With shirt firmly back on and with Luna’s moon starting to rise up from behind the mountains, I believe it was high time I made my departure.

Putting my coat on, I looked over to see the little dragon was preparing to leave as well. Goodbye hugs from Applebloom before she scampered up stairs. I also noticed her little friends had taken off already, obvious they had a home to go too as well.

“You heading back to the Oak?” I asked Spike who rolled his finished comic back up under his arm.
“Yup, I’ve mainly came out to see how you were faring with the Apples today.” I held the front door open for the little guy before stepping through. When I closed the door behind me, my nostrils burned with the familiar odor of pot again, I instantly looked over to see Granny had, once again, seated herself in her rocker, smoking away.

“Well, you can see it turned out pretty well, I honestly didn’t expect to be welcomed like this.” I nodded to Spike as we walked off the porch, Noticed Applejack had seemed to of ventured around the house to either avoid looking at me or dodging the pot smoke, or maybe even both?

“Ye hav’ a good night fellas!” Granny called out after us as we walked further way down the path back towards town, “Don’ let tha nightlife eat ya!” she chuckled before taking a hit which resulted in a rather nasty sounding coughing fit. Karma’s a bitch ya cocky grandma!

“Do not worry, they will run from me before they can even get close to a bite!”

As we walked on, I glanced back to see the farm slowly drawing away and slowly faded into the night. Ahead of us, I could see the faint glow of a horn in the distance with the silhouettes of the little crusaders heading home.

“So, what’s going on tonight at that crazy tree you call home?” I asked looking down at Spike after a minute or so of silence.

“Oh, probably more magical Science going on without me no doubt.” He shrugged. I noticed after the artificial lights of lanterns and horns had left the picture, the glow of the moon illuminated the landscape around us. Which helped a lot since we both didn’t have any form of lights to shine our way home.

Home, I remember nights like this walking the back roads or walking through the woods with the full moon shining through the trees or making the ground around me glow in a dull white. Sometimes, when I join Alex on his armed walks, the moon would provide better lighting than any flashlight we had on hand. Which helped in two occasions when we chased tweakers off the property. Sneaking up on thieves under the light of the moon never lost its excitement.

“She’ll be up again as well,” Spike also commented with a bored sigh.
“Jesus, does that girl ever sleep?” I asked glancing up at the moon.
“Pretty sure fatigue affects her kind as well, I mean, staying up late isn’t really good for you, ya know?” Oh sure, i’m one to talk, he who has ran three Call of Duty marathons, four Minecraft all-nighters and was about to get sucked into The Division before this shit happened.
“Yeah, but she has periodically stayed up for several days with her nose stuck in a book, or several, with a quill to a stack of note pages.”

“Sounds like you got her pretty much figured out,”
“Yeah, I have, she did hatch me years ago as part of an entrance exam back in Canterlot.”
“Whoa, what?” I stopped to look at the little dragon, “You mean that Unicorn was able to speed up the process of hatching a dragon in an instant?”

“Yup, not only did she pass but apparently expressed a sudden great amount of skill that Princess Celestia took her in as her personal student.”

Holy shit, If anything DnD had taught me is that hatching a dragon would take nearly anywhere between four hundred to six hundred days before the little welp can hatch (or something like that). Twilight was able to expedite that with in seconds just to be accepted as a personal apprentice of some sort?

“Daamn, now she is here, working a Library.” which sounded very counterproductive if you think about it.

“As well being a bearer of an Element of Harmony, saving the land from evil on the side.” Spike chuckled before walking again.

“You make it sound like fighting evil is a side job for this mare,”

“You are a comic nerd are you not?” Spike asked me over a shoulder.

“Yeah…”

“Then you should know how being a superhero is all about.”

Fuck, I just got out nerded by a drakeling!
“Good point Spike.” I couldn’t help but laugh with him as we ventured onward into the night towards town.

“Still though, can’t help that she is forcing herself-”
“-well, more like working willingly,” Spike corrected
“-Right, right, either way, working hard to crack the curious case of this troubled Creature.”

“Nah, don’t sweat it, Jeff, If anything, you gave Twilight a challenge to master to pass the time before the next threat to Equestria appears.”
Sooo, am I just a pet project to her or something a little more serious? My mind wondered on both sides of the fence to determine the status of my situation from her perspective. If anything, I am still thankful that at least one person/pony is still doing something about my condition before it gets worse or whatever. Yet, at the same time, it just seems like I’m some science project to solve for the sake of enriching one’s own mind.
“True…” I let the conversation drift away into the sound of silence while letting my mind waddle around in wonder over how I stand in terms of existence in this strange world.

I mean, I’ve only been in this world for probably a month or so and I’m only seen as a creature with a magical problem going on with him. If not maybe he is plagued by an insanity that has some very strange symptoms whenever it flares up. Either way, I’m still feeling weird about the whole ordeal in terms of this.

Speaking of weird feelings, I can’t help but be concerned for Twilight, I mean, she has been a good friend to me as well her friends for the most part. However, I still don’t know how that affects any of them since they are befriending a being who comes from a species that, in better or worse terms, dominates and controls the beings that are sentient in this world.

I mean, I should be riding one of these ponies around like I would a horse and demand to see who would send me home but instead, here I am, walking alongside a dragon, chit-chatting with him about his good friend/adoptive guardian.

I honestly couldn’t say where else my mind went after that thought train went through a tunnel. After a while of random thoughts, like how am I going to be able to provide for myself?
How am I going to live better than this?
What makes this world function?
Why do I feel funny when I randomly think of one of those girls like Twilight or Applejack.
I shook my head in silence trying to get things back on track.

“Want to come over to visit for a bit?” then my mind found a brick wall at eighty miles an hour.
“That sounded weird coming from you Spike.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing, sure It’ll beat laying in bed, feeling a brain race going on in my skull.”

“In the dark..”

“In the dark.

“And Alone.”

“And alo- hey wait, don’t make me sound like a poor lonely hermit!” The Dragon and I laughed as we traversed through the mini forest again with ponyville just on the other side.

I’ve been following another lead in this strange magical ordeal.

I began another one of countless amounts of paragraphs in my notebook,

Apparently, Zecora has had experienced a strange phenomenon while gathering ingredients for her potion recipes when the strangest of things started to occur.

I paused for a moment to ponder on why I didn’t start this sooner, probably because I didn’t want to be distracted trying not to get lost or get killed in the everfree forest, or maybe it was because I ended up catching Jeff after nearly collapsing from the Detectaphlin. Oh well, with a shrug I went back to my note.

