It’s been a week since that night on the hill. Luna hasn’t returned so far, but I did get a letter to her the following day apologizing for offending her in any way. Luckily her response was to tell me that is had not been offended in any way. Apparently, she had forgotten something important back at the castle and needed to return quickly. From what she had said in the letter, she had returned a few hours later to find that I had left.

Twilight’s training has been progressing slowly. She still hasn’t gotten used to her weights or been able to feel the shift in the myst around her. Although I would be surprised if she had already figured it out this quickly, honestly, I would have been jealous if she had managed to figure it out already.

Currently, I am sitting in the room that Twilight has let me use reading. Early this week I had moved my sound equipment out of my trunk and into the room so that I would be able to enjoy listening to music in the comfortable room rather than down in my chest wholly shut off from the world. Even if I still was cut off by sitting in the basement.

It was here that Twilight found me, Sitting in the corner of the room of a soft chair, my music playing quietly in the background. As she entered she paused in the doorway and listened to what I had playing.

https://youtu.be/uT3SBzmDxGk

<start at 38 seconds>

As the music played, Twilight spoke up “This is rather interesting. What kind of instruments are these?”

Finishing my paragraph before placing a piece of paper in the book to mark my place I looked up to her and spoke: “Believe it or not, but that is just two Cellos layered over each other.”

She looked at me and quirked her eyebrow “What about the percussion?”

I nodded, and her eyes widened. “Why would anyone slap a cello like that?!”

I chuckled and responded “The two men that made this were trained in all the traditional teachings. They just said, and pardon my wording her ‘Fuck it.’ They were tired of being told the right way to play and just did it their way. I love it. It shows that even a classical instrument, can still make it in a modern world.”

She seemed to contemplate it for a moment before shrugging and getting to the point of whatever reason she decided to come down here. “Well as for the reason I am down here, Pinkie was wondering if you wanted to have that day together with Rainbow, her and I?”

I was taken aback slightly at that. I was under the impression that the other girls weren’t too fond of me after that little mishap down in my storage room. I have since moved all of the trophies out of the general area and put them in cold storage, so I didn’t offend anyone, again. I responded “Um… Sure, to be honest, I thought… well, I thought that you guys were mad at me because of that stuff down in my storage room.”

Twilight blushed but just ignored it. “We understand. So.. um are you wanting to come out with us today?”

I smiled and responded with an affirmative “Yea, that sounds like a good time. Should I bring anything?”

Surprisingly enough Twilight nodded “Pinkie asked if you would be willing to bring your guitar along with you. She said that she and Rainbow wanted to do a ‘jam’ with you.” the way that she air quoted that was cute.

I hopped up and walked over to my trunk “Sure just give me a moment. I have it down in my other room. Be back up in a sec.” I jumped down to grab it before thinking for a moment and decided to grab another instrument as well. It was one of my more interesting ones. A stick bass. I doubt anyone here had seen one. I didn’t even know that they were a thing just three years ago. But since I found a youtube video of a guy playing one, I’ve been hooked. Plus I wanted to see if I could get AppleJack to agree to a bass off.

Hauling myself back up the ladder, Twilight gave me a bit of a strange look when she noticed that I had two instrument cases. “What is the second case for, It seems a little small.”

I shook my head and replied with “It’s a surprise, you will just have to wait.” I adjusted the straps for the two instruments as well as the small amp on my back as I followed Twilight though town to find the other two girls. As we walked to what seemed to be Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight and I discussed the books that we were currently reading as well as how well she felt she was doing in her training.

“I just don’t feel like I have made any progress. I haven’t been able to replicate anything that you have been describing. Do you think I have been doing something wrong?” Twilight pleaded.

I responded with “I feel like things are going about as well as I could have hoped for. To be honest, I would have been extremely impressed if you had managed to make any noticeable advance in this short of time. I do feel like you are getting close to feeling it. It’s just going to take a little more time. If there was anyone that would be able to do it, I know you can Sparkles.” I gave her what I hoped was a warm smile as we finally made it to our destination, which just so happens to be AppleJack's barn.

AppleJack turned to us and gave us a greeting “Howdy Y'all. You ready to have a jam session. I know that I have wanted to play with you again after that party Mag.” I smiled at her use of a nickname for me.

“Sure thing AppleJack, Where can I plug this in?” I responded.

