"Aoi... Aoi..." A voice called out to me, unfamiliar to me... "Did you really think you could escape me, Aoi?"

'Escape? What do I need to escape from?' The blur of reality and unconsciousness swept through me like currents of distortion and emotion. 'Is this a dream, or is this real?'

"Whether this is a dream or reality is irrelevant, after all, there's a fine line between real... and your simple imagination..." The voice was cold, almost condescending. Suddenly the blur stabilized, and I found myself in a faded, distorted memory, one almost lost to the sands of time. It was me, when the police found me, and wondered what to do with me. The time lapse blurred forward, merging instances together: becoming an orphan, living at an orphanage, running away, taking sanctuary in the streets, surviving on my own, learning, excelling, killing...

"You should know who I am now..." The images halted to a stop, to my apartment, and an image of my human self manifested in front of me, "It's me, your past..." The image spoke. It turned to the window, pulled out a paintbrush and wrote on the window. Then turned back to me.

"Konnichiwa watashi (Hello, myself)..." It threw the paintbrush at me, I slapped it away, the ink splashing over my paw. I looked at my paw. The ink was a deep crimson that flowed like blood, a whiff revealed it to be exactly that.

"Like I said, no matter what you say or do, I'll always be there. You may be in a place where you don't have to face me, but sooner or later, I always come back..."

I woke up in a jolt, sitting upright immediately in an unfamiliar bed. I looked at my hands, no traces of the dream were there, only etched in my memory. Sunbeams entered through a tinted closed window. My body felt stiff, my lower ribs still numb from the healing magic. I felt the sap on my shoulder cling to my fur. I reached over and slowly peeled back the dried sap to find a fresh budding coat of fur underneath. I tossed the red and amber scab onto the nightstand. The backlash of memories from last night hit me like a train, causing me to fall back into the bed, clutching my temples in pain. The events of last night play back in the back of my mind: drinking, dancing, fighting. The last thing that finally halts my train of thought is the immense feeling of nausea. I stand up and stagger, almost slipping on the marble floor to the window. I push open the glass panes and vomit, watching as the contents on my stomach fall into the moat below.

I stood there for a while, leaning over the window sill, rubbing my temples to ease the thudding and the headache. As the migraine slowly faded away, I looked back into the room to see Eol and Ubi sleeping on the carpeting, both covered in blankets. I took a moment to learn where I was. The interior was a light opal color, curtains hung over in a canopy above the bed. The floor design alternating in a chessboard tessellation fashion. A small dresser stood dormant in the corner, its doors wide open to reveal my dobuku, free from the tears and rips from last night's battle. I look down at my torso to find it bare, my entire upper body stripped of clothing, my lower wearing only my hakama.

I sigh and start to walk slowly to the bathroom, the entrance a mahogany door marked with the letters W.C. I took a towel from the dresser and walked inside. I turned on the faucet and washed my face off, the water feeling refreshing on my fur. I looked in the mirror, out of curiosity closing one eye to reveal the world in bluish-green, then the other to reveal it in full color. When both were open I saw the world in a much "cooler" perspective, cold tones emphasized in their saturation. I dried my fur off with the towel, suddenly hearing a knock on the door. I hurried to the door, hearing a muffled voice, I called out in reply.

"I can hear you just fine..." I turn the door knob, opening the door to find the captain, feathers tussled and wet.

"Sleep well, Griffin?" I say, yawning and leaning on the doorpost.

"Yeah, after that mess, I was out like a light. Gilda didn't seem to happy about me passing out, judging by the way she wanted me to 'come back to bed' this morning," he replied, rubbing the back of his head.

"As for me, just went through the second hangover I've had... although not a stranger to it, it never gets any easier..." Downing 5 shous of poorly brewed sake will leave you with a bad taste in your mouth, and almost no memory of what you did last night. Compared to that, this was nothing.

"Lucky you, my head is still pounding from tossing out so many spells last night. At least I didn't fry my brain like last time. Seizures aren't fun. We're heading down for breakfast, you coming?" I looked back at Eol and Ubi, sound asleep.

"Yeah, I'll let Eol and Ubi sleep in a bit, they deserve it..." I point my thumb back at them.

