Well, here I am in Ponyville. Mother went back to Canterlot and left Philomena to watch over me. Other than communicating through our dreams at night, I had wondered how I could get in contact with her. Turns out that was covered as well. Spike’s fire can send letters directly to either her or Luna. I have to stop being so surprised at what magic can do in this world.

From the Tree, we all went our separate ways for the day. Pinkie went to work, only after making me promise to stop by either today or tomorrow. AJ went back to her farm. I had asked AJ if I could come to see the farm and be introduced to her family. And while she did say yes, there was a distinct impression that I wouldn’t get a warm welcome. I have to figure out a way to get through to her. Fluttershy went back to her cabin to take care of her animals, with an invitation to stop by and say hello to them. One thing that this world’s Fluttershy can do is actually talk to the animals. How cool is that? Rainbow just said she’d catch me later sometime because she has to check in with the weather team. Twilight said to come by the library to get settled in after seeing Rarity. Turns out that she lives in an actual living, breathing tree. That is also a library. For a second, I wondered if she was taking this “treehouse” thing just a little bit too far.

Yeah, so right now I was at Rarity’s place, the Carousel Boutique, in order to get me measured for future clothes. She had agreed to make me some everyday work clothes out of thick tough material. I told her that she could ask to be paid for this, she didn’t need to do it as a favor. Anyway, did you know that this building was designed to look like an actual carousel? Man, this world is weird.

“Alright Fred let’s go into the back room, so I can take your measurements,” Rarity motioned with her hand toward a set of double swinging doors. Which were right next to a raised portion of the floor with three large mirrors around it. The front part of the boutique was for showcasing her designs and final fittings.

The room she ushered me into was her designing room. Swatches of cloth of all sorts were neatly folded in shelves around the room. Table, stool, and a sewing machine with multiple spools of numerous colors were on the far side of the room. I briefly wondered if she slept here or had another place. In the main room, there was a staircase leading upstairs, which was probably to her bedroom. “Nice setup you have here Rarity,” I tried starting up a polite conversation, “You live here too?”

“Yes,” she nodded, “my sister, Sweetie Belle, and I do. Our rooms are upstairs while I work down here, she goes to school.” She ushered me next to her sewing station, “Now if you will stand there and remove your shirt and pants I will take your measurements.”

You know, when she asked that I had a terrible desire to start humming a strippers tune just to mess with her. And I had with the human Rarity, but with this Rarity, I figured that keeping it professional was best. So, I stripped down to my undies and stood in a t-pose. “Your counterpart has a store, but unfortunately the local city ordinance won’t allow her to live there as well as work there,” while she took my measurements I tried again to stir up a conversation.

“Quiet please,” she commanded in a business-like tone pausing only briefly before returning to measuring me. In her magical grasp was a pencil and paper floating there beside her while she physically took my measurements with the measuring tape. Now, how handy is that? I know for a fact that her counterpart would love to have an ability like that.

“Sorry,” muttering quietly and quickly so as to not interrupt her work. It took her about another five or so minutes to complete the measurements. “Alright Fred, all done. You can get dressed again.” While she turned toward a drawing table, I got dressed.

“Say Rarity? How about going out to lunch sometime?” I asked after getting dressed again and walked up to the table where she was sitting.

Very elegantly she took off her glasses, put them on the drawing table, and turned around, “I’m sorry Fred, but I don’t date humans.”

I just smiled with a slight wave of my hand, “Sorry, that’s not what I meant.” With a sigh, I leaned forward, “Look, I can tell you don’t like humans that much, me included. All I’m asking is a chance to get to know you, and possibly be my friend by going out to lunch and having some good food.” I motioned to her, “With a good...um...mare and good conversation. No more, no less. What do you say?”

She seemed to think it over while looking up at me. “Alright Fred,” she said at length, “Because you helped me during the celebration and because you are Princess Celestia’s son.” She paused for a second and I caught the slightest of smirks, “I’ll think about it.”

I had a terrible desire to roll my eyes, but I didn’t. “I’ll take what I can get,” I said lamely then turned to leave, “I need to see Twilight about settling in and taking a nap. Thanks again Rarity.”

“You’re welcome,” is all she said before I walked out. It was going to be a beautiful day, but right now I was too tired to care. Rarity’s place was in the center of town, while Twilight’s place was on the outskirts of town. It was a small village basically with a stream going directly through it. Townhall was in the center, naturally.

The route that I took to Twilight’s, which wasn’t hard to see, only had two people and one pony out on the street. I tried to bid them good morning and although the humans gave me a soft good morning, the pony didn’t. The humans were only dressed in the basic of clothes, which had seen better days and looks like they’ve tried to patch it up themselves. Reminded me of something that Tom Sawyer might wear actually. The pony just ignored me and kept right on walking.

After getting to the tree library, which was a sight to see, I didn’t even knock just came right on in. I’d think about the wonders of this “treehouse” later. Pun intended. From what I could tell, it had a main room and then an upstairs probably where the beds were.

“Hey Fred,” Spike greeted me after I walked in. “Boy, you look ready to fall out.”

“Yeah, I am,” I smirked at him while he was putting some books away. “Where’s Twilight? She and my mother discussed me staying here.”

“Oh yeah,” he pointed toward the stairs across the room. “She made a bed for you upstairs. Twilight has already passed out.”

“Thanks, Spike,” walked around the center bust of a horse head seating area and up the stairs. The upper floor had a loft to it where I heard light snoring come from. After walking up the curving stairs, Twilight was laying in a cozy-looking bed fast asleep. The loft was like a carved out seating area underneath a window. There was another bed there, so I stripped down to my boxers, got underneath the covers, and quickly fell asleep.

