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?” Next Chapter: 6: Museum Blues Estimated time remaining: 54 Minutes