The girls were quiet after Rainbow’s admission “You see this is why I didn’t want to tell you.” The girls were giving him looks of apprehension. “Please don’t look at me as some kind of mega-powerful being that can’t be touched. Please. I didn’t have any say whose vagina I came out of, and I don’t really care anyway. She may have been the goddess that gave birth to me, but I don’t see her as my mother. The only ties I have with her, or at this point, that world is by blood. And even then I don’t really care. I asked to be brought here… well not here specifically but I asked to be removed from their realm of influence.”

All three mares were quiet for a moment before Pinkie spoke; her hair seemed to deflate a little “W-why don’t you think of her as your mother?”

I sighed “I personally think that for a woman to consider herself your mother, she would at least have to talk to you. To be honest, I have only ever seen my mother in person once. And that was for all of ten minutes. I’ve never spoken to her before, never even really met her. How can you call someone you have never spoken to, never met, and to date only ever seen for all of ten minutes, your mother.”

Shaking my head, I continued “I’m sorry Pinkie but I am an orphan, my father died when I was five, I spent three years in an orphanage, and when I was eight I was brought to camp half-blood. I have been there ever since. The only family I have ever known were half-siblings I never really took the time to get to know and various cousins, nieces, and nephews that were all around my age. And I never took the time to get to know them either. The only ones I ever got even a little close to were Luke and Nico. Luke started a war that got most of my half siblings killed, and Nico is never around.”

The mares were quite, not really sure what they should say. Deciding that I was done with the silence, I stood up and walked over to the sound table put some softer music to finish out the night. Smirking, I started up my chill mix, Blue Oyster Cult, Pink Floyd, and any kind of chill Trance music. Right as ‘Another brick in the Wall’ by Pink Floyd started up I turned back to the couch, nodding to the girls I motioned them to follow me out to the front of the library.

https://youtu.be/5IpYOF4Hi6Q

The three of them seemed to be slightly curious as to why I stepped outside and followed me. Pinkie coming up next to me asked: “So Maggy why are we headed outside?”

“Well, Pinkie I was going to do this outside to respect Twilight. I doubt she wants us smoking in her house.” Twilight looked mildly concerned when I mentioned smoking.

“Um… Mag, I don’t want to tell you how to live your life, but smoking is terrible for your health.” Twilight seemed to color.

Nodding “I agree with you fully Twilight, Smoking tobacco is a filthy habit, one that I am happy to say that I have never indulged in. I, however, don’t intend to smoke that. I brought you out here to try weed; that is if you would like to.” I made a motion with my hand and caused Excalibur (my water bong) to appear seemingly out of thin air. Sitting the delicate instrument down on the ground, I pulled a container out of one of my pockets.

The moment that I pulled it out of my pocket, Pinkie stuck her face right next to the container and sniffed it. “That’s weird, that stuff smells a lot like those plants that Shy grows behind her house. She said she uses it for her anxiety.”

I smiled at this information, firstly because that would go a long way toward showing them that it was harmless, and secondly because I now knew that I had a supplier here. “That is a widespread use for this. I have known people to use it for anxiety, depression, joint pain, headaches, sleep aids, and a lot use it just to relax at the end of the day. My use tends to lean more towards the depression/sleep aid. But I also like to use it to relax.”

Twilight looked right at me when I mentioned depression “And before you jump to conclusions, I have been dealing with depression for some years. When you lose your dad at an early age, you tend to have some emotional scars. I like to think that having it just shows that I’m still human.”

Twilight seemed to want to ask a question, so I looked at her with expectation in my eyes. She began tentatively “I didn’t realize that demigods could have depression. There hasn’t been one in Equestria for over a thousand years. Not since Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s last herd.”

My eyes widened at that comment “What’s a herd?”

The three mares shared a look before Twilight asked: “didn’t Princess Celestia tell you about social norms here?”

I shook my head and added “My first month here was going through basic training for the guard. They didn’t cover anything like that.”

