It had been about a week since Dox’s visit and the discovery of the Displaced. To say it was baffling and overwhelming was an understatement to be sure, but Bronze accepted it easily enough. His parents though...they were not happy to hear that their son was originally a target for some entity that wanted to utterly separate him from everything he knew and loved.

So there were a few days where his mom and dad decided to spend some quality time with him rather than hunting the family down. They weren’t too sure how to really spend any actual time with him though, because honestly, they raised Bronze in a very busy and detached environment, and the only way they knew how to spend time together was to watch movies together. So Bronze, wanting that bit of time with his parents, took them to the local cinema to see how pony movies were.

They were awful, hilariously bad. So full of cheese and cliche it left them all laughing and scoffing or groaning and sighing while the locals all genuinely enjoyed the movie, much to the family’s disgust, considering how poorly written the plots were. After that, they agreed it best to wait until Terra’s films were allowed to be public and be ‘remastered’ for local distribution while the originals were kept for historical purposes, and since they’d seen most of the movies in their home in the Void, that would take a while unless Jeeves found some intact films the movie buffs hadn’t seen.

Among all of this however, Bronze continued to train with Bulk, Dash, and Gilda, who was crashing at Rainbow’s place, and finally managed to make a trip to Twilight’s library, where upon admitting his ignorance of pony anatomy, got an embarrassing series of lectures on equine kind, and was instructed to read the Pony Sutra much to his embarrassment. Which leads to where he is now.

“Twilight, I’m not from this world, but...isn’t this sorta...uncouth?” Bronze asked with a raging blush and stiff wings as he was sat behind a desk. Yes, a desk. With Twilight standing in front of a chalkboard that had a disturbingly accurate and detailed drawing of a mare’s plumbing, both x-ray side view and exterior rear-view.

“What do you mean? It’s completely normal for a mare to teach a colt, er...I guess, stallion in this case, about how the female body works. It helps stallions be mentally aware and prepared for what’s to come in terms of the opposite sex and how to react to their significant other’s needs.” Twilight informed factually, making Bronze sigh slowly out his snout.

“Twilight, you’re adorkable, but in human society, such things are not discussed solely between a male and female.” Twilight blinked. “Alone.” Twilight raised an eye ridge. “Together.” Twilight rolled her eyes and Bronze growled. “Without anybody else around!” Finally getting it, the somewhat anti-social unicorn blushed as vividly as Bronze and coughed weakly into a hoof.

“Uh, yes. I can see how this would easily be taken the wrong way. But would you rather learn it from me? Or in a schoolhouse with the hormone-ridden 14 year-olds?” That was another shocker Twilight had helped teach Bronze. Ponies, while having similar lifespans to humans, also developed faster, being on an average fully knowledgeable of sexual activities and safe practices by age 14 rather than around 15 and ponies who prove quite skilled in their talents often find themselves out in the world by 16. Twilight herself was apparently only 17.

“Ugh, fine. But could you not be so...accurate?” Bronze pleaded, gesturing to the chalkboard at the rather impressive chalk drawing, and Twilight quickly shoved the chalkboard over with her magic, her hair hiding her eyes and her tail flicking as she looked down at her hooves in embarrassment.

“Sorry...um...go ahead and take the Pony Sutra and read at your own pace. I’m just going to go...die in a hole, yeah….” Twilight quickly pranced upstairs and Bronze breathed a sigh of relief at the awkward and ridiculous situation being resolved.

“That mare needs to get laid. Not by me. Hell no not by me. I’ve got enough problems.” Bronze huffed as he rubbed his face with his hooves. It was a thing to get used to, but he was able to use his hooves like a normal pony now, and bronze stood up, revealing he’d bulked up slightly over the past week of intense training. ‘Alicorn genes, hell of a thing. Doctors say in the next two weeks, I’ll be perfectly fit for everyday life...too bad I need to be better than that.’

“Hey Bronze! Is Twilight done emasculating you?” Spike asked through the kitchen doorway, he wanted no part in the ‘birds and bees’ lecture, especially since he’d already learned about that at the same time as Twilight and once was enough.