^_^

The smell of food woke me up sometime later, which made my stomach start to growl. This bed was really comfortable actually. Soo comfortable that I didn’t want to get up, but I had another need other than my complaining stomach. Nature was calling me and I had no choice but to answer her call by getting up out of bed. A quick glance around told me that Twilight was somewhere else, so I got up. There was a bathroom off to the side on this second floor, oddly enough. So, I used that to take care of nature and wash my hands, then go back up to get dressed to head downstairs.

The kitchen slash dining area was through a door downstairs. It was beginning to feel like the magical tent from Harry Potter. And it wouldn’t surprise me either. Yet this tree was three times the size of any house in this town.

“Hey Fred,” Spike greeted from the small round table as I approached. “How was your nap?” Twilight was already there, dressed in her usual simple light purple outfit and nibbling on some veggie soup.

“Slept great actually, thanks.” He nodded to me as I sat down with a bowl served to me. “What is that mattress made of anyway? It was one of the most comfortable ones I ever slept in.”

“The owner of Quills and Sofas makes them,” Twilight answered as I nibbled on lunch. “He has made a special filling material that magically combines cotton and clouds wrapped with a special soft outer layer that keeps it from escaping. It’s really ingenious and feels like you’re sleeping on a cloud.”

“I’ll say,” I agreed.

“He uses the cotton for fluff and uses the clouds to keep the cotton extremely fluffy, so it won’t compress underweight,” Twilight further explained.

I shook my head with an amused expression, “I don’t think this world will ever cease to amaze me.”

Twilight giggled at that, “I hope not, that would mean there wouldn’t be anything to study.”

“Wouldn’t that be tragic,” Spike said sarcastically, but Twilight gasped at him in shock.

“Of course it would be Spike. That would mean that the universe isn’t infinite, but finite and that would be horrible.” Spike and I chuckled at her for a few seconds before she caught on, “Alright alright I’ll admit to falling for that.”

“Don’t suppose you found anything on those chests?”

She shook her head, “Sorry, I haven’t. I only got a little studying done before falling asleep. So now that I’m awake again, I’m going to hit the books hard. What’re your plans?”

“Well, I tried asking Rarity to have a friendly lunch,” I started to say then looked directly at Spike. “So we could get to know each other as friends. Don’t worry Spike, I’m not trying to take her away from you.” He relaxed as I continued, “But all she said that she’d think about it. So, I figured I’d stop by Fluttershy’s to see her. Philomena should still be there. At least she wants to get to know me.”

“Sorry Fred, but I’m afraid that getting through to some ponies will just take some time,” Twilight said sadly.

“I know you’re right Twilight.” Twilight got done with her lunch and stood up, walked over to me, and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Try to be patient Fred,” she smiled down at me. “You got through to me and have me as a friend, so you can get through to others.”

“Thanks, Twilight,” smiling up to her I put a gentle hand on hers. Then with another smile, she patted my shoulder again and left to find out more about those mysterious chests of ours. “Thanks for lunch Spike, it was good.”

“You’re welcome Fred,” he said gathering up the bowls while I got up from the table. “You off to Fluttershy’s?”

“Yeah, know where it is?” He gave me directions to it, so I bid him a good afternoon. It was basically on the other side of town close to this Everfree Forest I’ve heard about. So, it was back to walking through town. Now everyone and everypony were out. Including…

“Hey there,” I heard before a blur landed beside me hitting me in the arm. “What’s up?”

“Hey Rainbow,” I chuckled at her greeting. “Just heading to Fluttershy’s to have a little chat. What’re you up to?”

“Well, I was up to about three thousand feet until I saw you walking through town.”

I laughed, holding my stomach while slightly stumbling. “Ok, that was good,” after catching my breath I told her.

“Seriously though,” she continued. “I’m on my way over to AJ’s for a little daring pony competition.” I looked over to her a little confused. “It’s where two ponies challenge each other in daring feats to see who wins them in order to see who is the most daring pony.”

“Good luck with that then.”

“Thanks, Fred, catch you later,” and she was off leaving a rainbow trail behind her. For the rest of the walk, I tried to say hello to some ponies here. Including one blue-ish gray pony with blond hair and walleyes.

“Hi there,” she greeted back and seemed to be the type of personality that gets along with everyone. She landed near me and tilted her head. “Say aren’t you…?”

I nodded to her and took a polite bow, “Yes I’m Fred, Celestia’s son, how are you?”

“Oh yeah, and I’m fine,” she started saying before stopping herself. “Oh wait...” then suddenly bowed after her eyes went wide. “I’m sorry Prince Fred,” she sounded a little nervous now.

After a slight chuckle I stepped up to her, gently taking her arms, and raised her up, “Now now, you don’t have to be that formal with me. Come on, stand up.”

“I don’t?” she blinked up at me standing up.

I shook my head with a wide smile, “I may be a prince by birthright. However, I want to earn that title in the eyes of both Ponies and People, so for right now you can just call me Fred.”

“Oh, ok then,” she smiled at that.

“By the looks of your uniform, you work delivering mail?” I asked inviting her to walk with me, which she did. She only stood about five foot five...maybe.

“Oh yes, and I’m pretty good at it. In spite of my bad eyes.” We left the center of town walking down one of the main streets.

“I was wondering about that,” I gently said to get her to talk about it.

“I have walleye, but it wasn’t always like this,” she began through a sad voice. “I used to be a really great flier, but something started messing with my eyes until it got to what it is today.”

I felt bad for her, “In the human world there are some treatments. Surgery for one and special glasses as well.”

“I’ve tried those, but unfortunately the doctor said that in my particular case surgery would be too much of a risk. And glasses wouldn’t help that much because my eyes tend to wander from time to time.” She perked up with a wide smile, “But I get by well enough.”

While she was talking I had a thought, “Have you tried closing one eye and just seeing through one of them?”

