=Ubi=

I had no idea what she meant, or why she was apologizing, so all I could do was say, “It's okay.” She didn't reply, all she could do was cry into her pillow. I thought about it for a second, then remembered when I had nightmares or when something bad happened to me, mom sang a lullaby to me. Maybe lullabies exist where Aoi came from too. It couldn't hurt to try.

I tucked her into bed and doused the lamps, leaving the moon to light the room. Just a few more weeks and it would be December. With it would come Hearth's Warming Eve. I wondered what I would get everyone as a present. Keef seemed to like liquor, and Eol books, but what about Aoi? I didn't know what interested someone like Aoi.

She was strong, honorable, and honest, what do you get for a person like that? What do you get for a person who's not even from this world? What do you get for someone who you didn't even have the courage to believe? I didn't know, still don't but for now, I'll do what I can to help. A pony came into the room, and I rose a finger to cue her silence as she brought a pot of tea. She left without a word, leaving me alone with Aoi again. It's been a long time since I even sang, but for Aoi, I could try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiD4uDEkmO8

It was quiet, Aoi wasn't crying anymore, but sleeping. Her soft breaths turned to vapor in the cold air. I tossed another blanket on top of her for good measure and looked through my tunic. No vials. It hit me that Eol was always the ones that kept the chemicals on him. I got up and headed towards the bar. Believe it or not, Eol got real friendly with Keef fast. They always spent time in the bar talking about weird things. I stayed far away because Keef gave Eol something weird and Eol hadn't slept since.

I skipped knocking on the door and was met with a face full of bug-eyed husky.

“SUP!” He yelled as he tackled me to the floor. “Whatchadoingoutsolate, huh Ubi, huhuhuh?!”

“I just came to see if you had some 'hazy blues'.” I looked over at Eol's "chemistry set" lined with various potions, powders, and the occasional cluster of knock-out gas.

“OOO, whatchaneeditfor, huh? Gonnaknockoutafemaleorsomething? Howmuchyouneed? *GASP* PIE!" His face slammed into a pie sitting on the counter.

“Just enough 'blue' to forget one night.”

“KAY!” He zoomed off behind the main bar table and pulled out a small piece of paper with the powder on it. He rolled it up and gave it to me before twisting around and smashing through the window. He'll be fine.

I went back to Aoi's room and took a bit of the blue powder in my paw. Just a sprinkle in the ear and this whole night's just a bad dream, just like we did at the Gala.

I looked over at the table, seeing Aoi's sword. I remember when I touched the blade, the glimpes I saw: Blackfire's battle with Aoi, his resignation to his death, his essence being locked into the blade. I wondered if there was more. I went over and grabbed it then went down to the Sanctuary, maybe mom could tell me a bit more about Blackfire.

=Aoi=

“RISE AN' SHINE!” Keith shouted as he burst through the door with a tray in his arms. I groaned as the loud noise pounded in my eardrums. I pulled the covers over my head.

“C'mon, we've been through this before.” I flinched as he yanked off the blanket to let sunlight assault my eyes.

I mumbled “fuck you” as I rose from my slumber, head feeling a few notches below “jackhammer to my temples” but way above “searing headache”.

Eol skipped in with bits of broken glass embedded into his nozzle. He had an overtly bright expression on his face, despite drops of blood sliding down his face. It scared me.

“The hell happened to you?”

“What?” He yapped as if he couldn't hear me.

“Nevermind him. Let's get some food in you.”

“Bullshit, no one gets glass in their face and shrugs it off like-*MRPHRPMMM*” Keith shoved something in my mouth before I could finish.

"What's that, I can't hear you over the sound of you eating?!" Keith shouted coyly as he pulled and pushed my jaws up and down to coerce the food down my throat. I relented and just chewed away at the anonymous morsel that was forced into my mouth. It tasted like honey with a texture of thick jello mixed with rock candy. Whatever it was helped with the headache. After swallowing the last of my ambiguous breakfast, I finally had a chance to talk.

"So what the fuck is up with Eol?" I ask, staring at Eol who had now started to chew on the doorpost.

"Well..."

=Eol, two nights ago=

"Okay so, what's this?" Keef was mixing up black liquid by pouring hot water across some black beans.

"This, my furry friend, is the secret to passing college, 100% Arabica Beans, taken straight black." He took a deep breath of the steam coming out of the mug and shuddered. "Hhhhhhooooohhhhh yeah, that's the stuff."

"Can I try?"

"No!" He smacked my nose with a stirring spoon still wet with the black stuff. "Sorry, but coffee's toxic to dogs, but then again, so is alcohol, if so then how the hell is Aoi still alive?" Keef looked at me with a suspicious expression. I was immediately regretting asking him.

