Chapter VII

I smiled a bit as I trotted through Ponyville with Rainbow Dash and ED-E next to me. It's been a while since the Trixie event, and they were relaxing a bit now. ED-E was with them because he needed to get out of the library, and Rex has been spending most of his time in his bedroom. As for me and Rainbow, we were going out for the day to spend some time together. We've been together for a good two weeks now, and I wanted to treat her to something nice.

Just then I accidentally bumped into somepony, making me speak. "Sorry."

The stallion in front of me was a bronze coated unicorn with a brass mane and brown eyes, and his cutie mark was an unraveled scroll with a vague image of a spell diagram. He also appeared to drop some scrolls he was holding, which made me a little worried.

"Need help?"

The stallion nodded and I began to pick up the scrolls with him, before I had a large pile in my magic, and looked at him. "Mind if I ask why you have so many of these?"

He gave a calm smile. "Not at all, they are one of my attempts at making non-unicorn spells." He then slumped a little. "Though I haven't gotten very far in it."

I gave a soft smile. "Maybe I could help you out with it?" Rainbow then gave a soft jab to my side. "Oh, er, I mean... Why not come by the Library later, I'll help you out then."

The stallion smiled, then offered a hoof. "My name is Mage Script."

I nodded and took his hoof. "Ethan Mason."

Mage tilted his head slightly. "That's a strange name."

I couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "I felt the same way about everypony else's names when I moved here from back home."

Mage nodded, still holding that smile. "That sounds interesting."

I nodded, then began walking away as I spoke. "So, I'll see you around I guess." I then looked at Rainbow. "Come on, Rainbow, I still got that surprise I promised you."

Rainbow giggled as she trotted up next to my side, and we headed for one of the most expensive restaurants in town.

...

Rex's POV

...

I scratched my head slightly as I looked at Fluttershy. "So... what is it you want me to do again?"

Fluttershy smiled as she handed some birds a few worms. "I need help feeding all the animals, could you please go check on Angel for me?"

I nodded in response and headed over to the rabbit's little house. That's where I spotted the little rabbit quickly going through a carrot. This made me raise an eyebrow. "Hmph, you're quite the strange one."

The rabbit swallowed his food, and glared at me before tossing the carrot aside and dusted off his paws. This made me glare at it. "You need more then that, you skinny little furball."

Angel huffed and threw the carrot at me, causing me to catch it, and growled slightly. "You ungrateful little--" Just then a storm of carrots began to hail on me, making me scream while running. "YOU DEMONIC LITTLE SHIT!!!"

The rabbit ran after me, throwing carrots like there was no tomorrow, before I tripped on a hose, and smirked as I grabbed it, and aimed for the rabbit. "PAY BACK, BITCH!"

The rabbit went wide eyed, and ran for it with me close behind. That is until we stopped and stared at the nearby mountain.

I then heard Fluttershy. "Hey, what are you two doing?"

I pointed at the mountain while still staring at it, much astonishment in my eyes. Fluttershy then gasped. "That's a giant cloud of scary, black smoke!"

I rolled my eyes at her. "It ain't scary, it's just a bit unexpected." I then began walking towards Ponyville. "Come on, we need to tell the girls and Ethan."

...

Ethan's POV

...

I smiled as I sat there with Rainbow across from me, and we waited for our lunch while Rainbow spoke. "So... this is our third date?"

I nodded. "Yeah, why?"

She blushed slightly. "Well... I was just curious if we were going to keep dating or... if we were due for a kiss?"

I thought for a minute. "Well, you know I'd say yes to another date with you... I'm not sure how many dates it needs to be before you go for the first kiss."

Rainbow blushed a little more. "Could we.... do it right now?"

I smiled at her, earning a larger blush. "Sure, we can."

She smiled as we began to lean towards each other, I could see her puckering out her lips, which was kinda cute, while I simply continued to lean forward. We then both closed our eyes, and I could feel her lips barely close, before we heard the voice of Fluttershy. "Ethan! We need help!"

I sighed as I opened my eyes and pulled back, Rainbow doing the same as she had an annoyed look on her face.

I looked over at Fluttershy, who had worry in her face, and Rex who was tossing an apple in the air. "What's wrong, Fluttershy?"

She shuddered slightly. "There's smoke coming from a nearby mountain, and we need to do something."

I groaned slightly. "I can't... I told a stallion I'd help with his project, but maybe Rex could take my place."

Rex gave a grunt in response. "Go figure, leave me in charge. Just because you almost had a kiss with Rainbow. Sure, I'll get it over with."

...

I sighed as I entered the Library with ED-E behind me, and began to get the place ready for the stallion that's coming over. There got's to be something he could help with, otherwise he's wasting his time here. Just then I heard a knock on my door, and opened it to see Mage who smiled kindly, and I motioned him to come in.

"Have a seat on the couch over there, I need to grab a quick thing."

