There was pain. I could not imagine any alternative, it was a simple fact, I could breath, and there was pain.

Ugh. Fuck.

I was in bed, a comfortable bed really, but not my bed. My bed was more like a cocoon of blankets and pillows. My whole body ached.

Fuck you pain. Fuck you up the ass sideways without lube.

Urgh.

There was a beeping, yay beeping? It was steady, that was probably good. A dripping sound too? Huh… and breathing other than mine. Huh…

What had happened…?

Memories of pain, fear, anger, battle, flashed through my head.

Ah. Right. Fought the timber wolves to protect Applebloom.

… why had she been there anyways…? Ugh. Later. After I figured out where I was and dealt with this pain.

I forced my eyes open slowly, expecting the pain from the bright light but unable to completely stifle the groan that it caused. It took several blinks before the world came back into focus.

An unfamiliar ceiling.

Oh fuck, I’m Shinji Ikari.

No, wait, I don’t have a tsundere prepubescent girl with parental issues, emotionless half-sister, and oversexed alchoholic mother-figure all gunning for my pants and all disproportionately busty. Seriously, how had that guy stayed a virgin through that? I know he has issues, but dude, that’s worse than me!

Ah, there we go, my eyes finally focused properly as I blinked up at the ceiling. I looked around slowly, a hospital room, not a huge surprise, I’d been injured pretty bad. Blood bag… and a bag of something else that was clear… I stared at the label hard for a moment before coming to the conclusion that I didn’t recognize the compound. I’d put a bet on painkillers and general fluids.

Either that shit needed to be less dilute, or the drips per second needed to be increased because ow. My everything.

A gentle, surprisingly sexy voice interrupted my thoughts, “Sugarcube…?”

I turned my head the other direction, finding an orange mare sitting beside my bed. My eyes hadn’t finished focusing, but I didn’t need them to tell me who the pony was, “Mornin’ Applejack.” Oh Celestia I sounded bad, I tried to swallow down some saliva to wet my dry throat, “Least I hope it’s morning.”

The farmpony shook her head with a small smile, “Sorry Sugarcube, it’s evenin’, good ta see you’re awake though.”

“Doesn’t feel too good to be awake…” I noticed the window behind her, still daylight, “How long was I out?”

Her face fell slightly, and I felt a slight ache at being the cause, I hated making people worry or unhappy, especially attractive females, “Almost four days Sugarcube. Ah gotta say, even though the doctors said you were gonna be okay, ah was getting’ worried. You looked pretty bad.”

“Not surprised,” I muttered before an amusing thought crossed my mind, “Wait, so that means I normally look good?” I asked with an amused smile.

If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve said she blushed before she thumped her hoof against my shoulder, “Oh hush ya’ varmint.” In spite of myself I winced, hooves hurt, and that shoulder was sorer than I thought, “Sorry Sugarcube.”

“S’alright.” I leaned my head back against the pillow and closing my eyes, just listening to the heart-monitor for a moment. A thought occurred to me and I forced my eyes back open, “How’s Applebloom?”

“She’s alright, still shaken and all, but she only had some scratches,” she paused, and a look I couldn’t read at all crossed her face, “You did good Sugarcube, we owe ya’.”

I made a face at that, “You don’t owe me.”

Her jaw dropped, but she recollected herself quickly, “But you saved Applebloom’s life!”

I turned, poking her in the chest with my hoof to punctuate my words, “And you and your family saved mine.”

Applejack’s eyes narrowed and she poked me back, “Ya’ saved mah little sister and it nearly cost you y’er life.”

Nope, not gonna work, “And you came rushing out to save mine and my sister ain’t here to save. We’re even,” she scowled, and I paused, “Actually, take that back, we’re not even,” a definitively triumphant smile at that, “I still owe you three days of work on the farm once I’m out.”

… man she looked pissed about that. Somehow, she looked even cuter. Stupid hormones. She jabbed her hoof into me uncomfortably, “Now see here,” Eeeeyyyyup. She’s pissed. “You don’t owe me nothin’! You already proved you were sincere about bein’ sorry.”

I shook my head, unable to keep a somewhat amused smile from my face, “A life for a life. On that, we’re even. But I promised you a week of unpaid work, and you’re going to get a week of work. No paying me.” A thought occurred to me and I pointed at her with my hoof, “And don’t you try to pay for my hospital bills either, I’ve got enough money from the Princess’ stipend to cover my bills.”

So that’s what livid looked like on a pony. Still cute by the way. “Horse Apples! You saved m’ah sister, and ah aint gonna not pay that back!”

I shook my head again, maintaining eye contact with the orange mare, my voice much softer this time, “Applejack, you already have. I don’t have anyone precious to me in Equestria…” she stopped, staring at me, “The only lives precious to me are those of the ponies around me, the princesses… and my own. And you saved mine. Don’t sell what you did short, you drove off those timber wolves and kept me alive long enough for the doctors to save my life. If you hadn’t, I’d be dead right now AJ… ”

The scowl melted from her face, her mouth worked silently for a moment, “Emmy…”

“Ah-! None of that,” I pressed my hoof to the tip of her muzzle, a small smile on my face, “No pitying me over this, things are lookin’ up for me now,” I paused for dramatic effect, then gave her my best asshole-smirk, “Still not gonna let you pay me for what I did, indirectly or otherwise.”

She didn’t seem to know what to say to that for a long moment but settled on scowling at me, pushing my hoof away, “It still don’t sit right with me to not repay ya’ for what ya did…”

“And it wouldn’t sit right with me if I let you do so. Like I said, we’re even for saving Applebloom–”

She interrupted me, getting a bit of a pout from me, “And it also don’t sit right with me that y’er still gonna work f’er me without pay,” her scowl hardened.

“I promised didn’t I?” my pout melted into a smile, a way to look at it that might make it a bit more palatable for her occurred to me, “Wouldn’t want to be a liar.” From the look in her eyes, that had hit home, “‘Sides, it’s not like I’m against getting paid for the work in the future, just three more days.”

The beautiful orange mare still looked like she wanted to argue, and I couldn’t blame her, but she also looked like she couldn’t figure out a good way to argue it. And as stubborn as she was? That had to be a pain. Instead, she opted to try and stare me down, her (beautiful) green eyes boring into my own boringly gray-green ones.

Sorry hun, but I could be stubborn too, and I had my honor.

I met her stare and matched it. I’d meant every word I’d said, and I wasn’t going to let her pay me for something she didn’t owe me. She tilted her hat down after a moment, as if that somehow made her more serious, intimidating, or somehow improved her chances. To quote her brother: Nnnnnope.

Finally, she snorted, “You just might be the most frustratin’ stallion I’ve known.”

I was just about to make a crack about taking it as a compliment when there was the sound of a door opening on the other side of me, causing both of us look. The nurse was in? No idea what her name was unfortunately, I hadn’t had to go to the hospital before.

… sadly, she looked like one of the mare’s that would chase me around town all the time. Crap.

Thankfully, she was entirely professional as she came over and checked up on me. A bit overly cold and professional to be honest, but all considered I preferred that to her freaking out in some way or fashion over me.