She blinked in thought, “Huh, never thought of that.” She closed one eye and started looking around.

“Just an idea mind you, and not my specialty, but could it help?”

“I think it does,” she nearly cheered happily. “It does get rid of the double vision, but I lose my depth.” To my surprise, she turned to me and hugged me, “Thank you for suggesting it, Fred.”

I hugged her back, “Well, you’re welcome and I hope it helps at least temporarily.”

She smiled up to me, “I’ll try and see. Where you headed?”

“Fluttershy’s place.”

“Oh I’ve got a letter for her,” she skipped happily. “I’ll come with you, it’s right over there.” She pointed to a little cottage with a living roof off in the distance not too far from us. From what I could see it looked like a hobbit house about two football field’s length away from the edge of the forest. “She’s such a kind pony and a good friend.”

I had to smile at that, “She is a lot like her human counterpart.”

“What do you mean?” she blinked up at me.

“Oh,” I chuckled realizing she has no clue. “You see there’s another world, where I was raised that is strictly human. And apparently a lot of the people I knew there have counterparts here. Fluttershy is one of them. Along with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity.”

“Really? Wow.”

“The human Fluttershy works at an animal shelter taking care of the animals there.” We turned up the path to the front door, passing over the small creek bridge, as the dirt path crunched under my shoes and the clip-clop of her two hooves.

“She takes care of animals here too out of her house,” Derpy explained. “You think I have a human counterpart?”

I looked down at her with a smile, “Actually you do. She went to school with me and is a friend of mine.” My hand was out for her to shake, “Would you be mine as well?”

“I’d be happy to Fred,” she shook it as we approached her front door as she knocked.

“Just a minute,” Fluttershy called out to us from inside as Derpy got out a letter. There was some rustling from inside and I think a cat yowling, then the door opened. “Oh hi Derpy,” she smiled and greeted Derpy then did the same to me. “Oh hi, Fred.”

“Hi Fluttershy,” Derpy greeted handing over the letter. “Got another letter from Discord.” That got me interested and it showed in the look I was giving to Fluttershy.

“Oh...um thank you Derpy,” she thanked her as Derpy said goodbye to us and took off to complete her deliveries. Just as a screech came from inside with Philomena flying out to me landing on my shoulder giving my head a rub.

“Hi Philomena,” rubbed my head against hers. “Hope you are having a good time.” She cooed happily. “That’s good because I was hoping to sit and talk with her a while.”

Fluttershy blinked up at me then motioned me inside, “Oh, of course, Fred, please come inside.”

“Thank you, Fluttershy,” after stepping inside it was obvious that she takes care of animals. The room opened up into a spacious living room with the kitchen and dining room through an open doorway on the far side. Next to that was stairs leading up. More than likely a single room and bathroom. “Very nice place you have here,” I told her as she motioned me to sit on the sofa in the living room.

“Thank you, Fred,” she sat down next to me on the sofa pouring some tea for us. “But you’re upset with Discord.”

“Thank you,” I said taking the cup from her and nodded. “He is responsible for kidnapping my mother and Aunt Luna.”

“I know,” she sipped her tea but didn’t touch the letter yet.

“And has he said anything about that?” I turned my body to sit sideways with one arm over the back of the sofa in order to face her.

“Um...no,” she was fiddling with a lock of her hair when she said it. “He is being reformed from his evil ways.”

With a patient sigh, I leaned over and set the cup down. “Listen Fluttershy,” I spoke gently as I knew how. “I know you’re supposed to be reforming him and thereby supposed to be patient with him.” She nodded slowly. “However,” I continued with a raised finger, “It was his chaos magic that took them.”

“Yes it was,” she conceded looking down to her tea. “And yes it was his vines that was the cause of it all. But they were planted over a thousand years ago.”

“Fluttershy, that just proves that he’s not honestly wanting reform,” I told her patiently. “That is because he could have stopped it at any time he pleased, but chose not to. Now, why is that? Was it because he secretly hoped that it would succeed? Is he still a threat?”

“I don’t think he is,” she answered and looked to me with honest eyes. “I have to believe that there is a chance for him to be reformed if I want to continue to try. Doesn’t everypony deserve a second chance?”

“Yes, of course, they do,” I agreed. “But, in my opinion, he’s already proven he doesn’t want it because he didn’t stop the vines when he had the chance. I’m sorry, really. But, that always comes to my mind. He didn’t want it to stop.”

“I believe he has the capacity to change,” she said firmly.

Picking up my cup again I took a sip and nodded to her, “For everyone’s sake Fluttershy, I hope you’re right. Including his own sake because from what I understand he’s been turned to stone before.”

“Yes, twice.”

“Twice? You mean he got free once?”

“Yes,” she confirmed, “last year when he nearly succeeded in turning us into complete opposites of ourselves.” She actually shuddered with closed eyes when she said, “It’s not something I like to remember.”

“Then let’s move onto something else then and I’ll end it with this. Be careful alright? The last thing I want is for him to hurt you. Because I’m very protective of my friends and family.”

She looked up at me with a smile, “Alright. So tell me of the other Fluttershy.”

I leaned back against the couch taking a sip of the tea, “She works at an animal shelter in town, along with going to school. We’ve been friends for as long as I can remember. Ever since elementary.” Fluttershy took a sip of tea after fiddling with her dress to make herself more comfortable. “As a matter of fact,” I continued my thoughts, “I met the rest of the girls about that same time, and we’ve all been friends ever since. She’s nearly exactly like you. Sweet and kind to everyone she meets. Was always there for me when I needed something. She’s got that type of personality and natural beauty that just draws the natural instincts to serve and protect out of me.” Dammit, that last part I hadn’t intended to say.

