Dear Princess Celestia,

My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week: Never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary. But you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don't care what your "cover" is; it's the contents of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Twlight released her magic's hold on the letter and let it drop down as she covered her face with her hooves. She had been lying on her bed for an hour now, reading the same report over and over.

She felt certain she held the not-so-coveted number one rank of the greatest hypocrites to ever wield a quill top ten.

When she woke up this morning she set off on tackling the routines that involve keeping a library running on tip-top shape. Cleaning, stacking, organizing. Cleaning -though necessary- wasn't really up high or even mid-place of her checklist of fun activities but, oh boy, stacking and organizing were enjoying the view from their seat on-high.

To multiply the factor of enjoyment she was getting out of the experience she had decided to tackle her own personal items and correspondence after being done with the main library space. That meant, among a multitude of other things, that she had to gather and stack in the proper order all of the reports that Princess Celestia had sent back to her to help her fight off Discord's spell.

Every scroll was unwrapped, given a cursory glance to its contents and put in its proper order according to date sent. However...

When she got to this one she stalled. She smiled at the memory of the poison joke's effects. Enough time had passed that her brain glossed over how truly horrible it was and found some humor in it. Crude vulgarity of a floppy horn aside, the effects it caused on her friends were pretty hilarious, especially the fluffy Rarity.

But the letter's message stuck in her mind. It made her feel strange. Like she was... unappreciative?

Cruel.

Guilty!

And with all the pleasantness expected of an infested wound spreading open, memories and thoughts she had kept locked aside erupted to the front.

...a glistening red drop swell more and more till gravity won over and it splashed in the almost full bucket...

Twilight groaned and pressed her hooves tighter against her eyes. Did she really write that friendship report to the Princess? What was she thinking?

..."This is sick. I can't believe you can just... just..." her throat was sore from screaming. She kept backing away from him, away from that grizzly... thing. "Stay away from me! Stay away you MONSTER!"

Raegdan....

How long had it been now? She had stayed in Ponyville for about a year so that meant at least two years since then. All that time and no letters, no attempts to talk, not from Raegdan, Spike or Princess Celestia. She wondered about that, how none of them tried to bring it up before it made sense to her.

He always complied by her requests. If he believed she hated him and wanted him to remain unseen and unheard, he would do so. And force everypony else to it too.

She had been back to Canterlot a few times since she relocated to Ponyville. Most particularly when she and the girls attended the Grand Galloping Galla. She saw no sign of him and nopony spoke about him. It was like he was never there, as if he didn't ever exist.

Was this really the kind of mare she had become? She didn't even spare a second to ask about him. She just... let everything fade, all the times together, all the help and support. Because she never understood the lesson she had the gall to write about all those months away until today.

Well no more, she resolved. She looked around. Spike was still out shopping. She got hold of ink and paper and brought them before her. She was finally going to write the letter she should have written long ago and as soon as Spike got back he would send it.

Twilight Sparkle broke this. Twilight Sparkle was going to fix it.

'Twilight Sparkle couldn't fix a one breaded sandwich cause she is too dumb and cowardly,' the purple unicorn fumed inwardly while pacing back and forth in front of a napping baby dragon. She stopped, checked Spike for any signals of an incoming magic hiccup and then went back to making a liar out of her floor's wood varnish.

She had a beautifully worded letter in mind! A letter that would explain her reasons, communicate her fears, get her her grief across and petition for forgiveness. And then she touched her quill to parchment and it all went poof!

Unable to actually write a letter meant for her actual target without getting jitters even on her magical grip, she instead opted for a more common solution. Stripped to its basic essence it went like this:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I bucked up. I want to tell Raegdan I am sorry for everything but I am afraid writing to him will not work. What do?

Your dumdum student,

Twilight Sparkle

She sent the letter three hours ago and there was no answer yet. Of course, it was morally reprehensible to expect Princess Celestia to drop everything to answer back immediately but still... this was important.

She was considering the merits of writing a more eloquent version of the letter, one that reiterated the importance of a swift answer to her crushed self-esteem, when she saw Spike stir.

She was on top of him -slightly positioned to the left though, magic dragonfire is still fire- and excitingly watched Spike switch sides and keep on snoring.

Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, da...

Her pacing was interrupted when she heard the library door crash open and a voice call out from downstairs. "Hey Twilight! Are you here?" she recognized Rainbow Dash's voice.

She hesitated for a moment. She really wanted to get this whole thing sorted out but until she got an answer back from the Princess there wasn't much else to do. Maybe a small distraction would be good right now. Her nerves already felt like strings that had been wound up too far.

"I'm here Rainbow," she called back as she climbed down the stairs. "What's the occasion?" When she reached the bottom, she noticed that Rainbow was not alone. Rarity and Applejack had also come in and all of them had started making themselves comfortable at seats placed around the reading tables.

"Hey sugarcube. We were all gonna head out for lunch together and thought ya might wanna come with." Applejack had taken off her stetson and fanning herself as she spoke.

"Indeed." Rarity added immediately. "It is a lovely day, though a mite too hot for my liking, and it would be a crime to let it go to waste."

Twilight was appreciative of their invite, really and honestly touched by their unthinking effort to include her in their daily plans, but she had to shoot it down. She gave a short glance behind her at the stairwell she just came down from. "I am sorry girls, but I will have to pass. I'm in the middle of something-"

She was interrupted mid sentence by Rainbow's raspberry. "Pffft. You are always in the middle of something. Come on Twilight, it's just lunch, what will taking an hour off to eat cost you?"