Pointing over to the power strip next to Rainbow she added “Y’all can call me AJ if’n you like to. We are all friends here right.” She gave me a bright smile.

I nodded and walked over to Rainbow to plug my amp in when she Asked the obvious question. “What’s up with the second skinny case Mag?”

I smirked when Twilight spoke up. “That is what I asked him. He said it was a surprise until we got here. So now we are here. How about you tell us what that is now?!”

I smirked and set the case next to the amp. “Okay I will, but first. AJ, how good of a bass player do you feel like you are. Don’t be modest. I want to hear an honest answer.”

She gave me a competent grin “Well if you want an honest answer, then I reckon you deserve one then. I reckon that I’m likely the best bass player in Ponyville.”

I shot back “That is what I was hoping to hear. I would like your opinion on something, but first, would you be willing to show me an example of your skills?”

She gave me an even glare “you want some kind of a playoff sugar?” I nodded, and she continued “will if'n you're sure, you mind if I have Pinkie back me up?”

I shrugged “Only if you allow me the same thing.” she nodded, and I smirked, “then feel free to start.”

Rainbow leaned over to me and whispered “you sure you know what you are doing Mag. AJ wasn’t kidding when she said she was the best. I have never seen anypony beat her before.”

I looked her right in the eyes and countered with “I’m not from Ponyville Skittles. I know what I’m doing.” Turning back to watch AJ, I looked like she was ready to start.

AJ looked right at me and without saying anything she started.

https://youtu.be/NimnGpBEEvY

I didn’t take AJ as a slap bass player, but I have to admit that she was terrific. Her fingering was masterful, and she added just the right amount of stank to the rifts to make the funk shine through. Pinkie was tapping away on a cymbal in the background to add just a little more.

I sat back and listened to her play through the entire solo. And once she finished, I gave her a warm smile and started clapping. “That was truly fantastic AJ. I have always been a huge fan of slap bass. Give me a second to set up, and I will show you something neat.” leaning down I got my amp set up and pulled my case over to me.

I started to mutter under my breath
“Alles klar, mein seltsamer Freund, lass uns sie aus dem Wasser blasen.”
(Alright my strange friend, let's blow her out of the water.)

As I was muttering to myself, I noticed that Rainbow was looking at me with eyes that made me think she just understood what I just said. So I decided to ask
“Verstehst du mich Skittles?”
(Do you understand me Skittles?)

She turned away with a light blush, almost as if she was embarrassed to know a second language. Realizing this I decided to try something, If I was right and she understood me, she would likely hit me while outting herself. And if she didn’t well, I got away with saying what I was about to say.
“Nun, ich denke es ist besser, dass du mich nicht verstehst. Jetzt kann ich darüber reden, wie schön dein Arsch in diesen Shorts aussieht und du wirst keine Ahnung haben, wovon ich rede.”
(Well I guess it's better that you don't understand me. Now I can talk about how nice your ass looks in those shorts and you won't have any clue as to what I'm talking about.)

The next thing I knew Skittles was bright red and had a rather interesting look in her eyes before I looked away and finished opening the case to expose my Stick Bass. After plugging it in, I turned back to AppleJack, and she looked confused. “Um… I’m not sure what ta tell you Mag, but that don’t look like any kinda bass I’ve ever seen before.”

Ignoring her question I looked at Pinkie before nodding and starting right in.

https://youtu.be/NHcl6cyoU44

<start at 7 seconds>

The look on their faces was priceless, and somehow Pinkie was able to anticipate what I wanted her to do and jammed along with me. I was glad that I bought a distortion pedal with me. As the song finished, I just placed the bass back in its case and smirked at all of them.

AJ came over and asked if she could give it a go. I pulled it back out of the case and handed it over to her to give it a go. The remainder of the afternoon was spent messing around and playing some good music. Twilight wasn’t talented when it came to playing an instrument, but once she got over her nerves, she showed that she has a fantastic voice.

After a few hours, Pinkie brought up how she was hungry. I agreed with her that It was food time. She quickly volunteered us to get lunch for everyone else.

Pinkie dragged me out of the barn and back to town toward Sugar Cube Corner, her Job/home. As we walked Pinkie turned to me and started up a conversation “So, Maggie. How do you like it down here in Ponyville? I know it’s quite a bit different from Canterlot.”

