Author's Notes:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jucl_nZ6niOdnXZO3hxXbiA5ui9Ngy5l26BvjSyYkzk/edit

I celebrated my newfound freedom by kicking Spike’s ass all up and down the training field. He may be as strong as I am, but he wasn’t as fast, lithe, big, or experienced. I helped him up at the end of our little session. “That was a nice little workout,” I said with a smile, pulling him off the ground.

“For you, maybe. Now I have two guys out here beating me around! You’re lucky dragons don’t bruise, Nav, or I’d make you explain to Twilight why I come home black and blue every day.”

“Stop your bitching. I can get bruises, and I have. I even got half my teeth knocked out one day. Why do you think I’m in my armor right now?”

“…Exercise?”

“Hell no. This stuff is pretty light, surprisingly. It’s so I don’t break anything when the naga slaps me around. Now that I’m feeling pretty good, you want to go visit my dragon friend?”

That got his attention away from his wounded pride. “Can we? Right now? What are we waiting for?”

“We’re waiting on us getting some real weapons. He lives in the Everfree, and I’m not going near that place without something to fight with, even if we’ll just be flying over it. Leave your shield; I can’t carry you, it, and our weapons.” We both walked over to where we had left our shit. “Just your sword. We won’t be in danger territory long enough to need the crossbow.”

“Then why are we carrying weapons at all?”

“Because I got stabbed in the fucking back in a place that wasn’t supposed to be dangerous. I’m not going anywhere unarmed. I’m only bringing my gun and some knives, though. You’ll be fine with just a sword.”

“So… what does that gun do?” he asked as I slung it over my shoulder.

“It’s a crossbow, but better. And remember, it’s one of the things that Twilight doesn’t get to know about. Like this trip into the Everfree.”

“My lips are sealed!”

“Good.” I grabbed Spike and slung him over my other shoulder. “Let’s go.”

“Wait!” I already had my wings out and was about to take off, but I stopped. “Do I have to ride over your shoulder?”

“Unless you want me to cradle you in my arms, yes. Do you want me to cradle you, Spike?”

“It’ll only be us that sees it, Nav.”

I shrugged and pulled him off my shoulder, holding him like a hero holds a lady. “If we get called gay, I’m not denying a word,” I said, finally taking off.

“Psh. As if anypony would care.”

“You mean like Rarity?”

He just muttered darkly, looking away as we sailed over the forest. About ten minutes later, I began circling around the cave area, looking for a decent landing spot.

“Whoa whoa whoa, this is the dragon’s cave?” Spike asked, looking down at the place we were about to land.

“Yeah, Reginald’s cave. It’s much nicer inside.”

“Nav, you don’t understand. I’ve been here before! I know the dragon in there! He tried to kill me!”

“Spike, why were you in the middle of the Everfree?” I wasn’t about to land just yet, not if Spike is talking about possibly getting killed.

“It’s a long story that involves Owlowiscious and jealousy issues. Not important. What is important is that I might have accidentally eaten some of his gems and he kinda tried to kill me.”

“Oh, you’re the dragon he was talking about! When I first met him, he was really paranoid about thieves, mentioning some hatchling stealing some shit and not apologizing for it.”

“Yeah… So let’s just go now before it’s too late.”

I started landing. “I have a better idea. You go in there and apologize like a man. You stole and you will own up to it. If he freaks out, we’ll book it and hope for the best. If not, you can ask your questions.”

“Nav, I’m… I’m not so sure about this. He was big and sharp and scary!”

“And he’s also an extremely decorated war veteran that could kill you in an instant if he was really trying. He was probably just scaring you off. Stop being a pussy.”

By that point, I was on the ground and in no real hurry to take off again. My wings hadn’t been moving all too much lately, so they were somewhat sore from the flight. Spike’s eyes went wide when he heard a snort of what might have been snoring from the cave.

“Alright, let’s go,” I said, pulling my gun up and priming a round. I didn’t pump it, but I would rather have it mostly ready just in case. I heard him take a very deep breath before starting to follow me. We got to the entrance of the cave before his steps started faltering. I stopped and turned back. “Relax, Spike. If anything bad happens, I’m here.”

He took another deep breath before nodding. “Okay. I’m ready.”

I turned back around and kept walking in. I got a few steps before I felt his hand grip mine. I looked down to see him holding onto me, presumably for comfort, and looking every which way as we walked further into the cave. I was tempted to jerk my hand away, but he was still young and there’s nothing wrong with a healthy dose of fear. He was holding together well enough, so I let him have whatever comfort he might get from holding my hand.

I heard Reginald begin humming or doing something as we walked inside. “I smell a friend,” he whispered, slowly pulling out of his bed of jewels. “A friend and…” He took a deep whiff before jolting out of the pile and sending jewels everywhere. “A thief!”

Spike fucking jumped behind me as I held up the hand that he wasn’t holding. “Now hold on a moment, Reginald. He’s not here to steal this time. He’s here to apologize for what he took and maybe explain why.”

Reginald huffed, blasting the two of us with steam and making me sweat horribly in my armor. “So you say. But he is hiding behind you, clutching at your hand in fear. I hear no apology.”

I rolled my eyes and dragged Spike out of his horrible hiding place with his grip on my hand, standing him upright in front of me. After a second of nothing, I nudged him and whispered, “Man up, Spike. If I can’t trust you to apologize, how can I ever trust you in battle?”

His achingly strong grip on my hand eased up as his eyes squeezed open. After yet another long and deep breath, he let go of me entirely and stood at his full height. In a voice that was much higher than his normal one, he quickly said, “I’m sorry for stealing your jewels and I’ll never do it again and please don’t kill me!”

“Hmm… And why were you in my cave, hatchling?”

“I… I ran away from home… I didn’t have anywhere else to go! I didn’t think the ponies wanted me and I don’t know any dragons… I just went into the first dry place I found in the thunderstorm, and this was it. I didn’t know it was somepony’s cave!”

“Somepony?” he hissed, leaning in close. “You were the egg from the trade! I hate that treaty… But my name is on it, so I can hardly complain. That explains why you know so little. Are you still missing a home, hatchling?”

Spike slowly shook his head. “I… I live with the ponies. What treaty? What trade?”

“Every few years, the ponies get a dragon egg randomly taken from the horde. The treaty is old and the reasons behind it are unimportant. I assume that you were the egg taken. I wonder how they hatched you… But that is also not important. Tell me, what do you know of the dragons? What do you know of your own kind?”

“Almost nothing… Nav here helped me track down some dragons during the great migration that told me some things, but then some pony ‘friends’ of mine showed up and ruined everything. I didn’t learn nearly as much as I wanted to know.”

Reginald cast his gaze to me. “Navarone, you are a friend and I do trust you. However, I request that you leave. You have my assurance that no harm will come to your friend. I will educate him.”

“When can I come back? If I leave him here overnight, I will get my ass tore out the frame by his… caretaker.”

“Give me two hours. I will take more time if needed.”

I shouldered my rifle. “I’ll be here then.” I looked down to my little friend. “Spike, behave. If Twilight finds out about this, it will probably be a once in a lifetime chance, so make it count just in case.”

“You got it, Nav! And thanks.”

“No problem. I’ll see you both in two hours.” I started walking out, listening to Spike try to introduce himself to Reginald, now considerably less afraid. I was pretty sure that Reggie wouldn’t go back on his word and hurt Spike. I was hoping he wouldn’t, because Twilight would kill me.

Lacking anything else to do, I started walking into the woods to hunt. With the way Taya was attempting to regulate my diet, I didn’t end up with much in the way of meat during that long month. With two dragons behind me to cook, I figure I could find something, kill it, get them to cook it, and eat it without Taya freaking out.

So into the woods I went, pumping my rifle as I walked. I knew there was probably nothing dangerous for me in this place, but that doesn’t mean I like going in there unprepared to fight.

Do you know how I’ve said before that the forest is dark and miasmatic? It’s never really a fun time to go into the Everfree, but it’s a good place to hunt and you’ll always have a surprising encounter or two.

My surprising encounter this time was walking up on two manticores going at it like they were anim—Well, yeah. I was tempted to just walk away, but the female was just the right size to drag back to the cave. I’m not going to say I watched, but it was hard not to hear them growling and the female… moaning?

When the male finally finished, he pulled off the chick and immediately left, not even bothering to make sure she was fine. The girl, for her part, collapsed to the ground, seemingly panting. That was weird, but I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on manticore mating habits. I quickly lifted up my gun and aimed right at it.

It seems I made too much noise or something, because she lifted her head to look at me. When she somehow saw me, her eyes went wide and she screamed, “Wait!”

I almost dropped the gun in surprise. Manticores can’t talk! “What the fuck?”

The manticore was bathed in a green fire as it turned into a heavily blushing changeling. My mouth just dropped. “I can explain!” she said.

“I don’t want an explanation. I’m just gonna go. You stay here, away from me.” I turned around and started quickly walking away. When I heard the changeling jumping up and bounding after me, I started running. I didn’t get far because it’s hard to run in armor. She jumped in front of me.

“I like animals and it feels good and I needed food and please don’t tell the hive!” she very quickly said.

I crossed my arms. “I didn’t see a fucking thing. I don’t care what you did because it’s not my problem and there were no victims. If you like spiky penises, whatever. Now I’m going to keep walking and you’re going to stay here and do whatever floats your boat.”

I turned left and started quickly walking again. She hopped up next to me. “Soooo… What’s your name?”

I stopped, running a gauntleted hand down my face in annoyance. “I’m not doing this. Unless you know where some really tasty animal is—and I mean the kill and cook kind of tasty—then buzz off.”

“I know where something is! It’s called a fenghuang! I really like it, but I think it can smell the changeling on me… So you can kill it. I can show you where it is if you promise not to tell anyone!”

“I already—You know what, sure. No clue what a fenghuang is, but alright. Lead the way.”

She grinned and began walking into the woods. “So I found out about my desires—”

“No talking allowed. We wouldn’t want to scare the animals, after all.”

“Oh, it’s okay; they’re all used to me. I’m not usually in my changeling body, though.”

“How about this, then? No talking allowed. We wouldn’t want to scare me, after all.”

“Scare you? How? It’s perfectly natural!”

“I’m not having this discussion. Just keep walking and stop talking.”

She sighed, her head drooping. I just kept following her, doing my best to look anywhere but her backside, where it was rather obvious she had just been having fun. After a few minutes of walking in silence, she said, “My name’s Mirror. What’s yours?”

I sighed and answered, “Navarone. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of me.”

Her ears immediately drooped down. “I have,” she whispered, looking away.

That sounded rather morose and not what I was expecting, but I wasn’t about to bring that up. Instead I just kept following her, hoping to find whatever it was she was trying to show me.

“So how long have you been in the forest?” she asked after another few minutes.

“Less than an hour, this time. I’ve spent a lot more time here in the past. Look, how far away is this thing?”

“Not much farther. Just another half hour! So what brings you to the lovely Everfree?”

