Forgiveness Pending

by Kiroberos

First published 21st of December, 2012

Moon Mender's adventure continues right where left off. He jumps at the chance for a new life, but will his old one truly leave him in peace? Some things are better off forgotten.

The story of Moon Mender continues after his dream of an ending ceases. He continues his struggle to belong in a world so far divorced from the only other experience he can remember, but as an outsider of truly alien mindset, will he ever be able to find a place in Equestria? More importantly, will the life he left behind give up on its death grip so easily? The most important thing to remember is that things are rarely as they seem and sometimes, some things are better off forgotten.

This story is a direct sequel to Memory Pending. Without having read that, this story might be a little strange to most, which is frightening considering how strange it is already. It can be read as a standalone story of course, but you won't get the most out of it.

Further, I’m fully aware that not everypony enjoys more mature themes, so any scenes containing things of an M rated nature shall only be released in a separate story when the time comes. This story deals with more mature themes on a whole, as a warning. This version will do its best to censor the really sensual or graphic content out, of course.

Last but not least, this story has reached this final format through combined efforts of not just myself, but many a helpful pony along the way! Here’s an abbreviated list of those involved and the rolls they played:
Kiroberos – Author (Obviously)
Julia – Editor (Corrections, Grammar, and Flow)
Azu – Beta Reader (Corrections, Flow) (Until Chapter 35)
ExplosiveBrohoof – Beta Reader (Grammar) (Until Chapter 22)
Muffinking – Beta Reader (Corrections, Grammar) (Until Chapter 22)
All of my readers for being amazing, supportive, and best of all, enjoying the world we read and write about.

Chapter 01

Consciousness stirred. That fundamental spark of awareness. With it came a sensation of waking up from a long nap. I felt old and dried out, immediately aware of how stiff my muscles were. But there was a new feeling, wasn't there? Or more accurately, there was a lack of something. That urgent sensation. It took me a moment to realize it, but it was gone.

Smiling, regardless that my body felt like one big, bandaged bruise, I opened my eyes. I felt the pupils in each eye contract sharply at the light and winced. Several seconds of adjustment later and the sunlight from a brand new morning greeted me through the window. I appeared to be alone in a very familiar looking clinic room.

Equestria. I was still alive? For once in my rather short life so far, I just took the moment to relax and let in the light.

It took a good five minutes or so of daydreaming before I got down to the business of testing muscles. Oddly enough, despite the massive levels of bandages, I seemed to be reasonably intact. My muscles were stiff and cold but oddly lacked the soreness I was anticipating. Even my forelegs could be moved properly again.

A little perturbed, I wondered why I was so heavily bandaged. Did I have bad burns? Was my skin missing? I decided confidently against taking said wrappings off. Unlike unwrapping a gift that’s contents were to be celebrated, I preferred my squishy insides to stay well, inside. Instead, priority quickly dictated that I needed to pee and I rolled to get out of bed.

Oh for the love of all that is right and just in the world! That redefined bad idea! Rolling over caused the series of IVs to be pulled from my neck and forelegs, and not in the gentle and happy manner in which a cute nurse would remove them. Wincing, I couldn't halt damnable gravity in time and tried to make my dead drop off the side of the bed as graceful as possible.

And it's a stone-filled stomach flop with half rotation! The crowd goes wild! I decided I must still be significantly underweight as the noise of me planting my face into the wooden floor was still rather quiet; not unlike dropping a wet sack of potatoes onto cement. I winced and shook my head. Well, I was off to a great yet predictable start and it had only been my first meter or so of spatial movement.

Groaning lightly, I shakily stood up off the ground and tested my leg muscles. They held, thankfully. It would be kind of embarrassing to die two feet from a hospital bed via starvation. Things were looking up! I took a tentative first step and felt a light tugging in strange areas. Huh. Muscle atrophy, maybe? I wasn’t a medical expert so I had no idea what could cause tugging like that.

Step two had me writhing on the ground in agony. Again. Son of a bitch! Next time, check for catheter in sensitive bodily orifices prior to accidentally stepping on the connected tube while walking! Burning sensations in awkward places came forth and I groaned again. Okay, so if I had one of those things in me, I must have been here quite a while then.

After checking myself for bleeding, I discovered that the catheter was one of the 'soft' variants. Okay, so it mainly hurt because I twisted it sideways before yanking it out. That made a little more sense and I felt considerably better. No blood was usually a good thing in my experience.

I resumed my walking, now at a hobbling pace with the newly acquired stinging sensation between my back legs. The bandages were stiff as well so I took things slow and careful as I headed towards the door. That's when I heard voices.

"But how am I supposed to plan a party if I don't know where it is?" whined a very distinct Pinkie voice. And the voices were familiar. That was even better.

"Jus' hold yer horses, Sugar Cube! Doesn't he have ta wake up first?" replied the unmistakable Applejack. My heart soared. I was actually alive! And in Equestria still!

"But, but, but, decorations!" Pinkie continued.

A light snickering came next. Wait, that snicker sounded distinctly unlike the other two voices. "Can't ya just load it into your cannon, Pinkie? That would be way cooler anyway," the voice suggested. Rainbow Dash! Wait, she was talking about me and it wasn't vindictive or cursing my very name? I had expected her to be angry after my forced teleportation of her. I sighed weakly. Even if she was, I still couldn't apologize. I don't regret making sure she got out safely. She had a dream here and somepony to share it with. I didn't have much of anything, only having been here a week prior. Oh wait, I still didn't really have anything. My few friends were probably mad at me for the ‘almost dying’ and ‘lying to them’ things. Hopefully in that order, anyway.

"Oh, yeah! I forgot about that. It's portable, too!" Pinkie exclaimed, lightening up instantly and throwing a sizable wrench into my moping.

"Ah've been meanin' ta ask ya how yeh go about doin' that, by tha way," Applejack mentioned suddenly, sounding curious.

Rainbow Dash snorted. "She's Pinkie. Seriously, 'nough said," she replied simply. Sadly, having spoken to the pink mare myself, I had to agree.

"Aww! Dashie knows me so well," Pinkie cooed, sounding almost flirty.

Applejack laughed and made a clicking noise. "Ah think it's one o' those things ah shouldn't ask 'bout, ah guess," she finally admitted.

"Didn't Twilight try that once?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh! Yuppers. Then the bees and Derpy happened. Oooh, and the hydra!" Pinkie shot back, sounding excited.

Well, that sounded exceedingly unpleasant. The universe is protective of its secrets, I suppose. Either that, or Pinkie Pie is some sort of reality warper with a sense of humor. "Yeah. Let's just hope she wants to come to the party. She still sounded kinda upset the last I talked to her," Rainbow commented. What? Twilight was upset with me? My heart sank a little. Oh yeah, I did kind of lie about coming back and she had to haul me to safety using her magic. She was probably more than 'kinda' upset.

"Still? Fer cryin' out loud. It's Princess Celestia. She's not gonna do anything rash," Applejack grumbled. P-Princess Celestia?! My eyes widened. I had upset her and she sold me out to the Princess? Oh no. Images of slave labor camps on the moon came to mind as I started to panic. Surely, I could still apologize?

"Oooh, but the Princess said she'd come to the party! Doesn't that mean Twi will probably come anyway?" Pinkie theorized. Everything started to add together. I felt my pupils contract as panic set in. I'd never seen anything to do with these princesses yet. If they were some form of shadow op government and I just offended a prime operative, what was my punishment going to be? Wait, didn't that make all of the Elements of Harmony agents of the princesses? My eyes widened as I realized Pinkie never said what kind of party it was. If party was a code word for execution, I was in serious trouble.

It was time for action, then. Looking around the room, I rapidly noticed that there were only two exits. The door obviously led into the hallway, where the agents of death were waiting. That left just the window. All right then, here we go! Hopping up on my bed, I slid the window open and peeked outside. Crap. It was a side window, which meant it opened onto the street. Far too late to withdraw my action now, I ignored the confused glances tossed my way and tried to kick off the bed to hurl myself out the window.

Alas, this was only partially successful. The bandages around my legs were way too stiff to get a proper thrust going. The bed went one direction and I went the other at greatly reduced speeds. This managed to get, well, most of me out the window. Oh, and cause those aforementioned sensitive areas to smash into the window frame, making an explosion of agony to dance up my spine as I smacked against the outside of the building with my chest. I heard a rolling sound and a crash from inside as well. Oh, the bed was on wheels. Go figure. I contemplated the errors of my escape attempt while hanging upside down by my back legs. That could have gone so much better.

"Moon Mender?" I heard a soft, yet innocent sounding voice from somewhere in front of me. Twisting my head, I managed to see a very familiar white unicorn filly running up to me, purple and pink mane bobbing rapidly.

"Oh uh, hey, Sweetie Belle. Nice day, huh?" I tried to distract, voice cracking towards the end due to disuse.

She stopped a meter or so in front of me and tilted her head. "Um, yeah. Do you need help or something?" she asked quietly, looking perplexed. I was probably an amusing sight, wrapped up like a mummy and hanging from a window.

"What tha hay's goin' on in 'ere?!" I heard a very distinct Applejack shout from behind me. Oh crap!

Kicking with my forelegs against the side of the building, I managed to vault myself off the window frame, flip once, and land gracefully on my butt outside. Sweetie Belle dove aside to avoid my descent and winced as I smashed into the ground.

"Ow! Sorry, Sweetie Belle! Gotta go," I apologized rapidly, before getting up and hobbling around the back of the building, wincing the entire way. Damn these bandages!

She looked surprised but stood up again and followed after me. "Wait, where are ya going?" she asked as I took off across the street. Aside from being a tad stiff and now sore in uncomfortable places, I found that I could move as if uninjured, oddly. Why was I wrapped up, then? Stupid bandages! They were more of a hinder than a help at this point.

"Wha?! Horse apples! Where'd he go?" I heard Rainbow Dash exclaim loudly back at the clinic.

I dove into an alley between two houses and into a large pile of leaves I found, making sure to bury myself as best I could. There was no time to get away. Much to my surprise, I felt someone messing with my tail a few seconds later. Oh no! It was outside of the pile still.

Even more surprising, they tucked it inside and covered it up. I saw a single leaf moved from my right eye, and Sweetie Belle smiled down at my panting form. "You must be hiding from AJ and Rainbow, right? I'll help!" she declared, looking like she was enjoying herself. This wasn't hide-n-seek! My life was on the line, here.

"Shhh. I need to get away from them. I need time to think," I whispered. She smiled and nodded, resuming covering me up with leaves. A short ten seconds later, I felt something tiny and warm push up against my chest as she slid in and covered herself as well, going dead silent.

Both of us held our breath as hoofsteps could be heard suddenly outside, walking across the harder dirt. Oh crap! How close were they? The hoofsteps stopped out on the street, three meters away or so. I felt Sweetie Belle go rigid and I swallowed, trying to control my breathing.

"Wha? Tha hoof prints stop on tha edge o' the grass 'ere. He musta gone off between tha houses, an' towards tha woods?" I heard Applejack reason, thankfully incorrectly.

"How'd he get so fast? Dang. I'll take to the air and see where he is," Rainbow returned, before I felt a light breeze. Thank goodness she wasn't closer or she might have blown away my hiding spot!

A merry giggling followed, with, "Maybe he's playing a game? Like tag or hide-n-seek? That would be really fun after being cooped up in that room for so long!"

"Who knows with that crazy stallion. Why'd he go an' run away, anyway? Ain't it custom ta say yer playin' one o' those games before jus' bookin' it outta there?" Applejack asked, sounding skeptical.

Pinkie snickered in amusement. "It's fun either way. Maybe he just wants some alone time?" Pinkie offered in a surprisingly lucid observation. The distinct sensation of her staring right at me suddenly came into being. Uh oh.

"But why run away? He could'a jus' said somethin', right?" Applejack questioned.

"I dunno. Let's go peek in the forest! We can't turn him down if it's hide-n-seek!" Pinkie declared as if it were a universal law.

There was a light, accented groan followed by, "Ya really are kinda random sometimes, ya know that, right?"

My blood turned to ice and it felt like my heart stopped as Applejack walked towards our hiding spot slowly, hoofsteps getting closer and closer albeit muffled by the grass. Time seemed to drag forever at that singular moment. It felt like an eternity but she finally passed us by. I watched the tip of her tail stir some leaves at the edge of our pile as she went.

Thankfully, my eyes were amber instead of blue like the rest of my color scheme! Blending in might be a little harder otherwise. I turned my visible eye forwards again. Then I froze as I saw Pinkie Pie looking directly at me. She wore a fascinated smile and surprised me by winking rather than sounding the alarm. Instead, she returned to her prior closed-eyed smirk and pounced past, following Applejack.

"Do you think we can find him before Rainbow?" she asked in a gleeful manner as she disappeared from vision. What happened? Whose side was she on?

"Oh, yer on! Ah'll hound him down in no time," Applejack agreed, suddenly sounding excessively competitive. Whoa! Was she always like that, or was it Rainbow bringing it out in her?

"But you're a pony, Silly! You’d need to bark more if you were a hound," was the last thing I heard before the voices disappeared at a surprisingly fast pace. Sweetie Belle and I didn't dare move for a good ten minutes, however.

The forest along the outskirts was peaceful, anyway. It was a chilly, Fall day and the leaves were beginning to drift off the trees. I vaguely recalled them changing colors before the incident, and I tried to gauge how long I'd been asleep. Now the sun slowly drifted towards the horizon, nightfall coming. I estimated it had been about four or so in the afternoon when I woke up. On further estimate, that made it now close to six o'clock.

"So you're worried about Twilight being mad at you?" Sweetie Belle asked, still tucked against my chest and emitting a diabetes-inducing level of cuteness. Both of us were packed into a small pocket we found under a few roots of a large tree. You'd have to be practically on top of us to see us from the air and we were only visible from a meter long segment on one side at ground level. However, it was rather nippy outside. I was kind of glad the little filly had followed me, as she was considerably warmer than I was. Maybe I had lost a lot of blood? Oh, and the company was nice, too. I made a mental note to not refer to friends as space heaters in the future.

I whispered back, "Yeah. I overheard them talking about how upset she is."

Sweetie giggled. "I don't think they meant mad. She visited you, like, almost every day. You probably just worried her. Fluttershy, too," she explained.

"I'm just worried after they mentioned Celestia," I muttered quietly.

"Ooh! Princess Celestia? Does she want to see you or something? She was here the day of your incident, but didn't get a chance to talk to you then. Uh, well, obviously," she enlightened, almost managing to confuse herself towards the end.

My mind skipped a few gears. "Wait, she was here?" I asked, feeling like the blood drained from my face.

Sweetie Belle giggled whimsically. "Yeah, she helped Twilight pull you back. Twilight is a little, well, sad because of that, I think," she explained, frowning a little in concern.

"Er, why? She didn't want me back?" I asked, swallowing a tad painfully.

It earned me a gentle shove to the chest. "No! She was just sad that she might not have been able to with just herself, I think. She never said directly. I just saw it in her eyes, really," Sweetie corrected, looking a little distracted in memories.

It dawned on me that there were indeed multiple definitions of 'upset'. I frowned and considered it. Well, ultimately, I probably just made an idiot of myself again. The best thing to do would be to simply slink over to the library and apologize directly to Twilight. If she says I'm clear with Princess Celestia, then I go and apologize to Fluttershy, who was the next most bothered by my attempted martyrdom. And then everypony else. That was a lot of apologies!

"I think you were really nice, though. Sis says you're a dying breed, or something like that, but I think you're honest and kind. I don't really understand but you saved Equestria even if it meant almost dying, didn't you?" Sweetie Belle interrupted, knocking me out of my planning and earning a choked back gag of surprise.

"Oh, no, no! I'm no hero, Sweetie Belle. We, well, we don't know how much danger Equestria was ever in, but I didn't want to take the chance. I'm," I muttered, trailing off and realizing the base facts.

Sweetie tilted her head and looked back up at me from her curled up position. I sighed and shook my head. "I'm just me. I'm not important enough. I mean, risking all of Equestria just for me? If I did that, even if the threat came to nothing, I doubt I could ever live with how selfish that would be," I continued, wondering if anypony was that important.

My friend and tree hiding companion smiled and nodded gently. "You're still important to your friends. But I think I see why Sis likes you. Although it makes her say more and more mean words about Prince Blueblood," she muttered, suddenly looking a tad annoyed.

I frowned, still attempting to process my own feelings alongside the dribble of new information the little filly constantly surprised me with. "Prince Blueblood?" I asked hesitantly. I hadn't realized there were any male rulers.

"He's a jerk. He made Rarity really upset at the Gala a while back after she was all set to, oh, what did she call it? Court him? I have no idea what that means, but oh was she mad!" Sweetie explained, shuddering.

"Are there two princes, as well? Sorry, I don't know much about your lifestyle here and didn't read anything about him in the book Twilight gave me," I asked, trying not to sound stupid.

She giggled however and nodded. "That was the first I'd heard of him, too, don't worry. He doesn't have wings like the princesses, so I doubt he's as powerful," she muttered, smiling up at me innocently.

"The princesses are pegasi?" I questioned, tilting my head. So much for equal representation.

"They have horns too. They're really pretty, with their flowing manes and beautiful jewels. I really, really like their manes," she cooed, swaying happily.

Both horns and wings? I hadn't heard of such a being, but it certainly sounded convenient. "So they can fly and cast spells as well? Wow," I muttered, impressed.

Sweetie Belle nodded happily. "Yeah. They're so amazing! I mean, Princess Celestia raises the sun each day! Her magic is so strong," she agreed, sounding a tad jealous as she looked up at her tiny horn.

"Oh don't worry, Sweetie Belle. I'm sure one day you'll be able to um, wait..." I muttered, trailing off as my brain slowly tried to shift from first gear to cheese. "T-The sun?!" I almost screamed, blood feeling like ice cubes.

Sweetie Belle looked surprised but nodded rapidly. "Yeah, she raises the sun each day. Princess Luna raises the moon each night. Why?" she asked, as if it were natural.

"B-But it's a massive... How?! Does she rotate the planet or? Even that, it-it's insane!" I muttered, my fragile mind starting to twist in upon itself. I'd heard of powerful magic back on my own world but this was just madness!

Sweetie Belle giggled and shook her head. "She raises the sun as her sacred duty. She's Equestria's ruler, alongside her sister. What's so strange?" she asked innocently.

My head gave a throb of protest and I suddenly felt exceedingly sore all over. Of course, I had just gotten a lot of exercise. "I-I guess. Um, do you think you could h-help me get to Twilight's library?" I asked her weakly, deciding it was best for my sanity to just not think about it.

She smiled and nodded. "Sure. I didn't really wanna do the dumb errand I was on anyway and Rarity will understand if it's to help you out," she reasoned, a light scheming expression dancing across her face.

I smirked as I saw her grin. "Naughty little filly. Does Rarity know you're this devious?" I asked her in amusement.

"Devi-wha?" she questioned, tilting her head towards me.

"Oh, sorry. It means sly, or tricky," I relayed. Sometimes I forgot she was a young filly. She was very patient and mature for her age, it seemed. She was probably more of a mediator for Scootaloo and Applebloom.

She perked and giggled, shaking her head. "Nah. She thinks I'm a paperweight most of the time. But she's a nice big sister, don't get me wrong. Just, well, frustrating," she muttered, sitting up and looking a tad exasperated.

I nodded and smiled, trying to sit up, too. I immediately smashed my skull into the underside of our tree nook, and winced. Sweetie snickered in amusement before shaking her head at me. She was probably used to me bashing my skull into things by now.

"Do you have any siblings?" she asked curiously after a few moments.

Frowning as I struggled to squeeze out from under the tree, I rapidly realized I had no idea. "Um, I can't remember. It, well," I muttered before lowering my eyes. Her curious smile shifted to a concerned frown, but I shook my head. "There's a lot I don't remember still, is all. I might have, but I dunno."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot about what happened," she apologized, looking down slightly. Did she really know to begin with? Part of me was glad she was so young. The concept of genocide was probably blunted on a lack of understanding. This world didn't need such concepts and I wasn't about to introduce them.

I placed a bandaged hoof on her cheek and gave her a gentle brush, lifting her head up again. She gave me a questioning look until I smiled and shook my head. "I'm glad I can stay in Equestria and not have to leave anywhere. You ponies are wonderful, without a doubt. Anything beyond that... It's all right," I assured her softly.

She smiled, eyes softening before nodding and reminding, "We'd best get to the library. I'll keep watch ahead of you until we get there."

Wise. Rainbow was probably still in the sky and who knew about Applejack. I didn't know where Pinkie stood still, so that was kind of like rolling a die. Of course, Sweetie Belle was probably right. This was all a misunderstanding, more than likely. I guess I'd find out once getting back to Twilight.

Slowly, as I was quite tired and sore at this point, I headed after the little unicorn filly as she rolled across the ground ‘stealthily’. She tumbled from tree to tree ahead of me, peeking out around the sides cautiously. I didn't have the heart to interrupt her playtime with the fact that her jolting motions were probably far easier to spot from the air. Thankfully my bandages were now far from white after all the dirt and grass got involved and were fairly good camouflage.

Regardless, town was actually only a quarter of a mile away and we made it back within ten minutes or so, at my current stunted pace. Sweetie Belle slunk along between a natural alley leading up to a side street. We'd have to slip between the two houses and across the street in order to reach the library. She 'scouted' ahead, striking me as a little obvious with her ninja poses, but she was way too cute to tell off.

I slipped behind a dilapidated, retired rain barrel while she slipped closer to the street to peek around. That was a fairly obvious choice as she was far less suspicious looking than a walking lump of dirty bandages. Still, I felt a little bad that she was putting her own neck out for me.

Sadly, she didn't quite make it to the street before freezing. My eyes widened and I dove into the overturned barrel instead, peeking through a crack in the bottom of it. It was probably the crack that earned its retirement.

Sweetie Belle slowly started to back up into the alley but it was too late. The orange earth mare with the blonde mane had already spotted her and trotted over. Crap!

"Oh, hay there, Sweetie Belle! Yer lookin' mighty dirty, ha ha! Can ah talk ta ya fer a minute or two?" Applejack asked, sounding friendly enough. I started running escape plans through my head just in case.

Sweetie laughed nervously alongside her, and nodded. "Well yeah uh, I mean no, wait, I don't mind of course!" she hastily returned. I made a mental note that the filly was terrible under pressure, for future reference.

"Hmm. Are ya all right? Come ta think of it, yer Sis mentioned that ya were missin' a few minutes ago. Hour's late fer ah shoppin' trip, she reckon'. Where have ya been?" Applejack asked, getting a concerned look on her face. Oh no. Sweetie Belle was getting in trouble because of me!

"Oh, well... I saw a frog that was lost. So I had to g-get it back to its stream, of course!" she rapidly lied. Ug. It had to be a frog?

Applejack momentarily looked confused, but it didn't last long. Her eyes narrowed as she lowered her face to the little filly. "Yer actin' awfully suspicious, Sweetie Belle. Ya haven't happen'd ta see Moon Mender around, have ya?" she questioned, eyes scrutinizing the unicorn filly's every movement.

I couldn't let Sweetie Belle get in trouble over me. My mind rapidly tried to think of a way out when I felt the light pulse in my left, front hoof. What was that? Extending my awareness to it, I lifted the bandaged hoof up to my face inside the barrel. It was only lightly wrapped, with tufts of light blue coat coming out from around the edges of the bandage. Did that mean it was in better shape? I felt out what that pulse was and was surprised at the ease of scanning my system. The magic flowed through me gentler now, as if water going through carved grooves, rather than trying to splash around rocky crags. To my curiosity, it drew easily into my left hoof; far easier than anyplace else in my body. A memory stirred in me. This hoof?

Sweetie Belle backed up, bumping against the front of the barrel. "I, well, I haven't seen him. W-Why?" she asked weakly, averting her eyes.

"Ya don't seem surprised he's up an' about. Yer not fibbin', are ya Sweetie?" Applejack asked, advancing again.

No! I had to do something. This hoof! A flash of pained memory slipped through my skull as images of it splitting into the shape of the creation symbol and igniting came forth. Ignoring them, my mind pushed the magic forwards as if muscle memory. Alteration. It was basic magic that focused on changing things. As an engineer I'd been really good at it. Still, I didn't have much to work with. A master blacksmith can only do so much with crude iron. The hoof began to glow as the symbol carved into it lit up with my magic. The bandages unwound themselves and drifted away from each side in midair, causing me to smile. They had been touching the symbol, so I could use magic on them! I could use magic on things that touched the symbol.

"Um, well he, uh," Sweetie continued to stutter.

"Ya have seen him then! Where is he? Ya know what bad, lyin' fillies get," Applejack warned.

I pushed the symbol into the old wood of the barrel. The magic was there. Not the same as a unicorn's and nowhere near as strong as Twilight's in any sense, but it was uniquely mine. My mind touched upon the symbol on my hoof and flooded out into the wood and iron of the barrel alongside lines of magic. Gravity, inertia, thrust, motion... All of these things needed to be modified.

"Ah! B-But Applejack, I just wanted to," Sweetie Belle muttered weakly.

Applejack just started to step forwards and lean closer when the barrel I was in exploded into movement. I popped out of the top of it as it split in half, the tightly woven boards that made up the sides coming undone and expanding rapidly into a platform and six crude legs. The orange mare looked more than a little startled as I changed the barrel. Taking advantage of her surprise, I sprung forwards using the walking platform and scooped Sweetie Belle up off the ground just as she was starting to turn to look. She yelped, but I nudged her behind me as the top of the barrel folded partially back around us, forming a protective shell.

"No! I can't let you punish Sweetie Belle. She was only trying to help me," I warned, scowling at the gawking Applejack.

Not giving her time to recover, I folded the top back around us and ordered the platform down the street at full speed. Six ‘legs’ made of iron and wood carried us like a giant beetle towards the library. "Whoa! Cool!" Sweetie muttered as she looked closer at my glowing hoof pressed against the boards. I kept my breathing under control and slowly focused on dodging surprised ponies as I headed for the library.

"Sorry! Excuse me! Coming through!" I called out as I swerved and trotted around the clusters in the street. They seemed largely surprised at my makeshift transportation, but were oddly not that panicked. Of course, I was going out of my way to miss them and apologize so they probably assumed there was little danger. Or they were so jaded by the normal happenings in town that they really didn't care about a reasonably non-violent one.

"Mender! Hold up ah bit, would ya! Ah just wanna talk ta ya!" Applejack shouted, as I heard a galloping noise from behind me.

Damn she was fast! Our platform angled itself down as it sped up, leaping up a hill and making a break along the final stretch for the library. "Will ya wait up?!" I heard her shout, more irritated now. An impossibly powerful impact hit the right back leg a second later, splintering the wood as if it were twigs and causing us to spin violently. Sweetie yelped but I caught and steadied her with my right hoof, forcing more energy through my left. We leapt after one full rotation, using the energy of her kick to propel us at the door. Two tiny shields formed in the platform's outstretched right 'leg' and I spun them as they contacted the door handle.

The door popped open in the same instant we crashed into it. I kept a firm grip on the door as we slid across the now familiar wooden flooring. Pivoting, we rotated as the door reached maximum angle and I used our backwards rotation to slam the door shut. Focusing, I rapidly started engaging every lock I could find on the door.

"Alright, alright! You don't need to slam the door. I'm coming!" I heard a rather annoyed sounding Twilight call out from upstairs. Oops. I rotated the platform around while peeking through the crack in the front, just in time to see Twilight come down the stairs. She gave us a look of shocked horror shortly before her horn started glowing. Uh oh…

Author's Notes:

Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr_5Qy5aclQ

Chapter 02

I realized we were trapped. Sweetie Belle lowered herself nervously to the floor of the platform, slipping in behind my right foreleg as I watched Twilight through the crack. Applejack was behind the only exit to this now very horrifying building. To make matters worse, I saw Rainbow Dash flutter down and slowly start to attempt to work the window open outside to the left.

A rapid pounding came from the door behind me. "What in blazes do ya think yer doin', Mender?!" I heard shortly thereafter, barely audible through the heavy wooden door.

"B-Back, monster," Twilight warned nervously, her horn still glowing angrily as she lowered herself to the stairs. She was scared of me? I started to open my mouth to say something when she opened fire, unfortunately. I let out an exceedingly high-pitched scream, rather embarrassing of my gender, and rapidly raised a shield up using a front leg. The barrier barely deflected the bolt, causing it to tear through the side of my platform instead and knock us back into the door. From my cowering position, I stared in shock at the new hole in my vehicle.

Sweetie Belle peeked out from around the busted section, earning another gasp from Twilight. "Sweetie Belle? Are you okay? Let her go!" the lavender unicorn demanded.

"I-I will! Please, j-just listen," I begged, peeking around the side of the opening, just above the little filly.

Twilight widened her eyes. "M-Moon Mender? What are you, but you were..." she muttered rapidly.

"Just please. Sweetie Belle didn't do anything wrong, so please don't punish her. She only wanted to help me," I begged, lowering the platform to the floor shakily and opening the front so she could get down.

She surprised me by turning around and looking up at me instead. Huh? "You rescued me and stuck up for me?" she asked quietly, suddenly wearing a warm smile.

My mind idled into reverse. Sweetie Belle hugged my left foreleg before I could reply. My magic faltered as I suddenly realized how tired I was. The platform, or what was left of it, anyway, slowly lowered us to the floor. "Oh fer cryin' out loud! Ah wasn't gonna hurt 'er in tha first place," Applejack muttered from the other side of the door.

Twilight recovered rapidly and bounded the remaining two meters towards me. I almost panicked, but Sweetie Belle had a hold of me so there wasn't much I could do! There was no impact or subduing blast though. All I felt was Twilight's warm coat as she latched onto my other foreleg, pushing both Sweetie and I gently into the wall next to the door. I was momentarily bewildered, then turned a deep crimson as she pulled me into a tight hug, Sweetie Belle incidentally getting sandwiched between us. I tried to avert my eyes, shifting them just in time to see a cyan and rainbow pegasus flutter through the now open window wearing a smirk. She landed next to me on my right and unlocked the front door, sticking her tongue out as my eyes widened towards her. I fidgeted, trying to shift from her but Twilight wouldn't budge.

"I'm so, so sorry for everything, Mender! I'm glad you're awake," Twilight muttered into my neck as she squeezed me. Oops, back to blushing. Threat of imminent death can only hold back the feelings of an amazing girl pressed against you for so long, I guess.

"Twi, it's all right. I'm sorry, too," I reminded, realizing Sweetie was right all along. I'm glad I listened to her this time.

Rainbow snickered. "Aww. You two are so cu-," she started taunting with a grin, just as she slid the last lock.

Wham! The door slammed open, taking the cyan mare with it and flattening her against the wall on the other side. "Woo! Totally party time, right here! I brought the cannon," Pinkie assured whimsically as she bounced through the doorway. I saw Applejack flattened on the step, glaring up at the pink tush bouncing away from her. I just assumed she got bowled over as well. Wait, cannon?

"Pinkie! I'm trying to apologize here!" Twilight growled, switching from adoring to irate in a second. Whoa! I was suddenly worried as I was still attached to her.

Pinkie giggled and nodded merrily, seeming unfazed as she spun and cart-wheeled. I got even more tired just from watching her.

"He already knows about Celestia. I'm sorry, Twilight," Sweetie Belle apologized from in-between us, looking up at the lavender mare.

Twilight swallowed and nodded as well, looking back at me instead. "It's all right, Sweetie. Mender, I wrote a letter to the Princess the night I got so worked up. I panicked and didn't know what to do so I kinda ended up telling her everything," she explained quietly, looking more than a little nervous but still clenching me as if I'd fade away should she let go. It wasn't a hug anymore, but instead felt like a strange form of assurance.

"Ya were right ta be honest with tha Princess, Twi," Applejack assured slowly, getting up again and walking inside at a far more relaxed gait than her pink friend.

Pinkie nodded agreement enthusiastically, then tilted her head as a light groan came from behind the door. Rainbow Dash slowly stumbled out, holding her forehead with a hoof. Applejack held a hoof up however, preemptively halting a Pinkie outburst. "But ta do that, ya had ta betray Mender's trust instead. Ah'm not sayin' ya made the wrong choice. It's just somethin' ta think about," she added slowly, as if carefully picking her words.

I swallowed heavily, remembering my nightmare. If Sweetie was right and the Princess helped pull me back then this was definitely the right choice, wasn't it? My memory shifted back to those frigid moments I spent all alone on that ship, in the middle of a massive void and the only other living thing vaguely nearby being a complete monster. I'd wanted so desperately to just let someone else deal with it. I hadn't been brave and strong. I'd just felt tiny and weak, dealing the only hand I had left and hoping it was enough. Truthfully, these ponies meant more to me than I did now. This way of life and everypony in this wonderful world; it was all so pure and beautiful.

I hated myself for risking it. Maybe I should have died with the rest of my race? I tried so hard but did I deserve this outcome? I was all that was left. My old race was gone and everyone I knew and loved, dead. And I couldn't even remember them. Did I deserve to be happy when millions of my race lost everything? It was overwhelming. Screams of pain and despair echoed through my head as I remembered. There was nothing but memories of misery from my past life. I wondered if I had seen anything apart from that.

"Mender..." Twilight whispered gently.

I snapped out of it in time to realize my cheeks felt warm and wet. A sense of disgust came over me as I used my now freed right hoof to wipe my eyes. "Ah, sorry," I muttered, embarrassed.

Whack! I reeled sideways from a moderate blow to the side of my head. Stars exploded nonetheless and I felt a sharp sting tear through my left cheek as I hit the wooden floor and slid. "Applejack! What are you doing?!" Twilight demanded, moving in-between her and I while Sweetie Belle sprung over to check me for damage.

"That there's fer worryin' everypony with yer shenanigans. Ah imagine Rainbow, Twi, an Fluttershy'll have their own two bits ta add later, but consider yerself paid in full with tha rest o' us," she explained, expression neutral and stoic.

All things considered, she probably could have snapped my head off with that hoof hit. She pulled her punch and let me off gently, then. I had expected worse. Slowly sitting up, I rubbed my left cheek and drew back blood on my hoof. Yup. I was definitely going to get a black eye from that one.

"T-Thank you, Applejack," I spoke gently, eyes softening towards her. That oddly made me feel better. Well, mentally.

Her stoicism slipped and she nodded, acquiring a gentler smile. "Then consider yerself forgiven. Pinks an Rare wouldn't'ah voiced as much, so ah knew ah had ta be the one," Applejack added, averting her gaze slightly from the still angry looking Twilight.

"Applejack, I wasn't upset with him at all. Well, maybe a little sad that he almost died. And that he was gonna miss the awesome party I planned, but," Pinkie protested with a little less energy than usual.

Applejack shook her head gently, glancing over at the pink mare. "Ah know yer a forgivin' mare, but he made ya sad still and Ah'm sure he didn't mean ta," she explained in a quiet but sturdy voice. Rainbow Dash still looked shocked and remained quiet.

"Then why did you do that? He's barely out of the clinic an afternoon and you decide to hit him?!" Twilight asked crossly.

Rainbow Dash finally snapped out of it and let out a snicker, raising a hoof between Twilight and her pony of affection. "Relax, Twi. That was barely a swat for AJ here. Plus he seems to have accepted it," she pointed out, now wearing a smirk. Did that mean I did something right in her eyes?

I smiled weakly and nodded, trying not to wince and risk damaging my ego further as I felt my cheek swelling. "She let me off easy for what I did to you ponies. I still feel like I owe you more," I muttered. Sweetie Belle quietly shook her head as she reached up with a piece of tissue in her mouth to dab at my cheek. Whispering thanks, I bent lower to make it easier for her. The tissue felt really soft and I wondered where she'd gotten it.

"I'm not mad at you at all, Mender. You were amazingly noble and if anything, I should be the one to apologize. I gave out confidential information about you without consent or even informing you," Twilight replied, turning around to focus on me instead, albeit with a far more positive expression.

"Is Princess Celestia mad at me?" I asked carefully. I decided to keep the banishment, black ops, and execution ideas to myself for now.

All four mares looked bewildered, but Twilight laughed nervously a second later. "You have quite the imagination, Mender. No, she's happy she helped save you," she assured, trying to smile.

"But?" I questioned, noting her hesitation.

She sighed and noticeably sagged. "She just asked me if it was all right to get an account of the event so she could estimate the level of danger to Equestria," she muttered.

"Er, ah might be missin' somethin', but that doesn't sound so bad," Applejack pondered out loud. Pinkie went back to smiling and enthusiastically nodded her agreement.

"Yeah. Are ya worried that she'll do something to Mender?" Rainbow asked curiously.

Twilight shook her head, to my relief. "No, she reported herself that the link faded after the explosion of the Grosh ship. Mender's not dangerous to Equestria," she assured, making me feel even better. I had planned on asking her if the explosion had worked. But if it wasn't that, I could only think of one other reason for her distress.

"She wants a personal account. From me directly?" I asked gently, masking my nervousness.

Twilight nodded softly. "Sort of. She wants the direct images from your memories, if at all possible," Twilight informed weakly, looking down.

I reeled back in surprise. Oh crap! If Twilight was forceful I could only imagine the level of violation being mind raped by a goddess would bring. She must have seen my reaction, as she rapidly shook both front hooves towards me.

"W-Wait! She said when you're healthy enough to. And she wants me to perform the spell, not her," Twilight rapidly over-corrected, although scarily accurate with the second half.

"Healthy? Is the ritual painful or something?" Rainbow asked from behind her, sounding a little uncomfortable with the concept.

Twilight shook her head, peeking back over her shoulder. "No. It just takes a lot of energy from him. He essentially won't get any natural REM sleep for the night we choose to do it, which might be detrimental to his health at the moment," she reasoned. Oh, I had to be pseudo sleeping?

Rainbow started snickering mirthfully, however. She held a forehoof up to her muzzle as she restrained it. "Better eat some Silphium beforehand," she warned, barely holding back the laughter. Huh? What was Silphium?

"Er, huh?" Twilight muttered, apparently as confused as I was. Pinkie Pie burst into laughter almost instantly.

Applejack chuckled as well and shook her head, though. "It did sound ah tad awkward, but ah think ah get it. He has ta be sleepin' but he won't be rested up after, right?" she asked, smirking still. Awkward? I was seriously missing something.

Twilight slipped back into scientific mode rapidly and nodded. "Yes. I'll be peeking through his mind as he sleeps, which means he can't slip into REM and replenish his natural energies. My mind sort of, well, keeps his awake?" she attempted to explain.

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Applejack looked truly thoughtful but Twilight suddenly looked perplexed. A single beat later, she suddenly went scarlet in the cheeks and glared intensely at Rainbow. "Hey!" she protested. The cyan mare burst into laughter of course. She joined Pinkie Pie in rolling on the floor.

"That is disgusting! You are so horrible, Dash!" she growled, sounding oddly embarrassed.

I was just deeply confused. I'd assumed as Dash was laughing, it was because of what she said earlier but I had no idea what Silphium was. Sweetie Belle looked equally confused so I didn't feel as badly.

Applejack must have noticed my quiet confusion, as she explained a second later, "Silphium, when ingested by ah mare, works as ah potent contraceptive."

"Contra-what?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously.

Pinkie winked at me while upside down, ignoring the filly. My cheeks went scarlet, oddly similar to Twilight. "Yeah, wouldn't want Mender to become a daddy!" the pink mare squealed, sounding deeply amused. What the hell?! Where did they get, oh. 'The night we do it.' I mentally groaned.

"What? Mender's going to be a daddy?!" Sweetie Belle asked in sudden shock. Oh for the love of all that was just and fair! That's it. Twilight was never going to speak to me again.

"Argh! That's it! Mender needs rest so out!" Twilight growled, horn starting to glow menacingly. Dash made a yelping noise, zipping out the window behind her as if trying to escape incoming mortar fire. Of course, Twilight was scary like that.

Pinkie giggled and made a light, excited snorting noise before rolling to her feet. "Aww! We were just playing. But Mender does need his rest! Sleep well, cuz it's totally party time tomorrow!" she assured me, giving a wink before hopping out the door like a rabbit with a sugar high.

"Ug, fine. Tomorrow evening, though!" Twilight called after her, sounding a little tired herself suddenly. Regardless, she followed Pinkie out the door with the warning just to be sure.

"Ah reckon Ah'd best let tha nurse know yer checkin' out an' not in some tree somewhere, rah-ight?" Applejack offered calmly after Twilight wandered back inside, head hung slightly.

I sighed and nodded to her wearily. The aftereffects of using my magic again were definitely felt, even though I hadn't done much. It was like any other muscle, however. I was just heavily out of practice.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about the whole running away thing earlier," I apologized. Sweetie Belle giggled as she finally took the tissue back, rotating it using her tongue. I saw little dots of blood on it.

"Buh iht waas phumn!" she protested, tissue still in her mouth.

Applejack chuckled and patted her lightly on the head, having moved up next to me to get out of the way when Twilight went after Pinkie. "Fun is all fine an' dandy but it's only common courtesy ta let tha nurse know he's all right," she explained, smiling at the little white filly.

I suddenly thought of something horrifying but decided to be as polite about it as possible. "Thank you, Applejack. Um, where am I gonna stay tonight if not the clinic, though?" I inquired as nicely as I could muster.

"Here of course," Twilight answered instead, coming back inside slowly and closing the door.

I was momentarily taken aback, memories of almost getting run over with a mattress coming fresh to mind. I must have looked surprised because she suddenly blushed while Applejack started snickering merrily.

"Ya have'ta admit, you two last part'd on some rocky relations," she reminded, absently waving her hoof in the air.

"Oh yeah. Twilight kicked him out!" Sweetie Belle suddenly seemed to recall, leaning back against my right foreleg. Wait, why was she still here?

Twilight winced and nodded. "I know. We have a few things to discuss but please give me another chance?" she requested quietly.

Smiling, I nodded gently to her. I was just happy she was giving me another chance instead. The day's events rapidly caught up to me an instant later, surprising me. I wobbled suddenly, feeling the slow throb of my headache spike from the magic and a light, warm trickle go down the front of my muzzle from my nose. Too much magic, too quickly.

"Whoa nelly! Ya had best be makin' yer way upstairs an' ta bed. Ya look mighty unstable on yer hooves, so let me help ya," Applejack offered, moving a little closer.

I flinched slightly and shifted away from her. She froze for a moment and her eyes softened, her nod assuring me followed by a gentle smile. I relaxed and gave in, letting her hook my left foreleg over her shoulders and slowly leading me to the stairs. She meant what she said earlier. That punch really was my payment, then.

"Oh, Sis's nose sometimes does that if she works on dresses for too long," Sweetie Belle pointed out, trotting after Twilight as she went up the stairs following us.

"Yes. He overused his magic back there. He'll be fine. He'll just sleep well tonight," she assured.

I heard a weak sigh behind us, regardless. "But he did it to save me. To get me out of trouble," she muttered.

"Oh, fer crying out loud. Ah wasn't gonna hurt ya, Sweetie!" Applejack protested. Again.

I chuckled tiredly and added, "Yeah, and technically I was the reason you were in that position in the first place. I couldn't let anything happen to you."

There was light scratching as we reached the top of the stairs, I noted. Spike was writing gently on a long, unrolled parchment that was spread a good ten feet across the floor.

"Hey, Twilight! I almost finished the first alphabetized segment of," he started to greet before turning around and giving a surprised start. "Whoa! Applejack? Moon Mender?" he added questioningly.

"Hey, Spike. Mender woke up and is going to be staying with us tonight. Can you help Applejack get him into bed?" Twilight requested, coming to the top of the stairs after the three of us cleared it.

Spike tilted his head. "Bed? Is he sleeping with you?" he questioned. Even half asleep I still managed to blush.

"Ug! Spike! Mattress, then. Sheesh," Twilight groaned behind me, a matching blush almost apparent in her voice.

Spike didn't seem to understand his faux pas, but shrugged and guided Applejack and I towards the other corner. I was surprised to see the folding mattress set up there again.

Applejack wordlessly picked up my surprise. "We brought it back 'ere after ya went in the clinic. Twi said she wanted ta have ya close ta run some tests fer ah little while," she explained gently, helping me lie down.

Sweetie Belle helped adjust my pillow as Applejack actually pulled my blankets back up for me. "Um, thank you, you two," I muttered, somewhat unsure of how to gracefully handle their kindness.

"Considering she belted you not even ten minutes ago, that's the least she can do," Twilight muttered, rolling her eyes as I watched her walk around Applejack to examine me.

"Whoa, she what?" Spike asked, sounding a mixture of surprised and amused.

Applejack looked less entertained. "Ah told ya why. Ah let him off easy fer the amount o' needless worry he gave us," she professed.

Twilight narrowed her eyes slightly. "I guess we have different definitions of needless, then. He was brave and honorable, actually ready to give his life to save us," she defended. Er. Brave and honorable? I almost wet myself. If there had been any other option, I would have run screaming. But the only other options I know I couldn't have lived with. You can't outrun yourself.

"He coulda let Dash stay an fly 'em through yer magic even faster. Or held off on tha reckless explosions until yer spell was done. Poor Rainbow almost tore herself apart over all this," Applejack growled, tone of voice rising. Sweetie Belle swallowed nervously and backed away from the two mares, bumping into the edge of my mattress.

"It doesn't work like that. Twice the mass, twice as slow to move! Would you prefer they both almost died? He did that for her," Twilight explained, blush now gone and looking irritated instead. Sweetie Belle climbed onto the mattress, over me, and hid on my other side. Rainbow must have taken this really badly. I wish I could apologize to her right now.

Applejack stomped a hoof down. "He didn't have'ta blow up so soon. It wouldn't'ah been an issue iffin he just delayed ah minute or so!" she argued, gesturing angrily in my direction. I swallowed weakly. She was right, of course. It all boiled down to me being too weak. After I'd gotten hit by that blast in the back, my body just kinda gave out. I should have been stronger. Rainbow could have stayed to the last moment and nobody's feelings would have gotten hurt.

The sick feeling came back and I held in the urge to throw up. "Why are you attacking him?! I screwed up in the first place. If it weren't for my scanning spell, they wouldn't have gotten into trouble at all," Twilight growled, not quite as loud as Applejack. No, it wasn't her fault. It wasn't.

"Why are ya protectin' him so hard, Twilight? Can't ya just let 'er go at tha one punch an' be done?!" Applejack redirected. She growled low and her snarling face burned into my mind. I winced as a low static audio bled through my hearing.

"He's a worthless pile of shit after all! Why protect him in the first place?" Applejack demanded. I reeled in agony as her words tore at my heart. The room started to spin as I fought to close my eyes. Still, she continued, "He's a runt! He failed the breeding examinations and is barely fit to be a janitor, let alone a... Why do you support him?!"

I choked back the vomit and sobbing, eyes opening to a darkened room full of glowing red eyes. My vision warped and distorted, spinning as if I had a massive fever. Maybe I did? I felt like I was burning up. The eyes stared wickedly at me, curved mouths twisted in laughter as I tried to spin away from them. They had me completely surrounded, however, and I cried out, trying to get someone, anyone to come help me. I clutched tightly at the only thing that gave me comfort. A memento. Some called it silly or childish but it was all I had. I...

Everything was washed away in lavender and it felt like I stopped breathing, if but for a moment. A lovely smell and soft feeling drifted over me, even as my beloved memento faded from my memories. My mind felt sleepy suddenly, and I gave way to the soft light as reality bled back into being. W-What happened? The soft sensation solidified into a warm coat and gentle heartbeat pressed tightly into my chest and a harder push against my forehead.

My eyes re-focused just in time to see Twilight's open from an inch away, her horn pressed against my forehead again. She pulled me out of the nightmare?

"Ah can't keep him down fer long with that blasted hoof gettin' in tha way. Could ya hurry it up ah tad?" Applejack asked, sounding a bit irritated. Uh oh.

All of my muscles relaxed instantly as I forced the tension away. The magic focus went with it and I felt the elongated ribbons connected to my left foreleg go limp. The ends drifted away from Applejack's face and hooves as she continued putting her full weight on my waist and back legs, holding me down. My death grip on Twilight's back also lessened, but I saw her blush lightly as my hooves slid off her back.

"Mender, are you here now?" Twilight asked gently, smiling.

I swallowed and nodded quietly, unsure of how to respond or even what happened. "Thank Celestia fer that! Those bandages were darn annoyin' when they kept tryin' ta tangle me up or crawl up mah nose," Applejack muttered, shaking her head rapidly and blowing air out her nostrils a couple times.

Spike, whom I just noticed, let go of Sweetie Belle, who bounded back up onto the bed again. "Are you all right, Mender?" she asked rapidly, sliding to a stop at my left side.

I nodded tiredly as Twilight moved her horn out of the way. "Um, yeah. I just don't know what happened," I muttered.

"Ya started freakin' out an squeezin' Sweetie Belle like ah stuffed animal er somethin'," Applejack informed, causing me to swallow.

"I'm okay. They got me free of the bandages. But are you all right?" Sweetie asked, still sounding concerned.

Twilight frowned, shaking her head as she brushed her horn along my temples instead. Her warm breath drifted down my neck and I tried hard not to blush. "I'm sensing his magic settling down again. It was a panic attack. But your magic activated too, so this could be dangerous if unchecked," she explained. Her tail swished impatiently as her lower half stuck off the side of the bed.

"Is that why his eyes glowed?" Spike asked, approaching on the other side of Twilight and sitting down lazily.

"Ah reckon it's ah good idea ta keep him 'ere with tha magic expert, then," Applejack admitted, finally releasing my stiff waist. "Ya back then, Mender?" she followed up quietly.

Staring at her again, I tried not to shiver while nodding. She hadn't really said that, Mender. Calm down. She doesn't think you're a useless runt. Right?

There was a moment’s hesitation. Something silently noticed or maybe a rogue thought in her mind. I saw her eyes flicker for less than a second, averting her gaze from mine. Then she snapped them back onto me and covered the building frown with a warmer smile. "That's good. Ah guess ya should take 'er easy fer ah few more days," she added, nodding solemnly.

"Maybe you should leave for the night?" Twilight returned instead, glaring at the orange earth mare over her right shoulder.

Applejack sighed and nodded more tentatively this time. "Ah'll get outta yer hair. Ah only seem ta be makin' it worse fer now. Come on, Sweets. Ah'll take ya back to Rarity, too," she finally relented, motioning to the white filly on my cot.

"Aww! Do I have to? Sis is gonna kill me," she whined in protest.

Twilight hesitated for a second before sighing. "Look, I'm sorry, AJ. I'm just a little stressed right now, is all," she interrupted, apologizing.

Applejack stopped at the top of the stairs and looked back in surprise. After a second or two, the soft smile returned and she shook her head. "Ah understand, Sugar. Rainbow's been talkin' with me almost every day 'bout it, an' ah'm ah tad stressed too. Ah..." she started to explain before frowning at me.

Jittery, I looked away rapidly, directing attention to Sweetie instead. She was frowning and looking down at the fabric she'd given me earlier. Wait. Fabric? I suddenly noticed the tiny saddlebags on her sides. Oh.

"That was for Rarity, wasn't it?" I whispered, getting a closer look at the now bloody piece of fabric.

Sweetie Belle looked up at me in surprise, but then smiled. "It's okay. It was for a good cause," she assured hesitantly, absently brushing a hoof over the piece.

"Will Rarity understand that?" Spike asked, sitting on my other side now and looking concerned at Sweetie Belle.

Twilight migrated over to Applejack while we whispered, tilting her head. Applejack seemed to draw assurance from her and nodded to herself. "That's not entirely true, ah 'spose. Ah've been ah bit worried mahself, too. Ah pony grows on ya after ah while, ya know?" she finally offered up. I grew on her? My heart wanted to believe her but my mind was ever the skeptic. I pretended not to be listening.

"Yeah, I know. He's important to me. I just wish I hadn't screwed up so much. It's stressed me out," Twilight returned. I frowned. Important? As a pony or guinea pig?

Sweetie distracted my stalker tendencies by sighing, seemingly paying no attention to the mares. "If she gives me time to explain, it might not be as bad. Does blood wash out?" she asked innocently.

"Way too easily," I assured before I really realized I was talking. I'd had that impression before, I was suddenly distinctly aware of.

"Whew! She might not be as mad at me, then," Sweetie Belle muttered, looking relieved. My darker thoughts lightened a little and I smiled at her.

She perked and returned my expression a moment later, nodding. I assured her, "Don't worry. Rarity will understand. I'll even come by the boutique tomorrow and explain."

Her eyes got as wide as saucers and she grinned, hugging my chest gently. I chuckled and patted her lightly on the head.

"Besides, Princess Celestia left it up to you, right? She still has faith in you," Applejack continued, snapping my attention back to their conversation with that name.

Twilight sighed and shook her head wearily. "It's not her I'm worried about. Still, thank you," she returned quietly. I tilted my head and Applejack smirked suddenly, looking past her lavender friend and right at me.

"Well shucks. Iffin' that's all yer worried about, he's right 'ere ta ask, after all. Hey, Mender?!" she called out, surprising me.

Twilight looked momentarily shocked before glaring at the orange earth mare. "Don't you dare!" she warned. What were they talking about that was so dire?

"Do ta think Twi 'ere is a horrible pony deservin' some punishment?" she asked, totally ignoring the unicorn's sputtering protests.

I blushed lightly, more than a little confused. Sure, I was apprehensive about meeting the Princess, but I trusted Twilight's judgment most of all. I shook my head as Sweetie let go of me and gave a questioning look back at the mares.

Twilight stopped and stared at me in surprise, tilting her head. "You aren't angry that I told the Princess? That I almost got you killed?" she questioned incredulously.

I smiled softly and shook my head. "I was in good hooves. Rainbow's a goddess of flight. I don't think we were ever really in danger after you cast it. It was a simple mistake made during a stressful moment," I reasoned. Technically true. I'd gotten most of the damage due to the communication dish skirmish, not on the first approach to the Aegis.

Twilight exhaled lightly while Applejack laughed. "Careful ya don't let Rainbow hear ya say that. She might try ta court ya next," she warned, wearing a smirk.

I chuckled and shook my head. That I didn't have to worry about, at least. "I don't think she's interested," I observed, brushing the faux warning off easily.

Applejack just snickered and nodded. "Ah didn't think she'd be. Anyways, ah should be headin' home. Ah'll see ya at tomorrow evenin's get tagether," she assured, maintaining the friendly smile through her slow drawl.

Twilight nodded and answered for me, "Of course! Could you also clear Sweetie Belle with Rarity? It'll save Mender having to tomorrow."

"Aww! But I wanted him to visit!" Sweetie Belle complained, frowning sadly. I chuckled, feeling a little more useless than before, but I suppose it's for the best.

"He still can visit if he wants. Plus you'll see him at the party, right?" Twilight reasoned to the little filly, not missing a beat or losing her smile.

Spike snickered and nodded as well. "I bet you could get Rarity to let you come over early and help decorate, too. I'll... help her with your duties in your absence, of course!" he offered, smirking towards Sweetie Belle.

Twilight gave the little purple lizard thing a knowing skeptical look, but Sweetie beamed. "Really? You'd do that?" she asked, sounding absurdly excited. I resisted snorting at his ulterior motives.

"Of course! No sweat," he assured, grinning now. I noticed his teeth for the first time and was surprised to note their razor points. Those kinds of teeth weren't meant for a veggie diet. I found myself debating what he actually ate. Somehow, I doubt he'd be Twilight's assistant if it were too gruesome, though.

Sweetie gave him a gentle hug before squealing, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, Spike! I can't wait to help Pinkie tomorrow."

Applejack gave a soft chortle and nodded. "We best be off then, squirt. Ya have ah long day tomorrow, an' ya need ta get some rest, ah reckon," she pointed out, motioning towards the stairs.

Sweetie Belle nodded, hopping off the cot and excitedly bounding down the stairs. "So much energy," Twilight muttered, shaking her head.

"Youngin's. Ah'll see ya'll tomorrow, okay?" Applejack affirmed as she headed back down the stairs. Twilight giggled and nodded, following after her.

"Yeah. I'll see you two out," she offered before disappearing from sight.

I watched her tail disappear down the stairs before softly exhaling. That had gone better than anticipated, minus the whole 'panic attack and lose control of my magic' bit. Still, if it was going to be a problem, here was admittedly the best place I could be. My attention was drawn to the shivering Spike a moment later, however, who was still sitting next to me. There was a momentary lapse of concern before I noticed his almost predatory grin. Excited jitters?

"Score!" he finally shouted, quiet enough to not carry down the stairs. I couldn't help but laugh at his exuberance. He smirked at me and raised a claw expectantly. Figures. Some things were universal I guess. Rolling my eyes, I gave in and bumped a forehoof into his clawed hand, earning a widening of his grin.

I sat back and watched his tiny celebratory dance while waiting for Twilight to come back...

Author's Notes:

Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter:
http://youtu.be/ljK1DYczRA4

Chapter 03

It was there for but a moment. Like a dying echo as it bounded off a cliff. My conscious awareness flickered, momentarily focusing on where it used to be. I felt a certain sense of distress at finding nothing. No. Nothing wasn't what I was afraid of. A stirring of awareness, as if I slowly opened my eyes to a new day.

That nagging sensation. I frowned, right ear giving a twitch of annoyance before I flattened them both back against my head. Before me spread the infinity of stars, winking and shifting innumerable. It wasn't exactly cold, yet the absence of heat. There was nothing around me but the gently drifting chunks of rock. Nothing at all, air included. That wasn't a problem, though. I wasn't breathing so I didn't require air. I wasn't breathing because I wasn't here. This was a dream, right? The cooling remains of a broken planet as it drifted slowly away from our star. The same star that had brought forth a thousand generations of my old people. Now I saw the telling rings being extended around it as it was milked for gas and energy. A certain emptiness filled my chest and seeped from my eyes as I watched. Why bring me back here?

That stirring again. No, the link was gone, right? Of course it was. My old body was reduced to the consistency of fine dust and scattered to the solar winds by now. You don't get much deader than that. So why show me this? My mind either felt sentimental or masochistic, I suppose. Still, there was no denying that sensation, even if it was barely a second.

An echo. I frowned, letting my idly swaying legs still, for all the good they were doing at the moment. Besides, it's not like I was actually here anyway. "Madness. This is... They're gone, all right? We need... They might find us here. We need to..."

It was a whisper in my mind and I frowned. A male voice. Like a radio signal but for my skull. Pleasant. Mentally, I went over potential causes. Skull fracture perfectly aligned to form some sort of audio spell? Highly unlikely. Whispers of an elder being urging me to perform his unknowable designs? I doubt I'd get off that easily.

"They can't be all... ...parts of the Grosh ship is... ...think there was a counter..." followed. A droning sensation kept cutting out the words. It wasn't unlike the static sound of an empty television broadcast. Different voice this time and mention of that hellish name. Damn. Why couldn't it have been the skull fracture? So much easier.

I grew desperate. Creeping whispers of madness as the mental isolation slowly drives me insane? Probably not. It wasn't Tuesday yet. Radiation from Rainbow Dash causing a brain tumor to form, brandishing vivid hallucinations? Nah. Scan would have picked that up. I rapidly ran out of ideas.

Another voice rudely interrupted my bout of adamant denial with, "No! There has to... another explanation. They're... ...near the moons. Hiding, yes! They're not all..."

It was much clearer than the others and distinctly female. I also was surprised by the accent. Heavy rolling of the tongue with sharp uptakes on the 'ta' sounds. Where had I heard that accent before? Images of a cat purring came to mind, earning a frown. That sensation reared back rapidly. It was like I was almost remembering something, balanced carefully on the apex of my mind, but I didn't know how to move to get it to fall towards me and was deathly afraid the wrong shift would cause it to tumble away forever.

My eyes widened as I rotated in place, suddenly aware of it. A ship drifted into sight from behind the moon! It was a ship. The design looked Kel... Wait, what?

My mind jerked awake as Pinkie Pie landed on my chest.

My world spun as I hacked and coughed, flailing about as the pink monster sat unforgiving on my chest. She giggled in delight at my reaction, as if a devil slowly sampling my soul like a fine wine. My mind was lost somewhere in the metaphor before Pinkie was finally hoisted off of me with a purple glow.

"Pinkie! I told you to stay downstairs with the decorations!" a familiar, 'Twilight Sparkle' sounding voice lectured. It was hard to tell with my mind spinning from the lack of air and sudden awakening.

"Aww! But he's totally awake now. Does that mean I can decorate up here, too?!" she requested. My eyes widened as it looked like she suddenly drew a cannon out from behind her. Somehow. I filed it under system shock.

Twilight growled, ignoring the cannon completely and tossing the pink pony backwards onto her bed. Pinkie let out a giggle and 'Wheee!' as she bounced off what used to be the well-made bed.

"Are you all right, Mender?" Twilight asked, smiling upon reaching me.

Rolling over onto my side, I winced as I looked up at her but managed a tiny nod. "I'm fine. A little tired and sore today, but all right," I assured.

She exhaled softly and nodded before resting her horn on my exposed left forehoof. "I'm glad. Part of me was afraid you wouldn't wake up again," she admitted, eyes tracing the grooves cut into the hoof. It was a desperate measure and last resort but was now promising new potential, I noticed. Her concern made me warm up a little though. Wait, how long was I out for if she was worried? Glancing towards the window, I was greeted by a warm afternoon light. Oops.

I blushed and finally managed a smile. "I'm fine, Twi. Although we probably have a lot to discuss," I pointed out. Pinkie Pie got off the bed behind Twilight and disappeared from my point of view with a grin. Now what was she up to?

Twilight lifted her horn off my hoof and smirked knowingly. "Indeed. If I saw correctly, that little show last night was magic. The hoof, right?" she reasoned, dead on as usual.

"Don't let anyone ever tell you that you're not one heck of a smart mare," I complimented, snickering at her smirk.

Her cheeks flushed at the same time that her eyes softened as she smiled at me. "Needs more smooches!" Pinkie suddenly declared from somewhere behind Twilight. Wait, what?

Twilight's eyes widened in surprise as her expression took on something similar to my train of thought. I wasn't left any time to react, however. A pink burst of mane collided with Twilight's rump, moving at ramming speed. The lavender unicorn gasped sharply in surprise momentarily as she lost her balance and stumbled forwards. Her still open mouth pushed into mine as her right foreleg outstretched to catch herself.

Time lagged hard and my mind joined along as my heart hung up the 'Out To Lunch' sign. A jolt of electricity sparked through me from the contact and I was oddly aware of the warmth and texture of her lips against mine. Her weight continued, pushing her chest into mine as she fell forwards. I was oddly aware of her warm coat mingling with my own as I was pushed backwards into the pillow. Her mane billowed out in slow motion, drifting to each side of my head.

A single heartbeat came and went as my eyes widened drastically. Hers infinitely surprised me by lowering, if only slightly. My mind couldn't process anything, and I screamed at my body to not move an inch. Every fiber in my forelegs wanted to reach up and pull her closer. No!

Another thud of our hearts. Her eyes widened again, realization dawning behind them. A sharp intake of breath through her nostrils, our muzzles still sealed together. She suddenly retreated off me as if burned; as if I were actively on fire. Her face was aglow with flush as I no doubt mimicked. Instead of facing me, however, she shifted to a glare and swung around at the now ecstatic Pinkie Pie behind her.

"Oh, so cool! It actually worked! You two are so sweet together. Of course, I'll have to get Fluttershy to sample, too, so you three can figure out which," the pink one started to gush out.

"Pinkie! Why the hay did you do that?! That was... That was my first kiss!" Twilight screamed with surprising intensity. To my surprise, Pinkie actually stopped talking and looked up at Twilight instead.

"Really? You've never kissed anypony before?" Pinkie asked, sounding playful yet surprised. Everything dawned on me in a single instant. I stole Twilight's first kiss. Oh crap. I was dead. I was going to go down the stairs this time with my cot on top of me for added measure!

Twilight let out a strange mixture between a snarl and snort. "Of course not! I well, I was always too busy with my studies as Princess Celestia's student to worry about stupid, pointless things like that!" she spit out. The dagger of ice slicing my tiny heart open was oddly comforting. Maybe it would numb the physical pain of the multiple series of blunt force trauma I was probably about to receive.

"Aww! It's not stupid, or even pointless, Twi. Didn't it make you feel warm and happy?" Pinkie asked, eyes starting to water slightly. Uh no. Everything was falling apart. It wasn't supposed to be like this!

Twilight looked taken aback by her expression before hardening hers again and scowling. It didn't last, however, and I watched her eyes shift back over to me for a split second's hesitation.

The scowl shifted to a look of frustration as she reached up with her left forehoof and gently held her forehead. "I... I don't know. I've never felt this way before. I don't know what to think anymore," she muttered, causing me to swallow weakly. Admittedly, my mind was still reeling from finding out I was still alive. This was a bit difficult to process and I wasn't sure what to think.

Pinkie looked miserable still, however. "But did I do bad, then?" she asked gently, eyes large and watery. Twilight swallowed, looking uncomfortable before shaking her head.

"Uh, no, no you didn't. It was just, um, something I wasn't ready for. Do you think you could decorate downstairs for a few more minutes, Pinkie?" she hesitantly asked.

Pinkie glanced between us before I watched her expression shift from miserable to positively ecstatic within seconds. I added it to the growing Pinkie Memory Reel of things that would scar me for the rest of my life.

"Sure thing, Twi! And I'll keep everypony else away, too!" she assured, throwing a salute and bounding down the stairs before Twilight could get a word in otherwise.

The lavender unicorn sighed before turning and facing me again. I tried to remain neutral as she blushed lightly and snickered. "Rarity wanted us to wait until you were up and about before broaching sensitive subjects, but I guess Pinkie got a little exuberant. Ug," she explained, suddenly looking really tired.

"It's fine. I'm just a little overwhelmed right now. It's like my mind keeps thinking I should be dead, not kissing cute mares," I reasoned sarcastically.

Twilight blushed but smiled and nodded up at me. "I understand. How are you feeling this morning, aside from that?" she asked, sounding a little concerned and walking closer again.

I watched her sit down on her haunches a foot from the cot before returning, "A little tired. Um, dreams again. Not as bad as before, but..."

Her eyes widened a little. "Memories or…?" she led along.

I shook my head. "Images of the remains of the ship and star we orbited. And a tiny scout ship going along the remains. Not Grosh," I elaborated, swallowing.

"Ship as in space vehicle, right?" she requested in confirmation.

I chuckled and nodded. "Yeah. As cool as it would be to have boats in space, I doubt it would be as effective," I admitted wistfully.

Twilight laughed, tension lifting a little. "Yeah. Kind of like pirates but for space. Space Pirates?" she guessed, assumingly not realizing how accurate she had been.

"Careful. Those actually existed," I warned, winking at her.

"Oh, you're kidding. Ug. They're probably a lot scarier and meaner than our versions too, right?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"It wasn't a pleasant world," I reminded, before adding, "Regardless, I'm very happy to be here instead."

She smiled again and nodded before standing up off the floor. "Agreed. So let's keep you here. It's probably nothing, but I want to do a dream study on you tonight, just in case. Is that okay?" she asked, tilting her head a little. It was easier to manage looking at her after she shifted back to her professional tone again, I noticed.

I nodded, of course. "If it means anything, it didn't feel as hostile this time. I was detached. Bodiless, I think," I added, frowning.

She nodded and smiled before climbing up onto my cot with me. My eyes widened and I couldn't stop the blush as I suddenly remembered the feel of her lips. Oh crap. Stupid body!

She surprised me again by grabbing my forehoof instead. Huh? Oh. She examined the lines and grooves that were cleanly sliced into its form, frowning.

"Is this some sort of focusing symbol?" she asked after a few seconds of examination. I nodded softly.

"Yeah. It just helps me focus on an effect I want. It was made to help make fire, but it's just a general concentration symbol," I replied.

She nodded absently, seeming deep in thought. Her examination continued and I felt a tingling sensation as telekinesis slipped down into the cracks.

"Structural integrity loss. The nurse was worried about that. She said it can support you, but you should wear a covering over it to prevent things from getting wedged inside," Twilight enlightened as she continued prodding with her magic.

I sighed. I'd figured as much. Still, as a price to be paid, that was getting off cheap. I wondered about my lower back, however. It was still bandaged, so I couldn't tell if I had a scar or anything. Well, what used to be my lower back before I became a quadruped. Back back? No, that sounded stupid. I should really find an anatomy book at some point

Twilight's magic prodded yet again a second later, but this time slipped inside my hoof completely! I gasped, momentarily wondering if she'd sliced into my hoof accidentally or something. Calming down, I felt her warm energy sliding up my left foreleg. Oh, she used the hole to inverse the thing I did last night.

Her energy pooled into my chest and I closed my eyes, simply letting her past. It felt distinctly like her as it coiled around my energy inside of me. I felt her testing internal organs, making sure the energy was recovering correctly, and checking along the surface of my skin under the bandages. She was doing a medical checkup. I couldn't help it, though. The energy felt so much like hers, the massive amount of strength behind it, yet it was so graceful. Beautiful, yet a little intoxicating. I felt my face heat up as my energy started to feel out hers. That familiar light-headed sensation drifted through me, similar to the last time she had connected her magic with mine.

"M-Mender, that's distracting. Cool yourself off and l-let me focus," Twilight requested, a light blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Ah, um, s-sorry!" I muttered, rapidly pulling back all my energy towards my core.

Twilight made a light gasping noise in surprise as I did so. I was momentarily confused until I felt her energy slip and rush in to fill the sudden void. Her body fell against mine as it felt like I was suddenly dropped into warm, blasting air currents. The billowing heat surrounded me on all sides as I retreated inside my own mind momentarily, unable to process anything but lavender light. Her level of magic was... It was beyond anything I'd seen before. Her, a small pony, contained more energy than the prior arch-magi of the university!

Two violet pools of light opened up in my mind, before a light giggle resounded through me. "Mender, don't retreat like that. This form needs your magic as much as it needs warmth. You create a void by retreating quickly. Um, I need you to come out now," she requested softly.

Wait, this form was dependent on magic? Interesting. I gave her an inquisitive 'look' as best I could with no physical body. She caught it regardless, it seemed, and an image formed in my mind. I saw myself and her from outside of our bodies, suddenly. An aura of light burned off her before getting sucked into my hoof?

"You partially pulled my psyche into you when you retreated. This, um, it would be bad to stay like this for too long. Could you push me out, please?" she muttered, softer than before.

I felt the connection easily enough. There was an odd sensation as I grew curious and felt along the lines leading back down my foreleg. It went both ways, didn't it? If I shifted into her at the same time, that would make it even more of a link, wouldn't it?

Suddenly her eyes widened and she 'felt' scared. "N-No Mender! I'm not r-ready for this. I need to... I need to think things over," she pleaded. Ready? What wasn't she ready for? I tried to push a questioning sensation towards her as my progress down the link halted.

She sighed weakly. "We all have magic in us. You know that, right? Well, we unicorns can manipulate that, not just in ourselves, but in others too. By melding two magic pools together, we can cause various effects between ponies. Please, let me go?" she requested gently.

Various effects? While vague, based off her reaction, I could guess at a few of them. Temptation struck once more, and I realized that she really couldn't stop me if I just kept going. We might be linked, able to remain together forever, even!

The pang of guilt hit a second later and I remembered. All those feelings and thoughts when faced with the same choice on the Grosh ship. Was anything different? Not really. As much as I wanted to be accepted and stay here forever, there were some things that just couldn't be sacrificed. I couldn't live with the thought of hurting these ponies.

It was decided in an instant. I expanded out again and shoved. Twilight was ejected a moment later and shuddered as her body sat back up on me, psyche full back inside of her. She looked down at me softly and I winced, looking away in no small amount of shame.

"What did the Grosh offer you in return for Equestria?" she suddenly asked, voice quiet but solemn. I swallowed, wondering how much Twilight and Fluttershy had seen in my memories while trying to pull me out of that, well, whatever that was that I fell into.

I sighed. "You six. And a research position with immortality benefits," I returned, closing my eyes gently. Maybe if I didn't look at her, she wouldn't see what a monster I was for even thinking about it.

There was silence in return and I feared the worst. Why was this so hard? What was my problem with this? All I had ever known was myself. To encompass others in that reality was both exciting and terrifying. Sure there had been other soldiers. At least I think there had been. I can't remember anything specific, but a more general feeling of companionship was there. That wasn't like this at all. We weren't friends. Just individuals mutually working towards a common cause. They were allies, just like our nation's allies. This... These ponies were my first friends. At least, I think that's how friendship works. It's been a bit rocky, sure, but I think they were my friends. Now, I valued this world more than my old one.

Of course, when all was said and done, my body was out-pacing my heart. Things were happening too fast. Battle was easy in comparison. I knew my targets and exactly what needed to be done to approach the goals given to me. I don't remember much and certainly never a time where I wasn't fighting. This was so different. I just wanted to step back and flee. I wanted to hide somewhere and scream until I felt my head clear and my blood cool off. Yet here I was in the middle of a party getting put together with a cute unicorn sitting in my lap. No, not cute. Twilight Sparkle was gorgeous. She held a more level feeling of maturity and self-assuredness. Fluttershy was beautiful, too, but hers more stemmed from an innocence she seemed to almost drip.

After never having dealt with females before to my knowledge, it was overwhelming on my body. I didn't fault it for getting flooded with hormones. Just because it was justified, however, didn't mean I had to put up with it. I needed to fix this somehow.

Twilight surprised me out of my self-examination by giggling suddenly. "You're so different. You're a lot like me in some ways. We both worry and overthink things from time to time. Still, I'm not angry. The answer you gave him was quite obvious," she reasoned. I glanced back up at her in time to see her nose press lightly into mine. She sighed and rested her horn against my forehead again. I braced for magic, but none came.

A moment passed and I smiled lightly. "I guess blowing him up was as obvious an answer as any," I agreed, hoping that much was a given. Nothing says 'I hate you and want you to drop dead' quite like reducing a few dozen kilometers of space into fine dust.

She giggled again and nodded. "I missed you," she suddenly confessed, her hoof running along the fur on my chest.

"Why?" I asked, quieter while trying to not blush again. She was just resting against me. No test or examination. Just for comfort. My mind didn't know what to do, so I simply slid my hoof up and down her foreleg.

"You make me laugh. You're smart and can hold a conversation about advanced things. You're also full of fascinating things! I like you," she explained, taking my hoof up again and examining it.

It never came, as anticipated. I'd been listening for anything actually intimate to be added to the list, but it wasn't there. See, body? There's all the proof that was needed. She could get everything on that list by just being my friend. What was it that I wanted from her, anyway?

I stared emptily at the hoof she was holding. That pervasive sense of being lost came back to me. Everybody from my past existence was dead. Why was I still alive? Did I honestly deserve a second chance to find my purpose? There were no readily apparent answers and I somehow doubted there ever would be.

"Mender, what's wrong?" Twilight asked hesitantly a moment later. A glance back up at her told me she had switched her attention back to me rather than the gashed up hoof.

I shook my head, however. "I'm all right, Twi. Just tired. Pinkie takes a lot of energy to keep up with," I politely lied. No sense in worrying anypony needlessly. There was nothing she could do about it anyway.

"Well, if you're sure. You can wander a bit if you feel like it, but be back by six for the party. I also want to discuss your dreams and magic after," she informed, standing slowly and stretching before getting back onto the floor.

I nodded and tried my best self-assured smile. I probably looked like Fluttershy at a heavy metal concert, sadly. Although that's pretty accurate for how outpaced my mind felt.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Rarity was by earlier and asked for you, but you were still sleeping then. She requested you either drop by later or somepony let her know when you woke up," she relayed.

I tilted my head and questioned, "Er, why does she want to see me?"

Twilight shrugged absently as she trotted over to her personal bookshelf. "She didn't say. The only thing she mentioned was something about saddlebags," she tacked on idly as she focused on searching through the titles of her books.

Rarity made me a saddlebag? I frowned and wondered what the occasion was. I hoped it was an occasion, anyway. I certainly didn't have the bits to pay for it, obviously. Well, I'm sure that should she want me to pay for it, she'd offer some sort of payment plan. She knew of my lack of funding.

"I think I might go for that walk after all," I muttered before tacking on, "Maybe I'll go see what she wants before the party gets started."

Twilight smiled at me as she turned around, a book seemingly on potion making floating next to her. "That's probably a good idea, Mender. You could do with some fresh air after being cooped up in the hospital for so long. Just please let me know if there's anything else I can do to help you out," she offered quietly. There was a distinct moment of hesitation as she looked at me. It was as if she wanted me to say something but was afraid to ask directly.

I nodded and tried to give my best assuring smile. She confused me something terrible but ultimately I'd just prefer to have a little time to myself to think. Plus, I really was interested in what Rarity wanted. Up to this point, she was the one who'd given me the least amount of problems. If she really did have a saddle bag, it would be worth it just for that! From what I'd seen of her work, I knew it would be top quality. Still, the why of the situation concerned me. It wasn't my birthday, at least that I knew of. Maybe it was to celebrate me NOT being blown to tiny little bits? Deciding to just go with that, I nodded gently to Twilight and slowly got out of bed.

Thankfully, she was there to brace against me as I stumbled. My left foreleg was surprisingly weak and caught me off guard. "Careful, Mender. I think the magic put quite a strain on that leg. Take it easy for a few days, all right? You're also not fully recovered from the incident," she warned.

A lapse of lethargy passed through me suddenly and I slumped against her warm coat. It made sense. My body wasn't fully recovered from the massive level of damage it had received. Plus, it had just spent almost two weeks cooped up in a bed, being fed intravenously through a tube. I took several deep breaths and steadied myself on my hooves.

"Mender, you need to take it easy, okay? Your body took quite a shock," Twilight warned gently. Her eyes softened as I managed to shakily stand on my own.

I nodded and flushed lightly, fighting back my own thoughts. It really would be nice to stay here with her. A pity it was so hard to think coherently around her. My not thinking properly wasn't fair to either Fluttershy or Twilight. I needed to figure out a way to clear my head.

"I'll be careful, Twilight. I just need to clear my head a bit," I assured.

She smiled uneasily but nodded after a second or so. "All right. Just be back in time for the party," she reminded.

Nodding, I slowly and carefully made my way downstairs.

The day was a reasonable one. Light cloud cover kept the temperatures down well enough. I felt a light breeze also drifting over my coat, making for a rather pleasant experience. It was Fall now and I figured things would be getting chilly soon. It amused me when I read that they even had snow. Most species capable of controlling their climate wouldn't let their planet's rotation around the star interfere that much. Of course, I had no idea if the planet really rotated around a star. Or if the planet was actually rotating. Hell, I didn't know if I was even on a planet at all!

Regardless, I took my time as I walked down the path. The day was almost too bright and I found my eyes starting to ache if I took them off the ground for more than a minute or so. I guess I simply prefer the night in this instance. I'm named after an aspect of it, after all. A bit of noise came from my right as I rounded the street on my way to the Carousel Boutique. I saw a group of young foals playing in the grass just off the street. What day was today? If I recalled, the town had its own school for the young foals. It wasn't late enough for them to be out yet, so it was either a day off or they were playing hooky.

Sadly, my thoughts were halted once again by my poor skull smashing into something. There was no give to the harsh metal wall at all as my momentum carried me forward. I squished momentarily into the surface before gravity took over again and I fell over backwards. My landing was surprisingly gentle as I landed on my haunches. After shaking the dizziness out of my head, I looked up at the source of my newly discovered headache.

An imposing looking Stallion stood in front of me. He was nowhere near as big as Big Mac, but wore an impressive looking set of armor. It was a shiny golden chest plate and helm set with some sort of plated hoof guards. Wait, was this some sort of law enforcement pony? I hadn't seen any prior to this and frankly didn't think that they were needed here. He gave me a cold, stoic stare that hinted at a detached level of calculated efficiency, and I shuddered.

"Oh my! Are you all right?" came a soft-spoken inquiry from behind the guard. I shifted my attention past him to note an almost regal looking mare approaching from his left, my right.

My eyes widened drastically as I drew in her looks! She was the purest white that I'd ever seen. Her hair was alive with softly cascading rainbow colors. It was vastly longer than Dash's, but provided a much softer color variation. The colors complimented magenta eyes. To my shock, she had both regal wings and an elongated horn extending from her forehead. Both? What was the name of those? I racked my brain trying to remember what that book had said about them. There was something important that I was forgetting.

Answering her would be a good start, I decided, finally replying, "I'm all right. Um, I'm sorry I bumped into your friend."

She giggled gently, her eyes softening to match her tone. I was suddenly shocked at the weight of knowledge she seemed to contain behind those eyes. "Oh, I do recognize you. You're Moon Mender, Twilight Sparkle's friend. Worry not. I'm certain my guard is undamaged," she assured, smiling again.

"You have me at a disadvantage," I pointed out, deciding to ignore the slight rib from the obviously well off mare. Her own guard? She's probably upper class, at least.

She surprised me with an odd smirk that came out of nowhere, before returning, "You can just call me 'Tia' if you want. I'm a friend of Twilight's. She talks a lot about you."

I averted my gaze from her rapidly as I blushed. She talked about me? "I didn't know that. Well, a friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine," I assured, trying to will the blush away.

Tia nodded politely to me, still wearing that understanding smile. "Friends are very important. I'm glad Twilight has opened her heart to them. I was actually on my way over to the library right now. Do you know if she's busy?" she asked.

"Well, Pinkie Pie is over there right now to do the decorations for the party tonight, but Twi probably wouldn't mind company," I cautioned. If she was friends with Twilight, she probably knew Pinkie. That warning should be self-evident if so.

"Oh my. Well I don't want to get in the way of anything. Wait, do you know of any good places to eat here?" she suddenly asked, seemingly out of nowhere. Well, probably not out of nowhere. I knew firsthoof how fast hunger could sneak up on you.

I frowned but nodded slowly, suggesting, "Well, Twi eats at a cafe near here. But she only ever gets dandelion sandwiches anyways, so that might not be the best recommendation."

Tia laughed warmly and nodded. "She is a bit stubborn sometimes. Shall we go and see if the food is good there, ourselves?" she asked a moment latter.

I swallowed uncomfortably and probably paled a little. How much had Twilight told her? "Ah, you seem really nice but I kind of don't have any bits," I admitted, blushing as I felt a tad pathetic.

Tia shook her head softly, smile widening. "Nonsense. I'd just like some company, you know. Besides, I'd like to talk to you more, if you don't mind," she insisted.

Well, I suppose there's no harm in that. Rarity didn't know I was coming, anyway, so no loss there. "I suppose I could," I finally agreed.

Tia nodded sharply and smiled. Her two rather stoic guards moved back into position near her at the same time. I swallowed my nervousness and followed after her. She waited politely for me to catch up, and a guard fell in to either side of us. Swallowing, I couldn't decide which way to shuffle or who to distance myself from more. With nothing else for it, I headed towards the cafe, leading the way. I should have stayed in bed...

Author's Notes:

Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter:
http://youtu.be/_njN1VnKzfw

Chapter 04

A few minutes later had us arriving at the cafe in due time. Tia made quite a stir, to my surprise. She must be quite a bit more famous than I had originally thought. The waiter looked like he was going to pass out when we walked up. He was so flustered that he tried to bow to Tia when she approached! She introduced me respectfully and nodded towards him to have us seated. Admittedly, I was more than a little impressed by her good graces. I had a sneaking suspicion that Rarity probably liked her. I was unaccustomed to them taking our orders then and there, but the white mare took it in stride.

"So how has Twilight been as of late? She writes to me frequently but it's always nice to hear about it from a third pony perspective," Tia inquired after we got comfortable at our table, the flock of attendees dispersing a little.

I nodded quietly. "She seems a little stressed but that could just be Pinkie Pie affecting her. I was worried she would be mad at me after what happened but she didn't appear to be at all. It's a little confusing, honestly," I admitted sheepishly.

Tia laughed lightly and shook her head. "Far from it, Mender. She likes you quite a bit," she assured as those strange bodyguards settled in close to the table.

"I just wonder how much of it is my being an interesting test subject," I wondered out loud.

"Admittedly, it probably had a lot to do with it at first, knowing Twilight. These things have a tendency to grow out of simpler things. If only you read some of her letters to me recently!" she tantalized. My cheeks flared up, predictably. Oh my. Twilight shared a lot with this mare! I guess that did leave certain topics open, however.

"Well, an Earth Pony that does magic is pretty rare, I guess," I returned, attempting to change the topic. I didn't particularly feel comfortable with somepony else giving away Twilight's secrets to me. Plus, it would tell me how much Twilight had told her. If she acted confused, I could just play the idiot.

"Rare is an understatement. What types of magic were you trained in on your world?" she asked curiously.

My blood chilled a little. "M-My world?" I asked hesitantly. Or it went the other direction! Twilight had told her pretty much everything, then. Who was she that Twilight hadn't talked about her yet?

Tia nodded politely, still maintaining the warm smile before informing, "Twilight tells me many things. I'm her confidant, worry not. I haven't told another soul."

I swallowed uncomfortably and nodded. She was a closer friend of Twilight's than I thought. "Ah, I'm just surprised is all," I muttered, looking around to make sure that nopony was listening. To my surprise, I saw that there was a three-table radius where nopony sat. It looked highly intentional to me.

"I apologize for startling you. Perhaps I should have been more open from the start," she apologized.

I smiled again and shook my head, feeling a bit better now that I saw nopony had heard. "It's all right. I just wanted to keep it a secret. Ponies tend to underrate my sanity when they hear the story," I explained.

Tia nodded politely again. "I understand, of course. I don't doubt your sanity in the least, worry not."

I had to laugh at that one. "I wouldn't go that far. I doubt I'm holding a full deck of cards," I corrected between snickers.

She gave me cold deadpan stare for several seconds before seemingly realizing my playfulness and joining in the laughter.

"Ooh, I think I might like you. You have no idea how nice it is to get away from responsibilities from time to time. You're good at getting somepony to let go," she complimented, smile shifting from polite to warm again.

"It's not always a good thing. I'm not the best at motivating myself, either. At least not without probable cause," I admitted. Sure, my lackluster approach stemmed from the utterly hopeless war I had been a part of, but this place was infinitely better. Even if it did feel like I had jumped from one event to another so far.

"Living with Twilight will help balance you out, don't worry. You never answered my prior question, though," she reminded.

Prior...? Oh! "Oh, I'm sorry. I was an Engineer, I believe. My magic revolves around barriers, physical trait manipulation, and repair. I was a more supplemental role, it would seem," I explained to the best of my abilities.

"Oh? For such a grim place, you weren't trained in any attack magic?" Tia inquired curiously.

Why was she interested in that? I hesitated but nodded a moment later, answering with, "Yes. Just one technique. An energy blade. Rainbow Dash's fly by attack was the first I'd used it in actual combat."

"Huh. I was expecting something a little bit scarier. You aren't going to use it anymore, are you?" she asked, sounding a little concerned.

I chuckled at that. "Maybe as a glorified letter opener. There's no need for it in this dimension. The less these ponies know of my old world, the better," I muttered, feeling a little bit down again. These ponies didn't need to know about that hellish place.

"A noble stance. What if you needed to defend yourself, however? Or defend Twilight and Fluttershy?" she asked next, watching me in an oddly focused manner.

That was an extremely specific question. She knew I liked both of them, without a doubt. Why she was so adamant on this was beyond my guessing, however. I frowned and considered it. I didn't know what she was looking for in my answer, so I simply went with the truth and quietly explained, "If we couldn't escape and the only other option was them dying, then yes. I would use it without hesitation. But I don't think it will ever happen. Twilight is amazingly powerful and I have suspicion that Fluttershy is far from defenseless herself."

Tia stared at me carefully for a surprisingly long time. I started to fidget nervously after almost thirty seconds of her rather intense stare. Finally she smiled again, however, and I exhaled sharply.

"Twilight vouched for you already but I still wanted to ask. I see she's right. I don't believe you'd willingly hurt anypony," she explained.

I slowly shook my head. "I love it here, even with the horrible luck and multiple blunt force traumas to my skull. I'd never hurt these wonderful ponies intentionally," I added, looking to the side at the filled tables. I oddly notice that a bit of a crowd was forming towards the cafe entry with quite a few ponies whispering and gesturing towards us. Wow, Tia was popular! I started to feel a little self-conscious.

She must have noticed. "Don't worry about them. You're my friend so just treat me like normal. Trust me, it's refreshing. Can you show me your magic?" she requested.

I tilted my head and gave her a skeptical glance. Did she mean right here, in the middle of the cafe? She gave an encouraging nod and smile. Sighing, I lifted my left hoof up, staring blankly at it for a moment before nudging my inner pool of energy into movement. Not sure what she actually wanted me to do, I simply activated the channeling and watched the symbol under the bandages start to glow. A few seconds later, the wrappings drifted free from my hoof and into the air. All I did was temporarily turn off gravity for them. The current from my hoof pushed them away gently as a natural result of the energy emission.

Tia's smile broadened as she watched. There was that feeling in her eyes again! It was as if a great deal of time resided behind those twin pools of magenta. She suddenly struck me as far older than I had originally thought.

"You're not levitating them. You told them to ignore gravity, right? Twilight is right. It's a far more physical magic than a unicorn's. Can you levitate something?" she asked curiously.

I shook my head. "No. I can only manipulate what the rune on my hoof touches. Basic manipulation as well. It doesn't feel like I have enough energy in me yet to manage anything complex or permanent," I elaborated.

Tia seemed to think for a moment before asking, "So like most unicorns, you need mental exercise before you can manage more?"

A wave of gloom washed over me and I put my head down. I'd been so proud of my magic. Now it, like me, was starting over. Worse yet, I was surrounded by magic users of phenomenal skill. Heck, the partial unicorn sitting across from me was probably stronger than me, too!

Tia gave me a soft smile, sympathy showing rather plainly before seemingly thinking of something. "I understand your frustration of course. But might I make a suggestion?" she asked softly. I nodded while patiently listening. She continued a moment later with, "Your body is that of an Earth Pony, so it's geared towards directing its magic through constitution. My suggestion would be to train your body alongside your mind. Healthy diet and exercise would do a good job of jump starting your magic as well, I'd assume, based on your body.

I blinked slowly, considering what she had said. Wow. That actually was really intelligent. Twilight being friends with her suddenly made a lot more sense. "Wow. Thank you, Tia. You just might be onto something there," I admitted, running the concept through my head again. In all likelihood, it would help to greatly expand my magic pool. If I could do that by doing what I had intended to do anyway, I could use the time saved for training my control capabilities. That would speed the process up significantly!

Tia giggled lightly and nodded. "Be sure to run it past Twilight as well. She deals more with experimentation and advanced theory than I do. She might be able to help you out even more," she pointed out.

"Still, thank you for your help. Things haven't been going well since I arrived. It's nice that something might be working in my favor this time," I thanked again.

She smiled and sat back in her chair as the waiter brought out our drinks. Tia had a tasty looking shake of some sorts and I had ordered tea. Fell in love with it ever since Rarity had served it to me. Sadly, my first sip told me she had spoiled me. It wasn't nearly as good as the stuff she had made.

"Admittedly, I didn't know what to expect before I had met you. I was a bit apprehensive after the first letter Twilight sent," Tia returned. Had my delicious, delicious tea not been in the way, I might have slammed my face into the table out of frustration. Was I never going to live that down? She giggled and continued with, "Relax. Then I was deeply puzzled by her sudden change of tone in the letters after that. I was worried she was being manipulated. She's very intelligent but quite young still. Most ponies have good intentions but you should always be careful. It didn't help that you weren't from here."

I nodded this time. That much was just playing it safe. I could accept that easily enough. She continued before I could say anything, with, "But now I see that you're just a normal pony with his own fears and troubles. Twilight was right and for that, I'm glad. You have my blessings."

As happy as I was to hear that, I was a little confused. "I'm glad, but your blessings in what, might I ask?" I inquired.

Tia giggled lightly. "Why in the pursuit of happiness, of course," she furthered simply. Smiling, I nodded and took another sip of my tea. I should have known something was wrong by the way she eyed me eagerly as I sipped. "And Twilight, obviously," she tossed on after I had a good mouthful of tea.

It momentarily went into my lungs as I attempted to inhale at the same time. Seconds later, I was reduced to a coughing and sputtering lump on the table. Tia promptly added a "Gotcha!" before bursting into laughter.

It felt like an eternity passed before I could breathe properly again. Gasping, I tilted my head up to glare at her. She was still giggling merrily, however. I politely waited for her to finish. "Oh, this is just too much fun! I don't do this nearly often enough," she finally spoke up in a wistful manner.

Sighing, I decided that her life was probably pretty boring if that was the case. My irritation faded rather rapidly after that. "Well, try to warn me ahead of time when you decide to choke me half to death," I muttered wearily.

To my surprise, she grinned and nodded. "But of course. We shall have to do this more often. You're quite good at relieving the stress of a day," she complimented. At least I think it was a compliment.

"Your life doesn't feel so bad after watching my daily maiming, concussions, and almost asphyxiations, I take it?" I asked, using the napkins she floated my way to dab the tea out of my coat.

"Well, tragedy is popular for a reason," she pointed out, earning another eye twitch and glare before she snickered and continued, "Oh relax. I tease. As much as you probably don't believe me, I have to say that you really are a good pony. Your luck will turn around soon. You have two cute mares after your attention as well."

My mood shifted in a morose direction and I sighed before placing my head down on the table. "I just wonder if it's not karma or something. I lived when my entire species died. Why was I the lucky one? Maybe it's just paying me back?" I reasoned quietly.

Tia shook her head softly. "One can never know the future. Not even the strongest magic can accurately predict it. Asking yourself if you deserve the place in life where you find yourself is equally futile. If you can't find a reason to be here, even though I see several, make your own reason instead," she suggested.

I frowned and considered it. "A... A reason to be here?" I asked, not sure what she meant.

Tia nodded politely and continued, "Of course. You're incorrectly worried that the sacrifice involved in your arrival was too great, right? Even if they actually intended to save only you, you can still choose to give a reason for it all. You don't need to wait for something else to give you that reason."

She surprised me considerably. She definitely gave me another point of view, and a wise one at that, but there was something off about her reply that made me uncomfortable. Something she knew and wasn't revealing.

Still, she had a good point. They hadn't sacrificed themselves for me specifically. Even though I lived when they died, it didn't exactly make me special in any regard. She raised an eye to me, so I snapped myself out of it and spoke up with, "You're right of course. I'm not that special just because I didn't die."

Tia snickered and shook her head. "Of course you're not special because you lived. You're special because you're kind and many a ponies' friend. You're special to them," she corrected.

Frowning, I considered her words. They matched well with what I had been told a while ago. Ponies took more away from interactions with others than I noticed or gave credit for. It applied to me as well, I supposed.

"You're really wise. Twilight's lucky to have a friend like you," I complimented. This was a good friend of Twilight's, I reminded myself. She wasn't going to have bad intentions. I really needed to do something about the paranoid tendencies. Oh, and the hormones.

Tia smiled warmly, but looked away from me. "You're quite a lot of fun as well. Surely you can be my friend as well?" she asked.

My eyes softened and I smiled. "Of course, Tia. Are you going to be at the party later tonight?"

"That's the whole reason I'm in town. Of course I'm coming. I think Twilight wanted me to meet you," she reasoned, a hint of playful sarcasm in her voice.

I averted my gaze. "A little late for that. I guess she didn't anticipated me literally running into you in town," I muttered, face giving a tiny jolt of pain in protest of the memory.

Tia leaned back as her salad and my sandwich arrived. "I doubt she'll mind. She's very patient and understanding," she assured as the waiter bowed politely to us.

It took her a moment to glance back at me, but she finally noticed my incredulous expression. She hesitated, then giggled. "Okay, she's patient and understanding when scary feelings aren't clouding her judgment," she appended.

Chuckling, I brushed the surface of my conveniently still unwrapped hoof against my sandwich. A quick tweak in magnetic properties later, and it was stuck to my hoof as I picked it up. Tia watched me curiously throughout, a mixture of amusement and possibly considering me the laziest stallion she'd ever seen. That last part could have been just me reading into it, though.

Shrugging, I took a small bite of the sandwich, not wanting to rush anything. My body was used to an IV supplying its nourishment still. I could potentially get one hell of a stomach cramp should I rush eating. Tia simply nibbled gently at her salad. A small fork drift in front of her effortlessly and fed her bite by bite. Levitation magic must be so useful. Still, things were looking up for me now. All that was left to do was get Twilight to check out this new dream issue, and convince this Princess Celestia pony that I wasn't totally insane. Oh, and apologize to everypony for worrying them. Especially Fluttershy. It worried me that I hadn't heard from her yet, nor heard anything about her. Was she mad at me or something? Maybe Twilight would know.

"Hey, this is pretty good after all. I'm going to have to thank Twilight for the recommendation, through you of course," Tia spoke up.

Snapping out of my usual spacing out mode, I smiled back up at her. "That's something to be said about somepony who eats the same thing often enough. They get really good at quality testing the dish," I reasoned, gesturing idly in the air with my other hoof.

Tia simply smiled and nodded, oddly seeming to actually enjoy my company. I hadn't known her for long, but she seemed to be really tense. It was like she didn't get the chance to unwind all that often.

The rest of the lunch period went uneventfully, although the crowd gathered and continuously whispering near the entry to the cafe was a little awkward. I knew they were here for Tia, but it still felt like more than a few directed attention at me. The giggles that sporadically drifted from the mares in the crowd were particularly distracting. That's something I'd noticed almost immediately. I'd not been around females prior to arriving here, as far as I knew. But their laughter! There was just something about it. I couldn't really explain why it was so appealing. It was like something deep inside of me stirred and cheered every time I heard it.

It was about forty minutes or so before we were done eating, if one included the conversation and waiting prior. As anticipated, Tia easily managed the bill, floating some gold looking coins out of a small pouch tucked away in her large chest jewelry. The owner of the restaurant almost fell all over himself trying to make sure that we had a pleasurable experience. I was a tad perplexed but Tia seemed to be used to that sort of thing.

"But I insist! Surely if there's anything we can send with you, I can get it packed up immediately," he continued to assure.

Tia smiled gently and shook her head as I wrapped my hoof up again. She watched me finish the final rotation as the owner deposited the bits. I hadn't paid that much attention to the final tab between the giggling mares and trying to focus my magic long enough to wrap the bandages again. Hopefully it wasn't too much. Even with her being obviously well off, it didn't feel right to leech off of her like this. The first bodyguard went ahead of us and stomped his hoof down once in front of the crowd. As if on cue, they parted in a line to allow us through. Tia went on ahead and I trailed slightly behind her. Awkwardly, a couple of the mares brushed lightly against me as we passed. I stumbled while trying to avoid one, and another managed to catch me and support my balance until I could get back on my hooves.

"Don't mind these kinds of mares. Are you okay?" the mare next to the one who caught me asked. The questioning mare had a cream colored coat and a rather poofy, dark blue and pink mane. It was definitely unique. Her friend who caught me hurt my eyes, however. She was a bright mint color with a messy cyan and white mane. She gave me a friendly enough smile as she helped me to get my balance again. The second guard motioned the crowd back as Tia stopped and looked back at me.

"Yes, I'm all right. Thank you, um..." I started before hitting a snag.

The one still grabbing my left leg smiled warmly and nodded. "I'm Lyra. This is my fillyfriend, Bon Bon. How did you pick up that sandwich with just one hoof?" the minty mare asked.

Er, oops. Um... Tia started back towards me again, frowning. Before she got too close, however, Lyra frowned and examined me. Huh? Was there something on my face? Before I could ask, she suddenly flailed and gasped. "It-It's you!" she declared at the top of her lungs.

"Lyra?" Bon Bon questioned, tilting her head towards the other mare. I shrank visibly however, doing my best impression of a shivering dough ball.

Lyra growled as Tia made it to me. "I stepped in your pee like, three weeks ago! You ran away from me!" Lyra reminded at the top of her lungs to the entire crowd. Oh crap! It was her. I thought she looked familiar...

"Lyra! Is this the best time?" Bon Bon asked her quietly.

Tia stopped in front of us instead. From my new position I realized how tall she was. "He's had a rather rough last few weeks. I know that much personally. Are you all right, Mender?" she asked gently.

Lyra gasped and oddly fell into a bow. That was the second pony to bow to Tia. Warning bells went off in my mind. "I'm s-sorry, Princess Celestia!" Lyra apologized rapidly.

A pause. Oh. Tia? Celestia? Celes... Oh crap. Decidedly, my body chose that moment to gargle with my yet beating heart. The newly revealed Princess Celestia sighed and made a motion with her head. "Shall we take a walk, ponies?" she suggested.

I don't quite remember moving. I think one of the guards came up and pushed me along from behind.

The sun slowly sank towards the horizon as I sat quietly in the grass, watching the iridescent sky. The oranges, purples, and blues mixed together so nicely that I really didn't want to leave.

Tia, or more appropriately, Princess Celestia, sat a meter or so to my right. Her eyes absorbed the colors of the sky as she watched her sun go down. It was beyond strange to realize that her sister was out there somewhere, directing the moon into the sky at the same time. She caught me looking a moment later, and I rapidly turned my head away, feeling insecure again. At least the mint pony had forgiven me for earlier transgressions before leaving. Lyra was it? She seemed nice enough once she stopped trying to murder me. Honestly, I hadn't realized "stallion smells" were so hard to wash off. Unhealthy obsession with how I picked up my sandwich, though! That was a little creepy. She went on to explain how awesome fingers were and how she wished she had some, like a dragon or something. Bon Bon looked like she wanted to die, though.

"Still feeling awkward, Mender?" Celestia asked a moment later.

Sighing, I shifted uneasily. "A little. You got me good, that's for sure," I pseudo-complimented.

She giggled lightly again. "I only did so to keep you honest. And technically I never lied. Twilight Sparkle is indeed my friend." True enough, I suppose.

"So you were asking about my magic to make sure I wasn't a threat, right?" I deduced, absently motioning with my right forehoof.

The princess smiled and looked back out at the sky. She was quiet again for a moment before nodding and asking, "You understand why I had to do as such, right?"

"Of course. You're the ruler of Equestria. I'm a potential risk to your nation."

She frowned but nodded again. "Twilight ultimately can take more risks than I. Normally I don't ask her to, of course," she started to explain. It had been a nagging thought before I went to bed last night. I don't quite know why, but I think it was the way she said it.

"She told you about me almost right away, didn't she?" I interrupted, trying to keep my voice as steady as possible.

Celestia smiled again at that. "You're clever. You two really would make a good pair," she complimented.

Of course. She told her probably right after finding the memories of another world and form in my mind. It was dangerous not to. I just didn't understand why she didn't tell me. "It was the right call. I could potentially have caused a lot of damage, and not much was known about me," I agreed quietly.

"She was right, however. Twilight's gotten to be a good judge of character since becoming a Bearer. She said you yourself were harmless, and that the real danger was what you represented." I could tell she was directing the topic away from Twilight being at fault. That probably meant something.

"But you're the ruler of Equestria. You can't just trust Twilight, no matter how faithful she was. Too much was at risk," I concluded for her.

Celestia remained quiet for a moment and glanced back out at the sky. She hesitated before finally nodding. "Yes, this country is my responsibility. I need to be thinking about its welfare. I asked Twilight to keep an eye on you until I could make it to Ponyville myself that weekend. A potential hostile invasion is extremely serious, you must realize," she agreed.

It rapidly snapped together. She had been flustered because of us jumping ahead of schedule. Twilight had wanted to wait for the Princess. Instead of her feelings becoming clear, however, I simply became more confused. How did she feel personally if she was simply told to look after me?

My mind shifted back to her eyes slowly closing as I felt her lips push harder into mine. I pushed back the heat that was threatening to drift into my cheeks. No, I shouldn't jump to conclusions. There was definitely something there. Now what about me? I tried my hardest to feel out what I thought of her, but things kept getting mixed up in my head.

"You're quiet, Mender. Are you okay?" Princess Celestia suddenly spoke up. As my thoughts had stolen my concentration, I couldn't help but jump when the silence was suddenly broken.

"Oh! Sorry, Your Highness. I was just trying to sort out my feelings. And everypony else's," I apologized.

She shook her head, however. "Please, either Celestia or Tia. I meant it when I said it was a comfort to just pretend I'm a normal pony for a while," she requested. It felt awkward, regardless. I seemed to be stuck thinking of her as Tia. Maybe that's what she wanted? She continued, " And if you're worried about Twilight, don't be. I was a little concerned when she started getting attached to you, but now that I can see for myself what you're like, I'm happy she trusts you."

I had a sneaking suspicion she could see a lot more than she let on. I decided to just be open rather than risk her ire. "Why didn't she just tell me that she was in contact with you, then?"

"I told her not to. You'd hardly have acted natural had you known you were being watched. You have my word that she isn't under any orders now," she assured, somehow guessing at my insecurity before I myself did. I was a bit impressed, and just a little frightened.

Still, all Princess Celestia would need to do was say the word. Twilight practically worshipped her, from what I'd seen and heard.

Celestia smiled gently after a moment, my inner turmoil halting the conversation reasonably well. I stared once again out at the colors of the sky as they slowly shifted towards the horizon. It couldn't be that late yet. Maybe this place followed a more natural seasonal daylight cycle. That would mean that the day would be getting shorter and shorter. Winter was coming. Really, I just wanted somepony I could trust. Failing that, maybe a good, sturdy tree I could kick until I felt better.

Rainbow Dash? No. She was loyal, but not exactly to me. Plus she might be mad over the teleport incident still. Applejack? Heh. And get punched again? Pinkie? It worked surprisingly well last time, but this seemed a little sensitive for her level of energy and violation. Fluttershy? I didn't know what she was doing or where she stood on what had happened still. I didn't want to offend her. That left Rarity. The only thing she had done that was necessarily bad was eavesdrop and work me a little harder than I would have liked. She also took things reasonably seriously it seemed. Maybe she'll have some advice?

Gently, I stood up and stretched out my back legs, earning Celestia's attention again. "Miss Rarity said she wanted to give me something today, so I should stop by there before the party, I think.”

"I'll be at the party as well. May I speak with you more there? You probably have a lot of questions," she requested.

I sighed but nodded slowly. She was insistent on clearing Twilight's name. Idly, I wondered why. She continued before I could ask, though, with, "Good! You have about an hour before the party. Best not be late. I don't believe even I can stop Pinkie Pie from going to find you if so."

That I laughed at. "Oh, I know her a little bit. I won't be late."

She smiled and nodded towards me as I turned and headed back into town, directing my legs towards the Carousel Boutique.

Author's Notes:

Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter:
http://youtu.be/VkeqBh2WzJk

Chapter 05

Yawning quietly, I peeked about the town as I strolled, being more than a little happy at my ability to walk properly. It was hard for me to believe that it was less than three weeks ago that I could barely walk on four hooves. Now I could at least manage to look around a bit without risk of cracking my skull on the ground.

As per the usual, there were a few stares as I headed towards the Boutique. Oddly, there were more whispers than usual. Surely they were used to me wandering about while looking half dead, right? They should just be thankful that I wasn’t in a mechanical walking barrel this time. They picked up the deeper into town I went, growing in participants and volume. I grew uneasy as I started to pick up Princess Celestia's name, and picked up the pace a bit.

Sadly, three mares intercepted me no more than a dozen meters from the Carousel Boutique. "I'm, sorry to interrupt, but you're the stallion that was with Princess Celestia earlier, weren't you?" the cream-colored mare with the rose red hair asked. I swallowed nervously but managed a weak nod.

"Ooh! What's your name?" her friend asked almost immediately. The sudden half prance forward caused her blonde mane to bounce excitedly. Oddly, her coat color reminded me of Pinkie. With her level of energy, I wondered if they were related.

Regardless, I took a step back from the display of excitement. "I'm, my name is Moon Mender. Uh, why do you ask?"

"Oh, I'm Rose," the cream and fittingly rose-colored mare spoke up.

"Lily!" the slightly more energetic, blonde and pink one added.

The only one to not speak yet nodded along and smiled, adding, "And I'm Daisy. Lily and I run the herb shop in Ponyville, and Rose handles the flower stand." Her lime colored mane shifted gently as she nodded. It looked a little strange with her light purple coat.

"Ah. Well, that's nice," I returned, admittedly unsure of exactly why they were talking to me.

All three smiled, however, seemingly oblivious. "You were that stallion that Pinkie Pie threw a party for a few weeks ago, weren't you?" Lily asked a moment later.

I started to nod in agreement, but Rose interrupted before I could even open my mouth. "Huh? Oh, that party. I never actually saw the pony it was for."

Daisy giggled, however, correcting, "Yes you did. He was the bandaged lump that slept on the sofa for most of the night." My eyes drooped as I gave an irritable glare towards her.

"What?! No way. I could have sworn that was a throw pillow," Rose muttered, her brow becoming scrunched up.

"Is that why you almost sat on him and Sweetie Belle?" Daisy asked skeptically.

Lily added at the same time, "Are you sure you weren't drunk?"

My ears drooped a bit and I sighed. You know it's a bad day when somepony mistakes you for an inanimate object.

"No, I wasn't drunk! And I stopped when I saw her," Rose defended sharply.

Sadly, a few more approached while they went back and forth.

"Oh, you're the stallion that's been staying with Twilight, aren't you?" a yellow colored mare with a golden mane spoke up.

Blinking, I swallowed again and started to open my mouth. A chorus of "Ooh"s interrupted, however, from the trio in front of me. A blush drifted into my cheeks and I stuttered out, "It's not like that. She's my friend!"

"You're friends with all six Element Bearers, aren't you?" Lily asked in amusement a moment later.

I didn't like her tone or implications, but I nodded anyway. "Uh, yeah. It's kind of a long story. I was trying to get to..." I started to excuse myself.

"And friends with Princess Celestia! Are you some sort of secret agent or something?" Rose asked excitedly, halfway through my attempt to excuse myself from the conversation.

"Would he honestly tell you if he was a secret agent?" Daisy reasoned, giving Rose a gentle nudge with her left forehoof.

That was a very good point. All three were interrupted by a loud voice from above, shouting out, "Whoa! Nice crowd you got going, Mender!”

Oh crap. That sounded like... Rainbow Dash swooped in an instant later, blasting all three mares in front of me with a rather sizable gust, earning a trio of yelps. The rest of the crowd seemingly decided that now would be a good time to back up and give the high-speed bolt of cyan fur a bit of landing room.

After standing back up fully from her landing, Dash smirked over her right shoulder at me before rotating around fully. "Oh, hey Dash. What are you doing here?" I asked, carefully bracing against the wind she indirectly caused. Scratch that. I still wasn't all that stable on my legs.

Dash glanced about at the crowd before puffing a little and snickering. "I was looking for you, duh. Twi said you seemed a little upset when you left and asked me to give you a little company. I guess you found some company on your own, though," she commented, gesturing to the crowd.

I glanced about at them, uncertain. Some looked surprised, others more curious, and all were watching me. "Ah, yeah. Um, I don't know?" I offered, which was to say, told her nothing.

"He was eating lunch with Princess Celestia!" Rose spoke up.

Rainbow gave me a speculative glance, to which I shrugged and elaborated, "I bumped into her shortly after leaving Twilight's. Kinda maybe literally. She invited me to lunch and said she wanted to talk to me." I didn't think it was that big of a deal.

"Whoa. Got asked out by a Princess. Nice going, hot stuff," Rainbow cooed, tossing me a wink.

Obviously, I whipped out my trademark blush. "Dash! You know it's not like that!" I protested. It didn't help much as I heard the whispers and gasps start up around me. Great.

Rainbow took it in stride, of course. "Hey, no need to be modest, Mender. You've got both Twi and Fluttershy hot after you, and you're friends with the coolest, bravest pegasus in Equestria!" she declared, puffing her chest out even further and widening her stance.

Her cocky grin met my irked glare blow for blow. "You forgot fastest," I reminded sarcastically.

She gave a pert nod and wink. "That's just a given with how awesome I am!" she assured, sounding amused. Okay, she was just screwing with me now.

The door to the Carousel Boutique slowly opened behind the crowd, however. To my surprise, I saw both Rarity and Fluttershy peeking out through the doorway. The latter's eyes widened upon seeing me, and mine followed suit. Fluttershy! Mine widened even further when she lowered herself slightly and looked past Rarity and back inside. She was scared of me?

Dash had turned around and peeked at point. "Oh, Rarity's? Is that where you were headed?" Rainbow asked a moment later, looking back over her shoulder with a smile. I buried the emotions as fast as I could and smiled back, nodding.

Rarity smiled softly at me and strolled out of the shop. Fluttershy took that moment to dive back inside and out of view, of course. “Moon Mender! What a pleasure. I was looking forward to seeing you at the party tonight. I hadn’t expected an early visit,” Rarity spoke politely, drawing out her sentence spacing smoothly as she walked towards us with certain elegance. Wow, she was certainly laying it on thick. It must be the audience that brought it out in her.

“I would have been here earlier, but Princess Celestia wanted to speak with me. Ah, I’m sorry,” I excused, nodding courteously to her.

She giggled softly as she stopped maybe a meter away from us. Dash had backed up as she approached and now stood to my right side. “Oh I would never forbid a meeting with the princess. What was it she wanted to speak to you about?” the white unicorn asked, pleasant smile dancing onto her features.

Rainbow snorted derisively. Uh oh. “What else could it be about, Rarity? She probably wanted to know more about his magi…” she started. Damn my reaction speed! Still, my shoulder jabbed into her side as fast as I could manage. “Ow! What the hay did you do that for?” she asked, glaring at me after recovering from her stumble.

“Oh. Oh! Perhaps we should take this inside, dear?” Rarity offered, suddenly seeming to realize what the topic was and looking a little more flustered.

Rainbow frowned over at her but lost some of the edge on her expression. Oh sure. Believe Rarity. There couldn’t be a logical reason for me to nudge a pony. I obviously go around all day assaulting random ponies in the side. “Oh. Well fine,” Rainbow acquiesced in an irritably nonchalant manner.

It was too late at that point. Due to my lack of reflexes, almost everypony present with more than a dozen brain cells to rub together had figured out what she had been on the verge of saying. More whispers from the crowd could be heard. There were over two dozen ponies at this point, and it was getting hard to hear individual voices.

“Wait, was that what you were doing at the café?” Rose suddenly spoke up, separating from the front of the crowd again and stopping just in front of me, looking a little eager.

I swallowed nervously and took a step back away from her. “Uh, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I answered, trying to shrug off the suspicion.

“That’s good. Neither do we,” Lily muttered, giving a suspicious looking glance at her friend.

Rose seemed to pay no heed though and bounced back and forth on her hooves in a rather exciting and oddly mesmerizing fashion. “I thought it was just a rumor but Lyra was going crazy over it earlier, saying he could hold up a cup of tea with just one hoof! Magic!” she exclaimed, eyes widening and dancing with energy as she stepped closer to me again.

“That is simply preposterous, ponies! He is clearly lacking a horn, so Lyra simply must have gotten confused,” Rarity tried to redirect. Oh, thank you!

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow to her, however. “What are you talking about, Rare? You know he,” she started before pausing for a moment. A look of dawning graced her face with the punctuated, “Oh.”

“Are you serious, Rose?” Daisy asked, looking at me instead of her friend.

“Yes! And hey, he’s cuter than Lyra described!” she returned, suddenly looking up and down me. Oh crap.

She was suddenly way too close for comfort, my privacy zone expanding by several meters along with my nervousness. I edged away from her as I shifted my gaze back to Rarity, begging for a way out. Rarity sighed and held a hoof to her forehead, just below her horn. She suddenly looked like she really could use a full spa treatment. Oddly, I had no idea where that thought came from.

My concentration was cut short in surprise, however, as I heard a light and faintly echoing squeak, shortly after the comment on my appearance. Huh? My mind reeled with a dip of vertigo momentarily, but I shook it off easily enough and glanced back at the Carousel Boutique. That squeak, which was oddly a mixture between a whimper and yelp, was excessively cute enough to be a certain yellow pegasus I knew. Had she heard the comment? More importantly, how had I heard her in return? A strange compulsion bounced into my mind.

Both Dash and Rarity gave me a questioning glance as I suddenly ignored the crowd entirely and trotted past the unicorn mare, going inside the Boutique instead. I heard murmurs following me, and the distinct sound of two other sets of hoof steps on the entry step behind me after I entered. It didn’t take me long to find the shivering pink tail that hid behind a rather large supply chest. At least I assumed it was supplies. I guess Rarity might have some other reason for keeping large chests of various gemstones, textile tubes, and spools of thread. Regardless, the soft pink tail shivering behind the chest clearly didn’t belong.

“Fluttershy,” I murmured quietly.

The tail went rigid, followed by an audible gasp. With glacial movements, I saw her pink mane, and then finally her left eye peek out from around the chest. The eye widened and I watched her visibly shrink under my gaze.

There was a long pause where we simply looked at each other again. I slowly sat down in front of her, eyes softening. Why was she suddenly avoiding me? Not making any sudden movements, I simply sat in front of her, breathing slowly. After several more rather awkward moments, she must have realized that I wasn’t going anywhere and slowly peeked out further from around the chest. Her eyes softened a little as she simply watched me, those twin pools of teal shivering lightly as I saw moisture start to build up along the bottoms of them.

“Fluttershy...” I heard Rarity muttered from behind me and to the right. The main door gently closed as well, due to what I assumed were Rainbow’s manipulations.

The pretty yellow pegasus winced, tears finally coming as she lowered her head and buried her face in her hooves. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, shivering again. Deciding it was for the best, I lowered myself further down into a laying position, leveled out eye to eye with her.

“For what, Fluttershy? What’s bothering you?” I asked carefully, trying hard to corral my mind’s natural tendency to start guessing.

She stayed frozen like that for a long moment. Rainbow appeared on my right side and sat down next to me, looking down at the shivering yellow pegasus with a frown. Rarity’s hoof steps could be heard getting closer behind me as well. Fluttershy sighed and continued staring at her hooves.

“I… should have visited you sooner. I just don’t know what to do. I mean, what to feel around,” she tried to mutter, already quiet and fading to nothing towards the end.

That much I could work with. I swallowed weakly and nodded. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable with my feelings. They’re there, but I’m trying really hard to keep them under control and figure them out,” I tried to assure, voice jittering a little.

She surprised me by shaking her head rapidly, however, mane fluttering back and forth. “No. It’s not… that. Twilight had me, um, help her pull you back from your bad spot. But I accidentally saw some other things, too. In your memories,” she squeaked out, hiding her face again in her hooves as if she was afraid I’d hit her or something.

Oh. Oh crap. She knew about when I first arrived! “Oh! Uh… I can explain! Um, I’m really, really sorry! Honestly, I didn’t mean to look!” I exclaimed rapidly, feeling my blood drain from my face and shivering. Unconsciously, I lowered myself further down to the floor.

Fluttershy stopped shivering for a moment and looked back up at me, looking slightly confused instead this time. “Um, what?” she asked hesitantly.

Oh. Uh, oops. “Oh my. Who else did you look at aside from Twilight?” Rarity asked behind me, sounding surprised. Crap!

She was right on cue. “You checked out Fluttershy’s flank too?” Rainbow asked, starting to laugh.

Fluttershy’s cheeks went crimson as her eyes widened. I only saw it for a moment, however, before she buried her face in her hooves again, releasing a timid, “Oh my.”

I could appreciate the feeling, and joined her in hiding my face. Mine was out of shame, however. “Oh relax, girls. Let’s not let this get out of hoof again. It’s a natural reaction. It simply wouldn’t be feasible for such a pretty mare to go unnoticed, right? I’m sure he meant no harm by it, right Mender?” Rarity requested, resting what I figured was her right forehoof on my back and patting.

“Of course not. There’s just so many… feelings whirling around in my head. I need to sort them out. Then do something about these stupid hormones,” I groaned, whacking my forehead on the wooden floor.

Fluttershy let out a weak sigh and shook her head, still blushing lightly as I peeked up at the noise. “It is, well, natural. You’re a very, um, kind stallion. It’s just…” she started to explain before frowning and hesitating. After a moment of staring off into space, she shuddered and rapidly shook her head. “No, no, no! I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. It’s not you. It’s me.”

“Flutters, you need to relax. Nobody’s blaming you. Mender’s just a stallion. They look a lot. Take it as a compliment!” Rainbow pointed out, smirking down at me instead. I returned a rather annoyed stare.

The yellow pegasus didn’t seem assured, though. “I know. It’s not what I saw. But I can’t get it out of my head. So much. How do you even stand it? There was… It was all around you,” she whimpered, curling up on her side instead.

Oh. It snapped back into place and I felt my blush drop away, sitting up again. The cyan pegasus next to me gave a questioning look, but I stared past Fluttershy instead. Honestly, I’m surprised Twilight was alright with it. No. In all honesty, I didn’t know why I was still alright with it. Maybe I wasn’t? I don’t think anypony, or anybody in this case, ever got adjusted to such a thing. Rarity approached and peeked at me from my left.

“The war. All of the death. I know,” I muttered, eyes drooping a little. My memories were still a mess. There were no coherent events in them, but many images were still present. Like the photographer went out on a drinking binge and got shots at random before falling down a cliff and trying his best to recover the camera. Regardless, the pictures weren’t pleasant.

Dash frowned, this time at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, you know that’s not his fault,” she tried to defend.

Rarity interrupted with a sharp clicking noise from her tongue as Fluttershy winced and curled up tighter, as if physically hit by Dash’s words. “Of course she knows that. But when she thinks about him, those memories come with,” she explained. Explained. She knew already, I suddenly realized.

Fluttershy nodded weakly, tears now coming down her cheeks. “You’re really nice. For all that to happen, to you and your race; it’s terrible. It’s horrifying. I can’t…” she muttered again, shivering visibly now while barely producing more than a whisper.

“Um, should I leave? I don’t want to stir up uncomfortable memories for you,” I offered, quietly looking down at her. The last thing I wanted to do was make the shy pegasus more uncomfortable than I was already making her. She had probably been talking to Rarity about it when I rudely interrupted.

Wait, why had I interrupted? I suddenly couldn’t recall why I had wandered in here in the first place. She was scared and needed help. But I don’t know why I thought that. Of course, I was no stranger to having large gaps of memory missing, between already being diagnosed with amnesia and spending an uncomfortable amount of time unconscious through blunt head trauma prior to the coma. I guess I should just be thankful it only lasted a couple of weeks. And from what I heard, I had Twilight and Fluttershy to thank for that. It made what she saw even harsher, though. She had done it for me.

I digress, however. I’d never had gaps of memory while awake. This was a little troubling. Perhaps I’d talk to Twilight about it again. Although it probably was nothing, like she’d already tried to convince me. Maybe she was right and I really didn’t have anything to worry about?

Fluttershy interrupted my thoughts by sitting up in front of me. Her eyes looked a little bloodshot, now that I was close enough and she had them fully open. Were the images giving her nightmares? “Please. No. I want to… Well, I want to get used to you again,” she murmured, voice a little stronger this time.

Rarity smiled and nodded politely off to my left. “Yes. Replace the memories with happy ones instead. Both of you should let those images go, honestly. Surely it isn’t doing Mender any good either, right?” she suggested, motioning towards me with her right forehoof.

Letting out a puff of air, I nodded weakly and glanced away from the yellow pegasus. I felt really tired, in truth. It felt like I was going full-bore for so long that I don't remember the last time I really relaxed. Not that lack of memory should really surprise me at this point. Not including the coma, I think the last time I rested was after helping Applejack fix her wagon.

“I could definitely do with a little more forgetting, honestly. My dreams still aren’t exactly pleasant,” I admitted finally with a shake of my head.

Fluttershy sat up again, shifting to a light smile instead. It still felt a little timid, though. “I’m sorry for, um, avoiding you. I want to get used to you again,” she apologized quietly. Again.

I looked away from her slightly. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, Fluttershy,” I expounded, feeling a little better that she was at least being open with me again. I hesitated, but finally got up the courage to add, “It’s true. I like you. You make me feel, well, safe. You calm me down and have already stopped me from panicking on multiple occasions. Plus you’re… Well, you’re beautiful. I’m trying to fix the other things, don’t worry.” I ignored the light gagging noise coming from my right, of course.

Predictably, she resumed a light blush, but her smile didn’t go away this time. “I’m not that special,” she whispered, losing her force of voice and looking down again.

“Oh, that I agree with him over. You’re very special indeed, my dear,” Rarity reinforced, giving a wide smile to her friend.

The blush expanded by several magnitudes and she started fidgeting with her front hooves. “I, um, thank you. I really do want to be your friend, Mender. I’m not sure if I want more than that, but…” she finally managed to get out, sounding as if she were straining to actually push the words out of her mouth.

Smiling, I nodded gently. That was the best I could have wished for heading into this situation, really. “Thank you, Fluttershy. I want to be your friend too. Are you coming to the party?” I inquired, curious about her standing.

She let out a surprised gasp. My eyes widened a little, but she rapidly stepped forward half a leg length. “Oh, of course! Um, why would I miss it?” she defended, looking surprised that I’d even had to ask.

“She has a point ya know. Of course we’re all going to be there. You’re already our friend,” Dash insisted, giving me a light shove on the shoulder with a hoof. Sadly, I tipped and wobbled a bit before Rarity snickered and gave me a push back in the other direction.

I nodded, really unsure of what I could say to something like this. Thankfully, I really didn’t have to say anything. Rainbow’s gasp beat me to the punch. “Oh horseapples! The party!” she exclaimed suddenly, eyes widening.

Huh? Oh! Looking around, I finally managed to spot a clock on Rarity’s wall. Seventeen fifty-five? Uh oh. That left five minutes before the party started. “Uh, I’d better get going! Pinkie will hunt me down if I’m late for the party,” I whimpered. Dash nodded, looking a tad apprehensive herself.

“Run and you can make it. I’ll stall them!” she exclaimed before turning and galloping towards the door. She flicked the knob with her muzzle as she hopped, weight pushing the door open before a single flap of her wings sent her hurtling into the sky in a blur. Damn that mare was fast!

Turning around and trying to start into a sprint at the same time was probably a really stupid idea, however. As it turns out, even two weeks in a coma does horrible things to your body. Not that I needed the coma excuse with my general lack of finesse in this body, anyway. Regardless, I tipped and promptly ran my face into the wooden floor instead, skidding along a good foot and a half on my nose.

I heard a light squeak behind me, indubitably from a very surprised Fluttershy. Her noises were very distinctive, I decided. Well, as much as I could decide as the nerve endings in my face screamed out for mercy. Attempting to recover what little there was left of my dignity, I simply rolled with it. For a moment, I balanced perfectly on my forehead before falling in the other direction onto my back. With all the grace of a drunken hippo, I flopped backwards and rolled sideways, spinning myself as I went. With my momentum somehow still intact, I came out of the spin on my legs again and booked it towards the door at top speed, utterly afraid to look back at the two mares in my shame…

In an ideal world, I would have slid through the door totally on time a few minutes later, with everypony there happy to see me and congratulating me on my physical prowess. I’d then be the guest of honor of the party, and have a grand old time. The night would then end on a high note with a swooning purple unicorn and yellow pegasus, and gentle kisses to welcome the coming sleep.

Instead, I lay spread eagle on my stomach a dozen meters from the entry to the library, with a bruised face and dignity, puffing like some makeshift steam device. Damn. “Okay, this ‘ere is mighty sad, Mender,” came a familiar accented voice from the direction of the door. I didn’t have the energy, nor heart to look up at Applejack as I heard her hoof steps coming closer.

“Haa…” I managed to murmur airily as I exhaled, world still spinning. As to not throw up, I kept my eyes closed. That was as close to “Hi” that she was going to get from me at the moment.

“Ya know, it was only ah couple blocks from Rare’s, right? Ya really need ta get yerself back into shape,” she added after a few more seconds. I heard the light puffing noise of a bit of dust in front of me, and assumed she’d sat down.

I managed a miniscule nod into the ground, wincing at my aching legs. “Yeah… Ugh. Can’t move,” I finally got out. They wouldn’t mind if I took a little nap here, right?

There was an exasperated sigh, followed by, “Ah figured as much. ‘ere.”

My surprise doubled when something rough and grainy wrapped itself around my upper body with no little amount of nudging and shoving. My eyes opened a moment later just in time to see her tighten the rope and pick up the other end in her teeth, shrugging as she started dragging me in the direction of the library. Well, this was awkward. It was kind of comfy, though, in a dust up my nose kind of way. Silently, I hoped Ponyville would get some rain soon.

Raising my head feebly as we reached the steps, I managed to angle the slope off my collarbone. Applejack took note and pulled me up the forty-five degree angle before continuing into the library.

The explosion of light and sound was magnified by my spinning head. Cheering exploded all around the room as the lights flicked on. "Surprise!" several of the ponies shouted, Pinkie at the forefront and very much the loudest.

Pause. Most lost their grins and I got dozens of confused looks. Suddenly, I noticed a visible twitch and picked Twilight out of the crowd near the front. "Oh come on! Four hours. I leave you alone for four hours! How do you do this, Mender?" she shouted, looking a little exasperated.

Dash predictably burst into laughter, this time drawing many others along with her. My irritation spiked, but once I thought about it, she had technically done her job. Twilight was mad because I bashed my face off Rarity's floor, not because I was late.

"Oh who cares! He's here now, so it's time to party!" Pinkie declared, doing a lazy series of somersaults towards my position on the floor. She, and the sensation of horror in me as she approached, were both cut short by a sudden flash of light, however! Twilight was suddenly standing between us with no visual spatial movement whatsoever. What?! She could teleport without charging? What I could recall of my lessons labeled that as a 'Blink' technique. Appropriate, honestly. It allowed the caster to move from one spot to another, usually a short distance away, in the space of an eye blink. To do so impulsively with no charge time was masterful, though!

"Oooh no! No, no! He's already injured. He takes it easy tonight," she prescribed, stomping her right front hoof on the floor. Pinkie giggled and started to turn around her, but was easily snatched out of the air in a lavender aura.

She took it in stride, of course. "Wheee!" she squealed as she spun about defying gravity. Twilight tossed her into the pillow cluster next to the couch before lifting me up with a similar aura. Absently, I noted that the pillows used to be on the couch. I had slept against them at the last party. The unfazed Applejack nodded to Twilight and undid the rope as I dangled in the air in front of her. This really wasn't helping the dizziness.

After Applejack untied me, Twilight walked over to the couch with me floating lazily in the air behind her. She hopped up onto the end cushion and smiled warmly at me before gently setting me down next to her. “There! Now you’re safe and sound for the rest of the night,” she concluded, nodding sharply. Was that on her checklists somewhere? Or was she ordered to watch me again? I nudged my thoughts back into check. Celestia had been very insistent that it wasn’t Twilight’s idea. That either meant that Twilight had expressed discomfort in spying on me and honestly wanted to just be my friend, or that Celestia wanted to keep Twilight in my good graces so I’d be less suspicious. But what was that old adage? Innocent until proven guilty?

Twilight’s look shifted to puzzled instead when I took so long to answer, but I slowly got into a vague sitting position instead, leaning against the back of the couch. “Thanks, Twi,” I finally managed.

The impact with the couch directly above my head jarred me. I glanced up and saw Rainbow Dash, perched precariously on the top of the couch’s back. "Ooh, guarding him all night?" she asked, smirking. There was a light whispering from various locations around us, and I quickly realized that the crowd was still at full attention.

Twilight scowled up at her before defending with, "You know it's not like that, Rainbow!"

"Oh! Can we have you, then, Mender?" was suddenly shouted out from the left. I glanced over and blushed as Rose waved from the front of the crowd. Wait, we? I saw the other two flower themed mares standing next to her a moment later. To my discomfort, both were smirking.

Rainbow Dash started snickering again, but Twilight looked utterly shocked. She glanced over in the direction of the three flower mares as well. "Wait, what?!" she muttered in disbelief.

"Well, he's personal friends with the Element Bearers and Princess Celestia. Plus, he's cute and an Earth Stallion who can use magic!" Lily explained simply.

"He can what?" Twilight asked, visually shifting from surprised to annoyed in seconds before turning and glaring back at me. I saw Rainbow avert her gaze in the corner of my eye. Tempting as it was to rat her out, I didn't think it would impress the Element of Loyalty all that much.

"Sorry, Twilight. I got caught using it," I apologized softly.

She sighed weakly and nodded, turning back towards the group to our left. A frustrated murmur interrupted anything she was going to say, though. "Okay, yeah. I can't let you do that. I let the secret out! I totally didn't think it was a secret in the first place. Sorry, Twi," Rainbow muttered. Sorry, Twilight?

Twilight nodded once, a light smile playing at her features. She had probably guessed it had something to do with Dash, I'd imagine. She opened her mouth again to speak. Once again, both her words and my sulking were interrupted by a third party.

"I offer my apologies for being late, Everypony. The moon rising here is beautiful without the Canterlot lights to wash it out," spoke the elegant voice of the Princess of the Sun, from the direction of the library's entry.

The crowd was like a gentle retreating wave as the collective bowing commenced. The prior whispering tapered into nothingness at the same time, a seemingly mutual respect for the Princess telling everypony to allow her to speak.

Everypony minus Twilight of course, who instead released a quiet gasp.

"Princess Celestia! You made it!" Twilight exclaimed a moment later, hopping over the back of the couch like a little filly before scampering over to her teacher. I saw that Rarity and Fluttershy were both with the Princess as well.

I smiled softly as I watched, finding it more than a little cute to watch the usually reserved unicorn get so excited. Well, I watched until I heard the barely audible coo to my right. Instinctively, I glanced in that direction, just in time to see Pinkie Pie balancing carefully on the other armrest. Uh oh... She wiggled her butt like a cat, giving me a predatory grin before pouncing.

I managed to inhale sharply but couldn't quite get the scream for help out before she collided with my chest. My stored air supply left as rapidly as I had acquired it, and not nearly as noisily as I would have liked.

It was kind of like being molested by energetic chipmunks wielding cotton candy. I couldn't catch my breath as she tickled me mercilessly, her mane blocking my vision at every turn. She purposefully ruffled my own mane up as I squirmed, trying to get away from her. Dash must have heard my squeaks and gasps, as I heard her start to snicker from somewhere reasonably close above me.

"Whoa! Harsh, Pinkie. Flutters, you should see this!" she tacked on in a break between the laughter.

I finally managed to get a hold on Pinkie's head and pushed her out of my viewpoint. Just as I got the pink curls out of my eyes, Fluttershy popped into view next to Dash on the back of the couch. "Oh! Oh my. You're not hurting him, are you, Pinkie?" she asked timidly, actually looking a little worried.

Pinkie sat up on me and laughed, shaking her head until her mane flailed everywhere wildly. "Of course not! I'd never hurt such a good friend," she assured promptly. She seemed to know how to deal with the yellow pegasus, anyway.

"Just tickle me until I can't breathe. Got it," I groaned wearily, glaring up at the pink lump of energy masquerading as a pony.

She giggled merrily, of course. "Oh you know you like it!" she defended, giving me a surprisingly flirty wink. Wait, no. She had acted like that with one of the girls, too, if I recalled. It was probably just her way of playing.

"Two can play at that game you know," I reminded, grinning back. Her eyes widened as she grinned, making to dive off me. Far too late, my pink friend.

My left foreleg exploded into a mess of bandages, snagging her and mercilessly returning the tickle treatment at every conceivable angle. She burst into spastic squealing as she squirmed and laughed, trying to climb up the back of the couch. Hey, at least they were all clean and new. What the pink monster really deserved were the gross and messy ones I had on earlier!

"Whoa! Awesome, Mender," Rainbow complimented, laughing as she kept blocking Pinkie's climbing path.

I made a clicking noise with my tongue as I sat up again. Less than half were tickling. Heh. Sorry Rainbow. "I'm not letting you off the hook either, Dashie," I warned, winking at the cyan mare.

All she had time for was a questioning glance before I snagged her too. She started squealing before I even proceeded with the tickling.

"No! No, no! Please?" I cut short her pleading as I pulled her out of her weak attempt to fly away while hysterically laughing. Pinkie's giggles only escalated as her friend got pulled in too. Even Fluttershy giggled lightly as she balanced on the back of the couch.

"What the hay is going on over there?" I heard Twilight ask, seemingly finally noticing her friends' plight.

Pinkie immediately tried to climb over Dash after she crashed into the couch cushion, and used her as a step to get towards the top of the couch. Guess it was every mare for herself! Fluttershy wobbled and clutched to the cushion as Pinkie giggled and clung next to her. I should have seen it coming.

All four of us gave out a yelp as the couch spilled over backwards.

Author's Notes:

Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter:
http://youtu.be/DVtqPDLWZmY

Chapter 06

Curling into a tighter ball, I remained as solid as I could manage against the back of the couch. My mind reeled with disastrous memories as I decided that they might not find me if I simply didn't move.

"Mender, relax. It was an accident," Twilight assured, still sitting on the cushion to my right. Instead of answering, I buried my muzzle further into the couch. It was a disastrous accident, though!

Fluttershy's hoof movements became almost hypnotic as she kneaded the muscles along my back, giggling lightly as she worked another knot out. How had she convinced me to let her do this again? I winced as the memory reared its ugly head.

The couch tipped, me being flung up the back of it. Fluttershy had been balancing on the top and gasped as she went over backwards. There was no other choice. I released the tendrils from Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, and kicked off the couch with a light twist. I had next to no momentum and was far out of shape but I managed to barely snag the flailing, panicked pegasus and spin.

My back gave another throb of protest as I remembered the feeling of contact with the floor. The little yellow pegasus also wasn't as light as I anticipated. Not as heavy as Pinkie, but she definitely didn't have hollow bones! The mare in question let out a timid coo as she worked another knot out, earning a groan of appreciation from my mouth.

"Are you three about done yet? You've missed a dozen spins already!" Rainbow barked from somewhere behind me.

Twilight shifted sharply. "Relax! We're just looking after Mender. We'll join in a bit," Twilight retorted sharply. I didn't have to see her to hear the irritation in her voice.

"It's all right. This is quite a lot of fun!" Princess Celestia assured. I couldn't blame Dash for being grouchy. The princess had trounced her attempts at mischief so far, and even got her once earlier. Apparently the Sun Princess was extremely empathic and perceptive, able to hit upon just the right questions or dares to almost assure the target bowed out. From what I understood of the game, the target then had to do a universally assumed bad act, which changed every time somepony did so. Regardless, Celestia was unscathed and Rainbow Dash had already drank a mixture of orange juice and milk, and been forced to sample leftovers found at the back of Twilight's fridge. Needless to say, she was a little grouchy now. Regardless, I had already decided that playing that game would be bad for my health.

"Aww, come on, Mender. I planned this juuust for you! You can really get to know us and have fun at the same time!" Pinkie pleaded.

I sighed, enjoying the gentle massage from Fluttershy, alongside her newfound comfort level with me. Twilight was tucked pleasantly into my other side as well. Honesty, I could have easily fallen asleep right here. Twilight spoke up first, however, pointing out, "She has a point there. You could learn a lot about us. How about a few rounds, then we go back to this?"

That nagging sensation returned. I was holding them back again. "You two can keep playing, don't worry. I'm just tired and a bit sore," I excused weakly. I really needed to jump up the exercise regimen.

Fluttershy timidly sat on the cushion to my right, a little ways away from me on the couch while uneasily watching the game. "I'd really rather stay here. Um, spin the bottle truth or dares isn't exactly my favorite game," she muttered. Oh, well true.

Twilight giggled but nodded. "You two can stop after a couple of rounds. Just try to relax and have some fun, Mender," she added with a light pat to my other side.

"Yeah, don't be so scared. Sheesh. You can handle a little bump," Rainbow reminded. It wasn't so much the bump as Fluttershy landing on me. Plus that look from Twilight when she saw me skid to a halt holding Fluttershy. Now I can't shake the feeling that they're both sticking close to me to spite the other. This wasn't what I had intended at all.

Rarity sighed tiredly as she rested a hoof on the bottle in the center of the group. "Please, girls. Twilight and Fluttershy can share Mender easily enough. Can we please get back to the game?" she requested politely. Sweetie Belle snickered from the other side of her, but her eyes remained glued on the bottle. Apple Bloom sat next to her as well, looking towards me instead. Scootaloo seemed very much uninterested in the game and remained behind her two friends, staring at the ceiling. It was interesting to see all of the Element Bearers together again. They all had their own lives, really. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting.

Fluttershy released a light burst of air to my left, startling me. A quick glance told me she was no longer there. Rotating on the cushion, I watched her gracefully land next to Rarity, who shifted over to make room. For a moment, the yellow pegasus glanced backwards; not at me, but Twilight instead. She smiled with just the corner of her mouth. Twilight frowned for a split second, hesitated, then returned the smile. The entire exchange took all of a second or so, and I'm pretty sure I missed something in the space of time it took me to look between the two of them.

Twilight stepped down off the couch and sat down next to Fluttershy. Both scooted apart, however, then looked back at me. Seriously?

I felt more than a little confused as I shakily stood and chambered off the couch. Why couldn't I just be given time to think? Careful of my left forehoof, I took the three steps to get to the group before popping down again.

"Woo! Hey, Mender! Are we ready to start again, everypony?" Pinkie wasted no time in asking. She sat off to my right, on the other side of Twilight. Oddly enough, Spike sat to her left, and shifted closer to Twilight when she sat down. Was he playing too? I momentarily wondered why he wasn't sitting next to Rarity. A glance back in her direction reminded me that she was surrounded by the three Cutie Mark Crusaders. That meant all six friends were playing, potentially Spike, myself, and even Princess Celestia directly across from me!

Applejack nodded sharply and smirked. "Darn tootin'! Ah'm up next," she answered confidently. Before anypony could react, she flicked the bottle with her hoof while glaring playfully at Rainbow. The colorful pegasus grinned back, and the tension between the two could almost be seen in the air.

The bottle started to slow, and all focus shifted to that a moment later, minus Scootaloo of course. I could have sworn I heard a light snoring coming from her. Regardless, the bottle slid slowly past me and pointed at Fluttershy instead. The timid mare gasped and widened her eyes at the bottle.

Applejack let out a puff of air and shook her head, obviously having been hoping for the multicolor-maned mare instead. "Well, shucks. Truth er Dare, Fluttershy?" she asked, shifting to a warm and friendly smile instead.

Fluttershy still froze up, eyes locked onto the bottle and starting to shiver. "Ah! Um, well," she muttered, visibly panicking. I realized suddenly why she didn't like the game.

Smiling, I extended a hoof and rubbed the small of her back, right under the wing bases. She started momentarily before glancing over at me while frozen in place. Her uncertainty shifted to a timid smile and I felt her muscles relax a little under my hoof. She nodded, oddly to me, before answering, "Um, truth please."

Applejack smiled at her and settled back down to the floor again. "Alrighty then. Truth. How did ya know about the trouble goin' down two weeks ago, before Dash went ta get ya? It's been botherin' me," she asked, seemingly out of nowhere. That wasn't like the questions already asked.

The topic promptly fell out of my realm of knowledge. Fluttershy looked as surprised as I felt, so I at least decided that it wasn't some bit of memory I just blanked on. "Oh? Um, when was that?" she asked hesitantly a moment later. A nagging sensation drifted through my thoughts. Something was bothering her.

"Oh, yeah! You met us halfway to your house and acted like you already knew something was wrong," Rainbow suddenly let out.

Applejack gave her a questioning glance. "Weren't ya tha one who told me in tha first place?" she reminded, raising an eyebrow.

Dash sighed. "A pegasus like me has a lot on her mind. My memory slips sometimes. So what?" she defended awkwardly.

"It was just a bad dream. I dreamed of Mender being sick," Fluttershy almost whispered. I noticed once more that everypony suddenly went instinctively silent as soon as she started to talk.

Twilight nodded and smiled. "Probably apprehension from the previous day. It was probably coincidence and Fluttershy's instinctive desire to check up on him again," Twilight reasoned, smiling pleasantly at the yellow pegasus. Fluttershy looked less than convinced.

I simply frowned. That was the day of the incident that they were talking about. It didn't fit. If Fluttershy had met them halfway, how had she known I was at the farm? I hadn't told anypony, and logically it would have been closer to go to Rarity's. She would have known that I had left Twilight's library. Maybe she checked around for me after leaving Twilight's? But she didn't check the farm because I would have seen her. Nopony except those who were there all along knew that I was there! She didn't seem to be the type to call of a search based on an assumption. So she probably didn't search. So how had she known I was at the farm?!

It all suddenly snapped into place. "Please, wake up now, Mender. You need to wake up," suddenly echoed in my mind. My eyes widened and my mouth went dry as I stared at Fluttershy. It was her! She looked largely unsure, and seemed to be intentionally looking away from me. But, what did that mean?

My mouth opened but I curbed the thought before it exited. What was I supposed to say? Pointing out that her dream might have been some sort of psychic communication technique seemed like it would only get me laughed at. Still, she looked unsure of their attempts to assure otherwise.

"Are ya all right there, Fluttershy? Ah'm sorry 'bout askin' somethin' so personal," Applejack suddenly apologized, startling me out of my personal monologue. She jumped a little as well, but shook her head.

"No, it's fine. I was just thinking about it again," she explained, shifting from her more timid voice to a tired sounding one instead.

Rarity smiled affectionately and encouraged, "Why don't you spin, and then rest a bit. You look a little listless."

Fluttershy gave a half-hearted smile and tentatively spun the glass bottle again. It moved maybe three inches. "Oh dear," she muttered quietly, looking momentarily intimidated by the bottle.

"Ya need ta get at least three rotations, Fluttershy. Spin er again?" Applejack encouraged warmly, still smiling. As disturbed as I was at the discovery, it was defused a little bit with the yellow mare's incredible levels of cuteness. She let out a weak whine and batted at the bottle some more with her right forehoof.

Subtly, the bandages on my hoof slipped apart at the bottom, and my rune contacted the wood floor. Feeling along the hard material was simple. I felt the bottle out with my mind and took note of the light impacts from her hoof. The kinetic magnifier was simple after that.

The yellow pegasus squeaked as her next hit rocketed the bottle into a tight corkscrew, and she rapidly retreated backwards, hiding partially behind me. Instinctively, I shifted my left foreleg out to cover more of the startled mare. Apparently, momentarily, the bottle had become scarier than I was?

"Whoa there! That was ah darn good spin, Fluttershy!" Applejack complimented, giving a proud nod and smirk. Twilight frowned as she watched the bottle carefully. I retreated out fully to further avoid suspicion.

"Um, really?" Fluttershy asked carefully, peeking her head out from over my foreleg.

Rainbow Dash nodded instead. "That was an awesome spin!"

The mare behind me blushed softly before smiling and looking less nervous. She shifted forward a bit to move back into place, but bumped my leg. In surprise, she froze and glanced down at it before shifting her attention back to me. There was surprise in her eyes when they met mine. A moment of hesitation followed by a gentle smile from her later, I pulled my leg back to me. I'd not meant for her to get scared. Slowly, I returned her smile and gave an assuring nod. To my surprise, she didn't move forward even after my leg was no longer present. Instead, she slipped back into a sitting position rooting to where she was instead. Well Twilight did say that she only really had to play for one turn. Mentally chuckling, I turned my attention back to the bottle which was finally slowing down.

Everyone glued their attention back to the spinning bottle, of course. Eager eyes widened as it slowly rotated and pointed directly at the rainbow-maned mare herself. At first, Dash looked surprised. Then she smirked and glanced back up at Fluttershy expectantly. “Totally going dare. What’cha got, Fluttershy?” she asked cockily. Heh, of course she’d pick dare. Truth was really potentially dangerous, especially from Fluttershy who knew her secret.

“Oh um, I guess…” Fluttershy started, and then frowned. She hadn’t planned this out. Smirking, I leaned over and whispered suggestions of sky spelling to her. She gasped and blushed furiously before looking at me in surprise. “Oh! Oh. That would be bad, Mender…” she muttered timidly.

Rainbow glared at me instead. “Hey, no giving her ideas,” she warned, almost as if she knew what I had suggested.

“Oooh, now I’m curious, though!” Pinkie exclaimed from the other side of Twilight. She swayed happily back and forth on her rump, seemingly unable to hold still for more than a few seconds at a time.

"Ooh, me too!" Sweetie Belle chimed in almost instantly.

Twilight shook her head next to me. “No, no, we must adhere to the rules. No suggestions from anypony else,” she rejected, even though she was smirking widely. She must have heard my suggestion. I tried really hard not to laugh.

“Oh, I know. Um, Dash, I dare you to um, go bird watching with me tomorrow,” Fluttershy finally spoke up. Wait, was that even allowed as a dare?

Rainbow Dash blinked and tilted her head, while Applejack started snickering. “Are ya sure that’s allowed, hun?” she asked between breaths.

“There’s nothing saying the dare can’t be delayed,” Celestia sagely chimed in, smiling politely at Fluttershy, who seemed to relax at the ruler’s words.

Rainbow took the ruling as a cue, of course. “Ha! No sweat then!” she exclaimed, sitting up fully and bounding her right forehoof off her chest. A second later she winced, and a loud rumble could be heard. She clutched both hooves to her stomach and fell forward again, tucking up. “Oh, dang.”

“Feelin’ ah little under tha weather there, Dash?” Applejack reminded mirthfully, smirking at the sick mare. Wow, their rivalry was indeed rather intense.

Dash snorted and glared back up at her. “Oh shush. It feels like a swarm of parasprites got loose in my stomach. I don’t even know what those leftovers were!” she complained, massaging her stomach with both hooves.

Twilight blushed lightly and coughed, looking away from the display. I snickered and lay down, careful to keep my left forehoof tucked under me and still in contact with the floor, just in case. Note to self, never eat Twilight's leftovers.

Regardless, much to my amazement, the cyan and rainbow pegasus managed to extend her muzzle forward and whack the side of the bottle. It spun erratically, shifting from the center of our loose circle. Twilight had to shift back a little in order to not interfere with the spin.

The bottle started to slow and Rainbow sat up and eagerly watched as its rotation headed for me. Oh crap! She would doubtlessly want retribution, and either truth or dare would prove disastrous. My magic flickered out and lessened the friction on the bottle. As anticipated, its speed drop lessened and the nozzle slipped past me, slowed for Fluttershy, and finally settled on Rarity.

"Aww! Horseapples! You got off lucky, Mender," Dash warned, smirking at me. I gave a sheepish grin in return.

Rarity smiled and looked to Rainbow Dash. "I do suppose I'll have to pick truth, then," she requested. Dash smirked knowingly at the white unicorn and nodded.

"That's fine. Something good, then! So, since the disastrous Gala, have you seen anypony else you'd be interested in?" Dash asked, eyes narrowing and grin predatory. Wait, that sounded more like gossip than anything. Why would Rainbow care? Oh. She was tailoring her questions and dares to try to get under ponies' skin. She really did play to 'win,' didn’t she?

Rarity's eyes widened, but she remained in surprising control of her features, if she were truly nervous. "Oh, well, um, why would you like to know?" she asked carefully. To my surprise, the bottle pulsed with a neutral looking gray light. It was enchanted?

Pinkie slipped fully upright and pointed a hoof towards Rarity before accusing, "Oh no! You're avoiding the question!"

The fashionista scoffed indignantly. "Of course I'm not! I was simply curious," she excused. The bottle flared up with a vibrant red color almost instantly. Oh! It was a lie detector! She scowled at the bottle a second later, huffing.

“Ha! See? Ya really need ta answer now,” Apple Bloom added, nudging Rarity in the side.

“Ah, yes, well…” Rarity muttered, looking flustered. Yeah, that was enough. My conscience couldn’t take it anymore.

Glancing over at Twilight, I saw that she was giving me a rather brutal glare, so I figured she’d have caught on by now. Yeah. There was nothing else for it. “Actually, she doesn’t have to answer, because it’s technically not her turn,” I defended, looking back up at Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

“Beg pardon?” Rarity asked, looking quite a bit surprised. Rainbow tilted her head towards me instead.

“I cheated. I manipulated the bottle so it wouldn’t land on me,” I explained, pulling my left hoof off the floor and showing the line of energy still connected to the floorboards.

Rainbow Dash scowled instantly and stamped her right hoof down. “What?! Then I want a turn against you instead!” she declared, sounding more than a little irritated. Rarity exhaled and visibly seemed to deflate a bit, however. That made me happy.

Applejack chuckled and shook her head as I looked down at the floor. “Why’d ya cheat? And why say anythin’ ‘bout it?” she asked, voice sounding curious.

“I didn’t think it was fair for Rarity to be asked an uncomfortable question, so my conscience got the best of me. And as to why I did it at first, well, I was scared of what Rainbow would ask me or tell me to do,” I spoke truthfully, as Dash smirked and rotated the bottle to point at me instead. As expected, it glowed a soft green color as she finished.

Dash raised an eyebrow at me, but rapidly shook her head. "No avoiding it now. Truth or dare?" she asked, slipping back into her amused expression. Interestingly enough, I saw Rarity mouth something, but being neither particularly gifted at lip reading, nor adjusted to how the ponies' lips move in the first place, I had no idea what she was saying.

Regardless, it would seem that I had to pick my poison now. I weighed the options in my mind. Truth would be disastrous. I had a lot of hidden memories that I'd really rather stay hidden. Alienation and embarrassment were likely. Dare would potentially get me injured, and probably be humiliating, given Rainbow Dash's pattern so far. Still, that was mildly better.

"Well?" the rainbow mare asked impatiently.

I nodded and braced myself, answering with, "Dare."

She giggled. "Quite a few secrets, huh? All right. Dare!" she exclaimed a few seconds later. I shifted uneasily as she thought for a moment, before ordering, "You already smooched Twilight, so that wouldn't be as effective. So I dare you to kiss Fluttershy!"

The squeak behind me fired off before my mind even processed the dare. Turning, I glanced back at Fluttershy, who was now rapidly shifting away from me. Her eyes quivered timidly and she looked terrified. No, this wasn't how I had planned this evening to go.

"Hold on ah minute, Rainbow. We're not supposed ta include anypony else in the dares and ya know that," Applejack reminded.

"Hey, he deserves the full rules because he cheated! It's only fair," Rainbow defended, glaring over at Applejack.

Pinkie waved both forehooves energetically. "But why Fluttershy?! We shouldn't make her do that," she pointed out, motioning towards the yellow pegasus and myself. That stung a bit, but I actually agreed. I sank a little bit regardless.

Rarity huffed, however, defending me by pointing out, "Surely he's not a punishment to kiss. You two are being insensitive."

Applejack sighed wearily. "Look, he has ta do it no matter what, so jus' let Fluttershy decide. If she says no, then he has ta do whatever tha next thing is that Pinkie has."

Twilight slapped her forehead with a hoof and asked, "And how is that fair to Mender?"

"It's not! He cheated, remember?" Rainbow growled.

"I'm starting to think that he had a good reason to," the purple unicorn muttered in return, rolling her eyes.

I finally sighed. "We shouldn't fight. I'll do it, as promised," I interrupted. Fighting over a recreational activity was rather stupid.

Everypony looked back at Fluttershy at the same time. She let out a shy squeak and shifted further behind me and away from sight. Wait, she was using me to hide from myself? Trying not to laugh at that thought and potential deeper meanings, I shifted so I could see her fully, ignoring the almost giddy squeak from what sounded to be Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy shrank under my gaze, shaking a little bit but kept looking between Rainbow and me. "I um, I don't know. This is a little fast. I'm not like Twilight and..." she started to whisper. It was difficult to hear above the party music and talking.

"I told you, Pinkie made me!" Twilight interrupted in a harsh tone. The yellow mare visibly winced, while I mentally mimicked.

"Twilight! That was insensitive as well. You should consider the effects of your words before speaking. And relax, Fluttershy. Nopony is making you agree," I heard Rarity speak gently. I smiled as I listened. She certainly had good intentions, anyway.

Fluttershy looked less than certain. "But if I don't, he's going to have to..." she started to explain. That. That right there was all I needed to hear. Her desire was the important thing.

Smiling, I turned back to Rainbow and shook my head. "I refuse the dare, Rainbow," I interrupted, earning an extremely surprised expression.

"Wait, what?" Rainbow asked, seemingly shifting from surprise to confusion. Rarity's smile grew larger, however.

I ignored the surprised gasp behind me and looked over at Pinkie instead, inquiring, "What do I have to do now?" Her grin was massive as she giggled gleefully. I swallowed, wondering if her reaction was from my going along with her desire to guard Fluttershy, or if I had just requested my own death sentence.

The excessively pink mare immediately dug into a bag I hadn't noticed nearby. She must have gotten all of the punishments herself. "This is my last one! That means we'll have to stop after this," she informed, voice muffled from her head being inside the bag.

"Ooh, that means Mender gets the honorary last turn after this. Tradition!" Celestia surprised me by informing. Wait, honorary last turn?

Rainbow immediately scoffed at the idea. "He cheated! We should just stop the game after this," she argued.

Celestia simply smiled, however, gently revealing, "Twice, actually. But the first time was simply to help Fluttershy spin. He also came clean shortly after."

Rainbow’s rose-colored eyes softened a little, but I shook my head. "I still cheated," I reminded.

"Here it is! My super-duper grand finale punishment!" Pinkie suddenly blurted out, causing me to jump. A little warning next time?! She pulled a glass bottle out of her bag with both hooves and set it down in front of herself. It was a pretty looking silvery tint, and was filled with a light purple liquid, probably lightened by the glass. A large cork resided in the bottleneck. It wasn't very big. Maybe about eight ounces of liquid?

"What is that?" Twilight asked suspiciously a moment later.

Pinkie giggled. "The punishment! Drink up," she ordered, giving the bottle a healthy slide in my direction. My eyes shot open and I barely managed to catch it before it bashed into Sweetie Belle's nose.

"Are you sure that's safe?" the young filly asked, shifting back a little.

"It's Pinkie Pie. She's not gonna give ah pony somethin' dangerous ta drink, don't ya worry," Applejack assured, giving a confident nod in her direction. I swallowed, but slipped the cork out of the bottle.

A light flowery smell wafted into the air. Well, that was unexpected. I thought it would smell terrible. Of course, that said nothing yet for its taste. I prepared my stomach for internal violation. "How much?" I asked wearily, taking a couple more sniffs. The smell was disarming in nature.

"All of it!" Pinkie cheerfully replied.

Figures. Wincing again, I braced myself before bending down and snatching the top of the bottle in my mouth. Well, if it was anything like medicine, faster was better. I bit the bullet, or bottle in this case, and whipped my head back. My mouth was instantly flooded with a chalky, powdery syrup which threatened to overwhelm my tactile sense. I tried not to cough, but was surprised by the strawberry taste. Opening my eyes again, I took a tentative swallow and was greeted by a sweet taste flooding over my tongue and down my throat. This wasn't bad at all! Which concerned me a little. This was supposed to be traumatizing. Did I have different taste buds then the average pony?

Several seconds passed as I drank down the rest of the liquid. It was actually kind of delicious. After I set the bottle down, I noticed that all eyes seemed to be locked on me. I gave a sheepish shrug and informed, "It was actually kind of tasty."

"What?! I was sure that it was gonna be something horrible," Pinkie groaned, looking a tad disappointed. Well, comparatively, for Pinkie Pie.

"Then what's the point of it being a punishment?" Scootaloo finally spoke up, apparently having started paying attention when I wasn't looking.

A tingling sensation suddenly went through my stomach and I felt a burst of gas go up my esophagus. In the most degrading way possible, I let out a rather large belch. To my surprise, it was accompanied by a blast of purple and pink smoke, directly from the pits of my stomach. Uh oh. I somehow doubted that was a healthy omen for me. Twilight looked on in surprise, widened eyes following the moderate cloud of smoke as it hit the ceiling.

"What in tha hay is that stuff?" Applejack asked suspiciously, watching it slowly disperse on the ceiling.

Twilight's eyes narrowed, however. "Where did you get that liquid, Pinkie?" she inquired, shifting her gaze back down to me. That tingling in my stomach continued, rapidly becoming a dull ache. It felt like my insides were expanding rapidly and I winced.

Pinkie didn't miss a beat, nor lose her smile. "Oh, I got it this morning from Zecora ," she explained simply. Who?

Twilight let out a low groan, however. "Pinkie, that was a potion you just gave him. Did she give you any instructions?" she asked, a hint of irritation in her voice.

A light bulb seemed to come on in Pinkie's head. She dug into her bag for a few more seconds before pulling out a piece of paper with her mouth. In one fluid motion, she spewed it towards Twilight. It stretched through the air, a long tail of iridescent colors oozing along before Twilight caught it with her magic.

Things quieted, except for my suffering stomach. Twilight read the note over carefully with all three eyes, frowning the entire time. My head swam with colors as I tried to shake it off as best I could. Potion. What was that again? A liquid that did something magical. Yeah.

"Pinkie! This is concentrated! Zecora say to mix it with water or juice at a three to one ratio. This is an eight ounce bottle, so that means," Twilight muttered, falling into calculation towards the end.

"Is that bad?" Fluttershy asked quietly, looking a little gray. Wait, that wasn't right. Things bled together as I turned my head and a wave of dizziness came over me. What was the potion's effect?

I heard Princess Celestia warn, "He might need medical attention. Potions can be very bad for you if you overdose."

"Uh oh. This potion was supposed to make thirty-two ounces. You only need three to get the full effect! You gave him enough for almost eleven ponies," Twilight interrupted, groaning. Prismatic and monotone hues were starting to mix as a rush of bile flooded up my throat. I gagged, not expecting the sensation.

"Oopsies..." Pinkie spoke up, swallowing quietly. Her voice hit a nerve that caused tingles to dance up and down my spine. I couldn't stop myself anymore. The rush came up my throat and I promptly threw up all over the hardwood floor.

Scootaloo burst into laughter almost instantly, while Sweetie Belle voiced an, "Ew!" Part of me had to agree with her. The mixture pooled in a congealed manner, consisting of a purple and blue frothing slime. Of course, the colors might not have been accurate because the wooden floor was currently pink and green.

"Oh dear. Well that should make him feel a little better, anyway," I heard Celestia mutter. My eyes remained fixed on the floor between my feet, however. The room was still spinning wildly.

Rainbow Dash groaned wearily. "Is that all it does? I really think that's enough punishment," she admitted uneasily a moment later.

"Zecora's note says it's a mild hallucinogenic, but also that it has a bonus effect that 'punishes' those that lie," Twilight furthered. Her emphasis scared me a little.

"Zecora really don't like ponies who lie, ah have a feelin'," Apple Bloom deduced. It was a bit difficult for me to think, but it sounded like she spoke of prior experiences with the aforementioned individual. My eyes widened slightly as the pool of liquid in front of me started to bubble and churn. That was weird. What would cause that? My vision shifted and dripped as the pool took shape, slowly bubbling and rising upright.

Oh sweet merciful goodness... The shape of a frog rapidly formed out of the ooze. It had to be a frog?! It blinked twice, in an extremely slow fashion. I idly wondered how alive it was. Not that I really felt like moving much to find out. I was suddenly aware of how tired I truly felt. It was as if I hadn't really had any time to myself for weeks. My very soul, if I truly had one of whatever type, felt downright exhausted. Maybe I was being melodramatic, but the lethargy was there regardless. I was vaguely aware of talking going on around me, but it was echoing and sounded really far away. Wait, where was I again? There was something important...

The frog stood up slowly and grinned ear to ear at me. It felt familiar. Maybe I'd seen it in a book somewhere. It didn't seem all that menacing, but then it opened its mouth to talk.

"Hello! I'm an alien from another dimension," it informed, bowing politely.

Oh, okay. That made more sense than it being a living puddle of puke. I welcomed it to our library as humbly as I could. Which was to say, rather informally as it wasn't actually my library. Still, I should at least try to make guests comfortable.

"Jolly good! Did you know that I happened to have a rather conflicting admiration for two mares? One thinks I'm a pet animal, though, and the other is only interested in me because I'm an oddity, I worry," the frog informed.

No, I indeed hadn't known that. Although a talking vomit frog was indeed an oddity. It was strange, but I almost thought that the little guy might have been asking for advice. I sat down on a nearby mushroom and shook my head at him. I tried to explain that he needed to trust in what they tell him, otherwise the friendship might be compromised.

He looked disheartened still, however, adding, "It's all so confusing because I've never felt this way before. Plus, my instincts make me focus on more, well, intimate details. I'm new to this dimension and I don't even know how I'm going to support myself without leeching off these wonderful ponies!" To his credit, he did look a mess. Maybe frogs weren't so bad after all?

I tried to assure him that the ponies were indeed nice and wouldn't mind helping a kind fellow out until he could get on his feet. Er, flippers? I had no idea what frog anatomy was labeled as. The colored lights on my mushroom shifted and shimmered in the moonlight. It was pretty, really. He sat upon his lily pad, drifting to and fro with the ripples.

"It's a bad situation. Plus, I kissed one already! Sure it was an accident but that didn't stop me from really liking it," he added after another moments though. He pulled a pipe out of the water and took a few nervous puffs, blowing a large cloud of bubbles into the air.

I tried to convince him that it was a good thing. He really did need to calm down a bit.

"I can't stay calm! She's cute. No, she's gorgeous! Plus the other makes me feel so warm and safe. It doesn't help that Rainbow Dash entrusted me with the true identity of her secret crush, either. I want her to confess, but it really does serve as a reminder. If I could just tell..." he tried to explain. Unfortunately my world veered sideways as the earth shook. The piercing scream, sounding like hell itself, tore through the heavens above, instantly giving me a headache.

When I looked up again, the frog was gone. Oh wait, everything was gone.

Author's Notes:

Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter:
http://youtu.be/YKf_K5VKOVc

Chapter 07

Maybe it was the potion-induced unconsciousness. Maybe I had a weekly quota. Maybe I was just incredibly unlucky. Regardless of the reasons behind it, I found myself in the other reality. Well in all honesty, I had no idea if this place was actually real or if it was some kind of delusion put together by my brain to further torture me during my lack of consciousness. Twilight seemed to believe that the link was gone, and maybe she was right? This could just be a sign of my slowly decaying sanity, of course.

The only reason I knew that I was in space this time was due to the view out the window. My subconscious had taken me to the inside of a spaceship cabin, it would seem. The disembodied projection feeling remained as I peered around the interior. In a way, I was grateful that at least my technical training had carried over to my pony body, no matter how awkward it was. It was kind of like knowing how to do complex math without any memories of ever learning it. The skills and knowledge was simply there. In this case, I must have paid attention in some divination class somewhere, because I knew how to manipulate my mind outside of the context of my body.

The cabin was comfy. Not military, that much was certain. It still felt a little cramped, but had personal touches. A couple fanciful pillows, colorful bedspreads, and an array of pictures on the walls brightened the room up quite a bit. Functionally, a bunk bed for two and single lavatory was rather luxurious by itself, though. It cost serious funds to push extra mass through space, after all.

In short, I had no idea why I would be here. If this were an elaborate setup on my mind's part, I don't even know where it could have gotten the information to use as a backdrop. Failing that, the only other option was that something was linking me back to that hellish place, even though Princess Celestia herself said the link was gone. Unlikely, but go ahead and call me paranoid if you want. I made further note to stop talking to myself again, as to not further fuel my own insanity.

Looking to my own 'body' did nothing, of course. There was nobody there for me to see. The surrounding area gave me little to go off, as well. Given no choice, I closed my vision and opened my Mind's Eye instead. A glorified meditation technique in most cases, the Mind's Eye did have a practical purpose in this situation.

Being not in my actual body, be this either dream or some sort of projection, the Eye activated almost immediately. The world shifted into shades of gray and I glanced about, looking for anything that stood out for me. If this were a dream, I'd probably get nothing. I really hoped I'd get nothing.

Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be the case. Half a second passed and I picked up a light blue glow coming from the lower bunk bed, barely a meter away from me. Damn it. So this was either a dream that was exceedingly convincing or I was really here, being pulled while my body slept. Or maybe I was rendered unconscious, as my last memory served? Of course, I could have just died from a potion overdose.

Snapping out of my distraction, I looked into the sheets. It wasn't very hard to find. The blue glow made it easy to locate, but I almost wish I hadn't. My mind ached in a dull, frozen manner as I looked at the small book lying on the mattress. Its worn wrinkles graced the simple blue dyed leather cover in dignity. The simple lock adorned one side, metal showing a gentle rusting that mirrored the spine decorations. The key lay barely three inches from the book, somewhat defeating its purpose, but telling me something important. It had to be important. If only I knew what it meant.

The door slid open with an audible mechanical hum before I could ponder it further. I froze, wondering exactly how visible I was to the natives of this place. With no other option, I watched helplessly as two individuals entered the room. Then the helplessness shifted rapidly to shock instead.

Both of them walked upright on two legs. Further, they both wore clothing; space contact suits to be precise. They had no helmets on, however. The true surprise came from the blue fur covering their faces, long ears extending back almost a foot, short muzzles, whiskers, and slit pupils. They were my old race! They looked like I had. Well, prior to the explosion, death magic, and massive bodily trauma.

Further, they possessed a curved build, both major and minor mammary gland sets, and a distinct lack of extended upper canines. They were females! The one in the lead was a little taller and had her hair tied back into a ponytail. Her eyes were a pretty teal color and looked right through me. The smaller trailed behind her a little, sporting a relaxed cascading hairstyle and brilliant blue eyes. She lingered in the doorway and glanced about the room wearing a frown. The taller one walked right through me, giving me the rather discerning view of the inside of her stomach before I killed my perception. That was something I could have lived my whole life without seeing! Well, technically I had. I considered this existence my second life regardless.

The tall one stopped at the other end of the room by the time I'd pulled my perception back into place. "What's bothering you, Keela?" she asked quietly, upon observing for a moment.

The one called Keela jumped slightly, as if spooked. "What? Oh, sorry, Sis. I guess I'm just a little unnerved still," she excused quietly. So they were sisters? Or really close. It made me wonder what family structure was like in my old race. There were no memories of that sort of thing at all. Did I have family too? If these girls were real and not extremely strange dream figments, then maybe I had family left too?

"For one as sensitive as you, visiting the remains of our home planet can't be comfortable. How are you holding up?" the yet unnamed female questioned in seeming concern.

The younger looking one shook her head tiredly before walking into the room further. Oddly, she drifted a little in her trajectory and walked around me. A subconscious thing? It didn’t seem to be that big of a stretch to think that there were other specializations too. My magic focused on three distinct subjects. Maybe she focused on detection or divination of some sort?

My mild distraction abruptly ended with a wave of vertigo. My vision spun to the right rapidly, just in time to see the older girl pick up the small book. "I'm all right, Nirru. Just tired. You've been quiet too, though," Keela pointed out, sitting down on the bed next to the newly named Nirru.

Nirru sighed, setting the book down again and dropping my nonexistent stomach out from under me. Ug! "I'm just frustrated. So far, we've only found this book. We need to find survivors," she muttered quietly, looking down at the cover.

Keela exhaled gently and smiled, replying with, "This is a survivor. It's perfectly intact. Its magic is strong, but very strange. It's not just an Aegis Artifact."

An Aegis... Artifact? That was totally new to me, unfortunately. It must have something to do with the Aegis Barrier, but there weren’t even the faintest of chimes in my memories at the name. That's how it had worked before. Some sort of external stimulus would occur, and the memories involved would slowly start to drift to the surface. It was sort of like blowing up submersibles with depth charges. This topic seemed to be firing blanks, however.

"What feels so weird about it? Furthermore, what does it do?" Nirru asked abruptly, snapping me out of my contemplation. Ah well. This sounded more interesting anyway.

Keela frowned and slid her small hand along the surface of the book. It momentarily felt like my mind was being brushed against. Instinctively, I held rigid and gave out no signs of life. Crap! That book! "It feels like the owner is still alive. I have no idea what it does, though. Being a book type, it will need to be opened to find out.

“That’s not possible, though. At least, if it really is an Aegis Artifact. The very definition requires that the creator be dead,” Nirru pointed out skeptically, frowning down at the book as well, but making no motion to touch it like her sister.

Keela didn’t respond immediately. I felt her energy dancing along the book, and in turn, myself. I made no motions and withdrew my energy the best I could as to not be detected, but she was extremely insistent. “It feels like there’s consciousness in this life-force. It’s unlike the other artifacts I’ve handled. It’s alive. The owner is alive. I can almost guarantee it!” she proclaimed, sounding confident.

“Can you find anything else out about its owner?” Nirru inquired curiously, surprising me a little. Her uncertainty was slipping fast. She really trusted Keela, it seemed.

“He’s very far away, but feels very close at the same time. I’m not sure what to make of the feeling,” Keela muttered, still frowning as she slipped a claw into the lock. There was a ripple and distortion once she was barely a millimeter in, and some sort of invisible field held her at bay completely.

It was irritating. I glared at the book, trying to make my mind remember more about it. All I truly accomplished was giving myself a headache, of course. It was important from somewhere! That much I could be sure of. The headache got worse and reality started to bleed, images melting through my perspective. Uh oh.

"He?" Nirru asked suddenly, eyes widening and little. It was almost impossible to hear her as her voice echoed and dropped off.

Keela said something in return, but I couldn't quite hear it as the backdrop of the world fell out from under me. For a moment, everything was deconstructed into base energy dancing wildly. Then it all went black.

It was the oddest sensation. Kind of like you just popped out of a blender backwards, only to realize that nothing was moving in the first place. My mind snapped back into its normal spot with a crashing wave of dizziness and nausea. A headache mixed with a dull beating sensation along my left eye followed. What the heck happened?! Was I having seizures while talking to the magic, dimension-traveling frog? Wait. It suddenly occurred to me that the frog might have been a bit nonsensical.

My eyes opened slowly, taking in the sight of the gently spinning room with mild disdain. After a moment to adjust, I realized with no small surprise that I wasn't in the clinic bed. Huh. Normally when I wake up from a 'nap' of unspecified duration with a splitting headache, I'm greeted with the sight of the emergency medical facilities. Managing to catch some features as they slid by, I rapidly noticed a couple large bookshelves, another bed, a desk, and a lavender blur. Huh.

"Ah! I was wondering when you'd be up! I was just coming to check your temperature again. How do you feel?" the fuzzy blob that spoke like Twilight asked, sounding happy.

I tried blinking. It didn't help much. "What happened and why does my face hurt?" I asked wearily.

"Hey, you're awake! Finally," a new, blue blob announced, floating up in front of my vision as well. Okay, that sounded like Rainbow Dash. I must be back in Equestria at this point.

The blob Twilight sighed weakly and relayed, "You got a massive overdose of truth serum mixed with a powerful hallucinogenic. You then proceeded to shout out some rather, um, interesting things at the top of your lungs in-between throwing up. Rainbow Dash, uh, kicked you in the head and knocked you out at that point."

I blinked slowly, head giving another throb of protest. "Hey, he started to blab about sensitive information! I didn't have any choice," Dash defended, crossing her forelegs. I momentarily got distracted by some square looking object tucked under her foreleg. Wait, the frog wasn't real? Damn frogs!

"Dash..." Twilight warned, looking over at her floating friend. My vision slowly started to focus again, and my memory caught up alongside it. Oh, oh crap.

"How much did I say?" I suddenly asked, apprehensive.

Twilight had shifted into focus enough for me to pick up a noticeable pink tint to her cheeks. She gave a sheepish grin regardless. "Well, mostly about Fluttershy and me. Um, just confirming what you thought about us," she elaborated. Yup. Everything the frog had said was actually me.

"And I'm sorry for hitting you," Rainbow muttered a moment later, rubbing the side of her neck with a forehoof while drifting further into my field of vision. I glanced back at her, but she continued with, "But hey, you're awesome enough to survive a space battle against a powerful alien boat thingy, so I doubt a little bonk to the head is going to even slow you down!"

My eyes widened a little at her sudden bragging. Wait, she actually said I was awesome? Wait, she hit me in the head?! She took it in stride, of course, returning a wink and playful smirk. Twilight laughed before climbing up onto the bed and pressing a forehoof to my forehead.

"How are you feeling, anyway?" she inquired curiously, frowning a bit before pulling her hoof back and adding, "You're actually a little on the cold side."

“I feel… a little bit sick,” I agreed, shifting onto my side and looking at the mare sitting next to me. She held a look of concern that was much clearer now that she was close enough that my fuzzy vision didn’t matter.

Rainbow zipped down and landed next to the bed as well, taking a curious peek at me. I now realized the object she was holding was a book. Dash liked to read? That was a little surprising, but I guess I didn’t doubt it all that much. Everypony had facets of themselves that were a lot deeper than appearance. She caught me looking and grinned, pulling the book out and flipping it face forward in both hooves. Daring Do and the Three Heads of Cerberus? Oh, it was an adventure novel, by the sounds of the title and picture on the cover. She liked fiction, then? I smiled gently while looking at the cover.

“Daring Do is awesome! Don’t knock reading until you try it!” Rainbow exclaimed, rocking back and forth on her back legs in an almost giddy sway.

Twilight giggled at her display and nodded. “Indeed. Although I believe he’s already a fan of reading, Dash,” she pointed out, looking amused.

The rainbow pegasus puffed up, looking proud, if not a bit relieved. What, was she afraid I was going to rag on her for reading or something? “Yup. I love reading. The books Twi gave me when I got here saved me quite a bit of face and social faux pas,” I muttered, blushing a little. Not all of them, sadly.

“Foe wha?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head at me questioningly.

“Faux Pas. A slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct, usually done in a social context,” Twilight explained as if on cue with no hesitation whatsoever.

Without missing a beat, Dash snorted and started laughing. “So making an idiot of himself? I kind of wish I’d seen you when you weren’t prepared then! Oh, that would have been even more hilarious!” she exclaimed in-between snickers. My ears flattened back. Of course she’d bring up that. I knew I hadn’t been the most socially suave pony to grace the lands, but she didn’t need to remind me of that fact.

“Dash! Be nice. He’s truly new to Equestria, so a few social blunders are actually totally expected. You shouldn’t tease him for it,” Twilight scolded, outright frowning at the pegasus now.

Her laughter died down to a light snickering and she bobbed her head in agreement, assuring, “Don’t worry. I’m just teasing a little. Mender has a ton of guts and I can totally respect that. We made an awesome team, after all!” She smirked back at me and raised a hoof expectantly.

I barked out a short laugh, and then extended my hoof as well, earning a firm, but still gentle bump from hers. Twilight rolled her eyes again, but now wore a smile instead. Heh. If she thought this sort of thing was awkward, I doubt she’d appreciate the camaraderie of a barracks, if I recall correctly.

“Anyway! I’ve got to get going. I have to meet with Fluttershy to, uh, bird watch, I guess. A dare is a dare. Oh, um,” Rainbow started slowly looking down at the book she had tucked back under her foreleg.

“Yes, you can obviously borrow it. This is a library, Dash. And even if it wasn’t, you know I’d let you,” Twilight reminded, smirking at her friend.

The cyan coat complimented Dash’s blush well, and she nodded with a suddenly sheepish looking grin. “Thanks, Twi. You’re the best. I’ll talk to you two later, then?” she offered, fluttering into the air again without effort. I momentarily admired her flight capabilities. Having wings would be so cool.

“Of course. I’m dropping by Applejack’s later today to help her with the barn if you want to visit,” Twilight agreed. I almost saw a knowing glimmer in her eyes, and shuddered. Whoa. I hadn’t realized Twi had a playful side to her like that. Oddly, the revelation wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

Rainbow blushed outright now, but smirked still and nodded. “Ha, you got me there. Sold! I’ll try to drag Fluttershy there too,” she admitted, giving a mock salute with her free foreleg.

"That would be a good thing, I think. See you there!" Twilight replied cheerfully, a rather warm smile on her face. I was a little suspicious of why it would be good. Silent dread slipped into my mind again. I smelled plotting.

Dash threw up another salute before twirling once in the air and bursting off through the open window on the other side of the room. I watched her go, still amazed at the level of speed the mare seemed to exhibit with such ease. Everypony here was so amazing, but admittedly, the Element Bearers were extremely skilled ponies in their own way.

"She really does love the Daring Do saga. Don't let her fool you, though. She was hanging around here extra-long so she could apologize," Twilight suddenly explained, tacking a giggle onto the end.

I snickered and rotated to view Twilight fully again. "She's a sweetheart once you get past the exterior, it seems," I agreed, maintaining a soft smile up at her.

It earned me a nod in return, followed by, "Just like you, it seems." Her playful mimicking was cute, but her tone caused me to blush furiously as her eyelids lowered a little. I swallowed.

"Uh, what do you mean?" I asked uneasily.

She smirked as she crawled a little closer, her hip now pushing up against my leg. "You're a gentlecolt, of course. Fluttershy knows you refused the bet for her sake. I also happen to know you find me attractive," she pointed out. Less than half a meter of air separated us. I felt my heart start to beat faster, a light sweat starting at my forehead.

"I'm, um, I didn't mean to offend you!" I exclaimed, hopefully derailing any awkwardness at my apparent reveal last night. Why hadn't I realized that she was one of the mares I'd talked about last night?! For some reason, the Twilight Sparkle I associated with my crush didn't always sync with the one that was probably my best and first friend. The heat in my cheeks was probably visible and didn’t help much, though. I only hoped that she'd forgive me if she were mad.

Twilight closed her eyes but continued smiling softly. A moment passed and I watched her eyes flicker slightly under their lids. She seemed to be hesitant about something. They flicked open partially a moment later, but remained at half-mast. “You definitely didn’t. It was shocking to realize that a stallion liked me in that regard, but it was far from offensive. It was just something I’ve never had happen to me before,” she assured.

My system went fully into shock as she slipped back up onto all fours, leaned over, and dropped herself on top of my blanketed form. Her head rested against my chest lightly as, for a moment, she hugged my torso. The heat magnified significantly in my cheeks but I fought it back as best I could. She was hugging me! No, wait, that wasn't accurate. She was resting on top of me. Cuddling!

“A-Ah. You did say you were, um, studying a lot during your time in Canterlot,” I muttered, attempting to simply keep talking to stop myself from locking up.

She giggled and nodded against me. “Yeah. Not much time for boys when you’re Princess Celestia’s personal student. Which is why I was, well, hoping to ask you for a favor,” she requested, looking back up at me.

Her eyes were warm and held a certain amount of pleading, it felt like. Locking mine to them, I knew there was no way I could say no, even if I had wanted to in the first place. She was gorgeous, and whether she knew it or not, she could definitely dump on the female charm to influence my thinking. Just the way her mane was splayed out, intermingling with the fur of my coat. Her warm cheek against my chest mixed with that soft smile. No! That kind of thinking was definitely not helping me just answer her!

“Well, you can ask me for anything, you know. Besides, I do owe you quite a bit,” I finally managed to spit out, blushing furiously still. Yes! Just focus on how much you owe her, Mender! No need to think about how warm she felt, how gorgeous her eyes were, the soft fur against my chest, or the amazing mind and soul sealing it all together. Er, crap.

She laughed. It was melodious and quite pleasant on the ears. “Relax. I want the request to be mutual with no strings pulling it one way or another. I, um, haven’t exactly been very good at sorting intangible things like my feelings. So a bit of experimentation is in order, I think!” she explained, a certain level of determination flickering into her eyes.

Okay, that was adorable. I smiled at her and nodded. Wait a second. “Er, experimentation with what?” I questioned, suddenly realizing where this might be going.

“Hee! You like me. I think I might like you back. How else am I going to decide if I don’t have any experience otherwise? The empirical method has never failed me yet! Well, not too much, anyway. So I want to try kissing for real now,” she explained, sitting up and leveling her face with mine.

I’m pretty sure my heart stopped. Or at least if it didn’t, my chest went numb and I couldn’t feel it beating. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but no sound came out. My brain stumbled over itself. She started giggling again. “That’s an ambitious start, but we should try normal kissing first,” she warned playfully, leaning closer. I could almost feel her breath on my muzzle, she was so close. She added, “Last chance to say you don’t want to.”

She leaned closer and closer while waiting. I started shaking a little but couldn’t make my brain form proper thoughts correctly. Did I want this? She was gorgeous. Her personality was amazing. So essentially, hell yes! But was this too fast? She’d only known me for three weeks now. Did she really know what she wanted?

No, that was a moot point. She had decided to experiment just for that reason; to figure out what she wanted. Who was I to deny her that desire? I closed my mouth again and smiled at her instead, only managing a nod. That was all it took. Her smile turned into a grin and she leaned forward all at once. For the second time, our muzzles locked together; this time of her own volition.

My sense of time ground to a halt again. Her eyes softened and slowly closed as I relaxed backwards, pulling her with me. A light hum escaped against my lips from her, and both of her forelegs slipped over my shoulders. A deep floral scent drifted into my nose as I breathed in her scents. The sensations were enough to make me light headed. She was fully willing this time, which made the sensation of her lips against mine seem so much better. Jolts of heat and tingling sensations danced up and down my whole body. I didn't deny my instincts this time, and wrapped my forelegs tightly around her back, pulling her as close as possible.

The noises she made when I squeezed her closer to me were delightful. Her smells surrounded me on all sides. I couldn't escape them even if I wanted. Even though it felt like I was starving for the touch, our movements were deliberate and slow. She sampled different movements, one at a time, as if savoring my flavors. I let out a light hum, refusing to have it any other way. The heat in my cheeks expanded through my face and down my neck. My right foreleg slowly massaged up and down her back, kneading the muscles gently. My unoccupied hoof extended up and held her cheek softly, cradling her as I tilted a little bit to give her more room.

She started shivering almost uncontrollably. I wasn't sure if it was a good or bad sign. She finally pulled away slightly, splitting our lips apart enough to draw in several panting, ragged breaths. My eyes opened rapidly and sought out hers, looking for any sign that she enjoyed it. Her eyes were still closed, but a deep flush extended along her cheeks.

Her eyes quivered slightly before cracking open and looking into mine. They never opened fully, giving her a warm, sleepy look. "Oh wow. Why did I wait so long to do this?" she whispered weakly, nose and muzzle still pressed against mine.

Did that mean she liked it? "Was it, um, good?" I asked hesitantly. It sounded good and I remained hopeful.

She smirked instead of answering directly. Several small pecks a moment later told me much more specifically. "I think I might need more, hmm, experimentation to figure it out," she cooed lightly after the third or fourth small kiss.

I exhaled weakly, relief flooding my system. She must have noticed it, as she giggled merrily before capturing my lips once more, this time with a hungry groan. Her kiss was a little stronger now, but I just let her move at the pace she wanted. My heartbeat quickened as she arched up, pushing me back into my pillow as she tried to almost drink me in. Jolts of pleasure and happiness drifted through my mind and it was difficult to form full thoughts. She practically purred as I pulled her down tighter into the kiss, wishing I could feel her more through this blanket! She started to shiver again as her forelegs extended to each side of my head. Was this good? Did she like it? I had no idea what to do with my forelegs, so I simply went with instinct and tried to pull her as tight against me as possible.

A loud impact sounded out off to my right a moment later, followed by, "Hey, Mender! I forgot to ask. Can you help me later with, um, whoa!" Rainbow Dash's voice trailed off and died. Oh. Oh crap!

Twilight shot up into a sitting position instantly, flush extremely obvious on her cheeks. "Ah, I can explain!" she declared rapidly. Wait, what? What was going on?!

Rainbow Dash recovered fast, however, and had acquired a smirk by the time I looked over at her. "There's not much to explain from this angle. So, how long have you two been an item?" she asked coyly, getting it entirely wrong. My heart skipped a beat.

"What?! No, we're still just friends! I was just trying to figure out how I felt and well, experimenting a little bit," Twilight tried to explain, looking as pink as I'd ever seen her. I frowned up at her instead, that leaving me with conflicting feelings. Still friends? Did she mean that, or simply want to keep her feelings a secret? I tried to assume the latter, but it was still a little painful to consider.

Dash chuckled, before pointing out, "It looked like you were enjoying it plenty from your end, Twi. You don't need to hide it." Wonderful. She just had to push the lavender unicorn; the only one in the room capable of shattering every bone in our frail, squishy bodies with her mind! I was dead. Rainbow was dead too.

Twilight frowned and rapidly shook her head. "I, well, I'm telling the truth. It was an experiment!" she defended adamantly, stomping her right forehoof for emphasis. I winced but didn't dare say anything as it smacked into my chest.

"Twilight, stop it. How do you think that makes Mender feel?" the cyan pegasus asked, losing her smirk and actually frowning. Which part? The wanting to not admit her feelings, or the blunt force trauma to my chest? Not that it mattered if Twilight got mad again and threw me instead of the bed this time.

Shivering, I tried to keep the situation, and my voice, under control. "N-No! It's all right! She has every right to experiment. It's, um, okay," I assured weakly, not entirely sure where I was going with it. Rainbow gave me a skeptical, unamused looking stare, and I swallowed nervously. Twilight let out a quiet whining noise, however, surprising me. Glancing back up at her, I saw that she was looking down at her own hoof instead as it rested on my chest.

"I'm sorry. You're right, Dash. I need to be honest, especially to myself," she muttered to herself. Wait, what? Was she, uh, maybe that was sarcasm and she was actually pissed? Scenarios of her snapping and painting the library floor with my blood came to mind. Something about having a pony you know could rip you apart with her mind sitting on your stomach made it really hard to relax. In substantially different ways than a less powerful mare. I think.

I shivered nervously, the image of the full size bed smashing down the flight of stairs clearly present in my mind. That level of force exerted on me, via accident or murderous intent, would result in an extremely quick death. She was stronger than the archmages in my memories, and considering what I could remember them doing to recruits like me, that was terrifying.

Rainbow shook her head in my peripheral vision. "You two need to just talk to each other about it. Besides, we could all stand to be a little nicer to him," she reasoned, catching me off guard.

"Ah! That's really not necessary! You all have been really nice to me so far. Probably a lot more than I deserve for putting everything you know and love in danger. Really," I repeated, not wanting to be a further drain on these amazing ponies. Oh, or be crushed violently by psychokinetic powers. Living was high up on my list of priorities, ironically.

Dash shook her head and walked closer, giving me a stern glance as I looked over at her. "Mender, relax. Again. You need to stick up for yourself a bit more," she groaned, looking a bit exasperated.

Frowning, I shook my head. "There's no need to. Twilight hasn't done anything wrong," I insisted.

"Mender, I did!" Twilight groaned out, pushing lightly down at me with both forehooves.

It happened without a conscious decision on my part. Unfortunately, I wasn't looking at her when I was suddenly jolted down, and panicked. Wincing, I rapidly closed my eyes and cowered, flattening my ears down.

There was a pause, and then I heard her gasp. Risking a glance up at her, I saw that she had both hooves covering her mouth. "Oh no. No, no, no! You're... You're scared of me?" she muttered, looking visibly horrified.

My eyes widened and I tried to shake my head to assure her to the contrary. Then I realized that I'd be lying. I kind of was afraid of her. She was ungodly powerful.

Dash sighed, now a few feet from our bed. "Well, you kinda threw a bed at him. What did you expect?" she questioned in a surprisingly irritated manner.

Twilight winced as if burned and looked away from the cyan mare, eyes starting to get wet. Did she truly regret that? Swallowing nervously, I started to shuffle out from under her using my forelegs. Rainbow was right. We really did need to talk this out more. Talking involved thinking about what I wanted to say. Thinking was a lot harder when a gorgeous girl was on my lap. Well, sort of. Did it count if there was a blanket between us?

Twilight's eyes shot fully open again as she must have felt me moving under her. Before I fully realized what was going on, she collided fully with my chest again and pressed her now wet face into my fur. "No! Please don't go anywhere. I'm sorry. Having somepony scared of me feels horrible," she pleaded, voice muffled by my coat.

Rainbow chuckled and finally smiled. "Mender's afraid of everypony at first. Just be nice to him," she suggested in an exceedingly amused sounding voice, giving Twilight's side a pat.

I glared at her while giving the significantly less threatening lavender mare an assuring hug. "You blew me up, dropped several things on my head from absurd distances, and got me in trouble with others on many occasions," I reminded in annoyance.

She promptly laughed, of course, returning nonchalantly, "Details, details! I think we're a pretty good team now, right?”

That much I had to agree with, and had to nod. Twilight slid her left forehoof gently down my chest, however. When I looked back down at her, my eyes locked with hers. Tears slid down the fur on her cheeks. I swallowed again, urges stirring inside of me. Crying was hardly fair, although it definitely did a good job of almost making me forget that she could pull me apart with her mind.

"Mender, please. Tell me what I can do to make you feel safe around me," she requested quietly. She really did look traumatized. Plus, Twilight was never known for her social skills, so pure probability dictated that she truly felt bad. But how could I be sure that sort of situation wouldn't crop up again?

"Don't throw beds at him?" Dash suggested, stretching out and flapping her wings gently. After a moment, they sped up and she lifted into the air again.

Twilight's ears drooped as she glared at her flying friend. Dash just grinned and winked at her, earning an eye roll. Twilight smirked, however, and I exhaled in relief. Rainbow did know how to defuse a situation, that was for sure. Almost as well as she created them!

I sighed. That, of course, just left me. It was true; I was terrified of the lavender unicorn at times, as surprising as it was. It partly had to do with her massive level of power and skill, obviously. But part of me was afraid of her purely because she was female, I realized. Kissing wasn't unheard of in my memories, from a technical standpoint. I doubt that I had personal experience in it before Twilight, but I knew what it represented. Still, the aspect of the female was what scared me. On some subconscious level, I think it had been influencing my actions since I came to Equestria. She felt like she was more important than me. Well, Twilight obviously was, along with the rest of the Element Bearers, but even normal ponies like Lyra or Bon Bon felt 'better', for lack of a better word. Well, if you could consider Lyra normal.

Extending my right forehoof back up, I gently wiped the few fallen tears away from Twilight's cheek. It didn't look like she was a pony who cried in front of others very often. It felt so contradictory. Part of me wanted to hug her and kiss her again until she stopped crying, but another part of me was afraid she'd rip off the arms I used to do so. No screaming sensation of agony came, however. Twilight simply stared into my eyes from a few inches away, both pools of lavender shivering periodically. I felt myself warming up again and wasn't entirely sure what to do.

Rainbow interrupted before I could decide on anything. "Well, you two seem to be a little bit better, so I'm going to go find Fluttershy. Do you need anything else before I go?" she asked politely, grin shifting back to a soft smile.

Twilight blinked twice, then smiled weakly and looked over at her. "No. Um, thank you for bucking some sense into me, Dash," she thanked quietly after a moment's hesitation.

Rainbow waved a hoof nonchalantly towards us before dismissing it with, "Oh relax. I just want to see you two be happy. That's what best friends are for!”

Twilight smiled fully, finally, and nodded. I couldn't help but join in as well. She really was a good mare, when she wasn't dropping things on my head. Before either of us could reply, however, she started lightly blushing. "Speaking of seeing, think you two could let me watch later when you're more comfortable with each other?" she suddenly asked, tossing in a wink after.

Twilight blushed furiously at the same time my mind spun, trying to fully understand what she had just said. She reacted much faster, however, and blushing shock switched to blushing irritation. My eyes widened as several pillows and a few books drifted into the air around us. Rainbow took her cue and launched herself backwards. She stuck out her tongue as she went, barely managed to dodge two high velocity pillows, then burst back out and off the balcony a heartbeat later, laughing hysterically.

I sighed quietly a moment later, blushing still. Twi nodded and slowly hauled the pillows back onto the bed. She turned back to me a moment later, smiling shyly again. I started to smile back when she ducked in and put a far more timid kiss on my mouth. My mind spun but that soft, warm sensation filled me again. This one was kept short, however. She slipped back an inch and smiled again.

"Please, don't be scared of me. I, um, regret what I did in the past. I overreacted to a rather simple thing, and will never hurt you again. Can you forgive me?" she asked softly from all of an inch away.

For a moment, I hesitated. She seemed honest. Taking a risk, I leaned forward, pecking her lips timidly. For a brief moment, I caught myself flinching as I did so. She smiled against my lips however, and I managed to relax. We broke apart again a moment later and she nodded approvingly. "That was much better. Thank you," she added softly, seemingly in no hurry to get off my chest.

A moment passed and she faltered slightly. "Still, I've never had a coltfriend before. I, um, admit to liking you quite a bit. There! I said it. What do we do now?" she questioned hesitantly.

I blinked once in surprise, then frowned. "Uh, I've never had a fillyfriend either, if that's the term. We're both kind of new to this. And what about Fluttershy?" That last part I barely managed to add.

The lavender unicorn blushed and shook her head gently. "Oh, uh, didn't she talk to you before the party? She came by not more than an hour after you left, asking for you," she revealed, seemingly a little hesitant about something. Uh oh.

"She was hiding from me at the Carousel Boutique when I saw her. We didn't have very long to talk," I explained uneasily. At least not between her hiding behind furniture. But she wouldn't like it if I said as much.

Twilight frowned and exhaled abruptly, angling her lips so her bangs puffed into the air, momentarily. "She lost her nerve, then. What to do..." she muttered, a bit of frustration sounding through in her voice. I swallowed. That didn't sound good.

"Is it to do with the memories she saw when you two helped me?" I lead, trying to get anything that would be helpful. Twi obviously knew about her issues already.

She surprised me by wincing instead. "Yeah. Another thing I goofed up. It hurt both of you by me asking for her help. I should have just taken more time and not hauled anyone else in," she groaned out tiredly, looking down again.

I frowned and started to move closer to her again to comfort, but she shifted back a little. "No. I thought you already knew her feelings. If I'd known she hadn't told you and your mind wasn't made up, I wouldn't have tried to experiment. I'm sorry for," she started to apologize, before my hoof gently pressed onto her lips.

"Please, Twilight. Don't be so hard on yourself. You helped me by asking her for help. If she doesn't like me anymore because of things she saw, then that's between her and me. You didn’t have-" I assured softly. It was my turn to be interrupted, though.

Twilight gasped and shook her head rapidly. "No! She doesn't dislike you. She knows you only wanted to protect what you loved. She's proud of that and happy. The images are what hurt her. She thinks about it every time she sees you still, and says, well..."

I frowned as she trailed off. This is where Fluttershy had technically stopped, too. "She doesn't want to get in a relationship with me, right?" I finished, pretty sure that it was just in need of verification at this point.

The unicorn sighed and nodded, exactly as I figured. "She doesn't think she can give it her all anymore, which wouldn't be fair to you. She was very insistent that she didn't think of you as a wounded animal, though," she explained, seemingly tacking things on as she remembered. Her expression looked stressed, and I realized she was winging the conversation on the fly. Lack of planning made for a very stressed out Twilight, it would appear. It wasn't the reason I had expected, but the outcome was the same. I'd prepared myself for it a hundred times over, so why was it still painful? I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"I'm sorry. She still needs to tell you herself. I insist. And I apologize for kissing you. I thought you had already picked me," she admitted uneasily. Uh oh.

The distinct feeling of screwing up came to mind. So I liked Fluttershy and Twilight, but Fluttershy didn't return my feelings because of my memories from my past 'life'. But not knowing that, I just shared a rather intimate moment with Twilight, who was now rapidly regretting it due to the feelings she saw me having for the other mare. She now refused to acknowledge otherwise until I'd talked to Fluttershy about it, who was currently probably off avoiding me with Rainbow Dash.

My head start to spin and I sighed weakly. If Nurse Redheart wouldn’t have a stress attack upon seeing me again, I’d seriously consider jumping out the window while screaming. Instead, I settled with a heady sigh and shook my head. “I figured as much already. Really, Twi. I accept what she thinks of me. I just need to get my head straightened out and figure out what I think about you. Although I’m really pretty sure I already know the answer to that one,” I explained, blushing lightly after.

Twilight smiled but also shook her head as well. "I know you like me. I'm glad for that, but I would have believed you without the truth serum issue. But I know that you also like Fluttershy. I just want to have you settle your feelings for her first," she explained, gently warding off my hoof away from its attempts to brush against her shoulder.

I was surprised at the brief spike of irritation that went through me. I frowned. With a bit of focus, I calmed myself. I had wanted more. That distinct urge was identified again. Hormones? Not entirely, it would seem. The noticeably cute mare practically sitting on me frowned, looking unsure for a moment. I hesitated. Had I gone too far? I reined in my feelings as best I could. She hadn't intentionally teased me.

"Uh, are you okay? Um, did I say something wrong?" she asked cautiously.

I shook my head rapidly, hoping she wasn't upset. "No! Of course not."

She frowned further and I shrank a little under her gaze, earning a groan as well. "You don't need to be afraid of me, Mender! What can I do to make you more comfortable around me?" she asked, moving her face close to mine again, following as I backed into the pillow.

"Um!" I managed to squeak out in a weak voice. Uh oh! She was getting irritated now.

She suddenly smirked, however. It was a knowing and predatory grin. Quite familiar, considering I'd seen it all of fifteen minutes prior. "Of course, a little positive reinforcement might help," she whispered, brushing her nose against mine. I couldn't help but blush again, a gentle smile sneaking onto my face.

It was accompanied by the soft rumbling of my belly. Twilight looked confused for a moment and I peeked down at my tummy, now blushing even harder. She followed my gaze before giggling merrily. "Or some breakfast first. That works too," she agreed a moment later. I hadn't realized that my body could ask questions for me.

"Ah! Uh, I'm sorry?" I offered, unsure of what to do in this situation.

Twilight giggled again and shook her head. "I won't hurt you. Stop apologizing for every little thing. Let's go get some breakfast, then!" she assured, sounding surprisingly chipper. She stood up again in one fluid motion, sliding backwards and off the bed. My back legs immediately started tingling as the blood rushed back into them. I smiled at the tickling sensation while sitting up finally, attempting to pull the blankets off of me.

Sadly, I wasn't anticipating the wave of dizziness accompanying the simple movement. Twilight started laughing hysterically as I became a confused, tangled ball of blankets at the foot of the bed. I glared up at her as best I could while upside down and prone.

"You'll never change," she muttered warmly, giving her head a final shake before her horn lit up. I felt her slowly start to undo the blankets and sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Author's Notes:

Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Ux9lO1MYM

Chapter 08

My stiff muscles released sparks of happiness up my spine as I slowly stretched out. Combined with the warm feeling of the Sun beating down from above and the gentle breezes around me, I was finally feeling pretty good. Heck, I should have gotten outside long before this! That thought jolted me into paranoia and I rapidly looked all around me. Several uneventful moments later, I decided that maybe, just maybe, I was going to have a good day. Maybe even one without blunt force head trauma, full body burns, or multiple lacerations.

Twilight lagged behind a little, looking at some sort of flower alongside the path we were on. She was still smiling pleasantly, which was oddly contagious. Still, it was nice to see her in a good mood. Less painful, too. Although admittedly, the only time she had almost hurt me since I woke up was when I broke into her home in a mechanical monstrosity of nightmare, seemingly taking a young filly 'hostage' at the same time. Maybe it was about time to start giving her the benefit of the doubt?

She smiled up at me upon noticing my attention, and trotted to catch back up. It was a delightful treat to watch her mane sway gently in the sun as she moved, the pretty purples and violets being illuminated softly. Her eyes carefully roamed along my bandages as I concluded my stretch and straightened into a sitting position. She'd taken some of the bandages off this morning, but for precautionary measures, the main one stayed on for now. That left my lower back, hips, and navel with light wrappings. It had been the worst where the flak lasers had hit me, I assumed.

Twilight, concluding her seemingly seventh or eighth assessment of my condition for the day, brought her gaze back to my face instead. "How are you feeling, Mender? The walk isn't too much for you, is it?" she asked politely, a timid and somewhat concerned looking expression gracing her features.

The way she was moving, I probably could have taken a nap and still kept up. Still, I was thankful for her concern. "I'm holding up well enough. A little stiff and drowsy still, but feeling pretty good, all things considered," I muttered back, stifling a yawn. Getting poisoned via potion and spilling a few secrets here and there was a little depressing, but at least I was alive still. Mostly. Keep thinking on the bright side, Mender! Twilight hadn't been the one responsible for that little incident, though, so I shouldn't be irritated at her.

Twilight snickered in an oblivious manner, adding a nod a moment later. "Admittedly, your recovery has been amazing. Not only from the wounds you received in closing the link, but in resisting the potion effects yesterday," she complimented. It was a little weird now that I considered it. With my current constitution, I should have practically keeled over from that much potion, and slipped into some sort of alchemical coma or something.

"Just chalk it up to the universe having a weird sense of humor?" I offered idly, standing fully now and gesturing towards the path again.

Grinning, she picked up the subtle motion easily and fell in right next to me as I continued towards the farm. We walked in relative silence for the rest of the way. It wasn't very far of a walk, from the center of Ponyville to Sweet Apple Acres, but admittedly, I was getting a little tired. As much as it felt good to be moving again, my full recovery was a ways off, it felt like. It took us a solid half an hour and I was shaking a little bit by the time we got there. Unsurprisingly, Twilight was giving me concerned looks by then.

Sitting down, I took a tactical pause in order to regain my breath. My legs felt a little shaky still, the tension from use already creeping up my muscles. Damn. Even for my runt physique, I was out of shape. I figured I'd have lost a little strength during my two weeks of coma, but this was ridiculous. I guess almost dying really takes a lot out of you.

"Maybe this was a bad idea? Are you sure you're okay?" the concerned sounding lavender unicorn asked, tilting her head down to peek under my bangs and into my face.

I smiled and nodded softly towards her, not quite trusting my voice to not crack yet. Twilight shook her head but grinned, probably thinking I was stubborn. I hoped she understood, though. I needed to fix everything that was off with my body. More strength and endurance, less hormones, a larger magic pool... Everything would help me fit in better. Maybe eventually, I wouldn't have to mooch off these wonderful mares anymore.

She didn't look entirely convinced, however, and opened her mouth to say something further. Thankfully, she was interrupted by a sweet drawl coming from the direction of the nearby barn.

"Howdy there, Twi! An' Mender came with too?" Applejack smiled warmly as she rounded the barn. I honestly don't think that I had ever been so happy to see the rough and tumble mare. Of course, we hadn't gotten the best start, with her being practical and down to earth, and me being, well, an idiot.

Twilight smiled again in an instant while turning, giving a small wave. "Hiya, Applejack!" she shouted back to clear the distance. It was a little sharp to my poor, potion-addled eardrums, being right next to her and all, but I restrained my reaction to a wince.

"Mender said he needed the exercise, plus I figured that he could put his skills to good use," Twilight continued, once the orange mare was within civil talking distance. It wasn't hard to pick out the light blush on her cheeks as she said it. She had asked me to come, in reality. Fluttershy might drop by later today and she had been hoping to talk to the elusive yellow pegasus. Plus, I saw it in her eyes when she had asked. She had wanted company.

"Oh! Ah think ya might be on ta somethin'. He's pretty handy with the engineerin' if Ah recall," Applejack agreed, snapping me out of my daze. I suddenly realized that I actually had no idea what she needed help with. Well, not that me having no clue what’s going on was actually all that different from normal.

I nodded regardless. “I need to get myself back in shape, but I think you knew that already. Um, I also didn’t exactly catch what you wanted help with in the first place,” I elaborated, tilting my head to the side.

Her warm smile shifted into a slightly knowing one, but she nodded. Instead of answering immediately, she motioned behind her with a flick of her head before turning. Twilight and I caught the intent and followed after her as she headed back around the side of the barn.

“As ya’ll know, tha last harvest of tha season’ll be ‘ere soon. It gits ah might busy ‘round ‘ere before then, an’ Big Mac an’ Ah usually have ta call in tha relatives from all around ta help,” she started to explain. We rounded the side of the barn and crossed into the opening. My eyes widened as I saw the mess that covered the ground. Several large crates were strewn about the floor of the barn, most opened with their contents spilled out. Gears, cogs, wooden planks, chains, and some sort of rail system appeared to have been packed in them, as far as I could tell.

Twilight looked amused instead of surprised, but simply nodded. “She took my advice and is going to partially automate the packing process,” she tacked on, stopping next to AJ, who stayed in the barn doorway. I took a few steps further into the barn, and scanned over the piles of parts. Automation huh?

My mind instantly shifted to that of an assembly line. I suddenly realized what the rails and chains were for. Each piece started fitting itself together in my head. There would be the wooden conveyor belt itself that would probably line up with the lift. The curved rail pieces indicated that they wanted to turn the boxes as they approached, so if convenience dictated...

A glance at the wall behind me and to the right showed a lightly traced square on the wall. Bingo! A chute system to the outside, for pouring in the apples. They'd then travel along the line and be inspected before being dropped into the crates. I walked slowly alongside the wall, mentally structuring the raised platform the inspectors would stand on. After loading, the crate should be sealed. Nails were probably impractical for ponies. Glancing up, I saw another lightly traced square on the ceiling. Well, the floor of the loft, technically. So they were going to drop the crate lid on from the ceiling? Made sense. Then it would be latched and sent around the bend to the lift, either to go past and be stored on the ground floor, or hauled up to the loft. Storage was reasonable in this scenario, but the real perk was that it would only take a few ponies to operate the thing. I halted my self-tour in front of the lift. It would need a foundation for stability, but that wouldn't be too hard to...

"Uh, Mender?" Applejack suddenly asked, sending a jolt through my system! I jumped in surprise before whipping my head over to look at her. Was I not supposed to have walked here?!

Wham! My muzzle cracked off the side of the support beam to my left. I reeled, gasping as I stumbled sideways away from it. Son of a! My right side hit the nearest rope holding the lift up. I fell over sideways and landed on the lift platform frame. Huh. Guess they still haven't put the actual platform in. The force of my collision with the rope caused the entire frame to spin around with me still on it! I let out a dizzy wail as I went around in circles several times, the support ropes wrapping me up in an instant. In the space of a second later, the room finally stopped spinning and I let my head droop over the side of the frame. A painful stinging sensation beat with the rhythm of my heart against the side of my muzzle. Ow. Thank you, reality. I knew I hadn’t gotten my quota of pain yet today.

"Oh fer cryin' out loud! Yer never gonna change, are ya, Mender?" Applejack asked, starting to chuckle as she walked back to where I was hanging.

Twilight followed, looking slightly less amused. "Seeing you in action on a regular day, I'm suddenly not surprised that you managed a few bruises in the space of four hours," she tacked on.

I sighed, trying to yank my back leg free from its midair suspension. "Thanks for rubbing it in. Uh, a little help here?" I begged, only managing to rotate myself a bit.

"Whoa! Tha way yer displayin' yerself, Ah ain't rubbin' nothin'! Manners, Mender!" Applejack suddenly scolded, sending a deep spike of panic and embarrassment through my system.

"Oh, sweet Celestia's Sun! Ah!" Twilight squealed instantly after Applejack seemingly brought it to her attention. I didn't react quickly enough to stop her from getting a healthy glimpse, but managed to roll up with my other leg and properly cover myself.

"S-Sorry!" I apologized, wincing as I tried to pull myself up onto the frame.

I saw Twilight go scarlet, seemingly unable to close her jaw again. Her reaction reflex had brought both hooves to her eyes, but I saw a little crack between them. Applejack just burst into a copious laughter. "Ah'm just teasin' ya. Ya didn't intend ta flash us tha goods, obviously. 'sides, it's not tha first time Ah saw that sorta thing. We don't exactly wear clothes ya know?" she pointed out, stopping in front of the lift.

"Applejack! He... You shouldn't have looked!" Twilight whimpered, shrinking visibly as she gawked at her friend. She honestly looked traumatized.

Applejack smirked and raised an eyebrow to her. "Ya caught ah big 'nough gander yerself, Ah think. Yer actin' ah tad strange there, Twi," the observant country mare pointed out, causing an even deeper blush. Admittedly, I was feeling a little warm as well.

"Ah! Nothing! Rainbow accused us of that too, but nothing is going on between us!" the lavender unicorn defended, stomping her hoof against the ground. Her blush was still readily visible, of course. Ouch. As much as I enjoyed being reminded of how she viewed me, technically that was a suspiciously specific defense.

As predicted, Applejack never lost the warm smile. "Ah never said ya were, but that explains ah whole lot."

Twilight winced and shook her head rapidly. "No, no, no! I don't know what to feel yet, and until I do, no!" she adamantly declared. I couldn't help but think that it was a bad idea for Rainbow and Pinkie to be pushing her like this. She didn't cope with stress very well, and I didn't particularly feel like getting caught up in any bursts of rage she might fall into. Again.

"Getting a little dizzy here," I reminded, hoping to derail the potential homicide. And maybe get somepony to help me down.

Applejack laughed and turned back to me. "Impatient, ain't ya? Ah'll have ya down in ah sec," she assured, looking over the mess of ropes wrapped around me.

Twilight remained anchored to where she was, staring down at her hooves with a faint blush still. I watched her quietly as the other mare tugged at various ropes, trying to loosen them up a bit. Twilight was so confusing. Well, she was a lot of things. Cute, adorable, intelligent, innocent, good natured, loyal, drop dead gorgeous... I stopped for a moment, realizing where this particular train of thought was going. Calm down! She was also indecisive, overly analytical, a perfectionist, stubborn, and somewhat insensitive. Switching back to my previous adjective, I simply went with 'confusing'. She seemed halfway between thinking of me as a friend or experiment, and as something more.

My hormones weren't helping, of course. Had I thought it through properly, I probably shouldn't have let her kiss me. Thinking was what I definitely hadn't done, though. I should have considered Fluttershy first. Of course, all this was against my instincts anyway. Two mares held my interest. If anything, that should have set off enough warning flags to send me screaming into the forest as fast as possible. Probably involving a makeshift rocket.

My thoughts were interrupted by ropes being garroted into my neck. I gasped and thrashed, causing Applejack to immediately release the vile things.

"Whoops! Sorry. They're ah might bit tight," she apologized, stating the obvious. That snapped Twilight out of her daze, causing her to glance up again. A moment later, I finally managed to get the rope off my neck.

Any and all proceedings were then interrupted by a knocking sound coming from the front of the barn. "Hello, anypony? I was told that I could find Applejack here," sounded out in a distinctive Rarity tone.

"Oh, ya need somethin', Rare? Was tryin' ta untie Mender back 'ere," she explained, turning and walking towards the newest arrival.

I could barely make out the white unicorn from between two of the large crates. Applejack headed through the gap between them, squeezing as needed.

The lavender unicorn wasted no time at all in surprising me. Her lips pressed into mine rapidly, ignoring the awkward sideways angle we were at. I started in surprise, followed rapidly by blushing. I didn't even have time to close my eyes before she backed up an inch or two again, however.

"Thank you, Mender. You could have caused me some serious stress by revealing too much, but you didn't. So thank you," she added to her oh so warm smile after the kiss.

I blinked slowly, totally unsure of what I was being thanked for. "But, um, why would I intentionally add more stress to your life?" I asked. The idea was totally foreign to me. Why would somepony waste the effort in doing something unnecessarily cruel to somepony else? I understood that there were some extremely mean individuals in existence, but they didn't exactly get anything from the exchange.

My confusion oddly seemed to make her more content. She smiled softly at me and shook her head. “Asking that must mean you’re being honest. I’m glad you’re taking my desires to wait well. I really do want to talk to Fluttershy about things first,” she assured weakly, frowning and seeming a little unsure.

“You thought I wouldn’t understand, didn’t you?” I asked quietly, managing a smirk. It was a shot in the dark, but something told me that she was the cautious type. Just a hunch.

She averted her eyes. I was right! “Well, you do have a tendency to jump to conclusions and come up with some fairly convoluted ideas. I was a little concerned as this is fairly important to me. I don’t want to screw it up by offending you.”

Ouch. Well, she was still accurate. At least she was being straightforward and to the point. "I'm glad it's important to you. I admit that I'm a little concerned about what you think of me," I admitted.

Twilight looked slightly confused before asking, "What do you mean? If I like you as more than a friend?"

That seemed safe enough, so I simply nodded. She smiled and I felt relieved. "I think that much is safe to assume. Now the only question is if I'm ready for a relationship." She sounded nervous after she said it and I swallowed. If she decided that she didn’t want a relationship either...

My thoughts derailed suddenly, plowing off the three hundred foot cliff and into the rocky ridges below. What the hell was I doing?! Twilight wasn't supposed to be treated as a last resort. Was I screwing up what it meant to like a mare? Fluttershy. She made me feel safe and calm. Twilight made me feel warm and wanted. I liked both of them quite a bit, but I needed to figure out my own feelings first.

That was the truth. I was frustrated and let it direct itself at them. My feelings weren't their problem! It wasn't fair of me to take any action in regards to a relationship without properly thinking it through first. I'd been doing the opposite. I liked both of them, so I was just waiting for whichever made the first move, then? I berated myself for being so selfish. This would require quite a bit of thought. Feelings for Twilight felt murky and heated, gravitating towards thoughts of kissing her. That felt dangerous to think about, so I decided to consider Fluttershy first.

"Equestria to Mender?! You still awake?" the now irritated sounding unicorn asked from right in front of me. I started abruptly and looked back up at her. Shock hit me hard as I realized that her eyes were starting to water.

"Did that bother you? You went all quiet and sad looking and I didn't know what to do," she asked before I could say anything.

Frowning, I managed to somehow shake my head through the ropes. "No, I just zoned out. I realized that you were right. It's not fair for me to jump into this without thinking it through. So I have a lot of thinking to do," I explained. Well, to the best of my abilities. Admittedly, I wasn't the best at getting my feelings across.

Twilight surprised me by looking shocked, herself, before responding with, "Oh. But does that mean that you don't...? Ah! Sorry; you're right of course. If I can take time to think about it, you obviously have the right as well."

"What's wrong, Twilight? Is there something bothering you?" I asked, more than a little concerned about her reaction. She had spent at least half of the reply backtracking.

She swallowed timidly, but looked away. "Just, um, talk to Fluttershy soon, okay? I really would like to get back to my usual routine," she requested, confusing me even more. Somehow.

Before I could ask for clarification, however, she simply extended her foreleg up and gave the bottom of the lift frame a solid shove. My eyes widened as I was spun around rapidly in the other direction as before. The ropes lost their tightness in an instant, letting centripetal force take over. With an embarrassingly high-pitched yelp, I was flung free of the frame and hurled towards the pile of nails, bolts, and gears next to us. Damn it. Putting my forelegs up to shield sensitive areas, I braced for impact.

Gravity decided to take a coffee break instead, however. My body stopped a mere half a meter from the pile of sharp and pointy things. Thankfully I had an absurdly powerful unicorn on my side! She pulled me back over to herself, giving me a light smirk and pointing out, "The more I see of it, the more I think your level of bad luck is about on par with Pinkie's Pinkie Sense. I should run some tests."

I rolled my eyes, getting a little tired of being upside down. "Fine. I really would like to get my dreams scanned again as well, speaking of tests," I reminded, closing my eyes to reduce the dizziness.

Mercifully, she flipped me back over, before assuring, "I'll do the scan if you want me to, but I really don't think that you have anything to worry about. Princess Celestia said..."

"I know what she said. I'd just feel safer if you took a peek at it yourself," I interrupted gently, looking down a bit. It wasn't that I didn't trust Celestia. She was a wise ruler. From what I'd seen of her, however, she was fallible. That wasn't a bad thing, but I trusted Twilight more.

Twilight seemed truly surprised instead of mad, however. I suddenly hoped that I wouldn't have to explain all of that. She gave a warm smile a second later, though, and nodded in understanding.

"I'm glad you trust me that much, Mender. You're a really good friend and, well, I'm glad," she muttered, suddenly seeming to mentally stumble over something. The light pink tint gracing her cheeks confused me, though.

"What was all tha screamin' 'bout? Oh, ya got Mender free?" Applejack suddenly asked, walking up from the side of my vision.

Twilight squealed in surprise and spun to face her two approaching friends, looking extremely guilty. I didn't have time to analyze further as the magic holding me up flickered away alongside her concentration. I landed unceremoniously on my butt, along with other sensitive things. Daggers of pain lanced through my navel and I winced, screaming out in an airy, soundless wail before falling forward and dropping flat like a bag of wet sand. Son of a bitch!

Applejack chuckled somewhere above me. Mentally, I imagined stabbing her a few times to make myself feel better. "Oh dear!" Rarity added, sounding further behind me somewhere.

"Uh, hi girls! Um, what brings you here, Rarity?" Twilight asked, oblivious.

Instead of giving in to the pain and homicidal urges, I slowly and tenderly pulled my back legs up into a tucked position, gritting my teeth the whole time. Oh for the love of all things just and righteous, somepony please kill me now! Why did they have to be external?!

"Uh, Rare here wanted ta’ try an' proposition me fer her fancy party comin' up," the only mare with a heavy accent explained, also ignoring me now.

My entire body shivered and jolted as I felt two hooves slowly push into my back. They kneaded my lower muscles carefully, not applying too much pressure, but slowly massaging along my spine, relaxing me a bit.

"Are you all right, dear?" Rarity asked softly, from barely a foot above me.

I groaned miserably, trying my best to form a coherent thank you for her. "Er, he only dropped from half a meter or so," Twilight pointed out. I wished I could have glared up at her. Pity the raw ache prevented the rotation of my stomach.

"An' right onta tha stallion parts! Ah've seen it happen ta Big Mac ah few times. Looks mighty painful, Ah'm guessin'," Applejack explained, earning a new level of respect in my mind.

Twilight let out a sharp squeaking noise and I felt her move closer to me. "Oh no! I didn't mean to, Mender!" she assured. Thankfully that much was obvious. Had she intended to, it probably would have hurt quite a bit more.

Slowly sitting up, I shook my head while keeping my eyes closed. “Ow. I’ll be okay,” I managed to get out, in between my voice cracking and the reverberations of agony as I moved.

Twilight gently helped me up, supporting me with a foreleg. Rarity stopped her massage and lifted from the other side of my body by the shoulder, until I was sitting up again. I nodded and smiled at her as she brushed along my side, frowning. I glanced down and noticed I had collected a bit of dust from the floor in my coat. Mentally shrugging, I just let her go crazy and dust my coat off. Instead, I glanced back at Twilight instead.

The lavender unicorn looked incredibly guilty, but didn’t say anything. Applejack interrupted before I could speak, regardless. “What were ya doin’, anyway? Ya almost looked like ya were in some sorta trance or somethin’,” she questioned, walking around to sit next to Twilight and be fully in my sight.

I shook my head at her, still not feeling all that great in the lower stomach. “It wasn’t a trance. I was just figuring out the system for the conveyor you wanted to build to package up the apples,” I corrected quietly, looking back to my right at the front wall and the square traced on it.

Applejack gave a start and tilted her head. “Wait ah minute. Ah never told ya that we were makin’ ah conveyor.”

“I know. These parts are pieces of one, so it was fairly obvious. Then I saw the tracings you made in the wall and ceiling and figured out the direction you wanted it going. You want a system to drop the covers on the crates after sorting the apples, and then deliver them for easy storage, right?” I asked, mostly for clarification purposes.

Twilight shifted to an amused smirk and looked over at the still surprised Applejack. “See? I told you there’s a good reason to have him help. Now we don’t need to try to buy the plans for the conveyor,” she rubbed in, me obviously missing a lot of information.

I frowned but shook my head, asking, “Wait, there were plans to go off of?”

Applejack sighed and lowered her head, looking exceedingly dejected. “Well there would’a been if Ah had bought ‘em. Twi ‘ere convinced me not ta spend tha extra bits an’ have ya look at it first ta see if ya could figure it out,” she explained.

Twilight vouched for me? Wait, if I could pull this off, I could save Applejack bits! I could start paying her back for all of the hospitality so far! My delight couldn’t be contained and a warm smile crept up out of nowhere. I found I couldn’t nod my head fast enough. “Of course I’ll try to put it together. Anything to help you out,” I agreed.

The farm pony gave me a warm smile, but Twilight displayed a knowing one instead. "You don't owe us anything, Mender. You do realize that she's going to pay you for this, right?" she asked coyly.

My heart sank as I glanced back at Applejack and earned a still smiling nod. "Iffen ya can get tha thing workin', it would only be right ta pay ya fer yer work. Ah would've had ta bring in ah professional and Ah can't afford that an' keep tha project worth it," she explained gently.

I frowned, this not sitting well with me at all. Then an idea struck me. I turned to Rarity instead, assuming she'd be closer to the heartbeat of the town. "Hey Rarity? Do you happen to know what the rate is for a hotel room in Ponyville?" I asked.

She surprised me by gasping, and vehemently denying, "I'm not that type of mare!" This was accompanied by a rather pronounced blush.

I blinked slowly, a little confused. "Uh, what? I just figured you'd have more out of town visitors than Applejack or Twilight. Nopony has mentioned prices to you?" I elaborated, unsure of what I had said wrong prior.

She stared at me for a moment with a blatant expression. I tilted my head, and she exhaled softly, as if relieved. Twilight looked as weirded out as I felt, but Applejack started snickering.

Rarity shot her an icy glare before looking back at me and continuing with, "That is true enough, I suppose. Last I'd heard, several weeks ago, mind you, the hotel prices were about thirty-five bits a night."

My mind jumped on the math like a rabid ferret. "Okay, so at a twenty percent markdown, that would be twenty-eight bits. That is probably close to what rent would be. Applejack supplies the bed, and Twilight supplies the room it's in. Cutting that in half, that meant that I owed each of you fourteen bits a night for room and board," I reasoned, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Applejack frowned, glaring at me suddenly. I'd never seen an expression shift so rapidly. Oh crap! Was that figure too low? I knew I should have researched pricing a little more before suggesting something like this. Wait, the way Rarity reacted led me to believe that I might have been wrong about the hotel thing. From what little I could remember, which thankfully included basic vocabulary from my old dimension, a hotel was a place of temporary lodging for those displaced from a more permanent living arrangement. What if it was a little different here, though? The way she reacted indicated some sort of ill reputation establishment. Had I just compared Applejack and Twilight to that?!

"No, Mender! We're not going to...!" Twilight started to berate before stopping and giving a questioning look. At her yelling, I had dropped my belly to the floor and tucked my ears down as hard as I could. Oh no. No, no, no! I should have researched this way more.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to compare you two to anything! You're reputable mares, and I wasn't insinuating that you perform mating requests for monetary reimbursement. Please! I'm sorry..." I apologized as rapidly as I could, hopefully heading off any bouts of rage or homicidal thoughts.

"Wait, what?!" Applejack suddenly exploded, expression shifting to shock even quicker.

Twilight's cheeks went pink and she looked away rapidly. Rarity reacted the best and simply coughed lightly, however, admitting, "I do believe that little misunderstanding was my fault. But you really shouldn't jump to conclusions like that, Mender."

Applejack rested a hoof on her forehead and shook her head weakly. "Again. Ah shouldn't be surprised by now, Ah guess. Ya didn't offend. Ah jus wanna pay ya somethin' fer yer work," she muttered, looking down at me after finishing explaining. Oh.

"And I said I wasn't going to hurt you again!" Twilight yelled suddenly. I let out a yelp and dove sideways and away from her in surprise. Of course, I rolled right into the pile of sharp and pointy things that I had saw prior. Stupid nails.

* * * * *

Things always seemed to go in patterns for me. The unfortunate thing is that there always seems to be a quota for the amount of pain I'm required to go through. I gritted my teeth and winced as Applejack pulled out the twelfth and final nail. Speaking of that quota.

"Disinfecting," Twilight reported instantly. A sizzling sensation hit the spot where the nail used to be embedded in my back. I gasped, but thankfully the merciful unicorn continued with, "... And healing." The pain faded instantly and I was finally able to slump forward to the ground. Rarity, who was at my side, patted my shoulder as I tried not to get grass up my nose. Wait, I was supposed to be trying to think positively. Well, at least I'm not allergic to the grass. Or iron. Or blood loss.

I heard Applejack spit out the nail behind me. "That's some handy magic, Twi. How come ya never used that before?" she asked a moment later.

There was an exasperated sigh before the unicorn returned, "That's because I learned it only a few days ago. At the rate he gets injured, it was all I could do to lessen the hospital fees." I let out a frustrated groan and looked back at her, just in time to see a wall of lavender descending towards my face. I winced as she lightly batted me on the end of my muzzle. "No. You're not going to pay for those either," she preemptively declared.

Sighing, I turned back around and glared straight ahead again. They just didn't seem to get it. "You're a Gentlecolt for trying to make it up to us, don't worry. But you can't be expected to without any source of income and while injured still," Rarity soothed, bending down and trying to smile at me, eye level.

I sighed weakly, staring at the root of the tree we were under. Applejack hadn't wanted to get blood in the barn, which was understandable. In frustration, I whacked the front of the root I'd been glaring at. It barely shook, which only served to irritate me further. A moment later, something reasonably solid skipped off of my head. I let out a stifled yelp, and then glared at the infuriating red object rolling away from me on the ground.

Twilight sighed weakly and walked up next to me, lifting the apple up with her magic. "I'm definitely going to have to run a few tests on you at some point in the future. You have the absolute worst luck I've ever seen," she admitted, tossing the apple backwards.

"Yer just noticin' this now? He only has good luck when it counts, ya know? Like givin' ah giant alien battleship tha ol' what fer!" she exclaimed. I blushed a little but didn't look up again. It was mostly because my head hurt, but I also wasn't sure if I was supposed to be honored or depressed by her viewpoint. Still, Twilight had a point.

The white unicorn next to me sat up fully again, shaking her head slightly. "I personally don't feel his luck is too entirely bad. Sure, he's a bit clumsy from time to time, but he's only been in the physical form of a pony for all of three and a half weeks. Surely, he deserves a bit of a break due to that, no?" she suggested reasonably. Well, I thought it was reasonable, anyway.

"She has a point. Honestly, his progress is astounding if you take into consideration the age of his body. He's technically been alive for less than a month," Twilight concurred, nodding. I glanced back and caught her smiling down at me. She blushed and looked away rapidly upon noticing my attention. Had she said that purely to make a case for me? She had to have realized it was different due to me being alive for much longer prior.

"Indeed! To project an air of such sophistication while being so young! You're truly talented. It makes me wish Applejack was such as well," Rarity praised before glancing over at the now glaring farm mare.

"Yer still pushin' fer that? Ah already told ya, Ah can't make it. The last harvest is comin' an' there’s no time ta be off prancin' about in fancy clothes," Applejack repeated. Well, technically it was the first time I had heard it, but I assume that they had been discussing it while Twilight and I had been talking.

A light blush distracted me momentarily. Yeah, talking. Mostly. "It would just be for a few days, Applejack. Please?!" Rarity practically begged, edging a little closer to her friend.

"Ah'm really sorry, Rare. Ah know yer desperate if yer askin' meh. Ah really wish I could help ya," she apologized, subtly putting herself down.

Rarity sighed and nodded, to my surprise. Was there some sort of context that I wasn't aware of? "Yes. I didn't believe that you'd want to go. I'm just running out of options. Twilight's already going on behalf of the Princess. Fluttershy practically passed out when she realized how crowded it would be. You know she only accepts crowds when all of us are there to back her up," Rarity replied weakly. I'd guessed as much about Fluttershy, but Applejack and Rarity seemed to have a deeper understanding than I realized. They knew each other's tastes.

Twilight nodded as well. "What about Rainbow and Pinkie? Surely they're not busy," she suggested, gesturing with a hoof towards Rarity.

"No such luck, I'm afraid. Rainbow Dash unsurprisingly has the entire public appearance schedule of the Wonderbolts memorized. She was a little miffed at my attempt at trickery in trying to let her think they were attending. And Pinkie Pie is still banned, remember?" Rarity returned, looking a little stressed. Banned? I swallowed nervously, not entirely wanting to know how the friendly enough seeming pink party pony got banned from somewhere.

"Oh yeah. Ah forgot they got real upset after tha Gala incident. Ah would've thought they'd be over that by now," Applejack muttered. Yup, definitely didn't want to know.

Rarity sighed and nodded, brushing her mane back gently before noticing me watching her again. She gave a soft smile down towards me before shifting her attention back to Applejack. "What of Big Mac? I suppose he's needed for the harvest as well?" she asked after a moment's apparent thought.

Applejack sighed as well, but nodded. "He does tha figures an' fancy mathematics. Ah don't think we'd have ah smooth time without him 'ere," she explained. Silent but smart, huh? I could definitely appreciate that.

Rarity looked downright depressed for a moment and shook her head. "If I hadn't been asked to provide the dresses for the fashion show there, I wouldn't be nearly as upset. This could really make my career! If I were to show up without the guest attached to my invitation, why, it would be shameful! Outrageous! I'd be laughed out of the party," she lamented. Whoa. Rarity dealt with an entirely higher level of social performance than what I was used to! I can see why Fluttershy didn't want that kind of pressure.

There was a quiet moment, followed by an awkwardly uncomfortable feeling. I glanced up at the white unicorn again, only to discover that she was staring intently at me. Er, did I have something in my mane?

"Wait a moment. I suddenly recall that you are a personal friend of Princess Celestia herself! Everypony saw you having lunch with her," she reminded, for as of yet unknown reasons. I still didn't like where this was going.

Twilight predictably blanched. "Wait, what? Just because he eats lunch with her once, doesn't mean that they're best friends. Is that why that rumor is spreading like wildfire?" she questioned, sounding more than a little irritated suddenly. What did I do?!

"Um, not to interrupt, but what rumor are we talking about?" I interjected cautiously. If it was about me, I at least deserve to know what it is, right?

"Ah heard it too, down in tha market this mornin'. It's mixed up more than Pinkie on fermented cider. Somewhere between ya bein' ah clandestine lover, an' ah secret agent," Applejack explained, looking back down at me.

Damn it! This was all Rainbow Dash's fault. She had to go screaming at the top of her lungs that I had a date with the Princess. Twilight slapped a hoof to her forehead, sighing miserably.

"Wonderful. Well at least there's no real harm in any of it, I suppose. If they want to be silly, then so be it," the lavender unicorn acquiesced weakly. She didn't sound convinced. Of course, saying "No real harm" and referencing me in the same sentence would probably make a lot of ponies uncomfortable.

"Oh, but I intend to use it to my advantage, with Mender's support, of course," Rarity corrected, looking remarkably devious for such a refined mare. I swallowed timidly. Regardless, she continued before I could voice any opinions, further enlightening with, "Seeing that everypony seems to be busy, I'm tentatively considering asking Mender to go with me to the party instead, purely for appearances, of course. If they want to perpetuate the rumors, so be it. That assumed, Mender should be a very eligible 'date' for the evening."

"Excuse me?" Twilight asked instantly, devoid of any tone fluctuation at all, expression deadpan. Uh oh. Wait, what?!

Applejack nodded skeptically as well. "Admittedly, Ah get the point behind it. Yer usin' tha rumors ta puff up Mender's reputation an' make yerself look good fer yer designin' show. Ah just question how, well, wise that is. Mender's ain't exactly known fer his social graces," she pointed out.

Ouch. My ego suddenly hurt a little. Although I sadly had to agree for the most part. "Oh relax, you two. It's not an actual date. He's coming as a friend, of course. I simply want to avoid any potential social stigma," Rarity explained carefully before sitting down again next to me. Giving a test shift of my muscles, I decided that they weren't quite ready to move yet and did absolutely nothing. It was surprisingly effective at making me feel better as well.

Twilight's glare didn't relent, however, and I had to mentally stop myself from fidgeting. It wasn't even directed at me, yet I found myself trying not to shake. Still, what could I honestly say in her defense without giving away exactly what she told me not to? She seemed to realize this too, and kept it to a silent glare instead.

Rarity looked a little flustered, however. "Twilight dear, what's wrong? You seem awfully upset at me. May I ask?" she requested politely. I'd never seen the white unicorn actually look unsure, admittedly. Twilight must mean a great deal to her.

Finally, Twilight let out a huff and relaxed a little. "It's nothing. Just, well, don't let him wander off and maim himself or something," she warned pointedly. I suddenly got the impression that my choice had been made for me already.

"Splendid! Then it's a date. This is in Canterlot, Mender, so pack warm! Oh, and we shall have to spend a night there, of course. It will simply be far too late by the time the event is over to catch a train back. I'll pay for the room, of course. Oh, and we absolutely must size you and get a wonderful suit made before the party! Oh, there's just so much to do," Rarity started rapidly explaining. Well, more suggesting. Wait, I didn't own any clothes, let alone warm things. Wait, I had to spend the night in a hotel room with Rarity?!

Twilight started growling again, predictably this time. "Then you'd best go do it. And I'm sure I can work him into my old quarters at the palace, so you don't need to worry about a hotel!" she berated, tone sounding irritable.

Rarity looked taken aback, but Applejack just chuckled. "No need ta get so defensive, Twi. She said it was just ah friendly thing. But we do have ah lot of work ta do, Rare," she excused politely, giving the white unicorn a gentle nod.

Rarity coughed lightly, but nodded. "Of course. Do come by in a couple days to get measurements, Mender," she requested, doing a polite bow and recovering her smile as she looked over at me instead.

The best I could come up with was returning an uncertain nod, trying my hardest to smile back. She departed slowly, with the elegant and drawn out gait of a true noble, of course. I exhaled weakly as she left, avoiding the burning sensation of Twilight's gaze on the back of my head. Applejack just gave another laugh and gestured towards the barn again, starting a pace towards it herself. Shaking my head, I sighed wearily. The day had already felt long enough, and I had a sneaking suspicion that it was far from over.

Author's Notes:

Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter:
http://youtu.be/DUBVQA2mr0Y

Chapter 09

Okay, so this was a mess. Carefully weaving between the piles, I moved another group of planks in with the rest. We were finally wrapping up the sorting of the parts into the various piles on the floor of the barn. Applejack had taken off already, leaving the finer points of the sorting to the ponies that could use magic, it would seem. Although she did have the harvest to take care of, so I didn't exactly blame her there.

Smiling down at the last of the planks, I glanced back up at Twilight. At this point, I was growing a little concerned for the unicorn in question. She only got half as much done as me, mostly because she insisted that all of the nails and screws be aligned in the same direction. She was now smiling proudly down at her very exact, orderly piles. It was oddly kind of endearing, and I caught myself smiling softly at her. It was strange. The more I sorted out the feelings, the weirder I felt over the whole situation. Fluttershy had obviously distanced herself, which might have led to some of it, but surely not all. Spending so much time with Twilight had given me greater appreciation for the mare. She seemed honest in her desire to not hurt me anymore.

Okay, that was a total lie. I blushed as I realized it. As much as I was trying to stay distant, I couldn't help but get giddy little butterflies in my stomach when I watched her. She was a scary individual when upset, sure, but that's just because I knew what she could do to me. When she was happy, such as now, staring at her gave an entirely different feeling. I wasn't naive. That warm feeling was new to me, but I realized what I wanted. It was maddening some days. How would males on my home dimension stand it?

My eyes started to roam a little. All right, so it was really maddening. Her coat was well maintained, looking so soft in the barn light. Her form was sleek and streamlined. She lacked the muscle tone of Applejack, and the corded muscles of Rainbow Dash, but she was far from unhealthy looking. I blushed lightly as I traced gentle curves with my eyes. Her hips were particularly pleasant to take note of, and I saw her tail was well maintained, similar to her mane. My eyes drifted back that way, tracing along her mane that almost seemed to glow in the warm light of the Sun seeping through the barn's front door. It complimented the gorgeous shade of her eyes as they almost sparkled with energy when she was excited. It always made her look so cute. The light flush of her cheeks didn't help either, of course. Wait a second...

Twilight was staring right at me at this point, blushing softly and fidgeting with her right front leg. My blush expanded significantly and I politely looked away, coughing. I hope she hadn't noticed too long ago and saw me ogling her flank. Again. Well in her mind, anyway. The first time had indeed been an accident.