Aside from the small hiccup when she asked me how much pain I was in on a scale of one to ten, the check-up went smoothly. Whatever scale I’d had before just didn’t… work anymore if I considered 10 to be the worst pain I could imagine. Cracked femur bone my ass. That curse-breaking had to be upwards of 13 on a ‘normal’ scale, sheesh.

It wasn’t a long checkup, pressure, heartrate, temperature, are you feeling any pain and such; and the nurse said she’d send in the doctor once she got the papers in, leaving me alone with AJ once again.

I stared after the nurse for a long moment, mentally cursing myself for not working in an apology in there somewhere, or at least an attempt at one. However, a soft voice drew my attention back to the present, “Emmy?” I turned back to Applejack, and I had to admit, I don’t know why she decided to call me by that nickname, but so long as her eyes weren’t that blank, worshipful look? It was honestly wonderful.

“Mhm?”

“Applebloom’s probably not gonna be able to come visit for a while because of school and bein’ grounded, but she’s sorry for followin’ you.”

I blinked, following me?

Then it processed. It hadn’t then because my only concern had been ‘Applebloom is being attacked by Timber Wolves’ and not why Applebloom was so deep in the freaking Everfree forest. She’d been following me, probably out of some Crusading thing. Crazy filly. Still, I said, “I didn’t mind, just…” I shook my head, “That could’ve gone really bad… I’ll… I’ll talk to her about it when I get out. I’m not mad or anything, but she really needs to be more careful about the Everfree.”

A small smirk played across Applejack’s face, “Ah don’t think anythin’ is gonna want to come anywhere near the farm after y’er little show. Don’t know what ya’ did, but part of the forest is just gone. Nothin’ more than splinters.”

I flushed in embarrassment, pride and guilt warring in my gut, “Doubt it, individuals seem to learn pretty quick, but the word doesn’t spread very well in the Everfree it seems… I mean, those Timber... wolves…” Something clicked in my head, and I scowled, my brain working furiously.

“… Sugarcube?”

“AJ… do Timber Wolves normally act like flesh and blood wolves?”

The confusion on her face was obvious, “As far as ah know, yeah, why?”

“That… that wasn’t normal predator behavior…” I realized I was staring through her neck and brought my eyes up to hers. She seemed to pull back for a moment, “They shouldn’t have kept coming after us after I’d torn apart the first two. Sure, it was a big pack and it was just one unicorn and a filly, but…” I shook my head, turning to glare at the wall, “To keep attacking like that… they should have stopped well before losing even a third of the pack, let alone three quarters…”

“Well, maybe they were real hungry?” she didn’t sound like she believed it either, “Carnivore’s are pretty hard to understand…” that part though, she did believe.

I shook my head, “Not worth it. Trust me. I was an omnivore before I was a pony, and despite what horror pictures might try to tell you, a predator isn’t about to keep chasing prey after the predator is injured. Unless the predator is desperately hungry, it’s not even going to make an attempt if it thinks it’ll get hurt in the process. There’s no point in getting food now if you’re dead, or injured so bad that you can’t get food later.”

“… then what do ya’ think it was Sugarcube?”

My mouth pressed into a thin line, “That’s the problem, I don’t know… and the more I think about it, the worse it is.” I rubbed a hoof against my temple, trying to keep the oncoming headache away, “They weren’t acting either of the ways predators would act around me while I was an alicorn… and even if the wolves were mad at me specifically… no, they wouldn’t have attacked Applebloom first if that was the case, they would’ve come after me. Same if someone was controlling them to go after me…” I thumped a hoof to the bed with a growl, a growl that became a wince as I realized I’d used my injured right one.

“It just… I can’t figure it out…” rubbing my face with a hoof, “Ugh. Nothing’s ever simple…”

“Ya’ think y’er curse is back?” fear, surprise, worry, ugh, what a horrendous mix of emotions packed into those few words.

I shook my head, “No… not really. It’s a possibility that it’s coming back but both Princesses checked for any remnants of it and found nothing.” A scowl passed over my face as I tried to access my magic for the first time since awaking, finding nothing more than a pool of ache, little more than a dribble. That’s… new. Huh. Gonna have to ask the doctor about that, “But just in case, once I get my magic back, I’m going to put up my best Reality Calcifications to counter its effects.”

“You can do that?”

“Yeah,” I replied absently, my brain still trying to puzzle out its multiple threads: what might’ve made the wolves act that way, ways to best counter possible effects of a reappearing curse, what ways I had to try and determine what had happened to the wolves. I didn’t notice the look of fury coming over Applejack’s face, completely unaware of how that made me sound, how it seemed to contradict things I’d said before, but for once, my over-active mouth was helpful, completely unbeknownst to me, “It never worked well on the full curse, but it mitigated the effects. Once I learned enough Reality Calcification magic, I was able to keep the monster attacks localized and it severely cut down on the radius of the ‘stupid-field’ I seemed to have. I might not be as strong as I was as an alicorn, but if the curse is coming back, the effects are still weak and I should be able to completely negate them… for a while at least…”

She was silent for a long moment, which my brain picked up on belatedly, making me turn towards her, finding a look somewhere between fury, confusion, guilt, and a number of other emotions I couldn’t hope to identify, “Yeah?”

“That… magic you know. It didn’t work on y’er curse?”

I raised an eyebrow, “Not really, technically it did, but even with Celestia and me working together, we couldn’t really cancel it out, just make it weaker.”

“So ya’ couldn’t control it even with that magic?”

“No…” I shook my head, my brain grinding to a halt as it tried to process the question, “If I could’ve, I would’ve… I know I’ve mentioned that before…”

A look I couldn’t even begin to describe crossed her face at that and she stood, her voice surprisingly subdued, “Yeah… yeah you did.”

“Applejack…?”

To my enormous surprise, the orange mare began to walk out of the room; the unexpected action causing a worried tension to suddenly grip my heart. She didn’t seem angry, but… had I done something wrong? She opened the door, and I couldn't just let her leave, “Applejack!” She turned, looking at me over her shoulder, and without thinking, my mouth worked, “Thanks for coming to see me… and seriously… don’t worry, you don’t owe me anything.”

Something crossed the orange mare’s pretty face, so brief I didn’t have a chance to identify it. Sadness? Guilt? I didn’t know, “Thanks… Emmy… and thank you for savin’ m’ah little sister. Y’er a good pony… a bit of a weird stallion… but a good pony.”

And with that, she was gone.

…

What the fuck had brought that on?!

“Uggghhh,” I covered my face with my hooves, groaning into them, things just couldn’t be simple huh?

When the doctor came in, I discovered something that I honestly should’ve realized.

They didn’t have a single record on me.

Oh, they had some ridiculous medical records for Gary, with things written in that were just stupid. The face I’d made when I read over them was apparently hilarious, because the Doctor hadn’t stopped laughing for several minutes after that.

Seriously, “Sex: ULTRA MALE”? “Mane: The most awesome flaming mane of blood red and black ever”, seriously, that’s what was in the little box beside Mane. Who the fuck was messed up in the head enough to think that curse was cool?!

So I’d spent the rest of that evening, and even most of the morning the next day helping fill in the gaps as best I could. I didn’t know if my family history of issues would properly carry over, but the information couldn’t hurt. Cholesterol, blood pressure, the fact that I’d had heart trouble when I was little. The whole shebang.