“Why don’t we just fly there? We both have wings. Animals don’t see me anyway, so we can just land nearby, I can go and kill it, and then we can finally go our separate ways and never see each other again.”

“You don’t want to be friends?”

“I’m not a friendly person.” I stretched my wings, ready to take off. “Now let’s go.” Her little dragonfly wings twitched into life and we both took off. Getting through the trees was a little difficult, but that didn’t stop us. When we cleared the top, she changed into a blue jay and started flying in the same direction that we had been walking. I followed her.

What should have been a thirty minute walk took about three minutes by air. Not having to deal with trees in the way or going around hills saved a lot of time. Soon enough, she began dipping into the trees. I did my best to follow her and ended up on the ground with only a little bit of pain; getting through tree cover with huge wings is hard.

She turned back into a changeling when we were both on the ground and whispered, “Its nest is just ahead, inside the massive tree.”

I peered ahead of us, toward a tree that I remembered from one of my earlier trips. I do believe it was probably the tallest tree in the entire forest, though I don’t remember there being a nest in or near it.

“Well,” I said, checking my gun, “it was interesting meeting you. Don’t follow me and please never talk to me again.” I began walking away.

She immediately began following me. “So I was thinking… After you kill the fenghuang, my hobby’s gonna be a lot easier. Most of the other changelings in the hive are pretty boring and if I’m going to have a lot of free time anyway, do you mind if I come by your place sometimes to hang out?”

“I mind very much. Don’t come to my house. You come to my house, I’ll drag you back to the hive and tell everyone there what I found you doing.”

“I guess it’s okay if you come to my place instead. I have a home away from home nearby. When can I expect you?”

“How about the weekend after never? I think I’ll be free then.”

“Is that one of those weird pony month names? I don’t remember that one. I think I’ll have time in three days. I just need to get the place spruced up a bit first. I can tell you how to get there after you kill the bird for me.”

“Then you wait here so I can actually sneak up on the damn thing. It’ll know you’re coming.”

“Oh! Right. I’ll just wait here.” She casually plopped her ass down on the ground. “Hurry back!”

Finally. I continued alone and in silence, the gun at the ready. When I finally cleared the brush and the forest around the extremely large tree, I looked up and started walking around it, trying to find anything that looked like either a nest or a place the nest could hide. As I was doing that, I was counting myself lucky that this tree wasn’t an evergreen, because I wouldn’t be able to see the trunk at all were that the case.

I saw a hole in the tree about halfway up the thing on the side opposite of where I started circling. I stretched my wings yet again and took off, trying to be relatively silent. When I finally got up to the hole, I saw that it was about my size. I immediately regretted landing right on the lip of the hole.

As soon as I touched down, some fuckmassive bird shot out of the hole, talons outstretched and beak ready to strike. I fell backwards in shock and his talons grabbed me. Thankfully, his beak completely missed the mark. I don’t think he was expecting the weight of a human in full armor, because we began sinking toward the ground at an alarming rate. What was more troubling is that he was using his talons to pull me closer to him, his beak primed to strike at the only part of my body that wasn’t armored.

The one day I didn’t wear a helmet, I swear to God. Since I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to get the gun up at that angle, I ripped one of my knives out of its sheath and plunged it into the thing’s chest. It released an immense and eardrum-shattering screech and tried letting me go. I released the dagger and grabbed onto its talon with one hand while the other held onto the gun, me not willing to let such a priceless weapon break from the height.

The height that was, as I found when I looked down, rapidly decreasing. I slid the rifle in its sling around my shoulder as I reached up and grabbed the knife in the bird’s chest, dragging it downward and cutting open more of the bird, releasing a torrent of bright red blood onto my head and wings. When my knife finally pulled free, I let go of the bird and shot my wings out, kicking off some of the blood and greatly slowing my personal descent. The bird just started spiraling to the ground.

My fall was more controlled, and I landed right next to the crumpled form of the bird that was still slightly twitching. I spat next to the thing’s body, a line of blood dribbling down my face. “Just had to make it hard, you bitch.” I knelt down next to it and plunged my knife into its throat. “Well, guess who came out on top anyway?” I ripped my dagger out and rubbed it across the bird’s feathers, cleaning it. When it was good enough, I slid it back in its sheath. “Now how am I going to get you back?” I mused, standing up and looking over my kill.

“I can help!” a certain annoying changeling said, popping up next to me.

I ignored her as I looked over the thing’s body. It was probably just under twice my height and I wouldn’t be surprised if the damn thing weighed as much as I did without my armor. It also had the most beautiful feathers and fucked up body I had seen on anything in a while. It looked like it was made up of all kinds of birds, and possibly some other animals as well. I almost regret killing it, just because this thing would have been awesome to see flying around.

But almost doesn’t cut it for long. “Looks like I’m having turducken tonight,” I said, nudging the body with a foot to determine weight and possible center of mass.

“What’s that?” Mirror asked, joining me in poking the bird.

“A human joke. Now buzz off.”

“Ha, I get that one! Because I have bug-like wings!” She demonstrated by shaking them quickly, making a low buzzing noise. “So how are we gonna carry it back to your place, Navi?”

I was right on the edge of getting very angry with this little bug. “Didn’t you say you wanted to get your home ready?” I asked, at least trying to stay somewhat pleasant.

“Oh, I always have time to help a friend!”

“No, I insist. Go home. Right now.”

“Wellll… If you insist. You look big and strong; I’m sure you can carry him back alone. Remember, you can come visit in three days!” Her wings stretched again and she almost took off, but stopped at the last minute. After a second of consideration, she jumped forward and latched onto me, hugging me. I didn’t notice her horrible stench until that point, but it flooded into my nose when she touched me. “It was nice meeting you, Navi!” Before I could do anything, her wings kicked in and she flew off.

And she completely forgot to tell me where she lived, thankfully. Here’s hoping I’ll never see her again…

“For once, I agree with you,” Flo said in my head. “There was something very, very wrong with her, mentally. No one normal comes into a forest and pretends to be an animal to get sex.”

“Look, I don’t even want to think about it. Just help me figure out how to get this thing back.”

“Put one leg in both hands and just fly. It’ll probably be hard, but that’s likely the best way. Just do it quickly, before she comes back.” She had a very good point. I grabbed one of the thing’s legs and jumped off from the ground, shooting my wings down and attempting to get some height.

It took me a little while, but I finally got above the treeline. I was very thankful for my treelike stamina at that point, even though that didn’t spare my wings from some soreness. When I was finally up, I started sailing away toward the area where Reginald had his cave. I don’t think I was anywhere near the two hours being up, but I could still sit outside and start gathering some sticks and shit for a fire.

Proving that there might possibly still be a god out there, I made it to the cave without that crazy changeling finding me. I dropped the bird from a few feet in the air, not wanting to carry the damn thing for any longer. I landed next to it and took a moment to stretch and look around before grabbing some suitable looking wood for a fire and setting them all up for a good campfire setting.

I released the air pressure in my rifle when I started sitting down and carving the bird. I was expecting that I’d be perfectly safe in front of a dragon’s cave, since there were scorch marks all around and the trees were cleared for a good twenty meters. Most animals would probably be afraid of an area where anything that trespasses risks getting melted or eaten. That didn’t stop me from keeping my hand near the rifle, ready to pick it up in an instant, though.

It had been a good long time since I carved up a bird. I was hoping I did well enough. And if not, well, fuck them.

By the time I finished, I think the two hours were up. And if they weren’t up, they were close enough to it. I stood up and ran a hand over my hair, knocking out some of the well-dried blood. I need a stream or something. Christ. After I had cleaned myself up a little, I walked over to the cave entrance and called, “Yo, you guys done yet?”

About half a minute after I called in, Spike came walking out. “Just abo—Whoa! What happened to you?!”

I jerked a thumb behind me at the dissected bird thing. “Caught dinner. It tried catching me. Go get a fire started. I want to find out if Reggie has a stream or something I can get this blood out with. Anything tries stealing my food, fucking torch it.”

“Uh… Are you okay? It didn’t hurt you, did it?”

“Nah, I’m good. I just got blood all over me. I’ll be back soonish, I hope.”

“Alright… And thanks for this again, Nav. He explained so much! Did you know that I have claws? Check this out!” He lifted one of his arms and held up his hand. With a loud clicking noise, claws pushed out from each of his digits. They weren’t that big and didn’t seem that fearsome, but they were a more formidable weapon than his bare whatever he called them.

“That is pretty cool. Just be careful with those things. It would be extremely uncomfortable if they came out while you were pissing.”

“…Yeah. Well, you go get washed up. I finally get to cook meat again!”

“Have fun with that.” I walked past him into the cave as he started walking outside. I probably should have warned him about Mirror, but I wasn’t expecting to ever see her again anyway.

When I got into the cave, I found Reginald looking away, deeper into the cave. Steam was slowly coming from his nostrils. I had no idea what that meant, but it probably wasn’t a good sign. “Hey, you alright?” I asked, stopping.

“I feel… off, Navarone,” he answered, spinning his head toward me. “Like—” His eyes went wide. “What happened to you? Were you accosted yet again? I’ll kill the monster!” I was not expecting that reaction. As his anger grew, claws poked out of his hands, his pupils contracted, his tail grew spikes, and his wings shot out.

“I’m fine! I went hunting and made a mistake and ended up with blood everywhere. Everything’s just fine, man! Calm down.”

He snorted out a billowing cloud of steam as he slowly calmed, his body reverting to its previous state. “I… see. And you did not think to wash?”

“The last time I tried going to a river in the Everfree, I ran into a gay river serpent that wanted to spend entirely too much time with me. I was hoping you knew of a stream or something nearby that doesn’t have anything dangerous in it.”

He sank to all fours, shaking the earth and causing a few gemslides in his mounds of treasure. “There is one in the back of my cave.” He shot one of his hands out and grabbed me, sitting me on his back. He started walking to the back of his cave without explaining why I was now riding him. “As I was saying, I feel off. The dragon, Spike, knows so little. He claimed that there were no books relating to our kind in all of Equestria, or at least none that went into much detail. It seems impossible; I authored two myself only three thousand years ago!”

“Dude, a lot can happen in three thousand years, especially when you’re dealing with a mortal race.”

“I do not believe it is this race’s mortality that is the problem, Navarone. I believe that information is being hidden, kept from others. The friend you sent me, the pony by the name of Watcher, had no idea who Discord was. None at all. All he knew of was the statue. Discord existed before the memory of every living being I know, and the ponies don’t even know about him. That isn’t the sign of a clerical error or information being lost. That is a sign of information being hidden and destroyed.”

“Speaking of Discord, I need to know more about him.”

“You and your friend both. Personally, I know little. I knew him before he destroyed the alicorn race and I knew him as he ruled the world in his chaotic clutches, but never once did he make any sense to me. He did all he could to thwart the efforts of Celestia and Luna as they attempted to seal him in stone, and then applauded them in their efforts to stop him. He perverted Chrysalis and some alicorns into the changelings we know of today. He did a myriad of other things, few of which were important. And he resides to this day in the statue garden in Canterlot.”

