On the first step, Twilight Sparkle took in a sharp intake of breath. The human’s eyes had locked on her for that brief moment. In them, she saw no hostility or anger. Instead, she saw recognition. He knew who she was. In that moment, she recalled the moment when Sunset Shimmer had learned about what she’d done. That moment played out in her mind during that brief moment…

Twilight was sitting at a desk, looking over some of the latest requests from the Ponyville citizens. Currently, she was looking over a request from Berry Punch, the owner of Ponyville’s only, and former, bar. Even though ponies could get drunk very easily due to their low tolerance for alcohol, they still enjoyed their liquor. Berry’s talent was crafting low proof alcoholic beverages that ponies could enjoy without that alcohol taste. She herself had tried a few sips after she became an alicorn, especially since, according to Princess Celestia, an alicorn had higher tolerance than any other type of pony. Berry was requesting some supplies so she could create some liquor for other ponies to help them deal with the damage. And not just the physical damage.

She sighed. She didn’t want to endorse this kind of drinking, but ever since Jason had destroyed their town, alcohol consumption had gone up as a way for ponies to try and deal with the pain of loss, and in some cases, their guilt. Berry had placed this request a few times, and Twilight had rejected it each time. She decided to go and talk to the mare the next day about it.

Just as she was setting the paper down, she heard a low humming coming from Star Swirl’s Mirror Portal to the human world. She looked up to see the bright pink sparks flowing from the top where it moved along the wires to a wooden pump, which flowed the pink magic down more wires down, then up towards the top of the mirror. There was a flash of light, then the normally inactive mirror began swirling with magical power. A few moments later, an orange mare with red and yellow mane and tail came flying out. “Whoooaaa!” the familiar voice of Sunset Shimmer could be heard as she tumbled out and collapsed onto the hard but smooth marble floor.

Twilight was too stunned by her sudden appearance to say anything at first. She watched as Sunset stood up, shaking her head clear of the post portal dizziness that accompanied travel between the worlds. However, when Sunset had just recovered, she came out of her reverie and said, “Sunset…?”

The aforementioned unicorn locked onto her immediately, her eyes ablaze with what could only be fury. Raising a trembling hoof at the alicorn, Sunset growled, “YOU!” Twilight stepped back, alarmed by the sudden anger in the unicorn’s expression. No. This was utter revulsion she saw. Sunset immediately galloped towards the second time stunned alicorn. Twilight spread her wings instinctively in an attempt to fly away, but it was too late.

Sunset’s hooves crashed into the purple alicorn’s face, sending her flying towards the crystal wall. The next thing she knew, she had slammed into said wall, sending a crack along the crystal. She slid down the wall, wincing in pain. Slowly, she opened her eyes only to see a pair of cyan eyes filling her vision. Ones full of utter contempt. “Sunset…what-?”

“You shut the fuck up and listen to me, you worthless hypocrite,” the unicorn said in an even and menacing tone, “I know all about Jason Wright.”

Twilight’s blood ran cold at that. “How…?”

“I said SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Sunset bellowed, sending the alicorn tumbling back. Twilight felt a magical grip pull her up and slam her against the wall. “I know what you did to that human and what he did in return. And you fucking deserve it, you bitch!”

Spittle flew out of Sunset’s mouth and onto Twilight’s muzzle. “I’m sorr-”

“Save your pathetic lies,” Sunset growled. “Need I remind you that I’ve lived with humans for years?! Sure, they’re not perfect, and my new friends and I have had some difficult times! Remember the Anon-A-Miss incident?! Just what gives you the fucking right to just casually beat and abuse somebody because of what they are, huh?! You disgust me, Twilight Sparkle! And I don’t care that Discord gave you a nudge! He can frankly rot in Hell, Tartarus or wherever the damned go for all I fucking care! My Twilight would be a better princess than you, someone who didn’t even earn those wings!” She gave the wings a smack with her hooves before moving closer. “My Twilight treats her Spike so much better than I hear you treat yours,” she snarled. “You taught me the value of friendship and harmony once upon a time, and you casually turn your back on it?!” She shoved Twilight away, suddenly looking very tired. She took a few deep breaths, then looked back up at the alicorn. “I don’t want you contacting me or my friends ever again. If you do, I will ignore you. If something happens on our end, I will contact you, but only as a last resort.” Her glare returned. “Is that understood, Sparkle?”

