I would have explained to the others how a fox was now present at the warren, but strangely enough, Eol, Ubi, and even Keith were absent from their usual posts, leaving me alone with what had his arms currently fastened to my back. After bringing him up to my room, and fastening the locks, I pried his arms off of my neck and gently set him down on a stool right across from the bed where I sat.

I stared for a long while, not knowing what to make of the situation, while the little fox stared back with big blue eyes and a childish grin, and four tails wagging behind him. I was never in this situation before, utterly helpless on what to do or say. He just stared, cocking his head to one side, black bangs swishing across his eyes. I pulled out the small case of my candy and asked him. “Do you want a lollipop, little cub?”

He fell off the stool abruptly. "BAKA! (Idiot!)" He yelled. <<I thought you'd know by now...>>

I blinked twice. <<Forgive me, but I don't think I know you. You see, I never had a brother.>>

“Hidoi! (How mean!)” He pouted. <<I'm So-ji-ro My-yo-o-jin! You're my brother!>>

I sighed. I decided to humor him. <<Alright then. What was our mother's real name?>>

He took a deep breath, and shouted, “Koyahayami Midoriino Senshuri Hanaza Myoujin!!!” I froze.

At first I thought it was a coincidence that this little fox had the same last name, even more so that he spoke japanese, or Neighongo in this universe. But only our family knew my mother's full name. But still, how could he be my brother?

<<How is this even possible?>>

His face turned solemn. <<*Sniff* You don't know me, because... I was never alive...>>

It was then that I remembered, years back, before that day. My mother and father had told me that I was in for a surprise, with mother making my favorite dish. I remembered that mother looked a bit different, and my father had said to me, with his signature carefree smile:

<<Soon, we're going to have another one in the family.>>

It was starting to make sense. But why now? I need to talk to Nora about this.

“Talk to me about what?” I nearly fell out of my seat with his appearance. Suddenly, Sojiro's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

“WAN-WAN-KUN! (Doggy)!!!” With a burst of speed, the little fox slammed into Nora.

“Him.” I said on the ground, having dodged the furry missile aimed at Nora. “You brought him back to life just to throw him into a dangerous world? How could you!”

He looked exasperated at my accusation. “The only one I had brought over was you, and that already took an immense toll on my power.” He looked uncomfortably at Sojiro nuzzling into him.

“Kawaii desu, (He's sooo cute!)” Sojiro cooed, muffled by Nora's fur. I couldn't help but smile, he reminded me of when I was a child and would do the same thing. All of a sudden, Nora grit his fangs, filled with an ungodly anger.

“I think I have an idea of who did this,” he growled. “If I can preserve my strength for a while, I can bring him back to his natural domain.”

Sojiro's ear perked up and then he barreled into me now. <<NO! I don't want to go! I wanna stay with my brother!>> He looked up at me with endearing eyes, wide and teary. My heart melted. I picked him up in a warm loving hug.

“It's okay, you can stay for a bit. I'll protect you...” Just then I felt a squeeze in my chest, I looked down to see him squishing my breasts.

<<Heehee, you're squishy, like marshmallows.>> My mind went completely blank. The door opened with Ubi and Keith walking in, my gaze snapped to them.

"And that, Ubi, is how you pick a-" Their jaws dropped, smashing through the ground.

“I... he... you... boobs... what?” Keith stuttered. Ubi fainted with blood gushing from his nose.

The room was still for several seconds, until I cleared my throat. “Ahem, this is Sojiro... my brother.”

Keith reached down to pick up his jaw from the floor and snapped it back in place. “Okay, and why is he grabbing your tits?”

“I-um-well... I don't know.” By definition, I would consider this an awkward moment. I suddenly heard a snore below my chin and lo and behold, the poor fox fell asleep with his little black nose right between my breasts.

Keith snickered. “Dude, if that isn't the cutest motorboat I've ever seen, I don't know what is.”

I gave a sharp glaze to Keith before setting Sojiro down on my bed, pulling the covers over him, and tucking him in. I slumped down into a chair at the other end of the room, rubbing my temples.

“There's a fox in my room who is apparently my brother, Ubi's unconscious, and Eol is nowhere to be seen. It seems that everytime I get my priorities straightened out something just happens to pop up...”

Keith looked at me with an embarrassed grimace.

“Something else just popped up, didn't it,” I asked bluntly.

Keith nodded sheepishly. “Shit happens in a week. And, ahem, I just got a letter in the mail... and... well...”

“No... don't tell me...”

He gulped. “It's from Rainbow Dash. For some reason, she's coming here, like now.” The world sped up around me at light speed, the room started to swirl, and I felt my entire life going down the shitter at that very moment, that against all restraint I couldn't help but utter:

“... Fuck...”

I had planned to find a cure for this, research this in time for the ball, being able to turn back to normal, been able to prepare to see her again, but GOD-FUCKING DAMMIT! WHY NOW?!

I slid out of the chair in hopelessness, contemplating confronting her looking like this.

“Damn, that bad huh...” He said, barely audible as I felt the weight of the world pressing me down into the ground.

I could bear having half of Gem Fido ogle me out of instinct, I could bear the sexist puns that Varg made every so often, I could even bear the wolf whistles that rang out every time my hips swayed in the caverns, but for her to see me like this...

Words and phrases rang through my mind of what she would say if she saw me. “Cross dresser, tranny, Oiran (she doesn't even know what that means), Weirdo.” Even worse, would she even recognize me? “Oh you must be Aoi's sister. Wait, does he even have a sister?” Welp there goes the farm, finished, my life was over, headlines ring out that Rainbow Dash is now dating a transgender wolf.

“Dude, it's not the end of the world. Take a chill pill. Heck why are you even so worried that Rainbow Dash is coming?”

“How about you get your gender changed suddenly, see how you feel.” He thought about it for three seconds then looked up in horror.

“OH GOD THE SHIPPING!!!” He clutched his head with his hooves and crumpled down on the floor. “WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GET THAT IMAGE INTO MY HEAD!!! MIND SOAP! MIND SOAP!!!”

This had to all be a dream, a nightmare, soon I was going to wake up, be back in my bed with a weird ass copy of me in the mirror and my gun in hand. Or I was delusional, that's right, delusional, and I'm really in a mental asylum for having broken down from the Bitsburg incident. (Hee Hee, tick tock goes the clock, Aoi's had his block knocked off) Or maybe this is just some cruel prank, and sooner or later Eol's going to pop in saying “Gotcha” with a camera or something.

“YEE-HAW!” I heard before the door busted down, with an orange mare with a cowboy hat, a lasso tied around Eol's muzzle, Eol himself bucking around like a rodeo horse. This whole world was going to shit before my eyes, and I was the conductor of the poop train.

The mare hopped off, and Eol stood up to take the lasso off his muzzle, panting and sweating before slumping to the ground in a crash. Her golden ponytail flicked back before she coyly greeted, “Howdy partner?”

Ubi took a sniff of the air from the ground and shot up, drooling. “I smell pie...” He hounded the mare, sniffing her from maw to tail. “*gasp* You're that mare from the Gala!” He cheered hopping up and down like an excited child.

“Apple Jack?!” Keith cried in surprise. “Mother of..." He pulled off his goggles in a dramatic manner, "... GOD...”

I looked up silently at the ceiling, contemplating suicide to save me from this madness. I might as well have, for the next voice I heard stabbed me straight through the heart.

“How's it going?”

Kill me now...

“Wow, this place is messier then hay in a tornado,” Apple Jack remarked. Rainbow Dash looked around, then finally spotted me. I shut my eyes, wanting to make the whole world go away. She finally trotted up to me and said:

“Hey, you must be Aoi's sister.”

Please... just kill me now...

“Nope,” I manage to squeak out. “It's me...”

“Abagaha-whaaa?” She gawked.

The room went silent again. A giant dog spirit, a sleeping fox, an apple farmer, two diamond dogs, a crazed gunman from the grassy knoll, a stunt mare, and a female anthropomorphic wolf all in a single bedroom. If you had told me these things could exist in a single nexus prior to me coming here, I would have thought you insane, but now I'm wondering if my mental health was as solid as I thought. But sadly, in a world where Murphy's law becomes a cornerstone of reality, it did get stranger and stranger from here.

"Well, I mean, you're... you..." Rainbow Dash blushed. "You do kinda look cute like this."

"Wat..." Everyone besides Sojiro deadpanned, who was still snoring underneath his blanket.

"I mean, not that I'm into that kinda stuff, I mean, um... Wow... You look great!"

=Keith=

Fanfic writers, START YOUR ENGINES!

=Rainbow Dash=

Smooth, Dash, dig your own hole deeper, why dontcha?

=Aoi=

I had no idea how I felt about this.

"Well heh, this sure does explain a lot now, doesn't it?" she mewled, rubbing her shoulder with a hoof.

"Boy howdy, you musta been through somethin' fierce if you got a hole where yer hood was."

"WHOA.... duuuude!" Keith bit his hoof. "I can't believe I just heard that from Apple Jack."

"Eh? An why not? Fer the record spinning, how d'you know my name?" Dash pulled the farmer's ear close and whispered something.

"Ooohhhhhhh... yer wunna them alien folk, arentcha?"

"Alien?" Keith scratched his mane. "I have no idea what your on about?"