“I am not so sure of that, Reginald,” I said, patting his neck.

“Again, you mimic your friend. Given Discord’s power, I would not be entirely surprised to learn that he could influence some small things around his statue, but not much.”

“For one, he got into my dreams while I was miles away.”

“Hm…” He reached around his back and pulled me off again, setting me down next to a small spring that bubbled into his cave from some underground source. “I never did forget the naga caves, after all the time I spent there,” he said, looking down into the water and brushing a talon through it. “But go on.”

I unbuckled my breastplate, pulled my shirt off, and pulled the rubber band out of my hair as I continued, “And his statue is hollow. If there might have been something inside of it once, it’s gone now.”

“That is… troubling. And coupled with some of what Watcher told me, it warrants investigation. But this is entirely against everything I know of Discord. He does not sit back and watch. He is too powerful and apathetic. He would be playing some manner of game with us, giving us some way of winning or knowing he was around. Sitting in the shadows is not something he would do.”

“Hey, I don’t know if he’s out and about or not. Hell, I don’t particularly care if he is. But between you and me, this motherfucker destroyed my entire race.” I stopped to dunk my upper body under the water, letting my wings fall in next to me. It was very cool, not quite dipping into cold. After shaking my head and rubbing as much of the blood out as I could, I pulled my head up and took a nice breath of air.

“How could he have killed your race?” he asked, genuinely confused.

I sat back, letting the water and some extra blood drip off me. “I found out recently that I didn’t come from another dimension, as I thought. I came from the past. The far, far past. I can’t give you more details or tell you how I know this, but as it turns out some manner of element of chaos is responsible for killing off my people. And I know from other sources that the same element of chaos is responsible for killing off or imprisoning a group of entities known as the elementals.”

“And you can’t disclose those sources?”

“I’m afraid not. And I’d greatly prefer you keep them to yourself, too. If Luna or Celestia learned about what I just told you, uncomfortable questions would be asked.”

“Very well. My silence is assured. However, it is still important that they be told that Discord might be on the loose. I will deliver this information to them personally.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to tell them without more proof?”

“Yes. They may have more proof that they overlooked because they did not think Discord was active. If it is brought to their attention, they will reevaluate things.”

“When will you leave?”

“If Discord hasn’t moved yet, I doubt he will move soon. I will leave when night falls, to seek out Luna. Are you clean, Navarone?”

“Nah, I’ll never be clean again. The blood’s gone, though.” I stuffed my shirt into the breastplate and grabbed it, standing up. “Ready to head back when you are.”

He tilted a head to the side, staring at my chest. “What are those protrusions on your chest?” He lifted a hand and very gently poked one of my nipples.

I blinked, completely surprised by that. “Uh… nipples? If I was a woman, that’s where milk would be stored for our young.”

“Ah, mammal. I forgot.” His talons wrapped around me, setting me on his back again. “If you or Spike ever need more information, you are both welcome here at any time. I believe Spike will be considerably more formidable in battle now that he knows more about his body, probably powerful enough to make it to my cave alone.”

“Probably, but I’d prefer not to take that chance. Besides, it’s good for him to get some time with some other guys. He’s around girls most of the time.”

“He is nearing the age where that will not be a bad thing for him. For them, though, it might.”

“I’ll see what I can do to keep him out of trouble. He’s almost as strong as I am now, though.”

“But you are more authoritative. You probably always will be. Just make sure he knows who’s boss and there is a good chance he will accede to your will.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, I guess.” It sounded more like something a dominatrix would be interested in, but maybe it would be useful some day.

Reginald continued his walk in silence, his scales shifting under me in a way that would probably destroy my legs if I wasn’t wearing armor. I made a mental note to never ride Kumani, if you know what I mean, without my armor.

“So what was with your reaction when you thought I was hurt, anyway?” I asked after a moment of silence.

He snorted some steam and answered, “When I saw you wounded at the party, I felt a rage I hadn’t in a long time. To see a friend of mine cut down so… I’ve lost several friends over the years, many of them killed in their prime. I do not like it. When I can do something about it, I will.”

“Well, thanks for the thought. I’m finding more loyal friends in this place than I did back at home, that’s for sure.”

“Loyalty and friendship given often equal loyalty and friendship received. You have done right by me, so I do right by you. Just remember that lesson, since you didn’t seem to learn it at your home.”

That was interesting advice. Advice I quickly forgot as we got outside the cave and I spotted a familiar changeling heckling a disgusted looking Spike. “God dammit!” I quietly hissed, grabbing my breastplate and spreading my wings. I lifted myself off Reggie’s back and landed on the ground. “Mirror, what are you doing here?” I asked as I walked over, ready to drop my breastplate and grab a dagger if she rushed me. I tried to keep the anger and irritation out of my voice, but I don’t think I was overly successful.

She spun around with a massive smile when she heard my voice. “I knew you didn’t turn into a dragon! That would mean you’re a changeling like me and not Navarone, and that would just be silly.” I opened my mouth to ask why she was here again, but she continued, “I just remembered that I never gave you the directions!” As she said that, she started walking over to me. Spike seemed to grow noticeably more relieved when she was away from him, but I could hear the hackles or spikes or whatever on Reginald’s neck start to bristle as she got closer to the two of us. “I realized it’s pretty hard to describe where I live if it’s all one big forest, so I figured you could just meet me at the big tree and I can take you there. So, three days?”

“…Yeah. Three days. I’ll meet you there. Now, you go prepare.”

“Okay!” She didn’t move. “So who are your friends?”

I nodded behind her. “Spike.” I jerked my head to the back. “Reginald. Now, you should probably get going.”

She waved at Reginald. “Hi! My name’s Eva. Nice to meet you!”

I blinked a few times. “Eva? You told me it was Mirror.”

“...I did? Well that’s weird of me. It’s obviously not Mirror!” She giggled in a way that honestly worried me. “Well, I should probably get going…” We all watched her for a few seconds before she shrugged. “Are you guys having a cookout? I can help! I know all about cooking.”

“…A changeling cook?” I slowly asked, really wanting to cross my arms.

“I might have exaggerated just a little… But I can still help!”

“That’s quite alright,” I hastily said. “Spike is an excellent cook. We don’t need any help.”

“Oh… Do you need anything else?”

“We’re fine. You really should get started on that mess back at your home. I’m sure you don’t want me to see anything I shouldn’t when I come by.”

“Don’t worry, I have nothing to hide from my bestest friend!”

“Right. Still, I’d rather make sure. You know, just in case.”

She hopped up on her hind legs and gave me a salute. “I’ll have it done in time, or my name isn’t Poly!”

Reginald snorted, blowing steam toward her. “You said your name was Eva,” he answered. “And Navarone said your name was Mirror. Which is it, changeling?”

Her entire body spasmed and her face contorted for a moment before the smile returned. “Mirror! It’s definitely Poly. Say, that steam thing is really cool! Have you ever thought of opening a sauna?”

“Didn’t you say you had something to take care of?” I interjected, wanting to get rid of her as quickly as possible so I would never have to see her again.

Her smile slipped the tiniest bit before she nodded. “Yep! Remember Navi, three days!”

“Yeah, three days. In front of the tree.”

“Three days,” she said yet again, still sounding happy. I nodded to show that I understood. She said it one more time before the smile on her face seemed to give way to a look of horror for a split second. Then she took off flying, speeding away.

“Welp, glad I’ll never see her again,” I said, walking over to the fire Spike had going.

“Nav… what was that?” Spike asked, watching Mirror fly away.

“The most mentally unbalanced person I’ve probably ever met. I will be doing my best to forget that I ever met her.”

Reginald walked over to our fire and plopped down on the ground. “That is probably wise. Little good ever comes from tangling with crazies.”

“I dunno…” Spike said, looking back down to where he was cooking the bird. “It seems like we should try to help her or something.”

Reginald and I shared a look before turning our eyes back to the fire. I wanted to tell him no offhand, but I was thinking of a nice way to say it. Flo decided not to help by saying, “He’s sort of right. Yes, she might be dangerous. But you should at least make an attempt to help her, Nav. It’s the right thing to do.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said aloud, sitting down next to the fire. “Reginald is right. She is crazy and probably bad news. However, she might be helpable. But I know from experience that you can’t help someone that doesn’t want to be helped. And I also know from experience that enabling someone potentially dangerous like her is a good way to make them keep coming around. If she doesn’t want to be helped and we visit her, there’s a chance we’ll have to put her down to keep Ponyville safe from her.”

“She… she can’t be dangerous, Nav,” Spike hesitantly said.

I sighed, running a hand through my very long hair. “She’s unpredictable and potentially dangerous. As I said, I will think about attempting to help her. No promises.”

“Hm…” He flipped one of the hunks of meat. “I’ll go with you. Anyway, what was this thing? I’ve never seen feathers like these.”

“Man, I don’t fucking know. It sure didn’t want to be eaten, though. I’m not at all used to having prey fight back.”

Reginald grinned, saying, “It takes the fun out of the hunt if the prey is mindless and weak. Though there are few animals that can satiate my hunger any longer, at least without causing an extinction. The downside of growing to my size is running out of fair fights.”

“Sounds nice to me,” I said. “And constantly being armored would also be nice. I know I wouldn’t have been stabbed in the back if I had been wearing this baby.” I tapped the breastplate beside me for emphasis.

“It reassures me that you feel no need to wear it around me, then,” Reginald said. “But having scales is not all good. It heavily mutes the feel of a lover’s touch, for one. And the feeling of shedding them is incredibly uncomfortable. Still, I believe they are worth it.”

“Might have to start stealing some from Spike, then.”

Reginald actually chuckled. “That would be a bad idea, should you ever run into another dragon. Such an action is seen by some to be a sign of the most intimate form of love. I do not judge, but there are many who would.”

Spike started blushing when the dragon mentioned that, and he quickly turned his head back to what he was cooking. I just shrugged and said, “They’d be hard to affix onto my skin anyway. Spike, that bird close to done?”

“I think…” He pulled the large, flat rock he was using to cook them away from the fire. “It looks done. I’ve never cooked something like this before, though.”

“Well, you have a stronger stomach than I do. Try it.”

“What? Why do I have to do it? You’re the one that killed it!”

“And you’re the one that think’s it’s ready to eat. So eat some of it.”

He sighed and muttered something before grabbing one of the slivers of meat and tossing it into his mouth. He took a short moment to chew and taste it before his eyes went wide. “This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted!” he yelled, his mouth still full.

I lifted an eyebrow, looking down at the meat. “Maybe that crazy changeling knew her stuff after all. I think I’ll wait for it to cool, though.”

“Psh. Don’t be such a big baby, Nav,” Spike said, reaching for another piece.

“It’s hardly acting like a baby when I can’t eat something for fear of getting burned. I don’t have a dragon’s resistance to fire and heat, after all.”

“That makes me wonder something, actually,” Reginald said. “You say you come from elsewhere, and I believe you mentioned you are the dominant life form there. How did your kind manage that with so few tools of survival?”