And I found out that cancer didn’t exist in Equestria.

That… had floored me.

It wasn’t even that they called it something different! They seriously had nothing that even resembled the symptoms of any form of cancer I was familiar with. The implications were… I didn’t know really… just… something was seriously different between Pony, and maybe all Equestrian genetics and those on my world.

Still, we’d pieced together a functional medical history for the hospital’s use, and in the process, gave me a full physical.

Good news: I was going to be completely fine, everything I’d taken should be healed within a week due to magic and the treatment I’d been getting. And despite my family history, it looked like everything was well within healthy norms for ponies, sometimes towards the particularly heavy.

The Bad news: I was in rough shape, even now. The laundry list of things that had been done to me was… extensive. I knew I’d been lucky to survive but… wow. Though the magical exhaustion had been a bit of a surprise, it made sense. Still, talk about made of iron. That and my right foreleg was probably gonna scar all over. Fuck. Of course. More delightful scars on that ridiculous leg.

Open heart surgery was apparently not a thing in Equestria. No surprise, but the look the doctor had given me when I’d told him about it had been… amusing.

Also amusing? His reaction when I’d asked how the psych profile was coming along. I hadn’t known, but I’d suspected, and the way he’d sputtered had confirmed it. After that, the actual psychologist had just come in to interview me, it was rather unfortunate for her that psychology had been one of the majors I’d considered in college before settling on business. I recognized a psych evaluation when I was being given one.

Obviously, she didn’t tell me what it was, but she had to do the psych evaluation herself. I answered honestly though, didn’t have anything to hide. And while she seemed a bit weirded out by me and my culture, she didn’t seem to be worried, but that could easily have been her skill as a psychologist beating out my limited skills at people/pony reading.

Overall though, once they’d upped the concentration of my painkillers slightly, it’d been a rather pleasant stay. I didn’t get many visitors, I’d had a little bit of a panic attack once I realized that no one would be able to feed Droolykins, but one of my visitors had been Fluttershy who, in her own stuttering, awkward, and shy way, had assured me that she’d taken care of it.

Right now though? I was staring down Rarity.

“Um… I’m sorry?”

She grit her teeth.

“I didn’t really have much choice… I’ll pay for the next one.”

“You… barely… had it… for… a… week.”

I cringed at the barely contained fury. See, there was a difference here. Applejack angry? Kinda cute. Rarity’s ‘my work getting destroyed’ emotion? Not so cute. As beautiful as this mare is, she looked ready to tear me apart for that.

“I really didn’t have much choice Rarity, the Timber Wolves were almost on top of us again and she wouldn’t get out from under it…”

“And you tore that delightful vest! You destroyed it! It’s a crime against fashion! You looked positively dashing in it and you tore it to shreds like a common ruffian!” I think the nurse tried to come in and tell Rarity to keep quiet around the patient (I.E. – Me), but one look at Rarity’s twitching eye had made her close the door quietly backing out.

An awkward cough, “I am sorry…”

She sighed dramatically, covering her face with her hoof as she tossed her head about, accentuating her words, “I know darling, but it is such a horrendous thing! As glad as I am that Applebloom and yourself are alright, it is so terrible that you needed to destroy such a work!”

Some of the tension that had been gripping my heart eased, she was angry that I’d ripped her work, but if she was going into the overly dramatic already, I was pretty sure I was in the clear.

Pretty sure.

Obviously, she was going to guilt-trip me into doing some things once I got out, but that wouldn’t be a big deal.

“And these hospital gowns! Positively dreadful! Why, baby blue clashes horrendously with your coat darling!” Oh no, she isn’t– “I have just the thing to correct this crime against fashion and decency!” Oh yes, she is.

Guilt-Trip-Excursion #1: Be her dress-up doll. Fuck.

I gave her a deadpan look, “You just want to play dress-up with me.”

The white unicorn gasped, bringing a hoof to her mouth, “Moi?! Why, I would never-! I must merely correct a crime against fashion!”

“And use me as a dress-up mannequin for all your things for stallions.”

“You accuse me of such blatant manipulation? Such brutish coercion?! Such obvious ulterior motives?!”

“Yes.”

“Well you’d be completely correct.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at her particularly smug look, “Alright, so what are you forcing me into first?”

It’d been three days since Emeris had woken up, in that time, Applejack had only found the time to visit the stallion once between all of the work to do on the farm. Even now, she was checking the trees for any bugs or parasites.

The unicorn had been asleep when she’d visited the second time. If Applejack was honest with herself (which she was), she’d spent longer staring at him than she really should’ve, stewing over her emotions. She’d been so angry when she’d last seen him, she’d thought he’d lied to her about not being able to control his curse, and had let the truth slip, she’d been about to make sure he stayed in the hospital for much longer.

But he hadn’t lied, she’d just been jumping to conclusions, and had nearly hurt a good pony.

The magic that had been affecting him had been horrible, for him and for everypony else, and he’d always been so cold and harsh and dominant, almost like an old-school mare. But despite what some ponies had said, he’d never done anything bad.

And she’d just assumed the worst of him at the slightest hint of him lying.

To say she’d felt guilty would’ve been an understatement.

Applejack had been shocked by herself. Emeris had been nothing but pleasant to her since he’d become a unicorn, and while he usually wasn’t the most talkative sort, he was always eager to help. So to just assume he deserved to be knocked around a good one that quickly… it’d made her think.

After stewin’ over it for a few days, as best as Applejack could figure, it wasn’t just because she was a bit scared of him, she was also still a bit angry with him from when she’d thought was him doin’ that stuff on purpose, and a part of her was scared he wasn’t telling the truth. That, and a part of her was actually startin’ to like the unicorn and she’d been pretty hurt when she’d thought he’d lied to her.

It’d barely been over two weeks since she’d thought Gary was competin’ for the position of ‘worst pony alive’, so it was a bit awkward to admit to herself that she liked him as a friend, and that unless he had some serious surprises for her, like him in the way a mare likes a stallion.

She hadn’t even considered it before he’d complimented her like that, even when he was hurt that bad after savin’ Applebloom, he’d complimented her. Now, Applejack didn’t know if it was because he’d been hit in the head a few too many times or anythin’, but he’d sounded so… heartfelt and honest that it’d made her blush.

’Horse apples,’ she thought as she examined the apples of a tree, they’d looked spotty and she had to be sure it wasn’t just a trick of the light, ’It almost makes me blush now, almost a week afterwards.’

A little sigh of relief escaped the farm mare, the spots weren’t any disease or parasite, just a trick of the light. Though she’d found something else in her little examination.

“Afternoon Dash,” she sighed out, this time in exasperation. The many-colored pegasus had a horrendous habit of sleeping in her trees, taking her naps between work and practice all over her orchard. Applejack had learned a good while ago that it usually wasn’t worth the effort to wake up the rambunctious mare unless AJ was looking for a rumble or a way to spend time. And since she was doing neither at the moment, she’d just greet the weather-mare to be polite and get on with her inspection and musings.

To her great surprise, Rainbow Dash replied, a blue hoof sticking out of the leaves and waving distractedly, “Hey AJ…”

Now that made Applejack pause mid step and turn to look at her friend. That didn’t sound like the Rainbow she knew, “Y’all alright up there Sugarcube?”

