It took a while to get Charlotte, or Charlie as she prefered, to calm down enough to where Lord Barrel Crusher’s knights could escort her to the castle’s infirmary. Judging from the magical analysis that Twilight ran on her, Miss Charlie was suffering from sort of hibernation sickness, which include symptoms like hypersensitivity to light and sound, vertigo, loss of depth perception (Charlie tripped over the lid of the cryogenic casket she had laid in for centuries,) and a degree of tactile sensory deprivation. She was calmed enough to move but it showed in her face that she was still on the verge of panic.

Meanwhile, Endymion stayed to study the casket. Ancient experiences, memories, or perhaps phantoms would be better, seemed to dictate his reasoning for staying there. Endymion knew what every aspect of the pod was and what it was for. He slid his hands over a panel of the pod that held a number pad. The ghostly figure that appeared earlier was following his movements, even as her visage began to dim.

“Are you okay?” He asked of the construct.

“Power levels critical-” it stated, “Current mana battery at 12%… Ancilla will fail at 5%… Transfer necessary to maintain functionality…”

Endymion looked on as the entity continued to diminish. Then he had an idea, but he needed to confirm something that the dues ex machina in his mind was giving him. Feeling around the number pad, along one side of outside bevel, he found it. There, nearly at the edge of the panel, a slot where a thin device may slide in. An ancient means of storing data, mayhaps?

“Do you have a name, little one?” He asked.

“ERROR…” The Construct said, “Memory corrupted… Core ancilla personality codex damaged… Likely resultant… from terminal fall…”

“So you don’t remember?” Endymion queried.

“Unknown… Ancilla bootstrap subroutine initialized…” Several moments passed before the entity spoke again, “Unit Eulogy Warbler 1304, online.”

“Who comes up with a name like ‘Eulogy Warbler?’” Twilight inquired, “Sounds so silly…”

“Tartarus if I know, Twiley,” Endymion replied, then to the ancilla, “Are there any limitations to where I can transfer you, Eulogy Warbler 1304?”

The ancilla’s glow faded for a moment, then it answered, “Nega- Negative. So long as… storage medium is… retrieved and-and… properly loaded into… Imperial sanctioned receptacle… this unit… will not cease… function.”

“OK,” Endymion said, placing a fingernail into the slot he found earlier, “Unit 1304, power down and prepare for safe eject.”

“OOWAH,” 1304 stated, “Powering down… Returning to storage medium…”

The ancilla retreated from the space it once occupied and the glow it emitted transferred to the slot Endymion had his finger resting on. He pushed with minimal pressure and the slot ejected a thin, translucent rectangle, roughly the size of a playing card and equally as thin. From its center, then was the verdant emission of light that Eulogy Warbler 1304 had.

“What is that?” Twilight asked, watching as Endymion retrieved his firearm from the personal pocket dimension he was now so apt in producing and recalling.

“A data crystal,” he stated, “it memory serves, ‘Fore The D’vil Knows Yer Dead has an on board computer with a data crystal slot. I’m going to install 1304 into it.”

“I’m a little confused,” Twilight said, “that card- it holds that magical construct? Not a mana gem? And you’re going to- install it- into what now?”

“Yes, yes,” Endymion rejoindered, ticking off points on his fingers, then he hefted the shotgun he found on an earlier adventure, “and this is ‘Fore The D’vil Knows Yer Dead. One of the pieces of that portable travel device recognized it when we were stowing on board Sparrow’s ship.”

While he spoke, Endymion found the spot where the on board computer of the shotgun was mounted, then he traced its surface until he found a slot similar to the one on the pod. He gently placed the data crystal to line up with that slot and slid it in; the weapon took on a green hue along the once darkened glass furniture and the digital readout changed hues from a sky blue to a jade. A faint cracking came from the shotgun, which soon became a voice.

“I like being a weapon!” Came the dulcet tones of the once failing Eulogy Warbler 1304.

“It can talk?!” Twilight gasped.

“She can talk,” Endymion replied with a grin, He then loaded a few more shells in the magazine, causing Eulogy to announce, “More Shells! Woo!”

