm the author.” Twilight blinked at him. “She used some sort of magic to have the book written as though I were writing it.”

“I think I've read about that spell, but it's supposed to be very difficult,” she said as she adorned a thoughtful look. “I mean, it makes a lot of sense. I always thought the author had a bit too much insight into your inner thoughts.”

Copper chuckled softly. “Yes well, I don't know how accurate it is, but if I did write it, I would not have sugar coated it that much.” Saying sugar reminded him that he was hungry.

“Yeah...there were some parts that were pretty brutal,” Glass said, looking up at Copper with concern.

He shrugged. “Such is my life.”

“I was quite surprised at some of the things that you'd done,” Twilight said, she was also looking at him with the same expression as Glass. “I knew you had had it rough, but...I don't know if most ponies would be able to function after some of the things you went through.”

Again he shrugged. “Wasn't there a pony with food supposed to be coming?” He decided it was time for a subject change.

Glass nodded. “Celestia said that she would send somepony up.”

“Seems they are late,” Copper said with a slight frown. “Not that I can't go longer without eating, but I'd prefer not to.”

“I could go and check?” Glass said as she was already jumping from the bed and trotting to the door.

Copper chuckled softly. “Will you be eating with us, Twilight?”

“Of course she is,” Glass said as she rushed out the door.

She smiled and nodded. “Yes, I think I will. I kind of dropped everything to come when I got Celestia's letter. Thankfully I had been in Ponyville at Pinkie's party, otherwise it would have taken me a lot longer to get here. I...it was quite a shock. Especially how she said not to tell anypony...”

Again he had to frown and wonder why Celestia would do that. Why would she tell everypony to not say anything? “That's odd.”

“I think she doesn't want people to flood you too soon. You're...quite a celebrity.” His brow furrowed again. “Well I mean, you're famous, Copper, and your books are very popular. Ponies sometimes go on journey's, following the path you took. I thought about doing it myself...”

“A celebrity... Well, I suppose it's not too much of a surprise to be honest. It was sort of happening before I left. It was like everypony suddenly knew who I was.” He rubbed his face and then looked at his bare hoof.

Twilight looked at it, she had refrained from commenting on it yet. “Is your leg better?”

“Not sure yet. I've yet to really be...up and about since removing the leg. But it feels so good...” He twisted and turned it, examining it.

She smiled slightly. “That's good. I'm glad that the damage wasn't permanent.”

“Yeah...” He fell into silence as they both looked at his leg. “What did you think of the books?” he said after a few moments. “I'm curious.”

“They're quite enjoyable. When you come back to Ponyville I'll let you borrow the series.” She smiled at him.

He nodded with a smile. “That sounds like a good idea, I'd really like to figure out what I wrote about myself,” he said with a chuckle. He tried to think a moment on what would have changed. “What did I write about Ponyville?”

“Uhm. Well, you wrote a bit about when you first came to Ponyville and the first few days but you skipped the few months after. It was interesting reading things from your point of view, especially parts where I was there. The fight with Sombra was...”

“Heartbreaking,” he said with a sigh.

She nodded slightly. “I cannot tell you how glad I am that you went through so much to make sure that Princess Celestia would survive. When I started reading about you bringing Pop Pots into it...I started to have my doubts...”

He nodded slowly and stared down at the blanket a moment. “I don't like that I used Pots as just a distraction. I wanted to test what power it had and what it would do. I...I would have been devastated if he had succeeded.”

“It could have been so much worse.”

Again he nodded and then sighed. “But Pots knew that I was using him. He just wanted to take a shot at her. I...” He paused a moment and took a deep breath. “I am sure that Pots is quite content wherever he is.”

There was a moment where Twilight stared at him and then looked away. “Uhm...” She shifted slightly. “I know Pots was your friend, but he was still a very bad guy. He killed a lot of ponies.”

Copper blinked and tilted his head slightly. “I am aware of that. But he's still a good pony when it came down to it. Just a poor career choice.”

Twilight frowned and continued to not look at him. “I don't know how to tell you...” she said softly.

His mind began to run on full blast for a moment and he sunk into the bed. He knew that look, that expression that she had on her face. An expression when a pony has very bad news, but doesn't want to tell. But Copper knew, part of him knew. “He's dead...isn't he?” She hesitated a moment and then nodded. “How?”

“Corser killed him.”

3: The Last Request of Pop Pots

Corser stood quietly, watching the cleanup crew with his good eye. The Gala was always such a pain to organize security for, and he was glad that it was over. Now things would get back to normal for a while. Except that he knew they wouldn't. Not now. Not with this recent news. “And you are sure it's him?” he said softly.

“There is no doubt,” Princess Luna said, she was standing behind him, off to the side. “If it is not, he would be the most convincing impersonator in history to have him down to such an extent. But I am sure. And Celestia is sure. Even Chestnut seemed convinced. I do not think there is anything to worry about.”

“My concern is not if it is him or not, but the fact he simply waltzed into the main room, without a single guard spotting him before he was that close.” He ground his hoof into the carpet. “There hasn't been a breach of security like this since...” He sighed, closing his eyes.

“It is all right my dear. It is Copper Feather we are talking of. I am sure that nopony would have been able to stop him even if they did see him.” She placed a hoof upon his shoulder. There was silence as he focus on watching the cleanup crew, and figure out who he was going to chew out for this breach. “Will you not go and speak with him?”

“There is nothing I have to say to him, and he knows that. I am glad that that he is back, but there is work to be done.” He winced and sat down as pain shot through what remained of his leg.

Luna moved to his side. “Is it time for another healing session?”

“You would think after six years the pain would go away...” He took a deep breath and stood up again. “I have to finish my rounds, file my reports and find the one who was responsible for the garden doors.”

“Your health takes precedence over these affairs,” Luna's tone was quite stern. “And once we are done, you are going to speak with Copper. I know you are worried about him, and I know you want to make sure it is him for yourself.”

~

“That would explain why he has not been to see me yet...” Copper said, staring at the opposite wall. Corser had killed Pots... So many questions buzzed through his mind. He knew that Corser never liked that Pots was his friend, but he tolerated it. It was hard to believe that Corser was capable of murder like that. To simply kill him. “How long ago?”

“Uhm...I think its been about six years now...” Twilight said, having trouble looking at him now.

“I will have to find out what exactly happened when I see him.” He wasn't about to pressure Twilight into telling him and she was obviously relieved that he wasn't going to question her. “I'll go and find him after we eat.”

“Are you well enough to be up and about?” He felt glad that she was concerned for him. He knew that he probably didn't look in very good shape, but he felt fantastic.

He smiled at her and nodded. “I'm fine. I've gotten enough rest to get up, though I don't think I'll be fit for travel for a few days. But that's not important. It's not like there's any sort of rush.”

The door opened once again to show Glass and a pony behind her that Copper didn't recognize, but guessed he must be the one delivering the food judging from the cart. “Terribly sorry for the delay,” the pony said as he stared at Copper and Glass leaped up onto the bed. “I'm afraid that our food stores were drained for the gala and I was down in receiving awaiting delivery when-”

Copper held up his hoof. “It's all right,” he said with a smile. “There's no need to explain yourself. I understand how difficult the situation is.” He could see the pony was obviously shaken by who he had just walked in on. Apparently news of his return was moving sluggishly even inside Canterlot.

The pony nodded and pushed the cart inside. “We only have scraps from last night, unfortunately.”

Scraps. This amazing assortment of food that Copper could only imagine in his wildest dreams, was being called scraps. Food better than anything he had had in the last two years. He didn't even answer as he began eating, slowly. He knew to pace himself. He had been living off what ponies would call garbage, and worse. It was not the first time he'd made this sort of transition, but he hoped that it would be the last. Glass was watching him as he ate and he couldn't help but smile. “Eat,” he said as he gestured to the food. “I know you're hungry, too.”

She nodded quickly and began eating as well. She had the appetite of a changeling as well. Twilight cleared her throat and Glass froze a moment, gave a little cough as she composed herself, and then began to eat much more like he had seen Chrysalis eat on occasion. “Goodday, Copper,” the serving pony said as he scooted towards the door.

“Celestia is asking ponies to keep quiet about my return.” The pony froze at Copper's words. “Now I don't care, but just keep that in mind through your day, okay?”

“Y-yes,” the pony said as he practically ran from the room. Copper stared at the door as he absentmindedly ate.

“You'll probably get that a lot,” Twilight said. She was barely eating, more so nibbling. “I remember what ponies used to say about you before the books came out...a lot of the rumors paled in comparison to the truth.”

He turned his stare down to the food in front of him. “I did a lot of things I'm not very proud of.”

“Ponies thought you were a villain. A bad pony,” Glass said as she shifted into a more relaxed position and continued eating.

Copper sighed. “I suppose I was the bad guy quite often. I'm sure a lot of ponies will want me to pay for the crimes I've committed.” He had suddenly lost his appetite and simply pushed the food around a moment.

“But you were just following orders,” Twilight said with a smile.

He nodded and forced himself to eat. He knew he had to eat. His body needed the energy. “It's not your fault they were King Sombra's.”

“Sombra,” Glass said with a frown. “He is not a king.”

Copper laughed quite hard. It took a moment for him to calm down enough to talk. “Now you're stealing the words from my mouth, little Glass.” He ran his hoof over her mane and she gave him a large smile.

“Yes well...I don't want to refer to him any other way...” she said as she stared down at the food in front of her.

“Was it written in the book?” Copper asked after a moment of eating.

“Hm?” They both looked at him. “Was what written?” Glass asked.

“About Sombre. Who he was.”

Twilight nodded slowly. “Yes...Sombra Starswirl...” she muttered. “It was...it seemed impossible. Inconceivable. But that was before I learned the power of the crystals...”

Copper sat up slightly. He knew that if anypony would figure them out it would have been Twilight. “So you learned about them? You figured them out?”

“Sort of,” she said. “They amplify magic, indefinitely if used perfectly. But not even Ki- Sombra could figure out how to perfect crystal magic. In ten years I don't even think I'm at his level of control. But it's a slippery slope...one little twist and it burns you. It burns you in the way that he was burned. Something in your head twists...”

“I'm sure the Other didn't help matters,” Copper said as he gave Twilight a smile. “Sombra Starswirl was a great pony, there's no changing that.”

She sighed and nodded. “Yes, but now I cannot help thinking of all the wrongs that he did late in his life...the atrocities he committed.”

“That's something he and I share, I suppose,” he said before taking a bite of a sandwich. There were quite a lot of them. “Though my atrocities were committed throughout my life.”

Glass gave him a slight shove. “You can't think like that.” He looked down at her and smiled. “You're a great pony. Greater than Sombra Starswirl.”

He chuckled softly and ruffled her mane. “I don't think I'll ever be that great. But thanks.”

“I dunno, Copper. She has a point. You did some pretty amazing stuff. Without you, seaponies would have gone extinct. There would have been several wars. Equestria would have become some sort of...war center. And the Other would have eventually destroyed everything.”

He shook his head. “If I didn't do it, some other pony would have.”

“But they didn't,” Glass said as she placed a hoof onto his leg. Mostly to keep him from ruffling her mane again. “You did.”

“She's right,” Twilight said with a smile. “You've done a lot of good.”

“And a lot of bad,” Glass added and smiled, though her smile faded when Twilight shot her a look. “Sorry.”

Copper chuckled softly before finishing the sandwich. He felt...full. He actually felt full. He couldn't remember a time in these last two years where he had not been hungry. He laid back with a content sigh and closed his eyes. “It is good to be back. Back where things make sense.”

“Where did you go?” Twilight asked.

“Lots of places. A different dimension and then a few places in time... I may take up Celestia's suggestion of writing a book.”

“But you have to tell me first,” Glass said as she prodded him with her hoof. “There's no way I'm waiting for a book.”

He chuckled softly and nodded. “Yes yes. We'll make a habit of it.” He gave her a wide smile. “It'll make a good storytime,” he said as he shifted and got up. “But right now...I think I need a bit of exerciser. Can't lay around all day.”

“Yes you could,” Glass said with a look of hopefulness.

“No, I need to be up and about.” He stretched and stepped down off the bed. His leg didn't buckle and he was quite glad of that; it could actually hold his weight.

Glass suddenly jumped up and leaped off the bed. “Okay! I know exactly where to go. C'mon!”

Copper blinked and chuckled, looking over at Twilight. “Are you going to come along?”

She shook her head, smiling. “No, thank you. I need to go and speak with Celestia. And I believe I have an idea of what Glass wants to show you.”

His brow furrowed as he took a few steps after Glass. “All right... I will...I will see you around the castle I suppose.”

She waved to him as he exited the room. Glass was practically bouncing in place. “C'mon c'mon c'mon!”

He chuckled softly as he followed her. “Where are we going?”

She grinned at him as she pushed the button for the lift several times. “You'll see. You'll see. I know you'll like it.”

His brow furrowed again as he watched her. She seemed to vibrate on the spot. He wondered where she had gotten this from. This boundless energy and silliness. It seemed almost...Pinkie Pie. Perhaps she had spent a lot of time with her. He was sure that they all would have taken part in raising Glass. “I suppose I will, since you know so much about me.”

The lift came to a stop and the doors opened. Copper now took a good look at it as he walked in. It used to be mostly mechanical with magic to assist, but now it was fully a machine. “Fascinating... So there have been some technological advancements in my absence.”

Glass blinked and then looked from him to the lift and then back at him. “I guess? I don't know...it's always been like this as far as I can remember.”

The doors closed. “But it's all automated now...you used to need magic to assist some of it. The door and actual things that stopped the lift on the proper floor used to require input, but now...” He watched as she hit a button on the control panel and moved to examine it. “I can't wait to see what sort of things that have been made...”

“I know that you're designs were used well. There's even a museum,” she was still grinning.

“Huh...well we'll have to go and visit that then. Where is it?”

“It's in Ponyville. I've never been outside Canterlot before.”

He looked at her a moment. “Never? You've not seen Ponyville? Or...” She shook her head. “So you've been in Canterlot, for ten years?”

“Well, when I was really little I'm told I was in Freud Valley...that's where I was born. My mother made sure of that.” She moved towards him and leaned against him. “You were not born in Equestria, right? The books never said it but...Celestia mentioned it.”

He smiled slightly and shook his head. “Oh no. I wasn't. I was born down in the Badlands. But then my parents went back to Equestria. And they were from here.”

Her brow wrinkled for a moment. “Why were they in the Badlands?”

There was a moment of silence followed by a sigh. “I don't know...my mother never made it back. And my father died before I even started flight school. Though I haven't been concerned with it for a very long time.”

She tilted her head to the side. “How come?”

The lift came to a stop and the doors opened. He gave her a smile. “An old zebra once told me, doesn't matter where you come from, it's all about what you do.”

He followed her out, her face thoughtful. “That's from the first book. You skipped over most of Zebrica...so that's what he was referencing?”

“I was determined to find out what happened to them and why. That zebra changed my way of thinking and shaped who I was...”

“There's a lot of mystery around that time...I think Celestia cut out most of it...”

He nodded. “Yes...I'm sure she cut out quite a lot of things.” It took Copper a moment to realize where they were going.

“There!” She pointed her hoof upwards.

She had distracted him so that he wouldn't know where they were going. She had skills with words. But what she pointed at left him speechless. They were in the hall of glass windows and this one made his eyes water. The large stained glass window showed a gray-blue pony with Copper hair, lifting the sun with a brass colored arm. Colors swirled around him. A shiver ran down his spine. “It...”

He felt her lean against him. “This is how somepony should be remembered, right?”

Copper put his leg around her. “Yes...this is how somepony should be remembered. Again your taking the words out of my mouth.”

“It's a lot more abstract then literal, if you ask me,” a voice said off behind Copper.

He knew Corser's voice anywhere. It hadn't changed at all, but when he turned to look at the pony coming towards him, there were very large differences. “Corser...” There was a large cut from his left eye, crossing the bridge between his eyes and marking the other side, the eye itself seemed slightly milky in color. But that was little compared to the wooden peg that made up half his left leg. “What...”

“I've your friend Pop Pots to thank for this,” Corser said as he sat down.

~

It wasn't raining, but the dark clouds overhead showed signs that that would change soon. The castle shook after another explosion rang out in the courtyard. “Damn guid burst,” Pop Pots spluttered.

Corser was out of breath, heaving as he limped towards Pots. He had to keep his left eye closed to keep the blood out. He wasn't sure what lashed him in that last blast, but he knew it did damage. “It's over Pots,” he panted.

“Aye. It's ower.” His horn was gone, blown clear from his head. Corser had been aiming to kill him with that, but he had to give it to the blasted pony, he was quick.

Was. He wouldn't be going anywhere without his right side. Pots may have taken his leg and eye in that last exchange, but Corser hit him better. “Damn it Pots...why did you come back?”

“'At woods ruin th' fin,” he said with a blood splattering laugh. “But Ah hud tae see whit Ah coods dae against th' great Corser, an' Ah hink Ah did bonnie weel.” It was obvious that talking pained him, but he kept talking.

“You should have stayed hidden away,” Corser said, glaring down at him. “I wouldn't have had to kill you.”

“Nae.” His eyes closed. “Ah hae tae die. It's aw ower.” There was a moment of silence, in which Corser was almost sure he had died. But then his voice rang out, his eyes looking at Corser, “When Copper gits back...teel heem aam sorry Ah didne gie tae say cheerio th' noo, but Ah cooldnae wait anymair.”

“Couldn't wait anymore? Why couldn't you wait?” Corser said, his gaze becoming more confused than angry.

But Pots shook his head slightly, giving him a grin. “Ah was hopin' 'at Copper coods be th' a body tae dae me in... Dae it.”

One last explosion rang out.

~

When. Corser was positive that Pots had said when Copper gets back. Not if. For Copper, that meant a lot. He had been sure he would come back. “He asked for it, Copper.” Corser looked up at the glass window. “He knew I would kill him. He fully expected to die.”

“And he knew you would do it,” he said softly and sighed. “Damn...”