Twilight could hear the utter derision in her voice. All she could do was nod and say, “…Yes…”

“Good. Now goodbye.” Turning away, Sunset walked over to the mirror.

Twilight reached out weakly, trembling as fresh tears fell from her eyes, the pit in her stomach only getting deeper. “Sunset, I-”

“Save it,” Sunset said. “Goodbye, Princess Sparkle. Tell your friends and that worthless Princess they’re all failures!” With a flick of her tail, Sunset passed back through the portal to the human world.

Twilight would later learn that Spike had accidentally began writing his inner thoughts in the journal between worlds without realizing it, and when Sunset learned about it, she got the young dragon to spill the beans. Twilight actually had given the journal to Spike afterwards so he could keep in contact with the others if he wanted.

That had been the last time she’d seen or talked to Sunset…

On the second step, Gregory’s eyes landed on Celestia. The look in the human’s eyes changed from recognition to one of wonder and excitement.

The same look that had been on Jason’s face the first time she had bumped into him in Canterlot that fateful day five years ago…

Celestia was sitting on her carriage which was being drawn by two strong earth pony stallions. It was a magnificently gorgeous day. The sky was a brilliant blue without a single cloud in the sky. She waved at the crowds of ponies on the sides of the streets who would stop and bow to her, her regal smile never leaving her face. As nice as it was to see her little ponies enjoying the warm spring day, a small part of her was tired of the same old routine. She was craving adventure, like the ones her faithful student and her five friends seemed to have on an almost weekly basis.

Well, weekly basis was somewhat of an exaggeration, but it did seem like that. Now Celestia wasn’t really a religious type, but even so, she sent up a half joking prayer to the Maker for some kind of excitement to happen to her, at least.

The Maker must have heard her prayer, because only five minutes later, she felt a massive surge of magic unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She turned her head to the east. The magic had come from just outside Canterlot. Almost near the main entrance.

Ignoring the startled cries of the guards who were pulling her carriage, she spread her magnificent alabaster wings and flew directly towards said magic. It took her about ten minutes to find the spot where the magic had originated from, and by then it had nearly dissipated to a fraction of the power. The magic was unfamiliar to her, too, and she’d seen rare types of magic. However, what she did find was a trail of magic heading into the city, presumably a trail left by whatever type of creature did this.

The trail was so thin and hard to follow even for her that it took her a while. However, her patience eventually bore fruit and she practically stumbled onto the creature. One of myth.

She gaped at the wide eyed and smiling human who had just turned a corner and nearly collided with the alicorn monarch.

“Oh damn! I’m sorry!” the human said, backing away and smiling a bit nervously, scratching the back of his head for emphasis. “I didn’t meant to bump into you.”

Quickly recovering, Celestia regained her regal calm and smiled warmly down at the mythical creature. “It’s quite alright, there’s no harm done,” she said. Noting the way he was looking around at everything like a foal in a candy store, she couldn’t help but inwardly giggle. “Are you lost?”

“Lost in wonder,” the human admitted. “I haven’t seen anything so beautiful in my life.” Then he smirked. “Then again, I’m from New Jersey.”

Having no idea what that meant, Celestia assumed it was some inside joke about his place of origin. “Well, I’m glad you are enjoying my city,” she said. “It’s really a marvelous sight to behold.”

“You can say that again,” the human said.

Celestia smirked. “It’s really a marvelous sight to behold.”

The human laughed hard, gaining the attention of a few curious and wary looking ponies from nearby. “Oh man…that’s the oldest joke in the book!”

Celestia gave him an impish grin, then cleared her throat. Turning to the ponies watching, she held up a hoof. “Be at ease, my little ponies. There is no danger here.”

“Yeah, I’m as harmless as they come,” the human said.