Twilight looked at the weapon with a slight amount of distrust. She knew about guns, how they had been used in the civil dispute between the misguided individuals that worshipped Solar Flare like a goddess and the rest of Equestria. She had read about their power, but none of them actively enjoyed being used, or reloaded. They were nothing more than simple machines designed to do a specific task. The fact that this construct seemed to enjoy the fact it was bonded with a weapon worried her.

It wasn’t often, but there was cautionary tales about giving a magical construct too much leeway, allowing it to develop a personality, and even giving it some semblance of free will tended to end up in misery for the creator of the construct. She certainly didn’t want Endymion to go through the same thing.

“Endymion, are you certain it’s safe to put that construct in a place to control your weapon?”

“Safe, not sure,” Endymion answered, then he primed the shotgun; Eulogy giggled and shouted, “I AM COMBAT READY!” Then he added, “Fun, most definitely!”

“Endymion,” Twilight groaned, “giving a magical construct control over a- weapon- like that! It’s a sure fire recipe for disaster!”

“A class six ancilla with a fractured personality core?” Endymion retorted, “Please, Twilight, Eulogy isn’t nearly sophisticated enough to commandeer this shotgun. Besides, the on board computer on this thing isn’t designed to allow an artificial intelligence to completely overtake all aspects of the weapon. Eulogy would need to be class fourteen or higher to pull that off, In all honesty, a cryostasis pod like that one doesn’t have the resources to host a C14 ancilla. Besides, a class six hard tapped, can’t grow outside the boundaries of it’s primary directives. That’s why C6 AI were called ‘secretary bots.’”

Endymion then brings the shotgun up to eye level, peering through the mounted scope he attached much earlier. Eulogy announces, apropos to nothing, “I SPY WITH MY HOLOGRAPHIC EYE…”

“Oh, Endy,” Twilight sighs, “I just hope this doesn’t come back to bite us in the plot.”

The two of them walked out of the lab, although Endymion did take notice of some of the armor that Jolie had been working on. He wasn’t sure, but it looked like Jolie had figured out how to create shadow infused armor. The aspect of that would allow the wearer to touch anything made from shadow. Which according to his mother was any creature that tended to live off of dark magic.

Obviously with Jolie gone the enchantments should be decayed to nothing, but he still felt the thrum of magic on it. He stood, closed his eyes, and he felt it. In order to make the armor to last Jolie had called up something from Tartarus, something powerful, and he bonded the armor with that being. As long as the being lived the armor thrived. He could feel it even now. It wasn’t like the memories that would come to him from nowhere. This was something that his mother and Flintheart had taught him. He could see how Twilight was reacting as well.

She finally looked toward it, her eyes focusing on the armor. Like Endymion she felt it, but she had been trying to ignore it. She was trying to ignore the siren’s song it was singing. The promise of power, the promise of absolute power in order to protect what was hers. It was there, just right there, and it wanted her to touch it. It was begging to be used, to be picked up, put on, and released. She didn’t even realize she was walking toward it. She didn’t notice how close her very hand was until Endymion stopped her.

She looked at him, and the call of the armor quieted.

“Endymion?”

He looked at the armor as well, “Twily, I think there’s a few things down here that might be a little too dangerous.”

She nodded, “Yeah… Did you hear it?”

He looked at her, “What did you hear?”

She shuffled her hoof, “It’s hard to explain. It was almost like it was singing, promising, telling me that everything I could ever want would be possible. I just had to put it on,” she shook her head, “It’s difficult to put it into words, but it sounded convincing.”

Endymion hadn’t heard it. But he had sensed the power behind it. He saw a Centaur, locked away, and the Centaur looked vicious and angry. He felt the connection between the Centaur and the armor. He felt how the armor practically shined with power. As a magi he saw the perfect beauty of what was there, but he also realized that it was here, in Jolie’s lab, for a reason.

They stepped out of the lab and the wall closed behind them. Once again it was sealed away as if it had never existed to begin with. Endymion looked at Twilight, and as he stood there he saw something else. Something that felt welcomed, but foreign. He saw the same library, sparsely filled with a few books on magic. Near him was an Earth Pony mare. She was a pale pink, her mane and tail both robin eggshell blue, and she was wearing nothing more than an open gown.

The other memories he’d seen felt as if he’d carried them, and they just woke up and crossed his mind. This felt like something was telling him a secret. He looked at the mare who giggled as a soft green aura covered her gown, opening it completely, revealing the beauty that the scant bit of cloth was hiding.

