The sound of steel wheels against steel rails was the only sound that I focused on as I leaned back in my seat in the train car while we made our way to Baltimare and not too far away was the mane 6 along with Joe and Celestia, who was here on a day off. It seems Twilight had organized this day and had decided to drag the others to come along with her while as for me I'm here because I ain't got anything better to do.

"So, have you been to Baltimare before? Because believe it or not, this will be my first trip there." Joe tried to break the silence by asking about the differences of our worlds, again. It wasn't unwelcome, but I always seem to recall bad memories.

"I have actually. But, it wasn't in the best of circumstances." I told him with a somber voice.

"What happened?"

"Caribou." I said.

"Enough said." After the story's I told him on that rock we met and our encounter the other day, we had an understanding of what those bastards were capable of. "So, Twilight. What exactly are you dragging us to again?"

"I told you. There's an open market that's rumored to have a few things owned by Starswirl himself."

"You mean to tell me you dragged us into an antiquing trip? Fuck, should've stayed home to muck the pens."

"Hey Joe, relax, you never know what you might find in joints like this." I said.

"The only thing I expect to find is boredom." Joe grumbled.

"So tell me princess, what do you expect to find at this market?" I asked as I looked at the alabaster white alicorn.

"First of all drop the princesses for today as you may have noticed I'm not wearing my crown today so if you wish to address me address me by name not my title." Celestia said.

"Oh how rude of me, please accept my most sincere apologies Celestia." I said with a playful tone which just made Celestia roll her eyes.

"Anyway Ash for what I'm doing here I'm enjoying a day off from being princess I was coming to Ponyville to interact with my faithful student but then she had the splendid idea to suggest coming to the market and since it has actually been quite some time since I took part in one of these markets I thought I too shall look around and see if there was anything I took a fancy too." Celestia said.

"Fair enough." I said with a shrug till suddenly something clicked into my mind. "Uh quick question but what would happen if you get off the train looking like that? Ponies will be flocking to us like moths to flame.

"Hm, you make a good point." Celestia said before her horn lit up the train car.

When the light dimmed I saw in Celestia's place was a simple alabaster white unicorn mare with a pink mane and tail while her cutie mark changed to that of a sun cresting over a horizon.

"While like this, call me Sunny Days." Celestia said.

"Nice now for the rest of ya royals." I said.

"What!" The pair screeched.

"Well unless you want to get mobbed you're gonna need a disguise right?" I said.

Twilight's horn then began to glow and her wings disappeared and her coat turned to a bright leafy green with a light brown mane and tail.

"How's this and I was thinking of giving her uh myself the name Forest Quill." Twilight said.

"Bravo now onto you King of Herot." I said.

"Ah no thanks I'm perfectly fine the way I am." Joe said.

"Okay then your call." I said before I took on the guise of a black coated unicorn with a long black mane with a silver stripe in it and when I looked at my tail and cutie mark I saw the tail matched my mane and my cutie mark transformed to become a scroll of parchment with a quill scribbling runes onto the parchment in what looked like purple glowing purple mana.

"What the hey!" Rainbow shouted.

"What?" I asked.

"You...you can turn into a pony!" Rainbow cried.

"And a handsome one at that too." Rarity said while fanning herself even Celestia was giving me the half lidded eyes.

"I'm off the market ladies." I said bluntly as I turned to look out the window and stayed there till Joe came over and sat in front of me.

"You're teaching me that along with your vanishing trick later." Joe said.

"Okay...anyway while I'm like this, refer to me as Arcane Scroll." I said.

"Whatever you say handsome." Applejack said.

Suddenly I got a chill going down my back and I saw Joe was giving me one hell of a dirty glare.

"Joe if it's any constellation I know how ya feel." I said.

After Applejack managed to calm down Joe we soon arrived at Baltimare where we got off the train and headed for the market.

"Ash darling-." Rarity began.

"Arcane Scroll Miss Belle or if you prefer Arcane." I said, causing Rarity to politely clear her throat and give me a nod in understanding.

"Uh yes apologies Arcane tell me do you happen to have any bits to make a purchase I only ask because of your lack of saddlebags." Rarity said.

"Not a problem Miss Belle Applejack paid me accordingly thanks to my work efforts yesterday and if it comes to it I have a few things that I could trade if needed." I said.

"But you brought nothing with you though." Rainbow said.

"To the naked eye it would appear so." I said as my horn lit up and a chest appeared next to me with a *thunk*. "But I know better."

"Interesting. A spatial storage. You must have a lot of management if you're able to keep something like that active for so long." Sunny said.

"I appreciate the compliment now excuse me." I said as I opened the trunk and stepped into it and levitated myself down the shelves and towers of knick knacks and whatnots till I reached what was considered ground.

"By Odin's beard what are ya some kind of hoarder?" Joe cried out from the opening.

"Nope, just well prepared for whatever the situation ah here we are." I said as I extracted a case from one of the shelves before I levitated myself up and out of the chest before closing the lid and sending the chest back into the spatial storage.

"So what's in the case partner?" Applejack asked.