Before Twilight could articulate a dishonest answer she was caught off guard by a loud yawn coming from behind her. Spike walked by her side, his hands scratching his sides as he fought over his drowsiness. "The letter's here Twilight. I'm telling you, this one almost came up wrong. Is it possible to have the letters send some kind of warning before coming through?" Spike was holding one of his nostrils closed and rubbing it as he raised the envelope up.

"I'm pretty sure that would only make you sneeze twice." Her eyes glued themselves to the envelope, her mind striving to come up with an excuse to empty the library from her guests.

Rainbow Dash's eyebrows lifted up. "A letter? Is that what you were gonna blow us off for Twilight?"

Spike, the horrible assistant that piped out mission critical info before she even had a chance to decide if she wanted it shared, answered Rainbow Dash. "Yeah. Twilight sent a letter back home earlier today. That's the response."

"Home?" Rarity inquired.

"Canterlot Castle."

"Oh yes." Rarity waved with her hoof in a dismissive motion. "I know that you and Twilight were raised at the Castle but the outstanding fact of it does tend to boggle and escape the mind."

Twilight was feeling her nonexistent patience running thin and she had trouble coming up with an excuse that wouldn't be rude or involve involuntary blind teleportations. "Spike, if you could read me the letter now, please?"

"Sheesh, alright, I will." He unraveled the parchment and yawned before starting to read. "Dear Twilight Sparkle. That's you. Ok, sorry, no joking, I get it. Dear Twilight Sparkle. I am very pleas- hey, give a guy a chance."

Twilight was too much in the grip of a self-made panic to listen to Spike. She held the letter in front of her and went through it as fast as possible.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I am very pleased to finally receive this particular letter from you. I have always been firm in my trust of your character that you would not forsake one of the longest lasting companions you have had in your life for any time longer than what you needed as a mature mare to fully accept his, truly somewhat large, differences from what is thought of as the norm.

That being said, I wish this response would have come sooner. Raegdan had not been what I would term alright since your confrontation. But you know him as well as I do, my student, and he would accept no attempt to reconcile the two of you that did not come straight from your own heart. He claimed it was "a minor thing. Give her a week or two and everything will be fine," to quote him.

Twilight, I want you to know there is no blame to be given here to anyone apart from his own bone-headed refusal to be the one restoring your friendship. His set his expectations too high on you when you did not have the life experience to deal with this. When the weeks turned to months he tried to

I am afraid I have to be blunt about this Twilight and I will once again repeat that no fault for any of this lies on anyone else but him and me for going along with this.

In the end, the only thing that stopped him from gravely harming himself was his fear you would blame yourself.

Twilight, I know this surely upsets you but I assure you it doesn't have to. Yes, he had become very depressed and suicidal at times. But I am heartened to inform you that he is much better now. Raegdan has found a new friend and purpose. One that came into his life by your own direct actions. So worry not, Twilight. Even unknowingly you helped him in his time of need. He misses you terribly, I can tell, but has found new resolve to wait for you.

It is a resolve that I am glad is no longer needed. Your fears are unfounded, Twilight. Raegdan never held the slightest disgruntlement against you. He wants nothing more that to have you and Spike back. He never stopped loving his little ones.

Here is my recommendation that you asked for, my favorite student. Invite your friends to come with you both and stay in the castle for a few days. Raegdan will want to meet those special ponies in your life and I would like to know them more closely.

In fact, the Royal Guard is having a Tournament for a new position in my Solar Guard and it would be lovely for all of us to be together at it like old times. Spectating the Tournament like we used to do will surely help wipe out any misgivings and repressed thoughts and allow us all to remember and choose the good times we shared over the discontent of today.

Waiting to see you next at home,

Princess Celestia

"Twilight? Oh, my Celestia, Twilight are you ok?" Twilight blinked though her tears. She tried to focus on the upset Rarity that was talking to her but it was hard to make her eyes move away from those words she kept reading.

She let the letter drop, no longer able to focus her magic enough to hold onto it. Through her hazy vision she saw Applejack come to her side and put her hoof around her shoulders. "Why 're ya crying sugarcube? Is... something wrong back home? Did something happen to your folk?".

Twilight tried to speak but she was choked by more sobs and cries coming up her throat. She shook her head, unable to speak, until she finally couldn't hold on the slightest semblance of control and threw herself against Applejack, her crying drowned against her coat.

Applejack held onto her, whispering soothing nothings at her ear, trying to calm her down. She felt another hoof rest on her back and, hesitantly at first, start stroking her. She couldn't see her, her eyes buried in Applejack's shoulder as they were, but she felt certain that was Rainbow Dash.

Terrible thoughts were parading across her mind's eye; scenes where the Princess walked into a room -too late to make a difference- to find bloody marks scattered around the floor or a pair of balcony doors spread wide open with no occupant in sight... she pictured a body dangling from a rope, its eyes cloudy and devoid of warmth staring right back at her.

She wailed and gripped Applejack with all the strength her forelegs had, desperately trying to hold her as a shield against these nightmarish images. "Months", wrote the Princess. She would have still been in Canterlot by the time he tried to, to do something to himself. She was right there and she didn't know and she caused it.

Apart from her bawling and whimpering nopony else in the library dared move or talk for a while. It was what she needed, she felt. If anypony tried to push her back into coherence of thought she would break down all over again. She left herself slowly quiet down, relieving the sudden ache that had bloated in her heart with her body crashing moans.