"Should we wait for Knightmare? I have to wait for Gilda to wake up completely anyways." He says with a shrug.

"Yeah, sure..." I hold up a finger before closing the door. I grab my kosode and dobuku from the dresser, along with Kokuryu. I undo my hakama to put on my kosode, then redoing my hakama and obi, then slipping on my dobuku. I look back to the dresser and find another garment there as well. Tied up in ribbon was a folded haori, a small tag on the ribbon said, 'For the Blue Stranger'. I remembered the color of the satin fabric that made up the haori, one of the blue sea, beside which we used to live. A small smile curled up the edge of my lips. I placed the haori in my pack, then reopened the door.

Knightmare moonwalks towards us with a pink bath towel wrapped around him, he does a quick turn and faces us with a flashy smile.

"G'morning, Dudes." He says with a light, cheerful tone.

"Well, You're feeling chipper aren't you?" I point to him, his wings outstretched.

"How can I not? We may not have DONE anything but..." He sighs with an amorous expression, "I slept with the mare of my dreams, had the best sleep I've had in years, and all after THE Party to end all parties! Plus, for the first time in too long, I'm NOT breaking my own knees trying to walk around!" He starts to dance across the marble flooring. "I feel lighter than air!" He finishes, flapping his wings.

"Maybe it's because you have wings?" I say bluntly, causing Griffin to snicker. Knightmare looked at me with a blank stare.

"No..." he deadpanned, "I checked my weight, they've got electronic scales. Shocking, huh? Did you know I only weigh in at forty two pounds now?" He said, flexing. I cracked my neck and stretched my arms.

"The bed's could use some work though..." I never liked it when the beds made my body stiff. Knightmare continued.

"Had ANYONE told me I'd weigh that, say, a month ago? I'd have called them a liar. I weighed, a smidge over two weeks ago, 369 pounds....and ......I see I'm not the only one with someone to cuddle up too." He turns and bows to Gilda, who is currently wrapped around Griffin's shoulders. "Milady, pleased to finally meet you in person." I look to see Gilda scowl at Knightmare.

"Yeah, quit with the high class crap though, it's annoying," She says harshly to Knightmare, taken aback by her tone. Griffin then smirks and jumps in.

"Wait, you were 370 pounds? Hah! Fatty," Griffin said with a wide grin. I shook my head and stood upright again.

"Fine, I'm gonna to get breakfast," Knightmare says as he leaves, his gaze still set on Griffin as he moonwalks out of the hall. I look back at Griffin and Gilda, raising an eyebrow. My train of thought is interrupted when Princess Celestia walks into the hall, apparently overhearing our conversation.

"And what's wrong with being a healthy weight?" She asked, obviously irked by Griffin's remark.

"Healthy for a pony or a griffin maybe, but for a human? You wouldn't walk, you'd roll. There is such a thing as 'too healthy'," Griffin replies. The Princess, somewhat satisfied with his response, leaves the hall, easing the tension. I look back at Griffin and Gilda.

"So, I take it she's your mate then?" I say, glancing at Gilda.

"Yep. That she is," the captain replies. I look at Gilda.

"Quite a catch, isn't he?" I say with a wide grin. She looks at the captain with a slight giggle.

"You have no idea."

Gilda, Griffin and I start down towards the dining room, informed by Twilight and the others, It was actually one of the many dining halls. We were reserved at the dining room for honored guests. As we walked through the halls, I couldn't help but think back on my dream last night. Why it was troubling me so was beyond me, but for now, my body ached for sustenance. The doors to the dining room creaked open, revealing a vast array of tantalizing dishes, some were ones I've never seen before, others I recognized immediately, all laid out before us on the dining room table. Knightmare had a tear in his eye as he spotted a dish he longed for.

"BACON!" He immediately took a seat next to the platter of bacon stacked higher than he was.
"....How...in the world...did you convince your chefs to cook BACON!?" The Princess giggles before answering.

"It's not bacon, it's a high-grade copy made of vegetarian materials. The esteemed head chef managed to create a spice which replicates the flavor through magically transmuted memories I *ahem* borrowed," she answers shyly.

