Chapter 5: Hard Truths

I grew somewhat giddy as the train pulled into Canterlot station after days and days of traveling. The burn on my flank had finally begun to heal and while it no longer hurt, it still had left a nasty looking scar that according to Grit would last another several weeks at least before it fully healed. It was good to see home again and to be amongst ponies and not uncomfortable jungles and the monsters that lived in them. I saw Enyi looking out the train window in a wondrous gaze at how different Equestria was to his own home. I went to sit next to him as the train stopped and the conductor's voice came over the speaker announcing that we had arrived in Canterlot.

“Well, how do you like Equestria so far?” I asked him as he stared out the window.

“It is...different.”

“It certainly is more hospitable than where you come from.” I said trying to be nice but only succeeding in getting a mean look from him.

“You have only seen a small corner of my home, you will find there are many places safe to roam.”

I gave out a little sigh, “Yeah, your right, I'm sorry.”

“Thank you.” Enyi answered in response.

I looked over at Grit and Jackpot as they dragged the large chest from the boat that must have held everything we took from the ruins. I wondered if I should tell Enyi what happened but I decided to wait until after Grit explained things more so I could get a better view of what was going on.

I put on my A.I adventurers hat as we all walked off the train and onto the station floor. The bracelet had shrunk down to its original size and was once again safely inside a saddlebag that draped over my flank. Enyi walked over to Grit and Jackpot asking if they needed help but they refused him and continued to drag the box over to a cab driver by the roadside. As I stood there on the station floor taking a deep breath in the air of my home I heard a familiar voice calling out my name from a distance.

“Ivy! Ivy, over here!”

“Emerald!” I shouted back as I saw the green Pegasus with her coral-pink mane fly up to me from a crowd of ponies.

“Oh, your finally back. I've been waiting here for hours and I didn't know exactly when you'd be back and OH MY CELESTIA WHAT HAPPENED!” she shouted as she saw the burns on my back leg.

“Oh, it's nothing really.” I said trying to sound tough.

“What do you mean nothing! Your back leg is covered in burns! What did that ruffian do to you over there!”

“Jackpot didn't do anything to me...this was an accident.” I said not wanting to scare my friend too much with stories of monsters.

“Does it hurt! How did it happen! Can I do anything to help!”

“No it's fine, Grit said it should heal on its own and it was just from an animal that we found there.” I said trying to comfort Emerald.

As we talked Enyi came trotting up to us getting a confused look from Emerald, “Um, hello there.” she said shyly, clearly never having seen a Zebra before.

“Ivory, It seems I don't know my way around the city and it would be very helpful if you would help me around.” he said to me while only glancing over at Emerald.

“Oh, uh sure thing but first say hi to my friend Emerald here.” I said pointing my hoof to Emerald.

“Um hi, I'm Ivory's best friend and you are?” Emerald said giving her hoof out to Enyi with a little caution.

“Oh excuse me.” Enyi said, “I am Enyi” he said giving his own hoof out to shake Emerald's. “It is good to some of Ivory's friends, hopefully my rudeness did not offend.”

“It's ok, but you’re a Zebra right?”

“Indeed.”

“Well I've never met a Zebra before and is it true that you always rhyme when you talk?”

“What do you think?”

“Oh um, sorry for just assuming.” Emerald seemed a little flustered.

“It is ok my little one, most ponies find the rhyming quite fun.” Enyi said giving a teasing glance at me to which I rolled my eyes.

“Hey, come on Ivory, you promised to tell me about your trip and now I really want to know what happened to you!” Emerald said persistently.

“Enyi here has a point Emmy, let me just show him around so he doesn't get lost then we will talk later, ok.”

“Well, ok but I want the full story behind that burn you got that!?” Emerald said sternly.

“Don't worry, I promise.”

Emerald agreed to this and flew off back towards the A.I main headquarters as I walked out to the street with Enyi. As we neared the street Grit and Jackpot waved us down to the end of the street as the cab pulled off with the chest towards Grit's house.

“Hey Ivory, can I borrow Enyi for a bit?” Grit asked me as we neared him and Jackpot.

“What?”

“I have a room set up for him in the palace with the princesses and I want to show him where it is.”

“But, Ivory has just agreed to show me around the city.”

“There will be time for that later, but I have some business to attend to before tomorrow and I don't want to have to hunt you two down later.”

“What business?” I asked.

“Well I need to tell Blaze that we're back and get some things ready for some other excursions I have planned.”

