“G-Good evening your highnesses?” I swallowed hard, staring stupidly at the two royal alicorns outside my door, “Um, do please come in?”’

My mind was in a panic as I stepped aside, allowing the two large royal alicorns to pass me, closing the door behind them with my dark emerald magic as they had come without an entourage.

They were both here… why were they both here?! Shouldn’t one of them been in the courts? Running Equestria?! Why were they both here? What’d I done to deserve this kind of attention?! I didn’t—

“What can I get you? Food? Drink?” I trotted quickly into the center of the room as the two royals sat, “I mean, I don’t have your favorite, Neigh Grey, Celestia, but I have plenty of others,” why’d I say that?! “I mean, just. I don’t know what you would like Lu- Princess Luna, food? Sparkling water? Tea? Coffee? I mean, I don’t have coffee but I could get some but I’m totally babbling and probably should shut up…”

I snapped my mouth shut, trying to keep myself from saying anything else stupid. The princess shook her head, a small smile on her face, and while part of me was relieved, a part of my mind was screaming at me that there was only one reason for her to not wish for refreshments.

“Emeris.”

Snapping to attention, I turned to the elder of the two royals, “Yes, Princess Celestia?”

“What were you doing in Ponyville?”

My mind raced, trying to come up with an appropriate response even as my mouth worked without direction, “Sending you a letter! Or at least trying. That’s all! Only thing I meant to do was get the letter to you since I couldn’t send it and I was thinking Spike could. I mean, I had to get it to you somehow and I had to try— I- I-…” swallowing, I forced myself to stop talking and just figure out what I needed to say, taking a deep breath before speaking again, slower this time, “I just wanted to send you the response letter. Nothing more, nothing less.”

The mighty alicorn met my gaze steadily as I worked to keep my breathing under control. After a long moment, she spoke again, her voice calm, “And the incident?”

My brain ground to a halt. Incident?! What’d I done? What was it? What did I need to do?! My body froze in place, my eyes widening in panic.

But slowly, far too slowly, the realization came to me that there wasn’t anything for me to worry about. The only ‘incident’ had been running through the town, and I hadn’t done anything wrong, the only thing it could’ve been. I met her eyes as steadily as I could manage, cursing the slight waver in my voice, “To my knowledge, there wasn’t one Princess.”

There was a long silence as she held my gaze, her purple eyes boring into my own gray-green ones.

A sudden pain in my flank nearly made me jump, as it was, it made me wince and the corresponding leg jerk upwards quickly. I turned to find that Luna had poked the healing burn over my cutie mark… I felt surprisingly… indignant… at that, even as she questioned me, “Then what, pray tell, is this?”

I blinked.

Could I tell them that it was Twilight? That the purple unicorn had singed me for no reason I could discern? That she had attacked me? Would they understand? Yes, I could. But damnit, I cared for the purple mare, and I wasn’t about to throw her under the bus. Even if the mane six didn’t need my protection, if I had a chance to keep at least some of the insanity that was my life out of theirs, then I would take it.

My jaw was set, and neither my eyes nor my voice wavered as I spoke, even if I was unable to bring myself to meet the eyes of the alicorns, “Nothing more than a misunderstanding.”

“And who was at fault for this misunderstanding?”

This time, I met the Solar Princess’ eyes steadily, all the turmoil of emotions, the fear, the guilt, the terror, the curiosity, the worry, they all fell to the wayside. I was standing between the possible wrath or displeasure of the greatest powers in Equestria and someone I cared about, I would not waver, “Mine.”

She didn’t’ believe me. I didn’t blame her. But I would not move. It was a meeting of wills between an ancient, immortal Goddess of the Sun, and a young, now mediocre, once-human unicorn. It was no contest.

Celestia looked away first.

Nothing will make me waver when I protect those I care about. I may not succeed, but I will not waver.

The Princess drew herself back up after that brief moment of weakness, her eyes meeting mine, “My sister and I must discuss the next course of action

I nodded, letting my flank slide to the floor as Celestia walked over to her sister, the two alicorns sitting together and talking in soft tones. The language they spoke was reminiscent of Latin, but even from my limited understanding of the ancient language, the syntax and specific words were different.

However, without the pressure of Celestia’s gaze upon me, the entire turmoil of emotions surged back. The fear, the guilt, the worry, every bit of it was back. But this time, I was a bit more prepared for it. As I waited for the two royals to conclude their conversation, I forced my mind to focus on my surroundings. To catalogue my room even as part of me desperately tried to figure this entire mess out.

Bed, table, two chairs, all oversized for a normal pony, but perfect for an alicorn the size of Celestia or my own former size— Okay-… okay. Alright, both of the Princesses are here, despite that one of them should still be in Canterlot because GAH. Okay. Calm. Why are they here?

Fridge, sink, oven and stove, plenty of counter space, drawers and cupboards galore— Are they angry? No, they’ve shown no indications of such. Execution now that I’m an easier target? No, they’re not like that and they haven’t given any indications of such. Are they afraid? Not of me, Celestia might’ve been able to take me even as an alicorn, and now either of them could squash me like a bug. For their little ponies? That was unlikely… but I could outright eliminate the others…

I didn’t keep much in my fridge or even my cupboards. Pots and pans, some utensils, perishables like mayonnaise and other condiments as well as most fruits and vegetables. Funny thing: Pony refrigerators, while they usually had two doors, actually had three sections. Freezer, fridge, and cooler. The cooler was at the top of the fridge section and was a place to hang flowers upside-down to better preserve them rather than in full fridge temperatures— Okay, if you can eliminate all the other possibilities, the remaining option, no matter how implausible, must be the answer. So they were afraid for their little ponies because of me. What had I done to cause that? Nothing directly, so someone must have said something or written something to the Princesses’ to give them the impression that I had done something questionable… but…

Two windows, thick curtains so I could block the light as necessary. As a human, I’d liked the dark and cozy, but ponies weren’t built for that in the least, and it occasionally made me uncomfortable. Thus, compromise! Alright, let’s assume that they’re afraid for their ponies. Who would’ve given them that impression? Anypony that saw me running out of the Library could’ve misinterpreted that and sent a letter to them… but… could it have gotten to them in time?

