A Rift in Time and Space

by technick

Chapters

• Prologue; One Journey's End, Another's Beginning
• Day One
• Take Me To Your Leader
• How Diplomacy Doesn't Always Work (The First Time)
• The Long Way Home, Part 1
• An Old Frenemy, Part 1
• An Old Frenemy, Part 2 of 2
• "What are you doing in my house?!"
• The Calm Before The Storm
• Never A Dull Moment
• Foes and a Friend
• I... I got nothing.

Prologue; One Journey's End, Another's Beginning

Feaurax was a mage. Well, Feaurax isn't his real name - his real name is much more boring. Renald Renaldsun, a standard, if a bit goofy, Aluvian name. Born to a farm family on Ispar consisting of his father, also named Renald Renaldsun (that seemed to be a recurring theme with this family, in fact our protagonist is the fourth in a line of Renalds), and his mother, Uleria Oepmad (female Aluvian naming conventions are weird) some twenty-three or four years before this story is to get really interesting, it was no secret that he was... different.

For one, he was frail and weak. To survive the farm life, one has to be hearty and reasonably strong. Not just strong physically, mind - back-breaking labor has a way of breaking a man, and you'd live longer and enjoy life far more with a strong will. It was of no matter, really - they simply thought that he was just a small baby and that he would grow up to be a sturdy young man.

Farm life itself stopped being a thing for him when he accidentally set the farmhouse on fire, at the age of ten. No one, not even he, knew what it was that he was doing that caused the house to go up - indeed, he likely wasn't doing anything at all, so unfortunate was he - but it changed his life forever, as you might be able to imagine. His family all perished. He was not so lucky.

He became convinced that what had happened was his fault. He convinced himself that he had done some kind of magic, and that he would have to learn to harness and control it lest he destroy everything he touched. Truly, there is no force stronger than a young boy's grief, for when he took for himself the name of Feaurax, meaning "one without name" (yes, I made that up), he did develop some magic ability. He became terribly powerful, though he didn't know it at the time and wouldn't for more than a decade. He would have power to rival the best Ispar and Dereth could throw at him, and then some.

He was always the outcast in his village after that - no one wanted to be near him, lest they be burned alive as well, but everyone pitied him too much to just kill the poor boy. They'd overlook his minor thefts, recognizing that he only took what he needed to live and not a crumb more. Though they'd gripe about him, calling him a menace, a thief, an insufferable know-it-all, they all knew he was completely scarred from what he had seen and apparently inadvertently done. They were decent enough folk not to rub salt in the wound.

He never bathed, though that was more due to a lack of resources to do so rather than any desire to live in filth. He was not especially tall, nor was he especially short. His hair, thick and dark, hung to his shoulders, the last time he was able to cut it being when he swiped the blacksmith's dagger some months ago, and nearly got a pair of bellows shoved up his rear for the effort. His face was mostly gender-independent. You could take his features and put them on either a woman or a man and find them looking presentable. He was thin and wiry from his days spent moping around the countryside, and while he was a decent runner his lungs tended to give up on him not far into a chase, whether he was the hunter or the hunted.

Mediocrity inspires complacency, and Feaurax was strangely... happy. He was happy with his life. He had no job, no family, nothing to look forward to, and indeed nothing to look back to, but he was okay with that. Seven years had passed since that fateful day, and he was glad to let seven more pass right out from under his nose.

Which is why it surprised him all the more when he stopped struggling against the portal that was trying to suck him in.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Feaurax found himself transported directly to Asheron's island castle, Asheron having decided to demote himself to the welcoming committee. Luckily for Feaurax, he landed on his feet. He wouldn't be nearly so lucky next time.

"So you've finally decided to answer my call." A voice belonging to an old man greeted him. "I am Asheron Realaidain, and I am who called you."

Feaurax had regained his wits, "So you're the one who ripped me from my home? Should I thank you, or damn you?"

"Ah, but that remains to be seen. Lad, you are one of the most powerful young mages I have set my eyes upon for a long while."

"I'm sorry? All the magic I've ever done is burning down my house, and my family with it." Feaurax recalled bitterly.

"An unfortunate accident, to be sure. But that isn't what I was referring to - allow me to show you what I mean." Asheron took up a combat stance that, in retrospect, looked pretty silly, and fired an expertly aimed lightning arc at one of the wooden targets behind him. "Zojak Quasith!"

Feaurax watched in awe (with a fair helping of bowel-loosening terror) as the target was completely obliterated, sparks jumping from various points on the ruined slab of wood. "I can do that?" he said, his mind far off in fantasy-land. In this fantasy-land, he was not Renald the Perpetual Screwup, but rather Feaurax the Powerful. He was not malicious by any stretch of the imagination, using his power solely to defend and protect. What Asheron said next snapped him out of his delirium.

"... Well, no. Not yet, at least. You require learning, and training. Honing, if you will."

"Good thing I'm still young. When do I start?"

It did the old wizard good to see a young man with such enthusiasm. He chuckled. "Soon, I promise you. Wouldn't you rather clean yourself up a bit, first? To be frank, you look like you've lived with the Ursuins all your life." And smells like it, too.

"Yeah, that'd probably be best," the young man said sheepishly. "My name's Feaurax, by the way."

"You can't be without a name."

"Alright, I can already tell you're not going to leave this alone. My real name's Renald Renaldsun. Just... don't call me by that name. I don't deserve it."

The old wizard suppressed a snort at the name, opting instead to show some concern for the lad over the last remark. This is going to be a tough one to build up, he thought to himself.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Seven more years slipped out from under him like a rug. And like anyone in that situation, he fell face first onto the floor, though he didn't know it yet.

You wouldn't recognize the man. His grubby shoulder-length hair was replaced by a near baldness that betrayed his fondness for hooded traveling robes. His skin was a bit paler than when he had entered the Academy, simply by virtue of not being outside all the time. He carried a staff that, when walking, he preferred to brace himself on to make himself look older and wiser than he was. Still, he had learned much. He had learned all that he could from the Academy, and was about to take the final tests and go out into the world to make a name for himself.

Asheron had been getting darker in nature over the past few years. It was starting to unnerve Feaurax, who now preferred to go by his real name in the Academy (but was still known as Feaurax when traveling). Perhaps these hundreds of years or so at the proverbial top of the food chain had taken their toll on the old mage's sanity. Perhaps something else was at play here. But what it was, he had no idea.

It had started when a bunch of idiot adventurers had decided to shatter the Shard of the Herald, the only thing keeping Bael'Zharon, the Hopeslayer, at bay. Perhaps that had something to do with it, but he was left no time to think it over as he was told that he was needed in Asheron's official chambers.

"They've been getting more and more unstable of late, my boy," Asheron said to him when he entered. "Surely you realize what this means, don't you? They must be destroyed. And hopefully, replaced with something more... lasting." Or not...

"Erm, sir, I hate to sound ignorant, but what exactly are you referring to?"

"The portals, my boy! Haven't you been listening?"

"Yes, sir, but you haven't mentioned them by name until now."

"Hm. Yes. Well. Anyway, this is a bit of a delicate matter: I can't find my old notes on the theorems behind the portals and their properties, or they've turned to dust. Probably the latter." He paused as mentor and student shared a chuckle. "What I need you to do, and I need you to follow me very closely on this one, is to locate some old Empyrean texts. They were made to last longer, and are hopefully still in one piece." Hopefully the undead guards there won't leave you in one piece.

"I'm following you so far. Sir."

"Yes. I am saddling you with the task of not only locating these texts, but also to retrieve them. Bring them to one of my senior historians, shall we say... Mir-Al? Yes, he should be able to keep a secret..."

"Why would he need to? Shouldn't this be public knowledge?"

"Not until the project is underway, my boy." Good save... "At this point, we're still re-discovering all that information that was lost with my notes. Anyway, bring them to Mir-Al, who will translate them for me. From these translations I should be able to build new notes on the theoretical properties of the portals."

"Sir, why bring them to Mir-Al, rather than yourself? You're the Empyrean, after all. And if this project is to be as hushity-hush as you're implying, we shouldn't really trust anybody."

"My eyes are not what they used to be, and those old Empyreans write so damned small..." Heh. I couldn't translate Empyrean to save my life. "And, my boy, last I checked, you were a mage, not a historian specializing in linguistics." They shared another laugh. "Can you do this for me? Furthermore, can I trust you to keep this from the rest of the students?"Asheron looked him in the eye long and hard. There was more than a smidgeon of uncertainty and doubt betrayed by the young prodigy's eyes, that faded soon enough.

"I'll do it."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The tasks were surprisingly easy, and with each success Asheron's frustrations grew. Dammit! If this next one doesn't do him in, I may well have to do it myself! he thought to himself, tossing the translation wherever. Not important. It was time for phase two of his master plan: to destroy the portal travel system that these pathetic people relied on so much. He walked over to his bureau, within which a purple portal sat spinning absently. He opened the door and stepped through it.

Portal travel is not the most pleasant way to get around, but it is the most efficient. Asheron shuddered to himself when he appeared in the subterranean level to his laboratory. He had it built shortly after the Hopeslayer was released, though he would've never guessed that he'd never get the chance to pull off his grand offensive against the demon among men. Neither would he have guessed that his body, unable to die but with soul severed, would become the puppet of the Hopeslayer. And those students that he prizes so much are none the wiser! Still, Bael'Zharon had to be cautious about executing his plans. Yes, there were still those who would openly support him, but they were merely a vocal minority. No, he had to be strategic: failure in this would see him trapped for another several thousand years. Not pleasant. Bael'Zharon was himself immortal, or anyway nearly so, so he would outlast the imprisonment, but what else would? What would there be left to rule? Uncertainty was not an option for the Hopeslayer. No, he had to wait until the pathetic citizens and their prized adventurers had the choice to either submit or perish. He knew the most cowardly among them would choose to submit, giving him some measure of a kingdom for all his efforts. But that one child... Feaurax, to whom he had been referring, was getting more and more suspicious of something with each passing day. It was only a matter of time before he was found out, at this boy's rate. Which was why he wanted him out of the picture. The cleaner, the better.

He stepped into a gigantic stone room where literally thousands of golems lay in wait. You thought you'd be using these against me, Asheron. You thought wrong. They won't know who or what hit them, until it's too late for them to ask why. Then again, why would they care? They never cared about my son. They'll learn to fear the name Bael'Zharon once again!

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Feaurax ran breathlessly into the library where Mir-Al had agreed to meet him. There he was, sitting not far from the archives, just as he said.

"I've got another book." he said, pressing said book into the historian's hands.

"Ah, yes, The Planes of Auberean. Should be an interesting read."

"You know as well as I do that this is not intended for bedtime reading."

"Yes, yes, I know. Translate it. Deliver it to Asheron. We've been through this already." the historian said in a more hushed tone. He left, grumbling something about "kids these days don't appreciate good humor."

Feaurax took this opportunity to sit down and catch his breath. He had been abroad all of the past week, leaving him understandably tired. And yet he was restless. Something about Asheron's actions seemed a bit... off... as of late. Oh, shut up, he told his sense of reason. If it was anything to be concerned about, I would have found out by now. He got up. He needed to take his mind off this. Pacing around the library, he eventually came upon the display case. The glint of a mysterious metal cube caught his eye. If he didn't know better, Feaurax would have said that it was part of a portal pedestal. In fact, that's exactly what it looked like. He picked it up to get a closer look.

In his rush to see exactly what it was, he forgot rule number one of using magical artifacts. Don't touch something unless you are absolutely sure of what it does.

The aide could no sooner call out, "Put that down!" than Feaurax's form flickered, gave a defiant flare, and then finally faded away.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The landing was rough, to say the least. Feaurax's body slammed into the ground with the force of a two-ton train car, his body actually bouncing all of three times before skidding to a halt in front of an utterly bewildered Twilight Sparkle.

"Is this what I get for trying to get some fresh air? Pony's sake..." she grumbled under her breath. "Hey. You. Get up." she said, punctuating each word with a gentle tap to the head, courtesy of her hoof.

In response, Feaurax lifted his head and expelled all of the dirt and grass that had accumulated in his mouth, along with several teeth, before his head hit the ground again.

"Well, whatever it is, it's alive." she mused to herself, "And it probably needs help. Great. I had things I wanted to get done today. Like rearranging that bookshelf that Spike keeps messing up for some reason, and staring dreamily into that poster of Starswirl the Bearded before obsessively making sure it's level for the third time today. He is so high maintenance." She flared her horn, and her aura enveloped the man's arms before magically sticking them to her flanks like they were in some kind of Conga line gone wrong. She sighed and began her long walk to Fluttershy's house. Perhaps the pegasus could help this poor soul.

Day One

Feaurax's eyes rolled in their sockets a bit before centering and the lids fluttering open. The popping of joints and the low groan that resulted from him sitting up should have alerted his captor and her cohort to his coming to, but didn't.

The scene he was presented with was utterly alien to him. Two vaguely animal-shaped beings were conversing not far from him, though he only caught the tail end of their discussion.

"... and then it just... I don't know... was there..." Twilight finished explaining to Fluttershy, who sat on her couch, eyes wide and looking directly at him.

"Um... hello..." Feaurax said quietly, causing the lavender mare to jump and wheel around to face him. "Er, where... exactly am I..." he inquired.

"Ponyville," came the soft-spoken reply from Fluttershy. "Um... Your mental faculties seem to be in order, I guess. Have you forgotten anything?"

"That cube! I never should have touched it..." Feaurax nearly shouted, shooting up into a standing position, startling the two mares. He got the message and took it down an octave... or four. "Oh, sorry. Did I scare you? This is... this is completely different from what I'm used to..." He put his head in his hands. "I don't think so. I have a headache that would make a psychic have nightmares, but all in all I think I made it okay." His head suddenly shot back up, causing the ponies to flinch again. "Wait. How are you communicating at all? Let alone in a language similar enough to my own that I can understand you and vice-versa?"

"Coincidence?" Twilight offered.

"Probably... or maybe I hit the ground harder than I thought..." he trailed off, rubbing his temples. "I just wish this pounding in my head would go away..."

"Oh. Well, why didn't you just say so?" the purple mare flared her horn, his headache was gone.

"Putting aside the fact that I just did..."

"How did you do that?" Fluttershy finished his sentence. "I thought you didn't know any medical magic? Or that it didn't exist? Or something like that?..."

"I hardly think it qualifies as medicinal, it cures the symptoms rather than the ailment."

"That's what ninety-nine percent of medicine is, Twilight. Usually the problem fixes itself, medicine is just meant to let you function more easily until your issues are fixed."

"Well, the official definition is --"

"Completely wrong, Twilight." Fluttershy interrupted, her voice more firm than usual. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you like that. That was very rude of me." She shrunk into herself again.

"Moving on, what exactly are you?" Twilight questioned, moving a little closer to the man, who backed a little further away in response.

"Male, Isparian, soon-to-be Master Mage."

"Master... Mage?"

"Basically I'm among the toughest of the tough as far as mages go..." He trailed off, glancing at his unimpressive frame. "... magically speaking anyway. My body is a great example of what happens when your only exercise is lugging books around. I mean, I'm not fat, but I'm not at all physically impressive. Not that I really need to be. I know magicks that would tear most people in half." This wasn't him bragging. This was him stating fact. Those 'Whirling Blades' of his bucking hurt like nothing else. But you won't feel it for long, especially missing the lower half of your body.

He wasn't necessarily proud of this knowledge, but he had obtained it through legitimate means, that much he could say for it.

"You know magic?!" Twilight perked up, getting in his face with an eager expression on hers.

"Umm... yeah. The ancient Empyrean branch, schools of the Right and Left Hands?" He asked nervously, slowly backing his face away from that of the purple mare. She didn't get the hint, closing the distance equally as slowly, smile never leaving her face. "Honestly, I've never understood the names of the schools. I've always called them what everyone else did, meaning war magic, life magic, creature enchantment, item enchantment... and the rather new addition, void magic. Never liked that, anyway, seems too unnatural even as magic goes, to me. Sadly it seems a lot more went into how to murder your opponent more and more brutally than actually trying to help people, but what is directly beneficial to yourself and others is more flexible than it looks." Twilight made a mental note. Whatever these 'Isparians' are, they sound like a very violent group that may have only managed to gain access to magic by accident. Twilight backed away, thinking.

A crash and a thump announced a new arrival to Fluttershy's abode. Fluttershy sighed and muttered under her breath, something about "the third time this week."

"Well, Egghead, looks like you've made a new friend." A cyan-colored mare rose up, rubbing her head, which was adorned with a mane of all the colors of the rainbow. A quick glance confirmed that her tail was also colored this way, and Feaurax wondered just what sort of genetic backflips were needed to accomplish something like that. Twilight's eye twitched at the nickname, but no other emotion was betrayed by her face.

"What is it, Rainbow Dash?"

"Well, I was flying around when I saw some nasty damage to your lawn. I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"That's... surprisingly sweet of you, Dash. But I'm pretty sure I know the real reason behind your trying to find me -- you wanted to see what caused the damage, didn't you?"

"... Just a little bit..."

"Well, look no further. I'm pretty sure it was me." Feaurax sheepishly admitted.

"Wait, that was you? Dude, if you did that on purpose..." She trailed off, face contorting angrily. Feaurax braced for impact. He was not prepared for a physical confrontation.

"Back off, Dash. I'm pretty sure he had no say in the matter. He was not the force, only the tool." Twilight defended. "One second, I was outside enjoying some fresh air. The next, this guy flashed into existence and came hurtling towards my lawn at a speed that... probably would've broken your neck, if you'd have hit the ground head on like he did."

"So now you're saying that he's tougher than me! Well then, tough guy, let's go!" Dash shifted into a combative position, wings splayed out beside her. Feaurax braced even harder.

"Now now, let's not get violent..." Fluttershy tried to speak over Dash's growling, but went unheard.

"Dash, calm down! You're scaring the specimen!" Twilight nearly shouted. Rainbow Dash did not respond, only turning to glare at her as well. It became a battle of wills as neither side was willing to back down, the two mares staring each other down.

"If you're going to kill each other, please don't do it on my carpet..." Fluttershy squeaked suddenly, causing all hostilities to immediately cease and everyone to turn their attention toward her. "I just had that cleaned last week... do you know how hard it is to get pony blood out of a carpet? I don't want to find out..."

"What makes you think we're going to kill each other?" Twilight asked, expression bewildered.

"Yeah, Fluttershy, what gives? You really think that low of us?" Dash demanded, genuinely offended.

"Uh, in her defense, you were kind of at each other's throats for a minute there..." Feaurax pointed out.

"You keep quiet! You have no stake in this!" Dash rounded on him, pointing her hoof accusingly.

