Cadence shouted as she felt her heart drop into her stomach, "What?! I think he's downstairs! Shining! Go! Let's find him!"

Before they could even get out of bed or ask who was after Cerb, Luna was already halfway down the next hallway, knocking open each door, looking for the human in danger.

The frantic search led Luna to Twilight's room, bursting into her chambers just as she had done with Cadence.

"Twilight! Where is Cerberus!"

Twilight stood stupefied atop Sniff's back.

"He's downstairs, last room on the northeast corner. What's wrong?"

Luna's eyes were wide with terror, and her voice cried out with urgency.

"Explosions! Screaming! He's fighting for his very life as we speak!"

Sniff was frozen in place, first at being walked in on in such an awkward position, but then Luna's panic had him on edge to find out what was wrong. But Luna's cause for alarm didn't make any sense, though. If there were explosions, or if Cerb had been calling for help, he would have heard it.

Then again, for Sniff, this was Luna, and if his memory of her was correct...

"Wait. Was this a dream he was having?"

Luna belted out, "Yes! I could barely see into his dream, but I could feel it. They're killing him! His friends are hurt! I couldn't help him! We have to find him! A nightmare this severe is dangerous to one's psyche!"

Now knowing what was happening, Sniff had to hurry and find Cerb before any of the others did.

"Shit! Twilight! Get off! We have to get to him before someone tries to wake him up!"

Twilight fell to her side as Sniff rolled off the bed and shot towards the door.

"Woah! Hey!" She landed safely but didn't appreciate being tossed off over something as trivial as someone having a nightmare. "What's the big deal?! Everypony has nightmares!" She shouted, not hiding her agitation from the sudden outburst and interruption.

Sniff didn't even bother to answer. He followed Luna down the hall towards the stairs.

Twilight jumped down from the bed and started towards the door before rolling her eyes with a grown. There was no need to run when she had magic. Instead, she teleported herself ahead of Luan and Sniff at the corner of the hall. Then, as she trotted towards Cerb’s room, she could see that there must have been some reason for concern. A small mass of humans and ponies had gathered outside Cerb's door.

Twilight approached the group, curious as to what she must have missed.

"What's going on here?"

"Shh!" Rainbow Dash silenced the late arrival. "Not so loud."

Still not sure what could have caused this level of concern, she drew closer.

In all, Rainbow Dash, Becky, Pinkie, Benny, and Cadence were all just outside of Cerb's doorway and peering in with great interest. Benny seemed to be holding them back as he was mostly blocking the doorway. Shining was far down the hall, likely only just now catching up as Luna and Sniff ran up just behind Twilight.

Benny stage whispered with his hand held out to Sniff and Luna.

"Hey. It's cool... Just... wait."

Luna slowed her pace but refused to stop and started to force her way through.

"We cannot wait. You know not the dangers of— " Her voice was cut short at what she saw inside and held her ground with caution. "By my starry skies. What is—"

"Shh," Fluttershy's voice could scarcely be heard quieting the crowd.

Again, Twilight grew even more impatient at what could cause such a commotion for something as simple as a nightmare.

"Everypony, move," she ordered before approaching the door.

As she rounded the door frame, soft sobs from Cerb could faintly be heard under the calming words of Rarity.

"It's just a scratch, Justin. You broke a lamp in your sleep, but you're perfectly fine now. Fluttershy is patching you up."

Cerb moaned lowly in his sleep, "No. Get down.”

Twilight had a full view of the room now. On the floor was a broken lamp and a few drops of blood. Cerb was lying on his right side, facing the door. Fluttershy was sitting between his stomach and curled in his knees. She was busy wrapping gauze around his bloody hand. Rarity was sitting where Cerb's pillow should have been, letting his head rest between her thighs while she held his other hand, stroking it softly.

Cerb jostled his legs under the sheets and tried to pull his hands free.

"Multiple points of contact. Driver down. Crew-serves taking heavy fire. Radioman down. RPGs coming in from Southend Plaza—"

Fluttershy quietly called out to him through his dream state.

"Justin, do you know where you are right now?"

Cerb rocked and twitched in his sleep.

"Nuristan... Kamdesh. Checkpoint Delta Tango six. Civilian casualties. Boxed in. Crew-serves wounded. Need to get to Garcia."

Luna took one look back to the rest of the observers while Cerb groaned and whimpered out what he was reliving in his nightmare as she moved to wake him.

"This is madness. We cannot simply stand by and watch—"

Benny reached back and tempted fate by trying to pull Luna back by the tip of her wing.

"Do not... wake him. Please."

Rarity again tried to reach out to Cerb.

"Justin. You're nowhere near that place. It's faaar far away, remember?"

Cerb whimpered again, tears falling down from his eyes.

”They're shooting him.”

Luna tugged at Benny's hand to free her wing.

"Please. There can be no good reason to keep him in that horrible—"

"Don't," Benny stated again more firmly. "If you wake him up right now, he's going to think he's still in that nightmare, and he's going to do everything he can to try and save his friend."

Luna could hear the conviction in Benny's voice and stopped resisting but looked on still with pleading eyes.

Believing he had her compliance, Benny released her wing.

"Even if it means fighting his way through all of us... And it wouldn't be his first time doing it."

Fluttershy tried again to calm him.

"Justin? Do you remember dancing with me? Remember how the nice man sang about being safe in his arms?"

Cerb’s twitching lessened, and he stopped trying to pull his hands free.

"Fluttershy? You can't be here. It's not safe."

"I am safe," Fluttershy answered, adding a soft kiss over his knuckles. "And you're safe, too. You're here with us. Safe and warm in bed. Remember? Don't you remember going to bed in Twilight's castle after swimming in the hot tub with us?"

Sniff could barely see what all was happening in the room but knew that those two ponies were in danger if they stayed that close to Cerb and kept on touching him.

"Dude, what the fuck?" He whispered as loud as he could. "Why are they in there?"

Benny shook his head.

"Long story. Let's just call it a beauty and the beast kind of deal... I think?"

Cerb, not sounding as lost or in pain as he was only moments ago, finally answered, "We left the hot tub.”

Rarity lifted his hand and nuzzled it.

"That's right, darling. “ She remembered there was still a crowd watching, and her eyes lifted up to address them. "It helps to calm him down," She whispered in their direction.

All of Cerb’s resistance and struggling looked to have stopped when he groaned, "Cadence… She sat on me."

Everyone turned to Cadence, who took a step back, blushing.

"He was laying on the bed. That's how I gave him a back massage... What?"

That wasn't much to go off of, but Rarity decided to go along with it since that's where his conversation led.

"She sat on you, dear? Was that so she could rub your back easier?"

Cerb answered with a whine in his voice, sounding like he was holding back tears.

“Yeah... She said I'm anti-magic... everything I feel is real."

Again, all eyes went back to Cadence.

She quietly answered, just as frantic as she did the last time.

"He thought he was being mind-controlled or something. I scanned him for magic and told him he had nothing to worry about. He's fine. No mind control."

Fluttershy held Cerb's bandaged palm up under her chin.

"Do you feel safe with us, Justin?"

Still talking in his sleep, he answered, "Yeah..."

Rarity asked him another question, sounding as motherly as one could.

"Would you like us to stay a while longer?"

Cerb softly wrapped his fingers around Rarity’s hoof still holding his hand.

"Don't go..."

Fluttershy lowered his hand and cuddled up against him again before turning back to the others.

"It, um... should be fine now. He'll sleep like this for a while, so long as we don't move around too much."

Rarity let his hand down to rest as she tried to get more comfortable leaning against the headboard.

"Sadly, this is worse than the first time we found him having such terrible dreams like this... How could any creature do something so cruel to him?" She turned her full attention back to Cerb, now soundly sleeping in her lap. "I don't know how he can put on such a happy face every day, knowing when he falls asleep that this is what waits for him."