"On second thought, most allergies in this world don't really apply, hell, daisy and daffodils are supposedly toxic to ponies, if so then do other allergies exist? Hell, am I still allergic to peanuts? if so then-" I clamped his muzzle shut before he could ramble.

"Off the subject."

"Heheh, right." Keef tended to get off tangent a lot, and "a lot" is just an understatement. Heck, he once mumbled some fancy mathematic formula involving a chicken and cupcakes in his sleep.

"Well, now that allergies actually somewhat don't come into play, let's try it." He poured a small splash of "coffee" and then added a lot of milk and slid the mug over to me. The scent was nice, like something burnt if burnt smelled decent. I brought the mug to my lips and-

"BLEEERGH!" -even with the milk, it tasted like chalk. How in the world could anybody drink this stuff? I took another sip.

"I know, at first it tastes like indescribable slur, but the caffeine works wonders when you have an entire thesis paper due in a single night," Keef said. "The taste doesn't grow on you, but the caffeine does. I didn't think it would hit you that fast."

I had no idea what he was talking about, all I could think about was tasting chalk in my mouth: spitting out one sip but then swallowing the next. Was this some kind of magic?

"So why drink this?"

"The better question to ask is why the hell are you still drinking it?" It wasn't long before I drained the cup of its contents.

"I don't know." I didn't feel anything at first, just a little nauseated.

Keef started to have a wide grin on his face. "It'll kick in eventually, until then though, could you help me with something."

"Sure, what is it?"

"We're going to go try and find a dragon."

"WHAT?!"

Before you say anything, we're not going to kill it." Keef brought out "Dr. Crittercolt's Encyclopedia for Dragons" and slapped it down on the table, flipping to a certain page. "More specifically, we need to make one throw up."

"What the-" I hadn't read much on dragon anatomy, what I had read didn't mention anything about dragons ever vomiting.

"Look we need something special that comes from a dragon's stomach. Are you familiar with ambergris?"

"You mean the stuff that comes from whales?" I was slowly seeing where Keef was getting at.

"Bingo, apparently dragon's have their own version, which is how they manage to digest gems. Said to be very valuable on the black market."

"Why exactly do we need this?"

"We're giving it to Aoi."

"Wait what do you mean by..." I remembered a book on fine Equestrian delicacies. "PFFFFFFFFFFFFT!" After laughing my tail off I wiped away a tear and asked, "So what do you need me-"

I stopped mid sentence. Suddenly my heart started racing, muscles exploded with power, and the room drew back until- OH MY GODS! I CAN SEE FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

=Aoi, present=

By the time Keith finished explaining Eol's situation, Eol himself was inexplicably traversing the carpet on my floor by... vibrating?

"What... the... hell are you doing?"

"DRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR," was all that Eol said. I wasn't even sure that it was him speaking.

After swallowing the last of whatever Keith gave me, I got up and stretched. I wanted to recall my long term goals, but for the life of me. Another thing that escaped me was:

"What exactly happened last night?"

Keith shrugged while Eol belly flopped my bed. Considering the headache I had, I must have been drunk or something. I walked a few steps until my legs suddenly buckled and gave out from beneath me.

"Yeah I think it's probably for the best you stay in bed for the time being," Keith advised, going to my bed and grabbing Eol by the scruff.

"Meanwhile, I'm going to try and detox the hyper outta this guy. BTW, before I forget, someone sent you a pack of lollipops."

=Ubi=

"Hey mom." She was smaller now, helping some of the betas clear out some rubble.

"Yes, dear?"

"Do you remember telling me about Blackfire?"

She snickered. "I know it's been long, but it hasn't been THAT long, of course I remember. What about him?"

"Um... uh... Well, Aoi told me that there was a dragon she killed and-"

"Aoi killed Blackfire?" She looked curious for a moment as she caught a glimpse of what I had in my arms. "What's that?"

"Aoi's sword, I'm... borrowing it." At this, mom left her work with the others and crawled back onto her horde.

"Well, so long as you give it back, I don't see any harm in it." She picked up a diamond and tossed it my way. "You must be hungry. Go on, eat up." I joined her on the horde and started eating breakfast. I don't think Aoi would notice it missing, at least for the time being.

=Aoi=

Bed rest was the last thing I needed right now. I needed to make preparations, send invites, find a caterer, come up with a tasteful theme.