Feaurax's eyes widened. He had had enough of this mare and her obvious predilection towards those of her own species. "The hell I don't! You mean to say that I have no stake in my own fate? One that you seem so intent upon ending prematurely, might I add?" Feaurax burst, finally growing a pair.

Rainbow Dash was taken aback. "Wait, ending your... you think that I'd... kill you? Over something as stupid as a messed up lawn?"

"Well, it certainly sounded like it!"

"No. I wouldn't. Just... no. Maybe buck you up a bit, but I wouldn't even dream in my most sadistic state of killing somepony, especially over something so... irrelevant. I mean, it's not even my lawn!" Dash calmed, sitting on the floor. "So, Guy Egghead, what's your story, anyway? "

"He was just going to tell us. Weren't you, what's-your-face?" Twilight prompted.

"Dear Celestia, you don't even know its name? This is precious!" Dash fell to the floor, laughing her blue flank off.

"Kind of had more pressing concerns, Dash..."

"Like what? Weirding the poor thing out? Celestia's sake, Twilight, it was terrified!"

"Well, it didn't say no!"

"Like I said, it was terrified!"

Feaurax broke up the argument. "Um... it's Feaurax." He said quietly. "My name is Feaurax." He said a little louder.

"Pleased to meet you, Feaurax. I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Rainbow Dash," she gestured to the light blue pegasus that she had been arguing with mere seconds before, "And Fluttershy." she gestured to the cream-colored pegasus. "Welcome to Equestria. It looks like we'll be your guides. And the others will be too, I'm sure." She continued to prattle on. "Once everypony gets around, I imagine our next move will be to take you to Princess Celestia. If anypony out there knows what to do for you, it'll be her."

"Not overly fond of the idea of meeting other people - er, that is, ponies - so soon. Then again, I never was a people person." He launched off into an abridged account of recent events, choosing to omit his concerns about his mentor for now. "... And then I picked it up to get a better look at it, because it looked like a piece of a portal pedestal. I wasn't thinking, obviously, that it would send me here. Obviously the thing held some measure of its old enchantment, otherwise it couldn't have done what it did. I'm still not sure that if I were to use my portal recall spells that I would find myself back home, but I guess it can't hurt to try." He stood up suddenly, walking to the center of the sitting room for some breathing room. He took up a stance that, while it looked admittedly less goofy than Asheron's old-fashioned one, still garnered some ridicule and snark when used around the general populace ("Fear not, for our hero is going to dance the threatening hordes of Olthoi away!"). His expression, serious, stopped any ridicule that was about to come his way. "Shurov Thiloi!" he uttered, cursing when the spell, rather than fizzling out, simply didn't work. Standard recall spells wouldn't work, it seemed. "Shurov Sith!" he said a little louder, utilizing a spell of his own fashion that was meant to teleport him directly to Asheron's castle/sanctuary/Academy, but in reality dropped the caster off several feet above the destination. Not technically a failure, but something only to be used as a last resort, at any rate. It fizzled out. He tried again. It fizzled out again. He sighed and sat back down.

"What is it that you're trying to do?" Twilight asked.

"Cast my recall spells - that is, spells that take me back to someplace in particular, but I imagine they aren't working either because I'm in another world, and am therefore not tied to those portals anymore. Another possibility is that Asheron's destroying of the portals rendered the recall spells unusable too."

"In any case, we should take you to Princess Celestia. Let's wait a bit and see if anypony else shows up, so we can hopefully leave soon with everypony accounted for."

"It's settled then? We're taking him to her?" Dash spoke up.

"Yes, Dash, for the last time, we are taking him to see Princess Celestia. I just hope she has an idea of what to do."

Take Me To Your Leader

"Okay, who is this 'Princess Celestia' and why do I get the most ominous feeling when she's mentioned?" Feaurax said to no one in particular.

"Well, to make a long story short, she's the ruler of all of Equestria, along with her sister, Princess Luna. They raise and lower the sun and moon, respectively." Twilight stated matter-of-factly, minor irritation gracing her features. She still hadn't gotten over being ignored, and Feaurax could tell he had not heard the end of that one. "As to why you have an ominous feeling, I don't know. I didn't even know what you were until half an hour ago. I have no idea how to approach psychology with you."

A knock on the door announced another new arrival. "Guys, let me in! I'm a fairy! Don't you believe in fairies?" came a muffled voice from behind the door.

"Pinkie, you're not a fairy. They exist, sure, but you're not one of them." Twilight called to the other voice as she got up to open the door. She cracked it open and the door fell off its hinges as a pink pony charged into it with all her might. The purple unicorn, pink earth pony and that poor slab of wood ended up on the other side of the room.

"Dammit, Pinkie! You're replacing that this time!" Fluttershy looked like she would burst a blood vessel.

"Silly Fluttershy! Fairies don't need money!"

"For the last time, Pinkie Pie, you are not a fairy!" came the muffled yell of the unicorn struggling beneath the door that Pinkie was sitting on. Pinkie hopped up and moved the door, grabbing its impressive thickness in her teeth and heaving. Feaurax wondered what else was up this pony's sleeve, she just wasn't like the others. Having neither wings nor horn, but still not letting that stop her from doing extraordinary things. Somehow he doubted she'd have trouble coming up with the money to replace the door, expensive though it looked.

Twilight sat up and brushed herself off, glowering at the party pony. "Pinkie, I -"

"Oooooh! Who's this? What's this? What does this do?" Pinkie touched the mage's staff, causing it to backfire and belch out thick black smoke.

"How did you even do that? That isn't even technically possible!" Feaurax choked out, getting up and moving to the window that Dash had broken with her entrance. Now, if I do this just right... he thought to himself. "Zojak Quareth!" he shouted, casting a well-aimed shockwave arc out the broken window, taking the acrid smoke with it. His idea paid off: the force of the shockwave moving so quickly caused the air around it to be pulled with it, leaving behind a small vacuum that was soon filled with clearer air. Unfortunately, the ponies were now all the color of soot.

The ponies were still coughing, until the cracking and snapping of wood alerted everyone in the house to the fact that the shockwave arc wasn't nearly as well-aimed as previously thought. A few world shaking thumps belied the fate of those poor trees. Feaurax swore under his breath. "Sorry about that, I could barely see where the window was."

"You could've just waited for the smoke to clear!" Fluttershy shouted, temper past its breaking point.

"Celestia, Fluttershy, calm yourself! He wasn't exactly aiming for them, unlike me and your window. Though, in my defense, I thought it was open until it was too late to pull up." Dash said. "Also, with the way it very clearly wasn't clearing, I think he did the best thing. Pretty sure we'd all be hacking up a lung or both of them by now if he hadn't."

"That's not the point! I am sick and tired of everypony breaking my stuff! Seriously, the only thing of Twilight's that's been messed up in recent memory is her lawn!" Fluttershy continued, voice down an octave but still carrying the same amount of anguish. "And to top it all off, I think there were some bird's nests up in those trees! They're probably all dead now! You can break my stuff all you want, but when you start hurting my animals, intentional or not, we have issues." She contradicted her earlier point, but she didn't care. All she could think about were those birds, some who would never fly again, some who would never chirp again.

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy, I couldn't see!" Feaurax tried to defend himself, this new side to the pale yellow mare beginning to scare him. His voice came out in a pleading whimper.

"Whatever. I doubt you care anyway." Fluttershy dismissed him, earning a gasp from Pinkie Pie, who had remained silent up until this point. Fluttershy deflated as she realized she had gone too far. She tried to push it behind her, saying, "Let's just go and get this over with before he causes any more casualties." She got up off of her couch, stretched, and walked to the gaping hole that was her front doorway.

Feaurax remained silent. Sure, he had killed several creatures before. But that was only to protect himself, and to provide himself with food. He had no intention of harming the creatures that meant no harm to him. He hung his head. He shouldn't have felt too sorry about this, and yet he did. Somehow the feeling that he had disappointed one of his benefactors crushed him from the inside. "Yeah, that'd probably be best."

"All right, we can pick up Applejack and Rarity as we head out of town, though to be honest I was kind of hoping they'd meet us here. Save us the trouble." The ponies and Isparian got up and walked to the doorway, where Fluttershy stood absently tapping her hoof on the floor.

"Get ready for a decent walk to the train station, everypony. Canterlot's a bit too far away to get to by foot." Twilight led the way out of Fluttershy's doorway.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"What do you mean, he disappeared?!" Asheron bellowed, scaring the poor library aide half to death with the rise in his voice.

"E-Exactly what I s-said, sir." The meek bookworm said, his head still hung low. "He touched the cube, and disappeared!"

"This is why I said to completely destroy it! I just knew someone would be so stupid as to touch it." Asheron held his head in his hands. "We must exhaust every resource to either confirm his death, bring him back, or eliminate him in the event that he is uncooperative. Hand me the cube." He held his hand out.

"Sir, I-I don't think it would be a good idea to handle it d-directly. Also, it, um, disappeared with him."

Asheron sighed. "I must apologize. I lost my head. Surely you understand my concerns?"

"Yes, sir. I-I must apologize myself, sir. I... should have kept more watchful eye over the display."

Yes, you damn well should have. This could cost me the whole effort. "Get to the broken pedestal at once. I need you to collect more fragments. Perhaps if I reassemble them into a larger fragment with roughly the same dimensions, the result could have the same properties as the cube."

"Yes, sir. R-Right away."

"And remember to keep a more watchful eye from now on. If I can't fix this..." I don't know what I'll do first. Strangle you, or cut my losses and reveal myself to the world a bit earlier than expected.

How Diplomacy Doesn't Always Work (The First Time)

Twilight walked up to the fancy door leading into Rarity's boutique. She knocked twice before asking, "Rarity? You around? We kind of need some help."

"Yes, of course! Come in, come in!" came the muffled voice from behind the door. "Please excuse the mess, I'm simply taking stock of what I have on hand. From the looks of things I may need to take a trip into Canterlot today." She opened the door for the group. They all went inside, Feaurax closing the door behind him.

"Whatcha' need in Canterlot?" Pinkie asked, looking at the various bolts of cloth Rarity had laid out.

"Oh, several different colors of silk, which I'm nearly out of, and some other things that I'd rather not mention. While I'm sure I could find somewhere in Ponyville that sells silk, and it'd do just fine, for some reason everyone who comes in here won't take 'anything less' than silk from a specific seller, whose only location happens to be in Canterlot. Snobs." She noticed Feaurax. "Oh? Who's this, then?"

Twilight started to speak up, but Feaurax raised a hand. "Please, Twilight. It's my story, I'd like to tell it myself." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Well. Miss, uhm, Rarity I think it was?"

"Yes?"

"My name is Feaurax. I'm in a bit of a pickle."

Twilight snorted. "A bit? This is what you call a bit of a pickle?"

"Hush, you. Anyway. I am an Isparian mage, among the last to cross over to Dereth to aid Asheron in making it hospitable for those unfortunate souls who were trapped there inadvertently by his experiments in the field of planar magic. Trouble is, I kind of touched something I wasn't supposed to, totally shattering the laws of portal dynamics and basically trapping myself here."

Twilight chuckled and said, "I guess you could say that. Poor guy slammed into my yard harder than a train, or as hard as Dash when she's doing one of those Sonic Rainbooms. Personally I'm a bit surprised he didn't bite the dust -- any harder than he did, at least. We need to talk to Princess Celestia about maybe getting him home sometime within his lifetime. Personally I think it would help his case if all of the ponies associated with the Elements were present. That is, if you aren't overbooked?"

Rarity smiled warmly. "Of course, dear. Just let me tidy up and write down exactly what colors I need and how much, and we can be off. Like I said, I was probably going to have to do some shopping anyway." She moved to start putting away the scraps of various sizes. Everypony else except for Rainbow Dash went to her aid.

"Yeah, I'd help, but I honestly have no clue where any of this goes." she said in her defense, "I'd just get in the way."

"You'll get no complaints from me. I haven't a single idea myself." Feaurax chuckled.

In no time they had finished up and were heading out the door, Rarity using her magic to flip the "Open" sign in the window to "Closed".

"Next up, Applejack. I really hope she's not that busy today." Twilight said.

They walked to Sweet Apple Acres, the whole lot of them wished that they had stopped by there on the way to Rarity's place, and managed to extract Applejack without too much grumbling on her part.

"You sure it's no trouble? We can do this another day, if you'd like," Twilight said, trying to get out of more walking than necessary.

"Seriously, Twi, it's fine. All the trees have water, Granny Smith's doing just fine and Big Mac's off doin' whatever it is he does in his free time. You'd think after all these years that ah'd know, but ah still have no idea what his hobbies are. With the way he tries to hide it, ah reckon it ain't healthy for him, whatever it is." Applejack replied.

"What about Applebloom?" Dash asked. "You've covered everyone but her."

"Honestly ah've got no idea where that filly ran off to, but ah figure as long as she's with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle she ain't gonna get in no more trouble than usual."

Twilight sighed. "All right everypony, let's go. We're taking the train this time, apart from Feaurax here."

"What am I doing then?" Feaurax replied, curious.

"I'm going to teleport you directly to the outer gate of the palace. Wait there for us, or close by if the guards get suspicious." She flared her horn.

"Nononono wait--" There was a slight pop, and he was gone.

"Twi, what'd you do that for? He obviously didn't want to go that way." Pinkie asked.

"Well, I'm pretty sure bringing him on the train wouldn't end well," Twilight said, "And, I, um... Well, I only brought enough bits for six tickets. Minor oversight."

"You know I always keep some money on me." Fluttershy said, "I'm sure I could've paid for my own."

Twilight facehoofed. For as smart as she was, sometimes she could act like a grade-A idiot. "Why didn't I think of that?" she said to herself under her breath.

"Whatever, let's just get moving. I have a feeling we shouldn't keep him waiting for too long." Rainbow Dash said, displaying a rare example of forethought.

None of them knew just how right she was.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Feaurax got up and rubbed his head. What was Twilight thinking, just dropping me here? He stood up unsteadily, the recent intimate affair with the ground taking its toll on his balance. He went to bend slightly backwards in an attempt to crack his back, only to do so literally. A loud crack echoed down the alley that Twilight had dropped him in (seems she was just as terrible with directions as he was).

Then came the utter agony, and with it, the screaming.

When he came to, he was in the hospital wing... of the prison. Gotta love the racial equality and tolerance of Equestria's judicial system, who, while he was out, had found him guilty of plotting to depose the Princess(es) and sentenced him to death. At least his assigned guard had the decency to tell him so. Along with an awkward "But I don't think you did anything wrong. I'm just doing my job. I'll be the first to admit that the Equestrian judicial system works independently of the Princesses, and really has no sympathy for anyone who isn't a pony."

Feaurax sighed as he rubbed his temples. Just what had he gotten himself into?

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The train carrying the bearers of the Elements of Harmony came to a stop in Canterlot several hours later, just as Feaurax was waking up, in fact. They arrived to find several ponies gossiping about recent events involving some kind of weird monkey and a plot to overthrow the Princesses.

"Excuse me," Twilight Sparkle said to one of the ponies, "What's this about a plot?"

"Oh, it was that deformed monkey. He was found guilty of plotting to overthrow the Princesses. We're supposed to be thankful that the spell that was used to bring him here backfired and left him on the other side of town, where the guards were heavily concentrated, but he really hasn't done anything wrong. From the sound of it, he even hurt himself when he got here. He's to be put to death sometime soon. Poor guy. Since the charges are so serious, they won't even let him have visitors. A small group of the guards are trying to get an audience with the Princess to try and prove him innocent, but the sod's likely to be dead by the time she starts listening."

Twilight's eyes went wide. "Then we have no time to waste, girls. Let's get moving." They tore off in the direction of the palace, where they were let in by a mean-looking group of guards.

One of them said, "Are you the calvalry, here to put down the beast that would dare attempt to hurt the Princess?"

Another chuckled. "Death by the Elements. That's sure to be painful. It'd have to be an overload of some kind, though."

Pinkie Pie, who chose that moment to be the excellent liar who'd save their time, said, "We aren't here about that! We didn't even know about that until we got here! Just let us in and we'll be sure to put it on the to-do list. We've got bigger fish to fry at the moment."

They were let in, and Twilight wasted no time in starting to look for Celestia.

They found her some time later, sitting in the gardens enjoying a peaceful day.

At least, it was peaceful.

"Princess! We need to talk to you about something!" Twilight said urgently.

"Let me guess, there's a long story that the judges got completely wrong about the guy who supposedly wanted to kill me?" Celestia said knowingly.

"Yeah, that. Where do I even start?" Twilight tapped her hoof absently. "Well, this morning he crash-landed into my yard. Some kind of inter-dimensional magical backfire left him trapped here. We were actually coming to ask for your help in getting him home. I sent him ahead of us because I ran out of money for the train tickets. Bad move on my part, obviously, because now we're here and he's going to be killed unless we all do something!"

Celestia rolled her eyes. "Those idiots that call themselves judges are a bunch of backward, racist pigs. I'd get rid of the whole thing, but then there'd be an uprising because of the lack of due process. What they fail to realize is that I am basically a living goddess, and if anyone knows whether the accused is guilty or not it'd be me or Luna. The duty'd probably fall on Luna. She gets kind of bored, just watching over the sleeping ponies." She caught herself, before she launched off into something they didn't have time for. "Oh, right. The monkey-thing. I'll just pardon him, and then I'm going to rely on you six to bring him to me. I need to know exactly what went wrong before I can help him."

Twilight smiled. "Thank you, Princess."

"Anything within reason for my most faithful student. And her friends, of course."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

A couple hours of internal debate later, Feaurax came to a conclusion. He would wait until someone came to rescue him or he was on the chopping block. If he made it to the chopping block, he'd escape and go off and do his own research into getting home.

Luckily for him, his friends had the ear of the Princess. He heard some familiar voices echo down the hall.

"Do you think he's going to be mad about this?" Rainbow Dash asked nervously. "He kinda struck me as the kind of guy who you really don't want to be on the bad side of when he's seriously angry."

"Of course he's going to be upset, Dash," Rarity said, "I would be too if I just got snatched up and told that I was found guilty of trying to kill the Princess."

"I dunno, Rarity, I'd mostly just be confused." Pinkie said.

"Oh hey, his door's open. Hey Feaurax! How goes the recovery? What happened, anyway?" Twilight asked.

"I tried to pop my back and ended up snapping something. Maybe I pinched a nerve, who knows. Next thing I know, I'm surrounded by guards. I woke up in here where a guard told me that I had been found guilty of trying to depose the Princesses, and that my punishment was death. I'm mostly okay now, speaking of recovery. I take it you managed to throw all that tripe out?" The man in question answered.

"Yeah, Princess Celestia is not at all impressed with the judges right now." Rarity chuckled.

"So we're supposed to bring you to her. Do you know exactly what went wrong to bring you here?" Twilight asked.