"Oh, just a few pieces I made in my spare time out of boredom." I said as I levitated the case into view before opening it revealing a pile of jewelry that sparkled in the light causing a few of the mares to 'Oooo' but Rarity looked absolutely hypnotized.

"Ya'll say you made these." Applejack asked.

"Yep but these are of lesser quality compared to my other works." I said.

"Lesser quality! As-Arcane I know noble mares who would pay quite handsomely for just one of those items and you're saying these are of lower quality out of your other works." Celestia said.

"Yeah they're good pieces sure but I normally have a little something extra to add." I said.

"Ash how much would you say those are worth." Rarity asked while her eyes remained glued to the case.

"Whoa slow down now I need to see if there's anything I wish to trade for ‘em first but I'll tell you what; after I look around and if there are any left then you all are more then welcome to help yourselves to whatever is in here." I said.

"Really!" Rarity asked with sparkling eyes.

"You have my word." I said.

"Alright, what say we meet back here in a few hours." Twilight said.

With no complaints from anyone we each went our separate ways. I stopped at every vendor that looked like they had something interesting. There was even a wagon full of old books. I rummaged through that wagon till I scanned every book and even picked out some that looked interesting to look at before moving on.

Suddenly a glint of light caught my eye and I turned to a small vendor that seemed to be selling things that were pulled out of the basement or attic but my gaze was on whatever was causing the light it was an old metallic cylinder shaped container with a dome resting atop it and next to the object was an old sword hilt and some kind of ring.

Getting a closer look at the three items I began to recognise some of the patterns on them and when the familiarity clicked with my memory I thought might stop.

"Hey you gonna buy something or what?" said an annoyed voice from behind the table.

Snapping out of my daze I looked up to see a dark purple coated earth pony mare with a navy blue mane and tail with the mane tied back in a ponytail.

"Apologies for spacing out but how much for those three items?" I asked.

"You too huh." The mare said with a bored tone.

"Wait someone else wanted these? I asked.

"Yeah a mare no idea if she was an earth pony or pegasus under that cloak of hers but she seemed really desperate to get her hooves on it that's for sure but she didn't have enough so she went to the bank to go get a withdraw that was an hour ago." The mare said.

"How much for them?" I asked.

"Fifty bits." The mare said.

"What the fifty, that's daylight robbery!" I shouted.

"Hey you both seem pretty desperate to get these things now I don't really care either way what the value of them are to you but I'd be a fool not to take advantage of this but if you don't want ‘em the move on." The mare said with a cocky smirk.

Now I wanted to be angry at just how smug this mare was being but I knew that wasn't going to help me here and technically speaking she isn't doing anything wrong she's just taking advantage of the situation.

*sigh* "I don't have that money on me but if you're willing I do have some items for trade that would be at least more than fifty bits from what I've been told." I said.

"Alright show me what you got." The mare said.

Taking the case off my back I then showed her the contents and when she saw them she couldn't have gotten up fast enough.

"These ain't fake are they?" The mare asked.

"No. I found the gems and forged the metal myself. One of these is more than enough for those items." I said.

"Uh uh three for three you want them you give me three of them." The mare demanded.

"Don't be daft, you get to pick one item from the case and you hand over those three. Just one is worth double on what you're asking for." I said.

The two of us glared at each other till finally the mare backed down.

"Fine but I pick." The mare said.

"Fine by me." I said as I presented her the case and after gazing at each piece she then picked a diamond encrusted wide cuff bracelet with a bird engraved into it.

"Alright, the items are yours.” The mare said, causing me to nod before I grabbed the items with my magic and left.

"Hey, Arcane. What you got there?" Joe came walking behind us while carrying some sort of rug.

"Oh, nothing much, just something that caught my eye. What about you?"

"Just a rug that I thought would look good in the trophy room. I also spotted a piece of jewelry that you might find interesting, that is if it hasn't been taken already." Joe led me to a stall but not before turning back to the mare at the stall. "Ma'am."

"So, where's the piece you wanted me to see?"

"Over there by Sunny Days." As we made our way to the booth, I could hear Joe's heartbeat increase as we got close to the booth and Celestia. "Hello, Sunny. Find anything?"

"Yes, actually. I found these beautiful earrings that look like the sun rising over the horizon. The only problem is, they seem to be above my budget for today." Celestia stared at the earrings and gave a slight sigh.

"Say no more." Joe pulled out a bag that jingled with bits. He pulled out what was needed, plus a little extra to be generous. When he got the Earrings, he presented them to Celestia. "There you are."

"Joe, as much as I appreciate it, I can't"

"Consider it an early birthday present, plus," He went and put the earrings on her and I saw that both of them had a slight red tint to them. "They look very lovely on you."

Celestia blushed while admiring the new jewelry in the mirror provided. "Thank you, Joe." Celestia made her way to another stall but on the way, she swished her tail up and down Joe's leg.

When it was just the two of us, I looked up to Joe, with a raised brow. "Care to explain that."

Joe gave a small huff before walking over to another stall with me following. "It's complicated, with no easy answer or solution."

"Do you think you can at least give me the rundown?" I asked, hoping this wasn't leading to infidelity.