While she was out there, she heard what she had described to me as strange sounds of “thunder”. Odd, I’ve known a great deal amount of how thunder sounds but what she described to me was nothing I would have heard before.

I memorized the sounds she mimicked for me. I, myself, recited the very same pattern of taps she had heard while I wrote.

Tap, tap, tap, tap went one set.

Ta-tap, ta-tap, ta-tap went the other. I repeated both patterns absently while I wrote.

The sounds she demonstrated to me was odd in itself, but when she at times saw flashes during those thunder sounds made it even more strange, seeing what some would consider calling a thunder and lightning storm in the Everfree Forest.

By now the patterns I was repeating turned into a mixed variety of variable lengths and quick changes between both sets as if I was trying really hard to make a beat to a song but failing horribly at it.

I’m still stuck on whether or not this is connected to Jeff’s “problem” but I’m still in need of more evidence on this, haven’t heard of any kind of magic that would make such a strange light show with sounds. Even there a few firework spells that I know don’t even come close to being this spontaneous. I glanced at my hoof watching myself make those sounds, trying to hear the thunder in this pattern instead of my hoof taps.

I have a strong feeling that He IS connected to this, but can’t conclude anything unless he can remember anything to confirm this “gunfire” theory he described before the detectaphlin incident (yes, I am still calling it detectaphlin, Jeff).

I blinked at the page, wondering why I noted that, like as if the human would actually read this if he ever picked up this book. I shook my head before pressing on, putting thoughts on to the page.

Regardless, it is only a matter of time that would determine when he is ready to continue trying to work on his memory. I still feel horrible for pushing as much as I have before hoof, but I couldn’t help it, He is a friend in some serious need of help and I AM making it MY job to make sure this curse is broken and banished out of this world. Even as a bonus I track down the original spell and remove it from existence myself. I don’t normally say that being all things magic being my forte and all but I feel that this kind of magic should not be laying around for even me to look at. Can’t help but feel that even Princess Celestia would agree with me on this.

As I wrote, I felt that sensation in my chest again, which broke my concentration for the, what, fourth time now?

I sighed annoyed as I set the quill back into the inkwell before closing the book. I wish I could get another cup of that wonderful coffee Jeff made before. However, I did empty what was left of the pot into my mug when I got home.

I Telekinetically moved my notebook back onto the growing stack of notebooks on this case before something crossed my mind again. I shifted previously filled book of notes over to me with my magic to open it and reread my notes.

Nothing really interesting now, just out of date knowledge and the sketches I drew. Absently flipping through the pages, I still read on to make sure I have forgotten anything that I knew before. Which I didn’t of course but now, I kept looking at my sketches.

This book must have been filled during the days of when he had those stitches changed for the first time. I took a careful look at his body to make the details match on these pages. Mapping out the style, depth, and severity of the massive cuts and gashes before The doctor stitched them back closed.

I lingered on them, not sure why though. I was looking at these sketches of Jeff “shirtless” with these nasty looking cuts all over his torso. My hoof had long stopped the taping but now it was gently running over the images I drew.

“Poor guy, no pony should look this bad…” I heard myself admit aloud while I was admiring the detail I put into the images. I mean, I filled two pages with these sketches, to at least keep them organized. Nothing more annoying than trying to mark each reference image in any other book.

His body though, it’s very strange for all the species I have studied so far. Not sure why but this human fascinates me. His body, his face, it all Fascinates-I shook my head again, blinking the weird thoughts away.

“Ugh, I need a break…” I clapped the book shut before leaving it on my desk as I stood up. My body refused to move another step unless I stretched out the stiffness. I took another glance at the book one more time, fighting thoughts to look again, maybe I might have missed something or-

“AGH! He is just a human!” I snapped at myself before exiting my room, “Nothing too special about it, right?”

I walked into the kitchen, I didn’t really feel hungry but still hankered for something to nibble on out of thought.

“I mean, sure, he doesn’t have a coat like any other pony does nor possess any special features like a horn, a pair of wings or even a cutie mark for that matter.” Walking into the kitchen I let the door swing closed behind me while I started going through cupboards and cabinets, trying to find something quick to eat.

“He is, by all definition, totally naked.” I sure had a lot of things, neatly organized in the cupboards and such. Yet, not a single thing looks interesting.
“Aside from his clothes, his hair on his head and the hair on his-” I paused thinking about him, “-his chest…” I blinked again before shaking my attention back to finding an interesting consumable.
“I don’t see anything else that would be considered attractive to him, eesh, Rarity sounded like she would have tried to spend a date with him or to some other extreme.”

I found the fridge finally and started rummaging through it, one of the five apples stored inside sounded nice.“I mean, okay, sure, he does look okay for a male, but that’s about all I see.” I closed the door, I wandered over to the sink, looking out into the night while my thoughts wandered freely. The Apple hovered close to my head.
“He is charming, funny at times, a bit sarcastic, not to mention he tries to be considerate-” the apple bobbed faintly gesturing with my words, “-despite the fact he is the one that needs help more than anypony here.” I sighed out of confusion before taking a bite of the apple.

“I mean, the poor guy doesn’t even have a single person belonging to his name, aside from what town hall gave him but that’s it.” I shook my head at the thought of how little he did get from there. I think I owe Mayor Mare a visit when we get things settled.
“Yet, I don’t even know why I get these weird feelings everytime I see or think about the human…” I sighed annoyed, however, before I could take another bite of the apple, I paused to the sound of the apartment door opening, then steps of somepony inside; Then, two doors closing?

“Twilight, I’m back” I hear spikes voice coming from the other side of the kitchen door. Setting the apple on the island counter, I walked out of the kitchen,
“Welcome back Spike,” I greeted my friend and faithful assistant with a smile as he locked the door behind him.
“Say, Who else is here?” I had to ask because of two different doors closing drew my attention, of course, I could only wonder who else would be coming over at this hour. Unless it’s-

“Oh, I invited Jeff over for a bit since we both were heading back from the Apple’s place and all.” I could feel a tick twitch around my left eye.
“You don’t say…” Of all the times-

“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t mind since you were a bit concerned about him earlier today.”
“Yeah, yeah, concerned.” I cleared my throat nervously before speaking again, “say, where is he-” I then heard the faint sound of a toilet flushing before the rush of a sink faucet then the bathroom door opened.