I tapped my head. “Our minds. We had no magic and few natural resistances, but we had the ability to create what we didn’t have. It also helps that we were the only sapient race.”

“Hm.” Reggie blew some air onto the bird steaks, presumably cooling them. I shrugged and grabbed a piece before Spike could eat all of it. “It was a similar story with the ponies. Not their alicorn forebears, the ponies that Discord created.”

“Back up, what?” I asked, still not having taken a bite.

“Not even the history of their creation was remembered? What a shame… Before Discord arrived here, there were alicorns, like Celestia and Luna. When he came and began destroying the alicorns, he did so in three primary ways. Some, he perverted into changelings. Some, he turned insane. And finally, some he broke into three: unicorns, pegasi, and what you know as earth ponies. As far as I know, only Celestia, Luna, and the prisoners of Tartarus survived.”

“So what about Cadance?” I asked, finally taking a bite of the meat. When the taste hit me, I completely zoned his answer out, caught in the memories. Thanksgiving with the family. Cool November days… My eyes opened wide as I remembered, caught in a wave of raw nostalgia.

A claw on both shoulders brought me down from the clouds. “You alright, Nav?” Spike asked, standing in front of me.

I blinked, quickly shaking my head and lifting a hand to rub at my face. “Yeah. That just brought back memories. This thing could pass as a full Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, dressing, gravy, sweet potatoes, and cranberries. How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know, but I know it’s awesome. We need to find another one for the road.”

“That would be impossible,” Reginald said, looking down at the feathers and remains. “This was the fenghuang, I believe. There existed only one, to my knowledge. Such a rare combination does not happen often, after all.”

Spike let me go and we both turned to look at him. “Only one?” I asked. “Fucking seriously? Christ, even a few million years in the future, humans are still causing extinctions!”

Reginald shrugged. “There is no great loss. This bird survived merely to survive. It had no chance at children and did little more than merely take up resources. Killing it does the rest of the world some good. And if it tastes good, then eating it after killing it is no real crime.”

“Sounds like pandas,” I muttered, glancing darkly at the feathers. I was just going to leave those and the remains here, but now I felt obligated to see that as little of it was wasted as possible. I knew Rarity could make something with the feathers, at least.

Spike shrugged at Reggie’s explanation. “Good enough for me.” He walked back over next to the rock and stuffed another piece in his mouth. “Tastes too good to waste.”

“True enough,” I sighed, pulling another slice of meat off the slab.

It was a nice little cookout we had there, all things told. Unfortunately, I needed to get Spike back at a reasonable hour or Twilight would do her best to hunt us down. I had a feeling that if she had to come into the forest to find us, bad things would happen to me.

So I took off with Spike held cradled in my arms and a bag of bird remains tied to my waist, dangling under me. “So what’s better about being held like this?” I asked as we soared over the forest.

“Better view,” he answered. “If I’m over your shoulder, I can only see your wings. Or the ground, if I’m facing the other way. I can look around a lot more this way. It also feels less like I’m just a piece of meat. Also, your hand is usually on the back of my tail, and that feels… weird.”

I felt my face turning hot, remembering some nights with Kumani. “Oooh, yeah. Forgot about that. Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but that spot at the top of your tail where it connects with your body is a serious erogenous zone. Putting pressure on it would probably feel really good.”

“…Why would you tell me that?”

“Okay, I probably could have picked a better time, but still. If you ever pick up a hot dragon babe, it would be important to know that.”

“Hmph. Any other ‘tips,’ oh great Navarone?”

“Assuming you have the same type of body that the dragon I fucked did, your dick will have some very interesting features that mares will probably love. And if you learn to use your freaky dragon tongue well, you can probably make just about anyone love you.”

“This is getting creepy. How would you even know what… that looks like? I thought you were into mares!”

“Remember my gender changing stones? My partner was curious.”

“I had forgotten about those, actually…” We fell into silence as our flight home continued. A few minutes later, we landed in my backyard and I let him down. “So… what’s it like as a girl?”

“Different. It’s more of a full body thing and less of a centralized thing. You’d have to try it yourself to understand. Now, I promised I would do something with Taya to celebrate getting healed.”

“Alright, that’s cool. I might… stick around for a while. See if the naga’s still up for teaching, you know?” More like see if Doppel still wants him now that I’m better. I wasn’t about to get in his way, that’s for sure. Not with Flo doing her best to make sure I got over my ‘addiction.’ I still craved it, but…

“Stay as long as you want,” I said. “Lord knows I got tired of Twilight’s constant bitching. You’ve been putting up with her longer than I have.”

“I got used to it.” I grabbed my practice sword from where I left it and he grabbed all of his gear. We stepped inside together and found Cadance at the kitchen table with her abomination sitting next to her.

“So how ‘bout them assassins?” I asked as I stepped inside.

“I’m almost positive it won’t be another month, Nav,” Cadance answered, rolling her eyes. “I like this about as much as you do. I rarely get to see Shining Armor and your home was not made for mothers or their foals.”

“Bah. You’re lucky I remember why I’m not married to Gilda. You know where Taya is?”

“Did you check her room?”

“I haven’t checked anywhere. I just got back, after all. I suppose that’s a good first stop. Spike, make yourself at home or whatever.” As much meat as we had in there, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d be very ready to do just that. I went on out and up the stairs, looking for my daughter.

Her door was closed, which isn’t really much a sign of anything. I knocked on it and waited until I heard a muffled, “Who is it?”

“Your father,” I answered, leaning back and crossing my arms. As soon as she had time to process my answer, the door lit up and flew open. “You still want to do something to celebrate?”

“Yes!” Before I could see much of anything inside her room, she quickly exited, using magic to pull the door shut behind her. If her room was anything like what I remembered, there was no real reason to want to see inside it anyway; she didn’t do much to personalize it.

“Well, just let me put my stuff up and change and we can do whatever you want. Or if you can’t think of anything, I’m sure I can figure something out.”

“You won’t need to change and you’re going to need your practice sword. You’re also probably going to need your ring.”

“…Taya, what do you think the definition of celebrate is?”

“Having fun or doing something fun in the wake of a serious event. And what better way to celebrate than by…” Her horn lit up and I got a small amount of vertigo as we teleported elsewhere. “…bonding with my father?” We were in my backyard again.

“What did you have in mind, then?” I asked, once again crossing my arms.

“A fun training exercise! You and me against our teachers.”

“That… sounds somewhat suicidal. I don’t know if you remember it or not, but our teachers happen to both be very good at their craft. You’ve only been training for a month and I’ve only been training for a few. You really think this’ll end well?”

“No one will get hurt, even if we lose. It’s just a training exercise, daddy.”

I shrugged. “Alright. Maybe my ring will be enough of an advantage. If you can deal with the naga, I can probably handle your instructor. So where are we doing this?”

“Right here, of course. They should be here in a few minutes.”

Time enough for me to get out of some of my armor for a second, at least. I pulled my gauntlets off and let them fall to the ground, stretching my fingers and letting the sweat hit the cool autumn air. When they were aired out enough, I pulled the rifle from my back and set it up against the house where it wouldn’t be damaged in the scuffle. And finally, I pulled my ring from my necklace and slipped it onto one of my fingers.

“So why this, of anything?” I asked. “A nice picnic, a walk or something, going swimming… Why a training bout?”

“Because I like fighting and you like fighting. Is it really so bad to fight together?”

“I don’t like fighting, actually. It’s a bit dangerous for my tastes. I do it out of necessity, no other reason.”

“Then why are you always smiling when you train with the naga? And why do you always seem to be in a better mood after a session?”

“…I like getting exercise.” What should I tell her? That fighting is fun? That the rush of adrenaline you get from combat and murder is addicting? That I’ve grown to love the thrill of the fight and of not knowing who would come out on top, my life versus theirs? That isn’t anything you should tell anyone sane, not and expect them to think you’re mentally sound. And it’s definitely not something to tell someone like Taya, who has a cutie mark in combat magic but has barely started her career.

“Daddy, why do you lie so much?”

“Because sometimes lying is the best and easiest solution to some problems. But only sometimes, and it takes a lot of practice to know when those times are. And it takes even more practice to get good at lying. The only ponies I’ve ever seen that were any good at it were Celestia and Luna. And since they’re both six thousand years old or so, that tells you something. So I lie because it’s for the best. And you shouldn’t lie because it wouldn’t be for the best.”

“That’s hypocritical!”

“Doesn’t make it any less true. And lookie there, our instructors are here.” Which is a good thing, because I really don’t want to have that discussion with Taya. Fiery Sage and Ames were moving together toward us from the side of the house, presumably coming straight from the front gate. I knelt down and slid on my gauntlets as they closed the distance.

“So you want to do a team exercise,” the unicorn said when they were close enough. He was looking at me, for some reason.

“That is Taya’s plan, yes,” I said, pulling out my practice sword. “It’s a decent enough idea; between her magic and my steel, we should be a good enough pair to deal with most opponents that threaten us. We’ll just need some practice to be able to work together. Which I suppose is what this is for.”

The naga looked down to Taya for a moment before looking at me. “Navarone, I wounded you severely when we first began training. Taya is younger and weaker. I do not wish to risk her health like this.”

“I can solve that,” Sage said. “I can give your weapons the same temporary enchantments used for duels and arena matches. They’ll be completely harmless, but will let your enemy know that he is down.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Will that work on even ranged weapons?”

“If the ammunition is coated in the magic, yes,” he answered. I grinned as I walked over to where I left my rifle. When I had it safely in hand, I walked back. “That thing is a weapon? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“I’d be surprised if you had.” I pulled out the magazine and said, “Use the magic whatever on these.”

The naga snorted. “If you are going to be using your ranged weapon, this fight will be over in seconds. I know you are a monster with that thing, Navarone. It defeats the purpose of the exercise to beat both of us that quickly. Your sword against mine, or I will take the day off.”

I sighed and reloaded the rifle. “Fine. It’s not my fault that I like winning.”

Sage was smiling as I walked back to where I had left the rifle the first time. “It seems that naga underestimates me a little too much,” he said. “I think I would have time to stop any manner of ranged attack from hurting me.”

“It’s cute that you think that,” I said as I walked back. “What about my throwing knives? Can I use those, at least?”

The naga shrugged. “I’ve seen you use them. You have to be relatively close to use them and I don’t see them doing much to end this battle, not as small as they are.”

I grinned and pulled them from the straps around my belt. “Would you kindly?” I asked Sage. His horn lit up and they were suffused with a glossy covering. “Now, shall we get started?”

“We might as well begin now,” he said. “I fear this match will be over quickly.” I held out my practice sword to be made safe and the light from his horn consumed it, giving it a familiar shiny covering. The same had already been done to the naga’s giant tree branch that he called a practice sword. “Now, making magic safe is somewhat harder. However, it can be done.” His horn lit up yet again and he did something. I have no clue what he did, though. After a moment, he bent his horn down to Taya’s and did something else. “There. Now we should be safe until I remove the enchantment.”

“Why couldn’t we do this earlier?” Taya asked. “Like when daddy was still in bed so we could stay inside.”