"Not exactly, but I have a hunch. I touched the cube, which had just enough of an enchantment to it to send me into portal-space, but not enough of an enchantment to determine for sure where I'd go, so it just dumped me wherever." Feaurax explained.

"Well that sounds like it should be easily reversible, provided you still have the cube. Do you?"

"Um... no. If it even came here with me, I imagine it's still embedded in your lawn."

"Perfect. I thought I was forgetting something."

"Oh, and either you're terrible with your navigational sense, or that spell you used to bring me here backfired. I ended up on the other side of town, from the sound of things."

"I heard. I was afraid of that. It might be an effect of unicorn magic trying to work on non-pony entities. Doesn't always work out."

"Whatever. Let's just go." Feaurax got up. "Are we going to go pick up my stuff first, or what?"

"You sure you're okay? You look tired."

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Let's just get this over with."

"Alright." They left the room.

The Long Way Home, Part 1

After grabbing his stuff and putting on his robes (they left him in his underclothes when they incarcerated him), he felt ready.

They entered the massive throne room, where the Princess was already sitting. At least, she looked like a princess -- Feaurax was quite sure that no other pony could look quite so regal, except for perhaps her sister, who entered shortly after they did.

"Ah, Feaurax. Nice of you to join us." Celestia chuckled. "We need to make this quick. I have to give a formal public address announcing your pardon, and you need to be there too."

"Then there's the minor issue involving me not doing anything to warrant my arrest to begin with." Feaurax snarked.

"Quite. Those guards are so overprotective of me. Sometimes I wish they'd take it down a notch."

"Or three." Luna interjected.

"Yes, they're especially protective of Luna here. Almost to the point of her having to sneak around to get some privacy."

"Is it too much to ask for them to leave me alone for five seconds?"

"Let's not get into that just now. Feaurax, what exactly led to your arrival here?"

Feaurax explained to them what he explained to his new friends.

"Do you have the alleged cube in your possession?"

A response in the negative.

"Well, when you get back, find it and send it to me. Be careful not to handle it directly. In fact..." She pulled out a book and turned to a specific page. "I'd like you to ask Miss Sparkle to cast this spell on it before you do anything with it. I'm sure Spike will have no issue sending it to me."

"Okay," he said, taking out his journal and scribbling down what the page she had flipped to said word for word.

"Now that that matter is out of the way, we should probably give you some kind of disguise." She flared her horn, the magic quickly enveloping the young mage.

"Wait, what--" were the only words Feaurax could get out before his form shifted. He was a pony now, a unicorn, to be exact, and he was not amused, although he at least managed to grasp the situation. "At least tell me this is reversible." His coat was the same dark gray that his robes were, and his mane roughly corresponded to his hair color.  The styling was roughly the same, too, being rather short.

"Quite easily so. You should be able to shift at will. Now, because you're going to be shown off in your other form and your name will be known, it would probably be in your interest to use a different name. There will be some ponies out there who aren't necessarily pleased that you're getting off the hook, and it would be unwise to draw attention to yourself by using your real name."

After testing the shifting capabilities he had been informed of, he responded. "I guess I might as well go by the name I was given at birth, Renald. But that sounds... so..."

"Boring?" Luna interrupted.

"Yeah, boring. And then there's some underlying issues psychologically speaking behind the name to me, but it's unknown by anyone who'd be an enemy, and it's known by most of my friends back home, so if they come after me -- which I doubt they will, but in that case -- they shouldn't have too much of an issue trying to find me. If you want to shorten it or have any other suggestions, by all means."

"How about Ren?" Pinkie suggested.

"Meh. It'll do." Feaurax, now going by Ren, said.

With that out of the way, they parted, the Element bearers heading to the train station to wait on a ticket back home (Twilight again neglected to grab enough money for the return trip, necessitating Celestia giving her enough for all seven ponies with a "Don't mention it. Seriously, don't." when Twilight thanked her) and Feaurax and Celestia preparing for the address that was coming.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Earlier today my Royal Guards apprehended an individual suspected of conspiring to overthrow my sister and myself. However, these allegations are false. As such, and as per my right as co-ruler of Equestria, I have pardoned this... this..." Celestia spluttered a bit, Feaurax deciding to help her out.

"Isparian." He whispered in her ear.

"Erm, Isparian. I have pardoned this Isparian because, even though he was found guilty of all charges by the Equestrian Judicial System, the judges in said system are known to let race be a deciding factor in their rulings. Because no other creature of this nature has been seen before, and the nature of ponies being to fear that which they do not know, my best guess is that they were scared of this Isparian and what he could possibly do. I feel I must remind those judges that race is no more controllable by an individual than their gender.

"This Isparian's name... is Feaurax. He is capable of his own brand of magic, independent from that of the Unicorns, and is what his kind calls a 'Master Mage'. He has explained to me his predicament, and has found me receptive to his request for aid in returning to his homeland of Dereth. He does not wish to harm you nor does he wish to harm anyone. He is capable of doing so if pushed, so I feel I must issue a cursory warning in colloquial terms: do not buck with this guy.

"He will be kept in the castle with my sister and myself, in an attempt to monitor him. There is no possible way that any of you will be harmed by his presence, or indeed come into contact with him in any prolonged manner." This part wasn't true.

"I hope you will honor my request and not harass him. I do not wish to incarcerate him again for what will have been a case of harassment escalating into full-blown conflict. Thank you for your time, and goodnight."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Feaurax -- err, sorry, 'Ren' -- followed Applejack's much more reliable directions to the train station. There he found his friends waiting for the train to arrive.

"Hey. The only route back to Ponyville I could get this late in the day is a round trip through Cloudsdale, Tall Tale and through the Smokey Mountain range. The train will be here shortly, but the ride is going to be an overnight ordeal." Twilight explained.

"Fine by me, as long as we actually make it there in one piece." Ren -- wow, this whole disguised name thing is going to be more cumbersome than I thought -- said. He looked to try to find where the sun was at in the sky, and sure enough, it was hanging low on the western horizon.

"Yeah, I don't think Princess Luna's too enthusiastic about the trains running passengers 24/7, but she at least tolerates them," Twilight commented, almost reading Ren's mind. "My guess is that it's because most everypony sleeps through the route when it's going overnight, save for the operators."

"Yeah, she can get downright scary about ponies not sleeping when they're supposed to. One night I was going for some night-flying practice, when she appeared in front of me. I nearly slammed into her. It's like living with my parents all over again. 'Why aren't you asleep? Don't you have any idea what time it is?' There are some ponies that she lets it slide for, like those who have night jobs and sleep all day, but for ponies like me who just happened to be unable to sleep one night -- Well, to be honest I thought I was having a nightmare." Dash told the group. Fluttershy looked at her sympathetically, but before she could say anything a pony came over the loudspeaker.

"Route 22-19 has just come in, and will be heading overnight through Cloudsdale, Tall Tale and the Smokey Mountains before arriving at Ponyville at about six sharp tomorrow morning. All those who bought tickets for the route, get ready to board. If you haven't bought tickets yet, now would be an opportune time. There are about twenty seats left to fill."

"That's us." Twilight said, getting up out of her seat. The others quickly followed suit. They walked out the door to the platform where the train was pulling to a stop. They boarded soon thereafter, after the stallion in charge checked their tickets and fixed Ren with a stern look.

"You take care of those pretty mares for me, will ya?" He said, cracking a smile.

"I'll protect them with my life if need be." Ren answered seriously, not getting the older stallion's lewd joke. To be fair, it was executed rather poorly.

The stallion facehoofed internally. "Atta boy, now get up there."

Not too long after, the train started moving. They were on the way home. Or, as Ren put it to himself, the detainment facility. He was, after all, used to being able to leave and return as he pleased. He wouldn't be able to do that here. Nor would he want to, if the amount of trouble he got into just for showing up in Canterlot was any indication.

An Old Frenemy, Part 1

Despite the fact that it would totally piss off the Princess of the Night, the ponies decided it best to stay awake. None of them really knew why, but they had this weird sense of foreboding about them. Ren offered to take watch instead, but the others agreed that it wouldn't exactly be fair to him that they would get to sleep and that he wouldn't. Also, the way he didn't really act like a pony even while looking like one creeped them out.

"You know, for this being an official case of alleged crime and subsequent sentencing and carrying out of that sentence, this all happened really quickly." Ren said, holding up his face with his hooves. The others looked at him kind of funny. "I'm serious, matters like this took months if not years where I come from." They gave him an even weirder look. He could've sworn that he heard a whispered "But the Princess knows all."

"He's right, though. These things do tend to be over and done with in a decently timely manner, but not this quickly." Twilight explained, "I don't think we're out of the woods yet. If 'Feaurax' shows his face anywhere but in the company of the Princess, they're bound to nab him for something or other."

"Good, so I'm not the only one who thinks something fishy is going on," Ren said.

"Speaking of crime, did you hear that one real estate mogul, can't remember his name, got off on another property damage charge?" Fluttershy asked incredulously. "They've got to have their hands in his pockets. How else could it be that not a single charge they've brought up has stuck?"

"Another example of capitalism at its worst. I'm all for being properly rewarded for hard work, but that stallion got most of his fortune from his father when he finally passed. His father wasn't any better than he is, of course, but the principle still applies." Rarity commented.

"Isn't he the one who keeps tryin' to get the farm ponies to give up their land, and if they don't give him what he wants he has it set on fire?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Basically." Rainbow Dash answered.

"If he gets it in his head to come knockin' on mah door, mah farm ain't gonna be what's burnin'. It's gonna be him." Applejack spat with a measureable amount of contempt.

"Back to what I was saying before," Ren broke up the gossip, "I don't have a good feeling about this. I think we should get off in Tall Tale, wherever that is. I don't know what's coming, but I know something is. And I know it can't be good."

"Oh, quit it with the paranoia, will ya? I've got enough to spare already, thanks." Dash said, when something slammed into the side of the train car, making it tip slightly on its side. It fell back onto the track with an audible clang of metal on metal. If the ponies in the other cars were asleep when whatever hit the car impacted, they were certainly awake now.

"The hell was that, then?" Ren said with just a hint of smugness. Another object hit the side of the train car, this time making a noticable dent. "All right, just what the hell is going on here?" Ren asked rhetorically, opening the window to look out of it.

A poorly aimed shockwave bolt struck him in the face, sending him flying to the other side of the train car. Yet another projectile slammed into the train car, this time succeeding in its goal of toppling the metal behemoth.

Each pony's world was turned on its side as they all landed on the wall of the left side of the car. The usual rounds were made to make sure that everypony was okay, and what to do next was discussed. Ren sighed and switched over to Feaurax, staff at the ready.

"Feaurax! What did the Princess tell you about being in that form out here?!" Twilight demanded in a harsh whisper. He didn't respond, gently pushing her to the side.

"Zojak Quazeal!" He shouted, the newly-minted piercing bolt punching a hole through the sheet metal of the roof that was now the side wall. He had to do this a few more times, aiming at various places to make a hole large enough for the group to go through. He immediately shifted back into his 'Ren' disguise.

"Okay, I'll admit, that's cool." Dash praised.

"Yeah, ah could think of a couple uses for somethin' like that." Applejack said, eyeing the holes the spells had made in the half-inch thick steel.

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it. This was a one-time-only deal. I can't be doing this every time we get in a situation. Twilight's right, I could be found out." Ren said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"So what about all the other ponies?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Well, I hardly think that the company who runs this would let innocent ponies perish. Besides, they've got food, water, and shelter from the creatures of the forest. It really is the safest place for them. I'm sure as long as we let somepony know when we get into town if they don't already know, they'll be fine." Rarity said.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to shoot that idea down. You know why? Ursas. You know what they're drawn by? Food and ponies. You know what it takes to stop them? Neither do I. And you know as well as I do that the majors can punch through this--" Rainbow Dash rapped the thick metal with her hoof, "--like it's aluminum foil. So, no. We aren't just leaving them here."

Rarity's eyes went wide. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. Of course that would make it unsafe, just about as unsafe as it gets honestly..."

"So what do we do?" Applejack asked reluctantly.

"Simple. We get them all out of there, and then we all head off to whatever town's nearest. We just have to follow the tracks. And I'm sure Dash and Fluttershy wouldn't mind doing some scouting." Ren said.

"Sounds like the best plan we're going to come up with out here. Let's get to it then." Twilight sighed. She'd already had a long day. Little did she know it would be even longer before the sweet embrace of sleep would welcome her.

"How are we gonna do that?" Pinkie asked, bringing a slight problem to their attention. "I mean, that's some thick stuff there, and I'm not sure if any of us can get through it."

"'Cept for Fee- ... Fay- ... buck it, Ren." Applejack said.

"Speaking of my name, you should just refer to me as Ren, whichever form I'm in. Might as well, it's less confusing that way. On to the matter at hand... I guess I could do it -- s'not like they're gonna rat out the guy who just bailed them out of a bad situation." Ren shifted to his Isparian form, discarding any mention of the name Feaurax. It was apparently too difficult to pronounce, and he didn't want one of the ponies to screw it up at a key moment. One false move and his cover was blown wide open. To tell the truth he wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't slip up himself, so to minimize that risk, he simply discarded his "impressive name," as one of his older friends had called it.

He walked to one of the other train cars and knocked on the roof-turned-side-wall. "Anyone-- err, anypony in there?" He asked. A muffled voice answered. "I'm gonna get you out of here, but you're gonna have to move away from what was the roof. Just yell when everypony's on the other side, this might get violent." The yell came not long after, and he steeled himself for casting what was probably one of the silliest spells of all time. It brought eight giant furred fists into being, arranged them in a four-by-two grid, and sent them slowly hurtling towards whatever the target was. For how slow they were moving, you'd never think that they would do as much damage as they did -- the spell was made as a joke, and the havoc it wreaked was the punchline. "Quavosh Quapaj!" he yelled, the fists materializing and taking off as expected. Also as expected, they disappeared right after they broke through the steel -- most "wall" spells didn't, and Tusker Fists (which is this spell's name) was no exception to that. However, it did have a sort of kill switch built into it - if the mage willed it to, the damn fists exploded into confetti. It would be perfect for Pinkie Pie if it wasn't so destructive. Rainbow Dash burst out laughing when the fists appeared, and only laughed harder when it broke through the steel. She literally could not breathe when they exploded into confetti. Pinkie stood, admiring the confetti they left behind and eying Ren with an expression that he couldn't place.

Curiosity?

Intrigue?

... Desire? No, that couldn't be it... Ren shuddered. He hoped that wasn't it. Even if he was into mares (he was into females, yes, but strictly of his own species), which he wasn't, he doubted he'd be enough for her. She had what seemed to be an endless energy pool. Where her friends were starting to show signs of fatigue, she was as chipper as ever.

Ren released the breath he didn't realize he had been holding when the fists dispelled as they were meant to, and the three mares in that particular car walked out unscathed. They thanked him profusely, not even mentioning something along the lines of "Aren't you supposed to be locked in the castle?"

Ren sighed as the reality of the situation hit him: He had busted through two cars. There were at least fifteen more to go.

This was gonna be a long night.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

A shadowy figure snaked around another tree, careful to avoid being spotted by the suspicious ponies and Isparian. It chuckled darkly to itself.

"Oh man, the way that one caught him in the face! Priceless!" it laughed a bit louder, unable to contain itself.

Pinkie Pie's ears perked up at the sound. "Say, did you hear that?" she asked Rarity, who was standing next to her.

"Hear what, darling?" came the reply.

"Could'a sworn I just heard somepony laughing. Only... everypony's being quiet." Pinkie said, eying the trees suspiciously. "Just... just keep your eyes peeled. I don't think whatever attacked us is very far."

Shit! The figure thought to itself. That was close. I need to be more careful. One wrong move and I'm at the bastard's mercy -- again. Need to wait till he's drained himself casting that stupid spell over and over, and then I can swoop in, end his sorry ass, and kill everything else. A bleeding heart makes it really easy to bleed out, I guess. It licked its lips. The Hopeslayer is going to be very pleased with me when I bring him the corpse. I might even get the first shot in the tournament. But that all hinges on this.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The Isparian dispelled the last set of Tusker Fists, the foals inside the car cheering when the confetti started to fall. He sighed. That took far more out of him than it should have. His rather large (even by Isparian mage standards) 'mana tank' was just about running on fumes, so to speak. He perked up when he realized that he could start walking now, and hopefully get to sleep somewhere warm by sunrise. Twilight walked up to him.

"Hey, are you all right?" she asked. "You don't look so good. You look pale... paler than usual, I mean. And you're kind of swaying around..." she trailed off. "If you want, we could just call it a night. I don't know how to gauge your specific brand of magic, but I imagine that casting a spell with that kind of destructive force not just once, but fifteen times can suck you dry."

"Sixteen," he corrected, taking the opportunity to sit down.

She chuckled good-naturedly. "Sixteen. How awful."

"You said yourself that you didn't know how much energy it takes to do that."

"True." she shuffled uncomfortably. "Soo... planar magic, was it? Mind showing me a thing or two about it?"

He sighed. "If I can force it to work in this world, and it's compatible with whatever fundamental theorems there are that govern unicorn magic."

"That reminds me!" she almost cut him off. "Princess Celestia gave you a unicorn form, not just a pony form. That should mean you can cast our kind of magic!" she nearly squealed. Pinkie stopped talking to the others and looked at her, raising an eyebrow at her uncharacteristic excitement. "I can teach you if you don't already know by instinct, probably. Even if you've got the basics, I'm sure you wouldn't mind learning the complexities of it all."

He raised an eyebrow, also slightly put off by her unnatural excitement. "Depends. Is this going to be a permanent ability? 'Cause if not, I might as well not bother."

"I don't know. I imagine it would be, but what the Princess can give, she can also take away. And it might be rendered unusable when you make it back to your world, so there's that. But there's no harm in learning, is there? I mean, you aren't going to be doing much else, are you?" Ye gods, those eyes. Those deep purple eyes. They could melt a heart of solid granite. Luckily for her, they wouldn't have to.

He sighed and gave in to the purple mare's 'subtle' pleading. "Yes, Twilight, I would like to learn more." She gave a small squee. "Starting the day after we make it to wherever you call home. I need to catch up on sleep." He started rubbing his temples. "I haven't slept properly for any decent length of time in weeks. This whole 'cast Tusker Fists over and over again to save the ponies' thing didn't help. That spell has always drained me more than it should, and I've never liked using it. The only reason I did was because it is the only 'wall' spell I can dissipate at will. Now could I please get some sleep?"

Before Twilight could answer, Ren spotted a piercing arc heading towards them. He bolted upright, grabbing the mare by her underside and scrambling out of the way. The arc drilled into the ground where Ren had been mere moments before.

The shadowy figure stepped out from behind a tree, laughing. "You should've seen the look on your face!"