At some point she had obviously shimmered down enough -though nowhere near calm- for Rarity to attempt to talk to the other member of the library household.

"Spike, do you have any idea what happened?"

"No, but let me read that. If something happened to Raegdan..."

"Who?" Rarity did not seem to get her answer.

A few minutes passed in which Twilight had mostly exhausted her heavier sobbing. She shifted her face from Applejack's reassuring embrace and saw sweet little Spike standing next to her along with Rarity. "Twilight, it's ok. The Princess says he is fine and he wants to see us. It's ok, Twilight, please don't cry." Her adored assistant's eyes were humid, ready to start flowing like hers were.

Twilight let go of her friends and turned to face the scaled dragon she called her assistant and in truth was much more. "Oh Spike. It's not ok. If Princess Celestia says it's that bad you know it must have been much worse in reality. I hurt him, Spike. Raegdan could be dead and it would be my fault.", her voice cracked.

Spike stomped his foot on the wooden floor. "No, it wouldn't be your fault. Princess Celestia wrote so and she always knows what she is talking about. And it doesn't matter now. We are going back and we will see them both." His face was more resolute than it had ever been.

Rainbow standing at their side questioningly raised her hoof. "Uhh, sorry to interrupt, but what IS going on?"

Twilight made a few false attempts at explaining the situation before Spike spoke. "Just read the letter. You guys will get it easier then."

There was silence for a few minutes as the two mares stood next to Rarity who was already devouring the letter's contents as soon as permission was given. Applejack was the last to move away from her, giving her a small pat and a assuring smile. When all three were done it was Rainbow who spoke up again.

"Ok, it... it sounded pretty bad for a minute there but the Princess says this guy is cool again. Although," she hesitated a bit, plainly afraid she would set off her friend again "who is this Raegdan, Twilight?".

Twilight stared at the floor trying dredge up a short answer that would explain everything about what Raegdan was adequately. Spike unhesitatingly brought it down to the simplest terms possible.

"He is our dad."

"Spike, he is not our dad. We got no actual relation to him and it is disrespectful to call him that," Twilight told him crossly, her voice still hoarse.

"Really?" Spike challenged her. "Because I remember a certain lavender unicorn that called him that a lot of times."

"I was just a little filly then."

"Until two years ago? You really grew up fast then."

Twilight could actually feel the blood rushing up her face and making camp for an extended stay as she glanced towards their audience. "In fact, "Spike tapped his claw against his chin "I distinctly remember you calling the Princess 'mom'."

And there was the straw that would break her own back. "Spike," she hissed, "I swear, that is enough. If you do not stop right now..."

But the baby dragon had embarked on a journey fueled by the steam of feelings and thoughts that had been repressed for too long and wouldn't stop with a mere threat when under the protection of a watching crowd. "And how is that even disrespectful to either of them? They ate it up every single time either of us called them mom and dad. Well, they did 'till you got the whole 'decorum' nonsense into your head..."

"Spike, I said, enough."

"...and then you and dad," dragons were supposed to breath fire, not caustic vitriol as Spike was currently doing, "had a fight and never told anyone what the hay it was about, we never saw him again..."

"Stop!" she shouted to no avail.

"...and would you look at that? After all the stuff he has gone through for us and all we put him through, after just dropping him for no good reason..."

"I had a reason!" She roared. She had a flash of red dripping in her mind and felt more tears stinging her eyes. What had gotten into Spike? He was supposed to be helping her, not accusing her, not blaming her.

"If it was a good reason then you would have told us!" He shouted back. "You want to make it up to him Twilight? How are you going to do that? Just go up to him and say "I'm sorry mr. Raegdan"? Is this what you were thinking to do? Cause if you did, you might just as well use your horn to stab him right in his chest!"

Spike was taking deep breaths after his furious rant, tears making their way down his eyes. Twilight just stood still, waiting, looking at him, her own face covered with tears that were flowing free again.

"Are you done?" She asked almost whispering.

"Yes. I am done."

She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. This, this was her problem. Spike was right. She wanted to apologize to Raegdan but had she truly gotten over her issues or was this just a token effort to show herself she had learned something when she had only memorized the words behind the lesson and not the meaning?

She rushed forwards to embrace Spike in a hug. "I'm sorry. You are right. He has done his best to be like a dad to us. And it is right to show him our appreciation for everything by calling him dad. On occasion."

"It's not fair." He mumbled from his position against her chest. "I miss him and he won't answer any of my letters."

She never realized Spike was trying to keep in contact. Hay, she never even thought about it. One more blame to lay against her. She had forbidden Raegdan from making contact with either of them without considering Spike's feelings or wants in the matter. Spike, who unlike her, only had one single person in the world that would gladly accept the word "dad" from him. "I'm sorry Spike. I... I should have handled things better."

"It's not your fault." He sniffed, "The Princess is right. He could have answered me back anytime. He is just... sulking or something. I don't know."

She didn't concede to this. Spike didn't deserve to be abandoned because of her. "We'll fix everything Spike. You'll see."

"Everything?" He tightened his hold against her, little claws stinging her skin, desperate for any reassurance.

"Yes."

They stayed like this for a while. The lavender unicorn and the glossy scaled, purple dragon holding onto each other, giving and taking strength and hope from each other's close presence. Twilight indulged in the close contact, feeling Spike's waves of heat that seemed to follow his heartbeat. It was the calmness she needed right then.