"She means human, Keith," I said from my flat-backed state. He went wide eyed.

"You mean, they know about us already?"

"Well, it's kinda hard to miss a certain profanity spewing captain making headlines before the Gala," Dash retorted, pulling out a newspaper from last year.

"Um, Rainbow, where exactly have you been keepin' that newspaper?" At once, she looked down at her sides and, realizing that she had no saddlebags on, collapsed with her hooves grasping at air.

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW ANYMO-HO-HO-RE!!!" she cried.

"Damn, just about half the known fanfics in the world just got shot in the dark right there. Humans are the norm, ponies know that their logic doesn't make sense, Dashie's a potential bi, next you'll be telling me that you two were in a long distance relationshi-" A tap on Keith's shoulder halted him as Apple Jack flipped to another newspaper with me and Rainbow Dash at the Gala dancing.

Keith stared with a poker-faced look. "Well fuck me sideways." Keith pulled out a bottle of liquor and popped the cork. "That explains the panic."

Awkward silence filled the room, small sounds eked out from the gurgle of bourbon to Ubi constantly sniffing Apple Jack. It was the moment when you are unsure of what to talk about, yet you contemplate ending a conversation due to the immense amount of eventful circumstance that preceded a seemingly casual conversation. None had any words to say. A dog spirit was sitting on my bed, my brother sleeping just at his feet, my colleague drinking away the enormous amount of 'what the hell just happened', my other brother retrograding into feral behavior, my third brother exhausted on the floor, an apple farmer increasing in discomfort, and my close friend beginning to question her sexual promiscuity. Horror is a description saved for utterly grotesque situations, Disgust is saved for unsavory situations. Polarization of current reality? Overwhelming discord? No, none quite describe this moment more accurately than simply the word "awkward".

Keith had told me about these kinds of moments, and it was one of the few things he actually taught me. They are the moments where everything, social matters, life circumstances, personal aggressions, all come to a complete halt. One where everyone, regardless of status or state of being is at an almost unresolveable stalemate. The only noises come from small creaks and groans and sniffs and coughs and all other minute disturbances that refuse to allow complete silence, further attributing to this awkward moment. It is the ultimate vacuum that follows an explosion of unreasonable, unpredictable, and unfathomable events, that halts everything so that the world slows down to a crawl simply to register the fact that "Well, that happened". The panacea to such moments stems from something bold, something sudden, something to send a voltage o life back into the dissonance that preceded the moment. With Keith's mouth filled, Eol passed out, Ubi sniffing Apple Jack, Dash and Apple Jack clearing throats, Nora staring aloof, meditating on the paragon of the world, and Sojiro sleeping, the task fell to me.

.......

......

......

"You know what?" I began.

"I'd fuck me."

Everyone cleared the room except for Sojiro, Rainbow Dash, and I, my sudden outburst cued the group that the party was over. I clasped my digits together, staring at the ceiling. Rainbow Dash, whether spent from the journey here, or simply wanting to join me, flopped down right next to me, wings outspread on the floor.

"You know, I'm starting to think that you humans are more random than even Pinkie Pie, and that's saying something. Then again, I'm not really sure what I expected from aliens."

"Funny you should say that. I've been through the ringer of unforeseeable instances, yet I'm absolutely dumbfounded by this strange world of talking horses. I've fought a dragon, got drunk, got turned into a woman, met a crazy griffin hell bent on making this world his utopia, a secret agent changeling, fought an undead wolf and somehow won, pole danced, fought giant pony mechs, and is currently about to attempt diplomacy with the largest creatures on this planet. To not be sure what to expect of a universe based on a childish cartoon is a gross understatement."

Talking things out, things suddenly didn't seem so bad, now that the worst--at least of this issue--was passed, there was a feeling of inexplicable relief. I reached over with my paw and grasped her hoof as we looked at the ceiling, a surface which, for the longest time, I never noticed to be speckled with such awe-inducing gems that stirred the light passing through them and formed something akin to an entire cosmos before our eyes. Dark rocks took the emptiness of space, the gems became galaxies, and rainbow hued nebulas splashed across the textured stones. I imagined one of the millions of particles was earth, seeming so distant now as if just a fond memory.

"I've always wondered what it would be like to fly into space," she mentioned. "In my friendship letters to Princess Celestia, I added one or two letters to Princess Luna, asking what it was like to be part of the night sky. I never got one back, though."

"I've never been either, but some other humans have."

"Really? Heh, you humans get to do all the cool stuff."

"You may think that, but space has no oxygen, you'd have to go up there in a tiny craft called a spaceship that was very complicated, and compressed. One small slip up in the materials and boom: no more spaceship." I made a small ring with my thumb and foredigit.

"A failure in a part this small caused the space shuttle 'Challenger' to disintegrate before it even got out into space."

"Wow, now that I think about it, some of the things you make are pretty dangerous."

I nodded, "Guns, swords, weapons, nuclear warheads, scary stuff to deal with, even scarier up close. Heck the paranoia of the '60's had people fearing satellites because of people thought they'd be used to fire missiles from space. But there are some things that can be really helpful, like vaccines to help your body fight off viruses, or cellphones to provide immediate communication. Keith and I got close though with these cups." I took out my cup and showed it to her.

"We cut the magic thread with scissors if we need to cut communication for some reason, and to regain it, we tap the bottom of the cups together. Keith's interested in wondering how magic works in this world. For me, though it may be something useful, it shouldn't be something to depend on."

She snickered. "Yeah, I can see what you mean. Twilight and her egghead stuff going on, she barely ever goes outside, okay maybe not barely, but still, she's got her face crammed in a book most of the time learning some new spell or something." She looked to the side and spotted Sojiro.

"So who's the shrimp?"

"That 'shrimp' is my brother."

"Oh, oops."

I sighed. "I just met him not long ago actually, came to Gem Fido looking around for me. I meet him and he claims he's my brother. Weird circumstances I know, but for some reason, I can't bring myself to just put him in another person's care."

She looked at him more and more, thoughts churning in her head before she looked back up at the ceiling.

"I never had any siblings, it was just me, my mom and my dad. Dad took care of me mostly, but mom. She often went up and left sometimes, here, there, gone, back. My dad said She was special, the fastest pegasus there ever was, but she'd always have to go away for some reason. One day I caught a glimpse of how fast she really was. I woke up one night and looked out my window, and saw her, flying through the air, then, she looked like she was about to do a sonic rainboom, but then. *whumph* gone, no trail, no boom, no nothing, just the air going *whumph* like kicking a cloud, except 2000% louder, and gone. The next second later, she was right behind me.

'What's got you up so late at night?' she said. I couldn't believe my eyes, she was so fast, she could flash right behind me without even knowing it. She was so awesome. Then one day, she went flying, and never came back. I saw her again a few times when I moved to Ponyville, chased after her twice, but every time I tried, there would be the *whumph* again, and she'd vanish into thin air. I felt that air once, when I was right behind her, then *whumph* but this time something hit me so hard I spun for a whole minute. It was like a force of a sonic rainboom in something as thin as a toothpick. That's why I want to be faster, faster than I had ever been my whole life, so that one day, I could catch up to her before she goes *whumph* and I lose her again. And when I finally catch up to her, I want to ask her one thing: 'Why did you leave?'." She sniffled. "Sorry about that, I guess it must be more of that sentimental stuff."

I smiled. "I think you can do it."

"Really?" She beamed.

"No... I KNOW you can," I asserted. I envied her. She had a dream, something that drove her fiercely to achieve something just out of reach. With enough motivation, a single man could dig through a mountain as long as he wanted what was on the other side. She had something I lacked. To be honest, I was content with living out the rest of my days here at the Oblong Tomb, with each passing day, I disliked the notion of war based on an ideological standard of me that stemmed from a legend. With each passing day, I could settle with simply doing errands, Varg offered to house me as long as I needed to. I could see it in everyone else as well: Ubi had found his mother, Eol avenged his father, Keith is content with inventing things and experimenting like old times, Sojiro--whom I just met--seemed oddly content with just having found me, and I...

... Well, I had a family again. It was weird, it was chaotic, it was even annoying at times, but at the end of the day, it was caring, it was loved, and it was mine.

It was something I had always wanted, aside from vengeance, it was what had dreamed of having once again. It was those dinners where we talked about our days, swapped stories, ate wholesome meals. It was those days at the beach, where we would collect seashells, except now it was mile long laps turned into casual strolls through the forest around the mountain's base. It was getting drunk off of wine and camaraderie, then waking up with the worst headache you've ever had, but the night before was so damn worth it. It was feeling the embrace of people who you knew you were safe with them, and you held them tighter to make them promise that they would never leave you. It was painting the ones you loved in Sumi-e and even though it wasn't perfect it was still beautiful. It was taking that long breath of cold winter air with someone beside you who was willing to suffer with you as you were going to burning sensations that made you want to tear your skin off. It was finding someone who you didn't know but didn't care because they were alone and didn't want to be alone anymore.

Yes, it was a family. It was my family, and her family was my family as well. So for me, it wasn't that far of a stretch to believe that Rainbow Dash could fly fast enough to catch up to her mother, if only to hug her, hold her, love her, talk to her, kiss her, cry on her shoulder, do everything that daughters do with their mothers because mothers should be there for their daughters.