“Oh really?” she asked shyly and it was then that she started fidgeting with her cup. “Do you think...um...that I have that?” She couldn’t quite meet my eyes while hiding behind her hair with a blush on her face.

Did she really just ask me that? And if I was going, to be honest with myself, then yes she has that in spades. It was then that I decided to be perfectly honest with her. Kind of like, damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. So, might as well just straighten up and tell her. After taking a calming breath to steel my resolve I told her, “In total honesty Fluttershy, yes you do.”

She smiled, though still blushing and hiding behind her hair, “Thank you.” She spoke softly, almost to where I couldn’t hear her. The dress she was wearing was a simple light yellow sundress in pink accents. No sleeves.

“You’re welcome,” but I didn’t want it to end there. “So, would you like to have lunch sometime? You know, have some good food and good conversation.”

She nodded to me with a smile, “I...I would like that.” Right after she said that a little white rabbit jumped up onto the couch and started to kick my leg. It was laughable to think that the little rabbit thought that it would actually hurt. “Angel,” Fluttershy admonished quickly picking the rabbit up then setting him on the other side of her. “Sorry about that,” she apologized to me. “He’s my bunny, Angel. One of my animals that is a long time residence here.”

“Nothing to apologize for,” I chuckled shaking my head. “Not like it hurt or anything. Heck, barely felt it.”

“Well, he usually sits in that spot,” she explained.

“Oh,” I had to laugh at that. “Well, we can’t have everything we want all the time now can we?”

Right then there was a knock at the door. “Oh excuse me I’ll get it,” she said and got up going to the door. A creek later and I heard. “Oh hi, Twilight.”

“Hey, Fluttershy is Fred here?” Twilight asked which was my cue to stand up.

“Right here Twilight,” I answered walking into her view. “What’s up?”

Fluttershy let her in, so she walked up to me grabbing my arms in excitement, “Just got a letter from your mother about the possibility of finding some answers at their old castle in the Everfree forest.” She was looking up at me with almost a wild look in her eyes, filled with unbridled excitement.

“That creepy place?” was Fluttershy’s response to that.

“Oh it’s not that bad,” Twilight let me go waving a dismissing hand, “and there’s a safe path through the forest. We’ve been there before, plus it should give us some great history of your mother and Princess Luna.”

“Well, I guess if mother suggested it-”

“Great let’s go,” Twilight grabbed my arm and proceeded to almost drag me out of the cottage.

“Well, I guess we’re going,” I called out to Fluttershy while Twilight pulled me out her door. “See you later?”

“Alright,” she waved at us from her open door, “Be safe through that forest.”

“Twilight, I can walk you know,” I finally got to say to her after she nearly dragged me down the path from the cottage. Philomena was now flying along beside me because my shoulder wasn’t the best place at the moment.

“Oh sorry,” she let me go and presumed a normal walking pace. “It’s just that I’m so excited about this. She said that there’s a large library there.” Now she was bonce walking almost like Pinkie, “Just think of all the historical information we could find.”

“I’ll admit to being intrigued,” I admitted to her. We started walking up to the edge of the Everfree forest, but to me, it didn’t look all that different than any other forest in the human world. Didn’t really matter to me because if push came to shove I still have my fire magic to use against any aggressive animals. “But where’s Spike?”

“He’s back at the library,” she replied entering the forest with me walking beside her. “I told him that he didn’t need to come with me if he didn’t want to because I would have you with me.”

“And he didn’t want to?” Even in the full light of day, the forest got a little dark and the wind died down. Only the sound of our walking and a light breeze was heard.

“He was, but he didn’t want to admit it,” she giggled. “He said that somepony needed to stay behind and watch over the library.”

And with a chuckle, we started our way through the forest. With the only sound being the sound of the underbrush under my feet, her hooves, our breathing, and some light wind through the trees.

^_^

Twilight gasped so long and hard I thought she’d suck all the air from the library after she saw it for the first time. “Wow! Look at all these ancient books. It’s a veritable gold mine of information. I can’t believe it! Woo-hoo!” And off she went flying around looking at all the dusty old books that looked surprisingly well-preserved. The room didn’t look all that bad. Sure the ceiling was collapsing, but the bookshelves were mostly still intact. From the door, there were shelves about ten or so feet tall filled with books that were on either side of us. In the middle was part of what used to be an Alicorn statue, minus the rear bottom half and laying on its side. “This place is perfect,” Twilight cheered nearly diving into a small pile of books that were on the floor.

“Glad you think so Twilight,” I called out to her while looking around. With nothing else to do, I figured I’d try to find out what subjects are where. If they were cataloged that way of course.

“Oh I do,” she started to put the books on a nearby table and go through them. “Another thing that your mother suggested was for you to start magic training.”

The first bookshelf looks to be math and spells related. “Sounds good to me,” I told her moving to another shelf. “who’s going to train me?”

She sat down at the table going through a book, “I will. I mean who better than the Element of Magic herself right?”

The next bookshelf looked to be history, so I started reading the titles. “Sounds good to me Twilight.” After a few minutes of looking around, I spotted “Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters: History and Construction.” I grabbed it proceeded to the table to begin reading it. “Now here’s something,” I muttered after sitting down.

“What did you find?” she looked up from a book.

“History and construction of this castle apparently.”

“Really?” she got up immediately and walked over. Philomena had taken a perch on the table as Twilight came up nearly putting her head next to mine. Did you know that she smells like books and ink? I could tell she was reading because she would turn a page about every ten seconds. Her head nearly rested on my shoulder after leaning back in the chair. And her hair was tickling my cheek and neck. So, after about three or so minutes, I reached up and slowly lifted the book closer to her face.

“Wow, this is very interesting,” she muttered taking the book from me in her magic, standing up, and slowly walking back to her seat muttering the whole time. It was right after she sat down and looked up to me that she asked, “Aren’t you going to find something to read?”