“Why would he do that, Copper?” Corser actually looked upset. “Why would he come at me wanting to die? You knew Pots, why would he want to end it? He hadn't killed anyone since the Burrasca incident...” Copper's brow furrowed, but rather than ask he waited for Corser to explain. Corser picked up on the look and continued, “Gilda took down Burrasca. A couple months after you left.”

“Good,” Copper said. He was looking at Corser. He could not remember seeing Corser this distraught. “But...I...I wish I could give an answer. I guess Gilda knew Pots better than me. Hopefully she would have an answer...”

“She's not left Griflon since taking out Burrasca, and no one knows where exactly she is,” Corser said as he closed his eyes. “I had never killed anyone personally like that Copper.”

“I know.”

“And...and he came at me. He wanted a fight to the death. He appeared out of nowhere, Copper, and asked that I fight him. Asked that I kill him.” Corser was shaking slightly, staring at Copper. “I am so sorry...”

Copper looked at Corser for a moment and then looked up at the glass window. “I didn't know Pots as well as I wish that I did. Yeah he was a murderer...but he still considered me a friend. A good friend.” He sighed and looked down at Glass, who was looking up at him. “But you're a good friend too, Corser. He wanted death and you gave it to him, and we may never know why...”

“Maybe he was done killing? He did a lot of damage and probably had a lot of regrets,” Glass decided that she needed to voice her thoughts.

“Perhaps,” Copper said with a slight smile. “But I think that Corser did the right thing. If he wanted to die, then it would be the right choice to give him the death he wanted.”

Corser frowned as he regained his composure. “Well I wish that his death had been a little less demanding of me.”

Copper chuckled softly. “Yes well I'm sure that he didn't think he could do that much damage to you.”

“Yeah, right.” Corser took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I see your leg has recovered.”

“Ah, yes.” Copper looked down at his own leg, having forgotten about it. “It seems it's recovered quite well. But I'm guessing your interest is less so in my well being and more so in the possibility of a new leg.”

There was a slight smirk on Corser's face. “Well I am concerned, but if you are quite sure you are capable of such a thing I would appreciate it.”

Copper chuckled softly and nods slightly. “I can work something out. I'll draw up some designs when I get the chance.”

Corser nodded and took another deep breath. “Good. But in the meantime, now that this whole mess is sorted out, I have to get back to work.”

“All right. We will be around.”

He looked at Copper for several seconds longer. “I'd ask how you slipped past security, but I'm sure only you could do it.”

Copper thought a moment and then nodded. “I'm fairly certain that no one of threat could pull it off. They would need the Doctor's help.”

“Ah yes...that odd pony. Nopony's seen him at all,” Corser said as he left.

“That's like him,” Copper said with a sigh and looked back up at the glass. It was beautiful. If only it was about some other pony.

“Why is the Doctor so elusive?” Glass asked, looking up at the window with him.

“I don't know. There's a lot about the Doctor that I couldn't even begin to comprehend.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Shall I continue the story while we have some time?”

She nodded excitedly.

~

The bat ponies scattered, trying to hide behind each other several times before they managed to get over a hill. After several moments the blade retracted. He had made his point. “Now then. Are we going to play nice?”

He saw the top of one of their heads a moment before it retracted and there was rushed whispering, none of which he could make out.

Copper hesitated a moment before he began heading up the hill after them. “I'm coming over there. I'm not going to hurt you as long as you don't try and hurt me.”

“We must go to the Priest,” one of the ponies said. “The Priest will know what to do.”

“But the Priest will be unhappy. He is an outsider.”

“He has something sharp and shiny. We have to go to the Priest.”

“Who is this Priest?” Copper asked, standing on top of the hill and looking down at them. They were laying down and huddled up.

“The Priest is our leader,” the middle one said as he stood up. The other two did as well. “He is our strength. He is our courage. He is the conduit of our lord. We shall take you to the Priest.”

Copper frowned slightly. “All right.” His mind was wandering as they walked. He wondered what sort of pony this Priest was. If it was even a pony. It made him think of Celestia. Some referred to her as a god in some lands and he knew the seaponies thought of alicorns as god like beings.

It took almost two hours, as far as Copper could tell, to reach what Copper thought of as a citadel. From a distance it looked amazing, a shining utopia amongst a vast and barren land. But the closer they got, the more horrid it looked. Buildings were crumbling and the streets were littered with trash and rubble. They were walking through the empty town to the massive structure in the center.

Then suddenly there were bat ponies everywhere, watching from doorways and windows. There were no doors and their were no windows. The entire city was silent except for the clinking of Copper's leg on the busted cobblestone road.

Then the whispering started and the crowd began. They seemed to flow from the cracks in the buildings and crawl out from under rubble. Copper had seen desolate cities that were just a step up from ruins, but these were ruins filled with ponies. And they all watched Copper and whispered to each other.

They approached the massive structure in the center and he realized that it was not a castle as he was expecting. It was a cathedral. Large glass windows with grand portraits stained into them, spires that stretched taller than any other building in the city and a great courtyard full of bat ponies.

Copper wished he had his cloak to hide under. Hide from the hungry eyes of these bat ponies. He was glad to enter through the large heavy doors, which were open. Then he saw something that he had never seen before. At the end of the long room, atop a large pedestal, stood a pure white bat pony. He would have mistook it as a statue if it were not speaking to a pony standing on a lower wooden platform that reminded Copper of a gallows. “You are sure of it?” The white bat pony was saying.

“Yes, oh great Priest. They have been quelled and harvested,” the pony on the lower platform said.

“Good. Move onto the...next...” The Priest had spotted Copper. “What is this?” He stood straight. The bat pony practically leaped from the platform and Copper saw that he was being lead there.

“We have found this in the desert. It was fighting a bird thing. With magic.” The whispering stopped. “It killed the bird with a shiny sharp thing and buried it.”

The bat ponies stopped, but Copper kept walking, up onto the lower platform, stopping where the other bat pony had been. He stared up at the Priest. “My name is Copper Feather. Are you the Priest?”

~

Doors at the end of the hall burst open and Copper instinctively pulled Glass behind him. But the sight he was met with made his heart melt. There, moving towards him, was probably the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. “My Queen,” he said softly.

He expected to be struck. He expected to be shoved. Yelled at. Berated. But instead, he was embraced. He closed his eyes as he returned the gesture. Now it truly felt as though he was back. She was shaking, at the point of sobbing. He could feel the tears hit his back. “You truly are back.”

“Yes. I'm back. I'm here.” It was a moment that he had longed for. A moment that had dreamed of for as long as he could remember.

But the moment only lasted so long, before she withdrew and struck him across the face; he hit the floor rather hard. “How dare you leave me for ten years.”

He got up slowly, rubbing his jaw. “Yeah well you can blame the Doctor for it taking so damn long. He was the one who dropped me off ten years after I left.”

“Like I'll accept that as an excuse. I had spent a lot of time planning that stupid wedding, and you up and vanish before we could even schedule a date, or a place!” She struck him again, though this time not hard enough to knock him off his hooves. “I cannot believe you would do that to me. Me.” She placed her hoof across her chest. “And you!” Glass shifted behind Copper slightly as Chrysalis's hoof jabbed in her direction. “You just cling to his side without hesitation?”

“Don't worry, Glass,” Copper said with a smile. “She's not actually mad. She's just acting like it cus she's frustrated.” Chrysalis's nose scrunched. “It's something that she does when she doesn't like a situation. She's jealous that you've gotten to spend more time with me so far, than her.”

“Am not,” Chrysalis retorted and turned away, stopping when she saw the stained glass.

“You really know mother that well, don't you?” Glass said as she smiled up at Copper.

He looked at Chrysalis a moment and took a deep breath. “It wasn't that difficult. She's not as good an actor as she thinks,” Copper said, which was greeted by a huff from Chrysalis. But it was the glance that he got that confirmed it for him. “But that is how it is when you truly love somepony.” He smiled down at Glass. “You learn everything about them. The good and the bad.”

Glass was smiling up at him. “Good. That means you can finally get married!”

Copper laughed as Chrysalis made a sort of snorting noise. “As if I would marry someone who would leave me with a child,” Chrysalis said as she finished turning around.

He couldn't help but smile. “Ah, I see I must win your heart once again, hm?”

“Win?” she scoffed. “As if you had it in the first place.”

“Oh?” He had missed this. This playful runaround that he received from her. “Well, how disappointing. I remember you being ecstatic about the possibility of marriage to me.”

“As if I would be excited about anything having to do with such a tactless pony.” Copper could hear her fighting off a smile in her voice. “And don't even get me started about those blasted books. Painting me in such a pleasant light. Honestly, where does that writer get off on talking about me in such a manner?”

“Oh I believe I wrote it exactly the way it was.” Two could play at the runaround.

He could see the hesitation in her posture as her mind put two and two together. “You wrote them?”

“Sort of. According to Celestia, she used a spell to have it written as though I did.” He could feel her annoyance. “It seems that everyone has read the books, except me. And I wrote them.” He sighed softly and looked up at the stained glass window.

Silence fell over them. For Copper it was a comfortable silence. He felt like everything was back in the range of his understanding. That everything was going to be fine. “Did Chestnut come back with you, mother?”

Chrysalis turned and looked down at Glass. Copper wasn't sure if Glass could recognize the gentleness in her expression. “She has taken over for me in my absence. I...had to confirm her report for myself.”

“You owe her an apology,” Copper said with a smile.

She frowned at him. “Yes. I suppose I do. I'll do that the next time I see her.” She was laying on the sarcasm very thick.

“And when shall that be?” He was looking her. “Will you be leaving us so soon, now that you are convinced that I have returned?”

Again there was hesitation in her posture and expression as she quickly searched for an appropriate excuse. “Surely not,” she said with a slight smirk. “How could I possibly leave my daughter with a stranger?”

Copper's smile faltered and he turned away, looking at the glass window again. “Yeah...a stranger.” That had hurt more than Chrysalis probably meant it to, or so he hoped.

Glass leaned into him. “You are no stranger to me,” Glass said up at him. “I know more things about you than I do anypony else.”

Chrysalis huffed as she moved up beside him. It was subtle, but Copper knew that she felt bad for what she had said, even if it was just the littlest of bits.

He smiled slightly and ran his hoof over her mane. “Yes...to me, you are the stranger.”

4: Sentences and a Trial

Copper watched as Glass trotted off down the hallway. She was a good little filly and quite bright. He guessed she knew exactly why he asked her to find somepony to get them some food; he wanted to converse alone with Chrysalis. She was exactly how he remembered her and he remembered her quite well. He had spent many a days wondering if he'd ever see her again, or if she would simply move on without him. “Must you stare at me?” she said with a slight glance at him.

“I cannot help it.” Copper waved a hoof vaguely in the air. “I know compared to ten years, two is nothing. A fifth of the time...I can't imagine what it was like for those who cared about me.”

“Quite easy I imagine.”

He chuckled softly, shaking his head. “Yes well...that would be the case in some circumstances. But as much as I enjoy your playful attempts to be hurtful, I'm afraid I'm not up for playing.” He looked up at the stained glass window. “I would have never imagined ten years...two was heartbreaking enough and I...well I found that I'm terrible at letting things go.”

“That's to be expected,” she said in quite a hoity-toity tone. “I imagine it would be difficult to get over one such as myself.”

There was a moment of silence in which he gathered his thoughts. “I do not know what I would have done if I found I couldn't return. It was the fact that I was sure I could that kept me going...” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Two years...ten years...fifty years...a hundred years...a thousand years... I didn't care how long it was going take, if there was a way back to you, I was going to do whatever it took.”

More silence followed, but a familiar warmth pressed against him. “I know...because you adore me,” she spoke very softly.

“No...I love you. Adoration is nothing compared to the love I have for you.” He leaned into her, taking deep breaths. She smelled of Fraud Valley and it's harsh air. She and her land were more alike than most would dare say. But Copper knew the secrets. He knew the nooks and crannies filled with warmth. Filled with hope and beauty.

It was not long before Glass returned, but Chrysalis did not pull away and she seemed quite happy to see the two of them in such a way. “They said that they will bring us up lunch.” She sat down in front of Copper expectantly. “Can you continue the story?”

Copper chuckled and nodded before taking a deep breath. “Of course.”

~

Copper was greeted with silence and so he asked again. “Are you the Priest?”

The albino bat pony straightened up behind his pedestal. “I am. And you, Copper Feather, are to be put to death.”

His brow furrowed slightly as more whispering spread throughout the crowd. “Put to death? This isn't a trail?”

“This is a sentencing!” the Priest nearly shouted at Copper and the whispers died down again. “You are guilty of threatening followers of our Lord, unwarranted murder and the use of magic.”

“And those are crimes warranting death?”

“Yes, each worse than the previous.”

Copper looked at the Priest a moment. “May I speak and ask questions before my sentence is carried out?”

The Priest looked slightly confused. “You are unlike anything I or any others have seen, I will permit it on the premise you shall die with the knowledge of our Lord.”

Again Copper's brow furrowed. “Your Lord? As in your god?”

“He is everyone's god. He is my god. He is your god. He is their god.” He gestured out over the large congregation.

“Who is your god?” Copper was annoyed that he actually had to ask. He hated playing pronoun games with other ponies.

“You do not know of our god?” When the Priest spoke, Copper noticed that the room always went silent.

“I am not from this world.” There was a lot of muttering and mumbling. “I traveled with the...bird thing as you called it, here.”

The Priest was frowning at him. “The bird thing you murdered. We take murder very seriously, especially such desecration of the body in such a manner...in such a struggle as we are enduring now.”

Copper looked around the room once again and took in the details. “Tell me who your god is,” he practically demanded.

“Do not speak to me in that tone!” Several ponies backed away from the Priest. “I was chosen by or Lord and god, the Other to be his tool and voice in this world!” Copper felt his heart heart sink slightly into his stomach.

“So that is how he won this world...” But it also made gave Copper some confidence. “I know of the Other.”

There was muttering again. “Oh? So you do know of god.”

“I do not know of it as a god, though the power it wields is godlike. But the Other is something of destruction. I fought it and beat to save my world.” The Priest and the congregation were stunned. “This world is doomed and it is the Other's fault.”

“We are at the end times,” the Priest said, regaining his composure. “The Other tests our faith, giving us this hardship that we must endure. Only then shall we pass onto Eden and live anew.”

“And what does the Other say about me?” The Preist looked taken aback. “What words does your god have for me? What wrath will he release upon me?” He stood up straight. “Your Priest has no power, because your god has abandoned you.”

He was met with silence until the Priest shouted, “You are the one who has been abandoned! You are the defiler who brings magic into our world once more and seeks to undo the work of the Other!”

“I do not use magic,” Copper said calmly. “I break it. My power is to shatter magic as though it were glass.”

Suddenly there were many conversations all at once, too many and too loud for Copper to catch more than snippets of any of them, but his attention was on the Priest. “You lie!”

“No!” Copper snapped and the crowd went silent. “You lie! You tell your people that things will get better. You tell them that they are simply being tested, when you do not believe it yourself!” He had everyponies attention now. “How can you sit there and preach your nonsense while ponies around you cower in fear and starve to death?”

“You are nothing but a test of our faith!” The Priest stood steadfast and glared at Copper. “I will not allow you to subject this church to this blasphemy!”

“You are a fool and you have doomed your entire world!” Copper had to admit that he had lost his cool, but this was the sort of thing that really got under his fur: blatant and willful ignorance.

“Copper Feather! For your crimes, you are sentenced to death!” the Priest shouted.

Suddenly Copper felt the ground give way. He thought that he had been on a large platform where the accused would stand, but it had another purpose as well. The open air bellow filled him with immediate panic and his wing flapped uselessly a few times before he broke the surface of water at the bottom in a loud splash.

~

Somepony cleared their throat and Copper shifted slightly to try and catch himself, but it was unnecessary because Chrysalis did not move. “Good day, Queen Chrysalis, Copper.”

“Good afternoon, Princess,” Copper said, gazing at Celestia.

“I hope that you are both doing well?” She had that smile of hers, the one that filled him with hope of a brighter future than the one he could imagine.

Of course now it made sense why Chrysalis had not retreated. “We are doing quite well,” Chrysalis said and Copper noticed the slight hostility on her voice, even Glass seemed to notice it.

“Is there something you need, Princess?” Copper could recognize her stance, the way she stood as though about to start walking.

“I am afraid I have rather unfortunate news.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, but Copper stared at her, noticing the rather large amount of guards down the hall. “I am afraid that ponies are calling for your arrest.”

“Oh?” Copper tilted his head to the side slightly. “Is that all?”

This statement caught everypony off guard, even Celestia. “Is that all?” Chrysalis snapped, staring from him to Celestia.

“I'm used to it. I...” He hesitated a moment. “My mind went to far scarier places than prison.” He gave the shocked Celestia a smile as he pulled away from Chrysalis. “Now then, I assume that I'll go down to the holding cell's until the trial?”

Corser pushed his way through the crowd of ponies, not just guards as Copper noticed. “Out of my way.” He caught sight of Copper and moved across the room. “I assume from that smug expression of yours that you were told?”

“Do I look smug?” he said up to Chrysalis as he began walking. “I don't mean to. But this is something I have thought about several times.” Corser walked beside him and he could vaguely hear Chrysalis and Celestia having a immediately heated debate in whispers. “After all...I've done horrible things.

“Don't be so smug about it,” Corser said as they entered into a lift and it began moving down. No other guards came after them.

Copper tilted his head to the side slightly. “My my, Corser...are you slipping? I'm a wanted criminal with probably an immense rap sheet and you just waltz into a lift alone?”

“Oh don't give me that. You wouldn't dare, for several reasons. The biggest being, that's your old style. The old Copper.”

Copper nodded and the lift doors opened. “Quite.” He couldn't remember this lift ever being here, it was very close to the cells.

One of them opened and Copper walked in. “Besides,” Corser said as he closed the door. “You'll just talk your way out of it during the trial like you always do.”

“Yanno, it doesn't always work like that.”

“Oh? Been going to trial often then?” Corser made sure to lock him in.

“Far too often in these last two years...” He laid down in the cot in the cell, closing his eyes.