  Mage nodded before taking a deep breath. "Just so you know, I'm a Changeling."

  I raised an eyebrow. "So?"

Mage looks at me incredulously. "Changelings are known as monsters because they 'feed on emotions'."

I gave a shrug. "I met something far worse then one of you, and they could both talk and be good friends. Just so you know, it was an intelligent Deathclaw. Nothing like that really surprises me anymore."

Mage ponders it over and shrugs, "Fair enough.  Though I will advise you to interact with other changelings with caution.   Most changelings aren't very friendly, if found out."

I simply gave another shrug. "Well, given that I went through a godforsaken town known as Silent Hill, I think I can handle them. Plus I can either turn them to green goo or ash with my projects. So they don't scare me."

"Scare, no. Deceive, yes.  Us changelings can take the form of other ponies, griffins, or dragons for that matter.  The old way of gathering emotions for the hive was to either replace the recently deceased, kill and replace, or replace those during their time of passing.  Now they do abductions and pose as the abducted."

I slowly nodded absent mindedly. "Yeah... I think there was something like that going on between two factions I knew. The NCR and Caesar's Legion. Send in troops to play people you know well, and give the information meant to be kept secret to the enemy. I remember that trick well..."

Mage grins, "it seems that you're able to prove my point even moreso than before."  His grin lessens ever so slightly.  "I also happened to notice that you are close to Ms. Dash.  Keep her close, especially if you make yourself a big enough target for the changelings.   If not for your sake, then for hers."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "It's one thing to threaten me, but don't you EVER threaten Rainbow, or I'll go far enough that you'll be begging the Changelings to take you away from Equestria for the rest of your life."

Mage gives a stern face, "Do you think I like this?  I'm only giving you a fair warning.  And don't even think I'm affiliated with those changeling bastards.  I severed my ties with them."  Breathes in deeply and exhales.  "Eighteen years ago, I suggested that changelings and ponies could coexist.  Chrysalis, the hive Queen, laughed it off and admonished me for it.  I was able to escape the hive mind and cut off all ties to them.  From then on I vowed to show her wrong and prove that coexistence is possible.  I do believe an apology is in order for giving you the wrong message.  Can you forgive me?"

I give a nod as I headed for what I needed to do. "Sure, just make sure not to talk like that again and we're good. I may have only been with her for two weeks now, but I truly love her... even though I try to keep from showing it. It's just a part of me I never shook off. But trust me, I intend to protect Rainbow, so don't worry."

Mage smiles, "hopefully I'll never have to."

Mage sat down while I grabbed one of my projects, and tested it for a second, seeing it light up and launch a small, blue laser into the ceiling, which made ash fall down, and I grunted. I then headed for the chair across from Mage, and spoke. "So, before we get started, I need to know how these... non-unicorn spells work. Or, these scrolls you've got."

Mage placed his hooves together. "The scrolls, or Easy Casts as I like to call them, use a new mixture of ink and changeling mucus that will absorb a certain amount of ambient magic for the spell on the parchment it's written on.  In the center is a circle connected to the various algorithms of said spell, acting as a cast 'button'.  The complexity of the spell also correlates to the time between casts, or cooldown duration.   All that is needed to use the Easy Cast is to focus your primal magic into the limb that is in contact with the 'button'."  Looks off to the side and mumbles, "at least that's how it would work theoretically."

I placed a hoof on my chin. "Really?" He nodded. "Hmm... mind if I test one out?"

Mage handed me a scroll, which made me roll open the scroll, and sat it down before placing my wing on it. The result was my wing catching on fire, which made me sigh heavily, summon a bucket of water, and dipped my wing into it. Then looked at Mage. "So... a work in progress I take it?"

He nodded with a little worry. "I'm afraid so, and sorry about that."

I shook my head as I pulled the wing out. "Don't worry about it, I used to go through worse back home."

Mage nodded as he grabbed a scroll. "So, think you can help me with this?"

I nodded and grabbed another scroll as well. "Of course. Let's start with this fire spell..."

...

Rex's POV

...

"What in the name of all things cinnamon swirl is a full grown dragon doing up here in Equestria?"

I rolled my eyes at her as I thought the first thing I'd do. "Sleeping."

"Huh?"

I shrugged. "It's what I'd do, find a lone, abandoned mountain to sleep at... maybe keep one of my hordes there too. "

Rarity sighed slightly. "Well, at least he's not snoring fire. What are we meant to do about it?"

Rainbow answered as she floated in the air. "I'll tell you what we're meant to do -- GIVE HIM THE BOOT!"

She then began to buck the air, which made me grunt. "I honestly can't see what Ethan sees in you, Rainbow." Rainbow glared at me, making me flip her off as I continued walking. "I say we just talk to him, get him interested in sleeping elsewhere. No need to be a bitch to him."

Just then we heard a very loud snoring, which made me chuckle. "Oh yeah, he's full grown. You piss him off, and you're done for."