“Ya gonna make a mare of me?”

He saw the midnight blue coated hand reaching out, a hand not his own, but there it was regardless. It touched her muzzle, “That I do,” and the mare moved forward, pressing her wonderfully nude body against him, “I love you very much Berry Snaps of Clan Pickled.”

She returned the kiss and Endymion could taste fresh wine on her lips. She broke the kiss for a moment and nuzzled him.

“Ya won’t reconsider, will ya? Yer gonna go out there, aren’t ya?”

He touched her muzzle, making her look toward him, “I am, but I’m not as stupid as I was before. Berry, I’ve learned my lesson. When I go I go with your, and Sweet Kisses, Butter Pie, Bawley Apple, and Po’s love. I have faith in that, and that’s about the purest thing I know.”

“If’n that’s the case then ya better rut me propper.”

Endymion could feel the very softness of the mare he was with. She was the definition of soft and gentle. It almost felt like he was with Twilight and Pinkie Pie at the same time. The younger mare wrapped her legs around his waist. There was no doubt in his mind of what she wanted. The fiery inferno of her marehood pulled him deep into her, and he felt a slight resistance.

“Are you ready?”

The look in her eyes was determined, and not an ounce of fear was there.

“Yer a good stallion, but yer daft! ‘Course I’m ready! Yer cock is already in!”

She didn’t hesitate as she slammed down pushing him completely into her and knocking Endymion out of the memory. He felt Twilight beside him, her eyes wide with worry, and his smile brightened. She began to ask what he was doing before he grabbed her and pulled her down onto him. He kissed her deeply, taking in the sweet taste of her lips. She made to argue, for just a moment, and then his hands found her cutie marks. He gave them a gentle squeeze, and she moaned for him.

“Endy,” Twilight whined, as he began to nip at her neck, “not right now!”

The Prince stopped, looking at his bride-to-be with a hunger, and asked, “Maybe later?”

Twilight nodded, “Certainly. There’s something about these isles- the magic, the climate, the history- that is getting me all hot and bothered. First, we should see if we can defeat these wolves.”

“Right, right,” Endymion replies, a sliver of disappointment edging his voice, “Business first, then pleasure. IN that case, any clue where we can find the spell Jolie used to beat back those foul creatures? ”

“That’s what we were looking for before this little side adventure…” Twilight answers, “We haven’t quite found it yet, though. Maybe he wrote it in a journal or something?”

Looking at Twilight he was reminded of the vision, or memory, whatever it was, and he looked back at the lab. There had been talk about this, in the advanced enchantments courses, but it wasn’t an area he was that good at. Still, he remembered that some unicorns could leave imprints, memories, of what they saw through their eyes for their family line to view. Those memories might contain information about a business, some hidden personal information, or any number of things. He wasn’t sure, but as he recalled the memory only worked for those the unicorn would have considered in his, or her, family line.

He looked at the marker on the wall, his mother’s cutie mark, and he noticed the soft glow. The enchantment had to have an actual physical relay. A crystal or fossilized amber would be the go to for recording the memory and storing it. He walked toward the wall, and he looked up. What he had thought was a torch, and glowed like a torch, was actually a perfectly round ball of amber perched on a small staff. He placed his hand on the wall again and it opened. Twilight watched and he walked toward the first torch, and then the next. All of them were the same. They weren't actual torches, but instead they were glowing fossilized amber that had been placed on several small staffs. The realization hit him and he felt like an idiot. Jolie might have written it down, but he was certain that what he truly ended up doing was recording his memories directly into the amber balls.

He explained it to Twilight, who began to get as giddy as possible, and then she pointed out that there was no telling what was on each one. That obviously Endymion, or any of the ponies that actually could trace their line back to Jolie, could view them, but she couldn’t be sure what he actually recorded on each one. Endymion had a feeling he knew what was on the one near the wall. Of course there was still the issue that he had no clue how he activated it. He looked at Twilight, held her hand, and looked at the ball.

For a moment there was nothing, then suddenly he was no longer in his own body. He had to guess that this was Jolie, and that he was seeing through Jolie’s eyes. He felt the soft pink mare below him, how soft, smooth, and wonderful she was. He felt her flip them over, and he didn’t dare stop. It felt right, it felt like something that was helping. He heard hoofsteps, and he could see other mares coming down toward them. Like last time the very memory, the action, forced him out, but he wasn’t sure why.