~

“I cannot believe how absurd this is!” Copper lifted his head from the table he had been working at, tuning into the argument that was being had at the other end of the hallway. “You cannot simply detain him!” It was Chrysalis yelling at somepony.

“I'm sorry, Queen Chrysalis, but I have my orders,” Corser said in response. “The trial is going to happen.”

Copper looked down again at the designs he had been working on. Once he had woken up, he had asked Corser for basic supplies so he could begin work on his new leg. The cot had not been as comfortable as the bed he had slept in the night before, but it was better than the floor. “Jeez, all this racket. Makes it hard for-” His words caught in his throat.

“Good aftanoon, Coppa Featha.” There was a zebra standing in his cell. “It has been quite a long time.”

“Yes...” Copper sat up, staring at the zebra. “A very long time...are you-”

“No. I am not 'ere. I do believe it is time to repay your debt to me.”

Copper sighed slightly, looking at the ground a moment. “Now? I'm quite busy at the moment...”

“Thare is no rush. I know you 'ave many plans now that you 'ave returned. I merely wish that I become amongst them.” The zebra grinned at him.

“All right...” The image of the zebra shimmered and faded, leaving a very confused looking Glass at the door of the cell.

“Uhm...who was that?” she asked cautiously.

“That...was Voodoo.” He moved over to the cell door, giving her a slight smile. “I think it's time I tell of my time in Zebrica.”

~

There was nothing but hard dead grass in all directions. Or it resembled dead grass, Copper knew enough about Zebrica to know that the grass just looked like that. He couldn't even see where the caravan had gone. “Stupid little pony, huh?” he muttered as he continued to walk. “Don't know my place...I'll show them. I'm a diplomat!” he shouted, but was met with silence. “You can't treat a diplomat like this.”

His ribs still hurt from when the zebra had kicked him out the back of the caravan. “Insolent little foal does not know the way of the world,” he had said. It didn't matter of Copper was a foal, he had gone through a lot of diplomatic training. More lessons then he could keep track of and had actually handled a few diplomatic meetings. “Let the land eat him.” There were a lot of snippets that he had heard. And they had laughed. They had sentenced him to die out in the wild.

It would be better if it was not so hot. He had liked the heat at first, but it quickly lost its appeal after three days. The cold of the night was even worse. Off in the distance he could see some sort of shrub. He really wanted to avoid that. They had pointed one out to him a few days ago and showed what was underneath it. Lions. It was too hot for them to be out hunting, but he knew that as soon as the sun started to go down he would be an easy target.

He needed to find water first, drinkable water. Many of the watering holes were tainted, or worse, full of crocodiles. Had they really done this to him? He could see in the distance several large trees, though he knew that they would be spaced far apart. He was hot, but he knew he had to keep going. If he stopped to rest, he wouldn't be able to get back up. He hurt, too. The kick had hurt the most, but the tumbling behind the caravan had not been any better.

The feeling of filth clung to his fur. When he was childish this sort of thing would have been fun, but he was beyond that. He was mature now, even if he was still a foal. But because of that, they had mistreated him the entire time he had been here. They had been mildly respectful at first, but after the first meeting he had shown that he was intelligent and they didn't like that. They began flat out insulting him, telling him that he knows nothing because he was so young. That he should sit and be silent. It had been a warning that he had not taken seriously. Diplomatic immunity was nothing to mess with. After all, Equestria was a major buyer and supplier of goods to Zebrica.

Copper had never found out what was being purchased, or what they were even talking about because they would not do business in front of him. When he had made the comment that he was going to include this in his next letter to Celestia, it landed him in the current predicament.

He stopped and stared at the large stalks in front of him. Following them upwards, he found them attached to a giraffe. He swallowed as he stared. One could read about giraffes, but seeing one up close is a completely different matter. It either had not noticed him, or was ignoring him. He cleared his throat. “Excuse me?” he called up to it.

It turned slowly and stared down at him. It was chewing on leaves that it had recently pulled from a nearby tree. “Shoo.” It practically kicked Copper away, flinging him back.

Copper got up and quickly dusted himself off. “Please, I need help. I'm lost.”

“Not my problem,” the giraffe grumbled.

“Please. I was traveling with a caravan and they kicked me off!” He couldn't understand why it was being so rude.

“Well you must have done something stupid.” The giraffe pulled more leaves off the tree.

“Please, I need help.” Copper moved towards the giraffe again.

“I said, shoo!” A few hooves crashed beside Copper and he scrambled to get away.

He stared at the giraffe a moment and dusted himself again, though most of the dirt was caked into his fur now. “You are the rudest thing I have ever met.”

“I'm busy, stupid pony.”

Now it was insulting him. Not only was it refusing to even try to help, it was insulting him. “I would insult you, but I will not stoop to such a pathetic level.”

The giraffe turned and leaned in. “You're really getting on my nerves, tiny thing.”

“Not my problem,” Copper snapped.

“Harold!” Copper had not noticed the second giraffe's approach. For something so large, they didn't make a lot of noise. “Leave the little thing alone.” The giraffe known as Harold glared at Copper a moment before straightening back up and going back to eating. She leaned down so that she and Copper didn't have to shout. Copper was fairly certain that this giraffe was female judging from her voice. “I'm sorry deary, Harold's a bit grumpy lately. What are you doing way out here?”

Copper looked at the new giraffe, who had a very friendly smile. “I'm lost, thirsty and I'm pretty sure I have some bruised ribs...which being kicked didn't help.”

“Oh you poor little thing. Were you part of that caravan that went by not long ago?”

“They kicked me off...”

“What?!” She looked very perturbed in the direction Copper assumed the caravan went. “They left such a little pony out here all by himself with no supplies?”

“It's my fault for getting in over my head...” Copper gave in and sat down. He was immensely tired.

“Oh you poor little thing. Come along, there's a watering hole nearby.” She turned and began walking.

It took him a moment of struggle to get up and follow her, by the time he had she had had to come back to him. “Sorry, I'm tired...”

“Not from around here, hm?” Copper shook his head. “Oh, well, that's grand. I've always wanted to travel the world, but everyone refuses to leave and I'd be too lonely to go by myself.” Suddenly she stood straight up. “Oh my! Where are my manners? I'm Ellie. And what's your name, deary?”

“Copper Feather,” he said and then added, “Equestrian Diplomat.”

She blinked several times at him with large doey eyes. “A...diplomat?” Harold gave a snort of amusement behind him.

“I know I am young, but I am the official Equestrian Diplomat.” He felt like he had to defend that fact.

“And they kicked you out of a caravan?”

“Because I was going to write to Princess Celestia about how poorly they were treating me...and how they wouldn't let me actually do my job.” He felt slightly awkward now that he had said it out loud. It was a bold statement to make and Copper sure didn't feel like a diplomat.

She gave him a warm smile. “All right, little diplomat, let's go and get you something to drink and then we'll see about getting you someplace safe.”

Ellie was a kindhearted giraffe who cared for everything as though it were simply the way one was supposed to act. She seemed so out of place in such a harsh and hostile environment, but Copper was more than grateful to have someone who actually cared about his well being. There were quite a lot of animals around what Ellie was leading him towards, which was indeed a watering hole. “Whatcha got there, Ellie?”

Copper had never seen a gazelle before but one of them was walking towards them. Behind the gazelle Copper could see quite a large herd of them that he had not noticed from the angle he had been at. The grass hid a lot of things. “Oh this poor little thing was tossed from that Caravan we saw earlier.”

“And they didn't come back for him?” The gazelle looked down at Copper and gave him a slight smile.

“Tossed in the literal and purposeful use of the word,” Copper said with a polite smile. “Not accidental.”

He gained a thoughtful look with his brow furrowed slightly. “Well that's odd. Why would they do that?”

“Didn't like the things I was saying. They would have gotten into trouble otherwise.” They were still moving towards the watering hole.

Ellie leaned over Copper and whispered conspiratorially to the gazelle, “He's a diplomat, from Equestria.” Copper was surprised to not hear any sort of mocking tone in her voice.

The gazelle stared at Copper a moment. “A...tad young, don't you think?” He saw Copper's frown and quickly added, “Not that there's any problem with that. I mean, it's not the weirdest thing I've seen out here.”

Copper sighed softly. “It is not my way to question Princess Celestia, but I am starting to think she overestimated my abilities by giving me the title so soon...”

“I'm sure she had a reason, deary.” She stopped and Copper could see the watering hole. It was a lot larger than he had thought and there were all manner of animals around it, even more than before. He also noticed lions and hyena’s. He gulped slightly.

“Oh don't mind them,” the gazelle said with a smile. “It's too hot for them to do any hunting.”

“Still unnerving,” Copper said as he moved slowly towards the water. “No crocodiles, right?”

“Hm? Oh not here, deary. They tend to hang around in the rivers. This'll dry up too quick for them.” Ellie stooped down to take a drink for herself, as did the gazelle.

But Copper was reluctant and didn't drink till they were both standing. The water had been quite bad when he had first gotten to Zebrica but it wasn't as bad now. Still pretty bad though. He wiped his mouth as he looked across the watering hole, just in time to see the two hyena's staring at him. They both grinned and looked to be saying something to each other. “I think I'm good now...” he muttered as he took a few steps back towards Ellie. “Thank you, Ellie.”

She smiled down at him. “Oh any time, deary.”

“Now I just have to figure out how to get home...” he said with a sigh, staring down at the ground a moment, trying to think.

“Well there wont be another caravan for a few months,” the gazelle said as he looked around quickly, noticing the way that Copper sagged. “Where you gonna take him, Ellie?”

“Hm?” She hadn't been paying attention it seemed, and the gazelle had to ask a second time. “Oh probably to Abunto. He'll know what to do about the little one.”

The gazelle arched a brow. “Abunto? Are you sure Marcaline wouldn't be a better option?”

“Oh he's far too small, we'd have to worry about the old girl stepping on him.” There was a questioning look from Copper. “Marcaline is the local elephant matriarch. But Abunto will at least know what to do.”

They spent the rest of the day walking. It wouldn't have taken as long if they didn't have to stop again to drink, but this watering hole was close to their destination. The farther the sun went down, the more worried Copper felt. Then he heard an odd bark which was followed by a lot of rustling. He stared at the direction it had come from, trying to see what had made the noise.

“Pardon me?” Ellie had leaned down and was talking to something, after moving slightly closer, Copper noticed it was a hole. “I was wondering if I could speak to Abunto?”

There was a few moments of silence in which Ellie appeared to wait patiently. After what felt like several minutes a voice finally responded. “What's a giraffe want?”

“I'm afraid I've found a lost little pony.” Copper was suddenly aware of many things around him, staring at him. But he couldn't see anything through the grass. “We were wondering if Abunto would be willing to help?”

Again there was a drawn out silence, in which Copper assumed there was some sort of discussion happening. Copper looked up at the sky, trying to estimate how long until it would become dusk. When he looked down again he was face to face with a meerkat. “What's a pony doing all the way out here?”

“I-I...” He cleared his throat. “I was on a diplomatic mission from Equestria.”

He practically glared at Copper, staring him down. “I don't like it.”

“Oh come now, Abunto. He's not from around here and he wont last long on his own.” Ellie's head was there beside them.

“Don't care,” Abunto said as he crossed his arms. “Why don't you take it to him.”

Ellie frowned. “How is taking the little pony to him going to help?”

“He's a zebra. They're the ones doing most of the dealings with Equestria, I'm sure he'll have some interest.” Abunto turned around and scurried back into the brush.

“Come now, Abunto. At least let him stay the night, we wont be able to make it that far before the hunting starts.” Ellie had followed him over to what Copper guessed as another hole.

“Don't care!” he heard Abunto call.

Copper sighed and sat down. “Some easy first assignment this is...not the way I had thought it would go,” he was muttering to himself. “Nope...I get ridiculed, insulted, beaten up and left for dead. And on top of everything, probably gonna die.” He stared at the ground and watched as a few teardrops hit the ground. He wiped his face, which only smudged it with more dirt. And to top it all off, he couldn't stop shaking.

“Are you really a diplomat?”

He jumped slightly at the voice beside him. It was another meerkat, who was coming out of some nearby grass. Again he tried to wipe his face, but he nodded. “Yeah. Not a very good one apparently.”

“What were you doing so far from any city?”

“We were supposed to be talking with the small villages to set up trade routes and things. Of course, I wasn't allowed out of the caravan several times because of 'safety' concerns.” He hold up hooves, making gestures around the word 'safety'.

There was another bark and the meerkat disappeared back into the grass. “See? I told ya it was him. Ain't no other pony around, is there?”

Copper turned slowly to see two hyena's, both of them grinning. Copper couldn't move, frozen to the spot. “Yeah yeeeaah. You were right. But that doesn't answer the question of why he ain't with them zebra's.”

Copper wanted to cry for help, but his voice was nowhere to be found. “D'ya think we'd get in trouble?”

“Probly. He's got diplamaticsomethingorother. It'd be bad for us if we eat him.” Finally Copper managed to move some, backing away from them.

“How much trouble, ya think?” The hyena's seemed to ponder this thought, debating on the consequences.

Copper managed to find his voice. “A-a lot. Diplomatic immunity means I'm n-not supposed to be harmed.”

“He saying we shouldn't eat him?”

“I think that's what he's saying,” the other hyena said nodding.

“I'm sure the boss would love to see him.” They both snickered. “He was quite disappointed when he didn't come to the meeting.”

“Oh yeah, reeaaal disappointed.”

Suddenly both hyena's looked up. “Changed my mind, not hungry.” Both of them spun and took off running.

Copper looked up to see Ellie glaring after them. “What a bunch of brutes. Are you all right, Copper?”

He nodded slightly. “F-fine. Yeah...fine.”

“Well, I'm afraid that Abunto is refusing to help even in the slightest. I'm not sure what we're going to do, little one...”

There was a hole, obviously the one Ellie had been talking into. He stared at the sky as he watched the sun go down. The farther it went the less coherent his mind. Rational thought being overcome by fear. “Diplomatic immunity.” He was trying not to break down. “Do you know what that means? It means legal immunity, that ensures that I, as a diplomat are to be given safe passage and considered not susceptible to the laws of other country's. To go against this can lead to serious repercussion.” He was rambling off what he had been told, what he had been lead to believe. “I'm supposed to be treated well.” He was out of breath and couldn't stop shaking. “I don't want to die.”

“Oh just let the poor thing stay, Abunto,” he heard the voice of the meerkat from earlier from down in the hole. “It's just one night.”

Abunto's head appeared out of the hole and glared at the dirty little pony in front of him. He sighed. “Fine. One night. But you.” He pointed at Ellie. “Are to be here tomorrow morning to pick him up, as soon as the hunting stops.”

~

“Time to go, Copper.”

He looked over at Corser and gave him a small smile. “We'll finish this after the trial, my little Glass,” Copper said as he stood up and got down from the cot.

“Aren't...aren't scared?” Glass said, following after him.

“Scared? Of what? A simple trial?” He ruffled her hair slightly. “The worst they can do is banish me.”

~

“Death,” Copper said with a frown, staring back at court room from the defendants seat. “They're asking for my death?” He looked up at Celestia. “Surely laws have not changed that drastically to allow the death penalty in Equestria, have they?”

Celestia shook her head. “No, of course not. But they wish to have you extradited to somewhere where they will kill you for your crimes.”

Copper knew exactly where they would go: Trotland. “But any crime I have committed has been under the rule of diplomatic immunity. Surely they do not plan to break the law just to have me killed?”

“Law's have changed and not many places recognize that anymore, Copper,” she said with a frown. “And the actions they want you charged for are for what you committed when no longer a diplomat.”

He frowned even more as he stared around the court room. There had to be some bigger picture here that he had to get a hold of. Something was happening that he was merely a piece of. “That's quite a long list of crimes, yes, but none worthy of the death sentence.” Copper couldn't count how many times he'd received the 'death sentence' and simply gotten away.

“I am curious to see their accusations myself, to be honest,” Celestia said as she watched the prosecutor walk down the center aisle of the court room, the room itself was packed, as were the rafters.

Copper was sure he had never seen him before, but there was a certain thing he felt like he should recognize. “Where is the defending attorney?” the pony asked. He was dressed in a very sharp looking suit, with his mane brown mane slicked back.

Copper straightened up. “You're looking at him.”

“You're defending yourself?” the pony said with a smirk.

“Yes.” He couldn't put his hoof on what was so familiar about this earth pony.

Celestia knocked her hoof onto the table a few times and said, “Order in the court.” The noise died down quite quickly. “Please, Mr. Travis, read the charges.”

Copper had heard that name several times. “Of course, Princess Celestia. I will not go over the petty crimes, the serious ones we are here to discuss are the breaking and entering of Canterlots royal palace, the attempted murder of Princess Celestia, and the successful murder of King Sombra.”

The quiet conversations that Copper was vaguely listening to in the background immediately died. “The same being that possessed Princess Celestia and caused the deaths of many ponies and changelings alike?” Copper said slowly, watching Travis.

Travis did not look as young as the last time he had seen him. “Murder is murder, Copper Feather. If he were not dead, he would have been tried and convicted in similar manner to you.” He looked at Celestia expectantly.

“How do you plead, Copper?” She asked.

Copper's eyes never left Travis. But he cleared his throat with a smirk. “Guilty with exception to the murder of Sombra.”

The pony frowned at him. “With exception? You say that you did not kill King Sombra?”

“Sombra is alive as far as I am aware, last seen in the Crystal Empire during my fight with the Other. He fled in terror upon seeing it's true nature.” Copper leaned in slightly. “Have you not read the books?”

“There has been no validation of that, as the only ponies there were yourself, Madam Raven, Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight and Queen Chrysalis. The only evidence are their words and the words of a book that could be the work of fiction.” Copper noticed how quickly he had spun off with this, probably having been ready for such a retort.

“So you question the ruler of the land, and this court?” He gestured to Celestia. “The Princess has final saying on the ruling of guilt, you say that you question her integrity? Say that she would lie?”