A head of blue and rainbows popped out from beneath the branches, “Of course I am! I’m always okay!” she shouted indignantly.

Applejack gave her friend an unamused look.

“What?!”

Applejack didn’t waver.

Dash sighed, dropping to a lower, more visible branch, “Okay okay, something’s bugging me.”

The farmpony let her flanks settle on the ground, looking up at her friend, something a pony just had to get used to when dealing with the weather-mare, “And what’s that Sugarcube?”

“It’s Gary,” she grumbled, slumping some before glaring out into space, “I mean, we do all this work to help him, like, not be a prince or something, and then he goes and tears through a whole pack of timber wolves and like, blows up a part of the Everfree! What’s up with that?!”

Well, what a coincidence. A small smile came across Applejacks face, she still had her own guilt to deal with, but she could help Dash with this. Correcting the rumors about him might even be a good way to repay him for savin’ Applebloom, no matter how much he said he didn’t need to be repaid, “Don’t worry Dash, ah know that he’s a bit weird and the spell he was under made it hard to be around him, but he’s not a bad pony.”

Dash blinked confusedly, “What? Of course he’s not a bad pony, what the buck makes you think he was?”

Applejack had been ready to cite the things he’d done for her and her family aside from saving Applebloom, but what her friend had said finally clicked, “–huh?”

“I said what the buck makes you think he was a bad pony? I mean, that spell or whatever it was sucked and everything, but he wasn’t a bad pony or anything.”

“Ah- well, ah thought that everyone just assumed that he…” the orange mare was flushing in embarrassment, “Well, that he, um…”

Dash gave her friend a confused look for a long moment before it clicked, “Oh! You think he bucked all the mares that the magic made go after him? Dude, I saw him turn down Fluttershy when she was trying to use the Stare on him! If he turned down that, there’s no way he was going around bucking all the mares.”

Applejack coughed awkwardly, “Um, then what’s the problem Sugarcube?”

“I don’t know if he’s still Gary or not!”

“… well, his name is Emeris, he just didn’ like to be called that while he was an alicorn.”

“Gah!” the pegasus furiously rubbed her head with her hooves, “That just makes it worse!”

“Ah’m… not sure I understand Sugarcube…”

“It’s just, ugh!” Rainbow Dash slumped back against the branch, “I know that spell he was under sucked and all, and it made me and everypony else act stupid around him, but I actually thought Gary was kinda cool.” She gestured vaguely with her hoof, “I mean, yeah, his mane looked kinda stupid on a stallion, but he did not priss about! And I mean, sometimes he could be really cool.”

“There was this one time, when these cloud-eating monsters were flying towards Cloudsdale while I was visiting, and I was all, ‘Oh no you don’t’ and was all pow and baam!” the pegasus gestured with her hooves, mimicking the moves as she energetically spoke, “But there were a lot of them, and they were pretty tough, so some were getting past me…” she trailed off for a moment, “Almost thought they were gonna get to Cloudsdale before the guard could mobilize…”

But her eyes brightened after a moment, “But then, like, out of nowhere, boom! Gary! He just swipes along the front of these guys, and there are hammers everywhere, slamming into them and knocking them around, and then these huge pillars are all boom and ba’gsshhhh! And the monsters are all pushed back. And yeah, that magic of his made me go all sappy over him, but he was all–“

Dash stood up on the branch, miming a very serious posture and face, almost like a guardpony, dropping her voice as much as she could to mimic the stallion, “’Dash, good work holding them till I got here. You go mobilize the guard, I’ll hold them here until you all arrive.’”

She dropped out of the imitation, “So duh, I went and got those guards up off their lazy asses in two minutes flat! We got back and Gary was still all ‘Pew pew!’ Die monster scum! With his magic and everything. The cloud eaters had barely gotten any closer! But he swung by the guard ponies and was all,” back into the imitation, this time pointing her hoof in time with her words, “’Alright, you, I want your squadron to flank left. You, yours is going to flank right. We’re corralling these things into one area. Leave the top and bottom of the corall open. Everyone else, you’re running interference, don’t play the hero, I don’t want anypony getting hurt here, now move!’”

“So yeah, since he still had that magic and everything, everyone was acting all happy to do exactly what he wanted and everything. But he seriously sounded like a general or warhorse there. And we were all right on it, getting those monsters into a tight little ball in the sky, how could we not though, I was there helping.” Dash preened under her self-praise, and Applejack rolled her eyes.

“That’s when we heard the boom. Everyone was all ‘Wait, where’d Gary go?’ and I looked up, and there was this huge spear of red and black coming down from what had to be the stratosphere it was so high up! And everypony just scattered out of the way and it was all fwoosh and zoom! Then it hit the monsters who were all trying to scatter and it was like a bucking Tornado had gone by!” Dash was talking quickly by this point, gesturing excitedly with her hooves, “Only made of lightning and light and shadow! And the monsters were all sucked up into this thing as it went right through them and they were all ‘Oh no!’ and the thing made them explode into bits of cloudstuff!”

“So everypony’s impressed, they hadn’t seen something that awesome before unless they’d seen me in action, and here we are staring at this drill of black and red as it makes a hard turn in the air and levels off just above the tree-line, all the black and red just bursting off it and it’s Gary! That bucking crazy stallion had dive-bombed the monsters at Sonic Rainboom speeds! He just flies right back up to us and obviously, everypony tries to mob him with thanks and crap, because he’d just been totally awesome, but he’s still all ‘guardpony’ on them and orders them about on clean-up. He tried to slip away after that, ‘cause he obviously didn’t enjoy his whole ‘instant fanclub’ thing–“

“Wait,” Applejack held up a hoof, “Y’all knew he didn’t like that?”

Rainbow gave her friend a confused look, “Duh? I mean, he got more comfortable with them being around him, but he never enjoyed it. And it really bothered him at first, I thought it was obvious…”

The farm pony shook her head, “Most of us don’t have a fan-club of our own to compare it to Sugarcube.”

“Oh… well, it was always really obvious to me that he hated it…”she shrugged before laying back down on the branch, “I mean, he never bragged, even when I got him to teach me that move he did. Turns out it’s a way to corkscrew through the rainboom itself and then ease back enough to catch the spectra and wrap it around you! It’s an amazing move, and it seemed so obvious that he was teaching me because he liked to teach rather than to get something out of me.”

The blue mare looked off into the orchard, crossing her forehooves as her wings settled against her sides, her voice noticeably softer, “I mean… no matter how hard I came onto him because of that silly spell, he was real gentle about how he turned me down…” Dash almost sounded… hurt… “And he never asked anything of me…”

Applejack blinked, staring at her friend for a long moment, it almost sounded like… couldn’t be… “Then what’s the problem Sugarcube?”

Dash growled in the back of her throat, her eyes closed in frustration, “The problem is that Gary was all ‘I want to get rid of this’, which was totally cool ‘cause he obviously didn’t want the fanclub. But then the Princess finds a way to do so that means burning out the pegasus in him and he just… accepts it!”

