The world all around is dark, and nothing is visible as far as the eye can see. The void stretches endlessly with no end in sight. Not that much can be seen with darkness all around, anyway.

I’m sitting on a bed, or at least that’s what it feels like. I’m in a room of some sort, but I can’t see anything. I hear voices, but I can’t understand them. Is this what my dreams are now? In my hand there is a lighter… It looks familiar… It feels dear to me, but I can’t quite place why that is.

And then, I fall.

Dreams in which one falls are always terrifying, but at the same time, they are liberating. Nothing to worry about. Nothing but the destination, of course, but that’s a given.

“You talk a lot.”

I turned my head quickly, trying to find the source of the voice, but to no avail.

“Can you try stopping? It’s annoying,” the voice said, I figured I might as well try. And I did. “It’s too dark here, maybe some light will help,” the room became illuminated and the view of the sky and the sun in the distance was shown, a real nice display, I notice a tall white figure; a horse with an ethereal looking mane… and wearing a crown. Dreams, you have a knack for the strange.

“You know, you aren’t bad, at all,” a female voice comes out of the horse’s mouth. It was familiar, yet strangely alien as well.

“What do you mean?” I asked her, she shook her head.

“What you did to get the Pinkies… That was smart, genius even… Maybe you aren’t just a waste of life…” she finished insulting/praising me about the days old event.

“Who are you?” I asked her. She only smiled

“I‘m hurt. Don‘t you remember? You met me once, in a dream like this,” she waved a hoof and everything dissipated, bringing the darkness once more. “Oh well.”

“What are yo-” I never managed to finish as I fell once more, I look up, and I really come to terms with the huge horse. "Wait, are you C-Celestia?"

“I think you are…”

THUD!

“Fuck!” John cursed as he instinctively reached for his elbow and rubbed the pain away. “What the hell…” the dream quickly came back, it was still vivid in his head, and after a yawn, a stretch, and a complaint after a badly popped bone, he ran downstairs where Spike and Twilight were already eating breakfast.

Rows upon rows of trees were passed by, the sound of hoof steps were audible in the quiet area, chirping and rustling from animals around quite discernible, as they hid from the two creatures walking side by side through the calm forest.

One was a tall, buff looking gryphon, slightly taller than Big Mac, he held a perpetually threatening stare, a look that was further emphasized by his ragged look and multiple cuts, the clanking of a set of claw hooks on its talons looking worn and used adding to the image.

Alongside him, a creature that contrasted with him walked as well.

He was a small green pony, merrily trotting with a pensive look, his small glasses falling off his face slightly as he jumped, his cowpony hat never moving from the spot it was on, but his wild light green mane going about, he bore no cutie mark, and he carried a satchel with countless stacks of papers, many of them completely strewn around in the pack randomly, some of them even crumbled. He seemed completely unaware of anything, until he turned to the gryphon and spoke.

“So, what you are saying is that due to their lack of an appendage to direct the magic with, Gryphon aren’t able to use magic!? Well, I’ll be!” the gryphon only shook his head, the young colt had remained from talking for more than ten minutes. A new record for certain.

“Listen kid, don’t you think a book would benefit you more with that kind of questions?” he asked, but the voice that came out of him wasn’t a rough personification of masculinity, but rather, that of a refined child, easily matching the colt’s.

“Oh, no!” he said, shaking his head rapidly. “I need to learn this info myself! From others!” he stopped and quickly jotted down some notes and hastily shoved them into the mess of papers in his satchel.

“I read that from a book…” thought the gryphon exasperated. He sighed as he set his eyes on the road. He’d picked the young pony up by the entrance of the forest hours before; he looked lost and scared, and as such, had offered him assistance.

What he didn’t expect was the young colt to quickly get over his fear of him and begin the talk… The never. Ending. Talk. Not that he regretted it; he always enjoyed company, and it could be helpful to boot.