Sigh "If you must know, after the incident with Tirek and him almost taking over, we had a funeral for my father, who died at his hands. Afterward, I went on my own for solace. Celestia found me and tried her best to comfort me. One thing led to another and I wound up kissing her. After I did that, I expected to be slapped. Instead, she returned the gesture and we confessed our feelings for each other. I went to ask her if she wanted to join the marriage. The reason she hadn't said yes, was because she felt like she would be trying to take something from her sister." Joe said.

"I told her that she wouldn't be, but if she still felt that way, then she should tell Luna. Truth is, Luna already knows about her sister's crush on me but respects her enough to wait until she's ready to tell her. As you can tell, she isn't quite ready to tell her, though that doesn't stop her from flirting with me from time to time. I do the same to get comfortable with adding her to the marriage."

"I see, and what does Applejack think of this?"

"She's very open to it. In fact, she's probably more excited about the prospect of Celestia joining the marriage than anyone. But keep that under your hat."

"Sure." I said as I made a motion of zipping my mouth closed.

"Ash I know this may be a touchy subject still but what exactly happened between you and Celestia in your world?" Joe asked, causing me to look up at him in confusion before it clicked causing me to sigh.

"Well I suppose you've earned a right to know I suppose." I said.

"Wanna find a place to sit?" Joe asked, causing me to nod.

We then found a bench where we could sit and I put all I bought and the case on the bench before sitting down.

"Well how should I begin." I said as I looked at the sky so I could think about what happened.

"Take your time." Joe said.

"Okay well as you know there's a war going on right I got word from a spy of mine that the caribou were up to something with some old ruins. Naturally I got curious and went to investigate and like always I eliminated the opposition and rescued the mares obviously." I said.

"Obviously." Joe repeated.

“I then moved inside and soon discovered there were traps set up but the weird thing to me at the time is that they were all in reverse." I said.

"Reverse." Joe asked.

"Yeah as if they were to prevent anyone from leaving instead of entering now that was my first clue of caution but still I pressed on till I came to a chamber that held a giant amber crystal." I said.

"Okay, and instead of realizing that the place was a prison for something, you decided to see what the giant amber crystal was or had in it. Am I right so far?"

"Yeah but I figured if whatever it was the caribou had been so willing to risk death over then it wouldn't be a good idea to leave it behind so they could try again."

"I suppose you have a point. Alright, continue."

"Alright so I made it to the main inner chamber and then began to search for clues as to who or what this place was built for and why the only thing that seemed to have been a warning was a message that was engraved into the ground but it was written in old ponish plus magma had filled in most of the words making it impossible to read properly next thing I know some statues start shooting lasers at me causing me to duck and cover and shoot back to destroy them but it turns out the beams had also blasted apart most of the crystal. Next thing I know is this twister of fire where the crystal was and when it vanished there she was." I said.

"Who is she?" Joe asked.

"She called herself Daybreaker. She's an alicorn with alabaster white fur and a face like Celestia but her eyes reminded me of cooling magma and her mane and tail were made of flames." I said.

"Wait a second are you saying you were facing Celestia's darker half?" Joe asked.

"Give the man a prize but I didn't know it yet. You see when the crystal exploded I was still hiding hoping to learn of what I was up against but she found me easily after a brief talk that quickly turned hostile and she managed to trap me." I said.

"How?" Joe asked.

"By summoning the chains of Tartarus now the thing about these chains is that the stronger you are and the magic at your disposal then the more powerful the chains become. Basically they are the perfect thing to trap a god." I said.

"Okay what then?" Joe asked.

"Well she planned to take my head and use it to hurt everyone I care about but then suddenly she looked as though she was in pain and I realized she was in heat." I said.

"So she..." Joe started.

"Raped me...sigh yeah." I said.

Suddenly the bench and ground beneath me started to shake and I heard Joe growling. When I looked at him, his teeth morphed into fangs with foam dripping from his mouth, his clawed hands broke through the bench, and his eyes went from Hazel to blood red. "She...did...What!?" He yelled while turning full Lycan, making some of the ponies flee from us.

"Yeah, that's the expression I would've expected from you."

"But hey at least I can say that I now know how the mares who suffered at the hands of the caribou feel." I said, earning a slap to the back of my head. "Ow the hell dude!"

"Don't even joke about something like that!" Joe shouted.

"What else am I supposed to do cause bitching and moaning ain't doing me any favors neither is bottling it up." I said.

"Then take action. Find an army of the enemy, and slaughter them like...oh. It happened that day, the day you went on a rampage and almost killed Jackie, didn't it?"

"Didn't make me feel any better anyway. I don't relish in the death of an enemy no matter if it was deserved or not.” I said.

"I see. So that scent I said was a spicier version of Celestia's, that was hers?”

"Yeah. She marked me with her damn juices before having her way with me. I don't know how it works over here, but when a mare does that, it's to tell other mares to back off. She pretty much tried to claim me as property."

"That fuckin' bitch! I should rip her innards out from her snatch and hang her from the highest peak!" Joe then shakes his head, calming himself down. "Fuck, I almost sounded like those fucking bastards."