A light giggle. Her voice always caused me to melt a little, but I kept my hormones under control. No sense in getting her mad at me again. "Um, you don't need to look away, Mender. I don't mind you looking at me. It's just surprising, is all. I'm rather plain looking, honestly," she excused, looking down towards the floor of the barn instead.

I blatantly recoiled, shocked. "Twilight! You're far from plain. You're... You're gorgeous. I mean, I do find a lot of mares cute or pretty, but you're by far the only one I'd say was truly beautiful," I corrected softly, frowning now.

Twilight's eyes hit saucer size almost instantly. She looked shocked for a moment before her eyes softened and the blush in her cheeks magnified sharply. "M-Mender! I, well, I thank you, but I just don't know. I've never had a stallion think I was pretty." While she had barely choked out the first part of her statement, she calmed down a little and now looked reserved. Or was that a shy expression as she nervously looked at me.

Smiling, I shook my head. "I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to, Twilight. It's not just because you'd rip me limb from limb either if I tried," I assured her, nodding.

Her ears visibly drooped and she shook her head. "I told you that I'm not going to hurt you, Mender. I don't want you scared of me, okay?" she asked softly, walking towards me again. I hesitated and took a half step back, unsure of her intent. Was she mad at me for staring and only acting this way to get me to lower my guard? Her eyes softened, but she didn't stop walking. "What can I do to show you that I won't hurt you?" she asked a moment later, stopping a half-meter in front of me.

I swallowed but stood my ground. She was serious. "I, uh, have no idea, Twilight," I answered, as truthfully as I could manage.

Her eyes searched mine for a few seconds before she nodded. To my surprise, she started smiling. "It's a well-documented issue. Your situation is unique, but I bet I could figure out a way to let you have more confidence in dealing with me. Wanna give it a shot later?" she asked warmly, looking oddly excited.

Oh well. I couldn't see any particular harm in it and agreed with, "Sure. I don't see why not."

The lavender pony grinned instantly, instilling a sudden paranoia in me. Had that been the wrong choice? "Excellent! I'll study up on some of the techniques. Research and experimentation have never failed me in the past, so it will undoubtedly work here too!" she exclaimed excitedly.

More experiments? Smiling, I agreed with, "Well, your last 'experimentation' was a lot of fun. I'm sure I'll like these too, right?" Her happy expression shifted to that of a shocked blush in a heartbeat, earning a grin from me.

"Cool your jets, Lover Boy. We need to talk to Fluttershy first, don't forget," she reminded, playfully sticking her tongue out at me. I laughed, but nodded gently. She had already been more than adamant on me talking to Fluttershy about things. She didn't need to remind me any further. She continued before I could say anything else, however. "But I am serious. I'm, well, even if you don't end up picking me, you need to move slowly in the relationship. I'm a little worried that maybe kissing like that was too fast. It would be way too fast for Fluttershy," she voiced, an odd mixture of nervous yet sad sounding. Wait, slow? I'd never heard of that adjective being applied to mates before.

Swallowing my pride, and possibly sense of self-preservation, I decided to throw caution to the wind and ask Twilight what she meant. "How does slow apply to a relationship?"

She had started to turn around, but froze when I asked. Her initial expression seemed to be of surprise and curiosity, but she nodded quietly. "Well, to take your time dating and getting to know a pony before moving on to the more, uh, physical aspects of a relationship," she explained, causing even more confusion. Dating? This was another word that I'd not encountered before. Well, not in this context. To be 'dated' was to be old or out of place in your time period, if I recall correctly.

"Uh, what's 'dating' mean in this context?" I inquired, deciding that if she answered the first without hesitation, she shouldn't have any problem with the second. I hoped.

A large blush exploded over her cheeks almost instantly. Oops. Guess I was wrong, there. "What, um, what do you mean, Mender? Surely you've heard of dating before. What did your society do to pair up males and females for mating?" she questioned, sounding gravely embarrassed.

Uh oh. It had something to do with mating rituals. Please don’t kill me, Twilight. Guessing that I had just made an idiot of myself again, I lowered my head and drooped my ears. "Sorry, Twilight. Honestly, I don't think I've heard that word in that context before. From what I've pieced together and remember, there were no direct mating rituals. Sure, sometimes females took in a male specifically for such in the higher circles, but most of our breeding was done through clinics," I explained quietly, formulating it at the same time. It wasn't as if I had anticipated having to explain this to anypony. Dreams and vague memories showed me the clinics and I knew the male concubine facts. Everything else was purely speculation on my part, of course.

The lavender mare didn't look all that surprised. She did lose her smile and look away, however. "I expected as much. Dating is when a couple goes out and has fun together, with the purpose of testing compatibility and feelings for each other before anything more, um, intimate. Well, that's usually the case, anyway. There are exceptions, of course," she expanded upon, shifting back into analytical mode. That probably meant she was uncomfortable talking about this topic.

"So that's what you wish to start with, right? Dating? It makes sense if you aren't sure of your feelings, although admittedly, I have no idea what's expected of me," I confessed, blushing again but managing a smile this time. For once, I wasn't irritated at making an idiot of myself, especially if it made her more comfortable.

Both of us were interrupted by a sudden light fluttering sound above us. I glanced up for a moment until an impact sounded, and a light ruffling. What was that?!

Twilight must have seen me glance up and giggled lightly. "Oh, don't worry about that. Uh, Applejack has a slight issue with, um, birds in the loft. I told her I'd look into it later after this," she explained, fidgeting a little. She seemed nervous for some reason. Uh oh.

It dawned on me. Traumatic experiences in an individual's past could lead to painful phobias. Twilight must have had something happen to her involving birds and was too embarrassed to say anything to anypony! Applejack probably asked her to take care of the issue without even considering her feelings. How rude. Hmm. Well birds didn't sound too dangerous, so maybe I could help her with them? I wasn't as likely to get in the way or make her use more healing magic on me again.

"Oh, I understand, Twilight! I'll help you take care of them after this, then," I assured, nodding and smiling warmly at her.

She paled considerably. "You, um, you do? You don't need to do that!" she assured rapidly, shaking a little. Whoa! It was a nastier case than I had thought. But she was being so brave and trying to hide it. I wondered how long she had kept this pain inside.

Blushing, I shook my head again and opened my mouth to insist that I could easily help her on the issue. She interrupted before I could, however. "What do you think of me, Mender?" she suddenly asked out of nowhere.

My brain did a flip inside of my skull and I totally forgot what I had been about to say. "Er, wait, what?" Complete sentences eluded me as my brain shifted from sixth to reverse.

"About me. I mean, I know you think I'm pretty. Somehow. And fun to be around despite our conflicts in the past. I wanted to know what you think we could be to each other, though," she elaborated carefully, intensely locking eyes with me.

Swallowing, I shifted nervously off my left side. This wasn't expected at all. How did the conversation shift from birds to our future?! Although if she was insecure about things concerning her phobias and personality, that might have prompted this. She might have suddenly worried that I looked down upon her for having a phobia. Still, fear of birds wasn't that out of the normal range of things. Heck, I once met an Artificial Intelligence who was afraid of them. Well, she had a lot of problems other than that, but it still fit!

"Well, I really do like you a lot. You feel very mature and stable to me, honestly. You're extremely intelligent and I look up to that. You're also scarily powerful, which admittedly terrifies me on occasion. I would like to..." I started before trailing off and frowning to myself. I'd gone over this a hundred times in my head, but always managed to hit a snag here. She felt almost untouchable. Like she existed in a reality apart from my own. Above me and impossibly real. It was hard for me to imagine myself 'with' her in any romantic regard. I didn't know why. Technically, her kissing me should have made it easier, but it didn't. Funny thing, that.

She made an impossibly quiet sound a moment later, and I closed my eyes. Surely, if I couldn't see her, she couldn't see me, right? That somehow made the confession easier, and I started with, "I would like to be important to you like that, and have you let me care for you. I just have my doubts that I'd be able to, well, reach you. You're one of a kind in this world, and it feels like I, as an intruder here, shouldn't be considered for such good fortune." Every word was extremely carefully chosen, of course. I decided to leave out the extreme paranoia about her relationship with Celestia.

Twilight predictably blushed. "Mender, I want to be important to you, too. Just trust that instead of worrying about if you're worthy or not," she returned, calling me out on my polite wording. I guess I did kind of consider myself unworthy of her, didn't I?

"But thank you. That helps me quite a bit. How do you feel about Fluttershy, then?' she asked less than a second later. This one I'd seen coming, however.

Sadly, that didn't make the answer any less complicated. "I'm not entirely sure. She makes me feel comfortable, which is amazing considering I'm an alien dumped into the middle of a new land with nothing to his name and who started off thinking that all of the natives wanted to kill and consume him," I groaned out, rubbing a hoof to my temple. At least I'd progressed a long way since then. Kind of. Oh fine; at least I knew they were vegetarians.

Twilight giggled pleasantly and shook her head. "Fluttershy is really good at making ponies feel comfortable when she doesn't feel threatened herself. Although from what I've read, you need more than comfort in order to love somepony," she pointed out, sitting down in front of me. I thought about it a little more. Technically she was right. Fluttershy was adorable, very cute, and made me feel safe. Was that enough to base a relationship off, though? Was it fair, to her, for me to try to base a relationship off that only? Everything was new to me, and it was frustrating having no idea what I was doing.

"I think you might be right. Now that I consider it, I'm not entirely sure my feelings for her were like that in the first place. I mean, she's cute and very, very kind, but I never intentionally looked at her in that way before." It was more pondering out loud than any direct statement. A light scraping came from above afterwards, along with more of the flapping noises, however. I raised an eyebrow and looked up again. Those sounded like destructive birds. Maybe we shouldn't be waiting to chase them away?

Twilight interrupted with, "You mean when you accidentally looked at her flank, right?" My gaze burned back down to her instantly, cheeks flaring up again. Of course she wore a smirk. For a moment, I thought I heard Fluttershy gasp. Then I realized it had just echoed through my head and chuckled mentally. True, that's exactly what she would do had she been here.

"Of course, given your wording, that would also indicate that you intentionally looked at mine," the mirthful lavender unicorn continued, giving a more playful smirk. Damn, she was a brat when she wanted to be! This was a whole new side of Twilight that I hadn't seen before, and I didn't particularly know how to deal with it. Well, what was that song? Fortune favors the bold.

I nodded in return, smirking. "Of course I did. You're definitely not hard on the eyes," I managed to get out, suppressing the urge to wince and hide behind the crate next to me.

Twilight's eyes widened drastically and her blush magnified tenfold. Her smile remained, however, and I eased up on my tense muscles. "You're a charmer when not cowering from me," she teased, slowly swaying closer to me. My pride made me hold my ground as she approached. If she was going to murder me, I could at least die with dignity. She leaned past me however, whispering into my ear, "I like it. Relax."

My turn to blush. Had it been that obvious that I was tense? I let out a little sigh and did just as she had suggested. She smiled gently at me from inches away. A sudden urge came over me, and I slowly leaned forwards.

Twilight turned away however at the last second and picked up a bunch of the wooden planks for the support structure. They drifted easily into the air around her so easily. I almost fell on my face, wobbling for a moment to recover my balance. "What about Applejack? She might be employing you," she asked instead, hauling the woodpile over to the corner of the barn.

My mind whirled with the sudden topic change and I had to do an about face to catch up. "Wait, what?" I asked a moment later. Okay, try to catch up, anyway.

She snickered, causing me to scowl but sigh. Was she intentionally throwing me off guard? "I've never really thought about it. Mostly I'm too preoccupied trying to make up for my terrible first impression. She's very kind though, and has been extremely hospitable since." I followed her over to where she was lining up the boards as I replied.

She smiled, agreeing with, "Applejack would like that description. You don't think she's pretty?"

I laughed, pointing a hoof over to the nails pile. "Nails. And don't get me wrong. Applejack is very pretty in her own unique way. She's not adorably cute like Fluttershy or subtly gorgeous like you; she holds a practical charm, in a down to earth kind of way," I tried to explain. Twilight didn't miss a beat and yanked a pile of nails over to where we were as I positioned two of the interlocking planks into a cross brace.

"You always seem to compliment me the most," she groaned as we instinctively swapped roles. She snagged both planks in her telekinesis and I magnetically picked up three of the sturdy nails with my left, glowing hoof.

"You're the one I like the most in that way, so isn't that normal?" I questioned, giving the nails a light kinetic burst of energy. They drove themselves into the board all at once an instant later.

Twilight smiled at me for a moment before starting at the sound of the nails. She looked momentarily amused when she glanced down at my work. "Well, admittedly, that makes me more than a little happy. Maybe I've been, I dunno, over-thinking things?" she muttered, turning back to the board pile and lighting her horn with magic.

Twilight, over-think things? I tried not to laugh as I realized I tended towards doing the same thing. I instinctively ducked as two more boards flew in over me and lined themselves up in a light magical aura. "I'm probably as nervous about things as you. Everything is going a little faster for me, and admittedly, it's a tad hard to keep up with mentally," I tried to assure.

She smiled pleasantly and nodded, expression relaxing a little. "Then I guess it will be new to both of us. Uh, well, if you pick me, of course," she backtracked, eyes widening at the last part.

This again? I sighed as I grabbed the next set of nails. "Twilight, we're pretty much assured that she's..." I stopped and frowned. Fluttershy didn't like me like that. I'd already figured that much out. Whether she did before she saw my memories, I'd probably never find out. For such a gentle soul, the prospect of war and death was probably grim indeed. I felt bad enough that she had to see what she did. "She just wants to be friends, Twilight. I don't blame her for that and frankly, I'm sad that she had to see what she did in the first place, regardless of it being the reason she changed her mind. I just want to be absolutely sure that's what she wants so I don't hurt her feelings, is all," I furthered after straightening out my mindset.

There was a light, contented sigh that echoed out of nowhere and everywhere at once. Frowning, I glanced around again. Okay, that time I swore I heard the timid yellow mare in question. Was it just my imagination? Twilight smiled and nodded at me as if she'd heard nothing, so I decided to keep it to myself lest I sound even less sane than she already thought I was.

"I understand. I'm sure she would as well if she heard that. Relax, Mender. I'm glad you like me like that. I think, um, I think I really do want to give it a try. Oh dear, I think I'll need to do some more reading on the topic," she groaned, shifting back and forth on her hooves. I lowered the hoof that had the nails and ducked again as her magic followed her swaying, whipping the boards back and forth in front of me, predictably.

I just shook my head and chuckled. At least I didn't try to figure out everything by reading about it. Well, not that it was a bad way to do things, but she might be content with just experimenting more, too. I grinned to myself as I remembered her last one. "Twilight, relax. You have all the time in the world," I assured regardless.

Well, it wasn't just assurance, I guess. Something still felt off about the whole situation. My instincts told me that she was more important than me, and I shouldn't be so lax and loose tongued around her, to be respectful and subservient instead. Not just because she was an Element of Harmony, one of the most important mares in Equestria, or could single-handedly tear the fabric of my being apart with her mind, but because she was female. The frustrating thing was not knowing where the instinct came from. What was my old culture like to instill such a nigh panic over the issue?

"...but I should be fine as long as I experiment slowly. Oh, and get lots of research and notes taken!" she continued from a statement I was apparently missing the first part of. Oops. It was easy enough to gather what she had been saying, however. Not that I knew how to respond anyway.

Further, not that it mattered, as she apparently wasn't looking for a response in the first place, and simply continued with, "Anyway, what about Rainbow Dash?"

After Applejack, I had been anticipating being grilled on Dash as well, so it wasn't as much of a surprise. Thankfully, the boards stopped flailing and I was able to sit up again, proceeding with driving the next set of nails into them. "I trust her with my life after what we went through. She really pulled her own back in my dimension, and showed me how truly loyal she can be. She's amazing." Twilight smirked at my explanation, and I saw it coming.

"Sounds like you like her too," she cooed a second later.

I rolled my eyes. "Twilight, I came from a world with no females in day to day activities. Every mare here is going to be at least a little cute to me. So yes, Rainbow is very cute. But you know her heart is also taken, and so is mine," I reminded, giving her a skeptical glance.

She nodded promptly, seemingly unfazed by my admission. "Rarity?" she asked without delay as we swapped plank sets again and moved further down the line.

"Very elegant and beautiful in her own way. She really maintains herself. Maybe a little too much. She's really nice, however, and her heart is in the right spot. I'm glad she's my friend," I returned, drawing forth more nails. This was going faster than I thought it would. Although I should have known better, as Twilight was an extremely intelligent mare and learned fast.

The mare in question snickered at the over-maintaining portion of my answer, but nodded. "Okay, a hard one. Pinkie Pie!" she launched, sounding a little amused.

Okay, that was a hard one. I drove the nails into the board before frowning and thinking about it a bit. I barely remembered to duck as more planks flew in via her magic. "She's a really nice mare and super friendly. Way too much energy for me, however. I get tired just watching her. Still, I've seen her when she's not wound up like a spastic ferret on sugar, and know she has other gears. I like her, overall," I reasoned simply.

Twilight started laughing by the time I was done. "Well, that's fairly accurate. Ha! Still, I think she'd be happy with that reply were she here," she agreed, nodding to me between snickers.

There was another light thump from above us, and more flapping sounds. For crying out loud, what were those birds doing up there? I saw the ropes for the lift shiver back and forth slightly and widened my eyes. Uh oh! We're they pecking at the lift ropes? That wouldn't do at all.

Twilight frowned as I stood up and trotted over to the lift. "I think those birds are on the lift ropes. I'm going to scare them off," I explained, smiling back at her.

Oddly, a look of shock and terror suddenly spread across her face. "No, Mender! It's okay, I'll get them after we're done!" she shouted.

I smiled further and shook my head. "It's okay, Twilight. You don't need to be brave. It's perfectly all right to be afraid of birds. I'll get rid of them," I assured.

"Wait, what?" she asked suddenly, getting an odd look on her face. Shaking my head at the stubborn mare, I reached over with my left hoof and touched the rope, swinging it into the edge of the loft above.

The shockwave shook the entire building, rippling and distorting across the loft floor. Nothing too strong, but that should be enough to scare the birds out of there. A trio of screams sounded through the air instantly, and my eyes widened a moment later. Applejack fell first, going sideways out of the lift hole. Rainbow Dash came next, looking more intentional as she dove after Applejack, her wings extended. What the hell?! A light squeak came from above a moment later, causing me to look up just in time to be greeted by a face full of yellow fur. Fluttershy landed on me with a force that was astounding for what I anticipated she weighed, and we became a pony pile on the floor in front of the lift. She gave another timid squeak upon landing on me, then rolled until she hit solid ground again.

Dash caught Applejack out of the air and spun, skipping and sliding along the ground on her back while cushioning the mare she held. Both of them slid to a stop right into one of the larger boxes still in the room. The side snapped on the box and the entire top collapsed in on them. My eyes widened and I slammed my left hoof into the ground as it fell. The energy shot along the ground and up the side of the box as it broke, killing the inertia and gravity and letting the broken top float free instead, drifting a ways off to the side of them before running out of energy and falling.

Everything slowly came to a stop. Fluttershy let out a pained "Ow" next to me, and Applejack slowly sat up on Rainbow. The cyan mare was blushing furiously as she looked up at the orange mare, who smirked down at her.

Rainbow scoffed a second later, looking away before asking, "Comfy there?"

The country mare let out a throaty clicking that sounded remarkably like laughter. "What if ah am?" she pointedly questioned, nudging a hoof into Dash's chest. Whoa! Well that sounded promising for her.

If she caught it, she was obvious. "Just... I don't care. We didn't crash and die so it's all good," she muttered, scarlet color in her cheeks standing out heavily against the blue of her fur. She was kind of cute when embarrassed.

Fluttershy sat up slowly next to me and looked around. Groaning, I decided she probably had the right idea, and sat up too. My neck hurt from being squashed into my shoulders when she landed on me, but at least it wasn't a direct blow to my head. I don't think I needed another concussion at this point to add to my collection. Then the situation dawned on me.

Slowly turning, I shot an extremely irked glare back at Twilight. She swallowed and edged away from me, shifting nervously on her front hooves. That's why she was asking me about all of them. She knew that the three of them were eavesdropping! That meant the entire conversation was a set up to get me to admit things not to her, but to the three of them listening above.

The unicorn shook her head rapidly, almost hearing my train of thought as I turned fully towards her. "Please let me explain, Mender. I can explain," she rapidly assured, shifting a little closer with her hoof reaching towards me.

Backing away slowly, I frowned further at her. "You let them listen intentionally. Why?" I asked carefully. I'd just started giving her the benefit of the doubt again, and now this. For not spying on me for her mentor, she used some awfully underhanded tricks. Underhanded? Underhoofed? It didn't matter!

"It was mah idea, actually. Ya don't be mad at her now," Applejack interrupted, turning around and climbing to her hooves again. Rainbow Dash looked momentarily stunned, but shook her head rapidly where the orange mare couldn't see.

My ears went back and I glared over at her instead. "Why? Why did you... Why didn't you just ask me?" I growled, stamping my hoof to the ground.

Applejack sighed wearily and nodded over towards the now shivering yellow ball of wings and fur on the floor. "Ah figured it would help Fluttershy ta hear yer thoughts indirectly first, ya know?" she explained slowly.

The murky heat I hadn't realized was there to begin with slowly withdrew back down my neck, and I could suddenly hear quiet whispers coming from the yellow mare.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," was being released from her shivering form, seemingly ad infinitum.

Sighing, I lowered my eyes. This wasn't a pleasant situation in the least. It made me feel unclean, I decided. But I couldn't stay angry at Fluttershy, anyway. She hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't her idea, nor had she tricked me and steered the conversation in ways to benefit herself. If anypony was innocent here, it would be her.

Leaning down, I spoke directly to her instead, assuring, "Fluttershy, it's not your fault so don't worry. You most certainly didn't do anything wrong." The 'you' came out with particular venom. I didn't recall ever being truly mad at anypony before. Irritated, sure. Like when I was forced to dig for twenty minutes longer than what was needed. Or when a bag of apples descended onto my skull at high velocity. This felt different. I was angry. I'd just started to let go of the incident with Celestia and trust Twilight again. Then she did this!

Fluttershy looked up at me, eyes softly wavering and mouth partially open.

"Mender, we're sorry. I was just trying to help Fluttershy. You can see that, right?" Twilight tried to assure, taking a few steps closer again.

My eyes narrowed and I backed up yet again, away from Fluttershy. "That's why you asked about everypony else too, right?"

The lavender mare's eyes drastically widened and she shrank a little. Applejack let out an annoyed sounding snort before stamping her right hoof down with a dull thud.

"Now wait just ah minute, you! Twilight 'ere wouldn't go an' lead ya on without good reason. Can't ya understand why we did it?!" she growled, eyes narrowing at me.

Twilight finally shook her head and spoke up with, "No, Applejack. It was a bad idea. We should have just asked him." the orange mare turned and glared at her as well for a moment before rapidly shaking her head.

My flank brushed past the forward ropes to the lift, and I frowned. I honestly just wanted to get away and clear my head for a while, but the door was past the two mares. I momentarily contemplated fleeing using the lift and my magic, then diving out one of the second story windows, but decided I'd probably just land on my head and wake up in the hospital. Besides, I was oddly getting a little tired of just running away.

"It was not ah bad idea! Fluttershy 'ere benefited greatly from it," Applejack defended stubbornly, directing her irritation towards Twilight now instead, who was strangely shifting more towards me. Rainbow finally managed to recover enough to stand up again behind the country mare. Her gaze shifted past her however and at me instead. Ignoring all of them, I just walked forwards directly in-between Twilight and Applejack. Potentially lethal if either of them attacked me as I was setting up my own flanking position, but I was screwed if they did so anyway. The barn fell oddly quiet as I walked past both, keeping my eyes locked firmly on the exit.

"Uh, where are you, um, going, Mender? Oh, if you don't mind me asking," Fluttershy requested politely, tilting her head at an angle that encouraged her mane to drift absently along her cheek.

I stopped for a moment. Where was I going? "I'm taking a walk. I need to clear my head," I returned quietly, without looking back towards her. Twilight's ears drooped in my peripheral vision to the left, while Applejack's expression hardened on my other side.

"What about mah barn?" she questioned, a bit of sharpness to her tone. Looking back over at her, I frowned. Why was she suddenly in such a bad mood? She was the one who'd decided to spy on me.

"Build it yourself, then. At least there will be no need for spying without me here," I pointed out, admittedly a little on the bitter side.

As expected, she looked significantly taken aback, eyes widening as she leaned her head away from me as if I burned her muzzle. Not waiting for a retort, I turned back and proceeded out of the barn, happy for the fresh air.

To their credit, they didn't give chase. Slowly, I trotted along at a moderate pace, much faster than my normal speeds but nowhere near hurrying. The sun was still high above, spreading its soft warmth over the fields of grass and apple trees. There was a certain amount of peace I felt as I watched the leaves sway to and fro around me. I could definitely appreciate the draw of a farmer's life. Compared to my old life, where it seemed like I only stopped moving after I was blown into three parts, this place was heaven.

Slowly, I shifted from the path and walked down to the base of a small creek. The water ran clear and was chilled to the touch as I lightly dipped a forehoof into it. Maybe this really was heaven? My thoughts strayed back to the book, causing a slow sigh. They were trying to find me. It couldn't be just my imagination. Asking 'her' about it seemed pointless, however. She'd probably just say that it was all in my head again. Heh. That would give 'Tia' a real reason to spy on me again. Hell, Twilight would no doubt jump at the chance! Her mindset was practically geared towards clandestine operations.

The bitterness flared up again as I splashed the water about in front of me with a hoof, realizing that I must have sat down at some point. This was kind of pathetic, really. Get upset at the cute ponies displaying interest in you, so you run away and sulk? Real mature, Mender. Angrily, I whipped my hoof out and hit the water, sending a somewhat satisfying spray away from me.

Why didn't I trust them? Why was I so upset? I've been here for barely three weeks and have caused considerable problems in that time, not limited to accidentally dragging one of them to what could be considered hell in comparison. Rainbow Dash almost died with me in that desolate place. Of course they're not going to hold me in high regard.

It snapped into place. Of course Fluttershy was going to lose interest after she saw the hell I came from. Such a view surely scarred a gentle and innocent soul such as hers. Of course Twilight would pick her teacher, mentor, longtime friend, and ruler of the entire country over me, the whelp that had barely even touched upon her life. It was logical.

I wasn't important considering who I was trying to impress. Flicking a tiny rock along the creek, I wiped weakly at my eyes with the other hoof. This was so stupid. I gave a light groan and leaned down instead, pushing my muzzle and forehead into the modest flow of water. The gentle coolness shifting pleasantly over my fur and skin underneath felt amazing, and I relaxed my shoulders, letting my neck gently support my body. This was the first time I'd been alone in a while, and it was kind of nice. I just let the cool water drift past my coat for a moment, feeling the tension exit my body slowly.

Sighing, I sat back up, eyes yet closed as the water dripped down off my face and forehead. Maybe I needed more time to myself like this? Shaking back and forth, I let the water spray off me before giving a faint smile and opening my eyes once more. I was greeted to the sight of a magenta pair of eyes staring back from all of a half meter away.

Giving a rather embarrassing yelp, I hopped backwards to make some distance from the two pools of amused looking color. Given my natural levels of grace and foresight, I promptly tripped while going backwards and rolled. With all the finesse of a beached whale, I crashed into the loose dirt and mud to my right and slid a few inches before coming to a stop, dignity a long lost cause. Rainbow burst into laughter almost instantly, of course.

"You're just too awesome, Mender! I've never seen anypony with such bad luck or total lack of dexterity. I don't even have to prank you to get a good laugh!" she praised, voice mirthful and energetic in between gasping for air from the hysterical laughter. Well, praised was probably the wrong word, even though she made it sound like they were stellar attributes of mine.

I sat up again, glare returning and being blatantly aimed at the spunky cyan mare. "You could have said something. What do you want, Dash?" I asked, normal politeness decaying a little in my foul mood. Not that she normally cared about etiquette, of course.

She returned without hesitation, "Relax. I'm here to make sure you're all right. Ya know, battle partners checking up on each other, right?" I couldn't help but blush a little. Looking away from her, I sighed wearily.

"You don't need to remind me of how I put you in danger, Dash. But thank you," I muttered. It was ironic how I had just been thinking about that.

Her expression shifted to a glare almost instantly, fast enough for me to do a double take. "I told you that I had wanted to stay even longer. Don't you get it? You're our friend, and constantly thinking otherwise is really hurting a few ponies. So knock it off already!" she requested. Well, more demanded.

I'm not sure how prevalent radio was here, or if it even existed, but the effect was reasonably similar. If one rotates the dial through dead air long enough, and then finds a station that's barely managing to transmit to the area where the radio is, there's a light fade in of the sound mixed with the dead static. If one wasn't anticipating such a find, it was quite possible to zip right past the faint channel without quick enough mental reflexes. It was exactly like that, except the sound mixed in with the dead air was a very familiar voice, rather than any music or such. "...such is the nature... ...link faint, yet decidedly real... ...book leads to..." echoed through my skull.

Oh hell. The mention of the book put my nerves on edge, and I glanced around while feeling the blood drain from my face. Sadly, as soon as it had appeared, it was gone again. I now found myself distinctly aware of the sense of static left behind by the 'station,' now nothing more than dead air. Damn it. They didn't even give me the courtesy of being asleep this time.

"Hello? You awake there? As I said, your fillyfriend is going crazy thinking she screwed up, and Fluttershy won't stop apologizing to the dirt floor. Suck it up and go back and at least let them know you don't hate them," Dash continued, apparently repeating a large section of a conversation I zoned out again.

Shaking off the panic, I glanced back at her and frowned. She wasn't going to leave me alone until I did, probably. Wait, fillyfriend?! My cheeks went scarlet this time, instead of settling for just a mediocre blush, and I voiced my surprise with, "Wait, fillyfriend?! We haven't really, uh, decided that we'd make it official or anything."

The rainbow-maned mare smirked, and I knew that she knew that she'd gotten to me. Ug. Today just wasn't my day. Except for that kissing part. That was nice. "Mender, she's totally all for it. Which means, given Twi, she's probably thought about it and researched it until almost going crazy, so I'd take it as a compliment. Although you really wouldn't want to see her when she 'actually' goes crazy, so we should probably get back there," she warned a moment later, glancing back towards the barn. Uh oh. That was the distinct phrasing involved with past experience, I noticed. Which probably meant that I should listen to her advice.

Then I considered it more. An impossibly strong magic user with an extremely orderly and focused personality totally going off the deep end and acting irrational or otherwise, as Rainbow indicated, crazy. It all suddenly clicked into place, violently disturbing my thought processes long enough to at least drive the annoying dead air sound out of my skull. Well then, prior worry about interstellar invaders coming to destroy all of Equestria and everypony I had come to know and love put behind me, I decided my colorful friend and battle partner was probably right. It was pointless to worry about future invasions if a certain, extremely powerful lavender unicorn made Equestria go away before they even got here.

"Right indeed. I don't think I really want to see Twilight when she's crazy, given how she's acted before. Shall we go?" I offered, gesturing back towards the barn with a hesitant hoof.

Rainbow snickered and nodded, taking to the air again and drifting over from the other side of the creek. "Exactly! And don't forget, she's totally your special somepony now," she reminded. Again.

A spike of annoyance struck me. But her smirk indicated that's what she wanted, which oddly made it hard to stay angry at the exact same time. Paradoxical thoughts aside, I glared anyway, putting on a good show before pushing my hoof into the ground on my left side. This time she saw it and laughed, dodging out of the way as little orbs of water started shooting out of the creek at her. She flipped and swirled through the air, laughing as she avoided most of my barrages while dancing towards the barn again. Finally laughing, I ran after at my typical clutzy pace, firing more every time my left hoof touched down while managing to squeeze the happiness out of the few I managed to clip her with. She took it in playful jest as we headed towards our destination. Decidedly, I distracted myself wondering why I could never manage to stay mad at her. It was funny now that I thought about it. If she had gone there wanting to cheer me up and calm me down instead of just check up on me, she was an extremely clever filly. Suddenly, I had a lot more respect for the rainbow-maned mare that was frolicking through the air in front of me.

'Battle Partner’, huh? Smiling gently up at her, I stopped firing and just ran after as we rounded the barn.

Author's Notes:

Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter:
TBA

Chapter 10

"Uh, Twi?" Applejack asked cautiously, giving the shivering lavender lump a nudge with her right forehoof.

It had been slightly awkward, but that was pretty much my modus operandi since coming here. Rainbow Dash and I had gotten back into the barn without issue or serious maiming, which is a positive mark on my part. Twilight was pacing around Fluttershy spouting worried statement after increasingly worried statement while practically wearing a groove in the dirt with her hooves. Her expression was a little scary, but snapped back to normal, if not slightly shocked, when I spoke her name. No, that wasn't the awkward part. The awkward part came as Twilight ceased to exist in her current location and then, for all intents and purposes, landed on me in a teleportation pounce technique. I would have been impressed had I not been rendered upside down and sideways. I never thought well when at other gravitational inclines.

Rainbow continued laughing while Fluttershy approached from Applejack's other side, smiling softly down at me. I swallowed nervously and did my best to gently squeeze the ball of lavender fur embedded onto my chest. "I'm sorry! I knew it was a bad idea and that I never should have gone along with it, especially after reading pointers indicating exactly the opposite in 'A Mare's Guide to the Modern Stallion' in chapter eleven! Sabotaging trust in a relationship is a fatal mistake!" she quoted, probably perfectly.

Averting my eyes, I tried really hard not to mention the whole spying on me for Celestia thing. Not that I had time to. "Wait now just ah sec. Relationship? Twi, are ya really datin' Mender?" Applejack asked suddenly, sounding surprised. Okay, I wasn't sure how to think about that reaction. Her surprise was probably justified, but her tone indicated it was because of me, not Twilight.

Rainbow let out a mirthful snort instantly, causing Twilight to lock up on top of me. Of course, anypony who knew Rainbow and had more than five brain cells to rub together at the moment probably could see what was coming. "Ha! Dating? More like making kissy faces with each other in Mender's bed!" she corrected, proceeding to laugh even harder afterwards.

To her credit, the orange farm mare didn't let her expression shift much past the surprise she held prior. Twilight was a different case, however. Her head whipped around and glared at Dash before I could even fully process the comment and formulate a blush in response. "Rainbow! You said you'd keep that a secret!" she reminded angrily, her left hoof jabbing painfully into my side. Suddenly I was a little bit concerned for my relative safety, being this close to a font of rage and magic.

"Twi! That's not tha point. Ya shouldn't have tried ta keep it ah secret in tha first place! Think of poor Fluttershy's feelin's," Applejack lectured instead, interrupting the bout of anger while gesturing towards the now surprised yellow pegasus.

"Oh! Oh, no, Applejack. I'm happy for them. I would, um, rather not be Mender's special somepony right now. I... Well..." Fluttershy started to deny rapidly, pink mane flailing as she rapidly shook her head back and forth. A light blush drifted into her cheeks, as timidly as she typically acted.

It hurt, but at this point, it was a dull pain. Falling asleep with the thoughts since waking up a few days ago had taken the edge off it. "The images in my memories hurt you, and I'm really sorry for that, Fluttershy. I know you only want to be friends, so don't worry about that. If I could at least take away the images, I would in a heartbeat," I interrupted after I saw her explanation start to dwindle.

Applejack closed her mouth slowly while watching me carefully, but the yellow mare just blushed even more before shaking her head. "No, it's not just that. Um, thank you though. I don't think I'm ready to be a special somepony yet as well," she whispered weakly, barely audible from my position, before adding, "Maybe, maybe one day I'll be ready. The images aren't you and won't bother me forever. Maybe then..."

I smiled and nodded, but Rainbow let out what could only be described as a gleeful and diabolical squeaking noise as she suddenly grinned out of the corner of my eye. "Oooh, are you gonna share him then, Twi?" she asked, fluttering a little closer.

The timid yellow pegasus let out a surprised squeaking sound, wings suddenly fluttering rapidly. Twilight groaned, right on time, but Applejack surprised me by giving a warm chuckle. "That sorta thing ain't done too often, RD. Let 'em git used to each other before Fluttershy joins in," she pointed out. Wait, polygamy actually happened here?! Well admittedly, I had a sneaking suspicion that it happened in the inverse in my past dimension too. Anywhere where there was a significant difference in gender ratios probably did similar. Still, something seemed different when it came in the context of myself.

"Uh, hold on a second! I want some time with him myself before I even consider that, okay?!" Twilight warned, pushing me back a little bit and giving Fluttershy a skeptical glance. Wait, what happened to not being sure of her feelings? I winced as I was further squished up against the barn's main doorframe. Further, didn't I get a say in any of this?

Fluttershy shook her head as fast as she could, eyes widening and assuring, "Oh my! No, it would be a very long time before, well, I was ready, I think." Her voice dwindled halfway through and I had to strain to hear the rest through the wheezing of my lungs struggling for air.

Twilight's skeptical expression shifted to that of a soft smile instead, and she nodded to the now red and yellow pegasus. I would have smiled had my neck not been squished at an odd angle. Gasping in again, I tried to shift out from under the lavender mare on top of me. "Hoo boy! Well 'ere RD an' Ah were jus' teasin' ya'all, but it looks like ya had somethin' else in mind," Applejack suddenly spoke up, trailing it with a whistle and smirk.

Twilight went from smiling to glaring in record time, tensing on top of me again. "Applejack! It's just, but..." she fussed, words suddenly failing her. They failed me as well, as she shifted to look fully at the country mare and squashed me further against the wall.

Rainbow managed to keep it to a controlled snicker this time before pointing out, "I think AJ is supporting ya. Although neither of you are going to get him if Twi kills him." She accompanied it with a hoof gesture in my direction.

The lavender mare in question gave a sharp start and whirled around to look at me again. I did my best assuring smile as my eyes watered and I tried to look relaxed rather than attempting to remain conscious. She let out a stifled squeaking noise regardless. The flash was rather on the blinding side, and I was left seeing a rather accurate after image of where she had been before. Twilight materialized back into existence several feet away in the same instant, right next to Applejack. She then proceeded to give me an exceedingly mortified stare.

"Oh no! I'm sorry, Mender! I was just so excited to see you come back. Admittedly, I didn't expect that Rainbow would actually succeed in convincing you," she spewed out at an accelerated rate. Nowhere near the speeds that Pinkie Pie could achieve, but at this point, I couldn't expect the unicorn to keep up with a hole in physics. That was a bit unreasonable, even for one so powerful.

"Hey!" Rainbow squawked, glaring at Twilight's new position as I flopped over on my side, both gasping for air and rubbing my eyes now. Dash reacted so easily to the teleportation. Would I ever get used to Twilight doing that? I doubted it; although it also made me significantly curious. There were so many properties that were interesting in it. How did it compare to 'blinking' from my dimension?

Twilight flinched, catching my attention again as my breathing slowly returned to normal. Damn, I was out of shape. "Sorry, Dash. It was Mender being offended that I was worried about, not the fact that you were going to get him," she quickly amended, giving her cyan friend a sheepish grin.

Rainbow straightened a little and almost visibly puffed up before bumping her right hoof into her chest. "Relax. I had it covered. Besides, Mender and I are Battle Partners, so we understand each other," she assured cockily.

Twilight gave her an annoyed look while Applejack chuckled and Fluttershy gave her a soft smile and nod. I decided to finally speak up with, "If it makes you feel better, Dash, I really do trust you. With my life, actually. You really pulled your own when it mattered the most, and I'm never going to forget that."

A warm blush drifted into Rainbow's cheeks and she smiled at me in an instant, posture relaxing a little. "Careful. Yer gonna swell her head even bigger with that kinda talk," Applejack warned a moment later with a smirk, tilting her surprisingly clean Stetson down a little. Hadn't she just finished falling off a loft and crashing into a large crate?

"Well I think it's nice. That you, uh, trust her. I mean, we do kind of deserve..." Fluttershy timidly whispered, barely audible as usual and getting worse as the sentence neared its conclusion.

Twilight interrupted, shaking her head rapidly to the yellow mare and correcting, "No, Fluttershy. You didn't do anything wrong. It was Applejack and I, well, mostly just me, who are in the wrong. I really screwed up, so if there's anything I can do." The second half of the sentence shifted not so subtly over to me, along with the unicorn's nervous gaze.

I really didn't like situations like this. A faint blush shifted into my cheeks. Shaking my head again, I looked away from her. "I'll be fine. I just would rather you ask me up front next time."

Applejack stomping her hoof down further scared me and I jumped, looking back up at her instead. “Now hold on just ah minute! Twi is right. Ah apologize too, fer bein’ downright stubborn on tha issue. Ah don’t think it was that great of ah’n idea after all,” she cut in, eyes softening. Wait, huh? Oh. That’s why she’d been defending it before.

Fluttershy joined the team against me and nodded, adding a soft smile before amending, “Yes, we shouldn’t have, well, tricked you like that. I promise that I’ll be braver, um, if this happens again in the future. Really! So, I’m sorry.” She acquired a faint blush halfway through, and bowed her head towards the end, wings fluttering ever so slightly on her back. Admittedly, she was adorable. But what did I really feel towards her? It didn’t feel the same as Twilight, whom I just enjoyed being with. I wanted to protect Fluttershy, helping her when she needed it. She obviously didn’t really need my help, but it was a secret little selfish wish inside of me.

I’d learned a lot more about myself today, in all honesty. I disliked dishonesty and tricking individuals when there was no obvious point besides greed. Forgiving the girls was reasonably easy to do, because there was a reason they did it that wasn’t for their own gain. They were trying to help Fluttershy, after all. It irritated me, but I realized that I could forgive it well enough. But it did get me thinking. It had been happening without me noticing it in the first place. Over the course of my stay here, I’d been reacting to external stimuli in ways that felt natural to me. Of course, I had started with nothing except for a large amount of technical knowledge and an indescribable panic at being lost in a new, unknown place. But now that I had been more accepted into their culture and adapted, I found myself seeing facets of myself that I wasn’t quite consciously aware of.

What did I know about myself so far? I disliked dishonesty, but didn’t shy away from it when it would benefit someone’s feelings. Rainbow Dash, I noticed, was a good example. Further, I wasn’t very confident in my own capabilities. Possibly because of this, I tended to try to figure things out as fast as possible and might have a small tendency to jump to the incorrect conclusion a couple of times. Or a lot. I was further loathed to mentally admit that I might have a little bit of trust issues. Although that was at least partially justified on my part, as I had been spied on for the first week of my stay. Still, I couldn’t fault Celestia for wanting to keep her kingdom safe. If it was so easy for me to accept that, though, why the hell did it make me so irritated?!

Then I realized I had been zoning out again. Snapping back to attention, fully expecting everyone’s attention to be directed angrily at me, I was pleasantly surprised to find them all staring at Rainbow Dash instead. She shifted back and forth between the stares, expression getting more and more negative with each switch. “What?! Hey, I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m so not apologizing!” she defended, crossing her forelegs and looking away from them with closed eyes.

"None of you had to in the first place," I muttered, ears drooping and trying my hardest to diminish the light blush I felt in my cheeks. If anything about my ideals and personality was certain, I wasn't cut out for this kind of attention.

Twilight smacked her hoof lightly into her forehead before glaring over at me again, returning, "Mender! You need to stand up for yourself a little more. Right now. Tell all four of us what you want to make up for this."

I blanched and backed up a little as all four mares shifted their attention to me instead. "Are ya sure this is ah good idea, Twi?" Applejack asked, sounding uncertain suddenly. Didn't I get a say in any of this?! Oh wait, technically that was the point of the 'exercise', I suddenly realized.

"Scared he'll ask for a bit of loving, AJ?" Rainbow teased, bumping her flank up against her orange friend, jarring her a little.

Fluttershy visibly wilted, cheeks going pink immediately. Oddly, I was close to mirroring her in posture, dropping to my haunches and staring in shock at Dash, a familiar heat sinking into my cheeks. Applejack smiled gently at my display and shook her head in reply.

"Of course not. Ah should'a known better in regards ta Mender. In this case, Ah think Twi's idea was ah good one, then. Give us somethin' ta do fer ya. All four of us," Applejack requested politely, recovering her warm smile.

Being around her was like walking on eggshells. She didn't fully trust me still, which admittedly was my own fault for making such a bad first impression. The 'almost eating her with extra-dimensional tentacles' thing probably didn't improve her opinion of me either. Oh, or almost getting her best friend killed in a space battle in an impossibly far away place. Honestly, I should be thankful she hasn't skinned and garroted me yet.

Although this was also getting a bit frustrating. They probably expected me to make some deeply personal and selfish request for them all to fulfill, which I obviously wasn't at all comfortable with doing. I had already forgiven them and definitely didn't want any pity, so it was a little confusing as to why they sought punishment in the first place.

My right hoof nervously scraped along the dirt floor as I rapidly tried to think of a way out of the situation, avoiding the gaze of all four intently watching mares. I was about to vote for panicking and fleeing into the forest when my hoof bumped into one of the screws on the floor. I stared at it for a second before a potential escape occurred to me. Smiling, I raised my head back up to them, earning a mixed response. I saw Applejack fidget minutely, but maintain her smile. Rainbow's smirk widened as she puffed up, awaiting my request. Fluttershy shrank down a little more, but maintained a standing position, barely. Twilight had the most amusing reaction of all, being no reaction whatsoever. A light blush adorned her cheeks and she almost looked as if she was staring past me, not really listening in the first place.

Finally, I announced, "I got it! All four of you," I started, pausing momentarily for dramatic effect. Three of the four leaned closer, with the lavender mare still staring blankly at the floor to my right. "Help Twilight and I finish upgrading the barn!" I finished rapidly, nodding twice in confirmation.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash shifted from anticipation and excitement to confusion a beat later. Fluttershy actually perked up a bit and recovered her smile, nodding to me. Twilight, hearing her name, snapped out of it and looked around rapidly, looking even more confused than her orange and cyan friends.

"Uh, Mender... Isn't that more helping AJ than you?" Dash reasoned, perfectly logically, of course.

Chuckling, I shook my head and walked past the four, the lavender unicorn now looking exceedingly flustered. "It might, but I just asked if of you four, so if you truly want to repay me, you'd better get to it," I reminded, not turning back as I headed gleefully towards the beginnings of the quality control platform.

"What are we supposed to do again?" I heard Twilight ask in a whisper behind me.

The sun slowly drifted below the window of the barn, casting an orange tint along the dirt and wood. It was pleasantly warm today, and the soft glow simply added to the ambiance. It was getting late at this point, causing a soft tiredness to drift through my muscles. It felt so different from the overworked sensation in my memories. I guess fighting for your life in a hopeless war and upgrading a friend's barn weren't really all that comparable.

Regardless of ducking another set of boards as they zipped in via telekinesis, I felt reasonably relaxed. Twilight's magic fit the wood softly along the frame we'd already made, setting up the outside of the conveyor belt. After she lined it up oh so expertly, I placed more nails against the pieces and sealed them together an instant later. I shook the wood once and smiled in satisfaction when it didn't budge. The lavender unicorn lagged in her next set of beams, however, and I glanced up and to the left automatically. Sure enough, Fluttershy drifted in with her apron held lightly, carrying a new supply of screws and nails in the cupped fabric. She gave me a warm smile as she lit softly upon the frame we'd just put together, and started pouring the tiny objects into Twilight's newly formed telekinetic tunnel. Working together, the girls made a neat pile of nails and screws directly to my left, earning a nod of approval from me. They were so adorable when they worked together like that. I felt myself blushing as I watched them nod to each other happily.

Unsurprisingly, Dash zipped in a moment later from behind the two, nodding to me and throwing an over the top salute. "Rainbow Dash reporting, Boss! The hole is cut in the loft floor perfectly, and lines up with the conveyor frame underneath for the lid lowering!" she reported, hamming her voice up as much as possible.

Predictably, I blushed at the performance, causing all three mares near me to grin. "Dash, you know you don't need to call me that. I'm just the engineer," I reminded, doubtlessly as futile as it was last time.

Further predictably, her grin widened and she shook her head, returning instantly, "The only engineer here. We don't have any instructions, so we need ya to work your magic." Well, that was true, I suppose. I'd forgotten that they didn't technically have any instructions. Although something seriously struck a bad chord in me when I considered someone asking for more bits for the instructions, too. That didn't seem very fair to me.

Of course, my gap in retort gave way to a stronger defense on their part. "Ah think it's an excellent idea. Yer savin' me a hefty 'mount o' bits already, Mender. Ah might be payin' ya fer the work, but in tha long run, it's ah lot cheaper than ah professional," Applejack chimed in as she dragged another pile of wooden beams into the barn, tied to her with a thick rope harness.

Fluttershy and Rainbow nodded along in agreement, but Twilight flattened her ears back and glared at her orange friend. I tilted my head to her, confused. I didn't even know where to start guessing as to what was wrong.

"Isn't he a professional anyway, Applejack? I didn't think about that before, but what is the going rate for a full-blown engineer?" she suddenly questioned, with a certain level of accusation to her voice. Oh crap. No longer needing to guess as to what was wrong, I started debating how to head off the argument.

Much to my extreme surprise, however, there was no argument in the first place. Applejack stopped pulling the boards, her muscles gently going slack as she sat back on her haunches, ears lowering a little. "Ah know, Twi. Trust me, Ah know. Ah could barely afford ta hire a construction team fer the job. An engineer, which is what's needed fer this, is totally out ah the budget. Ah wish I could pay ya the full price fer the work but..." she started to slowly admit, turning and looking at me instead of Twilight.

The unicorn's features softened as she absorbed what Applejack said. I looked away from her and over to the orange mare as well, smiling and shaking my head. "I already told you, I'm not accepting any bits for this. You're my friend, plus you've done a ton for me. Save the bits," I requested. I knew she was tight on funding before, so taking her bits had never sat well since she mentioned it. After this admission, I really couldn't accept anything from her, however. She had legitimate need for my skills, and I wasn't about to disappoint.

"Mender," she groaned, her right hoof digging into the dirt in front of her as her eyes closed. I tensed, remembering what it felt like for those powerhouses to collide with my skull. She continued before I could react, though, eyes opening softly with a warmer smile on her face. "Yer ah mighty good stallion, ya know that? Why, ifin' Twi hadn't caught hold o' ya first, Ah might have tried my luck ta swoon ya."

My expression froze in that of shock. In my peripheral vision, Rainbow locked up in midair and crashed into Fluttershy behind me, causing a loud thud and a squeak from the surprised yellow pegasus. Twilight also went rigid against my side, whipping her head up to look at her now grinning friend. Grinning?

Applejack burst into a hearty laughter, stomping the dirt floor with her hoofs alternately. "Ha! Ya should see yer faces!" she squealed in-between gasps of air and laughing.

"Oh thank Celestia, it was a joke," Twilight groaned out next to me, slumping visibly forwards as she exhaled.

The mass of pegasi slowly untangled themselves and stood again, Fluttershy blushing but Rainbow looking significantly bewildered. "Haha. Good one, AJ," the cyan pegasus muttered, shaking her head back and forth with her eyes unfocused. Either the fall knocked her for a loop, or the joke did. She had probably geared up mentally to murder me the second the others weren't looking, I predicted.

"Ya need ta be more careful there, RD. Yer gonna hurt somethin' if ya keep crashin' like that," Applejack lectured suddenly, eyes locked on Dash instead of me suddenly.

"Yeah, Fluttershy," Twilight quipped instantly, rolling her eyes as she rotated to look at the two. Seeing as the crisis was averted and I wasn't going to imminently die or be hospitalized, I decided to get back to the task at hand while they were distracted. Carefully, I started counting out the wooden plates that would comprise of the conveyor belt surface as they lay there in stacks. Something seemed off.

Rainbow huffed, shaking her head repeatedly. "I'd never hurt Fluttershy. We've been best buds for, like, forever," she assured, giving the yellow mare a light shake back and forth with her foreleg. Fluttershy smiled softly back at Rainbow, looking oddly appreciative for having just been flattened by her. I wasn't so distracted by the counting that I missed the odd look Applejack was giving them, either. I didn't know much about pony body language, however, and didn't have a clue as to what it indicated.

Not that it immediately mattered, of course. There were larger issues at the moment, I decided. "I don't mean to interrupt and I apologize, but I just noticed your stacks of wooden planks to be used for the conveyor," I spoke up, causing all four of them to glance back at me instead.

"Ah, yeah? It's no problem, Mender. Somethin' wrong with 'em?" Applejack inquired cautiously, looking a bit apprehensive instead.

Although that was the right way to react, in this case. "Well, I did a rough estimate of the surface area of both the treadmill surface and that of the conveyor. By my calculations, you have just under half of the required wooden plates to put this together. Are there others you haven't unpacked yet?" I asked, fidgeting with my hooves a little. If she didn't have any more of them, this was very bad.

Her expression deflated immediately. Damn it. She didn't have any more. I started trying to consider alternatives before she even replied with, "Dang it. That scoundrel said these would be plenty enough ta span tha distance ah needed!"

Twilight looked back at the conveyor and frowned. "A little under half what's needed? Oh, it was wordplay. You do have enough to span the distance you wanted, but a conveyor belt requires extra for the sides and underneath to function," she deduced, shaking her head in what looked like annoyance.

"That sneaky little jerk! I outta pound him into the ground!" Rainbow growled almost instantly, wings flaring up as she fluttered lightly off the ground, looking just about as pissed as I had ever seen her. Maybe more so.

Applejack motioned her back, however, smiling softly. "Ah was dun tricked completely fer this whole project, Rainbow. Still, ya don't need ta hurt anypony fer it. But thank ya. Fer everythin'. Yer ah good mare," she thanked. Rainbow plopped back down on the floor, now blushing profusely and looking awkward. I tried really hard not to laugh. She was just so adorable when embarrassed!

My mind snap-kicked me in the head, though, and I looked back at the wooden planks. Wood! "Applejack, do you happen to have any large logs of wood on hand? Or know where you can pick some up for cheap?" I asked quietly, trying not to interrupt abruptly. If I could still pull off that technique, I might be able to work with this still.

"Mender, the planks need to be exact. Sure it would be way cheaper to make our own, but it would take forever to carve them out, and if they were off in measurements by even half an inch," Twilight warned, looking back up at me, eyes softening as her brow furrowed.

Applejack looked intrigued, however, and smiled. "Ya think it's possible ta make more of 'em, Mender?"

Returning her smile, I nodded quietly. That's all that was needed, though. "Well ah think it's about time ah gave ya ah lil' trust too. Rainbow, can ya zip up ta tha loft an' drag one o' those big logs off that side?" she requested, shifting her gaze to Dash.

The pegasus perked up instantly and threw a sharp salute before zipping up and over the side of the loft in the space of a blink. I took a moment to admire her absurd speed before slipping over to the nearest pile of planks, taking one off the top with a slide of my hoof.

It was an old technique, having been in use since my race had learned basic abjuration and compression magic. Still, for what I remember of our largely scavenger engineering style towards the end, it was invaluable still. My engraved hoof brushed against the surface of the plank. The energy spread, forming an impossibly thin layer over the entire surface of the piece of wood. It was a skilled work of craftsmanship. The way it was cut indicated that it was created using some sort of form press, which made sense. Replaceable parts were fundamental for widespread use of key technologies. My magic traced each curve: the subtle tension lines cut into the surface to allow flexibility, the holes along the ends to anchor it, and even the roughness of each edge. It was easy to feel the exact dimensions and shape using the magic, and I embedded the template in my mind.

The room was dead silent as I focused, breaking the unspoken vigil only as the large log hit the dirt some four meters from me. Dash zipped down after it as I looked up again, propelling it slowly my direction by shoving it from one end. I laughed gently as she approached, holding my left hoof out and stopping the log as she came in. A wide smile adorned her face and she flopped over next to Applejack, both watching me carefully. Of course, I could almost feel Fluttershy and Twilight also staring. It was a little bit intimidating, but I pushed it out of my head and just focused on the technique.

I'd done it a thousand times before. The magic seeped into the wood, taking the precise shape of the template in my mind from the tip of the log. Each edge took focus and an exercise of will, but the results were amazing. With one plank of wood lined up with faint magic in the log, I started to duplicate it right next to the other one, the top surface of the first forming the bottom of the next. It had gone unsaid that I wasn't to waste any space inside of the log. That just wouldn't do. After the second duplicate was completed, the third was started. Then the fourth. Finally, I managed to get six copies of the plank to line up back to back inside of the log, and smiled.

Applejack and Rainbow wore an unsure look by then. Nothing was visually happening, so they were probably wondering what was going on. Twilight's eyes were glued to the log, however, her horn glowing softly as she no doubt watched the magic curiously. Fluttershy instead stared at me, which I found to be more than a little unnerving. I pushed down the blush and shifted all of the lines inside of the log into a barrier, not unlike the type I used to make my blade. This was my specialization, after all. Sure, I might be skilled at spatial manipulation and abjuration, but barriers were my true talent.

The top of the board that I was in contact with made a sharp hissing noise, no doubt the result of the sudden burst of friction caused by the shield slicing through it effortlessly. A burst of smoke raised up as the log jerked lightly, causing all four mares to jump back. I smiled, however, watching bits of wood fall away from the end I was holding. Shifting the shields, I slid out six pristinely carved wooden plates, exactly like the one I had scanned. I doubted I could make any more of them out of what was left of the log; at least not without some serious structural integrity loss.

Twilight made a squeaking noise, eyes widening as she watched me pull the plates out. Applejack seemed less surprised and just smiled warmly, nodding to me. The backlash hit a moment later, causing me to exhale quietly. That wasn’t too big of a job, but I was well out of shape, magic-wise. It reminded me that I had a long way to go before I was back to my old self, which was more than a little annoying. The wave of fatigue draped over me like a shawl.

“Well, ah’ll be! That’s mighty useful there, Mender. If ah can get ya more pieces o’ tree like that, ya can make me tha rest o’ tha parts?” she questioned, visibly relaxing and looking like a sudden great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Smiling contently, I nodded to her, trying my best to ignore the light headache forming at the thought of more of the same. This was going to be a long day, I had a sneaking suspicion.

“That’s amazing, Mender. Doesn’t it take a tremendous amount of focus to do that, though? Aren’t you tired?” Twilight asked, sounding a little shocked still.

I swallowed weakly and purposefully avoided the lavender unicorn’s gaze. “Ah, well it does require quite a bit of focus, but I should be fine. Barrier magic is my specialty,” I tried to assure, hoping to not let show my own apprehension of the task. Applejack stared hard at me for several seconds, emerald eyes dragging over my features and seemingly staring into my very soul. I resisted shuddering. "Ah have ah sneakin' suspicion that yer lyin' ta us. But ah need them parts fer the machinery. Yer not gonna be able ta get away with not gettin' paid fer this anymore if'in it's that much work," she warned, eyes narrowing towards me.

"Just don't push yourself, Mender. I'll keep following the directions you gave us while you work on making the parts," Twilight assured, nodding to me before turning to the elevated platform we had finished.

"Why don't you do it, Twi? You're, like, crazy powerful with your magic, aren't you?" Rainbow asked curiously, bobbing through the air after the lavender unicorn as she walked.

I bit my tongue, trying not to let the frustration that question caused get to me. I wanted to be able to help them somehow! "I can't make precise copies like he can. Honestly, I didn't think it was possible until he actually did it. I could cut out the pieces a lot faster and not get tired, but they wouldn't be all that detailed and we probably couldn't use most of them," she explained in a rather neutral manner. It bugged me when I couldn't even guess what she was thinking. Was she upset about it?

Deciding not to take any risks, I offered, "I could probably show you the techniques needed. You could do it a lot better than me, and Applejack needs these parts."

"Mender, yer goin' awfully far fer mah sake," Applejack muttered softly behind me. I swallowed quietly, but didn't turn around. Twilight didn't either and I watched her head slowly lower, her gaze shifting to the floor instead. I still couldn't see her face, and had no idea what she was feeling.

Fluttershy walked past me slowly and placed a hoof gently on Twilight's shoulder upon coming up beside her. "You don't have to tell us, but, um, are you okay?" she asked quietly.

"It's nothing, Fluttershy. Let's just focus on getting as much of this project done as possible before tonight," she spoke gently, finally looking over at her yellow and pink friend. Her eyes looked dull, giving a distinct sense of being sad. Frowning, I watched her turn back around and walk the rest of the way to the platform.

A glance back at Applejack and Rainbow showed that they looked as confused as I felt. Dash gave me a weak shrug a moment later, and I sighed. I guess I'll just have to talk to her about it later. In no small amount of frustration, I swatted the pile of planks I had just made. The top one whipped up from the force of the blow, lightly skipping off the side of my head...

Chapter 11

My focus waned as I pulled yet another set of six planks out of a log. I'd long since lost count, but estimated that this was probably my fifteenth or sixteenth piece. It was getting harder and harder to maintain my concentration with my head feeling like someone had taken a splitting axe to it, however. Suddenly, that light tingling sensation danced along the edge of my nostrils, heading towards the bridge of my nose. Not again!

Regardless of my desires, the sneeze exploded out of my nose: releasing a wet, gooey sensation across my mouth and extended left foreleg, and sprinkling the log with little dots of red. Damn it. The timid yellow pegasus sitting next to me jumped a little in surprise at my sudden outburst, but promptly extended the third towel up again to wipe at my muzzle. It was tinted red as she withdrew it, looking like it was dipped in paint. Obviously it was blood, but it was still nice to pretend. It made me at least able to blissfully remain inattentive to the large amounts of the red liquid I'd been losing out my nose and tear ducts in the last hour. It was such a pleasant sensation, honestly, to have that delightful metallic taste in your mouth as it crusted over on your cheeks and muzzle.

There was a light twitch in my peripheral vision, but not from the source I was expecting. I looked up in time to see Applejack turn sharply from her position near the lift and glared at me.

"Oh, that is so it! Yer done workin' fer tha day, Mister! Ah don't need this thingy done tonight, so we're callin' it quits right now," she announced abruptly.

I frowned, wanting to just be done with it, but Fluttershy exhaled quietly to my right, adding, "Oh good. You need to rest after losing all this blood, Mender. At least take tomorrow off, if that's not too much trouble, of course." She looked at me with those brutal, pleading eyes that could melt a Grosh's heart, and I was forced to look away, blushing.

Twilight stood up from her position of putting the actual belt together and walked back over to me, still looking dejected. Swallowing, I watched her carefully, trying my hardest to look past Fluttershy without catching her devastating gaze. The lavender mare looked extremely tired and a little on the sad side. It still bugged me that I couldn't figure out why she was sad, so a part of me was glad for the break. It meant that I could get her alone soon for questioning.

Applejack walked up, looking a little surprised at my lack of protest at her decision, but traced my worried glance to Twilight and smiled, nodding to me. "Ya get ah good night's rest tonight, Mender. More mental exercisin' tomorrow would probably be healthy fer ya too, but don't push yerself. Ah'll get tha extra metal parts ordered fer delivery as well, don't worry," she spoke up, thankfully not saying anything about the focus of my attention she had caught me with.

I nodded, of course, returning her warm smile. Actually, it probably just looked creepy with the stained orange tear streaks and muzzle. "I'm all right. I'll finish the rest of the planks tomorrow for sure, then we can finish the project as soon as possible. We'll get it done in time no problem, this way," I assured softly, feeling more than a little tired.

"Thank ya kindly, Mender. Tha rest o' ya come back after yer daily routines are done ta give us ah hoof in finishin', okay?" she requested further, looking at Fluttershy beside me and the now landing cyan mare on my other side.

"I'll be over after I finish my weather duties, no problem!" Dash assured, giving an abrupt and absolute nod. It felt like that might as well have been a blood oath of some sort.

"I can come over after I feed all of the animals their breakfasts, well, if I'm really that much help, of course," Fluttershy added as well, bowing politely towards the orange country mare.

Twilight brushed her left forehoof into Fluttershy's shoulder and rubbed softly, shaking her head before refuting, "Of course you're helpful, Fluttershy. Having another pony with wings is a huge help, plus you lined up a lot of the boards so perfectly. It really helps to have a gentle touch sometimes, Fluttershy." The shy yellow mare blushed but smiled at Twilight's kind words. The bookish unicorn continued before anypony could comment, however, with, "Even then, as an added bonus, you can help me put Mender back together again after he inevitably injures himself three or four times a day."

My glare was matched only by Rainbow's laughter. Fluttershy seemed flustered, glancing between myself and the now smirking Twilight, while Applejack just chuckled and shook her head, wearing a smile. After a few moments' denial, I decided that technically she had a point. Plus it was nice to hear her joking again, even if it was at my expense.

"True enough, I suppose. It really is a big help to have somepony who’s capable of lining," I started to agree with, before trailing off abruptly. The static came back, quietly and almost imperceptibly in the background. I glanced around again, just to make sure that I hadn't missed any speaker systems or something.

"...ook testing number twenty-nine; commence," was suddenly spoken, much clearer than last time and in an oddly familiar voice. Uh oh.

The girls were giving me odd looks by then. "Uh, are you okay, Mender?" Twilight asked curiously, angling her head while looking at me. I was about to answer when a tiny orb of light drifted out of my left shoulder, causing me to jump and stare at it. What the hell was that thing?!

"Probe activated. Getting vague yet conscious energy readings," the voice noted, sounding very interested. It was that girl from my dream! Okay then; there were three possible reasons for this. One, I was high on truth serum again and having a seriously messed up dream. Two, I had used up too much magical energy and was having some vivid yet creative flashbacks from aforementioned dream. Three, it was real and we had some serious problems! Given priorities and threat levels, I was more inclined to believe the third option purely as a precaution. Given that decision, I reacted in the best way possible that I could think of.

Giving out a yelp, I hopped backwards while lashing out with my left forehoof, smashing into the orb with my fully shielded magical limb. It shattered like my frail skull would have against Applejack's hoof, and a piercing yelp echoed through my skull. Ha! Eat that, girl whose name I couldn't remember!

Rainbow hopped backwards as well to clear the sudden blow. Twilight looked momentarily surprised, as did Applejack who yelled, "Whoa nelly! What's goin' on, Mender?"

"A ball of light! I think it might be some sort of probe from the other dimension. I... think it’s dead,” I declared, gleefully watching the shards drift down through the air. It was worth it to know I disrupted whatever she was doing.

Twilight smacked her forehead with a hoof, sighing. "Mender, there was no source of magic or energy there. Plus, for the last time, Princess Celestia Herself said that the link was gone. You just used up too much energy and need to lie down, okay?" she offered, sounding a little exasperated.

Shaking my head rapidly, I pointed down to the shards of the probe lying on the ground. "The pieces are right there! There has to be something you can pick up," I defended, wishing she'd just believe me for once.

Fluttershy peeked out from behind Applejack, looking timidly at where I was pointing. The orange farmer herself seemed slightly more skeptical, raising an eyebrow to what she probably saw as empty dirt.

Twilight muttered something sounding vaguely like "empirical doubt" before looking down at the spot I directed her to, horn lighting up. I held my breath as a wave of lavender light washed over the dirt gently. My eyes widened as I watched the energy pass right through the shards as if they weren't there. What the hell?

"Mender, there's nothing there aside from dirt, a thin paint residue, and some ancient looking clay jar with heavily fermenting cider of some sorts buried about a foot and a half down," she reported dryly, glaring back up at me. So she couldn't scan it after all. Wait, what?

Applejack coughed lightly and shook her head. "Just ignore that," she requested, blushing lightly and looking away from us. Rainbow shot her a knowing grin, and I just sighed.

"Maybe there's something there you can't detect? Maybe it's only partially merged with this dimension?" I deduced, fishing for possibilities as best I could. That's really the only explanation for why Twilight couldn't pick it up, given her level of skill and sheer strength of magic.

"Or maybe you're hallucinating from blood and magic loss and need to go lie down? Why can't you just trust Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked sharply, glaring at me instead.

Maybe because she was fallible? Or maybe because I wanted to be cautious rather than regret it later? Why couldn't she just trust me?! I opened my mouth to retort just that, but the only answer feasible popped into my head before I could say anything. Why did I keep forgetting her relationship with Celestia? Of course she's going to think the Sun Princess was infallible. Who was I, a mere imperfect mortal, to challenge her perfect teacher's assurance? My mouth snapped shut a second later and I just closed my eyes. It was pointless trying to convince her otherwise, as she was never going to believe me. As bitter as that felt, I knew that there was nothing I could do to change it. I wasn't as important to her as Celestia was, and I'd just have to deal with that.

My irritation dropped, and I exhaled wearily before opening my eyes once more, much softer this time. Twilight was still glaring, but Rainbow Dash looked at me with uncertainty over her right shoulder. No, causing more conflict didn't solve anything. It only served to make Twilight angry with me, which led to almost being squished by a bed last time. Not wanting to risk her aim being better this time around, I simply turned away from the lavender unicorn and walked out through the main barn door.

Okay, so today had a few good points, but overall, I'd have to say that it was largely terrible. The kissing was nice, but mostly overshadowed by the discussion afterwards and what her intent seemed to be. I was an experiment; I had no idea if she liked me, or just liked the kissing and wanted to fool around. She'd said she was interested in me and I really did want to believe her, but she'd lied to me before, and certainly didn't trust me now, so it was extremely difficult.

"Mender," I heard Fluttershy whisper, almost directly into my head it felt like.

"Just let him go, Fluttershy," Twilight added a moment later. A spike of irritation shot through me, but I turned past the side of the barn and got out of sight as best I could. Frustration was an understatement in light of my current outlook. The second I got out of the light from the barn, I swallowed hard and burst into a run. Well, as fast as this body could manage, anyway. There was no destination in mind as I ran as hard as I could, the lump in my throat shifting painfully with each gallop. I just pretended the warmth running down my cheeks was blood again, and headed off into the rapidly darkening night.

The moon rose into the night's sky steadily, giving an ethereal glow to the world. It was quite beautiful, and I tried my hardest to relax to the sounds of the forest around me. The light gurgling of the stream meshed well with the chirping of unknown insects all around me. I didn't even know what forest it was, honestly. My head gave a sickening throb as the background static magnified again, twisting through my skull like a rusty screw. Damn it!

"Test failed. Again. The book is somehow lashing out at my probes, as if it had a conscious awareness. In light of that information, I'm going out on a limb and trying to communicate with it," the annoying voice continued rambling on, as if talking into a recorder. Hell, she probably was. Keela. I'd like to say I had remembered her finally, but she simply mentioned her name about an hour ago. I had no idea how long I'd been here.

"Just shut up," I groaned wearily, smacking my forehead into the rock in front of me again. I'd followed the stream here, it running quietly behind where I currently resided. I was tucked up safely against a rock ledge, between the solid material and the deeper flowing water.

The static didn't cease, however, and yet another orb popped out of my body; this time out of my heavily bandaged flank. Not even hesitating, my magic danced out of my hoof, along my skin, and then lashed out with a barrier blade, neatly severing the probe in half. If it was even there, of course. Maybe Twilight was right and I was just hallucinating? Or maybe I was just finally slipping into a higher level of insanity and actually tied up in a mental institute somewhere?

"Okay, I can safely assume verbal isn't working. Seeing as it's a book, I'll try writing," the voice continued, oblivious to my wishes of silence. Didn't she sleep?

I really shouldn't have been surprised when the glowing sheet of paper and a single pen was spewed from my forehead. Rolling my eyes, I glared at the paper, doing my best 'burn and die' expression. Couldn't she at least have the common courtesy to be consistent with where she ejected foreign magical objects from my body? If I was going to be forced into the position of random portal device again, it would at least make things less awkward.

"Are you sentient?" was written at the top of the page in a very neat, concise handwriting. Oh crap. She wrote like Twilight. If she were even half as persistent as the bookish unicorn, I might as well just give up now. That was a rather stupid question regardless.

Picking up the 'pen' with my left hoof, I wrote, "No. Go away. Better yet, launch me into a star and forget I ever existed," right below the initial question. Okay, maybe that was a little on the sarcastic side. Still, it would be so much easier if she actually listened.

There was a long pause at that. I almost started hoping that the shock of getting a reply had given her a heart attack. Alas, I was destined to be disappointed. "You're sentient then?! This is wonderful. But why do you seek self-destruction?" soon appeared questioningly directly under what I had written. She must have a similar page on her side.

"I just want to be left alone. Please forget I ever existed," I requested again, in a steadier handwriting than last time, exhaling quietly. I used my other hoof to wipe the tears from my cheeks and silently shook my head. I'd had enough crap today without needing to be harassed by entities and energies from my old dimension. Or my own mind's avid hallucinations, I suppose was another theory. Of course, given that it was the only reality I knew, did it really matter if it was real or not?

Of course, my bitterness just made me feel even more childish. All I was doing was whining. It was frustrating not fitting in anywhere. Still, what was I honestly expecting? I'd only been in this plane of existence for the grand total of three weeks. Not to mention having spent a good portion of that time unconscious through various machinations against my well-being. The ponies here didn't really know me all that well. Honestly, for Twilight to decide that she liked me after such a short time period was probably way out of the normal trend of things!

"Who are you?" appeared on the page, interrupting my thoughts. Ah, she was changing the topic.

Well, that much was easily answered. "Mender," I wrote vaguely, with no lead in or punctuation. Of course, now that I thought about it, this girl wasn't entitled to get any information out of me in the first place. If she could be appealed to, though, perhaps she'd just dispose of the book? I guess it wouldn't hurt to be civil.

"A strange name. Or is that your species? Are you a construct in the book?" she asked next, elegant writing starting to slip a little. I imagined she was getting more and more excited.

"It's my name. Can you please just destroy the book?" I requested again, noticing we'd slipped off track.

There was a delay again, and I heard an airy sigh coming from around me. Or maybe it was coming from inside of my head. "The book is an Aegis Artifact. The amount of energy required to destroy a normal one is phenomenal, and this one appears to be geared towards defense," she explained carefully. Her writing was structured and slow this time, as if she was holding back bursting into scientific babbling. I caught myself finding it cute and mentally lectured myself. The last thing I needed at the moment was to think about Twilight. Why did that even remind me of her in the first place? Well, obviously it was something she would do, but why did my mind even insist on going through the exercises of making the comparison?

"Regardless, why are you seeking self-destruction if you're still sentient? Although I can't help but notice that you said 'the book' as well." Her writing sped up after she passed the magic babble part. Oops.

I hastily added, "I'm technically not the book. I'm just connected to it. Please, just get rid of it or sever the connection between us or something." She seemed nice enough. Although granted, I didn't know how important an Aegis Artifact was. Convincing her to destroy it might be a long shot, but it was worth a try.

There was another hesitation. A lot was probably going through her mind, of course. More scribbling sounds came from the audio connection she didn't know we had, more writing appearing on the page. "Where are you? What are you? Are you a Keldarian?"

That word. It sent a bolt of agony through my skull, but I couldn't seem to look away. More memories flashed through my mind. Needles and scalpels extending on robotic arms, a splash of blood on smooth metal, and even the sounds of someone screaming over and over again. The waiting. Mud and gore we had to wade through on our occupied worlds. Hatred that was so old that I couldn't remember a time when I didn't have it. Most of all, I remembered the rain. Why was that moment so important?

We stood around a partially collapsed convoy. The surrounding area was a scene from what I assumed hell would look like. There were various burning craters, plus the burnt, skeletal remains of what used to be the facility we had taken shelter in looked extremely foreboding. We knew that the Grosh wanted the planet for the resources on it, so we set up evacuation right on top of the reactor coils for the planetary shield. They were busted and the shield wasn't on anyway, but they didn't dare fire their big guns on us from orbit under risk of hitting the reactors instead and cracking the plate of the planet with the explosion. They hit us with invasion waves instead, but those could be fought back for a time.

The weather controls busted too, of course. At this point, I was getting a little tired of the constant rain. Of course, the stupid thing would misread the flames and explosions as 'too high' of a temperature and cause constant rainfall. Although at this point, it didn't really matter all that much.

Three squads guarded the West landing zone, trying their hardest not to die as they listened bleakly to the radio. It was that very same radio that gave us news of other squads failing at exactly that. The amount of Keldarians we were rescuing was almost exponentially proportional to those who didn't make it. So many lives were simply vanishing, being washed away in the rain. Why were we even here?

The radio answered me by crackling to life again, exporting on the status of the covert op to recover the second branch of the research division. Oh yeah, that's why. We were here to rescue a group of four bitches that were so far beyond our station that we weren't permitted to glance upon their bare skin. Heavens forbid their uniforms get damaged in, I don't know, the war across the surface of the planet. The radio reminded us again that our eyes would be gouged out following the mission if we were to catch a glimpse. We weren't part of the special operatives division, so I guess we didn't need our eyes to delay the enemy while dying like Croesians in the rain.

Anger and rage were natural reactions to events around us. An emotional effect paired with an unfettered form of applied, conditional insanity in most cases. The truly unhealthy aspect was to maintain this state for too long. Eventually the screaming rush of blood in your ears died down. The blood would cool again and tempers would settle. But the sanity never fully came back. Once you step outside of that comfortable zone of innocence and into hatred, there is no recovery. I fully believe that it's not within our natural state of mind to want to purposefully end the existence of another being. To destroy all that they are, could have been, and were prior is an atrocity. To wish that so fervently that you would give up your own life to end as many of theirs as possible has to be unnatural for us. It must be an insanity, or we're doomed from the start of our evolutionary track. How could any species that justified such insanity be considered a 'success,' after all?

Yet here I was, with several dozen of my fellow soldiers, all huddled in the broken remains of a bunker near the landing pad in the rain. We listened to the radio repeatedly tell us how others have failed this morning, and how we were not allowed to. Meanwhile, the sounds of particle shots and explosions got ever closer and I double checked the state of the generator I'd just finished repairing, if only to avoid looking out the window.

Yup. It wasn't quite the end of the world yet, but you could definitely see it from here...

Ow. If there were ever more distinctive and accurate thoughts to wake up to, I wasn't aware of them. Of course, there wasn't a whole lot that I was aware of at the moment anyway, apart from the demolition project at the base of my skull.

My eyes slowly opened up, greeting the soft morning light with disdain. It only served to further confuse me as I watched water drift by in the strangely brown and gray sky, teasing my mane playfully. Well, falling asleep outside had distinctly different effects than I last remembered. When was that? Oh yeah. Falling asleep under a tree and getting blown up by an overly excited Rainbow Dash. Fun times. Under?

Suddenly solving my strange physics issue, I inwardly blushed and rotated around until I was right side up again. In the process, my body slid off the rock I was unceremoniously splayed on top of and promptly fell right into the muddy creek. Yup, physics still worked! Or at least the heartless bitch known as gravity.

My mind finally took stock of the situation more fully upon seeing the muddy piece of paper a few feet from me. There was no voice in my head, and the paper had lost its ethereal glow from last night as well. I could only surmise that she had 'hung up' after the connection was lost alongside my consciousness. My head hurt even more as I pulled myself up to the piece of paper and stared at it.

The word 'Keldarian' stood out plainly, now being underlined several times in a dirty red and brown color. The same 'ink' had been used to scribble all over the remaining page with various faces, a small yet badly rendered doodle of a bunny, several alien-looking symbols, and the word 'Twilight' written a few dozen times in the spaces between. The throb in my head got worse, followed by the distinct sensation of a light tickle under my eyes and the lovely smell of peroxide and blood. I threw the paper sideways away from me, wincing momentarily at the dancing sensation of scalpels digging into my stomach.

Panicking, I spastically leapt backwards, feeling my stomach instinctively. There was nothing to speak of involving sharp things embedded into me, of course. I took a moment to catch my breath, intentionally not looking at the blasted piece of paper. Well there goes showing it to Twilight as evidence. I don't think it would prove the exact thing I wanted it to. The words spewed all over the page in a psychotic manner were also too choice to assume coincidence. Okay, so maybe I had a thing for the lavender unicorn, even if she did scare me witless on occasion. Nopony was perfect, after all. I doubted this whole relationship thing was that inflexible.

Then it dawned on me, so to speak. It was dawn, or at least early morning. The last thing I had recalled was fleeing from aforementioned lavender unicorn in the evening. Considering the time lapse, that meant that I had been out in the middle of the forest all night. I might not have a relationship with her depending on how pissed off she is at me now. Considering my options, I tried not to panic. Okay, first, I needed to assess where I was. Without panicking.

Glancing about, I listened to the creek next to me, attempting to absorb some of the gentle flow. It was a bit disheartening to realize that it wasn't the same one that I lost sanity and consciousness next to last night. Okay, that meant that I either fell in at some point while raving mad and was carried away by the pitiful flow of water somehow, or more likely, I wandered quite far afield in my lunacy. Chances are high, though, that I lacked the finesse required to navigate the forest in the dark, especially when in the middle of a mental breakdown. So if I had any luck at all, a risky hope, I followed the stream in one direction or another.

It wasn't really a clearing that I was in. In all honesty, I was probably lucky that I hadn't been eaten by some random forest creature that happened to stumble upon me. Maybe they didn't mess with the crazy ones either? The stream was clearly flowing to my right, and was much smaller than the one I had been by last night, so naturally I assumed that by following it to the left, I might happen across where I started. It was worth a shot.

With nothing left to really think about apart from my own delusional paranoia, I started following the stream to the left. With no decisions left to make, naturally I then started to mentally panic while walking.

The forest was peaceful around me, anyway, if not a bit on the gloomy side. It felt chilly and a cool wind blew through, signaling the upcoming season change, I was guessing. Thankfully it wasn't snowing yet, so at least I planned a good time to get lost. I chuckled in amusement at the oxymoron as I wobbled along, my legs feeling like lumps of wet noodles. It didn't help the comparison that I was actually wet and covered in mud, of course. I also noticed that I had various scratches and bruises covering myself. Wonderful. Maybe I had wandered through the forest for a ways? Still, thinking that wouldn't help me, really. I could only hope that this creek rejoined the larger stream or river that I was next to prior. Chances are, however, that I was now hopelessly lost and doomed to an either violent, bloody demise, or to starve to death under a rock somewhere.

Several minutes passed reasonably uneventful, and I simply wandered, taking in the sounds, smells, and sights of nature around me. If I didn't feel and probably look like a drown rat, this would be a really nice place to relax. Sure it was a little dark, but I didn't necessarily mind that so much. Besides, relaxation was probably what I needed a lot more of. I felt like I was a thousand years old, both in body and mind. A rather loud squawking distracted me a moment later and I stopped, looking around for the source.

It took me a couple of minutes, but I finally spotted the small, golden-yellow bird that was lying next to the base of a tree. It was looking around as if in a daze, and had probably fallen from a nest. Upon further examination, I spotted the little brown nest at the lower branches of the tree. Well, trees and I didn't particularly get along well, but the fellow was obviously in distress, so I decided to investigate further.

Walking over slowly, I frowned and peeked at the little guy. It looked back at me, utterly unafraid in the slightest, and made an annoyed squawk towards me. Well, proportionally, if I had just fallen out of a four story building or so, I'd probably be a bit annoyed as well. Sympathetically nodding, I extended my hoof out cautiously to him and cupped him with a tiny force field.

How should I go about this? I could connect it to the tree trunk but I couldn't see into the nest and didn't want to drop the little guy again. Well, there was nothing else for it. I touched him against the tree. The shield extended under me as well and I slowly lifted both of us upwards into the tree again. I was surprised at how complacent the little guy was, but he simply sat there watching me curiously as I lifted us upwards. We cleared the branches easily enough and I nodded to myself. Interestingly enough, there were two other little ones in the nest that chipped up at me when I popped my head up next to them. Leaving the shield detached under me, I raised the little guy up on my hoof and gently made to place him back in the nest.

That's when the unholy scream from hell sounded out from in front of me. Uh oh. Looking up, my heart skipped a beat as a small blur of fury and hatred zipped in with wings extended. I barely managed to duck out of the way before the thing took my head off! The little guy in my hoof started chirping madly and I decided that I'd better get him back into the nest so he didn't fall again. After the winged death passed, I popped my head back up and quickly deposited the little guy back into the nest. Another furious screech sounded from behind me this time, and I quickly tried to duck out of the way. This time they weren't aiming for my head, however, and I ended up getting clipped across the side instead.

I let out a yelp and winced sideways, dropping my hoof against the shield I was standing on in attempts to lower myself back to the safety of the ground. That's when the blur of feathers smashed into my face. There was a sharp, stabbing pain and I fell backwards, everything going black.

Ouch. This was the second time I woke up distinctly aware of how much agony my body was in. Groaning, I opened my eyes slowly, only to realize the left was caked with blood. Slowly and tenderly feeling my forehead with my left forehoof, I noted a rather nasty gash just above the eye. Damn it. I struggled to tuck my legs up, and then noticed I was on my left side. My right rear leg gave a flare of pain, and I was suddenly glad that I hadn't been conscious for the landing.

Okay, assessment time. Expending a little bit of my own magic, I felt along my insides to attempt to figure out exactly how badly I was screwed. Now I was lost and badly injured, in the middle of a dark and dank forest with who knows what kind of creatures in it. The scan was rapid, giving rather vague results that I didn't fully know what to do with. Once again I found myself wishing that I had studied the healing arts. Damn it. The bone in my rear right leg was intact, but the muscles appeared to be badly strained. There were no rips in them, but a contusion covered the thigh and the muscles under and along the knee were stressed to their limit. Walking probably wasn't going to be pleasant.

A light chirping noise sounded out and I froze immediately, trying my hardest not to panic and do anything potentially embarrassing. Those demons were still here?! I cursed myself silently for forgetting to check for hostiles before moving! A rather large bird, looking distinctly similar to the little one I put back in the nest, took that exact moment to land in front of me. My skeleton almost jumped backwards out of my skin. Thankfully, my fleshy parts are more durable than that, and it instead only had the effect of me going rigid while staring at it. Oddly, it made another chirping noise and fluttered in place, as if somewhat distressed. Being unable to speak Bird, I had no idea what it was attempting to communicate. I decided to count my blessings that it hadn't gouged out my eyes yet, however.

"Um, please don't attack me?" I requested timidly, hoping for mercy. It seemed unlikely that the tiny bird could outright kill me, but I did have lots of sensitive squishy bits it could puncture repeatedly and bring about agony with. Actually, rather than take a chance, I just assumed that it could somehow distend its jaw like a snake and possibly eat me whole.

If I didn't know better, I'd say it almost looked sad. Much to my further surprise, it actually shook its head. Wait, it could understand me?! Maybe I didn't know better. Tilting my head, I simply asked, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

I definitely didn't know better. The sad part was, in all honesty, I should have realized that the intelligence level of all of the creatures would be significantly greater than what I was used to dealing with. The bird finalized my guess by nodding its head up and down in the almost universal gesture of affirmation.

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry for the incident earlier. I was trying to put him back in the nest, I swear!" I apologized, hoping to not offend the newly discovered intelligent creatures. Actually, they were probably more intelligent than me, seeing as I'm the one who just fell out of a tree.

As if reading my mind, the bird gave me its best dumbfounded and exasperated gaze, as if specifically stating that I was an idiot in no few words. It shook its head again and made several more squawks, gesturing back towards the nest.

Not entirely sure what it was attempting to convey, I looked back towards the nest regardless. A tiny little bird was sticking half of its body into view above the nest, and actually waved a wing at me. Further surprised, all I could manage to do was wave back with my left foreleg.

Then what the bird was trying to say became clear. "You already knew that I was only putting him back because he told you, didn't he?" I questioned, glancing back at my new feathered friend.

It gave another nod, before hopping over my two front legs and gently brushing a wing along my injured knee. I gave a wince and shuffled it a little, only to note that it was stiff and shaky. This wouldn't do at all for walking on. About the best thing I could do is make a makeshift brace, then hobble. Not that hobbling would impact my normal speeds all that much.

The bird looked sad again and shook its head, looking back at me. Did it feel badly for attacking me? "It's all right. You were only protecting your young. I'd have done the same thing," I assured, trying to smile through the misery from my leg. Well, assuming that I'm ever going to have kids. Highly unlikely, I'm guessing. It's tricky to reproduce when dead. Not impossible, but I doubt this dimension had that sort of technology. Maybe there was magic for it instead? Doubtful, but I didn't want to assume.

The bird shook its head even more rapidly, but I didn't know what that implied. It could mean quite a few different things, and I just tilted my head towards the small avian creature.

"I'm not entirely sure what you mean. I'm terribly lost, however, and unfortunately need to get to work making a splint for my leg so I may attempt to find my way back to Ponyville before starving to death," I excused to the little one, attempting to shift myself to a standing position again. My back, right leg refused to support my weight, so I was forced to form a barrier along the outside of it to push it directly into the correct place.

Okay, wasn't expecting that. The raw agony of moving the knee caused my breath to catch and ice water to shift up my veins, feeling like all of the blood drained out of my head at once. I made a silent wincing and gasp, shivering but managing to not scream like a little baby. While mostly for preserving my dignified appearance, it also had the side benefit of not alerting every predator within three miles to my location.

My eyes had slammed shut during the process, but after several minutes that felt like an eternity, I slowly opened them as the pain ebbed back down. I held the shields rigid against my leg and locked them together before putting them into power saver mode and letting them be. Okay, that was probably the hard part. Now all I had to do was hobble along my merry way. Oh, and find which way that's supposed to be. Oh, and not get eaten in the process. At this point, I might as well tack on not starving to death to the end of that list, as a last resort.

My friendly bird squawked again in protest as I wobbled and started trying to half walk, half hop along as I progressed back to the creek. I gave it a wary glance, but it just looked vaguely depressed again. Come to think of it, weren't there two of them earlier? I distinctly remembered being blitzed from two directions at once on that last attack. Either the one here was hellishly fast and being taught by Rainbow Dash, or there were two of them. Given that Rainbow didn't seem much like an 'Animal Pony', and the fact that there was a nest back there, I assumed the latter. At least if birds still reproduced sexually here.

There has to be a law for serendipity somewhere. No sooner had I finished thinking it, I heard a faint but definitely chirping noise in the distance. Huh? My avian friend looked up towards the sky in an instant, and I watched him curiously as I hobbled along the river. Oddly, at this point I thought nothing of him stalking me. Wait, is it stalking if I know he's there? Further, is it stalking when the target is pitifully slow and wounded, barely able to hold their own in a fight against a chipmunk?

Almost a minute passed before another barrage of chirps sounded off, much closer this time. My friend flitted a little higher into the air and started releasing an oddly loud counter salvo. Okay, the situation was getting a little strange now. He was obviously communicating with the other bird, but why? Taking the volume levels and distance into consideration, it suddenly dawned on me. The little bastard was giving away where I was located to the other bird! Why else would he follow me? Well, apart from an easy meal after I inevitably passed out. I further noticed that I seemed to consider him male for some reason.

Seconds later, I almost had to duck again as a smaller but similarly colored bird dove in alongside the river. So there were two of them, then. I smiled politely at the newcomer, before literally having to not only duck, but also fall sideways into the creek to avoid a fur-covered bolt of cyan lightning.

Sputtering, I slowly wobbled and got back up from the now extremely familiar source of water. Thank goodness for barrier magic. It was significantly more resilient, and waterproof, than normal stints. Upon regaining my footing, I rotated with tiny hops and glared at Rainbow Dash, mildly annoyed, even though I was technically saved now.

She paid little heed to me, seemingly more interested in rapidly looking around the forest in a paranoid vigil. "What have you attracted so far? Wolves or bears? Both? Something more exotic like a manticore or cockatrice?" she asked rapidly, still not fully looking at me.

I scowled at her before returning, "A couple of birds and a deadly blue comet."

"Deadly blue," she started to ask, fully turning to me now, before shifting to that of a glare instead and finishing with a, "Hey!"

I couldn't help but smirk, which caused her to grin in amusement as well. "Okay, okay. So your bad luck hasn't hit the situation yet. Let's get you out of here before it does. It's safe, Fluttershy!" Rainbow called out, looking up again.

"Fluttershy?" I questioned, following her gaze up and to the small yellow mare that drifted into view a few dozen meters away.

Rainbow snorted but nodded. "Well duh. I'm not gonna think to follow a random bird into the Everfree forest without a little initiative. Besides, it came to her first and she got me to help afterwards," she explained in a dismissive manner. Well it's not like it's every day that I get lost in the forest and they need to organize a search party for me. Thankfully.

"Actually, Mrs. Bird is to thank. She was the one who thought of coming and getting me after the terrible misunderstanding and accident earlier," Fluttershy explained quietly as she hovered for a moment before gently touching down on the grass next to me.

I blinked, then realized that she was talking about when I fell out of the tree. The birds had a much stronger grasp on reality than I realized. Hell, possibly more than I did. "They've been on, well, edge since last night," the gentle yellow mare continued in a soft, yet stable voice, giving me a warm smile. She looked happy for some reason. Wait, last night? I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that I was extremely lucky to have spent most of the night unconscious.

"Oh, all those creepy noises that came from the forest? Yeah, that put me on edge too, and I don't even live here. Thankfully," Rainbow muttered in agreement, shivering and sitting down next to me. I couldn't help but notice that she was fully equipped with strapped on saddlebags.

Fluttershy swallowed wearily but nodded. "Yeah. It's worse than that, even. Those poor creatures. Tons of trees were damaged or destroyed in a long path through the forest. With all of the roaring heard, Twilight suspects that one of the nearby Ursa's are acting up for some reason," she furthered, keeping herself busy by unpacking some medical supplies from her own saddlebags. I found it amusing for some reason that she didn't even question the fact that I was covered in lacerations and contusions.

"What exactly is an Ursa?" I asked wearily, trying to ease out my muscles as Fluttershy approached with bandages.

Rainbow sighed and shuddered again. "It's a massive bear that's all glowing and partially see through. Hugely strong; it could probably split a pony in half with one swing," she explained, fidgeting and looking around again. Yikes! If one of those was on the loose, I'm really glad they found me when they did. Given my spectacular luck, I was likely to blunder right into the thing. Then somehow subtly insult its mother without realizing it.

"Oh dear. These bandages are filthy. How are you so clean, though? Um, if you don't mind me asking, of course," Fluttershy suddenly observed, giving me a once over before shaking her head.

I sighed miserably before replying, "I actually spent a lot of time in the creek, sadly. I think I'm going to be wrinkly for quite a while."

Rainbow grinned, but then tilted her head as Fluttershy started slowly peeling the bandages off me. I assumed she knew what she was doing and that there was skin under there. Gritting my teeth against the constant fur pulling sensation, I decided that was a good indication that she was right. Rainbow's confusion slowly shifted to amusement, then to holding back the laughter with her hooves as Fluttershy unwrapped me.

Annoyed, I looked back behind me in order to figure out what was so funny. It only took me a couple seconds to notice that there was very little of my coat grown back under the bandages. It looked like I got in a fight with a razor and lost. Badly. I rolled my eyes and fought back the heat drifting into my cheeks as I just sat through it.

Oddly enough, Dash stopped laughing shortly thereafter. Finding that even more odd, I looked back over at her curiously. Her expression held a frown instead and her eyes were locked firmly on my side. Uh oh. Was my skin missing there?! I whipped my head around to look, only to find nothing technically wrong with me. Fluttershy paused momentarily and looked up at me from her intense concentration and focus. She looked really adorable with the questioning expression and her mouth full of bandage roll. She then peeked at Rainbow, and traced her eyes back to me.

"Dude, what happened to you? I've never seen so many scars," the cyan pegasus inquired quietly, still wearing the frown.

Oh. "The scars are usually hidden by my fur. I'm guessing they transferred over from my old dimension when I came here. I was a soldier, sadly," I reminded, suddenly deciding against looking at Fluttershy.

Unfortunately, she caught my intention before I even fully turned away. The shy yellow mare snatched my right foreleg, softly shaking her head. There was no force behind it at all, and I could have easily pulled away, but something about the way she was staring at me almost forced me not to.

"Please. If it's okay with you, don't treat me any differently. Please? I want to see, um, all of you," she requested, almost a whisper. I felt something inside of me skip. Smiling again, I nodded silently to her. Rainbow made a gagging motion next to us, of course.

"Ya don't have to get all sappy on me. I'm just glad we found you before a bear ate you or something. Then Twilight would really have freaked out," the rainbow-maned mare complained idly.

"Why is Twilight freaking out?" I asked carefully, wincing again as Fluttershy got back to work, removing the last of the bandage around my hips and back, finally.

I was surprised when Dash snorted and whacked me on the snout with her left hoof. Wincing, I looked back up at her questioningly, holding my muzzle with both of my hooves. "Don't be silly, Mender. She's totally into you whether you believe it or not. She's all worried that she went too far with the Princess thing and drove you away forever to be eaten by a bear in the woods or something. You two really do match pretty well, but I think she's a little more grounded in reality," Dash pointed out, snickering immediately after.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. First she's pissed off at me, and now she's regretting it and freaking out over my well-being. I swear, I'm never going to understand that mare. "Well, it did hurt last night. I guess I just want to be taken seriously in her eyes," I confessed, sighing and letting my upper body deflate naturally as I exhaled. The tension was slowly leaving my system as Fluttershy expertly removed the bandages and gently massaged the growing fur down afterwards.

My cyan battle partner smirked again, but nodded in seemingly understanding. "I hear ya there. She can get a tad unreasonable sometimes. You should have seen her the last time she was tardy with a letter to the Princess. Ponyville almost didn't survive," she groaned, resting her forehead on her hoof. She was joking, right? Right?! There was no smile, however, and she truly looked exasperated. I was suddenly more than a little frightened of the lavender unicorn again.

"It was, um, really bad," Fluttershy suddenly spoke up in agreement, nodding her head twice. I was momentarily distracted by the bobbing of her mane as she did so, but rapidly snapped out of it and swallowed.

"Admittedly, I'm a little scared of her. I really don't want to get on her bad side and end up magically turned into a coat rack or something. Or be squished by a flying bed," I admitted wearily, tensing as Fluttershy pulled the last of the bandages free.

Rainbow snickered and shook her head at me. "Relax, Mender. She'd never outright hurt a pony if she didn't have to. Especially you, I have a feeling. Like I said, she's totally into you," she assured, holding up a hoof in almost congratulations.

I rolled my eyes but smirked again and extended mine to lightly bounce it off hers.

Both of us were interrupted by Fluttershy's sudden gasp of, "Oh my!" Rainbow looked past me to where her friend was looking, then widened her eyes drastically. Huh? Uh oh. Was my skin missing there instead?!

My head spun around to assess the damage to my hips and butt. I wasn't at all prepared for what I saw, however. It was even worse than missing all of my flesh back there. Someone had tattooed my butt!

Chapter 12

I sighed wearily as Rainbow Dash got the leather harness on again with the help of Fluttershy. "So what exactly does it indicate that my special talent is?" I asked once again.

Rainbow snickered as she raised her left wing to get the strap hooked under it. "Sometimes cutie marks are kind of vague. Guess I got lucky with mine," she admitted. I stared at the rainbow lightning bolt on her flank for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"You're certainly the fastest pony I've ever seen," I agreed, smirking. As anticipated, she puffed up with pride and grinned at me.

"Of course I am. Goddess of Flight, right?" she reminded, winking at me playfully. I felt a little bit of heat dance into my cheeks again but maintained my smile, adding a nod as she glanced back at me. Admittedly, she was cute when cocky. I had no idea as to why she was so attractive, but I certainly wasn't going to act on it. Fluttershy and Twilight would murder me, principles aside.

Snapping out of my distraction, I looked back at my flank again. It was still there of course. The silver gear with eight, evenly spaced teeth took up a good portion of my flank, and oddly had a heart-shaped axis hole. Honestly, I didn't know what it meant. The gear was easy enough to figure out, but was the heart just for stylized effect? The concept of getting my own Cutie Mark had always been there in the back of my head, but I never truly thought I'd get it, being so different from a normal pony. Now that I suddenly had one, I was a little overwhelmed as to what it meant. I thought you were supposed to magically know or something.

"Is it almost on, Fluttershy? We need to hurry up," Rainbow asked, having resumed her cautious vigil of the forest.

My gut told me that there was something I was missing still. "Is there a reason we're in a hurry apart from getting proper medical attention?" I questioned carefully, glancing over at the yellow mare that was just securing the last side buckle.

"Oh, um, yes. The mayor has declared a state of emergency. It's a little scary," she muttered, swallowing timidly while nodding to Rainbow.

The aptly named rainbow pegasus sighed and nodded. "Something really freaked out the animals of the forest last night. Lots of roars, growls, and snarls. Wolves were spotted near the forest's edge and one pony even reported seeing a manticore. Until things settle down again, we really need to stay away from here," she added, far more calmly than her shivering friend.

It was a compulsion, really. Almost everything the yellow and pink pegasus did gave me urges to guard and protect her. Shifting a little, I leaned up and gently extended my left forehoof. She watched me curiously, stopping in her shaking long enough to at least be interested in what I was doing. Her eyes widened further as I made contact with her back and gently rubbed the spot directly between her two wings. The effect was instantaneous, and more than a little surprising. She let out a soft gasp as I massaged along her coat, going in gentle, hopefully soothing circles. Her eyes lidded slightly, and she rested more heavily against her cyan friend as I worked. She was so adorable that I couldn't help but smile.

Rainbow started momentarily as she felt the contact, then glanced back at me and her. Her surprise shifted to that of a warm grin as she saw me gently stroking the other mare. "Between the wings, and the wings themselves are sensitive for most pegasi. Especially the mares. A little on the nervous side, Fluttershy?" she pointed out knowingly. Wait, why were mares more sensitive?

Fluttershy's cheeks tinted a light pink color, but she nodded subtly. Her eyes then shifted back to me, and a smile lit along her expression again. She surprised me further by turning and actually hugging me gently.

"You're a good stallion. I promise that I'm going to get over this. You're never going to hurt me; I know that now," she muttered, almost as if hoping her cyan friend wouldn't hear.

Obviously, she did. "Of course he's not going to hurt you. If anything, he'd rather let himself be hurt than let you come to harm. Remember the rock thingy? And even more recently, the couch?" Rainbow pointed out in a surprisingly gentle fashion. The more I saw them interact, the more I realized she had a special soft spot for Fluttershy. Not to say she wasn't spot on, of course. If I was protective of any of the mares, it was Fluttershy.

The yellow mare retained her pink tinting to her cheeks, which magnified a little before she nodded. Regardless, she seemed content enough where she was, and just looked back over at me with surprisingly curious eyes.

"I'm still glad Twilight is going to attempt to date you first, but maybe one day I'll work up the, well, courage to try as well. If you two allow it, of course! I mean, I don't want to offend either of you. That would be bad. Oh dear, I'm sorry if I just did," she suddenly started to ramble, looking more and more flustered.

I placed a hoof gently to her muzzle to stop her before shaking my head. "It's a strange concept because it's reversed for me. In my culture, I believe that it was the females that used to take multiple male mates, but if it's sometimes done in reverse here, then I might be able to get adjusted to it. You don't need to apologize," I assured, keeping the evil glares and ear twitches restricted as much as I could when she mentioned Twilight.

Rainbow shook her head wearily, turning around to fully face us before muttering, "That is so weird. You must have a lot of guys on your world."

"Well, we did. If my dreams are of any indication, the situation is reversed now. I'm not sure why, but one of them mentioned they were looking for males and-" I started explaining before I suddenly realized what I was doing. Giving a sudden blank, dumbfounded look, I shut up and looked away from both of them. I forgot, they probably think I'm just insane too.

Rainbow stared surprisingly intensely at me. Her expression neither shifted to amusement or scorn. Fluttershy surprised me a little more, however, by smiling fully and shaking her head. "Twilight has, um, trouble believing things that she can't see. It's a little scary, but if you think there's something truly wrong, then I believe you," she whispered softly, timid voice shivering a little towards the end. I'm not sure if it was the thought behind it, or her being literally right against me, but I felt myself soften and relax. I finally let myself genuinely smile towards her.

Dash finally smiled as well, tossing in a nod for good measure. "If it's bothering ya that much, we'll try to talk to her about it. It's a little crazy, admittedly, but I don't think Princess Celestia is totally without error. She'd probably be the first to admit it, actually," my cyan friend offered, gesturing with her hoof lightly towards me.

I nodded in agreement and stood up as gently as I could manage. Fluttershy broke off her hug and helped support me fully as I rose to my hooves again. I wobbled lightly, but slowly limped my way towards Dash, who turned around and lowered herself to the ground as best she could.

"Thank you for not automatically assuming I was crazy. We should probably get out of here, however, before anything happens across us," I advised cautiously before stepping over the prismatic tail and gently making my way onto her back.

"Oh, oh yes. The faster we can get out of this forest," Fluttershy murmured wearily as she took to the air again.

Rainbow smirked as she stood up again, adding, "Don't let her fool you. The only reason she entered the forest in the first place was because she knew that you needed help."

My eyes widened significantly. Fluttershy let out a tiny squeak, blush forming once more as she almost lost control of her hover. "Dash!" she reprimanded in a wavering voice.

"Oh relax, Flutters. He already knows you technically like him like that. Now we just need to get you back to Twi before she turns Ponyville upside down with her freak out session," Rainbow followed up, shaking her head slightly. She abruptly halted and looked back at me, probably feeling me go rigid.

"Do we absolutely have to go back to her? I kind of, well," I started trying to explain. Was there really any other choice, though? I didn't exactly have anywhere else to go.

Dash looked surprised at first, apparently realizing that I wasn't joking. "Wait, seriously? We don't have to, I guess. But she's really worried about you," she professed in an uncharacteristically serious tone.

I stared skeptically at her, unsure if she was joking this time. "So she not only thinks I'm crazy, but has decided that I can't survive a single night without her keeping an eye on me?" I asked sharply, sorting it in my head still.

"Well you did kinda already hurt yourself," Dash pointed out, earning a burning glare. If she felt the same way, why was she here? Shouldn't she have just assumed that I was rocking back and forth in a corner somewhere, deranged yet fine?

"Oh dear. No, Mender! She feels really bad for not going after you. She's really, really worried," Fluttershy tried to convince. I softened my features a little as my gaze shifted to her instead. Her eyes looked into mine with pleading gentleness, and I soon had to look away again. This yellow mare would always hold a soft spot with me, no matter how she considered me, I suppose.

Rainbow shook her head, walking forward slightly and then turning around. "Maybe he's right. This is new to both of them, and until they get adjusted to it a bit, maybe they should spend some time apart," Rainbow suggested, looking back over her shoulder at me.

I met her gaze for a moment before sighing and nodding. "I know she's new to this, and I don't have a clue how to act. Maybe I just want to be taken seriously by her? I'll never be as important to her as Celestia, but maybe one day she'll at least listen," I reasoned. Sometimes seeing her as a 'veteran' of this world made me forget that she wasn't of the same experience level with relationships.

Fluttershy let out a tired sigh and lowered her head, looking reasonably glum as I turned back towards her. After a moment's consideration, she frowned and looked back up, assuring, "Princess Celestia is indeed important to her, but I think that once she realizes how much you mean to her, she'll open up quite a bit more. You two have so much in common. She's never had anypony that she was able to really talk to on her level here. That has to be valuable to her." Her voice was strong and stable, even if a little quiet, and her level of insight surprised me. She knew quite a bit about her friends, it would seem. At first I thought it was just a special connection with Rainbow, but now I noticed she was extremely empathic with others as well. It made me wonder what her thoughts on myself were. Maybe I didn't want to know?

"You two have a lot in common too, don't forget. I can totally vouch for his loyalty and caring. Sure, he's not as brave and steadfast as me, but he'll stick with you through pretty much anything and has a really gentle touch!" Rainbow spoke up, vouching for me. Kind of. I blushed at her words, looking away from both of them this time.

Fluttershy was tinted pink as well, but smiled shyly. "Oh, I know he can be really gentle. Plus, he's so good with foals; I really look up to that sort of thing. Eventually I'd love to have a family of my own, of course. Seeing him be so gentle with everypony, alongside how protective he can be to those he cares about, just makes me feel so, um, well..." She trailed off, eyes widening as the pink shifted past the shade of her hair and well into the red tints.

Rainbow's jaw dropped down a little as she let out a quiet, "Whoa." My eyes felt like saucers before I rapidly looked away again, feeling the dull thud of my heartbeat in my ears as the blood firmly flooded into my head. Did she just insinuate what I thought she did?!

"Does that mean, uh, you're looking at Mender for, well, that in the future?" Rainbow asked, probably without even thinking about what she was saying.

Fluttershy looked beyond flustered, rocking back and forth between her left and right side rapidly. "Well, um, of course he'd make a good father! He's a very gentle and kind stallion and I um, really respect that. So uh, maybe?" she admitted finally, slamming her eyes shut afterwards and looking faint. She seemed to shrink down slightly as her legs buckled a little. My blush magnified and I suddenly felt light headed. I hadn't realized how serious she was, or how much she'd been thinking about it!

Dash was momentarily speechless. After several exceedingly awkward moments passed, she shook her head to clear it before recovering her trademark smirk. "Well, you surprised me, but I can't say that I wouldn't support the decision. I told you that I vouch for Mender," she reiterated.

"I am still here you know," I reminded, letting out a groan afterwards. Did she have to say all of these embarrassing things in my presence? I wasn't a hero by any means. All I did was react to what was thrown at me in the only way I could. I didn't want to, and certainly wish that somepony else would take care of it all, but if it had to be me, I wasn't about to let anypony I cared for get hurt because I abandoned my duties.

"Of course. It's all true, though! Hehehe!" she defended in an extremely mirthful tone, letting out a giggle after.

Fluttershy recovered slowly and smiled back at her friend, then up at me on Rainbow's back. "Well, what I said was true, too. I don't know what I'd do without either of you," she muttered, smile shifting from shy to warm slowly. Her soft blush remained, however.

Dash took it in stride, giving the pink-maned pegasus a soft hug with her left foreleg. "We love you, too, Fluttershy. We'll always be there for you, don't worry," she promised needlessly. That much was second nature for me. I smiled again and nodded in agreement. Rainbow suddenly froze for a moment while Fluttershy blushed and smiled widely. "Wait, I never did get to ask you for my favor that time I walked in on you and Twi making out!" the cyan mare suddenly remembered out loud, in a voice that Twilight herself back in Ponyville might have been able to hear.

Fluttershy let out a surprised yet embarrassed squeak, mane giving a little shiver as she almost lost control of her flight again. I would have slapped my forehead had it not required me to either punch or garrote the mare I was riding on.

"What?! It surprised me so much that I forgot. Can I ask you now?" she requested, looking a little miffed at our reactions.

"Yeah, you can ask. You didn't need to mention the making out thing, though. We were just kissing!" I defended profusely.

Fluttershy seemed to almost shrink more, pink shifting to a solid red color across her cheeks. "Oh. Oh my," she muttered quietly into her hooves covering her mouth.

"I could have sworn I saw tongue. Oh well," Dash debated to herself, smirking at me before continuing with, "Anyway, there's a race coming up soon to celebrate the end of fall, pegasus style. I really, really want your help for it!"

I tilted my head against her shoulder, unsure of exactly what assistance I could be in preparation for a race. Fluttershy peeked over her hooves at her friend, however, looking a little surprised. Still embarrassed, but it looked like she was getting distracted now, anyway.

"It's just the three of us. Is this about, um, Applejack?" she asked. No, it was more of a deduction than anything.

Rainbow smirked wider and nodded. "I totally want you to give me those nifty wings again!" she revealed excitedly, hopping back and forth on her hooves.

My surprise was impossible to contain, and I stared at her in shock before asking, "Wait, you want me to help you cheat?!"

Rainbow lost the smirk instantly, looking both shocked and offended without missing a beat. "What?! No way! I could win the race flying backwards with my wings tied. I need your super wings for a trick I want to pull off on the winner's circle," she rapidly corrected.

Fluttershy's comment suddenly hit home, and everything snapped together. "Your sky writing. You want to use the wings to pull off your message to Applejack after you win the race, because she'll be watching it," I suddenly realized out loud.

"Ha! Exactly! That's my egghead partner!" Dash acknowledged, grinning back at me over her shoulder as I glared.

Fluttershy gasped, however, gaining both our attentions at once. "Oh dear! But there are a lot of ponies there. Everypony at the race will see the message," she warned, sounding absolutely traumatized. Wow, she wasn't even involved and it freaked her out. Still, I couldn't help but find it adorable for some reason.

"Oh, please. I'm not afraid of them seeing it. I'm proud to be going after Applejack! She's totally worthy of being with the most awesome pegasus in Equestria," the boisterous cyan mare declared, slapping her right hoof off her chest and nodding as if punctuating the declaration with her chin.

The shy yellow pegasus shrank back a little, but shook her head. "I, um, meant Applejack. Do you think she'd want everypony knowing she might like other mares?" she asked quietly. Uh oh. I hadn't thought of that.

Rainbow looked momentarily taken aback. She hesitated, and then shook her head rapidly. "Well, of course not. Applejack's the strongest mare I know. She's not going to care if other ponies know about us or not!" she assured, sounding almost as if she herself was her target.

Red flags went off in my head. This seemed familiar. Oh yeah, it was something I'd probably assume; which meant it was probably an absolutely terrible idea! I opened my mouth to point this out when all three of us were interrupted by a rather sizable roar to our right, deeper off in the forest.

Fluttershy whipped around in the air, looking fearfully in that direction while my airlift jumped a good foot and a half in surprise.

"Oh, horseapples! I think that's our signal to get out of here!" Dash pointed out rapidly, taking to the air with a hard kick-start. Fluttershy nodded rapidly in agreement and started rising into the air, considerably faster than I had ever seen her move before. Well, there was something to be said about a healthy amount of motivation. Or was that unhealthy? Yeah, getting mauled and eaten by something rather large was definitely unhealthy.

Rainbow shot into the air faster still, managing to snag hold of her yellow and pink friend as she went. I was amazed at the sheer strength to the cyan pegasus' flying as she managed to not only lift me entirely off the ground without effort, but haul her friend through the air even higher without any noticeable strain.

Obviously not sticking around for ceremony, Rainbow got all three of us well into the clouds before I could even look back.

* * * * *

Peeking through the window yet again, I watched the spastic lavender mare pacing rapidly back and forth. Books were strewn here and there, most of them open and discarded where she finished with them. To my surprise, three larger log sections were displayed on stands around her work area; various stages of damage on each one. She seemed to be paying very little attention to them, however.

Normally, I'd contribute that to the other guest of the room; a certain pearly unicorn with curled purple mane and tail, but due to how animate Twilight was, I had a sneaking suspicion that Rarity was only trying to calm her down.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked yet again, dropping down and turning to look at the two mares.

Rainbow was already to the door, but Fluttershy stopped and nodded back at me. "I think it's for the best. Um, if it's okay with you, of course, Dash and I will go in first to try to, well, calm her down a little," she offered quietly.

Why the hell would I say no to that?! Rarity hardly seemed to be having much luck, so let them go in and defuse the situation a little, or blunder in ahead of them and potentially be torn apart by telekinesis? Honestly, it wasn't much of a decision, barring any masochistic tendencies or suicidal urges I might be subconsciously hiding. I nodded rapidly and gestured them in, earning a giggle from the yellow mare.

Rainbow took the cue and opened the door gently, letting herself and Fluttershy inside the excessively large tree-building. I propped up against the wall again and peeked in the window, feeling incredibly similar to a stalker.

Twilight snapped to attention instantly, observing her friends with an almost calculated glare. I could have sworn I saw her eye twitch slightly, too. "You're back! Did you find him yet, Rainbow?! It's not easy to work like this. Not easy at all!" she asked instantly upon concluding her analytical observations. Actually, she sounded a little on the hysterical side. Rarity shook her head wearily and muttered something that was well outside of my ability to hear.

"Whoa, calm down, Twi! I just wanted to know if you made any progress on the identification thing? I also have to tell the pegasus teams what to look out for, if you remember," Dash interrupted, pointedly derailing the outburst.

Twilight stared at her with a rather anxious look for a few seconds before sighing and visibly exhaling slowly. "I'm worried like crazy, so it's kind of hard to focus. I finished the reconstruction of the print, though, but I hit a snag," she slowly replied, almost as if she had to keep a tight leash on her own thoughts.

"Oh? Uh, what is it, then? If I can ask, of course," Fluttershy requested politely, recovering from her stiff shock at her friend's first outburst.

"That's the snag. I've looked through every book I can think of and I can't find anything quite like this print. So I can only assume that I reconstructed it wrong and have been trying to correct and double check my results," the unicorn explained in a rather listless manner, suddenly looking extremely tired.

"Spending a large amount of time worrying over Mender certainly hasn't helped in that regard. Truly, I kept telling her that he's fully capable of taking care of himself," Rarity assured pleasantly, shifting her bangs out of her face with a soft gesture of her head.

Rainbow nodded grimly, but smiled a heartbeat later. "Well, if it will help your investigation, I suggest you relax a little bit more. Don't freak out on him or anything. We found Mender," she slowly revealed.

Here we go. I dropped down from the window and walked around the side of the building towards the door. Might as well get in place for when they called me in and Twilight undoubtedly blasted me to smithereens. I could still hear them surprisingly well, so it didn't matter too much. Twilight should really do something about soundproofing these walls.

There was a hesitation, and I could only imagine Twilight's face. Literally. "Wait, what?! Why didn't you say so sooner?" she demanded moments later.

"Um, we didn't want you getting worked up. We're really sorry. He's a little hurt, but mostly okay. Please don't be mad," I heard Fluttershy report in response. My ears picked up a light whistling noise, but I ignored it. Fluttershy was always so polite. I definitely liked that about her.

"But I've been so worried! Especially with the state of emergency being called by," she started protesting. The rest was washed out by that whistling noise from before. What the hell? Did somepony want my attention or something?

Looking to the right afforded me several realizations. It wasn't a whistle, but a squeal. Further, Pinkie Pie was arcing through the air at high velocity towards me and was now a meter or so from my exceedingly squishy body. Given just enough time to react, I did the most logical thing.

Letting out my best whimper, I cowered as the ball of pink energy that defied physics itself plowed me off the side of the steps. At this point, I was starting to rather enjoy that weightless sensation of drifting upside down after a large impact. It was a peaceful lull before the inevitable end. Oddly, that kind of fit my life, if I thought about it. Although it could be worse, I suppose. She could be a tiger: sharp pointy ends and all.

"I finally found you! I've been looking absolutely everywhere all day. Nopony told me that you had woken up and I really, really needed to find you. But then I was all walking back home from Sweet Apple Acres and saw you hiding in the bushes outside of Twilight's window. At first I thought that it was totally weird, but then I realized that it was you and I was looking for you. Then I sprinted over here and pounced you before you could get away again! But you already knew that. I'm going to invite you to a party! I have to!" the pink blur of fuzziness and distortion said while standing over my limp, newly broken form.

It all bled together and pooled into one long stream of something I couldn't exactly hear correctly, very similar to how the blood was probably pooling in my undoubtedly fractured skull now. Groaning, I shook my head rapidly in attempts to clear it and make sure she too wasn't a figment of my imagination, lest I be accused of insanity again.

There was a sharp intake of breath almost instantly upon me doing so. "No, no, no! You absolutely have to come. I cannot accept 'no' as an answer! It's a party just for you, any way you want it," she protested, seemingly taking my head shaking as a negative answer.

"W-What?" I managed to stutter out between the throbs my head was giving off, tacking on slowly, "I um, don't even know what you're talking about. Pinkie?" I winced momentarily as I shifted a rather sizable rock out from under my head. This was proving to be a fun day already, and I'd only been awake for a few hours! Well, at least the pain wasn't my fault this time. I was seriously starting to consider admitting myself permanently to a medical facility for the remainder of my undoubtedly short life.

"Of course it's me, Silly! That's my name! I absolutely must throw you an 'I'm really sorry for accidentally poisoning you and almost killing you, but thankfully you're better now' party! I feel super duper bad and really, really need to make it up to you!" she announced in another burst of hyper, almost hysterical ranting. Her eyes got bigger and bigger the longer she talked, her face getting closer and closer to mine until she was glaring directly into my eyes. If I'd been lucid and not likely internally bleeding, I might have been considerably more freaked out and frightened than I currently was.

"Pinkie? What are you doing?" I suddenly heard Rainbow ask. She must have come to investigate either the loud noise of my squishy impact, or my seeming absence from the doorstep. Salvation!

Pinkie squeaked and hopped off me, bouncing around my fallen form like some violent, pre-culturally revolutionized tribal member would around their fallen prey as I cooked over a fire. "I found him out here and really had to invite him to my 'I'm really sorry for accidentally poisoning you and almost killing you, but thankfully you're better now' party! It's urgent!" she explained rapidly, skidding to a halt somewhere near my fallen tail.

I heard hoofsteps and managed to glance over dizzily at the cyan pegasus as she approached. "Um, it kind of looks like you squished him a little. Are you sure he's okay?" she questioned wearily, giving me a visual once-over.

"Of course! He's Mender; practically impossible to keep down!" the pink one assured, giving my back, right leg a solid whack with her hoof.

Oh hell! I still felt things! Giving a yelp of intense agony, I curled over and tucked my poor, mangled leg up, intensifying the shield around it to try to protect it from any further torture. "Pinkie! That was the exact leg he injured..." Dash chewed out, honestly sounding slightly impressed. Either she was surprised I was still conscious, or shocked that Pinkie had managed to select exactly the right leg to hit to get the most reaction out of me.

"Whoopsy! I'll add '... and hurting your leg' onto the party title!" Pinkie assured in a way only she could.

Rainbow rolled her eyes before sarcastically asking, "Sure it will all fit?"

"Better than trying to fit all the injuries you've given him on a banner," Twilight reminded as she walked up next to the now glaring cyan mare. My breathing snagged in a flurry of emotions and I forced myself to look away from the lavender mare. I momentarily saw a look of surprise drift into her expression before doing so.

"Oh dear. Is he okay?" Fluttershy practically whispered as she drifted over and landed next to me, between the now guilty looking Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Glancing over towards her, I managed a gentle smile. She returned it instantly and fluttered closer, carefully drawing my leg back out from under me with a soft hoof motion. I had a fair amount of trust in her and allowed her to pull the leg out and examine it, which gave her an odd, dancing energy in her eyes, almost. I had no idea what the mare was thinking.

Of course, during the whole time I spent gawking at Fluttershy, I totally failed to notice Rarity slip up next to Dash. When I glanced back at the prismatic pony, I started a little when I finally noticed the newcomer. There was a long moment where I stared at her, and she stared back at me with increasingly widening eyes. It was more than a little creepy, and I started edging backwards from her timidly.

"Uh, is there, um, something wrong?" I inquired, doing my best Fluttershy impression.

To my surprise, Pinkie let out a sharp yet excited gasp instead. "Oh my gosh! You have a Cutie Mark!" she squealed instantly thereafter.

"Wait, what?!" Twilight asked, snapping out of her seeming stupor just in time to notice as well.

Rarity interrupted all of us before I could be fatally molested by the pink one, regardless. She rapidly stomped her front hooves back and forth on the dirt in front of me, momentarily freaking out as she glared in what could only be described as unadulterated horror. "Forget the Cutie Mark for now! This is an absolute fashion disaster! This simply must be fixed, stat!" she declared zealously, glaring at my flank.

Glancing backwards, I noticed that my fur was indeed still missing in large stripes along my back, flanks, and butt. Oh. Well it did indeed look kind of strange, but I'd hardly call it...

I was enveloped in a blue aura before I even finished the thought and violently hauled into the air, a flustered and fussing Fluttershy following, wings flapping rapidly. "Rarity! He needs medical attention first," she tried to protest.

"Nonsense! It will not do to have him be treated for such a superficial injury while looking like that. Inexcusable. Thankfully, I have just the thing at home to fix this terrible, terrible catastrophe," she assured vehemently, making me dizzy as she punctuated each point of her reply with a dip in her telekinesis. Oh crap. This day was about to get a lot worse, I had a sneaking suspicion.

"I'll heal him once we get there," Twilight interrupted gently, glancing up at Fluttershy as she trotted after the quickly moving white unicorn.

Rainbow let out a low snickering, a large grin adorning her face as she muttered, "Oh, this I gotta see. You coming, Pinks?"

Pinkie gave an enthusiastic nod, seemingly recovering her spunky, happy go lucky demeanor before bouncing after the small group of ponies now violently escorting me to my probable doom. At least it wasn't apples or frogs...

Chapter 13

Well, I was definitely right about one thing. The day seemed to be destined to get worse and worse. Still, I tried to stay positive about things. I was in desperate need of a bath, so being forced into one was at least covering that aspect. The smells assaulted my poor nose from every conceivable angle, of course. They were deeply root smelling, but with a sharp, acidic after smell. Was that the proper term for that light stinging sensation that one frequently got after sniffing something? Well, I digress.

The nature of the smell did absolutely nothing for the color and texture of the probable gallons of stuff Rarity dumped into the hot water in the middle of her seeming mental breakdown. A thick lather, pink bubbles and all, was drifting well up to my jaw at this point. Due to how slippery it was making my coat, I was having difficulty keeping my head above water at this angle. She was still fidgeting sporadically while zipping here and there in her bathroom around me, looking at labels and various other bottles of all shapes and sizes. I wasn't sure of the norms of society, but this seemed a little on the psychotic side. Still, she was generous enough to attempt to make me look nice at no charge whatsoever, so I really didn't have room to complain. Much. It still seemed like she was more doing this for herself than me.

"I know that the stuff is here somewhere! I'd just gotten an extra-large supply from Zecora. It simply must be found! This is an emergency," Rarity declared as she sped around the bathroom.

The gentle tugging at my back, right leg continued as she talked. I was positioned in a very unnatural manner, almost on my side with my leg sticking out over the side of the tub. This was all to give Twilight as easy access as possible, of course. Fluttershy at least was sympathetic and rested at the head of the tub with her forelegs wrapped around my chest, gently supporting my head and neck above the soap bubbles. I gave her another warm, thankful smile while further hoping that this stuff didn't dye me pink. Thinking about it more, I decided it would also be bad if it made the fur along my butt grow back pink as well.

"So this is a potion? Are you sure it's safe, Rarity?" Twilight questioned somewhere near my injured leg. The gentle massage of heated, magical warmth didn't miss a beat, even though she wasn't exactly concentrating. I was more than a little impressed, honestly. Sure, I could do more precise maneuvers, but she was way more practiced than I was. Oh, and obviously considerably more powerful. Was I allowed to be impressed and irritated at somepony at the same time?

Rarity waived her concerns with a gentle, nonchalant hoof motion. "It's more of a, how do we say, tonic than a crude potion. It simply stimulates hair re-growth in the most natural way possible. There's truly nothing to concern yourself with," the pearly white unicorn assured confidently. I idly wondered how many last words included that last part in the history of, well, everything. I started mentally preparing myself for a horrible, hair-induced demise.

"I dunno. Pink really suits you, Mender. Are you sure we can't make it grow back pink?" Rainbow asked once more, snickering from her position near the end of the tub, across from Twilight.

Sneezing lightly after inhaling an offensive soap bubble, I finally cleared enough of the froth to speak. "For the last time, no! I don't need pink stripes on my butt," I groaned out. This was exactly why I was concerned.

Rainbow started snickering even harder, but Pinkie let out a sharp gasp. "Hey! Is there something wrong with pink?! I know it might be kind of hard to tell, but I happen to really like pink and take offense to that! Think of its feelings!" Pinkie berated loudly from my right, leaning over the side of the shiny, white tub and giving me her standard, bulging glare. Wait, was she being sarcastic about the pink thing? Deciding I couldn't tell, I figured that considering the color having feelings was probably even more absurd, making the whole thought process a moot point. Damn it. I hate it when I do that.

"Weren't you supposed to be apologetic and supportive of him, Pinkie? We needn't add potential drowning and, even worse, fashion crime to your party banner," Rarity reminded gently, calming down visibly upon pulling a rather large keg of something out from under her sink with her magic. Uh, what was that? Wait, bad fashion was worse than death?

Pinkie's eyes went from buggy to nervous as she blinked a few times before releasing an airy giggle. She then tactically retreated out of my field of vision, leaving me even further confused. Of course, it could just be lasting effects from the fresh head trauma.

Rarity distracted me by hauling the keg over to the side of the tub. She then distracted herself by frowning and looking down at me, barely sticking out of the pink bubble ocean. "Although she does have a point. Pink goes very well with blue, and compliments you well. Perhaps you should consider it?" the seamstress reasoned, smiling at me.

I gave her a rather deadpan stare, and she giggled merrily. "Really now. You males shouldn't be nearly so concerned about colors. I mean, really. Pink is a perfectly acceptable color and compliments many things. I see no reason to rule it out because of some brash stereotype that it adversely affects your masculinity. Haven't we progressed past that as a," she started lecturing, causing me to sink into the water a little. It wasn't that I myself didn't like the color. It was more a matter of what other ponies might do to me if I did add it to my wardrobe. I was runty enough already. Of course, there weren't a whole lot of males in town to mock the choice anyway.

"Um, I don't mean to interrupt. Please don't be mad! The bath water is getting a little cool. May it be reheated?" Fluttershy asked carefully in her typical timid fashion.

Rarity hardly looked offended, not that I thought she would be. She gave her timid friend a warm smile, but shook her head. "It shouldn't be necessary, although you're a very kind to be looking over him so well. He should be thoroughly clean now and ready for the application of the tonic," she explained, giving the intimidating looking keg next to her a soft pat.

"I'm pretty much done with his leg, so it should be perfectly fine for him to stand now," Twilight reported, backing off my leg and sitting up again, suddenly reentering my view.

She glanced over at me at the same time I turned to her. We locked eyes and I couldn't turn away suddenly. She seemed conflicted, then seemed to have the same problem as her eyes softened further while watching me. She was acting nice now to me, but I was still a little irritated over her not even considering my proposal. If there really was danger, wasn't it better to be cautious? Still...

"Thank you for healing my leg, Twilight," I finally managed to get out. Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly for a moment, but then softened with an accompanied smile.

Rarity, of course, took that moment to distract me. "Okay then, Mender. Stand up and I'll start gently pouring this stuff on and applying it to the, um, disaster zones with my magic. Hold still while I do, Mender," she instructed politely, giving me a warm nod.

I nodded in understanding as I struggled back onto my stomach. A light test of my leg told me that the lavender unicorn indeed knew exactly what she was doing, and had restored my limb to full working condition. I breathed a sigh of relief and shakily stood up in the bath, letting the pink foam drain off my back as I did so.

"Perfect! Okay, I'm going to start applying it now. Do hold still," the white unicorn instructed, lifting the keg into the air above me. Slight apprehension drifted into my system, but I held it at bay. Just because the last potion, er, tonic from Zecora had ended in utter disaster, didn't mean this one was going to. Right?

Fluttershy gave me an assuring nod, but I heard more giggles from behind me. "You look like a wet rat. I wish I could get a picture," Dash pointed out in an oh so loving fashion. Pinkie clamped both hooves over her muzzle, but I could see the barely restrained grin under them as I glared back at her cyan friend.

All thoughts were interrupted as the cold slime hit my back. "Ah! That stuff is really cold!" I whined, shivering slightly despite my attempts to stay still.

"Oh, you poor thing. You just got out of the warm water, too! I'm sorry," Fluttershy cooed softly, looking extremely sympathetic as she sat up in front of me. "Here, this might warm you up a little."

Before I could even react, she leaned forward and buried my entire face in the crook of her neck, against her left shoulder. Warm, buttercup yellow fur flooded my vision, accompanied by a gentle flowery smell that was absolutely delightful. She herself pushed her muzzle into the mirrored location on me, folding her left wing over my head and ears. Well, she was right about it warming me up. I rapidly felt the blood flood into my cheeks as her mane shadowed out the ceiling light as well.

"Is, um, is it helping?" she asked timidly, a few seconds later. Being pretty much rendered mute and paralyzed, I barely managed a nod of affirmation. Suddenly I was really happy I was facing away from Twilight. She was probably giving my flanks a death glare now. A bit paradoxical, but I'd given up trying to figure the mare out. Females were confusing.

Thankfully the gel stuff started to rapidly warm up. Was there some sort of heating agent in it? "Oh, actually, it's getting nice and warm now. That feels kind of good," I informed quietly. It was a fully welcome, yet very much new sensation to feel Fluttershy smile against my neck. Although I was starting to feel a little guilty. I definitely didn't want to hurt Twilight's feelings.

"Is it supposed to get warm, Rarity?" the aforementioned lavender unicorn asked, sounding intrigued. Well, curious meant Twilight wasn't angry. I'd never seen her both angry and curious at the same time!

"I'm actually not sure. I've never had to use this new formula yet," Rarity returned, sounding interested. The gel got even warmer, and I wondered if it was supposed to compliment some sort of massage technique or similar. Rarity seemed to like that sort of thing, so she probably was interested in using it on herself later, I guessed.

The only problem was that it didn't stop heating up. I frowned as it started to get a little on the uncomfortable side, and questioned, "Uh, is it supposed to stop heating up at some point?"

"What do you mean?" Twilight questioned with a slightly confused sounding inflection behind me.

"Well, uh," I started to voice, when my nose picked up an odd smell. Something was burning. The heat along my back magnified, and I finally risked a glance backwards, apparently just in time to see a light smoke start to come up off my fur. Oh. I was burning.

My voice devolved into panicked whimpering as I locked up, completely unsure of what to do. "Water! Wash it off!" I managed to yelp, not wanting to leap out of the tub and spray the stuff all over my friends. Oh, and Rarity's floor. She'd probably murder me out of principle.

Twilight looked surprised and started to open her mouth, horn lighting up. Pinkie beat everypony to the punch, however, yelling out "I know!" before violently kicking the side of the tub with both of her back hooves. Oh crap.

Rarity barely managed to leap out of the way, and Fluttershy made a panicked squeak as I was torn sideways with the tipping of the tub. I hit the bathroom floor first, and was washed over momentarily by the soapy water before the tub flipped completely and landed on top of me. Unfortunately, Pinkie's violent kick had ensured that a great deal of water was still in the tub, and the slow leak around the edges of the tub and floor didn't prevent me from suddenly finding myself submerged in the water.

The soap burned into my eyes instantly, causing a garbled scream as I slammed them shut in pain. Screaming underwater isn't the most effective. That's when I realized that the soap in the water was what was reacting to the tonic Rarity had put on me. The water started to heat up as well, bringing back a familiar sizzling sensation along all of my skin this time. Damn it.

"Pinkie!" I heard both Rainbow and Rarity scream in an echoed fashion outside of my prison of agony. Rainbow?

The tub was kicked off me a second later, allowing the water to release instantly across the entirety of the bathroom floor. I gasped for air, unable to see anything at all. The smells of burning fur and now identified acid hit my nose along with the sizzling sound. I heard somepony slam the bathroom window open a second later. My guesses were on Twilight, who probably realized the fumes were potentially poisonous.

"Horse apples! Hang on, Mender!" Dash shouted from practically on top of me, it sounded like. Two hooves latched onto my sides and I was yanked backwards, giving a yelp. We hit open air suddenly, and I felt the breeze of outside along my burning skin.

Then both of us landed in water, somehow.

That was how I became furless. At least I'm told that I have no fur. Rarity sounded hysterical when she had told me, so it was probably true. Although she could also be upset over her probably badly burned, stained bathroom floor. Both probably caused that reaction, I decided.

"Ugh, hold still, Mender. I'm trying to fix your skin," Twilight reminded nonchalantly. Considering it was my skin and I very much felt it, I didn't think the reminder was needed. Still, her regenerative magic didn't exactly feel like a massage this time around.

"I'm so going to need a bigger banner," Pinkie groaned from somewhere to my left.

Rarity gave a weary sigh in front of me, but a few meters away. I think we were in her living room, although I only had their word for it. "I'm going to need a new bathroom floor after this. Zecora could have warned me that the new formula doesn't get along with conditioner well," the white unicorn complained.

"Relax. I'm going to need new hooves after this! They're still orange," Dash griped from behind me, sounding closer than she was in the bathroom.

A sting of sympathy went through me in that regard. "Thank you again, Rainbow," I muttered quietly, not bothering to move my head. It wasn't like I knew exactly where she was anyway. Looking in the wrong direction was liable to be embarrassing.

There was a definite pause before a light sigh sounded out. "I wasn't gonna let you just lie there, burning. We're both lucky the rain barrel was right outside," she returned, sounding somber.

"I thank you as well, Rainbow. That was very brave. You could have been hurt by the acid as well," Twilight chimed in, seemingly finishing my lower back and moving on to my flanks. At least I assumed she had finished it, as I could feel something apart from agony from the area, now.

"Aww, stop it. No need to get all mushy on me," the cyan mare groaned, sounding embarrassed. I smirked lightly as I could almost feel her blush from here. Then I realized that Twilight thanked her for saving me. Twilight was slowly getting past what happened, it felt like.

Pinkie let out another whine again, adding, "I'm going to throw both of you a really awesome party after this! I really don't like hurting my friends."

"You had the best of intentions, dear. You simply didn't know the soap was what was causing it. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Rarity assured warmly.

As much as I wished it hadn't happened in the first place, I had to nod in agreement. "She's right, Pinkie. You didn't know," I tacked on, ignoring the subtle stinging sensation.

Something warm and with actual fur hugged me around the neck as I rested on my stomach. "You're just too nice, Mender! I promise that I'm going to really make this up to you," Pinkie insisted from a few inches away. I was cold without fur, so I wasn't about to protest her hugging me. That and I was more than a little fond of the pink mare. She really grew on me after awhile, even if she was a little on the hyper and clumsy side.

"Mmm, you're warm," I muttered quietly and in a raspy tone, having not realized exactly how nice it was to have fur. My throat gave its complaints at my use, but I hardly cared. There was a momentary pause and I felt the pony hugging me tense slightly. I let out a tiny shiver as she withdrew slightly, the cold air silently assaulting my now hyper-sensitive skin.

A light giggle, starting to sound like Pinkie as she got back to normal again. "Oh, without your fur, you're cold! Poor little guy," she swooned playfully. I couldn't argue with her, despite how the adjectives were vaguely undesirable. It must be hardwired into the male brain to dislike the word 'little', I realized.

"Rainbow! We need to warm Mender up. Wanna help with your big, soft wings?" the mare asked a second later, leaning back down and holding my head again.

"Aww, why can't Fluttershy-" Rainbow started, before hesitating and grinding to a halt before continuing, "Oh yeah, she left. Ugh. I guess I can, but it's kinda mushy."

A soft, familiar feeling body rested into my back hesitantly a moment late. That was far faster than it should have taken Rainbow to get over to me, however. There was an almost tactile silence as the soft, warm fur slipped up my back and ended in two legs gently wrapping around my chest. The sensation felt familiar, somehow.

"Whoa, Twilight?" Pinkie asked hesitantly after several awkward moments passed. Twilight?! I tensed up and tried to look behind me, before realizing how stupid that was.

A pause. "Yes, Pinkie?" the lavender unicorn in question asked from directly next to my ear. Oh dear. It was indeed Twilight who was residing on my back. Mixed emotions assaulted me, but she was oh so warm and soft.

"Weren't you two mad at each other? But now you're holding him!" the pink one pointed out in an extremely obvious yet self-aware manner. How she said it so we knew she was aware that it was obvious, I have no idea.

A gentle cough sounded from behind Pinkie, followed by, "That is an extremely blunt question, Pinkie. Perhaps we shouldn't pry? Although certainly, if you require our aid to talk things out, we'll obviously be here for you." Rarity sounded thoughtful, but more than a little curious as well. I recalled that she did love to gossip, but doubted she'd let it overwhelm her sense of propriety.

"I'm surprised she doesn't mind that he's all furless and diced up. With all of those scars, it looks like he got stuck in a blender," Rainbow chipped in, adding a light snicker after.

"Rainbow! That's a little rude. I don't mind what he looks like. He'll always be Mender to me," Twilight defended, and I felt her hooves hook together under my chest, letting her squeeze me lightly from above.

A light warmth shot through me, and I felt the telltale heat drifting into my cheeks. Pinkie started giggling merrily, and I realized that my blush was probably quite a bit more pronounced without any fur to hide it.

"Oh, that's very noble of you, Twilight. I happen to agree as well. It doesn't hurt that scars are somewhat appealing to me, though. Each one says something about the pony they belong to, telling a strong history," Rarity agreed in her usual sophistication, but sounding a little strange. There was something to her tone that I couldn't place.

"Yeah! Scars mean you're super tough and have lived through lots. They're kinda sexy, right Dashie?" Pinkie asked, causing me to blush even more.

This conversation, regardless of my taking part in it in the first place, was getting more than a little embarrassing. Rainbow let out an awkward sounding, "Mmph" noise, and then remained silent.

"Oooh, she thinks so too!" Pinkie cooed, sounding a little more pleased than she should, probably.

"Pinkie!" Dash berated, sounding a little annoyed this time.

It didn't matter as the conversation was thankfully interrupted before it could spiral out of control. A light squeaking noise, sounding remarkably like a certain timid pegasus I knew, sounded throughout my head as I heard a door open up. "I'm back. I have the two ointments, Twilight," Fluttershy announced from somewhere far behind me, sounding a little flustered. Probably the main entrance, if I remembered what the inside of the building looked like still. There was that strange sensation again. Focusing a little harder this time, I suddenly saw the faint image of an almost spilt bag of supplies and a buttercup yellow hoof extending out quickly to catch them, just in time. What was that?!

"I, um, think I got everything. Hard and soft tissue treatment for both hooves and eyes, skin salve, throat syrup, and stain cleaner. Uh, for Rarity's bathroom of course. I hope it helps," the timid yellow pegasus informed, landing somewhere near me. I decided that yet again, this wasn't the best place to ask her about the effect.

"Oh, you're a lifesaver, dear! I'll save the bathroom for later. Mender and Rainbow are the highest priority right now," Rarity decreed.

Twilight nodded against me, gently explaining, “It would be a good idea to let the fumes clear out up there anyway. I’m not sure what they’d do to a pony if breathed in.” Oh, acid. I forgot about that. Actually, I was kind of lucky it wasn’t any more potent than it turned out to be.

"It's just my hooves. Take care of Mender first. He hurts, can barely talk, and is blind as a bat," Rainbow requested gently as I heard Fluttershy start to unpack things next to my head.

Fluttershy let out a soft giggle next to me that was extremely pleasing to the ears before commenting, "That's very kind of you, Rainbow. Still, getting yours set up while Mender's eyes heal won't be any trouble at all. You just need to soak your hooves in this stuff."

Fluttershy always had everypony’s best interest in mind. She was so sweet like that. Although my anger was fading now and I was starting to also remember why I liked Twilight as well. Even though she could freak out big time and be a little unreasonable, she still cared deeply for her friends.

"Mmm, take your time. He makes a decent pillow," Twilight murmured lazily right into my ear. I smirked. Of course, her caustic wit at this point was something of an endearment. She's grown on me, and we really do share a lot in common.

"Is that what they call it now?" Rainbow teased, confusing me a little. Call what now?

Twilight groaned and, in lieu of answering, buried her face into the nape of my neck. I blushed lightly but didn't move, simply letting her rest there. I heard movement in front of me at the same time. Pinkie's skin contact left and was replaced by nothing but the chilly air. I didn't have to wait long however, before somepony started gently removing the wrap around my eyes. A soft, flowery scent wafted into my nose and I smiled. "Fluttershy," I whispered, voice unable to go much higher due to increased pain.

"Oh!" she spoke, sounding startled before asking, "How did you know it was me?"

Pinkie gasped almost instantly before I could so much as think, questioning, "Did you get your sight back? Can you see what I'm doing?!" I then heard the distinct sound of her tongue sticking out, as if she were at the doctor's office or something.

"Pinkie, his eyes are closed," Fluttershy pointed out weakly, probably not being heard over Pinkie's ridiculous 'Ah!' sound.

"She's sticking her tongue out. Oh, and you're the only one who smells like fresh cut flowers," I explained simply, still smiling.

"Oh, um, I see," Fluttershy whispered quietly, pausing again in the removal of my bandages. I didn't need to see to guess fairly accurately that she was blushing. Even just in my imagination, it was adorable! I smiled wider as she stopped.

"You're such a sweet talker. The most charming part is, I don't suspect that you're aware of it," Twilight mumbled into my ear, earning a giggle from Fluttershy. Wait, sweet talker? Wasn't that somepony who uses false praise to get something? But Fluttershy really did smell like flowers! It wasn't like I was lying.

"He's just honest, dear. Possibly too honest for his own good, in some cases. I'm honestly surprised Applejack hit it off the worst with him," Rarity continued as Fluttershy took my eye wrappings off. Blotches of light greeted me through my yet closed eyelids. I knew that it was significantly less than what it should be given Rarity's well-lit rooms.

A quiet, yet sharp intake sounded from the mare right in front of me. I swallowed wearily. There was no feeling coming from my eyes, and I felt them almost glued shut by something. They probably didn't look all that healthy. I felt for Fluttershy. She was such a gentle soul, but she had to see some truly terrible injuries. The only reason I could see for her having the medicine in the first place is that she's had to deal with this in her animals before.

"It's not good. The medicine will numb them and help heal, but without magic..." Fluttershy assessed softly. I felt a warm hoof brush along my left temple, probably cleaning the skin a little.

Twilight leaned forwards on me and let out a giggle. "That's what I'm here for, Fluttershy. It's okay. I'm sure he'll recover fully," she assured gently. More for Fluttershy than myself, it sounded. There was no direct reply. She probably nodded or something. Regardless, I felt her tilt my head up and simply let her do whatever.

"This might hurt, but I need you to open your eyes to get the medicine in them. The liquid will make them feel better, so it will only hurt for a couple seconds. I'm sorry..." Fluttershy requested timidly.

"I understand," I managed to rasp out before gathering my legs under me. I didn't want to accidentally hit anypony if I jerked. Not that I was looking forward to the pain, but some things are just unavoidable.

Gritting my teeth together as firmly as I could, I yanked open my eyes with as much speed as I could muster. The blotches of light immediately shifted to blotches of color. After that, all I saw was agony. I didn't even know one could see agony! My breathing snagged on the intake, making me dizzy when combined with the twin spears of pain that just smashed into my skull. The distinctive metallic taste drifted at the corners of my tongue at the same time that all the blood seemingly drained out of my head.

Then Fluttershy hit me with the medicine. At first, all it did was make me give a raspy yelp and flinch away. Mere seconds later, however, it just stopped. The pain vanished possibly faster than it arrived. Then I realized that I actually couldn't feel my eyes at all. It was an exceedingly strange sensation, beaten only by the fact that I still could only see splotches of color, even though I knew my eyes were open.

"Does it hurt now? I can put more in if you need it!" Fluttershy quickly offered, gently shifting me back into a lying position. After a momentary assessment, I decided that I actually couldn't feel a majority of my face, and shook my head softly to decline her offer.

"I'll take over then, Fluttershy. Give him a little of the throat medicine, then help Rainbow?" Twilight suggested gently, probably more to assure her that I didn't need any more of the eye stuff. Twilight shifted in front of me then and switched with Fluttershy, from what I could feel.

I was distracted shortly thereafter by a warm cup being pressed to my lip. A thermos? “I mixed it up while I was there. It’s best when mixed in tea, I discovered. Oh, um, if you don’t like tea, I can go back home and mix it into something else, of course! It’s just what I use for sore throats when I’m not feeling well and, um…” the shy pegasus started to explain before trailing off.

I gave her my best warm smile before shaking my head and accepting the cup. It was surprisingly good, I decided after a few sips. I'd never had much tea before, but she could definitely give Rarity's a run for her bits. It was smooth and had a light minty aftertaste that covered up the normally bitter tang. If there was medicine in it, I certainly couldn't taste it. Moments later, I realized further that there was indeed medicine in it, as my throat went pleasantly numb.

My expression must have been that of happiness, as Fluttershy let out a pleased squeak a moment later. I smiled again and nodded to the yellow mare. "That will help numb your throat, and contains a healing mixture to repair. Zecora is really good at making potions, despite, um, your bad experiences. Please don't be upset with her," she timidly requested.

"Yeah! It was totally my fault that you got too much truth serum. Oh, and got coated in acid. Oh yeah, and the kicking your leg thing. I'm gonna need a bigger banner!" the energetic pink one suddenly declared, sounding as if making a mental note to herself. Oddly, even when sounding guilty, she didn't lose a drop of her normal energy. It kind of made me wonder when and how she actually recovered it all. Did she go home at night and crash in the most epic fashion I could ever witness? There was indeed something to be said about giving your all to everything, if so. It was a little depressing if you thought too hard about it. Kind of like my battalion's motto that I vaguely remembered. Translated, it was something akin to 'Live Free, Die Hard', if I recalled correctly. Although fairly accurate, as we were dumped on the front lines most of the time, if my most recent flashback was to be believed.

The sudden magical current running through the front of my face snapped me out of my dour mental monologue almost instantly, thankfully. I blinked with neither sight nor feeling, a little concerned for what was happening. I assumed Twilight was the cause of the sudden, strange sensation, but then I remembered what usually happened when I assumed something. Thankfully, she explained it shortly after beginning.

"I've never healed something as fragile or complex as eyes before, so I don't trust myself to do it properly the first time. Instead, I'm relying on the slow regeneration the potion Fluttershy gave you bestows, and then accelerating the process," the amazingly brilliant unicorn explained. Well, she'd deny that herself, probably, but I certainly thought so. It really meant something that she wasn't willing to reduce me to an experiment when it really mattered. What Dash had said earlier came to mind again. She really did seem to honestly care for me, even if both of us sometimes forget that. I suppose fights are inevitable, even in the best of relationships. Which means we should expect a lot of them.

Rainbow snickered immediately. "Wow. You just said something that I actually could follow this time," she praised, with no small hinting of sarcasm.

Pinkie giggled at the undertones before asking, "But he'll be super duper fine after this, right? He'll get his sight back? Seeing things is important!" There was the slightest hinting of hysteria at the back of her voice, which was actually kind of disturbing the longer I thought about it. I couldn't imagine Pinkie being serious to any degree without involving the destruction of the world, or something of similar effect.

"Well, in theory. Restoration of chemical burns to tender skin has been done before, but I don't recall any cases where the eyes were involved. So far, the only notable cases involved horns, noses, a few examples of wing tissue, and in one unfortunate event, male genitalia." Twilight paused there, and I felt a shudder in her magical current that oddly matched the one going down my spine. I didn't even want to know how that happened.

Pinkie continued, oblivious of course. "So it will work on his eyes?!" she asked again, a little more frantically this time.

Twilight sighed and focused more energy into my skull. I hope I didn't get some sort of magical brain tumor or something. "I don't know, Pinkie. It should and has a high probability of working, but it's never been done before," she reiterated.

"Relax, Pinks. Mender's one tough stallion. He'll be fine," Rainbow assured calmly, expressing a great deal of faith in me yet again. Well, she was definitely living up to her reputation. I'd never had somepony show such loyalty and faith in me. Well, to my knowledge anyway. I couldn't help but blush a little, somewhat unsure of how to handle such an expression.

"Okay, Rainbow, here you go," Fluttershy suddenly whispered from a little ways behind me and to the left. Whoa! I hadn't even realized that she left. I guess there were perks to being quiet all the time. She'd make a wicked assassin. A heartbeat went by, then I reconsidered. No, she'd probably be the worst assassin in the universe. Followed very closely by myself. She'd decide to rehabilitate the target until they were a functioning member of society again, and I'd trip and fall on my weapon during my first mission.

"Uh, and all I have to do is put my hooves in this? I really don't like my hooves touched!" Rainbow inquired, sounding a bit flustered. I was intrigued, but decided against saying anything. As defenseless as I was at the moment, tempting fate just seemed extra stupid in this case. I can't make it too easy.

"I'm sure, Rainbow. This will heal the outer layer of your hooves that got burned, turning them the odd color," Fluttershy explained. It suddenly dawned on me that the timid yellow pegasus actually knew quite a bit about medicine and treating injuries. She explained things simply, however, so far showing no need to boast about the knowledge. I made a mental note to hopefully remember to ask her about her knowledge later.

Idly, I wondered what Rarity and Pinkie were doing while I waited. I picked up snickering and a few whispers, but it seemingly moved to the other room. Her kitchen, if I recall? Knowing Rarity, they were gossiping or something. Ah well. The constant current of magic running through my face and head was starting to actually get a little relaxing, and I felt myself slowly getting sleepier and sleepier. It had been a long day, seeming as if the day before just bled into it in one long jumble. I doubted that the sleep I got last night was all that restful, if I was truly asleep in the first place. Coma, came to mind instead.

A light humming noise from Twilight snapped me out of it. Instinctively, I looked up at her before remembering that I couldn’t see. Then I surprised the hell out of myself by seeing a fuzzy, lavender blur instead of almost nothing. “This is strange. It was supposed to speed up the recovery, but this is almost too fast. Plus the effected zones of the tonic are far too spread out to be standard deviation,” the unicorn muttered, almost to herself as I saw her lean in for closer examination, the purple, fuzzy glow from her horn flaring up.

“That wasn’t in the other cases?” I asked quietly, voice already feeling better from the medicine. Of course, the other cases probably didn’t involve an extradimensional traveler. I really don’t like to consider it, but I’m probably a fairly unique case in Equestria. I think.

She smiled, but shook her head. “Not exactly. I mean, the magical healing mixes well with the potion effects, but this is almost as if your eyes are taking advantage of the potion effects themselves and forcing the recovery even faster. They’re reacting very strangely.”

“Maybe because I’m not originally from Equestria?” I suggested, delighted in the fact that I could see her now when I looked up.

“It could be that your genetic makeup is different from ours, although this seems almost intentional on your body’s part. I take it you can see me again, as your pupils are tracking my motions?” she observed, peeking down at me again.

I smiled wider and nodded. Hers became a grin, and then she surprised me by looking around carefully, to each side of herself. I glanced about too, wondering what she was looking for. Fluttershy was to my right now, smiling gently at me as well. Dash was close to her, looking back and forth between myself and her hooves that were stuck in a small, purple tub in front of her. That was undoubtedly the mixture Fluttershy brought. Seemingly nothing out of the ordinary in the situation that Twilight would be interested in, I decided. Well, nothing out of the ordinary apart from the various injuries we all had.

Then I realized what Twilight was looking for when she nodded to herself and leaned down further. Oh, she was looking for observers. Specific observers it would seem. There was no further time for realizations before she lightly kissed me directly on the muzzle, pushing against me warmly but not forcefully. What had I done to deserve this?!

“I’m glad you’re back as well,” she whispered, a few seconds later upon breaking the kiss. “Please don’t run away again?” Fluttershy now sported a light blush, and Dash was grinning at us. I smiled softly up at her, noticing a warm blush similar to the one I felt on my own cheeks.

“Are Mender’s eyes about done, if I may ask?” Rarity inquired, sounding as if she was a mere few feet behind Twilight. Twilight leapt back and away as if burned, blush magnifying a few fold.

It took her a few tries, but she nodded rapidly. “He’s definitely healing up. Uh, yeah, totally healing up nicely!” she assured, a little too abruptly for her own good.

The white unicorn gave her a slightly skeptical glance, but nodded politely, seemingly deciding not to ask about it. “Well, regardless, I have retrieved the hair regrowth tonic from upstairs. The bathroom isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but I’d like to treat Mender’s condition first. He simply can’t go outside like he is!” Rarity declared, looking a little frightening again. I shrank down slightly, but reminded myself that Twilight would stop her short of killing me. I hoped.

“Relax, Mender. You’re thoroughly cleansed of the soap that caused it before. It should work perfectly fine this time," Twilight assured, blush finally fading a little bit.

Looking back over at Rarity, I saw that she was already putting away the vile jug again. Even though it was a little fuzzy still, I could tell that smell from anywhere now that it was thoroughly engrained in my memory. Sighing, I realized that I wasn't going to be given a choice in the matter.

Rainbow's snickering sent a pulse of irritation down my back. "Come on, Mender. Worst case scenario, I have to dump you back into a rain barrel. Ya don't want to look all pink and fleshy until your fur grows back, do ya?" she reasoned bluntly.

Shaking my head wearily, I finally gave in and sighed. "Fine. Just try to hurry, because that stuff is cold," I whined. I might as well get this over with. Rarity gave a somewhat overzealous grin before bringing the jug over my back.

That was how I became a four foot wide furball. With a deadpan, mildly annoyed expression, I sat there on my haunches as Rarity did her best to fend the fur away from my face and eyes with deft use of three pairs of scissors at once. I was a little apprehensive with that many sharp, moving objects drifting around my head, but I suppose it was better than suffocating.

"The more I consider it, the more I think that I might have used slightly too much tonic," Rarity deduced dryly, giving the top of my head a shave again, only to have the bottom start to regrow into the spot she just cleared.

"You don't say?" Twilight questioned sarcastically, watching the white unicorn work from a good two meters away, as if concerned the fur would lash out at any moment and attack her.

Rainbow, of course, was still laughing. She had rolled off the couch a couple of minutes ago, but it didn't really faze her much. She continued laughing hysterically and occasionally getting another look at me.

Pinkie was still on the couch, smiling warmly towards me. I was honestly surprised she hadn't had the same enthusiasm as her cyan friend. She'd laughed a little when I started rapidly becoming the world's largest duster, but simply seemed happy at this point. I kept occasionally glancing at her to make sure there were no surprises coming my way, but she only perked and gave me a nod each time I did so. Which meant she was continuously staring at me the entire time. I found that to be a little more unnerving than if she were laughing.

Fluttershy was drifting around in the air above me still. She wielded the largest comb Rarity owned, and was continuously attempting to ensure that my newly acquired fur didn't become one massive knot. I was extremely thankful for that, as Rarity might be encouraged to attack it with extreme prejudice.

Twilight shook her head again, giving me a light smile before going back to her strange construction project in front of her. I actually didn't know why she was still hanging around, having occasionally complained that she really should be working on the Everfree Forest Analysis job. She seemed absorbed in her current project, however. She'd taken two of the cardboard cores from Rarity's fabric rolls and merged them together using magic. They now formed a crude, upside down 'Y' shape. I had honestly no idea what she was planning on doing with it.

"Oh thank Celestia. I think it's finally slowing down some. Now all we need to do is trim and style it, and you'll be right back to normal!" she assured, suddenly looking proud of herself. I remained healthily skeptical with an expression of stoic irritation. Technically, this was all her fault to begin with, for the most part. She was the one who went compulsive on my fur. I could hardly hold it against Pinkie, who was only trying to save me.

"Oh, we're going to style it, too? Isn't that strange for a stallion?" Fluttershy asked timidly, halting momentarily over my head. It was? Wait, what were they going to 'style' it as?!

Rarity gently scoffed at the idea, waving her hoof in the air as if to dismiss it. "Nonsense, my dear. There are many styles that a stallion may apply that can make them look simply dashing! Have you seen that kind Dr. Whooves walking about town? Such a sophisticated look could really help Mender impress the mares!"

I gave her another glare before asking, "What if I don't want to impress the mares, Rarity?" Twilight would probably kill me if I even looked like I was vaguely considering it, after all.

Rarity gave a blank look before smiling politely back at me. "Well, I'm sure the stallions would also appreciate an air of sophistication," she returned with no hesitation whatsoever. Rainbow laughed even harder.

I sighed wearily and slapped my forehead with a hoof. Or tried too, until I realized I couldn't lift my foreleg up that far with all of the fur in the way. "Look, I already feel badly enough for all of your generosity. All of you have been treating me really well, and I don't have a single thing I can repay you with!" I protested, settling for stomping my hoof on the ground instead.

"Really nice except for that whole acid thing, the potion poisoning, the leg kicking, the multiple concussions, lacerations, and general injuries..." Twilight started listing. I was about to protest further when I noticed she'd lined one end of the tube she made up with my face. My eyes widened instead.

"Don't forget the mental trauma, dear," Rarity amended, a hinting of irritation in her voice before shaking her head. Twilight shot her a rather caustic glare. "Besides, Mender, I don't believe you fully understand exactly how much you're saving my career by agreeing to this little soiree. Potentially importing my designs to Canterlot via multiple important and wealthy ponies? For the price of one suit? I'm not even considering that I'm taking up your time for a day and a half to two days! Truly, I should be paying you, Mender!" she further explained, sounding just a little hysterical towards the end. I found it a little hard to believe that not arriving with the guest requested on her invitation would honestly make her look that bad, but she was the expert, not I.

I suddenly tried not to chuckle. Yeah, Mender, you definitely aren't an expert at social situations! Whap! A small, rubber ball skipped off my muzzle and bounced across the floor. I was momentarily stunned before skeptically glancing back over at Twilight. She was oddly taking notes in a notepad that I hadn't seen her carrying prior. The tiny bouncy ball was caught out of the air with her magic as she lined it up in her slanted tube again. Wait, why was she doing this? I glanced at the 'Y' fork and raised an eyebrow. Okay, so it had a fifty-fifty chance of hitting me.

"Oooh, it's long enough to braid, Rarity! He looks so cute," Fluttershy suddenly announced, snapping me out of my curiosity with a replaced sensation of dread.

Glancing back as best as I could, I saw that she had stopped combing me now and was unfortunately braiding my fur along the side of my head. My ears drooped as I felt what little there was left of my dignity slipping away.

"Oh, he looks simply darling! Maybe I won't trim his mane as much if you're going to do that instead," Rarity agreed in a whimsical tone. She totally ignored my death glare, of course. Fluttershy may have been off limits for my irritation, but I held nothing back for the others.

Rarity gave me a knowing smile as Fluttershy squeaked and went to work braiding with a slightly surprising level of enthusiasm. Crap. Well, she seemed to really want to do it, so how was I supposed to say no? The adorable yellow mare hummed pleasingly as she flitted about above.

Thankfully, the pearly white unicorn started to make headway as the tonic undoubtedly wore off. Another ball skipped off my face followed by more furious scribbling sounds, but I simply ignored it this time. Twilight seemed interested in the results as she peered at her notepad. Changing things up a bit, she shifted the contraption to the right so that the other end lined up with me instead.

Whap. So far she was scoring a hundred percent, as the ball took the other path and managed to hit me yet again. She frowned and recorded the results before trying once again. Seeing a pattern forming, I was a little amused when she got frustrated and flipped it over to the other side. What, was she worried about defects in the cardboard? After six more tests with both ends, and twelve more collisions with my head, I saw her start to get a slightly crazed look in her eyes. "I don't understand! Why is this happening?!" she asked in obvious frustration. What part of the universe hating me did she not get?

Rainbow, who had been watching the entire time, started to snicker before asking, "What are you doing, trying to find a measurement of how much gravity hates him?" I rolled my eyes, blaming her for secretly stealing my thought, no matter how true it might have been.

Twilight didn't respond the way I thought she would, though. In fact, she didn't respond at all for a good ten seconds or so. Even Rainbow went from smirking to curious, to looking slightly worried. "Wait, gravity? You might just have something there, Rainbow!" she suddenly exclaimed, whipping back around to face me and launching the cardboard construction halfway through the spin.

I gave her an uneasy grimace. "What do you mean, gravity? You're not going to throw me off a building or something, are you?" I questioned. It might have been a mildly paranoid guesstimate, but sometimes having a healthy air of caution was useful!

She momentarily scowled before playfully batting me on the nose. "Relax, Mender. I told you that I wasn't going to hurt you anymore, and I meant it. Gravity isn't something I had considered, though. It's unlikely, as in order to have the required gravitational pull to manipulate something already containing inertia, you'd require a huge amount of mass, but it's worth a few tests, right?" she reasoned. Wait, was she seriously suggesting that I had a gravitational field strong enough to draw things towards me, to effect things that were not only inside of an atmosphere but already acting under its own inertia? The pure calculation escaped me at the moment, but even with some generous rounding, I doubted that was possible. Unless she was considering magical means, of course.

Eh, what the heck? If the experiments were as mundane as bouncing a rubber ball off my head, I wasn't all that concerned. Yeah, I'd probably live to regret that thought. Maybe. I nodded nervously, and Twilight let out a squeal of delight.

"Yes! I've been wanting to test the source of your seemingly insurmountable bad luck since meeting you! This is gonna be great! Hurry up, Rarity. Mender and I need to get back to the library for some experiments." She hopped lightly on her hooves while going on about it, and I sighed. Her version of 'great' seemed to significantly differ from mine. Sure, it would be nice to quantify so I knew what to avoid, but the process of getting there was liable to be painful, knowing the aspect of what we were testing. How else would one test 'bad luck' without subjecting the participant to events which could go horribly, horribly wrong?

"Twilight dear, weren't you supposed to examine those things brought back from the forest? I hate to spoil your fun, of course, but you mustn't keep the Princesses waiting," Rarity reminded in a rather profoundly proper tone. It was probably to my benefit that she had.

Twilight stopped bouncing and sighed wearily. "Yeah, I know. I'm just frustrated that I can't seem to properly identify the creature," she explained, energy seemingly leaking out of her at an alarming rate.

"It might be a mutation. You should take potential variances into consideration," I suggested after a few seconds' consideration. My voice sounded strange to me for a moment, in a detached sort of way. There was the brief flickering of bodies strewn out before me, gaping burn holes seared into their flesh and horrible disfigurations present across their entire forms. The image was gone and instant later, and I realized once again that it was a memory. We had been familiar with mutations as well, it would seem. But the situation itself with no context didn't say much. Who was responsible for the mutations; us or the Grosh? Hopefully I would never find out.

"I never thought two ponies could say so much, yet so little at the same time," Dash muttered, smirking again at the two of us.

Twilight rolled her eyes again, but wore a smile this time. "Oh hush. You're probably right. I shouldn't doubt that I did the calculations wrong after I re-checked them all night. It could be a significant mutation to a manticore. The claws are very wrong, though," Twilight explained, agreeing with me for the first time in a while now.

Rarity, who was down to my shoulders now with her trimming, smiled and nodded to her in assurance. "Of course, I have no doubt that you'll reach the right conclusion, Twilight. I have the utmost faith in you, and it's obvious that the town, and even the Princesses do as well. Even if you can't identify it exactly, giving a detailed explanation of what you have discovered would be invaluable, no?" Rarity reasoned calmly, which was a little surprising given the topic. One would think a resident in the town threatened would want a more definite solution to the state of emergency. Yet the white unicorn seemed the epitome of calmness and tranquility. Ironically, she threw more of a fuss over my traumatized fur than potential mortal danger in the forest.

Twilight smiled pleasantly at her friend, giving a gentle nod in return. At this point, however, I really had to ask. "You seem really calm, Rarity. Shouldn't you be more concerned with the danger in the forest? That there might be danger to yourself or those you love? That, uh, I haven't seen Pinkie Pie for a good fifteen minutes?" I questioned, changing my flow halfway through as I looked around in realization. Wasn't the pink pony just on the couch next to me?! Glancing about, I confirmed my fears in that she was now entirely absent.

Rarity banished all doubts with an amazingly feminine giggle. "Truly, you are a Gentlecolt to be concerned for my feelings, but a Lady simply must remain composed and dignified at all times. Sure, I'm concerned about the forest, but I must remain calm to deal with it. Oh, and Pinkie wandered back into the kitchen to say something, but left through the kitchen window a few seconds before I returned, parting not but with a sudden gasp," Rarity spoke softly, brushing her mane smoothly out of her eyes. Why the window?!

Rainbow perked up from her hoof bath, both ears twitching slightly. "Ooh, something tells me another party is coming up, then. Finally! All this stress and work makes me really want to kick back and relax," she lazily exclaimed, drooping her head in a tired looking manner.

"Regardless, I don't think anypony needs to worry about it. No matter what I can identify it as, it will only go as far as to let everypony know what to look for. The Princess will probably decide to send a group of hunters to try to capture the creature," Twilight furthered, nodding softly to herself while looking just as tired as before.

Rarity nodded sympathetically before suggesting, "All the better to get it out of your mind sooner rather than later, Dear. We can make sure Mender gets returned to you after he's properly maintained." The whimsical, nonchalant manner in which she referenced me as an item was both shocking and depressing at the same time. Didn't I get a say in this? I distinctly remembered Rainbow's advice this morning about possibly not staying with Twilight anymore.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I'll see you later today, Mender. Try to arrive intact, this time," the lavender mare requested as she slowly stood up again and shook herself while stretching. Exhaling quietly after I realized I wasn't going to be spared from the braiding or humiliation, I slowly lowered myself into a lying position. Might as well be as comfortable as possible while being psychologically tormented.

"Worry not. We'll make sure nothing happens to the dear," Rarity assured merrily, lightly trimming along my back now.

Twilight gave a nod, then a final smile towards me before heading towards the door.

Chapter 14

In all honesty, I really didn't like daytime. There were numerous reasons, but a select few came to mind right away. Squinting from the glare, I slowly made my way towards the giant tree near the center of town. The Sun hadn't set yet and was at that frustratingly annoying angle where it partially blinded you when looking a certain direction. I certainly didn't need any help being blinded right now! The heat was stifling at the moment as well, given my longer than average coat. Rarity wasn't able to fully complete her trimming after Sweetie Belle and crew stormed into the place chirping about a slumber party. It had been a nightmare.

"Why are you so fluffy?" "Aww, you're adorable!" "Yer lookin' ah little haggard there." All three fillies seemed to think something different about my look. Well, actually I think Apple Bloom was more commenting on my expression than anything. That didn't stop Sweetie Belle from pouncing on me and using me as a makeshift teddy bear.

Apparently it was hard to cut my fur with her clinging to me, so now I was a little more, well, fuzzy than usual. Fluffy, if you would. Oh, and the part of my mane consisting of my bangs was braided, much to my dismay. Given my lack of a masculine build, I sincerely believed I could pass for a female at the moment, now. Not that current company seemed to mind.

The timid yellow mare walked quietly to my right, in as much of a hurry to reach my destination as I was, which was to say, not at all. Fluttershy seemed withdrawn and distracted, but still maintained a smile on her face. She was quite pretty to look at, and I caught myself peeking over at her more than once. She'd insisted she had nothing further to do today until nighttime. I hadn't questioned her motives further than that. Our eyes met once again and we both blushed, looking away from each other.

I suppose it was still a nice enough day, all things considered. I'd gotten my leg healed and my fur returned to some semblance of normalcy. I'd discovered I had my Cutie Mark, much to the disappointment of the three fillies. I hadn't escaped their wrath flawlessly, and had been forced to promise my time in helping them to acquire theirs as well. It wasn't a pretty memory, and I'd probably suppress it later today. Still, in comparison to my usual days, it was looking up. I hadn't been almost killed or suffered any blunt head trauma yet. The bouncy ball didn't count. I decided to only give credit if the impact was above a certain velocity. Honestly, it was the only way to keep a track record at all.

Fluttershy shifted ever so slightly closer to me as she lowered her head again. I looked back at her hesitantly but she simply looked deep in thought. I kept walking alongside of her for a while longer before the concern finally got the better of me. If she was upset about something, I simply had to do something about it! To get her attention, I closed the half an inch distance between our shoulders and lightly brushed against her.

She started slightly but looked over at me regardless, a light blush forming when she saw me looking back with lightly furrowed brows. "Are you all right, Fluttershy? You seem down," I asked softly.

She momentarily looked surprised, but recovered quickly with a warm smile. "Oh, yes. Thank you for your concern, but I was just thinking," she returned softly after a moment's consideration. While I doubted this was anything out of the ordinary, I was still a little concerned for the already quiet and reserved pegasus.

"About what, if I might ask? I don't like seeing you upset," I inquired as politely as I could manage.

She blushed even further but kept her smile, adding a nod before furthering with, "I don't know why I'm so silly, but I keep thinking about what Twilight and I saw in your memories. It bothers me when I, um, think too much about it." Her revealed thoughts didn't surprise me all that much. I'd suspected that was what she was thinking about.

"You don't have to deal with it all by yourself, you know. Don't be afraid to talk to me about it," I offered, slightly before my brain fully considered the implications of the statement, and I followed up with, "Or any of the girls of course. I'm sure any of them would gladly listen." The last thing I wanted was to have her think I was taking advantage of her or something! Was it too late already?!

Fluttershy watched me carefully, neither suspicion nor true understanding in her eyes. It was unnerving after a second, and panicking after several. I fidgeted, wondering if she thought I was some sort of abuser or something. "Ah, I'm sorry, Fluttershy! I didn't mean for it to sound like that, honest! All I want to do is help you. I'm not trying to take advantage of you or anything and I understand if you're not comfortable," I rapidly backpedaled, hoping it got to her before she jumped to conclusions and panicked.

The buttermilk yellow pegasus momentarily looked surprised before, much to my shock, she started giggling merrily. It was an uncontrolled, pleasant sound to listen to as she shifted to snickering and swaying. "Oh Mender. You'll never change. That's a good thing of course! I wasn't mad at you and I wouldn't dare to consider you taking advantage of me. You're a very kind stallion, which is why I like you," she explained before leaning in and giving me a soft hug.

As surprising as her trust in me was, I still felt relieved that she wasn't mad at me. Exhaling quietly, I rested my forehead against her shoulder. "Thank you again for worrying about me. I'm okay, though. It's just a bit hard to not think about what I saw when around you, still. You're so gentle, it's hard for me to understand how you could come from such a terrible place," she explained, voice rapidly losing confidence the longer she spoke. She shifted and looked down towards the dirt by the end, but still didn't make any attempt to move.

"Just because I was there, didn't mean I agreed with the violence. A lot of soldiers justify the war like that, but others just want to protect those they care about, and the very place they call home," I justified, secretly calling upon the reasons I told myself that I had participated.

She seemed confused and looked back up at me with a slightly tilted head. Her expression shifted to thoughtful a moment later when she asked, "So you joined the war to protect, right? I think I knew that already. What were you trying to protect?"

That was, well, a very good question. I frowned and looked up at the radiant blue sky above us for a moment. Yeah, that was probably it. My eyes got lost in the azure shades and I relaxed, giving the yellow mare a gentle squeeze. "At first I thought it was for family, but I'm not sure I had any. Ultimately, it was the same reason I had when fighting the Grosh most recently. I wanted to protect those I cared for, and all the wonderful ponies that make this place special. The Equestrian way of life, I guess?" I reasoned, surprisingly enough for the first time. I'd not spent much time thinking about that day. Of course, it was kind of a miserable experience. I didn't know anything about this 'hero' thing, but if that was what it took, I'd rather leave the horrible pain and miserable death to somepony else. Of course, it was asked of me at the time so I didn't have a whole lot of choice.

Fluttershy smiled in my silence and nodded, mirroring my earlier pose against my shoulder this time. "That makes me feel better. Even if you, um, hurt things, you did it for a reason you couldn't control, and to protect your way of life from the evil creatures. I just don't know. How did you make it through that and remain so nice?" she questioned again, pushing harder against me and shivering a little.

I frowned, never liking to see her like this, and gave her another reassuring squeeze. "That level of... Well, let's just call it hatred, is definitely not normal. The emotions required to willingly end the life of something else doesn't sit well with me. It never has, I don't think. It's like it's a form of insanity, and I avoid it with all my might. Even on that ship when I was all alone, I still remembered why I was doing everything. It wasn't ever for me. I could only focus on what would happen if I let them figure out how to make a portal here. That was all that justified blowing up the ship. Stopping an evil and selfish creature from hurting everypony I loved. If there were any other way, Fluttershy, I would have taken it. I'm not a hero, and didn't even want to be there, but considering the alternatives..." My rambling died out slowly the tighter her hugging got. At some point, we'd switched places again, and she was back to hugging me.

"Thank you. Just, thank you, Mender. That's what I'd been hoping all along. You aren't what those images hinted at, and that's all that matters. You, well, I'm just glad that you care so much about us. Thank you," she gushed, in her own soft and quiet way. A warm smile decorated her expression, and her gorgeous blue eyes shimmered in the sunlight. I couldn't help but smile as I gazed at her and gave a gentle nod. She was one of the mares I'd give my life to protect, hooves down. Hooves? I was suddenly amused by how I had started to adapt the vocabulary into my very thoughts.

All amusement slipped and fell off the proverbial cliff as she leaned up suddenly and gave me a timid peck on my cheek. My eyes widened and I felt the fiery magma sensation explode into my face as I tried to suddenly process what she had just done. I must have looked silly, because she suddenly giggled and backed away a little, still smiling warmly but now mirroring my blush slightly. After several seconds, she lightly reached up again and closed the mouth I hadn't realized I'd let drop open.

"That was for protecting us and being such a nice guy. Um, thank you. For putting up with me as well. I, uh, know I can be a bit, um, nervous sometimes and..." she started, looking back down at my hooves again.

That fired up the thought processes once more! "Fluttershy!" I scolded lightly.

She jumped with a start, eyes snapping open as she shuddered. "Oh! Uh, yes? I'm sorry!" she rapidly apologized, shrinking a little closer towards the ground.

"No no. I just don't want you to think you're a burden. I like you, Fluttershy. You're a wonderful mare, and I'd say that even if I didn't think you were adorable, cute, beautiful, and have a massive crush on you. You're intelligent, interesting, kind, gentle, and care so much about everypony else. Honestly, I don't know how anypony could not like you," I pointed out, driving it as hard as I could towards her so she knew exactly how I felt.

Predictably, her surprise and fear rapidly shifted to that of embarrassment and awkwardness. The color in her cheeks flared up even more, and oddly, I felt a little proud to have been the cause of her being absolutely adorable. She pawed at me with her right forehoof as if motioning that I had said too much and ponies might hear.

"Oh you! I'm not, but... Thank you, but I just, well, oh my goodness, I can't even talk straight," she whispered, mostly to herself it seemed. She shook her head rapidly, causing her mane to shift side to side with a sway before rubbing her cheeks slowly.

I smirked and took a bit of a chance. Leaning forward, I gently pecked her forehead before pulling back again. She was just too cute to resist! Besides, it was a show of affection more so than interest in anything else.

The timid yellow mare locked up instantly, going absolutely rigid in surprise. Slowly, she lifted her head again to look back up at me, eyes widened to almost maximum size and shivering slightly as she stared. The blush in her cheeks held a shocking contrast to her blue eyes, and she was suddenly even more adorable than before. Her mouth was still open, having been in mid self-berating when I'd done it. Expanding my smirk, I reached up and gently closed her mouth with an odd sense of déjà vu.

Her muzzle shifted to a smile instead, eyes softening as she watched me with her renewed blush still not lessening. The emotions behind it felt like they had changed, however. She gave me a quick, almost unnoticeable nod and stood up again, brushing against me with her shoulder before nudging her head towards the tree house library a few blocks in front of us.

There was a definite feeling of elation as I returned her smile and nod. I'd made her feel better about something, and that felt even more awesome than figuring out an invention or equation, I suddenly realized. She was happy, and I had helped her get there. With a sudden burst of realization, I looked back at the silver gear adorning each of my flanks as Fluttershy moved ahead. At first I was irritated at it, but now that I think about it, the heart in the center made a little more sense.

"Are you coming?" my gentle friend asked from a few meters ahead, her voice a little louder than usual, if not to only get the questioning over to me.

Smiling more honestly this time, I turned back to her and nodded before trotting to catch up. This time I managed it with only a slight stumble...

Having armed guards posted outside of the door was concerning, I decided. At least I assumed they were guards, as they were dressed similarly to the ones I had seen with Celestia in my first encounter with the Princess. They were decked out in a quite different purple and blue color scheme; their chest plate held together by a large, impressive looking gemstone. Most striking, however, were their yellow eyes and bat-like wings instead of feathers. Wait, what in Equestria were they? I'd never heard of a pegasi with membrane wings instead! Of course, they were a little distorted and fuzzy, compliment of my less than stellar eyesight. Maybe they weren't ponies at all? Both guards to either side of the door gave me specifically a stern glare upon our approach. My usually timid companion seemed entirely undaunted, however.

"Halt. We are to let nopony into the building without specific invitation. Exception is granted for you of course, Miss Fluttershy," the intimidating guard on the left hissed out upon my breaching spitting distance.

I blinked but frowned, a little confused. "Uh, but I live here," I reasoned, unsure of what was going on.

Both guards glared harder at me, but said absolutely nothing. "Oh dear. He really is telling the truth. Could you let him in, please?" Fluttershy asked quietly, looking back and forth between the guards and I.

"I'm sorry, Miss Fluttershy. We have our orders. You may enter if you wish," the same guard reiterated, tone slightly less hostile this time. They had both visibly relaxed upon her vouching for me, I suddenly realized. Of course, Fluttershy was an Element of Harmony. That meant she was practically a living legend. For a moment, I was put back into perspective. How exactly had I met such wonderful ponies? Surely the odds were astronomically against me.

"I'll go inside and talk to Twilight. Perhaps I can get permission for him to enter?" she suggested politely, oddly almost looking comfortable with the guard. I wondered what made her so relaxed. There was something I was definitely missing. Of course, I didn't have a clue as to why there were guards standing out here in the middle of the evening, or why the library would suddenly require armed security in the first place.

Both guards nodded curtly and Fluttershy turned back to me, assuring, "I'll only be gone a moment. If you can't enter for some reason, I'll keep you company out here, okay?"

I blushed but shook my head. "I can find something to do until I can enter. You don't have to keep me company."

Fluttershy's eyes softened, her quiet exhale causing her mane to sway softly. That small smile flashed across her muzzle again and she shook her head. "Oh, you're just so cute and nice! I'll come back out and steal you away to my cottage if you can't enter for some reason," she added, eyes closing momentarily as she gave a cute little nod. Oh crap. Think innocent thoughts, Mender! She's Fluttershy, so she surely meant nothing by it. "We can have a perfectly good time without them if they want to be mean," she tacked on after I didn’t respond due to fighting back a blush.

Damn it! The heat flooded into my cheeks and I coughed lightly, trying to dispel both the obviously inaccurate innuendos drifting into my head, and the urge to simply take her up on the offer right then and there. She'd been a lot nicer than Twilight had to me so far. I doubted staying in the same house with the stressed out unicorn was all that healthy for our relationship anyway. "I think I'd like that. Thank you, Fluttershy," I returned in an appreciative manner, trying my hardest not to sound creepy. Or let her figure out the thoughts I was trying to banish.

If the timid pegasus was bothered, she was being amazingly stoic about it. Instead, she let out a little giggle and nodded. She surprised me yet again with a light nuzzle to my shoulder before fluttering backwards and rotating to land in front of the door. I watched her graceful movements compulsively, as if she had some sort of mesmerizing effect on me. Yeah, I definitely liked the cute yellow mare. Of course, I also liked the beautiful lavender unicorn who was somewhere inside. As much as she scared the crap out of me and was more than a little high strung, she gave me excited little butterflies in my stomach whenever she got too close. I got along the best with both of them, and each shared compatible yet varying traits with me. I frowned, realizing how badly I didn't want to choose between them. Well, for now, I wouldn't have to.

I snapped out of it just in time to see the guard on the right give me a knowing, rather suggestive wink before gesturing towards the mare opening the door. The less than subtle reference was followed by an even more obvious double eyebrow flick, and I sighed.

"I'll be right back, Mender," the mare in question assured, glancing back at me before giving a nod and walking inside. I watched the light dwindle to a mere crack before fading completely as she shut the door again.

They wasted next to no time after the door shut. "Wow, what a mare! This guy is so lucky to have none other than the Element of Kindness hot for him!" the guard on the right exclaimed wistfully.

What the...? "I am still here, you know?" I reminded irritably. If they heard me, they certainly didn't acknowledge it.

"Ho! You don't know the half of it. I overheard the Princesses discussing the fact that he's already dating none other than Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic!" the left one shot back. The princesses shared gossip like that? Wait a minute.

"You knew who I was all along!" I deduced out loud.

For all the reaction I got, I might as well have been a ghost. "Whoa, Fluttershy would never help the jerk cheat on one of her best friends!" the right one denied, sounding appalled. I'm the jerk?!

"That's just it, don't you see? They're cooperating, if ya get my drift," the other, hear by classified as Jerk One, pointed out.

By reduction, the newly labeled Jerk Two suddenly got a look of dawning comprehension.

"The lucky stud! A herd is kinda rare by itself, but one with two of the Elements of Harmony?!" Jerk Two exclaimed in shock.

"I'm still here! And you knew who I was all along?!" I finally growled out in an irritated tone, stamping both hooves to the ground as emphasis.

Jerk One snorted and looked back at me. "Of course we did," he confirmed, speaking as if I should already know that.

Jerk Two, of course, nodded in agreement. "Think about it. We get to play the 'Just Following Orders' routine and watch you squirm. Then you get both mares inside to pity you and lay on the good stuff!" he explained, causing heat to shoot into my cheeks as I realized what he was insinuating.

"What if I didn't want their pity? That seems kind of pathetic to me," I groaned out, shaking my head rapidly. It was mostly in disagreement, but it also helped clear it of that annoying heat.

Jerk Two shook his head as well but in a slower, more disappointed looking fashion. "Clearly you've never tried it. Pity Sex is the best sex," he pointed out, gesturing empathically towards me with a hoof.

My ears flattened back and I glared, a little irked at this point. "Uh, isn't that disrespectful to the mares? I care for them. Besides, there are more important things than just sex, you know. Both are truly amazing mares and frankly, I should be lucky that they like me back," I tried to explain. Both guards stared at me like I had sprouted mutant tentacles out my back or something. I blinked a couple times and resisted the urge to turn around and check.

"That's single-handedly the most pansy thing I've ever heard. Let me guess, you haven't gotten any since you got here, right?" he inquired in a snide sort of curiosity. Oops, back to being mad.

I grimaced before glaring at him again. What was wrong with these stallions?! Was that truly all they thought about? Sure, I admit to entertaining the idea a couple of times, too, but they seemed downright obsessed with it! "I've been a little too busy trying to stay alive, sorry! There are more important things, you know!" I shot back, suddenly finding myself oddly on the defensive. It wasn't that big of a deal!

"Ha! Called it. See how far 'respecting' them has got you? Mares don't want to be respected. They want to be teased and toyed with! Be bad and daring, and they'll crawl all over you," Jerk One exclaimed, rearing slightly and 'punching' the air a bit with his hooves. My opinion of him plummeted.

Jerk Two shook his head and raised an eyebrow over at his friend. "I was the one who called it, stupid. But he has a point," he concurred, looking back to me before continuing with, "Even the shy, reserved Fluttershy would probably put out if you pressured her a little bit and acted a little spunky. Heck, act masculine in general. You do kind of look like a mare."

Now I didn't know which to be angrier with him for. He insulted both myself and Fluttershy in that statement. The heat got stuck in my cheeks, but for different reasons this time. "Don't talk that way about Fluttershy! She's not like that and deserves your respect," I admonished, voice low and struggling to keep it under control. It wasn't often that I got mad, I realized. I didn't know what to do with all of the anger. It wasn't exactly a feeling I was comfortable with. Still, these bastards deserved it if I just so happened to form a few barriers and knock their skulls around a bit, right?

Jerk Two's vague image smirked. It was hard to see details when everything was fuzzy and out of focus, but I'm pretty sure he smirked. At least, that's what would have fit in context. "Or you'll what? Braid my mane?" he challenged. As funny as that would be, turning off his gravity for a few hours sounded infinitely more promising.

"Teach you some proper manners, of course. Aren't you guards supposed to be stoic and polite?" I suddenly remembered, surprised at the noticeable difference. It was like night and… day?

"Does it look like we're wearing gold to you?"

Jerk One coughed lightly, drawing both of our attention to him before suggesting, "Uh, I really don't think that attacking him is such a good idea." My opinion of him increased a few notches. A guard attacking a pony in the street with little to no provocation didn't sound too legal.

"Don't join him in Pansy-land. I'll just show him why we're guards real fast. Don't worry," the second guard assured, stomping the steps they were on with his front hooves as he slammed back down and glared at me. My eyes narrowed as I focused on him instantly.

At least I would have, had a low but loud creaking noise not sounded from the wall behind him, expanding up the side of the tree. What the hell?! That didn't sound too good. Glancing up the tree, I tried to spot any noticeable structural integrity damage. Movement below my vision flickered forwards at that exact moment. Instinctively, I threw up my barrier across my chest, neck, and face at skin level just as he smashed into me as hard as he could. Sparks flew as his armor scraped harshly off my barrier and I slid backwards from the force of the impact, wincing a little. Well, that hadn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would.

"Ow, ponyfeathers! That felt like hitting a brick wall," the idiot exclaimed, sounding irritated as he glared back up at me. I started to get ready to rear, deciding that bucking him in the face with a shield-reinforced hoof wasn’t such a bad idea. Movement caught my eye first, however.

My eyes widened and I maximized my shield as a full tree branch, a few dozen pounds of leaves, assorted bark, a few shingles, and a very pissed off squirrel landed on him an instant later. He let out a high-pitched scream at the top of his lungs as the seriously offended furry attacker seemingly latched onto his nose with an inspiring level of bloodlust. Hey, that would have landed on me had he not knocked me out of the way! Suddenly I was happy about his sudden attack.

Jerk One sighed and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s what I was talking about. He’s supposed to be, like, cursed with abysmal luck or something, which would probably rub off on you if you attacked him,” he explained. Well, there went all my respect for him.

Anything further he was going to say was interrupted by the library’s door slamming open, assumingly flattening him into the side of the building. "Oh for crying out loud! First you guys decide to have a perverse shouting match out here, and then you destroy a section of my house in a fight?!" I suddenly heard Twilight yell from the doorway. Oh crap. Never mind; we were all dead. Well, more dead in the flattened guard's case.

"I'm sorry!" I preemptively apologized, shrinking down as far as I could manage; mostly to show respect, but also to hide the sensitive bits that were in the back. More likely that she'd totally forget they were there than willingly attack them, but that was still probably just as bad.

Twilight momentarily gave me a deadpan look before shaking her head and revealing, "Mender, I heard most of the conversation. You didn't do anything wrong." Oh. Wait, she heard that?!

"I'm sorry!" I repeated a heartbeat later for the new reason this time, causing her to slap her hoof to her forehead, right under her horn.

"Um, I'm sorry, too. We shouldn't have eavesdropped," Fluttershy spoke up a moment later, causing me to blush and start to smile at her as she peeked out from around the doorframe.

Twilight sighed again and turned around to Fluttershy. "Oh for Celestia's sake! It's not eavesdropping if we can hear it through three walls, Fluttershy," she pointed out, making a very solid point. Were we really being that loud?

"What does our sibling have to do with this situation?" I heard asked from somewhere inside suddenly. Was that Princess Luna? She had a very good question, however.

For a moment, I could have sworn I saw Twilight twitch sporadically. "Okay, inside! Now!" she growled out. Suddenly, I found myself yanked off the ground in a light purple aura. Uh oh. My 'inescapable pain' alarm started going off like crazy. Jerk Two yelled as the furry avenger was torn from his face, taking a tiny bit of his nose with him, and he himself was similarly lifted into the air. I braced for impact and Fluttershy dove out of the way as the guard and I were tossed through the door of the library at high velocity...

Pleasantly, the couch broke my fall. I suddenly had a deep respect and love for this piece of furniture. Not only was it a nice bed, party instrument, and looked fashionable, but it was also an amazing landing pad. Truly a universally appreciated device! The guard wasn't quite so lucky, having the bookcase, end table, and shame to block his fall. Further, I was righted by an invisible force almost instantly and promptly had a pillow adjusted next to me. I blinked as I was gently set down on the cushion and pillow. Twilight walked up with a smile this time. Oddly, the gentle treatment kind of scared me, too. Was she just trying to lull me into a false sense of security?

Regardless, I still managed to glance about the room, having gotten a less than satisfactory examination while flying through the air upside down. The tree samples were still organized in a vague half circle, with pieces of paper, notes, and tracing strewn about. Aside from the crackling fire, the room was devoid of lights and looked very soft, almost homely. It gave a warm sensation, which was welcome, as it was indeed getting a little nippy outside. Maybe I'd ask Rarity for a scarf or hat alongside the suit she was going to be forcing me to wear. I could ask for something in return for being hauled to a foreign city to be paraded about as a social accessory, right? I hoped a simple knit hat and scarf weren't too expensive. Movement caught my eye, however, and I glanced back to the fallen pile of books.

The guard groaned as he crawled out from under it a moment later. Suddenly, the entire collection drifted into the air and sorted themselves neatly before returning to the shelf they came from. They were coated in a magical aura that was distinctly unfamiliar, I noticed. Seconds later, the guard himself was grabbed and hauled into the air as well. "SO, WHAT HAS THOU TO SAY IN THY DEFENSE?! THOUST MADE A MOCKERY OF THINE TRAINING ON THE FIRST MISSION OUTSIDE OF THE CASTLE! WE ARE VERY DISAPPOINTED!” was suddenly screamed out on a deafening level, causing me to wince and slam my face into the pillow to drown out the noise. What the hell was that?!

The noise stopped, apparently waiting for a response. I took a risk and peeked out over my comfortable hiding spot at the now rigid and trembling guard drifting in the air. He'd slammed his eyes shut and was curled into a little defensive ball, looking remarkably like I probably have on occasion. My eyes shifted to the left to see an exceedingly large and imposing figure standing at the base of the stairs. Her wings were expanded fully and a radiating flow of what almost appeared to be space itself came from her mane. Unfortunately, the details were lost to me as she was still a rather fuzzy blob. A very imposing, scary blob, but still a fuzzy blob. Her size was a little less than that of Celestia, I noticed. Was she younger?

Twilight coughed lightly. "Princess Luna, you're slipping," she suddenly reminded; of what I didn't know.

The figure gave a gentle start and glanced at Twilight momentarily before coughing lightly as well. "Ah, I apologize. We, uh, I tend to get excited and forget," she apologized, voice dropping down to a much more manageable level.

"I-I'm sorry, your highness! I shouldn't have attacked an unarmed, unprovoked target," the guard practically pleaded through his own trembling hooves he was using to cover his face now.

Twilight went from smiling to glaring at him with frightening speed. "That's it? Don't forget we heard the entire conversation prior to that," she pointed out.

"Indeed! You have insulted both our dear Fluttershy, and this kind mare with your words! Apologize to them as well," Princess Luna instructed. Mare? My cheeks lit up again and I looked over at the darkened, midnight blue blob. Was she referring to me?

Fluttershy had closed the door and caught up with us by then. Idly, I wondered if she'd also scraped the other guard from the side of the building. "Oh, it's all right, Princess Luna. I don't need an, um, apology," she declined politely.

"Nonsense. As a guard, no, as a proper stallion, he should learn to not speak to mares that way!" Luna vehemently declared with a surprising amount of passion. Of course, given her first outburst, I suppose I should just count myself lucky that I wasn't blown through the wall. As a further enlightenment, I realized she was indeed talking about me.

Twilight looked over at me again before letting out a biting, knowing giggle and trying to correct, "Uh, Princess Luna? I don't think that you..."

The Princess waived the statement with a hoof gesture, shaking the quivering ball of fur and armor with her magic. "Well?! Thou must apologize!" she ordered again, slipping back into that extremely archaic form of speech. It was hard to understand what she was saying, but I managed to grasp the context well enough. Kind of reminded me of something I had read a long time ago. Even if the words were a fabrication, one could still understand what was being said by their place in the sentence and the context involved. It was quite fascinating. A pity I couldn't remember the name of the book.

"But, um, but that's a-" the guard started to mumble before another violent shake cut him off. Princess Luna gave him another stern glare, causing him to curl up again. "I'm sorry, Miss! I didn't mean to insult you and Fluttershy," he finally just gave in and apologized. As much as I disliked being called a female, how exactly did one correct what was considered essentially a physical Goddess?

"Good. For now, go back to thy duties. We'll be having another chat in time for debriefing," the Princess assured before sliding him in the general direction of the door. He rolled once before scrambling to his hooves and moving almost as fast as I did when being chased by 'carnivorous' ponies.

Once the door finally slammed shut, Twilight burst into copious amounts of giggling. Sighing, I glanced back at her, already knowing she was looking right at me. Princess Luna gave us a curious look, and the lavender unicorn burst into laughter, unable to contain it any further.

"Pray tell, what is so funny?" the Princess of the night asked curiously, interestingly enough, not seeming mad in the slightest. At least, I think I vaguely recalled that was one of her formal titles from that book Twilight had given me back in the hospital. Twilight must be on really good terms with her, too. Wait, I think I read about this somewhere before.

"Oh my. Well, this is Moon Mender, Princess. He, um, is kind of a stallion," Fluttershy chimed in with her usual quiet, soft voice. She slowly got up on the couch next to me and relaxed against the back of it, shifting her mane out of the way of her eyes as she got situated.

Princess Luna stared quietly at me for a few seconds before leaning closer, apparently to get a better look. I was proven uncomfortably incorrect when she sniffed a few times, then leaned back. "Subtle, but yes. Oh dear. I seem to have committed a faux pas in front of a dear friend. Would you accept my apologies, thou with such a pleasing name?" the Princess requested, gently extending a forehoof towards me. Pleasing name? Oh yes, she was the Princess of the Moon as well.

Gently tapping my hoof against hers, we cordially shook them up and down for a moment.

"It's perfectly fine, Princess Luna. It's a pleasure to meet you," I spoke, mentally grinding through the list of possible polite and proper things I should be doing in this situation. The books I'd read a while ago had some, but my memory wasn't the greatest.

The moon princess smiled warmly and nodded at my gesture, so I must have done well enough. Twilight snorted lightly, however, pointing out, "You seem perfectly content to give her formal titles." Oh, this was about Celestia again.

I was about to glare at her once more when Princess Luna giggled lightly instead, cutting off hostilities. "Oh, if my memory serves and this is the correct Moon Mender, my sister gave him full permission to refer to her as either Celestia or Tia. She requested it, in fact," she pointed out a second later.

Twilight visibly deflated, going from glaring at me to staring in surprise and horror at Princess Luna. I coughed lightly before the situation could be derailed further and corrected, "Technically, she was pretending to be a normal friend of Twilight at the time to get me to drop my guard, so I don't want to assume the offer still stands." Sure, I might assume that ponies were carnivorous or that they had selective breeding rituals and enslaved half their species, but calling a princess the wrong thing was just plain silly.

"She, uh, she did what?" the now flustered lavender unicorn asked, surprisingly enough, directed at me instead.

"He speaks the truth. Tia felt she had to catch him acting as his true self so she could be absolutely sure that he was no danger to her, well, our subjects. She has properly apologized and even enjoyed their lunch date, however. She doesn't get many opportunities to just be herself, you understand, and I believe she wished to preserve that relationship as real instead of acting," Princess Luna explained, bringing a shocking level of insight into play about her sister.

Twilight gave one elongated, slow blink, before looking back at Princess Luna. "So she wants to be his friend?" she questioned with a light edge of skepticism that was slightly offending. I swallowed my irritation, not wanting to fight with the mare again. Well, not that it was really fighting. I seemed to do more running away than anything. That was kind of depressing, now that I thought about it further. The worst part was that I had nopony to blame except for myself.

"Is that so hard to understand? My sister is an excellent judge of character, and has openly admitted that she trusts him and finds no direct danger in him whatsoever. If you recall, she should have explained that the reason she had you watching him was due to his link to danger, not what he directly represented himself," she reminded, unknowingly hitting a raging nerve in both of us.

Exhaling quietly, I looked away from the Princess and down at the couch cushion again. This was exactly what I didn't want to think about right now. I already knew that Twilight had essentially been told to spy on me, but now I realized that a large extent of that had been from Twilight herself rather than Celestia. Twilight was the one who didn't necessarily trust me. After a moment's consideration, I decided that I technically had already known that. A lot of the anger slowly dissolved after that.

Fluttershy coughed after almost five solid seconds of utter silence. "You know she's very sorry for that, Mender. She apologized already," she whispered softly into the back of my ear. I felt her gentle hooves massaging lightly into my back and sighed, shifting a little closer to her. She always managed to find a way to comfort ponies that were in distress, I noticed. The kindness she represented was one of the reasons I liked her so much.

Risking a glance back up at Twilight, I saw her staring softly back at me. There were strange emotions in her eyes. A mixture of anger to some degree, but what almost looked like regret as well. I didn't want to jump to conclusions again, however. She gave a soft nod upon catching my eye and added, "I am sorry for spying on you, Mender. I know you'd never hurt us intentionally, and I guess I should focus on my own advice. If Princess Celestia says you're not a threat, I should really believe her." It was more than a little surprising to hear the stubborn unicorn say as much, but it made the butterflies come back as well. She smiled when I did and leaned in, giving me a light nuzzle along the side of my jaw. It was an extremely affectionate gesture, and I blushed lightly as she backed up a little again.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot that Tia had said he was your mate now. I must compliment your choice. He's a kind soul," Princess Luna suddenly complimented politely. Twilight went from smiling to blindly lurching sideways in an instant. I caught her by the shoulder before she fell off the couch, thankfully! Fluttershy let out a timid squeak behind me; from either Twilight's almost falling or the word itself, I wasn't sure.

"M-My what?!" Twilight demanded, suddenly acquiring an embarrassed stutter. I blushed deeper as well, but took it in stride considering the Princess thought I was a mare less than three minutes ago. At least that meant she had cemented my gender in her head, which I was thankful for.

"Your mate? Did I misspeak? It has been a while and I'm unfortunately out of touch with more modern language," she admitted awkwardly. Oh yeah! She was locked away on the moon for a thousand years and just recently came back, saved by the Elements of Harmony themselves. That's why she was so friendly with them.

Fluttershy shrank against my back, burying her face in my fur. Twilight groaned lightly, red furiously attempting to take over her cheeks, but managed to explain, "That title is usually reserved for a couple who have, um, actually been intimate with each other. Uh, Mender and I haven't gone that far." Her words were meticulously chosen as she seemingly struggled to maintain her voice.

The blank stare she received from the Princess in return was less than helpful. "We've only been, um, dating for a couple days, technically," I tried to chip in, hoping that I had the terminology right. I was probably worse off than Princess Luna.

Twilight squeaked in surprise and looked back at me in shock, face flaring up with a pink tint. "You technically never asked me out! We're kind of just experimenting, right?" she rapidly questioned, voice edged with a trace of hysteria. My smile dropped as fast as my thoughts. What did asking her to go somewhere have to do with dating? Did she actually like me or was it just one big experiment to her?

"Well, that hardly seems proper. From the letters you wrote to my sister, I almost thought-" Princess Luna stated behind me, before being interrupted by a now flustered Twilight.

"No! Those letters were personal. Um, please don't talk about them in front of everypony," she requested quickly. It was too suspicious to ignore, of course. She doubtlessly wanted to prevent me from hearing them. What had she sent to Celestia? Did she know something about the link between worlds that she hadn't told me? I was suddenly extremely suspicious, but didn't have much to go on.

The timid yellow pegasus behind me spoke up instead. "Um, if it's not too impolite to say, I think you're letting yourself get too flustered. Mender surely isn't pushing you into anything, right?" she cautioned, sounding a little on the ironic side. Advice about staying calm coming from Fluttershy was interesting indeed. Although she probably did have more insight into it than most.

Twilight frowned as she looked past me at her friend. Twice, she opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated. Normally she wasn't one to mince words. I waited patiently, but Princess Luna seemingly lacked the virtue in this regard. "Don't be afraid to admit what you're actually feeling, Twilight Sparkle. It doesn't do either of you justice. You taught me to be true to myself," she suggested softly, looking solemn but maintaining a little smile. It made me wonder what it was like to be locked away for a thousand years. Surely she was a definition of stoic as she wasn't stark-raving mad as I'd probably be after that. I was both impressed and nervous as I caught the same weight of time behind her eyes that her sister possessed. To be that immensely old and have no risk of mortality with age was absolutely foreign.

Twilight snapped me out of my thoughts by sighing suddenly. Actually, it probably wasn't suddenly as I hadn't been paying attention again. "You two are right, of course. I haven't been pushed into anything by Mender. Honestly, it's kind of been the opposite," she admitted quietly.

Fluttershy let out a low gasp, but I headed her potential worry with a chuckle. The last thing I wanted was Fluttershy being mad at Twilight, so I decided to disrupt that chain of thoughts before it got anywhere. "We have a lot in common and I enjoy being around you. I get excited, flustered, and happy all at once when I'm with you, and honestly, it's a little scary. I definitely like it, though, and hope you feel the same," I explained slowly, feeling more and more awkward the longer I went on. I knew I was blushing, but it made me feel oddly better as I saw the lavender unicorn following suit.

She nodded slowly before admitting, "At first, you were interesting: a mystery to be tested and solved. Then the mystery shifted as I learned more about you. It went from trying to figure out your past and magic, to trying to figure out why you were fun to be around and such. Then I started getting scared the longer I thought about it and the more I couldn't scientifically justify it. It got worse when I realized I couldn't stop thinking about it, either. I tried to say that you were just like my wonderful friends and that I liked hanging out with them, too, but I don't really want to kiss Rainbow Dash or cuddle with Rarity. It's not that they're female; you went from a mystery I wanted to solve to a truly interesting, kind, friendly odd ball that I just want to pounce on playfully and hug. It's compulsive! It's addictive! It's..." Her admission turned more into a rant the longer she went on. This was the first time she was actually explaining things from her perspective, however. It was as insightful as it was embarrassing, and I could hardly believe that I had caused such a reaction in her! Was this normal or had I done something wrong? Curiously, Princess Luna smiled instead.

"...love? You like him, my friend. It may be scary, but there's nothing wrong with how you feel. Given the chance, your feelings could blossom into something truly beautiful. Take it slow and relax," the extremely wise Princess of the Moon suggested.

Fluttershy's mood shifted completely as she murmured, "It's so cute. You two are really good for each other. Even without considering my place in things, I think you really have something special." The lavender unicorn finally smiled and looked back up fully with that said.

There was a long pause as her bright, violet eyes seemed to almost bore into my very soul. A wave of apprehension spilled through me as I saw her slowly tense up the longer she stared. Her right hoof fidgeted visibly, and I could practically see the gears spinning madly in her mind. This was either going to be really good, or I would wake up a few days from now in the hospital. Well, it had been a little while since I'd seen Nurse Redheart, so it would be nice to catch up.

The nervous unicorn looked down for a fraction of a second before nodding to nopony in particular and asking, "Moon Mender, will you be my coltfriend? Officially?"

There was a long pause where I was all but certain that my heart had stopped. Was I dreaming? Did I die at some point and not notice? If this was the afterlife, it was off to a very nice start. "I, uh, yes, of course!" I assured, suddenly having trouble ordering my thoughts.

The cute unicorn, my now fillyfriend, leaned forward and gently kissed me on the lips, a soft smile decorating her features. It was brief, her pulling back a moment later, but warmth spread through me uncontrollably regardless. "I thought you'd say yes, but I wanted to be sure this time. Now it's official," Twilight acknowledged after I opened my eyes again.

"Aww!" Fluttershy squeaked from next to us now. I glanced over and saw her eyes were soft and watery, a large smile adorning her face.

"More like gross," suddenly sounded from the back of the sofa, on my right. I started and turned to face the familiar, male voice. Spike sat on the top of the sofa, holding a large roll of paper in his arms.

Twilight herself did an about-face, staring at her assistant in shock before turning sheepish, blush rising. "Spike! When did you get back?" she asked quickly, obviously attempting to change the subject.

Spike rolled his eyes but held up the paper in his hands. "I got back, like, five minutes ago. This is the map you wanted from the mayor's office. She wasn't very pleased at being woken up until she found out that Princess Luna had requested the map," the tiny dragon expounded irritably. I was surprised at how easily he accepted the subject change, then decided he probably was too young to care. Princess Luna’s ears perked up.

"Oh, thank you, dear Spike! These are the maps the scouts made of the discovery sites in the forest," Princess Luna enlightened, looking exceedingly pleased as she lifted the roll of paper out of his hands with her magic. I was suddenly extremely curious as she unrolled it. Now that I was back among the living and seemed to be staying that way for a reasonable amount of time, I figured it might be interesting to discover just how close to death I had come. If a massive, carnivorous beast had wandered through the forest the night before, I'd have to say I'm probably lucky this time.

Twilight grinned as she noticed my sudden interest in the scroll. I tuned back towards her just in time to catch her pleased nod. "That's what we were doing before you got here. Princess Luna is here to take a look at what I've found so far, and figure out the best course of action in dealing with the situation," she explained, nodding towards the roll of paper.

I glanced as the Princess rotated it, and saw a surprisingly detailed map. It showed elevations and terrain, and had three areas circled with several smaller marks inside of them. It looked almost like a tactics map, but I knew they were probably marking evidence.

"What exactly do you think it is?" I asked, swallowing softly. I'd seen pictures of a manticore in the books I'd read so far, and it wasn't exactly pleasant. Those I knew to be in the forest, after all.

Twilight frowned and shook her head, looking a little frustrated, I'd guess. "That's the problem. I don't know exactly what it is. From the claw markings, it's like nothing I've seen before. The impact angle makes the shape of the claws all wrong. They're formed into too harsh of a curve and far too honed to be a manticore, which has much smaller claws. Further, from the point of impact and depth of the cuts, the amount of force applied should have broken the claws. That indicates something tougher than what we're used to dealing with on, what I think, is a significantly larger body to generate that much strength," she deduced carefully.

Fluttershy grew smaller the longer Twilight spoke, shrinking herself against my back until she was hiding fully behind me. Smiling to myself, my protective urges kicked in again and I pulled the blanket off the top of the sofa in as visible a manner as I could. The timid yellow mare watched me curiously, then blushed as I wrapped her up in the blanket and tucked her against my side. "Um, thank you, Mender," she whispered before burying her face in the blanket further.

Twilight momentarily smiled at the scene, but Princess Luna interrupted with, "It's all right that you can't identify it completely. It might be something entirely new." She was examining the map instead of looking at us, however, and wore a contemplative expression.

I frowned. Maybe not new, but a little bit different? "I'm not sure if it's applicable, but it might be a mutation. Manticore, maybe? It might be more helpful if you just say what's absolutely definite," I reasoned, bringing up my earlier thought.

Twilight gave me a blank look before nodding. "A mutation would also make sense, although it's strange we've not seen the signs of genetic change sooner," she agreed, looking over at her diagrams that were near the log sections strewn about the main room. The sheets lifted into the air with her familiar aura, and shot over to where we were on the couch a moment later.

Twilight cleared her throat lightly as she examined the notes again. "There's not a huge amount of data that could be gleaned from the samples, but here's what I have so far. With shape and size comparisons between all three, I concluded that the claws were over half a foot in length and curved at an almost thirty degree rotation. Further, the depth of the blow along with the fragmenting of the wood further down indicates at least five hundred pounds of pressure applied over an unknown, but assumed instant duration. That's over seventy-five percent more than what the strongest recorded manticore was capable of," she read quietly, scanning further along after she finished.

Princess Luna sighed and put the map down. "While interesting and not really good news, that doesn't give us a lot of data," she returned, shaking her head slowly.

"Without bite marks, too, any further information about sociology or diet would be only hypothetical," Twilight defended, looking displeased.

I smiled to her and shook my head. "You've figured out a lot, Twilight. From what you explained, those don't sound like utility-based claws. It's just a hypothesis, but there's a very good chance that it's a hunter. That means it's either omnivorous or carnivorous," I reasoned, trying to further defend her work. I doubted I had to, but I truly wanted to, I discovered.

Twilight furrowed her brow, but nodded. "That's true. It's more than likely," she agreed, before smiling again and gazing softly at me.

"Wouldn't there be, uh, evidence of it being around other than just the claw marks? I mean, you know," Spike spoke up, sounding a little unnerved.

Princess Luna sighed and shook her head in return. "Alas, it is not so. Aside from the destruction to the woodlands itself, there was no other evidence of its existence. Further, the path becomes extremely hard to track the further into the forest it goes. The hunters think it might have turned as it moved, but they were unable to track it due to the forest becoming extremely difficult to navigate," she answered, shooting down yet another lead.

"What caused it to, um, be so angry at the trees though? Trees don't go out of their way to hurt anypony," Fluttershy questioned, sounding oddly like she was sympathetic to the trees' plight rather than simply curious. Although that wouldn't necessarily surprise me.

Nopony said anything. Well, it was more because I didn't think there was a knowable answer at this point. Twilight finally shook her head a good ten seconds later. "I honestly don't know, Fluttershy. It might have been scared and panicking, or in a rage about something. There were no known casualties of animal life," she finally admitted, looking as bewildered as I felt. It sounded like a predator, but didn't do anything akin to such. It was weird to say the least.

We were interrupted by Spike letting forth an inspiring yawn, however. "Is that all you need, Twilight? I'm getting kind of tired," he groaned quietly, eyes suddenly drooping.

The lavender mare smiled and nodded gently to him before giving a light nuzzle to the small dragon. "Of course, Spike. You've been an amazing help and it's way past your bedtime. Go get some rest. You've earned it," she agreed, maintaining her warm smile towards him.

He mirrored it a second later and nodded before hopping off the couch and wandering towards the stairs with a slight sway to his path. I watched him with certain envy, suddenly realizing how close he and Twilight were. He wasn't just her assistant, that was for sure. She treated him almost like a son or little brother, and it was very cute to watch.

"The young one has a point. I have more than enough information to give the hunters. Hopefully, we'll at least be able to catch a glimpse of this thing soon. I should retire back to the forest, however. They're expecting my return soon," Princess Luna excused politely, standing up fully again. Even if she wasn't as large as Celestia, I still found myself a little intimidated as she became much larger upon righting herself.

"Oh, of course, your highness. Thank you for stopping by. I'll certainly continue to look into this matter," Twilight assured, suddenly looking a little flustered by the sudden departure.

Fluttershy was much more reserved and peeked out of her blankets at the Princess of the Moon. "It was nice seeing you again, Princess Luna. I hope you travel safely." I smiled down at the peeking mare, deciding that she was overwhelmingly adorable no matter what she did. Where Twilight inspired nervous butterflies and a certain level of similar tastes, Fluttershy instead made a heat wrap around my chest and gave me a huge urge to just hold her until she was afraid of nothing else ever again.

Twilight's flank almost knocked me sideways off the couch as she bumped it against me. "Careful there, Casanova. She wants to wait, and I'm your only fillyfriend at the moment, remember?" she belted out, twinge of playfulness injected into her voice as she smirked at me.

I blushed and coughed lightly as Fluttershy looked back at me, air of confusion present. Princess Luna just laughed, however, a true and hearty one that she seemed pleased with when it was done. "It was truly a pleasure, Moon Mender. Thou are very much to our tastes, and we hope to visit again soon. We are happy for Twilight in her, how do you young ponies say, 'catch'?" she asked, her request for assurance feeling extremely humorous. Laughing would have been bad, however, so I resisted to the best of my capabilities.

Twilight snickered, having obviously more free reign then I did with the Princess. "Thank you, Princess Luna. He is indeed quite a catch, you're right," she surprisingly agreed, causing another burst of heat to enter my cheeks. She gave a gleeful grin, and I suddenly realized she was enjoying embarrassing me.

"You're a horrible mare," I muttered, glancing away from her excessively mirthful expression and further earning a laugh from the lavender unicorn.

"We shall return later, possibly tomorrow night! Try not to murder each other in the meantime," the Princess requested as she headed for the door, interrupting our charade. Fluttershy ducked back under the blanket as she left, and I idly wondered if she was going to come out long enough to go home tonight. Twilight waved goodbye politely until the door fully closed. She abruptly stopped at the same time I raised my eyebrow towards the sudden screaming outside.

"THOU MIGHT YET GO BACK TO BASIC TRAINING IF A REPEAT OF THIS HAPPENS! WE WILL FULLY DEBRIEF THYSELF UPON ARRIVAL BACK TO THE CASTLE, AND PUNISHMENT SHALL BE DEALT OUT! DOES THOU UNDERSTAND?!" was screamed by a very pissed off Princess Luna the second the door closed.

Twilight swallowed wearily, eyes still wide as she watched the door. Fluttershy burrowed deeper into the blankets and further against me instead, almost as if she was trying to slip under the cushion I sat on and hide completely. Oh dear. I kind of felt bad for the guy now. Kind of.

"Um, Twilight? Can I, uh, maybe ask you a question, if it's not too much trouble?" Fluttershy whimpered from her hiding spot.

Twilight snapped out of her horrified expression long enough to glance down at the shifting blanket that now resided partially under me. "Oh, of course, Fluttershy. I do have a request for you, though, as well," she returned, smiling finally.

Curiosity must have gotten the better of her. Either that, or she truly trusted her friend, as the timid yellow mare soon poked her head out of the blankets and looked up at Twilight. "Oh?" she practically whispered. Ah, still not totally comfortable, I noticed.

"With the state of emergency in effect, I don't really want you to fly home at eleven o'clock at night by yourself. Would you mind staying here for tonight?" she requested politely. A very good idea! Now that I thought about it, I really didn't want her flying back home either if there was something that nasty in the forest. If it came down to it, I'd walk her home myself, but this was a much better idea.

"Oh thank goodness. I was going to ask to stay," Fluttershy admitted, slumping slightly and letting out a long exhale.

"You can use my mattress if you want. I can take the couch for tonight," I offered, smiling reassuringly at her. I'd fallen asleep on this couch before, and almost considered it an old friend at this point.

Fluttershy gasped as if burned and sat up, zipping around me with surprising speed and putting on a pleading gaze. "Oh no, Mender. I couldn't possibly do that! Please, uh, let me take the couch?" she requested, surprisingly adamant sounding. Twilight smiled softly at both of us before shaking her head in the background now.

"Both of you are adorable, but I don't really want either of you sleeping down here separate from the others. Fluttershy can sleep with me in my bed. It's not a big deal," she reasoned. Oh! True. I'm guessing it was socially acceptable as they were both the same gender.

Fluttershy froze, eyes shifting from warm and pleading to shocked and terrified. Despite the decidedly negative emotions displayed in them, her cheeks shifted to a rosy pink color as she swallowed lightly. Okay, so maybe not so socially acceptable? Had I missed something?

"Are you sure, Twilight?" I inquired, attempting to ask for the now rigid mare between us.

Twilight smiled and nodded earnestly, not seeming fazed in the slightest. "Of course. It's no big deal. My bed is plenty big enough." Well that indicated that it might just be Fluttershy. Somehow, that didn't really surprise me, but I couldn't fault her for it.

Twilight got up off the couch and walked past us, heading for the stairs. I gave the shivering mare a light nudge, earning a squeak and sudden lap full of shaking Fluttershy. I frowned and tried to pat her gently on the shoulders before lifting her up again. "Oh no. What do I do? Twilight wants me to sleep with her! In the same bed!" she whispered shakily to me.

"Um, I'm not really grasping the problem. Twilight's acting like there's no social stigma attached to it, but you're acting like there is," I complained, exceedingly confused at this point. Somepony was wrong in this case, or I was missing important information. Again. I was kinda getting adjusted to it at this point.

Fluttershy looked down slowly, upper teeth nibbling on her lower lip before wearily explaining, "I, well, admire Twilight. Apart from concerning you, she always seems to know what she's doing and what she wants. She's amazing, confident, polite, gentle..." I grew more confused the longer she went on. If she respected Twilight so much, shouldn't she be happy Twilight trusts her? This didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

"...athletic, brave, graceful, well-kept, beautiful," she continued, oblivious to my inner monologue. Oh. That actually explained a lot.

I interrupted, if only to clarify. "You like Twilight as a little more than friends, don't you?"

She stopped and slowly stared at me for several long seconds before releasing a gentle sigh and sinking back onto the couch cushion in front of me. "I've had a small crush on her for a while. I was hoping that, because she liked you as well, that you'd help me get closer to Twilight too, if we were together," she admitted.

It was a sensation I wasn't entirely used to. Kind of like a sudden impact to the inside of my chest as it recoiled and tightened. The hoof I had been using to comfort her on the shoulder dropped in surprise. Had I misheard her? Did she really say what I thought she did? Was she really using me to get to Twilight? Every rational thought screamed no, but the sudden pain shooting through my chest was almost blinding. It was cold, as if a dagger made of ice had just stabbed through me.

I noticed her questioning expression as I realized I was still staring at her. That confused me, but some part of me clung to the fact that she didn't realize what she'd said. That meant she hadn't meant it like that! That had to be the case. Innocent little Fluttershy wasn't capable of using somepony for her own gain.

Her eyes suddenly shot open with realization and she rapidly shook her head. "No! No, no. I didn't mean that I only liked her. I, um, like you too like that. I like both of you. Uh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to, um, sound like that," she rapidly corrected, causing me to let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"I'm sorry. I tried to not jump to conclusions. I'm... glad you don't just like her," I muttered, completely unsure of what to say. Damn it. Even my heart jumped to conclusions on its own. My chest warmed a little, but I couldn’t shake the feeling from before.

She shook her head weakly back and forth, mane dancing in the dim light. "No, I want to make sure you, um, believe me. That was a bad thing to say and I've never, well, done this before. I don't know what I'm doing," she murmured uneasily, looking down at the couch cushion again.

I raised a hoof back up and gently ran it along her jaw, in an assuring motion. "That makes three of us. Relax, Fluttershy. Nothing bad happened and we figured it out right away. Why don't you go up and get ready for bed? I'll wait for you girls to use the bathroom first," I tried my best to comfort and distract.

The yellow pegasus relaxed against the hoof and nodded, giving a faint smile finally. I nodded again to her and she stood up shakily before slowly making her way towards the stairs behind me. A solid five seconds passed after I could no longer hear the hoofsteps on the wooden stairs before I put my hoof back down. What was I doing? Did I even have a clue how to deal with all of these feelings? Was it right to tie mine to Twilight's before my issues were even sorted out?

Nothing but the quiet flickering of the fire answered me, of course. It would be so easy if I'd still been there instead of here. Being a soldier was mentally simple. There weren't all of these feelings to get in the way. Emotions were outright discouraged by the higher ups, I remembered. Think, don't feel. I think that was on a poster. My hoof was still shaking, my chest following suit as I carefully breathed out. Why did the thought of her using me hurt so much? Surely it was nothing compared to getting a laser to the back or being smashed into rocks.

My cheeks heated up again as I almost felt her light peck from earlier. I smiled and chuckled, the thought dancing and mingling with the sensation of Twilight's mouth against mine. The heat shifted to an almost burning sensation as I lowered my head. Being a soldier was simpler, but I wouldn't trade this for the world. Unless it meant protecting them, of course. Even if they didn't need it, a stirring urge deep inside told me to guard them against those who would cause pain. Maybe that was a part of this 'love' thing after all.

"Coming, Mender?" I heard Twilight ask in a rather cheery voice from the top of the stairs, disrupting my thoughts in a rather pleasant way.

I smiled and nodded to nopony in particular before standing up again. My back gave a rather mean spirited creak of discomfort, but I ignored it as I got off the couch. Twilight calling me upstairs; I could definitely get used to that. I grinned before trotting towards the light shining down from the second floor.

Chapter 15

It was subtle at first; that creeping madness as the hours went on. The dark was my friend after all, and I stared up into the blackness around the ceiling, currently lying wearily on my back. Or maybe it was the blackness in my head. This could all be some sort of vivid hallucination or fantasy as I'm locked away somewhere, still. Maybe after all the pressure, I finally snapped and decided my life needed more cute, colorful ponies? Or maybe, finally, I had died at some point and this was what heaven was like. Any of those sounded like acceptable answers. It hardly mattered, as I couldn't substitute this reality for anything else, so it was what I was stuck with.

"Test number two hundred and fifty-seven; failure. I cannot seem to replicate the communication with the entity from before. All attempts have now been rejected. Perhaps I offended it the last we spoke? After well, what happened, I could hardly say for certain," the familiar voice of Keela continued to run through my mind. She was sounding less and less professional the longer she went on. From the way she spoke earlier, I could only guess that something extremely bad happened to her connection after I had my bout of insanity. From what I gathered, she got stuck connected to the book and experienced, well, something that had rather disturbed her.

I sighed quietly, literally covered in cut up pieces of paper at this point as I stared blankly up at the ceiling. She was persistent, I'd give her that much! Every one she'd send through, I'd slice in half as it drifted through the air. That seemed to disrupt the magic instantly. Of course, explaining this mess in the morning was going to be a little trickier. I could only guess that she kept bizarre hours, or that our night and day cycles were reversed.

Finally deciding I could use a bit of water, I got up out of bed, careful to slide the mountain of papers quietly to the floor. Both mares had fallen asleep hours ago, of course, and I definitely didn't want to wake them up. I glanced over as I fully stood, of course. It was hard to pass up an opportunity to gaze at them. It was like candy for my eyes!

Twilight and Fluttershy were both tucked under the covers, face to face but several inches apart. I remembered Twilight had started with her back to her friend, so she must have rotated in her sleep. Nothing bad could possibly come from that, right? I decided to remain blissfully unaware and move on.

I walked past the basket at the foot of the bed as quietly as I could, momentarily hearing the quiet snores of the baby lizard thing wrapped up in his sheets. Hmm. I should really ask Twilight about him in the future. I'm sure he was some sort of known creature, as I hadn't run into anything truly unknown yet. I smiled down at Spike for a second before slipping down the stairs.

"What was the entity I spoke with, anyway? It announced its presence as 'Mender', which doesn't sound much like a name. It insisted that it was named that, however, so I'm inclined to believe so. Was it some sort of advanced artificial intelligence that existed inside of the book? Or is the book connecting to somewhere else and I'm talking to a true being?" Keela questioned as I walked down the stairs carefully. Ignoring her, I focused on putting one hoof in front of the other. I didn't trust myself to walk blindly down the stairs still, especially with everything blurry and distorted. I'd likely fall down the stairs if I tried that, even when my vision wasn't screwed up. After I ran into the bathroom doorframe before bed a few hours ago, Twilight assured me that my vision should be returning to normal in a day or so. Until then, I simply had to be careful. Especially around varying depth levels that were the same color. Like the bathroom doorframe and the floor of the loft.

With a light boost, I raised my upper body and put both hooves on Twilight's counter. I nudged the tap for cold water and let a little stream go into the sink before cheating and forming a shielded 'straw' with my left hoof. It worked a lot like a drinking fountain at that point, and I sipped down a good amount before sighing and turning the water off again.

"Thankfully, Nirru gave me a fascinating idea that I'd like to try before she gets down here with the data. If it was a book, it must have words in it, right? Well, if it's written in ink, I should be able to try scanning it with a particle projector on several varying levels to try to pick up the words!" she exclaimed, sounding excited.

Uh oh. That didn't sound very healthy for me in the least. I debated what to do when a loud humming sound started echoing through my head. Wincing, I pushed both hooves to my ears and sunk to the floor, gritting my teeth. Oh hell. I had all new respect for those lead x-ray sheets. Our allies had been absolutely crazy to make this a regular part of their medical exams! Magic was so much safer.

Then I realized in horror that it was simply warming up the generator. There was a sudden, bright flash as my body went through the strangest sensation of being turned inside out, boiled alive, put back together, then microwaved. All purely speculation as to how those felt, of course. I gasped as my flesh suddenly felt like it was on fire and smashed my forehead into the floor before throwing up. Everything spun after that and I fell sideways, thankfully missing the now external contents of my stomach by a few inches. Then, blissful nothingness.

Blissful nothingness, sadly, didn't last for very long. I drifted sideways gently, not really looking around, but effectively able to turn my viewpoint with my mind. Oh, this again. I glanced about curiously, and was gifted the rather amusing sight of Keela spraying down a machine with some sort of foam. The device in question looked like it had been hit by lightning, then cut into pieces. Damn. If I had done that, I was seriously impressed. Was it weird to be impressed by yourself? I guess not, as a lot of ponies and Keldarians alike probably were. Although looking at it from a third-person perspective was a little strange.

Widening out my view a little, I noticed that my location was different from last time. I appeared to be in some sort of laboratory with various computer devices, scanners, and interestingly enough, a glassed in blast chamber in the corner. One of the scanners was now out of commission, it would appear. My 'eyes', so to speak, were drawn to a glowing book that rested on the floor a meter or so from the smoldering wreckage.

Footsteps sounded rapidly in the hallway as I drifted closer to the book that was now lying neglected. I heard the powered door slide open, but paid little attention to it. The book was exactly as I last saw it with the new addition of a distorted energy shield that covered it entirely. It was an Aegis Barrier, in which the item shared its name. I'd never seen one on such a small scale before, however. I wasn't aware they could be compressed like that. Although from what I'd heard the last time, there was a significant amount we weren't aware of.

"Keela! I heard an explosion. Are you all right?!" Nirru asked upon entering the lab, expression looking nervous and concerned.

Keela sighed as she stood back up fully from the machine, smoke seemingly ceased for the moment. "Yeah. The idea to scan the book didn't work out very well. It apparently likes its privacy," she muttered in an annoyed tone.

Her sister stopped for a moment before shifting to a smirk and snickering lightly, earning a frustrated glare from Keela. "Relax. At least it didn't set your fur on fire again. Besides, you needed the break. Check this out," Nirru offered, holding up what appeared to be an elongated crystal rod. Hmm. My mind gave a dull ache as I stared at it, but memories came back a moment later. Information. Those crystals stored a lot of information that could be read by a computer.

Nirru walked right past the book and myself without notice, confirming that I was indeed undetectable again. I watched with interest matching the speculative look Keela wore as she took the crystal from her sister and slid it into the surface of the computer next to her.

"You found something?" she inquired as she tapped a few buttons along the panel. The screen on the far wall of the lab lit up, and several menus were navigated with precise motions.

Nirru nodded patiently, watching the screen as well. "Indeed. On a hunch, I looked through the soldier index we brought with us from the citadel. Every soldier was allowed one item of personal value to be carried with them. Command said it helped psychologically, but regardless, we kept a log of every object each soldier chose.”

Keela shifted to a grin instead as her movements sped up. "You found the book," she deduced sharply. Of course she did, or she wouldn't have brought it up. That also meant that she found me, however. Or at least, my old self.

As if on cue, a full profile popped up on the screen a heartbeat later. It had an extremely familiar looking profile picture, and a full readout of skills, basic background, and a psychological profiling. Overall, I was suddenly made extremely uncomfortable and wanted to look away. Did I really want to know all of this stuff right away? Of course, would I ever have another chance to learn it if I didn't look right now?

"It's not terribly insightful, but does raise a few interesting questions," Nirru commented, sounding perturbed. It didn't feel like she liked the questions she was presented with, to me. Maybe it was just her body language.

"No name listed, but I think that's normal. Just a serial number," Keela muttered, scanning over the beginning bio with rapid eye movements.

Nirru just gave a light clicking noise, but I mentally snorted. We were just numbers all along. It was only a rumor that they didn't even bother to write down our names, but I guess it was actually true all along. The varying amounts of memories that seeing the display caused was exceedingly uncomfortable. Not to mention, it was starting to feel like my own mind was going by a 'need to know' basis and only feeding me information as it came up. It was a rather, well, helpless sensation.

"Expert marks in barriers, abjuration, and transmutation. He could have been trained as a Master with these grades. What caused him not to be?" the younger sister asked a moment later. Ah, barriers did come easily for me. Forming them now was almost like second nature. Abjuration dealt with changing the metaphysical properties of an object such as gravity and inertia, while transmutation revolved around morphing the physical in its entirety. My choice of professions was fairly straightforward with that skill set. I was able to repair and jury-rig things on the fly, and adapt rapidly to changing battle scenarios. That's why I was elected both an engineer and field commander, if I recall correctly.

"He was the reason. Quiet type, and never favored command. He also held dangerous opinions on the status quo," Nirru explained idly, shifting tone to seem a bit bored now. I watched her carefully as she skimmed over the page on the screen.

Keela frowned and looked over at her sister. "A full out dissenter?" she asked skeptically, failing to mask the surprise in her voice.

If I had ears, they would have perked at this. I rotated away from the book fully to pay more attention. I was at least a little interested in who my old self used to be.

Nirru shook her head slowly, however. "Nothing that drastic. No concrete proof, anyway. He was the quiet type so it was hard to get evidence, but due to a few incidents during his growth period, he was flagged as high risk," she explained, confounding me even further. That was the problem with having only single events in your memory. The larger picture was extremely difficult to piece together.

Keela's elongated ears lowered a little, making her momentarily look sad. "So no proof he held views contrary to the government. I see," she muttered softly, looking back over at the screen.

Her sister snorted, crossing her arms fully. "You might not like the way we ran things, but you can't argue with the results. Did you manage to get any data before the, uh, unfortunate accident with the scanner?" she questioned, giving an appraising glance at the toasted machinery.

Keela started, before shifting back to smiling. "Oh, I might have found something of a lead. The computer managed to pick up a few words! It reads something akin to a journal from what I've glanced at. It also references one 'Moon Mender' frequently," she informed.

My nonexistent heart fell into my equally imaginary stomach instantly. Oh hell! That wasn't just a journal! Somehow, it had more recent data in it than since I left. That meant it might have important information on Equestria in there. My mind started whirling at a hundred meters a second, trying to think of a way I could get rid of the accursed thing. Sadly, I snapped out of it a second too late as Keela bent down and picked up the book from under me.

My metaphorical eyes widened as the book was lifted up directly into my self-awareness. Thousands of images exploded all around me like a rampaging movie reel in an all night marathon, without the delight of concessions, of course. Further in line with my luck, it had to lag momentarily on a simply wonderful zoom shot of Fluttershy's posterior before zipping on. I tried not to throw up my meta-dimensional stomach contents as they spun about my consciousness with little respect for my sanity or consciousness.

It all halted in a fraction of a moment later; barely a drop of time in an infinite expanse. My view was locked in a screaming hell-scape with my prior kind frozen in mid-destruction. The ground itself was torn asunder and flames colored the skies as the air started to burn. I saw the beam of light in the backdrop and knew that this was a mere second, with some generous rounding, before everyone in the image burned away. But then, like staring at a familiar image and suddenly discovering something mind-numbingly terrifying about it, my eyes were drawn up to the sky. It was monstrous; a black shadow of absolute nothingness with a web of similarly styled lines splintering from it at all angles. The blot on existence hung in the sky as if suspended by sheer physical defiance, urging a painful tugging in the front of my mind. The second I saw it, I couldn't look away. It was like staring into an abyss. The mind isn't capable of quantifying something that has no end. Looking into it was like seeing into forever, and my mind ached as reality was drawn in.

I snapped back at the last second, hurtling my metaphysical camera off the surface of the planet in the frozen picture. I saw the beams hitting the planet's surface from the star's lit side. The atmosphere burned away and the plates themselves buckled and shattered under the force of the barrage. Some tore loose under the unimaginable power at play as gravity warped. It was a truly horrifying sight to behold, especially knowing that technically my last breath was but a moment later before my magic broke and trapped me in stasis. Further, I saw it fully. The massive thing in the atmosphere could be seen from space. It looked almost draconian in shape, and a web of burning ebony tendrils stretched across an unimaginable amount of the planet! A rough glance told me that it covered at least a hemisphere with the impossibly black manifestations. What was that?! I'd never heard of anything like it before, and I remembered almost everything about our most hated enemy. Was it something I couldn't remember, or something I didn't know about to begin with?

A throaty scream tore my thoughts aside and I looked around as best I could. The image was gone a moment later, replaced by the laboratory once again. The power must have gone out; emergency lights flooded orange luminescence across the bleached floor, making for a rather brutal contrast that was unpleasant to the eyes. Well, if I had any. Oddly, I felt quite a bit different now as I looked about. Gravity was in full effect, yet I floated effortlessly in the air. There were no appendages, so I felt remarkably similar to my consciousness-only state, minus the fact that I felt immensely physical. The sensation was indescribable; like I was so physically there that I transcended normal reality. Everything tinted a light blue as I rotated and glanced at Keela, who was staring back at me in shock. Uh oh. That's when I noticed the literal aura of energy that radiated off me. Testing, I checked my magical energy levels and was literally washed out by the ocean of power I stumbled into. Aegis! This was the book. It had to be. But that meant...

The realization hit me as if I'd tripped and rolled down a hill on my face. Again. The sensation was actually reasonably familiar, but I digress. I was in the book! The book's powers, whatever they were, had activated and pulled me in? Maybe. Or that intrinsic link I seemed to have with the artifact had something to do with it. Regardless, the effect was rather apparent as I rotated around to look at Nirru instead. She looked far more stunned than her sister and was instead reaching for her belt while rapidly backing away. She withdrew a small, metallic looking item with various, fundamentally obvious shaping, and pointed it at me. It was a standard issue officer sidearm. I searched my memory and oddly heard the sensation of a book page flipping. A heartbeat later, I suddenly 'remembered' the exact specifications of the weapon, revealing that it was an energy, pulse-based pistol with high rate of fire and a shield disruption effect. I was suddenly less worried about the gun, and more concerned for my own sanity. Was that an effect of the book?

"Turn it off, Keela! Hurry!" she shouted as her back ran into one of the main support columns for the room.

There was a hesitation before her sister returned, "I don't know what I did to turn it on in the first place!" Not taking my viewpoint off the firearm, I rotated awareness in time to see Keela rapidly digging through her notes, panic readily apparent. Well this was bad. I didn't know what would happen if they destroyed the book while I was residing inside of it. I did a rapid assessment of my defenses.

I recalled that Keela had mentioned that this was a defensive artifact at the same time I discovered the seven layers of Aegis Barriers coated the outside of the book. The more I examined them, the weirder they got, however. From a practical standpoint, I knew next to nothing about how the magic behind the barriers actually functioned. Very little was explained directly to us it would seem. I shifted my awareness against them and realized the barrier I saw, the visible parts of the Aegis Shield, was actually holding the inside together, not blocking anything. I tried to scan deeper into the inside, but there was a mind-numbing absence that stretched on for far longer than existed inside the centimeter-thin layer. Everything suddenly clicked into place. It was an absence so resolute that it felt like it 'leaked' out a ways from the barriers themselves, preventing me from getting any sort of feel of them whatsoever. What was this magic that we had been using? It wasn't a barrier at all, but a thinly held in place sheet of void. A cleverly shaped hole in reality manifested by our magic, somehow!

In truth, I forgot all about defending myself. Something was extremely wrong with how I perceived things. I suddenly realized that there were some things you simply couldn't un-think. This magic wasn't what I had thought it was all along. An Aegis Barrier was supposed to be just an extremely strong, layered shield. But the entire time I had been using them, I didn't understand what I was working with.

Nirru fired three times in rapid succession. The shots didn't even reach the outer field before the absolute nothingness between the two barriers drew the energy into itself. Nothing was left of the blasts once it was done. It consumed the energy like it was a ravenous beast, and I mentally shuddered simply from witnessing the truth.

"Damn it! It's definitely an Aegis. I can't disrupt the energy field around the book. Tell me you have something, Keela!" Nirru swore, slipping sideways away from the support pillar and backing up further, dropping the gun.

I felt the book inside of me. There was no will; no awareness. But it still worked towards my goal with a limited intelligence, I noticed. There was a certain amount of anger that was somehow separate from me, but it was ruthless instead, requesting a quick and efficient solution. It gave me twelve known fatal points on Nirru's body, suggesting that if I hit at least seven of them at once, she was almost guaranteed to cease functioning almost instantly. Further, tendrils made of shielding shaped into rather sharp, twisted points popped out of various locations around the book, as if showing me a perfectly reasonable implement with which to attack.

Okay then, so it was of questionable morality. I decided to ignore it in light of cutting the gun in half on the ground with a simple wave of a conveniently formed barrier tentacle. I had the sneaking suspicion that Fluttershy would have likely passed out from witnessing that, I idly mused. I probably looked like some sort of ancient eldritch abomination or something.

Keela froze behind me, and I heard her lightly mutter, "It's intelligent." It was beyond weird to be aware of something I wasn't looking at.

