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.” Next Chapter: 3: The Last Request of Pop Pots Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 9 Minutes