A surprising number of my cabinets were empty, I had very little, mostly by choice. Anything that I didn’t use was usually relegated to the Gift Shed out back, well except for— Calculations and estimates and probability spreads ran through my head as I calculated the likelihood of one of the ponies composing a letter and getting it to the post office and then it getting to Celestia or Luna in time. It wasn’t good odds. That meant the only way any information could’ve gotten to them this fast was either through Spike or Rainbow Dash flying all the way there and back…

Tea. God, so many teas. I’d collected a lot of them over the past two years. Going from place to place. I had a sizable collection of teas from pretty much every corner of Equestria and some from beyond— Okay, Dash would’ve confronted me directly rather than running off to Celestia, so that left either Spike or Twilight via Spike… which… okay then… why?

Those teas, adding to that collection, had been one of the few pure joys I’d had in the past two years. Going places because my curse had spawned a monster for me to defeat, fighting a bloody battle, failing to save everyone… and ooh look! New tea! It was admittedly more than a little sad that those had been the bright points of my days before getting Droolykins— Why would Twilight give the Princesses’ the impression that I had done something to warrant both of them appearing? Anger? There’d been that. But if that was the reason, then why hadn’t she attacked me first thing instead of waiting until I’d spoken a bit? Then… guilt? No. Fear? … that fit, but… what had I done to translate that fear from flight into fight?

I glanced over at the (currently pink) feline, a small, melancholy smile drifting across my face. Droolykins existence was a boon that I couldn’t really compare to anything else. He’d been a wonderful life-raft in a sea of utter sucki-tude (yes, it’s a word, no, I won’t apologize). Cute as hell, plenty of personality, and immune to the GSE— Even after going through what I’d said at the time as well as my actions, I couldn’t find a trigger, that meant it must’ve been something I’d done as an alicorn… Damn. That’s two years to think over…

The fateful meeting had occurred not long after I’d learned enough Reality Calcification to have some measure of interaction with ponies. I’d gone to Fluttershy to get a pet, and thankfully, her eagerness to get ponies pets had overwhelmed any effects of my curse. After a small string of other animals, this little gray cat had walked right up to me, a sock in his mouth, meowing plaintively up at me for a moment. I’d stared, torn between giggling and just going ‘D’awwww!’ before lowering my head closer to him, at which point he’d clambered right up onto my back, curled up between my wings, tucked the sock between some of my feathers, and fallen fast asleep, drooling all over me.

It’d been love at first drool. Heh.

Fluttershy had tried to apologize for the little guy, but it wasn’t necessary. I’d taken him without reservation, and hadn’t regretted it since—

“Emeris.”

My thoughts tumbled to a halt, but my heart rate had stabilized considerably during my introspection, my head turned to the white alicorn at a more sedate pace, “Yes, Princess Celestia?”

“My sister and I wish to perform some spells to ensure that the curse has completely left you,” I believe I saw a flicker of hesitation, of a grimace, in her gaze, “They will not be entirely pleasant.”

I nodded, “I understand Princess.” And, for the most part, I did. I didn’t understand the cause, the why, but if they had information that indicated me being dangerous or possibly slipping back into the alicorn-state, then this made perfect sense. That and questioning extremely powerful immortals tended to not be on my to-do list.

The two royals nodded at one another, Luna stepping up to the fore. The deep blue mare circled me slowly, her eyes surprisingly piercing as she examined me from every angle. As self-conscious as that made me feel, the surprisingly gentle caress of her magic against my skin was even worse. And by worse, I meant god damnit mare that’s a private place stop lingering there!

Obviously I didn’t say anything because, again, pervert and hot as hell female doing something that can be construed as perverted? Why would I interrupt this again? That and she was the Princess of the Night, Goddess of the Moon, and damnit she was teasing me wasn’t she.

The smirk when silver power caressed the uninjured side of my flanks again confirmed it.

Damnit mare. Getting molested wasn’t on the itinerary either!

Eventually though, she stopped, little pinpricks of power dancing along my skin. I glanced over at her again, confused. That hadn’t even registered on my discomfort scale, at least not physical. Awkward as hell, sure, but not uncomfortable.

And then the pain started.

Her eyes were almost sad, but resolute as little needles of pain jabbed into my flesh. It took only a glance to confirm that there was no actual damage, just an intense probing magic that quickly faded afterwards. I flinched slightly each time, but it wasn’t worse than a bad vaccination shot. Each time. That spread slowly across each part of my body.

… okay, it was kinda sucky, but at least my ‘nurse’ was hot?

Eventually though, the alicorn’s magic stopped, and she gave a nod to her elder sister. Something passed between them, and damnitall, I couldn’t read her expression worth a damn. The larger, bright white alicorn stepped in front of me, her light purple eyes meeting my gray-green ones steadily.

I blinked, looking back at her curiously, as she seemed to be waiting for something, “Princess?”

She sighed slightly, apparently a bit exasperated, “Please do brace yourself my little Emeris, this will be worse than the previous spell.”

“Ah,” that had totally gone over my head, whoops. I took a deep breath, steadying myself and planting my forehooves more solidly on the floor.

There’s pain, and then there’s discomfort. I’d experienced plenty of both, but when Celestia’s horn flared to life, I was reminded of the wonderful third category, discomfort so extreme that it might as well be pain! Woohoo! The more you knowwww~

The power was like a multi-ton brick had inside my chest. I gasped, my eyes widening as the world went to fuzz and spots.

My hooves were trembling on the floor as I struggled for each breath. I couldn’t see Celestia, hell, I couldn’t see anything at the moment. I wheezed, forcing my lungs to work despite the weight within and around them. My eyes rolled back into my head as I struggled to keep upright, my muscles quivering under the surprising amount of strain. Belatedly, I realized that I had whimpered out one of the small breaths that I could manage, and some distant part of me recognized the spell as an advanced derivative of Countermagic and Reality Calcification, one that I had helped create.

But that knowledge was quickly lost under the pressure, the weight, the squeeze of magic as I struggled to breathe.