“Certainly not.” Travis was quite calm. “But it still stands. Furthermore, the pony who was allegedly seen there was Sombra Starswirl. Not King Sombra.” That had been why he was stressing the king part. “I propose that they are two different beings, and therefore should be treated as such.”

“But they are two parts of the same being. Two parts, even if one is dead the other is alive. Half dead is still half alive. A worm split in two becomes two worms. If one should die, the other lives but is considered the same worm.”

This seemed to actually catch Travis off guard. “Are you claiming King Sombra was a worm?”

Copper leaned in further to be closer to Travis. “Of course not.” He straightened back up. “But continuing, I move that what you refer to as King Sombra was long dead before I ever came across him.”

“What's your reasoning?” He could see Travis trying to think.

“King Sombra was beaten by several ponies, Princess Celestia amongst them, and was killed then. His magic then clung to Celestia.”

“But if his magic still lived then he was alive,” Travis interrupted, looking slightly triumphant as though he had found a firm hoofhold.

“And then he tried to take the Crystal Empire again when it had return to this world. Again he was destroyed, using the power of the Crystal Heart. But still his magic survived.”

“And then you killed him, you killed the magic that was him,” Travis interrupted again.

“I pose to move that King Sombra was not alive to be killed. He was nothing but magic. When a unicorn casts a spell and is then done with it, are they accused of murdering the spell?” Copper looked out at the courtroom, there were a lot of unicorns out there. “Shall we accuse all unicorns? A unicorn brings forth a spell to do a task. Another unicorn may come along and end that spell, therefore they are murderers by your logic.” Copper looked down at the annoyed look on Travis' face. “I did not kill Sombra. I ended a spell called King Sombra.”

There were several moments where Travis simply glared at Copper. “Do you have any further arguments?” Princess Celestia said as she shifted papers around on her table.

“There is still the matter of the other crimes that Copper stands accused of, and he has plead guilt-”

“Copper Feather is acquitted of all crimes, in service to the land of Equestria. Corser, if you please.” Copper had not even noticed Corser in the second to front row of the crowd.

“Travis, you're under arrest for aiding and abetting the known criminal Madam Raven and her associates, which include Lady Evale, Sir Pedleston, the spell; King Sombra and a dozen others.” Copper now noticed the several guards at every window and exit. This was a well executed strike.

“Every pony will undergo a screening,” Celestia said with a slow gaze around the room. “We have reason to believe that many other supporters of The Other Movement are in this room, magic is disabled. This is for your safety, please cooperate to the fullest of your abilities.” She was smiling.

Copper couldn't help but laugh. “I was bait? Oh that is a familiar feeling.” He relaxed a bit in the defendants chair. “I was wondering why you were so serious about this...but it makes perfect sense now.”

“I cannot take all of the credit,” she said with a smile. “It was Corser's idea. When I received the letter for your arrest, and suddenly there was a pony named Travis with all the necessary paperwork at my door, Corser hatched this little plan.” Travis did not look very happy as he was being lead from the room by three guards, and Corser himself. “I think he learned a lot more from you, than you did from him.”

“He'd be a big problem for us...” Copper said with a smile.

Celestia moved down from the Judge's booth. “Not anymore he wont. Travis is going to be put under very heavy guard.”

“Not him. Corser.”

She smiled down at him. “I wouldn't worry about that. He wouldn't dare risk upsetting Luna”

5: Drips

Fifteen. No less then fifteen ponies were found to be part of what Corser called The Other Movement. Copper found quite a lot of humor in the name, though the joke seemed to go over Corser's head. “It's a serious matter. These are ponies that are actively trying to overthrow Princess Luna and Princess Celestia,” he had said when Copper mentioned the humorous name. Once he had finished conversing with Corser, Copper had gone up to the room he had been staying in, finding both Glass and Chrysalis there.

“Everything went well, then?” Chrysalis said as she watched him enter the room from her perch on one side of the bed.

“I take it you knew?” Copper made his way over to the desk in the room, all his papers from the cell had been moved up here.

Chrysalis shook her head. “Not until after the trial had started. Glass and I were barred from entering, but Corser explained why.”

He looked at Glass, who had a frustrated look on her face. “What is wrong, little Glass?” He climbed up onto the bed, which he noticed was a fair size larger than when he had last been on it. He assumed the bed was upgraded because of a comment from Chrysalis to somepony.

“I wanted to go to the trial...” she mumbled, looking up at him.

Copper chuckled softly and ruffled her mane. “I'm sure you did. But it wasn't very interesting.”

“Glass was retelling your Zebrica story,” Chrysalis said as she watched Glass and Copper interact from the other side of the bed. “I am curious as to how old you were to be treated like that.”

He had to think a moment. “I don't think I was about the same age as Glass.”

They both stared at him, Chrysalis with suspicion, while Glass showed curiosity. “The books never covered what age you were in detail,” Chrysalis said and Copper realized she had probably read them just as many times as Glass, if not more.

“I would assume not. Probably simply skipping over my lesson days and vaguely passing over Zebrica...it was a defining moment of myself.” He laid down with a soft sigh. “But I suppose it would be easier to explain if I simply continued telling my story.”

~

It had taken the meerkats a moment in order to widen a hole big enough for him to squeeze in, though thankfully he was not much bigger than them and their tunnels bellow were larger. The only thing that Copper didn't like was that it was a bit dark and would probably get even darker as the day turned to night. “You all right in there, deary?” Ellie said, he could see her through the hole.

“Yes, thank you,” Copper replied as he got comfortable a few hooves away from the hole in a small area they had prepared for him.

“Very good. I'll see you tomorrow!” He could hear her walking away.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as his eyes adjusted to the gloom. It was quite impressive, the network of tunnels that stretched in every direction and there were many meerkats, all of whom were avoiding him. Except one. “I'm sorry for Abunto's rudeness.”

“It's quite fine. He's the leader, I'm a stranger. It's a good thing that he's suspicious.” He couldn't move anymore and laid on his side, taking deep breaths. The pain had caught up with him. But now he was safe, so now he could truly assess the damage. “But I'm sure I wont be any problem at all...if I survive the night.”

“Are...Are you feeling well?” The meerkat was now hovering over him.

“I was kicked in the ribs out the back of a cart moving at a fast gallop, then walked probably two miles only to practically be kicked by a giraffe and sent quite a few hooves away...” He continued to take deep breaths, everything hurt. “Then walked several more miles, got a drink of water, then walked more... I had not been aware I lived such a pampered lifestyle until now.”

“Where does it hurt?” She was not touching him but he felt her moving around him.

“Mostly ribs and legs. And my head. I've got some medical training and think I have bruised or cracked ribs...my legs are just fatigued, hopefully, and since my head isn't bleeding I probably bumped it badly.” Blood had been the first thing he had checked for once he had stopped bouncing and regained his senses. He had managed to get away with only a few scrapes.

“I will be right back.” He watched as she quickly scampered down a tunnel.

That's when he noticed that he was being watched by over a dozen meerkats. Every tunnel had meerkats, staring at him. He shifted vaguely and winced. “Ugh...” He couldn't remember being in this much pain. When he was in the hospital they had numbed the pain. This was his first real experience of pain and he didn't like it one bit. “What did I do to deserve this?” he muttered as he closed his eyes. “She gave me a job...that's all I was trying to do...just do my job...”

He woke up to something that stung. “Easy now. Lay still.” He saw the meerkat that he had been speaking to. It was easy to recognize her for some reason, something about her eyes set her apart from the dozens of meerkats that were crowding around him.

Dozens of meerkats. He couldn't tell how many from his position on the ground but there were a lot, some of them only a few hooves away; they were practically sitting on him. “I fell...asleep?How long was I out?”

“Not long,” the meerkat said with a soft smile.

Copper could feel bandages around him, that was a familiar feeling. It was odd feeling the little paws rub some sort of ointment onto the places that were not bandaged. He couldn't tell what it was, but it smelled and it stung. “Thank you,” Copper muttered and closed his eyes again.

“Well, if Ellie likes you then you can't be all that bad,” some meerkat said and there was a general agreement amongst them.

“Yeah. Ellie's a good judge of character. Unlike them other giraffes, he's nice.”

Copper's brow furrowed slightly. “He?” Copper muttered.

“Yeah he's never caused problems for us.” Again there was a general agreement amongst the meerkats.

“Ellie is a guy?” Copper felt slightly awkward that he had thought of Ellie as female. But in his defense, he had feminine mannerisms and tone.

None of the meerkats seemed to have noted Copper's question, rather they all began discussing Copper as though he were not there. “Rather small for a zebra, isn't he?” Another said, “He's a pony, not a zebra.” But the answer didn't sink in, “Where are his stripes?” And, “Why's he got a wing?”

He lost track of all the things that were being said. “If you don't mind me asking, why do you only have one wing?” It was the meerkat treating his injury. “Can't be any good for flying.”

“I lost it,” he muttered. “Well actually it was taken from me. Ripped off.”

“I'm sorry...” Most of the meerkats had wandered off now, having lost interest in Copper. “That must have been...horrible.”

Copper took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He didn't want to talk about it. “What's going on in here?!” Copper could clearly hear Abunto over the conversations.

None of the meerkats ran, but they fell silent and immediately crouched down. “The little thing is hurt,” the meerkat said as it stood up, the only meerkat to do so.

“Hurt,” Abunto repeated as he glared at Copper. “How badly is he hurt?”

“He has lots of cuts and bruises, a sprained leg as well as several cracked ribs.” Copper's brow furrowed as he tried to reassess his self evaluation. He had missed the sprain, chalking it up to all the walking he'd done.

Abunto moved over to Copper, still glaring at him. “Impressive you managed to make it this far.” Then he turned and walked away down a tunnel.

There was a moment of silence as the meerkats made sure that he was truly gone, then the conversations started up again and most of them wandered away. Only two stayed besides the one treating him. “What's your name?” Copper asked, looking up at the meerkat.

She looked at him, having been staring down the tunnel after Abunto. “Oh, I'm Mesfa. Sorry, I'm not used to having to introduce myself.”

“Are...you and Abunto in charge?” Copper had to shift and made sure to do it very carefully, but it still hurt immensely.

“Yes, to put it bluntly.” She went back to putting the ointment on his wounds and continued to bandage him. “Go ahead and sleep, you'll need the rest. Abunto may have taken some sort of liking to you, but he wont go back on his word about kicking you out tomorrow.”

“A liking to me?” Copper stared blankly at one of the tunnel walls.

“You've shown him quite a lot of courage and strength. He respects that, though he'll never outright say it.” She tied off the last of the bandages and wiped her brow. “There. That's the best I can do. You'll have to see what Voodoo can do tomorrow when you see him.”

“Voodoo?” He had questions, but he was getting tired.

“Yeah.” There was a moment of hesitation as she watched him drift off to sleep. “Be careful around him, Copper...his deals have some hefty prices.”

When Copper awoke, he was still laying on the dirt floor of the tunnel. But instead of Mesfa, he was looking at Abunto. “Time to go,” he said.

Copper immediately began to get up and regretted it immediately as pain coursed through him. He grit his teeth, trying to get up again. This time he managed it through the pain and began making his way towards the hole he'd come in. “Thank you for letting me stay.” He got a grunt in response as he wiggled his way out of the hole.

“Ah, there you are little- what happened to you?!” Ellie was there.

“I was pretty beat up,” Copper said as he managed to stand up. Only one of his legs was bothering him badly, the one that was apparently sprained. “Mesfa was kind enough to treat my injuries.”

“Tsk.” Ellie looked back down the hole behind him. “I swear, Abunto. If I find you did anything to Copper, I swear I'll gave in a rock on your head.”

“I didn't do anything to the thing,” Abunto said with a snarl.

“He really didn't, Ellie.” Copper got between Ellie and the hole. “If you'd like to yell at anyone, you can yell at Harold.” He made sure to keep eye contact with Ellie. That was an important thing to remember, keep eye contact.

He looked at Copper a moment and then sighed softly. “Fine. But...” He looked Copper up and down. “You wont be able to travel like that...”

“I'm fine,” he said. He was trying to keep it in his head that Ellie was male. “Now then, how far is it to Voodoo's?”

Ellie actually looked uncomfortable at the mention of that name. “Uhm...yes...it's quite far away, actually. And we can't have you walking all that way in your condition...”

“Why don't you carry him?” Mesfa had come out of a nearby hole.

“Ah! Yes, that's a wonderful idea.” Copper was suddenly hoisted into the air as Ellie picked him up by the bandages and placed him on his back. “There we go. Much better. And now I don't need to bend over to talk to you.” He gave Copper a large smile.

The first thing Copper was really aware of was the height and lack of anything to hold onto. There was this odd feeling as he looked over the side of Ellie, the feeling that he should jump, but he quickly reminded himself that flying was something he could never do again. He moved to the center of Ellie's back, trying to find the most stable position. “Not sure how I feel about this...” he mumbled.

“Cozy?” Ellie said with a large grin.

“I guess as much as I can be.” He would have to readjust when Ellie started walking, to try and find the place that shifted the least.

He turned back to the hole. “Thank you very much, Mesfa. And thank you was well, Abunto.” Ellie turned and began walking.

Copper gave a wave once he found a better position. “Thank you!” he called back, watching as several meerkats showed up to see him off.

But it wasn't long till they were out of sight. Ellie was quite fast when he wasn't encumbered by a slow walking companion. “Enjoying the view?”

“Yeah...” he mumbled as he looked around. It was like flying low, he could see for a very large distance. It felt like it had been forever since he had been higher than a few hooves off the ground, a great difference than the hole he had slept in. The savannah moved at a great pace around him. “How long will it take to get to Voodoo's? Is it-” He stopped.

The grass had become thicker and the trees around had closed in and become...warped. Copper wasn't sure how to describe it. They were imposing and threatening, with leafless branches and thorns. “We're getting close,” Ellie said as he took a deep breath.

Copper had not been fully aware of the animals around him before hoof, but now that there were no animals around he noticed it immediately. It had gotten quite dark as well, as though the sun was going down, but it was just thick cloud cover. The ambiance was helped quite a lot by the many bones strung up in the trees in odd designs and shapes. “Voodoo is a zebra...right?”

There was a moment of hesitation as Ellie looked around nervously. “Well...he looks like one at least. No one's quite sure.”

He swallowed as he stared off where they were heading, which was a very large and menacing looking tree with lights hanging on it. Copper took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You can let me off here, Ellie.”

Ellie stopped and looked at him a moment. “What?”

“I just...I feel like this is something that I need to go and do myself.” He partly stood up and Ellie obliged, picking him back up and setting him down on the ground.

“Are you sure?”

“I'm sure,” he said with a smile up at Ellie. “Thank you, for everything.”

He gave him a large smile. “Of course, deary. I couldn't just let you wander around on your own.”

Copper took a deep breath and looked over at the tree in the distance. It wasn't terribly far away now that Copper saw it from ground level. “Still...thank you.”

He smiled down at him. “I hope to see you again, farewell little diplomat.” Ellie turned and walked away, Copper watched as his pace quickened more and more the farther he got.

The tree was quite large and decorated in carvings and odd things that Copper couldn't even recognize. He approached the tree very slowly, having to walk around it a bit as they had come up from the side. His leg still hurt, as well as most of him. Adrenaline was keeping him going now as he came to the side and saw light spilling from an open door. He could smell something odd in the air, drifting out a nearby window.

Slowly he moved under the window towards the door, peaking around the door frame and into the large room. There were all manners of things inside, large masks hung on the wall decorated with paint and feathers, odd sort of tapestry type things draped on the walls and rafters, hanging baskets filled with things that Copper could only imagine and in the center of the room sat a zebra on top of a large platform, staring into a large bubbling cauldron. “Why did you tell the geraffe to leave?” the zebra said without turning around.

Copper startled and shifted to stand more inside the doorway. “I knew he was afraid and I didn't want to make him go through with it.”

“Intaresting. Come in.”

Copper walked in slowly and as he did the door closed behind him. For some reason that didn't seem to surprise him. “Are you Voodoo?”

The zebra looked back at him and grinned at him. Immediately Copper noticed the sharpened teeth, they looked like they had been filed. “I am Voodoo, little diplomat. You are much smalla than I thought you would be. Celestia must have special plans for you.”

He frowned slightly at the zebra as he slowly walked towards him. “Yes, I'm trying to figure it out myself...it's probably just another test...”

“Like your encounta with 'er sista'.” Copper shuddered and closed his eyes, trying not to think about it. Trying to block it from his mind.

“I was told you could help me.” He opened his eyes and the zebra was right in front of him, looking down at him.

“I can 'elp in many ways. And yes, I will 'elp you get 'ome.” There was something odd about the look in his eyes. He was nothing like any of the zebra's he had seen.

Copper couldn't help himself from asking, “What are you?”

The grin never left the zebra's face. “I am Voodoo.”

His brow scrunched slightly as he continued to stare at the zebra. “That's what you're called...who you are and what you are? You're Voodoo?”

“Yes.” The zebra gave him a slight pat on the head as he returned to the boiling cauldron. “I am Voodoo.”

Copper had read about voodoo in some of his books. It was a sort of magic from what Copper had read. “So if you were to die, voodoo would not be possible?”

The zebra looked over his shoulder at Copper, the cauldron lighting his face with a green glow. “I do not die, nor will I die.”

His mind went to Celestia, she had not aged or died either, but that was magic. Voodoo was, according to him, the embodiment of voodoo. “You wont die...because of voodoo?” Copper was trying to get a better look at what was in the cauldron and Voodoo was watching him.

“Yes. As long as voodoo exists, I will not die. And voodoo will exist because I am alive.” It was a very circular argument, but if it were true then Voodoo was some sort of immortal being.

“How?”

“You are a pony full of questions 'e does not want to know the ansa' to.” Copper couldn't tell what was in the cauldron but it bubbled green and gave off an odd light.

“I would not have asked if I didn't want to know the answer,” Copper retorted as he stared at the bubbling ooze.

Voodoo laughed and Copper could hear the sound of wooden bowls clinking throughout the room. “The little diplomat knows not what he asks.”