One thing that I know as an absolute truth: If a god stole a child's mother and father away, she would wage war against heaven itself to get them back. Why? Because that's what love is.

In some ways, she reminded me of Elena, how she wanted her family, craved it, desired it, yet even when she couldn't have it, she made the best of it to make what she did have into a home. Rainbow Dash couldn't have her mother, and chased it every chance she got, but even if she fell just a breadth of a hair short, she still had something waiting for her, her friends: Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie and Rarity and Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle.

Even if she didn't have all of them, she'd still have me.

"Aoi?"

"Yes?"

"Do you still... like me?"

"Of course I do... do you still like me?"

She nodded. We turned to each other, looked in each other's eyes; Hers was cerise, velvet irises filled with a glistening soul. I wondered what she saw in mine.

"Rainbow Dash?"

"What is it?"

"There's something that I've always wanted to tell you." I could say it now. Not through letter written on a piece of parchment, but through actual words.

"Well if you want to say it then say it," she giggled.

"For a long time now, I've written all these letters, but they never quite told you how I really feel about you. Rainbow-"

"Heh, you can call me Dashie if you want to."

A light grin stretched across my face. "Dashie, I don't remember when the Gala was, but I still remember how we danced, tangoed, slow danced, and made the crowd go wild. But they didn't matter, only you mattered right then. I should have stolen one right then and there."

"Stolen what?"

"A-" I looked up and saw Sojiro wide awake, looking right at us.

<<Is she your girlfriend?>> My face went strawberry red.

<<Y-You...>>

Rainbow Dash turned her attention to Sojiro, her face turning equally red. "Oh-Um-I-Uh..."

<<Heehee... you two look like strawberries.>>

We sat up and tried to explain the situation, though we didn't really know what to explain or how to explain it.

<<Um... How much did you actually hear?>> I asked cautiously.

He put is chin on his hands, with a smug grin. <<Enough to know. When are you two getting married?>>

My jaw hit the floor.

"Um, what did he say?"

"Um, er, he said, um, that... *Ahem* Nothing... really."

Rainbow Dash started to giggle, "Haha, at times like these, you're a terrible liar."

I turned my ears up, looking around. "Oh, Uh, did you hear that? It's the, uh, lunch bell. Mmm, I'm starving, let's get something to eat." I grabbed Rainbow Dash by the hoof and zoomed out of my room as fast as I could.

"Wait, since when did you have a brother?"

"Since about two days ago apparently," I answered.

"I... guess that explains it?" Suddenly the actual lunch bell rang.

*SLAM*

The door slammed into the wall as Sojiro zipped out of the room yelling, "MESHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! (FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!)"

The door creaked sluggishly back to its resting place, Rainbow Dash and I flattened against the wall.

"He's a bit hyperactive..."

"Yeah," she mumbled, "I noticed." She pulled her nose back out to it's regular length and we walked towards the dining hall.

I looked over at her, worry pinched her brow together. I guess she was a bit uneasy, seeing this many Diamond Dogs. I reflected on their image on Equestrians. Here were suppose to be rampant slave traders, dogs who would kidnap without a second thought, but from my time knowing the other side of the story, I felt for both sides.

"I trust you were well welcomed?"

She snapped out of it and answered. "Oh um, yeah. I was just wondering about some things. One is well... you."

"Oh? What about me?"

"Well, kinda about how did you get a mountain this... fancy."

"It's not mine, per say, technically Varg's hosting me and my clan for the time being. Him and his clan carved out this entire mountain's interior, with the help of some of the refugees."

"Refugees?"

I nodded. "Refugees are rescued from select guerrilla operations. Whenever they get a chance to rescue, they'll take it. Griffins, ponies, even other diamond dogs have made their way here. I don't know what goes on in Varg's head, but he stuck to guerrilla operations until now. I'm not one to infer too much, but I think Varg's ready for an all out war?"

Her eyes widened. "War?"

"I'm afraid so. Delegations have been going well with some other dragons, and so far, 6 or so clans have joined our side or stayed neutral. Quaretzel's one who's neutral at the moment, though he is joining our side if we do spark a war with the other clans."

"Do you have to go to war?"

"I'm not, for the most part, but Varg's a bit battle hungry, he's even gone on some guerrilla missions just to be behind enemy lines. Not that I looked, but I think he gets a hard-on for war, he's just too 'noble' I should say to admit it."

"Who's Varg?"

"The owner of this mountain, he's the big undead wolf you may or may not have met; he's the Underking, the other clans call him. Now my turn to ask some questions. How and why did you and Apple Jack come here?"

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. "You know, the funniest thing happened, Apple Jack got an order straight from Gem Fido for about 4000 apple pies."

The smack on my forehead brought a few eyes upon us.

"Huh?"

"I think I know who place the order."

"Really? Who?"

"Nevermind that, I'll deal with it later." Although it was a major risk for her to come here during such time of discord, but part of me was glad she was here. Irresponsible of me, I know, I should have escorted her back immediately, but... I felt she was much safer here.

"When you you have to leave for Ponyville again?"

"Well, technically once Apple Jack's finished unloading the pies, but I don't see the problem in staying the night." She strafed closer to me, I could smell the scent of Equestria on her: free flowing wind draped across her wings, carrying from all directions the scents of tart apples, sweet cotton candy, earthy black birch, haute parfum, and slightly saline ink. I breathed in slow, allowing the aromas to fill my nostrils to their limit, and nostalgia grips me of the first time I went to Ponyville, and heh, Eol borrowing all those books from Twilight, the overdue fines must be off the charts by now.

God, how I'm taken back by such short but fond memories, and I can feel the joy in having visited such a happy and peaceful place. This mountain has it's share of happy times, though I can feel the tension bound sometimes in the opposition between these species that live with a rock over their heads. I can see that some ponies long for the open pastures of Equestria once more, and the griffin's aching to fly out in the open again. I wonder how long some of the refugees have been here. I know that some even had children here once or twice, their midwives being those of other species that at one time or another would have never given a damn about those different than them, but here it seems, as more and more years pass, the refugees here are torn between wanting to go back to their homelands, or to stay here with a family extended beyond appearances and genetics. We've come to trust each other more and more, who can see eye to eye on things. One person's random act of kindness to another has been the foundations on which the Tomb has survived all these years.

A pony walked up to us, Just Desserts, and asked me to peruse the menu. "The chefs have prepared a wonderful collaboration with Apple Jack on today's luncheon, and I must say many of our diners seem to be very excited about having Apples Shipped in all the way from Sweet Apple Acres. I must thank you for inviting them."

"Don't thank me, I'm not the one that invited them. If you want someone to thank, look for a silver diamond dog with a high collar vest."

"I will. But first, today's main courses consist of a delicious Shroomsteak with crumbled bleu cheese and garnished with scallions and a white melted butter cream sauce as well as a side of black berries. A little salty for sensitive palates, but perfect for someone who enjoys something robust with a bit of bite. Next course is another heavy one, succulent Mareghety Bay cod with a side of scallops in an herb butter pan sauce and cloves. Mild without the butter, but the texture just melts in your mouth."

"That's a lot of butter don't you think?"

"Well yes, but your doctors instructed me to provide you with a high calorie meal. I do tend to pride myself in not just slapping on a greasy burger to serve, oh no! Only the best of the best shall be made by my hooves."

I licked my lips at the mouthwatering descriptions. "I am glad to see that you have the dishes well underway, but what about dessert?"

He rubbed his hooves together with anticipation. "That's the best part, with the shipment of fresh apples, I've hit grand inspiration, for your private selection, a little bird told me that you were fond of sweets."

I snickered, "Guilty as charged."

"For dessert for you and our visiting mademoiselle-" He nodded at Dash. "I have prepared a rather homely dish that you might find fond of, I call it "Tengoku ni tsuretteite" (Take me to Heaven). Think of it sort of as a reverse apple pie, with fluffy choux dough with a warm apple syrup topping, there is an extra ingredient, but that's a class secret."

I was interested. "Oh is that so? I look forward to sampling this new creation."

With a flicker of pride in his eyes, he galloped away. I looked down at Rainbow Dash, who was scratching her chin now.

"Is something wrong?"

She shook her head slightly, "I couldn't make out half of what he said, but what I did catch made me hungry"

"Haha, yeah, chefs do have a way with words, don't they?" I looked back at her, she looked troubled. "But that's not what got you scratching your chin now, is it?"

She huffed. "I guess it's been so long, and so much has happened since we met. When I first met you, you didn't really seem all that high class, now look, you've got a chef, an airship, and so much more, and you're a girl now."

I pouted. "Did you really have to bring that up?"

"Well it's kinda hard not to notice."

"I won't deny that."

"But what's been bugging me even more was that... well, when you get down to it, I don't really know you that well. Heck it was a shock to me that you like sweet stuff, somehow I feel you know a lot more about me than I know about you."

"You're right. Tell you what, after lunch, we can go back to my room and catch up." I opened the door to the mess hall to see the entire den in an uproar, and bread rolls flying in every possible direction. Some asshat started a food fight.

"HIT THE DECK!" Dash pulled me down to save me from a wild croissant that hit the far wall with a splat, apparently it was buttered.

"What kind of a moron would start something like-" My eyes trained on the motion in the room towards a certain husky standing with a baguette in his hands like a rapier, riding a certain profanity spewing stallion.