He glanced toward Twilight and noticed how aroused she seemed. There was sweat building on her brow and her lips were trembling; her bosom was heaving slightly. The blush forming on her cheeks was deepening as he looked on. As delectable as the sight was, Endymion had other worries to contend with.

“Oh Sol, that was Jolie, I was Jolie, he was rutting… Endymion, we need to be careful looking into these memories.”

“Agreed,” Endymion said, “it’s too bad there isn’t a spell or cantrip we could use to glean the essentials of these ‘memory modules,’ that way we won’t have to peruse them one at a time.”

“Wait, there is!” Twilight beamed, “I’m surprised I didn’t think of this before!”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down there, Twily,” Endymion implored, “what in all things bright are you talking about?”

Twilight beamed brightly as she found a piece of old parchment and some charcoal. She began writing, and Endymion looked at what she was composing.

“It’s so simple! I’ve been doing some more research inside of Stargazer’s library, and I found a spell that he wrote that would work great with one of Starswirl’s spells. Together I think that the two spells would let us sample the orbs quickly!”

She looked at him and smiled, “Stargazer had a spell to focus and scan through any kind of archive, and Starswirl had a spell that would allow a pony to view memories as a third party. I think that together those spells should work.”

To say that Twilight was excited would be so woefully under-rating what she felt. She was, for all rights and purposes, well beyond simply being excited. The air around her buzzed with her magic, the air smelled strongly of blackberries, and suddenly Endymion found himself standing with Twilight in the courtyard of the castle. He looked around to see where they were, and what exactly was going on, when a soft lavender aura surrounded himself and the orbs. Twilight’s eyes were closed, her mouth was moving, forming unheard words, and then a bolt of magic passed through him and the orbs.

He watched as the orbs took the shape of a star, similar to the same ship as the large center star in Twilight’s own cutie mark, and then a bright white light began to shine around them. That light struck out and he could see thousands upon thousands of images in front of them. Images of Jolie rutting his mares, images of his facing down the wolves for the first time and getting tore up, and hundreds, no thousands more that were all playing at the time together.

Twilight’s eyes opened and they glowed a brilliant white. Endymion knew that she was lost to the magic for a moment. Her mouth began moving faster, the unheard words coming at an alarming rate, and finally she stopped. A single orb floated away from the others. All of the other images died away, but this single orb showed Jolie as he held a necklace.

“The Wolves fear love and purity. Most of the ponies around me believe it is because of how powerful those emotions are, and to some degree, they are right, but for the wrong reasons. Our magic is the strongest when we are protecting those we love, and our magic burns hotter when paired with a symbol of purity. That is why my light spell hurt them. It is why they hide from the sun. Both are symbols of purity that burn them,” he said to the orb, “but the greatest symbol of purity I have is my herd. The love I feel for my mares, my foals, and those I care for is the purest thing I have left. That is why I crafted this necklace, and why I am putting it into the castle’s very stone work. Should the Wolves return, the castle will be safe. Yet, it isn’t the wolves that bother me. There is a creature, great and hulking, it controls the wolves, acts as their alpha, and it feeds on the very magic of any pony it comes across. It too reacts poorly toward purity, but unlike the wolves it is not easily swayed. I buried it, deep inside of a cavern. Perhaps if the fates are just it shall remain there, but I fear that is not the case. No, I fear this creature will eventually claw its way from the depths. My only hope is that one of my line, or perhaps one of my mother’s, will finish what I have started.”

Twilight’s magic flickered for a moment before she fell forward and the field holding the orbs broke. Endymion, along with the orbs, fell to the ground. He rushed toward Twilight and found her breathing normally, but it looked as though his wife to be had exhausted herself in helping him get some of the information he needed. He gathered the orbs, grateful for the pack of holding his mother had created for him, put them into it, and then he lifted Twilight into his arms. As he lifted her he could feel the dampness through her skirt. The thick smell of black berries hung in the air, and he carried his bride toward the castle proper.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash watched the Prince rush in from the courtyard, Twilight clinging to him looking drained.

“Endymion?” The apple farmer called out, “What’s wrong with Twilight?”