Figures that the little drake would ruin the moment for her.

"What about Princess Celestia?"

She pushed him off. "Spike, I am not going to start calling the Princess 'mom'. It isn't right."

"Well, right or wrong she always liked it." He took a sit on a stool, wiping his eyes to dry them. "Just something to think about."

She huffed but smiled nonetheless. Maybe it was something to think about. Later. Much, much later. Right now she had other things on her mind so she turned around and...

Oh.

Right. Her friends were standing just over there.

"Soooo," Applejack drawled, "any chance we get a proper version of all that?"

They had moved into her kitchen, sitting around the table, everyone close to each other. Spike was on her left and Applejack occupied the seat on her right, her foreleg on Twilight's shoulder. She almost felt the earth pony's strength and resolve flowing inside her from this simple gesture. At the kitchen counter, Rarity was fussing with the tea supplies, choosing and blending tea varieties while waiting for the water to boil.

She had little time before she would have to talk. Her friends were worried after witnessing her breakdown and she couldn't leave them in the dark about this. At the same time she didn't want to voice certain things.

Take it from the start Twilight, a voice spoke in her mind, and you might be able to avoid saying things you don't want to.

This could work. If she played her cards right she might not have to share the reason that created the rift between her and Raegdan. In retrospect it wasn't one of her brightest moments. She had been driven by suspicions, conjecture and her own lack of knowledge. The girls might even not attempt to ask if they realized how sensitive that topic was for her, which she was certain they would.

Rarity brought the tea cups in front of them and took her own seat opposite of Twilight, next to Rainbow Dash. Twilight looked at everypony's face with a small smile that felt so very hard to keep from trembling. They were expecting a soft tale, she knew, a story of meeting each other, some life moments and an ending. She would deliver as much as she could to her friends but it wasn't going to be soft. And if she could manage it, there would be no ending told.

Time to start the show.

A deep breath for courage and off she went. "When I became the Princess' personal student I went to live in the Castle. Spike had just been hatched so he was already there, being taken care of. The Princess' schedule was not without its interruptions and she preferred to keep us close so she could spend as much time as she could spare teaching me." Everypony was nodding at this. They knew all this. Frankly, that was all they knew.

"I had been at the Castle for a couple of months and even I, as a little filly at that age, heard the rumors that were then floating around about a monster that the Princess was keeping imprisoned in the Castle."

"A monster?" Rarity questioned at the non sequitur.

"Nopony really knew what it was or how it looked exactly. Best description I could get was that it was taller than Celestia herself, extremely violent and that it was kept in the infirmary ward. I had thought about trying to sneak a look myself but I didn't want to jeopardize my education."

"Of course you wouldn't." Rainbow affirmed in the most non sarcastic way possible, may Celestia guide her tender muzzle into a sturdy wall.

"In the end it was just bunch of rumors and nothing to really focus on with all the new things I was learning. But of course, something had to happen to change that." Twilight kept her head down, staring down the rising steam from the tea. Was it cool enough yet? She didn't really feel like finding out, she would wait a few moments more.

"The monster was real and attacked you and you got to watch Princess Celestia clean its clock with massive magic rays she summoned out of her..."

She interrupted Rainbow Dash before she could get more into her battle fantasy. "No. Nothing like that. I was foalnapped." The tone of her voice was flat, as if she was simply commenting on a cloud's ability to store water in the sky.

Applejack and Rarity voiced their shock.

"Twily, that must have been horrible," Applejack said, her hoof once again was rubbing her shoulder. Twilight flicked her gaze towards her to see her looking terrified. It only took a moment to understand why. Applejack has been raising Applebloom more like her own foal than her sister. The thought of a filly being taken away just like that was a little too close to some of her own fears, she realized.

"How did someone manage to do that inside the Castle? Where were the guards?" Rarity was abashed.

Twilight shrugged and turned back to her steam gazing. "No idea. We never figured out how they managed to get in. I was asleep when they got me so I never even saw them coming. What we did figure out was that their plan went haywire when Celestia decided to come to my room unexpectedly and she raised the alarm immediately. We don't know what their original plan was but they must have changed it when they decided to try and sneak through the infirmary ward disguised as nurses escorting a sick foal."

"And nopony figured them out?" Rainbow's reaction at the incompetence of the guard to protect the Princess personal filly student was ludicrous.

"None. But the rumored monster was really there, right at the infirmary, and he saw them. And when he realized what happened he went after me."

Rainbow caught her meaning and guffawed. "Whoa, whoa. Hold on. You are telling us that the monster was that Raegdan guy?"

"That was him, yes."

"I thought we were talking about a regular pony!"

Spike fielded the answer to that. "We never said he was. Raegdan is not a pony. We don't know where he is from but there's nothing in Equestria like him."

"What is he then?"

"If you ever meet him feel free to ask him. Maybe he will answer to you," Twilight grumbled.

It was obvious that Applejack saw things wrong with the whole thing. "But why was he locked up? Better question, if he is that swell guy who cared for y'all why didn't he tell the guards or Celestia?"

"He didn't tell anyone cause he couldn't."

"Huh?"

Twilight explained further. "He couldn't speak our language yet. He had learned enough at that point to understand a lot of things ponies told him but he had trouble making himself understood so when he realized what was happening, instead of letting them get too far, he escaped himself and gave chase to the foalnappers."

"But why was a good guy like him kept locked up?" Rainbow asked.

"Remember that I said we never figured out how they got inside? Even while they didn't manage to escape?"