I shook myself out of it. No, this whole situation was weird. I needed to get rid of this book somehow. If I could figure out how to take it back with me, I could solve everything at once. They wouldn't have either the source of power, or the knowledge that the book contained! The practical ocean of power inside of the book was dizzying, and I fought to maintain coherent thinking. How the hell did Twilight manage to do this on a daily basis?

My attention snapped back to Nirru as she lowered her hands again, both to the left side of her waist. The air itself seemed to distort and fold outwards from itself as she drew forth a hilt and full sheath. It was some sort of archaic bladed weapon, I noted, mentally frowning. No need to underestimate it if she felt it was more useful than the gun, I reminded myself.

"Wait, Sis! Don't use that! If you damage the book," Keela started to scream out, just as Nirru stepped forward and whipped her right hand out in one fluid motion.

My mind forced time to a crawl as she drew the blade. Regardless of my enhanced reaction speed, she had almost finished the cut by the time I became fully aware. Lines of energy danced from the shining white blade as it cut, extending its natural path through the air dozens of feet in front of it and aimed right at me. Along the path of the lines formed a familiar looking absence of matter. It was the same effect as what was between the Aegis layers! It wasn't even a vacuum, although it behaved similarly towards the edges. It was nothing; void. There was nothing at all existing along the path of the cut, leaving air and matter to scream back into place to fill the gap behind it. This wasn't a shield, however. The lines simply created the effect and then let it go. An Aegis Barrier wouldn't be able to block that, I suddenly realized. The book needlessly informed that it would slice through as if we were made of butter.

My thoughts whirled. A moment later, I decided that I had a distinct advantage. There was a force of will and decision behind the energy in the book that was under intelligent control; namely, me. I whipped out a barrier with two tethers embedded in it just in time to watch the effect pass through as if it weren't there. I smiled however as the lines intermixed, connecting me for just a moment to the effect. The sword was massively powerful; possibly more than the book I was in. There was no will behind it, however. It was attacking using a preset pattern built into it. It was static, while I was dynamically adapting to the situation.

I pulled out the energy. Like turning off a light bulb, the attack faded more than a foot before it got to me, dispersing as fast as a disrupted Aegis Barrier wouldn't after the support fields collapsed, as predicted. I exhaled in relief, deciding I really didn't want to find out what would happen if I got my consciousness cut in half.

Nirru's jaw dropped as she backed up more, shaking her head slowly. "No. That's not possible. Nothing can withstand an attack from the Void Cutter," she rejected, right hand clenching down hard on the hilt of the still glowing blade. Void Cutter? Based on context, she must be referring to the blade. Aegis Artifacts had names, then. I felt a little like Twilight as I mentally took notes, trying to piece together the information I was missing. It was a pity she wasn't here. She'd think of a way to get the book back to Equestria, no problem. I blushed as I shook the heated thoughts from my mind. No, this was no time to be remembering the finer points of more recent events involving her.

"It wasn't withstood. It nullified the attack before it connected," Keela corrected softly, standing up fully behind me. I suddenly wondered if there was a scripted maximum length for that effect. Had I not disrupted it, there was a significant probability that it would have not only went through me entirely, but continued and hit her sister.

"We need to vent the lab," Nirru muttered, eyes narrowing as she risked a glance back towards the door. The book reminded me that it would be easier to just slice her in half as she lost focus, but I quelled the advice yet again.

"No! Stop it, Nirru. M-Mender! Please, stop as well," she suddenly requested, causing me to do a double take and spin around to look at her. Her expression shifted from worry to a gentle smile as she saw my reaction. She had guessed that it was me inside of the book?! I watched her carefully, extremely wary suddenly. Had she predicted this would happen as some sort of contingency? What was she planning?

"Wait, what? Who's Mender?" her sister asked in shock behind me. Both of us seemed to have forgotten what we were doing in light of what she just said, albeit for entirely different reasons, I assumed. As much as she seemed surprised, she stopped retreating as soon as Keela drew my attention. The book suggested she might try to attack while I was distracted, of course. I really hoped this thing wasn't some facet of me or something. Was I really that paranoid?

Keela drew a blank look before snapping out of it and nodding rapidly to herself. "Oh! It's an AI that's controlling the book. I read some of the command words from the scan the machine made before being destroyed," she rapidly lied.

Wait, why was she lying to her sister? I suddenly drew a blank and realized that there were a few pieces of the puzzle I was missing still. Keela gave me a stern look before glancing back at her sister for support.

"Can you, um, control it? Is it dangerous still?" Nirru asked warily, sheathing the sword once more but keeping her eyes dead set on me. Similarly, I watched the blade carefully until the last of the glow disappeared into the leather sheath. That weapon was exceedingly dangerous, I noted. It took sharpness totally out of the equation by not needing to cut its target in the first place. It was kind of hard to defend against something that simply made everything in a long, spatial plane cease to exist.

Keela nodded curtly, walking up fully next to me. She seemed shockingly unafraid, suddenly. "Yes. That command renders it neutral, it said. I'll have to read up more on it though," she continued, much more calmly this time. Well, there was nothing else for it, so I decided to play along to the best of my abilities and acted harmless, pulling the barrier tendrils back into the book's form. The young Keldarian girl smiled at my display and gently patted the spine of the book, causing a lightly colored ripple to drift down the surface of the outer Aegis Barrier with each touch. The book further reminded me that I could sever every nerve in her hand and interrupt her nervous system with a few deft barrier movements, but I ignored it. Again.

"You're certain? I can leave Void Cutter with you if you think you might need to defend yourself, Keela," Nirru offered, shifting from suspicious back to her worried, surprisingly sisterly side.

Said sister in question shook her head, however. "It's okay, Sis. I don't want to risk deactivating it, then not being able to turn it back on. Just let me study it for a little bit in its active form, okay?" she suggested, moving back over to where the equipment resided.

Nirru let out a discontented sigh, but shrugged, finally giving in with, "If you think it will get us closer to figuring the thing out, go for it. Just be careful. Oh, and look at page three in the dossier. I think you'll find the information there quite interesting indeed."

Keela gave her a questioning glance, but received only a wink in return before her sister gathered herself again and walked slowly towards the door. I watched it slowly slide shut again before noticing Keela shift her head towards me instead, looking a little confused. I shrugged until I remembered that I lacked shoulders, of course. Feeling a little stupid, I formed a vague shoulder image out of four barrier planes and repeated the motion, much more visibly this time.

Keela cracked a smile suddenly and giggled, nodding to me in amusement. "So it is you, Mender. I think I recognize the biting sarcasm from last night," she muttered, looking a little less tense. I was surprised by her level of trust in the strange, floating, potentially alien entity with almost unlimited energy that resided less than a meter from her. Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to try something.

"This is a little new for me, but you did catch me at a bad time last night," I attempted to say. Lacking vocal cords, I distinctly placed my chances of that working at almost zero. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised when her eyes widened a little. Wait, I hadn't 'heard' anything when I said it, though.

"Wow! You can use telepathy? That's definitely handy. Wait, you're male?" she suddenly questioned, tilting her head to the side while giving me a curious look.

Oh. She heard it in her mind. Well, more likely, I manipulated the various nerve signals that allowed her mind to interpret what I said as verbal and in my distinct voice. I was suddenly extremely glad that I didn't have to manually do that.

I decided to be diplomatic and returned, "Well, yes. I'm male. My full name is Moon Mender, but most just refer to me as Mender." Names were a show of politeness, right? I tried to remember any rules of etiquette I may have read about at any point. Damn it. I drew as big of a blank as when I tried the same with the Princesses.

Keela smiled and nodded gently. "It's an interesting naming convention. Who are the 'others' you refer to?" she inquired curiously, now ignoring the machines and sitting down on the top of the lab table instead, all attention directed at me. It was a little flattering, and I felt myself mentally blush.

"They're my friends, but I'd rather not go into detail. Is it at all possible to convince you to get rid of this book and forget it ever existed? Maybe, I don't know, launch it into a star or something?" I suggested hopefully.

Keela looked surprisingly contemplative for a moment, before snickering and pointing out, "I don't think that would technically destroy the artifact. The book you're in is extremely defensive in nature. It would probably just get pulled into the star for a few billion years until the end of its life cycle."

Okay, so she could be sarcastic too. I smirked, but decided it had at least cheered me up. There was something about leaving the colorful ponies once you knew them that was utterly depressing. "Well, that would be fine. By that point, any and all relevance the book has would be gone," I reasoned, mentally doing the calculations. I'd be dead by then, one way or another. The link to Equestria would die with me, so at the very most, the book would then simply be a colorful story, if anyone existed that could still read Universal Common at that point. Or if it was even found again. A cold, inert, pathetically small object drifting through space had an astronomically small chance of being found. Last I checked, space was a pretty big place.

She smiled suddenly, looking a little too amused for comfort. "You're not actually in the book, are you? The book is a connection to somewhere else that you can act through, right?" she deduced, causing me to mentally twitch again. Why did she have to remind me of Twilight so much? She was definitely a sharp one, that was for sure.

"Does it matter? I really just want to be left alone," I groaned, getting tired of the conversation already. Wait, was it still a conversation if it was purely one-sided in a verbal context? I snapped out of the distraction yet again, the dizzying ocean of energy weighing heavily behind my eyes like muddy, lukewarm swamp water.

She lost some of her smile and nodded gently before scrolling the long forgotten computer screen down two pages. "If you can answer my questions, I promise that I'll try my hardest to help you. You seem like a really nice guy," she promised, scanning the page with her eyes. I glanced up at it as well. The document appeared to be only three pages long, with the last page detailing my old self's career. It was a list of combat operations for the most part, until one got down to the last three entries.

"Led Rescue Operation EX6?!" Keela suddenly read out loud. Oh yeah, that must have been the extraction mission I had remembered earlier. It didn't seem entirely relevant, however. Immediately under it was, 'Selected by Doctor Kyliona As Punishment', followed by, 'Elevated to B11 Status'. Disturbingly, the entries simply ceased after that, being replaced by over a dozen 'Classified' labels.

"He was the commander in charge of the rescue mission," she muttered again, sagging a little in posture.

I frowned at her reaction but quietly mentally corrected, "Lieutenant."

She snapped her head up and back at me rather rapidly, eyes surprisingly wide. "Do you know about him?! Where is he now?" she rapidly asked, borderline on demanding. I sensed a potentially deeper connection and backpedaled rapidly.

"I, um, don't know. It just said he was a lieutenant in the promotions listed," I excused rapidly, not very good at the whole 'lying through my teeth' thing. At least, not with last second excuses, anyway.

Keela's eyes narrowed momentarily before she sighed. "Please tell me? I'm partially responsible for him getting punished and I'd really like to know," she requested, expression softening.

Uh oh. My potential landmine radar was flashing like crazy. I had been punished for something regarding whatever it was she did, and was then classified. Somewhere after that, I had somehow ended defending a vault on an extremely doomed planet, blown to crap, then transferred to another dimension full of colorful, talking ponies. I was missing a few pieces still...

"The truth?" I asked hesitantly, to make absolutely sure she really wanted to know. There would obviously be things I couldn't tell her, but I could let her know ultimately what happened to the individual she apparently knew.

She frowned, hesitating at my question as if not expecting it, but finally nodded. I sighed weakly before informing, "He's dead. He died on the final day of our last planet."

She closed her eyes softly and slumped, bringing her hands to her knees for support. I watched the gentle movement of her throat as she fought to swallow before nodding. "I kind of knew, I guess. It's not like I really knew him that well, of course, but well, he saved my life and paid for it," she finally explained, shaking her head gently. I watched her soft pink mane, er, hair sway back and forth as she did so, bangs draping back in front of her eyes as she looked back up at me again. Her almost sapphire blue eyes seemed to stare into me and I was forced to look away. "Can you tell me how he died?" she asked quietly, apparently composing herself a little. What was her relationship to my old self?

"He was charged with protecting one of the vaults. He gave his life to charge the Aegis Barrier but persisted as the Planet Busters hit," I furthered, unsure if I wanted to give her all of the details.

Regardless, she didn't ask for them. She smiled gently and nodded, sitting back upright. "He always wanted to protect something, he said. I guess he got his way in the end. I was worried they'd execute him," she muttered, before chuckling wearily. My curiosity got the better of me, finally.

"If I may ask, what did he do to get in trouble?" I couldn't help myself. If this was my past life, I wanted to know more about it. He wasn't me, I don't think, but it was still informative.

She smiled fully now and raised an eyebrow up at me. "You'd laugh if I told you, probably. You must come from a totally different world," she warned, looking amused at my apparent expense. That was the problem with inside jokes.

I rolled my metaphorical eyes before daring, "Try me?" Her expression of mirth was worth it, and I caught myself smiling too.

"Oh fine, nosey. If you must know, high-ranking females in our culture have a very strict privacy and dress code. It's mostly a religious thing, and the males are punished for violating it. At the highest ranks, me being a council member as an example, the punishment for even seeing a patch of my fur is quite severe," she explained, covering what I had already knew of course. I feigned ignorance, however, to both cover my identity and speed the story along.

"Anyway, needless to probably say now, he broke that. Well, that's not entirely accurate. I broke it for him, which is very well known," she finished, coughing lightly and looking away from me. Uh oh. I suddenly didn't like where this was going.

"Uh, he saw your fur then?" I suggested, playing the idiot. It wasn't too hard for my usual self to pull off fairly convincingly.

She laughed, a sharp and amused sound, before shaking her head and blushing. "Ah, a little bit more than just fur. But nothing too bad. He saved my life, so I might have, well, thanked him a little after his debriefing conveniently located in my room. Just a bit of kissing and such. Damned if my sister hadn't walked in on us," she groaned, putting a hand on her forehead.

I tried to keep the mental convulsions to a minimum. I'd made out with her in her room after rescuing her?! Damn it all to hell! My mind whirled at potential implications of what that would mean. Did she have feelings for my old self? It was unlikely those would carry over to my new form, so I was probably safe. Still, if she found out about the relationship, working with her to fix the connection might become awkward. Or she might get pissed at me for lying about it and refuse to help me. Oh crap. But if I told her the truth, she might think I was lying anyway and then get mad regardless. What was I supposed to do?!

In the midst of my panic, I failed to note her giving me an amused look. "I should warn you, I'm a detection and observation specialist. It's one of the reasons I'm the head scientist. Your inner aura just went crazy after I said that. What's wrong?" she suddenly asked, causing me to whirl and smack into the side of the desk as I momentarily lost control of my levitation.

She put a hand to her mouth to hold in a giggle. I glared momentarily before sighing. I had figured she was a sensor specialist of some type. "I might not have told you the entire truth about him. Um, he actually lived for about a week after the destruction of the planet," I revealed, looking back up at her.

Keela, for her credit, managed to limit her reaction to one of extreme surprise. "Wait, that was just shortly before we got here! How did he stay alive in space for that long? Could we have, um, saved him?" she asked, a little more eager than I had expected.

"No. He was in a coma and had extensive physical damage. Saving him wasn't possible. We would have tried could it have been. He was in stasis, being kept alive by the dwindling Aegis Barrier that had shrunk down to barely three meters wide. Air was being pumped in by the Grosh that had moved into the area to study the event." It was easier to get out than I anticipated. If she was going to help me close the link, some things she'd have to know regardless.

There was a long moment where she just stared at me, vacant expression of surprise and what appeared to be system shock. For a second, I thought I had accidentally broken her or something. Finally, she shook her head slowly and frowned again. "They really were here then. Wait, we? You were here and trying to save him?" she asked, catching on rapidly like I had hoped.

"Yes. My friends and I tried to deal with the connection once already. We apparently weren't fully successful as we didn't anticipate the book, but we were responsible for the destruction of the Grosh laboratory vessel. It was a private operation that hadn't been reported yet, don't worry," I added, heading off that bout of panic before it could get out of control.

Keela's frown didn't fade, and she immediately asked, "Wait a second. Your connection existed before the book, then? Are you and your friends connected to here somehow? And where is the other end of the connection?" Her thinking was speeding up and I could see an entirely new interest forming in her eyes. Still, this time I needed confirmation first, however.

"Before I can tell you that, I need your absolute word that not only will it stay between us, but that you'll help me destroy the link to this place," I adamantly warned, drifting back up to be eye level with her again.

She watched my carefully before suddenly smiling. "I can do better if you're asking for insurance. I trust you, which is strange. You feel familiar, so I'm going to go out on my gut feelings in this case. Here," she offered, raising her left hand up to me.

My eyes widened, figuratively of course, as her palm started to glow. There was no prepared attack however, so I simply remained alert. A small orb drifted out of her palm and formed into a crystal in the air, bright purple in color. I momentarily wondered what it was for before she gave it a shove and let it drift over to me. I caught it with the innate field of telekinesis around the book and went to examine it. Unfortunately, it didn't give me a chance and promptly faded into light again before smacking into the book itself?!

"Well, that explains a lot. You have a life signature. That was a soul bead. It's a little drop of my condensed life force that is attached to a promise. I promise that I will not share what you're about to tell me, and will help you close the link you refer to, to the best of my abilities," she promised in a surprisingly official tone of voice.

Now I was really confused. "Where did it go? And what does it do?" I inquired curiously. I didn't feel anything particularly detrimental, so I assumed it wasn't malignant or anything.

She snickered before explaining further, "It attaches to your life signature. You can use it to 'ping' me at any distance, so to speak. The real purpose of it, however, is to assure that I uphold my end of the bargain. If I don't follow through with my promise, the bead opens up to you and gives you full access to my end of the link." Oh. Whoa. If I had access to a link directly to her, I could cast any spell I wanted directly into her being. That much I knew already, as I vaguely recalled contracts involving them from time to time. It didn't take a genius to know that having an angry person with a direct link to your existence would be very bad.

Then it dawned on me. She trusted me. It was probably something she felt inside of me that made her remember my past self, but regardless, she trusted me. Me, not him. I drifted gently before nodding my entire form. "Thank you for trusting me. There's a reason I probably seem familiar," I added, a little concerned with how she was going to take this.

Her eyes flickered wider slightly, but she contained herself and just listened. Not able to hesitate any further, I gave up and just started talking. Or whatever it was that I was doing now. "The place this one is linked to is a different dimension. I traveled there by freak chance when my spell went haywire. As far as I can tell, the dimension 'passed' close to this one and a, well, rather powerful energy source on their side linked up with the energy of the shield I was using. I think that's what caused me to shift over to their side," I hypothesized. It was summarized, obviously, but that was about as close as I could come with the information I had. Of course, there wasn't any need to convolute the details by explaining what a Sonic Rainboom was.

She couldn't quite contain herself this time. "You're a Keldarian, then?! Wait, shield? No. No, it couldn't possibly be..." she started to rapidly ask, suddenly looking conflicted and confused. Further, she didn't seem to know what to do with her hands, claws sporadically popping out as she flexed them.

"He, well, I died a week after our planet blew up. My old body was too badly damaged to save, but that was what kept the link connected before the book took over. A new body was somehow formed for me on their side. I'm not a Keldarian anymore," I corrected softly, not exactly sure what to say after all that.

"What are you now?" she asked quietly, staring at me with an incomprehensible expression, a light shiver in her pupils.

That was a difficult one to answer. Instead, I focused and formed a shield in front of me. Slowly and surely it started to bend and curve, shaping into my now familiar form. It took a good thirty seconds to finish with the crude shape of my body, but I was pleased at the dimensions. I put on the finishing touches of the eyes and hair with a second shield plane to overlap with, keeping them somewhat visible as they hung in the air in front of me. She watched curiously as I finished the rough image, finalizing my rather unkempt mane and tail. The last thing I added was the silvery Cutie Mark that adorned both flanks. Shifting the visible light spectrum across the surface of the shields was rather elementary of a procedure, so color was quite possible. Complex pictures would take a great deal of concentration, but basic shapes such as what my symbol consisted of was rather easy.

"You're an equine? Um, too small to be a horse. Isn't that one of the imported animals from our allies?" she questioned, tilting her head and seemingly getting distracted by her own natural curiosity.

Regardless, I nodded softly to her, a full motion of the book simulating it. "A pony. There are many genetic differences, though. Different skull structure, larger eyes, shifted proportions, and altered hooves. Sapient levels of intelligence as well as a grasp of complex machinery, sciences, culture, and magic. Two different phenotypes as well, as to what they consider races," I explained as technically as I could to keep her distracted. Based on her expression, it more than worked. Her eyes were now glued to the diagram as I added the translucent horn and wing types to it in cascading style to show the different types.

"Let me guess. Unicorn, pegasus, and normal types?" she inquired, peeking around the wings to get a better look as I cycled them.

I chuckled and shook my book form. "They are based off legendary creatures, but they call the normal form 'Earth Ponies' in regards to their apparent natural affinity in magic," I corrected simply.

She smirked and nodded, still looking amused as I drifted my little diagram closer to her to see. "I'm a normal type, but due to damage to my hoof in the destruction of the Grosh ship, I can perform my magic from when I was a Keldarian on things I touch," I added, erasing the extra parts and shifting the form back to just me again.

"Earth Ponies can't use magic?" she inquired, drawing her hand along the flank of the image and lingering with curiosity on the Cutie Mark.

"Watch it. That's technically my butt, you know," I reminded, coughing lightly. She snapped back as if burned and I started laughing as a visible blush danced up into her cheeks. I continued before she could complain, however. "Unicorns are the only ones to be able to actively use magic. The other two races use it in a passive way. Earth Ponies manifest it through heightened strength and constitution, as well as a natural connection with nature, making them excellent farmers. Pegasi manipulate clouds, fly far more capably than their wings should allow for, and can alter weather conditions."

She was still glaring at me by the time I finished, but I had no doubt that she had heard most of that. "I didn't mean to touch your flank. I was just curious as to the obvious symbol," she defended, looking a little miffed. I was kind of glad she couldn't see the grin I'd be sporting if I had a mouth.

"It's called a Cutie Mark. It symbolizes a special talent that we're particularly good at, but can be extremely vague sometimes. Normal ponies apparently get them close to puberty when they discover said talent, but mine appeared a few days ago." The mention of vagueness might have been influenced by my own frustration over mine, but I'm sure I wasn't the only pony out there with the mindset! That damnable heart confused me to no end. It must be symbolic, but the connection to the gear was rather baffling.

She nodded, her blush finally dying down a little as she peeked closer. "A gear? Well, if your engineering skills carried over, that's very appropriate. Are you a male still? Do they have genders?" she continued her pattern of curious questioning while examining the model. It was a little annoying, as I didn't know how long I had before waking up, but I owed her politeness anyway. She trusted me, so the least I could do was show a little in return.

"Yeah, I'm a male still. It's a little awkward as their gender ratios are flipped from what ours used to be, if I remember correctly. The transfer also gave me a lovely case of retrograde amnesia," I admitted, sighing wearily. It was an extremely selective amnesia as well, which was beyond weird. The book even only gave me information I specifically asked about, greatly limiting its usefulness. Well, it was automated when trying to get me to murder things, but that was hardly fair.

"That actually makes sense. To be forcibly shifted into another dimension and have your body regrown into an alien shape probably put you into system shock. Is their culture reversed like ours too? Males rule or something?" she questioned lightly, seemingly calming down a little now. Or she noticed my unrest over the barrage of questions.

That one was less awkward, anyway. "Their culture seems pretty even. The ratio seems to be about four to one in favor of female births, but both genders are treated as equal members of society. There's significantly less crime and violence as well," I answered wistfully, realizing honestly how lucky I was. If the dimension shift was truly random, I had amazingly good luck, contrary to what a lot of mares believed.

Keela giggled lightly and nodded, eyes softening. "I can see why you don't want to come back here. Cutting the link is more to protect the place, isn't it?" she deduced simply, looking a lot more relaxed now. There was an odd whispering quality that echoed in her voice suddenly, and I glanced about. Wait, that seemed really familiar all of a sudden.

I saw the Sun slowly rising on the inside of the ship, oddly. It was starting to bleed through the walls, almost as if a massive three-dimensional projection was inside the room itself. Uh oh. Keela glanced over at where I'd rotated to, but acted like nothing was out of the ordinary and shot me a questioning glance. Yup, it was dimensional bleed through. Damn it.

"Crap. I'm waking up. If you have any other questions, best ask them now," I warned rapidly, rotating back to face her.

Her eyes widened and she put both hands to her mouth in surprise. "Oh! You were sleeping? Our time cycles must be reversed. Um, I don't want to be a bother now that I definitely know you aren't an AI or anything. What should we do?" she questioned, an air of guilt leaking into her tone.

"Oh, that thing you gave me. Right before I'm about to go to sleep, I'll ping you. Just feed the book energy and I'll probably be pulled through into it. It beats listening to you talk for five hours and getting paper dumped all over me," I groaned, suddenly remembering what I had to look forward to when I woke up. "Oh, and don't run the book through that thing anymore. It wasn't pleasant," I added, sighing wearily. Hopefully I hadn't rolled into my own vomit while sleeping. Well, unconscious.

Keela nodded rapidly, looking a little sad suddenly before agreeing, "Yeah, that's no problem. I'm glad you're going to let me talk to you again. You're, well, fun." Well that was, um, actually, I didn't know how to respond to that at all.

Thankfully I didn't have to. I felt the book suddenly turn off and fall, me falling with it. I kept going however, falling back into the dark recesses of my mind and crossing the infinite void once more.

Chapter 16

The fluid dimensional shift had been so poetic compared to the now jarring spasms that I awoke to. At first I was wondering if I'd inhaled vomit and was now having some sort of choking attack, but those don't normally talk to me, I'd hope.

"Dude! Mender, wake up. Are you okay?" I heard in a quiet but sturdy male voice. My eyes opened up abruptly to stare right at his emerald ones. The little, purple lizard stood over me, an expression of seeming concern adorning his face.

I winced and pushed my hoof against my right temple, trying to shove the splitting headache out of my skull. "Ow. Yeah, I'm all right, Spike. I think I passed out last night and fell," I excused, telling most of the truth. Well, it was enough of the truth to hurt like hell. I probably had hit my head when I fell over, but I vaguely recalled being on my knees to throw up anyway, so it probably wasn't too far of a drop.

Spike looked momentarily unsure before smiling and nodding again. "Well, as long as you're not hurt or anything. You're nice and all, so it wouldn't be good if something were wrong. Oh, and Twilight would go totally spastic again. You should have just heard her yesterday!" he complained, rolling his eyes before walking back over to the counter where I had gotten my drink last night.

He went under the counter, however, withdrawing what appeared to be a paper towel. "Are you sick, though? You should let her know when she gets up if so," he followed up before getting ready to clean up my rather large mess.

"Those two are still asleep?" I questioned in earnest interest before tapping my left hoof to the wooden floor. The barrier formed almost instantly under the mess and I scooped it up using a bowl shape in one fell swoop. "Sorry about the mess, by the way. I think it was something I ate," I tacked on, gesturing to the bowl of rather disgusting smelling liquid. Well, it used to be liquid. I decided not to think about it, lest I make myself sick again.

"Oh, sweet! I wish Twilight helped me clean up stuff! Thanks! I totally forgot you had that crazy magic, too. But yeah, I usually always get up before her. I usually make her breakfast, too," he informed as he walked over to a nook in the corner and slid a garbage can out. I winced as I dumped the contents into it, and he rapidly tied it off.

"You cook? You seem more like a little brother to Twilight. Isn't she supposed to be the responsible one?" I asked, smirking as he tried to pull the now much heavier plastic bag out of the can.

"Ha! You'd think so, but we actually do it this way for safety. You saw her cooking at the party! I thought Rainbow was going to die," he warned, sounding actually shocked.

I felt the blood seep out of my head. Oh. "Yikes. I thought that was because it was just really old," I muttered, shuddering before lifting the bag out of the can with my teeth. Spike smiled as I helped him again and latched onto the bottom of the can, using his weight to help me pull it off.

"Nah. Twilight's too orderly to let things sit in the fridge for that long. Pinkie made that up. She'd only cooked that up, like, three days before? It just wasn't exactly, um, edible by the time she was done. It was a total waste of potatoes and celery if you ask me."

More blood dribbled away and I felt faint, suddenly glad my stomach was still empty. "Potatoes and celery?! I thought that was pancake batter!" I admitted, swallowing wearily. Note to self, if I ever felt suicidal, have Twilight cook for me.

"Exactly!" he returned, winking at me before opening the door. We took the bag out the front and set it down next to the end of the walkway leading up to the library. Hoped nopony got too close. The smells alone might incapacitate an unlucky pony!

"Thanks a ton, Mender! Having you living here is going to be awesome. Do you want some breakfast too?" he asked, running briefly to catch up as I walked back inside.

"Well, if it's not too much trouble. I can try to help if you want," I offered, smiling over at the little guy. He was nice enough of a lizard-thing when it came down to it.

His eyes widened a little and he asked, "For real? You'll actually help me cook?" Was it that much of a surprise? I paused, but nodded simply, wondering if I was missing something. "Woo!" he exclaimed before hopping into the air and raising his fist. I snickered momentarily before he rotated and landed on me during his second jump, almost knocking me over sideways. "You're awesome! Let's go make breakfast, then," he agreed from his newly discovered sitting position on my back.

I raised an eyebrow back at him, but he only grinned. "Twilight must have you ride on her back, then?" I questioned before heading back inside the library. He wasn't heavy at all, honestly. If he hadn't been rather on the warm side, I probably wouldn't be able to tell he was riding on me. My hoof flashed with energy and the door slid shut after we entered.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't even ask if I could," he suddenly apologized.

I glanced back at him with a smile again and shook my head. "You're not that heavy, so it's okay. I just wasn't expecting it," I explained as we entered the kitchen. Now that I peeked around a little more, I noticed that he was right. Everything was ordered, tidy, and practically immaculate. It struck me as almost compulsive, but I knew better than to say anything to the mare, or that wouldn't be the only thing that struck me, I figured.

Then I suddenly got an idea as we entered the kitchen. "Hey Spike, why don't we make the mares breakfast in bed?" I suggested, looking back and up at the little fellow.

He thought about it for a second before smirking. "Dang, I wish I'd thought of that before! You really know how to impress the ladies, Mender. I wonder if Rarity would like breakfast in bed," he mumbled, raising a clawed hand to his chin as he thought out loud.

My brain did a flip. Wait, he liked Rarity? The total lack of comprehension shifted my brain into reverse as it rolled down a hill at maximum speed. "Whoa, you like Rarity?!" I asked before common sense or propriety could caution me otherwise.

Spike let out a gasp of shock and stared at me, dumbfounded. "Ack! Don't tell anypony! That's supposed to be super secret!" he warned, looking at me with pleading eyes. Oh crap! Why could I not go a whole day without committing some sort of social atrocity?

"Don't worry, Spike! I promise that I'm not going to tell anypony. I'll even help you make Rarity breakfast in bed too if you want to," I offered, hoping my attempt at blatantly bribing him wasn't too obvious. Wait, there was something odd about that logic.

He seemed oblivious, though, and sighed in relief instead. "Thanks, Dude. You're a good stallion. Oh, and you're so lucky to have both of them after you!" he suddenly exclaimed, probably remembering what he heard last night.

I blushed and coughed as he climbed up onto the counter wearing a smirk. "Well, Fluttershy hasn't made any promises and I'm happy enough to have Twilight. Both mares are amazing for their own reasons, so I am pretty lucky. Well, in that regard," I admitted, leaving a loophole for the blunt head trauma and injury quota I seemed to possess.

"Oh yeah. I'm gonna do the cutting, okay? I know better than to let you near sharp objects," he agreed, taking my hint. I laughed and helped him get things out of the fridge that seemed breakfast-y. Was that a word? Oh well. Eggs and bread were good, solid choices. Potatoes would work too. I peeked around for the veggies as Spike started working with the eggs I had retrieved.

It was strange. Every time I had one of those dreams, I felt so weird when I got back. It was a surreal, detached feeling that lingered for as long as I thought about it, which this time, was quite a while. What was Keela doing now? She would hopefully be less intrusive from now on, but maybe with her help, I'd be able to solve the link issue without talking to Twilight. A twinge of bitterness slipped in before I could stop it. She'd probably just think that I was nuts again, even if I did say anything.

"Equestria to Mender? You okay?" Spike suddenly asked, snapping his fingers in front of my muzzle and knocking me out of my thoughts.

"Oh! Oh yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about something," I excused, attempting to act nonchalant and probably failing in an extremely epic manner.

Spike gave me a skeptical eyebrow raise before muttering, "I noticed. The mares won't appreciate burnt breakfast nearly as much, however. Watch the toast for me while I handle the potatoes," he requested in a surprisingly professional tone. Well when someone spoke like that, one simply had to go along with it.

I nodded politely and peeked over at the toaster. Now that I realized it, this was the first time I noticed that Equestria actually had working electricity. Although I think I should have known this before. I could have sworn I saw a hydroelectric dam up by the riverhead. Forcing myself not to get distracted again, I plugged the machine in with a burst of field manipulation around the cord, then stuck the entire stack of bread slices to my hoof with a simple magnetic shift. The little lizard watched in amusement as I took four slices and slid them over the top of the toaster, simply releasing them as they were over the slots in one fluid motion. I might as well get magical practice while doing mundane things, right?

"Magic is so cool. Yours doesn't seem as convenient as Twilight's, though," Spike observed after another moment. Well, that much was true.

"Yeah. I have to touch things I want to mess with. Having a horn must be amazing," I agreed wistfully. I could think of a few ways around the limitation, but walking around with a bunch of ribbons tied to my left ankle wouldn't do wonders for my already suffering image as a stallion. Maybe some sort of hoof-to-hand glove I could build with movable parts? That might go the other direction though and scare ponies.

I gently reminded myself that I was supposed to be cooking when the toast popped up, arced through the air, and unerringly skipped off my nose. I let out a squeak before lashing out with a bunch of force fields from my hoof and catching all of the slices in a makeshift bowl!

The little purple lizard started giggling in amusement at my quick recovery, then clapped as I managed to get all of the slices safely back onto the counter. "Your luck is still just as bad, but at least you're getting better at the recovery part," he complimented, pulling a flat, dull knife out and dipping it into the small tub of butter nearby. What interesting ways to prepare food. It made sense from what I had been subjected to so far in meals. They prepared things similarly to the exotic dishes I vaguely remember being 'imported' from our tentative treaty with those other aliens. They had such complex ways to prepare food. It was a little weird, but I guess I'd get used to it. Our species, when not subjected to preserved military meal rations, kept things simple and mixed; chopped, diced, or stringed meat mixed with light grains and maybe a bit of sauce for flavor. The sauce was typically made from either fruits or vegetables. I remember a lot of spicy peppers mixed in as well as the occasional fruity tang if the meat was sweet.

My stomach growled as I put in the next set of four toast, and I whimpered. Spike smirked and nodded, complaining, "Yeah. I always get hungry when cooking, too. Seeing all this awesome food in front of me and not being able to touch it is like teasing. Even if it's not what I really want to eat."

My attention focused on his mouth while he was talking, and I once again saw the rows of pointed teeth. Was he omnivorous? "Do you eat meat sometimes?" I questioned gently, having gotten too curious for my own good.

To my own defense, I wasn't expecting the look of utter horror that the little guy displayed. "Ew! No way, Dude! I'd never eat any kind of meat," he denied instantly, taking a step backwards and away from me. Okay then! That hadn't been a reaction I was expecting. I chalked yet another social blunder onto my quota for today. Damn. I'd only been up a half an hour!

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to offend! I just saw your teeth and I didn't think they looked like something a pure herbivore would have," I explained hastily in attempts to calm the little guy down.

He exhaled, and seemed to relax before sticking a finger into his mouth and running the claw along his teeth as if just having noticed them himself.

"Well, I guess I see the mistake. These are for crushing and chewing gemstones, though, not meat," he corrected.

What? My brain stalled as I blinked slowly at him. Gemstones? He eats crystalline mineral deposits that have been processed into faceted gems? "Uh, all dragons eat gems, I guess. They taste really, really good and make my tummy feel better if it's aching," he expanded upon, seeing my empty expression.

Oh. He was a dragon then, not a lizard. My mind strained to remember anything I could about the word. The only place I had recalled seeing it was in an old book that was imported, once again, from our estranged allies. It was starting to make me a little paranoid now that I considered it. A lot of that alien culture seemed to be popping up around here. Although to them, even, dragons were a myth. Something fictitious that existed purely in imagination and fantasy; yet here was a living, breathing example of one. I think. I wondered how close the little guy matched to their myths.

"So you're a dragon? I think I recall reading that they can breathe fire," I muttered a moment later, tilting my head towards him.

He grinned in the same instant and exhaled, blasting a small plume of green flames dangerously close to my styled and braided mane. I stepped backwards with my eyes widening a little before coughing out, "Dragon it is, then!"

He snickered and nodded with a big grin dancing across his face. "My fire isn't normal dragon fire, though. I'm extra magical and can use the fire to transport things to wherever I think about when using it," he added, swaying back and forth as if pleased with himself.

I was confused, however. "Wait, so it makes some sort of portal or something?" I inquired curiously, suddenly finding the little guy fascinating. At least he didn't seem to mind the attention I was giving him.

"Haha! No. It kind of burns up, then just appears somewhere else. Like magic!" he exclaimed. Yet again, my brain did a flailing nosedive down a cliff. A thousand questions came to mind, but I suddenly realized that assaulting him with them might seem kind of rude. The way he was explaining it, I decided he probably didn't know the answers any more than I did. I made a mental note to never willingly use it for transportation, however. If it didn't actually send the object, instead destroying it and making a copy at the location he considers, wouldn't that technically kill living things? If it didn't, were they really the same individual as the one who got teleported? If one couldn't tell, was that still a bad thing? The moral and ethical questions confused me deeply.

Spike was oblivious to my inner turmoil, thankfully. "I mostly use it to send letters for Twilight," he added happily before starting to load up a tray I hadn't seen him pull out. Oh, the food!

To my surprise however, the sets of toast were done to perfection and already placed on a large plate. "Ah! Sorry for zoning out so much, Spike. I didn't really help you much," I apologized, suddenly feeling badly about it. He had seemed so happy to be getting the help earlier, too.

Spike snickered and waved a claw to me as he finished loading the tray. "It's fine, Mender. You had a rough night, so it doesn't surprise me you're a little out of it today. The company was totally worth it! Can you help me get this upstairs, though?" He glanced over at the tray, suddenly seeming to realize that it was several times his size.

I smiled, teasing, "Don't want to use your flames to move it up there?"

A faint blush appeared on his cheeks before he shook his head, admitting, "I can't exactly control how the objects come out. With our luck, the tray would flip over and land on them."

That would indeed be bad. Eating breakfast is good. Being covered in it; not so much. I reached out and touched the tray with my left hoof. It was simple enough. The tray and contents lost gravity instantly, and I snapped a thin, contorted barrier over the food on top to prevent any unfortunate drifting that might happen. Spike gave a questioning look due to the effects being not exactly visible to the naked eye. It shifted to amusement and a rapid clapping as I slid the tray off the counter and drifted it through the air towards the stairs. Once the properties of an object were changed, the small symbols I put on them would remain 'charged' for quite a while after I broke contact. That was a basic technique I remember being taught. More advanced ones gave methods in which to place self-recharging 'batteries' onto the enchantments, allowing for significantly more permanent effects. They required a tremendous amount of focus and magic to start up, though, and that was currently well outside of my capacity.

Spike snagged the tray out of the air and pulled it up the stairs, scooting himself backwards as he went. The anti-gravity enchantment seemed to amuse him to no end. Of course, I could hardly cancel the true effect of gravity on an object. That would take considerably more energy than my entire body possessed. Mass manipulation enchantments were extremely hard. Now a basic effect that provided omnidirectional counter-thrusting to match the force of gravity on the object; that was a lot easier!

Spike gleefully made it to the top of the stairs and turned in the direction of Twilight's bed. I smiled at his youthful exuberance as I went up the stairs significantly slower. Up was far safer than down when traversing stairs in my current body, but I still didn't want to trip and plant my face into the steps. Idly, I wondered if the girls really would enjoy this little gift. My eyebrows raised questioningly, however, as I saw Spike freeze shortly after turning the corner, claws extending up to his mouth and his eyes widening. Uh oh...

Sensing potential disaster, I sped up upon nearing the top of the stairs. Thankfully I only managed to trip once. Stumbling to a somewhat complete stop, I finally managed to turn just as Spike started to smirk instead.

The girls must have heard my fumbling in some far off corner of their dreamland. Both stirred gently, still tucked under the warm embrace of the covers. A smile crept onto my mouth before I could stop it as the stirring made them snuggle closer into each other. Fluttershy's muzzle and cheek were lightly pressed into Twilight's chest as the lavender unicorn had both of her front legs wrapped around her friend. Honestly, it kind of looked like she thought she was holding some sort of stuffed animal. Actually, now that I thought about it, the yellow pegasus was probably going to have a small heart attack upon waking up.

"Twilight? Fluttershy? Breakfast is ready," Spike gently called out before I could properly warn him. Both mares stirred gently after barely a second; Fluttershy opening her eyes up first.

She looked disoriented in that brief moment where you have to cognitively register where you are after falling out of your dreams. The look of confusion rapidly slipped into surprise, and then panic as she looked up fully at Twilight. Twilight, for her part, didn't seem to notice at all anyway. She was busy releasing a planet-cracking yawn. I momentarily amused myself by watching the little thingy in the back of her mouth shiver back and forth before she finally stopped yawning and blinked sleepily. By then, Fluttershy had started shivering uncontrollably and couldn't seem to break eye contact.

Twilight slowly looked down, eyes widening in surprise but not quite slipping into the panic her friend seemed to be displaying. "Oh! I'm sorry, Fluttershy. We must have moved in our sleep," she reasoned, probably dead on as per usual. Fluttershy was still mostly frozen, but I watched her eyes soften a little at the lavender unicorn's warm smile. Note to self, my fillyfriend is amazingly unfazed by waking up to cuddling with her best friend. Even in my head, that sounded really weird, and not because of the cuddling part. I decided I still was having problems considering myself as her coltfriend.

Spike managed to remain smiling, even though I heard the suppressed, airy snickering from this close. "I'm sure you two are hungry as well. Mender had a really good idea, so here you go! Breakfast is served," he announced, giving a hammy bow before sliding the tray through the air. It drifted low before gently landing on, and sliding across the surface of the bed. Twilight looked more surprised by the tray than the fact that she woke up to holding Fluttershy, ironically.

"Wait, did you guys make us breakfast in bed? Aww!" she cooed, smiling even wider now. Fluttershy snapped out of her system shock and glanced at the tray in front of her as well, as she sat up to equal Twilight's height.

Spike wasted no time in hopping up on the other side of the tray and sitting across from Twilight. "Yup! He even helped me make it. I should have totally thought of this before!" he exclaimed, tone indicating he felt he was silly.

"Hey, you did most of the cooking. Plus you would have had too hard of a time getting the food upstairs," I reasoned to try to redirect his self-chastisement, not to mention the credit.

Fluttershy was now blushing furiously and looking down at the tray. I had the sneaking suspicion that it wasn't me who caused the tinted cheeks, however. "Thank you. You two are wonderful. You really know how to treat two mares!" Twilight spoke up, smirking over at Fluttershy before shifting to a more questioning expression.

There was a long, awkward moment where Fluttershy continued to zone out while blushing and Twilight stared blankly at her. I was a little awkward, too, but for other reasons. I realized that I was rather hungry myself, having thrown up most of my supper last night. There was a problem, however. Breakfast was sitting on Twilight's bed. Her bed. Bed! I might be rather naive from time to time, but I knew what the favorite location of private time was. Due to a very informative conversation with Pinkie and Applejack a while back, I had a sneaking suspicion that the concept was fairly universal between our worlds.

"Uh, are you okay, Fluttershy?" Twilight hesitantly asked, finally running out of patience, it would seem.

The timid yellow pegasus snapped out of it with a start and nodded rapidly. "Oh yes, I'm, well, fine!" she assured, not sounding assuring in the least. Twilight's expression said she didn't buy it, but she sighed and nodded before gesturing towards the food again.

"You should really eat something, Fluttershy. I'm sorry again about moving in my sleep," Twilight apologized softly, gently brushing Fluttershy's right shoulder.

Fluttershy started to shake her head towards the tray before she stopped and gave me a questioning look. Damn it. I'd hoped they'd be too distracted with their food and awkward moment to notice mine. I carried forth with sitting down on the floor next to the bed and peeking over at my share of the food. Maybe Twilight wouldn't notice and I could...

"Mender, what are you doing?" aforementioned lavender unicorn asked. Damn it! I swallowed and glanced over at the confused looking unicorn before trying a reassuring smile.

"Uh, sitting down? I'm kinda hungry," I complained, trying not to be too snarky. I'd noticed that I'd been getting a little sardonic as of late. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, but I didn't want to be rude.

Twilight was deadly sharp of mind, I keep forgetting. She smirked instead, assuring, "It's okay if you sit on the bed, Mender. There's no stigma against it, and besides, you technically are my coltfriend now, remember?"

Blushing at her implications, I gave in and slowly climbed up onto the bed. "I suppose. I just don't want to do something stupid by assuming and offend you," I admitted, settling into a comfortable spot across from Fluttershy and next to Spike. This still felt awkward, but I suppose knowing that the bed wouldn't be hurled at me for sitting on it was a good step in the right direction.

Twilight frowned for a microscopic moment before smiling again and nodding. "It's not like we're being intimate. You're just eating with us," she reassured before taking a bite of her toast finally.

Fluttershy, who had been reduced to a timid silence during the exchange, nodded to me as well. "Admittedly it is a, well, nice concept. It would make me feel so much better some nights if you were there to push up against. Sometimes I get really, um, scared in my house all alone," she furthered softly. She was looking down at her food, which oddly left me wondering which one of us she was addressing that to. She wore a light blush regardless and Twilight gave her a curious look. Somehow, I had a sneaking suspicion that she was refering to a more platonic cuddling than anything. My smile softened towards her.

"I didn't realize you thought of Mender that much, Fluttershy. You really like him, don't you?" Twilight asked gently, smile not even flickering. I know, because I was watching it like a hawk. It was still hard to believe she was so open-minded about Fluttershy liking me too. Was their culture that different, or was it more of a Twilight thing? I discovered that I was looking for any indication of her secretly disliking it that I could find. Realizing that, I started questioning my own motives over the ordeal. I was afraid of offending the lavender mare, obviously, but some of the doubts stemmed from myself instead. I didn't really consider myself worthy of them both. Wait, did I consider myself worthy of either of them individually?

That, of course, reminded me of the awkward conversation from last night. "That reminds me. What's a herd?" I blurted out before seriously considering what I was asking. I should really stop doing that, I decided in hindsight.

Fluttershy seemingly forgot that she couldn't breathe while eating eggs and suddenly started coughing and hacking like mad. Spike started to laugh a split second before Twilight made a gagging noise and spit half the contents of her orange juice cup all over him. My eyes widened and I leaned forward to pat Fluttershy on the back as she leaned over the tray. At least my fillyfriend seemed in less immediate danger of choking to death.

"Ew!" Spike complained immediately, looking down at himself with both arms indignantly spread and dripping orange juice. Fluttershy seemed to finally regain her composure and adopted a new, fiery red tint to her cheeks as she looked back up at me in surprise. Twilight's cheeks were similarly tinted, although noticeably less than her friend’s. Maybe it was a shading difference due to their extreme coat colorings?

The lavender mare shook her head before sighing and asking, "You remember that from what the guard told you last night, right?"

I nodded weakly, wondering if I should be worried for my safety now. She continued regardless, seemingly less upset and significantly more awkward. "A herd is an older tradition in Equestria. It stems all the way back to when we were still nomadic, but the legal and cultural aspects are still practiced today from time to time," she explained quietly, not making eye contact.

In a slightly bizarre oddity, Fluttershy actually seemed a little more comfortable with the topic, continuing where Twilight left off with, "Yes. A lot of animals still use the concept, and it's obviously still important to us ponies too due to our slightly off balance gender ratios. A herd then is as simple as multiple mares and stallions in a family or relationship together."

That was it? It seemed simple enough, but was more flexible than I anticipated. So it wasn't just one member of a gender sharing multiple opposite gendered partners, but simply a group of ponies in said situation with potentially multiple on each side. It made sense if it was originally for a nomadic lifestyle. Unity and protection would be significantly greater.

"So the guard last night was insinuating that we were trying to form one?" I asked, largely for clarity. Well, not in so many words, as he chose a lot more that were significantly more degrading. That wouldn't do at all.

The shy pegasus shot back to embarrassed in a heartbeat and shrank back down again. Twilight took her turn to recover and let forth a snicker of amusement before rubbing her friend on the back. "Well, for right now we're just a couple. If Fluttershy would like to join in the future, we'd tackle that then, but I read that it works a lot better if the members of a herd are friends before joining, so I could honestly see it going well," Twilight pointed out. At this point, her referencing the fact that she's read about this topic didn't surprise me in the least. Was there a topic she hadn't read about yet?

Spike, who I totally forgot was there, gave a questioning glance over at the two mares after swallowing a large mouthful of toast. "Wait, doesn't that mean that you and Fluttershy would be in a relationship too?" he questioned curiously, taking a strange interest in the subject. Wait, he probably shouldn't have asked that!

Fluttershy gave out an almost miserable sounding mix between a groan and squeak before sinking lower to her side of the tray. I resisted smiling as I went back to gently rubbing her shoulder to try to comfort her. Spike's studious mother surrogate raised an eyebrow to him but finally giggled nonchalantly. "Well, sometimes. I've never, well, considered being with a mare before, but I couldn't see any harm in it. I care deeply for Fluttershy as a dear friend, of course, but I can't speak for how she'd feel for that, Spike. Be gentle," she warned before turning to the now visibly shocked yellow mare next to her.

"You really, um, mean it?!" Fluttershy asked in disbelief. I could see the muscles along her forelegs shivering as she asked, her wings twitching behind her lightly in what seemed to be a mix of panic and surprise. I suddenly realized that all three of us liking each other might actually have a possibility of working. That was a little scary, for some reason. My sense of self-established inferiority started to creep up again. Things were getting complicated and the urge to distance myself reared its head again. The more complex something got, the higher the probability of something going wrong.

"Of course, Fluttershy. Now you'd best eat something before the wonderful meal the boys made us gets cold," Twilight reminded gently.

The shy pegasus gave a start before turning back to the tray of food in front of her. "Ah, yeah! I'm sorry," she rapidly murmured, gaze shifting between Spike and me. I smiled softly to her, and my scaly friend gave a nonchalant wave of a claw while stuffing a frightening amount of hash browns into his mouth. Fluttershy simply giggled before resuming her own meal.

My smile dropped away as I lost the focus of attention again. Why was I doubting this? I liked both mares; Twilight maybe just a little more, due to experience and proximity. Wasn't this the perfect opportunity then? It seemed almost too perfect. Admittedly, my natural sense of paranoia was a little cautious. It didn't help that I kept getting stuck on the fact that these mares were national, maybe worldly even, heroines! How did I deserve such amazing mares? Finally, like a shadow looming over the whole thing, I worried that things involving Keela and the other dimension would spill over at the worst possible time.

So yeah, things were getting complex. Twilight drew her attention back up to me. I caught it this time and rapidly resumed eating as to not draw unwanted attention to myself. This was hopefully going to be an easy day, anyway. I hoped that thought wouldn't come back to bite me again...

The resounding vibrations drifted through my skull as my momentum slowed to a halt. The cold wood contrasted my now heated and pulsing skin just along the bridge of my nose and muzzle. Groaning, I slowly slid my head down the unmoving wood, eyes still closed. Damn it.

Laughter danced along my hearing from somewhere in front of me. It was a hearty, carefree laugh with a familiar voice behind it. "Ah reckon yer eyesight still ain't fully recover'd?" Applejack inquired in an amused tone. At least I assumed it was the country flavored Earth Pony. If it wasn't, somepony was one heck of a voice actor.

"I take it you found out about the incident yesterday?" Twilight asked softly as she helped me back to all four hooves without hesitating the slightest. She adjusted quickly to my penchant for hurting myself. At least I was expected to be fully recovered by tomorrow. Magic was amazing!

Opening my eyes finally, I saw a slightly fuzzy version of Applejack nod earnestly. "Yup! Dash came by yesterday an' told all 'bout it. Yer one lucky stallion," she remarked, walking over to give Twilight a hoof in moving me into the room.

"It usually doesn't feel that way," I muttered, giving out a stiff groan as I was forcefully moved next to the inside wall of the barn.

My, as of yet hard to believe, fillyfriend snickered playfully before suggesting, "Well, just in case you're right and physics still hates you, you're just going to be telling us what to do today. No handling sharp and pointy objects when you're half blind."

Applejack laughed as well, seemingly ignoring my eye roll. "That's probably ah good idea. Ah'm gonna keep workin' with tha supports until Dash an' Fluttershy get 'ere. Mah brother asked if ya could make some plans up fer tha design, too," she requested, turning to walk back in the direction of the half-done conveyor, but glancing back over her shoulder at us.

Twilight perked up, probably noticing that this stage of the project could make full use of her talents. "Oh, certainly! Mender will explain the design and I'll draw it up as precisely as possible!" she assured, again promising my support without actually asking me. Well, it wasn't like I would have turned the farm mare down, but it still would have been nice to be at least consulted on what my workload would be. I chalked it up to her knowing me, though.

"Thank ya kindly, Twi! An' you too, Mender. This would'a been downright impossible without yer talents," she thanked, sounding more sincere than I thought a pony could.

Smiling, I nodded softly to her as I plopped down into a lying position with my butt to the wall. The lavender unicorn sat down next to me before giving a smirk and lighting her horn up with magic. Almost a dozen logs drifted over to my position from a new pile that had apparently appeared there overnight. Oh yeah, Applejack had been shorted by over half her required parts. Note to self; find out whom she bought the 'kit' from and blacklist him or her from any of my future business. "Hey Spike, are you coming?" Twilight called out a moment later, aiming for the door next to us, it sounded like.

Oddly enough, I could still 'feel' what the part was shaped like from when I last scanned it. I didn't think my memory was that good, so I snagged the original again and started to re-scan it. That was the last thing I needed: to get through all of the parts only to discover that I made a noticeable error in the duplication process. Applejack would probably kill me for wasting that much wood, too. My thoughts were interrupted by the grumbling of the little dragon as he hauled a rather sizable saddlebag set in from outside of the barn. "Yeah, yeah. This isn't the lightest, ya know," he complained, causing me to smile over at him. He was an extremely hard worker. Of course, Twilight had been wearing the pack up until we got to the barn, so at least he didn't have to drag it far. Which was good. If Rarity were here, she'd probably kill us all for mistreating an accessory by dragging it through the dirt like that.

"Oh, Ah ordered tha metal parts, too. They said they'd come sometime today," Applejack chimed in. Oh yeah, I'd forgotten she'd need more than just the wooden segments I was making. They were kind of pointless if there was nothing to attach them to.

"I hope you didn't go through the same pony," I returned, shaking my head slightly. It still made me mad that somepony had taken advantage of my friend. Sure, we had gotten off to a rough start, but Applejack had been extremely nice to me ever since that had been patched up.

"Ha! He ain't gonna get ah lick o' Apple business ever again, don't worry. These parts are from out o' town. Ah little more expensive, but Ah'm guaranteed ta get tha whole order, ya know?" she informed, sounding justifiably irked.

"Good! I have half a mind to go visit him myself and discuss the definition of product fraud," Twilight grumbled as she pulled out several sheets of paper from the saddlebags that were now in front of her. Spike wobbled a little bit before dramatically falling over next to her. Oddly, it kind of reminded me of Rarity.

"It ain't worth tha trouble. It'll hurt 'em enough ta lose all tha Apple business. 'sides, Ah might'a found somepony ta take over our construction needs," she returned with a playful tone to the last part. A little flag went off in my mind and I glanced up from my scanning work just in time to see the orange mare smiling at me from on top of the conveyor's main support.

Wait, was she talking about me?! Heat drifted into my cheeks as my eyes widened. "I think that's a very good choice, Applejack. He's brilliant at engineering, from what we've seen so far," Twilight chimed in using a sweet tone and a nuzzle to my shoulder.

I let out a weak groan and buried my head in my forelegs, feeling the heat radiating off it. Twilight let out a light giggle before I heard the papers rustling into position. "Yer too humble, Mender. Ya must realize how much this is helpin' us, right?" the farm mare questioned curiously, yet in what sounded to be a distracted tone. Curious again, I peeked up at her latching a hammer to her hoof using a simple leather strap. She lined up a couple more nails with her mouth and lightly held them up with her free hoof as she tapped them in. The act seemed so precise that it left me in awe for a moment. If I had tried that, Twilight would be re-attaching my hoof. I knew she was strong, but watching her reinforce the supports displayed a totally unrealized level of finesse from her.

"No, don't try doing that, Mender," Twilight suddenly advocated cautiously, apparently practically reading my mind. She wore an amused smirk as I glanced over at her.

"Yeah, no. I like my hoof in one solid chunk, thanks. Worse yet would be making extra work for you," I agreed, returning a much softer smile. She looked momentarily amused before softening as well, probably guessing that I was purposefully trying to appease her. What was the term for that? 'Sweet Talking'? The situation seemed similar to when Twilight had accused me of that before. Maybe it wasn't a bad thing?

"Don't get distracted, Casanova. We have work to do," she murmured tenderly. Of course, she accompanied it with a tantalizing and agonizingly slow nuzzle along the side of my cheek, doing the exact opposite of keeping me focused. It was strange, but I had a strong compulsion to push her over onto her side and start kissing her. Still, that would probably get a bad reaction. Reminding myself that she could tie bows using my insides without touching me, I managed to resist. Somehow. The heat rushing to my head certainly didn't make it easy.

"Oh come on! Last night wasn't enough smooching for you two?!" Spike suddenly groaned out, sounding appalled. Twilight snapped back instantly and looked over at the annoyed little dragon. Applejack, who had apparently stopped hammering at some point and was now watching with a surprised expression and slack jaw, shifting to that of amused and started chuckling.

"Ah reckon ya would think ah little differently if'in it was Rare and yerself," she reasoned pointedly. Wait, she knew about Spike's crush? If she was okay with speaking of it so plainly, Twilight must know about it too.

Spike grumbled something under his breath and crossed his arms. Applejack snickered but spun the hammer around with a flick of her hoof and resumed lining up nails. She continued to speak as she worked, with, "It was ah little surprisin' though. You finally decided ta admit feelin's an' bury the hatchet?"

"It took a while, but I think he's finally more comfortable with me," Twilight agreed readily enough, missing my eye roll shortly after. It wasn't entirely my fault that I was terrified of making her mad. Disregarding the most obvious retort, I decided to just resume my scan.

Amusingly enough, it turned out that my memory seemed to be spot on from the last one I did. Maybe there was some sort of intrinsic memory involved with imprinting the scan in my mind. Regardless, I locked down the shape and set the part aside. From my yet imperfect vision, I noted that the stack of logs was over to the left side of me. I reached up to touch one when the top log drifted free and landed softly in front of me. Smiling, I gave the unicorn a nod, even if she was currently looking down at her papers. It didn't surprise me in the least that she could manipulate the logs without looking.

"Ah meant you, Twi," Applejack corrected a moment later. Uh oh. The farm mare had serious guts, I'll say that much. Well, she was also a good friend of Twilight's, so she could get away with saying a lot more than I could. I decided not to look up. Maybe if I didn't see the death coming, I'd survive?

"Hey! I admit my feelings for him! Well, okay, fine. I might have been a little on the hesitant side, but I've never done this before!" the lavender unicorn protested, suddenly seeming extremely flustered. Well, that wasn't the anticipated reaction. I expected more yelling. And homicide.

I kept my head down through the moment of silence, busying myself by making cutting patterns in the log in front of me. They hunted mainly through motion and terror, I had heard. If I remained absolutely still and avoided eye contact, they shouldn't be able to see me! The log was significantly larger than the one I worked with last time, I suddenly noticed. I managed to fit three full-length stacks inside of it, allowing for eighteen sections from one. That meant we should only need five or six, and still have plenty of spares left over! As pleasing as that aspect was, I realized that I had only done four stacks before causing my nose to explode in blood and the most distracting sensation of a nail being driven into my forehead. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"Ah think yer both perfect fer each other, frankly. Ya share enough similarities ta get along, an' not enough ta murder each other," Applejack admitted, gaining a snicker from myself. The mare spoke truth. It made me realize that Rainbow and she actually were very similar to Twilight and me, minus the massive competitive streak they had going. They shared a lot of similarities and lacked the overlapping skill set.

Twilight nodded in my peripheral vision before adding, "Agreed. It's nice to be able to talk about magical things to somepony. It helps that he's actually neat and tidy too. Well, when not bleeding all over things."

I gave her a skeptical glance, only to receive a tantalizing one in return. She was such a brat sometimes. She continued her verbal rampage before I could retort, however. "Still, at least he has the sense of organization and cleanliness in the first place. Right, Spike?" she asked with a bit of a bite to her tone. Whoa, what did he do to get on her bad side?

"Hey, what did I do?!" he asked instantly, apparently knowing just as much about his offense as I did. That didn't bode well. I had just started to become friends with him, too.

The exasperated unicorn sighed wearily. "You filled up the bin under my drafting table with cut up pieces of paper, Spike. It was two inches over the top of the thing! Did you think I wouldn't notice?" she questioned bluntly. Cut up pieces of paper?

I glanced up at the same time Applejack did apparently, her expression shifting to one of dubious curiosity rather than mirroring my merely interested one. "What? No, those were all over Mender's bed when I got up! All I did was pick them up," he defended adamantly. Wait, what? Oh. I knew I forgot something.

Twilight slowly rotated around to give me a skeptical, yet confused look. Applejack's shifted even further to the disbelieving side of the spectrum as her eyebrow rose sharply on the left side. Well, crap.

Chapter 17

Magic. Using a broad definition, it was anything not clearly defined through science that still held definable effects that could be documented and controlled. Well, not always so much on the controlled part. To narrow that focus a little bit, our magic was a little bit more understood, anyway. We knew where the energy came from and how to manipulate it. It followed the most rudimentary laws of the physical world. You couldn't create or destroy matter at a fundamental level. Forces such as gravity and inertia could only be balanced out instead of changed completely. You had to obey the rules already in place. There were still variables missing, of course. How our bodies made the energy. Why the symbols worked the way they did to focus our efforts. Where the energy went after dissipating. Even the very nature of the 'soul' itself, if I was allowed to be dramatic. Back home, mentioning that in the wrong audience was liable to be disastrous, if I recalled correctly.

I'd always been more interested in function and practicality, though. Magic did what I wanted it to, for the most part, making my life significantly easier than it was prior. Which was a good thing, considering that in most cases, if life had been any harder, I probably would be dead. A burst of focus. The ebb and flow; twists and bends of the energy through me. It was an elation to use it. The log in front of me shuddered gently and I released the energy in the same instant. With a light tug, three stacks of the plates slid out of the wood with the extra space between them turning into a light dust.

"Oh, I'll never get tired of watching that. It's so efficient, Darling! I'd be simply delighted to see what you could do to fabric," Rarity assured from behind me. I smiled back at the relaxed unicorn, pleased that I could see a majority of her without distortion or fuzziness.

It would seem that I couldn't be without at least one unicorn with me today. Twilight had burst into a small fit when she realized that she'd forgotten some of her drawing equipment, and immediately took off back towards the library to retrieve them. Spike had elected to stay here, giving her an exasperated look if I recalled correctly. That was about a half an hour ago, at this point. It wasn't five minutes later that Rarity showed up looking for me, believe it or not. Spike was then delighted that he decided to stay here! Not that I was complaining. Personally, I was just happy that they had bought, or at least partially bought, my blatant lie earlier.

Thinking fast, I had informed both mares that I had simply been practicing 'precision magic' with the pieces of paper. They seemed skeptical, but I elaborated that I couldn't manage to fall asleep and was trying to tire my brain out quickly with the practice. Twilight shrugged and went back to sorting and labeling sheets of paper, but Applejack had given me a dirty look. It hardly mattered, though, as at least she could be as suspicious as she wanted without potentially involving powerful princesses on the case. I hoped.

The measuring tape felt cool as the ever-gentle white unicorn pressed it up against the nape of my neck before running it down my spine. "How are the measurements coming?" I inquired curiously as she continued. She still insisted on making me a suit, but I realized that it would defeat the purpose of me going with her if I looked horrible. Plus, it was apparently good advertising for her to actually have an example of what she could design for stallions.

"You'll need far less fabric than Big Mac, admittedly. Which is a good thing!" she rapidly assured before I even had a chance to think otherwise. Oh, she had accidentally insulted my body type the first time I had visited, now that I recalled. "I mean, honestly. There are many good builds for suits that I could make for you. You'd look simply ravishing in a dark blue. Maybe get some simple gemstones on the cuffs and buttons, and a nice bow tie to go along with the look. Hmm!" she continued, cooing contentedly as she paced around me, eying over every inch. I swallowed, blushing a little as her eyes almost hungrily scanned me. I knew she was just thinking up suit designs, but the intensity she was pursuing it with was a little on the scary side.

"I'm so glad you didn't talk me into going! Total drag, those kinds of parties," Rainbow Dash complained from up near the ceiling. Rarity glared up at her ineffectively and was ignored completely as the rainbow mare drilled the support plates into the ceiling. Metal pads attaching in the four corners to spread out the support pressure as best as possible. Of course, they were only backups, really; something to give a bit more sturdiness to the ground platform and to buy time if something catastrophic happened. Dash had arrived a little after Rarity, primed and ready to help finish the job. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and I managed to get through two more logs since she got here.

I rubbed at my temples now, however. The headache was starting to flare up, and I knew if I tried a third log that things were going to get messy again. Still, this was already more than what I had managed the last time. Nowhere near what I could have done before coming to Equestria, but that was a different story completely. "Rest, Mender. It simply won't do if you get your nose bleeding again. Maybe stretch and get a bit of fresh air?" the kind unicorn next to me asked, giving a soft smile.

"Ah agree completely! Ah'm not gonna let ya overwork yerself again. Get some fresh air, okay?" Applejack chimed in, popping her head out from under the main platform for the conveyor and giving me a stern glance. It lasted all of three seconds before she cracked a smile and winked at me, however.

Sighing, I nodded to both of the insistent mares before slowly standing up. My legs were stiff from lying in one spot for over half an hour, but it felt good to stretch them out. Maybe they were right? A bit of fresh air would do me some good.

As if reading my mind, Rarity nodded to me before suggesting, "Come then. I can always finish the measurements later. Let us take a stroll around the barn to clear our heads."

Spike stood instantly as well, attentively watching Rarity with all of his focus. "Am I allowed to go with you two as well?" he asked pleasingly, sounding a little on the desperate side. I struggled not to smirk at the little guy.

Applejack didn't hold back her eye roll, however. "Well o' course ya can, Spike. Ah'm not gonna force ya ta do heavy liftin' or nothin'," she assured before giving a warm chuckle. She seemed in good spirits today for some reason.

"Yeah, that's what she has me for," Rainbow groaned, hauling the toolbox back down and shaking her wings off after she landed next to her orange friend.

Applejack gave her a knowing, amused look, but shifted back to her warm smile when Dash looked over at her. Wait, what was that? "Ya know ya like it. Good exercise fer tha wings," she pointed out, brushing her hoof along the underside of the cyan mare's left one as if to emphasize.

Rainbow flailed instantly to the side in surprise, her other wing blasting out to full extension in an instant. How it didn't lose half of its feathers, I didn't know! She glared back at the country mare, cheeks burning a bright crimson, now. Applejack seemed unfazed and instead winked over at me. "If ya'all are gonna date Flutters, that's ah good spot ta remember. Ah hear it drives ah pegasus wild," she explained, causing me to join Rainbow in blushing.

"Why did you do it to me, then?!" the flustered cyan mare squealed, stomping her right hoof down into the dirt of the barn floor.

Applejack laughed before ducking back under the platform again. "Ah needed an example, RD. Ya proved mah words well enough, right?" she reasoned, muffled a little by her new location.

"You don't lie, Applejack. I would have just believed you," I assured, smirking now. Suddenly I realized that Rainbow wouldn't need to worry much about being turned down. Not only was the farm mare significantly more adventurous than I had pegged her for, she seemed extremely affectionate towards her cyan friend. Of course, I didn't know a whole lot about Equestrian relationships, but this seemed like a good sign.

"Speaking of, where is the Dear? I thought Fluttershy was to help us today with the remainder of the barn?" Rarity questioned softly, glancing over at me instead. Wait, why would she think I knew? Even though I technically did...

"What do ya mean, 'us'? All you've been doing today is measuring Mender," Rainbow pointed out, flushed cheeks finally calming down. I saw through her attempt to distract herself and smirked at her. Unsurprisingly, she avoided locking eyes with me.

Rarity looked absolutely appalled by the suggestion, dramatically throwing her foreleg up to her forehead and seemingly looking woeful. "The shame at even suggesting such, Rainbow! Surely you realize that I will help just as soon as my measurements are done, right?" she asked in a dramatic tone.

Dash slapped her forehead with her right forehoof before shaking her head. "I'll hold ya to that, then. Where is Fluttershy anyway, Mender?" she inquired, mirroring Rarity. Why was I suddenly the resident expert on the shy mare?

"She said she had to catch up on feeding her animals this morning and would arrive afterwards," I revealed, if only to get them to stop asking.

Without missing a beat, Rarity shifted from dramatically depressed to curiously asking, "Oh, you saw the Dear this morning?"

"Uh, well, yeah," I admitted, suddenly unsure of how much I was supposed to give out. On one hoof, they probably wouldn't let up until I told them. On the other, Twilight might use me as a makeshift hammer for the conveyor if I gave out too much information.

"Yeah! Mender and I made breakfast in bed for them this morning! It was a lot of fun," Spike suddenly admitted. Damn it. Well there goes that choice. I knew I was going to get blamed for this, too.

"Oh my! Scandalous!" Rarity murmured, suddenly blushing faintly as she brought her left hoof up to her mouth. What?! No!

Rainbow burst into laughter instantly and even Applejack peeked her head out again. "Our little Flutters decided ta spend tha night at Twi's place? Ah'm suitably impressed," she admitted, brushing a hoof through her bangs lightly. It was weird seeing her without her hat. The overly large Stetson couldn't fit through the support beams, though. Wait, that was beside the point!

"She just spent the night! Nothing bad happened," I defended, not wanting the mare's reputation sullied, even if she wasn't here to see my defense. If you can't be proud of who you are in the dark, not much else matters.

Rainbow grinned but Applejack beat her to the punch. "Ah know that, Mender. Everypony 'ere could agree that yer ah real gentlecolt," she assured with a curt nod and smile.

Rarity averted her eyes and snickered before suggesting, "Well technically speaking, it doesn't have to involve Mender, of course." Wait, what? Was she suggesting...?

Applejack blushed, the pink of her cheeks looking quite fetching when complimenting her orange coat and widening eyes. The cyan and rainbow pegasus couldn't contain herself any further and burst into laughter, rolling over onto her side. I averted my gaze and sighed. Sure it was good to have a healthy sense of humor, but when she spent most of her time laughing at other ponies' expenses, it was an entirely different story.

"Well, I was simply suggesting. Anyways, if Mender is to get his fresh air in any timely fashion, we really should get to it," she excused politely, timing a tactical retreat just as Applejack's mouth started to open. She had either been about to protest the probable mental images flooding through her brain, or her mind was losing motor control. Dash grinned and slowly closed her mouth with a hoof, still lying on her back, now partially under her friend due to a particularly festive side roll.

Spike scampered faster than I realized he could as Rarity exited the side of the barn. I watched him carefully as he caught up to his target of affection and began hopping excitedly next to her. Well, he certainly didn't try very hard to keep his interests a secret. I was beginning to have my doubts as to the validity of my prior promise to him. Was I the only pony who bothered to keep the secret?

"Please, Rarity? It would be really, really awesome," I suddenly heard him plead as I approached. Oh, was he requesting favor already? Admittedly, I had no idea how this dating thing worked still beyond my girlfriend's rather vague explanation.

"I'm truly sorry, Spike. I just brushed my coat down and styled it. I know it's not your fault, but your claws do terrible things to styled fur," she refused. Oh, was he asking for a ride? Wait, she combed and styled her coat before even leaving her house? I didn't think there was any special occasion today. Twilight barely ran a brush through her mane before we headed out this morning!

Upon catching up to the slowly walking couple, I inquired, "Is something going on today for you to go to all that work?"

Rarity hesitated for a moment, suddenly averting her eyes before shaking her head. "Why, of course not! A lady must strive to be presentable at all times. You never know when a simply wonderful stallion could be watching," she explained simply, adding a smooth wink onto the end.

I laughed and blushed, careful to avert my eyes as she swished her tail in an extremely distracting fashion. "Well, I wouldn't know, not exactly looking to attract stallions' attention," I reminded, mostly to change the topic. Maybe it would work better the bigger an idiot I made of myself? Spike took to the distraction well, breaking out of his depressed expression and snickering.

"Oh, that much is obvious. Twilight and Fluttershy both seem convinced enough. You have that subtle charm that only innocence, kindness, and a certain level of oblivious striving can produce." She smiled sweetly at me as she said as much, causing my blush to expand. Damn it. She hadn't fallen for the topic change.

Spike struggled to run after us again, having finally snapped out of his momentary shock of watching her tail with so much focus. I let him save face and knelt down as he caught up. He caught my smile I directed his way and didn't miss a beat, hopping up and settling himself in the middle of my back.

"Oh dear! You let Spike ride on top of you as well?" the pearly mare questioned, smiling politely at her now somewhat eye level dragon friend.

I nodded before starting our walk yet again. "It'll be good weight training. I need to get back in shape," I excused, sighing wearily.

"Hey! I don't weigh that much," my scaly passenger protested. I almost felt his irritated glare on the back of my head.

"That's the point. I'd probably collapse if I tried to lift anything heavier," I groaned, wishing I could magically skip all of this and just get back to the same fitness level as my old self had been. Nothing like the active lifestyle of trying not to die horribly from murderous rampaging aliens to get one into shape.

Rarity giggled along, regardless of it being a true statement. "See, Spike? Gentlecolt. Don't let those guards tell you otherwise. Being a nice stallion definitely makes you attractive," she assured nonchalantly.

I came within half an inch of inhaling a large cluster of rocks as I stumbled in surprise. Rarity was either oblivious or intentionally ignoring my almost accident as she continued with, "Sure, you leave yourself open for attracting a definite type of mare, but isn't that the type you want? You know, the mare who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to pounce. Every mare reaches a point where she decides she'd rather settle down with a nice stallion with a responsible outlook on life. Well, some skip right to that step as well, as I imagine Fluttershy and Twilight have. Myself as well, of course!" She only added herself after a sudden look of dawning, and I tried not to snicker. I hadn't considered her the wild party type attracted to the 'bad' stallions anyway. Like those two guards...

"I try my hardest to be really nice, too," Spike chipped in, sounding a little down over the entire conversation.

Rarity didn't miss a beat with that one. "Of course! You're the nicest dragon I know. Any lady worth her salt would be happy to be with you, Spikey," she assured pleasantly. He perked up instantly, of course, and gave her a wide smile. It kind of made me wonder if it was socially 'acceptable' to be with a dragon when you're a pony. They're both sentient species capable of making their own decisions, so I saw nothing wrong with it.

We'd gotten about halfway around the barn at that point, not traveling at all that impressive of a speed. Rarity seemed pleased with the slow pace and I wasn't going to argue. Walking was becoming second hand, but moving any faster would typically result in my face greeting the ground in short order, still. It was hard to make sure all of these hooves were going in the right direction! "Still, I can hardly imagine Twilight 'pouncing' me, per say. She's usually quite reserved," I admitted after a moment's consideration. It hadn't really bothered me, I decided. It was probably better for both of us that we take things slowly.

Rarity let out a whimsical giggle as she listened. Spike, for the most part, seemed unfazed by the whole ordeal. Twilight was either his sister or mother, depending on how one looked at it. Normally, either of those would pose a negative reaction upon him should a guy start becoming involved with her, I would think. I mean, I don't even have proper breeding documentation or a certificate of authenticity! I vaguely recalled that those were important when trying to impress a female and her clan. Well at least they were in my prior world. Equestria was so weird, sometimes.

"I doubt her education covered the finer points of intimate involvement, so I could hardly blame her. Are you two truly dating, then?" she inquired, shifting back to curious like someone flicked a light switch.

There was that word again. I hesitated and stopped walking for a moment. "I, well, she said that I was officially her coltfriend, and her my fillyfriend. We haven't, um, gone anywhere to celebrate it or anything, if that's the right idea," I ventured carefully.

Rarity's smile widened and I inwardly groaned. I screwed up somewhere, didn't I? "Dating does involve actually going on dates, but ironically, such events aren't necessary. If she says she's your fillyfriend, then you are dating," Rarity explained patiently, much to my surprise.

I exhaled softly and nodded. "I'm still getting adjusted to Equestria's culture, really. This is way more complicated than my old life," I excused quietly, feeling a little tired still. Of course, I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night between the Keela-induced insomnia, then blacking out when she ran my brain through a microwave.

"It's perfectly understandable, Mender! Relax. Has she informed you about herds yet, due to Fluttershy's interests?" she inquired, a bit of her mirth slipping as she tilted her head towards me.

I nodded wearily, unsure if I should be talking about this or not. I suddenly realized that I had to be really careful with Rarity. She was on a totally different level from what I was used to dealing with, I realized. Something subtle like a tone change could mean quite a bit! "Yeah. This morning, anyway. I'd heard the guards last night reference it and was," I started to explain.

All was interrupted by a spontaneous shout from high above. All three of us looked up instantly, just in time to see a wooden cube of some sort descending towards us at high velocity! Rarity went rigid, eyes widening as I panicked. Not again!

Simply going on instinct, I leapt forwards into the white mare, hauling Spike along on my back still. All three of us fell sideways and rolled just in time for the falling object to crater itself into the ground where we were. It shattered noisily upon impact, splintering open and spilling what appeared to be metal rods all over the ground. They were long and thin things, each about five feet in length. Wait, the support rods for the conveyor belt in the barn?

"Look out!" sounded from high above me in a lower, yet still distinctly feminine voice. Yelping, I shoved the now scrambling Rarity off to the side and tucked my legs up, narrowly avoiding three metal rods as they stabbed into the ground right where my groin had been located a mere second ago. Not cool! What, had the second crate exploded in midair or something?!

Spike cried out as he fell off my back finally and landed on all fours. He wasted no time in tossing himself on top of Rarity and shielding her upper body with his entire form. That wouldn't do at all. Grabbing onto both of them, I pushed them over until they were both tucked up under me. The second we took up as little profile as possible, my barrier activated and unfurled into a pseudo-umbrella above me, covering all three of us.

Rarity covered her eyes with both hooves as she tucked against Spike and my right foreleg. I balanced carefully with my left hoof in the air, supporting my weight on just my back legs and one foreleg. The shield held; sparks flew off at various angles as the high velocity metal rods skipped off it and fell around me in a loose pile.

High above, a panicking gray pegasus with a blond mane attempted to control what appeared to be a floating cart of some sorts. For some reason, somehow, the cart was on fire. Another box fell off the back and exploded in midair from a haywire blast of magic the cart produced, sending yet another wave of flying spikes plummeting down towards me. Damn it.

Tucking up again, I lowered my left hoof and focused purely on compacting the shield as hard as I could. The more compressed the energy, the stronger the barrier was. All three of us let out a panicked yelp as the sky darkened and metal rained about like a spring storm...

* * * * *

"I really do need you to sign for this," I heard through the hundreds of bars of metal. Why did Applejack even order so many?! This was easily three times the amount that she had needed. Was she just trying to kill me or something?

"What tha hay?! Derpy! Ya made ah right mess o' the barn. Some o' these things are stickin' through the wall!" I heard Applejack complain. It was hard to hear anything through Rainbow's laughter, of course.

Rarity and Spike stirred under me slowly. I doubt they lost consciousness, but they'd probably just now decided the end of the world wasn't going to take them with it. I raised myself to the edge of the shield as best I could to give them room. I was sweating a little bit now under the force of maintaining the stupid thing after so many collisions. Rarity glanced up at me and smiled momentarily before looking past me. Her smile faltered and her eyes widened as she realized why exactly it was so dark in here.

There was a tired sigh, followed by, "I know, Applejack. I'm sorry. I just don't know what went wrong!"

"I'm surprised they didn't arc towards Mender, wherever he is right now," Rainbow finally muttered, catching a breather between chortling.

Gasping, I winced as another spike of pain went through my head. I didn't even dare speak and let my focus slip. "A little help under here?!" Rarity called out, noticing my dilemma.

"Oh yeah. If Mender's that blue stallion, he is actually under there. Along with Miss Rarity and Spike," the mare named Derpy finally explained. Trying not to groan, I pushed back any comments about her priorities in light of not getting squished by metal rods.

"What?!" I heard in two simultaneous voices. A sudden harsh galloping sound came from off to my right.

I winced as a hard blow slammed into the side of my shield. It flickered and I was forced to slam my eyes shut as the strain put pressure on the inside of my eyes. Uh oh. That was never a good sign.

"Hold on ya'all! Ah'll get ya outta there," Applejack assured before another slam hit the same side. I finally groaned under the pressure, the top of the barrier fading slightly. No! My eyes snapped open as I re-solidified it just in time. Well, almost just in time. One rod made it through just before I slammed the barrier around it. My right foreleg instinctively whipped to the side, snagging the rod as it stabbed downwards. I winced as I felt a light gash along the side of my leg, but the improvised weapon missed Spike by a few inches. He yelped and crawled closer to Rarity, both looking more than a little worried.

A few drops of red descended from my nose as I looked down at Rarity. She watched them hit her coat and frowned before her horn lit up. Shakily, the rod slid upwards again from her magic as she strained to push it back out of the field. Seconds passed and I strained more. Finally she pushed the tip of it out again, and I closed the barrier back up instantly. The pressure on the top lessened as I realized that two or three of the rods were being lifted up off the shield.

"Almost got rid of a few off the top!" Rainbow gasped, sounding like she was straining. Holy hell! These things must have weighed a good seventy or eighty pounds apiece. How was she lifting three of them at once with just her wings?!

Her reply from Applejack was a furious scream of rage as one more blow hit the side of the pile. I almost choked on my gasp, but the shield held somehow as light suddenly breached through from my right. "Mender? Ya got ah barrier up?" she asked carefully as I saw her peek between the bars in my peripheral vision.

I didn't dare so much as move, however. I was literally helping the roof hold up with my back now, drops of blood and sweat coming off me in various spots. My head was screaming at me, an invisible pressure inflating inside my skull like a balloon.

"Get them out," I managed to say. Plead, really. Applejack frowned but nodded before slamming her shoulder into the side of the bar. It shook with the force of her muscles and she shoved five over and out of the way an instant later. The other side started moving by itself, seemingly, at the same time. It took me a moment due to the strain to realize that Rainbow must be yanking them from above.

Finally, half a meter of clearance was made and I slid open that side of the barrier with all my focus. Why couldn't an accident like this have waited a few more days for me to get more practice in? The temporary slip in thoughts caused me to jolt to the side, another bar slipping through to my left this time. Spike thankfully managed to dodge the thing before pushing against Rarity rapidly, helping her squeeze herself sideways out of the hole that was made. Applejack grabbed her a second later and pulled rather forcefully. The pearly unicorn was out of the barrier and removed from danger before I could even manage to blink.

Spike stumbled under the sudden loss of the individual he was shoving, but caught himself. He quickly looked back up at me and frowned. "Go," I managed to spit out, closing my eyes yet again as another bar slipped through, sliding hotly across my left flank before leaving a burning, then numb sensation. If I lived through this, my curiosity was going to force me to weigh these bloody things. I knew they were long, but what in Equestria were they made out of?!

Spike brushed against my leg as he left, rapidly following Rarity. "Mender, you doing okay? Can ya slip out while keepin' tha barrier up?" Applejack asked in a worried tone.

All I could manage was to shake my head to both questions. If I moved, I just knew the magic would snap and bad things would happen to my fragile body. Again. "Oh no. Oh no. I thought he was okay because of his magic thingy," I heard Derpy whine from behind the farm mare somewhere.

"Whoa! What's going on now? Uh oh. Is this your delivery, Applejack?" I suddenly heard asked from an oh-so familiar sounding unicorn on the other side of the peppering of bars. She sounded surprised, but not entirely distressed. Okay, time to change that. Sorry, Twilight!

"Help!" I managed to shout out weakly. It made me lose more of my concentration and the barrier flickered again. I shrank it instead of letting it collapse, falling to my belly as I lost ceiling height at the same time.

"Mender's under these in a barrier!" Rainbow Dash added hastily. Some of the metal bars suddenly didn't follow the shield down. I counted five directly above me that stopped as I heard a frustrated groan from Dash.

There was a beat of silence, followed by, "What?! Move, Rainbow!" It wasn't a question, and I swallowed nervously. What was she possibly going to-

The bars didn't fall more than an inch when Dash let them go before snapping rigid suddenly. My eyes widened as I was bathed in a purple and scarlet glow. Every single one of the rods lit up like a light bulb and started shaking violently. The pressure was suddenly gone off the top of the shield as the magic tore the entire shipment of rods up out of the ground at the same time, lifting them all into the air before dropping them in a rough pile almost twenty feet away.

There was a negative energy image as the barrier collapsed upon itself instantly with my sharp exhale. My eyes shifted to my left in time to see my fillyfriend standing there, a foot of energy radiating off her horn as she glared over at the pile of metal. Well, that marked a whole new level of awe and terror I had for the unicorn. I had momentarily forgotten that she was practically a physical goddess when it came to magic. Damn. I was starting to realize that she was actually stronger than the instructors back home, not only in sheer volume of magical energy, but raw talent as well.

Moving was out of the question. My mind screamed as I gasped the air back into my lungs, tasting blood as my tongue rolled out. It was oozing from my nose in a healthy quantity, I felt. The light throb of my heartbeat reached my left flank and right foreleg at the same time and I winced. Oh well. Aside from my headache, this was probably the least I'd ever been hurt in an accident of that magnitude. Actually, it turned out kind of lucky for me!

"Mender!" Twilight shouted as she rushed up to my left. I couldn't seem to catch my breath and simply panted there before opening my eyes again to the sound of her hooves on the grass. "You used too much magic, too soon! Here," she informed needlessly but in a worried voice. I wondered momentarily what she was going to do.

Her forehead and full underside of her horn was shoved directly into my forehead a moment later. I gasped as the world momentarily disappeared, raw magical energy flooding directly into my skull from the emanations. It was distinctly Twilight in feeling, and extremely familiar at this point. I couldn't help but blush a little as I felt her push herself closer, shoving more of her own energy inside of me at the same time. Oddly, my breathing regulated as the pressure eased up inside of my mind. Her magic danced along inside of me with purpose, flicking along the sore parts of my body before gently restoring them from the inside this time. Further, her energy seemed to almost massage my being, promoting my own energy to stabilized and bolster itself on the inside.

Thoughts surprised me as they danced along the surface of consciousness. They were the full spectrum of emotions. The warmth of her kiss, the nervousness as she looked down at me in bed, and even a pang of guilt as I swallowed nervously and looked away from her. Wait a second. The images weren't from my point of view, but hers. That made me pay even more attention to them as I realized that there was indeed a huge wave of affection pushing through, tainted with worry. A lot of worry, actually. The image flickered through for barely a second upon closer examination. Pieces of paper, hastily taped together, with written out words on it. "Mender, are you there?", "The book is important, right?", and "Tell me more about yours," were clearly written on the page in a familiar, fine handwriting. Oh hell.

She must have sensed what I saw. The connection snapped shut in a heartbeat as she pulled her forehead back. I groaned lightly as I felt the connection fade, her energy withdrawing alongside it. My own rushed to fill me back up again, however, bringing the burning pain in my skull down to a dim sizzle. Now I had other things to worry about. I suddenly realized she hadn't gone back to the tree house to get tools.

She averted her eyes as I looked up at her. I knew it. "Mender, we need to talk," she finally admitted, almost too quiet to hear. The tone made me inwardly groan. There was something about the way she said that which set off red flags in my head, and I didn't know why.

Rarity pounced before I could further analyze how badly I was screwed. "Oh, thank you, Mender! You're simply amazing, I must say. You didn't even hesitate! You saved Spike and me from certain doom," she spoke rapidly, tone dripping with a surprising level of appreciation.

"Yeah, dude! That was awesome the way you threw that shield up so fast! We would have been pancakes if you didn't. Although that does sound kinda good," Spike chipped in, derailing his own thought processes as he hummed, subconsciously rubbing his stomach, it would seem. I had to chuckle at that one.

Twilight actually hesitated. Normally the single-minded mare would have hauled me off to lecture me on scribbling all over hundreds of sheets of paper in a crazed manner during the night, then cutting them up into dozens of pieces each. Well, some were only cut once or twice. Towards the end, I was getting really tired and lazy.

"Um, not to say that I'm not thankful that he saved you two and was really brave and all, but I kinda need to talk with him for a moment, if you don't mind," Twilight interrupted, sounding vaguely uncertain for some reason. I sighed wearily.

Rarity heard my sigh and looked up at Twilight, a frown shifting onto her face instantly. "Twilight! Mender not only totally exhausted himself saving the lives of both your best friend and assistant, but he is injured! Anything you need to say to him surely can wait until he gets healed, cleaned up a little, and a big glass of water into him!" she lectured, surprising me completely. It wasn't that big of a deal. I mean, the accident surely wouldn't have been lethal or anything. All I really did was save them the pain and Twilight having to heal the two of them. Hell, if I hadn't been there, I suspect the rods would have missed entirely. They did seem to cluster exceptionally well right on top of me. Although she’d already healed most of the inside wounds anyway.

Twilight flinched and looked away, sitting down again and frowning. I saw the pieces of paper that she dropped from where I vaguely heard before. They were the same taped up pieces that I saw in her mind. Great. Should I try to lie and say they're nothing, play into the fact that she probably thinks I'm totally insane, or try to tell the truth and watch them really think I'm insane? Such great choices.

Spike must have traced my sight as he asked almost immediately, "Hey, I threw those away! Why did you tape them back together? And what about the tools you went to get?" Heh. At least one of those questions should be obvious, but I don't think he's ever seen how readily Twilight can use espionage to her advantage. Or I'm just exceptionally paranoid. Or would it be 'properly paranoid' instead, seeing as it turned out to be true?

"I lied. The tools are all here in my saddlebags. I went home to tape these back together on a hunch that proved right. This is why I need to talk to Mender," the lavender unicorn admitted, tossing yet another surprising twist onto my day. I would have expected her to try to hide it.

"Uh, what? Are ya sure yer feelin' okay there, Twi? That seems kinda paranoid an' distrustin'," Applejack asked quietly. Okay, that's it. I give up trying to do the silly 'expectations' today. Now the mare who was usually first to suspect me, even for irrelevant things, was thinking Twilight was a bit overzealous. That should really give the unicorn pause for thought.

Twilight scowled at her orange friend and shook her head rapidly. "I was right, though! Fine, look for yourself," she defended harshly, floating the papers over and tossing them in the general direction of the two mares and Spike. I didn't include myself, having neither the energy to interfere, or the desire at this point. No matter what I did or said, it was going to look bad. Tactical silence was for the best. Of course, one of the pieces of paper landed on my face and got stuck to a blood spot on my nose. I just lay there regardless, now enjoying the shade for my eyes. Why did using up a lot of magic make me physically sore?

"What in Equestria? Did Mender write these thingies?" Applejack asked, complimenting the sound of rustling paper as I assumed she picked one up. At least after my prior experience, I was significantly more comfortable being blind.

Twilight groaned and pointed out, "Of course he did? Why would Fluttershy or I get up in the middle of the night, write on hundreds of pieces of paper, cut them up, and throw them all over him while he slept? It's not even our handwriting!" Her irate tone let me appreciate not being able to see her. In my current state, I couldn't run away and hide somewhere.

"Easy, Twi. Mender, can ya tell us what tha pieces o' paper are?" Applejack asked bluntly.

Ignoring my first choice of dripping sarcasm, I went with a much more diplomatic approach. "Yeah, I could tell you. You wouldn't believe me if I did, however, so isn't it just easier to tack it up to ol' Mender being totally insane?" I reasoned calmly. Yeah, that was the diplomatic approach. I took note to try and tone down the bitterness in the future. Largely, it was just this topic, though.

"I'll believe you, Mender. Please?" Rarity asked politely. I felt a hoof gently trace down my back and figured it was her. She followed up with, "If he answers truthfully, will you then heal him, Twilight?" Well that was a little pointed. Ouch. She also technically healed me already. At least a little bit.

"Hey! I wasn't holding it for ransom or anything! I'll heal him regardless. Plus I already fixed up the inside of the wounds a bit," Twilight protested. Idly, I wondered why Rainbow wasn't saying anything. I didn't hear wing flaps either, so she either landed or left. Weird.

"They're from last night. I couldn't sleep, like I said. It wasn't because of insomnia, however. Keela wouldn't shut up. Whenever she talks near a book that's on the other side, I hear it for some reason. I think I'm still linked to that book and I don't know why. Keela is a Keldarian scientist. That's the name of my old race." I actually surprised myself this time with the calm I managed to maintain. Although it probably didn't matter either way, so was that calmness or apathy?

"What?" Applejack asked in about as flat a tone as possible.

A low groan, sounding very akin to what frustration would be like if it made noise, emitted from my girlfriend. This was followed by a faint slapping noise, from her hoof and forehead in all likelihood. "Mender, this is getting ridiculous. You need to see somepony about this," she finally managed to voice a dozen seconds after the groan.

"What's the book thing about?" Rainbow suddenly asked, indeed confirming that she was still present. Still present, and missing the point entirely, anyway.

I shifted my legs under me fully, realizing that with her current level of distraction, Twilight wasn't going to heal the outer wounds right away. Not that I wanted her casting spells on me while distracted, exactly. "It's the journal my old self kept, I believe. They were allowed one personal item to carry with in the military. Keela stated that it's something called an Aegis Artifact. From what I've pieced together, it's some sort of pseudo-sentient item of extreme magical power. The book is dormant until I connect with it. For some reason, it's linked to me." All the talking was making me even more tired, but Dash deserved a proper answer. She had actually asked the question without the barest of hints that she thought I was nuts.

"You really believe all of this, don't you?" Twilight asked, sounding genuinely surprised now.

"Don't be rude, Twilight. I mean, honestly. You should trust your coltfriend more. Would it hurt things that much to have either yourself or Princess Celestia take another look? The three of us will be in Canterlot in three days' time, need I remind you," Rarity suggested reasonably, actually giving me the benefit of the doubt as well. Maybe it was a good idea to come clean after all!

"Ugh. You too, Rarity? Can't you see how crazy this all sounds?! Princess Celestia herself said that there was no link to his dimension left. You all trust her as the leader of all Equestria. She's not going to screw up when the risks are this high!" Twilight defended, getting more irritated with each rebuttal.

Rainbow sighed wearily and added, in an uncharacteristically serious tone, "I kinda agree with Rarity, Twilight. If it's as serious as you just said, I think we should have it looked at again. Princess Celestia would want that." I couldn't help but smile gently from under my piece of paper. Maybe I was wrong about all of them thinking I was crazy? Well, crazier, anyway. Pity the only pony arguing for my craziness was my fillyfriend.

Twilight let out a stifled groan, but was interrupted almost instantly. "I agree with Rainbow Dash! If it's dangerous, you or Princess Celestia should definitely check it out!" exclaimed the gray mare from before. Derpy was it? Wait, why was she still here and listening to all of this?!

"Ah! Derpy?! What are you still doing here?" Rainbow asked almost instantly, apparently thinking the same thing.

"Oh. Well, I feel badly for what happened and wanted to apologize to Mr. Mender himself. Plus, you still haven't signed for these," she reminded. If I'd had the energy, I'd have hit my forehead myself. She was almost legendary in her persistence.

Applejack sighed but nodded in my peripheral vision, being one of only two ponies I could actually see from around the paper. "Ah guess yer right. Still, could ya kindly not tell anypony 'bout this? It's kinda ah secret," she requested politely before accepting a feather of some sort from beyond my vision range. She held it carefully and signed a slip of paper that was held out for her, it would seem.

"Ophf corph, Apphljahk!" Derpy agreed, I think. It sounded like her mouth was suddenly stuffed full of something. Oh, wait. She was holding the clipboard in her mouth while it was being signed.

Twilight sighed wearily, reminding me that she was still there. "Fine. I'll do another scan tonight on him if it will make everypony feel better. What do we do if it comes up negative?" she questioned, sounding as if that was mostly assured. Still, at least she was considering the slim possibility that I might not be totally insane now.

"That would probably be reasonably easy to deal with. I'm sure you have places in Equestria for ponies like that," I finally spoke up quietly. Maybe she was right after all? The possibility that all of this was just in my head hadn't been lost on me yet.

Twilight went completely quiet, and I was almost curious enough to peek if it hadn't required so much energy. Applejack stopped looking over the page presented to her and softened her expression a little before setting the feather back down and glancing back over at me. What, was it taboo here to have ponies with mental illnesses? Uh oh. Was I going to be executed or something for being crazy? Surely they wouldn't have kept that large of a secret from me!

"We do, but yer not gonna go to one o' those places. If'in it comes down ta that an' Twi can't do it, Ah'll take care o' ya mahself. Yer still ah hero, Mender," the orange mare returned softly, smiling again over at me before turning to face me fully.

A cyan wing shot out into my vision a second later, startling me just as the blush had started to set in. "Heck yeah!" Dash exclaimed abruptly, making me suddenly realize the outstretched wing was part of a pose on her part. "The entire town will probably take care of ya! If nothing else, you have the full support of the six of us."

I blushed further, tucking my ears down and trying to hide behind the paper. I could handle making an idiot of myself, but this was totally out of my comfort zones!

"Seven!" Spike added, sounding a little irked that he needed to remind her that he was still here. I chuckled finally and extended my right hoof a little towards him as he slipped into my right-most viewing field. He grinned and nodded to me before bumping it with his claw.

Derpy herself put her clipboard away, and then looked between everypony with a happy grin. “Eight!” she exclaimed a moment later with a little hop into the air. I held back a snicker.

To my surprise, a light giggle sounded from Twilight. "It won't come down to that. If what you've shown so far is the extent of the issue, you'd still be considered a fully functioning member of society. The Princess would probably just want you watched to make sure you didn't hurt yourself if you had a spell. I'm keeping you, regardless," she explained, extremely clinical and detached until the last sentence. Her tone shifted to amused and teasing with that, and I smiled weakly. Well, it was nice to know she wouldn't let my potential delusions ruin our relationship.

Applejack gave a stiff snort, amused but giving Twilight a skeptical glance. "That would be interestin' ta watch. But Ah think tha real problem 'ere would be if'in yer test comes up positive," she reminded, losing a bit of her smile.

Twilight let out a quiet humming noise before it suddenly shifted way closer to my perspective. Her mouth latched onto the piece of paper and pulled it off abruptly, making me wince as it took a bit of drying blood with it. She spat the paper back out after it was clear of my nose and looked down at me with a troubled expression. Was that because of me? A pang of guilt went through me.

"If it comes back positive, we have a lot of problems. It was either something the Princess couldn't detect; doubtful. Or it was something that happened after she did the scan. You said it was a book you felt connected to?" she reasoned out loud, repeating what I vaguely recalled saying to her already. I bit my tongue and nodded. If she was willing to actually inquire more about the issue, I should try to be as somber as possible.

"It was my old self's journal. She said it was an Aegis Artifact. I'd not heard the term before that, and seriously doubt that my old self made it into one," I furthered, earning a frown from my fillyfriend.

"Isn't that what you call your strongest barrier spell?" she pondered out loud, somehow making it sound like both a normal and rhetorical question.

I nodded yet again before remembering the bits I'd learned in the meantime. "Oh, that's right! I also learned that there's something wrong with that spell. It doesn't behave like I originally thought it did," I warned, unsure of exactly how to explain what I had figured out.

She seemed curious, but distracted at the same time. "Can you tell me about it inside the barn? I just remembered that I need to heal your outside nicks, and that Applejack probably wants to get back to work on her conveyor.”

"An' fix tha holes in tha wall, now," the farm pony groaned as she looked at the marks from the metal rods. Oh yeah. A few had stuck into the side of her barn like a giant dartboard. Twilight must have torn those out, too.

Then I remembered that I knew alteration magic. "Oh! If you'll let me use the bits of wood left over from the logs after I cut the boards out of them, I can use my magic to meld them into the holes and repair them, if it would save you time," I offered politely, perking up again and rotating my head ambitiously towards the mare.

She surprised me by looking equally as surprised before smiling again and nodding. "Yer just full o' handy tricks, ain't ya? Ah suppose Ah'll just have ta add it ta mah huge debt Ah owe ya," she agreed, smirking mirthfully afterwards.

I scowled at her, and the smirk became laughter. She knew that I didn't like the thought of her paying me and did that on purpose! "Oh relax, Mender. You deserve to get paid a little bit for your trouble so far. Besides, she's already getting the work of a professional engineer and free materials as well, all for the price of a construction pony. I think she already knows how lucky she is," Twilight pointed out before picking me up like a ragdoll using her magic. All retorts left my mind as it was lurched downwards and I redirected processing to attempt not throwing up.

Spike hopped up onto Twilight's back immediately as the mare stood up again. She didn't even flinch, and I wondered briefly at just how used to him being there she was. Applejack walked further forward and shifted under my drifting position, looking up into my lowered face. "Trust me, Ah know how lucky it is. This project would'a been ah total bust had ya not been 'ere, Mender. Ah'm real happy ya wanted ta help outta tha kindness o' yer heart, you have no idea! But that just don't set right with mah conscience. Mah brother agrees fully. So yer gonna get paid as much as we can manage," she spoke, surprisingly serious as she watched my expression.

I lowered my eyes, but nodded to her. Even though I felt bad accepting anything from her, I suddenly realized that she probably felt the same way in return if I did everything for free. I could understand that. Rarity coughed politely before asking, "Is this a bad time to inform you that I'm giving you the suit as compensation for your troubles as well? Oh, and I will cover all of our traveling expenses too, don't fret!" What?! But that was one of her newest designed suits for stallions! I didn't even want to think about how expensive that was. My ears drooped as I pouted towards her. Well, they rose, I suppose, considering my head was upside down.

"Rarity! That's too expensive," I protested weakly, trying the cute eye expressions I saw Fluttershy pull off before.

She didn't buy it, and simply grinned wider. Rainbow snapped me out of it, however, as she smacked her hoof into the grass. "Hey! Not fair, you guys! The weather captain position isn't the greatest paying job, ya know. How am I supposed to pay Mender, too, now that all of you are?!" she questioned in frustration, throwing me for a loop with her logic. Wait, was she seriously going to try to pay me for the silly wing thing she requested earlier? That was barely twenty minutes tops, if that. She was either overreacting, or had additional details planned that I hadn't been told about.

There was dead silence for a good four seconds, which I discovered was ridiculously awkward regardless of the short amount of time. Why was everypony looking at her like that? "What, pray tell, service did you request from Mender? Further, I think you have that a little backwards," Rarity muttered, sounding decidedly perplexed yet equally awkward at the same time. Maybe she felt it, too? Glancing over at her, I noticed her brow was furrowed and she seemed to be thinking very intently as she stared at Rainbow.

Twilight spun me around instantly and glared into my face from well within my comfort zone. "Yes, Mender. What's she paying you for again?" she questioned pointedly, irritation present in her voice. Wait, what?! What did they think it was, exactly? I swallowed nervously as Rainbow shuffled with her front legs. How did I say this without giving away sensitive information?

I tried rapidly motioning towards Applejack with my eyes. All it served to do was shift Twilight's irritated glare into a confused one instead, sadly. "Uh, it wasn't anything bad. I wanted him to do that glowy thingy with my wings again to help me practice for the race that's coming up after the party Rarity's hauling him to. You know, to maybe get better at my, um, celebratory sky writing?" Rainbow offered nervously, being surprisingly vague.

A look of dawning comprehension appeared on Twilight's face and she shifted to a smile in an instant, nodding to me. Whew! I got to live another day! I made a mental note to get one of those "days since last accident" counters for living with Twilight. It would put each day I woke up still breathing into perspective.

"Oh, that might be lovely indeed. You're certainly getting into this sky writing technique!" Rarity chirped, sounding honestly interested. Wait, why was she, of all ponies, interested? I was suddenly highly suspicious.

Rainbow apparently wasn't. "Yup! I can even add colors to them now! It's totally awesome, of course. I just need to work on the sharper turns now, which I was hoping to use those cool wing things for!" She seemed oblivious to the strangeness of her friend's sudden interest, so I just assumed it was a rather regular occurrence. Obviously, I only ever saw them interact while I was actually there. They've been friends for years, so who knows the depth of connection that I was missing?

Twilight's mouth caught hold of my ear and tugged my head back up using it. Huh? She smirked as she captured my attention again before leaning up and lightly kissing me directly on the lips. My system jump-started as my eyes widened. Right in public?! Well, her close friends, but still! Spike made a groaning noise and rotated around on her back so he was facing away from me. Despite the awkwardness, I felt the familiar heat drifting into my cheeks as I pressed further into the kiss to the best of my abilities. It was kind of hard to get leverage when floating in the air, I realized. Still, this was a pleasant change of pace from what I was expecting for today.

Letting out an obviously stifled groan, she gently lowered me as her magic wavered, pressing me lightly into herself as she did so. With my legs back firmly on the ground, I pushed forwards a little, nudging my forehead up under her horn and earning a giggle, followed by a gentle blush. The horn lit up with her energy a second later and I felt a little bit of her flow into me yet again, comforting rather than healing this time. It was like she was nuzzling me with her magic!

"Whoa! Now that's ah surprise," Applejack muttered quietly, apparently finally noticing Twilight's display.

The purple unicorn blushed harder but followed me back as I tried to break contact, assuming she wouldn't want her friends watching. Well, yet another incorrect assumption! Her neck and chest pressed against mine as she refused to let me break the kiss. She didn't make any attempt to deepen it, which the rising heat to my face thanked her for. I might have passed out had she done that! My right eye peeked sideways to see the slightly fuzzy image of Applejack smirking as she watched. Rainbow's eyes went wide behind her and she looked past Rarity to get a better view. This of course alerted Rarity, who turned around and dropped her jaw while watching. Oh crap.

I shut my eyes quickly as the blush magnified. Why were they all watching?! I felt Twilight grin and smirk against my lips as she finally released mine in return. "That, well, was to say I was sorry. I don't mean to get mad about that. Princess Celestia just means a lot to me, is all," she explained, grin dropping to a warm smile instead.

My ears and eyelids drooped a little, but I quickly caught them and forced a timid smile. That was 'just' to say she was sorry? I didn't like the aspect of her treating it like a reward or compensation. Still, I struggled to try not to jump to conclusions. She didn't specifically say that, after all. Still, it would be nice if she didn't think I was crazy in the first place.

She frowned slightly, apparently having caught my momentary lapse in expression. Her eyes practically bore a hole through mine and I backed up a little bit. Rainbow, who was thankfully oblivious as to my look, interrupted with, "Wow! That's the first time you two have willingly kissed with an audience. Although the one I accidentally flew in on was much more interesting."

Rarity did a double take and directed her slack-jawed stare to Rainbow instead. "What?! You simply must reveal the story! Right now," she effectively ordered.

"Rainbow! You weren't supposed to tell!" Twilight lashed back, switching from concern about me to seething rage in a surprisingly short amount of time! Suddenly, I didn't feel nearly as comfortable being pressed up against the unicorn.

"It's all perfectly normal, Twi. Everypony gets ah little worked up with their special somepony in private, Ah imagine," Applejack tried to sooth, playing the voice of reason. Of course, she was also taking a shot in the dark with what we had been caught doing. Risky, but she'd guessed right. I think. If my terminology was accurate, anyway.

"Excuse me?! We were experimenting! It wasn't anything serious like that. Then she blundered in without even knocking!" Twilight growled, sounding even angrier. Oh crap! My terminology must not be accurate! I started slinking back a little bit at a time, trying to distance myself without drawing attention. If she spontaneously ignited or something, at least I wouldn't be incinerated instantly this way.

She noticed. Pretty much immediately. Her glare was shifted to me almost instantly and I made a weak whimpering noise in the back of my throat, trying to hop away. She caught me out of midair and violently pulled me back next to her in a heartbeat. "And for the last time, I'm not going to hurt you! You don't have to run," she started to explain in an irritated tone.

There was something wrong; a twinge in my head from the situation. My vision flashed as I was pulled, something ugly twisting itself through my skull. My posture in the air matched something dark in the back of my mind, suddenly feeling familiar. For the briefest moment, everything darkened as I was pulled towards a metal table, arms and legs strapped in place to something cold behind me. I tried to scream, but there was some sort of metal piece stuffed in my mouth. A slim girl stood in the shadows in front of me, partially concealed by a combination of there being only one light in the room and it being shined directly into my eyes. I could still make out the whites of her teeth as she grinned, and the glistening metal blades of the drill she held. My eyes widened. The clawed-shaped blades were stained red, I noticed, the closer I was inched towards the gleeful female. I knew those were the last things I was going to see.

The horrible image was gone in less than a heartbeat, but it was far too late. With a guttural yelp, I curled up into a little ball in her magic. Apparently expecting me to remain upright, her magic missed its mark and dropped me the remaining foot to the ground in front of her feet.

I didn't even feel the jar before her hoof extended to stop me from sliding. I tucked up further, attempting to hide the sensitive parts from her magic. She kept saying she wasn't going to hurt me, but she got so angry sometimes. Just like them. She was so absurdly powerful that her anger... There was a thousand ways she could make me wish for such a simple thing as death and I knew it. She could torture me for days with that level of power, slowly pulling me apart yet making sure every individual piece stayed alive to feel everything. Nopony would stop her, would they? She was too important. Just like them. She could do whatever she wanted. What was I doing? What was I thinking?! I couldn't stop the shaking as I tucked up further, remembering suddenly what I had seen the females from my dimension do. Could that really be considered a 'relationship' in any way? Who was I kidding? I'd just been pretending to be her equal, after all.

Her hoof hesitated, and then drew back again. I felt her body follow suit, even though I couldn't feel her. What was she doing? A spike of paradoxical anger suddenly reared up inside of me, scaring me even further in its sudden, seemingly random appearance. I smashed it down before it could even get started. No! If I got angry with them, it would just give them more reason to punish me. What was wrong with me?! Where had that anger come from?

"Whoa. Dude, are you okay?" I heard Spike ask softly. Why didn't he realize? He's been her 'assistant' for years now. Surely he saw what she could do. Why didn't it bother him?! My body told me to run while they were distracted. I tried to quiet it down further and pulled my legs up. No, if I ran, even if she didn't just catch me with magic, Rainbow could in a heartbeat with her speed. She was nice though, wasn't she?

"Mender, I..." Twilight started to speak. Speak. Her hoof touched my shoulder again and I went rigid. No. No, it wasn't right. She was either like them, or she wasn't! What was real and what wasn't, though? Was the other world all in my head? Was Equestria all in my head and I actually lay dying somewhere? Was it a mixture; if so, which was real? She was real. She just touched me. I could practically feel the magic beating under her hoof. She was filled with it. The guttural instinct was still there, after all.

The panic spiked and I screamed, "No! Get away!" at the top of my lungs before booking it for the barn as fast as my legs could carry me. I tripped over my hooves within seconds, crashing along the ground and sliding on my face.

"You're pathetic. You can't even walk right. There's no way we want you on the breeding list," she continued after laughing at my spill. Her essence seemed to follow me, inescapable. The images of the scalpels returned, and I gasped, clutching my stomach with one leg before scrambling to my hooves again and aiming almost blindly for the barn door.

"Mender!" I heard Rainbow shout before taking to the air with a loud flap of her wings. Oh hell! "Come back... You'll make such a good pet. Just accept it," the cyan pegasus continued, echoing into my skull as I screamed again. I smashed off the side of the barn door's frame and fell over once more.

"You already failed the breeding exam. You failed what it meant to be a soldier, too. You failed to protect her from yourself. You touched her!" Twilight screamed after me, somehow feeling like she was right behind me now.

I dove across the floor, sliding in the dirt before getting under the bars of the support platform. "I'm sorry!" I yelled towards nothing in particular, the inside of the room spinning violently. There was no other choice.

Panicking, I did the only thing I could think of that would protect me from them all; the only thing I was good at. I slammed all six inside edges of the conveyor's platform with barrier spells before tethering it up to my vitality. Now they couldn't get me at all, even if they broke through...

Chapter 18

Goals and desires were a funny thing. It was scientifically proven, of course. Once all of your base needs were fulfilled, it was natural to move on to higher designs. Food, shelter, sleep, and a good book or similar were what my list of needs largely consisted of. Once those were satisfied, the wants moved in. But that was normal, right?

What would most say their wants were? Every sentient organism would probably consider reproducing a good life goal at some point. The method didn't really matter, I suppose, but it was a basic biological drive. Success, in its broadest definition, was probably fairly popular for a goal, too. Well, I don't know of many that set out into the world to fail. I suppose friends and family would also count for many. It's that networking aspect that was appealing. Or maybe it was just that special somepony to ward away the loneliness while sharing all that success with? Company was nice, especially when it included passionate sex and a solution to that reproduction thing, I'd imagine. Not that I would know.

Speaking of myself, what I wanted was rather simple. A normal day.

Groaning, I held a forehoof to my left temple to push the noises away. My other side was squished into the bottom of my barrier, so I hardly cared. My other foreleg was busy clutching my stomach, just in case the scalpels decided to make themselves real and spill my squishy insides out everywhere.

Something was wrong. After my rational mind rebooted itself, I at least managed to come to that conclusion. Images, barely noticeable and not really visually there were flickering through my imagination of their own free will, which was kind of frightening. They weren't something direct; just barely there on the edges of my thoughts for me to notice as my mind wandered. After I acknowledged them, they were gone an instant later, no doubt to reposition themselves for another ambush further down the line.

My vision shifted and warped as I stared at my own barriers that surrounded me completely. They were partially transparent, and it was like watching a silent movie. The ponies outside were saying things, but no sound reached me. Vibrations couldn't get through the barriers, so that was an obvious side effect. The orange mare had reared back and slammed the side of the field a few times, too, of course. I didn't even feel it. I'm not really feeling much of anything, though. It just made me even more tired after her third hit. The lavender unicorn shouted something then and she stopped. I was kind of sleepy, but I didn't feel like dreaming, so I stayed awake. It was kind of hard to think, which probably meant that I was running out of air inside my little box.

I couldn't escape, though. They'd capture me if I did. If they were real, of course. I couldn't decide. Still, if they were real, I had probably really offended them this time around.

It seemed like all I could do was run away anymore. They were wrong about me being a hero. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to suffer. There hadn't been a choice back on the ship. It was either accept that I had to die, or let all of my friends die instead. The only friends I had ever made. That was worse than death. So there was no choice. I wasn't a hero. I was a coward.

I curled up more as the pink one slowly scraped more on the barrier, holding up her piece of paper again. At least they figured out fairly fast that it was sound proof. The paper was the same, pleading with me to come out. I stared listlessly through it. What had broken to cause these images? It was hard to believe that Twilight was the only reason.

My head cleared a little, surprisingly. I took advantage of it and reflected upon everything that had happened. Rarity and Twilight had gotten into some sort of shouting match, it had looked like. Twilight surprisingly lost and left in tears at full speed. Rarity didn't exactly act like she had won, however. Now she was lying in the corner by herself, watching Pinkie and Applejack try to get me out of the box.

Pinkie had obviously gone with a pathos appeal. Applejack was a tad more creative, however. So far she had removed the back wall, the left wall, and the inside of the platform in testing the various angles of my barriers. She was extremely persistent, it would seem. Now she was starting to dig down into the dirt, looking like she was going to try to tunnel under me. I was lying on a barrier as well, so I already knew that wouldn't work. No, it couldn't work. I'd rather suffocate than subject myself to what they could do to me. So much power.

I fought it further. Twilight said she wasn't going to use it to hurt me. But she had used it to hurt me before. I didn't know what to think. I wanted to believe her but I was scared. I saw what power like that did. I saw it with my own eyes, if the images flickering through my brain like a bad movie reel were to be believed. They hadn't just taken my squad's eyes when we all saw her; saw Keela.

She was whom we had rescued. She was the one that had damned us in the same instant. She was different from them, and they blamed us for it instead of accepting her. No, blame was too weak for what they did. Taking our eyes would have been a mercy. Why was I the only one to make it out alive? Was I? The memories just weren't there, and my head started pounding again.

The clarity continued until finally, the cloud that had sunk over me like a fever faded. Wait, what was I doing? That had obviously been a flashback, and while they were probably upset, I had no reason to think that they were like the females of my dimension. Twilight, while not exactly the fairest pony out there, definitely didn't deserve to be compared to... them.

"Exactly! Relax. Come out then, Mender," I heard echoed all around me. Wait, what the hell?!

A yellow distortion landed inside the barn a second later. "Sorry I'm, um, late. I got here as fast as I could after Rainbow found me. She told me what happened, and then went to catch up with Twilight," Fluttershy apologized, my head echoing in perfect clarity and timing to her moving lips. Oh. That again. I suddenly wondered how much of my thoughts clearing up were due to proximity to the yellow mare.

Pinkie made several frantic motions and gestured towards the wall of the barrier, looking uncharacteristically concerned. "I know. But it sounds like he's, well, starting to realize that it was all a misunderstanding. Right, Mender?" the yellow pegasus replied, turning back to me through the barrier as she asked quietly.

I sighed and nodded, testing a reply. "It was a flashback when she pulled me. Something, um, really bad happened in my prior life that it reminded me of unexpectedly."

Fluttershy's expression fell a little and she nodded quietly. Applejack had stopped digging and was now staring in surprise at the mare. She mouthed something a second later, and Fluttershy gave her a quizzical glance.

"What do you mean, Applejack? I can hear him fine, and he's answering me," she reasoned, blowing a blur of pink out of what I could only assume was her face. At least it was the barrier screwing my vision up this time instead of my actual eyes. They were on the way to recovery, thankfully.

"The barrier is soundproof, Fluttershy. I think we need to, um, talk after this at some point," I finally admitted, frowning to myself.

There was an abrupt spike of panic from the shy mare. "What? But, how could it be... That can't be right. How can I hear you if it's soundproofed?" she asked, losing more and more of her voice the longer she spoke.

The rush of strength returning to me as I killed the barriers was actually on the pleasant side. I stepped out of the underside of the platform shakily, trying to keep my balance. "I heard it in my head. You're probably the same, right?" I inquired, more to try to distract myself from the wet noodle feeling in my legs than anything.

Applejack surprised me by closing the gap almost instantly and catching me as I wobbled. "That's not important. Are ya alright there, Mender? What happened?" she asked quickly, sounding more concerned than anything. Rarity stood up the second I exited the underside of the conveyor, scampering over far faster than I had ever seen her move before. The little dragon I'd failed to spot from inside of the shield stood up as well, having been on the other side of her. His approach was much slower, however.

"It was, well, a panic attack. I don't know what happened. The way she pulled me combined with the, um, anger involved... It caused more memories of my prior life to re-surface. They weren't exactly the most pleasant," I explained, sitting down roughly on my haunches. Dried blood stained two of my legs at this point, I noticed. I knew I forgot something.

Rarity shook her head sadly before frowning. "She shouldn't get so defensive over being with you. It's obviously doing more harm than good. Still, I might have made things a tiny bit worse," she warned, looking incredibly guilty.

"Ya spoke the truth, even if it could'a been more polite. Maybe it was what she needed, really. Ah think she'll be alright once all this calms down," Applejack assured softly, brushing a hoof down Rarity's shoulder. I noticed a deeper understanding of each other again. All six friends had roots extending far further than I had originally realized. Although now I was terribly curious as to what the argument was about.

A wall of pink squished me into the floor a second later, causing me to flail my legs upwards in an ineffectual manner. "Okay, enough sadness then! Mender's gonna be okay, and that's all that matters! Twilight has a chance to fix things still, and I don't have to add more to my sign," Pinkie reasoned, in a roundabout yet perfectly logical way. Somehow.

Spike nodded and smirked at the pink mare as he finally finished walking up next to Rarity. Pinkie grinned and helped me back into a sitting position, still refusing to let go, however.

"Twilight's been more stressed than everypony realizes, between her feelings and the project the Princess assigned to her. I think it's starting to take its toll, so try to go easy on her, okay?" Spike asked, looking between Rarity and Applejack before settling on me again. I watched him weakly, giving my best nod. Not that it was up to me to go easy on her, but he looked like he needed assurance.

"Ugh. This is all one big mess. Ah think we need ta finish this conveyor thingy as soon as we can. That way we can all work on helpin' Twi get her head straight again," Applejack pointed out, gesturing to the construction project around her. Admittedly, apart from the gearbox, lid lift, and tread to power the thing, it was mostly completed.

"I'll help finish the plans in Twilight's stead," Rarity offered politely, walking over to the saddlebags Twilight seemingly left near the door.

Applejack nodded curtly before looking over at the loft hole she'd cut earlier. "Ah'll try ta finish tha lid thing. It's gonna be hard without RD 'ere," she confessed, frowning.

"I'll try to help with the flying parts, um, if you think it would be useful," Fluttershy murmured, soft eyes still locked onto me instead. She hadn't looked away since I revealed what I had been guessing at for a while.

"I'll help too, Applejack! I finished picking up all the rods outside," came from high above an instant later. I glanced up just in time to see the gray mare from before, Derpy, coming in through an open window near the loft. A smaller version of the cart from earlier was attached to her, hauling a tied-up bundle of the blasted rods that almost killed three of us.

Applejack smiled and nodded up at her. Spike disrupted my view, however, with a large sheet of paper. I recognized the gearbox assembly on it as he lowered it again. "This is supposed to connect the conveyor and tread, right? I can put this together. My small claws are good at doing this kinda thing!" he bragged, grinning over at the softly smiling Rarity still, who presumably gave him the sheet in the first place.

I tried not to laugh, and managed a nod and smile instead. As unnerved as I was about what had happened, this was quite refreshing. They were being very understanding as to the situation, much to my surprise. I vowed to give them more credit in the future. A lot of the feelings were truly mine, however. I felt like a coward who always ran away. Was this who my old self was? If it wasn't, why was I different suddenly?

"Okay then, that settles it! We'll all git back ta work an' finish this up as soon as we can. Mender, you try ta calm yer nerves ah bit an' just focus on tellin' us how ta build this thing," Applejack instructed, obviously trying to sound positive, but managing a smile regardless of her inner feelings. Still, her attempt was comforting, and I nodded back quietly.

It made sense, regardless. I think the distraction would do me some good. There were a lot of complications and things were moving way too fast to be comfortable for me, but they'd already proven they were going to help me as best they could. Pinkie grinned and started rubbing my back gently after she helped me resituate myself next to Rarity. The white unicorn smiled politely and nodded as I sat down again. She had laid out the papers in front of her, and looked sideways at me expectantly.

Yeah. It was going to be hard to focus on all of the complications. I suddenly realized exactly how much effort they were expecting from me, and began to wonder if maybe it had been a bad idea to drop those shields after all...

Why hadn't someone killed me yet? It would be a mercy blow at this point. I groaned as I dropped the last pile of planks that were needed for the tread. It was to be hooked up to the gearbox, which would transfer energy to the conveyor and make it move when somepony ran on it. A very basic setup that required a deceiving amount of planks. I was literally covered in leftover wood shavings.

"Whaaa!" sounded out from in front of me. I almost didn't bother to look up again, but decided it might actually be important. An inquiring glance showed that Scootaloo was dangling from several ropes attached to the ceiling, now upside down and swaying back and forth as her tiny wings propelled her around in a circle. The red cape she wore had somehow gotten flipped over her eyes and she struggled against the air, unable to see anything. Derpy, floating conveniently nearby, suddenly looked extremely guilty and slowly drifted over to where Fluttershy was, apparently making to help her and Applejack line up the lid lift itself. Damn. She had worse luck than I did. Thankfully or not, as the case may be, at least mine only usually targeted myself.

Well, nopony died, so all was yet good. I decided not to ask how she'd gotten tied up in the ropes in the first place. Sweetie Belle sat on the edge of the loft, looking nervous as she tried to tug her friend to a stop with her magic. It didn't look like she had very good control over it yet, however, as it appeared largely ineffectual.

I stood up softly and stretched as my magic gathered up the wood shavings around me. Rarity paid little heed beyond a cursory glance as I moved from her side, instead focusing on 'perfecting' the drawing. Her extremely stylized border around the plans, excessive amount of measurements included, and potential decoration positions made me dizzy, so I hadn't been watching her work for a good two hours. I still had to repair Applejack's back wall, however.

The mare in question smiled as she saw me gathering up the pieces and dumping them into Derpy's miniature cart. I imagine she anticipated that I'd forget about the repair job and was now pleasantly surprised. Fluttershy was helping her line up the chains for the lid lift at the moment, alongside Derpy doing most of the heavy lifting. It surprised me how readily they all got along when it came to a project like this. We'd been at this for a good five hours now, and it was finally starting to come together!

I gave a nod to Spike as I walked past him. He grinned up at me, having almost finished with the gear assembly. It was looking surprisingly precise. The little guy had an amazing eye for details I hadn't anticipated; probably from living with Twilight for so long.

The slowly dimming light of the barn was enough for me to navigate around the boxes, thankfully. It was also enough for me to make out the form of Apple Bloom as she readied herself to launch out and snag Scootaloo's rope as she swung past. Uh oh... Anticipating disaster, I sped up my passage a little bit in attempts to time the jump. As predicted, Apple Bloom hit the rope at high velocity, her own cape making her look momentarily like a superhero, and swung both Scootaloo and herself violently to the side. The rope snapped off the ring on the ceiling and dropped both of them from the level of the loft. I adjusted my momentum a little and peeked behind me as Apple Bloom landed in the soft wood shavings in the cart, as I'd hoped. Wait, where was Scootaloo?

The buzzing of her wings sounded as she momentarily slowed herself, drifting to the side. I stepped sideways, rotating the cart as I went, and she landed rather abruptly on my back, face and stomach first. I winced, more for sympathy of her pain than any she had inflicted on me. "Ow. I don't think we're gonna get our Cutie Marks in barn design, girls," the orange filly groaned as she popped her face out from being wedged against my back.

"Aww! But we were tryin' so hard!" Apple Bloom complained profusely, sounding a little on the irate side. Oops. Best placate them before their desire to help turns destructive instead.

"You're being too hard on yourselves. You've been a huge help so far with the upper loft, and there are more things you three could assist with," I pointed out, amused at the skeptical look Scootaloo gave me as she just lay there.

Sweetie Belle descended from out of nowhere a moment later and landed in the shavings next to Apple Bloom, who squeaked and burst into laughter as Sweetie's cape got flopped over her head. I smirked back at the two before continuing walking towards the back of the barn, ignoring the now swaying cart as the two wrestled to get off each other. Surprisingly, all three of them were rather on the light side, even together. Although if I recall, this little cart was enchanted similarly to the larger one. Er, I suddenly hoped that this one didn't catch fire too. Apparently, carts were frequently enchanted to drift free of gravity so Pegasi could pull them through the air with ease. I could see the potential in such an enchantment.

Oddly, I saw Applejack give a light tug on the ropes next to her in my peripheral vision as I walked past. Fluttershy drifted down from the other end that was over the loft and looked questioningly at her friend. I passed them, however, and didn't want to look suspicious by turning to stare. What was the farm mare up to now?

"Oh. Oh my... Um, you're right," I suddenly heard the shy mare echo in my head wistfully, almost gushing with embarrassment. Wait, what had Applejack said to cause this?!

I couldn't help it anymore, and glanced back over my right shoulder at the two mares. Both were eyeing me as I walked with a rather soft expression that I had no way of placing or translating in the slightest. What did it mean when they looked at me like that? Scootaloo glanced back as well, now as curious as I was. Both girls in the cart saw our attention shift, and of course peeked back as well. The light pink in Fluttershy's cheeks turned to full out red as her eyes widened dramatically.

"Oh, um, oops! I didn't mean to stare, Mender. I'm, uh, really sorry," came in another echoing yet familiar voice in my head. Fluttershy bowed her head politely as I heard it, and I realized it wasn't just in my head after all. This was going to get weird fast. It was the same kind of thing that I did to Keela, except it worked both ways for us.

There were lots of questions regarding it, really. From observation, I only heard her when she was not trying, if she was under some sort of emotional imbalance. It's like a form of empathy, then. Now she had discovered that she could purposefully push words at me as well. I had no idea how she did it, and had yet to be able to respond similarly. Regardless, I shook my head softly towards her and returned a warm smile before turning back to the back wall. What those two had been staring at would just have to remain a mystery for now.

"Fluttershy is acting really weird. Is she okay?" Sweetie Belle asked softly, looking to her fellow cart rider as she said so.

Apple Bloom frowned but shook her head, returning, "Ah honestly haven't ah clue. Yer sister's actin' all weird, too."

"She got in a fight with Twilight earlier. I don't think she feels too good about it," I informed gently as we slowed to a stop at the back wall.

That got Scootaloo's attention, of course. "Whoa! Awesome! Was there blood? Did they use their magic? I bet Twilight kicked her flank and that's why she's so mopey," she asked all at once, suddenly rather excited.

I peeked back at her with a smirk and shook my head. "It was a verbal fight, not a physical one. The barn hasn't been leveled, so magic wasn't involved, obviously," I pointed out.

Instead of being disappointed, the orange filly with the purple mane started snickering instead and nodded. "I figured. That would have been cool to watch, though," she lamented a moment later, sitting up on my back and tucking her wings up again.

"So long as we didn't get caught in it, yeah," I muttered, shuddering at the thought.

All three fillies started giggling then. Sweetie Belle took the opportunity to launch herself out of the cart and land directly behind Scootaloo an instant later. "Hey! There's only room up here for one of us," Scootaloo complained, getting shoved up against my mane. I started and wobbled, spreading my hooves out so I didn't tip to either side as they readjusted on my back. Well, this was awkward.

"Then get off. You got to ride back here on him. I haven't gotten to see him for a while," the little unicorn responded, sticking her tongue out at her friend.

Apple Bloom sat up on the rim of the cart and rolled her eyes. "Sweetie, ya were the last one ta see him in tha first place," she pointed out skeptically. It was true. I had seen a lot more of Sweetie Belle than I had the other two fillies.

"Yeah! We get to hang out with the new CMC member, too. Did you remember the thing?" Scootaloo asked vaguely, earning my attention again as I unhooked myself from the cart. Not an easy task to do when there are two fillies sitting on your back.

"The what? Oh! Yeah!" Sweetie returned before reaching behind her own cape. Huh? "Rarity knew how to make a bigger one, like we thought!" she added before withdrawing a rather large roll of red fabric. It was the same color as their capes? Wait a second...

Scootaloo grinned impishly before hopping off my back. Before I could so much as ask a question, Sweetie Belle pounced! I let out a squeak as she wrapped a cloth loop around my neck, sealing it with a brooch of some kind on the other side. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting it and had tried to shift sideways to avoid whatever she was doing. The much larger cape unfurled as we fell sideways. I tripped over two of my hooves in an instant and somehow managed to twist onto my back, wrapping myself up in the cape while spilling Sweetie Belle off to the side.

Everything finally slowed to a stop. Sweetie Belle came out of her roll upside down, looking at me in a confused manner. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo started snickering in amusement as I struggled to free my legs from the frustrating fabric. To my surprise, however, Scootaloo stepped forwards and wrapped a forehoof around my front leg. Sweetie recovered quickly and shifted forwards, shoving at the same time Scootaloo yanked. This tipped me in the other direction and let me pull free of the cape. I smiled to both of them as they gathered themselves in front of me. Apple Bloom hopped out of the cart finally and straightened the cape on my back with a few gentle tugs before backing up to admire her work.

"Ah think it looks darn good on ya! Yer an official member o' tha Cutie Mark Crusaders, now!" the little, red-maned filly exclaimed, smiling widely now.

"Even if he already has his Cutie Mark," Scootaloo groaned a second later.

I frowned and shook my head towards her. "I don't care if I have mine already or not. You three are the coolest fillies I know and have been nice to me, so I'm going to help you regardless," I assured. It was true. The three of them had been really kind to me so far. The chasing me into a rock on my first day in Equestria was totally my fault, after all.

Scootaloo perked up at the 'cool' part and smirked back before nodding in agreement. Sweetie Belle perked through the whole thing, however, and gave my forelegs a gentle squeeze upon my finishing. "You're really cool, too, Mender! So much better than a lot of the adults," she admitted, smiling up at me.

"Plus he has tha benefit o' already bein' one! Ah bet he could really help us out, especially with that magic o' his," Apple Bloom chipped in before bumping her right forehoof against my left one as a visual pointer.

I snickered and nodded. "I'm just a big kid at heart anyway, so I hear ya there. Just, um, let's not try anywhere up high. I don't have the best track record with gravity," I warned, shuddering and checking above me for any large, heavy objects.

"Oh yeah, Rainbow told me about the time she clocked ya with the apples! That must have been amazing aim," Scootaloo spoke up, sounding genuinely impressed. I scowled and shook my head to vanquish the phantom pain drifting into it.

Sweetie interposed herself instantly between Scootaloo and me. "Not so amazing for him! Don't get any ideas," she warned in a surprisingly defensive manner. I smiled warmly at her back before wrapping my right foreleg around her and giving her an appreciative squeeze.

"Thanks, Sweetie. It's okay, though. I forgave Rainbow already," I explained, warming as she gave me a happy smile in return, rotating to face me fully.

Scootaloo made a gagging motion, though. "I wasn't gonna brain him with apples! You don't have to get all defensive. Ew," she protested profusely, wings fluttering a little as she crossed her forelegs.

"Regardless, this is a really nice cape. Thank you, girls," I tossed in, hopefully redirecting the topic. I didn't mind a bit of bickering, but I didn't want the three of them out and out fighting over anything. Not if I could help it, anyway. I smiled to myself. If this really was in my head, this was the most adorable hallucination I could have asked for, however.

"Well, o' course! Yer a member o' tha CMC, so ya get ta dress tha part, too! What are we doin' back 'ere, though?" Apple Bloom asked a moment later, peeking around at the multitude of holes in the back wall.

Scootaloo followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow up before asking, "Yeah, and what happened to the wall? Did Pinkie find Applejack's hard cider again?" That um, brought horrifying mental images forth. I blinked and swallowed nervously.

"Hey! I resent that! That stuff was good!" came from the other side of the wall before a bright pink blob oozed from one of the holes near us. What the hell?! Pinkie somehow managed to squeeze her entire head through the hole without further structural destruction and eyed the now freaked out pegasus filly with a menacing glare. "I haven't gotten any of that all year! So this totally wasn't me. Although it does sound really fun. Sometimes I wish I could just go around randomly knocking holes in things! It sounds so cool. I mean, there's that little tingle in the back of your head every time you see something go boomy! It would be like that all the time. As often as I wanted it!" she started, in a manner that I hadn’t heard in a while. Well, since the last time she did it.

"Uh, Pinkie?" I tried to ask, to get her attention so we could get the wall fixed up before night fell.

"I mean, my party cannon only does so good at the boomy thing. Plus, it takes forever to load the party into it! I can only use it so many times a day, so that's way too limited. Now if I had a hammer or something, I could totally do this all I wanted! That would be really fun, of course. Almost as fun as having some sort of tube that could push out a bunch of stuff really fast by using a blast of pressurized gas produced from something that burned really fast and," she continued, seemingly oblivious to our existences now. At this point, she was talking way too fast for me to fully comprehend what she was saying, but for some reason, it made me really nervous.

"Pinkie..." I tried again.

"But some stallions are just so ungrateful! I was taking time out of my busy schedule of tending to the counter and all he could complain about was that the hole was too small! The nerve! I mean, isn't it supposed to be better the smaller it is? I never figured out that part anyway, but still. Getting frustrated and shouting it out right in the middle of serving hours was just so embarrassing! So many ponies could have heard, and then my reputation would be ruined! I mean, honestly, I thought that the smaller the hole, the better the..."

"Pinkie!" I shouted, finally aggravated. Wait, what?!

"...donut? Yes?" she answered perkily, smiling politely at me as if nothing had happened at all. All three fillies looked half brain dead as they stared blankly at her. Oh, my poor, poor mind.

I shuddered as it performed a manual reboot before looking back up at her. "Uh, yeah. I thought that you were supposed to be looking for Twilight and Rainbow Dash?" I finally asked, flushing everything else out of my head.

"Of course, Silly Willy! I found them at the library already," she informed, as if it was the most logical conclusion in the world. A throb went through my left temple. Pinkie should come with a few general health warnings. I swore that I could practically feel my stroke and cardiac arrest risk increasing.

"Uh, right. How were they doing?" I asked hesitantly, a little apprehensive as to the answer.

Pinkie apparently sensed my tension and smiled softly. Oddly, the fact that she was squeezing just her head through the wall didn't matter so much anymore. I feared for my sanity. "Twilight felt a lot better when I told her that it wasn't her directly that you were afraid of. She's patching things up with Rarity right now!" she explained softly. Admittedly, I appreciated her attempts to reassure me. Pinkie really could be a sweetheart when she wanted to be.

Wait, I thought Rarity was in the barn with us? A chill drifted down my spine as I slowly rotated my head around to glance back at the entrance. Sure enough, the lavender colored unicorn sat next to the entry, talking directly to a solemn looking Rarity. Oh. Well, that would have been nice to know a little bit ago.

Rainbow Dash was apparently here as well, drifting about above Applejack and talking in a rather loud fashion. I made out bits and pieces about a race that was coming up. Probably the one she had requested I help her with. I abruptly turned back around as Twilight's gaze started to shift, and ran a string of profanities through my head. I wasn't prepared to talk to her so soon! I hadn't had any time to think about what happened at all, and tried hard not to panic. Calm down, Mender! You can think of a way to work through this. If Pinkie can fit through those holes, surely I could in the opposite direction!

With my confidence reestablished, I stoically raised my head again, just in time to stare directly into two massive, blue eyes from less than a muzzle's length away.

To my credit, I managed to muffle the surprised yelp by shoving my own forehoof into my mouth. Pinkie giggled merrily, somehow on this side of the wall now, having gotten there not only without making so much as a noise, but in less than the two seconds it took me to look back at Twilight. "Wow, you're not as easy to scare anymore! I'm impressed. What are ya doing all the way back here, though?" the bubbly mare asked, tilting her head.

"We're gonna repair the wall! We're trying for our construction Cutie Marks!" Scootaloo answered almost immediately, pounding a hoof off her chest with a smirk on her face. All three somehow managed to think absolutely nothing of Pinkie's blatant disregard for physics, naturally. Was I honestly the only sane one left? That didn't speak too highly of Equestria's future.

I managed to nod weakly. "Uh, yeah. What she said. The transmutation spell is touch based, obviously. They're gonna help me reach the higher holes, and keep the pieces of wood in them until the magic can finish the transformation," I explained, news to all four ponies present, I figured.

"Oooh, we can help with that!" Sweetie Belle agreed, sounding excited now.

I, of course, started to assure, "It's not dangerous or anything. I'm going to channel my magic through you as the three of you reach up to plug the holes and..."

"Awesome! Let's do this!" Scootaloo exclaimed before hopping into the air excitedly. Okay then! Well, I guess they trusted me not to blow them up or something.

"CMC Ladder Formation! Help us, Pinkie. Ya'all can be tha base!" Apple Bloom called out. Pinkie squealed with a characteristic level of energy before sliding into place in front of me. I took a step back as all three fillies hopped up onto her back. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and finally Scootaloo climbed on top of each other to make a makeshift pony ladder. Pinkie tossed a chunk of wood up next to her a second later, as if they had choreographed the entire thing. Scootaloo caught it as it sailed up and immediately jammed it hard into the hole! So hard that it popped through and shot out the other side at high velocity. I heard a crash, followed by the squawking of several distressed chickens and sighed.

"Er, oops. Take two, Pinkie!" the little pegasus muttered a second later. Pinkie didn't miss a beat in launching a second chunk up. Suddenly, I remembered that the cart was still behind me, a good two meters from the pink mare. I stared down at the small pile of wooden chunks she had accumulated near her front hooves in confusion. When had she done that?

Scootaloo was infinitely more careful this time around, lightly squishing the chunk of wood into the hole before nodding down at me. Well, this would work, regardless. I pulled the cart closer to Pinkie before peeking at her expectantly. She gave me an ecstatic grin and nod of confirmation. Ugh. Very well. I reached up with my left hoof and lightly nudged her in the shoulder, sending a wave of magic up through her body.

"Wah!" she squeaked out, the second the energy made contact. I watched it arc through her like a bolt of lightning, rapidly expanding off her back and through all three fillies in an instant. The magic touched upon the wood chunk that Scootaloo still held and it instantly began to shift and squirm. Although I was hardly paying attention to it at that point. All three younger ponies squeaked as the energy shot through them and devolved into a massive fit of snickers and giggles. Scootaloo's wings shot out like static electricity against her fur and she flailed them rapidly, sending arcs of the transmutation magic off herself in her laughter. Fearing for their safety, I withdrew the energy an instant later and they all slumped against each other.

"Whoa! That was like gittin' tickled all over! Ah wasn't expectin' that," Apple Bloom admitted upon shakily standing up again on Pinkie's back.

"Yeah. That was so awesome!" Scootaloo agreed, still laughing a little.

Sweetie Belle just smiled and nodded while squished between the two of them. I instead turned my attention in concern to Pinkie, who was just standing there, shivering a little. "Uh, how about you, Pinkie? Are you okay?" I inquired, unsure as to what her behavior meant.

"Uh, yeah! I'm fine. Let's do another!" she exclaimed in a surprisingly excited tone, suddenly. Well, that was a little strange. Er, more strange, for Pinkie, anyway. I could have sworn I saw a red tint to her cheeks as well, but she looked away before I could do more than glance towards her face, prepping for the next position. Er, okay?

"Well, okay. Shift down then, a bit. There are three more holes near the top that need to be filled, then we can move on to the lower ones. We probably won't need all three fillies for them," I reasoned, looking at the pattern of damage. Damn, I'm glad I put my barrier up in time, earlier. I didn't realize the wood was that thick. If those metal rods had hit us instead, they'd still be mopping the pieces up.

Pinkie gave another strange shiver as I gave the instruction, but obediently took a couple steps forward, haphazardly aligning herself with the next hole. I bit my tongue, deciding not to mention it would probably be easier to align herself if she actually looked up to see where they were. No, I'd probably just say something stupid and put my hoof in my mouth again.

It took four more holes, starting in on the second rough 'tier' down, before Applejack seemingly noticed progress being made and wandered over to investigate. "Well Ah'll be! It's like Derpy never put 'em there ta begin with!" she praised, touching one of the lower marks with her hoof, then giggling as she felt it still wiggling about and reshaping itself.

"Oooh, that must have been fun to watch!" Pinkie exclaimed, absolutely giddy at this point. Her energy was going higher and higher with each hole, as if I was somehow feeding her with the magical bursts! I was retrieving all of my energy afterwards, however, so that couldn't be the case, right? I didn't feel all that convinced, and wondered idly if I was somehow contributing to the end of Equestria or something.

"Ah don't imagine it was all that pleasant from Mender's perspective. We're gonna call it quits soon, though. How are ya managin', Mender?" she inquired. I was momentarily stuck on the simply delightful way in which she said 'perspective' before snapping myself out of it with a shudder. The memory of those rods of death descending towards us was all too fresh in my head still.

"Uh, well. It should only take us a few more minutes to repair all of these. How's the rest of the barn looking?" I asked back, sending another jolt of energy absently through the four of them. Scootaloo hadn't been required at this point, but absolutely insisted on not missing out on the apparent joyous entertainment arcing magical energy through her body brought. Not that any of the other three disagreed with her, so maybe they were onto something?

My eyes lingered past her momentarily as she smiled in response. Twilight had moved away from Rarity and was now talking to Fluttershy in quiet whispers. A slight nervousness echoed down that familiar link when I paid it heed. What were they talking about that was making Fluttershy nervous?

"...but apart from ah few adjustments and tightenin's 'ere and there, all that's left ta tackle is hookin' tha tread up ta tha main belt an' givin' it ah trial run!" Applejack continued, looking well beyond pleased once I snapped out of my prior thoughts and began paying attention to her again. I really needed to stop zoning out like that.

Still, it was enough to piece together what had been said. "Are we going to do that tonight, then?" I asked, ignoring the chorus of giggles and laughter from behind me.

Applejack watched the four in amusement for a moment before looking back to me and shaking her head. "Nah. We need mah brother ta properly test out tha workin's. Ah figure that can wait 'til tomorrow. He's been sport enough ta handle all tha buckin' today," she reasoned, shrugging softly, which slowly devolved into a gentle roll of her shoulders and a light eye twitch. She'd worked just as hard as I did today. Probably more, in all honesty.

I stared blankly at her shoulder for longer than I probably should have. Four seconds later, she frowned and glanced at her right shoulder as well. An awkward three additional seconds later, I coughed lightly and looked away, feeling like an idiot again. She just laughed and shook her head. "Ah'll be fine. Nothin' Ah haven't felt before," she assured, waving her other hoof absently at me. An idea popped into my head recklessly, like most of mine do, and was out my mouth before even pulling its parachute.

"Actually, could you hold still for a second? I want to try something," I requested, extending my left hoof up to her shoulder. She hesitated, nervously looking at my hoof as it started to glow with energy, before she nodded and closed her eyes rapidly. She trusted me.

The thought momentarily made me hesitate before I shook my head again. No, getting caught staring again would only lead to being accused of yet another mental degradation. Touching the hoof to her shoulder, I let a burst of soft heat and vibrating energy through the muscle in her shoulder. In the same instant, it shuddered once, seemed to clench of its own accord, then almost melted into a loose, relaxed position a moment later.

Applejack gasped in surprise, and then let out a highly pleasing murmur as she promptly sat down roughly on her haunches right then and there. "Oh! Oh wow. What was that?" she asked, opening her eyes again and looking a little on the surprised side before glancing at her slightly reddened shoulder.

"Oh, well I just figured you probably didn't get much out of a normal massage, with how strong you are and how much muscle is present. So I just used my energy to get as deep as possible and apply heat and a tense vibration," I attempted to explain, skipping over the technicalities behind the magic itself. Twilight might be interested, but Applejack was more likely to fall asleep during the explanation. It was awfully late out now.

"Oh yeah! Magic hooves, I say. Get it? Magic?!" Pinkie tacked on before bursting into a fit of laughter and taking all three fillies with her. Oh dear. What have I done? Was I actually destroying their minds with the magic?!

Applejack smirked and rolled her eyes at the display before looking right, and then left. I silently agreed with her assessment that nopony was watching, before she leaned closer to me and whispered, "Now look 'ere. Ah don't normally go for all that frou-frou stuff that Rarity likes, Ah hope ya understand. But if ya wanted ta do that ta all o' me next time, yer gonna get one heck o' ah tip, alright?" she offered, surprisingly me and earning a blush. Maybe it was reflex from talking to Rainbow so much, but I suddenly found myself totally taking that the wrong way.

"Um, a-all of you?" I stuttered out weakly, literally feeling my eyes shiver as I carefully watched her. Of course, I realized she could potentially murder me for the comment a mere second after it left my mouth.

She started for a heartbeat, and then grinned in amusement. "Got yerself ah special somepony fer less than ah day an' already yer startin' ta think like ah stallion. Ah'm actually kinda proud," she shot back, barbed tongue coming into play faster than I realized possible. She must train her quick wits by fencing with Rainbow all the time. She managed to relay amusement to detract from how nervous I probably sounded, reminded me that she knew I was taken and wouldn't do that to me, and implied that I hadn't been thinking like a stallion up until this point; all in one jab. Subtle. I was impressed.

Sweetie Belle gasped loudly and left the center of the pile before anyone had even realized she was moving. Scootaloo gave a yelp and crashed into the other two before she could even pop her wings out. "You have a special somepony, Mender?! Who is it?" the little filly asked excitedly, somehow standing right in front of me now. I jumped and sat down abruptly from surprise, managing to at least make some room between us.

"Oooh, I know! It's Twilight and Fluttershy!" Pinkie squealed excitedly, bouncing on her hooves a little bit and grinning ear to ear.

Sweetie's eyes widened and she gasped before paraphrasing, "Two special someponies?!" Sighing, I gave Pinkie a moderately stern look she no doubt blatantly ignored.

"Just Twilight for now. I think. Last I knew of, anyway." I'd never started backtracking from the very start of a statement before. Was this a new personal best? My ears drooped at the mere thought and I sighed. Sweetie Belle went from delighted to frowning in a heartbeat, but Applejack just shook her head.

"She's still all yers, Mender. Ya just need ta do somethin' about this scared thing. Twi would never intentionally hurt ya; Ah vouch for her ah hundred percent!" the farm mare assured, giving a proper nod after as punctuation.

I nodded gently, still not looking up. It wasn't that simple, but I did want to believe she was right. She was the Element of Honesty, so it was a good bet that I could trust what she was saying. "It's just hard. It's not just Twilight. She's scary powerful, yeah, but that more serves as a comparison to the females in my old life. They were scary powerful too, and definitely not benign with that fact. Even though I want to believe she's totally different, the comparison is still there, if that makes sense," I tried to explain as simply as I could. It was hellishly complex for myself, and I'd never tried to put it into words for somepony else before.

Applejack actually smiled, which threw me off guard. She closed her eyes for a moment and seemed to consider things before continuing with, "That feels like tha honest truth ta me. Thank ya kindly fer bein' open. Ah understand that concept completely." Her open acceptance of my explanation further threw me for a loop, but it was a happy one this time. I cracked a smile timidly, looking up again fully. Things were looking up now, of course. I felt a little bit braver.

"Yeah. If you were treated badly before and Twilight kinda sorta makes you remember that, it seems kinda normal. Like when my mom tries to feed me leeks," Scootaloo suddenly chipped in, drawing all attention towards her. She fidgeted in place and glared back an instant later. "What?! I threw up the first time I ate them, and now I just shudder every time I even see them," she defended sharply.

I smiled and nodded to her, agreeing with, "That's actually the perfect example. They did really bad things to me and my friends. When Twilight looks or acts like them, even a little bit, I panic. It's really scary." Simplified, but still true. Scootaloo was starting to grow on me, I'd have to admit.

The orange and purple filly perked up and nodded back, smiling at me again. Pinkie started a small fit of giggles at the same time, shifting the spotlight to herself instead. I gave her a questioning tilt of my head, and she nodded energetically.

"After you're done working for AJ, I should totally hire you to help me babysit the Cake's foals! You're super-duper awesome with younger ponies," she suggested a moment later, glancing to Applejack for support. I detected a slight shift to her eyebrows as she did so, making her grin look almost knowing. I raised my eyebrow in return and glanced over at Applejack for some sort of reveal. Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the apparently mundane turn of events and flopped backwards onto her back. Sweetie and Apple Bloom still seemed curious, and glanced towards Applejack as well, however.

The farm mare blushed lightly and coughed, looking away from the piercing gaze of the pink one. "Ya use yer Pinkie Sense fer that one? Yeah, ya caught us. Fluttershy an' Ah were watchin' Mender earlier. She actually thought he'd be ah pretty good father, though," she revealed weakly.

I'm really glad I wasn't eating anything. I'd be taking another trip to the hospital if so, it then being lodged in my throat as I spasmed all over the place. Pinkie burst into snickers and wiggled back and forth on her haunches, seemingly unable to contain the level of energy inside of her body. Scootaloo snapped back up to a sitting position with wide eyes, however.

It turns out she hadn't paid all that good of attention, sadly. "Wait, what?! Mender's gonna be a dad?!" she asked, rather on the loud side. Suddenly, I realized how absolutely quiet the barn was. Oh hell.

I swallowed and started to turn and look out at the others before I heard a sharp inhalation, followed by, "What?!" Twilight almost screamed it, staring over at me with what could only be described as a mixture of shock, hostility, and murderous intent. My ears dropped instantly and I shrank back down to my stomach, hiding any essentials that I might yet need to continue the whole living and breathing thing.

"Twilight! You have a better memory than Rainbow Dash and can recall further back than ten minutes. Control yourself!" Rarity chastised almost instantly, giving the lavender mare a stern look.

"Hey!" Rainbow shot back a second later, glaring at Rarity instead. The two unicorns were too busy glaring at each other to notice, however. In the meantime, the bubbly gray pegasus drifted down from near the ceiling and over to me.

"Oooh, congratulations! Who's the mommy?" she asked, causing me to look up at her in slight confusion. I don't know why, but I suddenly just noticed that her eyes drifted in different directions. She had Strabismus? Well she didn't seem to be bothered by it in the least, so I just mentally shrugged.

Looking past her, I pointed my muzzle towards Twilight before replying with her name. Pinkie burst into more giggles again, predictably, while Twilight herself suddenly went from glaring at Rarity to staring back at me in surprise. Ha! That defused the situation, hopefully.

"Wait, what?" the lavender mare asked, sounding exceedingly confused now.

Derpy didn't miss a beat, however, and squealed happily. "Oooh, congratulations Twilight! Do you know if it's a filly or colt yet?" she asked, giving an excited flutter to her wings. Scootaloo just looked confused, while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged giggles.

Twilight finally blushed at that, stamping her hoof on the floor a couple times. "Hey! I'm not pregnant! What's going on?" she groaned out, looking back towards me for clarification. Fluttershy was still, and had been since the comment was shouted, blushing furiously next to Twilight. She nudged Twilight with her hoof however, then whispered into her ear when Twilight peeked sideways at her.

Half a second later, a look of dawning comprehension graced the lavender mare's face, and she exhaled. "Scootaloo, you misheard. Mender isn't a daddy. They only said he'd make a good one," she explained slowly, standing and walking back towards us.

She seemed in a better mood, but I didn't take any chances and kept my stomach to the ground. Basic artillery shell survival training. You kept a low profile to the ground to minimize fragmentation contact. It also helped reduce your target size in case you also happened to be getting shot at. I figured either could be applicable with an enraged Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight stopped and gazed at me from a couple meters away before slowly sitting down where she was, ears lowering a little, alongside her eyebrows. Her mouth opened to say something, but no sound came out as she hesitated, lifting a hoof up in my direction. It almost looked like she was reaching out for me, and I felt a stirring in my stomach to obey. Regardless of her being scary and potentially dangerous, I still cared about her and really didn't like seeing her sad.

That deadly silence crept into the barn again as I gradually sat back up; just a little bit. Her eyes opened a little more, as if she suddenly snapped back to full attention at my movement. She shifted her weight back onto her haunches and balanced upright before raising the other hoof as well, extending both to me. That gesture was common enough. She either was hoping that double the hoof pointing would cause further reaction in me, or she was making the gesture of desiring an embrace. Deciding to go with an assumption again, I settled on the latter and edged closer to her, fully sitting up now. Technically my assumptions hadn't explicitly gotten me killed yet, so that had to be worth something, right?

The reaction was like a rubber band. Twilight closed the meter gap. In a rather stunning flash of light, she appeared practically on top of me. I gave a start of surprise, but no blow came. Instead, all I felt for a moment was warm fur intermingling against mine as she wrapped both forelegs around my body, pulling me against her chest. Her head rested on top of mine, as if she was suddenly desperate to make sure none of my fur was showing to the outside world.

Pinkie's cooing 'Aww!' finally broke the silence. The heat I hadn't realized was coming from my face flared up even further as the soft unicorn placed a gentle kiss on the top of my head. My eyes widened, confusion flooding my senses. How could she go from being pissed off at me to embracing and kissing me so fast? This entire situation the last couple days had been bouncing up and down so quickly that I could barely follow it anymore. Mares were so confusing!

"I know I said I was sorry before and I ended up scaring you again anyway, but please forgive me, Mender. You know I didn't mean to frighten you," the unicorn asked quietly. It was easy enough to hear by probably everypony present due to the silence, though.

I shook my head against her chest, briefly causing her to lock up and her heartbeat to speed up. "I wasn't mad at you, Twilight. There's nothing to forgive. The problem is obviously with me and my memories," I pointed out tiredly. She relaxed after that.

"I want to help you, Mender. You just have to realize how crazy this all sounds. I've already sent a letter out to Princess Celestia before coming here, asking for an audience the day after the party. Seeing as we're staying three days anyway, is that okay with you?" she asked, pulling me even tighter to her body, as if afraid I was going to run away again. On that account, I didn't blame her.

"I, well, yes. That will work, of course. I'm glad you're giving me the benefit of the doubt," I managed to mutter. This time I wasn't going to let my coward-like behavior get in the way. No matter how scary Princess Celestia and Twilight could be, she was at least making an effort for me. Running away this time would only serve to spurn her attempt.

She hesitated, left hoof tracing down my back gently and stopping just above the point where the brutal scar started. I guess I was kind of lucky. An inch to the right and the energy shot would have burned my spine in half instead of just scorching it. I shuddered as she touched the edge, remembering the horrible stabbing sensation followed by the cold numbness. I suddenly felt a little sick to my stomach.

"I really, really do want to believe you, Mender," she finally added, drawing attention to the elephant in the room. Was she lying? My gut instinct told me she was, due too the order of her priorities, of course. Celestia was more important to her than I was. She wanted the problem to go away, in all likelihood.

She probably felt my muscles tense as well as I felt her suddenly swallow. She knew that I doubted the validity of that statement; of that I had no doubt. Neither of us said anything. The silence became awkward again, but she only squeezed me tighter. What worried her so much? I pushed the bitterness back as best I could, biting my tongue instead. Fighting didn't really solve anything.

"Well, can ya'll stay friendly long enough ta finish this 'ere job? After it’s done, we can all take ah nice break an' figure things out, then," Applejack suggested suddenly, approaching the two of us from the sidelines.

Twilight's lips left my forehead as she glanced over at her orange friend. I shivered at the sudden loss of heat and buried my face a little closer into the fur on her chest. Her heart beat against my forehead soothingly. Why couldn't we just stay like this? I didn't like feeling like she didn't trust me or thought I was crazy. Wasn't she the one who said that trust was integral for a relationship?

"Yeah. It's going to be nice to have a sort of vacation in a few days. It's only for three days, but getting away and just enjoying each other's company will be nice," Twilight agreed in a roundabout sense. Of course, 'enjoyment' was a relative term. I'd imagine it all depended on the results of Celestia's scan.

Applejack nodded and gave us both a soft smile. Rarity approached at the same time, adding on, "I do apologize again for snapping at you earlier, Twilight Dear. I should have been gentler. The message is still there, though," she reminded, of what, I did not know. Twilight winced lightly, but nodded softly before looking up and over at Fluttershy instead, who was on the opposite side as Rarity. I felt a light burst of apprehension before mentally feeling the mare nod, even though I wasn't looking in her direction. At this close, I could start to visualize her without needing to look, it would seem. Distance must play a major part of the connection between us.

"Heh, yeah! Going back home to piece the papers together was a little paranoid," Rainbow chimed in, sounding amused. She earned an annoyed glare from all three mares near me, but only snickered more. She had guts, I'll give her that.

"She knows, Dash," Fluttershy whispered softly after hesitating a moment. Hearing was no problem, as the two pegasi were only a meter away from each other or so, I realized. It wasn't perfect, but I'd gotten a lot more comfortable with my sense of hearing ever since my eyes had gotten damaged. Even though they were significantly healed now, I still trusted my hearing more.

Applejack coughed lightly before shaking her head. "There's ah lot ta talk about still, but it'll be easier after ah little time passes. Twi is real sorry fer her behavior and I'm sure lessons have been learned, but makin' ponies feel bad about things they already made amends with is just wrong. Let's just focus on tha project fer now, an' distract ourselves."

Everypony nodded in agreement after a moment or so, the fillies probably more to just stay on Applejack's good side. Twilight waited another moment for attention to disperse back to the project before smiling down at me. "I know I've said this before and still haven't actually done anything yet, but I'll definitely make all of this up to you. I'll make you realize that I'm not going to hurt you if I have to," she promised, smile shifting to a smirk instead as I swallowed, suddenly nervous for entirely different reasons.

The moment was interrupted by her expression melting to a curious confusion instead. Huh? She shifted her gaze past my face for a moment before asking, "Wait a second. Where'd you get this cape?"

Chapter 19

Staring out the barn window, I watched the overcast sky drifting overhead. It was peaceful, really. I kept a lookout for any rainbow specks, but there was no sign of her. Maybe she had today off? She probably handled the weather during the winter, too. I shifted myself in the hay, deciding that the loft was rather comfortable.

My ears twitched and rotated around to face partially behind me as I heard the conveyor start up again. This was the third test, now. So far it had been working flawlessly, much to her enthusiastic delight. Even Big Mac seemed quietly impressed by it as his sister tried heavier and heavier loads. I didn't hear anything straining, so I took that to be a good sign. She was trying a full crate on it, filled with apples this time around. Twilight sat a good half-dozen meters away, ready to try operating the lid lift from the loft.

Last night had been, well, awkward for all accounts. I'd ended up going home with Twilight again, at her insistence. I was going to stay with Rarity instead, but the lavender unicorn looked one part horrified, another guilty at my suggestion, and had specifically requested another 'chance', whatever that had fully implied. Mares were so complicated. Of course, once we got home, things were a little better for a while. She left me alone for the most part, and I just read up more on Equestrian history. Although she did ask me a few strange questions about Fluttershy. How was I supposed to know if she was acting overly strange or not? It made me wonder what they had talked about yesterday for so long.

No, the real awkwardness came when it was time to go to bed...

It took a certain level of finesse to brush your teeth when all you had was a hoof. They made almost everything imaginable with loop attachments for proper use without magic, of course, but it took practice to use them. This was a nightly event, however, so even I was getting better at it.

Twilight hummed as she wandered about the room outside of the bathroom. Several books were out still, and she had moved the wood samples upstairs, it had seemed. That meant the mess surrounding them had migrated alongside, and now she was busy putting books away, probably out of fear that I'd trip on them and break something.

Spike snored quietly, curled up in a loose ball in his little bed, residing at the foot of Twilight's much larger bed. I smiled over at him as I brushed. Tonight had been more pleasant than anticipated. I had expected to be grilled by Twilight upon returning, but she was overly pleasant instead. Idly, I wondered exactly what Rarity had said to her earlier. It certainly wasn't anything I had done.

Satisfied that every minute surface of my teeth was scrubbed down, I placed the toothbrush back in its spot and ran a little water into the sink to properly wash away any remnants. Twilight kept the bathroom immaculate, and I certainly wasn't going to be the one to break that trend. She gave me a warm smile upon my exit, sitting down oddly next to my makeshift bed. I hesitated slightly, wondering if I was yet to be questioned tonight after all.

"How are you feeling?" she quietly inquired, smile not faltering. While a question, that was hardly the one I had expected.

"I'm tired after today and a little sore still, but better. Or did you mean mentally?" I returned, restraining all snarkiness from my voice and trying to keep a calm, stoic expression.

Her ears lowered slightly alongside her brow, but she shook her head carefully. A moment later, after seemingly considering her words, she answered, "No, I know you're not fully recovered from everything you've been through. That's to be expected, however. I, um, regret not taking your feelings into consideration over it. Rarity opened my eyes to that."

"What did she say to you, exactly?" I finally asked, voice softening as I walked over towards the end of my bed and sat down next to the corner, a meter away from her.

"It was a lot of shouting, but I think you've guessed the most of it. She fed me my own words back about how important trust is. I kinda forgot that in my defense of my teacher, I admit," she explained, unable to meet my eyes any longer and looking down instead.

I chuckled weakly. Yeah, I really had guessed as much. Still, it wasn't entirely as predicted. "It's understandable. I mean, comparatively speaking, the amount of time spent with Celestia is an ocean to my bucket. It makes sense that she'd be a higher priority," I reasoned.

That was a mistake, it would seem. Twilight's ears dropped all the way down, eyes starting to shiver as she looked back up at me again. "No, Mender. I'm just not used to this. Please, I know trust is important. Can I have another chance?" she requested, edging closer to me suddenly. Huh? Another chance? I didn't know what she was referring to, in all honesty.

"Um, what do you mean, another chance?" I decided to just straight up ask instead of attempt to guess. A break from character for me, but there were way too many possibilities this time.

"To keep your trust in me. I know it's asking a lot at this point, but I really want you to trust me; to know that I'm not going to hurt you," the lavender unicorn expanded upon.

Her eyes locked onto mine solidly, and I couldn't look away for a moment. I wasn't so much talking about the physical pain, but the emotional when she didn't acknowledge my concerns and just passed it off as me being crazy. Still, she seemed extremely sincere, and I didn't want to mention that lest she be further hurt by the memory.

Finally, I just decided on a nod. It earned a quiet exhale as she slumped sideways onto my bed. "Thank you, Mender. It's been bothering me all day," she muttered. I bit my tongue again, not wanting to sound bitter or anything.

"You don't need to thank me, Twilight. Even if you're scary sometimes, and don't often believe me, I still really, really like you. You've done a lot for me and are really kind. I can't imagine where I'd be if it weren't for your help so far," I redirected, ending up thanking her instead, technically.

I almost chuckled at her flustered reaction and pink cheeks. "Mender. I haven't done that much, plus I've been a terrible fillyfriend," she groaned, sitting up fully again and brushing her bangs aside with her right forehoof.

I snickered before reaching forward and straightening the side of her mane for her. She watched me, expression softening before she smiled. "Well, I'd like to make it up to you, regardless. I also promised you some more experimentation earlier, if you're up for it," she suggested, surprising me by running her left hoof along the top of my bed while smirking.

My brain did a flip inside of my skull as it suddenly became my turn to blush. Wait, what?! "What brought this on?" I asked, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice.

She momentarily looked delighted in my reaction before shaking her head rapidly. "Again, I want to make it up to you. I was also reading up on a few kissing techniques that I would like to test. Thoroughly."

There was a long, awkward moment as I broke eye contact with her, face now beat red as I stared at her hoof on the bed. Oh, how I wanted to, I suddenly realized. Warm, fluttering sensations were filling my stomach as I considered it. Still, something didn't feel right about accepting her offer. Then it suddenly dawned on me.

"I don't think I'm comfortable with applying some part of the relationship as a reward or payment. It feels wrong, I guess," I tried to reason. I was paying her in forgiveness instead of bits.

Her eyes widened significantly, and I realized she hadn't anticipated a negative answer. She hesitated, then gasped further and covered her mouth with her free hoof. "Oh! I hadn't even realized it could be taken like that! I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to buy your forgiveness as much as simply trying to say that I was sorry. But you're right, of course. It should probably be split into two separate aspects. Maybe we can experiment tomorrow night instead," she offered.

I contemplated the fact that I'd just technically ruined my chances at what I had really wanted, but decided a moment later that it was indeed for the best. I wanted to embrace her because she wanted me there, not because she felt guilty. I managed a smile and nod, which seemed to relieve her further.

"Honestly, I'm surprised. I saw the look you gave the bed right after I suggested it," she added before I could say anything. There was a certain amused tone to her voice that I didn't feel like placing.

I averted my gaze as rapidly as possible, causing the mare to giggle in amusement. It was a whimsical, adorable noise that I decided I really should hear more often. "Ah, you caught me. Trust me, I just suggested exactly what I didn't want to do," I admitted, blushing again. Dang. The heat had just died down, too. Still, I had a feeling she'd appreciate the honesty.

Instead of being annoyed, she looked further amused instead, with just a hinting of relief. "Well, I'm glad that you're definitely interested in me. I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject to try to improve myself, but this is really different from anything I've studied up on before. There's not exactly a lot of concrete data," she complained, sighing wearily and glaring over at her personal bookshelf on the other wall.

I tried not to laugh. "Maybe you should just ask me instead? I know that I've never done this before, but if we're testing compatibilities, it would make sense that the best source of likes and dislikes would be the other pony," I pointed out, smiling gently towards her.

She seemed to consider it for a moment before smirking again and nodding. "Interestingly enough, that's what most of the books said, too. I guess it really is a good idea, then," she agreed. I was suddenly glad the books supported me. Celestia forbid that the books suggest covering me in tar and feathers before lighting me on fire...

"Well again, you can ask me anything you want. I'll try to answer to the best of my abilities," I promised before yawning tiredly. She stepped aside as I idly climbed up onto my bed before flopping over. Well, technically it was Applejack's bed, but that sounded wrong when I mentally said it. Rainbow would kill me if I climbed into the farm mare's bed! Actually, there was a long list of ponies that would kill me should that happen. I was in the same room as one of them, too.

Twilight oddly didn't move away and just gave me a curious, thoughtful looking gaze as I settled myself in. I was about to ask her what was wrong when she pointed out instead, "You're technically my coltfriend now. That gives you obvious privileges, you know. You don't truly have to sleep there, alone, if you don't want to."

Oh.

Like I said, last night had been intensely awkward. Regardless, she definitely got the point across that she was willing to open up more to me. I tried to gauge my own opinion on the aspect, but in all honesty, I didn't know what to think about it. I knew next to nothing about Equestrian 'Dating' or relationships, so I didn't know what to expect, or what was expected of me. It was a little frustrating.

"It's a sound success, Mender! It has no problem with three full apple crates," Twilight suddenly announced, sounding as if projecting it in my direction. I snapped out of it and smiled back at her, nodding. I'd have felt like a total idiot if it had broken on the trial run, of course. If there was anything I had any confidence in, it was my engineering capacity.

"Darn tootin', it worked! This is gonna be right nice come packagin' time. Fer once, we won't need ta recruit ah ton o' help, which is gonna save ah lotta bits!" I heard Applejack exclaim from under me somewhere. She sounded significantly pleased, so I took the job as completed to her satisfaction.

The conveyor slowly came to a stop as the large, red stallion let out a sharp, "Eeyup!" I got to the edge of the loft in time to see him hop off the tread, not even looking winded. Damn. He just powered the conveyors for almost an hour and he wasn't even sweating. My ego plummeted as I realized just how out of shape I was.

If Applejack or Twilight noticed my crestfallen expression, they didn't say anything. The farm mare stretched next to the side of the conveyor before giving a brisk nod as she examined it. "This is one nice piece o' equipment! We'll need ta get tha gals out 'ere again ta see what they helped create," she observed, sounding happy indeed. I couldn't stay glum knowing she was so happy with the results, and quietly smiled instead.

"I think Mender deserves some credit, too," Twilight spoke up, giving me a start as I suddenly realized she was right next to me, sitting down.

Applejack didn't even hesitate before looking up at us and nodding, still grinning from ear to ear. "Ah reckon yer right, Twi. If ya give me ah little bit, Ah can get his pay ready. Ah don't keep that much on hoof, ya know?" she offered, shifting to a simple smile instead. That, in turn, shifted to a raised eyebrow and head shake as she saw my ears drop again.

"You can just give anything I earned after the rent for your cot to Twilight. I'm sure it isn't more than what room and board would be," I groaned, lowering my head again. It wasn't just awkwardness, but almost a sense of shame from leeching off these wonderful ponies so much.

"Mender, you worked really hard for this. You deserve something in return," Twilight stubbornly protested, turning towards me more fully.

Sighing, I shook my head before admitting, "I just wanted to be useful. I wanted to help, so maybe you and the others would think more highly of me." Or at least give me the benefit of the doubt, I suppose. I'd never had friends before, and was rapidly realizing how much it hurt when they thought you were totally off your rocker.

Twilight bit her lower lip before gently pushing into me and wrapping her forehooves around my shoulders. She was quiet, however, and didn't appear to know what to say.

"Ah know we got off on tha wrong hoof, Mender. Knowin' what Ah do now, Ah know why, o' course. After all this, an' yer right proper attitude all 'round, Ah do think highly o' ya," Applejack spoke up, wandering closer to the edge of the loft and looking up at me fully now.

I sighed, but nodded. "Then keep your bits. Take all this as my honest apology for scaring you and acting so creepy when we first met. I want to be useful to you mares, and this is a good start for repaying all the kindness," I explained openly. It had been bugging me since she had insisted on paying me, and it was good to finally get it off my chest.

The orange mare's ears flattened back and she frowned, however. Her mouth opened to say something when a red furred hoof rested down gently on her shoulder. "Let it be, AJ," Big Mac spoke simply, yet strongly. She glanced over at him, eyes darting back and forth in mild confusion before locking with his. A second passed before she gave a frustrated clicking sound and shook her head, glancing back up at me.

"Yer right stubborn, you stallions! But Ah suppose Ah can be, too. Fine. Yer ah darn good guy, though, an' Ah'm gonna tell everypony Ah can about yer skills. Ah have ah feelin' yer gonna earn quite ah lot o' bits with yer talents! At least accept ah good meal fer yer time, though. Twi's invited too," Applejack finally gave in, gesturing towards Twilight as she did so.

Twilight groaned, raising her head off my shoulder to look at her friend below. "I'm not sure, Applejack. I might pop if I try another one of your home cooked meals." Whoa. I suddenly got a mental image of Twilight swelled up like a balloon, barely able to move, and tried not to snicker. Snickering would lead to me having to explain what was funny, which in turn would probably get me a fast ticket down from the loft.

Applejack grinned up at her before nodding. "Ah'm serious, though. On all accounts. Word o' mouth is real strong around these parts. Yer magic an' skills are real convenient, ya have ta admit," she repeated, shifting her gaze back to me instead.

"Um, I'm not sure of what use other ponies would have for technical things, but I'll help where needed," I assured, trying my best to smile for the farm mare.

She rolled her eyes of course. "Ah don't think yer gonna be so lucky as ta escape without pay again. That goes fer anymore work ya do fer me, too, Ah hope ya know," she warned, eyes dancing in amusement.

"He's not going to escape getting rewarded, regardless, don't worry," Twilight assured, making me blatantly aware that she was still holding onto me. I blushed, but she just kissed my cheek and grinned, eyelids lowering a little. There was something about her expression that made my heartbeat suddenly pick up, and I swallowed.

"Whoa! Ah reckon that's darn good incentive, regardless. Careful Rare don't gossip on ya'all, though," the country mare teased, tossing a wink to both of us.

Twilight snickered and nodded before tipping us sideways off the loft. It caught me totally by surprise, and I just started to inhale in shock when her magic gently caught us both and we drifted to the floor. Neither Applejack nor Big Mac so much as batted an eye at the display, which probably shouldn't have surprised me. Magic really was commonplace in Equestria, after all.

"Yer welcome ta help out on tha farm as well, when ya want. Ya mentioned wantin' ta get back inta shape, an' apple buckin' would do ya real good. Ah wouldn't turn down one o' them magic massages at tha end o' tha day, either," she added upon us fully settling on the ground. Oh yeah, I had wanted to get back into shape again. If it helped my magic improve, I was all for it.

Twilight's ears perked at the admission, though. "Magic massage? What do you mean?" she asked curiously.

"Hoo boy! Yer coltfriend is right good with his hooves! Adds magic ta tha touch, gettin' in real deep and tweakin' tha muscles with heat an' shakin'. It felt like ah slice o' paradise!" Applejack revealed, closing her eyes and releasing a pleased clicking sound as she seemingly remembered when I'd used it before.

Twilight rose an eyebrow and glanced over at me, curiously. I swallowed and rapidly shook my head. "Her shoulder was sore after working on the conveyor last night, so I just gave it a little rub," I assured, just in case she was suspecting me of anything.

She laughed instead, however. "I trust you, Mender. Actually, I was thinking of asking for a sample when we got back to the library," she informed, smiling warmly instead. My heart skipped a beat and I felt heat grow in my chest when she said that. Maybe things really were taking a turn for the better?

"Darn tootin'. Ah know ya wouldn't cheat on yer mare. Or mares, as tha case may be," Applejack chipped in, voice dripping with mirth. I blushed and gave her a deadpan stare, causing her to burst out into hearty laughter. I couldn't keep up the stoic expression, and snickered myself at her rather contagious display. I started to notice that all six friends had different mannerisms to almost everything they did. Twilight was more prone to quiet giggles and smirks, whereas Applejack just openly and honestly laughed when she felt like it. Both were appealing in their own way, and I started to really appreciate all the differences between them.

"Well, Mender and I will probably stop by tomorrow before the trip. We'll be gone for a few days, so we have to say our goodbyes before leaving. For now, however, we need to get back home and pack," Twilight reminded gently, nodding back to her friend who finally composed herself. Big Mac stretched in the background before swapping out yokes that hung on the side of the barn wall. There appeared to be a lot of variations of them, probably for different purposes.

"You have to pack, anyway. I don't own anything yet, remember?" I added, giving her a skeptical yet amused glance.

Twilight rolled her eyes and gave me a light shove before smirking again. "I'm still going to pack things for you. I figure the three of us will largely be hanging out together anyway once Rarity gets done with her show and socializing," Twilight reasoned, quickly catching me in her magic as I tipped over from her shove, unable to re-balance myself upright.

"Iffin that don't take her all night, anyway. Ya know how she likes ta schmooze with tha frou-frou crowd," Applejack warned, rolling her eyes yet retaining the smile. Nopony batted an eye when I tipped over either, I noticed. Twilight didn't even glance my way before catching me. Did that technically mean that my blundering was more commonplace than magic?

Twilight let out a light giggle before nodding and standing again. "I'll try to keep her on a tight leash. You two take care, of course. We'll see you tomorrow before we leave," she assured yet again. I took my cue to stand up again, shakily making sure I remained balanced this time.

"Good. Ah'll hold ya ta yer word, o' course. Take it easy, then, an' have fun with that 'reward' later, ya'll," Applejack returned, throwing a wink in at me as I blushed once again. Twilight took it in stride this time and just smirked before hauling me back towards the barn door with a series of nudges.

"Oh, we will. Don't worry," she tossed back as we left the barn. What had I gotten myself into?

Reality continued to surprise me, however. I stretched gently as I watched Twilight dance from shelf to shelf, peeking through each one's contents. Occasionally she'd levitate an item or two down into the third bag we'd packed. Regardless, I simply sat there, watching her while holding the bag open with my forehoof.

The room was dimly lit by now, the sun having sunk below the horizon about an hour ago. Eight o'clock, maybe? Twilight had instead insisted on getting to work on the wood samples when we got back to the library, rather than any prior hinting of 'experimentation' she had mentioned. This caused mixed feelings of both relief and disappointment in me, surprisingly. I guess I always got so anxious when she started acting like that. I started second guessing my own actions.

A pleasant aroma drifted into my nose from the kitchen as Twilight lightly hummed. Spike was making supper, I knew, and I had been relieved of my active kitchen duty by him at the moment. Well, when I refer to 'relieved', I actually meant conscripted by Twilight instead. Apparently she can't hold the bag open and still focus intently on fretting over what to pack. Of course, I just got a stiff glare when I mentioned she might be overdoing the whole preparation thing.

Not that it mattered. The scenery was infinitely better in here, and I didn't have to be concerned about lopping off a hoof and adding it to the meal at any point. My eyes traced over Twilight as she worked, earning warm butterflies in the rest of my body at each movement they caught. She was absolutely gorgeous and she didn't even try to be. Maybe it was just my perspective, but I certainly didn't mind just watching her pack things. I might be a little biased, but at least I knew I wasn't the only one who would think that way. It was surprising to realize that Fluttershy definitely liked Twilight as well, but I saw her reasons easily enough. Not that feelings like these really needed a reason in the first place.

The lavender unicorn glanced back at me again after dropping yet another item into the bag. Her gaze caught my own once more, and she immediately blushed; a light shade shift that was almost imperceptible in the dim light. She let out a light, groaning sound and looked away slightly.

"I know I said that I don't mind you looking, but I think I'd actually find it easier if I caught you eyeing my flanks instead, or something, " she muttered in a somewhat pointed fashion. I chuckled in amusement.

"Well, they're very nice flanks, I agree, but I like a whole lot more than just them," I reminded, sticking out my tongue afterwards.

She smirked at my impish reply and expression and relaxed a little. "Your flattery only works because I know you're honest. Most would get a magical boot to their flanks instead if they'd said that," she warned, snickering a little herself.

I coughed lightly, painfully aware of how popular she was and not needing the reminder. "Oh, I know. I'd be the first to wallop them," I agreed, keeping a close check on the wicked green monster that was busy snarling inside of me.

Twilight's smile softened and she nodded, adding, "A little possessiveness is a good thing in a relationship, I feel. The books I've read on the matter warn to not let it go too far, but I don't think you're anywhere near that." The statement was accompanied by her shifting closer and softly brushing her cheeks against my own. The heat drifted into my face again, and I looked down. It still surprised me that Twilight herself wanted that kind of attention from me. She could probably have any stallion she wanted, too. Still, I was too close now to treat her as anything other than just Twilight. She'd been introduced to me not as a national hero and student of the practical goddess ruler, but just as a skilled magic user and kind mare. First impressions stuck hard. She didn't appear to mind, however.

"I feel kind of badly that I have all of this packing to do, but you don't have anything," she muttered, breaking me out of my contemplation a few moments later.

I raised an eyebrow before the impish smirk returned. "I'm telling you, you probably barely need half of this stuff."

As predicted, she shot me a dirty looks before visibly scoffing. "I must be prepared, no matter what. I might be called upon to do practically anything, so it helps to be ready. I might need to help organize or set up for the party, even," she reasoned, flailing her forelegs up and about as if partially panicking already.

I averted my eyes and coughed. Of course, I could practically feel her piercing glare bore a hole through my head. "So the telescope and orrery are going to help with that?" I inquired curiously, if not a little sardonic in tone.

"Those are for entertainment after the party!" she defended sharply after a moment's hesitation.

"Didn't you say that about the mortar, pestle, and alembic, too?" I reminded, raising an eyebrow towards her incredulously.

Twilight gave me a frustrated, pouting stare before I started laughing and she flailed at me. "Oh, you! You're so frustrating sometimes. Fine, I'll leave the telescope and orrery here, but I absolutely cannot afford to leave behind my alchemical equipment," she insisted.

I shielded my face from her flurry of playful swats with a foreleg while continuing to snicker. "All right, all right. Princess Twilight wins. Your loyal servant shall carry your alchemy supplies along as well," I conceded in as theatrical a manner as I could muster. Of course, it was just to poke a little more playful fun at her.

Twilight gave me a curious raised eyebrow before a smile danced onto her expression. "That's Princess Twilight Sparkle, thou must remember. We must be addressed properly," she insisted a moment later, playing along with it and shifting to a strangely familiar speaking mannerism.

I tried not to laugh, and continued along with, "Many apologies, my Princess. Is there anything this humble servant could do to earn forgiveness?"

"Pending any further transgressions, we have already forgiven thou. However," she began, before her eyelids lowered a little and that grin returned. Uh oh.

I found myself on my back before I could say anything. Apparently, one needs a certain threshold of air in one's lungs in order to properly formulate vocal noises! It was a fascinating discovery. Learned at the same time was the fact that for kissing, one definitely did not require that same threshold.

Twilight broke contact a few seconds later, her lips still hovering over mine and a light flush on her cheeks still. "If thou keeps being so adorable, surely we can spare a pleasant reward," she followed up, assuming from her prior sentence.

Okay, now she was just screwing with my head. I rolled my eyes while smiling still before reminding, "Surely, Princess Twilight Sparkle remembers that she shall be very busy with her duties all night and won't have time for such."

Her eyes lit up with amusement as I continued. Suddenly, I started to question just how much she was enjoying this verbal exchange. It didn't help that she was pressed right up against me, chest to chest. Focus, Mender!

"We shan't be busy all night, of course. Much, hmm, rewarding shall be done upon retiring for the evening with thou,”Twilight informed before slowly starting to inch closer. “All. Alone. Together." My breathing caught as I felt hers gently against my chin. She was just teasing me again! Why did she like doing this so much? Regardless, I kept forcing myself to remember that.

I started to playfully scoff and resume the acting, regardless of how my blazing cheeks probably shifted me out of character. She interrupted further, however, by ducking down suddenly and pressing a heated kiss directly to the side of my neck.

My eyes flew open in shock at the same time my body locked up at the new, entirely unexpected sensation! It was like a light switch got turned on, and I was suddenly all too aware of all the intermingling fur between our bodies. She was so soft and warm that I couldn't help but lift my forelegs up and wrap them around her back, pulling her closer against me. Her kiss pushed higher up my neck, and she added a light lick before lifting her head up again, smiling down at me with a victorious grin.

"Oooh, someone has a sensitive neck. I'll have to remember that," she observed slyly, causing me to swallow. I couldn't manage to say anything as I just stared up at her in shock, cheeks feeling like they could fry eggs if given the chance.

"I can still hear you, ya know!" was suddenly shouted from the direction of the kitchen. Twilight's mischievous grin melted into embarrassed shock in less than a heartbeat. I coughed lightly, seemingly reminding her that I was still here and currently underneath of her. She gave a guilty smile and awkwardly stumbled sideways off of me, trying to untangle her legs from mine. I fought down stirring feelings and managed to get onto my hooves again, unable to push back the blush.

"Ah, we should probably keep packing up," she finally excused awkwardly almost ten seconds later. That might not seem like a lot, but when blushing furiously in a supposedly active conversation, it's an eternity!

Sighing, I nodded weakly and stood up fully again, feeling my back legs crack in a somewhat pleasant manner. "We've almost got everything packed now. Can you get the drawings and notes I made about the wood samples as well? They're in the sample cabinet over there," she requested, gesturing with a hoof before peeking over the shelf in front of her, gathering up what appeared to be official papers. Oh yeah, she had wanted to present her findings to Princess Celestia the day after the party. She had indeed been working hard on it, not that I thought whatever it was in the forest was still around at this point.

I wandered over to a series of three wooden cabinets, all in a row. She sure kept a lot of samples. Pity she didn't specify which one the wood notes were in. I mentally decided that was also on my list of things I'd never thought I'd be looking for. Notes on blocks of wood. Mentally shrugging, I just decided to metaphorically bite the bullet and opened the first cabinet closest to me.

The moment of peace and tranquility before utter horror sets in just serves to make the effect worse. Maybe it was because I wasn't expecting to panic so suddenly, or maybe it was the mundane outer appearance of the cabinet that threw me into a false sense of security. Regardless, my eyes widened and almost popped free of my skull after I opened the first cabinet and came face to face with three hellish rocks straight out of my nightmares.

My first distinct thought while stumbling backwards and falling away from the cabinet was wondering why she had kept them. After what they had almost done to both myself and two of her closest friends, the rational solution would have been to find a place that could obliterate them. A lava flow or tectonic shift came to mind almost immediately. So why were they here, in an unassuming cabinet all of thirty feet from where I slept at night?!

"Mender?!" Twilight asked immediately upon hearing the crashing noise of me tripping over my own hooves and landing on my back. I rolled once and slid to my hooves again, carefully lowering myself against the direction of the rocks, ready to dodge in case any eldritch tentacle lashed out at me or something. There was no movement from them at all, however. I distinctly noticed that the shifting, distorting effect that had given me a headache when I looked at them the first time was also absent.

Twilight moved into my vision and quietly closed the cabinet again, not meeting my gaze. She hastily opened the third cabinet instead and pulled out a stack of paper notes. That was it? She was just going to stash them away and pretend I hadn't seen them? She knew exactly what I'd seen in there.

"Twilight," I warned, eyes narrowing a little as I stared at her.

She halted, sighing before putting the papers into the folder she was still holding. "I know. I said I got rid of them," she admitted, lowering her head before looking back over at me in a guilty manner. It had been discussed prior, after they'd finally caught me up as to what happened after I lost consciousness. She told me they had deactivated after the explosion and she'd disposed of them.

"Why?" I asked, relaxing a little bit. A part of me expected the cabinet to burst open again, pulling us all into the inky darkness no matter how much we screamed.

She still refused to meet my gaze. "They're important, Mender. If something like that happens again, having samples might be the only thing that stops disaster," she defended, distinctly interested in her right forehoof.

I exhaled quietly, finally deciding that she had only half lied. They certainly didn't look the same as they had, so maybe they truly were deactivated? The cold sensation slipped into me again as I remembered the feeling of having one of their tendrils attached to my chest. It was so cold that it burned, creeping into my body as it tore through tissue and wormed its way into my very being. The worst part was knowing what it actually was; a hole in reality going back through to the very place I so wanted to avoid. I doubted any living thing would survive the transfer via that method, however.

Regardless, I finally gave up. Really, it wasn't that big of a deal, I guess. If they were deactivated, they were only rocks. Sighing, I nodded to her and lowered my head. There was nothing I could do, anyway. I could hardly force her to get rid of them. This was her house and they were technically her property, after all. My ears twitched and I frowned, remembering that I technically didn't have any property in the first place.

"Mender, are you okay? I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the truth. I didn't think you'd understand my wanting to keep them," she apologized, edging closer to me carefully. I held my ground and didn't shrink back this time as best I could. Surprisingly, she smiled and edged closer yet before gently pecking me on the forehead. "Thank you, Mender. I'm not going to hurt you."

She'd said it before, but I guess it was just a matter of convincing myself of it now. "I know, Twilight. It just surprised me, is all," I muttered slowly, looking back up at her again, unsure of what exactly I was supposed to say. Thankfully, Spike saved me the awkwardness.

"Hey you two! Dinner is ready," the little dragon called out from the kitchen and dining room area. Twilight peeked past me towards the sound of his voice before nodding and smiling further. I took my cue and turned around, heading towards the glowing doorway that led to the fully lit kitchen. It was always so much more peaceful at night, I decided. Hoof steps slowly followed me, indicating my fillyfriend was coming along too. That still felt weird to even think about.

Spike had produced a rather simplistic dinner obviously made for three ponies. Well, two ponies and a drake? I didn't exactly know what to call him. Regardless, it was more than pleasant, even if I was the last one to finish eating. It was a mistake to attempt to learn how to use the utensil loops for my hoof, I decided. Twilight's magic and Spike's opposable thumbs easily beat my clumsy attempts at eating using just my hooves. Twilight even choked back a couple giggles after I poked myself in the muzzle with the fork the second time. Who knew spaghetti could be so frustrating to eat?!

By the time I finished, Twilight had migrated to finishing up the packing, and Spike was already washing the dishes. He was more than a little surprised when instead of just dropping my plate in with the rest, I set it in and proceeded to help him clean everything that was left. He was an earnest little guy, that much was for sure. I felt bad that he worked by himself all the time, though.

It took us another ten minutes or so to finish drying the dishes, and I saw his eyes starting to slowly droop by the time he put the last one away. Admittedly, I had no idea where to put them once they were dried. "Getting a little sleepy there, Spike?" I asked in amusement, obviously already knowing the answer.

He sighed and nodded before smiling warmly again. "Yeah. It's almost my bedtime. But thanks to you, I got that last chore done twenty minutes early and can get some extra sleep tonight!" he exclaimed, sounding as if he were a little kid in a candy factory.

I snickered as he wobbled and tried to get off the counter. In order to reach the upper cabinets, he had to climb up and stand on the counter surface. Afraid he was going to fall, I walked up next to the counter, right where he was set to get down. He gave me a happy nod before stepping down onto my back instead and flopping forwards. He was still light as a feather, even after eating, so I proceeded out of the kitchen and towards the stairs up to the loft. Twilight, who was sitting on the couch and sorting her bags, smiled up at me escorting the sleepy dragon and nodded in approval. I perked and gave a single nod back before slowly making my way up the stairs, careful to watch where each of my hooves were going. Now that would have been ironic. I was worried he'd hurt himself so I carry him up the stairs, only to trip and fall down it myself; both of us ending up in the hospital.

Thankfully I made it safely to the loft and deposited him near the bathroom door. "Thanks, Mender. You're so, uh, totally awesome. Yeah, that's it," he thanked sleepily, seeming to struggle with his words.

"Don't worry about it, Spike. Just brush your teeth and enjoy the extra sleep time," I waived off, smiling pleasantly at him. I was kind of glad he was taking Twilight and I so well, actually. Making myself useful around the house was one way to ease any transition time as well. Plus, he seemed seriously overworked, and I liked helping the little guy.

He grinned and saluted me before turning and promptly running straight into the yet closed door. I winced as the wood shook and he stumbled backwards slightly. "Ow! Uh, that was just a fluke. I'm fine!" he rapidly informed before quickly reaching up and turning the doorknob this time. I fought back any snickering as he rapidly ducked inside and closed the door again without making eye contact. Poor little guy.

I decided to keep it my secret and headed back downstairs. Twilight sat the last bag down on the floor at the base of the couch before looking back up at me, smiling again. She seemed really happy tonight, which was definitely a good thing. After how awkward yesterday had been, I figured her transition to pleasant moods would have been a more involved process.

"Spike getting ready for bed, then?" she inquired as I sat down on the other end of the couch from her, circling once on the cushion before flopping over onto my right flank.

I stretched before giving another brief nod, adding, "Yeah, he's brushing his teeth, then turning in early. He did look really tired."

"He works really hard on all of his chores. I'm really thankful for such a dutiful and proper assistant. That's why he's number one," she explained, closing her eyes and giving a cute head nod as if to agree with herself. She really did seem to appreciate him, plus he seemed more than happy with his position. With that, I decided all was indeed well.

"Still, I'm really glad that you're helping him so much. I worry a lot that he tries to do too much by himself," she admitted a moment later, causing my chest to warm up a little bit. Yeah, she honestly did care about him. A lot. That made me feel a little better about things.

"He really is like a little brother to you, isn't he?" I asked, smiling at her from across the middle cushion that separated us. The urge to slide over and hug her was still there, but I didn't want to take a risk and destroy her good mood.

Twilight nodded pleasantly before looking over at the crackling fireplace instead. "I've been with him since he hatched. He knows I'm not his Mother, obviously, but I'm somewhere between his sister and surrogate mother instead. I'm glad you two have been getting along so well. You'll be spending a lot of time here, obviously, and I was a little nervous," she admitted, frowning.

We thought fairly alike on that topic, then. "Well, things are working out all right. Does this mean I shouldn't plan on getting my own place in the future?" I questioned, smiling again.

As predicted, that drew her attention back to me, wearing a frown. It disappeared when she saw my smirk, and she rolled her eyes, chuckling. "I wouldn't let you leave even if you wanted to. Now that I have the extra company, going back to just the two of us here would be really depressing," she informed, getting that impish grin again.

I coughed and averted my eyes, earning a snicker. Twilight rolled her eyes before adding, "Oh relax. I just don't want you to leave. We can obviously keep separate beds. I suggest getting an actual one soon, however. Applejack will probably want her cot back eventually."

"Heh, don't remind me. I really do want to earn things for myself, don't worry," I assured, lowering my ears are little.

She didn't falter and scooted over a little, resting her forehead and horn against my right shoulder. "I know. You're a good stallion. Part of me was afraid of the relationship thing because I was worried about expectations and being controlled, not just because it's new and unfamiliar. I should have known better, of course," she revealed, pushing a little harder with her snout.

Sighing, I wrapped a foreleg over her shoulder softly, needlessly assuring, "You know I'd never do that. I just want you to be happy. Fillyfriend is just a convenient label. It doesn't come with any particular duties or requirements apart from just being you." That much I didn't need to learn about dating. Sure, the terms were new, but my sense of integrity wasn't.

She nodded against me gently before raising her head up again and pecking my cheek. "I know that now. I'm way more comfortable with this than I was before. It's just like being friends, only, um, closer," she tried to explain, tracing her free right hoof in a simple triangle on my chest. Of course. Most would use circle patterns to their movements. Twilight, however, uses perfectly formed, one hundred and eighty degree triangles.

"A lot closer," I agreed before placing a kiss right above her horn. She made a murmur as her horn lit up to my touch, shuddering after I withdrew. Well that was an interesting reaction. Was her horn sensitive or something? I had assumed it was just bone with a light layer of skin over it. She swallowed and shivered slightly.

"Mmm, easy there. I'm, uh, actually a little tired tonight. Do you think we could hold off on the 'reward' thing until tomorrow night?" she requested softly, opening her eyes finally and looking up at me.

I raised an eyebrow, but shook my head, ignoring the sudden pang in my chest. "Twilight, I had figured you were just joking anyway. Of course we can just go to bed," I pointed out, unsure of why she was insisting on rewarding me to begin with. Her expression suddenly made me uncomfortable and I couldn't help but look away.

I saw her ears flatten back out of the corner of my eye. "Of course I want to reward you for doing such an amazing job helping out my friends. It's kind of a reward for me, too. Um, I'm just, well, tired tonight," she furthered, lowering her head a little. I nodded absently, eyes drifting carefully to the cabinet again.

"Come on, Mender. Let's go to bed. We have a long day tomorrow. We can enjoy each other's company tomorrow night when it's just us in my castle room," she reminded, standing up and sliding off the couch.

My mind drifted back to her before I gave her another nod and stood as well. Ultimately, I wasn't looking forward to the crowds and stuffy suit Rarity had no doubt finished by now. I'd be happy when tomorrow night was over, I had a feeling.

Dawdling slightly as I went after Twilight, I gave the cabinet one last uneasy stare before scampering up the stairs.

Chapter 20

Keela watched in amusement as I drew on the piece of paper in front of me, my hoof moving surprisingly deftly as it manipulated the pencil. Working with a hoof wasn't that different from holding something when you could stick things to the surface of it using magic, I found out. I'd never had any issues learning to manipulate things with my left appendage, either. Maybe I had always used the left one?

We were in the lounge area of her lab. This vessel, I recently discovered, used to be a large research platform before it was refit with massive engines and used to escape from the Grosh. Now Keela was one of only three researchers who still used the lab section. We were entirely alone, so I felt reasonably comfortable being out and about. My transparent, barrier-body was in an almost perfect replica of my pony self due to the power of the book floating in my chest, and I was busy drawing while seated at a rather comfy table. As odd as the situation was, I'd been taking a bit of comfort out of the audacity lately.

It surprised me a little when I realized that Keela wasn't much bigger than I was in pony form. One thing I didn't recall was that Keldarians were rather small in stature. Standing up, she was maybe a meter tall at best.

"Oooh, she's pretty. You can definitely tell she's a female," my only companion commented finally, sliding closer to my energy body while peeking over my shoulder.

I raised an eyebrow and peeked back at her questioningly. "It surprises me that you can say she's pretty, not being a pony yourself," I pointed out, watching her snicker.

"Traits of attraction are surprisingly universal. I don't know if you recall, but some of our species took an interest in our allies too, even though they're practically hairless, gargantuan, and rather brutal. She's very pretty. I can see why you like her," Keela explained, catching me by surprise. No, I hadn't been aware of relations with our allies such as that. They seemed kind of gross to me, but I supposed everypony had their own tastes. Err, everyone.

"I didn't know that. Or at least, I didn't remember it," I reasoned, staring down at my rather based drawing of the absolutely gorgeous lavender unicorn. She didn't look nearly as good on paper; let alone in monochrome. Vibrant colors had oddly grown on me for some totally unknown reason.

My, dare I say, friend nodded politely, looking deeply amused. "I'm glad you patched things up with her, regardless. I didn't mean to get you in trouble. I'll refrain from sending things through the book from now on," she promised, averting her eyes as a light blush danced onto her cheeks.

"Eh, you know they already think I'm nuts. Maybe watching the paper pop out of me would convince them otherwise," I groaned out, trying my best to keep the bitterness limited. A sudden compulsion hit, and I followed it instantly without consideration.

"Hey now! Don't be so hard on yourself," Keela protested a few seconds after my forehead smacked into the surface of the coffee table. I felt nothing and barely resisted sighing. "Look, I might not know much about love, but I know if she really likes you like that, she'll come around eventually. Trust takes time to build up and you haven't been there all that long, really," she added several seconds later, apparently upon deciding I wasn't going to move anymore without further stimuli.

I shook my head against the hard surface, agreeing with, "I know I haven't been there that long. I'll be the first to admit that I don't compare in the slightest to Celestia. I'm just, I don't know, venting frustration at this point?" It was rather confusing to even me. Something told me that this was the first I had to deal with these kinds of feelings; they neither involved making something work or spontaneously making things no longer work, be it mechanical or organic.

She giggled again. I impulsively decided that it wasn't as nice of a giggle as Twilight's or Fluttershy's. "Their culture is amazingly peaceful, so you're very lucky, honestly. All of your new friends seem really nice, so I don't think you have anything to worry about. Rarity might actually really help Twilight see what she's missing, from the sounds of it," she added, gently rubbing my back. Well, the shield told me she was rubbing it. It wasn't like I could actually feel anything. Still, the sentiment could be appreciated, which she probably knew.

"See what she's missing?" I asked curiously, finally lifting my head off the table and looking back at her to my right.

Keela only snickered; her short whiskers wiggled in amusement as she grinned at me. "Call it a woman's intuition. Rarity spending so much time with you will probably vastly improve your relationship with Twilight," she explained, nodding twice at the end.

The concept was completely foreign to me. "How will hanging out with Rarity improve my relationship with Twilight?" I inquired incredulously, raising an eyebrow to my alien friend.

She just shook her head, looking impish now. "You'll see. If it makes you feel better, I can see why she likes you as well. If she's unsure of herself, you probably make her feel really comfortable, actually."

Okay, I give up. I was never going to understand females, and I was only wasting my time in the trying. Keela let out a humming noise and added more snickers, which started to annoy rather than placate at this point.

I glared at her, but she just hummed a little more insistently. If we hadn't been talking for the past, like, four hours, I'd think she was suddenly nervous about talking to me.

She gave me a questioning tilt of her head, causing me to realize that something was off. I shifted and turned away from her, but the tone and depth of the humming noise didn't change. Okay, that was weird. It wasn't coming from her, then.

"What's wrong, Mender?" she asked, voice shifting a little lower and more serious.

I glanced about, and realized the humming wasn't coming from anywhere. It was in my head, but exceedingly there. There! It was so real that it couldn't possibly be real. Oh crap. It reminded me of what that connection sounded like between the dimensions.

"There's a humming sound coming from my mind. I think it's something to do with the dimensional link. Weird," I informed, glancing back at her in confusion.

She frowned, and then shook her head. "I'm not doing anything differently. Perhaps you should try waking up real quick and seeing if it's not on that end?" she reasoned, shrugging her shoulders.

I contemplated it for a moment before deciding she was probably right. If Twilight had my head in a pot and was smashing it off the wall trying to wake me up, I should at least humor her. "All right. I'll tug on our link if I can make it back to sleep," I accepted, standing up off the couch again.

She nodded and smiled to me before everything went monochrome. I braced myself as I withdrew, keenly aware of the book hitting the couch cushion before everything fell backwards. It was kind of like falling and sliding at the same time, with a warm feeling of liquid running just along your skin. Rather peaceful once I stopped panicking the first time.

Then there was the sensation of waking up...

The room was almost pitch black, the only light being the soft moonlight coming through the side window next to the small balcony. Even that was reduced significantly by the heavy leaf foliage in front of it. Sometimes I forget that I technically live in a tree.

Remembering why I woke up, I perked my ears up for that strange humming noise. It didn't take me long to locate it in the relative quiet of the night. It was directed this time, clearly coming from downstairs. What was scary was that it was a familiar noise to me at this point. I'd not remembered much, but the humming noise advanced electronics made was still quite clear enough.

I slowly slid off the side of my cot, careful to ease my hooves onto the hardwood floor. They were significantly harder than the rest of my skin and would undoubtedly make noise if I rushed. Easing along and cringing at every creaking noise, I peeked over at Twilight and Spike.

My fillyfriend was completely under the covers at this point with just the tip of her head and horn sticking out. I smiled as I watched the blanket gently rising and falling with her slow breathing, a warm fluttering sensation drifting into my chest. I was glad we were on better terms now.

Spike hadn't moved either apart from rotating onto his back. His light snores were rhythmic and gentle, occasionally accompanied by a twitch of his legs. I tried not to chuckle before slipping past both of them and heading down the stairs.

Unfortunately, the first floor was far darker than the second, which only served to magnify my apprehension. I wasn't afraid of the dark by any means, but there was something absolutely terrifying about the unknown if you dwelled on it for too long. My eyes slowly got adjusted to the lack of light. Of course, they were drawn like a moth to a bonfire in the direction of the darkened corner. I knew that the cabinet was there, ominously hidden in the darkness. The happy feeling in my chest was gone in an instant, replaced by a nervous dread.

My ears twisted around and I almost groaned when I realized that was exactly where the sound was coming from. A few choice expletives were muttered under my breath before I gritted my teeth and inched closer to the three cabinets. My initial instinct was to run back upstairs and wake Twilight up, but I somehow doubted that would be met with much success.

My breathing became a controlled, stifled thing the closer I got to the cabinet as I tried my hardest to quiet any excess noise I might be making. Who knows what might be in the dark, listening intently for me to announce my presence.

I hesitated, stopping a meter away from the object of concern. Shadows seemed to cling to it and I was unsure if that was a product of my imagination or some nefarious will inside. Damn it. I was distinctly aware of the darkness around me, suddenly not wanting to turn around lest I come face to face with some grinning demon or maddening abomination. My heart beat faster as I almost saw its glowing red eyes in the dark as it got closer, smiling with rows of razor sharp teeth. Wicked instruments of torture and misery were in her hands as the shadows hid all but her weapons, clawed arms, and glowing eyes. I could almost smell the fresh blood that dripped off the twisted, serrated drill she held; the blades on it were curved perfectly to slide under and around the eyeball before she turned it on...

Shuddering, I snapped myself out of the darkening images and tried not to throw up. What the hell was I doing?! Glaring back up at the cabinet upon gathering my nerves again, my left hoof flared up with an inner light, bathing the entire lower floor with the intensity of a box of flares going off!

I whipped around instantly, expecting to see things burning away or writhing in agony in the sudden light. I was both disappointed and relieved to see nothing out of place at all. Have some guts, Mender! Damn it. My imagination was going to give me a heart attack.

Swallowing nervously after becoming satisfied that I wasn't going to be ambushed and torn apart, I slowly turned back around and glared at the cabinet. My flared up ball of light behind me split into multiple pieces and scattered about the main room, illuminating row after row of books along with the humble furniture, dwindling fireplace, shelves of instruments and scientific baubles, and entry to the kitchen. Nothing was out of the norm.

My eyes locked back onto the first cabinet directly in front of me. The humming noise was gone, apparently having disappeared at some point during my minor freak out. Maybe it got scared and ran away from me instead. I chuckled airily before resting my hoof on the door handle to the cabinet. Guts, Mender.

After a quick recollection of my breathing, I gritted my teeth again, threw up my forward barrier over my chest, neck, and face, and opened up the cabinet.

The rocks were just sitting there, exactly where she had left them. My spike of apprehension and preparation to defend myself was actually met with a bit of disappointment, honestly. I glared at the three blasted things, wishing I knew of a volcano to toss them into. Of course, even if I knew where one was, walking all the way there just to toss something in seemed like a major pain in the butt. Of course, magic existed, so I suppose Twilight could just teleport me there.

I shook off the distraction before sighing, a little tense still but with dwindling outlook on my mission. I hadn't managed to find the source of the noise after all. Why would rocks hum in the first place? Growing mildly frustrated, I reached out and nudged the left-most one with my hoof.

I could have sworn I pulled something in my chest with how fast I inhaled. Shoving myself backwards with all three remaining hooves probably didn't help either. The stone actually lit up when I touched it, glowing with a soft blue light that almost perfectly matched my coat! Upon retreating back to my meter gap, I whipped up my full barrier in front of me again and watched the stone through it, unable to help but shiver as that noise came back. Damn it! I should have woken up Twilight after all!

The stone wasn't very impressive for something potentially lethal. It glowed softly, barely managing the same strength as a candle. My eyes widened as its edges and cracks faded, however, revealing what I recognized as a wire frame design of blue lines. What the hell?! The blue light washed away the rock coloring completely before withdrawing deeper into the stone. That's when I realized that I could see inside of the thing.

The outer rock became a finely detailed, shaped barrier. It wasn't a rock at all! The wire frame dissolved at the same time the image of a rock did, leaving the barrier to shrink down to that of a glowing sphere instead. I started and backed up another half a meter as the orb of light drifted lazily out of the cabinet and stopped right in front of me. Oh crap. Was it sentient?

I instantly recognized the effect as a holographic display as it popped a 'box' up above it in the air. "Entity 002 Recognized" was displayed directly above it in darker blue, computerized print. Below that, slowly fading into existence, were smaller words as well. "DNA Scan Completed: Unlocking"

Well, that seemed a little strange. Actually, this entire event was a little strange. The rather non-threatening little orb of light then spontaneously vanished without so much as an announcement of intent. Two lightly glowing disks, much smaller than the original ball, fell out of the air from where it had been and landed abruptly on the wood with a light chiming noise that was entirely unexpected.

I blinked and tilted my head towards them before nudging the closest one with my shield. It mildly surprised me by doing absolutely nothing. Well that was anticlimactic. Still, I suppose I should be happy that I wasn't being hauled off into an alternate universe by eldritch physics tentacles only to die a horrible, squishy death in a void without a space suit. It could always get worse!

I dropped the extra shields in favor of just the skintight ones and nudged the coin-sized disks with my hoof this time. They continued their pattern of doing nothing, producing further mixed feelings in me. Huh. Upon closer inspection, I noticed they were comprised of two separate glowing sections. The outer ring was slightly darker in coloring and took up maybe a fifth of the radius in width. They looked kind of like an alien bit, almost, if I was comparing them to Equestria.

Finally relaxing a little, I picked one up with my magically enhanced hoof and stared at it. It was the same on both sides, as I kind of expected. This was strange. Why were these things inside of the rocks? Did they have anything to do with the effects from before with the tentacles and potential death? They felt warm to the touch and brought only more questions rather than answers; although it was safe to say that I had located the source of the noise after all.

The second coin-shaped disk proved perfectly identical to its partner, and I set both of them down on the coffee table. Systematically, I reached out and poked another one of the rocks, entirely unsurprised when it started doing the same thing. They were some sort of encrypted storage devices, I decided. Maybe it wasn't an 'accident' that they were sent with me after all. I was obviously on their list of individuals to reveal themselves to, after all. Entity two, huh?

"Mmph, what's with all the light down here?" I suddenly heard Twilight mutter from the stairs. Oh crap!

Totally caught red-hooved, I didn't even try to hide the glowing orb of light drifting towards me from the cabinet as I slowly looked over at her, trying to smile innocently. She stared blankly at me for a moment before shifting to a questioning expression instead, eyes locking onto the orb of light instead. "What are you doing?" she asked a moment later, continuing down the stairs at a more rapid pace. She thought this was something that I was doing?

"Uh, I heard a noise from the cabinet and went to check, and then, um..." I tried to explain before faltering. I realized I didn't exactly know how to explain what was going on in the first place.

Thankfully, I didn't have to. Her eyes widened as the light receded and she recognized the wire frame shape of the rock drifting in the air. She rushed over, horn lighting up with magic as she scanned it rapidly.

"That, is that one of the rocks?!" she asked almost instantly, suddenly significantly more awake than I had given her credit for prior.

I nodded weakly before glancing back at it. "I touched it, and this happened with the first one, too. It says that it's unlocking for an entity zero, zero, two," I explained as best I could.

She watched, eyes shivering with a mixture of what I could only pick up as nervous fascination as the holographic displays lit up with the exact same message as the first one. In the meantime, I picked up the two disks from behind me and offered them to Twilight, hoping she could make more sense of them.

At first, she just frowned down at the two disks before snapping her attention back to the orb as it unceremoniously vanished. She watched the two coins fall to the floor before looking back at the two I held. "These came out of the first one I poked. I wanted to test if it would happen again, which you can see the results of," I offered.

Twilight frowned at the two disks before levitating them off my hoof and closer to her face for examination. "The stones were containers, then," she deduced instantly, surprisingly me with her clarity yet again.

I nodded weakly, adding, "They were locked, and for some reason, I was on the list of accepted individuals to open them." That made me nervous for some reason.

"Maybe them following you here wasn't so accidental after all. Why didn't this happen the first time, however?" she questioned, flipping the two disks over and over as she peeked at them. I was amused at how fast she forgot about sleeping.

That I couldn't answer, however. "The only thing I can think of is that I didn't technically touch the stones directly before; just the tentacle thingy that came out of it after Fluttershy poked it," I offered, tossing a shrug in for good measure after. Fluttershy apparently wasn't on the list that the rocks had. Did that mean that what happened was some sort of defensive mechanism or something? Scary. That was just a guess, however.

"This is so weird. They're precisely shaped crystal disks of some sort with weird magic woven into them. There's some sort of scratching along the inner disk, but they're too tiny for me to pick up fully. Well, this definitely gives me something to study in the off time after the party," she muttered, suddenly looking bewildered and shaking her head at the two floating in the air in front of her.

I sighed before looking down at the ones lying on the floor instead. Wait a second, something was different. One of the two disks on the floor was yellow in the center with a much brighter glowing blue ring around it. Something was in the yellow too that I couldn't make out.

Curious, I picked it up and instantly drew Twilight's attention. She saw the difference too and frowned until I brought it closer to us. Both of our eyes widened drastically as the image in the center of the yellow came into view.

Inside of the now familiar yellow center, the glowing alien disk had a crystal clear image of three butterflies; their cyan bodies and pink wings offsetting the soft yellow perfectly. No. This couldn't be possible, even! Why was that design on something that came from my world?!

"Mender, do you know what these are?" Twilight asked quietly, nudging the coin-shaped artifact carefully.

I shook my head, sadly. "I was just as surprised as you are. This shouldn't be possible. The rocks are from my world, so why is Fluttershy's Cutie Mark on this?" I questioned, staring hard at the brightly colored disk. Something was very wrong, and I didn't have a clue where to begin to guess what.

"There's one more rock. You should open it and check the disks there as well. This is beyond weird. You're sure you didn't have anything like Cutie Marks in your world?" she questioned as I stepped over the coin on the floor to poke the last rock in the cabinet.

"No, nothing like that. I'd never heard of them before coming here," I assured, giving her a nervous glance. She returned it and nodded, glancing over as the other rock activated, announced me as 'Entity 002' again, and opened up exactly the same as the other two.

Both Twilight and I watched intently as the coins hit the floor, and I could tell right away that something was off again. One coin was blank, but the other had a light cyan inside. Oh crap. "Rainbow Dash's coat color," Twilight pointed out, picking up the coin. Her bringing it up so we could see it confirmed her suspicions. A tri-colored cloud and lightning bolt was in the center of the coin. What did the coins mean?

"I'm curious. Do you have one of those links with Rainbow, too?" she questioned, bringing up a very good point. I shook my head, however, potentially ruining the theory. She peeked more intently at the coin, not seeming dissuaded in the least, however.

"The outer ring isn't lit up like Fluttershy's. I wonder why that is? Here, try holding it," she offered a moment later, extending the coin over to where I was.

Her expression made me frown. It was almost passive, with her voice abrupt and expecting. Did she think my touching the coin would cause something to happen? Uncertain, I hesitated as I extended my hoof to the coin, stopping barely a centimeter from the shiny surface. Shouldn't we be, like, experimenting on these first before going right to live tests? Of course, I didn't exactly know how to experiment on them, but still...

Twilight decided for me by smiling gently while I hesitated and lifting her hoof up slightly, brushing the coin along the underside of my hoof. I jumped slightly at the sensation of a static jolt, but she pulled the coin back before I could react. It glowed angrily for a moment before the outer ring lit up as well, causing the light created by the coin to be magnified significantly.

Both of our eyes widened as "Connection Established" faded into existence overtop of the coin. Well crap. "Fascinating! You have a link with all of the coins. I think they're responsible for the strange phenomenon between you and Fluttershy," she theorized, sounding a little too curious for her own good.

I coughed lightly, pointing to the coin she was still holding. "You might have just created a connection with Rainbow Dash, too," I reasoned, staring blankly at it. What did the connections ultimately do? Twilight seemed momentarily unsure, hesitating as she looked down at the coin in her hoof.

"It, well, it needed to be tested. Making the connection must be a two-stage process. Fluttershy touched the rock a while back during the first incident, and then you touched it immediately after to free her, which probably caused the connection. But why wasn't Rainbow affected fully, too?" Twilight pondered out loud.

Both of us were suddenly distracted as my flare spell went out and we were plunged into the darkness. Well, we would have been if not for the two fully established coins, and one partially established coin glowing like tiny flares. Wait, partially established?

I glanced down at the coin Twilight had set down and widened my eyes. "Oh crap. Twilight, the other coin you touched!" I pointed out, gesturing towards the coin with my hoof.

She started, still trying to get over to the lamp and being apparently surprised by my sudden outburst. "Huh?!" she let out before glancing down at the coin in question. Her coat color and starburst shaped Cutie Mark was on the coin already, but with no lit up ring around the outer edge. "Ack! Don't touch it!" she exclaimed harshly before catching it in her magic and pulling it over to her. I gave her a skeptical glance, but she just frowned down at the coin and rapidly shook her head. "We don't know what the links truly do, so let's minimize the exposure until we can get more information," she added, looking away from my stare.

My ears drooped a little and a light spike of bitterness shot through me. Sure, she thought experimenting with Rainbow's coin was fine, but when it came to hers, she decided it was too risky. Either that or she really didn't want to establish that kind of link with me. The reality of option two burned and I quietly winced, looking away from the unicorn.

I couldn't really fault her for not wanting to jump into something like that, I guess. A little assurance that she was looking forward to extending our relationship at all, however, would be a rather nice thing. Even our kisses had devolved a little into just friendly pecks. I tried not to think of her saying she was tired or didn't feel like it just as an excuse, of course. I mean, I had said no on the one occasion, albeit for a slightly different reason.

"Um, I'm sorry. That sounded, um, not the way I wanted it to," Twilight spoke up, bringing me back to attention. Looking back up at her, having not remembered lowering my head, I was a little surprised to see her staring right at me. Her expression was difficult to read; softened, yet her eyes darted quickly, searching my face like I was doing to her.

Eventually I decided with taking the safe choice. "It's all right, Twilight. I know that kind of connection to me is a big commitment and can't be looked at from a purely scientific point of view. Further, if it turns out that the connection is bad or detrimental, we're going to need you to fix it. If you're being detrimental at the same time, that would be very difficult," I acknowledged gently, trying to give my most earnest looking smile towards her.

I think she bought it, anyway. I mean, I was trying to do my best to stay positive and not worry anypony. Keela promised that she was actually making headway on closing the link permanently, which was definitely a good thing. If I could solve this issue without anypony else getting involved, it would be wonderful.

Twilight's ears lowered at the same rate as her eyelids. Damn it. She didn't buy it. "Mender, I... Um. You're serious about all of this and I should have taken your word on how you felt at and least tried to be serious, too. I realize that, now. Not even considering how my viewpoint hurt you was also immature of me. I'm going to fix this, don't worry. I have to. Regardless of my apprehensions, I've never felt this strongly about anything not regarding academics and learning before. Ever. The more I think about it, the more everything points to this being exactly what I want. You're everything I want in a stallion, honestly, and are a ton of fun to be around. I'm going to fix this!" she adamantly declared, suddenly looking more than a little scary. I swallowed, trying to think of something to say, but quickly realized that technically she hadn't said any of that directly to me. It sounded more like she was saying that to herself. The gesture made me pleased, of course, but I wasn't entirely sure it was needed.

She faltered after seeing me shrink slightly under her level of hot bloodedness. "No, no, no, Mender. I'm not going to hurt you. See?" she asked before slowly extending both of her forelegs out, smiling gently at me. My brain recognized it before my cognitive thoughts did as the universal 'want hugs' gesture. I relaxed a little and nodded before leaning forwards again. She took me against herself as gently as possible and just held me there. A moment passed, and I lowered my muzzle down to her neck, sleepily resting it there against her fur.

To my surprise, Twilight let out a content sigh instead and pulled me tighter to herself. Her forelegs let out a shiver as she squeezed, slowly rubbing them up and down my back while clinging to me like a life raft at sea. If it had been any harder, it might have actually hurt.

"It's okay, Twilight. I'm just happy you're going to have it looked into," I muttered, slowly breathing in her light scent. The raspberry scent of her shampoo from this morning drifted into my nostrils and I exhaled slowly, relaxing further against her as she took over supporting my entire weight. Not that it was a lot of weight to support at the moment.

"More than just that. I believe you now. There's more to this than just your imagination. These coins prove that. But let's deal with this more in the morning. Well, later morning. It is four o'clock. Let's go back to bed for now, Mender," she suggested, slowly lifting my head up to stare directly into my eyes instead. Hers were soft and sleepy looking and I had to restrain a snicker. The smile got through, though.

"Okay, Twilight. I'll trust you to keep the coins safe," I agreed before lowering my head again and resting. She was right, of course. Three and a half hours didn't feel like enough sleep at all.

"Somepony likes my neck," Twilight cooed impishly while she lifted the coins back into the cabinet. I watched the doors close again before chuckling.

While her statement was true, I further corrected, "It is a very nice neck and very tasty looking, but in all honesty, you smell good. It's making me relaxed and sleepy," I muttered tiredly.

There was a momentary pause, and for a second, I worried that I'd said something wrong again. Twilight lowered her head down as well, however, and gently nuzzled my neck in return. "That's rather romantic, actually, and probably a good thing," she murmured quietly, exhaling against me.

As probably intended, my curiosity spiked. "Why is it a good thing?" I inquired against her neck.

"Ponies can pick up pheromones on other ponies. If you think I smell good, that probably means that your body is telling you we're biologically compatible with each other and an optimal choice for a mating pair. You smell good to me, too, by the way," she explained in a disturbingly casual manner, leaning back and smiling at me with lowered eyelids.

Her choice of wording was a little creepy, however. I tried to toss up an assured smile, but I think it came off as nervous instead as I swallowed. Well, I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything else. "Does that mean you want kids in the future?" I asked, attempting to not only sound casual as well, but change the topic from 'optimal mating'.

Her eyes widened again and she blushed, smiling shyly. "I've never really thought about it, honestly. I was pretty goal-oriented before moving here, in an academic sense. Sure, I've really opened up socially since then, but nowhere near enough to even realize that I might have the opportunity to become a mother in the future!" she exclaimed, looking oddly like she was somehow scaring herself.

She didn't let me go and run screaming for the stairs, however, so I took it as a good sign. Heck, she actually squeezed tighter, which was actually kind of painful now that I thought about it. "Ah, um, my insides are still squishy and fragile, Twilight," I reminded, wincing slightly.

She let out the cutest squeak I'd heard since last hanging around Fluttershy and promptly eased up the pressure, smiling with a slight embarrassed tint to her expression. "Ah, sorry. Are you okay, Mender?" she asked cautiously.

"Eh, if I got to pick my preferred way to die, that would definitely be it. But I'll be fine," I teased, managing a grin to her finally. Hopefully she'd take the hint and lighten up a little. I felt bad that I had gotten her worked up, especially if she was going to try to go back to sleep soon.

Her expression shifted back to warm mirth, and she nodded. After a light parting kiss to the forehead, she released me and stood fully again. "Let's go back to sleep, Mender. You need to get more rest and so do I. We have a lot to do tomorrow," she warned, gesturing towards the stairs with her head.

Sighing, I nodded and stood back up again, definitely feeling the tiredness. Well, on the bright side, even since I'd been hopping over to the other world and telling Keela more about Equestria, it had obviously warded away any bad dreams. Might as well enjoy keeping my end of the bargain if I could. If it meant making Equestria safe again, permanently, it was definitely worth it.

In my distraction, I failed to see Twilight duck in and give a gentle, yet extremely wet lick to the side of my cheek. The sly unicorn teleported at the same exact instant of contact, shifting both of us upstairs in a blinding flare of light. My stomach dropped back into my body and I was momentarily disoriented as I fell over onto something warm and soft, in an embarrassing heap of limbs and fur. Wait, these blankets were a lot higher quality than what I remembered them being all of a half an hour ago.

Twilight giggled at my sprawled out form before tucking me in and... My mind froze, spitting out memory overflows and error messages as I felt the warm unicorn slip under the covers next to me. Twilight no doubt sensed my immediate rigid stupor, as she informed, "I'm lonely tonight and want to keep your bad dreams at bay. Don't worry, Mender. I won't even touch you if you don't want me to."

Her whisper came out warmly and danced inside of my chest for a while, being carried by the butterflies. Well, maybe this wouldn't be so bad. I nudged forwards a little, lightly pressing myself into her chest. She let out a pleasantly surprised cooing noise, and I felt her forehead rest against mine. "Thank you for trusting me, Mender. It really means a lot to me, and I'm not going to ever betray that again. Let me prove it to you, even if it takes forever to do so," she requested. I felt a gentle warmth drift into my mind before lightly intermingling with my own magic. It was an amazing sensation and I couldn't help but kiss any of her skin that I could make contact with. The feelings distinctly belonging to Twilight were drifting into me, and it made me feel very secure indeed.

"I'll give you another chance, Twilight. Don't worry about that. I just wish you trusted me a little more." It was the truth, of course. She probably knew it all along, but it felt good to get it out.

She winced gently, but nodded against my forehead. "I do trust... Well, I'm going to start from now on. During my talk with Rarity earlier, she mentioned several techniques that could use to build trust in you and vice versa. A few are a little, um, embarrassing, but you're totally worth it," she assured. I felt her temperature rise a little bit, oddly.

I didn't really understand what she was talking about, but nodded gently and just let the energy drift into me. My mind idly traced the magic back upwards and I saw where our energy pools were actually connecting. It was rather interesting, once I managed to think through the haze that was building up in my mind. "You said before not to push my energy back into you, right?" I inquired quietly.

Twilight paused, and I felt her energy stir a little, but she surprisingly didn't withdraw. "Yeah. Please don't do that. It's not just from pushing your energy into me. It's only if I'm already moving mine into you at the same time. I can tell you more about it tomorrow, if you want," she offered softly. She already trusted me a little more, I realized. I stayed my ground, not about to try it and betray that newfound trust, of course.

"I'm not going to, don't worry. I would like to know why eventually, though," I agreed, relaxing and simply enjoying the hazy sensation of her heat both against me and drifting into my mind.

She smiled and I realized she picked up on my contented feelings. A general feeling of happiness drifted into me as she mirrored my earlier nod. "We have a long train ride tomorrow, so I'll explain it then. Rarity would already know, of course, but she'll probably be able to add far more onto the romantic and bonding aspects of it," Twilight relayed softly.

Oh. With that admission, I suddenly understood the implications a little better. Twilight picked up on that too and released a gentle giggle before snuggling closer to me. Yeah, this was nice. The pressure and expectations weren't what I was expecting, which is to say, they were essentially non-existent. We were just enjoying each other's company, really.

Eventually, I couldn't manage to form coherent thoughts anymore and drifted off to sleep, pulling a pleasantly murmuring Twilight Sparkle with me.

Another bump jarred my reasonably upset stomach yet again. I winced and curled up further, trying to keep the nausea under control as I lay on the nicely cushioned train car seat. The pearly white unicorn sitting across from me gave a look of sympathy as I double-checked the bucket was still at the base of the seat. Okay, I officially hated trains.

"I didn't expect such a violent reaction. Why do you have no problem doing loops on Dash's back through zero gravity while being fired at, but a train going barely sixty kilometers per hour gets you sick?" Twilight asked skeptically from directly next to me. She sat nearest my head, and despite her rather venomous tongue, her tone was soft and she gently rubbed my neck and cheek at the same time.

I swallowed dryly before wincing again, sticking my head over the seat just in case. "Rainbow didn't vibrate while feeling like a sack of worms against your legs," I protested, deciding the mental image just made it worse.

"This is truly unfortunate. Were you able to grasp any of our explanation at all?" Rarity asked politely. Okay, so that conversation had been the last thing on my mind until now.

"Kinda. She puts energy into me, I put energy into her, and then we absorb each other's energy and gain some sort of bond," I managed to summarize without barfing, amazingly enough.

Rarity made a disappointed 'Tsk' noise with her mouth before shaking her head. "Well, I can see you missed the various romantic aspects of such a bond. Surely, given your apparent connection with Fluttershy, you can understand why such a link is sacred," she lectured idly, flicking her mane to the side in mild irritation. The motion made my stomach churn but, like a train wreck in slow motion, I couldn't look away for some reason. Okay, bad example given the context.

"Oh leave him be, Rarity. As sick as he is, it's a wonder he got that much," Twilight defended, gently massaging my shoulders as I took deep breaths over the bucket. Damn.

It was true, though. Given my connection to Fluttershy when in close range, I could appreciate the romantic undertones of such a bond. Frankly, I think she was the only reason I regained my composure at all after my vivid hallucination and panic attack. Once I got back from this silly trip, I was definitely going to thank her. We needed to talk a lot more about this thing anyway. Oh yeah, and maybe warn Rainbow before she freaks out from hearing 'voices' in her head sounding remarkably like me.

"Oh yes, and you are suddenly the quintessential understanding mare, I know," Rarity muttered dryly. Twilight's hooves jolted against my shoulders before digging in a little. Uh oh. I suddenly regretted my compromising position next to the ungodly powerful unicorn.

"So you remind me every chance you get. I know; I get it. I'm a horrible fillyfriend who doesn't deserve Mender. Let me guess, you feel you're better for him?" Twilight asked, seemingly forgetting my squishy muscles were there and pretending it was Rarity's neck instead of my own. Oh please help me live through this train ride, somepony!

"What?! I am simply looking out on Mender's behalf! I cannot believe you'd stoop so low as to insinuate such under-hooved intentions. You really must get a grip on this terrible case of paranoia that has you! It is simply not befitting of a lady," Rarity warned back, looking truly offended for the brief moment my vision caught her before I started gasping for air. Note to self, make sure Twilight was fully aware of her body at all times. Further note to self, haunt the crap out of her if you don't live through this train ride.

The lavender unicorn in question let out a low growl before pointing out, "Surely, you're not so perfect as to have never made a mistake before. There, I said it! I screwed up and lost the trust of my coltfriend! Does that make you happy?!" she asked dramatically, voice now loud enough to probably be heard through the walls. Well, glad this wasn't a private topic or anything. Oddly, however, having half of my windpipe pinched off was doing wonders for making me forget about the nausea. Still, dying wasn't a good motion sickness prevention method.

Carrying through with my new concept of self-preservation, I began flailing my forelegs about to hopefully get my fillyfriend's attention while gasping like a fish out of water. As predicted, she glanced down quizzically at me before widening her eyes and instantly letting go. My lungs screamed in triumph, or perhaps whiplash, as I inhaled heavily and rolled over onto my back, panting. Wow. That wasn't awkward timing at all.

"No! No, no, no! Why does this always happen?!" Twilight groaned, surprising me once more by flopping over sideways onto my upper half with herself at the same time. My yet gasping muzzle inhaled a few rogue strands of fur from her chest as the warmth washed all around me. Well, at least she wasn't a female of my species, or this position would be exceedingly awkward indeed. If I vaguely recalled correctly, which I wasn't going to bet any bits on, pony anatomy placed the female mammary glands significantly lower. Oh, and they retained almost no mass when the mare in question wasn't with foal. I supposed that it was actually more convenient that way, anyway.

My cheeks grew hot as I squished my eyelids shut, trying to drive the thought chain out of my mind. Damn it; I hated it when this happened.

"I didn't mean you're a horrible fillyfriend. I'm sorry for speaking too rashly. Will you forgive me?" Rarity asked softly, doing a surprisingly good job at attempting to defuse the situation. Well, at least I thought it was a good apology. Thankfully, it also served to distract me from images of a pregnant Twilight. Of course, as far as, um, attractive daydreams go; I guess that one's fairly evolutionarily justified. She would look incredibly gorgeous pregnant, in my opinion. Ugh. Why did I do this to myself?

Twilight let out a low murmur into my stomach before nodding gently. "I know. Mender's very understanding, thankfully. I probably reek of being totally new at this."

"I am still here, you know," I reminded politely upon realizing I could talk again. Curse that air threshold for speaking.

It was very strange feeling of Twilight smiling against my stomach. She lifted off me a little and looked into my eyes instead from an upside down perspective. Feeling a bit brave and hoping it would make her realize it wasn't that big of a deal, I reached both of my hooves up and gently pulled her down into me.

She let out a soft muttering of nothing in particular upon breaking the upside down kiss a few seconds later, and smiled more fully down at me.

"Does that mean you forgive me?" she asked hopefully, eyes dancing a little in the light.

I couldn't help myself. "About the overly enthusiastic neck rub? Of course," I assured, smirking now. Predictably, her ears flattened back and she gave me a barbed stare.

"Careful, you might wish you hadn't said that once you find out how I plan to earn forgiveness for the rest of it," she warned, mirroring my expression in an instant.

My ears drooped and I managed a timid swallow. "Uh, isn't that kind of defeating the purpose?"

"Oh, simply no imagination. You'll thank me for giving her the ideas afterwards, I'm sure. Once you recover, of course," Rarity tossed in, sounding oddly devious. I glanced over at her with widening eyes, which caused her to burst out into copious amounts of laughter, followed promptly by Twilight. Well, I was doomed...

The train hit a particularly jarring bump before I could properly formulate words and I groaned again, remembering why this bucket was lying in front of my spot on the seat. Damn it. I contemplated asking Twilight to strangle me again so I'd forget about the nausea.

"Oh, you poor dear. I think it's almost worth sending a letter to Rainbow Dash upon our arrival, requesting that she pick him up for the return flight," Rarity suggested politely after my dry heaving was finished.

I sighed weakly before shaking my head, protesting, "Rainbow shouldn't have to fly all that way and then haul me back just because the train makes me sick. That's not fair to her."

"That's very kind, Mender, but she probably wouldn't have a problem with it. She thinks she owes you, anyway," Twilight reminded, earning a groan of lamentation from me. This was promptly followed by a groan of my stomach trying to crawl out of my body.

I heard a light, almost imperceptible squeaking laugh from Rarity before she tacked on, "Or we could always talk to Princess Celestia about having the royal carriage and guards fly you home."

After recovering from almost falling off my seat in a coughing fit, I finally managed to scramble back and glared up at her. "No! I'd rather walk than ride in a royal carriage. Ugh. It probably costs a few thousand an hour," I protested weakly, earning a giggle from Twilight.

"It doesn't. That's what I first rode to Ponyville in. It's very comfortable. Although if you're uncomfortable with Princess Celestia, you could always ask Princess Luna. She seems to have taken a liking to you," Twilight suggested, sounding deeply amused at my expense. I glared back at her over my shoulder and saw only a grin in return.

"Oh! Is that my Scandal Senses tingling?! Quickly, this calls for gossip!" Rarity exclaimed, suddenly from the seat right next to Twilight and leaning in closer to listen. The lavender mare in question seemed more freaked out than anything, starting in place before falling over onto me in surprise. Any rebuttal I had carefully selected was promptly drowned out by a second helping of Twilight's chest and stomach fur.

"Rarity, it's not like that at all! She just likes his name because it has," Twilight started to rapidly explain. Well, she tried anyway. Her thoughts must have been fairly disrupted when I suddenly closed my eyes and licked gently along the fur of her tummy.

"Whaaa!" she squealed before flailing off the side of the seat and crashing onto the floor, blushing furiously. Oh, payback was worth the probability of death that earned me.

Quickly, I threw on my innocent facade. Rarity gave me a skeptical and extremely scrutinizing stare in the meantime as Twilight recovered on the floor. Several intentionally awkward seconds passed before Twilight restored her capacities enough to roll her eyes. "Try to limit kisses and licks to my face and head please. That felt a little weird," she managed to request, spoiling all of my current and future fun at once.

"There's no fun in that, Twilight. Surely you can be more imaginative," Rarity concurred without needing my specific input. I snickered before lowering my head towards the bucket again. I'd hate to drop my guard and end up having yet another mess to clean up.

"Shush. That's a bridge that can be crossed far, far, far, far in the future," the lavender mare shot back. Well, that boded well for me. Actually the ironic thing was that I couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.

Rarity made an amused sounding half snicker before adding, "I do suppose you intend to ship him away with the rest of the single stallions in a few weeks, then?" Okay, that caused my brain to stall out.

There was a soft smacking noise as Twilight mushed her right forehoof into the spot directly under her horn. I gave her a curious yet observing stare. Apparently what Rarity said triggered some sort of memory in her that she seemingly forgot. Or broke her brain and that was how she rebooted it.

"Great! How did I forget about the stupid heat cycles?! Um, yeah. That would probably be a wise idea," she finally muttered, sounding a little dejected. What did temperature have to do with sending away all of your males? Did the mares turn into bloodthirsty, ravenous monsters or something if the temperature increased too much? No, that sounded far-fetched, even for me.

Rarity gasped, looking horrified. At this point I was getting used to her having that expression. "Oh my, Twilight! It's unheard of! A stallion who actually has a fillyfriend being sent to those horrible cabins!" she exclaimed. Her voice was strange, and I couldn't tell if she was serious or not. I knew she had a taste for dramatic flair, but it was often too subtle for me to separate from what might actually be a disaster. Frowning, I looked up and tried to pay attention just in case.

"Oh come on! The cabins are quite nice and you know it. It's more of an inconvenience than anything. Talk about stalling out our entire economy for a good week," my fillyfriend reputed.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "Um, not to sound stupid, but I need to sound stupid here. What are we talking about?" I asked curiously. Now that I thought about it, this was starting to sound vaguely familiar.

"Heat, Dear. Are you unfamiliar with the word?" Rarity asked, causing Twilight to perk up out of her stupor and glance over at me instead.

I nodded wearily, frowning slightly. Rarity gave me a smile instead and nodded as well in a more assuring manner. "It's perfectly understandable given your unique arrival here. Heat is a little complex, but I'm sure you'll understand it fine. Normally, when a filly enters into marehood, she..." Rarity started to explain. Wait. Oh, this was starting to sound familiar.

"Estrus?" Twilight alternatively suggested, interrupting her friend. Oh hell! My eyes widened as my ears flattened back in an instant.

"Wait, you ponies go through an estrus cycle?! How many times a year, and does it sync up?" I asked rapidly, suddenly realizing exactly what they had been talking about.

Rarity momentarily looked totally flabbergasted, while Twilight just giggled and nodded, answering, "Yes, it does sync up with other mares so we mostly all go into heat at the same time if we live together long enough. That's cumbersome for tight knit communities like Ponyville. It occurs twice in a year; once in the spring, and a somewhat lighter one in the beginning of fall. You luckily showed up after the first one."

Rarity coughed lightly and looked away again, nodding. "Indeed. You wouldn't have found any males at all, and probably would have actually been pursued had you shown up a mere week and a half earlier, just for a different reason other than food. I'm sure that would have worsened your opinion of us severely."

Well, I guess I lucked out after all. "Well, if he'd arrived for the spring one, yeah. The fall variety isn't that bad. Regardless, we evacuate the males more for their comfort than anything. All of the pheromones drifting through the air makes them a little awkward," Twilight corrected in a rather proper manner. Well, they seemed to be extremely civilized about it. It was more like a biological annoyance than a true danger, then.

"Eh, I don't mind being shipped off to some cabin for a week. You'll have to give me the specifics when it comes closer to being required," I requested, easing back down into my disaster prevention position, deciding that it wasn't really that dire a conversation after all.

Rarity let out a huffing noise before rolling her eyes. "I personally think you're crazy not to go with him, and would hate to see the social stigma that will stir up, but as your friend, you have my support," she finally gave in, averting her eyes from my now slightly flustered looking fillyfriend. That was so weird to think about.