“Yeah you can come out now.” Bronze sighed as the little drake entered as he chewed on a bug sandwich, which he ate for protein, and apparently chitin was similar enough to low-grade gems so they tasted great, or so Spike swore.

“Hey buck, it’s cool bro. I was beyond embarrassed when I learned about, eugh, that. And I was only nine! But no~, Twilight saw no reason to deny me important life knowledge even though I was too young. Pfft. Now I’m just afraid of what’s to come in the next few years, since when I turn 15 this year, things are going to be crazy for me.” Spike griped as he finished his sandwich, and pulled out another one. “Want a daisy sandwich? I made it in case you or Twilight wanted something to eat when you were done.”

“Eh, sure. Thanks Spike.” Bronze levitated the sandwich up to his muzzle and casually bit into it. That was another thing he had to get used to; eating plants besides vegetables. Flowers had their own unique tastes, and he even tried grass. Don’t eat grass. It tastes like those green health smoothies, blech. “Mm, good daisies.”

“Daisy knows how to grow them.” Spike nodded in agreement. “So yeah, like I was saying, Twilight is smart, and really good with her magic and studies, but when it comes to more social things, she’s kinda uh...dumb.” Spike admitted sheepishly, getting Bronze to snort.

“That’s putting it lightly. If this was Terra, she’d be an outcast, shunned for her eccentricities save by others with similar interests. She’s so lucky to have friends as it is.” Bronze said knowingly, considering he was very much an outcast himself back then. “Well, I’ll see you later Spike. Let me know when Twilight gets over her embarrassment.”

“Will do.”

[@]

Bronze was simply trotting through town, wanting to get some rest from his wing exercises and his more intense cardio for a peaceful walk for once as he was heading towards Sweet Apple Acres to visit his marefriend, and maybe go see his other marefriend Zecora in the Everfree about those hydra glands she harvested and whether or not her musings on making a potent muscle-enhancing potion with secretion samples to try and make a functioning formula that had few drawbacks was viable.

Bronze wasn’t one to take shortcuts, but Zecora herself was interested in the concept and was making the potions anyway. As a supportive coltfriend and friend in general, Bronze felt he was personally obligated to help her out since he was a perfect test dummy for such a thing. The things he does for love, considering one of the potential ‘side-effects’ is growing extra limbs.

However, his attention was drawn to a stage that was erected in the town square. The odd thing was, it was completely devoid of an audience, and on the stage was a powder-blue mare with silvery mane and tail speaking quietly with a town guard, who was ubiquitous with the same guards from Canterlot save his armor wasn’t enchanted to hide his natural colors. But what really drew Bronze’s attention was that the mare had bandages around her chest and barrel with visible blood staining them.

“Excuse me!” Bronze called out, getting both the gray stallion’s and the mare’s attention as he approached. “What happened here?”

“O-oh, Prince Brave. This is just an assault case. The griffin at fault has already been arrested and I’m just getting Miss Lulamoon’s last statement.” The guard stated, getting the mare to blink in shock and look at Bronze, who promptly went red with anger.

“I’m not a prince!” Bronze reflexively shouted angrily, getting the earth-pony guard to cower, and Bronze sighed as he took a calming breath. “Look, okay, I think I can guess what happened. Did Miss Lulamoon do anything to Rainbow Dash?”

“Trixie just put the upstager in her place!” Miss Lulamoon, apparently first-named Trixie, stated, only to wince as some of the bandages on her chest got a bit redder, and she cast another spell on herself. “Trixie was just trying to do her show, and several ponies in the crowd wouldn’t let her carry her act on.”

“According to Miss Lulamoon sir, Lady Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all tried to upstage her when they took offense to her bluster. However, when Rainbow Dash was struck by a weak lightning cloud, the griffin Gilda went into a rage and pounced on Miss Lulamoon like a manticore. Miss Applejack and Rainbow Dash managed to pull her away before serious damage could be done, but we’ve detained her at the guard barracks as she should be for such an attack.” The guard informed, and Bronze sighed as he rubbed his temple with a hoof.

“That’s all well and good guard, return to your duties. I’ll speak with my friends about this later. If they post bail however, stipulate that Gilda must take anger management courses if she’s to continue remaining in public.” Bronze hated doing this, using the clout his position really does have, but sometimes if it meant helping someone, it was better to own up to expectation than to belligerently try to hold distance from the concept.