“Be that as it may,” Celestia said in a lower voice, “I would like for you to accompany me to Canterlot Palace.” She leaned closer and whispered, “How good are you with teleporting?” A look of worry appeared on his face, and that was all the answer Celestia needed. She stood up. “Walk with me, mister…?”

The human smacked his head. “I’m sorry, where are my manners?? I’m Jason Wright. Nice to meet you!”

Celestia smiled. “The pleasure is mine, Mr. Wright. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria.”

Jason’s smile had only gotten bigger. “Today must be my lucky day, then!”

Celestia had taken him back to the palace where she’d spoken with the mythical creature for at least an hour. She learned that he’d left everything behind to come see Equestria, which in his world was only a myth itself. The irony wasn’t lost on her when he explained that, where he was from, unicorns, pegasi and alicorns were considered myths. She’d thoroughly enjoyed the conversation, learning from him about how he’d found out about Equestria. It amazed her that humans had created a form of fiction that perfectly matched the adventures of her faithful student and her friends, but the human knew things that he couldn’t possibly have known. As fascinating as it was to hear all of this, matters of state were unfortunately pressing. Celestia offered to put him up for a little while in order for him to become accustomed to his new home, but the eager Jason had expressed a desire to visit Ponyville. Not wanting his enthusiasm to damper, she’d given him enough bits to find an inn in the city along with a train ticket to the little town, which he’d accepted gratefully.

It was her greatest mistake, as not long after Discord had cast the low level spell on her that amped up her own negative instincts just slightly. Instincts that had made her forget about Jason Wright until about three months ago.

On the third step, Gregory’s eyes locked onto Applejack’s own. She could see the excitement and recognition quickly turn to confusion. She had to admit, seeing him look at her for the first time brought back hard memories for her…

“Come back! Wait please!” Applejack galloped through the Everfree Forest after the strange creature that had, mere seconds ago, tried to kill itself. About ten minutes ago, she’d gone to her barn to get her rope to practice her rodeo skills, but found it missing. When she saw familiar hoofprints on the ground near it, she’d gotten angry. That creature from the Everfree Forest must have snuck in and taken her rope! She’d grabbed her spare and followed the creature’s tracks. She’d found it in the Everfree Forest a few steps from Fluttershy’s cottage. To her horror and utter confusion, it was about to commit suicide.

Acting quickly, she’d caught the creature before it fell and snapped its neck. The two locked eyes. She could see a haunted and lifeless expression in its eyes. Her mind was racing at that, but all she could get out was “Why?”

The words it-no, he-had spoken had struck a chord with the earth pony mare. Had this creature really been living so poorly as to have been eating out of garbage? Bathing in a dirty lake? “Ah ain’t mad ‘bout the rope, honest!” she called out as she continued chasing the strange bipedal creature. Broken branches swayed slightly, indicating something had struck them recently. She caught a glimpse of the creature through the trees, only now he was farther away. “Please come back!” she shouted again.

Tripping over a branch, she tumbled over and hit the ground hard, faceplanting into the dirt and aggravating the already stinging eyes where the creature had thrown dust into it to mask his escape. She groaned as she got up as quickly as she could and continued running after him. “Wait fer me! Ah can git ya some vittles! Would ya like that? Please come baaack!”

She hit another root and fell, hard this time. Unlike last time, her Stetson came tumbling off. Things went gray suddenly, then she blacked out.

When she woke next, she was in Fluttershy’s house, lying in a soft comfortable bed. Her mane was a mess and her hat was hanging on a nail next to the bed. The aforementioned pegasus was sitting on a stool next to the bed, looking with worry at Applejack. “You’re finally awake,” she said with relief.

Applejack groaned as she sat up, or tried to. “Nnng…what…?”

Fluttershy pushed her down. “No, you need to rest,” she said. “You hurt your head pretty bad. I didn’t want to take you to the hospital before I was sure you were alright.”

Applejack reached up and touched her head. She felt a bandage and winced at the pain that shot through her head. “What happened?” she asked.