“Ugh, Sorry about that,” There is the love of-I mean, the live Human in the flesh, oh boy...
“About?” I asked puzzled picking up the scent of the spring-scented spray coming from behind him.
“All organic meal, I failed to expect how fast it’ll run through…” He chuckled nervously before closing the door behind him.
“So, I’ve been hearing from spike you’ve made another visit to Zecora’s today.” He walked further into the living room.
“Huh, OH, yeah, yeah, I have been trying to get more information that could help with your-”
“Condition?”
“Yeah-”
“For the sake of anyone knowing about that, we should just call it a condition.” He shrugged.
Spike had gone in, then went out of his room having emptied his hands of whatever he took with him before hoof. He ventured into the kitchen for something which reminded me of something.
“Right, only we’ll know that it’s really a magical curse that is messing with your mind in such a strange fashion that no pony has yet to figure out yet.” I then clapped a hoof over my mouth with a gasp.
“Oh, I-” I looked over to the Jeff who only chuckled when I sputtered out those words without thinking or considering his feelings about it.
“Someone has been working too hard It sounds like.” He then absently glanced around the living room.
“Yeah…” I trailed off looking at the floor awkwardly. I’m not sure what else to talk to him about, unless.
“So.” We both said at the same time.
“Oh, you first.
“No, no, you.”
“Right, well, did you find anything else out from Her?” He asked.
“Well, she described the thunder to me but first-” I bit my lip gently before looking back to him.
“Can I ask you a big favor?” He looked at me with a cocked brow as he folded his arms.
“What would that be?”
“Can you make that wonderful coffee you made earlier today, pleeese?” I would think even Rarity would of facehoofed at how that whine slipped in. The human smiled before nodding at me.
“Oh, can those eyes get any bigger?” His humor made me realize something. Did I give him a cute face when I asked?!

“Uhhh, I guess?”
“Of course, I think I’m in for quite a conversation anyways, blush or no blush.” he turned to walk into the Kitchen. What did he mean by the-why does my face feel flush?

A pair of dark lavender eyes watched my every action from starting with the removal of the old coffee grounds to finishing the whole process with a flip of the switch on the strange cordless coffee maker.
When I turned I could have sworn that mare moved faster than an eye blink as she was already seated at the counter Island. Twilight has been acting odd since I got here, wonder what’s got her so bashfully jitter tonight?
“Obviously the trip back out was a lot easier for you this time around.”
“Yeah, you can say that it seems after Zecora fended off those wolves it’s been quiet since.”
“Jeff Helped with some of the Apple harvests.” Spike piped up from nowhere from behind the opened refrigerator door.
“You did? What about your stitches?” Twilight asked looking down at my chest, probably imagining the stitches Granny Smith removed earlier tonight.
“Oh, they were popping out but thankfully only made a small pool of blood on the shirt before-”
“They came out?! Oh no, I-I didn’t think that would-”
“Calm yourself girl, it was time for them to come out anyways so Granny voluntold me to take a seat and she removed them herself.”
“Really?” something must have crossed her mind as explained as if she was trying to picture that herself.
“Yup, of course, it was kinda weird eating dinner with no shirt on while my shirt was washed then dried.”
“O-oh, I don’t think there was any harm in being shirtless for a time-”
“What?”
“I mean, I think you should get a couple more shirts made so that doesn’t happen again.” I shrugged before glancing over to the coffee maker, It was dispensing slowly for I did fill the filter with a fair amount to make the taste of the coffee even and strong. It was a quarter full.
“True, but I think Rarity will be a few miles ahead of me on that.” I stood up and walked over to the cupboard that had all the mugs and cups inside to prep my cup, I think I should offer to get Twilight’s E.M.O.G. washed before the coffee is done.
“I mean, she had taken a strong interest in human clothing when she made these, probably won't be long when I get a surprise shipment of clothes from her,” I remembered how Rarity was so fascinated in how simplistic but stylish my first (and only so far) set of clothes turned out, aside from my coma clothes she made on the fly for me.
So, that would make I have only two sets of clothes, these and the nighties back at my crap shack. Speaking of which, wonder how I’m going to fix that place up if I’m going to be living in it for awhile.

“Rarity can be like that when she catches onto a new fashion trend,” Twilight admitted while I could feel her eyes on me as I filled my mug with a few cubes of sugar from the jar next to the coffee maker. The smell of fresh coffee was the best scent I had smelt all day. Well, aside from the faint sweet apple scent from Applejack’s coat when she crashed into me, the lavender odor from the bathroom before using it a bit ago; then this coffee scent. I couldn’t help but notice how much stronger it smelled, I think everything in this world is purely organic. I’m not too sure if I’m going to enjoy knowing that fact or not, but either way, It’ll be better than nothing at this point.

“So, it looks like Humanity is the next fashion trend folks, get ready to try to fit four legs into two-legged clothing.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sudden image of a pony fitting into a two-piece suit. I could hear Twilight laugh with me as I looked back at her. Out of all the girls so far, there had been something calming about Twilight, kinda like you can be comfortable in being yourself without worrying about anyone saying anything. Wait, What the fu-I shook the mental train loose before clearing my throat.
“Want me to read your massive mug for you?” I asked her, I caught her lost in a trance before she snapped out of it too.
“My massive what now?”
“Your E.M.O.G. Cadet Twilight.”
“Oh, yeah, yeah, please!” she was quick to levitated her huge mug over to me to which I took it out of her magic.
“Alright, looks like I’ll have to wash it first.”
“Sorry, didn’t think-”
“No worries Twilight, it’s just a simple rinse.” I turned to the sink to clean the cup.

I could hear Twilight tapping absently while I washed the mug; However, something weird hit me. I started to feel my right shoulder twitch. I ignored it thinking it was a muscle unwinding from using it today.
Yet, this twitching wasn’t stopping.
“There you go, let me dry this out and I’ll fill it with how much?” Twilight stopped tapping.
“Six sugar and if you are using creamer I’ll have some too.” My shoulder stopped twitching as I reached for one of the small towels that dangled close by the sink.