"So...you're saying it's, literally speaking, HAY bacon? ....time to test it!" He grabbed a fork and stuffed a slice of hay bacon into his mouth, chewing carefully, as if he was tasting it like a connoisseur. He swallowed and held two thumbs up. "Tastes like real, apple smoked bacon!" Griffin takes his seat near the end of the table, scanning the table for a certain dish.

"I don't get what the big deal is. It's just bacon. Have any smoked salmon?" Griffin asked Princess Celestia. Knightmare stopped eating for
a second and stared at Griffin in bewilderment.

"But....but....BACON! You can't just say NO to BACON! It's....it's....ah fuck it, more for me!" He gave up and continued eating. I looked around, spotting a massive section of dishes, similar to what restaurants served in the Kanto Prefecture.

"I'm impressed, even down to kaiseki cuisine... But, how did the chefs know how to make all this?" I ask the Princess with a raised eyebrow in curiosity.

"It's a secret," she said coyly before sitting down next to Knightmare and Pinkie Pie.

"Well, no use wondering about it, most of the things in this world don't make much sense anyway..." To make foods from our respective homelands was an astonishment. But would they taste the same? I slowly take a seat where there was a beautiful pair of red cedar chopsticks laid out on a napkin. The wood felt natural between my digits, smooth grain with a warm feel to them. I practiced pinching the two ends of the tips before picking up the napkin by the corner, then letting go of it.

'I guess somethings are never really forgotten, just put out of practice.' I then held them in my paws, looking at the Princess.

"Did you get these from my memory as well?" She simply glanced at me with a grizzly, wicked, expression and ignored my question. Griffin looked around, not finding what he was looking for apparently.

"Seriously though, no fish? Not even shellfish? This sucks," he says with a pout. I then grab a bowl and fill it to the brim with white rice.

"Perhaps next time thou will put a little more thought into thine letters?" Celestia smiled innocently at the captain. I pour what seems to be a light tea with an emerald green hue to it, then some strips of what looked like meat and placing it on the rice, along with a small strip of roasted nori. A humble, refined dish of ochazuke.

"Hey, you said you LIKED my letters. Is it because I haven't been writing any, since we can talk face to face now?" Griffin asked toying with the Princess. I taste the strip of meat hesitantly, finding it actually to be sea bream. Knightmare piles his plate high with bacon and doughnuts, before digging in however, he stops and looks around.

"Should we say a prayer?" Knight asks. I slowly fold my hands together.

"Itadakimasu." I slowly start to eat before Griffin closes his eyes and starts saying a half-assed prayer.

"Lord, thank you for sending me to Equestria where everything is wonderful, except the lack of meat." He opens one eye to stare at Celestia. The Princess only looks at him with a sad, pitying stare.

"Not all good things come at the cost of another's life Griffin..." She said, taking a bite out of a doughnut. Griffin opens the other and looks at her with a deep glare.

"You've CLEARLY never had deep fried fish then." He said with a scoff. I continued to eat, slowly chewing the sea bream. The flavor was the same... but the texture however was off.

'Just as I thought... it may not be the original... but it's close enough...' I was just lying to myself. I lived close to the ocean, so I knew what real sea bream tasted like, I knew a lot of the tastes of the ocean, each taste matched perfectly with the texture it accompanied, and nothing could ever replicate that artificially. I wanted to see if the captain, a stickler for seafood, could tell the difference.

"Griffin, try some of the sea bream." I pointed my chopsticks at the place layered with the fake sea bream. He grabbed some with his talons and ate it cautiously, chewing it, the taste slowly hitting him.

"Well, it tastes kind of like it, but, it's just not the same." I give a slight grin.

'Bingo,' I thought to myself. Celestia paused and turned to the captain.

"You fight a war to liberate the griffons, because you think it is wrong for dragons to use them as a food source despite their lack of other sources. Yet you feast on the bodies of countless innocent creatures for no reason other than it's fun?" She said with a harsh tone.

"Yeah, but FISH and CLAMS aren't SENTIENT," He debated. I continued to eat, popping a small amount of rice wrapped in nori into my mouth.

"I'm quite sure most dragons feel the same way about griffons and diamond dogs," She objected, her voice elevating to a near shout. Knightmare tries to help by intervening.