"Don't blame ya I said something similar once upon a time. Anyway it's my problem not yours but I appreciate your swiftness to defend me." I said.

Joe sat back down and sighed. "You know, Swagger and I had a friend back in Midgard. His name was Donnie Fenn, he was Swagger's spotter and best friend. One day, they do a job over in Africa and it costs Donnie his life. A few years later, Swagger was being hunted by snakes that hid in the government. He fought back and even was able to recruit an FBI agent to help him."

"In retaliation, a man by the name of Payne captured Sarah Fenn, Donnie Fenn's widow. He tortured her and... had his way with her." Joe's fangs returned after saying that. "Luckily, Swagger was able to shoot the bastard's arm off before he could blow her brains out. Sarah finished the job, using the ex-senator Michum's gun."

"When you went back with Spike, Swagger told me his suspicions of what happened to you."

"I'm not surprised." I said.

"You!"

Looking towards the voice I saw a familiar adventure mare standing before me who was currently disguised in her author getup.

"Yearling." Joe said in surprise.

"Know her huh?" I asked.

"Yeah but she sounds mad. What did you do to tick her off?" Joe asked.

"Nothing. This is my first interaction with her in this world." I said.

"I've been looking for you, buster hoof ‘em over." A.K. Yearling demanded.

"Hold on one damn minute." Joe got in-between us before Looking to Yearling. "What seems to be the problem, Dar- Yearling? What did he do?"

"Those. I made a bid on those items and then suddenly your friend there swoops in and snatches them while I'm off to get more bits at the bank!" A.K shouted and then suddenly Rainbow appeared next to the mare, her fangirl mode turned on to the max.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh hi Da-." Rainbow started only for a hoof to be inserted into her mouth

"What part of secret identity do you not get?" said the annoyed author.

"Wait a second, where did you come from Dash?" Joe asked.

"She was on a cloud above us while we were talking anyway ma'am these items were purchased fairly you were gone for an hour and the mare assumed you weren't coming back." I said.

"Well I'm willing to pay you for the trouble here twenty bits." A.K. Yearling said.

"Actually the mare increased her price to fifty." I said.

"What that's daylight robbery!" Yearling shouted.

"I know that's what I said but I need to know what exactly you want these for?" I asked.

"Those are relics from long ago. I don't know how long because they look older than the days of the pony tribes but they appear to have been made with modern tools and I believe that the canister holds the answers now tell me why do you want them." A.K. said.

"Restoration, you see these are relics of my people." I said.

"Yeah and I'm Princess Celestia." Yearling said.

"Uh Yearling, listen it's a bit of a story but you may want to hear my friend out before you go judging him." Joe said as he gestured to me.

"If you give me some time I can prove it to you." I said.

"Very well, if you give me some time to sign out of the place where I'm staying at I'll join you." Yearling said.

"You can stay with me!" Rainbow shouted out, causing us to just look at her with a deadpan expression.

"Anyway when will you all be returning to Ponyville?" Yearling asked.

"Couple of hours we plan to meet at the train station. I hope to see what else is around here. That good enough for you?" I asked.

"Perfect, I wish to see what else may be of investigation around here." Yearling said before she left.

"I can't believe it, Daring Do is going to be coming to Ponyville! *gasp* I got to show her my collection and give her a tour!" Rainbow squealed.

"And she's in fan girl psycho mode." Joe said.

"Should we pretend we don't know her and move on?" I asked.

"Yep." Joe said before he led the way.

"Hey Joe, thanks for listening to all that." I said.

"No problem pal." Joe said.

After wandering around the scheduled time came upon me quicker than I thought and I made my way over to the station where I saw everyone was there.

"Hey weren't waiting long I hope." I said.

"Not at all Arcane, we had all actually arrived not that long ago." Sunny said.

"Now all we need is our special guest." Joe said.

"Who?" Twilight asked.

"I'm here!"

Turning to face the voice I saw it was Yearling and she was carrying a suitcase and bulging saddlebags on her back.

"Hey great timing we're all on time." I said as the mare approached before stopping to catch her breath.

"Good I almost thought I wasn't going to make it without all this." Yearling said.

"Here allow me." I said as I lifted the suitcase from Yearling's back with my magic which was heavier than I thought. "Wow. What do you keep in here bricks and encyclopedias?"

"Some." Daring said, causing me to snort in amusement.

"C'mon you two, trains waiting." Joe said as he and the group were already heading to the train.

Galloping to catch up we each showed our ticket and entered a private car courtesy of Celestia where I placed Yearling's suitcase on the racks above.

"Okay what say we get rid of these disguises shall we?" Sunny said as she and Forest dropped their guise and I did the same startling Yearling.

"I believe you count in that regard Miss Do." I said.

"Wait, you knew how?" Daring asked as she removed her glasses and cloak.

"I've had my own encounter with you from my world." I said as if it were the most basic thing in the world.

"Okay someone explain what in the Tartarus is going on." Daring said.

"Take a seat." I said as I gestured to a booth.

Once seated I then began to explain to Daring about what was going on and who I am also filling her in on any questions she may have had.