“You got it, man, Aren’t you worried about drinking with that much stuff in it?” I sat the massive mug down next to my puny looking one while I started adding the cubes to her mug. If a human was drinking this much coffee in a single sitting, it would be considered unhealthy, but for what about a unicorn pony?
“Not really, with the amount of coffee that has to go into that mug, it’ll balance itself out as well I’m used to drinking that much.”
“No wonder you are up late most nights…”
“Not entirely true Jeff, you see, When I get set on doing research over something, either it be putting together a new spell or following a new discovery, I pour over everything I can get my hooves on and I don’t stop till I feel I’ve done everything I could on the subject matter.” By now I noticed the pot was filling up to three-quarters full. I’m starting to wonder if making her coffee was such a good idea.
“So, let me guess, you’ve just barely started on-” I paused to catch myself from calling my self a project, “-your investigation on my curse?”
“Oh please, I’ve been working on cracking this case since I got word about you being released from the Hospital. From figuring out who or what you are to what has been affecting you so far.”
“Wow, you don’t miss a thing do you?”
“Nnnope!” she smiled proudly, “Especially when somepony like you is going through something really strange and it reeks with magic, you bet your bottom bit that I’ll be the first to break it down to the micro detail.”
“Right on, but I think someone needs to chill and take what we normals call a coffee break.” I looked back over again, pot’s full.
“HA, good one Jeff.” Spike grabbed what looked like a juice box before taking another seat at the counter.
“Speaking of which he broke one of the rules of the house over there.” Like a little kid reciting everything he saw, he had to bring up my cussing at the Apple’s place today.
“Spike!” I snapped a glare at him.
“Oh really, not like it’s hard to do there.” Twilight glanced to spike, “I mean, how many times did Rainbow Dash get thumped for letting a few dirty words fly around Granny Smith?”
“Well, She isn’t the only one that does now.” he pointed to me hat brown nosing, LIttle shit!
“Betcha she didn’t pop him as much as she did to Rainbow,” Spike smirked.
“Oh come on, I only know two languages, good English and bad English and I’m bad at good English!” I protested before turning to pour our cups of coffee.
“I’ve heard what you tend to say Jeff, so I’m not surprised.” she mused.
“So did I, but at least he tried to not just let’em fly unlike Sailor Rainbow while there or anywhere for that matter.”
“Eh, There were kids there too, so out of respect for the little ones I didn’t let a single fff-freaking word go around them.”
“Like almost right there?” Twilight pointed out quickly with a giggle.
“Yup!” Spike chuckled at me.

I paused after pouring my mug, mostly blinking at how I was just ganged up on by these two.

“Be lucky I’m still pouring your coffee missy.” I teased while pouring-no, emptying the rest of the pot into her mug. I think I should help her downgrade on the cups after tonight. I took a large spoon out of the silverware drawer to stir both cups. I didn’t decide to use creamer tonight so it was quicker to just mix the sugar in then hand the heavy mug over to her.

As I sat down, she took her mug in her magic with no real visible effort.

“Thank you.” She looked into her freshly made cup, she looked suddenly lost in thought for the moment before looking up at me.

“Jeff?”

“Yeah?” I took a tiny sip of my hot coffee.

“Uhm, I want to say sorry-”

“For what?”

“F-For before, I didn’t mean to push you as much as I did.” Her eyes looked like they were getting a little watery.

“I didn’t think you were at all, I mean, yeah it seemed a little soon to be venturing back into the Everfree, BUT, it was a for a good cause.”

“Even though it was you that suffered the most out that?”

I went quiet for the moment, she made a good point on that. She brought me all the way out there for me to be practically burned by the Yuckquill that Zecora made for me. I didn’t think it would be that bad but it did and It sucked on so many levels.
I looked up from my mug to Twilight again, noticed spike was looking between the both of us, obviously lost on what we were talking about; but she looked like she was about to cry from the experience.

“I mean, You did the brave thing and drank an experimental potion that, thank Celestia, worked but-” she set her cup down in front of her before propping her elbows on the countertop, burying her face in her hooves, “-You went through so much as is and, and-”
“Hey,” I reached over and placed a hand on her arm, “It’s okay Twilight,” She looked up first at my hand then up at me. Tears were building up in her eyes for sure.
“We both didn’t know it was going to burn like hell but it still showed what the curse looked like and that was enough for me.” she smiled lightly before looking back at her coffee.
“Yeah…”
“Besides-”
“Hm?”
“I’m still calling it yuckquil.” I smiled at her before a brief look of confusion appeared on her face before looking away with a face of trying not to break into laughter.
I returned my hand to my coffee mug as I sat back down, score one for me for preventing a breakage in the waterworks.

“Oh no, no, no, noo Jeff, We’ve discussed this before-” she paused to wipe her eyes with a quick sniff, “-I’ve already called it Detectaphlin before you said anything.”
“Oh bull, the only time I heard that was right before I took the first dose remember?”
“And this is the first time I heard it called Yuckquill.” Spike chimed in.
“SEE, Spike didn’t hear Yuckquil before now, so he knows it by Detectaphlin!” I don’t know why, but seeing her smile again sparked a warm spot in my chest. Ugh, snap out of it man!!
“Uh-huh, bet you really didn’t truly informed him about this debate either did ya?”
“Uhhhh, Not reaaaly?” Twilight nervously looked over to Spike for the moment
“Nope, she didn’t.” Spike shrugged with a smirk on his face again.
“See, he doesn’t even know what the hell we’re talking about!”
“But I like how Yuckquil sounds.”
“SPIIIIKE!”
“Thank you, another point for yuckquil.” I toasted to Spike before sipping the coffee.

“Ugh, When I get the patent cleared, it’ll be called Detectaphlin.”
“Who is going to take something that is hard to pronounce at times?”
“Well, A doctor will break it down for anypony that is being prescribed it.”
“Riiight, but they will be nervous as all heck to drink it.”
“So? Medicines can be intimidating to take at times.”
“True, BUT, I think when someone hears Yuckquil, they’ll be curious about what it is and taste like before knowing what it really does.”
“I wouldn’t mind trying it,” Spike raised an arm.
“Jeff, You are so going to be the bane of me on this…” Twilight facehoofed with a groan before drinking her coffee. Why did I almost mention something about being more than a bane to her?!
“So thaaats, how many?”
“Three…” Her ears flattened as she frowned but couldn’t keep a straight face either.
“Three people that like it being called Yuckquil so far.”
“But seriously, what does it do?” Spike asked as he threw away his empty drink into the trash bucket next to the fridge.

“Welll…” Twilight and me both paused to think on how to explain the whole thing to Spike.

The bitter taste of the argument between me and Whindy lingered in my mouth despite having to make myself focus on the task at hoof. Which was to track down and discover were this Jeff resides. The boss okayed the job and as usual, the twins Agate and Quartz joined up but my Whindy stayed back because she was still struggling with the issues of actually dealing with the human.

