We continued to walk along the path in town to find another one of Applejack's friends, this time to find a "Twilight" which sounded kind of different compared to the other ponies here. We walked up to a library and went in, from what Applejack has told me she was sort of an "egghead with magic" in a way.

We both went in and were met with a purple unicorn pacing in a well made rut in the ground, I kept my distance since I knew that she was clearly stressing on something to the point where her magic would be dangerous.

"Howdy Twilight" Applejack said as she tripped over a pile of crumbled papers. "Oh no, tell me your not worrying about those those stupid letters again, are you?"

"I need to send Princess Ceslestia a letter every week! Or I'm nothing but a bad student! Twilight seemed to add more to the word "overworked"; she looked exhausted,hungry, and frantic.

"Easy there sugarcube, why dont'cha ya sit down and rest? You’re stressing too much over nothing." Applejack nudged Twilight towards the bed, hoping she could take the hint.

Twilight however was way too stressed to stop and instead moved back to her attempts to make a decent letter.

"Um, maybe we should go. She doesn't look like she's budging." I tried to reason with Applejack but by Ceslestia she pushed past me and shook Twilight hard.

"Listen sugarcube, I know that your stressed by I don't you flippin' out on us again! Please just rest."

I was a bit confused on just when Twilight flipped out but I knew better to pry on personal matters, especially when it came to mares when they were upset.

Twilight started to calm down when a small dragon walked into the room, surprising me since I was right next to door and didn't expect to see a dragon up close, naturally, I was scared.

"Hey Twilight, how's the letter going?" the small dragon said as he walked up. "Applejack? What are you doing here? I thought you were working today."

"I was, but I had some extra help so I get it done faster." Applejack looked around to find me on top of the bookshelf. "What the hay are ya doing up there? Get down before you hurt som'thing."

I shook my head; there was no way I was coming down while a fire breathing dragon was standing in the same room as me.

"Don't tell me your scared of a puny- eeny weeny, cute little baby dragon, are you?" Applejack said with a smirk, even Twilight seemed to relax and snicker a bit.

"Come on!" the small dragon groaned. "Stop treating me like a baby."

Twilight moved to the dragon's side and pinched his cheek. "But you still are a baby dragon Spike."

Spike moved away and rubbed his cheek. "Doesn't mean I can't have a bit of respect once in a while." he looked over at me, still clinging on the top of the bookshelf. "Relax; I don't even have full control of my flames yet. You can come down now."

I slowly eased down from the top, careful not to knock anything down as I made it down, trying to hold on to whatever bit of dignity I had left after that performance.

"So, this is Riddle. He's new to town, he spent most of yesterday and this morning helping me and Big Mac." Applejack introduced me to her dragon Spike and Twilight.

"Pleasure, say... you seem pretty familiar. Have we met before?" Twilight said as we shook hoofs.

"No... um... I just have one of those faces ponies seem to remember." I said as I moved away out the door.

Applejack was confused but followed him out.

"Um Twilight... where did you remember Riddle from?" Spike asked as he closed the door.

Twilight looked thoughtful as she started to clean up her mess of letter fragments. "Well, I remember it was in a book. I was reading a few weeks ago." Suddenly she looked up from her letters and rushed to one of her bookshelves.

"Twilight? What is it?" Spike followed and dodged a few books as she flung them down from the bookshelf.

Twilight pulled a old worn book from the top shelf, laid it on the table nearby and flipped to the index . "O... P... Q... R!" She flipped through a few pages and found a story labeled "The Rejected Son" by Clover Clever.

Spike looks at the picture in the front of the story, it showed an alicorn, tied tightly, being pushed off of Canterlot's edge by Ceslestia herself. In the background were dragons watching over the scene, seemly ready to attack. "He looks just like Riddle!"

Twilight quickly moved Spike away as she noticed bleeding cuts on the alicorn, hoping Spike wouldn't get nightmares. " You don't want to read this Spike. Trust me, it's not pretty, but basically it's about a alicorn born from a peasant earth pony and Ceslestia herself."

Spike was confused and tried to look at the book again. "So? Why does that matter so much?"

Twilight shook her head, closed the book, and put it away. "It matters because at that time royalty couldn't... um... well you know. Anyway, if royalty was found to have been with a peasant, there were only two things that could happen."

Spike didn't like where this was going but he did it anyway because of his curiosity. "What could happen?"

Twilight pushed Spike away from the bookshelf. "I shouldn't say, I wouldn't feel right to tell you. Something’s are just too cruel to say."

Spike held his ground and kept her from moving him away. "What would happen?"

Twilight sighed and moved towards the window and saw Riddle and Applejack talking. "The child would be banished and stripped of their heritage," Twilight sighed and looked away. "Or... the child would be killed and the father would be imprisoned and... tortured until death."

Spike could only gasp in horror.

**********

Applejack was curious about Riddle’s sudden fear, since he seemed pretty calm before. “Why are ya afraid of Spike?”