"I almost died! Is that your idea of funny?"

"Well, it'd certainly make my job easier." it snorted.

"Oh forget this. I'm too tired for this crap. Lemme guess, you're here to kill me for something or other. Did I get it right?"

"Ding ding ding, we've got a weiner -- uh, I mean winner."

"Ding ding ding, I'm sick of you already, smartass."

"Then I guess we better cut right to the heart of the matter. I'm a disciple of the Hopeslayer. You're Asheron's protege. His... er, blackness heard of your... shall we say 'vacation', and sent me to end you while you weren't looking. Failed in that respect, but someone's corpse is coming back with me, and I'd prefer if it were yours."

Ren deadpanned, "Spectacular." Then he readied his staff, and disappeared.

"Where'd he go?" Rainbow Dash's eyes darted around, looking for the mage. Twilight's eyes were darting around too, but in a more discernible pattern. Out of all of them, she was the only one who was able to see him at all, and even she could only catch a glimpse here and there. Somehow, he was completely abusing the laws of physics, rubber-banding all over the landscape around them. The figure chortled a bit before also disappearing. Suddenly, a mess of yellow and blue sparks exploded somewhere to the left of the group.

"Visual representation of the Stamina to Mana spell!" Ren yelled in explanation. "Malar Zhavik!" Another mess of yellow sparks imploded, presumably into his body.

Then, literal bolts of lightning began to fly. "Zojak Quasith!" the dark figure yelled, the violet bolts flying wherever. "Dammit! I can never get that one to work right!"

Ren smiled. "I can." He moved to cast a vulnerability spell on the figure, shouting "Cruath Quafeth!" The success was indicated by a vibrant purple crystal of sorts being absorbed into the still-invisible body of his adversary. A growl of annoyance drove the point further. "Zojak Quasith!" The bolts moved in tandem, forming a larger bolt that struck their target head-on.

"Shit! That one hurt, asshole! Try this on for size! Zojak Quafeth!" The green ball of acid missed, hitting the ground and killing the grass before melting a small hole and dissipating. "Dammit! Why can't I get a hit on you?!"

"You're too slow, that's why!" Ren chuckled, unknowingly imitating a certain blue hedgehog with his tone. "Equin Caja!" The magic coursed through his system before the effects were felt by the figure, who suddenly found it much more difficult to move, the resistance against its movement increasing greatly. The effects were visibly represented by an impressive-looking vibrant green veil descending over the target, who, with its recent drop in speed, suddenly became visible again.

"Oh come on!" it said, exasperated. Ren laughed, further fueling his adversary's murderous rage.

"Do you even resist, bro?" he said, grinning. (I'm sorry.)

"Hey, screw you! Zojak Quasith!" The lightning successfully coalesced. Ren stood still, smiling confidently. The bolt hit him, but did nothing. He caught it in one hand and channeled it to the ground with the other.

"What the hell?!" the figure demanded. "How?! How are you doing this?!"

Ren smirk widened. "I think it's fairly obvious who's outmatched here. Either piss off or get yourself killed, I really don't care which."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Twilight's horn flared, her face a mask of concentration. She cast some kind of measurement spell, as evidenced by a piece of paper and a quill rising to write the results.

Rarity said, "Twilight, dear, what are you doing?"

Twilight smiled, "Trying to see just how screwed this guy really is." She looked at the paper, interpreting the results, then frowned. "Undefined. Undefined for both." She used her magic to ball up the paper. She tried again. "Maybe that spell was only meant for unicorns. Let's try another one."

This one generated more concrete results. "This can't be right." she said, frowning while looking at the numbers. "This puts them at a level far lower than even a foal. But it does give them numbers, so I guess I can use it to gauge them... so, Ren is about three times as powerful as the other guy. That should be fun to watch." She used her magic to ball up this paper, and returned to watching the duel.

"Yeah, Ren, kick his ass!" Rainbow Dash whooped. Fluttershy fixed her with a withering glare. "What's the look for, Flutters?"

"Besides the fact that there are foals here and you're using that kind of language, you're also giving me the distinct impression that you want to see something die."

"Well, normally I wouldn't, but this guy lost any sympathy he would've gotten from me when he attacked those two," Dash said haughtily.

"... Point taken."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"I think I'll take option C: kill everything. Tugak..." the figure began, an ominous sense of dread filling the surrounding ponies.

No! Not that, anything but the Curse of Raven Fury! The one and only spell that begins with Tugak was designed presumably by the Hopeslayer himself, intending to maximize the killing potential of his followers. And maximize it that certainly did - it really was nothing more than a beefed-up Martyr's Hecatomb, taking half of the caster's health instead of a quarter and projecting it into a ring instead of a bolt. The spell was devastating, just about guaranteed to kill all but the heartiest of foes horribly. There were only a handful of people who survived the spell, and they were never quite the same. If there was a way to mark someone who is a disciple of Bael'Zharon, the use of this spell would be it. The callous disregard for life required to use this spell was an overwhelmingly obvious clue.

Desperate, Ren bolted to the figure, grabbing its long black cloak before shouting, "Shurov Sith!"

Miraculously, the two disassembled into brilliant purple globs before disappearing entirely.

An Old Frenemy, Part 2 of 2

The landing was rough, but then, it always seemed to be when using planar magic in Equestria. Ren was the first to recover, simply because he had been more prepared for the possibility of his last-ditch effort working. That didn't stop him from being as shocked as his opponent when they were portaled out to an entirely different location.

The spell he had used was designed to take them to an area of Dereth known as the Singularity Caul. Needless to say it hadn't done that, rather the two were transported to a snowy, bitterly cold area. Neither one of them knew where they were, but that wasn't going to stop his opponent, apparently. The cloaked figure screamed in rage and, showing rather poor judgement and anger control, lashed out physically against Ren. Ren, who wasn't paying attention, took a fist to the face. Then another, and another. After the third blow it seemed that he had developed the presence of mind to start dodging, and did so rather ungracefully, diving and rolling when he had to. After a while it seemed that his adversary was forced to calm down a bit, as his assault had left him completely drained.

"You done?" Ren asked tentatively.

The figure screamed again, enraged further by Ren's taunting. "Do you still not know who I am?!"

"No...?"

The figure grunted as it pulled off its hood, revealing a familiar face. "Remember me now?"

Ren's eyes widened, old wounds reopened. "No... it can't be... Murr?"

"The one and only."

"But you died! I buried you!"

"I faked my death so I could run off and join the Hopeslayer. I figured it'd be easier for everyone if no one knew my true fate."

"But... why?"

"When I was caught in that cave-in, I realized something. Bael'Zharon may be crazy, but he went crazy because of grief. Grief for his son, who, when the Yalaini invaders took over their village, was starved to death."

"Wow. I... I didn't know."

"Neither did I until I was caught in that cave-in. I was stuck in the Ancient History section of the archives, and I had nothing better to do. So I read."

"The loss of the Ancient History section would explain why I never figured it out. But still, he's a murderous psychopath!"

"And Asheron isn't?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Think about it. The Olthoi are mostly docile now, content to stay in their little wasteland or their hives. They aren't spreading since their old queen died, in fact, they're dying out. They don't want to fight anymore, and yet Asheron's ranks are bringing the fight to them."

"But the Olthoi enslaved nearly all of the first wave of Isparians before a couple escaped and managed to kill the old queen!"

"Yeah, but what about the Mukkirs? The Shadows? There are whole communities of Shadows out there, who are just trying to live their life in peace. But no, Asheron is having them all exterminated like vermin! That's why they joined the fight! They fight in an effort to save their people! Bael'Zharon is really just a figurehead, a powerful one, but I'm sure if we ever succeed in taking out the old fart we'll just kill him too. What you're not getting is that the majority of the grunts are just people who want peace, and who are willing to take orders from a batshit bat-demon-thing for the time being to accomplish that."

"I... I never realized..."

"But wait, there's more! You know what those Virindi are going to do if you win the war? They're going to turn on you while you are none the wiser and slit your throats -- for being unique! The only thing keeping them from doing it right now is the fact that they need you if they're going to have this world to themselves."

"Wouldn't put it past them, those things always gave me the willies..."

"And you! You are the bastard's right hand! Most of what gets done for him, is done by you! I'd have thought you'd have wised up by now. Apparently not, and now I'm faced with the order to kill a man who I genuinely called a friend for years! I can't disobey a direct order from the Hopeslayer, not if I want to live to see the Dereth that should be!"

"Stop!"

"No! I have to tell you this, because I really do not want to kill you! I have to, man! You fucked up royally, and now it's my job to take you out!" The tears were rolling fast and freely, dripping off of his chin to the snow beneath their feet.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that. So Asheron's a genocidal dick too. Yeah, okay. I can see that now. But Bael'Zharon is even worse."

"Wrong again! All he wants is to destroy the last of the Yalaini, the scourge who he feels murdered his son. He's willing to go to the darkest of extremes to accomplish that, okay, but he's only after one man. That's it."

"Who's to say that he won't let the power go to his head if he wins?"

"He already has power, but that's beside the point. He will let it go to his head, which is precisely why we're going to take him out immediately after."

"And if you fail?"

"I'd rather he destroy the world than Asheron."

"I can't just let you do this."

"I can't just not do this."

"So there it is, then. We have to fight."

"So it seems." They both resumed their stances. Murr chuckled. "I am so screwed."

"Cruath Quafeth!" Ren shouted, again casting the lightning vulnerability spell on Murr.

"I'm already going to die horribly to you, why make it worse?"

"Because I don't want to hurt you any more than I have to."

"I'm not going to make it easy."

"I know. It's already going to be difficult."

"..." Murr disappeared, Ren following after.

They clashed again and again, Ren's lightning versus Murr's acid. Murr managed to score a lucky hit on Ren, to his shock, joy, and dismay. Ren didn't even try to heal himself, opting instead to throw another lightning arc at his foe. He hissed in pain, the acid burning through the skin of his left forearm and quickly eating a hole through the bone, muscle, and tendons. Murr was concerned at his old friend's disregard for his body.

"You're getting sloppy." Murr commented as he fired another acid arc, another that missed its target.

"So what if I am?" Ren retorted.

"What happened to not letting me win?"

"The reveal happened."

"If it will make it easier for you, I can pull up my hood again."

"No. It won't do anything."

"Can't say I didn't try."

"Whatever." Ren fired off another lightning arc, his aim true. It lacked the momentum necessary to carry it all the way to its target. Ren cursed under his breath. He stopped abruptly, throwing his staff to the ground and falling to his knees. "I can't do this anymore. Do what you will with me."

"You... what? No. I can't just take you without a fight, it wouldn't feel right."

"You're going to have to."

"I refuse." Murr threw his staff down as well.

"You would disobey a direct order from your master?"

"Screw him." the old conviction burned in his eyes.

"I'd rather not, thanks." Ren chuckled weakly.

"You know damn well what I meant by that."

"What would happen if we were to go against both parties? Form our own?"

Murr grimaced. "We'd be squashed."

"I don't understand why we have to go with one or the other, they're both terrible."

"Yeah. I know." The wheels started turning. "If we were to get squashed, I want to get squashed fighting for the right side. The side that screams for peace. Perhaps I can... perhaps I can convince the Shadows to our view."

"I imagine you could, if you were telling the truth about them earlier."

"The Olthoi would be free to do what they wish under us, so we can probably count on them siding with us."

"So long as they don't try that whole 'enslave everything' thing again, I'm okay with that. They seem rather intelligent, even if they can't speak."

"They can, but it's in a different language. We'd have to observe them teaching their young before we could communicate with them. The Tuskers are a wild card. Some are friendly, others aren't. Most side with Asheron, though, and see him as some kind of infallible hero. We'd have to shake that belief."

"Indeed."

Murr sat down next to Ren, deep in thought. "The Virindi are a definite nope. Even if they side with us, they'd sooner kill us all than help us. They'll need to be either forced back to their home world, or an extinction is in order."

"As much as that idea disgusts me, it's probably necessary."

"The Mukkirs are deadly adversaries, but it seems they're like the Olthoi: content to stay in one place as far away from people as possible."

"Sounds about right."

"The Drudges will be difficult to sway away from their own side, so they're probably a lost cause. They leave us alone, we leave them alone."

"And the Sclavuses?"

"Unintelligent bipedal snakes. Want only to murder everything. They go home or die."

"Okay."

"One last thing, do you have any idea where we are?"

"Nope."

"Perfect. I guess we'll be picking a direction and walking."

"Oh, and Murr?"

"Yeah?"

"I missed you, brother." Ren smiled wide. Murr always had been a brilliant tactician.

"You have no idea."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Twilight scanned the area around them. "Where'd they go?"

Fluttershy said quietly, "I don't see them."

Twilight sighed. "I guess we'll worry about Ren later. We should get these ponies to town."

"Definitely." Rarity concurred.

"So, you want us to have a look-see around up past the trees?" Rainbow Dash asked, flaring out her wings in preparation.

"I don't think that will be necessary, Dash. We just have to pick a direction and walk, and we'll get somewhere friendly eventually."

"Aww..." Dash groaned, folding up her wings.

"Which way do we go, then?" Applejack asked.

"Well, the train's on it's left side, so if we keep the train to the right of us we should make it to Tall Tale. To the left, and we backtrack back to Cloudsdale." Twilight explained.

"I say we go to Tall Tale. It'll be difficult to get around in Cloudsdale with the overwhelming amount of earth ponies and unicorns." Rarity said.

"It's probably closer, too," Fluttershy added softly.

"Why don't we ask the rest of the ponies, and take a vote?" Pinkie asked.

"Good idea, Pinkie." Twilight said. She yelled to get the attention of the somewhat large crowd of ponies. "Everypony, we have two choices. Either way we're hoofing it, but we can go this way--" she paused to point in the general direction of Tall Tale, "-- and go to Tall Tale like we were going to. It's most likely closer, and it'll be easier to get around in. Or, we could go the other way to Cloudsdale. Raise your hooves for Tall Tale." An overwhelming majority raised their hooves. "Well, it doesn't look like we need to take the vote for Cloudsdale. Let's get moving then." She started walking in the direction of Tall Tale, the crowd following her and her friends.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Ren perked up as he realized something. "Murr, wait up." His arm was healed now, thanks in part to a particularly powerful casting of Adja's Intervention.

Murr stopped in his tracks, turning to face Ren. "What is it?"

"I got here by way of a broken portal pedestal. Broken though it was, I can probably use a generic recall spell on it to bring us back to familiar territory."

"Familiar to you, you mean."

"Yeah. Wanna risk it?"

"Seems a damn sight easier than roaming this place for who knows how long."

"Indeed. But do you want to?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, hold on to my robe." Murr gripped the cloth. Ren cast the spell, the two again disassembling into purple blobs and disappearing.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

They landed roughly yet again, but this time they were back at Twilight's library. They picked themselves up, being prepared for the landing helping with their lingering consciousness.

"I was supposed to find that cube when I got back here -- shit!" Ren said. "Get in the treehouse, now! Before anyone sees you!"

Murr didn't have to be told twice, opening the locked door easily after casting a weakening spell on the lock, which became brittle and broke when pressure was applied to it. Murr's forte always was enchanting inanimate objects, after all. He was no war mage as Ren was. Ren shifted into his unicorn form, and began to look around. He didn't have to look long before he found it, the cube glinting in the moonlight. He heard a crash from inside the treehouse. He used his magic, which for some reason came to him naturally, to pick up the cube before rushing inside.

A small, purple and green scaly thing was throwing plates at Murr, who tried in vain to calm the thing down.

"Dude, quit it! All you're doing is breaking dishes!" Murr whispered harshly.

"Who are you and why are you in here?" the young dragon asked quickly, throwing another dish.

"Calm down. You're Spike, I presume?" Ren said sternly to the wyrm.

"Yeah, how do you know my name? Are you friends of Twilight's?"

"I am, of a sort. This guy here is actually a friend of mine, not Twilight, at least not yet, but we didn't want to cause a panic so we decided to wait in here for her. She should be getting home sometime within the next day or so." Ren carefully set the cube down on a shelf, using his magic to scribble down a note saying not to touch it under any circumstances and placing the note on the cube.

"Oh. Okay then. Can I get you anything?" Spike was nothing if not hospitable.

"A pillow or two would be fantastic. I for one haven't slept properly in weeks, and I know my friend here has to be tired as well." A glance at Murr confirmed his suspicions, the mage sitting with his back up against the wall, slumped over and snoring.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Twilight and her motley crew made it into Tall Tale a couple hours after sunrise with little incident, a sprained leg on one of the foals being the only notable injury. Said foal was enveloped in Twilight's trademark pink aura and hovered behind her, sleeping. The foal's parents walked alongside their child.

They went into the train station there and alerted the people in charge to their plight. After some investigation revealed they were speaking the truth, they had some questions.

"How did you get them out of the cars through the roof? That's got to be at least a half inch thick, how did each car have such a large hole in the roof?"

"I found a way." Twilight said mysteriously.

"Like what?"

"A sonic rainboom can punch a hole through just about anything, you know." Dash tried to back her up.

"... And you did this seventeen times? And stopped fast enough to not go through the floor as well?"

"... Yes." Rainbow Dash was a terrible liar.

"I call bullshit."

Twilight sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway. Can we please just get our complimentary ride through to Ponyville, considering we've all already paid for the tickets?"

The stallion on the other side of the counter looked at her long and hard. Twilight stared back with the intensity that only a mare who was running on no sleep could muster. The stallion caved, sighing and pressing the button to print the tickets. He handed them to her. "Thank you, and have a nice day."

"You too."

They left the building and boarded the next train out to Ponyville. They were on their way home, deciding to sleep the whole way there.

"What are you doing in my house?!"

"What?" the horned stallion said slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with surprisingly dextrous hooves.

"You heard me. What the hay are you doing in my house? And who's this guy?!" Twilight yelled, pointing at Murr.

"Long, not altogether riveting story." Ren said. "Please don't yell. Murr's never been too good about being civil to people who've just woken him up, and I don't think he ever changed."

"Murr, then, is it? That's this guy's name?" Something clicked in her mind, and she gasped when she noticed Murr was wearing the same cloak as their assailant the previous night. "This is the guy who attacked us! Why is he here?!"

"Yeah, funny thing, that." Ren sat up. "He was one of my friends back home a long time ago. We all thought he died, but long story short he switched over to the other side and apparently we now have our own side."

"But he tried to kill us!"

"Calm yourself. I can handle him if he turns out to be not-so-friendly. If he turns again, I don't think I'll have any remorse for showing him the error of his ways."

"As long as you're sure..." Twilight looked to the cube on her shelf, eying it with curiosity. "This is it, right? That cube?"

"Yeah. Remember what the princess said, though, you're supposed to cast this on it." He handed her the copied spellbook page.