"The thing is, when you're an omnivore, your body NEEDS things that you simply cannot GET from a purely plant diet. And Let's not get started on CARNIVORES." But Knightmare's reasoning falls on deaf ears as the argument continues.

"Kinda hard to think that when your meal is screaming at you, 'Please! No! I have a wife and family!' While you eat them," He starts yelling back, standing up with his feathers flared.

"Perhaps they scream and you simply think yourself too far above them to hear it?" Celestia says in a scolding tone.

"If that's the case, then you're just as bad with plants. How do you know THEY don't have emotions? In fact, a scientific study has shown that many plants react to stimulus in a conscious way. See that apple? You're eating it ALIVE. You monster," he says in a haughty air. This was getting out of hand. I take a small bite of rice with sea bream.

"Actually, the apple is technically the ovaries of an apple tree..." Knightmare states as a matter of fact.

"Enough!" I shout as I slam the bowl onto the table, Immediately stopping the argument in its tracks. I sigh heavily, "Breakfast isn't a good time to discuss the consciousness of our food now is it? It's disrespectful of both the food and others."

"Agreed," Knightmare chimes in, "I DO NOT WISH TO DISCUSS IF THIS HAY BACON IS SCREAMING AT ME!" He shudders before lowering his volume, "I'm gonna have nightmares because of this discussion, I swear."

I stop for a second, placing the chopsticks on the rim of the bowl, folding my digits together over it, leaning my elbows on the table.

"Once, a person asked me how I could stand to eat meat, knowing I was eating the life of another..." I say with a sincere air. Griffin gave me a questionable stare. "Do you know what I said to him?" Everyone just stares at me while Knightmare answers meekly, 'No?'.

"I kept on eating, at the end, I folded my hands and said, 'Gochisousama'. I asked him what it means..." I looked at each person, one by one, and asked them, "What do you think it means?"

"...Good meal?" Knightmare answers wryly.

"Thank you," Griffin answers with a rather uncomfortable look.

"Thank you for your sacrifice, young soul," Princess Celestia answers confidently. I simply nod in agreement for all three answers.

"It never left my mind that to feed another, a living thing has to die, the best we can do is show our respect, appreciate what sustenance it gives us..." I slowly pick up my chopsticks and grab a single grain of rice between the tips. "... No matter how small it is..." I glance past the grain and see Griffin ball up his fists. He must think I'm a hypocrite, a killer preaching the value of life, I wouldn't blame him.

"Forgive me, I did not mean to imply that one should live to a standard not their own. I merely wished to convey upon Griffin the seriousness with which he should treat a life, even one so small as that of an ant," Celestia states, Griffin's teeth starts to clench.

"Unlike most humans I knew, I never hunted, neither for sport nor for enjoyment. I don't want to ever have to kill another living being unless I absolutely have to..." Knightmare says, teasing the floodgates to the breaking point. Having had enough, Griffin slams his claws onto the table.

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT!?" He shouted at me.

"Do you?" Celestia asks, staring at the captain. I sigh.

"I thought you might, but seeing as how you two were fighting about that..." I place the chopsticks back onto the bowl. "I wanted to give a small reminder..."

"Don't you think the faces of those I kill don't HAUNT me in my dreams? Don't you think I regret every single one? Everyone has a family, friends," I wanted to tell him to shut up then and there, "Do you know how many lives I've torn apart, and I'm not talking about the dead." I wouldn't be surprised. Griffin looked at the princess, "Even yesterday, Ember, the dragon who attacked your sister, came and vowed revenge on me because I killed her father, and HE was trying to EAT ME!" He sits back down, his arms fall limp to his sides, head drooping, eyes dilated in despair.

"The weight of our sins will follow us until the end of times, if we do not acknowledge them, we will find ourselves crushed beneath their weight," The princess said grimly. I cocked my head in interest.

'You sound like you know what sin is... What exactly are you hiding?' I place that thought in the back of my mind, then turn back to Griffin.

"No one blames you... I'm not judging you. It's not what I do." He looks back at everyone.

"The point is, for every life I have taken, for every drop of blood spilled, there are those who will curse my name till the day they die, and continue to do so long after," He gripped the feathers on his head in frustration.