Luna turned and looked to Benny and the others for guidance.

"Do we... wake him now?"

Kelly spoke up from the back.

"No, way. Look at him."

Sniff about snapped his neck turning to Kelly, seeing her in only her new panties and a shirt.

"When the fuck did you get here?"

Kelly shrugged.

"Right after Cadence said something about mind control? I dunno. Not long. But... shit... Look at 'em. Let the poor fucker sleep. He's got his girls with 'em. He ain't gonna hurt 'em."

Sniff begrudgingly asked, "How can you be so sure about that?"

Kelly took a pose with a hand on her hip and a 'fuck you' look written all over her face.

"Of the six of us, who are the two he's never taken a swing at?"

Benny started towards the door and confirmed what Kelly had implied.

"Yeah. He ain't never tried to lay a hand on you or Becky... Come on, Pink. Let'em sleep."

Pinkie answered, still unsure of what all she just witnessed.

"I... Okay."

Luna gave one long sad look at the three on the bed before giving Twilight a nasty glare.

"Twilight, come with me. We need to talk."

There was nothing promising about that tone of voice, so Sniff tried to follow along with Luna as she rounded her way out the door.

"Hey, I'm so sorry this happened. We didn't think—"

Luna snapped a wing out to stop him from following and growled with a low but stern tone.

"Peter. We have no quarrel with thee, nor the company you brought that sleeps with terrors I fear to have the misfortune of ever seeing as clearly as he. We take issue with the lack of care provided to your kin. As well as those who have kept us in the dark with these matters."

Benny had been close enough to hear the disturbance and hurried back.

"Hey, hey. What's going on?"

Sniff started to back away.

"Luna's pissed at us not being taken care of Cerb or something, man."

Benny turned back to see Twilight cowering behind the door frame.

"Wait-Wait. Hold on. No. That's not true at all."

Luna slowly turned herself around and marched up to Benny, looking him straight in the eyes.

"That—" she pointed to Cerb's room with her wing. "—is not being taken care of. That, is not something we should be learning of, first hoof. Not to mention that two of our subjects, under Twilight's observation and direction, have already dealt with such issues. And they appear to be not only unaware of the severity of his condition, but that the one we agreed to leave in charge of your well-being while in your stay was blissfully unaware of such dangers your friend was facing."

Sniff cautiously interjected.

"Well, that's not entirely true. I think it was maybe the second or third day we got here that Rainbow, Flutters, and Rarity were over at our place in the morning. I gave them the whole breakdown of what happens with Cerb and his nightmares."

Rainbow Dash spoke up, peeking behind Sniff's legs.

“He's telling the truth, Princess. He even told us Cerb would wake up confused, so we shouldn’t wake him. He said that Cerb even once hurt Sniff when all he was trying to do was calm him down. Fluttershy and Rarity both heard the same thing I did."

Luna glared down at the frightened rainbow mare.

"And who did you share this information with, Rainbow Dash? Were one of the others supposed to let us know?"

Twilight finally stepped out into the hallway and put the focus of Luna’s anger back where she thought it belonged.

"Luna, stop. I never told them to report every little detail to me. And Rainbow Dash was the first to point out that our guests are slow to trust and reveal such sensitive things about themselves. At that point, it could have done more harm than good if they thought they couldn't trust us."

Luna stomped her hoof in protest.

"That does not change the fact that you should have known before giving him a room in your home, Twilight.“ Her brow furrowed tightly, and she grit her teeth. “I should have known. Not only could I have offered to help him... "

Luna's real purpose for her outburst started to come forward with a simple quivering of her lips.

"I... would have been more ready for... that."

Twilight took a cautious step forward.

"Luna, I—"

Luna wasn't finished with her lecture and took a domineering stance in the hall.

"Twilight—“ She had to stop herself and turned her attention back to Sniff with all of the self-control she could muster. “And Peter, I am so sorry, but I cannot hold this back any longer."

She looked back to Twilight with eyes that sang of misery and woe.

"I do not merely see the dreams of others. I do not only hear their cries of joy or screams of fear... I feel those dreams. I feel what they feel. And that... that dream was burdened with an unparalleled agonizing weight of death, the likes I have never felt before. I did not just feel his loss for those I know he did not save in the brief moments I caught of his dream. A moment that was but only a mere fraction of what he experienced. I felt his memory of death itself. Not the likes of those who have lost a loved one. No... this..."

The hallway was now quiet, save only the angry breaths Luna drew in and out as she tried to calm herself.

"This will not be spoken of outside of those who dwell in this castle tonight." She sharply turned her eyes to Sniff. "Peter, you and your friends may speak of your ills as you see fit. Your secrets and who you keep them with are for you and you alone to decide. But for the rest of you."

She eyed each pony around her, one by one.

"What was witnessed here. What was spoken of. It shall not be repeated. I forbid it."

Twilight slowly crept her way out in front of Sniff, turning a sad eye up to him.

"You can go to bed if you like. I need to take responsibility for all of this."

Knowing this wasn’t her fault, Sniff took a gamble on his safety and stepped between Twilight and Luna.

"Hey, wait. We all had a great time with the party and everything. This whole issue is just a big misunderstanding and shouldn't ruin the rest of the night for any of us."

Luna's eyes flashed with an inferno of rage, and her chest rose, drawing in the air to denounce his interrupting.

Sniff quickly stopped her from probably exercising her royal Canterlot voice, but he did so with a calm call to reason.

"I'm not saying there isn't fault to go round. There is. I'm just saying... Airing all this dirty laundry, when we're all tired, maybe still a little drunk, and— " Sniff brought his hands up to his chest and let his forced smile soften. "—I don't know about you... but maybe a little emotional, being how much we care about our friends and that we all feared the worst."

Luna would have had Sniff dragged away and tossed out of Twilight's castle when he last cut her off had he been a pony, but she could see the wisdom in his words.

He was right. This was not the time nor the place.

Luna bowed her head and let her anger part ways for the time being.

"Yes. What you say is true. And while I may be of the night, even I could use some time to... rest my thoughts so that I may think more clearly. “ She glared at Twilight but then raised her head indignantly and showed her spite by speaking with her eyes closed and not even bothering to face her. “Twilight, we shall speak privately tomorrow after I bring about the night. Alert my sister that I shall be staying longer than originally intended."

Twilight sighed as she bowed her head.

"Yes, Princess."

Benny took the hint not to get involved and left with Pinkie, who was sticking close to his side.

Cadence motioned with her eyes back down the hall to her husband.

"Shining, dear. We should probably finish our discussion."

Shining joined her side with an inappropriate pep in his step.

"Yes. Might need to jog my memory on some of the details, though."

Rainbow Dash made a recommendation like it wasn't related to her wanting to get the fuck out of there as fast as possible.

"Weeee better get back to bed, Becky."

Sniff nudged the purple Princess gently.

"Hey, Twilight. I'm a little turned around in here. Can you help me find my room again?"

Twilight didn't want to help Sniff. She just wanted to teleport to her room and cry her eyes out.

"It's..."

"On the same floor as you, yeah, I know." Sniff was lying and hoped Twilight would pick up on it. "Come on, don't let me get lost in here."

Twilight didn't budge.

Sniff turned his back to Luna and tried his best to convey that he was trying to help her.

"I'll pull you by the ear if I have to, Twiggels."

Thankfully, Kelly and Sniff had played this game before, and she caught on to the routine he was playing up.

"Hey, Luna? Uh... Could you help me back to my room? I'm sorry, it's just, I could use the help, and Sniff has the back support of an elderly woman."

Sniff hollered down the hall as he ushered Twilight away.

"Love you, too, Drip."

Luna hesitated, but now seeing that Cerb's door was closed and all the others had left them, she was the only one who could help her now.

"Of course."