“Yes sir Prince Brave!” The stallion saluted before he trotted off-stage and towards the barracks, leaving Bronze and the injured mare.

“So, Trixie is it? Would you mind explaining why you’re not in the hospital with those kinds of wounds?” Bronze could tell, aside from the blood, that the injuries were both rather big, and fairly deep, possibly needing stitches if they kept reopening.

“T-Trixie...can’t afford to go to the hospital….” Trixie admitted weakly from her seat on the stage, getting Bronze to blink. He thought medical care was mostly state-funded, or...was that just a misconception on his part? After all, he was already a friend of the state when he was first hospitalized, which was why he never had to pay a bit for his medical care….

“Oh dear...I’m so sorry. I’d help, but the title of Prince was basically just thrown at me, I don’t have any money or real power to help you with that...but I can relieve your pain.” Bronze’s horn glowed the with same deep blue as his eyes, and a wave of the aura draped over Trixie, getting her to sigh and relax. “With how much pain I’ve been feeling for so long, Twilight felt it a good idea to teach me a pain relieving spell.”

“Wow...Trixie is impressed. Medical spells are very hard to learn.” Trixie said with interest as Bronze bashfully scratched his neck.

“Aw it was nothing really. I just have to focus on my desire to help someone, or myself, and then just focus the intent into my horn. Took a bit to cast on others though.” Bronze admitted, getting Trixie to hum as she looked up at her own horn, before easily casting a quick lightshow that appeared to be a mosaic of moving lights, before forming a wireframe display of a fairground and vanishing. “W-whoa...that was beautiful.”

“Hmph, it is simple illusion magic. Trixie’s specialty one could say….” Trixie said as she looked at her wand and veil cutie mark. “Trixie’s talent is to craft illusions, tricks you could say. So other branches of magic are rather difficult for Trixie to grasp.” Trixie admitted sadly.

‘Oh boy, here we go. Why do people confide in me so much?’ Bronze mentally bemoaned as his good nature refused to let him ignore even a hint of sadness, and he sat down too. “Hey, don’t worry about that. I’m not even good at any magic, and I’m an alicorn. I just picked that spell up because I was tired of hurting, and seeing others feel pain. I can barely levitate things, hell, I can’t even teleport without relying on my Aspect.”

“Aspect?” Trixie asked curiously, and Bronze, grinning, decided to ham it up to try and cheer her up, and stood on his hind legs, spreading his wings has he grandly waved his forehooves around.

“Behold! For I am Bronze Brave! Alicorn of Space~!” Bronze then summoned several random objects from around the area around him, such as rain barrels, a cart, and a hay bale, simply by switching the dimensional coordinates around. A beyond difficult trick for master magicians apparently, but for him, so-called ‘master’ of Space, it came as easily as moving a chess piece from one part of the board to another. It was the most he could do actually, aside from denying teleports and gravity to an extent.

“Amazing! Did you just defy Star Swirl’s seventh-?!”

“Yes, yes, whatever number of theory or whatever that an ancient mage came up with, I just defied it. Look, that’s just something I do. You don’t have to be able to do anything more than what you want to or can do. So what if you’re best at illusions? Just work with that.” Bronze encouraged as he waved his hooves around. “I mean, that fairground of light was beautiful. I don’t know if Twilight can do that, but I’m sure she’d appreciate seeing it.”

“That name again. Who is this Twilight? You say she taught you that pain relieving spell, is she a doctor?” Trixie asked curiously as she stood up easily, blinking at realizing she wasn’t in pain.

“No, she’s my friend. She’s Celestia’s personal student, and she knows way too many spells for her own good.” Bronze chuckled as Trixie gawked. “Hey, how about I introduce you? She knows some healing spells, she might just fix you up for free if we explain the situation to her.”

“W-what? Trixie doesn’t like being indebted-.”

“Nonsense! Come now, cheerio, pip-pip!” Bronze mocked as he managed to levitate the protesting mare along. “I say Madame~. You are quite svelte and light~!” Bronze joked with a horribly fake Braytish accent, getting Trixie to blush and huff, making Bronze laugh as he flexed his horn instead of his muscles for once.