“Wait, you mean we're going on other adventures!?” I said with both excitement and a little bit of hesitation.

“If you want to come you can.” Grit said as he grabbed Enyi with his wing and pulled him away.

I stood there and watched as Grit led Enyi of towards another cab carriage and drove off towards the castle. I noticed at this time that it was just me and Jackpot standing there on the corner of the street. Jackpot reached into the last saddlebag he still had with him and with his wing, took out one of his flasks and gulped down the last of the liquid inside of it.

“Hey kid.” he suddenly said as we stood there in silence, “I feel we got off on the wrong hoof so whaddya say we go out and reacquaint ourselves?”

I stood there and looked back at Jackpot with a slightly confused expression. On one hoof I really didn't trust him that much after what I saw at Numnah but on the other hoof I felt that Grit would be characteristically vague when we talked later and I might be able to get some more info out of Jackpot.

“Ok then, but I want you to answer some things about what happened at Numnah.”

“Alright, deal.”

It wasn't long before we found ourselves at the same location I first saw Jackpot in, Cider Joe's. The building seemed just as dank as the last time I was here but now at least I felt a little bit more ready for whatever weird ponies I would meet within. Jackpot entered first and I followed him only to be greeted with a great applause and loud cheering coming from the ponies inside.

“Hey! Look whose back!” I heard at least twenty ponies shout out as I entered the musty atmosphere of the bar.

“Guess whose been all over the radio J.P!” An orange earth Pony shouted out.

“Wait, Hero's little radio station has already got us pegged huh!” Jackpot shouted back in a fit of laughter.

“Yeah, all Equestria's been talkin bout it the past week!” A yellow Unicorn put in.

“Whose the kid!” The light brown Earth Pony behind the counter shouted out.

“I'm Ivory!” I shouted back at him trying not to sound as overwhelmed as I felt.

“Shes Grit's little pupil!” Jackpot shouted out to the whole establishment.

All of the ponies in the room yelled out in cheers to me before dumping their faces into large mugs and smaller glasses all filled with drinks of all colors. Jackpot and I walked up tot he bar counter as Jackpot floated up to the counter top and began yelling again.

“A round of drinks for everypony, on me!” he yelled out to even more cheers and applause.

“What exactly do they serve here?” I asked Jackpot as he sat back down on the stool next to me.

“Well in terms of food, pretty much whatever you want, but the real pride of this establishment is the unique quality drinks created by our very own Cider Joe here.” Jackpot said as he pointed to the heavily mustached pony behind the counter.

“She's twenty one right?” Cider Joe asked Grit in a gravely voice.

“Pretty sure she is, ya know what how old are you there Ivory?” Jackpot asked me.

“Yeah, I'm twenty one, my birthday was a few days before we left.”

“Well then, hows about a few drinks for your birthday since I missed it and all.” Jackpot said with a friendly smile on his face.

“Exactly what kinds of drink are these?” I asked.

“Cider.” Cider Joe said in his Gruff voice.

“Oh, don't be so modest.” Jackpot said with a smile on his face, “This here is good ole fashioned Cider Joe's hard cider.”

“Whats that supposed to mean?”

“After a few of em, you'll know.” Jackpot said reaching out with his wings and pulling several bottles of a light and clear cider towards us.

Several ponies put down several baskets of freshly made popcorn down beside us as Jackpot slid one of the bottles at me.

I'll order us some real food in a bit, but for now you said you had some questions.” Jackpot said after gulping down several swigs of his drink.

“Um, yeah” I said as I stared at the bottle Jackpot had placed in front of me. I went to take a sip of it but when the cider touched my tongue I almost ended up almost spitting it out it tasted so bad.

“Ha!” Jackpot laughed as he saw me nearly spit out the drink, “Reminds me of when I first tried it.”

“How can you drink this, it hardly tastes like cider and its somehow sour and bitter at the same time!”

“Ya get used to the taste but you really don't drink it for that reason.” Jackpot took another swig from his bottle.

“Well anyway I still need to ask you about what you did at Numnah.” I said regaining my composure as I swallowed the little bit of cider in my mouth.

“So you did see it then hmm?”

“Yeah and what the heck was it about!” I put a scowl on my face, “You heard about the problems that place has and there you went and contributed to them!”

“That was necessary.” Jackpot said as he took a wingfull of popcorn and began to eat it.

”Necessary! You were grave robbing!” I shouted getting somewhat angry at Jackpot's statement. As I did several ponies looked over at us for a second before returning to their own conversations in the bar.