“That’s what I was going to ask you,” Fluttershy said. “A few of my animal friends found you unconscious in the Everfree Forest. What in the Maker’s name were you thinking going in there alone?”

“Ah was-” Applejack stopped, then tilted her head. Why had she gone into the Everfree Forest. She couldn’t remember now. She felt like she was chasing somecreature. Maybe chasing them away? But why had she gone so far? She frowned. “Ah…Ah don’t remember, now,” she said.

“Oh dear, I was afraid of that,” Fluttershy said worriedly. “You did hit your head pretty hard. What’s the last thing you remember?”

Applejack thought back through her day. “Ah was headin’ tah the barn tah get mah rope, then ah saw it was gone. Everythin’ is a bit fuzzy after that. How long was I out?”

“Only a couple of hours,” Fluttershy said. “Harry found this near where you collapsed.” She handed Applejack her spare rope along with the remains of her main rope, one end tied in a loop and the other end snapped in half, like somepony had been pulling on it and it just snapped. “This was all he could find. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, sugarcube,” Applejack said as she took the rope and examined it carefully. No matter how hard she stared, she couldn’t remember the past few hours. Sighing, she put the ropes down on the bed. “Well, ah guess if it’s anythin’ important, ah’ll remember.”

Life had gone on for Applejack, and the lost bits of memory were pretty much forgotten. She hadn’t lost anything important, at least, she didn’t think so. However, during Jason’s invasion, she’d remembered all too well the moment Discord’s spell on her had been lifted. Right in that courtroom. When she had seen the scars on Jason’s body. It had all come crashing back to her.

And it was what broke her…

On the fourth step, Gregory looked at Pinkamena Diane Pie. His confused look turned into immediate concern. Pinkamena looked away, not wanting to look the new human in the face. Not after her actions caused an innocent creature to be tormented for three years. Living in that cave…

The Everfree Forest was silent that day. Not a bird could be heard from the treetops, and there wasn’t a breath of wind. The sunlight didn’t even manage to break through the canopy, leaving the world around the traveling former party earth pony a dull gray. All the sound that could be heard was the soft clopping of hooves on the ground.

Pinkamena had just left Ponyville to spend some time back at her old home with her family. Her parents had contacted her a couple of weeks after Jason’s invasion and had said that any time she wanted to come back home, their door was always open. Well, earlier that day, she’d prepared a party. A Welcome to Ponyville party for one Jason Wright, the human who she, her friends and the entire town had shunned for the express crime of being different. When she realized fully what she had done, it had nearly broken her. Nearly because she really wanted to try and make things right with him. And the only way she knew how was to invite him back to a party.

Pinkie Pie had pulled out all the stops, well, as many as she could considering the fact that her party planning room was now a pile of ash.

Her former friends had even come as had a number of other ponies. Roseluck and her two friends had arrived as well as the ponies who had been in Canterlot during Jason’s broadcast. The rest had actively avoided the temporary party venue, and some, like Spoiled Rich, had even mocked the party, calling it a farce.

All that day, Pinkie had watched the horizon, waiting for the human to show up. The party was funded by Princess Celestia herself, who had actually showed up along with Luna, the latter of who hoped to meet the human as well.

The morning turned to noon. Then turned to afternoon. Then turned to evening. When the sun set beneath the horizon, the little hopeful spring that had bene in Pinkie’s mane instantly deflated, leaving only Pinkamena. She spent the entire night cleaning up the party venue on her own. After sleeping through the entire day, she’d packed up what little belongings she had, including her party cannon which had surprisingly been spared, and left Ponyville. She’d left a note, of course, Pinkie Promising that she’d be back and that this wasn’t goodbye.

She was so lost in thought that she nearly missed the large cave that stuck out in the forest like a sore hoof.

She stopped, putting her belongings down, then looked in carefully. The entrance was dark, and opened like a wide mouth to swallow up its victim. Of course, much like the trees she’d laughed at during Nightmare Moon’s return, she knew this was just a cave. Not some monster.

