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.” Next Chapter: 4: Sentences and a Trial Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 47 Minutes