She gestured angrily with her hooves, “I totally get that the spell on him made him look and seem like, a hundred percent cooler and made ponies act like he was a thousand percent more awesome, but Gary was actually pretty cool and awesome! Not all that radical, but pretty cool and awesome! And when he got rid of it, I thought he’d really change! I got myself ready for the fact that such a cool pony had to go away for another pony!”

“And those wings! He got rid of them! Ugh, such a loss,” a slightly dreamy look passed over her face for just a moment, “Some of the best damn wings I’ve ever seen… just… tossed away… ugh, so not cool.”

“I’d actually convinced myself that I’d be cool with it, sad, but cool with it. But then I find out that he… this Ermine… Ermac… whatever, this not-Gary…” she trailed off for a moment, her eyes slowly dropping to the grass, “I find this jousting arena’s worth of Everfree just… reduced to splinters. And I find out from the doctors that he did it to save your little sister… and that he nearly died in the process…”

“That… I dunno… it kinda sounds like something Gary’d do… just, y’know… without the almost dying part… Gary was too awesome to get beat that bad…” Rainbow Dash covered her face with her hooves, groaning into them, “I just don’t know, okay, I don’t know if he’s Gary or if Gary’s gone or what! I was totally prepared for an awesome pony to have to go away so a less awesome pony could go on, but then the new pony does something awesome! I just… I don’t know…”

For a long moment, Applejack’s mouth worked silently. She’d been thrown for a serious loop by the revelation that her friend apparently had liked Emeris while he’d been an alicorn.

She just might’ve been the only one, because Applejack knew that Emeris himself had hated it.

Eventually, she found her voice and figured out what the proper advice was. At very least, the best advice she could give her weather-mare friend, “Well Dash, about the only thing ah can say is that you should just talk to ‘im. Ah don’t know if Emeris is like the Gary you remember, but ah do know that Emeris ain’t a bad pony, and you should talk to him.”

“But that’s so sappy! And what if he’s like, totally lame? Or if he’s a total loser?!” Dash gestured wildly with her hooves, “Or he just sucks? I mean, Gary could be so cool sometimes, what if this guy is a total egghead? What if the whole ‘bucking monsters in the face’ thing is just a fluke?!”

Applejack face-hoofed, “Just talk to him Sugarcube, you won’t know until ya’ do.”

The weather-mare groaned unhappily, slumping back against the tree limb. She sighed and opened her mouth, but froze, a thoughtful look came over her face. Suddenly, she perked up, her eyes brightening, ears and wings standing up as a grin spread across her face.

A grin that seriously worried Applejack, “Sugarcube…?”

“I won’t know until I get him to prove that he’s awesome enough! Put him through the good ole’ Rainbow Dash awesomeness boot camp and see if he’s up to stuff!”

Applejack started to protest, “Ah don’t think–“

Cyan hooves suddenly wrapped around the farm mare as Rainbow slammed into her, giving her a hug, “Thanks! This’ll be way more awesome than just sitting there talking with a stallion! And it isn’t sappy at all!”

The multicolored mare started to fly off, leaving her friend spinning in place as she tried to stop her friend, just knowing that this would end in disaster, “Sugarcube, wait! Rainbow Dash!”

Said pegasus had almost reached cloud level before she skidded to a halt, “What is it?!”

“Ah don’t think this is a good idea!” the farm pony shouted up at her, hoping to head this off before it got started.

“Why wouldn’t it be-… oh! Duh! Right!” she face-hoofed midair, “He’s in the hospital! He can’t do anything awesome yet! Guess that means I have more time to work on the course then!” she rubbed her forehooves together with what sounded like a mad cackle to Applejack before zipping off.

“… well buck.”

I have come to the conclusion that I dislike being a dress-up doll.

I know, shocker right?

Regardless, while Rarity is a wonderful mare and very good at her job, she’s too much of a fashionatta for my tastes, and I didn’t like having to try on clothes every few moments, even if she was just casting an illusion over me of clothes.

Sure, it’d been fun to listen to her try and explain why something was fashionable and something else was not, even if I heard the words and paid close attention and asked questions? I still just couldn’t see it.

She’d probably still guilt-trip me into something else before she considered the destruction of the vest repaid, but eh, whatever.

I yawned softly, happy that the heart monitor had been removed sometime yesterday. Healing magic could do wonderful things, but that just meant that my ribs would be healed in another day or two rather than two to three weeks. I was looking forward to being able to lay on my other side again. Laying on my left side had been my favorite!

At least laying on my right let me look out the window and see both the stars and the sunset. Best, room placement, ever.

Most of the time I spent sleeping, between check-ups and the occasional… friend… visiting.

That was still weird.

Unbelievably nice and oh Celestia was I not complaining.

But weird.

I’d been awake for nearly four days, which meant I’d been in the hospital for just over a week, and I’d gotten three visits from Rarity, two from Fluttershy, and apparently two from Applejack, though I’d only been awake for the one. Fluttershy had confirmed that that behavior wasn’t normal for Timber Wolves any more than it would have been for ‘normal’ wolves, and once past the sadness and disgust at what I’d had to do, she’d been unable to offer any alternative reasons why they would have done it.

Hugging my spare pillow to my chest, I stared out as Celestia’s sun began to slowly drift towards the horizon. For me? I felt rather popular, and for the first time in years it was a good thing.

Obviously, I wasn’t popular. A few visits from three mares, no matter how high-status or beautiful, did not popularity make.

But it was the feeling that mattered, and it was a good one. My musings bringing a content smile to my face.

Then the door opened.

Lifting my head, I looked over my shoulder at the door, finding a combination of blue and rainbows standing in the doorway. Well, color me confused.

I raised an eyebrow, “Um, evening Dash?” I started to roll over to look at her properly, but my side protested, making me wince, “I’d roll over, but… ah… ribs are still broken.”

Though I couldn’t see her expression properly from this angle, she let out a little harrumph and trotted around the bed, coming to stand in front of me, giving me a surprisingly intense look. Don’t know what brought it on, but I would’ve put money on her checking to make sure I was safe to be around her friends.

So I laid my head back down onto the pillow, meeting her eyes steadily (what is it with these mares and their beautiful eyes?!); I had nothing to hide.

Her eyes narrowed.

I raised an eyebrow.

You’re the one visiting Dash, ball’s in your court.

After a moment, she hopped up, a forehoof on the bed to prop her up as she pointed the other at my face, “So, you used to be Gary, and now you’re not-Gary. Right?”

“Close enough, yeah?”

Dash leaned close, her eyes narrowed as she ‘interrogated’ me, both hooves on the bed, “How many Timber Wolves did you beat up?”

I blinked and thought about that. I hadn’t really tried to count, and even now, when I tried to filter through the pain, adrenaline, and panic, all I got were blurry images, flashes of clarity, emotions. Nowhere near enough to count anything from, “A few I guess. I lost track when I was running around for my life.”

She scowled, confusing me even more before pointing at me accusingly, “Are you awesome? Or an egghead?”

“Egghead, definitely.” … what the fuck kind of question was that?

That actually seemed to make her angry, what the hell?

“But you were the one that blew up that part of the Everfree, right?”