“No, I don't.” Copper moved away from the cauldron. “So how are you going to get me home?”

“I 'ave sent message to Celestia, she will get you 'ome.”

Copper sank in the spot, she would know that he failed, know that he had come up short and been unable to do his job. That horrible feeling came crashing over him. He felt like he wanted to lay down and cry. “Great...”

The zebra seemed completely oblivious to Copper's sorrow. “For this 'elp, it comes at no cost to you. The bill will go to Celestia,” he said with a chuckle.

That did not make him feel any better. How was he supposed to do his job if nopony would every take him seriously until he was older? He was too small. He was too young. “I hate being a foal.”

If Copper had been looking at Voodoo, he would have noticed the way his ears perked up, the gleam that caught in his eye and the smirk that crossed his face. “Oh? Does the little diplomat not want to be so little?”

He sighed and nodded. “It makes this job impossible...I just...” What he wanted to say was that he wanted to do anything for Celestia. He wanted to live up to her expectations, to be the kind of pony that she seemed to think that he could be. “I just want to do my job...” was what he said instead.

“What would you give?” Copper looked up to find Voodoo standing in front of him again. “What would you give to do your job?”

Copper's brow furrowed as he looked up at Voodoo. “I...I don't know.” He remembered what Mesfa had said. “What would be the price?”

Voodoo grinned at him. “That depends on what you are willing to give up.”

“And I'm saying, that I would need to know the price,” he said with a frown.

“Tsk. The little diplomat is cautious...good.” Voodoo moved over to shelves full of bottles and bags of things, moving them around. “Let me make a suggestion. Let us say...ten years will be your price, for being ten years older.”

Copper was trying to put things together in his head. “Is that how you live forever? Things give you years of their life?”

Voodoo grinned at him. “Given? No. Usually I take from those foolish to make demands of me. This is a special circumstance and I will give you a good deal.”

That explained a lot, but at least his guess had been correct. It was a scary thought, a creature who could steal years and use them themselves. “Thirteen.”

“What?” Voodoo paused in his gathering of supplies.

“Take thirteen years. That will put me just about in my prime. At the point when I'll be old enough that ponies will believe I know what I'm talking about and young enough to do things that I have to.” He sat down, staring at one of the masks on the wall.

“You will owe me one fava' in exchange.”

Copper didn't like the grin on Voodoo's face. But did he have any other choice? This was his best chance. “Deal.”

~

“We discussed a lot of things in his home, waiting for Princess Celestia's people to retrieve me,” Copper said as he looked down at Glass, smiling slightly.

“You gave that zebra thirteen years of you life,” Chrysalis said flatly, almost glaring at him.

“Yes...but it ended up evening out in the end. My mother gave those years back to me, or at least many of them...” He took a deep breath and let it out slow.

“Your mother?” Glass said, her brow wrinkling slightly. She looked over at Chrysalis. “If the Snow Queen is father's mother, does that mean that she is my grandmother?”

Copper chuckled softly and nodded. “That she is... Has there been any sight of her?”

“Every winter,” Celestia said, as she walked into the room. “She's seen wandering days when it snows, as she did in days long past, looking for lost foals. Sorry to interruption, but I just wanted to check in and see how you all were doing.”

“Good afternoon, Princess,” Glass said with a smile.

“We're doing quite fine,” Chrysalis said with a frown.

It was interesting to Copper how much of a difference there was between the two of them in how they saw Celestia. “Actually this is good timing, I had a request to make to you considering my books.”

“Oh?” Celestia moved towards the the bed. “Is it about me having removed many parts of Zebrica from your book? I heard you talking about it.”

“No, I understand why you did that. I wanted to know...if it would be possible to get the story of what happened in the other universe?” Everypony looked at him. “The one where I'm a detective. I want to know what happened there.”

Celestia gave him a smile and nodded. “I believe that I can. Though it will take some time...it takes as long as it would normally to write a book.”

“Perfectly fine,” Copper said with a smile. “I have some traveling to do anyways.”

Glass looked up at him. “Where are you going?”

He ruffled her hair. “We are going on a trip. First, we're going north to see my mother, then to Aquis, followed by-”

“Excuse me?” Chrysalis sat up straight. “Where do you intend to take our daughter?”

It made him feel immensely good that she used the term 'our' when referring to her. “I plan to take her on my trip around the world. I have many ponies and griffons I need to see. Would you rather her stay here, alone, when you return to Fraud Valley?”

Chrysalis actually shifted uncomfortably. “I don't like it.”

“That's fine,” Copper said with a smile at her. “But that doesn't change the fact that she's coming with me, and unless you're going to take her to Fraud Valley, you can't stop me.”

There was a frustrated look on her face and he knew he'd probably regret such an ultimatum, but it was one that he wasn't going to budge on. “Fine,” she said and turned away from him. “Go on your little adventure.”

“I shall see about getting your book written. Twilight will have quite a good time working on it, I'm sure,” Celestia said as she gave a soft laugh and left the room.

“What's our first stop?” Glass was wiggling on the spot. “The Crystal Empire?”

Copper chuckled softly and shook his head. “No, first we're going to Ponyville. I want to see everypony before I start.”

“Oh I've always wanted to go there!” Glass was shifting around. “Can we go now?”

He laughed and looked at Chrysalis. “Would you like to come with us? I know it's a short bit out of the way back to Fraud Valley.”

Chrysalis frowned at him. “I don't think I have a choice since it's on the way.”

He chuckled a bit more. “Then let's go now. There are many places to see and I want to get to it.” The thought of all the ponies he would see got him excited. He would be able to tell Rarity in person what he wanted done with the cloak, if she was there.

“And continue the story on the way there?” Glass said hopefully.

There was a moment he paused, looking down at her. “Yes, I can do that.”

~

Copper coughed and sputtered as he broke the surface. His eyes burned and he splashed as he struggled to swim with his leg. The side sloped upwards, so he was more trudging through the liquid after a moment. The worst part is that he knew the iron taste that had gotten into his mouth and when he managed to open his eyes, his suspicions were confirmed. By the light that spilled down from the trap door he saw the thick red liquid he had landed in.

Then the light suddenly went out and he pressed himself against the wall. What had he just dropped into? Usually under temples and such there were tombs, but this looked more like a mixture of that and a sewer, with slanted floors towards the center and it was overflowing with blood. He coughed and spat, trying to get the taste out of his mouth, but he knew that it was going to be there for several hours at least.

He panted, trying to get his breath back, he couldn't even hear what was above him, it was silent other than the noise he made. He closed his eyes, trying to make them adjust quicker to the darkness. He let his ears do work now as he stood perfectly still. Once the liquid had stopped sloshing from his movement it went dead silent. Except for a soft dripping. He knew it wasn't him dripping, the liquid went up to his chest, there was nothing for it to drip from and he couldn't feel it dripping off of him.

Once he felt satisfied with the adjusting of his eyes he could see quite well. He examined the wall, examining the bioluminescent algae that grew on it. He also found that his side was covered with it as well, as he'd been leaning against the wall. At least he assumed it was an algae, it could be some sort of bacteria for all he knew. But it at least provided enough light to be able to see his surroundings. There were four ways to go, not counting up. His heart rate had finally slowed and he tilted his head from side to side, trying to locate the dripping sound.

After a minute of leaning and tilting, it sounded like it was coming from behind him. He moved slowly, barely moving at to try and keep quiet. Thankfully the path sloped upwards slightly and was only a few hoofs deep when he actually got into the tunnel. He felt nasty, soaked in blood. When I get out of here, I'm going to have a long bath. He continued to try and figure where the dripping was coming from. Or several baths. A thought popped into his head, how is this supposed to kill me? The Priest had sentenced him to death, but so far this was barely dangerous. Was he supposed to starve? But why was there so much blood? Part of him didn't want to find out, another part of him couldn't wait to find out. One thing was for sure, he was going to hate flushing the blood out of his leg.

There was another crossroad coming up and he slowed even further, not liking the idea of having to figure out the source of the dripping once again. He leaned slowly and looked down the left passage where the dripping noise was obviously coming from. There in the distance, he could see a light. An actual light of some kind, like a lantern. He was about to call out and then immediately remembered that he was supposed to be dying down here. Slowly he made his way towards it, it bobbed oddly as if moving from one side of the tunnel then slowly to the other.

He could see nothing holding the light, just a light bobbing from side to side with the dripping coming from that direction. He stopped when he came to another crossroad. He could not figure out why the tunnels were so twisty and numerous. He looked left and right, but could see nothing. When he looked back, the light had stopped moving. There was an intense feeling of something staring at him. “Who's there?” he said, not shouting but loud enough hopefully for them to hear him. There was a sinking feeling in his chest, the feeling that his stomach was being tied in knots. His heart was racing, there was something wrong. Very wrong. Immediately he turned and ran, completely forgetting the urge to be quiet.

With a glance back he saw the light rushing towards him, bright. The dripping had been joined by an odd slapping. He couldn't tell if it was gaining on him, but he didn't bother worrying and focused on running. There was no sound of splashing behind him, just a sickening slapping noise and the dripping. He slid around the corner, flapping his wing hard to take the sharp left. He was thankful for the dip of the crossroad, even if he got another mouth full of blood, he felt a woosh of something over his head. For a second he caught a partial glimpse of what it was and all he could see were two large eyes and sharp teeth behind a bright light.

He ran again once as soon as he had gotten out of deeper water and as soon as he had, he was aware of a massive thing behind him. It was impossible to see the whole thing, but he didn't care. It was not something he wanted anything to do with. Thankfully it struggled to turn the corner, but he saw large tentacles slap against the wall, one of which hit the blood just beside him. What he saw reminded him of an angler fish, which he had seen once in Aquis, and an octopus. The dripping was loud and quick. It dawned on him that it was making the noise. He managed to get quite a good distance before the slapping began to catch up with him.

The next cross section came up and he took a right, pausing once he was far enough down to make sure that it was still chasing him. He shifted slightly, it was large and fast, if not a bit awkward. But he wondered how intelligent it was. Was it trying to cut him off? Get ahead of him? He glanced back behind him and then moved quickly towards the crossroad and then stopped abruptly. Another glance back. It either gave up or was going around. A loud slap far behind him made him look back and he saw the light bob into view.

Again he started running, taking a right and sprinting down the tunnel. At the next he took a left, trying to get distance from it and hoping that there was only one. He stopped when he came to another cross section and realized he was lost. The crossroads were not evenly spaced and were scattered sometimes densely, other times far apart. “Who designed this damn city?” Are they following streets above? That was the only explanation he could think of. His eyes scanned the ceiling, but all of the tunnels looked the same. And what the hell was that thing?

This world had some terribly fearsome creatures it seemed, if that was something that they could just...use as a form of execution. But it did not explain the blood. Then suddenly he heard the slapping behind him and started running. He just had to keep sprinting and hope that he could find a way out, or a small place to fit into. Which is what he spotted in the wall. He stopped and glanced back before looking into the hole. It went deep, that was all that he could tell. There was a lot of the algae in there as well and just enough room that he could breath. It was his only option at this point, besides continuing to run, and he quickly began making his way down the hole. At the very least it would not be able to follow him down. Judging from the creature's reach that he'd experienced when trying to turn, it wouldn't take long for him to actually get away.

The dripping sound got loud, echoing down the the small tunnel Copper was using. He struggled a moment to turn around in the cramped space, having to dive under the blood in order to manage it. Shink. He held his leg tucked back, the soft light of the algae glinting off the blade. It looked like a large snake was swimming towards him slowly, searchingly. It must be tracking me via the movement of the blood, he thought as he lifted the blade slightly and began moving backwards. It's either intelligent, or it's got very good instincts...let's teach it something new. He stabbed at the tentacle. The small tunnel was filled with a screeching that hurt Copper's head. He kept backing away, a second tentacle came in after him and he stabbed it as well. It did not immediately retreat, thrashing and splashing around, which gave Copper time to stab it several more times.

Suddenly he found he could not stab it anymore as he'd moved far enough out of it's reach. He retracted the blade with a shnicht. He struggled again to move to face the other direction and continued moving down the tunnel. Not that smart it seems. He wondered what was actually at the end of this. Copper had not spent much time in sewers over the course of his life, so he was not sure what to expect. The most comforting sign, was the fact that ahead he could hear voices.

~

The train came to a stop, Copper and Glass disembarked, followed by quite a number of ponies. He had not realized it immediately, but his audience had grown from two ponies, to over a dozen during the course of the train ride. “That sounded horrifying,” somepony said.

“I will admit I was pretty scared,” he said as he took a deep breath. He looked down at Glass, who was staring around, wide eyed. She had listened to his story, but she had watched the scenery. “Have you ever been outside of Canterlot, Glass?”

She shook her head. “No...I haven't.”

He smiled and ruffled her mane. “Well, we have a lot to see and lots of time to see it.” He stretched a bit as he looked back at the train. The train ride to the Crystal Empire would be much longer and he was looking forward to it. But right now, he wanted to see Ponyville. See the home that he had left behind. “Let's go,” he said with a chuckle and then looked around for Chrysalis.

“She's not getting off the train,” Glass said with a frown.

“Ah...well, at least she went this far with us.” He spotted her through one of the windows of the train and gave her a wave.

She returned it halfheartedly and then turned away from the window, Copper assumed that she went back to sleep. Apparently she had not found his story interesting. “Copper Feather!” Copper turned to see a pony rushing towards him, with a camera and a hat. Copper knew a reporter when he saw one. “How did you get back after going through the rift? Now that your back, do you plan on coming back to live in Ponyville? What was your reaction to finding out that you had a daughter? What-”

Copper held up his hoof and the reporter went silent. “You can have an answer to one question. I'm quite busy and there are things I need to do.”

The reporter looked extremely frustrated as he tried to work out what question he wanted answered most. “What are your plans now that you have returned?”

He gave him a smile and continued walking. “I'm going to travel the world and find out what's changed in the past ten years. Past that, I plan to write the final book of my life.” Copper could see more questions practically exploding out of the pony. “And here's something that will get a lot of attention.” He leaned in conspiratorially towards the reporter. “You know those books about me? I wrote them.”

The reporter stared blankly into the distance as they walked off. “Bye bye,” Glass said as they passed.

Copper chuckled softly, looking around. “Let's continue our adventure, little Glass,” he said. Not much had changed from what he could see. Without thinking, he found himself walking home. He wondered what pony he would run into first, or if he would have to go and find somepony. All he knew is that he was happy to be back, and couldn't wait to see his home and- “They turned my house into a museum?”

6: Museum Blues

There was a sign reading, 'The Copper Feather Museum of Technology' at the beginning of a little path. It ran past his failed attempts at a garden, which somepony had quite expertly undone and then done better, up to two large doors. The building was drastically different, both in size and shape, but it was still the same color and in the same spot. Glass had already rushed down the path, excited to visit such a place. “They turned my house into a museum,” he muttered as he slowly followed after her. That had been his home. It had been where he lived for a time. A place that he had planned to return to, to live in once again, and they had turned it into a museum.

“Oh! They're still open!” Glass said excitedly, running back to him. “We can go in, right?”

He smiled down at her. “Of course. We came all this way, didn't we?”

They went in, a soft bell chiming as the door opened and a familiar pony, who was reading a book, was sitting at a nearby desk that read 'Reception.' “Good evening, welcome to the Copper Feather Museum of Technology. Please enjoy your stay, but please be aware that we are closing soon.” She didn't even look up.

Copper couldn't help but smile. Even if it had been such a long time, he would never forget the look of this pony. “Hello Scootaloo.” She looked up and immediately froze in her spot. “So they turned the place into a museum?” Copper saw that it was full of many things, a lot of them things he built. Over to his other side, there was his workstation, perfectly preserved and just as messy as he had left it.

“C-Copper Feather!” She leaped over the desk and rushed hurriedly up to him. “Oh gosh it is such an honor to meet you. I-” She cleared her throat and calmed down a bit. “I'm quite a fan.”

“Oh?” He looked at her a moment, taking note of her flustered look.

“I just...wow. You're like, barely older than me. How's that possible?” At least she was observant when she wanted to be, but despite what she had said, Copper knew that he was older than her by quite a bit.

“Time travel,” he said simply. He looked around for Glass, who had apparently wandered off.

“Ohhh. That's mentioned quite a bit in the books about you. I- uhm...” Again she shifted slightly. “They're some of my favorites.”

Copper looked past her at the book on the table. “Is this one of them?” he said as he moved past her towards the table. “I've not had a chance to actually read them and I'm quite curious-”

She was around him, over the table and had tucked the book under the desk in a sound that could only be described as woosh. Before Copper could even say another word. “N-no. It's not. I have the entire series, some of them part of the first printings.” She was incredibly fast.

“All right, all right.” He chuckled softly as he looked around the large room. “You'll have to let me look at them.”

“Oh! All my copies are upstairs.” She was once again over the table and walking beside him. “C'mon, I'll let you have a look.”

His brow furrowed a moment as he looked around. “Glass?” He called and saw her poke out from behind a display. “Ah, there you are.”

“Whoa. Princess Glass is here, too?” Scootaloo said as she moved over to Glass. “Wow. Ponies thought that you couldn't leave Canterlot.”

“I wasn't allowed to leave,” Glass said with a frustrated face. “Princess Celestia and my mother wouldn't let me.”

Scootaloo looked at her a moment and then at Copper. “How come?”

Copper shrugged. “Honestly I'm sure for political reasons or something. It was never explained to me, but I've stolen her for my trip around the world.” He smiled down at Glass. It truly felt like he had stolen her away.

“Wow...where are you going?”

He chuckled softly. “Everypony keeps asking me that. It's like everypony wants to come along.”

She fidgeted a bit. “Sorry. It's just...you're one of the coolest ponies ever.”

“More like the coolest pony ever,” Glass said with a smile.

“Well, I think there are plenty of ponies cooler than me,” he said with a chuckle. “Quite a lot of them, in fact.” He looked down at the grin on Glass's face and ruffled her mane. “Now then, I'd like to have a look at these books.”

“Oh! R-right.” Scootaloo turned and walked past the many displays.