With a raised eyebrow and a lame look, I gave her the best “really?” look I could. When she didn’t get it I rolled my eyes with a sigh, “Twilight? Where did you get that book from?”

“Oh well, it was...” she paused as it hit her right between the eyes. And with a sheepish apologetic look, she used her magic to float the book back over to me. “Sorry got carried away,” she apologized.

I nodded my acceptance, grabbed the book, and brought my feet up to the table, so I could lean back in the chair and relax.

Except I heard, “Fred?” I looked around my knees to look at her. “Don’t put your feet up on the table.”

“Why?”

“Well, you could get dirt on the table.” She said it so honestly too. Even Philomena shook her head at that one.

“Twilight,” I addressed her sweetly with an exaggerated smile. “We’re in an old broken down castle that is falling apart around us that is filled with all kinds of dust, dirt, rubble, debris, and who knows what else. I seriously doubt that anyone is going to care at this point.” Without waiting for a response I leaned back in the chair.

“You have a point, but-”

Click. Whir. She was interrupted when the sound of some switch being thrown, gears turning, and low and behold two bookshelves separated. They moved away from each other to reveal a secret hidden smaller room to my right. On one side was a bookshelf. The other side had a long lounge chair for someone to lay on. Large cushions all around the room about the size of a large bean bag. And smack dab in the middle was a book on a small pedestal.

“Oh-kay,” I said slowly while gazing at this new development, “this is new.” Looking down showed me that the chair was linked to a switch on the floor. So, I got up while keeping the chair in the same position as Twilight slowly approached the room. After seeing the book she walked in and up to it; reading the title.

“The Journal of the Two Sisters,” she said softly after picking it up and walking over to one of the cushions sitting down.

After grabbing my book I followed her inside and sat down on the cushion next to her. Along with Philomena who took a perch on the now vacant pedestal in the center of the room.

“These are the chronicles of myself, Princess Celestia, and my sister, Princess Luna,” she read aloud.

“Holy cow,” I whispered in awe. “That’s the personal diary of my mother and Aunt Luna. Should we really be reading this?”

“Well, I’m sure she doesn’t mind,” Twilight offered, “because she’s the one who told me to come here in the first place.” She turned to the first page and gasped again, “And look, it starts with their coronation as Princesses of Equestria. This is amazing. Before this, the tribes didn’t live together and each had their own monarchy. It’s well-known that the tribes chose Celestia and Luna because they were Alicorns. And thereby able to represent the three races equally because they are the three races in one body. And now we get to read it from their point of view.”

I’ll have to admit that it was a great find, and so we sat back as she read aloud the journal.

^_^

(About one hour later)

“Finally we found a good place to build our first castle,” Twilight was continuing to read. Suddenly I looked up and saw a white rabbit hop his way into the room, up to me, and then hopped up into my lap.

“Angel?”

“What is it, Fred?” Twilight looked up from the book and saw the rabbit. “Angel? What are you doing here?”

Then I thought there was the sound of a pipe organ playing. It wasn’t very loud and could easily miss it, but I think my hearing got better after coming here for some reason. Then part of the floor spun around and a bowl of carrots was suddenly there. “What the-” was my dumbstruck response while Angel was fully content to hop down and start munching on the carrots. “Ok, will this castle please stop blowing my mind?” I asked no one.

“You think Fluttershy is here?” Twilight wondered no worried.

“Good question. Do you think Angel would be here, and she wouldn’t?”

“I don’t think so,” Twilight doubted with a shake of her head, “she’s very protective of Angel.”

“Philomena?” she cooed over at me. “You think you could go search around for Fluttershy? And if she’s here then tell her where we are? If she’s in trouble or anything let us know?” She cooed an affirmative and took off out the secret door.

“I hope Fluttershy’s alright.”

“I hope so too Twilight, but right now Philomena’s our best bet on finding that out.”

^_^

(One hour later)

“This one is Luna’s entry,” Twilight read aloud then gasped at what she read. “The case of the missing Crystal Heart?” I had been listening, and interested, all this time, but this was news to us. I leaned over to get a better look as she read on, “All was relatively fine with the new treaty with the griffons, when we got word that a dragon had stolen the crystal heart.” She looked up from the book to me with eyes wide in shock.

“Huh, well that comes around full circle doesn’t it?” I commented with a smirk.

She blinked at me, “What do you mean?’

“Well, it was once stolen by a dragon, and now then brought back by a dragon right?”

She giggled then went back to the book, “I suppose you’re right.” However, she didn’t get a chance to read again because Philomena flew in with an excited screech.

“Philomena,” I called out and lifted a knee for her to perch on. “I’m assuming you found her?” She cooed out a yes with a nod of her head, but it was more than that. She pointed her wing out the door then immediately started hovering in place, cooing at me to follow. After getting up, I offered a hand to Twilight, “Looks like she might need help.”

Right, when Twilight took my hand there was a loud crash that echoed through the old castle. “What in the world is that?” I helped her up and followed Philomena out of the secret room with Angel hopping along after us.

After a couple of minutes of following Philomena, we got to the main hall, the one with the double stairs and the sun and moon tapestries. We were shocked at what we saw. “What has gotten into them!?” was the only thing I could think to ask because this was what we saw.

Rainbow Dash was flying around bouncing off the walls like a ball in a pinball machine. Fluttershy was trying to lift a newly fallen pillar from a pile of rocks as she muttered, “Must save Angel.” There was a blue tapestry that was covering, what sounded like, Rarity as she was balling her eyes out running in all directions. Applejack wasn’t doing much better as she was doing the same as Rarity, except she was just plain screaming instead of crying.