Rarity then spoke as we continued upwards. "I hear the only thing that sparkles more then a dragon's scales are the jewels they use to build their nests."

I grunted. "Remind me to keep you FAR AWAY from my room."

Rarity huffed in response.

I then called down to Fluttershy. "Hurry up and get over here, we can't do this without an Animal Friend!"

Two more snores, and Fluttershy's wings clasped shut, while she went still as a statue. This made me groan and look at Applejack. "Take her around, we'll wait for you up top."

"Understood, pardner."

...

Later

...

I sat there on my rear and continued to use my knife to carve the wood I held into a very small, and beautiful pony head copy. This made me smirk and began to admire it, before setting it down next to my other 19 of them. Then I looked at Rarity and Pinkie. "You girls see Applejack and Fluttershy yet?"

Pinkie drew a circle on the ground and looked at Rarity. "WHOO-HOO! I win again!"

Rarity let out a sigh. "That's 35 games in a row." She then smiled at Pinkie. "Best of 71?"

I growled and looked up at Rainbow. "What about you, Colors?"

Rainbow huffed at my nickname for her. "It's Dash."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure thing, Colors. Now tell me, you got anything?"

She groaned at this. "Nothing."

I smirked a little. "Ethan stuck in your mind?"

She went wide eyed as she fell to the ground, and let out a small groan before glaring at me. "Not cool."

My response was a snicker. "But it's true, you can't get Ethan out of your mind."

She got to her hooves. "Sure I can, I just don't want to."

I snickered again, until we heard Applejack climbing up, breathing heavily as she dragged something up here. Which appeared to be Fluttershy as she spoke between breaths. "We... made... it." Fluttershy was still frozen as a rock.

I got to my feet, and nodded to the girls. "Alright, everypony, let's deal with the dragon." I then snickered a little more. "After we go along another long path."

They all groaned in defeat.

...

A small gap, another song from Pinkie, an avalanche, a small fashion talk, and another climb later

...

I folded my arms as we stood in front of the cave entrance. There was a lot of smoke blocking the way, which made me look at Dash. "Colors, you'll use your wings to clear the smoke."

Rainbow growled. "It's Dash." She then flew into the cloud.

I looked at Rarity and Pinkie. "You two, you'll create a diversion to distract the dragon if things go south in there."

Pinkie bit onto a random rubber chicken, while Rarity gave a raised eyebrow.

"Applejack, you'll ready the apples in case he decides to attack." She tossed the apple in the air, and caught it, making me groan. "God I wished I grabbed the Plasma Rifle and taught you how to use it."

She rolled her eyes as I looked in the cave. "Plan A is Fluttershy waking up this big boy, and helping me talk him into moving his hibernation." I then grabbed Fluttershy by the tail, and dragged her in with me, before thinking a bit. "Usually the best way to wake me up is the scent of food. So, let's wave some food in front of his nose, shall we?"

Fluttershy simply eeped in response as we soon were in front of the dragon. I then pulled out a large diamond I've been saving for someday, and waved it over the dragon's nose, making it sniff, open it's eyes, and grow a large smile.

I gave a smile of my own. "Mornin' Big guy."

He looked at the diamond, then at me, before speaking in a deep voice. "What brings you here, young one?"

I scratched my neck a little. "Well, you see, your snoring a bit, and it's sending smoke all across Equestria. Mind sleeping somewhere else? Equestria wouldn't be able to survive a 100 year dark haze."

He laid his head against his hands. "What might be in it for me?"

I thought for a bit. "Well, my friend gave me something that could help me keep my horde to myself. I'd be willing to give you some of it in exchange."

"What exactly will be in this, exchange?"

I lifted my wrist, revealing a Pip-Boy 4000 (One of Ethan's Prototypes), and typed down on it a bit, before a large pile of armor, guns, gems, and gold fell on the ground around me. I smirked up at the intrigued dragon. "Does this look like enough? Because I got plenty more if it isn't."

The dragon let out a low chuckle in response. "No need, little one. Keep your horde, you've amused me enough and shown a great deal of courage for going this far to help your home. Consider it as a 'You Are Worthy' from me."

I gave a small bow as the dragon collected all of his horde, and exited the cave before flying off.

I smiled, and grabbed my horde before dragging a shocked Fluttershy with me, and we soon came out in front of the other girls, with a smile on my face. "It's done, now let's go home."

...

Back At Ponyville, Ethan's POV

...

I walked out of the library, and gave a nod to Mage as he began walking away. "It was good to talk, Mage, and I hope I can help out with anything else you need."

Mage nodded as he left, while I trotted out into the town, and spotted the girls along with Rex come back. "Hey, girls, how'd it go?"

Rex folded his arms. "That dragon just needed to talk to another of his kind, that's all."

I gave a nod. "Come on, Rex, I bet Celestia would like a letter by now."

Rex gave a nod, and we headed for the Library.