“So… Where are you heading, mister?” the gryphon snorted, it wouldn’t hurt to tell him where he was heading. He had already broken one of his rules by taking him along, after all.

“I have a rather important thing to take care off, and I‘d say we are almost there,” he said, his eyes noticing the thinning of the tress. “To a town that has been rather popular lately.”

“Ooooh!” he could only smile, he enjoyed the child wonder of the young thing. He always had a soft spot for young ones, even in the middle of a job. Ponies liked to call it being good. Gryphon liked to call it ‘pony stuff’ He snorted thinking of how easily it fit. “Can’t really change how I think so easily, can I?” he thought of days when he‘d been made fun of. He also thought of those gryphon that no longer existed because of it. “Well, well… Looks like we are here, kid.” he pointed out, directing his attention to the lack of trees in front of them.

The young colt’s eyes lit up as he noticed in the distance; a humble little town, simplistic in its look, but a homely looking one nonetheless.

“Where are we, mister?”

“Welcome to Ponyville, kid.”

“Wow… What a stupid name! Oh well, this is where I wanted to be anyway,”

“And there goes the magic of the moment… Right, come on, kid,” they began their walk to the town. “So kid, why do you want to come to Ponyville for?”

The colt smiled and waved his hoof. “It’s my super secret!” the gryphon rolled his eyes, but didn’t comment any further.

In but a few minutes, they reached the outskirts of the town, but before entering, the gryphon removed all of his weapons and put them in his bag—a smart plan, since as expected, they were stopped by one of the ponies.

“Hello, sir. What business do you have here?” asked a brown pony roughly, he looked at him, noticing the hourglass shaped cutie mark on his flank.

“Nothing much, we are just passing by. Is there a problem?” he replied, giving him the warmest look he could muster, he didn’t want any more trouble than he needed.

The stallion was taken aback by his odd voice, but shook his surprise quickly. “I-I see. I apologize for the rudeness, it’s just that we have to be on the lookout, this town has been… Rather hectic for quite a while, so I hope you and your colt can understand,” he said, ruffling the mane of the small green colt, who in return snorted at the affection.

“I knew brining him was a good idea. Thank you, Mr…”

“Time Turner! I work as the major’s aide. It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr…”

“Hilbert is the name, and don’t worry about it, no harm done,” he said, reaching out for the stallion’s hoof and wrapping it with his huge talon.

“I… See that you've seen your share of hardships,” Time Turner mentioned, noticing the multiple cuts and marks in Hilbert’s limb. “Oh, forgive my rudeness.”

“It’s alright, you get used to it,“ he raised his other talon where a claw was obviously missing, causing Time Turner to gulp. “It’s a tough world outside of Equestria, Mr. Turner, we don’t have such a magnificent ruler like you do, but we make do. It’s not that bad, really,” he said with a confident stare which Time Turner returned.

“I see. Well, I hope you both enjoy your stay in Ponyville, make sure that your young doesn’t cause any problems!” and just like that, he left.

“Geez… Talk about horrible security, but gotta hand it to the kid, he made this go much smoother… Where did he go?” he looked around, but found no sign of him. “Dammit! Well, I guess I got him outside the forest, that’s got to count for something. Just hope he doesn’t do anything dumb, Screw it, I‘ll look for him later,” and without another word, he ventured into town.

“So… Basically, it was like the previous dream, but in this one you remember some Princess Celestia-lookalike was talking to you?” asked Twilight as she finished her tea.

“Yes, that is exactly what I just finished telling you,” replied John looking annoyed.

“I’m just making sure I have the facts correct,” she explained.

“Well, yes! It was weird, and then she said… ‘I think you are…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“… I think you are, what, exactly?” she asked with growing curiosity. “Don’t keep me in suspense!”

“Oh! Well, at that point, I fell off the bed and woke up!” John said scratching his head in embarrassment.

Twilight smiled amused walking to the dish pit and dropping her cup. “Honestly, I don’t think I can do much with that information. I can only tell you it’s a dream created by your subconscious, so I wouldn’t worry too much.”