"It's not that big of a social stigma! I mean, lots of mares decide to wait before, um, that," Twilight defended, probably needlessly, given what Rarity had just finished saying. That probably indicated something, but I was too lazy to think about it further. Plus I felt like crap.

"Perhaps. I'm simply concerned for the stability of your relationship if you truly decide to wait as long as it sounds," Rarity pointed out. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think I heard an impish undertone to her voice. Weird.

My stomach finally started to settle gently. Twilight looked suddenly like she might need the bucket instead, however. "W-What?! Um, but I haven't read anything about... Oh no, I didn't read the advanced relationship books yet, though! I didn't think I'd need those for a few years still!" she exclaimed, starting to shift into her telltale panic state. Uh oh. Wait, years?!

"Years?! Oh, I truly feel for you, Mender," Rarity teased, letting out a light giggle as she looked over at me instead. Twilight practically spun in circles between looking at the two of us. Was Rarity doing this on purpose just to rile up Twilight? Wow, I hadn't realized pranks could get so ugly!

"Stop teasing her, Rarity. You know I don't, um, mind waiting as long as she needs to," I reminded, carefully choosing my words to hopefully head off the panic session. Twilight dismantling the train while we were moving sounded like a bad thing, yet something she might do while freaking out.

I shouldn't have hesitated in thinking up the proper wording, though. Twilight let out a soft whimpering noise before shrinking a little. Well, I guess we wouldn't be making it to the party after all. I braced for any potential magic catastrophes as best I could. Hey, at least my stomach felt better now!

The train's forward momentum slammed to a halt in an instant, sending my stomach lurching upwards into my lungs, it felt like. I winced before almost sliding off my seat. Rarity merely leaned back slightly in surprise while Twilight slid from the center of the room into the base of the seat Rarity was on, eyes getting a little watery and appearing oblivious to the sudden shift of momentum.

"This has been a successful test of the emergency brake system! If this had been a real emergency, it would have been accompanied by much more screaming. Thank you for your time!" I suddenly heard blaring over the speaker system in a male voice.

I promptly threw up into the bucket.

Chapter 21

The sun bathed the entire area in light, shining brightly off the gentle cobblestones and worn brick. I winced and partially closed my eyes, the brightness just a little too much to be comfortable to me. My eyes hurt and my stomach still ached from throwing up on the stupid train. Still, as irritable as I felt, the city was quite impressive.

I'd never seen such a grand city in Equestria. Row after row of buildings greeted my mostly healed eyes. The main street was practically alive with ponies; easily three times the traffic of Ponyville. The buildings I could see mainly appeared to be cafes, shops, and other entertainment establishments. The fanfare was quite a sight to take in! Of course, extra banners appeared to be up, advertising a formal dance and fashion show put on by one "Fancypants." Huh. I wondered if Rarity knew who that was.

Speaking of, Rarity herself looked almost giddy as she sat next to me on the right. "Oooh, it's been too long since I've been here! I must see if there are any new supplementary fabrics before the show, Twilight," she quickly informed, looking past me to the left.

My fillyfriend nodded absently while going over a list she held up in her magic. "I figured as much and planned accordingly. We have three hours before we're expected to be at the banquet hall to get ready. Meet us at the castle in two hours so we can dress, okay?" Twilight suggested, looking over at her overly exuberant friend.

Rarity nodded pleasantly, neatly done mane bobbing with the motion. She then stood up and pranced off towards the rows of shops, a certain lightness to her step. I watched her go, trying to figure out where she got the energy. Ah well. I suppose this entire ordeal was her kind of thing.

"She'll never change. Not like that's a bad thing, though," Twilight agreed unknowingly to my inner thoughts, shifting her attention back to me with a smile.

I turned back to her and nodded pleasantly. "It's nice to watch somepony who really knows what they enjoy the most. Pinkie's the same way, to some degree," I observed idly, wondering if I'd ever show that level of excitement for something.

Twilight let out a chuckle before warning, "I wouldn't mention that comparison to Rarity. She likes to hold herself above the spastic level of energy Pinkie Pie demonstrates." Above? There was nothing wrong with Pinkie's energy that would 'lower' it in the first place.

"I must defend Pinkie, stating that her mannerisms are certainly admirable as well," I protested, frowning slightly.

The lavender unicorn nodded without missing a beat, nor losing her smile. "Of course. They're just very different. But we're delaying too much. I need to go speak with the castle staff and arrange rooms for the three of us. You don't mind staying with me, right?" she asked, standing up again and carefully sliding her rolled up list into her saddle bag.

"Of course not," I assured, sticking my tongue out at her before adding, "We slept together last night and it turned out nicely. It was amazing to have a night without nightmares, which I totally credit to the beautiful mare I got to cuddle with." I couldn't help but blush a little as I tried to emphasize exactly how much I appreciated her.

Her cheeks flared up with a hot blush, but she only smiled wider. "Mender! You're just so... Ugh. I don't even know what to say," she complained, tone of voice betraying a completely different mood. Her eyes also softened, a warm feeling behind them that I couldn't quite place.

"Just the truth, Twilight. Do you want me to come with?" I asked, pretty sure that I already knew the answer.

She giggled, informing, "You can just call me 'Twi' if you want. It feels more intimate and informal. And no. I need you to make a brief detour and pick up some food to go before joining me. Rarity will be hungry as well when she gets back and we need to eat before the party."

"Food?" I questioned, tilting my head at her. Wait, she wanted me to wander off by myself to run an errand in a totally unfamiliar city?

Twilight nodded politely, oblivious to my nervousness. "Yup. It doesn't matter where, so long as it's edible. Enough for all three of us, of course. I'll give you some bits for it," she furthered, levitating a small, pink coin bag out of her saddlebags and hooking it onto mine. Great. Pink.

"Um, okay. I just ask for it to go?" I asked, largely for clarity. This was going to go poorly. It was almost a foregone conclusion at this point, I had a feeling.

She nodded excitedly before starting towards the massive castle that easily loomed above the rest of the town. Well, that was imposing. I wondered if Celestia was compensating for something or if she just inherited the place like that. "Yup! I'll put in the word with the gate guards to expect you, don't worry. Just hurry along so we can get situated into our rooms before the party!" she returned, adding a wink as she pranced in place.

My thoughts tinted my cheeks and I coughed lightly, trying not to jump to conclusions about the implications. "All right. I'll try to go as fast as I can," I assured, nodding to her and smiling.

"Awesome! See you in a bit!" she exclaimed excitedly before disappearing in a flash of light and a little hop. I watched her flicker in down the street a little ways, only to disappear again and repeat the short flickering in the direction of the palace. Damn. It must be nice to have a planet-sized pool of magic.

Shaking my head, I turned my attention to the shops, looking for any restaurant-looking ones. An outdoor cafe probably wouldn't be too expensive, and would likely be able to get the food in a hurry. Spotting cozy eating chairs furnished with oversized umbrellas, I smiled and headed in that direction, sporting a moderate gait. Twilight being in a good mood lightened my spirits considerably. It was almost enough to let me forget about the sour look the stewardess gave me upon cleaning out the bucket earlier.

I was careful of the crowds as best I could, making sure to stay clear of the clusters as I neared the cafe. It was a pleasant looking spot, simplistic in design yet looking very new and clean. I nodded to myself before approaching the entrance.

Unfortunately, a couple appeared to be just leaving as I rounded from the sidewalk. I ground to a halt, starting to backtrack a little. The stallion looked large and imposing, yet very proper and worldly. The mare was lithe, legs extremely long and groomed, making her seem slender and taller than she actually was. Unfortunately for me, and probably her as well, she paid me no attention and did a little twirl to face the stallion as they exited, a happy smile on her face. Oh crap.

She collided with me almost instantly, causing both of us to spill sideways and become a tangled heap on the ground. I winced as I hit first, my body becoming effectively a squishy pillow for her impact. Oh well. I'd rather it that way than the inverse.

My eyes opened, then widened drastically as I was presented with a very detailed, up close view of her elegant, abstract Cutie Mark. "Ah! Hey!" she shouted, scrambling off me and glaring. I swallowed, ears lowering as her expression made me feel further pathetic.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to," I apologized profusely before slowly getting to my hooves.

The stallion stepped forward instead, however. "I do say, what are your intentions, young one? That is most disrespectful behavior to force upon a mare! Explain yourself!" he demanded, frowning down at me as I shrunk further. His styled blue mane, nicely pressed suit, and radiant white coat made him look even more important. I knew this was a bad idea! His pink-maned mare leaned closer behind him, partially hiding herself from sight as I swallowed, tongue feeling like it was swelling in my mouth.

Pink. My eyes widened as I caught another dot of pink below my vision, and glanced down at the stonework. Twilight's coin bag lay at my feet, having been knocked loose in the collision. I checked my side and sure enough, it was missing. "Um, I really didn't intend on landing like that. You surprised me!" I tried to explain, before carefully picking the coin pouch up with my mouth. It smelled like Twilight, which was a little distracting.

Both of their eyes widened as they watched me pick up the bag. "M-My bits!" the mare exclaimed, looking shocked. Huh?! I glanced to her side and widened my eyes as well as I saw an almost exact duplicate of the tiny pink pouch tied to her saddlebag.

"You scoundrel!" I heard the stallion declare before feeling a solid impact with the side of my head. Wincing, I stumbled sideways and cracked my head off the side of the entrance to the cafe before I could so much as explain otherwise. "Guards! Quickly!" was shouted in his echoing voice as stars exploded into my vision.

Aaaah! My head throbbed as I curled up, holding both sides of it. My vision danced and blurred as I pulled my right hoof back, blotches of red covering it. Crap. "I didn't take anything. That's my fillyfriend's pouch..." I groaned, trying to sit up again.

Suddenly, I was knocked sideways by something extremely solid, shoving me into the side of the wall. I saw an imposing looking guard standing over me with a glare when my eyes opened up again. Lacking the energy, I didn't resist as he shoved metal cuffs around my hooves. My eyes widened further as I watched the sharp metal lock around me, the chains going taunt and rattling in my ears. That rattling. Chains.

Her smirk glittered through the haze from the dark, the blood dripping from her claws and blades as I was forced onto the table, screaming and missing an eye now. There was no healing from it. I watched her bite down on it and eat it myself. I screamed until I passed out, not realizing that's what actually happened. My world rapidly faded into the darkness that surrounded her.

The darkness was miserable, of course. I shivered as I sat in the furthest corner of my tiny, stone room; the looming metal bars cast an ominous shadow across the wall next to me. The wooden 'bed' chained to the wall partially blocked the light from my lower body as I sat there, absolutely freezing. A rough wrapping had been tied around my head to stop the bleeding but I hadn't been cleaned up. This place must be underground somewhere as well, because it was absolutely freezing.

I had no idea where I was apart from a jail cell with a very silent guard. I was on the wooden slab when I woke up in cold sweat, thinking someone was ripping my muscles out one section at a time. I guess I had been arrested. This was an amazing attempt at getting food for Twilight and Rarity.

The absolute silence was broken suddenly by solid, slow hoof steps from the left of my cell entry. My eyes widened as they matched up fairly well to the pounding inside of my skull, and I glanced back at the bars, shaking still. I must have lost a lot of blood as well.

The hoof steps stopped, and I saw the front of a rather large stallion, another unicorn, standing in front of the guard. His mane was striped in light and dark shades of blue in such a way that, interestingly enough, reminded me of Twilight. His coat, however, was pure white, and he wore detailed, golden armor that was similar, but far more extravagant than the guard who saluted him. Uh oh.

"I was told a prisoner needed my attention down here? I hope this is quick. I'm supposed to meet my sister at the palace," he questioned in a lighter tone that surprised me. I'd expected him to have such a deep voice that the stone would crack around me. Maybe that was my nerves talking.

"Yes sir! Arrested in the markets near a cafe. An account of both petty theft and sexual harassment. Further, we think he's mentally unstable and possibly dangerous," the guard spoke up. My ears lowered with each word. Wow. Less than an hour in Canterlot and I'd already been declared crazy. I wonder if this was a record.

The stallion sighed and nodded before sliding open the bars. He stepped easily inside, not an ounce of fear despite me being 'dangerous', and casually lit a lantern that hung on the wall. I winced at the light and further curled up into a little ball behind the wooden slab, shivering as it only reminded me of how nice heat was. I anticipated an interrogation was next on my schedule.

"Why is this stallion not bandaged properly? He's obviously injured," the white unicorn questioned, looking incredulously towards the guard who stood at his left.

"We dared not approach! Regardless, in the end, he came willingly," the guard assured. Willingly? Is that what they call blood loss and severe head trauma now? Unfortunately, I was more hurt at losing Twilight's pouch. I swallowed painfully and lowered my head to my hooves. I exaggerated, anyway. I doubted the little scratch to the side of my head did any more damage than apples from the stratosphere or Applejack's hoof. No, that was also an exaggeration. I doubted Rainbow Dash ever escaped the troposphere.

The stallion shook his head above me and sat down. A light touch of magic surprised me, causing me to jump and shudder. The wound along the side of my head slowly healed in a gentle, cyan light. "I'm sorry for their rude behavior. I'd like to get the full story from you, however. Miss Fleur came to me, abashed, after you had been arrested with some interesting admission that I'd like to verify," he explained calmly, completing the healing magic in record time.

I glanced up at him and nodded, rasping out, "I'll tell you anything. I'm sorry!" I wasn't quite prepared to speak and coughed afterwards, my vocal cords feeling like they had frost on them.

"Relax. Just tell me what happened in your own words," he coaxed calmly, giving me a surprisingly assuring smile. In the light, I also noticed his Cutie Mark, which happened to be a shield and starburst, alongside three smaller stars above. The star shape looked remarkably similar to Twilight's as well, and I started to relax a little. "Yes, you might know me. My name is Shining Armor. I'm the Captain of the Royal Guard," he furthered, smiling as he noticed me peek at his mark.

"I... Well, I'm kind of new here, so I didn't know. It just looked familiar. I'm Moon Mender," I muttered weakly, looking back at him fully.

He frowned, seemingly thinking for a moment before exhaling. "That sounds familiar, too, but I can't remember where. Anyway, Miss Fleur found her bag after you had been arrested and admitted she had erred in accusing you of theft. I guess that pink pouch is popular!" he exclaimed, chuckling afterwards. The guard next to him widened his eyes, and then looked away from me a moment later. Admittedly, I was surprised by the lax interrogation technique, but took the break if it was offered.

"Well, I'm thankful. The bag belongs to my fillyfriend. Um, can I have it back?" I asked, trying not to get my hopes up.

Shining Armor smiled, however, and nodded. "Of course. You have very good tastes. I'm sure your mare will be delighted that you tried to protect it. In fact, I got a bag just like that for my sister last year. It's a wonderful gift," he assured, seemingly more amused at the coincidences than angry at my arrest. Well, if it was a popular enough bag, a lot of mares probably had it. Rarity probably had picked it up for Twilight.

I smiled faintly and relaxed, still not feeling the best but happy that I hadn't lost Twilight's pouch. She trusted me with it, after all. "That little thing is really important to you, isn't it? You must really care for her," the guard captain observed, smiling warmly all of a sudden.

I nodded weakly, looking back up at him as best I could. I was ravenous, having emptied out my stomach on the train and now missed lunch. What time was it, speaking of? Had I missed the party, too? "She trusted me with it and asked me to get food for her and a friend. I, um, care for her a lot and don't want to lose her trust," I explained, trying to be as honest as I could.

Shining Armor nodded earnestly before seemingly thinking to himself. "I'm under the impression that the collision wasn't entirely your fault either. Still, now that I know more details, I should at least extend the courtesy of sending a message to her about what happened. What's the name of your mare, and where is she staying?" he inquired, smiling now as he looked back down at me. I felt a little safer now and nodded, sitting up fully.

"Her name's-“ I started, before the once silent guard walked up next to Shining Armor.

“Actually, I got his address in a statement prior. Here you go, Captain,” he interrupted, cutting me off. Oh yeah. He had questioned me when I was first arrested.

Shining Armor picked up the clipboard offered with his magic and floated it in front of him. I fell silent and let the captain read it over carefully. I’d answered all the questions to the best I could manage, so I figured that would cut off a lot of any potential interrogation that was needed from me. “Oh, interesting. You’re staying in a castle suite? You must be here for the party tonight that Fancypants is throwing. Ironic. I’ve got to bring you to the castle anyway, so I’ll send a message ahead and we’ll meet your fillyfriend there,” he explained after a good minute of reading. I shifted uneasily. Twilight had given me Rarity’s room, but I had no idea what her own room number was. I’d hoped it wouldn’t complicate things that I’d given them Rarity’s instead.

I nodded weakly, asking, “Are you letting me go, then?” This was all just one giant misunderstanding, and I was really glad he was so friendly! Ponies really were a lot different than Keldarians. At that point, I didn’t know why I was expecting otherwise. The worst part about this little experience so far had been the cold dungeon.

“As part of regulation, I’ve got to get confirmation from the castle. Your fillyfriend shouldn’t be a problem, but I also need to sign off on your release. The office is over there, however. Paperwork, right?” he explained, smirking over at me.

I snickered, feeling a lot better finally. His healing magic was top notch! “Thanks for being so understanding. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. What a day!” I groaned. He also said tonight, I noticed. That must mean I hadn’t missed the party yet! Twilight would be mildly irked that I’d not gotten them food, but at least it wasn’t a complete disaster.

Shining Armor laughed and shook his head. “Relax. I understand what a bad day is like. You should have seen the Changeling invasion!” he exclaimed, signing off on the clipboard before passing it back to the guard. Changeling?

I tilted my head, but then flattened my ears back as he fitted the manacles back onto my legs. My forelegs couldn’t stop shaking as he fastened them. Why was this…? “Mender, Relax. Nopony is going to hurt you. You only have to wear these until we get to the castle and verify your story. It’s just procedure, and I’ll stay with you the whole time, okay?” Shining Armor softly assured, patting me on the head. It probably mentioned my reaction to the chains on the clipboard.

Shivering, I managed a weak nod as he helped me up and led me towards the door. At least this would all be over soon and I could go back to Twilight.

Groaning again, I tried my hardest to hide my face as best I could. The cart slowly moved along through the street, careful to let ponies move out of the way before passing. It was decided that I’d be transported to the castle via cart instead after I fell down two flights of stairs while wearing the manacles. Shining Armor was really, really good at healing magic!

Still, this was more than a little embarrassing. Shining Armor himself sat at the front of the cart with the driver. I was in the back, trying my best to hide and wishing the sides of the thing were taller. The chains attached to me were easily visible, of course, and I saw dozens of ponies giving harsh whispers and giggles as I passed. Damn it. There goes the effect Rarity had been hoping for. She wasn’t going to want to use me for showing off her suit if everypony knew I was a criminal!

Shining Armor did his best to not make a spectacle of it, taking a back street most of the way there before cutting out onto the main thoroughfare in order to get to the castle gates. The cart rolled through the gates and finally reached the sanctuary and privacy of the grounds, letting me exhale gently. Less ponies seeing me meant less rumors going around. Of course, three blocks of aristocratic looking ponies had already seen me regardless, and if they were anything like what I was used to dealing with back in my old world that I recall, rumors would explode anyway.

“Okay then. Message was sent ahead via pegasi, so we should be expected. I’m going to escort you to the assembly hall where they’re waiting, and then once you’re spoken for, I’ll go upstairs and fill out your release paperwork,” Shining Armor said, making his way around to the back of the wagon and helping me down.

Slowly, I nodded, putting most of my focus into not falling on my face. I’d fallen out of the wagon twice trying to get up onto the thing, but at least I’d landed on my butt then. Nose-diving would suck considerably more. At least they knew I wasn’t going to run away. Well, run away effectively, I appended to my thoughts a moment later.

He smiled once I had all four hooves on the ground and carefully led me towards a side gate for the right wing of the massive looking castle. Shining Armor kept careful pace with me and kept his magic up to stabilize me as I wobbled, snagging my legs on the chains every half dozen meters or so. The guard that was in the back of the cart with me followed a little behind us, from the sounds of it. It wasn’t the same guard as at my cell, not that I could tell the difference, anyway. Why did all the guards look the same? Security measure?

The heavy door opened with a creaking noise, and it was a lot dimmer inside, lit by the warm glow of wall sconces. Heavy looking marble tile decorated the floor, and a soft looking rug led from the entry all the way along the hallway. Fancy looking benches made of a rich oak of some sort lined the sides. This looked like a kind of waiting chamber or something. What did he call it? Assembly hall?

To my absolute relief, both Twilight and Rarity were waiting at the far end of the hall. Rarity sat calmly on a chair, giving a soft if knowing smile to Twilight as she paced back and forth. I swallowed nervously. Even though I hadn’t been here for very long, I could kinda tell when my fillyfriend was frazzled. It wasn’t a good feeling to be the source of that discomfort.

“Eh?! Twily!” Shining Armor suddenly exclaimed, steadying me from my start before trotting forward ahead of me towards the two mares. Twily? Wait, was he talking to Twilight?!

I blinked and watched, surprised, as she looked over in response to the name, shock evident on her face. “Shiny?” she asked, eyes widening rapidly. Shiny?! What the hell?! They obviously knew each other, but why did they have pet names? Wait, no. That couldn’t be. Oh hell. No, Twilight would have told me!

“What are you doing here, Twily? Wait, you heard I was bringing a pony over and intercepted, didn’t you? I sent a message to your room saying I was going to be a little late,” Shining Armor groaned out. Her room? Her room?! My right eye twitched, the spasm traveling all the way down my chest and right foreleg, giving the chains a jiggle.

Twilight’s eyes didn’t shrink down, and she looked past Shining Armor and over at me. I glared in her direction, really hoping this wasn’t what it looked like. No, if she were already in a herd with this stallion, somepony would have told me! They wouldn’t have kept this a secret this long. They couldn’t have.

Shining Armor followed her gaze and peeked back at me. I snapped the glare off my expression, not wanting for him to decide to throw me back in jail. “Oh, don’t mind him. I’m just dropping him off to his fillyfriend here at the castle. She should have been here already, though,” he muttered before looking around the hall. Oh hell. If he found out I was dating his herd member, I predicted a lot of complications.

Twilight’s ears flattened back and she lowered her eyes, shifting them back and forth as if fighting violently with thoughts in her mind. Rarity looked utterly speechless as she glanced between Twilight and Shining Armor, who finally noticed her. “Wait, Rarity? Oh. Oh! Oh my. Is that why you two are here? Wow! I didn’t realize the guest you invited with you was your coltfriend, Rarity! Is that why you two are acting so weird?” he continued, seemingly a bit concerned that nopony was saying anything. Rarity?!

Rarity let out a gasp of surprise, flush exploding over her cheeks as her eyes widened at him. Twilight shuddered and rapidly looked over at Rarity as well, as if burned for a moment. “Ah! R-Rarity? Of course! Yeah, thanks for dropping off Rarity’s coltfriend. You can go now, Shiny! I’ll talk to you back in my room, okay?” Twilight suddenly spewed out. Several icy hammers hit me in the chest as I stared at her. My forelegs started to shake and I couldn’t seem to stop them as I let out a sharp gasp. She was embarrassed about me and was pretending I was Rarity’s coltfriend?! My ears dropped completely.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Rarity suddenly shouted, shifting from looking shocked to righteously pissed in half a second. Oh hell. Shining Armor must have thought the same thing as me, as he hopped backwards away from the unicorn, who was now standing up in her chair and glaring at Twilight.

Twilight flinched and shrunk visibly away from Rarity, not meeting her eyes. The guard pony standing next to me made no motion to move any closer, just watching with wide eyes as the rather brutal and awkward scene unfolded. My head was still reeling from the implications mixed with what Twilight had just said. I could barely process what was going on.

“I, um, I’m sorry. Uh, Shiny, meet Moon Mender. Um, he’s the stallion I wrote about in my letters,” Twilight finally admitted, shrinking down to the floor. She told him about me, but she didn’t want him to know that I was me? She was embarrassed I was arrested, then. I didn’t know how to feel about this. Her, well, a stallion close to her was the captain of the guard, so I could see why she was appalled that I’d been arrested.

Shining Armor looked back at me, eyes widening rapidly. “Moon Mender! That’s where I heard his name before! This is your coltfriend?!” he asked sharply.

“I was going to tell you! I just didn’t know what to say and he’d been arrested for something, so I panicked! I’m sorry,” Twilight continued, standing up again and prancing anxiously in front of the much larger stallion. Damn it. Who was he? Did she honestly keep this much from me?

“I’m not the one you should apologize to! Fine. Stay here and I’ll go get the stupid paperwork filed and get him released. I’ll be back in a bit,” he snarled out, sounding rather angry as he stormed off and through a side door.

The hallway fell silent, and I dropped my head. This had gone from getting better to rock bottom almost instantly. My head was swimming with what I’d just heard, and I didn’t know where to even start sorting everything out. It didn’t help that my eyes were getting watery and my chest hurt. The guard next to me gave me a soft nod and frown before undoing my restraints.

I heard hoofsteps getting closer in front of me, but I refused to look up, staring at my hooves instead. “He was charged with an account of sexual harassment, and another of petty theft. Both charges have been acquitted, however, and he’s free to go. It was all a misunderstanding,” the guard explained next to me as the movement stopped.

“M-Mender, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lie about that. I panicked. This wasn’t how I wanted things to go,” Twilight muttered quietly. I shivered again, eyes softening. That much was obvious. Nothing today had gone as planned.

Slowly, I looked up at Twilight, who sat in front of me about a meter away. Rarity was rapidly catching up, still glaring at Twilight’s back as she approached. “This is absolutely horrifying, Twilight. Even if embarrassed, consider Mender’s feelings! The charges are false and he is innocent regardless, so there’s no need to feel ashamed of him,” the white unicorn scolded harshly, sitting down next to Twilight.

“I’m not ashamed! This just wasn’t how I wanted Mender to meet my brother, okay!” Twilight snapped back, too quick to be sincere. Brother?!

My exhale was instant and excessive as I slumped slightly. Shining Armor was her brother! The relief washed through me instantly, and I couldn’t help but smile a little. Oh. Her brother had just escorted me as a prisoner to the castle. Okay, I could see why she freaked out now. It took me a moment to realize that both mares had stopped talking and were giving me questioning looks.

“Er, sorry. I didn’t know he was her brother. Um, the way they addressed each other,” I tried to explain quietly.

Rarity blinked, and then snorted, holding a hoof up to her lips instantly as if to hold back a sudden bout of laughter. Twilight simply shivered as a deep blush crept onto her face. I coughed politely and looked away again. Yeah, I was expecting that reaction. “No! No, no, no! He’s my brother, not… Oh Celestia. No! You’re my only coltfriend, Mender!” Twilight rapidly corrected, not that it was needed at this point. The guard next to me averted his eyes from all of us rapidly, and I could have sworn I saw a smirk starting to play at his lips.

“Oh ho ho, that would be scandalous indeed. But no, Prince Shining Armor is Twilight’s brother, not lover. Still, that doesn’t excuse her for trying to do that!” Rarity reminded, shifting back to a stern glare at the lavender mare.

Twilight sighed and nodded, not meeting my eyes still. I was just happy to know that I didn’t have competition, especially of that level. There was no way I could compete with the captain of the guard. “Come on, Mender. Let’s go back to Rarity’s room. There’s a comfy couch there you can lie down on,” Twilight finally muttered, shifting the topic as best she could while gesturing towards the door opposite of the one that Shining Armor used. My ears perked as I glanced over at the guard, who outright snickered before shaking his head.

“I doubt it’s going to be a problem anymore. I’ll let the captain know where you’ve gone, and try to calm him down a little,” the guard said before I even opened my mouth. Admittedly, I was a bit surprised, but nodded hesitantly. Well, today was still crap, but maybe now it would look up? I mean, what more could possibly go wrong at this point? No, I’d better not say that. There was always falling off the side of the cliff the city was built into.

“Why thank you, Dear! You’ve been extremely helpful, and I shall put in a good word with Shining Armor for you,” Rarity spoke politely before looking back at me and shifting to a quizzical expression before continuing with, “Wait, is that dried blood on your muzzle, Mender? Oh my. Let’s go get you lying down, okay?”

I sighed and nodded wearily back to her. The day wasn’t over yet. “I’ll explain on the way there,” I excused, resigning myself to walking after Twilight, who had already turned and headed for the door she pointed out earlier. No, the day was still young, and probably going to get a lot longer…

"Seriously? Twenty minutes. In twenty minutes, you managed to not only get yourself beat up, but accused of sexual harassment and theft. Then arrested," Twilight groaned out, staring at me with what could only be described as a look of dumbfounded shock.

I kept my head down and ears lowered as I looked up at her from the couch, and a royal nurse carefully tending to my forehead. It annoyed me that head wounds bled so much. My fur needed to be cleaned now, and there was less than an hour before the party!

Rarity giggled merrily behind Twilight, lightly sipping tea at a rather elegant wooden table. They had gotten food somehow anyway, it would seem. At this point however, I was more worried about having made an idiot of myself, and ruined Twilight’s introduction of me to her brother. I had humiliated her, and further felt like crap because of it.

"Relax, Twilight. The charges were falsified, we got room service anyway, and you got your bit pouch back," Rarity pointed out sagely after setting her cup down. I was both happy and sad that they so easily managed to get food without me. After being hauled up to the palace in chains, I'd lost all sense of hunger, only to find out that my duty hadn't really been needed in the first place. The stares were enough to make me want to curl into a ball and cry for a few hours. Pity that would make me feel like an even bigger wimp. At least Rarity had visibly calmed down now that she had gotten tea.

"It's all so embarrassing, though! This isn't how I wanted to introduce him to my brother, for one. Plus, everypony saw him hauled through the streets and are going to think he's done something horrible," Twilight shouted, pacing back and forth in a tight circle. I shriveled further on the couch, making the nurse tisk as I flinched.

Rarity gave her a speculative, questioning glance over her cup, but Twilight didn't seem to notice. Finally, I managed to suggest in a quiet voice, "She's right, Rarity. I don't think it's a good idea to bring me as your guest anymore."

Rarity surprised me by smiling warmly. "Nonsense, Dear. If brought up, it shall simply make for an amusing story and correction. There's absolutely nothing negative to worry about," she assured, causing me to exhale quietly. Admittedly, her words put me a little at ease. She was willing to explain to ponies who asked and tell of my innocence.

Twilight shook her head and resumed pacing. "I don't know how you can be so nonchalant about it. I mean, it's so embarrassing! Don't they have, like, privacy carriages or something?! The guards are supposed to be professional," she complained, moving the target of her wrath to prisoner transport, it would seem. It felt like she was just angry in general and lashing out at things. At least she wasn’t angry with me. Still, I think I’d rather have her angry with me than ashamed of me.

Rarity frowned outright at this and set her cup down again, a little more forcefully this time. The noise snapped Twilight out of her spiral and caused both of us to look at the white unicorn.

"That's enough, Twilight! You know as well as I do that he is innocent. If it concerns you, spread that fact around to any who question rather than worry about how it might influence your own reputation," she lectured, surprisingly harshly. The tone was strict and demanding, leaving an almost unspoken dare to challenge her and get trounced. In my reasonably shaken mentality, it was more than a little intimidating, and I shrank further.

Twilight, for her part, looked more surprised than anything. "But, I wasn't worried about... I mean, he's my stallion and I care for him, is all. It's not like I was, well, okay, I was a little embarrassed over the ordeal but," she started to shakily protest, shifting back and forth on her hooves.

Rarity's eyes narrowed slowly the longer Twilight went on. The lavender mare hesitated and slowed to a stop before sighing. "Okay, fine. I was utterly horrified," she finally admitted. It hurt, but it was the truth. I knew that it was because of me as well, which hurt the most. Come on! One normal day is all I ask.

"You were ashamed. Ashamed of the stallion you claim to care about. This is not you, Twilight," Rarity spoke quietly, earning a wince from all three remaining ponies in the room; the nurse oddly included as she blatantly listened in. I didn't care at this point, though.

Twilight stayed quiet for an agonizing half a minute, shifting her gaze between the floor and myself a couple times. I was ashamed as well; far too much to even look her in the eye at this point. What a mess. Why did it have to be me? Of course, I caught myself asking that quite often about various things. I wondered if that was just another way to run away.

The nurse let out a yelp as I flailed about in panic from the sudden foreign set of lips on my forehead. Twilight thankfully backed up and simply observed until I stopped wiggling. I stared at her in surprise until she giggled and looked down again. "Um, are you okay, Mender? I should have asked you that a while ago. I’m sorry," she spoke softly, smiling weakly as her eyes caught mine again.

My mouth was still open in shock. Becoming aware of it, I slowly closed it and exhaled wearily, having no idea how to answer. She suddenly decided to take Rarity's advice? My eyes lowered as I let myself slowly slide down onto the couch cushion again, letting the nurse resume her cleaning of the wound site. At least she said it wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. Damn head wounds...

"Did it, um, bring up any bad memories?" the decidedly warm and comfortable lavender unicorn asked instead as she gave my muzzle and nose a light kiss. It tickled a little and I smiled weakly.

"When they put the hoof cuffs on me, it did. I think I passed out shortly after," I replied, feeling a little more relaxed but tired now. My body just wanted to sleep for a while and heal.

Rarity perked up at the mention of my memories and listened intently. My fillyfriend just nodded against my nose before getting up fully onto the cushion in front of me. "She's right. You're innocent and I shouldn't be worried about myself. I'll stand by you too, Mender," she assured after a moment's hesitation.

"Well, I'll be. I guess you were telling the truth and not just helping some stranger escape jail. I’m also glad to see you apologized," I suddenly heard spoken in a familiar voice, followed by an even more familiar laugh. His absence must have put him in a better mood.

Twilight opened her eyes again and shifted them in the direction of the doorway to her chambers. I peeked as well, discovering Shining Armor slowly walking into the room, still in full armor but looking considerably more relaxed than he had been earlier. Maybe it was because it was warmer up here? Or he really liked filling out paperwork…

"Of course, Shiny. A little late for this, but meet Moon Mender, my coltfriend. Mender, this is my brother, Shining Armor. But you already knew that," Twilight introduced, smiling gently now and seemingly feeling better.

"It is good to meet you outside of the jail cell, Mender. Unfortunate series of events, that. But I have a feeling you're a good stallion after all, especially after what you said about the pouch," he welcomed, winking at me. I blushed weakly and looked away. If I had known he was Twilight's brother, I would have stayed quiet about the whole thing!

"Huh? What do you mean?" the now exceedingly curious unicorn in front of me questioned.

Shining Armor snickered before shaking his head, however. "Anonymity sometimes breeds honesty, Twily. I know he deeply cares for you, which is enough to make me accept him as your coltfriend," he assured with a smirk.

I shook my head wearily. "Honestly, I'm just glad I got it back. That had me worried the most," I muttered, glancing back up at Twilight's brother with a newly discovered curiosity. Outside of his post, he wore a relaxed expression, even in his armor. He was a little smaller than Big Mac, but it looked like he had years of experience behind his eyes. He also had a horn, and if he came from the same family as Twilight, I could only hope to guess at how powerful he was.

Twilight sighed and shook her head, however, drawing my attention back to her before adding, "As much as I'm happy to have the pouch back, I'm just happy that you're okay." I caught myself blushing and smiled weakly with what energy I had left, searching her eyes for truth to that. If she was going to make an effort to trust me, I should definitely make an effort to trust her back. Our relationship hadn’t been the smoothest so far, but maybe that would make it stronger overall? Her expression was earnest, however, and she returned a warm smile.

"I'm still curious as to why you felt so strongly for the pouch, Mender," Rarity spoke up, smiling over her cup of tea at me a moment later. Her tail swished back and forth behind her in an oddly polite, sophisticated manner, as if on display with its fine curves.

Chuckling, I shook my head again. "Besides the fact that it was Twi's and she trusted me with it? It also had her bits in it, which was important. But for the honest truth, I myself have nothing to my name. Even the saddlebag I hauled things here with is Twi's. So for her to give me something so dear to her and almost lose it might bother me a bit more than normal," I speculated quietly, having just considered it for the first time now. It was just a feeling that was there.

The lavender unicorn smiled and kissed me softly on the top of the nose again before being shooed away by the nurse, who was now cleaning my fur along my cheek. "You're amazingly sweet, Mender. We need to have you start getting things of your own, however. You've honestly done a lot of hard work for me and my friends and deserve it," she added, not dissuaded by the nurse at all.

Shining Armor chuckled, distracting me before I could protest. "She's right. The letters she writes back to us are practically glowing about you! I could have sworn from the letters that you were twice my size, made of coiled iron, and threw fire with a wave of your hoof," he tossed on, smirking.

"Hey!" Twilight practically shouted, flushing red as she whipped her head back and glared at him menacingly. I held back a chuckle before nuzzling her cheeks gently. She made a squeaking noise, but held her ground and smiled again, features relaxing a little.

"My, my. Normally I'd be chased halfway around the castle for that comment! He really has tamed you quite a bit," her brother teased further, dancing backwards away from her tiny electric shock blast. She growled and fired a second one at him as well. He started to dance backwards again when my hoof touched the sofa instead.

A magic line arched along the floor faster than a lightning strike and the large barrier extended up in the same instant, totally blocking the small blast of electricity. He stopped and stared at it in surprise, before Twilight glared at me instead.

"What, are you taking his side?" she questioned, eyes narrowing a little.

Hastily, I nuzzled her again in assurance before explaining, "Just saving him from your wrath. I'm honored, Twilight. You don't need to be angry over it." She let out a soft sigh as I rested against her cheeks. A second ticked by and she finally smiled against me and relaxed again.

"All right. But only because you asked so nicely," she agreed, earning a snicker from both myself and Shining Armor.

"Interesting magic indeed. Physical contact creates it from the point of his left hoof, exactly like your letter stated. Your strength is in barriers?" he asked after a moment's thought.

I nodded at the partial answer. "Barriers, transmutation, and alteration magic. I block things, change the physical forms of things, and change the metaphysical properties of things," I summarized, closing my eyes sleepily. Twilight was warm and felt good against my now freshly cleaned cheek.

The nurse stood up again next to the couch and left contact with my side finally. "I've cleaned the site as best I could, but I suggest taking a shower to get the remainder of the blood out of your fur. It's just a surface wound and has already ceased bleeding. There's no further trauma that I can detect with my magic, so you should be all right," she reported in her quiet, rather soft voice. She sounded business-like but gentle.

"Thank you, Nurse," Rarity spoke up courteously in the background before adding, "It's best if you go do that now, Mender. Twilight and I already cleaned up while you were, well, preoccupied, and I need to get you into your suit before the party."

I had to admit she spoke wisdom. Shakily, I slowly stood up off the couch and wobbled before finding my balance. One would think that having four hooves instead of two feet would make me more stable, but that turned out to be false so far. More legs seemed to mean more ways to trip over myself, in my case.

"Do you need help walking, Mender? You did take a rather nasty hit to the head still," Twilight asked, moving in gently to brace against my side.

The image of her following me into the bathroom caused me to blush, and I rapidly shook my head. Twilight raised an eyebrow at my display, but I caught a knowing smirk from Rarity as if she practically read my mind.

"Baby steps, Mender," the pearly, technically almost white unicorn reminded. I suddenly realized she wasn't talking about my walking issues at all, and nodded back to her. Twilight deserved baby steps, and I was less likely to make an idiot of myself if I didn't rush anything in the relationship.

"Good idea, Rarity!" Twilight agreed, nodding enthusiastically to her friend and totally missing the underlying message, I suspected.

"Oh, Twily. Never change," Shining Armor agreed, rubbing her on the top of the head and earning another questioning glance as I quietly slipped towards the bathroom while she was distracted. If she did indeed catch on, I had a feeling it would only be awkward...

Temporarily drowning out the panicking Rarity in the background, I glanced around the massive, multi-story ballroom with a sense of awe and scrutiny all at once. It was an extremely impressive structure, had it actually been fully intact, I imagined. Repairs from some practically apocalyptic disaster that had struck the room were still ongoing, it would seem, and I was mildly concerned about how structurally intact the entire room was.

"This is why Pinkie was banned for two years from the room," Twilight whispered in my right ear from next to me. I shuddered, my having put two and two together a few minutes ago doing nothing to blunt the sheer horror of that statement. Hell, the stonework was completely shattered in a few spots!

"Are you sure they've put enough of it back together for this party to be safe?" I asked, glancing skeptically over at the stage near the massive bay window overlooking the cliff outside.

Twilight sighed wearily and nodded after a moment's consideration. "Well, they're professionals, I think. They wouldn't let Fancypants throw a party here if it wasn't safe, right? I think. Yeah, probably," she 'assured'. Crap. Her statement only making me more nervous, I stood up again and wandered along the wall, examining the support beams that had been put in place while they redid the inner masonry. They hadn't left any loose or jutting pieces of stone, so that was good. The wood they used also looked of high quality with proper supports. No, if there was any risk, it was probably in the ceiling near the two damaged areas. So the apparently newly replaced bay window by the stage and the front entrance to the room, both of which sported large wall craters. The parts furthest away from the support beams of the room were at risk of structural collapse if they hadn't been reinforced. Of course, lacking x-ray vision, I had no idea what the supports looked like inside of the ceiling.

"Mender! I need your help!" I suddenly heard Rarity call out. I turned to my left just in time to see the frantic mare speeding towards me, gorgeous dress swishing out with each shift of her back hips.

I waited for her to get within casual talking distance before politely asking, "What is it, Rarity? You know I'll help with anything."

She paused, relaxing a little and giving me a softer smile. "You really are a dear. These incompetent workers have not yet finished my stage and catwalk, sadly! This just will not do. Their boss took sick leave, of all things! How can one be sick when there's a fashion show to prepare for?! I've informed them that I'm recruiting you to lead them in the finalization of the stage," she summarized rapidly.

I went from assured to shocked, and finally to a little panicked by the time she finished, of course. "Uh, I don't think I'm qualified for construction like this. Besides, why would they even listen to me? I look like another party goer," I pointed out, gesturing towards the rather impeccable yet highly uncomfortable suit that I was currently wearing. Even my mane had been styled, which felt more than a little awkward. Well, re-styled. Embarrassingly enough, I had managed to accidentally punch myself in the head while trying to get the suit on, causing Rarity to have to go back and fix my mane up again. Thankfully, it was my left side that time, so I didn't reopen my wound.

Rarity wasn't dissuaded in the least, however. "Why, they'll listen to you because I told them to. After the wonderful job I watched you do making Applejack's machine up from scratch, I have not even the slightest doubt this will be foal's play for you," she complimented, trapping me into doing it at the same time.

My ears lowered and I sighed. The mare definitely had a way with words. "I'll try, Rarity. But only because it's you," I finally agreed, slowly heading back the way I came, towards the rather crude looking framework of a display tent.

"Oh, you're an absolute doll! A true prince of a," Rarity started to coo, hoof steps sounding as if she were following me. Her walking and voice ground to a halt in an instant, however. Huh? Slowing to a stop, I glanced back at her questioningly, only to discover her staring blankly at me with her mouth still partially open, mid-word. Had I done something wrong? Uh oh. Did I tear the back of the suit or something somehow?!

To my surprise however, a faint pink tint shifted into her cheeks rather than any expression of anger. She closed her mouth in a heartbeat and coughed lightly, looking away from me. This only served to leave my mind a further confused mess as I tried to figure out if I should be running away or not.

"Ah, sorry. A momentary stray thought distracted me. We must make haste, though," she excused a moment later, smiling back up at me with no trace left in her expression of what had been before. Weird. When she didn't want to, she certainly didn't wear her emotions at all.

Regardless, I nodded to her and continued towards the construction. The basic structure looked very elaborate with the curves and outcroppings, but that's all it appeared to be. There was nothing existing on the wood at all, which concerned me. Whatever the walls were supposed to be made of had better go up quickly, or there was no way it would be ready by eighteen hundred hours. If my guess was correct, it was probably a tent of some sort meant to hold fabric in place.

Rarity zipped ahead of me and quickly pulled aside a tan pony in an orange vest, who was wearing a solid looking yellow construction helmet. Tufts of black mane stuck out from under the headgear, I noticed. She whispered to him for a moment before nodding. He returned the nod a second later and glanced up at me before walking over. The entire exchange took all of ten seconds, leaving me wondering what exactly she said.

"The Boss says yer gonna help us with figuring out how ta put together the rest of the tent?" he asked dryly, sounding more than a little frustrated. Figure out? I nodded wearily, unsure of what to expect when he withdrew a rolled up piece of paper from his side bag. "Good! Ah'm not trained in these blasted plans and whatnot. Can you make sense of them?" he requested, offering me the roll. I couldn't place his accent, but that didn't surprise me, really. It was thick and the words almost felt 'slanted' somehow. It was hard to describe.

I took the roll with my left hoof, and he raised an eyebrow as it stuck without further assistance. My magic traced along the paper and it unfurled under my manipulation, causing him to step backwards a few hoof lengths in surprise. Still, I needed to hurry, so there was no time for restraint.

My eyes traced the lines on the paper, noting that it was the structure plans almost instantly. My frown lowered further when I noticed the units being used. Centimeters? Meters? Of course, the plan I'd made Applejack was in metric as well because that's what I had been used to using. I rarely, if ever, considered things in terms of the old fashioned Keldarian methods. Still, this wasn't made by me, but was still in metric units. There was starting to be a disturbing amount of coincidences involved for my liking, but I shook my head rapidly and tried to focus.

"These are structural plans for the frame. You have most of it done already, but there's not enough structural support for the front curtain or the upper-back ceiling where it connects to the changing rooms, yet," I pointed out, gesturing to the same spots on their constructed framework.

He momentarily looked surprised before nodding. "Ah thought it was a little light in the back. We don't want those poor mares having lumber fall on their heads! Ya heard him, team! Get on supporting the back, and get those front curtain rods up!" he shouted, gesturing towards the group of a dozen or so congregating near the front of the frame.

Rarity smiled pleasantly at the seeming results, but I shook my head. "No, too slow. You're only going to need three or four ponies for both of those jobs. Have the remainder start putting up the fabric along the front of the building at the same time and we can get the job done even faster," I suggested, heading towards the rolls of fabric they had resting nearby.

The head stallion seemed yet again surprised, but I ignored him and touched my hoof against the rolls. The top one exploded into movement as it unfurled itself, rapidly sliding along the floor before coating the right side of the 'tent' and rolling itself out over the frame.

"Oh, you don't have to actually help, Mender! They were simply having trouble figuring out what the plans meant," Rarity informed, trotting up while wearing a gentle smile.

I shook my head back at her, correcting, "Actually, the back reinforcement isn't on the plans. But without any attachment to the back wall above the changing room exits, it's a serious danger to anypony passing under the arc and through the doors. As for helping, I don't really have anything else to do until the party, so I might as well be useful."

Twilight smirked off to my left and joined Rarity in front of me. "That's very productive of you, Mender. Honestly, you'll make a name for yourself without needing Applejack's help, although her word certainly wouldn't hurt," she added, giving me a happy nod. That I blushed at and smiled after lowering my head a little. I wasn't really used to praise, but I was glad she was happy with me. My eyes widened subtly as I realized that it was important to me. I wanted her to be proud of me. Her, specifically.

Rarity gave a happy murmur and nod, agreeing with, "Indeed! You're very kind, Mender. I can see why Fluttershy also likes you." Well, I wasn't out specifically to be kind. Fluttershy absolutely oozed the virtue. In reality, I just wanted to be useful. I wanted to fit in and actually contribute; to help these amazing ponies as freely as they accepted me into their lives.

"I'm going to be free as well, Mender. May I assist you in construction of the stage and tent?" Twilight suddenly asked, smiling politely with her eyes gently closed towards me. It was more than a little adorable.

"Oh, that's a good idea. Please do prevent him from accidentally tearing his suit as well," Rarity requested, giving two nods towards Twi. I chuckled, realizing that it was indeed still Rarity talking. She must have recovered from whatever bothered her earlier.

Twilight snickered and nodded, pointing out, "He's not going to tear his suit if he sticks to using magic anyway. I'll just help hold things in place." The same stallion from before dropped his jaw, however, as she followed me back to the construction site.

"The Element of Magic herself is going to help put this together?!" he asked, watching her carefully lift up all three curtain rods at once.

She smiled while focusing and nodded absently. "Of course. You're already taking orders from my coltfriend, after all. I might as well help, too," she reasoned, lingering and putting more than a little emphasis on 'coltfriend' as she said it. I blushed lightly, and the brat of a mare looked right at me after finishing the statement. She held a knowing grin, and I suddenly realized she was intentionally spreading it around!

"Careful. It won't be secret for too much longer if you don't do some damage control," I warned, sticking my tongue out at her gently.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking about it. Maybe I don't want it to be a secret? Rarity's right, you know? Honestly, it's totally normal and nopony is going to think any differently of me regardless," she reasoned, blowing a strand of her mane out of her face while two ponies to each side placed the curtain rods into their locking bars.

Chuckling, I shrugged absently. I wasn't one to question the topic, having no idea myself. "If I had to guess, they'll probably treat you with more respect due to who you are, actually. I don't think you'll have anything to worry about," I reasoned.

I was interrupted with a soft nudge to the shoulder, however. I glanced to my right only to see a smaller looking mare with a white coat and abruptly green mane. She was also decked out in the construction gear, so I assumed she was part of the team. "Excuse me, Mr. Moon Mender. We have the right side secured to the frame. Could you help us attach the left now?" she asked politely, oddly looking a little nervous for some reason. I hope she hadn't heard about what happened to the guard and thought my bad luck was contagious or something. Twilight had said Luna told her that the guard had been hospitalized upon returning to the barracks, it turns out. Something about a mild concussion, muscle strains, and potential infection in awkward places from small animal bites. I hadn't realized there was more than one squirrel! Or had it been a chipmunk?

"Oh, sure!" I returned, suddenly catching myself zoning and snapping myself back to reality.

She smiled innocently and nodded before gesturing to another roll of the heavy purple fabric. I released my minor barrier that was holding the right side up, tentatively at first. My smile widened upon realizing that it was indeed secured to the frame. Exhaling softly, I slid the other roll along the ground with my barrier again before unrolling it and hanging it up against the left side of the frame this time.

"I think your magic is getting stronger," Twilight commented, walking along at my left as I went, having finished her job.

Smiling, I nodded to her before she suddenly stopped and turned fully towards me, silently calling for my attention. I halted as well, making sure the fabric was solid against the frame before turning to look at her.

"What did you mean, 'who I am'?" she asked a moment later, tilting her head gently. Huh? Oh! The last thing I had said to her, that's right.

"You're Twilight Sparkle. That name, from what I hear, is synonymous with a mixture of Princess, Celebrity, and Superhero," I explained, winking at her.

As predicted, her cheeks lit up pink almost instantly. "Mender! Ugh. I'm not that important; certainly not a princess," she complained, flattening her ears back and looking down from my gaze.

"Oh, but technically you are, Twilight Dear. Your brother married a Princess, after all, which makes you royalty by relation," Rarity chimed in, making me jump a little. Looking behind me to the left, I saw her slowly trailing along, looking far more relaxed than earlier.

"That's hardly qualification," Twilight denied, giving her friend a deadpan look.

I decided to redirect her self-undercutting, correcting, "Well, even if you don't think you are, I do. You'll always be my princess." Twilight was important to me. At this point, I was determined to accept that.

Sadly, the wrong mare squealed. "Oh, that is absolutely gushing with romantic undertones! You are such a Gentlecolt," Rarity chirped, hopping up lightly on her back hooves and flicking her forelegs back and forth rapidly, looking oddly excited. Twi, for her part, just shifted her blush to crimson and stared at me, mouth parted slightly. I couldn't read her expression in the slightest, however.

My ears drooped a little. "Um, I'm sorry," I tentatively apologized, just in case. It was getting kind of instinctive at this point. Another trait I noticed I shared with Fluttershy.

She snapped out of it, rapidly shaking her head. "Oh, no! No, no! You just surprised me, is all. I've never had a stallion say anything even remotely so nice to me before, apart from Shining Armor. I'm just starting to fully grasp all of this, I think. You really do care for me," she muttered. The way she said the last part made me think she didn't really believe herself, even.

I nodded to her and lightly stepped forward, nuzzling the side of her cheek lightly. She was cute when she blushed, I decided. She pushed back into me at the same time, letting out a quiet sigh. Seconds drifted by contentedly, and I smiled. I could stay just like this for an eternity and be perfectly content. My ears twitched as I picked up a light scraping noise of hoof against the floor to my left, however.

Breaking away and looking over, I saw Rarity slowly retreating via backing up, her eyes fixated largely on the tile below her instead of on us. "Rarity?" I questioned, a little concerned at this point. She was acting strange again.

She jumped as if burned, however, looking back up at both of us just in time for Twilight to give her a confused look as well. "Are you okay?" the lavender unicorn inquired, sounding as concerned as I was.

"Oh, of course, Dear! I was just going to, um, help myself to a bit of a snack before the party," she excused, settling her hooves again and seemingly puffing up, almost.

I gave her a skeptical glance, and she looked away as predicted. Okay, that time she was obviously lying through her teeth. The fact that it was obvious only went to indicate how much whatever she was thinking about was bothering her. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a bit forlorn, is all. Don't mind me," she finally confessed, shifting to a warmer smile and looking back at us fully.

"What's wrong, Rarity? You can tell us," Twilight pressed, shifting to face her fully instead. I let her do her thing, realizing she knew her friend a lot better than I did. Shifting as well, I simply idled next to her for support if needed.

Rarity exhaled before thinking for a moment. I knew that look. It was the "choosing my words carefully" expression! "Well, looking upon you two being so absolutely amazing together indirectly reminds me of what I don't yet have myself. I'm simply wishing that I, too, had found my prince." She looked sullen after having admitted it and lowered her gaze again quietly.

Twilight frowned, eyes softening before she walked forward and gently hugged the white unicorn. "I understand, Rarity. You'll find your prince soon, don't worry. Maybe he'll even be here at this party?" Twilight suggested, smiling confidently at Rarity.

The white and purple mare chuckled and leaned into her friend before returning, "I wish I shared your confidence, but thank you. If he's half as polite and charming as yours, I should feel rightly delighted." Twilight's eyes widened for the briefest moment before she recovered her composure, adding a light frown. Huh?

The frown was gone before I could so much as blink, however, replaced by a gentle yet assuring smile. "I'm sure he's out there, Rarity. Just keep your hopes up. I can even keep my eyes open for you and direct any potential stallions your way during the party," she offered, releasing Rarity and giving her a soft wink.

Rarity laughed outright at that before making a 'tsk' noise towards her. "Oh that would hardly be proper. But thank you, Dear. You're a very good friend," Rarity replied, sounding genuinely better than before. I smiled too and nodded. If I knew what to look for, I'd try to help, too. I wasn't very good at judging character, though. Hell, half the time I couldn't even judge my own.

I pondered it, however. Of course, if I had some thermal imaging cameras and photo scanning equipment, I could probably write up an algorithm that could scan the crowds for potential matches with physical characteristics that Rarity looked for. Some simple conversation monitoring with directional mics would probably give a brief summary of their personalities, too. It would hardly be accurate, but it could be done. It would be a lot more thorough than talking to every stallion at the party, that was for sure!

"Um, are you listening, Mender?" Twilight asked, nudging me in the chest lightly. I started and flailed in surprise.

"Huh? What?" I asked, suddenly feeling more than a little embarrassed.

Twilight snickered and pointed out, "I know you're a stallion and I'm your fillyfriend, so I'm not going to be mad that you've been staring at my flank for the past thirty seconds. Normally one wouldn't be wearing a blank look while doing so, however, so I have a feeling your head was elsewhere." My blush magnified, earning another series of snickers from Twilight, who, to her own credit, looked more amused than angry. "Relax, Mender. I'm teasing you. I just wanted to let you know that Rarity and I are going to go get a snack before the party. You don't need me for anything else here, do you?" she asked after another moment.

"Oh, no. I'll just finish helping them set up the tent, then," I answered, trying to keep any negative tones out of my voice. Admittedly, I was enjoying their presence, but I didn't want to get in the way of any talking they might want to do privately. Or their food, in case they were actually intending to get some. Given the reminder, my stomach let out a pained murmur, but I ignored it. I didn't have time to eat anything now.

If I had let anything slip, Twilight either didn't notice or decided not to say anything. She gave a gentle nod, eyes closed in content before turning away. "We'll be back in a few minutes," she tossed out before heading after Rarity, who had already turned and redirected herself towards the rather impressive looking buffet table.

This time I really did watch her as she walked away, not necessarily her flanks, of course. Not that they weren't something to look at. Still, I found myself enjoying her presence more and more as she became more relaxed around me. She was slowly becoming less scary. As the negative feelings were removed, there was less to get in the way of the shockingly positive ones that I hadn't even realized were there in such force. Still, I knew better and reminded myself to exercise restraint and move at her pace, even if that meant waiting until the next ice age before progressing any further. Well, if this planet had atmospheric shifts like that. I pondered it for a moment before I was nudged on the right shoulder again.

Expecting her this time, I glanced over at the same mare as before, who was now smiling this time. "We got the left side secured. Could you help us with the roof now, Mr. Moon Mender?" she asked politely, perking a little after saying it. I chuckled and nodded, following her towards the back of the structure where the elevated construction platforms were. Well, at least this was going smoothly. Maybe I'd have a normal night at least, as a compromise. For some reason, I wasn't holding my breath.

Chapter 22

Wiping my forehead with a hoof, I glanced back up at the soft moonlight flowing through the sky dome above. The silver and blue light cascaded gently across the entrance to the tent, giving the purple fabric a complimentary glow. I waited for the cue yet again before straining back against the rope and pulling the curtain open for the next mare to walk out. How had I gotten suckered into doing this again? I had thought I was supposed to be just a moving mannequin for Rarity, not a stage hoof.

Oh yeah. Half of them didn't show up and the party coordinator latched onto me in a panic, recruiting me as part of the crew. What the hell was with these ponies? I hope they weren't getting paid for this still. Of course, I didn't expect myself to get paid either.

Keeping my bitterness in check, I slowly lowered the rope again and swallowed, sweating profusely under the stifling curtains. The models were lucky they only had to walk through this hellish environment between the changing rooms and the stage. Thankfully, I'd been very careful to not rip the suit I was wearing, which didn't make this job particularly easy. Not that Rarity had shown up again to grace my presence in the first place. For that matter, neither had my fillyfriend.

Bitterness, Mender. Shaking my head, I lowered my ears and waited for the next cue. Another model was walking up in a rather cute, if not frilly, dress. It looked good on her lanky form, although she didn't seem to have any meat on her bones whatsoever. That didn't really appeal to my senses; not that I was in the market for a fillyfriend anyway. Still, I had to give credit to Rarity. The mare was seriously skilled.

Something twitched in my mind and I frowned, suddenly taking a closer look at the mare. Wait a second! White coat with a pink mane, horn elegantly slipping up through the complimenting shade. It was her! She was the one who got me arrested.

Her eyes glanced over a second later and she froze, apparently recognizing me instantly, aside from the suit. Her eyes slowly widened as mine narrowed, my hoof slowly squeezing the rope. Oh, it would be delicious to 'accidentally' drop the rope as she was walking under the curtain, flattening her onto the stage and ruining her pretty presentation. The temptation was there, and I swallowed wearily. She fidgeted, and actually edged closer to me, much to my surprise.

"Fleur de Lis, get ready. You're on in thirty," the manager called in a quiet whisper from behind the secondary curtains to my left. So that was her name.

She shifted closer and leaned her longer neck down, whispering to me instead, "Please don't ruin this! It was an accident, so let's not be rash. I'll pay you a hundred times what was in that pouch; just please don't do anything. Fancypants has another agent watching," she actually begged, further surprising me. I didn't know what kind of agent she was talking about, but I didn't particularly like the sentiment either.

"You're trying to bribe me to shut up? You had me arrested for sexual assault and theft! I got paraded through the streets after being tossed in jail!" I growled, vaguely insulted that she was attempting to pay me off.

Her ears flattened back and she put a hoof to her mouth, adding, "Shh! Look, I'm sorry! Please. My career could really take off here and Fancy would be really happy. Just please don't do anything?" she pleased, eyes looking desperate. I glared for a moment, locking eyes with her in silence.

"Okay, go," the coordinator spoke in a hushed tone behind me. Fleur backed up weakly and swallowed, giving me a nervous look before heading towards the curtain. Damn it.

Closing my eyes, I slowly pulled back on the rope and opened the curtains up for her. She nervously looked to either side of the curtains before beginning her slow, styled walk out. My hoof twitched. The mare had embarrassed Twilight immensely, too. If anything, I should be getting justice for her. Squeezing my eyes shut, I sighed and held back. The moment dragged out and was gone in an instant as the white unicorn strode confidently out onto the catwalk. No. I was better than that. Public humiliation was exactly what she did to me, so I wouldn't be proving myself any better a pony if I turned around and did the same back to her. Plus, it would only serve to add a smudge to Rarity's showing, which I was here to prevent.

Almost a full minute passed before Fleur was on her way back inside. I opened the curtain up dutifully as she came in. She relaxed, seeing as I didn't drop it on her back on the way in, flattening her and providing a perfect frame for her butt to the entire crowd. She hesitated, glancing at me after the curtains slid shut. I looked away from her, a little hurt at letting the opportunity pass but just deciding to let it go. I'd probably never see her again after this, anyway. She quickly had to move aside as another model came up, and slipped away back towards the changing room.

The rest of the show passed uneventfully, if not rather boring in my opinion. The mares, and to my surprise, a few stallions, simply blurred together as they walked past. After a while, I just listened to the cues for opening the curtains. It became mechanical as my thoughts drifted, mood lowered by the surprise encounter. Well, at least this wasn't that particularly bad of a night. Now, I was happy I had resisted flattening her in front of the crowds outside.

Much to my surprise, the cues stopped and I looked up just in time to see the manager himself approach the curtains. He smiled and grinned to me before slipping through the cracks, not bothering to open them up or request that I do. "Thank you, Everypony! Tonight was truly amazing and I hope all of you enjoyed the look of fashion to come! Give a warm applause for our wonderfully talented fashion designer, Rarity!" he called out, voice muffled by the curtains. My eyes widened a little and I peeked out the hairline crack on the other side of the curtain, watching the pearly unicorn mare sashay onto the stage and give a delighted, energetic bow. I smirked as I noticed she looked right at home on the stage, as if a fish in the water. I'd be a traumatized, shivering ball in the corner with that many ponies looking at me and cheering, admittedly. She seemed almost energized by it.

"Oh, thank you, fine ponies of the wonderful Canterlot. You are too kind," she politely added after her introduction.

"She truly is wonderful, folks! Of course, have an amazing round of applause for Mr. Fancypants himself; without him, this would not have been possible!" the coordinator added. I raised an eyebrow as I watched, then widened it as the same stallion who punched me in the head this afternoon got up on stage and took a gentle, flowing bow. What? What?! Damn it. I should have known.

"Thank you, Everypony! I am purely the provider here, however. This truly wouldn't be possible without my wonderful friend, Rarity's styles," he spoke up, surprising me a little. Well, he was more humble than I pegged him for.

Rarity gave a show of waving her hoof gently towards him, acting abashed. "Oh, you surely jest, Fancy," she chided, looking clearly delighted at the same time. This was getting to be a bit much in my opinion, but I suppose this was the whole reason Rarity came.

"Further, I'd like to say how proud I am of my wonderful mare, Fleur de Lis!" he added a moment later, causing my eye to twitch of its own accord. The mare in question came up on stage from the audience at the same time, still wearing Rarity's beautiful dress. She bowed alongside Fancypants, smiling for the crowd. A model, huh? Shaking my head, I released the rope and winced, feeling as if the skin had been worn off my hooves. That was a brutal forty-five minutes or so spent tugging on the same rope. I glanced about, but most of the stagehooves were either talking to themselves or finding a dark part of the curtains to peek out of at the proceedings.

Sensing the opportunity for food, I slipped towards the back of the tent and exited through the curtain I knew was angled between the back of the wall and wooden frame, having put it up myself. My stomach growled once again, and I slipped my way through the crowd, heading towards the table I knew the food was kept at. Rarity was still up on stage, shining in the lights while Fancypants droned on and on. I didn't even pick up on what he was saying.

Shifting away from the brightness of the stage lights, it wasn't that hard to pick out Twilight, either. She was sitting in the elevated stands set up for the show, surrounded by both guards and extremely posh looking ponies, amongst other things. One looked to be some sort of part lion, part eagle. I thought I spotted what looked like a donkey type individual too. She was here as a representative of Celestia, however, so perhaps they were dignitaries who caught up with her during her excursion with Rarity?

Accepting it at face value, I continued on until I managed to locate the food in the dim lighting. It looked heavily picked through at this point, but I wasn't about to be picky. I decided to go 'heavy' for the occasion and made myself a rather hearty sandwich scrounged from various sources at the table. I wasn't expecting having to almost use my wilderness survival training to find food here!

A quiet chuckle entered into my ears after I took my first, massive bite. It interrupted my savoring of the taste of food after so long, but didn't quite disrupt due to its melodious tone and softness. My right ear twitched lightly, and I turned my head in that direction. She was an unassuming, gray-coated mare with a softly flowing, black mane that was considerably longer than what I was used to. Further, she was dressed up in a simple, yet elegant black suit coat and had her mane tied back with a clip. My eyes trailed down, taking small note of the mark on her flank. I didn't know a lot about music in general, but the treble clef was a popular enough symbol. Hers appeared to be purple in hue. Not lingering, I shifted my gaze back up to meet hers. She looked amused, so I assumed she was the source of the chuckle.

"Truly. No dainty bites or posh posture. You must be one of the ponies working here," she guessed, giving her glass on the table a swirl with her hoof but not breaking eye contact.

I slowly swallowed, earning another giggle before giving her a questioning stare, unsure of what she was getting at. My guard was admittedly up ever since running into Fleur earlier. "Oh, no offense meant, of course," she excused, nodding once before smiling softer instead, continuing, "I'm actually a worker here too." With that mentioned, she gestured back behind her at the small group of ponies gathered on stage. They were chatting and seemingly taking a break while attention was focused on the show.

"Oh, it's fine. What do you play?" I inquired politely, honestly the only question I could think of before shoving another large bite of sandwich in my mouth. My stomach wasn't out for hostages at the moment, that was for sure.

She grinned at my enthusiasm before answering, "Cello. I'm first chair for the royal orchestra. We were asked to play tonight." That sounded important. I idly wondered what a mare of her stature was doing talking to me. I inquired as to just that as politely as I could between my second and third inhalations of sandwich.

She surprised me by chuckling softly and shaking her head, oddly reserved. "I'm not that special. My name is Octavia, by the way. I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage yet," she finally introduced, taking another idle sip of the dark scarlet liquid in her glass while waiting for my reply.

"Oh, sorry. I'm not used to these types of parties and, well, I'm a little hungry," I excused, coughing lightly and feeling my cheeks heat up. Here I was supposed to be making a pleasant image for Rarity, and this is what happened. "Regardless, I'm Moon Mender. It's a pleasure to meet you, Octavia," I introduced myself, bowing lightly. I maintained a firm grip on my food, however. I'd be damned if my bad luck quota stole my hard fought prize from me!

Octavia momentarily smiled, nodding to me mid-sip before suddenly starting and trying really hard not to choke on her drink. My eyes widened and I gently leaned forward, patting her on the back as she coughed a couple times.

"Wait, you're not 'the' Moon Mender, are you?" she questioned skeptically, staring at me in surprise. Oh hell. Was she there this afternoon to see me hauled through the streets? My ears flattened back and I glared.

She shook her head rapidly, swaying a hoof in front of her. "No, I'm sorry if I mistook you for somepony else! It's just rumored that Miss Twilight Sparkle's mate is here at the party, and I thought that was his name. I didn't mean to insinuate," she excused rapidly, causing my glare to shift to embarrassment even faster.

"Please don't let her hear you say that. She is totally not comfortable with 'mate', I should warn," I groaned, cringing at the prospect of her hearing that. Exhaling weakly, I shoved the last bite of sandwich in my mouth before rapidly chewing. I will digest you before anything can possibly take you away from me, my precious!

Octavia tilted her head gently, giving me an inquiring expression. I honestly didn't know what to say. Twilight had said she might not mind spreading it around a bit, and I could always say that I hadn't said anything. She could have easily heard it from somewhere else, of course, but if she'd heard it in the first place, it must be getting a bit more widespread than I realized.

"There's only one way you could know that," the black-maned mare pointed out a moment later.

I nodded gently and smiled towards her. "I'm just me. Twilight is my fillyfriend, yes, but there's nothing specifically special about me," I explained, trying to form the correct impression.

Her eyes widened even further, causing her to look almost like a statue. "Oh my gosh! You're so, well, normal! I figured you'd at least be like one of those guys she's sitting with over there," she reasoned, glancing past me and in the direction of the raised seats.

I idly shook my head before pouring myself a glass of punch. It was labeled as raspberry punch, anyway. Seeing as it was practically untouched, I guessed that it was lacking alcohol. "I'm just me. Twilight isn't that kind of pony, either. I think you'd find her really normal as well, at least compared to your expectations," I reasoned, taking a sip and being pleasantly surprised in the truthful label.

Octavia smiled pleasantly, looking actually happy for the first time since the conversation started. "That's actually rather refreshing. Seeing as Twilight is busy, I extend the offer to come listen to us until she gets done, if you want. Looks like our break is almost over," she offered, glancing over at the ponies starting to disperse from the stage. Given the amount of cheering, I'd say that Rarity's show was a success. The dignitary booth didn't look any closer to clearing out, however, so I figured Octavia's guess was accurate.

Feeling a little more full as well, I shrugged before nodding. "Sure, if you don't mind me hanging around by the stage. I don't exactly have anyplace else to go," I muttered, again trying to hold back the bitterness. She seemed to pick up on it anyway, but apparently realized it wasn't for her and smirked, nodding.

"No problem at all, of course. It would be a pleasure, honestly. My friends aren't ones to put on airs, ironic as that sounds for a party such as this," she assured, standing up fully and taking her glass back to the stage with her, lightly carrying it in her mouth. Unwilling to part with my punch, I refilled it back to full before attaching it, barrier and all, to the side of my shoulder, following after the grayish mare.

Her friends up on stage greeted her as she approached, then shot a questioning glance past her at me as I wandered up. Being utterly exhausted, I flopped onto my haunches unceremoniously next to the stage. They seemed to almost exhale while watching me. Huh?

"See? He's normal. This is 'the' Moon Mender, by the way," she introduced, causing more surprised reactions. They didn't tense up again, however. I glanced across them, noticing a good dozen or so ponies of varying colors, all equipped with classical orchestra instruments. Octavia's was the only cello, however, I noticed.

I watched her hop up on stage, resuming a relaxed position behind her larger instrument before nodding down at me, smile still playing at her expression. I squinted my eyes at the change of light in this corner, momentarily glaring up at the rather impressive looking crystal chandelier hanging above the entire stage, radiating its light down upon the entire band. Ugh. It was still too bright, considering I was practically blundering through the dark looking for food a moment ago.

Octavia watched the dispersing ponies carefully before giving a gentle nod and wave of her hoof in the air. The instruments came to life instantly, producing a gentle, harmonious sound that wafted over the speakers and across the entire room. I smiled, relaxing a little at the tones. This was definitely a pleasant sort of music, I must admit. The only thing I vaguely remembered from my old world was the stuff that blared out in the barracks all the time. A bunch of new, trendy sounds from our allies' ever pervasive culture. Now that I considered it, their influence was actually a more dangerous weapon than their vastly superior weapon technology had been.

Pushing the unpleasant memories away, I relaxed gently against the stage, watching the crowds ebb and flow.

It was easy to zone in and out when nopony was really paying attention to me. It was even easier after I discovered Octavia's book stash in her cello case. She looked more amused than angry when I peeked inside. She had brought three books with her for the 'before and after' party, she explained. One was a rather, well, vivid romance novel that brought uncomfortable stirrings to myself after the fifth page. Subtle wasn't exactly my thing, so I decided to try another book before I ended up arrested again. The second didn't really interest me in the slightest, being about, oddly enough, vampire ponies. Sure, they were actually likely to exist given the massive level of supernatural and magical occurring in Equestria, but I didn't see the draw in romanticizing getting my blood drained from my body. I kind of needed that!

So out of options, I had distracted myself by reading the third book for a good hour or so while listening to the gentle, lulling music. It didn't entirely fit the adventure genre, but it was pleasant enough. "Daring Do" was a fascinating character, admittedly. I wondered idly if Twilight ever read fiction. She seemed too analytical for that kind of thing. I could almost hear her ask, "Why write about something that's fake?!"

I chuckled to myself before flipping another page, being treated to Daring haphazardly swinging over a pit of vicious, flesh eating beetles to get at the golden chalice in the center of the temple!

"Ha! I heard you'd be here, Tavi!" was suddenly announced from practically right next to me. I let out a startled yelp before falling over sideways, barely managing to catch the book before it spilled to the floor. "Oh! Whoops! Sorry, I didn't see ya there!" the mare's voice apologized suddenly upon me regaining my composure.

First glance showed me she had a rather gentle white coat; not pure white but a very bright gray. Her mane surprised me, however, by being a vibrant cyan and dark blue color, worn in a spiky, relaxed manner. I couldn't see her eyes at all through the dark rimmed, purple shades she wore shortly under her horn. Well, she was certainly different. I couldn't place the style, though.

"Vinyl? What are you doing here?" Octavia inquired properly, taking a sip of water after. I looked between the two, realizing that they must be acquainted, obviously. Octavia didn't seem truly displeased to see the other mare, so maybe they were friends?

Vinyl smirked and nodded to herself before returning, "I heard a certain gray cello player was going to be here and snuck in, of course." What?! I looked up and down at her, noticing she was oddly in a pressed vest and white coat. For sneaking in, she was dressed fairly formally. Of course, if she wanted to blend in, that was really the only way to go.

Octavia smirked back and shook her head. "I'm sure you did. Why, I bet the bouncer even blushed and squealed like a little filly before he let the mighty 'Dj Pon-3' in," she reasoned, tone mirthful and amused. Dj? Oh! Disk Jockey! Now I knew what her style reminded me of! 'Dj Pon-3' must be her stage name.

"And asked for an autograph, of course! Say, who's your new 'friend' here?" the eccentric Dj asked a moment later, suddenly shifting her attention to me instead.

"Only 'the' Moon Mender, mooching off my book supply," she introduced, adding the emphasis yet again onto my name.

My ears lowered and I gave Octavia a skeptical glance, asking, "I'm really not that important. Do you have to introduce me to everypony like that?" She just smiled and gave me an amused wink, earning a laugh from Vinyl.

I glanced over at the newcomer in time to see her give me a once over, shifting her shades down to peek up and down myself. Her eyes were a soft Crimson, surprisingly, behind the headwear. "Well, it's nice to meet ya! I'm Vinyl Scratch, just in case you haven't heard of me. Dj Pon-3 might be more familiar, of course. I'd heard Twilight Sparkle got a coltfriend, but didn't have a face to put to the name. I have seen you around town, though," she admitted, smiling more warmly before raising her glasses back up. Wait, around town?

"Oh, do you live in Ponyville?" I asked, tilting my head to her and closing the book I still held. Reading with the 'sun' right above me was causing serious eyestrain anyway. What was it about crystal chandeliers that made them so bright? Refraction?

"Yup! Right on main street. Admittedly, I was impressed by your walking barrel platform," she complimented, snickering lightly.

I blushed, earning a surprised yet confused stare from the mare onstage.

"Ha. Not my best moment, admittedly. Seriously though, how is everypony finding out that Twilight and I are dating?" I asked, curiosity finally getting the better of me. I'd probably regret it, of course.

Vinyl gave a hearty chuckle before shaking her head. "Dude, Twilight Sparkle herself finally finds a stallion to sleep with; that's huge news. She's practically royalty," she explained. My cheeks exploded into heat and I stepped back, lowering my ears slightly.

"W-What? Wait, how does anypony know that we, uh," I started to ask before trailing off, realizing that I might have just stepped into a trap.

The Dj grinned in impish delight, confirming that I did just step on a social landmine. "Oh ho ho! I wasn't expecting that. So you two have slept together!" she confirmed, dramatic evil laughter tying it in.

Octavia slapped her forehead and put her water glass back down. "Vinyl, that's not very proper. And it is sort of assumed, Mender. That is an aspect of dating somepony," the gray mare pointed out gently, in a surprisingly calm manner. I exhaled and nodded, trying to convince myself of the same.

"So, how is she in bed?" the mare next to me asked an instant later, causing me to blush again and sigh, giving her a skeptical look. Why did she want to know that? How is that even relevant in the first place?

"Vinyl!" Octavia protested, looking utterly shocked.

As predicted, she only received an impish smirk in reply. I just shrugged, however. "I don't really think it's that big of a deal, now that Octavia says that," I assured, ears drooping still as I wished for a different topic regardless.

Vinyl, for what it was worth, looked delighted. "See?! That's an awesome attitude to have about things! Live and experience, I always say. So, about that question?" she reminded, winking to me.

I rolled my eyes and decided to take a stab in the dark. "Well, she's relaxing, I suppose. Oh, and very warm. Oh, and she makes this cute little squeaking noise when she falls asleep," I tried to relay. She really was adorable, even when sleeping. Well, actually she was all kinds of different adorable while sleeping.

The Dj's reaction was less than satisfactory, however. Her smirk fell away, replaced by a stunned, vaguely disbelieving look. "Wait, relaxing? She falls asleep?!" she asked, sounding like the concept was completely foreign for her. Well, maybe it was if she lived that much of a night life, but I assumed she'd be dead a long while ago if she never slept at all.

I tilted my head towards her, inquiring, "Isn't that a good thing?"

"Uh, no! I think you're doing something wrong, Dude. What are you doing, actually, if it's not too much to ask?" she asked, still sounding unsure and looking at me like I had grown a second head. I checked just to make sure while peeking back at Octavia for help. Nope, still just the one head. The cello player looked surprised as well, but with an oddly pink tint to her cheeks as she held her hooves up to her mouth. What the hell?!

"Uh, do? Well, I mostly just lay there, like she does. Um, why?" I asked cautiously, starting to wonder if I was committing another strange faux pas.

I swore I saw the cyan and dark blue maned mare twitch lightly. "What is wrong with you?! Do you honestly want her to dump you? Not that she's not partially to blame, but still!" Vinyl started to complain, stomping her hooves around while flailing about in a surprisingly active anger. I flinched and shrunk back, ears lowering significantly. I knew what 'dump' meant, and it brought an icy knife wound to my chest almost instantly.

Oddly, a look of dawning comprehension flashed onto Octavia's face when I glanced back up at her, trying to get a second opinion before freaking out and rushing over to Twilight to beg for forgiveness.

"Oh! Oh. Uh, Vinyl, I think you two may be talking about totally different things," she pointed out, causing me to freeze. We were?! Oh thank you! Maybe that meant that Twilight wasn't hiding anything from me that she might potentially dump me for.

Vinyl stopped her rage-induced stomping and glanced over at her friend, somehow projecting a questioning look without us being able to see her eyes or eyebrows. If I remembered, I'd have to ask her how she did that later. "You know, you're supposed to relax in bed, right? It helps you get to sleep?" Octavia reminded, raising her eyebrow as well. Finally, logic! This I could work with. I exhaled quietly, waiting for the verdict.

Vinyl gave a deadpan stare at both of us before shrinking a little. "Oh. Oh dang. Well, yeah. Okay, that makes me feel so much better. Dang, Dude. You seriously need to stop joking around like that! I thought you were serious for a second there!" she exclaimed, wobbling about as if her blood pressure was still spiked from her rant.

Technically, I was serious, but I probably shouldn't mention that. Instead I just laughed awkwardly and agreed with, "Ha! Yeah, sorry." I'll probably never know what actually went wrong there, but at least Twilight wasn't going to dump me, I decided.

"Well, might I suggest you let me get back to playing before this conversation gets any further awkward?" Octavia asked, directing her unsteady expression towards the Dj.

Vinyl smirked and nodded, agreeing with, "It's all good. Oh, and look me up when you get back to town, Mender! You're definitely a cool stallion."

I blushed and smiled, rubbing the back of my head with my right forehoof. "Nah. I'm just me. Nothing special, like I said earlier," I protested, not taking to this public awareness thing with much grace. Twilight was really popular!

The almost white unicorn gave a hearty laugh before shaking her head. "You're too modest for this whole celebrity thing. You need to come visit me more often as well, Tavi!" she declared, slamming her hoof down on the stage next to Octavia and earning a slightly annoyed stare. I listened to the boards creak under the blow and sighed. It was indeed a cheap reconstruction job. They were either stingy or rushed, I decided.

"I usually do visit you when I come to Ponyville, Vinyl. It's not my fault that I need to sift aside a veritable mountain of garbage from your decadent lifestyle to merely find a place to sit," she shot back, tongue rather barbed. I was impressed.

Vinyl grinned wider, apparently taking the jab in stride. Her mouth opened, undoubtedly to return another venomous verbal volley, when the creaking echoed and reverberated through the wood I was leaning against. My frown hit instantly and I pushed my ear to the stage. There was a straining sound and a light vibration that got more distant, shooting into the back wall the stage was connected to. My eyes widened as I watched the line of dust shoot up the wall behind the stage, disappearing into the repaired ceiling in an instant. A split? But that meant that something heavy was being anchored to the...

I looked up, swallowing as I saw the massive chandelier shiver suddenly before lowering barely half an inch. Son of a bitch. All of those lovely, sharp, pointy crystals were aimed downwards at a most unfortunate angle as the entire form gave another sway, crack visibly appearing in the wall.

My right forehoof slid Octavia's book towards her cello while my left flared with energy as fast as I could manage to draw it. There was no way I could move the stage out of the way before it fell, so there was only two options. I could shield them all from the falling crystal monstrosity, of course, but the surface area involved was roughly seven or eight times what I tried before. I doubted the shield would hold for any significant amount of time. Alternatively, I could move the chandelier as it fell. This time I had the advantage of only one object descending towards me at high velocity, after all.

I wasn't given time to think of anything else, sadly. Less than two seconds after I noticed the first sway, there was a brutal cracking noise from above the thing and it dropped. Aww hell. Simply acting at that point, I hopped up onto the stage as it dropped. Everypony looked up at almost the same time when the noise sounded out. Octavia's eyes widened and she screamed as I kicked off the chair next to her, using a barrier to boost my jump as best I could. The chair went flying as I snagged my hoof in it, but it was far too late to worry about clumsy reactions.

My hoof extended out, reaching for the center extension of the chandelier as it descended. The rest of me braced for impact just in case I missed. Of course, a second later I realized I could have simply stepped back from the stage and avoided the chandelier entirely. Ah well. Instinct is a bitch sometimes.

Okay, this plan could have done with a little more thinking through before I implemented it. I rotated yet again as I flipped through the air, drifting two-dozen meters over the ballroom while clinging to a spiky, crystal disk of misfortune and death. And now it was flipping like a coin and threatening to rob me of my hard fought sandwich, of course. I clung to the side of it as best I could, wincing as I tried to think happy, non-spinning thoughts.

Okay, so what had gone wrong? I reviewed what had led up to this disaster carefully in my mind. My hoof had touched the metal of the chandelier, of course, activating my magic, which first canceled its downward momentum, then used automatically adjusting micro-thrusters to apply an antigravity effect. That had worked perfectly fine. Mistake number one was to not account for getting caught in the burst of energy. I fired it off too fast, and got hit with the cast-off effect. Losing my gravity as well, I guess I was really lucky when I managed to only get a small nick to my suit when I slipped between the fields of sharp and pointy crystals, safely getting to the significantly less pointy top of the chandelier.

Mistake number two. Failing to account for what my own forward momentum would do to the now stagnant lighting arrangement. Of course, upon smacking into the center of it, I knocked it upwards at a slight angle. I was momentarily stunned upon impact and failed to correct the velocity before it smacked into the wall behind the stage. That started the bloody flipping motion. Now I was too dizzy and unsure of my own timing to try counter-thrusting to push it in any given direction. Chances are, given my skills and luck, I'd send the spiked disk of misfortune and death directly down into the gasping crowds below me. Or are they above me now? I couldn't figure it out and just clung to the hot metal as best I could. Figures they'd use actual fire to light the stupid thing. I also singed one of my sleeves trying to avoid the perpetually burning magical candle things that were on this side. What a choice. Sharp and pointy or hot and burning? No, wait. Gotta look on the bright side, Mender. I had at least another five or six minutes of life left before my magic wore out and I crashed into the floor in a giant shrapnel fireball, undoubtedly killing myself instantly along with several dozen innocent bystanders.

"Help!" I yelped again after completing yet another rotation. There were dozens of unicorns down there. This thing, even including myself, wouldn't take that much at all to stop the rotation. My spell would make it virtually weightless in regards of momentum. Hell, Twilight could do it while sleeping, I had no doubt. Still, I shouldn't rely on her to save me every time I get into trouble.

I finally managed to rotate myself to line up with the direction the crystal chandelier kept flipping. I waited once again for the thing to be right-side up before killing the antigravity on myself and throwing my squishy body against the side that was raising into the air as hard as I could. I winced as one of the candles exploded against my side, singing my suit lightly, but the rotation managed to completely stop and even out. Scuttling backwards, I re-balanced myself in the center of the blasted thing and left my anti-gravity off. The spell on the chandelier only accounted for its own mass, so mine added to it was causing it to slowly lower in the direction of the ground now. I was still drifting to the side, however. Looking ahead of me now, I swallowed wearily as I saw the full size bay window rapidly approaching. If I broke through that before I touched down, this thing would drift off over the cliff edge. My magic would exhaust itself before I would be able to land then, and the remainder of my brief fall would have a very painful end to it, I imagined. I hoped for a pegasi in the crowd that might be able to recover me before being pancaked into the ground.

"Mender!" I heard in Rarity's voice from beneath me somewhere. I peeked down below the chandelier as I sailed. The crowds below were clearing, making a painfully obvious path of potential destruction should my impromptu flying saucer crash and burn prior to hitting the window. I saw that no effort was given to providing cushions, of course. Joy. Rarity surprisingly ran along directly under me, however. She looked up with a shocked, yet attentive expression. Oh!

"My spell is making the chandelier really light! You should be able to lower me with your magic. Please watch out for the spikes on the bottom, though!" I called down as loud as I could over the panicked murmurs and screams below.

Rarity slowed, lagging behind the chandelier for a moment before her horn flared up with a light-blue energy. My eyes widened as a billowing aura surrounded the entire chandelier. The speed of my descent increased significantly and I heard a sudden yelp. Hmm, perhaps she would have expected the mass a little better if I had said weightless rather than really light?

Rarity overcompensated. Badly. The chandelier hit the ground hard with the crystals digging in. Nopony was under it as far as I could tell, thankfully. Not so thankfully, the crystals shattered and fragmented, not only flipping the entire chandelier while I was still on it, but spraying the shards at high velocity in every conceivable direction.

That adrenalin rush hit again and everything slowed down. I casually flipped through the air, flung free of the top of the chandelier and tossed like a rag doll. The spell came free when my hoof lost contact with the metal, and all the energy snapped back into myself. The chandelier, returning to full weight instantly, anticlimactically flopped along the floor on its top, spinning in a lazy rotation. The energy left me in the same instant as I fired it from my hoof as hard as I could. The cone-shaped barrier momentarily formed an exceedingly unorthodox long-jump pole as it cratered into the floor of the ballroom. The rogue shards from the chandelier were encapsulated instantly, however, smashing into the inside of my makeshift cone as I trapped them all.

I smiled momentarily as my shield predictably failed a second later, letting a few thousand crystal shards fall to the floor rather harmlessly. If I were fast enough, hardly any would have gotten free of my barrier, though. That was all I could do.

Going limp, I let myself rotate once more in the air before descending harshly towards the floor, ironically headed right for the slowing chandelier. It would seem I couldn't be rid of the damn thing. Unfortunately for me, the spiked side was pointed up now.

My descent slowed significantly as I was caught in a light-blue aura. I went rigid as to not put any undue strain on her magic as she let out a gasp and grunt, straining against the force of the spell. Twilight ran up at high speed a moment later, shoving her way through the crowd before snagging me in her own purple and crimson light. Rarity let out a pained sigh before slumping over onto her stomach, mindful of the shards of crystal everywhere.

Twilight had no issue carrying me over to her at all, of course. "Mender, are you okay?! What happened?" she asked rapidly, sounding worried, as usual. I seemed to bring out the best in her.

"Several failed attempts at slowing down a stupid chandelier," I groaned, feeling exceedingly tired. That hadn't taken as much energy as the shield did earlier with Rarity, however, so I managed to stand on my own four hooves when set down.

Rarity frowned, slowly sitting up again. "That was horrible. This is hardly becoming behavior for a gentlecolt, Mender! What were you doing surfing a chandelier across the room in the first place, I dare ask?" she questioned, looking a little miffed at me.

I lowered my ears and opened my mouth to explain when I was cut off anyway. "Hey, isn't that the same stallion that was being moved through the streets in chains earlier this afternoon?" I heard asked from an unknown voice behind me somewhere. Spinning around, I saw nopony in particular talking, but a rush of murmurs and whispering spread out through the crowd almost instantly. I deflated, ears now dropping into negative angles in regards to my head. Oh crap. That was the last thing I wanted them to remember.

Twilight surprised me by hauling me against herself a second later, wrapping both of her forelegs around me. The whispers picked up, but she glared over my head at the crowd as she hid me from sight using herself. Her ears flattened back as well, giving her a more hostile look than sad, however. Was she actually defending me?! Rarity shrunk a little under the overwhelming negative attention, and seemed unsure of herself and what to do for a moment.

"Wait! Stop!" was suddenly called out to my left, Twilight's right. Octavia and Vinyl managed to squeeze through the growing crowd of ponies. "He saved Vinyl and I, along with the entire orchestra when the chandelier fell from the ceiling! If he hadn't intercepted it, I'd be dead," the gray earth mare defended, swiveling about and looking at the crowd as she spun. Vinyl nodded and ran over to me at the same time, sliding to a stop in front of Twilight.

"Is he okay?" Vinyl asked a moment later, raising her glasses up to get a better look at me. I smiled to her and nodded gently.

"I'm fine, Vinyl. A little worked up, but I'm just glad nopony got hurt," I muttered wearily.

Twilight smiled down at me and nodded. "Making friends in high places while almost killing yourself is certainly better than just almost killing yourself," she pointed out, relaxing enough to stab me with her barbed wit, I noticed.

Vinyl snickered and nonchalantly shook a hoof at her. "He's definitely a cool dude! That high flying ride was totally awesome, too! Uh, minus the almost dying and squishing a bunch of random ponies, of course," she corrected a moment later, letting her shades slide back down with a nod and raised hoof to the ceiling.

"You have such a way with words, Vinyl," Octavia muttered, walking up much more slowly. The crowd shrunk in on us a little further now that the imminent threat of flying crystal shards appeared to be suppressed.

I managed a soft snort, sitting up fully against Twilight. "Just about like me most of the time, don't worry. It wouldn't be a complete day if I didn't insert my hoof into my mouth at least once," I sympathized, hoping the expression wouldn't be lost on them.

Vinyl grinned and nodded enthusiastically while Octavia just snickered. She had a soft expression on, however, and I almost swore she was giving me an exceedingly fonder expression, if that was indeed a word.

Meanwhile, Rarity was recovering nicely. "Oh my! I should have known you wouldn't go sailing around like that purely for entertainment like a certain other mare we know. Now you're a hero!" she exclaimed, quite a bit louder than I would have liked. My blush magnified and I started rapidly shaking my head. Like I really wanted to leap up into a spiked disk. Again, if anypony else could have done the same thing or better, by all means I would have let them. A hero felt like they did things like that intentionally. It felt like it was something one attempted to represent. All I did was what I had to at any given moment to minimize grief to those around me. That didn't sound very heroic to me.

The crowd actively parted as a large stallion I recognized as Fancypants approached. The lithe figure of Fleur was next to him, of course. Now that I saw him up close, I realized he wasn't as huge as I mistook him for the first time we met. Of course, I was quite a bit intimidated for other reasons back then. Now that I got a proper look, I realized that Big Mac was larger yet. Ironically, the red stallion didn't intimidate me nearly as much, given his gentle and passive outlook.

"I dare say, we meet again, young one!" he declared, getting a closer look at me as he approached. I shrank a little bit, causing Twilight to frown and pull me closer again. He frowned a little as well and slowed in his approach, then drew to a complete halt when the lavender unicorn's horn started glowing softly while she watched him.

"Twilight, this is Fancypants himself! What are you doing?" Rarity asked, intersecting herself between Twi and the well-dressed stallion.

Twilight shook her head wearily, eyes not leaving Fancypants. "You were the one who had him arrested earlier, weren't you? The guard report didn't name anypony, but you just said this wasn't the first time you met," she deduced quietly, not letting me go. I looked up at her curiously, my cheeks heating up even more. What was she doing?

Rarity shook with a start, pupils seeming to almost shrink as she suddenly looked back and forth between Fancypants and myself. "W-Wait, seriously?!" she asked in apparent disbelief.

Fancypants smiled, however, and sat down at his current distance before nodding. "Yes, I was. I'll be the first to say that it was also a terrible misunderstanding and that Mender is truly innocent. No, I dare say he's a true knight after that rather bold rescue! I offer my deepest apologies. Moon Mender, correct?"

I turned and looked at him in surprise, not having expected him to actually admit that I was innocent. Didn't that look negatively upon himself instead, then? Regardless, I nodded gently after a moment's consideration.

"Yes sir. My name's Moon Mender. I live in Ponyville with Twilight," I informed nervously, trying to be as proper as I could think of.

He smiled and chuckled at my reply. "Yes, I heard the rumors, but didn't connect you to said 'Moon Mender'. You have excellent tastes, Miss Sparkle," he complimented, standing up fully again. The murmuring picked up a lot louder than before, to the point where I could hear a few exclamations of shock. Then my ears deflated again as I heard whispers of a secret agent and rendezvous with Princess Celestia. Damn it.

Twilight smiled finally and hugged me tighter regardless, seemingly happy that I was unhurt. "Is anypony injured from the crash?" I heard a guard start asking towards the back of the crowds. I exhaled softly and just rested against Twi. Rarity joined the three other mares surrounding me, smiling down at me in a pleased manner.

"Knight, huh? I'd say that's definitely a livable title," she admitted, giving me an exaggerated wink. Her cheeks were a faint rosy color, however. I exhaled softly, glad that my original purpose for being here hadn't been ruined. Admittedly, I had no idea how everything had worked out and felt dizzy trying to remember what just happened, but it was more than enough to have arrived at a satisfactory outcome.

Rarity fanned herself, however. Her cheeks were indeed a pink shade and she exhaled softly. "I might get a spot of air, however. I'm suddenly a bit, um, distraught. Too much excitement, I think," she excused softly.

Twilight lost her smile and gave Rarity an inquiring glance. "Are you all right, Rarity? You strained your magic pretty good, there," the lavender mare asked. I picked up a definite trace of worry in her voice and suddenly remembered what it was like when I burned through too much energy.

"I'll be fine, Dear! Thank you for your concern, but it's nothing a bit of fresh air won't fix," she assured before turning and heading towards the balcony near the main entry to the room.

Glancing up at Twilight, she shot me a worried look back. "I'm afraid she used up too much of her magic. We should go with her to make sure she doesn't collapse or anything," she warned, looking back up and watching her friend disappear out onto the balcony.

"Oh, good idea! Magic headaches are worse than hangovers!" Vinyl agreed, shuddering softly as she seemed to remember her own less than fond memories.

Octavia gave her a playful shove, which only resulted in a grin being returned. "What she meant to say is, with the stage destroyed, we have nowhere else to play our music and have been relieved for the remainder of the evening. Would you two mind if we tagged along?" the gray mare asked politely, that soft accent that I couldn't seem to place rearing its head again. It was too subtle for me to put a comparison on it.

Twilight smiled softly at her and shook her head, assuring, "Of course I don't mind. I'm not sure what's upsetting Rarity, however, so could you hang back for a moment until I make sure it's nothing private?" Octavia nodded politely to the request while Vinyl was busy looking a little distracted.

"Actually, I think I'm going to take a detour anyway. I haven't eaten supper yet, and that food over there looks rather promising!" the Dj decided, sliding to a halt and glancing over at the banquet table where I was earlier.

Twilight stopped as well, oddly, and frowned. "Actually, I just realized you're right. If Rarity is having magical exhaustion issues, sustenance is high up on the priority. I'm going to get some real quick sandwiches and tea for us all. Go on ahead, Mender," she requested.

I nodded gently before turning and continuing to walk towards the balcony. Octavia trailed along after me, lingering back as promised once we neared. So, how was I supposed to go about making her feel better? Or figuring out what was ailing her in the first place? Yes, priorities, Mender. Why the hell did Twilight send me of all ponies in first?! I had about as much social graces as a rotting pineapple. Considering it wasn't sentient, that really said something.

"Hey, Rarity. How are you feeling?" I asked softly, figuring the best bet would be to start by announcing my presence. Preferably in a way that didn't freak her out and send her careening off the balcony.

She started lightly but turned her head to the side, smiling back at me. The moonlight did a nice job of accenting her purple, curled mane. The amount of effort she put into her appearance really came through for her. "Oh, hello, Mender. You didn't have to check up on me, you know," she assured, looking pleased that I had regardless.

"You're my friend, Rarity. Of course I'm going to worry about you, especially after you exerted yourself to such an extent," I reminded, slowing and finally stopping next to her and peeking out at the night sky. It was gorgeous, honestly. I loved looking up and seeing the thousands of stars in the sky. The moon hung low as well, a gentle three fourths of the way full and spreading a milky blue illumination over the castle architecture.

"You are truly a Dear. A knight or prince, even. Fancypants is right," she muttered, smiling to herself and chuckling at a quiet joke I didn't know.

Frowning, I glared up at the stars. Were they the same stars that I would have seen in my other life? "I'm just me, Rarity. I'm not a knight or prince. I don't even know how to properly eat using utensils. I'm not a hero, either. Saving the ponies on the stage happened exactly the same way as destroying that ship in the other dimension," I refuted, putting my left hoof on the railing. The symbol on it glowed lightly in the moonlight, serving as a permanent reminder of that choice.

"What do you mean, same way?" she inquired softly, looking over at me with a certain air of curiosity, brilliant blue eyes almost glowing in the light.

I exhaled and shook my head again, looking down at the railing. "It's wrong, what everypony said. I'm not a hero. A hero strives to match those traits that define them. I was scared. Terrified even. If anypony else could have done it, I would have gladly let them, even. I didn't want to die. But the alternative, if I didn't do what I did in each situation, was to let others pay the price instead. I only did what I had to in order to minimize the suffering," I elaborated, scraping my left hoof along the smooth stone. I didn't feel a thing, of course. The right hoof was tactile and responsive. The nerves in my left were all but destroyed.

Rarity looked sad for a moment. I wished Twilight would hurry up and get back with the food. I wasn't good at talking, and was prone to long tangents that didn't really help matters, it would seem. "Even if you didn't want to be a hero, you still are one, Mender. As frustrated as it probably makes you, you could have simply walked away so many times. You didn't, though. Because of that, just today alone, a dozen ponies are still alive. Even if you'd rather it not happen in the first place, it did. Fate is, well, strange like that," she muttered, looking far off towards the end, as if talking about something else.

I looked back over at her, unsure of what to say. I suppose that if it had to happen, and nopony else was capable of fixing it, me doing so was a good thing. Well, that much was obvious. But necessity didn't make me feel heroic. Then it was just my duty.

"A real knight; not just some fairytale fantasy. Polite and kind, yet flawed. That's why it's so hard. I don't know what to do anymore," she groaned, pressing the bottom of her horn gently into the railing. I sensed frustration, but didn't know what to do about it.

"Rarity, what's really bothering you?" I asked, suddenly getting a suspicion she wasn't fatigued after all.

She looked back up at me, eyes dancing lightly again. "Can I pretend, if only for a moment, Mender? Just one, selfish moment?" she asked; no, pleaded as she turned to face me more fully. I frowned, tilting my head towards her, unsure of what she was asking, let alone of how to fulfill it. Octavia's eyes widened in the very edge of my peripheral vision.

Rarity shivered and winced, seemingly fighting amidst herself as a light pink tint lit along her cheeks again. She'd done this earlier, too. Idly, I wondered at the connection. I didn't get a chance to formulate the thought further, however.

Time slammed on the breaks as she leaned up spontaneously and gently pressed her lips against mine. My mind froze, unable to process the information in the slightest. Floppy disk smashed into a USB port. She wasn't urgent or needy; just content in feeling the heat between us with the gentlest of pushing motions. Her body let out a shiver and a light hum, snapping time back into motion an instant later.

I gasped and stepped back away from her, breaking contact as fast as I could. Wait, what the hell?! I stared at her in shock as she kept her eyes closed, head still angled gently where she'd left off. Slowly she lowered it and made a sniffing noise, shaking her head rapidly.

The sound of a tray hitting stone, followed by a series of shattering noises sounded out to my right. Octavia let out a light squeaking noise in surprise, snapping to attention as I turned to look in that direction. She was staring in horror at Twilight, who in turn was staring in utter shock at Rarity. A tray of sandwiches, broken glass, and spilled tea rested at her hooves, a giveaway on the source of the sound. Vinyl stood to her right, actually raising her eyebrows above the rims of her shades this time. "Whoa!" she muttered a moment later.

Rarity snapped back to attention and looked to her left at her friend. Her expression shifted between disbelief and horror in a heartbeat. "Oh! Oh no. No, no, no... I didn't mean to, um, do that. That was just, oh Celestia, what did I just do?!" she asked, more to herself than anything. My mind whirled, hauling me along with it as I suddenly felt dizzy. What just happened?! Tears built up in Rarity's eyes. She made a sound halfway between a sob and choking before taking off at full speed, galloping past the shocked looking Twilight and heading back into the crowded, deathly silent ballroom.

Twilight slowly turned, several seconds too slow, and looked back at where Rarity had shot off to moments before. The white unicorn had made a beeline for the main exit, knocking aside several other ponies and drawing effectively the entire room's attention as she went. She was already gone, out the door now.

My fillyfriend slowly turned back to me instead, mouth finally closing now and being replaced by a grimace instead. My ears lowered and I started shivering instantly. Oh hell. I was dead. I was so dead. She was going to launch me off the balcony with such force that I might break orbit.

Her burning stare tore into my very soul for a long, five seconds. It felt like five years when her eyes finally softened. "I knew it. I just knew it. No. No, blaming you would be foolish," she sighed a moment later, lowering her gaze and shaking her head.

I let out a whimpering noise and sunk to the floor, having literally no idea what to say or do in this situation. "You were just as surprised as I was, and pulled away. Relax, Mender. Stay put; I'm going to go look for Rarity. We apparently have quite a bit we need to talk about," she requested, straightening herself and glancing back towards the entrance of the room.

"Twilight," I muttered weakly, unsure of if I should be saying something or not. What the hell was I supposed to do?

She sighed and shook her head again, however. In a flash of light, she reappeared in an instant right in front of me. I panicked for a moment before she reached out and gently hugged me against herself.

"It's all right, Mender. Just stay at the party. A lot is going through Rarity's head, from what I could tell. I need to find and talk to her. She has some explaining to do. I'll be back in a bit, hopefully," she instructed. My heart slowed its breakneck pace slightly and I managed to nod. She smiled momentarily before disappearing in another flash of light. This time, however, she didn't reappear.

Octavia exhaled weakly, looking about as tired as I suddenly felt. It dawned slowly on me as I glanced back over at the two musicians. Rarity had kissed me. Rarity liked me, and I hadn't had the slightest clue before just now. Why? That was the true question. Neither mare in front of me seemed to know, their expressions simply serving to give me more questions than answers. Damn it all to hell. Well, there goes another potential 'ordinary' night.

Chapter 23

For having a tear in my suit and a lightly singed sleeve, nopony at the party seemed to mind. Actually, the 'battle damage' had rapidly become a conversation point. After Twilight left, Octavia had insisted on taking me around and introducing me to anypony important she noticed and that wanted to talk. I didn't get much say in it, but her reasoning was fairly easy to understand, even if she was quiet about it.

I lost count of the times I paraphrased my thoughts during the accident or explained the enchantments on the suit allowing it to survive so readily. I didn't realize how important clothes were to the high society, even in a culture with no qualms about total nudity! Still, the conversations served to keep my mind busy and off what had happened. That and at least two-dozen ponies took Rarity's information down in the process. I guess my purpose here was fulfilled after all, even if her spoken reason to bring me no longer entirely matched her suspected reasons.

She kissed me. Rarity, of all ponies! She wanted a prince with reputation and esteem. I was a nopony with nothing to his name! What the hell happened?!

Vinyl noticed my downtrodden expression a moment later and bumped me sideways when I looked at her. "Chill, Dude," she ordered with an amused undertone to her voice. Neither herself nor Octavia had left my side since, and it was a little strange. I hadn't known them for long, yet they were surprisingly loyal. Of course, they also got their fair share of questions regarding the accident.

Shaking my head wearily, I nodded to her after a moment's consideration. "I know. I'm just worried that Twilight is going to be upset with me," I repeated, wandering towards the cleanup crew as they worked. The party was essentially ended soon after the accident. The questions I got were from lingering ponies afterwards, largely. A guard had also questioned me in length about what had happened, but thankfully I wasn't in trouble. Again. Fancypants spoke up for me, thankfully.

Of course, then the guards recognized me from Twilight's apparent description earlier. I stretched as I stood in front of the chandelier, looking over the damage. The guard next to the rubble that was gesturing the ponies away just nodded to us. Turns out, Twilight has, like, top-level clearance in the palace and surrounding grounds. Apparently she extended some of that to me, and I was allowed to look over the wrecked chandelier without issue. Of course, I'd already gotten a somewhat intimate view of it.

The chain was undamaged, I noticed. Tracing it back up, I saw a splintered section of a wooden beam still anchored to the end of it. My memory flared with the image of the ceiling caving away, and I sighed.

"The problem wasn't with the chandelier, but how it was attached to the ceiling. It didn't have anywhere near the structural support it should have," I pointed out, gesturing towards the beam still attached.

"It was a fast repair job. They wanted it done in time for the party tonight," Octavia revealed, glaring at the chain as if it had personally offended her mother. Not that I necessarily blamed her. It was kind of like me and apple trees.

The construction stallion from earlier stood up from the remains and nodded sternly. "You know your stuff. I've looked it over, but as far as I can tell, yer right. The candles didn’t go out after the thing detached, either, did they?" he asked, gesturing towards the scorched blast residue on the crystals. Whoa. Had they literally exploded when the thing crashed?

I nodded absently. "No, they didn’t. I'm guessing they were enchanted? Well, whatever they were enchanted with might not have liked the spell I used to cause it to float," I explained. Note to self. When you get some time in the future, compare Equestrian enchantments to your own to see if there’s some potentially explosive overlap.

"Sure looked awesome, though!" Vinyl cut in, sounding overly cheery, if not a bit gleeful. I rolled my eyes.

"I wouldn't know. All I saw was burning and pain for a bit afterwards," I groaned, looking back down at my suit again. It, interestingly enough, wasn't that damaged. Here I thought that Rarity was silly to fireproof it.

"Now, I don't normally do this unless for special orders, but due to your terrible misfortune for accidents, I'm going to weave a few tasteful protection spells into your new suit," I keenly remembered her explaining, just the barest hint of an amused smirk playing at the corners of her lips. I chuckled before withdrawing from the wreck again.

Octavia and Vinyl followed me yet again as I wandered back over to the banquet table. They always said that eating was excellent stress relief. "Um, you have second to highest clearance, Mender. You could just go to the kitchen and ask the staff to make you something a little tastier," Octavia reminded as I started putting a light sandwich together.

"They already made all of this. No sense in letting it go to waste. Besides, I don't think I'm important enough to warrant special privileges like that," I reasoned, watching the ingredients drift into place. Vinyl seemed more interested in watching my hoof pressed against the table as I manipulated the various barriers into putting the thing together.

Octavia smirked but shook her head. "You're a strange one. You're dating Twilight just for Twilight, aren't you?" she inquired, making it sound more like a request for confirmation than anything.

"Of course I am. I fell for her before I even knew who she was, fully. She also saved my life. Not to mention she's just so," I started before trailing off and frowning. Octavia's eyebrow rose, but she listened expectantly. Finally, I added, "There's a lot I like about her. She's kind, fun, smart, gentle, entertaining, and absolutely gorgeous, for the basics."

"You definitely got it bad. Ha! She's lucky. It's dang hard to find a stallion that wants you for you when you're famous, let me tell ya! How'd ya honestly never hear of her?" Vinyl questioned, sounding surprised before she flopped down onto her haunches.

I glanced over at her as my sandwich finished making itself. "I woke up outside of Ponyville with retrograde amnesia. Didn't have a clue who the Elements of Harmony were in the first place, let alone that Twilight was one of them. I'm under the impression that I'm Twilight's first attempt, also," I told, giving them the abbreviated, censored version of my arrival.

Octavia lowered her ears and shook her head at the same time that Vinyl looked honestly surprised. "I'm terribly sorry to hear that. Have you been able to recover any memories yet?" she asked gently, sounding concerned.

I slowly shook my head, mentally restricting what I knew I shouldn't say. "Not a whole lot. I know my name and what my talent is. Nopony knew me in Ponyville, either. I've honestly just been focusing on building a new life," I admitted, deciding that much was safe. Hopefully they didn't have complicated background checks in Equestria. A pony literally fading into existence out of thin air might be a tiny bit suspicious.

"Mender! I know I'm not supposed to contact you during the day, but I have a bit of news to share. You don't have to answer, but I know you can hear me," suddenly echoed out in my skull, scaring the metaphorical crap out of me. I jumped at Keela's voice and accidentally launched my sandwich up into the air. Flailing, I lashed out with a force field to try to catch it, but it was suddenly whipped downwards instead in a red aura.

Vinyl snickered as she caught it in her mouth, taking a rather impressive bite out of it. "Vinyl!" Octavia berated, looking a little upset.

"They're fast to make! Besides, I want to watch him use those cool powers more," the cyan-maned mare admitted, smirking after she swallowed the first bite.

As irked as I was momentarily, I was also distracted by the sudden compliment mixed with wondering what Keela wanted. I rolled my eyes and fired up the barriers again, proceeding with sandwich attempt number two while I heard my extra dimensional friend clear her throat.

"I wanted to let you know that I've been making serious headway on my end of the bargain as well. I've almost gotten a working spell that should be able to send the book directly to you. There are a few kinks in it that I'll try to work out first, however. Further, I discovered that, in theory, I should be able to continue to use the link you control with me to talk to you, even after giving you the book back," she explained.

I frowned while listening, a little concerned that a link would still exist between myself and that place, even after the book was retrieved. This time I added cheese into the mix, along with a bit of mayonnaise and hay bacon strips. It looked delicious, and I momentarily focused on salivating over my newly formed snack.

Octavia giggled while watching me, adding, "You have refreshingly ordinary tastes. It still surprises me that you're dating Twilight. Although now I see that she's quite grounded as well." I gave her a curious look while slowly chewing my first bite, loving the taste as I swayed happily.

"Simple pleasures! A stallion after my own heart!" Vinyl agreed, holding a hoof up as she nodded approvingly. Snickering quietly while my mouth was still full, careful to keep it closed, I reached forward and bumped hooves with her in the meantime. Our gray friend just rolled her eyes and laughed.

"The spell and equipment is mostly workable as is. I just can't control the entry point. It will appear somewhere within twenty meters of you, not limited to straight up or down. You'll either have to wait a few more days for me to work the kinks out, or find a secluded spot for the transfer," Keela continued. My ears perked a little out of habit, regardless of the fact that the voice was entirely in my head.

After a moment's consideration, I decided that I'd never have normally uttered that thought and still considered myself sane. Maybe I really was becoming jaded by recent proceedings? "Oh, and don't worry about our personal link. Due to its nature, you're in complete control of that one. I can't send you anything using it without you opening it up and letting me. You can also disconnect it at any time. But please tell me as much as you can first! I really do love hearing about new magical theories and, um," she trailed off, oddly. I frowned, but realized my mistake a second later and maintained as neutral a facial expression as I could.

"...have to visit Ponyville more anyway. I know I don't visit you enough, and now that I know Mender there, it gives me more reason," Octavia continued from some unheard starting point. She appeared to be talking to Vinyl, however, and I exhaled quietly. They missed the expression, anyway.

"Hey, it's all good. I know you're a busy mare," Vinyl waived off, smiling at her friend with a genuine look of happiness. She didn't seem to let much get to her at all.

Octavia, however, looked down and sighed, nodding gently. "I know. I still feel badly, though. Plus, Mender saved my life. What just happened is still a little hard to swallow, but I'm definitely feeling no small amount of affection and thankfulness towards him," she admitted before smiling back over at me.

She looked momentarily surprised to see me looking back. I felt my cheeks heat up a little and I shook my head, coughing. "You don't owe me anything. I'd be more than happy if you were my friend," I offered, holding a hoof out to her timidly.

Her look of mild surprise expanded, but she caught herself a moment later. With a practiced motion that felt like it contained years of experience, she nodded and extended her forehoof to mine, shaking both with just enough force to register, but not enough to be jarring. I was impressed.

"Most assuredly so! Are you sure you cannot think of anything else as well? Private orchestra performance? VIP Pass for life?" she offered, smirking at me. Oh, a business mare!

Deflating a little, I rapidly shook my head before she continued. "No, no! I definitely don't deserve that. I'm not a hero," I corrected, exhaling softly. Admittedly, I enjoyed her style of music, though.

Vinyl surprised me by actually laughing. It was a short series of rather impish barks, almost. "Ha! Tell that to the newspapers tomorrow. I have a sixth sense for these things, and it's telling me that you're going to make the front page," she assured, winking. What?!

"Ugh. I just don't know what I'm thinking anymore. Fine, to be honest, I've really enjoyed talking to you. Yes, just talking. I've not handled everything that's going on as well as I've been telling Nirru, and talking to you has helped a lot," Keela suddenly continued, reminding me at the same time that she was still there.

Frowning, I sighed weakly. As much as I was annoyed by my own problems, she was still living in a personal hell. It was rather shallow to think my issues the worst.

"I suppose as long as I'm not arrested again. I don't see why they'd be so interested," I protested idly, heart not in it anymore.

"Oh, true. I mean, you only saved twenty-seven ponies from either a really bad day, or death in general. Totally reasonable. I really like this guy, Tavi!" Vinyl agreed, height of amusement playing through her tone. Octavia actually laughed at that one. I, on the other hoof, just slapped my forehead.

"Not you too! I only did what I had to in order to minimize the suffering of anypony," I excused idly, honestly thinking that should be self-evident.

Octavia coughed lightly. I raised an eyebrow to her, but the spunky unicorn mare next to her just shook her head. "Duh. Ya could have just stepped back and watched the fireworks. It takes a certain level of balls to leap into the accident and use your nifty contact magic to stop it instead," she argued, managing to do so without losing the entertained tone.

Octavia nodded in agreement, effectively double-teaming me with, "As brash as her wording is, she's right. You didn't have to save us, and certainly got hurt in doing so. You didn't even hesitate, however. That's what's called a hero here, even if you do not agree."

Feeling ganged up on, I finished off the rest of my sandwich before standing up and stretching. "I just feel a hero is somepony who actually strives towards doing so. If one went out and looked for situations to help with, I'd imagine that would be a lot more heroic," I pointed out, looking down again. The situations just kind of happened to me. I'd keep helping if the events demanded I do, but I simply didn't have the energy to go out and seek them on my own. Lacking that determination, I decided that I wasn't hero material.

"Hum. I have a new idea as well. Tug twice instead if you want me to power up the book. One tug will tell me to send an audio probe through if you just want to talk without sleeping. Um, thank you again for doing all of this," Keela cut in yet again, sounding more final this time however. The distinctive radio static sensation faded away shortly thereafter, and I realized she had left once more, probably for a while this time.

"...or not, you still acted when you had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Further, in acting, you saved a huge amount of grief and lives. Ponies are going to consider you a hero regardless," Octavia warned, causing me to miss the first part of what she said due to timing. I got the gist of it, however. Having two conversations at once was a pain.

"I'm not used to this, really. Honestly, I'd rather everypony just treat me like normal. I just want to fit in and be useful," I complained, brushing my longer bangs out of my eyes. I really needed to get somepony to finish cutting my mane, too.

Octavia giggled softly again, her light, city accent bleeding through even into that. "Is it so wrong to appreciate that you saved my life? Besides, everypony likes a hero," she pointed out, resting against the edge of the table.

I suppose there was nothing wrong with that if she really wanted to. Unfortunately, that left me at ends with how to actually respond to that sort of thing. Vinyl took that moment to finish off her stolen sandwich and was oddly watching me with interest at the same time. I glanced at her and then noticed that she was actually watching my hoof instead. Giving a knowing smile, I gently extended the hoof towards the curious mare.

"Oh, sorry. It's just kinda awesome to see an Earth Pony doing magic. The rumors were true, then," she pointed out, getting a closer look at the hoof.

"I've never heard of such. That looks like actual damage, though. Does it hurt?" Octavia asked politely, also looking, albeit in a less intrusive way.

Sighing, I stared down at it myself. The grooves were burnt into the hoof itself, but that had healed a while ago. Now it just looked like something had branded the hoof. "It is damage. It only hurts if I hit it too hard or get something wedged in the grooves, though. The benefits outweigh the issues that come along with it."

Vinyl got another rather curious expression and I suddenly knew what she probably wanted to ask. She held her tongue, surprisingly, instead deciding to stretch and let me return to perusing for more food. I doubted it was a good idea to tell them how I got the injury.

"I'm starting to doubt she's coming back," I muttered after another few minutes passed in silence. The cleanup crew for the damage was starting to give me annoyed glances, and I realized they'd probably rather have all the 'civilians' out of the area.

Octavia hummed but nodded. "Do you have a place to stay for tonight?" she inquired simply.

"Kinda, I think. Twilight told me that we were staying in her old room in the palace. Rarity was supposed to stay in one of the guests bedrooms," I relayed, frowning. Of course, I had no idea where her room was.

"Ha! You should have expected that one, Tavi! I imagine Twilight would know enough to go back there as well," Vinyl added, smirking and winking at me in a way that brought heat to my cheeks. Why did everypony insinuate we were a lot further in our relationship than reality dictated?

Octavia smiled and nodded to both of us. "We should probably retire for now, then. I'm definitely going to be visiting Ponyville in the future, so I imagine I'll see both of you again soon," she assured, seemingly rather on the happy side.

"Heck yeah! You know you're welcome anytime. You too, Mender!" the electric-maned unicorn reminded, having said similar earlier, if I recalled.

"Will definitely do. Pinkie is planning a party in a couple days, actually. She's probably going to invite you regardless, but maybe I'll see you there?" I suggested to Vinyl.

She grinned, glasses scrunching up in the process. "Miss a Pinkie Pie Party? Heck no. I'll definitely be there. Maybe I'll even be playing the music," she hinted, seemingly excited again. She indeed liked simple pleasures, I noticed. As Octavia would say, refreshing.

We parted ways on pleasant terms, regardless. Far more pleasant than certain other mares earlier that night. Being alone with my thoughts now, I wondered what had happened. Rarity had mentioned liking the princely type, not a bumbling idiot like me. She seemed exceptionally conflicted, however, so maybe even she didn't know? At least, to my absolute delight, Twilight wasn't angry with me over the ordeal. I didn't even know what was going on until well after the fact!

Sighing, I wandered down a hallway that exited into a rather glamorous courtyard. I'd been to the guest bedroom Rarity was staying in earlier, which was in the back tower. Was Twilight's room anywhere near those?

Two guards posted at the end of the courtyard watched me carefully as I approached. Perhaps I should just ask them for directions? I noticed they were in golden armor, so I assumed I'd get a reply that wouldn't lead me to a broom closet or off a balcony. Still, I was a civilian, so I didn't know exactly what their reaction would be. Ah well. The prison cells were moderately comfortable when I wasn't bleeding all over the place.

"Um, excuse me. I'm kinda lost. Could either of you please tell me where Twilight Sparkle's room is?" I asked as politely as possible. The guard on the right remained stoically staring ahead, but the left one nodded gently to me.

"Miss Twilight Sparkle is staying in her old quarters in the observatory tower. Would you like an escort there, Mr. Moon Mender?" he inquired back. My eyes widened and for a moment, I didn't know what to say. They knew who I was? He watched my reaction carefully, a light smile playing at his otherwise stoic expression. "Miss Twilight informed us of you already, of course. You are a guest here," he explained after a moment.

I considered it for a moment before nodding weakly and agreeing with, "I'm not used to ponies recognizing me, sorry. I should probably have somepony show me where they are. I've only ever been to the guest room Rarity is staying at."

"Oh, they're in the same tower as Miss Twilight's quarters. You just need to go up to the top instead. I should also inform you that Miss Rarity canceled her stay in the guest quarters earlier," he explained calmly.

My body jolted as I turned back to look at the guard, having started in the direction I came from earlier. "Wait, what? Why did Rarity cancel her stay?" I asked, frowning. She didn't leave because of earlier, did she?

"We weren't informed, unfortunately. She canceled about an hour ago. Miss Twilight also asked the same when she came through here looking for her," the other, oddly identical guard chipped in, still staring blankly ahead.

My ears lowered a little. "She left then. Is there a train going back to Ponyville tonight?" I inquired next, following the hunch. I doubt she'd simply stay in a hotel to avoid us.

The guard I was talking to first smiled a little further and nodded, informing, "Miss Twilight asked that as well. There is one last train to Ponyville tonight. It leaves at midnight, so twenty minutes from now. I do believe that's where Twilight headed for as well. Is there something wrong?"

I sighed and shook my head weakly. "Twilight can probably handle it. They got in a, well, disagreement. Rarity left the party rather upset, and Twilight was trying to find her and talk to her," I relayed, contemplating it to myself. If I were to go, I'd probably just make things more awkward and potentially undermine Twilight's efforts.

"Shall we inform her that you've retired to her quarters when she returns, then?" the talkative guard suggested. I nodded, finalizing my decision.

"Yeah. I shouldn't get in the way. Now that I know where the room is, I should be able to find it on my own." I glanced back down the hall I recognized as able to lead me to that particular tower. The guard nodded politely before resuming his post. What a mess.

Slowly walking on, I found the base of the tower I'd been in earlier and started my long passage up the steps. Well, I needed to get into shape again, anyway. It was a pleasant enough night and stayed rather warm around me, even as I climbed up higher and higher in the tower. The view was spectacular, and I took a small moment to peek out each window I discovered on my way. The rooms were stacked on top of each other as I went. Of course, not having to pay attention until I got to the very top made it fairly easy.

The doors at the top were actually double, and quite stiff to open. Eventually they creaked free and I peeked into the well-lit room on the other side. My jaw dropped of its own accord as the room was revealed to me. This wasn't a quarters or room, actually. Twilight stayed in a rather luxurious five-room apartment, I quickly realized. Edging inside, I contemplated this actually being the wrong room or something despite the definite tastes of Twilight about. Books appeared to be the primary focus of the first room apart from a rather practical telescope setup. Hey! She didn't need to bring hers after all!

Shaking my head, I double-checked the bedroom and confirmed it. Our luggage was placed on the large bed. Damn. This was her place after all. Lowering my ears, and a little scared to touch anything, I peeked about further. There was a full bathroom, of course, conveniently next to the bedroom. A kitchen was also included and similarly attached to the main library area. Lastly was what appeared to be some sort of casting chamber with warnings still in place and set to use. Well, she was the student of Princess Celestia herself, of course.

I considered it, feeling more than a little on the tired side. Twilight didn't appear to blame me, but she could still be either a little miffed at remembering what she saw, or worse, awkward. Pacing, I stared at the large bed in her bedroom. In my current condition, it was looking more than a little appetizing. Still, if she came back in to find me in her bed, that would say a lot of things I should probably avoid saying. Deflating, I decided that as amazing as the bed looked, I couldn't risk it. Plus, with both her brother and Celestia this close, all she'd probably have to do is release a slightly higher pitched squeaking and I'd be either thrown back in the dungeon or banished to the moon.

Thirty seconds later, I had the lights dimmed down to sleeping range and was stretching out onto the cushions of the couch in the main room. It was a comfortable couch, so it didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. Once I adjusted to the dim lighting, I watched the fire slowly flicker as my body relaxed. What a day.

A minute later, I gently closed my eyes, giving two tugs lightly to the link in my mind. The hum of the book powering up forty seconds after lulled me into a gentle drifting sensation. As tired as I was, it took no time at all before I was gone.

"So, this is the device, then?" I asked, sitting casually on my translucent, barrier haunches. The lab around me was dimly lit, and a device sat in front of me consisting of a long rail and a lot of rings. It was a massive accelerator.

Keela nodded, giving me a gentle yet excited smile as she played with the dials on the other side of it. "Yes. It accelerates a charged alloy orb until it's fast enough to activate the Slipstream Drive I've hooked up to it. Once the orb falls into Slipstream, I activate the resonance of the link and the energy from the FTL effect slides it into the other dimension. From there, the hard part begins," she explained rapidly, though most of the concepts I already knew about.

"You finished the algorithm that stabilizes the portal the orb creates, then?" I furthered, raising an eyebrow to her. Last I'd heard from her, the object she tried to move twenty meters to the left got cut into two fairly burnt pieces when the portal collapsed and exploded on itself. That seemed detrimental to our goal, although I suppose it didn't matter. Knowing my luck, however, the book would go up like a nuclear blast when cut in half.

Keela nodded rapidly, her bangs dancing in time with her excitement. "Yeah, it was a serious pain, but I managed to figure out how to make a stable portal. Interestingly enough, I followed a hunch and figured out that it could be stabilized using the Aegis Barriers. The only problem is that I can't control the exit point yet. This will get you your book, but it would appear anywhere within twenty meters of you or so," she warned, raising an eyebrow at her readouts. So it could arrive potentially inside solid surfaces or, worse yet, inside of me. That would be rather uncomfortable.

I watched her adjust several more dials and sigh, glaring at the display. "The portal is so finicky that it's hard to even experiment with it. Further, I've obviously never tried it with an actual connection to your Equestria instead. I've only been working with local spaces," she added, sounding a little unsure.

"So there could be further complications during the real attempt," I muttered, staring at the field of disks. It was clever, honestly. She accelerated the orb until activating Slipstream, which was our FTL Engine, then punched the thing through the dimensional barrier using the same Aegis Resonating effect that let me get to Equestria in the first place. Once it punched through, she used the pinhole as a starting point, spread it open more, shoved an object through it, and then let it close. The object would then bleed through the dimensional barrier and 'fall' into Equestria. Well, with a somewhat randomized landing point. Risky. Given my luck and the strange magnetic draw of my skull, it would phase halfway through it and kill me instantly.

She sighed and walked around the table before sitting down on the couch next to me. "It's untested, so of course. I calculated the same thing that happened to you and came up with some fairly disruptive results, actually," she revealed, suddenly looking a little guilty.

I raised an eyebrow to her, tilting my head as I just watched. "Mender, I don't think Rainbow Dash's Rainboom could have drawn you over to Equestria just by itself. Someone had to trigger a Slipstream effect and mix it with your Aegis shield on this side. You don't remember doing it?" she asked cautiously, looking a little perplexed at my probably gaping expression.

No, that wasn't possible. Does that mean that somepony knew about Equestria before I was even sent? It dawned on me in the same instant and I voiced, "Those disks."

Keela sighed but nodded minutely. "They do seem almost engineered for the six Elements of Harmony, as you called them. Honestly, I think they're meant for taking sample readings. Maybe the original goal of whatever project you were involved in was to scout out Equestria and get samples of energy sources? " she offered, shrugging absently a moment later.

"Project?" I questioned immediately, not sure if I'd like the answer.

Keela frowned but shook her head. She typed a few keys on her console to the right of her and another profile popped up on the screen. "Dr. Kyliona. She was the one who stopped your execution and submitted you to whatever her research was. The classified data was lost when our planet blew up. She died in her lab at the same time, it would seem," the pink haired Keldarian explained, gesturing towards the rotating image on the screen. It was that of an older Keldarian woman with a dark red mane, er, hair, and a darker blue hue to her fur. She wore a pressed and very clean looking lab coat as well.

"We don't know what she was even working on apart from her specialty being quantum mechanics. She interrupted your execution, stating she might have found a way to 'deliver us from evil' and that you were important to it. She never specified beyond that, and didn't have to, given her rank," Keela continued, rolling her eyes slightly after finishing the statement, as if disgusted with her own words.

"It's weird. I thought physically encountering myself would bring my memories back, but it didn't. I don't remember anything to do with her," I muttered, staring as hard as I could up at the image on the screen. As far as I could tell, I'd never even seen her before.

Keela exhaled but nodded, slumping back in the cushions and tapping the console again. It folded into the armrest before the screen went dark. "It's okay. I'll keep looking into that as well. I did find a bit of data on her, but it's heavily classified. My computer's been decrypting the data for the better part of the afternoon, now," she relayed, further reminding me that our day and night cycles were off by quite a bit.

"I'll let you know if I remember anything more. There has to be something," I promised, frowning a little as I looked back to the machine laid out on the table. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening, however. My eyes widened further as I realized it was the sound of a wooden door opening rather than the telltale hissing noise the doors on the ship made. The Keldarian next to me gave a raised eyebrow as I hesitated and glanced to my left.

Reality bled, flickering like an archaic movie reel I'd seen once. The image of a door and a small flood of light burned into the dim lab. I recognized the door as the main entry to Twilight's room. "Oops! Uh, Twilight finally came back, it looks like. I gotta go," I excused as politely as I could.

Keela grinned, and I caught a surprise blush as it headed for my cheeks. "Remember what I said. Act cute, apologize, and then kiss her on the cheek. If she's like how you've explained her to be, she'll eat it up," she tossed on.

I flailed, stomping my hoofs rapidly into the couch before glaring at her, heat rushing up into my face regardless. Which was ironic seeing as I technically didn't have any blood in me. "You're a brat. Anyway, I'll be back later," I groaned. I turned the book off, the last sound of my dimension being her snickering laughter as everything fell away again.

Jarring slightly, I opened my eyes slowly. It was always a little rough snapping back into my actual body like that. My vision focused just in time to see Twilight gently closing the door. Her features were sunken a little and she looked extremely tired. I watched her carefully as she sighed and her horn flickered up with a bit of light. It wasn’t very bright, and reminded me vaguely of a flashlight, interestingly enough.

The cone drifted across the floor, missing the couch completely as she walked right past me, heading into the bedroom instead. Er, whoops. I wasn't expecting that. Of course, it was rather dark in here. My ears twitched as I heard her breathing catch. She made an unhappy sounding murmur before backing up again and shining the light across the library and miniature observatory, again missing the couch but in the other direction this time. The light illuminated her face, showing me a somewhat nervous expression suddenly. She was expecting me to have been in her bed after all? I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad due to that.

I didn't want her to worry about me any further, however, and quietly asked, "Twilight?" All I was truly hoping for was to get her attention and alert her to my presence. I’m never that lucky, of course.

She made a light squeaking noise and whipped the light directly into my face on the couch. I let out a yelp, blinded completely by the flare of light as I flailed to cover my eyes. The cushion gave way and flipped under my unbalanced weight, causing me to spill to the floor a half second later, blanket tangling me up as I went.

"Ah! I'm sorry, Mender! Wait, what are you doing on the couch?" she suddenly asked, helping me untangle my head from the blankets. I groaned and rubbed the spots out of my eyes before looking up at her again, noticing she dimmed the light and made it radiant rather than a beam.

"Um, I'm sorry, Twilight. I was worried you'd be upset with me when you got back. Finding me in your bed might have sent the wrong message," I explained, ears lowering a little. I'd rehearsed the apology in my head, but I was still nervous as to what her actual reaction would be. I didn't want her angry with me.

Her eyes softened and she smiled finally, exhaling lightly. "I'm just glad you're here and okay. I'm not mad at you, Mender," she assured, shifting her head down slightly. She looked stressed, if nothing else. I mulled it over slightly. Well, Keela was a girl too. Maybe she was right and Twilight would appreciate it?

Deciding to take a risk, I leaned forwards and gently pecked Twilight on the left cheek. She made a starting motion, but I withdrew before overstaying my welcome and tried to just smile at her. I had a sneaking suspicious that I might have looked a little nervous, regardless.

She blushed lightly before exhaling and visibly relaxing, however, smiling fully at me. "Thank you, Mender. It's been a long day. I trusted you, of course, but the added assurance really does make me feel special. Rarity openly admitted that you had nothing to do with that when I caught up with her at the station as well," she informed, shifting closer to me and resting her horn on my shoulder. Huh. Keela was right. She didn't mind me pecking her on the cheek after all.

"She left then," I spoke quietly, it definitely not serving as a question. My ears lowered again wearily. I’d figured as much.

Twilight nodded against my shoulder slowly. "Yeah. She was pretty shook up by the time I found her. I couldn't stay angry with her when she was doing such a good job of being angry with herself. I'm worried about her, though. I've seen her when she loses her cool," Twilight confessed, looking back up at me carefully.

I frowned, but considered it before suggesting, "Maybe we should come back to Canterlot later? If you're worried about her, maybe returning to Ponyville tomorrow would be a good idea?"

Twilight's eyes widened a little, but only for a split second. "Oh, hmm. Well actually, that's not a bad idea. Otherwise we'd have to wait for the appointment with Princess Celestia and we wouldn't be able to leave until two days from now. Are you sure, though? I promised you that I'd have her scan you, after all," she reminded, her ears suddenly mimicking mine in a rather expressive manner.

I smiled, a little touched that she was considering me as well. "It's okay, Twilight. I'm sure we wouldn't have to wait too much longer to get another appointment. I'd almost think you were special to Celestia," I added, tossing an impish smile on afterwards.

As anticipated, Twilight grinned and batted me playfully in the shoulder. "You're a jerk sometimes. If you weren't my coltfriend, I'd so make you stay on that couch for tonight," she 'threatened' with a rather playful smirk on.

I started to laugh before it dawned on me. "Oh, wait. I'm not staying on the couch?" I questioned, suddenly a little surprised. Twilight slapped her forehoof under her horn before snickering.

"Wow, Mender. I can't hint any harder that I don't mind snuggling with you while sleeping than I already have. You know, by actually snuggling with you while sleeping," she reminded skeptically, giving me a raised eyebrow.

I blushed, coughing lightly again before standing up fully. "Oh, shush. I'm new to all of this. I'm sorry, but I respect your desires too much to risk assuming like I usually do," I excused. Her cheeks tinted pink this time in her own horn glow, but she smiled and nodded.

"Thanks again for that. You've been really understanding so far and it's been amazing. Um, do you think we could hold off until tomorrow night for the 'experimentation', though? I'm really, really tired after chasing Rarity down all night," she requested.

Frowning, I gave her a perplexed stare. If she was implying what I thought she might be, that left me a little on the confused side. "Wait. Now that I think about it, didn't you mention that last night, too?" I suddenly remembered, wondering if there were deeper implications behind the pattern emerging.

She whined as if burned before rapidly stamping her hooves. "I know, I know. I remember what Rarity said on the train, too. I've been nervous and slacking off. Please, put up with me for one more night?" she asked, causing me to frown. Something was definitely off.

"Twilight, stop it. Rarity was teasing you. Just relax," I reasoned, trying to calm her down. It’s almost as if she felt obligated to do this every night.

She exhaled and nodded weakly. "I know, I know. The book just said that nighttime was the traditional time to engage in such activities, so that's what I've been attempting to pull off. Things just keep getting in the way," she complained, heading back into her bedroom.

Admittedly, I pulled off a miraculous recovery from almost tripping over three of my own hooves while following her. "W-What?! Wait, so you've been suggesting the evening 'experiments' because you read about it in a book?" I asked, unable to contain my sudden shock. Things snapped into place rapidly, leaving a lovely sinking, icy feeling in my chest. Oh.

Twilight froze in mid-step, apparently not expecting a reaction like that. Slowly, she shifted and turned around, stopping right next to her bed. "Oh, um, is that a bad thing? I mean, I want to do this right and not screw up so I figured following things to the letter would be the best," she reasoned, looking a little confused.

I exhaled, confusion shifting to a light melancholy instead, before asking, "Do you actually want to do things like that?" I didn't know which was correct anymore, and my head spun. Why couldn't all of this be simple? Instead, it felt like we were plagued by communication errors.

"Uh, what do you mean? Do I want to do what?" she asked, tilting her head gently as she looked at me.

My eyes searched hers for a moment before I lowered them gently. "Let's go at a speed you're comfortable with, Twilight. From now on, you only have to kiss me like that when you want to. There's no obligations or quotas you have to meet," I assured, looking back up at her as she widened her eyes a little.

"But the book said that was really bad for," she started to protest before I gently pushed a hoof to her mouth. Her guilty eyes stared over my foreleg before I lowered it a moment later.

"Twilight, I might be new to this place, but all I can see is what's right in front of me. If you're uncomfortable with anything, we're doing it wrong. Don't listen to the book; listen to yourself," I tried to correct. All I knew is that if she was uncomfortable with anything, it wasn't worth doing no matter how, well, enjoyable I found it. I knew what I wanted in the big picture, and Twilight was far too important to be selfish with. I cared for her. A lot.

Her eyes softened as she listened, and she nodded shortly after I was done. "I've never done this before and I just wanted it to be perfect, is all. I'm used to having everything planned out," she furthered, revealing exactly what I had come to expect from the mare. She was extremely reliable like that, if not a little too so. Was there a thing as too reliable? Eh, I doubted it.

I smiled at her again and shook my head. "I'm more comfortable with you in control. I guess it's deep-seated from my old culture. You don't need a schedule if you want to snuggle or kiss me. Just do it," I offered, adding a nod as punctuation.

Her blush was rather adorable and she smiled softly. "You're indeed a good stallion. I'm glad my brother likes you as well. He's right, I see," she suddenly agreed.

I raised an eyebrow, drawing a blank before asking, "Right about what?" I searched back into my head, trying to remember any opinions he might have expressed or advice dished out.

Twilight snickered but shook her head quickly. "Oh, nothing. I'll admit, when the mood strikes me, kissing you like that is really, really nice. I've been tired lately due to everything I've needed to do, though. Night isn't as convenient as the book said it was," she muttered, exhaling softly. She did look really tired, now that I looked harder.

"Well, let's get some rest then, Silly. Are you sure you don't want me on the couch?" I offered one last time, watching her hop up on the bed with gusto. The luggage started to glow with a soft crimson and purple light before sliding off and onto the floor. I still admired her ability to manipulate things without needing to touch them. If I could have done that, the entire incident earlier with the chandelier could have been avoided!

"After everything you just said? Trust me, you did wonders to put my mind at ease with that," she admitted before sliding under her covers and lifting the side closest to me up so I could crawl in.

A little spike of apprehension hit me again, but I reminded myself that nothing bad had happened the night before. The only difference this time was that I was willingly getting into bed with her rather than being teleported alongside.

Closing my eyes, I nodded to myself before climbing up and sliding under the covers. Twilight made a content cooing noise before sliding over and pressing further into me. I exhaled as I felt her coat slide and mix with mine; her body heat started to warm me up as the blankets settled around me.

"This. This I have no complaints about at all. There's just something so relaxing and, I'm not sure. Stable, maybe? I've never particularly felt unsafe in my own bed, but having you here as well almost lets me feel like you'll keep any nightmares away, too," she tried to explain, voice lowering due to lack of energy and proximity, I imagine.

I matched her tone and volume, assuring, "I'd do everything I could to keep them away. And you can have this for as long as you desire it." Even if she thought it was a treat, I rapidly realized that this wasn't a bad thing. It didn't tax me in any way to be with her like this. Quite the contrary, actually.

Her horn lightly pressed into my forehead, and I felt her presence slip inside of my mind with a gentle shift. She didn't push too much energy in; just enough to perform the empathic connection. It always surprised me when I saw how gentle she could be. One would think with such a massive level of power and skill, she'd have difficulty doing smaller things. Not that I'm complaining. I've felt what it's like to have her shove as much energy as she could inside of me. It was vaguely similar to what I'd imagine being hit by a tsunami would be like.

"My turn tonight. Mmm. Maybe one day, both of us will go at the same time," she speculated quietly, folding her forelegs up between our chests as I lightly draped my right one over her waist.

Maybe she was getting more comfortable too? "I don't think we're ready for that kind of commitment, by the sounds of it. It's permanent, Twi," I reminded, remembering the details from the train ride. Contrary to popular belief, the only time I specifically wasn't listening was when I was actively throwing up.

"I know. Honestly, before you came along, I'd never really thought about relationships that much. I've never really wanted or needed that feeling, let alone understood the feeling in the first place. But feeling you right here makes me understand a lot better. It's a lot like that spark I first felt when we repaired the Elements of Harmony. A warmth I hadn't realized I was missing until that day," she compared, hesitating towards the final part. I perked my ears up at the interesting new information, but didn't interrupt.

Finally, she continued with, "It's a lot different from that feeling, too, of course. Whereas friendship felt pleasant and warm, relaxing even, this makes me feel almost stir crazy at times. It's a hot, needy feeling that makes me want to get as close as possible. More tactile and physical than what I share with the other girls."

I suddenly got the suspicion that she'd been thinking about this for a while. Of course, if she was freaked out by it when she first discovered I liked her like that, she probably did a lot of analysis on her personal feelings. "The descriptions fit easier than you realize, me feeling extremely similar things to compare them to," I pointed out, smiling gently against her nose.

She let out a light, sleepy giggle before nodding, pushing my head down with each motion due to horn contact. "I figured you felt similar. That's what made me realize it wasn't as scary as I thought in the first place. You have wants and fears, just like me. Even tonight, I saw the confusion and shock clearly enough and realized that you were just as surprised as I was by it. That meant a ton to me," she added.

I swallowed but nodded gently, still unsure of how to deal with that. "My only thought after was wanting you to not be mad at me over it. Now I just feel selfish for not considering how hurt Rarity was at the time," I groaned, pushing closer to Twilight.

She made a light murmur before kissing my nose in return, her energy warming up inside of my mind. "You're very kind, Mender. A bit dense sometimes, but still very kind," she complimented. I felt her smile widen as I knew she felt my eyes roll.

"Relax, though. Rarity was feeling better by the time we got done talking. I'd still like to go back to Ponyville and clear all of this up, though. All I managed to do before the train left was convince her that we weren't angry with her," she explained, relaxing slowly as we both calmed down. It was kind of weird in a good way that I could feel her, well, feelings.

"I was surprised. Well, shocked, really. I couldn't even process it when it happened. I'm nowhere near the traits I thought she wanted in a stallion," I elaborated, feeling a spike of frustration again.

Twilight just nuzzled me, however, and I exhaled. "I think Rarity herself is starting to realize there is no stallion quite as perfect as she was looking for. You do have a lot of attributes she likes, however. You treat her with kindness and respect, and try to be polite whenever possible. Most importantly, none of those traits are an act," she explained, opening her eyes again and staring into my own before adding, "Those are the same traits I appreciate in you. Sure, you can be clumsy, dense, and I've never seen such lengthy conclusion jumping before. Regardless of those negative traits, you honestly care for me and respect me. That's way more important."

My ears lowered a little, but I nodded. I was trying to fix a few of those, but it felt like my own body conspired against me sometimes. "Plus, it's nice to find a stallion I have a lot in common with. We both like reading and mental pursuits, and you can talk with me about magic as well," she tacked on, smiling again and suddenly humming pleasantly.

I raised an eyebrow, opening my mouth to ask what the demeanor shift was about when she leaned forwards and kissed me directly. My eyes widened briefly before dropping again as I pushed back gently, feeling her smile against my lips. The urgency wasn't there this time and she just melted against me further for a few seconds before letting my mouth go and snuggling again. I blushed but used my right foreleg to hold her tighter, giving a light squeeze around her side.

"This. This is nice. I'll never be scared of this," she murmured a moment later, brushing the side of her muzzle against mine before settling into the pillow again.

"I have no complaints in the slightest," I agreed happily, earning another sleepy snicker before her breath deepened.

Her consciousness slipped backwards, tugging mine down as well. I smiled, momentarily watching her sleep like a beautiful angel before I stopped resisting. Much more pleasantly than the book’s shifts ever could be, I felt myself pulled into her dreams alongside her, sinking into the warm heat to the sounds of her gentle breathing.

Chapter 24

Things had gone smoothly so far! And by smoothly, I meant I hadn't thrown up at all on the ride home. Smiling, I strolled off the train after my fillyfriend, who was a few meters ahead of me. Heck, I was so happy I hadn't gotten sick that I didn't even care that I was carrying both sets of saddle bags and hauling all three suitcases plus one new bag. The medicine Twi found in lieu of not having time to research an anti-nausea spell had worked wonderfully!

"I still can't believe that we missed the first train," Twilight groaned as she walked. I caught up with her before chuckling weakly. Glancing up, I noticed the sun was already in its final stages of the day. What a waste. This is what happens when you only have one train on the track at any given moment. No wonder they use pegasi for most of their transportation needs!

"You were the one who insisted on getting the extra quills and parchment," I reminded, gesturing behind me to the extra bag that was balanced on the three suitcases I was already hooked up to.

Twilight flattened her ears back before finally giving in and snickering. "I know, I know. Still, the prices are better in bulk, and I can never go to Quills and Sofas without him trying to sell me a sofa, too! I have enough sofas," she defended, giving me a playful smirk. I nodded and smiled back, a soft and warm sensation drifting into my chest. It felt strange to be walking so casually right next to her, but definitely in a good way.

Twilight stopped and turned back to face me after we cleared the train platform. "All right then. Are we set for the plan? You get the luggage and saddlebags back home and wait for a little bit. I'll go talk to Rarity and get her calmed down, and then both of us will wait for you. All three of us need to talk about this," she reiterated calmly.

It was indeed a good plan. I liked the part where I didn't talk to her first this time and make an idiot of myself. I nodded and smiled to her. "No problem. How long do you want me to wait?" I asked, just to be on the safe side.

Twilight pondered for a moment before shrugging and offering, "Twenty or thirty minutes should be plenty of time. If you're a little late, Rarity and I will just have tea or something." I idly considered that Rarity might not be very comfortable with that arrangement, but Twilight had been friends with her for a long time. Maybe I was underestimating that?

"All right! I'll drop these off, wait twenty minutes or so, and then wander over to join you," I agreed, once again happy that she was such a prepared and organized mare. It also only involved me having skill enough to walk short distances without dying! Thus, it was a really good plan.

Twilight smiled as well, apparently my extreme positive aura rubbing off on her. "Okay then! See you in a few!" she tacked on before turning again and heading towards the Carousel Boutique. I momentarily allowed myself the distraction of watching her flanks sway as she departed before shaking myself out of it and heading in the other direction towards the library. Yup. Still male.

Hauling the extremely large amount of luggage definitely got me a few stares. This time, however, quite a few shocked stares turned into friendly smiles and waves as I passed, letting me return them. I guess I was moving past my ‘outcast’ reputation. I caught a glimpse of Lyra and Bon Bon near the park. Golden Harvest was oddly nearby as well, looking up in the tree as if having lost a kite or something. Heck, a further examination even showed Derpy waving at me from the upper tree branches! I waved back, then winced as the motion of her gesture dislodged the mail bag that was stuck to the tree branch, causing her to wobble and then hover out of the tree again, truly free this time. Oh, Derpy.

By the time I decided she was okay and turned back around, I yet again encountered two large, blue pools of color staring back at me, surrounded by pink. Startled, I jumped a little and hopped backwards, bumping into the luggage I was hauling. Pinkie smiled pleasantly at me and waved, hoof movements as packed full of energy as per usual.

"Hiya, Mender! You're back from your trip! I missed you. How are you doing?" she asked all at once, surprising me. I was gone technically less than twenty-four hours. She missed me in that period of time?

"It was, well, eventful. I got arrested and then released by Twilight's brother, Shining Armor. Then I got drafted into being a stagehoof. Oh, then I ended up surfing across the ball room on a flying chandelier, trying not to catch fire," I summarized, bumping my right hoof along my held up left as if counting with imaginary fingers. Oddly, Pinkie seemed to somehow understand the gesture.

"Wooooow! I missed so much! That sounds like fun! And you got to meet Shining. He's really nice," she chirped, nodding enthusiastically. Well, I’m glad that’s the important thing she pulled from those statements.

I snickered and nodded as well, enjoying the mare’s outlook on things regardless. "I agree. He didn't seem to have a problem with me seeing Twilight, either," I noted, exhaling gently in long past relief. It was still nice to realize. Now I just had to make a good impression for her parents, for whenever that would happen.

Pinkie gave a little spin and sway in place, apparently venting the perpetual energy her body generated in the only way she knew how. I began to understand how she could eat so much, just considering the sheer amount of calories her body must burn through releasing whatever cosmic energy fueled her on a daily basis.

"Oh! That reminds me, before I forget to remember to mention it!" she started. For a moment, I tried to follow the path of her logic before remembering whom I was talking to. She continued, undaunted, "I still totally owe you a party for saving Equestria, and another for having such a bad time and me injuring you! I've decided to put both of them together into one super-duper awesome party of the century! Everypony shall be invited, and I mean everypony! This is going to be so awesome!" she rambled, flailing towards the end.

Snickering, I nodded once more, singularly this time. "Do you think you could invite Vinyl Scratch as well? Oh, and send an invite out to an Octavia in Canterlot?" I requested politely.

Pinkie's eyes bugged out as she stared at me intensely. For the briefest moment, I wondered if I'd offended the pink mare, and slowly lowered my ears. "Oh wow! You have requested guests?! This is so awesome! Vinyl is so cool and plays such amazing music! If you're her friend, maybe she'll even play for the party? Oh, and Octavia, as in the Royal Orchestra Cellist? You met a lot of fun ponies in Canterlot!" Pinkie finally squealed, allowing me a sigh of relief. I didn't want to think about what an angry, vengeful Pinkie Pie looked like, that was for sure!

"Yeah, they were both at the party. Octavia wanted to come visit, and Vinyl already said she might like to play at the party," I informed, feeling a bit more relaxed now.

Pinkie double gasped, somehow. It wasn't just a gasp twice in a row. No, she somehow compound it exponentially in a way that made my head hurt. "You got Vinyl to maybe consider playing music at my party without me even needing to ask her?! You're awesome, too! Maybe I'll need to turn you into my Party Planning Partner Pony!" she squealed happily before lunging. Oh hell.

My life flashed before my eyes as my torso was practically crushed into her puffy pink body. She spun and swayed happily with me, hugging the life out of me as we went. No! I wanted to die by Twilight and Fluttershy hugs! Preferably both at the same time.

She finally released me after an agonizing six seconds and bounced back into place with gusto, exactly where she'd been a moment before. "Excellent! Now I just have to see Mayor Mare about borrowing the main hall! This is going to be so super cool!" she gushed, thankfully not asking me anything as I reeled from her prior assault. Wait, why the main hall?

"What do you need the main hall for?" I inquired shakily once my brain felt like it had stopped vibrating.

"Any one of our houses couldn't possibly hope to contain a party of this magnitude! Just trying to might cause a funplosion. Maybe, just maybe, if I got Big Mac to push a few of our houses together, it might work. But he's a busy stallion, dodging all the googly oogly mares and what not! I mean, he is second most eligible bachelor in Ponyville, after all. Still, he'll be at the party, too, so this should be fun!" she started rambling. I blinked slowly, unsure of how my inquiry as to the location had gotten hijacked into a rant of Ponyville's bachelors.

"Wait, who's first?" I inquired curiously. I'd probably regret it in a few...

"You, of course! Silly!" she squealed, hopping into the air and flailing her hooves around under her.

Another slow blink. That didn't compute at all. "But, um, I'm not single," I refuted, extremely confused now.

"Oh, you can't date anypony, Silly! Secret agents can't date. They just have steamy romances and liaisons," Pinkie corrected, adding a low growl and a wink onto the end. I went from confused to flustered and backing up almost instantly, more than a little leery of sudden advances at the moment!

Pinkie, staying true to herself, burst into laughter and wobbled happily. Regardless of her mirth and obvious jest, several nearby mares started whispering to each other rapidly. Damn it! "What are you talking about, Pinkie?!" I rasped, glaring at the mirthful pink mare.

She gave me an exaggerated wink in return, adding, "Oh, I know. You're not a secret agent. I'll shush." Somehow, the way she said it didn't help at all, and I started hearing giggling alongside the whispers. Shifting my attention, I shot an angry expression towards whom I now identified as Lily, one of the three flower mares. She giggled even more whimsically when noticing my attention and also gave me a wink, earning an exasperated sigh. They were screwing with me. They were all doing this on purpose…

"Anyway! I'll get the invitation to you tomorrow! See you a little later!" Pinkie announced before happily bouncing away, proving entirely immune to my death stares. Dang. I'd have to practice them a bit more.

Exhaling, I stood back up and shifted my balance back into hauling position. The three suitcases weren't that heavy and had the benefit of wheels, but I still didn't want to pull anything. Or trip and garrote myself, of course.

After a few more minutes of casual walking, keeping my pace steady and actually enjoying the exercise, I made it to the town square. A bead of sweat drifted off my brow, and I gave a light flick sideways to dispel it. The sight of the tree house on the other side of the square looked appealing indeed. My trip had already been slowed considerably by the sheer weight of the things I was hauling.

"Howdy there, Mender," I suddenly heard called out to my right as I crossed the walkway and entered the marketplace common. My ears perked and rotated before my head did, and I spotted the familiar orange mare fitting the voice. Applejack was selling today? I knew that she and Big Mac took turns tending the stand and they were only here certain days of the week. All of those apples couldn't get bucked by themselves if one of those two was always here selling them, I admitted.

"Oh, hey, Applejack. Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom," I greeted politely, eyes picking out the prior unnoticed cyan and rainbow pegasus, and much smaller filly. I had a half an hour to kill anyway, so I wasn’t particularly hurried to get back home. Home. I smiled gently as I walked up, realizing I was already starting to think of the library as my home now.

Dash gave me a smirk and nod as I approached, but Apple Bloom squeaked and spun, having been oblivious until I said something. Oddly, it looked like she was more harassing one of the customers than trying to sell the apples. Seeing me, however, she shot away from the confused brown stallion and headed right for me! Oh crap.

I braced for impact and let out a stiff wheeze as she collided with my chest, knocking me back and onto my haunches. "Mender! Ah wondered when ya were gonna show up! Are ya hurt?" she asked instantly, giving my front a curious once-over.

Hurt? Raising an eyebrow, I looked back up at her sister and Rainbow for a clue. "Rare told us what happened with tha chandelier after she got back last night. Ah thought she was gonna stay longer than that," Applejack relayed, looking a little perplexed.

Rainbow caught my frown instantly and fluttered closer, looking interested. "She had a reason for it, didn't she?" the clever cyan mare guessed, dead on as usual.

I nodded weakly, averting my gaze from her sharp, rose-colored stare. "Yeah. There were complications and she and Twilight got in a fight. She left, looking pretty upset. I probably shouldn't say more," I explained, trying to filter while I talked. I'm not the best at that, decidedly.

Rainbow's ears perked a little as her expression shifted deadpan with an audible, "Huh." I tilted my head curiously at her, but Applejack merely rolled her eyes.

"Those two have been darn feisty with each other fer days now! Ah'm one fer gettin' down ta tha middle o' this right now," she spit out, looking a little frustrated over the matter.

I shook my head rapidly, however, raising my hoof up to gesture a halt. "No, it's okay. Twilight's over there right now trying to talk to her. I'm supposed to follow after putting this stuff back in the house," I elaborated, trying to keep interference to Twilight's plan as minimal as possible. I doubted things would go well if two irked mares busted her door down.

Rainbow nodded sagely, seemingly more content now that she knew Twilight was on the case. Applejack just let out an indignant huff, however, causing Apple Bloom to shift her attention back to her sister, looking worried.

"Why are ya goin’? Kinda ah weird choice, if ya ask me," Applejack questioned, causing my ears to droop a little. Well, true. I wasn't the best at talking or defusing situations. Fluttershy was way more empathic, while Pinkie or Dash would do a better job of cheering somepony up.

"Sis! That's not very nice an' ya know it!" Apple Bloom defended, turning fully to meet her sister.

Applejack softened and shook her head after a moment of staring at the little filly. "Ah didn't mean it like that. Ah'm sorry, Mender. Ah'm just frustrated," she excused, apologizing with a gentle nod.

I shook my head, however, assuring, "No, you're right, of course. I'm not the best at the whole talking thing. I tend to do stupid things, socially. Even if this isn't directly my fault, I still feel badly over what happened. So you're right. I'm not going there to help, but because I'm involved."

"Oh, does it involve the chandelier thing? That has ‘Mender Accident’ written all over it!" Rainbow asked, suddenly smirking. I felt a distinct heat push into my cheeks as I exhaled, looking away from her again.

Applejack snorted, however. "Ah seem ta remember ya did ah real number on ah statue at tha Gala that one year," the farm mare reminded with a smirk.

Predictably, Rainbow shifted from mirthful to defensive in less than a heartbeat, turning to glare at her friend. "Hey, I was trying to save somepony, too!" she defended, looking more than a little guilty while doing so. I decided I probably shouldn't ask.

Applejack rolled her eyes but turned back to me instead. "If it's involvin' ya specifically, and is between Rare and Twi, Ah have a feelin' Ah know what happened," she reasoned before stepping considerably closer and whispering, "Rarity confessed, didn't she?"

Rainbow's eyes widened, her being close enough to hear it as well. Apple Bloom let out a sudden gasp of understanding, and asked, "Oh my! Fer true? Rarity has feelin's fer ya?"

Blushing, I sighed and nodded, not really feeling like lying to the Elements of Honesty and Loyalty; not to mention an adorably innocent little filly who implicitly trusted me for some reason.

"Whoa! I'm surprised Twilight isn't in rage mode," Rainbow admitted, looking more than a little shocked.

Applejack smiled at that and shook her head, however. "They've been friends fer ah long time. Ah think Rarity knew she overstepped her bounds an' Twilight's bein' rightly forgivin'," she pointed out, actually sounding pleased by the way things were turning out. Although, I suppose Twilight hasn't blown up Ponyville yet, so things were indeed going well.

Applejack watched me carefully for a few more seconds, and I shifted uncomfortably. Rainbow's ears twitched and she frowned before glancing over at Applejack as well. "You're making ‘me’ feel awkward. Good grief, Applejack. What's up?" she asked a moment later, pseudo-defending me. Kinda. Wait, that reminded me; wasn't there something I was supposed to be remembering? Damn it. Now I was thinking in Pinkie.

The orange country mare rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Ah was just curious as ta how Mender 'ere felt about her. Ah've not seen any hintin' that he likes her like that, is all," she explained, looking back up at me curiously.

Sighing, I looked down from her for a moment, considering her question. She knew already what my answer was going to be, in all likelihood. Did she really feel the need to actually ask? "I, well, no. Rarity is an amazing mare and a really great friend, but I honestly don't feel the same towards her as I do when I think of Twilight or Fluttershy," I explained as simply as I could. I'd not given it a lot of thought beyond the basic realization, so putting words to it was a little tricky still.

Her stare persisted for a few more moments before a light smile danced onto her expression and she nodded sagely. "Ah'm happy yer not lyin' ta yerself. Ya tell her just that and Ah'm sure she'll understand," Applejack advised, seeming pleased again. She was a strange mare. Although I could definitely see why she was the Element of Honesty.

Wait, Honesty? Being truthful, or revealing information. Oh! Glancing back towards Rainbow, I noticed she was still looking a little weirded out. Now I remembered! I had made a mental note to chase her down when I got back. Apple Bloom gave me a curious look, but I just smiled down at her before mentally whispering, "Hey Rainbow, can you hear me?"

There wasn't the level of realization I was looking for. "Huh? Yeah, I'm still paying attention," she assured, snapping out of whatever daydream she was in and looking back up at me with a faint smile.

"Er, well, that's good, Ah guess. Ya got somethin' ta say?" Applejack inquired, turning back around again from her stand. I was suddenly glad she didn't have any customers at the moment, as I was certainly distracting her enough. Similarly, Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow towards Dash as well. My right ear twitched. Hmm. The bitter memory of the cupcake prank drifted into my head and I tried not to smile openly.

Rainbow flattened her ears back and shook her head at Applejack. "Uh, not really. I mean," she muttered. Mentally grinning, I launched my daring plot.

"Oh, don't mind her. I just wanted to talk to you about the wing thing, and the finer details of how you’re going to let Applejack know you love her," I relayed in an amused mental projection.

This time it was like flicking a switch. Rainbow screeched to a halt and shifted her attention over to me instantly, jaw dropped open and eyes the size of teacups. "What are you doing?! You're not supposed to say anything about..." she started to shout, stammering the last sentence before blushing furiously and looking back at Applejack.

"Uh, what in tarnation is wrong with you, Rainbow?" she questioned, looking a mixture of surprised and concerned. Oh, oh crap. That played into it a little too good!

Rainbow shuddered as if punched, eyes softening as she looked away. "I, um, well, I don't know what he's talking about, of course. He gets these crazy ideas and," she started to excuse, backtracking rapidly while looking utterly hurt. Oops. I couldn't let this go on.

"Er, who? Mender hasn't been talkin' in the first place. He’s tha only stallion ‘ere," Applejack asked, giving Rainbow a curious glance.

"W-What?" Rainbow asked, shifting from pained expression to confusion a moment later.

Sighing, I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Dash. That was a mean trick. I didn't intend for it to go like that," I apologized, verbally this time.

The cyan mare whipped her attention back to me, questioning stare rather apparent. Apple Bloom looked downright confused at this point, shifting her attention freely between the three of us, while her older sister shot me a skeptical glance.

I closed my eyes and focused again, mentally asking, "Can you hear this as well, Dash?" Her eyes widened, confirming the already mostly proven suspicions. Now she saw me not moving my mouth while doing it, however. That would prove to her that her secret was still safe. Hopefully.

"How are you doing that?! I thought you could only do that with Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, more shocked than angry suddenly, apparently momentarily forgetting my rather cruel prank. Of course, system shock could do that.

Applejack snapped into realization, widening her eyes a little as well. I nodded to both of them, while the little filly at my hooves finally settled on me, apparently deciding I held the answer to her confusion.

"Twilight figured out what caused me to link with Fluttershy like that. I was going to track you down today when I got back, but I guess you saved me the time. In testing one of her theories, she also accidentally enabled the link for you as well," I explained in summary, not wanting to give out details like that on the open street.

Dash's ears lowered a little and she looked oddly dissuaded instead. "Twilight could have told me. What exactly does it mean? What caused it?" she asked rapidly. Oh. She was worried, not dissuaded. True. We didn't know a lot about the links yet.

"Ah'm interested too, Mender. Ah don't think he wants ta discuss it 'ere, though, Rainbow. It makes sense," she pointed out, snapping Rainbow back to attention. She seemed to relax before nodding to the orange mare.

"Oh, can I listen too?" Apple Bloom asked rapidly, shifting her attention back to her sister with a pleading, wide-eyed look. I winced, glad I wasn't on the receiving end of the diabetes-inducing attack. Honestly, she already knew about me being an alien, so I didn’t think there was any point in hiding this from her. Hmm. I made a mental note to tell the other two Crusaders at some point in the future.

Her sister must have resistances to the horrible cuteness attack, however, as she simply shook her head. "It's not mah call in tha first place, Sis. Ya should be askin' Mender that," she corrected. Crap.

To her credit, Apple Bloom didn't miss a beat before whirling around and blasting me with the expression instead. I wilted, lowering my ears as she shifted closer, wiggling her forelegs back and forth impatiently. "Pleeeeease? Ah won't tell anypony else. Please, Mender? You're so cool; Ah know ya trust meh!" she squeaked, eyes watering a little. I shrank further, and Applejack started to snicker in the background. Rainbow raised an eyebrow with a choice grin as well. Damn it!

I knew better than to hold her to absolutely nopony, however. "Ugh. Fine, so long as you keep it a treasured, Cutie Mark Crusader secret," I requested, earning a shocked yet eager expression from the little filly. She’d undoubtedly tell Sweetie and Scootaloo anyway, so I might as well give her permission to. Besides, they should know regardless.

"O' Course! Only Sweetie and Scootaloo'll know, an' Ah'll swear 'em ta secrecy tha same!" she assured, hopping gently up and down while promising.

I nodded softly and smiled at her, my chest heating up a little as I watched her absolutely adorable expression. "All right then. You can listen, too, when the time comes," I assured. My poor heart. Too much exposure to these fillies might make it explode, I noted.

"Yay!" she cheered, spinning in a circle before prancing back to her sister, who looked absolutely amused at this point. Oddly, I'd seen that expression on her before, if I remembered correctly.

"Ah repeat, yer dang good with foals. Ah think yer gonna be ah great Daddy one day," Applejack complimented soon after. Oh yeah, now I remember where I'd seen that expression before. Further, I now wished I hadn’t.

Blushing, I looked away from them, finally earning a straight out laugh from Rainbow. She was probably silently recovering from the rather scary prank that was accidentally a lot worse than intended. "Heck, Ah'm barely makin' any sales anyway. Let's git inside tha library ta talk," Applejack offered a moment later, smiling instead and nodding towards me absently.

"Oh, uh, okay. That's where Twilight keeps, um, them, anyway. I'll show you when we get inside," I assured after earning a strange look from Rainbow.

Applejack nodded and turned back around to her stand before shouting out, "Last chance fer apples today! Ah'm closin' up early!" Smiling, I nodded and slowly hauled my baggage up closer to the stand before sitting again and watching a small crowd of ponies rapidly approach.

“Them?” Rainbow whispered, drifting closer to me as Applejack drew all of the attention.

I smiled and nodded to her, returning her whisper with, “They’re items that made the links between us from my old world.” Her rose colored eyes widened and she momentarily looked apprehensive before her mask of self-assurance painted over it. She nodded gently and landed next to me while we both watched the country mare sell her wares.

Apple Bloom apparently decided that meant she was done for the day and hopped up behind me onto the top of the middle suitcase, smiling sweetly at me as she lay down. Smirking at her, I rubbed the top of her head, earning a soft murmur as a light burst of magic from my hoof acted like a brush along her mane.

Rainbow seemed pleased as well, watching me pay attention to the filly. She relaxed on her haunches, the tension flowing out of her again as she stretched her wings out softly. I watched with interest for a moment, seeing the muscles along her upper back flex and shift with each movement of her wings. If I was going to improve upon the wing thruster design, I’d have to get rather familiar with those muscles, I had a feeling. Wiring into them would give a lot more control over things, especially for in-atmosphere flying. But first things first…

"I'm sorry for the prank, Rainbow. I didn't mean for that to happen," I mentally whispered a moment later, trying to get my sincerity across. Rainbow obviously didn't know how to respond, but her eyes softened and she gave me a rather warm smile before shaking her head.

"I'm just glad it wasn't what I thought," she whispered, surprisingly mellow for Rainbow Dash. I would have expected a good solid kick to the skull after that incident. Either the prank had truly shocked her, which made me feel really, really badly, or she was waiting for a more opportune time where she could beat the crap out of me without raising public suspicion. Oddly, I don't think the latter would hurt as much. Honestly, I just wanted Dash to trust me still.

"Hmm?" Apple Bloom asked shortly after, glancing over at Rainbow as well.

"Oh, nothin'" she assured, giving a nonchalant wave of her hoof. I snickered and resumed waiting for whenever Applejack was finished. Hmm. Sorry, Twilight, but I might be just a little bit late.

Applejack stared curiously at the disks I'd spread out on the table. Rainbow had picked hers up almost immediately and was flipping it around in her hooves. "This is so weird! This is totally my Cutie Mark!" she exclaimed, looking fascinated. As I predicted, it didn't do a thing when she picked it up. She was already recorded on it, so I didn't think there was anything for it to do in the first place.

"These thingies came out o' tha rocks, right? When you poked 'em?" Applejack asked again from her spot on the sofa. Once I told her they operated via touch, she refused to get too close to them, which was probably a good thing.

I nodded gently. "Yeah. Fluttershy's disk was in the second rock, while Rainbow's was in the third. Rainbow's was deactivated until I touched it, however," I summarized what I had already told them.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and sighed. "You mean when Twilight made you touch it, right?" she corrected, sounding a little miffed.

I coughed lightly but looked away. Apple Bloom snickered, looking up from where she was rolling one along the table. She'd grabbed one before I could warn her about the touch thing, and absolutely nothing happened. It honestly didn't surprise me that much, but I pretended that I already knew it only worked on the Elements of Harmony. I didn't exactly want Applejack to beat the tar out of me for risking her sister like that. Still, it was a discovery I could tell Twilight!

"What happens if I touch a blank one?" Rainbow asked a moment later, shifting her attention to one of the gray ones still lying on the coffee table.

"I honestly have no idea." No sense in lying to either of them about it.

Rainbow smirked at me before reaching down and resting her hoof across one of the gray disks. My ears drooped and I sighed, realizing I should have guessed she'd do it almost instantly. "Ya really need to work on that forethought thing, Dash," Applejack muttered a moment later, rolling her eyes.

The cyan pegasus let out a squeak and hopped backwards as the disk lit up. Hers landed on the table after she dropped it, rolling about in a distracting manner. Regardless, my eyes widened as I watched the gray ones instead, but then I relaxed as only a message popped up over the disk. "Subject 02 Already Recorded" was displayed in the floating holographic lettering.

"Whoa! That's neat," Apple Bloom muttered, sliding her hoof through the message a couple of times. It flickered with each passing, but remained floating in the air for a few seconds before fading away.

"I guess the disks are linked together and know you're already on one, Dash," I reasoned, shrugging.

Applejack frowned and leaned forwards a little now that the light show was done before verifying, "So if Ah were ta touch ah gray one, mah Cutie Mark would appear on it, and Ah'd be 'registered'; whatever that means?" She paused, looking back up at me, so I nodded gently to her. "Then, if ya touched it after, we'd link up just like Fluttershy and Rainbow?" she finished, tilting her head curiously while looking down at the disks.

Absently, I nodded. "That's what's happened so far. Apparently, it works if you touch the containers as well. It registered Fluttershy when she poked the rock, after all," I reasoned.

"I'm still confused. Why didn't it form the link with me instead of just recording me, then?" Rainbow asked, frowning.

That was probably my fault. I hadn't explained it very well. "Ah, Fluttershy touched it, and then I touched it when it was still connected to the rock. You touched it after Twilight chopped it free of the main container. Apparently, it doesn't need a connection to register you, but it does need a connection to hook me up to the disk?" I offered.

Rainbow exhaled weakly, blowing her bangs up into the air a little before nodding. "So, kinda because by the time I touched the rock thingies, it was already cut free by Twilight?"

Well, that was a far easier way of saying it. I blushed but nodded, a little embarrassed over my own awkwardness. Note to self, still not so great at the talking thing.

Apple Bloom hopped away from the table and onto the couch a second later. Glancing her way, I saw one of the glowing disks in her mouth instead. Wait, what? My eyes widened as I looked back at the table, only to find Dash's discarded disk missing! Apple Bloom smiled at me before tossing in a wink and letting the disk drop against her sister's foreleg!

"Apple Bloom?" the orange farm mare asked, looking down at her sister again. A heartbeat passed as I stared in horror. Applejack caught my stare and gave me a funny look before glancing down at what I was looking at. A long second drifted by as all four of us now stared at the glowing disks resting against her foreleg, Rainbow's attention having been drawn by Applejack's voice.

Applejack practically exploded after the moment passed, diving off the side of the couch to get away from the seemingly inert disk. Well, I guess that means nothing happens if we try to dual-register ponies either!

Her sister looked more amused than upset, however. What the hell was she trying to do?! "Don't worry, Sis! It was Rainbow Dash's disk. Ah don't think it woulda hurt ya," she assured, snickering in amusement.

"Hey! Give that back!" Rainbow exclaimed, giving the filly a glare before grabbing her disk back. She didn't notice it was her own disk before now?

Applejack's head popped up over the armrest again, glaring at Apple Bloom as well. "Ya didn't know that, AB! That was right dangerous!" she warned sternly. The little filly's ears drooped, and she nodded solemnly.

"Ah'm sorry, Sis. Ah honestly thought the worst that coulda happened was that ya'd get ah link with Rainbow instead," she professed, causing me to mentally snicker. Rainbow probably wouldn't be nearly as upset about that. Although, as much basis as that guess had, I seriously doubted that would be possible.

I called it correctly when I noticed Rainbow blush. Applejack considered it for a moment before shrugging. "Ah suppose yer right. That wouldn't be so bad," she agreed. What?

Her reply hit me like an avalanche, flattening my ears back and causing my mouth to drop open a little of its own accord. If she meant what I thought she did there... Wincing, I tried to flatten out my expression as best I could. Dash had been looking at me at the time to avoid Applejack's gaze, and now raised her eyebrows, but I steadied my expression before the country mare herself looked my way.

"What's all involved in this linkin' business, speakin' of?" she asked politely a moment later. I searched her expression carefully, silently cursing my lack of social skills. The only thing I managed to get from her slightly raised eyebrow and reasonably deadpan features was that she was either mildly curious or concerned. Maybe she hadn't intended that to be as harsh as it had sounded, then?

"You okay, Mender?" Rainbow asked suspiciously, drawing both other females' attentions.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I nodded rapidly. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. The only thing we know about them right now is they share a mild empathy link at close distances, and a telepathic link when even closer," I explained casually.

"Tele-wha?" Apple Bloom questioned, snapping her attention back to me almost instantly with a large, curious stare.

"Telepathy. It means I can talk in Rainbow's head without anypony else hearing it. Empathy means she can lightly feel some of my emotions," I elaborated, smiling warmly at the little filly. As upset as I let myself get sometimes, nothing cheered me up more than a pure dose of adorable. Apple Bloom was dang good at those. Just like Sweetie Belle and Fluttershy. By being a filly, did that mean Scootaloo was also good at them? Truly, I hadn't hung out with her enough to know for sure.

Rainbow still eyed me suspiciously, but Applejack nodded and further questioned, "Ya don't know if it has any other effects then, right? Or why yer the one ta get tha links?"

Raising my head back up, I shook it weakly, adding, "No, I don't have an answer to either of those. Twilight wanted to look into them more tonight, so she might have more information for you by tomorrow." The icy stabbing sensation withdrew to a dull ache. It made sense that she didn't want a link with me and would rather it be Rainbow. That didn't necessarily mean she didn't like me, right? Hmm.

"Ya think Twi would mind if all o' us Elements came back tomorrow ta discuss this? Ah think the others should know, too," Applejack continued, looking thoughtful. She trusted me enough to speak on Twilight's behalf? I warmed a little, taking that as a positive indication to erase a few of my prior doubts.

"She's Twilight. She loves magical lectures, so why wouldn't she?" Dash pointed out in amusement, settling back onto the sofa with her coin between her hooves.

I snickered at the probably accurate estimate before nodding. "Admittedly, she's right. Twilight doesn't want to hide the information from you girls. She only found out about it the night before last, like I did," I assured, smiling to Applejack.

The orange mare seemed to relax a little and nodded to me, apparently relieved that nothing was being hidden from her. "I've also been working on blocking, or at least pushing out the connection. It only works automatically at extremely close ranges now," I added, aiming that one at Rainbow instead.

She stared at me for a moment before puffing out a bit of air from her lips, blowing her bangs up in a mild expression of what felt like apathy. "I'm not really worried, Mender. I know you can keep my secrets and you've kinda already shown that you respect my privacy," she reminded, earning herself a blank stare. Huh? When did I do that?

Applejack gave her a quizzical glance as well. Apple Bloom didn't appear to be paying attention, and was instead playing with Fluttershy's disk on the table. The cyan mare sighed a moment later before explaining, "Remember when we crashed and you helped me get untangled?"

Oh! I blushed and nodded, coughing lightly and looking away. "He kind of had me in a compromising position, but he only helped me get free rather than sneak a peek. So he's totally cool in my book," she elaborated for me, thankfully bulldozing over the conversation that had accompanied. That was the first time I realized Rainbow liked stallions, too. Although technically, that wasn't entirely accurate. She'd never said specifically that she liked mares, if I recall. She only said that she liked Applejack. Applejack-sexual then?

Applejack herself snapped me out of my contemplation with a light chuckle. "Ah figured, really. Ah guess he really does only have eyes fer Twi and Flutters," she agreed, smirking towards me in a rather uncomfortable, knowing manner.

"Hey! Looking at her like that was an accident. Admittedly, I like her like that, too, but I already told her we move at her pace," I defended, not at all comfortable with the insinuations. Now I was glad Apple Bloom wasn't paying attention after all.

It was Dash's turn to laugh. "I figured you two hadn't done anything yet. Disappointed?" she inquired, wiggling her eyebrows a moment later.

Applejack rolled her eyes at the same time I scoffed, glaring at the cyan mare. She was certainly blunt. I'd forgotten how matter-o-factly she could talk sometimes. "No. I'm managing myself well enough," I groaned, just wishing they'd shift the topic again.

"Sure you are," she continued, agreeing with an exaggerated wink. Ugh.

Applejack snickered before standing up fully and walking back around the couch. "Twilight's doin' ah lot better with things; ya don't gotta worry any. Any who, Ah gotta git tha cart an' stand back ta tha farm before it gets dark," she excused, stretching lightly along her lower back.

Glancing out the window near the door, I noticed she was indeed right. A peek at the clock told me that it had been a good twenty minutes since I left Twilight. Eh, I'd finish moving the suitcases upstairs before heading over to Rarity's.

"I'll hang out with ya until you get back to the farm, AJ," Rainbow tacked on nonchalantly. I was impressed that she managed not to blush.

Apple Bloom yawned sleepily before setting the yellow, pink, and cyan coin down on the table again. I gathered up all five of them with my magic and moved them back into the cabinet, careful to not even breath on the one I left in there.

"Thanks fer trustin' me, Mender," the little filly added warmly upon closing her mouth again. I smiled and nodded down at her, getting a warm grin back.

"You're a Crusader. Of course I trust you," I returned in a proper voice. It kind of reminded me of goofing off with Twilight.

Her grin expanded and she nodded enthusiastically, further earning smiles out of the other two mares. "O' course! Cutie Mark Crusaders are forever!" she assured, saluting me with her right forehoof. She giggled at my return salute before wobbling as Applejack picked her up and tossed her onto her back with a flick of her head.

"Come on, AB. Gotta git home and go ta bed. There's ah long day ahead o' us again tomorrow," she reminded, smiling back at her sister, who busied herself re-adjusting Applejack's Stetson.

"We'll see ya tomorrow, Mender!" Rainbow tacked on, smirking back at me as she took to the air, drifting over to the door to open it for her secret crush.

I nodded gently to her, catching Applejack's wave with a returned one before she slid the door shut. For a moment, I simply stared at the darkened wood of the door, suddenly a little bit unsure of what I was doing. I'd been so caught up in the act of actually managing a social situation by myself that I hadn't entirely realized that it was over until it was over. Now I was distinctly aware of a little bit of emptiness left behind.

After a long minute, I turned away from the door and checked the clock again. It was eighteen fifteen. That meant I had a good five or six minutes before I should leave, regardless. I had enough time to haul the luggage upstairs still. Deciding to be lazy, I smirked and warmed my left hoof up as the suitcases and saddlebags floated into the air near me, attached to tether-like barriers.

Twilight had decidedly over-packed. I sighed as I placed her alchemy equipment back where they were supposed to be on her shelves. The only thing she'd used them for was to get a proper measurement for my nausea medication. Of course, after what happened with Rarity, we lost quite a bit of our free time, so I hardly blamed her.

My ears perked at the sound of static upon setting down the alembic. I looked around curiously, but noticed no visual cues that might indicate a dimensional disruption. Seconds passed in absolute stillness before the static died down again. Well, that was weird. Either I was hearing things out of paranoia, or Keela was playing with the power couplings hooked up to the book. Actually, if I remembered correctly, the time lag would put her as just barely getting up at this point.

Pushing the distraction out of my head, I peeked up at the clock once more; probably for the seventh time in five minutes. Twenty after. I decided to give them the full half an hour just to be sure, of course. That only made sense. It gave Twilight extra time to try to reason with Rarity, right? I shifted back and forth on my hooves. Damn it. What would I even say to her? Now that I thought more about it, what Applejack said just felt insensitive.

Another minute ticked by as I idled. Her books were returned to the private shelves in pristine alphabetical order, and most of her instruments were put away. I didn't dare touch the clothes she brought along, of course. Maybe I was trying to be too helpful? I edged away from the suitcases on the bed uneasily, peeking around the room again. It was kind of unnerving to be by myself here.

The static sensation creeped into my skull again and I looked around rapidly. Nothing. I contemplated yanking on the link a couple of times to properly indicate to knock it off. She'd better not be trying to scan the book again. We had traded very specific words in that regard! Again, the static died down after barely thirty seconds and I sighed. Whatever.

Distracting myself, I peeked at the note on Twilight's desk again. She wouldn't technically need it now, of course. It was written in Spike's rather elegant, if not practical, handwriting, explaining that he heard Rarity came home upset and had gone over first thing this morning to see if he could do anything for her. I smiled softly at it, but kept it where it was. With her being over there right now, she probably found out before I did.

Leaning down, I gave my tired leg muscles a stretch before heading back for the stairs. I might as well make my way there, I guess. It would take a little bit to walk there, and Twilight would probably call me late anyway, even without a definite time of arrival. Ah well. The sooner I got it all off my chest, the better.

I was halfway down the stairs when a resounding impact hit the main door. Startled, I jumped a little and lowered myself to my belly, halting on the stairs. What the heck was that?! "Ah! Owww," was muttered out a second later, answering my question without requiring further investigation. In fact, the voice sounded suspiciously familiar.

Sighing, I stood up fully again and walked over to the door. A peek through the little window in it confirmed my suspicions, and I opened it for the lavender unicorn, who was gently massaging her horn now.

"Are you okay, Twi? What are you doing back here?" I inquired, a little concerned at not only her disruption of the plan, but the light bruise that was appearing towards the base of her horn. That looked painful, now that I knew horns were sensitive!

She winced and looked up at me, eyes softening in the dim light the room released. "Ow. Yeah, I'm fine. I was thinking to myself and not, um, paying as much attention as I should have," she muttered, looking down and away from me with the hinting of a blush forming on her cheeks. I smiled, but didn't rub it in any further. Besides, she was cute when embarrassed.

"Well, what are you doing back here? Was Rarity not home?" I inquired, back to the topic at hoof now that she assured me she was okay.

She exhaled weakly, and I swallowed. Uh oh. "No, she wasn't. I looked for a while, but I couldn't manage to find her," she muttered, frowning before slowly walking past me and into the library. I shivered as she walked past.

Wonderful. Did she know we had arrived back in town and was avoiding us? No, that didn't make sense. She wasn't one to avoid her problems for this long, it felt like. Maybe she was just visiting somepony for a bit of a talk? It made sense if she was upset about it. Fluttershy maybe? Twilight probably already thought of that, though.

I turned and followed her back inside after gently closing the door. Damn it. This wasn't exactly going as smoothly as we initially thought it would. "Was Spike there still or did he go with Rarity?" I asked curiously.

Twilight stopped and frowned back at me. "Spike was supposed to be there?" she asked, confirming my answer regardless. He must have gone with her, then.

"Yeah, he left a note on your desk upstairs saying he had gone to console Rarity this morning," I informed. She glanced up the stairs in question before sighing and shaking her head.

"Perfect. I was hoping he'd know where she was, too. Ugh, this is making me tired," she muttered, stomping her hooves in frustration before lowering her barrel a little and looking downright exhausted.

I lowered my eyes and nodded to myself. The 'jet' lag from the train ride followed by her generally high strung manner of dealing with things probably took a lot out of her. The fact that she was showing it to me said a lot, however. I blushed as I walked up and rubbed a hoof along her shoulder, massaging gently. Her muscles felt tense, confirming my suspicions.

Twilight glanced back at me and smiled softly, looking downright content with my gesture, although it was hard to tell in this light. The sun was rapidly setting, and I had lacked the foresight to turn on many lights downstairs.

"You're so kind to me. Thank you, Mender. Sometimes I worry I don't appreciate you nearly enough," she muttered before resting her cheeks against my hoof. I momentarily worried that such a stretch might be painful to her stiff neck muscles, but she didn't seem to mind all that much.

I felt my cheeks heat up again and shook my head in denial. "You're amazing, Twilight. You don't need to worry about anything," I assured quietly. Maybe the thing with Rarity had shaken her up a little more than she let on? Of course, if how she acted on the train was any indication, she had been thinking about it a lot more than she let on.

She smirked suddenly and giggled. "Still! Hmm. Actually, I think I need a little break. Wanna come along?" she inquired, her tone of voice changing dramatically. Huh? Suddenly, I noticed my heartbeat increase as I watched her walk towards the stairs. She stopped at the foot of them and smiled back at me, giving a mirthful wink. What did she mean, break?

"Come on, Mender. I want to 'experiment' a little bit to help me relax," she murmured, swishing her tail in my direction playfully. The heat magnified in my face as my heartbeat increased again followed by a painful swallow. Now? Of all times, she wanted to do that kind of stuff now?! Was she afraid that Rarity might steal me away or something?

"Twilight, is this about what she said on the train ride? I told you I'm all right with waiting," I asked hesitantly, following along after her if not to simply keep up.

She paused momentarily and sighed before giving me a soft smile backwards. "I know what you said. I have been thinking about it a lot, but I want this. It'll just be a little bit of fun, okay?" she offered. Hesitating, I frowned at her and tried to search her expression. She was bothered by what Rarity said. I should have figured as much. What was she going to do, though? Hesitantly, I took another couple steps.

She took my slow step forward as a confirmation, apparently, and continued up the stairs, a definitely noticeable sway to her flanks with each step now. What was she doing?! My mind sputtered as I couldn't move my eyes off her tail; it would sway in the opposite direction of her hips with each light movement, still covering everything but acting extremely teasing as well. Scrunching my eyes shut, I fought back the heat and promptly almost tripped on one of the steps. No, she probably just wanted to kiss a little! If she knew I was staring at her flank, I'd probably be sent back down the stairs in a rather abrupt manner!

"There you are. Get lost?" she playfully teased as I finally rounded the top of the stairs and looked over at her. My breath caught in my throat as I watched her lazily spread her long form out on her mattress, demurely looking up and down my body before gesturing for me to approach. Oh hell. Oh hell! What was she doing?!

"W-What are you doing, Twi? Um, this seems a little much for, um," I tried to ask, stumbling over my wording as I stuttered like a schoolyard boy. Ugh. My hormones were going totally crazy and I struggled to keep my body under control as it started to tingle in awkward places. She said just a 'little' fun!

"I want to show you exactly how much you're appreciated, Silly. I really do love you, you know. Oh. So. Much," she murmured, snickering at my locking up all of a meter away. Love?! I swallowed and shivered, totally taken off guard by this sudden change in approach. It was something she read. It had to be. Rarity wouldn't have suggested she act like this, would she? She saw something or other today at some point and it must have caused her to panic and think she was doing something wrong. That meant it was practically my obligation to explain things to her and assure her that she was indeed okay, right?

I shook my head, stopping my advance despite my body's complaints. "T-Twilight, relax. This is something you read about, isn't it? You don't need to do this. I'm ecstatic that you feel that strongly about it but you don't need to, um, push yourself," I tried to explain, ignoring my body's shivers.

She snickered and just looked more amused before leaning forward and pulling me closer to her. "You're such the gentlecolt," she returned before pulling my head forwards. Oh crap.

The kiss was a lot rougher and more needy than what I had been used to prior. She practically attacked my mouth, slipping her tongue inside and smiling against my lips as I shuddered. Her heat was absolutely intense as she pulled me against her chest, my back end still hanging off the side of the bed. She moaned lightly into the kiss a moment later as I hesitantly returned a push against her tongue with my own.

She broke the kiss a moment later and I frowned, wondering if I had done it wrong. Wait, why were we doing this in the first place?! A thin line of saliva connected our lips still, and she surprised me by licking along mine slowly, gathering it up with her tongue before pulling it back into her mouth. Whoa. "Mmm, good boy. I knew you'd change your mind," she muttered, looking content with her eyes half lidded. I stared at her in surprise, my brain sputtering.

She leaned back more, giving me a gentle tug and gesture to get up on the bed with her fully, lips curling into a rather heated smile. I froze and stared. Wait...

After a moment, she frowned and tilted her head at me, asking, "Why stop now? I know you don't want to." A cold sensation drifted through my body as I suddenly understood. Everything clicked into place at the same time.

My left hoof activated, subtly coating the blankets under her with my magic. She frowned for a split second before I whipped the blanket up with both hooves. She let out a startled yelp as the fabric came alive, tightly wrapping around her and hauling her into the air like a possessed cocoon. After she finished three rotations, wrapping her up tightly, I smashed her into the wall as hard as I could, glaring as her head skipped off the rough wood...

Chapter 25

Twilight let out a yelp as her head cracked off the wall, temporarily stunning her. I wasn't entirely sure of her abilities, so I didn't want to take any chances. The blankets constricted further, going all the way up to the base of her neck and keeping a tight hold there. My barriers were primed and ready to go in a heartbeat if needed. My eyes narrowed as I glared at her a moment before spitting to the side, trying to get her taste out of my mouth. Ugh.

"W-What are you doing, Mender?" she finally managed to stutter, gasping for air as she tried to raise her head up higher.

I snorted, watching her carefully for any sudden moves. "Cute. Who are you really?" I asked cautiously.

She stared down at me, eyes wide with shock before asking, "W-What are you talking about?" Her voice was timid, sounding exactly like the familiar lavender unicorn. Scarily similar. I was starting to get annoyed at this point.

"It all fits. The static I heard before you got here. Not mentioning Rarity probably being at Fluttershy's and simply going to check there. Giving up on the search for Rarity in the first place. None of these things are something Twilight would do," I pointed out.

Her eyes started to water and she opened her mouth, but I continued first. "Further, Twilight and I haven't progressed this far in our relationship. She would... She wouldn't have said that she loved me. Or tried to do what you just tried to do."

"M-Mender, it really is," she started to protest before I hauled her closer, momentarily distracted by the slight bruise the right side of her face bore.

"Lastly, Twilight's eyes are lavender, not pink," I finished, staring right into her bright pink eyes. Hers widened while mine narrowed.

A quiet second passed by, and she suddenly smiled. It was that same saucy grin she wore before. "Clever. Is this better?" she asked casually. I watched, anger rising as her eyes shifted from pink to the purple I was used to. Damn it. Why hadn't I noticed sooner? Sure it was dark down there, but still, her behavior was ridiculous.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I asked again, more slowly this time as my voice lowered. Twilight was probably at Rarity's still. Rarity was probably home after all with Spike there. I subdued this mare easily, so Twilight could have stomped her into the dirt without looking. No, Twilight was fine.

"Aww, but I just want to have some no strings attached fun, Mender. I even went to all of this effort to look like your girlfriend. So, how about it? We have a juicy little romp, you pretend to have fallen asleep, and I'm gone and out of sight before anyone's the wiser," she offered pleasantly. Her voice shifted at the same time and I noted 'anyone' as if a flare was attached to it. Not that I needed the clue, as I recognized the voice anyway.

"Nirru? What the hell?!" I asked, backing away from her a little. How? How was this even possible?! Everything pointed at Keela. I'd told her about Twilight, Spike, bits of Equestria, my friends...

She grinned and smiled at me before nodding. "Of course. Keela attempting to contact you and warn you was probably what you heard earlier, but I blocked her from communicating. I only want one thing, Mender. Give it to me and I'll leave. You'll never have to deal with us ever again," she assured, eyes half-lidding as she licked her lips towards me. No, this didn't make sense. Why was she even doing this?

"Why do you want to mate with me?" I asked carefully, shifting to my left a little as she floated in the air, not trying to resist in the slightest.

Her eyes closed a moment later and she sighed. "You have something we need, and that's one of the fastest ways to get it. I don't give a shit if the council likes it or not. I'm going to save our species, one way or another."

There it was. It clicked into place and I sighed again. "You think I have Keldarian DNA left that can be used to help repopulate," I muttered, losing the anger I had. It was hard to stay mad at somepony blatantly lying to themselves.

"I know you have the DNA," she corrected, losing her smile and just watching me now.

"You know that one Keldarian isn't going to be enough to jump start our species again, right? Even if this new form somehow didn't screw with my DNA, there's not enough diversity in just me for that to work," I warned, shuddering internally at the thousands of complications that would stem from that. Disease, mutation, genetic abnormality, and massive amounts of defects would probably cause them to die out in all of four or five generations if they were lucky.

"That's my problem, not yours. All I'm asking is for you to just sit back and enjoy yourself for a bit. In return, I'll break the link myself and send you your stupid book back," she offered, shifting to a business approach instead, it would seem.

I opened my mouth to protest when both of us were interrupted by the sound of the door opening downstairs. Uh oh. Had Twilight gotten impatient and come looking for me? Well this would be rather easy to explain if so, and she'd have her proof right here and now.

"Twi, are ya up there? Applejack and I saw you hit the door on your way in and were worried," Rainbow called out from below, causing my heart to fall into my stomach. Damn it. Okay, this was going to be harder than I thought.

"Work with me! We'll get them to leave, then we can mate and it'll be over. You won't have to worry about us any further," Nirru whispered, shifting back to Twilight's voice and causing me to shiver. The sensation of knowing who she actually was felt largely like nails on a chalkboard that was strapped to the back of my skull.

Damn. If I got them to go away, maybe I could talk some sense into her? This was crazy. "Twi, are ya okay up there? Mender told us about tha disks, an’ Ah had ah few more questions if ya don’t mind. He up there with ya?" Applejack asked a second later, earning another annoyed groan from Nirru. I paced lightly in place, unsure of what I should do. If I let her go and had her help me get them to leave, they'd probably tell Twilight anyway and then I'd get in trouble for tricking them. But if I tried to convince them that this was some freaky space version of Twilight here trying to seduce me because she's off her rocker, I had a feeling that would go over as well as a barrel of rotten apples dumped over their heads.

“Okay, just help me talk to them, Nirru. I’m sure we can explain things in a way that doesn’t make me sound cra… Any more crazy, and that will help both of us,” I suggested in a whisper, looking back up at her as she drifted.

Nirru hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and adding, "Idiot." I glared at her before widening my eyes in shock as she yanked herself backwards. Her back and side crashed into the wall again and she let out a muffled yelp before adding in, "Ahh! H-Help!"

What?! Oh. Oh hell. "Twi!" I heard Rainbow shout from the stairs, followed by a powerful flapping noise as she undoubtedly took to the air. I took a few steps back away from the bed, looking back and forth between Nirru and the stairs.

A heartbeat passed and she was there. Dash took in the situation with rapidly widening eyes, mouth slowly dropping open as her orange friend cleared the top of the stairs and split second later.

"What in Equestria are ya doin', Mender?" Applejack asked, eyes rapidly joining Rainbow's in size. Son of a... I rapidly tried to think of something; anything I could say to convince them of what was actually going on, but it all sounded so far-fetched that I didn't know what to go with.

"H-He hit me, and then wrapped me up," Nirru whimpered in Twilight's voice, making sure to show the right side of her head where blood now trickled down.

The shift was like watching a train looming towards me in slow motion. Applejack's eyes slowly narrowed and filled with an indescribable rage as she shifted her gaze towards me. I shuddered and backed away, panic drifting readily into me now. Oh crap. Uh, she appreciated the truth the most!

"This isn't Twilight! This is Nirru, one of the people from my dimension," I rapidly explained, shifting closer to the bed in case I needed soft things for something. You never knew when you'd need something soft!

"Mender, just let her go and we'll talk about this, okay?" Dash suggested, looking unsure of the situation rather than pissed, surprisingly.

"Yer crazy. Yer absolutely crazy. Let her go, or Ah'm gonna buck ya so hard yer ancestors'll feel it!" she warned, slowly stepping closer to me, one hoof at a time. Oh hell!

Shifting Nirru, I intersected her between the two of us to ward off any potential charges. "I'm telling the truth! She's the crazy one! She said she was here to try to seduce me or something," I defended, peeking out from around the blankets.

"He's crazy! He said he was tired of waiting and he," Nirru 'sobbed', burying her face in the blankets surrounding her. What?! "He tried to do things to me!" she finally managed to yell out. I pulled the blankets tighter against her to shut her up, but it was probably a little too late at that point.

Applejack looked livid and was actually shaking in rage while glaring at me. Rainbow was just frowning, looking a little upset but still seeming unsure. "Mender, calm down and just let her go. AJ and I aren't going to hurt you. Let's just talk about this," she reasoned. I paused, not realizing the hoof I was touching the blankets with was shivering uncontrollably. It felt like a ball of ice had settled in my stomach and I further retreated. Applejack looked like she was going to murder me, which kind of lowered the believability of the cyan pegasus' claim.

"Twilight's at Rarity's! Go and check for yourself, Rainbow! Applejack can stay here until you get back," I reasoned, swallowing hard. I couldn't stop my stupid hoof from shaking, and I suddenly felt like crying. That wasn't possible, though. I couldn't let Nirru hurt my friends!

"Oh no. Yer not gonna split us up. Let her go, Mender. Now," Applejack demanded yet again, voice dropping into a tone I'd never heard her hit before.

Rainbow herself hesitated, though. She believed me? No, she felt the tension and utter horror coming off me through the empathy link. "Just put her down, Mender. Then I'll go check at Rarity's," she finally offered. Crap. Well, that was a lot better than not believing me at all.

"Yer kiddin', right? Ya actually believe that hogwash, RD?" Applejack asked skeptically, glaring over at her friend instead for a moment.

Rainbow surprised me by glaring back. "He at least deserves the benefit of the doubt! Sure, it's crazy, but so is me flying through space and him taking out a giant ship!" she pointed out, sounding a little irritated. I swallowed weakly, but peeked out from behind the blanketed mass again, hoping maybe that this could be resolved in a non-violent manner. Heck, Applejack could buck me all she wanted so long as Nirru wasn't allowed to be free. I'd certainly prefer she didn't, but given her expression, I decided that wasn't bloody likely. More static sensation resounded into my skull, but I ignored it entirely. Keela could wait.

Applejack looked momentarily taken aback before scowling and returning her gaze to me. "Fine. But only after he lets Twi go," she finally acquiesced. I swallowed and shifted back a little, unsure of myself.

"I just don't want her to hurt you. If I let her go, I'm not sure if I could defend you from her if needed," I explained uneasily, finally managing to get my hoof under control and force it to stop shivering. A few cold swallows later and I slowed my heartbeat as well.

Rainbow momentarily looked surprised before narrowing her eyes slightly. Huh?! Her stance spread out along with her wings as she slowly started sidestepping, putting distance between herself and Applejack while remaining oriented on me. She was widening the flank I needed to defend. Crap. Why was she suddenly mad at me? Applejack lowered herself as well upon noticing her friend's reaction, staying her ground and blocking me off from the stairs. I swallowed, my heartbeat speeding back up again almost instantly. Damn it!

A short scream of rage sounded off inside my head, and the static burst through, finally releasing a panting voice. "Nirru! What the hell are you doing?! This isn't what you said you'd do! You were supposed to talk to them and discuss the matter!" Keela suddenly demanded, sounding utterly pissed off. It seemed like everypony here was pissed except for me.

"I'm doing what you're too afraid to do. Save our species," Nirru whispered under her breath into the blankets, sounding indignant instead.

There was a huff, followed by, "You're hurting innocent bystanders. Stop this, Sis! Just tell them that he's not lying and talk it over!" Keela pleaded, calming down a little. She had helped her sister get here? Although their plan seemed to have deviated significantly, I noticed. My feelings were suddenly conflicted over her involvement and I frowned, looking up at Nirru as the Keldarian turned pony hesitated, frowning to herself.

My mistake was noticed several hundredths of a second too late. To maintain the barrier over Nirru, I didn't have any on myself. Looking away from them was all the opening Dash had needed. She was in front of me before I could even widen my eyes, way faster than the guard had been. There was no chance for me to raise a barrier in the slightest before she plowed me over in a feral pounce. We slammed into the bed in an instant, sliding the entire thing across the floor as she pinned me to the mattress. Suddenly I was glad of my decision to get close to the soft things.

Regardless, her actual impact had hurt like a bitch, and I yelped as my skin bruised under the force of her hooves holding me down. Contact with my hoof broken, the barriers collapsed, blanket and Nirru falling to the floor as Applejack rushed over. No! I fought against Rainbow, her being deceptively heavy as well as strong. It apparently wasn't just her wings that were powerful!

"Twi! Are ya alright?" Applejack asked almost instantly, helping Nirru unwrap herself from the blanketed mess. I tried to look around Rainbow to see what was happening, but the pegasus just shoved me harder into the bed.

"We do not need you to protect us, Mender," she hissed out a second later, glaring at point blank range into my eyes. I swallowed, backing up completely into Twilight's pillow, starting to shiver again.

A pause between Nirru's fake sobbing let her relay, "He c-cracked my horn when he first hit me! I can't m-make my magic work!" Clever.

Nirru's 'crying' resumed shortly thereafter, and I saw Applejack wrap her hooves around the 'shivering' mare and glare over her shoulder at me instead. Not good! At that range, I had no idea what Nirru was capable of. I struggled harder against Rainbow, trying not to panic as I saw the lavender forelegs gently wrapping around Applejack. The left hoof, as it extended around behind the farm mare's back, slowly shifted into a metallic hue, a long needle starting to form out of it. Shit!

"I'm sorry, Rainbow," I managed to mutter, causing the prismatic pegasus to raise an eyebrow. My hoof touched her front elbow an instant later, however, removing all gravity from her at the price of more of my limited reserve of magic. Her eyes widened as she felt herself become weightless, but I had already shifted my back legs up and shoved against her chest. She yelped as she spun backwards, flailing and drifting towards the ceiling. I rolled and lunged after the kick, sending myself off the bed and bounding towards Nirru's back. She wouldn't hurt my friends!

Applejack's eyes widened and she surprised me by shoving Nirru to her right, sending the lavender mare sprawling, her hoof rapidly shifting back to normal! Damn it! I slid slightly, shifting my course and launching myself towards her new position, as fast as my legs could take me. I hadn't wanted to hurt her, but if it came down to either that or letting her hurt anypony I cared for, there wasn't a choice!

Smashing her into the wall earlier had revealed a problem, however. The vibration through her body had revealed to me that she was actually absurdly dense. I hadn't mentioned that to her, but that had confirmed my actions in an instant. Just a barrier wouldn't be able to even make a dent in her skin. I just wasn't strong enough, and there wasn't any weight behind them. In order to actually cut her, I needed to make a compressed blade like I had before. Without my past self's energy pool however, I was severely limited in both range and size. I'd have to get a lot closer if I was going to connect with this thing!

Applejack was thrown off balance by her toss, rotating around practically backwards as she spun. My peripheral vision told me Rainbow had barely hit the ceiling and was still trying to recover as my burst of magic wore off her. This was my only chance! Two bounds passed. My heart hammered at my chest in the same instant that Nirru hit the floor, face first. Her flank was to me. I couldn't reach her neck, so I formed the energy blade aiming at her spine instead. It wasn't an assured kill, but she would be in too much pain to do anything, hopefully. This was assuming that her current body had some sort of central nervous system.

The blade flared up, compressing down as best I could with my limited amount of energy and time to form it. It only extended half a meter or so. My third bound landed against the harsh wood of the library floor, and then I leapt. I angled my head down the best I could, aiming for her mid-back. Time slowed as my body flared with adrenalin. A nagging sensation hit my mind, as realization connected a second after. Wait, didn't Applejack buck with her...

"No!" the orange mare screamed out, bracing like a coiled spring on her front legs. She had spun on purpose. It dawned on me as my eyes widened. There was no energy left in me to even try to form a barrier.

Years of smashing her hooves into the solid trunks of trees had made Applejack an absurdly strong mare. Both of her legs unfurled with practiced precision and timing. I'd have been impressed, had both back hooves not connected with my right side a hundredth of a second later. Time ground to a halt at the call of the brutal cracking sound echoing out from my side. The air in my lungs was literally forced from my body from the impact, my midsection suddenly deciding to travel sideways instead of following the momentum of the rest of my body. My legs and head snapped sideways as the force of her double kick shattered my prior forward momentum almost as easily as it had undoubtedly just shattered a few ribs.

Then the pain hit, catching up with the torn apart nerves throughout the flesh along my side. I let out a silent scream, having absolutely no air to actually make my vocal cords work. My side screamed in bloody agony for another heartbeat, mirroring the whiplash from all four limbs and my neck as I was tossed through the air like a high velocity ragdoll. The crushing pain was joined by an abrupt stabbing sensation in the same instant, it practically feeling like she had snapped me in half from the force of the impact. Then I hit the window.

My momentum had carried me forward a little bit still, but her strength had rendered it a moot point. I rocketed sideways away from my intended target and smashed directly into Twilight's bay window near the balcony. The wooden frame shattered under the weight of my body, the glass fragmenting around me as I was forced through it. It didn't shatter in any uniform pattern, however, leaving long gashes along my skin as I was torn across it. I didn't even feel the sensation at that point. The explosion of raw agony from my side tore through my body like a ripple, leaving numb oblivion in its wake. My back hit the railing of the balcony with enough force to splinter the wood and snap the supports, from the sound of it. My instant stop was a harsh one as I momentarily caved my fragile body into the heavy rail before gravity outweighed my sideways momentum. My world blackened as I hit the floor of the balcony, not unlike a sack of wet sand. Ironically, that's the closest I could get to describing what my insides felt like. She was right. I swore I could hear an unknown ancestor crying as everything went black.

Consciousness flickered back into my skull; not as a stirring this time so much as a belly flop onto cement. I couldn't even manage a groan as I felt my body stiffen, points of agony dancing along my back, side, neck, and legs. It would be easier for me to list what didn't hurt, I noted. My eyes opened a second later as the realization of what had happened set in. Nirru was free with nopony to stop her! Speak of the devil, I saw she stood all of a meter from me on the balcony when my eyes opened. Applejack stood next to her, looking furious still down at my unmoving form.

"Yer lucky we're even goin' fer ah doctor. Yer crazy an' we’re through as friends. Nopony tries ta hurt my friends like ya just did!" she growled upon noticing my eyes open up. I swallowed, eyes flickering back to Nirru's amused smirk behind the mare.

"This is insane! Don't move him, AJ! I'll go get the doctor," Rainbow rapidly excused from behind me somewhere, apparently missing Nirru's expression entirely. Damn it. If she left, it would be even easier for the fake Twilight to ambush Applejack!

"Don't," I managed to rasp out, my right foreleg shifting a bit as I tried to gain some sort of friction under it. There was almost no strength however, all attempts at applying pressure only causing it to scream out in agony as it connected with my side.

"Shut it," Applejack warned coldly, kicking my leg away from them as she saw the movement. I didn't know if it was a good or bad thing when I felt nothing at all.

"Don't do anything to him! I'll be back as soon as I can!" Rainbow ordered, surprisingly sounding concerned. The bitterness flared up inside of me, and I mentally snarled to myself. Was everything I tried to do that pointless? Applejack hadn't even hesitated for a second before deciding I was just crazy and a danger. I felt my eyes start to get wet as they lost focus. I tried and tried to fit in; to stay positive and persevere. Now what? Applejack didn't want to be my friend anymore, Rainbow no longer trusted me, and the one thing I tried to stop was free and gloating over the whole ordeal. I couldn't win. The tears just came, earning another glare from the orange mare. I didn't care.

There was only one thing left that I could do, I decided. There was one secret I still hadn't revealed to Nirru. She had no idea how my magic functioned. Focusing as best I could, I tried to build up all that was left of my energy. The blade had been entirely disrupted after I was kicked, and all of that energy was lost before I could pull it back in. I doubted I had enough energy to move and still form the barrier. That left only one option. I focused on using the floor as a connector. If I couldn't bring the blade to her, or her to the blade, I'd simply form it on her and shoot it upwards. She'd probably die. Applejack's retaliation would probably kill me as well. I didn't have any other options, however.

"Careful, Twi. Don't get too close. That weird, unnatural magic o' his might still be able ta work," Applejack warned, causing me to open my right eye again, not having realized I closed them. Heh. At least I knew what she really thought about my magic, now.

My consciousness swam and I hadn't realized how hard it was to focus. I pulled in the energy faster, realizing I might have internal bleeding. The doctor might not even make it back in time at this rate. "You did a number on him! I don't think he'll be able to do much anymore," Nirru pointed out after giving me a prod with her hoof.

"Are ya all right, though?" Applejack asked softly in reply. A pang of jealousy hit. Twilight had such amazing friends. I couldn't manage to let myself be angry at Applejack. She was defending her friend in her time of need. The principle was there, even if she herself was being tricked. Breathing became an uphill battle and I coughed, shocked suddenly by the wet sensation leaking out of my mouth as that cold numbness started to spread throughout my body. Lung damage. Probably shock.

Nirru didn't answer, instead leaning down close and staring into my eyes. There was no emotion in hers. The only thing lighting them was cold, clinical precision as she stretched my eye open and looked into it. "Nirru, you need to... Don't do this!" I heard Keela beg, fading in and out between static.

"Tch, the link is collapsing. Keep your eyes open, Mender," Nirru ordered, standing upright again.

"Wha?" Applejack muttered, sounding confused. The fake lavender mare in front of me sighed and aimed her hoof backwards. My eyes widened as I heard a pressurized launching noise and Applejack jumped in surprise. "W-What tha?"

My vision flickered down to the small dart buried in her chest. "Hmm? Oh, that? It's a tranquilizing agent I was going to use on Mender after I seduced him and mated. Then he would have just woken up after a while and thought it was all a dream. See? Aren't I nice?" she relayed, smiling back at Applejack.

The country mare's eyes widened and she shook her head slowly. It didn't look like the words even registered with her. A moment later, her front legs started to shake and she slumped slightly, struggling to stay upright.

I didn't have time to look anymore as I felt a sharp poke entered my neck and a second later. "And this is a mixture of proteins, mass enhancement, and adrenaline. It was for the mating itself if you weren't impressive enough," Nirru added with a wink, smirking down at me. I tried to roll my eyes but couldn't manage to feel where they were pointing in the first place. "They should keep you from shutting down before I get what I want from you, though," she continued, shifting me closer to the edge of the balcony with her hoof. Why wasn't anypony coming?! Surely we'd made enough noise for somepony to investigate!

"Wait, yer not..." Applejack muttered, rapidly shaking her head and actually starting to stand upright again. Damn.

Nirru sighed wearily and turned back around to face her. I sped my charging up as best I could. If I released my limiter, I just might be able to fire it off sooner, but in my current condition, it might just kill me instantly. "No, Applejack. My name is Nirru, like he said. He was telling the truth. I can see you're going to be a stubborn one," she replied before extending her hoof towards the orange mare again. No!

Nothing shot out, however. Instead, a gentle barrier extended out and formed a shimmering, transparent cage around Applejack. It was a low end barrier and not every well focused, I noticed. Also, it was only pieced together from other barriers instead of being solid. Sloppy.

"There. That'll hold you until I'm gone. Your friend is fast, but I imagine it will be difficult to find a doctor at this hour, no?" she reasoned, looking far too smug when she turned back around. Applejack stood in shock, mouth hanging limply as she shifted her gaze from Nirru's back to me as I watched her.

"Why are you doing this, Sis?! You didn't have to do any of this!" Keela demanded over the static echoing through my head. Oddly, I felt my energy slowly returning with a tingling sensation as well. Unfortunately, with the return of my strength came the return of my feeling as well. Pain started to lance through my barrel, and I gave out a muffled groan, squishing my eyes tight.

"Oooh, feeling coming back? That's good. The pain lets you know you're alive, am I right?" she asked, quoting an old soldier's sang. She continued before I could so much as give a sassy retort, however, "And I'm doing what you were too afraid to do, Keela. I already said that. Whether you believed me or not, he's worth a lot more than just one Keldarian. I know this. I will not let this opportunity pass in efforts at being 'nice' to him." What? How the hell was I worth more than one Keldarian? I wasn't even a Keldarian anymore!

"Oh no. No, no, no!" Applejack finally started to speak up, snapping out of her shock and slamming into the front of the cage angrily. Nirru burst into a grin before turning around and watching the mare.

"Ha! You're so hypocritical. You were the one who practically handed him over to me, and then when you find out the truth, you get all indignant over it? Please. Honestly, he's been here what, a month and a half? I figured it would be way harder to turn everyone against him like that," she pointed out. A sharp pang stabbed into my chest regardless of the agony everywhere else. As much as I wanted to stab her until she stopped moving, she was right. Maybe I really didn't belong here after all? I thought I was fitting in better but then something would happen that told me otherwise. This was just another one of those times.

Applejack didn't answer. Instead, she just seemed to get angrier and let out a scream of rage, slamming into the front of the cage again. The floor started to crack and splinter under the force of her impacts and my eyes widened.

I sensed Nirru's did as well. "My goodness! The tranquilizing agent doesn't appear to be affecting you at all. Either that or you really are just that stubborn. I really didn't want to have to take more extreme measures, but I don't have time for you potentially throwing a wrench into my plans," she muttered, sounding annoyed. Crap! Just pretend you're getting weaker, Applejack!

My spell wasn't fully charged yet. If I fired it off now, it would only extend a half meter or so. That wouldn't be nearly enough to kill Nirru when I was forced to use the floor as the extension point. Damn it! I contemplated releasing the limiter again, but in all honesty, I was afraid that it would kill me before I could even release the spell.

Applejack's eyes widened as Nirru drew her right foreleg backwards as if going to punch the cage. The hoof shifted, extending a long blade out of it and angling it back off her elbow. Oh hell. Her body was amorphous! "And now, you die knowing exactly how much you failed your friend," Nirru proclaimed, stabbing her foreleg forward an instant later.

There was no choice. My hoof flared with energy and the barrier blade stabbed upwards from the floor in the same instant. Applejack's eyes widened and she pushed herself backwards away from the elongated blade, just as mine shot up under the extending foreleg itself. Nirru screamed as my blade stabbed into the underside of her hoof, forcing her blade to overshoot the top of the cage and imbed itself in the wall above.

"You little bastard!" she screamed a second later, smashing me with her other forehoof as she tore her wrist off the blade. I winced but managed to pull back most of the energy from the attack. Preparing a second stab, I readied to release the limiter just as I launched the attack, hopefully allowing it to be enough to finish her off.

Her body moved far faster than I realized it could, however. She whipped around before I had fully retreated the blade and stomped down hard on the still glowing hoof. I screamed as I felt something snap inside my leg and lost focus on the second attack, energy dispersing instead. "Ha! So it's your hoof that's doing it. This is just too rich! You gave away your only hope, just to save the very same mare that handed you over to me," she cooed suddenly, looking ecstatic. Shit!

I drew in more energy from myself as best I could, but she was on to me at this point. "Mender!" Applejack called out at the same moment. Nirru smirked as her eyes flicked to the orange mare momentarily before whipping me forward, smashing my face into the slate bars of the barrier! I gasped as the thin sheets of energy cut into my cheek from the impact, and then I felt the hoof stomp down on the back of my left shoulder. Oh hell! No, no!

"And this is what we get for being a little bastard!" Nirru called out in a rather sing-song voice. I screamed. She smashed my face harder into the bars, Applejack looking horrified a few centimeters away from. Nirru tore my foreleg backwards, causing a massive ripping sensation and multiple snapping noises along my shoulder. I tried to thrash away from her, accidentally running my face into the bars on the other cheek in the process.

"No!" I heard Applejack scream out, squeezing herself closer to me. The pain was white hot and blinding. Gasping for my breath, all I could do was sob pathetically as she smashed me hard into the cage and tore. The pain shattered through me, followed by frigid nothing as I felt it tear free, blasting my neck, head, and chest with cold numbness. Applejack's eyes went wide in shock as blood hit against her face.

"Heh. Here; a memento to remember him by," Nirru offered coldly before throwing the detached leg down next to the cage. It rolled twice before coming to a stop, blood pooling under it.

All I could do was let out an airy gasp as I slid down the side of the cage on my face, pain echoing through my mind and causing darkness to swim through my vision. I couldn't talk. I couldn't move. All I could manage to do was cry as Nirru's hoof flared up and she momentarily singed my shoulder, cauterizing the wound.

"Now, now. No passing out. I need your stupid link in order to haul your DNA back. You're not allowed to stop functioning until after I'm gone," she ordered snidely.

Applejack let out a guttural scream of rage, thrashing against the front of the box while putting more cracks in Twilight's floor. I could barely hear her until another stab went directly into my back, spreading more of the numb tingling sensation through me. "I had a backup, just in case you were really pathetic," Nirru pointed out absently, echoing in my skull. I couldn't think. My head was swimming, burning hot on the inside and freezing on the outside. I could barely even breathe, the wet sensation oozing out of my mouth.

"You monster! This isn't what I wanted at all!" Keela screamed through the static, ironically causing a stirring as I tried to focus. Oddly, Nirru went rigid a second later, but I could barely manage to acknowledge her. She had... She tore off my leg! Completely. No magic escaped from my body anymore, and I knew it was over in that moment. My vision slowly shifted over to the limb discarded on the floor. My mind refused to register it as mine, no matter how hard I stared at it. Vaguely, I acknowledged shouting somewhere a ways off. Ponies were investigating finally.

"Mender, stay awake!" Applejack urged softly, lowering herself down to the floor of the cage, to my head level.

I stared blankly at the severed limb for a few more seconds before gently shifting my eyes to her instead. We stared at each other for a long moment before her eyes slowly started getting wet. "I'm sorry, Applejack. I don't have the energy left to stop her," I apologized, silently wondering if she'd take back her declaration of no longer being my friend. I decided I was too afraid to ask. A drop, followed by three more landed on the wood under her head as she watched me, eyes tearing up. A moment later however, she started and looked down slowly at the floor. I didn't have the strength to see what she was looking at, unfortunately.

"Tch! Looks like we made too much noise," Nirru finally muttered, shivering and snapping herself out of the trance I hadn't realized she'd fallen into. The static flared up again, and Keela was silent. The fake Twilight paused for a moment before shaking her head irritably. "I'm going to have to move you, now. This is getting downright annoying."

"Twitchy twitch! Applejack, are you okay?!" I heard suddenly from downstairs. Pinkie?! My memory snapped lazily back to her Pinkie Sense, and I realized she must have felt something was wrong. Still, this wasn't the best of timing. The clouds in my skull were beat back as I tried to shift myself around, looking past my errant limb and into the main loft.

Nirru let out a groan of irritation before shifting her attention to the left, asking, "What now?! Are all these ponies crazy?" Pinkie hopped up over the stairs and gasped as she saw me lying on the balcony. Her eyes widened further than I'd ever seen; her mouth hanging partially open.

"It's not Twi! Run, Pinkie!" Applejack shouted, shifting towards the back of her cage suddenly, away from me. Huh? Her hooves scraped gently along the bars of the barrier as she turned herself around, aiming her flank at me instead.

"Annoyance!" Nirru yelled before whipping her yet bladed foreleg up. The blade detached, much to my surprise, and flung itself at high velocity across the room. No! There was no time for warning at all before it drove itself into Pinkie's head.

At least, I thought that's what would happen. The spike embedded itself into the wall behind the pink mare, however, who turned and peeked at it in surprise. "Hey! That's sharp! What the hay are you doing?!" she demanded a second later, turning to glare at Nirru again.

Nirru actually looked surprised momentarily. She blinked twice before peeking down at her blade again, seemingly just to make sure she'd properly fired it. "What the hell? Did the dimensional transfer throw off my targeting calibrations?" she questioned, hopefully to herself as assisting her was the last thing I was about to do.

Pinkie slowly started walking towards her, nervously eyeing my leg on the floor while shifting her attention between that and Nirru herself. "If you're not Twilight, who are you? Are you a mean pony?" she inquired, sounding surprisingly reserved. I'd never heard that tone from Pinkie before. Even in my numbed state, it was a little scary.

"I'm Nirru, not that it will matter after I put a spike through your damn head," the fake Twilight answered, glaring at Pinkie as she took aim again. Crap! Deciding she re-calibrated the 'gun' thing, I tried to shift myself up. There was almost no strength left in my legs at all, and I could barely feel anything. I considered my options, immediately deciding throwing myself in front of it wasn't going to be fast enough.

Nirru fired regardless, aiming directly for between Pinkie's eyes this time. The spike slammed into the wood next to the stairs, missing entirely. Wait, no. I tried to focus, and then realized that the thing hadn't missed at all. Pinkie had shifted to the left a few inches! Her fluffy, cotton candy tail flicked back and forth behind her as she walked, twitching lightly.

Nirru just looked pissed this time, rather than surprised. "How the hell can you dodge something moving almost at the speed of sound?!" she demanded, blade growing back and extending into a melee weapon this time. That was easy, but required information she didn't know. One simply moved out of the way before she even fired. I softly smiled, chuckling lightly amidst the cold numbness. The shot did almost nothing to remove it this time, and I realized I was probably in a moderate shock. That in itself was strange when I thought about it, when I realized I was capable of thinking enough to think about it in the first place. No, wait, that sounded like Pinkie logic...

"I just moved out of the way, Silly!" Pinkie returned, earning a scream of rage and a downward cut from Nirru. My eyes widened again as I saw her slide past the slash while spinning, causing it to miss completely. Nirru blinked in surprise after embedding her foreleg blade into the wood of the library floor. I momentarily felt sorry for it, realizing Twilight was going to have to spend a lot of bits to fix all of this.

"Meany!" Pinkie yelled, frowning outright at Nirru before whipping her flank forward instead, smashing into the fake Twilight's hip with her own! To my surprise, the blow actually sent Nirru sideways, cracking the railing of the balcony as her body smashed into it. Holy hell! How strong was Pinkie's flank?!

"Hold onto Mender, Pinkie!" Applejack suddenly ordered, rearing back and up with her hind legs. What?! I shifted my attention down to the floor, realizing what she must have noticed a moment later. The barrier wasn't covering the floor! Pinkie felt amazingly warm when she wrapped her hooves around me. She rolled as she grabbed onto me, just as Applejack let out another scream of rage and brought both of her hind legs down onto the wood.

My eyes widened as the entire balcony dislodged from the side of the tree with a splintering crack, the wood caving in and shattering around the two massively powerful orange legs. Pinkie rolled off the balcony with me as it hit a forty five degree angle. We momentarily hung in the air before she shifted and we landed in a rather sizable shrub near the base of the library. A heartbeat passed and the entire balcony smashed into the ground next to us, kick starting my heart into fully functioning again! Applejack landed on top of the balcony a moment later, rolling as she hit. Nirru landed last, directly onto her face as she practically belly flopped into the dirt. Ouch. I suddenly realized that she wasn't a physical fighter at all. Her body was powerful, but she moved with all the grace of, well, me.

Groaning, she slowly stood up, wobbling on all four hooves as she shook the impact off. Her body was connected directly to her nervous system, then. She actually felt everything. Applejack was already standing however, and stepped in front of Pinkie and I as the pink mare pulled me out of the shrubs, keeping me pressed close to her body. She felt so warm that I was hardly going to complain, however.

Nirru finally turned fully, glaring at both mares as she regained her composure. "You can't win, you know. This body is practically invulnerable. I'm going to enjoy killing both of you, though," she muttered, starting to walk forward again. Applejack shivered, similarly to how I'd seen her before, and looked downright furious as she stepped forward as well.

The fake Twilight snorted and lunged, whipping her foreleg blade up into a quick stab. Applejack stopped moving as she approached, then stepped back at the last second, shifting to the left. The stab missed her head by a few dozen centimeters, and to my surprise, the orange mare 'grabbed' onto the hoof attached to the blade, using her forehooves to smash it into the ground, point first. In the same instant, she spun around and bunched herself backwards, gently brushing against Nirru's chest before springing, a vicious double buck. Both hooves embedded themselves into the lavender chest for a split second before I heard a snapping noise.

Nirru hit a tree that had been a half dozen meters behind her, back first. The bark splintered at the impact, and she gasped, cracking into the trunk of the tree. Yup. I knew what that felt like. Her eyes remained wide as she slowly slid down the trunk, mouth partially hanging open in definite surprise. The majority of her hoof blade remained stuck in the ground next to Applejack, point first.

"Ow," she muttered simply upon finally resting her haunches on the ground. I concurred. Shivering uncontrollably under Pinkie, I noticed I could barely feel the remaining limbs I had. Oddly, it kind of still felt like I should be able to move my left foreleg. The numb sensations were welcome, however, as my body hurt like a bitch without being able to fully feel it.

Nirru finally fell forwards, glaring up at us after securing all four legs on the ground. Applejack stood fast, however; the muscles in her legs clenching and relaxing as she looked ready to pounce on a hair trigger. "Fine. I see I don't have any choice at this point. The game's over now," Nirru spoke, tone soft yet cold.

Applejack snorted, but in the same instant, silvery wings expanded from Nirru's back, looking like the refraction of light through a strange, monochrome prism. My eyes widened a moment later, realizing the lines of the wings didn't necessarily adhere to Euclidean geometry, and hurt my eyes to stare at. That was a Slipstream emination. She was carrying a personal one on her?!

The wings slipped through each other a moment later, coating her in a shimmering silver light. "W-What tha hay is that?!" Applejack demanded, taking a step back as air pressure started to blast away from Nirru in all directions. You weren't supposed to activate that on ground level!

"Don't!" was halfway out of my mouth when Nirru disappeared. A twitch of my eye passed and she moved outside of my ability to see, due to the light simply not reaching my retinas fast enough. I winced as a hoof slammed into my side, the distorted non-Euclidean bubble expanding around me in an instant from the contact. The world melted away slowly, time seeming to fall apart as we folded ourselves across a field, through several trees, and into a forest; our movement not unlike that of a melting butterfly skipping through a mud puddle. Geometry and perspective also took a coffee break, allowing me a momentary glimpse of both the inside of my nose and the traffic along the main street of Canterlot.

The bubble popped a moment later, unceremoniously dumping me onto the ground, steam wafting off my fur. Oddly, the energy field had done wonders to cauterize my various wounds. Oh, and wake me up. Although I wasn't considering that a good thing, as now I was more than a little nauseous. Idly, I distracted myself wondering if it had cauterized the internal wounds, too. Not that it mattered all that much. Without treatment, I was still going to die rather shortly.

Nirru climbed out of a heap of trees that had followed us into the clearing and promptly landed on her. She apparently had the foresight to drop me out of FTL before stopping herself, thankfully. She fell into the large rut we had left in the ground, wincing and shuddering on her side.

"Fuuuuuuu-," she groaned out upon falling out of my personal sight and smacking into the ground. As bad as I felt right now, I was extremely glad I didn't just get subjected to her experience.

"...and that's why you don't fire off a Slipstream Drive while on a gravity bearing surface. It bends, usually taking a lot of debris with it," I muttered wearily, not bothering to move from my position. The orders to my limbs were only being followed in a halfhearted manner, almost no strength at all present.

"Oh shut up. Ugh," she shot back, crawling out of the rut on my side. That was one of the problems with our variety of FTL travel. Not only was it highly susceptible to forces such as gravity, it also distorted most sensors upon entering, requiring careful calculations and a planned course prior to actual activation. The perks were it being far more accurate than our ally's version, which actually couldn't turn after being launched.

Nirru's entire back was scorched badly, I noticed. She aimed it away from me before opening a slot in her skin. Three holes existed under the panel, one of them being already empty. Half a second later, the middle one ejected a cylinder shaped crystal canister filled with a glowing blue liquid. The grass caught fire around the canister when it hit, spreading out a good meter in each direction almost instantly. Oh yeah. That was another downside to our FTL Engine.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to use that. This body isn't meant for physical combat, though. Damn, that orange bitch is a brute," she groaned, sliding the plate shut again before standing upright fully.

The static in my skull suddenly reared its ugly head again, reminding me of its presence. Nirru glared at nothing in particular before sighing. "Didn't you learn your lesson yet? Just shut up and stop interfering, Keela," she ordered a moment later. Whether not heard or ignored, I couldn't be sure as the static certainly didn't die down.

"She disagrees with my methods for some reason," the fake Twilight explained a moment later, walking over to me. I glared up at her, deciding not saying anything was preferred. There wasn't exactly a point. Even if Pinkie and Applejack had rescued me, there was a high probability of my body not surviving the time it took a doctor to arrive anyway.

The realization was a frozen, numbing one. I was going to die, and there was literally nothing I could do about it. "Psh, you're a mess. I guess I'd better do something if you're going to survive transferring the DNA over," she muttered absently to herself after giving me a good hoof prodding. That was such a medically sound evaluation. She obviously had extensive medical training. I was so screwed...

"Do I really have to be alive for it?" I asked bitterly, closing my eyes instead.

She snorted, asking, "What, giving up already?"

I think my eye twitched. "You tore off my leg. You alienated me from my friends. There's no recovering from this! What's left to fight for?!" I demanded, opening my eyes again to glare at her harshly. There wasn't any force to the shout as I couldn't get enough air into my lungs to work my vocal cords properly. I degraded into a series of coughs and spasms immediately after.

She lost her smile and shook her head slowly. "It's kind of sad seeing you after all, in a rather pathetic way. You're a mistake. You couldn't have fit in here even if you wanted to, yet you deluded yourself anyway. You don't even know what you are," she returned quietly, looking surprisingly solemn.

My glare could have burned through her skull. "I know I'm not a Keldarian. You're a fool," I shot back in a whisper, not understanding why she was even doing this to me. What did she have to gain?

"If you only had one sample of Keldarian DNA, then I'd agree with you fully and wouldn't be here. You don't remember a thing, do you?" she asked quietly, watching me with interest.

A weak sigh later, I shook my head. She smiled and looked down. A soft wind blew, and I finally noticed the forest around us. It was familiar to me all at once. The Everfree. The moon above was a few stages from full still and spreading an ambient silver light over the entire clearing. Nirru's mane blew gently along with the wind, and she looked up again, eyes almost looking through me.

"Unit Zero Zero Two; initialize second, third, and fourth CPU core reboot and repair sequences in failsafe mode," she ordered with precision. Wait, what?

My eyes widened and my heart leapt into my throat as an analysis display screen popped up seemingly inside of my eyes themselves, reading, "Rebooting CPU Cores."

Chapter 26

No. This wasn't possible. My body shivered lightly as I watched the CPU Loading Bars go across the inside of my eyes. Nirru, looking like a beat up and burned version of my fillyfriend, smiled at me snidely through the displays.

"Right unit projection. Display hard disks," she requested softly a moment later. My right eye's vision went white instantly, blurs and colors shining through it. My left noticed a holographic display of the CPU Bars pop up above me and shift in front of Nirru. No, it couldn't be. Why was my right eye a holographic projector?!

The loading Bars finished and initialized all three additional CPUs a moment later. Displays popped up all over the inside of my eye and I swallowed, a frozen sensation being magnified by the numbness in my chest. Thousands of what I recognized as files spread out over the screen. What the hell was this?! No, she had to be just projecting something onto my eye.

The fake Twilight knelt down a moment later and pushed her hoof against my bloodied chest. My remaining functional eye widened to maximum capacity as I saw a cornered off panel form out of my chest, various slots and holes in it with seemingly metal rims! This was a nightmare. A really bad, screwed up nightmare! It had to be. I was going to wake up next to Twilight at any moment and compulsively kiss her.

Nirru plugged her hoof into my chest using a cord that 'melted' from her skin a moment later. "Transfer all DNA data after decrypting," she finally ordered, sitting down on her haunches after. A bar labeled 'decrypting' slowly started crawling across my left eye. Wait, DNA data?

"It's kind of sad, really. You've been here for weeks and you don't even know what you are. Well, I'm nice, so I'll tell you the truth. You're an organic computer with the mind of a clone created from a soldier you're probably familiar with. Apparently, your job was to scout this dimension, get samples from six powerful energy sources, then return," she explained all at once in a bored tone.

My head swam. What?! No, I was Moon Mender; a pony here that came from a different dimension! Nirru idly adjusted the wires running into her hoof before continuing with, "Doctor Kyliona was our foremost expert on FTL Travel and Quantum Physics. She came up with a supposed plan to escape the Grosh by actually jumping dimensions. Reacting reasonably, I of course assumed she was batshit insane. Guess I was wrong. Mostly.” Even addled as I was, that was an easy enough jump to make. She stumble upon six energy sources while experimenting, found Equestria, and sent a 'scout' to explore it. I sank a little further down into a lying position. What was I?

Nirru sighed after looking back up at me, letting her cords drop again. "Frankly, I can't see her programming a scout with rogue emotions. Chances are, something got fried in the dimensional transfer. Whatever the hell you are, you're a mistake. Not that it matters much as you'll probably not function for long after I finish this transfer anyway," she reasoned idly, looking surprisingly bored. A mistake?

The static picked up again after a few more seconds. I felt an angry pulse inside of my skull, followed by the white noise snapping back into an audio channel. "I'm not, ugh, done yet. This is wrong, Nirru!" Keela adamantly interrupted a moment later. I didn't pay much attention, remaining motionless on the ground. What did it matter anyway? I couldn't not see the proof right in front of my eyes. Well, eye. I was a machine; a fancy computer used for scouting Equestria.

"It doesn't really matter anymore. I'm downloading the DNA data now. Mender's dying," she informed, starting to echo a little as my body grew colder. I shivered, but didn't move still.

There was a low growl from Keela's end before, "It still matters. I called for help now. Four squads of soldiers are waiting for us when we exit the machine." Both of them were plugged into a machine on their end? That didn't help me much. Of course, the sad thing was, I couldn't really think of anything that could help me in the first place. Healing myself was all fine and good, but when I didn't have a life to go back to anyway, it was a moot point. Swallowing, I decided I could probably never even look at Twilight again. Was everything I felt, even now, fake? The only thing I could feel now was the tightness in my throat and chest, and my eyes starting to get watery. This was pathetic. If I really was a machine, why was I crying?

"Who do you think the soldiers listen to, Keela?" the bitch across from me asked, rolling her eyes in seeming annoyance. She was so full of herself. How did those two honestly end up as sisters?

Keela snorted, however. "Not you anymore. We took a vote and decided you're not fit to lead this ship. Something is wrong with you," she corrected sharply. A vote? Keldarians didn't vote, as far as I remembered. All our decisions were made by the elder council, who held lifetime, hereditary positions.

Predictably, Nirru narrowed her eyes. "I'm the one saving our race. I've got the DNA data of two point four billion Keldarians downloading right now. Who do you think they're going to thank for that?" she questioned vehemently, glaring down at me. How did I have all that DNA?!

"H-How?" I asked softly, looking fully back up at her. I couldn't seem to stop my shivering, but she didn't seem to notice.

Nirru smirked suddenly and chuckled. "Finally, an intelligent conversation. Doctor Kyliona was a homicidal bitch; that's how. You really don't remember anything about what happened before Equestria, do you?" she inquired, voice softening again. My eyes lowered, and I tried to shake my head. The only thing I achieved was a miniscule nudge sideways into the mud under me.

Nirru seemed to understand regardless, continuing, "Shortly after the planetary bombardment started, a huge energy spike was released from the surface. I was in a class two battleship above the surface, and managed to pick up this." She reached down and brushed her hoof again. A short uploading bar activated, and a movie started playing in my left eye.

The eye in question widened as I saw a black, well, something. It drifted off the planet, clearly visible from orbit, before exploding into tendrils in every conceivable direction. It spread at an absurdly fast rate, considering the scale involved!

"I had no idea what it was at the time," she continued, adding, "It spread to just over sixty three percent of the surface area of the atmosphere in an absurd sixteen and a half seconds, blotting out our star's light completely. It then proceeded to launch more tendrils at the surface, consuming and destroying everything in its path." The video showed over half of the planet covered in pure black mass. What could possibly do that?!

"Wait, you said ‘at the time’! You know what it is now, and you never told me?" Keela demanded, leaving a sharp echo through my mind. True. I hadn't picked that up so readily. I relaxed slightly, feeling my head swimming as if I had a high fever. Maybe I did.

Nirru snorted. "It was a little classified, Sister. Of course, our friend here actually has the clearance to hear about it, given that he's a type one classified artifact himself. I'll even let you listen."

I tried to roll my eyes, probably only managing the left one. The right seemed to be no longer under my control, instead acting as some sort of holographic output. Knowing I could do that would have been ironically helpful a few days prior, if not a whole new level of disturbing.

"Uh, I'm one of the highest council seats! There shouldn't be anything above me in rank," my psychically linked friend protested. Hmm. Was she my friend? After all of this, I wasn't so sure. I had only spoken with Keela, ever. She had promised me that she was keeping everything we talked about an absolute secret. Either that was a total lie, or Nirru had spied on her somehow. Regardless, it seemed obvious that Keela had at least started out helping her sister with this little excursion. I was having trouble focusing, though. I couldn't remember what she had said earlier as it bled into what was happening now.

Nirru just smiled, apparently ignoring her sister's complaints. "It was an untested biological weapon of mass destruction. It had been developed in top secret and wasn't related at all to her research. I still have no idea how she got a hold of it, but she did. It was set off right on top of us, killing a little over two point four billion Keldarians in less than thirty seconds," she explained softly, actually looking somewhat remorseful after.

I shuddered of my own violation this time. The image momentarily cut out, replaced by one of planet side. Keldarians ran screaming in the dark; flares of dark blue light burning through the skies. The tendrils lashed out from the heavens themselves to rend and murder, consuming and eating everything in their way. The smaller ones were about the size of a hovercar, and the largest could have rivaled the circumference of a mountain range. The Twilight doppelganger smiled wider as she watched. Wait, how the hell did I have that video feed?!

"Exactly. I know you're seeing this, Sister. The tentacles consumed everything, organic and inorganic alike. In some spots, they ate as far as four kilometers into the ground. Everyone who was touched by them was consumed and added to the mass, alongside the raw minerals and matter. That's what it was meant to do."

Keela groaned lightly, interrupting with, "Please clarify what this thing does? Why were we even working on something like this?" That was a good point, although the answer was fairly obvious. There were very few uses for something like what she was describing.

Nirru seemed to agree and sighed, furthering, "It was an anti-Grosh weapon. A pseudo-sentient mass of matter capable of traveling through space independently by use of our FTL technology. It could spread out almost indefinitely, consuming any mass or energy source it found as it went. It wouldn't stop until it ran out of conceivable planets to jump to, which was rather limitless considering faster than light jumps were possible. The Grosh, and everything we didn't blacklist in the AI, would be eliminated entirely. Further, after they were absorbed, all their technological information would be ours, directly from their own brains." Oh. Well damn. On a scale of scientific atrocities, that was dang near the top.

There was a stagnant pause, followed by a stifled groan from Keela. "That's monstrous! There's no way we could justify that. Who knows how many innocent species we would have wiped out without even knowing!" she growled, sounding about like I felt. My mind wasn't processing the concept of potentially dooming a nigh unlimited number of species just to defeat the Grosh.

"They would have been wiped out by those monsters anyway. We deserve to be the true heirs of the universe, not them. Our pathetic allies said the same thing after we shared the data with their 'Earth Sphere Council'. They called it a Universal War Crime, if I recall. If it were up to me, I'd remove them from the blacklist and launch it anyway," she spit out, glaring up at the sky absently. The amount of hatred I could practically feel radiating from her was sad.