“Because to truly learn combat magic, you have to see its potential for destruction. You had to destroy to learn what you were capable of destroying, what you’re capable of doing to somepony else. And you did, with the grace that only somepony with the talent for it could do. Now here we are, in a training bout. Are you all ready?”

I swung my sword in a little circle, limbering up my arm, and said, “Yeah.”

The naga grunted. Taya nodded.

“Very well. I think it would be best if the teams moved apart. Naga, come along. Let’s give them some space.” Ames set his sword on his shoulder as he slithered away, following Sage. Taya and I were left standing there, waiting.

“Plan?” she whispered.

“Move in slow and steady. Be ready to take down the naga. I don’t think Sage knows about my ring, so I’ll do my best to take care of him. If we lose, we lose; it’ll be our first fight together and both of us are novices.”

“I know, daddy. And good luck.”

I nodded. “I hope we don’t need it.” I held my sword up in a ready position, already regretting agreeing to this bout.

When the other two were finally in position, the magic instructor called out, “Begin!”

Taya immediately jumped behind me as his horn lit up. I began slowly walking forward, waiting for either of them to make a move. Taya followed me, peeking under my legs and ready to act if something happened. Neither of them moved, aside from the unicorn’s horn lighting up.

“Get ready,” I mumbled, hopefully loud enough for Taya to hear. I was going to jump out of the way and I was hoping she’d do something violent to the naga.

I did just that, sidestepping to let her shoot. Thankfully, she pulled through with a massive lightning bolt that hit the naga in the dead center of mass… And then bounced back, arcing right at Taya. My hand shot out and the metal of my gauntlet attracted the lightning. Normally, that would fry me. Since I was wearing my ring, it shot straight into the ground, frying all the grass in a circle around me with a foot-long diameter. My poor backyard…

I stopped moving, Taya moving to stand next to me. “He’s giving the naga a shield,” I quietly said, watching the two of them. “Can you do anything to Sage?”

Her horn lit up and another massive bolt of lightning shot at her instructor. I saw his horn flash brighter as it repelled straight at me. I grinned and let it hit me head on, dissipating back into the ground.

“Use something less noticeable, Taya,” I said. “No reason to advertise yourself to everyone that’s looking. Now let me see… Can you put up a shield around me and keep it molded around me, but not touching me?”

“…Maybe? I can try.”

“I just need it to block the naga’s hits. Now, I’m going to rush the naga. Distract the unicorn and I’ll try to get a throwing knife into him. If his horn stops glowing, get rid of the naga.”

“…I can’t see horn glows, daddy.”

“Fuck. Then if he goes down, do it.”

Her horn lit up as a shield of sorts covered me. Or at least, I was hoping there was a shield around me. I took a second to pop my neck before bursting into a sprint right at the naga, ready to do whatever I could.

As soon as I got away from Taya, Sage’s horn lit up brighter and a spike of ice shot dead at me. I let it crash into me and dissipate as I continued sprinting. His eyes shot open wide and his mouth dropped, giving me ample time to throw a knife at him as I ran.

I didn’t have time to see what happened with the knife before I was dueling the naga. Now, for those of you lucky enough to have never seen a naga in combat, it’s fucking fearsome as all hell. They could swing their giant weapons like they were butter knives and ruin the day of anyone that got anywhere near them. I learned quickly that the best way to stay alive against one was to move very, very quickly.

He met my sprint with a thrust from his sword. I turned sideways, turning my sprint into a one-handed jab that he jerked out of the way of, not moving his lower body. Since the naga was still alive at that point, I knew the unicorn also had to still be kicking. My plan was to get around the naga and deal with the unicorn, but I don’t think Ames was going to make that easy on me; he let go of his sword with one hand and grabbed my sword arm with the other, lifting me up by the arm and pulling his sword back for a stab.

I ripped one of the throwing knives out of my belt and stabbed up into the arm that was holding me. The magic in my knife shot into his arm, freezing it up and probably giving him some manner of discomfort. Either way, he dropped me and clutched at the arm that I had reclaimed my knife from.

I bolted past him before he could recover and jumped at the unicorn that was trading spells with a constantly teleporting Taya. I stabbed his unexpecting form in the side before the naga’s spare hand wrapped around one of my wings, ripping me backwards and throwing me onto the ground. He had time to position his sword above my form for a downward stab before another lightning bolt hit him, sending little arcs of lightning all up and down his body as he jerked stock still.

On the off chance he would somehow survive that, I tried stabbing up with my sword, only to realize I didn’t have it anymore. Apparently I dropped it when I was ripped backwards. However, it appeared that I didn’t need it, as the lightning dispelled from the naga’s slightly smoking body and Sage said, “Wow. That was the most surprising loss I have ever had. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you cheated,” he said, looking at me as I picked myself off the ground.

“Trust me, I didn’t,” I said, grabbing my stick from where it had fallen. “I can’t believe we actually won, though.”

“By all rights, you shouldn’t have,” Sage answered. “That you did was… miraculous. I didn’t see any shield around you when the lightning hit. How did you not get hurt?”

“I have my ways.” Taya joined our little group as the naga seemingly recovered from his interesting ordeal. “Taya, remember what I said about doing more subtle things? Lightning gives you away and lets your opponent know where you are.”

“However,” Sage said, “it intimidates her opponents and can dishearten them to the point where they give up, making killing them unnecessary. That is the standard guard method of operating, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anypony that would teach her differently.”

I can think of a place. “If you say so.” No reason to tell him about my combat unicorns, though. I grabbed the throwing knives I used and resheathed them. “Either way, that was a good spot of fun, I suppose. We might have to make this a regular thing.”

“A regular thing?” Sage asked, looking at the naga for a second before turning his gaze back to me. “I didn’t come all the way here from town just for a single bout, Navarone. We’re going to keep going, are we not?”

I looked down to find that Taya was grinning up at me. I sighed, my wings sagging slightly.

We… didn’t do nearly as well in the other bouts. Now that the unicorn guy knew my magic resistance secret, he was considerably more careful.

After round number whatever, Spike came outside looking somewhat pissed and holding a scroll. He walked up and threw it at me during a break. “Someone sent you a letter,” he growled.

“Dude, who the fuck pissed in your cornflakes this morning?” I asked as I picked the scroll up from where it had fallen.

“I was in the middle of somepon—er, something. And uh… Doppel isn’t very happy either.”

“She’ll get over it.” I pulled the scroll open, immediately noting Luna’s seal. I was tempted to toss it aside without reading it, but I figured it might have something to do with the wedding.

‘Do you still want to learn how to dreamwalk? If you do, I can begin teaching you now that you’re better. I can meet you in your dreams tonight. Also, I want to talk about this… wedding. Your favorite princess, Luna.’

Favorite princess my ass. “Spike, you mind sending her a reply for me?”

“I might as well. Not like I have anything else to do right now…”

“Tell her I said yes, I do still want to learn. She can use the sky to send me a message before she comes in.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, dude.”

“She’ll understand it.”

“Whatever you say… So what have you been doing out here? More training?”

“Group training, yeah,” I said. “We won once out of a lot of attempts. I’m thinking about calling it a day soon; I still need to go see Lyra and Bon-Bon and Rarity, after all.”

“And you need to make a plan for Mirror, right?” he asked.

“…Who?”

“You know, the changeling we met in the Everfree? The crazy one?”

“Dude, I was just going to forget about her.”

“You know that helping her is the right thing to do, Nav!”

And now Taya decided to contribute with, “What are you two talking about, daddy?”

“Nothing. Spike, I’ll think about it. Go send the reply to Luna. Taya, we can do a few more rounds before I need to leave.”

Spike just sighed and left as Taya’s gaze turned cold very quickly. “Daddy, what were you two talking about? Don’t say ‘nothing.’ You told me to tell you when you were doing things wrong, and you’re doing things wrong.”

“Taya, it is the job of the parents to protect their child. What we were talking about is something that is possibly dangerous and I really, really don’t want you involved.”

“Then what makes you think you should be involved? If it’s dangerous for me, then it’s dangerous for you!”

“I don’t want to be involved. That’s exactly what I told Spike. Weren’t you listening?”

“You said you’d think about it, whatever it is.”

“Yeah, and I was lying.” Actually, I wasn’t. Spike and Flo were both right; it would be good to attempt to help Mirror, or at least see if she could be helped. “Why would I risk something that might be dangerous?”

The cold look warmed up slightly as she smiled. “I’m happy to hear that. Though I still want to know what you two were talking about.”

“We met someone in the Everfree that was off-balanced. Spike thinks we should try to help her. I think I should try to forget about her.”

“You’re right. You should forget her. You have enough crazy women in your life.”

“Don’t I know it…” I muttered, looking down at Luna’s letter.

Taya decided without my asking that she was going with me into town to check on the progress of my ceremonial robes and to talk to Lyra and Bon-Bon. I didn’t mind her going, personally, but what she didn’t know is that Lyra was actively hunting for flower fillies.

With that in mind, I went to their house first; why be forced to make two trips to Rarity’s shop if Taya was forced into the role and needed a new dress? I was expecting their house to be busy or at least somewhat different from the last time I had seen it, but things in Ponyville always seem to stay the same, no matter how much everything else changes.

I led the way up to the door and knocked. Not a minute later, Lyra pulled the door open, a somewhat worried expression on her face. “Oh, Navarone! We… weren’t expecting you.”

“If this is a bad time, I can come back later. I just came by to talk about the wedding.”

Her ears flinched slightly at that and I got a bad feeling in my stomach. “Now is fine. Just… you know,” she poked her head out the door, looked both ways, and continued in a whisper, “Queen Chrysalis, right?”

“I do. Why?”

“Good. Come on in.” I shrugged and stepped inside. Taya followed me. Lyra’s magic pulled the door shut behind us as she led the way further inside.

“I trust you sent them away?” Chrysalis’s voice asked from the den.

I grinned and stepped into view. “Oh, you don’t want to see me?”

She blinked in surprise before grinning as well. “Well now, isn’t this a surprise. You saved me the trouble of tracking you down. And perhaps you can assist me in convincing my subject about something.” She looked down to a couch on the other side of where she was lounging to see a somewhat frightened changeling that I took a guess at being Bon-Bon. “I want her to reveal herself during the wedding.”

I crossed my arms, thankful that I had put my ring on before I left. “That is their choice, Chrysalis. I can point out the possible pros and cons, but I will support her no matter the choice she makes and either way I will see to it that they are wed.”

“Then I will let you hear my argument first,” she said, looking back to me. “If she did this, it would be good for changelings everywhere. This would show the ponies that the two races can coexist with no fear—and with even the chance at love and marriage. If she takes the first step in revealing herself like this, other changelings could do the same thing. They, too, could be together with their pony loves.”

“If everything goes well,” I countered. “She runs the risk of not being accepted. If that is the case, little will change between the relationships of ponies and changelings. However, everything will change for her and Lyra. Her entire life would be ruined. She’d be forced to leave Ponyville and possibly Equestria entirely. But it would mean no more lying to all the ponies all around you. It took you years to come out to Lyra. The first one is always the hardest. You could do this—and it would probably be for the best in the long run if you did—but it could potentially ruin your life.”