John grimaced at the response, but concurred. “Yeah… I suppose so.”

“In a much more important matter… Are you ready for today?”

“Gee, thanks for reminding me, Twilight,” he replied, shaking in fear at the prospect of what he was set to do. After all, who wanted to practically baby sit Diamond Tiara of all ponies?

“Well, you WERE the one who accepted the job,” she reminded him.

“I know! Is it like your job to laugh at my misery?” John asked as miserably as his question showed.

“No. I only do for the things you set yourself up for,” she said with a smirk.

“Nah, that‘s my job!” added Spike, coming up from behind, laughing at John’s pouting. “Oh come on! You look funny when you pout, you can’t blame me.”

“Well, I’m blaming you anyway, and there is nothing you can do!” he said, sticking his tongue at Spike.

“Right back at you, buddy!” he responded sticking out his own.

“I don’t like you very much…” John said with a venomous tone.

“And I guess I have to be the adult here and say that you both need to cut it out!” Twilight sighed annoyed.

“Adult?” John thought for a bit before asking. “You know, I never asked you how old you were, question never seemed to come up,” Twilight seemed surprised, but scratched her head as she realized it as well.

“Oh yeah, I never did, did I? Well, I‘m seventeen,” John’s jaw nearly hit the floor.

“Really? And… You live on your own?” Twilight raised a confused brow.

“Pinkie is sixteen, and she stopped living with her parents at a somewhat earl— wait, is there something I’m missing?” John couldn’t help but return a twitch of his eyes at the new information, as it had been something he never expected.

“So you are both underag… I’m… Gonna head off to, er, work now, yeah,” he left without saying another word.

“Did I say something wrong?” she asked Spike, who only shook his head, just as confused as her.

“Ooh! Aah! Cool! Eeh… I’m bored now.”

The young colt walked through town with a tourist mindset, he looked around with awe at the colorful town, but that did not last, as he quickly grew bored of the sights.

“Geez, and I thought my town was b-ugh!” he was unable to continue, as a beam of light suddenly hit his eyes. “Aah! The pain! It burns!” he rubbed his eyes and timidly opened them again, as he did, he noticed something on the floor, shining in the sunlight.

“Ooh! What’s this?” he picked up the object, but was unable to investigate it any further as voices close by took his notice.

“…-mah sister’s friend Twilight works, Babs,” his ears perked up at the voices, his interest piqued by one of the names, he followed the voices, forgetting the object for the time being.

“Um, well. I don’t really like reading much…” admitted Babs.

“Oh, that’s alright, cuz! Ah’ don’t much either!” concurred Applebloom.

“So, why are we here then?” asked Scootaloo who stood besides her with a bored face.

“We are giving her the whole Ponyville tour! We won’t be able once the parade starts!” explained Sweetie Belle.

“Does that mean we can go to Sugarcube next? I’m huuungry! Also, can we walk now? I’m tired of pulling you guys!”Scootaloo complained taking off the reins to the embarrassed look of her friends.

“Um… Ah’ guess we could walk… And I DO want some sweets…” Appleboom noted.

“Did you say sweets!”

“Woah!” the four fillies jumped in place at the voice, and quickly all hugged each other in terror. That is until they noticed the green colt, and their terrified stare became glares

“Hey! What’s the big IDEA!?” shouted Sweetie, her voice breaking at the last word.

“Ouch! Calm down kid, you nearly broke my eardrum…” the young pony complained, but the glares continued.

“Answer Sweetie B- Woah! Hey y’all! Look!” Apple Bloom said, pointing to something that everypony quickly picked up on.

“You don’t have a cutie mark!” pointed out Sweetie.

“Well that's just rude. You haven't even introduced yourselves!” the colt said with a pout.

“Says the pony that just jumped on us and scared u- I mean, my friends!” retorted Scootaloo, pressing her face against the green pony.

“Um… Good point! Sorry, miss!” Scootaloo softened her glare but did not remove her eyes from him.