And then it was over.

I collapsed to the floor, spent despite not having moved an inch, my breaths coming in shuddering gasps. Everything else faded as I focused on my breathing, trying to recover it, counting it in and out as I did my best to steady my frantically beating heart and shaky breathing.

Celestia looked over the panting pony, interpreting the results the spell was giving her even as she made sure the young unicorn/earth pony crossbreed was alright. There were times where it was hard to believe she was talking to a pony, so different were their cultures. But others, like this one, Celestia had to remind herself that while he was one of her little ponies now, he had once been something very different.

She exchanged a brief look with her sister, the tension melting from both of them as their results agreed with one another.

The young stallion’s mighty curse was truly gone, but this meant that whatever had happened had been either an exaggeration, or maybe even a complete fabrication. However, Celestia didn’t believe that about her precious student, any more than she believed Emeris when he said it was his own fault. There had been a misunderstanding, and Celestia needed to clear it up.

“Twilight Sparkle.”

The purple mare flinched beneath her stern gaze.

“Your over-reaction harmed a loyal pony. One who has already suffered much. I understand and greatly sympathize with your concern for your little brother and your friends, but I must ask you not to attack a fellow pony," the stressed words made the spellcaster cringe, " I understand that he has not been the best pony, but he is not evil, and is especially crucial to the current political climate.”

“But- but you just said he was depowered! You confirmed it! How can he still be valuable to the political climate?!”

“Because Emeris has skills beyond his curse, far more than he gives himself credit for, and I have plans that require his specific attitude to implement.”

Twilight’s mouth worked silently for a long moment before she dipped her head in shame, “I understand Princess.”

A gentle smile graced Celestia’s features, “I understand how hard it may be to trust him, but for all his dark outlook on life, he is a good pony at heart.”

The young unicorn nodded her head, somewhat resigned, “I understand Princess.”

Satisfied, Celestia nodded, gently nuzzling her student, “I know this is unsettling, but we have ensured that the terrible magics that originated from him are gone. The pony beneath the curse is worthy of friendship.” Once more, Twilight nodded, and Celestia smiled at her little pony, “I hope the transition is smooth, but I am needed back in Canterlot, the sudden disappearance of my sister and I must be explained to the nobility.” She struggled not to make a sour face at that, and the giggle from the young mare in front of her told the diarch that she was not entirely successful.

Once more, Twilight said, “I understand, Princess,” though this time it was with a small smile. Something that Celestia found very encouraging, enough so that with a nod and their goodbyes, she turned and left the library, heading for Canterlot.

But, while Celestia had gone, Twilight had not moved an inch, the smile that had been on her face slowly fading into a look of resigned horror, a small, terrified, almost manic whisper escaped her, “I understand that he’s tricked you… I’ve got to prove he’s still… that he’s still that monster… but how?”

Ow.

Fuck.

This is the second time in as many days that I’m waking up sore all over.

Suuuuuuuuuuck.

Totally was going to reprimand Celestia for such an unpleasant spell.

Yeah, that’d go well. Let’s do that.

At least this time I wasn’t confused and wondering what had happened. With a groan, I raised my head from the pillow, opening my bleary eyes, blinking them clear as I forced them to focus. It was dark out, which meant I hadn’t been out of action too long… well, or I’d been out for several days, but that wasn’t likely— “Ah, thoust are awake.”

My eyes snapped completely open, my neck tensing painfully as I had to stop myself from reflexively snapping my head over to the sound. As my heart rate slowed to a more reasonable speed, I turned my head to the voice, finding the Princess of the Night sitting in my house.

I… um… what.

One of my eyebrows went up, hoping it would convey my confusion without me having to try and articulate the mess my mind was in at the moment.

A playful smile crossed the alicorn’s face, “Thoust are awake. This is, we assume, a good thing.”

My lips quirked up in a small smile as I made a show of glancing over myself and then back to Luna, “Are you sure I’m awake? Because last I checked, visits from royalty seemed more like dream-exclusive material to me.”

She rolled her eyes, making me chuckle before laying my head back down on the pillow. There was a long moment of companionable silence, but for once, I was the one who broke it, “Princess, if I may ask, what were the results of the tests? I ah, kinda passed out before I heard anything else…”

“Thou are clean of the foul magics, though thine body still recuperates from the intense magics of a’fore,” she sipped the glass she had before her, one of my attempts at ceramics actually. Something that had been very easy as an Alicorn of the Earth but was now noticeably more difficult without those magics… or hands… oh opposable thumbs, how I missed thee.

A relieved sigh escaped me as I sunk into the bed, relaxing at the news.

Another silence, though this time, Luna was the one that broke it, “Are’t thou feeling alright. We know that thee has lost much power in the transformation, and that such intense magics as our own can be… unpleasant for ponies.” Idly, I noted that her volume was a bit higher than necessary, but thankfully, she wasn’t anywhere near Royal Canterlot Voice levels, that episode about Nightmare Night had already occurred thankfully.

“I am no more than sore, Princess. It shall pass with but some rest,” I was slipping into a similar accent to her own, a habit I’d gained after living with more than a few strong accents in my childhood.

There was a tingle of magic at the edges of my senses, and I raised my head to find another of my cups had been levitated over to me, already filled with steaming tea. I blinked, hesitating only for a moment before extending my own magics, the deep emerald power interweaving with Luna’s own for the briefest of moments before she left the glass to my grasp. Exchanging hold over items with magic like that always felt far more intimate to me than it really was in this culture, and I’d made sure to ask Celestia about that one.

I shot her a slightly confused look before bringing the tea to my lips, sipping carefully. It was a bit hotter than I tended to drink mine, but I could recognize the type. It was an herbal pain-killer and muscle relaxant, not perfect, but a rather decent one and a good excuse for tea, “Thank you, Princess.”

Briefly, I wondered how she kept it so delightfully warm when it was obvious that I’d been asleep for more than a few hours, but I dismissed that as a mystery and/or explained away as ‘A Magical Pony Goddess with Wings and a Horn that raises the moon in a terracentric solar-system said so’. And that was a perfectly legitimate reason for silly little things like that.