I shook my head, still shaken up about seeing a dragon again. “I rather not say, sorry.” I walked away before it got to my past but I was a little too slow.

“Did something happen to you?”

I froze; this was something I didn’t want to talk about, not even a little bit. “No…”

Applejack got up from her seat and stood in front of Riddle, stopping him from leaving. “You’re lying, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, Applejack, could you please drop it?”

“No, ether ya tell me, or I bug ya until I find out myself.”

“Applejack, please drop it.”

“No.”

“Applejack-“

“No, tell me Riddle”

“Applejack, stop it, I don’t want to talk about it”

“Well I’m not going stop until ya tell me.”

“By Ceslestia! Are all of you ponies so damn stubborn?!” I snarled angrily.

Applejack jumped back in surprise, she thought this normal unicorn was so calm but now he was snarling at her.

I quickly realized what I just did and stopped. “Applejack… I’m… I’m sorry. Please forgive me, but it’s something I don’t want to talk about. It hurts too much.”

Applejack tried to give him a hug to try and forgive him. “It’s okay; I was just worried is all. I didn’t want to see you upset.”

We remained in the hug for a few seconds; I felt tears run down my cheeks as we broke out of the hug. It felt like years since I had an honest hug, and somepony who cared for me. I felt… happier.

“Um… Riddle? Could I talk to you for a second? It won’t take long, just a few minutes.”

I turned to see Twilight standing nearby; I quickly wipe away my tears. “Sure, just give me a second.” I gave Applejack a quick smile and followed Twilight back into the library. I stepped into the library and Twilight closed the door with a click. “So Twilight… what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Oh, it’s nothing really. It’s just I didn’t get to know you so well since, you know, you ran up the bookshelf.”

I frowned. “You’re not going to tell anypony about that are you?”

Twilight gave me a sly smile but before I could be serious she started to giggle. “Nah, but it’s kinda funny. Big tough unicorn is scary of a baby dragon.”

I continued to frown. “Not a baby dragon, BIG, Scary Dragons.”

Twilight tilted her head to one side. “Do you know somepony named Fluttershy?”

“No, should I know her?”

“I guess not, but she shares your fears.”

This was interesting. “Really? Maybe I should visit her at some point, say hi.” I still held my frown though. “You still need to promise me that you won’t tell anypony.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Fine, I swear I won’t say anything. So get rid of that stupid frown, you’ll get wrinkles.”

“I’m not that old.”

“Could’ve fooled me, you look like you’ve seen a lot.”

I gave her a curious look. “And what pray tell shows it off?”

“Well the cuts are a good start, where did you get those?”

I frowned. “Walking through the Everfree Forest, there are a lot of sharp branches”

Twilight walked closer to me. “They seem pretty deep for simply branch cuts. What about the heavy clothes you wear, during the summer heat wave?”

I was pretty annoyed at her constant questions. “I like them, they fit well.”

“Uh huh, or are you hiding something you don’t want others to see?”

This time I walked closer to her until we were face to face, staring angrily. “And what do you think I’m hiding, little pony?

Twilight looked into my eyes with a stern look as a yellow pegasus walked into the library with another pegasus in a blue color.

“Um… “

The other pegasus jumped between me and Twilight; she shifted into a fight stance. “What the hell were you about to do?”

I stood my ground; she didn’t scare me in the slightest. “Look mare, I was only-“

She got in my face, trying to scare me. “Back off her now, or this gets ugly.”

Twilight tried to stop the pegasus.  “Rainbow, relax, I’m-“

I didn’t even let her finish, so I moved Twilight out of the way and got in Rainbow’s face.” I’m not scared of you, mare. Stop trying to act tough.

Dash started to freak out, clearly annoyed by me. “That’s it! You crossed the line! I challenge you to a fight!

Twilight’s eyes sprang open in surprise. “A fight?! Rainbow Dash! You must be kidding!”

I made sure to show my angry side, Dash seemed to flinch but shook it off. “You’re on, where?”

“Sweet Apple Acres, lunch time, don’t be late.” Dash stormed out, pulling the yellow pegasus out with her.

Twilight stopped me before I could leave. “Please tell me you’re not going.”

“I am.”

“No, I’m not letting you hurt my friend.”

“That’s your friend? She’s pretty hotheaded; even so, I can’t back out of a fight. She needs to learn control and I’ll be the one to teach her.”

“If you hurt her, I swear, you’ll face me and you’ll lose.”

“Relax; I’m not going hurt her bad. Just enough so she’ll learn to back off once in a while, I swear.” I was about to leave when I realized something. “Um… Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“Um… where’s Sweet Apple Acres?”

Twilight face hoofs and sighs. “Applejack’s farm.”

“Right… thanks.”

******

I was standing by the barn when Rainbow Dash landed right in front of me, looking ready to take on all of Equestria.

“Are you ready to lose?”

I shrugged. “Are you?”

She was going insane from my taunts, she looked pretty angry. “You’re going down!” She swung at me, trying to clock me in the jaw.