"Eol?" I would expect this of Keith, but Eol I thought better o-

"VIVA EQUESTRIA!" I heard an accented voice cry.

"Apple Jack?" Rainbow Dash inflected.

Ponies, Griffins, and Diamond Dogs alike with yelling and hollering and laughing at the barrage of baked goods whizzing through the air like cannon balls.

"Maybe we should-"

"I'm gonna-"

*smooch*

Our lips touched as we turned to speak to each other. I felt my face flashing red with an intense heat, smoldering fire spreading throughout my entire body. A single instant, and then we both pulled away.

"-go someplace else," we finished simultaneously. I looked past her as I saw Ubi waving his hand to beckon us to a more private place. We went prone and crawled to the alcove. After breathing a sigh of relief, I wiped my forehead and asked:

"Do you have any idea why bread is flying all over the damn mess hall?"

He shrugged. "Cook set up in your room for lunch." He turned and faced the door. "I'll try to get things calm." He sniffed and shuddered before heading back into the madness outside. Rainbow Dash looked at me, seeming more confused than before.

"Is it just me, or is that guy a bit... off."

Whatever it was I didn't notice it. We made our way back to my room in silence, the moment just minutes before having zipped our mouths shut. An invigorating tingle made my paws twitch and my shoulders roll occasionally in their sockets.

"Is something wrong, you seem kinda tense."

"Just peachy."

She looked at me, dubious, "You're also pink."

I opened my mouth slightly to respond, but nothing immediate came to mind. "Well you can say I'm... getting acclimated to being of the opposite-"

"You're in heat right now, aren't you..."

I lurched forward at her blunt interruption. Backed into a corner, I nodded. She smirked and bit her lower lip.

"I'd tell ya it get's easier, but... well it doesn't. Thank Celestia Rarity let's me borrow her 'package' every now and then."

"Her 'pa-'" I paused. "Nevermind."

"Hehe, you know you're kinda funny when you get embarrassed."

"Who says I'm embarrassed." I looked away.

Without warning, she pressed close to me, sending a shiver up my spine.

"You're a horrible liar when you're embarrassed."

"Am not!"

"K.... BWAHAAHHAHAHA! You SO are!"

I crossed my arms. "Oh?! Well... Hmm... err..." She had me there.

"Relax, it's nothing to be ashamed of, we all go through it, and by we, I mean the girls back in Ponyville. Some... deal with it differently."

I was suddenly afraid, but tempted. "How so?"

"Well, this and that, with Pinkie... well... let's just say after she first went through it, we Pinkie Swore to never touch her 'special' pink frosting."

I gulped. "P-pink frosting?"

"Yeah, she dips her hoof in the stuff and-"

"JUST... asking for clarification purposes, no need to heh... go into detail."

"Oh, right..." She let a brief pause separate topics before she continued. "How have you been dealing with it?"

"Um... cold showers and... lollipops."

Her eyes went wide. "You mean you-"

"NO!!!!" I yelled waving my hands in a crossing motion. "I mean I just... take cold showers and... enjoy candy..."

"Oh... huh... that's a lot less... racy than Twilight, I mean she has this 'secret catalogue' and she-'"

"Are you sure you should be gossiping about your friends like this?"

"What? I mean we're all kinda embarrassed about it, but it helps to talk about ways to help. Hay, sometimes I-"

"That's enough 'help' for now." We made it just in time back to my room. "It isn't really good pre-lunch conversation, don't you think?"

"I guess not," she agreed, rubbing the back of her head.

I opened the door to unveil an enriching display of tableware. One way or another, someone decided to not only set up this fantastic table, but also to... redecorate my entire room.

"Are you sure we're back at your room?" Rainbow Dash asked. I closed the door and looked at the plaque, reading 'Aoi'.

"I... guess so..."

The curtains had been changed to rich red velvet, walls redone in gothic wallpaper with gold filigree, twisting and turning like gilded vines across the walls, I looked up to see an arrangement of mirrors to reflect the light from the gems, draping the room with ribbons of spectral light. The tablecloth was set with a tasteful off-white pigment, contrasting the room and augmenting the display of the fine china, paired with, amazingly enough, ebony chopsticks of the finest cut. I almost felt ashamed at all the work put into it.

"I guess it's a dining room now, heheh." Uneasily I walked in and pulled out a chair for Dash.

"You know you don't have to do that," she grinned.

"Why of course I do, a gentlema-" It hit me... "Oh... right then."

I took my own seat and unfolded a napkin, flapping it open across my lap as if making my bed. As I did that, the cook rushed in with a tray filled with covered plates, and in a flash placed one in front of each of us. The cook bowed and lifted the silver covers to reveal our appetizer.

"Creme of Mushroom soup, with pecan garnish and a mixture of porcini, portabello, and shiitake, as well as diced spinach for garnish."

I could tell that the chefs did their homework, opting not for silverware, but glazed wooden spoons, a humble touch. I clasped my paws together.

"Itadakimasu." Dash did the same.

I scooped up a generous well of soup into the spoon, the smooth broth sliding in, with infinitesimal black islands poking out of the creamy sea. I slurped it up, letting the delicious texture intersperse itself across my tongue. The aroma was amazing, like warmth from the fireplace and the scent of hot milk tickling your nose after a long day out in the cold. And the taste, my god the taste, it was like the soup Elena and I had in Paris: rich, engaging tones with an earthly taste, almost homely, and filled with the life of a garden, cozy and soothing. I rolled my shoulderblades as the soup slid down my throat and filled me with warmth. I looked across my next spoonful at Rainbow Dash, who dropped all refinement and grabbed her soup bowl in hoof and greedily slurped it down before catching my glance, immediately slapping her bowl onto the table with a guilty look and, before she spoke in her defense, licked her lips with a sneaky slurp.

"Eheh, whoops. Ahem. It-it's good!"

I smiled and placed the spoon on the table, grabbing the bowl in my paws and lifting it up to her, as if for a toast, and sipped, the velvety broth cascading down to my stomach. After draining it, I gasped with satisfaction, the taste of the cream remaining on my tongue, embracing it and refusing to let go.

"Ah!" I sighed. Before I could let the soup settle in my stomach, the main courses came in: The Shroomsteak.

The covers were hastily flung off to reveal a humongous mushroom cap almost as big as the dish it sat on. It was seared to a deep brown, with marks on it that made the appearance like a well roasted flank of steak, but still retaining its round shape. My head tilted and my jaw hung open in awe at the sheer size of it. Rainbow Dash's mouth began to water. I looked at her and asked:

"I take it you've had this before?"

"Well... once, at Canterlot, but waaaaay too expensive, but boy was it good." She slurped up the saliva dripping off her tongue. "MMMMM MMM!"

My belly growled at the sight of such a beast of a meal. My stomache sensed the behemoth and flushed the soup aside to make room. The scent astonished me, it smelled just like meat, and the butter made it all the more heavenly, dripping off the sides of the cap and marinating it, clinging to it and making it shine in the light.

I grabbed a knife, slicing off a small morsel of the Shroomsteak, lifting it up to the gemlight with my chopsticks. It sparkled, the piece was marbled with white fat, though I was unsure of how. My teeth enclosed it, separating it from the visible world. Thunder struck through me as the taste overwhelmed my senses.

"U..... mai..... (De.... Licious...)" The two chopsticks fell to the floor, clacking together as they hit the ground.

What was this? It was nothing I had ever tasted before. More flavorful than sirloin, yet more tender than rib cut, this was on another level. The sauce coated it with a brilliant level of savor, yet the meat filled my mouth with a well centered umami taste. I stabbed my knife into the pristine table cloth and ravaged the shroomsteak with my bare paws, tearing into it with white canines, tearing off entire chunks of this beautiful roast, engorging myself on its wondrous piquancy, relishing in every mouthful. My eyes rolled backwards as pleasure engulfed me. A large chunk of the shroomsteak hit the bottom of my stomach with a satisfying plunk. My lips drew backwards as my tongue cleaned off a stain of butter from my maw.

I slapped the plate down on to the table, with Dash looking at me as if I had a wild, insatiable look.

"MOA- Ahem... more please." I ordered from one of the waiters. They brought in the next trolley, somewhat fearful now, and this time, the plates were huge, stuffed to the edge with white cod meat basted in a golden brown butter pan sauce. I wasted no time in getting replacement chopsticks and picking up a white, flaky bite. Just Desserts was true to his word, it melted in my mouth, my shoulders pinched together in petite enjoyment. The fluffy meat seemed to dance on my sense of taste, a bewildering contrast to the shroomsteak. I picked up another bite and popped it playfully into my mouth, rolling the white flesh around with my tongue to enjoy the silky, delicate, texture. If clouds were made of meat, then I could only describe it as a white cumulus, hearty yet refreshing.

A heavenly warmth began to build inside me filling me with energy. I shivered and let out a light giggle. I looked across to Dash to see her face smacked right in the middle of the filet, quiet munching noises muffled by the pile of fish. I could help but burst out in laughter.

She looked up. "What's so funny?"

"Heeheee you're covered in it..." I snorted. Bits of white fish were glued to her face.

It was like all sense of pressure and anxiety had been replaced by an overwhelming sense of giddiness and debauchery. Another wild emotion was welling up inside me, indescribable, it was weird, but so intense. Ebullient? Effervescent? Flamboyant? Filled with joie de vivre? No, none quite described it exactly. I felt kinda foolish that the only word that came the closest was... fluffy.