Jackpot let out a sight, “Look, it's not that simple ok.” Jackpot took several looks around and as he did I noticed a look on his face I never thought I would see, nervousness.

“What is it then?”

“Its like this Ivory, your little adventure club is run by some pretty bad ponies and Grit brought me along to pilfer some stuff to make it look like we were still working for them while he went after the real prize.”

I almost couldn't believe what Jackpot had just said. Grit would never do something like that and more importantly there was no way A.I could ever be responsible for something that bad.

“Blaze would never be ok with something like that.” I said trying to reassure myself.

“If you think that spineless wimp is in charge then you really are just a kid.” Jackpot said as he took another drink.

I looked at my own drink and took another sip of it. I still didn't like it much but the taste was not as bad as the first time and I managed to gulp down a moderately sized swig. I was trying to process exactly what Jackpot was saying to me, “So, what exactly is the situation then?”.

“You know that story that made Grit famous to begin with?”

“Yeah, the one where he and the dragon, Hero, teamed up to save the city of Marewaukee from the Ponyfire Club and ended up wrecking their whole organization.”

“Well, it turns out that the organization Grit took down was just a branch of a larger one and while I don't know much about the group as a whole I did end up working for them in a limited capacity before I joined A.I.”

“Those guys nearly took over Equestria and your saying they were just a little group of a larger organization?” this was starting to confuse me a little. Grit Stratum's first adventure was practically legendary already. It had occurred only about forty years ago and resulted in Grit gaining wide spread fame after stopping a power crazed lunatic bent on world domination from nearly blowing up an entire city. It was, of course, all chronicled in the first Dash Venture novel, Dash Venture and the Golden Mane, and the bad guys he took down were one of his most dangerous.

“The other groups were not too happy with Grit's actions and even though it took a while they were able to swoop in and take over Adventure Incorporated when it was still pretty small.” Cider Joe slid another bottle of cider towards Jackpot as he had just finished his first one.

“How?”

“Money, they had it and Grit didn't, so they came in and saved his organization with the intention of taking over.”

“No way Blaze and Grit would stand for that. Why didn't they do anything about it?”

“Look, I don't know the whole story ok! I came in way after all that, in fact I wasn't even born yet when all this was going on. You'll have to ask Grit when you talk tomorrow.”

“That must have been the reason Grit originally retired?” I said, mostly to myself, “What about Enyi, what does he know?”

“He knew as much as he needed to, I mean he knew the general reason we were there but not what exactly we were after.” Jackpot took another few swigs of the new bottle.

“He would never have agreed to you taking the helmet, especially since he thought he would still find it there now that I think about it.”

“Yeah, he thought we were there just for information about the new plans that the bad guys are cooking up.”

“What are their plans?”

“No idea, but Grit thinks it has something to do with what was in those ruins so thats where we went.”

“So Enyi doesn't know you took the helmet?”

“And we are gonna keep it that way.” Jackpot said sternly.

“It doesn't feel right, that helmet is important to his people and he is a historian of sorts so it must be especially valuable to him.”

“Yeah, so if he knew we took it he would run off with it and we couldn't use it for whatever Grit wants to use it for.”

“This is all very....hard to believe you know.” I said trying to wrap my head around the situation, “And you said you worked for these bad ponies right?”

“Eeyup.” Jackpot said as he tapped his nose with his hoof.

“So why are you helping Grit instead of them?”

“Despite what you might believe, I am not a bad guy and these guys are, so I decided to hell with them.”

I took another sip from my cider bottle and found I was getting a little more used to the taste of the cider within. I leaned back a little and stared at the ceiling trying to think about what all of this stuff Jackpot was talking about meant. My concentration was broken when Jackpot chugged down the rest of his second bottle and tapped me on the shoulder.

“What?”

“I think that's enough for tonight, Grit will undoubtedly tell you more tomorrow and I still want to make up for being a jerk back in the jungle.” Jackpot now had a slightly sluggish grin on his face, “So drink that up and lets have some fun before stuff gets all heavy and shit tomorrow, ok!” Jackpot shouted out into the crowd of ponies in the bar.

The enthusiasm of the bar ponies was admittedly infectious and hard to resist for long. I finished my first bottle when Jackpot let it out that my birthday was not long ago and all of the bar ponies came up and began offering me drinks of various kinds. I tried to explain that I really didn't like the drinks that much but I didn't want to be rude to all of these ponies. With Jackpot's help they managed to convince me to try out at least a few drinks that Cider Joe could whip up. They gave out small glasses that held just a small amount of liquid in it that Joe filled up to the brims.