Copper recognized many of the things as things he had made, or had a hoof in making, and many things that he had nothing to do with. Hanging on the wall he saw all his different versions of the Flyer, all recreated. There was one of the bomber's from The False God hanging over a console, all the controls just as he had left them. The sight sent a shiver down his spine. “What's this?” Glass was beside him.

He had not realized he'd stopped walking. “It's the control panel of The False God.”

“Ooooh.” She got as close as she could to it. “Was it hard to fly?”

“Not really.” Copper walked around it, following after Scootaloo. “Airships have a similar control scheme. It's not simple, but if you learn to fly one, you can fly any of them. The difference with The False God was it's size. The controls were slow to respond...not like God. The False God was sloppy...done quick. God was a work of art, a true masterpiece. One that I wish that I could come close to achieving.”

“You'll make something better,” Glass said with a smile and Copper ruffled her mane again.

The staircase was in front of him now. Immediately he recognized it, each step exactly the same as he remembered them. He stared at them a moment before he began to make his way up them. The grain of wood was the same and the door at the top of the stairs hadn't changed either. If it wasn't for all the stuff that did not belong to him, his room looked exactly the same as well. “So they kept this the same?” He walked slowly into the room, Scootaloo was at his bookshelf, which had been mostly empty when he had last saw it, now it was full.

“Yeah. The place started out really small, with just some random stuff you had, but when it got more popular as the books came out it had to be expanded. I bet now that you're back, it'll jump in popularity again.” She pushed a large stack of books towards him. “There, all nine books.”

Each book was fairly thick and some of them looked very old but very well taken care of. “Which one is your favorite, Scootaloo?”

She shifted a bit uncomfortably. “Uhm...the last one is my favorite, Crossed Gears.”

Copper pulled the book that was on top, looking at the cover. In large copper lettering it said 'Crossed Gears' and for the author's name there was simply a copper colored feather. “And no one put that together?” he muttered as he opened the book and began skimming through it. “I see why it's your favorite.” He saw the words 'Detective' and 'Scootaloo' quite a number of times. This is when the other world had come into play.

“Oh yeah, that's the one that has you in it,” Glass said with a grin. “I like that one a lot, too.”

“Someday I'll have to sit down and read them all.” Copper closed the book and grabbed another, skimming through it. It was odd seeing his life written down. “See what I wrote about myself...hopefully I didn't paint myself in too poorly a light.” He saw the scrunched up face of confusion. He hoped that the reporter would follow up with what he had said and spread the word so that he would not have to continually explain it. “I wrote these books, technically. Princess Celestia used some kind of magic to do it.”

“Wow...so then...that's how you sign?” She was looking at the front of one of the books.

“No. I've always signed things CoFeath.” He saw the look in her eyes and he couldn't help but smile. “Would you like to own the first ever signed copy of my series?”

She nodded enthusiastically and rushed over to his bedside desk, pulling out ink and quill. He was quite taken aback by her speed for the second time. She had returned in only moments, waiting patiently. “Are you going to write more?”

“At least one more.” He began signing each book in turn on the inside of the cover. He realized as he signed the ninth one, he would probably have to do this a lot.

“You're like a celebrity,” Glass said with a giggle.

Copper chuckled as well. “Well I suppose I am, despite what I think and feel, evidence is quite to the contrary. I have a popular book series written about me, many ponies apparently idolize me and there's a lot of ponies that hate me.” He blew softly over his final signature to help it dry quicker.

“What made you do your signature like that?” Glass said as she examined it.

Again he chuckled. “To be honest? I could never do the two p's properly so I just mashed it into the other and just decided to end it after the h. But I made it messy when Princess Celestia warned me that ponies might try and forge my signature.” Glass nodded in response.

Scootaloo seemed extremely excited, looking at the books. “Wow...everypony is gonna be jealous.”

“Don't tell anypony I signed them till I leave,” Copper moved over to one of the bookshelves. “Otherwise I'll never get out of Ponyville.”

She nodded. “Of course. I'm sure you're really busy.”

“Not really...” His books were still there, ones that he had kept. Apparently his taste in literature, what little there was of it, was not museum worthy. “Have you read all these?”

“Oh yes! So have a lot of ponies, actually... There's a book list downstairs because ponies wanted to read what you read. There are some really stalker-ish type ponies out there...”

“I'm sure there are. Is my notebook downstairs?” He ran his hoof over a few of his books. Admittedly he had not read them all, but they had been gifts.

“Oh, uhm...no. Princess Celestia has that in a vault in Canterlot. Somepony tried to steal it a while ago, not like they could have read it.” Scootaloo was keeping her distance from Copper, admiring her new collection of very rare books.

“There are ways. My code wasn't indecipherable. Gears was much tougher than mine ever was.” He moved from the shelf over to the window, it still overlooked the same part of the town, and off in the distance he could see the clock tower. He did never manage to convert that into his workshop like he had planned. But he had thought he had plenty of time to do it. Years, not months. “Would you mind if we stayed here?”

Scootaloo sat up straight. “I-I...of course! It-it is your home, after all.”

He chuckled softly and placed his forehead against the glass. “Yours too apparently. But that's fine. It's not to my tastes anymore.”

Glass was sitting beside him, looking up at him. “Would you continue your story?”

Copper smiled at her. “Of course. Looks like you'll get a sneak peak at my next book, Scootaloo.”

~

There was a faint light ahead, brighter than that of the algae on the walls. It was pouring down through a grate in the ceiling. As he approached it the voices became clear enough to understand. “-don't care why it's making it. I'm just saying that I've never heard it make a noise like that.”

“Well, it's moving a lot...must be hunting something.”

“Something that doesn't agree with it.”

There were two figures above the grate, talking. Copper could barely make them out through the bright light that was behind them. It wasn't daylight, some kind of lamp, but it was enough to obscure his vision. “You think that something actually attacked the thing? What would be stupid enough to do that?”

Copper frowned up through the grate at the two as he let his eyes adjust. “I know a scream of pain when I hear one and that was one,” the left one said.

“And what makes you so sure that was it screaming in pain?” the one on the right said.

“I've never heard an animal make that kind of noise, not on either side of the chasm.” Copper made a mental note that there was a chasm somewhere near the city.

“So that immediately makes you the expert?” He saw as they both flexed their tattered wings defensively. That must be how they sentence their own kind...shred their wings and drop them down.

“Well what do you think it was, if you're such an expert?” They were in some sort of underground room and he could hear many more of them move about.

The right one hesitated a moment as he thought. “Well, whatever it was is dead. Had to be a really stupid thing to try and go up against the Blood Horror.”

Blood Horror? Copper thought to himself, watching the two of them. “Oh I'm in agreement with you there. Out of it's mind, I'm sure.” He was starting to get fed up with being insulted.

“Just a plain idiot.”

Copper cleared his throat. “If you two gentlecolts don't mind, the idiot would like to not be neck deep in blood.” Both of them leaped several hooves and he heard the clatter of them scattering. He frowned slightly and put his hooves on the grate, planting his legs on either side of his little tunnel as he pushed up. The grate was heavy, but he could lift it. “Honestly,” Copper said as he climbed out of the hole and shook, splattering the floor around him with blood. “What in Equestria does a pony have to do around here to get a little help?” He looked at where they had gone as he pushed the grate back over the hole. The room was dry and full of bat ponies. Dozens of them.

There was a lot of whispers as they watched him. “Who are you?” one of them said harshly.

Copper didn't like that tone. “My name is Copper Feather.” Shink. “And I am not in a good mood. So I'm just going to sit here a moment, and all of you,” he pointed with the blade and they all recoiled, “Are all going to stay over there.” Shnikt. He sat heavily against the wall, taking deep breaths. The air only had the faintest hints of blood here. He held his leg up, letting blood pour from it. His leg had not been built to be water tight and it was an oversight that he regretted at this point.

Now he took in his surroundings, there were three passageways, two of them he could see lead back into the sewer, dipping downward back into the blood. The third lead into a similar room to this. All of the bat ponies had quickly gone down that tunnel when he had sat down. “Who are you?” A very large bat pony walked slowly into the room. He was twice the size of a regular bat pony, at least. The way that he held himself reminded Copper of Celestia.

“As I said...Copper Feather, your majesty.” Copper knew a king when he saw one.

It seemed to catch the other pony off guard. “I have not heard that name, nor seen something like you in my lands before.”

“That is because I come from another world. I tore a rift between our worlds in order to save my own. My plan had been to pull my problem from my world into yours, because it could not be killed in my world.” Copper was feeling very tired, running through the blood had been exhausting.

“And did you?” The king approached Copper without fear, sitting down in front of him.

“Kill it? Yes. But apparently you have outlawed the use of magic in this world and so I was sentenced to death by what you call the Blood Horror.”

“I did not outlaw it, that was the Priest.” Copper saw how his wings were tattered as well. “Our God the Other declared that I was going to betray him and needed to die.”

“The Other is no god. It is a being of death and slaughter that seeks to destroy every single living thing.” That seemed to catch the king off guard as well. “It is what I saved my world from.”

“I...I had thought that the Priest had just...” He rubbed his forehead. “This explains so much... Is it possible to kill the Other?”

“I'm not sure... I know you can drive it from a world but-” Copper stopped, looking at the king sitting across from him. “It's too late for your world.”

There was an obvious look of confusion on his face. “Too late? What do you mean too late?”

Copper had to think how to best explain it. “It is something the Other said to me before it left. It said it had already won, that this world was over. Your Priest has no power anymore, the Other has left this world because it's already...doomed.”

“But...” Copper could see the pony trying to figure it out, trying to find the angle. “You managed it.”

“The Other had not won in my world. There was still a fight going on.” Copper was watching the king carefully. It was never good to be the pony delivering the bad news. “It's already won here. There's no magic here, and the world is dying if not already dead. I can feel it and you can, too. You're just blinding yourself, as the Priest is doing.”

He watched as the king deflated, shoulders sagged and his head drooped. A bat pony walked cautiously towards them, with the look of somepony who'd drawn the short straw. “My king? Is it true?” Copper did not take his eyes from the pony in front of him. “Is he the Prophet?

Copper's brow wrinkled. He had a vague notion of hearing that during his sentencing. It was something that had been whispered. The look the king gave him caused Copper to lean more against the wall. “If he is not the Prophet, then there is not going to be a Prophet.”

“And what is that title mean?” Copper did not want another title.

“The Prophet is somepony the Other spoke of. He is the one who will come at the End Times and lead us to better times. But it was only something spoken of briefly, something the Other changed not long after...but once the end times began, talk of the Prophet began again.” The king looked back at the one who had come. “Gather up food and water, and make up a place for Copper to sleep. I'm sure he is quite tired.”

The pony practically ran. “Perhaps it was a last ditch effort by the one with no name...” Copper muttered and the king turned to him. “The thing that fights the Other...it has shown that it has a lot of power...maybe it brought me here on purpose...” Copper couldn't imagine having that much forethought. To think in terms of worlds and all those that lived there. “Bastard...” Now he had to figure out a lot more. “But a long rest sounds good. That...Blood Horror is something straight out of a nightmare.” Nightmare...

“It is something the Other brought forth. It was born from the blood of those that did not believe in the Other. They hunt down those who do not believe and let the Blood Horror have them. It drains them and leaves nothing but a corpse.” Copper saw as a hesitant bat pony moved into the room, using it's wing to carry a tray. It could hardly be called a tray, but it's what it was being used for. On it Copper saw an odd assortment of mushrooms and...a slab of meat.

Copper stared at the slab of meat as a basin of water was laid beside him. Surprisingly it was clean. He leaned in to drink, but as soon as his muzzle touched it he saw it turn red with blood. He sighed and dunked his face, washing off the blood. Again his attention turned to the meat. The awful look of it, the violent looking red and the leaking red juices. “This is...” He cleared his throat, recognizing what the meat was from. “I do not eat meat.”

The king's brow furrowed slightly. “It is all we have to eat aside from mushrooms.”

“And I will eat those,” he said as he sniffed at them carefully before tasting one. They smelled like mushrooms he'd eaten in the past and he'd not enjoyed that experience, but as he ate them they were the best thing he'd ever tasted.

“You should not be picky. You need your strength to-”

“I will not be criticized by cannibals!” Copper snapped. It had been something Copper had stuck with even through the worst of times. “I would rather starve than eat that.” He poured the water from the basin over him, focusing the water down into his leg. Crystal metal didn't rust, but he wanted to flush out as much of the blood as possible.

“Food is not something to be picky over,” was the kings response, slightly taken aback by Copper's outburst.

“There are consequences to eating each other, even in desperate times.” It was something Copper refused to budge on. “The meat of your fellow ponies, and those that you see on an equal level to your own, whether they be your family or neighbor should be put to rest, not devoured.”

The other pony rushed off when Copper was done speaking, Copper hoped to get more water. “How are we to survive? It's all we have down here...”

“You find a way, or starve. These mushrooms are more than enough to survive off,” he said as he ate another.

The king had no response. From the other room, Copper heard the pony cry out, “The Prophet says we are to not eat meat!” Which was followed by a large commotion and several ponies looking down the hall at him.

“Could I get more water?” Copper called out and there was a clambering of movement. “Thank you in advance.” He ate a few more mushrooms. Several basin's of water were rushed into the room and laid around him. Copper used one to finish washing and then drank from another; not the bath he had wanted, but it was close enough. “Judging from the smell and taste of it, you collect the rain water?”

Again the king looked taken aback. “Yes. You can tell that by the taste?”

“I have lived off of rain water before; it has a sort of earthy taste to it. A bit like eating dirt.” He drank deeply. The taste of mushrooms and dirt was much better than that of the blood he had been forced to taste.

~

Glass yawned and then quickly shook her head, trying to get rid of her tiredness. Copper chuckled and ruffled her mane. “Yes, I think it's gotten quite late. Let's call it a night, what do you say Scoo-”

Scootaloo was staring at him wide eyed. Her expression of complete rapture. “Late?” she said, blinking several times.

“Yes...as in sleep would be nice?” He shifted away from her slightly. Apparently Glass and Chrysalis were not very good examples of an audience.

“Sorry.” Scootaloo got up and moved to the bed, quickly adjusting things. “I'll...uhm...go and sleep downstairs.”

“Don't bother,” Copper said as he got up with a stretch. “I think I need a walk.” He lifted Glass up and gave her a slight toss onto the bed.

She let out a small, “Eep!” Her wings flapping a few times before she landed.

“I'm not going to be getting any sleep with how I feel right now.” He made his way towards the stairs. “Goodnight to the both of you. Sleep well, my little Glass.” He headed down the stairs and slowly through the museum. There was so much that he wanted to do in such a short time, but right now he wanted to be outside.

The air was cold and crisp, it was late fall. It wouldn't be long till winter came and blanketed Ponyville in snow. He wasn't sure where he was heading, but he just wanted some time to himself. Some time to think and actually plan his trip. There were so many ponies he wanted to see. He looked up at the Carousel Boutique in the distance, which was a beacon of light.

Copper supposed it was a good a place as any to start. Apparently Rarity was still awake and busy working. He wanted his bowtie back. It was odd, looking at the buildings as he walked. He felt like he knew them all so well, but it was distant in his mind, as though he'd merely dreamt all of them. There was a moment where he hesitated at the door, thinking of times long ago. He knocked before he tried the door, finding it open. The inside had become much busier, crowded with gowns and dresses as well as a few suits. What threw him off the most was the pony who was coming to open the door. His brow wrinkled slightly at the off white pony who was most certainly not Rarity. “Oh, I'm sorry.” He looked around again. “Is Miss Rarity in?”

“I'm afraid she is occupied,” there was a certain tone to her voice that was supposed to bluntly state he was not about to see Rarity.

“Ah, that's unfortunate.” The pony had not come any closer since he'd opened the door, but the look on her face was expectant. Copper felt like it was necessary to explain why he was there. “You see, my name is Copper Feather and she has my bowtie and cloak.” Her eyes widened slightly. “I was hoping to discuss the return of both. Has she been able to recreate the cloak's material?”

“I-I...uhm... You're the Copper Feather?” the pony asked, obviously it was a lot to take in.

Copper was starting to get frustrated that not everypony knew who he was again. It was odd how he went from being content at that fact, to being annoyed that everypony knew who he was and now annoyed that everypony didn't. “Yes, that Copper Feather. If Miss Rarity is too busy, I'll just come by tomorrow.”

“No, wait. I'll go...see if she's available.” He watched as the pony quickly rushed through a door.

There was a slight chill down his spine and he moved into the room without thinking and closed the door without looking back. It was an oddly intense feeling somewhere off behind him. He walked slowly around the room, examining the sort of fashion that was current. Apparently it was spring colors in fall? Not much lace, but a lot of ribbons. He was never good at fashion. All he knew is that he was personally fond of lace... “Copper!” He turned to see Rarity coming through where the other pony had gone. “I was not expecting to see you around here.”

“Well, I used to live here. Er...around here. And...well it would seem I don't anymore.” He continued to look around the room. How she could ever keep all this fashion stuff in his head amazed him.

“Ah, so you have seen the museum. Please, come this way. Coco is preparing tea as we speak,” Rarity said as she quickly moved off into the other room.

Copper followed her. “So you have a partner in fashion, it would seem?”

“Oh of course. I couldn't possibly keep up with it all on my own. Not with everypony from Trotland, to Equestria, to Eagland wanting my designs.” Copper had never been in this room before, it was a sort of back room with work tables and such.

“Ah so you must have your hooves full-”

“Oh my yes,” she said with a slight clapping of her hooves. “It's marvelous. I'm constantly going to places I had only dreamed of visiting, viewing new designs and talking with other fashionistas and other designers, some of whom had met you oddly enough.” Copper's mind flashed to some of the many more...colorful griffons and ponies head had met. “And they were-”

“Tea's ready, Rarity.” The pony who was Coco carried in a tray. A tray that Copper had seen a long time ago.

“Still the same tea set,” Copper said as he looked it over. “Some things never change...” He could see Coco shift uncomfortably under his gaze. “Anyways. I was coming by to ask for my bowtie back.”