Yes... fluffy, It was like I was a warm blanket that I wanted to cover myself in and feel my own softness. I hugged myself as I laughed, almost falling out of my chair. I brought my arms behind my locks of hair and fluffed them out, patted my cheeks, rolled up my sleeves, sprawled out over the table and banged it.

"Um... are you... okay?"

"I don't know," I cackled. "I just feel so fucking wonderful!"

After the feeling subsided and I sighed in a well deserved break from my fit of laughter, I felt inexplicably light, yet deep inside still wanted something, craved something, something to finish this grand meal off.

"I don't know why, but I feel really really, MMM, I don't know what's the word for it... Oh well." I felt not a care in the world save for this shared moment. As the fluffy feeling subsided more and more, and I gazed back to Rainbow Dash, I felt more and more... intimate.

"So when did you have the Shroomsteak?"

Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her chin, blue brow furrowed in thought. "I think last time I was at Canterlot for the Dinner for the Wonderbolt Academy Upperclassponies. But is sure didn't hold a candle to this." After finishing her filet she kicked back and put her rear hooves on the table and belched. "I might visit more often just for the food."

I grinned and followed in kind, burping loudly, so loudly that an unchewed piece of filet popped out of my throat and landed with a splat on the table. We looked at it for a split second, then burst into laughter.

"Good one!"

I wiped my mouth with a napkin, my face feeling flush from all the excitement from the past ten minutes. It left me wondering what was next on the menu.

Oh right! Dessert!

As soon as the thought popped into my head, a group of waiters came in, swept up our dishes and presented the final course: The supposed 'Take me to Heaven'.

The covers were unveiled to reveal a plethora of pastries, looking so light that a breath could cause them to crumble. The pastry was glazed and puffed and topped with a honey toned syrup, looking so sweet that you could taste the sugar that went into it just from smelling it. But aside from the wash of the initial sweet aroma, there then came a vivid new scent, one that filled both our nostrils to capacity. The scent was a homely bouquet of many things too combined to describe in comparing one thing or another, except in the scent of apples. We both shuddered at this intoxicating feast for our sense of smell, our mouths instantly watered. An old feeling returned, one that a week before had dominated my thoughts to the brim, one I had fought against with tooth and nail, but now allowed to well up inside me, a haughty, guilty fire inside me. I took a deep breath of the scent once more, my eyes fluttered and even with the filet and shroomsteak, a hunger more fierce than any in existence begged me to devour these dollops of pure joy.

I looked up at Rainbow Dash to see her, eyes half lidded, face a mix of blue and pink. Her expression was like a dream like state, fawning over the dessert before she even had a taste. Feeling a pang of pity, i lifted one up and guided it to her gaping mouth. She closed her lips around my fingers with a salacious moan, her wings unfurling into fluttering forms dancing with the utmost joy. I freed my fingers from her mouth, a strand of syrup tying the two together, slowly drooping in a sugary arc before snapping soundlessly.

I closed my eyes and opened my mouth, my tongue extending out as if rolling out a red carpet. I peeked with a slitted gaze as her hoof, holding a sample of the delight, placed it on my tongue. I receded and bit down on the pastry, and suddenly I was consumed with ecstasy in its purest form. A luxurious taste beyond anything conceived in my wildest dreams flowed in torrents of bliss across my mouth. Tastes morphed into such delectable forms so fast that I had only enough time to savor one for an instant before another took its place leaving me unable to describe a single one. My body was riveted by this sensation; I held myself tight; my legs crossed and I was left cold yet burning hot all at once. The same induced moan that Rainbow Dash had borne now echoed from my lips. I grabbed the table to retain my grasp on reality to prevent from ascending to a heavenly state, if only to have more of this... this...

Take me to heaven!

My paw shook as it reached for another one, grabbed it, and quickly delivered it to my mouth, lips wrapping around my finger, sucking my claw to retrieve every last bit of the sticky syrup from my fingers. A jolt of pleasure made every strand of fur stand on end. The fire within me grew fiercer still, craving more. I slowly drew my tongue across my teeth, making sure I tasted every single molecule of the dessert.

My legs unknowingly drew outward and touched Rainbow Dash's hooves. My eyes shot open as she did the same.

"Um... It feels kinda cold in here."

Rainbow Dash flapped once. "Funny, I was thinking the same thing." She scooted her chair around the table, and I do the same, until we both meet in the middle, side by side. I could feel the warmth of her body as she wrapped a wing around me. I snuggled close to her, and grabbed another pastry.

"Care for another?" She looked at me with an amatory gaze.

"I'd love another." She bent down and consumed it right from my paw, licking it clean of the syrup. I spied an ichor drop hanging from her lower lip, and I craned her neck up with a finger and drew my tongue against it, cleaning it off, and tasting the golden aromatic flavor of apples.

A welcoming tension brought my legs together. I wanted to keep this feeling, not the previous feeling I had once struggled against, but the feeling it had transformed into, something that made my heart race, something tempering my core into uncharted emotions that pumped blood through my veins with the crashing, thundering force of tidal waves.

We took turns feeding each other this culinary marvel. Each pastry grew in flavor and intensity, the warmth between us growing ever bolder and more untamable until it grew into a rambunctious flame between us. The very last piece of heaven sat on the plate, glimmering like a trophy that we both had won. She grasped it between her lips, and held it out to me.

I panted, slowly opening my jaws to accept her gift. My heartbeat accelerated to astronomical levels, as if it would explode and engulf us. Every fiber of muscle in my body tightened into a bundle, constraining something that pounded my insides, begging, pleading to be let out. My lips enveloped the slice of heaven and contacted with Rainbow Dash's lips.

Like a dam that could take no more, the last pastry erupted into a sea of immeasurable elation, my tongue shooting out of my mouth and into hers to lap up every single drop of euphoria, and hers invading mine to do the same. Her wings shot out and feathers broke free and fluttered to the ground. And all at once, every muscle in my body tightened to a constricting level then released. Heartbeats pulsed throughout my body and blood rang through my ears as if church bells ringing in jubilation. I grasped her tighter around me and continued to suck that precious heavenly sauce, rapture expanding through me at exponential rates until I felt a burst of release that prompted me to stand and lift her up into the air, holding her tighter than anyone I had ever held before...

*Squish*

Everything stopped. I sat her down, my legs wobbled as I did so. I landed with a plop back into my own chair. I gasped for air.

"What was that?" She asked, puzzled at the noise she just heard.

I paused, felt something wet underneath my kimono, and fearful of what it might be, I immediately excused myself.

"Pardon me... I need to go to the bathroom." And with that, I rushed out the door.

=Keith=

3...2...1... Cue Aoi.

*BAM*

Right on time. Aoi ran down the hallway, grabbing a towel and wrapping herself in it. Yup, thar she blows... I grabbed my sunglasses, donning them sportingly.

"Houston..." I said to myself, taking a shot. "We have noooooooooooo problems..."

=Aoi=

Here I was, sitting in a freezing pool of water just outside the mountain.

When I tried to find a common lavatory to "wash up", I had unwittingly attracted the largest conga line of male diamond dogs, tailing me with pheromone-dumbed expressions and anatomical responses to match. I quickened my pace to lose them but they just kept equal distance with me. I broke into a run, undoing my obi to free my legs to flee, fuck modesty. I ran through to the messhall to try and escape through one of the double doors to an escape cavern, but that just made the entire crowd double in size following me.

"UBI! EOL! HELP ME!!!"

At once Ubi saluted with a bloody nose on his face and whispered something to Apple Jack. The farmer put on a sly look and out of nowhere brought out a ginormous cart. WIth a slanted accent, she called with grand volume:

"WHO WANTS APPLE PIE!!!" She drew back the red covers to unveil stacks upon stacks of the Famous Apple Pie, The gorgeous smell hit me, tempting me to pull back speed, but I grabbed a scrunch of my kimono and blocked out the scent with my nose, continuing to run. The tactic worked, every diamond dog pursuing me suddenly turned 90 degrees towards the mountain of pies, suddenly jumping into the air to dogpile onto the cart. I glanced back and could see Ubi shed a small tear for the sacrifice of the pies...

It all made sense to me as I turned back to smash through the double doors, through the rocky tunnels, and out into Gem Fido, unceasing my pace as I dove into the nearest frozen lake where I now sat, breathing heavily.

After the thrill subsided, I felt a pang of sympathy for Ubi when I pieced together the information gathered. It was in fact he who ordered the pies, and to sacrifice the only non-diamond food he could actually enjoy for my sake, it was touching.

I could not let his sacrifice be unrewarded, I made a mental note to treat him to however many pies he wanted one day. But for now, I breathed a sigh of relief as I sat in the icy pool, which began to steam from the unexplained heat still churning throughout my body.

I leaned back, feeling my lower body slowly becoming cool and refreshed, pondering what happened that suddenly made me wet myself, and why every male in the warren suddenly became so viciously attracted to me right afterwards. Often they would court me, but at a respectful distance, but just then, they had eyes like wild hunters, driven not by prey, but passion.

Whatever had happened back at lunch, it made me feel amazing, and the burn of estrus was near completely gone. Was it something in the food? Most likely, but what? With my obi left behind, I couldn't tie back up my kimono, so I left it as it was, content with being alone with my thoughts.