Twilight started muttering how utterly ridiculous they all were while walking down the stairs. I followed, along with angel and Philomena, until she got to the bottom. Then after taking a breath, she used that amplified voice, “ALRIGHT, EVERYPONY STOP!” A quick flash of magic later, and she had all four of them in her magical grasp.

“Twilight?” AJ questioned from her frozen running stance.

“Angel, where’s Angel?”

“He’s right here Fluttershy,” I called out pointing down to him at my feet.

“Oh,” and she blushed heavily but also relieved to see him safe.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked her friend from her place above her. “What’re you doing here?”

“She’s with me,” Rarity said from underneath the tapestry. That’s when Twilight turned them loose from her magic. They all relaxed with Rainbow flying down to stand in front of us. Twilight shook her head and used her magic to lift the tapestry off of Rarity, who then stood up fixing her hair, “Thank you.”

“Have you all spent the whole night scaring one another?” I asked through a couple of chuckles.

“That depends,” AJ responded sounding a little embarrassed. I would be embarrassed too at this point. Fluttershy came over to reclaim Angel as the girls gathered around in front of us.

“On what?” Twilight wondered. I did too.

“On whether or not you’re the pony of shadows,” Rainbow stepped up with a wary eye putting a finger to Twilight’s nose.

“What’s the pony of shadows?”

Twilight took Rainbow’s finger and gently batted it away then looked at me with a smirk, “Just an old mare’s tale. Supposedly when Nightmare Moon was banished not all of her magic went with her. Some were left here in this castle.”

“Well that doesn’t make a lick of sense,” I told them with a quick laugh.

“How’d you figure?”

“It’s simple, Applejack,” I started pointing out. “If there was some magic that didn’t leave when Nightmare Moon was banished, then that same magic would have been restored to her once she came back. Which would mean that when she got defeated, that magic is now gone. Which means that there is nothing here.”

“That...actually makes sense,” Twilight agreed with a quick giggle, blinking up at me in mild surprise.

Of course as if on cue, the sound of a haunted pipe organ echoed through the castle again. And that’s when the four girls grabbed us out of pure terror. Twilight got Rarity and Applejack, while I got Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. All of which were shaking as they hugged us for dear life. I rolled my eyes with a patient sigh as Rainbow had one arm while Fluttershy had the other. “Then what do you call that?” Applejack quietly asked through her terrified voice.

“Something we can go and investigate,” I told them as we slowly made our way from the main hall in one big mass of bodies. Truth be told, I didn’t mind them clinging to me. What guy would? Nothing was said as we made our way down into the belly of the castle. The sound of the organ getting louder and more creepy with each level we took. And the broken down castle didn’t help our already rattled nerves any either.

Finally, after reaching the bottom we came across a room with two staircases leading upward on either side. In the middle of the room was the organ. A wide faded dark carpet led up to it. With someone or somepony playing it. The tall candle holders stood dark on either side, being held by two Alicorn statues.

“The Pony of Shadows,” Rainbow whispered in fright as Twilight carefully tip-hooved her way into the room getting closer and closer to the hooded figure. Puffs of air spiraled out of each pipe as his, or hers, fingers played. The whole atmosphere was indeed a little creepy. However, this was a physical pony or human. No way, was this anything mythical. Oh yeah, while Twilight snuck up behind our visitor AJ and Rarity chose to hide behind me.

Only when Twilight got close, and when ready for anything, that she sent up a magical flare that lit the area. Immediately afterward, she used her magic to whisk away what was covering the person, or pony was hiding under only to find…

“Pinkie?” all of us asked in shock at the same time.

She turned around happy to see us with a big smile on her face, “Hi, did you know that I could play the organ? Because I didn’t.” She went back to playing again as Rainbow flew out from behind me landing next to her. The rest of the girls relaxed and went inside. Fluttershy decided to stay next to me anyway. I didn’t mind any.

“You’re the Pony of Shadows?” Rainbow was still in shock when she asked her.

“The pony of what?”

“Pinkie,” AJ interrupted after stepping up next to Rainbow, “I thought you went to ring the school bell all week?”

Pinkie giggled, still playing away on the organ, “Oh yeah, I only had to ring it for five minutes, and they said that was enough. Can’t imagine why. So, I wanted to throw a finished ringing the school bell party, but I didn’t have any bluebells. And you can’t throw a party without bluebells, so I went into the forest to get some. But, it got really cold, so I covered myself to keep warm. Then I followed Fluttershy and Rarity into the castle, so I could join your party.” She was saying all that a mile a minute, all the while playing away on the organ like a kid having fun.

“And what party is that darling?”

“Uh, everybody comes to the scary old castle and hide from each other while I play the organ party?” And she said it as if it was the most logical thing in the world. “Duh,” she finished and bounced down the stairs to leave the room.

“Well I think that’s enough for tonight,” I raised my voice to get everyone’s attention. “Twilight and I found a secret study room upstairs in the library, so why don’t we go up there and relax before heading back for the night?”

“Oh good idea,” Twilight agreed.

“I came here in hopes to repair at least one tapestry,” Rarity complained while we all started following Pinkie out of the room, “And I supposed that the one on the floor will do. Besides, it’s already down and I don’t want to deal with trying to get another one.”

Even though the danger was over and everyone was together again. Fluttershy stayed next to me the whole way up while holding Angel in her arms. Philomena was on my shoulder and looks like the night was finally calming down.

^_^

“I swear this tapestry is going right back up where it belongs after I’m done with it,” Rarity was laying on the long lounge while using her magic to sew it back together. Kind of handy actually. Using her hands to hold the fabric together while her magic sewed it together again.

Fluttershy was sitting next to me on the cushion while admonishing Angel, “Now don’t you go running off again. I can’t believe I let my imagination get the best of me.”