“These'll get the party going!” the pony that bought them yelled out.

'What are they?” I asked.

“Just swallow quickly and try not to taste them too much.” Jackpot said leaning over me to grab one in his mouth.

He and several other ponies tilted their heads back with the glasses in their mouths and quickly swallowed the strange cider concoctions. Joe slid one over to me and I took a careful sniff of it before I did anything else. Grit's warning to me about this stuff the night I first met Jackpot rung in my ears and soon in my nose as the smell of the cider burned a little. The ponies gathered around me and began to chant, “Shot, shot, shot!” repeatedly as I stared at the small glass. I took the glass in my mouth just like Jackpot did and quickly jerked my head backwards and let the burning liquid slide into my mouth. I of course did not just immediately swallow it but let it sit in my mouth for several seconds to see what it tasted like but I quickly forced it down once my mouth started burning.

“Aww, that's nasty!” I said coughing from the dry burning liquid that was just in my mouth. Jackpot just patted me on the back as he took another shot of cider while the other bar ponies laughed at my coughing.

Lets get her something a bit easier.” Jackpot said to Joe as he ducked down beneath the counter.

“I think I'm good for now.” I said still trying to recover from the first shot.

“You'll like the next one, promise.” Jackpot said back to me.

Cider Joe came back up with a bottle of pink liquid and poured it out into several shot glasses that he passed out to Jackpot and myself. Jackpot gave me a smile and a wave with his wing as he stuffed two of them into his mouth at once and scarfed them down, eliciting cheers from the onlooking ponies. I looked at the glass in front of me and it certainly look a bit better than the last one so it wrapped my mouth around it and gulped it down.

“Fruity.” I said as I licked my lips after the sweet tasting cider went down.

“Yea, itss pretty gud!” Jackpot let out as he began to tip back and forth on his stool.

As the night went on I found myself enjoying myself more and more as the other ponies around the bar kept buying me stuff. Eventually Jackpot got a hold of some real hayburgers once the popcorn ran out for us to eat. After some time A pony booted up a jukebox that sat in the corner and many of the ponies ran out to start dancing(rather awkwardly) to the music. I sat there and watched as Jackpot stumbled out and tried dancing with a pink Pegasus mare only to be abandoned as he tripped around to the floor. Several ponies pushed me out and I soon found myself dancing around and singing with the rest of them.

I went back to the bar several times for more of the pink shots when somepony shouted out, “Get her some Everfree, she'll love it!”

At this point I wasn't in the mind of refusing things so I just nodded with a grin as Jackpot stumbled back up to a stool and shook his head at Cider Joe, “I don't think so kid.”

“Awwww, come on Jacky” I managed to stumble the words out, “I thought you wanted me to have a good time.”

“Trust me, Ya dun't want any o' that stuff.” Jackpot said as he slumped his head down on the counter, “Just get er a eh....Applewhisk or something.

Cider Joe nodded and poured out a dark brown liquid into another small glass which I quickly gulped down. After that I think several hours or so passed as Jackpot and I stumbled out of the bar carrying each other and holding the other up.

“I'll take ya to Grit's house, kay?” Jackpot groaned. I just nodded as I could barely even stand at that point and since I lived with Grit anyway it worked out fine for me.

It was a nice night out as Jackpot and I stumbled around Canterlot in the general direction of where Grit and I lived. Jackpot had filled up several more of his flask bottles and they were now hanging on a string around his neck that would clink together as we walked. As we neared our neighborhood I managed to lift my head enough to see Grit's house at the end of the street. I tried pointing at it but I couldn’t lift my hoof up without falling over but I should have known Jackpot already knew where it was. As we neared it we saw a shape moving towards us in the dim light of the few street lamps that were currently lit up. I thought for a second that it might be Grit going out to ask where I had been so late but it soon became obvious that it wasn't Grit.

“Hey she's cute!” I shouted out to Jackpot as we carried each other down the street. Sure enough the shape turned out to be a bright yellow Unicorn walking towards us.

“Oh yeah, she is pretty cute huh!” Jackpot slurred out with a smile as the Unicorn neared us.

“Fuck off!” the yellow Unicorn said as she pushed her way passed us.

“Geeeeezeeee! Rude much!” I shouted back at her as she walked away.

“What a fuckin bitch!” Jackpot said loudly making sure the Unicorn could hear him.