No, seriously, it would probably have been like asking how I’d just known how fertile the soil was and how to adjust tectonic plates when I’d been an Alicorn. Magical theory doesn’t explain those things, they just are.

Either that or I’d been making signs of waking prior to the actual event, but eh, whatever, I didn’t really care.

As I grabbed myself one of the honey bottles I stored in the house, Luna spoke up again, this time more… hesitantly than before, “Are’t thoust comfortable?” I had to admit, that one confused me. I focused on getting the appropriate amount of honey into my tea (a.k.a. – A LOT) as I puzzled over what would bring about the question and thus, the appropriate response.

Coming up with nothing, I set the bottle aside, stirring the tea with a spoon-construct of will and telekinesis, “Aside from the soreness? Quite.”

She seemed even more hesitant now, surprisingly, “The… the darkness does not bother thee?”

Oh. … OH. Wait, what?! My mouth worked silently for a long moment in my confusion, it probably looked bad from her perspective, but I couldn’t help it. Eventually, I got my vocal chords to work, “I’m sorry, but that question totally blindsided me Princess… I…” rubbing my face with a hoof, I collected my thoughts, “Okay… to start off, I love the night, and darkness is something I’m normally comfortable with. But if I may be frank?” I waited for her nod of assent, “Where in the layers of tartaros did that question come from?”

Luna looked off to the side, and if I wasn’t mistaken, there was a bit of an embarrassed blush on her cheeks, “We… were curious if thoust were… different… from our little ponies in that respect.”

I sighed, laying my head down on the pillow once more, formulating a response, “Princess Luna, I am different from your little ponies. The equine species has a strong tendency to sleep at night, my original species however, had a much weaker tendency. No matter how beautiful the night, it is not the home of ponies, and I can feel the difference.”

The diarch’s look fell, even to my untrained eyes, and my suspicion that she had been hoping for indications that her ponies could be nocturnal as well were confirmed, “However, using my own species technological progress as a metric, as alternate light sources become easier to activate for the masses, at least in the cities, more of your little ponies will edge towards nocturnal activities. More ponies will enjoy your night when they have easier ways to banish the instinctual fear of predators in the dark.”

The way her look brightened at that made a pleasant warmth tingle in my chest. And then she spoke, “WE THAN—” I was nearly knocked off of the bed, the house rattling at the sudden volume before she realized what she was doing, cutting herself off and coughing into her hoof embarrassedly.

I raised an eyebrow at her as I raised myself back up, and she had the decency to blush, “We thank thee for thine knowledge and assurance.”

I shrugged, or as much as a pony laying down on their stomach can shrug, “It’s no problem Princess, I’m merely curious as to what brought the question on.”

“We…” she stalled, she’d forgotten that I’d asked before, and hopefully I’d get a better answer this time, “We have been wondering. Our sister informed us that thine original species was more advanced than and rather different from our little ponies… and thee has always seemed… comfortable… when we met thee at the palace during the night. We wondered if it was thou or thine species.”

Okay, that made a bit more sense, ”A little of both. I wasn’t exactly part of the norm of my species, but we are more inclined to being nocturnal than ponies.”

“Truly?” at my nod, a small smile crossed her face as she sipped her own tea, “If we may inquire, how different was your original species from our little ponies?”

Blinking for a moment, I considered the question. I’d actually had very little interaction with equestrian culture in the present, and the only things I had any knowledge of were the basics of the biological differences and after a moment, I said so. But Luna encouraged me to describe those to her, to at least try to satisfy her curiosity.

So, with a bit of a resigned smile, I began describing humanity to a magical pony goddess of the night with wings and a horn that moved a celestial body every day. How much weirder can you get?

Luna left with a flash of magic, teleporting to the castle after “lowering” the moon and stepping outside of the protective wards around my home. Lowering is the wrong word though, the planet wasn’t flat, it was spherical like any other planet. It was just that the other celestial bodies orbited it rather than the other way around. Raising and Lowering were just the common parlance for what the Princesses’ did with their respective celestial bodies.

We’d talked well into the night. Well, I’d talked well into the night.

Luna was a pleasant, if somewhat stiff, conversationalist. She also managed to be overenthusiastic at the same damn time. Cute, but occasionally difficult to talk to. Thankfully, the somewhat dry topic choice made it easier on both of us. It was a lesson, I was the teacher and she was the student. She also had a weird sense of humor, at least to me, endearing, but weird.

I’d actually learned a lot about pony physiology in the discussion, like that a unicorns horn was directly connected to their brain but would eventually grow back if cut off; that ponies actually had a two-chambered stomach; and that their chromosomes didn’t operate in pairs, but rather, triples.

Yeah, that last one really threw me for a loop. I wasn’t a biologist, but I knew enough about genetics to understand how they worked, but a triple-chromosome system? There was a reason that ponies didn’t really understand them yet, and it wasn’t just because they didn’t have electron microscopes. The genetics for most creatures in this world were this triplet system, and it made inheritance and phenotypes almost impossible to predict given a certain genotype. While earth genetics had dominant, recessive, and a nebulous third category, there were at least five categories of genetic dominance under current equestrian theory.

Yeah, it was a complicated mess.

Regardless, after taking my notes, finishing my tea, and pouring Droolykins a bowl of food for when he woke up (the little snot had slept right through Luna’s accidental Royal Canterlot Voice), I went straight back to bed.

I was tired and sore and had just spent all night up with a beautiful goddess… and not in as fun a way as that implied. It was time for sleep damnit.

Several days passed quietly.

Much of my time was spent either re-organizing my previous gifts (I more than briefly entertained the idea of re-gifting them back to ponies that had gotten them for me), playing with Droolykins, and re-learning how to use my body and magics.

One of the most fun things I was able to do was explore the Everfree forest.

Was it dangerous? Only if you weren’t reallycareful, and that’s something I always strove to be.

Was it fun? Very yes.

Was it also a good way to get some more testing data? Oh hells to the yes.