I thought about it for a second before answering “I have to admit that I like it more here than back up in Canterlot. It seems like all I did back there was train with the other guards or read. I still do a lot of both here, but at least now I have some spare time to just hang out with all of you.” I smiled, thinking back just a few hours to how much fun we had been having during the jam session.

Pinkie seemed to glow with joy “That’s good, I was kind of scared that we made you upset when we found that griffon tallon in your room.”

I took a sharp intake of breath before clarifying “you knew I heard you all. Didn’t you.” She gave me a silent nod “Does Twilight and Rainbow know that I heard them?”

Pinkie shook her head again and answered “No. I don’t think they realized that you would be able to hear them.”

I let out a sigh of relief “that’s good. Twilight already told me that she understood that in my world griffons aren’t intelligent. Where I come from they are just predators that hunt whatever they can catch. I don’t blame you all for having that reaction. It was only natural.” I hadn't noticed that we had already made it to the shop, at which point Pinkie told me to wait outside while she ran in to get the food.

I sat outside for a bit while I waited for her to grab whatever she needed to. Once she came back out, we made our way back to the barn while making idle chit-chat. Once we got to the barn door, I was about to go inside before Pinkie stopped me.

Leaning up to me Pinkie spoke “Hey Magos, can I try something weird?”

I was feeling somewhat nervous and without thinking replied: “Um...let’s get weird.” As the words left my mouth Pinkie pressed up against me, and our lips met. At first, I started to freak out but after a moment leaned into the kiss to enjoy it. She pulled back and before I could do anything she had already disappeared into the barn. Muttering to myself “what the fuck was that?”

Shaking my head, I wandered into the barn where I saw Pinkie jabbering away with AJ, shaking my head I slipped back into my childhood tongue
“Ich habe keine Ahnung, was gerade passiert ist, aber Pinkies Lippen sind wirklich weich. Ich frage mich, ob Sparkles oder Skittles genauso weich sind?”
(I have no idea what just happened, but Pinkie's lips are really soft. I wonder if Sparkle's or Skittles’ are just as soft?)

I didn’t even notice that Rainbow was standing next to me. Apparently, this little comment was just enough for her to push past whatever strange embarrassment she had about understanding me before she blurted out “I bet you would like to know wouldn't you.” I don’t think she noticed what she had just reacted to for a moment, at least until I smirked at her.

“Ich denke, das hat meine Frage beantwortet, ob Sie Deutsch verstanden haben oder nicht.”
(So I guess that answered my question as to whether or not you understood German.) Was my quick retort as I called her out. I guess luckily for her nopony else noticed the quiet exchange.

Rainbow blushed before hissing “Don’t let anypony know alright. I don’t want to look like an egghead.”

That made me feel a little annoyed “Warum macht das Wissen um eine zweite Sprache dich zum Eierkopf? Und was macht mich das dann ?!”
(Why does knowing a second language make you an egghead? And for that matter what does that make me then?!)
I finished the line with a little bit of venom before leaving the barn to have a walk outside.

Walking away from the bard I sat down under an apple tree and let my head fall against the trunk, after sitting there for a few moments I heard the sound of something on four legs run up to me “Ohhh, what’s this, what’s this? Someone new? I wonder if they want to play?” the voice was feminine but it was a tone that I had heard before.

Lifting my head, I noticed what appears to be a collie dog looking at me “Hey there pup, what’s your name?”

The dog cocked her head to the side before casually answering “Winona. But it’s not like you can understand me anyway.”

She started to walk toward me to show me her collar before I answered back to her. “Winona, that’s a nice name. Do you live here with AJ?”

Winona stopped in her tracks before looking me dead in the eyes. She opened her muzzle to ask something, but before she could, I continued “and yes, I can understand you. One of the few gifts that I got from my birth-giver.”

Winona shook her head and responded “wow! That’s amazing. Only that Fluttershy mare can talk to animals normally, and even she only barely understands what we are saying.” She walked right up to me and threw herself into my lap. “You can give me a scratch being the ears.”

The statement should have come out as a request, but I didn’t really care. It had been a while since I last spoke to a dog, so instead of commenting on her commanding tone I just reached down and started to give her her scratch. We must have sat like that for a few minutes before I heard someone cough to get my attention. Looking up to see Rainbow my glance hardened “Can I help you with something Rainbow Dash.”

She flinched at me using her entire name “I just wanted to say sorry.” She almost seemed to whisper that. Like she was embarrassed to say it.

“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash. I couldn’t hear that.” she flinched again.