With great care, Luna assisted Kelly's limping down the short walk down to her room. They passed Benny's room on the way; the music from his cell phone must have been loud for them to hear it through the door.

Kelly pointed to an empty guest room.

"Yep, this room right here.”

Luna could see this wasn't her room, Big Mac wasn't even in there.

"Your room is farther down, is it not?"

Kelly answered with a weak smile, "It is. But this room is empty."

Luna took another look into the room.

"You wish to have a room for yourself?"

Kelly childishly shook her head.

"No. Just a room for us for a while."

Kelly tilted her head with a guilty smile and walked into the, abandoning her limp as she did so.

Luna gave Kelly a glare that shifted to a look of curiosity.

"What might you be after?"

Kelly surveyed the room. It was smaller than the other guest rooms she and the others were given. It seemed like one that would have been better suited for a child. Even the bed was no larger than a single-size mattress. Which is where she decided to sit, letting her back rest against the wall.

Kelly explained herself as she patted the spot on the bed next to her.

"Luna, I can't sleep, and I could use some company. I'm sure you could use some as well. And I'm sure you have a lot of questions about us."

A generous offer, but Luna did not wish to burden Kelly any further.

"Kelly, we think it best—"

"I know you got questions about Cerb and his nightmares," Kelly continued. "And if you plan on talking to Twilight about it, you're still going to be left in the dark about it. You're a lot better off talking to me first, so you can explain it better to her."

Luna entered the room and took a seat on the bed with Kelly, then posed a statement that came off more as a question.

"You do not seem particularly bothered by these events. I pray you would not deceive us with your explanations as you did with your limp."

Kelly blushed a little.

"Sorry. Little purple sparkle butt seems like the type that would have caused another scene if I didn't pull you away from her." She took a moment to gauge Luna's reaction, only to find she looked to be waiting for the rest of the reasoning to follow. "Twilight comes off to me as someone who's only confident when she knows she's in control. Otherwise, she looks up to those above her, like you and Celestia, like surrogate mothers that are there to fill in the gaps... And while not the best example, I had someone work for me who was like that. I did a lot to take her in and help her out. Wanted her to be a manager for me, but she had this terrible habit of drawing out conflicts with guilt."

Luna nodded in agreement.

“We can see some of that in Twilight. We do not know if she fully understands the full breadth of her responsibilities."

Kelly leaned over and rested her head against the Princess.

"Luna, in Twilight's defense… We're not that easy to work with all the time. And we're terrible with holding onto our secrets. We all have nasty habits of torturing ourselves with them. And Justin is a prime example."

With all their secrets, Luna had to verify.

"With his nightmares, you mean?"

"Yep." Kelly drummed her hands over her thighs to the tune of a zinger. "Believe it or not, he's actually gotten better."

The look on Luna’s face looked like she just had a corps fall onto the floor in front of her.

"Now, that is truly frightening."

Kelly adjusted herself to be more comfortable as she leaned against Luna.

"I can't give you all the details about what happened to him. He refuses to tell me about what all happened. The rest you'll have to convince him to give up... Not that I think he would."

It was a little strange how this human had managed to bond with her, but now Luna welcomed and encouraged Kelly's efforts.

"What can you tell me? She kindly asked as she extended a wing and draped it over Kelly.

Twilight spoke lowly as she stepped up to her bed, still crushed from the events of the night.

"Thanks again for pulling me out of there."

Sniff grabbed his shirt and threw it over his shoulder while he stood at the edge of her bed.

"No, I'm sorry. We should have let Cerb go home when he asked. Drunk or not, he would have been fine. Believe me; this dude is unstoppable."

Twilight was miserable but not ungrateful and sought to show her gratitude in any way she could.

"It's more than that, but you can lay back down again." She stood up to give Sniff room to lie down. "It's the least I can do."

Sniff deadpanned.

"Twilight? You really think that's what I came up here for?"

Twilight was so shaken up and flustered after the lecture from Luna, she couldn't think straight.

"I... I don't."

Sniff spoke up with a weak smile, ready to do what he does best.

"I'm here to help you fix this! This is what I do. Bad shit happens, I find the best way to turn it around or move on to— “ He noticed something was very wrong with his princess in distress. “Twilight?"

Twilight was breaking down.

"I don't... know what I'm doing."

All the weight and stress of juggling the problems thrust upon her were finally taking their toll.

"I haven't had the time to get to know you all well enough to be trusted to help any of you. I can't ask you all to give up your secrets when you keep them from even your best friends."

This wasn't at all the reaction Sniff thought he was going to get when he offered to help. Now all he could do was watch Twilight crumble before him as she came down harder on herself.

Twilight continued with her voice wavering through the sobs she tried to hold back.

"I'm not supposed to go looking for problems, but I don't know what's really going on, so I can't find the solutions." Her reality finally hit, and she was well past tears, sitting there in the center of her bed with all her composure lost and the crying in full effect. "I'm supposed to be the Princess of Friendship... but I didn't ask for this. I wasn't even trying when I was given my wings."

It was clear that Sniff had walked into a shit storm and was without a proverbial umbrella. Dealing with this wasn’t his strong suit, and all he could think of was that Lumberman should be here instead of him. Sure, Sniff was an expert flirt and great at cheering people up and helping them get pointed in the right direction. But this... This was a full-blown meltdown. Lumberman was the best at picking up the broken pieces and putting them back together. Sniff was just window paint.

However, no matter his level of expertise, he was here, and she needed his help to stop her from falling apart even worse.

"Twilight..."

The broken mare didn't move or even acknowledge him. She just continued to cry.

If Sniff could be brave enough to put himself between a reformed demon pony Princess and her target of reprisal, he could be brave enough to at least attempt to do what Lumberman would do.

Twilight sat and let the slew of failures and mistakes revisit her, silently scorning herself for 'not seeing it coming' or 'should have known better.' All blanketed over a foundation of 'you set this in motion by gifting advanced spell books to Trixie and letting her run off and not take responsibility.' Everything that happened now was hers to be tested on and held accountable for.

The last thing she expected was to feel Sniff's hands picking her up from under her forelegs.

"Stop," she pleaded. "I just need to get the fuck over it," she cried out as her voice strained and cracked. "That's what Benny said to do. It's how Cerb saved him. I... I..."

Sniff finally reached a comfortable spot, leaning his back against the pillows and headboard of her bed. His thinking was that the only thing he could do was hold her until she cried herself out and vented everything stuck in her head. He laid her down, chest to chest with him, and let her dump her emotional baggage.

Twilight hadn't opened her eyes the entire time. Too ashamed to even look at him. Too critical of herself to help him get close to her. Too weak to turn him away. Then, she found herself lying atop of him.

What had happened? It wasn't long ago that this human was snarky and impatient. So easily dismissive and rude, overbearing, egotistical, insulting even. Now?... He was happy, helpful, caring, generous, thoughtful, brave enough to stand up to an enraged Luna, and even putting himself in a vulnerable, if not compromising, position... trying to comfort her.

"Peter, you asshole," Twilight cursed him as she clasped her forelegs around him and buried her muzzle between his neck and shoulder. "I'm supposed to be taking care of all of you.“

She wept and struggled to control her breathing.

“Why!... Why!"

Her cries grew stronger as she struggled to come to terms with what was eating away at her.

"Why would they put me in charge of all of this with no training?! There's no books on humans! There's nothing about stab wounds in any library! I can't understand Becky's medication! Cerb is dying in his dreams, and no pony will give me the answers after they yell at me for not knowing it either."

Sniff had no idea how in over her head Twilight was. He didn't even know how much their everyday issues were creating such monumental problems for her. Instinct took over, and he hugged her back, cradling her head on his shoulder and slowly rubbing his hands up and down her back.

Eventually, Sniff spoke with his most comforting voice he could muster.