“Language.” I slurred out as I stuffed my hoof in Jackpot's mouth while laughing at what I thought was a super funny gesture.

We got to Grit's door and Jackpot finally let go of me almost making me fall over but I just barely managed to stay standing upright, “You ok to get in by yourself?”.

“Yeah, Yeah, I just gotta put the code thingy in to the box there to open the door.” I pointed a shaky towards a small metal box that was latched onto the wall beside the door, “Grit has a lot of valuable stuff so he had that installed so nopony can get in.”

“Well then, I'm off back to Joe's place.”

“Huh? Just go home Jacky, its late out ya know.”

“Honey, Cider Joe's is my home.” Jackpot said as he stumbled down the stairs a bit more balanced than I probably could have in my current state. I stood there and stared blankly as Jackpot tried to fly away only to end up hitting a light pole and tumbling back to the ground, “Maybe I'll walk.” he said to himself as he disappeared into the night.

I turned as best I could towards the door trying to remember exactly what the code to get in to the house was. As I tried pressing in the numbers I found my hoof too big to actually press anything accurately, or maybe it was just that the buttons were too small. Either way I kept getting a red light and a nasty beep every time I tried pressing a button on the doorside pad. It must have been about ten or fifteen minutes of me just standing there trying to press the buttons without messing up or losing my concentration but the door did eventually click open for me.

“See, was that so hard?” I seemingly asked the door. The front room was pitch black as Grit would have undoubtedly gone to sleep by this time of the night. The house Grit and I lived in at Canterlot was a fairly large one, it had three stories with several rooms on each floor. The first floor, which I had just entered had the living room by the door and connected to the right was one of Grit's studies(he had one on each floor) as well as a kitchen and dining room connected at the back of the room. On the right was a stair case that led to the second floor, here is where Grit kept most of his collectables and other trophies he collected in his many years of adventuring. The rooms were divided into his study, a small library of his personal favorite books and two trophy rooms. The third and topmost floor held his and my own room, another study and a guest bedroom for any friends he or I might have over.

I hobbled into the door trying not to knock anything over with my current lack of balance but the darkness in the room made that pretty much impossible. I managed to get to one of the couches set up in the living room and plop myself down on that instead of trying my luck on the multiple flights of stairs I would have to traverse to get to my room. I admit that I passed out pretty quick after hitting the couch and I fell into dreamless sleep.

****

When I managed to wake up the next day I understandably felt horrendously sick, in fact I almost threw up on myself as I lifted myself off the couch too quickly. I slowly turned my throbbing head towards the clock that hung on the wall, “Two o'clock huh.” I had slept pretty late but I hardly noticed. I tried walking around but I was still pretty dizzy so I propped myself up on the table that sat in front of the couch in the living room. I slowly made my way towards the first floor study as Grit liked to spend mornings in it and while it certainly wasn't morning I still hadn't fully realized that yet.

“Hey Grit, you in here!?” I said as loud as I could without hurting my own ears. There was no answer so I tried calling for him again as I entered the study, “Hey Grit, you he...” I didn't finish calling for him because I saw him. Grit was lying on the floor of the study, lying in a pool of drying blood that had pooled around him and had run off towards the entryway where I was standing. I stood there, still somewhat in a daze and looked down at my hooves to see I was standing in a small pool of his blood. I lifted up one of my front hooves and saw the blood on my hooves as an expression of horror slowly took over my face.

At first nothing could escape my mouth as I tried to process what exactly I was looking at but after a few seconds I just screamed as I backed up trying to get out of the blood only to end up falling on to my flank as the sudden surprise of hitting the ground frightened me further. I just screamed louder and louder as I couldn't believe what I was seeing just right in front of me. I frantically pushed my hooves forward to try and push myself out of the room and away from the gruesome scene in front of me.

“Hey! Whats going on in there!? Ivory is that you, what is it!?” that was Jackpot's voice as he shouted from the other side of the large front doors. My screaming had stopped as my breath ran out but now I just sat there staring at the lifeless body of my mentor and hero. I heard a faint beep as jackpot rushed into the house as several curious pony onlookers were staring in from the sidewalk.

Jackpot rushed in to the front room of the house where I was laying down staring at my blood covered hooves. He stopped and stared for just a second as the expression on his face dropped at a swift realization of the situation. He turned his head over to the other room and just looked over at Grit's lifeless body. He turned back towards me and gave me a hug, “Ivory, listen to me, it's ok, don't worry.” I had begun to cry and with the grotesque display before me and my body remembering I was still a little sick I suddenly vomited all over Jackpot as he held me.