I felt a bit sick, having left Rainbow Dash at the table. She must have been wondering where the hell I was. I grimaced at the thought that what had spewed from my lower front might have gotten on her. Shame weighed down on me as I dove my head into the water, cursing myself for acting so foolish. What the fuck got into me?

During the whole meal, I didn't feel like myself. It was as if I had breathed in some hallucinogenic miasma and "tripped out" like Keith. Did the chef spike the meal with something? It could have been aniseed. Yes, Aniseed that was it. I must have gone tipsy over that! No, maybe not, else I'd still be tripping. My head hurt and I resurfaced to grab a gasp of air, forgetting that my head had been submerged. I plopped backwards into the pool, muzzle barely poking out of the surface. I blew bubbles out the corner of my lips, watching as they floated to the top.

The temperature continued to drop, but slowly, easing back to crisp levels of frost on the surface.

"Blaaaaaaaaaaaah," I blubbered. Responsibility abandoned me, and I simply felt content to just mull over slowly disappearing thoughts.

"ACHOO! *sniff*"

"What in tarnations possessed you to go to sleep in a puddle 'o water?" Apple Jack asked me. I had woken up in my own bed soaking wet with a heated water bottle on my forehead curled up in a multitude of blankets. Apparently I had fallen asleep, how I had managed to fall asleep in a pool in freezing weather was beyond me.

"But it was soooooo comfy!!!" I debated, still delusional. I dribble of snot oozed from my nostril, and I brought it back with a ruddering snort.

"Dude, Ice water is far from cozy, not to mention your jubblies were peeking..."

"My pie..." I heard a whisper, I craned over to see Ubi weeping in the corner of the room, Eol patting him on the back.

"Aww quit yer bellyaching, can't you see Aoi needs some rest."

"I want ice cream," I moaned.

"And we lost him."

"You mean her?"

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW ANYMORE!!!" Another one fell victim to the day's confusing melodramatic events. I drifted off to sleep again.

=Eol=

"Cheer up, Ubi, you did a good thing."

"B-But, but..." He sniffled, looking at me with big, blue watery eyes. Ubi always did put on that rough, cold exterior of his, but in rare situations, he was just a huge softy at heart.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Scratch that, more like a big baby. I picked him up like the pup he was and carried him down to his mama.

"Oh Miss DUUUUUUST! Your son needs you." His mother--and I'm still wondering how in the world she's his mother--immediately got off her bed of diamonds and grabbed him from me.

"Oh, my poor baby, now you tell me what's the matter." Good gods, any more coddling nonsense talk and I would be puking rainbows.

"Believe it or not, we ran out of apple pie. He seems to like that stuff a lot."

"*Hic* *Hic* Shut up! It was good pie!"

I stuck a claw in my open muzzle and, with my work complete, headed to the quarry.

The quarry was a massive room that held boulders of different shapes, too big to move too far, and two hard to break into little chunks. Varg said all these boulders had been accumulating since the Oblong Tomb was founded. One of the mysterious stones were these greenish gray pillars. He said he found those, and no tool could ever begin to even chip the stone, let alone break it. After Varg yelled at me for collapsing an off-way tunnel from practice, I moved to the quarry to continue my practice.

"You wanna break your knuckles trying to smash 'em, I won't stop you."

I had made a lot of progress over the time Aoi was out with whatever was wrong with him. I held up my arms and curled up my paw in a fist. So far, Wolfe's Law was holding strong. I walked up to a pillar two hundred times my size. I pulled my arm back, and let it fly into the stone. A few cracks traveled up halfway to the top.

"Tch." I wiped my nose with a thumb, slowly going over to a pile of obsidian.

I tossed a chunk up, black glazed surface reflecting strips of light, and sent it down the hatch. I gagged and made a crude face. They tasted just like I imagined shit would taste like, with a gritty texture that would send most dogs puking for days. I read about how dragons get their colored scales, with dragons eating diamond and obsidian. Diamonds were like frosted cakes to most diamond dogs, so that was no problem, though it didn't seem to help me much. It was obsidian that I needed. Lots of it.

Varg wasn't wrong, I had broken my knuckles thousands of times on these damn pillars, I had no idea what the bark they were made of, but when I first started punching them to test them out, DAMN did my knuckles bleed. Before I could smash through blocks of iron with no sweat, but these stubborn pillars didn't even so much as tilt even in the slightest. I use to go in Stitch's office and have him string up my paws every time the skin broke from whaling on them. But whenever I broke an arm bone, cracked a shoulder, or even shattered every bone in my entire paw, I would cram the black shit stones till I was begging myself not to eat another one. It was worth every crumbly, gritty flake of obsidian. Seven months straight I had made my diet of just obsidian, and a daily routine of punching these barking pillars, slammed my fist into each one until I could feel the bones inside my arm just beginning to give, then snarf down more obsidian.

It wasn't until a month ago, that it all paid off, I managed to shatter the very smallest of the pillars, and when it did, I felt so damn proud. I remember exactly when. It was about twice my height. I finally managed to get a small crack in it, then another, then a fault, then a chunk off. My arms were tired as noon-day naps, but I felt just one more punch would do it. And I wasn't wrong. It shattered in a sparkle of green and silver. By that time, my arms had grown into massive clubs, and you could throw an entire stalactite at me, and I could flick it and make it explode into nothing but calcium dust.

My arms stopped growing, just barely touching the ground when I stood upright, but I could still feel the muscle and bone getting stronger underneath the skin. I worked my way up from the pillars, shattering each one more massive than the last. There were two pillars left, the one I was currently working on now, and another one, embedded deep in the mountain itself.

"Heh, I wonder what Aoi'd say now?" It was a year ago, I know, but damn did it feel good when I first punched that black dragon's face. Sure I only made a small crack, and the scales on the face are much weaker, but it felt good. Not only the fact that I did something worth while, but I managed to actually help Aoi, and he was proud of me. Often I would think back of when he would hand my own tail to me whenever we sparred, and I'd feel so weak. Same with Ubi, who'd always speak in that damn monotone whenever he won. Sure, I wasn't the best martial artist, hell probably never will be, but I'll make up for that. I'll make up for that ten times over, one hundred times over if need be.

So you know what? I wanna get stronger, stronger than any other diamond dog of my kind ever was, strong enough to wrestle with dragons and win, strong enough to not only demolish their scales with my fist, but crumble their bones with the aftershock. Aoi can fight armies with his sword, Ubi's got that eagle vision range with the bow, but me, I wanna take on dragons.

I still remember when Hade ate my father, watched as he gnashed his teeth and made him disappear before my very eyes. I regret never getting the chance to kill him myself. But I settled with Ensin. Alphas share power with their dragon, and both of them look down on those under their feet. I want to make sure they feel it, feel when my fist contacts with their invincible status and completely obliterates them till they're dust. I want to see the exact look on their faces when they try to crush me underfoot, and I can yawn and lift their feet above me with ease, then thrown them flat on their backs.

I got the chance that I wanted, to take revenge on Ensin for what he did. But I have yet a debt to pay to Aoi. I still don't know what happened to him, but I don't like it. He's not himself. I want the old Aoi back, the wolf that I looked at in awe when he sliced off Hade's Head, the wolf that threw out Varg--an ancient wolf of legend--and became a legend himself, the wolf that took on an entire city by himself, and the wolf I was happy to take an arrow to the knee for, the one who took another arrow to save me. I hope Keith and I can find a cure for him soon, whatever it is.

And then... then... we can take on all of Gem Fido together. Ubi's got his mother back, so he's got no reason to follow Aoi anymore. I don't blame him, We're alike in some ways, we've had our only family stripped from us, though the difference is that he got his back, and I found a new family with Aoi. Ubi has his family, and I have mine. One thing's for sure, I'll follow Aoi till Tartarus decides we're too damn awesome to live anymore, and even then I'll be at his side when we claw our way out of it.

Heheh, to think I almost accidentally killed the person I owe everything to. And to think he's led us this far. Even when he didn't mean to, he's become one of the greatest alphas Gem Fido has ever seen. He's like a second father to me. I think of him like that in more ways than one. Hell, he even kinda smells like my dad. Maybe he was sent here by the gods to be the father to those diamond dogs that have lost theirs.

You know, it's kinda ironic. I could never rejoin my clan because I left it, yet now we're back together, a clan under Aoi. I caught up with some of my old friends. One of them was Rald. I never told Aoi this, but Rald was a friend of mine I had saved from a collapse that would have killed him otherwise. I think Rald forgot it, but I never did. Being in the mines, we didn't have much social lives beyond our family clicks, so friends just means you remember each other. How sad...

Eolus Lazuli Inura. A wonder that I could remember my own full name. I was lucky, many forgot their own names and so we often just addressed each other as "Hey you, dog!" or "Hey you, bitch!". My father said to always remember others' names, even when they themselves have forgotten it.

"It keeps us from forgetting that we are unique."