Like a moth dragged to a flame, however, she walked in, turning on a flashlight and looking around. The cave was cold, damp and had some bioluminescent mushrooms everywhere. As she walked around, she stepped on something. Looking down, she gasped when she saw a very rotten and old brown shoe and a faded red piece of cloth. Looking around, she saw a few other piles of rotten clothes, most looking like they’d been gnawed at by rats or other critters. She knew some of them had belonged to Rarity at one point, judging from their shape.

She whimpered and walked slowly over to the pile of clothes, carefully lying down on top of them. It was damp, scratchy and extremely uncomfortable. She remembered that Jason didn’t have any kind of fur like she did, and the few times she had seen him, his clothes had been reduced to tatters. His skin couldn’t have been as protective as fur.

And if he’d been reduced to eating these mushrooms and even garbage…

A sudden idea came to her. Standing up, she walked out of the cave. She rummaged angrily through her belongings, pulling out the few food items she’d brought with her. Baking powder, flour, sugar, eggs and more she scattered onto the ground until her food was all gone, leaving the immediate area looking like a winter wonderland.

She sat down, covered in the powder and sobbing hard. She didn’t deserve the title Bearer of Element of Laughter. She took away someone’s smile. The same someone who had starved for years alone.

Then a twisted idea came into her mind. An idea on how to punish herself. She looked down at her hoof, tears still streaming down her cheeks. She closed her eyes. She didn’t deserve that big breakfast she’d had before leaving.

Opening her mouth, she moved her hoof towards it, sticking it down her throat…

On the fifth step, Gregory’s eyes latched onto Fluttershy. However, the butter colored pegasus didn’t see his look of worry turn to fear. Fear for her. However, Fluttershy just couldn’t face the new human. She was too ashamed of her own behavior.

She could only remember the many times she had failed him. The times she’d failed Jason Wright.

The first time she’d seen him, her abject fear had made her faint. Every time afterwards, she’d either run and hide from him. She’d never felt fear like that in her life, and all she could do for the next few hours after seeing Jason was hide under her bed until the shaking stopped. Even knowing what that monster Discord had done to her and her former friends didn’t make it any less horrible what she’d done. She might not have raised a hoof against Jason, but lack of action was just as bad or even worse than what other ponies had done to him physically.

On the sixth step, Rainbow Dash saw Gregory look at her. Those blue eyes of his were full of questions, it seemed. Questions she really didn’t want to answer, but knew she had to. As she stared at the unmarred human’s face, she recalled every time that she’d seen Jason come into town with crystal clarity.

She looked away, revolted by herself. She’d laughed at his suffering, and had even called it practice when she perfected her aim with pinpoint precision. She even remembered one rainy autumn afternoon where she’d thrown down bolts onto him when she found him rummaging through a garbage can. She’d thrown down bolt after bolt to make him dance before he’d run back to the Everfree Forest. The guilt continued eating away at her and the presence of an unmarred human only drove the knife deeper into her heart.

She wanted to reach around and tear her wings out even more now. She didn’t deserve them. Nopony like her did.

On the seven step, Rarity saw the human look at her. His expression returned to confusion, especially when Rarity glared back at him. She stuck her nose in the air, nearly falling onto her back as she did so. She was caught by Celestia’s magic and her mouth clamped shut by said alicorn.

He stopped in front of the group of ponies, or rather, he stopped right beside Spike. The young dragon looked up at Gregory with a mixture of worry and anticipation. He didn’t want a fight to break out, but he had no idea what a drunk Rarity would be like. He knew she’d just cursed, since he knew all the important curse words, but if the normally posh and refined mare could stoop so low as to use uncouth language, what else could she be capable of? Not exactly knowing why he did so, Spike stood and stood beside the human.

The entire bar was silent as all eyes were on him and the ponies in the hidden corner booth. The only noise audible was the sound of the roaring fire in the fireplace. Nobody spoke for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally, however, Gregory opened his mouth, a genuine question on his lips and in his eyes. “I'm sorry, I must have misheard you. Could you repeat that?”

Whaaaat?? Another chapter in less than a week? What is this sorcery!?