"Oh, right. The nullifying suspension spell. Honestly I'm not too sure why this exists, unless there are malicious magical artifacts in Equestria." Her horn flared, and the cube turned gray. "There we go. Supposedly that means it worked. Guess we should send it off to the princess."

"Yeah, but can you see about getting Murr a disguise too? I don't think the ponies are going to take too kindly to someone who nearly murdered them."

"Ugh, don't remind me. Yeah, I'll see. It might be something only the princess can do herself, though, so don't hold your breath." She picked up the cube with her magic and walked upstairs to her bedroom. Curious, Ren followed. He opened the door, to a shriek and a rather forceful exit.

"Wasn't expecting that." Ren said, shaking his head. He moved to wake Murr, but hesitated. What if he really was lying to them? What if he just wanted Ren to lower his guard, make it easier to stab him in the back later? He shook his head again. He'd have to wrangle an oath out of him later.

Twilight descended the stairs not long after, an upset expression on her face. "I enjoy my privacy, thanks. I expect you to honor that."

"Um, yeah. Sorry about that. Didn't realize what you were doing would require that."

"Whatever. So, something tells me you're not telling me everything. Is this guy really on our side? Or is he just going to murder us all in our sleep?"

"I have a... test of character planned. I will have him make an oath to me that he will not betray any of us. If he does this, he will die alone and in agony. If he refuses to take the oath..." Ren trailed off.

"Sounds like a decent enough course of action. So what is our move from here?"

"When we get back to Dereth, we're going to rally several groups of people and creatures to our side, and then we stick it to Asheron and Bael'Zharon both."

"So... none of us are coming, then."

"Pretty much."

"Hmm." She brought a hoof to her chin, thinking. "Why would you want to put an end to Asheron, as well? Isn't he like, your mentor or something?"

"Was." Ren's expression shifted. "He's been acting... oddly, as of late. But even normally, he's just as much of a genocidal prick as Bael'Zharon. He's just better at masking the reasoning behind the systematic extermination of everything that's ever breathed in the same space as us."

"Okay." She shuddered. She needed to change the subject. "So..."

"What?"

"About those lessons you promised me..."

Ren sighed, rolling his eyes. Oh, how he had seen this coming. "Yes, I've proven that planar magic works in this world. It doesn't work properly, though. Also I haven't really tried to cast it in unicorn form, but I guess I could."

"Please do."

Ren sighed again. "Twist my arm a little more, why don't you..." he whispered to himself as he exited the building. He took a more solid stance, and prepared to cast the same generic recall spell that had brought him here. He tried to cast it. The spell fizzled. He took a deep breath and tried again. It fizzled again. He thought to himself, hey, at least it's fizzling instead of not doing anything at all. This probably just means I have to re-learn everything. He sighed as he realized that wouldn't be very feasible unless he could get some practice. He'd have to see about that. The mare had helped him in more ways than one, it was the least he could do to repay her by teaching her what he knew about portals. He had an idea.

He went back inside, and shifted to his Isparian form. Twilight watched, curiosity gracing her features.

"I'm never going to get used to seeing that." she said flatly.

"Try actually doing it. It feels so weird, not painful or anything like that, but it's weird to all of a sudden have fingers again."

She laughed. "Yes, I would imagine that being rather jarring." A ball of green flame appeared next to Twilight, a letter and book falling from it onto the desk next to her. She broke the seal on the letter carefully, and read the letter aloud.

"To My Most Faithful Student,

This is truly one of the most interesting and strange artifacts that I have ever laid eyes on -- perhaps it has properties other than those previously discussed?

I recognize a few of the markings on it--"

"Glad she does, because I don't." Ren interrupted her. Twilight cast him a glare. He shut up. She cleared her throat before continuing.

"-- but not nearly enough to determine its origin. I am sending it on to one of my more gifted associates, to see if she can make anything of the enchantments this object may or may not have. I know you'd be able to figure out what this thing is sooner or later, and I mean no offense to you by saying this, but while you get accurate results, it can take some time, time that we do not really have. I heard about the train accident -- it relieves me greatly to hear everypony made it to safety, well, safely.  And you said that you are now harboring the individual responsible for this? Hmm. Very well, I will trust your judgement on this for now.

As to your inquiry as to the nature and practicality of the spell that I used to gift Feaurax -- excuse me, 'Ren' -- with his unicorn form. You will find the information necessary to execute it on page four hundred fifty three of the enclosed book. I do not know whether you will have the capacity required for casting it, as it is one of the most complex spells known to exist, but if there is anypony alive capable of casting it other than Luna, Cadance, and myself, it would be you. If memory serves, you may be able to enlist the assistance of a few of your unicorn friends to cast this if you find you come up short. Do please let me know if you do manage to cast it, it would answer a question that has been itching at the back of my mind for a good while now.

I assume this is meant to disguise the individual responsible for the aforementioned train accident, is it not? As I said, I will trust your judgement for now, but if this comes back to bite you, I do not think I will need to say that 'I told you so.' Do be careful, please.

Please let me know if there is anything else that I can be of assistance with."

"That last bit sounded like she's acting like a storeroom clerk..." Ren giggled.

Twilight decided not to read the signature, deeming it redundant. She also decided not to grace his joke with a response. It would only encourage him. "Page four-fifty-three, huh? Let's see..." She flipped to the page with her magic, sitting back in a chair. Ren took the opportunity to sit as well, taking out his journal and scribbling some things down in it. The princess is stumped, but she's sending it along. Murr came back today. Have yet to see if he's genuine. Was enlightened as to Asheron's true nature today. He's as bad as the Hopeslayer if not worse. Writing was so much easier with hands. He put the thick book away, and looked at Twilight's face. She still wore that unbreakable mask of concentration, but there were two noticable differences. One was that there was a bead of sweat running down the side of her face. The other was that her pupils were now tiny dots in the center of her eyes. "This... this is nearly impossible..."

"What?"

"This... this spell. I really don't think I could pull it off, not even with half of the unicorns in Ponyville lending a hoof."

"Wonderful. Does that mean we need to bring him to Princess Celestia too, or...?"

"No. I am not going through that junk again, not so soon. If the princess has to be the one to cast the spell, I'm sure I can convince her to come to us instead. We really don't want a repeat of last time."

"So what are we going to do?"

"We can only try to cast it. The good thing about these older spells is that it's an all or nothing deal -- it either works or it doesn't. You don't get stuck in an in-between state."

"Well, that's good, at least. I don't even want to know what an in-between state would look like between an Isparian and a pony." Ren shuddered.

"Thanks for that mental picture. I really could not have lived without it." Twilight snarked, grimacing.

Ren gave a wry grin. "Any time." If Twilight had fingers, she would have flipped him the bird. They walked back to the entryway of the library, where Murr was still sleeping. "Hey, Murr. Wake up." Murr actually did flip him the bird, in his sleep no less. Ren chuckled. "Got a bucket? I want to try something..."

"Yeah, it's around here somewhere. Just try not to make a mess." Ren found the bucket, and filled it with cold water. He started giggling like a schoolgirl, moving into full-blown cackling the closer he got to Murr.

Rude awakening in three...

Two...

Ren tripped over his own feet, cursing at the splash he had made by dropping the bucket.

"You're cleaning that up!" Twilight's distant voice yelled.

He did as he was told, knowing better than to provoke the wrath of the already somewhat agitated mare. He got another bucketful of cold water, being extra careful with his limbs this time, and stood over Murr. He started laughing maniacally as he dumped the bucket on the mage's head, the man springing to attention and spluttering, a look that would murder a flock of pegasi on his face. He turned to face Ren.

"The hell, man? What'd I do this time?"

"You wouldn't wake up."

"He's lying. He just wanted to mess with you." Twilight ratted him out, reentering the room. She stepped in a puddle. "Dammit, Ren, you're cleaning this up too!"

"Now everyone's mad at me. My life is complete." Ren said, imitating some kind of zen-like voice. Murr clocked him in the back of the head while he wasn't looking. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Do I really need to tell you? You know why." Murr said in a raspy voice, tone ominous. Ren laughed uneasily.

"So. We're going to try to turn you into a pony."

"What." replied Murr flatly.

"Don't worry, it's by no means permanent." To prove his point, Ren switched into and out of his unicorn form.

"As long as you don't screw it up, we're golden."

"... One thing, first."

"And what's that?"

"I... I need you to make an oath to me."

"Ren."

"I'm serious."

Murr sighed. "Dammit. I don't mind the oath so much as the completely asinine poses I have to make for it to be official."

"If it'll make you feel better, you don't have to do the poses."

"You will, however, have to make a Pinkie promise." Twilight cut in, giggling.

"Never break a Pinkie promise!" hissed a voice from the doorway.  Ren and Murr took a nervous glance behind them. There was no one there, pony or human. Twilight rolled her eyes, obviously used to this.

"And... what's that?" Murr asked, still a little spooked.

Twilight sighed. "Repeat after me. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, I will not betray the ponies of Equestria if it is at all within my power not to do so." He did. Somehow she had the feeling her specific terminology would come back to bite her later.

"Now do the motions!" the same voice from before hissed again. They complied. "NOW KISS!" the voice was clearly just screwing with them now.

"No, Pinkie, I am not going to kiss him." Twilight deadpanned. Said pink party pony burst through the door in a fit of giggles.

"I know, but could you imagine? Your brother would be soooo angry with this guy!"

"Yeah, kind of the main reason I don't go after romance. That and being the isolated bookworm tends to suck any of those opportunities from your life."

Ren cleared his throat. "Murr? The oath?"

"Oh, right."

"Personally, I think the Pinkie promise is enough." Dash said, coming in through the open door."If he breaks it, she'll make it haunt him for the rest of his life."

"A lot of good that does if we're all dead." Ren said, to the tune of Murr rolling his eyes.

Dash's eyes went wide. "Carry on then."

Pinkie giggled. "Yeah, I wanna see this!"

Murr sighed, then kneeled before Ren, who in turn kneeled as well.

"Hey Twilight, mind being the oathmaker?" Ren asked.

"The what?" the mare in question asked flatly.

"The oathmaker just presides over the whole thing, makes it official. Acts as a witness."

"Sure, why not."

Ren turned to face Murr. "Do you, Murr, agree to be bound by the conditions of this oath?"

"I would not know, you have not yet explained them to me."

"The first and only term of this oath is that you, Murr, shall not betray..." he paused, thinking of the best way to put this. In the end, he opted for the same goal as Twilight did with the Pinkie promise. "... Any of the ponies in Equestria, as long as it is within your power not to do so. Having had these terms explained to you, do you understand these terms?"

"Yes." Murr responded.

"Do you agree to be bound by the conditions of this oath?"

"I do."

"Then, with one Twilight Sparkle acting as our oathmaker and witness, I proclaim you to be bound by the terms of this oath. If you break these terms, your internal magic shall turn against you, killing you slowly but surely, with agony of the worst kind wracking your form. Do you understand these consequences?"

"Yes."

"Is it also understood what constitutes as betrayal?"

"Yes."

"Then I believe we no longer have any matters worthy of official discussion. Rise, Murr, and take on the chains of burden this oath leaves to you." Murr rose to his feet slowly. Ren also rose, just as slowly. Ren smiled. "I'm proud to call you my brother in arms again."

"So... is that it? That looks a lot more formal than I thought it would." Twilight asked hesitantly.

"Yup. And it looks more formal than it should because it is more formal than it should be. It's a holdover from Old Aluvia, doesn't see much use anymore, but it works." (yes I totally made that up moving on)

"I see. Well, we should probably get started on the spell. Ren, all you need to do is focus your magic on the same point that I am. In unicorn form, of course. I'm dictating what spell is being cast, so if you focus like I am, together we should be able to pull it off." She grimaced. "Or maybe not. I don't think we'll have quite enough power behind it to do it."

Ren obliged her, shifting into his unicorn form. Twilight put on a mask of fierce concentration and determination, flaring her horn as the aura slowly began to envelop Murr. He mimicked her, focusing all the magic he could into his horn and targeting Murr with it as well. The cobalt and pink auras seemed to mesh together over Murr's standing form, mixing to make a sort of dithered light purple. What was more important, though, was that their auras together managed to fully encompass Murr's body, the changes already beginning to take place. They started at his ears, morphing them into that of a pony's. Pinkie took a note of the color of the fur, a deep red, almost maroon. His head of hair was changed to a mane, of the same styling, not quite long enough to reach his shoulders, and thick and dark. Murr was significantly older than Ren, older than him by almost a decade, and the difference showed more noticably than before. While in human form his hair was only flecked with gray, in pony form the gray was much more pronounced. Perhaps it was the contrast with his new fur. The spell worked its way downward, making clothing disappear and maroon fur take its place. His body was shifting in shape to that of a pony, in place of his arms being two forelegs capped with hooves.

The changes slowed and began to reverse, Twilight's magic reserves failing. Ren quickly noticed this and began to overexert himself. He poured every last drop of his magical energy for his pony form into the spell, and then some. Twilight's aura flickered and gave out as she collapsed, gasping for air. This is it, then, he thought to himself. We've failed. Unless...

He began to search within himself for his Isparian form's magical energy, in the hopes that it would aid him. He looked and looked within himself, but could not locate it. He was about to give up when suddenly the floodgates were opened, a torrent of magical energy flowing through his form and into that of Murr's. The changes worked their way forwards again, the spell only taking a trickle of his Isparian form's mana.

What he didn't notice was the light blue glow that he'd taken on, the subtle glowing growing brighter by the second. He finally noticed it when the secondary aura came to a boil, so to speak, flickering and flaring brightly before exploding into a mass of light blue. An image had also appeared on his flank, which had previously been left blank. It was of a chain, stretched taut. Ren kept up the "assault", the spell having worked just past Murr's now dark red stomach. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash watched with wide eyes from Twilight's side, working together to hold the spent mare up. The effects of the spell inched their way along Murr's legs, exchanging flesh and robes for different flesh and fur. The spell finally ran its course, capping Murr's hind legs with hooves and topping his head with a horn, as befitting a mage.

The blinding blue aura left Ren abruptly, him falling unconscious before he fell to the ground. Murr landed on his legs, moving to help his comrade up. Murr looked at Pinkie and Dash, who looked at him. They all nodded, moving their charges to their respective sleeping places (Twilight to her bedroom, Ren to a particularly comfortable-looking chair) before Dash and Pinkie left to go get some practice and check on some cupcakes, respectively. Murr, having nothing else to do, plucked a book off the shelf and, sitting down in a chair next to Murr, began to read to himself.

The Calm Before The Storm

Ren woke with a start, eyes snapping open. He jumped out of reflex from whatever it had been that he saw in his dream. What it was, he didn’t remember. It must have been hours since he clocked out of the waking world, the room dark apart from a single stubby candle. Murr snored on next to him, still in unicorn form. He must be trying to get used to it, he thought to himself. He picked himself up out of the chair, groaning a bit as he stretched stiff muscles that had been slept on wrong. He walked into the immaculate kitchen, wondering absently if Twilight ever used it. He came upon Spike, getting a midnight snack. Spike waved to him, mouth full. Ren smiled good-naturedly and yawned. Spike swallowed a mouthful of the sandwich he had made.

“Nice to see you back in the world of the living,” he teased. “I’m not gonna lie, that light show was pretty cool.”

“Light show?”

“Yeah, after Twilight gave out, you kept going. You looked like you were about to quit too, but then you started glowing and the spell finished running its course. I don’t think you’re quite as good at magic as Twi, but you can last longer than her at least.” He took another bite.

Ren made a noise. “Pfft, I doubt that. I remember looking for the extra reserves that my Isparian form has, but I don’t remember finding them at all.”

Spike held a finger up, still chewing. He swallowed. “I don’t know what you did, but whatever it was it worked. I wouldn’t question it if I were you.”

Ren nodded. “You’re right.” His stomach growled.

Spike chuckled. “Let me finish this sandwich and I’ll see what Twi has by way of groceries. I haven’t checked the pantry in a couple days, so I don’t know what we have. Can you cook?”

"Technically, yes. But I can only cook over an open flame, and I don't see any place where one of those could be."

"I would hope not," Spike laughed, "That just screams 'set my wooden treehouse on fire'."

"You'd be surprised how little that happened back at Dereth. Keeping an eye on it does wonders for safety."

The soft clip-clop of hooves striking the wooden floor announced another presence in the room. Ren twisted around, greeted with the not-very-pretty sight of a groggy Twilight Sparkle.

“Wh-what time is it?” she asked shakily, pausing to yawn.

“A little past one in the morning.” Spike said matter-of-factly.

“What’re you two doing up so late?”

“I was getting a midnight snack, and… uh, what’s-his-face…”

“His name is Ren.”

“Yeah, Ren just came in. I think he just woke up too.”

Twilight sighed, bringing a hoof to her face. “I was coming to get breakfast, I thought it was later than it is.”

“It is technically morning.” Ren chuckled. Twilight groaned at the terrible joke.

“Not this early, please, I need my coffee.”

“That’s almost unnerving. You have coffee too?”

“Um, yeah, have had it for a few centuries now.”

“Sweet.”

“No, coffee is bitter—wait, this is one of those colloquial terms, isn’t it? Sweet? Doesn’t it mean, like, ‘good’ or something?”

“Yeah. Can I have a cup when it’s done?”

“Sure, I just hope this doesn’t turn out like the time I gave Pinkie a cup.” She shuddered. The holes in the walls had taken months to fix. The unicorns yawned and sat at the table, next to where Spike was sitting. Spike had gotten up, occupying himself with starting a pot to brew. “Thanks Spike, you always know how to pick me up.”

“Hey, what do you keep me around for?”

“Because I value you as a dragon and I’ve raised you from a hatchling.” she said, slightly miffed at the insinuation that she was using him.

"Calm down, Twi, I was joking." the little dragon laughed nervously. The last thing he needed was Twilight angry at him already.

There was an uncomfortable silence between Ren and Twilight while Spike was tending to the coffeemaker. Twilight decided to break it. "How were you disappearing when you dueled Murr? You had to have been abusing physics pretty badly to do that."

"We totally are. It's a type of 'cast', short for 'casting style', and there are three major ones, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. The one that I was using is called the powerslide. Basically, we're putting just enough magic into our movement to mask our position. This makes it difficult for opponents to target us, as to them we appear to be rubber-banding all around. There's no method to the madness, it's completely random. It makes it simple to evade most things, but skilled mages and even good archers can see right through it. There's another one called the fast cast, and it does exactly what you'd imagine it does. It allows you to complete the casting sequence of a spell a little earlier than normal. The advantages are obvious, but if you don't execute it exactly right you might hit something you weren't intending to. I've seen it backfire on the caster, even. The third and most normal one is what I like to call the 'stand there stupidly while everything in a country mile's radius completely schools you' cast. Believe it or not, it has an advantage. It allows those who are physically capable to better defend themselves, in the rare case of a well-built mage."