Several ponies had wandered to the door from the street before quickly seeing what the matter was and fleeing back out the doors calling for the guards. They knew whose house this was and the realization for them made them just as frantic and frightened as me. Jackpot held a nervous look look on his face as several royal guards rushed into the house after several minutes. They nearly fainted at what they saw as one of them ran out of the house to get more guards and compose himself.

“Ivory, what happened, did you see anything!?” Jackpot was holding me tight and speaking quickly as he tried to piece together what happened in his own mind. I couldn't talk much less get a clear grasp on what was going on around me as I was practically catatonic at this point. Jackpot dragged me out of the house and onto the sidewalk as a large crowd of worried looking ponies began to gather around whispering and worriedly mumbling amongst themselves.

This time more guards arrived as several rushed into the house while the rest began to disperse the crowd of onlooking ponies. Jackpot was trying to clean both him and myself off when the guards tried asking us the usual question of if we saw anything or knew anything which we really didn't. Jackpot hadn't even been here and I spent all of last night and this morning passed out.

The news spread around Canterlot like wildfire as within an hour it seemed like the whole town was gathering around our guard filled street. Princess Celestia and Luna arrived with Enyi from the palace as even they rushed in with some vain hope of trying to fix the situation. I just sat there on the sidewalk silent and unresponsive to anypony that tried to talk to or even get my attention. To say I was in a state of shock would have been a vast understatement to say the least. Even Emerald and several other A.I ponies came rushing in to inspect the situation and see if I was alright. Emerald tried giving me a hug like Jackpot did but again I was unresponsive as I sat there with a dead expression on my face. She frantically tried talking to Jackpot and Enyi trying to find out what happened but as you know they either didn't know anything or just weren't telling.

****

I couldn't speak for the rest of the day and well into the next even as all of my friends constantly tried to comfort me.

“She's going to be ok right? Please tell me she's going to be ok!” Said the voice of Emerald right outside the door.

“Ma’am, she needs needs rest now but she will be fine.” said another unfamiliar voice, “Give her some time and I am sure she will be back up in no time.”

“I can't wait, I need to see if she is ok!” Emerald's voice again echoed into the small room at the Canterlot hospital I had been sent to rest in.

“The doctors say she needs her rest, I agree that this is best.” Enyi's voice said as I saw several silhouettes pass by the glass window that was fixed on the room door.

“We’ve been here all day and she hasn't said anything, I'm worried.”

“She has been through quite the ordeal, I admit I don't know what to feel.”

I could hear the two talking for several minutes but I stopped trying to listen as I curled up in the bed still trying to come to terms of what I had just seen earlier in the day. The day had ended and night had fallen over Equestria to the sounds of crying and great sadness. The news that one of Equestria's greatest heroes had just been murdered or that anypony had been murdered had just shocked the city and undoubtedly the whole kingdom. I still felt sick, but not from my actions the other night but just from the feeling that my friend and greatest hero, the pony who for the past dozen years had essentially raised me like his own child had just been killed. I moved my front hooves in front of my face only to see they had been cleaned of the blood that had been covering them but even so it was as if I could still feel it. I didn't know what to feel, anger, sadness, depression, everything was moving through my body and all it served to do was confuse and agitate me more.

I laid there thinking to everything I could about what I remembered about what happened, I ran through the events that I could recall about last night many times in my head. I laid there deep in thought until there was a sudden knock at the door that slapped me back into reality as I shot up in bed in both surprise and a tint of fear.

“You awake in there!?” I heard a voice that was unmistakably Jackpot's shout out from the hall.

“Yeah.” is all I managed to force myself to say in a slightly weakened tone.

“Good, bout time!” Jackpot yelled as he burst into the room filling it with the extremely bright light rays from the hallway. Behind him Enyi and Emerald trotted in slowly until Emerald burst out running towards me and crying, gave me a large hug.

“I'm so sorry Ivy, this wasn't your fault.” she said trying to cheer me up even though she obviously wasn't much better than me right now.

“I know Emmy, but thanks.”

Enyi walked up beside Emerald and gave me a reassuring smile of his own that managed to comfort me and which I reciprocated. Jackpot stood on the other side of the bed with a face that looked like he was thinking hard about what to say.

“I'm not really good with these kind of uh...delicate situations but it looks like your doing alright so thats good.” he said not really knowing what else to say.