'Dances usually have themes, right?' Shameful to say, I was fretting more than a housewife about her chores. I didn't normally act like this. In any other situation, I would have probably said "fuck all", hired a musician, went straight to her house and stammer for five minutes uncomfortably before going all out with it. I blushed when I remembered when Elena tried her best to dig me out of the hole I had made deeper. Ten minutes and nineteen seconds of me embarrassing myself, two of which was blubbering out half-assed poetry.

"Damn you HAVE got it bad!" I pulled the gun from under my pillow and aimed at the source of the voice: a mirror?

To my horror, that same damn wolf from months back appeared in the mirror, the one from my dream claiming to be me.

"No... damn... way..."

"WHUZ GUUUUD N◯◯◯◯◯H?!" He yelled with puckered lips and an aged expression. I undid the safety. I was either still drunk, or dreaming.

"You better tell me what the FUCK is going on, or I swear I will find a way to reach through this goddamn mirror and beat the shit out of your furry ass!"

His form shifted to him wearing a suit with an English top hat and monocle. "Oh such vehement vocabulary coming from such a visage that you vexingly voice your violence verily from. I dare say, what I had greeted you with was...

WHUZ RAELLY GUUD?!"

*BANG BANG BANG*

The sound of my gunshots prompted a group of five or six bursting through my door to see what was wrong. I stared at the onlookers, wide eyed, gun shaking in my paws.

"VOICE! MIRROR!"

A mare, scared out of her wits, went over and picked up a shard, she held it slowly up to my line of sight. I looked into it to find my washed out expression staring back at me, hair clumped over wet with cold sweat. I turned the dial of the safety back to it's original state and dropped it.

"Everyone out..." They hesitated. "NOW!"

*SLAM*

And that was it.

=Eol=

"FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!"

=Keith=

"I KNOW YOU DON'T WEAR PANTS, BUT PUT ON SOMETHING!!!"

=Aoi=

I sat down on the bed, wondering if I had really done it. If I had gone completely mad. Here I was, a female wolf in heat, in a room furnished just on the side of a mountain, fretting about shit I've never even thought about doing before, shouting death threats at a figment of my imagination, and shooting out mirrors.

I got up and opened the windows.

"FUCK!" I bore with the shock of the below freezing wind now invading my room, full front lines of cold bursting through me. Not dreaming.

I shut the window, with my bedroom having dropped at least ten degrees, I found everything to be very real, very substantial: I had still broken the mirror, I was still a woman, and it was still about two months before New Years. I plopped face down onto my bed, recapping how deep I had gotten myself into everything.

"Okay, let's take it from the top."

We came to Gem Fido to find out why there was a voice calling me to Gem Fido, and it turns out to be my dead dog, Nora, who just so happens to be a vengeful dog spirit. After that, I formed a plan of action for a campaign, one I had near completely forgot about. Then Keith armed us to the teeth, we get attacked by the Freepony Society, then counterattack and find the Mare in the Iron Mask. What the hell even happened to her? It's been like eight months since we infiltrated Bitsburg. After that, We found Ubi's mother, I was in a semi-coma for about six or something months, and now I'm sweating off Estrus because I turned into a female wolf and have no idea how to change back, and somehow I got it in my head to host a New Years Masquerade.

I flipped over and blew of a few bangs from my face. I looked over to find the lollipops Keith was talking about on my dresser, each one different colors and pack neatly into plastic wrappers. "It's too hot in here..."

An idea came to me to travel into the cold to hopefully blow off some steam. I rallied a few random clan members as an escort squad so that I could visit a few of the clans that surrendered. If I remembered correctly, there was a branch of our clan who wanted an audience with me while I was in the hospital. It was about time that I paid him a visit.

Quaretzel's warren was a good ways west from Gem Fido, and the surrounding area around it wasn't as lush. When Quaretzel first visited the warren, I couldn't get a good look at his face, as he wore a hood shrouding it. Ubi told me that some warrens of Gem Fido are naught but little hills jutting out of the surface, with a single visible entrance way. But with this, it was a completely sunken in prairie, dry grass coating mounds barely taller than I was. Surrounding the prairie was a marked perimeter of trees and ropes tied between them, with bells tied onto them.

I went up to the ropes, slid a paw over the hand spun chords, and pulled one. A massive chain reaction between the ropes rung every single bell almost simultaneously. It wasn't long before a few Gatas popped up to the surface, weapons drawn.

"Who goes thiar?" One of them hissed.

"I'm Aoi Myoujin, and I would like to speak with Quaretzel, your Alpha." Unsurprisingly, every beta seemed dumbfounded.