This time in her usual tone “I wanted to say sorry for insulting you. I just have this image that I try to keep. Knowing a second language doesn’t fit into it.”

I scoffed “Why would showing anyone that you are smart ever be a bad thing? If you want my opinion, I take brains over looks any day of the week. If all someone has going for them is looks, well then that is something that is going to fade one day.” I gave her a bit of a glare, “and while I still haven’t spent much time with Pinks, I can tell that she has a lot of depth to her that I am hoping to see.” Her eyes seemed to be misting “So tell me Skittles, do you have some depth to you? Or is what I see on the surface all there is to you?”

She dropped to the ground across from me and held herself “I’m sorry that I made knowing Giffonian look like a bad thing okay. It’s just whenever I hear it all I can think about is...her.”

I cocked an eyebrow “what do you mean her? And what the fuck is Griffonian?”

Skittles looked back at me “um… Griffonian. That was the language that you were speaking. I don’t know what Deutsche is. As for her… My ex. She’s a griffon. She taught me so that we could have private conversations in the back of class at flight school.” Rainbow laughed to herself “we always got into trouble when we were speaking it because the teacher couldn’t understand us and thought we were talking about her behind her back.”

I chuckled at the memory “and were you?”

She managed a grin “Well yea. But you would have too. She was really boring, but she did have a nice plot.”

This time I burst out laughing. “That is a great story.” wiping a tear from my eye, I continued “well to me that language is called German. Or in the language itself Deutsche. My father taught me… before he died.” I thought back on what little I could remember of him, just us sitting in the living room of the tiny apartment we lived in chatting away. I didn’t even remember what we were talking about, It was just us. “Keeping my skill of using it is one of the last things I have of him.” Looking back at her “if… if you didn’t think it would bring back to many bad memories, I would love to talk to you in German so I could keep the skill.”

Rainbow was looking right at me as she nodded “I think I can try. Um…” she seemed to try to steel herself for what she was about to ask “W-Wäre es in O-Ordnung, wenn ich dich k-küsste? Pinkie hat mich zum ersten g-geschlagen.”
(W-Would it be o-okay if I k-kissed you? Pinkie b-beat me to the first one.)

I blushed as she seemed incapable of waiting for an answer before she crawled over to me and pulled me into a kiss. I was too shocked to resist, and to be honest, I didn’t want to. Deciding to just go with the flow I brought my hands up to the sides of her face and held her there for a moment before she pulled back “w-wow. I-I.” She stopped me from continuing by placing a finger on my lips.

“Nuh uh. We need to get back to the barn.” She said before standing back up. As she did so, I noticed something out of the corner of my eyes. What seemed to be a Mare and Stallion looking at the barn with a forlorn look to them. At first, I didn’t notice it, but after a few moments I realized that they were incorporeal, I could see the tree behind them. I got up and commented to Rainbow “I-I’ll meet you inside Skittles. I just need to see something really fast.” She looked a little concerned, but I continued “It’s nothing bad. I just want to check something that I just noticed.” that seemed to calm her down.

I made my way over to where the two were standing, walking up slowly I stopped right in front of them. For a moment it seemed like they didn’t realize that I could see them. Then after a moment, I spoke “I can see both of you right now. My name is Magos. Who would you two be?”

The mare and Stallion seemed to be taken aback by my addressing them. Looking right at me now the Stallion spoke, his voice sounded distant, and half faded “Y-you can see us? And hear us?” I nodded. “How?”

I shrugged, not really wanting to go into detail as to why. Call it another gift from the birth giver. Although it has been a curse before “It’s just something I can do, both of you know that you’re dead right?”

The stallion gave a bitter laugh, and the mare pressed into his side. “Yes, we know that we are dead. My name is Bright Mac; This is my wife Pear Butter.”

I looked a little closer at them and realized who I was speaking to. The Stallion in front of me had the same eyes as AJ; his hair color matched Big Mac’s coat. And last but not least he had the same coat as Apple Bloom. So if that was the case, I was currently talking to AJ’s deceased parents. After making that connection, I continued “So I take it that you are AppleJack’s parents then?”

The stallion gave a solemn nod. “That’s true. We are.”

I was shocked. From what little I had managed to find out about AppleJack, her life revolved around this farm, as did the lives of her family. I pried a bit “Um… I hope this isn’t uncalled for, but, why are you two still here? Shouldn’t you have moved on to the after life?”