Twilight's eyes widened as far as her condition would allow. "Wow. There's quite a lot of thought put into fighting people where you come from. What's an archer, exactly?"

"Well, we are kind of gridlocked in a civil war of sorts. Archers are people who aren't capable of magic but can use something similar to it, if all you want to do is fire projectiles at someone."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Civil war?"

Ren nodded. "Kind of. Neither Asheron nor Bael'Zharon have any official influence over the government, but there are minor skirmishes happening between various places. They tend to be of different kingdoms, but they're all on the same continent."

Their conversation was interrupted by Spike setting two mugs of steaming coffee before the unicorns, who thanked him. He yawned. "Well, I'm gonna get to bed. I have to get up early so I can go help Rarity tomorrow, and if I want any decent sleep I need to get it now."

"Thanks again Spike. Goodnight." Twilight said, ignoring the logical fallacies in his statement. She turned to Ren, taking a sip of her coffee. “So… your species…”

“Yeah? What about it?”

“Not gonna lie, they sound pretty violent to me.”

“Only when we have to be, because some jackass got it in his head that he wanted what someone else had and decided to attack them for it.”

“Huh. What do you eat?” she was genuinely curious now.

“Most everything, really. There are some things that kill us if we eat them, and we stay away from those, but we tend to have an ‘anything not intelligent enough to be a companion’ kind of diet in reference to everything else.” Twilight’s expression hardened, and she cringed, just imagining Fluttershy’s reaction to this was terrifying. She’d have to keep this a secret from her. “Technically speaking, our digestive systems don’t handle meat too well apparently, or so they’re telling us now. But we developed canine teeth for a reason, didn’t we? Maybe it’s not so essential for us to eat meat now, maybe it became something we needed to survive a long time ago and we just never grew out of it. I stopped eating meat a while back, after I had to gut a ursuin and sleep in the carcass to survive one particularly cold winter night.” He shuddered. “Not fun.” Twilight’s gaze softened a bit. So he, at least, didn’t eat creatures. Not anymore, at any rate. “Man, I even gave up bacon. That was my favorite. But I couldn’t so much as look at it without smelling those awful smells, and feeling so slimy and disgusting…”

“Does Murr eat meat?”

“Not that I know of, he had to do the same as me and swore it off the same as me last I knew.”

“Do your people travel in packs?”

“Not really, families usually stay together, sometimes groups of roaming families stick around one another, but you don’t see entire towns worth of people pick up and run off.”

“That answered what would be my next question, so I’ll move on to the one after that. What are the… er, mating habits of your species?”

“Monogamous. Sometimes if the wife dies the husband takes a new bride and the same goes for a widow, but unless he or she’s an asshole they don’t go after multiple people.”

“Is there a mating season? Do your females go into heat?”

“If they do, they’re damn good at hiding it. Mostly we just have kids whenever we feel like it. Of course, I wouldn’t know. I’m too busy for settling down and getting married.” He sighed. “By the time I’ll be done with running around and helping people, I’ll be far too old for having a family of my own. Guess it’s an occupational hazard.”

She felt a twinge of pity for the guy. She knew just as well as he what it was like to be romantically starved. “Moving on… who acts as leaders in your societies?”

“Well, usually it’s the guys who lead the helm, but for the past ten or so years there’s only been a Queen of New Aluvia. Her would-be husband died in an attempt at a coup on the Olthoi Queen, who had enslaved all of the first-run Isparians who made it to Dereth. She’s the one who landed the killing shot with her bow. Kind of what made her Queen.” He snorted. “She had impeccable timing, she shot the queen just as it skewered poor Cragstone through the chest.”

“That’s terrible! How could you find that funny?” she asked, disgusted.

“I’m not laughing at the situation, I’m laughing at the irony. I’m allowed to do that, aren’t I?”

“I guess…” So he’s got a dark sense of humor. She changed the subject again. “So are you all capable of magic, or is it limited to your equivalent of unicorns?”

“As far as I know, everyone has the spark necessary. It takes a lot of learning and practice to actually apply it, and not many people are willing to put that kind of time and effort into their studies. Most have other things to worry about, like how they are going to eat if they spend all their time with their nose in a book.”

“Are there winged Isparians?”

Ren stifled a laugh at the thought. “Nope.”

“Is there anything else I should know about you?”

“Well, we have hands, with fingers and opposable thumbs, making it a small feat to use tools.”

“I noticed. While you may have an advantage against an earth pony or even a Pegasus, I doubt your hands could hold a candle to the manipulation abilities unicorn magic gives you.”

“Maybe not, but they manipulate better than hooves and they have feeling to boot, an advantage over magic, which in my experience is like working within a glove if you can feel it at all.”

“Like I said, a leg up over earth ponies and pegasi, but not unicorns.” she said somewhat smugly.

“You underestimate the power of feeling, touching and knowing what it is you’re touching. Aside from that, some people are really skilled with their hands. I am definitely not, but I don’t think even you could stand up to a master craftsman.”

“You want to put your money where your mouth is?” she said cockily, smirking.

“I would, except I have no money and there’s no way for me to get ahold of a master craftsman.”

She deflated. She hadn’t thought of that. “Well. Is there anything else?”

He scratched his chin, deep in thought. “Not unless you want to study my psyche,” he said finally. His eyes went wide when he realized what he said.

“That’s actually a good idea—“

“No, no it is not. I am a bag of issues and screws, Twilight. Mages are always a little touched in the head, but I’m an outlier to the outliers.”

“… What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Seriously, now you’ve piqued my interest. What are you talking about?”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it.”

“C’mon, talking about my problems always makes me feel better—“

“Twilight, do not push me on this. You will not like where it ends. I will tell you what I will, when I will, and that is if I tell you at all. Am I understood?” he said through clenched teeth.

Twilight didn’t get the hint. “You won’t surprise me at all with anything you have to—“

“I burned down my house when I was a boy, and my family died in it! I blame myself for their deaths! It’s how I figured out I could do magic! ANY MORE QUESTIONS?!”

Twilight shrank back. “N-no…”

He scowled at her, and looked away. “Good. If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go back to bed now. Give myself a headstart over my nightmares.”

“N-nightmares?”

“Well, I wasn’t having them before, but I will be now that that happened.” He huffed, walking through the doorway and leaving behind a half a cup of coffee sitting on the table and a very confused and scared Twilight Sparkle.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Renald woke to the smell of smoke. He got up quickly, and tried to run to his mother and father’s bedroom. His path was blocked by a fallen beam from the roof, still ablaze.

“M-Mama! Papa! Everyone! Wake up! The house is on fire!” he screamed.

The bodies bolted out of their beds, his parents finding immediately that yes, the house was on fire, and that yes, they were just as boned as if they had stayed in bed.

“Boy! What did you do?” his father bellowed over the crackling flames.

“Nothin’, Pa! I swear!” his small voice replied.

“Don’t lie to me, boy, you’ll only make it worse for yerself,” his father scolded, voice calm. Even when they were about to burn to death, his father was the epitome of coolheaded. He never raised his voice or his hand to anyone when it wasn’t needed, and he was roundabout the nicest guy you’d ever meet. He’d give you the shirt off his back if it would help you. But even the best of men can be wrong, and Ren’s father was no exception.

“I’m not lyin’! Honest, pa! I just woke up and the house was burnin’ down!”

“Alright, I believe ya, just get yer sisters and brothers outta the house, now!” the man bellowed as another beam fell down from the roof, cutting off the adults’ escape by the lone window of their bedroom. Thankfully, he wouldn’t have to repeat himself, the young boy already bolting off to wake his siblings. The man wrapped his arms about his inconsolable wife, trying to soothe her. “Darlin’, cryin’ like that ain’t gonna do anythin’ to fix this,” he said to her softly. “Unless ya were plannin’ on puttin’ out the fire with your tears, that is,” he chuckled lightly. Oh, they were completely screwed. “I love you.”

Ren ran into his younger brother Mark’s bedroom, shaking the boy awake. “Get up, Mark! The house is on fire!” he wailed hysterically. The last thing he saw before the support beam for the upper floor fell on his head and knocked him out was Mark’s terrified face.

-

He woke up again, outside the smoldering remains of what used to be his house. His mind only vaguely registered what had happened, and a dull throb had set in from the impact the support beam had made on his cranium. He groaned as he stood on unsteady legs, gasping and choking up when he wheeled around to see what remained of his old life.

Nothing. Nothing whatsoever was left, apart from a few still-burning hunks of wood. The rest was ash. He wheeled all around, in a vain attempt to see if perhaps somebody had survived.

Nothing. No one.

His eyes filled with tears as he realized just how alone he was.

And his family.

He killed his family. He was responsible for this. The second-to-last thing his father told him drilled deep into his mind. “Don’t lie to me…” He had to have done something. Something had to have happened, and if it was his fault… it was his burden to bear. The boy took off running, tears streaming down his face as he made for the nearest Guard’s Outpost. He had done a bad thing, worse than anything he had ever done. And he had yet to be punished properly for it. (Phrasing? I couldn't have done that any better than I did, but it still sounds wrong.)

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Twilight watched Ren’s face contort worriedly, the sudden changes in expression between fear, sorrow, confusion and anguish setting off all of the mental alarm bells she possessed. She may not be terribly good at empathy, but she’s been learning, and she can tell exactly what he’s feeling.

A voice from behind her caused her to jump. “He’s having that dream again, isn’t he?” Murr said, yawning.

“I don’t know what dream you’re talking about, but he did say something about nightmares before he went back to bed…” she trailed off.

“Perfect. Just what I needed.” He walked closer to the prone stallion before screaming in his ear, “Wake up, dumbass!”

The stallion’s eyes snapped open and he almost hit the ceiling from the force of his jump. He glared daggers at Murr, who grinned, saying, “You wouldn’t wake up.” A smile slowly slid into place on Ren’s face, recognizing the situation he was in.

He wasn’t unresponsive, Murr just wanted payback. Typical. He’d hold his peace over it for now, the enchanter-turned-stallion had actually bailed him out of a particularly traumatic portion of that reminiscence-gone-wrong. “Thanks, buttface. I needed that.” He yawned. “Seriously, I was in a bad way.” That was their code phrase for ‘Yes, I was having that dream again, and I needed out of it before I killed myself.’ He looked to Twilight, who acknowledged his gaze with a somewhat fearful one of her own.

“G-good morning…” she said quietly, not knowing what his reaction would be, and not wanting a repeat of earlier that morning.

To her surprise, he seemed to have gotten over it. “You too.” He yawned again. “I feel I need to apologize for my overreaction earlier this morning, you didn’t know what you were getting into and I assume you were running on the assumption that whatever I had going through my head wouldn’t be that bad.”

It was Murr’s turn to act confused. “Okay, what did I miss?”

“She kept digging deeper into my mind after I told her no and I kind of blew up at her.”

“You didn’t tell her about that, did you?”

“Yes, I told her about that. The fact that she can still face me tells me she isn’t going to let it bother her. Honestly I’d have expected her to throw us out by now if she was.”

“Why wouldn’t I be able to face you?” Twilight asked. “It was an accident. It’s not like you meant to do that. I know that much, at least.”

“Not going to lie to you, you’d be among the first to believe that.” Murr said softly, remembering that time almost five years ago when the story made the rounds through the academy. Ren had been so miserable, because people either wouldn’t leave him alone (out of pity, or alternatively, anger) or wouldn’t give him the time of day. He just wanted to be considered normal again, but they took that from him. The two put up with it for an entire year before they went to Asheron, who talked to the rest of the students. They didn’t dare disobey him.

“See, Isparians and Derethians or whatever we should call what we are, don’t trust others very easily. People tend to take advantage of other people, and that tends to make all but the most naïve of people jaded and cynical about others. There’s always an ulterior motive to someone helping them, though what that motive is they don’t always know. They can’t accept that someone would help them just out of the goodness of their hearts, or to fight their own inner demons.” Ren explained a bit more, getting off topic a bit. “People make their own conclusions based on what someone said and what they believe. Kind of like ponies do, but on a larger scale. Entire wars between factions have been fought over mere hear-say.”

Twilight tilted her head. “I doubt anypony wouldn’t believe you. You just have to tell them the truth.”

Ren’s eye twitched. “Ever considered that maybe I don’t want every single person, or pony, as it were, on this plane of existence to know my most intimate of secrets?”

“Ren…” Murr warned. His friend was starting to lose it again. “Don’t let her get to you, she’s not trying to get to you.”

Ren sighed. “I know. Look, I’m sorry, okay?” He looked at Twilight, expression reflecting his weary state of mind. “You didn’t get the message I was trying to send, but that was no excuse to blow up on you like I did. It was inexcusable, and I hope you can forgive me.”

“Of course I forgive you. We all have our moments.” Twilight shrugged. “Let’s just go get breakfast, I still haven’t gotten around to making it yet and I am famished. I can only imagine how you two must be doing.” As if on cue, the stallions’ stomachs growled in unison.

They all shared a laugh at that, making their way into the kitchen. After the breakfast was made, they sat at the table, eating in something resembling companionable silence until Twilight broke it. “Do you have some sort of scaling system? To see how you stack up against each other? We have a few, though we don’t use them for anything but sport and placement in classes.”

“We do. We use the old Empyrean system, putting you at a level somewhere between one and two-hundred-seventy-five. It’s kind of outdated, because while it scales beyond that for creatures, people cap out way too often for it to be a reliable indicator. Myself and Ren both are measured to be at two-hundred-seventy-five, but if I had to pin Ren anywhere it’d be in the low four-hundreds. I’d be in the three-fifty range.” Murr paused to take a bite of his meal.

Twilight nodded in understanding. “So that’s why you capped out there on my reports, it was using a different scale. Unicorns are rated in the thousands on the scale I was using. Murr maxed out at two-seventy-five, not having a pony form at that time. As for Ren, I think it was confused because he has a unicorn form but wasn’t in it, so it took the two values and averaged them out.”

“I’m curious, what did he max out at exactly?” Murr asked.

“About eight hundred. Seven-ninety-six, to be precise.”

Murr grunted in acknowledgement, still chewing. Ren did the math in his head, kind of disappointed in the number that resulted. “So my unicorn form is in the low thirteen hundreds.”

“Something like that, but like I said it could have been confused. I don’t think it’s ever really been used on somepony who has two different forms at their disposal but isn’t in the one that the spell was meant for.”

“What do you max out at, by any chance?” Murr asked, taking another bite.

“Last time I was measured I topped out at about sixty-five hundred. But that was before I came to Ponyville, and a fair amount has changed, so I’d say I’m at somewhere between sixty-seven hundred and seven thousand.”

“So what do you do for fun, anyway?” Ren asked, changing the subject. That had hit him right in the inferiority complex.

“Mostly I read and go out with my friends.”

“What are the odds, that’s mostly what I did between cramming and sleeping.” Murr said, smiling. Ren chuckled at the memory.

“Meanwhile I was off relieving besieged towns, and taking care of infestations of things in my spare time. I’d have been in the thick of the wars too, but I didn’t have enough time on my hands.”

“Yeah, you were quite the one-man army. You could strike fear in the hearts of just about anything short of Bael’Zharon himself.”

“You didn’t do too bad yourself, Murr. Don’t sell yourself short.”

“Yeah, the guy who can’t even bend a fifth-level lightning arc to his will. Really doing good for myself there.”

“Fifth-level?” Twilight spoke up.

“Yeah. There are seven levels to each spell. Well, eight, really, but getting the eighth-level spells are a bit of a pain. The lower the level, the easier it is to cast. If you can’t cast a fifth level lightning arc, you are either in your third year at the academy, or you just suck at magic.”

“I have all of my eighth-levels.” Ren bragged.

“And I have all of my eights in enchantment.” Murr said.

“Even sevens are a pain to get ahold of, if you think about it. You have to do research with various glyphs and inks and quills to make the scroll that the spell is learned from for eights, while with sevens you have to go out and find the scrolls because the scriveners can’t just mass-copy them like they can levels one through six.” Ren mused. “Of course, if you aren’t willing to do what’s needed to obtain the spells, perhaps you will want to reconsider being a mage.”

“And we came right when they stopped making us do the research for all of the levels. We still had to practice, but people were suddenly allowed access to entire arsenals’ worth of spells because they had the time to learn the concepts and apply them from a scroll, instead of hours of research for one spell.” Murr elaborated.

“Sounds to me like that’s just you people being lazy.” Twilight deadpanned. Ren looked at her incredulously.

“You mean to tell me that I should spend literally what remains of my life to grasp one branch of magic? With the scroll system we use, we can actually get out and help people because we aren’t spending all of our waking hours reading.”

Twilight fixed him with a skeptical look. “It just sounds to me like somepony wasn’t prepared for something that they signed on for.”

“That might’ve been true when I first started, but I’ve grown into it over the past few years.”

“It still sounds too much like a cop-out to me.”

Ren took a deep breath. “That’s your opinion, and I will respect that.”

“Fair enough.”

“Murr, how are you doing with eating in unicorn form? I can’t get my hooves to work right.” Ren regarded the older mage, struggling with a fork.

“I’m doing okay. Mostly because I’m using my magic to manipulate the utensils.” Murr responded.

“Like a sensible stallion.” Twilight added, eyes dancing with mirth.

“Oh. I, uh, I kind of forgot I had that…” He flared his own horn, the utensil obeying his will. He smiled, finally able to take a bite of his own breakfast.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

About an hour later they still sat at the table, just talking about life and praising Celestia that they had been able to eat at last.

Ren was currently telling a story about the last “raid” on the young but promising town of Ayan Baqur he had to sit through.

“… And then, the guy just comes up and whacks me with a giant stick! I was all like, ‘Dude, that hurts, cut it out! And he just kept hitting me! So, in the end, I just recalled. I was just done with that noise,” he finished.

Murr chuckled at the memory. True, the first few of the raids had been very bloody endeavors indeed, the two arriving just in time to stop a massacre of the last defenders, who, to their credit, were fulfilling their duties to protect the citizens to their last breath. But that last one had just been a joke, there had been no reason to call on them.

Twilight laughed. “That sounds less like a war and more like a practical joke to me.”

“That one totally was. The first few times were serious business, but the influx of raiders stopped when they started to realize we’d just show up and hand them their asses every time they were feeling froggy.”

Murr started to speak. “Ren, why don’t we take care of the dishes here? Save some effort on the part of our gracious host?”

Ren sat up and stretched. “Yeah, sure.” He started to get up, but Twilight shut them down.

“That’s quite unnecessary, you two.” She flared her horn, the plates and utensils rising to her whims. “Magic, remember?”

Suddenly, a pink pony burst through the door. “It’s paaaarty time!” she yelled out to no one in particular.