"I hear you, Twilight. Celestia saw a problem too big to handle alone and put you in charge of it. Then Luna shows up, knowing less than you do, and flips out when she found a new problem she somehow thought you would know about because..." He gave a long sigh realizing just how fucked she was. "How the fuck were you supposed to know? You're not a goddamn mind reader or a fortune teller... Are you?"

Twilight gripped a little tighter around him, not sure if he was joking or being serious, or if she should explain how those spells worked or laugh like it was a joke.

"No..." She squeaked.

"There, ya see?" Sniff rhetorically asked as he gave her back a few quick rubs and some gentle pats like she were a dog. "If they trusted you enough to look after us when they didn't know shit about us themselves, they can't flip out over every little problem that we've grown used to having. I mean, it's like comparing tragedy to fantasy and being surprised when our tragedies didn't end up all sunshine and rainbows."

Twilight had cooled down to mild weeps, but she had many more tears to shed.

"But we don't deal with tragedies... We always stop them from happening." She sniffed hard to clear her nose, finding it harder to breathe in the crook of his neck. "We barely were able to save Kelly, and new problems keep popping up before I can figure out what all happened with the last problem. And I have to keep you safe until I can send you home... And I don't even know how to do that yet, so whatever happens to you is still all my fault."

The mild weeps picked back up to cries that all but reached the levels of wailing.

"I have to send you back... but everypony wants you to stay."

Sniff chuckled at that last part a bit.

"I could always be an asshole again. Make it easier to punt us back to Earth after you figured it out."

Twilight whined louder, angered at just the suggestion of him going back to how he was before.

"Noooo!... I like you better like this." She sniffed again but was finding it harder to dwell on all the bad things going on when it felt so much better to be with Sniff like this. "There were so many things you said that scared me or made me mad at you. So many things that were driving me crazy trying to figure you out. Trying to figure out why so many ponies were acting so strange around you. But I think I see it now."

Sniff didn't fully understand why she had such a full array of feelings towards him, outside of when he was trying to piss her off when they first met. But he was happy that she started calming down.

"I'm sorry it took me as long as it did to come around... I guess I had a hard time adjusting."

By now, Twilight was down to only an occasional tear or two. A far better recovery time than what she would have gone through without his help. At least now that the hard part was over, she was fine with resting on Sniff.

Perhaps this was what Applejack was getting from Lumberman that had her so worked up earlier, she thought to herself. Everything about having Sniff there with her in her moment of weakness was... wonderful. Wonderful in all the ways Applejack couldn't explain to her before.

The feeling of his skin against her, his hands caressing her, his comforting scent of clovers and spice. All those things combined with what a great friend he had been to her these past few days, she couldn't be bothered with her problems at the moment if having him there was this pleasant.

Twilight hummed softly.

"It's okay. I once lived a life in a world much different from the one I do now. But then I grew wings, became a Princess, and the world I knew was gone. I didn't land on another planet like you did—" she adjusted herself to sit a little higher off of his hips and cuddled in a bit closer, "—but it's been hard for me to adjust to this new world I live in. So much seems familiar, but it's not the same... It will never be the same as it was back then, and neither will all the rules that have changed along with me. No matter how much I like to pretend that nothing really has, I have to accept that... everypony will look at me and treat me a certain way that I can't change. I have to change. Everything I do or say. Always careful of who is listening, or what somepony might think."

Sniff spoke up, trying his best to relate to her.

"Feeling like you can't be honest with your anger when you feel it because they'll view you as a monster. At the same time, knowing you can't be too kind or open because they'll push for more of you than you're willing to give. But if not, just the fear of it makes you hesitant to be who you really want to be."

Twilight nuzzled in again, letting her wings come down around Sniff's arms.

"I have to be like that with large crowds, or they start to fight for my attention. I see it all the time with Celestia. No pony ever seems to really ever get close to her."

Sniff's mind instantly went back to her invitation given to him if he didn't find a pony for himself in Ponyville. So much for not letting Twilight be an option.

After reflecting on everything that was going wrong for her, Twilight didn’t expect to have her thoughts go to where they were now.

"I used to think that I was the only pony in the world that wasn't an alicorn who was able to be close to her. " She paused for a moment, a feeling of conflict in her heart pulling her in two directions. "But... I dunno anymore... It's never clear what I really am to her. I know she appreciates the friendship we've made together, but I constantly feel like I'm being graded or lectured as her student still. And then, she treats me like I'm a Princess with all these responsibilities and appointments to attend... But I'm the only alicorn she doesn't treat as an equal. And not as a friend like Cadence or a proper Princess like Luna."

Sniff hated the thought of humoring her, but maybe he didn't know enough to understand what her role really meant to the kingdom.

"Isn't being the Princess of Friendship a big deal, though?"

"I—" Twilight had to second guess herself after all she'd been through and the conversations with Sniff she had earlier "...I want to say yes... but I can't explain how anymore."

As comfortable as she was, she didn't want to have this conversation while holding onto him so informally. She unwrapped her arms around Sniff and pushed herself off to sit on his lap. Letting her hooves rest on his chest while her emotions were crashing as she formed her thoughts.

She stared down at Sniff's abs, lacking the confidence to address him face to face.

"Celestia rules over the day. Luna is in charge of all that takes place in the night. Cadance was given the Crystal Empire to protect and govern over. I became the Princess of Friendship, and the Tree of Harmony created this castle for me... I wasn't given or entrusted with anything I wasn't already doing."

It hurt to admit this, but she didn't understand where she was supposed to fit in with everything.

"I was helping ponies with friendship problems and saving Equestria years before I was given wings. Even international relations was something I could do. And... I think I do all of that even less now that I am a Princess."

Twilight finally raised her head to see Sniff properly. Her face was damp still from her tears, and her lips were pressed like she was holding back from breaking down again, but her eyes were the most telling. Her dark, violet eyes looked out to him. Sad, innocent, barely holding it together… seeking his approval.

She brushed her hair back behind her ear before continuing.

"You are the most important thing I think that's ever been appointed to me without the fate of the world at stake... Whenever there's a problem too big for Celestia to handle alone, or one she doesn't know how to solve, I'm the one she trusts to take care of it. But with all of you... The world isn't in danger from any of you. And Celestia would have probably been able to take care of you much better than I could. And she knows more about beings from other dimensions as well as having knowledge of another human world... but... there's nothing I do that qualifies me to be in charge of you."

"Twiggs—"

"No, please..." Twilight had to be honest with him; it felt like the right thing to do. "My two greatest talents are magic and friendship. If I was right about the Order that makes up your being, and Cadence was right about Cerb being anti-magic, my first talent is useless for you. As for friendship problems... You only had one that I know of, and that was fixed without my help at all. If we wanted to stretch the list of my applicable skills to working with foreign relations, we already have a Status of Forces agreement, and none of you need any of my help at all integrating into Equestria. The only use I have... is sending you away."

Sniff finally had her where he needed her to be if he was going to turn this around.

"Twiggels. From formal introductions to having you here on my lap. You've been with us every step of the way. All of our biggest accomplishments and reasons to celebrate were either started by you or accomplished by you putting the right pony in charge of it. Not only that, you put up with all our crazy bullshit. And, you're wrong about your friendship stuff not applying to us. Because, and I hate to admit this now..."

Twilight waited for some stupid joke to come out of nowhere and throw everything off track again.

Almost looking like Sniff was leading her on, he took a deep breath and forced a smile.

"I hated it hear. It wasn't just a hard time for me adjusting... I wanted as close to nothing as I could get to do with anything here. I thought it was all the most unfunniest joke I ever heard and wanted out... But now? Because of you tolerating me and helping me see how great this place is, I gotta tell ya. With the friends you've introduced me to, and everything else you've done has turned me around."

This was so much better than what Twilight could have hoped to hear him say.