“W-well, you apologized, so I guess we can let it slide…”

She was pushed out of the way by Apple Bloom who reached to the colt’s leg and shook it vigorously. “Well, we are sorry too. So, Ah’ heard that you were hungry!“ she said, changing the conversation. “Wanna come eat with us?”

The colt grinned happily and nodded rapidly. “Would I?!” he followed after Apple Bloom, leaving the others behind.

“What’s the deal with my cuz?” asked Babs.

“I think she wants him to join us,” whisperedSweetie Belle.

“Ugh, why would we want him in our group?” said Scootaloo annoyed..

“Oh, come on. The more the merrier! Besides, you don’t have to be mad, he wasn’t trying to scare you,” Sweetie finished, walking away with Babs in tow.

“Hey! I… I wasn’t scared!” she said, kicking a rock in the way and getting on her scooter, following the group with a pout on her face. “I wasn’t scared…”

A pair of doors closed, John, and Diamond Tiara stood outside them. Both held a sad stare, as they looked forward to the terrible day they would have.

Each of their reasons may have had something to do with the other.

“I hope you realize that I hate you,” began Diamond Tiara.

“Well, I hope you realize that I still have your allowance.”

“You wouldn’t leave a lady without her allowance! That would be… Mean!” John couldn’t help but laugh.

“Admittedly, I came up with the idea on the spot, but I think we’ll get along JUST fine, don’t you think?”

Diamond Tiara glared at John, a look of pure hate towards him that no mere child could have pulled off easily, but it seemed befitting of Diamond herself. He didn’t really blame her; it was a rather mean plan after all.

After arriving at the Rich mansion earlier, he had found it problematic to make the filly listen, even her father was having problems. Fortunately, he had been a kid before, and he quickly came up with the solution: to become the keeper of her allowance.

Something that she didn’t take kindly.

“Whatever…” she said with a defeated expression.

“Okay, I almost feel bad… But not quite,” he thought. “I still have to wrap my head around that age thing. Maybe…” he looked down to Diamond Tiara who only kept her glare. “Hey, Diamond, I was wondering if I could ask you something.”

“You can’t,.” John flinched, he’d been aware of what the response would be, but didn’t expect the harshness of the answer.

“Oh, come on! What if I give you ice cream?” John offered.

“Are you bribing me?” she smiled mischievously.

“Guilty as charged, so is that a deal?”

She seemed thoughtful for a moment before answering. “Sure, what is it?” her face showed some excitement before returning to her usual condescending stare, and then walking ahead, John quickly catching up to her.

“Well… I was wondering, what age does a pony reach adulthood?” he asked quickly.

Diamond Tiara stopped and turned to him with a boorish look. “Really? That’s your question? And here I thought you were dumb before,”

“Oh, what’s that? You don’t want ice cream? Well, that’s a shame,” he said, mockingly turning away, but noticing the look of sadness on DT's face told the whole story.

“Y-you wouldn’t!” she nearly cried out, and John nearly took his decision back, noticing her childish behavior come out over her usual nasty self with her pout, he hadn’t expected the response.

“J-just answer the question please, and you‘ll get your ice cream,” he said, avoiding her puppy dog eyes.

“F-fine!” he felt regret as the young filly wiped some small tears from her eyes. “When a pony turns fifteen, they are considered an adult! Are you happy now!?” she said loudly, her voice cracking in a rather comical way.

“Yes, yes! Let’s go get ice cream!” he quickly offered. She instantly cheered up, happily trotting behind John. “Well, if she can act so childish, I think there is hope for her yet,” he thought, a bit of satisfaction for the ‘progress’ he’d gone through.

They made their way out of the RIch state, and quickly returned to Ponyville. John kept to himself, thinking of what he was supposed to be doing to help the filly behave better. “I have nothing… That’s not good.”