"Lunar Legend not female. You lie!" I tensed and reached for my sword... not at my hilt. I had forgotten Kokuryu back at the Tomb. This could turn ugl-

"Stupid Gatas," A unit from my ranks spat. "Know you not the prophecy? I should flay you for your ignorance!"

I held an arm up to bar him. "Let's not be hasty, after all, they're right to be a bit precautious: I don't exactly look like myself at the moment. Nevertheless, I think we might be at an impasse. I propose that we could do one of two things: one, I can prove my strength by taking all of you on in hand to hand combat; two-" I walked up to one of the Gatas who looked like the lead, straightened his helmet, then turned, lifting my tail just enough for his nose to get in range, and went back to the head of my escort group. "-you can be good dogs and notify your alpha that I'm here, and I will be sure to give him my highest recommendations for such upstanding guards as yourselves. What say you?"

I looked back to see that the lead of the regiment had melted into amorous putty, hearts swirling around his head. He shook his head and barked to his squad, "What'er you waiting for? Call Alpha!" The whole regiment were on their hinds in an instant, digging back down into the ground.

Glancing back at my group, I could tell that they were blushing from my display, despite holding scarves up to their muzzles to hide it. I took a lollipop out of my kimono, unwrapped it, and stuck the colorful candy underneath my tongue. A rich flavor of butterscotch ran across my palate, the sweet flavors easing a bit of the low, electrifying feeling of estrus.

"In my country," I said to my escorts, "We call that 'fanservice'."

A team of ten brought Quaretzel to the surface, donned in a different robe with a hood still covering his eyes. Before, There were so many people I didn't notice, but now, I saw him bracing against one of the gatas for support.

"By the Gods," Quaretzel exclaimed when he saw me. "Is that really you?"

I nodded. "I assume Varg told you I was 'away on business'?"

"Yes... yes he did... but..." I could tell he was looking at me from under his hood. "How?"

"A prank of unknown origin, some kind of dust that made me turn into a female. So, what is this 'issue' you wanted me to speak of?"

"Huh? Oh! Right, yes. Come this way." The team widened the entry and allowed us to head to the main warren. Strangely enough, there was no sound of work, no mining, no digging, if you weren't listening for it, you wouldn't even hear the life within the warren. My hand tensed over my belt.

"You've got nothing to worry about here, Aoi, I'm not in the mood to wage any wars any time soon," He said. More and more his voice gave way to a touch of weariness.

"We're prairie dogs, dogs who have long since lost their dragon protector long ago. As long as we stay hidden, we stay safe. Alas, it does mean that everything we do can cause danger to the clan." A family of four crawled past, warm smiles on their faces. It took me three steps to realize what I didn't hear.

"So you're not one to make waves, so to speak?" I asked as we came to a junction. One by one, my escorts were realizing it too, and we were beginning to feel it.

"In a way, yes. Our clan name used to be famous, feared even. But now, with wars giving way to eras of lull, we became... ghosts."

I gulped as we walked, I could smell that my comrades themselves were at the bring of snapping with paranoia, their arms shaking at the hilt of their swords. I couldn't help but feel impressed. Noted that my escorts were not the best of the best, but still warriors, being rendered by a simple fear, instinctive, and rightly so.

"There's two issues in fact that I was wanting to speak with you about. A favor. Don't worry, I'm not going to hold you against it if you refuse, but in doing so, We could make a comeback against them."

"Of course, we could use all the help against the dragons."

"Dragons?" Quaretzel wondered. "Heh, dragons aren't the only threat in Gem Fido. You saw it yourself, the world is changing exponentially, and you are one of the causes of these vectors. There are many who see you as savior, others, a challenge. No, I'm not talking about Dragons, I'm talking about Alphas. There have long since been stirrings of a rebellion, one against the very symbol that binds all the clans together. You may have heard the term Sirius."

"A few mentions here and there."

"Well, take it from one who gets contacts from both sides, but the Sirius is being targeted, as well as key figures in this unspoken war."

"War?"

"Heh, Gem Fido is in a constant state of it, though unseen and unheard, clans change hands like gems through Marble Pillar's market. Don't believe me? I wouldn't be surprised, you would have had to have been here to even take an ounce of what I said as truth. So let me shed some light on the situation. You know of the 'demon bird'?"

"Yes, I call him Captain Griffin."

"Heheh, not for long. He's made enemies, you can bet, and soon, his wings shall be clipped. How and when, I do not know, but you can stake a million diamonds that the mad blood of alphas plot his demise."

"So what makes you so sure that they'll succeed."