“Oh!” Rarity set down her teacup, not having taken a sip yet as far as Copper could tell. “Of course. I'm afraid I was unable to get another bubblestone, they're quite rare this far outside of Aquis, as you know...but I made a special little holder that'll fit one perfectly when you get another.”

Copper smiled as he saw his bowtie float over to him. “Thank you. The bubblestone it had was useless anyways. Even with it being cracked, it had no magic left.”

Rarity returned to her cup of tea. “I was not aware that their magic ever ran out.”

“Oh, it doesn't. It's...well it's a long story, one you'll have to read about in the next book I write.” Copper began to put on the bowtie and immediately felt it tie itself. “Thank you, Miss Rarity.”

“There's going to be another book?” Coco said as she placed a teacup in front of Copper.

“Oh yes. The last one, hopefully. I'm quite hoping that my life turns boring after this last adventure of mine...” He drank the tea rather carefully. It had been a while since he had had a hot drink and it was very good tea. An Eagland brand if Copper was any guess. “Who knows if that'll ever happen...”

“I've always wondered who the author was...” Rarity said as she sipped her tea. “Of course, I've had my suspicions...”

“Well, then I'd read tomorrow's paper,” Copper said before taking another drink. Many ponies sipped tea, but Copper didn't if he could help it. “And yes, it is true.”

There were confused looks from the two ponies in the room. “All right...that's fairly cryptic...”

“Well I got quite bothered telling everypony, so I told a journalist pony yesterday. Biggest scoop of his life, I'd imagine.” He finished his tea and then stood up with a smile. “Now, if you will excuse me, ladies...there's one more pony I need to speak with before the night is over.” He turned and then stopped. “Ah, and about the cloak. How goes recreating the material?”

Rarity blinked and then smiled. “Oh quite well, but it's going to take a bit more time. The material is...oddly made. Some kind of tree bark.”

“Interesting. I was quite curious how it had been made myself...” He walked slowly, Rarity followed him.

“You're going to be all right, right?”

Copper looked at her and gave her a smile. There was an odd feeling he got from the look of concern on her face. “Of course. I always am in the end.”

~

The lights were all out on the lower levels, but that was no concern for Copper. He had climbed buildings before and this one had quite a lot of hoof holds that made it quite easy. Of course the question of why he had to climb, and couldn't just knock, had crossed his mind, but he didn't want to wake anypony. Besides, what if she had moved? Then he would have looked foolish for waking everypony. Then again, he felt foolish for climbing a building for no real reason.

But when he glanced in the window and saw the familiar cotton candy floof painting something on a large banner, he knew he'd came to the right place. He knocked on the very large window and she turned with a confused but excited look. She bounded over to the window and opened it. “Hey Pinkie,” Copper said with a smile and it was returned with a large grin. “Wanna throw a party?”

“Ohmygoshgollygoodnessit'sCopper! Whendidyougethere?” Copper braced himself as she nearly tackled him off the building. “It'sbeensuchalongtime! We'veallmissedyousomuch!”

“It's good to see you too, Pinkie...it really is.” He chuckled softly as he struggled to get inside the room, so as to not be dangling off the roof. He felt it had been worth the climb in order to see Pinkie Pie's face first hoof.

She suddenly held him back and looked him up and down. “You don't look any different!”

Copper chuckled softly. “Yes I do, Pinkie. It's just been...not as long.”

“But you're so yooooung!” she said, still grinning.

“And you're so ooooold,” he retorted, sticking his tongue out at her. There was something about Pinkie that always brought out his foal side.

But they laughed all the same. “I'm sosuperduperhappy to see you!” She gasped loudly. “Who knows you're back?!”

“Well...” He had to think about it a moment. “Twilight and Rarity...Scootaloo, and Coco...some ponies at the train station probably saw-”

“Then nopony knows your back?!” She bounced excitedly back and forth, running to a cupboard, which exploded in confetti when she opened it. “Then it's time for a super welcome back party!”

“That's what I was hoping for, actually. I'd really like a party right now, and Glass is here, too, and I know she'd enjoy one of your parties.” He watched as she bounced back and forth and piled things into bags and onto the floor. “And since I missed your 'Not at the Gala' party, I figure I'd have to go and make sure that I get one.” He was glad that she didn't seem to find it weird that he'd climbed the building.

“Of course! There's so many reasons to have parties and you coming back is the a reallyreallyreallyreally good reason to have a super splendiferous party!” Pinkie was pushing bags and filling balloons faster than Copper could keep track of. She may have gotten older, but it seemed nopony could slow her down.

“Good.” He took a deep breath, looking out over Ponyville. “I need a good party.” He took a slow, deep breath. He'd been through far too much in the past few years and coming back was like flying high speed and then slamming into the ground. There was no slow down, just a sudden stop excitement.

She was suddenly in front of him, staring at him. It was the kind of look that gave Copper an uneasy feeling. He had only gotten it from Pinkie a few times, the look that she wasn't just the fluffy goofball everypony thought. “How long were you gone?” she said with her head tilted to the side.

He chuckled softly. “It was only two years for me. Two very, very long years...but nothing compared to the ten that passed here.” She gave a knowing nod as she moved back to gathering supplies. “I'm sure a lot has changed and I missed a lot. But you haven't changed at all...” It was very comforting. “Still the lovable bouncy fluff I came to know.”

“Ya-huh! And I throw the bestest parties ever!” She picked up several bags. “Now, let's get to work!”

7: A Missed Life

Cupcakes. Copper wasn't sure how many he had eaten, but he had not had one in...too long. It had been a party that he had enjoyed, even if the entire thing had flown by in a blur. There were new ponies and old ponies, all of whom he was more than happy to see and speak with. Bits of lives correlating into the life of a town. Unfortunately it had not done as he had hoped. It did not make him feel better.

All it was was the life that he had missed out on. Years that he could have spent with these ponies, ponies that he had known at one point in his life but might as well have been strangers. Familiar strangers, but strangers none the less. The party made him feel more apart from the world than he had before, but it was still good. If anything, it was worth it for the simple look on Glass' face. The joy of truly being at a party. He remembered his first true party, that lifetime ago in that far off place that had once been his new home.

Now he didn't belong here. He was not a pony anymore, he was simply a legend. A myth. It was a sobering experience to see first hoof what became of his legacy. What had become of the ponies that he was forced to leave.

He rubbed his face before biting into another cupcake. He had gone to a quiet little place to collect his thoughts. Everpony seemed to have something important to say to him, to tell him that they had missed him, or that they were glad that he was all right. Which he was. He was fine. Just like he always was. Just like he would always be.

Glass was off talking with ponies, having the time of her life. He had to remind himself that this had been for her, not for him. There had been this aching feeling to make sure that she was happy and seeing her like she was now made it worth the thoughts that had crept into his head. Just to see her smile and laugh.

“Copper?” He looked over to see Twilight, who smiled at him. “Enjoying the party?”

“In my own way.” He gave her a soft smile before looking back at Glass. “She's sure enjoying herself.”

“Well it's her first time outside of Canterlot, and the first party she's been to that wasn't some sort of royal get together.” She took a seat beside him.

“Thank you. For taking care of her. I can tell from the way she looks at you, you've really been there for her.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Of course. We all have.” She paused, “Queen Chrysalis has as well, in her own way.”

“Oh I know. Chrysalis has her own way of doing things.”

“I was...actually surprised that she let you walk out of Canterlot with Glass.”

There was a soft breeze blowing and Copper ran a hoof over his mane. “Well to be honest, I stole her.”

Twilight gave him a confused look. “Really?”

“Well, Chrysalis would have preferred she stay in Canterlot, but there was no way that I was going to do that and there was no question of me leaving her there. What sort of father would appear after such a long time, just to leave again?” He looked up at the sky at the few clouds that were lazily drifting through the air.

“Good point,” she said with a smile.

There was a soft silence that washed over them; a comfortable one. It was a while before Copper actually spoke again, “So, a museum.”

“Huh?” She had been gazing at the crowd. “Oh, yes. That was the Mayor's idea. Everypony knew you hated statues so she offered the idea of a museum.”

He smiled a bit and chuckled. “Yes. I think I would have been more upset at a statue.”

“Well, we asked Princess Celestia and she said it was a wonderful idea. She's...actually visited it a few times. Everytime she comes to Ponyville she makes a point to at least pass by.”

He wasn't sure what his insides were trying to do but he did not enjoy it. It made his heart raise while at the same time his stomach churned in an odd way. “I'm sure it brings in a lot of tourism.”

Twilight smiled and nodded. “Oh yes, quite a lot. Part of the funds it brings in go towards it's upkeep and expansion. They are actually considering adding another wing.”

He chuckled again, shaking his head. “I know it may look like I did a lot, but most of the museum isn't mine as it is. What more are they going to add?”

“Oh there are quite a lot of things that have happened in Griflon. New technologies. Since griffons can't use magic, more and more of them seem to be turning to technology.”

Copper nodded, smiling. “Well, that is a good thing. Magic needs to be something for everypony, but since we can't do that, we turn to technology.”

“Is that why you worked so hard on your designs?”

“I suppose so. I just wanted everypony to be...on more equal ground.” He watched as Glass laughed at some joke that he couldn't hear.

“And so that you can fly again?”

He closed his eyes and let out a slow sigh. “I've given up on that.”

Her brow furrowed. “But...I thought that was your dream.”

“It was for a time. I thought I learned a lot in two years, but I learned more about myself in a few minutes than I had in those two years, just looking at her.” Glass had spotted him and waved.

He waved back. “And so you're going to just...give up on your dreams?”

“Twilight.” He turned to her, smiling slightly. “I don't want anything more than to make sure that Glass is happy. Chrysalis as well, but she is intent on avoiding and ignoring me so...I will take what I can, in the time that I can.”

Glass was making her way over to them now. “You really do love them,” she said with a smile.

“What are you doing over here?” Glass asked as she stood in front of Copper.

“Talking,” he said with a smile. “As I am known to do. Are you having fun?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Oh yes! There's so many ponies here that know me that I've never seen before, and the food is so much better than what they serve at Canterlot parties, and everypony is so friendly.”

Copper nodded, smiling. “Good. I'm glad you're having fun.”

“Are we leaving soon?”

He blinked and then shook his head. “Not soon, no. Later tonight.”

“You're leaving tonight?” Twilight tilted her head slightly at him.

“We have a lot of places to go and the Crystal Empire is quite a long way to go.”

Twilight stared at him for a second. “Why is that your first stop?”

“Well, Glass has never seen it before and it is truly something to behold. Or at least that's what I've been told,” he says with a chuckle. “I have quite a lot of business to take care of on my trip, and that is the first stop.”

“Are we gonna see the Snow Queen?” Glass asked, quite excited.

Copper hesitated, looking down at Glass. “I hope so, if not then it will be quite a let down.”

“She has not been seen since you vanished ten years ago,” Glass said as she sat down in front of him.

“Well she is a very busy pony with lots of things to take care of.”

“It still surprises ponies that she is a real thing...I mean...the first unicorn.” Twilight shook her head. “I can only imagine the things that she could teach us.”

“It's because of those things that she keeps herself so isolated,” he said with a sigh. “When the magic fractured ponies into the three species...there was a lot of turmoil.”

Twilight wrinkled her brow again at him. “I didn't know you read those history books.”

“I have read a great many books. Though you have probably read more than me. Those books are, or were, available in the Canterlot Library. We are lucky that our history reaches back so far.” He did not add that usually when a land is conquered as Equestria was, history like that would have been destroyed. But Celestia was a very different type of ruler than Copper was used to dealing with.

“Oh I've read that one.” Glass suddenly looked very hard at Copper as if trying to figure something out.

But before she could speak he turned to Twilight. “So how is life as the Princess of Friendship?” She told him of many things, stories of traveling to far off lands. Glass eventually wandering off; obviously she had heard them all before.

Eventually more ponies came to join them in their sitting, simply talking of their lives with Copper, trying to get more out of him about where he had been. Of course he just explained that there would be another book, and that he didn't want to keep explaining it every time somepony asked him, as there was quite a lot of details to it all. It was a long and convoluted story.

The question came up as he was reminded of the other world. “Ah, Twilight. Did Celestia ask you about making that book?”

“Oh yes. I worked most of the night on it.”

Copper looked at her expectantly, but it was obvious she needed a bit more prompting. “And?”

“Oh! I'm sorry, yes. It's finished.”

He tried to not jump up onto his hooves and asked, “May I have a look at it?”

“Of course.” She stood up and the two of them made their way off towards the castle. The castle had been quite a shock for him when he first saw it and heard that the library had been destroyed.

They walked slowly, talking of Ponyville. Twilight probably found his questioning odd, as he did not ask normal questions. Things in the nature of, “How is the economy?” and “What sort of shops have been popular?” He knew quite a lot of how towns and cities ran. The infrastructure was important and he cared about that. Eventually they came into the castle Library.

“I was quite surprised to be honest. It all gets rather...intense.” A book floated over from a table, having to shake off scrolls and other books in order to do so. “But I do believe this was the correct world.”

Copper took the book carefully, staring at the cover. Broken Gears. There at the bottom was the copper colored feather that made him smile. “Good.”

“It takes quite a lot of turns, I really enjoyed- what are you doing?”

He had opened the book from the back to the last page and was reading. “I will read the entire thing some other time, but I have to know how it ends.”

Twilight did not look like she approved. “You're going to skip the entire thing?”

“I'll read it eventually.” He closed the book and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I just...needed to know.”

She was still frowning at him. “That took a lot of work, you know.”

“I'm sure,” he said with a smile and a chuckle. “But I was only interested in how it ended. I'm sure there are a lot of ponies who will be more than interested in reading it in its entirety. Do you think you could print more?”

“Of course I could. Copying a book is a lot easier than drawing a story from another universe.” She actually seemed fairly annoyed. As if Copper had broken some sort of book rule.

“I'd very much appreciate it.”

Glass poked her head into the library. “Ah! There you are! I went back up to the hill and they said that you'd gone to look at some book.” She seemed annoyed as well.

It was clear to Copper that he had played this in a fairly wrong manner. “Sorry. But I got a little excited at the prospect of finding out something.”

“Finding out what?” Glass said as she moved beside him, looking at the book.

“The end of a life that I lived and missed out on.” The words felt heavy to him. A life that he had missed out on. He felt like he had missed out on several lives at this point. A quiet life in Ponyville. A life with Scootaloo in New York. A life with his daughter.

“Then this is...” Glass looked at Twilight, who nodded. “Wow! And this is the first copy, too?”

Again Twilight nodded. “Yes. Though it seems Copper would like many more to be made.”

“Better than ponies fighting over checking it out,” Copper said, trying his best to smile.

Twilight nodded. “I'll make a copy and send it to Princess Celestia first.”

“I'm sure she's interested in reading it, too!” Glass said, smiling. “And I wanna read it too! But I can wait till we get back.”

“Are you sure?” Copper said with a smile. “That's going to be quite a long time.”

“Speaking of a long time, it's getting rather late,” Twilight said. “You had mentioned you were going to leave tonight, right?”

“Oh right, thank you.” He smiled at Twilight, who smiled back. “It was really good seeing you, Twilight. Hopefully it doesn't take too long before I come back to Ponyville and see you again.” They said their goodbyes and then Copper left with Glass following behind. As he walked, he wondered if he would ever return to Ponyville.

There were so many ponies to say goodbye to, and several books to be signed it would seem. He felt a bit odd signing books like some sort of celebrity, but it was how some ponies saw him. He made a point to say goodbye to as many ponies as he could. He wasn't sure if he'd get another chance to. He shook his head as they waited at the train station. I have to stop thinking like that.

That was easier said than done. There was a long journey ahead. “So why are we going to the Crystal Empire?”

Copper looked down at Glass and smiled. “Well, like I said, there are several reasons.”

“But you and Aunt Cadance don't get along,” she said with the look of somepony who was thinking very hard.

He was not sure how he felt about that. He was sure that Princess Cadance could not think very highly of him after what was written in his books about her. Of course that was nothing compared to the hate that Shining Armor must have. If the book was close to accurate, and Celestia had not cut it out, there were quite a number of confrontations between the two of them. “A lot changes in the years. Ponies we don't like can become friends if you let them.”

She made a sort of hmph noise and stuck her nose in the air. “Well I know there are ponies that I wont ever be friends with.”

“Oh really?” He chuckled softly. “I used to think that, too.” He reached over and gentle pressed her nose, pushing her head back down. That was something she had probably picked up from hanging around high class ponies. “But ponies change.”

There was a frown on her face as she stared up at him. “Yeah, some do. But some don't.”

He nodded, conceding that. “Yes, some don't.”

In the distance there was a loud whistle sound, and Glass suddenly got quite fidgety.

“Something wrong?”

“Is mother going to be on the train?” she said, looking up at him.

The look that she gave him made his eyes water. “No,” he said as he shook his head. “I'm afraid not.”

“She loves us, right?” It was like a stab in the heart.

“Yes. She's just really, really, reeaaally bad at showing it.” He ruffled her hair.

She nodded, looking at the train as it came to a stop. “Yeah. She is.”

They boarded the train in silence as the moved to their car. It was a private room on the train, as Copper requested. He wanted to be alone with Glass and not have ponies constantly trying to ask him questions.

He noticed immediately how, unlike most ponies, she sat directly next to him. He put an arm around her, pulling her close. She leaned heavily into him. “You had quite a long day, hm?”

“Yes...” she said with a soft sigh.

“But it was fun, right?”

She smiled and nodded. “Mhm. I had a lot of fun.”

“What did you do?” He listened as she told him about her day, all the ponies that she talked with and all of the things she got to do. It truly did sound like she had a great day.

After several minutes of this, she brought up the story. “Can you...continue?”

He nodded and took a deep breath. “Of course.”

~

He really felt that he had tasted too much blood during his life. His own blood and others. Mostly his own blood. “So you were banished here like everypony else. Explain it to me.”

The king looked at Copper with a frown. “The Priest had such power...but I began to have my doubts. Rather than try and convert, they would simply sentence them to death. It was a mistake to mention it.”