The stallion had a bitter look in his eyes “we can’t move on. Not until we get our justice.”

I know that look. That bitter hate-filled look. I had to clarify though “you two didn’t die of natural causes or an accident did you.” it could have been a question, but I was afraid I already know the answer.

Bright Mac shook his head and held his wife close. I could see the ghostly tears in her eyes. Whatever or whoever killed them had hurt her more than her husband, looking back into his eyes I took a deep breath. “How can I give you Justice?”

They looked shocked at my statement “What do you mean? You don’t even know us.”

I shook my head “It doesn’t matter. I know AJ, and she deserves to know that her parents are at peace. And whatever happened to you has trapped you here. If I can help, then I feel like it is my duty to do so. So please tell me, how can I deliver your Justice to you?”

They looked at each other before nodding “We will tell you. Later, if you are gone for too much longer, they might come looking for you. Where can we talk?”

I nodded at the wisdom. “I live at the Golden Oak library. Do you know where that is?” they nodded “good, meet me there tonight. Consider this a formal invitation to come inside and meet me in the basement. Look for the room that smells like Lavender. I have a large trunk at the foot of the bed. That is how you will know that you have the right place.” They nodded and moved away. I’m not sure what happened, but I was going to find out. Necromancy was one of the branches of magic that came naturally to the children of Hecate. It fell under her realm of power, and because of that, as one of her children, it came to me almost as easily as breathing.

Turning back I went into the barn, as I pushed the door open I stumbled back due to it opening from the other side. Twilight slipped and knocked me down to the ground. We found ourselves with me flat on my back with Twilight straddling me, her face less than six inches from my own. Deciding to speak without thinking I blurted “wow Sparkles, didn’t take you for a girl that likes to be on top.” Her face lit up bright purple-red, and she meeped. Placing my hands on her thighs, I gave her a light squeeze “not that I’m complaining.”

She must have snapped out of it because she hit me on the chest before getting up “What were you doing out here!” she wrapped her arms around herself before muttering under her breath “pervert.”

I lifted myself up and scratched the back of my head before answering her “sorry, I saw an opportunity for a little prank and took it. And as for why I was out here. Well, I just met someone that needs a little help. I know this is sudden, but I need to head back.” lifting myself off the ground I walked back into the barn.

Walking over to my stuff I started to pack it up, turning to AJ, I spoke “Hey if you want to, feel free to borrow that Stick Bass. Once you get the hang of it, it can be a ton of fun. Something just came up, and I need to head back to the Library. I had a lot of fun. We need to do this again.”

AJ looked a little put out that I was leaving but shrugged “It’s alright sugar cube. Just let me know when you want to have another session. That bass lick you played was mighty fine.” She held out her fist to me, taking the hint, I walked over and bumped fists.

As I turned to leave I looked over at Pinkie and Rainbow “We should spend some time talking latter. About how this works.” they both smiled, Pinkie with her normal smile and Dash with a hint of a blush.”

“Absopatituly” Pinkie rambled off. I chuckled and walked over to them and leaned in to give them both a quick peck.

Whispering to them “Like I said, I would love to talk about us later. I’m just going to go deal with something that came up.” I walked out of the barn and back to the library to figure out what had trapped those two poor souls here.

As I left the building, I didn’t notice that Twilight was looking at the other two with a fire in her eyes.

I jogged back to the Library and made my way down to the room in the basement. That is where I found Bright Mac and Pear Butter. I set my stuff down and offered them a seat; Bright looked at me like I was stupid so I clarified “I understand that you don’t get tired, I am trying to treat you like I would if you were still among the living by offering you a common courtesy.”

He stiffly nodded before asking “Is there a particular reason that you have us meeting in a mare’s heat room?”

That Honestly threw me for a loop “um… Heat room?”

Bright must have realized something, so he changed the subject “Nevermind, it’s not important. I would guess that you wanted to speak about why we are still in this world, correct?”

I nodded to confirm, so he continued “the answer to that is simple and at the same time very upsetting. We are still here because we were both murdered.”

I was shocked. “You were Murdered?!”

Author's Notes:

Bam, Cliffhangers motherbuckers. Sorry about the sporadic updates lately. I just moved out of my parent's place (again) and got into a new apartment. Hopefully, now I can get some more righting done, and potentially start streaming games again. But until, live strong my bronies. Live strong.