"Because we are not cattle for slaughter as the world has made us out to be. We have our own traditions of warfare, and with the way things are now, had we decided to unite, we would have taken Equestria for ourselves. But dogs are loyal to their masters, and our masters are those stronger than us."

"I see..." I finally decide to give in and ask, "So how do you play in on all of this?"

Quaretzel smiled. "As I had mentioned before, we're ghosts now. We only haunt when our graves are disturbed and aid those who guarantee our rest. And you, well... this is where the favor comes in.

"I want you to start your war, but do it with this." He pulls out three black daggers with a note under them it. "Inscribed are the names of three alphas, all with conspiracies tied to their name. Send them a message that like the Oblong Tomb, the Ghosts of the Tomb have returned, and we are angry. Kill them anyway you wish, or if you prefer, seek a reason first. Either way, leave the daggers, one for each body. In return..." he takes out a sword, thrust silently into the ground like a cat's footstep. "...our blades are yours."

The thought interested me. My force was already combat sufficient, but these... All it took were Quaretzel's subtle display to show the value him and his men had to my clan.

"Consider it done." I hid the daggers inside my kimono for the time being. Now, for the other issue you were speaking about?"

"Ah yes. There was a fox looking for you." We started walking through the main branch of the warren, the interior looking a bit like an old-western gold mine. "Claimed to be your brother."

Everyone in my group stopped and sported a disbelieving look. "BROTHER?"

"Yes, brother, We didn't know what do do with him, so for the past month or so we've been taking care of him. Showed up to the entrance to our den holding a picture of you." He continued to explain until we got to a junction. "He was talking in broken Equestrian a bit, coupled with gibberish. He was a bit of a hassle though, kept making noise saying 'I want Onissun, I want Onissun'. I had no idea what he was talking about."

I didn't know what to think. I didn't even have a brother in the other world. From all that I can remember, I was an only child, no brother or anything of that sort. If I did have a brother, wouldn't he be a wolf as well?

"So where is he?" I asked as we stopped in front of a door. He knocked thrice on the door, in an instant, there was a loud clamor coming from the inside.

"Right in here..." Quaretzel cracked open the door. It all happened in an instant, the door swung blinding fast and I felt something slam into my abdomen, accompanied by a happy yip sounding like:

"ONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!" For the first few seconds of the after shock, it felt like I had been hit with a cannon ball, after that I remember not being able to breathe with the air literally squeezed out of my lungs. My escorts had to pry whatever assaulted me.

I gasped for air the first chance I got, and looked up to see the biggest pair of ocean blue eyes on a white fox face, staring right at me, its tongue lolling out in happiness.

"Onii-chan?" It asked, cocking its head to the left, "Why do you have oppai (boobs)?"

Author's Notes:

First of all, I want to thank each and every one of you for reading, liking, and favoriting The Blue Stranger, The Red Curtain. I'm going to be honest, when I first wrote this, I seriously had mixed feelings on what your reactions would be, ranging from the worst being "This is just some tragic Gary Stu bullshit" to "Not bad, will continue". I never expected that this would be hugely popular, even to warrant a few features on the front page.

I want to thank everyone in the CGoTG group for being there since the beginning, the guys on dA for helping me nurture my skills as an artist, and a big thank you to BlackWing, even though I've probably thanked you like 20 times already, here's one more. You and Rust have been a huge inspiration to a lot of us on FimFiction, and here's hoping that when our stories do have to come to an end, we'll all end it with the biggest sendoff that words can describe.

As you might have noticed, to commemorate BSRC hitting 400+ Likes on FimFiction, I've drawn some new cover art. You can pick up a High-Res Print of it from my Deviant Art page, if you want to show even more support.

Heh, to think that a year went by so fast, and I remember my first coverart was just a scanned in pencil sketch with Photoshop edits, and my grammar and syntax was absolutely horrible. We grow up so damn fast, in skill and experience, as well as in friendship and camaraderie.

Now I know I promised a 40,000 word chapter, but after pondering it a bit, I think that a nice teaser release is best, like an appetizer before the main course.

"NIGGAH, I WANTED TO READ 40k biatch!!!" I know. I know, but after talking with the guys on IRC a bit, they suggested I break it down into smaller portions, so if you want to blame someone.

You can ACTUALLY blame Mango and Zeta (Cloud_Surfer and Fordregha). That's right, we can actually blame Mango for this.

But this is still lacking for having had you all hyped up, and sadly with my senior year kicking my ass even more, I'm ashamed to say that the next update won't be until--and you are going to be reading this right--fucking December. But I'll be surprised buttsexed by Molestia if I don't deliver something that I can truly say is fucking beautiful.

Until next update, stay awesome.