[@]

“-And so then Gilda attacked you?” Twilight asked as she focused on the rather deep gashes she was mending while Trixie hissed as the purple aura of the magical prodigy more-or-less literally knitted the torn flesh together from inside outward.

“That’s the gist of it.” Bronze answered for the scrunched-up faced mare that Twilight was not-so-gently healing. Twilight explained she was still a novice at healing magic, but Bronze insisted for both Twilight’s experience and Trixie’s sake. “So I’m going to go and see Gilda at the barracks, see about getting her out on parole if she’ll attend some anger management classes.”

“W-wait! Don’t leave Trixie with-!” Bronze vanished, leaving the mares alone, and they both awkwardly looked at each other as Twilight finished healing her. “Um...thanks.” Trixie said nervously, and Twilight awkwardly looked around, and silently nodded as she kicked a hoof. “Um...I’m Trixie Lulamoon. Don’t mind the third-pony speak, Trixie is just so used to it from her show.”

“I’m...Twilight Sparkle. I’m the...librarian.” Twilight meekly introduced, the two both completely at a loss for how to interact and Spike rolled his eyes before he walked away, muttering about nerds and their anti-social natures.

Meanwhile, Bronze popped on over to the barracks, wobbling on his legs as he blinked his eyes. “Wow...gotta get used to that….” Bronze shook the dizziness out as he entered the low building. The barracks were actually just a humble little bunkhouse with a small jail cell to hold troublemakers, the place didn’t even have a second floor. Yet. Bronze was concerned with how poorly defended the town was, considering before he took a hammer to that Hydra, the town’s only defense was a poisoned hunk of bait. So his appeals to his sisters for more guards for Ponyville was being taken care of, but the guardhouse was going to need some expansions to be putting it lightly.

“Hello Prince Brave. Are you here to oversee the prisoner’s bail?” A random guard asked as he was about to pass towards the back, where he could see Rainbow Dash and Applejack talking to the guard behind the desk next to the cell as Gilda snarked at him from said cell behind the bars.

“More like I’m the one to make sure nothing more happens.” Bronze grumbled as he approached the desk. “Release Gilda.” Bronze ordered, getting Rainbow to woop and Applejack to sigh in relief as Gilda rolled her eyes while the guard grumbled as he fiddled with the keys.

“About time. Let’s just get out of here and-.” Gilda’s beak was held shut by Bronze’s blue aura, and the leer he leveled at her admittedly made her hackles rise.

“Gilda. You are going to attend anger management classes. With Fluttershy if need be.” Bronze ordered, it wasn’t a suggestion, it was an order. Damn it, friend or not, he wasn’t letting an assault on somepony go like it was nothing.

“With Butterfly? That mare can’t even GET angry!” Gilda complained, and Bronze huffed as the guard opened the cell.

“That’s exactly why she’d help you manage your anger. I know nobody better besides Zecora, would you want to undergo some zebra customs? Maybe painful exercises? Potions?” Bronze threatened, and Gilda shrank back at the very real threat of Zebrican therapy, which was very intense and often painful, meant to teach rather than simply help.

“Fine! I’ll just go chat with Flutters now and then, okay?” Gilda said, and Bronze held his glare. “Twice a week! No more!”

“Hey, don’t worry buck, I’ll keep her in line okay?” Rainbow tried to appease Bronze’s anger, and he huffed when it was Applejack who snapped him out of it with a nuzzle.

“Hey, hey, sugarcube, don’t be so tussled over this. We all got a breaking point and Gilda just didn’t take seeing her friend bein’ hurt all too well.” Applejack appeased her coltfriend who calmed down quickly from his marefriend’s reasoning.

“That’s fine, what’s not fine is she drew blood. Watch it Gilda, you need to learn that ponies aren’t as durable as griffins. I had to take Trixie to Twilight for some medical help. Now let’s get out of here, I don’t want to annoy the good guards of Ponyville any more than we have to.” Bronze stated as he led the group outside. “So, aside from you going to see Fluttershy twice a week, we still on for training tomorrow Gilda?”