I dodged it by a hair length and spun around before bucking her straight in the head causing her to fall to the ground in a daze.

“Ow…” She groaned as she got up before she snapped her wings into place and soared straight at me.

I didn’t have time to move out of the way. Next thing I know, I’m being held very high in the air by my collar. “What the hell are you doing?!”

Rainbow Dash grinned “Seeing how tough you really are.” That’s when she let go.

Now, I know that some ponies love to fly, personally I don’t mind a bit of air through my mane. However, when a pegasus drops me from the sky with no change to survive, it can be pretty understandable to scream like a little filly on the way down.

I was about to hit the ground when Rainbow Dash swooped in and grabbed me by my clothes and tossed me into a pile of hay.

Rainbow Dash landed next to the pile and started to laugh really hard. “You looked like such an idiot! Not so tough now, huh? After I showed you who the true pony around here is?”

I couldn’t help but grin as I tackled her and pinned her wings and fore hooves down. “Nah, your still 2nd best on the ground.

But still not bad, you got me by surprise this time.”

Rainbow Dash struggled to break free but couldn’t get through my grip. “It’s 3rd best down on the ground, Applejack holds the title.” She sighs and stops struggling. “Can you let go now?”

“Sure.” I ease up and got off her, only to get pinned myself.

She was grinning as she held me down. “One question, who are you?”

“Riddle, your Rainbow Dash right?”

“Oh, so you do know my name. Good, “mare” was getting pretty old.” She got up and shook off some dust.

I did the same. “Introductions never came up, what was I supposed to call you?”

Rainbow Dash gave me a look. “Anything but mare, so, why are you here in Ponyvile?”

“I’m just passing through. Plan to stay here for a few nights before I head out again.”

“Huh, where are you from?”

“Canterlot.”

Rainbow Dash gave me another look. “For a pony from Canterlot you seem less snotty than the other ponies.”

I chuckled. “Traveling does that to you, you lose the attitude that you own the place after enough ponies beat you up.”

Rainbow Dash started to smile. “You’re not bad, see you around.” She snapped her wings out and soared out into the sky.

I couldn’t help but smile as I walked back to Twilight’s; already I had made a few good friends.”

*******

I walked in with good spirits when I saw Twilight, then my feelings disappeared.

Twilight stood in front of me with a sad look. “I know.”

“Know what?”

“Guess.”

I was a bit confused but went along with it. “Um… I dunno. What is it?”

“Your past.”

I blinked in surprise and lowered my head. “… I see. When did you find out?”

“A few weeks ago, but I only connected the dots when you showed up today at the library.”

I kept my head pointed at the floor and closed my eyes. “What gave me away?”

“There was a book written about you, by Clover the Clever.”

I blushed and face hoofed. “Damn it, after I told her not to say anything, she goes and writes a book.”

Twilight tried to pat Riddle's back but her pushed her away.

“Don’t touch me; I don’t need your pity.”

Twilight was surprised at his sudden threatening voice and cowered. “Riddle, please, I just want to understand.”

I gave her a withering stare and got in her face. “You could never understand what I went through, don’t you dare tell me otherwise!”

Twilight started to wimper and back away after Riddle’s wings tore free of his clothes. “I… just… wanted… to… help.”

I took a breath and calmed down. “I’m… sorry, it… it hurt so much.” I lowered my head in shame. “I should’ve taken it out on you.”

Twilight hesitantly gave Riddle a hug to calm him down, he started to cry. “It’s ok Riddle, it’s ok.”

“I’ve… I’ve just been so lonely; no pony ever seemed to care about me. It took hundreds of years for me to come out again and try to do this.”

“So you’re really hundreds of years old? “

“Yep. A thousand and one to be precise.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, is that so hard to believe?”

“To be honest… yeah it is.” Suddenly she smiles. “So you and Clover had a thing?”

I couldn’t hold back my blushing. “Yeah, did she write about…?”

“Nah, your clear there.” Then she grinned after I sighed in relief “She didn’t mention it in too much detail”

I felt like dying right there. “How popular was it? How many books were made?”

“Pretty popular, it sold over 2 million in the first year.”

I felt my knees give out in shock; I could barely gasp in the pure shock and embarrassment. “Does any pony else know now?”

Twilight’s smile vanished as she stopped hugging me. “Nope, Celestia banned them a few years later after Clover promised a sequel with an interview with Celestia herself. I’ve got the only one left.”

“Good.” I got up, shaking off the shock. “I don’t want anypony else to know. Please don’t tell anypony about me.”

Twilight’s smile returned. “What will I get in return?”

“Uh… what do you want?”

“Everything you know about Clover, everything.”

“I don’t know, I'm not sure she would like it if I blab about her."

"It's her or I'm talking about you, your choice."

I hung my head. "Fine, but this might take a while and I think I left Applejack for way too long. Some other time."

"Tomorrow night. If Applejack asks, it's a sleepover."

"Fine, bring paper and something to write with." I left before she could say anything else.