"So, What now?" He looks back up at me; I lean back in my chair. "Will you let your past haunt you?" I tilt my head to the side, "Or will you meet it with sword brandished, ready to cut it down and move on?" It was a question I had yet to answer on my own, much less at a breakfast buffet gone awry. He slowly sat up.

"Heh... both," I can't leave it behind, because I can never escape it. Even if I free the griffins and make a new nation, I'll never be able to sleep at night, if not by guilt, then by fear of an assassin, come to take vengeance."

'Just like my dream...' Maybe what he says next will answer my question for me.

"But that doesn't mean I'm going to let it stop me." I knew it wasn't the answer I was looking for, but it was a step in the right direction. I slowly grin.

"That's
the spirit. Take it one step further... What will you do if Ember faces you head on?" I take another bite of rice, slowly sipping the tea from the bowl.

"Well, seeing as how she beat the stuffing out of Luna... if I face her head on..." He gulps. "I'm gonna die." Knightmare shape-shifts into Griffin.

"Give her a kiss and ask for forgiveness!" Knightmare says jokingly, puckering up his lips. Griffin throws an empty plate at Knightmare, then drops his face onto the table. I snicker at Knightmare.

"There's no way in hell that would ever happen..." I say bluntly.

"Yeah," Knightmare admits, shifting back into his former appearance, "but still, one can dream, eh?" I shake my head.

"Knightmare, remember, this is Griffin we're talking about," I say to flash a harsh light of reality on the situation.

"True," Knightmare says, rubbing the back of his head. I look back at the depressed captain.

"If you do die... die knowing you died fighting, and that you died doing what's right by you..."

"That's only if I face her head on. Who said I'd even do that? I'm a pirate. I lie and I cheat. I don't play by the rules. Notice how she didn't have wings, despite being bigger than Shimmer who's starting to grow hers in? She can't fly, and I can. What's to say I don't just run away, or stab her in the back? I'm more mobile than she is, I can avoid her as long as I want. Still, that doesn't change the fact that she's hunting me. I just hope she doesn't find a way to take the upper hand," he rants, then goes back to a depressed state. I kept thinking back to last night's dream. Knightmare takes a long sip from his drink.

"Wait a Minute... This...." Knightmare pauses, shaking uncontrollably, "... THIS IS COFFEE!!!" He starts twitching and then jumps straight through the ceiling, sending down bits of shattered plaster onto the seat where he was just moments ago. Celestia looks down at the chair, then up at the hole in the ceiling.

"I need to remember that he does that..." the Princess said with playful interest. A few moments later, the dining room doors open again, to reveal the captain's crew.

"Hey, Cap'n." One of his crew member's call out while another griffon rolls out a food cart, covered with a white sheet. I finish the rest of the ochazuke in a quiet slurp, then turn my gaze toward the incoming crowd.

"Hey guys," Griffin replies in a flat tone, not removing his face from the table. I spot Ubi and Eol arriving with the crowd as well, Eol still stretching from just waking up. Knightmare re-enters, trying hard to mask the spastic, spontaneous twitching.

"Cheer up grumpy, everyone is fine, Freud fixed Trixie up, and you can't stay upset when I brought your faaaaavorite food," the griffon said in a cheerful tone. Griffin perked up at the mention of his favorite dish.

"You mean..." His mouth started to water.

"Yep! Battered perch, drenched in strained mango juice!" The griffon unveils the food cart, revealing an enormous, deep fried perch with a shimmering orange sauce drizzled over the fish.

"Hmm, looks like someone has a taste for gourmet..." I say as Griffin immediately snatches a plate, heaping a sizable filet onto it. Celestia looks at it with suspicion.

"Please tell me you didn't catch that in the Canterlot Gardens..." Celestia said, grimacing at the sight of the fish.

"It's not koi, so I'm guessing not..." I speculate, picking up a crispy fried spring roll, biting into it with a loud crunch. Celestia looks back at me.

"There's more than koi in Canterlot," she rebutted, looking at me. The griffon who wheeled in the cart spoke up in defense.

"Of course not! We caught it in Kowabunga Lake on Signal Island. We kept it on ice for a special occasion."

"Oh, good," the princess sighs in relief, "I was worried there might be... never mind. Please, enjoy your meal." She waves a hoof towards the plate. I raise an eyebrow and laugh.