“I think we all did,” Applejack echoed that while smirking up to Rainbow. They were relaxing underneath the sun and moon stained-glass windows.

“Oh oh oh,” Pinkie bounced around without a care in the world, “I always let my imagination run away from me. Because then it comes back, with cake.” She giggled then resumed bouncing around the room again.

“Well, whenever your imagination gets away from you,” Twilight told us, looking up from the journal, “it’s good to know a friend can help rein it in.” There were agreements all around after she said it. Then she held up the journal getting an idea, “Hey I got an idea. Why don’t we start a journal as Celestia and Luna did? We can write our experiences in here that maybe one day others can read it, and learn from it as well. As well as learn from each other.”

“That’s a good idea,” AJ pipped up with a smirk. “I know what my first entry will be. ‘Dear diary, I’m glad that Granny’s story wasn’t true.’”

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed with a nod, then looked over to Twilight. “So how come you weren’t scared Twilight?”

“Oh well, that was because of this journal,” Twilight lifted it up with her magic, “and the book Fred found,” I raised it up waving it slightly, “told us a lot about the history of the castle, who made it, and a lot of its secrets.”

“And knowing more about this castle from the past,” I explained, “helped us deal with it in the present.”

“Knowing about the past helps us learn about our present,” Twilight added while looking over at me with a smile, “Understanding the past, and the mistakes help us from repeating those mistakes. The past is a powerful teacher.”

“Yeah yeah, I get it,” Rainbow waved a dismissing hand while relaxing against the window. “Don’t you think we should be getting back by now? It’s already after dark.”

“Good point Rainbow,” Twilight said while putting the journal, and the book that I found, away in a bag she found earlier. “Now that we know this is here, we can come back anytime for some more books. Not to mention the need to preserve them.”

“But I’m not nearly done with this poor tapestry,” complained Rarity from the lounge, holding it up with her magic.

“Maybe not Rarity, but don’t you have better materials to work with back at your place rather than here?”

She thought about it then with a nod of agreement started to wrap it up, “Quite right Twilight.” And finally, our first adventure together in a creepy old castle of my mother’s and Aunt Luna came to an end. And because it was dark out Twilight took up the front, using her magic as a light. Rarity did the same from the middle. While I took the rear being the human torch with Philomena watching over us from above lighting the area. So, even though it was dark out there wasn’t much to fear because everything was lit up like daytime.

And while we walked Fluttershy walked next to me the whole way until we got near her cottage. I got a feeling that she is beginning to like me. I’ll admit to liking that possibility. We got back to town just fine, although a bit late, then went our separate ways saying goodnight to each other.

^_^

Suddenly I found myself standing before a headstone. With my father’s name on it. It was in a small private garden surrounded by all kinds of flowers. It was nighttime with the full moon giving off her warm peaceful glow. And the stars twinkling their delight at my presence.

“Good eve Fred,” I heard, and only turning to look did I find Luna standing there with my mother.

“Good evening Luna,” I told her now realizing that this was the dream she said she’d set up for us. “Hi, Mother,” I went over to hug her, then pleased that Luna hugged me as well.

“How was your day my sunshine boy?” she smiled at me.

“It was interesting,” I chuckled looking at her now slightly nervous. “We found the secret room in the old library.” Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to tell her outright.

“Oh, you did? Good,” she told me, made me relax and let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “I was hoping either you or Twilight would find it.”

“You mean the journal?” I asked while wondering how Luna feels about this and took a glance her way.

“We thought that it might help,” Luna told me making me feel better.

“I’m relieved that you two don’t mind. Back in the human world, a diary is a very personal thing that normally shouldn’t be read by anybody but the writer.”

Mother put a wing around me turning me back toward my father’s grave again, “Well, most of it is history anyway.”

“It was interesting to read how the old castle was built and some of its history.” I looked up to mother with an amused smirk, “Melvin?”

Both of them laughed outright. “Ah yes, dear Melvin the Manticore. Remember Lulu?”

“How can one forget when he tried to eat us at the first meeting?”

“Yes, then became a dear friend and helped us build the castle,” mother reminisced.

“Indeed,” Luna agreed. “I do miss the secret rooms and passages. The hall of pony legs holding torches.”

“The organ?” I asked curiously.

Both of them groaned when they heard that. “Oh, the lessons we endured at the hands of our old teacher.”

Mother laughed while holding me, “I think I had more patience with that dear sister.”

“Indeed you did,” Luna acknowledged with a slight huff. “I was too excited about creepy hallways and hidden rooms than learning to play. However, that isn’t the topic for tonight?”

Mother seemed to deflate as she looked down at the headstone. And held onto me a little tighter, “No, I thought that, for tonight, I could tell you about your father.”

“I’d like that,” with a whisper I leaned back against her.

Because it was a dream, she recreated him before us. It was nothing more than a dream created image standing beside the headstone, but still. It was nice to see what he looked like. He stood a little taller than me and at first glance would have a rough look to him. Thick black hair that, at least in the image, was just passed the shoulders. A chiseled face that was similar to mine actually. “Did he usually keep a beard and mustache?” I asked curiously. Because I was always clean-shaven. While others found growing a beard and mustache easy, I couldn’t.

“Yes,” mother giggled, but there was a sadness in there too. “I always liked rubbing against it. It was almost like he had fur.” She went silent for a minute before whispering, “You are so much like him.”

“Minus the facial hair,” I mentioned as she giggled kissing my head.

“Yes, but I love you the way you are,” she replied.

“You mentioned that he was a slave before sister,” Luna said carefully. “How did you find him? What did you think of him? And why him?” Those were good questions that I would like answered as well.