I sat down, remembering all the fun we used to have, the little bits of joy that I remember from when I was a child. Dad teaching me how to read was the greatest feeling I had ever had. Now that I think about it though, I don't remember a happy moment that Aoi, Ubi and I could call fun. We would always just go our separate ways, doing our own things, and end up together again. Aoi in his room, Ubi with his mom, me here. We'd meet each other for breakfast, lunch and dinner, sometimes go in his room to see if he needed anything, but once again end up doing our own thing. There was that Gala a while back, but even then, we made off with our own plans, me spiking the punch, Ubi getting his first taste of pie, and Aoi dancig with that rainbow maned mare.

I looked back up at the pillar, the down at the remains of all the others that I had destroyed. I felt sort of bad, having spent all my time just getting stronger, but never getting to have any kind of fun. To be honest, I spent more time trying to contact Elsweyr rather than getting to know Aoi. I sat down and took another bite of obsidian, the black oily, gritty feel in my mouth finally getting to me. I dropped it.

I pulled up the red collar on my vest. How long have I been wearing this? I don't even remember. Funny that I can remember the weird things in life, but not even how long my clothes have been on my back, or even what my hair looks like anymore. When's the last time I even looked in a mirror? I rummaged around the rubble until I found a large plate of silver, and finally gazed on my reflection.

It was hard to see at first from my blurred vision, but holding the plate closer to my face, I could make it out. My fur was patched and tangled in some parts, overly grown in others, and the tan mark around my eye was still there from when I dripped the potion into it, and my eyes themselves were the same topaz yellow they've always been. My hair was slicked back, greased and black. Huh... to think I could remember my full name, but not even have a clue what I still looked like. I flicked the plate behind me and rubbed my face in my paws.

Is this what it feels like to realize that you're lonely? If so, then I was really lonely. I was lying to myself when I said I caught up with my friends. I barely even said hi! The quarry suddenly felt colder, as If I was just becoming aware of how spacious and empty it all was. I stood up and began to make my way up to Aoi's room.

"Aoi? Are you awake?"

I was answered by a mumble under some covers then-

"OH MY GODS SOMETHING'S EATING MY FACE!" Before I knew it, everything was blacked out by something white and furry. I grasped around in a panic trying to get what was on my face, but it was always just out of reach.

"BARK!"

*smack*

And I was out of it. When I woke up-

"BWAH!" I fell backwards, tied to a chair. That white fox from before stood on my chest and shushed me.

"SHHHHHHH!" I swear he got spit all over my face. "Nii-san's sleeping!"

"What? But-"

"SHHH!"

"I wanna-"

"SHH!"

I looked at him. He was a weird fox, first one I had ever met in fact. He had long bushy tails that you could use them as paintbrushes, I'm dead serious. He also had red markings at the corners of his eyes and two red streaks on each side of his face, almost like war paint that some of the tribal clans wore. He wore something that looked like what Aoi always had on, except his was red.

"You, stay here! Nii-san's asleep, you no bother him!"

I groaned. I flexed my muscles and broke the rope around me, scrambling to my feet. Totally not worth it, I'll just visit late-

OH GODS MY SPINE!

He cannonballed into me with such force I almost broke through the door.

"No, be good doggy! Stay here, be quiet!" What the ba-

"Hey Aoi, I got you some-" No, please, Keith... save yourself. "Coff-"

Too late. the little runt somehow managed to pull of a flying neckbreaker to Keith.

"OH GOD, WHAT THE HELL!"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Don't worry Nii-san! Imma get you tea!" He walked over to Keith and picked up the mug, walking out the door.

"Well that happened."

"What exactly just happened?"

"I'll explain it as best I can, you see, lil kitsune guy over there has the mindset of a HUMAN--and I cannot stress this enough--5 year old. Basically, he operates on a completely fucked up system of logic."

"So....."

"I got nothing, who knows what that little ball of fluff is thinking right now."

=Sojiro=

"Imma get him some tea, then grab the doggy I caught and cook him up in a stew. Dog meat stew is good for cold, yup yup!"

=Eol=

"Why do I suddenly get the feeling I should get out of here while I still can?"

"You most likely should, the lil guy's packing some weird shit."

"Tell me down at the bar." I got up clutching my back and helped up Keith.

"Thanks, now let's get the fuck out of here."

We made it down to Keith's tavern, a bit classy with a hell of a lot of visitors, ranging from Pup nurses to old hounds that wanna bang 'em.

"Get me that weird blue wine you always keep."

"Can do, Toppa." For some reason, Keith always called me weird nick names, he said it was because Eol sounded funny. He splashed out a mug of the blue wine, I could smell it as it rained out of the bottle. Damn, it had a good aroma. A bit spicy to the nose, but smelled like blueberries.

I wasted no time in glugging down the first mug. "AH! So, what's up with the weird fox in Aoi's room that tried to eat my face off?"

"He tried to eat your face off? Huh, little bastard's hit Cuil Level 2."

"Cuil Level?"

"Level of abstraction from a situation, when involving a person's level of logic, you could say it's how fucked up his view of reality is. All conceptual of course. Cuil level 2 is where he thinks you're a tasty snack... or... something..." He pulled out a lit cigar and took a long drag. "The only person he seems to show some semblance of sanity to is Aoi. Huh... I just realized..."

"What?"

"Pretty fucking busy day."

He was right. Most days went by lazily at times, like we had lapsed into a dull routine, so much so that I forget what I even did most of the time. I got to thinking about it and realized it was as if my life was a story that someone decided not to write, or even more so just wrote it and ripped out the pages. The days I do remember are all days where something big happens, and I seem to remember everything from them.

"I guess so. Yo, Keith, how long have you been Aoi's friend?"

"Hmm, I'd say about three years now."

"Oh... you must know a lot about him then."

"Eh err not really, he used to be all shut up tighter than an oyster. But I picked up a few tit bits and- OH SHIT!" His cigar fell from his lips.

"What?"

"Almost fucking forgot. Eol, I'll explain later, we gotta go shopping."

"WHAT? Where the hell are we going to go shopping?"

"Why Ponyville of course!"

=Ubi=

"Aww, it's okay, here have a big, frosty diamond." I pushed it aside. I never refused a diamond, but this was an exception. It was right there in front of my nose, that golden hatched crust, that gooey filling.

"There there, what is it you want, clear cut, 64 carat?"

I shook my head. "I want apple pie."

"What's Apple Pie?"

"U-Um, pardon me muh-ma'am, but he means one of these." I looked up and saw the apple pony with-

"*GASP* PIE!!!" I bowled her over, grabbing the pie tin with arms outstretched. "YAY!"

=Apple Jack=

Boy howdy, that feller sure like Granny Smith's specialty. Not that any pony could resist it.

"Why, I've never seen Ubi so... so... exuberant about eating something."

"Well, Ah guess it may be a little somethin' about our homemade pies. Granny Smith always baked 'em with a smidgen of family lovin'."

"Family lovin'?"

"Heeyup." Ah put my sights on the white dragon. Never saw one that was neither blowing fiercesome smoke or tryin' to gobble me up. She seem a bit hoity-toity, but the nice kinda hoity-toity, all polite and stuff, not like them other dragons. Now that Ah thought about it, here seemed just like Ponyville, just looked different. Hay, even that Varg feller seemed mighty kind, an he looked more likely to eat me up than this here dragon. Ah wonder if it had somethin' to do with Aoi's whatchamacallit, Rarity called it something funny like 'Charisma' or something like that.

It kinda felt topsy-turvy from what we've come t'expect. When we met diamond dogs, they tried to kidnap Rarity, but here, they just wanted pie. It didn't add up right, but then again fancy mathematics musta been topsy-turvy here too. If anything, It's like we never even left Ponyville at all.

"Please, tell me more about this... family lovin'" The missus asked.

She took me with straight up surprise. Now Ah heard some weirdo thingamawhatsit about the missus dragon bein' Ubi's momma, but Ah ain't NEVER heard 'o any pony NOT know what family lovin' was.

"You mean to tell me, you ain't never heard of family lovin'?"

She nodded at me. "Please, I would like to know how your food item has managed to make my son so... captivated by it."

Ah tipped my hat forward. I know about family lovin' every vittle we ever ate together at Sweet Apple Acres, but Ah never tried to explain it. Never had to.

"Well... We..." Ah rubbed the back of mah head... "Gee, sorry ma'am, but... I can't."

"What?" She seemed rather taken aback by my answer.

"It's just somethin' you have t'taste for yerself."

She frowned at me. I gulp somethin; heavy.

"Are you with holding your secrets from me?"

"No ma'am, it's not a sec-"

"Very well... It's money you want isn't it? Here then." She took her tail and swept forward a giant pile 'o diamonds to me. "Reveal to me the secret of your 'family lovin'' and all these gems are yours."

My hoof banged my head. "Ma'am, Ah think you may be misunderstandin'. Family lovin's not a secret, hay, it's something you should already know. Ah don't know what it is exactly, but Ah do know it's in every home cooked meal that ever was baked good and whole."

"Home... cooked?" Sweet Celestia.

"Ah tell you what, You come by Ponyville one 'o these days, and We'll treat ya somethin' special. You and Ubi. It's the least I could do since Ubi went through all the trouble of ringing up so much business for the farm."

"Hey Apple Jack, we've got an emergency!"

"What in the hay? WHOA!" That Keith feller from before grabbed me and went over to Miss Dragon.

"Excuse me, your name was White Dust? Could you take all of us to Ponyville?"

"Now wait just a darn minute! Ah haven't even unloaded the apples yet!"