“So, what are we supposed to do?” asked DT. John tensed up, cursing the inopportune timing. “All daddy told me was that you were going to ‘help me’ or something,” she sounded angry, obviously disliking that her dad had practically forced her to it.

“Well…” he wondered whether he should tell her what they were doing. “I guess you could say I’m here to educate you, in… The proper way to talk to other ponies.”

“I see…” she said with a sigh. “If daddy says so. Okay, I’ll bite! What do you have in mind?”

John stopped in surprise. “Just like that? You are okay with it?” DT simply nodded. “W-well, we can start by you calling me Johnny! Maybe we can be friends this time!” she rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Baby steps, baby steps…” he thought.

“So what? Are you gonna spend my money for ice cream?” John gave her a shocked look.

“Of course not! It’s my treat, this is coming from me, okay?” he smiled, hoping to get the message through.

“O-okay…” he managed to notice what could have been a smile, but it had disappeared as fast as it had come. “Well, come on then! Ice cream awaits, idiot!” she said, running ahead of him.

-Aww, the little filly has a heart after all!- John stopped at the sound of the voice.

“Did you say something, DT?” she turned around with a visible look clearly saying ‘what are you talking about?’. “Never mind, let’s go get that ice cream. That was weird…” he didn’t think much of it as they headed towards Sugarcube Corner.

“Hmm, this is great!”

“Um, yeah… Can Ah’ ask you a question?”

“Sure!”

“Are you going to eat your weight in cupcakes?” Apple Bloom asked, noticing the great amount of cupcake wrappings on the table, having ordered a few batches of the sweet, she had expected to take some home. The green colt; however, made it so that she wouldn’t.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” he said noticing the mess. “I guess I was more hungry than I expected…” he apologized quickly. “I wish I could pay you, but I don’t have any money,” he said, looking teary eyed.

“What? Well, you could ask your parents, dude,” proposed Babs, to which the kid looked surprised.

"Um..." he began, looking to the side.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen you around. Who are you, kid?” asked Scootaloo suspiciously.

“Well, I mean... Look! I found this!” he showed the item he had found earlier, they were all taken by surprise by the item he brought to their attention.

“What is that?” asked Sweetie, taking it from his hands and investigating it up close. “It looks like it’s made of metal… Woah, and it opens!” she noticed, popping the top to the side.

“Whoooh, what does it do!” asked the colt curiously, forgetting the previous question himself.

“Well… This looks like it can be pre- Aaah!” she dropped the object as it suddenly brought a flame to life. “What was that!?” the green colt picked it up and looked at with hungry eyes, sparkling in an overly curious manner.

“This. Is. INCREDIBLE!” they all jumped at the last shouted word. “Wonder how it works! Maybe it’s has some sort of pyro magic set up so it brings the flame into existence by tapping the button! Maybe it takes the components on the air to make it work! The possibilities are endless!”

“Or… Maybe it’s just a lighter… MY lighter?” they all turned to the voice and noticed the tall figure of John approaching them with Diamond Tiara holding an ice cream cone in her hooves, licking the treat with gusto.

“John!” two of the fillies called after noticing him, only Sweetie Belle gave him a disgruntled cough.

“Hey girls! And… you both are new. Hello, young lady,” he said to Babs, though she hid behind Applebloom instantly, obviously terrified of him. “Um… Did I say something wrong?”

“Nah, she is just shy. Come on, Babs! John is a nice guy!” she looked behind him, seeing Diamond Tiara trying her best to keep out of sight. “Um, John, what is Diamond Tiara doing with you?”

“Um, well,” he looked back at Diamond, her eyes telling him all he needed. “We are hanging out! I decided that I had gone too far last time we met, and so, we are here for some apology ice cream!” Apple Bloom eyed the pair suspiciously, but raised her haunches in acceptance.

“Eh, alright.” she moved aside and pushed Babs towards him, she gulped when staring at him, the sheer size difference between both more than obvious. “Come on, introduce yourself, Babs!”