Rainbow nodded.

"And remember" Twilight pressed on, "how the rumors said the monster was very violent?"

Understanding dawned in all three mare's eyes. Rarity's white coat got a slight green tinge. "You mean that when he caught up to you he...?"

"Apparently," Twilight intoned, "Raegdan has some very stern views on the issues of trying to harm foals."

Twilight was scared. She was more scared than she had ever been on any stormy night when shadows formed into teeth and reached for her at her bed. Even more scared than she had been on the day she got her Cutie Mark, when her magic went all... too much magic.

She was shivering. She wasn't sure if that was because of her fear or the cold. A thin brown blanket covered her but it didn't offer much protection against the numbness slowly creeping up on her from the stone floor she was lying on.

Her eyes were closed shut. She didn't dare open them again and let them know she was awake. She could hear them around her. The soft swooping sounds from the pegasus mare's wings as she beat them up to warm herself and freezing Twilight even more in the process.

There were two more, both unicorn stallions. She had gotten a glimpse of everypony when she first opened her eyes, before the fear settled in. They were patrolling or just walking back and forth to pass the time, she wasn't sure. She heard them walk into the room they kept her in along with the pegasus guarding her.

It was a small room. In the weak light of a single lantern she saw only one entrance, no door of course, this building had either been abandoned or was left unfinished. No windows either. She had no way to know how long it had been since she lied on her soft bed back at the Castle, for once going to sleep with no attempt to keep herself awake reading. Nothing covered her prison's walls and the floor only held some trash and her miserable self, cowering in a blanket she was too frightened to attempt and coax around her more securely.

The two stallions had stopped outside the doorway, talking softly to each other and the mare. She heard the clip-clop of hooves getting close to her. It was the brown one, she knew. The other unicorn was large and menacing with his pitch black coat and mane but it was this one with his common look and skipping rope Cutie Mark that terrified her. Every time they walked in she could hear him coming to stand over her, his breathing becoming heavy and wheezing. He tried to take off her blanket before but the black one stopped him.

She wondered if they guarded her in shifts. Her heart almost stopped at the thought of the brown unicorn taking the mare's place.

Why did they take her? She didn't think they had done it for the money. Her family was doing well as far as she understood but nowhere near enough for a foalnapper to expect a rich ransom. Princess Celestia on the other hoof, could pay one. But they would have to be insane to do that. Blackmail the Sun Princess? How could they expect to hide from her once they made their demands?

She heard a tiny pebble crumble under her watcher's hoof. It took everything from Twilight to stop her ears rotating towards the sound or flattening back. He was leaning closer to her. Maybe they really were insane. Maybe they just took her because they could and there was no plan for any ransom. They might just kill her and be done with her.

The black unicorn and the pegasus mare weren't paying attention to their partner. They were too busy yelling at each other in that strange silenced way ponies took when they wanted to shout but not be heard at the same time. She couldn't hear them clearly from her position, they had moved too far along the next room and her attention kept diverting to the encroaching breathing.

She could understand a few words. Mostly bad words and swears she wasn't supposed to hear. The Princess' name, some others she couldn't make out, mention of some way of using her later, or just....

...did she hear him say "kill her"?

Twilight was ready to get up and start running and screaming, hoping somepony would get to her fast enough to save her. Before she could even start bringing her legs below her to lift herself up she heard the loud noise as did her captors.

Something hitting and wood breaking apart.

She opened her eyes, hope and fear blossoming together in her chest too suddenly for her to control her actions. She saw the brown terror ran towards his fellow unicorn that was taking command.

"You stay in there, guard the filly," he ordered the mare. "We will take care of whoever it is."

She saw them walk out of her sight. The burnt orange colored pegasus watched them go too when she suddenly turned around and saw Twilight staring at her with eyes open wide.

"When did you wake up already?" she said frowning. "Their freaking spell was supposed to keep you sleeping till delivery."

She walked over to Twilight and stood over her menacingly, wings spread wide. "You better keep your mouth shut and not make any trouble you little cunt or I will have to knock you ou-"

The mare stopped herself mid-word when she heard the commotion from the rooms behind her.

"The hay is that thing? Do something, hit it, don't let it come near me!" The brown one, Twilight recognized his wheezing voice.

There were flashes of colors and then she heard the other one. "It's not fucking stopping, my spells don't do squat. Don't just stare at it you idiot, move out of the way!"

What followed was a cacophony of bodies hitting each other and the floor. The pegasus was slowly making her way towards the room's exit, hesitating with each fresh sound of impact and pained grunt. A loud, roar full of agony suddenly pierced through, causing the mare to stumble back to Twilight's side against the wall.

"Ha, you didn't like that, did you, you mutant cow freak. You can ignore my spells but it's harder to do that to a hoof digging in your stitches, isn- OOF!"

"Granite, get the fuck out of there, it got hold of a splinter!"

"Current, get it off," the black stallion sounded desperate, "I can't hold it, I can't hold-", there was a resounding dry snap like a thick branch breaking. "MY LEG, IT BROKE MY-grrrghhh..." his cries faded out in a gurgle.

Twilight felt sick. This didn't sound like a rescue, this was like those monster stories her brother told her once to scare her. She looked around again, hoping a doorway or a window might have miraculously appeared for her to get away. No such luck, all she had available was the exit that lead towards the fight, her blanket and the petrified, wide stared mare next to her.