“You sure you’re going to be okay Jag?” Agate was one of the few to hear the two of us argue over the reality of their current mission which was to observe and deal with the human as seen fit.
“Yeah, i’m just, going to have to take a few days away from this after tonight, to at least patch things up with Whindy.”
“I hear ya,” Quartz and his sister were walking along my sides while we trotted towards the center of town.
“She can cut a stallion to bits with the number of curses she spat your way earlier tonight.”
“How do you do it?” They both asked me in unison.
“I’ve been with her for a few years now, and she is a headstrong Earth pony for sure. I’ve grown accustomed to the few rare times she explodes like that.”
“Rare?” Agate blinked.
“You mean she isn’t like that at all?” Quartz tilted his head in disbelief.
“Nope, she is normally reasonable whenever we reach a disagreement, just, that human has really changed things around the base camp since he appeared.”

I’ve gotten used to prowling at night as of late: the empty, dimly lit dirt streets with no pony to see us move about; Various houses rumbled with some activity of families or singles carrying out their nightly routines. Heck, I think I heard a different kind of rumbling from one of the houses on the way in If I recall that house belonged to a young couple that is on their way of making a happy life together.

Which of course, brought back the talk Whindy and I had before the argument broke out.

Settling down, having foals and starting a normal life outside of this paramilitary career. Honestly, I’m scared shitless at the idea of life outside the Guardians. I have explained what I’ve been through before meeting her and everything, yet, she still insists that after this human mission that we retire from this service life and settle down.

Thankfully she did agree to at least making this human mission our last to at least buy us more time to think and weigh the options as they come to bare.

“I know, I think you can start to pick up his scent almost everywhere now.” Agate squinted her face as we trekked on
“Buck sis, don’t remind me!”
“Ugh, can we just off the son of a bitch before he becomes a permanent member of this town?”
“If you both risk the chance of exposing your selves as killers instead of protectors then let’s hunt the bastard down,” I glanced between the two shooting down their hasty idea.
“Right, gotta play it right-” Quartz rolled his Sand colored eyes before spitting the subject to the ground.
“Otherwise we’ll be the ones facing murder charges in the day court!” Agate mockingly recited Kilo’s words from missions before. Which still made sense despite the ridiculousness of the subject at hoof.

Like any mission before, if we had to play it right to make it seem like we were the ones saving the day not just straight up slaying our target. Gotta cover our justified tracks somehow.

I let the glow of my horn fade away as the lamps were providing enough light as is. Even Luna’s moon added to the brightness of the night. I pondered where the human could be. Like the twins mentioned, tracking a human is easier than it is any other species because of well, the obvious hoof prints they leave behind.

When our conversation trailed off to silence, it was a natural sign that we were slowly changing gears to work mode.

“Kinda hard to know where he is if we can’t even find his tracks period,” Agate noted shaking her head.
“I know, his scent changed and it kinda got harder to decipher who is who tonight. Quartz’s horn glowed slightly again as he looked towards the ground. As if he was trying to find the trail the nasty human was leaving.

However, the day was dry so the roads and streets all over Ponyville were slightly dusty today. Which made pointing out his tracks. However, we managed to find our way in the center of town when the scent hit me like a falling wall of bricks.

It coming from the north-eastern part of town.

“Ugh, I think I found him.” I huffed through my nostrils, “This way and remember-” I lowered my voice, “-Do not engage, scout out, observe then leave.”

“Got it Jag.”
“Right.” the twins nodded quietly a glint of readiness appearing in their eyes.

“Keep up.” I led the way as I followed the trail towards the north-eastern part of town.

It took us a few good minutes as the gentle breeze made the scent fade in some places but I was able to keep a mental hold on it. Soon, it led us to the only functioning library in town,

“I know this place,” Agate, the loud-mouthed one was quieter as we walked up. My ears perked at the sound of conversation and laughter coming from the second-floor windows. I wasn’t fooled by the confusion, the scent was clear. One of the male-sounding voices was him.

The Golden Oak was a massive place indeed, I have only seen if a few times, only in passing. Now? It looked nothing more than a place that currently shelters the creature of the Everfree. My blood ran cold at the thought of the human being up there having a happy chit-chat with no other than the owner of the library and element bearer, Twilight Sparkle.

I had a feeling that the Mane Six were helping him, but now, I would consider them accomplices of extending his existence in our world. Our inside pony at the hospital had tried it make it hard for the human there, but that only made him outlive it and now here he is!

As I growled quietly I noticed the confused, grimacing looks on my squadmates faces.

“You got to be kidding me!” complained Quartz as we kept our distance from the place but we found some shrubbery to conceale us while we looked on and listened to the seeming pleasantries going on inside the apartment of the potential traitor.

“This is almost sickening…” Agate covered her mouth with a hoof, mimicking nausea, “And I thought she knew better!”

“Quit bitchin ladies.” Aside from their whining, I couldn’t hear what was being talked about up there. Would’ve guessed nothing special but I had to still double check if anything I got to see if the spell’s effects are still holding any kind of grip over him.

Despite what I said to them, The twins still quietly poked fun at the possibility that The library mare might be keeping him alive for “special” reasons. I examined the upper part of the Treehouse then spotted where I’ll be aiming for.

“Quiet you two and wait here,” I left the brush and headed for the opposite side of the Golden Oak, which there was a balcony deck built into the side of the tree. I had to get up there and this was the only way up. I knew I can do it and I wanted to do this alone for the fact that only I currently possess the ability to STAY QUIET!

“Jagged, what are you doing?” Quartz called out quietly.

“Headin’ up for a closer listen,” I replied over my shoulder, I wasn’t going to stop to explain.

“Got it, holding.”
“What?”
“He’s going to head up there to listen.”
“Ya mean-” their voices became muffled as I walked closer to the oak.

It was larger up close, which made me briefly wonder how anypony would have carved such a place out an oak tree? One would only wonder how hard it was to even chizled the dense wood for as far as I know: Oak was a pain to work with.

I kept a slow walk as I made my way around the house till the platform was right above me.

I glanced around the corner to see the twins have long hidden completely, thankfully…

I looked back up then visualized as much of the platform above me before concentrating. This was a risky move but it was a gamble to take for the sake of the mission. I charged up then teleported.

When I came out of it, I felt the wooden flooring of the deck as well felt every fiber in my being tense up as I froze in place to listen. I held still while I listen for any changes in terms of the noise indicating that I got their attention.

Thank the goddesses I didn’t. Easing up, time to work.