"Whoa that is a lot to suddenly take in...but I'm lost. Why are you here in the first place?" Daring asked.

"He got raped by an evil Celestia in his world and then almost killed his Applejack. Now he's basically hiding out." Rainbow said casually causing us all to stare at her with slack jawed faces. "What is that not what's happening?"

Suddenly Rainbow is knocked backward by a boot hitting her in the face, a boot which I removed from my foot and threw.

"The hell is wrong with you mare you don't just blurt stuff like that out of nowhere for anyone to hear!” I shouted before Joe proceeded to strangle the mare.

"I'll teach you to listen in on a man to man conversation." Joe grunted as he proceeded to strangle the rainbow mane mare much like how Homer Simpson strangles Bart.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry!" Joe gave her a few more shakes before letting her go.

"Honestly, Dash, sometimes I think you do stupid shit like this just so I'll strangle you." Joe groaned

"I do not!" She yelled over at Joe before slumping in her chair. "I just don't know when to keep my mouth shut."

"Don't I know it. So yes, that's pretty much why I'm here, trying to run and hide from my problems."

Suddenly I'm tackled and hugged by both Pinkie and Fluttershy who were bawling their eyes out.

"Well done now you made these two cry." I said.

"I'm mostly sad because you're not feeling sad. How can you act like this when something so terrible happened to you?" Pinkie wailed.

"Maybe it's because it's not the worst thing to happen to me, let alone the first time it happened." I said.

"WHAT?!" Came the collective shout from everyone in the train car.

"Now to be fair the latter was more of an attempt but it came close to it." I said while rubbing my ears from the loud sound.

"When did that happen?" Joe asked.

"The age of the Pharaohs. I was a servant in the house of a noble man who was married but the wife seemed to have an interest in me. One night she came to my chamber in attempt to have her way with me but was interrupted by the husbands guards the wife feigned innocence and claimed I was the one who forced myself on her I tried to prove my innocence but the word of a male servant against a woman who is also nobility ain't worth much so I was punished. I was buried up to my neck in sand and left to cook in the hot sun. It wasn't fun." I said and this just caused the mares to cry harder.

"By the sun's light...and you're saying that's not the worst thing to happen to you." Celestia asked.

"I don't know whether to be shocked or horrified by what I'm hearing. How exactly are you still sane at this point?" Joe asked.

"I've had a lot of time to get over it I guess." I said as I patted the mare's on their head to ease their emotions. "Now change of topic Miss Belle I do believe I owe you a gander in the case I have."

"What oh no Ash after hearing all of..." Rarity tried to argue but I held up a hand to stop her.

"Miss Belle we need a change of topic and besides I gave you all my word besides this would all just be left sitting in that trunk if I didn't do anything with them." I said.

"Well I suppose." Rarity said as I handed the case to her before I looked at Rainbow, Twilight and Daring.

"Now I do believe I have something for you three since I doubt jewelry is your thing." I said as I opened a portal and out came three books each titled 'Daring Do and The Guardian's Tomb.' "A book from my world's Daring Do series about one of her adventures that took place with yours truly.

Dash and Twilight were quick to grab a copy before moving to read before I handed one to Daring and gave her a heads up about how in my world ponies are anthro which didn't seem to bother her.

Joe took a glance at the title and raised his brow at the number placement of the series. "Says here that this book came after The Ring of Destiny. What kind of adventure did you have?"

"Funny you should ask." I went and told Joe about the adventure I had with Daring and all the others. On some of the traps I mentioned, he would quirk a questioning brow or outright laugh. When I mentioned how Caballeron had a gun to Luna's head, he destroyed the upholstery with his claws. When I got to the end, Joe had calmed down and nodded. "Well, that was my adventure, what was yours?"

"Well, Everyone here, minus you Tia, and with the addition of Luna and the kids, went with Daring here to get one of the rings of Scorchero. Scorchero, being a fire giant that forged Surtr's flame sword with the very rings we were after."

"While on our journey, my stomach was sliced open with a fucking obsidian blade by Ahuizotil. Swagger almost had his lung pierced by the same knife while saving Twilight. My sons and I beat the crap out of Ahuizotil and Orion, was even able to slice off his nose."

"At the end of the adventure, the temple was turned to dust, Daring had her book, and Twilight and Swagger became an item."

"Wow, that's pretty cool."

"Thanks. So, those items you bought off that mare, you said they were made by your people, as in the Demonic Angels?"

"Yeah I have many suspicions on what two of the items are but I can't be sure without a closer look but I know that this is a wedding ring most likely worn by a woman judging by the shape and artistry." I said as I held up the metal band.

"Speaking of jewelry darlings Ash, I think I found two that I like but I can't decide." Rarity said as she held up a large midnight blue gem and a gold and silver necklace black pearls on it.

"Wait a sec." I said as I got up and walked over to Rarity, my eye on the single gem. "Now how did you get in there?"

"Something the matter, Ash?" Rarity asked.

"Hm...oh no it's just that gem well it isn't supposed to be in that case I must have placed it there by mistake." I said.