“Ivy, I've been so worried about you, you haven't said a thing all day and you were in such bad shape and you haven't eaten anything and..”

“Emmy, I'm better now ok, but it's good that I have friends thinking about me.” I said smiling and realizing that I was starving.

“Hey, Emerald was it, why don't you go with the nurses and get some food for Ivory?” Jackpot asked.

“Um, ok, but when I get back we will need to talk.” Jackpot nodded and Emerald headed towards the door giving one last concerned look towards us as she headed out.

“We should tell her what's going on.” I said.

“I think that would be a tremendously bad and dangerous idea.” Jackpot answered as he sat down on a chair in the corner of the room.

“She should know, Grit was as much her hero as mine and she is my best friend.” I sternly said to Jackpot.

“Listen Ivory, Grit was a warning, I don't know how the hell they found out but they did and we don't want to give them a reason to go after Emerald too now do we.”

I hadn't thought of that, “But still, if she stayed with us we could keep her safe and still find out about what's going on.”

“I said no, the fewer ponies we tell, the safer it will be.”

“Well what do you think Enyi?”

“I do not know.”

I sighed, “Really, is that all?”

“If you must know....I agree with Jackpot.”

“Please Ivory, just keep it quiet for now at least, we should wait until we know more before we start pushing other ponies into danger.”

I still wanted to tell her but both Enyi and Jackpot were against it so I agreed to keep it quiet for the time being. After several minutes Jackpot moved out into the hallway to watch out for Emerald and the food she had promised to bring.

“So, how are you handling things?” Enyi asked me.

“How do you think.”

“I understand that this must be hard for you but..”

“Yeah its freaking hard!” I interrupted him, “This whole thing just blew way up and,” I almost couldn't finish my sentence, “Oh Celestia, Oh Luna, he's really dead!” I still could hardly believe it as tears once again began to form in my eyes.

“Ivory, do you know why I joined you back in Khaweth?”

“Not really.”

“Many years ago, when Grit last came to my country he befriended my parents and actually spent quite some time with the both of them before leaving.”

“Wait what!?” I had been told the last time Grit went there is right before he retired over thirty years ago.

“Yes, it was many years before I was born but they did some work together and because of that my parents gained a great love for the history of our people. This love passed on to me and was the inspiration for me to become a storyteller who recorded the history and memory of the Zebra.”

“I had no idea.” that was actually pretty cool, “So uh, do you happen to know exactly what your parents did with Grit?”

“When they would tell me the story of their adventures with the great Grit Stratum they would always mention that he always had a group of several ponies traveling with him. They would never go into detail but by the end of their adventures only one pony remained with them.”

“That must have been Blaze I guess.”

“Who?”

“He is Grit's best friend and the head of Adventure Incorporated.” it then just hit me, how would Blaze handle this! Blaze's name wasn't just for show, he was famous for his temper and once he heard about this I was kind of scared of what he might do especially since he tried so hard to convince Grit not to go in the first place.

“We could go to him and tell of our plight, he might be willing to aid us in our fight.” Enyi said with a little smile on his face which elicited a little laugh from me, “You look much better when you smile, you know.” I blushed a little.

“Hey Enyi there’s something I want to tell..”

Before I could finish Emerald and Jackpot burst back into the room with a rack full of delicious looking food. On the tray were several cakes, muffins, cupcakes, and a couple pies that all were in trays marked with the Pinkie Pie stamp of deliciousness.

“Courtesy of he royal sexiness, Princess Celestia!” Jackpot belted out as his face was alight while looking at all the delicious food.

Emerald gave Jackpot a little disturbed look but quickly fixed her gaze to me, “Look Ivy, the princess sent us all this yummy looking food.”

“Wow, that was really nice of her.”

“Yeah, Princess Celestia really is a great princess huh!” Emerald put on a big smile on her face.

“Yeah, great taste in food!” Jackpot said as he had already stuffed a large slice of chocolate cake into his mouth.

“I must confess, this food does look like the best!”

The food was indeed very good, we all got to sit down and just enjoy our late night meal of certified Pinkie Pie pastries. Being in a room with all my friends definitely made me feel a bit better but even with Jackpot telling bad jokes to try and make everypony laugh, Enyi regaling us with his rhymes and Emerald holding mt hooves in hers to comfort me I could not make myself feel more than just small bits of contentment every now and again. Although this was still a better state than I had been in all day and once we all fell asleep and woke up the next day the depression seemed to creep back in to my mind.