Never A Dull Moment

Some time had passed. Twilight Sparkle had been teaching our two battlemages some simple unicorn magic to pass the time. It turned out that Twilight, for her occasional impatience and neurotic nature, was a superb teacher. With her help, the destructive duo could now form a simple telekinetic shield, could cast simple featherlight spells, and their fine telekinetic control had improved greatly, among other things. Ren spent a lot of his time deep in thought, practicing spinning a fork around in his magic. He might have appeared to have simply zoned out, but this was not the case.

He was lost in the vast grey expanse that was his mind. Some simple furniture was laid out in a small area, sectioned off by massive bookshelves not unlike those found in Twilight’s abode. These were his mind’s representation of all the knowledge that he possessed. Where he had forgotten something about a particular subject, that part of its book was simply blank. He was currently wracking his brain for what he knew about portals, and about how and why they worked. In particular, he was trying to figure out in greater detail just where exactly the transportation process had gone wrong. He was left with the conclusion that the cube had some sort of enchantment left to it, enough to drag him into portal space. However, it ran out of mana before he could be safely dropped off at the intended destination. So, being unable to stay in the pocket dimension without the protection of the enchantment, but unable to move any further, he was simply dumped at the most convenient exit point. This exit point just happened to be located right in the middle of Twilight Sparkle’s yard. He had a nagging suspicion that this place was blocked off from outgoing traffic, otherwise he’d surely have seen some equines in Dereth as a result of Asheron’s initial call to arms. Perhaps they had resisted the call? That much was possible, the princesses were certainly capable of neutralizing the compelling magics Asheron had inadvertently unleashed upon them.

A darker thought shot through his mind like an arrow. What if they had come, but were simply killed on arrival, or worked to death as slaves? There was a long period after the initial call in which those who had answered were enslaved by the Olthoi. And, a few exceptional earth ponies and pegasi aside, ponies didn’t really strike Ren as the type to be very capable of manual labor. He could be wrong, but he imagined the workload simply killed off those who had survived. If he ever made it back to Dereth, he’d need to request an audience with the High Queen and ask her about it. She’d probably think he was crazy if this hunch turned out to be incorrect, and move to have him placed in an asylum. She’d think that the years of stress had finally made him crack. It was a risk he was willing to take, though. He was used to being an outlaw in certain jurisdictions, what was one more? The Hea Tumeroks of Aheurenga certainly still had a “kill on sight” order placed in his name after he had led the charge to aid Lytelthorpe, which was under siege by them.

He sat on the lumpy grey couch next to the unremarkable grey lantern. He looked up at his mental corkboard of sorts, telling him what he needed to do and when. For some of the more complicated tasks he needed to accomplish, the pinned papers even stated why. Of course, having a corkboard would indicate that he was at least somewhat organized, which he was most definitely not. The papers were pinned haphazardly, some overlapping over others.

He saw a flashing paper that immediately grabbed at his attention. The mind is a truly wonderful thing, able to reconstruct itself to suit just about any situation. The flashing scrap of paper told him in no uncertain terms that he was being called for.

He sighed inwardly, watching the grey expanse dissipate before his vision. He picked himself up off the floor, grunting with annoyance as uncooperative muscles protested their use. The familiar sensation of constant prickling erupted throughout his body as he realized that he had been sitting in such an unergonomic position for so long that not just one part of his body had fallen asleep, everything had. Literally the only thing not asleep was his head.

---

Sitting in the small kitchen of her treehouse, Twilight Sparkle was worried. Ren had lost his initial exuberance and enthusiasm, replaced by something very closely related to apathy. Murr was as sarcastic as ever, and he even took the opportunity to make her laugh a few times. Ren entered the room slowly, being so late to answering her call that she was actually about to call him again, thinking he hadn’t heard her. These were very worrying signs, and though she never pretended to be a certified psychologist, she could tell that something was eating at him.

“Yes, oh wise master?” Ren answered in a dry monotone. His lingering wit was a good sign, though it tended to manifest rather rarely as of late. Visitors tended to perk him up. Perhaps it was the sheer boredom of having nothing meaningful to do that was making him feel this way? Cabin fever, while not a credible disease, was certainly an ailment. She gave it a bit of a ponder before snapping herself out of her funk. Ren was starting to shift around uncomfortably on his hooves.

“Ren, can you tell me why you just spent the last four hours staring at a wall?”

Ren shrugged. “I could tell you, but you’d think I was crazy.”

“Your definition of crazy and my definition of crazy are probably two very different things.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Even if I told you I spent all that time wracking my brains over figuring out what exactly went wrong and trying to figure out how I might fix it? Oh, and I can navigate my mind like a room.”

Twilight remained unimpressed. “I’ve heard and seen weirder. I even think I’ve done weirder things.”

“And I still haven’t worked it all out yet.”

Twilight brought a hoof to her face in agitation. “Have you thought of, I dunno, letting it go for a little while? It’s not like an apocalyptic timer is counting down and if we don’t meet the deadline it’ll give deadline a whole new meaning.”

Ren averted his gaze. “Um, about that. Murr and I have been talking – we think that the Bael’Zharon is going to start sending more of his grunts after us, into Equestria. We don’t know where, we don’t know when, we don’t even know what, but we know that something’s coming. The good news is that Murr was just about the strongest single being he had available to him, so his only real course of action is to send packs of lesser minions our way. Unless he’s decided to get off his lazy ass and do something himself for once.”

“So, we find them, we neutralize them, and we go about our daily lives. Simple as that.”

“Yeah, Twilight, but just how do you expect us to be able to track his troops? I can usually tell when portals are being used to get into a more sparsely populated area, but Equestria is a gigantic place filled with an untold amount of ponies. And Pinkie Pie completely throws me off. I can’t keep track of it all.”

“I have an idea, and you may think this a bit strange…”

The three walked into Sugarcube Corner, smiling at Pinkie who was diligently working the counter.

“Hi! What can I do for you guys today? Ooh, I know! Is it the… erm…” Pinkie cut herself off as Ren started vigorously shaking his head ‘no’.

“Sorry, Pinkie. We’re not here for any treats today. I need to ask something of you,” Twilight said, smiling gently.

“Ask away, my purple compatriot!”

“Ren and Murr have told me that a certain big old jerk who’s been terrorizing their homeworld may be sending more minions after these two. They said he himself might even be making an appearance. The thing is, they can’t get here without portaling in here in much of the same manner as Ren and Murr do. If they show you what it feels like for someone to be moving around Equestria through a portal, can you… I guess, attune yourself to that? Can you be our early warning system?”

The bubbly pink mare lifted a hoof to her chin in thought, pondering. “Hmm… I might be able to. My Pinkie Sense is very versatile, you know.”

Twilight gave a good natured chuckle. “I know it is. Alright you two, do what you seem to do best.”

“This won’t be exactly like what it would feel like for someone to portal into Equestria from Dereth, as every portal works a little differently, but this is a good base to go off of. I’m going to cast a spell called ‘Portal Recall.’ It skips the process of making a portal and simply rips me from this physical plane into a pocket dimension used for travelling. When you feel something like you’re going to be feeling, come and find one of us. We will do what we can to track them down,” Ren said to Pinkie. He turned to Twilight. “A little side note, I figured out how to cast Empyrean magic with a horn. It’s actually a bit more potent coming from a horn than some other magical implement, but the – um, not sure what word I should use here – interfacing is a bit different. I didn’t have to relearn all of my spells, as I had previously thought, but I did have to relearn how to cast Empyrean magic in general.”

Twilight nodded. “It’s more potent because your horn is directly joined with your thaumaturgical system, rather than having a periphery connection through your limbs. I bet if you tried hard enough, you could cast with your bare hands in human form.” She suddenly looked deep in thought. “Humans do have a thaumaturgical system, right? I knew I should have done some more experiments…”

“No, we have to have a focusing implement. Asheron can cast with his bare hands, as can Bael’Zharon. Come to think of it, I think humans are the only beings that have to focus their magic through an implement. I don’t think we have a physical thaumaturgical system, as you call it. I’ve seen my fair share of human insides, and I think I’d know if there was something like that.”

She shuddered, and then regained her composure. “It’s not supposed to be physical. It’s supposed to be a mental and spiritual system of connections.”

“Oh. Well. Enough of this learning garbage, I need to do what we came here to do in the first place. Shurov Thipaj!” The pony disassembled into the customary purple globs, and winked from view. Ponies stopped what they were doing to look at the spot where he used to be. A quiet murmur in the crowd started to get louder and louder as the ponies speculated on what happened to him.

“Nothing to see here! This guy just cast a really weird teleportation spell, is all!” Pinkie waved a hoof dismissively, assuring the crowd. Pinkie’s knees twitched violently as she accustomed herself to the sensation. Yep, there would be no mistaking that feeling for anything else – and make no mistake, she had no plans to do anything but go directly to Twilight when she felt it. She nodded wordlessly her lavender friend. “Seriously, that was almost painful,” she whispered to her. Twilight’s expression turned sympathetic.

The same dark grey stallion opened the doors to the shop yet again, walking nonchalantly to the group as though nothing had happened. “So,” he said loudly, “What’s the verdict? Can you trace that?”

“Yeah. Seriously, that’s not even subtle. How do you people be stealthy when portalling in feels like this to everyone in a Celestia-knows-how-long radius?”

“No one else has been able to trace it. Perhaps because too many people are using it at once to even bother trying.”

The pink mare narrowed her eyes skeptically. “I don’t think that’s how that works, Ren…”

He raised an eyebrow. “Really? That was just me portalling out – imagine feeling that hundreds of times a second. Not even you would be able to keep up, I’m sure of it.”

She stared at him for another couple seconds, attempting to detect any trace of deceit. Satisfied at finding none, she let her gaze move to Twilight. “Since you’re here, I’ve got a present for you guys. I think it should help with making up with Fluttershy. She’s not exactly impressed with either of you two, I don’t think. I don’t know, though – Ren might have a little more of her favor for moving as fast as he did to stop this guy,” she pointed accusingly to Murr, “From killing us all.”

“For what it’s worth, it is rather impressive that you got attached to us that quickly,” Twilight interjected.

“I – I’m not attached! I just never liked the idea of innocents being hurt or killed for my failings! I will do what I have to do and work as hard as I have to if it means that no one – damn it – pony gets hurt on my account,” the stallion in question retorted.

“Wow, you’re really having trouble with the pronouns, aren’t you?” Twilight commented. She smiled innocently when Ren cast a withering glare her way. He certainly seemed more lively. She could consider her secondary objective completed.

But it would seem that fate had other plans for Ren and Murr, because suddenly, Pinkie doubled over. She struggled and gasped for air as the three rushed to help her.

“People – things – coming in, lots of them – could be wrong, but I’d wager it’s Canterlot they’re after,” Pinkie let out in a strangled hiss. “They’re almost a day’s walk from it,” she finished, having regained enough of her composure to speak normally again.

Twilight and Ren shared a look. “That was fast,” Ren commented.

“Indeed,” Twilight agreed.

“Alright, so we’re going to Canterlot to lead the defense, then?” Murr asked.

Ren sighed. “No, Murr. We are the defense. We have to intercept them as early on as possible and make sure that only the princesses know – they’d know anyway, Twilight hides nothing from them – but I think that it’d be better for us in the long run if they heard it from us instead of her. If the common pony were to hear of this, mass panic would ensue.”

Twilight shook her head. “No, I’ll tell them – you’re going to be a bit preoccupied with dispatching the army headed in their direction, and I will make sure to mention that. They can’t be too angry with you if you’re acting in their defense, after all.” Her horn started to glow. “I’m going to send you both to Canterlot. Pinkie, which direction from the city is the army you described?”

The pink party pony shuddered. “North.”

Ren and Murr were enveloped in a soothing pink glow, the very same that surrounded Twilight’s horn. “Good luck guys, and remember, the army’s about a day’s walk north of the city.” The two stallions gave a mock salute before they disappeared.

The crowd was confused again – what was going on? Why had Pinkie collapsed? They started to give their questions voice, to the surprise of Twilight Sparkle.

“Who were those guys?” came one voice.

“What were they doing here?” came another.

“What’s going on?” came a third.

Twilight sighed and raised a hoof to her face. “Alright, everypony. I need you to keep calm. There is a bit of a situation, one that you wouldn’t understand without some serious exposition, and we don’t have the time to give you that exposition. Just know that you will be safe as usual, and try not to worry. The last thing anypony needs is to go into a panic.”

 ---

Ren and Murr reeled and retched from their experience with direct teleportation.

“My God, and I thought that portals were bad –“ Murr paused to retch once more into the bucket provided to him.

Ren had mostly recovered by this point, and was trying to wash his mouth out with fresh water. But liquids, it seemed, only further agitated his condition, as he realized when he suddenly had the urge to vomit again.

It took them a while to get that out of their systems, almost an hour by any account. They asked the first pony they ran into for directions, finding them pleasurably simple to follow, thankfully.

Once they were a safe distance away from the city, they shifted into their native bodies and started running as fast as they could toward the impending clash in the north.

Foes and a Friend

Ren and Murr both donned a set of green armor, in order to better blend with the grassy fields north of Canterlot, yet still south of where the Crystal Empire would later appear. It had been several hours since nightfall.

They crawled up on top of an awkwardly sloped hill in an attempt to observe their targets, of which there were at least one hundred if not many more. They were huddled around fires, upon which several small woodland creatures were being spit-roasted. Ren gagged at the sight, Murr was more or less unaffected. They both wordlessly acknowledged that Fluttershy would flip out at this. She knew full well that certain creatures were completely carnivorous, and couldn’t survive on plants and products thereof. She would concede that certain creatures had dietary parameters that had to be met, lest they die.

But shadows couldn’t eat anything, as far as Ren and Murr knew.

“Good lord, did you send enough shadows after us, Bael?” Ren scoffed quietly.

“I can seriously hear him maniacally laughing and saying ‘No kill quite like overkill’ over and over,” Murr replied, cringing.

“Wait, what is that?!” Ren asked, spotting something. “Is that a fucking pony!?” He pointed to the offending figure, hanging over the fire.

“Oh my God, it is a pony! And it’s still moving!” Murr confirmed, horrified.

“Oh, that is it. It’s on, now. Murr, I’m going to distract them –“

“By yourself?! There must be a hundred or more shadows there, it’s suicide!”

Ren paused. “Are you done freaking out? I’m going to distract them. I want you to free that pony, and if you can’t heal it, end its suffering.”

Murr face turned solemn. “Alright, but don’t do anything stupid. We go back together or we don’t go back at all. We stick together, no matter what, remember?”

Ren looked at his comrade in a strange way. “Weird to hear you say that after you abandoned me.”

Murr’s frown deepened. “Are you still on about that? I took the damn oath, stop guilt tripping me!”

“Okay, fine, let’s just go already!” Ren exclaimed, running off to the side of the hill and giving a loud whooping yell.

If you thought that the shadows would be intelligent enough not to take the bait, you’d be absolutely wrong. It seems that their time spent under the hopeslayer has dulled their wits. All at once, a giant battalion of shadows mobilized, hauling off after the mage like bats out of hell. Ren, for his part, was keeping ahead of them, but only barely.

Murr jumped from the top of the hill, landing a short distance away from the spitroasted pony, a young mare. He cringed as he heard her pitiful cries, as his perch atop the hill blocked most noise from that direction. He approached the mare, whose eyes turned to him.

She screamed as loud as she possibly could.

“Shut it! I’m not here to eat you!” He said, casting a frost streak at the flames below her, putting them out. He began to take apart the spit assembly. “I’m here to help you. I know this hurts, but please keep it down, we don’t want them coming back.”

Ren jumped as high as he could from his lofty perch, having led the shadows back up onto the hill. He hoped they would jump off after him. He didn’t account for them being ethereal – normally he would, but having over a hundred of the bastards chasing him was hardly normal. He cursed under his breath as they began surrounding him while his breath returned to him. They were more resilient than they let on.

He angrily entered a stance, pulling out his wand of shadowfire. An ornate stick with (admittedly rather distracting) blue flames topping it off, the wand had been infused with a gout of sacred shadowfire, the source being kept by Asheron himself. It was said (and subsequently proven) that spells cast with this wand would be more effective against shadows.

He started casting blindly, rings upon rings of fire exploding into being around him.  Shadow after shadow dissipated around him, leaving piles of black ash in their place. Eventually, though, Ren had cast himself dry, and he wasn’t doing great physically speaking either, having been knocked around a fair amount by the more corporeal shadows.

He had no idea that he was being watched from afar, though it wasn’t by any sort of adversary.

---

Twilight Sparkle’s horn flared to life as she cast a diagnostic spell on her new friend. Being as skilled at magic as she was came with certain perks – where that particular spell could normally only be used within line-of-sight distances, she could cast it over several miles – and in her current state of distress, that range extended to what were effectively the borders of the known world.

She had related the news to the princesses, who were largely unfazed by the turn of events. Celestia was even convinced that Ren would be able to solve the problem without resorting to violence. Oh, but if she knew how wrong she was. Luna, on the other hoof, was more worried for the safety of Ren and Murr over the safety of her subjects at the moment – understandable, given the princesses’ almost unlimited power which they would surely use in the defense of their subjects should it come to that.

The spell spat out results on a sheet of paper, as per the norm, and Twilight squinted at the small print. The readout was fairly straightforward, showing some simple statistics. Ren’s health, stamina and mana were all shown in red ink, meaning they were below normal. The color caught her eye, and her breath hitched in her throat as she realized that he was in all likelihood not returning home, or even to her, in one piece. The statistics were represented as numerical fractions, the current value being the numerator and the normal value being the denominator. His health was listed as being one-hundred forty-six out of three-hundred fifty-five, his stamina was an especially shocking zero out of four-hundred ninety-seven, and his mana was forty-four out of six-hundred sixty-two. Specific numerical values certainly weren’t needed, in fact a percentage would communicate the gravity of the situation much more clearly, but such was the nature of the spell, originally designed by a doctor so that he could keep an especially close eye on his patients’ recovery.

But then, the numbers changed dramatically, turning green, which indicated a higher than normal value. His health was reported as being twice what it normally was, while his stamina was merely a few points over his normal maximum. His mana, however, was the most drastic change – it was shown as being almost twelve thousand.

Twilight shook her head at those numbers. She balled up the paper in her magic and threw it away, casting the spell once again.

No change from the exorbitantly high amounts.

She was left scratching her head, wondering just what was going on with him.

---

Ren’s body glowed with excess mana as he poured his very soul into his attacks. The shadows in his immediate vicinity were obliterated outright, their almost demonic cries echoing through the still night.

He wasn’t certain of what had happened to him either, at first feeling like utter garbage and then all of a sudden feeling better than he had in his entire life. Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he resumed his deadly assault upon his adversaries.