Fun fact: The creatures of Everfree learned quickly as individuals, but very slowly as a whole. Didn’t matter how many times I went all green-lantern on them, creating hammers and pistons of will and telekinetic force, the monsters of the forest as a whole still didn’t learn to not bother the green unicorn.

I seriously felt like a green lantern though. My magical power was a dark green, and my constructs actually greatly resembled the classic green-lantern construct, just without the silly trail to a ring or my horn. Never even had to get close to the monsters! Best trick ever.

Made me feel so badass, and I was not afraid to admit it. Everyone loves an ego boost every now and then.

That said, strutting around the Everfree like you owned the place would’ve been a great way to come down with a nasty case of dead. Symptoms include: not breathing, choking on your own blood, your eyeballs exploding, your intestines tying themselves into knots, stopped heartbeat, and extreme agony (these sadly weren’t a joke, there’s some nasty stuff in the Everfree).

Thus, while I was reasonably confident I could take on any ‘monster’ I encountered other than a dragon or god, I was very cautious in the forest. Working on my stealth and ‘parkour’ skills improved my dexterity, speed, and coordination, things that I’d lost in the transformation.

That and it made it a bit easier to avoid the really, really, really poisonous things that were so common on the forest floor. I didn’t know what Poison Joke or its nastier relatives would do to me, but I was in no mood to find out… y’know, ever.

And I gotta admit, it was really nice to just… be outside and not having to worry about some sort of giant, world ending monster appearing out of nowhere to, y’know, end the world just for me to fight it off. That had sucked. First time? Pretty cool. Eightieth time? Not so cool. Three hundred and fourth time? Actually painful.

So yeah, running through the forest. Cool beans.

It doesn’t seem interesting to describe, but to just run along the branches, to leap from treetop to treetop, to duck and weave between branches and limb… it was exhilarating. The scents, the sounds, the feel… it was all so… it was something wonderful, that I hadn’t gotten anywhere near enough in the past two years.

I’d been slowly mapping the forest, the location of predators to avoid, important or unusual plants as well as rivers and pools and clearings. At the moment, I was swinging by one of the nicer clearings, there was some really tasty grass and flowers. Flowers whose only side effect was turning your tongue purple, so that was a plus.

There was something in the clearing.

I froze, almost silent on the branch, staring into the clearing.

Damn, I was upwind of the clearing, I hadn’t thought of that, still not used to this whole ‘Predators can smell you’ thing.

… speaking of predators, hooooo boy was that a big one.

It was a tiger, and it was a big one. Probably half again as large as Celestia. I nearly turned around, even if the thing was magical I could probably beat it, but I wasn’t about to provoke a fight if I could avoid it.

But then I noticed a few key details. For one, there was a massive crocodile right beside it with its throat torn out. For two, the tiger was lying down. And for three, it was hurt, and bad.

Even my untrained eye could tell that one of its front legs was at very least dislocated and maybe even broken. And while I couldn’t be sure from this distance, it could very well have some broken ribs to go along with it.

I very, very seriously considered just leaving. But I couldn’t. It would’ve torn me up inside if I did.

I couldn’t stand to see something in pain, and there was no way this tiger would survive long in this environment, too many predators that would take advantage of its weakness after taking down the other predator. I’d have to put it down… or I would have, if I didn’t know the precise location of a very good veterinarian who knew exactly how to handle this kind of situation. The only issue was getting the tiger there.

Being sure to make noise, I dropped down into the clearing. The tigers head jerked up, massive eyes staring at me. Every instinct in me screamed to run, but I squashed them, focusing on the tiger. I didn’t meet its eyes, instead focusing on its shoulder as I slowly approached. I made sure to keep my gait casual, a stalking motion could be interpreted as dangerous.

Still, when I got within forty feet of the massive predator, it growled threateningly at me, baring its teeth.

I stopped, looking at it as its growl softened. I raised a hoof and the growl intensified, softening once I put the foot back down. Making a decision, I laid down, setting my head on the grass to wait.

Time passed, the tiger’s growl slowly fading away as it laid its head back down on its paws. I counted the heartbeats and breaths, meditating to pass the time. Thirty minutes later, I raised my head, and it growled again. So down the head went again.

More time passed. Counting the breaths.

The tigers breathing was pained, but not labored, that probably meant its lungs were uninjured. That was good.

The minutes ticked by as I waited. But this time, when I raised my head, there was no growl. I stood, no growl. Slowly, I walked forward, and its yellow eyes tracked me. I was within thirty feet of the large predator before it growled again. So I stopped, waiting.

Right now? I wish I had Fluttershy. She could actually communicate with them whereas I couldn’t. But there was no way I could get to her and back in time to keep anything from eating or fighting this tiger, or at very least, the odds were bad. And so, I waited.

I made to take another step, but the growl did not intensify, so I took the step. I made it another five feet before the growl intensified again, this time, I laid back down.

Again, I waited. To the tiger, I was terrifying, whether or not it knew that ponies could be dangerous, I was something approaching it while it was wounded. I couldn’t just tell it that I meant it no harm, but I could give it that impression with my actions. At the very least, I could try. Each growl made my heart rate spike, adrenaline rushing into my system as I tensed up to run, but I forced myself to stay still, this animal needed me and I wasn’t about to abandon it without at least trying.

The process continued, step by step, Celestia’s sun slowly moving through the sky as I approached the massive predator. But, several hours later, I was gently nuzzling the side of the tiger’s head, careful to keep my horn well away from its skin and my head away from its throat. The mighty tiger was purring weakly, but it was not the purr of ‘Ooh, I love this’, it was the purr of ‘Somebody help!’.

Carefully, I moved around the massive feline, examining its side. It was bad, its right foreleg was completely dislocated and it had more than a few jagged cuts on the same leg. I couldn’t tell if its ribs were intact or not, but thankfully it had already stopped the bleeding, it still looked bad though. With slow, deliberate movements, I walked to its good side and gently nudged it.