“She used a spell to read something left behind by Jolie Maison,” Endymion answered, “and I think I know what we gotta do to take care of these wolves.”

“Then what’s wrong with Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Magic burnout,” he replied, “she’ll be okay. A little rest, and maybe replenish lost electrolytes and she’ll be good.”

“Endy…” Twilight moaned.

“You’re gonna be okay, Twily,” Endymion said, “you need to rest up some; you used a lot of magic just now. AJ, Rainbow, Flutters, and I need to go kick some flank.”

The others of Endymion’s party nodded as Twilight was taken up by a nurse in Lord Barrel’s employ. Endymion watched as Twilight was taken by the nurse. He would have been fine with her relaying the message, but regardless he knew what had to take place now. There had been something of a hint when he first looked at one of the orbs, but there was no denying it now. The terror wolves seemed to be formed from dark magic. And true dark magic was only weak against strong harmony magic and puri

He waited until Twilight was carried up to their room to be watched over and cared for before he walked with Applejack and Rainbow. As he walked there was a feeling he hadn’t felt since leaving Three Heroes. It was the swell of Harmony Magic. It wasn’t to say that Harmony Magic didn’t exist here, but he hadn’t felt any hint of it since their arrival. Ponyville was awash in it, Canterlot hummed with it. Most nights, Endymion couldn’t get to sleep unless he could regularly determine that there was some form of Harmony magic close by.

Here in the Isles, he felt that the magic was waning or maybe even stagnant. But this swell was turning into a surge. He could practically hear the music being formed by the Harmony Magic. He could see the confused look on the native Shetlanders, but instead of being confused he simply let the magic wash over him. He felt it bubbling up inside, and soon his mouth began to open.

“When I’m out walking I strut my stuff ,” the musical words left his mouth and soon both Rainbow and Applejack joined in as more ponies began to join in. He followed the direction the music was flowing from, and he found the room they had put Charlie. She was softly singing, her sightless eyes focused on some invisible point on the wall. The song reached its end, and Endymion felt the weight the Wolves had caused to be lifted. The ponies walked with a renewed enthusiasm, something that he was afraid wouldn’t have happened for them.

“Hello?”

He neared the ebony skinned beauty. She looked toward him, unsure of who was there. In a way she felt thankful for losing her sight. It certainly made living in a world where the LSD thoughts of some deity with the vision of Ralph Bakshi a bit easier to deal with. At least with her sight gone she could pretend that it was human voices she was hearing. The blessing of losing her sight hadn’t happened all at once. No, it had taken hours. Slowly going from seeing perfectly, to slightly blurry, to everything being blurred, until finally there was nothing but blessed blackness.

Some small part of her felt terrible that she was having such a hard time accepting that this was obviously real. She wondered if maybe the airliner she was on had went down. If it did perhaps that meant that her mother was right, there was a God, and he, or she, in his, or her, infinite wisdom decided that this would be her chance to have a do over. It wasn’t fair though. She was the first of her family to go to college. The first to graduate, and hell she even graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in linguistics. She was going to take her degree, go join the Peace Corps, and help figure out translations of languages that they hadn’t been exposed to before.

That had been before that freak storm. She could remember the flight attendants telling everyone to buckle in. There was so much fear in their eyes. She remembered closing her eyes, the sound of something tearing, and then suddenly she was surrounded by dark figures that gagged her, put her into that terrible thing, and then it was quiet. It was quiet for so long. She had nothing except for her dreams, dreams and a faint voice calling out for her.

When that thing opened, she wanted to run, but her body could barely respond. At least she saw another human, before those living envisions of Ralph Bakshi walked toward her. She shivered as she heard someone walking toward her. She felt a hand, no fur, and she breathed out a held breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

“Thank you.”

She turned her head toward him, her eyes moving, but she was uncertain if they were looking at him or not.

“Thank me, for what?” she asked feeling a little flustered. After all, she did get a look at him, and he was cute. Well cute like a living character that Gary Gygax came up with, “I was just singing. Not really sure why I sung that song though. I mean I listened to it pretty often, but it’s not like I knew the words by heart.”

She heard his chuckle, “You didn’t have to. The magic here brought the words out, and it has helped those around you. You sparked the beginning of Harmony Magic here. It’s a rare thing, and a great thing.”