More sounds. Hooves, she realized. The survivor was running towards them. "Amber, Amber, come here and help me, it killed Granite, it just stabbed him right up his throat. Amber!"

The pegasus next to Twilight wasn't answering. Her head kept shaking left and right violently, lips moving in a chant. "It was in and out, this wasn't supposed to happen, it was in and out, this wasn't supposed to happen..."

The brown unicorn came into view as he sprinted towards their room. And an instant later she got a weak glimpse of what was chasing him as it leapt at him and drove him against the corner, right next to the empty open entrance and out of their view.

She didn't manage to see much in the little light that reached it. It was mostly a blur, covered in white and red, with a shape she had never seen before. But the way it charged the fleeing pony was what shook her. It was how she always expected the Nightmare in her room's closet to jump at her.

The sounds of fighting reignited, now coming from much closer, only a few feet from her, separated by a thin wall. She heard dry thumps and wet slapping sounds repeating themselves over and over. Until another pained roar erupted from the unknown assailant. She heard the unicorn's voice, muffled a bit but ecstatic. "How about that you sick fucker then? Unicorn horn in your chest doing it for you?" A wet thump was followed by a surrendering pained moan. "You enjoy that? I do! Is my horn big enough you psychotic monster? Oh, hey, let go, LET GO OF MY HEAD!"

He clearly thrashed around, trying to get away from his opponent's hold. Until, that is, they heard it speak, its words crudely uttered and filled with malice.

"Have Larger Horn Past."

The stallion started screaming for help again. "Amber, for Celestia's sake come out and help me. It's gonna eat me, Amber, help me, help me, help me, help..."

He screamed again, long and hard, letting go suddenly when a tearing sound filled the building.

Twilight couldn't bear to think what that sound meant even if she had the capacity to at the moment. All her thoughts revolved around the fact that this monster could speak. That it could understand. That it could think.

That she couldn't hide from it under her blanket.

She didn't speak or move. She just kept staring at the doorway waiting for it to come in at any moment now.

One minute passed.

The pegasus named Amber next to her shook off her pinning fear. She took a step forward and spread her wings silently. She spared a look at Twilight, still huddling under her blanket and whispered to her. "Sorry, kid, you are gonna be monster chow on your own. I'm getting out of here."

She tried to tell her to wait. To beg not to leave her alone. Instead she watched wide-eyed as Amber took flight and zoomed through the door in an angle with as much speed as she could summon in this short distance. If she had blinked, Twilight was certain she would not have noticed the strange claw thing grabbing Amber's wing from the side of the doorway and violently dragging her towards it, accompanied by the loud pop of a dislocated limb and a terrified yell.

She didn't hear Amber beg or scream for long. The beast hiding from her view gave her no time to do that. All Twilight heard was the rhythmic knocking of something hard striking the hard floor again and again and again.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.Thump. Thump

Thump.

She would have expected silence to reign again. That's how it went in the stories usually. But she could clearly hear the monster. Its breathing, deep and gasping, every attempt to inhale bringing it obvious pain. She heard it clambering up on its legs. She saw the bloody claws at the door frame's side as it held for support. And then she saw it.

It was tall. Taller than any pony excepting the Princess and even she might be shorter that it. It was forced to stoop to cross the door. Some short of open white robe was tattered on it, stained with dirt and blood, one of the creature's arms had bundled up a bit of it and held it tight against its chest. Below the thick robe it was covered with bandages. Or what remained of them. They had been torn in places, moved aside on others. Almost all of them glistening pink and red. Its torso especially was oozing with blood. How much of it was its own? A lot, she bet. The way it stood it looked ready to keel over any moment.

All of that blood was hiding its features like camouflage. She thought its skin might be light pink or brown, covered with darker pock marks and long jagged lines. It kinda reminded her of a minotaur she saw in the street once. Its arms were similar, though not so thick, and its legs longer, ending not in cloven hooves but something similar to its hands with shorter fingers. It didn't have a coat. Only a short mane at the top of it, now colored dirty bronze. Its face was peculiarly flat. She expected a long, open jaw filled with teeth, not those almost normal looking lips that were surrounded by fresh, deep red blood. Its eyes were so small. Maybe it didn't use its sight that much. If she stayed still and quiet it might pass her by. She just had to stay brave just a little more and keep her terror bottled down.

It looked straight at her and opened its mouth in a wide grin, revealing bloody teeth with small strands of flesh splattered on them. It could see her! She tried to burrow deeper in the corner between the walls as it stumbled towards her. The stale, dusty air was filled with a sharp, rancid smell. For a moment she felt a taste in her mouth, similar to when she licked her spoon clean after dessert.

As it came closer to the lantern she noticed the grin was gone. It looked strangely at her, almost sad. It knelt and reached for her and instead of grabbing her as she expected it to do, it just got hold of the discarded blanket in front of her and covered her trembling body with it, carefully tucking it under her for a tighter fit, using its one free hand.

It wasn't going to hurt her! It wasn't going to hurt her! The relief of that repeating thought finally let the tears she held back spill. Her unexpected savior had moved to her side, its back leaning on the cold wall. Its hand began to rhythmically pet her back, over the blanket.

In the gloomy half-light, listening to alien mutterings in an unknown language and laborious breathing, eight year old Twilight Sparkle fell asleep, comforted by a dying killer.

"When Celestia arrived at the basement where they tried to hole up she found him half-dead and blood-soaked, sitting next to me, still sleeping, wrapped in a blanket. He hoofed me over and followed her peacefully back to the Castle to be re-imprisoned."