Twilight blushed “Well a herd is a group of ponies that are romantically linked, traditionally they are all married together as a cohesive herd, and it’s the basis of a family. Normally it is formed by one stallion and anywhere from three to five mares. This had been done throughout the history of Equestria, mostly due to the gender ratio being around five mares for every stallion born. The practice continues today because of this as well as to keep with tradition. Although there have been a number cases where the entire herd is nothing but mares, or even in some rare circumstances nothing but stallions. But the second case doesn’t happen often. Most stallions that are only into stallions tend to stay in monogamist relationships.”

When I heard this, I just stopped for a moment. After gathering my thoughts for a bit, I packed the bowl and lit Excalibur up for a long pull. After around twenty seconds I pulled off the bong and held it for a bit before letting out the deep breath, the cloud of smoke dissipating into the night air. After coughing for a moment, I looked back at the group and asked, now feeling the buzz at the back of my skull taking hold “pony says what about herds now?!”

Looking a bit annoyed Twilight repeated herself. “Like I said, social norms dictate that herds are normally comprised of one stallion, and anywhere from three to five mares, this sometimes extends to more, but after five mares it’s normally expected to bring a second stallion into the picture. I don’t care to repeat myself, so please pay attention.”

Letting that information steep in I responded: “Fuck me!” Turning my head to look up at the Catterhorn, right up to the palace, visible even here I shouted up “Princess Celestia you are the biggest troll on this planet!!!!”

Twilight quickly slapped her hands over my mouth “SHHHHHH, don’t talk like that. It’s extremely disrespectful.”

Pulling her soft hands away from my mouth, I noticed that they had that same sent of lavender, paper, and ink as my new room. “Don’t be such a buzz kill Sparkles, I told her to her face this morning that she is a troll. Now are you three going to smoke with me, or am I going to have to finish this bowl by myself.”

I could perceive that she didn’t like the nickname but I shrugged it off, at this point I was beginning to get a good buzz going and didn’t want to ruin it. Pinkie looked at me expectantly so I continued “Just watch me first, also if you could be careful with this. It was my fathers, and it’s the only thing I have left of him.” I lit it up and took a shorter pull to show them again how. Pinkie must have thought that it looked fun because she was the first to ask to try it. “Now be careful, the stem can get hot if you hit it too often, and I will warn you, I expect that you will cough quite a bit.”

I watched with anticipation, praying to the gods that Pinkie wouldn’t drop it. My fears were unfounded however when she took her first hit like a champ. Unbeknownst to me, we had a new pony that had walked up to our group. A butter yellow mare with pink hair, seeing her I turned and gave her a warm smile. Apparently, she was still intimidated because she hid behind her hair. My smile dropped, and I quickly added “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you, my name is Magos Schmidt. I’m new to town; I’m guessing that you came here for Pinkie’s party?”

She blushed and nodded, I smiled again. At this point, Pinkie was finished with her hit and turned to hand me back Excalibur, once she saw the yellow mare she grinned “Flutter Shy! I’m super happy that you made it. This is Maggy, he’s Twilight’s guard and teacher. The best….” Her line of thinking ended abruptly as her surface thoughts flew from her mind. “um…What was I talking about again?”

Rainbow and Twilight were both a little concerned, so I quickly stepped in to clarify “don’t worry about her, depending on the person, or I guess pony in this situation, forgetting what you were talking about is fairly common. I constantly will lose my train of thought when I smoke.” Turning to the yellow mare “Would you like some, if I remember right, Pinkie said you are familiar with this plant.”

Fluttershy leaned forward to sniff at the bowl “Oh yes, I use it a lot. If you would like, well I mean if it’s okay. Um…. Would you like to try some of mine?”

I gave her a warm smile and nodded. Taking the bowl off of Excalibur, Fluttershy pulled a bowl scraper out of her mane (I shit you not) and proceeded to clean the bowl before loading it again. She held it to me first, but I shook my head “I’m good for a bit, I just took two hits. Feel free.”