"Well thankfully it's not up to you. Regardless, if it was supposed to keep spreading, something screwed up anyway," Keela corrected, explaining, "A tendril shot off about seven thousand kilometers to the East after it reached the widest visual diameter. I suppose you know about that, too?"

Nirru actually laughed before shaking her head. I shuddered as I heard it, deciding that anyone like herself had no right to be happy. "Not a clue. It was supposed to keep going, but it stopped for some reason. My only guess is Doctor Kyliona changed its AI. The tendril shot over to the edge of the bombardment zone. Then, a short ten seconds later, the entirety of the massive hulk of destruction just vanished. I didn't know we could even move that much matter into Slipstream in the first place," she muttered. We shouldn't have been able to. All of that DNA. The biological weapon had something to do with the scout then. Me. It somehow got all of the DNA of everyone it killed to me. A stiff wind blew through the dark, unfriendly forest around us. I couldn't feel the motion, but I shivered at the temperature drop. Damn it. More sticky, wet sensations leaked from my mouth, and I let out an airy cough.

That proved to be a mistake, as the cough decayed into a fit of hacking, spraying droplets of red and black liquid all over the grass in front of my mouth. Well, normally that was a bad sign. The broken ribs must have injured my lungs. Internal bleeding in my respiratory tract somewhere. Without professional aid...

Nirru watched curiously, but otherwise did nothing before simply continuing her little tale. "Regardless, there's a large gap of information missing after that. Her scout landed here; the biological weapon compressing back down into the body right in front of me. Now I'm conveniently taking the information," Nirru finalized a moment later, smirking back down at me. What?!

"Wait, you're saying Mender is not only the scout she sent, but also the carrier for that massive biological weapon?!" Keela asked, sounding shocked. She didn't know, then. I felt the surprise from her link she gave me. No, all of this was definitely Nirru's doing.

Her sister nodded. "Yes. Mender has all of the video data from the device. He also has the DNA. Frankly, I should destroy him right now for killing almost two and a half billion Keldarians, but it turns out that only a few thousand of them were female, so I don't really care. Plus, now I have the biological weapon data too," she pointed out, standing back up again.

I was a biological weapon. It rang through my head after she had said it. One that had killed billions of Keldarians. I couldn't process it. The aspect felt entirely foreign; divorced from reality. "No! Mender didn't do that. It doesn't matter what he is. What truly matters is who he is, and that's clear! Individuals love him, and he loves them in return. Fix this or you're going to pay, Sister," Keela spit out, startling me with the amount of anger I suddenly sensed. Who or what? Did it matter, really?

Nirru snorted, muttering, "Wow, I never thought you'd grow a backbone at any point. I don't give a shit what happens to Mender or this backwater little place. He's not loved, nor does he love in return. You can't get love from a toaster or television, which is basically the equivalent. He's a machine." It burned. Everything I had felt and cared about over the weeks. What was it? An anger built up out of nowhere, my gaze locking onto the fake mare across from me.

Keela growled back, lower this time in tone. "He's not like a television. He has emotions and wants, just like we do. His feelings are real!" I had trouble suddenly trying to decide who was right. If everything Nirru said was true, what was I really? An accident that happened to instill a personality inside of me via fluke? Or was I something else that Nirru didn't know about? I had a feeling that this Doctor Kyliona could tell me, for all the good that did.

Nirru's eyes narrowed and she glared upwards, probably at what she considered akin to her sister before adding, "You know what? I'll show you exactly what real looks like. After I shove this data through the connection, I'm going to go straight back to that rat infested hole in the ground back there. How many creatures do you think live there? A few thousand? Well a few thousand females died when 'Mender' exploded on our world, so I guess reducing that filth pit to ash would be fair exchange."

The words shot through me like a bolt of electricity, narrowing my eyes before I could even realize their true meaning. "Twilight would rip you apart before you even got a spell off," I warned in a whisper, taking the hint from her 'ash' comment. She was an evocation caster, in all likelihood.

The ironically fake Twilight paused for a moment before smiling again, looking back down at me. My vision darkened a bit, but I maintained my threatening glare as best I could. I doubted it was quite as effective with the trail of red coming from my mouth and the beat to crap and back body, though. I wish I had the strength to talk louder.

"Ha! I bet she could be a serious threat," Nirru agreed, before adding, "Of course, if I look like you, I also bet she'll hesitate just long enough for me to slice her head off. Nobody ever expects their precious television to try to kill them, after all."

Hatred. I remembered it. I tasted it as my eyes burned into her. This was my fault. I should have killed the bitch when the book had suggested it. It had been right. The book almost realized that I was agreeing with it finally, wherever it happened to be at the moment. I felt it smile, then laugh. Mentally, I laughed alongside it. For a moment, felt an opinion form from it and sync up with mine. My eye's 'screen' flickered. I saw the lower corner of it light up, and a smiling, crudely drawn cat face popped up inside. A quick glance at the display floating in front of Nirru showed me that it was absent in hers. Well, that was interesting.

The face made a winking motion at me before melting into what could only be described as a small button, labeled "Protocol 312." What was this, some sort of black box functionality? I heard Nirru and Keela bickering back and forth amidst static and echoes, but didn't really pay attention. I didn't have long left, it would seem. I closed my eye, frowning at the small button in the peace of the dark. The book silently urged me to press it. It had to be a way to make her pay. Well, what were the odds? It might make me blow up, which would solve all of the problems at once. Maybe it would just purge my memory and erase all of her precious data? Either way, it got revenge. I was hoping for the explosion option myself, of course. I smiled lightly. Twilight. Fluttershy. No, deep down, I could only trust what I knew. I knew that I couldn't let anything bad happen to anypony here. Yes, anypony. Maybe I could prove I was a pony by dying as one.

I kept my eyes closed, a light drop of water slipping down my cheeks and into the mud below. It wasn't fair. None of it was. I hated her. Hatred. She ruined everything. Even if I could see them again, I could never look them in the eyes knowing what I actually was. That settled it; there was no choice. What she just promised to try was the final straw. It was unforgivable. My upper lip twitched as my smile twisted into a sneer. I wasn't about to be the one to forgive her. I made up my mind. I was all out of forgiveness.

Mentally, I pushed the button.

Everything flickered. A thousand screams echoed through my mind. Each passing thought flickered to a new individual. Tentacles tore through everything, spraying blood and gore as they went. Hatred and fear were everywhere, but not alone. Sorrow, acceptance, shock, misery, hopelessness, rage... The miasma of emotions danced through my nerves like a thunderstorm. Everyone who died in that instant was screaming out in their own way, trying to be themselves in their last moments of life. They were all there. Everything they had been, from flesh to opinions to memories. I entertained the thought of it being a twisted form of purgatory.

At some point, I was distinctly aware of how it was similar, and quite different from falling asleep with the book powered up. The book presented an inescapable suction; a draw across an unknowable, infinite distance that I couldn't hope to ignore. The second my mind shifted into its resting mode, I was yanked into the book an instant later. Normally a sense of vertigo would follow with a light nausea as a side dish.

This time was different, yet familiar. There was that same pull and dropping sensation, although this felt more like I was falling into a pit I slipped into. My body shut down. I felt my breathing slow and my heart get weaker until it stopped. The dull ache was supplemented by a jolt, and I felt myself yanked inwards as if on a leash. Technically I should be dead, but I had a feeling if I were speaking of technicalities, my case was far more complicated. Everything after that felt exactly like the disembodied consciousness I had experienced before being unceremoniously crammed into the book.

My eyes opened, even though they didn't really. That same woman I saw a while back on Keela's computer was sitting in an overstuffed, green armchair in front of me. 'Me' was subjective, as I decidedly didn't consider my body, so it wasn't there. Lines of data and loose information drifted all around in the otherwise pitch black ambience. Was this inside of the computer cores inside me; some convenient graphical representation for my conscious mind? The reality around the Keldarian in front of me flickered, showing hintings of a corrupted version of some sort of basement lab, almost. It was tiny, yet organized. A warm light shined across her features from a desk lamp on the end table next to her seat. Cozy. She looked up at me, or maybe the camera she was talking to, a moment later. Her face held a far older appearance than Keela or Nirru, age lines hinting at a much longer story. Her mouth was twisted into a wry smile, regardless of her pained expression and posture. Those calculating and calm eyes still burned out from behind the modest frames of her glasses.

"I tried and," she started to speak before cutting out into static. I frowned, noticing my mental readout gave me a warning about fragmentation problems. Bits and pieces were picked up, however.

"He was a monster. I tried... ...launched anyway but... ...cut the shielding. It will fry his personality core and... ...too late. After it eats me, it will be too late..." she continued, features twisting and flickering with each fragmented glitch. There was also a sense of movement; like the ground was shaking and a booming echo sounded off with each flicker. Was this video taken during the bombardment?

It wasn't enough. I tried to fix it, but my 'mind', the voice of the book, reported that it would take too long. Pity. "You are you... ...never... ...they can't have you. Destroy..." she finished. My mental eyes widened as I saw the deep crimson stain pooling around her stomach as she held it lightly with her left hand, claws digging into the fabric of her shirt. The video died shortly thereafter. Doctor Kyliona... She was dead, wasn't she? I felt a twinge of sadness and closed my eyes again. They were all dead. All of them; dead, yet screaming in my head. They agreed. Vengeance. Destroy, huh? If it would protect Twilight, Fluttershy, my friends, and all the ponies I cared for; even if that feeling was fake, it was all I had!

With a new sense of purpose, I focused on all I knew about neurological graphic interfaces. Oddly, the one in my skull almost felt familiar as I brought up menu after menu. Emergency systems kicked on, enabling backup subroutines. Electricity jolted through me, kick starting my systems as everything powered up, energy folding in around me. Yes. Vengeance and justice. I felt pain and stiffness as my heart struggled to start beating again; lungs slowly starting to labor in an agonizing fashion. Was I dead or alive? I decided it didn't really matter at this point.

As my body started itself back up again, I searched through everything I could find to help me stop her. Artificial energy level readings started displaying, so I just started turning on anything I could find. Oddly, it sort of reminded me of having root access to a system. There were no prompts or security screens. I was the ultimate administrator, and what I commanded, happened to the utmost extent. I suppose, fundamentally, that made sense.

My mind screamed to a halt when I finally stumbled upon a folder entitled "Project 312" in my spastic search. I opened it with no acknowledged decision being made. Written statistics, project descriptions, and thousands of pictures and diagrams met my 'eyes' an instant later. Flicking through to the diagrams, I immediately brought up schematics of myself. I had started out as a sort of egg-like device. My body was entirely amorphous, capable of taking form into practically anything and holding it indefinitely. I was meant to blend in and try to survive, regardless of the situation or natural environment. For a scout, that sounded ideal, honestly.

Then my form shifted to that of a Keldarian. To be specific, the extremely talented engineer I was cloned from after his body was pieced back together. He was flagged for execution and thus, Doctor Kyliona apparently could do what she wanted with him. From the documents I discovered, she actually appeared to want him more for his mind than as punishment. She 'enlisted' his aid under admittance to his Barrier Magic skills. It appeared to have something to do with her latest experiment.

I kept searching, not having time to read everything, obviously. Damn it. There had to be specs in here I could use or something. Surely they gave me a weapon to defend myself, right? I finally found a specification document, and rapidly skimmed through it, forming a summary in my database. As disheartening as it was, I was listed to have absolutely no weaponry of any kind. I flattened my non-existent ears back and sighed, flipping back through the folder again. Momentarily, it amused me that my mental aspect was more pony than Keldarian.

After half a minute of searching, I managed to stumble upon a collection of executables as well. Perking up a little, I activated one with the descriptor of "scout package" out of sheer curiosity. Multiple screens popped up immediately, showing me a detailed readout of the area surrounding my body in a radar form, picking up data points from all five of my main senses, as well as a few built in sensor suites. That was handy. I tweaked the display a little and managed to find Nirru almost instantly through her heat signatures. I had been right about her body. It apparently was extremely similar to mine, albeit seemingly more simplistic. She had a hard set grouping of equipment and electronics inside of her, appearing to lack the 'organic' properties I possessed.

My attention was drawn away from the radar output a moment later, however, as I picked up Fluttershy's and Rainbow Dash's Cutie Marks pop up on the right side of the display, taking up the first and second boxes of six. My eyes widened and I pulled the display out, shocking myself when I got emotional output data and recognition analysis. Fluttershy's pulse was low and in a resting state. My program stated she was most likely asleep. Rainbow Dash's heart rate was going crazy, however. Uh oh.

Sensing my distress, the display focused on her and extended out, filling my 'screen' with her data. To surprise me yet again, audio started playing a minute later, cutting in apparently mid-sentence with, "...doing here?! Oh no. No, no, no! He was telling the truth. I knew it! Twi, we need to get back to the Library like, now!" It was spoken in a very surprised Rainbow Dash's voice. What? Was this live?!

I tried to say something, and then remembered I technically didn't have vocal cords. Damn it. Attempt two had me try to mentally 'project' the words into her mind again. Anything to warn them of what was going on. Nothing. "Incorrect Relay Format," displayed itself under the audio readout a moment later. Thanks. That's really, um, helpful and descriptive. I made a mental note to figure out who programmed that and murder them later, if possible. Or at least harshly reprimand them. My inner Fluttershy nodded cutely in agreement, managing to make me smile.

"W-What are you talking about? Did something happen?" I heard Twilight ask, sounding instantly worried. Well she'd left me alone again, so I imagine she was picturing her house burning down.

There was a sniffling noise, followed by, "Oh dear. Is Mender all right?" It sounded like Rarity, but was a little off. Had she been crying?

"No, he's not! It’s really bad! AJ’s probably in trouble too. Teleport us, now!" Rainbow rapidly spilled out, relaying frustratingly outdated information. I wished I could bash my metaphorical skull into the non-existent screen. Did Rainbow know Morse Code? Doubtful. How the hell was I even hearing all of this?

"Wait, what?! You're not joking, are you? What happened?" my fillyfriend questioned, sounding both shocked and disturbed at the same time. I could almost picture her face, too.

"No, I'm not! He was telling the truth the whole time. Somepony came from his world! We need to get there before she hurts somepony!" my cyan friend furthered, surprising me. She had checked out my story, even after I 'attacked' her friend. She trusted me. Further, while she sounded shocked and scared, there wasn't any sense of doubt coming from her words. She believed what she was saying!

"Oh no. I was afraid of this. He was right! Princess Celestia warned me that this might happen, but didn't say why. Ugh. Let's go, Rainbow! Hang on," Twilight requested. What?! Celestia had warned her? Didn't she say that Celestia was the one who said there was no more link in the first place?

An explosion rocked the audio a moment later, and I heard ponies screaming in the background. “W-What was that?!” Spike spoke up, apparently being there as well. The distorted ringing sound after it was all too familiar. That was the slipstream device. This wasn’t live, then? What was going on?

“I, well, I want to come too!” Rarity spoke up, followed by what sounded like a table falling over.

“No! Stay here with Spike. He’ll protect you if something happens, Rarity. Come on, Dash,” I heard Twilight order an instant later.

It sounded like something bumped up against the microphone a moment later. “On it!” Spike declared, but everything else was cut off.

The audio died an instant later with another flashing message overtop of the display, saying, "Audio Link Disrupted Due To High Energy Interference!" Twilight teleported them. I let the link drop and sighed in frustration. I couldn't figure out how to talk to them anyway, so it hadn't done me a huge amount of good. Plus, I wasted a lot of time listening. At least I knew Twilight was warned about a potential shapeshifter attack. She'd be suspicious now. I wondered idly if she'd dealt with them before. She certainly didn't seem as surprised as I expected when she heard that part.

Peeking through the executable files again, I tried to find any that had to do with weaponry or defensive measures. If I was to survive in a potentially hostile environment, surely they'd give me something to do it with, right? There was unfortunately nothing of immediate direct interest, and I glared at the screen. A second later, I saw an upload date discrepancy in the files.

"Waste_Disposal_Management.exe" was dated uploaded five days after all the others. Well, that was weird. Wait, why did I even have a program to manage my waste disposal? Where the hell was it when I encountered Lyra the first time?! Curious now, I activated that instead.

The name changed instantly to "Protocol312.exe" instead. My smile widened as it activated. The change was instantaneous as I felt multiple things activate inside the core of my body and expand. Power flooded into my systems and woke up my tired body almost instantly. Maybe, just maybe, I had finally found what I needed. Thank you, whoever or whatever dropped this little black box into me. My eyes opened again, for real this time.

My vision momentarily swam before I focused the left on Nirru. She was looking moody and glaring absently at the loading screen that floated in front of me. My breathing started up again after my heart did, my muscles slowly following the lead. I felt dried out and rickety, and something was worming its way through me. It twisted inside my gut, spreading out over my skin and coiling around my insides silently. Nothing beyond the chilled numbing was added to the sensation, and I felt my stomach piecing itself back together again, organs that I suddenly discovered outside of my body being slowly pulled back in. The bitch had torn me open while unconscious? The hatred swelled, threatening to overwhelm. No Mender; patience.

"Are you even listening to me, Nirru?! You have to get him aid! Don’t make me pull the plug!" I heard Keela demanded a moment after I had calmed myself down.

Her sister just snorted however, absently watching the download bar as it hovered above me. "You’d die too. You don’t have the guts. Besides, he's ceased functioning; his body is only running on backup reserves it seems. Hopefully the bastard will stay alive until I can burn down his precious little town," she spit out, glaring at the bar as it moved.

"Kill her! Rip her limb from limb!" was whispered inside of my skull. I ignored it, deciding to watch her carefully from my lying position, holding my reforming body as still as possible. Tiny movements slowly pulled my organs back inside of me and sealed the holes. They were stringy and almost tendril like. Tentacles? My mind flashed back to that… thing… in the sky in those videos. Oh.

New systems that hadn't been presented before powered on. A generator grid lit up in a status display, and I tucked it away for future observation. How they fit all of this crap inside of me, I had no idea. My display showed multiple, highly compressed folded spaces inside of me, which probably answered that mystery. Then the biggest surprise came next. A weapon system display lit up next, giving me multiple dozen targeting reticles across the entirety of my vision. Moving them was beyond second nature, to my surprise. I felt myself start to think faster, moving them into position before I even realized I had acknowledged her as a threat. Wait. In an exercise of will, the targeting cursors that drifted over her various vital spots stayed a happy green color. Yes, green was good. Green meant wait.

"You're a monster! No, Mender can't be dead. He can't. They'll be coming to rescue him. Hell, I'll pull him through the connection and heal him myself if I need to," Keela shouted. I shivered lightly. Why did she care that much? Surely she realized I was a robot at this point, organic or not. I had the mind of a clone, right? But she sounded like she was crying.

Suddenly, my apparent software defenses kicked in. Nirru gave a start as her download screen went red a split second later. "What the hell? Huh?! How does the encryption protocol change halfway through a transfer?" she groaned, glaring at the screen I still projected. The impossibly strong twisting and worming sensation crawled up my throat, supporting my neck and pulling my vocal cords back into place with frightening precision. I felt heavy and thicker; my limbs were impossibly solid suddenly.

"Aww, is your data not cooperating?" I asked, my tone both my own, and something darker at the same time, bleeding over each other in a strange duality. Two tones at once? I recognized it as the book, whom I was in full agreement with at the moment. She needed to die; preferably in the most excruciatingly painful way possible.

Nirru's eyes widened a little and she looked back down at me instead of the screen as soon as I spoke. "No way. You were dead. Your heart stopped," she muttered, sounding like she didn't quite believe herself.

My body didn't feel like a dead weight anymore, I suddenly realized. The coils were under my control, and I could move myself with them, I discovered. Further, they felt impossibly strong. I felt them slowly extending down each of my legs towards the hoof, as well as curling out around where my left foreleg used to be?

"Mender?! Oh thank goodness! Just hold on. I'm going to try to help you through the link," I heard Keela chime in an instant later. No, she was irrelevant at this point. Just noise. The radius on the targeting indicators tightened and tracked each muscle shift in Nirru's body. Her hoof extended upwards slowly, activating her decryption program again.

"Whatever. It'll just take me a few more minutes to crack it again," she nonchalantly returned, eyes calming down again as she ignored both her sister and I. My smile widened as I shut her process down remotely, leaving nothing but an "Access Denied" message in its stead.

Her blink was a slow one, and her hoof hesitated before hitting the same button again. A very wise individual once said something about insanity that applied there... My right eye flickered, and her entire screen disappeared; the viewpoint in both of my eyes rapidly returning to my own. My thoughts raced, millions of voices screaming at me to tear her apart as all four main cores hummed to full capacity. This was empowering, but absolutely maddening at the same time!

"No, I really don't think I want you in my databases anymore. Although you were right about something," I agreed softly, the lower voice barely there. The worming sensation stretched across my back, a heightened sense of awareness extending across each muscle as I felt the eight twitching points of contact. Further, it extended out all four hooves, including the newly formed one on my also newly created leg. The tips extended into wicked scythe-like claws; three forward and one backwards from each hoof. I was mildly surprised at the revelation, my internal sensors taking rapid measurements of each of them. Well, Twilight's claw marking mystery was solved then, even if she would never know.

The fake Twilight swallowed before shifting her right forehoof metallic again, extending four large prongs from it. My newly discovered scanning and analysis software told me it was a brute force software cracker. Heh. "And what, pray tell, is that?" she asked in self-assurance before extending the hoof casually down towards my chest. A rush went through me as my heart beat powerfully once more. An intense thrill that sung along with the cacophony of madness in my head; a moment later I realized it was bloodlust. I liked it.

The light shining over her from my eye displays shifted crimson instead of pale blue. One of the targeting reticles flickered red with a stray thought. The upper right point on my back lashed out faster than the eyes could track, metal blades making a sharp whistling noise through the air. Her entire right foreleg hit the tree to my left, hacking module shattering against the bark. Her eyes widened into a stunned look.

"Nobody ever expects the television to try to kill them," I half quoted, mouth twisting into a vicious smirk. All of the targeting circles turned red.

Chapter 27

The moonlight pierced through the branches of the tree I found myself in. The soft, silvery blue light accentuated the deadly silence of the forest around me. Lower yet, the light died out almost completely at the forest floor. The cool breeze drifted through my fur, causing me to shiver as my nerves flared with each movement. A heightened sense of awareness was accompanied by a feral, rushed thinking. My pupils contracted, warding out the light from above and focusing on the prey I yet tracked. I couldn't keep my eyes focused as I excitedly darted them back and forth, taking in all movement. I could smell her on the breeze, a light string of saliva drifting out from the rows of razor-like teeth in my mouth at the sensation.

Her breathing was irregular as she crouched beneath the overhang of a rocky outcropping. The stream that undoubtedly carved it eons ago was still flowing at her feet as she struggled to regrow the basic structure of her foreleg, if not for mere balance concerns. I shifted, a movement barely concerning my conscious effort as I slithered between three sets of trees, extending myself out and closer to her. My harsh claws scraped gently along the bark of the tree I landed in, silently watching from above. Holding onto the tree was easy when I had extra limbs!

Eight extra appendages extended from my back, although the term must be used loosely. Each was almost twelve meters long at this point, flexing and twitching of their own accord like starving snakes as I watched her. They were repulsive things, I noted. The majority of their surface area had taken on the same texture as my flesh. Coiled, lumpy, lightly oiled, and gunmetal black. Dark red sores and ruptures covered them, occasionally squirting out a blast of pus as they shifted and flexed. The smells were hellish, and that was being generous. They were organic, yet I also saw corded metal and energy running down them. These were, without a doubt, exactly what a biological weapon would look like.

Yet for all of their speed, flexibility, and striking power, there was something far more frightening about these tentacles. I watched a visual distortion drift lengthwise along a portion closed to my head; my sensors were unable to pick up the effect itself regardless of me knowing exactly what it was. A byproduct of the Slipstream technology was a 'folding' of spatial connectivity. That protected living organisms from the many complications of faster than light travel, of course. It had a few other applications, however. Out of the distortion came a partially liquid but rapidly solidifying blade, jagged in shape as it took form rapidly. They could pop out of me anywhere, just like the tentacles themselves, it would seem.

Without a doubt, I was a monster. I was close enough to hear her blood rushing through her veins. At least, whatever passed for blood in that artificial body. I knew my body couldn't process it, but at the same time, I realized these things extending out of me could. Oh, and how they hungered too. Their wanton starved desires made me salivate as I slipped down the tree. A tentacle extended above me, rearing back like a snake as a spear-like head extended out of the maw on the tip. No sound. No warning. I wasn't about to delusion myself with giving her a sporting chance. No, I just lashed out when it was ready.

Her eyes widened at the last possible second and she dove sideways, just barely missing the blade driving itself through her eye. I landed an instant later, propelled out of the tree at unnatural speeds by three additional tentacles. My right forehoof drew blood using the claws extending from it as she rolled out of the way, fresh series of wounds sliced into her cheek. She let out a blast of flames from her right forehoof as she flipped up to her feet, sending out three fireballs that blew away the base of the tree I was at prior, sending the entire thing crashing down to the earth. On second thought, it was no surprise it was dead quiet. If I was small, furry, and classified as a woodland creature, I would be running the hell away from here as fast as possible. I entertained the idea of classifying my prior self as exactly that as I landed silently in a tree some sixty meters away, cloaked once again in darkness.

"Stop hiding, you chicken shit! Face me!" she screamed into the darkness, rapidly spinning in a sharp circle as she tried to find me in the dense forest. I resisted laughing, thankfully. Even had I been compelled by some strange form of honor or ego to do just that, this was far too much fun! Her heart rate skyrocketed as she listened to the silence for another second before shifting closer to the trees. Duking it out at point blank range was sporting and the gentlecolt thing to do. Did she forget already that I was a monster? Besides, I wanted her to taste the fear she'd forced down my throat earlier, preferably mixed with blood as I tore hers out. I wanted her to pay for the hell she just made Applejack watch. Even Twilight's floor and balcony deserved a few stabs of revenge! Oh yeah; she also killed me. My claws tightened at the thought as I flickered effortlessly closer.

Personally, I could keep this up all night. She didn't look nearly as fortunate, however. Her strangely realistic looking blood dripped from dozens of wounds dotting her body. Honestly, I was surprised she managed to get the foreleg restored so fast. She was panting heavily and rested against a large tree, peeking around it rapidly before also looking up into it. Ah, she had caught on. Pity it was absurdly dark, and I was an equally dark shade of gray.

After her body moved faster than I thought possible while avoiding my first barrage of tentacle attacks, I had been playing hit and run with her. My mind and newfound rage told me to lunge and not stop attacking until she was shredded mulch, but I managed to keep the bloodlust in check for the most part. Wearing her down and learning what she was capable of seemed more productive.

I slipped into the branches of the tree next to hers, tentacles shooting down vertically along the trunk and lashing out from the base. Predictably, she saw them coming out of the darkness and lashed out with a slash of her hoof, releasing a surprisingly crescent shaped wave of flames. I was already out of the tree, however, flipping sideways with actually calculated precision. Two tentacles got singed before I moved them back up and away. Her eyes winced down the moment the trunk exploded from her attack, the light difference briefly stunning her. There! I noticed that her own attacks would blind her with the light they released.

I landed behind her on all four legs, digging into the dirt before lunging as fast as I could manage. There was no time to raise a claw up, so instead, I improvised. With a feral cry, the top of my head rammed into her lower back as hard as I could manage. She let out a scream as I felt something snap against my forehead, both of us spilling over and smashing into the burning tree debris. She lashed out with a kick I didn't even feel upon landing, but it did serve to wedge it into my chest, preventing me from landing on top of her. She charged a blast of flames in her hoof, but two of my tentacles whipped down and smashed blades into both of her forelegs. She gritted her teeth, barely blocking my downward claw attack with her other back leg. With both back legs up now, she managed to shove hers out from under me, sparks flying from her shoulders as the blades scraped along them. Damn, her skin was tough!

Sliding, she used both forelegs to launch another close range fire crescent. On instinct, my tongue lashed out from my mouth, extending two meters in front of me while covered in barriers. Nirru's eyes widened in surprise as I smashed it along the path of the slash she made, knocking the attack off into the forest. My tongue pulled back just as four tentacles lashed out instead, the remaining four balancing me again and raising me off the ground.

Just like the first time, her body accelerated, launching her a good five meters backwards before she raised her head up fully again, landing on all four legs. Her horn lit up this time, launching a barrage of fireballs. Shit! I let her get too much distance on me. Thankfully that primal monster that directed my instincts reacted far quicker.

The four limbs supporting me shifted, flinging me to the right and far clear of the incoming attack. My mind replayed the video of her movement as I landed quietly behind a tree, the entire left side of my body lighting up from series of explosions I'd avoided. It was fast, but definitely there. Her hooves had flared up for a split second, and she used them like some sort of primitive rocket to propel herself away from me, getting more distance to attack with.

Leaping away from the tree again, I lunged along the clearing she landed in, using the cover of the trees to block her series of straight shot blasts. She was limited at close range and seemed to have an affinity for fire based attacks, then.

"Activate the full tentacles. They'll eat her alive," I heard whispered in my inner ear in the voice of the book. No! I hadn't dropped their shielding when they activated, and I wasn't about to now. They'd consume everything, not just her! I paused an instant later, realizing what I just said...

It was almost disastrous. A fire streak shot in, burning runes dancing around it. There were layers to the shot. The first was just a container. The second fueled the shell like a rocket. The third tore through a layer of shields before exploding. I recognized the setup, it would seem. She was skilled to rapid fire these things. There was just one problem with the technique; the outer layer was a barrier.

With a bit of finesse, my tongue found the blast instead. It deftly curled around the thin barrier, strengthening it before crushing inwards. The blast became a marble sized orb of heat before I swallowed it and pulled out the energy inside of me, adding to my reserves. Nirru looked disgusted as I dove down and sprinted at her.

"Monster!" she exclaimed, drawing forth another burning crescent wave at me. That was ironic, coming from her. I leapt over the wave of flames and landed within six meters of her. Do it! I lunged again while releasing a feral roar of rage, rather than lash out with my tentacles. She leapt backwards again and I watched the runes light up on her hooves. Right into my trap!

Smiling, I whipped my upper left tentacle at her an instant later. She smirked back as it missed, passing right in front of her. That's when the shield around it disappeared, if only for half a second. The air itself was sucked into the void that my tentacle's tip became. Her eyes widened as the flames along her forelegs sputtered, being closest to the tentacles as it whipped past. The back legs burst out fire a moment later, unfortunately for her.

I've never seen somepony plant their face into the ground in such a spectacular manner before. Her horn snapped off as she ran her head into the ground at high velocity before her back legs flipped out the other direction. Oh. Oh crap. I hadn't thought this through very well! My eyes widened as well as her direction suddenly reversed, sending her grinding along the ground on her face directly for me. At the last second, I managed to jump using my tentacles as a spring. Her body clipped my back legs still and ended up flipping me forwards regardless. Disoriented, I managed to spin in midair and land on all four legs again, rotating once before sliding to a stop. Thankfully my CPU cores kicked in and rapidly re-oriented me a moment later.

Nirru flipped over and landed on her back, blood coming from a large gash along her forehead. Her horn had apparently shattered, leaving just the stump of it attached to her forehead. She let out a primal scream of pain and clutched both sides of her head after landing, shaking there while lying on the ground. Whoa! I forgot she had an empathy link with that body. Now that I looked closer, that probably hurt like a bitch. Regardless, my eyes narrowed and I raised all eight tentacles up into the air, popping blades out of every one of them. No, letting her recover wasn't on my agenda.

All eight descended at once with the full intent of unceremoniously grinding her to a thick paste in an instant. She whipped her foreleg backwards at the same time however, instinctively lashing out. I could barely track the flash of light and searing arc before it smashed into my chest in a tight spiral. A light explosion knocked me flying backwards, causing my tentacles to miss entirely, smashing into the ground instead. I spread them out and drug them along the forest floor, anchoring my slide and slowing myself to a crawl until I could fully steady myself. Systems scanned and noticed light dermal damage to my chest and forelegs from the detonation, with primary and secondary armor systems unharmed. Ah; that attack was for speed and distance creation.

Glaring, I rose my vision back up to meet hers as she stood, shaking visibly and bleeding heavily. "That's it! I don't care anymore. You're dead! You and this entire forest are going to burn, and I'll pick the DNA out of the ashes!" she screamed, flames starting to dance up around her as she practically trembled in rage. My eyes narrowed as the sensors in them picked up the temperature increases focusing into her hands rapidly. That amount of energy wasn't good! My first instinct was to dash away again and resume the hit and run tactics, but I realized that wasn't possible. If she got too destructive, the collateral damage to the forest would be phenomenal.

My body shifted forwards, flicking itself into a vault in an instant instead. She screamed in fury this time as she whipped both forelegs forwards, standing up completely on her back hooves! A radiating orb of white and orange flames expanded instantly from her held out limbs, blanketing the entire burning clearing in a bright, white light. Damn it! I started to recognize the magic and didn't like where it was going. I'm pretty sure I'd only seen that particular attack performed once, but I remembered what it did well enough! She wanted to end this in one shot, and I wasn't entirely sure I'd persist through that.

Processing power spiked as calculations ran through my mind. Time slowed again as a burst of adrenalin combined with the heightened mental capacity and slowed things to a crawl. All eight of my extra limbs spread out as far as they could, four to each side as I lashed them out forwards. There was only one option if I didn't want her to reduce everything in a ridiculously large cone in front of her to ash, and it wasn't going to be pleasant either way. My eyes widened as a true memory drifted into me from the individual I was created from...

The old geezer walked in front of our group, pace slow yet strutting. He was probably well over a hundred and forty, but the crazy bastard was still teaching. Jokes amidst the barracks said he'd invent a spell to reanimate himself after he croaked just to keep his position as head instructor. At this point, I wasn't so sure that it was a joke!

He turned sharply, crossing both lightly furred arms over his chest. Patches were missing here and there, but he obviously took good care of himself despite his advancing age. "So recap! Restoration, Alteration, Transmutation, Enchantment, Conjuration, Illusion, Divination, and Evocation! Those are the eight primary schools of magic. Everyone here should have their tactics and summaries memorized, regardless of your actual profession! Knowing your enemy is the first step towards defeating them," he reiterated. I'd studied hard regardless, and knew the techniques of all of them by heart. Each was broken up into categories, but that much was irrelevant. I specialized in Alteration and Transmutation of course, being an Engineer. More specifically, I held a special fondness for Barrier Magic, which was a subset of Alteration. But that was for a different reason entirely. Heh. Regardless, I was a support type. While I knew of the techniques of the other categories, I couldn't actually cast any.

My elongated ears perked as I listened, knowing where this was going anyway. I'd used Prudentia to take a 'peek' at his lesson plan last night, as usual. "Today, we cover basic balances between the categories! Right off the bat, we'll discuss the most likely cause of most of your death's in the future; evocation! It's classified as the manipulation of energy at a molecular level in order to transform it into a different effect in order to provoke a reaction. Fancy talk aside, it's used to blow shit up! If any of you survive your evocation training later this week, you'll know what I mean," he continued, glaring at each of us in turn before moving on. Evocation didn't frighten me. As a barrier user, the only classes of magic that I really had to worry about were divination and restoration. One was annoying to the point of mind numbing frustration, and the other was single handedly the most lethal class of magic in existence. Always stay on a healer's good side! Reversing the healing spells was not something pretty to see.

"Those of you in Alteration or Transmutation specializations are probably laughing now, but you need to listen up! A good amount of caution never hurt anyone, and I'm gonna show you why. The upper most tiers of Evocation mess around with things you'd better damn well hope you never see comin' at you! This, for example," he warned. Wait, he wasn't seriously crazy enough to activate an Evocation inside of the gymnasium, was he?!

Sure enough, flames exploded around him as he gathered up a massive orb of heat and energy directly in front of him, his fur lightly blowing as it gathered into the size of a beach ball, radiating orange and white light! What the hell was that?!

"This, ya soggy hairballs, is called Gigaflare. An unoriginal name for a rather simple process. That's what's sick about it, really. It's too simple, in theory. Imagine making a magical rune array to produce energy. Then, you smash that energy together to cause a reaction to make even more energy. Using that extra energy, you then do it again! Pretty sweet deal, right?" he offered, gesturing with a nod towards the orb.

The class nodded, mostly. I frowned. Exponential energy increases were fine and all, but the heat coming from what he was holding indicated something else entirely.

"This is exactly what the 'medium' end magic in Evocation deals with. Turns out, most of their higher end stuff comes from apprentices like you screwing up and leveling a few city blocks by total accident. So, long story short, guess what happens when you get the hiccups and drop the energy tethers to this orb halfway through charging it?" he asked, looking amused. Hiccups? Seriously? Well, if you dropped the tethers, you'd lose control over the spell. The failsafe would kick in and disrupt it and, wait, unless the student forgot to apply the failsafe. Then the reaction would spiral out of control and...

"Ah! I can see the look of horror on your face! You, up front! Got a guess?" the professor asked, gesturing towards me with a grin.

I swallowed nervously and reasoned, "Well if they forgot the failsafe, the energy reaction would spiral out of control and explode in an exponentially larger detonation than what they put into it."

The professor's grin widened and he nodded enthusiastically. "Bingo! Of course, the time it was discovered didn't go so well. Lost the entire class of two o' seven and our fifty sixth gymnasium, but we learned quite a bit! With a little bit of an adjustment, it turns out you can 'kick' the energy in a single direction. It makes for a nifty attack!" he explained. Oh hell. He wasn't seriously going to...?!

He promptly turned around and aimed the ball into the corner of the gymnasium before releasing a pulse outwards from his hands. The energy in the blast magnified and slammed outwards. That little bump he gave it was all it needed once the fragile balance was lost! It exploded outwards from him, radius expanding to seven or eight times his body length in a pure oval shape of radiating flames. An actual corona formed around it of superheated energy before exploding into a cone-like wave of white and orange light and heat. The side of the gymnasium disappeared into a blackened shadow before blowing away to ash an instant later as what looked like the maw of hell itself smashing through it. The cone extended far past the gymnasium, and I saw one of the orbiting survey blimps explode in the distance. Those were over the fields of ore fourteen kilometers away, though!

"What the hell are you doing down there?!" was suddenly screamed over the professor's belt communicator. He lowered his still smoking hands and just burst into copious amounts of laughter as he watched half the corner collapse upon itself.

Yup; he was crazy.

My extra limbs smashed around the rapidly elongating oval of burning death as I leapt directly into it. There was no way to stop the reaction, as she already released it. That left only one possible solution and it wasn't going to be pretty. The professor said trying to block or absorb that kind of attack was foolish and pointless. The only defenses were to either not be there when the attack hit, or to redirect it as best you could. Dodging looked pretty good about now, but if I did, half the forest would probably be burnt to ash. I didn't know which direction Ponyville was in, either. That left only one choice...

Barriers activated along all eight of my tentacles, expanding outwards as I slammed to a halt right in front of the energy buildup. Well, if this didn't work, I was almost assured a rather fast death. With that optimistic outlook cemented in my mind, I activated all eight barriers. Slowly, they started to expand outwards, forming an entire cage around the buildup of flames. Nirru made a scoffing noise and the orb flared with light just as my tentacles connected together behind her, sealing both of us inside with the blast.

"Seriously? You prioritize those rats in this world above yourself? Wow, you're stupid!" she screamed a moment later. My eyes narrowed. Yeah, I probably was an idiot. But this was all I knew. Even if they didn't want me, they were all I had.

The book itself seemed to dislike the thought too. I felt it; so close yet so far. Shifting, I felt that connection jingle and to my surprise, Keela's signal came alive again. I hadn't heard from her since Nirru and I had started fighting, and just assumed she was being blocked.

After a light burst of static, she finally spoke up in a whisper with, "I'm sorry. I can't stop her. This wasn’t what I wanted. I couldn’t… But I can do this." My eyes widened. She sat in a chair with wires connected to her temples. A faint smile danced across her features as her hand reached out to the right, struggling and shaking as she moved it. I saw a twisted and torn leather strap on the chair and a thick, dark liquid ran down the armrest. Keela! Her hand finally landed on the counter next to her, dripping more of her blood down along the metal. The book! Her claws brushed against the cover before she latched onto it and, in one fluid motion, hauled it against her chest and hugged it to herself. The energy flared into me through her link an instant later, and it all suddenly made sense.

Smirking, I drew upon the energy and my barriers exploded, expanding out exponentially and covering the entirety of her blast in a massive cylinder shape. Stopping the blast would be foolish. Giving it a top and bottom direction to leak out of however would be far easier.

"What the hell?! You're not this powerful!" Nirru exclaimed, trying to break the reaction down instead before it went off. Ha! She had just expected it to punch through my shield with no problem at all, I realized. Her frantic clawing made it far worse. Instead of deactivating the massive chain reaction, she launched it straight downwards instead. Well, this was going to be fun...

The explosion radiated outwards in an instant, shattering my entire world into bright white light. Nirru's scream sounded an instant later as the ground around my hooves gave away.

Coughing, I managed to crawl out of the crater. My skin tingled with an irritating amount of heat. Opening my eyes, I winced and gasped as I saw that I was literally glowing red, steam from the air temperature difference wafting amply off me as I drug myself back onto level terrain. The grass was missing. Actually, it appeared to be missing in most of the clearing. The ambient heat radiation from the explosion alone was enough to set fire to the vegetation around the center of the area for a good six meters. The newly formed crater itself fared far worse with the center of it literally crystallizing various minerals in the soil under the heat. If the shield hadn't been there, that probably would have done unspeakable levels of damage to the forest!

A weary glance up showed a rather large cloud of smoke and sparks wafting into the air. I could only imagine what the column of flames had looked like a second ago. Well, if anypony was looking for us, they wouldn't have to look very hard! That display could probably easily be seen from Ponyville. Damn. Given the state of my ringing ears as well, I guessed nopony was asleep in Ponyville either, at this point. That explosion had been deafening!

Nirru coughed weakly, crawling out of the crater on the other side. Her left foreleg, ironically, was gone, leaving only a burnt stump. Her back legs didn't look much better, but were rapidly reforming as she shakily tried to stand up. Her fur was gone along with a lot of her mane and tail, embers drifting off her skin as she stood. I sighed. Nothing could be easy, could it? Snapping my back right leg around to the proper angle, I pulled the cords together again and formed it solidly to my body, calmly noting the broken leg. After I steadied myself, I extended out all eight tentacles from my back once more. They were shells of their former selves, but rapidly lashed out with hundreds of miniature versions of themselves. I smiled as they sought out and 'ate' the remains of the old tentacles, rapidly reforming as well as I turned. No. I didn't have any forgiveness left. Oddly, what she just tried to do didn't really lower my opinion of her any further. Maybe she'd fallen as low as she could? I didn't have time to debate my opinion however, and just extended blades out of my extra limbs as I went.

"Damn it. You're a monster," Nirru muttered after coughing again. She slowly started to back away, hobbling with each shift that should have went to the limb that no longer existed. I couldn't help but notice that she wasn't regenerating anymore.

I shook my head as I rounded the crater, tentacles extending to either side of me and forming seamless if not distorted scythe blades. Finally, I spoke. "Of course I'm a monster. You killed me and turned me into this. What does that make you, I wonder?" I questioned, expression emotionless as I rapidly approached striking range. On three limbs and looking like she had been put through a blender and then an oven, she was far too slow to outpace me. I didn't really care about her answer of course. I was going to rip her apart no matter what she said.

"No! I'm just trying to save my race! You're trying to kill us. You're just like the council members! You want the Keldarians to die," she denied, narrowing her eyes at me as she realized she couldn't get away. She flicked backwards instead, shakily balancing herself on her hind legs as best the awkward spinal structure would allow for. Her remaining right foreleg extended up again and caught fire, forming another fire blast. I just kept walking. The book was connected to me now. I was done screwing around.

"The amusing thing was, if you'd just talked to me like your sister wanted, I probably would have just given you the data," I pointed out. Minus the information on the bioweapon of course. Although maybe that’s why she didn’t?

"Bullshit!" she spat out before justifying with, "You males are all the same. You do whatever you want at any given time, screw everyone else that happens to be hurt by it! If we need anything from you, it has to be taken by force or you won't even acknowledge us!" For a moment, I almost felt sorry for her. Her fire blast launched off an instant later, reminding me of why that was foolish. It was bigger than the one that hit me in the chest, but slightly slower. My forward most left tentacle swatted it away and into the ground at few meters to my left with an Aegis Barrier, not even slowing me down. Anger built back up in me rapidly, eyes narrowing and focusing solidly on only her once more. My extra limbs began to twitch in anticipation of tasting her flesh again.

I shook my head slowly. "I don't know what happened to you to make you think that, but it doesn't matter anymore. I'm not a Keldarian or a Pony. I'm a monster, just like you said. And now, I'm going to tear you apart for what you did," I quietly spoke, eyes softening as I stepped within range.

She screamed in rage again, firing almost half a dozen more times. In an instant, my processors gave me the calculation and a target lit up each shot. She was tired now, and badly injured. None of the fireballs had much force behind them. I divided it up; a limb for each blast. Five shots were knocked away from me in the same moment. Three remaining tentacles lashed out at the same time. She let out a startled yelp as one swept low, knocking her unsteady legs out from under her, and the remaining two smashed her into the ground as hard as they could, blades now reinforced with Aegis Barriers. She screamed in pain as the elongated scythe blades pinned her physically to the ground via her right shoulder and inner left thigh.

There was no hesitation and my body moved faster than I thought I could. With my other limbs recovered from their defensive maneuver, I whipped them backwards to throw me towards her and pounced the remaining five meters in an instant, landing on top of her prone form. She screamed, sounding absolutely pissed as she whipped her right foreleg up towards my head as fast as she could despite the flesh tearing around the blade in the same shoulder. I anticipated it a mile off this time, it being her only remaining defense. My left foreleg was already moving as I landed on her. I knocked her hoof aside, causing her flame whip technique to fail and burn out. She screamed again, in pain this time as the magic exploded, taking her hoof with it in a blast of light. My left claws smashed her limb into the ground and I systematically destroyed both the elbow and shoulder joint and instant later, rendering it immovable. My chest grew cold as she writhed under me, silently screaming after her lungs ran out of breath. No. I was all out of forgiveness. Nothing could undo what she did today. Still, the realism put into her body was strange indeed. Maybe it was specifically to try to seem as real as possible to trick me earlier? I thought she'd shift to a solid body, being as amorphous as she was. I tried to focus on the technical details as best I could, staving off the urge to tear into her more. It felt so good to cause her pain, and the bloodlust was delicious. To have this much control when I had none before was, well, addicting to say the least. I actually could feel her matter being pulled into me as I rendered her, my body itself feeding on hers before she even died.

"M-Monster!" she spit out at me a moment later, glaring up in seething hatred. Even like this, she wasn't afraid. It was almost addicting as her screams! The urge to literally consume her reared its ugly head again. I wanted to keep lashing out until she stopped moving; the taste of her pain lingering long afterwards. She'd feel every last second of the agony until I was sure she deeply regretted coming here.

I felt something twitch inside of me, and that cold feeling in my chest crushed inwards, twisting my expression into a glare. The revelation hit me with both shock and cold acknowledgement. I hated her. "Yes, I'm a monster! It takes one to destroy one! You ruined everything," I growled out, slamming her hard into the ground beneath her. I felt her collarbone snap under the pressure of my right hoof, but hardly cared. Instead, my claws dug in, drawing blood. It was surreal. I couldn't even see her as Twilight anymore. That was probably a good thing, though. Now she was just Nirru to me. A monster, just like I was. We were both monsters, out in the middle of the forest at night while dead set on murdering each other. It was oddly simple.

She spat blood up into my face mid-glare. The liquid sizzled instantly and baked onto my cheek. I didn't really pay attention. "You're fake. You're a mistake and never could have had anything here. Maybe they all sensed that on some level and never really trusted you in the first place?" she suggested, tone venomous. A lump formed in my throat, and some part of me wondered if she was right in that regard, at least. It didn't matter now.

"You have no right to judge me. You killed me, and now I'm going to kill you, even if to only protect everypony. Even if they don't trust me," I whispered softly, swallowing the lump painfully.

Her head fell back against the ground and she closed her eyes. "Do what you want. You win. Tear this body apart if it makes you feel better. I have what I wanted for the most part anyway," she finally accepted. Oh.

Her fearlessness all clicked together instantly. She was just a connection to here, and had already uploaded a lot of data to that connection. All she had to do was 'log out' and pull the data with her. Why would she care about what happened after that? Unless...

I smiled, sharp teeth glittering in the heat-distorted moonlight. Her eyes widened and she let out a pitiful mewling noise as I slammed my left hoof, claws and all, directly into her stomach. It punched through all the way to her center in an instant. She gasped and whined in airless agony, and I felt it. She slammed on the release, undoubtedly guessing what I was doing. Too late. My smile twisted into a sneer as I sent the electrical pulse directly into her spine, halting her 'logging out' attempt. Her eyes widened in an instant as she gaped up at me. The reaction was immediate; that cold exterior melted into panic and fear. Lowering myself down to her, I asked softly, "I wonder what happens to your mind if you're torn apart before you can log out? Wouldn't it be a bitch if everything you did tonight actually had consequences for you?"

Her eyes widened further and I realized my guess was dead on. They shivered and she slowly started shaking her head with what little strength she had left. "No. Please, no," she asked quietly, tone changing completely as what was left of her back legs tried in vain to push her away from me. Using my back claws, I destroyed her leg muscles a moment later, causing her to wince and silently scream in pain again. The reaction was dulled, however. She was probably going into shock.

"M-Mender! What are you doing? Please, stop this. She'll be punished when she gets out of the machine. Please, she's my sister," Keela suddenly interrupted, apparently figuring out rather rapidly what I had done.

I snorted, suddenly realizing she was exactly the same as the creature under me in that reasoning. Had she expected her sister to just waltz out of Equestria with all the data after what she did? The book was right. I should have murdered both of them and just taken it back with me when I first went there. "Yes, her getting a slap on the wrist after getting free with the data she wanted really helps me. It totally takes back her murdering me after torturing me in front of my friends and turning them against me," I muttered in response before glaring back down at the fake Twilight below me.

My eyes were close enough to hers now that I could see the new, radiating blue color reflected as she gasped. They were kind of pretty; reminding me of my old coat color. Why couldn't everything have stayed how it was before? I slammed her back into the ground again, shaking now. She let out a pained yelp as I slammed her head into the rock below with another angry thrashing motion. Again and again I hit her, denting and breaking her fake body with each onslaught. She gave up fighting and simply cried there as I slowly destroyed her. Her heartbeat slowed in her chest as more and more blood spilled out of her. Soon...

"This is all your fault. You killed me and destroyed everything! I don't care what I am. Maybe I could have been happy here, but now you took all of that for your own selfish reasons!" I growled, eyes narrowing as I actually felt them start to get wet. I hated her! I wanted her to suffer and die just like I had. She ruined my chance at having anything here and turned them all against me! Not that it had taken much, the book reminded. True. Then she killed me after taking everything!

"I-I'm sorry. Please, Mender," she begged weakly, her own eyes starting to water too. They were dim and unfocused at this point, the blood slipping the left one. Sorry? She was sorry?!

I smashed her legs again, removing the right one completely. "Oh yeah, that just makes everything better now doesn't it?! You murdered me! I'm a monster, remember? Mender died. You killed him! Do you honestly expect a 'monster' to forgive you?!" I screamed now, adding her left shoulder to the list of destroyed parts with another blow. To my surprise, she actually started crying even harder, her body locking up. My emotions tangled up and rage seeped through everything. She didn't have a right to beg for her life! She didn't let me beg for mine. She just took it! My right foreleg twisted upwards, pulling free from her body and raising into the air. I was done with this bullshit.

"Mender! Please stop!" Keela begged in a shout over the connection. My hoof paused in midair, scythe-shaped claws twitching as I glared down at the crying, broken image of Twilight Sparkle. There was no recognition there. I fully knew it wasn't Twilight. I hated Nirru. Keela probably helped her, too! "Please. I'm deleting the data now. Just let her log out? She might be a complete monster, but she's my sister as well. Please?" Keela begged, softer this time. My foreleg froze. Why was she bothering to delete the data? She'd have that even if I killed Nirru. Why waste everything her sister did tonight?

My eyes softened as my raised claws curled up gently. Keela had tried to help throughout all of this, honestly. I really don't think this was her intent at all, like she said. To think otherwise seemed a bit irrational, I noticed. The cloudy haze shifted a little and I became distinctly aware of the book's anger as it separated from my own. Urges to tear her apart became clear in my mind, and I shuddered. They weren't entirely mine, I realized. I'd wanted her to die for what she did to me, but this was... I lowered my hoof a little, emotions smashing together inside my chest. I hated her, but if I killed her like this, I'd hurt Keela as well. Suddenly, I was confused.

There was a light, almost imperceptible growling noise followed by a hissed out, "No! Kill her now!" The book's hatred was all around me; there was a haze to my thoughts and vision as I stared down at Nirru under me, emotionless. With her wounds and my claws in her gut, I knew she'd die shortly anyway. Did Keela really deserve this, though? No, she didn't. I doubted she saw what her sister really was, but she had already made her decision. My lips curled up into a grimace as I glared down at the broken body below me. Nothing was ever fair it seemed. Why couldn't I just be happy? Why did something always have to try to take that from me?

"HALT CREATURE! CEASE YOUR AGGRESSIONS!" suddenly exploded from in front of me in a voice about six decibels higher than the prior explosion, I estimated. Both Nirru and I let out a startled jump from the blast that caused my 'fur' to blow backwards. What the hell?! Wait; that voice...

Both of us glanced up at the same time. Princess Luna herself stood a half dozen meters from me, wings spread out in an extremely threatening manner with a look of fury on her face. Oh. Oh hell. Well this complicated things a little! Almost a dozen ponies stood near her, all wearing a dark purple armor and wielding various sharp and pointy instruments in their teeth.

"H-Help me!" Nirru groaned out, starting to cry again as she looked back at the Moon Princess. She had shifted back to Twilight's voice in an instant, I noticed. A light sigh escaped my throat as I extended my claws again on my raised hoof. Not this again... Well, she'd obviously try anything to live through the situation. That much I kind of respected in her.

"T-Twilight Sparkle?! Let her go and once, creature! You shall face our wrath otherwise!" Princess Luna warned, eyes narrowing from her brief look of shock at seeing the bloodied body of 'Twilight' under me. As much as I really didn't want to face any wrath she could bring forth, I didn't particularly feel like letting Nirru go. Princess Luna's negotiating skills left something to be desired. Still, I had no doubt that the Princess of the Moon herself could very easily survive anything Nirru could attack her with, but I was more concerned about the far less imposing guards gathered around her. My head cleared now that I separated myself from the still pissed off book, and I focused as best I could.

What were the choices, really? I couldn't let her go and risk untold amounts of complications. If I killed her outright right now it would cause Keela immense grief and instantly earn the wrath of one of the most powerful beings I'd ever known, undoubtedly leading to my destruction. That wasn't...

It clicked and my eyes softened. Wasn't that ideal? What honestly did I have left, after all? I wasn't a Keldarian or a Pony. I didn't belong to either world, really. In truth, I was a biological weapon pretending to be the pony-morphed clone of a Keldarian soldier that had been dead for a while. A joke, really. I lowered my eyes away from Princess Luna, looking down at my bloodied limb imbedded into Nirru's stomach. If I was a joke though, it wasn't that funny. At least, I wasn't laughing. Knowing what I was; knowing what I'd done and how many innocent lives died directly due to me, there was no way I could bring myself to look any of them in the eyes again. So what was left?

I had wanted it all along. I'd even achieved it once already. I've always wanted to protect these ponies. But what if I was the danger to them? It seemed like my vary nature all along was nothing but a threat to Equestria. Wasn't the solution obvious then? It was right here, presenting itself to me. I could eliminate every threat to Equestria at the same time, and still make Keela happy. All with one motion. Given my luck, I didn't dare ask for more. Maybe a bit of fortune smiled on me after all in a perverse sort of way.

My data readout showed Keela had kept to her word and deleted all of Nirru's connected memory banks. I closed my eyes and raised my hoof back up to full extension, claws glistening in the moonlight. Nirru's eyes widened as I opened mine again and stared down at her. For a moment, we locked our gazes into each other. I almost saw something clashing in her eyes. There was sorrow there; a pain I recognized yet could do nothing for. Her eyes softened as well as she stared into mine. Did she recognize something there? Maybe, if things had been different, we could have been friends. Maybe we had in a different time.

"DON"T YOU DARE, OR WE WILL DESTROY YOU!" the Princess screamed out once again, a pointless and ignored reminder. Heard it the first time. Maybe, after this played out, she'd realize maybe a more subtle tract would get better results in future negotiations?

Finally, I swallowed painfully and shook my head. "I'm sorry Keela. I don't think I can talk to you anymore. Thank you for everything," I quietly spoke, knowing she could hear me. Nirru heard as well and quietly gasped, eyes widening as they grew watery again. I released. Her signal became unblocked again in an instant, earning another widening of her eyes. She hesitated, obviously not even fathoming that I'd let her go.

My claws flexed. The realization sparked through her. A heartbeat later, she was gone. The fake corpse of Twilight Sparkle was all that remained under me, eyes glazing over. The image burned into my mind in an instant and I almost threw up then and there. Deciding it needed to be banished as fast as possible, I exhaled before whipping my clawed hoof down as hard as I could.

Her skull was no match for my new strength and I crushed it. It felt like an icicle had imbedded itself in my chest at the same moment; a part of me died with my very blow, I think. Tendrils ripped free of my hoof a second later, starting to consume her body’s mass. Scanning activated and memories flashed to and fro in my mind as my twisted body pieced the information back together again that was inside of her. There probably wouldn't be much left, but I let it do whatever the hell it wanted.

A glance upwards half a second later showed me an utterly horrified Princess Luna. The shock twisted into a look of absolute rage a moment later and she let out a scream. I swallowed painfully as her horn flared up and, faster than I could track, a black crescent wave of energy tore through the air. The ground under it ruptured and cracked as it passed. One spin later, it cleared the distance between us. There was nothing else. I closed my eyes and lifted my head up as best I was able, revealing the entirety of my neck as the attack came in. I'm sorry, Twilight. Fluttershy.

I winced as I felt the blade of darkness slam into my throat...

Chapter 28

Darkness. A deep, inner peace. My muscles loosened and unwound; they were long overtaxed from two lives of never really being able to stop moving. It would be nice to rest finally. Sleep had always eluded me it seemed. I can recall my original self having to always sleep with one eye open in bunker after bunker. His memories seemed to translate into me for the most part. Now I was haunted by them and still hadn't slept well, even in Equestria. But they were fragmented. Even knowing what I was didn't give me all the details. Things were missing or lost; the transfer to Equestria was apparently a bit more violent than anticipated. Not that it mattered anymore.

I could finally relax. After two lifetimes of conflict and stress, it would definitely feel good to be able to stop. It was finally over. The final act hadn't concluded on a happy note at all, and I turned out to be the roll of the jester, but at least it was finally over. To go through my entire life without really knowing my place, then to have it snatched away as soon as I found it felt immensely cruel still, but there was nothing I could do. Maybe something, somewhere, had at least been amused by the antics. I wouldn't be a very good jester if nopony got a laugh from it. Now, no matter what awaited me, I knew I could at least rest. That would be good.

The darkness continued, and I paused. No, there was something off. Oh, wait. A moment later, an annoyed sensation drifted through me and I sighed, opening my eyes again. Nope. Not the afterlife. That was just the inside of my eyelids. Damn it.

Princess Luna glared at me still. The burning sensation still pressed into my neck, but barely dug in a centimeter into my armor. What?! The level of energy there should have been able to slice right through me! Why had she stopped it?

Sure enough, she held the energy back herself as her eyes narrowed. I took a step forward to try to complete the stroke, but she pulled the blade away entirely, her massive aura that practically darkened the sky itself seemingly retreating into her body again.

"Thou shows extreme intelligence, yet wishes to die. CAN THOU SPEAK FOR THYSELF, BEAST?!" she asked a moment later, shifting back to whatever the hell that tone was and actually pushing me backwards with the force of her voice. Well hell; maybe my head would explode if I listened for long enough and she wouldn't even need to attack!

After her voice receded, I wobbled on my legs for a second before shaking my head clear again. The reality set in a moment later. She was suspicious of me for some reason. My eyes narrowed as well as I glared back at her a moment later, requesting, "Just kill me. You have the power to. Destroy me." She had to! I wasn't sure what else would at this point, and I had no idea how to turn back to my other form. Not that I wanted to turn back in front of her. If she knew who I was, there'd be no end to the shame involved on my part.

She relaxed rather than get angry, however. "Why?" she asked simply, causing me to twitch.

"I just killed Twilight Sparkle! You should hate me! Plus, I'm a direct threat to Equestria. Open your eyes and look at me. You should be able to see what a monster I am," I reasoned. There were so many reasons why she should kill me that I was having difficulty grasping why she'd even question it!

The guards looked confused at this point, keeping their weapons drawn but now looking back and forth between Princess Luna and I. She lost her glare and shifted to a more neutral expression, standing up straight again. "Thou has a startling visage, but we have seen far worse. You may speak however, and know of your supposed crimes. We are concerned that thou may be clever enough to abuse thus facts," she spoke plainly, much quieter again.

My ears lowered. I should have just growled at her and attacked. Then she'd have no choice but to kill me. Wait, that was it! "Fine. If you won't kill me, I'll just have to kill all of you instead. How does that sound?!" I suggested, tentacles extending upwards into the air again, blades popping out menacingly.

The reaction was both as expected and less than satisfactory at the same time. The guards snapped to attention instantly, backing away from me and lowering their weapons to cover the Moon Princess. Luna herself looked more amused than anything, sadly. Her left eyebrow rose momentarily before she nodded and stepped forwards, pushing a spear out of her way and narrowing the gap between us by a meter or so.

"Very well, Creature. Thou has a deal. If you strike out at us with all your strength with intent to kill, we shall destroy you," she agreed, watching me carefully.

What? My mind stalled as I stared at her in surprise. What the hell?! For a moment, I couldn't even manage to formulate a proper thought process in which to consider what she just said. In my delay, she actually shifted to a smile instead, moving her balance more to the side and giving me an impatient yet deeply amused look. Damn it. She was mocking me! All it needed to be was close, though.

My tentacle on the upper right side whipped down in an instant, scythe blades moving in on her neck with calculated precision. "No!" one of the soldiers screamed from behind her as he started to rush forwards. She watched the blade come down an instant later, and...

I stopped it less than a millimeter from the skin of her neck, glaring at her. The step of her dodging it and obliterating me was strangely absent as she just stood there, watching me. I swallowed, tentacle twitching as I couldn't bring myself to touch the blade against her fur. Damn it!

"Thou hesitates? No such moment existed for Twilight earlier, yet thou claims her death was an atrocity. Where is the difference between her and us?" Princess Luna asked softly, calling me out on my bluff. I continued glaring at her before shivering and taking a few steps backwards, withdrawing my tentacles as all the soldiers stared in shock.

"You wouldn't have struck me regardless, I suspect. The truth is rather obvious, as it doesn't exist in thou's prior statement. What is the truth then, pray tell?" she asked again a moment later, watching me curiously now.

My ears flattened back and I scowled at her, still unable to bring myself to lash out and actually hit her. I sighed wearily and lowered my head. Well, there was more than one way to go about this.

To my credit, she actually looked surprised when I dropped onto my forward knees, forming a polite and proper bow. "Please, Princess Luna. I represent a threat to Equestria, and you watched me kill your sister's faithful student. I need to be destroyed," I requested, voice softening and losing some of the harsh edge around the lower tone.

She frowned but closed the gap to just a meter finally, standing almost right in front of me. I remained in my bowed posture. "We are now unsure of what it was we just saw. Anger clouded our judgment and we failed to notice a lack of our dear friend's magical residue in the area. If that was indeed Twilight, surely she would have resorted to magic for her defense, right?" she suggested logically, tilting her head.

Crap. That was cheating! I hesitated, but shook my head. "I broke her horn off. She couldn't cast anything," I corrected, looking back up at her. If that excuse had worked on Rainbow and Applejack, surely there was some truth behind it.

She just smiled however and shook her head. "Our skills are not that of a fundamental level. We need no spell cast to sense our friend's aura residue," she assured. Okay, that was definitely cheating!

Before either of us could say more however, the sound of frantic flapping came to my attention. My ears perked up instantly and swiveled around to behind the Princess. A pegasus? Uh oh. Thankfully, a lightly armored guard drifted in instead of any hinting of rainbow or cyan coloring. I should have known. It sounded a little sloppy for Dash's flying. He wobbled as he landed, looking downright exhausted. "P-Princess Luna! I have a report from Ponyville! There's been an attack and," he started to relay before finally noticing me and letting out a sharp squeak.

As much as I knew about the 'attack' from an intimate position, I was curious for new information. Princess Luna looked back at me carefully, her eyes shooting me a questioning glance. I hesitated for a moment before giving her a slow nod, lowering all of my extra appendages and retracting the sharp and pointy bits back into them. She watched for a moment before subtly nodding as well and shifting back to the messenger.

"Worry not. Speak forth your information for us to hear. This one will not interfere," she assured confidently. I got a little paranoid at that point. She was highly intelligent, obviously. If she figured out who I was...

The scout looked less than assured, but shakily turned back to her and bowed. "Ah, well there was an attack by a shape-changing entity. The Elements of Laughter and Honesty intercepted, but it got away and fled into the, um, forest. I think you might have found it already, though," he muttered, glancing back over at me nervously.

The Princess of the Moon frowned and looked back to me as well. "We are unsure. What was the attacker to look like?" she inquired curiously.

"T-That's the thing! Applejack, er, the Element of Honesty reported the creature appearing as Twilight Sparkle herself!" he exclaimed. Damn it. Well, at least I knew Applejack wasn't hurt in the explosion from the Slipstream emanation. Assuming as he didn't mention Pinkie, I figured she was probably perfectly fine. Hell, she was Pinkie Pie. I doubted physics would allow her to be hurt in the first place.

Princess Luna smiled almost instantly and nodded. "That is very informative. We thank you, truly. Was anypony hurt?" Shouldn't she have asked that first?

The scout seemed to finally relax a little before shaking his head, apparently deciding I really wasn't going to rip him in half and consume him. Oddly, the other guards behind her lowered their weapons a little as well, simply watching me instead. "No. The two Elements involved suffered only minor wounds. Moon Mender has been reported missing however! The Element of Magic herself has guessed that he was somehow captured before the creature fled. She sent me to report to you while she gathered the rest of the Elements," the scout reported further. I swallowed, ears lowering as I took a step back and away from them. All six of them were coming here? That didn't bode well for my cover remaining a secret.

Princess Luna watched me carefully, seemingly analyzing my every move as she saw me step backwards. All the guards, including the scout with lighter armor, focused intently on me again as well, probably following Princess Luna's lead. The fact that they all looked so bloody similar just made it all the more unnerving. On that note, I decided I still had no idea what was wrong with their wings to be bat-like and membranous, but I was starting to bet that it had something to do with their similar appearance.

"Thou seems uneasy over the news. Pray tell; what causes thy discomfort?" the Moon Princess asked, tone surprisingly pleasant as she smiled lightly. I just murdered her friend in front of her! No, she had already guessed that wasn't Twilight... I'd hoped she hadn't guessed my identity as well, but I had to attempt to maintain as if she hadn't.

"The Elements of Harmony are powerful. I prefer to not be on the receiving end of that," I admitted in perfect honesty.

The dark alicorn momentarily looked surprised before smirking again and actually giggling. "Worry not, young one. We had no intentions of directing their ire towards you. I'm more interested in the creature you defeated; the imposter who took our dear friend's likeness. If you fought her, surely thou must know about her?" she reasoned gently, gesturing absently towards the badly damaged corpse not two meters away. This was seemingly the first time the scout noticed it however, as he let out a stressed squeaking noise and shuffled away from it as the Princess gestured. Sighing, I nodded in agreement.

"A little. She's not of this dimension. Her body was amorphous yet still allowed her to cast her spells. We fought after she threatened to destroy Ponyville," I explained, keeping my voice neutral as I glazed over everything I thought I could get away with.

The Princess smiled as she listened, then upon completion, asked, "Thou heard the report. Has there been any signs of wayward Moon Mender in thy travels?" That one I saw coming and had an answer prepared for it.

"The scrawny blue stallion? He was dead when I found the two of them, and I ate him first," I answered easily, chest feeling a little colder as I stared absently at her.

Her smile wavered momentarily before she resumed it, looking oddly amused. Yeah, it didn't look like she bought it. Well, technically it was true in a metaphorical sense. "Interesting. Thou's magic twists just so when speaking fabrications, we notice. You try to steer towards thy own destruction, yet you say not why. You are curious indeed. Although are we wrong in considering that thou's magic also feels familiar?" she guessed, tilting her head towards me. My heart dropped into my stomach.

I had been outclassed from the very beginning. My only true chance to get her to destroy me was to have taken advantage of her rage at the start. I was a fool to have not attacked her then. Now, I had the sneaking feeling that even though she didn't openly say anything, she knew exactly who I was. My racing thoughts must have been rather obvious, as her smile grew and her eyes shifted mirthful.

For the second time however, we were interrupted. A low whistling noise with several calculated flaps mixed in sounded off to my left. That was indeed the sound of a pegasus, but far more precise and coming in much faster than the scout had. Son of a bitch...

I turned just in time to see the bolt of cyan streak in at high velocity, sliding along the ground and knocking bits of ash and debris up as she slowed to a stop. The wind almost stroked her wings as she whipped them down in a final breaking motion, tail whipping wildly to the side as she leaned against her momentum. I watched her rather graceful landing with no small amount of appreciation as the rampant apprehension seeped into my veins. Now, ironically, she was one of the last ponies I had wanted to see at the moment. Well, to be more specific; who I wanted to see me. Interestingly enough, a rather beautiful necklace of a golden hue resided around her neck, center gem in the shape of her very own Cutie Mark. I had an uneasy suspicion that was more than a fashion accessory, apart from simply the mare who wore it hating fashion...

Her gaze dragged across the surprised Princess Luna with a pleased yet excited smile adorning her expression. It all but shattering as her rose-colored eyes locked onto me instead. In an instant, her expression melted into one of shock and unabated horror as she scanned my form easily enough in the full moonlight. That look destroyed me in an instant, bringing forth far more misery than Nirru could ever hope to do. Shame and a raw sense of exposure set every nerve in my body on fire at the same moment.

There was no conscious choice, as often the case in times of duress. The lukewarm sickening sensation overwhelmed me in an instant. All eight of my added limbs whipped forward in an instant, latching onto the ground as they went. "Wait!" Princess Luna call out as I flung myself backwards into the forest in less than the blink of an eye. It didn't register, as all I could see was Rainbow's look of disgust.

I let out a weary gasp as the flat of my upper right tentacle splattered against the back of my well armored neck, breaking open and reforming into me instantly, only to restore itself to its proper place a few seconds later. It was no good. The blades retracted an instant before touching my neck.

Letting the blade fall using gravity didn't work either. I mentally checked it off my list, having failed in the fifth attempt to slice my own head off. I couldn't self-terminate. It was hard coded into whatever root program controlled me, it would seem. Shivering, I curled up tighter into a little ball, trying not to cry.

My emotions were a jumbled mess. Honestly, I just wanted to scream and scream, lashing out and bashing apart anything near me until I felt better. My chest felt like a bubbling, pressurized soda bottle at this point, up to and including the dull, frozen ache I imagine being refrigerated would bring.

I whimpered lightly, wishing something even nastier than myself would come along and tear into me. The forest shivered in the wind around me, the sound almost as if a low whimper of sympathy as the darkness consumed everything. I liked the darkness, honestly. Sure it meant I couldn't see as much, but it also meant that nopony could see me either. At the moment, that was a very comforting fact.

I peeked out over the small rock I rested on and glanced into the ground pool under me. The moonlight shimmered through the upper cracks in the trees high above, giving me a crystal clear reflection of the night sky in the water. I watched the beautiful, white orb drift upwards into the sky, wondering what time it was. A pop up display appeared in the lower right corner of my eyes, displaying an accurately synced to the second clock based off the last time I looked at the clock in Twilight's living room. Ugh. Uh, thanks I guess? Regardless, I duly noted that it was twenty three, fifty eight. Almost a new day. I must have escaped from Princess Luna hours ago. Idly, I wondered what everypony was doing.

It was a bitter thought. I couldn't go back now. Even if I could somehow keep it hidden from everypony; even if the Princess kept it a secret, I knew what I was. That's all I could consider. I wasn't real! I was some fake mash-up of living computer components and biological weaponry cleverly designed to look like a pony. Something like that didn't have a use here, in Equestria.

Suddenly I remembered what Celestia had said a while ago. It wasn't fair, still. I had found my place here! It was where I wanted to be. I wanted to stay with Fluttershy, Twilight, and all of the wonderful ponies. The second I decided I wanted it however, then and only then did I lose it all. It was like a sick joke. She told me to make my place here and decide it for myself. Well now she saw where that got me! There is no place here for a monstrous biological weapon like me. Why couldn't I have just been normal?

I glared at my own reflection in the water, the cold blue eyes staring back at me. I was a mockery of my old self at this point. At least, the tentacles having been out for a while now, they had healed up the sores and boils nicely. Maybe it had been a byproduct of trying to form them so fast? Regardless, it certainly smelled a few hundred degrees better! Gotta think positive, right? I might be a killing machine who's lost its entire purpose in all of existence that's been shunned by everypony and forced to live in a dark, ancient forest for the rest of my natural or unnatural lifespan, but at least I smelled better now. Yup. Positive. At least I managed to chuckle to myself.

Still, for places to be stuck, at least it was pretty. I stared down at the water again. The wild and untamed forest drifted all around me in the current, the darkness only serving to cloak me as I hid. Slowly, I closed my eyes and just listened to the forest around me. The noises were back, and I heard all manner of wildlife around me from cicadas to owls. It was a pleasant, relaxing experience that I embraced like a starving pony to a pile of apples.

Apples. I wondered how Applejack was doing. She had seen a lot of horrible things tonight. I hoped she was okay. Quietly, I curled up on the rock, feeling years’ worth of weariness crush down upon me. Maybe, if I was lucky, something would come along while I slept and eat me. Or just kill me out of pure terror. Or because I was an abomination of nature. Hell, I'd even take 'not notice and accidentally sit on me' at this point.

I drifted in and out of fitful bursts of sleeping. Each bout was sprinkled with horrifying memories that were and weren't mine. Being strapped to a table and getting my eyes torn out, or oddly being shoved down onto a couch and screaming in fear as someone ripped the back of my skirt open, laughing in a low voice. There was a distinctly alien feeling involved with that one, but I didn't pay it much heed.

Her grin. I recognized it now. The shadowy face and teeth glittering in the dark. Blood dripped from her bladed drill as she walked up to me strapped down on the table. Nirru. She hated me. She hated all males, but she really hated me. It was probably because of what my original self did with her sister. Right?

Screaming. My claws slashed over and over again at them, being shoved away each time as they pushed me down into the cushions. No, there was nothing there. I stirred, sneezing as a leaf brushed against my muzzle. It drifted off again and gently landed in the water, sending a light ripple out across the surface. My eyes were still closed, but I 'heard' it touch down on the water.

Shouts. I winced and cried, unable to do anything at all. The monster above me groaned out pleasantly, apparently not hearing the noise. A flash of metal. Blood splattered everywhere followed by a scream of rage as something wet and furry landed on my chest. Blood. It was always blood. We were covered in it. If it was inescapable, why not show it directly to all the monsters that deserved it? I agreed, of course.

Fluttering pain. Lines of white hot agony danced through my body. "This will teach you to do that to my sister." It bridged to a heated groan, fur against fur. A dash of blue and a giggle bleeding into a moan from under me, mouths meeting again. A scream of rage.

I twitched.

My eyes opened slowly, a sense of disorientation drifting through my mind. My body felt like it had gotten rung through a paper press. Groaning, I looked around, wondering what woke me up. Eventually, my eyes locked onto it. Or him? Maybe it was a her. A tiny bird rested lightly on one of my mixed up and entwined tentacles that lay idly around me. I watched it as it watched me back for a few moments, both of us curious of each other. Now that was a gutsy bird!

I smiled to it a moment later, remembering to keep my lips sealed. Baring rows and rows of razor sharp teeth seemed like a bad idea. "You have some serious guts, Mr. Bird," I complimented softly, watching him. He let out an annoyed squack suddenly, causing me to start and move backwards a little. Heh. I realized a moment later that even when I was like this, I still remembered the pain of having my muzzle pecked open by the angry birds.

"Uh, Miss? I'm sorry," I apologized softly. She looked pleased and nodded twice to me. Wait, yellow coat with a black underbelly? No, it couldn't be the same bird, could it? Suddenly I wished I had Fluttershy's knack for animal empathy. Not that the bird recognized me regardless, I bet.

"Is there something you need? If I can help, let me know," I offered weakly, unsure of how she'd 'tell' me in the first place.

Oddly, she hopped off my tentacles and landed right in front of my face. At first I was weary, but then she oddly gave me a gentle nuzzle. Shocked was an understatement.

A moment later, another bird fluttered down and landed next to her, followed by three more much smaller ones. No way! I smiled gently to all of them before asking, "Um, do you know me from somewhere?" Part of me still didn't want ANYTHING knowing that Moon Mender was, well, whatever the hell this was.

The male, now that I remember correctly, nodded gently before hopping up and landing on my side. Huh? Careful not to scare them, I sat up and watched him as he moved. Then he landed on my flank, and my eyes widened, no longer staring at him at all. But how?!

That blasted silver gear with the heart-shaped axel hole resided on my flank, oblivious to the fact that I was a horrible monster. It was a little darker, but otherwise looked completely unchanged compared to its prior appearance. I wasn't even a pony! Why did I have a Cutie Mark in the first place?

"Ha... I see. You um, recognized me then using the mark. Wonderful. Um, could you not tell anypony that it's me? This isn't exactly something I'd like to spread around," I requested quietly, looking away from my flank and crashing back down into my lying position. The birds didn't even flinch, but now I at least know why they were so trusting of me. That didn't make me feel any better.

The lady bird chirped sharply and hopped up onto the hoof in front of my face. I watched her before shaking my head. "I'm not going to hurt you, but I am a monster now. I was never a pony it turns out. You don't need to stick around, or want anything to do with," I started to suggest.

Whap! Her beak hit my nose before I could even finish and I yelped, wincing and holding it with my other hoof. She squawked in seeming annoyance at me before fluttering up and landing on my head, sitting down as I stared daggers back up at her. Well, I suppose that was one of the most effective counter-points I'd ever been given. The male gave an almost laughing chirp noise a moment later, and the three little ones joined in. The brightest yellow one shifted closer to me and rested against my muzzle. The markings on its underbelly were similar to the mother. A female, maybe?

She gently rubbed the spot where her mom had whacked me and almost smiled up at me. Oh, it was her. It was the one I put back in the nest a while ago. "I'm glad you learned to fly. It must make it easier to get back up into the nest yourself now," I joked, smiling at her. They didn't notice, or care, when I forgot to hide my teeth.

She gave a chirping laugh and nodded, resting against my gunmetal gray fur.

"You are very good with animals as well as foals. We can see why Fluttershy likes you so much," was suddenly spoken quietly. I froze, eyes widening as I felt them almost pop out of my head. All five birds perked and looked to my right in the same instant.

Slowly I turned my head, casting my nervous gaze upon the Princess of the Moon as she slowly walked up. She actually looked a little worse for wear now, her coat looked a little unkempt and spots of mud and dirt were on her legs. What was she still doing out here at... I popped up my decidedly useful internal clock and noticed it was oh one, twenty. Surely she had nightly duties or something to attend to.

"We've been looking for you ever since you ran, Mender. We are alone now however, and you don't have to hide," she explained, catching me looking at her messy legs. I also noticed she switched to a less formal way of talking now.

My ears lowered and I set my head back down on the rock, watching her. It didn't surprise me as much as I thought it would that she knew who I was. "Was my Cutie Mark visible back then and I was just stupid?" I asked softly, feeling annoyed at myself.

She smiled and peeked past me at my flank a moment later.

"Ah, your Cutie Mark did come back. I didn't think it would be suppressed for long. No magic can make them truly disappear," she noted, answering my question at the same time.

I shook my head and closed my eyes again. "I'm not a pony. I shouldn't even have one and I don't know why it came back now," I muttered, wondering what she wanted but afraid to ask. Was she mad at how I acted earlier?

"It's who you are, Mender. We felt your magic after our first attack. We're sorry for not recognizing you sooner," she apologized softly.

My left eye opened again and I looked over at her, surprised at her priorities. Why was she treating me like normal? The five birds around me settled back in and seemed to rest in various locations on my body, taking advantage of my oddly branch-like tentacles. I didn't mind in the least.

"Mender, we can hazard a guess as to what thou are thinking. We knew nothing about your current form, nor do we think of you any less. My sister probably knew about it the whole time, and she was the one who agreed that you were just like a pony," she furthered, seeing my hesitation.

I tried not to openly laugh. "How am I just like a pony? I'm a biological weapon meant to cause genocide on a Universal scale. I'm fake," I questioned, looking at her skeptically.

Princess Luna exhaled and sat down a few meters away, looking up towards the Moon she represented.

A minute passed before she slowly shook her head again. "You are you, Mender. You told my sister that and it surprised her so much she still remembers it. Sure, it's simple, but the message is very powerful. Do you still feel like you, Mender?" she asked, looking back down at me curiously.

I watched her, unsure of where she was going with the topic. "Not really. I feel powerful. Almost indestructible and fast. Yet I've never felt so vulnerable and alone at the same time," I muttered, almost staring past her as I let my eyes lose focus. I was still really tired, but sleeping didn't seem all that effective.

She smiled and snickered lightly before shaking her head. "We speak not of your physical self. Do you feel like you?" she asked again, watching me carefully. Me? What was me?

She almost seemed to feel my thoughts, and smiled. "You seem confused. Is it possible you didn't know who 'you' were to begin with?" she clarified with a hoof gesture.

Finally, I sighed and shook my head in agreement. "No. I don't think anypony apart from maybe you or your sister truly knows who they are. I feel like I'm still me in that regard," I clarified, thinking about it for the first time.

Princess Luna nodded curtly, placing her hoof back down again. "Exactly. If thou hasn't changed, then you're still you, no matter what you look like at the moment. We are sure you've read about us. Do you think we do not understand your pain?" My eyes widened. Nightmare Moon. I'd forgotten that the Princess I saw in front of me used to be far, far scarier. She smiled and nodded at my look of realization.

There were no further points I could make. Finally I questioned, "What am I supposed to do, then? I know what I am now and I can't just escape that." She gave me a soft smile before fluttering up and landing on the rock next to me, sitting down as well and watching the birds resting against me.

A moment passed as she just lay there. I shifted my attention to the birds too, more just thankful that she didn't appear to be scared of me. "Let us start with smaller steps. Can thou resume your prior form?" she asked politely.

I paused. So far, I hadn't seen a point to but I suppose that would be the first step. "I'm not sure. I haven't tried yet," I admitted, digging back through the executable files for some form of return effect or something. No files were added and running Protocol312.exe again did nothing. My frustration spiked, but I exhaled quietly instead.

"Relax, Mender. You are a clever pony and will find a way. We only suggest this so you can revert to your less intimidating form," she pointed out. It stung a little but she was right. Oddly, I also kind of respected her honesty. At least her admitting my current form was intimidating meant she was really looking at me. That was the other reaction I was worried about; the ponies I cared about pretending to simply not see the ugly side and ignoring me instead.

Deciding on a different approach, I tore apart the executable in question and looked at everything it had done. A few seconds later, I was mildly surprised by the fact that it hadn't technically 'installed' anything on me. Everything was already there and it simply unlocked it. Fascinating. That meant I was built with the black box functionality in mind.

Regardless, if it was just unlocked now, I should be able to control my form at will. A bit of menu tweaking later and I frowned, feeling my eight tentacles retreat backwards into my back. Princess Luna smiled as she watched, although the birds protested as their resting spots disappeared. "Very good! That's a start indeed," the Princess of the Moon praised, giving me a gentle smile.

Blushing lightly, I nodded back but then paused before trying the rest. Uh oh. Bringing up a medical diagnostic, I noticed that my body was indeed under the armor and muscle structures. The only hiccup was that it hadn't had enough time to regenerate itself fully. Actually, it hadn't regenerated much at all apart from completely re-growing my left leg and hoof structure. Well, that was fairly impressive already, after I considered it for a moment. Most of my energy had gone into re-forming that and almost none to my ribs, lungs, and back legs.

"Uh, how good are you at healing magic, Princess Luna?" I asked suddenly, unsure if this was a good idea.

She momentarily looked surprised before shaking her head and returning, "Our sister is much better at it. We know some, but not enough to be of significant use. Oh, and please call us Luna. We would like the same treatment as our sister." I blinked, and then blushed a little before nodding.

"Well, alright Luna. I'll call you that from now on. I was asking because under this armor, my body hasn't fully recovered yet. I'm a little worried that this form is technically all that's holding me together," I explained wearily. If I still had several holes in my lungs, turning back was an inexplicably bad idea.

Luna shook her head and smiled back however. "Worry not! We are good at teleportation. If thou start bleeding all over after changing back, we shall teleport you to the hospital," she 'assured' a moment later, giving a happy nod. That actually wasn't very assuring at all!

Swallowing, I decided against calling out the Princess of the Moon on her potentially flawed logic. Eh, what the hell? You only live once. Or twice, in my case.

Closing my eyes, I toggled the rest of my body back to 'normal' and felt the muscles and armor start to melt back into me, shifting into a pseudo liquid form before being sucked into nothingness. There was a long pause, and then I opened my eyes and inhaled lightly.

Inhaling fire might have been more comfortable. I let out a stifled, half scream as I buckled up instantly, the stabbing and burning sensations shattering across my barrel instantly. Luna gasped as she saw me spasm, then further looked on in horror at the rest of my body. I could barely see past the pain threatening to overwhelm me, but noticed my left foreleg, while existing now, was seriously messed up. The only skin to speak of on it was a light pink film that covered most of it. Otherwise, it was nothing but emaciated muscles and thin veins; maybe about half the circumference of my other legs.

Why is it that being aware of a wound made it hurt so much worse? I gasped and ended up smashing my face into the rock as the pain tore through my leg. I was tempted to tear it off again just to make the pain stop! Further, I was absently aware of my back right leg hanging loosely at an odd angle, remembering that I had broken it in the explosion. The birds started squawking in distress a moment later.

"Mender! Oh no! Here, hang on," Luna ordered as she pushed herself against me and lit up her horn with magic. Hold on with what?!

Thankfully, her lack of specifics mattered very little, as she managed to teleport us anyway. On a related side note, teleporting when wounded and missing large chunks of skin really sucks. The pain tore through my mind like a school of angry piranhas. I don't remember the end of the teleport...

I woke up in a flurry of motion. Leather straps around me went taut and my eyes widened to their maximum degree. No! I was captured! The lights around me flickered as I felt the tube shoved down my throat, air flowing into it. Gasping sharply, I flailed against the straps, the lights in the room flickering. "Stop him! Why isn't the sedation working?!" I heard shouted from somewhere behind me.

Everything hurt. The lights flashed again and I saw her teeth in the dark as she grinned at me, blades sliding under and alongside my left eyeball. I tried to scream into the tube, energy flailing out wildly as I saw a barrier warp out from my side and break through a window. I flailed it violently, tearing a jagged gash down the wall as I tried to kick backwards with my rear legs. The back right one wasn't moving at all however, and the left was strapped down as well. I saw a display pop up of an unknown agent in my bloodstream that was being filtered faster than they could inject it. Poison!

My entire body screamed in agony as I darted my eyes back and forth, light burning into it. She grinned against me momentarily, tongue slipping out to lick along my cheek at the blood flowing down it. I lashed out at her, screaming in muffled rage as another barrier smashed into wear her neck should have been. A second later, a chair got obliterated as it sliced through and cut into the wall, cracking the plaster as I stabbed.

"How do we stop his magic?! There's no horn to put a suppression ring on!' was called out a moment later. My eyes snapped onto a young looking stallion as he rounded into my viewpoint. Targets snapped into place all over him an instant later, highlighting vitals and giving me biorhythm data. No, she wouldn't have me. She should have died but she wasn't going to have me, even if it meant breaking free from here. My eyes narrowed as I felt the stirring along my back again. Yes. See through the pain and shred the entire room if I had to.

A flurry of yellow entered my peripheral vision a moment later. "Miss, you can't come in," another doctor started to shout. At least they looked like doctors. I couldn't tell which was fake, though, and I wasn't about to take chances. He was caught up in a purple and red aura before he could complete the sentence however, and was shoved out of Fluttershy's way. Fluttershy!

"Mender! Stop it!" I heard echo through my head at the same time it echoed through the building. My eyes widened as my vision became a blur of yellow warmth as she pushed up against me; a gentle kiss landing on my right temple. Her empathy was felt throughout me and even without the link, I knew it was her. She was here too? It was her. She wouldn't hurt me. She couldn't.

My muscles went numb as I slumped against the surface I was strapped to. I didn't know which was real; the darkness or the hospital. But if she was here, it didn't matter. This had to be the hospital. I didn't trust my mind, but I trusted Fluttershy.

"Thank you, Mender. Please, rest..." she requested, the absolute blue of her eyes flooding my right eye's vision. No! She'd know right away what I was if she saw me. She would just be able to tell! My eyes slammed shut and I hit the retreat function as fast as possible. With a stifled sob, I fell back inside of myself and all connection to my outside body was dropped.

Everything was quiet an instant later. Slowly, I felt my motion stop; the mental construction of my pony body curling up against itself as I hung in absolutely nothing. I shivered against myself, gasping for air as I tucked myself up. She couldn't see it. I couldn't let her. I didn't even know what I was! My eyes opened again a second later, glaring at the hoof in front of my vision. I was a pony. I wanted to be a pony!

But I wasn't a pony. I wasn't a Keldarian. I was a monster. Another spasm wracked my frame, a mental flash of teeth snapping out at me flickering through my head. Tentacles, blades, teeth, and death. What the hell was I?! 'Monster' was all I could manage to describe myself as, alongside assorted synonyms. I couldn't let them see that I was an abomination. Equestria didn't need my other self. It didn't need me. Tia was wrong. I didn't have a place here anymore. I gently closed my eyes, exhaling air that technically didn't exist. Warnings popped up around me, saying something about taking dermal damage along my barrel, but I ignored it. I was going into surgery, probably. If my ribs had fragmented, I imagine they'd have to get the shards of bone out of me somehow.

My mind wandered as I lost track of time. There was something peaceful about just releasing your hold on your thoughts and letting them flow freely from topic to topic. I unfurled as I drifted, eventually finding myself floating flat inside of my mind, legs outstretched limply in various directions. There was no need to remain guarded. I was the only thing here and always would be. The concept struck me as extremely lonely, but I fought it down. Instead, I decided to be productive and brought up one for my file folders again. Two point four billion Keldarians were inside of me. The DNA was segmented already and compartmentalized, but was in desperate need of sorting and organizing. I devoted an entire processor to the job of going through it like a rampaging Twilight on her library shelves.

That settled, I devoted yet another processor to the repair and reconstitution of Dr. Kyliona's last video message. In a weird way, she was sort of my 'mother' so I admitted she deserved at least that, as I couldn't do anything else for her. She made my original form and, from what I guessed, created the clone as well that was essentially me. I didn't even know what to classify myself as. If I was a pony with robotic parts, I'd be a cyborg. But I wasn't originally a pony or even a Keldarian. Are a clone's parts 'fabricated' then? If all of me was fabricated, then I'd be an android I guess. Then of course there was the consideration that I also housed a Universal-Class Weapon of Mass Destruction inside of me. After the tentacles had popped out, I was given the delightful options of unleashing that as well. At least that choice had been a simple one.

It plagued me. I sought out file after file. All of them had various things to do with extra features, add-ons, and various utilities. It didn't take me long to find the operating system files for my organic computer parts either. But this left me frustrated. I searched everywhere. There weren't any files dictated to 'me'. There were no advanced AI subroutines or any form of organic mental structure anywhere. What was I if I wasn't an artificial intelligence? Then the idea hit. I'd trace where the 'orders' were coming from when I gave one out!

Printing out garbage data to a pop-up window, I watched where the order came from specifically. It didn't help much. There was a small translation black box connected to an input and output lane. I frowned. The connection was massive; easily four times the size of the biggest hardwired connection I had thought possible. Beyond it, there was nothing to access. Either something was blocking my ping attempts, or beyond that uplink to the black box, there was something truly alien from a computer's standpoint. An actual mind, maybe? I remembered the translation error I'd gotten when trying to communicate with Rainbow a few hours ago. Mental communication didn't mesh well with computer communication.

I didn't know if I should be happy or sad at the discovery. Was it just the clone mind that I consisted of? What was this consciousness that I was right now? If it was just the clone mind, shouldn't I be dead now after what Nirru had done to me? I floated there absently, some part of me wondering if any of these questions would ever be answered. Shivering again, mentally pictures of that thing that I could become danced through my mind. That thing wasn't needed here. Knowing what I was, how was I honestly supposed to face any of them again? I was fake. Were my feelings even real, honestly? Maybe they'd be offended that they'd put so much time and energy into a robot.

Another flash of imagery. My claws tore her apart, destroying her head in an instant. Oh yeah. A violent, homicidal robot. I shuddered as I remembered the feeling of tearing through her flesh. What scared me the most was the feeling of actually liking the sensation. It wasn't because of the texture, or even the fact of what I was doing, really. It was finally not being the runt. Finally, I could do something when somepony hurt me and tried to take things from me by force. It felt so amazing to be able to say 'no'. Heh. I gave her one heck of a 'no', I suddenly realized.

I'm me. It's what I told Celestia and now what Luna told me right back. I had at some point accepted it for other reasons. When dealing with my own delusions, it didn't really matter what was real and what wasn't. All I could do was act within the world I interacted with. It didn't matter if Equestria was in my head and I was locked up somewhere, or if I had always been a pony and was having nightmares about my original dimension instead. If I was me, then this reality was also this reality. In a roundabout way, it made sense. Given that as truth, did it matter that I couldn't classify exactly what 'I' was?

Curling up again, I sighed. Classification was indeed pointless. Now I just had to somehow get around the fact that I directly murdered two point four billion Keldarians with my own hooves. Hands, at that point? Tentacles, maybe? Shaking my head, I chuckled to myself. I had an obsession to classify things. Knowing what I had done and what I was, I didn't have a clue how I could possibly look any of the ponies in the eyes again. They'd know almost instantly. Which led me to the next hurtle. How would they react? To say I had some explaining to do would be an understatement. Hell, I'd be lucky if the Elements of Harmony didn't activate and blow me away regardless. Although technically I had no idea how the Elements actually functioned. The book Twilight had given me had been wonderfully vague.

Sighing, I decided to keep an eye on my external heat sensors to let me know when I was done being operated on. Assuming once everypony left the room, that would indicate that I was either dead or done with whatever surgery they were performing. Given my multiple redundant backup life support systems, my bet was on the latter. Of course, this probably left me several hours to kill with absolutely nothing to do. I didn't have any books or anything to read, so I did the next best thing that any somewhat sane individual would do in the given situation.

Peeking back through the files I'd looked through earlier, I started up the Minesweeper.exe I'd found...

Chapter 29

Drifting in an out of sleep as if caught up on a free-floating raft on the currents had become the norm. It was so much worse than my first hospital visit in Equestria. Today was no different, as I'd barely spent two hours awake as of yet. Clocky, my affectionately named pop up display clock, appeared in the lower right corner of my vision again at my mental request. It was now decorated in yellows, pinks, purples, and indigos. I got really bored last night and those colors appealed to me for some reason.

Mentally chuckling to myself, I resumed considering the flood of questions that drifted through my head as I floated in the pseudo empty space. Well, technically I was in my head anyway, but giving the questions a visual avatar sounded amazingly annoying. Unless, of course, I made them little versions of Twilight and Fluttershy. Although, then I'd spend more time watching them than actually thinking about the questions, I had a feeling.

I digress. There were indeed all sorts of important questions revolving around everything that had just happened. I'd been focusing so far on the extremely obvious ones with no luck at all. What was I exactly? What did Nirru and Keela know about me? How was I to find a place to fit in anymore? There were no answers to some, and the rest I didn't have access to. Still, maybe I was being too obvious. Another good thing to find out would by why I was created in the first place. If I knew what purpose I served exactly, maybe that would make the 'how' and 'what' a little bit easier? Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure only Doctor Kyliona could answer that fully, so that was mostly out of the question. Maybe once the video finished repairing itself, I'd learn more.

Finding out everything Keela knew would also help. She had obviously hidden things from me. Still, I hadn't heard a single extra-dimensional peep for a day and a half. There was this sneaking suspicion that she was avoiding me, too. Well, technically Rainbow and Applejack weren't avoiding me if they didn't realize I was awake and listening to anything that entered my room. Still, they hadn't visited even once. Pinkie hadn't either, but I truly had no idea as to why with her.

Not that I was one to talk about avoidance. I'd spent the last thirty-six or so hours hiding inside of myself, barring all outside senses minus hearing. I just wasn't ready to face them. Hell, I wasn't ready to face me. Further, I refused to use the links to either Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash to listen in. It felt too much like eavesdropping and I respected their privacy. The only thing I allowed myself to listen to was what was within earshot of my still snoozing body.

Speaking of, that brought me to the biggest and most important question of all... Where in the bloody hells was the King of Hearts?! I glared at the full cascade of cards I had going. If I could find the other red king, I could move the entire stack and get at the last unrevealed pile! Damn it. Knowing my luck, the card I needed was in the pile itself. This was an extremely frustrating game! Wasn’t it supposed to be easier than that blasted mine thing? After blowing myself up two hundred and thirty six consecutive times in a row, I had decided to switch to cards.

"Are you sure the doctor said he was, um, healing up all right? I thought he was supposed to wake up like normal. Oh, not that I'm doubting the doctor's knowledge or anything! I'm sorry!" I suddenly heard murmured from the body's audio input. My mental ears twitched and I looked upwards, as if that would somehow help me hear it better. I caught myself a moment later and snickered. That voice sounded remarkably like Fluttershy. She was still here?

There was a light sigh, followed by, "Yes. It's okay, Fluttershy. The doctor said that it was very much possible for him to spend several days asleep. His body took a huge shock." Twilight, who was apparently there with her, had also been visiting a lot. Fluttershy visited more in-between taking care of her plethora of animal friends and visiting with Rarity and Twilight, from what she'd told me so far.

Well, she didn't really 'tell' me. When she was by herself here, she'd often talk to me as if I were awake. That I honestly tried not to listen to for her privacy, but some of it was really hard to not hear! I blushed lightly at the thought. While it was adorable that she was feeling safer around me, I hadn't realized exactly how nerve-wracking everything had been to her. She was scared, and I wish I knew what I could do to help her through it.

"Does anypony know more about what happened yet? It's simply dreadful to think of what went on that night! I can't imagine what he felt like; actually getting foalnapped by that brute!" Rarity sympathized dramatically a moment later, although a little more solemn than I was used to. I was just glad to hear her talking to Twilight again after what had happened.

"No. That's the frustrating thing. Neither Princess Celestia or Princess Luna will tell me anything more than the public statement they released. They thanked me for my research into the creature that supposedly defeated my duplicate, but they still won't let me see the, uh, body of it," Twilight replied, sounding both perturbed and annoyed at the same time.

Fluttershy let forth a low whimper, adding, "I still can't believe Princess Luna had to, um, kill it." I closed my nonexistent eyes gently, momentarily drifting in the darkness. There was nothing I could do for her, though. It would be so much worse if she knew that I was the creature instead. No, her believing that it was dead was ideal.

A moment of silence passed, my ears picking up only a quiet rustling noise. Movement maybe, but I couldn't tell what it was with my eyes still closed. A murmur followed, and a knock at the door shortly after that. My ears perked at the new development. A split second later, I mentally winced as I realized my real ears had also twitched and rotated.

If anypony had noticed, they were silent about it. "We are sorry to interrupt, girls, but my sister requests an audience with thy Elements of Magic and Generosity," was suddenly spoken in an elegant tone. Given the wording involved, I didn't need to really hear the voice in order to realize it was the Princess of the Moon.

"Oh? Why just us, Princess?" Twilight asked, sounding curious, but with a certain level of excitement in her tone that she kept hidden carefully. Ah yes, of course she'd be excited to go see Celestia.

My thoughts drifted back to that night and I inwardly sighed. After all of this time and everything she said to me, she had still kept things hidden. Princess Celestia had told her things involving myself, apparently, that Twilight had neglected to relay. From the sounds of it, it had been some sort of warning about me.

I was a little bitter, admittedly. I didn't fully trust the lavender mare, or her alicorn tutor. If they would simply share with me everything that they knew, it would be perfect. I didn't even know why they felt they needed to keep it a secret in the first place. Still, at least she hadn't been ordered to spy on me again; at least not to my knowledge. Happy thoughts, Mender!

"-worry. I can keep an eye on Mender. It shouldn't be too hard seeing as he's asleep, right?" Fluttershy timidly asked, me coming back in the middle of it. I smiled, wondering what she'd do if she knew I wasn't asleep.

"Of course, Fluttershy. We have no doubt at all of your capabilities in watching over Mender, worry not. We shall return after our conversation with Princess Celestia has been concluded, of course," Rarity assured as I heard hoof steps heading towards where I knew the door to the room was located. Wait, was I in the same hospital room as before?

"I just don't understand what more we can add. Didn't she already get the report from the ponies who cleaned up the chandelier?" I heard Twilight question, the position of her voice shifting out of the room alongside the hoof step noises.

There was a faint giggle from Luna that made me a little suspicious. This suddenly felt like a set up. "Oh, of course. My sister trusts you very, very much and would like a full report from both of thou directly, however. She feels that some aspects may have been, well, glazed over." Well, it made sense that the construction team probably wanted to cover up the somewhat sloppy job they had done, but this seemed a little too convenient, timing-wise. Biting the bullet, I slid the solitaire game to the side and, for the first time in over a day, drew myself back to full consciousness.

My real eyes opened after their voices disappeared down the hall. Fluttershy was perched up on one of the visitation chairs with her hind legs on the seat and her forelegs resting on the windowsill. She shyly peeked out through the blinds, her head tracking the large yet regal midnight blue wings outside as they stretched gently. Her tail swayed upwards and curled at the base of her back hooves as she did so, her ears lowering somewhat. I smiled lightly at her adorable display, and exhaled quietly to calm my nerves.

The act of breathing out caused a mild ache along my torso and I frowned. No, it made sense that I was still sore. They'd been adding things to the IV that caused my regenerative capabilities to go into overdrive, but I still had to recover from an intrusive chest surgery and several broken ribs. My left foreleg was also beyond most of their medicines. From the mutters of a couple nurses yesterday, they sounded shocked that I even had the leg still in the first place.

I glanced at the bandages around the leg while Fluttershy was distracted. Due to the nature of my newly discovered electronically supplemented body, I knew the state of my leg under the wrappings. I contemplated adding 'ugly as sin' to my status readout, honestly. The skin was rapidly regenerating and becoming thicker again, but the muscles would take a while to recover. The fancy computer bits in me stated a good three weeks at my current regeneration level. Of course, I also had the option of 'supplementing' the regenerative process with the massive amounts of, well, mass inside me, but I had so far refused. It didn't feel like 'my' mass. It had been forcibly taken from a few billion Keldarians.

"Relax, Fluttershy! You're confident and he's already perfectly stable, right? It's not like you're going to have to worry about anything happening," Fluttershy suddenly muttered, dropping herself roughly back down to her haunches as she shook her head. I smiled again, for real this time, as I saw her ears twitched back and forth nervously. She was always so adorable. Some days it felt like I'd be perfectly content with just watching her little movements forever. Other days, I wanted to bound up and pounce on her, hugging her until she was lulled to sleep. Yet other days...

My eyes drifted away from her tail and I blushed softly. Focus, Mender. Do you really want to do this? I had the sneaking suspicion that this was set up intentionally. Was it possible that Luna knew I was awake the whole time?

Regardless of the truth, I did have an opportunity now, didn't I? After everything that had happened, I hadn't really wanted to talk to Twilight. Especially not the second I 'woke up', as she'd probably pepper me with questions. I was also a little wary after hearing about the Celestia thing.

Fluttershy, however, presented another set of problems. Her link to me and natural empathy made it very difficult to hide things from her. Further, she was likely the last pony I wanted to find out about, well, what I was. Still, just her being here caused me to feel almost compelled to talk to her. Maybe that was what Celestia and Luna wanted?

Fluttershy wobbled a bit, but slowly turned around on the cushion. She managed to keep her balance as she relaxed against the back of the chair, her wings fanning out and stretching with a little shiver. Those lovely teal eyes opened fully as she shifted them. I made my choice, keeping my eyes open as she looked over at me.

Predictably, she froze an instant later. Her eyes slowly widened as I made sure not to meet them directly with my own. If she saw directly into my eyes, who knew what she'd be able to see. Maybe I was a little paranoid, but I heard an expression somewhere saying that the eyes were the 'window to the soul', if I remember correctly. "Hey, Fluttershy. How are you doing?" I asked, feeling both awkward and extremely lame. What exactly was I supposed to say? My voice came out in a raspy whisper anyway due to disuse, I guessed.

A moment later, I realized that I had misjudged her overall reaction almost completely. Her wings flitted out and she hopped the distance between the chair and bed with a gentle gliding motion. I tilted my head as she hit the covers into a stumble, falling forward and lightly falling against my chest. My eyes widened and my cheeks got warm again as she gently squeezed me upon coming to a stop. Oddly, she felt practically weightless against my body, the collision almost non-existent.

"I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried. Please, um, don't do that again! Uh, if you can help it, that is. Not that I'm saying it was your fault!" she rapidly started to request, then backpedal. Well, some things hadn't changed. I smiled and averted my eyes before she could look up, slipping my still functioning right foreleg around her back gently.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Fluttershy. Are you okay?" I asked softly, barely a whisper. Talking left a light stinging sensation in my throat so I kept the volume down.

Fluttershy nodded against my chest before adding, "I'm okay. I was just worried about you. I, um, really, really like you, Mender." She had stiffened when I touched her back, but with a timid glance backwards at my leg, she smiled softly and relaxed against me.

My blush picked up again, but I just rubbed her back a little bit more, continuing to look away. I didn't think there were any outward signs, but I didn't know if Fluttershy would just 'tell' that I wasn't a pony by empathy alone, so I avoided her eyes still. "Um, I'm a little behind on what happened after I lost consciousness. How is everypony else?" I inquired, wondering why I hadn't seen Pinkie yet. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were probably just avoiding me.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I forgot you just woke up and probably have lots of questions!" the timid yellow pegasus squeaked out a moment later, holding a hoof to her mouth while her ears twitched in nervousness again.

How could she forget that I'd just woken up that fast? I contemplated a deadpan look, but she was just too adorable to stay mad at for long. Smiling, I shook my head gently and assured, "It's okay, Fluttershy. I've been awake off and on, and just resting for the most part. I haven't seen Pinkie yet and was worried, was all."

She momentarily looked surprised before smiling again and giving a shy nod. "Pinkie is okay. Well, actually she's going stir crazy, but she's in good health, I mean. She cracked a rib in the explosion because she knocked Applejack out of the way instead of dodging it. She's stuck with bed rest for four days while Zecora's potion heals her," Fluttershy explained quietly, watching me with interest. I didn't even try to fathom how Pinkie could manage to get Applejack out of the way of a point blank explosion and escape with almost no damage. Some things just weren't worth breaking your mind over.

I exhaled and nodded. She was okay. "I'm glad she's all right," I muttered, closing my eyes again and resting back against the pillow. Fluttershy's light form followed me down, resting lightly against my chest as she pulled herself closer.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, why didn't you ask about Rainbow and Applejack? Uh, you don't have to answer if you don't want to!" she asked a moment later before releasing a shiver against me. Her closeness was strange, but entirely welcome. I hadn't expected her to suddenly pounce like that. Normally she didn't get this physical with me.

I shook my head, shifting my gaze down to the mixture of fur between us instead of off to the side. "I figured Applejack and Rainbow were avoiding me after what happened," I explained softly. Actually, I was glad she was this close. I didn't have to put as much effort into exercising my sore throat.

Fluttershy watched me for a moment, her pink mane swaying lightly as she tilted her head, and then nodded. Her eyes were massive and seemed to almost draw mine in. I resisted as best I could, earning a frown. "Well, um, I'm not sure about Dash. Applejack's been, well, she hasn't been doing so great. Most of her time has been split between apple bucking for harvest and taking care of Pinkie as best she can. I tried to talk to her but, um, she only got quiet instead." I listened through the whole thing and sighed weakly afterwards. I was glad she was taking care of Pinkie, but part of me was sad over everything that had happened.

"I'll talk to her today again, I think. Maybe she'll change her mind once she knows you're awake?" she continued a moment later, seeing my hesitation.

I swallowed and nodded. "I wish none of it had happened. Seeing all of that must have been..." I furthered, trailing off as I decidedly couldn't find an adjective to apply to it.

Fluttershy cut me off regardless, surprising me by raising her hoof up gently in front of my face. My eyes snapped to it, then widened as I realized hers were right on the other side of the hoof. She tricked me?

"That's better," she whispered, slowly lowering her hoof as she kept her eyes locked dead center with mine. I froze in place, unable to look away in the slightest. She almost seemed to pull me out of myself with her gaze, the warm teal washing out my surroundings. "You're in a lot of pain, I know. But, um, please. Don't blame yourself, or Applejack. Please? She made a really, really bad mistake and I can tell she is hurting really badly for it. I don't want to see anypony I care about suffer like this," she continued after thoroughly locking me in place.

I shivered and snapped out of it as she finally closed her eyes gently, letting out a soft hum from deep inside herself. Her wings expanded slightly, fluttering out around my leg and relaxing over my shoulder a moment later. "I'm, well, surprised though. I didn't think that... The way you're holding me..." she muttered, sounding unsure of herself. I realized I'd been gently rubbing her back in a small circle. My grip on her had strengthened a little while she was talking, I noticed. My eyes widened. Had I been too rough?!

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy! I didn't realize I'd held you too tight. Um, I'm sorry, " I rapidly apologized, easing up instantly and releasing her back as best I could.

Her wing gently held my foreleg down against her fur, however. "No! I mean, um, please keep this up. I'd always heard that stallions were, well, rough. They’re stronger, which meant they were supposed to be less, um, gentle, I guess?" she explained, tilting her head at me.

I frowned, contemplating pointing out that Applejack could probably break most stallions in half outright with little effort. Still, I had a feeling she was generalizing. "Not that I'm saying you're weak! Oh no. I'm sorry," she murmured a second later when I didn't say anything.

Snickering quietly, I shook my head. "I guess I'm just a little unsure on if I'm in the right or wrong?" I reasoned, frowning slightly myself. It didn't help that neither of us were apparently very gifted in the speaking department.

Fluttershy surprised me yet again by outright blushing. "You're so gentle with me. I was really worried that you'd be rough or insensitive, even if you didn't mean to be. This is, um, really different from what I was expecting, but in a very, very good way," she explained further, settling down against my chest again. Her blush remained, giving her a warm tint as she smiled up at me.

Suddenly, my existential problems seemed a little further away. She didn't see anything in my eyes after all, so maybe, just maybe I could at least pretend to be a normal pony? I smiled finally and shook my head towards her after realizing I was hesitating.

"I'd never be forceful with you, Fluttershy. I care about you a lot and would never hurt you on purpose," I assured. Any time I hurt the feelings of these ponies was definitely accidental.

Her eyes widened slightly, the pink in her cheeks shifting to a light red instead. The smile gracing her features remained, however, as she asked, "Really? I trust you, Mender. No matter what anypony else says, you're a good stallion. I, um, really want to be your fillyfriend too, I think. I'm going to ask Twilight about it tonight." My eyes widened, earning another giggle from her as she watched my shocked reaction. I felt a familiar heat rush into my cheeks and knew I probably mirrored her blush now.

The surprise only magnified as she gently slid forward, brushing a forehoof to each side of my face as she pulled herself upwards. My eyes extended to maximum size as her eyes softly closed, muzzle pressing timidly into mine with the utmost care not to jostle me. I couldn't help it really. My right foreleg pulled her closer against me as I kissed back. The feeling of her body's heat radiating into me mixed with the burst of happiness her empathic link betrayed. The combined effect was enough to bring a new wave of heat to my cheeks, even without the need to realize what exactly was happening. She was kissing me! On the lips!

Seconds passed before she slowly eased up. I let her break away at her own pace, withdrawing a few centimeters but not quite retreating. Her heavier breathing teased my snout as she relaxed against me again with a shiver. "You meant it. You really are gentle, and want me to be at ease," she murmured a moment later, teal eyes opening softly as they re-focused on me. Oh. She felt me through the link, too.

"Yes. I want you to be comfortable, Fluttershy. I..." The thought drew forth hesitation as I swallowed weakly. The shaking sensation drifted into my working forehoof again. I was scared. If she knew what I was, she wouldn't be here. It wasn't me attracting her, but the mask I'd thrown up to trick her. What did that make me, regardless of what I actually was? My eyes closed again and I looked away from her, no longer able to face her gaze. Tricking such an amazing, wonderful mare was shameful at best.

Fluttershy noticed my shaking almost instantly, pulling herself a little closer to me as a result. "Mender, what's wrong? Are you, um, okay?" she inquired timidly, sounding unsure of herself again. I wanted her to be comfortable, but maybe I didn't want her to be comfortable around me?

"Fluttershy, do you think you could wait to ask Twilight about being my fillyfriend? I don't want you to hastily make a decision that, well, you'll end up regretting." Annoyingly enough, I couldn't prevent my voice from shaking as I said it. I swallowed again, feeling myself get antsy. My eyes widened as a flickering image of claws tearing through Twilight's face flashed through my mind. I jumped as it passed, gone an instant later. No! That wasn't Twilight. I wasn't going to do that to my friends!

A moment passed in disorientation before I glanced back at Fluttershy. My surprise spiked when I saw that she was pulling the sheets up over both of us, settling down against my front while I lay on my side still. Despite being careful of my damaged left foreleg, I winced a little as she settled in, pulling the bandaged limb back before giving her a questioning glance. When had she gotten under the covers? I felt out her connection and found it fully intact. I'd lost a couple of seconds, but it was still Fluttershy; she was no imposter.

"I'm, um, staying here, Mender. I'm going to stay with you and help you through this any way I can, uh, if that's okay with you. Um, I really want you to get better!" she confessed, tucking her wings in and gently pressing her muzzle against my chest. I blushed again, my mind not fully processing this new predicament. It kept trying to tell me that Fluttershy was in bed with me and snuggling! Totally ridiculous.

"F-Fluttershy, you don't need to worry about me. I just want you to be happy and, um, I'm not sure if I'd be the best stallion to do that for you. You can still be with Twilight, of course," I assured, wondering if that was the reason she was being so insistent. Hell, if I told them, Twilight probably wouldn't want to be with me like that anyway, which would solve any sort of jealousy issue that might be worrying Fluttershy in the first place. The thought hit me like a bag of apples at high velocity, and I swallowed the lump in my throat again. Why? Why couldn't I just be a normal pony?!

Ultimately, I couldn't see a way out of this. If I kept everything a secret from everypony except those that knew already, I'd be living a lie, forever hiding what I really was behind a mask. They wouldn't love me, but some close resemblance of me instead; one with less flaws. But if I told them, they'd all see me for the abomination I actually was. Was it even possible for them to care about something that was fake? I was a scout, weapon, and key from another dimension that, at the very least, represented a passive threat to everything they held dear. Worst case scenario, I was a ticking time bomb waiting to destroy the universe as they knew it. How does anypony treat 'that' as an individual? How would they really see me as anything but a monstrosity?

The warm lips kissing under each eye snapped me out of it again. Fluttershy kissed lightly, brushing away drops of liquid on my cheeks that I hadn't realized were there to begin with. "Just let it out, Mender. If you feel like talking about everything, I'm, um, here, of course. But you have me now, no matter what you say or do. Twilight too. I can feel it," she spoke softly, sounding surprisingly sure of herself. What did she mean?

"Have you?" I asked softly, opening my eyes again and searching hers for emotions. A big, fancy computer in my head didn't help me figure ponies out any easier, I noticed.

She smiled, expression softening as she relaxed against my pillow again. "No matter what you say and no matter what I say, you let me see who you are. I like what I, um, saw. I don't know why you want me to reconsider but, well, I'm sorry! I won't," she explained, closing her eyes after and wincing, acting as if I'd get mad at her for speaking her mind. I smiled, finding her adorable instead. Confusing, but very adorable.

It lingered on the edge of my tongue. I tasted it; rolled it around in my mouth as my thoughts drifted. Instead, a compromise of sorts came out of me instead. "Even if I was a monster? The scariest monster you can think of?" I asked, my energy draining out with each word forced free of myself. Dash's horrified look flashed through my mind again and I shivered, pushing back the memory again. I already saw her answer.

"If you were a big, scary monster, I'd probably panic for a moment. But you're still you, Mender. The you in here is what makes me feel safe, no matter what you look like," she explained further, resting her forehead on my chest before asking, "I know you'll be, um, gentle and care for me. Why be scared of that?" I paused, trying to fully grasp what she meant.

"Is that what you meant what you said I have you?" I asked, wondering what this meant to her.

She smiled fully and raised her head up again, actually looking somewhat emboldened. Well, emboldened for Fluttershy, anyway. "You're stuck with us. Twilight is smart. Neither of us are going to let you get away now that we know what you're like," she added, blushing afterwards. Her surprising amount of comfort with the declaration surprised me. Of course, she undoubtedly knew I didn't want to get away in the first place, but it was still a new level of trust she gave me. Smiling, I gave her a gentle squeeze. If she was speaking truthfully, which I was inclined to believe, that gave me a bit more hope for the future. Having a pony that cared about me was worlds better than being alone with the cacophony of madness in my skull. Even if I was a monster, I'd tolerate it for Fluttershy.

"Thank you," I muttered into her ear as she let out a pleasant sounding sigh against me.

Her eyes didn't open this time, but she smiled and nodded against me instead. "Rest a bit, Mender. We both need it," she whispered back. I blushed but couldn't make myself deny her request. She seemed to be truly okay with being here. I wanted her. Her warmth felt amazing and I wanted to just squeeze her and snuggle for all of eternity, honestly. It felt so simplistic, carefree, and absolutely amazing. Her wanting even just a drop of that was more than welcome. I decided I wasn't about to say no, anyway.

For the first time since Luna found me, I willingly let myself drift to sleep. This time I wasn't lonely, and had a smile on my face.

“Fluttershy!” sounded out in a distinctly Twilight Sparkle voice in the echoes of my mind. Groggily, my systems restarted and I stirred as I felt the warm, furry body next to me give a violent start of surprise. I felt Fluttershy sit up rapidly and look towards the door of the room. Murmuring in a whisper, I wanted to just bury my face in her nearby tummy and go back to bed. Why was Twilight raising a fuss? Wait, something told me I should know this.

“Ah! Um, hello Twilight! Rarity! Uh, this isn’t what it looks like,” my now fidgeting bed companion excused, making it extremely hard to lull myself back to sleep with her sporadic movements.

There was a low sigh, followed by, “I know you do so enjoy Mender’s company and are obviously considering joining their herd, but you really should get permission before crawling into bed with him as he sleeps.” Rarity spoke calmly, a reasonable counterpart to the other unicorn in the room. Oh yeah, I should probably do something about that accusation.

“Um, but he-“ Fluttershy started to profess, grinding to a halt instantly when I opened my eyes against her and gently raised my head, turning to look at the two newcomers. Both Twilight and Rarity shifted to startled shock almost instantly, but I held my tongue. Rarity was in a simple button vest, undoubtedly to fashionably combat the increased colder temperatures outside. Twilight looked far more frazzled with a bit of her mane misplaced here and there. I’d seen that before when she got stressed out over things. She was halfway through setting aside a scarf and promptly dropped it upon seeing me awake. Both wore a similar wide-eyed, mouth slightly agape expression however.

After half a second of sleepy observation, I shook my head and sighed, looking down at the blankets again. Rarity and I had departed on somewhat awkward terms, and having personally murdered a doppelganger of Twilight no less than forty-eight hours prior, it felt a little awkward looking at her, too. Plus there was the whole 'lying to me' thing again, but sadly, I was getting used to that. A part of me blamed Celestia regardless.

"I gave her permission. She was keeping me company," I elaborated, finally breaking the silence of the room. Rarity recovered first and closed her mouth again.

I saw her form a hesitant smile out of the corner of my vision as she relaxed into a gentle sitting position again. "Well, that certainly makes it all right then. I'm very pleased to see you up, Mender," she agreed politely, letting Fluttershy finally relax against me again. I pushed my forehead into her chest and nodded against her softly, enjoying the feeling of her coat on my face. She squirmed for a moment as if tickled, but settled in and wrapped both forelegs over my shoulders. I wasn't about to start complaining about her newfound cuddly nature, that was for sure.

Twilight hadn't said anything yet, however, so I glanced back over at her. Her gaze was locked onto Fluttershy, blank look adorning her face. She hesitated, noticing my attention a moment later and straightened her pose. "Um, yeah. I'm glad you're awake, too, Mender. Princess Celestia asked to be notified of when you woke up, so I'll run and get her real quick," she informed, turning towards the door again.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Rarity exclaimed, the surprisingly harsh tone giving Fluttershy another spasm and causing me to widen my eyes slightly, shifting my attention over to the rather annoyed looking mare. Twilight froze and winced as if burned, but slowly shifted herself around. "What do you think you're doing? You know what you promised," the pearly unicorn continued a moment later, giving Twilight a harsh glare.

She swallowed nervously and backed away from Rarity's gaze before rapidly shaking her head, "I... I will talk to him about it! Just, well, does it have to be right now?" she pleaded, eyes drooping as she looked away from her friend.

"Yes. I shall go and talk to Princess Celestia instead. You're not backing out of this," Rarity spoke softly, but with a certain air of finality as she walked past the lavender unicorn and headed out the door in a brisk trot.

"Rarity, please!" Twilight called after her, seconds before a light blue aura grabbed the door and pulled it shut right in front of the bookish mare.

Fluttershy looked just as confused as I probably did at the moment as we both watched the proceedings. What was that about? Twilight shivered lightly and slowly rotated around, turning her gaze towards me again an instant later. Half a minute passed in awkward silence before she finally shook her head and sighed. "Um, I'm sorry about all that, Mender. You do really deserve the truth, though," she finally spoke.

A sudden, horrible thought shifted into my mind an instant later, however. Fluttershy and I were alone in the room with her. No, I wasn't going to make the same mistake again. "Wait. What's Rainbow Dash's favorite book series?" I asked coldly, staring at her for any shift in posture at all. My back stirred as I prepared to take her head off in an instant if I had to. I knew this was Fluttershy against me, and nopony was going to hurt her while I was here.

Twilight jumped at my interruption and widened her eyes. The mare against me gave out a squeak at my tone shift and looked at me curiously instead. A moment later, Twilight's distinctly lavender eyes softened and she answered, "Daring Do. I was the one who got her hooked on it." Oh. That was an interesting tidbit of information. I relaxed and nodded, calming my new back muscles again. Twilight liked fiction, too?

"You are you, then. The only ponies she could have possibly copied would be you, Rainbow, and Applejack. Only you're in the room, though, so I had to be sure," I explained softly, feeling Fluttershy tense against me a moment later. Twilight nodded and looked down, brushing her hoof along the ground before finally sitting down.

"Mender... Please don't worry about that anymore. The Princesses are here and have used magic to protect the town," Fluttershy assured, giving me an assuring squeeze.

The lavender mare looked up again as well before nodding. "They're fully shielding us with my brother's help. He's in town as well. I don't think the dimensional shift they used before will work inside of the shield, so you're safe, Mender. I'm really me," she added, walking up and sitting back down right next to my bed. We locked eyes for a moment, and a pang of regret danced across hers a moment later. "I'm sorry, Mender. I should have just told you, but Princess Celestia warned me that your old existence might still be a threat."

I took a moment to process that. It was more vague than I realized, but there was a possibility she was lying to me again. "Why didn't you just say something, Twi?" I asked softly, watching her as my body grew sleepy again.

Her ears flattened down against her head and she looked away again. "I was... It was foolish of me. I was frustrated because I couldn't find anything wrong or detect anything with my magic. But you still kept insisting that there was something there. I didn't want to believe that there was something there that my magic couldn't pick up," she admitted slowly, seemingly considering each word with great care.

"T-Twilight! Um, doesn't that mean we could have prevented this?" Fluttershy asked ahead of me, sounding surprised and oddly, a little upset. I'd never heard Fluttershy really angry over something, so the tone shift was surprising.

"There was a lot I should have done. I know that and I, well, I really screwed up. All I could think of was that Mender was traumatized and simply having flashbacks," she furthered, still refusing to look up at me again.

I closed my eyes softly. Well, it was just a confirmation of everything I'd already suspected had been going through her mind. She seemed to actually treat me better as of late, so I could only guess that this was what she thought before the change of heart. There was no sense in backtracking. I'd kept secrets too, and had a big one now.

"If we're revealing secrets, I should probably let you know that I was in communication with one of my old race, the Keldarians. She was a research and development specialist called Keela," I revealed, resting my head back down on the pillow.

Twilight's eyes shot open an instant later and she looked back up at me, startled. "Why were you-?" she started to ask before I raised my right forehoof to halt her.

"I was working with her to get rid of the link forever. We found out what was causing it and were well on the way to making sure it never bothered us again," I added, curbing her question before she could ask.

Her reaction surprised me however as her ears flattened back and she looked away. "Mender, why didn't you ask me to help you? I could have helped to get rid of the link, and this might not have happened," she asked softly.

"Twilight..." Fluttershy muttered, but I shook my head. She really wanted to know. She probably knew already and just wanted somepony to say it. Fine, then.

"You thought I was insane. Telling you wouldn't have done anything," I pointed out, possibly a little colder than I had intended.

The lavender mare winced and lowered herself a little more, partially sinking below the level of the bed where I couldn't see her. Silence dominated, and the gentle forelegs quietly pulled me closer again from behind now, me having rotated around to face Twilight. Almost a full minute passed in dead quiet before a light sniffling noise sounded out. What? Finally, the lavender mare lifted her head back up again.

"I know. I knew that before, and deserve everything you want to say about me. It's probably too late, but I'm sorry, Mender. I really am," Twilight apologized softly. Tears ran freely down her cheeks now, and she looked away, wiping at them with her left forehoof. I'd never seen Twilight cry before. The anger bit back at myself and I suddenly realized I might have been too harsh on her.

Sighing, I shook my head and reached out with my right foreleg, hooking her left one and pulling it away from her cheek as she brushed her fur. Her eyes widened and she looked back at me as I wiped it off myself. "I'm sad that you don't trust me, yes, but I'm not going to stay mad forever, Twilight. Don't be so hard on yourself. I don't think any of us saw this coming; not even Keela," I spoke, trying to calm her down. It was partially my fault, too, regardless. I had given too much information to Keela, not even considering the lab might have been bugged.

"That wasn't Keela that pretended to be Twilight?" Fluttershy asked softly against my neck, causing me to smile lightly as her breath tickled my fur.

After regaining my composure, I shook my head and returned, "No. That was her older, and now revealed to be sociopathic, sister. Her name's Nirru. She tricked Keela into helping her get here to 'talk' to me." There was no point in lying about it anymore.

Twilight's eyes narrowed as she watched me again, definitely looking irritated this time. I was confused until she asked, "Is it true then? Applejack said that you'd told her she tried to seduce you."

"She what?!" Fluttershy squeaked out, sitting up again and looking over me, at her friend. I couldn't see her expression, but I felt the surprise drift through the link. She hadn't known about that, then?

I nodded regardless. "Yeah. She wanted to mate with me to get at the Keldarian DNA inside of myself. That's why she made herself look like you, Twilight," I confirmed. The lavender mare blushed, surprisingly enough, and looked away.

"But we haven't even done anything like that yet! Did she really think-" Twilight tried to protest. This, I'd seen coming, however.

"That's what made me catch on to her so fast. She only got me upstairs before I started getting suspicious. She did manage to, well, kiss me once. I caught on after that," I admitted, wincing as I closed my eyes and looked away from Twilight.

There was a long pause before she let out a quiet sigh. Fluttershy's forehooves massaged into my shoulder before she leaned down and gently nuzzled the side of my head with her snout. "Mender, it's okay," she assured from above me, giving me a gentle shoulder rub.

I opened my eyes in time to see Twilight lean forward and gently kiss me on the nose. It surprised me, and also tickled a little. Both mares giggled as I crossed my eyes to stare at my nose, wiggling it around a little to hold back the sneeze.

"Please give me another chance, Mender. I'm an open book now. Even if Princess Celestia tells me to, I'm not going to lie or hide anything from you anymore," she promised, actually surprising me with that one.

I stared at her, undoubtedly looking shocked as I searched her eyes for feeling. She locked eyes again and confidently nodded before slipping into a familiar motion. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," she recited, gently pressing her right hoof up against her closed eyelid to finalize it.

Fluttershy stiffened but nodded vigorously a moment later. "Um, me too! I promise that I'm not going to be afraid of you anymore. There's no reason to be," she added, also tying herself to the surprisingly solemn promise. For such a nonsensical pledge, it certainly held a lot of meaning here. Still... The image of an enraged Pinkie Pie flashed through my mind and I shuddered. Okay, maybe there was merit to not wanting to break a Pinkie Promise.

"Do you mean that, Twilight?" came from the doorway in a familiar, soft voice. Twilight went rigid, eyes widening in shock as Princess Celestia herself walked in through the doorway, two guards and Rarity trailing closely behind her. Fluttershy squeaked immediately and pulled herself up into a bowing motion on the bed next to me. I didn't quite know what to do myself. Twilight rapidly spun around and bowed as well. In my current position, I couldn't flex enough to bow in the first place with my hurt ribs. Still, she had told me to treat her like a normal pony, so maybe I should? Did she honestly deserve my allegiance, of course? She had saved me once, but only to lie to me and set Twilight and me against each other. At this point, I had no idea what her intentions ultimately were. Going with that, I decided to just watch.

"W-What do you mean, Princess?" Twilight hesitantly asked, looking back up at her mentor a moment later. Celestia gestured to rise, and everypony in the room minus me did so immediately.

Celestia smiled down at the unicorn before sitting down as well. "If I asked you specifically to keep something from Mender, or to watch him and report findings to me without his knowledge, would you?" she asked outright, eyes locked onto Twilight intently. I raised an eyebrow but stayed silent, unsure of what she was hoping to accomplish. Regardless, she didn't once direct her attention to Fluttershy or me.

Admittedly, I'd never seen the lavender mare so flustered. She shivered, and then surprised me by looking over her shoulder at me instead. I looked back without much energy, keeping my expression as neutral as my insides felt. If she wanted to save face in front of her teacher, I wasn't about to stand in her way. She swallowed, and then rotated back around to look at Celestia.

"Um... I'm sorry, Princess. I wouldn't. You'd need to find somepony else," Twilight muttered finally, causing my eyes to widen. Fluttershy murmured lightly to my left, holding a hoof up to her muzzle as she watched the scene unfold. Rarity looked far less surprised behind the Princess, however, a soft smile forming on her expression.

The tension hung on the air for a long ten seconds as Celestia stared down at the sunken Twilight Sparkle, gaze almost burning through her in intensity. I exhaled softly, opening my mouth to finally interrupt; to say anything that might spare Twilight any further pain. Celestia giggled first, however, cracking into a smile and nodding, snapping the room back to life with just that simple motion and sound.

"I'm pleased, Twilight. I have no desire, nor need to have anypony spy on Mender anymore, anyway. Regardless, I'm pleased that your feelings on the issue have drastically changed, and you now trust him," the Princess assured after everypony relaxed.

Twilight smiled softly and looked back up at Celestia, but the white alicorn had already looked past her and up at me instead. "Good afternoon, Mender. It's been a while since we've gotten to talk," she spoke gently, gesturing with her hoof as she did so.

Pleasantly surprised would be an understatement at that point. I formed a light smile and nodded to her as well. "Good afternoon, Tia. How are you doing?" I asked politely, a bit of amusement being sparked by the sudden memory of my ill-considered lunch date with her.

Rarity gasped immediately, eyes bulging out, but 'Tia' just laughed, nodding to me as well. "You remembered! I'm quite pleased that you've decided to treat me like a normal pony. I do have quite a bit to talk to you about, of course. I'd like to believe that you're about the only pony that knows what happened a couple nights ago," she reasoned, probably fairly accurately. Everypony here had a piece or two about the night, and I'm sure she'd already talked to Dash and Applejack, but I did have not only pieces that nopony did, but the entire picture. However...

"Didn't Luna give you the full report?" I questioned, watching her carefully. She had to have at this point. But Luna herself said that Celestia had warned her about me ahead of time. Had she even needed the Moon Princess' report?

As expected, Celestia smiled towards me and nodded. The gesture was fleeting; barely a shift in posture and eye position as she watched me, but I saw it. She knew, indeed. "Yes, she did. I'll only ask a couple of questions, as you're undoubtedly tired," she returned a moment after. Questions?

"Firstly, I'm told that you know specifically of the individual responsible for the violence. Only you have the information on her, however. May you share it?" she asked carefully, after seeming to consider it for a moment.

Oh. She was intentionally avoiding asking questions about me. So far, anyway. "Her name's Nirru. She's the older, considerably more psychotic sister of Keela, the Keldarian I've been in contact with," I explained simply, trying to be as thorough in answering as I could. She had me in a bad position, knowing what she did, so staying on her good side would definitely help in the long run.

Celestia nodded pleasantly, seemingly amused by something for a moment before continuing with, "I assume you were attempting to work with the Keldarian for a reason as well. I'd hazard a guess as to wanting to remove the link you still have?" Another simple question. Oddly, I kept waiting for the punch line. The question that would cause everypony in the room to suddenly hate me.

"Yes. The link is connected to a book in their dimension. Her plans, before the incident, were to send the book here, thus severing the link forever," I elaborated, technically not giving much 'new' information on top of what she already had suggested. Twilight looked curious for a moment, but continued watching me from the side, shifting her attention between Celestia and myself. Fluttershy relaxed openly again, slumping before resting against my side in a lying position. Rarity still looked momentarily flustered, but I saw the interest starting to build again in her eyes as she sat next to the Princess instead.

"I see. This is admirable; seeking aid yourself when you couldn't elsewhere. I approve, even though it turned out poorly. This was not Keela's fault, however, I'm guessing. What do you know of the creature that attacked Nirru in the forest?" she asked next, causing my heart to skip a beat. I stared at her, a bit of uneasiness settling into my chest as everypony shifted their attention back to me. She hadn't connected me to it. But she knew I'd know almost everything about it at the same time. Clever. But how much should I tell her?

"Mender, um, are you okay?" Fluttershy whispered softly, brushing her wing up along my side in assurance as she rested there. I looked back over and smiled weakly at her, feeling tired suddenly. No matter what, I couldn't shake the exhausted sensation. It felt like my body was a shell; some sort of hollow moving statue pretending to be a pony. Pretending. I looked back at Celestia and noticed she was watching me with a more solemn expression, looking a little sad instead.

"No, he's not, Fluttershy. My sister reported he was gravely injured, undoubtedly receiving some of the wounds from the creature itself. I apologize, of course. It can't be a pleasant memory," Tia interrupted quietly, not breaking eye contact. A lie? No, technically the 'creature' had injured me. The very knowledge of its existence hurt more than I could ever realize.

I nodded softly before finally replying. "It was a little larger than a full size stallion; vaguely pony-shaped but with layered, chitinous armor. It didn't have a coat, but the armor was dark gray in color. It seemed to have a wire-like mane that twisted and lurched of its own volition. Its eyes were glowing blue, and eight elongated tentacles with various bladed parts extended off its back," I described carefully, staying vague. Fluttershy had brought up both forehooves to her mouth by the time I was done and timidly watched me with her eyes shivering. I could tell she was scared, and hardly blamed her. Rarity looked more horrified and disgusted than scared, reminding me of Rainbow's reaction to actually seeing me. The image flashed through my mind again and I winced, quickly looking away. Twilight seemed more curious than disgusted, however.

"Did you manage to see its hooves or the tentacle weaponry? Did any of them have a curved, scythe-like blade shape?" Twilight asked me almost instantly, looking absolutely fascinated. Well, at least I wouldn't need to worry about her running away from me in a panic. Instead, I only had to be concerned that she might dissect me while I was still alive.

"Its hoof claws matched your diagrams exactly, Twilight," Celestia answered instead, shifting her attention to the now excited looking unicorn.

"Yes! I was right in the measurements then! But wait, how could a creature like that evolve so quickly and spontaneously? It's almost like it evolved from a pony by the description, but unless serious magic is involved, that shouldn't be possible. There's no way that could happen naturally!" Twilight continued, starting to shift her exceedingly sharp mind in the exact opposite direction I'd hoped she'd go in. Damn it. If she started asking questions like that, I had a sneaking suspicion that the clever unicorn might just uncover my secret on her own.

Celestia shook her head, however, still smiling. "It matters little, my student. My sister dealt with the creature, and you don't need to worry about it any longer," she assured gently, not breaking her expression even for a moment. Suddenly, I kind of wondered what she'd be like playing cards. 'Poker' had been popular in the barracks, if I recalled correctly. I had a feeling she could win with a hand comprised entirely of Uno cards instead. I made the mental note to inquire later if those two games existed here as well. If they did, I was going to be seriously creeped out!

Twilight looked less than pleased with the answer, but gently nodded to her teacher. That probably meant I'd be blasted with questions later, instead.

"Excuse me, but now that the patient is awake, I need to go over a few things with him and get his medicine set up," I heard called out from the hallway a moment later, in a familiar sounding mare's voice. Oh! I hadn't told any of the medical staff that I was awake. Oops.

Nurse Redheart slowly walked in seconds later, giving a gentle bow to Celestia before turning to me instead. Seeing her in this room again brought back memories of my first hospital visit in Equestria. Not that it was all that long ago.

"I'd like to go over the details of your chart and get you some food. Can I have a moment of privacy with him?" the nurse requested politely. I was a little uneasy, but felt secure in my ability to defend myself if needed at this point. Besides, if she wasn't really Nurse Redheart, I'm sure Tia would have picked up on it immediately.

"Oh, of course. I'll drop by tomorrow after you've rested up more, Mender. I have to go check on the reconstruction project at the library," Celestia excused, nodding to me with a smile. Reconstruction? Oh. Oh yeah, the FTL reaction.

"Thanks. I am getting rather tired," I agreed, taking note of the sleepiness again. Regrowing your leg must take a lot of energy.

"Um, can I come back afterwards?" Fluttershy asked politely, standing up on the mattress next to me.

Twilight perked up and nodded along, adding, "Me too." Nurse Redheart glanced between them before snickering and turning to me instead.

"Do you mind if your herd stays with you after visitation time?" she asked pleasantly. My cheeks warmed a little bit, but nowhere near as badly as Fluttershy's. Twilight's smile widened, much to my surprise.

I shook my head regardless. "No, they can come back in." It was a little strange how everypony just assumed after the rumors had circulated. Although, oddly enough, neither mare involved denied it. Maybe rumors had a way of becoming real after a while? Of course, I doubt the rumors had much to do with it beyond simply making it easier to go with the flow.

I snapped out of it a moment later, only to see the tip of Fluttershy's tail as it left. Shifting my attention back to Nurse Redheart, I saw she wore a gentle smile as she set a clipboard down on my bedside table from her side pouch. "All right then. I just want to inform you of the status of your health, and then talk to you about what we're going to do next to get you back on your hooves!" she exclaimed in an extremely cheerful manner.

"Aww. I missed you too," I joked, smiling softly at her. She momentarily looked surprised before bursting into laughter. I followed soon after, probably earning a few questioning stares from the mares in the other room, but I hardly cared. After everything that I'd been through in the last few days, I didn't really care about a whole lot, I discovered. Did that make me happy or sad?

"Yes, Mender. You know you can visit me without putting yourself in the hospital, though, right?" she pointed out, snickering as she poked me in the shoulder with her hoof.

I simply stuck my tongue out, earning another grin before she peeked back at my chart. "Besides, after you hear all this, you get treated to hospital food and medication for desert. Isn't that awesome?" she offered, smirking at my elongated groan. Well, at least I got my wish. If you could call it such, spending days in the hospital was about as 'normal' as I could seem to manage. Some days, I really hated my life...

"Stop flirting with my coltfriend!" Twilight suddenly shouted from the other room. Nurse Redheart paused for a moment in surprise before bursting into even more laughter.

Chapter 30

Yawning, I idly flipped another page, further expanding my understanding of Equestrian culture and customs. Since Twilight gave me the book yesterday, I had spent a vast amount of time reading it. Now, every chapter except for one was finished. I had skipped chapter nine, but finally doubled back to read it after finishing the book and instilling a bit more courage into myself.

Herds. Apparently it was a time honored tradition dating all the way back to the 'foraging' days of Equestrian society. Of course, back then it was also used for protection and according to most researchers, the herds were significantly larger in size. Nowadays, a herd was formed almost exactly like a marriage in most cases, with a few more obvious technical differences. The most obvious apparently being involvement with more than two ponies. In Equestria's example, the legal limit was five individuals unless special permission was granted by either royalty or the courts for extraordinary circumstances. The book stated that, realistically, herds of three or four individuals were much more frequent, unless the herd contained multiple members of both sexes.

It wasn't absorbing very well, honestly. I could get the technicalities easily enough, but application was drawing a huge blank in my mind. It wasn't the multiple mates aspect. I'd dealt with that before in my prior world. It definitely wasn't the practical applications. The skewed gender ratio here certainly justified alternative arrangements. No, I think what bothered me the most was that most herds were primarily mares. I just didn't get it. It wasn't that I couldn't see what was in front of me, but it was as if I couldn't believe it instead.

This caused me to question myself further, of course. Lowering the book slightly, I glanced over at the gorgeous yellow mare that was spread out on the blankets beside me. Her eyes were closed as she lay on her side. Her wings would twitch on occasion, as did her legs as she made little stepping motions in her sleep. I smiled, watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest, tracing the pleasant smile she wore with my eyes. She was beautiful.

I closed my eyes, feeling the miasma of emotions flooding through me. What did I honestly do to deserve her? I wasn't a real pony. I wasn't a real anything, really. Was the care and affection I felt for her real even if I wasn't? Cares and wants slipped off my hooves like sand as I desperately tried to grab onto anything that could justify my existence. I was a murderer. No, that was too simple. I'd effectively committed genocide; our race was all but doomed thanks to what I directly did. Can anything justify me being happy at this point?

Suddenly, it didn't feel like the universe was cruel enough to me. Fluttershy was far too kind, especially. Of course, that was her in a nutshell. Hell, it was even in her title. Beyond feeding her animals and checking up on Pinkie every day since I woke up, she had spent the entirety of her time right where she was now. Not only did I feel extremely guilty that I was eating up so much of her time, I was also completely baffled by her sudden change of heart. At first it felt like she was forcing herself to, but she'd always insist something about me being gentle, and that it was surprising to her, and then she'd get unbelievably cuddly. I wasn't complaining, exactly, but I did feel badly that she hadn't done much of anything besides that. I guess the most surprising aspect of all was the sheer level of her emotional and physical hunger. She acted almost desperate for cuddles, hugs, and, surprisingly enough, kisses. Nothing deep or long, but she was definitely kissing me on the mouth now.

I stared in wonder at her as she slept. Truly, what had I done to deserve such an amazing mare, when in theory, I should have exactly the opposite. Fluttershy sneezed in her sleep, murmuring in mild dislike about something before pulling herself closer, shivering. It was a little chilly in the room. Smiling at her, I gently slid my covers down, bracing against the encroaching cold air before sliding it out from under her. She sighed, a soft and pleasing noise as she pressed herself up against my side and I covered her in the blanket. Whether she was awake or not hardly mattered as she soon returned to her rhythmic snoozing, this time at a much closer distance.

Deciding not to fight it anymore, I chuckled to myself and set the book down on my bedside table, slipping my lavender bookmark into my spot before rotating to face Fluttershy directly. Her smile widened as I wrapped my right foreleg around her and gave her a gentle squeeze, closing my eyes. I felt my eyelids give in to the weight pressing down on them. A nap sounded really good, I decided. It would probably be around supper when we woke up, and that meant Twilight would be visiting after the library's public hours had ended. I looked forward to seeing my fillyfriend, which both did and didn't surprise me. Maybe things were looking up? It was hard for them to look down at this point, of course. Oh wait, I could think of a few ways...

Snickering to myself, I let my thoughts drift away from the monster that I was and onto happier things, snoozing against the pegasus I shared my covers with.

Twilight lightly set the bag down, then smiled at Fluttershy as she looked up again. I paid little heed as I peeked inside of the bag, lifting the flap up with my right foreleg. More books were inside numbering at a half dozen or more, including the first book in the Daring Do series. I smiled at the goodies.

"I brought the cultural basics books, as well as the stuff you requested on enchantment theory and energy dynamics," Twilight finally relayed, shifting her happy smile in my direction instead. My ears perked and I nodded to her, rather excited to have more reading material. Lying in bed for hours at a time was exceedingly boring, even with solitaire and minesweeper to keep me company.

Fluttershy stretched out under the covers, yawning sleepily as she peeked out at Twilight a moment later. "Oh, um, hello, Twilight. How was your day since this morning?" she asked timidly, as if afraid of getting chastised for being where she was. You'd think she'd learn after the third time of being walked in on and nothing bad happening.

"Quite well, Fluttershy! The library was surprisingly busy today. I actually had to be a librarian for a while! Unsurprisingly, all our public books on the Everfree forest are now rented out. It's silly, really. I'm all for public understanding, but learning about a risky area after something has already happened is a bit too late," she muttered, hopping up onto the bed and flopping over against my covered legs. Thankfully the snapped bone had healed already thanks to my regeneration, or that probably would have sucked.

"It's still good that they're concerned. I'd don't want to see anypony hurt in the forest," Fluttershy spoke up, voice growing a little in strength as she got adjusted again. I noticed that she was always just a little awkward after she woke up, but gradually got better afterwards. I'd also noticed that the time it took her to 'recover' her comfort zone was gradually decreasing. I didn't understand it, but I was happy with the results, honestly.

"The repairs must be going smoothly, then," I reasoned, honestly surprised that Twilight opened the library back up so soon after what happened. She had some serious dedication going.

"They're done with the ground floor but the second story still needs a lot of work. Spike and I are still staying with Rarity in the meantime," she returned, smirk shifting to a knowing one instead.

I chuckled, mentally picturing the little guy jumping for joy at that turn of events. "I'm guessing you didn't have to twist his arm?"

Twilight snorted and rolled her eyes while Fluttershy let out a little giggle. "Please. He's like a little Casanova. I'd swear I caught Rarity flirting back a couple of times, too," she muttered, scrunching her eyebrows down a little in a look of hesitant amusement.

"It's good though. It distracts him, doesn't it? All of my animals are so scared and admittedly, I'm worried myself being that close to the forest," Fluttershy murmured. Idly, I wondered if that was the cause of her sleeping here all the time.

"We're safe in Ponyville, Fluttershy. My brother has a shield over the entire town, including your cottage. Plus, Princess Celestia has garrisoned guards here to patrol until the scouts finish combing the forest," Twilight assured. My hoof drew to a stop as I felt a shiver go through my torso. No, it was an isolated incident. Of course, I couldn't just tell her that. With a nudge of willpower, I stopped my leg from shaking and pushed away the memories of that night again. Rainbow's look of unadulterated horror was the hardest to drive away, reminding me that I was the monster they were worried about.

“We’re lucky your brother was still in Canterlot and not in the Crystal Empire,” Fluttershy murmured, even though Twilight was locked onto me instead. Oh crap. Had she noticed that? Being an extremely skilled magic user and scientist, Twilight was nothing if not observant. I saw her at the top of my vision, expression slowly shifting to a frown as she watched me carefully. I didn't say anything, but guessed the damage had already been done.

She hesitated, glancing slightly towards Fluttershy before explaining, “My brother’s the acting guard captain in Canterlot until the new one is trained and they finish moving all of their stuff to the Crystal Palace. He would have come regardless however because Princess Celestia asked him to raise the shield…”

Fluttershy noticed her locked attention and shifted her head back towards me instead, however. I’d figured Twilight wouldn’t let it go. "Mender, I would like to talk to you. You've been distant the day and a half since you woke up. Please, tell me what's wrong. I care about you," she requested a moment later, causing me to release the breath I'd been holding, hoping she wouldn't say anything.

Fluttershy stopped fidgeting with the nearby food tray the nurse had left, and looked over to me instead. I shook my head, however, still not looking up. "I'm just a little shaken up still. I don't think I've really, um, processed everything that happened that night," I excused, cringing with a visual tick as I stumbled over my own choice of wording. 'Processed' would probably never be the same now. The thought left me surprisingly empty feeling as I stared blankly at the bag.

"Then, um, if it's not too painful, tell us Mender. Twilight's your fillyfriend and I'd like to be too so, well, we care about you and want to help!" Fluttershy added, slipping into a sitting position and leaning closer to me, supporting herself on her front hooves as her eyes softened.

Twilight looked momentarily surprised at her interjection, but smiled and nodded to her a moment later. I shifted my vision between the two as they both expectantly stared at me, teaming up again. Ugh. How was I supposed to defend myself against being flanked by both of the beautiful mares? My ears lowered backwards and I felt myself blush under their intensely-focused gazes. Twilight twitched in my peripheral vision, but I didn't react in time.

Her hoof snapped up and lifted my chin an instant later before I could react. My eyes widened as they locked firmly onto both of hers as she shifted less than half a meter away from me. "Please, Mender. Look at us again. You don't need to be afraid of us. We're both really us. My brother's shield magic will stop any invasion attempts and he can do so for an extremely long period of time, so you're perfectly safe," she whispered, voice no longer needing projection as she closed even closer. Was she... ?

Fluttershy widened her eyes and openly blushed as Twilight gently kissed me, firmly ruining my carefully laid out response to her last point. My mind momentarily blanked as I felt her push me lightly backwards into my propped up pillows, her hoof running soothingly down my chest as she smiled into the kiss. There was no insistence or rushing; the kiss was a passion-filled one with an almost shy uptake as she tenderly slipped both forelegs around my neck. Both of us let out a squeak, however, a moment later when a rather abrupt wing movement smacked into the side of my head. There was no force behind it, but I glanced to the left in confusion, shifting my viewpoint past the yellow-feathered cluster.

Fluttershy held both hooves up to her mouth as she stared at us in a mixture of surprise and extreme guilt, her cheeks a deep crimson color. I saw her muscles twitch as she tried to pull the wing down and away from us to no avail. Smiling as I realized what happened, I gently raised my right foreleg and held her stiffly extended wing against my chest. She gasped, eyes widening further but her muscles froze in place instead. I saw her almost cringe at the touch but she fought it adamantly as her eyes locked onto my foreleg.

Twilight smiled and nodded softly to her, resting her right forehoof gently on Fluttershy's buckled-up leg as I softly massaged her wing, lightly feeling along the muscles in it as they shivered. Fluttershy's eyes softened gradually as she exhaled, watching my movement still but relaxing a little. "I think I see what you're doing now. You're staying near Mender on purpose, aren't you, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked her friend, earning a raised eyebrow from me. Admittedly, I was curious as to her newfound affection and fondness, but I hadn't pressed my luck and asked about it.

I continued gently rubbing her wings, causing her to release a soft murmur as her eyes lidded. Her wing muscles must be really sensitive if she could feel every little shift I did. "I... Yes. Rarity suggested it. She called it conditioning, I think," Fluttershy finally answered, extending her wing out instead of fighting against it and letting me have the whole thing. I went with the flow and started massaging closer to the base, causing her blush to deepen. Twilight rose an eyebrow to me, but I just shrugged. If this got Fluttershy to relax and trust that I wasn't going to hurt her, I certainly wasn't going to stop. Plus, a little part of me was happy to make her feel good. It went a long way towards me forgiving myself a little bit, I decided.

"The anxiety over the dreams. Rarity told you to stay near Mender as often as you could to condition yourself into realizing he's safe, then?" the lavender unicorn inquired a moment later, shifting her attention back to Fluttershy.

The now relaxing mare nodded slowly, adding, "He, um, surprised me. Every stallion I've met for the most part has been... Well, they've been really mean and rough with me. I guess I thought that was just how stallions are." She whimpered lightly after her admission, shivering as I gave her upper wing muscles another gentle massage. They were tense still, but far more relaxed than when I started.

Twilight's expression gently softened as she smiled again. "Mender's the gentlest stallion I know. He'd never intentionally hurt you, Fluttershy. I'm glad you're realizing that now." The yellow pegasus smiled as well, finally lowering her hooves and just letting her blush radiate from her cheeks. I snickered at how adorable she was and gave the top of her wing a gentle peck. The reaction surprised me as she inhaled sharply, and then slowly let it out in a whistling, airy squeak. Her entire upper body shivered as I watched her flight muscles along her back spasm a little. Wow. This kind of sensitivity struck me as actually kind of detrimental to their ability to fly. Wouldn't moderate winds kind of hurt if they could feel all of this?

Twilight burst into giggles, looking at my dumbfounded expression. "I can see you don't realize it. I told you the wing reaction was a secondary reaction, didn't I? Well, I did kind of forget to mention that it's also an erogenous zone with all of the nerve bundles in there," Twilight pointed out.

Oh. Oh hell. That meant that I was just... My eyes widened as the heat rushed into my cheeks unimpeded. "Oh no! I'm sorry, Fluttershy! I didn't realize that, uh," I rapidly started to apologize, trying to salvage what I could of the situation.

Fluttershy looked more spaced out than upset, however, and slowly shook her head while smiling over at me. Her cheeks still kept up their flushed appearance, but it was in a more relaxed way now. "No, Mender. You didn't do it intentionally and were only trying to make me feel better. Thank you. Mmm, you're so nice," she muttered before slumping against my shoulder and giving me a soft nuzzle. Well, that certainly didn't help my blush any.

"I agree. You didn't know and your intentions were purely good-natured. You are a nice stallion," Twilight agreed, flopping slightly more abruptly against my other shoulder instead. I swallowed, feeling them pressed into both sides of me. No, I'd probably never stand a chance when they teamed up like this, no matter what we were doing. Still, this gave me a bit of hope for the future. Just a little.

"I just don't know what's going to happen anymore. Well, not that I knew usually before all of this. Not having much control in anything is so frustrating sometimes, you know?" I finally admitted, staring up at the ceiling as I rested back against the pillow mountain and two warm bodies against me.

"I know something happened to you. Whenever you get comfortable with it, you know you can talk to us," Twilight assured quietly as she rested her horn on my shoulder. I assumed she meant something more than the obvious of what happened to me. She'd relayed the horror story of finding my torn apart leg already. Thankfully Applejack had been kind enough to warn her about it beforehand. Now I just wished one of the two wayward mares would visit me. Pinkie at least had a reason she was absent, although that would change by this time tomorrow, I heard.

"Would you still like me if I looked scary, Twi? Like, the scariest monster you could imagine?" I asked carefully a moment later. Testing the waters might be a good idea. I couldn't keep lying to all the ponies I cared about. It would tear me apart inside.

Fluttershy looked up slightly faster, to my surprise, asking, "Didn't you ask me that yesterday?"

Twilight had perked at that point and raised her head as well, giving me a questioning glance. I swallowed, but she closed her eyes and frowned to herself before shaking her head. "No. You said if you 'looked' scary. That means that you're still you and only look different. If that was the case, there'd be no reason to be afraid of you," she reasoned, saying roughly the same thing Fluttershy had yesterday, albeit in a slightly more structured manner. Fluttershy smiled over me and nodded to Twilight, seemingly pleased with her choice of wording and answer. I closed my eyes and rested against my pillows, considering the odds.

They were all I had, really. If I couldn't trust these two, I couldn't trust anypony. With that laid out, I decided they had to be telling the truth. I exhaled softly as both rested back into me, quietly. I had expected more questions and was more than a little surprised by Twilight's passive behavior. For some reason, I suspected Rarity's involvement in the change of demeanor. Adding to what she said to Celestia yesterday and it left me with a rapidly changing opinion of my first fillyfriend. Er, technically only fillyfriend still, although Fluttershy seemed rather adamant on joining as well. For some reason, I didn't really consider her officially joined yet, however. Maybe that was because Twilight was yet to say anything to me on the issue, for or against it. Ultimately, as much as I liked having my own opinion and choices, I noticed I defaulted to her approval and control in almost everything. It felt more 'comfortable' to me, for some reason. I resigned myself to my fate at this point.

I opened my eyes again, cracking my mouth to ask if Twilight had considered the proposition since. My question was halted before it began, however, as I saw Twilight's eyes gently closed, her breathing having deepened and become passive and regular. A glance to my left showed that Fluttershy had also fallen back asleep. Well, this was unexpected. Although I began to wonder about Fluttershy a bit. Sure, she brought books and talked to me a lot, but she also spent a lot of her time snoozing around or against me while she was here. I was beginning to suspect that she wasn't sleeping very well at night.

Regardless, I decided to let the two mares rest and slowly closed my eyes, leaning back again and slipping into a gentle snooze myself.

My arms ached with dull agony as I let them hang from the rusted, blood spotted manacles chained to the wall. My only company had been the metallic clinking in my ear for hours. Days, even. I hated them. All of them. All sense of time fell away, leaving me with nothing but an eternity of pain and suffering in which to consider just how much I hated them.

Jovan had died right in front of me some time ago. He begged for his father for over an hour before his mind fell apart in fever-induced hallucinations. He was the sixth of my old squad to die like this. At least he didn't go out screaming into my face about how much he hated me. That had disappointed her. She eventually got bored and pulled out his drug-warped heart and tossed it onto the growing pile at my feet. I couldn't even manage to cry anymore out of the one eye I had left.

"So, do you think you've learned your lesson for what you did to my sister?" was whispered into my ear an indeterminate amount of time later. Her voice haunted my sleeping and conscious hours. I didn't even turn to acknowledge her, eyes locked instead on the carcass in front of me.

She unhooked the body, kicking it off the rack and throwing another struggling male into place, ignoring the mess that the thing was. It was absolutely coated with dried vital fluids at that point. I kinda wished she'd tear my nose off next.

"P-Please! Don't do this. You promised me that you'd let me see my son one last time! You promised!" the older looking Keldarian soldier reminded after she tore off his gag.

A cruel giggle. "Of course. I'm a female of my word, don't forget. He was a bitch to find, mind you," she muttered before tearing open the other bag she was carrying and dumping its contents on the floor.

The mess only vaguely resembled a Keldarian at that point, but she had left most of the face intact. Considering the steam drifting off him in the chilled dungeon air, I'd say he'd only been dead for a few minutes at best, which made the state he was in have quite a bit of unfortunate implications. I shuddered silently, feeling eternally empty.

"No. No..." Kevilin muttered, staring down at the remains, starting to shake. She was the biggest monster of all, so perfectly embodying everything I hated about Keldarians.

She laughed, of course. "I gave you exactly what you asked for. Consider it a mercy compared to him," she pointed out, gesturing towards the mess on the floor. "He died knowing that his loving father sold him out. Did you know he screamed out how much he hated you just before he died? It was touching."

Kevilin fell apart into roaring raging for what felt like hours. I drifted, my numb mind only occasionally hearing how it was all my fault and I didn't even deserve Hell. She just kept laughing as she pulled him apart like a wet doll. My claws dug into my own palms, shaking, as his heart was added to the pile.

My eyes opened as a jolt went through my system. There was a distinct echo going through my skull, the reverberating sounds of the rattling chains as it bounced around inside of my head. A cold sweat clung to my body, matting my fur down and making the blanket feel clammy and wet. I shivered and stared blankly up at the ceiling, slowing my racing heart down. Those memories were from a long time ago. They happened to somepony else, not me. I repeatedly told that to myself, despite how real they felt. I wasn't there. I was in Equestria now.

Slowly, I rotated and peeked towards my curtains, wondering where all the light was coming from. What time was it? How long had I slept? It wasn’t a surprise to see my two companions gone at this point. My eyes widened a moment later as I saw that the curtains were partially open. No, I had closed them when I went to bed! A rapid glance around the room picked up nothing out of place that I could see. I frowned. I wasn't in my old room. That I'd found out yesterday from Nurse Redheart. This room was room 203, up on the second floor. It wouldn't be easy for somepony to use the window to get in with all the guards patrolling the hospital grounds, and my door was warded by Twilight herself.

Taking a risk, my scanners activated, bathing the room in the cool blue light coming from my eyes as I glanced around. Measurements were taken on the fly. Nothing had been changed since I had gone to sleep, however. Weird.

A little creeped out now, I rotated back around to get comfortable on my side instead, facing the window. I was halfway through the rotation, however, when something bumped into my chest under the covers. I froze, feeling the rather cold lumps moving against my stomach. Five seconds passed, and no movement was detected from them. Finally, I lifted the blanket and little to peek at the strange objects that were in bed with me.

My eyes widened a little. Three large, pristine-looking apples rested gently against my stomach. My mind raced, and things clicked into place rapidly. The apples wouldn't be allowed as part of my diet here, and the nurse would probably disapprove of somepony bringing me food. Of course, the hospital food was lacking significantly, and that was an understatement. I caught myself starting to drool as I stared at the three apples. That meant somepony had smuggled these apples to me without using my door. There were very few candidates that could pull that off. Fluttershy had wings, but I doubt she'd evade the guards. Bribing them or acting adorable might get her past them because they know her, but she'd probably not want to risk it. Twilight could have just teleported into the room, but unless she had developed a 'stealth' teleport, that would have woken me up almost instantly. Further, she'd probably frown at altering my diet too.

That left Dash. She hadn't visited me yet, which was a little depressing, but she probably felt bad over what happened so I wasn't going to hold it against her. Still, she was the only pony that could get these to me without being spotted. Wait.

Apples. My eyes softened and I smiled to myself. Rainbow might have just been helping out as the delivery mare. I was worried that after what Applejack had seen, she wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore. She had said that to my face that night. Of course, that was under false pretenses, but I hadn't been able to ask her otherwise yet. My ears lowered as I stared at the apples, a certain wetness building up in my eyes. Damn it.

Lying back down, I lifted one and examined it. They were larger than most and extremely red. Due to their size, I had a suspicion that these were picked out specifically, not just grabbed at random. Tentatively, I bit into the one I was holding and almost moaned as the wonderful taste flooded into my mouth. My sensors also came alive and started picking out all the various parts that made up the apple as I chewed. Of course, it had to report that there were no toxins in it. Thank goodness! Applejack hadn't gone crazy and decided I needed to die! Thank you for the information, sensors.

Amused at my own self-snarking, I took another bite and wiggled back and forth at the taste. Of course, it wouldn't do to leave evidence, as Nurse Redheart changed my sheets daily. I guess that meant I had to eat all of it, even down to the core and stem. I smirked wider and swayed with the tasty treat. After eating what tasted like processed cardboard for two days, this was a delicacy.

Of course, I remembered as I finished off the first apple that I could have just distended my jaw and eaten the thing whole. My 'upgraded' stomach didn't care what I threw into it and processed all matter and energy exactly the same way. Still, that struck me as a terrible waste of such a tasty treat. I nibbled intentionally, tasting the second apple as if a rare candy as I flopped back onto my back. Applejack grew these things! I had all new respect and adoration for the orange mare suddenly.

Halfway through the second apple, I paused and looked at my left foreleg. It suddenly occurred to me that I was partially holding the apple up using it. Before, I could barely so much as twitch it due to how weak it felt. The strength was gradually returning to it, admittedly much faster than I or the hospital staff had predicted. Nurse Redheart said I'd be lucky to be walking on it again within the month. I hadn't told Twilight or Fluttershy yet, of course.

Exhaling, I lightly chewed and swallowed the last of the second apple before lying back and thinking for a moment while my stomach cooed happily. They were going to notice something was up. Admittedly, however, I didn't exactly want to be stuck in the hospital for a month. With these apples I was surprised with tonight, my body suddenly got a lot more mass and energy to use for repairs. The doctors were going to notice I was healing a lot faster than I should be. Then Twilight and Fluttershy would notice as well, and I'd have a bit of explaining to do. They knew I didn't know any healing magic. I bit into the last apple and chewed lightly as I stared across the room at the wall. Honestly, I should probably just tell them. The longer I wait, the worse it's going to get. But what then? I couldn't possibly imagine any of them wanting anything to do with an alien abomination that killed billions of innocent individuals. I'd probably count myself lucky if they didn't just blast me with the Elements right then and there. But then there was...

As if hearing my thoughts, the curtains rustled lightly. My eyes widened as I saw the light flood through out of the corner of my eye. I snapped to attention, looking rapidly to the left as the window slid open and a head squeezed through. For such a large body, she oddly had no problems fitting through my window and sliding it shut a moment later, politely drawing the curtains closed again with a burst of her magic.

Her fur almost glowed white in the dimly lit room. I stared in shock at not only her abrupt arrival, but strange manner of entry. Still, there was no fooling the level of energy I picked up coming off her. Celestia smiled softly and nodded to me as she turned, sitting down lightly directly to the left of my bed.

"I apologized for the strange time to visit. My sister alerted me that she felt a very disturbing dream from you, and that you had abruptly woken up. I wanted to talk to you in private anyway, however," she explained softly. Her magic coated the room a moment later, leaving a shimmering barrier around every wall. "There. We won't be bothering anypony with our talking, now," she added, smiling afterwards.

I shook myself out of the daze and nodded to her before glancing down at the partially eaten apple in my lap. "I, uh, I'm honored that you'd want to visit me again. You probably have more direct questions to ask, I'm guessing," I reasoned, wondering if I should hide the apple or not.

She snickered and shook her head. "The honor is mine, Mender. And please, keep eating. I know Rainbow dropped them off an hour ago. She may have avoided the guards, but I have my senses extended over the entire building as well," she revealed, looking deeply amused.

I laughed at that. Well, a weak chuckle, anyway. "I'd figured Rainbow had dropped them off. I just wish she and Applejack would stop avoiding me," I lamented, looking back down at the apple before picking it up again.

Celestia shook her head while I took a bite, further revealing, "Applejack's a stubborn mare. I do believe she extended those to sort of test the waters, so to speak. She's never quite had to deal with this before, and she isn't handling it well. Rainbow wants to visit you as well, but also thinks you'll be mad at her. It's a tender situation." That I could agree with, and nodded lightly while chewing.

I swallowed lightly before shaking my head. "I'm not mad at either of them. They were protecting who they thought was Twilight. I'm not going to condemn them for defending their friend. I'm happy Twilight has such good friends," I corrected, staring at my lap instead of the Princess. She had surprised me by giving out information rather than just requesting it. I'd suspected I'd eventually get a visit from her in private, but my mind had pictured more of an interrogation at horn point than this.

"They hurt you, Mender. Even if they didn't mean to, it was still because of their lack of trust, and I think they'd be the first to admit that at this point. You seem bitter still about something surrounding it, as well," she observed, watching me carefully.

I froze, mid bite. Bitter? I swallowed the lump in my throat, shivering as the taste wasn't nearly as good suddenly. No, I accepted what they had done. They had reasons to do it, didn't they? Besides, I owed them the benefit of the doubt because of their hospitality and friendship they'd given me, right?

I set the apple down again and sighed, shivering lightly again as the air left my lungs. "I don't like to think like that. It's easier to just accept it and not complicate things, isn't it?" I asked, looking back up at her finally.

She wore a soft smile but shook her head. "That might work in your old world, but I think you might find these mares to be a bit more stubborn than that. Forgiving them is important, but helping them to forgive themselves is going to be the hard part. But your friendship will be much stronger if you do," she suggested softly, her horn lightly starting to glow.

The apple lit up with her magic and gently pushed itself onto my right forehoof. At first, I was confused as to why she suddenly decided to help me eat, but then I saw her focus on my left foreleg and start to undo the bandages. Oh. It was so I could keep eating while she worked.

Taking her less than subtle advice, I took another bite of the apple while watching her unwrap my bandages on the left foreleg. It stung a little, but eating was a good distraction as she got the last of them off. I glanced down at it as she lifted my foreleg to examine the progress of my healing.

Ultimately, it looked a lot better than it did when I first changed back. The skin wasn't transparent anymore, and a light muscle growth had started along the various spots of the leg. The hoof had also fully reformed, along with a neatly cut pattern along the bottom of it that was similar to my first rune, but much cleaner looking. My body had mimicked it?

"Amazing, Mender. Your regenerative abilities are quite impressive. While I ask a couple of questions, I'm going to try to use my magic to restore what I can to your leg and side, all right?" she offered, smiling politely at me.

A light bulb popped up over my head, and I suddenly realized that I might have an excuse presented to me for my 'rapid' healing progress. As if reading my thoughts, Celestia winked to me and began to work. The stinging sensation went away instantly as her warm magic danced over my foreleg, gently coaxing nerves and muscle tissue to regrow into the proper spots. It felt like I was using the Princesses for all of the excuses lately. Princess Luna had used her advanced magic to ‘regrow’ my limb prior, too.

"The first and most important question is rather obvious. What exactly happened with the Nirru incident? I only have fragmented pieces between Twilight and my sister," she asked first, being surprisingly open with her inquiries.

"Well, that's kind of a long answer to that one. Nirru tricked her sister, Keela, into letting her come here under the guise of 'talking' to us about how I could help my old race. She apparently changed the plan and decided to try to seduce me instead by turning into Twilight. I don't know why exactly, but she was apparently under the impression that the Keldarian DNA I'm carrying would be released when... Er..." I trailed off, blinking a couple times before the heat crept into my face. Well, that got awkward fast.

Celestia snickered and shook her head slowly towards me, however. "I'm far old enough to know how that works, worry not. Suffice to say, Applejack and Rainbow Dash interrupted, and she decided on a more direct route then, I take it?" she asked, seemingly not paying attention in the least to what her magic was doing. It felt amazing, however, so I wasn't about to question the capabilities of the extremely powerful alicorn sitting across from me.

"Yeah. You know that part already. She then hauled me into the forest and tried to download the data directly, explaining what I was in the meantime. I, um, might have had a small breakdown. I'm not really sure. Honestly, I don't remember a lot of it, but I do recall figuring out a few things and finding a 'present' left behind by my creator, Doctor Kyliona," I summarized, trying to be as objective about things as I could.

She surprised me by giving a warm smile and nod, however. "I understand what hearing that would be like. You of course have my support if I can do anything. What was this present you speak of?" she inquired gently, voice softer than before.

I exhaled quietly, not entirely liking this part. Still, it would be easier to simply show her rather than explain it. The scanners activated in my eyes and I saw her suddenly bathed in the familiar blue light I loved so much. Something about the shade relaxed me. Honestly, it was probably the only part of all this that I liked.

She looked momentarily surprised, but I kept going. My right foreleg shifted rapidly into heavy plate armor, twitching lightly as I felt the corded muscles shift through it and the claws form off the front of the hoof. The armor went up half of my face before I stopped it, feeling the right side of my head become heavier than the left as the chitin covered it. I only summoned two tentacles this time, elegantly sliding them off my back with no rush or speed. They fully formed this time, that unpleasant smell being absent as the mouths on the end of each opened and closed, tongues tasting the air. I noticed a moment later that I could actually smell through them.

Celestia observed the changes calmly now, finally smiling and nodding again as I exhaled and relaxed inside the armor. The strength in this form was overwhelming, but disgusting at the same time. Blankly, I stared down at my now clawed hoof. Every time I saw this, whether in real life or in my mind, it served to make me remember how exactly not a pony I was.

"The description my sister gave me was quite accurate, I see. I didn't know you could change only a part of you, but I thank you for not disrupting my work on your left foreleg," she added, smirking afterwards.

I watched her carefully for a moment before finally chuckling. She wasn't nervous in the least. Since my eyes shifted, I'd only noticed her heartbeat spike once when I initially started the process. She wasn't afraid of me. Honestly, that was rather refreshing after the reaction I'd gotten from Dash. Deciding not to mention that, I popped my now greatly extended tongue out of my mouth and wrapped it around the remaining piece of apple. It deftly pulled it into my mouth and I swallowed it whole in an instant. My mood had soured their taste anyway, but I still should thank AJ the next time I saw her.

"My, that's convenient! I wouldn't let Twilight or Fluttershy see that, though," she warned, looking mildly impressed.

Huh? "Eh? Why? Is it that freaky looking?" I inquired, raising and eyebrow on my non-armored side towards her.

She smirked. Uh oh. I knew that face. I'd walked into a... "Of course not. They might get ideas," she corrected, nodding twice to me with an amused expression. ... Trap.

My cheeks flared up with heat again and I coughed, looking away from her. "I don't think that in particular will come up for a while. Our relationships haven't progressed to that point," I excused. I almost added 'yet' onto the end, but thought better of it at the last second. A light chill drifted into my chest. No, it might never progress to that point. I was going to show them this before that, and there was no guarantee that I'd have a relationship with either of them beyond that point.

"Mender, I already warned you. Don't underestimate them. Anyway, do continue. I'm assuming you fought her after that?" she asked, changing the topic with surgical precision.

Sighing, I nodded weakly. "It wasn't really her there. Her body was a doll she essentially controlled from my old dimension with her mind. It got violent fast and there were a few close calls, but I won. Your sister should have the rest," I finished, hoping that would sate her curiosity. I didn't particularly want to delve into what I became to win that fight, and honestly hoped she'd accept that. The hunger was still imbedded in my mind. Hatred. I had wanted her to suffer and die, just like she did to me. I saw her as prey, and pursued her until I crushed her skull under my hoof.

I shivered before I could pull myself back and rapidly closed my eyes. Celestia waited patiently for me to re-open them before giving me a soft smile. "Relax Mender. That's all I wanted about what happened. Take a deep breath. There are only four more questions I wanted to ask," she revealed. That surprised me as well. Four questions and she had all the information she wanted? They must be seriously detailed questions! "After I finish asking them, you can ask anything you want. It's only fair that I answer all of your questions, too," she added after watching me shift my attention back to her.

My eyes widened. I figured this was an interrogation all along, but so far, she had treated it like a social visit. And now she was going to let me ask things in return? Her pouting reaction further knocked me off balance. "That expression! I'm not cruel or heartless, Mender. I'm hurt that you think so!" she exclaimed softly, partially looking away from me.

My tentacles and right foreleg flailed for a moment. "N-No! I didn't mean to imply that. You're just a busy mare, er, Princess, and..." I started to correct rapidly, trying not to offend.

She burst into laughter, of course, leaving me feeling like an idiot a second later. "No need to be so formal, Mender. I'm just Tia, remember? Sometimes you're just too fun to tease," she revealed, smiling at me again.

A certain softness danced in her eyes, however, and I realized she meant that first part. Maybe a part of her really did enjoy being treated like normal. Was it as refreshing to her as somepony not being afraid of me?

I nodded and smiled lightly. "I know. You introduced yourself as that, and now I have trouble thinking of you as anything but," I agreed, sticking my tongue out at her playfully. Her smile shifted to a full on grin and she nodded, relaxing in her posture a little.

"I'm glad, Mender. Contrary to popular belief, I don't have many close friends. It's relaxing to just talk normally and casually. My next question is purely academic, however. I'm curious as to what exactly you are, technically speaking. It matters very little, but I would still like to know," she requested, choosing her words carefully.

It wasn't as offensive a question as she thought, however. I'd only asked myself the same thing a few hundred times over the past forty-eight hours. "You mean physically? I'm an organic computer that's taken on the form of a pony. My mind originally was that of a clone, but now I'm not so sure. Doctor Kyliona did a lot of splicing and tampering with my DNA specifically, by the looks of my project files. As far as I can tell, my personality was an accident, however. I was supposed to have preset information when I landed here but for some reason, that didn't happen," I started, frowning a moment afterwards. That was a true mystery, honestly. I'd seen the files in between getting my flank handed to me at solitaire. Everything should have worked perfectly fine.

"You're not an accident, Mender. But I think you know that already. Please continue, however," Tia corrected a moment after I hesitated. I glanced up at her, only to be met with an inarguably stern expression that denied me all capability to refute her viewpoint. I swallowed and nodded carefully, suddenly feeling a little uneasy.

"Well, I'm a scout, essentially. Or at least I was. Something happened and an extremely advanced weapon of mass destruction found its way into my core systems. It went off when I was activated at some point, and I killed a good percent of my old race before landing in Equestria and losing all of my memories. That's all I know," I finalized, deciding not to hide anything from her.

Her frown was noticeable at that point, but she finally shook her head. "I assume you are in full control of this weapon, right? What does it do?" she inquired. I had a sneaking suspicion that question was in addition to the ones she already had planned.

"I'm in full control of it and I already encrypted and sealed away the root access to it. I never intended to activate it, ever. It's a weapon of mass destruction, O-Class. Essentially the only one to exist, ever. Its purpose is to end all life on a Universal scale, minus the specific planets programmed into its blacklist," I explained. Even saying it left a bad taste in my mouth, I noticed. Omega class weapons were supposed to be purely theoretical, and for a very good reason, in my opinion.

Celestia stared at me, not saying anything for a long moment. I couldn't even begin to read her absolutely blank expression, so I simply waited, idly wondering if she was going to erase me at this point. Eventually, however, she closed her eyes and smiled.

I tilted my head, but she shook hers minutely to interject. "You've spoken the absolute truth, and I thank you for that. I believe you, of course. This eliminates one of my original questions as well," she explained, opening her eyes again and fully smiling.

"Oh?" I asked curiously, unsure of what to make of the whole conversation at this point. She was both making me relax, and scaring the crap out of me at the same time somehow. She was very understanding, but at the same time, absolutely nothing fazed her in the slightest. She was capable of both rapid fire, emotionless calculation, and compassionate empathy. The scary part was how close she could squeeze those two together. Momentarily, her eyes pulled me in and she felt like an abyss of time, both ancient and absolute.

"Indeed. My next question had been not 'what' you are, but 'who' you are instead. But I already see that you are the same Moon Mender I talked to before. You're shaken and unsure of yourself, but you are still you. I'm glad you haven't let it change you," she explained, pausing to snicker at my incredulous expression.

"I'm not so sure about that. I know you said I wasn't an accident but, well, there was a lot that night to make me doubt." I wasn't even sure how to explain it, honestly. How was I to expect somepony else to understand when I didn't even understand it myself?

"Everypony has darkness to them, Mender. My sister fully saw yours that night, and she still speaks kindly and encouragingly of you. Consider that instead, if you will. I trust her implicitly," the Sun Princess informed, watching me curiously.

I looked down for a moment, conflicted. I'd obviously not spoken with Luna since that night, but I remembered a lot of what she said. I hadn't really considered the fact that she watched me kill Nirru. Hell, she was probably watching before that. But she still spent three hours chasing after me and finally talked to me openly and honestly. I hadn't fully realized the implications of that before. Luna didn't think I was a monster? She had...

My eyes widened a little. She had asked to be my friend literally that night. But why? Celestia smiled, and I knew she had guessed what I just thought. "My sister knows what it's like to lose control of yourself and to become a 'monster', Mender. She's not a monster, of course. She's my sister and I love her dearly. A lot of ponies saw her as a monster, however, regardless of what she actually was. I believe she sees the kinship in you, realizing that in some ways, you're very much alike. Her intentions are purely honest, I know you realize," Celestia confirmed, flexing her left wing idly while talking.

It took me a moment to realize she didn't have any of her jewelry on. She was just a normal looking pony, really. Albeit with both wings and a horn, not to mention an awesome mane, but she still looked rather normal without all her 'regal' accessories.

"I realized that she knew how I felt when we talked that night. I'm just worried about, well, the Elements," I admitted slowly.

She laughed, a light and amused sound that drifted lazily through the air. "They're the Elements of Harmony for a reason. They're not perfect, but they learn very quickly and I believe you've taught a few of them some valuable lessons. I'd hoped they'd grow by meeting you, and I was right. May I ask you to trust in them like I do, and eventually reveal yourself?" she requested, smiling politely now.

I hesitated, but sighed. There was a lot I was unsure about when dealing with them, especially Loyalty, Honesty, and Magic... Still, she must have a reason for asking me to trust them. I sighed again and nodded, resigning myself to the choice. They deserved as much regardless.

"Thank you, Mender. I'll be there to support you whenever you wish it, of course. May I ask my last two questions?" she reminded, tilting her head in mirror of my gesture earlier.

I smiled inwardly and nodded, realizing that despite everything, Celestia was still capable of acting rather cute, in a whimsical sort of way. "Ah! Good. The last question involving the incident is if you've heard from Keela since," she inquired a moment later.

Oh, well that one was easy. Still, I guess I could see why she'd want to know. "No, I haven't. There hasn't even been a stirring on the connection. If I had to guess, I'd say she was intentionally avoiding me," I reasoned, taking my best guess.

Celestia smiled and nodded along as I explained. "It would make sense. I imagine Keela's going through a lot as well, her having enabled her sister to do all of those terrible things in the first place. Guilt, I imagine, is being rather rough on her," she deduced, frowning lightly before nodding to herself about something. She was probably right. I didn't directly blame Keela, of course. Sure, I wished she'd been a bit more cautious or kept her sister on a leash, but hindsight is always perfect, I reminded myself. I doubt she'd seen what her sister was truly capable of before this.

"I still have the personal link to Keela inside of me. She gave me a way to get in contact with her. If she hasn't spoken to me by the time I'm released from the hospital, I'll try contacting her," I offered, also revealing the connection.

Celestia seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding in agreement. "I would like to meet with this individual as well. Perhaps you can set up a way for us to communicate later once you've recovered," she suggested, adding extra emphasis to 'recovered' by a burst of energy added to the spell. I hummed lightly, feeling it massage into my leg muscles and relax them as she repaired things. She really was good at healing magic. This was far better than the practical magic the nurses had used on me when I was a captain! Err, well, when he was a captain. I reminded myself that they technically weren't my memories.

"Regardless, my last question is merely for personal interest. What do you plan on doing now?" she inquired, shifting back to smiling politely at me.

I stared blankly back, somewhat unsure of what she meant by that. "Err, what do you mean? Like, once I get out of the hospital?" Surely she didn't mean right this instant. That would just be silly, right? I tried my best to curb my conclusion jumping, however. Could I offend her by guessing the incorrect thing?

She smiled and gave a single nod, however, assuring me that I had the right idea. I exhaled softly and shook my head. "I'm not entirely sure. Once I can break the link to my old world forever, I'd feel a lot better. Then I'd probably like to try and get some form of independence. Maybe start a repair or invention service of some sort? I could think of a lot of ways my magic could help improve ponies' lives," I elaborated, this sadly being the first time I'd really considered it as specifically as this. Nopony had ever asked me what I really wanted to do, now that I thought about it.

She looked honestly surprised by my answer, however. I tilted my head, wondering what she had expected me to say, when she suddenly started giggling in amusement. My bewildered look must have been even funnier because as soon as she looked up and saw me watching her, she started outright laughing. My ears flattened back and I sighed, deciding once again that females were confusing.

"I'm impressed. I hadn't expected you to even consider long term things. Plus, you didn't even consider alternatives like leaving Equestria or returning to your old dimension," she finally explained after recovering from her small fit of amusement.

My ears drooped completely as I felt my eyes widen. "No! I'd, um, very much like to stay in Equestria if you'll have me. Please... Please don't make me go back there," I requested, a spike of fear shooting through me. After everything I had found here and one shot at being able to live in a place I felt like I really belonged to, I desperately didn't want to go back to that nightmare from before.

Celestia sobered immediately, giving a faint and assuring shake of her head as I let out a shiver again. "Mender, I'm not ever going to force you to go back there. I've seen who you are and would gladly let you live here forever. I'm happy you want to stay here and hadn't even considered leaving. I say this because after what you've experienced, and after figuring out the truth behind yourself, most probably wouldn't be able to decide what they wanted to do," she assured, watching with a warm demeanor as I exhaled quietly. The truth behind myself, huh? That was a polite way of saying it.

"I love it here. It's paradise and I don't ever want to leave. If you'll have, well, something like me here, I'd be eternally grateful," I murmured softly, lowering my eyes away from her. Being in her presence made me feel rather self-conscious.

My focus snapped back to attention instantly as I saw the white glow shift closer. I looked up just in time to see Celestia stand and walk over to me. My body went into alert, unsure of what her intentions were until she gave me a gentle hug. I went rigid, having no idea in the least as to what was going on.

"You're hurt, Mender. I know you're confused and unsure of what you really are. I'm not from your world so I can't answer that for you. But there are two things I can point out to you that are very, undeniably real," she spoke, leaning her head back to look at me as I swallowed nervously. Real? What did she mean?

She smiled at my confused expression and extended her left forehoof over my blankets, touching down on the area directly over my flank a moment later. The momentary burst of embarrassment was washed away entirely as my Cutie Mark flared up with light, easily radiating through the blankets as a warm sensation danced through my chest. What was that?!

"This is one thing I can assure you of. Only ponies get Cutie Marks. To be specific, only ponies belonging to Equestria get them. You are of this world, Mender. Even if you didn't start here," she continued quietly. I couldn't take my eyes off the soft blue light burning off my flank. It was beautiful; a cascade of slightly varying hues drifting along the gear, with the heart in the center of it all flaring the brightest.

"Secondly, you dream. Not only dream, however, but my dear sister may visit you while you do so. She assured me of this when you first came here." My ears perked as I looked back to Celestia as she revealed that newest tidbit. Its relevance wasn't immediately known to me, but I suddenly realized she was being open with me regardless. She was outright telling me things instead of hiding anything. That alone was enough to make me feel a little better about the situation.

"Um, if I can ask, what does that mean?" I questioned, assuming as I guessed she thought I would, given that she smiled immediately afterwards.

"It means, combined with your Cutie Mark, your heart and mind are that of a pony. I tell you this hoping to give you some form of peace. No matter where you started or what extra parts you might have inside of you, you are still a pony accepted by and belonging to this world. You are always welcome here," she explained.

That was... There was nothing I could possibly think of to say to that. I stared at her blankly, keenly aware that my mouth was partially open and not really caring. Things added? Extra parts? But I wasn't... I closed my mouth finally, letting myself relax lightly against the wing she still used to gently prop me up against her shoulder. She had accepted me regardless. Was it really just as easy as that? I knew deep down that I would rather die than hurt any of these amazing ponies, but she didn't know that. Right? Her eyes continued to capture mine, the weight of experience and time behind them almost as if staring into an abyss. No, maybe I was wrong. Maybe she could tell what I was feeling after all, somehow. It was so weird. She had never entered this room as a Princess, really. She felt more like a friend than ever. Maybe that's what she wanted, too?

"You were right, back at that cafe," I finally spoke, exhaling and sitting upright of my own volition.

Her eyes softened but she still inquired, "Oh?"

I nodded once before continuing, "You were right. Even if I did have a reason for being sent here originally, that's gone now. I want to make my own reason for being here, I think. I just don't know how."

Celestia considered it for a moment in silence. Feeling relaxed now, I simply watched her, wondering if the tentacles against her wing felt strange or not. She didn't seem to mind in the least. They weren't slimy or anything, however, so I didn't think there'd be any long-lasting detrimental effects of her doing so.

"Honestly, your idea of inventing things feels like a good step in the right direction. Twilight and the other Element Bearers will undoubtedly have other ideas, too, and probably help out," she pointed out as her wing lowered away from me, seemingly relaxing as well.

I frowned, but nodded. I'd figured she'd mention the Elements. She smirked before I could say anything, however, and tossed on, "I know you're unsure of them, but they're good mares. They know who you are for certain now; all of them do, I believe. Even if you openly reveal the extra parts inside of you, that's not going to change anything."

I sighed, honestly not liking that she guessed exactly what I had been considering. In defiance, I returned, "Actually, I was worried about owing them even more. If they were more akin to loan sharks, my spleen would probably be on the Black Market already." That was a fun word to say, now that I thought about it. I kept my face as deathly serious as I could muster, of course.

Celestia shifted to a blank expression for a moment until I smirked. A heartbeat passed and she smirked back before bursting into laughter again. I couldn't help but join a few seconds later.

"Ho! You got me there, Mender! Heh. Still, I have a sneaking suspicion they're going to consider that debt thing you have stuck in your head a little reversed now," she warned, causing me to wince mid-laugh. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

She of course laughed harder. Ah, so it was paybacks, was it? "When it comes down to it, you're kind of a brat," I pointed out, averting my gaze away from her and coughing lightly.

If anything, she took it amazingly well, giving me an exaggerated wink. "Okay, I do have to confess that it's extremely relaxing to just talk with you. Plus you're so fun to tease!" she admitted, eyes widening afterwards a moment later.

I gave her a deadpan stare, which only seemed to fuel her amusement. "Oh, relax! You're adorable when you get embarrassed and blush. I doubt I'm the only one to notice, too. Hasn't anypony else expressed an, say, interest in making you blush?" she pointed out, nudging towards me with her right forehoof.

I frowned, mind instantly shifting back to Lily, Rose, and Daisy. Well, that explained that, more than likely. "Ah, yeah. You're probably right," I groaned, feeling a little silly now. It made more sense that they were just teasing me, rather than genuinely interested.

She nodded in agreement before standing up again and stretching. I watched her elegantly fold her wings back up onto her sides before glancing towards the window again. "Alas, my morning duties are unfortunately approaching quickly. Time waits for nopony. I know I promised to answer any of your questions, but do you mind holding off on that until tomorrow night? I shall return then and visit again," she offered politely, looking away from the slowly brightening day outside and back at me, a warm smile on her face.

She'd already helped me a lot, so that was beyond reasonable. I nodded and snickered lightly, adding, "That's no problem at all, Tia. You've helped me a lot, and given me quite a bit to think about. Thank you for being my friend."

Princess Celestia seemed genuinely happy with my answer, her impossibly deep eyes softening as her smile grew. She nodded again and shifted her attention towards the window once more, it sliding open softly with her meekest attention. "Then I shall take my leave for now. I'm happy that you've decided to stay, and pleased that you still consider me a friend. I'll be back upon my sister raising her night, and shall gladly answer anything you desire then," she promised, giving me one more smile before hopping through the window, ducking and dashing off into the air again. I watched her spell slowly fire off, and gently lower the window closed again before locking it and sliding the blinds shut.

My room dimmed as the curtains finished closing. I felt considerably more relaxed than I had been when I woke up, and lowered myself backwards onto my pillows again. Accepted by Equestria as a pony, huh? My hoof brushed along the now normal Cutie Mark on my right side, and I smiled gently.

The armor and tentacles drew themselves back inside of me as I relaxed, turning off my eye sensors again. Maybe the little marks weren't so annoying after all? I let myself gently drift back to sleep, smiling this time.

Author's Notes:

An extra three pages added, for your reading pleasure!

Chapter 31

I drifted in and out, a pleasant, warm sensation filling me. Nothing in the way of dreams, good or bad, bothered me after Celestia had left. That was perfectly all right with me. Eventually, I gently awoke, a light tingling sensation throughout me, as if static electricity had built up. The dim light shining through the window indicated that it was probably mid-morning. I shifted my eyes around and frowned lightly. They finally landed upon my left leg.

I'd fallen asleep last night before I'd gotten a chance to look at it. Now that I could see it in the light as well, I noticed that the Sun Princess had done a very nice job of repairing it. The skin was a healthy color again and the entire leg appeared to be in the proper shape now with muscles under the surface yet again. It was still roughly half the size of what it should be, but at least somepony wouldn't get the urge to throw up upon seeing it.

The tingling hit again, with accompanied static sensations in my head this time. Oh. Oh crap. I sat up and looked around, not immediately noticing anything out of place. My barriers shifted into place around me, pool of magic going into high alert as I got ready to shift form if need be. Could they get through the barrier after all? Was it just communication, or was something coming through this time?

A half a minute came and went, leaving me a mixture of confused and mildly disappointed. False alarm, maybe? No. I could never be that lucky. I was about to hit the nurse's call button when motion caught my eye to the left. My attention snapped that direction, barriers rotating into place to guard me as I observed a rainbow-like prism expanding out of midair as if a butterfly opening its wings. It danced momentarily, twisting in upon itself and wobbling onto my bedside table before expanding a little ways.

Slipstream! But that was far too small for a pony or Keldarian to fit through. A needle-like extension slid out of it a moment later, gently pushing through the dimensional barrier and compressing into a solid form for my eyes to lock onto. I frowned as it flared out at one end and then, much to my surprise, took the shape and coloration of a single, white tulip. It popped out of the Slipstream effect with its barrier rapidly disintegrating, steam coming off it as the super-cooled shield met the much warmer air. A flower?

A thin note followed a moment later, sliding under the flower as both landed gently on my bedside table, conveniently next to the tray of food I had finished last night. Well, then. She was a hell of a lot more accurate than she had told me the last we talked about it. A sliver of bitterness slipped through me as I realized she had probably lied to me about that, too.

The prismatic effect condensed upon itself, and I sighed. She'd activated a Slipstream effect just to give me a message and a flower? That seemed like kind of a waste of energy to me, when she could just speak into my mind. My ears perked half a second later, however, as I heard commotion down the hall. Uh oh.

I didn't get a chance to fully process what was going on, however. The prismatic bubble twisted in upon itself and shot sideways in an instant. My shields flared up as I braced for any sort of impact, but none came. Instead, it flickered like a firefly over onto my blankets, settling a half-meter in front of me where my back hooves were under the covers. My eyes widened as it grew significantly larger, to roughly the size of a bowling ball, before radiating outwards and popping. The effect was gone instantly, having used up the last of its energy to do whatever it just did. A weight hit my rear legs, however, as the energy cleared in a puff of steam. My already wide eyes expanded further as the steam cleared. No. No way.

I ignored the rapid hoofsteps rushing down the hallway towards my room. There it was. Sitting there, lightly cooling my hooves through the blanket was a small, blue book. No, it was 'the' book. I stared at it in shock as the key slowly slide off the cover of it and landed next to it on my bed. She actually gave it to me?!

With my senses dulled, I only barely looked up as my door slammed open. Shining Armor himself almost broke it off its hinges as he stumbled in, horn flaring with magic. Oh! He sensed that.

"Mender! Are you okay?!" he asked instantly, vigilant eyes scanning the room rapidly as a few flares came off his horn. I found my entire bed encased in a barrier in an instant and the room's personal shield flared into life and almost doubled in thickness.

"Ah, um, yes!" I shot back, honestly startled by his rather impressive response time. Light blasting noises could be heard coming down the hallway rapidly at the same time, each sounding vaguely like a blast of air, and was accompanied by a light flash. Twilight appeared in the room an instant later before flickering out of existence again. She appeared inside of the bubble on the bed instead and crouched down against me, horn also flaring up.

"What's going on, Mender?!" she asked, sounding significantly more confused than her brother seemed.

Slowly, my heart stilled its furious beating and I relaxed, exhaling softly. "I got a delivery, it would seem," I finally spoke up, figuring it would be wise to calm them both down rapidly.

Shining Armor's attention shot back to me in an instant, and both he and his sister followed my hoof gesture to the flower and note on the table. Twilight's eyes widened first and she peeked over to get a better look at it. "A note and flower? Oh, Keela?" she asked abruptly, horn lighting up as the note lifted into the air.

"No, Twily! I'll get it," Shining Armor interrupted, pulling the note out of her telekinetic grasp and slamming it to the floor an instant later. My ears drooped as I watched him rapidly start to scan it with waves of magic, horn glowing furiously.

Twilight smiled and nodded, apparently content with his thorough precautions as she shuffled closer to me. I turned and looked at her, earning a pleased smile instead. "All right. It's clear," he finally announced a moment later, relaxing visibly and standing up straight again. I almost didn't have the heart to show him the full sized book that was already inside the inner shield.

"What's it say?" I inquired, suddenly enjoying the sensation of Twilight's fur against my own. Beyond the minor scare, this was starting to become a pretty good day. I kept my thoughts in careful check, however, just in case I jinxed myself by thinking that too strongly.

He gave me a skeptical glance before levitating the slightly dirtier note up and through the barrier towards me. "Reading somepony else's correspondence would be rude," he corrected, smirking at me.

I raised an eyebrow, suddenly seeing a bit of family resemblance as I accepted the paper from him. A cursory glance told me that it was a card and opened up. "Eh, what's this?" Twilight asked, suddenly noticing the book immediately to her right. I ignored her as I flipped the card over.

"I'm Sorry," was printed on the front side, in elegant writing. Ah. It was going to be like that, then. I flicked it open with my left foreleg a moment later. "I know you probably don't believe me, but I didn't mean for any of this. I'll understand if you just cut the link. You have your book now, so the link between our dimensions is only being held by our connection. Removing it will cause the dimensions to drift apart in a week or two, forever separating us. I'm so very sorry for everything. I'd love to talk to you at least once more and await either a tug, or to feel the link fade away. Signed, Keela," was written in the letter.

Twilight had noticed my lack of reply and shifted her attention to reading along with me. "She sounds really sad," she muttered a moment after I lifted my head up again.

"She also sent a white tulip. Traditionally, that flower in particular means 'a sincere apology', if I remember correctly," Shining Armor added, lifting the flower up gently with his magic. I resisted rolling my eyes as he scanned it a couple times. Well, at least he was dedicated.

"Shiny is really smart! And he protected my coltfriend!" Twilight complimented, snickering as she squeezed me gently. I blushed, predictably, which only caused her Cheshire grin to widen further. Okay, yeah. She was doing it on purpose.

Her brother snorted and rolled his eyes. "You don't have to act cute, Twily. Mender's a good stallion, too. I'm not guarding him just because he's your coltfriend or Aunt Celestia asked me to. Although both of those are also good reasons," he informed, looking mildly amused as Twilight squeezed me.

"What are you two doing here so early, anyway?" I asked, noticing Clocky telling me that it was barely oh nine hundred hours. Celestia's Sun had only been up a couple hours!

Twilight shook her head before lightly letting me go again and sitting down next to me on her haunches. I took her momentary distraction to reach down and pull the book to me while I had the chance. She looked curious, but answered first with, "The construction team is reinforcing the balcony today and needed the lower floor cleared again, so I didn't open the library. Instead, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to visit my friends and coltfriend! I've already spent an hour with Pinkie."

"I came here after finishing my rounds and observing the shield. Then I met Twily in the lobby and we got talking," Shining added, gesturing softly towards his sister with a hoof.

She grinned and chimed in with, "It's nice to have you in Ponyville. I miss hanging out with you all the time." The shift away from me in the conversation left me distracted as I felt the tingling sensation coming off the book through my forelegs and chest. It practically radiated power! Feeling out into it, I was surprised when there was no resistance in the slightest. It knew me, I realized. Not only that, but I could feel the incredibly strong connection to it far clearer than in my dreams.

A whisper resounded through my head, simply speaking, "Prudentia." It wasn't a word so much as a symbolic essence. It was the book, I realized. Its name was Prudentia. I acknowledged that, and more words drifted lazily into my mind, no longer whispered but simply deciding to float there. Focusing, I pulled them into conscious recognition a moment later. "You have her now. Please, take good care of my Prudentia. Our Prudentia. She is now yours."

It was gone an instant later. Frowning, I realized there was nothing else. What was that? I stared at the book, the faded blue of the cover meshing well with the golden binding cuffs and lock. It looked so old, but I knew it was almost indestructible. It must have been old when it first became an Aegis Artifact. When my old self turned it into an Aegis Artifact? He had somehow used a technique that hadn't required his death, as well.

"... Mender? Are you okay?" Twilight asked suddenly, snapping me back to attention with the mention of my name.

"Huh? What was that?" I asked rapidly, giving a start as I squeezed the book a little tighter.

Twilight frowned, giving me a skeptical yet disbelieving glance. Shining Armor was locked onto the book instead, however, his eyes rapidly expanding. "Holy horseapples! What is that?! Sis, do you pick up the same readings I do on that book?" he asked a moment later. Aww crap.

Twilight's horn lit up almost instantly as she looked back down at the book I was holding and now trying to shield from her. Her eyes widened dramatically, exactly like those of her sibling. "The energy in that book is ridiculous! Mender, what is that thing?" she asked, slightly less startled sounding, but with hinting of concern instead.

"This is the book I told you about; Prudentia. She sent it to me. With this here, the only link left to my old dimension is her," I revealed, hoping to head off any paranoid assaults on the book. Of course, I doubted Twilight would do something like that without provocation at this point. She'd been amazingly level-headed for the past couple days and I found myself relaxing easier around her. Maybe I was just trusting her more now?

"What is it?" Shining Armor asked, cautiously shifting closer before sitting down next to the bed and staring at the object as if it violated his principles. He definitely looked more wary than Twilight did. I suddenly felt a little uneasy, but answered regardless.

"It's what my old race called an Aegis Artifact. The males weren't given the specifics of what one is, but from what I've grasped so far, it appears to be a magical item created by using the unique properties of our Aegis Barrier, our FTL technology called Slipstream, and the life force or will of a Keldarian. This is the Aegis Artifact belonging to..." I started to explain before trailing off. I'd almost said the soldier I had been 'cloned' from. My eyes softened and I stared at the book again.

Twilight gently squeezed my right shoulder with both forehooves, frowning towards me. "Are you okay, Mender?" she asked softly, sounding worried. I looked over at her, searching her eyes as she looked back. The lavender mare had changed quite a bit. She seemed like she'd added me to her list of determinations, honestly. It felt like she was prioritizing me, which was an amazing feeling, I admitted.

"Yeah. I just remembered something Nirru said to me, is all. Anyway, this book belonged to my old self. Now I have a link to it instead," I finished, looking away from her a little. Yeah, it was worth the risk. I wasn't ever going to trust her if I didn't take the first step. Being honest was important, but the entire truth would have to wait until she was alone.

I made the conscious decision then and there that Twilight was going to be the first to find out about what I really was. Not only was she most likely to accept and justify it, but I also had a feeling she'd appreciate being the first to know. Maybe I could extend it as a pseudo olive branch of sorts to start repairing our relationship?

"What did she tell you? Was there anything important in regards to her plans or Equestria?" Shining Armor asked almost an instant later, startling me with the sudden question as I looked back towards him.

"Brother! Give Mender time to rest. I know you can keep this barrier up for weeks at a time, so a day or two more isn't going to hurt you," Twilight headed off, glaring past me at her brother.

To his credit, he looked extremely surprised for a moment, then apologetic towards me.

"Ah, yeah. You're right of course, Twily. I just want to know if there's any more risk I should specifically keep my eyes peeled for," he explained, nodding towards her.

Frowning, I nodded as well. I could understand the feeling. "As far as I know, Nirru was captured by the Keldarians after her body was destroyed here. I assume she's still being held captive. Further, she couldn't operate Keela's machinery alone, so it's fairly safe to say her threat is massively reduced," I deduced out loud a moment later, looking back over at Shining Armor.

He gave me a blank look for a moment before smiling finally and nodding. "That's a definite plus. I guess talking to Keela would be recommended, then," he suggested, looking over at the flower he'd set down on the bedside stand again.

I shook my head slowly. "Maybe later tonight. Although you should probably tell the guards to keep a look out for any prismatic glows or lights, especially in the shape of wings. That's what our FTL effect looks like," I warned.

"FTL?" he questioned, tilting his head slightly in my direction. Oh, oh yeah. Their culture probably wasn't as big into acronyms as ours seemed to be.

"Faster than light. It's a theoretical form of speed that's apparently been breached by their culture. From what I've picked up, that's how they send things to Equestria," Twilight cut in instead. Whoa. Her observations were scarily accurate.

Her brother nodded promptly at that, returning with, "Ah, so look for the effect because it means something might be coming through. I'll head to the temporary barracks we have set up right now and spread the word." Whoa. I felt both honored and significantly awkward that he was taking me on my word and description, just like that. I wondered what I had done to earn his trust so readily!

"That's an excellent idea. The more information we have to prevent this sort of thing from happening again, the better. I'm going to stay here with Mender. That's why I came here in the first place," Twilight excused, smiling over at her brother as he headed towards the door.

He smirked back over his shoulder momentarily, warning, "I'd better not walk in on anything hanky panky when I get back, you two." Er, what?

Twilight's blush flared up again and she glared back at him, however, so I assumed it was something either inappropriate or naughty. "Watch it, Shiny! I'll tell Cadence on you if you keep misbehaving," Twilight shot back, a smirk growing on her face. His wife? Yikes!

As I figured, his eyes widened and he rapidly propelled himself out of the room at a decent trot, earning a giggle from my fillyfriend. "What's hanky panky mean?" I asked after a couple seconds, making sure he was out of earshot.

Her eyes widened and the color in her cheeks flared up again, but she smiled back at me a moment later instead. "Oh yeah, cultural phrases that you're not used to yet. I keep forgetting. Hanky panky is doing something naughty that generally is done only when a couple is alone. Like if he walked in on us making out," she elaborated, smirking towards the end as my blush joined hers.

"Um, oh," I managed to mutter, totally unsure of what I was supposed to say in this kind of situation. She surprised me, however, by shaking her head and lying down next to me instead.

"I'm happy to explain things to you, Silly. I'm really going to try to turn over a new leaf! No more letting stupid ideas get the better of me," she promised, looking momentarily determined before I pecked her on the cheek again, causing it to fall apart.

"I'll try not to jump to conclusions and trust you as well. If there's anything wrong though, just talk to me about it," I requested quietly, smiling at her. Maybe, just maybe this would work out.

Twilight nodded, looking extremely pleased with the direction this was taking. A moment later, however, her eyes shifted downwards to the book I held in my forelegs again. I knew she'd have more questions about the book, of course. "I'm curious now. Would you mind explaining the properties of an Aegis Artifact or Barrier to me?" she inquired after a moment's hesitation.

Heh, now she was curious? I bit my tongue, however. "If you go over the 'Principles of Enchantment' with me?" I offered, gesturing towards the top book she'd left me yesterday. I wasn't quite expecting her eyes to light up and widen in sudden surprise.

"You really want to go over a book with me?" she asked, sounding shocked. I hesitated, unsure of what to make of the reaction, but I bravely nodded, regardless. Trust, Mender! Her confusion shifted instantly to a considerable smile as she hopped up, dancing back and forth on her hooves excitedly. I moved my right foreleg out of the way so it didn't get stepped on, almost immediately.

"Yes, yes, yes! Of course I'll go over the book with you! I mean, I occasionally read alongside Rainbow, but those are all adventure novels and such. I've never gotten the opportunity to help somepony with actual academics!" she squealed, eyes now sparkling as she grinned down at me.

Nervously, I backed away a little from her rather spastic exuberance. She tilted her head questioningly, so I informed, "Uh, sorry. I just don't want to get stepped on. I'm a little more squishy than normal at the moment."

She giggled and nodded, calming down immediately before gently levitating the book over, apparently having forgotten all about the Aegis Barrier discussion. Not that I minded, because not only was she adorable when happy, I felt a certain warmth stir inside of me as I watched her. The cute giggle only served to send more sparks through me. After the hours of cold numbness, I clung to the feeling as best I could.

"Of course, Mender. I'm just excited! I'm kinda surprised you didn't call me on the dancing, though," she muttered, laying back down slowly with a sudden blush evident on her face.

I was a little confused, but waiting for her to set the book down on the bed before asking, "What about the dancing? It was cute to watch." She looked up at me for a moment before the blush brightened and her eyes widened a bit.

"Wow. You're being honest, aren't you? You didn't think it looked silly? I know I can behave a little, uh, immature when I get excited. I just get so much energy inside me sometimes that I can't help but go on and on and I feel like I'm so silly looking sometimes when ponies stop and-" she resumed explaining, finally letting me in on what she was talking about.

Snickering, I ducked forward and snatched up her lips with mine while she continued, shutting her up instantly and causing her eyes to bolt open to maximum size. I closed mine and momentarily pressed against her mouth tenderly, feeling her give a gentle sigh and pushed back a little. Not wanting to distract her, I broke off a moment later and smiled softly at her, giving a nod.

"Shush. You're adorable and I don't mind you acting like that in the least, Twi," I corrected, watching her blush expand over most of her cheeks.

She fidgeted a moment with her front legs before smiling up at me shyly and nodding. Her eyes were soft, however, and only partially open, giving a warm feeling that radiated from her almost. The emotion she displayed was new to me, however, and I couldn't quite place it. She looked very happy, though, so I was more than content with the shift in demeanor.

"Um, thank you, Mender. I'm really, really glad you're giving me another chance," she finally spoke up. I nodded as she shifted closer and pulled the book into her lap, leaning against my pillows as she pushed into my right side. Smiling, I rested my head on her left shoulder as she opened up the book and propped it so we could both see.

"We'll start from the beginning then. I'll read it to you and explain anything you want," she offered, earning a pleased nod from myself. I made a mental note to remind her about her wanting to learn about the Aegis later. Having the clever and highly intelligent unicorn on board with the Aegis Artifact study would be a huge boon as well.

"Works for me," I agreed in a whisper directly into her ear, causing her to shiver lightly. I gave a gentle kiss to the side of her head shortly afterwards, more as thanks than anything. A momentary hesitation drifted through me as I did so, and I wondered if it was right for me to lead her on like this before she knew about me. I didn't feel like a machine, but if she didn't want to be with me anymore because I was fake, I honestly couldn't bring myself to hate her. It was justified, really.

My thoughts were disrupted by her kissing my shoulder in return before starting up her reading in a low, quiet voice. Damn. The warmth drifted through me and I managed to pull back a bit of water from my eyes. If she really did decide she didn't want to be with me anymore, it was definitely going to hurt. I couldn't decide if that made me more or less pathetic, as far as robots went.

With a bit of a repositioning and snuggle, she started in on the prelude.

It progressed from there. Papers were strewn about the bed as we subtly shifted from an Equestrian enchanting tutorial to full blown experimentation on the reaction between our two types of magic. Well, Twilight was experimenting; I was simply providing the magic to test against as she took notes. That was fine, though. It actually gave me more information than what was in the book, anyway, with her telling me all of the results.

"Are you sure it's okay to have it out like that?" Fluttershy asked timidly from her position to me left. She'd arrived about twenty minutes ago and was simply lying on top of the covers this time, having set her book down to watch me 'cast' with my left foreleg. Technically, I could form the symbol on any part of my body, but that would involve explaining awkward things that I didn't quite want to talk about yet.

"The nurse said it was quite fine," I assured, smiling softly over at the mare.

Twilight paused in her magical manipulations and gave me an extremely skeptical glance. "Actually, if I remember right, she said that your recovery rate was phenomenal. Healing shattered ribs to just a hairline fracture in less than three days is unheard of," Twilight corrected, eyes watching me carefully.

I swallowed an uneasy lump but Fluttershy cut in before I could say anything, with, "Twilight, isn't that a good thing? You sound, um, upset. Are you okay?" Twilight's gaze didn't budge for a moment, but eventually she sighed and nodded, shifting her attention back to the shielded, floating food tray in front of her.

"Yeah, I'm all right. If you need to talk about anything, though, you know you can trust us, Mender. Right?" she asked, eyes shifting back over to me while she still pointed forwards. I thought about it. Did I trust them? It wasn't really that I didn't. My reservations were in how huge it was, not that I thought they were untrustworthy. Frankly, I thought anypony would have issues with the knowledge I was hiding no matter how loyal and honest they were. I closed my eyes gently, calming the storm of indecisiveness in my heart. What a mess. Idly, I wondered if there was some way I could become a normal pony. I doubted it, however. Surely, Celestia would have mentioned something along those lines already, even if only to eliminate the risk a monster like me posed to her kingdom.

A warm and gentle nuzzle pushed against my shoulder, and I smiled softly. Her smell told me it was Fluttershy without even needing to open my eyes. "Mender, please. Remember what we said yesterday. We're not going anywhere, even if something scary happens. Um, of course, unless you tell us to, that is. Uh, well, if that's okay. I'm not sure entirely what you want us to do. Sorry," Fluttershy murmured before dwindling into a quiet whisper as she lost certainty in herself.

"I know, Fluttershy. I'm just doing a lot of thinking lately. I'll tell both of you soon, though. Probably once I'm out of the hospital," I guessed. Just in case I had to run away in blind panic from a unicorn either thinking I'm an abomination, or wanting to dissect me while I was still alive, I should probably wait until I was fully recovered.

Both mares smiled softly at me, and Twilight gave a nod. "I expected you were just thinking too much, but if there's anything else, Mender, let us know. If we're going to be a herd, we need to look out for each other," she reminded softly, resting back against the pillow gently. A herd, huh?

My eyes closed lightly. Would she really think the same way after she knew my secret? I couldn't really see a happy ending to this, regardless. She'd probably be mad at me for lying to her as well, of course. Fluttershy would also be even more traumatized around me than she already was, so even at the happiest outcome I was looking at a huge setback in both relationships. Maybe I should just back off after I tell them and let things settle for a while? That would give Fluttershy time to recover, and maybe even pursue Twilight independently for a bit. I had no doubt that I could survive by myself if I just wandered into the Everfree. Ironic, considering my initial impressions of the ponies, I now found myself an extremely universal omnivore, rocks and dirt probably amidst the list of things I could consume for mass, anyway. Of course, they were probably fairly low on the vitamin scale.

For a while, I imagined myself idly wandering through the forest. In my natural form, I doubt I'd be harassed much by the local wildlife. I couldn't even manage to kill myself, so I doubt anything else could in there. Still, I should probably read up on some of the wildlife before venturing forth. My thoughts drifted, and I lost sync with the rest of the world as I let my mind wander.

The door opening again snapped me back to reality as I sleepily opened my eyes. Shining Armor wandered back in, giving the mares a smile and me a curt nod before turning and shutting the door again. He seemed a little bit 'colder' than earlier, I noticed.

"Hey, Shiny. You were gone a while," Twilight greeted, raising an eyebrow up at him as he sat down in front of the bed. My warning flags went off and I armed my weapon system just in case, watching him carefully as the stirring extended to the surface of my back.

He sighed wearily and shook his head before explaining, "It's a nightmare. Cadence sent me correspondence while I was visiting the barracks relaying that the attack is being talked about all the way in the Crystal Empire. The citizens are worried about their safety, of course. She's doing her best to console them, but is worried that other cities are having the same problems." Ah, so a really bad day, then. I'd take that over being replaced by a homicidal alien assassin any day. Although, now that I thought about it, wouldn't that be classified as a 'really' bad day, then?

"Oh no. Those poor ponies. Is there anything we can do to help?" Fluttershy asked almost instantly, sounding a little distraught.

Shining Armor shook his head before looking back to me and relaying, "We need information on how secure we are, of course. Mender's pointers so far have been invaluable in tightening security, but Aunt Celestia has requested that we try to get a hold of Keela herself and ascertain if Nirru has been captured or not."

"I'd like to be there, too, Mender. Is there any way you can connect all of us to her?" Twilight asked, shifting her attention back to me.

I shuddered lightly, instantly imagining Celestia smashing her massive amounts of energy into my skull in attempts to connect, too, and comparatively decided that I'd rather fling myself into the sun. Not to mention, who knows what Twilight would discover while connected to me after everything that happened?

Shining Armor interrupted before I could say anything, however. "I want to be there, too. It's my job to guard the Princesses. That includes my sister now, as well," he announced, stomping his hoof down lightly and frowning at me, as if it were my fault she hadn't included him.

"Shiny, it's okay. Mender will sever the link if anything bad happens. Besides, Princess Celestia herself will be there," Twilight assured gently, nodding twice afterwards.

To my surprise, his eyes narrowed a little instead, shifting down to the book in my lap a moment later. I knew he didn't like the thing, but was he seriously thinking I'd purposefully hurt Twilight after everything I told him?! "There's just a lot of weird things happening, and I don't like it. I'd like to bring that book to Princess Celestia and have her take a look at it instead, honestly," he added, confirming my suspicions, anyway.

"You can if you want. I promise you that it's not dangerous. It's an extension of me as much as my left foreleg is," I assured, trying to be as open as I could. The last thing I wanted was for anypony to think badly of me. I'd have enough trouble once they found out what I was!

"Mender! No, that's not needed. He says the book is safe, brother! There's no need to take it away from him. Just relax," the lavender mare next to me defended, much to my surprise. I really didn't have a problem with him taking it. I felt its capabilities now that it was this close. If I really needed it back, I doubt anything could stop it from returning. Honestly, it kind of scared me. I didn't need its powers in the first place.

He frowned over at her instead. "Twily, what's gotten into you, lately? I heard about what you said to the Princess, too. You're her faithful student, remember?" he reminded, looking both worried and perplexed.

"Of course I am, Shiny! I'm not doing anything to be disloyal, am I? I told her I wouldn't spy on my coltfriend anymore, and she agreed with me! Before all of this, I made the mistake of not trusting Mender, too. You saw what happened because of that. Everything he said turned out to be true, so I'm not going to doubt him ever again," she fired back, chaining together my surprised reactions into a rather vicious combo. What exactly had I done to change her mind in the first place? Surely it was more than her just finding out I wasn't 'completely' crazy.

Fluttershy shifted closer to me after wincing at the initial reactions. "S-Stop it, everypony. Please? There's no need to get mad at each other. Um, if you don't mind, Mender, maybe Shining Armor would feel better if you explained what the book does?" she suggested timidly, but in a surprisingly wise manner.

Shining Armor froze for a moment before sighing and looking away. I recognized that expression instantly, and realized that he too was susceptible to the powers of Fluttershy. Although, the nature of her suggestion posed a problem.

"I, uh, don't know much about it in the first place," I warned, before following up with, "It can float freely in the air using basic gravity manipulation. Uh, it can also generate barriers like mine and is practically indestructible." To illustrate my points, I let the book drift into the air of its own accord, a diamond-shaped barrier forming around it as it rotated.

Twilight tilted her head as she watched it, interest shifting rapidly to that instead. "Indestructible?" she inquired, sounding curious.

"Keela said that it could be ejected into a star and be totally fine, even after the thing explodes. It also survived the point blank explosion of the Grosh vessel, too," I elaborated, summarizing extensively.

Shining Armor was rapidly shifting from hostile to interested, much like his sister. "What's inside of it? If it's a book, surely it has things written inside," he reasoned, extremely accurately this time.

I nodded, explaining, "It's a journal. I'm assuming it has every bit of information all the way back from when my original self started it. I know that it magically updates itself based on everything I experience as well, but unfortunately, I can't get it open. The key requires, well, something else in order to fit into the lock."

Twilight lifted the tiny bronze-colored key up before lightly pushing it against the lock on the front of the book. I saw the glowing of the barrier that covered the keyhole as it flared up a couple of times, completely resisting her jabs.

"It's like there's a shield of some sort over the keyhole," she muttered a moment later, moving the key away and glaring at it.

"Keela explained that it needs something else from whomever tries to open it. She said it could be most anything, from being a specific individual, to thinking key thoughts, to even a certain feeling held strongly while pushing the key into the hole. I don't even know where to begin to figure out how to open it," I elaborated, restraining the mild irritation in my voice. Admittedly, I did really want to see what was inside of it myself.

"Huh. It doesn't seem as dangerous as I was afraid of. What do you plan on doing with it?" he inquired, ignoring the annoyed expression Twilight shot him a moment later.

I shook my head, however, looking down at the book as it dropped back down to my lap. Just seeing it left me feeling rather hollow and empty. The things we all had to go through just for me to get the bloody thing... "Nothing, really. Well, beyond trying to open it. The only reason I wanted it here so badly was because it was holding the connection open to Equestria while it was on the other side," I muttered, unable to contain the bitter tone this time. The price to get it here wasn't exactly low, that was for sure. My left foreleg twitched lightly and I shivered, pulling it closer to myself to warm it from the sudden chill. I vividly remembered the feeling of having it snapped backwards and ripped from my body.

"Mender, it's okay now," Fluttershy assured softly, instantly rotating around again and squeezing me with a light hug.

Sighing, I rested my head against her shoulder as she squeezed me, giving her a weak nod. "I know. I just, well, remember what it felt like when she, um... Well, regardless, it wasn't easy getting this thing here," I tried to explain, suddenly finding myself extremely uncomfortable with even saying what happened.

A light flash. The tearing sensation burned through me from my snapped shoulder. I couldn't remember screaming, but I must have as she smashed my skull into Applejack's cage over and over again just from the motions of her yanks. My foreleg hit the wood in front of me, a splatter of blood coming off it from the impact as I felt it running down my side, everything going numb. It didn't even register as mine. It couldn't be mine! Applejack's expression shifted into shock and horror a moment later as she stared at it, tears starting to come down her cheeks. No!

I gasped, mind reeling as my body suddenly felt extremely cold. "Mender! Snap out of it. You're here, with us!" Twilight suddenly shouted, causing my eyes to open again in shock. Fluttershy was holding me tightly with her wings wrapped around my shivering body. Twilight herself was pressed into my right shoulder, giving it gentle nudges to get my attention again. Both looked extremely worried as I finally looked around, feeling the blood pool in my stomach. Damn it. Another stupid flashback.

My head lowered lightly against Fluttershy's foreleg as I sighed. "I'm sorry, everypony. I, um, didn't mean for that to happen," I muttered, sad that I had worried them. Shining Armor looked downright shocked, now that I glanced up at him.

Twilight laughed; a short and mildly amused barking noise, almost. "Obviously, Mender. I don't think you'd ever 'want' to have a flashback like that. Just relax, though, okay?"

"Yes. Um, please relax. You're here with us and nothing bad is happening," Fluttershy chipped in, pulling me closer against her as she tucked herself partially under the blankets.

"Dang. I, uh, didn't mean for that to happen. I'm sorry, Mender. I didn't realize," Shining Armor apologized, glancing between Twilight and me.

Finally, I just shook my head wearily, looking back up at him. "It's fine. You want to protect everypony. I can definitely relate to that. I'm just a little shaken up over everything that happened still. It's not every day that I get my foreleg torn off," I excused, lowering my ears again. That must have been a pleasant thing for Twilight to discover upstairs, now that I thought about it.

The mare in question smiled softly and gave my right foreleg a squeeze. "It's all right, Mender. I'm just happy you managed to get it back and are recovering," she assured. Her tone had a slight shift in it, and I glanced back up at her hesitantly. It was hard to place the emotion in her eyes as I stared at her. She specifically avoided saying the Princess got it back for me, I suddenly realized. She hesitated, then looked away from me a moment later, causing me to frown. Oh hell. Did one of the two Princesses say something to her?!

"Yes. It's a miracle, honestly. I didn't know Princess Luna was so good at healing magic," Shining Armor furthered, smiling and nodding politely towards me. He hadn't meant anything by it, but it still sent a shiver down my spine.

Fluttershy slid down my side and shifted her wing over me, her book now apparently having been forgotten. Still, I couldn't bring myself to remind her, as the warmth of her coat felt amazing against my still damaged left foreleg. I expected them to be queasy over it, so this was quite a surprise. It wasn't slimy or squishy or anything, but it certainly looked rather disgusting with its discoloration, bony protrusions, and fresh veins expanding out across it. It also itched like crazy as my fur started to lightly grow back across the surface, but that much I was expecting.

None of the prior mentioned oddities seemed to bother the adorable yellow mare, however. She cradled the leg against her chest, smiling as it stopped shivering and warmed up under her body heat. Her wing expanded over me as well, further keeping the rest of me warm as she lightly dropped it across my chest. She trusted me with it now, I suddenly realized. Smiling, I gave it a light kiss along the top of it, earning a whimsical giggle from Fluttershy.

"Okay, you're adorable, Mender. Applejack and Fluttershy are right. I suddenly realize that you'd make a wonderful father as well. You're so understanding and gentle," Twilight suddenly spoke up, making my eyes shoot to full size almost instantly as I looked over at her in surprise.

"Whoa! Uh, is there something I should be telling Mom?" Shining Armor asked almost instantly, ironically looking as surprised as I felt.

Twilight snorted, however, and stuck her tongue out at him. "Shiny, you're smarter than that. For one, you know that I'm a good girl and won't be starting a family until I'm sure I'm ready," she reminded, giving him a skeptical glance. Of course, what she didn't mention was that 'ready' wasn't likely to occur in the lifespan of say, the star in the sky. If her prior statement still held, I had a feeling the ball of burning gas would be on its last legs by the time she even decided to become intimate.

"Yeah, I guess you're right about-" he started to agree before she raised a hoof and silenced him.

"Further, and more importantly, Mender arrived in the middle of summer, 'after' the first estrus cycle. The second one hasn't come yet. Thus, it would be physically impossible for me to be pregnant," she pointed out.

I choked back a snicker out of respect for her brother. Fluttershy giggled, however, and squeezed tighter to me while Shining Armor rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You're a real piece of work, Sis. Suddenly, I think I was wrong. Fluttershy is probably going to end up having foals first, isn't she?" he suggested, recovering his smile from before as Twilight shifted instantly into a blush. My cheeks lit up too due to me not considering Fluttershy like that before.

Of all things to not make her squeak, however, this was apparently one of them. Fluttershy's smile simply widened as a light flush drifted into her cheeks. "I, um, don't think I'd mind. Probably not this year, but maybe next if, uh, Mender accepts me into the herd. It might be scary, but I'll have Mender and Twilight here to help me, along with all our other amazing friends," she murmured against my chest. My heart dropped into my stomach at about the same speed as my jaw dropping onto my chest.

Twilight looked equally stunned for a moment, barely managing to get out, "Um, whoa. Uh, you do realize that means you have to, um," she tried to point out, causing me to blush at the implied direction of her question. Fluttershy opened an eye to peek at Twilight as she trailed off. Frankly, I was shocked we were even having this conversation, let alone it going so well, even if I was just listening, really.

Fluttershy nodded gently against me, eyes only open a little ways and looking half asleep. Maybe that contributed to her mellow take on the conversation? "Yeah. It's, um, all right, though. I trust Mender and it's a natural thing, right?" she reasoned, her left hoof gesturing towards Twilight as she rested.

Twilight momentarily looked surprised, but relaxed soon after, giving her friend an agreeable smile. "Well, yeah. You're right, of course. I think I'll let you become a mother first, though. That way I'll know what I'm getting into," she finally agreed. Wait, what?!

My eyes widened as I looked back and forth between the two mares.

"D-Don't I get a say in this?! Why are we even talking about this, anyway?" I finally managed to ask. Shining Armor, who had been doing so admirably with both forehooves pressed to his muzzle, finally caved and burst into laughter. My ears flattened back as Twilight joined in a moment later. I opened my mouth to say more, but Fluttershy slipped up and kissed me lightly on the chin, causing me to blush and momentarily lose control of my voice.

She let out a giggle as I looked down at her. "Of course you get a say, Mender. You're going to be the daddy, after all. It still amazes me at how gentle you are with me. I had been wrong all along," she muttered, frowning a bit towards the end.

"Wrong?" I questioned, wondering what the sudden shift in tone was about. The siblings' laughter finally dwindled as Fluttershy shook her head.

"I know you aren't mean and you'd never intentionally hurt anypony. The images were just so scary though that I started to, um, doubt that in my mind. Now I'm, well, really, really upset with myself. Ooohh! I could just scream I'm so mad. I wasted a lot of time being silly and doubting you, and then I see you're really like this and I regret the whole thing," she explained, being remarkably quiet and soft spoken for being angry. Well, not that I expected her to actually start screaming or something.

Twilight snickered and shook her head softly. "If Mender's fine with it, I have no problems with you being in the herd at all, Fluttershy. If you feel badly for it, just make up for lost time and be together with us now instead," she suggested, nodding twice afterwards with that satisfied smile she always gets when things are neat and orderly. I nodded along with a similar soft grin, discovering that I wasn't really needed for this to work out.

All four of us were interrupted, however, as three bright blasts of pink flames and smoke appeared in the air around Shining Armor's head. He sighed as he caught the three scrolls in his magic and rotated them in front of himself.

"Yup. All three are from Cadence. Well, you three seem to have everything covered, so I'm going to go for a while. I need to send another letter out to my wife, it would seem," Shining Armor excused after Fluttershy relaxed against me again. Twilight started giggling in amusement. He stopped a moment later, however, looking as if he suddenly remembered something.

"I almost forgot. You never did answer, Mender. Is there a way to draw other ponies in to talk to Keela with you? Aunt Celestia was curious," he asked yet again.

Oh! Oops. I'd forgotten I technically didn't answer that after our topic got derailed. "Oh, um, yeah, there is. Well, I think so, anyway. It feels extremely similar to when Twilight touches her horn to my head and slips into my mind. I think that if she does that when I transfer over to the other-" I started to explain. It got cut off most unexpectedly however.

"What?!" he asked almost instantly, shifting to a mixture of what looked like shock and hostility as he looked over at his sister. I blinked, totally blindsided by the reaction as I looked towards Twilight as well. She was blushing furiously and averting her eyes from both of us, however. I suddenly got that familiar sensation that she was hiding something from me again and I just blundered into it accidentally.

Fluttershy looked just as confused as me, however, before asking timidly, "Um, is that a bad thing? It doesn't sound bad. It sounds kind of romantic," she inquired, smiling towards the end and giving my chest another squeeze. I smirked down at her and held her closer, enjoying the sensation. Well, she was right. Honestly, I guess it was kind of romantic.

"Ah, can we talk about this later, Shiny?" Twilight pleaded, looking back up at him and pushing her forehooves together.

"Don't 'Shiny' me, Sis. Acting cute won't change the fact that you've been Mind Syncing outside of marriage! What would our parents think?" he lectured, sounding irritated.

Uh oh. Outside of marriage? There was definitely something she hadn't told me, I had a sudden suspicion. "Oh! Oh, I remember now. It's part of the Unicorn marriage ritual, and needed to consummate the union," Fluttershy suddenly remembered out loud. Oh. My cheeks flared up with heat and I shivered lightly, looking back over to the lavender unicorn who still refused to meet my gaze.

"Exactly. You were supposed to wait, Twilight. I just... I don't know. I don't have time for this right now. I'll see what Mom and Dad want to do about it," he finally decided out loud, shaking his head and turning towards the door again. No matter how many paths I followed in my mind, I couldn't foresee a good outcome to this.

"Shiny, wait! You don't have to tell them at all!" Twilight shouted as he exited the room. She stood rapidly and was gone from the bed in a flash of light, reappearing in the hallway in an instant. "Wait, I said! Just listen to me!" she yelled after him.

His hoofsteps further down the hallway didn't slow, however, and Twilight let out a low growl before chasing after.

Fluttershy and I listened to her voice dwindle as they got further and further down the hallway. Well crap. "Oh dear," Fluttershy murmured, staring in surprise at the door. I still couldn't process what had just happened fully, and suddenly decided that maybe I should stop trying. I couldn't exactly run and catch up with them anyway.

"I couldn't agree more," I returned before exhaling softly and flopping back into a lying position. You know what? Screw it. The world can wait. I had a warm bed, soft covers, and an amazing mare squeezed up against me. She shifted back to a smile as I pushed my muzzle into her tummy and drew her down into the covers again. "We can deal with it later," I assured, smiling up at her from the shadows of my blankets. This was an amazingly comfortable bed for being in a hospital.

"That sounds, Mmm, nice. Yes," she agreed softly before slipping down next to me. I let out a pleased cooing noise before snuggling against her and closing my eyes again. Fluttershy felt nice and warm against me, and staying awake for so long had really tired me out. There was a hazy, sleepy sensation as we snuggled against each other under the covers. Honestly, I could be happy with this. Very happy. So very sleepy as well... I’ll see what’s going on later. Slowly, my body relaxed and everything drifted away.

Chapter 32

A flash of teeth in the dark snapped me awake in an instant. I found myself sitting upright with a cold sweat dotting my coat. I stared into the dark of the room, rapidly letting my heartbeat slow. I was alone again. Fluttershy had probably left after I fell asleep on her. I was just so tired lately.

Teeth. They had been mine this time. Well, the teeth of my other form; the ones that were pointed, sharp, and angled for restraining prey while my jaws crushed them apart. I shivered, the moisture on my fur feeling even colder. There was no escaping the truth anymore, honestly. Twilight was right. I couldn't live like this; lying to everypony like that. Even if it meant that I lost their love in the process. Princess Celestia had said the same thing, hadn't she? Of course, she had also told me that it was up to me to find my own place in the world; my reason for being in Equestria.

As if summoned, a light tapping noise sounded from the window to my left as my thoughts drifted. Sitting up, I glanced over at the window, noting immediately that there was a white glow emanating into the room. Celestia herself hovered just outside of the window, wings idly flapping as she looked in expectantly. I knew she had the capability to just open the window herself, so I assumed she was waiting for an invitation. My upper left most tentacle extended from my back and reached out, lightly wrapping around the window and unhooking the lock at the bottom. She smiled as I slid it open, and then retreated.

"You're very gentle with those as well," she commented, flicking herself through the window with practiced grace. Beyond yesterday, I wondered if she'd done this before.

"It was hard to do anything but break things at first, but after I got stuck in that form for a few hours, I learned to be gentle with them, too," I explained, watching passively as she landed at the side of my bed.

Her smile widened as she nodded in agreement. "After Shining Armor's report, I must say that I'm fully accepting of you. Not that I wasn't honestly before, but it spoke most favorably on your behalf," she relayed. I raised my eyebrow, skeptical at best.

"Even after what he found out about his sister and me? Not to mention the book," I asked, finding it hard to believe that he had anything good to say about me.

She chuckled softly and shook her head before glancing over at my bedside table. "Ah yes, is this it?" she inquired, undoubtedly already knowing the answer as she levitated it gently off the wooden surface.

I nodded once, watching her lift it with mild intrigue. Idly, I wondered if it was within her power to destroy the thing. "Prudentia. It's an Aegis Artifact. I'm sure Twilight reported that already, though," I added, feeling kind of silly. For some reason, however, I also liked saying the book's name. It felt, well, warm to me somehow.

Celestia examined it for a few moments before shaking her head and setting it down on my mattress instead. "No, she hasn't reported anything to me since the last time I saw her. I do believe she's a bit uncomfortable with me at the moment," she revealed, looking back up at me with a soft expression. I frowned, having not expected that reply in the least.

"I'm surprised. Honestly, I never expected her to say that in the first place, let alone actually follow through with it," I admitted quietly, unsure of my own voice suddenly. Celestia watched me carefully before closing her eyes and sighing. She took a moment before glancing back up at me with a weary smile.

"I'm sorry, but that's a little sad to hear. I'm not blaming you, of course. You've lost your trust in a lot of ponies after all of this. Is there anypony you trust still?" she asked in almost a whisper. I wasn't used to seeing the white alicorn look sad. It was a little disarming.

The question was easy enough, however. "Fluttershy," I returned a moment later. She watched me as I considered my own answer before nodding again, adding, "She's never really done anything to betray my trust apart from eavesdrop once. Plus, I have the direct link to her and can feel her when she gets close. It's relaxing and I feel comfortable around her."

Celestia smiled gently at my mention of the link and looked down at the book in my lap yet again. "I confess to being unable to detect that connection. Twilight also hasn't spoken much about it. Or is it more a matter of nopony knowing?" she inquired. That tidbit surprised me, honestly. Well, not so much that she couldn't detect it but more the fact that she admitted it to me.

"The last I discussed them with Twilight, neither of us knew much about them. I still don't know, as I haven't really looked into them. I've been trying to sort all the Keldarian DNA I have inside of myself into a database the last day or so," I excused, realizing I should probably look into it at some point.

She nodded as if actually understanding what I just said, to my further surprise. "It might be a nice olive branch to offer to Keela if the need arises. Shining Armor told me of what you reasoned could be used to have a talk with her as well. Oh, and worry not. He is not angry at you at all and fully realizes that you didn't know what she was even doing," Celestia assured, as if suddenly remembering the finer points of the conversation.

I blanched, then shook my head sadly. "I'm more worried about him being mad at Twilight. She's been, well, a lot more flexible and understanding the last few days and I find myself far more sympathetic," I admitted. Back when she still thought I was a crazy loon that couldn't manage breathing on my own, I might have thought otherwise.

Celestia snickered at my explanation instead. "I agree that her progress in adjusting to having a coltfriend has significantly improved. Her parents are understanding, however, and this should only be a minor blunder. Normally such a thing is associated with, uh, more intimate interactions and some families hold it relative to consummation of a marriage," she explained in an extremely helpful, if not slightly awkward, manner.

I swallowed, finding myself extremely uneasy now. "Uh, will it help if they know we haven't, um, mated yet?" I offered, unsure if this was a conversation I should be having with the Princess of the entire country.

If it was a faux pas, she didn't bat an eye at it. Instead, she released a gentle giggle accompanying a shake of her head. "Nay. I think they'll guess that even if she doesn't tell them. Honestly, you have nothing to worry about. The worst thing they shall do is attempt to be a little pushy with you, looking for commitment. My niece described similar after they walked in on her and Shining Armor, I believe," Princess Celestia relayed, raising a ponderous hoof to her chin.

My eyes widened a little bit. Was there such a thing as too much information? I shuddered and suppressed my gag reflex. "Uh, I didn't honestly need to know that," I managed to mutter, looking away from the alicorn.

She grinned; it was a long and mirthful expression. "You are indeed fun to tease. You turn the most adorable shade of pink. Rose was speaking of such earlier," she pointed out. Ugh. She was doing it on purpose!

"You can be downright evil, you know that, Tia?" I asked, giving her a dull, irked stare. She outright laughed, of course. Wait, Rose? Oh, one of those three mares. Well at least that confirmed my earlier suspicions. "They were teasing me the entire time, weren't they? Twilight and I thought they were serious," I groaned, smacking my right forehoof into my forehead and sighing.

Tia grinned even more, somehow. "I should tell you something. A blushing stallion, much like a blushing mare, is adorable. If a mare finds an easy way to make a stallion blush, she's probably going to abuse it for the cuteness. A shy stallion like yourself is going to get a lot of playful flirting, I suspect," she explained, politely holding a hoof to her muzzle in order to contain the light snickers emerging from it.

"So they were just teasing me in order to get me to blush?" My eye twitched slightly as I stared harder at the Sun Princess.

"Oh, don't downgrade it. Rose and Daisy spoke highly of you when I talked to the two of them. They're not just teasing you, but feel genuinely friendly. In fact, almost everypony I've spoken with the last day or so has shown outright sympathy and caring for your condition. You've made a positive impression on them, even if you think otherwise," she assured.

I stared at her in surprise, wondering when she'd grow the second head out of her tongue and eat me or something. It slowly shifted to a frown as I considered the cultural differences between here and my old dimension. I figured that they'd hold me in contempt after being indirectly responsible for the attack and disruption of the peace. Hell, if I were still a Keldarian, they would have held me as an 'indirect accomplice to the act of terror,' as I believe they worded it. That warranted incarceration or the death sentence if I was remembering correctly.

"What, did you think they'd be angry with you? My little ponies are smart, Mender. They know that you're as much a victim, if not more so, than everypony in town. I shouldn't mention this, but they're putting together a care package to present at the party once you're released and Pinkie feels better," she revealed after a moment of my dumbfounded staring. If I wasn't dazed and confused before, she might as well have just walked up and clobbered me with a baseball bat to the side of the head. They were what?!