"It's a bit urgent, the apples can wait. Ubi, you're coming with!"

"MM?"

"I promise, there's gonna be pie where we're going." Ubi looked up at his momma with them adorable puppy dog faces Winona always gave me when she wanted a little treat.

"Now just hold on a second, why the rush back to Ponyville?"

A red vested diamond dog came up to whisper to me something that Ah Pinkie Swore not to tell. The only thing Ah could say was it had somethin' to do with Aoi. Ah looked back at him and gave him a proud saaa-luute.

"Ah'm in. Let's go!"

"Wait!" Ah looked back at Miss Dragon. "I shall aid you in traveling back to Equestria, I wish to learn all I can about 'family lovin'' as soon as I can!"

"Sooey! We got ourselves a ride then!"

Ah can tell you one thing that hasn't changed at all though: things happen faster than Twisters in Appleoosa. YEE-HAW!

Now where's Rainbow Dash?

=Rainbow Dash=

I felt like watching the clouds roll on by as the sun was starting to set, not really sure why, just did. This place was so different from the rest of the world. I don't know why, but this place is actually pretty much a tie with Ponyville on the happiest place on the planet. I mean, they didn't have a full blown Pinkie Pie, but I swear, not once inside did I ever see a sad face, dogs whistled while they worked, ponies seemed right at home even though they're literally living under a rock, and the griffins, I don't know why, but they feel content with not being able to fly out for risk of capture.

I know right, griffins content with NOT flying. The thought just seemed too unnatural; we have wings to fly, but to see them not wanting to, it may seem unnatural, but, I kinda get it. Whatever made this place so peaceful? I don't know, never been here before, but I did learn a thing or two.

I talked a bit to Varg.

"They're free to go whenever they please, they just choose not to. Do you want to know why?" he asked me.

"Sure, I've got time." I think that was the first time that I actually meant it. Even though he was creepier than the Everfree forest, somehow, he seemed nice, even with him being a zombie wolf thing.

"I've spent my time back on Equus wisely, making sure that even if I couldn't bring peace to all of Gem Fido, I would settle with making my own den peaceful. Except it wasn't quite right until a pony named Auburn came along."

"Auburn?"

"Or Keith, he doesn't care which he's called. But you really do have to give him credit. He has thought up some unbelievable weapons, but he's never so much as kill another. Granted he used that massive gun of his to fire upon an airship, but that was to direct the craft. Heheh, I'll have to admit though, he looks more idiotic than he actually is. Our history is a rather strange one. We were able to defend everyone to the teeth from invasion, but it was Keith who got every dog here to smile." So he kinda was a Pinkie Pie, but without the party.

"I'm confused, I thought Aoi was the one who-"

"BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH! Aoi, a peacekeeper? Ah, my little pony, you have yet to learn about Aoi. I've dueled with him, and he is a breed of war. He may seem neutral at times, but always keep in mind that like me, he's been a cold-blooded killer."

I gulped, feeling uncomfortable when he described Aoi like that.

"Aoi's a warrior, he will kill to defend what he claims to be his. He doesn't claim his title, no, he's too humble. But when it comes to something that I had lost long ago and can never get back, well, you can be sure that he will fight fang and claw to make sure what's his is safe."

He was rather a bit confusing when he talked. I couldn't really follow what he said, what with him bouncing all over the place. I tried to reign in the topic of Keith.

"So who is Keith or Auburn or whatever his name is?"

"HA! I'll be damned if I know. He came from the same place as Aoi, that's for certain, but he is a rarity. Keith's the type of person who has had morals geared into him from a young age, I can see it from a set of beads that he says he uses for prayer, to what gods I don't know. He drinks voraciously, better drinker that I am, and I'm dead! Yet no amount of alcohol could dull the lad's mind. I'll let you in on a secret. We have staged thousands upon thousands of Guerilla operations six months before Aoi came, each having to dispatch no more than ten troops each, and every single one has succeeded, minimal loss of life. And you know what? It was Keith, not Aoi that headed these operations. Aoi may have strength, but Keith has unbelievable knowledge at his disposal. I don't understand it either, but that's the way things are. My guess is that Keith is part of the reason why Aoi was so successful in his previous life."

"Huh?" Keith looked more like a drunken idiot than anything else. But then again, I might be judging too harshly.

"I respect both of them a great deal, do not get me wrong, but my sympathies do go out to him. Gem Fido hears only the Lunar Legend, not the Peace Keeper Keith. He pulls the strings of the background, makes sure everything goes right. Imagine how that must feel, to have something so great to your name, yet no one knows it? But, I digress, there's still a lot to be desired from the future.

"You mentioned that this place is similar to Ponyville. I say you're wrong, it's not like Ponyville, because it's more like what Equestria should be. Equestria is simply ponies and maybe a few griffins here and there. But look at the Tomb, In all my years--alive, dead, undead--I never thought I'd see the day where the contempt between species would come to an end, and yet here we are, with the greatest of fights between us being a playful foodfight with bread. I suppose I must also give Aoi credit for some things. He is a fine warrior, and being so, gives our other warriors who have lost hope a plethora of it, a chance to unite the clans as a general and maybe even in due time merge Gem Fido, the Dominion, and Equestria into a single unified country. Hehe, I'm rambling again. My apologies."

Humans are weird. Awesome, but weird.

Of all the stuff I he said though, the part about Aoi being a cold-blooded killer stuck with me. Maybe it's because I never saw him fight, but he never seemed vicious, more sad sometimes than anything else. Griffin I saw fight, and I couldn't get over it. In theory, It seemed awesome, but seeing it looked a mix between amazing and disgusting. If I ever saw Aoi kill something, would I be able to get over it? Could I look at him the same way? I hope it never has to come to that.

Part of me wants to stay here. Heh, after all, that lunch was absolutely positively delicious. But the other part, my loyalty, wants me to go back. I still have a life to live in Ponyville. I might not have gotten enough sleep last night, might explain why I'm so scatterbrained lately.

*sigh*

The more and more I look at this world, the more confused I am. I've never really known much about anything outside of Equestria. I've heard stories about Gem Fido and Dominion and slaves, but I've never gotten a chance to see them up close. Now, I'm looking at Gem Fido, the land of Diamond Dogs, the same race that kidnapped Rarity way back when. Here it's like another Equestria, so peaceful and silent, yet looking high above in my perch, I see it all: wasteland, dead forests, and smoke rising from the Bad Lands. Equestria's an entire country, but this... this is an island.

We were escorted here once out of Equestria's borders by an entire platoon of pegasi, safe trip here, and going to be a safe trip back. I wonder what it would be like, to be constantly in danger, constantly afraid. When I would do my stunts, it always felt like I was such a daring pony, but in reality, I had my own skills to comfort me. Then, out there on Griffin's ship, a fear had gripped me like never before as dragons attacked his ship. I could do nothing, yet watched on as Griffin ripped up dragons, cutting them down. I felt helpless.

Not even six dragons, Spike alone was a handful for even the Wonderbolts. It brought to mind how much danger Equestria could be in, and no one would be able to stop it. Suddenly all his questions that he asked me back at the Gala began to make a lot more sense.

Would you be interested in a dragon slayer?

I was... but not for the reason I thought. I... admired him for what he did, to do the length necessary to defend what he knows. I was willing to risk my life, go toe to toe with a dragon to stop it from breathing smoke all over the darn place. Slowly and slowly I realized he doesn't kill to be awesome, he kills because that's what it takes. If he wasn't a dragon slayer, he would still be the guy that kills to protect those he want to.

But why does he have to kill?

I drew circles in the cloud I was sitting on, trying to wrap my head around why. Changelings weren't hurt at Canterlot, at least not that I saw, but we managed to solve that just fine.

Then it got me right there in my noggin. Equestria can solve things without violence just fine. Why? because there's friendship. Here, where there's peace and serenity there's friendship, but out there? Out there in the lonely world beyond peaceful borders, there's no friendship, no magic.

I understood then. These are worlds that operate on different rules. Friendship becomes the magic that makes a place peaceful. Gem Fido and the Dominion don't have that, so they need to operate on different rules. Frinedship is gone, so all that's left is hate. Hate is what makes war, and war ends up with killing having to be the way to solve problems. I realized that in order to bring piece to Gem Fido, there needs to be friendship again. Aoi needs my help after all. I needed to go back to Equestria and get the Elements of Harmony. If we can use the Elements of Harmony on Gem Fido and the Dominion, we could bring back friendship!

It was a long shot, and dangerous too, but this could be the one time in my life that I can live for danger, REAL danger. If I can make this work, then all our problems would be solved, well... ALMOST all of them. This was too good NOT to work, I mean...

...What's the worst that could happen?

Author's Notes:

I tried a different approach to Aoi speaking in Japanese, any small text would be just straight Romaji, but with long speeches, any dialogue where Aoi's speaking in Japanese, as you might have guessed, would be marked with << >>.

Some foot notes or the chapter:
Umami is a taste that describes the meatiness or savory quality of food.
(Also don't worry if you felt dirty reading this chapter, don't worry, I felt dirty writing the damn thing...)

I also apologize for not being able to deliver on my 40k word promise, becuase. well... life. But no excuse, I let you guys down. In concurring ith the voting, next chapter will be a Gaiden Chapter where Keith teaches the gang about swear words.