"Re... R-Really?"

Sniff sat up straight, taking Twilight's forehooves into his hands, and held them up to his chest.

"Twilight, in between dealing with whatever fucked-up shit me and my friends get into and you probably losing another bet—" He took a moment to let Twilight laugh at him for poking fun at her. "—I'm sure you'll figure out a way to get us home. But all that I ask, is that when you do, please make sure there's a way for us to come back and visit."

"You?" Twilight didn't know why she was suddenly so happy to hear that he wanted to come back. "You really would want to come back and visit?"

Sniff scoffed through a grin.

"Well, yeah. Wouldn't you?"

As could only be the case, Twilight crashed into him, hugging him with all four legs and wings. Happy tears and soft chuckles escaped the Princess as she quietly celebrated her confirmation of approval.

Sniff did his best to hug her back, being bound up in her limbs as she was.

"You see that, Twiggels? Can't be messing up too bad if all of us agree we wanna come back."

Twilight pulled away from her hold on him and leaned back to watch his face as he would answer her next question.

"Wait? All of you want to come back?"

Sniff answered like it was no big deal.

"Yeah, I mean. Holidays, summer vacations... fuck it. Maybe even weekends."

Everything he said only made her feel even better.

"That sounds..." She leaned up and hugged him gently this time. "Wonderful. We'd all be delighted to have you back."

Sniff pulled a hand free and stroked it down from behind her neck to her lower back.

"Alright then. Got all the crying out your system?"

Twilight hummed softly.

“For now, at least. But... could you stay?"

He didn’t want his guess to be right about what she implied, but he somehow knew what she was asking of him.

"Stay... in your bed?"

Twilight sniffed and cleared her throat.

"Just till I fall asleep?" She gripped tighter with her back legs around him, hoping the subtle hint would encourage him to stay. "You know... like back on the couch when you stayed with me?"

Sniff could think of a million different reasons why he shouldn't stay in bed alone with a pony Princess that was already on the chopping block with her superior.

"I...Fuck it. Why not?"

Twilight rolled off from his lap and pulled back the covers.

"I don't know how to feel about all the bad words you keep using, since I don't have a clue what they mean, but even the one I do know isn't even bad."

Sniff joined Twilight under the blanket but let the sheet keep them apart.

"It's all a big mystery to be discovered another day, another time."

As Twilight got more settled in, she was surprised that Sniff had been courteous enough to put a sheet between them. Although, it seemed both unnecessary, if not a little disappointing, that he did.

"Goodnight, Peter."

"Goodnight, Twiggs."

A few moments went by, and while lying there flat on his back, staring up at the high ceiling, Sniff realized he wasn't all that tired yet and already felt himself getting bored.

"Hey, Twiggs?"

Twilight had just gotten comfortable on her side, facing away from him.

"Yes?"

Sniff continued to stare into the darkness and spoke in a rather monotone voice.

"If I snore in my sleep, you can kick me."

She giggled for a moment.

"Okay, if you say so."

"Hey, Twiggs?"

"... yes?"

"Do I get to kick you if you snore?"

Before he could raise his arms in defense, Twilight had already turned back to him with every spare pillow on the bed wrapped in her aura, hurling them down at his head.

With a guilty laugh, Twilight laid down the law.

"No kicking the Princess! Now go to sleep, you ass!"

Shining stood at his side of the bed, looking over to the other side of the mattress.

"So..."

Cadence stood at her side of the bed, looking over to the other side of the mattress.

"So..."

Shining knew the proverbial magic had left the room.

"I think that kinda killed the mood, didn't it?"

Cadence mirrored his sentiment.

"Yeah... Yeah, it did."

They crawled back into bed and settled down for the night, and laid there with so many thoughts running through their minds.

"So..." Shining turned to his wife. "You... really don't remember what the secret was or what happened that night?"

Cadence stared up at the ceiling.

"No... I just remember that it was nice. Wonderful even... But I can't understand why us being around Justin and Becky brought us back to that night."

She turned to look him in the eyes.

"Is it normal for ponies to..."

Shining asked with sincere confusion, "What? There's a lot of un-normal things we did tonight."

Cadance's answer sounded just as confused as he appeared to be.

"All of it, I guess. I've had some crushes on other stallions back when I was younger, but I've never wanted to be with anypony but you since I knew you were the one."

Shining reached out to hold his hoof with hers.

"Cadance, you know I could never love another pony."

Cadence coldly answered.

"But they're not ponies.”

"I..." Shining held a little more tightly to her hoof as he gathered his thoughts. "I know. But I don't think it's love we're feeling. Yeah, I can see how it looks, and given what we said about how we feel about them—"

Cadence abruptly interrupted and offered up an explanation.

"Maybe it's a different kind of love? ...Maybe that's what Justin was trying to tell me."

Shining raised an eyebrow, realizing he had no idea what had happened when she had been with Cerb that night.

"Tell you what?"

Cadence ran through the whole conversation of love for friends, family, and other things she had with Cerb. How they weren't all the same, but some expressions of love can carry over and overlap.

"Huh," Shining huffed before having a big think on that. "I... guess that makes sense. But what did he say were the overlaps?

Cadence shook her head.

"He didn't. And I didn't ask... but speaking of laps..."

"What about-Woah!" Shining was going to ask what she was talking about, only to have Cadence mount him again as she had before they were interrupted.

Cadence again started rocking her hips back and forth.

"Tell me. Does this feel familiar in any way? Or maybe some music would help you remember?"

Shining was enjoying the familiar sensations, taking his mind in two directions.

"Oh, wow. That night... together... just like dancing with—"

Cadance softly spoke in a low and sultry voice, "Just like it felt dancing with Justin, I felt it with you," She admitted, unsure how to feel about it.

Shining was remembering the dance moves and how Becky was dancing in much of the same manner with their bodies together.

"I can't believe it. I danced with Becky and felt something just like this, but she didn't get into it until after you gave her a nod to go ahead.“ Another observation floated back into memory. “And Cerb—"

She stopped the motion of her hips.

"Justin wouldn't get into it until I told him Fluttershy and Rarity were okay with it, and he knew you wouldn't hold a grudge against him. I don't know what kind of love this is... It's so physically involved and makes me feel incredible inside."

Shining gave a weak attempt at grinding himself into her, but it didn't quite feel the same.

"Same for me, but... I don't really know what I'm doing down there."

Cadence admitted in defeat as she rolled off back to her side of the bed.

"I don't know what I'm doing either. I'm the Princess of love... How do I not know about this?"

Shining found himself driving through the thought of Becky again.

"Why not just ask him?" He then remembered the nightmare scene they just left downstairs. "When he's calmed down, I mean."

Cadence whined, "I don't know." She pulled another pillow over her face and smothered herself to muffle her groan before letting her forelegs flop down to her side. "This is still soooo weeirrrd."

Shining had a rebuttal.

"Yeah, but—"

Cadence abruptly brought her hooves up and smothered herself through a much louder and longer angry groan. After the groan, she flopped one hoof towards Shining and used the other to throw the pillow across the room.

"I'm such an idiot! Literally! The worst Princess of Love, ever. I swear, by Celestia's polished royal flanks, I should be stripped of my crown and kingdom."

Shining was growing concerned at how overly excited she was with her self-condemnation.

"What? What happened?"

A heavy sigh of self-loathing poured from Cadence's lips.

"Justin and Becky had to get approval before they could share their new, weird… physical human love with us…“

After all this time and taking another look back at the night's events, it all became painfully clear to her.

“Fluttershy and Rarity are in love with Justin... and I think I have to get their permission again."

Shining popped up excitedly.

"Again? When did you... Oh... The dance."

There was no pride in Cadance’s voice as she went on to explain.