Again, confusion before I figured out what she was talking about. I’d cast Blades Like Stars in the Everfree, and while it was ‘only’ as draining as a fourth circle spell for me due to my earth pony genetics and magics, it was technically a fifth circle spell. There must’ve been some serious devastation where I’d pointed that thing. Whoops.

I coughed delicately, looking away in embarrassment, “Blew up isn’t the words I’d use… but ah… yeah, that was me. Sorry ‘bout that…”

“Gah!” I jumped a bit at her outburst, looking at her confusedly, “Alright, that’s it!” the blue mare poked a hoof to my chest, “You’re going through my obstacle course of awesomeness and my test of coolness! First thing, day you get out of here, got it?”

I blinked, “Um…” What.

A jab from her hoof, “Got it?!” her volume made me cringe, my ears turning away.

“Sure? But–“

I didn’t get to finish the sentence, “It’s settled then! Day after you get out, first thing! You and me, tests of awesomeness and coolness!” she leaned in close, eyes narrowed as her hoof poked my chest in time with her words, “Don’t. Be. Late.”

And then she was gone before I could say a word.

…

Okay, I liked Rainbow Dash and all, but what the fuck just happened?

I was still thoroughly confused by the weather-mare’s actions even well into the next day. I’d been released from the hospital as my ribs had already healed to the point of ‘merely’ being bruised. I’d gone straight to Rarity, hoping she’d know what the hell was going on.

A quick knock at the door of the Caruselle Boutique had the fashionatta opening the door. Though obviously surprised, she still smiled warmly at seeing me in spite of the complete lack of ponies anywhere nearby.

Skittish bastards.

“Emeris darling! Do come in!” the white unicorn ushered me inside, “Whatever brings you here? I thought for sure you were going to be in the hospital for another few days!”

Still bandaged up as I was, I kept it simple, “Rainbow Dash, specifically, how she was acting.”

Rarity let out an exaggerated gasp, “Oh dear! Was she being a ruffian? Oh dear, I know she can be a little rough around the edges but she’s far too much of a darling! Oh, she must’ve been trying to protect the rest of us deary, I’m–“

Wincing slightly, I waved a hoof, cutting her off, “No no, not that. At least… I don’t think so…”

She gave me a confused look, and I belatedly realized that she’d guided me to the couch and had sat me down beside her without noticing. With a sigh, I repeated my encounter with the weathermare as best I could. It was brief, just as the confusion then had been.

To say she was just as flabbergasted as I had been would’ve been overstating things, but she was rather obviously confused. After a moment of rubbing her chin with her hoof, she suddenly brightened, “I-deeeeaaaaaa!”

Ow. My ears.

“Darling, I say it’s rather likely that our dear Rainbow Dash is trying to makes sure you’re not a danger to us. Loyal to a fault, she’s a bit of a ruffian when it comes to these things, always preferring to communicate with her hooves than her mind.”

“Mmm,” I made a noncommittal noise, “Doesn’t totally fit with what she said though… and I’m worried… I’m not exactly in shape to do any ‘tests of awesomeness’.”

“Oh don’t worry darling,” she patted my withers with a forehoof, “We’ll be sure to be there and make sure she’s not too much of a ruffian.”

Unable to help myself, I raised an eyebrow, smirking, “Is that even possible? Dash, not a ruffian?”

Rarity tittered, covering her laughter with a hoof, “Maybe not darling, but we’ll try at least.” Her eyes swept over me, a mischevious sparkle entering them, “Now darling, about that modeling for me–“

“Oops, look at the time! I’m supposed to be in bed!” I gave her my best shit-eating grin, “Doctors’ orders and all! Toodles!” *POP*

My magic might not have been back completely, but I had more than enough to blink outside of her home and get myself on my way.

So! After that (and dodging out of being used as a dress up doll for a second time, damnit mare, I know it must be hard to get mannequins my size, but I’ll make you one later! I don’t appreciate pins in my hide!) I’d headed almost straight home.

Should I have gone and questioned the few friends I had? Probably. But fuck that, I was tired, and if Rarity didn’t know, odds were pretty good my own attempts at figuring it out wouldn’t go so well, and she’d assured me that if she heard anything, she’d tell me. And tea, I hadn’t had any in over a week as the hospital didn’t carry it, so I was seriously wantin’ some tea and some quality time curled up with Droolykins and reading a book.

That, and time spent with Rarity was tiring.

Talking with Rarity was a lot like talking with my sister had been. Sure, their accents were wildly different, and my sister had been crazy about music and dance rather than fashion, but there were a lot of similarities. Same passion, similar dramatics, similar antics. There were differences of course, but just like my little sister, being around Rarity tired me the hell out.

My barriers let me in, and Droolykins rushed out to meet me, happily clambering up onto my back. I ever so politely ignored the fact that said clambering involved claws, he was still pink.

Blech, whatever Dash wanted, I’d find out tomorrow. I’d probably have time tomorrow morning to go ask the few others I knew if they knew what was going on, Dash wasn’t exactly known for being a morning pony.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! She really expects me to- there’s no one else?! Argh! Just-! … wait… no… this is an opportunity… yes… yes! This isperfect. I can get him away from everypony and nopony has to get hurt! It’s perfect! I just have to figure out how…”

I yawned quietly as I stepped out of my barrier, the large ring of sigils inscribed into the ground around my house. Sigils of various metals, silver, gold, and ‘starmetal’, but mostly ‘cold’ iron. All forged in Celestia’s own smithery and blessed by the sun and moon and cooled with my own blood.

There was a reason nothing had ever attacked my home, GSE or not.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes with a hoof, hopping along on three legs a bit awkwardly. Celestia’s sun was just peaking up over the trees of the Everfree, so I should have plenty of time to check with Fluttershy and Applejack, the only other two friends I had, about what in the world Rainbow Dash was planning.

A cyan hoof wrapping around my withers proved that the universe liked to fuck with me.

Funny joke universe. Real funny. Ahahahahahahahaha. Well fuck you universe. Fuck you.

“Are you ready for some Grade A Awesome action?!”

“Not particularly,” I deadpanned.

“Well too bad! ‘Cause you’re gonna prove whether you’re awesome or a lame-o right now!”

“Joys. Could I ask whyyyyyyyyyYYYYYY–?!?!” Fucking crazy mare! Don’t take off with me in tow like that! I was trying to speak! God damnit! She was making so many tight turns at such high speeds that I was actually trying to keep my lunch down, fucking hell mare!

G-Forces aren’t my friend! G-Forces aren’t my friend!

“Laaaaaaame. Totally going to dock points off your score for that.”

My hoof was over my muzzle as I took steady breaths, trying to keep my light breakfast down. Dash had apparently thought that a supersonic barrel roll dive with a sharp stop would be a good way to land. I’d basically collapsed on the ground and groaned, it’d taken me about a minute to get to where I was now.

“You did more impressive stunts than that all the time before, and that one almost made you barf?” she tossed her head, “Psh. Lame.”

I gave her an unamused look, finally setting my hoof back down, “And now that I’m just a unicorn, I can’t do things that I could do as an alicorn. Fancy that.”

She scowled at me, and I met her gaze calmly, raising an eyebrow. In spite of myself, I was rather quickly running out of fucks to give. Rainbow Dash had been one of my favorite ponies, probably right after Twilight Sparkle, but getting dragged around at supersonic speeds while confused as hell and getting insulted? That tended to make me irritable.