What happened next made my jaw drop. She dropped down to take a seat and took a rip that burned the entire bowl. If it weren’t for the fact that I watched her pack it, I would have said it was a light bowl. But having seen her pack it, I can honestly say that she packed it tight. Her rip must have taken almost a full minute, and then she just calmly let it out before looking up at me with red eyes and beamed. “When you feel like it please feel free to ask. I don’t really have anypony to do this with right now.”

I smirked and looked back at Pinkie, who was presently trying to molest Rainbow while rubbing her face on Rainbows neck. “I don’t think you will have any issues finding people to join you now. Looks like Pinkie loves this stuff.” Turning back to Fluttershy “by the way, you must have amazing lung capacity. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone take a rip like that before. I bow to your mastery, Butters.”

She looked confused, so I clarified “you coat, it’s butter yellow. If you don’t like the nickname I can just call you Fluttershy.”

For some reason, she seemed to blush and shook her head “n-no I’m okay with that. It’s a lot better than other nicknames I used to get.”

I smile fell “what do you mean?”

She looked distant. I knew that kind of look, it was the look of someone that had been emotionally abused, my mind clouded with good feelings wouldn’t let me stand by and do nothing. I stooped down and pulled her into a hug, at first she tensed up, almost like a dear in the headlights, but after a few moments she relaxed and leaned into the embrace. “It’s okay Butters. I have been there before. How about we go back inside in a few minutes and have some fun.” She nodded “first thing is first though. I have to get your friends stoned first. Would you like to help?”

Butters giggled and nodded. Ten minutes later found us sitting in the lobby of the library on the couch. I have to admit, I was feeling great. I was surrounded by new friends, all of whom were knockouts, and better yet for some reason, they were leaning on me. Deciding to show off a little I pulled my guitar up from my room using a little magic that I had adapted and began to strum a little bit of a tune.

As I looked around the room, I could tell that the party was beginning to die out. At this point, it was close to midnight. Looking around I noticed a White mare that had apparently brought an electric keyboard. It was currently set to sound like an organ, but the tune she was playing was one for the ages. Knowing what I had to do, I pulled myself off of the couch to stand next to the mare in question. As she played I noticed what seemed to be an increase in the of magic in the air as Pinkie appeared behind us with a full drum kit, Rainbow pulled another guitar out of nowhere and some Blond mare with an orange coat had a bass.

https://youtu.be/np0solnL1XY

I had seen something similar up in Canterlot, and from what Celestia had told me. Every now and again the magic of the world would influence the ponies of Equestria into random songs. I can only imagine that my presence was affecting some of it because the song that the White mare had started playing was most certainly from my world. As it began most of the party had gone entirely silent, allowing us to play for them. I felt myself singing the lyrics without meaning to, just letting myself get caught up in the flow of the magic.

Rainbow slid into position as the backup guitar, with Pinkie rocking it out on the drums. The mystery mare on the bass strummed along in the support role. We chugged along right to the halfway mark before I let loose and began the long line of guitar solos that this song offered. I had no idea how I managed to play them all without messing up. I know I have never been this good at guitar before, so it must be the magic giving me a boost to my ability.

As the song ended the entire room exploded with applause. “Thank you Ponyville! Thank you for your welcoming me to your village with such open arms.” Pinkie pulled me into a group hug with the others that helped perform before everyone began to leave the treehouse. As everyone retired for the night, Pinkie and Rainbow pulled me to the side.

“So Mag, Do you have any plans tomorrow?” Rainbow asked with Pinkie bouncing up and down next to her.

I stifled a yawn before replying “Not really, I need to get to work putting together my magic faraday cage. But that should only take a few hours. Why?”

Pinkie spoke up at this point “Just make sure that you are ready to do something tomorrow afternoon, okay.”

My eyebrows rose at this, but I decided that it wasn’t really any anything to worry about. Walking through the room toward the stairs to the basement I felt like someone was looking at me. Tracing my eyes through the place, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Shrugging I made my way downstairs to fall asleep, hoping that the next day would be as good as this one had been.