"After me and the others were done with planning what we would do during the auction, I went straight to Rarity and Fluttershy. Told them exactly what I wanted to do." She sighed, remembering how hesitant they were. "It wasn't an easy conversation to have with them. They’re very protective of him, and they were already upset about not having the dance they wanted like the other ponies got... including me."

For a moment, Shining considered pushing Cadence's hoof away as a symbolic gesture of his aggravation towards some of the choices she made during that event. But after a second thought, he changed his mind. They were both in this boat together, and only now could he see that they were rowing in the same direction.

"I take it I was the straw that broke the camel's back in your request when you told them what I did?"

"Yep..."

"Puck..."

Cadence, without looking, found Shinings hoof next to hers and rubbed it, just to show him some compassion for his efforts.

"It's fuck dear... Do you even know what it means?"

"Not a clue... but it just feels like the right word for this kind of situation."

Pinkie quietly tried to get his attention.

"BenBen? Can I hide out in here with you until Princess Luna stops being so scary?"

Benny answered like he didn't expect her to ask.

"Uhp... sure."

Pinkie dashed past him and jumped under the blankets on his bed.

"Hey, Pink?" Benny tapped his finger on Pinkie's head under the blanket. "Are you actually scared of Luna or doing that thing where you overreact because you think it's fun to be scared of her?"

"That's only on Nightmare Night, silly," Pinkie answered from behind Benny, making him jump with a yelp.

Benny turned to see Pinkie standing behind him and then back to her outline, still poking out from under the blanket.

He took a few takes back and forth, knowing full well that this shit didn't make sense, and it wasn't going to, no matter how much he tried. Regardless, he gripped the edge of the blanket and ripped it back, revealing only the sheet underneath it.

Oblivious to his reaction, Pinkie had to ask a question that avoided the obvious.

"Are you looking for something, or do you always pull the blanket off the bed like that before you get under the covers?"

Benny couldn't even be mad. Nor should he have been as confused as he was, but not being mad was the big takeaway.

"Pinkie... one day you're going to break the fourth wall, and when I understand the reference for the terrible joke you make, you'll be the one confused."

"Hmm," Pinkie was overthinking this. "Pretty sure I've broke more than four walls this year already. So you're already late for that."

This wasn't worth trying to address, and Benny knew it.

"Yep... Too bad, I guess."

Ready to call it quits for the night, Benny took his socks and shirt off. He laid them on a nightstand and reached for the buckle around his waist but stopped, remembering he had an audience.

Pinkie asked, "Button stuck, BenBen?" Apparently watching him disrobe the whole time.

Benny started to wonder why Pinkie was so unphased by him getting undressed in front of him.

"No, I normally just sleep—" Alarms were sounding off in his head 'Don't say in the nude. Don't say in the nude.' "—with a softer pair of shorts on."

Great lie, Benny. Ten out of ten. Would recommend for use on Pones.

Pinkie reached into a non-existent back pocket.

"You mean a pair like this?" She asked before pulling out a pair of all cotton shorts, hot pink and decorated with her cutie mark.

Benny took the pair of shorts, examined them, and while he didn't want to wear them, he saw an opening to exploit some cartoon logic.

"You know what? These aren't bad. But the pair I usually wear comes with a non-password protected wifi hotspot with unlimited internet access."

Pinkie went back into her non-existent pocket and reached for something... but then stopped.

"Huh... That's weird."

Benny looked down at her forehoof sticking into her body and hoped to God he didn't break her.

"What's up? You alright over there?"

Pinkie extracted her foreleg empty hoofed.

"I don't think I've ever reached down there and not felt... anything."

There had to be more to this, and Benny wanted to see how deep this rabbit hole went.

"Not felt anything in what, exactly?"

Pinkie cocked her head slightly.

"Felt what?"

Benny could smell bullshit a mile away and decided instead not to jump down this rabbit hole and moved quickly to avoid a who's on first scenario by pointing to a spot on the wall.

"Quick! Look! A distraction!"

Pinkie’s eyes shot open, enthused at the announcement.

"What?! Where?!" And she darted over to the wall, frantically feeling over it and looking for whatever Benny saw that was so distracting.

Taking full advantage of her wild goose chase, Benny swapped out of his day clothes for the shorts he took from her. Yeah, they were girly, if not cannon fodder for Cerb to bring out every gay joke in the book, but they were comfortable as fuck.

"Oh, darn," Benny snapped his fingers and played up his disappointment. "Sorry, Pinkie. It was a thing. Like right there, and I saw it, but now it's gone. And it's not a thing... to distract... now."

Pinkie trotted back over to Benny while eyeing the wall.

"Hmm. I think I see what you mean. But next time I'll be ready. That distraction won't get by me."

Benny pulled out his cell phone, a respectable forty-five percent of battery life left.

"Right... I'm counting on ya, Balloon Butt."

A few short taps and swipes over his phone and Benny had his music ready to go. Breaking Benjamin - Dear Agony started to play through his phone.

Pinkie squeed as she pranced in a circle and tried to swing to the music.

"Yay! More BenBen music!"

But as the lyrics went on, the song didn't sound like the happy music that he had played the last time when they were alone.

"Umm, Benny? Is this one of those songs that's both happy and sad... or just sad?"

Benny looked to be slightly down all of a sudden and crawled into bed.

"I'm sorry, Pink. This is more of a theme song for me and Cerb. It's not a happy one, but for me, it's also a song of hope."

Pinkie continued to listen to the lyrics for a few seconds.

"Hope for what?"

He gave a long sigh and flopped his head on the pillow.

"That one day, the hurting will stop."

This was the side of Benny Pinkie hated to see.

"Ohhhhh, Benny... Don't be sad. How about you put on some happy songs?"

Bypassing her question, Benny asked a poignant question of his own, "Pinkie... What does it really take to be happy?"

It would be an understatement to say that Pinkie didn't understand the question.

"What do you mean? Tons of things can make you happy. Like cupcakes and parties, having lots of friends, singing a song—"

"I mean, after all that," Benny asked bluntly. "What do you do when you’re all by yourself and the food doesn't taste so sweet and the music's stopped? How do you stay happy when it's just you and your thoughts and memories that make you miserable?"

Pinkie placed her hooves on the side of Benny's bed.

"Benny?... I didn't want to say anything until I got to know you all better, but... Why are you so sad? Not just kinda sad... but really, really, reeeeeeeeeealy sad?... Can you tell me what happened?"

Benny could only assume she was talking about what he had scolded her for when Kelly was hurt.

"You wanna know what happened?"

Pinkie cringed back some, knowing whatever he went through was terrible. Maybe just as bad as what Cerb had gone through to give him all those scars. Honestly, though, she didn't want to know, but what else could she do if she wanted to help Benny be happy?

Pinkie pouted with the saddest puppy dog eyes.

"I want to make you smile again, BenBen. I want to see you smile even when you don't know I can see you smiling. Because I see you not smiling when you think no one is watching. And I know you're not the only one, but... everypony is helping the human they're with, and you're supposed to be with me, I guess. But I've been so busy getting your party ready that I haven't had much time to help you be happy here."

"Pinkie—"

Benny tried to think of how to carry on the conversation, but all he could think about was Cerb flipping out during another night terror and how Fluttershy and Rarity had again been able to help him. For some reason, he thought if he was going to open up and get the kind of help that inexplicably came from these ponies, it was going to come from Twilight. He helped her, and she came close to getting him to open up about his history beyond his turn-around phase. But then again, Pinkie was the one to get him to say the most.

Somehow, no matter how real everything in this world looked or felt, he could see the broken logic and impossible rules it operated with. Magic and a warped sense of reality controlled this world, but there were some things he didn't understand yet. And perhaps, he couldn't fully trust his fate to this pink pony he consistently found himself attached to. Not yet, at least.