Bon-Bon looked down, a worried expression on her face. “What do you think I should do, Nav?”

I sighed, rubbing at my forehead to consider. “My personal opinion is that you go for it, but not at the wedding. Get Pinkie to throw some kind of pre-wedding party in a few days and make the announcement there. Something like this could ruin a wedding, and you don’t want the happiest day in your life to be ruined. However, I am not the one you should be asking.” I gave a pointed look to Lyra, who had taken the time I was talking to walk over to the couch and cuddle up with her changeling love.

Bonnie nodded, nuzzling Lyra. “I just want everypony else’s opinions before I asked for the most important one. Lyra, what do you want to do?”

“You shouldn’t have to hide yourself, honey. If the others don’t support us, they can go to Tartarus. I’m here to stay, and as long as we’re together, we don’t need anypony else’s support. I say we tell everypony.”

Bon-Bon sighed and nodded. “Then that’s what we’ll do. I just need to get Pinkie to host a party for us. Navarone, now that you’re well, when do you think we can have the wedding?”

“I will be ready whenever you two are. We’ll want to do a practice run, just so everyone we have involved will know their places and what to do. You two already have a copy of the very short script, so the words shouldn’t be a problem. Just let me know whenever you decide to do it. Rarity should have my robes finished by now.” I looked over to Chrysalis. “I trust you’ll be there?”

“I would not miss something this important, Navarone. Of course I will be there. I’m sure you’ll find some way for me to participate.”

I was about to answer when Bon-Bon broke in with, “Important? It’s just a small wedding!”

My smile only widened at that. “Remember how you said you wanted a ‘small’ wedding?” I said. “That almost definitely isn’t going to happen, no matter what you try to do. Not if you go through with your plan of revealing this, that is. I do believe that this will be the first marriage between an open changeling and a pony, meaning it is an extremely important step in interracial relationships between the two. I would expect reporters, maybe one of the princesses, dignitaries, and a huge crowd.” Her ears seemed to shrink with every word and I knew I might have made a mistake in telling her that. “However… I think you could get away with a small, private ceremony between the two of you before the big, pompous one. You get the small wedding and the knowledge that no matter what might go wrong in the big wedding, you’re married either way.”

She perked up a little at that. “I’d like that,” she said, nodding. “Lyra?”

“Whatever makes you happy. I know you don’t want to be a big spectacle, but what they both said is true: This is a big, important event. If you want something to calm your nerves before the big show, I’m okay with that.”

“Alright, that’s settled,” I said. “We can do that the day before the big thing, if it does end up exploding in popularity. When do you think you’ll have the announcement party?”

“…Tomorrow,” Bon-Bon said. “If it can be set up that quickly, of course. I feel nervous about it and I don’t want to risk backing out. You’ll be there, right?” she asked me.

“I generally make a point to avoid all of Pinkie’s parties, but an exception can be made in this case. I’ll be there and if it looks like it’ll turn ugly, I’ll go full royal knight on everyone.”

“That… won’t be necessary, right?” she asked.

“Not everyone is as forgiving as the person you want to marry,” I said. “You’ve been lying to a lot of people for a long time. It’s good that you’re finally telling the truth, but not everyone will agree that the truth is preferable to a lie.”

Chrysalis nodded and chimed in, “You have little to fear, though. Most changelings that reveal themselves come to be accepted in their pony societies, though they tend to keep their original disguise in case any visitors are less understanding.” It concerned me that she only mentioned what happened to those in pony societies, but that wasn’t the point here.

Lyra caressed Bonnie’s face. “And if anypony says anything, who cares? Let Nav take care of all the naysayers. We can handle everypony else that is there to support us.”

Bon-Bon’s fear slowly dissipated in the face of all the support she was getting. She eventually sighed happily, closing her eyes and resting her head on Lyra’s legs. “It feels… good… to finally be planning to put this to rest.”

“Well, if you two want to talk to Pinkie so she’ll have time to get the party together, I’ll need to get out of your hair,” I said. “We can make plans for the wedding after the party, when we’re certain how everything is going to turn out. And you might need to get your dress modified, if you want to be a changeling for the wedding.”

Lyra rubbed Bon-Bon on the head and nodded up at me. “We’ll see you tomorrow, then. And thank you, Nav. Thank you for everything.”

I smiled, finally getting a chance to say a line that I’ve wanted to for a while. “It’s what I do.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes at my statement and stood. “I, too, must depart. I will see the two of you at the wedding.” She didn’t get nearly as enthusiastic a farewell. When she, Taya, and I got to the door, Chrysalis turned into some unfamiliar unicorn. “If anypony asks, my name is Crystal.” The cutie mark she had was a crystal, so I just shrugged.

When we got away from the house, she continued following us. “So what did you need from me?” I asked as I started heading toward Rarity’s pad.

“Is it so bad for one friend to want to see another?” she asked.

“I’ve heard that line way too many times from Celestia for it to have any use on me. You need or want something from me.”

“You are mistaken, Navarone, unless you consider wanting a conversation as wanting something. You forget where I come from and the common denizens thereof.”

“That is… relieving. Maybe you can answer me a few questions, then. Have you ever had changelings go rogue?”

“Yes. There is one right now in the night guard that went rogue. There is nothing I can do to him, now. I do not believe Bon-Bon will go rogue on me.”

“Okay, how about going insane?”

“…Why do you ask?”

“The idea of an insane shapeshifter scares me. I want to know that it doesn’t happen.”

“Then I’m afraid I will have to disappoint you. There are some that do crack. If they go undercover for too long or change personalities too many times—or even attempt to, in some cases—they can develop a number of mental problems. A common one is harboring numerous personalities in their head.”

“What do you normally do with changelings like that?”

“Put them down. They are a drain on limited resources because they contribute nothing to society and they can potentially be dangerous. Changelings can tell each other apart by pheromone, but other races can’t tell one changeling from another. If an insane changeling hurts a surface-dweller and reveals that he or she is a changeling, our reputation suffers.”

“What if they aren’t dangerous?”

“Multiple personalities, Navarone. The original changeling might have been the most docile little hatchling you could ever imagine. That doesn’t mean everything that spawns in his brain will be the same. However, that isn’t usually the case. When we first met, I believe I mentioned that changelings can feed on different emotions. I probably also said that those that feed on anger do not last long. The reason they don’t last long is because most of them go insane. I don’t know why. There is more to this than common curiosity, isn’t there?”

What to do, what to do… If I told her, Mirror would be hunted and put down by the changelings. If I didn’t tell her, I would practically take responsibility for the changeling and by extension all the actions she did later, even if I didn’t choose to help her.

Maybe it was my good mood, maybe it was a tiny scrap of humanity left clinging to my soul. Hell, maybe it was just common decency. Whatever it was, I just shrugged and said, “Not really. This here is my stop.” We were already at Rarity’s Boutique. I pushed the door open and stepped inside, not expecting Chrysalis to follow me.

She did, though. “This little town is extremely colorful,” she commented when she entered the store behind Taya. “Nothing at all like my home.”

You can’t enter Rarity’s shop for long without attracting her attention, unless she’s purposefully avoiding you. Since she wasn’t expecting me, though, she made an appearance as soon as the two of us stepped inside. I think she would have turned around as soon as she saw me if I hadn’t been accompanied by someone she didn’t know. “Hello, Navarone. How may I assist you and your friend?” Not even going to ask about Taya? Geez.

“I’m here about the ceremonial robes I need,” I said. “I’m just showing Crystal around the town.”

“Oh yes, your robes. They’re hanging up in the back room. Normally I’d trust that anything I made would fit you just fine, but I’d rather not take a chance with clothing for a wedding! You are welcome to try them on back there; I know of your modesty problems.”

“Thank you for being so understanding,” I sarcastically answered. “I’ll be right back.” I walked back to her creation room and found the robes hanging off a rack. I could hear Rarity talking to Chrysalis as I changed into the robes. Since I didn’t feel like taking anything off, ‘changing’ was easy: I just threw the robe on over everything else. Problem solved.

I suppose I should probably describe the damn thing, since it was an important ceremonial garb or whatever. The cloth was dark blue, the color of Luna’s coat. It came with a necklace of sapphire in the shape of her signature crescent moon. The same image adorned the belt that I cinched tight around me. On one of the shoulders was my personal handprint heraldic image.

Personally, I would have preferred having my armor, but the robe wasn’t too bad. And as usual, it fit perfectly. I practiced walking around the room in it for a minute before pulling it off and hanging it back up. I grabbed the hanger and gently draped the robe over my shoulder before walking back into the main room.

Chrysalis and Rarity were casually discussing dresses while Taya looked bored out of her mind. “Fits just fine, Marshmallow,” I said when there was a break in their conversation. “Just as good as your usual work. I’m sure Bon-Bon and Lyra will love it.”

“I certainly hope so,” she answered. “Though I don’t know why anypony would find such a dreary color suitable for a wedding. They’re supposed to be bright and happy, not dark and dreary.”

“Where I come from, the night and its colors are associated with the sensual and private parts of love. It seems fitting to conduct a wedding ceremony dressed in dark blue.”

“For you, maybe,” she said with a haughty sniff. “But then, everypony knows your habits. Maybe after this wedding, Princess Luna will modernize her marriage ceremony.”

“I quite like it,” Chrysalis said. “It is short and simple, something for a couple that wants to be wed without a big and pompous ceremony. It is a relic of a more pragmatic time, when ponies believed in doing things quickly because life could be so much shorter.”

“Perhaps some relics should be left in the past where they belong,” Rarity commented. “Are you here for the wedding, too? Do you need a new dress, perhaps?”

Chrysalis shook her head. “I don’t need anything, thank you. Besides, I wouldn’t want to miss any more of the tour.”

Rarity sighed and nodded. “Very well… Make sure you show her Sugarcube Corner and the library, Nav. This town doesn’t have many landmarks, so you might as well show her the best ones we have.”

“I will. Oh, and I believe there is going to be a party for the couple tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll be invited.”

“I might be able to make it… My schedule is full, what with the dresses and suits I’m making. It would be a nice break, I suppose.”

I shrugged. “Come or don’t. Now, let’s get going. Not a lot of daylight left, after all.”

The other two followed me out, Taya still not making a peep. She hadn’t spoken since the two of us had gotten to Bonnie’s house. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

When we were away from Rarity’s house, Chrysalis said, “It is growing darker, actually. I do not suppose your house has any vacancies, Navarone?”

“For the one that was kind enough to give me a house in the first place, of course. I suppose that’s where we’ll head.” She smiled as we continued to walk. A few blocks away, I thought of something that might be problematic. “I do happen to have a griffin princess in my house as well, though. She’s fine with Doppel, but I don’t know if that would go for you as well.”

“You really do get around, don’t you? Are you courting her, or did her father just decide that your home would be a nice vacation spot?”

“He thinks that I’m courting her. She just wanted to get away from home for a little while.”