“Um… I-I’m Babs… Nice to meet ya, mister…” John reached out with his hand and shook her hoof, it shook as he did, but it slowly seemed to relax as she let go.

“Hmph!” he heard the grunt from the white unicorn resting between Scootaloo and Applebloom. Sighing, he turned to her.

“Sweetie, I know what this is about, and I got enough of that from Twilight, I didn’t know that was advanced magic!” she looked at him with one eye and giggled at his response.

“I know!”

“You are mean, young lady,” he turned to the ‘elephant in the room‘ as it may. “And now, you, young, er… Pony, that’s my light —Where did he go?” he turned to the door and saw the colt staring at him, the lighter firmly set in his mouth, the tension between him and John visible by their determined glares.

“THIS ISH MAIN, I FUND IT!” and without another word, ran away.

“Shit! DT? Wait for me here! Don’t cause trouble, you hear?” and without another word, left the building after the colt.

“Um, what just happened, cuz?” asked Babs, looking at the others with a confused stare.

“Ah’ don’t know, but we should go help him! Girls!” they all nodded and put their hooves around each other, taking in air before shouting to the whole place.

“CU-”

“Not in my bakery, you are not!” hissed Mrs. Cake, giving them all a glare. “You’ll wake the twins!”

“Oh, um, sorry…” AB apologized quickly. She turned to the other three and motioned them to go, as they left, she noticed Diamond Tiara, staring after them, a look she hadn’t seen on her face before. “Um, you can come if you want, DT…” she said with some difficulty before dashing off towards town. Diamond sighed, and with some reservations, followed after Apple Bloom.

“Ugh, I’m not doing this because you said so, blank flank… I can‘t leave him alone anyway, or daddy will be mad,” she said to herself as she left the building after them.

“Stop right there, you punk!” John shouted, quickly going by a bunch of staring ponies. “That lighter is mine!” he cursed to himself, in his pony-age dilemma, he hadn’t noticed that he’d lost it. “Why do I even care about it so much?”

-Maybe it’s something dear?-

“What the?” he stopped to look around, searching frantically for the source of the voice. At this point, he didn’t notice the five fillies crashing into him. He turned, looking at the mess of the crusaders on the floor. “What are you girls doing?”

“We came to help! We’ll help you get your fire-maker!” explained Scootaloo, the others nodded agreeing, Diamond Tiara only scoffing at the promise. John couldn’t help but smile.

“Thank you, girls. Alright, let’s go!”

Far ahead, unaware of what was happening, Hilbert explored the town.

“Um… Nothing yet.”

Hilbert flew, his eyes peeled, looking around for signs of his assignment. He hadn’t expected it to be difficult, but even with his way of searching, he had realized it was still a pain to find anything.

“Hilbert!” he recognized the voice instantly. He looked down on the ground and saw the young colt, running with something in its mouth. “Help me!” he managed to say through gritted teeth.

“What are you…?

“Stop!” he looked down and came upon an interesting sight; a sort of hairless monkey and five fillies right behind him, certainly something he hadn’t seen before.

“… I’m coming!” he swooped down and grabbed the colt by his small body, picking him up with ease and making his way into the sky once more.

“Oh no, you don’t!” John jumped, but was unable to catch him. “Damm- Woah!” he found himself being picked up as well, he looked up and saw a rainbow mane, flowing rapidly with the wind.

“I see you need my help, monkey boy,” said Rainbow Dash grinning.

“Woah! We are really high!” they both noticed the voice, and John managed to see a bit of orange through his peripherals. “Oh… Hi, guys!” he managed to recognize the voice of Scootaloo.

“Scoots!? Rainbow! Just hold on! We are going to desce-”

“Crash!” said Rainbow Dash as she finally took notice of the building in front of her, there was a loud noise, and then, silence.

…

“Ugh…” John woke up, looking around with his limited eyesight, he flinched as he felt a pain in his leg and noticed a small shard of glass stuck. He sighed as he felt the glass, thankfully it hadn’t gone deep enough to cause any real damage, though a passing thought of certain yellow Pegasus would tell him otherwise. Through gritted teeth, he removed the piece, a small trail of blood coming out instantly.