Initially, he tried to put a response together in his mind, sounding something like; "I tried to save someone... a long time ago. But I couldn't." That’s what he wanted to say but lacked the wherewithal to face that type of conversation. He couldn't bring himself to expose the details of those horrors to Pinkie.

He offered a plausible excuse instead.

"I'm just worried about Cerb, and I'm really tired."

Pinkie faked a smile, knowing that Benny was lying to her, but didn't know how to call him out on it.

"Oh... Yeah. Me too.“ She knew she was going to need some help with this. “I should probably let you get some sleep then?"

Benny knew this was just as painful of an experience for him as it was for her.

"Yeah."

Looking at her again, something tugged at his heartstrings. She had reached out to him, was offering him help, and he was putting her off. She probably even knew it.

He couldn’t leave her without some type of encouragement.

"Hey, Pinkie?"

A small smile and the glint of hope in her eyes lit up, thinking he was going to ask something of her. Ask for help. Tell her what was on his mind. Maybe even ask her to keep him company for the night.

Benny, in a not-so-confident voice, asked, "You wanna hang out tomorrow if you're not too busy?"

Or maybe she would just be put off until the next day.

"Sure!"

At least it was something, and Benny put the proverbial ball in her court.

"Whenever works good for you," he offered.

"Yeah," Pinkie answered like she was excited, but somehow, it still hurt that she knew something was wrong but couldn't help him here and now like everypony else. Not like how they could with the humans they were paired with. "I should be free. We can do... something fun!"

"Alright," Benny said with a bit too much finality, like that was the end of the conversation.

Pinkie could feel it was her time to leave, and before opening the door, she wearily excused herself, "Uh, goodnight, BenBen," and took her leave.

He felt like such a piece of shit.

"Goodnight—" The door to the room closed. "Pinkie..."

Benny looked at his phone. The song he played had ended a while ago, and the screen had already timed out. It was quiet in his room, and he felt like a total bastard. A lonely bastard at that.

Why did he want to keep so much distance between his problems and the help offered from others? It felt like unless the offer was beaten into him, he couldn't be bothered to deal with his past. But who could blame him?

A flick of a cord and the light from the lamp was extinguished, leaving him alone in the dark. Alone in his room, he was dwelling about Cerb and his night terrors. He couldn’t wrap his head around how, for the first time, Cerb had been taken out of it and calmed. Peaceful sleep finally granted instead of waking up and fighting for his life. And all of it happening just like Cerb had described it. Even if it didn't make any sense, those two ponies were helping him in ways no one else could.

Why did things have to be so difficult?

Reports of a yacht with billowing smoke had been called in. Initial reports claimed that men armed with automatic rifles had shouted for anyone approaching them to leave and even fired upon anyone who came too close. A US Naval ship in the area conducting anti-terrorism operations was directed to intercept. Intelligence revealed that this boat matched the description of a stolen vessel that may be transporting weapons and other items to support known pirates and terrorist cells in neighboring countries. Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure teams had been detached to investigate and neutralize any threats.

"NATO Coalition Forces!!" Benny, dressed in his Navy working uniform and body armor with a shotgun in hand, shouted down a ladder well of what was deemed to be a stolen yacht turned pirate ship. "We are conducting a search and seizure of your vessel!"

Another sailor in the same gear, Boatswain Mate Petty Officer Third Class Cutter, Call Sign Dull Bird, spoke up behind Benny.

"Pencil? You think they don't speak English, or they just faking it."

Benny steadied a Mossberg 500 shotgun under his arm.

"I dunno. How about you try shouting the orders? If they shout something back, they're faking it. Everyone fakes it with you."

A salty and well-seasoned Master At Arms Chief, call sign Sugar Boot, with a similar setup, grunted.

"Pencil, cut the shit. Not everything needs to be a fucking joke."

A snicker from Master At Arms Petty Officer First Class, hailing from Ohio and who hated the state of Michigan, call sign Yooper, did his best to keep his military bearing and not encourage Benny's unprofessionalism.

Benny grinned.

"Sorry, Sugar Boot."

Sugar Boot aimed his pistol down the ladder well.

"Pencil, you take the lead. Dull Bird, you're behind him with the light. Yooper, you guide'em in."

Dull Bird acknowledged his orders.

"Roger."

Yooper did the same.

"Roger."

Benny had to get one more crack in.

“Rager.”

Sugar Boot wasn’t pleased.

"Pencil? The fuck did I just say?"

Benny somehow managed not to laugh.

"Sorry, Sugar Boot."

Sugar Boot shook his head.

“I don’t know what I hate more. Putting up with your insubordination or this stupid fucking call sign you gave me.”

Benny led his party down the ladder well into the lower deck of the yacht. It was a stark contrast to the relatively shiny hull of the boat. The interior was littered with garbage and discarded pieces of spoiled food. A stench of human waste and burnt oil hung in the air. The odor of stagnant urine and fecal matter stunk up the entire cabin more than the smoke.

Visually, what they saw gave them a clear indication that the use of the boat was for something nefarious. Much of the interior had been stripped out, leaving most of the structure of the boat exposed. A good sign that the ship was being used to transport stolen or other illegal goods.

Benny shouted as soon as Dull Bird's light shined on three men sitting in a corner smoking cigarettes.

"NATO Coalition forces! Don't move! Hands up!“ He turned just enough to shout up the ladder well. “Three more on the first deck, Sugar Boot. All adult males. Appear to be locals."

Benny kept his eyes on the three men while the others checked around the ladder well.

Dull Bird hunkered down and turned to their left, checking for additional threats.

"Clear left!"

Yooper did the same for their right.

"Clear right!"

Benny lowered his shotgun, swapping out for his pistol and a flashlight towards the three men.

"Hands up and drop the smokes!"

The three men didn't move, but each of them gave different angry looks as they kept smoking.

Yooper spread out from the others, keeping his MP5 on the targets.

"Call down Little Mouse or one of the other guys. We need a translator."

Benny took a step back.

"Hold on... The skinny guy in the middle. The goofy-looking fucker. I know who that is."

Sugar Boot shined his light toward the group.

"Pencil, don't be messing around with me. Who is that?"

Benny intentionally kept the light focused on the man's eyes.

"That's the guy wanted for making all the pornos with goats and pigs."

The man in the center threw down his cigarette and stood up with an aggressive stance, and shouted, "You think I fuck a goat!"

All four sailors focused their guns on him, making him stop dead in his tracks.

Benny lowered the light from the man's eyes.

"Oh! Shit! My bad. That's just the guy who knows English."

Sugar Boot wanted to be mad but couldn't argue with the results.

"God... damn it, Pencil. You’re fucking lucky that worked."

Benny motioned with his pistol and again gave his orders.

"Let's try this again. You there. You and your friends. Hands up."

A short while later, all three men had been detained and were brought up to the top deck. There were eight of them in all. But no cargo.

Another team was in the middle of processing the crew. Separating them into smaller groups and interrogating them while Benny and his team were finishing their search of the boat.

Dull Bird spoke up, turning over more of the filth that was strewn about the bottom deck.

"I don't get it? A big ass boat with a crew of eight dudes, no drugs, guns, or anything of value."

Yooper answered, "No, they had guns. They threw’em overboard. They did it as soon as they realized who we were. Probably hauled their last load and were heading back to wherever the fuck they came from when their engine blew."

Sugar Boot carefully flipped a dirty towel, stained with what had to be blood and feces, into a corner.

"Nasty fucks knew that it's better to be caught with the stolen boat than to be caught with guns on a stolen boat. But whatever they had, we fucking missed it."

Benny was trying to cover his nose as he searched the boat and asked, "Why does the shit stink so much worse down here, Sugar? The toilets are on the second deck, and the pumps at the aft of the boat."

Sugar Boot didn’t know and didn’t care.