“Well, there is officially peace between the griffins and the changelings for the first time in centuries, so I believe I will have no problems from her. And if I do, I will be able to handle them. I will leave after the… party tomorrow and return for the wedding, though I believe less subterfuge will be required at that point.”

“Hey, if you don’t want to risk it, just stay as a pony. Or turn into something else. One of the benefits of being a changeling, I suppose.”

“I don’t think you would enjoy sharing a bed with a stallion, Navarone.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I answered with a shrug. Her eyes widened at that and I think if she currently had wings, they would have shot out. “It was less by choice and more by necessity. I have to say that he kept me warm, but not in a way that I enjoyed.”

“Hm…” I had an idea of what she was planning, and I can’t say that I liked that idea. But I wasn’t about to bring anything like that up in front of Taya, so I held my peace for the moment.

Thankfully, silence reigned as we continued trudging toward my home. I don’t know why I was really thankful of that, but it seemed nice at the time. When we finally did get back, we found that Spike had already left and a somewhat singed looking Doppel was dusting something in the front room as we walked in. When she heard us enter—and presumably smelled Chrysalis, she jerked toward us and bowed lower than normal. “My queen.”

Chrysalis turned back to her normal freaky bug shape with a nod to Doppel. “Hello, Doppel. Rise.” Doppel pulled out of her bow, not meeting her mistress in the eyes. Not for the first time, I wondered what all had gone on between the two of them. But I knew that some questions didn’t need to be asked. “I trust everything is going well with your… arrangement?” Chrysalis asked her.

“Of course, Queen Chrysalis. Master orders and I obey.”

“Excellent.” She looked back to me. “Is Cadance still here? I am not certain I wish to bump into her.”

“She is. At this hour, she is probably in her room with her child. And I’ll probably be going to bed soon as well; I rise and fall with the sun, these two seasons.”

“Amusing. A knight of the night that is unable to stay awake during fall and winter, the times of the year with the longest nights.”

“Yeah, it sure is a hoot. I assume you’ll be joining me?”

“Of course.” Taya had, at this point, left us behind, probably assuming we would be talking about things she wouldn’t want to hear. She was probably upstairs in her room or doing something else.

“Then I’ll let you catch up with your servant, or explore as you would. I need a shower if I’m going to be sharing a bed.”

“You’re so considerate. Though I haven’t smelled anything in over six thousand years, so it’s hardly a problem.” Maybe that explains why there’s always a funky smell in the changeling hives. “I will join you up there shortly.”

I nodded and went on up the stairs to my room. I found Freki at the foot of my bed, wagging his little wooden tail when he saw me. An idea came to my head as I got undressed, an idea that I should have had sooner. “Freki, go and guard the inside of my office. If anyone but me or Taya enters, warn them to back off. If they persist, either start barking or go for the bite. I know you want to be with me tonight, but I have an important guest over that might be willing to go for something in there.”

He looked disappointed, but he stepped out of my room, his tail dragging. I promised myself that I’d make it up to him, but I knew I would probably end up breaking that promise somehow. I tend to do that a lot when it comes to him.

When I got into the shower, Flo said, “Remember, Navarone, you are trying to abstain.”

“No, I’m trying not to fuck something every night. If Chrysalis is just going to be in town for the night… Well, would it really be so bad to keep her company?”

“Yes, it could be bad. All it takes is one dose to risk relapsing into old habits.”

“Then here’s hoping she just wants to fucking cuddle.” I know I wanted a lot more than that; the cravings were already starting. It feels weird to call something natural a craving like that, but Flo did a very good job convincing me that I was addicted. I was still unsure if I should be grateful for that or not.

When I got into my room, I knew the answer to that. The answer was no, I should not be grateful at all. Chrysalis was kneeling on the bed waiting for me in a human body, though she still had her jagged horn and her wings. She got a short black robe from some place and wore it draped about her in a way that concealed as little as possible while still making her look ungodly alluring. Her fangs poked out of her mouth as she gazed at me with a set of nearly glowing green eyes, her silken hair held in place by some hair sticks. She lifted a hand to point at me and slowly flipped it over in a ‘come hither’ motion. God damn was that sexy.

I felt my hands loosening their grip on the towel automatically and I wanted nothing more than to drop it and join her for a night of wild passion. Before I could give in, though, I heard an intake of breath from my head and suddenly remembered what I told Flo.

I’m going to regret this so much. Hell, I already regret this. “I… I can’t.”

Her hand fell and she pouted. “Am I not pretty enough? Or is there someone else? You shouldn’t lead a girl on, Nav.”

“There isn’t anyone else…” I needed a lie and I needed it quick. “Doctor’s orders. You can’t know how much I want to, though.” And God, did I ever want to.

She sighed. “I knew you had been wounded, but I thought they would have healed you by now.”

“That fucker used some kind of dark magic on me or something. If my heart rate starts picking up too much, bad things happen.” That wasn’t technically a lie…

She sighed, looking down. “Oh, very well. Still, can we at least sleep together? I would relish the company.”

“I’m always happy to cuddle. Especially in that sexy body…”

Flo coughed, whispering, “Are you sure that’s wise?”

No. But by God, I’m going to get something out of this.

She grinned and slowly leaned back until she was lying down. “Join me, then. I’ve had a long day and wouldn’t mind getting to sleep sooner.”

I dropped the towel and she looked up again, her smile growing. When she saw that I was walking over to my dresser, it dropped and she rolled her eyes. I slid on a pair of pajama pants—if I went through the trouble of getting them from Rarity I was going to fucking use them—and slipped into bed next to her.

She sighed as she snuggled up next to me and I wrapped my arms around her. “It’s always nice to be held,” she whispered before going silent. I think we both fell asleep shortly after.

I had forgotten about my plans with Luna in the surprise of finding Chrysalis. I wasn’t in Flo’s glade for a few seconds before Flo pointed up. I lifted an eyebrow before looking up and jerked back, surprised at seeing a message in the stars.

“Knock knock.”

I sighed and spelled out, “Who’s there?”

“Luna.”

“Luna who?”

“Nav, this isn’t a joke. Can I come in or not?”

I giggled and Flo sighed in exasperation. “Can you put us in a void?” I asked her. As the environment began to darken and distort, I left a final message for Luna: “Door’s open. Come on in.” Flo began swirling her way up my pants again, hugging my body under my clothes. I don’t know why she did that instead of just disappearing, but whatever.

A few seconds after I told her to come in, a portal of sorts opened in the void and Luna cautiously stepped through. “It looks different,” she said, looking around.

“I can imagine. So how do we begin?”

“First, I want to know why you were asking about a wedding.”

“I thought I explained it in the letter. A few friends of mine want to get married. They asked me to do the ceremony. Because of that, I needed to know the rituals I’m supposed to use.”

“I see…” She sounded almost disappointed. “I don’t suppose there is any way that I could be allowed to observe? I don’t wish to get involved, I just want to see the first wedding performed during the night in centuries.”

“You’ll probably get your chance. This wedding won’t be… traditional.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’ll probably find out tomorrow or in a few days. It’s not my secret to give.”

“If you are planning to do something that ruins the first wedding in my name since I returned, I will be sorely upset.”

“Then I guess you won’t be that upset. That’s enough about the wedding, I believe. Now, how do we begin this dream business?”

“Very well. Before we begin, I need to know what you’re planning on using these powers for.”

“Probably nothing. But if I get really bored, I might go exploring around, see what some people are dreaming about. Maybe become a superhero in some kid’s dream by beating up a nightmare. Have some fun, you know?”

“Well, there are worse reasons to learn. Now, the first lesson I need to teach you is escaping the confines of a personal dream, like this.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard.”

“On the contrary. That is the hardest step, Nav. Once you learn to escape from the dream, we’ll have to see if you have access to any other dreams. If you can, the rest is easy. If not, I’ll have to introduce you to one or two. We should be able to finish the beginning stage in a night or two.”

“Beginner? What else is there to learn after I find out how to get in?”

“Well, as my knight, you can help me police dreams, keeping nightmares to a minimum. If you are going to be sleeping anyway, there’s no reason not to. And if I’m taking time to teach you this anyway… Well, you can repay me by spending some time fighting the nightmares of my subjects.”

“Fighting nightmares? I was joking when I said that. How the hell would you even go about that?”

“I’ll show you. And you may have been joking, but it’s a novel idea. With the work I have to do, I have little time to police dreams anymore. I can only get to a few a night, and there are more nightmares than that out there.”

“What about the dream machine? Doesn’t that thing handle it for you?”

“It does keep most of my little ponies’ dreams happy, but there are always outliers. I take it upon myself to spend as much time as I can to fix the nightmares I find, but there are always nightmares to fight. With your help, perhaps we can attend to more. Though traversing through the dreams of others is… difficult at times. Especially nightmares. It will take some practice to get the hang of it, though.”

“Well shit. Let’s get started, I guess. No promises about helping with the whole nightmare thing, but I reckon I can give it a shot.”

“Excellent. Now, here’s the first step…”

I don’t feel like recording all the effort I had to put into escaping the confines of a dream. I can readily say that without Flo’s help, I probably would have given up. As it was, it took me probably two hours to do.

When I did break free, I found myself in yet another kind of void, though this one was not without colors. Specks of color flooded the area around me, coming in all shapes and sizes. From what I could tell of the ones closest to me, they were smoky vortexes, constantly shifting as though something was trying to find a way out. A few of them flickered away as I watched and were replaced with others. After a few seconds of looking about me in wonder, Luna appeared.

“This is what I call the anteroom of dreamland proper. Each of those specks is a dream. The color describes what kind of dream it is. Black is a nightmare. Red is a sensual dream. White is a typical dream. Yellow is a happy dream. There are several other colors and shades, but those are the primary ones. Sizes represent the intensity of the dream. Larger dreams are being felt more intensely by the dreamer, while smaller dreams represent dreamers on the verge of waking up. I still don’t know what the shapes represent, even after all those years of trying to figure it out.”

“The soul, perhaps?” I mused as I tried discerning between dream bubbles around me. Most of them were larger than I was and they all seemed far away, so I was wondering what I was supposed to do.

“Perhaps.”

“How do you identify a dreamer?”

Luna looked around the void before spotting a particular bubble. She pointed out the white bubble and said, “Look at that and tell me what you feel.”

I did so and concentrated. After a moment, I felt it. “…Twilight?” I asked.

“Correct. I don’t know quite how it works yet, but if you are looking at a dream that belongs to a dreamer you know, you’ll be able to tell who the dream is. And if you think of a pony, you’ll be able to find their dream relatively easily.”

I thought of Taya and turned my head, looking to find anything. After a few seconds of searching, my eyes stopped on a green speck. “…Green?” I asked, taking a half-step toward it.

That half-step turned into a vault and I suddenly appeared right next to the speck, giving me some extreme vertigo. I lifted my hand to my head, rubbing at it to get my mind working right.

Luna wasted no time appearing next to me. “Moving around takes some getting used to,” she said, patting me on the shoulder. I gritted my teeth and had to fight from jerking away from her, but since she had been behaving, I let her have her moment.