“All I did was sing a stupid song from a punk band. Are you telling me if I went all Sex Pistols in here it would have been the same?”

“Sex what now?”

Confused, Charlotte asked, “You’ve never heard of the Sex Pistols?”

“Can’t say that I have,” Endymion answered, “and given how much sex I’ve been having as of late, I’m pretty sure either Twilight or Pinkie would have put me on to it.”

Charlie looked aghast, even though blind, at Endymion, and then asked, “What about The Clash? The Ramones? The Doors? The Rolling Stones??”

“Nope, nope, nope,” Endymion replied, “and nope.”

Charlie’s eyebrows furrowed in frustration, “What bands have you heard of?”

He looked at her and rubbed his chin, “The Canterlot Symphony Orchestra, Countess Coloratura, Sapphire Shores, The Pony Formerly known as Prince, The Ponytones, and a band I listened to that drove mother crazy called Bare Naked Mares.”

Her sightless eyes moved as if to studied him for a moment, “How… Are you from here?”

He smiled, and realized that she couldn’t see it, “I’ve been here for as long as I can remember, well actually remember,” he touched her, “I take it that your world is a bit different.”

She nodded, “You could say that. For starters there’s no extras from Fritz the Cat walking around.”

“Extras from what?!” Rainbow exclaimed.

Endymion turned toward his friend, “I doubt that she meant anything by it.”

Rainbow huffed and looked away, “Sounded like some Tribalist horseapples to me.”

“You’ll forgive my friend, Rainbow Dash,” Endymion said, cutting off a rebuttal by the blind woman, “she’s a proud member of the Pegasi tribe, but an even prouder citizen of Equestria. She doesn’t take too kindly to those who still believe in ‘tribe first.’ Especially since she has friends that are Earth pony and Unicorn. And, in all honesty, neither she nor I or any of our companions have the slightest inkling what you’re referencing.”

Charlotte sighed, adding in an undertone, “This is going to be one long ass day…”

“Not that Ah get what yer talkin’ ‘bout, sugarcube,” AJ said, “but what’s the length of a donkey got to do with ennythin’?”

Charlie sighed even deeper this time and stated, “Correction: This is going to be a super long ass day…”

“Yeah, I still don’t get it,” Rainbow Dash affirmed.

“I don’t think she’s talking about mules or donkeys, girls,” Endymion explained, “I think she’s relating that today will be very frustrating for her.”

“EXACTLY!” Charlie exclaimed.

Charlie scrunched her face up. There was a human, and he couldn’t relate to her. She read tons of literature, mostly for the required American and English lit classes, but one thing she always argued with was the notion that someone could be isolated with another human. That surely the simple fact they were human would be enough. Instead it looked like Daniel Defoe, and Robert Louis Stevenson were right.

This man, as kind as he seemed, might as well be an alien. Maybe he was, or then again, if her mother was right, maybe he was from a different era and they were both stuck in some weird sort of purgatory. She closed her eyes and whimpered. If that was the case, if God was real and this was a test, then she really, really, really wished that she wouldn’t had done some of the stuff she did. Sure, James had been cute, and sleeping with him, well fucking him, had been fun, but it had been harmless, right?

“There is much my friends and I have to do, but again, thank you.”

“Don’t go, please.”

She hated herself for this. She was a strong woman damnit! She was someone that pulled themselves up from poverty, went to college, got a great job, didn’t end up pregnant, or selling her ass, or working in a strip club, or a hundred things like she was sure some of her old friends had done. She made something of herself. She had the determination, the dedication, and the drive to do it. She hadn’t needed anyone else, but now, now she wanted this man she didn’t know to stay with her.

She was acting like one of those cookie cutter girls that was in those dime romance novels. She hated this. She hated feeling so scared, so uncertain, and she hated that she was putting her feeling of acceptance and understanding in the hands of a man she didn’t even know. She felt his hand, gentle and warm, touch her cheek.

“I have to. I’ve got to protect the ponies here, but take this,” he said as he placed something around her neck.

She felt it, and it felt like a smooth stone shaped in a crescent moon.

“That is my mother’s mark, and my royal pendant. I will return to reclaim it, but while I am protecting these ponies I believe it will bring you some peace.”

She felt him get up, heard him leave, but her mind focused on one thought.

He’s a Goddamned prince?!