"What's so special about that one it looks just like an ordinary rock to me." Applejack said, causing me to chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"Have a look inside the gem." I said.

Doing as suggested Rarity, Daring, Applejack, Joe and Celestia peered into the gem and it was Celestia who seemed to notice it.

"Ash...is that a sun in there?" Celestia asked slowly.

"More than that it's an entire functioning solar system." I said, causing everyone to stare at me then the gem and then back to me.

"By the gods, we're Men in Blacking it!" Joe's outburst made us all look at him, wondering what the hell he was talking about. "Sigh In the first Men in Black movie, a giant cockroach was on the hunt for a galaxy, which happened to be on earth and was guarded by an Arquilian prince. On his deathbed, the prince said that the galaxy was on Orion's belt. The agents went to an expert in alien politics, which happened to be a pug named Frank where he told them that the galaxy was here and told them that just because something is important, doesn't mean it isn't very small."

"How small?" Fluttershy asked while taking a look at the jewel herself.

"Tiny, like the size of a marble or" He points to the gem in Rarity's aura. "a jewel. Eventually, they found the gem around Rosenberg's cat, which happened to be named Orion."

After taking everything Joe just said in, only one thought came to mind. "Joe, did anyone ever tell you that you watch too much TV?"

"What have you heard?"

We all laughed as Joe went and slumped in his chair while grumbling. "Change of subject. Yesterday on that little detour of ours, I saw you pull out a blade under your wrist, what's the story with that?"

"You mean this?" I held out my left hand before activating the mechanism, allowing the blade to appear. "This here's a hidden blade. Only members of the society I belong to have these."

"I see, and would this society be considered a creed made up of Assassins?" Joe's questioning gaze then turned mischievous. Before I could ask him how he knew, he held up his hand. "Sorry, it's just that it reminds me of a famous video game series." Joe holds out his hand and starts an illusion. "This one is my favorite."

After watching the show he gave me, it reminded me of my pirate days and my encounter with Kenway. When it was done, the mares gave applause while Joe did a little bow. "So anyway, I thought that maybe the world you came from had some elements from that game?"

"Well, since you seem to know already, I can tell you it does. In fact, I'm the leader of the guild back home." While they were oohing and awing at my story, I thought I'd do the same with Joe. "Hey, Joe. Have you ever heard of a game series called God of War?"

"Believe me, if there was a game like that, I would've heard of it. Why did you get someone over there that's like that?"

"Nope, because I'm staring at him right now." Now that brought everyone's attention.

"You mean to tell me that I'm a video game character? Hell yeah, I'm famous!"

"Not exactly. The character's name is Kratos and, you know what, how about I just show you all?" I did the same thing Joe did and brought forth an illusion for everyone to see.

When the illusion ended, I saw that everyone was either looking at Joe or the air where the illusion was. After some minutes of silence, Dash was the one to break it. "That was so unbelievably awesome! Any chance you can lend that game over for a bit?"

"Sorry, but all video games that are in my possession, belong to Luna."

"You too? Ain't that some shit. Seems every Luna in every universe is a gamer."

"No way. Speaking of which consoles are you running here?" I asked

"Well, we have a PS4 at the house. Although if you're talking all over the land, well I'm afraid the most advanced console would be the standard arcade console. Just for fun, I bought an old Galaga console and plopped it in the arcade. There was a line for miles for the past two days."

That made me chuckle as the memories of the first video games played through my mind

"Seems you're a bit behind in the times the PS5 came out in our world a fair while ago." I said

"Not surprised. Time works differently in the multiverse. So, what year is it over there in your universe, 'cause over here, we just entered 2015."

"Hm...Y'know what I have no idea?" I said with a shrug.

"How do you not know the year of the place you just came from?" Twilight asked while taking a short pause from her book.

"I haven't really been back on earth in years." I said.

"Ah, it doesn't really matter."

"Hey, Ash, in your world who goes out with who?" Dash asked me while gesturing to her and the rest of the mares in the car.

"Hm well to my memory every mare here besides Celestia and Daring is dating. I'll start off with the leader of the merry band here, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight the one from my world is dating a nice colt by the name of Comet Tail. He's an astronomer. Moving on to the loveable ball of energy known as Pinkamina Diane Pie she's dating a colt by the name of Pokey Pierce he does piercings and even helped me get mine done." I said as I gestured to the earring in my left ear causing all the mares to get close to look.

"Neat and what of Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, causing the mare in question to glow red in embarrassment.

"She's dating Big Macintosh." I said, causing the mares to go wide eyed.

"Way ta go Flutters." Rainbow cheered.

"An’ me?" Applejack asked.

"A colt named Caramel." I said.

"Wait, Caramel!" Applejack asked.

"Town blacksmith. He was even the first one to give me a job when I first arrived and I don't know about what happened here but that colt is really sweet on Applejack and she is really happy with him." I said.

"What of me darling?" Rarity asked.

"You managed to get with a pegasus colt by the name of Thunderlane. A nice guy who got into the Wonderbolts even has a little brother by the name of Rumble like how you have a little sister Miss Belle." I said.

"How interesting." Rarity said.