It took several surprisingly tense moments to try and explain with gentle sounds and gestures. The tiger obviously didn’t trust me, I was no Fluttershy, but it seemed to understand that I meant it no harm. There was no way it could walk, but if it would let me…

Gently, I worked my head beneath its body and with careful magic, lifted it onto my back. With focus and will I created a sled of sorts to keep its legs off of the ground. The tiger growled warningly at me, but I crooned soothingly back at it, quieting its worries. The going was slow, almost excruciatingly so, I had to be careful not to jostle my large passenger, and said passenger was nearly three times my size.

Thankfully though, the tiger complained little, seeming far more to be a massive grumpy kitten on my back rather than a mighty beast of death and predation.

Mind you, I always remembered that that is exactly what I was dealing with, and I’d had a powerful skin-tight physical barrier spell contingency’d to activate if a threshold of pressure or Newtons were exceeded within a certain distance of me. I hated seeing things in pain and damnit, I was willing to take risks to help this guy, but I wasn’t stupid.

I grunted slightly as I walked, carrying the big cat along, stepping over the roots and walking around any patch of flowers I didn’t know exactly what they were.

Nothing accosted our strange little procession, though I had no idea why. I had theories about the scent of crocodile and Tiger kept smaller predators away, but I had absolutely no conclusive evidence so… not a big deal.

It was more difficult to maneuver through the forest with my passenger than I’d anticipated, but it was steady progress. There was also the whole ‘where the hell am I?’ problem. I couldn’t really pull out my map very well in this position, but I only got turned around twice before honing in on Fluttershy’s home.

It was rather obvious when I got close, as there was a sudden scatter of animals when the tiger on my back shifted. Thankfully, the animals merely looked on warily when we actually stepped out of the forest rather than fleeing and making a scene.

There was a galloping of hooves, more than four though… Fluttershy had a visitor? Huh.

Peeking out from under the large form of the tiger, I saw a yellow pegasus and a stark white unicorn. Thank goodness, Fluttershy was here, she could handle it from here. This was well outside my skillset to treat, and the sooner I got this giant predator off of my back, the better it’d be for my racing heart. Both ponies gasped when they saw me and my passenger, and I didn’t blame them.

I blinked stupidly when Rarity threw herself between Fluttershy and myself, her eyes entirely on me with a look somewhere between fear, determination, and anger. I winced, praying that this wouldn’t be a repeat of Twilight.

Thankfully, Fluttershy gently pushed past Rarity, and though the fashionatta looked at her friend in askance, she did not stop Fluttershy as she quickly came up to me, already looking over the predator, “What happened?”

“I found him… or her,” I made sure to add, I didn’t know how to tell the genders of cats apart and didn’t want to offend, “In a clearing in the forest, it looks like he’d gotten into a fight with a croc, won but… got messed up in the process.” The yellow veterinarian began to lead me towards the back of the cottage, “It looks like multiple lacerations on its right foreleg, it’s also dislocated. I think that the croc had gotten a hold of that leg and shook it, so the leg itself may be badly broken, I can’t tell.”

Her look was intense as she examined the large predator. Fluttershy lifted off the ground, hovering beside the tiger to get a better look at it, whispering soft nothings to the tiger when she touched it, soothing its concerns far better than I ever could have.

Still, “Where do you want him?” I needed to set this guy down, he was heavy and I’d been carrying him for the past hour.

“Her.” D’oh!

“Right, where do you want her?”

Fluttershy pointed with a hoof, and I went like a good dog. Carefully, I set the large predator down on the indicated bed of straw, slipping out from under it, making sure to be careful of my horn. I sighed in relief at foisting off the responsibility to someone who actually knew how to handle it, starting to back away from the big cat.

Of course, the tiger decided to thank me, leaning over and giving my face a big lick with a tongue nearly the size of my head. My heart rate spiked at that, and I very nearly wet myself, because the only thing I’d been able to think at that moment had been teeth.

Thankfully, all I got was a face-full of slobber and discomfort from the rough tongue.

Very happy that I retained my head, I backed away from the large feline, letting Fluttershy do her work.

Controlling my breathing, I forced my heart rate into a semblance of control. I didn’t know if Fluttershy would need my help setting that shoulder, so I couldn’t leave just yet. More than a small part of me would be very happy to go back to just running through the forest, excitement like this was for interesting people. And damnit, I’d had enough of that in the past two years, I didn’t need any more.

‘May you live an interesting life.’ Ancient Chinese Curse. Urgh. No thanks. I’ll take an office job pushing pencils and playing with numbers over an ‘interesting’ life any day of the week.

Something white and violet appeared in the corner of my eye, and I turned my head to find that Rarity had walked up next to me, a certain amount of suspicion on her face… at least I think it was suspicion, pony facial expressions still weren’t my forte.

We looked at each other for a long moment in silence. Normally, I wouldn’t be bothered by such, but this was getting bothersome. I raised an eyebrow at her, “Yes?” ball’s in your court now hun.

The white unicorn blinked, “Ah, yes, um,” she coughed demurely into her hoof, “I was just wondering, were you ever truly a Prince?”

“Technically? Or really? Because those are two different answers unfortunately.”

“Oh?” now that had her attention.

I sighed, sitting on the grass behind Fluttershy’s house and settling into ‘lecture mode’, “Well… I was never really a Prince. I never had the duties or the political power. Any illusions otherwise were the curse in action,” I snorted at that.

“And technically?” she asked lightly.

“That’s… a fair bit more complicated…” I grumbled as Rarity sat beside me, her curiosity apparently overriding any other concerns she might have had, “See, despite the common assumption, being an alicorn does not inherently make one royal. It’s the automatic assumption as most ponies are at least tangentially related to the Princesses, so any born alicorn would be, however distantly, connected to the royal family. I however, am not, and thus, not automatically royalty.”

“But why is that complicated darling?”

“Well… see, it’s possible to induct someone into royalty, especially alicorns… and it turns out that a mess of papers and laws recognizing me as royalty on par with the Princesses simply… y’know… appeared,” I snorted, remembering clerks citing laws that Celestia assured me hadn’t existed before I’d come. It had been one of the biggest clues to the curse that was warping reality around me.

“So technically you were a Prince then?” Rarity seemed confused by my tone, also probably because that still wasn’t very ‘complicated’.