Mother hummed in thought, then with a wave of her hand, the scene changed. “Why not show you?” We were standing between the bridge and the front gates. There in front of us, standing on a wooden platform, was my father. Bound in chains with a crowd gathering around us, I noticed that he stood proud and tall. He was either used for hard labor all his life or had the benefit of working out. It was plainly seen in his physique because all he had on was some plain shorts tied on with a piece of thick string.

Standing about five feet away was a burly stallion of an earth pony. Brown coat with white hair and tail with a decent suit on. Nothing fancy mind you, but good enough to show that he had some money. “Alright who is interested in this well-built male here?”

Behind father stood a unicorn that was watching him like a hawk, like a bouncer at a bar. Must be the way to ensure compliance.

“What’s his history?” was one mare’s question. After taking a glance over to her I didn’t recognize her. However, that was a good question though. Where did my father grow up? How did he get his education? Among other questions. Naturally, that’s not what she meant by it though.

“He worked on a farm,” the stallion called out. “Was born, raised there, and started working nearly as soon as he could walk.” Of course, that got my dander up for sure but, yet I knew that it was also pretty normal. And I still hated it and just reinforced my desire to end all slavery. Mother stiffened when she heard it.

“Which farm? How was he treated? Why is he being sold after so many years?” a male’s voice cut through the crowd. I had to admit wanting those answers myself. As much as it riled me to hear it all, I wanted to know his background because it was a part of who he was.

“The Princess comes,” another mare called out from the back of the crowd. Everypony there turned around as my mother, with two guards, came strolling up.

“This was a surprise inspection,” mother whispered into my ear as her double walked right up to the platform. And walked right by us. Her demeanor was a little different back then. It was clear by the way she walked and how she looked at my father.

“Your Highness,” the burly earth stallion said with a bow. “What do I owe the pleasure of your attendance?” The unicorn stallion bowed as well but kept silent. My father did not bow. Of course, this caught the eye of the earth stallion, which signaled for the unicorn to punish him with an electrical shock. “How dare you not bow before the princess.” Then my father yelled out in pain as the unicorn gave him a powerful shock, which sent him to his knees. But he didn’t stay there but stood up again. Then looked down at my mother. Looked her straight in the eye.

“This is what intrigued me about your father,” mother said while watching, “just watch.”

“Why do you not bow before me human?” her dream double asked curiously. “Do you not know or don’t care that I’m the ruler?”

“I do not question that you rule, or your right to rule,” he looked down at her with a firm resolve. “Only how you rule.”

“And what is it that you don’t like?” she asked and I already knew the answer.

“Humans are sentient just like you,” he said with pride. The ponies didn’t like that and started murmuring against him already. “To keep humans as slaves is an evil that must be stopped,” the crowd got louder as he spoke. “Humans and ponies should live together...as equals.” That’s when the crowd started shouting for him to be killed and hanged. However, through it all, he didn’t waver from her eyes, nor hers from his.

“See that look?” I nodded. “That’s what got me asking, ‘What is it about him that’s so different?’”

“SILENCE,” her double yelled out immediately silencing the others. “I think I know why your master sold you.”

“Granny Smith didn’t like the idea of a free-thinking human,” when he said that name it rocked me to my core.

“WHAT?!” I turned around facing my mother. “He grew up at AJ’s?” The dream stopped still, like a movie that was on pause.

Mother almost couldn’t meet my eyes, “Yes he did, and I wasn’t sure how to tell you. So, I’m telling you now.”

“Does AJ know?”

She shook her head, “No, I highly doubt it. I don’t think that even Big Mac knows. They were too young when Granny sold him.” Luna walked up to the platform and looked to be studying my father.

I didn’t know what to do or think at this point. My hands ran down my face as I paced through the crowd. Literally fading through them like a ghost. Then I turned to my mother, “I asked AJ if I could visit the farm in the morning.”

“Oh dear,” mother said giving me a look that told me it might not be a good idea.

“Well, I have to go now,” I told her waving a hand to my father.

“Be careful son,” she said to me with a solemn expression. “I have no idea how she will react. Nor how Big Mac or AJ will react either.”

“I know that, but I still have to go.”

Mother nodded and motioned me over to her. She hugged me to her. I hugged back letting her know that I wasn’t upset or mad with her. Shaken yes, but not angry. This was her way of telling me. “Shall I continue?”

I nodded, “Why did you decide to get him?”

Mother motioned again and the dream continued. “It was free-thinking humans that attacked my subject’s cities and towns,” her double growled at him and looked ready to shock him herself.

“I wasn’t there, so I don’t know how it started,” he retorted back. “I can only say this. For some reason, they wanted a fight. And they lost. I’m not saying what they did was right, but neither is this. How many families have been torn apart? How many children have been either tortured or killed? Or do you even care? Can you really look into a child’s innocent eyes and see nothing, but an animal?”

The dream paused again as mother put her arms and wings around me. “That’s what really got me,” she whispered as she looked up to him, “He wasn’t challenging me as a ruler, per se, other than my belief which governed how I ruled. It was then that I was determined to show him how wrong he was. How humans were inherently evil and couldn’t live peacefully.”

“I don’t think that worked sister,” Luna said dryly with obvious amusement in it.

It was good to have a big belly laugh in the midst of all this. A couple of minutes passed before mother spoke between giggles, “No Lulu...it didn’t. And I’m...glad it didn’t.” She hugged me tightly, “Because I wouldn’t have the son that I’m proud of today. And your father was right. He was right. And instead, I fell in love with him.”

“I’m afraid our time is up sister,” Luna stepped up to us letting the scene fade away. “The sun and moon call for us.”

Mother nodded hugging me tight once more. “You be careful son, alright?”

“I will mother,” I told her, then Luna hugged me as well before everything faded away.

Next Chapter: Chapter Ten: An Apple's Confession and Twilight Time Estimated time remaining: 20 Hours, 19 Minutes