Quietly, I took a deep breath before stepping up to the door that led inside. It wasn’t locked, odd. Who would leave something like this unlocked with a risk of a winged or magic intruder to make their way inside? The years of hunting had come to bare as I had to stalk through the room. Making sure my hooves did not make so much as a quiet, gentle clip every time I had to step across the wooden floor.

The room that connected to the deck looked like a study of sorts, However, it looked cleaned and organized. Can make an assumption that this part of the house doesn’t see that much use, at least to what I can see. Yet, there was a desk here to one side of the room with some lounging chairs organized around a table in the room, some books sat on the table’s surface. Along the walls were a small variety of books organized on their shelves. I’m going to guess this is Twilight’s personal study. I guess she wasn’t that busy tonight.

I carefully made my way through the door that led into a short corridor that snaked abruptly into the living room. I gently slid the door till it rested faintly ajar to mark my exit. My ear’s twitched to the sound of noise coming from the other side of the living room.

Before moving into the living room, I glanced towards another set of stairs leading up. Probably that observation deck with the telescope sitting up there.

The living room, for the most part, was dimly lit as the wall lamps were not lit at all, the only light was coming from the kitchen. Thankfully, I didn’t need to light up my horn to see here for I didn’t want to run the risk of being caught now.

Stalking around the furniture, I found myself closing in on the door. Once I could gently peer through a crack in the door.

“But seriously, what does it do?” I hear one voice ask, belonging to the little dragon that ran into me the other day.

“Wellll…” The other two voices said together before the second voice began.

“You see, for the sake of the story, we’ll call it yuckquill.” I peered through the crack to see the back of the human sitting there as he spoke. Was Jeff his name? Not even a real name to my mind.
“Nuh-uh, We’ll use its proper name-” the third voice, I looked over to see it was Twilight as she drank from a massive looking coffee mug. Damn, got enough there?
“Before we start on that again, I think it’ll be easier for Spike to keep up while I explain it, otherwise we’ll lose'em somewhere between the name and the effects of the liquid spell.”
Twilight sighed, “Fine, explain away,”

I heard the human clear his throat, “So, Yuckquill, to save you the detailed explanation: is a spell, somehow, put into a physical form, or in this case, an awful tasting liquid.”
“Taken it sounds like it’s some sort of medicine, I’m not surprised.”
“Spike!”
“What, have you taken medicine before?”
“Yeah…” Twilight, from this distance, had a look of contemplation.
“So you know sometimes it tastes awful.”
“Not true!” she objected, “there a few flavors that mask it.”
“Well, Yuckquill tastes as it smells.”
“Not helping Jeff.”
“Which is why I believe him on it.” The mare rolled her eyes before drinking her coffee.

“So anyway, I’ve watched the whole process being done by the Witch Doctor Zecora-”
“Witch doctor?” Twilight furrowed her brows at him, “I don’t think that’ll be a good way to describe her.”
“At least she isn’t a magical Enchantress…”
“Good point Spike.”
“What?” I could see the human look between the two. That dragon wasn’t very observant as he was facing the human at that island counter. Nor should I expect anypony to look this way.

“Oh, during the first time we met Zecora, Pinkie Pie told me about the popularized assumption that she was some Magical Enchantress that did very strange things in her hut outside of town.”
“Well, they weren’t half wrong, but she never uses magic, just, alchemy.” He shrugged.

“So, I-We, watched this crap being brewed up and with not even a chance to really think about it, the Zebra hands me a sample cup of the greenish goop.”
“Yeah, she doesn’t really explain herself sometimes, but she does after one takes one of her concoctions, but, she explains to me what she is doing, just, not this time apparently.”
“For she probably knew that if she did, I wouldn’t try it.”
“Ehh, more than likely, yes.”

“Great, but either way, what the stuff really does is reveal what kind of magical affliction you got and in this case, It worked, way too well.” he paused as he looked down at something before taking a drink of something. The smell of coffee in the air indicated that he too was drinking it too. I noted his scent was all over the place, but I kept it out of mind despite the fact that it was starting to give me a headache.

“So, how does it show up?” Spike asked with a questioning tilt of his head.
“LIke putting a black light on a long gone blood stain, It illuminates every detail while it supposed to be a warming sensation instead burned like hellfire.”
My goddess, I have never heard of such a creation before, let alone know what it would do, so this human took this experimental drink and almost burned from the inside out of it?
“I don’t know hell, but the fire part makes sense,” Spike pointed out, “ouch.”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t enough to-to,” Twilight hesitated with her words, “-kill him, just, burn brightly through him.”
“Yup, my skin matched a deep sea fish, translucent skin.”
“Whoa…” The little dragon’s eyes widened, “what did you see?”
“Every inch of his body, from what we could see without uhm taking too much off, was covered in layers of strange runes or characters that would seem to be etched into his entire being.”

SHIT, they see what the curse looks like? Impossible!

“Huh, explains why it burned so much, that must have been a ton of magic to put into one pony or human.”
“Still though, the markings were nothing I’ve seen before, I just wish I had an easy source to refer to in order to figure out what they are or mean.”
“That should be easy, just do it again then use a dispel on it while exposed.”
“Oh right, and feel like I’m drowning in lava while it’s being removed, no thank you.” Twilight and the human chuckled.

Oh, I don’t think so little dragon, it isn’t that easy as you think.

“Spike, you know this, like being poisoned by an unknown venom, you gotta discover what it is and how it got there before you try to remove or cure it.”

Smart girl, but I still damn you, you didn’t do what anypony would’ve done and just try to use a dispel spell to try to remove it. That curse was designed to react differently to that.

“However, I’ve been pouring through everything I got and still nothing yet.”
“Yup, I seriously doubt it’ll be that easy to just turn a page in some book and be like: “oh look, there it is, this is what it is, time to remove it!”
“Not funny Jeff, there is more to it than just pointing it out in some book.”
“But you know what I mean right?”
“Yup…”

The room fell silent for a moment or so as the two adults drank their coffee in thought. The creation of a liquid detect spell is something to note but the fact that she is working on to remove the spell is not a pleasant discovery. Unfortunately, it would make her a threat to our cause, I just hope she doesn’t get marked.

“Speaking of which, did you find anything new about my ‘case’?” The human asked at last. This is what I was waiting for!