Eventually, she snorted and turned around, gesturing for me to follow with a wing, “Well, let’s see whether you’re totally lame or not.”

I followed her a short distance to a small, hastily constructed stage. When I gave the mare my best questioning look, she grinned at me, “This is the stage where you get to show off your coolest and most awesome-est tricks!”

“No.”

“… what?”

My look was perfectly deadpan, “No. One syllable, two letters, one word. Nnnnoooooo.”

“Why not?!” she scowled.

Meeting her (red? No… not pink either… rose… yeah…) rose colored eyes, I shook my head, “I’m not a pet, and I’m not a performer. I don’t do tricks on command.”

“Then you’ll fail this portion of the test!” Dash jabbed a hoof at me angrily and I shrugged.

“Then I fail this part of the test. You didn’t warn me and I’m not about to dance like a trained pet on command,” I wasn’t angry, I didn’t raise my voice, but I wasn’t going to do it, simple as that.

“Come on! You’re not even going to try?!”

“Nope.”

With a growl of frustration, the blue pegasus pulled a clipboard and pencil from… well… somewhere… I really don’t know. But she grabbed them and rather angrily scratched something off of the page. No talent shows. Just… no.

A part of me was afraid I’d do far too well.

And so it went, the athletic mare trying to get me to perform (get your minds out of the god damn gutters) for her, and I shot it down. Each time, the test was scratched off the clipboard.

“Not even gonna try the Coolness test?”

“Nope.”

*scritch*

“Radicalness?”

“Not my style.”

*scritch*

“Epicosity?”

I snorted, “Pfffft. My cutie mark is a book hun.”

*scritch*

I just failed four tests in quick succession. She had me run a lap on a relatively small track, something good for me as I was a sprinter more than a long distance runner. She’d grumbled something about “Eh, passable,” when I had finished.

Look, if you’re going to put me through tests and trials like this with no explanation whatsoever, I reserve the right to not do the tests. And I was not going to perform (Mind, gutter, get out of there) for her on command.

I may have been Celestia’s hound on a leash, but damnit, those weren’t my tricks.

Regardless, once we’d ‘finished’ that set of tests, Dash had stared at the clipboard for a long time. And while I couldn’t put a name to the look that crossed her face, it actually made me feel a little bad for not even trying. However, something seemed to cross her mind, making her nod to herself, “Alright, one more, c’mon.”

She stowed the clipboard, tucking the pencil behind one of her ears and trotted off, following the edge of the Everfree, and so I followed.

Taking my eyes off her flank as she walked took more than a moment, just because she was irritating at the moment didn’t mean my eyes didn’t wander in spite of myself. But once I did, I found myself face to face with an obstacle course.

My eyebrow went high as gray-green eyes swept over it. Lightning traps, tightropes, walls, wheels, hurdles… was that a spiked pit? … and was that a bear? … that was a bear.

“Like it?” my eyes snapped back to Dash, grinning proudly over her shoulder at me, “It’s the patented Rainbow Dash Awesomeness Course! Guaranteed to determine awesomeness and coolness and guts!” the blue mare got up onto her hindlegs, gesturing at the course with her forehooves, her spirits obviously buoyed at the introduction of something she’d worked hard on, “Not only is it awesome on its own, but it’s guaranteed to increase your awesomeness each time through and even looks awesome!”

A small smirk played across my face, “It looks more like pain to me…”

Was she pouting? Oh my goodness, she’s pouting! So cute. I actually had to squash the urge to walk over and kiss her in spite of the small scowl on her face. A grin spread across my face unbidden and she scowled harder, falling back to all fours before pointing a forehoof at me, “Laugh it up, because you’re the one who’s going to be running it.”

Well, that killed my grin, “You never did explain exactly why I’d be doing this.”

She rolled her eyes, “To test how awesome you are, duh.”

“Yeah, but why?”

“Because I want to see if you’re…” she stopped, her eyes suddenly shifting quickly, “Because it’s important, okay?!”

My raised eyebrow told her exactly how much I believed that.

It was rather obvious that our previous battle of wills about her other tests had pushed her to the limits of her patience, as she flew nearly into my face, hovering there and poking a hoof against my muzzle, “Are you questioning me?”

“Yes.”

Is it wrong that I love it when being bluntly deadpan like that makes someone’s thought process come very obviously to a grinding halt?

I sighed as a bit of pity and guilt had a party in my chest, I gently pushed her hoof aside with my muzzle, “Look, I just want to know what brought this on.”

“I just…” the pegasus let out a frustrated groan, covering her face with her hooves and landing, “Just run it for me, please?”

A quick glance at said course, it honestly didn’t look that bad, but still… “Dash… I’ll run it, I just want to know–“

The blue pegasus let out a sound of frustration, her teeth closing around the back of my neck and dragging me along, her scratchy voice muffled, “Jufft run ‘e bucking course a’ready!” I heaved a sigh and picked up my dragging hooves, walking the rest of the way to the starting line.

God-… Celestia damnit, I felt like a fucking softie in the worst sense of the word. But I couldn’t bring myself to say no when she asked like that. Crazy mare or not, it sort of tickled something inside of me to get manhandled like this, and she was cute. Urgh, “Alright alright, yeesh,” I grumbled as I stood at the starting line. Whatever, if she didn’t want to tell me, she didn’t want to tell me, I’d press harder if she didn’t spill it after this.

But right now? It just wasn’t worth my time to argue with the stubborn mare. I’d only woken up a short while ago and had been butting heads with her all morning. I hadn’t even had any tea or worked out or read a book or anything fun yet today. I was grumpy and not in the mood. Ugh.

Ugh, whatever, let’s get this over with.

Rainbow Dash grumbled to herself as she held her clipboard.

She almost hadn’t let this Emmer-whatsit even try this course, but a small, nagging voice in the back of her head (that sounded suspiciously like Fluttershy) had pointed out that if she hadn’t let Tank compete, then she wouldn’t have gotten her awesome pet. So despite not believing he had a chance, she was going to let him run the course (even if it meant pushing him into it).

The fact that she’d spent the past few days building it for this exact purpose might have had something to do with it.

Didn’t mean she had to like it though. The stallion looked so lame right now, all dull colors, a book for a cutie mark (seriously, a book?!), a kinda-curved horn, and those droopy eyes of his. They were all sleepy and a boring gray, actually made him look kind of sad really. The little ‘beauty mark’ beneath his left eye did not help. And he didn’t think her course was cool! What a jerk! She’d worked on it for days!

The stallion looked lazily over the course before turning his head to her, asking in that deep, tired-sounding voice of his, “Alright, what’s the goal here?”

Dash scowled at him, “To get to the other side as quickly and awesomely as possible, duh.” Was he even at least an egghead like Twilight? That was obvious.

He rolled his eyes, “Figured,” a small smirk played across his face, “Guessing I can’t just go around the obstacles?” Unable to help herself, Dash growled at the frustrating stallion, but it only made him chuckle, “Yeah, didn’t think so,” a tired, almost resigned look settled over him, and the unicorn slumped a bit.

And then… something about him changed.