“Yes and no. Because I abdicated. Gave up my ‘throne’,” I said the word with as much bile as I could muster, which trust me, two years of pretty decent angst makes a great source of bile. I could’ve probably bottled and sold that stuff! It would’ve been awesome. “Swore myself into the service of Celestia and Luna. Explicitly gave up whatever political power I might’ve had… and what’d’ya know? I kept getting reinstated by somepony or another whenever I went to Canterlot… or some amendment would be found that revoked my abdication.”

A small growl escaped me, “They kept trying to make me royalty damnit.”

“Oh how dreadful.”

I gave Rarity a deadpan look. I might have trouble with pony body language and facial expressions, but sarcasm? I could understand that just fine, “It was, despite what you might think. I never wanted it. I never deserved it. It was the same as the worshipful adoration, the mindless lust that ponies had for me in a different form…” Belatedly, I realized I was snarling at the end of my sentence, but thankfully into open space rather than at anyone.

A sigh escaped me as I let the bubbling anger in me fade away, “Sorry… just… it wasn’t fun. I don’t want to be a part of that life in the first place, and the fact that it reminded me of how ponies react to me was just a horrible icing on the cake.”

“You… you never enjoyed the adoration?”

“No. If anything, it made me feel worse. I had to be extremely careful every minute not to take advantage of anyone… or be taken advantage of,” I shuddered unpleasantly at the memories.

“Oh you poor dear!” Suddenly I saw white.

“Wait, wha— eep!” my face was suddenly buried in the white unicorns chest, making me blush in embarrassment. This wasn’t a social taboo for ponies, but being held to a female’s chest was still embarrassing for me. That and I hadn’t expected it at all.

“You were being treated like a celebrity of highest status when you never desired it! And you couldn’t even have bodyguards to keep the paparazzi off of you!” despite the blush on my face, I cringed. Rarity had a wonderful personality but oh god, that voice, ow, seriously, earplugs please. And being pressed against her chest did not improve her tonal quality.

“Um, Rarity?” She was just being… well… nice I guess, but I kinda did want out.

“Why, the curse must’ve made ruffians of everypony!” she gasped theatrically, though I guess I should’ve been grateful she at least seemed sincere in her offense on my behalf… “And making you look like the worst ruffian of all!”

“Miss Rarity?” I pushed at her gently with my hooves, a bit of fear settling in my stomach, this was sounding distressingly familiar.

“Oh could you ever forgive us for thinking so ill of you?! You must have been—“ Okay. That was enough. This was sounding far too familiar.

“Rarity!”

The ‘marshmallow’ squeaked, “Ah, y-yes darling?”

I scowled, part of me felt bad for yelling at her, but damnit, “Could you please let me go? I appreciate the sentiment, but…”

Thankfully, she let me go immediately, “Oh! I’m so sorry darling, it just… it just occurred to me how it must have been like for you,” as I straightened back up, she adjusted her… whatever the name of that hair curly bit was… nervously, “I never realized that you never wanted it.”

I gave her a disbelieving look, “Who would want to get mobbed and molested by mares every step they took?”

She coughed delicately into a hoof, looking away with a distinct blush through her stark white fur.

I rolled my eyes.

Still, there was something that worried me, “Rarity?”

“Mhm?”

For a moment, I considered how best to phrase this without loading it in some way to get the best result, then I popped the question, “Did you take down those things I’d made?”

“Those dreadful things? Certainly!” her voice built in volume and vehemence bit by bit as she spoke, “I was happy when the compulsion to try and sell them was gone! It didn’t matter that they made me money, it was vile money based on the profits of a curse. They were abominations of fashion!” she nearly screeched the last part out before her eyes went wide as she realized what she’d said, covering her mouth with a hoof.

I laughed, a deep, boisterous, relieved belly laugh. For a moment, I’d been afraid that she’d been slipping back into the effects of the curse, but if she could insult my works, I found it doubtful. Still, as I snickered, I made a mental note to keep an eye on it.

“I-I’m sorry…?” she gave me a confused look as I waved it off with a hoof.

“No, don’t be sorry, just wanted to be sure that you weren’t being affected by the curse again,” a small smirk crossed my face, “And don’t worry, I agree. Those things were dreadful, only the vest turned out the way I’d really wanted, and even that wasn’t fashionable.”

The white fashionatta relaxed some, “Don’t worry darling, were I to be caught by that horrendous curse again, I would know. I just find it dreadful that you were caught up in such a thing without any desire for it!”

“E-Excuse me, I’m sorry to interrupt…” both Rarity and I turned to the yellow pegasus that had approached us.

“It’s no problem darling! Whatever do you need?”

“A-Ah, w-well, um E-Emeris?”

I stood, turning to her fully, “Yeah? Need some help?”

“I-If you wouldn’t mind that is.”

That’d been what I’d expected to be honest, whole reason I’d stayed really, “No prob, tell me what you need me to do.” I completely missed the look that Rarity gave me, and probably wouldn’t have been able to interpret it if I had caught it.

“Oh, um, okay, I just need you to brace her in place so I can set her shoulder properly,” I followed her over to the surprisingly relaxed tiger. A quick glance confirmed that her foreleg had been bandaged completely and rather professionally. So glad I’d brought this tiger to her rather than trying to do it myself, though I wondered how the hell she’d bandaged with just hooves and her mouth…

Still, I put a leg on either side of the tiger’s uninjured foreleg, pressing myself up against her and forcibly ignoring the fact that I was pressing up against a wall of furry, predatory muscle.

Nope. Not gonna think about it.

“Could you please turn her a bit more? If it isn’t too much trouble…”

Yeah, let’s manhandle (ponyhandle?) the giant predator, this’ll end well. I adjusted myself and wrapped a hoof around the tiger’s side, planting the other three on the ground as I hugged the now-leaning tiger to me.

Damn thing was purring. Purring. Fluttershy was a freakin miracle worker, “Okay now Miss Tiger, this is going to hurt, promise not to do anything bad?” the large feline nodded, and when the shy pony gave me a nod, I tensed up my muscles, preparing myself. The veterinarian tenderly took a hold of the tiger’s foreleg, “Okay now, on three. One. Two. Three.” She gave the limb a wrench, forcing it back into place with a sound somewhere between a squelch and a wet thunk, it almost made my stomach turn.