She lost whatever ancient stoic reserve she typically called upon and started snickering again in amusement, undoubtedly at the expression I was currently sporting. "As big of a deal as the attack was, I just figured they'd have put more blame on me having indirectly caused it by, well, existing here?" I tried to reason, tilting my head up to consider it. Admittedly, it had sounded better in my head.

"You're very silly, Mender. Regardless, I think you shall be pleasantly surprised. However, before I forget, I would indeed like to ask you when you'd like to bring us to meet Keela, if your method works. I'd like to do so soon, but I'm not sure what you need for the feat," she requested, locking eyes with me again.

I frowned, but nodded a moment later. "The only thing needed really is enough room for yourself and three other ponies to be comfortable with touching horns. Um, also, can I request that Twilight lead, if possible?" I inquired, ears drooping a little.

Instead of being irked, however, she simply smiled. "Of course, Mender. I was already planning on that. My horn is significantly longer than average, so I shall let Twilight's rest upon you, rest mine upon hers, and have Shining Armor place his upon mine. Would that be satisfactory?" she suggested calmly, going a step further than what I was going to risk requesting.

I nodded twice, smiling gently at her again. She returned my gesture before settling into place in one of the side chairs that slid up in her aura to be closer to the bed. "Then I'm glad that's settled. Will you be fit enough to do so tomorrow? I don't mean to rush you, but I simply worry for my subjects. They are quite concerned over the state of things, and some definite answers would do well to placate them," she reasoned. I could definitely see the logic in her request.

"Yes, I can do it tomorrow if the other two can manage it." It really wasn't that big of a deal in the first place. Taking a nap wasn't exactly stressful on my body, after all.

"Then I'll get word out in the morning to have Twilight begin preparations. In the meantime, I do believe I offered to answer anything you wanted me to," she reminded gently, settling into her chair as if expecting to be there a while.

Oh, oh yeah. Now that I thought about it, she had already answered quite a bit of my questions just in this informal conversation. It always amazed me that she insisted on approaching me like just another pony. Still, she'd helped me a lot and proven to be quite a bit more pleasant than I had started to see her as, so I wasn't about to complain.

Of course, that didn't mean there weren't things I was curious about. "When did you discover I was a robot?" I asked a moment later, deciding that was foremost on my list and I didn't know how many she was going to let me ask.

"Whoa. You certainly know how to get right to the heart of things. To be honest, at the cafe. Although, to correct you, I do believe the term for you would be cyborg. You are essentially a pony, but have many added parts and qualities," she answered, gesturing towards my chest with a hoof while doing so.

I raised an eyebrow. Was it common for answers to raise more questions than actually answering? "Why didn't you say anything then?" I asked, deciding not to mention the fact that she knew what a cyborg was in the first place.

She shook her head, however. "If you'd proved hostile to my little ponies, me informing you of what you were wouldn't have been needed anyway. If you didn't prove hostile, you obviously didn't know and had genuinely good intentions. If that were so, telling you would simply disrupt the life you wanted to form here and be exceptionally cruel. Of course, had I known this would happen, I might have acted differently," she explained simply, politely watching me with a neutral expression.

It didn't strike me as fair for her to decide that for me, but I guess it was a moot point. "You really aren't going to have Twilight watch over me anymore?" I asked, deciding it was a little risky, but I needed to know the answer.

She cracked a smile and shook her head, of course. I didn't sense any lies, but I had no doubt she had the world's greatest poker face. "No, I'm not. If she watches over you from this point on, it's for her own reasons. Most likely concern, I imagine. She's come a long way in learning about a more intimate level of relationship, and I personally think she cares for you very much. Please don't place any of the blame for those instances on her, however." That was an interesting request, but she'd made similar past, after lunch that time.

"I have enough reasons to distrust Twilight without adding those, but I'm trying. She asked for another chance and I'm inclined to give it to her. She could just take what she wanted, but so far, she hasn't," I relayed, frowning a little bit. This was totally backwards compared to how I was used to things. In my dimension, if a female claimed you, you were property unless a different female laid claim as well. Then all hell broke loose. It was rare for the male in question to even survive. In some cases, the government stepped in and euthanized the male just to cease the hostilities. It's not like there weren't nine more of us to replace the one lost.

Celestia's smile pushed through my thoughts, and she assured, "I have no doubt that she'll not allow herself to stray this time. I've seen her react like this before and I assure you, you'll get her utmost attention. I realize there's a significant contrast from your old culture. Equestria doesn't work like that, however. Have you considered explaining this to the girls? I believe they'd really like to know."

"Normally, they aren't comfortable when I talk about my old world. I didn't think they'd want to know anything about it," I muttered, looking away from Tia.

"This is important, however. I do believe this will explain a lot of things to them and probably improve their outlook on things," she added, shifting back to a soft smile afterwards.

After a moment's consideration, I nodded. I'd tell Twilight when I could. If it was relevant information, she'd no doubt give it to the others. "I only have one more question. Do you know if Applejack and Rainbow Dash forgive me for what happened that night?" I asked last, largely because it hurt to say it. There were some questions I discovered that I didn't want to know the answer to. At the same time, this was one I couldn't not know either. It was more than a little inconvenient, honestly.

"As they won't tell you themselves, it is truly only fair that you ask somepony else. Rainbow is conflicted between supporting her crush and trying to get her to talk to you again. She was the one who delivered the apples last night, and if I heard correctly, will try again tonight," she relayed, looking a little glum suddenly.

"Try?" I asked, a little confused as to her meaning.

I received a nod in return. "You ate the apples whole. Fluttershy reported that they were simply missing, and now the three of them think that the nurse confiscated the apples," Tia elaborated.

"Fluttershy's involved too?" I asked, actually not all that surprised.

Celestia nodded again, explaining, "She worries for Applejack, who is in much worse condition than Rainbow. It's more than just accidentally betraying the trust of a friend. She didn't believe you even when you tried so hard, which goes against her very Element. She wanted to see how you reacted to the apples to know if she even had a chance at forgiveness." The Sun Princess sighed afterwards and lowered her head a little, obviously not liking the progression either.

After a moment's debate, I made up my mind. "When Rainbow comes tonight, I'll try to talk to her. Maybe I can get a message to Applejack," I pondered out loud. If I couldn't approach her myself, then I'd just have to ask somepony else to for me.

Celestia nodded politely, agreeing with, "That's a wise and mature direction to go in. I'm pleased with that." She lingered after, watching me carefully. For an awkward moment, I suddenly didn't know what she wanted, her gaze locking with mine. An errant thought drifted through my mind, and I suddenly realized that she was probably waiting for me to ask more questions.

"Oh, um, I don't really have anymore questions for you," I revealed softly, partially looking away from her rather unnerving gaze. Those eyes! I could almost feel the sensation of them burning into me as she focused her attention. Was it a product of her strength, or was it more her sheer force of experience she's lived through?

She giggled a moment later, easing the pressure off immediately. "That I wasn't expecting, to be honest. Are you sure there's absolutely no more questions you want to ask?" I nodded gently in assurance, causing her to continue with, "Very well. I do have one final question for you for tonight, if you'll indulge me."

Admittedly, when worded like that, it made me more than a little curious. Her tone had shifted formal, which she had intentionally avoided when talking to me, for the most part. I glanced back over at her, eyes curious. "Uh, of course I don't mind. Um, what is it that you wanted to ask?" I tried to inquire in as polite a manner possible. Her expression wavered momentarily, further surprising me and unnerving me at the same time.

"Do you trust me?" she finally asked. The weight added to the question could have knocked the building down.

I locked up momentarily, not really even processing the question. The shock slid into a mixture of sadness and apprehension, however, as I was suddenly conflicted. The obvious 'right' answer to the question was some variant of 'yes', of course. But that would be lying. To be honest with myself, no, I didn't fully trust her.

Celestia's eyes softened and she looked away a moment later before nodding. "I understand. That much I predicted after all this. You have my honest word that I'll do nothing to betray your trust ever again, of course, for what it's worth," she assured a moment later.

It didn't really surprise me that she saw my answer without my need to say anything. Giving a weak smile, I finally shook my head. "I want to believe you, Tia. Deep down, you're a good pony who's had to make some tough choices due to your position. I understand that, and still want to be your friend," I finally tried to explain, never having put it together in my mind before now. My feelings regarding Tia were mixed to begin with.

She smiled, of course, and glanced back at me, head still tilted to the side. "You're a very kind stallion. After all this is over, I'm inviting you to Canterlot. My treat. I want to just be able to talk with you again, like normal, I believe," she finally announced, expression growing more mirthful as my expression shifted to surprise.

This time I caught her ploy before she could fully engage it, however. I grinned and nodded in return, warning, "Only if the girls and Spike can come too."

She laughed that time and turned to fully face me, agreeing with a soft nod of her head. "But of course. It's a plan, then. Although, you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow, so I won't keep you further," she assured, standing upright again and shifting her wings out into a light stretch. The window slowly slid open without her turning to look at it.

"Yeah. And tomorrow you get to use the door," I pointed out, gesturing towards the window with my right foreleg across my body.

To my surprise, she winked instead before heading towards the window. "You'd be surprised how much fun it is to do things in an unorthodox manner from time to time, Mender. For that, I thank you. You let me get away," she explained, eyes momentarily softening as she looked down at the sill. I tilted my head, but she shook hers before I could ask anything. "Anyways, I shall see you tomorrow," she added, before slipping through the window.

Hmm. Not nearly as graceful as Dash, but I'd give her a three point five.

Chuckling to myself at my own lame sense of humor, I lay back against my pillows again as the window slowly slid shut. Tomorrow was going to be a big day. Here's just hoping Keela would answer in the first place. Of course, she wouldn't know I was bringing company along this time, so I saw no reason for her to refuse the connection specifically requested in her note. Telling myself to relax, I let my body slowly drift back away into my dreams.

A stirring drifted through me. Halfway mixed with a rather tasty dream involving Twilight and Fluttershy in the spa still, I felt an uncomfortable shiver go through me as my body suddenly felt a little colder. It clashed with the wonderful sensations the dream brought on, and I pulled myself awake with reluctance. What was going on?

My sleepy eyes shifted around, not immediately catching anything out of place in the dark room. There were no movements or out of place shapes, and no static noises mixing with the silence of the night. Disoriented momentarily, I pulled up Clocky and discovered that it was oh three hundred hours. Damn. I shivered again and looked over at the window, instantly noticing it was partially cracked open. Oh! The air was leaking in from the outside, slowly lowering the temperature of the room. Had Celestia forgotten to shut it all the way? I thought I remembered her doing so.

A moment later, I saw it shiver and worm it's way up a little more. The lock lowered a little more and slid a little further open. Huh? A moment later, I gave a startled jump as a little wire slipped in and hooked around the latch on the still partially closed lock. A bit of jiggling got it hooked around the knob, and the wielder pulled, popping the latch off.

My eyes narrowed and I pulled the stirring inside of me to the surface of my back, shifting my dermal layer to armor just in case. This was a messy way to go about breaking in if they had Keldarian technology, but I wasn't about to extend the benefit of the doubt. The window slid up a little a second later, and a cyan hoof slipped under it and pulled it up slowly and silently. Dash!

My mind flickered inside of me and I brought up her status link with myself. Sure enough, it displayed her as being less than three meters from me. It really was her, then? Of course, it didn't give me the direction she was in, but what were the odds she was, like, sleeping on the roof above me? After a moment's consideration of her lethargic tendencies, I kept my dermal armor up just in case.

She slipped through the window upon getting it open wide enough, barely managing to get the saddlebag she wore inside as well. Further probability of it being actually Dash. A Keldarian assassin wouldn't have bothered with the saddlebag; their body is malleable enough to just keep their weapons inside of themselves.

She straightened herself a bit and stood upright upon landing. I closed my eyes again and peeked through the barest sliver as she turned to look at me, pretending to be asleep again. This was the first time I'd seen the cyan mare since the incident, and a light lump grew in my throat as I watched her. A vivid memory drifted up of her angry face as she smashed me backwards, followed immediately by her horrified look as she saw me in the forest. Her eyes had said it all. She thought I was a horrifying, unspeakable monster.

Her heart rate maintained a calm, if slightly elevated beat as she slowly got closer, slipping her muzzle into her side bag and rooting around in it. I waited patiently until she gently withdrew a rather sizable apple, the stem carefully held between her teeth. I felt myself blush lightly as I realized she was technically touching the top of the apple with her lips. Mentally berating myself a moment later, I realized I might still be a little hypersensitive from the dream she disrupted. Regardless, I put a tight leash on the stirrings instantly.

She used her muzzle to lightly brush the blankets back before hesitantly and ever so gently setting the apple down against my chest. Once it was in place and she made sure it wasn't going to roll, she slipped her head back into her saddlebag again, no doubt to withdraw another of the tasty red morsels. This was my chance, I guessed.

My eyes opened again as she slipped her head into the bag. I decided to be brave and just meet her face first and talk. She'd probably appreciate that more than beating around the bush. I waited patiently as she withdrew another apple and repeated the careful positioning. She had some extreme stealth skills if she did this last night and didn't wake me up. I suddenly wondered what she'd look like all dressed up in an operative outfit or something. She could probably pull it off if she covered up her more, well, vibrant qualities. Not much blended well with rainbow.

To my surprise, she was completely oblivious to my eyes being open. Okay, so she had the moves but not the observational skills. A little rough around the edges, I guessed. She probably didn't have to use clandestine skills every day. She repeated the motion with the third apple, then carefully started to nudge the blanket back into place. I waited patiently and in slight amusement as she got it stuck in a tangle and released a whispered growl before finally resorting to her teeth to pull it up again. Okay, that was cute.

Finally, her work completed, she exhaled quietly and glanced back up at my not so sleeping face. A heartbeat went by. Her expression shifted from a soft smile to a startled, shocked look after a second's lag. She gave a startled squeak and shuffled backwards a good half-meter or so, eyes hitting their maximum size as she stared at me. I couldn't help but smile lightly at her.

"Hey, Rainbow. Thank you for the apples," I offered in a soft whisper, not wanting to startle the guard now posted outside of my door. Shining Armor had gotten a little paranoid after the incident with the book yesterday, it would seem.

Her eyes softened and locked with mine. She flinched, but couldn't seem to budge the soft, rose-colored orbs away from mine. "M-Mender! I didn't realize that you were awake. Um, the apples are actually kinda from AJ, not me. I'm just dropping them off," she whispered back, uncharacteristically shaken a little. I must have really surprised her.

Trying to calm her down, I gave her a gentle smile. "Well, can you thank Applejack for me as well? The last three were delicious, too," I added.

To her credit, she honestly looked surprised. "Wha? I thought the nurse found 'em and took them away. There weren't even cores left in the morning," she exclaimed, apparently momentarily forgetting her caution and raising her voice in surprise a bit.

Oh. Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten the entire apple after all. I decided to be vague and return, "The hospital food is terrible. I was more than a little thankful to get the delicious apples and didn't want to waste any of them."

Dash's eyes softened and she gave a nod after a moment's thought. "I hear ya, really. I've been here enough to know that the food is always terrible! But AJ will be glad to hear you liked them. They're kind of, well..." she started before hesitating. Again, this was a side of Rainbow I wasn't familiar with. I didn't think she'd ever be insecure about anything. Her usual confidence was dulled, however.

"I'm not mad at her," I revealed in the light lull Dash left in her statement. She started, then looked back at me with a bit of a disbelieving look. "I'm not. Frankly, I'm jealous that Twi has such great friends who are willing to so adamantly stick up for her when they think she's hurt by somepony. I'm happy she has such amazing friends, though. Honest," I added, trying to convince her of what I felt.

"Mender, you don't need to-" she started to interrupt before I lightly held a hoof up, stopping her.

"All I'm trying to say is that I, well, I'm just hoping she'll take back what she said that night about not being my friend anymore," I finally admitted, probably majorly confusing her with the wording. My mental rehearsals usually ended a few minutes ago with her fleeing from the hospital in horror. Frankly, I was astounded that I'd gotten this far in the first place.

Rainbow watched me for a few moments before smiling again, shifting back to her confident grin I was far more familiar with. "That I can assure she'll do. Heck, hearing this should help her a lot. She's been a mess the last couple days," she assured, giving a confident nod afterwards.

I raised an eyebrow, unsure of her wording. "I thought Twilight said she was barely hurt?" I asked, a little worried now.

Dash snorted and rolled her eyes playfully. "Relax. She got a few nicks. No, she just thinks she's screwed up bad. Well, she did, but she's never quite messed up like this before," she muttered, shaking her head.

I gave her a skeptical glance, which earned a wince again. Dash lowered her head and sighed, adding, "Okay, yeah. I screwed up too. That's why both of us weren't coming in during visiting hours. We really, uh, didn't know what to say? What do you say to that? 'I'm sorry for not trusting you, almost killing you, and then almost getting you killed afterwards because of it?' Sounds like one of Pinkie's signs..."

Okay, that I chuckled at. Did that mean she was seriously going to try to fit all that onto a banner? Joy. "It looked pretty bad on my part, you have to admit. Just assuming I was nuts was the far more realistic choice," I pointed out, resting back against my pillows again. Beats the alternative explanation, anyway. An alien from another dimension arrived, assumed the form of my fillyfriend, then tried to seduce me for my alien DNA to rebuild her race. Oh, and I was a robotic eldritch abomination capable of eating the planet.

"She's going to want to do some serious apologizing regardless, Mender. I do, too, so let us? We want to make amends. I'll try to get her in here tomorrow, okay?" Rainbow requested, holding her head higher again but not recovering the smile.

She was stubborn all right. "I forgive you already, of course. But yes, tomorrow will work for me so long as it's not during Celestia's meeting," I agreed.

"Oooh, goin' on another date with the Princess, hot stuff?" she asked almost instantly. There was a light thudding noise from the other side of the door. The guard knew she was in here and was listening in?!

Deciding to ignore the development, I rolled my eyes and gave her a flat stare. "You know it's not like that. Celestia, Shining Armor, and Twilight are all coming here tomorrow to have a face to face with Keela, the sister of the Keldarian who attacked us," I explained gently.

Rainbow's grin shifted to a serious expression almost immediately, and she nodded twice, asking, "Do you think I could be here to watch? I probably can't help any but, I dunno, I guess I'd just feel better if I could be here for emotional support?"

I raised an eyebrow and smirked at her a moment later, earning a scowl. "You avoid me for three days and now you want to participate?" I inquired playfully. I could tell immediately that she knew that I was teasing, given the smirk she shifted to as well.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Now that I know you forgive me, though, I want to start making it up to you," she explained, nodding sternly and finally. I gave her a curious look.

"If you know I forgive you, why do you have to make it up to me? Aren't those kinda the same thing?" I reasoned, more than a little confused.

Rainbow scoffed almost immediately, holding up her hoof to me and shaking her head. "No way! You forgave me, which means you'll accept my friendship back again. Now I have to actually make up for the damage I did to prove I really want to be your friend again!" she exclaimed, totally forgetting that it was nighttime and in a hospital, it would seem. If I didn't already know that the guard knew she was here and was listening in, I might have been a little concerned.

Sighing, I settled back down into place, accepting that she wasn't going to change her mind. "You're silly, but I suppose if you want to do so, I won't stop you. It would mean a lot to me if you could talk to Applejack, though. Maybe have that be the thing you do for me?" I suggested hopefully.

She smirked and my hopes sank. "Of course. But I was already going to do that as 'her' friend instead, so that totally doesn't count for making amends to you," she cooed, looking downright devious as I blushed and looked away. Okay, now she was just screwing with my head.

"Fine. Just so long as you can talk to her for me. Oh, and tell her I'm sorry, please," I requested, suddenly frowning.

Predictably, Rainbow widened her eyes at me. "Why are you sorry?!" she asked instantly.

Sighing, I shook my head. "Sympathy, Dash. She saw a lot of ugly things that night, not limited to me getting my leg torn off. If she's beating herself up as much as you say she is, then I think she needs some support too, no? As her future lover, you should really be there for her," I suggested, dropping the last part down to barely a whisper directly to her face.

Her blush flared up, coating her cheeks with a soft, pink shade which complimented her colors quite nicely. I mentally cooed at how adorable she looked when embarrassed. "I, well, yeah, you're right, of course. I'm gonna support her, don't worry. She acts tough and says it was nothing, but you're right. I think that's what it is: an act," she agreed finally, looking back up at me with a confident smile again. Now that's the Dashie I was familiar with!

"Good idea. You should go get some rest now so you can focus on that tomorrow, then. Drop by later tomorrow so you can be filled in on what's going on," I suggested, returning her gentle smile.

Hers expanded as she gave another single nod, perking up at me as her ears fluttered excitedly.

"Will do, Boss! I'll talk to you tomorrow, then, and hopefully haul Applejack's flank in here with me," she repeated, giving me a sharp salute.

I snorted and batted playfully at her with my right foreleg, causing her to grin and hop backwards away from me. Her tongue shot out a moment later, which I had anticipated this time. My barrier had already shifted along the floor as she hopped backwards. With a tweak of my left foreleg, the barrier shot up and wrapped around her tongue like a coiled snake in less than a blink of an eye.

Her eyes widened and she flailed, trying to pull the shield off her tongue as I started giggling. "That's what you get for being a brat, Dashie," I muttered, winking at her as she scowled, calming down when she realized it was my doing.

"Yah yah. Yah gock mhee," she mouthed, tongue twitching lightly against the shield as she failed at talking. It was easy enough to translate, of course. Snickering, I released her tongue, seemingly surprising her for some reason as she looked back at me.

I tilted my head, but she just giggled instead. "I expected ya to keep that up for longer. Eh, you're too nice for your own good, Mender," she informed, snickering quietly to herself.

I rolled my eyes again, but couldn't beat back the soft heat that drifted to my cheeks under her playful gaze. She gave me another gentle salute, however, before I could say anything contrary.

"See ya tomorrow, Mender!" she assured, before launching sideways and shooting out the still open window in a heartbeat. I marveled once again at her speed and grace before sighing. She left the window open. Speed, grace, and forgetfulness.

A shift of my left foreleg again slipped a barrier up along the wall and slid the window shut, slowly dialing the lock back into place. I admired my administrations before shivering at the chilled night air. It wasn't too hard to pull my blankets back up around me again. With my heat back in place, I looked back down at the tasty, tasty apples that had been delivered. It took conscious effort to retain the drool in my mouth. With a content sigh, I settled in and prepared for a nice nighttime snack...

Chapter 33

Carefully, I shifted my weight to properly balance myself. After a bit of concentration, I took another light step forward, putting light pressure on my left foreleg. It held, if a little shaky. A slight ache shifted through it in protest as I stepped past it and took another step. My wires and tubes followed as I slid the pole along with me. My back legs had made a full recovery at this point, thankfully, between the unicorn magic and my own brand of regeneration. My side was still a little tender, however. The doctor looked me over this morning and said that the ribs were healed but there was still some lung and muscle damage. Applejack has one hell of a kick!

The rhythmic beating of the electrocardiogram lulled me as I edged closer to the other side of the room. I don't know why they still had me hooked up to one anyway. I was stabilized and there was nothing wrong with my heart. Sighing, I tried to remain focused as I touched against the opposite wall. A little burst of joy went off inside of me at my minor but encouraging victory. Of course, technically I wasn't supposed to be out of bed yet but nopony was around and I wanted to get on my legs again as soon as possible. Pinkie was lucky she got the all clear this morning! Being stuck in one spot for days at a time sucked.

It was a good thing, though. My status reports fired off this morning informing me that I'd reached the limit of sheer 'regeneration' for my leg. It was as repaired as I could force it to be, which meant that the only thing lacking was the muscles. It of course gave me the suggestion of just supplementing the growth with the mass inside of me to recover almost instantly, but I'd refused that. It wasn't my mass to make that decision with in the first place. But if I ever wanted to use my left foreleg again for walking, I needed to exercise it.

The mental distraction while turning around proved to be a mistake. I put too much weight down on the leg and winced, feeling it go limp as I tipped. I stumbled against the wall before slipping sideways from my body's weight and momentum. My armor flickered into place just before my head hit the floor, jarring me but doing very little in the way of pain or damage until I landed on the leg in question.

I gasped sharply, inhaling rapidly afterwards as the pain flared up along my leg and I bit back choice expletives. I felt a tearing as I hit and for a moment, I froze as I heard the electrocardiogram flat line. A second passed and I realized I still felt totally fine. Well, apart from the agonizing throbs coming from my left foreleg, of course.

Shifting myself rather uselessly along the floor, I managed to prop myself up against the wall and tuck my foreleg up, cradling it to my body. My other foreleg was shaking as I held it, partly out of pain and also out of disgust with my current state. This was pathetic, even for my standards.

My ears perked as I heard scrambling coming from down the hall. Oh, wait. That machine probably wasn't hooked up to just me. Looking around, I noticed the wires coming from the machine lying on the floor a good meter from me. That must have been the ripping sensation. Oops. I tried to reach for them, but realized that I was probably busted at this point.

Nurse Redheart practically took the door off its hinges as she skidded in, large defibrillator in her mouth. Her panicked eyes locked onto me for a split second before confusion took over instead. I gave her a sheepish smile, caught in the middle of trying to get the sticky things back on my chest in the right spots.

A look of dawning realization mixed with relief set in as she set the defibrillator down and shot me a skeptical, annoyed glare. Oops? The guard looked past her from the doorway, looking both confused and mildly concerned as I heard more commotion from down the hallway.

The nurse turned and stuck her head back out the door before shouting, "False Alarm!" Yelps resounded, along with a series of orders being barked as the commotion settled a little. She turned back around and gave me a stern look instead, however.

"You're not supposed to be up and about yet, Mender. You fell, didn't you?" she asked, walking closer to me as the guard resumed his post. More than a little embarrassed at this point that my screw up had caused such a commotion, I looked away from her while lowering my eyes. No matter what excuse I gave her, it would just sound childish. Instead, I just nodded quietly.

She exhaled softly and sat down in front of me, looking at my foreleg as I held it. After a moment, she spoke up with, "I know you're probably frustrated, just as much as I know you know that to heal, you have to take it easy. I know you're not stupid, Mender, so you must be getting a little stir crazy in here." Admittedly, that wasn't what I'd been expecting to hear. I looked back up at her again, a little surprised.

"I'm not going to say anything about it. Frankly, I'm amazed you made it this far. Your healing capacity is phenomenal. Do you think you're ready to start getting the muscles back?" she asked, further disrupting my idea of how a hospital should operate.

I frowned before asking, "Shouldn't you be the one telling me when I'm ready to begin physical therapy?" Admittedly, what I remembered of doctors from my old world had them pretty much lording their status over you and having absolute authority over your treatment. This was a bit outlandish in comparison.

"By our calculations, you shouldn't have been able to get up out of bed for another three weeks. You're so much faster with your healing that I think I'm going to ask the doctor to speed things up for you." I felt a jolt of surprise go through me and it must have shown, as she shifted to a smirk a moment later before adding, "Further, my intuition tells me that it's not just what Princess Celestia did to you."

My eyes widened a little. There was no question there. She had simply stated what her guess was, so anything I said for or against it would simply give more away. That sensation of walking over a minefield came back a moment later. "Why would you say that? I'm a normal pony," I reminded, careful to answer with an inquiry rather than give anything away.

Her smirk didn't lose its edge as she shook her head. "You're an earth stallion who can use magic. You heal at an alarming rate; far faster than anything I've seen before. Further, the Princess herself stations guards around the hospital grounds and right outside your room door, not just throughout Ponyville. No, if I had to guess, there's quite a bit more about you that's being kept secret," she reasoned, shrugging her shoulders lightly and closing her eyes. I saw the guard look back into the room, giving her a frown. He would have been informed of some of the dangers I represented as well, no doubt.

"The guards are more for your protection than mine. If one of those individuals comes back, it's better to have the event isolated and minimize the collateral damage, isn't it?" I pointed out softly, watching her as I slowly recovered feeling along my foreleg and sat up properly.

Her eyes opened again a split second later and she frowned towards me, shaking her head. "Don't lessen yourself, Mender. You have many, many ponies who care about you. You might not think it, but I consider you a friend, too, you know." Her tone was stern yet soft, which only made her words confuse me even more.

A light giggle cut my thinking off, however. It was rapidly followed by, "She's right, of course. Despite being a klutz and kind of thick sometimes, you make an amazingly good impression on everypony." Twilight followed her voice into the room, rounding the doorway with a smile on her face while her horn lit up. I was gently lifted into the air and drifted over my bed again before settling down against my pillows. They fluffed themselves as I landed, and my blankets slid up against me while enveloped in a soft glow.

"Good impression?" I inquired, shifting back a little as I eyed her glowing horn with a little surge of paranoia.

"Rainbow was already raving about how awesome you were and how you forgave her so readily," Twilight explained, sitting down in the middle of the room as Nurse Redheart picked up the wires from my electrocardiogram.

I was a bit perplexed, but my side of caution got the better of me first. "Nurse Redheart. What room was I in when I was first hospitalized here? Twilight. What's your brother's name?" I asked rapidly. I never talked about my room here, and I hadn't talked to Keela after I discovered who Shining Armor was, so both questions were safe.

Twilight halted in her tracks as her eyes softened again. Nurse Redheart answered, "Room one," instantly without even looking up, however. I think that was about the eighth question I'd asked her, now that I thought about it.

"Mender, you really don't have to do this every time you see me," Twilight murmured. I narrowed my eyes while watching her carefully, my back starting to stir as I readied my armor just in case.

Nurse Redheart chuckled as she stepped past Twilight with the cords straightened again. "He asks everypony questions except for Fluttershy. Relax, Twilight. Now hold still, Mender. I'll get these hooked back up," she instructed before lining the sticky ends up along my chest. I gave her room to work, ready to block for her if need be at the same time. If she really considered me a friend, I didn't want her to get hurt because of me. Actually, now that I considered it, I didn't really want anypony to get hurt because of me, friend or not.

The lavender unicorn sighed a moment later, finally answering, "Shining Armor. It's because of the link, isn't it?" Nurse Redheart paused, but continued hooking the wires up a moment later. I relaxed and nodded gently, assuring her of what she already guessed.

"I know it's Fluttershy from that, so I don't need to ask her anything," I furthered, looking away from Twilight. Even if she didn't like it, I didn't have a choice! I couldn't risk being surprised by an ambush again.

Twilight shifted her gaze towards me, expression lightening a little from her sullen tone, surprisingly. "I figured that was the case. That's why I got Fluttershy to help me with some experiments last night," she revealed, smiling again suddenly at me. Experimenting?

I rose an eyebrow to her, unable to contain a light blush. Twilight's eyes expanded and she mirrored my cheek shade. "Not that kind of experimenting!" she rapidly denied, coughing and looking away from me. Nurse Redheart smirked lightly as she plugged the last of the wires back onto my chest, but wisely stayed quiet.

"Hey, I can't help it! You've ruined the term forever for me," I playfully refuted, earning a smirk and eye roll. Well, it beat depressed Twilight any day, even if I had to make an idiot of myself in order to cheer her up.

Nurse Redheart backed up and double-checked the output from the electrocardiogram before nodding. "Okay, you're all hooked up again, Mender. Try to keep it that way this time so you don't give us another heart attack. No pun intended. I'll leave you two alone then," she added upon smiling back at me.

Twilight giggled in my stead and nodded, adding, "I'll make sure he behaves and doesn't try hurtles or anything." I rolled my eyes and settled back into my pillows giving my best grumpy face.

"I'm just getting stir crazy. I want to be back on my hooves again, not locked up inside a hospital room," I explained, exhaling softly.

The nurse gave me a sympathetic nod before reminding, "Like I said, I'll talk to the doctor about starting your physical therapy. That will put you one step closer to leaving."

I nodded and thanked her as she excused herself. Twilight idly watched her go before smiling and turning back to me again, an excited expression dancing across her face. Uh oh. Usually that only meant a few things with Twilight.

"Anyways, like I said, I got Fluttershy to help me with more experiments. I wanted to test out the connection and if it truly did anything to her," Twilight furthered, hopping up on the bed and settling into a sitting position near my back legs. I idly noted her saddlebags and wondered if she had brought something.

"Did you find out anything new?" I asked, making a mental note to peek into my 'documentation' myself to see if I could find anything on them. I'd not thought to look through that folder for anything about the disks.

As if having waited for me to ask that, Twilight perked and nodded in a pleased manner. "Of course! There's a faint electromagnetic signature that fires off every time she attempts to contact you via the link! I'm starting to wonder if there's not something technological about it instead of magical," she enlightened. I swallowed, suddenly nervous about her getting closer to the truth of what the links were. Of course, did I know what the links were? It was an electronic signal that went both ways between the recipient and myself. It also picked up biorhythm information and various other bodily data. Wait, how did it pick up that stuff to begin with?

"But the important thing is that there are no complications with her and she's perfectly healthy! The energy given off during the communication isn't harmful at all," my fillyfriend added upon seeing me hesitate.

Okay, that I at least knew how to react to. I gave her a warm smile, of course. "I'd feel horrible if it was dangerous for her, so that's a good thing. Are you going to do any more tests with her?" I inquired, if only to keep the topic expanding. Okay, maybe I was fishing for a bit more data, too. Having her stumble into the truth would be disastrous. I'd much rather tell her myself and not let her think I was holding out on her.

She grinned. That bolt of uneasiness went through me again. "Nope! No need. I decided that keeping myself as a control group was doing more, well, harm than good. It took a lot of consideration, but I decided that I wanted to be trusted by you as well," she further explained, closing her eyes lightly upon finishing. I frowned as she shivered, almost appearing to draw upon some inner strength to brace herself for something. Wait, what was she talking about?

"I do trust you, Twilight. Making sure you're you every time doesn't mean I trust you less. It just means that I don't trust our ability to prepare for every possibility," I tried to explain, attempting to draw blame away from anypony involved.

Her eyes opened softly, a gentle shine to them as I noticed they were a bit more watery than usual. She shook her head a moment later before smiling bravely up at me, causing a lump to form in my throat. "It hurts every time you ask me. I know I don't deserve your trust, but I just want you to be comfortable around me. I think that, um, I'm ready," she assured, momentarily confusing me before her horn lit up. I raised an eyebrow, but relaxed again as I saw her bags open up instead of any strange effect or other.

The relaxation was shot to hell, however, when she pulled the glowing disk out of the bag, the center of which was painted lavender with her star-shaped Cutie Mark in it. The other disks followed rapidly, and to my surprise, Rarity's and Pinkie Pie's Cutie Marks were now amidst them.

"I did a bit of experimenting. Pinkie touching it with her tail registered it. Rarity touching hers with her magic also worked. It seems that anything a pony touches the disks with that personally belongs to them will work," she theorized, laying the disks out in front of me. I stared at the two that had the brightened outer rings, then frowned and gave her a questioning glance.

"Why did you bring them all here? Isn't that risky to get them near me? Further, do Rarity and Pinkie Pie know you got their readings?" I questioned, my mind swimming with an uneasy miasma of inquiries and situations that could explode from this. My eyes shifted in particular to the orange one with the trio of apples.

"Of course they do. Rarity suggested hers, and Pinkie Pie was ecstatic at the chance," Twilight assured, expression stoic and unwavering. She said nothing else, however, so I guessed she was thinking intently about something. A nervous swallow from her a few moments later gave me a fairly certain confirmation.

I decided to wait patiently for her to continue. After a good twenty seconds, she finally sighed and looked back down at the disks, explaining, "I talked to all the girls. Most think it's a good idea and want you to complete the links. If not just for the ability to tell if we're truly us, for the emotional support whenever you need it. Fluttershy says you can contact her, quote, 'Whenever you need it in the slightest,' of course."

My eyes widened during, and remained quite large after she finished revealing those tidbits. More questions and extremely bad outcomes burst forth into my head, but I remained in control as best I could. That was amazingly good advice that I had read somewhere. 'Don't Panic!'

"Uh, they 'want' me to form a link with them? Further, 'most' of them wanted to?" I inquired, her choice of wording not lost to me. Most did not equal all.

Twilight sighed and nodded. "You probably already guessed that Applejack said no. I still present her disk here, however, due to the reason she said no. She tried to say that you'd never want to form that sort of connection with a 'horrible monster' like her," she relayed, chuckling weakly afterwards.

I snorted. It came out before I even realized the true intent of my feelings about the matter. She thought that 'she' was the monster? No. She must not have gotten my message by the time Twilight had talked to her. "I'd hoped Rainbow had talked to her already and given her my message. I want to be friends with her again," I repeated, figuring I'd already said as much but I couldn't remember. That familiar tiredness crept up again and I suddenly fought the urge to just curl up and take a nap. I guess regenerating body parts really did take a lot out of me. This was easily the fourth time I distinctively had thoughts such as that.

"I know. She just needs to forgive herself a little bit first. She'll come around, I'm sure. I'll try to talk to her if she's not better in a few days. I brought her disk anyway in the meantime, if you wanted," she muttered, nudging the incomplete disks towards me again.

My eyes shifted to hers and I frowned, looking back up at her questioningly. She looked away in an instant, and I had the sneaking suspicion she wasn't as ready for this as she led me to believe.

"Are any of the girls really ready for this? We don't even know the full extent of the capabilities of the links. I don't think any of you are thinking it through properly. You do realize I can't remove them, right?" I asked skeptically, suddenly more than a little paranoid. It was the truth. I had explored most of the options revolving around the two links I already had. They were called 'absolute' links for a reason, and there was no option to remove them. When I tried to 'uninstall' Rainbow's, it specifically warned me that the link was permanent and couldn't be disabled from either end.

"The only two I'd worry about being unsure of it is Rarity and Applejack. Pinkie almost jumped down my throat at the opportunity, and I know I can speak for myself," she explained, still not looking at me.

Sighing, I shook my head gently. Pinkie I understood. For some reason, I suddenly got the suspicion she knew exactly what she was getting into and truly had no fear of the link. I got the distinct mental image of her grinning and laughed softly to myself. Yeah. A moment later, I reached forwards and touched Pinkie's disk.

To my surprise, an 'Are you sure?' prompt popped up in my mind, displaying across onto my eyes. Huh? Oh, so 'now' they were giving me the confirmation?! Of course, they might have given me one before and had it on a timer or something. Because I couldn't see it and wasn't aware of it, it just ran out of time and defaulted to yes. That was a really crappy system...

Mentally, I hit the 'yes' option and watched the disk light up around the edge, displaying a 'Connection Established' above it via holographic letters. Twilight smiled gently as she watched until I withdrew my foreleg again.

"That's the only one I'm going to establish," I added, closing my eyes and waiting for it.

All it took was three seconds. Twilight let out a gasp before rapidly exclaiming, "No, Mender! I'm telling you, I'm ready! I don't want you to doubt me anymore and don't mind in the least."

"Twilight, you already said you have a problem with the mind melding thing that your brother was so upset about. If you're not ready for that, how can you be ready for this? They're both equally permanent, from what I gather," I pointed out, frowning and opening my eyes to look at her again.

Her expression practically killed me, of course. Both of her ears drooped almost flat against the sides of her head and her eyes were getting watery again as she edged closer to me, centimeter by centimeter. Damn it. Crying wasn't fair!

"No, Mender. If you don't want the link, I'll, um, understand, of course. I mean, I don't think I'd trust me either. But the more I think about it, the more I realize how I really, really don't want you going anywhere away from my life," she muttered, eyes looking down as a faint streak slid down her right cheek. My right foreleg twitched in an effort to physically stop myself from raising it and wiping her eyes. I didn't think she was intentionally doing this...

She continued after I didn't say anything. "It was a lot like friendship, really. I started off thinking I didn't need it and you made me uneasy because of what you 'forced' me to feel," she explained, adding the air quotes with a double shake of her hoof before following up with, "Eventually, I realized that I've never had anypony who I could seriously relate to with my academics and magical knowledge. My friends try to be interested but it's really not their thing. At first, I assumed it was just because of that, but everything about you just..."

I watched her as she trailed off, shivering in what almost looked like frustration. Finally she let out an annoyed sounding sigh and tore her gaze back up at me with a pleading expression. "I just can't explain it! That's what frustrates me the most. Words have never failed me before. The more you're around me, the more I realize that I never want you to leave. I just want to hold you and kiss you and have wonderful discussions with you and, well, I want you to trust me. I trust you now, having learned my lesson. You're not here to hurt me or anypony I care about. You're hurt by all this the most, and if the link is what it takes for you to implicitly trust me, then I'm willing to do that," she explained in length, eyes locking back on mine towards the end.

My chest felt full of both soda bubbles and ice cubes. On one hoof, I wanted to pull her against me and kiss her until she fell asleep. On the other, I was hiding a really huge secret from her now and definitely didn't think I deserved even half of how much she just said she cared. Still, she was opening herself totally and winced, watching me stare at her intently. She actually looked vulnerable. Her, a female. Vulnerable. I suddenly realized I'd never honestly seen that before. Fluttershy was timid and reserved, but always guarded, I noticed. Even with her opening herself up slowly over the last few days, she still held herself back. Twilight had just taken a flying leap off the proverbial cliff and was hoping I would catch her. Maybe she really did trust me?

The lavender mare gave a start as I raised my right foreleg up, then relaxed a little as it simply brushed the tears from her cheeks. Those sparkling globes shifted back to my face a moment later, and I could have sworn I saw a glimmer of hope in those violet depths. Yeah, I didn't have a choice if I wanted this to work. "I, well, I believe you, Twilight. I want to be with you and Fluttershy, too. I don't think you 'need' to form the link with me to earn my trust back, but if you truly want to, then just tell me that. But think about it first and, um, wait a little bit before answering," I requested, earning both a happy and confused expression at the same time. Well, at least I got happy mixed in this time. Usually I was really good at just the confused part when interacting with other ponies.

I sighed and shook my head quietly before she could ask. "You guessed right, from what I noticed. I'm hiding a rather big secret from you and have been trying to think of how to best tell you about it the past few days. I can't tell you quite yet, but after our meeting with Keela, I promise that I'll tell you everything in private," I promised, committing myself to biting the bullet later. I probably could have chosen a better time to do this, considering I couldn't even flee if I wanted to at the moment, but maybe that was part of the appeal?

She looked surprisingly thoughtful for a moment before smiling and nodding. "I'm happy you're being honest with me. Admittedly, that's more than I've done for you in the past and I really, really apologize for that. I can wait until after the meeting, don't worry," she agreed, taking it amazingly well for what I had considered in my mind. I didn't even have to reattach any body parts!

Smiling at her, I gently stroked her cheek while she relaxed again. A moment later, her horn lit up once more and opened her saddlebag. I tilted my head until she pulled out the enchantment notes she'd taken last time and gave me a guilty if not hopeful smile. Tossing a chuckle in, I nodded to her before drifting my bedside food tray into the air again.

My fillyfriend gave a squeal of delight before flopping over next to me and tucking herself under my right foreleg, levitating her notepad in front of her. "Excellent! Based on what I discovered last time, Unicorn magic seems greatly magnified as you accelerate it through your own enchantment patching. From what I saw earlier from the burn marks, I think if we adjust your energy array, we can get it almost perfectly compatible!" she resumed, as if having never stopped in the first place.

I snickered and added, “I was considering the problem. Perhaps if we drop a few of the circuits off the array, then lengthen each individual one?" I suggested, having considered the issue last night while munching apples.

She gave a happy squeak and nodded, taking more notes rapidly. "Good idea! You try adjusting the left side, then I'll pump some energy into it and we'll hope it doesn't catch fire this time!" she requested, sounding absolutely gleeful.

Snickering, I did as she asked and prepared a barrier for the two of us. This was going to be a long morning...

"Hey, mine can totally get bigger!" Shining Armor pointed out, smirking cockily at me as I shook my head.

"It's not about how big it can get. Mine is way harder than yours, which is far more important," I refuted, a little frustrated and embarrassed over the conversation in general.

Shining Armor shook his head and gave me a skeptical glance. "Honestly, if it's not big enough, it won't matter how hard it is, right? Have you actually gotten any real experience with using it?" he asked, sounding skeptical.

I glared, shocked that he'd even ask that if Twilight told him as much as I thought she had. "Of course! Dozens if not hundreds of hours of experience!" I assured, a little indignant.

Fluttershy gave out a timid giggle next to me, tucking further into the blankets as she listened in. Shining Armor ignored her entirely, of course. "Fine! You're obviously not going to be satisfied like this. Let's just smash them together repeatedly until one breaks," he finally suggested. He was joking, I assumed.

There was a skidding sound in the hallway, and I suddenly saw Twilight burst back in. "What are you two talking about?!" she demanded, oddly beet red for some reason and looking absolutely horrified. I raised an eyebrow at the same time I lowered the barrier block I had formed in front of me.

Her brother looked equally skeptical and lowered his shield-shaped barrier before turning to look at her. "Er, is something wrong, Twily?" he questioned, looking as perplexed as I felt.

Fluttershy let out a pleased humming noise, informing, "They're comparing shield magic!" Well, at least she sounded amused by it. I was worried the technical discussion parts had bored her.

Twilight gave us both a deadpan stare before exhaling and slapping her forehead with a forehoof. "Oh. Never mind, then. Uh, I brought lunch," she murmured, sliding a tray along after her. I gave her a questioning look, but decided it was probably best if I didn't ask.

"Is Celestia almost set then?" I asked instead, watching as she shifted the tray in. There were all sorts of delightful sandwiches and salads on it, and my mouth started watering. Then she rotated the tray, turning the plate of processed cubes and slime towards me instead. My ears lowered as I stared at it, instantly losing my appetite. Ah yes, another reason to get out of the hospital as soon as possible.

Twilight smiled gently and flopped over onto the bed next to me, the side opposite of Fluttershy. "Princess Celestia said that she'd be here in half an hour. She's sending a letter to Princess Luna," she explained.

"Um, this isn't supposed to be dangerous, right?" Fluttershy questioned yet again, probably for the fifth time. Smiling, I pressed a little kiss into her right shoulder before shaking my head in assurance. She reddened but smiled towards me, eyes surprised but warm from my display of affection.

"Me, too!" Twilight playfully reminded, tossing up a pouting face. I smirked as she pounced both of us, food momentarily forgotten. Fluttershy's blush expanded across her cheeks almost as fast as her eyes shot open, and for a moment, I was jealous of the reaction Twilight managed to get out of her. The shy yellow mare shifted her attention to Twilight instead, pulling her a little closer to the both of us. Shining Armor made a playful gagging motion over his sister's back and I managed a snicker.

"You two should eat before your sandwiches get mushy," I suggested a moment later, both conscientious of her brother being in the room, and of Fluttershy's blood flow. Admittedly, it certainly wasn't for me. Having two adorable mares lying on top of me wasn't hard to take at all.

The results hit as fast as I predicted. "Ah! The food!" Twilight squeaked, sitting up instantly and checking to see if she had jostled the tray with her pounce. Of course, if she had, it would have been far too late for that.

Shining Armor smirked, pointing out, "Shouldn't you have checked that before launching yourself at him? If it was going to be upturned, you three would be wearing it at this point." No fair! He could get away with teasing her just because he was her brother.

She stuck her tongue out at him before resting back against the pillows again, taking her plate into her lap. I still wasn't used to either of them sitting like that, but I suppose it wasn't that big of a deal. "Please eat, Mender. You'll need your strength for when Princess Celestia gets here," Fluttershy requested softly a moment after picking up her own plate. I sighed wearily as I looked down at mine. I'd eat if there were food present for me. The processed cubes and puddings on the plate didn't meet my specifications for edibility.

Fluttershy gave me a frown and I caved instantly. She was far, far too adorable to refuse. Sighing in defeat, I lowered my head and picked up one of the bite-sized cubes before crunching into it in my mouth. It tasted grainy and somewhat burnt before shifting to a powdery prune aftertaste. I tried really hard not to gag, but I'm fairly certain that my grimace was enough to give away my opinion on it.

Shining Armor apparently respected me enough to not burst into laughter as he watched, instead only holding a hoof up to his mouth politely as he grinned behind it. He then showed surprising understanding and distracted me with, "You did say that you had some sort of new spell you wanted to try that would show everypony else what was going on?" The question distracted me from the horrible misery in my mouth long enough to just swallow the thing whole and I nodded wearily. Of course, I could have swallowed it right off the bat, but that might have looked a little creepy to onlookers. I didn't think chewing something to maintain appearances would ever be a 'difficult' thing for me.

"It's more a spell I remembered from before than anything new. I have no idea if it will work in this particular situation, but I figured it might be worth a shot," I explained, only lying a little bit of course. He nodded earnestly towards me, apparently pleased with my answer.

Twilight gave me a quizzical look, however, so I decided it would be more effective to just show them. I closed my right eye and activated the projector effect in my left. All three ponies gasped as an image of Rainbow Dash soaring through the air came into existence drifting over the bed. She zipped easily through the air, my connection picking up the direction, speed, and muscle twitches accurately enough to recreate the image of her. The scenery was also reformed out of my basic memories of Ponyville, with a bit of guesswork on the computer's part for angles and such. I smiled as they all watched it. She zoomed down and headed for the hospital a moment later. Oh! Oops.

"Wait, is this live?" Twilight asked instantly a moment later. I turned off the projector and coughed lightly just as Rainbow landed on my windowsill.

"Hey, Mender, let me in!" she called out through the glass. Twilight and Shining Armor gave me a shocked look, but Fluttershy just smiled and drifted into the air, sliding the window open for her cyan friend.

Dash zipped in instantly, landing lightly on the floor before stretching and flexing her wings out lazily. She'd probably been asleep before this. I didn't know specifically, as I kept the links off unless I wanted to do something with them out of respect for their privacy. "He can track us through the links if he focuses on it," Fluttershy explained upon settling on the bed again.

"Isn't that a little, I dunno, creepy?" Twilight asked, metaphorically bowling me over with the bluntness. Wasn't that the same thing as calling me creepy?!

Dash snorted, however, apparently picking up on what we were talking about. "It's not creepy. It's handy, honestly. If we get in trouble, he can contact somepony or come help himself. Plus, he keeps the links off when nothing’s happening," she reasoned, drifting into the air again and landing lightly on the bed to Fluttershy's left. It was getting a little crowded now, but Celestia said she was going to bring in another bed to give us a wider 'platform' to all lay on.

"You believe him, I take it?" Shining Armor asked, not pointedly, but with an air of innocent inquiry instead. I sighed weakly, having anticipated the question coming.

"Heck yeah! Everypony in this room probably does," Rainbow shot back without hesitation, shifting my expression to a blush in an instant.

Twilight and Fluttershy both nodded in agreement, the lavender mare adding, "I'm fairly certain that he's more than proved his honesty. If anything, we should have started believing him long before now."

Blushing even more now, I sunk a little lower into the blankets, earning another giggle from Fluttershy as she watched. "It's also really adorable when he doesn't know what to say," she pointed out, tucking her wing around my back and coaxing me upwards again as she gently nuzzled my left temple.

Rainbow gave a sharp mix of snorting and laughter. "He just doesn't know how to take a compliment. I could totally help him get adjusted to that by getting help from my fan club!" she offered. At least, I think it was an offer. Wait, she had a fan club?

"Yes, you'd certainly be the one to go to for ego training," Twilight muttered a moment later, smirking at Rainbow as she did so.

This of course earned a glare of spite from the pegasus. "Hey, he needs to learn to at least stick up for himself, and I'm only trying to help!" she defended, earning a snicker from Twilight. I was more concerned that nopony was calling her on the fan club thing. She actually had a fan club?!

"Oh, I know, I know. I'm just teasing you, Rainbow," she assured in a softer voice. Dash relaxed and smirked at her after recovering. All of us were interrupted, however, by the noise of something heavy rolling down the hallway outside. Wait, was that what I thought it was?

Sure enough, half a minute later, a large bed got rolled in being pushed by a royal guard. Half a second after it cleared the doorway, Celestia herself followed them in and gave me a warm smile. I glanced at the guard as he started to rotate the mattress so it was horizontal, before turning and looking back to Celestia. "Good afternoon, my little ponies," she greeted warmly, sitting down at the foot of my bed.

"Good afternoon, Auntie." "Good afternoon, Princess Celestia!" "Oh, um, good afternoon..." "Hiya, Princess Celestia!" "Hey Tia."

I noticed we each had a different way in which to greet her. Mine earned a questioning glare from Shining Armor, however. Celestia seemed unaffected, though, and simply smiled and nodded to each of us in turn. "I'm glad everypony is well today. Do you mind Miss Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy watching as well?" she inquired after another moment. The guard gave her a polite bow upon rotating the bed completely and lining it up to the left of mine.

"Nope. I even remembered an old spell that will let me hopefully project what we're seeing through one of my eyes for them," I returned. Her expression flickered to amusement for the barest split of a second before she nodded warmly. Heh. I figured she'd know the truth almost instantly.

"Sweet! I wanted to see what Keela looked like, so I know who to buck into the stratosphere if we meet!" Rainbow spit out rather vehemently, to my surprise.

Twilight shook her head rapidly, however, correcting, "Dash, it wasn't Keela who attacked Mender. It was her sister, Nirru. Keela was conned just as much as we were."

Rainbow looked less than convinced, and I suddenly gathered she was more just looking for somepony to beat senseless to relieve some anger. "Let's wait and see how this meeting goes first. I have no idea what's going on or what's happened since the incident," I warned, earning a patient nod from Celestia.

"He's right, of course. We shouldn't jump to any conclusions until we have more information. That's why we're going to talk to Keela," she reminded, drawing everypony's attention back towards her. In that split second lull, I took advantage of nopony looking at me. My tongue shot out half a meter, snagging three of the four remaining cubes and pulling them back into my mouth for me to swallow whole. Thank goodness for small blessings! Skipping the whole 'tasting' part of hospital food was definitely a perk.

Celestia, the only pony who saw me, smirked and intentionally kept their attention as I swallowed.

"Regardless, it doesn't hurt to be prepared. We don't know what's been going on while Mender's been hospitalized. Shining Armor, be prepared to shield us upon entry. Twilight, you get ready to use your magic to intervene as the situation demands it," Celestia requested, looking to each of them individually. They both nodded, leaving her to turn to me. Thankfully, I had finished swallowing the hospital food whole already. "You, Mender, will be our go-between and translator. You're the only one here who knows fully about the culture and technology we'll be seeing, so that's indispensable," she added, smiling towards me.

I blushed, but nodded lightly, trying to stay calm. There was no guarantee that this was even going to work in the first place! Heck, I might end up going alone. The prospect of meeting Keela again after everything that happened was somewhat nerve wracking.

'Lunch', as they insisted on calling it, passed relatively uneventful after everypony settled down. Rainbow informed that she'd been by Rarity's earlier and told me to expect a visit from both her and the slightly slower, less energetic pink one later tonight. She also said the CMC would be visiting as well, having been asking about me left and right apparently. I doubted Scootaloo had been honestly, but it was easier to believe with Sweetie Belle.

Positions shifted after we got rid of the food tray. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash moved to the chairs near the window across from the bed for prime watching location. Princess Celestia took up almost all of the bed she brought, being almost twice the size of a normal pony. Twilight stayed on my right and gently set her horn against my forehead as I lay down on my stomach.

Shining Armor shot us a displeased look at the sight before settling in to her right and waiting. Celestia seemed oblivious to his annoyance, which I doubt was the truth, and settled her horn down on top of Twilight's, as planned. It was hard to see around all the horns at this point, but I saw Shining Armor finally lower his onto Celestia's, forming a 'chain' of horns.

"You may begin when you're ready, Mender," Celestia relayed a moment after all four of us settled.

Twilight frowned next to me, asking, "Don't you need to fall asleep for this to work?" Heh, normally yeah. That was a lot easier for me to do since discovering I was a cyborg, however.

"I've gotten better at it in all my downtime. I'll get Keela's attention," I relayed before giving a firm, double tug on the inner connection to her. Twilight was already channeling energy into me and I knew she felt the sensation as well, going quiet instantly.

A second passed before a burst of shock mixed with an incredibly distinct sense of fumbling a teacup into the side of a coffee table came into place. I felt Twilight restrain a giggle, and Celestia followed suit a moment later. I suddenly realized I could 'feel' all three of them there, seeing the reaction as well.

"Just a minute, Mender! I'll power up the link so you can get a lock on me," Keela assured a moment later, sounding slightly scatterbrained. Well, I hadn't exactly given her any warning about this, so I guess I could sympathize.

Twilight stiffened instantly next to me upon hearing the Keldarian's voice. Some part of her was probably in disbelief still that this was actually real. It was probably easier on her to believe that it was all a figment of my imagination. Not only had that been easier to treat, but it had far less implications involved. I understood why she did so.

The power turned on, just as expected. I felt the connection strengthen and reached out to the book in the same instant. The ocean of power flooded into me and I slipped my mind down the link between us once more, turning off my consciousness on the way out the door, so to speak.

Two of the three connected ponies gasped as they were dragged along with. Celestia followed with an almost practiced ease, however, which was more than a little disconcerting if I thought about it too hard. With a minor mental push, I shoved us into the other reality.

I stepped out first, beating out everypony else in the transition due to natural acclimation and due course for being half robot. My eyes widened, however, as I looked around, finding myself in a radically unfamiliar place.

The room was exceedingly large, containing what appeared to be a full suite of living quarters. A large sofa sat across from several comfy looking recliners, a familiar looking and still dripping coffee table between them. A fireplace accented that corner and brought a warm light to the atmosphere. To the left of the seating arrangement was a large, sliding door installed in the middle of the wall. The corner to the left of that popped outwards and had a smaller door kitty corner to the main one. A restroom, maybe?

I saw a full kitchen behind me upon shifting my perspective. It looked well stocked and had an island bar expanding a good two meters across it. Behind me on the other side was a nicely sized bedroom area that was partitioned off from the rest of the room via half-walls. A king-sized bed took up most of the area, but I also saw a cozy looking workstation.

Snapping back to attention upon a mental nudge from Celestia, I snapped focus onto Keela, who stood next to the sofa I had originally noticed. She was waiting patiently and looking about the room, apparently for any signs of my being there. With a bit of focus, I touched upon the shielding capabilities of Prudentia and formed a barrier body for myself, coloring it with my natural colors. Keela's eyes locked onto me instantly and a warm smile flickered across her face.

It shifted to a bit of confusion as I didn't return it, instead focusing on pulling forth all three separate individuals into full awareness and shifting them into their own bodies. It would probably be more comfortable for them that way.

Twilight formed first, 'stepping' into place right next to me as her eyes widened and she looked around. My Keldarian friend gasped and nodded to her instantly, offering, "Oh, Twilight!"

Shining Armor appeared to my left, also mid-step as he faded into place. He looked much calmer and slowly took in his surroundings with an air of calculated precision. He was extremely serious when he wanted to be, I noted. Celestia more pulled herself out, apparently having experience with dealing in a projected body already. She still borrowed my barrier capability to give herself a visible form, though, and stepped out behind me a little ways.

Keela looked utterly shocked at this point, gaze flicking between the four of us rapidly. "Twilight, hold her. Shining Armor, throw a barrier over us and the door," Celestia ordered upon touching down. Huh?

Both unicorns' horns lit up to either side of me. A barrier of energy went over the only two doors in the room a heartbeat later. Keela's eyes widened as her form went rigid at the same time, surrounded by a purple glow. I narrowed my eyes as I looked back at Celestia.

"Don't hurt her. This wasn't part of the agreement," I reminded, ready to cut connection if need be.

Celestia gave me a light shake of her head, explaining, "It's fine, Mender. I have no intention of hurting her. This is merely for both our safety, and to secure a private conversation with no interruptions."

"It's okay, Mender. I should have realized you wouldn't be coming alone. Precautions are fine," Keela assured, smiling again regardless of her current state.

I sighed and walked past her, earning a curious look from Twilight and Shining Armor. Fine, I might as well bite the bullet and cooperate then to speed things up. I stopped in front of the keypad to the right of the door. My barrier extended for a split second from my right shoulder, neatly slicing open the panel directly under the pad. A few tweaks later and I killed power to the surveillance circuit and the door.

"There. Her internal surveillance system and door security are offline. They already sounded an alarm upon our entry, however," I warned, observing the energy flowing through the main circuit board. Of course, I 'cheated' a bit to analyze it, using my own processors.

"We're in a detachable section of the ship with a self-contained life support system. I intentionally separated myself from the rest of the crew. They're only concerned for me and want to know what's going on," Keela explained gently, looking over her shoulder as I walked back up to the group.

Celestia nodded gently, looking to Keela's left at me instead. "This is fair. Introductions are in order, Mender," she suggested softly.

I walked past Keela and turned to face her again, once more in front of everypony else. "You already know who Twilight Sparkle is," I started, motioning to the lavender unicorn-shaped barrier in question.

Keela nodded and smiled at her, affirming, "Yes, of course I've heard of Twilight. It's nice to finally meet you." Twilight looked momentarily surprised, but cracked a tiny smile and nodded back.

"This is Twilight's brother, Prince Shining Armor. He's also Princess Celestia's nephew." I nodded towards him as I said as much, causing him to nod properly towards her in return.

"Charmed. I can see the family resemblance," Keela noted, relaxing against the tight hold Twilight had on her. I noticed that it shifted her rather informal robes against her in a rather uncomfortable looking manner as well.

"Last, but definitely not least, we have Princess Celestia herself, ruler of Equestria," I announced properly. Celestia smiled at my introduction, and Twilight actually perked up a little as she smirked at me. She was probably used to me chopping off the titles already.

Keela’s eyes widened drastically and to my surprise, she actually dropped to one knee and bowed to Celestia. I gave a questioning glance at Twilight, who looked as surprised as I did and just shrugged. "She did it herself, and the expression seemed harmless," Twilight elaborated.

"She's royalty. She deserves respect," Keela relayed, smiling gently but remaining eyes closed, head tilted down.

Celestia flexed out her wings and nodded to her as well. "You may stand, of course. Twilight, you may relax the barrier to only restricting magic," she ordered, stepping past me slightly and sitting down to my left.

"What about the windows?" Shining Armor inquired a moment later, glancing out the one to our left that showed a rather impressive view of nothing in particular. Honestly, that's all space was. A whole lot of nothing with pockets of burning gas and chunks of solids floating around them.

Shaking myself out of the momentary distraction, I answered, "They're not actually windows, but parts of the wall that images of the outside are projected on. They're fine."

To my surprise, he actually smiled at me and nodded. Well, these three were extremely talented. I guess I shouldn't have expected them to react poorly to the totally foreign environment. A mental image flicked by of him stomping my letter into the floor and I inwardly sighed. Well, for the most part, anyway.

A muffled but abrupt pounding came to the door a moment later. Keela hesitated as she glanced over to it, but shifted her attention back to us. I saw Shining Armor thicken the barrier over the door, then go back to ignoring it. Celestia spoke up anyway, regardless.

"Please forgive the surprise visit as well, Miss Keela. I'm sure you know why we're here, however," Celestia cut in, gesturing gently towards the Keldarian.

Keela sighed and lost her smile, looking away from us before slowly nodding. "You're obviously here because of the attack from my sister a few days ago." That was indeed fairly obvious, and I wasn't quite sure why we were even starting there, if not purely for formalities.

"Indeed. I wish to have the unpleasantness be as short as possible, of course. Where is Nirru now, and what is her status?" Celestia asked next, voice quiet but demanding all the same. Even totally out of her element, she seemed to hold an air of authority when she dropped into her serious demeanor.

"My sister is under arrest and locked in a holding cell on this ship. A fight broke out after we were freed from the machine, and she had to be subdued by force. Thankfully, Mender took a lot of the fight out of her or it could have been a lot worse than it was," Keela explained instantly, no hesitation at all. Oh. Oh crap.

"Wait, what?!" Twilight asked a moment later, shifting her gaze over to me in surprise. Keela's eyes shot open and she covered her mouth with her hands, suddenly realizing I hadn't told her yet.

Celestia coughed, however, snapping Twilight's attention back up to her instead. "Now isn't the time for that, Twilight. I'm sure Mender will explain everything to you in due time," she assured, obviously not aware of my prior promise to Twilight in the first place.

"I told you I'd tell you after this talk, Twilight. Please wait until after?" I requested, looking away from both Keela and Twilight as I said it. Given that reaction, I wasn't so sure this was going to go swimmingly anymore. Of course, what could I honestly expect, when I'm going to have to explain to her that I'm an abomination mixed with a weapon of mass destruction?

There was a long pause before Twilight finally muttered, "Oh. Oh! It's what you wanted to talk to me about! Okay, I'll wait then, of course. I already promised to be patient." This surprised me. I hadn't anticipated her actually being understanding over this entire thing. As I turned, however, I could have sworn I saw her doing something with her hoof and deep breathing. Heh. She still had stress issues, I guessed. Remembering suddenly, I double-checked the feed to the hospital room as Celestia started talking to Keela again.

It was kind of amazing how clear the images were given how theoretically far apart we were. Fluttershy was staring around the room in amazement as my eye projected a mostly completed version of us, Keela, and the room we were in. The timid pegasus oddly seemed more interested in the surroundings than Keela herself, unlike Rainbow. Dash's eyes were glued on the Keldarian, apparently interested in seeing what one's true form was. Well, true form that wasn't cut into three pieces and bleeding all over the place, anyway. I shuddered as I remembered the image of my original I was cloned from lying on that broken rock. He was me, wasn't he? If so, I wondered if he had been scared before he died. I probably would be. Hell, I was definitely terrified when the ship was about to explode. There was something more than that, though. A sense of calm and acceptance of everything. Now I didn't have that feeling anymore, oddly. Was that because I had more reasons to keep going on, now?

Drawing myself back to reality, or as close as I got to it, anyway, I looked over at one of the main reasons I had for preserving myself. Twilight stared back and forth between Keela and Celestia with a certain sense of curiosity, of course. She usually held that look when she found new things to study or observe, I noticed. Frankly, it was rather adorable to watch.

"The records we found in her study were more than a little disturbing. She'd known about Mender's original form the entire time, and only made the connection with who he was a day or so before everything fell apart. Worse yet, she got the council's approval for what she did. Well, for the most part," Keela continued, sounding rather grim for her usual standard.

Celestia sighed, but nodded before inquiring, "What have you done about the information, may I ask?" The council confirmed her mission? No, that probably meant they just let her decide what to do.

Keela shook her head, however, and looked away. It was a long minute before she finally spoke up. "I couldn't stand it anymore. The council has been nothing but a blight to our race for as long as I remember. Every choice they've made has been to preserve the status quo of the females and their own personal power, above and beyond the needs of our species itself. I took a vote," she revealed, looking back to Celestia with a stern yet sorrowful expression. A vote? I wasn't aware Keldarians knew the meaning of that. Mentally, I snickered at the aspect.

"What were the results?" Twilight asked with more than a little interest. Heh, no unnecessary questions, I noticed. It didn't matter what they were voting on, I decided. Twilight was right. The only thing that mattered was what they did.

Keela smiled weakly and answered, "We blew the FTL Communication Array off the side of this ship, then jumped into dark space where we currently are." What?!

I choked out a cough, staring at Keela in shock. She looked startled for a moment before giggling at my reaction. Celestia raised an eyebrow to me, and I picked up her silent inquiry easily enough. "Dark space is empty space outside of a standard galaxy cluster. Nopony ever goes out that far and it's considered uncharted, for the most part. If you don't have specific coordinates for something, finding anything out here is pretty much impossible. As for the FTL Array; that means she cut off all contact with the council. They probably think the ship was discovered by the Grosh and destroyed," I explained quietly.

Keela nodded gently, closing her eyes as she fell backwards onto the couch again, spilled tea momentarily forgotten. "He still knows his stuff. We voted to live out here on this ship for the rest of our lives, the first free Keldarians in three thousand years. There are only twenty-seven of us who either didn't join up with Nirru, or lived through her arrest." Keldarians died trying to arrest her? I frowned, but kept my mouth shut, biting back the hostility. No, she was Keela's sister. I made the right choice in letting her live.

"That is a brave and very lonely decision. You're a strong individual, Keela. Is that the same reason you isolated yourself here?" Celestia inquired curiously. Wait, why did Keela isolate herself?

The Keldarian looked shocked for a moment. That question had caught her by surprise, it would seem. "Oh, I locked myself in here to keep the rest of my crew safe if, well..." she admitted, trailing off as she glanced over at me.

Celestia raised an eyebrow and the two unicorns turned to me instead. What? Oh. "In case I decided to use the link you gave me to take revenge?" I asked gently, staring right at her. Did she honestly think that I would do something like that?

Her ears flattened back and she looked away, giving me all the answer I needed. There was no trust anymore. Nopony trusted me, did they? It was a bit ironic, but maybe everypony already thought I was a monster? I idly wondered, with a small amount of bitterness, if that would ease my transition into a literal monster for them.

"Surely, you realize Mender would never do that!" Twilight exclaimed, snapping my attention back to her instead, eyes widening a little. My fillyfriend continued to surprise me more and more since the incident. There were too many differences for it to just be guilt, and she seemed genuinely intent on changing. Maybe I wasn't the only one who had an epiphany? Her outlook itself seemed to change about the relationship.

"I believe it was a precaution, Twilight. It's similar to us using magic to lock the room down when we arrived," Shining Armor spoke up. He had a point. Her reaction indicated she felt bad for having to do it, so maybe she really did believe that I wasn't going to murder her and blow up half the ship with it?

Keela sighed and sank further into the cushions of her couch. "I knew the Mender I had gotten to know wouldn't have, no. But my sister did a terrible, terrible thing and I didn't know what the price would be for that. I insisted that Mender spare her and took her out of his reach, so I was worried he'd take me as a substitute instead. If he were a normal Keldarian, it would have only been a question of when," she corrected, still not looking at me.

"That's kind of sad, really. Why was that promoted in your culture?" Twilight asked, looking a little down suddenly. 'Why' was never something asked.

Keela laughed, though. "Power and control. Females were in charge and had an ironclad grip over every aspect of society. Males were treated as expendable property and 'disposed' of at the most minor of inconveniences. We didn't even call it murder or execution. It disgusted me, but even holding a seat on the council, there was nothing I could do. Males usually were instilled with a deep-seated psychological fear of females at an early age and rarely spoke out, much less rebelled. If a male were to actually get some form of power after all that, it usually ended up in a gory or vindictive form of revenge," Keela continued, opening her eyes again, now looking miserable.

The reactions were interesting, to say the least. Celestia just frowned, having a reserved yet saddened expression on. Shining Armor looked downright horrified, however, showing open disgust for the first time since I met him. Ultimately, I had to agree.

Twilight was totally different, though. She snapped to a sudden look of dawning comprehension instead, and rapidly looked over at me. "That's why you're afraid of me, isn't it?! That's why you act that way around us!" she suddenly exclaimed. Well, yes, that was mostly true. It wasn't honestly because she was so powerful. Sure, it was scary, but it was also because she was female.

"You girls are powerful and important females. On an unconscious level, Mender probably instinctively attempts to submit because of that," Keela observed, earning a glare from me. Even if that was true, she didn't have to say it out loud to the entire room.

I suddenly noticed that Shining Armor was looking at me instead of Keela, upon looking back up at everypony. He looked away when our eyes met, and immediately reminded, "We're getting a little off track. What's going to be done with Nirru?" I stared intently at him for a moment, but he didn't look back at me. I knew he'd seen that I wasn't enjoying that last topic. Did he switch it for me, then?

"She's already had her rights and powers striped from her. Her Aegis Artifact is in my keeping instead, and she'll probably be incarcerated indefinitely. At least until the link between our dimensions is permanently broken," Keela responded, looking momentarily glum over the aspect, but maintaining her stoic expression. I had sympathy for her, honestly. She'd been through a lot, and while it could have been prevented, expecting her not to make mistakes in hindsight was stupid. She was hurting, too.

Celestia smiled and nodded with that. "I understand that this is hard for you, too, but I believe that to be the right choice. My primary concern is keeping my little ponies safe, of course. This seems satisfactory to do so. What of your relation with Mender?" she asked.

Keela seemed hesitant for a moment before smiling over at me instead. I met her gaze with a curious expression, wondering what the change in demeanor was about. "I would really like to be his friend still, but I know keeping the link open would just be dangerous. The only thing holding it open now is the link I gave him to communicate with me. If he severs that, our dimensions should shift apart again in a couple weeks. That, um, would be the best course of action, probably," she suggested, doing a very bad job of sounding sure of herself. Her eyes stayed locked on mine until her voice trailed off.

"You're hesitating," I pointed out, watching her carefully. That got her to snap her eye contact with me instantly, looking away and to the left instead.

Twilight's eyebrow raised and she tilted her head as well, theorizing, "The only anchor firm enough to maintain a connection at this distance theoretically is your life force. You mentioned earlier that Mender could also use the link to retaliate against you. What would happen to you if he severed the link?"

Oh. That was indeed a good question. Keela's ears flattened back even further, and I suddenly realized that I probably wasn't going to like the answer. "I, um, don't know? The link I gave him used to be taken from slaves in order to control them and show ownership. The only time I've ever seen one broken is when the slave is killed by their owner," she revealed.

"What?!" was out my mouth before I could stop it. Why the hell did she give one of those connections to me?!

Twilight looked as surprised as I did, making me feel a little better about my sudden outburst. "Mender's not even in your dimension. Why did you give him such a link?" she asked, mirroring my thoughts, apparently.

"Well, for one, I wanted him to trust me. Even if he didn't know the significance of the link, giving him clear leverage over me was the easiest and fastest way I could think of. So, well, I took a gamble on his personality. I don't really mind the thought. It's not like he asks me to do anything I wasn't technically doing already," she reasoned, making my feelings twist up even more.

"So severing the link could potentially kill you?" Celestia asked in a rather direct, blunt manner, earning a wince from me. Keela just nodded wearily, suddenly looking somewhat uneasy. "Twilight, I'd like you to start looking into the nature of the link and see if you can find a way to break it without hurting Keela. In the meantime, the link shall stay. I also need to talk to you after this, Mender," she requested after a moment's consideration.

I swallowed nervously, suddenly feeling as uneasy as Keela looked a moment ago. Was I in trouble? Regardless, I nodded towards Celestia, who gave me a soft smile in return. "Then I believe we're done for now. I'll contact you through Mender again in the future when we have more information, and vice versa with any discoveries you make. Oh, and I'm sure you realize now, but you don't need to worry about retaliation, Keela," Celestia continued, politely smiling back towards the Keldarian.

Keela blushed and coughed lightly before smiling back. It was a precaution, but it was rather silly. "I'm not going to attack you, Keela. What happened was out of your control," I agreed, giving her a smile as well. Keela's eyes softened as she looked at me before she gave a single nod.

"I realize that now. Um, thank you for believing me, Mender. Do you want to keep talking during this whole ordeal?" she asked, looking hopeful.

Twilight giggled instead, however, pointing out, "He kind of has to if he wants to deliver information back and forth. But if he doesn't have a problem with it, do you think I could visit, too? You seem like an interesting individual," Twilight asked, looking back and forth between us. Wait, she was asking me, too?

Keela grinned and shook her head, adding, "I don't have a problem with it if Mender doesn't. It's him doing all the hard work."

I snorted and shook my head. "It's not really that hard at all. I'm actually in the hospital right now, so honestly, it's kind of like resting anyway. Maybe I'll ask Fluttershy to meet you too, even?" I offered, shifting my focus into my left eye and peeking back into the other dimension again. Fluttershy gave a squeak as I referenced her name, and shrunk down in her chair, of course. I tried to resist the urge to cut the link, then run over and hug her again. That 'running' part would probably throw a wrench in things.

"I'd like that. Every, um, pony seems really kind so far. Now that I can truly meet them, I feel a lot better," Keela agreed, somewhat cryptically. I let it slide, however, deciding to ask her about it later.

Princess Celestia nodded in agreement. "I'm pleased that this has gone so smoothly, and will gladly welcome communication between yourself and Equestria. For now, however, I apologize, but I have much to consider," she apologized.

"I suppose that means you're leaving now?" the Keldarian asked, hiding the smallest burst of melancholy that flashed across her face.

Celestia nodded, of course, earning a soft sigh from Keela. "All right. Before you go, Mender, I do have something for you," she revealed, sliding over to the other end of the couch and fetching something from around the side. I felt Shining Armor's barrier strengthen almost instantly and smirked to myself, amused at how cautious he was. Still, I kind of envied him for it. If I'd been this cautious when Nirru tried to trick me, she never would have even made it upstairs. Shining Armor probably would have figured it out on the ground floor, tricked her back, then ambushed her instead.

He relaxed when Keela withdrew a medium sized box instead. Papers and notebooks were literally overflowing from the top of it, and she slid the box across the table and closer to my view. A simple glance at the top few pages revealed many familiar topics. "Doctor Kyliona's notes. How did you get these?" I asked, surprised they even still existed.

"They're not the originals. I printed off and bound everything I could find in our database before deleting it. Those are the only copies left. I want to send them over to you in Equestria," she explained, sounding remarkably final about it.

I frowned, but before I or anypony else could say anything, she kneeled down to my head level and slid something out from under the sofa. Shining Armor's shield flared up again as his eyes widened. Mine did too, for just cause. The silver and black hilt and sheath of "Void Cutter" was displayed before me.

"I know I don't have any right to ask favors of you, but can I please send you Ventosus Lacuna, too? It's Nirru's Artifact, and as such, she can pull it to herself from almost anywhere. Almost. I have reason to believe that she can't draw it from a different dimension. I don't want her getting it. I've had to forcefully stop several attempts already of her pulling it," she explained. Ventosus Lacuna? Windy Emptiness? Why did Nirru call it something different?

I started to turn and look at Celestia instead, but the alicorn beat me to the punch by far. "That actually is in line with my thoughts exactly. Please accept the Artifact, Mender," Celestia requested, surprising me and making me suspicious at the same time. I nodded slowly, turning back to Keela instead.

The Keldarian smiled and gave me a gentle hug, squeezing around my shoulders. Subconsciously, I patted her on the back using my right foreleg, avoiding my left entirely. "Then I'll see you later, Mender?" Keela asked, finally backing up and giving me a hopeful expression.

I nodded softly to her, offering, "Probably tonight, depending on what Twilight's doing. I'll tug on the link when I'm set." Of course, I didn't mention that Twilight might be busy either directing me or blasting me to pieces. I held back a shiver of nervousness at the prospect of telling her.

"Okay! I look forward to talking to both of you again, then," Keela confirmed, sounding a lot happier than she was earlier, admittedly.

Nodding to her, I gave her a parting bow for politeness before pulling all four of us back out and through the dimensional transit. Twilight waited until everything started to run together before sliding sideways and pressing a firm kiss to my right cheek. I gave her a smirk and kissed hers back in return as everything melted into a singularity. Maybe, just maybe, things would work out after all?

Chapter 34

Slowly, my eyes opened again to greet the hospital room. The flickering projection of the other reality melted away as I shifted back here at the same time. Rainbow and Fluttershy were both facing the wall, having previously been looking out the 'window' that was projected there from inside the ship. Both turned around and smiled at us as the other three stirred, one by one.

"That was surprisingly relaxing," Celestia commented, stretching her wings out upon lifting her head. I blinked my eye repeatedly, it having dried out a little while projecting the image for the girls.

Twilight snickered before gently brushing her muzzle against my cheek. "Eye got a little dry, did it?" she observed, grinning.

I nodded and gave a sheepish smile back. At least I found out that the transmission thing worked across the dimensional gap. That meant it should work in the other direction, too, if Keela wished to talk to us. I made a mental note to bring the topic up with her if I had time later.

"That was very productive. She's very easy going," Shining Armor noted, pulling out a pad of paper from his saddlebag and jotting down a few notes on it. I figured he'd have to do a report on all of this.

"She's doing better than I thought. At least she's taking it well," I muttered, idly looking down at my emaciated leg resting under me.

Fluttershy landed to my left again shortly afterwards, brushing against my left side as she settled into the blanket. I gave her a warm smile, but frowned when I noticed the focused look on her face. Normally she only got that expression when she was trying to nerve herself up for something.

"Um, do you think I can stay for, well, whatever it is that you're going to tell Twilight? I want to be part of the herd so, uh, I mean, if it's okay, of course. I don't want to be a burden or anything," she asked after another few seconds of silence. Oh. Oh hell.

"Fluttershy, you're not a burden. If Mender doesn't have a problem with it, I most certainly don't mind," Twilight assured somewhere behind me. I almost didn't register it as panic shifted throughout. I had to tell Fluttershy, too?! This was going to go very, very poorly. Damn it! It was a stupid idea to have shared the feed with them. If she hadn't been watching, she wouldn't have even known about any of it!

"Um, Mender?" Fluttershy asked, snapping me out of my panic, only to realize I'd been frozen in one spot since she asked me, staring wide-eyed at her foreleg. Well, that wasn't creepy at all...

"Ah! Uh, yes?" I asked, shakily looking back up at her. She looked startled at my reaction, and I fought to regain control of my expression.

A moment later, all three of us jolted as Shining Armor let out a frustrated groan from all of half a meter away. "No! I forgot to ask her about the creature that attacked her sister that night in the forest! I knew I was forgetting something!" he groaned, sounding a bit annoyed. The irony of his topic wasn't lost to me. My ears flattened back a little as I really hoped it would just be dropped.

"It's okay, Shiny. We'll talk to her again sometime soon and ask then. Relax," Twilight assured in a calming tone, resting her forehoof on his left shoulder.

He smiled up at her and shook his head wearily, shifting from annoyed looking to seemingly embarrassed over the whole ordeal. Rainbow landed slightly behind Fluttershy a second later and made a scoffing noise, however. "Why would you want to know about that thing in the first place? It's gone now, and that's all that's important!" she exclaimed. Thank you, Rainbow. I agreed fully with that sentiment. It's in the past, so they shouldn't need to ask about it. Awkward questions set me up for awkward answers, after all.

"It was extremely dangerous, Rainbow. If there was more than one of them out there, ponies could get hurt," Shining Armor reasoned, shifting back into that defender role he was so fond of. I appreciated the outlook he had, but sometimes I wondered if he didn't stress himself out with it. He struck me as a little high-strung. Blinking, I glanced over at Twilight a moment later. Yeah, maybe it ran in the family?

"It didn't look all that tough! Actually, it looked kinda shrimpy. Totally ugly too," Dash shot back, flaring her wings out. My ears flattened a little more as I suppressed a sigh. Her expression when looking at me that night looked more 'horrified' than 'disgusted'. Although there was probably a little of both in there.

"Oh, I forgot that you actually saw the creature. Yes, I read your report on it. You actually said it was pony-like?" he inquired. I became more and more uncomfortable with the conversation. Celestia looked back and forth between them, her expression mostly neutral with a mix of concern blended in.

"Yeah, that was the weird thing! I thought I saw a Cutie Mark, too, but it left way too quickly. It definitely wasn't a pony, though. There were totally gross looking tentacles coming from its back like an octopus, and it had creepy looking, glowing blue eyes!" Rainbow continued, sounding more excited than scared, oddly. I twitched at the 'gross' part.

Fluttershy let out a squeak and shrunk down away from her cyan friend, while Twilight let out a sigh instead. "Rainbow, stop it. You're scaring Fluttershy, and making Mender uncomfortable," she requested, shooting her a skeptical glare.

Rainbow deflated a little before looking over at me instead as I tried to rapidly shift back to a neutral face. She was nothing if not fast, however. "Oh, sorry, Mender. I forgot that those weren't the best memories. Sorry for scaring you as well, Fluttershy," she apologized, tone a bit lower than prior. She had no idea how close she just hit to the absolute truth.

"We should let him rest now, speaking of. That probably took a lot out of him, and we have reports to file, Shining," Celestia reminded, subtly coming up with an excuse for me. I wasn't exactly tired, but I didn't mind pretending if it meant a topic change, and nodded over at her.

"Oh yeah, I gotta go check on Pinkie anyway! She's supposed to be getting the bandages off at the end of the hour and I said I'd help her. I'll probably be by later with Pinkie in tow, Mender," Rainbow suddenly relayed, seemingly just now remembering.

"Fluttershy and I will stay here with Mender for now. I'll see both of you then when Pinkie and you get here?" Twilight asked, smiling pleasantly at Dash.

"Totally! Anyways, I'm actually a bit late, so I gotta go. See you in an hour or so!" she exclaimed, flapping backwards and latching onto the windowsill long enough to open the window again.

Fluttershy smiled as well, finally recovering enough to nod towards Dash, who probably missed it entirely before zipping out the window. I guess I'd be getting a visit from Pinkie later, then. I smiled at the aspect. As tiring as she was, she somehow managed to cheer me up. I'd probably need it after this. Plus it was nice that Dash was finally relaxing around me again, of course.

"I'll be back later today in order to get a few details on Keela and the Keldarians if you don't mind, Mender. I have a report to file, then a letter to send out to Cadence," Shining Armor requested, stopping by the door and glancing back at the three of us. Celestia got off the bed and stretched her legs as a guard spontaneously came in without call and started rotating the bed onto its side again. I couldn't tell if it was the same guard as before or a new one. Did she pick all of her guards based on color? That hardly seemed economical. I guessed an enchantment of some sort and wished I could scan him without my eyes glowing. I snapped out of it after catching myself again, and nodded to Shining Armor.

"That's fine, Shining Armor. If I'm asleep, just smack me," I requested, sure I could easily take a whack or two at this point.

He laughed immediately, smirking and assuring, "Just call me Shining. You'll probably be my brother-in-law soon enough, after all." I stared blankly at him for a moment, parts of that sentence simply not computing.

"Aah! No! I'll tell him later. Shoo!" Twilight exclaimed, a gentle nudge of magic pushing him towards the door. She exhaled quietly as she turned around, and then promptly deflated as she saw me staring at her. I was vaguely aware of my mouth being open.

"Well, I know when to take my leave. My sister is expecting me back soon. I'm going to shift that talk to a couple days from now. I need to make some arrangements first," Celestia interrupted, smirking gently towards me. Wait, what? What 'arrangements' was she talking about?

My mind swirled in confusion at the bombardment of new questions raised. Celestia apparently intended to capitalize on my stunned state and beat a dignified yet hasty exit, nodding to her guard to follow her with the packed up bed. I watched the end of the bed disappear out the doorway before finally rectifying my slack-jawed expression and giving a wide-eyed stare back at Twilight, who was blushing furiously.

"Ah, yeah. I was going to explain, of course. Um, Shining Armor kind of told our parents about the syncing thing. Dad wasn't entirely pleased with me," Twilight revealed after an incredibly awkward ten seconds of me staring blankly at her.

Fluttershy fidgeted next to me, ears drooping as she muttered, "Oh. Oh my. Um, are you in trouble or anything?" My brain slowly rebooted, somewhat literally, and I frowned. It would help if I were fully aware of the implications of what was involved.

"I deflected the anger away from Mender, and did manage to alleviate a great many of his concerns. If I'd been coerced somehow or blackmailed, and if it was both ways, which of course I assured him it was not. I even tried to get in that it was initially part of a magic examination, but he still wants to come visit and meet my 'future husband' as soon as possible," Twilight explained in length. Uh, I hadn't realized that Twilight wanted to marry me. This was, well, unexpected. My brain went blank again as I realized I couldn't tell how she'd prefer me to react to that revelation. If I was pleased, it might alleviate some of her stress, but that would also indicate quite a few other things that I somehow doubted she'd be happy with. What did I want, honestly? More importantly, what did she want me to want? My head started spinning again and I momentarily felt sick.

"Oh dear. I didn't know that the binding ritual was so important! What's your mother think?" Fluttershy asked, sounding considerably worried, regardless of the fact that it didn't really affect her all that much.

Twilight rolled her eyes, which I couldn't place as a good or bad sign. "She's a mixture between laughing hysterically at my father, and hoping for foals in the future. Ugh. She also mentioned something about getting me fertility tonics for this upcoming season, and I'm horrified to say that I couldn't tell if she was joking or not," Twilight groaned, deciding to bury her face in the blankets rather than risk looking at me. It suddenly dawned on me that this might make my own reveal after this all the more awkward. Yeah, by the way, Twilight, I hope you don't mind marrying an abomination of nature and physics. Further, I noticed no 'not getting married' clause anywhere in her information. Would her father hunt me down and personally execute me if she were to suddenly break up with me?

"Um, it's a little sudden for foals, if you don't mind me saying so. Well, maybe next year, but the herd should really be official first, right?" Fluttershy reasoned, rather wisely. I didn't want any legality problems. Although I wondered if they had some sort of communal child centers or something. Sadly, I didn't know of any other methods off the top of my head, unless they were like our allies and used a sort of family based unit to raise the children. That might take some adjusting to, of course. Wait, why was I even thinking about this?!

"W-What?!" Twilight asked, looking up at Fluttershy in shock and a slight mixture of horror thrown in. Well, there was further proof contrary to the idea! "You were serious about that earlier? Are you crazy?!" At this point, I decided my wisest course of action was to simply stay silent until addressed.

Fluttershy tilted her head, seemingly not fully understanding the question. I frowned, wondering if there was something I was missing again in a social context. Which mare was the incorrect one?! "Well, I'm sure by then we'll be a lot more comfortable with each other. Undoubtedly we'll have, uh, progressed to, well..." She trailed off, leaving me at an extremely awkward cliffhanger. I realized it must have been something that was supposed to be implied, as Twilight immediately flushed a violent red shade. Was that healthy for her circulation?

Probably not, I decided, as she immediately locked up, unmoving. Fluttershy frowned as well, but smiled a moment later and gently brushed her cheek against my shoulder while watching Twilight. "Well, that's almost a year. Surely you aren't, um, opposed to the idea, right?" she asked quietly, with what I almost labeled as a hinging of amusement if I didn't know better. This was Fluttershy, after all. She didn't tease others!

Twilight started shivering, somehow getting more blood flow to the cheeks and starting to look a little faint. I was getting a little tired of not knowing what we were talking about or what to say, and sighed. "Twilight doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to, Fluttershy. Maybe we should just talk about something else?" I offered after a moment's consideration. That seemed a safe enough choice. It was difficult deciding what was the best course of action in social situations, for me. I knew the males were on more equal terms here, but I kept worrying about overstepping my bounds or something and getting reprimanded. How did family dynamics and child raising work in Equestria?

Twilight jumped, startled to hear my voice speak up again and looked towards me, wide-eyed. Uh... "No! It's not that. I'm just, well, nervous. It's fine, Mender," Twilight assured, suspiciously without hesitation. I raised an eyebrow to her, but Fluttershy shook her head rapidly.

"No, he is right. We should talk about something else. Rainbow and I did manage to hear one side of the conversation with Keela earlier. Did you say that you had something to talk to Twilight about?" Fluttershy reminded softly. Aww, hell. That wasn't a 'better' topic!

Twilight perked up instantly with the reminder and nodded towards me. "Yeah! Do you mind if Fluttershy hears it, too?" she inquired, suddenly glancing towards the yellow mare uncertainly.

I frowned, considering my words carefully. "Well, it's a little, um, scary. It involves the night of the incident," I admitted, hoping Fluttershy would bow out. Of course, would either of them really accept the truth all that well? I somehow doubted it. If I were an outsider, I'd probably find it hard to swallow too.

Fluttershy shook her head, however. "I, well, I'll be okay if you don't mind sharing, that is. I want to be a part of this herd, and that means accepting and being connected to each member," she explained, closing her eyes while doing so as if to draw strength from somewhere inside. Oh boy.

I swallowed nervously as both mares shifted their attention to me. I suddenly felt extremely exposed and tucked my legs up a little, guarding various soft and squishy parts along my stomach. This was bad. Fluttershy began to look concerned after I hesitated for a good half a minute, but Twilight nudged me ahead with, "It came up after Keela mentioned that you really did a number on Nirru. Did you actually manage to attack her before that creature came along?"

She unknowingly gave me the perfect out if I had really wanted to take it. Still, I should tell them the truth at some point. It only felt right. Crap. I closed my eyes and shook my head softly. It would make it easier if I introduced this a bit slower to edge them into it. Looking around, I managed to spot my saddlebag under the bedside table. I gestured towards it with my right foreleg. Tilting her head, Twilight took my hint and levitated the bag over to me. Well, technically they were her old saddlebags, but she'd been letting me use them anyway.

I dug around inside of it for a moment, knowing there were only books inside. While doing so, I formed one of my claws on my left forehoof before popping it off. I stared at it at the top of the bag for a moment before magically picking it up and pulling it out. Fluttershy gave it a curious stare, but Twilight's eyes practically shot out of her head. "That's one of the creature's claws, isn't it?" she asked almost instantly.

Fluttershy's eye size joined hers for a totally different reason, and she shrunk down and away from the thing. I nodded gently and passed the claw over to Twilight, who took it up in her magic and examined it. "Oh wow. How is this even possible? This isn't bone at all. It's laced with organic metal of some sort, is the best I can describe. How did you get this, Mender?" she asked after rapidly analyzing it. Heh. I expected nothing less from the clever mare.

"Celestia and Luna won't let you see the body because Luna didn't destroy or kill it," I continued, ignoring her prior inquiry.

Fluttershy's eyes got even larger, killing me a little more inside. Would that expression change after I told her everything? "Wait, why would the Princesses lie to us?!" Twilight asked almost instantly, frowning and looking down at the claw again. To my mild surprise, she didn't seem distrustful of me in the slightest. I was expecting her to jump to their side at that point.

"Because I told them to," I replied softly, eyes lowering to the sheets. That got the attention of both of them instantly, of course. "It would be better for them if they lied, but it also gave me, well, time to try to think of how to tell you two."

"Tell us what, Mender?" Fluttershy whispered timidly. Yet another piece of me fell away as I swallowed, starting to shake a little bit. Please let her not hate me. Please! I closed my eyes again to try to gather my courage.

There was no escape. I couldn't live with a mask to them, never letting them see the real me. I'd never know if it was me they cared for or the mask. "They didn't kill it because there was no monster. There never was. I was the one who killed Nirru," I finally got out. A feeling of finality set over me as I realized there was no turning back now.

Fluttershy gasped, tearing free yet another chunk of me as I winced. Twilight's eyes shifted into calculating, however, with record speed. "There's no way you could have defeated Nirru in the state that Applejack described to me. You were critically injured before being taken away in the first place. But you say there was no monster, and Keela specifically said that you took a lot out of her sister. That's what you actually wanted to tell us, right?" she deduced, skipping a lot of parts and logic. I should have expected as much, honestly. I had a feeling Twilight was onto me before this, even.

I nodded weakly. "I didn't defeat her. She killed me. Well, more specifically, she let me die from the wounds she and Applejack inflicted on me," I detailed, frowning as I corrected myself. Fluttershy shivered, tears forming in her eyes and Twilight gave me a blank, surprised look. There was nothing else for it.

"She told me a lot of things before I died. Then, after my heart stopped, something else woke up. It was what killed her. It was what Luna found and talked to. I... I'm just..."

I broke down and started crying as it all spilled out. I told them everything she'd said after hauling me away, and everything I'd found out about myself. The fact that I was a cyborg clone of a Keldarian that was turned into a pony to scout their dimension, then got damaged or something on the way over and developed whatever the hell personality I was. My consciousness was a mistake in and of itself. I was a mixture of scout and biological weapon. I told them about how something had happened that set me off on our old world and killed billions of Keldarians and how I had all their DNA in me.

After all the information was released, I just kept blabbering, afraid my world would fall apart if I stopped. I told them that I didn't have a clue what I honestly was, as the sum of my parts didn't equal what I was now and something had obviously changed in my transition to Equestria. I went over everything that happened that night, up through tearing Nirru apart for what she threatened to do to everypony I cared for, trying to get Luna to kill me, running away from a horrified Rainbow Dash, and regenerating my foreleg.

Finally, I quieted down when there was absolutely nothing left to tell.

Twilight still sat on the bed, absolutely motionless at this point. Her eyes were wide and she barely risked breathing. Fluttershy was tucked into a ball, looking more sad than shocked as she watched me quietly. I didn't know how to read either mare at this point and just slumped under my covers. It had taken almost forty minutes to relay the entire tale in between my small breakdowns.

I didn't feel better like I thought I would. There was no sense of relief or weight being lifted off my chest. I just felt empty and cold now while waiting to see how alone I was going to be left.

"Y-You killed Nirru?" Fluttershy asked again, barely audible after almost a minute of silence. Her entire form shook, and I expected her to run away at any moment. It wouldn’t surprise me, and I couldn’t blame her for it.

It was pointless to hide the truth at this point, regardless. "I destroyed her. I tore her apart and made her feel it. It scares me now, but I hated her so much for what she did to me, and what she was threatening to do to you ponies," I reiterated, little emotion to my voice at this point. It felt like a giant icicle was impaling my chest.

"But it was a fake body, though? She was remote controlling it from their dimension?" Twilight asked, sounding far less disturbed over the whole ordeal than I expected.

I nodded softly, still staring straight ahead while not looking at either of them. "Yes. At first I wouldn't let her leave, but her sister begged me to spare her," I furthered, repeating in a little more detail what I'd already said.

Fluttershy frowned but nodded before asking, "You did spare her, then? She really didn't die because you, um, let her go, and now she's being punished by her sister?"

I nodded again, wondering where she was going with it. I’d said all that already. Why did she need confirmation on that part of all things? She frowned, however, seemingly considering something. I looked away again just in time for Twilight to continue instead. "I mostly understand what you are now. You're basically a genetic copy of the Keldarian we used to think you actually were, that was created to scout Equestria but then abandoned. They turned you into a cyborg, or cybernetic organism as you call it, which is essentially an organic individual like us with extra or replacement synthetic parts, right?" she inquired, sounding like she more wanted confirmation than anything. It was also amazingly astute, but I’d expected as much from Twilight. It wasn’t her understanding the situation that I was scared of.

That was basically accurate and I nodded to her, wondering where she was confused if she was asking for confirmation. She picked up all of the details amazingly fast. "The only thing I don't understand is the biological weapon part. I know that your dimension's weapon technology far surpasses Equestria's, but I can't seem to grasp the concept," she explained, frowning.

"That's probably a good thing. Frankly, it's horrifying and I wouldn't have even created such a thing had they asked me. It's a biological entity that consumes practically anything it touches, can take any shape it desires, and can warp bits of itself through space, connected via our FTL engine to move at hundreds of times the speed of light. It was like a living plague that consumed and destroyed everything on a universal scale, moving from planet to planet as a colossally large thing. It's impossible to describe and I wish it had never been created. But that's what I am. I don't know why it fired off on our planet, or why it stopped, or why I came to be after it moved here in the body of a scout, but that's what it was originally, and why I have over half our planet's population of DNA in me," I elaborated quietly.

"You think it's, um, horrifying, then?" Fluttershy asked quietly, again slipping in with a strangely off topic question. I figured that much would have been obvious in the way I described it. Her shivering had stopped however, and she just stared at me with wide eyes. I’d expected her to be fleeing at this point, honestly.

I nodded to her regardless, attempting to be as honest as possible. "Of course. It's, well, beyond bad. It's unspeakably horrifying that somepony could even think to create something like it," I muttered, shivering again.

"You don't have any direct memories of the event because 'you' weren't the one doing it, I bet. You didn't lie to us at all, but really became 'you' when you landed here and thought you were the Keldarian," Twilight concluded, seemingly thinking that herself out loud. I watched her curiously, while Fluttershy also fell into thought. Well, they weren't running away screaming yet, which I should take as a good sign.

"I didn't mean to lie to you. At that point, I didn't know any better myself. I've been struggling with how to tell you for days," I explained, sighing weakly.

Twilight's ears flattened, snapping her out of her thoughts as she looked up at me sadly. "I've kept secrets a lot longer than that from you. Please, Mender, don't worry about that. If anything, this conversation only proves that you really are uniquely 'you', you know," she pointed out, causing me to raise an eyebrow. She explained however, taking my non-verbal hint.

“You’re expressing doubt over the originality of your existence. Further, you show deep remorse for what happened and all events indicate that you only have ‘recordings’ of the weapon in question. This leads me to believe that you became ‘you’ in the transfer to Equestria. You’re not a robot, Mender. This ‘cyborg’ thing leads me to believe that you’re also a lot of pony too. So empirically, all evidence points at you being your own, unique self that was ‘born’ on the day you arrived in Equestria, but with memories from the individual you were cloned from,” she reasoned, being extremely level-headed about things and rather surprising me.

Fluttershy perked up and nodded rapidly while listening, adding, “Yes! If you were just a machine, you wouldn’t think to ask if you’re a machine or not, right?” I blinked and raised an eyebrow over to her, causing her to blush and continue before I could say anything. “I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense and I’m not as good at, well, wording things as Twilight, but I know what my feelings are. The Mender I’m talking to right now is the same Mender that I like and want to be with, so that’s enough for me,” she appended.

My eyes widened and I stared at her in surprise, causing her to shrink a little. Twilight gave me a skeptical glance as I looked away and down at the bed sheets. Was this real? Oh, please let this be real! If I was seconds from waking up from an amazing dream, I was going to be all kinds of pissed off. “I… Well, I didn’t think that either of you would really want to still be with me after you found out I’m not a pony. Especially because of what I actually am,” I muttered, frowning to myself. If I had fingers, I’d be attempting to pinch my foreleg now.

Fluttershy relaxed again, and Twilight shook her head. “I’m not going to lie to you anymore, Mender. Remember? Both of us told you that we like you for who you are. I know that it’s hard for you to trust, well, anything anymore, but please make us an exception?” the unicorn requested softly, tipping her head around so she could look into my eyes. They shifted up to meet hers a moment later.

“It wasn’t what I was expecting, but I guess that should tell me something. I just want to stay here with everypony in Equestria. I don’t want to be a part of anything my old race tries to do. I just want to be with you two,” I confessed, resting my head on my forelegs, mindful of my injury.

Fluttershy tucked in against me to the left, and Twilight giggled lightly before resting against my right foreleg. “Nopony’s going to make you leave. We want you to stay, Mender. This proves that you’re still you as well, even if you have some extra parts,” Twilight agreed. I opened my eyes again in time to see her smile. My chest warmed up a little bit and I nuzzled against her cheek, earning a grin. “There! Now cheer up, Silly. You’re not scary if we know you’re still you,” she concluded.

“Um, can I, uh, see it?” Fluttershy asked timidly a moment later. My mind blanked as I looked back at her questioningly. See what, exactly?

Twilight frowned, however, asking, “Are you sure, Fluttershy? He did say it was scary.” I looked back and forth between them, a little concerned now. She wanted to see my other self? That was, well, going to be unpleasant if so.

The yellow mare frowned and gave a stern look, however. “Yes! I took Rarity’s advice to heart. I’m not going to let anything involving Mender scare me anymore. I want to, well, get used to it,” she explained, pushing a little harder into my side for emphasis. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“If you’re sure, Fluttershy. Rainbow was right, though. Despite what she said, I can still remember… what she looked like that night,” I warned, lowering my eyes a little. She was horrified. Rainbow’s eyes told me she was looking at the most ugly, unnatural thing she’d ever seen and that I was an abomination. It tore me apart.

My thoughts were obliterated when the pegasus pushed forwards instead, momentarily kissing me directly on the lips. My eyes opened up in an instant as I jumped, but she pulled away a moment later. “Stop it, Mender. Please? She didn’t know it was you, and wouldn’t have looked like that if she did.”

My eyes closed again and I resisted snorting. That I wasn’t so sure about. My eyes opened again after I made up my mind, scanners activated in them. The blue light washed across the mares and Fluttershy gave a start. Twilight didn’t look nearly as surprised, however, blinking once then shifting to lean in closer and get a better look. “Wow! There are actually things rotating and moving inside the eye. What is this?” she asked, obviously noticing my display on the inside of my eyes.

“I have a computer display on the inside of my eyes that gives me readouts and information. The blue light is actually scanning energy being projected from my eyes,” I explained simply, turning to look at Twilight instead. Fluttershy relaxed as she watched, apparently deciding that blue eyes weren’t all that intimidating. That I agreed with.

Twilight nodded rapidly, her notepad sliding out of her bag along with a quill. I resisted groaning as she started taking notes rapidly without looking. Did she have to start studying me already? “Rainbow did report that your eyes were blue. She must have seen the light as well,” she deduced, sounding as if she were mostly talking to herself.

“She also said that your skin was, um, black and beetle-like? So kind of like armor?” Fluttershy asked as Twilight wrote, seemingly curious, oddly. Oh, she did like animals, so relating it to something that insects had would make it seem less foreign, probably.

I nodded and focused, shifting a bit of my armor back into place. The left side of my face shifted to the plating almost instantly, it merging out of my skin as it folded in segments down my neck and over my shoulders. “This is what she was talking about,” I explained, my voice splitting into two tones again as the armor covered my vocal cords. This time, Fluttershy didn’t even look surprised as she reached out and ran a hoof lightly along the smooth organic metal.

“It’s warm,” she murmured, tilting her head at it. Twilight’s writing picked up speed as she stared even harder, looking more and more excited the more of me changed. Well, this was exactly the opposite reaction that I had been expecting. Either I had a few things fundamentally wrong in my outlook, or I had cracked from the pressure and was even more insane, rocking back and forth somewhere in isolation. Either case seemed likely at this point.

“This is amazing! It’s made out of the same stuff as the claw. And it merges seamlessly out of your skin! You really are amorphic, then!” Twilight squealed, causing me to sigh. No, that hadn’t surprised me, I realized.

Fluttershy rapidly shifted around me to give Twilight a concerned glance. “Twilight, he’s not an experiment. This is probably uncomfortable for him so, um, please don’t be insensitive,” she quietly requested before tucking up against me again. This time I blushed, pleasantly surprised at how well she was taking it.

Twilight started not taking it so well as she flailed, releasing a series of murmurs while shaking her head rapidly. “No, no, no! I didn’t mean it like that! Everything’s just making sense now about the forest issue and I guess that makes me happy,” she explained, ears lowering before I shook my head to stop her.

“No, it’s fine. I’m just not comfortable with this form. I don’t think it’s pleasant to look at in the first place, so I guess this just surprises me,” I explained, shifting to completely armored instead. Being covered in plate armor made me feel remarkably less exposed, even if it did nothing to block less tangible things like opinions and feelings. My ears flicked lightly, the metal shifting gently as they moved.

Twilight smiled and nodded, relaxing back down against the covers and resting her quill on top of the pad instead. “I know. Thank you for showing us. It’s a bit unnerving to look at, admittedly, but knowing it’s you makes it far less scary,” she admitted, watching me carefully.

That surprised me. I was expecting one extreme or another. Well, honestly, I had been expecting them to run screaming. Accepting me was amazing, but this was different. She just admitted that I was a little on the scary side, but that sort of made me feel better in a backwards sort of way. At least I knew she wasn’t lying to me and actually was looking.

Fluttershy nodded in agreement as well on the other side. “You are scary, but seeing you change made it a lot less so. Even if it, well, is scary looking, I definitely know it’s you,” she agreed. Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. Them seeing the transition also probably smoothed that aspect a little. Rainbow obviously hadn’t gotten that either.

“This is most of the transformation, anyway. I can move really fast and take quite a beating in this form. I also regenerate while inside of it. That’s how I got my foreleg back,” I added, lifting it up and moving it around without problem now. Technically, it wasn’t doing the moving, of course, but it was nice to see regardless.

“You also must be really strong in order to do that to the tree the first time you changed. I can see how you beat Nirru now, and I’m glad you did,” Twilight deduced, frowning towards the end.

Fluttershy sighed and blew a stray piece of her bangs out of her face before looking down. “Um, yeah. That bothered me at first, but she wanted to do really bad things to us. You only got angry and hurt her after she threatened us, and that, um, kinda makes me happy in a way,” she tried to explain, tilting her head at herself after she said it.

“She threatened both of you specifically. That’s what set me off. I just… I know you two are strong and can handle yourselves, but the thought of her even trying to hurt you just infuriated me. She was there because of me and I wasn’t about to let her hurt anypony,” I muttered, feeling that familiar anger coming back. The sad thing was that I probably wouldn't have cared nearly as much if she stopped at killing only me.

Both mares quieted after that, and I settled again on my stomach. At least this was going better than I thought it would. Although, I had expected them to be afraid of me, not disappointed in me. My back clenched as I remembered absolutely hating Nirru. Hate. I wanted to murder her in the most painful manner possible. That raw rage scared me, to some degree. It didn't feel natural.

"She deserved it. You should have done worse. You should have killed her outright. Eaten her corpse just to make sure," I heard whispered directly into my skull. I sighed, realizing it was stronger than before as I glanced over at the book lying on my bedside table. I just kept pretending it was its own entity rather than some aspect of myself. Unnatural, right? I resisted chuckling.

"I'm..." Twilight started before trailing off. I glanced back up at her, surprised at her hesitation. She frowned to herself a moment later, eyes flicking lightly as she apparently fought intensely with something internal. Finally she shook her head and closed them, that familiar sensation of seeking peace inside of yourself showing on her face. As if the world wouldn't be able to see you if you couldn't see it in return. "I'm not as strong as you think sometimes, Mender," she continued after a moment's focus.

I tilted my head to her, but she kept going before I could say anything. "I know now why you're afraid of me. It probably won't help much, but I wanted you to know that I'm not as strong as you think. I'm powerful with my magic but, well, I have insecurities just as much as you do. I'm unsure of a lot and I don't always know what to do in any situation. I'm okay if I can prepare ahead of time but you can still catch me by surprise. I bleed just like you do," she admitted, opening her eyes to half-mast before looking back up at me.

I exhaled gently. What does one say to something like that? "What do you mean, Twilight? If it was something Keela said, I probably didn't hear it. All Dash and I could hear was things Mender said," Fluttershy reminded gently.

"Females on my world held every aspect of political and social power. Males were treated as second-class citizens at best, slaves at worst. We were kept weak and plentiful because of the genetics magic exposure inflicted us with, so we were expendable. If we acted out or showed any signs of anything apart from submission, we were typically disposed of," I explained quietly for Twilight. As expected, Fluttershy's eyes were huge by the end of the explanation.

"It's terrible, but it also explains why you were afraid of me. I showed strong magic and, well, quite a temper, I'll admit. Even if you didn't remember specifically why you should be afraid and submit, it was probably conditioned into your original self," Twilight deduced, resting her head down on the surface of the bed. I swallowed weakly, the knot feeling almost tender as it drifted into my stomach. The urges to apologize again for being an idiot hit me, but I clamped my mouth shut. Was that part of it, too? It just felt like, well, me.

Twilight sighed at my silence and continued, "It wasn't just you, obviously. I was scared by my own feelings, which was rather silly now that I look back on it. It made me cranky and impatient with you when I shouldn't have been. That's another reason why I asked you to finalize the link. You'd understand I'm telling the absolute truth then when I say I'm not going to hurt you anymore," she revealed.

Fluttershy let out a sudden squeak, looking surprised. "You tried to get him to finalize the link with you?" she questioned, apparently not processing it very well. I shot her a questioning glance. Why was that so surprising to her?

"Yeah. I want him to trust me like he trusts you. All of the disks have our marks on them now, but he's only completed yours, Rainbow's, and Pinkie's," she returned.

Fluttershy looked momentarily confused before smiling gently and looking down. I thought I saw just the slightest hint of sadness in her eyes. "Rarity suggested it, didn't she?" Fluttershy asked quietly, barely audible. I frowned further, getting a little concerned over her reaction.

Twilight blinked, expression of surprise shifting over her face that told me that Fluttershy was right. "How did you know that?" she asked a moment later, mirroring my question exactly.

Fluttershy shivered and squeezed her eyes shut, looking momentarily horrified. My eyes widened, but hers shot open a moment later, tears starting to form in them as she looked up at us. "I'm sorry! I just can't take it anymore. I'm so, so sorry! I've been trying to get you two together this entire time, and not just for, um, you two's sakes," she spilled out, almost as fast as the tears spilled forth from her eyes. Oh, oh hell. She liked both of us, I knew that much. Had she actually tried to get us together so it would be easier for her to be with both of us? Actually, that didn't exactly sound like it was detrimental to either Twilight or myself. I didn't exactly feel that 'used', considering she liked me, too.

"Fluttershy! Calm down, please! What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, extending a forehoof towards the yellow mare, who shrank away from it and let out another choked whimper.

"I wanted you two to be together so badly, but it wasn't just for you. I'm a horrible pony who doesn't deserve to join you two! I can't stand lying anymore. It hurts too much. I talked Rarity into having that talk with us after Mender fell into the coma. I wanted to be able to share Mender with you, um, not just because I liked him," she admitted, managing to look horrified and embarrassed at the same time.

"Fluttershy, you don't have to do this," I offered, brushing my armored hoof along her shoulder, claws retracted. She froze, shivering again before shaking her head rapidly. I forgot how stubborn she could be sometimes.

"Fluttershy, I don't understand. Being a herd isn't a bad thing, and you like Mender, so what's the problem? I don't understand," Twilight muttered, looking utterly confused. I would have thought it was obvious by now, but then I remembered that Twilight didn't specifically look for romantic cues from other ponies. She probably hadn't even considered it as an option.

"Twilight, I... I-" Fluttershy started to squeak out. The door opened up an instant later, Pinkie Pie sliding in happily alongside Rainbow Dash hovering above her.

"We're back! Turns out Pinkie was totally already on her... way..." Dash started before trailing off, look of horror growing on her face. Mine mirrored hers as my eyes widened and I rapidly looked towards her. My mind blanked, multiple of the worst possible outcomes shifting through it all at once. Fluttershy sprayed tears from her eyes as she whipped her head towards Rainbow, look of surprise matching Twilight's as the purple mare dropped her jaw.

"Oooh, shiny!" Pinkie exclaimed happily.

What had gone wrong? Everything about my admittance had actually gone smoothly up until that point. Things had gotten a little rocky with Fluttershy's panic, but I was sure that could have turned out wonderfully as well. Why did everything seem to go as badly as possible at the worst possible moment? It was almost as if some higher being with a sadistic sense of amusement was writing out my life ahead of time.

The air felt cool along the dulled sensation from my metal plates. I was thankful that Dash herself had left the window open when she slipped out earlier. My tendrils latched out, momentarily connecting with the side of the building before pushing backwards as hard as I could manage. Like a cannon, I was launched away from the window at high velocity, almost silently sailing through the air. Shame and embarrassment were fairly prevalent in my mind, but that face was right at the forefront. That expression from a friend I trusted with my life tore me apart.

Rainbow's expression had shifted from shock to utter horror; it was the same expression she wore that night as well. She looked at me as if I were the ugliest, most horrifying thing she'd ever seen and practically willed me away from her friends. This time, anger had been mixed in with the look, too, and I could only guess as to what had shot through her head at that moment.

I couldn't stand her looking at me like that. The shame made me want to throw up. So I did the only thing I seemed to be good at and ran away. My armored hooves hit the floor half a second after registering her look. Prudentia snapped to my left side like a magnet as I skidded and angled at the window. I heard Twilight shout something and the magic tried to form around me. It was all I could think of was to throw up a decoy body made of weak barrier magic before leaping forwards and clear of her spell. I came a hundredth of a second away from being grabbed by the magic anyway. She missed, however, and I was out the window before she had time to fire another effect off.

I felt the magic subdue the barrier body an instant later with amazing precision and force. "Mender, wait!" Twilight called out in the same moment. It was scary how she managed the gentleness of a drifting feather yet the force of an avalanche at the same time. After that, I was sailing over Ponyville as fast as I could. If I'd made any noise at all, I doubt anypony could have even managed to look up in time to see me.

Snapping back to attention, I angled myself to the right as I descended towards the trees below. I recognized the extremely familiar forest at this point and knew that hiding there for a couple hours was all I could manage. My mind was a blur and I was in full panic, not having a single clue how to fix this. Staying there and pretending it was a new spell or illusion would have gone over as well as somepony insulting AJ in front of Rainbow. She had recognized the form instantly, and most of my options had evaporated then and there. My mind adopted the only thing I could manage to process. Run away from the horrible shame that her expression burned into my head.

My tentacles hit the tree first, easily shifting me past it and into a gentle landing in the forest, skidding to a halt over a good thirty-foot distance. I panted, watching the blades of grass fly every which way in the cloud I'd made from my impact. Damn it! What was I doing?! Frustration mixed with the disgust I felt in my chest and I felt like screaming after I calmed down a little.

The forest around me was alive with the sounds of all sorts of animal life, and I looked around it, uncertain if I was far enough from the edge to not be spotted by anypony in town. This was all going to hell at an amazingly fast rate, I decided. No, I needed to hide myself away for a little bit and think about this! I needed to decide what I could do to fix this and get Rainbow to… To what? Accept my other form? That seemed unlikely, at best.

It was an extremely short-lived calm, sadly. Something I hadn't expected in the least happened an instant later as the link’s sensors fired up. A cyan bolt exited the hospital window I had just escaped from, the proximity warning pinging off from my link to her giving me the visual. Oh. Oh shit! Why was she following me?! It dawned on me in the same instant. Twilight had called out my name! Rainbow knew it was me, which eliminated the remaining possibilities for keeping it a secret. I choked back the swell of frustration as I spun and took off further into the woods as fast as I could manage.

Minutes passed as I ran, ducking deeper and deeper into the forest in random movement patterns, trying to slip into the thicker tree clusters. My scans stayed skyward and picked her up twice, following my general direction from high above. Somehow, her eyes were able to pick up and differentiate the movement at that distance, and she followed at an extreme height. She knew that if she dropped below the tree line, I could probably lose her fairly quickly. Damn it!

Luckily, my bad luck kicked in before she could catch up fully. Glancing upwards again, my proximity sensor fired off just a half second too late. I tried to jump, but I snagged my hoof on a rather large root and went flipping out of control, spiraling through the air at a good hundred kilometers per hour. Tucking into a ball, I tried to use my tentacles to slow me down but I ended up hitting some sort of sinkhole instead.

The way down was a spinning, tumbling mess. I stayed in a rough ball form as my armor strengthened and my tendrils sucked back into me. After almost twenty seconds of skipping off various rocks at untraceable angles, I finally smashed out onto flat ground and skidded along the rocks under me, sparks coming off the armor plating and barriers that surrounded me. Seconds passed after I came to a stop. Slowly, I opened my left armor plate over my eye and looked around. I was surprised to find myself in some sort of illuminated cave. Well, that could have gone much, much worse.

Slowly, I looked around as I stepped forward. The cave was illuminated by glowing flowers of some sort. Given my reputation with 'alchemical' based reactions in Equestria, I kept my distance from the things. Various tunnels appeared to branch into the cave along the walls, most of which were angled upwards towards what I presumed to be the surface. What a strange cave. Reaching a main chamber of some sort, I immediately noticed a massive pool of water that prominently took up most of the floor. At least it looked like water. Walking over to it, I slowly peeked in, the metallic vibrations of my hooves sending ripples out from the edge I sat next to. It was disturbingly clear and mirrored the top of the cave, and my face, with a disturbing level of clarity. I couldn't seem to see into the water at all!

Moments passed as I stared at my reflection in the water. The metallic edges of my armor combined with my gunmetal black shade and ominous glowing blue eyes made me look more demon than pony. I knew that if I pulled the tentacles out, it would only serve to compliment that appearance. My ears flattened downwards, the metal plates covering them making a sharp clank upon hitting the sides of my head. What was I doing?

Ultimately, I should have asked that before running away. Again. It seemed to be all I was good at lately, especially when it came to Rainbow Dash. I couldn't blame her, though. Fluttershy and Twilight had gotten a monumental amount of warning and had seen me transform. For all I knew, Dash had thought Twilight and Fluttershy had been having a tea party with an eldritch abomination. Heh, tea would have been nice, of course, but that might have actually made that statement true.

"They don't understand," was suddenly whispered into my skull. I started and looked around, noting myself alone in the mostly dark cave. I glared to my side again at the book I'd hauled along. Initial instinct was to protect it, or more specifically, the secrets inside of it that might involve me. The whispers seemed to echo from all around me, however.

"They'll never understand you. They might eventually come to tolerate you, and maybe even appreciate you, but did you ever stop to consider why?" the whisper asked again, this time, outside of my head.

My eyes widened as I whipped around, eyes searching the darkness and shadows at the edges of the cave. A broken visage stepped out of the dark, snapped and shattered horn draining blood down an all too familiar looking face. She smiled as she stepped out of the dark, watching me. My eyes expanded to maximum size as I lowered a little, barriers coming back on to full as tendrils expanded out my back. No, it couldn't be! She was dead. That body was destroyed. Well, its head was destroyed, anyway.

Sure enough, tears and cracks displayed along her skull where I had crushed it. Her internal organs slid along the floor under her, leaving a wet red trail as she walked forwards with a limp, her back legs still twisted and broken. "I see everything you see, but for some reason, you refuse to accept it," she muttered, stopping a good six meters from me.

I glared at her for a moment before straightening myself a little, hair trigger reflexes twitching gently. No, if she had wanted to attack me, she should have when I wasn't paying attention. "What do you mean? There's no way you could see what I see," I refuted, refusing to buy into her garbage.

She snorted and laughed a moment later, looking completely relaxed even though she was very obviously beyond mortally wounded. "Oh, please. You're smart, Mender. There, I admitted it. You've seen Fluttershy's reactions to Twilight. I'm sure you've noticed the contrast between how she acts around her and how she acts around you," Nirru pointed out, sitting down in a pool of her own insides as absently as one would a comfy sofa. I ignored the wet, squishing noise.

"She's comfortable around me. She doesn't have to panic because she knows I already know about her feelings," I explained, seeing where she was going with this instantly.

The smile didn't waver, however. "Is that so? Yes, a gentle soul like Fluttershy would be absolutely devastated from using somepony! You're right! Why, she'd probably break down and cry, feeling absolutely horrible and thinking she had no right being with them," the fake, torn up Twilight agreed, amused grin dancing across her face.

It snapped through me like a bolt of lightning. She had seen that. Somehow, she had seen that which happened only a few minutes ago! For a moment, I doubted. Fluttershy had assured me that she really did like both of us, and Nirru was a psychotic bitch that I honestly couldn't trust in the first place.

She made an absent minded sighing noise a moment later before shaking her head and looking down. I raised an eyebrow at her exceptionally muted personality in comparison to what she was like before. Her eyes opened again, a somewhat sad look to them. "You saw what happened to me. I can feel it. It doesn't excuse what I do, but it was oh so easy to justify it after that. I'm not understood either; not even by my own sister. While different, both of us have monsters inside," she added, looking up again slowly.

My eyes widened again as the whispering came back, louder this time but with so many tones and voices that I couldn't differentiate them. "How... Why do you know all this?" I asked, holding my left forehoof up to my temple and gritting my teeth, trying to shove the voices out of my head.

"You took a little part of me that night. But don't worry, you proved that you are undeniably stronger than me. I'm not going to attack you, Mender," she assured, tone shifting to a softer one.

My head rose again as she stood and slowly started walking towards me again. My tentacles extended their blades regardless as I swallowed. She looked heavily damaged, but I wasn't about to take chances and prepared to use full force if she got too close. "Stay away from me, Nirru," I warned, glaring again. She smiled softly this time, no upturned corner of the lips or sneering shift of expression. I somehow found it creepier.

Her skin shifted around her hooves, metal forming out of them and linking together as she pressed them into contact. The metal separated from her skin around the ankles a moment later, becoming a solid metal band. What the hell?! Her forelegs firmly sealed together, she nodded and kneeled down in front of me, eyes closed. "Part of me is disgusted, but you've proven your undeniable strength. Plus, a part of me is infuriated by how easily you allow them to walk all over you, given that strength. At least allow me to... serve to release some tension," she suggested, voice shifting silkier as she shifted around. Wait, what was she doing?!

My eyes shot open as she spread her back legs and eased her tail to the side. I almost stumbled backwards into the water before halting and rapidly looking away from her presentation, even further disturbed by the fact that bits of bone were sticking out of her back legs and her entrails still leaked along the ground. What the hell?!

"You're stronger than me, Mender. By our oldest laws, that means you can have me. I'll have to do anything you say," she revealed, voice practically dancing heatedly upon 'anything'.

I resisted throwing up. "I'm with Twilight, Nirru. I'll give you the data if that's what you still want. I already promised to give it to Keela anyway," I refused, feeling more awkward than angry at that point. Was the body she controlled practically immortal?!

All she did was make a sighing sound, with a wet splattering accompanying it. Huh? Against my better judgment, I peeked back in her direction. An elongated face half torn apart and crushed greeted me from three inches away, long fangs dripping blood as steam from its hot breath exited between them. No noise. I gave a sharp intake of breath as I leaped backwards in an instant, clearing the entire underground pond as my tentacles tore through her form a moment later before I landed on the other edge.

Nothing. The tentacles hit nothing. Her form was gone as the arms of the tentacles cleared my vision. What? A whispering laugh exploded all around me as my sensors came alive again. I was alone in the cave. "What are you?!" I demanded, heart still hammering in my chest.

"I'm you," my reflection whispered, grinning at me with razor teeth from the reflection in the water. My breath caught as I took a step back and away from the pool, suddenly very much not liking this place. The creature stepped 'up' and out of the water, instead standing on the surface as it flowed smoothly, form seemingly made of moving liquid. "I'm the hatred inside of you given form. You hate how they treat you. You hate how your life has been dictated, removing every choice you ever could have made," it spoke, voice raspy and dripping with venom.

I shook my head rapidly, holding a forehoof to each temple. "No, no I'm not! I don't hate anything!" I denied, glaring at it.

It smirked, wide rows of teeth glittering in the glow of the cave. "You hated her. You hated her so much that you were ready to murder her. You heard the urgings to do so," it reminded, tilting its head unnaturally to the side as it watched me, snaps coming from its neck.

I shook my head and took a few more steps back away from the forsaken water creature. What was the power of this pool?! "There is no power here. Only you. That's another thing you hate. Yourself," it pointed out, grin extending and continuing until its jaw snapped, a good foot and a half of grin now being displayed.

"Shut up and get out of my head!" I screamed at it. I don't remember telling them to move, but my tentacles sliced its head off a moment later with a scissor motion. It formed back with a splash of liquid and laughed.

"Temper, temper. To be expected from a monster, though. We're a monster, you know. Your true form is me, and you live to consume everything until all is as dark as your heart. Don't fight it. They see your true nature and either lie to you or use you!" it shouted back.

I screamed, anger exploding as I tore its form apart with tentacles. It laughed as I sprayed the walls with the liquid it was made of and didn't stop until there was nothing left. My head felt like it was on fire as I stared at the pond, silent once more. It was time to do what I was really good at, I decided.

I didn't recall ever having run so fast in my life. My imagination showed me images of that thing chasing me back up the tunnel that was behind me, laughing and twisting its jaw as it ran. In blind panic, I broke out into daylight an eternity later, tripping and rolling like a flailing hippo down an embankment and into a stream. My heart tried to beat its way out of my chest as my mind blanked. I whipped back around and extended tentacles out, smashing down bits of the cliff and burying the small exit I'd just came out of with a few metric tons of rock. To hell with that place!

Shakily, I realized nothing was chasing me, and nothing was happening in general. I looked around, noting the rather sunny clearing was dead silent. Heh. That made sense. Again, if I were a small, woodland creature, I would have run away by now, too. The irony wasn't lost to me this time, either. I had technically just run away from 'myself', if the thing had spoken the truth. Still, it was something I was good at.

At that point, I had no idea where I was, however. A glance about told me that I'd fallen into some sort of stream running along the base of a moderate rocky embankment. A long-collapsed wooden bridge was a few dozen meters downstream, and I wandered towards it. Sure enough, there was a faint path leading off through the forest. I knew Ponyville was back towards the southwest, so if I followed the path in that direction, I'd probably be okay. I couldn't be that far away, having not run from Rainbow for that long.

My eyes picked up a partially broken wagon axel as I stepped out of the water next to the bridge's remains. It looked like it had taken a moderate blow to each end and snapped in the middle. Actually, that was probably the accident that had doomed the bridge. The wagon busted through and dropped a meter and a half into the riverbed, breaking the axel off. There was no wagon however, so I guessed that they had a spare one to fix the thing with. Wagon...

An idea hitting me, I walked towards the axel and peeked about. Sure enough, in the grass nearby was a partially broken wagon wheel, the metal having dented at the impact. I smiled and felt along the rim. Like most wagon wheels, it had a heavy wooden frame that was layered with metal around the outside of the wheel to give it a bit of tenacity. It would last a lot longer than a solid wooden wheel this way. Nodding to myself, I noticed the metal was a bit rusted and not the greatest strength, but there was a lot of it. With a bit of focus, my energy activated and danced across the surface of the metal. It melted off the wheel as it was taken apart at a molecular level, oxidation and impurities being filtered as I pulled it towards me. It was iron, and I couldn't change its base mixture without having other, necessary materials, so it would have to do.

A minute later, I was shifted out of my heavily armored form and was wearing an iron brace on my left leg, comfortably molded to fit perfectly, rotational hinges and all. I shuffled along at a moderate pace, the newly added metal implement allowing me to at least hold my weight with the injured leg. My barriers stayed active, however, just in case I either had to correct myself from a nasty spill or deter some animal or something from attacking me. For the first time in quite a while, I felt a sense of proud accomplishment as I looked down at the brace. I enjoyed it when I could think I was clever, I guessed.

I'd walked for a good five minutes before I had the nagging sensation that I was forgetting something. I checked my side, but the book was still there. I hadn't taken anything else from the hospital room. What could I be forgetting? It puzzled me for a moment before I glanced upwards, mid-pondering. Oh. I was on a path. The path was cleared through the forest. If the path was cleared, that meant the trees were removed from it. Damn it.

I stared blankly up at the open sky as I heard the telltale flapping noise arc in from behind me. I froze as I heard the thud and sliding motion in the dirt from a few meters back. Slowly, I peeked over my right shoulder, eyes locking onto Rainbow's as she sat there, watching me silently. Well crap.

Chapter 35

Reflecting upon things that had happened in the past usually gave me unique insight into the future. For example, for the entire duration of my stay in Equestria, rarely did I actually have a clue what was going on and for what reason. This brought the more recent events into disturbing light. For once, I wasn't entirely sure of what I myself was doing and why. I felt confused; the world was a more open and less controlled place. Further, my emotions were all over the place, it felt like.

I stared at Rainbow for a few moments before sighing and turning around again. She said nothing as she stood and walked up to my left side, keeping pace with me as I slowly started walking back towards Ponyville. Why had I run away to begin with? Her expression was the catalyst, but why did I choose that course of action? Still, Dash said nothing as we continued walking. She knew already, so was there even a point in pretending?

"Um, I'm sorry for running away," I apologized quietly as we walked. The forest around us was nippy now that my armor was gone, although I still had the heavier, fluffier look from the hair regrowth incident, so I was probably warmer than she was at the moment. Sadly, I still had the braids, too. As much as I disliked them, I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them. Fluttershy had put them there, which made them something special.

Rainbow let out a light scoffing noise and shook her head. "You ran away that night, too. I told Twilight I'd go get you before following. I'm not stupid, however. You ran away from me specifically," she deduced, looking back over at me with a frown.

I swallowed nervously before explaining, "I know I did. Your expression when you look at, um, that side of me hurts, is all. I can't stand it." My voice was weak, as I felt both better and far, far worse by having this talk with Dash. Still, I had a sneaking suspicion that there were far nastier talks coming up in the future.

"I, well, yeah. Okay, so you're a little creepy looking with the armor on, but I didn't know it was you, Mender. All I knew was that it was dark out, blood was everywhere, and there was this unknown creature covered in the stuff and looking monstrous. I actually feel better knowing that there isn't some terrible creature loose in the forest," she admitted, somewhat to herself rather than me as she looked momentarily ponderous.

Better? "It's not armor exactly, Dash. I've been keeping a secret from you girls since I was hospitalized. You and Pinkie walked in on me finally explaining it to Twilight and Fluttershy," I corrected, shuffling a little as I tried to keep my balance with the new leg brace. It made a light squeaking noise every time I bent my knee, and I wondered if Twilight had some oil I could put on the hinges.

"Hmm. Well, you're an alien, so is it some sort of secret form or something?" she asked in a rather relaxed manner. I raised an eyebrow to her and stopped walking, earning a skeptical glance before she turned around to face me again.

"Kind of. I'm a cyborg. I'm a clone of a Keldarian, who was turned into a pony to scout Equestria, and then had a bunch of mechanical parts shoved inside of me. I’m not actually a pony," I summarized, risking it considering she was taking it well so far. Maybe she was like Applejack in the fact that she appreciated honesty?

She stared at me for a moment before snickering lightly and shrugging. "Eh, not really a big deal. You're a pony with extra, metal parts. Clone though? I wonder if that's like the effect of the Mirror Pond?" she questioned tentatively, tilting her head up as she rubbed her chin with her right forehoof.

"Mirror Pond?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to her as my left ear twitched lightly. I didn't recall Twilight having mentioned anything like that before.

"Yeah. It's an underground pond under the Everfree with a super crystal clear reflection. Turns out it's also magical and Pinkie Pie used it to make, like, dozens of herself," she explained, shuddering towards the end as if mentally violated by the memory. Well, I knew that feeling! Wait...

My eyes widened drastically, shuddering myself. No, the coincidence was just too high. Surely there were, um, all sorts of underground ponds with crystal clear reflections and creepy supernatural manifestations, right? A moment passed. Damn it. Well, all I could do was hope for the best!

"The clones weren't permanent, were they?" I inquired as subtly as possible. That would be absurdly strong magic if so. The level of energy required to support that level of permanency wouldn't have been feasible back in my old dimension.

Rainbow snickered, letting me breathe a sigh of relief. "Nah. Twilight found a spell to get rid of them. She's kinda our go-to mare for remedying the supernatural. That many Pinkies were scary and did quite a bit of damage to the town. That was, what, the third time Aj's barn was destroyed?" she guessed, looking rather impish this time instead. Yikes. It had as bad of luck as I did!

I finally continued walking again, Rainbow falling into place next to me in a far more relaxed manner this time. It was subtle, but I felt things shift more easily between us. I doubted that she grasped the full implications of what I told her, but at least she accepted it readily enough. It actually didn't appear to matter to her one way or another, which was both comforting and disheartening at the same time. Was I making too big of a deal out of it? I doubted it. It wasn't every day that I learned I was actually a cyborg. Rainbow’s laid back perspective was probably simply unique.

Deciding to be responsible for once, I started mentally communicating while walking. "Fluttershy, can you hear me? I'm, well, I'm okay." Damn, I was lame sometimes. I hated those awkward moments where I had no clue how to break the uncomfortable silence.

Rainbow perked next to me and glanced over, hearing it in her head as well as I broadcasted it. "Oh! Thank goodness! Did Rainbow find you, then?" the yellow mare questioned back, soft voice echoing in my mind.

"Oooh, how do I talk back?! I wanna learn how to do that!" Dash suddenly spoke up, sounding excited as she grinned again. I raised an eyebrow but nodded to her, halting my walking yet again. My left foreleg gave a surprising ache of protest, momentarily distracting me. I looked down at it, noticing the ankle was swelling up a little. Wonderful.

Rainbow turned around and grinned at me as I looked back up, and I rapidly masked my expression. "It's not that hard. Here," I offered out loud, stepping towards her. She momentarily looked unsure but held her ground as I approached. Heh. Was she a bit nervous after all? Her expression switched to a totally new kind of nervousness as I leaned in, her eyes widening drastically. My intentions were honest, however, and I gently pushed my forehead against hers, feeling the link directly. "Can you hear this?" I questioned into her mind, letting her feel the specific mental reverberation I used.

Her eyes widened and she suddenly realized what I was doing. It was comforting on multiple levels to see her nervousness melt away. "Um, yes?" Fluttershy asked cautiously, accidentally eavesdropping without knowing it.

Rainbow giggled in her mind, testing the technique before smiling wider. "This is so cool! That was to me, Flutters. He was teaching me how to do this," she added in her head a second later. I smirked at her before stepping around and continuing walking, this time with a slight limp.

It felt like my left foreleg was getting heavy. Heat was pooling into it and I became very aware of the heartbeat as it throbbed through. Maybe it wasn't as 'recovered' as I had hoped? It by far wasn't a pleasant sensation, aching dully every time I moved it.

"Oooh, are you guys talking with your minds?! So cool! Can we all communicate like this from now on?!" suddenly blasted out through my skull from all directions, somehow both spoken and 'thought' by Pinkie at the same time. Oddly, colors played across my vision as she spoke into my head, looking momentarily like psychedelic confetti oozing through the air.

"Whoa! Pinkie?!" Rainbow asked, half in and out of mental communication while sounding like she was reeling from the same effect. I stumbled and shook my head rapidly, trying to clear it.

"Yeah! Mender must have finished the link with me! Thank you so much! That means that just Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack need to do the link thingy," Pinkie continued, the mental speech this time significantly faster than her verbal, blurring ahead and causing colored streaks to rain through the area as I dove for cover.

A moment later, I groaned and shook my head. No, the streaks weren't actually there. They shimmered and faded as thoughts, in the purest imaginative sense, of colored balloons drifted through my mind. My eyes widened as the images flickered through, covering dozens of moments and ideas at once. "Pinkie, stop!" I heard Fluttershy gasp, and 'felt' her slip and fall over.

"Turn it off, Mender!" Rainbow groaned as she stumbled next to me, tripping over my collapsed form and falling into a heap on top of me.

"Stop what? I can't stop yet! I totally have a ton of party things to plan. Mender's doing better and everypony's recovering so nicely. This calls for a party! The occasion is perfect for my best party yet!" Pinkie added, bouncing in place with afterimages across the trail in front of us, prismatic effects not unlike an aurora bleeding through the ground in large pieces. "This is going to take all of my party-rific planning to pull off! In fact, I might have to talk to-" Pinkie started to continue, cracking the area around her with a web of colors before I forced every single connection off at once, trying really hard not to throw up.

Reality snapped back into place instantly, the quiet unnerving as my skull rang like a crate of culinary tools that fell off a bullet train going full speed. Damn! "Oh, thank you. It stopped," Rainbow murmured, shivering on top of me and rolling to the side. Her hooves clutched her temples as if she were trying to stop her head from vibrating, eyes slammed shut.

"Okay, we're going to have to talk to Pinkie before I turn her connection back on," I noted out loud, earning a rapid nod of approval from Dash.

"Yeah. Let's get back and do that before she gets absorbed into party planning, then. Ugh," she groaned a moment later, shakily getting to her hooves.

I frowned and shifted into a sitting position, wincing as I moved my leg. "Um, Dash? I think my leg is swelling. I stood up on it for too long and it's not used to that yet," I warned, lifting it up to try to elevate it above my heart. Would it stop if I changed just the leg into my armored form? I never really tested what the effects of partial transformation were.

"Uh, is that bad? Can you walk still?" Rainbow asked, frowning as she walked up to me again and looked at my leg. It felt better after I elevated it, but I could hardly walk like this.

I frowned and tested moving it again with a little more success than before. "I can kinda walk, but we'll have to take frequent breaks," I deduced, setting it back on the ground, gently.

My cyan friend looked less than amused by that. "Ugh. That's lame. Walking back is going to take forever at this rate," she protested, looking around the forest we resided in. Neither of us had a saddlebag, so that assured the lack of the harness we used before. I considered it for a moment before chuckling.

"Well, if you're impatient, there is one other option," I offered hesitantly. Twilight probably wouldn't approve of this. If I ran out of focus or magic, I'd probably end up falling and making an impressive crater in the ground. To my own amusement, I wondered if that would actually kill me.

Rainbow looked back at me with a skeptical glance, but I just reached out with my left forehoof and touched her chest. My magic expanded across her coat and made a makeshift 'harness' out of energy instead. She looked down at it, and then peeked over her shoulder to look at the straps forming out of barriers across her back. A smirk played across her expression as she turned back around. "Don't tell Twilight?" she inquired impishly.

"Don't tell Twilight," I agreed, smiling and nodding to her. This should be educational...

"Whoooo!" Rainbow screamed, flipping us sideways as she slammed into another tight curve. Her wings expanded with rainbow light, dozens of tiny jets bursting in synchronization with every muscle movement she did. The scream shifted into laughter as she spun, me holding on for dear life on her back as my viewpoint momentarily went upside-down. This was interesting indeed!

Her backwards-facing jets flared again as she burst forward, coming out of the tight turn like a rocket and skimming down through the clouds, shimmering rainbow trail far wider and more sporadic than she normally made. I grinned and enjoyed the rush as we shot downwards towards the ground at high velocity. I'd taken an interesting idea and plugged the wing jets directly into her own source of 'magic' that was inside of her. Ever since Twilight had told me that every pony, even pegasi and earth variants, had magic inside of them, I had wanted to see if Rainbow could support the jets by herself. I guess the answer was yes.

A blast of indigo hit me in the face as she flicked her wings up, letting us skim down just above the treetops and angle towards Ponyville at high speed. Ah, there were a few minor differences, I noticed. Her magical 'color' was prismatic. I really shouldn't be surprised, but it definitely gave her wings a more vibrant look than when I powered them. Further, a much more predicted outcome, they were nowhere near as powerful inside an atmosphere. I'd already realized that air friction and gravity would limit their capabilities. Still, she seemed to be enjoying them!

We skidded to a stop, Rainbow shifting to a dull trot as we landed outside of Ponyville proper. She panted and coughed once as I slid off her, and I was careful to land on specifically three of my four legs. "Wow, that was awesome! Normally a little flight like that wouldn't, wow, tire me out like this, though," Rainbow muttered between pants.

I snickered and shook my head. "I told you that I plugged the jets into your own source of magic this time. You weren't just exercising your muscles, but your internal energy. I'm told it's directly linked to your vitality, so it would make sense that you'd get tired," I pointed out.

Rainbow frowned and flexed her wings out again before looking back at the jets drifting across them and in the air spreading from their tips. "I kinda remember hearing that from school. Wait, does this mean that if I keep flying with the jets, that magical thingy inside of me will get stronger, too?" she asked, swirling back around to look at me, eyes widening.

"Yeah. It's exactly what I'm trying to do with my magic. It's linked to my vitality and constitution as an Earth Pony, so if I exercise both my magic and body at the same time, both should benefit. The only difference is that I know how to manipulate the energy directly, whereas you require an enchantment," I explained, smirking as I knew where she was going with this.

Her squeal surprised me still as she danced back and forth on her hooves, wings flapping lightly. "So awesome! This will so give me a one-up on making it into the Wonderbolts! Please, Mender! Can we practice with these jet thingies more often?" she pleaded, shuffling a little bit closer than I was comfortable with.

I flushed lightly as I stumbled and fell backwards onto my rear while backing away from her advance. "Uh, sure, Dash. It's no problem. I might be able to hook you up with a permanent set later once I build up some more of my magic reserves," I suggested quietly. I'd prefer she get more comfortable with the jets first, though, before she tried solo flights. I could probably do the permanent enchantment now, but decided against mentioning that. If she exhausted herself in midair and passed out... No, I couldn't let my friend take that risk.

Oblivious to my internal conflict, Dash nodded vigorously and hopped into the air, hovering in place as she spun in a quick circle. "Totally cool! Don't let anypony ever tell you that you're not awesome! I'll so buck them in the head if they do," Dash promised, grinning at me as I felt the heat get worse in my cheeks. Her expression shifted impish and I inwardly sighed. She enjoyed my reactions, too, I noted. What's with mares and liking to watch me blush?

A tiny gasp interrupted both of us, and I raised an eyebrow as I peeked to the left. An extremely familiar looking orange filly stood there, staring wide-eyed at Rainbow. Scootaloo wore a helmet this time and was parked on a scooter about three or four meters away. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom bailed off the back of the scooter at the same instant, the white unicorn filly making a mad dash in my direction with no hesitation whatsoever. I smiled at her and moved my injured leg out of the way before she plowed into my chest, giving me a rather sizable hug.

"Mender! You're out of the hospital! I really, really missed you," she squealed, looking up at me with huge eyes while wrapping her front legs around my right foreleg.

Apple Bloom approached slightly slower, snickering at Sweetie before sitting down next to me. "Ah missed ya too. We didn't get ah single chance ta visit ya in tha hospital between stupid school an' Applejack bein' all fussy!" she protested, flattening her ears back for a moment and looking annoyed.

"You really think he's awesome, Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo asked rapidly, approaching Dash instead. I gave her a skeptical look, but decided I probably didn't want to know.

"I missed you girls, too. I'd heard your sister was taking what happened rather roughly," I returned, frowning a little as I gently patted Apple Bloom on the head.

She shook her head rapidly, looking more flustered than mad. "She's overworkin' herself again. She's in tha market today tryin' ta sell apples, actually," Apple Bloom informed, looking over at Sweetie Belle instead, who was trying her very hardest to assimilate with me.

"Heck yeah! Mender's totally awesome. He and I totally kick flank while working together!" Dashie bragged, causing Scootaloo's eyes to light up.

I groaned and warned, "You shouldn't go bragging about me like that. That's how rumors got started, remember?" The last thing I needed was for rumors to start about me and a little filly.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, adding, "And he's so modest, too! You really need to admit how cool you are sometimes, Mender." I gave her a skeptical stare, but shifted my attention to the movement rapidly rounding the corner.

"Are you sure Rainbow landed over here?" Twilight asked as she followed after the speeding pink bloodhound who was apparently on my trail. Oops. Heh.

Pinkie zoomed right at me, looking up in time to get a happy expression as she started hopping instead. "The twitches never fail me! They're right over here!" she announced happily. I braced for another impact, but noticed her bounces weren't nearly as high or fast as usual. Further, she slowed this time before reaching me and slid to a stop, giving me a soft hug instead. I smiled, happy with her gentleness today.

"Mender. I'm so, so happy you're okay!" Fluttershy whispered, drifting in and gently landing next to me, careful not to land on either filly. She then hugged my other side, squishing Apple Bloom up against my left foreleg as well. I blinked, starting to heat up for totally normal reasons as four ponies squished into me now. I'm glad I was trimmed down to only a 'fluffy' coat instead of 'two meter wide furball' like before. I'd probably melt.

"Ooooh, group hug!" Pinkie chirped, hugging into my side again. Sweetie Belle was locked on Fluttershy instead, however.

"You two are so cute together!" the white filly squealed, looking delighted and nodding up at me.

Twilight approached next however and smiled at me as well. "Got room for a fifth?" she asked, slipping in between Pinkie and Fluttershy before I could fully answer.

"Of course, Twi," I agreed, blushing lightly as she shifted and gave me a light peck on the mouth.

Sweetie Belle gasped and squeaked somewhere below her, not that I could physically see the filly anymore. I chuckled, and then apologized with, "Sorry for running away back there. I kinda, well-"

"I know why you ran. It's understandable after what you told us earlier. Nopony's mad at you," Twilight interrupted almost instantly, apparently having anticipated my attempt at apologizing. I coughed lightly and covered my mouth as I laughed. She knew me a little bit, I supposed.

Part of me was glad that Pinkie wasn't asking any awkward questions in front of the fillies, of course. Although, I realized she was excitable and curious, I also noticed that she seemed to have proper discretion when she wanted, too. Regardless, I decided a change of pace was probably in order.

"Do you think we could go to the market, by the way? Apple Bloom mentioned that Applejack was working the stand and, um, I'd like to try to talk to her," I asked gently, looking back up at Twilight upon giving up trying to find Sweetie Belle amidst all the colorful fur.

"Oooh, that's ah real good idea! Maybe if Sis talks ta Mender, she'll realize that half tha stuff she's been worryin' about is total hogwash! Ah bet that'll fix her up ah bit," Apple Bloom agreed, standing up again and giving me a merry grin.

Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other, before the timid pegasus gave a nod, adding, "It would probably be a good idea. She's been really, really stressed the last few days." I heard as much from Rainbow herself, of course.

"She'll probably try to run away again. You might have to grab her with magic, Twi," Dash spoke up, cutting in between her and Pinkie as Twilight stepped back.

"I don't really want to restrain her. She's just going through a bad spot and scared," Twilight muttered. I bit back on my tongue and looked away from the mare. Sure, she didn't want to restrain Applejack, but using her magic to grab at or lock up aliens was totally fine. Keela and I were easy targets to justify, I suppose. Although Applejack being able to buck a hole through me was fairly dangerous, too!

Pinkie rapidly shook her head. "Using magic to hold anypony is wrong unless it's absolutely needed! I'll talk to her if she tries to run," Pinkie refuted, adding a hoof stomp as punctuation. I smiled at her, earning a beaming grin in return. Now there was a sensible opinion. It scared me that it came from Pinkie, but I had always seen maturity under the bubbly mare's exterior.

"All right. I wanted to talk with her anyway, so this is as good a time as any. Is everypony coming?" Twilight asked, stepping back a little more and rotating to face the market area.

"Heck yeah!" Rainbow agreed, taking to the air. I snickered until I felt a sudden weight impact my back. Raising an eyebrow, I looked back in time to see Sweetie Belle grinning at me from her new riding position.

Fluttershy gasped next to me, raising a hoof to her mouth before chiding, "Sweetie! He's injured. You shouldn't add more weight he has to walk on."

I shook my head and quieted her with a peck to the cheek. "It's okay. It's not too far, and sitting down for a bit has let me rest my leg. Thank you very much for worrying about me, though, Fluttershy," I thanked politely, giving the now flushed mare a soft smile. Twilight smiled as well at the display before turning and heading towards the market.

Slowly and steadily, I started walking towards the market as well, careful to keep most of the weight off my leg. Sweetie Belle really wasn't that heavy, and I barely felt any noticeable difference, honestly. Pinkie burst ahead, following after Rainbow, who had gone ahead of Twilight. Fluttershy fell in next to me on the left, keeping suspiciously close to me while glancing down at my injured leg every few seconds. I smiled inwardly to myself. She really was worried that I'd fall, I guessed. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hung to my right and trotted along at a matching pace, breaking into talk about some break from school in a week. Idly, I wondered if there was a holiday coming up or something. I made a mental note to ask Twilight tonight. A holiday might be a fun way to forget everything for a while...

The markets were rather busy this time of day, I rapidly discovered. Ponies were hustling about with crisp conversation here and there. The day seemed a little darker with the light tint from the barrier over the entire town, and it meshed with the nip in the air to give the definite feel of winter approaching. School had started back up for the colts and fillies, too. They must have summers off, I noted.

Keldarians broke their schooling up into trimesters with short, two week breaks between, then mandatory combat training in the off season. It was interesting having all sorts of memories that weren't mine. I remembered that I couldn't remember a time when there wasn't combat training, even though I knew it had existed a few centuries prior to my birth. We'd fought the Grosh for so long that we forgot who we used to be.

My thoughts drifted as I watched Twilight approach the apple stand. Interestingly enough, Rarity was already there and appeared to be talking to Applejack when we walked up. My breath caught as I realized it was the first time I'd seen the orange mare since that night. Still, she looked far from dangerous at this point, which allowed my heart to slow down a little again. Stupid nerves. I knew she wasn't going to hurt me. I just wish I could up and tell my body that.

Applejack looked like a mess. Her eyes were totally bloodshot with irritated puffs under them. Her mane didn't look combed in the least and she apparently forgot her tail tie today, letting it limply drape across the ground instead. Her trademark hat was even on crooked as she appeared to give Rarity an annoyed glare. Uh oh.

"Applejack, I'm only trying to help you. You absolutely must take a rest and recover before you end up in the hospital, too!" Rarity continued, apparently from the conversation that had been going on before our arrival. As we got closer, I also noticed several nicks and cuts dotting the farm mare’s coat, only a few bandaged, and a wrap over her right shoulder. How much of that was from the explosion?

The stubborn farm mare gave a huff and shook her head rapidly. "Ah'm just fine! Look, Ah know yer worried about me and all, and Ah really appreciate that, but it's not needed. This is no more than what's usually done by me in tha week before tha second cycle, and it's good fer me ta keep mah mind off things!" she protested, whacking the stand towards the end to prove her point. The precariously balanced apple baskets wobbled a little bit, and I guessed outright that they wouldn't survive the conversation to come.

"She's right, Applejack. You're obviously exhausted. Remember the last time you refused to accept help?" Twilight warned, moving in next to Rarity upon approaching the stand. I idled closer, shifting off to the left as I watched. At some point while walking, all three fillies had ended up on my back. I really needed to work on that awareness thing. Apparently, I had this nasty tendency to drift off with my own thoughts and not pay attention to my surroundings. Given my luck and gravitational pull, that was probably one of my more stupid tendencies.

Rainbow and Pinkie soon joined Twilight's intervention, while Fluttershy hung back with me, ever alert in case I tipped. At this point, however, I noticed her subtly brushing against me while walking as well. Did she have two sets of ulterior motives for hanging back? I smirked at the clever mare, causing her to flush and look away rapidly. Heh. She knew I'd noticed, now. My leg gave a light throb, however, distracting me from my mirthful entertainment.

"Ah know. It won't happen this time. Look, Ah just have things ta think about, is all. Sleep's been ah little, well, lackin'," Applejack finally admitted, plopping back down behind her stand and staring at its wooden surface. I frowned as I watched her expression fall again, a haunted look momentarily flickering through her eyes. That I'd seen before. Well, the other me had seen it before, rather. Rainbow had that feel to her, too for a bit, after what happened on the Grosh ship. Regret and violence both had a way of decaying away at the inside of you, leaving behind a hollow, cold sensation over time. I couldn't do it justice, even when I considered it directly. War was hell. I'd imagine most ponies were totally unaccustomed to that level of violence, and she also probably felt like at least part of it was her fault. Fluttershy frowned in my peripheral vision as I started walking closer, flanking the stand to the left.

"Applejack, you really need to go and talk to him. Things aren't as bad as you think," Pinkie pleaded, expression surprisingly solemn for her.

Applejack frowned and shot her a dirty look before sighing and shaking her head. "Ah probably should, but he must hate me by now. He must! After everything Ah did ta him, there's just no other way ta consider it. Ah almost killed him. Where's tha honesty in that? He was tellin' tha truth all along and Ah..." Her voice trailed off as she shivered there, rapidly shaking her head and turning around. My frown deepened, and then I winced as she accidentally ran her face into the apple cart behind her. She let out a sharp yelp as apples spilled all over the place, rapidly backing away from the offending inanimate object. Some of those wounds did look more… recent. I started to guess as to how.

In her haste of backing up, her rear cracked into the stand instead. The baskets spilled instantly, apples rolling off the surface and onto the dirt by the dozens. "Dang it!" Applejack growled, glaring in frustration at all the fallen fruit. I nodded back to my fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders, who returned the gesture before piling off my back. All three sprinted ahead of me and started helping Applejack to gather up the apples, while I righted the baskets for them to put them in.

"Thanks, ya'all. Ah just haven't been feelin' too good," she muttered, smiling at Apple Bloom as she shot past, chasing down a rogue apple. She didn't even look up to see me, however. Rarity did see me, her eyes widening momentarily before shooting over towards Twilight, who gave her a smirk and nod. Heh. Tricky, tricky mares. It felt weird to be actually in on the plan this time, though.

Pinkie and Dash split apart in almost choreographed precision, each slowing the expanding apple disaster as if herding cattle. Fluttershy sat down next to me and started holding the baskets steady as I created a funnel with my barriers for the fillies to dump the apples in, a split leading to all four baskets in question. Applejack actually smiled blankly over at us before turning and sighing, looking back to Twilight. Was she nearsighted or something while tired?

"Look, Applejack. He accepted your apples. He knows you sent them, too, and thought they were delicious. The 'plan' to figure out if he forgave you worked perfectly, and you have your answer," Twilight reminded, doing that adorable air quote motion with her hooves again as she sat there. I mentally snickered, wishing I could rush over and pounce her again. That would disrupt the plan, however.

"I don't believe he was ever upset with you in the first place, anyway. Why, he's not even upset with me, and I kissed him!" Rarity exclaimed, gasping afterwards and looking horrified.

Applejack gave her a deadpan stare for a moment before shaking her head and closing her eyes again. "Ah wanna make it up ta him, but how do ya even start with somethin' like this? Even if he is willin' ta try it?" she asked, lightly swallowing while keeping her eyes closed.

"Just talk to him! It's super easy, and I'm sure you could get him all cute and blushy and figure out a way to make him happy! It's easy! You could cook for him, or give him a massage, or do all his chores, or-" Pinkie started to rant, causing me to wince. I really was rather easy to get a blush out of, I realized. It was just so, well, hard! The more I thought about how silly I probably looked or acted to others, the more I got embarrassed. Out of frustration, I fought back a blush just from thinking about it. Dang it!

"I think she gets it, Pinkie. She's right, of course. You'll never work out anything if you don't talk to him," Twilight interrupted, causing the unfazed Pinkie to nod rapidly in agreement, smiling again.

Slowly, the baskets filled back up and Apple Bloom started loading the rest of them back into the cart instead. I nodded to her, getting a grin back before I lifted all four baskets back into the air, sliding them along my barrier and onto the stand.

"Thank ya," Applejack muttered, still not looking at me as she lay her chin down on the wooden surface, hat shielding her eyes from the light. "Ah'm just scared he won't wanna be friends again. Ah told him that night that we couldn't be anymore, after all. Ah was so stupid!" she muttered a moment later, whacking her head into the wood intentionally this time. My barriers steadied the baskets, but I frowned.

She wanted to be my friend again? Admittedly, that cleared up a lot of my own worries. I was happy she hadn't meant what she said that night, the words fresh in my heart as the chilliness crept back. Of course, I needed to tell them all the truth, or I couldn't expect them to truly be friends with me. All they knew was the mask, after all. Fluttershy and Twilight at least appeared to accept that I wasn't a psychotic murder machine, anyway. Still, I couldn't let this continue any longer.

"You were protecting your friend, Applejack. As long as you didn't mean what you said now that you know the truth, that's enough!" I explained finally, bracing for the reaction.

It was hard not to be mildly disappointed when she just snorted. "It doesn't change what Ah did ta him! Even if he accepts that Ah was just worried fer who Ah thought was Twi, that doesn't change tha fact that it was brutally cruel. Plus, it almost killed him," she murmured, apparently having slipped into her own dark world.

Apple Bloom hopped up on the stand and pulled Applejack's hat down, ruffling it over the mare's head. "It does too matter! He forgives ya, Sis! He just said so! Now talk ta him!" she demanded, sounding surprisingly stern, but in a rather cute way.

Applejack straightened her hat, then shot her little sister an annoyed glare, before it shifted to a questioning one. "She's right, Applejack. I do forgive you. I was never mad at you; just sad over everything that happened. Will you talk to me again?" I asked, earning the orange mare's attention finally.

She froze, eyes widening to their full extent as she stared at me. Momentarily, based off her expression, I wondered if I'd accidentally changed into my bio form or something. "Ah... buh... wha... yer not in tha... but..." she started stammering a moment later, a telltale shiver starting to go up her upper body as she appeared rooted to the spot. I blinked, and tilted my head towards her.

It all snapped to a head as she let out a piercing shriek instead and turned, falling into a bolting sprint from dead stop. I'd have been impressed had I not been busy slamming my eyes shut at the dirt flung up from her hooves. Dash had already swooped down by the time I opened my eyes an instant later, barely missing as the country mare dove sideways and made a break for the other side of the stand. The cyan pegasus recovered fast and was hot on her tail while Pinkie ran around the other end and cut her off.

"Wait, Applejack! Just talk to him!" she shouted. Applejack slid, trying to move around Pinkie by diving to the side. She hadn't cleared the stand yet, however, and crashed into it with her shoulder. Our carefully stacked apples ate dust yet again, her flailing hooves launching several across the market at high velocity.

Lily, who I recognized on the other side of the market, barely dodged an apple projectile as it hurtled past her position, splattering into the side of a house. "The horror! Apple attack! Run, everypony!" she screamed out before flailing and fleeing from the market. To my surprise, instead of questioning the sanity of such a statement, dozens of ponies started screaming as well, rapidly diminishing our attracted crowd as they fled in all directions. Well, that was silly.

Applejack winced as she stumbled, then reared as Pinkie tried to intersect her. Rainbow landed on her back a moment later and tried to pin the strong earth pony down. It was a losing battle, however, as Applejack, despite her state of exhaustion, attempted to jump over Pinkie. She might have made it had she been rested and not carrying an additional mare.

My eyes widened as both of them crashed down onto Pinkie in a large heap of multicolored fur. I heard Pinkie give out a sharp yelp from under the pile as Applejack rolled off her as fast as she could. I ran over, as did Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and the three CMC. The orange mare froze, looking up at me, but then swallowing and looking down at Pinkie lying on the ground. I smiled when Applejack sat down instead, concerned expression towards Pinkie.

"Pinkie! Are you okay? Your ribs..." Twilight muttered, rushing up. I'd never seen the happy mare in pain before, but she held her eyes shut hard as she let out a silent but sharp gasp, breathing jerking in her chest.

"Aah, y-yeah. I'll be okay. Owwie. Gimme a second," she murmured, tucking her legs up against her as she lay there.

Applejack looked even worse now. "Ah'm sorry, Pinkie! Please, just rest," she apologized rapidly.

Rainbow glared at her instead, however. "She wouldn't have gotten hurt if we didn't have to try to chase you down, AJ! You're better than this. Just talk to him instead of running away all the time!" she lectured, looking surprisingly angry. They were all good friends, and Pinkie was injured because of a fight. I could see why they'd be upset, regardless of how different it would have been handled in my dimension.

Shaking out of it, I pushed past Rainbow and went up to Pinkie instead. Speaking of different, there was another chance to improve things right in front of me. To limit the attention drawn, I lowered my head directly to Pinkie's side, eyes almost pressing into the shakily breathing skin at her rib level. She gave me a pained but questioning look until my eyes momentarily lit up her side with blue light.

"W-What was that?!" Applejack asked, but the light was gone an instant later. My scan complete, I rapidly looked it over.

"Twilight, she needs healing magic. There are a few ruptured blood vessels to the left of the third rib down that need healing, or she's going to have some really bad bruising. Other than that, her ribs are still okay, but her chest muscles are going crazy," I relayed. Twilight perked before immediately leaning down as well and counting out the ribs before pressing her horn in with a burst of healing magic.

Pinkie winced then gasped as the light washed over her, probably feeling better already. Her muscles were spasming due to pain, I guessed. The pink mare shivered as Twilight finally lifted her head again, the warm light fading. "I felt them repair. Thank you, Mender. Can you do something about the pain?" she asked shakily.

Fluttershy landed on the other side of Twilight and dug into her saddlebag instantly. "Here, Pinkie. These are some of the numbing herbs I was going to give Mender. I can always pick some more," she revealed, pulling out several green leaves before lowering them down to Pinkie's now open mouth.

Shifting forwards again, I lit both forehooves up and lightly pressed them into Pinkie's side, reaching out with my magic as I gently massaged her shivering muscles and smoothed out the bruising area. Pinkie cooed and practically melted into the ground as I continued massaging. She barely remembered to chew and swallow the leaves Fluttershy gave her.

Applejack had walked around to Pinkie's face at that point and sat down again. "Ah'm really sorry, Pinkie. Ah didn't mean ta do this, obviously. Can ya forgive me?" she asked softly, looking down at her friend.

Pinkie lay motionless for a few moments, a light smile starting to form at her mouth again as I continued gently massaging her side. Sweetie Belle slid into my left side and watched what I was doing with avid fascination, as did a few ponies from the crowd. Apple Bloom ran around and hugged her sister's side, looking up at her for support, while Scootaloo helped Rainbow dust herself off from her roll in the dirt. Pinkie finally opened her eyes and looked up at Applejack with a surprisingly melancholy expression.

"No, Applejack. I can't be happy until all of my friends are getting along again. Please, just talk to Mender?" she asked softly, eyes shifting to pleading instead. I swallowed. Pinkie really did have a heart of gold under that bubbly exterior. Even when in pain, she put her friends first and foremost in her mind. I massaged more intently to try to help her, even forgiving her for the mind rape she injected all of us with earlier.

Applejack swallowed uneasily, but Rarity drove the point home before she could say anything else with, "Relax, Applejack. We're all mature adults here and you have more than enough proof that he doesn't hate you, so please. For the sake of all of our efforts to show you otherwise, stop running away and simply talk to him." It felt a little harsh to me, but it was true. I didn't hate her.

The orange mare's eyes softened and she looked up fully at me again. They were absolutely bloodshot and she looked like she hadn't slept in days, now that I saw her up close. She also looked miserable. Why would she feel all of this, and do this to herself, over me? It was a totally foreign concept to me. "Mender, um, Ah don't even know how ta start," she finally muttered, looking lost as her focus waned. She almost stared through me for a moment.

I shook my head rapidly. "Please, start with what you said that night. Please, that wasn't true, right? You still want to be my friend?" I asked instead. That was first and foremost on my mind every time I thought about the orange mare recently. All I could see was her hateful face glaring down at me and stating our friendship was over. It was the same face looking at me now, which made me uneasy. But the expression was practically the mirror opposite.

Her eyes widened in surprise at the same moment her ears flicked back. She frowned a heartbeat later. "O-Of course! Ah was totally wrong about tha whole situation and, well, Ah shoulda believed ya from tha start. Or at least givin' ya tha benefit of tha doubt. Everything that happened ta ya that night coulda been prevented had Ah just, gah..." she groaned, cutting herself off and smashing the dirt in front of her in frustration.

Pinkie smiled softly and rolled finally, gently giving me a pleased squeeze with her neck and right shoulder before moving into a laying position. "I'm happy, Applejack. You're doing the right thing. You don't have to be embarrassed, though," she reasoned.

I smiled, realizing she was probably right on some level. It was a strong form of embarrassment called shame. "Relax, Applejack. What I just asked you was the only part that bothered me. The more I thought about it, the more I was happy that you were so fiercely loyal to Twilight. You're a wonderful friend for her. Of course you'd pick her over me, and I don't blame you for that. It's not your fault you were tricked by Nirru, too," I explained, trying to assure her.

Yet again I was reminded of how much I sucked at the whole social thing. Instead of looking assured, she looked more horrified than anything. "B-But that means ya don't think Ah'm friends with you instead! Yer tha one Ah hurt with all of this, Mender. Ah wanna be ah good friend ta you, too!" she protested, edging a little closer to me. I raised an eyebrow to her, but rapidly shook my head.

"Applejack, I've only been here for, like, a month. You've known the others for years. I want to be friends with all of you, but I was the one who got off to a rocky start. I mean, even I thought I was crazy some of the time," I murmured, flushing slightly at that admission. Part of me wondered at our crowd, too. I intentionally was leaving things vague due to all of our onlookers. This town sure had a lot of nosey ponies.

I barely looked up in time to see Applejack smush herself directly into my chest, almost bowling over Twilight to get over to me! My eyes widened, and then bulged as she practically crushed my torso with her strong forelegs. Holy hell! How strong was this mare?! She lifted her head back and finally lessened the pressure, letting me gasp for air as she snickered.

"Thank ya, Mender. Ah really wanna be yer friend, too, still. Ah know ya said that Ah'm forgivin', but Ah ain't gonna let mahself off tha hook that easily. Please, help meh come up with ways ta make this up ta ya, okay?" she requested, giving me a look that felt as if she were staring into my soul through my eyes.

I swallowed, and then suddenly remembered what Celestia said. The hardest pony to forgive is yourself. She recommended that to fix it, I try to help them to forgive themselves and feel better, if I recalled correctly. Taking the advice to heart, I smiled at Applejack and nodded lightly, internally beaming as she exhaled in relief. Then applause burst out from the crowd around us!

Applejack actually blushed as she rapidly released me, looking around at the crowd that had gathered. Well, the ones that didn't flee in terror a bit ago, anyway. "Right on, Applejack! A totally righteous performance! You had quite a lot of ponies worried for ya, ya know?" suddenly sounded out from the crowd. I recognized the voice instantly and smiled as Vinyl Scratch shifted out of the mass of mostly unrecognized ponies and walked towards us.

"Eh?! Vinyl?" Applejack started, looking surprised before Vinyl cut her off, hoof raising towards the farm mare.

"Hiya, Applejack! I’m pleased ta see that you’re talking to Mender again," she spoke up, lowering her purple and black shades to peek over them at Applejack.

I'd figured they'd met before, but she looked surprised to see her for some reason. Had they really never been introduced? Ponyville was a small town, but it wasn't 'that' small, I supposed. "Uh, it ain’t evenin’ yet. Why are ya-" Applejack started again, only to be cut off a second time. Evening?

Vinyl held up a hoof and gestured behind her to the small swarm of panicking ponies Lily was leading, screaming something about invading apples. "As if anypony could sleep through that. 'sides, I'm a friend o' Mender's here and was going to visit him in the hospital today, but am equally delighted ta see he made it out in one piece!" she exclaimed, shifting her attention back to me. She eyed me over and frowned at my leg before shaking her head. "Sorry I couldn't visit sooner. You totally beat me back to Ponyville by at least three days. Then imagine my surprise when I got back to a state of emergency? Not only that, but then I find out my newest friend, the wicked lifesaver up at the party in Canterlot, kicked so much monster flank in the Everfree that he got himself hospitalized!" she cooed, sounding more and more amused as her 'summary' went on.

Gasps and murmurs exploded amidst the crowd, of course. Well, the ones not panicking. Oh hell. Not again. My ears flattened back instantly and I whined, "Vinyl! All I did was stop the chandelier. Plus it was L- Er, Princess Luna who stopped the monster in the forest." Maybe I could head off some of these ridiculous rumors this time before they spiraled out of control. Again.

Vinyl just laughed, however, smirking at me. "Modest as always! You are just so awesome, dude! You saved the entire royal orchestra and then try to shrug it off. Then you survive certain death and hold off a terrible monster until the Princess of the Moon, who you know personally, got there to stop it. Dang!" she cooed, only making it far, far worse. I glared at her, suddenly realizing she was doing it on purpose! Even the three CMC were staring at me in shock. Twilight, however, slapped her forehead.

"Okay, that's it. Everypony back to the library. The apple stand is closed for now, as is my library! Back to your own business, everypony!" she called out, glaring at the crowd until they rapidly started to disperse.

"Oh, I guess I'll see ya later, then?" Vinyl asked skeptically, giving Twilight a wide birth.

Twilight stopped and looked back at her with a somewhat irritated expression. "I’m sorry, Vinyl. You can visit Mender in a little bit if you want, but we have some important things we need to discuss first," she apologized, nudging her head towards the tree looming over the rest of the buildings in town. Vinyl nodded and gave the universal backing off sign with her hooves towards Twilight.

Applejack helped Pinkie up, and gently supported her on the side as she limped along, probably still a bit tender in spots. I trailed along after, Fluttershy shifting to my left and resuming her guardianship over my injured left foreleg. I didn't say anything at all when the three fillies hopped quietly up onto my back again. After everything that happened, I felt they deserved an explanation, too. Besides, I was actually beginning to feel like a CMC member at this point. One of my only other belongings after all was the CMC cape, which was carefully tucked away in the saddlebags I now wore. I was just glad Twilight had enough mind to bring them with her from the hospital room after telling Nurse Redheart about my impromptu checking out. I made a mental note to return to the hospital after this and talk to the doctor. Twilight didn't think they'd want me to stay any longer, however. Of course, it also turned out that I’d torn the window frame and part of the wall down when I’d fled, so they were probably a little mad at me anyway...

Rarity followed along after as well, falling carefully into place at my right side instead. She gave me an uneasy smile, to which I countered with a real one and surprised her. Even though her outburst earlier had been rather silly in light of things, I realized that it probably really did bother her. The more I got to know her, the more I realized the depth of everything she didn't say. She was almost as stubborn as Applejack when it came to putting others first.

Dash, however, shot me a pleased grin as she hovered in place above me momentarily before dancing forward towards the library. By the time we cleared the market, she was already at the door and opened it for all of us. Twilight flipped the sign on the door to 'closed' as she walked inside. Hey, I'd get to see Spike again, too! Finally feeling a little more relaxed about the situation, I followed everypony inside. There would be a hell of a lot of questions coming up, I had a feeling, but maybe, just maybe, it would turn out okay. My final thought before resigning myself to my fate and entering the library was of how much I sucked at keeping secrets from these mares.

Chapter 36

While the girls were settling and talking to each other, I took a good peek around the bottom of the library. It was familiar to me, yet not at the same time. The wood looked somewhat 'new' along almost a third of the wall behind the shelves, and there were temporary support struts that I saw organic parts of the tree actually growing around. Twilight explained that the tree was still alive and simply shaped to be a house. To repair it, she had to get Earth Ponies in to organically mend the hole. It would then 'age' to look exactly like the wood around it in a few weeks. Color me impressed, to be honest. I'm not sure what I thought the library was before, but it definitely wasn't something living in my mind.

Pinkie slid back into the main room from the kitchen, balancing an entire tray of tea on her head with little effort whatsoever. She was moving a little slower than I remembered, but I suddenly had a feeling that if she were fully recovered, she could probably do a flip while balancing the thing. She set it down on the table in front of the couch, grinning at Rarity, who was its sole occupant at the moment. Spike was nearby, wielding some sort of fan and keeping Rarity cool with it. I rolled my eyes, my only regret being that I didn't see it sooner.

Rainbow drifted back downstairs from the loft a moment later, followed shortly by Fluttershy, who looked a little flustered. There was a soft flush across her cheeks and her eyes darted from one side of the room to another as if looking for somepony. Strange. I further decided to not disrupt that either.

Twilight was still in the kitchen with Applejack. She had insisted that we make this as civil and relaxing as possible, and warned me that she didn't really understand it fully yet, so she was going to let me do most of the talking. I was totally okay with that. For the most part. Okay, so I had a small heart attack and was mildly recovered now, and trying not to pass out. There was something unnerving about being the center of attention for me. Still, I wasn't about to enter that kitchen and protest. My paradoxically scary fillyfriend and the mare who'd just partially recovered from avoiding me were both in there at the same time. Yeah, no.

That left only one option. Of course, it was actually a pretty good option, because I had to catch them up anyway. Making a series of clicks, I got Sweetie Belle's attention instantly. She alerted the other two, and soon all three fillies had wandered over to where I was located, next to the sofa in the living room.

"Mender! Do ya need somethin'?" Apple Bloom asked happily upon wandering over. She'd cheered up considerably, I noticed, ever since her sister accepted being my friend again.

I nodded and gave them a small smile. "I just wanted to catch you three up before I talk to everypony. I've been keeping a lot of secrets, and I'm not going to from you fillies anymore," I explained, giving them a nod.

Scootaloo looked skeptical, but Apple Bloom gave me a larger smile and nod. Maybe some of her sister's appreciation for honesty had rubbed off on her? Sweetie Belle, however, almost swelled up as her eyes widened, raising both forehooves to her chin and suddenly giving me an uncomfortable level of focused attention. Her expression kind of made me feel like I was debriefing her on her mission to save all of Equestria. I blinked in confusion, and Apple Bloom started giggling.

"Chill, Sweetie!" Scootaloo chided, giving her friend a skeptical look.

The little unicorn filly rapidly shook her head, however, exclaiming, "This is important! Can't you see how the others are treating it? We need to take this seriously and with a proper, mature outlook!" Oddly, she kind of sounded like she was quoting something.

Apple Bloom's giggling picked up a notch, and Scootaloo slapped her forehead. I coughed, however, and corrected, "She's actually right. This is a huge secret that absolutely cannot leave this room. You can't tell anypony else this, and only those present, and the Princesses, can know."

The giggling stopped, Apple Bloom giving me a more wide-eyed look. Scootaloo looked surprised, but tilted her head towards me. "The Princesses know this?" she asked softly.

I nodded affirmative. "Yes. It's about me, and the attack in the Everfree half a week ago," I revealed softly. All three gasped at that, and I held up a hoof to calm them down.

"It's okay. You're not in danger and everything's fine. I just need you three to know this, too. I'm a Cutie Mark Crusader, even if I already have my Mark, right? That means you three need to be kept up to date on everything!" I reasoned, shifting to a smile instead.

All three went from nervous to smiling, and I exhaled a quiet breath of relief. "Ah'm glad ya didn't give up bein' ah Crusader, Mender! Things are finally startin' ta look up," Apple Bloom admitted, glancing back behind her at her sister, who was just exiting the kitchen with a tray of what looked like miniature cakes. Uh oh. I hope these didn't require etiquette or anything to eat. Well, maybe making a total idiot of myself would lighten the mood? Gotta stay positive, Mender!

"Yeah! Rainbow's obviously right, of course. You really are a pretty awesome stallion," Scootaloo chirped, fluttering her wings a little and smiling at me. I resisted laughing, noticing she seemed to have a bit of hero worship for Rainbow. Huh. I wonder if the similar goals made her get along with Spike?

I nodded towards them, noticing Rarity watching me with a soft smile out of the corner of my eye. At least I'd gotten off to a better start with her and Sweetie Belle. "Anyways, what I'm about to tell you is going to be really hard to believe, but it's the absolute truth. Anypony in this room will say the same thing," I warned, shifting to a solemn expression instead. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shifted up straight instantly, almost rigid in posture as they paid close attention. Scootaloo, however, looked downright giddy and her grin got wider as she watched me. Well, at least I knew I had her attention, too.

Summary time! "Equestria is sometimes connected to another dimension. It's a bit random, but every once in a while, your dimension will 'brush up' against another that's close to it. When that happens, there's a very tiny chance that things can pass between the two," I started, hoping it didn't go right over their heads.

Three blank stares. Damn it. Rarity started snickering out of the corner of my eye. New idea! "Okay, think of Equestria as a bubble or ball floating in a pond. There are other bubbles in the same pond that are drifting around, right? Sometimes they bump into each other, however, and when that happens, things can go between the bubbles," I tried, relaxing a bit more as I lay down to drop myself down to their height.

"Ooooh," Scootaloo muttered, holding a hoof up to her chin. Sweetie Belle was smiling now, however, and gave me rapid nods. Apple Bloom didn't look confused anymore, but instead seemed deep in thought.

"Inside these bubbles are entire other worlds full of strange individuals and places. Some aren't even ponies. We use the term 'aliens' for them," I continued.

Sweetie Belle made a quiet 'Oooh' noise, but Apple Bloom looked more shocked now than anything. Scootaloo surprised me, exclaiming almost instantly, "Oh wow! That's so cool! For true?"

I nodded and put my left hoof over my heart in the almost universally accepted 'pledge' gesture. "Honest and true. None of what I'm going to say is a lie. I'm not joking in the slightest," I reiterated softly. All three fillies seemed to focus attention back on me, so I took that moment to continue. "Here's the absolute biggest secret. The reason I know all of this for a certain fact is because I'm one of those aliens," I tacked on, then counted to three.

It only took until two. Apple Bloom's jaw dropped at the same time Sweetie Belle's eyes doubled in size. I held back a snicker, but Scootaloo beat me to the punch with, "No way! This is one of Pinkie's pranks, isn't it?!"

"Sorry, Scoots. He's tellin' tha absolute truth. He really is an alien," was suddenly spoken by an extremely familiar voice. I glanced to my left, past the leg rest of the sofa, and beheld Applejack as she slowly walked up. Her emerald eyes keenly avoided mine as I sought them out, and she sat down hesitantly next to us.

"Whoa," was all Scootaloo could mutter. I smiled back at the little filly, who had looked back to me instead.

Sweetie Belle, however, got distracted really easily, I noticed. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, why are you two upset with each other? Sis said something bad happened, but I'm not really sure what she meant," she asked, looking over at Applejack and apparently noticing the glum expression. Well, glad to see she was taking me being an alien okay!

"Ah hurt Mender really bad tha night o' tha attack because of ah stupid misunderstandin'. It was all mah fault. If Ah had just given him ah drop o' trust an' looked inta things, he wouldn't have his leg like that," she explained softly. I watched her instead of them. She refused to raise her eyes from the floor, and I sighed.

Remembering what Celestia pointed out, I asked the most obvious question I could think of. "What is it going to take for you to forgive yourself, Applejack?" She jerked, then looked up at me with a startled expression.

"W-What? No, Mender. Ah need ta get ya ta forgive me," she 'corrected' after a minor hesitation.

I smirked and nodded. "Okay. I forgive you. Now what?" I asked, a bit amused this time. Scootaloo snorted and started snickering, while Apple Bloom beamed at me.

Applejack's next expression reminded me of all the many times my 'processor' shut down. It was that familiar state where you heard something so unfathomable that your mind simply refuses to consider what had been said. It happened to me more often than I would like. "No, it can't be that easy, Mender. Come on, ya gotta be at least ah little mad at me!" she exclaimed, at least looking at me now.

"Well, I'm not. I was really sad when you said you didn't want to be my friend anymore, but you took that back, which meant a lot to me. Beyond that, you were protecting who you thought was Twilight. Why would I be angry with you for wanting to protect my fillyfriend?" I reasoned quietly. Again. The whole conversation reeked of déjà vu. Didn’t I just tell her this? She was extremely stubborn.

"She's upset not for protecting me, but for not even considering trusting you, Mender. Does her not trusting you hurt?" Twilight herself suddenly asked. I started at her sudden appearance as she walked in from the right, but flattened my ears back at the topic. It wasn't that it didn't hurt exactly. I'd come to start expecting it, especially from Twilight herself and Applejack. My eyes softened a little. It had been a long and rocky road, but I was finally starting to think that Twilight was maybe trusting me a bit more. Applejack, however...

The mare in question also drooped her ears. "That! That's what Ah wanna fix. Ah hate idlin' around and doin' nothing, an' RD's right. Ah ran away fer too long. So how can Ah make that hurt less?" she asked intently, locking gazes with me. I hesitated, not only unsure of what she was expecting me to say to that, but mildly wondering how my explanation had gotten derailed so badly.

"This should wait till later, Applejack. What he's going to explain in a bit is going to make things a little more complex," Twilight warned. Confliction hit, as I was both happy she got me out of answering that right away, and somewhat flustered that it was almost time for me to talk in front of all of these potentially exceedingly judgmental mares.

My head lowered and I sighed, nodding. "Yeah. I'm giving everypony here a 'get out of jail free' card on my friendship after I finish explaining everything today. I'm not so sure I'd want to be my friend either, if I’d known the truth," I warned, swallowing weakly. That was my biggest concern for today.

Applejack looked startled, but Rarity gasped suddenly in my depth of vision behind her. "What are you even talking about, Mender?! I know I can speak for anypony in this room when I say that we're never going to not be your friend!" she reprimanded intensely, surprisingly vehement about it.

I shivered, and then looked up at her again with my scanners fully activated. She stopped mid-rant and widened her eyes as mine undoubtedly shifted to glowing blue right in front of her. "Rarity, I lied to you all. Even myself. Nirru told me a lot of things that I didn't know about myself. I'm not a pony," I revealed gently. The room had shifted dead silent and it was extremely unnerving. Feeling awkward, I hopped up on the sofa next to me and sat down lightly on the cushion.

Rarity was just gawking as if I'd turned into an octopus or something. I hadn't yet, so I figured she was just shocked. Pinkie looked more excited than nervous as she hopped up over the back of the couch and landed next to a still stunned Rarity. I was reasonably sure she'd still be my friend. Rainbow looked apprehensive, but fluttered down behind the surprised Applejack and pulled her back over to the couch. The orange mare looked startled, but nodded back to her and sat down on the couch cushion next to her.

Maybe it was their more recent involvement, or a lack of having fully processed the last surprise, but the fillies seemed significantly less surprised. They looked at each other momentarily until Scootaloo shrugged, then all three nodded and turned back around, Apple Bloom raising her hoof up. Huh?

"Er, yes Apple Bloom?" I questioned, wondering if their schooling techniques were similar to my own.

"After a unanimous vote, we've decided that you're still a Crusader and that we don't mind whatever it is you are," she informed, smiling gently.

I blinked. "Er, you haven't even seen it yet!" I exclaimed, my brain doing a belly flop. Impressive, considering it lacked the anatomy to do so.

"So? You're still Mender. You're awesome and very nice! I wouldn't care if you were a scary looking dragon. I'd still totally... uh... we'd all be your friend still and well, you'd be a Crusader!" Sweetie Belle explained, jumbling her words halfway through and seemingly getting confused, a light blush on her face. Oh, I knew that feeling. Open mouth, insert hoof. I smiled at her and nodded, trying to make her feel better.

Twilight, however, was giving me her best Cheshire grin, looking deeply impish and amused. I glared at her instantly, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "Yes, I know. You told me that, too. Still, I'm going to give everypony the option. It's only fair after I accidentally lied to you all," I cut her off, far before she could start the 'I told you so' part. Regardless, she nodded happily to me.

"I don't understand, Mender? Are you not a Keldarian?" Rarity asked, finally seemingly recovering from her system shock and settling herself on the couch, subconsciously combing her tail back down with her hoof while asking. Spike, who had dropped the fan when I revealed the prior information, apparently decided to give it up and sat down next to the object of his desires instead, watching me curiously.

I shook my head, however. "I thought I was, but it turns out those memories aren't mine. I'm a clone of that individual. They took his DNA, created me from it, 'enhanced' me with mechanical parts, and then sent me to Equestria prematurely by accident. Something happened in the transfer and I lost my memories, becoming, well, me," I summarized weakly. More silence, but of a less profound variety this time. I took advantage of it and explained everything I could about what happened after I was taken that night, leaving out or smoothing over the nastier details, of course.

I'd told them everything I could about Nirru, Keela, Prudentia, and myself. It was difficult to explain what a biological weapon was, so I ended up simplifying it while still trying to get the point across that it was the most horrifying thing I'd ever seen. The expressions ranged from disbelief, to shock, to confusion throughout the explanation, as I'd anticipated. It took the better part of an hour, but finally I gave my dry throat a rest and sat back down, feeling empty and cold. No matter how big of a burden it was, letting ponies know always made me feel even emptier more than anything. I thought you were supposed to feel better after getting 'rid' of a secret?

Fluttershy had migrated from the rug next to the table to squeeze in right next to me over the course of the explanation. She was the only solace I took at the moment. I was a little surprised, but not really. After I scooted over, there was enough room for both of us to sit on the meter-wide sofa cushion. Every time I hesitated, she'd shoot me a reassuring smile, and I'd feel better. Twilight also stayed positive throughout the entire thing, but remained on the couch with the rest of her friends.

Silence prevailed in the room at this point. The fillies were quiet too, seemingly more out of respect than being disturbed. Rarity wore a passive smile, having apparently absorbed the information and relaxed again. Whatever I was to her now, it wasn't a threat, which at least made me feel a little better. Spike was looking back and forth between Rarity and me, looking uncertain but calm.

Twilight gave us a gentle smile and nod, but Rainbow had a somewhat unsure expression. She wasn't looking at me, but at Applejack instead. The orange mare held a horrified expression, and had been wearing it since halfway through my story. I didn't know what to do about it, as it wasn't the part I had expected her to be horrified at. She practically melted down, interrupting with a startled 'What?!' when I got to the point where I'd technically died. Twilight attempted to assure her that it was only momentarily and only technically because my heart stopped. Now she wore a shell-shocked expression, which was only magnified by the bloodshot eyes and sullen look.

Pinkie, however, was shivering sporadically with a massive grin on her face. "It's so cool! Can we see it?! Huh?" she asked, smashing the awkward silence with all the grace of an egg being hit by an avalanche.

"Pinkie!" Rarity reprimanded instantly, switching from relaxed to horrified in an instant, also for a reason unexpected by me. I blinked, a little confused.

"Aww. Come on. It's not that scary, and I wouldn't mind seeing it, either," Scootaloo cut in, also grinning now. I rolled my eyes. Now all that was left was for Rainbow to-

"Yeah! It's totally awesome, Rarity. Gross looking tentacles and beetle-like carapace all with glowing blue eyes!" the rainbow maned mare chipped in, right on time.

My ears flattened back at how she worded it, though. Everypony gave her a questioning look, and she lowered herself a little. I sighed and shook my head, vision activating a moment later with scanners. "If you're sure," I warned, voice splitting into two as the armor plating expanded across my neck, chest, and shoulders before moving on to the rest of my body, seamlessly merging out of my skin as if it were simply my flesh given new form. I closed my eyes momentarily as I felt the plates shift over my eyelids, then stretched my back as the armor finished popping out over my rump, my tail getting stiffer and more wiry as it momentarily sparked with electricity.

I opened my eyes again with a light clinking noise of the 'metal' plates, and skimmed the expressions now. Rarity wore surprise, of course, but it didn't particularly hold any fear. Pinkie and Scootaloo looked more delighted than before, while Sweetie and Apple Bloom looked more curious than anything. Dash held a grin this time, which was infinitely relieving to see. Applejack shifted to a blank expression instead and simply passively watched. Huh. I was expecting a more violent reaction. Fluttershy simply shifted over as my plates popped out, then resumed lying up against me after I finished transforming and wouldn't pinch her with any of the shifting armor.

Spike was the one who actually surprised me, however. He hopped off the couch a moment later and scampered towards me, stopping in front of the sofa and staring with focused intent at my right foreleg. "Whoa! This is cool. It's like big dragon scales!" he described, sliding a claw along the plate there.

"Fascinating! I should do a consistency test at some point," Twilight muttered, suddenly looking more curious than supportive. Oh boy.

Scootaloo squirmed, however. "This is awesome! You turned into this to kick the flank of that scary imposter?" she asked, hopping down and running over as well. This instantly prompted the other two fillies to join in, both smiling now. I raised an eyebrow, but nodded. That was, um, technically true, even if the wording was a tad colorful.

"Yeah. I honestly thought you'd think it was scary," I explained. My back flexed as the eight tendrils slowly and carefully expanded from my back. I was in no hurry to form them, as I didn't think steaming pores and smelly ooze was a good first impression to make. Twilight's curiosity shifted instantly to the new appendages, and Fluttershy gave them an unsure but unwavering glance.

"No way! Can you pick things up with those?!" the orange filly asked a moment later, hopping up and down in front of me. I laughed, extending my front left tendril down and gently wrapping it around her stomach. She squeaked, then cheered as I lifted her up and swayed her around. Fluttershy outright smiled at that, oddly. Despite the underlying creepiness, Scootaloo was adorable, I had to admit.

"Oooh, me too!" Apple Bloom called out.

"Um, be gentle?" Sweetie requested a moment later, also extending her hooves up like Apple Bloom. I resisted the spike in sugar levels just from watching them, and slipped three more tentacles down and lightly picked both fillies up. Spike grinned until I snatched him up too. He gave me a marginally annoyed look before laughing as I flipped him upside down. All four tentacles spiraled around in the air and tied up with each other as I spun them around, getting happy squeals. Well, this was a nice new use for my added attachments. I smiled up at them as I spun them back the other way, untangling my limbs again.

Pinkie hopped off the couch after being able to no longer stand it. "Oooh, me too!" she squealed, smiling happily. Frowning, I put two more of the tentacles against the floor to brace myself before wrapping my second to last one around her. Carefully, I gave her a double wrap, making sure to avoid the area where she was hurt. I gently pushed energy down the tendrils as well, massaging into her side as I lifted her up and twirled her around. She cooed happily, and then started giggling as I rotated her.

"How many can you grow?" Twilight asked, standing up now as well and hopping down to get a closer look.

I frowned. That was a good question, actually. "I only tried eight because I'm only using one processor to control them and I didn't know what its upper limit is," I excused, focusing again. Another tendril popped out of each shoulder, giving me ten. I expanded two more off my back hips, another two from the side of my stomach on each side, and then two more from my chest. Frowning, I started to feel more like an urchin than a pony. That was twenty-two, then, given that each tentacle was mirrored.

"Uh, whoa. That's enough, Mender. It's getting hard to see you," Twilight warned, pulling a tentacle down with her magic and peeking at it.

"Twenty-two of them is running the one processor to about seventy percent, but it's giving me error readouts now, so I might not be able to control them fully," I explained, starting to pull the excess back into myself. The processors hadn't been repaired yet, however. I made a note to start running some repair diagnostics on them when I went to bed.

Applejack edged off the couch and walked towards me as well, looking unsure, but somewhat curious. "Ooooh, hi, Applejack!" Pinkie squealed. I lowered her, upside-down, towards Applejack on her cue. The orange mare smiled and looked up at her as I extended her down.

"Well, this ain't as bad as Ah was expectin'. So yer some sorta part pony, part machine?" she asked, giving a passing tentacle a skeptical examination.

I nodded weakly. "An organic machine. My body is a shapeshifter, technically. Its natural form is a pony, but I can shift parts of it at will, as you can see," I summarized, flailing a tentacle about to my side. Sweetie Belle took that moment to untangle herself from one of the tendrils and slide down it, landing lightly on my back. Fluttershy started giggling.

"Oooh, you're toasty warm," the little filly pointed out, slipping up closer to my head and lying down. I used the tentacle she was riding before and lightly coiled it over her, causing her to coo as I covered her up with the heat.

Rarity perked up, trotting over as well. I also felt Rainbow take to the air and start batting at one of the free tendrils in the air. Apple Bloom started whooping as she spun around, and Scootaloo started trying to chase her, using her little wings as propellant. "Warm, you say? Honestly, up close, it doesn't look that bad. In the dark, this might be scary, but simply realizing that Mender is in control..." Rarity spoke up, running a hoof along the plate of my left shoulder.

"I'm in full control right now. I was a lot scarier that night. Nirru made me so angry. I hated her. I completely destroyed her," I muttered hollowly, lowering myself into a lying position on the sofa. My tentacles stopped spinning and I gently set the two extremely dizzy fillies down on the floor, then pulled the tentacles back inside of myself, watching as Pinkie landed gently back on her hooves, swaying back and forth happily.

Fluttershy brushed her muzzle along the plates on my neck gently, smiling at me. "She wanted to hurt all of us. You only got mad when she threatened Ponyville, right?" she asked softly, almost directly into my left ear.

I couldn't manage to stay depressed when she was around, I noticed. Smiling, I glanced back over at her and nodded. "She threatened both you and Twilight, and then said she wanted to destroy Ponyville. I had to do something. I hated her. I couldn't let her do bad things to everypony, so I turned into this and stopped her," I reiterated. Of course, I clearly left out the part where 'stopping her' involved ripping her apart slowly so she felt every little motion. The older mares probably figured that out, however. Rainbow did for certain, as she coughed lightly and looked away. She'd been there and saw all the blood, of course.

"Hum. I can't say that I like the new form. It's not very appealing to look at and it appears to be made for things not really needed in Equestria, in my opinion. Still, I'm not going to give up on being friends with you just because of this," Rarity finally spoke up, sounding unsure of her wording, but admitting her feelings finally, regardless.

My eyes lowered, but I nodded tiredly. "I understand. Thank you. I know this form is disgusting and unnecessary here," I agreed quietly. She was being honest, at least. Applejack showed the same uncertainty, but was trying to hide it under a positive guise. That made for three neutrals, and three positives amidst the Elements. That was a better outcome than I predicted. The fillies seemed largely for it, even if Sweetie Belle was a little unsure. I had worried she especially wouldn't like me anymore. Spike seemed somewhere between interested and deciding it didn't affect anything. Ultimately, this was far better than I could have hoped.

“I never said disgusting. Hmm. Maybe a touch up or two…” Rarity murmured a moment later, peeking over my armored plates before seemingly slipping into thought. I suddenly got the unexplainable sensation of dread.

Still, it had snapped me out of my inner thoughts, and I was more than a little startled to find everypony in the room staring at me. Eh?! "Mender, are you okay? We never asked you what you thought about everything," Fluttershy reminded softly, sounding a little sad. My eyes softened, causing me to look away from her. I was suddenly distinctly aware of how many ponies were in the room.

"It's fairly easy to tell what he thinks about all of this, given his last response. Mender, I never said you were disgusting," Rarity reminded gently, louder this time and stepping a little closer to me. Idly, I was quite interested in finding out what she’d been thinking about.

Twilight stepped forward before I could respond, hopping up and placing her forelegs on the cushion with Fluttershy and me. Her nose bumped up against mine and she locked eyes with me. "You're still worried that this sudden discovery makes you fake, right?" she asked gently, watching me carefully. I stared back for a moment before lowering my head again.

"Being a clone isn't that bad, I guess. I saw the information about my creation. Dr. Kyliona, the Keldarian who created me, changed so much of my genetics that I might as well be a totally different individual. I'm sad that the memories I have of my life and family aren't mine, but there are worse things," I explained before trailing off.

A glance showed me that Twilight was giving me absolute attention, which was actually a little unnerving. I forced down the urge to hide from so many ponies, and made myself continue with, "I wish I could separate which memories are mine and which are his. Especially the really bad ones. But then, I also am uncomfortable with being part organic robot, too. I just want to be normal and stay here without causing problems all the time." I think this was the first time I'd really mentioned what I had wanted, or what was bothering me.

Twilight's look of intense focus shifted to a smile instead, and she nodded gently. "We're here to help in any way we can, Mender. As your friends, we'll do whatever's needed. I might be able to help you with the memories thing. If you feel up to it, I'll start connecting to you with my magic each night and help you try to sort them out. I want you to be rested up first, though," she suggested. I blinked, then remembered what she did way back when we had first met a month or so ago.

"Do you think we can really figure out where my memories start and his stop?" I asked, unsure of the whole process. The mare seriously knew what she was doing, though, so I trusted her.

Twilight smirked and nodded confidently, shifting everypony else's expressions to smiles as well. "I think it's a splendid idea! Further, it might help you adjust more to being the pony that you are now if we got you a position in the neighborhood. A job you'd be particularly good at is your inventing and repairing," Rarity chipped in, suddenly seeming to forget that I was in my alternate form as she started rapidly considering.

"Oh yeah! Ah can get word o' mouth goin' about yer skills. There's tons o' stuff around town that needs repair, an' Ah'm sure quite ah few ponies would be interested in yer inventin' skills," Applejack agreed, also shifting to seemingly thinking intently. A job, huh? Well having my own income to help support the library would certainly be nice. Plus, they seemed intent on treating me like a normal pony, which made me feel significantly better as well.

Pinkie was vibrating at this point, grin looking like it might pop off her face if she expanded it any further. "Exactly! Oh, this is going to be so fun! I've already got a super duper party in the works. It's maybe my biggest yet! I'll introduce you to everypony I can manage in Ponyville, and you'll probably get lots of friends to help ya," the pink mare fired off in rapid salvo.

"Uh, just don't hurt yourself, Pinkie. I'm worried about your sides," I reminded, gesturing to where she'd hurt her ribs earlier. It was really, really hard to tell, but I could have sworn I saw her blush for a moment before her grin shifted to a happy smile instead.

"Aww! You're so nice, Mender. You don't have to worry about me. I know everypony is, so I'll be super careful," she promised, giving me a double nod.

Fluttershy pushed harder into my left side suddenly, brushing her cheek along mine where they connected. I smiled over at her, and she added, "I'm not, well, exactly sure how I could help, but I’ll try my hardest for anything you and Twilight need." She flushed as well as she spoke, glancing to the left a little at the lavender mare, who was smiling happily at her. They really did get along quite well.

"Enough of the mushy stuff, sheesh! We'll all help Mender in our own ways, so no worries. Just don't crowd him. I think he needs to feel surer of himself! More awesome! I'll try my absolute hardest in that regard," Rainbow interrupted suddenly, grinning and hovering into the air with a bold pose. I raised an eyebrow to her, but Applejack snorted and tugged her back down by the tail.

"Careful ya don't drown him with yer ego. What, exactly, are ya gonna do ta help, then?" she questioned, giving her friend a skeptical glance.

Rainbow momentarily looked annoyed at the tail tug, but thought for a moment. It didn't take long before she grinned again, sitting on the floor this time. "That's easy! He has that wing thingy he can enchant me with. We go out and practice each day with that. I fly around with him making my wings heavier instead. I get practice with my flying and build up that inner magic thing he explained, and he gets practice maintaining his magic, too. And if I remember, that means his earth pony body is gonna get bigger and stronger at the same time!" Rainbow explained a moment later. My eyes widened. I hadn't anticipated her giving a viable solution to help me with. Sure, it helped her, too, but that was actually a really good idea.

Applejack looked impressed for a moment before hiding it and smirking. "Doesn't that help you more than him?" she pointed out a moment later. The cyan mare's retaliatory glare was instant, and scary.

"She's right about it making him stronger. If I had to guess, it would also speed up his recovery time," Twilight muttered, drawing forth an appealing conclusion indeed. She seemed deep in thought, however, which mildly scared me if she managed to shoot that out as a mere afterthought.

Applejack looked surprised again, but smiled. "Okay then, it's settled. Ah'm gonna whip up some solid meals fer Mender, too, ta boost tha recovery process. Rainbow an' him can use Sweet Apple Acres ta practice at tha same time!" she offered, directing it over at Rainbow as well.

Rainbow Dash looked more than a little surprised before she gave her friend a grin and nod. Heh, like she'd refuse spending even more time at Applejack's place. The food sounded really appealing as well, after having hospital food for so long. "Oooh, I'll help you fix up some really good meals, AJ!" Spike suddenly chipped in, apparently wanting to help as well.

Applejack's expression fell a moment later, however, as she glanced towards the little dragon. "Ah dunno, Spike. Remember last time?" she suddenly asked. Last time?

Spike frowned and rapidly shook his head. "No, no, Applejack! Last time doesn't count. I was so out of it trying to impress you that I just wasn't myself," he tried to explain, looking rather devastated, actually.

"He's a hard worker, and his cooking is top notch from what I've seen," I added, vouching for the little guy as best I could manage. He looked momentarily startled before smiling over at me warmly.

"Really? Ya must've been really outta it then, last time! Well, Ah guess it wouldn't hurt ta give ya another chance. Go easy on tha kitchen this time, though," Applejack relented, giving Spike a smile and nod instead.

He pumped his fist and did a little hop into the air before running forward and hugging the farm mare, who just chuckled. I snickered and turned back to Twilight, who was cooing happily but remaining silent over the whole ordeal. She seemed pleased that I spoke up for him instead, if I was reading her warm smile correctly. Her eyes stared into mine as she gave my nose another nuzzle as well. Fluttershy blushed next to me, but managed a timid smile as well.

Twilight noticed instantly, however, and looked over to Fluttershy instead. Oh? The yellow mare perked and returned her attention, if not slightly more confused looking. My official fillyfriend smiled, though, and leaned forwards, giving Fluttershy a light nuzzle as well, directly across the cheek.

My eyes widened, but nowhere near as fast as Fluttershy's as her cheeks exploded into a heated flush. A light and weak squeak managed to slip out of the surprised mare as she hunched backwards, staring at Twilight in shock. "Hee. You're so adorable, Fluttershy. I'm really glad you want to join us," Twilight finally spoke up, looking pleased by the reaction.

Fluttershy's flush expanded as her eyes started shivering. "R-Really?" she whispered, voice barely there at all.

"Of course! Taking vows as a herd means we get to be together forever. I, well, would really like that. I think the three of us being together for all time is very romantic, and I'm starting to like the thought more and more," Twilight admitted, giving me a confident grin too. She was starting to work through her apprehensions then and become more certain of her feelings? I smiled gently before hearing Fluttershy's quiet whimper.

Glancing over at the yellow mare, I noticed that her face might as well have been pink rather than yellow, given how much her blush had expanded. Wait, I'd never thought about it before, but how was I able to notice her blushing through all that fur? I noticed the coat along the face seemed to tint red alongside the increased blood flow to the area, but why did it do that? Was there some biological reason for it to do so? I added it to my substantial list of questions I'd probably never end up remembering to ask Twilight. It's a pity I'd forgotten to get a look at my flank after it was shaved to see if my Cutie Mark was tattooed onto my skin or not.

"Fluttershy! Are you okay?" Twilight asked, eyes expanding as she noticed the yellow and now excessively pink mare. It went well with her mane, anyway.

Fluttershy nodded timidly and shrank down a little bit, burying her snout in the crook under my left shoulder. I smiled at her before my head was suddenly shoved downwards violently. I whacked into my armored forelegs, and then glanced upwards towards the source of the sudden weight added to my skull. Sweetie Belle smiled and waved down at me, apparently having landed there from the back of the sofa.

"We want to help you, too, Mender. You need exercise to get walking right again, so what if your fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders help you do that? We could make sure you don't fall, and help you around town and stuff!" my new hat suggested hopefully, a soft grin playing at the edges of her mouth.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom gathered to the right of Twilight in my vision a moment later. "Seriously? What are we gonna do, be a pillow for him to land on or something?" Scootaloo asked skeptically, shooting Sweetie Belle a glare.

"How about you help keep me company while Rainbow does her practicing? Being able to use my magic while holding a conversation would be a good challenge, plus company is always nice. You'll also get to watch Rainbow practice, Scootaloo," I suggested pointedly. Twilight gave me a skeptical glance this time instead, but my attempt to bribe the little filly probably was a little on the obvious side.

Still, it worked like a charm. "R-Really? You'd let me, uh, well, I mean, of course. That would be fun and all. I wouldn't mind watching Rainbow practice," the orange filly said far too quickly, shifting to a more reserved and 'cool' tone halfway through. I smirked at her. She shot me a scowl, and I resisted laughing. Oh yeah, I was supposed to pretend not to notice.

"That's the spirit, Kid! Maybe I'll even take ya flying while I practice! Added weight will help me, and the added experience will help you!" Rainbow herself tacked on, giving a sparkling smile to the young pegasus. Scootaloo's mental meltdown was rather amusing to watch and I couldn't seem to look away. It didn't help that she was absolutely adorable to me, like the rest of the fillies.

"You're super nice, Mender. Of course we'll keep you company," Sweetie agreed, leaning forward on me again to peek down while saying it.

Apple Bloom nodded in agreement before crawling up onto the right hoof rest next to me, sitting up once she got to the top as if it were a perch, and she a gargoyle of sorts. "Ah can come keep ya company after mah chores are done, o' course. We got ah lot ta do before tha break next week," she spoke up, once again referencing that. What was next week? Wait, didn't somepony just say something about that? I wracked my brain trying to think of what it was.

"Thank you for all of your help, everypony. I don't want to be a burden, but so long as I can do something in return for all of you, I could probably use the help," I finally admitted, somehow without hiding or blushing profusely.

Pinkie grinned and shook her head repeatedly, almost becoming a blur for a second. "It's totally fine, Mender. Now, onwards with the super important things! It's time to plan a party!" she declared loudly, rib damage apparently not hampering her lungs in the slightest. I chuckled while everypony else winced at the outburst. My armor plates folded up again when she was done, of course. A break would be nice, indeed.

"I agree, Pinkie. I agree," I finally said.

Yawning, I gave a blank stare ahead while Nurse Redheart carefully unplugged wires from my foreleg. How long had we been here? Twilight sat to my right, reading over paperwork that was drifting in front of her via that oh so familiar purple aura. I peeked over at her, momentarily distracting myself from intently staring at the hospital room wall.

"Well, you're recovering remarkably for the most part. According to the scans, it's about week seven of your recovery, even though it's technically only day three, by a normal pony standard. Princess Celestia's magic is powerful indeed. It's a pity she doesn't make exceptions for using it more often," Redheart muttered, turning away from me and looking over the notes in my rather impressive file. How I'd accumulated three inches of hospital paperwork in a month was beyond me.

Twilight sighed and shook her head tiredly. Clocky told me that it was well past twenty-one hundred hours. We should really be sleeping about now. "I've answered that question way too frequently the last few days. Her intervention had nothing to do with him being my coltfriend. She's already revealed that this was a dimensional attacker at work that had been thwarted. She helped heal Mender due to the extraordinary situation," she explained rapidly. I detected a few potential slips in that explanation, but decided against saying anything. I suppose everypony would want her healing them if she didn't make it look like this was a special occasion.

"Oh, I know. It was just wishful thinking," Nurse Redheart assured, smiling as she turned back around again.

"But you know it wasn't just her. You're fully aware that Princess Celestia has a direct Seal of Silence order on all of Mender's medical records, right?" Twilight reminded, causing me to swallow uneasily. It felt like I was being hidden away when she said it like that. Was that for my protection or theirs?

The nurse's smile remained unwavering, however, as she nodded. "Of course. It's the same as Spike's, after all. Only his primary doctor, surgeon, and myself know that Mender isn't exactly a pony," she confirmed. I shuddered quietly.

Twilight didn't smile back, but simply nodded. "Are we clear to go for the night, then?" she asked, after a moment's hesitation.

"Yes. I'll let the doctor know what's going on when he gets back in the morning. He'll probably want a follow up for Mender in a few weeks to check the leg, but other than that, you're all set," she replied in a rather cheerful manner. I smiled faintly at her. She was a remarkably resilient mare for having to put up with all of this. I'd have probably snapped under pressure by now.

"Thank you, Nurse Redheart," I said, giving her a gentle bow of my head.

Twilight smiled finally and nodded to the nurse as well, who looked somewhat flustered, but grinned back. "It's my job, Mender. You don't need to thank me for it," Redheart explained absently as she opened the door to the room for us.

"More like a full time commitment for Mender. But thank you for helping us," Twilight added, following me as I slowly hobbled out the door, careful not to put too much weight on the lightly throbbing limb. Lying down in a few minutes was going to feel amazing, I had a feeling.

Twilight moved up to my side as we wandered through the hospital. So many of the ponies recognized her instantly and gave her happy nods and waves. I was impressed at how well known she was, but realized it was probably a foregone conclusion. She had a lot of things going in her favor when it came to notoriety. Now 'Somewhat Psychotic Coltfriend' could be added to that list. I'd yet to decide if that was actually a good thing.

"Whew. What a day," she muttered after we finally got our first breath of fresh air in what seemed like hours. Wait, it had been hours.

Regardless, I nodded in sympathetic agreement. "Falling into my cot tonight is going to feel amazing. I'm exhausted," I murmured, peeking up at the night sky as I walked. The cool air and breeze that nipped past my leg felt wonderful against the superheated skin. The stars high above were gorgeous as well. I remembered that was one part of my old world that I had cherished up until the very end. The night sky had never lost its stars.

A light twinge of bitterness shot through me. Was I even allowed to reminisce about memories that weren't mine? I resisted snorting. No, forget it. This memory was mine. This moment and every second hereafter was something I could distinctly claim as my own. My old universe could go to hell.

"Thank you, Mender," Twilight suddenly said, piercing the silence floating around me. My awareness shifted back to myself instantly as I made sure none of the anger was visible.

"Huh? For what?" I inquired, a little confused. Had I zoned out again and missed a part of her sentence? I really needed to break out of that habit.

Twilight giggled, however, so I assumed she was teasing me with it again. "For still being you. I know it's silly and probably rather nonsensical, but I'm kind of glad you're a clone," she revealed, tossing the metaphorical penny onto the track of my train of thought.

Apparently, my train of thought controlled my walking too, because I halted almost immediately. "Wait, what?" I questioned, maybe a little harsher than intended.

She stopped walking as well and turned back around, looking at me carefully. "I meant no disrespect, of course. I'm just glad because it divorces you further from that dimension. There's so much pain and misery back there. I'm glad you're not a direct product of it, honestly. It also makes you uniquely you rather than an alien with tons and tons of prior history, if that makes sense," she explained quietly, watching me in the light of the moon. There was nopony around, but it was still an awkward topic.

"So kinda like a blank slate?" I suggested, starting up my forward momentum again. She fell into place next to me as I continued towards the library.

"Yup. It makes me feel more comfortable. Instead of a scary alien like you were before, you're just the familiar Mender I already feel safe around," she furthered, smiling again as she lined up our shoulders while moving.

I blinked, and then gave her a skeptical glance. "You, afraid of something?" That didn't sound like Twilight, really.

She laughed, and then shook her head. "Hardly. I'm not fearless, Mender. I know you probably think I'm some sort of 'master' of you or something because of your old culture, but that's far from the truth. I'm a scared mare who doesn't really know what to do with herself, and who's really far out of her comfort zone," she corrected, the last part sounding a little bitter instead. A familiar level of bitterness, actually.

"You blame yourself for not being comfortable with it," I reasoned, not really asking anything. She sounded like I did sometimes when I wasn't pleased with the cards I'd been dealt.

She slowly shook her head as we reached the door to the library, deciding to give it a blank stare instead. "Of course I blame me. I wasn't prepared for you, of all things. Almost everything about you caught me off guard, and that's not something I'm comfortable with. I care about you in quite a different way than I care about the girls, and that's scary. I'm not trying to control you, Mender. Although, I admit to manipulating things to be more... comforting to me," she whispered, seemingly more talking to the door than me.

"Celestia gave me a lot of advice about that, too. We both have our faults, Twilight," I reminded, getting her instant attention when I dropped her mentor's name.

"She talked about, um, us?" she asked hesitantly, eyes widening as she slowly turned to face me.

I distracted her by opening up the door instead. "Yeah. She 'approves' of us, for what it's worth. She told me a lot of things that kinda gave me hope for the future again. I'd been worried that nopony would want to be my friend anymore after finding out what I am." That secret was probably obvious to her, but it felt good to get it off my chest.

We both headed inside and into the darkened main floor. Only the fireplace was going and dimly lighting the room up. I smiled at the sight of Spike, who was asleep on the armrest of the couch, facing the door. He'd tried to stay awake for us after all. "I know it's hard, Mender, but you need to have more faith in us. Trust us. We're not Keldarians," Twilight whispered, hanging up her saddlebags and shaking herself lightly. I watched her coat fluff up, and then straighten again with a light dusting of magic. I just tipped myself backwards after sliding the fastener open on my stomach. My bags slid off my back and bumped onto the floor gently.

I blinked as I felt similar magic ruffle through my coat along my back and straighten out the matting from my straps. The same magic then lifted my bag as well, hanging it on the hook next to hers as she glanced over at it. Leaning in, I gave her a warm peck on the cheek just as she turned back away from the wall.

Her startled hop into the air made me smirk, and earned a playfully annoyed glare from her. "Mmm. Sorry. You were just too cute there," I apologized softly, just in case I had misread the 'playful' part of her expression.

She grinned and stretched forwards, however, planting an encouraging, and extremely pleasant kiss directly on my lips instead. Smiling into her, I pushed forwards a bit more, causing the mare to release a pleased groan against my mouth. She finally sighed softly and backed up a bit, smiling warmly at me with slightly upturned eyes. For once, I didn't actually blush, although there was a light tint to both our cheeks. I wasn't embarrassed, I realized. That was the first time we'd kissed without that lingering feeling of awkwardness afterwards as I expected my lungs to be pulled out through my nose. All Twilight had ever really, truly done was throw a bed in my general direction. Why was I so afraid of her? Her especially. All the mares made me nervous, except for maybe Fluttershy, but Twilight had been absolutely terrifying.

Twilight was oblivious to my internal interrogation, of course. She knocked me out of it when I felt her fur brush along my neck. There was nothing urgent as she leaned into me; there was no sensation of heat or burning passion. Her forelegs wrapped around me as her weight caused me to sit down, and she just held herself against me gently. I breathed in her scent, wrapping both of my forelegs around her as well as she shivered there. My magic activated, giving her a light jolt as it coursed through her, shot along the floor, and gently closed the door. Now onlookers couldn't peek in, and the chilly breeze wouldn't touch her fur.

She leaned back and smiled at me again, eyelids lowering as a light blush danced across her cheeks. "Thank you, Mender. You thought I was cold, didn't you?" she asked softly.

I tilted my head questioningly, asking, "Oh? You weren't?" I could have sworn I felt her shiver.

"A little. The shiver was from inside me, however. Fluttering sensations tickling the inside of my chest," she explained. My eyes widened again, but she cut me off with another kiss. This one remained soft and gentle, however, her leaning back again a few seconds later, eyes much softer looking now.

We didn't really say anything. She looked past me, and I watched her horn light up again. Spike drifted into the air and tucked himself up into a ball, wrapped up in Twilight's billowing aura. I knew how warm it felt to be coated in unicorn magic. It was like a warm breeze that lazily flowed around you, never really drifting away like a normal gust of wind. Or like a thin flow of water that you could breathe as easily as air.

Her head gestured to the stairs as she stepped away from me, the sleeping dragon drifting after her in slow, rocking motions. I smiled as I watched her walk up the steps. She was lying to herself, I realized. She really did know how to be a good mother. She'd been doing it for years. Sure, he might do the cooking and chores around the library, but the love was there. Love.

My eyes lowered a little. Why did I even know what that word meant, coming from the culture I did? Keldarians didn't love. Was I so divorced from what it meant to be a Keldarian that I was more Pony now instead? I wondered if it was part of the clone design that Dr. Kyliona intended. Apart from her looks and voice from the now fully repaired video, I didn't really know anything about her. I'd neglected to watch the repaired video out of fear of what I'd see. What other horrors would I learn about myself?

Slowly, I stepped forwards, careful to keep my weight partially off my left foreleg. It gave a few throbs of protest that I pointedly ignored, alongside the swelled up sensation. Every fourth stair step was an exercise in caution as I readied my armor and barriers in case I took a tumble. My surprise doubled as I saw Twilight waiting at the top of the stairs for me, her eyes tracking every movement my left foreleg made. I smiled towards her, and she caught the movement, returning the expression a moment later.

"Just making sure we won't have a surprise hospital visit yet again tonight," she teased, winking to me playfully.

I chuckled, assuring, "I had my armor and barriers ready just in case. I'd be a little dizzy, but it wouldn't have hurt. It would give you an excuse to just toss me up here with your magic, too."

Twilight's eyes widened at the last part, and I hesitated at the top of the stairs. Had I offended her, accidentally? "Mender, I'm not going to throw you around using my magic. I'll not lift you unless you're fully expecting it. I learned that lesson back at Applejack's barn," she said, lowering her head a little.

I rested my forehead against the top of her head and sighed weakly. "You didn't know, Twilight. I, well, I have a lot wrong with my mind, you know. It's not just the amnesia. Things just sort of bleed through into reality if, um," I started trying to explain. It was a bit confusing to relay to an individual that didn't suffer from it, however.

"You have external stimuli that triggers the memories, which partially overlap your waking consciousness. I figured that out after you told me what happened back then. What did I do to cause it?" she asked gently, looking back up with surprising focus and determination. Swallowing, I sat back down at the top of the stairs, wondering if I was going to fall down them yet tonight.

"It was, um, my posture while being pulled forwards. Nirru tortured me after, uh, I was arrested. Well, the individual I was cloned from, anyway. It momentarily felt like I was strapped to a platform and being pushed back towards her, as she stood there ready with her tools..." I swallowed wearily, the images easily popping back into my mind as I suddenly felt a cold sweat form. It took everything I had to remember that it wasn't real and I was with Twilight in the library.

The images flickered and snapped away an instant later, Twilight's face pushing through them and directly into another kiss. I felt myself relax a little, my breathing slowing as she pushed her chest into mine. "You're safe, Mender. She's not going to get you ever again. I'll personally teleport her to the moon if she even tries," she assured. I smiled and gently nuzzled her cheek, refraining from mentioning that tossing her into a zero atmosphere environment would probably be the same as just murdering her, if their outer space was the same as ours. Twilight had known what a void was, which would probably be a difficult concept to grasp if it didn't exist here, however. That made me slightly more inclined to think their outer space was similar to ours.

Twilight turned away and finished tucking Spike in before giving me a smile over her shoulder. She hopped up onto her bed an instant later, leaving me slightly confused as to what the expression had been about. "Go brush your teeth and get ready for bed, Silly. You're probably exhausted," she reminded, peeking over the side of her bed at me. I chuckled and nodded before turning to do as I was told.

Here was infinitely better than there. I realized that once more for probably the hundredth time as I stared at my reflection in the mirror, toothbrush coated in a barrier as it moved by itself. I had to keep telling myself how good it was here out of fear that I'd wake up and not be here anymore. It was like this was a fragile dream that I kept expecting to wake up from. Maybe that was why it was so easy for me to slip into memories? Things didn't feel 'real' here.

Even staring at the stallion looking back at me, my mind couldn't fully process it. I peeked into the amber eyes, wondering if that was the same color my old ones had been. Keldarians all had blue fur, so there wasn't much to go off of, there. What about my mane? I looked up at the darker blue and silver streaked mess. It was shorter than I used to have it when I'd first come here, thanks to Rarity's uphill battle with the growth formula. The sides of my bangs were still braided however. They were simplistic weaves, going barely an eighth of a meter down and ending in a light tuff of hair. It kind of reminded me of the tribalistic styles I'd seen in books from when I was growing up.

When he was growing up, I reminded a moment later. My 'youth' was the inside of a glass tube. I glared at the amber eyes, suddenly hoping they weren't his colors. I wanted them to be mine. This body was mine, not his. It had never been tortured, even if my mind said otherwise. The scars on it are from his past, not my own. I set the toothbrush back in the cup on the sink after thoroughly rinsing out.

They were right. I'd feel better once I got my own source of income. I had to. It was part of building my identity as a pony here. Just thinking about having a purpose was comforting. I'd start by helping Rainbow with her wings. I'd already helped Applejack with her barn. That made me feel better. When I felt useful, it was a good sensation. My type of enchantment was new here, and would probably be useful to a lot of ponies, right? I was a little hesitant about putting myself out there, but I'm sure that my friends would help me get adjusted. My friends. They were still my friends.

Sure, some didn't like the ugly monster I could turn into, but they were still my friends! Nopony had decided that I was bad or gross just because of what I actually was. Even knowing that was what I really looked like, they had accepted me still. I smiled gently and shook, waiting for the last couple drops to fall before reaching up and pushing the toilet's lever down. Carefully, I washed my hooves again with the still running faucet before turning off the water and drying them with a towel. Yes. Things were finally going to be okay. Even if they weren't, I could make it through because I didn't have to be alone anymore.

That was ultimately what made this place so much better than my last universe. I had been all alone there, even in a crowded room. The only sense of companionship I'd ever gotten was from my squad mates. After they'd died... No, after they'd been murdered, there was nothing but that frozen cold core in my heart. I remembered now. It wasn't natural to hate. I don't think anypony, or anyone from any species had a natural tendency to hate something. We were taught it. It was trained insanity. A pure, cold form of anger that made one want to end the target of it, no matter the cost. That wasn't natural.

I opened the door, only to be met with a softly smiling Twilight as she wandered past, undoubtedly to do what I just did. I returned her smile, albeit a bit more timidly, and let her pass before heading for my cozy bed. That would be purchase number one, I think. An actual bed so I could finally return this one to Applejack, and thank her profusely for allowing me to use it. She'd deny the thanks, of course, but at least she'd have it. I smiled as I lay down amidst the warm covers, glad the heat from the magical fireplace had drifted up and warmed the room. It was always comforting to know that physics still worked properly.

Twilight was much faster than me in the bathroom. Either that or I had drifted off while she was in there, as I snapped back to attention at the sound of the toilet flushing again. I rotated around to give her a smile as she passed, but was momentarily startled when I kept going. At first, I had thought I'd misjudged my distance and rolled off my cot, but I rapidly felt the billowing magic as I lifted into the air. Hey!

She gave me a knowing grin upon turning the lights out to the bathroom and walking back over to her bed, carrying me along with her. I realized her intent about halfway there and started blushing again. She had no trouble whatsoever with hopping up onto the bed and depositing me directly against her as she slid under the covers. "I think we'll return the cot to Applejack tomorrow," she added, making me shiver at her not so subtle implication. Her grin only made it worse, and I gave her a playful glare. It would only fuel her, of course.

"What? I've gotten comfortable with sharing my bed with you at night. I might have even missed it, staying over with Rarity the past couple days. She makes for wonderful company, don't get me wrong. But there's something extremely pleasant about sharing a bed with somepony you know cares about you in a far, well, different manner," she extrapolated, and I could feel the heat coming from her even though we weren't touching.

Heh. I tucked myself under the covers and settled gently into the lavender mare, who snuggled closer and made a light cooing noise. "I missed you, too, Twilight. I'm glad that you're not having second thoughts after everything I told you," I murmured, relaxing as I felt her breathing against me.

"Quite the contrary. You, Fluttershy, and Rainbow made me really jealous today, although I was glad I didn't have to experience Pinkie's mental barrage," Twilight revealed, giving a shiver towards the end. I resisted laughing. It hadn't been pleasant at the time, but now I could certainly laugh at myself over the whole ordeal. "Still, I'd like to finalize the link to you. Not only would you know it was me all the time, but the communication over distances seems really useful," she added.

As if reminding herself, she pushed her horn against my forehead and I felt the familiar and distinctly 'Twilight' energy drift into my mind. I'd had no doubt before that it was her, of course, technically having never been separated from her since this afternoon. Still, it was an amazing sensation that I wasn't about to complain over. "It's permanent, Twilight. I just want you to be absolutely sure," I reiterated quietly, letting my body slowly drift.

Her thoughts mingled into mine, and I almost felt her kissing me again even though our muzzles weren't touching. I smiled into her mind and pulled her a little closer, feeling a burst of happiness drift through her at the sensation. She didn't have to say anything else. She'd made a totally valid argument with her feelings alone, and she knew it. Her heat drifted through me as she mirrored the sensation, actually kissing me for a moment this time. I felt myself slip, and she went with me willingly. Both of us fell into slumber, foreheads touching and entangled in each other's hooves.

Chapter 37

A cold breeze drifted through, causing my fur to puff up a little. Suddenly, I was thankful that I had neglected to return to Rarity and get the rest of my coat trimmed down again. Staring upwards, I watched the two earth stallions slowly put the undercarriage up for Twilight's balcony. Apparently, they used wooden frames, and then encouraged the branches to grow into and around them.

My shoulders bunched up a little, pulling the warm scarf up further around my neck. I had a lot to thank Rarity for lately. She had dropped off this hoof-crafted blue and silver scarf earlier, its colors just a little darker than my mane. It took her ten minutes to decide if it was the right shade, but I didn't mind modeling it for her. Spike was totally fine with the process, too, of course, and Rarity got a free breakfast while she was here, whether she wanted it or not.

Twilight seemed uneasy over the process, but sat and watched the fitting anyway. I had thought she'd have rather gotten a start on the report she was behind on, but I could also think of a few reasons why she didn't. A distinct sensation of Rarity being chaperoned during the entire ordeal was rather pervasive. It wasn't me she was worried about, I sensed. Still, the pearly unicorn was on her best behavior the entire time, apart from complaining about having to take back and shoulder measurements again. Apparently, I had gained a little definition since she last measured me. I didn't know why she only wanted those two readings, though.

I glared up at the work they were doing. Even with no direct sun shining through the overcast sky, I could see a couple flaws. "Is the tree branch supposed to grow through the whole thing, or does it only follow the support struts?" I suddenly asked, standing and walking over to the construction director near the base of the library.

"Eh? It mostly follows the struts. Why?" he questioned after a brief hesitation. Aww hell. Two struts for the entire balcony? I flattened my ears back and shook my head rapidly at him.

"If that's going to be the new balcony, you need either a stronger undercarriage or a middle support strut to maintain and spread out the structural support. It would be really bad if it fell off the side of the library while somepony was on it," I warned. That somepony would probably be me, given my luck and lovely, busted gravity suppressors.

He rapidly shook his head, however. "Relax. This isn't the complete work. We won't be able to add the extension until we get a secondary tree growing anyway, and that'll have supports on the other side of the bridge," he returned.

I blinked. Wait, what?! "Uh, extension? Twilight's putting in an extension?" I questioned. Well, getting the old balcony torn off would be an ideal time to start a project like that, I guess. Applejack unknowingly allowed her to cut a corner then by providing free demolition work.

"Look, I can't just discuss the private building plans of the Element of Magic herself with a civilian. It's good that you're concerned for her safety and are trying to help, but it's private," he explained in an exceedingly condescending manner.

My expression drooped as I glared at him. Was it worth the time and trouble to bitch him out, or should I just ask Twilight later? Hmm. She might lie to me, but I didn't see a reason for her to. Plus, she'd been getting a lot better about that and seemed sincere in trusting me lately. I weighed it for a moment before sighing and shaking my head.

"Eh, forget it. I'll just ask Twilight later," I said, officially giving up. Maybe I just didn't hold an air of authority or something?

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Sure ya will. Can I get back to work now?" he asked, earning another glare from me.

The door of the library opened up before I could shoot back a witty and belittling retort that would crush his happiness for the rest of the day, sadly. To my surprise, Twilight herself pranced out and looked about for a second before locking onto me, expression shifting to a grin. I brightened my mood and gave her a smile as she trotted over, a bit of a spring to her step, interestingly enough.

"Ah! Miss Sparkle! I was hoping you'd come to investigate soon. I wanted to let you know that the tree is going to be delivered by tomorrow, and we can start construction on your extension as soon as it gets here," the annoying construction stallion spoke up as she approached, cutting her off as she was about to open her mouth.

She looked momentarily confused as she regarded him. "Oh. I forgot that was coming tomorrow. Well, that's good!" she exclaimed, giving him a polite smile and nod. He grinned back, but she immediately went back to being oblivious and rotated to face me instead. Only then did I notice she was wearing my saddlebags.

"I was so hoping you were still out here! If you're still going to go for a walk, can you take these and drop off the measuring tape Rarity left here this morning? She'll probably be wondering where it is," Twilight requested. Oh! Well, it was a good thing that I got distracted by the crappy construction work, then.

I nodded happily to her. "Of course! I was going to go see Pinkie, and that would be on the way anyway," I remembered, mentally running through my basic map of Ponyville. Then my short-term memory kicked back in. "Oh yeah. What's the extension you're having built?" I inquired a moment later.

The stallion, now eavesdropping on us, made an indignant, shocked scoffing noise. Twilight ignored him. Again. "Aww. I was gonna keep it a surprise! Well, it's not a huge surprise, so surprise!" she added instead, giving a little hop into the air. I snickered at her. Sometimes she was so awkward, it was just adorable.

"I figured Spike wouldn't mind a bit more privacy at night, and we probably wouldn't either, so I'm building us a bedroom off the side of the loft. Lots of privacy that way," she chirped, giving me a wink.

Oh. Predictably, I felt the heat rush up into my cheeks. "Oh, uh, well if you're sure we need it. Spike probably would be more, um, comfortable if we're not... I mean, he doesn't seem very pleased when we..." The longer I talked, the more of a stumbling mess I became, of course. I was getting really good at that.

Twilight giggled, however, a light flush appearing on her cheeks as well. "You're adorable. Let's just stick to all three of us needing privacy. Anyway, I'll tell you more about it when you get back. Better get going before Rarity sets the boutique on fire looking for the measuring tape," she reminded, giving me a light peck on the lips.

I sighed gently and smiled back at her, nodding. She returned a single nod before prancing back inside again. Wow. She was in a really good mood today. I wonder if there was something going on? I wobbled for another second or two in the pleasant aftermath of her kiss before shaking myself out of it and scooping up the saddlebags she'd floated over to me. I managed to get them on, and then used a burst of magic to strap the underside with a barrier. Having magic made the task infinitely easier, I decided. It wasn't hard to remember my first clumsy attempt at getting saddlebags on after my first hospital visit.

It took me a moment to notice the stupefied gawk that was aimed my direction from the construction stallion, however. I glanced back over at him questioningly, momentarily forgetting why he'd be giving me such a look. Oh. Wait. He didn't believe me that I knew Twilight. Now I remembered.

"Er, sorry about the public display of affection. I kinda forgot you were there," I apologized, in place of Twilight, of course, since technically she'd initiated it. It was hard for me to believe that she was as oblivious as I was to the surroundings, though. Did she just not care?

He started, and then shook his head rapidly. "Oh, no, no! It's all right. I just didn't know what you looked like, Mr. Moon Mender! I'm sorry!" he apologized in a rapid-fire voice.

I deflated a little. "Seriously? How many ponies know that I'm dating Twilight? Is it really that big a deal?" I asked, somewhat saddened that yet another pony knew my name way ahead of time. I mean, what the hell? Were their fliers up and I just kept missing them or something?

"Er, I'm pretty sure the entire town knows. The Element of Laughter was shouting it at the top of her lungs this morning while advertising the huge party coming up in celebration of that, amongst other things," he informed. My brain lagged for a moment as I stared blankly through him. It took almost five full seconds for me to fully process what he'd just said.

My right forehoof hit my forehead a moment later. "Pinkie! Gah. I hope Twilight doesn't mind. Well, I'd better go talk to Pinkie. Uh, keep up the good work, I guess," I said, excusing myself and trying really hard not to choke on the 'good' part. He still looked a bit shell-shocked, but gave me a nod as I walked off slowly, metal brace on my left foreleg clinking with each step. I mean, seriously. If they really knew about me, I figured the battle damage would easily give me away. Not that I was pleased that everypony knew about me in the first place. Still, I'd rather have one extreme or the other! Either have nopony know who I was, or at least have them recognize me to the point where they wouldn't deny me information.

Well, one thing at a time. Twilight wanted me to drop off the measuring tape, so that came first. Stewing still, I set out on my slow, limping pace towards the Carousel Boutique.

Of course, it had started raining by the time I made it over to Rarity's fine establishment. It was a cold rain that seemed somewhat more wet than usual, even though that didn't make much sense. Still, only my hooves felt it, so I wasn't complaining. I casually limped along with a hemispherical barrier above me, staying pleasantly dry. I'd never cease being thankful for my magic, I decided.

Visibility was crap at this point, so I was almost within spitting distance of the boutique when I saw that I wasn't alone. Out front, somepony had their teeth locked firmly onto Rarity's mailbox handle, and looked like they were trying to tear the thing from the ground! My eyes widened as the wooden post shifted a little under the wet mud and wrenching motions. Why was somepony assaulting Rarity's mailbox?

I picked up a bit more speed and got closer, ready to stop the individual if need be. To my surprise, a familiar gray pegasus with a blond mane came into view. She was tugging desperately at the front of the mailbox, which appeared very much stuck. To my surprise, she was also crying!

"Derpy! What's wrong?" I asked as I walked up, slowing a bit. She probably was just attempting to deliver mail.

She stopped her thrashing against the box and looked over at me, one eye focusing on my position. "M-Mender? I'm almost done with my deliveries but I can't get this box open. I wanna get out of the rain!" she yelped, looking downright miserable as her ears drooped.

My barrier expanded above me, instantly covering her too as I gave her my best reassuring smile. "Let me take a peek at it," I offered, stepping up next to her. She looked up in surprise at the barrier, and then gave me an amazingly warm smile as she nodded. I felt better already, even though I hadn't solved the issue yet. Derpy's smile was definitely heartwarming to see. I wasn't used to seeing somepony who wore their feelings so close to the surface.

I pretended to peek inside the slot, my left eye flashing with a scan real quick. The results surprised me. I frowned, and then examined the picture I'd taken a little closer. There was an extremely rudimentary spell inside of the box that was holding the door closed. There wasn't even a power source attached to it. Instead, a line of magic was extended from the mailbox, off to the far right somewhere. Worse yet, there appeared to be a tin of whip cream pressurized inside. This was a prank...

"Somepony's trying to prank you. Or Rarity. Just a second," I informed, popping out another barrier a moment later and simply snipping the line of energy leading from the mailbox. I heard a light thud from inside and realized that the spell had collapsed, simply dropping the tin of whip cream to the floor of the mailbox instead.

Derpy sighed, however. "They're probably pranking me. It's so fun to watch the wall-eyed pegasus soak out in the rain, after all," she muttered, ears lowering again.

"It's okay. You're welcome to come into the Carousel Boutique with me to dry off. You did say it was the end of your shift, right?" I suggested, opening the mailbox and drawing the tin of whip cream out.

She hesitated for a moment, giving it a questioning look before her expression shifted to that of recognition, followed by a glare. Oh. This wasn't the first time she'd encountered this particular prank. My eyes traced the direction of where the line went. There appeared to be a series of bushes near a tree that was just outside of the boutique. If the spell was that crude, it was probably an inexperienced unicorn. They'd have to be close, which meant...

"Do you really think I can?" Derpy asked me, looking back up with a bit of hope glimmering in her eyes. She shifted to shock a moment later as I fired the tin with my hoof, launching it directly at the bushes.

"Aaah!" was shouted out as I heard an audible splattering noise. A short yet extremely round unicorn dove blindly out of the bush, pie tin of whip cream attached to his face. I tilted my head as a brownish-looking, much lankier colt followed his bluish green friend in full retreat, running back towards town square.

I shook my head, glaring after them. "Jerks. You could catch a cold being wet in this weather. Come on, Derpy. I'm sure Rarity has towels we can use to dry you off," I suggested a moment later. There was something about the vindictive and downright cruel prank that really irked me, I noticed. Of course, I knew I didn't like seeing others being treated badly by those 'stronger' than them, even though that didn't necessarily apply in this case. If Derpy had really wanted to, she could probably paddle those two with very little effort.

The gray mare perked, however, and gave me another warm smile. "Thank you, Mender! It must be amazing being an earth pony with magic!" she exclaimed, following after me as I hobbled towards the door in front of us.

"It's not all amazing. Some things I can't control. For example, I have a gravity field that likes to draw falling things towards me through the air. That's not very fun," I corrected, shuddering a little. Then I realized we were forgetting something. "Wait, didn't you have mail to deliver for Rarity?" I questioned, turning back to face her.

She perked and nodded, pulling out a moderately sized package from her mailbag using her teeth. "Yuph. Ah'll jus dehlihver thish ooh er ihrecktly," she explained, beaming.

"Er, what?" I asked, having no idea what she just said.

She paused for a moment before turning and putting the package back in her bag. "I'll just give it to Rarity myself," she corrected, grinning as she looked back around at me. Ooooh!

I nodded happily to her before resuming my moderate hobble. The boutique's door squeaked lightly as I opened it, and a little bell chimed. Both Derpy and I scurried inside and I shut the door so excessive rain wouldn't get in. Bleh. My shield slowly faded and I dried my hooves off on Rarity's welcome mat.

"Oh my. Welcome to Rarity's Carousel Boutique. Dreadful weather we're hav-" Rarity's voice sounded out from the side hall. I glanced that way just in time to see her draw to a stop, eyes widening as she looked at me. "Oh, Mender! What a pleasant surprise! And Derpy?" she asked, finally noticing my soggy companion.

"Do you have a towel Derpy can borrow, Rarity?" I asked politely, giving the unicorn a soft smile. Normally I tried to pay more attention to manners, but Derpy was probably cold.

Rarity shifted to a small smile and nodded, however, not looking offended. I heard a door opening as she glanced to the right, horn lighting up. Hall closet? I vaguely recalled seeing one before. I wasn't nearly as familiar with this place as I was the library, for obvious reasons.

A large beach blanket drifted over Rarity a moment later, and she gently wrapped the shivering pegasus in it. "T-Thank you, Rarity! I got stuck out in the rain while just finishing up my route, and Mender threw a shield over me to act like an umbrella. Oh, and he stopped a nasty prank that was being played on me," Derpy spoke up finally, shivering lightly as she wrapped the large blanket around herself more.

"A prank?! In this weather? You could have caught a cold! How very inconsiderate. You two should come to the back. I'll serve us some hot tea," Rarity suggested. She had my attention instantly, every bit of focus remembering exactly how amazing her tea was. She gave me a knowing grin before trotting back through the hallway. Heh, my expression probably just gave away exactly what I thought about the tea.

Derpy gave me an extremely pleased smile and I nodded to her, reaching over and helping her dry her hooves off first and foremost with the blanket before we slowly made our way to the back work room. Rarity was already sitting on her sofa when we arrived, Opal lying regally next to her as if queen of the house. I gave the feline a wide birth as I settled onto the couch across from Rarity. Derpy got up next to me, blanket first as to not get the cushion wet. Tea was already sitting out on the table between us, steam gently drifting from the large pot. I saw Rarity had a half-full cup, and surmised that she had actually already made it before we got here. She poured us both a cup with her magic.