“Um…” he felt something stir under his arm, he removed it from the spot and noticed Scootaloo resting under his embrace. He hadn’t realized that at a moment’s notice, he’d grabbed Scootaloo and protected her from harm.

“Phew, talk about a rough landing! This place looks familiar,” he noticed the area and recognized it instantly. “Town hall. Empty. Right,” he looked around, searching for Rainbow Dash. He didn’t look long as she was close by, stirring from her passed out form into consciousness.

“Ugh… Talk about a rough landi—”

“Already made that joke,” commented John as he got close and helped her on her hooves. “Are you alright? That was a rough crash,” she shook her head and gave a sly grin, her fur had dozens of tiny pieces of glass strewn about, but she didn’t seem to complain.

“Of course I’m okay, I’m Rainbow Dash. Just a bit sore, is all," she suddenly tensed up, looking around quickly. "And Scootaloo?” she asked urgently.

“She is alright, I managed to protect her from the glass,” he said, Rainbow showing her relief.

“That’s good. Thanks. I swear, poor kid is sure crazy,” she remarked with an amused stare.

-Will you two kiss already?- John looked around rapidly, searching for the voice, but found nothing in the partially lighted area.

“You alright, dude?” Rainbow asked, giving him a confused look before going to check on Scootaloo.

“Yeah, I am...” he shook off the strange feeling and sighed in relief. Everything having turned out alright despite the incident.

-I wouldn’t count on it.-

“Talk about a perfect spot…” they looked to the source of the voice and noticed the gryphon from earlier, standing there with the young colt behind him “Hello there, John.”

“He knows my name…” a mental red flag was raised. He felt the danger of the creature in front of him. “You! Kid! Give me my lighter!” he said, trying to hide his fear, focusing instead on the colt who only hid further behind the gryphon. “Grr…”

“I’ll just get to the point,“ he said, pushing the kid back. “Come back with me, or your friends will be hurt.”

Rainbow Dash popped up from behind John and flew towards the gryphon with ease. “Not on my watch, buddy!” she extended one of her hooves in a punching fashion, ready to hit him with full force.

John watched eagerly. “Get him Rainbow—”

“What the!?” Rainbow said surprised.

“...-Dash?” he completed the name lamely.

“Hmph, sorry Dashie, but too slow,“ Hilbert said with a smug smile.

"W-What?" Rainbow Dash stared horrified as her hoof was being easily held by Hilbert’s claw, a small twist, and she was send straight into the wall, the crunching sound of bones breaking resonated in the mostly empty chamber getting John to flinch in response, Rainbow fell to the floor, and moved no more, a hole imprinted where her body had hit.

“Anyone else want to try this?”

John stared with horror, quickly realizing he wasn't a match for him and he would be taken easily. There was nothing he could do. He fell on his knees as the realization hit him.

“S-someone is going to capture me… I won’t see Twilight, or the others ever again…” he shook his head. “Whoever you are, please don’t take me! I-I...”

“Oh great, you are losing it already. This should be a fun trip back…” Hilbert said sarcastically, he approached him without reservations, slowly getting closer and closer.

“No! NO! Get away from me!” John thought, but he couldn’t make the words come out.

…

-You know? For being smart, you sure are pathetic at putting up a fight… Fine, I’ll help you.-

“W-who are you?” he asked.

The voice simply chuckled. -Just a figment of your 'imagination'. Now, I want you to follow my lead perfectly…-

“Are you done feeling sorry? Or am I going to have to sma- What the?” Hilbert looked at John, as he had seemingly stopped his terrified stare. “What are you up to…?”

“La, la, la, la~” he began, a simple tune, more of a hum than anything.

“What the hay…? Have you actually lost it? Whatever,” he moved towards him, and raised a claw to grab him. “What?” by the time he had noticed, he had already moved out of the way.