Most shadows were far more sentient than this – making intelligent decisions for themselves and obeying no one but themselves. Bael’Zharon must have altered these in some way for them to be as utterly stupid as they were being – trying to rush him from his sides, in his state? Such a move was suicide, and yet there they were, eagerly smiting themselves upon his flames. Giving a grim smile, he turned up the heat, making the cries more frequent as more and more shadows inexplicably became piles of ash. He wasn’t sure how intangible beings could burn, but he wasn’t going to complain.

He glanced over to Murr, who was busying himself with taking the spit out of the mare’s body. He grimaced as he faintly heard her cries. If he was dying inside at her screams, there was no telling how Murr was doing.

---

“Stop! Please, stop screaming! Not so loudly, at least,” Murr pleaded as he felt his strength failing him. He never did well with screamers – pity was for the weak, and he felt pity, therefore he had been weak.

Now, however, he saw it as an asset. He had a heightened sense of empathy for others, really lending himself to healing spells that required the caster to feel the pain of the healed in one form or the next. And it would seem that in order for the healing spell to not simply fail, it would have to be a sort of transplant spell – taking health from him and giving it to the target, the skewered mare. This meant that he would have to cast Stamina to Health on himself directly afterward, lest he succumb to his new 'wounds' or the shock that receiving them all at once would bring.

Before he could do any of that, he’d have to pull the skewer out of the mare, and she was not cooperating to save her life. Poor thing. He really couldn’t blame her, he’d be afraid of all bipedal creatures too if the most outstanding experience he had with them was them spit-roasting him. He debated whether casting a sleeping spell as a unicorn would kill her or not, seeing as she was basically living on adrenaline at this point. He shrugged. If he didn’t she’d die anyway.

So he morphed into a unicorn, casting the aforementioned sleeping spell on the target. Acting fast, he morphed back and yanked the bar out of her body, casting Gift of Life on her. He had honestly been afraid that the spell wouldn’t go through, that she’d die, but his relief was momentary in nature as he felt all of the pain of her injuries assault his senses at once. It was a fight to stay conscious, and it goes without saying that Murr fell to the ground. It was almost funny, how that spell worked – it did no actual damage to the caster, instead making them feel all the pain of the injuries (and subsequently make their body think that it had sustained them). He fought to stand, peaking his arms in the movements that corresponded with the Rushed Recovery spell, the seventh-level variant of Stamina to Health. His pain left him, and while he felt quite winded as a result, he could definitely say that was better than the alternative.

He looked over in Ren’s direction, where, as predicted, the mage stood kicking the ass and taking the name of all who rose against him. He winced as a shadow screamed particularly loud, reverberating through his skull. The sound chilled him to the bone, and would likely haunt him until he died. When Ren got into one of his rages, it was best to leave well enough alone and do what he told you to do. Of course, he’d be upset over this later, and he’d go back to his usual mild self, although even that was quickly changing – he was starting to stabilize a bit.

This wasn’t a fight. It was a slaughter. Ren was definitely most unpleased about what they had done to this poor mare, although he’d probably regret his actions later. Not that Murr could blame him – had he been in the same position, he definitely would have done the same thing. Shadows, as far as he knew, didn’t and couldn’t eat anything – they lived off of the fear that their enemies had for them. So spitroasting locals served no real purpose, other than to provoke a reaction. And oh boy, did they get a reaction – although it probably wasn’t the one they were hoping for, if the screams that echoed into the night were any indicator.

He suddenly felt his eyes drawn to the mare, now upright and eyeing him with an expression of curiosity and mild distrust.

“Why—why did you heal me? I thought you were going to eat me!” she exclaimed.

“I already told you, I wasn’t going to eat you – if you look in that direction, you’ll see an… associate of mine dealing with your captors. He was most upset at your predicament,” Murr responded in a tired voice. He’d sleep forever when he returned to the library.

“But – they were going to cook me! And eat me! And you don’t look so different from them—that sounded racist, sorry…”

“No offense taken. I will concede that shadows are very similar to humans, sharing their rough shape and psyche. But shadows are what you might call ‘corrupted’ humans – most aren’t this violent, most just want to live out their lives in peace. These must have been brainwashed into fanaticism by our enemy. And, unless they’ve developed new needs and abilities, they can’t eat. So roasting you serves no practical purpose to them – they likely just wanted to see how you handle pain.”

“That’s – that’s horrible! Why would they do that to another creature?”

“Most wouldn’t dream of harming something else. But these in particular have, like I said, been brainwashed in some form.”

“Um, your friend looks like he’s in trouble. Are you going to help him?”

“Believe me, I’ve got a close eye on him. He’d be very angry with me if I left you unguarded on a whim and he didn’t need my help, so I’m staying here until he absolutely needs me.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea to me…” she said warily.

“I know, but it’s the only choice that I really have. I don’t want to be the object of his ire any more than those shadows do.”

“He’s getting smacked around like a piñata out there! Do something!” she said more forcefully.

“He’s got this in the bag, I tell you.”

And then, Ren’s aura exploded into life, burning off excess mana as his body tapped into his extra energy in a self-preservation move. If Murr was surprised by this, he gave no indication. He always did have one hell of a poker face.

“See?” Murr asked the mare, in a bit of a smug gloating tone. “I told you. He’s got this in the bag.”

“Alright then, I stand corrected.”

The rest of the shadows were quickly dispatched, their screams mostly merging into one long, painfully loud screech. How Ren could put up with this was a mystery to Murr.

Then, the dust kicked up by his most recent assault settled, revealing Ren, still glowing, kneeling, catching his breath. Murr picked himself up and went to congratulate his comrade.

Murr’s walk picked up to a run when Ren’s body ceased glowing and he slumped over.

---

Twilight cast the spell for a ninth time, looking at the results and smiling briefly at having what were likely far more accurate figures this time around. Her smile quickly faded as she saw the numbers – Ren was hanging on by a thread physically speaking, and he had a negative value for his mana. She hurriedly cast the spell again, this time on Murr, breathing a sigh of relief at his mostly normal values.

Murr would see that Ren made it back. At least, she hoped he would.

She looked over to Pinkie Pie, resting peacefully in her bed. The pink party pony had asked that Twilight stay with her, and in her current state Twilight simply couldn't refuse her. She had been through a fair bit already at the hands of Bael'Zharon, albeit indirectly.

Her mind filled with anger at the name. If he ever came here  and decided to start wreaking havoc, she didn't even know how strongly she'd react. He'd better hope that he would only be dealing with a pissed off Ren and Murr, because Twilight Sparkle was the Element of Magic for a reason, and she intended to show him if he ever got it in his head to hurt her friends.

She wasn't the least bit shocked to find that she included Ren and Murr on that list.

I... I got nothing.

Murr, unprepared for the crash-landing in Twilight’s yard, tumbled to the ground ungracefully, Ren and the as-yet-unnamed mare in tow. Murr had healed Ren, but he still hadn’t woken up. He probably just needed sleep. Murr had the foresight to shift into his pony form, and strangely, when he touched Ren with a forehoof, he shifted as well. Murr wrote it off as probably being a reflex. He grabbed Ren in his magic, told the confused mare to put a hoof on his back, and off they had went.

Twilight was nowhere to be seen, but at least they were back within range of civilization. Murr carefully opened the door to the library, setting Ren down in a comfortable chair for the time being.

They really needed to look into getting beds.

The earth pony mare was still following him. “What are you hanging around me for?” he asked her.

“I don’t live in Ponyville! I live in Canterlot. Weren’t you going to take me home?”

Murr facehoofed, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Yeah. Come on, let’s go find Twilight.”

“Wait, Twilight Sparkle? The Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yeah, this is her library.”

“Omigosh omigosh omigosh! I can’t believe it! She’s the one that stopped Nightmare Moon, and Discord, you know!”

Murr smirked. “So I’ve heard, although she attributes her success to her steadfast friends.” You couldn’t find a closer bunch of ponies.

As if the world was reading his mind, Twilight chose that moment to burst through the door to her library. “Somepony came and got me and told me that some ponies landed in my front yard, and that I should probably go and check it out. How is he?” she said.

“Just tired, I imagine. He used a lot of mana today.”

She leveled her gaze at Ren's unconscious form. “He has mana sickness. I can tell you that much right now, just by looking at him.”

“What?”

“Mana sickness: when you use enough mana that your body quits on you. You don’t die except for in very extreme cases, but the fact remains that his mana was at a negative value the last time I checked on him.”

“Physically, he’s just fine. I would know, I had to cast the healing spells myself,” Murr said, wincing.

“That’s good. That means we don’t have to worry about his physical condition. He’s just going to be out for a while, and possibly will be out of it for a while after he wakes up.” She paused, deep in thought. “Can't you restore some of his mana? I seem to recall him casting a spell that exchanged his stamina for more mana when he was fighting you.”

“They make your body lazier, and reduce the rate at which your mana naturally regenerates. I steer clear of using those kinds of spells when I can.”

“And this isn’t life threatening. At most, he’ll lose a few days,” Twilight explained further. “Anyway, who’s this?” she asked, looking at the unfamiliar earth pony mare.

The mare in question averted her gaze, mumbling something under her breath.

“Come again? I don't speak muffled grunts,” Twilight joked, her eyes twinkling with mirth.

“My name's Candy Cane,” the flustered mare finally blurted out. Sure enough, her color scheme reflected her name – red and white striped mane and tail, with fur of the purest ivory color. “I live in Canterlot, and I was exploring outside the city when this – I think he called it a 'shadow' – grabbed me. They...” She suddenly stopped to burst into tears. “They stabbed me on a pole! They were gonna eat me!”

“Except they couldn't possibly eat you, shadows have no corporeal bodies that require nourishment to speak of. They were just trying to get a reaction out of whomever might come across them by spit-roasting you,” Murr interrupted, correcting Candy Cane gently.

Candy glared at him through teary eyes. “That's even worse! Either way, the guy in the chair got their attention while this one –“ she pointed to Murr, “freed me and healed me.”

Murr winced. “That was quite painful.”

“Oh please, you have no idea what being impaled feels like until you've been impaled – what? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because I have been impaled. Several times, in fact. Each of them more painful than the last.”

Candy's gaze softened. “Sorry, I'll take my hoof out of my mouth now...”

He waved a hoof dismissively. “No, you couldn't possibly have known without my having told you.”

Twilight spoke up. “So you said you live in Canterlot? If I teleport you to the middle of town, will you be able to find your way home?”

Candy nodded enthusiastically. “If I hurry, I might be able to sleep in my own bed tonight!”

Ren's eyelids slowly fluttered open, feeling heavy and irritated. He smacked his dry lips together, stretching them painfully in a yawn. He moved forward slightly.

He promptly fell out of the chair.

Squirming around and muttering every single curse word he could think of, some even in ancient Empyrean, he scrambled to his hooves.

Hooves? Does that mean I made it back okay? Why don't I remember coming back then? He thought to himself.

“Is waking up going to become a thing with you?” Spike asked, jolting Ren out of his musings.

“Ye gods, I hope not,” Ren answered, rubbing his head and swaying slightly.

“Twilight's gone out – she said something about getting beds for you two. She seemed kind of embarrassed that she hadn't thought of it earlier. I would be too, come to think of it – what sort of host lets her guests sleep in chairs?”

“Well, it's not like we were expected or anything...” Ren rose to her defense.

“It's been two weeks, man. I was about to talk to her about it myself.” He changed the subject. “Is your mane getting longer? It looks good. I think you should grow it out.”

Ren took the bait. “I suppose it couldn't hurt. I can't exactly wear robes without looking excessively weird now, and I'm not supposed to be in human form around ponies --” His eyes went wide. “I need to talk to Twilight.” He started to walk towards the door, falling over himself. Spike was alarmed at this, and it suddenly clicked inside his head.

The tired and somewhat loopy responses, after having almost an entire day's rest.

The unsteadiness on his hooves.

The slightly green tinge to his face.

Spike rushed to aid the floundering stallion, speaking in a more comforting tone now. “Dude, I think you need more rest. There's something wrong with you, but it's nothing some more sleep won't set right.”

“I'm fine, I tell you --” Ren started to say, before he fell over himself again. Sighing in defeat, he said, “Alright, I see your point. I think I might need to lay down for a while longer yet. What's wrong with me, anyway?”

Spike mentally debated telling him, eventually deciding that it probably wouldn't hurt. “You've got mana sickness, man. Or, as Pinkie would say, you're 'too pooped to pop'. Magically speaking at least. You have no idea how many times I had to care for Twilight after she had overexerted herself. Sleep will do you some good, and I imagine sleeping in a bed would do even more, so I'll wake you up when they get back.”

Ren thanked the young drake, resuming his slumber nearly instantly.

Murr and Twilight were both currently in a mattress shop, poring over their stock of beds and bedding. Twilight's eyes widened when she saw their asking prices, and only got wider as she scanned the list.

And she would have to buy two of them.

Murr raised an eyebrow at her body language. “We have a fair bit of coin, if that's the problem. I don't know how it exchanges into bits, but pyreals are mostly gold, so I imagine that if we could give enough to somepony who can melt them down and separate the gold from the pure pyreal, we could cover them. We got pretty well off financially, selling off equipment that we found and didn't need and such. Most of it's in trade notes, so they probably don't exchange, but the physical coins we still have should.”

Twilight gave Murr a questioning look. “Pyreal isn't an element I've ever heard of.”

Murr took on a thoughtful look, mulling over exactly what he wanted to say. “It's rather rare where we come from too – only trace amounts are actually smelted with the gold to make the coins, where gold is comparatively easy to come by. The largest chunk of pure pyreal I've ever seen is on Ren's shadowfire wand, he had to use it to fuse with the shadowfire, from what I heard. There are golems that we identify as being made from pyreal, but they're mostly iron and gold, with a little bit of platinum and pyreal. They're green – that's the pyreal showing up – and in the wild they're positively deadly. They're fiercely intelligent, at least as much as if not more so than their creators, and they can move surprisingly quickly for being magically animated hunks of metal. They chain-cast war spells, so if absolutely nothing else you won't be able to get a hit in edgewise, and once you tire out – mark my words, you will – they will kill you.”

Twilight visibly paled. “You – you don't think that Bael'Zharon will be sending any of those, will he?”

Murr gave an indecisive grunt. “Hard to say. I wouldn't, if I were him – everything he's sent this way so far hasn't come back, so he might think that he's sending everything to a place where they perish immediately, and pyreal is, as I said, very rare and by extension valuable. But, he may just want Ren dead that badly.” He smirked. “Not even a pyreal golem could put Ren down, though – not unless he was facing odds similar to what he was facing yesterday against him. He can resist their spells, he is one of the few people who can. He specialized in magic defense along with war magic when we were in the academy, and on top of that he's got this experimental shield – absorbs magic, a really brilliant design. It's one of the old crystal aegises they gave out to the Advocates, infused with refined chorizite.”

Twilight's expression was carefully blank. “And that is...?”

“It absorbs magic, and can't be enchanted. At all. When it was discovered, it was immediately considered magic's trump card for those who were sent to assassinate mages. Weapons infused with it or made from it can completely ignore beneficial enchantments on their target. Armor infused with it can absorb magic, as I said. I think Ren's got a couple daggers he infused with it too, albeit with less refined ore.”

“Speaking of magic, Ren's told me that Asheron is capable of more mundane utility magics – why are you two only trained in warfare and enchantment?”

Murr gave a noncommittal shrug. “I'm not the one who designed the curriculum, but they do teach the more mundane stuff to people who ask about it. I just thought I could do the world more good as an enchanter. Ren... well, he's got some issues he needs to sort out, I think. I personally don't think that he could have possibly caused the house fire that killed his family – magic, specifically Empyrean magic, is intent- as well as incantation-based. He might have made fire, but it wouldn't have caught anything else on fire unless he wanted it to. Which he wouldn't have. I think he knows that someone else had to have done it, and he subconsciously wants to meet the people responsible in a dark alley somewhere for a no-holds-barred gorefest.” Twilight shot him a glare. “Hey, I took psychomancy. I know what I'm talking about, especially when it comes to that guy. The nightmares he has – gods, I'm not sure how he got by without me for the past few years.”

Then it clicked with Twilight. “I know somepony who can help with those, I think,” she said in a small voice.

“Anything would be good. I – I just want him to stop blaming himself, at least. It's not healthy and for as long as I've been with him I've been trying to get him off that train – it doesn't lead anywhere good.”

“I'll – I'll tell you when we get back to the library. We should get some of those pyreals for the blacksmith to have a look at. We can't mint them into bits, but I'm sure the proprietor of this establishment will take bars of gold as payment for goods rendered.”

Getting the pyreals melted and separated took longer than anticipated, and by the time they made it back to the furniture store, it had closed. So they turned around and went back.

“You know, I only just thought of this – where would we put our beds, had we gotten them? Your house, while it is rather spacious, has much of its space reserved,” Murr asked.

“I was either going to move mine over some and set yours on the other side of the room, or I had a couple of spacious closets – 'spacious' is the operative word, I think a more accurate term would be 'storage room' – in the event of the actual bedroom not being an option.”

Murr grunted an acknowledgement. “You know,” he said, “I don't think I've said this enough, but on the behalf of my incapacitated friend and I, thank you for everything you've done for us.”

“Oh, you're welcome. Now, one thing I don't understand,” Twilight said, changing the subject, “Is just how someone who's as pacifistic as Ren is can bring himself to participate in a war. He's said countless times now that he doesn't like hurting things – and I believe him, make no mistake – but he must go through some serious trauma when he comes back to his senses and sees the blood on his hands.”

“The same way many people do – they take too much guff, and they snap. In Ren's case, he's especially triggered by something intentionally hurting innocents. That sets him off faster than anything I've ever seen – he completely obliterated a full battallion of corrupted shadows, over one hundred strong, because they spit-roasted Candy Cane. Or did you forget?”

Twilight felt a strange sense of pride at hearing of his accomplishment, and that didn't sit well with her. She didn't let it show, though. “... I wish I could, to be honest,” she finally said, shuddering. “I don't like to think about how he might have handled Nightmare Moon.”

“Well, what did she do? Did she ever actually hurt anyone?”

“Not that... not that I know of,” Twilight admitted.

“Well, there you go. He's perfectly reasonable as long as you aren't hurting anyone.”

“But still,” she said, “What about Discord? Sure, most of what he had done was nothing more than an annoyance, but ponies could have been seriously hurt! In the older days, before the rise of the princesses, he did such without a second thought!”

“See, now that's hard to call. If he didn't know about the past, he'd be okay for sure, and even if he did know I think he'd be okay, but there's no telling for sure... it's all very confusing. “

Twilight scratched at her chin with a hoof. “Indeed,” she said finally. They walked through the door leading into the library as the sun gave way to the moon.

This relative peace couldn't last forever.