“You bet your flank we are colt. We gotta keep your practice up if you’re going to be anywhere near as awesome as Dash and I.” Gilda joked as she took off, but both Applejack and Dash blushed when as she took off, Gilda flicked Bronze’s muzzle with her bushy tail-tip, getting him to scrunch his nose in surprise and blink in confusion.

“Griffin tails are long, she needs to be more careful with it.” Bronze checked his nose ring for any hairs while Dash and AJ looked at each other and promptly decided to not bring it up to him as they leaned in to whisper to each other.

“Hey Dash, was that…?”

“Yeah, I’ll talk to her.” Dash then flew off after Gilda as AJ moved up to her colt and leaned against him, glad that he could at least handle that much now.

“So Bronze, now that the day’s almost over...wanna go spend some time with Z?” AJ suggested enticingly, and Bronze huffed with a smile.

“I was planning on it.”

[@]

The next day….

“Life…why do you hate me?” Bronze asked from his place laying on the grass of a field outside of town. He had a nice evening with AJ and Zecora, just talking about Zecora’s homeland and also about the bulk-up potion she was trying to make. Her current recipe was unsafe though, since some parasprites she tested it on promptly exploded, literally, with so much muscle their little bodies couldn’t handle it, gruesome.

But the reason he was in this field? “Geez, you’d think you’d get the rapid aileron by now.” Dash chided as she hovered down to the crashed stallion, who felt absolutely unwilling to pull his horn from the ground and try again.

“Hey Dash, c’mon, be nice. We weren’t pulling ailerons until second year.” Gilda commented as she hovered down and gently grabbed Bronze’s neck, pulling him slowly free of the ground much to his relief, since that position was very painful and hard to move from.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Rainbow grumbled as she pouted and looked angrily at her friend and the colt they were teaching. “I say we put him through the wringer and get him up to shape faster.”

“And I keep telling you Dash, you can’t just throw an egg at a wall and not expect it to break.” Gilda rolled her eyes at her friend’s continued hardcore attitude. There was a time and place for it, and teaching wasn’t it.

“Hey, to be fair, I’m a lot more durable than an egg.” Bronze defended, only to groan as Gilda began rubbing her talon into his neck, she’d been doing that a lot lately….

“Hey, you might as well be.” Gilda oddly said as she opened his wing and ran a talon along the membrane, making Bronze gasp as his other wing popped out at the sensation and a vivid blush overtook him. “I mean, these big, strong wings are attached to such a frail and squishy thing as you.” Bronze tensed when the talon moved to his flank, and squeezed, making him suddenly realize through his thick-headedness that Gilda wasn’t being altruistic. “But that’s getting firmer. We’d better help that~....”

“OH COME ON!” Rainbow suddenly exploded angrily, jolting Gilda out of her reverie and saving the submissive stallion from her advances. “How can you-, why would you-, URGH!” Rainbow suddenly bolted into the sky, leaving a worried Gilda and a still flummoxed and now concerned Bronze.

“Uh...I’m going to go see what her issue is. Take five.” Gilda took off, and Bronze promptly fell over on his side.

“...Again...why am I so damn blind?” This wasn’t a first. Bronze, back when he was Anthon, has had a few girlfriends, all of whom apparently grew romantically attached over time without him realizing it until they did something akin to what Gilda did just now. “That makes four now. Four friends that were interested that I didn’t even notice until I got goosed. I’m such a vapid idiot….”

“Are you guys all just asking to come see me or something?! Vash never really explained how it works.” A loud, irritated male voice shouted out of nowhere, it echoed as if it was inside a stone box, and also ringed in Bronze’s ears, getting him to yelp and cover them with his hooves as he rolled onto his stomach.“Ow! My ears! Hey, whoever’s saying that could you, I don’t know, explain how I’m hearing you?”

Author's Notes:

What's this?! My first post in two months?! I'm back! Hopefully. Life is still nuts. I hate nuts. Unless they're peanuts.

Bronze has been summoned! Because links of ALL kinds are failing to work, I shall laboriously type in the exact story name and chapter title that this story is crossing over into for a couple chapters.

DJ A String's Terrarian Tank. Chapters: Doorways and Diamonds and We're Not Twins, They Are!