“So how do I peek inside?” I asked.

“For a normal dream, you just put your hooves—or hands, I suppose—on the bubble and brush the smoke away. For a dream that is protected, like mine, yours, or Celestia’s, it’s impossible. You have to force your way in and hope you don’t get expelled, or leave a message in the smoke and hope for an answer.”

“How do you leave a message?”

“Trace lines in it and hope you get an answer. Most dreamers don’t know how to reply, or would probably never think to look for one.”

“Will anyone be able to tell if they’re being peeked at?”

“It’s possible, if they see the hole you make. I’ve never had anypony mention it to me, though.”

“Hm… What happens if you step inside one?”

She grinned. “I thought you’d never ask. We’ll start easy, with a happy dream.” She looked around for one, idly saying, “As far as I can tell, dreams are sorted in the anteroom by distance. As in, the closer you are to the dreamer, the closer their dream is to you when you first break out of your dream. I’ve never been able to prove it, not that anypony but me cares. Ah, there’s one.”

She grabbed me by the hand and took a step, dragging me forward an unknowable distance. When we stopped, we were standing in front of a dream that brought some semblance of familiarity to me, but not enough to actually recognize the dreamer.

“Let me just look inside to know what to expect,” she said, letting go of me and putting her front hooves on the triangular bubble. She gently tore into it and pushed her face against it. She immediately pulled away, blushing. “L-let’s find a different one.”

“What’s wrong with that one?”

“You don’t want to know!” She began quickly looking for another one while I approached the bubble we were standing next to. I did as she had, putting my hands against it and gently opening a hole. I saw a familiar filly sitting on my lap in a giant mound of pillows, gently being petted and called ‘best pony.’ I wasn’t wearing a shirt and I couldn’t tell if I was wearing pants.

I very quickly backed away, pulling my hands out of the bubble and letting it close. When I turned back to Luna, she was smirking, trying not to laugh. “We will never speak of this again,” I said.

“I told you that you didn’t want to know,” she giggled.

“That doesn’t mean it’s not your fault. If you’ll recall, you are the reason all these damn fillies have crushes on me and are giving me candy that they shoved up their vag first.”

“…What.”

“No joke. First few days I was back home after I got stabbed, the school teacher came by with a gift for me. Candy canes and stuff. Doppel was able to smell the lust coming off the stuff and I was able to smell, feel, and taste the juices.”

“That is absolutely disgusting. What did the teacher say?”

“I didn’t tell her. All things told, it didn’t taste that bad.”

One of her eyebrows slowly lifted as she contemplated what I just said. Eventually, she replied, “You’re joking, right?”

“Nope. Doppel and I shared it.”

She face-hoofed. “Nav, you have a problem. A serious mental problem that you really need to work on.”

Pot calling the kettle black. “That’s nice. We gonna invade a dream or what?”

“…Very well. Since this came up, I have a warning: Be wary of stepping into dreams that you are in. You take over the body of the dream apparition, rather than opening a portal and entering. This can lead to a number of interesting events. And it is possible to lose yourself in the dream, though that has only ever happened to me once.”

“Heh, step into a wet dream featuring you?”

“No, though that would have been preferable. Now, let’s find a happy dream that doesn’t involve you, shall we?”

I pointed at random, thinking of Derpy. “That one work?” I asked, my finger stopping at a yellow amorphous blob.

“It will do. How do you know that pony?”

“Friend of mine. She’s a weird one, but about as happy as it’s possible to be. Should be safe.” I took a step that way and felt less vertigo than before. Getting the hang of it. Luna followed me over as I stuck my hands on the blob and gently pulled it open. Peering inside gave me a glimpse of a landscape that had vast fields of bubble wrap, trees that grew muffins, red oceans, pink clouds, and a sky that was as blue as Rainbow Dash. “Yeah, I think this will do fine,” I said as I located Derpy and what looked like her daughter Dinky sitting at a picnic in one of the bubble wrap fields.

I pulled away and found Luna looking inside as well. “Yes, this is perfect. Now, we don’t want to be seen by the dreamer just yet. One of those muffin tree copses would be good to hide in. Open a hole and pull yourself inside, looking at the place you want to go. I will appear next to you.”

I shrugged and did so, widening the hole I made and pulling myself inside. With a flash of an even more intense vertigo, I appeared in an overgrown glade, wondering where I was and how I got there. By the time I shook my head clear, Luna appeared next to me.

“Tell me your name,” she said, looking dead at me.

I blinked a few times. “…Navarone?” I said after a few seconds.

“And where are you?”

“I… Luna, what are you doing here?” She nodded at that for some reason as I looked around. “Hell, where is here? This place looks… wrong.”

“Think, Navarone. Where were you five minutes ago?”

“I… I don’t remember.”

She grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me to look into her intense eyes, putting a lot of weight on me. “Think. Remember the anteroom. Remember the void. Remember the dreamscape, the bubbles and the colors. Remember why I brought you here.”

Perhaps some of the sanity in her eyes transferred over to mine, because I slowly felt something chugging in my brain. What she was talking about brought memories to my mind, half-forgotten dreams in a realm that seemed mad, but slowly grew more sane as the thoughts filtered into my mind. Finally, it kicked.

“This is a dream. Derpy’s dream.”

Luna grinned and the legs on my shoulder fell onto my back as she pulled me into a hug. “I knew you could break free.”

“Yes, yes. Now let me go.” She sighed and pulled away, falling to the ground. “Why didn’t you warn me that would happen?”

“I forgot. It’s been so long that it happened to me, I didn’t remember it could happen. It gets easier with practice. But now that I think of it, that might have been why I didn’t want you to enter a nightmare first.”

Flo sniffed. “If she had done that, I would have woken you up. I was just about ready to step in as it was.”

“Well, here we are. Now what?”

“The hard part is over. You have all the powers you have in your own dreams. All it takes is applying them.”

I decided to pull something out of reality and realized that I had only eaten once during the day. I shrugged and pulled a grilled cheese sandwich out of nowhere, biting into it.

“What is that?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Grilled cheese,” I answered between bites. “Best one I’ve had in ages.”

She reached over to my hand and nipped part of the other side, tearing off a chunk and pulling back. I rolled my eyes and tossed the remains aside. It disappeared before hitting the ground. After she had a chance to actually taste it, she hastily swallowed. “It’s glorious! How do you make it?”

“Put cheese on bread. Grill it. It’s grilled fucking cheese. The name tells you how to make it. Now, what else do we have to do here?”

“We could greet the inhabitant, but I try to never interrupt happy dreams; the appearance of an outside element could ruin it.”

“So we leave and look for another one?”

“That would be wise, yes. This is an interesting dream, but it is hardly the most unique I’ve seen. Escaping these dreams is the same as escaping your original one.”

I sighed and began attempting to break free again. It only took me half an hour this time. When we were back in the void, I turned to Luna and said, “So what happens if I’m in a dream and they wake up?”

“One of three things. One, you wake up. Two, you return to this place. Three, you return to your dream. It seems to be random.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. So, shall we find a less pleasant dream?”

“It would be wise to continue getting experience in the pleasant ones, Nav. Just getting in and out of a dream in optimal conditions is difficult for you. I would not want something like that to happen in a nightmare.”

“I didn’t say we should hit a nightmare. I said we should hit a less pleasant one. But hell, I learn best under pressure anyway. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Nightmare Moon is the worst that could happen. I will not lose you as I lost myself, not to something that can be avoided!” She took a deep breath before expelling it violently from her nose. “Now, let’s find another yellow one. There is much training to do and the night wanes.”

“We’ve only been here for a few hours.”

She shook her head. “Yes, but I am a princess and I have duties. I would love to stay here all night, but I can’t. We have time enough for one more dream before I have to return to running the country. And you will probably need some normal sleep.”

I shrugged. “Whatever.”

She cast her gaze around us and located another dream at random. “There. That dream is happy.” She grabbed my hand again and pulled me toward it. She peeked inside and nodded. “This will do. I’ll go inside first. Try to find me.”

Before I could answer, she slipped inside, giving me an interesting view of her flank. “Don’t even think about it,” Flo warned, a sharp tone in her voice.

“I’m not a fool.” I ripped a hole into the dream and looked around inside. What I saw was enough to make me lift my eyebrows: I peered down onto a vast ocean, a large boat slowly trekking across the sea. As I looked down onto the ship and its crew, I found that I recognized a number of kids from Ponyville. It looked like Pip was the captain of the ship and Luna stood beside him, dressed in some modest and demure gown.

I reached up to my neck and loudly popped it before tearing the hole open farther and throwing myself inside, landing on Luna’s back.

Before I could lose myself, Flo whispered, “Wake up,” into my mind. I blinked and the fog of confusion that was crawling into my mind receding, lucidity returning perfectly.

“Easy enough,” I said, patting Luna on the neck.

She looked back at me, smirking. “Was it?”

I had time to look confused before a flying weight threw me off her back and landed on top of me. I looked into the face of Pipsqueak as he grew into a much larger stallion. “Stay away from my mare!”

I tilted my head and grabbed him by the throat, instantly on my feet with him dangling in front of me. “You can keep her,” I said, dropping Pipsqueak onto the ground. “But if you attack me again, you’ll find out why it’s a bad idea to attack knights.” He narrowed his eyes, but didn’t comment, preferring instead to walk over to ‘his’ mare.

I zoned out whatever stupid conversation he was attempting to have as I looked over the ship. There’s no way this thing is seaworthy.

“It’s a dream,” Flo said. “Don’t question the logic.”

“Meh. I see nothing to be gained here. Shall we?”

Flo sighed. “You really need to be more careful when you’re talking to me. Especially around Luna. But yes, I think leaving might be a good idea.”

I teleported over to the front of the ship, staring into the waters as I did my best to escape. This time, I was able to get out in merely ten minutes.

Luna joined me outside the dream soon after. “You’re getting better. I’m surprised you were able to get your consciousness back that quickly.”

I just shrugged. “So that’s it for tonight?”

She nodded. “That’s it for tonight. I will visit you again tomorrow and we’ll continue. Returning to your own dream is as simple as escaping from this realm. Just do as you would do for a dream and you’ll be back where you belong.”

“Then I will see you tomorrow, Luna.”

She nodded. “Goodbye, then.” She waited for a response, but I was already trying to get back and wasn’t going to be bothered delivering one. She just sighed and left.

Soon enough, I was back in my own dream. Flo seeped out of my pants and pulled around my legs before regaining some form behind me and hugging me. “This will be an interesting skill to know,” she commented, slowly pulling me back to lie on top of her. “And it will be useful for communication when you leave. If you ever get separated from anyone on the ship, just wait for them to fall asleep and break into their dream.”

“Yeah. Though really, I’m just learning so I can fuck around.”

“I know. Now, you need to get some rest. I believe you’ll probably be waking up soon, and you have a very busy week ahead of you.”

“Sadly. It just keeps happening, doesn’t it?”

“You know you love it.”

I just sighed.