"And what of me cause it better be someone awesome." Rainbow said and I couldn't help but decide to mess with the mare.

"Rainbow you paired yourself up with Zephyr Breeze Fluttershy's brother." I said, causing all the colour to drain from Rainbow's face in horror before she dashed over to me and grabbed me by the front of my shirt.

"Are you kidding me there is no way I would date such a lazy sel..." Rainbow started but before she could continue her rant I started laughing and that seemed to get a few of the others to laugh as well that is until Rainbow slugged me in the chest. "You jerk!"

"Ow...deserved but oh so worth it." I gasped since unlike a punch her hands are hooves so that was like getting kicked. "Anyway in all seriousness you managed to get Soarin of the Wonderbolts."

"Hmm, interesting pairing. Honestly, I had no idea Rarity would end up with Private Joker, and Fluttershy, you never told me you have a brother."

"Must've slipped my mind." Shy then darted her eyes before looking over her stuff.

"He's a bit weird, but who's Private Joker?"

"You remember when I told you how I trained the Wonderbolts when Dash went to the academy?" I nodded, remembering that same little snippet of information. "Well, when I was drilling them on what was to be expected, Thunderlane made a little joke, so he's now known as Private Joker."

"Hm fair enough." I said.

"Alright, we had our little share time, could we please discuss the items that I wanted to get from that mare who overcharges?" It seems Daring was a little impatient.

"You'll have to wait till we get back for two reasons one I left my tools back at Twilight's place two tinkering with old relics within a train car that occasionally bumps is not a good idea." I said.

"Yeah, for all we know, one false move while he tinkers and BOOM! This whole train blows up, debris flying everywhere, body parts scattered around for miles in a spray of red mist, somebody might get a hangnail, it's not pretty."

"Nothing so dangerous but it is a good point." I said.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence but as soon as we got back I went back to my room in Twilight's castle so I could work on the items. On the way I ran into Brock who gave me the materials I requested and now I was hard at work doing restoration work.

---

Hours later

---

I opened the door to my room and saw both Joe and Daring were waiting outside.

"Ah good, just who I was looking for. Come in, I just finished up." I said as I ushered them in.

"Alright, let's see what you got."

"Well to start the ring. It actually is a wedding ring Aephocerian made for a woman." I said as I showed them the restored item. "Also if you peek inside you'll see a vow written in Demonic Angel." I said as I handed the ring to Daring.

"Wow, that's very romantic. What about the other two?"

"The second one may be of interest to you Joe now at first I just thought it was a sword handle and cross guard and the blade snapped off but watch this." I said before I took up the item and changed mana into it causing a blade made of silvery grey solidified mana to extend from where the blade would normally come from. "Turns out this is a mana blade. It was designed by my people to deal with things that did not have a physical body and judging by the style, this is from the founding days of Aephoceria."

"Wow, a sword that acts as a proton pack. That's very cool. So what's the last one, some sort of music player?"

"Close very very close it's actually a music box one that is of a very special tradition you see these were made/designed for a newborn by a member of the family like a parent or grandparent some have projections that light up the walls in a room and some show a hologram this one is the latter here let me show you." I said as I picked up the music box and turned a crank wind up the box before setting the device down.

The dome on the device opened up as the music began to play revealing a blue crystal that began to glow revealing a female demon sitting in a rocking chair with a new born in her arms and beside them was a male angle a wing around the demon and both of them were gazing down at the newborn with smiles on their faces.

"By the gods, that's so beautiful. Makes me wish I had one of these when the boys were born."

"Sorry but these boys seem a little too mature for a lullaby these days." I said.

"Yeah, but a father can still reminisce about the days when their kids were small enough to fit in their arms."

"True that." I said.

"This is fascinating! But one thing still bothers me. How did relics from a few trillion years from another universe wind up here?" Daring asked as she examined the ring a little more closely.

"That is an answer I want to know the answer to as well." I said.

"Here, let me take a look at that." I handed Joe the handle and he started sniffing at it like a dog. Given what he is, I can't hold it against him. "Okay, I was able to get a few scents off this thing. Disregarding the smell from you guys and the mare from Baltimare, there's a faint trace of soil that comes from the top of a mountain with natural springs."

"Any guesses where that might be?" I asked.

"I think I know." Daring said, causing both Joe and I to turn to the tan pegasus as she handed me back the ring. "There's a mountain near the border of the Crystal Empire and Yakyakastan called the Giant's hand. The top leads to a cave where there are multiple hot springs."

"Knowing how Equestria was made, that mountain probably is a giant's outstretched hand." Joe said.

"How it was made?" I asked

"Yeah, try not to lose your lunch over this, but the earth that makes up Equestria is from dead giants."

I was silent for a while processing what Joe just said, causing me to just shrug.

"Well certainly one of the more bizarre facts I've learned. How many make up Equestria?" I asked calmly.

"Just four, but they are some big mother fuckers. One of them happens to be a king by the name of Thrym." Joe explained

"Hm, when would be a good time to go check this out?" I asked.

"I'll let the others know, and we can head over now."

"Great, just need to make a stop at Brock these equalizers are in need of an upgrade." I said as I pulled out Damnation and Salvation and a large roll of paper.