The night continued in a dark haze as rain pelted down on the roof of the hospital where I was still resting. My friends spent most of the night trying to cheer me up even though they themselves were in great pain. That night although we all tried, none of us could find it in ourselves to actually sleep. Emerald and Enyi stayed on a couple of small chairs next to my bed while Jackpot stared out the window overlooking Canterlot most of the night.

There was one point in the night when Enyi and Emerald had excused themselves to go tot he bathroom, leaving jackpot and I alone once again in the room. As I laid there I saw him just staring out of the window with a look of thought on his face.

“What are you thinking about?”

Just then his face lit up for a split second before immediately sinking into his uncomfortable looking nervous look, “Goldie Grail.”

“What?”

“I can't believe I didn't recognize her....or maybe I can believe it.”

“Jackpot, Who are you talking about!?” I asked a bit more sternly this time.

“That Unicorn we saw right before we got to your house, her name is Goldie Grail.”

“So you knew her... might explain why she was so hostile to us.”

“Ha ha, very funny, but that's not it...well maybe it is but not really.”

Suddenly I began to see where he was going and I did not like it, “then..what is it?”

“It was her.”

I paused for several moments, “How do you know?”

“She works for them and she is not a good pony.”

I looked down at the covers and pulled them up towards me a bit more, “How could you ever work for them?” I asked somewhat morosely.

“That was years ago.”

“How do you know this Goldie then?”

“I've worked with her before.”

“So you think she would be capable of this?”

Jackpot didn't answer immediately as if he was still thinking about something but after a few moments he turned his head and said, “Yes, it was her.”

“How could she have gotten inside, we have that code lock and none of the windows were broken?”

“I don't know.”

Could Grit have let her in, if he was pretending to work for these mysterious evil ponies he might have let her in but I was still pretty unsure. At that moment Enyi and Emerald entered the room holding a small devise in Enyi's mouth.

“Hey Ivy, one of the nurses let us have her radio to listen to!” Emerald said with a giddy tone in her voice.

“Wonder if Hero's show is on now?” Jackpot said.

“Who?” Enyi asked after putting the radio down on a small table near the bedside.

“She's a Dragon.” Jackpot answered.

“She is a what?” Enyi seemed a little surprised by this.

“She runs a little news show down in Marewaukee. She was a pretty big deal back in the day but she's so well known at this point that nopony really minds the whole fire breathing Dragon thing.”

“She sounds quite...interesting.”

“Oh she is an absolute joy!” Emerald said with a big smile on her face. Emerald quickly dashed over to the radio and switched it on, at first there was just this static sound but after Emerald turned the dials with her wings a ferocious yet fun sounding voice boomed out of the speakers.

HELLLLOOO MARES AND GENTLECOLTS!!! It's your Hero and I am here with exciting news! You heard right my little ponies, Grit Stratum is off on another exciting adventure! What will be in store for us, does this mean a new book series, only time will tell!

This wasn't cheering me up.

That was about two weeks ago that I gave that announcement my wonderful and definitely perceptive listeners. But today I bring some very heartbreaking news that...will be hard to hear.

“Shes never hesitated saying something before.” I knew in my mind what she was about to say.

Some of you may have heard already but it is with a truly heavy heart that I must report our hero and friend Grit Stratum was found dead in his home earlier today.

Emerald immediately shut off the small devise, “Oh um, I'm sorry, I didn't think this through.”

“It's ok Emmy.”

“She is certainly very loud.” Enyi said while rubbing his ears.

“You get used to it.” Jackpot laughed a bit as he said this.

“I wonder how Hero is feeling right now.” I thought out loud.

“That's right, her show is practically what made Grit famous back when he was first starting out.” Emerald said in answer to my thought.

“They've been friends that long?” Enyi really didn't know much about Equestria.

“Yeah, Grit's first ever adventure was with her and that weird partner of hers.” I said.

“Well, he wasn't her partner back then.” Emerald put in.

“Oh yeah, he was evil or something back then right?”

“Yeah, he was the big bad pony Fornix, remember?”

“The crazy guy with the dog, I remember. He was fun.”

“Remember when he tried to unleash a horde of parasprites on Hero's radio station but they turned on the city instead!” Emerald said with a little giggle.

“Oh yeah and they ate all of the apples in the market and Fornix ended up getting yelled at by Angela Apple.” that one was a favorite of mine.

“You two have read those books way too many times.” Jackpot said in a sarcastic tone as Emerald and I just giggled together.

“Well at least your laughing again.” Emerald said.