Perspective swap
_____________________________________________

An unknown mare had just managed to sneak out of the Library before Magos could notice her. Rushing through the village, she managed to get to the outskirts before anypony would have the chance to stop her. Dropping the hood that she had been wearing she let her shoulder-length black hair down. Upon losing her disguise, it was revealed that this was no mare at all. But in fact was a beautiful woman, Her skin, pale as moonlight, it seemed to give a greenish glow. Her eyes, bright green, almost the color of leaves on trees.

But now her eyes, normally clear and some would say even cold, were red with tears. She could barely believe what she had heard that night. Her son, one of the few that had survived that terrible war, didn’t consider her his mother. It sounded as if he hated her with all his soul. As after having heard his reasons, she couldn’t even blame him. When Magos had requested to be removed from their realm of influence she had taken this as her only chance to really get to know one of her children.

The laws of Olympus has forbidden any of the gods from spending too much time with their children, lest the world fall to ruin. When he had asked to be brought here, she saw the most significant chance any of the gods had ever been given to get to know him on a personal level. Her duties were handled mainly by her underlings, leaving her much in the way of free time. But now here she stood, having been given her one chance to live out her fantasy of having a family, one without the duties or restrictions of Olympus, and her son wanted nothing to do with her. She had burned her bridge before she had even seen it.

She fell to her knees and wept in the night, not caring for the chill in the air. “M-Magos h-hates me. My baby boy hates me, and there is nothing that I can do to fix this.”

She felt the rip in reality behind her before the Sun and Moon goddess arrived. Wiping her eyes, she turned to the tear to face them. Both glowing with intensity, not bothering to hide their true natures from her.

Only a god would be able to stand here and gaze upon them without burring away. “Hello, Lady Celestia and Lady Luna. I hope that I find you well, and I must compliment you on this most wondrous night Luna. I must admit that your moon gives a much gentler light than my own. I am a tad jealous in fact.”

The two Pony Goddesses were not amused, Speaking first Celestia retorted “What are you doing here Hecate, you have no business here. This is not your realm of influence, and I don’t imagine that your son wants to see you. At least not if what he told me is true.”

She shrunk from the taller goddess. “I would imagine that you are correct about his feelings for me Celestia. Surely you must understand that we of Olympus do not have the opportunity that you and your sister have to show our love to our children. My business here is concluded. I had hoped that I might be able to finally show my son the love that I have been unable to show him in the past. It was a futile effort. H-he h-hates me. He hates all the gods, and I can’t really blame him.”

Celestia was a bit shocked, this was not the reason that she had expected her to be here. “So you are saying that your reason for being here, was not to try to use him. But to try to take up the mantle of being his mother. To be a staple in his life?” the shorter goddess fell again to her knees and began to weep once more, her head nodding all the while.

Luna turned to her sister and spoke in a hushed tone. “Dear sister, it would seem that she seeks redemption. We can feel her pain in this. Pray dear sister, what dost thou think we should do?”

Celestia brought her right hand to her lip, contemplating for a moment as to what to do with this development. After a few moments, an idea struck her “I have an idea, but I must receive a promise from you, and like your son before you. I will require that you swear on the River Styx. You will do as I say, and you might well be able to finally have a loving relationship with your son.

Hecate did not hesitate “I swear on the River Styx that I will do whatever it takes to make this right. I want to be able to hold my son in my arms once more. I only got a week with him after he was born. Like each of my children, he did not leave my arms once in that time. I want to hold him again.” her tears continued to stream down her face “I want my son back. Please help me.”

Celestia stretched out her hand to grasp Hecate’s, in that instant a bond was formed and a light sparked before dimming away, leaving the clearing empty save for a single Torch standing out of a dittany bush. Sitting on a small hill overlooking this marvel was a single sunflower sitting next to a single moon lily.