The roar the tiger let out though nearly made me wet myself… in addition to practically making me deaf in one ear. Seriously, ow.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to restrain the tiger, as I was certain that was beyond my limited strength. Though it flinched and moved against me, it did not strike out at either Fluttershy or me. I glanced at the pegasus, looking for instructions, getting a demure smile and a mouthed ‘Thank you’. At least I think she just mouthed it, she might’ve just said it too softly to hear it over the ringing in my ears. Gah.

Still, she made no move to stop me as I stepped away from the tiger and moved away, so I assumed that was all she needed me fore.

Time to run away! Bravely, y’know, like Sir Robin.

I walked away from the doctor and patient and rather quickly noticed Rarity’s gaze on me. Oh joys. With a sigh, I altered my course back towards my fellow unicorn. Doing an about face, I sat down beside her, watching Fluttershy work her magic.

There was a long moment of silence before Rarity spoke, her voice soft, “Your name isn’t Gary.”

Okay, I was confused. Again. “No.”

“It’s… Emeris?”

“Sounds a bit unusual with your accent, but yeah.”

The look she was giving me made me outright uncomfortable. It was… searching… questioning… penetrating, I shifted under her gaze. The silence stretched, a thoughtful look on her face before she softly said, “People only cared about Gary, never about you… How many ponies know you and not Gary?”

I…

That…

Wow… that… that hit home. Hard.

I looked away, my mouth working soundlessly as I tried to formulate a response, “I…” I was crying… when… I blinked, letting the tears fall.

God damn that mare had hit home with that one.

“Celestia… maybe Luna… that’s… that’s really it…” my voice was soft as I stared at the floor, trying to get my suddenly out of control emotions back into a semblance of decency.

That had hit home hard. Just… holy crap. How’d she hit the core of the issue so hard? I just…

A leg went around me and pulled me close, this time I didn’t complain as she pressed my head to her chest. She hugged me, gently stroking my withers with her hooves as my tears silently fell. A small sob escaped me before I pressed my head against her chest harder, clenching my eyes shut and gritting my teeth.

“Emeris, darling… none of that adoration was meant for you… that’s what bothered you the most… isn’t it?”

Another small sob escaped me. Damnit mare, how the hell do you figure this shit out? Trying to keep myself at least a bit decent, I forced myself to speak, “That…” a weak laugh, “That and not wanting to be molested or molest someone. That was pretty bad…”

“Oh darling,” she hugged me tighter and the tears kept flowing. I didn’t know how long we stayed like that, but at some point, another hoof was placed on my back, gently stroking. This kick-started my brain, and with a deep breath, I forced the emotions down, gently pulling away from the unicorn.

Both mares were giving me a concerned look, and a small, selfish part of me was happy that they cared, “I…” another deep breath, “Thank you, Rarity.”

“It was nothing Emeris darling,” there was a pointed use of my name, and I smiled weakly in thanks.

“I know… but… still. Thank you. And…” another deep breath, collecting my thoughts, “And I just want to say that I’m sorry. For everything. For all the effects of the curse, for all the pain and trouble it caused. I’m sorry.”

Rarity was giving me a… bemused?... look at that comment, “Darling, did you have any control over how it affected other ponies?”

“Um… no, not really… even the best spells couldn’t cancel it out…”

“Then you have nothing to apologize for Emeris darling, it’s not your fault.”

I knew that, but no matter how much I told that to my emotions, logic didn’t change how I felt, and I’d feel better if I apologized, “I know… but…” my eyes flicked over to Fluttershy against my bidding before I forced them back down to the dirt, “I came far too close to doing some horrible things.”

“But…” it was Fluttershy that spoke this time, “Y-You never did any of those horrible things. I-I mean… you didn’t… right?”

My head shot up, eyes wide, “No! Never. I–… I couldn’t have lived with myself if I had! I… that was the closest I’d ever come to it…” I looked away again, missing the glance the two mares’s shared.

A hoof was placed on my shoulder, and I looked up to find Rarity smiling gently at me, “Darling, it’s alright. There’s nothing to forgive.” Weakly, I returned the smile, still trying to collect myself when she slid up beside me, wrapping a foreleg around my withers, “Now! Come along! We simply must do something with that mane of yours! It’s got twigs and leaves stuck in it for Celestia’s sake!”

That time, a laugh escaped me as I was lead along by the fashionatta towards Fluttershy’s cottage, the homeowner following after us. I was being subjected to mare bonding? I’d allow it.

Rather viciously, I suppressed the guilt, not just the unfounded guilt for my curse and its effects, but also my lie... Not that I’d never hurt a pony, I’d never molested one. But… but that hadn’t been the closest I’d ever come. That… that had been with Twilight. I’d remembered why she might have reacted so violently.

She tucked the small purple dragon into his bed, tucking the blanket in around him with her magic, whispering over his sleeping form, almost more to herself than anypony else, “I won’t let him touch you… if Celestia thinks he’s changed… I’ll prove that he hasn’t. Just because we removed his greatest weapon under duress doesn’t mean that monster has changed.”

Nodding to herself, Twilight turned and walked back down into the library proper, sleep could wait, she had research to do, saying softly into the darkness, “I’ll protect my friends from you Gary, no matter what."

Author's Notes:

Rarity is surprisingly hard for me to write, I really hope I got her at least close to right. Don’t be afraid to tell me if I didn’t.

This... looks to be longer than expected. I'd originally intended this to cover reintroducing both Rarity and Pinkie, but Pinkie will take up at least another 3,000 words, and likely will fit in better with the next chapter anyways. Still, this looks like its going to be longer than I thought.

... and I've still got at least 7 more story arcs of at least 3 chapters each... hoooo boy, I'm going to be at this a while...

Edit FROM THE FUTURE: YUP. WAY LONGER THAN I THOUGHT.

Anyways, Autobots roll out!