“La, la, la la~” John continued, this time getting on his feet.

“I don’t know what you are playing, but you are coming with me!” he leapt towards John, but he quickly found himself grabbing nothing but air as John sidestepped out of the way. “Well, what do you know? It seems you have some fight in you. Guess knocking you out should solve it easily, huh?” he leapt once more, but much quicker, he reached John, and punched… Only to miss again.

“What the!?” he looked at the spot he had hit, John having only partially moved to the left to dodge. “H-How are you doing this!?”

“La, la, la ,laa, la, la laa!~” John continued, and a vein became visible in Hilbert’s plumage, having grown weary of John’s act.

“Shut it!” he leapt once more, and this time unleashed a flurry of punches which John easily dodged.

“La, la, la la~” John kept on, never letting up.

“What’s going on!? How are you doing this!?”

“OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHWHAT’SGOINGON!?” John thought, his surprise having reached levels he never imagined.

-Surprised, aren’t we? Just keep it u- LEFT!- the voice shouted, allowing John to dodge the hook that nearly hit his chin.

“How, am I doooing this?~” he said out loud, the humming now becoming rough lyrics.

“I don’t know, but youuu, need to stooop!~” he put a claw to his beak.. “Wait, how come I am, singing too!?~” at this point, his eyes lit up, catching up to what was going on. “You…” he jumped to the far end of the hall, reaching for Scootaloo.

“No! Leave her alone!” John shouted right away.

“Then shut up, and I may let her live. Don’t, and well, something bad might just happen,” the gryphon said, pressing a knife on the filly’s throat.

“Y-you...” John fell on his knees and extended his arms. “You win. Take me. Just leaver her, please!”

“A reasonable one it seems,” he tossed Scootaloo aside and headed towards John nonchalantly, ready to tie him and take him away.

“Not on my watch! Scumbag!”

Both raised their heads at the voice coming from seemingly nowhere, and without warning, like a flash, the figure of a pony went through the window. John noticed as the pony hit the gryphon square in the face, the whole act in slow motion, then instantly speeding up as Hilbert flew and hit the wall with force, and was instantly knocked out by the crash.

“Hmph! Still causing trouble, I see,” John recognized the voice instantly, and he looked ahead, a patch jet black mane, covering the face of the mare in the middle. “Everypony in, now!” dozens of armor clad guards entered the town hall, surrounding Hilbert and quickly capturing him without trouble.

“R-Rough Patch…?” as John said the name, the memory of his first day in Canterlot came to mind, him being told off for having broken a law, he trembled in fear as he shook off the thought. “What’s going on here!?”

“No time to explain," she said and turned to him. "And you are coming with us too,” she looked to the side and directed a couple of guards to pick the unconscious bodies of Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, quickly taking them out of the hall and into a barely visible ambulance cart.

“But it’s too sudden, and what about Diamond Tiara, and Twi-”

“Both ‘princesses’ has already been verified, so I suggest you get off your behind, and come with me,” she whistled loudly, and another guard came among the others, saluting Rough Patch as he landed.

“Yes, Rough Patch, si-OUCH!” he complained after being hit over the head, at which time his helmet fell off, revealing a pink mane.

“Guard, how many times do I have to tell you it’s CAPTAIN!?”

John’s eyes widened in surprise at the title. “C-captain?”

Rough Patch harrumphed. “Things change, buddy, now get ready… It’s going to be a doozy,” John didn’t have time to react as he was being lifted up into the sky before realizing what was going on.

Author's Notes:

Spoiler Notes 26 - 06/02/18

OH BOY. So here we are with the chapter that truly drove the story down the path that it stayed up until the latest chapter. Without going into much detail, I basically made the cast BIGGER.

It would end up biting me in the ass later, but I had SOME fun while it lasted.

Other than that, similar issues to past chapters remain, which I tried to fix somewhat during the edit, so I hopefully did a good enough job.