“Actually yes, since we brought it up.” she took another drink of her coffee before setting the mug down.
“Apparently, I can add to what you described as ‘gunfire’ when she brought it up before the detecaphlin experiment.”
So is it called Detecaphlin or yuckquil? Detecaphlin sounds more official than the absurdity that is yuckquil. Either way, I’ll ponder on this later.

“Yuckquil,” The human corrected, “But yes, she did describe it as strange thunder, the way she put it made it sound like it was gunfire.”
“I think I can clear that up a bit more.”
“How?”
“Well, she did describe it as speractic thunder in various beats as well there was lightning that blinked with almost every sound of thunder.”
“Huh, sounded like she had to of seen a firefight break out in the Everfree.”
NO BUCKING WAY! There was witness to that? This is bad, very bad.

“Yeah, she even showed me the ‘pattern’ of the sounds with a series of taps.”
“Really?”

Crapcrapcrap, If all the ponies, Zecora had to see what happened there.

“Yup, the first set sounded like this-” Twilight tapped three times in quick succession, that very much resembles that strange weapon he had. What the-I noticed something about the human as she repeated the taps a few times.

Barely noticeable, the human’s right shoulder twitched. What in the Moon was that?

“Hmm,” the human seemed to of paid no mind to it before the final set made the twitching more noticeable.
“Uhh, you okay Jeff?” Spike was second to notice with me being the first.
“Yeah, it’s nothing.”
“Hm, Anyways, she showed me a second pattern that went like-”

I held my breath for that very much matched our weapons too, buck, we need to deal with Zecora for this! Another Traitor to add to the list. I heard a fourth ta-tap before seeing the human suddenly drop to the ground as if ducking low from something.

“Whoa!” Spike and Twilight jumped as I have, but thankfully I didn’t make that much noise in comparison to the chair being tipped over from the human’s spontaneous reaction. Watching him, I noticed he held his hands in a way as if he was holding something.

Does he remember? Could this be a flaw in the spell? Damn it all!

“Uhh, Jeff?” Twilight stopped her tapping as she watched him slowly stand up. He didn’t reply at first if at all.
“You okay? Looked like something was thrown at you.” he didn’t respond. What in Tartarus is going on? I watched him carefully as he then turned as if he planted his back up against something. I froze when I noticed he was looking towards the door, but I eased up again as I saw that look in his eye.

The same look a warrior gets after being in so many battles and suddenly lost in memory. Those eyes looked like they were gripped by the battle madness, a few members of the Guardians were former Guard who have seen some action, they too bore the same look at times. Only in this human’s case, they were partially clouded over, as if a mist had settled in his vision.

He looked around the countertop before raising what looked like an air weapon before briefly lowering it, he looked back forward before looking back around again. As if he was looking for an invisible enemy.

“Jeff?”
Spike repeated the ta-tap that caused the human to flinch as if something hit his ‘cover’ very close to him. Was he remembering the moment?
“Spike stop! That is not helping-” she then looked at the human, “-unless…” she watched carefully too as Spike, taking no regard of his friend. He continued and did the quick taps right as the human raised his ‘weapon’ again. As spike tapped, this time, the flinching looked like the ‘weapon’ was kicking his shoulder.

“Jeff, snap out of it!” Twilight called out to him. It looked like Spike was putting sound effects to his reactions, sometimes he was slow to add them. He switched the air weapon between his hands then scooted to his right a little before leaning around. Twilight quickly got out of her chair to move out of the way as she watched him flinch in silence while spike tried to keep up with the taps.

A few times he switched between the two patterns to indicate what was him and what his ‘enemy’ or ‘enemies’ as there were quite a few times he had to duck low or lean back as if something was ripping right by him or around him.

Impressive, it was as if, this human was suffering a flashback of some kind. I’ve seen ponies have flashbacks but nothing of this extreme.

The human broke ‘cover’ and moved forward, stumbling over the chair but kept his ‘weapon’ leveled. He then moved as if moving behind something else, this time Spike, long stopped tapping now, had moved out of his chair and away from the human as he hid behind the new ‘cover’.

“Jeff, you are freaking me out, you need to snap out of it!” Spike spoke too but to no avail. The human leaned out and, and, ‘fired’ his weapon a few times while dropping to one knee to continue his attack.
“JEFF!” Twilight called out, fear appearing on her face as he scooted to his right, switched hands, then leaned back out to ‘fire’ again. This time something else happened, he recoiled violently twisting around with a stumble before dropping low to ‘unbuckle’ something across his chest before shaking whatever it was off. That caused Twilight to gasp in growing horror as the human thrashed about.

He must have dropped his weapon for he looked over to what ‘hit’ him, then slipped his right hand over something, pulled it out then held something in both hands in a strange fashion before both hands jerked in response to a different kind of weapon being ‘fired’. The smaller weapon!

He ‘fired’ three times before pausing to look then tucked his hands to his chest in a strange fashion before switching hands and turned around. He jumped then quickly raised up and ‘fired’ three times before taking a knee to put the second weapon away and ‘picked up’ the first weapon.

This was incredible, he was remembering the whole fight to the tee, or, at least that what it looked like. Back against his ‘cover’ again, He held his hand sideways while moving his finger in a weird fashion while grabbing something from his chest again before putting something into his ‘weapon’ tapped on the invisible object then tapped what must of been the side of the weapon before leaning out of ‘cover’ to look for more enemies.

He took a step forward towards the sink with air weapon raised before kneeling down to pick something up, but he quickly spun around to aim at something before Twilight had rushed over to him, screaming:

As I watch him suddenly stop before stumbling forward, Twilight catching him, he suddenly gasped loudly as if he was underwater or coming out of a very bad nightmare; he blinked looking at Twilight’s worried face.

I’ve seen enough, time to leave, I took the sudden chaos to backtrack through the apartment and back out the way I came.

As I came back to reality, I was looking at Twilight, she looked very scared about something. My brain started to collect what was going on, I was hyperventilating very bad as I braced myself on her shoulders before slowly sitting down. I started to work on regaining my breath while both Twilight and Spike came up to my sides.

“Wh-what-” I blinked the foggy images of that firefight out of my mind, “What the fuck-was that?!” I looked between the two of them. Both looked at each other before looking back at me.

“Jeff, are you going to be okay?” Twilight she touched my suddenly sore shoulder, It felt like I’ve been firing my rifle for a while. I cringed a little bit before she quickly pulled back her hoof.
“Sorrysorry, Jeff.” I groggily looked from the floor then back up at her. She too was calming down but she was shaken by what she watched.