“No, it was the right thing to do.” He sighed softly as he moved over to what looked like a bed made of something soft. As he laid down he saw the question the king wanted to ask. “I make no promises. But I will try.” With that he closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

~

He felt strange sitting under a clockwork tree. Strange was the first word that came to mind. Usually the dreamscape felt comforting, but now it felt alien. Like he didn't belong there. Nothing had changed about how it looked, simply how he felt about it. There was no sense of comfort. He was alone. It was not the first time he had been alone in a hostile place, a place that didn't want him, but this time he had no place to run back to. No safe place to gather his thoughts. He wanted to be home. He wanted to go home. He wanted to be safe. Tears streaked down his face as he stared up through the branches at the starred sky. Did this world even have stars? Deep breaths did nothing to try and calm his mind.

There was suddenly the pressure of something entering his dreamscape. “Nightmare?” he asked as he looked around. But there was nothing to be seen. “L-Luna?” He cleared his throat and shook his head. “No, of course not...there is no Luna here...” He wiped away the tears, but that did not stop them. He hoped that he was not sobbing in his sleep. “Who is there?”

There was no answer, but he was sure that he felt something moving around in his mind. What sort of things wandered the dreams of the inhabitants here?

“Fine...whatever.” He leaned against the tree, a soft ticking inside gave him some sort of peace. “Don't come out then.” He almost longed for it to show itself, something to take his mind away from the sinking misery. I need to focus... he thought as he stared at upwards. The world is dying, and I've no way of dealing with it. The first problem is the Priest- “What do you want?” he said as he sat up a bit. Whatever it was was getting close.

Yet there was still no response. Nothing to look at. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for. Some sort of Blood Horror that haunts the mind? He shuddered at the thought. “Why do you cry?”

The voice caught him off guard. It had the soothing tone of Nightmare but was drastically different. He leaned slightly to look around the tree, to see a small filly. But she was wrong, not quite there. She hid behind a nearby tree when he looked at her. “Many reasons,” he said as he shifted around to the other side of the tree. A soft smoke flowed from around the tree and her head slowly poked out. “I'm not going to hurt you.”

“That's what the last pony said.” Her head retreated, followed quickly by the smoke. “He said lots of things...”

Copper frowned slightly as he leaned once again up against the tree. “What sort of things did he say?”

“That I was important...that I was special...” He saw her poking out from the other side of the tree. “But he lied.”

“Why do you think that?” Again he wiped away the tears, thankfully this was enough of a distraction.

“Cus I'm not.” She was watching him with a sort of hesitant curiosity. “I wouldn't do what he said...he called me useless...and did something that hurt a lot...”

He assumed that she was talking about the Priest, or perhaps the Other. “I know what that feeling is like,” he said with a sigh. “But I've never let that stop me.” He looked back up at the sky. “I thought I was useless, so I did everything I could to make sure I wasn't. I did a lot of bad things...made a lot of mistakes...but I'd like to think I did a lot of good in the end.”

“So you are a bad pony?”

He could hear her closer, but didn't look down. “Sometimes I think so. Actually, more than sometimes...”

“Then that's good...the other pony said he was a good pony.” Copper looked down at the little Nightmare that was sitting in front of him. That's what she was, a filly Nightmare.

“Why is that a good thing?” She was staring at him with inky black eyes.

“Cus the good pony wants the world to die. That means the bad pony wants the world to live, right?”

He chuckled softly and looked back up at the sky. “Yes...and I wish I could save it...but I can't...” He took a deep breath. “My name is Copper Feather.”

“They all call me Nightmare...” she sounded miserable.

“How about just Night, then?” He smiled slightly at her. “That sound better?” She nodded slightly. His mind was bubbling with questions. Why was she so small? Nightmare had never been this small as far as he was aware. “Where do you come from?”

Her brow furrowed. “The big glass things.” She waved her hooves vaguely in the air, trying emphasize something large.

Copper tilted his head to the side slightly. “Big glass things? Like, towers of glass?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes...the pony said that I was...” Her face scrunched as she tried to think of what he had said. “Compressed magic?”

It clicked in his head. They must have built something that absorbs all magic, but since they can't destroy it they simply pushed it all together and it made her... “Odd...”

“He said that I would help make everything better. But everything he told me to do made things worse...” She had curled up in front of Copper. “There are so few ponies now...there were so many... Where did they all go, Copper?”

Copper felt his heart sink. He had explained death to young ponies before, but it was not something he ever enjoyed. “How do you know there are less?”

“There are less sleepers. Do they stay awake to avoid me?” She was not looking at him, instead she was staring down at the ground, at the inner workings of the ground bellow them.

“No...” He gently brushed her mane, for smoke it felt oddly solid. It reminded him of one time he had touched Celestia's mane when he was young. Something that felt like it wasn't quite there. “They are gone.”

She looked up at him, her head tilted to the side slightly. “Why did they leave?”

“They didn't have a choice...sometimes ponies leave, because it's their time to go. But other times they are forced to leave. To go to a place that only those that leave know.” After all, he only knew part of the journey, not its end.

“There are lots of sleepers near you...but so few anywhere else...” She laid her head down.

His mind was working out new plans. If he was going to save ponies, he needed a firm hoof hold to start from. “Do you think you could help me?” She looked up at him with confusion. “I cannot save this world...but I'm going to try to save the ponies living in it.”

“Even me?”

He couldn't help but smile, stroking her mane once again. “Of course you. Especially you.”

“How can I help?”

“I need to find a pony who calls himself the Doctor. He has a...strange blue box.” She had moved closer to him. “He can help me. And I'll also need your help getting everypony together...so that if I can figure out how, we can all leave.”

She was smiling softly and she nodded. “So I need to find a Doctor with a blue box?”

“Or somepony who knows where he is, or how to find him.” It was the only thing he could think of to start.

“Is he really that great?”

He looked up at the sky for a moment. “I think so...”

There was a few moments of pause before she nudged him gently with her hoof. “Do I have to go now?”

He looked down at her and smiled. “No,” he said as he shook his head. “I think it can wait until tomorrow.”

~

He awoke to the noise of arguing. There was a rather heated debate going on amongst some of the bat ponies on the other side of the room. He had to be honest with himself, he didn't want to get up. It was the first time he could remember that he didn't want to get up and do something. There was a lot to be done and he didn't want to do it. It wasn't that he was even that comfortable, in fact the floor was misshapen and very uncomfortable, but he did not want to be awake.

Night had been an odd comfort, one that he would have not expected. There was something so comforting about her presence; something he couldn't explain. He let out a soft groan as he sat up, he was sore from sleeping in an awkward position. He felt oddly stiff and began stretching. The arguing had stopped. “No, please. Go on with whatever you were talking about,” he said with a vague wave of his hoof. He hadn't been listening to what it was about. “Could I have some water?”

There was a mad scramble of ponies as they moved about. “How did you sleep?”

Copper looked at the king a moment and then shrugged. “I've slept worse. But at least I have some things in motion...” He had already felt Night leave.

The king looked confused, but didn't question it. “What are we to do now?”

“Well...” He drank some of the water that had been rushed to him. “First thing first, we need to get out of here and back to the surface. The Priest needs to be dethroned.”

“And...how are we to do that?”

“By killing the Blood Horror,” Copper said as he stood up. There was a lot of ponies shifting away from him. “There has to be a reason this place is safe. Who has been here the longest?”

“That would be me,” the king said as he stared at Copper.

“What was here when you got here?”

“Here?” The king looked around. “Nothing. It was the only dry area and I was exhausted from running...”

“Nothing at all?” Copper was looking around as well. “Just these empty rooms?”

“Yes...I am sorry.” His brow furrowed slightly. “I...it's been twenty years...I had resigned myself to die and simply laid down. But after a few days it did not come to kill me. I sat and waited for death, eating these mushrooms.”

“So the mushrooms were here?” Copper was trying to jog his memory, any little detail could be useful.

“Yeah...the mushrooms have always been here. The caretaker of our sewers grew them...and sold them in the market. They weren't very popular, for obvious reasons.”

“Anything else?” He only had two things to go on, the fact that it was dry and the mushrooms. “Was the sewer always filled with blood?” The thought had popped into his head.

The king shook his head. “No. That was something caused by the Blood Horror...it like...pours blood from itself. The Priest never explained to me where it came from, or even what it was. Nothing but that the Other had brought it from the depths. Whatever that is.”

“How did the caretaker get down here?” He looked towards the ceiling.

“I don't know. He was reclusive, kept to himself.” Copper was looking at the large mushroom patches that the ponies were cultivating. Apparently the argument had started back up again, it was over food. They did not like the fact that they were not to eat meat anymore.

He pulled one of the mushrooms carefully from the bed, examining it. Things were usually not this easy, but he wanted to find out. He stretched a bit more before heading to the other chamber, the one that lead out to the sewer. He wondered what sort of pony used to live down here. He did not want to think about what sort of lifestyle it would have been. He stared at the flowing blood, it looked as unwelcome as ever, but he trudged out into it, holding the mushroom in his mouth. “What are you doing?!” somepony called out.

“Experimenting,” he muttered as he headed towards a crossroad. There was nothing ahead of him but he had a feeling the Blood Horror was not far. A feeling that was confirmed when he saw the soft light off to his left and heard the dripping. He threw the mushroom down the tunnel, pushing the blood in such a way to cause it to flow down towards it. “C'mon ya bastard...breakfast time.” It moved towards him at a slow, meandering pace. “Remember this?” Shink. The light actually stopped. “So it can be taught.” He was watching the mushroom float down towards the light.

“Please, Prophet! Come back!” There were ponies trying to shout to him as quietly as they could. They dared not follow. Copper could actually see the tentacles now, slithering along the cracks in the wall as it continued its approach, it had quickly shaken the fear of pain. It was much brighter here than during the last encounter and he had adjusted quickly to the darkness of the underground.

But Copper's focus was on the mushroom, floating down towards the Blood Horror. Then it cringed, quickly backing away. “Oh really? Is that so?” Shnikt. Copper was almost frustrated that it was as simple as that. How does a fungus have such an effect. It writhed and retreated quickly back the way it had came and went down a side passage. Copper made his way back to the group fairly quickly. “Well that is very interesting. Lucky and very convenient.” Once on dry land he tipped his arm to pour the blood from it.

“What was that?” The king was there to great him. “What happened? What did you do?”

“You are the luckiest bunch of ponies. I cannot believe you're- we're all alive because of dumb luck.” Then again, he knew that his own life had been saved by dumb luck more times than he could count. “But I'm not about to question it at this point.” The king looked very confused as Copper walked back to the other room, dripping in blood. “Take half the mushrooms, and starting floating them out the left tunnel.”

“But...why? That's our food.”

Copper looked at the king a moment. “I am aware. We can gather them up and wash them later.” He began carefully picking the mushrooms and noticed that most of the ponies had joined him. Apparently he had higher standing's than their own king. “It does not like the mushrooms, for some reason and I'm going to use that to my advantage.”

“But...are you sure? Are you sure it's the mushrooms? Not because it's dry here?” The king was grasping at the same straws Copper had held moments ago.

“It is not in the blood at all. It clings to the walls and crawls through the tunnels. I got a good look at it and it's definitely not even touching the blood, if that even is what it is...it's more like some sort of secretion that drips off it. It just mimics blood.” He was helping the ponies push the mushrooms out, but he was the only one who actually went into the liquid. “That's enough.” Copper said as he began guiding them to the best of his abilities.

“Good luck, Prophet,” the king said as he watched from the dry land.

He watched them all crowd around, but not one touched the liquid. He would have thought them cowards if he was not afraid himself. It was a lot to throw at a hunch; a guess. He tried to push as much of the mushrooms towards where the Blood Horror had gone and when he got to another cross road, he saw the light. “C'mon...” he said, struggling to get the mass of mushrooms to float down the liquid. The light paused as it caught sight of Copper. There was a slight shift as it moved towards him and then it fled.

Copper pursued. He had probably started with thousands of mushrooms, but now only had a handful. But as he had lost them, they had drifted about the tunnels and now the Blood Horror was trapped. It had backed itself into a corner of sorts, behind it Copper could see daylight. This was the way out. It made chittering noises at him.

“That's right. It's either face me, or face the daylight. I bet the light hurts your eyes, doesn't it?” He continued to push the few mushrooms he had ahead of him. “Which is worse, the light or the mushrooms? What is it, the smell? You don't have eyes...” He could see the mass of it in the daylight behind it. The mushrooms did have a distinctive smell, and he could smell it over the blood easily. “That has to be it...it is a smell you do not like.”

“Prophet.” Copper glanced behind him and he saw the king and all the other bat ponies behind him. “We are with you.”

Copper focused on the creature. These ponies were a group in search of a leader. The king would have stayed behind, he was sure, but the majority pushed him to follow. But none dared come close, not as close as Copper. He was trying to figure out what the creature reminded him of. Some sort of octopus with a dozen more limbs. It had a large sac, bellow which sat an orb on one of its many tentacles; its angler. But Copper saw no mouth. He saw it flinch, shink. He slashed as the tentacle lunged for him and the creature shrieked as it retreated further. “Face me, or face the light!” Copper shouted as he charged it.

It made one more attempt to hit him, which did not even come close to Copper, before it fled into the sun. It screeched as smoke billowed off it. It clambered out of the hole, trying to find respite; trying to find cover from the harsh sun of this world. He came after it and saw that they were near one end of the city coming out of what Copper guessed was a large storm drain. There were several ponies around to witness the event. The Blood Horror flailed and shrieked before it finally slumped to the ground. It withered, baking in the sun. This was a creature that was never meant to be in the light and it was showing. It was a creature of darkness, one that thrived in it.

Copper held the gauntlet upwards and the blade retracted with a loud chink. The blood liquid poured from his arm, splattering the ground. Ponies ran as the others came out behind him. “Bathe in the light of this day,” Copper said as he looked back at the group. “It is a day of importance. It is the day that we begin to save the city and all who dwell within it, and outside it.” It was an impromptu speech and Copper would regret it later; there were many words that he could have used that would have been more appropriate, but it was what came forth. The cheering of the crowd behind him only stirred his adrenaline.

“What are we to do now, Prophet?” The king had relinquished any doubt he had had in Copper.

“As I said. We dethrone the Priest.” Copper knew that this would not last long, he knew how crowds worked and he was working out several of his next moves as he walked towards the palace followed by the large procession. It seemed even the city was turning on to Copper's side. All that had to be mentioned was the word 'Prophet' and ponies leaped to his side. He had stirred doubt in the Priest with his speech on the stand, and now he walked out with dozens of ponies they all had believed dead.

Nopony tried to stop them, and in fact the guards pushed open the door, as if they had expected him. “For the crimes you have committed against our Lord, you are-” the Priest stopped as he saw Copper walking, once again, to the stage.

The other pony saw his chance and leaped away, Copper saw that they had already shredded his wings. It was a brutal punishment, robbed of the ability of flight and then stood in front of ones peers and dropped to certain death. But Copper was not foolish enough to get on the platform and instead walked around it. “Now then, Priest. As I was saying before you ended our conversation...”

“H-how?!” the Priest stammered, looking around for somepony who would come to his aid, or more likely somepony who he could throw between Copper and himself.

“You have doomed your world by following the will of the Other. Your world and all your people.” Copper stopped, not very far off from the Priest.

“How do you still live!?” the Priest screamed.

“Your beast is dead, choosing to take its own life rather than face me.” There was utter silence aside from Copper's own voice. He hated it, but he had to play up the part. He needed these ponies to believe he was far above them to buy himself time to work out a plan.

“The Horror is...dead?” The pony who was about to be sentenced was the closest to the two of them, as he had been unable to escape very far; now he was trapped in a corner.

“That is impossible,” the Priest said, having regained some sort of composure.

“Then how do I, and your king, still live?” The Priest's gaze stared beyond Copper at the king and the ponies he brought with him. “You have made mistakes, Priest.” The gaze snapped back to Copper. “Everypony makes mistakes, but now is your chance to change that. To be reasonable, to admit that you were wrong. I have made more mistakes than I can count, but please...this needs to end. The Other seeks nothing but your destruction.”

“No!” The hair on Copper's neck stood up as the Priest moved. The Other had given him power at one point, that was certain, and the Priest had kept some of it in reserve. The bright light that shone from him was entirely for show, but the energy that gathered in front of him was not. It would have been easy for Copper to say it was simply magic, but there was no magic, he could feel that. This was whatever power the Other had, something beyond magic. It was what was destroying the world now that the magic was gone.

Copper threw up his arms in an attempt to shield himself and black smoke billowed from around him, swallowing up the power and slamming the Priest into the wall. He lowered his hooves back to the ground, staring at the Priest. In his head, he heard a soft voice, “I-I can not do that again...”

“There is no need,” he said softly, smiling. He was draped in smoke, which was dissipating now. “How long have you been back?” He approached the Priest, who was trying to get back up onto his hooves.

“When you were shouting,” the voice said.

“H-how?” the Priest stammered as he slumped against the wall. “Why does the Nightmare fight for you?”

“Because she does not like you.” He stood over the pony as the last of the smoke faded, a pony who stared up at him with bright red eyes. “Now, I will not offer again.” The Priest's brow furrowed. “This is your last chance to tell the truth. The Other has left you, abandoned you, why do you still defend it?”

The Priest closed his eyes. “What choice is there? The world is dying...all I can do is try to comfort my people...”

“And that is why I wont kill you.” The Priest stared at Copper, who was walking away. “Even if you went about it the wrong way, I can see why you did it.” Copper went to the king, who was looking as amazed as any other pony. “Do not hurt him. He has to live with what he has done.” He moved past the king, the crowd quickly parting ahead of him. “Now, take me to one of these glass towers.”

~

“Now, did you find the Doctor?” Copper was in the dreamscape again, while they rode in a cart towards one of the towers Copper had decided to take a nap.

Night looked sheepish, kicking her hoof slightly at the ground. “No...but I found the blue box...”

Copper blinked, looking down at her. “How?”

“It dreams.”