"Fuck if I know. Maybe because of the shit-covered rags they left here? But I'm fucking done. Dull Bird, follow me up. Yooper, help Pencil finish up whatever the fuck he's doing, and then head back up. I'm ready to get the fuck out of here."

Yooper continued flipping the garbage around with his foot.

"Roger that, Sugar Boot," and flipped the Chief off as soon as he was out of sight but turned his attention back to Benny. "Pencil... the fuck are you doing?"

Benny looked down to the floor and turned his ear out in front of him.

"Yooper, shut up."

Yooper didn’t mind Benny goofing off every once in a while, but was not about to take such a blatant show of disrespect.

"Shipmate. I'm about to fan room council the fuck—"

"Shut up!" Benny shouted again, raising his pointer finger in the air.

Yooper held his breath for a moment, looking around the small room and listening. There was nothing to be heard outside of the sounds of water thumping against the hull and the waves sloshing about outside. At least until Benny leaned forward slightly, and a small creak under the dirty carpet creeped out over the sound of a gurgle and groaning.

At the same time, up on the top deck, their Chief was clearing out his nose and giving his update.

"Yeah, ain't nothing down there but garbage and shit rags. Any word from the Intel guys on what—"

"Medic!" Yooper's voice called up from the second deck as he hit the ladder well. "Med team! Bottom deck! Forward most haul! Multiple casualties!"

A series of splashes alerted the Boarding Party that four of the crew had just jumped ship and were trying to swim away with their arms still bound.

The next few minutes were nothing less than a massive cluster fuck between diverting the medical team to where they had to go while securing the four crew members that were still trying to get away and sending another team to recover the other four that just jumped ship.

By the time the four were secured, only two members of the med team had made their way down to the forward hold where Yooper was waiting outside the door of their destination. He looked hollowed out, deathly pale, and had vomit still trailing from his mouth.

His Chief and the rest of the team shined their lights on him and could see blood splattered over his hands and uniform. He shook his head slowly, letting them know they were no longer needed.

Finally, the Chief managed to find his wits and demanded to know, "What the fuck happened?! Where's Pencil?"

Yooper’s voice came out with a spike in his volume, sounding like he was about to puke again.

"Radio up to get Doc ready. We're going to need at least ehh… eigh—“ He was trying so hard to keep it together and not vomit again. “—eight body bags."

The whole team was fearing the worst but couldn't understand what could have possibly happened. And for those who had just arrived, it was as if all their training seemed to have been forgotten; they stood stupefied, waiting for orders. Even their Chief's blood had run cold, fearing that somehow Benny was dead, and he stood motionless.

That fear faded when the faint sound of sobs could be heard inside the forward hold. The chief quickly pushed his way through to discover the carnage that had struck Yooper so harshly.

Yooper broke it down as best he could.

"Eight victims, Chief. Five adults and three children, all female. All stabbed or had their throats slit. Looks like they were victims of human trafficking, but... Smugglers probably didn't want to get caught and couldn't keep them quiet. Probably didn’t have enough time to deep-six 'em or thought we wouldn’t find the bodies if he hid’em under the deck plates... It’s a fucking blood bath in there."

Inside the forward-most compartment of the vessel, leaning against the haul of the boat, sat Benny. In his arms was a young girl, not even old enough to be in her teens. She bore signs that she had resisted or even attempted to fight back before being overpowered. There were stab wounds through her hands and arms, and two through an old worn-thin 'I Love Lucy' t-shirt over her chest. Freshly wrapped gauze and tape and padding had been hastily dressed on her wounds, but they had all been so soaked in blood that there was no white to be seen.

As soon as Benny had discovered what lay hidden under the floor, he had worked so frantically to pull her free from the lacerated bodies that most of his uniform had become covered in blood.

Still holding the child in his arms, Benny croaked, his voice vacant of the goofy laughter always hiding behind it.

"She was under the floorboards, Chief. I thought it was one of the crew hiding. But... I... she's dead, Chief... I couldn't... she was bleeding and-and-and they had a fucking gag in her mouth... I pulled it out, but I don't know what she was saying, and I tried to tell her to hold on—"

The Chief reached out and took Benny by the hand.

"Pencil... she's gone. Let her go."

Something was so unmistakably wrong with Benny not being able to understand why he couldn’t let go.

"My first aid kit didn't fucking help, Chief."

"YN2 Yale,” The Chief said, deliberately violating protocol to address him by name, hoping to get him to listen. “Come on... Let’er go."

Benny didn't get up. He just stared down into the lifeless eyes of a child he couldn't save. He didn't even know her name, and neither did she know his. But he was the last person she would ever see. Never knowing who he was or why he was there. Just that he pulled her out of the floor and away from the slaughtered victims she was hidden away with and clung to.

She was a child slave in the modern world who was murdered by monsters masquerading as men. He was almost her savior, and he felt less human because of it. For if evil prevails when good men fail to act, what are the men who act but fail?

"Madad... Kripaya..." Benny said the words as labored as she did before he realized she would never speak again.

Just like Cerb, Benny couldn't escape his past. He had his ghosts and all the guilt that he couldn't shed. And just like Cerb, it didn't take much more than a reminder to put him back in that dark place amongst the bodies of those he wasn't able to save.

He cued up the one song he played when her memory haunted him the most.

"Goodnight, Lucy."

Benny looked at the song title once more before letting the screen fade away, and Skillet - Lucy played, helping him imagine her pain was over.

The sound of snoring abruptly snapped Trixie from her sleep. She popped up, and her eyes shot open wide, only to clamp shut as she held her hooves to them and rolled back in pain.

"Ahh! So bright! Gah!" She cursed the sun as she comically rolled around in the sand, shielding her eyes.

After a moment or two of flailing and batting away the sun's light, she managed to open her eyes and let them adjust to a late morning sun shining down on her.

"Wha? I must have slept—“ She looked up to the sun, only to wince at the sight and curse herself for doing something so stupid. "It's almost noon."

"We intervened when your bridge was hijacked by the Tree of... Oh... You must be gone now. Well... we are sorry that we had to smash it. We thought it best to let those Harmony has put so much faith into be allowed to prove themselves without Harmony holding their hands and hooves this time. We have confidence in you all."

A version of Trixie glowed like a crystal pony but shined with superior brilliance, sat in a dreamscape of green fields, reliving the memory of a long-lost love finding her. Whatever part of her was still Trixie, found her heart smiling at the sight.

"If we are right, Harmony, we will be undoing everything the rest of your kind has worked so hard for," She said to herself. "If you are not sure about staying, now is the time to abandon me. The other Echoes will not be left in the dark for much longer of what we have been doing, and I fear our allies among them would be few."

As par the course, lots of developments. Now everybody is going to know that Fluttershy and Rarity can stop Cerb's night terrors, or at least that's their interpretation at the moment. The humans find out how much their issues are causing problems for the royals, and boy did Twilight and Sniff ever get close. Man have I ever been waiting to get that opportunity to really have them connect. I mean, sure, they connected during their talks over breakfast and post helping Spike, but this was far deeper from Twilight's side.

Thinking about it, Kelly spending more time with Luna seemed like an odd development... That's gonna need some more exploration.

Also, Cadance and Shining have some issues to work out. The sexual confusing isn't helping them out any, either. But at least they are still committed to being with each other and can be honest about their faults and weaknesses.

But then there's Benny. His trauma was hinted at earlier, but maybe now you can understand why his as messed up as he is. There's just some shit you can't unsee. Some horrors you can't get over. And if you remember his history, about how he even came to know about the MLP show... that might hint at some other problems he suffered from his time in the Navy.

Lastly, for those who I hope guessed it, Trixie has been seeing the visions of an alternate version of herself. And somehow, that Trixie is starting to figure out that she's being watched... Rather interesting and makes you wonder who the other Echos are.

Anway, leaving you all on a cliffhanger was getting to me. I wanted to get this out to you as soon as possible... ish