Dash couldn’t put a hoof on it, but suddenly, he went from total lame-o to… stallion.

His eyes weren’t half-lidded and almost gray, they were bright and fully open, glittering with an intelligence that hadn’t been there before. Even though they were flicking about the obstacles of the course and not Dash, there was a sudden intensity to them.

He shifted into a ready stance, and what Dash would’ve moments before called lazy seemed calculated and deliberate.

His muscles bunched as he tensed like a coiled spring, and Dash was suddenly aware that he had muscles. Not only that, but she was very suddenly aware that every inch of the stallion at the starting line was either lean muscle or bone.

“Ready.” Even his voice was different, there was sudden edge and volume where there had been none before.

What the buck had just changed?

Those suddenly intense emerald eyes (When had they changed color?) swung to her and his eyebrow quirked upwards.

Dash flushed in embarrassment, grabbing her stop watch that she’d set nearby for this exact purpose and nodded at the unicorn, coughing into a hoof to clear her throat, “On three! One, two, three!” The unicorn bounded off as Dash hit the stopwatch, and the blue mare’s jaw began to slowly drop.

She’d known that he was kinda fast, he’d run a decent time for a unicorn. But she’d only just realized how big the stallion actually was, and that he just might’ve been the most agile non-pegasus pony she’d seen since Pinkie Pie. He practically cantered up the tightrope and then across it, his face a look of intense concentration but his movements carried a calculated grace.

He didn’t run back down the other side of the tightrope, instead leaping on top of one of the hurdles Dash had created and leaping from the top of one to another, knocking over two and only making the others wobble.

Another leap brought him atop the suspended rolling log which he bounded off with barely a wobble.

He ran towards the spiked pit, a vicious grin appearing on his muzzle, one that sent shivers down Rainbow’s spine, though whether they were shivers of fear or excitement, she wasn’t sure. Dash’s jaw dropped fully when, instead of leaping over the pit, instead his horn flashed with power and an enormous emerald sword appeared from thin air and slammed into the dirt, forming a bridge across the pit which he simply ran over.

The bear Dash had gotten Fluttershy to coax over had awoken at the sound of the blade, and the stallion simply leapt over it with a surprisingly boisterous “’scuse me!”

He completely ignored the ropes Dash had draped on the wall to climb with, instead he simply ran at it full tilt and thundered up the side, hooking his forelegs over the edge of the top just as his momentum faded and then hoisting the rest of him over with the ease of a fit earth pony or pegasus, landing on his side and rolling up with an obviously practiced ease.

Galloping to the next wall, the one Dash might’ve been the most proud of out of the bunch, he made to run up it before noticing the handle. There was a flash of… recognition? in his eyes before he grabbed the handle with his teeth and heaved, the muscles in his neck and back bunching as he lifted the wall, the sizable mass of wood sliding up the rungs on its sides. He even tossed the damn thing above his head enough to run under it, something Dash herself couldn’t do.

A flash of magic and he was bounding along the tops of the cloud banks, lightning playing at his flanks as he leapt from one cloud to another, his hooves still glittering from the cloud walking spell.

With a final leap, the stallion landed at the finish line hard, his flank smoking and slightly singed from the lightning. With that same vicious grin, he turned his head over his shoulder and blew away the smoke with a single puff, laughing as he flexed his hind legs in turn to make sure they still worked.

’… what the buck was that?!’

It took a moment for Dash to collect her wits enough to click off the stop-watch. She stared at the stallion as he panted, his coat managing to shine in the dappled light from the sweat that had begun to collect in it, the grin faded as his breathing evened out, but the excitement and intensity still glittered in his eyes.

“That…” he laughed, a deep belly laugh even as he kept trying to catch his breath, “That… was a lot more fun… than I thought it’d be. Better…” he swallowed, the smile on his face more normal and familiar to Dash, the one of a runner’s high, “Better than running through the Everfree… that’s for sure.”

The unicorn walked over to her, obviously in much better spirits after the exercise. He’d said he was an egghead, what the buck?!

As he approached, the scent of his sweat, the scent of a stallion, washed over her, making Dash flush slightly and sending her emotions reeling even harder. She’d almost written him off as a total lame-flank that wasn’t a worthy inheritor of Gary’s, but then he goes and pulls that?! What the buck?!

That’d been cool and awesome and gutsy as Tartarus!

He walked right up to where she sat, his sides still heaving a bit as he breathed hard, there was an amused twinkle in his once again gray-green eyes, “So… how’d I do?” he gave her a grin that she recognized as teasing. It made her flush darken, but also made her anger spike. He obviously knew he’d done a good job.

What was he doing making her feel so confused? How much of Gary is still in Emeris? Did the pony that impressed Dash so much even exist? Why couldn’t he just make up his mind and be awesome? She couldn’t even make up her mind on whether he was awesome or not, let alone how she felt about him. Who was he to screw with her like this?! Ugh!

Dash tossed the clipboard aside, scowling at the infuriating stallion, “It made up for all your other fails!”

The smile on his face faded rather quickly to a look of annoyance, “And that means… what, exactly?”

“It means that I don’t bucking know! It’s all a draw, a blank, a useless bunch of tests! It doesn’t tell me how awesome you are, it just made things more confusing!” she stomped a hoof, snarling in the larger stallions face.

He looked unamused, “So what now then?”

What now? What now?! The whole point of this was to determine if he was still awesome, if he was still the pony she’d known! And all her tests hadn’t worked! It’d just made things so much more confusing! How was she supposed to figure out if he was awesome and cool or not?! It wasn’t like… wasn’t like she had something else awesome and cool to compare him to.

Or a good way to test those things and work out her anger.

…

Suddenly, she had a foolproof plan that couldn’t fail.

She jabbed a forehoof into his chest, her face close to his (she didn’t like his smell, not a bit) as she growled, “You and me, right here, right now.”

His eyebrows went up, and was it just her, or did his face turn a little red? “Um… doing what exactly?”

Dash flushed brightly, but snarled at the bigger stallion, “A sparring match you bucking horse apple!”

“Wait, what?” he blinked, “You’re cute and all, but are you crazy?! I just got– ACK?!”

The tone of his voice made it worse, her anger flared higher, the response to her confusion and the turmoil of emotions in her. All her doubts, her worries, her confusion and sappy feelings that might exist? They had a vent, a target. And that target was right in front of her.

That’d done it. Her face had flushed even worse at being called cute, and being called crazy had just sent her emotions into further turmoil. She’d pounced on him with a snarl and tried to pin him so she could clobber him properly for being a confusing stallion, only to find him throwing her off, his greater reach and size being more than enough to do so with her bad grip.

Dash landed upright easily as the stallion scrambled to his hooves, yelling at her, “Gah! Damnit mare! What the hell?!”

“You heard me! You and me, here and now! Full contact sparring match! See whether you’re worth a crap or whether it was all just Gary!”

First there was shock, but then anger flooded his features for the first time; he snarled right back at her, “Alright then! Bring it!”

Dash brought it.

Author's Notes:

I’m so evil.

By the way, thank you both, Aburi and Anhero for being my pre-reader and editor respectively, you guys rock!

As always, comments feed me, tasty tasty comments! OMNOMNOM!

Autobots! Haul ass!