"Alright, while you do that, I'll see if Swagger wants to join." Joe pulls out a walkie-talkie and radios for his friend. *Click* "Viper, this is Wolf, do you copy? Over." *Click*

*Click* "This is Viper, what's going on Wolf? Over." *Click*

*Click* "Blade and Daring want me to go with them to a mountain to investigate the origin of some relics. Was wondering if you wanted to come along? Over." *Click*

*Click* "Count me in. I'll let Twilight know and I'll meet you in front of the castle. Over." *Click*

*Click* "Roger. Over and out." *Click*

After a long and heated discussion with Brock about my firearms I managed to get him to agree to the idea of remodeling them despite his complaints on the items being too dainty to work on. Anyway thanks to Joe Daring, Swagger, Joe and myself arrived at the place he claimed to be the source of the smell that was on the items of my people.

"So you sure this is the place?" I asked as I looked at the others and noticed Daring and Swagger seemed to be shivering from the surroundings. "Are you too cold?"

"Of course we're cold, how are you not?!" Daring snapped.

"Thermal fluctuation resistance besides the lowest circle of hell and Hellheim are a lot colder than this joint." I said.

"So true. Anyway, I'm picking up the scent from here, so we're in the right place." The four of us took a look at the mountain in front of us and saw that it really did resemble a giant hand. "Yeah, that's definitely a giant's hand."

"What do you think we'll find up there?" Swagger asked as Joe conjured some cold weather camo for him. "Thanks, Tex."

"No idea but I'm hoping for answers...for some long overdue questions." I said as I conjured up a coat for Daring.

We then made our way up the mountain with Joe and his nose leading the way. We soon made it to the top of the index finger and spied a small wooden ancient and broken cabin.

"Well it looks like this is the place." Daring said as we approached the building.

I stepped further then the other and placed my hand against the door and noticed something large had kicked in this door.

"Something happened here." I said.

We entered the cabin with a cautious step as we took a look around. What we found was a sight that brought a tear to the eye.

Strewn across the floor, were the bodies of what looked to be giants, all of them with a wound around the head or heart. But that's not what caught our eye.

Near the far corner of the room, lay two figures huddled in each other's arms. A demon woman, and an male angel, dead in each other's arms, untouched by time itself.

"By the God's. Look, in the mother's arms." Joe pointed at the demon where we could see a small bundle wrapped in her arms.

I then decided to step forward and hesitantly reached for the bundle. I was only brave enough to move the cloth slightly but it was enough to see the bony arm that had once been of an infant I then stumbled back as a flurry of emotions swelled within me. I could feel Joe and Swagger reach and attempt to calm me down but I ripped myself out of their grasp and ran out of the decaying building but I didn't run far before I collapsed to my knees and the emotions within me couldn't be held back so I unleased them by screaming bloody murder to the heavens before breaking down into sobs and tears.

It's been a little over half an hour before I finally calmed down enough to hear the sound of wood being pried off from the cabin. When I looked behind me, I saw that Joe was the one taking out the wood while Daring and Swagger dragged out the bodies of the giants. "What are you guys doing?"

Joe pried off a big chunk of wood before answering. "Sending those three off properly." Joe gathered the wood and started placing them in a pile a few feet away from the cabin.

Feeling like I had to do something, I got up and went back inside the cabin. I grabbed the tattered curtains from the window and went over to the dead couple and infant. I took the baby and wrapped the blanket around her.

I did the same for the parents while returning the ring to the mother, and took them outside just as Joe finished making a funeral pyre. When he saw me coming, he pointed to the middle. I nodded while placing all three of them on the pyre.

When I stepped off, I conjured fire into my hand and lit the fire. As the fire started to build, I stood by my three traveling companions as we watched the fire consume the three of them.

Soon, I heard Joe utter a small prayer. "Lo, there do I see my father. Lo, there do I see my mother, my sisters, and my brothers. Lo, there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning. Lo, they do call to me and bid me take my place among them, in the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live forever."

We watched as the last of the embers died and sat in the snow. As I kept staring, I felt a tap on my arm and I turned to see it was Swagger offering me a beer. "Here, you look like you could use one."

I took the offered beverage and started gulping it down while everyone did the same.

"Y'know I had no idea on what I was expecting when I came here...guess I got cheated out of my hopes again." I said once the liquor was gone.

"Yep. The universe is a bitch in that way."

"I wish to thank you...all of you for doing this for them." I said as I looked at Joe and then to Daring and Swagger.

"Please this is the least we could do." Joe said.

"Still...we best get home before your beloveds start to worry." I said.

"Yeah, I don't know how Luna and Jackie from your world act, but when I suddenly disappear like that...well, it ain't pretty I can tell you that much." That brought out a small smile before Joe got up and opened a portal for us leading back to the castle. "Daring, I know this seems like a lot to ask, but do you-"

"Don't worry, I won't write about this. This'll stay between the four of us." She gave us a small sad smile.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," I told her before entering the portal back to the castle.

Next Chapter: Chapter 53 Here There and Back Again Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 28 Minutes