"Thank you, Rarity. I was actually on my way here to drop off the tape measure you accidentally left at the library," I explained, settling into the cushion and sighing contently as the warm and delicious liquid drifted down my throat. It was a little sip of heaven, especially after getting out of the crappy weather.

Rarity halted for a moment and gave me a blank stare before she slapped her forehead with a free hoof. "That's where I left the thing! I had to get out another roll because I couldn't find it. It slowed me down significantly. Thank you for returning it," she said, watching passively as I pulled off the saddlebags and dug into the right side, looking for the measuring tape.

"Admittedly, I thought you'd be busier than this with the orders you mentioned this morning," I added idly, perking as I finally found the tape at the bottom of the bag. This thing still had a bunch of random things from our Canterlot trip in it. After pulling the tape out and setting it on the table, I took another peek into the bags.

Rarity snickered as she watched before finally explaining, "I was taking a brief break from the order, actually. The creative process cannot be rushed. Well, not with good results, anyway. Plus, it gives me time to fit your suit for your decidedly expanding build." I detected a bit of hesitation with that last part and smirked with my head still inside the bag. She'd been on edge about mentioning anything to do with my build after accidentally insulting me way back when we met, I noted.

"I don't have to wear it to Pinkie's party, do I?" I asked wearily, popping my head out of the bag again and pulling an impressive looking abacus with me a moment later. This thing had to be made for a unicorn. The beads were way too small to be manipulated with hooves. Although it was Twilight's, so that kinda made sense.

Rarity snickered merrily. "Of course not. Admittedly, I doubt it would be the right dress for what she was explaining. Unless you want its protective qualities. It does make you fire resistant, and I'm working on a complex feather fall enchantment to put on it, but admittedly, I've never used it before," she rambled.

I stuck my head out of the bag again at the word 'enchantment', having tucked the abacus back into the bag while she was talking. "Feather fall?" I asked curiously. Was that as self-explanatory as it sounded?

"Well, I've noticed how gravity seems to simply adore you, so I figured an enchantment that let you fall slower and significantly less painfully might be nice," she detailed, giving me that self-aware smirk again.

I averted my eyes for a moment before nodding in agreement. "As much as I'd love to deny that, I honestly can't. In truth, after I'd seen Canterlot from a distance while on the train, I really thought I was going to end up falling off the cliff it's built into," I admitted, remembering the oh so graphic images easily.

Rarity started laughing, and Derpy actually gave me a grin at that, snapping out of her shivering stupor a little more. I noticed the strength of the shaking seemed to be dropping, which hopefully meant the pegasus was warming up a little bit. "Oh dear. I believe that thought had crossed my mind as well, once or twice. But I'm glad it turned out so... ah..." I raised an eyebrow while turning, but stopped when I saw the frozen, wide-eyed mare. Eh?!

Self-examination told me I hadn't accidentally turned into my armored form, sprouted tentacles, or grown a third head, so I gave her a questioning glance. She shivered, and then shook her head, losing her smile and looking away from me. "Sorry. I almost said it turned out well, which wouldn't have been entirely honest, would it?" she finally explained.

Oh. The kiss. "Uh, what? From what I read in the papers, a really big disaster was averted. Isn't that good?" Derpy asked, now down to just her head peeking out of the comfy looking blanket. I sighed and lowered myself to my stomach, lying down on the cushion. However much Rarity wanted to say was entirely up to her.

"Oh, disaster was averted, but I created some of a different sort afterwards," Rarity corrected, ears lowering a little as she watched me. A hesitation. Finally, she closed her eyes and seemed to try to pull up strength from deep within. "I was a complete foal. Watching Mender almost hurt himself without the slightest hesitation in order to save the orchestra... Well, it did something to me. A part of me realized that I'd been being silly," she continued, apparently gathering her courage up.

Derpy remained silent, watching the mare respectfully with one eye, the other drifting sideways to peek at me. Idly, I wondered if she could control them individually or if the one was just a 'lazy' eye and did its own thing. Admittedly, I didn't know a whole lot about her specific condition. Asking would be rude, however.

"I've always wanted a prince. Everypony in town probably knows that by now. Maybe, however, I was looking for the wrong kind of prince? After realizing that, I decided that I really just wanted a polite gentlecolt who would treat me with respect. Mender was more than that even. A humble if not somewhat clumsy hero!" I decided the longer Rarity talked, the more I couldn't tell if I should be insulted or embarrassed. I went with the latter and just let my cheeks flush without fighting it this time.

The pearly unicorn had been watching me like a hawk, however. "Ooooh no. Not this time. I know you just happened to be there, and wouldn't have risked bodily harm if there were another choice, and were probably scared. Regardless of any of those things, you saved them, so you're a hero whether you like it or not!" she refuted before I had even said anything. I opened my mouth, and then realized she'd rebutted everything I usually say in this situation. Five seconds later, I just felt awkward and slowly closed my mouth again. Damn it.

“Oooh. It almost sounds like you like Mender!” Derpy exclaimed, eyes widening as she looked back and forth between Rarity and me.

Rarity hesitated, and then nodded. “I do like him. I went about it entirely the wrong way, however, and kissed him before even asking if I could. Twilight saw me do so and I panicked, running away. It wasn’t a pleasant night,” she finally finished, lowering her eyes away from me. Derpy gave out a small gasp, and I couldn’t tell if it was out of shock or worry.

I sighed wearily. Admittedly, I knew this confrontation was coming. Part of me had prepared for it, at least subconsciously, so I somewhat knew what I wanted to say. It had to be said, obviously. “Rarity, I’m sorry. I mean, you’re an amazing mare and a true friend, but-“ I started to explain.

Rarity held up a hoof, however, and gave me a soft, sad looking smile. “There’s no need to go through the motions, Mender. I knew you didn’t feel the same way the second I kissed you. My only intent with this was, well, to apologize for not simply asking. Twilight said she didn’t get mad at you. Was that the truth?” she asked quietly.

My ears lowered a little, but I nodded. I hadn’t expected her to already know my feelings. The sad part was that I couldn’t tell if it was better or worse this way. Probably better. There was no chance for me to shove my hoof down my throat when trying to explain myself. “I’m sorry, too, Rarity. I wish there was something I could do for you,” I agreed.

Oddly, Derpy looked about ready to cry as she continued following the conversation between us. Rarity smiled to herself as she looked downwards, nodding after a moment. “Ah, there is something you could do. I’d very much like to put the whole situation behind us and continue on with a wonderful friendship instead, if that’s possible at this point,” she requested.

Okay, now she was just being silly. “Rarity, I never stopped being your friend. Of course I want to stay that way,” I revealed, smiling at her in hopefully an assuring manner.

She stared blankly for a moment before that more confident smile returned. “I should have known you’d be a gentlecolt. That’s why I was so interested in you in the first place, I remind myself. Hmm. Although this leaves me with a quandary as I had worked out a bribe; well more of an incentive, to give friendship another try. Now what shall I do with it?” she questioned. My turn for the blank, confused stare, I guessed. She wore a playful smirk, however, so I was fairly certain she was just kidding.

“Rarity, you didn’t have to get me anything!” I protested, really wishing I were dealing with somepony other than the Element of Generosity. There might actually be a chance that I could convince her otherwise if it weren’t for that.

As if reading my mind, she simply shook her head. “Then it’s a good thing I didn’t get anything for you. I made it. It’s something I should have made you a while back, though,” she revealed, tossing a playful wink in for good measure.

Derpy burst into snickering, but rapidly quieted as Rarity activated her magic and slid something out from under the sofa she resided on. For just the briefest of moments, I wondered why she’d put something under a sofa and have it get dusty. It passed rather rapidly once I reminded myself whose house I was at. Even her dust was probably clean. Then everything momentarily left my mind as she lifted up the wonderful article.

A doubled up saddlebag set complete with harness attached to them. Two bags on each side appeared to be comprised of sturdy, dark leather with silver inlay around the borders. Each bag was completed with a beautiful, sapphire clasp to keep them closed. The clasps themselves appeared to be shaped as my Cutie Mark. This must have been a recent project of hers, then. The whole set looked surprisingly heavier than what I had on right now, as if it were built for function as well as appearance.

My attention was snapped back to reality when Rarity’s confident smirk returned. “That, my dear, is an artist’s greatest reward. That look of awe you just displayed makes it worth every stitch,” she cooed, causing me to cough lightly and blush.

“Rarity, uh, I don’t exactly have any bits yet. It’s only been a day since I decided to try working,” I reminded. Four sapphires of that size would have been absurdly expensive back in my old dimension, if I recalled correctly. I had no idea what their price was in Equestria, but the saddlebags looked amazing, so it couldn’t be cheap!

Rarity gave me a skeptical, disbelieving look. Oh no. She wasn’t going to… “Mender, were you not paying attention when I said it was a gift?” Damn it. She was. She was just going to give it to me. For a moment, I’d forgotten whom I was dealing with.

Derpy snickered again before adding, “Technically, you said it was a bribe or incentive.” Ha! That was true. I shouldn’t assume that it was still being offered as I already gave her what she was using them to bribe me for.

She gave an exasperated stare to Derpy for a moment before chuckling herself. “Okay, I have to admit that I did indeed say that. They’re a gift now, however. You did mention liking saddlebags, if I recall,” she said.

I twitched, looking back down at the amazing bags. “Like? I love those! They look absolutely beautiful. I didn’t know you cut gems yourself!” I corrected, eyes widening a little.

The white mare flushed lightly, the coloration being extra noticeable against her coat. “Well, I’m very glad I made them for you, then! Gems are something of my specialty, so of course I know how to cut them myself. Also, given the nature of your luck, I made the entire set out of heavy-duty materials, and layered several protective enchantments onto them. I’d hate for them to get scratched or damaged,” she added, looking back down at them wistfully.

“Heh. Are you sure you don’t want to keep them and use them yourself?” I asked impishly, noticing her longing expression. I bet it was hard to part with such masterful work.

As predicted, Rarity recovered instantly upon me finishing saying such. Her grin returned, albeit slightly more mischievous this time. “Scandalous! Imagine what ponies would say if I started wearing articles of clothing with your Cutie Mark on them! Why, you’re liable to start even more absurd rumors,” she playfully observed.

Okay, I choked a bit at that. “Aaaah! I meant you’d take the buttons off and replace them!” I rapidly appended, front legs flailing a little bit. Derpy burst into more laughter and rolled over in her blanket.

Rarity didn’t falter in her smirk, which made me relax a little. Okay, she really was joking. “That was worth it just for the reaction. You’re too easy to tease, Mender. Although that does give me an idea,” she muttered, looking back down at the set. I really did have to stop second-guessing myself. These ponies had already proved a lot more easygoing than Keldarians.

I followed her gaze, and watched as she peeked at each gemstone clasp. “Yes. Wouldn’t it be romantic if I replaced the back ones with Fluttershy’s and Twilight’s Cutie Marks? That would simply be adorable, and they’d probably love it!” she pondered in a hopefully rhetorical manner, as I myself had no idea if it was romantic or not. I’d just learned what ‘dating’ meant not even a week ago, after all. I tilted my head and watched her think.

“Ooooh. That is kinda romantic. It’s almost like he’d be showing that they’ve claimed him or something!” Derpy squealed in agreement. She might have said more, but my mind froze at the ‘claimed’ part, a bolt of ice tearing down my spine and causing a full body shiver. My eyes widened of their own accord, as I was both disturbed and surprised by my own reaction. No, they weren’t like the Keldarians. They weren’t!

I forced my eyes shut and took a couple deep breaths, feeling my spiked heartbeat slowly returning to normal as I reminded myself that I was in Equestria. To ‘claim’ somepony was probably entirely innocent. It wasn’t ownership over the individual, right? Slavery didn’t exist here. At least I didn’t think it did.

“…okay, Mender?” Derpy suddenly cut back in. I snapped my attention back to my surroundings again and looked over at her. She was giving me a worried expression. I felt along my neck and noticed the cold sweat that had developed. Damn it.

“It’s okay, Derpy. Just let him relax,” Rarity warned, also looking concerned.

After another deep breath, I shook my head wearily. “Sorry about that. Just a momentarily bout of not feeling well,” I excused, carefully wording around a direct lie. Rarity gave me a skeptical glance, and I knew she probably had guessed as to what the problem was. Still, there wasn't a lot that I could do with Derpy here.

After a few moments, I managed to calm myself down again. That was silly anyway. Equestria didn't have slavery. I'd read the sociological books myself. Ponies definitely didn't seem to promote the enslavement of individuals. Opening my eyes again finally, I decided that the best bet was to simply change the topic. "Well, I'll keep this set for now if you're going to add their Cutie Marks to the saddle bags. You're right, of course. Both mares would probably like it."

Rarity's eyes narrowed slightly, and I knew that she knew that I was trying to change the topic. "Now I'm not so sure that it's a good idea after all. Are you sure that you're all right?" she asked, eyes giving me a once over.

I nodded with only a slight hesitation. "Just a bad memory is all. I'll be fine, Rarity. Do you really think they'll like it, though? I'd hate for you to go through all the trouble of making additional buttons only to have them not like it, or be uncomfortable with me wearing it," I pointed out. The second option was far more likely, given the two mares involved.

Rarity actually considered it for a moment before finally nodding. "Yes, I believe so. Your fears aren't entirely unjustified, of course. Fluttershy will probably be extremely embarrassed by the gesture at first, but once she recovers, I believe she will be delighted by the aspect. Twilight is a bit harder to predict, but I don't think she'll be nearly as embarrassed. Deep down, I think she has a very well-guarded romantic side to her," she speculated, somewhat surprising me with the in-depth character analysis. It was almost as if she'd done this before. I was just thankful for the distraction and opportunity to learn.

"I think it's a wonderfully romantic idea. Most mares would be delighted that their stallion was even considering it!" Derpy chimed in softly. Rarity nodded along in agreement. Wait. Why was that?

"Is it really that big of a deal?" I asked, suddenly somewhat worried about walking into a relationship minefield. Big deals struck me as a high risk, high reward sort of gamble. I'd be the first to admit that gambling for me was a seriously bad idea. Jumping off a balcony in Canterlot was probably better for my health. At least fate wouldn't take that as a personal challenge.

Rarity snickered before giving a noncommittal shrug. "It's no secret that stallions are stereotyped as inconsiderate to their partners or outright unromantic sometimes. I'm pretty sure they already know that you're an exception, but more examples never hurt," she hesitantly explained after a moment's thought. Unromantic, huh? I could see why Rarity would prefer a gentlecolt, now. Her bias showed through, even with her trying to be professional.

Finally, I nodded in agreement. "Alright then. I'll trust your judgment. Let's surprise them with it, though?" I suggested, smiling towards her. Plus, that way there'd be lots of ponies around and I was less likely to be murdered right away. I mentally chuckled to myself. At least with Rarity’s explanation, I was fairly certain I could put fears about ‘claiming’ to rest.

She grinned and nodded, apparently approving of my idea. "A very good thought. I'll whip up some appropriate gems and have them ready in time for the party!" Rarity added, seeming pleased with the turn of events.

Slowly, I stood up again and stretched, making sure to be careful of my injured leg and the brace attached to it. Derpy watched me with interest for a moment before snuggling further into her blanket.

"Derpy, you should stay here. You're not warmed up yet and it's still raining outside. I'll get you some more tea," Rarity suggested.

"Aww. But I wanted to go with Mender," the gray pegasus protested. She looked back over at me instead, eyes large and pleading, even while drifting in different directions.

Rarity shook her head wearily, admitting, "I obviously can't stop you, but I would very much like for you to get warm and dry first. Maybe even borrow an umbrella? Besides, I'm sure Mender has things he needs to do."

I blinked again, momentarily confused. "Actually, I figured that you were busy and I didn't want to get in the way. Everypony seems busy today, so I was just going to go bug Pinkie Pie for a while," I corrected, perplexed. I knew Applejack was busy with the harvest, and Twilight was preoccupied running energy sample tests in the basement. Spike was dutifully assisting her, of course. Rarity said that she had three orders to fill for Canterlot elite when she left this morning. I’m guessing the party had paid off for her already. Fluttershy was in a nigh panic over something to do with the animals and organizing something. I didn't dare try to help there, lest I just get in the way. Rainbow said she had to get a head start on next week's weather arrangements for some reason, and felt extremely grumpy when I asked her using the link this morning. Even my fellow CMC members were currently in school right now.

"You're certainly not a bother, Mender. I do have a lot to do, but if you're bored, I can entertain you," Rarity offered almost immediately. That gave me pause. Was I bored? I'd never had a day to myself like this before. Everypony being busy did remind me how little a life I had here. Should I go out and try to get a job? Fitting in and making myself useful seemed close to one and the same.

"Like I said, I'm done with my route and totally don't have anything to do," Derpy interrupted, breaking me out of my chain of thought. Rarity gave her an exasperated glance.

"If you really want to, sure. I'm gonna wander over to Sugar Cube Corner if you want to come. Pinkie might not be too busy, and I wanted to ask her about the party coming up," I offered. Derpy lit up and grinned, fluttering into the air and spinning once, dislodging herself from the blanket. I snickered at her rather cute display.

Rarity finally shook her head and recovered her smile. “I can see that I can’t dissuade you. At least try to stay dry, Derpy. You remember how hard it was to fly when you got that last cold,” she said, finally giving up.

Derpy hovered closer and nodded rapidly to Rarity. “I’ll stay under Mender’s awesome umbrella spell thingy, don’t worry. I’ll come visit you later as well. I just haven’t gotten to hang out with Mender at all yet,” she explained, wobbling in the air and momentarily drifting sideways before righting herself. Actually, now that I thought about it, how did she fly with her eye condition? Wasn’t that a little dangerous?

Rarity smirked but lifted up her left hoof gently. “It’s understandable. Just be safe, you two. I’ll probably see you later today or tomorrow, Mender,” Rarity assured gently. I nodded to her and slowly got off the couch, careful to step down with my right foreleg first. Both mares seemed momentarily drawn to the metal clink as my left foreleg touched down, but Rarity rapidly averted her gaze a split second later, avoiding looking at my leg. I watched her for a moment before looking away, trying not to sigh. The memories were still fresh and probably would be painful for everyone involved for a little while.

“I’ll see you later, Rarity. Let me know how the commissions are going,” I spoke softly as I withdrew from the room, suddenly self-conscious of the noise my left hoof made on the wooden floor.

“Well, of course. You did help get them for me. Do stay safe, Dear,” she called out, followed by the gentle sound of the teacup sliding along the saucer again as she lifted it. My ears swiveled back around and faced forwards again as I headed towards the exit of the building, Derpy hovering along above me in a happy bobbing motion.

Stepping to the side, a barrier held the door open for Derpy as she walked past and inside. I ducked after her, letting my umbrella barrier dissolve above me as I entered the building. It wasn’t like I was superstitious or anything, but I guess my luck didn’t need to get any worse. Although, did it actually count as an umbrella?

"It's still a good idea. If you can help ponies with your enchantments, and make a job out of it, then I say you should go for it," Derpy continued from her prior point. A part of me already knew that much, but the larger parts questioned if I was truly up to the task. Could I pull off something like what I did for Applejack totally on my own initiative? All I could remember was building things that destroyed. That was the first time I'd ever made something that helped to create.

The inside of the Sugarcube Corner was surprisingly busy today, with a small line of ponies at the counter and over half of the tables taken. What was going on? Derpy momentarily hesitated, giving a worried glance around the room. I walked past her, however, giving her a light bump to gain her attention before heading to the counter. To my surprise, there was a mature looking mare stationed there instead. I wracked my brain trying to remember her name. Mrs. Pie? No, it wasn't anything to do with Pinkie. Muffin? No, that was Derpy's favorite food. Salad? No, that didn't sound very 'Sugarcube' to me. Tea? Ack! No! Get your mind off the cup of tea you forgot to finish back at Rarity's!

I was totally disrupted by Derpy flying past me in a sideways drift before crashing into the cupcake display on the counter. I blinked, noticing that up until the rather rough awakening, she had been focused solely on the muffin display on the other side of the line. Cupcake? Cupcake! Wait, no. Cake! Mrs. Cake!

My barrier shot out as fast as possible and I scooped the cupcakes out of the air before they hit the floor, lifting them back up and into the tray again. The startled, and then panicked Mrs. Cake eyed the display for a moment before apparently deciding it was safe and rearranging all the cupcakes so they stayed upright again while I held them in place.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Cake! I got looking at the muffins and wasn't watching where I was going," Derpy apologized upon recovering from the surprise.

Mrs. Cake smiled, despite the rather annoyed looks from some of the costumers still in line. "Oh, it's okay, Derpy. The cupcakes were saved. Thank you as well, um?" she started, turning to me with an expectant stare. To my amusement, she frowned a moment later, probably starting to recognize me or something.

"Moon Mender. It's nice to meet you. Mrs. Cake, right?" I introduced while I still could. As nice as it was to have bits of conversation skipped completely, it was awkward when it was purely one sided.

She perked up, and then smiled, giving me a nod. "Oh yes. I thought you looked familiar!" she said excitedly. I knew it. "Pinkie talks about you all the time. I got an extremely detailed description of you." Oh. Okay, that I hadn't been expecting. Wait. Extremely detailed?

"Wha! Mender! What are you doing here?" suddenly exploded out from behind Mrs. Cake as an excited looking Pinkie Pie slid out of the kitchen. A large tray of assorted baked goods balanced precariously on her back, and she somehow pulled off a happy bounce without jarring the thing.

"Pinkie! Your side!" Mrs. Cake reminded, turning around just in time to see the energetic display.

Pinkie grinned, however, and assured, "This 'is' taking it easy. Besides, I feel a hundred percent better today!" Less than a day after the accident in the market?! I doubted that. Did she really heal that fast?

"Just take it slow, Pinkie. I don't want to see you hurt yourself again," I added, mentally shivering as I remembered her pained expression from yesterday. Maybe it was just me, but it didn't feel like that face belonged on Pinkie. She was one of those ponies who deserved to be eternally smiling.

The smile she held now softened considerably as she nodded to me. "I'll try to be good. It's hard sometimes, though. I get so excited! Besides, you give yummy massages, which gives a mare incentives to get hurt around you," she pointed out.

"He gives good massages?" Derpy asked quietly, landing beside us. Okay, the logic of this concept was starting to hurt my brain.

"Pinkie, you're still on shift. It's really busy right now so can you please continue waiting tables?" Mrs. Cake reminded, interrupting the conversation anyway.

Pinkie looked devastated almost instantly, but I considered the situation. Well, I did need practice. I smirked at her and activated my left foreleg again. It was weird that I always used my left one. Technically I could extend magic through any hoof now, but I guess it was just habit. Pinkie's eyes widened as I snatched up the tray, flicking on her link a second later. "Tables?" I whispered into the link.

Her eyes danced in delight as she nodded and zipped off to take orders instead. Her memory was amazing, however, and I got the image of a pony for each treat on the tray. Smirking, my magic burst into action, expanding outwards in each direction and taking treats with the little barriers. Each drifted high above the surprised yet amused ponies before drifting down to the different tables on little strands of energy.

It didn't take us long to get a pattern going. Pinkie took orders and dropped them off to Mr. Cake in the kitchen, removing the line completely. Derpy surprised me by joining in as well, snagging the finished goods from the kitchen and delivering them to me. I was surprised at how fast the little pegasus could move on her hooves! I'd then pull the treats into the air and shoot an image of each to Pinkie as they went. Pinkie was much better at using images in the link than actually talking, I quickly discovered. What happened the first time we tried made more sense now. She'd shoot back an image of the pony who ordered it, and I'd send it along the enchanted ceiling tracks I built to be delivered. Mrs. Cake watched in awe after the pace quickened and the line disappeared. She then only had to take payments.

Things became fun really fast with Pinkie zooming between tables, Derpy's balancing act, and everypony laughing as the food zipped around and delivered itself. After getting the pattern down and making the tracks solid so they were way easier to maintain, I started adding twists, spins, and loops just for fun. More than once, the girls got distracted watching rather than doing what we were supposed to. I'd snicker every time I caught Pinkie trying to chase one of my deliveries.

Then something unexpected happened. Apparently word of mouth traveled absurdly fast in Ponyville. Our amount of customers increased instead of lessening as lunch came and went. Some ponies appeared to order things just to watch them fly around through the air. I started to get a little tired from the exertion after a while, but kept it up regardless. Pinkie's job was easier this way while she was recovering from the injury. She'd gotten injured protecting me, so it wasn't asking much of me to just suck it up and help her out. Besides, it's what friends did for each other and I didn't have anything else to be doing right now.

After the hour and a half mark passed, my head was starting to hurt. It would be so easy if the book were here. It held almost unlimited energy, it felt like. Still, it defeated the point of exercising my magic. Plus, a part of me just didn't like the thing. It felt like it was almost giving me suggestions sometimes. Really bad suggestions. I exhaled quietly and slid my heavy feeling saddlebags off, shivering as the cool air licked the newly revealed skin through the fur. The left bag popped open upon hitting the floor, however. Remembering that I hadn't opened that side at Rarity's, I peeked down to make sure nothing had spilled. Twilight would be upset if I accidentally lost her things.

Time ground to a halt and I momentarily froze in place as I watched Prudentia slide out of the bag. No. That wasn't possible. I'd left it on Twilight's bedside table this morning! Why would she pack up the book before giving me the saddlebags? She didn't like to touch it anyway, saying it felt amazingly like 'mine'. So much so that she said she felt dirty even magically lifting it. Like it was chewing her out.

I paused for a moment. Yeah, of course. That must have been it. She felt it was mine and wanted me to have it with me. That made sense. I doubted she wanted it around the library after all, right? I guess it kind of was my duty to take it. Just like it was my duty to guard the sword once Keela gathered enough solar energy to send it to me. Apparently, dimensional travel took a lot of power. Who'd have guessed? I snickered to myself, earning a curious smile from Derpy.

Finally, things slowed down an hour later. All three of us took a much-needed breather on the sidelines while Mrs. Cake brought us some milk.

"On the house, Mender. You two helped us serve more customers in three hours than we normally get all day!" she exclaimed instantly upon seeing me hesitate. Eh?! What, had Pinkie warned her about me or something?

Pinkie gave me an innocent grin from my left, and I rolled my eyes. Eh, a glass of milk was fine. "It was a lot of fun. Plus I need the practice using my magic. I'm really rusty still," I excused simply, giving my temples a little rub as emphasis.

Pinkie watched for a moment before leaning over and replacing my hooves with her own, gently massaging my head. "You should take your own advice and take it easy. You don't want to get a nosebleed again," Pinkie pointed out in a rather impish manner. I smirked, closing my eyes again, but wondering what to do with my head.

"Oh dear. Most unicorns only get those if they really overexert themselves," Mrs. Cake added softly, sounding a little concerned.

I shook my head as best I could with Pinkie there. "It happens a little faster with me. I'm out of practice, and I don't think Earth Ponies were meant for this kind of magic," I furthered, idly starting to really enjoy Pinkie's ministrations.

"And they're a lot worse than a unicorn's!" Pinkie tacked on, pulling my head down against her chest before continuing the massage. I blushed a little but reminded myself that it was just Pinkie being Pinkie. She was a really nice mare who truly cared for her friends.

“I’ll be fine,” I tried to return, if somewhat muffled by the pink fur in my face. It must have tickled, because Pinkie let out a squeak and giggle a moment later.

I heard Mrs. Cake walk away for a second, and then come back and set something down in front of us. “Muffin!” Derpy exclaimed a second later. Curiosity finally got the better of me and I shifted to peek, opening my eyes again. A small tray of muffins and donuts were laid out in front of us. Eh? She was giving us lunch, too?

“Before you ask, yes, it’s also on the house. A couple bits worth of food is the least I can do for all the help you ponies have been. I also heard you’re looking for commissions, Mender?” Mrs. Cake questioned after watching my expression.

Somewhat caught off guard, I looked back up at her questioningly. She smiled softly and added, “Applejack dropped an apple shipment off this morning and told me that you were trying to apply your engineering skills and magic to others for bits.” My eyes widened and I flushed lightly. I hadn’t expected Applejack to start so quickly, and be so earnest about it.

“Ah, I didn’t realize she was actually telling ponies. Yeah, I’m kinda hoping to get a bit of income coming in,” I said.

Pinkie snickered and gave my shoulder a playful nudge. “This is Applejack we’re talking about; the most dependable of ponies! When she says she’s going to do something, she does it. Besides, she’s terrible at lying. Everypony would have known instantly if she weren’t going to do it,” Pinkie explained.

I gave her a somewhat blank stare before chuckling. Yeah, I probably should have seen that coming. “Yes. She was very resolute in insisting that your skills were top notch. I’d asked her how her farm project was going, which is how we got on the topic. I was surprised, admittedly, when she said it was already done. Plus, your magic show there gave me a few really fun ideas!” Mrs. Cake continued, looking up along the ceiling as she spoke.

“Ponies did seem to really like that! It would be super-awesome if we could do that all the time!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing in place slightly before wincing, and stopping.

I shook my head and immediately pushed a hoof into each of her sides, gently massaging with magic starting to flow into her. Pinkie’s tongue lolled out almost instantly and she slumped against my shoulder this time, giving out a happy sigh. Derpy started snickering at the display, mouth completely jammed full of muffin.

“Even though she insists on hurting herself, I do agree. If you could whip something up that was similar that didn’t need you here to manually control, it would be amazing,” Mrs. Cake agreed, gesturing absently towards the ceiling.

I looked the ceiling itself over while massaging Pinkie. It was high enough to have something like that. If I used enchantments, I could save space, too. “If you didn’t mind wooden tracks being laid out, I think I could manage a few enchantments that would allow that, yeah. It might take a couple days to set up, though. And I’d need wood supplies,” I muttered absently, working out the design in my head while talking. Little rolling lifts would be cute. A square ceiling attached to the rolling pin, with four wooden posts going downwards. The floor of the lift would be made out of a barrier, and sides would have to be projected to keep the snacks in the lift, of course. Then when the little lift got to the tables, the bottom barrier would disappear and gently drop the food the remaining few centimeters onto the table’s surface. It would work! It was gimmicky, but also cute at the same time. It also removed the need for a line to order the food with Pinkie taking the orders herself.

“Well, I’d offer you free run of the place with heat season coming up next week, but Pinkie stays here over the week or so and that might be uncomfortable for you,” Mrs. Cake returned, frowning and thinking to herself for a moment.

My ears flattened back. That’s what I’d been forgetting! Damn it! “That’s next week? Um, this is my first time dealing with it, so I’m not entirely sure what’s going on,” I warned.

Pinkie backed up a bit and smiled at me. “In smaller, closer knit towns, they usually come up with some means of sending the stallions off for a week or two during the two heat cycles in the summer,” she explained simply.

I swallowed uneasily, the lump in my throat feeling a bit painful. Memories danced back of Keldarian estrus cycles, which were a nightmare. Our females didn’t sync with each other and had somewhat varied times every half a year or so, but the pheromones were a nightmare. “Uh, does that mean it’s really bad?” I asked uneasily. Mrs. Cake gave me a questioning glance, but Pinkie just giggled and shook her head.

“Nah. The smells just make stallions a little dizzy and woozy so it’s harder for them to get work done. In close communities, all the mares kinda link together and all go into heat at the same time, so it’s worse than in cities, is all. We let them go to the cabins in the Whitetail Woods so they can be more comfortable during the week. Of course, it’s kinda hard for us to get work done, too, so I guess nopony gets much work done during the week! I think that’s why Applejack gets so grumpy, because she really likes to stay on schedule and things slow down a lot. Of course, in a couple years, Apple Bloom will be staying with her so maybe things will get done faster? I mean, two ponies are better than one and-“ Pinkie started rambling, shifting off topic rather rapidly.

I chuckled and nodded, feeling a little better. It wasn’t anything overbearing then. Of course, they were a civilized society, so I guess their biological cycles were more of an inconvenience instead. I guess they could have a menstrual cycle instead and cut out the pheromones entirely, but always being fertile might also be inconvenient, at least for a few individuals.

Pinkie’s rambling and my thought tangent were both cut short by Mrs. Cake starting to giggle. “You two are very silly. Regardless, do you think the weekend after heat’s officially over would be okay? We can obviously budget a little bit your way for the effort,” she asked softly. She seemed earnest in wanting the upgrade. Of course, if it was cute and popular, it would probably bring a lot of income their way too.

“I don’t see why not, unless Twilight has something else she wants me doing. I’ll let you know if it doesn’t work,” I offered, returning her smile.

She gave a happy nod before turning and heading back to the kitchen. Pinkie watched her go before turning and giving me a huge grin. “This is gonna be awesome! I’ll totally help you decorate it. Ponies are gonna love it!” she exclaimed excitedly. Heh. Leave it to Pinkie to instantly think of making it cuter. Of course, it subtly hinted at her focus on ponies enjoying it rather than it making the shop more bits. That made me happy, deep down.

Derpy swallowed the muffin she was working on and lowered her hooves again, suddenly seeming a bit lost in thought as her eyes softened. I gave her a questioning glance, and she perked up upon catching the attention, smiling at me. “What’s wrong, Derpy?” I asked gently. Pinkie caught my words instantly and shifted attention to Derpy instead, switching from excitement to concern faster than I could follow. Dang. No wonder she had trouble ‘talking’ using the link. It was like her entire system was wired three times faster than normal. She was also extremely more image oriented than most.

“I’m just a little worried. I know Prince Shining Armor lowered the barrier, and the mayor called off the state of emergency, but I’m still a little concerned about the cabins this year. The stallions and little foals off in the middle of the woods after what happened is a bit scary,” Derpy explained quietly, frowning down at the remaining muffins on the tray.

Pinkie shook her head rapidly, of course. “It’s okay, Derpy! Princess Luna took care of the problem in the woods, so there’s nothing out there that could hurt them. Besides, that was in the Everfree Forest, not the Whitetail Woods where the cabins are!” she rapidly attempted to assure. I was somewhat pleased by her explanation of the ‘problem’ in the woods, admittedly. At least she avoided using ‘creature’ or ‘monster’ like I’d heard so often around town.

Derpy nodded halfheartedly, and sighed again. “I know. I’m not the only pony who’s a little concerned this year, though. I know Miss Redheart is coming along too like usual, but she expressed a little concern over the potential risks too,” the gray mare countered, looking back up at us finally. Nurse Redheart went to the cabins as well? Well, it made sense that they’d want somepony with medical training there.

“I’m apparently staying with Big Mac and Apple Bloom. From the way Twilight talked, our cabin is right next to the medical cabin, so I’ll help keep an eye on things too,” I promised, giving her my best reassuring smile. Of course, if Apple Bloom were there, I had the sneaking suspicion the unwritten statement was that all three Crusaders were staying with us. Unless, of course, they had their own parents or fathers there. I’d have to ask Apple Bloom later.

Derpy smiled softly and nodded to me, looking back over at me after I finished. “It’s a little better knowing somepony with experience is with them all apart from just Miss Redheart. Sometimes it just makes me wish Ponyville had a standing guard force like the bigger cities,” she explained. That did make sense, of course.

I nodded, unwavering. “Of course. I don’t have anypony to look after except for myself, really, so keeping an eye on things was something I was going to do anyway,” I assured. It was obviously a lie given the fact that I knew there was no danger in the first place, but I couldn’t exactly tell her that, so this was the best assurance I could offer.

Pinkie grinned in my peripheral vision, however. “Yet. You don’t have anypony to look after ‘yet’. The way Fluttershy talks, that could totally change in a couple of years” she teased mirthfully. I blushed, catching her meaning and intent almost instantly and shooting her an awkward glare.

The gray pegasus next to me grinned, however, and nodded. “Watching after all the little foals might be good practice for you, then,” Derpy pointed out, grinning before shoving another muffin into her mouth whole. That was… actually rather impressive. I knew I could distend my jaw to eat things, but she somehow managed it without injury. Wait, when had I become unofficial guardian of the camp?

“Oh! I just remembered that I should probably talk to the Crusaders anyway. I think they wanted to get my help with Cutie Mark searching today.” Clocky informed me that school was almost done for the day.

Pinkie grinned even wider, however, and rapidly shook her head. “Nuh uh! All four of you are totally helping me decorate after work today! I have a massive party to throw you tomorrow, if you recall,” Pinkie corrected rapidly, raising an eyebrow to me.

Her exuberance threw me off and I swallowed, backing up from her a bit while nodding and hoping she didn’t pounce on me or something. “Oooh, I can probably help, too! Decorating sounds like a lot of fun,” Derpy offered behind me.

“Settled then! Bring the Crusaders over if they’re interested, and Derpy can help as well!” Pinkie announced, pumping a hoof into the air excitedly, her mane bobbing with the motion.

Snickering, I nodded in agreement. Well, I guess I didn’t have to worry about not having anything to do today after all! It was nice that it actually felt like I was in control of what I was doing, too. Sure, it was offered by somepony else, but I had actually wanted to do so, and agreed to it! Maybe, just maybe, things were starting to look up.

Chapter 38

"Pinkie, isn't this a little, um, much?" I asked softly, looking at the banner as she unrolled it.

"Congratulations on Surviving an Alien Attack and Saving All of Ponyville from Disaster and Recovering Nicely and Dating Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy and Getting Your Cutie Mark! I'm Sorry I Accidentally Poisoned You and Covered You in Acid and Hurt Your Leg!" I stared blankly at the easily fifteen meter long banner. Oh. She wasn't joking about that.

"Well that's, uh, long?" Sweetie Belle offered hesitantly.

Scootaloo sighed and asked, "How are we supposed to fit this thing in one room?"

That was a very good question. The only way I saw that would even remotely work was... "Wrap it around the walls, of course! This is as compact as I could manage," Pinkie explained, far faster than I could manage. She worked all this out ahead of time, didn't she?

The inside of Sugarcube Corner had emptied out considerably after it closed, obviously, leaving just Pinkie, the Crusaders, and Derpy. Oh, and myself. It felt even friendlier now that all the ponies left, but that might have been simply my dislike of crowds talking.

"We can handle it, Pinkie. You and Derpy get to decorating the tables," I assured, smiling and nodding to my fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo beamed at me, but Sweetie Belle was still staring down at the elongated banner.

I tilted my head at her before lowering myself closer to her level. She must have seen the motion, as she jumped slightly and looked over at me instead. "Oh, sorry! Did I miss an instruction?" she asked hesitantly.

I shook my head, of course. "Nope. I was just concerned. You okay?" I tried to keep my voice as gentle as possible.

She looked back at the banner before nodding. The head motion was barely perceptible, however, and not entirely convincing. I started to question her further, but she cut me off with, "Did you really stop the creature in the forest?" I raised an eyebrow at the unexpected line of questioning, but figured it was just practice for tomorrow.

"The creature foalnapped me. After I heard all the bad things it wanted to do to Ponyville and my friends, I couldn't let it get away. All I did was stop it until Princess Luna got there, though. She got rid of it," I explained simply, making sure to stick to the official story while not technically lying. Sweetie Belle could fill in the parts that had already been elaborated anyway, and I couldn't say any more with Derpy here.

Sweetie Belle frowned and shook her head, however. "But you got hurt real bad, didn't you? I mean, a couple fillies at school said you were foolish and probably wouldn't make it," she continued, sounding surprised over something. Wait, what? Why would those kinds of rumors be going around?

"No way, Sweetie! We told you not to believe what Diamond Tiara was saying. Mender's really tough and Rainbow Dash herself said that he's awesome, so he'll be fine!" Scootaloo defended suddenly, surprising me.

Sweetie giggled and shook her head, however. "No, no. You know I don't really believe those two. I know Mender's amazing. It's just, well, he's only been in Ponyville a few weeks, right? Why did he get himself hurt for all of us?” she questioned.

I stared at her for a moment, surprised. I’d not been anticipating this kind of question at all. How did I answer something like that? My mind flashed back to the hatred I’d felt for Nirru. She wanted to hurt my friends and all these innocent ponies. I remembered asking myself how she could hurt these innocent ponies that had done nothing to her. It didn’t make any sense to me. At the time, all I wanted was to make her suffer. I wanted her to suffer for what she’d put me through and what she wanted to do to my friends, just to get at me. A slow yawn came over me a second later, completely unstoppable in its formation.

It was like a slow blink. I didn’t remember closing my eyes, but they gradually opened to greet the cool breeze across my face. A forest met my gaze, a dense fog settling in along the ground. I felt light headed as I slowly looked around. This was… A massive tree stood behind me, easily twice as large as any of its neighbors. It looked ancient, like it had taken root eons ago. It felt as much a part of the glade I now found myself in as the rocks and dirt.

I suddenly felt sleepy as I shifted my gaze down the trunk of the massive tree. My eyes locked onto a shape at the base, however, and I limped over to where it was. While walking, my mind idly wondered where the metallic clink of my brace was, but I didn’t really feel like checking my leg. Prudentia lay in the grass at the base of the tree. It felt as old, if not older than the surroundings, and I sighed.

My hoof extended out and touched the surface of the book. “Are you sure?” was suddenly asked to my right in a feminine voice. It was familiar. Had someone asked me that before? “It’s okay. It’s not too late,” the voice continued softly. I shifted, and then looked slowly to my right to behold a small, unicorn filly I’d never seen before. Her coat was a simple blue in color, and her short mane had copper and gold colorations to it. Her tones were hard to see through the fog, though. Her extremely long tail slid along the grass as she took a step forward, eyes still closed.

“Are you sure?” she asked again, quieter this time.

My attention shifted back to the book and my eyes softened. The lock was popped open. I don’t remember it being undone the last I looked, but it probably didn’t matter. Slowly, I reached downwards again and opened the front cover of the book, it neatly sliding open to roughly the middle. A blank, white page greeted me. I sighed weakly and flipped backwards, finding nothing but absence of anything at all. My mind felt fuzzy as I shook my head.

"Please. Try to remember. Are you sure?" the little filly asked again, sounding sad. I stared blankly at the words that drifted onto the page. "I'm so lonely," they spelled out. A leaf drifted down and landed on the book, lightly accenting the page with its shadow. I looked up at the tree again, branches swaying in the wind and shading the entire grove with its canopy. Ancient. A guardian. It wasn't a bad way to spend eternity.

"Wake up."

My eyes opened again, suddenly finding myself exactly where I had been standing prior in Sugarcube Corner. Wait, what? What the hell just happened?!

Sweetie giggled and shook her head, however. "No, no. You know I don't really believe those two. I know Mender's amazing. It's just, well, he's only been in Ponyville a few weeks, right? Why did he get himself hurt for all of us?” she questioned.

I stared blankly at her. Hadn't she asked that already? No, I was probably wrong. Still, I knew what my intent was. It was true. I'd done nothing but run away and put up half a fight when I absolutely had to. But if nothing else, that night taught me something that was truly valuable to me.

"I've done a lot of running. But I'm starting to realize how lucky I really am. That night, something threatened everything I've come to adore and love over the last month. Everypony is amazing here, and I'd never want to go anywhere else again. Now that I admit that to myself, I can say that I'm not going to run from that. I'll do anything I have to in order to protect everypony I care about," I explained, smiling down at her softly.

Sweetie's eyes shivered a little as she watched me, a timid smile creeping across her face. Finally she outright grinned and pounced forwards, hugging me gently around the right foreleg. I laughed and pulled her tighter, gently wrapping my right foreleg around her back and giving her a squeeze. That's right. I'm not going to run from Equestria, no matter what. If Nirru wanted to destroy these wonderful ponies, nothing would stop me from tearing her apart. I'm sorry, Keela. If it truly came down to her or Equestria, the choice was already made.

"See? Mender's awesome. Rainbow Dash is always right," Scootaloo chirped, giving her little wings a flutter as she hopped closer to us.

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes behind her but kept smiling, following Scootaloo at a much slower pace before sitting down next to her. Pinkie nodded rapidly in agreement with everything, however, adding, "Things are gonna change for you, Mender! This party is the start of something good, and I'm going to make sure it's done how you want it!"

I gave Pinkie a pleased nod before standing up again. "All right, then. First step, I guess, is to make sure we actually get the decorations up," I admitted, grinning at the fillies in front of me. Scootaloo returned the grin while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle started giggling.

"Good idea! I'll help put the ribbons up along the ceiling!" Derpy said, nudging her chin upwards for emphasis.

Pinkie shivered before hopping up onto her hooves again, apparently reaching her limit for sitting still. "Right! I'll decorate tables!" she announced, zipping off before anypony could even acknowledge the statement. I chuckled and nodded down at Apple Bloom specifically.

"Okay then. Apple Bloom, you're on bottom. Sweetie's next, and Scootaloo stands on her back and operates the staple gun. Ladder formation!" I declared. All three fellow Crusaders saluted me before hopping up onto my back. I braced myself, forming visible barriers up along my back to help them get into position and hold them there as I slowly shifted towards the wall to the left of me.

Finally, the tower of fillies was completed, and I glanced upwards towards the top, giving Scootaloo a nod before passing up the tools and moving one end of the banner into position using my barriers. My magic was going to get a workout today!

* * * * *

“Pinkie, are you sure you put the streamers under the counter?” I asked, opening the sixth door with only two left to go. Why she stored party supplies under the cashier island counter is beyond me, but I wasn’t one to question Pinkie’s judgment. We were almost done anyway, so I wasn’t in any particular hurry.

High-pitched giggling was my reply. My mental warning flags went off and I peeked over the counter at the pink mare, giving her a skeptical glance. Her mental link showed nothing but dancing hard candies and balloons, so I didn’t have anything to go off there. She pretended to still be fussing with the last table, but I saw her tail swaying back and forth in amusement. Slowly, I lowered myself again, hyper-alert now. Raising a frontal shield, I opened the last two counter doors at the same time. To my surprise, the last one had a large tub of streamers in it. Well huh. I guess she was being honest.

Smiling finally, I hauled the tub out from under the counter, and then lifted it into the air with a jerk of my barrier magic. The second I looked up and leveled my head off with the counter, there was a flash of green. Everything disappeared into warm, wet, sticky pink an instant later as something latched onto my face!

My scream was high-pitched and drawn out as I flailed away from the counter, totally blinded with nothing but pink wetness all over my vision. What the hell?! Something was eating my face! Laughter exploded out from Pinkie and two smaller voices an instant later. I tripped in my mad stumble backwards and ended up rolling across the floor, trying to get my hooves up and pry whatever it was off me.

“Aaah! Mender, are you okay?” I heard Sweetie Belle ask, voice following me as I rolled across the floor. I finally managed to pry part of the thing off my face and could see sideways off my right side. Pulsating holes greeted me, and I shivered, trying to get the thing off me even faster. Ew! It didn’t appear to be doing damage, but I didn’t know if it was about to spray acid or lay eggs in my nose or something. The door to the shop opened in my vision as I rolled passed, yelping. Twilight gave me a bewildered, skeptical look as I scooted past on the floor in front of her.

“Uh, why is Gummy stuck to Mender’s face?” she questioned as Sweetie finally caught up with me and began helping pry the thing’s mouth open. Gummy?! That sounded remarkably like a proper noun, which probably meant it was a bad idea to activate my barriers and start slicing. Subtly, I powered down my left foreleg and focused instead on getting my back legs up to pry alongside Sweetie Belle.

After a good five seconds, the two of us managed to pull the thing off. A moderately sized alligator greeted my newly restored vision, and I stared at it, bewildered. Why was there an alligator in the sweets shop?! “Gummy wanted to say hello, is all! Mender, this is Gummy. Gummy, this is Mender! Don’t worry. He doesn’t have any teeth!” Pinkie introduced, gesturing back and forth between us.

My ears flattened back and I glared at her. “I gathered. My face is still attached, after all. What is it?” I asked. A second later, I mentally realized my mistake.

“He’s an alligator, Silly!” Pinkie pointed out, giving me a happy and nonchalant nod. Scootaloo started snickering behind her as I smacked my forehead with a hoof. If Pinkie noticed, she was oblivious. I took the time to wipe the alligator spit off my face.

Twilight giggled lightly and shook her head. “Gummy is Pinkie’s pet alligator. He stays here with her. All six of us have pets,” she explained calmly after I’d recovered. I sat down again and gave her a questioning look. So Pinkie had an alligator, and I knew Rarity had Opalescence, the cat. Fluttershy had LOTS of pets, technically, and I didn’t know about the others.

“Sis has Winona. She’s ah darn good dog,” Apple Bloom answered for me, smiling politely now that she was done laughing at my misfortune. I frowned at her, but nodded thereafter.

“I believe you’ve met Opal, Rarity’s cat. Fluttershy takes care of a lot of animals, but Angel Bunny is her own. Uh, kinda,” Twilight continued, blinking afterwards as she seemed to hesitate momentarily. Kinda?

Pinkie giggled and nodded along before I could ask, adding, “Yup! Dashie has a turtle!” Wait, what?!

The incredulousness must have been extremely apparent on my face, as Twilight started snickering again. “Tortoise. Don’t let Fluttershy hear you call it a turtle. Oh, and I enchanted a gyrocopter blade and strapped it to his shell. Tank is now a flying tortoise,” she elaborated.

My head hurt a little bit, but I just nodded along and resisted twitching. I didn’t know why she’d pick one of the slowest animals in existence, but there was probably an interesting and lengthy story behind it. I made a mental note to ask her about it later. “That only leaves you, Twilight. I’ve never seen any pets around the library,” I pointed out, giving her a questioning look.

She gave a start, and then tilted her head at me. “What do you mean? Owlowiscious has been there the entire time. Sure, he only comes out at night, usually, but he’s always there with me,” she questioned, looking a little concerned. Wait, what?! I stared hard at her, but couldn’t detect that she was kidding. Seriously? Wait, why did she name him Owlowiscious?! Five syllables were a bit much!

“I, uh, haven’t seen him? What is he?” I inquired, starting to get a little paranoid.

“He’s an owl, Silly! Couldn’t ya tell?” Pinkie asked, hopping in place next to me with light bounces. I ignored the fact that she wasn’t there a moment ago.

Owlowiscious? Ah, then it was a play on words. Owl-owiscious? That sounded somewhat close to Aloysius, which was Latin. Oddly enough, they had Latin here, so that might not be that far off. It made me wonder why they did have Latin here in the first place, but Twilight shook her head and just gave me a soft smile in return, making me decide to just consider it later. “I’ll introduce you to him when we get back tonight. I was actually going to see how the decorations were coming along, but you being here too saves me a step afterwards,” she chirped, nodding twice in my direction.

I snickered and shook my head. “I’m glad I’m convenient for you, then?”

Predictably, she scowled, and I smirked at her playfully. She finally gave up and pouted as she stood and walked past me instead, causing Pinkie to start giggling mirthfully. Twilight’s tail flicked up at the last second, however, and whapped me across the muzzle. I was blasted with all sorts of distinctly Twilight smells and my mind momentarily faltered, along with my legs as I stumbled. The lavender unicorn gave me a knowing smile over her shoulder before following Pinkie towards the newly set up treat table. What the hell was that?! There was something extremely different about that smell I just picked up. I stared, dumbfounded, at her for a moment before Sweetie Belle gave me a soft nudge.

“Are you okay, Mender? We need to finish the balloons,” she reminded, looking up at me with a little bit of concern. I swallowed, and then glanced past her just in time to watch Derpy attempt to blow up another balloon in the background. It deflated as soon as she stopped exhaling, and filled her mouth back up with her own air a moment later, bulging her slightly crossed eyes out.

“Er, yeah. Let’s go give Derpy a hoof, then,” I suggested. Scootaloo was watching the gray pegasus with a confused expression, but nodded as I got closer.

Derpy stopped her attempts and glanced over at me with a smile when she saw me. I nodded back, and she offered me one of the balloons to inflate. I chuckled. This was going to be a long night. Taking the balloon into my mouth, I inhaled sharply through my nose, then systematically inflated it. Once it reached full size, I used a dozen or so microbarriers from my right hoof to tie it off. How did a normal pony do this? How did Pinkie Pie do this?! There had to be a trick to it for them. Maybe they had some sort of device they used to tie the balloons off? Either that or Pinkie was really just that good with her tongue. A moment later, I decided that sounded wrong. Then I decided to just stop thinking about Pinkie's tongue entirely.

"Oooh, awesome!" Derpy cheered as I presented her with the tied off balloon. Scootaloo gave me a smirk and slid the entire box of them over. Damn it.

* * * * *

Night had long since fallen. I stared blankly out into the darkness through the window for a long moment before closing the shades. With every curtain and shade in the library now pulled, I let myself relax slightly. It was strange how on edge I felt whenever ponies who didn't know 'me' could be watching. Was it a subconscious reaction from knowing the truth about myself?

Twilight had returned to the library after the decorations had been put up, and I’d elected to go with her. The CMC of course followed along, despite how late it was getting. Still, neither Twilight or I could honestly say no to those fillies when they looked so downright adorable. Pinkie had come along too, as the only way we could get her to let us leave in the first place was to just let her keep walking and talking about the party as we left. Naturally, she ended up back at the library with us, too.

"So the party's starting at six tomorrow night, right?" I heard Twilight ask in the background. She'd be able to check off her double-checked checklist of checking when the party was now. I mentally chuckled as I turned around again, smiling.

Pinkie Pie nodded enthusiastically from the couch, mane bouncing rapidly. "Yup! It's going to be huge! Not as big as if I could have gotten the town hall, of course, but still massive! That's why we decorated the outside, too. Dashie says we're gonna have great weather tomorrow!" Pinkie rambled for a moment, swaying back and forth.

Rarity sat politely next to her, deftly shifting her floating teacup away from the sways of Pinkie's mane almost subconsciously. She’d arrived about twenty minutes ago, looking for Sweetie Belle, and made the mistake of sitting down for tea. "It's going to be quite important, I admit. It’s a pity that Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence said they couldn’t attend," she lamented properly. Shining and his wife. It still felt weird that he asked me to call him that. Still, I hadn't met Cadence yet. Twilight said she was nice, though. Not that it wasn't blatantly obvious to consider an Alicorn representing love to be nice or anything.

"Well, our parents are going to be here, too. Shiny probably wants to see them as much as I do. Although I'm a bit nervous," Twilight admitted, causing my smile to widen.

"I already promised not to throw up or bleed on them, Twilight," I reminded, giving her a smirk as I sat down next to the table.

Sweetie Belle started giggling as she peeked out from under the table at me with a playful expression. My lowest right tentacle formed, shooting out and snagging her before she could retreat, earning a happy yelp from the little filly. The lowest one on the other side extended and went in from the other angle, nabbing Scootaloo as well, who was also hiding under there.

"Ha! These are still so cool!" Scootaloo muttered as I flipped her upside down. She grabbed the tip of the tentacle and started kneading it like dough. She didn't even flinch when upside down, interestingly enough. I wondered if it was a pegasi thing. Rainbow also seemed to be able to instinctively be aware of her spatial movements. I guess it made sense.

Sweetie burrowed into the coil of tentacle I had wrapped around her and nuzzled against it. She was adorable, even if I still saw it as a little creepy. "They're soft and warm! I don't see how anypony wouldn't like these," she pointed out, trying to pull her lower half up into the coil, too. She gave a happy squeak as I lifted her over my head and set her on the coils rolling out of my back. I thought it was the other way around. Why did she like them so much?

"Something about too many limbs tends to freak ponies out?" I guessed, taking a shot in the dark.

"Ah. It is ah might creepy. Not ta be offensive, o' course. But Ah'm gettin' used ta it," Applejack spoke up, wandering down the stairs from the bathroom. I’d forgotten she was here. She showed up with Rarity, also looking for a missing and curfew breaking little sister. She watched me with the two fillies for a moment before giving a weak smile. Talking to her still felt awkward. She held herself back and watched every word she spoke like a hawk, which felt beyond unnatural. I gave her my best attempt at a smile before her sister landed on my back behind Sweetie Belle.

Stumbling, I'd at least managed to stabilize myself using two tendrils before she hit, having just enough warning from the proximity sensors. I could have thrown up armor, but I knew it was Apple Bloom and didn't want her to have a rough landing. She bounced off the coils before snickering and getting tangled up next to Sweetie Belle, who was sitting somewhat like Spike usually did.

"Apple Bloom! Yer not supposed ta jump from tha loft," Applejack scolded, frowning at her on my back.

"Eh, it's fine, Applejack. My balance wasn't on my bad leg, and the tendrils are soft," I assured, walking closer to the farm mare with the load of fillies I found myself with. She'd come wandering over to Pinkie's before we left to see where her little sister was. She found her, but also found me, which seemed to make her nervous. At least she felt a bit more relaxed now, and had followed us back to the library to discuss the party plans.

Rarity coughed finally to regain the attention before continuing with, "Regardless, Mender will be on his best behavior, I'm sure. He's a perfect gentlecolt so you hardly have to worry about him making a good impression."

My cheeks warmed a little at her compliment, but Twilight smiled over at me and shook her head. "No, no. That's actually not what I'm worried about. I'm just a bit concerned about my father, is all. He's a bit of a stickler for tradition, and didn't react well when Shiny told him about the mind magic," my fillyfriend explained, shifting back to Rarity. As badly as I felt for her, I was pleased she trusted me. No, she was proud of me. That was enough.

"I don't see what the big deal is. They're just her parents. Mine are boring," Scootaloo complained, rightside up now and lowering herself to me with a bit of wing propulsion.

"He wants ta make ah good impression. He'll pobably be marryin' Twilight an' Fluttershy in tha future, so havin' their parents like him is good, right?" Apple Bloom pointed out quietly on my back, leaning over Sweetie Belle to do so. Come to think of it, Fluttershy hadn’t said anything about her parents at all.

I snickered and nodded back at her before wrapping them in more tentacles for support and hopping up on the sofa next to Twilight. She gave me a soft smile as I lay down next to her and let the fillies go. Sweetie and Apple Bloom stayed on my back, however.

"It'll be super awesome, don't worry! They'll be so amazed by the party that they won't even have time to get cranky. Then they'll like you being with Mender, and you won't have to worry anymore!" Pinkie reasoned, somehow managing to sound totally logical while flailing her arms about like a bird trying to take off.

Twilight hesitated for a moment before cracking a smile and nodding to her overly excited friend. "Yeah. I'll be happy after tomorrow goes smoothly. I'm sure my mom will love you, but it's just Dad I'm worried about," Twilight admitted, looking over at me again.

I returned her smile, but before I could say anything, a light tugging went off inside of my head along with a tiny ringing noise in my inner ears. Oh! "Mender, is this a good time? I need to talk to you. Tug back once for yes, twice for no," I heard Keela ask. She sounded relaxed, so it probably wasn't anything major, but normally I didn't like to keep her waiting for long. If this were a phone company, her long distance expenses would be murder.

Twilight must have noticed me suddenly zone out. Pinkie's tail twitched lightly and she perked up, watching me instead. "Ooooh! Who's that talking?" she asked curiously. Out loud, I noticed. Of course, she knew everypony here already knew about me.

"Keela?" Twilight asked, a little more business-like but with those curious undertones still.

I nodded and gave Keela a light tug back, shifting my left eye to a projector. Scootaloo stopped spinning on the legrest next to me the instant the projection danced out into the center of the room. Keela herself faded into place over the coffee table and gave a start as she glanced around. Given our connection, it was fairly easy to project the room and occupants into her mind as well. After the connection was established, I tried out the new technique I had been working on and enabled the audio uplink too.

"Hey, Keela. Sorry for the audience. Meet my other friends I've told you about," I gestured, shifting my right forehoof to the couch across from me.

Keela recovered fast and smiled, bowing politely to the three ponies on it. Rarity had shifted to surprised but extremely courteous a moment later, returning a soft nod of her head. Pinkie had simply been curious, and now she added vibrating and grinning to the mix as she watched the Keldarian eagerly. Applejack appeared unsure, but gave the female a calm nod when she saw the polite gesture. It was interesting watching everypony's reactions. A bow was somewhat universal, it would seem.

"We have Pinkie Pie on the right; the one excitedly vibrating. The ever-elegant Rarity is in the middle. Last, but definitely not least, we have Applejack on the left. Note the signature Stetson," I continued, earning a giggle from Pinkie, a puff up and nod from Rarity, and a skeptical smirk from Applejack. I felt a little uneasy introducing them like that, but their reactions gave me a bit more confidence.

"It's nice to meet you all. I'm Keela, Mender's, um, well..." she suddenly trailed off with the hesitation, looking back at me with a turn in place.

I shook my head, however, seeing where she was going. "You're my friend, Keela. You're not responsible for what your sister did," I reminded. Her elongated ears drooped a little, but she nodded.

"Nirru," Applejack muttered, giving a light shiver of her shoulders as she got a far away look.

Keela nodded as she rotated back around to face Applejack. "Yes, Nirru is my sister. She doesn't treat me like one anymore, but she still is. I'd not realized how far she had let herself fall, and I wish I'd noticed sooner. Still, for what it's worth, she's absolutely terrified of you, Applejack," the Keldarian explained gently. I felt bad for her. She'd lost her sister over this, even if I didn't kill her.

Applejack snorted and shook her head. "Only cause Ah kicked her flank. Ah made ah big mistake that day an' don't intend ta make it again. Ah was only protectin' Mender," she excused. She shouldn't feel badly for what she did to Nirru. If it was any consolation, I did a whole lot worse.

"Oh, I know. She fears Mender even more after what happened, trust me. I'm happy you helped him. That all of you are here for him. It's amazing," Keela said. I detected a slight hint of sadness in her voice, but she covered it up well. She started to turn when she halted suddenly, eyes locking onto Scootaloo who was sitting on the legrest of the sofa. She'd shifted backwards and partially behind me at this point, watching the Keldarian carefully.

Her vision shifted as I moved my head to the side with a nod, showing the two other fillies sitting on my back and watching carefully. "The pegasus is Scootaloo. These two are Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom," I introduced, patting each filly on the head with a tendril tip as I named them.

By the time I looked back over at Keela, however, her eyes had softened dramatically and were shivering slightly. "Oooooh, they're adorable!" she squealed, grabbing her hands against themselves and pushing them to her chest. Twilight giggled at the reaction, and I couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly.

"What?! I'm not adorable!" Scootaloo denied instantly, seemingly forgetting she'd been nervous a moment ago in light of the horrible indignation. She crossed her forelegs over her chest and looked away, pouting.

Keela just squealed louder though, earning a facehoof from Scootaloo and laughter from Apple Bloom. "They are just angels! You didn't tell me you mated already, Mender! Wait, what's the gestation period for a pony?" Keela suddenly asked, confusing herself.

I almost fell off the sofa. Twilight's eyes bulged out next to me as her mouth dropped. Pinkie burst into laughter at almost the same instant. "Jess wha?" Sweetie Belle asked, sounding confused above me somewhere. I ceased noticing as I buried my face into the cushion, heat radiating from it. A moment later, I remembered to point the projector at least out onto the coffee table again. Suddenly, I wondered if it might be a good idea to start carrying around an ice pack or something. Was this much blushing really healthy for me?

"Ah, about eleven months..." Twilight murmured after a moment's hesitation, sounding more than a little embarrassed. Oh. Well, it made sense that they'd have their estrus cycles in the spring and fall then. The foals would be born into at least a little bit of warm weather, which probably helped. Maybe that was how it developed, biologically?

"Oh! So, not his. Ah, sorry," Keela apologized sheepishly. I coughed lightly.

Scootaloo tilted her head in my peripheral vision, but Apple Bloom started snickering again. "O' course not. Mender ain't our daddy. Applejack's mah sister," she explained upon calming a bit.

"Oooh, that's what we're talking about!" Sweetie Belle finally chimed in, followed by, "No, I'm Rarity's little sister." I saw her little white hoof point over my head and towards Rarity, who gave a polite nod on the couch and smiled towards Keela.

Both turned to Scootaloo, who just shrugged idly. "Eh, I wish Mender was my dad! He's way cooler," she admitted. I blanched, eyes widening drastically.

"Scootaloo! You should respect your parents!" Rarity lectured, frowning towards the orange filly.

Twilight coughed abruptly, cutting everypony off before this could spiral any further into a nosedive. "Uh, not to distract from the topic, but was there a reason that you wanted to talk to us, Keela?" Twilight reminded, tilting her head towards the floating, somewhat translucent Keldarian. Oh yeah!

"Oh, well, originally I was only intending to talk to him real quick. I'm really glad I got to meet all of you, though," Keela assured, brushing her pink hair back and out of the right side of her face before rotating to face me again. "What I wanted to tell you was that the research documentation and Ventosus Lacuna are ready to be sent out. The energy buildup we needed to power another FTL Transfer finished an hour ago. Sorry it's taken so long, but it's really hard to gather enough power out here in dark space."

I shook my head and smiled at her. "It's no problem, Keela. When are you going to transfer it over?" I inquired curiously.

"Anytime you're ready. Again, I'm limited to within twenty meters of you," she reminded.

"You were pretty accurate with it before. Could you drop them onto the coffee table?" Twilight offered, gesturing towards it with her right forehoof.

Keela swallowed hesitantly but nodded. "Have shielding up around the table. I'm not entirely sure what Ventosus Lacuna is going to do. I've never technically sent an unassigned Aegis Artifact over before. Mender's book was already linked to him, so it didn't put up any resistance," she warned, before turning and typing at something we couldn't see.

"Wait, what do ya mean, resistance? Is she sendin' over somethin' livin'?" Applejack asked, suddenly sounding wary.

I sighed and lifted Prudentia off my left side, holding it up with a tendril. "Aegis Artifacts apparently have limited awareness. I'm not sure if you'd call it a consciousness, but they can react to things around them by themselves. This is Prudentia, my Aegis Artifact," I explained. Saying that it was 'mine' felt strange. The book seemed to hum pleasantly when I said its name out loud, oddly.

Sweetie Belle nudged it carefully with a hoof while I focused on forming an Aegis Barrier around the coffee table. Distortions drifted along the surface of the book wherever she touched, and she giggled at the sensation. It probably felt like static electricity to her. The book started feeding me biometric information on the little filly, but I ignored it completely.

Twilight surprised me by leaning past the book and brushing her horn along my forehead while I concentrated, instructing, "After you finish the Aegis Barrier, pass the link over to me. I'll charge it with my energy." Whoa. Well, that was probably overkill, but better safe than sorry in this situation, I supposed. I gave her a smile and nod, tossing her the link at the same time through our shared forehead connection.

"Oooh, you're fast at making barriers," Twilight purred, winking at me as she backed off and began to focus. I blushed again and coughed, much to the amusement of both Keela and Pinkie.

"Of course he's good at barriers! He only fell short of the mastery position and an instructor level because he was too lazy to take the tests!" Keela pointed out, grinning.

I glared at her, memories of him deciding not to take the test flaring up with her mention of it. "Okay, from what I can remember, he didn't take the tests because he felt he could help more in the field," I defended, idly wondering if it was me I was defending or him.

"Oh! A very noble aspiration! You've always been a gentlecolt, then?" Rarity inquired, giving me a rather devious looking smirk. Okay, she was laying it on thick intentionally. I knew her enough to know that she always curled her mouth up like that when she was teasing, at this point.

"It's all just a show, of course. I'm secretly a bad stallion who's into breaking hearts," I added sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

Rarity grinned, but Applejack snorted before she could comment. "Puhlease! Yer tha straightest arrow Ah've ever seen. Ya might not be as honest as me, but Ah know fer ah fact that ya'd never do us harm," she refuted, giving me an unflinching yet skeptical stare. Twilight appeared unfazed by the entire topic. Either that or she wasn't paying any attention to us.

"Mender's not an arrow, AJ! You're just being silly now. He's a klutzy stallion with shiny armor and lots of limbs! Sooooooo much cooler than an arrow," Pinkie corrected, rolling upside down and smiling at me while waving. I smirked at her antics and shook my head.

"He's not a klutz. He just has a gravitational pull and absurdly bad luck," Twilight appended calmly, relaxing her magic when the barrier was almost six times as thick as I had it. Yeah. Way overkill. Oh, and she was also very right.

Sweetie Belle, apparently growing bored with the ripples from the book, slid down my foreleg and plopped next to me on the couch. "Gravity? What does a gravity pull thingy mean?" she asked curiously.

I paused, blinking again as all attention focused on me, Twilight apparently content with letting me talk instead. But how should I best explain this in ways they would understand?

"Uh, really big objects have a pull towards them called gravity. The ground is massive and keeps us all stuck to it because it's so big," I explained, glancing at the other two to see if they were comprehending as well.

Scootaloo seemed only vaguely interested, but Apple Bloom swapped over to where Sweetie had been before and nodded down at me. "We learned that in Miss Cheerilee's class!" she assured. Well, that made things easier.

"Well, I have a pull, too. It's not as strong as the ground's, but it's enough to make things fall towards me if they're already falling. Or if they're not doing anything and can roll," I explained.

Twilight nodded at that, then turned to Pinkie. "Pinkie! Ball emergency!" Huh?

Pinkie perked up and nodded rapidly before ducking under the couch and coming out with a rubbery, blue ball a few seconds later. Wait, what?! Twilight had blue balls hidden under her couch? Wait, something sounded off about that thought.

"Here ya go!" Pinkie offered, tossing the ball over the Aegis Barrier. Twilight caught it in her magical field before lightly setting it down on the surface of the barrier.

I nodded after she got it stable, and then looked back down at Sweetie. "To explain it simply, I used to look a lot like Keela does. That's what my old race looks like. After I got turned into a pony, however, something happened and I became a lot bigger than I am now. With magic, I'm able to stay small, but sometimes my gravity thinks I'm still really big," I tried to explain.

Sweetie Belle tilted her head, but I extended my right foreleg towards the ball, lowering the dial on my gravitational limiter. Sweetie's eyes widened as her bangs started drifting sideways slightly towards me. Twilight gave me a questioning glance as well, then looked back at the ball as it slowly started rolling towards me of its own accord, obviously having no other forces apart from air friction acting upon it. My internal mass was easily able to overcome that, however, and soon the ball picked up speed before rolling right off the barrier.

"Cool!" Pinkie chimed in, beaming at me.

"Whoa! It suddenly feels like I'm being pulled towards you!" Scootaloo exclaimed, giving me a somewhat uneasy look. Oh yeah. Being a pegasus, she was probably far more aware of gravity.

I snickered then shook my head. "Sorry. I'll turn it down a bit," I apologized, dialing my gravity compressor back up. One of these days I should see if there's a repair diagnostic for it. If I could fix the damage the short during the warp caused, I could totally nullify my extra density.

"You can control the effect?" Twilight asked curiously, giving me a surprised stare.

My ears lowered a bit, but I gave her a soft smile in return, reminding, "I'm part robot, remember? It's as easy as turning a dial. Mine's busted, however, so I can't fully suppress it."

Twilight's eyes softened and she momentarily looked guilty over something, but Keela cut in before she could speak. "You could probably fix it, given your capabilities. Anyway, the coordinates are plugged in and the device is primed. I triple-checked the equations, but it should be accurate down to a couple millimeters," she assured hesitantly. The gloom clung to me a bit, but I threw up a mask over my emotions and gave her a nod.

"We're ready on this end, then. Release when ready," I instructed.

Keela hesitated only for a second before hitting a button on the console we couldn't see. Light exploded from above the coffee table, and everypony in the room winced. Out of instinct, I threw a barrier in front of both groups of ponies. Keela gave out a yelp over the connection and ducked a bolt of energy. The link was momentarily disrupted, but flared back to life mere seconds later. "It's eating up too much energy! It's fighting the transfer!" Keela called out over the deafening hum given off by the reaction. Two familiar looking prismatic wings expanded slowly out over the table.

My mind scrambled to think of anything that might be different that we hadn’t thought of between the book and the sword. It was obviously not connected to this reality, so it probably was acting as if she were simply trying to banish it. With a limited, reaction based intelligence, there had to be a way to fix that! Thinking hard, I realized there was really only one way to ‘help’ from this side. The book had a link to me. Maybe if I grounded the energy from the sword as well on this end, it would ease the transfer!

My back flexed, tendrils gently shoving Apple Bloom off me as I hopped off the couch. Twilight looked over at me in surprise, mouth opening to say something as I formed a barrier above the Slipstream wings inside of the shield. She didn’t get a chance to start before I brought the thin barrier down into the center of the Slipstream emanation.

The jolt of energy rippled through me instantly, causing my muscles to clench up as it passed through me and into the floor. The connection happened instantly, rooting the effect to this side just like the book was. Banking on the blade having the same reaction as Prudentia, I shouted out, “Ventosus Lacuna!”

For a moment, the blade pulsed. Then it was as if a ribbon of fire danced across my mind along my connection to the barrier I made. The orb of light and energy expanded outwards from the partially phased in blade, crushing into the sides of the barriers we’d set up for it. For a moment, I saw a single eye opening up and looking right at me in my mind. The Slipstream effect exploded a moment later, snapping my connection barrier in half and blasting me backwards into the couch…

Chapter 39

My eyes slowly opened, somewhat dazed but reasonably okay. Smoke was clearing from inside the Aegis Barriers, and I saw that Twilight's coffee table was broken into three pieces. Twilight let out a light coughing noise behind me, waving the smoke from her face with her hoof. "Is everypony okay?" she asked a moment later.

"Good gracious! That was violent. Was that supposed to happen?" Rarity asked, making no attempt to leave the couch and get closer to the table she was eyeing warily. The thinning of the smoke let me see that Pinkie and Applejack were also unharmed. A glance behind me showed all three fillies hiding in my shadow, shivering nervously but otherwise unhurt.

"It's okay, Crusaders. I threw up an extra barrier to each side. You wouldn't have been hurt," I assured quietly. Not that I had anticipated it getting through the Aegis anyway, which it had not, but it was mostly for peace of mind.

Applejack carefully looked around before nodding in agreement, my extra shields lowering as she sat up again. "Ah think we're all fine, Twi. Yer table ain't, though," she warned, gesturing towards the broken remains with her head.

The connection re-established a few seconds later, and I activated my left eye's projector, popping Keela into the room. She was coughing slightly, and I saw the haze of similar smoke drifting past her occasionally, but she appeared unhurt. "Wow. That ate up both cells of energy that I had stored. Did the sword make it? Is everyone okay over there?" she asked.

That was a good question. I peeked through the side of the barrier and saw that there indeed was a shape lying on the floor amidst the wreckage of Twilight's table. "We're all fine. Checking on the sword," I reported as I activated the end barrier, causing it to pulse and blow some of the smoke to one end of the containment area. My eyes widened drastically as I got a good look at the blade.

The leather in the sheath had shifted to a light blue in color, while the cord wrap around the grip was a darker shade of the same tone. The metal portions of sheath and the patterned swirl along the leather were now a copper or amber in style. The pommel was a similar color, but now sported a shaped sapphire instead of a ruby. I could have sworn the blade had been black and silver before!

"Oh! Mender! What did, but, that shouldn't be possible. You linked with it!" Keela exclaimed, seeing the same thing we all were now.

"Linked?" Twilight questioned, hopping off the couch and walking closer to the blade. It didn't appear to be doing anything at all anymore, so I lowered the main Aegis Barriers. As predicted, it just sat there, now totally inert.

Keela nodded and watched Applejack and Pinkie hop off the couch before continuing with, "Yes. In order to use an Aegis Artifact, you have to be linked to it. There are varying degrees of connection as well. Normally, however, you can only be linked to a single artifact. Mender's Prudentia should have stopped the link attempt."

"Isn't it already linked with Nirru anyway?" I asked, leaning down and staring at the blade. The colors were remarkably similar to my coat. Although now that I thought about it, Prudentia's colors were extremely similar to mine as well. Why didn't it stop the link, though?

Pinkie smiled down at the sword, seemingly fascinated by it for some reason. I also got a closer look. It was much how I remembered it, minus the color incident. The blade was small; it had been made for a Keldarian to use. The grip would be just enough for me to comfortably hold it in my mouth at this point. The guard was smaller than normal, being only twice the width of the grip itself, and the blade was straight, appearing to be just over half a meter long.

Keela shook her head, however. "She was partially linked, but she could never manage to form a full connection with the artifact. The blade belonged to our mother before her, and has been passed through seventeen generations of our family now. She was the first eldest sister to not be able to connect with it. You're the only one to connect to it without being a family member. This is crazy." She stared at the sword, expression shifting sad for a moment before she carefully composed herself.

"Why'd this thingy have ta be sent 'ere anyways?" Applejack asked, crouching down and getting a closer look at it from half a meter away or so. She seemed to relax a little when it didn't animate and lash out at her or anything.

I was pretty sure I knew how it worked, so I figured a visual example would be better for the stubborn farm mare. Pulling Prudentia off my side, I tossed it sideways in a singular motion that got everypony's attention almost instantly. It landed on the floor with a dull thud, and I shifted my right foreleg against it, punting it a good three meters across Twilight's wooden floor. Huh. Aegis Barriers slid rather well, I noted.

After Applejack gave me a questioning look, I extended my right foreleg back towards Prudentia. "Coming, Master. This is a good example," was suddenly whispered into my mind, and I gave a start. There was no time to consider it, however, as the book faded out of reality and flickered into existence against my right forehoof.

"Whoa!" Applejack exclaimed, staring at the new position of the book in my hoof.

"Yeah. That's what I'm trying to prevent my sister from doing. Ventosus Lacuna was her Aegis Artifact. She could teleport it to herself with just a mental command. After blocking three such attempts, I decided to try something new. My guess was that she couldn't call the sword if it was in another dimension," Keela explained, smiling softly at me. Something in her eyes caused me to shiver, however, and I rapidly looked away.

Pinkie giggled and nodded rapidly. "Oooooh, so Mender is basically just keeping it safe and out of her hooves?"

That I laughed at. "Really, I don't have a use for the blade. I'd rather return it to Keela as soon as possible, so hopefully this is just a temporary thing," I muttered, reaching down and lightly sliding the flat of my right hoof along the sheath. It hummed lightly under my touch, almost as if happy. 'Ventosus Lacuna' mentally came to mind, as if inserted of its own accord. I recognized the sensation as exactly the same as when I'd first touched Prudentia. For some reason, 'Windy Void' felt significantly less, well, real to me, for lack of better words. It didn't seem to have the sense of presence Prudentia had for me.

I felt Keela smile at me before I even looked over at her. "I'm glad you're respectful of it. Even if it had belonged to my sister before this, it has been in our family for far longer. Hopefully I can take it back one day," she agreed softly.

"It's to be expected. Mender is a gentlecolt, after all," was added in reply. I'd almost thought Rarity had said it, but she simply smirked as Sweetie Belle landed on my back again, wrapping her forelegs around my neck. I'd thought the voice was a little high for Rarity.

"I'm glad to say we have similar tastes, Sister Dearest," Rarity agreed, snickering at Sweetie's impression of her.

Apple Bloom simply groaned however. "Just don't start talkin' fancy on us. It ain't fun fer anypony involved," she warned, shuddering. Oddly, that almost sounded like she was talking from personal experience.

Keela started to giggle, but jumped in surprise as a sudden pounding sounded out from somewhere on her end. "Miss Keela! We heard an explosion! Are you okay in there?" somepo- somebody asked, sounding concerned.

"Oops. Uh, I'll start charging another energy cell to send the research materials to you, Mender. For now, however, I have to go and let them see I'm still alive," Keela excused, bowing lightly to me.

Chuckling, I nodded gently to her and she flicked away in an instant. A few seconds passed and I let out the breath of tension I hadn't realized I'd been holding. Well, that was exciting! "What's with all the noise down here? A dragon's trying to sleep, ya know!" suddenly sounded from an agitated Spike on the stairs. He walked slowly down the steps and glared at the smoke and debris on the floor. "Oh no. Do I have to clean that up?" he asked weakly, side fin things drooping.

Rarity winked over at Twilight and stood abruptly. "Nonsense, Spikey-wikey! You just head right back to bed. I'll even come and tuck you in," she said, hopping off the couch and sashaying towards the little dragon.

His eyes bulged out as a flush spread across his cheeks almost instantly, his little jaw dropping in shock. "R-Rarity?! I didn't even know you were here! Wait, w-what?!" he asked, mental processing finally catching up with what she just said. It was a familiar enough facial expression for me to be able to identify it almost immediately. Scootaloo made a gagging noise behind me, but Sweetie just giggled and held tighter to my neck. She was actually rather warm, and it felt oddly good on my neck muscles. I reminded myself not to think of my friends as heating pads, however.

The little dragon got no further protest out as he was shoved lightly upwards, and looked utterly shocked as he landed on Rarity's back. My eyes widened a little, surprised she was actually giving him a ride after she complained so heavily about his claws earlier. All of us watched in silence as he was hauled off into the darkness of the loft. Well, good luck, little buddy.

"Well, that was unexpected. Hmm. Eh," Twilight finally muttered, breaking the silence with a noncommittal sound.

Pinkie giggled merrily, but with slightly less energy than normal. I glanced over at her and noticed she had deflated a little bit, smiling over at me instead. "Spike's right, though! It's getting late and my medicine is making me a little sleepy. I've got a lot to do tomorrow before the party, so I think I'm gonna go home and go to sleep, okay?" Pinkie asked in a surprisingly hesitant manner.

"Of course, Pinkie! Apple Bloom an' Ah should be headin' back anyway. We'll walk ya ta Sugarcube Corner," Applejack agreed heartily with no hesitation whatsoever. That made me feel better. Ponyville was a super safe community, but I still felt better if Pinkie had the tough farm mare as an escort. Especially with an injured side and medicine in her system.

Pinkie nodded happily towards Applejack, and Twilight exhaled softly beside me. Did she have the same worry? If she did, it was apparently gone now as she slid sideways and rested her head on my shoulder. Sweetie Belle started playing with her mane almost immediately, but garnered no response from my fillyfriend.

"Come on, Scootaloo. Ah'll drop you off, too," Applejack added, smiling as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hopped off the couch and trotted after her and Pinkie.

Both fillies stopped halfway to her and turned around, looking at both Sweetie and me. "Good night, you two. We'll see ya tomorrow, okay?" Apple Bloom assured, giving two affirmative nods after.

"Of course!" Sweetie replied. I added a smile and nod to the two. Seemingly pleased, they turned again and trotted up to the patiently waiting Applejack and Pinkie.

Applejack hesitated before looking up again and locking eyes with me. Her mouth opened momentarily, but she didn't say anything. After an awkward three seconds of silence, she closed it again, simply settling with a nod towards me, and turned around rapidly. My eyes softened as I watched her go. Yeah. Things weren't going to be the same for a while with anypony, I had a feeling.

Twilight watched me for another moment before shifting back to the retreating ponies. "Oh, let me at least show you to the door! I wanna know when you want us to show up tomorrow anyway!" Twilight called out, making a beeline to catch up with the four.

I watched her go, somewhat curious but deciding it wasn't any of my business. She'd chosen to hide whatever her true topic was with them, so I guessed there was a reason for it. My gut told me it was Applejack, actually, but I dismissed it before I jumped to conclusions again.

Left to my own devices, I glanced up at my warm, adorably cute hat. She smiled down at me and nodded, shifting slightly as I stood up. Ventosus Lacuna joined Prudentia 'magnetically' attached to my side as I slowly limped towards the stairs, my brace leaving a clinking noise with each step. "Let's go see how your sister's doing," I suggested.

"I'll go anywhere you want to go, Mender!" Sweetie Belle assured, nestling herself further into my four supporting back tendrils. It felt a little weird, but I got used to it fairly fast. This also allowed me the added benefit of supporting her on my back as I headed up the stairs, kind of like a pony chariot for her.

The loft was darkened, of course, but my glowing blue eyes could easily pick out Rarity and Spike. The dragon was snoring peacefully in his basket, looking extremely pleased. Rarity lay next to his bed, smiling softly at him as she gently rubbed his tummy scales with her left hoof. "Out like a light," she whispered softly to me as I slid up. My other four tendrils shifted under me and lifted me off the ground so my brace wouldn't make noise.

"Aww! He's adorable," Sweetie Belle cooed quietly, peeking over my head at the snoozing drake.

"As I said, we have similar tastes. He really is a charmer, isn't he? It's weird, but I never really fully acknowledged how kind Spike has been in trying to help everypony," Rarity muttered, watching the dragon sleep soundly.

I nodded in agreement, deciding to throw some points in for Spike while I had the chance. "He really does try his hardest to make everypony happy. He cooked breakfast in bed for Fluttershy and Twilight practically single-handed. Single clawed? Regardless, I'm, uh, not very good with knives," I informed.

Sweetie giggled in amusement on my head, but Rarity just smirked over at me. "Oh, you don't need to tell me that. I could have guessed. Still, he's a gentledrake, that's for sure..." she agreed, turning her attention back towards the sleeping Spike. She watched his chest rise and fall for a moment before smiling again, adding in a nigh whisper, "If only he were older..."

My eyebrow rose up slowly. Rarity hesitated, then seemed to realize what she just said as both forehooves shot up to her muzzle. "Oh! Oh dear. Did I really just say that?" she questioned to nopony in particular.

Sweetie Belle let out a gasping noise, but I held my hoof up to her, quieting her. "I certainly didn't hear anything. Although I should probably point out that he strikes me as rather mature already from our discussions so far. I'm curious if dragons age differently from ponies," I deduced softly.

Rarity froze for a moment before shooting me a questioning stare. I fell silent, however, and decided to just leave that statement hanging there. Sweetie got a downright devious look however and smirked down at me in what could only be described as a, well, proud expression.

Rarity wasn't paying attention, however, and shifted her gaze back to the sleeping dragon. I left her to her own devices and thoughts, heading over to Twilight's bed and setting Prudentia on the bedside table again. Ventosus Lacuna was leaned against the table's side as well a moment later.

"Do you sleep with Twilight, Mender?" Sweetie Belle asked softly, glancing over at the bed. Why was everypony so interested in my unconscious habits?

"We cuddle as we sleep, yeah. It's a more recent thing, however, and I haven't gotten to in a while due to being in the hospital," I answered, attempting to be as honest as I could.

Sweetie made a cooing noise and nodded softly, smiling down at me again. "That's sweet. Did you miss it?"

I hesitated. A light shifting sensation drifted through me as I remembered the touch of soft fur. Twilight smiled as she pressed into my chest, nuzzling along my neck lightly. A gentle heat drifted into my cheeks as I opened my eyes again and nodded. "Yeah. I missed it a lot," I admitted.

To my surprise, Sweetie's forelegs wrapped around the back of my neck in a light hug a moment later. "Well, you're back now. You don't have to sound so sad," she said.

Sad? Was I sad? My eyes closed again, and I shuddered lightly. For just a moment, I heard Nirru's final cry as my clawed hoof descended towards her head. My eyes opened an instant later and I realized I was shaking. "Ah, no. I'll be fine, Sweetie. I'm just a little shaken up over the whole ordeal still," I excused. Technically the truth.

"You believed us when we said we didn't care if you weren't a pony, right?" she asked, voice surprisingly adamant for such a small filly.

Blinking, I glanced up at her in surprise. She wore a somewhat dejected expression as she frowned down at me. I swallowed. "Well, it was shocking. I mean, I'm technically a monster-" I tried to explain.

Sweetie Belle whacked me on the top of the head, however. "Ow! Well, I am. I'm some sort of abomination or-" I continued. Another whack.

"I'm not sure what that is, but it doesn't sound like something you should be calling yourself," she warned, frowning more. Her eyes got larger, and I felt my heart crying in my chest as I tried to manifest any sort of defense against this unique kind of attack.

Logic! That had to work, right? "Sweetie, I can grow tentacles and armor out of my skin, tear a tree apart with my hooves, and leap dozens of meters through the air. My eyes glow in the dark and my teeth and claws are absurdly sharp, too! That's not what I'd call a pony," I tried to reason.

She smirked. Uh oh. "All those are part of what you look like and are capable of, though. What part of you is a monster, then?" she asked instead. What?

I frowned at her, raising an eyebrow and hoping she'd elaborate. Thankfully, she asked, "What part of those makes you scary and mean? Do you want to hurt or eat ponies or anything?" Okay, now I saw where she was going.

"Well, no. I'm still me, even when transformed. Doesn't my appearance scare you even a little, though?" I asked, finding it hard to believe she wasn't even the slightest bit uncertain.

She thought for a moment, then nodded a second later. "You're a little scary, yeah. And when I first saw your back thingies. Tenmicals or something? They were a little scary. I'm fine with them now that I realized they're not really icky or anything. Plus, knowing that it's you, I know you'd never hurt me or anypony I care about," she elaborated, nodding twice when she was done. Fluttershy had said almost the same thing, and Twilight agreed too.

Sweetie gave me a questioning glance as I pulled her off my back, but then gasped and giggled as I hugged her gently with my forelegs. "Thank you, Sweetie Belle. That's amazingly similar to what Twilight and Fluttershy said, and it really helps," I thanked, giving her another squeeze.

Her eyes widened as she looked up at me, then she blushed lightly. "I said the same thing as your two fillyfriends did?" she asked. I blinked. Didn't I just say that? Regardless, I nodded gently towards her. She finally smiled and nodded back, pulling herself against me again. She was so adorable.

A gentle cough sounded to my right, interrupting the hugging session. I glanced over in time to see Rarity with a gentle smile on her face, looking down at her little sister. Sweetie pulled her face back and glanced over at Rarity before flushing again. "Are you ready to go, Sweetie? We should head back to the Carousel Boutique and get some rest so we're fresh for the party tomorrow," Rarity quietly pointed out.

Her little sister's eyes widened again. "I can go?!" she asked excitedly before pushing both forehooves to her mouth and peeking past Rarity. Spike gave an extra loud snore before continuing his unconscious adventures. Dang, he could sleep.

"Well, of course. I dare say, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shall be there, and I can't let my very own sister fall behind socially," she added, mock pouting with her nose shifted slightly up.

Sweetie Belle giggled and slipped away, giving Rarity a hug instead. I smirked at the extremely cute display before looking up at the older mare. "Do you need an escort back home, Rarity? It would be no problem for me," I offered. While injured, if we really did run into trouble, I had the utmost confidence that I could still manage to protect the two. The potential mugger or wild animal might need counseling or therapy after being released from the hospital, but it was truly their fault for attacking us to begin with.

Rarity gave me a tender smile before shaking her head. "No, you need to rest up and heal. As Twilight isn't back yet, I'd hazard a guess that Applejack and company are still talking to her outside. I'm sure she'll have no trouble escorting us as well," she pointed out. True. I'd noticed Twilight was still gone. I glanced towards the stairs down momentarily before nodding back at her.

"It's all right, Mender. I'll go down there and tell her that her coltfriend is getting lonely. I'm sure she'll be back up in the utmost haste," Rarity playfully added, understating intentionally, I think.

I glared at her, and her grin widened, proving my suspicions. "Please don't. She's liable to resort to drastic measures," I warned, shivering lightly at the mental images. Unfortunately, the moment I considered it, I realized I wasn't quite sure what she'd do in order to protect me from loneliness. Industrial wire, stitching, and herself came to mind however. I decided that would probably be painful.

"Well, I make no such promises. Still, I'm sure our appearance will remind her regardless. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, of course," Rarity agreed, bowing politely.

"Me too!" Sweetie added quietly, smiling as she walked up alongside her sister.

I returned a polite bow to both of them before agreeing with, "Of course, M'Ladies. I shall see you both tomorrow evening." Both seemed amused at my theatrics, as intended. Rarity slowly turned and headed towards the stairs a moment later. Sweetie hesitated a moment, then rapidly ran back and gave me a quick hug around the right foreleg before galloping after her sister. I couldn't help but grin as I watched her run. So much energy! I always wondered how children got all the energy. Foals appeared to have the same thing going for them.

Slowly, I made my way downstairs after the two in order to wait for Twilight. I still heard talking outside the door when I got to the ground floor, so I shifted further away as to not accidentally eavesdrop. It was quiet downstairs now, and I glanced around, enjoying the flickering lights. Deciding to make myself useful, I slowly circled the room, putting out the wall sconces as I went. They were enchanted, of course, and Twilight had shown me that all I needed to do was tap the gem in the center to put them out. She could do them all at once with her magic, of course, but I managed.

Finally making it to the last one, I smiled as I lowered myself back to the ground, nodding as the light dimmed to just the fireplace downstairs. That wasn't too hard. Plus, nothing fell on my head! I always counted that as one of my measures of success now. Mentally, I decided on one last double check to make sure I got them all, and turned to the left...

I promptly came face to face with two extremely large, yellow eyes. My yelp of surprise was predictably high pitched as I flailed backwards, armor plating popping out on instinct. There was a dull clang as I landed on my back and frowned. Okay, so not so good. I fell on my head instead. Eh, close enough.

Readying my attack protocols, I flipped back onto my hooves with a light roll and glared at where the eyes had been. To my surprise, I saw a moderately sized owl sitting on the hoof rest of the couch instead. Oh. Oh!

Sighing, I folded my armor back up into me and rolled my eyes. Okay, Mender, you were still a chicken. That was just stupid, though. "Ah, sorry about that. You surprised me, is all. You must be Owlowiscious, right?" I asked, calming my rapidly pounding heart.

"Who?" he questioned, in a modest tone. I detected depth behind those eyes, and was mildly impressed at his intelligence.

Tilting my head, I inquired, "What, do they use a different name for you? Twilight said your name was Owlowiscious, I thought." Had I misheard her? That was always a possibility.

"Who?" he asked, looking confused.

"Er, Twilight? Your owner? Er, or is it friend?" I asked, suddenly starting to sweat a little bit. Was owner the wrong word? I didn't want to make a bad first impression. Although, I was starting to wonder if he had amnesia problems, too.

"Who?" he repeated. Okay, yeah. He definitely had amnesia problems. Hmm. How best to explain this?

I shook my head and sighed. "I didn't know you'd forget who Twilight was. She's the nice lavender unicorn who lives here? Of course, I guess I'll be living here as well. My name is Moon Mender! It's nice to meet you," I greeted, attempting to sound polite.

"Who?" he questioned, giving me a skeptical yet oh so familiar look. Okay, so he either thought I was crazy, or was deeply confused by my statement.

I sighed weakly. "Moon Mender. I didn't expect you to know who I was. Heck, I didn't even know you lived here until this afternoon. Apologies. Twilight was supposed to introduce us, but then the girls followed us back and we got distracted," I excused politely.

Owlowiscious stared at me for a moment. I thought I could see a light twitch along the left side of his temple, and frowned. Was he okay? He suddenly took off from the couch, zipped along one of the shelves, and snagged a book with amazing precision. Oh wow! No wonder Twilight liked him.

He flew back with the book a little slower, and then set it down in front of me with calculated efficiency. ‘The Owlpedia, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Owls'? "Oh, thank you! This would probably save a lot of time if you're tired of me asking questions," I pointed out, feeling mildly dejected but understanding if I was annoying him or something.

"Uh, what are you doing, Mender?" Twilight asked suddenly from behind me. I gave a light jump, then turned around to look at her as she wandered back in, closing the door behind her with her magic.

"Oh, I was having a discussion with Owlowiscious, whom I just met. I didn't realize he had severe amnesia, however, and that I was bothering him with my inquiries. He was nice enough to give me this book on owls, though, to save himself time," I explained, nodding and smiling to her.

A familiar look of confusion graced her face. "You were having a discussion with him?" she asked hesitantly, looking over at Owlowiscious

"Who?" he asked quietly. He almost sounded embarrassed or ashamed!

"She's talking about you. It's okay if you have trouble remembering. I do, too," I assured, giving him a sympathetic look.

A second passed before Twilight burst into copious amounts of giggles. "Oh, I suddenly get it! Mender, have you ever dealt with an owl before?" she inquired, sounding deeply amused by something.

I flattened my ears back and gave her a stern glare before shaking my head. Why was she laughing at us? "I've read about them kinda, at least in passing. Well, my original did, anyway," I elaborated, sighing weakly.

"Mender, owls can't talk. The 'who' noise is just the sound the male owl makes most often. Owlowiscious was probably trying to explain that to you with the book," Twilight explained.

I stared at her for a moment before glancing back at Owlowiscious. He stared back, expression almost knowing and impish. Damn it! My head smacked into the closed cover of the book as I groaned. Twilight burst into giggles again before wrapping her forelegs around my chest. "It's okay, Mender. It's a simple mistake. I fell for it once, and Spike had a whole conversation like that, too," she assured softly.

I sighed and nodded against the book, still feeling idiotic, but enjoying the feel of her pressed into my back. "Come on then. Let's go up and get ready for bed, okay?" she offered, pulling me off the couch hoof-rest and steadying me.

"All right. I suppose it is going to be a long day tomorrow," I reminded myself. Getting enough sleep was important.

"Yup! You go up the stairs first, then. I'll follow behind you," she requested.

Smiling at her, I nodded and headed for the stairs. "Thank you for being so understanding. If I slip and fall, you can catch me this way," I said, realizing she must really care about me. This was a change from the troubles we used to have.

"Of course! Plus, I have the added benefit of getting to stare at your butt as you walk up," she added, falling into step next to me.

Thankfully her magic caught me as I almost planted my face into her floor...

Twilight and I walked along side by side through the overcast town square. A notebook with elaborate writing and figures in it drifted in front of her and she glared at it as if it were everything that was wrong with the world. I hobbled along at a slow pace, but she managed to unconsciously slow herself down to stay side by side with me, even though she was clearly distracted. I'd done my part and gotten her the analysis and measurements accurately. The rest was mostly for her to figure out.

"This is absolutely horrible. Every part of this connection is engineered to be as disastrous to the recipient as possible! There's a feedback loop that causes them pain if the 'owner' tugs a certain way even. As far as I can tell, it's engineered to cause fatal damage to the nervous system upon being severed," she finally snapped, closing the notebook violently with her magic and shoving it back into her saddlebag.

I winced and shifted away slightly at the violent motion, which earned a gentle softening of her eyes. "I'm not mad at you, Mender. I'm disgusted by whoever made that spell. They were a horrible individual," she assured, giving me a light nuzzle on the cheek.

Relaxing a little, I nodded gently to her. "It was made to support slavery, so I'd imagine it's fairly disgusting. I don't remember a huge amount about the data surrounding the link. Tampering causes pain and potentially death if done from the target's end, and I heard it's almost impossible to escape from it," I relayed quietly. It was uncomfortable to talk about it, and I certainly didn't want anypony to hear the details.

My fillyfriend shook her head and lowered it, looking disturbed. "The more I learn about your culture, the more I realize why you'd want to stay in Equestria," she murmured.

That I could snicker to, and I did just that. "Apart from having amazing friends and two absolutely gorgeous mares, right?" It was thick, but I did love watching her blush.

The red shade shifted onto her cheeks and she gave me a playful glare. "Flatterer. Still, I'm really glad you decided to stay with us," she agreed, bumping into my right side with her left. I smiled softly, but then became surprised when she didn't pull back. Instead she kept walking, slowly brushing along me side by side as we went. I guessed it was my turn to blush instead, a bit. Public displays of affection always got to me.

"All I really want is to just live normally. That's why I'll be glad when all of this stuff involving the Keldarians is over with. I want to forget about all of it and just focus on rebuilding any semblance of a life that I can manage," I explained, shaking my head towards the ground as I walked. It was tiring. It still didn't feel like I could relax. A part of me was worried about my own sanity, while another was wishing I had a more definite solution to the other dimension's threat.

My lavender walking companion glanced into the sky for a moment before a gentle smile played across her lips. "It kinda makes sense, now. Your reactions to everything. I'm doing a lot better now that everything is becoming clearer. I know how not to upset you far better, now. I'm thinking we can finally just be happy," she said finally after a good ten seconds of absent staring.

My eyes closed and I nodded. "It's not just you, Twi. I'm better at dealing with things, too. It's easier to realize that you're not going to hurt me now," I assured. More whispering drifted to my ears as we walked past a larger group of ponies, but I ignored them. Of course, I was fairly recognizable with my mutilated leg.

"I'm glad. I'm still going to want to do those trust exercises Rarity mentioned. She insists that doing some confidence building and trust activities between the two of us will help strengthen our relationship." It was a little strange considering the source of the suggestion. Rarity was helping Twilight get closer to me?

Twilight saw my frown and shook her head rapidly, adding, "Rarity still likes you, yes. But we had a really long talk about it. She knows you don't feel the same and really just wants us to be happy. She's an amazing friend, Mender."

My ears flattened back slightly and I sighed. My tail started to flick as I walked, and I mentally reeled it in again, calming myself. "It's just frustrating, is all. She really is a good friend and none of this seems fair, you know? I know I don't, well, feel the same way about her as I do you two, but do you think I should try, just for her sake? Doing nothing about it feels a lot like giving up." It had been digging at me for a while now. The more I thought about my friends not wanting to give up on me, the more I realized that I didn't want to give up on them, either.

Twilight shook her head slowly, after a long half a minute of thought. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Mender. Really, I think you'd just be prolonging things. If you think there's some hope that you might actually feel the same once you got to know her, maybe. But you do sound pretty adamant on that not being the case," she pointed out, slowing as I stopped to catch my breath and lift my left leg up again.

"I just want Rarity to be happy, too. I know I'm indecisive and probably fairly weak at making hard choices like this, but it's not something I'm used to. Feelings were never really considered in the army, from what I remember. Matters of consequence involved weighing loss of life verses probabilities of success," I elaborated, feeling a little better to get it all off my chest.

Twilight smiled in a sad way before nodding. "You can ask me anything you need, and I'll listen whenever you need it, Mender. Don't keep things inside. I've read up on traumatic events and the best recoveries from them, and what I've found out so far say that it's really bad to not talk about things. Fluttershy and I are here for you," she assured, giving a stern and confident nod.

Both of us were distracted by a sudden gasp. I turned to my right just in time to see a wide-eyed mare scurry backwards away from me before fleeing, eyes looking wide and panicked. Eh?! A shot of panic shifted through me as well and I double-checked my systems, peeking at my back in paranoia. There was nothing there, of course, and my readouts said I was in 'normal' mode. Why was she running away, then?

"Well, that was weird. I'd heard everypony is still nervous over the Everfree accident, though. Maybe you remind them of it?" Twilight guessed hesitantly. My ears drooped and I sighed.

"That's just perfect. I hope not. I'm not going to hurt anypony," I groaned, more than a little annoyed over the situation. Nirru had ruined everything. Part of me still regretted letting her go. I stopped for a moment, remembering the toothy grin and the sheer delight I'd felt from slowly slicing her apart. No. That 'part' of me didn't deserve to see light of day.

My thoughts were derailed a split second later, and both Twilight and I shifted to look for the source of a loud 'Psst!' noise from the left. Oh! The sight of Sugarcube Corner greeted me. I hadn't realized we'd gotten so close already. Rarity was sticking partially out the front door and motioning urgently to us to come inside. Well, that didn't seem like a good sign. Twilight frowned and ducked into the building after Rarity slipped back inside. Inwardly, I groaned before following after the two mares. My bad luck sense was tingling again.

Rarity slammed the door shut and locked it after we got inside. Oh yeah. In order to prepare for hosting the party, the Cakes had closed for today. I was kind of honored that they were doing all of this for me. Didn't that mean they were losing a lot of potential profit?

"Big problems! This is a total disaster! Quick, over here," Rarity requested, motoring towards the nearest table and making sure the shades were closed tight on the windows nearby.

Twilight frowned and trotted after before asking, "Rarity, calm down! What's going on?" That was a good question. Yes, we should ask that! Getting nervous now, I followed after with my systems on high alert.

"You know how I get my subscriptions delivered from Canterlot, right?” the pearly unicorn asked, setting her saddlebags down on the table and rapidly opening them up.

"Well, yeah. But that delivery doesn't come in until tomorrow," Twilight said, tilting her head at her friend. Subscription? Like a newspaper? I sat down and rested my foreleg, deciding to just keep my mouth shut and watch for now.

Rarity rapidly shook her head. "Sapphire Shores was kind enough to send me hers early to tip me off. This is really bad!" she announced, tipping her bag over and spilling five different magazines out across the table. I frowned and hobbled a little closer, hopping up onto the chair to get a better peek. Twilight did the same on the other side of Rarity.

"Rarity, what's so bad about magazines? Are they not hosting your styles like Fancypants promised?" Twilight inquired, shifting a magazine closer to herself with her magic.

My eyes widened however. "Newest Ranked Princess Shows Dark Side with Cowed Coltfriend at Canterlot's Finest Party?" I read out loud, staring in shock at a crystal clear picture of me cowering on the balcony and Twilight facing away from the camera, broken glass littered about her hooves.

"What?!" Twilight shouted instantly, yanking my magazine across the table and slamming a hoof down on each side of it before glaring at the cover. We were right on the front cover!

While Twilight practically ripped the magazine apart to get at the page the story was on, I pulled a different one closer to me and peeked at the cover. A slightly scorched variant of me in Rarity's nice suit, blushing in front of the shattered chandelier with Twilight and Rarity to each side of me. Pleasant. I suddenly didn't like Canterlot so much. This one's title read, "New Scoop On a Future Prince? Dark Storm Clouds are Brewing!" That sounded, well, pleasant.

Flattening my ears back, I flipped the pages gently using a burst of rapid-fire barriers. "I don't know what's going on! Most of the ponies at the party had been impressed. Well, a few certainly thought you were weird or uncouth, but most thought you were a hero!" Rarity exclaimed, pacing back and forth behind us.

"Lies and slander! I do not keep Mender on a short leash! This reads like I'm some sort of monster who enjoys torturing him," Twilight growled. I glanced up at her enough to note her horn absolutely radiating magic as she glared down at the magazine, looking utterly pissed. I swallowed and decided that ignorance was bliss, shifting my eyes down to my own article instead. If we exploded, at least I wouldn't see it coming.

My article here was filled with some fairly impressive photo manipulation. They'd taken the same image from the front cover, cropped it to just me, used a gradient of darkness from my hooves upwards, and then colored my eyes a glowing green for some reason. Was that significant? I silently read the start of the article, frowning.

"The newest potential prince in the married-in royal line has been the talk of the town! From all reports, he's been called a Prince Charming, noble and kind, and even a hero after saving the entire Royal Canterlot Orchestra from a horrible chandelier accident!"

Well, this didn't sound nearly as bad as I thought it was going to. Although I wasn't holding my breath. "What?! But, no! He had those scars when he got here!" Twilight squealed, sounding utterly livid. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew where that had come from, and went back to reading mine instead.

"It's almost too good to be true. Unfortunately, it is. Our brave journalists risked their very lives to dig further into this mysterious stallion's past. Before he was Twilight Sparkle's coltfriend even, we traced all the way back using medical records. More recent information is heavily restricted, which is suspicious enough, but we managed to get our hooves on a single copy of a record from almost a month ago!" the report continued. A month ago? Uh oh. That would have been when I just arrived in Equestria.

"No known parentage. No work history. No medical history. There's not even a name listed at this time! This stallion practically fell out of the sky one day, gaining identity and contacts overnight, and then, out of nowhere, drew the Elements of Harmony into his insidious trap!"

I blinked a couple times. If I didn't realize they were serious, I probably would have started laughing. "Using my connections to keep the poor, timid stallion cowed while erasing his past?! This is insane!" Twilight growled a moment later, spasming and slamming her right forehoof down onto the table again.

Rarity stopped pacing and sighed. "Well, it is the Canterlot Inquirer. It's slightly less believable than the others and does enjoy the odd rumor spreading here and there," she warned, walking up to us again.

That one was the less credible one?! I glared down at the page in front of me and shook my head. It continued, of course, with, "After earning the trust of the Elements of Harmony, his connections spread. Now he's a whisper in the upper tiers of Canterlot itself, and has openly met with our own Princesses, even! His rise to power is unrivaled, but now we bravely report on his past. Our only hope now is to uncover his agenda and reveal what he truly is." My ears flattened back as I saw a picture of myself and Tia at that cafe a while back. Damn it! If they wanted to reveal what I actually was, I had a feeling they were in for one hell of a surprise.

"Beat Mender while performing bizarre, sexual rituals to increase my own power?! I... I don't even know how to respond to this!" Twilight practically screamed. Rarity and I shifted to the other side of the table as the haze of aura started drifting off her. A few splinters started cracking out of the table. Uh oh. Feigning innocence, I went back to reading my own article again. We were probably about to die anyway, so at least I'd die amused.

Rarity sighed and made a series of gentle clicks towards Twilight with her mouth. "Calm down, Dear. They're trying to get ponies riled up, and are very good at it. You're going to break the Cake's table," Rarity warned softly, voice shifting to a gentler tone.

Twilight sighed and lowered her magical aura again before flopping down weakly into a sitting position on her chair. Her magic pushed the magazine away and pulled up the other she'd grabbed prior. That one, entitled "The Canterlot Shine," had Rarity on the front cover, posing in front of the broken chandelier. Interestingly enough, the pose looked like it was taken from when she was on stage with Fancypants.

"Fashion Star Rarity Saves Evening?" Twilight read skeptically, raising an eyebrow to the cover.

Rarity herself blushed and coughed lightly, shaking her head. "That one's simply bending the truth to make it look like the orchestra was saved by moi," she explained nonchalantly.

I tilted my head, unsure of what 'muah' meant, but gathering enough from the statement to realize it wasn't that bad. Twilight shook her head and shrugged. "At least they're not slandering anypony, but taking all the credit away from Mender is still wrong," she elaborated. Eh, that I didn't really care about.

The rest of my article struck me as scarily close to paranoid raving. They mentioned numerous times that I was a sleeper agent and going to topple the Princesses and let some mare take over that they called Chrysalis. There was a word sprinkled throughout that I wasn't sure of, however.

"Hey, Twilight? What's a changeling?" I asked, finally giving up looking for an explanation or definition somewhere in the article.

Twilight froze, causing my eyes to widen and look up at her. Her expression was of shock, slowly melting into that familiar seething rage. "No. Oh no. They didn't do what I think they did, did they?" she asked, snatching my magazine again with her magic and glaring at the page I had open.

Rarity gasped at the picture, rapidly shaking her head. "That's horrible! They're calling Mender a changeling?! This is a new low!" she declared, looking actually disgusted. I'd never seen Rarity look angry before, and it was kind of scary.

"A changeling is a creature capable of shapeshifting into specific pony forms and pretending to be that pony. Their queen, Chrysalis, brought a whole horde of them to Canterlot and destroyed my brother's first attempt at marrying Cadence. Queen Chrysalis even posed as Princess Cadence for a while, trying to destroy Equestria from the inside out so all her changelings could feed on our love," Twilight explained, her right hoof slowly dragging along the side of the table as she rapidly read the article while talking.

Oh. It all snapped into place, even though I'd suspected from the name alone. They thought I was a spy for this Queen Chrysalis, then. "They have no honor at all! To call Mender one of those creatures that eats love is just horrible!" Rarity continued ranting, looking even angrier now.

"How did they get one of the copies of the medical records?! Those should have been locked down by royal decree," my fillyfriend questioned, suddenly frowning as she read over what I already had.

Shaking my head, I lifted the corner of the somewhat mangled magazine and peeked at the front cover again. "Equestria Weekly?" I read out loud, raising an eyebrow.

Twilight frowned and flipped the cover over again before shivering. "This is the most popular and widespread magazine and newspaper series in Equestria. They're not known for their biased outlook. Why are they doing this, then?!" Twilight demanded to nopony in particular.

Rarity sighed weakly and set her head down on the table. "As much as I hate to admit it, none of the three magazines are beyond manipulation. Somepony doesn't like Mender, and probably paid for the articles," she deduced wearily. Her mane was slightly more unkempt than normal, too, I noticed. This must be bothering her.

"Well, if they don't release until tomorrow, officially, maybe we can make some calls and get the articles taken out or changed. I mean, this is practically slander!" Twilight suggested, voice shaky as she managed to maintain her volume.

That didn't explain the weird reactions in town. I opened my mouth to remind Twilight when the door suddenly unlocked and blasted open a second later. Flailing, I almost fell sideways off my chair in shock, readying my guard. Twilight and Rarity whipped around as well, with the lavender mare lighting her horn up almost instantly.

All three of us exhaled as Pinkie bounced in instead, looking significantly better than yesterday. "Ooooh! Hey everypony! I wasn't expecting ya for a few hours," she chirped happily before sliding the door shut behind her. Papers drifted in around her, some clinging to her mane and tail as she shook like a dog and sent them everywhere.

"Oh, pardon us. We had much to discuss and needed a private spot to do so. My apologies, Pinkie dear," Rarity excused, holding her hoof up gently.

The pink one just giggled and rapidly shook her head. "It's totally fine, Rarity! My closest friends can borrow the shop anytime!" she declared, not missing a beat.

"Uh, what are these, Pinkie?" Twilight asked, levitating up one of the pieces of paper that had been liberally sprinkled about the floor now. I lifted one up as well.

Pinkie shrugged and stared at the paper for a second before her eyes lit up. "Oh yeah! There's like, a half dozen pegasi outside that are dropping those all over the town!"

A cold chill drifted up my spine with that all too familiar sensation of dread building inside of me. I tore the paper sleeve off the one I picked up and read the title. It was a news sample. Damn it.

"Equestria Weekly Free News Sample? Subscription Coupons Inside?" Twilight read out loud, voice dropping as her eyes widened. Crap. The large image of me appeared on the front page right under the huge words, glowing green eyes prominent. The header under that was amazingly similar to the main article.

Twilight started to shiver as she stared at the pamphlet she held in her magic. "Uh, Twilight?" Rarity hesitantly asked, frowning slightly.

"I... ah ha ha... aaaahhhh..." Twilight muttered, face flushing lightly as the paper wavered. Uh, that struck me as a bad sign.

A little strand of her mane popped up suddenly, slightly tweaked away from the rest. Another moment later, her coat bristled a little around her shoulders, looking ruffled. I swallowed painfully as Pinkie suddenly shrank down, losing her smile and scooting backwards away from Twilight, who still faced away from me.

"Aaaaah.... AAAAAHHHHH! RAAAAAAAAH!" Twilight suddenly screamed, the slow shift from hysterical to completely pissed was rather terrifying to listen to. The paper in front of her hazed out, then momentarily exploded into flames before flaking away into ash as the superheated blast of air hit Rarity and me. My armor folded into place.

Chapter 40

Twilight never ceased to impress me, time and time again.

"Oh no! This is bad. I mean, these thingies are really mean and it's supposed to be Mender's nice party day! Why would somepony drop these off everywhere when today is supposed to be a super fun day?" Pinkie asked quietly, staring at one of the remaining pamphlets in front of her. Dozens floated through the air around us, rapidly igniting and burning away as Twilight screamed out at the now terrified pegasi trying to fly away from the town square.

She grabbed them all. All seven pegasi were snatched up in a purple and red glow before being hauled out of the sky. At this point, they were probably lucky they too weren't on fire. "What are you doing?!" Twilight screamed after depositing them in front of her in the air, literally holding them there, afloat. I blinked, then waved at Derpy who floated upside down on the end of the line. She smiled pleasantly at me and waved back, seeming unfazed.

"Uh, our jobs? We were paid to drop these off," a pegasus mare towards the middle of the drifting cluster replied. I was amused by her light cyan mane that spiked upwards and back. It meshed well with her lavender coat. Actually, the pegasus right next to her looked remarkably similar in coat and mane colorings, but sported a more relaxed hairstyle and a large bow. Sisters?

Twilight gritted her teeth, eyes narrowing again. "Who? Who is paying you to spread these?" she demanded. Uh, that sounded bad.

"Twilight, calm down," I tried to plead, but only got a somewhat annoyed glare in return.

"Admittedly, I agree with Twilight on this one. Did you girls even look at what you were spreading?!" Rarity asked harshly, pounding the negative feelings out like one would swing a sledgehammer. Why was I the only one not actively wanting to murder something?

The other purple one swallowed and rapidly shook her head, while her sister sighed. "I just wanted this job to be done. No, we didn't bother reading them. That would have wasted time on a perfectly good day off for a Pinkie Party!" the spikey one explained. Wait, did the whole town stop working today?!

"This is slander! Derogatory and blatant lies about Moon Mender! You know, the one the party is for in the first place?!" Twilight snapped, throwing one of the slightly less crispy pamphlets at the two.

"What?! Oh no!" Derpy exclaimed, eyes widening as she snatched up another pamphlet and started reading it as well.

The not so spikey mare on the left flailed in the air suddenly. "What?! You're a changeling?!" she asked in panic, pointing her hoof right at me. Gasps shot through the considerable crowd that Twilight had attracted. My ears flattened back and I rapidly shook my head, backing away from her.

"No, of course he's not a changeling! I've done multiple scans on him for weeks. You really think I would have a changeling for a coltfriend?!" Twilight pointed out, moving rapidly in front of me.

A somewhat older-looking mare's voice sounded out from the crowd, however. "The Equestria Weekly says you'd say that! You're corrupted already by his influence!" she shouted. What?! Oh hell.

"No! That's just crazy. I'm Princess Celestia's student. She's seen me since! Don't you trust your Princess to pick up on something like that?!" Twilight tried to reason.

Pinkie hopped over to the other side of me and covered that direction as well. "She's right, everypony! Princess Celestia likes him, so that must mean he's totally not a changeling!" she shouted out.

"Be careful, Pinkie," I muttered, gesturing towards her side with my muzzle. She gave me a soft smile over her shoulder but shook her head.

"I don't trust him, I know that much! Prove it! Prove he's not a changeling right now," a closer, dark blue stallion near the front row demanded.

Murmurs shot through the crowd, and a few angry snarls joined his. This was insane! "First the attack, and now this! He's been nothing but trouble since he got here! I'm not going to let a monster like that near my foals," was screamed from the back.

My eyes widened as that one hit me dead on. Monster. I really had been nothing but trouble to Ponyville since I got here. Even before I learned that I was a monster. All I'd ever done was break things and cause chaos and destruction. She was right...

"Fine! I have a spell already that will reveal a changeling! I'll cast it on Mender, and then you'll see that everything is fine!" Twilight shouted, horn lighting up.

"Lies! You're under his spell already. No! We need a better way!" the same blue stallion shouted. That sense of dread came up again. Would her spell reveal my other parts, though?

Something small shot up over the crowd before flicking downwards and smashing into the wall behind me. I yelped as I lowered myself closer to the dirt, a still spinning rock coming to a slow rest. "Hit him! Changeling's can't keep their form up through pain! Hurt him so we can see!" screamed a pony from somewhere in the back of the crowd. Oddly, the voice was rather androgynous.

"Stop this!" Twilight shouted, horn lighting up as two more rocks bounced off her magic in front of us. This couldn't be happening. They all thought I was a monster and were trying to stone me!

"Move, Twilight! Get out of our way! One good hit and we'll have the truth," an orange mare with a golden mane shouted near the front of the closing-in crowd.

More rocks flew in before Twilight could respond, and were haphazardly knocked in other directions. Pinkie yelped and dodged sideways as another rock almost hit her in the shoulder. Amidst her dodge, she smashed into me instead and we both almost hit the dirt. I helped her steady herself as best I could, forced to grit my teeth as I dropped my left foreleg down against the dirt to brace her. She was surprisingly heavy!

Then I learned a very important weakness to my proximity sensors. I'd not thought about it before, as it really took a specific situation to take advantage of it, but my sensors could be shadowed out by other objects. Twilight, looking to the right as she knocked two rocks out of the path of Rarity's head, missed a rock to the left. Her body shadowed out the sensor just as she moved out from in front of the rock.

My eyes widened as I sent the signal down my body to pop out a single plate. Pain exploded from my left foreleg as my command was a few hundredths of a second too slow. I actually screamed as the stabbing burst shot through my left elbow area and radiated in all directions. My foreleg gave out as I felt the metal of my brace dent into my skin and tear. Pushing with my back legs, I managed to hit the ground on my shoulder instead of my leg at the last second and tucked myself up into a ball as best I could. My mind reeled in pain as I let out a series of airy gasps. I shouldn't have hesitated to put up my barriers for us! Screw scaring ponies... damn it!

"Mender!" Rarity called out, diving to the left towards me as I curled up.

Twilight's eyes widened as she looked back at me. A half second was all it took. Her expression twisted into a grimace as her eyes disappeared into white light. She whipped around again and let out a scream of rage. The ball of magic radiated out from her horn like a small sun, tearing the wind backwards away from it as it washed over us. Her mane and tail literally ignited in the same instant, the stray papers that had been drifting around her being reduced to a fine dust in a shockwave of heat. She fired a second later at point blank range into the advancing crowd. My eyes widened in shock as she flattened every single pony in the town square, knocking them every which way as they fell over each other and were sent into market stalls. Dust and debris were kicked up into the air as the stalls themselves were ravaged as well, produce and smaller items being sent flying as my pissed off girlfriend radiated out raw energy.

Only one stallion made it past. The blue one from earlier leapt forwards at the last second and managed to just barely get past Twilight's shot. He growled as he lunged, hooves extending back as he made to land on me! My eyes widened as his glowing brown ones narrowed. Wait, glowing?

An orange mare came out of nowhere and shoulder checked him before he made contact. His direction was instantly changed as his eyes widened instead, spinning once and flipping before crashing into a fruit stand a half dozen meters away. My eyes shifted over to Applejack as she slowly stood up fully, glaring at the groaning stallion as he struggled to get out of the mess of broken wood.

Twilight panted in rage as she rapidly looked around the square. Her eyes were burning like the surface of a star, and her horn absolutely radiated raw magical energy. Flames lapsed off where her mane and tail had been prior, moving as if billowing in the wind dancing off her. I'd seen that once before, I suddenly realized! That was my last sight before slipping into a coma after the ship exploded. "Twilight, that worked! Calm down," Rarity pleaded, rubbing her right forehoof down her friend's side to get her attention. Wait, how was flames coming off her head and butt even vaguely possible for an organic being?!

Pinkie was silent as she tore a tablecloth from the wreck of a nearby corn stand and started pushing it into my left foreleg. I winced, and then finally looked down at it. The cloth rapidly turned red, and I shuddered, wishing I hadn't looked suddenly. My internal sensors flared up and I instead did a scan of the damage.

"Ah! Pinkie, the brace is stabbing into my leg. I need to pull it off," I managed to whisper. She frowned but nodded with a surprisingly solemn expression. She pulled the tablecloth back, and I swallowed as I saw the dented metal had snapped before sliding cleanly into my flesh.

"Oh no! Uh... here!" Pinkie squeaked as she pushed her right foreleg down on the very end of my brace. I nodded to her and closed my eyes, gritting my teeth before pulling my foreleg backwards.

The pain was white hot and exploded as I yanked backwards. The wet and slick noise of the wire popping free told me it had worked, and Pinkie rapidly pushed the tablecloth back into my foreleg again.

"There?! Are you all happy now?!" Twilight screamed out, voice sounding as if it were seething in anger. The wind around her picked up with her shout, flames lapsing and dancing chaotically like actual hair. But… how?!

"What in tarnation is goin' on 'ere? Why was everypony attackin' you gals? Err, gals an' Mender," Applejack asked, correcting herself a moment later.

Rarity turned her attention back to me as she massaged my other leg gently, and explained, "These pamphlets contain terrible slander of Mender from the Equestria Weekly magazine and newspaper. They're claiming he's a changeling!"

Applejack stared at the papers for a moment before snorting to herself. A chorus of groans sounded out as dozens of rather confused looking ponies stood up and pulled themselves out of the wreckages of many a food stand. "What ah load o' hogwash if Ah ever saw one! Ah'm ashamed o' you ponies! Can't ya'all decide fer yerselves what's true an' what ain't?!" Applejack shouted out, turning to face them all instead of me.

Twilight exhaled softly as she looked over at Applejack, the burning light slowly fading from her eyes with the deep breath. Oddly, the flames that had lapsed from her prior faded away, leaving totally unharmed mane and tail in its wake. No, just no. I wasn’t even going to ask. The orange and golden mare who just crawled out of a carrot stand suddenly gasped, looking past Twilight and right at me instead. Oh hell. Here we go again. This time I didn't care what they'd think of it. I was going to put my barriers up.

"Oh no! W-What happened? What did we do?!" she asked, however, looking utterly horrified. What? Oh. Oh!

"Ah... Twilight, that stallion's eyes were glowing before Applejack knocked him flying," I managed to say, wincing as I pushed my lower body into a better position. The pain reverberated through my entire foreleg and I clenched my jaw. It hadn't hit any of the main blood vessels in my leg, but the pain was intense. My scan showed damage to a sizable nerve bundle near my elbow, and millions of nanites were released to start internal repairs again. My natural and unnatural regeneration only went so far...

Twilight gasped and immediately looked around for another flier. To my surprise, Derpy sat up on the other side of Pinkie, having apparently landed there after Twilight let the pegasi go to parry rocks. Oddly, only one of Derpy’s eyes was glowing lightly as she frowned.

"T-Twilight. Here's one of the pamphlets; undamaged. I, um, I don't want to hurt Mender. No, I'm not going to," she denied to nopony in particular. Twilight pulled the piece of paper away from her instantly using telekinesis, and it was like someone turned off the light bulb. She frowned and looked around again before exhaling softly.

Twilight glared at the pamphlet for a moment before tucking it into her saddlebag. "I'm going to bet that they're enchanted. But why?" she asked to herself. A second later, she gasped and spun around to me instead. "Ah, Mender!"

"Oh no! I'll go get a nurse!" the orange and gold mare shouted, tearing off towards the hospital. The blue stallion stood up shakily again as well.

"I'm going to need some food after this," I warned Twilight quietly. She looked momentarily confused before it dawned on her. I forced my eyes shut and manually shifted my body's energy flow. The nanites sped up at the same time my regeneration kicked into overdrive.

Applejack's expression shifted to surprise next to me as she watched my wound start to sizzle and seal up. "Oooh, neato!" Pinkie exclaimed, watching the effect with fascination. Their show was cut short, however, as Twilight's magic washed over the affected area. To my surprise, she actually started using a healing spell rather than just covering up what I was doing.

"It didn't hit in a critical spot," I assured, looking gently up at Twilight as I regenerated.

As I lifted my head, my muzzle came directly into hers, however. I hadn't realized she was so close, but she went with it and grinned against my lips, kissing me lightly as her magic restored my outer skin. I smiled and lightly pushed back, feeling better already. My leg even hurt less!

"Ah'm glad yer okay, Mender. Don't worry none about these ponies anymore. They learned their lesson, Ah think," Applejack spoke up, smiling at both of us after we broke apart.

Her eyes rapidly shifted away from mine as I looked over at her, however. Mentally, I sighed. There was no time to say anything, however, as that blue stallion from earlier limped over. Now that I got a better look at him, as he was no longer trying to pound my face in, I noticed he had two musical notes on his flank, and his fur was a very rich blue color, far darker than mine.

Applejack stepped up in front of me like a bodyguard, however. She puffed up and gave him a rather nasty looking glare. "Oh no. Yer gonna stay back if ya don't wanna go flyin' again," she warned, right forehoof digging into the dirt menacingly. Something about it made me blush lightly. It was similar to how she got with Twilight...

"I'm sorry, Applejack! I really am. It's all a blur and I don't remember what happened. I'm so sorry!" he apologized rapidly, halting his advance right there. I took note of a nick along his forehead that was causing a small trail of blood to run down the side of his face.

"Noteworthy! I'm ashamed of you! You're so polite and such a hard worker. What were you thinking attacking Mender like that?!" Rarity shot out angrily, stomping her hoof at him the second he finished talking.

Twilight shook her head, however, turning slightly away from me. "No, I don't think this is their fault directly. It feels like the pamphlets were enchanted. Possibly to magnify doubt and anger?" she suggested, thinking to herself.

"Why would somepony do that, though? And on such a fun day?" Pinkie asked, sounding almost heartbroken. Wait a second... Shifting slightly, I realized that the 'pillow' I was propped up against was in fact Pinkie's shoulder. Oh. Well, the proximity of her voice made sense now, anyways.

"Magnified?" Applejack asked suspiciously, staring over at Twilight. Huh?

The lavender unicorn hesitated before sighing weakly. "Only the most powerful spells can directly manipulate feelings to the point of instilling one that's not there. In order for it to have been this subtle, it would be restricted to only magnification," she revealed, looking down and away from me again. Oh. That I should have seen coming.

Applejack stared at her for a moment before frowning. "Ah think Ah got most o' that. Yer sayin' they already had tha doubt an' fear?"

"Yeah. It's to be expected, really. I'm a strange new pony who shows up out of nowhere with weird abilities, and then an attack happens in my vicinity," I pointed out, looking up at Applejack instead.

"N-No! It's not, well, it's just that you make a lot of us a little nervous, is all. We see you doing weird things and acting a little off and, I dunno. I'm sorry, Moon Mender," Noteworthy apologized softly, lowering his head. The crowd had gathered back around at this point, albeit considerably more passive this time. Most wore new scratches and a few were bleeding, I noticed. The town square looked like a hurricane hit it, however.

Twilight sighed and glanced back over at me, eyes dancing urgently. I recognized the stare and silently nodded back to her. She wanted permission. I wasn't sure on what, but I trusted that she had my best interest in mind.

"I was hoping we wouldn't have to say anything and things would just smooth out without incident, but it's a bit late for that. Mender's had a rough life before moving to Ponyville, however, and he has severe retrograde amnesia. Further, he occasionally gets flashbacks which scare him and might lead to you seeing him 'acting weird'," Twilight explained gently. As vague as that was, technically it was all true. She was trying to get them calmed down, then.

Noteworthy winced as he listened, then nodded silently. A mare stepped out of the crowd that I also recognized, however. She was with Lyra a while ago. Bon Bon, was it? "We're really sorry, Twilight. We haven't been told anything, really. What did Mender have to do with the attack a week or so ago?" she asked softly, giving my fillyfriend a pleading stare.

Twilight stared back for a moment before shaking her head and closing her eyes. "That was exactly what the Princesses said it was. A creature from another dimension attacked my library. Mender happened to be there at the time and was taken into the Everfree. He held it off until Princess Luna arrived, but got badly hurt in the process. You know the rest," she explained. Twilight was amazingly good at saying something that was technically true but avoiding most of the details. That kind of scared me.

"It was a monster. I tried to run away, but it told me what it wanted to do to Ponyville, and I got really angry. Unfortunately, that also made me a bit reckless," I added, shakily sitting up against Pinkie, who nudged me gently into a balanced position.

Noteworthy's eyes widened as he processed my information. "That thing wanted to do something to Ponyville?" he asked uneasily, suddenly unsure.

Applejack cut in instead with, "Yeah. It was really bad. Ponyville would'a been in real trouble, but it don't matter now because Princess Luna an' Mender stopped tha thing. Ya'all are safe now."

"The shield was just a precaution while Mender healed in the hospital," Twilight agreed, giving a nod.

Bon Bon tilted her head, however, shooting me a questioning gaze. "It was important to shield us while you were hospitalized?" she questioned.

"Yes, it was, my little ponies. Mender could hardly perform his duties as our Chief of Dimensional Regulation while he was in the hospital, after all," was suddenly spoken up to our right. What?!

Everypony, including me, turned to look at almost exactly the same time. Oddly, Princess Luna herself walked towards the crowd, a Night Guard to each side of her. I peeked at both of them, but they weren't familiar and I let out a sigh of relief. Wait, what was that about Chief of Dimensional Regulation?!

"P-Princess Luna! What are you doing here?" Twilight asked almost immediately as the entire crowd, minus herself, Pinkie, and me, bowed to the Princess. Twilight never seemed to, and I was told not to. Pinkie could have, I suppose, but I would have toppled over if she did. Her suddenly standing up would probably hurt.

"Oh, that one's easy! I invited both the Princesses to Mender's party!" Pinkie informed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Twilight didn't seem to think as much, however. "Oh. Oh! But, Sugarcube Corner isn't done yet! Oh no!" she squeaked before rapidly opening the door again and fleeing back inside the building. I raised an eyebrow as I watched the door slowly shut, really hoping we didn't need her to deflect anymore rocks.

Luna snickered merrily as she approached, gesturing for all of us to stand up again. "Mender is, if he accepts, the head of the newly formed Dimensional Regulation Unit. It's a branch of the Royal Guard that my sister instated yesterday. Even given his amnesia, Mender is an expert on dimensional travel and magic involving it. We believe that's why he was targeted by the monster," she explained. My eyes widened dramatically as I looked up at her while Pinkie helped me stand up again. How much of that was just a cover story?! There was no way Celestia was going to make me chief of anything.

Gasps and whispers exploded throughout the crowd, and Noteworthy actually shifted to a look of realization. "Oh! You really are a secret agent, then! This news story is so bogus about your past, then. Duh, of course they're going to hide the truth about you," he muttered, kicking one of the half burned pamphlets on the ground.

"News?" Luna asked, looking over at me in minor confusion.

"Long story. Wanna come inside to talk there?" I offered, trying to stabilize myself as I looked about for where my brace skidded off to.

Pinkie gasped and hopped lightly, causing me to wobble. "Oooh, I'll go get you some snacks and tea!"

My eyes widened as she zipped inside less than a second later. "Pinkie, wait!" I exclaimed. As anticipated, my left leg gave out the second weight fell back onto it fully. I yelped and stumbled, tipping sideways as I hadn't expected the sudden shift in balance. Rarity made a grab for me from the other side but didn't react in time.

To my surprise, the ground never came, however. I gently opened my eyes, looking to the left in time to see Applejack had taken Pinkie's place and was gently propping me up. She shifted her gaze away awkwardly, but nodded to me. "Ah definitely ain't gonna let ya fall," she explained quietly.

I stared at her for a moment. She felt bad, and wanted to make up for her perceived slights against me. That much I got. Part of me realized that nothing would really be the same again, but I wanted to at least smooth out this awkwardness. "Thanks, Applejack. Could you help me inside?" I requested gently. If she were just looking for things she could do for me, I guess it could work. The only thing was I had to make sure the requests were dignified. She'd probably do almost anything, but I had a deep respect for the mare and didn't want her doing anything degrading.

She smiled lightly for just a split second, but every sense I had locked in on that and remembered it. She liked that. She liked any way she could think of to repay that. Me just telling her it was all fine was pointless if she didn't forgive herself. "Sure thing, Sugarcube," she said, gesturing Luna and Rarity inside as well with a move of her head.

I watched the Moon Princess step through the doorway, then heard more commotion from behind us. Rarity, Applejack, and I turned back around to look as the orange and gold mare rushed back up finally, the oh-so familiar Nurse Redheart on her tail. Both looked rather panicked, but Redheart gave me a worried smile upon finally making it.

"Twilight healed him a little bit, but it doesn't look like his leg is doing too good," Noteworthy explained, trotting up to the mares as they ran up. To my surprise, Bon Bon stepped out of the audience at the same time and held up my brace in her mouth. Rarity smiled towards her and nodded, picking it up with her magic and floating it over to us as well.

"He had his leg forcibly removed. It's a miracle he's even walking, so that's probably normal. I still want to take a look at it, though," Nurse Redheart explained, walking up after us after glancing towards Sugarcube Corner. A series of gasps spread through the crowd at that, and I winced inwardly.

Applejack, ignoring the reaction, nodded politely to her before requesting, "We're about ta head inside ta have ah talkin' with Princess Luna. Can ya come in an' take ah look at it there?"

"Of course!" the nurse exclaimed, brushing past her and giving me a frustrated glare on her way into the building. I swallowed lightly, realizing I was giving her even more work now.

"Oh, wait! My name is Golden Harvest, but my friends just call me Carrot Top," the golden-maned mare introduced, running up until she was about a meter away before bowing politely.

Frowning, I gave her a nod in return before asking, "Why do your friends call you..." I trailed off as I glanced up to her rather curly, golden orange mane. "Oh."

She giggled but nodded. "You got it! Anyway, I'm super sorry for what happened! If you ever need anything at all, just let me know. I'll jump right on it!" she apologized, eyes softening as she looked rather sincere. Slowly, I nodded back, starting to feel a little shy and honestly having no idea what to do with so many ponies staring at me. Carrot Top grinned happily and Noteworthy nodded in agreement.

"Me, too, of course. I'm a good friend of the Apples and a hard worker. If you need anything, either personally or in the defense of Equestria, please let me know!" he declared. Wow, they were really taking this 'Chief' thing seriously!

I started to cough weakly, but Applejack beat me to talking. "Ah can vouch fer him. He's strong an' ah good worker. O' course, ya also have mah family's support," she chipped in. Er, what?

"Not you too, Applejack! I don't even know what this position is yet!" I reminded, shooting her an awkwardly frustrated stare. She actually started laughing!

"We know what you're capable of, Mender. Stop being modest and realize you actually have skills in this area," Rarity lectured politely, giving my right shoulder a gentle rub with her forehoof. I sighed and looked over at her, but only received a half-lidded wink in return before she stood again and slowly walked inside. Coughing, I averted my gaze politely. So, she wasn't just going to give up, I noted. Either that or she was just being playful to make me squirm because it was humorous...

Applejack snickered even more before gesturing and shoving me inside. She was surprisingly gentle from what I'd been expecting. Luna smiled politely as I slid indoors, then lifted a massive folder crammed full of papers using her magic. Redheart nodded and smirked to me as well, holding up a rather large needle at the same time. Oh dear. This was going to be a long day.

Even knowing they weren't going to publicly execute me, I still had worlds of trouble saying no to mares. One pointless tetanus shot later, I was sitting gingerly on a couch in the upper floors of Sugarcube Corner. The room was immensely pink, which didn't honestly surprise me. It was also extremely crammed with Princess Luna and Rarity on the bed, Twilight sitting next to me on the couch, and Applejack and Pinkie on the floor between the bed and said couch.

I spent another good half a minute staring blankly at the papers in front of me. What was the natural reaction to something like this? Only the top three were meant to be signed by me. The rest were detailed information about the Everfree Incident, an exceedingly detailed table of goals in a suspiciously familiar writing, and oddly enough, portfolio information on a dozen individuals.

"I'm sure you understand where my sister is coming from. This is a purely defensive aligned group meant to safeguard Equestria from any extradimensional risk," Luna explained again after my lengthy bout of silence had drawn on almost a minute.

I nodded weakly. That much was crystal clear. She was forming a mixture of combat and extremely selective R&D to guard against any and all future extradimensional incidents, focusing on defensive measures. "I get that much. I'm just not sure where I fit in, and why you're labeling me the 'chief' of the branch," I elaborated, frowning as I flipped to the next page again. It outlined the goals of the agency and vaguely explained what they wanted me for, but I didn't see where the research and development of alien technologies translated into 'chief'...

"You'll be monitoring and leading an expert team of unicorns in order to investigate and develop counters for any alien technology acquired," Luna informed. She gave a slight shift of her eyes when she said it, and I frowned. Twilight shivered lightly next to me, and I closed my eyes. She said she wouldn't. All I'd have to do is say something. Yes, that might be a better idea.

"This is your writing, Twilight. If you're running overhead on the entire agency, why aren't you chief?" I inquired, looking over at her. She winced as if burned, then swallowed.

A hesitation. Finally she rapidly shook her head, causing Applejack to give her a skeptical look. "I'm not going to lie to you. I'm your organizer and planner in the organization. But, um, I'm not the chief," she explained, not explaining much at all. I raised an eyebrow and she sighed again.

"Twi, it can't be that bad. Just come out with it, Sugarcube," Applejack interrupted, frowning up at her.

My fillyfriend's ears lowered and she shivered again before looking back up at me with a surprisingly determined stare. "No, I won’t lie! I, well, I don't have any actual combat experience. Actually, compared to you, the royal guards that dominate the personnel list don't either," she finally admitted.

I froze, eyes widening slightly. "Wait, what?" Rarity asked, sounding somewhat startled.

"You're expecting to need to use force against threats to Equestria, and want me to lead the guard into battle against them..." I muttered, eyes locked intently on Twilight's. She shivered again and tried to look away with her head, but her own eyes remained frozen on mine as she hesitated.

"Yes, that's true. You're the only one here currently that has led troops into battle. The only other individual who still technically has guard capacity and has the same qualifications is Shining Armor," Luna added calmly, watching the exchange.

I resisted snorting. "Yeah, and he's a prince. I get it. All I've ever led was a specialist squad, however. We didn't see much direct combat," I warned, voice softening. Only a little white lie. Just a tiny one. It took effort to resist shivering.

"Please, Mender? You said you wanted to protect us, and I'll be there with you the entire time," Twilight reminded, edging forwards a little and nuzzling along my shoulder. Heat danced up me and I flushed lightly as she almost touched the base of my neck before stopping. Yeah, not the place for that... Still, that was cheating!

I sighed and looked away from her, staring down at the floor. Technically, I wanted to protect them, yes. I didn't like placing myself under Celestia's orders, however. Further, I didn't want to give these ponies weapons of war. The 'threat' was almost over, unless Celestia knew things I didn't. The entire concept reeked of ulterior motives.

Pinkie was surprisingly quiet during the entire conversation, and shifted herself to a more comfortable spot. I was a little irked that she'd given up her bed. Not only was it her room, but she was also the injured one here. At least I thought she was injured. The way she'd been acting today, I couldn't tell for sure. She must heal amazingly fast.

Finally, she looked back up at me and softly asked, "What's wrong, Mender? Something about it must be bothering you if you didn't agree right away." The corner of my mouth turned up in amusement. Clever deduction, honestly. Above and beyond the others in the room, anyway.

"It bugs me. What is Celestia so afraid of? I've been dealing with it and the threat is almost done with," I said, merely speaking my thoughts out loud.

"It's a precaution, Mender. Plus, my sister worries for other dimensions getting involved due to the nature of the Elements here. It's not just your old dimension she's concerned for," Luna informed. Well, I suppose it was a small chance, but that was true. I was here, after all. If the Keldarians could figure out a way to get here, it stood to reason that others could, too.

Nurse Redheart raised her hoof from the doorway, and everypony turned to look at her at the same time. "Uh, I don't mean to interrupt everypony, but, um, should I still be here?" she squeaked, looking a little uncertain now. Oh yeah, I forgot she was here! Wait a second...

Frowning, I flipped through the paperwork again and came to her portfolio as well. Oh. I nodded to myself and looked back up at her. "Uh, actually you appear to have class-three agency clearance. Welcome aboard!"

She widened her eyes, and then looked down at her own file in my hooves. "Oh. Well, um, okay! I definitely accept then! This is way more entertaining than hospital detail!" she exclaimed.

"Actually, considering the agency shall be based out of Ponyville, I expect you'll probably continue the hospital detail until special request otherwise," Twilight pointed out, causing the nurse to deflate a little.

"Darn. I was hoping I could try on some black spandex and learn martial arts," Redheart muttered wistfully. Er, what? What was she thinking of?!

Luna continued, however, apparently deciding to ignore the comment. "Regardless, the agency is under my jurisdiction instead of my sister's. Further, any countermeasures we develop to defend Equestria shall remain strictly that. No copies and no prototypes are to be distributed anywhere else. We need not these advanced weapons except to defend ourselves from similar," she warned, looking grim.

I exhaled quietly, relaxing a bit. Okay, that put aside a lot of my concern. She seemed to notice this and smirked. No, Luna was amazingly perceptive, if I remembered anything from my dealings with her before. She probably 'warned' me of that simply because she figured out that it was bothering me earlier.

Twilight gave Luna a surprised glance for a second before also smiling and relaxing. "We understand, of course. I believe that is what Mender would prefer anyway," she assured, glancing back over at me with a soft smile.

"Of course! We ponies would much rather party than hurt others!" Pinkie chimed in, nodding rapidly to Luna.

The Princess of the Moon finally rolled her eyes and giggled lightly, revealing, "It wasn't an actual warning. Mender was just concerned about giving ponies weapons like that." I coughed and looked away, causing Rarity to smirk across the way.

"What about tha Elements? Are we on defense, too?" Applejack inquired, looking over her shoulder to Luna.

Luna nodded down to her before explaining, "Purely for defense, of course. It wouldn't be the same as before, however. Tia has requested we limit the Elements' exposure to other dimensions, so their use would be situational. Twilight and Mender should be able to judge when to use them."

I glanced over at Twilight, who nodded and smiled to me. "I'm extremely familiar with the Elements of Harmony. If Mender chips in the extradimensional parts, I'm sure we can come up with information on it," she estimated. I was surprised by her confidence, honestly. If it were just me, there's no way I'd accept this position, I suddenly realized.

"Then do I carry good news back to Tia?" Luna asked me politely.

I hesitated, but finally nodded. Why not? I really did want to protect them, and it appeared that I wouldn't be able to escape being a soldier after all. Pinkie interrupted both my thoughts and my attempt to reply, however.

"No! You're not bringing news back! That would mean that you left. And if you leave, you can't attend the party here, because it's not in Canterlot! If you can't make it to the party, I'll be really sad! So no, you can't deliver the news yet!" Pinkie ordered. Oddly, everything she said was the absolute truth.

Luna stared at her for a moment before smirking and adding, "Of course, Pinkie. I've already cleared the whole day, and was planning on staying. It's wonderful for everypony to truly want me to stay." Oh yeah. Her banishment then return probably left some lingering negative feelings.

Pinkie couldn't have looked more delighted. Well, maybe she could have, but I didn't want to think about that. That was kind of like just happily finishing your cup of ice cream, then somepony informing you that you have twenty seven more cups to finish, this time with chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and brownies. Delicious, but overwhelming at the same time and almost guaranteed to make you throw up. Of course, now I was thinking about it.

The pink one was gone when I snapped out of it again, and I was momentarily surprised. Uh oh. It was never a good thing if she got out of my sight that quickly. The door downstairs slammed open a second later and I heard, "Come on, everypony! Let's get this party started!" Oh.

Luna gave out a deafening cheer before flapping up off the bed and trotting back downstairs rapidly. My head momentarily swam from the decibels, and Twilight leaned over again, giving me a gentle massage. "Just try to relax and enjoy yourself. I'm staying with you all day, so don't worry," she assured.

I nodded weakly, then flattened my ears back as I heard the rampage of hooves downstairs. This was going to be a long night.

One startling, overwhelming conclusion I had come to over the last hour was that Pinkie Pie had absolutely no sense for numbers. Well, that might not be absolutely true. If she knew of them, she certainly ignored them.

Lowering, I ducked under a flying disk before it took my head off, then barely stumbled forward to avoid getting run over by the mare chasing it. Town's square was absolutely flooded with ponies, and Vinyl had moved her sound stage out here instead. The deafening bass that radiated from that direction literally shook the ground I walked on. As fun as the music was, I couldn't manage to get any closer than ten meters. That meant visiting Vinyl was out, as I wouldn't be able to hear what we were saying anyway. Yeah. Pinkie had no sense for numbers. She invited roughly seven times the amount of ponies that Sugarcube Corner could hold by itself.

The library opened itself up for mingling and a quieter scene in which to talk for most, as well. Rarity also surprised me by opening up the Boutique and serving tea for the easily upset ponies. I'd just come from there and was feeling delightfully sleepy, despite the loud noise and potentially fatal collision opportunities. Fluttershy was still there, and said she'd come to the library afterwards. Hopefully that's where Twilight still was.

Seeing as I had been in good hooves at the Carousel Boutique, she'd taken off to open up the library and shift some things upstairs. As she was late returning, I finally decided to wander that way and see what had slowed her down. It could be anything, knowing my fillyfriend.

To my surprise, an uncertain looking Spike sat just outside on the library's step. He shifted uneasily to look in my direction before smiling and waving. I returned a smirk and nod, dodging two mares as they danced past rather haphazardly. Frowning, I stared at the two for a minute, realizing they were the same pegasi from earlier with the lavender coats and blue manes. I oddly couldn't tell if they were dancing or fighting, so I decided to hurry past.

Owlowiscious flew out the upstairs window with a flail, momentarily dropping like a rock before pulling out of the fall and giving a couple of flaps over to me. "No! This was supposed to be a calm and quiet place!" I heard Twilight shout from inside on the first floor. Uh oh.

I ducked my head down while looking over at Owlowiscious. He took the hint and landed solidly on my back between my two shoulders, looking a bit frazzled but otherwise okay. It was amazing how much I noticed him now that I realized he existed!

"Hey, Mender. Twilight's going crazy inside. Ya might want to hang here for a bit," Spike warned, shooting a nervous glance back inside.

I peeked past him and saw Twilight chasing down a little pink-maned filly who had a book in her mouth. Seconds later, a table fell over and crashed in the corner as somepony slipped. Yikes. Twilight's feral scream of aggravation cemented Spike's suggestion into my head, and I sat down next to him. Owlowiscious fluttered off the incline and landed on my head instead, giving a tired hoot. "Agreed fully. When Pinkie decides to party, she really parties," I groaned, casting my eyes upwards at the owl.

Spike snickered and nodded, looking back down at his claws before shaking his head. "It kinda sucks, really. Sure it's fun, but there's no organization to it," he complained idly.

I raised an eyebrow to him before asking, "You're starting to sound like Twi. What do you mean?"

He snorted, but smirked at least. "I just want to find some of our friends to hang out. That's why I'm so happy to see you as well. Sitting out here by myself was kinda lonely," he confided, looking a little glum.

As depressing as it was, I was kinda happy he considered me a friend. I gave him a gentle nudge in the shoulder, and he smiled up at me. "Relax. I'm here now and you don't have to be by yourself, at least. I'm just surprised you're not with Rarity," I pointed out.

"I don't even know where she is right now! That's what I was talking about," he protested, dropping his head down again. Ah, he hadn't heard yet.

"Oh, that one's easy. She's at the Boutique. She opened up the first floor and is serving tea to ponies. She might even need your help to serve it," I revealed.

His expression changed like I'd flicked a switch. "What?! Really? Oh! Oh! I should go help her! If she needs my help, it's my duty to..." he started before slowly trailing off.

I gave him a skeptical glance, but he lowered his arms down again and stared at me. "But you just got here and were nice enough to tell me about her. It kinda feels like I'm ditching you now," he muttered, frowning a little.

My smile widened. Those were some extremely complex feelings. I suddenly realized he might not be as much of a 'kid' as I originally thought. "Spike, it's okay. If she needs help, you should help her. Show her that you can be a white knight, too. She'll realize it soon enough," I suggested gently. Of course, I didn't say anything about the ideas I'd dropped on her the other night.

He perked up and nodded. "Thanks, Mender. You're a good friend. I'll make this up to ya later, okay? Say hi to Twilight for me!" He ran off before I could say anything else, making a beeline for the boutique faster than I realized he could move. Right. Talk to Twilight.

Turning around, I peeked back inside at the horrible mess. Twilight was nowhere to be seen, but ponies appeared to be behaving themselves more, anyway. At least, I didn't see as many little foals in there. Did that mean she was getting the situation under control? Owlowiscious let out a weak, hooting noise, as if reading my thoughts. Yeah. Better stay out here for a while longer, just in case.

Rotating around, I plopped down onto the step and looked out at the crowd, listening to the reverberating beats of the nearby music. Celestia's Sun slowly drifted closer and closer to the horizon, and soon Luna would take over. Did it take her effort to raise the moon? It would seem like it should, but I'd never seen either Princess do it, so I tried not to jump to conclusions. Luna was somewhere in Ponyville enjoying herself, and I wondered what she'd do when she had to start her night.

My drifting mind snapped back to focus as my eyes picked out two stragglers moving along the outskirts of the party, as I had a bit ago. My paranoia increased somewhat as I realized I didn't recognize either of them. The mare was cream colored with a long, striped mane of purple and white. The stallion was a darker blue color, with an even darker mane. At first I thought it was Noteworthy from earlier, but as he got closer, I noticed not only was he different in facial structure, but both were unicorns. They were making straight for the library and the stallion had an expression of purpose. My armor prepped inside of me as I watched them, and I felt my muscles tense and twitch.

They halted maybe a half-dozen meters away and he started fidgeting with his bow tie. I noticed they were dressed rather formally for this sort of party. "Are you sure I look presentable? If he's indeed up to scruff, I want to make a good impression," the male asked, looking over at his partner. Mates? Dating? Married? My ears swiveled around to focus in on them, my hearing magnifying as I kicked on my scouting protocols.

"Dear, for the fifth time, you look fine. You're not going to make a very good impression if you keep getting so excitable. Relax," the mare soothed, nudging his hoof away and straightening his tie with both of hers. As she turned sideways to do so, I got a good look at her Cutie Mark. Three simple purple stars, misaligned in a loose cluster. Interesting. Stars? Her eyes were also a brilliant blue color that went really well with her mane.

They continued moving again before I could consider it further. His Cutie Mark was barely visible at this angle, but I thought I saw some sort of double crescent moon or something. As he got closer, I noticed his eyes were a lighter orange or brown. It was hard to tell as I lost my light.

The mare took a step forwards ahead of the stallion and approached me with a smile. "Ah, hello! Do you know if Twilight Sparkle is in?" she asked gently, surprising me. They were after Twilight?

"Well, yes, she is. She's a bit distracted right now, though. Do you want me to take you to her?" I offered after a moment's consideration. I didn't know these ponies, but if they wanted to hurt Twilight or were secretly spies or something, they were in for a world of hurt.

The stallion scoffed, however, and shook his head rapidly. "I don't need an escort to see my own daughter! She's here, and that's all we needed to know," he shot back. My eyes widened drastically and I started to panic before he plowed past me and headed into the library. Oh, oh hell! That was her father?!

The mare, presumably Twilight's mother at this point, sighed and shook her head as she watched. "I'm very sorry about that. He gets a little anxious about things," she apologized, sounding sincere as she gave me a light bow.

"Ah! N-No, it's fine. He just surprised me, is all," I excused, suddenly having no clue whatsoever what to say. Oh hell. I should have prepared something for this! I knew they were coming tonight at some point. Why didn't I think about it before now?!

She smiled, however, and shook her head. "It's no excuse for him to be so rude. Still, it's not every day that our daughter gets herself a coltfriend and potential marriage material, so I can see why he's worked up," she reasoned, turning and watching him hastily go upstairs. Twilight must not be on the first floor...

Wait. "Marriage?!" I questioned, turning back to the mare with a surprised expression. I'd known her dad was big on that, but the way her mom talked, this sounded like something Twilight herself said!

The mare giggled and nodded before correcting, "Not actually my idea. Twilight herself mentioned that she thinks he's 'the one' and all. It's so cute how she gushes! I'm surprised you didn't hear about him. I mean, she writes us all the time about him, so I figured... the news would..." She trailed off, but I wasn't paying attention. I felt a little dizzy as I sat back down again, head spinning. She wanted to marry me?! But it had only been a month or so! She was talking about marrying me already?

Suddenly remembering that I was still present for a supposed conversation, I snapped out of it and focused back on the mare in front of me. She was giving me a questioning stare, however, and I swallowed, tilting my head back and away from her a bit. "Actually, her letters were very detailed and descriptive. I..." she started, before glancing down at my left leg instead. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she saw my newly repaired brace on it. Oh. Crap. Twilight probably told them about the injury.

She shifted to a smile a moment later, however, and looked back up at me. "Oh, terribly sorry! Where are my manners? My name is Twilight Velvet. My impatient husband you met earlier is Night Light. I'm very surprised I didn't notice sooner, but you seem to have a way of disappearing into the background, even when I'm talking right to you. I guess I thought you'd be taller," she spoke, sounding almost as if she were talking to herself or taking notes on me.

"Ah... ha ha... It's fine. It's very nice to meet you. Um, you probably guessed already, but I'm Moon Mender," I introduced, scratching my head with my brace and feeling kind of stupid. Well, this was still a better introduction than I gave Shining Armor.

If the introduction had been awkward for her, she didn't let it show. Instead, she smiled softly at me and returned with, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I wondered what my future son-in-law would look like. You're very polite, just like she said." That tasty awkwardness returned and I coughed weakly. "Maybe a little too polite. I'll have to work on that," she continued a moment later before grinning.

Somehow, I resisted hiding. "Ah, um, I'm sorry? I'm a little nervous," I apologized, shifting uncomfortably back and forth.

"See? I'll break you out of your shell, however! For now, though, we should go stop my husband before things get out of-" she started to suggest.

"Stop trying to subtly sniff my bed! I know what you think, but I was telling the truth!" I heard Twilight scream from upstairs. What?

Twilight Velvet sighed, muttering, "Oh dear. Too late. He's being creepy-paranoid again." Sniffing her bed? Even I thought that was being a little weird.

"I heard what your brother said! You need to wait to be respectably bonded via unicorn tradition! I mean, really! Not only mating, but joining energy outside of bond? I expected more from my daughter!" he shouted back. I thought she said that was cleared up?!

"Shiny told you that was a misunderstanding! We haven't bonded yet!" Twilight shouted back. Her mother headed for the stairs. Hesitation struck me, but I decided a second or two later to follow her. Even if I couldn't help, I could at least support Twilight. At least I might be able to be a good punching bag as well if need be.

There was more stomping upstairs. "You two were always close. You bribed him, didn't you? Tell me the truth, Twilight Sparkle! His smell is all over the place here. You're a mated pair already!" he rashly accused.

"That's quite enough, Night Li-" Twilight Velvet started as she hit the top of the stairs.

"GAH! FOR THE LAST TIME, MENDER AND I HAVEN'T MATED YET!" Twilight's voice exploded out from upstairs, causing me to wince under the volume of it. It matched what Luna could do.

Everything went dead quiet. Time practically stood still as I momentarily heard only the ringing of my ears. How loud had she said that? I swallowed nervously and turned around at the base of the stairs, only to see that every single pony in the room was staring up at the loft, looking surprised. Damn it. Wait, something was missing.

My ears twitched. Where the hell was the music outside?! A few seconds later, somepony coughed over the microphone. “Well, ‘that’ was awkward. Uh, right on. This next set o’ tracks is a remix I made at Tavi’s request. Some of her music meets some of mine! Let’s move those bodies, everypony!” Vinyl shouted out, recovering rapidly from the horribly timed track switch. The music blasted out most of the rumor spreading a second later, I imagined.

A quiet snort came from the nearby table and I heard, “Well at least we know he’s not a changeling. He’d have starved to death by now!” My ears flattened back, regardless of me not getting the implication. But the way it was said was clear enough. I didn’t even turn to look at them before scurrying up the stairs. Damn it! I could have sworn I heard Rainbow laughing hysterically over our link…

Chapter 41

By the time I got up to the loft, Twilight had both hooves covering her mouth and looked like Celestia had just walked in and slapped her in the face. It was an amusing expression if one were to make fun of the situation. Oddly, that felt better than addressing reality. "Oh no. How loud did I say that?" she asked, looking over at her mother.

"Oh, I'm sure a few ponies near the edges of town missed it. Don't worry!" her mom chirped back with a smile. I shot her a disbelieving stare.

Twilight groaned, however, and lowered herself to the floor. I limped past Twilight Velvet and sat down next to my fillyfriend instead. "Relax, Twilight. It's not that big of a deal," I tried to assure. Sure, the inevitable rabid mocking over the next few days would be annoying, but there were worse things.

"You again? I told you that I didn't need an escort! Who are you, anyway?" Night Light asked, shifting his glare to me instead.

Eh? I looked up at him to respond, but hesitated when his eyes widened. "Wait, I recognize you!" he exclaimed.

"Finally..." his wife said behind me. Here was that 'even worse' turn I'd been waiting for.

"You're that changeling! You're trying to manipulate my daughter!" he declared. Yeah, I figured he'd figure out I was... Wait, what?

Twilight blinked, and then gasped out loud. Huh? Oh! He had looked at the fliers, too, then. Her mother groaned behind me. "You said you didn't believe those bogus stories, Dear," she lectured.

He didn't get a chance to reply. "I'm sorry, Dad!" Twilight yelled out. He gave her a split second look of confusion before she blasted him backwards onto her bed. Well, sticking with what worked before was a safe bet. Still, I would have at least given a bit of explanation first.

"Twilight!" her mother yelped, shifting to a shocked expression before I turned away and limped up to the bed. Owlowiscious took that moment to fly off my head and roost on the bed corner instead. I gave him a light nod before propping myself up and holding out my right hoof to Twilight's father.

"Are you all right, sir?" I asked uneasily as he groaned and hooked my foreleg, letting me pull him up into a sitting position.

Wincing for a moment, he finally opened his eyes and looked over at Twilight instead. "Wait, what? What happened?" he asked uneasily. It seemed to impair their memory a little bit after they woke up.

Twilight Velvet glared over at her daughter, but Twilight shook her head sadly. "You looked at one of those fake articles from earlier. They have a subtle enchantment on them, from what I guessed already. Hitting you with a magical, low density blast is the only way I currently know of to knock you out of it," she explained.

Her mother's expression shifted instantly, and she frowned. "An enchantment? What's it supposed to do?" she inquired.

"Magnify anger and doubt in a pony towards me, setting them up with the perfect mindset to read the article, would be my guess," I elaborated, wincing slightly as I slid back away from the bed. My leg still ached from the rock earlier, and had lessened my tolerance for standing. Taking the hint, I drew myself back and unceremoniously dropped to my stomach instead, sighing as the pressure was pulled off my leg.

"Does it still hurt, Mender?" Twilight asked softly, walking up to me instead and sitting down. I shivered lightly, nodding after a moment's consideration.

Her father looked dazed still, and gave us a confused look. "It feels like I just woke up. You're Moon Mender. The article said that much. That part was true, right? If so, that means you're my daughter's coltfriend," he deduced, it sounding like it was more for clarifying his own mindset than anything. I couldn't tell if it was from the enchantment or the blast Twilight gave him, though.

"Yes, this is her coltfriend. Yes, I talked to him already and he's just as nice and polite as her letters said. Maybe too polite, really," Twilight Velvet explained, hopefully shifting away any potential wrath towards me. Although I didn't know what to expect of her saying I was 'too' polite.

My Twilight shot her a skeptical glance before snickering, apparently knowing something I didn't. "He's not perfect, and can be a little dense sometimes, but I like him just the way he is," she assured, smirking down at me before giving a playful nuzzle.

I rolled my eyes before sticking my tongue out at her, feeling a little more relaxed now. Her parents seemed more reasonable now, but I withheld judgment until her father snapped out of his daze.

"What happened earlier with the fliers?" the stallion in question asked a moment later. He gave me a concerned stare, but looked far less malicious than earlier.

"They were being dropped off all over town from the sky by a bunch of pegasi from the mail and weather teams. Private, paid job by the sounds of it. I'll be looking into that more later, for sure. Regardless, the enchantment on them almost caused a riot and they honestly thought Mender was a changeling, to the point of trying to stone him. I’ve already sent a full report to Princess Celestia." Twilight's elaboration brought back rather painful memories, but I let her continue unabated.

She hesitated and gave me a soft nudge again before continuing with, "I shielded him to the best of my abilities, but one got through and hit him in his injured leg. It's been bothering him ever since."

I started to open my mouth to assure that I'd be fine when I gasped in shock instead. Wait, no I didn't. It confused me for a moment as it echoed through my head alongside the open air at the same time. My gaze shifted past Twilight at the same time she turned around to face her window. Rainbow had just finished sliding it open, and Fluttershy was hovering in the air just inside the room.

"Oh no! That's terrible! I knew I shouldn't have spent so long at Rarity's. Sure, I was upset that it had happened, but if I'd known it was still bothering you, I would have rushed home and gotten some of my pain creams and," she started rapidly rambling.

"Fluttershy! Relax. He's a tough stallion, and you're freaking yourself out," Rainbow reminded, gently rubbing her hoof through the top of Fluttershy's mane. The yellow pegasus gave out a quiet squeak, but then nodded.

Twilight smiled and stood, however, turning to face the two newcomers. I politely averted my gaze from her flank and tail as she did so, coughing lightly to myself to calm the jitters. The combination of physical aching and whatever it was she hit me with earlier was causing weird thoughts. Pheromones? Twilight seemed oblivious, of course. "I'll go get some topical anesthesia from the bathroom, if you wouldn't mind applying it, Fluttershy," she offered gently. Fluttershy nodded so rapidly that it started to destabilize her hovering. She landed a moment later looking somewhat sheepish.

"Oh, that would be wonderful, Twilight. If it's not too much trouble, um, do you think you could also find a small bandage? I'd like to get some covering and antiseptic cream onto the injury site," she requested, landing and walking gently over to where I lay.

Twilight Velvet giggled lightly, suddenly reminding me that they were still here. I really had to work on that paying attention thing. "You're always such a kind pony, Fluttershy. You certainly live up to your title," she complimented, earning a light blush from the yellow mare.

"Oh, I only want to see Mender comfortable. I mean, why wouldn't somepony want to do what they can for an injured pony? Besides, I've been worried about Mender the entire time I was over there! Oh, I hope Rarity isn't upset that I was so distracted," Fluttershy worried, fidgeting slightly back and forth on her forehooves.

Twilight giggled but rolled her eyes, offering, "Why don't we just bring Rarity and Spike back over here then? That way you don't have to worry about Rarity while here, and Mender while there."

Fluttershy looked even more flustered as Twilight pointed out her circular logic, but I just smiled at how cute she looked. "I, um, I think I'd like to stay with Mender for now. It's been too long since I've seen him anyway," she finally excused, looking down at the floor instead.

"Aww, don't get all sappy on me, Flutters! I should also report that Twilight's shout was heard all the way up at cloud layer where I was about to practice my writing," Rainbow informed impishly, tossing a wink in at the lavender unicorn.

Twilight groaned instantly, almost as if she'd been expecting the jibe and set up the reaction ahead of time. "Rainbow! I really didn't need to think about that," she protested. My turn to avert my eyes from those involved with the topic. Fluttershy became much more interesting to look at suddenly. Well, not that she wasn't before, but that was beside the point.

"Thank you, Fluttershy. I'm sorry for worrying you," I apologized quietly, as Twilight started ranting at Rainbow. I zoned it out to the best of my abilities.

Fluttershy looked up at me and smiled softly before shaking her head. "I just care about you, Mender. A lot," she confessed, still a little pink from the earlier comments. She leaned down, however, and gently kissed me on the forehead, letting her soft mane drift over me.

I smiled up at her until Twilight's mom let out a choking noise. Huh? "Uh... what are you, wait," her dad muttered behind me, sounding surprised. Wait a second. Did Twilight tell them about Fluttershy?

"What the hell?! You're cheating on her while she's in the same room?!" her dad shouted out, immediately jumping to conclusions as fast as he jumped up into a hostile stance on the bed. I winced painfully as Fluttershy yelped in my ear and scurried backwards, giving him a shocked look.

Twilight went rigid instantly, then slowly turned around to look at her parents. Rainbow promptly broke into laughter, however. "Ha! You totally didn't tell them about Fluttershy?" Dash asked, words drifting out haphazardly between her laughs and rolling on her back. Well, at least somepony was amused.

"What?" Night Light asked, tone shifting low and pissed off sounding. There was a subtle difference between fury and simmering rage, I noticed.

"Twilight?" her mother asked a moment later, giving my fillyfriend a skeptical look.

Twilight twitched lightly, then swallowed, starting to look flustered. "Ah, well I kinda forgot to mention, um," she started, everypony in the room focusing on her instantly. I could almost see a couple beads of sweat forming on her forehead as she gave the guiltiest smile I'd ever seen. Seconds passed before she finally said, "Oh! I seem to have forgotten Mender's medical supplies. I'll be back!"

"Twilight!" her dad barked, but it was too late. The lavender mare disappeared in a momentarily blinding flash of light. I'd almost forgotten she could teleport. I kinda wished I could, too, at this point.

Her father sighed, however, and shook his head, looking back down at me instead from his higher position on the bed. Well, here we go. Time to take this like a stallion, if that was the proper term. "You weren't cheating, were you?" he asked softly instead, surprising me.

I blinked once, but shook my head a moment later after I recovered. Huh. I'd expected more hitting. I kept my hopes up, and my armor prepped. "Oh, but that means my little Twilight is actually involved in a herd!" Twilight Velvet chipped in a moment later, sounding scarily okay with that aspect. Wait, were they going to beat me senseless or not?

"Dear! You're supposed to be concerned!" Night Light professed, looking flustered now instead.

"Why? That just means our family gets even bigger! And I'll get even more little foals to play with soon!" she exclaimed, shifting from surprised to rather gleeful. Okay, I moved fully into scared and started working on terrified. I'd been scared of the wrong pony all along!

Fluttershy's cheeks, which had been recovering, now heated up again. Maybe I should start carrying a cold pack for her, too? "Ah, well we kind of decided to hold off on kids, at least for a year or so. Twilight will probably wait longer," I corrected, not wanting her to get the wrong idea and fluster Fluttershy.

"What?! You're going to waste a perfectly good estrus period next week?" Twilight Velvet asked instead. Err, that was unexpected.

A light slap sounded from behind me, and I turned to see Night Light grinding his right forehoof against his forehead. "Okay, okay. Before this gets out of hoof, can you answer some questions?" he asked, looking up at me instead.

I rotated around and nodded to him, trying to adjust back into a comfortable position for my leg. "As long as you don't mind me lying down. When I stand up, the blood rushes into my leg and it hurts," I requested, lightly adjusting the brace.

Fluttershy smiled, taking another step closer and lying down as well, pushing right into me with her side as she extended a wing over my shoulder. "Just relax, Mender. You'll feel a lot better once I can wrap it," Fluttershy chirped, apparently forgetting about the foal thing when she got the opportunity to take care of an injury instead.

"That's fine. How many are in the herd?" Twilight's father asked after she settled in.

"It's just those three. I think Rarity is interested too, but uh," Rainbow answered for us, apparently sobering somewhat.

I sighed. "That's a bad topic. Rarity asked me, but I didn't feel the same way towards her. She seems to be taking it well, but I don't know. I feel bad," I elaborated, seeing Dash fall silent.

"Aww. That's not the best situation for anypony involved. I'll have to send her my sympathies. ...and give Spike some encouragement," Twilight Velvet added after a moment's thought, seemingly contemplating to herself. What, did she just like playing matchmaker that much? Idly I wondered what her occupation was.

Night Light sighed but nodded, seemingly assured by the honesty. "Waiting for kids is also an admirable and responsible position. You swear to not having bonded with Twilight yet? I'm a strong traditionalist, and it's considered improper for unicorns to engage in that before marriage," he explained, significantly more rationally than prior. Okay, so this was going better now.

"To be honest, we have partially. Never at the same time, but she's used her energy to manipulate things inside of me for various purposes, and sometimes does it at night to calm me down," I admitted. Fluttershy gave me a reassuring nuzzle, but I was surprised when Rainbow suddenly looked sad. Eh?

Her father looked curious at that information however, and before I could address Rainbow, asked, "If you don't mind, could you elaborate? I'm afraid nopony knows much about you."

I frowned, unsure of exactly what I could and couldn't tell him suddenly. Thankfully, it was solved for me. "We may answer thy questions, if that will suffice," suddenly came from the stairs. I peeked over my shoulder at Luna as she wandered into the room from the lower floor, everypony bowing except for Fluttershy and me, who were kind of as low as we could go already. We instead dipped our heads to her.

"Luna," I greeted her, giving a soft smile. Night Light gasped in offence, but Luna herself snickered and nodded to me.

"Hello, Mender. I was looking for you, actually. However, I now see that all individuals present would do well to see this, too," she greeted back, smiling softly at me. I couldn't help but notice she dropped the formal speech instantly.

To my surprise, as I turned to face Luna instead, there was a flash of light that appeared practically on top of her. She momentarily looked surprised before smiling as the glow bounced around against her form, then shot to the right a meter or so and flared up again. Twilight re-appeared there instead, and looked to her left in surprise. "Oh! Princess Luna! What are you doing here?" she asked, lowering a rather sizable medical kit to the floor. Fluttershy took the initiative and snatched it with her right wing tip, sliding it over to us with surprising dexterity.

"My sister is about to start a press meeting, and requested I let Mender watch. I've decided to show everypony here, however. It will answer a few questions, along with shedding some light onto what happened with the fliers," she revealed. Oh! That was important indeed. All of this crap was probably why Celestia couldn't attend the party today, which was beyond cruel, honestly. Why did I always have to cause such problems for everypony?

With that said, however, Luna lowered her head slightly and her horn lit up. I watched curiously, if not in a slightly apprehensive manner. The last time I'd seen Luna using her magic, I'd been almost turned inside out with a teleportation spell and dropped in the middle of a hospital. The time before that, she was attempting to sever my head.

This time, however, nothing malicious occurred. Instead, a sort of field appeared in front of the Princess of the Moon, and expanded to about a meter wide by a half a meter tall. It shifted from transparent to black for a moment, before a crystal clear image of a large stage and podium appeared. Hundreds of ponies were gathered in the audience, I noticed, as the 'camera' swept over them to zoom in on the podium itself.

Twilight perked up and trotted around the screen to get a better look, of course. Rainbow also looked curious as she took to the air and flew over the display, landing slightly behind me and to the left. At this point, I didn't even have a second thought as she flopped close to my back. I was starting to realize that, by their culture alone, ponies seemed to be a lot more easy-going about physical contact. It made sense, really.

Fluttershy took the moment to unpack the medical supplies, however, and start to tend to my leg. I noticed her right ear swiveled towards the screen, though. All of us quieted as the sound cut in suddenly.

The day was rather clear looking in Canterlot. Rather fitting for the Princess of the Sun to talk to everypony. A burst of wind drifted across the crowd as they gathered near the stage. What appeared to be cameras of some sort were lined up facing the podium, and dozens of ponies with notepads were scattered throughout the front of the crowd. Oddly, the cameras appeared to be an extension on a still picture design rather than motion capture.

Princess Celestia herself walked forwards half a minute later, drawing a hushed wave of silence to expand across the crowd. Was this entire meeting about what happened this morning? She halted in front of the podium and a gentle golden glow encompassed the microphones, gently adjusting them so they pointed slightly below the angle of her mouth. She didn't appear to be new to giving speeches, that's for sure.

"Stallions and mares, I welcome you to the castle. To be honest, this situation was not one I had anticipated ever needing to be addressed, but I've come to the conclusion that there has been some doubt amidst the populous. I'm here today to see if I can clear up some of these lingering concerns and, hopefully, allow things to be put to rest. Any and all questions may be asked by members of the media after I've finished," she spoke calmly. Knowing her personally, it wasn't hard to pick out a certain level of boredom in her eyes. That introduction almost felt like it was routine for her. Of course, if ponies everywhere panicked as easily as they did at Ponyville, that wasn't really a surprise.

Murmurs danced across the crowd, but she continued regardless. "To begin today, I'm going to give you a bit of background information. Many of you already know some of these, but it's worth repeating. Equestria has dealt with situations regarding other planes of existence before," she tossed out. She let the final sentence drop like a judge smashing a gavel, easily knocking the crowd into stunned silence. There was no easy smile on her face or sparkling eyes this time, however. Her stoic expression displayed nothing but a masterful and resolute seriousness.

Celestia scanned the crowd for a moment before continuing with, "This might come as a shock to many of you, but this is the case. Search our history books and studies into magic. You'll find research and case studies into it at multiple points in our history. In all of my time ruling this fine land, never once has this become an issue, however. Until now." More murmurs exploded, but she silenced them all with a simple shake of her head, flowing mane drifting in the fading sunlight.

"That's right. I gave the statement earlier, but there's been some confusion on the issue. My dear ponies in Ponyville were attacked by an entity that came from one of these neighboring dimensions. It was unprovoked and done with malicious intent." Gasps and murmurs again danced across the front row. The ponies began furiously writing, assuming to put every detail of what she said in the papers as soon as possible. Celestia's level of influence was incredible to watch. She never looked outwardly angry or upset, but held a level of absolute authority that impressed me. If she were a Keldarian, abuse of power would start up faster than the sun next to her set. To see a ruler actually act with benevolence and kindness was downright startling.

"But this isn't the entirety of the truth. This much I openly acknowledge. Before this moment, there were things kept secret from the general public due to matters of security. The fact of the matter is that we have not been idle about our defense. Up until a month ago, I had a skilled research team in the field studying this very phenomenon. The goal of such a group was to find out the possible dangers other dimensions presented to us, and find ways to counter these threats. They remained low key and unobtrusive whenever possible under my direct orders," she started to explain. Now it was starting to get interesting. A whole strew of bio information on researchers came to mind, all located in that folder. Was that the team she was talking about?

"I mention this team because the stallion that has been so brutally slandered this morning by a supposed leak in our very media outlets is from this group of researchers. Yes, I'm sure everypony here has heard about Moon Mender by this point. Rumors have spread like wildfire about him, but there's no more need for me to hide the truth. He was a private researcher before being enlisted by me specifically for this task almost three years ago now. He rapidly became the head of my dimensional research division, and his understanding of dimensional transit is second to none in Equestria, I believe," she continued. Oh. This entire conference was a setup to establish a cover story? That much seemed unlikely. But how much of what she was saying was the truth? Had she really had a group studying the dimensions?

More whispers and furious writing ensued, but she carried on regardless. "Great progress was made up until a month ago. A very tragic accident occurred, and Moon Mender was badly injured in an experimental dimensional shift technique. When we finally recovered him, it was discovered that he'd developed complete retrograde amnesia, and didn't even remember his name. Unsure of what to do, I requested that my own student, a master of magical theory and concepts as you all know, to look after him and help him recover. I owed him the very best, after all," she went on. Oh, that was clever. Almost every single aspect of that statement was completely true.

Celestia finally smiled after that, actually chuckling to herself. "Admittedly, those other rumors are indeed true. My student has certainly done more than look after him, and I'm pleased to officially announce that they are now very special someponies towards each other. It pleases me greatly, and I have great hope in their continued happiness," she added. Oh hell. Well, at least that would put a stop to some of the rumors traveling around. Happier sounding murmurs went through the crowd, and surprisingly, more notes were taken. Why did they need notes on that?!

She lost her smile, however, a moment later. "Then, unfortunately, we were attacked last week. Out of sheer luck, the entity went after the library in Ponyville that night. I've little information about its ultimate intention, but Moon Mender happened to be there. I'll not lie to anypony. Combat broke out after Mender ascertained that the creature was a threat to Ponyville. Pinkie Pie and Applejack, two brave Elements of Harmony, assisted in stopping the creature, but the destruction was carried deep into the Everfree Forest. Moon Mender held off the invader by himself until my sister and her night guards arrived and ultimately vanquished the creature. As many of you know, Mender was brutally injured in this event and lost his foreleg in the attack," she recounted. That was mostly true, with a bit of embellishment here and there. It was a bit surprising how honest she was being. Or rather, how honest she could be while lying.

"Circumstances being extremely warranted, my sister took exception for Mender and gave him his leg back with her magic, as he'd so bravely lost it in defense of Equestria. He's still recovering in Ponyville, and as many of you know, there's a party in his honor going on right now. He's watching this conference as I speak. Being unsure of how to handle the situation, however, I decided to maintain secrecy of Mender until today. Now, I reveal all of this to the ponies of Equestria in hopes to stem the tide of distrust and malevolence towards this stallion who has helped us so. It shocks and concerns me to see that a group of individuals would go so far as to use magically enhanced advertising to slander such a kind and polite individual. I wish to see nothing more like it happen again!" she finally declared, frowning out at the crowd.

There must have been some unwritten clue in that final statement that told everypony that it was the end of the prepared speech, as the reporters in the front exploded into questions all at once, causing Celestia to get a soft smile on her face. "One at a time, my little ponies," she reminded a moment later, gesturing to one near the front row.

"Is this Moon Mender going to take a role in Equestrian politics from now on?" the stallion asked instantly, pen at the ready.

Celestia never lost her smile and simply shook her head. "Moon Mender has no interest in politics. I know him personally. His job at this point forward is as a researcher. I'll no longer idly stand by waiting for another attack," she explained, voice soft but full of conviction. It would be interesting to find out how far she was willing to take that.

She gestured to another reporter, who immediately asked, "What are your plans to counter another attack, if one were to happen?" The reporter's voice was nervous sounding, and distinctly feminine. Were any of these reporters from the three magazines that wrote up all the slander?

"A small yet highly specialized and trained team of ponies led by Moon Mender will be our defense against any further attacks. Both the Day and Night Guard are contributing members, and our best researchers are equipping them and researching tactics. This will be our only group with such equipment, however," Celestia replied. She shifted a little bit more towards relaxed with that statement, but maintained her absolute tone. Was she pleased with that question? It certainly leaned more towards Equestria's well-being, in a practical sense.

Another stallion was up next, asking, "What information do we have on the leaks from Equestria Weekly?" Ah, here was the interesting part.

Celestia closed her eyes for a moment before shifting her gaze off 'screen' to the right; her left. "I believe somepony else can better answer that question. If you would, Mister Fancypants?" she requested, moving to her right slightly. Eh? Fancypants himself walked up in his typical attire. The immaculately pressed suit looked good on him when added to the styled mane and elegant gait.

"It would be my pleasure, Your Highness," he said, lining himself up with the podium before exhaling quietly. Despite his proper posture and groomed appearance, his eyes looked very tired indeed. "This matter is being thoroughly looked into on all levels of the company. So far as we can tell, a small group of unidentified ponies used our press equipment to create official looking facsimile early in the morning. They then delivered the fliers to various outlets both here and in Ponyville, enchanting them somewhere along the way," he explained, expression passive. Having a slight angle on the podium showed that his left hoof was shaking slightly, however.

It didn't take long to find out why. "So you're saying the fliers were definitely not endorsed by Equestria Weekly?" the same reporter asked, a moment later.

Fancypants' face flushed lightly as his eyes narrowed a little. "No! The proud company I own does not endorse this voracious and vindictive attempt at slandering a completely innocent stallion! To be honest, I find the very act absolutely disgusting and am ashamed that they chose our company to promote it. Equestria Weekly promotes the absolute truth in reporting at every opportunity. Given that statement, this act is a travesty. There will be a full, front page article in the very next release that denounces these claims and promotes the absolute truth," he assured. His tone didn't sound adamant as much as downright angry over the entire ordeal.

He took a couple deep breaths before calming down and visibly relaxing again. He looked back up at the utterly silent crowd and added, "Furthermore, Mender and I met personally at that party that was so ill reported on. I assure everypony here that he is a good stallion and has Equestria's best interests at heart. These two eyes watched him save the entire Canterlot Orchestra that night despite risk of great bodily harm. He did so without asking for a reward or even hesitating. So ask yourselves; does that sound like a monster to you? Make up your own minds about it."

Celestia was smiling openly at that point. Fancypants stepped back from the podium and walked away the same way he came, ignoring the outburst of questions from the reporters.

The screen became just so much light at that point. I sat there, partially in shock as I stared blankly at the darkening viewing window. He didn't even know me. Sure, his company was technically slandered, too, now that I realized he owned it, but that didn't mean he had to say that last part. Why had he stood up for me, a pony he barely knew?

"There's a reason Rarity speaks so highly of Fancypants. He's a reasonable pony who does what's right," Fluttershy whispered softly, smiling at me in my peripheral vision. I looked over towards her, only to discover that it was an almost knowing expression. It was like she knew exactly what was going through my mind, which further surprised me. For just a moment, I realized that I'd never really understood how close I'd let the yellow mare get to me.

Fluttershy leaned forwards and ever so gently kissed my forehead. I relaxed against her and closed my eyes. A moment later, I felt Twilight lightly rest herself against my back and wrap her forelegs around my shoulders. The heat expanded to all sides of me, and I smiled as I felt two very distinctive heartbeats against my body.

Luna made a happy murmuring sound before giggling. "Celestia requested I stop the film after Fancypants finished speaking. She said you wouldn't likely be interested in the funding and organizational questions that would undoubtedly follow," she explained, stretching her wings out and letting the glow die down around her horn.

My left eye opened to glance over at her and I lightly nodded into Fluttershy's neck. "I'm not so much interested in that as I was about the fliers. Fluttershy's right, though. I hadn't expected Fancypants to stand up for me like that," I agreed, lightly glancing up at the yellow mare. Her muzzle shifted to a slight smile as she rested her chin on my forehead. She looked so peaceful there. I felt Twilight resting her chin on the top of my head as well, almost mirroring Fluttershy from the other side. I had absolutely no complaints about this situation. Although...

"So what Miss Octavia said in her statement was right, then. He really did save the orchestra?" I heard Twilight Velvet ask behind me somewhere. Night Light oddly perked up at that too, but I didn't pay much attention, however, as my mind whirled into motion. They mirrored each other and were very lax. I smiled impishly for a split second before lifting my left foreleg up. Luna raised an eyebrow barely a second in the corner of my eye.

My foreleg extending up, I dipped my head down to pretend to itch my nose rather vehemently. Time practically ground to a halt as everything fell into place quite literally, and I tried to devote the image forever to memory. It might result in my death, after all.

Both mares fell forward as my head dropped. Twilight's eyes zipped downwards in time to catch me scratching, but Fluttershy's just widened drastically. Neither reacted in time before their muzzles touched. Twilight froze in place almost instantly while Fluttershy's eyes started to shiver slightly. There was a hesitation for just a moment. I could have sworn I saw Fluttershy's eyes start to lower slightly as she continued forwards. Then the instant was over as both mares exploded away from me, Fluttershy's wings shooting out to full extension fast enough to almost knock Night Light into the wall next to the bed.

"Whaaaaa! Oh no. Oh no! Um, I'm, uh, really sorry, Twilight! I, uh, oh dear," Fluttershy rapidly started to spew, the chain of 'oh dear's rapidly devolving into a long, drawn out squeak.

Twilight sat there looking more dazed than anything, a blush expanding across both her cheeks. For the most part, I didn't have to act shocked in the slightest, given that Fluttershy accidentally put her knee into my gut on the way back. Giving out a weak wheeze, I couldn't even properly enjoy the fruits of my plan as I flopped sideways, clutching at my stomach with both forehooves. Okay, I probably deserved that.

Rainbow, who had been watching the last of the image fading away, rapidly turned and looked over at us with a questioning expression, apparently having missed the whole thing. "Wait, what happened?!" she rapidly asked, rotating in place to look at the three of us.

"W-Whoa. Fluttershy, calm down. Um, are you okay, Mender?" Twilight asked, finally recovering and restarting her brain as she looked down at me with concern.

I winced and gasped momentarily before nodding, sweet air slowly coming back into my lungs. "Ah, yeah. She just knocked the air out of me accidentally," I assured, deciding to just rest there for a moment. Fluttershy squeaked louder when she heard that, however, and lowered herself flat to the floor.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry to both of you! No. What a disaster!" she murmured, breathing rapidly and shivering. Okay, now I just felt like a jerk.

Twilight edged over to her and gently placed her hoof against Fluttershy's shoulder before gently speaking, "Fluttershy, calm down. Mender's fine, and I'm not mad at you or anything."

"But I k-kissed you!" the yellow pegasus stuttered out, looking horrified at herself. Of course, I knew the real reason as to why she was so shocked. Twilight didn't, however.

My fillyfriend's ears lowered a little and she looked away. "Is it really that disgusting of a concept?" she asked gently. Twilight!

Fluttershy inhaled so fast I thought she was trying to suck up Twilight. Hmm. I think I remembered seeing a video game or something based off that the younger recruits used to play, but I can't remember now. Seems like that comparison would better suit Pinkie anyway. "No! It's not that, Twilight. Um... oh dear," Fluttershy assured, closing her eyes tightly.

No. Was she really going to tell her? Every ounce of support I could manage to push down the empathy link was injected into Fluttershy, who smiled softly when she felt it. "Thank you, Mender. You're right. I have to do this. Twilight, I, um, really like you!" she managed to squeak out, wincing afterwards as if expecting the world to promptly end.

Twilight tilted her head, and I inwardly groaned. Oh no. She didn't think that... "I really like you too, Fluttershy. You already knew that, though," Twilight assured a moment later, shifting to a warm smile before nodding twice. Fluttershy deflated visibly and I sighed. Twilight Velvet slapped her forehead instead, interestingly enough.

"Twilight, stop and think about it for a moment," she suggested in a frustrated tone. Ha! Okay, so her mother knew her a little bit. Gently, I sat up and earned a helping hoof from Fluttershy to stabilize myself again. Rainbow gave me a confused glance and pouted, still having no clue what had happened it would seem.

Twilight froze suddenly, eyes slowly expanding as she looked back over at Fluttershy. The yellow mare blushed lightly and shrank away from the shocked gaze, but having her hooves still on my foreleg, I wrapped my limb up with hers and gave her an assuring smile. It was indescribable to feel her relax somewhat from the gesture.

"You like me, um, more than friends?" Twilight finally asked quietly, eyes lessening in intensity a little as she exhaled. Was this okay to get into with her parents right here?

Fluttershy timidly nodded and squeezed around my leg a little harder. I gave her another soft tug and she smiled lightly. Rainbow's eyes shot to the size of saucers instead, however, and she started looking back and forth between my two fillyfriends. Ugh. That sounded weird even in my head.

"Huh. Well, actually that makes me feel a little bit better over the situation. A herd is supposed to have mutual attraction after all," Night Light pointed out idly, snapping his daughter out of her seeming shock enough to finally blush. Yeah, it was definitely time to invest in ice bags. The three of us got into the most awkward situations. The sad thing was, I only predicted it to get worse.

"Um, please don't hate me. Please? I can keep it to myself and-" Fluttershy begged, squeezing my foreleg tighter than ever. I was suddenly happy it was my right one.

She was cut off before she could even finish the request. "No! Fluttershy, I'm never going to hate you. You just surprised me. I had no idea you liked me like that. Um, when did you start thinking of me like that?" she asked, sounding shocked. Seriously? Even I noticed the odd behavior before she flat out told me. There had to be a record in there somewhere. Did Equestria even keep records? I should get myself qualified for a few of them if they did. Both as record holder in terms of fastest diagnostic of insanity, and as a measuring stick to see who could fool me the shortest amount of time.

Fluttershy thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Oh, that's easy." I didn't expect her to actually recollect it, however.

The castle was dark and cold at this time of night. Honestly, I didn't know what I was doing here in the first place. It was a really bad idea for us to have run off into the forest, and kind of bad that we wandered into this old castle, too, even if it was for a really good cause. Why did the night have to be so dark?! It was just scary this way! At least the moon helped light things while we were still outside.

The stairs kept going up in a tight spiral, and I was thankful to have the girls so close to me. Applejack was so strong for leading the way through the dark, and a part of me wished I could be that sure of myself. All I could do on the way here was run away and panic. Sure, I helped the manticore, but was that really all that useful to my friends? I tried not to whimper as we reached the top of the stairs.

My mind froze and I tried not to scream as I saw the dark clouds and pure anger of the powerful Alicorn. But something was wrong. It only took me a second to notice the broken shards at Nightmare Moon's hooves. No. No! It couldn't be the Elements of Harmony! I stared in horror as the rest of the girls started forwards. If they were destroyed, we couldn't win. It was hopeless.

No, the mare we ran up here to help was facing off against such power all by herself. Even if she was talented, how could she possibly win, though? Why did she keep trying? We should just run away! Twilight Sparkle. I looked over at her just as she turned around to look back at us. In that instant, her eyes swallowed me up. There was something in them that I couldn't even begin to fathom. Surprise, sure. But a deeper warmth. A happiness that we were here that I didn't understand.

She smiled. Yeah, I didn't have to understand. Even if it didn't make any sense, I suddenly felt her energy tugging my heart forwards. She was so brave to stand up to Nightmare Moon all by herself. Her eyes widened and she gasped suddenly, before her expression turned to that of a smirk. Slowly, she turned around to face Nightmare Moon again. What was she doing? Suddenly, I didn't find myself as scared anymore. She was sure we'd be okay, and I believed her, didn't I?

"You think you can destroy The Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong, because the spirits of The Elements of Harmony are right here," Twilight assured, earning a surprised start from the powerful Alicorn in front of us.

That was the first time I saw it. Nightmare Moon looked scared. "What?" she asked incredulously. Twilight then went on to point out how all of us had succeeded in representing the very Elements of Harmony we'd been searching for! They had been with us all along.

Twilight gave me my destiny that day. Her words and feelings were responsible for me becoming the Element of Kindness, and in that moment, she truly understood me. In doing so, I helped give her the hope she needed to defeat Nightmare Moon with all our powers. She trusted in us at that darkest moment, and I realized that was the kind of confidence I wished I had.

Fluttershy finally finished her tale with a pleased nod towards me. I smiled back, of course. "It took me a day or so to realize that I respected the mare who gave that to me more than the confidence I yearned for. Another day or so made me realize that I didn't just respect her, but realized how amazing and gorgeous she was. Um, then I started to l-love her the longer time went on and the more adventures we had..." she continued. Her voice dwindled down below my capabilities to hear afterwards, however. It seemed directly connected to how pink her cheeks got, I noticed. Did that mean if I applied a cold pack, her voice would get louder?

Twilight wasn't taking it nearly as well, it looked like. She sat there with her mouth open and a blank stare aimed directly at Fluttershy, who was starting to get flustered now. "Um, is that bad? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or bother you or make you uncomfortable," Fluttershy immediately apologized, of course. I gave her a skeptical look, but the lavender unicorn finally snapped out of it.

"But, that was, you've liked me since we first met?! I..." Twilight managed to stutter out. Well, never mind. I thought she'd snapped out of it.

"Everything she said made sense to me. I mean, all of you are really amazing, and that was the first time you all shined together," I reasoned, earning a soft smile from Fluttershy.

Rainbow was grinning at this point, however. "Heck, that's awesome! You'd better not apologize, Fluttershy. I'm proud of you for saying all that!" she declared.

The burst of energy surprised the yellow mare, and she gave a squeak before shrinking down a little. "Ah! I'm sorry, Rainbow! Should I have not apologized then?" she asked. Rainbow gave her a deadpan stare before slapping her forehead lightly. I snickered lightly and pulled Fluttershy closer, giving her a soft squeeze. She hesitated for a moment, but then relaxed against my chest as I lightly rubbed her back. Rainbow was right. She was awesome for having said all that. Of course, that just left Twilight to decide what to do with the information.

Everypony in the room redirected their attention back to Twilight, who froze as she suddenly found herself in the spotlight again. "Er, yes?" she asked, looking hesitantly over at me instead. Luna cut me off, however.

"My Equestrian culture may be a little rusty, but I believe this is the part where you either acknowledge and return said feelings, or deny them," she spoke up politely, but rather bluntly at the same time. I felt Fluttershy shiver, but I gave her another squeeze and she buried her left cheek into my collarbone for support, partially hiding her from Twilight. I understood, of course. Sometimes having 'cover' was an encouraging instinct when you're expecting 'incoming fire' from something. Given my level of armor, I actually didn't mind being used as a barricade as much as I thought I would.

Twilight blinked, and then giggled to herself. "You remember what I said earlier, don't you? I'm all for love no matter the gender. Fluttershy's already a herd member once we finalize it, so why wouldn't I give her a chance with me, too? It only makes sense," she reasoned, being remarkably 'Twilight' about it.

I started to laugh before being partially lurched backwards by the rapidly pouncing Fluttershy. She wasted no time in landing on Twilight a moment later and almost sending them both back into the wall. She then proceeded to give her the largest hug I'd ever seen. Admittedly, seeing that mixed with my sudden loss of attention left me just a tad jealous. Still, they were both with me, too, so I guess it evened out. Fluttershy had a lot of catching up to do anyway.

Twilight did laugh after she recovered her balance, and hugged Fluttershy closer to herself, smiling as the yellow wings slipped around her in both directions. They were rather cute to watch. My serenity was shattered, however, as I heard my name shouted at the top of Pinkie's lungs from downstairs. Eh?!

"Are you in here, Mender?!" she yelled again, sounding a bit closer this time. Why was she specifically looking for me?

"Oh yeah! Fluttershy and I were supposed to tell you when we got here that Pinkie was looking for you," Dash suddenly remembered, drawing her attention away from the new couple and looking over at me instead. Eh?!

My ears flattened back at her for a moment, and she shot me a sheepish smile while rubbing the side of her head absently. I sighed and turned away, propping myself up to peek over the balcony. Pinkie perked up the second she saw me and hopped over to the stairs in her usual energetic manner. I had no complaints, however. It was much nicer to see her like this then in pain like she had been.

"There you are! I was looking all over for you. I'd have thought Dashie would get you first," she admitted, sliding to a stop and shifting to a guarded position as I wobbled and tried to make my way down the stairs. It was nice of my friends to be on the lookout for my inevitable stumbles and gravity-induced blunders.

"They're here. They just got distracted. Fluttershy finally confessed to Twilight," I explained, sliding down to her level after slipping the last few steps. She had the courtesy to catch me and slow my fall at least before gasping and hopping unnaturally slowly into the air. I shivered as I watched her float for a second before landing and dancing around in a tight circle.

"I missed it?! No! I'll have to go up there and ask them to do it again! Do you think they'd mind?" she asked, hopping impatiently in front of me.

Snickering, I shook my head, reminding her, "They probably wouldn't mind telling you about it. Although, you never said why you were looking for me."

She stopped for a moment before her eyes lit up again. "Oh yeah! Vinyl talked to Princess Luna and got her to air your fun movie thingy with Princess Celestia onto the sound stage out there! She thought it would be a good idea to clear your name, and then wanted to introduce you after the movie," she rapidly explained. What?! But that would mean getting up on stage in front of all those ponies! I'd be in the light with hundreds of ponies staring at me. Hundreds! My heart started racing just thinking about it, and I rapidly froze. No, that wouldn't work at all. I'd have to talk to Vinyl about doing something else. Why was she even trying to do this for me? Why did they think this would work in the first place? Why, um, why was I floating?

Looking back behind me, I saw Rainbow lightly hooking her forelegs under mine and lifting me into the air. "Don't worry, Pinkie! I'll get him over to Vinyl. You go up and talk to Fluttershy and Twilight," Rainbow assured confidently.

"Ah! No, this is a bad idea, Rainbow! I don't like crowds and-" I attempted to protest, flailing my back legs about trying to shake myself loose. She was absurdly strong, however. Oh yeah, I couldn't have weighed anywhere near what those poles back at the barn did. Well, I could if I wanted to, but that would also put me into Twilight's basement rather rapidly. It would be awkward explaining to everypony how I suddenly, temporarily gained three metric tons.

"Okie Dokie Loki! Meet you there in a bit!" Pinkie declared, totally ignoring me just like Rainbow was.

Rainbow gave a curt nod to Pinkie and a reassuring smile to me before launching both of us straight through the open door of the library, not even giving me enough time to properly whimper. This was a really bad idea...

Chapter 42

The sound was absurd as I got unceremoniously plopped onto the stage. Even though the music was turned down, the bass still was vibrating the wood I walked on. The cheering was incredible, and I did my absolute best to not look to the left at the ocean of ponies I knew was there. Oh hell. Oh crap. Please, please let me not trip. It was awkward enough limping with the clicking my brace made against the stage.

Rainbow had shot me a knowing smile after setting me down and actually landing, not only sticking with me but walking along to my left, partially shielding me from all the ponies. She felt my panic through the link, no doubt. Still, I made sure to send as much 'thankfulness' to her as I could now. Her assured smile told me she understood.

Vinyl absolutely beamed at us from the sound booth, sitting patiently on the steps with several glowing accessories on. Her glowing choker held her microphone, and I saw the wire running off it and to a flat, black box strapped to her hip. Interesting. "And here we have him! Good mares and stallions of the audience, Moon Mender!" she shouted out as we got closer. Oh hell.

To my surprise, a massive level of cheering broke out to the left. Risking a glance, I saw the audience come alive with shouts of actual happiness, and interestingly enough, they all started rapidly stomping their hooves along the ground. The significance was lost entirely on me, but I took it as a good thing. Eyes. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were all watching me. I got a little dizzy and had to look away and back at Vinyl a moment later. The faint, partially transparent screen was easily visible floating high above the stage as well. To my surprise, it was still going and showed a very bored looking Celestia talking at the podium. The sound appeared to be muted.

"There ya have it, Mender! Speaking from somepony who was there and saw it with my own two eyes, I could not, at all, let this continue. It just doesn't sit right, ya know? No matter who these mules are that happen to not like Twi and you, now you know that you have a whole town o' ponies that'll beg to disagree!" she declared confidently, smirking at me. Behind those dark purple shades, I knew her rose colored eyes were just dancing at the spectacle.

Rainbow smirked, and I saw it coming without even needing to hear the squeal from the link. "Heck yeah! Even if you didn't want to, you sure as hay stepped up and helped when needed. That," she emphasized, nudging me in the chest with a forehoof before continuing, "That is what ponies can respect. You have guts and morals, dude." She stared at me only the entire time, and I knew that she hadn't said it for the crowd. Yet, it was different.

I realized it a second later. She avoided using 'hero' completely. She knew that I didn't want any of it to happen, and after seeing what I became, I had no doubt she realized it was far from always a good thing. I was an abomination, and I could never be a normal, real pony. Ever. The very thought of that burned on the way down as I swallowed. Still, at the same time, she just said that I didn't have to be a pony. Guts and morals, huh?

Vinyl grinned, then surprised me by asking, "Way to say it, Dash! Got any words for us then, dude?" Her magic lit up a second later and extended her mic out and right under my muzzle. My eyes widened a little and I looked out to the audience instead. Everything went silent almost instantly and their cheering ceased. For the undercurrent of the simple beats, it felt amazingly soundless in the center of that stage. For a moment, I had to fight back pure panic.

Hundreds of them were all watching me. Half as many had almost stoned me this morning due to that bizarre and subtle attack. I remembered what Derpy had said in Sugarcube Corner. They were just normal ponies, just like I felt like before all this. They had hopes and fears, and this was even more terrifying to them.

Closing my eyes, I nodded to myself. No, I could do this. I flicked them open a second later, and Vinyl's smile widened a little. "Thank you, everypony, for accepting me into this wonderful town and letting me call it home. Um, I know my stay has been trying for some and I didn't make the best of impressions, but everything Princess Celestia just said is true," I started. I saw the murmurs without needing to hear them as the motion picked up in the crowd.

"I'm just a normal pony, honestly, and all of this is scary to me, too, but trust me when I say this then from that perspective. I'll do everything in my power to keep all of you safe, if only to return the hospitality you've shown me," I finished, nodding to Vinyl. I felt stupid after finishing and more than a little light headed, but the cheers surprised me by exploding out again. They either didn't mind it, or they were humoring me. Hospitality not including the angry mob and rock pelting, of course.

I turned to look back at Vinyl again when a sudden shout came from towards the front of the audience with, "Show us your magic, Mender!" A mare's voice that I knew fairly well. I looked back to the left and shot a skeptical glance to Lyra Heartstrings, who sat right up next to the stage, one forehoof up on it now as she waved the other in the air. A horrified Bon Bon sat next to her, shrinking down slightly as ponies turned to look at them. I smiled and turned more fully towards her as she grinned. Focusing on just her, I tuned out the rest of the crowd and it made me feel a lot better at the same time.

As traumatic a time as our introduction was, I guess she at least deserved that. "Whoa, are you gonna really do it, Dude?" Vinyl asked in amusement. I simply nodded without turning and walked slowly towards the front of the stage.

The runes of pale blue light danced out of my left hoof, expanding in shimmering patterns up my leg as I walked. Soon, my right foreleg, then my back ones also joined in the display as I walked towards the audience. The light from my energy emanation danced as embers off each of my steps, my slower speed making my limp less pronounced and easier on my body. I closed my eyes and felt out in all directions with the magic, feeling the lines of light dance across the stage and show me what was there and what wasn't. It was true. If there was anything that I really loved and appreciated in my life, apart from two special mares, it was my magic. I'd tasted its loss, and that tore me apart on a fundamental level, not considering the physical ones.

I stopped in the middle of the stage, my tail and mane starting to drift freely of their own accord as my magic came to life around me in lines and angles. It felt like a pool of light had expanded under me, and I knew it probably looked similar as the lines branched out from that, glyphs and ancient symbols dancing along them like butterflies. Gravity negation, propulsion, tethering, and barrier manipulation all flowed smoothly out of my thoughts, danced across my body, and became reality around me.

In one smooth motion, I inhaled lightly as I lifted off the ground and drifted into the air. More gasps and cheering caused me to smile to myself as I let my barriers and senses expand out around me. My target was already located, but knowing the absolute area was a good precaution. Lyra gasped, then laughed as I caught her in ribbons of light. The light guided my mind to her, showing me every detail of where she existed so I knew where to manipulate. The barriers lifted her up off the ground and caused her to drift into the sky towards me. She giggled and spun herself, rotating in a front flip before I slowed her and opened my eyes again. She gave me a happy grin as I reached out and bumped hooves with her, but then she gasped as the tendrils of light flexed out from her hoof's contact. She watched the flares come off my hoof, dancing like ribbons through the air towards her, and I smiled at her as her eyes started to shimmer. She thought that was pretty?

Nodding to her, I sent her back down slowly towards Bon Bon as I let myself drift towards the stage again. The back of my head ached lightly as I touched down, but I was happy overall. That was the most I'd done yet without tapping into the book, and I saw that my abilities were growing again. That was a good feeling, even if I was nowhere near what I had before yet. Baby steps.

Magic danced around me like fireflies as my hooves touched down against the hard wood again. I opened my eyes and, if just for a split second, everything was quiet. A light mist drew across the dancing breeze. The crowd was still, frozen mid-cheer as the haze drifted through my head. The little blue filly smiled at me from the front row and nodded, eyes open this time. Whatever color they used to be was lost to nothing but milky white textures mixed with dull grays.

"Remember. You have to remember. You're heading towards a bad outcome again. Will you do it? Remember." Her mouth didn't move as her voice danced in my ears. My eyes widened.

The crowd exploded into cheers, far louder than before and I gave a start, looking around at anything that could have changed. "Whoa! That's some amazing stuff ya got, Mender! Even teleportation. High level magic indeed!" Vinyl exclaimed behind me in surprise. What? Wait, something was...

My magic gently set Lyra down like I'd told it to already without my guidance and pulled back into me. I looked back at both of the mares and saw a surprised and somewhat confused Dash looking back and forth between me and where I used to be in the air. I gave her an equally confused expression back, which caused a spike of apprehension along the link. What had happened? I don't remember...

"Let's get this party started again, then!" Vinyl cheered out, knocking my thoughts out of my head almost instantly. She'd made it back to the sound booth and the music exploded from all around me, volume similar to how I imagined the end of world would compare. Rainbow smirked and nodded to me before bursting forward again. She was such a wonderful mare. I didn't think I'd ever have sweeter thoughts about her as she got me a safer distance away from the stage with those wonderful wings.

"Seriously?" the gray mare asked yet again, lazily resting against one of the many food tables. It seemed to be a pattern for us to meet in similar backdrops.

I sighed and nodded to Octavia. "Yeah. I don't exactly enjoy being so active, you know," I reminded softly.

"A day after almost dying in Canterlot, you almost die in Ponyville instead? Then get hospitalized?" she asked incredulously. Glaring, I gestured down to my left foreleg, the very obvious brace still glittering over it.

"Worst. Luck. Ever! It's kinda his 'other' special talent," Rainbow chipped in before shoving another graham cracker s’more into her mouth. Pinkie grinned across from us while making a few dozen more.

There were uncomfortable amounts of ponies around us at this point. I was more than a little surprised when tons had followed from the concert and started asking me a bunch of questions. I remembered the papers Luna had given me and was able to answer almost everything. I sensed a lot of fear in everypony. They were scared, normal ponies who had taken my speech to heart. I did my best to assure that the danger had diminished and that Celestia was confident in that.

"But you're sure it's safe enough to send the foals and stallions off to the campground next week? Sure, it's a bit uncomfortable if they stay, but..." Carrot Top asked timidly from her spot near the front of the group near us.

I nodded towards her while shifting into a more comfortable position to sit in. My systems reported almost full repair of the damage from earlier, but my stomach was complaining profusely while urging Pinkie to hurry the next set of s’mores. Applejack, who had come out of the crowd earlier after Rainbow had landed, surprised me by scoffing instead.

"Darn tootin'! Princess Luna an' Mender took care o' that thing, an' Mender already plans ta go with an' guard tha cabins," she assured, scrapping at the dirt with her hoof in a somewhat irritated looking manner.

Smiling, I opened my mouth to agree when a high-pitched yelp sounded off behind me. My head perked up in surprise as something impacted the table I sat at and lurched it backwards. I rolled once, sensors picking up the three fillies as they bounced off the table and spilled over backwards. My barriers shot out as I flopped upside down against the tipped over table, and I caught them out of the air. A moment later, things slowed again, and my shield deposited all three next to me. Well, that was unexpected!

Scootaloo got up first and dusted herself off before rapidly turning and looking at her flank. I peeked up at the now destroyed flag line they had apparently descended from. "Aww. I thought party entertainment Cutie Marks was gonna work!" Scootaloo murmured in frustration. Party entertainment? My view shifted to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as Octavia slid over and helped me to my hooves again. Both fillies were wearing a makeshift harness of some sort that had pinwheels and flags sticking out of it. I blinked slowly, then looked back up at the flag line, recognizing the rope in the harness immediately. Huh.

Octavia gave me a deadpan expression after I steadied myself, and then nodded to herself, adding, “Never mind. I’m beginning to see why it’s not that unlikely after all. What’s the prognosis on your leg?” I sat down again, feeling a little dizzy from my roll still, but scooted away from the fallen table as it started to shift again. All three fillies followed after me as Applejack nudged it from the other side and slowly tipped it upright again with her shoulder.

“Oh, Mender!” Sweetie Belle squealed after hopping up onto the other table. I lowered myself just in time for her to throw herself off the top of the table and land on the back of my neck a moment later. Saw that coming.

“It will eventually recover on its own, but it needs lots of exercise to get the muscles built back up,” I explained, gesturing gently with it while the little unicorn shuffled around behind me, getting situated on my back.

Applejack walked around the edge of the table by then and nudged her from behind, letting her stabilize herself and cling to my neck instead. Octavia gave out a smirk and nod towards her, and then the other two fillies. “Friends of yours, I imagine?” she suggested, a knowing smirk playing at the corners of her mouth.

I coughed lightly and averted my eyes, but Apple Bloom was quick enough to pick up the welcome. “Howdy, Ma’am! Ah’m Apple Bloom, an’ this ‘ere is Scootaloo. Mender’s new scarf is Sweetie Belle!” she introduced, earning a rolling series of snickers from the small crowd. Some of them were starting to disperse anyway, I guess being bored at this point. Well, I actually preferred that more than anything. It wasn’t like I spent my day lit up like a lightbulb, exploding periodically, or dodging heavy objects descending from the clouds. As entertaining as that was, I’d much rather just be a normal abomination of nature and engineering. The bad luck was getting a tad much anyway.

“Hey!” Sweetie Belle yelped, followed by, “Scarves are worn in the front! The back is more for capes!” I frowned, not entirely certain that was the point, but Octavia giggled and nodded regardless.

“And a very fine cape you are, Miss Sweetie Belle. I’m sure Mender, Savior of the Canterlot Orchestra, is honored to have you,” the gray mare assured in a whimsical and rather theatric tone.

It was my turn to give her a deadpan glare, but Sweetie disrupted my attempt with a sudden, surprised cooing noise before tightening her grip on my neck with a hug.

“Whoa. Mender saved the orchestra?!” Scootaloo asked, perking to attention instantly at that. I slapped my forehead with a hoof.

“O’ course! Don’t ya read, Scootaloo? It was all over in tha papers…” Apple Bloom chirped, giving her orange friend a nudge in the shoulder and getting a glare back. Well, it might have been a glare. It was slightly harder to see now that they’d systematically destroyed the line of lights above us with their ‘entertainment’ attempt.

I coughed lightly to draw their attention again, and not at all to distract from the topic at hand with a timely diversion. “T-That’s not important! Anyway, this lovely mare is-“ I started to properly introduce.

Pink exploded to my right before I could finish as the pink mare herself popped up between the seat and table of the picnic table, knocking the two seated fillies flying into me as she hopped onto the seat and bounced happily. Eh?! Turning, I caught Apple Bloom in my forelegs and tried to catch Scootaloo, but she made a fast buzzing noise and hovered up over my head, landing on it a second later. Sweetie Belle just giggled as she spun, and I frowned, suddenly finding myself ‘wearing’ three fillies. “Now you’re the scarf, Apple Bloom!” Sweetie chided in a playful tone from my back.

“This is Octavia Melody, of the Grand Canterlot Orchestra! She’s the super duper amazing head cellist in it!” Pinkie announced, dramatically flailing her forelegs out at the startled gray mare.

To my surprise, Octavia narrowed her eyes at Pinkie instead. “Ah yes. Pinkie Pie. I should have known you’d be here…” she muttered, glaring at my overly pink and excitable friend. Whoa! The hostility I suddenly detected was phenomenal.

“Well of course I’d be here! Biggest party of the year, and I so totally came up with it. I mean, why wouldn’t I be here? My most awesome friend Mender is the guest of honor and everything after I kinda accidentally poisoned him and then spilled acid all over him and then injured his leg which was already injured from falling out of a tree while trying to save a little baby bird who’d stumbled out of the nest after it had problems flying and tried to prove that it could after its mommy left to go get another set of worms for them and ran into Fluttershy who was inquiring as to where Mender was in the first place!” Pinkie gasped out.

There was dead silence as everyone stared blankly at her. Even Octavia had shifted from irritated to more bewildered at that point. "Pinkie... I think he forgave you for most of that stuff already..." Rainbow pointed out, holding her hoof to her forehead. I blinked, but nodded after my processor had caught up with the rambling.

"Oh, I know that! But I promised him a super awesome party and I keep my promises!" she corrected, nodding twice before grinning at me again. I smiled at her and started to nod when a series of rapid fire flashes to my left startled me. My head turned just in time to see Twilight of all mares with her face literally an inch from mine.

My totally natural reaction, of course, was to yelp in panic and flail backwards. "Sorry! Gotta borrow Mender real fast!" she squeaked out faster than I could fall over before grabbing me around the waist. The world rapidly disappeared into a wrinkle as reality seemed to fall in upon us and we were yanked sideways a hundredth of a second later.

After a few dozen compressions and expansions, I was feeling remarkably similar to how I imagined a slinky must feel. It was a fun spring toy I used to love playing with as a little Keldarian kitten and could have kept me entertained for hours, but it wasn't pleasant being treated like one. Well, technically it wasn't 'me' who played with the toy, but the memory felt fond regardless and served as a good example.

My head spun as I fell out of probably the thirtieth expansion and the world finally stopped moving. I groaned as Twilight let me go, only for me to fall onto a soft bed with three fillies spilling out after me. Oh hell. She hauled them along, too? "Oh... oh wow. My stomach feels like it's upside down..." Scootaloo groaned, rolling over and flopping onto her back as her eyes spun.

"Please make it stop. Ah wanna get off..." Apple Bloom groaned, sliding to her stomach and just lying there next to me. My sympathy extended to her, as my head spun, too. Only a light groan came from Sweetie, who still clung fiercely to my back with mastered conviction, refusing to let go.

Twilight looked shocked suddenly, looking at all three fillies. "Eh?! Girls? Wait, why did you come along, too? I should have only grabbed Mender..." she muttered.

"They were kinda holding on to me..." I informed in a low voice, lying in a still position on the covers. At least the landing had been soft. My sense of smell picked up Twilight all over the surface, and I realized this must be her bed. Why was I back at the library suddenly?

A light giggle sounded to the right, and I recognized the tone as Twilight Velvet almost instantly. My head rotated to find both of Twilight's parents sitting there, watching me and the fillies. Well, this was weird. Had I forgotten about something again? My mind strained, and I pondered making a program to run that would keep track of important points I tossed into it. Surely a database was better than my crappy memory.

"Don't mind us, Mender. Under proper unicorn tradition, we're simply here to make sure you properly consummate your relationship by observing," Twilight Velvet assured. My stomach lurched into the bottom of my lungs and I momentarily gagged, breaking into a coughing fit as I rolled to my side, gasping. What?!

Night Light gave her a slightly annoyed glare, and Twilight shot out, "Mother!" Eh? Oh, wait. I was being teased again... Damn it.

Twilight Velvet burst into snickering and I realized I'd been conned. "Consu-wha?" Sweetie Belle asked a moment later, looking up from my neck. Oh. Oh yeah. Oops. Well, it technically wasn't my fault, as I hadn't been the one to say that.

"Don't care. Too dizzy..." Scootaloo groaned, eyes closed now as she held both sides of her head with her forehooves. Oh, that might have been particularly bad for a pegasus.

Night Light sighed and shook his head, giving his wife a final irked glare before turning back to me and nodding. "Actually, we simply wanted to talk to you before we headed back to the hotel room. It's important, although I hadn't expected my overly excitable daughter to immediately retrieve you. I'd specified in a few minutes..." he explained, raising an eyebrow past me to the now lightly blushing Twilight, who looked away. Heh. I could agree with that description.

Slowly, I managed to sit upright on the bed. Sweetie slowly slid down my back until she landed on my tail and walked over to help Apple Bloom up. A few seconds later, I felt a light impact on my head and peeked upwards in time to see Owlowiscious look down at me. He gave a 'hoo' noise a moment later, and I nodded. Eh, I made a good perch I guess. "I'll answer anything I can, of course. I, um, want to be as helpful as possible," I muttered, deciding to just ignore the owl sitting on my head. How had I missed him all this time?!

"That's a good start. Why do you want to be as helpful as possible?" her father asked almost instantly, taking me aback.

"Well, I'm not very good at first impressions and I really wanted to, um, make a good one on Twilight's parents? I mean, not that I ever want to make a bad impression per say, but I'm very good at being, uh, awkward I suppose?' I tried to explain. The longer I went on, the more her mother giggled, but her dad just raised an eyebrow up.

"Why do you want to make a good impression on us, is more what I meant," he furthered skeptically.

Aww, crap. I'd screwed up the very first question. Starting to sweat a little, I shook my head rapidly. "Ah, sorry. I really, really care about Twilight and her parents are obviously important to her, so I didn't want to goof up and upset anypony important to her?" The longer I talked, the more idiotic I thought I sounded, of course. More giggling came from Twilight Velvet, but Night Light just averted his eyes over at her with a questioning glance before looking back to me.

He stared at me for an extremely uncomfortable thirty seconds or so before nodding and asking, "If things continue on this path, do you intend to marry my daughter?" My stomach flipped. What kind of question was that?!

"Dad!" Twilight squeaked, as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle started giggling. Scootaloo gave out a groan and slowly sat up again, looking around as if she didn't quite know where she was.

"If she'll have me, yes," I admitted, blushing lightly at the thought. After everything I'd been through over the last month, all I could honestly be certain of were my feelings regarding the two mares. Nothing beyond them was stable in my life, and I had already realized a while ago that they were the ones I really, really wanted to protect. I cared for all of my friends, but...

Twilight went from squeaking to a drawn out gasp as her head whipped around to look at me. "Yes! You two are so cute together… Plus, marriage is important for establishing a herd!" Sweetie Belle chipped in suddenly, hopping up into the air next to me and giving me a happy, blushing smile. I gave her an amused smirk, but she just grinned fully before hugging my left foreleg. Well, I knew her vote in the matter, anyway.

Night Light seemed surprised for once. He stared at me for a moment before tilting his head. "Your other answers were hesitant. All except that one. Why are you so sure of that?" he asked, shifting to a more neutral look.

Well, that answer was a lot easier to explain, anyway. "I've not had a wonderful life, but Twilight and Fluttershy are the best things to have happened to me since, well, ever. I'm not really sure about anything really, except for those two facts. I've already made that choice before, but I know I'd do anything to protect them. Anything," I answered, frowning down towards the floor. I remembered that exact feeling as I held my burning hoof up in an alien spaceship. I'd do anything I had to in order to make sure nothing hurt Twilight and Fluttershy. They were highest on my priority to guard, beyond even Equestria itself.

My eyes widened slightly as I felt the warm fur push into my right side. I looked over in time to see purple as Twilight lightly kissed my cheek. "I agree," she murmured, smiling towards me before continuing. "I used to think I didn't need friendship, but the Elements of Harmony opened my eyes wide to that. I don't think I've ever closed them afterwards. Romance and a coltfriend was something I, well, never thought would be for me. Mender started as my friend and I don't think I really noticed the transition. He still is my friend, but so much more now. Now I can't, and don't want to imagine not having him here."

One probably could have fried up an egg on my face at that point. She grinned at my reaction, and I finally saw Night Light smile towards us. "Yes, I can see that now. From your letters, I know it hasn't exactly been a painless ride so far, but the very fact that you're still together should be a good sign. I've also heard from others that you have morals and character. I'll accept you," he finally agreed. My eyes widened drastically, but her mother stepped up before I could say anything.

"I already had accepted you. Stallions get a certain look in their eyes when they stare at a mare they truly care for and see a future with, and you have a shine to yours I haven't seen since I met my husband. Almost like you'd be lost without them," she cooed, smiling again. Heh. She had no idea how accurate that last part was. If it wasn't for Twilight and Fluttershy, I'd have gone crazy by now. I didn't know if this was the right choice, but I didn't want to lose her. Was it selfish to want something like that even when I wasn't entirely sure what I was? Twilight knew enough about me to make an educated choice, however.

Still, I turned and looked at Twilight for confirmation. She was blushing noticeably, even in the dim light of the library loft. Her smile was definitely there, however, as she leaned in and kissed me lightly on the lips. I joined in smiling after she pulled back, but a high-pitched, drawn out cooing noise distracted me. It didn't take long for me to locate the little white unicorn filly as the source. She wore a massive grin as she watched us, and I snickered, rubbing her on the top of the head.

"Oooh, good with foals. He's a keeper, my daughter," Twilight Velvet added a moment later. I barely resisted groaning.

"Why does everypony say that?!" I asked, turning around and giving a frustrated glance at her mother.

Twilight caught me off guard by answering instead with, "Hmm, you're right. Applejack and Fluttershy already pointed it out, and now my mom, too, who has experience in such. Empirical Evidence thus points to you indeed being good with foals!" Slowly, my head turned to glare at her instead, noticing she sported a rather impish grin. She was teasing me!

"But you are! We have a lot of fun around you, and you make me feel really safe," Sweetie added, leading to a light yet sugary stab into my chest. The filly gave me rather large eyes, almost begging for me to believe her.

"Ah think she's right, o' course. Just based on what ya did fer us, yer ah dependable pony. Sis says dependable is ah darn good thing, so Ah guess that makes ya good in mah book," Apple Bloom agreed.

Both turned and looked at Scootaloo, who looked like she was zoning out. A moment later, she perked and looked at both of them before apparently vaguely realizing that she was supposed to say something. "Oh, yeah, yeah. Uh, Rainbow Dash says he's cool, so he's cool," she tacked on. Sweetie kept staring blankly at her, and Apple Bloom smacked her forehead with a hoof. I couldn't help but snicker at their antics.

"This is perfect! Well, I, for one, fully approve! Night Light does, too," Twilight Velvet started suddenly, snapping my attention back to her. Wait, what?!

"Wait, I do?" Night Light questioned, looking over at her in shock. Oh yeah, he had only said he ‘accepted’ me, which was different from approval I suppose.

She continued, however, as if he weren’t even in the room, with, "You may have our daughter's hoof in marriage, and give us lots of foals! See if you can beat Shining. He's being a slowpoke with Cadence." Oh hell. My mind jumped to a really terrible pun there and I blushed, but Twilight hopped up into the air and thankfully distracted me.

"Thank you, Mom! I'm, well, I've never been so certain that I've wanted something before, and I'm really glad you both approve," she thanked, nodding to both of them in turn.

"I do?" her father asked again, a bit more annoyed sounding this time.

Uh oh. This wouldn't do. "Do you approve, Sir? I'd like your approval as well," I requested, interrupting them ignoring him and attempting to patch the damage.

Night Light looked surprised, but stared at me for a good long second before sighing. His wife smiled softly over at him, looking curious as he nodded finally. "Fine. You're, well, your head is on properly. You have a good sense of morals and are far better than I feared, but you'd better not hurt my daughter!" he warned, shifting to a glare instead.

Swallowing, I rapidly shook my head and held my hooves up in assurance. I didn't get a chance to respond, however, when movement caught my eye heading up the stairs instead. Unexpectedly, the entire crew wandered up, somehow having located us. "Twitchy twitch! See? He's even easier to locate using my Pinkie Sense!" the pink one announced upon beating everypony to the top of the stairs. Eh?! I was?

"Darn Tootin'. It's ah good thing, too! Twi, ya know it's rude ta snatch somepony away in tha middle o' conversation," Applejack pointed out, following after Pinkie. Rainbow followed her, and last was both Vinyl and Octavia walking side by side. Wait, Vinyl? My ears perked up, but sure enough, I still heard the music playing outside.

She smirked as she looked over at me, however, and shook her electric blue mane. "It's on record right now. I get breaks, too, ya know!" Vinyl explained, smirking at me. I snickered, but Night Light surprised me yet again by letting out a sharp gasp, having turned and looked at the new intruders.

"N-No! It can't be... But you're famous..." he muttered, eyes expanding as he took a couple steps forward. Oh?

Vinyl smirked and nodded to him, holding a hoof up. "Aw yeah! A fan! I got this, don't worry..." she assured. Night Light rushed past her a moment later.

"Please, Miss Octavia, will you grant me a humble autograph? I own all of your records and simply love your performance over in Manehatten at the Golden Shell!" he gushed out, disrupting Vinyl's sentence completely.

Vinyl slowly turned around and stared blankly at them, and I swore I heard Twilight's mother mutter, "Here we go..."

Octavia almost gave a knowing smirk towards Vinyl before nodding pleasantly. "But of course! Any friend of Mender's definitely deserves my attention," she agreed, slipping a record out of her saddlebag and setting it down on the floor, pulling a pen out with her teeth. I watched her with fascination as she managed to deftly write her name across the front of the record sleeve before handing it up to Night Light. He was the last stallion on earth I ever thought I'd hear squeal.

"A limited edition version of River Blossom Waltz?! No, no way! H-How much is...?!" he asked, starting to shake after his outburst was completed.

"I can't take him anywhere..." Twilight Velvet groaned, rubbing a hoof to her forehead and shooting me a helpless glance. I shrugged and smiled towards her, kind of amused by the sudden shift in demeanor.

Octavia shook her head and gave him the record regardless. "I've a few on commission, and like I said... Mender saved my life. Making the father of the mare he loves happy is nothing in comparison," she politely explained, smiling gently towards him.

I hadn't expected him to move so fast. He zipped backwards and over to me an instant later, and I suddenly found myself in the most awkward and uncomfortable embrace of my life. "You saved the life of an irreplaceable pony! You're forgiven on all accounts. Please, I accept you into this family with open hooves!" he squeaked out, shivering against me. The cologne he was wearing made me want to sneeze, which would have been even more awkward. Twilight blinked, and then shot us a skeptical look after she was shoved partially out of the way.

After an awkward ten seconds, in which Rainbow started to snicker, Twilight Velvet finally scoffed and hopped forwards, hauling him off me. "Leave the snuggling to Twilight, Dear. Don't forget you have me for that. Speaking of, we should get back to our hotel room," she reminded, tossing on multiple layers of awkward implication.

He coughed lightly before nodding. "Ah, yes. Well, I imagine we'll see more of you tomorrow before heading back to Canterlot. I must talk with you more about what happened at the party!" he suggested before getting prodded into moving by his wife again. I smiled politely and nodded to him, of course, if only to be relieved of the awkward situation a second ago.

"Oh, and, well," he started muttering again, stamping his hooves back and forth nervously as he was shoved closer towards Octavia, who had walked up next to Vinyl again.

"Dear..." Twilight Velvet added, pushing him past the two mares rather rapidly with her shoulder, rolling her eyes.

He started to protest when Octavia raised a hoof and silenced him instantly. "I'm a good friend of Mender's, so we'll undoubtedly see each other again, Mr. Night Light. Vinyl and I shall undoubtedly play at any occasion Mender hosts as well," she assured, causing his eyes to expand rapidly.

"D-Did you hear that, Velvet?! She knows my name!" he squeaked, looking excited. Rainbow had both hooves in her mouth at this point, face shifting red as her whole body shook from trying so hard not to laugh. Pinkie simply swayed happily and nodded in agreement, probably having already decided to invite the two musicians to future parties. She already knew Vinyl, after all.

Twilight's mother gave a sigh and nodded. "Of course, Dear. Now, um, well..." she started before averting her eyes and coughing lightly, nodding pleasantly towards me as a farewell. Then she shifted back to him and added, "Pre-Heat! Get moving! Hotel! Now!"

He let out a yelp and booked down the stairs almost instantly. Twilight Velvet turned and winked to us on the bed before following slowly after him. Twilight herself looked more ready to shrink down and disappear, however. A long squeal came from Rainbow's direction, and she finally exploded into laughter, falling over onto her back as she rolled about. Pinkie joined in, of course, if not to simply roll next to her.

"Well, that was awkward. Almost as awkward as Twilight shouting to the whole town that Mender hasn't gotten any..." Vinyl observed, scratching her temple while re-adjusting her glasses. Oh hell. I really needed to be reminded of that...

Twilight let out a low groan and sank back down onto the bed. I felt myself tint a light pink and coughed as Rainbow's laughter got louder, adding leg flailing into the mix. Pinkie got kicked a second later and giggled merrily as she spun out across the loft's floor. A light fluttering came to my ears, however, alongside a distractingly happy sensation drifting up my spine. I felt her before turning, but looked and smiled back over my shoulder anyway.

Fluttershy drifted up and over the balcony a moment later, looking about before nodding and smiling towards me, landing next to us on the bed. "I left before she went to get you. Um, I wanted to give her parents privacy..." the yellow mare whispered upon landing.

Smiling, I nodded to her softly before kissing her on the cheek. She returned my expression while blushing lightly. Sweetie Belle made another happy giggle, finding herself cushioned between Fluttershy's and my hips. Applejack shook her head finally at Rainbow's antics before sticking a hoof out and stopping the cyan pegasus, mid-roll.

"Don't ya think yer makin' Mender an' Twi feel bad, Dash?" she pointed out, gesturing towards the two of us. Apple Bloom perked up at that and peeked around Sweetie, as if checking on me to see how accurate that was. I gave her an assuring smile. Scootaloo finally sat up as well, looking more than a little groggy, but appeared to be recovering from her apparent first teleportation experience.

Rainbow gave a jerk and sat up, staring over at both of us. Twilight still had her face buried in the sheets, and Fluttershy lightly massaged her back to try to calm her down. "W-What? No, I wasn't trying to rub it in or anything. It was just funny that she shouted it so loud," Dash tried to explain.

"Ah think they got that much, Rainbow. How 'bout we just drop it?" Applejack suggested, tilting her head towards her cyan friend.

There was a slight hesitation before Rainbow nodded again and sat up fully again. Octavia nodded before reasonably adding, "It's probably wise. I doubt anypony really paid it much attention, plus they've only been dating about four weeks now. It's totally within reason to go slowly." I blinked at her before considering it. Yeah, it really had only been four weeks or so. Plus, I spent at least half of that time either hospitalized or in a coma. Oh, and we'd only made it official about two weeks ago.

Vinyl shook her head and gave a nonchalant hoof wave, however. "Psh, I was only teasing anyway. I'm actually pleasantly surprised that they aren't rushing inta things. Makes for a nice change of pace from what I normally see in the club scene," she corrected, sounding a bit annoyed for some reason. I detected a bad experience in the past in that regard, and decided it was best not to ask. At least not at this very moment.

"Ah'd like ta point out that Ah have no idea what ya'all are talkin' 'bout," Apple Bloom suddenly declared, raising her hoof up to draw more attention to herself. Oh, oh yeah. Those three probably shouldn't know about things like that yet.

Her big sister nodded, agreeing with, "That's ah darn good thing! Ah'm also thinkin' we should be headin' on back ta tha farm. We got ah long day tomorrow, gettin' ya set up ta go with yer big brother."

Apple Bloom let out a stifled groan before sinking down onto the covers. I smiled down at her before nodding gently, my right hoof lighting up and lifting her into the air with a barrier. She giggled as the barrier extended, sliding her along it in a dip before flipping her into the air and onto her sister's back as she stood up. My surprise spiked as Applejack gave me the first open smile since the incident, adding a nod to me as she adjusted her snickering sister on her back.

Rainbow yawned and stood as well, glancing towards us as Twilight finally looked up again. "Um, I'm gonna walk with AJ. My cloud house is in that direction anyway. Oh, and sorry if I upset ya," she apologized after a moment's hesitation.

Twilight managed to smile weakly before shaking her head. "No, I just feel stupid for doing it. I let myself get too worked up trying to have Mender impress my parents," she explained, looking away from her two friends and averting her gaze in my direction instead.

Octavia snickered and shook her head, interrupting with, "I believe he made a good impression regardless. I don't believe you had anything to worry about, Twilight." Well, that was to be excused. Octavia didn't know me very well, and didn't realize exactly how badly a situation involving me could turn out. A light 'hoo' came from my head in agreement, and I momentarily freaked out, realizing Owlowiscious was still sitting on my head. How did he do that?! It's like he just blended into nonexistence in the background whenever he wanted!

Rainbow nodded, halting Applejack again as she headed for the stairs down. "Of course! I think that's the best first impression Mender's ever made! Don't forget, he met me when I blew him up," she reminded a moment later, earning a groan from me.

Applejack smiled and nodded instead, suddenly perking up and looking straight at me. I got a little nervous before she smiled again, adding, "Almost forgot. Drop by tha farm before ya head out tomorrow, Mender. Mah brother'll show ya tha way an' walk with ya." Oh! That was indeed helpful. It would be nice having somepony I knew to walk with and assure me I was wandering vaguely in the right direction. Spike was set to come with as well.

I nodded politely. "I'll head over after I'm done at Pinkie's. I'm going to take measurements of their main room so I can get some designs drawn up while I'm gone," I explained a moment later. Applejack momentarily looked surprised, but Pinkie hopped up again in an instant despite being on her back just a moment ago. Damn, she had recovered fast!

"Oooh, you're going to be doing that neat job the Cake's wanted with their front room?! I can't wait! Not only will it be super fun to watch, but it saves us so much effort with running to each table!" the pink one squealed out excitedly.

Twilight's ears perked about and she looked over at me curiously. I attempted to mouth 'later' to her, but she nodded, so I assumed she figured it out. Applejack gave Pinkie an unsure stare, however. "Are ya sure ya should be movin' like that, Pinkie? Ah don't want ya hurting yerself," she asked, sounding rather concerned.

Pinkie rapidly shook her head, however. "I'm fine! I even went to the doctor's today before the party and they said I'm healing up, like, way faster than they've ever seen! So I'm good to go!" she exclaimed. Wait, what? That sounded a little, well, weird.

Applejack's frown intensified, but Rainbow just shrugged and pointed out, "Hey, you've seen how much raw energy she puts out. She did slow down for a few days so all that energy had to go somewhere. Maybe she has super healing?" I rolled my eyes but mentally agreed. It was probably just Pinkie being... Pinkie.

"Eh, Ah guess tha important thing is yer doin' better. We'll be headin' home then. See ya tomorrow, you two!" With that, Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Rainbow Dash headed down the stairs. Pinkie stood there, grinning at me still as she almost vibrated in place. Was she that excited to see this thing built?

Twilight watched her for a moment, almost in a daze before sighing herself. I shifted my attention over to her just in time to see her nod. "Applejack's right, of course. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and Mender even longer, so I suppose we should get some rest," she muttered after another moment.

"Psh, where's the fun in that?" Vinyl asked almost instantly.

Octavia rolled her eyes a moment later before reminding, "Not everypony is nocturnal like you are, Vinyl. Let's go and let Mender rest. We can say goodbye to him at the farewell tomorrow before I take off myself. You're sure you're okay with me staying at your, uh, pad, was it?"

"Heck yeah! You're always welcome, Tavi! And trust me, we'll be there, Mender!" Vinyl Scratch assured before nodding to Octavia. After they reached the stairs, our group dwindled down to six. Well, seven if you counted my exotic headdress.

Twilight watched them go as well for a moment before sighing and nodding. "Well, I'd better go get the Casanova from Rarity's. Come on, you two. Sweetie Belle can be dropped off there, and Scootaloo can be dropped off on the way," she decided. I smirked, almost able to watch her plan out the shortest possible route.

"Aww, do we have to?" Sweetie asked, shuffling up further between Fluttershy and me and wrapping her forelegs around my hip. I lifted an eyebrow and peeked down at her, but she was more intent on shooting Twilight a brutal set of sad eyes. Unfortunately, it was super-ineffective, it would seem, as Twilight wasn't even looking.

"Yup! You get to hang out with Mender for a week starting tomorrow, which will start a lot sooner the faster you go to bed, you realize?" Twilight reasoned. Well, that was technically a false statement. Tomorrow wouldn't get here any faster regardless of her sleeping or not, but I suppose it was all about perspective.

Scootaloo nodded and managed to get back up into a sitting position a moment later. "Fine. Just so long as there's no more teleporting..." she groaned, clutching at her stomach again. I was suddenly glad I wasn't a pegasus.

"I'll come with as well! Sugarcube Corner is on the way," Pinkie chirped, standing upright fully. Oh, I guess everypony was leaving then. That only left...

My gaze shifted towards Fluttershy, who was staring off into space. She sat there with a blank expression for a moment before nodding gently. "Yes, I suppose I'd best get home, too," she finally admitted, smiling over at me. There was a hesitation as she glanced at me, and her expression flickered to a frown a moment later.

Oh, the link. It was true to some extent, of course. A part of me just wanted the day to last forever. It wasn't just that I was enjoying the party. Part of me was enjoying a quiet night for once, and I didn't want to see all of the company leave. It took me a moment, but I realized loneliness was starting to creep up on me.

Fluttershy started to open her muzzle to say something, but Twilight cut in with, "Oh, I'll walk with you then, Fluttershy. No sense in you walking by yourself in the dark," Twilight offered, not giving her much choice in the matter regardless as she spun around on the bed to look at both of us. The mare next to me hesitated, but I nodded softly to her. She frowned, but sighed before nodding back over at Twilight instead.

Both mares got off the bed, and Twilight nodded back to me as soon as Pinkie caught up. "I'll be back in a few minutes, Mender. You don't need to stay up and wait for me if you're tired," she offered. Heh, I would anyway, but it was a kind gesture. She stopped for a moment again, then glanced back at Scootaloo with a raised eyebrow.

Heh. Smirking now, I simply waited for it. "Sweetie, come on," Twilight called back, looking back over at me. Busted. My tail let out a dejected groan before Sweetie shuffled out from under it, revealing her hiding spot. My lavender fillyfriend rolled her eyes before lifting the filly up with magic and hauling her along.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Mender!" Sweetie called out rapidly before being pulled down the stairs a moment later. Well, that was tiring. She really seemed to like me for some reason. Huh. Eh, I was probably thinking about it too hard. Closing my eyes slowly, I heard Twilight shout out downstairs that the library was closing, followed by a lot of ponies walking. That meant I was all alone again.

Seconds passed as I listened to the silence in a paradoxical sense. I felt her before I opened my eyes, and sighed. "You're never really alone, Mender," she whispered into my left ear. At this point, I was too tired to bother. My tentacles didn't extend, but my mind sliced her head off with a thought. My mind. That's the only place she resided, so I had complete control over her in theory.

An echoing giggle as her form burned away again. My eyes slowly opened, the blue glow shining across the room as I looked around. My hat let out a 'hoo' noise, but it was low and quiet. Almost depressed sounding. "Yeah. I'm lonely, too. But at least we have each other," I offered, standing up and walking towards the bathroom.

Owlowiscious hopped off my head and took to the air ahead of me, fluttering into the bathroom and landing on the sink gently, seconds before I hopped up on it as well and extended a barrier towards the toothpaste. "There's something oddly comforting in just talking to you. Maybe I should get a friend like you to just hang out with every day," I muttered gently, manipulating the brush into scrubbing my teeth down.