"Trashing the castle definitely isn't a special occasion, at least not for me," I say, taking a bite out of some ehomaki, "... But for the best night of our lives, I think it counts."

"Maria, how did you know?" He looked back at the griffon who was currently serving up another bit of food to the crew.

"How indeed," Celestia said with an awkward grin. Maria answered with a smile.

"Well, I know about how you were sticking to fruit and veggies while in Equestria, so your iron levels were already low. Combine that with the blood loss from yesterday, and it's no wonder you passed out. Because of that, Nadene suggested we feed you meat to get your iron levels back up, since you can't get it from pony foods, and since fish is socially acceptable, not to mention you like it so much, I decided to go all out. You need to get your strength back, the sooner you eat up, the sooner you'll stop being so tired and irritable." Maria's words reminded me of how fluctuated my diet has been as of late, I leaned back into my chair and ate a few apricots from the fruit bowl. Eol starts to chow down on the food at our end, eating anything and everything. Ubi looked rather disgusted at the food laying out in front of him.

"Thanks sport," Griffin said to Maria, "This will just about make my day." Griffin continued to eat voraciously.

I ladled a bowl of warm, egg drop soup and started eating that, while Eol snatched up plates of whatever looked edible. Ubi took out a piece of leftover pie from yesterday, smiling. After finishing the soup, I take a small, ceramic plate having sea bream sashimi arranged on it, done kawashimo style. Griffin and his crew finished eating, and were standing up to leave.

"Well, we best be headed back to the ship for some shuteye. We rescheduled the concert to tonight, and I don't want to pass out halfway through," Griffin said with a sigh.

"I thought you got a good night's rest, or was there something that kept you up?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, I slept fine," He said bluntly.

"Then how are you going to sleep now?" Knightmare asked, apparently not getting it. Gilda leans into Griffin, stroking his feathers.

"Well," Gilda answers, "Since he's still recovering, he should be fine, but if not, I'm sure we can find SOMETHING to do to burn off all that energy," She says giving Griffin an amorous grin. I snicker at her answer. Knightmare cocks his head to the side, looking confused. He gets it when Gilda wraps her arm around Griffin.

"WHA... NO! HELL NO! Since When?" Knightmare said, a dumbfounded look on his face.

"Two... maybe three months ago?" Griffin deadpanned. Knightmare shook his head in disbelief.

"That much hate should NOT be reproducing," Knightmare says, storming out of the dining room, playing music on the way out. I leisurely place a slice of sashimi on my tongue.

"All hands on deck captain..." I say with a large grin. He glares at me with a grin.

"Ha ha, very funny. Are you sure you should be talking like that with Rainbow Dash sitting right across the table?" I look to see Rainbow Dash, completely different from last night: tussled hair, weary eyed, half asleep. She looks at each of us with a raised eyebrow in question, the realization hitting her like a brick.

"Oh..." She said.

"I'm sure she already knows," I say, taking another bite of the sashimi, wrapping it around a small dab of wasabi.

"Well, let's get going," Griffin said, walking towards an open window, then turning back at me before flaring his wings out, "Aoi, be gentle with her alright?" I almost choke on the slice of sashimi. I look back at the captain before he takes off into the sky, laughing loudly. I smile and shake my head, continuing to eat. Silence filled the room before I looked up at Rainbow Dash, staring at me in question.

"Wait, what did he mean by that and since when are you friends with Griffin?" She asked, pointing at the open window. I dip a slice of seabream into a small dish filled with soy sauce.

"Captain Griffin is under the impression that you and I are,..." I take a bite and swallow, "... Somewhat affianced."

"A-Whut now?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. I smile lightly and flow a dab of wasabi into the slice of sea bream.

"Well," I popped the slice in my mouth, chewing lightly, "Interested in each other." I tried to think where he got that notion, then singled out two particular events of last night. The feeling I got when I danced with her last night, a surge of emotion, a wondrous night of carefree dancing in time to the music. I slowly looked up at her, she seemed to hesitantly shy away, but then slowly asked me the question both of us had on our minds at the time. I swallowed.

"Well, he wouldn't be... wrong... would he?"