"Re-imprisoned? He saved you and the Princess threw him into a dungeon?" Rainbow was shocked at this conclusion.

"Not for long. Turns out that whole business somewhat reversed the opinion she had about the strange monster they kept imprisoned and decided to give him a chance. The Princess told me the story of how he saved me and asked me if I was willing to help him learn to talk on my spare time while he would act as my very own personal guard."

Twilight felt tired. There was so much she glossed over and fibbed a few parts. Like the Princess' urging to report any threats he may make against anypony or her own fear of Raegdan at the beginning. She pressed on quickly.

"Raegdan didn't just stay on the role of a guard though. He was alone in a country he knew nothing about and even he craved to have somepony close to him. So, he soon formed an unofficial small family unit for himself with me, Spike and the Princess as its core members."

Applejack smiled widely at this, evidently eager to move on from the bloody tale she had heard. "That's so sweet of that big 'lug. He adopted all of you? He must be a real sweetheart."

Spike laughed at the description. "Don't get it wrong Applejack. He was amazing to a few of us but almost everypony else? Sweetheart was the last thing you could describe him as."

"What you mean by that little fella?"

Twilight answered her. "He has a lot of differences from ponies. There's a reason everypony thought he was a monster. Don't give me that look Spike, you remember what he did to that noble."

"I have got to hear that." Rainbow's own violent side shined through.

"There was a noblepony's aide, Plum Seat I think he was called, who was in a rush for some reason or other and instead of simply sidestepping around us on the hallways he opted to use his magic to push us to the side, hard enough to knock us to the wall. "

Spike chuckled. "Unlucky for him, he didn't notice Raegdan was right behind him coming to get us."

"Oooh." Rainbow said in anticipation of what was coming.

"The second after we hit the wall we hear a loud crack and see the unconscious pony slide down the wall opposite the one we were thrown against. Raegdan had gotten hold of him instantly and did the same thing to him that he did to us. Only he did much harder."

Rainbow and Applejack laughed. Rarity tried to hide her own smile behind her hoof.

"He was very violent if he saw the slightest need to. That noble's aide? He slammed him so hard against the wall that he broke two of his legs, dislocated the bone and ripped the muscle from the one leg he swung him from, broke his ribs and gave him a serious concussion. He got distracted picking us up and rushing us to the infirmary immediately afterwards, otherwise I am sure he would have done more. Plum Seat was kept in the Emergency Room for days and barely made it alive as it was."

The laughter stopped.

She exhaled an annoyed breath. She was afraid she was giving too much focus on only half of who Raegdan was but this was something she had to make them realize if they were to ever meet him.

"He is not a pony, but that's a only a part of it. Except Celestia herself, he never told anyone a lot about his kind or himself or how he came to Equestria. I don't think Raegdan is even his real name. And he is the first to agree that he is not... healthy. He has issues, a lot of them, and trouble controlling himself. But if he considers you friend or family? He will do anything for you."

Rarity was hesitant. "I don't wish to demean what he has done for you, Twilight. But he sounds very... unkind I believe is the most gentle word I could use."

"No. NO! You don't get it, that's how he is to others." Spike defended their father figure.

Twilight rubbed her head with a hoof. "This came out wrong. Is he violent? Yes. Is he unkind or cruel? Yes. Is he all those things to those he cares about and care about him?"

"No!" she emphasized with a strike of her hoof on the floor.

"You heard Spike say he was like a dad to us. He didn't just guard us and hurt ponies that treated us wrong. He stayed with us on every lesson. He helped me study and helped Spike learn to control his flame."

"It's true. I accidentally burned him like a hundred times and each time he would just put some salve on himself and tell me to keep going."

"Exactly! He would never, ever, so much as yell at us. No matter what. He was this big monster every mare and stallion at the Castle was afraid to cross and if I wanted to have a pretend tea party he played with me for hours, doing all the silly voices." Twilight's volume increased in excitement, this was the Raegdan she wanted her friends to know.

"He sat at the table with us and whenever the Princess wasn't paying attention he would sneak his dessert to us. He made sure we brushed our teeth before bed. He took me to visit my parents every time Celestia had a big chunk of her timetable occupied. He woke us up every morning with a smile. When we had bad dreams he stayed awake in our room next to our beds like a guard "to keep the nightmares away" as he claimed. "

"Let's be honest, " Spike interrupted with a smile, "he did that mostly with me. He would take you to Celestia's bed to spend the night instead cause he knew you liked that."

"Spike." She yelled, the treasonous blush reworking its way up her face. Spike himself just giggled at her stern admonition.

Her friends exchanged looks. In silent communication, it was Rarity who was chosen to speak up. "He sounds like a loving step-father, Twilight. But, with your description, you make it sound like beating ponies to death was a usual occurrence to him." Rarity's eyes locked with Twilights. "How did Princess Celestia allow something like that?"

Twilight's enthusiasm wavered. "He didn't - that didn't happen as often as it sounds. There was a serious episode every few months like the one I told you about at worst. But he was more patient for some time after and everypony was reminded by each occasion to be more cautious around him."

"Even so, darling. Why did the Princess allow him such leeway?" Rarity insisted.

"She didn't let him go unpunished. She didn't want to banish him or hurt him in kind, pain wouldn't really deter him from anything after all. She would lock him up in the dungeons in isolation for some time after a confrontation turned too violent." Spike nodded sadly along, probably reminded of the weeks he was deprived of his company. "And I think the Princess might have made a deal with him."