“I don’t even know what to say or where to begin.”
“Jeff, what the hay happened out there?” Spike’s wide eyes from me to around the room as if he was trying to spot what I was shooting at.

“It, It was fuckin’ weird man,” I started to feel my lungs slow down as I started to collect my composer.
“One minute I was hearing you tapping on the counter, the next...I was-”
“Was what?” Twilight stood back as I slowly got up to my feet.
“Let’s sit him down.” Spike walked over to hold open the kitchen door. I took a step I stumbled from how my body creaked with soreness from whatever the hell that was.
“Right, Jeff, you need help?”
“No, no, I got this.” I just had to move slowly, which I had too for walking was a very wobbly task to take.

My head felt like a bucket of water, sloshing around every time I took a step. I took a pause on the threshold that separated the kitchen and living room. I didn’t realize how dark it was after the sun went down. I tried to take another step but there was suddenly no motor function to my right leg as I almost fell before I felt the faint warmth of magic around the back of the neck cuff of my shirt.
“I gotcha, Jeff, Let me help you at least sit.” Twilight’s horn was glowing as she walked up beside me. I felt the magic shift from the back of my shirt to the front of my shirt as if she was holding me up.
I felt my leg twitch with life for the moment as I used it to walk over towards the first chair I see in the dark living room.

“Spike, get the lights!”
“Got it!” he rushed by us, he faintly vanished into the dark and stopped at a side of a wall before the lights slowly brightened up the living room. My sore eyes squinted at the light but I was able to see still. I helped myself into the chair as Twilight’s magic faded as she stood beside the chair.

“Jeff, I don’t know what you had planned after this, but I don’t think you should be going anywhere.”
“Oh, you don’t say?” I placed a hand on my forehead as I leaned into the chair, unlike the stool in the kitchen, this was a large-sized lazy boy without the reclining feature. Boy, my head feels warm to the touch, I didn’t like the fact that I was practically knocked flat by that flashback.
“What gave you that idea?”
“Okay Smartypants, I doubt you are in a position to speak in sarcasm at the moment.” Where did this Twilight come from?
“I seriously doubt you’ll be able to make it back like this, I should somehow get you to the hospital but-”
“Don’t even think that. I saw that place, there is no ER there at all.”
“A what? Nevermind, Jeff are you going to be okay while I talk to spike-”
“He’s got the couch if he’s stayin’.” Spike walked by us towards the kitchen.
“Nevermind, Looks like you are two to one on this.”

“Fuuuu-” I felt my head throb, it was like as if my body was catching up to what just happened. Speaking of which I remembered the Pills I kept in my coat.
“Tw-Twilight.”
“Yeah?” she was about to head towards her bedroom before pausing to look back at me.
“I need my coat, my pills are in there.”
“Spike!” She called out
“Yeah?” he poked his head out of the doorway.
“Grab his coat, his medicine is in one of the pockets.”

“Right, one second.” it sounded like he disappeared for I couldn’t look over to see. I didn’t want to fight my body to move just yet. If there was anything to do, was just wait till something was done about my sleeping arrangements as I was apparently being told to stay.
Which made sense with whatever intelligence that sparked across my mind for without an ER close by, the next best thing was to keep me here so they could keep an eye on me.

I sat there, feeling the softness of the chair while I could hear movement from two different directions. The closest was Spike as he shoved his way through the kitchen door.

“Got it,” he walked over to the chair to pass my coat to me, I could hear the muffled rattle of the bottle, “Here you go.”
“Thanks, man, uhh think you can get me water too?” I fished the bottle out of the top left breast pocket. It rattled in my hand.
“Sure, hold on.” He turned back towards the kitchen.
“I ain’t goin’ nowhere, so, okay.” I started to press down on the lid to twist it open.
“Exactly.” I rolled my head to my left to see Twilight come back into view, she had a bundle of bedding that comprised of a blanket and pillow.
“At least you are now agreeing with me, I’m sorry for being so quick to say so too.”
“Does it look like I’m in a position to argue?” I had watched her set the bedding down as the cap came off with some effort. I dumped two huge pills into my hand before putting the cap back onto the bottle.

“No, but still, I realized that I didn’t give you a chance to say anything if you-”
“Twilight,” I smiled at her despite the growing pain throughout my body, “It’s okay, I understand where you are coming from about this, you want to make sure I don’t have a seizure or something after something like that happening.”

“Exactly, sooo-”
“Soo, I’m okay with staying for the night, I just don’t know how I’m going to repay you for this.” I noticed I was speaking normally now but my voice sounded rough at the moment, as if dry, yeah, simply dry, where the hell is that water?
“Ehhh, let’s talk about that in the morning.” She looked passed me as I could hear the door open again.
I looked over to see Spike walking back up beside the chair with a pony glass of water,
“Here,” My hand felt like lead as I raised up to grab the cup from him. As we both saw the glass slightly wobble in my hand.
“Whoa, got it?” I then saw magic appear around the glass.
“Got it.” Twilight smirked as she held the glass
“Th-thanks?” I glanced over before taking the glass in both hands as the magic let off and before setting it down between my legs to pop the pills then hoisted the glass with more effort to chase the pills down with cold water.
“There, that’ll help with the pain at least.”I drained the glass completely as the water was what I desperately needed. I handed the glass back to a surprised spike before walking back to the kitchen.
“Right…” She glanced over to the couch for a moment before looking back at me.
“So, If you can, help me over there.” I stuffed the bottle back into my coat before pressing my hands into the arms of the chair before bracing to make the attempt to stand.
Twilight’s ears perked, “uhm, Okay.” She stepped over to me, Her horn shimmered with magic as I used my weak arms to push me up with maximum effort before Twilight helped me the rest of the way with her magic, sometimes magic has its logical usages I guess. I found the seat as she stood next to me, she levitated the pillow till she placed on the other side of the couch.

I simply sat there for a moment, trying to let my body recover again to let me rebuild the willpower to lean down to take off my boots. She was standing closer than I previously pictured.
She still looked worried as she looked me over again.
“You are going to be okay, right?”

“Oh yeah, I’ll be fine, just need to rest or in this case, sleep it off.” I looked at the pillow and how welcoming the thought of putting my head on it was. Okay, before that could ever happen, need to get at least somewhat comfortable. Starting with the boots.

As I struggled to pull them off, I could only think of one thing.

I’m starting to hate my curse and all I want to do is strangle the bastard that put it on me!

Author's Notes:

And as we make our ascent folks, we learn more and more of about one thing:

There is strange magic here!