Applejack's head sprung back. "What kind of deal did the Princess need with somepony like him? She has a whole army if she needs someone beaten bloody."

"He knows things!" Twilight revealed, a flicker of her own thirst for the secrets locked in that stubborn skull coloring her voice. "His kind doesn't have magic as far as we know but they have technology and knowledge beyond our wildest dreams. He was no scholar or scientist but even so, just the basics of what he has..."

"What do we need that for? Magic is better, isn't it?" Rainbow Dash challenged.

"How about blood transfusions?" Twilight retorted. "We had no idea about treating heavy blood loss or blood types a decade back. Who do you think told Celestia about that? Or microscopes? Vaccines and antibiotics? Do you have any idea how many pony lives he has potentially saved just by merely letting us know about possibilities?"

Rainbow Dash cast down her eyes with a chastised sound. Twilight thought that she had better be thinking of her own visits at the hospital. A daredevil like Rainbow had enough cause to check herself in for minor injuries and it was too likely someday she might have her life saved by Raegdan's off-comment about him needing to store some of his own blood, "since we don't share Species Kind Type, never mind blood types with any of you."

Applejack and Rainbow sat in awkward silence, not daring to say something potentially badmouthing for a certain person. Rarity had the letter in front of her, reading it once again. She gently folded it again and put it in front of Twilight when she finished. "There is obviously more than meets the eye as far as your step-father goes, darlings," she addressed Twilight and Spike, "and it would be unrefined to form an opinion without meeting the stal- excuse me, person in the flesh. Thankfully, our wise Princess has seen fit to provide a way out of this predicament."

Twilight blinked the memories out of her eyes. "Of course, the invitation! I hope you can all come with us." She was an idiot. She didn't have to think about IF the girls met Raegdan. They would definitely meet each other and soon.

Rainbow caught the lifeline she was thrown faster than her Sonic Rainboom. "Are you kidding us? A chance to stay at the castle, meet this guy AND be one of the few to ever spectate the Royal Guard Tournament? Count me in!" Rainbow punched the air with her hoof. "I've heard the Royal Guards use all kind of real weapons there, no pansy padded mallets or blunt blades. Uhh, we are invited to that too, right?"

Twilight felt her mirth coming back with her friend's excitement. "They do. I bet you will love the show." She had forgotten entirely about that part in the letter, having things closer to heart to think of. Though certainly not her cup of tea -she looked down at the cold untouched cup in front of her- it had always been an entertainment, Raegdan's comments and jokes with Celestia, spike and herself, cracking them up to all but the most serious of wounds the guards suffered at each other's hoofs.

She left Rainbow Dash to her visions of clashing hoofs and metal. "Rarity? Applejack? Will you be able to come with us?"

"Darling, do you even have to ask? Of course we will. And I am certain Pinkie and Fluttershy will say yes as soon as we ask them. We are not missing this for the world."

"Yessir." Applejack nodded with a wide smile. "Though I'm more intrigued to meet the terror y'all would call dad than I am about a glorified rodeo. He sounds like a real character."

Rainbow Dash sputtered. "Glorified rodeo? That's what you think the Royal Guard Tournament is?" she said indignantly.

"Ah'beg your pardon?"

"This is how they take on new members in Celestia's Solar Guard!" she said excitedly. "They separate the best of the best, the wannabes from the already-it, the cream of the crop all together meeting in glorious matches, bashing each other by the dozens for a single spot." Rainbow hovered above Applejack, wildly kicking and punching at imaginary foes.

"Sounds mighty important." Applejack deadpanned.

Rainbow frowned. "Those guys can buck one of your apple trees so hard that everypony that bites one of them apples will feel their ribs hurting for a week."

Applejack shrugged. "I'll just buck whoever I need to straight up instead of messing with somepony's diet, thank'ya kindly," she said to Rainbow's exasperation.

Rainbow gave up on the stubborn earth pony and turned to Twilight.

"When are we going then?", asked Rainbow.

Twilight bit her lower lip. "I know this is really short notice but I really want to leave as soon as possible..."

Rarity reached across the table and silenced her putting her hoof over her mouth. "Twilight, we understand and do not mind. We will settle things with Fluttershy and Pinkie ourselves and we will all be on our way with the train tomorrow morning, bright and early. What do you girls say?"

"Not tha' much in the way of chores at the farm for me. Harvest's all done and everypony's ribs are safe. Big Mac and Applebloom can handle a few days without me." The orange earth pony declared tilting her hat back.

"Yeah, yeah, we are all in. Before we start packing our stuff can we go for that lunch first?" Rainbow held her hooves over her belly. "I'm starving. Tea doesn't really help with a pegasus' hunger, you know?"

Twilight giggled. "Thank you all. Let's go eat then. Spike can you please let-"

Spike saluted "Pinkie and Fluttershy will be notified to meet you up at 'Trot Cafe' asap commander Twilight."

Twilight moved to the main room and opened the library doors. "Ok girls. Let's head out then." Rainbow Dash zoomed out the door, fast on her way there.

Twilight's day had its share of emotional ups and downs so far. But as she closed the Golden Oak Library doors behind her and put up the 'out for lunch' sign one feeling was making its presence known more than the rest. Relief.

It all seemed so bleak and dark for a few minutes. But with her friends around her, supporting her every bit of the way, what could possibly go wrong?

"I told you that Twilight Sparkle is gonna fix this!" she thought to herself with a smile.