A pet. Was I responsible enough for one? Not really. I needed actual income if I were to be able to support anything, myself included. I was hesitant at best at the payment Celestia was offering me for this strange new position, after all. I'd at least have to figure out if she merely assigned it as an excuse to cover my public identity before coming to any decisions about it. The timing was very convenient indeed.

Opening the door after I flushed the toilet, a tingling sensation greeted me again. A slight static across my vision drifted, for just a moment, and I sighed. Madness was persistent tonight, it would seem. She sat near Twilight's bed, smiling at me with her detached jaw and bleeding skull. I paused, remembering the lake and stepping forwards, apprehension instead of fear. Owlowiscious landed on my head again oddly, staying with me rather than flying into the room again.

"Stupid bird. Doesn't it know it sits on a monster?" she questioned, eyes devoid of pupils as her body became more and more decayed with each visit. Technically not true, as she shouldn't have a head at all if that was her real corpse. No, she was only in my mind.

"Shut up. The biggest monster is locked away on Keela's ship right now, rotting in a cell. You're just an aspect of my slowly slipping sanity," I whispered into my head, not giving her the satisfaction of a verbal response this time.

She smirked wider, cracking noises sounding off as the right side of her mouth drooped. She heard me, which only further proved my statement that she was only in my head. "We're a monster, too, Mender. I'm you. The you who did this to her. Wasn't it so tasty to tear her apart? Why do you keep up this act?" she questioned.

"Even if I'm not a real pony, I have at least two mares who lo- care for me as if I were. If pretending to be a real pony makes them happy, so be it. I'll do anything for them," I agreed, ignoring her entirely and hopping past, up onto Twilight's bed this time.

Her head made a cracking noise as her neck twisted, face following my motions rather than tracking me with her sightless eyes. I'd only hesitated slightly, but I realized she probably picked up on that. "Oh? Do they care for you, or do they pity you? Maybe they just don't want their new toy to break or get too sad?" she suggested in a singsong voice. Yup, she picked up on it and was trying to play off my insecurities.

"And maybe you're just a cute little boot program that is loaded on my hard drives somewhere that's about to get deleted?" I offered back, silently staring over at her as her grin widened.

There was a slight flickering. Almost a graphical distortion along her image. A small whisper of blue. Yes, the sound blue makes drifted into my head. Okay, that was weird. I frowned as my hoof touched down on something hard while walking. Glancing down instead, I saw Prudentia lying on the covers of the bed. Oh. It was never far away, was it?

"Please, don't forget. If you continue on this path, it will happen again. Don't forget," came in a whisper behind me. I saw her image before even turning to look. The little blue filly sat on the edge of the bed, a light haze suddenly having gathered in the room. Owlowiscious was frozen in place a little past the bed, sitting on nothingness suddenly. I moved again. Or did everything else move?

"You! No. Get away from him. You're supposed to be dead!" the oh-so lovable Nirru-Twilight-thing suddenly shouted from my left side. Well, this just kept getting better and better. Now the voices in my head were arguing about something I had no clue on.

The small filly turned to look at her instead, losing the seemingly perpetual smile she seemed to wear. "You've fallen. You have no voice anymore," she whispered, barely even audible. Her eyes looked so sad. The creature next to me screamed in annoyance and lunged a moment later. My tentacles tore into its side before it even cleared a meter. I'd gotten faster.

Its body shattered, for lack of better words. It became a distortion of color before branching out into its separate prism components. Data could be seen inside the color, and my eyes widened before the creature screamed and winked out of existence. That was new. To my surprise, the young filly looked just as shocked as me. A moment passed and she turned back to me, slowly. Or maybe no time passed at all.

"You protected me," she whispered, in a surprised tone. It wasn't a question, but I nodded regardless.

"You feel kind to me. Call it gut instinct if you want, but you remind me of Fluttershy," I whispered back, purely in my mind. She paused before that soft smile returned, and I nodded to her. "You're Prudentia, aren't you?" I asked gently, off another gut instinct.

"I'm me. Prudentia is me. I'm not Prudentia, however. You are, well, not him. The old master. You are... clear. Clean. I like you. Maybe the path can be changed," she suggested, saying the most she'd ever had to me, ever.

"What path?" I questioned, tilting my head to her.

There was a pause, and she smiled fully. "Soon." It was in my mind, not from her lips. Owlowiscious let out a panicked hooting noise as I blinked. My eyebrow raised up as he flailed in midair, flying again as he landed on the bedpost instead, looking startled and confused. Time had skipped backwards again, just a second or so.

"Ah, sorry. Guess I'm more tired than I realized if I knocked you off. Accident. I'm very sorry," I apologized, blatantly lying through my teeth. Prudentia wasn't what I thought it was, that's for sure. Looking down, I noticed it in front of me again and smiled. It was never far away. Oddly, I took a strange sort of comfort in that fact. I touched the book and watched it float up, resting on the nightstand again. Yes. It was a good idea to keep it close.

Settling in, I looked up at the ceiling and waited for Twilight to get back. Owlowiscious gave a displeased hoot before fluttering up and landing on his stand that I'd never noticed before near Twilight's writing desk. Yes, things were moving forwards. I didn't know why I felt that way, but it seemed right. Now I just needed to figure out where we were going...

Chapter 43

I wobbled slightly, and then took the fourth measurement, careful to keep my balance as I jotted the number down next to me on the pad of paper. My pad of paper. It was the first item I'd bought with my own bits. Well, I'd also bought several pencils alongside it. It was kinda embarrassing. Twilight had hauled me to Sofas and Quills in the morning after we'd gotten to the Cake's and realized I had nothing to write with. Mrs. Cake fought valiantly in attempts to give me a sizable down-payment towards the project, but I managed to negotiate it down to twenty bits after almost half an hour of arguing. It was almost like she wasn't used to haggling in the other direction before! Regardless, it was overly enough to buy some supplies for me.

The saddlebag was a little overkill, however. Shaking my head, I peeked down at the crisscross navy blue straps across my barrel and stomach, firmly securing the saddlebags, which themselves were attached to rotating spindles sewn directly into the leather of the harness. If I hadn't realized Rarity made it and put gemstones on it, I'd have thought it was for military use. It didn't help that I could feel the durability enhancement and protection magic dancing through the leather. Well, it looked like leather. I was actually unsure of what they were made out of. I was rather thankful for the swiveling bags themselves, however. I could access them upside-down this way.

Speaking of... I smiled up at Pinkie again, well, from my orientation. She was technically below me, gravity-wise. I rested on her back, lying on my back as well, and faced the ceiling of Sugarcube Corner. I had no idea where she got stilts or how she got them on, but there they were. Further, I was tied to her back, upside down as she walked along and I took measurements of the ceiling. Probably not the brightest or safest idea, but I had a feeling at least Scootaloo would be proud.

Using a barrier, I slipped the pencil back into one of the many loops along the underside of Rarity's saddlebag harness, sliding my measuring tape off the seal on the other end of the room. "I've got enough measurements for the large part of the room now, Pinkie. We need to get the loading area next, which is over by the cash register," I relayed, examining my notes as I felt us start to rotate.

"Roger, Boss!" she chirped, sounding like she was having way too much fun with this. Of course, she had looked delighted when I agreed to the idea, it being marginally better than Twilight trying to find a ladder in her basement.

"I'm not your boss, Pinkie..." I reminded. Again. It was met by yet another giggle as she walked along, humming happily.

"Oh, I know, Boss. I just don't have ponies accepting my plans very often, so I gotta make sure you're treated well, too!" she explained, making it difficult to hold back a sigh. Admittedly, this plan was a bit unorthodox, but it was getting the job done. Who was I to argue form over function? I was just an abomination of science, after all.

Twilight scurried along under us, moving tables out of Pinkie's way, frantically trying to make sure she didn't trip on anything. I somehow actually doubted that would happen, even if we were walking over an oiled mud pit full of rampaging Kronkshaws. Pinkie's balance was unreal, and she seemed to function at maximum reaction speed even when humming along and swaying happily. For a moment, I kinda wondered if she was Unit 001 in actuality. I never did figure out where the first unit went.

A mild dash of guilt slipped through me as I shifted my eyes to the fully repaired video in my inner screen. It had been repaired for a while now. Yet something made me not want to watch it. What was I afraid of? What could it possibly reveal to me that could be more painful than realizing that everything I was, was fake? Could it be worse than realizing that my ultimate goal of being accepted as a normal pony was impossible? I swallowed weakly as I stared at it, feeling that anger and frustration bubbling up inside of me again.

Another giggle. "Mmm, you smell good," Pinkie complimented under me, shifting to a halt finally, directly under the corner of the cash register area connected to the kitchen.

"Uh, thanks?" I offered back, unsure of what to make of the pink mare as I connected my measuring tape to the wall. Of course, she kinda smelled good, too. Kinda like a cake with frosting, but that could have been simply from her job here. A certain deeper, spicier scent also mixed in with it, but I didn't question the depth of what they made in the kitchen.

Twilight groaned under us somewhere, whacking one of the firmly rooted stilts with her hoof, sending a light vibration up to us. "Pinkie! You said you could do this and behave," she reminded a moment later. I blinked, stopping after I finished the seal on the wall and peeking down at the lavender mare below. Behave?

My thoughts caught up a moment later, and then hit a speed bump. Smells. Pinkie was more in tune with pheromones at the moment. I forgot that heat had started this morning. Why had I forgotten that? It had been a nightmare getting out of bed this morning with an extremely overly affectionate Twilight Sparkle having woken up ahead of me this time. Why had I overslept?! Memories of the party flooded into my mind, answering that question instantly. Ugh. Now I was glad that they sent the males away. It would be rather annoying working and operating daily things with this going on. Rather intelligent, honestly.

"Hey, I am behaving. I haven't kissed him even once," Pinkie reminded, smiling down at Twilight while upside down. My fillyfriend didn't look amused, but I rotated around to finish the measurements.

Uh, time to think of an excuse, Mender! "It would be a good idea to hurry this up anyways, Pinkie. The blood's starting to pool in my skull. Across the front of the cubby, please," I instructed, lying more than a little. I saw Twilight pause for a moment out of the corner of my eye, and then smile lightly. Figured she'd realize I was lying. As if my newly 'upgraded' systems wouldn't let the blood pool where it wasn't supposed to. There was a key segment of that statement, however, as I discovered this morning. It was perfectly fine letting it pool where it was supposed to, apparently. Damn, that was awkward.

"Oooh, okay! That's definitely a bad thing. It happens to me if I stay in one spot for too long so I always try to keep moving whenever I possibly can, which is weird because it doesn't do it when I'm asleep which is for a really, really, super-duper long time each day. Shouldn't I wake up and be all, 'Arg, my blood hurts!', and stuff? Maybe I move around a lot in my sleep, which would explain why I sometimes fall out of bed. That wasn't much fun when I had my sides hurt like that, but thankfully I just started healing really, really well about two days into recovery and the doctor was all amazed that I was doing so well and..." I just started filtering her out as I continued taking measurements. I didn't mind her capability to endlessly ramble, and it was certainly better than her smelling me in rather creepy manners.

"Wait, what? What do you mean two days in?" Twilight suddenly asked, snapping my attention back to the two as Pinkie kept walking. Err, wait...

Seeing it coming, my armor snapped on just under my skin as I whacked into the side of the underhang with my head. It jiggled me a little, but no damage was sustained and I sighed, peeking down at Pinkie as she just kept walking and talking, stilts sliding along the floor now instead of pushing us forwards. "Oh, well the doctor came on the second day in and I was all horrified that he said it was going to take a full two weeks to heal my ribs! Can you imagine just lying in bed for two weeks?! It was horrifying. But after he checked up on me with his magic, he got so confused. It was kinda funny until he explained that somehow I'd started healing at almost four times the normal rate of a pony. Not that I'd know, as I'd never gotten that hurt before. Maybe I'm supposed to heal that fast?" Pinkie suggested, finally stopping her forward walking and nodding vigorously to Twilight. That's very strange. Well, for a normal pony, anyway. I'd imagine it's about on par for Pinkie.

Twilight looked perplexed, however, and I already realized she wasn't going to be satisfied with that answer. Shifting away from the inevitable, I took the other measurement and ran it through my energy to magical mass calculation. We were still under par for what I could manage with my own magic as it currently was. This was good. This project was well within my reserves to do.

"Did he figure out what was causing it?" my fillyfriend inquired, totally distracted now from what she'd been saying prior.

I felt Pinkie shake her head beneath me, her curly mane tickling mine momentarily from the motion. "Nope! He thought it might be a strange reaction to the potion that Zecora made, because the reaction was coming from my blood or something. He took a sample, but I dunno after that," she explained, still sounding rather chipper. Well, at least she wasn't worried about it or anything.

"Kiddy corner, Pinkie," I instructed softly after she finished. She started moving towards the back wall almost instantly, being careful of my head this time. Oh, she had noticed that after all?

"Very interesting. Do you mind if I take a small sample as well, Pinkie?" Twilight asked politely a moment later. I felt us stop and pushed the tape measure into the other wall, carefully taking the measurement down. With this, I'd have all the information I needed, hopefully. Volume of the room was important, alongside table and chair height, and optimal height of a pony sitting in one of the chairs. Velvet was kind enough to provide me those measurements.

A quick glance showed me that Twilight's parents were still at the corner table on the other side of the room. Twilight Velvet was talking excitedly about something and making rather wide gestures with her hooves in emphasis. In contrast, Night Light had his head down on the table and looked either passed out already, or really close to it. Note to self, the hotel in Ponyville must be terrible for getting proper sleep. Or he just had anxiety issues. Those definitely could keep me up at night.

"Of course you can take a sample! That means I get to eat even more sugary things afterwards!" Pinkie chirped a moment later, wiggling excitedly.

I frowned and shook my head while writing down the measurements. "I don't think she needs to draw that much blood, Pinkie," I assured, checking over the totals. Including the side room with just an estimate, I was pushing my magical capacity. This would probably make me tired, if only because of the detail needed to go into the enchantment. Thankfully it was low energy use once I got the initial enchantments laid down.

"Of course not. A single vial is enough. I'm just, well, concerned about something, is all," Twilight muttered, suddenly sounding distracted. Uh oh. I'd been around Twilight to know that usually meant she'd thought of something potentially disastrous.

"Ooohh?" Pinkie asked, not really sounding all that worried and instead smiling down at her friend. Oddly, her link felt more like amusement than concern. Again, I suddenly got that sensation that she was fully aware of what the problem was. Maybe I was just being paranoid, though.

Interrupting slightly, I requested, "We're done here, Pinkie. Can you get us d-" She interrupted my interruption by slipping each of the hooks on her stilts at the same time and sliding us down to the ground as gently as a drifting feather, smiling back at me while giving me a visual 'wink' through the link. She sent images amazingly well through that thing. "Ah, thanks," I appended, telling the 'ropes' to unwind from around us. They'd only ever looked like ropes. Tentacles were actually amazingly handy, especially when they could shapeshift and disguise themselves... After I made sure nopony was looking apart from Twilight and Pinkie, I sucked them back into myself almost instantly.

"Yeah. I'm worried about timing, is all. Do you recall what happened a couple days after the incident, Mender?" Twilight asked, looking over at me instead. I frowned, and then thought about it for a moment.

"Well, I woke up a day and a half after my surgery. You and Fluttershy stayed with me that night, then the next day... uh..." I muttered in sync with my thinking, trying to remember specifics. Oh. No, it couldn't have anything to do with...

I frowned, and Twilight smiled gently and nodded. "The, um, disks? You think it has something to do with me activating Pinkie's disk?" I asked quietly, making sure we couldn't be overheard. There were only a few other ponies in the shop, but it would be bad should they hear any of this. It didn't help that a few were still paying attention due to Pinkie's and my antics with the measurements.

My fillyfriend nodded lightly, and explained, "Like I said, it's just a concern. Nothing concrete, hence the blood test." She looked a little nervous, but kept her voice down.

Pinkie seemed unfazed by the revelation, of course, but I'd already anticipated as much. "But if it makes me heal faster, isn't it a good thing?" she pointed out, surprising me by also lowering her voice. Sometimes I forgot she could be subtle when she wanted to be.

"Oh, no doubt. I'm just concerned there could be other side effects that we need to look out for. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, too," Twilight explained, nodding at the pink one instead. Ugh. If the links were dangerous, I was going to feel horrible.

"I'll look more into my database files and see if I can get any information on the disks and the technology surrounding them," I offered, frowning lightly. Frankly, I didn't really want to think of myself like a cyborg. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I guessed I'd been procrastinating several key issues. With my processors fixed and my systems back in production mode, my insides had been expanding with new components without me really bothering to check what it was making. I suppose that was a bad thing. I'll just blame it all on denial. That fit the closest with my feelings regarding my less squishy insides. Further, was it too much to hope that there was an instruction manual or two in my files revolving around that whole "weapon of galactic extinction" and the disks?

"That would be very helpful! Thank you, Mender. You're a sweetie..." Twilight cooed, smiling again and nuzzling against my shoulder gently. Oh boy. Here we go again. Pinkie burst into a fit of giggling, earning her a mildly annoyed glare from Twilight.

"You'd better head towards Sweet Apple Acres, Mender! Quick, before Twi changes her mind and follows you to the cabins," the pink mare warned mirthfully, smirking at us. Twilight's cheeks flushed lightly and she hesitantly glanced back at me instead of looking angry. Uh oh. Pinkie was right!

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I don't want to be late. I'll see both of you at the parting, then," I excused, shifting past and trotting for the door. This wasn't the violent reaction I'd been worried about, but part of me decided this was actually a little worse. Trying to subdue me gave me full permission to flee as fast as I could manage. Twilight acting like this actually made me not want to flee in the first place, which I knew was a dangerous mindset that was being influenced by how absolutely delicious she smelled.

Flushing lightly, I almost, almost ran into the still closed door as I headed in that direction, skidding to a halt half a meter before impact. "Ah, Mender! Wait, um..." Twilight started to call out behind me. I heard her hoofsteps nearing again and mentally sighed. Oh no. She was slipping again.

"Uh, like I said earlier, um, maybe Rarity was right? I mean, maybe I'm just being silly and too hasty and it really isn't fair to you for me to not consider it," Twilight murmured behind me. Taking the slow turn for a distraction, I subtly opened the door as I rotated, to give myself a polite out later.

"Twilight, I appreciate the thought and really wouldn't mind, but we both know that wouldn't be a wise idea," I reminded. This was the third time she had started to change her mind. She wouldn't like it now, but she'd thank me later for this.

Her ears lowered a little as she looked down and away, looking just as sad as I expected. "Now I regret deciding that in the first place. Mender, I just don't want you to be lonely or looked down upon by any other stallions or anything. Plus, well, I don't really want to be lonely either. You're wonderful company," she complimented softly, peeking up again with just her eyes while shifting her front right hoof over the other. The gesture was like sticking my brain onto a frying pan and I resisted panting as she tried to look as winning as possible. Damn her! The heat hadn't reduced her cleverness in the slightest.

Sweating a little, I rapidly shook my head, subtly disguising my attempt to clear it with a negative reply. "Twilight, it's only for a week or so. Plus, we can write each other, but you don't want kids this soon, do you?" I reminded, adding a bit of emphasis on the 'kids' part. Her reaction snapped back like I'd fired a rubber band into her face, and she coughed lightly.

"Ah, well, not really. Um, I mean there are spells I could use to uh, avoid that outcome but... Wait, no, that's implying that I was going to... uh..." she started rapidly muttering, tinting pink in the cheeks again. Yes! It worked. I took the moment to further cement the negative with her by reassuringly rubbing her shoulder with my forehoof.

"I understand, Twilight. Now do you see why it's better if I leave for a while?" I asked, attempting to clear her mind a bit more with a strong dose of logic.

Hesitantly, she nodded again, while Pinkie was busy trying not to laugh behind her. Ugh. I think I would have preferred just running away. "Um, yeah. You're right. It's still not fair, though, and I'm going to make it up to you when you get back. Well, along with all the rest of the things I screwed up," Twilight promised suddenly, coughing and looking away from me. I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing.

Pinkie could nod in agreement with that one, however. "Yup! The party went well, but I still feel a little guilty over everything, so I'm gonna do some extra stuff for ya, too, Mender!" she added on, hopping over to where we stood.

Resisting rolling my eyes, I shook my head to her instead. "You've more than made up for the acid and potion things, Pinkie. That party couldn't have been cheap," I reminded, ironically feeling guilty for my own reward party. Did that defeat the purpose?

"Don't be silly, Silly! I didn't pay for much at all. My work was mostly in the planning for it! Princess Luna paid for almost everything!" she assured almost instantly.

Wait, what?! "And told you to keep that a secret," Twilight reminded, giving a skeptical glance at the pink mare. Eh? Why did she want to remain anonymous? Why did she pay for it in the first place?! Oh, that answered that first question. She didn't want me asking why she wanted to pay for it in the first place, maybe? I rapidly confused myself.

"Uh, oopsie! Um, have fun, Mender!" Pinkie squeaked out, covering her mouth with her hooves. I could have sworn I saw an extra set of legs momentarily that she used to shove me backwards. My mouth opened in protest, but the door slammed shut again and I went rolling backwards into the dirt, wincing as I clutched my nose with both hooves. Aaah! I needed warning to get my armor up!

Groaning, my muzzle gave out throbs of protest as I shakily stood up, then sat back down properly and held it again. Scan showed blunt force trauma and vein injury, but nothing broken. I sneezed, a bit of pooling blood dripping out my nose before my nanites rapidly started to repair me again. At least I didn't need to worry about ponies noticing my fast regeneration on the inside of my nose.

I toned down the nerve magnitudes to the area as I sighed and started walking towards the farm. This was going to be a long day.

* * * * *

Admittedly, I didn't mind the sun too much when it wasn't right in my eyes. The approach to Sweet Apple Acres was nice and shady, which meant I stayed cool and could properly see. Note to self, install an air conditioning system. Having no wind whatsoever made the heat all the worse, it seemed. The air kind of just hung there in a blistering haze, and I sort of imagined an oven would feel like this. Sniffing the air lightly, I noticed the strong fragrance of apples and decided I was probably on the right track. A moment later, a heavy smacking noise resounded through the air, causing me to smile. AJ was probably hard at work.

My hoofsteps were more than audible with the metallic clinking noise with each set of movements, which admittedly was beyond annoying if I focused on it too hard. She must have heard it as well, because the repeating impacts ceased as I got closer. Sure enough, the hat peeked over the hill first, followed by a certain blonde mare. Her eyes widened ever so slightly, I noticed, before she regained control of her expression and shifted to a weak smile instead. Would things ever be the same between us?

"Howdy, Mender! Ah thought plans had changed with how late ya are. Er, what happened ta yer nose?" she questioned, patiently waiting for me to get closer to her. I noticed she shivered lightly with each clink of my leg brace. I'd not expected that reaction, and intentionally stopped walking once I got within comfortable talking distance.

"Pinkie happened. Which, not-so-coincidentally, is also why I'm late. I'm sorry. I dropped by there to get the measurements for the project the Cake's wanted me to do," I explained, skipping over the awkwardness of almost being tackled by Twilight on my way out.

Applejack cracked her back with a fluid bend, and then slowly treaded down the hill, narrowing the distance to a mere meter as she peeked at my muzzle. At this distance, I could see the drops of sweat sliding down her coat, and suddenly realized how insane she was to work heavy physical labor in this heat.

"Are you okay, Applejack? This isn't good weather to be bucking apples," I cautioned, frowning at the sheen on her coat.

She momentarily looked confused before glancing back at her shoulder, then smiling gently. "Ah'm drinkin' lots o' water, so Ah'll be fine, Sugarcube. Ah appreciate tha concern, though. Yer nose is okay?" she returned, shifting her attention back to my muzzle with a frown.

I nodded of course. "Yeah. My nanites made short work of the damage on the walk over here," I assured, smiling at her. I also started a processor on actually sorting out the data files that came with me, with a second one to govern the computations. Anything to do with the biological weapon or disks was getting flagged for reading later. It was frustrating that I couldn't just 'upload' it into my mind, but it seemed that my electronic parts and biological thinking capacity were two entirely separate systems.

"Er, what're those?" she asked, tilting her head lightly at me.

"They're small robots that float around inside of me and repair me rapidly from the inside. I have to eat a lot more if I use them heavily, but they mean I heal really fast," I summarized simply.

She perked up at that, and smiled again. "That's right useful, then! Does that mean if Ah feed ya ah few dozen apple pies, that ya'll heal even faster?" she asked, smirking finally. She was starting to relax again, which was good. However, she was now considering overstuffing me, which wasn't so good.

"Er, after I stopped looking like a balloon, probably. Um, I shouldn't eat that much of your food up, though. I'd feel-" I started.

That one I should have thought through first. She pounced not unlike a feral tiger, but the impact with the ground in front of me almost made me think she was three times heavier than what she really was! I gulped and swallowed, backing up and shrinking a little as the top of her snout smashed into mine, pushing my head down as she glared into my eyes. "No! Don't even start thinkin' that way! Ah'm practically directly responsible fer yer leg bein' like that, plus Ah..." she started, before her voice faltered and she winced again.

I frowned as she backed away and looked away from me again, shaking slightly. "Ah was ah horrible friend ta ya. So really, Mender. If simply feedin' yah can help, it's tha absolute least Ah can do. Trust me, Ah'm gonna think o' other things ta do, too," she assured, looking back towards me again.

Her eyes widened slightly, but I'd already stepped forwards, and she didn't have time to react as I closed the gap again. Her breath caught as I gently wrapped my right foreleg around her, giving her a soft hug. "Applejack, I know you feel bad, and I admit that I'm sad you hadn't trusted me, but it's not the end of our friendship. You don't have to rush anything or push yourself to try to make amends. What would really make me happy is if you started to trust me," I explained, realizing I wasn't going to get her to swear off trying to appease me. She was more doing this for her than me at this point, I realized.

She chuckled lightly finally before resting her head on my shoulder and hugging back. "Thank ya, Mender. Um, Ah think Ah needed that. Eventually things'll feel right again, o' course. Rainbow feels tha same. She was talkin' about bein' yer underlin' or somethin'," the farm mare muttered, breaking away after another moment and nodding to me.

"Eh? My underling? What do you mean?" I asked, not liking the sound of that. Underling for what? That sounded remarkably 'evil overlord' to me.

Applejack smirked and shook her head. "Ah suppose that does sound ah tad nefarious. Nah. Ah think she just said 'underlin'' because she ain't gonna accept pay fer tha position. She said somethin' about heavy liftin' an' helpin' with high up work," she elaborated. Oooh! Dash was talking about my new 'job' I was starting. That made more sense, now.

"Well, it's up to her. You can also do anything you want, of course," I accepted, continuing down the path towards the barn where I assumed Big Mac was waiting with Spike. The little dragon had gotten a head start this morning on us. A big one. As in, he saw Twilight pushing me against the pillows amidst a rather deep kiss and fled far faster than I realized he could run. Of course, Twilight's embarrassment over being caught allowed me the distraction to slip out from under her, so I supposed I should thank him for that.

"Do Ah detect ah change o' heart in regards ta us makin' amends?" Applejack inquired, falling into hoofstep alongside me.

Okay, I rolled my eyes at that one. "Not really. Just accepting that it's easier to just say yes than fight against two stubborn mares like yourselves," I corrected, smiling as I caught her grin widen in my peripheral vision.

"Guess yer wisin' up! Pity it ain't affected yer punctuality. Heh. Hate ta break it ta ya, but Big Mac an Spike left over an hour ago," she cooed in amusement.

My motions ground to a halt as I locked up, processing the new information with no small amount of frustration. What?! "Seriously? Why? The departing thing isn't for an hour!" I whined, stomping my right forehoof down.

Applejack had continued walking momentarily after I stopped but I saw her smile widen slightly due to the corner of her mouth. She was amused by this, wasn't she?! "Heh. Yer tha one who was late. Guess ya'll just have ta keep me company instead, 'til tha departin' announcement," she suggested, voice shifting a bit whimsical as she turned around. I froze instantly, eyes widening slightly at her.

If this new, heightened awareness taught me anything, it was that body language was an extremely powerful thing. The flick of her tail, gentle sway of her hips as she turned, and half-open eyes set off so many red flags that I was hard pressed not to panic then and there. "Don't worry. Ah know yer injured so Ah'll be gentle so ya can keep up. Not that Ah imagine ya'll have trouble stayin' up, o' course," she assured, slowly swaying as she walked towards me.

I made out a weak wheeze and stepped backwards slightly, legs not wanting to cooperate with me suddenly. Crap! Turn around and run, Mender! She watched me for a moment before the corners of her mouth twitched oddly. Huh? Her face scrunched a moment later and she burst into laughter, flopping over onto her side. Oh. Damn it!

"Tha look on yer face! Ha! Oh, that was just awesome!" she squealed, laughing hysterically. My ears flattened down and I exhaled, glaring at her. I should have known she was joking. Gah. Come to think of it, she'd 'play flirted' with me before for her own amusement, too. I think she just got a kick out of making me blush. The heat faded slowly from my cheeks and I shook my head, a little miffed now. She's lucky I knew Nirru didn't have her image to clone, or that might have gone differently. Still, she knew what had happened to me, and this was a bit too soon for this!

Her laughter made it really easy to mask the sound of my brace clinking as I walked past her and towards the barn, glaring at nothing in particular. That meant she had intentionally not looked at me until she knew she was done lying. Props for knowing your weakness, I suppose. Big Mac and Spike were probably still here, then. A few more meters of walking and Spike rounded the barn, peeking curiously towards the laughter behind me. He smiled when he saw me, then widened his eyes and lost it when he saw my glare. It wouldn't take a genius to guess who had irked me.

The laughter dwindled to a snicker behind me as I heard her roll over. "Eh?!" she squeaked out, apparently just realizing I wasn't there anymore. Heck, I was almost to the barn. Maybe I made a better ninja than I gave myself credit for? There was a scrambling noise a moment later and rapid hoofsteps catching up behind me. "H-Hey! Wait up! Did Ah upset ya?" Applejack called out, closing the distance between us with record speed. I resisted the urge to dodge, realizing she probably wasn't going to plow me over like Pinkie or Dash might.

"You're lucky I didn't think you were Nirru," I muttered, not turning to look at her when she finally fell into line at my side.

"W-What? Oh! Oh shoot. Ah didn't even think o' that. Ah'm sorry, Mender. It was supposed ta be ah joke," she murmured, switching to sounding rather sullen almost instantly. I frowned, but an image flickered through my head an instant later. That aggressive kiss. Trying to pull me back and on top of her. Her tongue forcing its way into my mouth. I winced and suddenly held my right temple, stopping. Damn it. What was wrong with my head?

The hoofsteps stopped instantly, and I felt her eyes on me as I sat down again. Scuffling came from ahead too as I closed my eyes, and I knew Spike had run up as well. "It's... I'll be fine. It's just a touchy topic for me. I wish I had been faster in realizing it was a fake, and not kissed her. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time I remember it," I explained softly, relaxing my neck and letting my muscles unwind. The throb going through my skull slowly dwindled as I rested, and the images slipped from the back of my eyelids.

"It's not like we were expecting it, dude! It wasn't your fault she kissed you," Spike tried to assure, finally coming to a stop in front of me.

"Ah think he's more dislikin' tha memories. None o' us are holdin' anythin' that happened durin' that night against him. If anything, it was-" she started to elaborate.

"Nirru's fault. Don't, Applejack," I warned, eyes opening again and looking right at her. She looked startled at my rather adamant interruption, but shut up instantly, looking away from me again. No, not this time.

Feeling a little more guts than normal, I slid forwards a half meter and pulled her head back towards me with my left foreleg, mindful of the pointy parts of the brace. She didn't resist, eyes widening instead as she turned and looked at me again. "Enough, Applejack. You're a very smart mare, and know that almost everything that night was directly Nirru's fault. You apologized for not trusting me already, and we're working towards a way to get past that, but that's all you can do," I reasoned. She stared at me for a moment before sighing and nodding, emerald eyes still locked with mine.

"Ah know that much. The conscience has ah way o' eatin' at ya, though. I'm sleepin' ah little better, but it's rough still. Please let me do somethin' fer ya, Mender. If ya think o' anything before Ah do, just let me know," she requested gently.

Spike snickered and nodded to her as well. "Careful, you're starting to sound like I did, remember?" Eh? Wait, somepony had said something about that before. What was it?

Applejack let out a chuckle and nodded towards him. "It's ah little different, mind ya. Gratitude is ah far stretch from guilt, Ah think. Ah... well technically Ah killed him. That's just stuck in mah head somethin' fierce," she elaborated, looking down towards the dirt.

"I'm like a cat. Sure, you helped make it easier for Nirru to kill me, but I'm better now. Sometimes I think the universe just wants to keep me alive because I'm amusing," I muttered, looking up towards the sky. My life was far too long and drawn out in its misery to fit into a movie or show, but if this were a book, I'd so slap the author. Slap, not kill. If I killed them, I'd probably cease to exist.

The farm mare gave a snort and a playful shove with her hoof. Being Applejack, the coiled muscles in her foreleg were enough to send me sideways into the grass, and she slapped her forehead as I rolled. After everything came to a stop, I stared up at the sky, my armor folding back in from my left side. Well, at least it hadn't hurt.

I heard her start towards me again and decided to talk first, heading off another pointless apology. "This reminds me, is that offer to help me exercise still there? I'd really appreciate the help in getting some more muscles on these bones." It was true enough, I decided, as I rolled fully back onto my hooves again.

She stopped, and I looked over at her, getting a puzzled look in return before she smiled. She must have realized I wasn't injured in the slightest. I knew better than to complain. I'd felt the full force of those hooves, and knew what it was like to have them almost break me in half. That little shove was literally nothing in comparison. Suddenly it didn't surprise me that her adrenaline flooded self could snap Twilight's balcony off. Wait, had it surprised me before? I decided a moment later that I'd lost too much blood back then for the reaction to be an accurate sample. Plus, it was ruined now that I already knew she could, so I guess I'd never find out if it would have surprised me or not. Darn.

"That's easy enough ta do. We'll see how good ya can do with buckin', an' ya'll be in great shape in no time!" she assured, proudly stomping the dirt of the path while nodding in emphasis. I smirked and nodded to her before heading towards the barn again. Big Mac had the cart out and was carefully checking the undercarriage, it looked like.

"I'll give it a try, but don't plan any profits on me. I'll be hit by more than a few apples, I imagine," I warned, knowing my gravity field a little bit. That was next up on my list of things to fix inside of me. The special control chip had been 'brewing' inside of me for a day or so now. My only issue was I had to unplug the old one to add the new one. Given my internal mass calculations, that could be, well, really bad for the environment around me. And by ‘around me’, I actually meant a radius of a few hundred kilometers.

Applejack interrupted my attempt at calculations by snorting and shaking her head. "Ah reckon ya'll be fine. Heck, ya could even kill some time 'ere by practicin' if ya want ta. Once Big Mac gets done lookin' over tha wagon, he'll show ya tha moves," she offered, gesturing towards her brother.

I raised an eyebrow and wandered in the direction of the wagon instead. "Er, what's wrong with the wagon?" I inquired, peeking under it as well once I got closer.

"Nothin' yet. Hit ah pothole. Checkin' 'er out," Big Mac muttered softly, looking over at me from his side behind the wagon. I smiled and nodded before sitting down, shifting to a lying position, and kicking with my back legs so I slid under the wagon. A tendril shot out of my left shoulder and hooked around the other wheel, pulling me fully under the wagon almost instantly as I peeked it over.

"Hey! Ah don't have tha bits ta be payin' ya yet, Mender! Tha new undercarriage put us back ah week or so ago," I heard Applejack warn from behind me somewhere. I rolled my eyes as I looked it over.

It was functional, but bare minimum. This was an axle assembly made for a commercial wagon I bet, not a work wagon. There was only one attaching point for supporting the entire axle, with a support loop for each wheel. This wouldn't do at all for serious structural support. "Two things, Applejack. One, I never said I was doing this for bits. You're my friend and I love helping you. Two, this axle support is terrible. You need at least one more brace under here for this to be safe for heavy lifting. This looks commercial," I warned her, peeking it over again just to double check.

"Oh, fer cryin' out loud. Well, it was a commercial order. Couldn't afford tha prices o' tha industrial one an' stay out o' tha red! Gah. How much ta upgrade, ya think?" she asked, sticking her head under the side behind me. I tucked my tail up instinctively to cover any awkward bits, and peeked back at her.

"Do you have a couple bales of hay to prop the main body up with, and a couple decent sized logs?" I asked, smiling towards her. She raised an eyebrow to me, but nodded a moment later.

* * * * *

Whistling lightly, I smiled at my work as I screwed the last plate in, barrier rapidly spinning it up into the bottom of the wagon. Using the logs she gave me, I made two additional, functionally identical assemblies for the axle and fully replaced the partial loops they had towards each wheel. I also put in a proper support bar and, for kicks, used the old axle hinge from the busted axle to add a folding stand they could use to prop the wagon up when not in use! I aimed to please, of course. By the time I was done, I estimated the wagon's wheel system to be at least three point six times as sturdy as it was prior.

Applejack made a happy whistling noise as she hopped into the back and realized the wagon didn't so much as jiggle. "Whoooeee! When ya say yer gonna do somethin', ya do it! Ah can definitely respect that," she chirped, walking around in the wagon bed as I finally slid out from under it. Big Mac had helped me move the parts into position thankfully, and gave me a slow but respecting nod as I pulled myself out. As he was nearby, he hooked my right foreleg and yanked me out the rest of the way once my torso was clear. Rolling, I got to my hooves and shook myself off.

"I'm pleased with it. Barely used up any resources and it will last you a lot longer now, and carry about twice as much as before," I estimated, giving her a safe hauling weight to work with. Sure, it could probably handle a lot more than that, but it was better to be gentle on your tools.

Her grin expanded as she turned to face me, nodding twice. Spike came back from inside a moment later with a tray of what looked like glasses of lemonade. All three Crusaders tagged along after him, of course. Nodding, I accepted a glass off the tray into my barrier and took a sip, sighing as I sat down again. Big Mac mimicked my motions, albeit with both hooves to hold the glass, and Spike sat down next to me after Applejack took over the tray with a smirk. It didn't take long for Sweetie to pile in next to me, with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sitting down across from her.

"This is going to be miserable walking in this weather! We'd better make sure our canteens are full before we start," Spike groaned, looking up at the sky overhead. The blue seemed almost infinite as I gazed up at it, not noticing a cloud in the sky. Rainbow had done her job well.

"Rainbow apologized already. She said she can't give any cloud cover until evening, due to a mistake in the rainfall patterns handed down from Cloudsdale. Too wet, apparently," I muttered, remembering what she had said last night after getting me off the stage. That 'too wet' part really didn't help at all. I think I'd rather dry than wet heat.

Spike sighed and nodded weakly, scraping the dirt under him with a claw. "I know. It's just not gonna be fun, is all."

Applejack sat down next to her brother, completing the nice semicircle we made. "That's why ya ain't walkin'," she corrected, elaborating with, "Big Mac an' Noteworthy are gonna pull tha wagon, an' tha five o' ya are gonna ride instead. It's too dangerous ta march tha youngin's in this heat, an' Mender's leg is hurt." Well, this made me feel awkward.

Spike frowned for a moment, staring at my leg before he got a look of comprehension. "Oh! Mender obviously can't change his leg without giving himself away," he said out loud, earning a nod from Applejack. I stared down at the metal brace before sighing and nodding. Admittedly, walking all that distance with that thing wasn't going to be easy otherwise. Just getting around the short distances of town left the leg absurdly sore, although it was getting easier.

"Admittedly, it's still aching from the walk over here," I mumbled, glaring at the thing.

Applejack shook her head towards me a moment later, pointing out, "Yer bein' too impatient, Mender. Please, just try ta take it easy while yer out there? Ah feel bad enough about tha leg without ya goin' an' bangin' it up some more." Her words were tough sounding, but her tone didn't manage to keep face with them. I looked up at her and saw her focus on my leg instead, her emerald eyes looking downright miserable.

Sighing, I opened my mouth to assure her again when a low whistling noise came out instead. Wait, no, that wasn't right. My eyes widened drastically as my proximity detector fired off. My mind slammed on the panic button at the same time I heard Rainbow shout out, "Look out!"

Tendrils fanned out with shields extending from them, covering all three fillies instantly with light loops. My armor folded on just as a green blur smashed into Sweetie Belle's barrier, skipped off like a pinball to Scootaloo's barrier, then whipped up and skipped off my forehead an instant later. Wincing at the jarring sensation, I watched sparks skip off my fully plated head as I flopped backwards with the motion.

What the hell?! Rolling as I hit my back, I flipped back upright and extended the remainder of my tentacles, glaring at the slowly rotating green... turtle? I stopped and raised my head, giving the small tortoise an appraising examination. Definitely a tortoise, based off its legs. "No, don't hurt him! Tank just gets, uh, carried away!" Rainbow warned, landing in front of me gently and holding her hoof up to my chest. Oh! Her pet.

My tentacles slowly withdrew back into me, earning a giggle from Sweetie Belle and a confused 'Uh...' from Scootaloo. Oddly, Apple Bloom seemed unfazed and continued sipping her lemonade, as if having fully expected me to block anything that was flung her way. Trusting little filly, but a bit gutsy. I watched the little tortoise float there on an obviously magical propeller as my armor slowly folded back into me.

"Your pet? I'm not going to hurt him, Dash. He just surprised me," I explained, looking over to her instead. Her eyes softened and she nodded to me before puffing up again.

"You'd have trouble hurting him anyway. He's real tough! He just gets worked up when trying to keep up with me, obviously," she detailed, strutting over to Tank as she talked. My last withdrawing tentacle blocked her tail before it hit me in the face as she walked away. Normally she kept it a bit more still than that, but maybe it was part of her usual strutting and I just hadn't noticed. That didn't surprise me. The accompanying smell of raspberries and light spices made me a bit dizzy, though.

Applejack snickered at the strutting and shook her head. "Don't forget he's real strong, too! Lifted up tha boulder that almost flattened ya all by himself," she reminded. Err, what?! That sounded very unhealthy.

Rainbow shot a scowl back at her, and I glanced skeptically over at Applejack, silently asking for more details. I could have sworn I saw Rainbow duck down suddenly towards the tortoise and nuzzle his nose, but she was standing upright and looking innocent again when I glanced back at the motion. Wow, maybe I really was dizzy? Did getting hit in the head jar me or something? I did feel a little woozy. I fired up my internal scanners just to double check for injuries.

"Anyway, I was hoping to catch ya before the departing thingy!" Dash announced, snapping my attention back to reality. Who was she talking to?

"Ah told ya, Dash! Ah got enough work ta do on tha farm. Ah can't take care o' Tank fer ya too. Ah'm sorry, but it's just too much," Applejack said almost instantly. Why was Rainbow looking for somepony to take care of Tank?

The appropriately rainbow-maned mare shook her head rapidly, and then nodded towards me instead. "Not you, AJ. Mender. I, well, I'm a bit desperate, so I was hoping he'd accept. Uh, it's a learning experience! Builds character," Rainbow tried to sell, looking to me hopefully. I got more than a little confused.

"Wait, why do you want me to take care of Tank? I'm going to the cabins, remember? Why can't you take care of him?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to her.

Her reaction was completely different than I had anticipated. Instead of snapping my face off or acting defensive, her cheeks exploded into a pink color, and she rapidly looked away. "Ah, well, I don't think I can properly take care of him while, uh, I'm in heat. Fluttershy took care of him this Spring, but he, well, destroyed some of her stuff and I really, really don't want to put her up to it again," the blushing mare explained. Oh. Was her heat different than normal, then?

As if reading my mind, Applejack added, "Rainbow gets real nasty heats. Some mares do. Ah really do want ta help ya, Rainbow. It's just..." She trailed off and sighed, while Dash's pink turned to red as her eyes widened. I felt a flood of embarrassed shock down the link.

Mentally whispering, I warned, "I don't think she meant like that, Dash." Carefully, I averted my eyes as Rainbow looked over at me, scared now instead before suddenly realizing I'd said that in her head and relaxing. I was kinda sad that she thought I was stupid or vindictive enough to say that out loud, but let it pass. Applejack probably would have just laughed anyway.

"So you want me to bring him with me to the cabin?" I asked her, trying to pull her mind back to the topic at hand rather than steamy mental images of Applejack. I pulled back a moment after I thought it, and realized that I might be getting a little more snarky than normal. That wasn't the first time I'd noticed me reacting in a surprisingly sarcastic manner. Well, moreso than usual.

Rainbow glanced over to me in mild confusion for a second before snapping her eyes fully open again and nodding rapidly. "Yeah! He's really easy to take care of and I've been telling him about you all morning. He seems okay with the idea, so please?" Rainbow asked abruptly, taking a step forward while eyeing me. It wasn't quite begging, but it was a little more needy sounding than a simple request. I'm guessing I was the last pony left that she could ask, apart from Fluttershy. Could I really take care of a tortoise, though?

"I'll help ya take care of him, Dude. I've watched Tank before," Spike suddenly informed, smiling towards me. Oh! Well that made it a lot better, then. If I had somepony I could rely on to make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid, I felt a lot better.

"Oh, in that case, I don't mind as much. I'm just not sure how well I'd manage to take care of him. Does he have any special requirements?" I asked, glancing back at Rainbow.

She rolled her eyes suddenly, snickering. "Nowhere near as many as Opal. Just make sure he has plenty of water in a dish big enough for him to rest in if he wants. He finds his own food for the most part, but will probably hang around you guys most of the time. He's almost as loyal as I am!" she boasted again. It was to cover up the massive blast of relief I felt down the link, however, I realized a moment later. I smiled gently at Rainbow, but didn't say anything about it. Despite bragging about how tough he was, she really had been worried about him.

"All right then. Spike and I will watch him for you," I agreed, nodding to her. Her grin exploded a moment later.

"Thank you! Oh, you're a real lifesaver, Mender. Honestly, I just knew you'd say yes," Rainbow cheered, her relief somewhat betraying that statement. She still hadn't fully realized I could also feel her general emotions at this range, drifting down the link.

Scootaloo surprised me by shifting to look at me instead, fluttering slightly in excitement. "Can I help you take care of Tank, too, Mender? I promise I'll be super useful and do anything to help!" she asked, looking back over at the now amused looking Rainbow Dash while she asked.

"I'm sure Mender would take your help, Scoots. You're a hard worker," Rainbow complimented, nodding to the little orange filly.

Given her expression, I began to worry if it was possible for a filly to explode from being too excited. Sweetie Belle perked up a moment later and wrapped her forelegs around my leg brace. "We can help, too, Mender! Apple Bloom and I are useful, too!" she assured, slightly confusing me. I'd never said they weren't, but it would seem Rainbow got something started with the 'hard working' motion.

"Settle down, ya'all. Ah'm sure Mender'll be happy ta get all yer help, but we need ta get ready ta set out," Applejack warned, standing up again and stretching gently. Ah, yeah. I had used up a lot of the extra time on upgrading the wagon. Turning, I headed back towards it myself, Sweetie hot on my trail. Double-checking as I walked, I made sure I had everything attached still.

The saddlebags were definitely attached still. About three times as attached as a normal variant. Rarity definitely made sure they were sturdy. At this point, I was starting to wonder if she was trying to say something about me. Heh. Slipped inside the front, right pouch was Prudentia. I could feel her there. Feeling even weirder, I shifted to peek at the small dagger slipped between the straps on my left side as well. That had been quite the surprise this morning. I wanted to keep my promise and not let Ventosus Lacuna out of my sight, but it was proving more than a little difficult to find an easy way to carry the blasted thing. My final attempt had me attempting to shove it through the straps of my saddlebags while Twilight giggled hysterically at me, when the sword flared with light and the sheath, well, shrank.

Twilight's reaction speed was amazing, I might add. The second the thing flared with light, she had blasted it out of my grip and teleported to me, putting a barrier up in front of both of us. I threw my own up over hers and both of us stared at it for a good three minutes before anypony moved. I drew it out of the sheath just to make sure it was still okay, and it oddly pulled out the full blade. Compressed space, maybe? It didn't surprise me, given the technology and magical levels of the society that created the weapon. Meh.

Everything in place, I hopped up onto the wagon with a light burst from my back legs. The one was a little tender still, but at least I could manage simple movements. Sweetie curled up next to me, and her two fellow Crusaders piled practically on top of her. Rainbow surprised me a moment later by landing right next to me and snatching up Scootaloo, pulling the little filly next to her and extending a wing over her shoulders. Admittedly, she got no resistance at all.

Big Mac finished strapping himself in and gently pulled the cart into motion, not waiting for ceremony. Applejack fell in line next to him and peeked back at us with a smile. Well, sort of a smile. It faltered a little when she saw me, but she managed to maintain it. "RD and Ah will obviously go with until town. Mayor ain't one for long goodbyes, but Ah hear she has somethin' special fer this one," she explained softly, giving a nod afterwards.

"Eh, no sense in a long goodbye. Heat's only a week or so. They'll be back in no time!" Rainbow chipped in, waving her hoof dismissively in the air. She seemed relaxed, anyway, now.

"How will we know when it's okay to return?" I asked curiously, wondering what sort of communication system they had.

Rainbow grinned and bumped her hoof against her chest. "A pegasus, more than likely me, will fly over and let everypony know. Besides, Nurse Redheart'll be there, too, and she'll be able to tell when her own heat is over and give everypony the heads up. Well, I think she can feel it through the pills she takes to lessen the effects, anyway," she tried to explain, dwindling at the end when she confused herself and began thinking instead. Oh, my favorite nurse was coming, too?

Applejack peeked back again and nodded, and for a moment, I thought she had somehow heard my mental question. "She can still feel it, but she's always been darn amazin' at controllin' herself. She's goin' along just in case medical attention is needed," she added, confirming Rainbow's story.

"Probably wise if I'm going to be there. Heh. What's so different about this departure, though?" I asked, remembering suddenly that she'd never explained.

I saw her smirk, but she didn't turn to look at us this time. Uh oh. "Take ah guess. He's blue, klutzy, an' tha talk o' tha town fer bein' ah secret agent."

Oh. Well, this was going to be awkward. With a newly established sense of dread, I gulped weakly and settled back down in the wagon. Why was it that crowds made me so nervous, especially when they were all looking at me? So many ponies made me, well, dizzy. I wanted to run away and hide somewhere, but that would probably destroy the 'image' Tia was trying to turn me into. Without asking me, of course. Well, she'd done a lot to help me, regardless, so I guess I owed her this one.

Sweetie Belle smiled reassuringly at me and nuzzled closer into my shoulder after I lay down again. Heh, even without a link, she could tell I was nervous. Silly filly. I don't know why she liked me so much, but I was happy for her company regardless. Sighing, I waited patiently and listened to the wheels slowly turn...

Chapter 44

The wagon was an amazingly smooth ride, albeit a bit on the slow side. Although I certainly wasn't going to make Big Mac run. Eh, Twilight was probably too distracted today to keep track of time properly anyway. ...and if she had, surely she'd forgive me in her current mood. Heh.

Smiling gently to myself, I lay at the bottom of the wagon, feeling rather comfortable in the corner. There was leftover hay in the bottom of it, and it was nice to give my leg a rest, as frustrating as that was. Sweetie Belle gently massaged the shoulder after insisting loudly for a good five minutes, me trying to convince her that it wasn’t needed. Rainbow shot me a glare of death after the loud and annoying ‘debate’ had gone on too long, forcing me to relent and just let Sweetie do whatever. I guess she’d gotten tired of listening to us go back and forth? Apple Bloom had hopped out of the wagon and onto Big Mac's back instead, and was busy talking quietly with her siblings. Scootaloo was absolutely absorbed in Rainbow Dash's presence, which just left Tank and Spike. I stared quietly at the turtle, who stood a half-meter away from me. He stared back. We'd simply been watching each other the entire ride. He was a very wise looking tortoise, honestly. He seemed to actually understand the words spoken around him and carried out complex and detailed actions. I was used to animals being, well, animals. This was an interesting surprise.

Of course, I'd seen a few other pets, too. Opal was almost snooty in her mannerisms, but I think that was more a cat thing. Still, I could have sworn I saw her roll her eyes at me before. Winona was more loyal and trustworthy from what I saw, but still quite intelligent. I watched Apple Bloom play with her for a while when I was helping build the conveyor system. Owlowiscious was obviously intelligent, and I noticed he understood several things I said to him. With that much evidence, it looked like all the animals of Equestria were quite a bit smarter than normal. I'd have to remember that in my dealings with them. I wouldn't want to accidentally offend.

Zoning slightly, I gave a start as the cart slowed and Dash zipped into the air. Scootaloo rolled twice before I stopped her with my back leg, smiling at the dizzy filly for a moment before sitting up. Sweetie Belle gave me an endearing smile, and I patted her on the top of the head with my right forehoof. "Thank you for the massage, Sweetie," I added gently.

She grinned and hugged the leg I was using to pat her, earning a chuckle from me. She was so adorable sometimes. Well, most of the time. Rainbow interrupted anything I could have said, however, by shouting out, "Over here!" My eyes widened and I peeked to the left just in time to see the entire gathered crowd of ponies turn around and stare at the cart. Aww, crap. Not again! Instincts made me crouch back down again, mostly shielding myself using the wall of the cart. A storm of giggling sounded almost instantly, and I groaned.

"Ah, just the stallion I wanted to talk to! Moon Mender!" was called out from the stage. A tan looking mare with a white mane stood up at the podium, looking highly official. That must be 'Mayor Mare'? Oddly, her mane was white, not gray. She didn't look that old to me.

Both of us were interrupted by a squeaking noise as a yellow pegasus suddenly bumped up above the crowd, flailing momentarily as she grabbed onto the pink head under her. Fluttershy? "Ah! No, Pinkie. Put me down!" I 'heard' her whisper rapidly, embarrassment flooding down the link as she blushed fiercely at all the ponies looking at her now.

"Nope! Sorry, Fluttershy," Pinkie refused. My surprise doubled as the pink mare literally stood up and threw Fluttershy right at me! My eyes widened as Fluttershy let out a high-pitched squealing noise as she sailed through the air. Oddly, instead of just doing the logical thing and opening her wings up, taking to the sky, she instead went rigid. Her wings stuck out like an airplane and she sailed surprisingly well. I shook off being impressed and hopped up on the lip of the wagon, balancing carefully for that instant up on my two back legs as I caught Fluttershy out of the air, rolling backwards to cancel her momentum. My back armor skipped off the wagon as I rolled to a stop, cradling the now hiding Fluttershy, who was doing her best to cover herself with my body.

"Wow, good catch!" the mayor complimented, totally missing the point. I didn't even know how to respond to that. Instead, I looked down at Fluttershy to see if she was okay. At this range, I could pick up her biorhythms, and noticed that, unsurprisingly, her heart rate was through the roof. Also at this range, I was bombarded by the wonderful smells of fresh cut flowers coming off the mare, along with a slight honey smell in addition to that, which was new. All mares seemed to be as varying in smell as they were in coat color! The discovery was rather fascinating to me in a somewhat uncouth way. I knew I probably shouldn’t be paying so much attention to their smells suddenly but it was far from unpleasant.

She peeked up a moment later as she must have felt my concern. Her eyes softened and she smiled at me again before burying her face in my chest. Sweetie started 'aww'ing to my right. I sat up fully with Fluttershy again and the crowd started cheering. What was this all about?!

"I imagine you're wondering what this is about," the mayor guessed, almost word for word. I tilted my head, but nodded towards her. She had a microphone setup. My voice wouldn't carry that far. Err, my 'normal' voice wouldn't carry that far. Heh, but my other would get the crowd to scatter rather fast.

"It's quite simple. You've been here for weeks, drawn the attention of both Princesses, and fended off an attack on my town. Yet somehow, we haven't been officially introduced! Further, I wanted to extend my official thanks for everything you've done so far," she explained, nodding and gesturing towards me. The crowd started that hoof stomping thing again almost instantly as they all grinned at me. Perhaps it was akin to applause?

I gave my best sheepish smile while wanting to run in the other direction. I suddenly felt a little lightheaded, and had to fight down the urge to flee. There were way too many ponies here, and it was daylight so I could see them all this time. It helped that there weren't stage lights in my eyes this time.

Twilight teleported in next to the mayor suddenly and whispered something in her ear. I was momentarily curious again before the tan mare pulled the mic back up and nodded. "I'd almost forgotten that your leg is badly injured. Silly me, expecting you to come up here on stage! Ha! I must not pay enough attention to my secretary's memos as I should," she cooed, smiling out at the crowd. There was a polite wave of laughter, which confused me until I realized it was supposed to be a joke. Spike groaned next to me and sank below the wall of the cart. Was she always like this?

"Well, worry not. You stay right there in the cart. I'll come to you!" she exclaimed, hanging the mic back up with an awkward squeaking noise from the speakers. I winced, and in that brief moment, Twilight was gone from the stage. I turned to my left in time to see her reappear, literally into a pouncing motion.

Fluttershy gave a squeak as Twilight's forelegs wrapped around both of us. My eyes widened, then extended even more as Twilight wasted no time kissing me directly on the lips. Happy laughter and murmurs shot through the crowd as I gave a weak groan, getting pulled tighter against the mare. She pulled back almost five seconds later, licking a string of saliva away from her lips and leaving my head spinning. A certain tingle danced along my tongue as well, and I realized that she'd shot her magic into the kiss, too! It felt amazingly like Twilight, I decided. It was an odd sensation. Why had she-?

Oh. She gave me a wink and then gave Fluttershy a more relaxed, chaste kiss, causing the mare to have about the same reaction as me, interestingly enough. I was busy staring at Twilight, however. She wanted to kiss me like that, but she didn't want me getting paranoid about her being that forward, I guessed. Shooting her magic into me was definitely a good way to prove that it was indeed her.

My ears twitched a moment later, and I looked over at Fluttershy. She was still flushed, but she was whispering something rapidly, almost in chant as she looked down and over at my front, right leg. Eh? My ears swiveled around from their surprised, backwards position, and I picked up, "Be brave. Be brave. Be brave, Fluttershy. Assertive!"

I tilted my head, but she looked up at the same moment with a look that could only be described as fierce resolve and focus. Then she leaned up as well and pushed her lips up against mine. I was vaguely aware of the crowd going crazy somewhere to my left, but I really didn't care. All I was aware of was Twilight grinning against both of us, and Fluttershy's warm muzzle against mine as she pushed into me. Her hooves drifted just around my waist as she leaned into the kiss, in a timid and subtle possessive gesture. I certainly wasn't about to deny her.

Almost a full five seconds later, she finally pulled back, a bright red shade in her cheeks as she smiled shyly at me. More cheering hit, which was starting to get a bit annoying. Of course, I guess I shouldn't expect privacy up on a wagon in the middle of a large crowd of ponies. Wait, middle? Turning and confirming my peripheral concern, I noticed the wagon was indeed surrounded at this point. I got a bit flustered until I realized we were still moving. Big Mac pressed onwards, crowd or not, as he headed towards the southern exit of town. Noteworthy slipped out of the crowd a moment later and stepped in next to him, giving me a pleased nod before hooking himself up to the free harness, now that Applejack stepped out of it.

"Mender," the mayor called out, getting my attention. Shifting, I rotated around and saw her walking slowly along after the wagon, following us as we went. A large amount of stallions and younger foals were also with us, I noted. Considerably more than what I'd normally see in an entire day in Ponyville.

Walking to the back of the wagon, I lay down on the straw again and peeked down at her, giving a nod. "I'm glad I have a chance to talk with you before you go. Although I'd like to ask for a slightly longer audience once you get back. Official residence paperwork, and discussing what the future entails," she elaborated, giving me a patient smile. There was really only one way to translate that.

"Concerned about Princess Celestia's initiative, and Ponyville's involvement in it?" I guessed, tilting my head towards her.

She gave a smirk, and I realized I'd guessed right. "Mostly. I really do have residence paperwork for you to fill out, although I wouldn't say I'm concerned. It's an honor to have such a hero living here," she corrected.

"I'm not a hero," I returned almost instantly, eyes lowering a bit. No, I wouldn't... couldn't accept that title anymore. Heroes weren't involved in the wholesale slaughter of a few billion innocent lives. Brave? Not really. I was more pragmatic, really. I did what I had to do at any given time, regardless of how bitter it tasted. That sounded more like a soldier to me. Duty. Yeah, that was mine, I suppose.

She smiled but nodded, making me realize I'd just zoned out for a full ten seconds. Her eyes were softer than prior to my slip of awareness, and I wondered if I'd accidentally implied anything with my silence. Ah well. "I need to talk to Celestia more, but from what I've read so far, she's placing the research center of the initiative here. Given the, well, extent of what she wanted researched, I imagine a new facility is going to have to be built. I'd like to avoid any further damage to Ponyville if at all possible," I groaned, wondering how much the repairs to the library had cost. Nirru was an idiot. You don't fire off Slipstream in-atmosphere. Thankfully, hers was just a personal-sized engine.

"Is the research that dangerous?" the mayor asked, looking a bit surprised.

Twilight slipped up next to me, however, and nodded in my stead. "We're seeking defenses and counters against further extra-planar infiltrations. Given how powerful the last creature was, yes, any defenses we can muster will probably be rather dangerous before we finalize them," she warned, sounding professional yet a bit on the grim side. Fluttershy remained quiet on my other side. Well, technically on the other side of Sweetie Belle, who wormed her way in-between us, but the little filly hardly blocked all of Fluttershy, so I suppose it didn't matter.

The mayor frowned for a moment before looking over at me instead. "You truly fought the creature, then? That wasn't an exaggeration from the Princesses, I'm guessing," she reasoned, expression neutral.

"All I could manage was to contain it. It was extremely powerful. Luna was the one who removed it," I confirmed, technically telling the truth in an abstract way. Not that I was against lying if I had to, but it was easier to convince somepony if you could at least fall back on being truthful.

"You must be strong as well, then," she deduced. It wasn't a question, but it was a little too vague to my liking.

I shook my head weakly. "Twilight is far stronger than me. My strength is more in quick thinking, experience in combat, and just a bit of cleverness," I corrected, smiling finally afterwards. Twilight gave me a playful shove, and I didn't even need a connection to her to know what she implied with it. I know I tended to undervalue myself, but it felt more comfortable doing so.

"Psh! I've totally seen you fight before, and it's downright scary!" Rainbow teased, smirking at me out of the corner of my eye. I gave her a skeptical glance, but the mayor surprised me by snickering softly.

Glancing back over at her, I raised an eyebrow and she nodded, explaining, "I always find it a little bit scary when I see somepony do something they're really good at. Practiced motions that come naturally are pretty to watch, but knowing I'd never match up with them is a bit intimidating. I imagine combat is, due to its nature, even scarier." I absorbed her words for a moment before nodding again. Yeah, that made sense, I suppose.

"Still, your mark implies creation, not destruction. Your strong suit is engineering, is it?" she added, somehow changing the entire tone of her prior statement. She was okay with me, then? I couldn't read her very well. She gave off an air of wisdom, but I wasn't sure if it was just for show, or if she was actually wise. It wasn't an absolute thing like when talking to one of the Princesses.

"Engineering and enchantments is what I hope to make a living with. My specialty for magic is more defensive, however," I relayed, attention waning somewhat. Surely she'd heard as much already, though. What was she hoping to accomplish by asking me directly?

Twilight, who had been watching me instead, frowned and shifted back to the mayor, asking, "Can't this wait until he gets back? He's getting tired, and Fluttershy and I would like to properly say goodbye before he rests." It surprised me, but there was a certain air of irritation in her voice, mixed in with a dash of possessiveness. I glanced over at her, but she simply gave a frown towards the mare trailing after us.

"Oh! Yes, he's still healing. Certainly. I shall leave you all in peace, then," she agreed, bowing politely before turning around. The progression trailing the wagon had dwindled at this point, leaving only a handful of faces following that I recognized.

Pinkie herself dashed up much faster than I realized, leaving both Vinyl and Octavia momentarily in the dust. "Don't forget about me, Mender! Spike! I'll miss both of you!" she squealed, hopping up and hanging off the back of the wagon long enough to pull both of us into a bone crushing hug. I gasped and wiggled against her, wondering how she'd grabbed Spike too. He was at the front of the wagon!

"Aaaah, I'm not squishy, Pinkie, but I will be if you don't ease up..." Spike managed to whine, causing Twilight to giggle and light Pinkie up with magic, prying her off us.

"I just can't help myself! I'm not gonna get to see you all for a week and a half or more! So I've gotta try to squeeze two weeks of hugging into an instant!" she declared. Yikes! With Pinkie, two weeks of hugs might be enough to compress diamond.

The two musically inclined mares had caught up, and Octavia added, "I did say I'd be here to say goodbye to you. I'm not sure when we'll see each other again, but I do hope to visit quite a bit more often now. Vinyl has offered me a, uhm, what did you call those... things, again, Vinyl?" She hesitated and looked back at her DJ friend.

Vinyl shook her head weakly and sighed. "They're futons, Tavi. Any good pad worth its weight in swag has them. You don't get a more righteous sleeping arrangement than that," she explained, pumping her hoof into the air to emphasis 'righteous'. What was a futon? Obviously something somepony slept on, I supposed, but there wasn't any visual reference in my memories for one.

"Ah, yes. So long as I don't have to share it again. You should really get some, well, spray for your house, Vinyl. Or at least get rid of the empty pizza boxes. Those things are attracted to food in the first place, and if they get much bigger, you might need to burn them out instead..." Octavia warned, a hint of playful teasing in her voice.

Even with the shades on, I 'felt' as if Vinyl rolled her eyes. I think it was that oh so subtle head motion. "Hey, the mice deserve room and board, too, just like everypony else. We have an arrangement. I let them stay rent free, and they clean up the stale stuff I leave out for too long," she explained.

I blinked, and wondered if she really did have an arrangement with the rodents. Were they that smart? I added a note to ask Fluttershy about it later. Maybe it was just the mice? Could they talk, too? Heh, who knows? Maybe they were smarter than us, even? Twilight let out a weak, strained giggle, eyes shivering a little bit as she listened. Uh oh.

"You really shouldn't live like that, Vinyl. As you're a friend of my coltfriend, I suppose I could, I don't know, help you clean it up a little? Make it more orderly?" the lavender mare offered after a moment. I sensed an obsessive-compulsive trait to her sometimes.

The look she got in return was blank and far from amused. Lying there, I decided I'd rather not get involved at all, and shifted my attention to Fluttershy instead. The yellow pegasus was zoning out, and gave a small start of surprise when I shifted to look at her again. A gentle smile expanded upon her muzzle, her attention drifting back and being given entirely to me. That never ceased to amaze me. I wasn't used to somepony really, and I mean really, paying attention to me. Apart from the, well, problems I caused here so often, sometimes I felt like more a part of the background than anything. Everypony had jobs and duties while I just sort of drifted, making trouble for ponies.

Closing my eyes softly, I decided to see what would happen if I initiated for once. A second later, I worked up my courage and gently leaned forwards, resting my forehead softly against hers. A peek showed she was momentarily surprised before smiling wider and leaning into me as well. "It's sad that I have my friends to take care of. Well, not sad as in I don't like taking care of them. That's not what I meant! I just, um, kinda wish I could go with you this week. Are you sure you won't be too lonely?" Fluttershy asked softly, the words barely transferring over the small distance between us, but I easily heard it all because of our deeper link.

"I'll miss you two, but I'll have a lot of company. Spike, my fellow Crusaders, Big Mac, and now Tank," I pointed out. Spike hadn't been close enough to hear what we were talking about, but there was something about hearing your name being mentioned in a conversation that lets you pick it up a lot easier. His head snapped to full attention back to me, having only been passively listening to Vinyl, Octavia, and Twilight bicker about personal hygiene. If they kept this up, they were going to come to the camp with us regardless of their intention. I was also a bit surprised that Dash and Applejack had stuck around, too, the former still talking with Scootaloo and the latter walking with her brother and little sister up front. Although, now that I thought about it, I thought I heard Applejack mention she usually helped set up everypony at the cabins. Maybe Rainbow was sticking around because Applejack was, too? At least the mares didn't just toss us out to the cabins and leave it at that.

Fluttershy flushed lightly but smiled, nodding to me. "Oh, I know. I just wish I could be with you at the cabins, too," Fluttershy elaborated.

Spike smiled and nodded, now paying attention and probably guessing what had been said prior. "That would mean Mender and you would have to stay in a couple's cabin, though, wouldn't it? I was kinda looking forward to hanging out with him," he slipped in. Oh, they had couples' cabins? Well, I suppose that made sense. They were probably smaller and easier to make than the full size ones, and mates would want their privacy, especially during an estrus period, I'd imagine.

Fluttershy appeared pleased and nodded to Spike, adding, "Of course. You'd be able to hang out with him during the day, as well, of course! I'm not going to monopolize his time, and, um, I'll lecture Twilight sternly if she tries to as well." There was mild weight and conviction behind her words, which only went to prove she was serious about it. It still surprised me a little. She seemed focused on my needs and wants above and beyond her own. I guess I'd have to try extra hard to get her to accept things that she wanted, too.

"Wow, that's really kind of you, Fluttershy. I might have been, uh, a little worried about that. Twilight's been acting a little clingy lately," he whispered, looking past us at the now irate lavender unicorn. She wasn't even paying attention, so he didn't really have to worry.

"Probably just the heat, Spike. She'll probably return to normal after a couple weeks," I explained, attempting to console him a bit. In reality, I had no idea how long it would take for the hormones to get out of her system completely after estrus was over.

Fluttershy frowned and looked over at her as well. "Not so sure. Um, it's probably not my place to say, but I think she might be, well, figuring out what she wants more?" she tried to explain. Her peek showed a confused expression drifting over from me, and she squeaked, elaborating with, "Not that she didn't know before on some level. I think she's realizing how important you are to her, and your priority has gone up by a lot."

"She told Princess Celestia no to her face for you. I'd say that much is accurate, anyway," Spike added, nodding enthusiastically. That had surprised me, admittedly. It was tempting to accept her offer for her disk to at least feel what her emotions really were, but that was a shallow reason.

Sweetie Belle, who had been quiet throughout the entire conversation, finally stirred and looked up at Fluttershy. "Um, you seem really comfortable with Twilight, Fluttershy. Is being in a herd and sharing hard?" she asked, seemingly out of nowhere. Well, I saw where it came from, but didn't really know why she was curious.

Fluttershy didn't seem to mind, however, and smiled down at her as well. "It was a little difficult at first. Wanting to be with the pony you love is natural, but eventually it starts to feel like a really close family," she tried to explain. My ears swerved around and my heard skipped as I stared at her. Did she just say that?! She... loved me? Wasn't it a bit too soon for that?

"What if somepony wanted to join the herd? What would happen?" Sweetie asked next, only vaguely registering on my consciousness as I fought to decide if things were progressing too fast or slow. Sure, Fluttershy seemed worlds' more comfortable with being in a relationship, but love? Although, I had agreed to marry Twilight, now that I thought about it. Sure, it wasn't official yet, but the feelings and intent were there.

Pinkie suddenly almost landed on me, squishing me over and causing me to yelp and roll slightly. Holy hell! I forgot she was even here! "That's a tricky one, Silly! Herds usually only let ponies join that they know really, really well and trust. Plus, you have to at least care for everypony in the herd! Even then, afterwards, all members have to approve of you joining," she explained while Fluttershy recovered from her sudden appearance. Sweetie Belle blinked up at her, and then slowly turned a pink color. Eh? Oh, Pinkie's use of second pony tense? Surely the little filly realized the 'you' was just a hypothetical example, right? "So even for you and me, it wouldn't be an easy in! If you wanted to join Mender's herd, you'd have to get all three of them to agree to it, obviously! I'd have to as well!" she continued a moment later with a happy chirp, ruining my hypothetical comment completely. Well, at least it was still just an example. An example that was probably really awkward for the little filly, but I suppose that couldn't be helped.

Fluttershy gave a frown and muttered, "Um, Pinkie... Aren't you forgetting something?" Eh?

Pinkie blinked slowly, then perked up and nodded rapidly. The tempo shift made me a little dizzy. "Oh, and you have to be at least fourteen. Forgot about that," she added, giving two nods afterwards. Fourteen? Was that when they were legally considered an adult in pony society? Usually it was a certain fraction of their lifespan, which kind of made me wonder how long a pony lived for, on average. Granny Smith appeared ancient by pony standards, and surely the Princesses were some sort of immortal. At least functionally and biologically immortal, anyway, although if Luna's exile to the moon was any indication, they might be fully immortal.

Sweetie Belle looked more than a little flustered at this point, sitting up now as she shifted back and forth on her front hooves. "I didn't mean, um... but... wait. I have to wait two years to join a herd?!" she suddenly asked, eyes widening a little bit. Err, was that a bad thing? Oh, wait, she was twelve? Interesting. Now I wondered how old the others were. Late teens, early twenties maybe? I knew my old body, and thus, my mindset had been twenty-three before I was cloned. That didn't tell me much, however, as I didn't know how fast our years were in comparison to Equestria. I also didn't have a clue when my 'birthday' was at this point. Maybe it would be in Doctor Kyliona's notes when Keela sent them over?

"Hey, relax. Ya got your whole life ahead of ya to find that special somepony, you know," Vinyl cut in a moment later.

My ears perked and I suddenly realized their conversation had ground to a halt over the series of noises Pinkie had caused us to make in surprise. Plus, Sweetie Belle's outburst had been kinda loud. The little filly gave an embarrassed groan and scooted backwards using her front legs, burrowing under my tail and hiding in it a moment later. I snickered at her display, and Fluttershy simply smiled back at her.

Rainbow smirked suddenly, and I inwardly groaned. I knew her well enough to see a 'hoof in mouth' statement coming a kilometer off. "Why the rush anyway, Sweetie Belle? It sounds like you might already have a colt you're interested in," she pointed out coyly a moment later. Yup, there it was. If Sweetie hadn't told us, she obviously didn't want to tell us. Surely, Rainbow could have deduced that.

Scootaloo groaned weakly next to her and shook her head. "Don't remind me. She talks about him a lot!" she protested, shoulders sagging. Oh crap. Rainbow was rubbing off on her.

Sweetie perked up and yelped out, "Scootaloo! You Pinkie Promised not to tell anypony!" My eyes widened and Pinkie gasped dramatically, suddenly right in the orange filly's very surprised looking face.

"What?! You broke a Pinkie Promise?" she demanded, eyes narrowing at Scootaloo a moment later.

"Whoa! N-No, Pinkie! I promised not to tell anypony who he was, not that she had a crush! Besides, they already guessed it," Scootaloo tried to defend.

"It's not a crush! B-But please, don't say anything else?" Sweetie begged softly.

That I had to nod in agreement with. "She's right, Scootaloo. If she'd wanted us knowing, she would have said so herself. She's your friend, so neither you or Rainbow should tease her about it," I chided, a little upset that they couldn't think of this themselves.

Rainbow puffed up slightly and gave me an indignant stare. "Hey! It's all in good fun, Mender. I wasn't going to press her for names or anything. You need to relax," she defended.

Octavia sighed and spoke up as well, adding, "I think I more agree with Mender. It's all in good fun... for you two, Rainbow. I'm sure you know what it's like to be teased and how 'not' fun it is." She pointed it out as if from personal experience, and I glanced back at her gently. She wore a neutral expression, but gave me a small nod and smile when she caught me looking.

Rainbow shifted her glare to Octavia instead, and I recognized that expression. Her legs flexed as she moved to shove past me, but I extended my foreleg out to my left and blocked her. "Hey, let me through! She doesn't know anything about me and she's trying to judge me like that!" Dash demanded, glaring past me still.

"Hey, come on. Let's all just get along!" Pinkie tried to plead, moving more to my right so she could direct it at everypony at once.

"Dash, she's not judging you. She's just trying to give you Sweetie's perspe-" I started to explain. I'd forgotten how impatient the cyan mare could be sometimes. She took off at point blank range to me, her wing feathers slapping across my muzzle as she went up. She neglected to take into account the cart movement and wind speed, however.

Gasping, I gave out a wince as her back left hoof clipped my left elbow, sending a moderate spike of pain up my leg. Okay, yeah. I should have turned around and blocked her with the other leg. I was an idiot. Why did I even consider that my injured leg would stop her in the first place?

"Rainbow!" both Twilight and Applejack shouted out almost instantly. The pegasus must have felt the hoof clip me, because she spun around almost instantly before they even said anything. Her eyes widened before I looked down and away from her, focusing on lowering the nerve sensitivity in my leg with a bit of careful adjustments. Who needed pain medication when you were an unstable organic cyborg? Another perk! Gotta stay positive, Mender.

"Ah! Oh no, no, I didn't mean to do that, Mender! I'm sorry!" Rainbow apologized almost instantly, looking surprisingly horrified for the rather low magnitude of the accident in question.

I shook my head gently, cutting her off before it spiraled out of control, given the death glares she was getting from four different directions. "It was just an accident, Dash. Plus it wasn't even that bad of a nick. I'll be fine," I assured, nodding up towards her as I lightly set the hoof down. A gentle and warm numbness drifted through it, and it felt heavy as my internal medicine started working on both pain relief and regeneration. The damage was minimal at best.

Rainbow didn't exactly look convinced and drifted down again to land behind Fluttershy, next to me. The yellow mare had hopped up again alongside Sweetie, and both were checking my left foreleg over carefully. Rainbow watched them, ears rapidly lowering. I didn't want her to feel badly over it. Wait, had that actually managed to defuse the situation? Huh. I didn't realize there were perks to being an idiot and getting myself injured!

"Ya gotta cool yer jets, Rainbow! There's no need ta get so defensive. All Octavia meant was ta try ta see it from Sweetie's perspective," Applejack lectured, slowing so she was walking next to the wagon instead so she could give her cyan friend a stern glare. Wasn't that what I said?

Unlike mine, Applejack's words looked like they hit Rainbow in the face with a sledgehammer. Huh. Either my defusing of the situation had gotten her to actually listen, or there was weight due to who was saying it. "I know. I'm sorry, Octavia. Sweetie Belle. It's perfectly fine that you have a crush, and there's nothing wrong with it," she admitted, crouching down closer to the little filly who was still partially hiding in my tail. It didn't seem that strange to me, but I was a little curious as to who it was. Still, I wasn't about to ask her. After everything I just tried to prove, that would be highly rude and inappropriate.

Sweetie Belle looked entirely unsure of how to deal with Rainbow and just nodded twice before slipping back down into my tail a ways. She'd be traumatized after she hit a growth spurt and couldn't fit in there anymore. Fluttershy nodded twice a second later. Ever so gently, she leaned down and kissed the inside of my elbow between the brace lines, then smiled up at me. "It's not hurt at all," she added softly.

Even having already known that, her happy tone, smile, and general affection made me feel even better regardless. I kissed the top of her head, causing a light pink tint with so many ponies watching. My mouth opened and I got half of the 'thank you' out before Vinyl suddenly started snickering.

"Wow. I'm so gonna get diabetes just from watching you three. You're so adorable that it's a little sickening," she admitted blatantly.

I raised my eyebrow over at her grinning form, but Octavia smirked next to her and shook her head. "Admit it, Vinyl. You're jealous. You just want an oh-so sweet coltfriend like Fluttershy and Twilight have," she chirped coyly, continuing to look straight ahead to make herself particularly immune to the death glare her friend resorted to.

"Hey, I'm totally cool with being single! Don't forget our pact as the troublemaking bachelorettes of Canterlot Musical Academy!" Vinyl reminded. Wait, what?! That statement made my brain stall on so many levels.

Twilight perked up and looked at the two of them curiously. "Wait, both of you went to the musical academy in Canterlot?" she asked, suddenly very interested. Well, I suppose she could relate academically.

"Roommates for four years. Equestria forbid! Passed all my classes with an A- average? Wonderful. Granted highest honors in leading my own section in the orchestra? Quite nice. Hold no less than sixty-nine solos and duets for the Canterlot elite while founding a social club for musical study? Excellent. What does everypony remember of my academy days? That our room vibrated the entire fourth floor and I liked to occasionally relax with a glass of wine," she complained. I noticed there wasn't much actual bitterness to it deep down. At least a part of her was amused at that outcome, I decided.

"A glass? You do remember that amazing swinging maneuver off the third story balcony in the recital room, don't you? Oh, wait. No, you probably wouldn't remember that," Vinyl chirped, grinning now.

Octavia sighed and lowered her head, looking a bit exasperated. Pinkie was hopping up and down at this point, however. "Oh, oh, oh! I had no idea you were such an awesome party pony, Tavi! We should totally hang out and go dancing or listen to music or compare amazing maneuver notes or...!" Pinkie started offering, earning a wince from the gray mare. Rainbow started laughing again, and Vinyl's grin widened. Well, at least Dash wasn't feeling so bad now. Pity it appeared to all transfer to Octavia instead.

"There's nothing wrong with that, Octavia. That's why I liked you in the first place. You were almost the most relaxed pony at the party," I offered, shifting to look at her fully. She perked up and met my gaze for a moment before smiling softly and nodding.

"Admittedly, I don't much care for how posh the Canterlot Elite get. While I'm not against living with a bit of dignity, they shoot right past that into the egotistical levels," she muttered, giving a weak eye roll.

I didn't think Vinyl could grin much wider without snapping her jaw. "Exactly! There's the Tavi I love! Besides, you don't need a stallion to complete your identity. Most of them are only after one thing, and then dump ya. You so don't need that. I know I don't!" she added, nodding twice.

Wait, what? That I hadn't expected, and had to pick it apart in my head before I realized how actually bitter that had sounded. It screamed unfortunate experiences. I lost my small smile as I looked over at Vinyl instead. Octavia did as well, giving her friend a questioning glance.

"Vinyl, don't tell me you still haven't moved on after-" she started to ask softly.

"Don't! Don't even say it. It's in the past, and we promised not to talk about it anymore," Vinyl warned.

Octavia dropped into a slightly more incredulous expression, looking somewhat annoyed instead. "I promised no such thing. You demanded I not, then wandered off to drink for six hours and cause three thousand seven hundred bits of property damage to the school!" she corrected. Err, should we be hearing this?

"Psh, I so did not! I... err, wait. No, I remember the bill afterwards. Oh yeah, and his hospital fees. Dang it, Tavi! Just shush for a while," the DJ groaned out, exhaling weakly and adjusting her thick shades again. Hospital? Suddenly, I earned a healthy amount of fear-based respect for the mare.

Everything had paused as we stared blankly at Vinyl. She bumped into the back of the wagon as it stopped moving, and that's when I realized that Big Mac and Noteworthy were staring around the side and back at her. She looked between all of us before flailing her hooves in the air a bit. "What?! He so deserved it! Almost every stallion is exactly the same way! All his friends stood up for him, too," she defended, showing a far less relaxed side of herself I wasn't used to. Despite her thick, nonchalant exterior, I realized that she was actually rather resentful deep down. That made me a little sad.

"Vinyl, not every stallion is like that. Most in Ponyville are rather good-natured and kind. A lot of it is probably their upbringing and culture they're exposed to," Twilight reasoned softly, also adding a certain amount of theory into it, of course. Although, that wasn't entirely true, but she admitted that. If it was, shouldn't I be a complete monster?

Vinyl scrunched her nose up at her, but Fluttershy nodded rapidly next to me, her eyes getting much larger. "Yes! I was surprised by the same thing. I, um, thought that all stallions were rough and, well, rather pushy. Of course, I'd never really gotten to know any of them," she admitted, pausing for a moment before smiling over at me and nodding. I smiled back, personally very happy I was the stallion she picked to get to know. "But Mender is oh-so gentle with me and so cuddly and polite and assuring and respectful and-" she started rapidly gushing next, swaying back and forth. Eh?!

The barrage of compliments immediately caused me to shrink a little and blush again. Twilight giggled, interrupting with, "I think you've shown your point wonderfully, Fluttershy."

The yellow mare looked momentarily sheepish before nodding slowly. "Oh, um, sorry. Yeah. I really, really care for Mender and am oh-so glad he proved me wrong. Now I feel silly for even thinking that way to begin with," she summarized quietly.

I nodded, turning back to Vinyl and Octavia a second later. I started and tipped my neck back and away as I saw the DJ staring purposefully and intently at me. An exceedingly awkward ten seconds passed where she did nothing but stare before she roughly exhaled from her nose in a puff.

"Okay, I admit, for everything I know about Mender, I realize he's significantly different than the type of stallion I was talking about. But he's a rarity! Definitely not the norm," she assured stubbornly. In all honesty, I didn't know if I should be happy she supported me, or sad that she thought so little of the others.

Before I could say anything, however, Applejack surprisingly cut in. "What about mah brother? Or Noteworthy? Caramel? There are plenty o' good stallions in town that ain't tha 'love 'em an' leave 'em' type," she pointed out, sounding even more stubborn. Uh oh. Neither mare was likely to back down, which made me a bit concerned as to where this was going. The day was young, and I had plenty of opportunity left to meet my pain and accident quotas.

"Hey, I'm totally a nice guy, too!" Spike cut in, crossing his arms over his chest and looking a bit offended.

Smiling, I attempted to appease him as best I could. "She didn't list you too because you're not single, Spike. Aren't you already completely devoted to Rarity?" I pointed out calmly.

Twilight smirked at me and Vinyl relaxed, smiling at the little dragon. "Totally, Spike. I already knew you were a great guy! She didn't even have to say anything," she assured, giving him an exaggerated winking motion. Well, actually it kinda had to be exaggerated when she wore those huge shades...

"R-Really? Oh, I mean, of course my reputation precedes me," he muttered, sounding like he was trying to convince himself. Everypony grinned at that point. Heh, I just hoped Rarity had really considered my words that night.

Regardless of the disruption, the wagon soon continued along the path, as we were lagging a bit behind everypony now. Pinkie, Octavia, and Vinyl headed back towards Ponyville, Pinkie herself departing with a promise to chew Rarity out for not being there. They'd said she had an order to fill and was too busy, but I had a sneaking suspicion she didn't trust herself under the effects of the estrus cycle around me. It was just strange thinking about her actually liking me like that. It definitely didn't have that same tingle that I got whenever I thought about Fluttershy and Twilight.

The rest of the trip went uneventfully, Twilight and Fluttershy staying on as well to 'make sure I was comfortable,' as they so endearingly reasoned. To be honest, I didn't really want to leave them either. Not seeing either of them for two weeks was going to be hard. That was almost half the time I'd been in Equestria! Heck, that was an appreciable percentage of the time I'd been 'alive' in general. As myself anyway, rather than him.

"Which cabin was yers again, Brother? Ah'll help ya haul tha things in," Applejack offered, once the wagon finally came to a stop. Things? I peeked at the rest of the contents of the wagon. Apart from the seven ponies and dragon, I noticed several general personal effects that must have been Big Mac's, and a ton of broken farming equipment. That confused me a bit, I wasn't going to lie. All three siblings treated it like normal, however, so I decided not to ask.

Instead, I stood up and silently took in the surroundings from over the lip of the wagon. We were in a sizable meadow of sorts, with the taller grass cleared in a large area for a few dozen quaint structures. Most were rather large, easily able to fit half a dozen ponies comfortably. Smaller ones were towards the back of the area, and I guessed those were the couples' cabins. There was a small stream flowing through, slicing the field in half. Three wooden bridges were built over it and spread out for ease of access. It was far more set up than I thought it would be! The sunlight drifted down from overhead and the flowers speckled throughout the area gave a colorful, natural vibe to the place. Whitetail Woods was far more pleasant than the Everfree.

"It's a nice place. Are you really sure you don't want me staying here with you, too? There are available couple cabins..." Twilight reminded softly, glancing over at me.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow towards Twilight, who had no clue being pointed in the other direction. "Uh, that's so not a good idea, Twi. You kinda know that," she pointed out, noticing her visual cue wasn't getting attention.

Twilight sighed, not turning back to look at her and instead just lowering her head. "I know. I just don't want Mender to be without both of us for two weeks," she muttered, not exactly sounding like she knew, honestly. I felt conflicted, because I kinda wanted her to stay too, but the consequences were too great.

Something clicked a moment later in my head, and I felt my chest grow cold. Oh, oh hell. Could I even get either of them pregnant in the first place? Admittedly, I had no idea if my parts down there functioned properly, and if so, if I was compatible with them to begin with. Why hadn't I thought of that before?! Fluttershy had said that she really wanted foals...

"Uh, are you okay, Mender?" Rainbow suddenly asked. I snapped out of it in time to notice all seven other cart occupants staring at me with concern. My cheeks felt cold, and I realized I must have paled considerably. Dang. I really should talk to Tia and see if she could give me poker face lessons. If even Rainbow noticed, who was the least observant of the Elements, I was in trouble!

"Ah, sorry. I'm fine. Just was thinking too much," I attempted to assure. Twilight's eyes narrowed at me before I even finished the sentence, and I knew they weren't going to buy that. She didn't have to say anything, and I simply sighed, shaking my head. "Fine, I just suddenly realized that, um, I might not exactly be compatible with a normal pony. Everypony here knows I'm an alien. What if I, um, can't be the father of a pony in the first place?" I admitted.

Twilight went from annoyed to curious looking; her ears twitched slightly as I practically saw her mentally jumping all over the new mystery. Fluttershy frowned instead and pulled my left foreleg against her chest in a re-assuring gesture. "We'll find a way, Mender. Even if you aren't compatible, you and Twilight are the smartest ponies I know. If you work together..." she suggested hopefully. I smiled gently at her. I'd expected to have to comfort her, not the other way around.

"I'd have to run some tests and get samples to be sure. If you were still in the form of your old race, I'd probably immediately say no, but there's a possibility that your genes also changed with your new, pony form. If your chromosome count matches up with ours, that significantly improves the chances," Twilight explained quietly, mostly to herself, it would seem, as there was no request for input there.

Rainbow suddenly perked up, eyes widening drastically. The three Crusaders shifted their attention to her in confusion at the motion. Well, more confusion, as they didn't appear to fully understand what we were talking about anyway. "Wait, are you saying that Mender can't get a mare pregnant?" she suddenly asked, ears perked into the air as she stared at me. Uh, isn't that what I just said?

"What?! No!" Sweetie yelped, eyes widening at the same speed her ears fell, and she turned around rapidly to look at all three of us with rather sad eyes. "But, but, little foals are so cute and you really need to start your own family and, and," she started stuttering. Heh. She was such the matchmaker.

"We're not sure yet, Sweetie Belle. Like I said, I'll need to run a few tests first. After estrus is over, of course," Twilight explained yet again, blushing a little at that last part. Really? I figured she'd want something to do during the couple weeks, and she usually liked experiments. Huh.

Rainbow's ear twitched slightly and she looked back over at Twilight. "Wait, why are you waiting until after estrus to find out? If he can't get a mare pregnant, wouldn't that mean it's totally fine to stay here with him? Uh, you and Fluttershy, I mean, of course," she pointed out, flushing a little and looking away. Okay, something was up with her...

Twilight looked less than amused at her, and Fluttershy quickly looked over at Rainbow instead. "Twilight wants to wait until she's ready to mate, and that wouldn't be possible if she stayed," I heard the yellow mare whisper through my mind, aimed at Rainbow of course. The cyan pegasus looked momentarily shocked before flattening her ears back.

"She's crazy! Consequence-free sex during your heat? What mare wouldn't want that?!" Rainbow mentally shot back, looking exasperated now. The Crusaders, the reason I imagine this conversation had shifted to the mental plane, looked back and forth between the two pegasi.

"They're talkin' in each other's heads, Ah bet," Apple Bloom deduced a moment later.

Scootaloo looked less than pleased and immediately asked, "What? Why?! Why don't they just talk out loud?"

Fluttershy lightly shook her head towards Dash, mentally adding, "Her heat isn't as bad as yours is, Dash." Oh, it wasn't?

"Adult stuff," I warned, shaking my head to Scootaloo instead. They probably were used to hearing that, of course.

Twilight raised an eyebrow to me. "Do I want to know?" she asked hesitantly a moment later.

"So?! My heat is terrible! It's taken every ounce of willpower I have not to pounce him off the wagon, haul him up to a cloud, and rut his brains out," Rainbow mentally shot back, sounding upset now and... wait, what?!

My eyes shot open wide, cheeks heating up to maximum temperature almost instantly. I probably matched a beet in color, now. It took no hesitation at all for me to shake my head to Twilight. "No, no you most definitely do not," I added, just to be sure.

Rainbow looked perplexed and I rapidly looked away, earning a cough from Fluttershy. "Uhm, I probably shouldn't tell you this, and I'm sorry. Uh, Mender can kind of hear everything we say," Fluttershy mentally whispered back to her friend.

Rainbow's eyes slowly expanded to the size of mine, her cheeks flaring up as well as her mouth dropping open. I'd never seen such a good look of shocked horror and embarrassment before. Twilight gave both of us a confused look and I inwardly groaned. This most certainly wasn't awkward as all hell. Depending on how long everypony decided to stay here with us, this was going to be a long day...

Quietly, I lay there relaxing. It was only the afternoon and I was already tired. That, and more than a little hungry. It had taken an agonizing ten full minutes to say goodbye to both Twilight and Fluttershy. I disliked saying goodbye at all, which didn't help matters. It reminded me too much of the times where I almost had to say goodbye forever, which weren't exactly pleasant memories. No! I refused to dwell on the details, and pushed it further out of my mind.

Positive, Mender! Gotta think positive! Uh, Rainbow! She had been easy to deal with. She just freaked out for a good thirty seconds and flew away, leaving everypony apart from Fluttershy and I utterly confused. Twilight grilled me on that too for a while, but I refused to give any answers whatsoever and insisted she go ask Rainbow instead, of course. The answers wouldn't be pleasant for her, probably, and they technically weren't mine to give in the first place. The whole conversation had felt kinda like eavesdropping, which always left a bad taste in my mouth.

Damn it! Stay positive, Mender! Hmm. Oh, I hadn't seen Spike or the Crusaders in about two hours! Wait, no, I was lonely, so that wasn't a good thing. I strained harder and realized just how lonely I really was. Movement danced around me as everypony went about their daily business. The stallions seemed to function perfectly fine without the mares around. Casual chatting, a couple games with strangely shaped balls, and the little foals being adorable and playing with each other gave me plenty to watch to shove away the boredom. Still, I didn't see anypony I knew, which lead me to believe that I really didn't know many ponies.

Okay, I sucked at staying positive, it would seem. Even that statement there was negative, which was a little amusing to say the least. Heh. There's a positive! Kinda! I could laugh at myself when I was an idiot. Hmm. Weak, but it was the best I had. Oh, another positive! Ponies weren't currently throwing rocks at me.

Giving up, I dropped my head down in the grass and zoned out again, peeking back inside of myself to see how things were doing. DNA was sorted out, everything except the gravity drive was repaired, and with my new calculations, that would be a disaster to turn off in order to fix. My new work-around was far gentler. I was in the process now of building an auxiliary slot to plug the fixed gravity dampener chip into. That would let me plug both of them in at once, and pull out the old one without interrupting the power supply. I really didn't want to kill anypony with tidal forces or sink into the ground like it was air.

That just left the notes. A lot of them appeared to be from Doctor Kyliona herself, but I bet Keela had quite a bit more of them. It had been a couple days since I talked with her. Maybe I should do that later tonight? A dark part of me considered doing it right now and waking her up like she'd done to me so often, but I decided against it. That would be rude, my inner Fluttershy reminded.

Staring at a couple stallions playing ball, I realized that honestly, I was kind of happy that not everything revolved around my problems and activities. I'd caused so much fuss lately that it was getting frustrating every time something fell into place that caused me to pull things out of the norm around here. I wanted to be a normal pony, cybernetics be damned. Although Clocky could stay. He was my friend.

Smiling at the thought, I shakily stood up again and wandered a bit more. I'd been laying for a good half an hour, and my leg felt better again, so I guessed it was time for more exercise. Big Mac was sitting in front of our group's cabin still, working on reattaching the straps of a large plow, I noted. I'd offered to help him an hour ago, and it was about as productive as offering an apple to a brick wall. You couldn't get anywhere without throwing the thing. My example kind of broke down there, I decided. Still, I understood where he came from. He was like Applejack. This couple of weeks was irritating for him because he couldn't do anything, so he hauled a bunch of broken equipment along with him and repaired it while he was here, so he at least felt useful. I wasn't about to take that away from him, even if it made me feel about the opposite of useful.

My somewhat brisk stroll led me down towards the river a few minutes later. Peeking in, I was amazed at how absolutely clear the water looked. I'd never seen water like this back in the other dimension. Everything had to be run through a purifier in order to get the gore, radiation, and bile out of it. Now that I thought about it, I was kind of happy to label those particular memories as his, and not mine. I shuddered while staring down at the water, being very glad I was here rather than there.

As much as it was a problem for me to want to feel useful here, it was even worse over there. Literally, my only job had been coming up with more efficient ways to end the lives of others, preferably in mass. No, his job was that. I kept trying to remind myself of that. It was weird feeling like two entirely different individuals. His life was so bleak compared to this one. I kind of pitied him, which was weird considering he was kinda me. Nothing had ever gone my, err, his way there. No mate, no friends, no family, crap job, no respect, no anything really. The clinical, cold, unfeeling breeding programs even turned him down. It was no secret he thought of suicide a couple of times.

There was no point in keeping it a secret. It was dealt with casually in the barracks. Saying goodbye forever was easy there. That felt the most hollow about it. Worse yet, there were perks for doing so. Sure, the voluntary breeding list was heavily regulated and screened. Even though it wasn't even a mate, it still meant that you could have a child if you were lucky. Some didn't even get on that. That led to another 'solution' the council thought up.

Government sponsored euthanizing booths had been installed in quite a few locations in the city. Overpopulation for our planets had definitely been a problem, and there were already way too many males, so the solution? Offer the males who voluntarily offed themselves one free next of kin to be born, post-mortem. The booths did it all! It was as convenient as getting in and pushing a button. You didn't even need to waste the effort hitting yes for an 'are you sure' question. Clamps and a bit drill would pop up from the seat, take a sample and gore you at the same time, and then the booth would spray you down with acid until you dissolved. Rather clean, if not a bit on the noisy side. The smell wasn't exactly pleasant either.

The benefit? One less male while the government got a small chance that the new Keldarian being born would be female instead. That was wining for them all around. You got assured that your legacy would go on, which was important to some males. Further, if you did have obscure family somewhere, the remaining members got entered into a lottery! Whoever won out of the few thousand contestants each month got a free upgrade one social status level! Yeah, a few families encouraged kids to use the booths in mass, too. That was pleasant. The first nine runners up at least got a twenty-credit gift card. I think the acid used to murder their loved one cost a little more than that, though.

Snickering weakly, I stared down at the water, looking at my own morose reflection. Was it any surprise that I was so totally fine with being a pony? Of living in Equestria instead? I'd rather slice off all four of my legs than go back to the other dimension. Not that it would matter much, as they'd just grow back, but it's the thought that counts. Not that it further mattered. The Keldarians didn't exist as a species anymore. Just yet another mark on the massive list of species the Grosh wiped out, I'd imagine. That was the biggest mystery. Why? What were they so afraid of?

Our strange, furless 'allies' weren’t much better. They weren't local. I knew that much. Galaxies, star clusters, star systems... Nothing from any of our scans. We thought we were alone until they came. They were a blight at first, honestly. They came with fast and aggressive traditions, advanced weaponry, faster than light travel, and a few thousand diseases we'd never even seen before. Eh. A few hundred thousand less males weren't that important, right? Our culture jumped up easily a thousand years after their arrival. If I had to honestly guess, they were what killed us.

It had never been about the Grosh before then. We were magic users and tribesmen. Culture was everything. Sacred cleanliness was second only to divinity. We had no gods so much as we believed everything had a life force. Mana. Magic. Whatever you wanted to call it. Our allies called it animism. I never cared, learning about it in school.

By the time 'I' was born, it was gone. Magic used to be sacred. It was practiced with moderation and used with respect for the betterment of all. Their culture warped us. Quick and easy instant gratification became prized above all else. The Grosh didn't kill us. We were dead long before that. Another reason I wanted none of that technology here in Equestria. Of course, we only found out later that our very magic had been dooming us with its overuse. Maybe something somewhere had a sense of humor? Or maybe it was just vindictive. The more we used and abused magic, the lower our female birth rates fell. By the time I was born, the ratio had been about thirty-seven to one on a good day. We were doomed and we knew it. But the council just kept pushing.

Now I understood it. They were never out for preserving our race. They only wanted the most for themselves before everything went to hell. The Grosh following our allies to our system was just the last in a series of dominoes. And I'd thought it was weird that our allies showed up with their entire planet, warping it through space using amazing and massive wormhole technology. They were really fond of that planet. They started to help us fight them off, but the Grosh just kept coming.

I remembered everything now. Generations had been spent fighting the Grosh. We were cannon fodder. What better way to cull the horrible male population than send ninety percent of them off to fight a hopeless war against abominations? It bought them time, I realized now. Three weeks before the end, the council vanished. No more contact or voices over the loudspeakers informing us of our 'sacred' duty to die for them. No more laws passed. No more judgments or courts. Most thought they were meeting in secret somewhere and planning a great counter-offensive. Idiots. They ran away. Our allies' planet disappeared the same day. Undoubtedly, they moved on to find a new race to use as fodder to hold off the Grosh for a while. If they gave us their technology, we could fight the Grosh for them and they wouldn't have to sacrifice much of anything. It was brilliant, if not monstrous.

My eyes focused slowly back in again as I stared into the river. I snapped back to attention just in time to see the reflection of Carrot Top sitting directly next to me. I gave out a panicked yelp almost instantly and flailed sideways in surprise before falling into the very water I'd been watching. Sitting back up again, I looked back at her as she giggled in amusement, a soft smile on her face.

"You looked too deep in thought for being on vacation, so I figured I'd come and cheer you up! I have laundry to do, so if you wanna join me to chat, you can," she offered, gesturing towards the baskets tied to each of her sides. I followed her nodding gesture a second later and saw two stallions and another mare down the stream a little ways further, also washing clothes.

It only took me a moment to decide, already being mind-numbingly bored. I didn't want to return to my thoughts, that was for sure. "Um, okay. I was rather bored, you're right," I agreed, skipping over the darker answer in light of a white lie.

Carrot Top nodded gently to me before helping me out of the stream. Both of us walked in relative silence towards the other three ponies. Maybe I really did need to stop thinking so much? Inner monologue tended to be bad for my health, I noticed. Deciding to try to relax for the rest of the day, I followed after my reasonably new friend.

Chapter 45

It was somewhat interesting watching them wash the clothing. Not because the process fascinated me, of course, but because they were so adept at manipulating things using just their hooves. It must take a lifetime of practice to get that skilled with your hooves! Carrot Top deftly folded another wet towel in half, and then hung it on the line to dry a moment later. Towels appeared to be the most used thing that required washing, I noticed. It made sense, ponies not normally wearing clothes. I still felt better in Rarity's saddlebags, though. Well, technically my saddlebags. It was hard to think of myself owning any property apart from the book.

Ventosus Lacuna gave a pulse at my side, both reminding me of its existence, and further pointing out that I technically 'owned' it as well. It didn't make sense, as I wasn't part of the original creator's 'bloodline', but if the blade was intelligent, maybe it understood the situation? Prudentia seemed beyond intelligent, being capable of full on sapience.

"It still astounds me. I saw what that, well, thing did to the library. To hold off such a creature while badly injured is amazing!" Carrot Top complimented, causing me to sigh. She had wanted to hear from the source what had happened that night, of course. That appeared to be the most popular topic for ponies to ask me about. I knew it wasn't every day that an alien attacks Equestria, but I still wish they'd branch out into another topic occasionally as well. I'd even take the weather at this point.

I shook my head weakly, looking down into the stream. "I'm an inventor. Being able to fight isn't exactly what I'd consider a bragging point," I muttered, looking into my reflection's eyes. The area under them was darker, hinting at the stupid nightmares that were becoming more and more frequent when I actually bothered to sleep. That monster loved to come out during my sleeping hours and make sure the details of the torture, combat, murder, and loneliness were as detailed as possible.

"I'm sorry for asking. It's just got everypony on edge still. We're used to having problems, but all of them until now have come from somewhere in Equestria, not from someplace beyond. It's scary, but you being good at fighting isn't the point," she explained, folding another towel up.

I gave her a curious, if not tired, glance. I hadn't known her for very long, but there were definitely familiar vibes coming from her. Her attitude reminded me a lot of a more relaxed Applejack. She caught my questioning glance and nodded, hanging up another towel before explaining, "I know it's rude of us, but I know I'm not the only one. Having somepony capable of not only knowing about these things, but defending against them is a huge relief. Before I knew what you'd done, I wouldn't even let my little filly out of the house!"

It took me a moment, but I finally nodded. It kinda made sense. "I understand that much. That's technically not why I'm in Ponyville, but I'm extremely dedicated to making sure nopony gets hurt by any malicious attack, be it from an alien or otherwise. That much I'm sure of," I assured, staring back at my reflection in the water. Once a soldier, always a soldier. If that was what I was going to be stuck as, I might as well face it with dignity. This cause was a hell of a lot better than my last one, regardless.

"Yes, I sometimes forget about your amnesia. Twilight is helping you recover from it, isn't she?" Carrot asked in a much softer, more hesitant voice. There hadn't been any stigma I'd encountered over the amnesia aspect so far, but there was indeed an extreme desire to not be rude from most of the ponies I'd talked to. It felt like she was more not wanting to offend me rather than thinking less of me because of it.

"That's what it started as. Now I'm staying in Ponyville because of Twilight and Fluttershy. And most of my friends are there, as well," I elaborated, smiling finally. That was a positive, that was for sure. I didn't even have to struggle to disguise that one with fake optimism.

She smirked, and I saw it coming. "Yes, I'm pleased the rumors were true all around. A secret agent of the crown, and dating two of the Elements of Harmony!" she cooed, tone impish and amused.

I rolled my eyes, but felt a little heat enter my cheeks anyway. It wasn't as bad this time due to having seen it coming, thankfully. "It's not exactly a secret agent if everypony knows. I'm just a friend of the princesses and in a position to be of use to Equestria," I corrected, giving her a skeptical glance.

She laughed, to my surprise. "You try to play down everything. Sheesh. I would have expected Rainbow Dash to rub off on you by now," she chided playfully.

My cheeks flushed even harder instantly and I winced, crushing my eyes closed tight. Maybe if I couldn't see her, she couldn't see me? Bad thoughts! It took her a second, but she burst into more laughter a moment later, followed by, "Ha! Not like that, Mender! Oh ho ho, you're a perverted one!"

I groaned and shook my head rapidly. "It's just the situation, I swear. Ugh, and an awkward talk earlier. Sorry," I apologized, opening my eyes again but rapidly looking away from the mare.

It was still easy to see her eyes widen in the sides of my vision. "Uh oh. Did she actually try it? I knew her heats were bad, but dang! Maybe she should rent out one of the love shacks here, too!" she suggested, sounding equally surprised and amused.

"No! Just, I accidentally overheard her talking when I shouldn't have. It was, uh, awkward for both of us," I corrected, being as vague as possible. Wait, love shack? Oh, probably a cute nickname for the couples’ cabins. The meaning was kinda lost on me, though. She’d told me more about them earlier anyway, amidst explaining that she was here with her husband, Written Script. Some couples or herds just prefered to get away from the ‘pheromone cloud’ that was Ponyville, as she worded it. I suppose I could see her point. He probably couldn’t focus very well on anything there anyway.

Carrot Top snorted and shook her head, going back to washing a moment later. "Come now, Mender. Everypony has fantasies. She didn't act on them, so you should cut her some slack. That's the important part," she pointed out rather sagely. Fantasies? I thought about it for a moment before realizing I'd indeed never thought about it before. Sure, I was attracted in that regard to both Fluttershy and Twilight, but there was nothing particularly specific I thought about habitually.

I snapped out of it in time to notice her staring at me. "Oh, sorry. I just realized I'd never really thought about it before. I don't really have any fantasies that I can, well, remember, so I guess it's hard for me to put it in perspective," I admitted, frowning lightly.

Rather than look amused as I expected, Carrot looked a little sad instead, but nodded. "I'd never realized how thorough your amnesia was. The list of what you can remember is a lot smaller than the list of what you can't, isn't it?" she murmured, going back to distracting herself with the washing.

"Almost everything was gone from my mind when I woke up in the forest. I wasn't even sure what my name, gender, or species was. At this point, I've given up trying to guess what I was like before, and am just trying to start a new life for myself," I explained. It wasn't so bad because I didn't know him in the first place. He could have had any personality, honestly, from just the few bits of memory I have that are directly his. Does it matter? No, I think I like who I am now, rather than what I might have been like before.

"I'm sorry, Mender. If there's anything any of us can do, just let us know. Most of Ponyville feels the same way," she reminded, smiling at me again. I gave her a weak one back and nodded, of course.

"I know. Thank you, Carrot Top. I just wish I knew what I did to offend whoever made those fliers. It's obvious that not everypony likes me." It had bothered me off and on since the accident. The use of enchanted fliers and the pure timing involved led me to believe it wasn't done just as a smear story. Bad publicity is one thing. A violent mob is on a whole other level!

She outright snorted, to my surprise. "Whoever came up with that idea is a miserable little creature that should crawl back under whatever rock they came from. Such underhooved tactics are disgusting! If they have a problem with you and Twilight, they should step up and show themselves. That way all of us could get a chance to buck them down a few pegs," she growled, sounding outright hostile this time. My eyes widened as I looked at her, and she flushed a moment later, suddenly looking sheepish.

"Oh, sorry. Dirty tactics get me riled up, especially if they're being used against one of my friends. I do hope I can be your friend, Mender," she offered, smiling gently instead.

That choice was easy, and I gave her a double nod and smile. Friendship was magic, as Twilight would say. "Of course, Carrot. It's not your fault about what happened with the fliers, that's for sure. I'm sure between Fancypants, Princess Celestia, and Twilight, they can find out who was responsible," I assured calmly.

She smirked again and shook her head, lowering the next towel towards the water. "You even know Fancypants, and saved all those ponies at the party, too! You really are something," she muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. I rolled my eyes. Of course, I couldn't just come out and say I was probably at least partially responsible for the chandelier falling without admitting that I have a mostly repressed density somewhere a few magnitudes above a white dwarf star. That would probably be awkward.

Almost as awkward as her face a moment later, as she shoved the towel directly into the mud instead of the river. I frowned, and watched hesitantly as the river dwindled rapidly, becoming nothing more than a little trickle running through a muddy channel within seconds. Well, that probably wasn't a good sign.

"Oh, you're kidding me... What's going on?" she asked, frowning as she looked to the other three questioningly. They looked as confused as she did, however.

My mind whirled into action. It was a rather simple issue, I realized. "There's only one thing that could have happened. Something's blocked off the flow further up the river. I'll follow it back along its bank and check it out," I said, standing again and stretching gently. The Whitetail Woods were considerably safer than the Everfree, and I was perfectly confident that even there, I could walk through it in the middle of the night and be totally fine. I guess there were perks to being a scientific abomination after all.

"Are you sure?! What if it's something dangerous?" Carrot asked, whirling back around with wide eyes as I finished talking.

"Then I'll take care of that, too. Just stay here in case you're right. I'll hopefully be back in a few minutes," I instructed, not wanting witnesses in case I had to extend a few tentacles, after all. To my extremely honest surprise, she nodded obediently and sat back down, looking more than a little worried. I wasn't used to ponies actually doing what I said, and it was more than a little awkward for a moment before I forced it from my head. Giving her a nod, I turned around and headed upstream towards the edge of the woods where it entered. Hopefully it was just a rockslide or something.

To my surprise, Big Mac was already at the edge of the forest and turned, looking over at me. We exchanged nods as I walked up, and he asked, "Goin' in ta investigate? Ah'll tag along if so. Plum curious happenin', honestly."

He already knew about what I was, so that much didn't concern me. Seeing what he did to his door a while back when Applejack was in trouble also reminded me of what the excessively large stallion was capable of, and I nodded. "Yeah. It's probably just a few rocks that fell over or something, but we'd best be careful just in case," I warned absently, heading past him and into the forest.

I heard his snicker of amusement behind me as he followed, surprisingly quietly for a stallion of his size. "Ah doubt we need ta worry too much. Whitetail is fairly tame," he reminded. I noticed his habit of lopping off any unneeded words from his statements. He really didn't like talking.

Hopefully appealing to his personality, I just nodded back to him and started my silent tracking of the source of the problem, my weak leg shifting to armor after we got well away from the cabins...

* * * * *

It didn't take us more than ten minutes to find the source of the problem with the river. It's not like we were exactly rushing, but it was an extremely noisy problem that could be heard from considerable distance away. "Aaaah, no, row the other way! You're gonna flip us!" I heard Scootaloo shout in obvious distress upon getting close enough. Oh. I should have known, honestly, that it would have something to do with them.

I gave a questioning glance back at Big Mac, but he just sighed and wearily shook his head. Yeah, he probably had that thought, too. "This ain't ah canoe, Dodo! Ah'm usin' mah hooves tha best Ah can, but we're goin' in circles!" I heard Apple Bloom yelp a moment later. What the hell did they do, make a lake?

"But, I can't swim! Oh no, oh no..." Sweetie added. Aww, crap. My biomechanical parts took over in my leg as Big Mac nodded to me, and both of us burst into a sprint towards the direction of their voices.

"Calm down, Sweetie. Grab hold o' me, an' Ah'll swim fer both o' us if we fall in," Apple Bloom tried to assure. That wouldn't be a good idea with a panicking filly! Apple Bloom probably knew how hard it would be to swim with Sweetie if the little unicorn was freaking out.

Ten seconds later, Big Mac and I skidded to a halt in front of a somewhat sizable drop. To my surprise, the entire indent below us was flooded with a considerable amount of water, and the three fillies floated in the middle of it, stuck to a log that looked like it drifted free from the larger chunks. A makeshift dam had been constructed from mud, rocks, and branches, it looked like, and it was actually nicely put together. I didn't have time to admire the details, however, and scanned down into the water. Five meter drop, and at least three meters deep. Plenty.

"I'm gonna go get an adult! We need help!" I suddenly heard. I looked back up and spotted, to my surprise, two other foals on the opposite edge of the shore from us. It was the young filly who said that. She was a raspberry color with a slightly darker mane and tail. The colt, who was smaller than her, was a light tan with darker brown for his. Further, he sported a camera?! Damn it! My leg shifted back to normal almost instantly as I looked over at Big Mac.

"Got ah plan?" he asked softly, sharp eyes examining the situation and looking along the dam. There were plenty of loose logs we could snag them with, of course. There was still a current as the water had gone over the top of the dam at this point, but it didn't look that strong.

I frowned, and considered the options. "Can you swim?" I asked him, walking further to the left and sliding down onto a lower ledge.

"Eeyup. Work yer way down. Ah'll get ta tha dam an' head 'em off," he offered, going down the other direction. I noticed they were spinning in that direction, slowly getting pulled by the water flow.

"No! Don't go get an adult! We're gonna be in enough trouble as is!" Scootaloo called back, halting the other filly in her tracks as she paced. Then her eyes widened as she spotted both of us sliding down the cliff. Sweetie perked at her expression and turned to look, gasping as well.

"Mender! Big Mac! Help us! I can't swim!" she called out, waving towards me as the log spun. No, don't do-

The waving motion was all they needed to go over sideways, Apple Bloom letting out a frantic yelp as the log spun. Scootaloo held on hard and rotated completely under the water, coming up the other side soaked and missing the two other passengers. Shit! "No! Hang on!" Big Mac shouted, running along the dam now and rapidly getting in front of the log. No, that would be too slow. They might not be able to get back onto it!

Out of options, I jumped. Inhaling sharply, I kicked on my rebreather as I dropped the two and a half meters into the water, slipping into as best a dive as I could. The impact stung like crazy on my left leg, but I slipped under the water an instant later and looked around for any sign of the two fillies in the murky fluid. Damn it! Particles from the newly created ‘lake’ were stirred up everywhere, and I could barely see a meter in front of me!

It took almost five seconds for me to get over to where they were when the log flipped, and I spotted somepony sinking slowly and kicking, righting themselves in the water. Apple Bloom knew how to swim, so I guessed that was her. I kicked sharply, redirecting my momentum and launching myself into her from underneath and a little bit behind. She flailed in surprise, but I propelled both of us back to the surface, pushing her against the log we'd come up next to. She burst into coughing and hacking, and then looked back at me with bewilderment. I didn't have time to answer anything, and kicked the log towards the now wading Big Mac before diving again. At least he was in a position to grab the thing before it went over the other side of the dam. Damn it, Sweetie! Why were you even doing this if you couldn't swim?!

Ten seconds passed, then fifteen and I grew desperate. Clocky had shifted to a timer of how long it had been since Sweetie fell in. Twenty seconds was enough for somepony who actually inhaled before going under, but... My eyes flared up and I switched over to particle scanning through all the crap in the water, frustration taking hold as I couldn’t find the small filly. I made my way back to where the log had first spun again, but she was nowhere near where Apple Bloom had been. Damn it! Left and right I looked, the particle scanning barely able to pick up anything in the flurry of movement that was the dirt and wood particles in the water. I had plenty of air in my ‘tank’ from after depositing Apple Bloom, so I sank further down into the water. Thirty seconds had passed now, and I was starting to panic.

Finally, after thirty five seconds, I managed to find her. Amazingly enough, she had sunk like an admirable rock, which actually took skill to do. She'd managed to sink down to the absolute deepest part of the lake, and I saw her mane tangled around a dead log wedged into the dirt. I carefully shifted my angle downwards before performing a couple calculated whips of my back legs and shooting myself down towards the thrashing filly. Sweetie Belle was upside down, and didn't seem to realize that as she flailed in blind panic, a flurry of bubbles coming from her. Her mane got wrapped around her foreleg however and whipped her sideways instead, ineffectively spinning in the water as I got closer. No bubbles came from her muzzle though, which was open in the water as her eyes were wide with panic. Shit!

I hit against her a moment later and wrapped my hooves around her waist. Her eyes opened even wider and she struggled against me, flailing and hitting my left foreleg with her hoof, hard. I winced, but maintained my hold on her, deciding to attempt to get her pointed upright before breaking her free of the log. Her struggle weakened by the time I got her spun around, her eyes losing their focus as they started to roll up into her head. Forty five seconds. Her lungs were probably flooded with water at this point. Damn it, there wasn’t any choice!

Adjusting my internal pressure, I inverted the value for the second and third airway on the rebreather, a vacuum forming in my lungs before I pushed my muzzle into hers, forming as tight a seal as I could. Her body spasmed weakly, but she didn't look coherent enough to even react, going limp against me. Come on, work! The pressure difference between us sucked the water from her lungs in a few seconds, and I resisted the choking sensation as it got shoved into the practical black hole that was my stomach a moment later. That was… unpleasant. The second the water stopped coming, I switched over to the rebreather instead, and felt the fresh oxygen flood into her body.

At first, nothing happened apart from her lungs slowly inflating and her eyes gradually closing. Sweetie! My right hoof whipped around and whacked her in the side of the shoulder lightly. Her eyes shot open again and she gasped into an inhale against my muzzle, sudden focus shifting back into her eyes as they locked with mine. Yes! Thank you! Her eyes widened as she went rigid instead of limp, looking down at where our muzzles connected and drifting there against me with her mane and tail billowing about her in the mud. Slowly, her forelegs wrapped around my neck as I held her there, pushing as much air as I safely could into her.

Seven or eight seconds later, I used my hooves to clamp her muzzle shut as I pulled back and nodded to her. It hardly took any time at all to smash apart the water-soaked log with my back hooves, and I kicked off the floor of their newly formed lake. She held on around my chest as hard as she could, and we broke through with two gasps, hers followed by coughing and hacking as she got the rest of the leftover water out of her lungs. Damn, that had been way too close!

My left foreleg gave a powerful throb of protest as I winced. I turned, shoving her onto my back with my right foreleg instead, and drifted gently towards the recovering fillies and Big Mac on the dam. "Sweetie! Yer okay!" Apple Bloom called out, sitting up as she spotted us. All three of them looked like soaked rats, which I had no doubt Sweetie and I shared. She didn't reply, instead wrapping her forelegs around my neck and shivering there. It took me a second, but I heard her start to cry through the sloshing of the water in my ears. Damn it. I wished I'd been faster in finding her.

Big Mac nodded towards me, then hooked my right foreleg with his and hauled me up and out of the water when we washed up at the dam. He was utterly soaked, and the sight of the log on top of the dam suddenly made me realize he'd dove in and hauled them both up along with it. Apple Bloom pounced on Sweetie instantly, but couldn't manage to dislodge her from my back. "Sweetie! It's okay. Yer safe now," she assured. Scootaloo sat up half a meter away and gave us a sad look as well.

The little unicorn refused to move, however, shivering against my back and openly crying now. Frowning, I rotated her around to my front easily enough due to being soaked, and wrapped my right foreleg around her. She desperately buried her muzzle into my neck and just shivered, giving out soft sobs every few seconds. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both went quiet as they shifted forward to gently massage her back. Big Mack shook his mane a moment later, wringing some of the water from it before sitting down next to us and frowning at the little filly. He knew as much of what to do as the rest of us, it would seem.

I'd seen it before, though. Almost dying was terrifying, as an understatement. Soldiers that are gravely wounded but survive went into shock sometimes, realizing exactly how close they came to dying. I'd imagine it was the same for accident survivors, like in this case. All you could do was offer comfort and support to them. I hugged her gently as the other two foals ran up as well. It didn't take long for me to be temporarily blinded by an intense flash of light.

"Oh no, are you three okay?!" the pink filly asked, sliding to a stop right next to us.

"I'm soaked, and freezing," Scootaloo complained, pushing harder against Sweetie and me for warmth as emphasis.

Apple Bloom looked close to tears herself as she shook her head and hugged Sweetie's back. "No, we're not," she admitted weakly, pushing her nose into Sweetie’s neck as the little unicorn continued crying against me.

I looked over at Big Mac and shook my head. "They need to dry off and warm up. Can you carry Apple Bloom and Scootaloo on your back?" I asked, gesturing back in the direction of camp.

He nodded gently and lifted them both off me in an instant. His little sister looked like she was used to being carried, but Scootaloo looked even less pleased about the situation. "I can walk, you know," she complained weakly.

"Yer in enough trouble," Big Mac warned, shutting her up instantly with the shortest sentence possible. I smiled to him as I stood up with Sweetie Belle, slipping her onto my back again before following Big Mac up the slope with a sharp limp. My left leg throbbed with each push of pressure I put on it, and I knew it would be swelled up by the time we got back to the cabins. Great.

Stopping, I frowned as I turned around, looking back at the dam as the other two scampered past me. My left hoof tapped gently against the dirt and a flare of magic shot along the ground an instant later. I felt a little tired afterwards, but a small, circular hole was cleanly sliced into the bottom of the dam. The water started to pick up speed again and become like the river it was before as Big Mac and I stepped out onto the bank.

"Ya sure yer gonna be able ta make it?" he asked, nodding towards my left foreleg.

I glanced back at Sweetie, but she only winced and held onto me tighter, as if hearing my mental thought. Guess there was nothing else for it. I turned back to him and gave a small shrug, to which he actually smiled and nodded. "Come on, then. Ya can rest all ya want when we get back," he assured, turning and heading back towards the path. Another flash of light hit me as he moved out of the way, and I winced, blinking at the spots.

"Featherweight! I know you want to put this in the paper, but stop blinding him!" the pinkish filly chastised irritably. I glanced back up at Featherweight a moment later, and he gave me a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, I get excited sometimes! You're Moon Mender, right?" he asked in a rather soft and high voice, cutting in next to me as I continued walking. The second she said paper, a creeping sensation drifted into me. The last picture they got of me was manipulated into looking like some sort of monster.

I sighed, but nodded. "Yes, I'm Moon Mender. You can just call me Mender, though. Featherweight, right? I'm guessing you're a reporter?" I inquired wearily, not looking at him as I focused more on not screaming every time I put my left forehoof down. Sweetie had quite a kick! Although, it would probably be hurting even if she hadn’t hit it while struggling. Glancing back to check on her again, I noticed she’d gone silent and was just shivering, clinging to my back now. She held on far tighter than she needed to, as if she’d be yanked away from me if she eased up even a little. My eyes softened as I watched her. Damn it.

"Well, I want to be when I grow up! Right now I just report for the school newspaper, and give Ponyville's news a few pictures every once in a while for a bit of extra bits," Featherweight explained suddenly, snapping me out of my daze somewhat.

"He doesn't give any pictures to the Canterlot papers, don't worry," the young filly said to the other side of me. Heh, she was a sharp one. I relaxed slightly, and nodded to her, getting a smile back. "I'm Berry Pinch, by the way! Just Pinch is fine. I don't think anyone from Ponyville will be giving the Canterlot newspapers much business for a while, don't worry," she added, smile widening as I snickered.

"Admittedly, that wasn't a pleasant experience for me. I don't know what I did or who I upset..." I agreed, pulling up my positioning system to check where I was and how long until I could fall on my face and go to sleep for a while. I said I wanted exercise, but damn!

The little filly snorted irritably and shook her head. Featherweight raised his hoof gently towards her before she could say anything, though. "Relax, Pinch. I'm gonna make sure the truth gets reported, at least in our school newspaper," he promised, noticing her irritation. She sighed at that and absently nodded as they both followed after me. It was strange, really. Honestly, I admitted that I just wanted to be a normal pony, but I guess I'd have to settle for working towards just a normal day instead. That would be tricky enough...

* * * * *

Admittedly, I fully surprised myself. I'd locked my jaw to prevent myself from having the urge to cry out and scream at the top of my lungs by the time we got back to the cabins. Ten minutes had expanded into almost thirty at the speed I was forced to go as the leg got worse and worse. Big Mac looked considerably concerned by the time we broke the clearing, as both my knee and ankle swelled to the point that the frame of my brace was pushing into the skin. The tissue underneath was inflamed, and I felt the blood pooling towards my hoof with every angry, hot throb. Thankfully the muscles themselves were mostly numb at this point.

"Ah! You're back! You must have gotten the blockage fixed and, uh, oh no!" Carrot Top called out, grinding to a halt as she saw that five of the seven ponies walking towards her were miserably soaked.

To my surprise, Nurse Redheart was not only outside, but standing by her cabin and watching the woods with a full medical supply? She perked up, then frowned as she saw us coming towards the camp, then snatched the supply saddlebags and galloped towards us. Heh. Somepony must have told her I went off into the woods, and she predicted this.

Relief hit me, and my left foreleg stopped moving of its own accord. It was like I just hit a brick wall with it, and all the energy just left the muscles all at once. It refused to listen to anything more and gave out against me. Wincing, I wedged the hinge on my brace and used just the metal to support myself on that leg while I rebalanced, trying not to rouse the sleeping filly on my back.

Carrot Top just turned and grabbed her entire towel basket, running over to us at the same time Nurse Redheart got there. "Lie down, Mender!" Redheart ordered, sliding to a stop in front of me.

That I couldn't do. "No, Redheart. I'm sorry, but please check out Sweetie Belle first. She almost drowned," I requested, kneeling slightly to show her the soaked and unconscious filly who was still holding onto my neck. Her eyes shot open in surprise before she pulled the little unicorn off me.

"Ah, no! Mender!" Sweetie screamed out practically as soon as she was lifted, snapping awake in an instant and lashing out for me in panic. W-What?

"Sweetie, calm down! You're on land now, and I'm not going to take you away from Mender. I need to check you out for a moment, okay?" Nurse Redheart cooed in a gentle voice.

I started to smile before the ground shook slightly and I heard a muffled yelp to my left. Eh? I hadn't been paying attention to Big Mac or the other two fillies at all. Both other Crusaders were wrapped up softly in towels, but I was surprised to discover that Big Mac had been solidly tackled to the ground by Carrot Top, who was literally making him dry off and wrap up in towels.

"Y-You just cleaned these, Carrot!" he tried to protest weakly, struggling to rise again without hurting her.

She smirked on top of him and rapidly shook her head, focusing her weight on awkward to turn locations on his hips and shoulders. "No problem, Macky! You need to dry off, and I won't take no for an answer," she stubbornly 'assured' in a playful tone. I snickered, realizing that Applejack's stubbornness had apparently rubbed off on Big Mac as well. They acted awfully familiar with each other, though, but I remembered that Big Mac was single. Family, maybe?

In my distraction, I didn't realize my brace joint pop the other way. As it jarred me and I started to tip, I just sighed and resigned myself to the fate, attempting to land as flat as I could against my side. Spreading out the impact zone if you had to take a fall was a good way to reduce damage, I remembered.

Both Nurse Redheart and Sweetie Belle yelped as I fell onto my side with a dull thud, wincing and sliding a few inches before coming to a rest. My side heaved with my breathing and I just let my whole body relax, the dull throbs dancing across my injured leg like a parade of hyper Pinkies wearing climbing spikes. Aaahh, damn! Regardless, not moving had never felt so good before.

"No, Mender!" Sweetie called out, struggling against Nurse Redheart. The mare turned her over so she couldn't get traction with her hooves, and lightly pressed the stethoscope to a different location on the filly's chest.

"We're almost done, Sweetie. Hang on. You've got a wheeze, but that's to be expected. No pressure damage, and it sounds like an amazing amount of water is already gone from your lungs. You're a very lucky filly," Redheart reported after another half a minute of listening.

Sweetie's eyes slowly expanded more and more as she looked at me from an upside-down perspective. "Try not to think about it, Sweetie. Just rest and think of fun things," I whispered softly to her. She hesitated for a moment, but gave me a shaky nod, a soft pink tinting her cheeks a moment later. Eh? I honestly didn't want to ask what she'd suddenly decided to think about.

Pinch and Featherweight attempted to circle around me, and tried to unhook the clasp on my leg brace with very little success. "Dang! How do you get this thing on and off by yourself?" Pinch asked after trying three times to get her hoof under the catch for it.

"I use my magic," I shot back simply. It wasn't that far fetched for me to realize that a lot of ponies probably didn't immediately jump to the conclusion of an Earth Pony manipulating something with spells. It was probably fairly consistent in their culture that doing so was a Unicorn thing.

"Mender! Big Mac!" I suddenly heard Spike call out from the direction of our cabin. A second later, I remembered that he had fingers.

Wincing, I looked up at him and nodded, gesturing him towards me as he ran. His eyes widened as he saw my leg all puffed up, and he shifted his direction, skidding to a stop in front of me. "Ah! I'll get the brace off," he assured instantly, assessing the situation just as quickly as I expected from the number one assistant of Twilight.

It took almost no time at all for him to snap the clasps open and unhook the brace with his claws. They were surprisingly dexterous, I realized. Sweetie embedded herself against my chest again as soon as Nurse Redheart let her go, almost running the little dragon over to get back to me.

"Whoa! What happened?!" he asked after falling out of the way of the charging filly. I caught her and hugged her gently as she pushed her face into my fur again. This was starting to get a little disconcerting.

"Mender s-saved my life," Sweetie Belle revealed, not moving an inch as Pinch wrapped a blanket around her from behind. Featherweight surprised me by covering me up with one as well while Redheart looked at my leg.

She sighed a moment later and shook her head, giving me a skeptical look. "You walked all the way back here on it with Sweetie Belle, didn't you? Mender, you have to take it easy or you're going to damage your leg," she warned, surprising me with an uncharacteristic level of seriousness and concern.

Apple Bloom yanked Spike back by the tail before he could say anything else, as I looked away from Nurse Redheart, wincing. I knew it was a bad idea, but I was worried about Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo sat next to us as well, silently watching Apple Bloom whisper into Spike's ear. She was undoubtedly relaying what happened in private so Sweetie didn't have to hear it again. At least I guessed as much, as his eyes got wider and wider the longer the filly whispered.

Redheart pulled my attention back to her with a soft nudge to my shoulder a moment later. "Mender, I don't mean to sound harsh towards you. I'm just worried for you, is all. You're, well, you're not just technically my boss, but you're my friend, too. You don't take good enough care of yourself," she explained, eyes softening as she watched me. I was used to the teasing, joking Redheart, but I guessed she definitely had real aspects to herself as well that were more serious. It actually caused my respect for her to grow a bit more.

I nodded to her and relaxed, gently letting my leg rest. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be reckless. I couldn't let anything bad happen to anypony, but I guess I don't often consider myself in that regard," I admitted, flattening my ears back a bit, sheepishly blushing at my own silliness.

My nurse giggled and nodded in return before glancing to the side. To my surprise, I hadn't seen Noteworthy walk up next to us. A stretcher rested on the ground next to me, and I saw it coming. "I'm going to keep an eye on your leg for a couple hours, to make sure the swelling goes down properly. The three fillies involved in the incident also should come along. I'd like to check everypony for injuries," the nurse explained, standing up again fully.

Noteworthy smiled and nodded to me as he helped slide me over and onto the stretcher. I coughed lightly and looked away from him, a little embarrassed that I'd managed to injure myself yet again. Thankfully, he just snickered and shook his head. "You're really something, Mender," he noted. The way he said it, I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing.

A glance showed Nurse Redheart moving around behind me and hooking the other end of the stretcher as they lifted Sweetie and me up. For half a second, I could have sworn I saw her looking at my flank. She caught me looking at her, however and rapidly looked ahead, steering towards her cabin that doubled as the medical facility. Seriously? This was going to be a long two hours...

* * * * *

One hour, twelve minutes, and forty-five seconds later, I was checking the clock on every five-second mark. It had gone agonizingly slowly as I rested on a cot, the pain having long since passed in my foreleg. Sweetie Belle stayed tucked against my other foreleg, resting there and not paying much attention to the outside world. Apple Bloom sat on the cot next to us, switching repeatedly between concerned glances at Sweetie and annoyed stares at Scootaloo. Scootaloo, however, well...

"Gah! This is sooooo boring! We won't go anywhere near the forest, Sweetie Belle. Let's just go out and do something! Anything!" Scootaloo continued to complain. It had been almost non-stop for the last twenty minutes, and I was starting to shiver from the blaring headache.

I was tempted to flick my gravity 'just' enough to yank her tiny head into the bar of the cot and knock her out, but she was just too adorable, regardless of how annoying it was. Sure, I could just mention I had a headache and Nurse Redheart would have a dozen varying types of pain medication to me within seconds, but she was kind of scary at the moment. Even with my head down, I could hear her hooves on occasion. From the sounds of it, she was still hovering nearby, just waiting for me to request something or complain that something was hurting. I mean, dang. I thought she took medication to lessen this?! I made a mental note to never get near her when she was in full estrus.

"You three can go outside if you want. I'm sure Spike wouldn't mind keeping you company," Nurse Redheart suggested softly. What, and leave me alone with her? I swallowed uneasily but didn't say anything.

Sweetie Belle rapidly shook her head, however, making no effort whatsoever to even shift positions. Okay, this was starting to be a little on the strange and worrisome side. "Sweetie, are you okay? I know what you went through was scary, but you don't have to sew yourself to me, you know," I asked gently, trying to raise her head up with my hoof. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo perked up at my voice, and Scootaloo turned to look as well.

Sweetie looked back up at me a moment later with absolutely massive eyes, fidgeting a little with her hooves. "B-But I don't, um, I don't feel... Does that mean you want me to leave?" she asked, eyes softening as they started to get watery instead. Aww, damn it!

"Don't be silly, Sweetie Belle! He ain't gonna kick ya out. Yer just startin' ta worry us ah bit. Yer actin' weird," Apple Bloom assured to her friend, hopping off the cot and jumping up next to me, letting Sweetie Belle see her.

The little unicorn's ears flattened back and she frowned, eyes starting to get more watery instead of less. I felt my chest tighten and I swallowed, really wishing she'd stop crying. "But he, um, Mender saved my life! Don't you understand? I would have... I would have drowned if it weren’t for him. I wouldn't be here!" she exclaimed, the anxiety skyrocketing in her voice as tears slipped down her cheeks again.

"Now you're starting to sound like Spike did! You saw how awkward the two of them got. Do you want to freak out Mender like he did with Applejack?" Scootaloo asked, back to sounding irritated.

The ears hit the back of Sweetie's head at that, and she started openly crying again. Gently, I wrapped my right foreleg around her again but she pushed it away and crawled forward instead, getting right into my face before asking, "Please, Mender! Anything. Is there anything I can do at all? I don't want to, um, be a burden and if you want me to leave, I'll go. Please!" I swallowed uneasily, trying to pull my head back into the pillow as far as it would go to keep space between us.

Nurse Redheart intervened, however, walking up and sliding the little filly backwards and away from me. "No!" she squeaked out, grabbing onto my right foreleg and not letting go.

"Sweetie, stop this. Relax. Did you know that Mender technically saved all of us?" Nurse Redheart asked softly. I froze for a moment before remembering that technically everypony in the room knew the majority of my secrets.

The unicorn stopped struggling and gave her a questioning glance backwards. The nurse just smiled and nodded to her, making me relax a bit. She was helping? "Yup. If he hadn't stopped that female the night of the incident, she would have destroyed Ponyville. None of us would be here right now," she explained. Eh? Why was she telling her that?

"Hey, yeah! We all should thank Mender!" Apple Bloom suddenly exclaimed, looking like she just realized that in the first place. What?!

Nurse Redheart snickered and shook her head gently. "As much fun as that sounds, you three are about two years too young. But do you see anypony else trying so hard, Sweetie? I know it's more personal for you, but maybe you could truly pay him back by just being there for him and being friendly?" she suggested softly, giving her a soft smile.

Despite being unsure of her intent with that first part, I smiled and nodded to the second. I saw what she was doing now by trying to remove the personalization. A bit backwards compared to the logic I was used to, but if it worked, who was I to argue? Sweetie Belle looked hesitant, then glanced back at me after a long few seconds. I gave her a gentle but assuring smile, hopefully. I was still uncertain of my expressions with a muzzle, despite having been here for a while now. It was the subtle things that were hard to grasp.

"But, Mender-" Sweetie Belle tried to interrupt.

Nurse Redheart shook her head, cutting the filly off with, "No, Sweetie Belle. You're not staying this close to Mender for Mender's sake, are you? This is for you." Eh?! Wait, why was she staying here with me if not for me? Was she still frightened over what happened?

"What? Yes I am! It's just-" she tried to continue. Apple Bloom cut her off this time.

"Sweetie, yer not bein' truthful. Ya know better than this. Tha rest o' us know why you're doin' this," she pointed out. Oh, they did? I weighed the social stigma around asking them why she was staying. Would that be rude? I couldn't decide, and didn't want to offend any of them.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and sighed, also adding, "After Rarity kissed him, you've been talking a lot about it, remember?" Sweetie Belle flattened her ears back further, backing away from them and back into my chest as she blushed lightly. Rarity? When she kissed me?

"Wait, she what? Is Mender's herd 'open' in that regard?" Nurse Redheart asked suddenly, widening her eyes a little. Open? Eh, I was getting confused, so I just decided to ignore her for now. Sweetie Belle was having trouble with Rarity, then? What in Equestria did that have to do with me?! My brain wracked itself trying to think of anything at all I'd heard between Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Twilight had mentioned a really bad fight a while back where they almost stopped being sisters, but I thought that had been patched up. Oh! Oh... Oh no. I suddenly realized what she was talking about!

"But I... he... under the lake he-" Sweetie started, before I interrupted her this time.

"Sweetie, if you're having a fight with Rarity, you really need to patch it up. I know I don't have a little sister or anything, but that doesn't mean it's okay to declare me a big brother or something. Rarity is your actual sister, so you need to work things out. I can try talking to her if you want," I offered, attempting a reassuring but stern tone.

Four blank looks greeted me, and I hesitated, coughing lightly a moment later. "Um, what?" Nurse Redheart asked awkwardly, tilting her head in confusion at me. Okay, had I gotten that wrong?

"Ah! No! I don't want you as a big brother, Mender!" Sweetie Belle squeaked out in shock a moment later, before suddenly smashing both hooves into her muzzle and blushing rather impressively. Scootaloo started snickering in amusement, and I frowned. That was a rather… negative reaction to that. Was she…?

"Oh, um, it's okay to tell me, Sweetie. If you don't like me, you don't have to keep doing this for appearances or anything," I explained, ears dropping back again. Was that what this was about? She appeared to really regret saying that.

Apple Bloom slapped her forehead, and Scootaloo fell over sideways as she laughed hysterically. Ugh. Okay, I was just going to stop talking. I was just making an idiot of myself, I realized with a hint of bitterness. "No, Mender! I really like you! I really do... it... but under the lake you... you kissed me!" she squeaked, the blush getting worse suddenly.

My eyes expanded rapidly, at the same time Scootaloo's laughter was disrupted by a choking, coughing noise instead. Apple Bloom's head shot up in a second, her eyes widening about as fast as mine. Redheart gave Sweetie a skeptical glance instead, however.

"W-What?! Sweetie, that wasn't a kiss," I tried to explain, feeling myself pale a little. Oh hell. Was I in trouble for using the rebreather now?!

"I'm guessing you suddenly found yourself able to breathe again at the same time?" Nurse Redheart asked, ignoring the ringing sound as Scootaloo sat up into the underside of the cot next to us and whacked herself in the forehead, yelping lightly.

Apple Bloom relaxed on the mattress and nodded, eyes softening visibly. Sweetie nodded rapidly, however. "Yeah! He shared his air with me through a kiss! It was so romantic!" she exclaimed, eyes getting bigger again. I resisted slapping my forehead. Did she think I liked her 'like that' now? So she was staying close to me because she thought I liked it and owed me for saving her life? That didn't sit well with me at all.

"Sweetie, I have a rebreather system built into me that can provide an air supply. You, um, weren't looking so good when I finally got to you and I didn't have a choice," I tried to explain gently, rubbing her on the shoulder with my right forehoof. Scootaloo was apparently just fine, as she started snickering again after Apple Bloom pulled her out from under the cot by hooking their tails.

The little filly blushed even more and shook her head at me, edging closer. "No, I know it was needed. You saved me with it. I-I don't mind at all," she assured, the flush creeping up the bridge of her nose now, connecting the two tones on her cheeks. I suddenly wasn't entirely sure what the problem was, and got confused again.

Nurse Redheart sighed and thankfully started talking before I could shove my hoof down my throat again. "Sweetie, it's a medical technique. It's not meant to be a kiss, and there are a lot of differences between the two. He was forming a seal with your muzzle so he could get you fresh air," she explained gently, pulling the little filly back and hugging her lightly around the shoulders.

Sweetie's eyes widened a little and she shook her head rapidly. "No he... he meant it as a kiss, right?" she asked, suddenly sounding unsure. The blush faded and her eyes started to water again. My mind blanked for a second as I stared at her. Wait, she wanted it to be a kiss?! Wasn't she too young to want that sort of thing? It suddenly all snapped into place almost instantly. The reason she spent more time with me; the reason she stayed so close to me; it was all because she had a crush on me?! A little pang went through me as I realized that she hadn't been spending so much time with me exactly for the reason I thought she had been.

"I, um, understand now. I'm flattered Sweetie, but," I started. Her ears drooped as she stopped fighting Nurse Redheart and sank lower. I swallowed painfully, but shook my head. "You're too young, Sweetie. You're a nice filly and I like hanging out with you, but I think you should wait a couple of years. Um, you shouldn't try to pursue just a crush anyway," I explained, struggling to find any wording I could to upset her the least.

Her sudden frown told me distinctly that I had failed. "He's right, Sweets. Ah told ya that ya needed ta wait an' be sure, not ta mention it ain't legal anyway," Apple Bloom muttered, looking a little sad herself. Oh yeah, it wasn't legal, either. Yeah, that was important, too. I nodded in agreement.

Sweetie looked downright angry now, glaring over at Apple Bloom before yelling, "It's not a crush, and I'm old enough! I, um, I love Mender! I'll share him with Fluttershy and Twilight and not get in their way! It can work..." I winced at the volume, while Scootaloo looked at her like she'd lost her mind. I chalked another day off the attempt at that whole 'normal' thing, and resigned myself to thinking of a way to appease the little filly.

"Sweetie, you could get Mender in trouble by trying, and you don't want that, right? We understand you really do have feelings for Mender and, if you still feel the same in two years when you're old enough, I'm sure he'll talk to you about it then, okay?" Redheart suggested, sounding remarkably reasonable even with the awkward situation. I didn't know how true what she said was, however. I'd never even considered Sweetie Belle like that, as she was far too young in my eyes. Maybe if she were older, though.

Sweetie hesitated, and then looked towards me again. I nodded, accepting the idea. It was just talking to her about it, and she was my friend. I didn't have any problem just talking to her and working through this. If I liked her then, well, I don't know. It was impossible for me to think of what I might do. Even two years older, she still felt a little on the young side, but I didn't know how much of that was me being biased due to her being really young right now. Did foals hit a growth spurt or something around this time?

Sweetie Belle stared at me for a moment before her eyes softened and lowered. I hesitated, feeling like she just shoved a shard of ice into my chest. It looked like days of happiness wilted off of her in seconds before she managed a barely visible nod. My mind wracked itself trying to think of anything I could do or say to cheer her up. I saw another tear slip down her cheek and she suddenly winced as if burned by something. In one fluid motion, she spun around and dove off the other side of the cot.

"Sweetie!" Scootaloo shouted out, leaping after her. Both fillies were gone out the door of the cabin in an instant, before I could even right myself into a stiff sitting position.

My mouth remained hanging open as I blinked, then frowned at the sudden silence. Turning to look back at the other two, I saw both Apple Bloom and Nurse Redheart held a rather unsure look. Why did this keep happening to me?! With a frustrated groan, I fell forwards onto my face on the cot…

Chapter 46

Silence prevailed for a moment as my head spun, unable to quite comprehend just how fast that had escalated. Apple Bloom sighed softly, walking around to the other side of my cot before muttering, "That really got outta hoof."

"Oh dear. You two stay here, okay? I'm going to go make sure she's all right," Nurse Redheart instructed, trotting towards the door.

"Eh?! Ah can go check on her. Shouldn't ya stay with Mender in case his leg hurts or somethin'?" Apple Bloom questioned, tilting her head at Redheart. Uh oh. Even with my incredibly oblivious nature, that sounded like a bad idea.

The nurse hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and admitting, "Uh, actually Mender is fine and could have left an hour ago. Um, sorry. I'll go talk to Sweetie.” I fell into a deadpan stare as she hastily retreated out the door as well. A certain awkward silence prevailed both in the room and in my head for a moment.

"Yer popular with tha mares, lately. This is scary," Apple Bloom suddenly murmured, sitting down again and exhaling sharply.

I stared at her briefly before falling forward onto my face. "Why?! What is going on?" I asked into the blankets, frustration swelling up in me. This didn't make any sense! I started to seriously consider if I was flat out cursed by something. It was a wonderful explanation for the boundless bad luck, too.

"Mah brother guessed it was due ta ah negative backlash from tha public smear campaign. He said that sociology indicated that ponies would naturally be more inclined-like towards ah pony they believe 'suffered unjustly an' unduly'. Makes 'em somethin' of an underdog, whatever that means. Plus, yer real nice an' polite, an' try ta do good by other ponies. Oh, but that last part's mah own input," she explained, nodding twice and shooting me a smile when she was done.

I gave her a blank stare for a moment before slowly blinking. Well, huh. Okay, that theory did make a lot of sense. So because those Canterlot Newspapers tried to lie about me, it made ponies angry, so they were more inclined to see me in a positive light? Reverse logic, it would seem. I hadn't of course considered Big Mac simple prior, but I definitely realized that he was just a stallion of few words. Behind those gentle eyes lay an extremely calculating intelligence.

A moment passed, and I smiled at her, nodding again. "That's actually pretty smart. Your brother has a lot of sides he doesn't like showing to others, I notice," I deduced, tilting my head towards the little filly.

She looked momentarily surprised before giggling and nodding. "Yup! Mah Big Brother is really smart! Nice and protective, too. He takes care o' tha fancy mathematics on tha farm, with tha bits an' all. Him an' AJ fight about that ah lot," she explained, flattening her ears back momentarily and shaking her head.

I raised an eyebrow, and then sat up again, starting to feel a little better overall. Redheart was a responsible adult. Surely she could talk Sweetie into feeling better. I just hoped the little filly would still want to hang around me after all this.

"Oh, nothin' serious. He just gets mad at her sometimes. Says somethin' 'bout her bein' ah... Oh, what did he call it? Ah 'spontaneous spender', Ah think. Somethin’ about needin’ ta think through deals better. Oh, he was right furious 'bout tha conveyor thingy, too!" the little filly exclaimed, shivering slightly in front of me.

Oh, that? Heh. Honestly, her being spontaneous with the spending didn't surprise me. She didn't seem to have very good money instincts when it came to judging the honesty of a sales pitch, it would seem. "I'd imagine, but surely he realized that wasn't entirely Applejack's fault. That stallion scammed and tricked her," I pointed out.

Apple Bloom smiled and nodded, of course. The door opened gently a moment later, and I looked past her, hopeful that I'd see Redheart walking back in with the two fillies. To my surprise, it was Spike instead, with Tank following after. After I'd gotten settled into the clinic, he told me he was going to take Tank out for some exercise, but I hadn't anticipated him back so soon. Apple Bloom paid no attention whatsoever and continued regardless.

"Yeah, he knew that. Oh, was he angry with tha stallion, too! Granny tried ta stop him, but it was no use. He got Caramel, Noteworthy, an' Carrot together an' went ta confront tha stallion," she relayed, looking rather giddy at that outcome. Heh, I imagine she wanted to see the guy get punished for tricking her sister, too.

"Oh, are you talking about that creep who tricked AJ?" Spike asked, walking up and hopping onto the end of the bed. Tank hovered down slowly and landed between the three of us on the cot, his weight shifting me slightly forwards. Thankfully, those blades stopped spinning almost instantly and folded up into the top of his shell before he sliced somepony's forelegs off.

Apple Bloom nodded softly towards him, still grinning in amusement. "Yup! It was awesome! He told me not ta follow, o' course, but tha Crusaders just had ta see what was gonna happen! All three o' us an' Sis slipped out after them," she continued, deeply enjoying her story. I smiled, somewhat amused at the other perspective on the event I already knew about.

"Applejack went, too?" Spike asked, tilting his head gently. Apple Bloom absently started playing with Tank's leg as she nodded.

"Yeah, she was darn curious as ta what her brother was gonna do. We were rather impressed that all he did was talk ta tha jerk," she informed, looking a bit surprised. I raised an eyebrow, and she coughed and looked away slightly. "Okay, okay. Ah know. 'Talk' was ah bit o' an understatement. More yelled. Still!" she amended after a moment's hesitation.

I snickered and nodded, having already predicted that due to her 'protective' statement earlier. She kept going, regardless, with, "O' course, tha slimy bugger started tryin' ta talk fancy with all sorts o' trick questions an' loopholes, sayin' she never 'asked' fer tha rest o' tha parts or tha manual, an' he ain't obligated ta look out on account fer her 'foolishness'. That made AJ mad! Oh boy..." My eyes widened, and scenes of horrible, awe-inspiring violence played out in my mind.

"Yikes! Applejack didn't tell me that she attacked the guy," I muttered, looking a little surprised. She must have just avoided saying anything about it. She was terrible at lying, after all. Spike nodded in agreement at the same time.

Apple Bloom snickered and scoffed, shaking her head. "She probably would'a, but she didn't get tha chance. Carrot bucked him out flat in an instant, an' then proceeded ta stomp him inta tha dirt. She gets right scary when somepony uses underhoofed tactics!" she chirped, giggling afterwards.

Spike and I both paled a little, staring in surprise at the little filly, who only giggled harder at our reactions. Carrot...? She was the one who attacked first?! "What? For true! It took both Noteworthy an' mah brother ta haul her off him, an' he was ah bad sight by then! Thankfully, they patched him up at tha hospital fer free before runnin' him outta town fer not doin' honest business. That's an offense 'ere!" Apple Bloom assured, smirking at both of us.

"Wow, that's, uh, a little scary, considering she seemed so nice earlier. Why did she even listen to me?" I thought, mostly to myself out loud, if that made sense.

"She has ah lot o' respect fer ya, Mender! She was impressed by yer manners an' inta.. intey... morals! Ya forgave her right quick, she said, an' honestly meant it. Not some guilt drivin' or somethin'. She said she believes exactly who ya say ya are," she continued to explain, surprising me a little bit. Even though it wasn't the entire truth, even I didn't believe that Celestia had given me the position she had. It was a little surprising that a stranger did so readily.

Spike thought for a moment before nodding and smiling. "You Apples are definitely a strong bunch. Even the distant relations. I wish more ponies were as honest and loyal," he muttered gently.

Distant relations? "Oh, Golden Harvest must be a relative?" I inquired, jumping on the opportunity to ask now that somepony, or somedrake else had brought up the topic.

The filly nodded and smiled towards me, informing, "Yup! Just call her Carrot Top or Carrot, though. She grows ah lot o' things, but Carrots are her specialty! Plus, she thinks tha nickname's cute 'cause o' her mane. She's mah cousin!"

"Heh. I'll call her anything she wants so long as she doesn't buck me into the ground," Spike assured, causing Apple Bloom to burst into a fit of giggles and nods. Heh, her family really was something else. Of course, now I was glad that I had helped her with the loft and conveyor.

"Did Big Mac forgive Applejack for the conveyor thing after we got it working, by the way? We kind of got sidetracked before you could finish that part," I suddenly reminded, hoping that the girls and I had relieved some of the tension amidst the Apple household.

The little filly continued snickering for a bit before finally nodding twice. "He was right unsure about it really workin' fer ah while, but tha second we got done packin' up tha first o' tha apple shipments up fer delivery usin' it, he plum dropped tha subject! O' course, that might'a had somethin' ta do with tha fact that we finished it in two days instead o' tha week it usually takes us, an' didn't have ta bring in extra help," she informed, smiling happily towards the end.

I grinned and nodded to her, feeling happy that we'd managed to make the thing work. It was an uphill battle for a good half dozen hours or so, but I guess it was worth it, then! "I hope the machine didn't take away anypony's jobs," I suddenly muttered, the fact that they'd not hired the usual help suddenly dawning on me.

Spike snickered and shook his head instead, surprising me. "I wouldn't worry about that. I've heard Applejack talking about that at the 'Third Week of Fall, Start Talking About Getting Ready to Welcome Winter” party Pinky throws each year. She feels terrible about having to bring in family to help, hauling them away from their own shipment packaging, and usually pays them three times the normal rate," he relayed.

Several aspects of that statement hurt my head, and I frowned, rubbing my temple. Okay, so not only did Applejack pay family to come here and help pack up apples with them, but she paid them three times more than a pony she could get from Ponyville and, I had no doubt at all in my mind, paid their traveling expenses and room and board. I was beginning to realize why Applejack was a little bad with bits. Also, more importantly, seriously, Pinkie?!

"Yup! Spike's right. Feedin' all those ponies also takes ah lot o' work! Big Mac keeps tryin' ta find local ponies ta help, but apart from Carrot, Caramel, an' Noteworthy, not ah lot o' them are up fer tha heavy labor, usually. My brother finally admitted that this is good fer everypony, all around," Apple Bloom continued, frowning a bit while she thought deeply about something, it looked like.

"Well, I'm glad that the machine helps that much. I hadn't realized what a big deal it was when I was helping put it together," I admitted, frowning a little, myself. Her trying to pay me for it kind of made a bit more sense in perspective, I suddenly realized. I just kind of assumed it was a silly side project that they didn't have much overhead sunk into. Dang. I hadn't even realized I was assuming that time!

Apple Bloom surprised me by groaning instead, slapping her forehoof to her face a moment later. Both Spike and I gave her a questioning look, but Tank seemed indifferent. Or bored. Or plotting the noisy ponies' deaths. No, I was gonna go with indifferent. "Don't remind me! Ah really do love mah sister, but sometimes she gets downright aggravatin'-like! She went on an' on fer days about what she did ta ya, after ya did everything right an' helped us so much. She practically worked herself inta exhaustion every day over it, an' was too stubborn ta see sense in ya maybe, just maybe, not bein' as mad as she thought over it all," the little filly suddenly started ranting.

My eyes widened the longer she went on. Twilight and Rainbow had said she was hard on herself, but I guess Apple Bloom had firsthoof account of it, living with her and all. It was unnerving, ultimately. I felt badly over making her worry that much, yes, but the truly unreal part I couldn't wrap my head around was the fact that she reacted like that to begin with. What made me so important as to cause a pony to do that to themselves? Maybe it wasn't me exactly, and more of a morals thing? That would make more sense.

"Is she doing any better now that her and Mender are talking again?" Spike asked softly, snapping me out of my inner turmoil with a question I was very much interested in as well.

Apple Bloom frowned, however, her eyes softening before she shrugged lightly. That wasn't a positive reaction... "She's sleepin' more normal hours now, but still gets up two hours before tha rest o' us an' is out workin' before Ah even wake up. Sometimes Ah get woken up ta her screamin' about Mender, too. Big Brother always rushes inta her room ta calm her down afterwards, but he won't tell me anything about it. Ah think she's dreamin' 'bout that night," she deduced, looking up at me gently.

My eyes were even wider now, and I flattened my ears back before swallowing. That night was monstrous, for sure. But if she was having repeating nightmares about it, maybe she needed to talk to somepony? I shivered, but nodded a moment later, looking back down at the filly.

"I think I'll talk to her when we get back. Maybe if we, well, talk about some of the things that happened that night, she'll feel better," I reasoned, not really sure if that was the case, but I had to do something. I was the reason that night even existed. I had been Nirru's target, and technically Applejack had just gotten caught up in all of it by accident.

Apple Bloom looked momentarily stunned, but quickly started smiling again and nodded. "That would be amazin', Mender! Ya really are ah swell stallion. Even if things don't always work out, ya always try ta do tha right thing, an' that's what's important," she complimented, causing me to flush lightly. It wasn't as overblown a compliment as I'd gotten before, but something about who was saying it and the way she said it made it feel ultimately sincere in comparison.

I couldn't think of anything to say in reply to that, but thankfully Spike beat me to it with an impish snicker. "Sheesh, AB, I could'a told ya that! Just look at whom he's dating. Fluttershy trusts him enough to fall asleep right up against him, and Twilight's actually giving dating a try in the first place! Nothing has ever gotten Twilight to move a priority up four hundred and ninety-three places before! So there has to be a lot of good about Mender," he deduced.

My head couldn't wrap itself around that, either. That was, but, wait, she moved me up... She kept a list of almost five hundred priorities for herself?! No, wait, that part didn't surprise me anywhere as much as it should have. She moved me up that far in the list?! Suddenly, I couldn't get the heat to die down in my cheeks in the slightest, and I felt a little dizzy. She really cared about me that much?!

Apple Bloom momentarily looked as shocked as I did, but then she looked over at me and burst into a fit of laughter. Spike glanced over at her reaction, and also started laughing as I flattened my ears back. "H-Hey! Stop it! It's just, honestly I didn't realize that she, um," I muttered, trying to defend myself before realizing I didn't exactly understand how I considered her before in the first place.

"Of course she likes ya ah lot! That much is obvious. Ah lot o' ponies like ya once ya talk ta 'em. Even mah quiet brother has been talkin' 'bout ya ah little," Apple Bloom reminded, recovering from her laughing fit but still grinning.

I coughed and rolled my eyes, finally fighting the heat down in my head. "Not everypony likes me, or there wouldn't have been that whole smear campaign and angry mob thing. Plus, a lot of ponies would change their minds amazingly fast if they knew what I actually was," I reasoned, relaxing slightly into a laying position.

"Hey, those fliers were enchanted, right?" Spike asked, frowning at me as I lay down.

I sighed and shook my head towards him, explaining, "They were, but they only encouraged the behavior. The distrust and anger had to at least be there a little bit for them to work as well as they did." Twilight had said as much after scanning the one. Why had I earned so much distrust and hatred in the first place? Did somepony figure out what I was?

The little filly scoffed and shook her head rapidly. "No way! Ah bet that if tha stupid fliers were tried again now, they wouldn't have no effect at all!" she vehemently corrected.

I stared at her for a moment before smiling and nodding. "I'm happy enough knowing that they wouldn't have any effect on you two, at the very least. Thank you," I added. Apple Bloom shifted into a warm smile at me, and Spike shot me a grin as he flopped over on top of Tank's shell. The tortoise seemed unfazed in the slightest by the sudden impact, and didn't appear to be straining at all. How strong was he? Dang. If anything, I could have sworn I saw him slowly start to smile back at Spike, but the movement was far too slow to be sure of. I guess he was only fast while flying.

A lazy five seconds passed before Spike slid over the shell and landed gently on his back on the cot right in front of me, with both of us looking down at him, and Tank slowly turning to glance at the claw that flopped over near his head. "It's cool, Dude. We so have your back if they try anything again," he assured, earning a snicker of amusement from Apple Bloom.

"Ya mean on his back as he runs away with us, right? Ah ain't anywhere as good ah fighter as mah Sis, yet, remember?" she reminded. I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head at her, and she smirked, ignoring Spike's scowl at the attack against his ego. "Ya didn't realize? Sis is ah really good fighter. Wrestlin' an' hoof combat are two o' tha events she always comes back with ah blue ribbon in! She can stand hoof ta hoof against mah brother 'cause o' that, despite him bein' so much bigger. He's ah lot better at tha fancy mathematics, though," she explained, shifting at the end as if suddenly realizing she should complement both of her siblings.

Admittedly, I wasn't too surprised. I'd seen her extremely practiced stance and movements when she put Nirru through a tree, and I guess I'd never really thought about it after that. Of course, I'd been busy bleeding out at the time, so I might not have given it as much attention as I should have. Her not being good at the 'fancy mathematic' didn't surprise me, either.

"It makes sense. She handed Nirru her flank that night after getting free. That's why she hauled me off into the forest in the first place. She was running away," I revealed, smiling at the two of them as their grins got even wider. I figured they'd like hearing that.

"Sis is real tough! Ah'm not surprised Nirru ran away," the filly chirped proudly, smiling and nodding twice to me. Of course, we were also lucky that the target of her mission, me, was right next to Applejack. Nirru couldn't use her magic with me that close and risk reducing me to ash before she got what she wanted. I decided to change the topic before I got depressed again.

"Big Mac does the bookkeeping on the farm if he's that good with mathematics, right? Why didn't he think of automating the process before now?" I inquired suddenly, tilting my head at the filly. There had to be a reason behind it, and it made me curious enough to pull my mind away from the bad memories again.

Apple Bloom looked momentarily confused before shaking her head. "He did think o' that. He ain't good with tha' engineerin' part, though. Ponyville doesn't have an engineer pony ta help build complicated thingies, so he didn't even have anypony ta hire available," she explained, with Spike nodding along in agreement.

I considered it for a bit before hesitantly nodding as well. "Maybe I'll get a lot of business, then, if demand's high enough. I don't see where a lot of ponies would need fancy machines, though, so I was kind of hoping my enchantments would make it a bit more lucrative," I muttered, mostly talking to myself again. It felt good to get it out of my head and into the open air again. Almost like it made the aspect clearer. What I needed to do, anyway.

Apple Bloom smiled and nodded rapidly before assuring, "Heck yeah! Tha Cakes didn't even wait fer ya ta advertise, an' Big Mac was already talkin' about two other projects he wanted ta hire ya for after yer done with that an' all." Oh. Well then, that was more than a little surprising to me. She giggled, and I realized my expression must have blanked when I heard it.

"Sorry. I just didn't expect him to want to hire me. It felt more like Applejack was the one pushing for it," I explained, frowning to myself.

"Rarity, too," Spike suddenly spoke up, then explained, "She was talking about you to a lot of the ponies that visited the boutique during her 'open house' event. They were asking about the 'indestructible suit' you had been wearing in Canterlot, and she advertised your business specialty afterwards, as she put it." A part of me was a little saddened that they were impressed with the levels of shields she had to throw onto the suit to make it resist the epitome of bad luck that was myself. I slapped my forehead lightly, and he snickered.

Apple Bloom just smiled, however, and nodded. "Ah told ya my brother is real smart. He saw what ya did fer us, an' was impressed by yer morals! He might not say so, but Ah can tell! He knows yer smart, too, an' good with tha machines an' stuff. Ah think he's been waitin' fer an opportunity like this fer ah while," she guessed, looking really happy about the prospect.

I smiled and nodded towards her, taking a shot in the dark. "I'm guessing it'll make it easier on all four of you if he automates a few things?" She probably had a few chores she'd have no qualms with automating, too. Heh.

She smiled but shook her head again. "It might, but that ain't tha important part. Ah bit more free time means Ah might get ta spend more time with mah brother an' sister. They're too busy usually durin' this time o' year ta play with me much, is all." Oh. I frowned lightly at her softening eyes, and she suddenly snapped back to attention, shaking her head rapidly and holding up a hoof.

"Oh, no, it's not all bad. Ah mean, they're takin' care o' me by workin' so hard, plus we all get ta see each other an' talk durin lunch an' dinner. Oh, an' Applejack walks tha three o' us ta school each day, an' Big Mac helps me on mah math homework and.... such....." she started to append, before trailing off into a blank look, then deflating rapidly where she sat, flopping onto her stomach and chin.

Well, I had been smiling at her up until that point. "Er, is something the matter, Apple Bloom?" I asked hesitantly, raising an eyebrow to her.

She stayed like that for a moment before sighing and nodding. "Ya can just call me 'AB' if ya want ta. Ah just remembered Cheerilee gave us math homework over this vacation, an' Ah don't have it done yet," she murmured, sounding utterly depressed. As happy as I was at being upgraded to nickname status, I felt bad that she suddenly felt bad. I considered it for a moment before realizing I wasn't entirely sure what the problem was.

"Why don't you just do it now, then?" I inquired, sitting upright again and cracking my back. As much as resting felt nice, staying in one position for too long reminded me of the hospital. Of course, that statement was a bit ironic when I considered the building I was sitting in right now.

"Ah can't! It's almost an honored tradition fer tha three o' us ta wait until tha absolute last minute, panic, an' then do it all tha night before!" she explained. Both Spike and I gave her blank stares, and she coughed lightly. "Oh fine. Ah'm confused over it, an' Sweetie Belle an' Scootaloo are even further back in tha assignment. Ah was hopin' ta ask mah brother ta help, but he ain't done repairin' all tha farmin' tools yet," she added, that one making a bit more sense to me.

Spike snickered and asked, "Wouldn't it be better to get all of the boring homework out of the way as fast as possible so you three could play all you wanted without having to worry?" Exactly! That made the most sense to me. Although both of us were starting to sound like Twilight now, prioritizing things. Wasn't he as old as they were? He should be slacking off, too, then. I guess he was raised far differently. Heh.

Apple Bloom thought about it for almost thirty seconds. Honestly, I was a little saddened that she had to consider the logic involved for that long. She must really... value... procrastination? My head was starting to hurt again, so I just let her think in silence. Eventually, she hesitantly nodded and admitted, "Well, that would be awfully nice. If Ah could get mah brother ta help us, we could get it done real fast! Ah should talk ta them about it later after all this blows over," she pondered out loud. Oh yeah...

Spike got a curious look, but I so didn't want to talk about that topic and rapidly changed the subject back again. "Why don't you go get the assignment right now? I'm assuming you brought it with you. You can get it done right now instead, and then prove how smart you are by helping Sweetie and Scootaloo figure out the problems later," I suggested, smiling softly at her.

She perked up at that idea, and Spike snickered again, letting me breathe a sigh of relief in my mind. Apple Bloom frowned a moment later, however, and looked back up at me. "But Ah'm confused by it. That doesn't sound very smart ta me. How am Ah gonna figure it out by myself first?" she asked, eyes softening yet again.

"Oh, that's easy. You won't have to figure it out by yourself, Silly. By being an engineer, I'm quite good with the 'fancy mathematics' as well. I'll help you figure it out if you want," I offered, giving her an assuring smile again. That would help her with her problem, and give Big Mac more time to work on the repairs in a stress-free environment! While the three of them were absolutely adorable, I realized how distracting they could be sometimes.

Her eyes expanded considerably as she gasped. "You'd do that fer me? Fer true?" she asked in disbelief. Okay, speaking of adorable... I had to swallow weakly and close my eyes for a second before I could manage a nod.

"Of course, Apple Bloom. You're my friend and fellow Crusader. I'd help you with anything," I assured. Especially if she looked at me like that. There wasn't even a choice. I'd have to, or my heart would explode out of my chest.

She beamed at me before ducking forwards and hugging my uninjured foreleg tightly. "Oh, thank ya, thank ya, thank ya! Ah'll go git it right now!" she exclaimed. I didn't even have time for my eyes to focus again before she shot off the cot and bounded out the door, the wind from her passing blowing it shut again, impressively enough. Wow. Dang, that filly could run! I thought Sweetie had been fast. Maybe it was an Earth Pony thing, but they seemed almost unsurpassed in all things physical and ground based.

"Wow, she gets really excited easily. I thought you were gonna melt if she looked at you too much harder!" Spike exclaimed, snickering at me.

I rolled my eyes, giving him a playfully annoyed glare. "Oh shush. I imagine you'd do almost anything if Rarity asked you nicely," I reminded, causing him to grin and nod. Heh. While the motivations were different, as a fellow male, he could understand. He was swooning, and I was reeling from cuteness overload. Close enough.

"Hey, it's cool. I understand. They've gotten me a couple times with their stares, too. They can be scary cute when they want to be!" he warned, shuddering lightly. We shared a moment of mutual silence and understanding before both of us nodded to each other. It was very much a common problem. In that moment, I sensed a true bond between us, as two fellow males having troubles resisting the various wiles of the females. It was truly a noble, elegant thing.

He stared at me for a moment before suddenly averting his eyes a few seconds later. "So, what's up with Sweetie and Scootaloo?" he suddenly asked.

...damn it.

"Wheeee!" I absently watched as he sailed across the room, hanging upside down from Tank's feet. The tortoise looked rather entertained, given the soft smile, and seemed to genuinely enjoy carrying the dragon around. Maybe it was an ego thing? How many tortoises actually got to say that they carried a dragon? Through the sky, nonetheless.

Apple Bloom smiled as she watched them as well for a moment before continuing to unpack her papers. The mathematics on the page were more than familiar enough to me. It looked like she had multiplication and division down, and was just starting on the very basic most algebra.

"I'm surprised Sweetie Belle finally confessed, even if it was under misconceptions. I still don't fully get why you told her no," Spike muttered again as he drifted past. Neither of us looked up as I helped her organize her pages. Five sheets worth of algebra. That hopefully wouldn't take too long at all!

"She's too young. He said that already, Spike. Ah understand it, really," Apple Bloom reminded, smiling at me as I set her last sheet down in order.

Spike sighed as he rotated around in place, dangling his back legs down for a moment before haphazardly dropping down to the cot instead. I put my hoof down on the papers as the cot was jarred from the impact, and made sure they all stayed in one place. AB grinned and hopped up onto the bed as well, in a far smoother manner, of course.

"I get that. But why didn't you just tell her to wait a couple years?" he asked, apparently confused at my wording earlier.

"I did. Honestly, I tried to word it as nicely as I could and make sure she knew I didn't 'not' like her or anything. I've just, well, never considered her like that before. Again, she's too young for me to even think about like that," I explained, expanding it a bit more this time.

Apple Bloom nodded twice at me and smiled yet again. "That's ah good thing! She's just hurt, is all. She'll come around," she assured me, settling into a sitting position.

Exhaling, I managed to nod softly to her. "I know. It just makes me wish I could do something to make her feel better. Or at least that Redheart would get back and report in about them! She's been gone, like, half an hour," I complained, frowning as I consulted Clocky again.

Apple Bloom started giggling and nodded, but Spike shrugged next to me. I ducked again absently as Tank drifted past overhead and landed in the sink I'd filled up with water a bit ago for him. "Maybe she had to use the bathroom after she found them?" the little dragon suggested absently.

I raised an eyebrow to him and questioned, "For a half an hour?" I'd heard of taking your time, especially if you had good reading material, but dang.

He nodded towards me and added, "Yeah, I think it's an estrus thing. Back in Canterlot, Twilight once stopped me just as we were about to go out and go shopping and ran into the bathroom. She was in there for, like, forty-five minutes! I was about to go find a nurse to go check on her in case she fell or something, but she finally came out." Whoa, seriously?

"That's weird. I wonder why it takes them so long," I muttered, frowning. Honestly, I couldn't think of any sort of biological purpose for slowing down excrement release during an estrus cycle.

"Seriously? Ah thought Sis was tha only one who did that! Ah was helpin' her gather up ah load o' apples fer harvest last year at tha beginnin' o' heat season, an' she suddenly snuck off ta tha west field's outhouse fer like, an hour! Ah was gonna go get help 'cause she took so long an' started groanin' in there, but she just told me everything was all right an' ta go wait by tha buckets..." Apple Bloom furthered, looking surprised.

Groaning?! "Yeah, Twilight was making noises too! It must really hurt or something," Spike agreed, frowning to himself. Pain didn't seem normal. I frowned as well, and then swallowed. Did it cause some sort of inflammation or something? What purpose would that serve? Regardless, it didn't sound pleasant at all. Maybe I should ask Twilight about it when I got back?

"Ah so don't wanna go inta heat. If even goin' ta tha bathroom is miserable, ah don't wanna know what it feels like, normally!" Apple Bloom whined, lowering herself to the cot and shivering as she probably imagined horrible agony.

I set a hoof down on her head and rubbed gently, smiling down at her. "It's natural, AB. Part of growing up and becoming a mare. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for it being painful, just as well as I'm sure there's something you can do to make it less so. I can't imagine nopony's thought of any way to lessen the effects," I pointed out, wishing I knew more about it so I could comfort her.

She smiled at me and relaxed a little, shivering just once more against my hoof. Spike grinned and nodded, nudging my back thigh as I sat with his elbow. "He's right, ya know. If anypony knew how best to deal with it, it would be Twilight. She's really smart! We should go ask her when this estrus is over," he suggested, not realizing how close he was to what I had already planned to do.

Apple Bloom perked up and nodded happily at both of us, seemingly relieved that she didn't have to face it alone, anyway. "Ah think that's ah wonderful idea. Both o' ya are right kind fer helpin' me. Thank ya, both," she agreed, giving us both a sincere looking smile.

Spike returned it and I nodded to her before nudging the piles of papers her way. "Let us help you more, then. If you can get these out of the way, imagine how smart you'll feel when helping Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. I can't give you the answers, of course, but I can certainly help you figure them out for yourself. So long as you promise not to just give them the answers, either," I explained, raising an eyebrow to her.

She sat upright again and placed a hoof over her chest, going into the all too familiar motions. "Cross mah heart an' hope ta fly, stick ah cupcake in mah eye! Ah promise truly not ta cheat in any way!" she promised. I was impressed by her honesty and nodded to her. She really did take after her sister. Well, they said imitation was the most sincere form of flattery. I didn't know who 'they' was in that regard, but it was correct. She must really look up to Applejack.

"Good girl. Are we ready to begin then?" I asked pleasantly, kind of looking forward to helping her out.

She grinned and nodded twice, sliding up the first paper as Spike and I settled in to help as best we could.

It took me a couple tries, but I figured out that Apple Bloom best learned through relation. If she could apply the question to something in the real world, she could wrap her head around it fairly quickly, I realized. That being said, I took up her namesake as an example and applied apples to every example I gave her. Addition and subtraction were as easy as giving and taking them away. Multiplication involved adding entire baskets of apples, each containing the same amount, and division involved splitting the apples up into the baskets in equal amounts. She figured out almost everything right away based on that.

After I went through the basics with her again, applying apple examples to everything, it was an easy step up to throwing them into an equation. She was confused about mixing numbers and letters together until I explained to her that the letter was just a fancy way of saying a number was there that you could change the value of. There was always a proud feeling accompanying seeing that look of dawning comprehension on somepony's face when you're trying to explain something. She realized how valuable the equations could be once I explained why it was a good thing to be able to change the value the letter represented. Orders were a lot easier to fill out if you could just plug in the amount of barrels you sold to somepony and have the equation give you the exact amount of bits.

Three of the five pages went by with that in mind. It was a little tricky, but Spike was amazingly creative and helped me come up with an applicable apple situation for each different type of problem she had. Overall, it wasn't a bad way to pass an hour, honestly.

In the meantime, memories drifted back through me, surprisingly of my days as an engineer and Keldarian. I knew they weren't mine, technically, but it was so easy to forget that when I could see them clearly through his eyes. Still, those were some of the very few actual happy memories he had. We were similar in that regard for certain, as I loved working out the answers to things and making stuff. There was nothing more rewarding for me than putting something together with my own knowledge and skill and then seeing it work. Even if, by 'work', I meant that it was especially lethal when launched at high velocity towards our enemies, or particularly good at stopping the same from happening to us, I was still delighted that what I'd created served its purpose.

A light twitch went through me, and I frowned lightly. What would I think if I'd created me? That was a tricky one. What purpose had I originally been intended to serve? Without Doctor Kyliona's notes, there was no way to be certain, I realized; I'd have to contact Keela tonight and see how the charging was doing. Regardless of what it was, however, I had a sneaking suspicion I'd failed epically in my original purpose. But, if I could watch my creation not only gain a life of its own, but true goals and desires, protecting those things important to it, would I still consider it a failure if it didn't do what I intended it for?

I tried, but I couldn't manage to put it into perspective. Creating life like that felt amazingly similar to how I imagined a parent would feel. Would one be disappointed if their child didn't behave as intended or designed? I smiled gently, understanding that question, at least. No, I wouldn't be disappointed, because if it truly were my child, I wouldn't have an intention or design for it in the first place. I'd be happy if it was happy and making its own way. Could Doctor Kyliona say the same about me?

That was a very good question. I didn't know anything about her or the circumstances of my 'birth' into this world, but I also found that I didn't particularly care, ironically. Ever since my talks with Tia, I realized that it didn't really matter. That was what she ultimately said, right? All that mattered was everything in front of me right now. Who I was and am, and what I've done as myself. Fluttershy and Twilight accepted that much, I thought.

So, was I responsible for the deaths of billions of innocent Keldarians, then? The number alone was beyond me. It was empty. It was a twenty-four with eight zeroes after it. It didn't really mean anything beyond what could only be described as mind-numbingly horrifying. That numbing part was important in that definition. If I truly was responsible for that act, then did I deserve any happiness ever again? Definitely not. I could never forgive myself for that, if so. Heh. Forgiveness... Pending a complete memory wipe at that point, it wouldn't be possible. So what then?

I couldn't remember if I was responsible. Did that mean one way or another? The scary part was, no, it didn't. My memory was partial at best, because the majority of it that wasn't recorded by my mechanical side was organic in nature. Organic wasn't the most reliable source of storage. I didn't trust my own memory, and that was that.

"Uh, Mender, ya there?" Apple Bloom suddenly spoke up, causing me to start and snap back to reality. My eyes focused on her again, and she smiled, presenting me with the full sheet worked out. Whoa! How long had I been zoning out?

Recovering fast, I nodded to her and picked up the sheet she presented with my mouth, setting it down in front of me to look over. I felt all right in telling her if she got a problem wrong and having her try again, as long as I didn't tell her how to get it right. The point of 'homework' was to practice doing the equations, not neededly to test your knowledge on the fly. I wasn't too worried about bumping her grade up a little bit with this.

A minute and a half later, I assured her she had only missed one problem, and pointed out number four to her. She seemed pleased with that, but still took the paper back to re-do that one. It wasn't a huge mistake, as she'd just forgotten to flip the sign of a constant. Yawning, I rested my head on my hooves and watched her work, noticing her mistake from the first time and fixing it rapidly. After she finished, she looked back up at me silently, and I gave her a nod.

To my surprise, the little filly squealed happily and gave my face a rather awkward hug, given the angle. I snickered as she backed off, grinning at me. "This is amazin'! Ah'm gonna get ah hundred percent on this assignment, an' it's all thanks ta yer new way o' explainin' things!" she exclaimed, perking upright and swaying as she hugged the paper to her chest.

I continued smiling at her, but shook my head. "You're doing all the work, AB. You're the one figuring it all out. I've made sure not to directly help with anything," I reminded, causing her to blush as she realized the implications of my compliment.

"That's nice o' ya, but ya really are helpin' me somethin' amazin'! Yer easily as smart as mah brother, an' that's sayin' something! He just... well, he don't have that much time ta help me, usually," she explained, her exuberance fading a bit as she switched to a soft smile instead.

I considered it for a moment, before asking, "So if I help make things easier for everypony on the farm, would that mean that he can spend more time with you and Applejack?"

The little filly nodded twice, slowly slipping back to a grin of approval. I snickered and nodded back. That settled it, then. Knowing there was a problem fully within my capabilities to fix, I couldn't just sit idly by while one or more of my friends suffered from it. "Very well. I'll help him set up anything he needs," I promised.

It was worth it just to see her smiling face. Spike laughed and shook his head at the display between us. "Not to be harsh or anything, dude, but I should probably point out that you're a total sucker for the cute looks," he pointed out, smirking at me.

I gave him a flat stare for a moment before chuckling as well. All three of us broke into snickers after another moment, Apple Bloom looking a little guilty, however. "Ah'm not tryin' ta get him ta work fer free, though. Ah agree with sis! He deserves ta be paid like everypony else," she reasoned, setting her paper down finally and shifting to the fifth and last page.

Sighing as she brought up the stubborn mare, I realized that Applejack wasn't going to let me get out of it this time anyway. About the only way I could assure I didn't get paid is by sneaking the bits back to her somehow without her noticing, which felt a bit underhooved. Tricking the Element of Honesty seemed like a very bad idea. Even if she weren’t mad over it, the karmic retribution would probably be violent, given my track record.

"Fine, but I'm not accepting anything over thirty percent overhead, no matter what the project is. Materials and supplies will be up to your family to acquire, obviously," I laid down, sure it would get back to one of her siblings sooner or later.

She tilted her head and surprised me by asking, "What's overhead mean?" Heh, curious little filly, I noted.

"Overhead for a big contract job is the amount of bits set aside for paying anything not to do directly with materials. Usually the salary of the workers, such as me, is paid out of it. As I'll probably be the only worker, I'll probably get most of it. If somepony helps me, I'll split the amount," I explained as simply as I could. There was no point in getting into the super-specific details of what did and didn't count as project overhead, the possibility of a supply fund, or joint holdings. Besides, it had been a while since my original had done public contract work. Most of his recent projects that I could vaguely recall were engineering projects for the war effort. He didn't get paid for those...

Spike considered my words before nodding as well, asking, "So, thirty percent overhead means that, in addition to the supplies needed to make whatever Big Mac needs, you get paid thirty percent of the cost of it all?"

He was fairly dead on, so I nodded to him and smiled. He just raised an eyebrow, however. "Uh, she's probably not going to be pleased with that number," he suggested a moment later, looking uncomfortable suddenly.

I blinked, then frowned myself. "Is it too high?" I inquired, glad I'd mentioned it to them first, now! Note to self, always run my requested fee estimates by somepony not involved in the project and get an opinion on the values involved.

He snorted, however, and shook his head rapidly. "Uh, not exactly. That means that on the conveyor project, which was a little over two hundred bits total, given that you supplied half the panels we needed, you'd only be getting paid sixty or seventy bits. How many hours did it take all of us working on it to finish?" he questioned, giving me a more than skeptical look.

I stared back, seeing where he was going with this instantly, but biting anyway. He was quite sharp, I realized. No doubt his upbringing had made him very clever. "Uh, about eighteen to twenty hours," I threw out, taking an educated guess and generously truncating off the 'testing' hour and a half.

"Oh! Oh! But ya have ta times that by how many ponies helped! It woulda taken ah lot longer otherwise," Apple Bloom chipped in, making me wince. Okay, that made the amount of hours significantly worse.

Spike grinned at her and nodded, ignoring my sour look and flattened back ears. "Exactly! So even doubling his pay with the assumption he didn't supply any of the plates like he did, you're probably not even going to add up to a bit an hour at thirty percent," he pointed out, turning back to me. I gave him a death stare, of course, which only caused him to start snickering. Damn, I needed to work on that angry look...

Apple Bloom nodded along, easily managing to follow the math as she grinned as well. "Sis so needs ta hear this! Ah think she'll be proud o' mah fancy mathematics, don't ya think?" she suggested. My glare shifted to her in less than a heartbeat.

"Don't you dare! It's going to be hard enough arguing her down without figures to back up her opinion. Gah. She's my friend. There's no way I'm going to work for full price," I refused adamantly, abruptly shaking my head. It wasn't right to do that to somepony who actually wanted to be my friend. Friend! That word was unheard of in my original's dimension. There was no way I was going to sour it even in the least by being greedy.

AB smiled, however, and shook her head before leaning forward and lightly hugging my snout again, causing me to swallow weakly. She didn't have to try to push the cuteness to get her way, I hope she realized. I valued her friendship, too, but admittedly, I enjoyed the hug. There was something simply so warm about the gentle affection she was displaying. It made me smile ever so slightly, my frustration and heartbeat lessening as she hugged me. Why was that? Mostly, it felt like just realizing she truly cared.

"Ah know ya wanna be nice, but she'll like it, too, if ya don't fight it too much. As nice as ya think yer bein', Sis actually feels real bad every time she thinks she cheated ya out o' pay. Ya gotta promise ta accept somethin' ah bit more reasonable this time, okay?" the little filly asked, leaning back away from me and giving me a soft smile.

Oh. That was true. I'd never actually considered it from her perspective. Given that she was so stubborn about paying me, why had I honestly thought that I was making her happy by refusing all payment? I considered it for a moment, and realized that I'd technically never wanted to make her happy. No, I'd wanted to do right by her. I could understand where Apple Bloom was coming from, however.

"You're right, of course. As much as I don't want to charge your family for anything, I don't want to make Applejack sad either. I hadn't thought about it like that before. Thank you, Apple Bloom," I finally admitted, mentally promising to be a bit more 'fair' when it came time to negotiate for my cut. I suppose, with a bit more bits coming in, I could afford some nicer things, too. Maybe I could even get Twilight and Fluttershy presents!

"I'm glad. Sis will be happy, too!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, then picked up the last sheet on the bed. I watched her for a minute, then smiled as she raised an eyebrow to it. "Uh, besides them addin' more letters in, Ah don't see how these problems are different," she muttered uneasily, that familiar hesitation in her voice. Ah, I've had that many a time, when I suspected a problem to be significantly harder than it appeared.

"That's because they're not different. Just another letter tossed in to shove to one side or another," I revealed. She looked up in surprise for a moment, then smiled happily at me and ducked her head back down to pick up her pencil again.

I smiled gently and lay back down. Spike yawned next to me a moment later and flopped over against my shoulder, laying the side of his head down against me. I just rested there, letting him get comfy before I let my thoughts drift off again. It sure was taking Nurse Redheart a while...

Despite the problems being similar, it still took Apple Bloom a bit longer to finish all of them, due to the additional steps involved. She surprised me, and at the same time, she didn't when she got every single question correct the first try. When I'd told her, though, she almost fell off the cot in the middle of her cheer.

Spike winced as he hauled her back upright fully, and she gave him a sheepish grin. "Thanks, Spike! Ah wasn't payin' enough attention, Ah guess," she muttered quietly, embarrassed by the looks of it.

I snickered and shook my head, pointing out, "If you had to pick a spot to get hurt, this would be the most ideal. Still, try to avoid that. Redheart isn't in at the moment."

"Yeah, she's really, really late," Spike reminded, making sure the filly was stable and had ceased trying to throw herself off the cot before letting her foreleg go and backing up again to where I was.

Frowning, I glanced towards the door, Clocky informing me that it had been an hour and forty minutes since Nurse Redheart had left. That was way, way too long. "I agree. Spike, you know first aid, right? Hold down the fort, would you? I'm going to go see if I can find her," I requested, sliding up and off the cot a moment later.

Spike perked up, looking surprised at first, and then puffed up with what could only be described as pride as he threw me a salute. Heh. I figured he'd like me leaving him in charge. "Oh, can Ah go, too?! Ah'm ah little worried about Sweetie," Apple Bloom asked timidly. Eh? Why was she asking me?

"Of course you can come, AB. Nothing's stopping you, really," I pointed out, smiling back at her. She perked up and bounded off the cot as well, galloping the short distance to catch up with me again.

"I so got this covered! I'll keep everything together until somepony gets back!" Spike assured as we both headed towards the door.

Turning, I gave him a regal salute before heading outside. Apple Bloom looked more than amused when she followed me out, but kept her mouth shut. Okay, now to find them. It wouldn't be easy, given the entire camp to search. Further, I had to take into account that they might be in the surrounding woods, too! It would be easiest to break up the terrain into quadrants and split up, covering a grid pattern. Asking individuals if they'd seen them as well would significantly narrow down the search zones. We should be able to find them before dark, hopefully. Provided they didn't go into the woods, of course. Then I'd have to set up some long term surveillance and look for signs of passing so we could-

"Hey, there they are down by tha bridge over the river!" Apple Bloom squeaked out, grinning as she gestured down towards the rightmost bridge. Oh. Or there was that.

"Good job, AB! Let's go," I congratulated, deciding it wasn't worth overthinking and heading directly towards the three ponies. Redheart was indeed with them, and seemed to be talking to Sweetie Belle on the bank while Scootaloo played in the water in front of them. The little orange filly perked up and stood on one of the rocks in the center of the stream when she saw us approach.

Apple Bloom waved to her, but she bound off the rock almost instantly and shot towards us in a blur. My eyes widened as I braced myself just in case, but she skidded to a halt in front of us, shaking some of the water off before holding her hoof up. "Ah, just a sec. Wait until Nurse Redheart says it's okay. She's trying to talk to Sweetie and get her out of the funk, and no offense, but seeing you at the moment might be a bad idea," Scootaloo explained, giving me a sympathetic look. Oh. Well, um, at least they weren't in any danger or anything.

My ears lowered, but I nodded slightly. "Ah, sorry. AB and I were just worried as you'd been gone a long time. I'll go back and keep Spike company, then," I apologized. Scootaloo winced slightly but glanced back at her friend down by the shore.

"Mender," Apple Bloom muttered, frowning at me. All I could manage was a shrug in return. Staying here and accidentally being spotted was probably just as bad.

"You can stay here, AB. I'll see you all later," I said, turning and heading back towards the medical cabin. I tried to remain hopeful, but it was kind of hard at this point if it had taken almost two hours of talking and she still wasn't sure about things. Would Sweetie still want to be my friend after all this? I closed my eyes and sighed, listening to the clinking of my brace as I walked. It was an ugly sound, and it reminded me of how useless my body was at the moment. Another part of me whispered in the darker corners of my mind that I was only fooling myself, and I might as well accept the other me as the real one. Then I wouldn't have to worry about my leg. I also wouldn't have to worry about anypony wanting something from me that I wasn't in a position to give, then. Nopony would want anything to do with me if I looked like a monster from their most horrible nightmare.

Spike looked up questioningly from the table now as I walked back inside, but I strolled past him without saying anything and flopped back down onto my cot again. Well, my rented cot. I lay there with my eyes closed in the silence for a moment before the repeating sounds of light scratches came from the floor, getting closer. The telltale sounds of Spike's clawed feet on the wooden floor, I noted.

"Uh, are you okay, Mender? You came back really fast. Did you find them?" he asked hesitantly. A part of me didn't feel like talking, as it used up a lot of energy, but Spike was my friend and had never let me down.

After a moment of considering the questions, I finally replied with, "Yeah, they're down by the river near the bridge, talking. Sweetie Belle, um, didn't want to see me yet, so I came back here. Nurse Redheart's easily within view of the cabin, however, so we could probably go back to ours if you wanted," I suddenly realized, sitting up again slowly.

"Oh. Well, if you want to. Tank's taking a bath, but we can run some water at our cabin instead," Spike informed quietly, looking suddenly unsure of what to say. I stared at him for a moment before swallowing and managing a nod.

"The full beds are more comfortable. I'm going to take a nap over there, I think. You can stay here if you want," I offered, standing up again, careful not to accidentally step or sit on any of Apple Bloom's papers. Neatly, I shifted them back into a stack and slid them into the saddlebag she'd pulled them out of before getting off the cot.

Spike frowned at me, but nodded of course. "Mender, I know what it looks like but... She's not going to not like you or anything... I don't think she'd, um, do that," he tried to comfort, not sounding comfortable with, or even that sure of his statement. I stared at him for a moment before my eyes softened and I shook my head.

"It's up to her. I'll understand either way. I've hurt her feelings and turned her down, so it's acceptable, really," I pointed out. It was strange, but I wasn't quite sure whom I was pointing it out to. I was talking to Spike, but it felt more as if that had been addressed to myself instead.

He frowned even more, but I walked past him and decided upon a strategic retreat before I confused myself even more. He started to turn, probably to try to talk to me about it even more, but I cheated a little. Two thin strands left my shoulders, hooked and stuck to the doorframe, and went taut with an elastic snap, whipping me over to the door about three times faster than I should have been able to manage as he turned. They pulled back into my shoulders as fast as I sailed at the door, and I slid, opening it in a fluid motion to avoid crashing.

Spike looked surprised to see that I'd made it a full five meters by the time he finished rotating in place, but I didn't do more than glance before stepping outside and gently shutting the door again. Talking about it confused me, and I wasn't sure what to think. Really, I didn't want to think about losing a friend suddenly. After realizing how amazing it was to have friends in the first place, my chest shivered and my eyes watered at the thought of possibly losing one.

My eyes stayed locked dead in front of me as I headed to the right after exiting. Our cabin was coincidentally, or very un-coincidentally as the case probably was, right next to the medical cabin. At least that made it a short walk, and a shorter duration I had to listen to the metallic clanking of my leg. Exhaling softly, I noticed Big Mac wasn't in his usual spot sitting out front with the repair jobs. I decided it probably wasn't any of my business where he was at the moment, and I headed rapidly inside the cabin without meeting anypony's eye contact.

Sliding inside, I shakily closed the door, staring at the wood for a moment. My eyes slowly slid to the right, looking at my trembling hoof against the door. What was wrong with me?! Wincing, I held my left hoof to the tightness in my chest and felt something warm slide down my cheek. Damn it.

"You're pathetic, that's what's wrong with you," she whispered from the corner, just slightly before I became aware of her. My eyes softened as I stared into the wood.

"Why do you keep annoying me? Don't you have better things to do as a corpse?" I asked softly, barely a whisper as I refused to look over at her. She was only a figment of my own slipping sanity regardless. 'Looking' at her was kind of pointless.

A giggle. "Sorry, but you're the best thing to do in this reality. Despite being pathetic and an idiot, you're worlds beyond the rest of the filth in this world," she explained, immediately making me regret asking in the first place.

Exhaling softly, I slid my hoof down and turned, walking over to my bunk instead. I heard the sounds of wet dragging and weak hoofsteps, and assumed she was 'moving' towards me as I walked. At least my imagination was attempting to be realistic. Maybe her muscles would eventually fall apart then and she wouldn't be able to talk anymore. That would be a blessing. Then I'd only have to smell her.

"That's not a nice thought. Good job! You're getting closer to embracing your inner monster," she complimented, sounding amused as she walked after me.

Rolling my eyes, I clambered into bed and flopped over, ignoring her with my back turned. "Just shut up and let me sleep," I ordered, knowing she wouldn't listen anyway.

"Aww, upset that the little baby filly might not want to be your friend anymore? Heh. Your priorities are so strange," she pointed out, sounding absolutely delighted. I didn't ask, or say anything in return, knowing she was going to elaborate regardless.

And elaborate she did. "Honestly, you do everything you possibly can to ensure you're the most miserable you can possibly be. I didn't even have to do anything! It's ironic, really. You should have just accepted and mated with her like she wanted, of course. They're really impressionable when they're that young, so you probably could have turned her into your own little-"

What was left of her head was torn off and crushed into the wall next to the door before she could even finish the sentence, my tentacles writhing in pure hatred as I glared at the rest of her body as it slumped over, the blue light from my eyes burning across her form as she faded away. The giggling laughter came from all around me, echoing softer and softer before finally disappearing as well.

Panting, I shakily pulled my tentacle back, noticing a light gash along the wall where it had impacted. My entire body was trembling now, and I felt sweat start to dampen my fur. Damn it, what was wrong with me?! If I hadn't been so acutely aware of every minor detail at that moment, I would have never noticed the light static flickering in the corner of my vision. I froze, watching it before it disappeared a moment later. That wasn't in the room. That had been in my eye display.

My expression shifted to a frown as one of my processors lit up, rapidly writing up the code I requested on the fly. It was silly, and I was being paranoid, of course. Regardless, I devoted the entire processor to running the program the second it was done about half a minute later. An extremely low-key, subliminal scanning program to hunt and destroy. On a hunch, I hooked it into my memory bank and remaining three processors, making sure to run it on the processor I hadn't had to repair. I was just being silly, probably, but no. Let them call me paranoid if they ever found out. I'd rather be accused of paranoia than wishing I had been properly so.

Greeted with silence yet again, I relaxed against the mattress in our cabin. Apart from the newly acquired nick in the wall, it was a really nice place. The main room had four reasonably sized beds. Big Mac had one all to himself, of course, being almost the size of two ponies. I shared mine with Spike, and the Crusaders were set to take one of the others. Or both of the others. I suppose it didn't really matter. The main room was then cut off from two smaller sections. The bathroom had a full wall and door for privacy, while the kitchen unit had a half wall partition to let in light, and let out heat, I imagined. There was a working stove, fridge, and sink in the kitchen, and we were well stocked. This was a nice place, honestly.

Sharing my bed didn't bother me. I closed my eyes and rested against the soft blue sheets. Due to the nature of my 'sleep', I didn't move around or snore during it. It had taken me only a single night to realize that when I was actively visiting Keela, or hiding inside of myself, I wasn't actually letting my mind 'rest' like it needed. I discovered after that, largely by accident, that I could still fall asleep like normal. It made sense, considering I'd been doing it all along before finding out I was a cyborg. Sleeping with Twilight's horn against me even let her join in with the interesting experience.

Twilight had called it 'lucid dreaming', but it was essentially just being cognitively aware of my own consciousness while asleep. The dream realm was one of true fantasy, manipulations of anything being possible. Kind of like being in the most detailed video game ever, only with myself in full control. I was happy that Twilight could join in, and while she couldn't manipulate the world the same way I could, she seemed to honestly just enjoy being with me in there. I missed that. It had, well, ceased after she got in trouble with her parents.

Still, she surprised me. I figured she'd want to conduct experiments and take advantage of a world where anything was possible, but she said it would sully the results because it wasn't potentially real. Regardless, she spent time with me instead while we both slept. Sometimes I just let things flow around us from event to event as we played, just laughing and running through the scenery. Other times I constructed more elaborate things and we played games. Showing her how to play 'Battleship' using an entire fleet in an actual ocean was a lot of fun.

More warmth dripped down my cheeks as I curled up against myself. So what if I was pathetic? So what if I didn't embrace that other part of me and just wanted to be normal? I missed Twilight and Fluttershy already. I wanted to be able to dream with Twilight again, but my big mouth telling her brother had ruined that. I wanted to figure out a way to bring Fluttershy into the dreams, too, even! It would be amazing. I could show her anything she wanted to see. The old Abylith Gardens from my memories, which was sort of a 'zoo' and natural habitat for a ton of creatures we'd imported from our allies. The gardens were an entire moon we'd given an atmosphere, and it drifted along so close to our second planet that you could see the hue shifts as the atmospheres interacted. It was beautiful, spreading auroras across the entire sky at night. I wished she could see it. I was sad that such a wonderful place didn't exist anymore.

Giving up and just letting the warmth stream down my cheeks, I let my mind drift away, pushing myself as hard as I could into my dreams. This time, I visited the empty gardens by myself...

Chapter 47

Everything was a blur as I ran. My left foreleg screamed in agony, but I kept going as the dark distortion followed after me. It paced itself, laughing every time I tripped over something and fell, tearing fur and skin on thorns and stray branches. Gasping, I rolled down a hill through the trees around me, sliding on the wet grass as I felt it land behind me, grinning.

Everything slid to a stop as I drove my hooves into the ground, gasping as I giant chasm opened up in front of me. There was no noticeable bottom, and it looked like it was gouged out of the ground by a giant claw. Shit! Looking both left and right, I noticed it spanned a good sixty yards in both directions. Slowly swallowing, I instead turned to face my pursuer, willing my armor up as fast as I could.

Nothing happened. No, why didn't it work?! "Because you're afraid. I scare you, just like I scare everypony else," it whispered, grinning at me with its distorted, black smile. I stared in horror at the wicked blades it called teeth. No, get away! I couldn't manage to even speak as it loomed ever closer.

"There's one problem, however, Mender," it whispered, close enough now to lean in against my ear. My eyes widened as I felt its hot breath along my neck and the saliva sliding onto my fur. It wanted to tear me open and feed. To feast on my flesh and blood. I started trembling, which only caused it to snicker.

"Everypony else can run away from me. You can't run away from yourself," it finished. No, this wasn't-

"I am you!" it screamed into my ear suddenly. A bladed tentacle whipped forth, and the last thing I saw was the point of the serrated spikes on it going straight towards my eyes. Everything exploded into pain and darkness, and I barely managed to scream out as it threw me backwards into the chasm, three more tentacles slamming through my torso an instant later. The pain was beyond anything I'd ever felt for just that instant, and then it yanked in three different directions...

My scream echoed through the tiny room, devolving into a gasp of actual physical pain and a coughing fit. Then I fell out of bed and landed on my face on the floor. The wooden planks of the cabin's floor greeted me as I wheezed for breath, shaking throughout my very core. My hooves grasped at my chest, feeling it solid and whole again before I let myself sag down and collapse fully against the floor.

My eyes could see still, and I opened them to look around the dim room. I was alone, which I was thankful for. That would have been awkward to explain. Weak sunlight drifted through the window shades next to the door, and I guessed it to be late evening without bringing Clocky up to specifically tell me. Nopony else was here though, so either before or after suppertime, and before bed.

Gently, I brought my hooves up to rub at my temples, wincing at the throbbing sensation tearing through my skull. I didn't know what to do with myself, and just ended up curling up, a soaked mess as my own sweat smeared across the floorboards. I felt cold, as if instead of waking up, I'd been brought back from the dead. Hell, maybe I had? Was I even really alive with all that shoved inside of me?

Hyper-sensitive at this point, I felt her 'appear' behind me next to the bed far before she announced her presence this time. Her grin echoed through my mind, and I pinpointed her location as soon as she landed. Her broken, decaying mouth opened, undoubtedly to spew more garbage out in the form of thinly veiled insults and passive-aggressive goading. No, I couldn't even think of a way I could deal with that right now. A tentacle replaced her face instead an instant later, both surprising her and tearing her in half before she could even get the parting chuckle out this time. Just to be sure, and hopefully to delay her regeneration in my mind, however she pulled it off, I stabbed her twice more through the chest as she fell, then ripped her into three more pieces with a sharp yank. I felt the heat through my head as the pieces burned away behind me. Go to hell.

Minutes passed as I just lay there on my stomach, face pushed sideways as I lay limp against the floor. Half my blue blanket had followed me off the bed and tied my legs up, but I made no attempt to free my lower half. My eyes ached as I stared into the darkness under my bed, finding all sorts of delightful metaphors from the fact I could still see fine in it. 'Monster' echoed through my head and I felt a spike of nausea shoot through me. No, I couldn't deal with this right now. Everything was adding together and I needed to just get away for a while.

There was, well, one solution, given what time it was in the day. My eyes closed again and I jumped at the chance for sanctuary. Inside of myself, I gave two gentle tugs to the connection to my mind.

There was a pause, then a jolt of surprise, and I smiled, making sure to keep my eyes closed throughout. "Oh, Mender? Uh, do you need, wait, two tugs! Uh, just a sec. I'll go turn the quantum generator on!" Keela managed to squeak out, sounding both surprised and delighted by my sudden appearance.

"Hurry," I whispered, no, more pleaded back at her through the link. My mind ached but I felt her pick up the pace, flat out running down what felt like a corridor before turning into a larger area. Her lab, I recognized.

The machine turned on a moment later, and I wasted no time in activating Prudentia, whom I discovered was next to me now. At this point, I was used to suddenly finding it when I needed to, so I didn't pay any attention. Feeling the link expand enough for my mind to slip through, I flung myself as fast as I could.

Opening my 'eyes' much more gently and comfortably this time, I looked up at an upside-down and somewhat bewildered looking Keela. Eh? Oh. I rotated myself and slowly climbed back to my feet, having literally flung my mental image through the portal created and crashed into a sizable bookcase. Thankfully, they made the bookcases and covers for bookcases out of sterner stuff than wood and glass in this dimension, and I had bounced off it with a reverberating ringing sensation.

"Eager to get through, were we? Err," Keela pointed out, then suddenly stopped as she tilted her head towards me. I looked up at her questioningly, earning a giggle. "Uh, not to sound crass or anything, but that's probably the best way to say this. You look like shit," she observed, snickering again and covering her mouth with both paws.

My ears flattened back and I sighed, nodding. Free of physical constraints, my headache went away and I found myself in the cold comfort of my purely digital self again. It was weird knowing that this body was just a construct, but a bit of a happy thought at the same time. I didn't have to worry about pain in this form. "Sorry, but I've been having a rough day," I excused, sagging a little, but perking as she gestured behind her to the couch.

"Well, lie down and rest for a bit. You can talk about anything you want with me, of course. I'm willing to do anything I can to make you feel better!" she chirped, looking pleased with herself before turning and heading for the very couch she pointed out.

Aching a little, I limped over to the thing and hopped up on it, feeling content at the prospect of resting my tired mind. Sleep wasn't the issue so much as I felt heavily stressed. "Thanks for this, Keela. Sorry if I woke you up," I apologized, noticing suddenly that she was still in her morning robes. They were a secondary layer Keldarians used to cover up whatever they happened to sleep in, be it pajamas, underwear, or nothing. Mornings, when not under the covers, could get a little bit nippy.

"Nah, I was sitting in the lounge nursing my 'breakfast'", she assured, holding up a clear mug of what looked like very, very black, unsweetened coffee. Scary!

Snickering, I shook my head at her. "It's unproven, I know, but I hear that stuff stunts your growth. You should be careful," I teased playfully.

She shrugged before grinning and suddenly shifting both paws towards herself, cupping her upper set of breasts through the robe. "Eh, I'm big enough already, so I don't mind," she added, mirthfully looking back up at me as my blush radiated through my colored barriers and I averted my gaze.

"Keela!" I whined, trying my best to look upset and grumpy.

She laughed and dropped her paws again, grinning at me before apologizing with, "Sorry, sorry! I know. I'm just teasing you. Figured you wouldn't mind a bit of visual stimulation after the pent up stress of the estrus season in Equestria." That didn't make it better!

"That's not better! Anyway, that is kind of why I was so insistent on visiting this time," I chewed out, a little irked at her now.

She shot me a sympathetic expression and held an open palm towards me, the universal sign of not having any weapons. Kind of pointless, as I was indestructible here and she had advanced magic that came out of that very palm, but it was still an ingrained gesture, I realized. "Relax, I was only teasing you. You know I'm not going to do anything. Rest, Silly," she suggested, patting the couch cushion next to her.

Exhaling softly, I nodded to her before flopping onto the cushion in question. "I miss Twilight," I muttered almost immediately upon flopping over. Keela grinned and nodded, but didn't look over at me.

"I understand, honestly. She's gone for estrus, right? That means you only have to wait a week or so. What about Fluttershy?" The Keldarian looked over at me expectantly, and I shook my head.

"Of course I miss Fluttershy, too, but I actually meant that I miss sharing dreams with Twilight. It's hard to miss that with Fluttershy, seeing as I never had that to begin with," I explained, frowning down at the fabric of the cushion absently. Could you miss something you'd never experienced, or was there a different word for that? Longed for, maybe?

Keela frowned for a moment, and I saw her keen mind whirl into motion. It was entertaining to me to watch ponies and other individuals think, I discovered, knowing I spurred it on. Well, except for Pinkie. Her 'thinking' looks never interested me as much, because I could never tell if she was thinking about what I'd just said or revealed, or if her mind had hopped off onto a totally different tangent. Heh, much like mine just did.

"Because her brother found out, I'm guessing? There was some sort of meaningful symbolism or something surrounding the mutual sharing of energy, wasn't there?" she inquired a dozen seconds later.

"Yup. Turns out, I discovered that it's extremely similar to being engaged. I snagged one of Twilight's culture books after I got out of the hospital, and it explained that it was a mostly permanent bond between two ponies, not necessarily unicorns, that linked both life force and empathy. It listed a surprising amount of side effects and cultural ramifications," I furthered, shuddering as I remembered the extremely detailed entry. Of course, if Shining hadn't made such a big fuss over accidentally assuming the wrong thing, I probably never would have looked it up.

Keela let out a slow blink, and then snickered in amusement. "She must trust you if she placed you in a situation where you could potentially form a bond like that without her consent. The magic involved intrigues me, though," she admitted, perking her ears up and glancing back over and down at me again.

I nodded, continuing with, "There wasn't much detail about the magic itself. Between two unicorns, or apparently magically enabled individuals, in my case, it's spontaneous and can be done at will. If one of the partners isn’t magically enabled, a ritual is used instead to momentarily 'open' the 'static' individual, or individuals. It's common, apparently."

Despite not having the technical details of the ritual, Keela still looked interested enough. "That sounds rather romantic. And remarkably dangerous. I can guess at some of the side effects. That pool of energy that the magic inside of us comes from... you exchange part of yours for someone else’s? Considering most magic practitioners use that synonymously with 'soul' in most regards, I can see why it's a big deal," she agreed, softly shaking her head afterwards. Yeah, I'd thought about that already.

"Empathy is just the start. It would create a bond similar to what the disks do, but more extensive. Physical constitution is partially linked, too, so when one partner gets sick, they usually both do. A perk being that it works in the other direction, too. If one partner is sick or hurt, the other one being healthy and pulling themselves above their peak will often drag the other back into healthiness. To the point that there are healing techniques specifically for linked individuals," I continued. I couldn't help but also find that much interesting. I'd never even considered such a practice, and the applications it could have to lifestyle and magic were amazing, honestly.

Keela surprised me by blushing lightly and nodding, giving me a soft smile. "Very romantic indeed. Mostly permanent, though?" she inquired, shifting to a skeptical look a moment later.

I shuddered, remember reading about that. "Yeah. There's an... extensive ritual to get one removed that requires the assistance of an external unicorn, regardless of being magically enabled or not. It takes a good six hours and is extremely risky. Permanent energy loss, complete destruction of emotions, and death are all side effects. Hence the 'mostly' part," I elaborated, coughing lightly.

She stared at me for a second before breaking into giggles. "Yeah, I can see the incentive to not try to break one of the connections. What if one of the partners passes on?"

"It's far gentler, but often described as a hollow sensation afterwards. There's surprisingly little information on it, with only a few actual experienced individuals explaining what it was like. They felt a constant tugging, and a longing to join their other half again, but other than that, refused to elaborate," I muttered, frowning slightly.

Keela shivered before whispering, "That's a little scary, honestly. If you believe in ghosts, that's practically an assured haunting, there." I smiled at her, rather amused, honestly. First admitting to liking the romantic aspects of a relationship, and now hinting that she might believe in supernatural effects... Keela had surprised me today. She was more open-minded and positive than I thought Keldarians could manage.

I opened my mouth to comment when I heard the door slide open behind me. Instinctively, I whipped around to see whom it was, the barriers getting ready to activate as an extension of the book that rested against my leg in Equestria. He stopped, looking honestly as surprised as I was.

"Oh, I didn't realize you had company, Keela. My bad! Hahaha! Wait, you're Mender, aren't ya?" he asked.

Keela smiled to him and nodded, offering, "This is indeed Moon Mender. He's visiting at the moment, nothing formal. Mender, this is-"

"Instructor Tymiandius!" I managed to choke out, eyes widening even more. Damn, he was still alive?! Wait, no, that honestly didn't surprise me. Hell, rumor had it he could breathe void and was immortal, so long as there was something left in the universe he hadn't blown up yet...

Keela looked bewildered, and Tym started laughing heartily. "I see! If you know my name, do you also know that I prefer-"

"Captain Tym," I finished, smiling at him. He had been my instructor so long ago. Not just instructor, but mentor later after my schooling was over. Well, technically, he had been my original's instructor and mentor, but same difference, honestly.

"Y-You know him? Wait, does your memory extend back as far as..." Keela started to ask, tilting her head towards me curiously.

Tym frowned and walked forwards, scratching the thick braid of hair he kept from his chin as he examined me. Keela looked towards him instead as he moved, hesitating suddenly, as if remembering something she wasn’t supposed to tell him. He looked more interested in me, though. "Hmm. Scrawny and downright slacker posture. Insatiable curiosity and habit of interrupting when convenient. Oh, and Keela's fawning all over you. Yeah, ya kinda remind me of my last, and honestly, best apprentice," he commented, causing my ears to flatten back.

"Hey, I've been exercising more! If Nirru hadn't injured my leg, I'd be doing worlds better by now! Wait..." Halting, I blushed lightly as I glanced back at Keela, who had averted her gaze. In my spontaneous and confusing urge to defend myself against his verbal barbs, I had only listened to part of what he'd said. Damn it!

"I, um, think I understand. You were the mentor of his original self, then? The Keldarian he was cloned from? I’d not realized you two had known each other when-" she inquired, tilting her head.

Tym snorted and rolled his eyes, waving his paw lazily towards her. "Eh, that was the official crap, anyway. He was a good kid, if not a bit of a smart-ass. Still, he's dead now, so as far as I'm concerned, this guy here is the real deal now, no? Are ya gonna start things up again?" he inquired, snickering.

Keela glared at him, pink turning to crimson a moment later. "You jerk! Now you're just teasing me. No, I'd rather, um, really not think about that!" she squeaked, causing him to burst out into laughter again and me to get confused. I had the sneaking suspicion I was missing something again.

"Ya know, for being such an inquisitive guy, I never understood how you could be so damn dense sometimes. It's downright contradictory, Mender!" Tym pointed out, resting a hand on his hip. It was a little strange, seeing the considerably larger Keldarian and having him act like he knew me perfectly fine. Although, did he know me? Technically, I had tons of memories of him that were rapidly popping into the forefront of my mind now, and it felt like I really knew him.

"Um, I guess so. Twilight says I can be really dense sometimes, too," I muttered, frowning as I remembered her playfully teasing me about it.

Captain Tym stared at me for a moment before snickering lightly. "Scratch that. You ain't entirely him after all. He would have gotten pissed at that. You're a bit more level-headed, and slightly more boring than he was," he deduced afterwards. I flattened my ears back and glared at him, earning another round of laughter from the large Keldarian. His fur was as blue as the rest, but patched somewhat by the lines of scars I knew resided under it. He was ancient, even in Keldarian standards, but his body just would not give up. He was as muscled and defined as I remembered him. His eyes were a bright green in color, somewhat uncommon for that light of a hue. The left ear was still missing its tip as well, and I realized he still refused to have it regenerated. He said something about it driving the girls crazy when asked.

"Well, I think that's pure improvement, Captain," Keela defended, gently hugging me from behind almost protectively. Lying down like this, I was actually a little smaller than she was due to position of body mass. I tilted my head back questioningly at her, a little surprised she wanted to defend me in this regard.

He smirked, and I suddenly had flashbacks from Rainbow Dash. Uh oh. "Careful, Keela. Are you sure you want to admit that this version is 'even better' than the last? Do I have to point out that you technically mated multiple times with the prior version?" he inquired in amusement.

I wasn't entirely sure who reacted worse to that statement. Keela exploded into a flush across her entire face until I thought she'd die from blood loss to the rest of her. I spasmed and broke into a coughing fit as it felt like I accidentally inhaled a piece of my lung. Oh! So Nirru didn't walk in on our 'first' time, then! Of course, then all the memories had to come back.

"Aaaaaah! Why did my brain pick now to suddenly remember all of that?!" I yelped, curling forward and grabbing my head with both hooves.

"That's it! You're upsetting Mender! Out, Captain!" Keela commanded, pointing towards the door. I wasn't entirely sure he heard her through his copious amounts of laughter, though.

It took him almost a fully thirty seconds to recover, as I remained tucked into my ball, refusing to look at anypony due to the absolutely rock bottom gutter thoughts flowing through my head. It wasn't even technically 'me' that did it! "Ha! Oh, you two are too much fun. I forgot how entertaining this was," he added, snickering.

"You technically promised to keep that all a secret! Mender also technically isn't him, so you just broke your promise!" Keela squeaked, still blushing furiously but trying her best death glare at him.

He snorted, proving hers was just as effective as mine. Well, we shared that in common, anyway. "Eh, he's close enough. Your face already says as much. Anywho, don't ya wanna know what my information was that I was looking for you for in the first place?" he pointed out, reminding me that he still hadn't gotten to, well, any points at all, except for embarrassing us.

Keela growled and gave him an annoyed look before nodding once. "Speak then. And then you can leave!" she reminded, yelling the last part. I noticed two guards had popped into the room behind the captain, reminding me that Keela probably still had the highest seniority on the ship, even though they'd be pasted if they tried to apprehend Tym.

He laughed even more before nodding, unfazed by her flustered state. "Sure thing, Princess! Your external sensor results came back finally from the test site. You should probably take a look at the readings, as they're more than a little interesting," he revealed, taking a short stack of papers from his side pack and handing them over to both of us, sliding them across the couch.

I uncurled enough to reluctantly peek at them, as Keela leaned over me and shifted the top page closer to her to look. "Wait, what? The feedback isn't static?" she asked, sounding beyond shocked. I was also impressed with how fast she recovered after the topic change.

"Er, what was the test?" I asked, not having anything to base the readings off.

"Quantum wavelength tests in the area where our planet was, based on Equestria's samples. We decided to do a residual passive scan, but filter out any wavelengths that didn't specifically match Equestria's, just to see if there were any fluctuations," she explained.

Ah. She was looking for 'weak spots' in the dimensional barrier where it would be potentially easier to pass through. The results were definitely, well, not what I'd expect them to be. My processor ran the field numbers almost instantly off her database.

"Graphed out using spatial quadrants, this forms a concentrated sphere at a point very close to where the original portal was. Anything more than a kilometer away from the portal point has the readings dwindle away into almost nothing," I reported, giving Keela a start.

"Er, wait, what? How did you figure out the shape so fa-" she started, before wincing and stopping the sentence instantly. I raised an eyebrow to her, but she giggled to herself and shook her head. "No, sorry. Forgot about the computer thing. So, instead of bleeding through on a universal scale like I had anticipated, it's actually only a very small effect at this specific point? That actually makes sense, honestly. I doubt that even the connection of an Aegis Artifact could manipulate quantum wavelengths in an entire universe. The energy requirements would be phenomenal!"

I shrugged idly and relaxed into the cushion again, considering it. "Well, to be fair, we thought that it was a specific effect that adhered to the nature of the planes before, not something localized. That meant it would take very little effort at all to keep the planes 'linked' to each other. In reality, this means they're only linked over a very specific area," I corrected. In truth, I'd only been thinking out loud. This was a good thing overall. That meant that, even if something else repeated the exact effect that created a portal, unless they did so specifically within this two-kilometer wide area of space, they wouldn't get a portal to Equestria. Two kilometers compared to, well, all of space, was laughably pathetic. So pathetic that I couldn't even fathom how pathetic it was. Further, you couldn't even detect quantum wavelengths at greater than five kilometers. They'd have to literally know exactly where to look.

Keela nodded, as if reading my mind. "This data is now classified as top secret. Nobody is to mention these results to anyone," she ordered. Reading between the lines, I realized she actually meant anyone involved with Nirru.

Captain Tym nodded again and gave her a thumbs up before turning and promptly walking out without a single other word. I blinked and watched him go in slight confusion, and then looked over at Keela, who wore an annoyed face instead. "Smart-ass. He did say he'd leave right afterwards," she murmured, shaking her head a moment later. I gave her a perplexed shrug.

Her stare continued for a moment before her cheeks tinted pink again and she looked away from me, coughing lightly. "Ah, sorry about all that, by the way. Uh, technically it wasn't you, if it makes you feel better," she reminded, tone shifting awkward instantly. I became keenly aware of the heat from her stomach that was pressed up against the back of my neck as I coughed as well.

"Ah, it's not so much that I'm grossed out. I'm just, well, in a committed relationship with Twilight and Fluttershy. Any memory that goes against that feels, well, awkward, even if it wasn't me. I still get treated to, uh, every single recollected sensation," I explained, feeling my cheeks heat up as well.

Keela groaned and buried her face in her paws, rapidly shaking her head. "I so didn't need to know that. Um, okay, this is getting really uncomfortable, in a mixed-feelings kind of way," she complained, peeking out over her fingers at me. Well, her claws were still retracted, so I took that as an awkward instead of annoyed frown.

"Well, I suppose it really doesn't change anything apart from my knowledge. Honestly, to try to be positive about it, at least I have a lot of pointers that I can use for when, uh, wait, mixed?" I asked, suddenly confused by what she said. How did that word apply to this situation?

She blushed even harder and looked away from me before explaining, "Well, there's the whole different species thing that makes it a little weird. Plus, the fact is that, honestly, you're not actually him. You just act a lot like he used to and have his memories." I stared at her blankly, and then watched her start to fidget a little under my scrutiny. Those were both negative. Where was the 'mixed' part of her prior statement? Thankfully, she knew what I was going to say.

"Yes, I know. What makes the feelings mixed is, well, honestly, none of the prior mentioned things has technically stopped me from thinking about it?" she finished, giving me a hopeful smile. Oh hell.

With a light groan, I fell forwards onto my face. Okay, she actually laughed at that. Regardless, 'thinking' about it was a far cry from actually considering, planning, or doing anything about it. I decided that I ultimately appreciated her honestly slightly more than how much I was weirded out by all of this. It was cutting a sharp contrast with me trying to realize in my head that all of these memories came from a dead guy I was cloned from. Her attempting to pretend that I was actually still him was a little weird for me. Especially since that 'pretending' part was about romance and sex.

"I'm not going to do anything about it, relax. You're just, well, really kind to me, despite everything you've experienced and been through. He changed a lot after what my sister did to him, and it shocks me that technically you have all those memories yet you're not, well... You're a good guy, still," she explained, tone softening significantly. A couple warning bells were set off in my head. Duh! Of course she would have sought him out after the lovely torture events with Nirru! She talked to him afterwards then, and apparently he didn't choose to start the relationship up again? When I first mentioned him, she had no idea what had become of him or where he was. Generally those bits of info were fairly readily available if you were in a relationship with somepony, I suspected. I felt uneasy suddenly, but I couldn't figure out where the sensation was coming from.

Keela kept rambling, however, starting to sound like she was afraid that if she stopped talking, I'd freak out and disconnect. "Look, I know this is weird. You're a really, really likeable clone of my ex, which sounds weird just saying it! I admit, openly and honestly, that a part of me was and is considering what it would be like to date a pony. That sounds even crazier, trust me. But the big part is that I'm not going to do anything about it! I don't want to scare you or make you angry with me and lose you as a friend, Mender, so unless you give the green light first, I'll be just your friend," she continued rapidly, allowing for no space large enough for a reply anywhere.

Finally, she dwindled off and just watched me, cheeks pink and apparently waiting for some final verdict now, which kind of bewildered me, given the nature of her request. "Uh, you want me to decide on that now?" I inquired, confused at what she was waiting for.

"Ah! No! Of course not! I mean, you could if you wanted, because I have no idea what I'm doing right now, and this wasn't in any of the research materials I've been looking over about xeno-dating, or even in their source material, which was a little frustrating. I'm sorry! Uh..." she resumed, noticeably panicking as she raised up both paws to give me a double 'relax' sign this time.

Okay, Rainbow might have rubbed off on me a bit. I couldn't help it, and started laughing. "You have no idea how adorable and silly you're being right now. Relax, Keela!" I assured, giving her hands a gentle push downwards. She looked momentarily bewildered before smiling again and looking down at her knees sheepishly. I had a strong hunch at this point, however.

Tilting my head at her, I softly asked, "Who exactly are your friends, apart from me?" It probably was being fairly intrusive, but I had the sneaking worry that-

"Apart from you? Captain Tymiandius and, well, my sister, although that's more than a little soured after she, you know, tried to kill you and blow up Ponyville," Keela informed, exactly as I realized.

Frowning, I looked at her for a moment. "That's why you don't want to lose me as a friend, then," I muttered after another moment's thought.

"Mender! I wouldn't want to lose your friendship, even if I had a thousand friends. But you're right in the fact that I get, um, really, really lonely. It's mind-numbing sometimes," she agreed, coughing lightly and looking away from me. After her sister did all that and was now technically in their prison, I imagine her life got a lot lonelier.

A half a minute passed as I considered everything. She patiently waited and watched me mull it over in my head until I nodded. "I'll talk to Twilight. She'll understand what you're going through, and the two of us can keep you company more often. In fact, all the girls are really nice and you'd probably have six new friends if you really wanted," I suggested.

Keela widened her eyes, looking honestly surprised at my offer as her jaw sagged an inch or so. "I don't know about that. It feels kind of wrong to seek their friendship after what my sister did. I know that it wasn't me doing those things, but my naiveté and denial were what enabled her to go to Equestria in the first place. I've been trying to pretend she's a good individual for years," she murmured, eyes softening a little.

Years? That surprised me a bit. It took me a moment to realize that losing her 'lover' was really fresh for her. My entire life was over the span of weeks she could count on one paw, but her perspective placed losing him a very short time ago. "Did you know what she did to him?" I asked, my tone a little colder than anticipated, but I felt a little colder on the inside, too.

She winced and looked away, telling me the answer right there. "They wouldn't tell me anything directly but, um, I had educated guesses. Mender, I can't excuse anything she's done. I agree with you. She's a monster and is more than a little unbalanced. But she's my sister! I know it sounds weird to hear from a Keldarian, but she's my only family and I love her. She's taken care of me since I was old enough to realize I was being taken care of. After, well, what happened to her, her outlook on everyone else changed. And not for the better..." she explained, starting strong but ending in barely a whimper.

"She was raped," I concluded, closing my eyes gently. Keela gave a start against my back, and I could only imagine her expression at that. But I didn't want to know, in truth.

"H-How do you know that? She only ever talked to me and our mother about it!" she asked, sounding more shocked than offended.

My eyes slid open and I peeked back at her as I explained, "Her memories were partially uploaded into the body she used to kill me. After I turned into that other... thing, I absorbed her memories and DNA when I killed that body."

Her expression softened, and she looked sad at the memory for a moment before nodding. "I see. That explains it. Um, yeah, she was captured and held by two of her magic instructors after practice when she was twelve. They held her down and, um, took turns in one of the lounges. I don't have the full story, but it was said that they were trying to get back at our mother for her council chair decisions on magic tutelage. They probably fully expected what happened," she explained, flattening her ears down to the sides of her head.

I stared at her for a long five seconds or so before nodding. "She killed both of them after she finally found her, right?" It was more for confirmation than any actual curiosity. From the broken and fragmented memories, I had gathered that they died on the spot.

"Our mother was known for a lot of things. She was the war council chair, which Nirru took over after she died. She was also unmatched with a blade, and was known for her fiery temper and sense of duty and morals. No, they didn't even get to be arrested. She killed them both instantly. I don't think there was even a fight," she muttered, tone of voice mixed and hard to read. It seemed like she looked up to her mother. Wait, blade?

"Ventosus Lacuna?" I asked, ears perking up.

Finally, Keela smiled. "You're very clever, Mender. Yes, our mother wielded the blade. She was the last true owner of it. Our great, great, great, great grandmother was the one who created it almost a hundred and ninety years ago. Back then, the sword design was brand new, introduced by our new allies just a decade prior when they first appeared in our system," she confirmed.

That was a really old blade. I wondered how old Prudentia was. Not very, considering my original 'made it' somehow. They keep telling me the creator has to die, but that obviously wasn't the case for him. It was 'Prudentia,' I knew for a fact, at least as far back as his schooling days.

"Regardless, I'm not telling you any of this to try to redeem my sister. It's just so you understand why I can't just, well, kill her. I love her and she's my only family I have left. She's a complete monster, yes, but that doesn't change that she's my sister. I've been trying to talk to her, of course, and get her to realize the error of her ways," Keela continued explaining, snapping me out of my thoughts on Aegis Artifacts.

I stared at her for a moment, expression blank. "How's that been going?" I asked a second later, trying my hardest to keep the ocean of bitterness from tainting that statement. My feelings were still very, very fresh regarding Nirru. I hated her. If it had just been me with a say in what happened and it wouldn't have affected anypony else, I wouldn't have hesitated in the slightest at ripping her head off. Call me soft and weak, but I didn't want to make Keela cry.

"Awkwardly. She's mostly silent and, well, confused, for the lack of a better term. She doesn't understand why you didn't kill her. She doesn't seem to fully understand why I'm so angry with her and locked her up, either. She had resisted arrest and severely injured three Keldarians before Tymiandius got there and forced her to surrender," she explained, closing her eyes and relaxing backwards. Mine closed, too, and I just lay there for a moment, considering everything that happened.

It had confused me at first, too. Why had I let her go? Keela was the only reason. At least, I was pretty sure she was. A part of me hadn't wanted to drop myself to her level, but that was just childish thinking. Somepony had to get their hooves dirty if they wanted to protect what was worth protecting, and as far as pure kill count went, mine was already pitch black. No amount of karma or happy thoughts would erase the fact that I outright murdered almost two and a half billion innocent individuals. I was fairly certain that put me down as the biggest mass murderer in the history of pretty much anything, as a singular, anyway. The Grosh as a race easily beat me, of course. They killed about three times as many Keldarians, given the population of our other, smaller colonies.

"Thank you for sparing her, Mender. I know you only did it for me, and you very much didn't want to. I felt that much through our bond. But you spared her, all for me. So sincerely, thank you. If there's anything I can do to help you, ever, let me know," Keela suddenly spoke up, surprising me. Glancing back at her, I realized she was just giving me a soft smile. Hesitating, I nodded back a moment later, deciding it couldn't really do any harm. We were almost assured to have a long road ahead of us together in the future, given the permanency of the bond she gave me. With her newest confession, a part of me wondered if she did that on purpose. Was it just an excuse to be 'stuck' to me for longer? No, I doubted Keela would give up so much just for that.

"I didn't want to, no. But you're my friend and I didn't want to make you cry. You sounded so desperate, and that was the only thing that stopped me. I apologize, but I hate Nirru. Not only did she kill me, but she outright threatened everypony I know and love. There's no forgiving that," I apologized, looking away from her.

She was silent for a moment before nodding gently. "I understand, of course. Honestly, I agree with you. She went too far. I wonder, really. If you'd met her long ago, would you feel differently? She seems so absolutely bewildered by you sparing her, that I wonder if the her from back then isn't pointing things out. But no, she's staying locked up. She hasn't even tried to escape so far," Keela murmured, sounding more reflective than anything. I just let her talk, ears twitching a little as I lay on my side.

It was rather peaceful after everypony had left us alone. Keela gently sighed and slid me sideways until my head rested gently in her lap, then gently massaged my shoulders while I relaxed. I guess I was real enough to her, even with my smooth and solid-colored body. I probably looked like a character from a videogame or something. My sensations were hooked into this form, however, and it gave the proper give to my muscles for her, apparently. I relaxed as she gently kneaded my neck and back, seemingly pleased to just be near me.

Honestly, this was what I'd wanted from the start. Just time to relax with a friend and get my mind off everything for a while. Too much had started to happen, and I found myself losing pace with the rest of the world. A little rest and relaxation was what I needed. Future Mender could worry about Sweetie Belle, Keela, Rarity, Canterlot Newspapers, sanity loss, and strange graphical glitches. Not in that particular order.

Oddly, being massaged like this kind of made me feel like her pet. It didn't bother me as much as I thought, probably because deep down, I knew I wasn't, but being pseudo-pampered was still rather relaxing. I understood Opal a little better now. Smiling, I just let myself relax and zone out as we rested there in the comfortable silence. This was a good break from my bad dreams after all...

Jolting awake rather roughly, I winced as the dawn light slipped into my eyes. Lifting my hoof up to rub at them, I realized that I was back on my bed and had a blanket tossed over me. Huh. I didn't remember doing it, but guessed that Big Mac might have tossed me back into the bed after he got back. Wait, dawn?!

Looking back up through the sliver of sun rising up through the crack in the curtains, I noted that indeed it was in the opposite position that I remembered. I peeked at Clocky a moment later and noticed it was oh seven hundred hours. The days were getting shorter, it would seem. That meant I'd slept for about nine hours total, not including the time I had been awake but visiting with Keela. I fell asleep while she was massaging me at some point and ended up disconnecting, drifting back to my body as normal. Huh.

Slowly, I sat up and looked around the room. Big Mac's bed was empty, of course. He was an early riser, I had heard. Spike was curled up into a little ball not unlike a cat, vaguely near the small of my back but not quite touching. His snoring was impressive as always, of course. At least Twilight and Fluttershy didn't snore...

Shifting further to the left, I saw all three Crusaders still in bed as well, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to either side of Sweetie Belle, both holding her gently. She actually wore a smile, which made me happy, even if I knew it wasn't made by me. A slight twinge of regret shot through my chest, and I looked away from all three of them. No, staying here wouldn't work.

Slowly slipping sideways, I slid out from under the covers and drifted to the floor. Silently, four tentacles shot out and braced against the wood instead, lifting me off the ground and shifting me towards the door like a silent snake. Stealth was a lot easier with eight extra appendages. The door opened with a light squeak, and I saw Scootaloo shift lightly in her sleep, so I held still. A second later, she smiled again and snuggled back into Sweetie's side, and I exhaled. Sharp senses on that one.

I didn't lower my tension until I was outside, tentacles rapidly pulling back up into me before anypony who happened to be awake saw them. Making sure the door was closed and locked again, I slipped the key into the saddlebags I now wore, and stretched out, giving a happy groan as my back cracked in three different locations. I'm glad nopony noticed that I didn't have my saddlebags in the room. Smiling, I pulled Ventosus Lacuna and Prudentia out of my subspace pocket as well and hooked them both to my left side before looking around.

The camp looked practically empty, of course. Including Big Mac down by the river, I counted only three ponies up and about, and one was questionable. For some reason, there was a dark brownish pegasus sporting a rather unique mohawk on the roof of one of the cabins. He was oddly hanging upside down from the chimney by his back leg, but was curled up very comfortably, looking like a bat, and appeared to be sound asleep. I decided I very much didn't want to ask.

Shrugging, I trotted in the direction of the stream, angling to go down the flow of water this time. I slipped a small map out of my right front saddlebag and peeked at it, glad Twilight had insisted on giving it to me now. It showed the stream angling slightly northeast, east as it headed off and away from Ponyville. Smiling, I saw a small lake that was naturally formed this time, and decided to make a beeline for that.

Big Mac saw me walking past, and we exchanged nods before I returned to my course. I could appreciate a stallion of few words. He appeared to trust me enough to leave me to my own devices while he washed up a few of his towels, anyway. Oddly, that made me feel rather good. At least somepony thought I was dependable enough to not accidentally kill myself, or anypony else if left alone for a few hours.

The walk itself was amazingly peaceful, and I enjoyed the cooler air of the morning as I shuffled through the fog. The forest was still sleeping around me, and apart from a cranky squirrel and a startled but sleepy looking raccoon, I didn't see any other animals. Oddly, neither were scared of me, the squirrel in particular seeming more irate that I had tripped over the log he was sleeping in and sent us both tumbling down a decently sized hill. I apologized when we finally stopped spinning at the bottom, of course, but he didn't appear happy regardless.

After a quarter of an hour or so, I finally made it to the lake, only slightly dirtier than I had been prior. I set my saddlebags and Aegis Artifacts down at the end of the river, where it met with the lake, and slipped down into the shallow water near the shore. Sighing, I let the cool liquid flow around my fur as I eased the brace off slowly. Wincing, I realized it had gotten a little stuck after my leg swelled up, which I had predicted. The water softened my skin and relaxed my muscles, however, and I slipped free of it after a moment's effort, letting it drift towards the shore. More muscles were growing back in my leg now, and I'd have to adjust the brace soon anyway to be wider in the straps.

After I washed all of the dirt and grime off my fur, I just let myself drift on my back in the water. It was very relaxing, in all honesty, and it felt good to just let my left foreleg float freely, no strain or aching needed. I zoned out, shifting back inside of myself for a bit as I double-checked on my various passive projects. The DNA was fine and ready to send to Keela in our next visit. She just had to finish the adjustments to the scanner she'd built on her side to receive the data. My database-sorting project had also finished, and I had many folders now to separate everything neatly, including information on the weapon and disks. Those I would definitely peek at today.

Even more interestingly enough, my silent scan had finished and set up hundreds of root access backdoors to almost every part of my systems, also informing me of several anomalies discovered. It looked like mild corruptions of code in a few of my drivers from all the damage I suffered coming into Equestria. I headed towards the auto-repair, but stopped myself suddenly. Wait, what?

Frowning, my eyes opened again and I looked back towards the shore. The little blue filly stood there in the mist, mostly transparent but smiling at me. I watched her for a minute before she slowly shook her head and faded away. I stared at where she was, realizing she'd never done that before. Normally she hid behind something or only appeared in my peripheral vision, but she seemed to be getting less shy suddenly. Further, she felt like she was directly inputting into my action this time.

My mental hoof shifted away from the auto-repair, and I decided to just leave it be for now. Eh, I was functioning just fine for the moment, and I should probably look into the repair algorithms before just giving it free reign. She was right. Smiling, I silently whispered "Thank you..." into my mind, feeling a light pulse from Prudentia before I shifted back to floating again without direction. I'd have to see if I could talk to her again soon. I wanted to learn more about her and the book. If I was going nuts, I might as well be cordial to my other personalities. I had a feeling cooperating would be much healthier in that situation.

Smiling, I relaxed again and opened up the first file about the disks, settling in for a bit of reading. My proximity sensor went off less than a second later, of course. My eyes widened as my armor popped on, the water exploding around me in what could only be described as a very noisy Mach cone skipping across the lake at point blank range next to me! I swore I heard a 'Whooo!" as it shot past, momentarily tearing a 'tunnel' in the water and flinging me at least five meters into the air.

Given my newly discovered velocity and falling distance, hitting the water again momentarily jarred me, the armor folding over my face as I went under, creating both functioning goggles and activating my rebreather system. Okay, what the hell? Glaring, I just let myself sink as my sensors activated, sending particle scans up through the water and spotting the UFO as it swerved around, coming in for another 'bombing' run. It was a little smaller than I was and had wings... Damn it, Rainbow!

The 'U' having been removed from the UFO equation, I shifted my back legs a bit and surfaced again, considerably farther offshore now. My face armor folded back as I watched her skim the surface again, a ways from me this time. Ah, she wasn't attacking me so much as she probably didn't even notice I was there. Wait, why the hell was she here?! Mares weren't supposed to visit the camp during the estrus, even if this was somewhat away from the main area. Hmm. Did it still count as part of the camp? Further, why was she here this early in the morning?! From what I heard from Twilight, she was usually comatose until well past noon.

Her skim slowed as she hopped higher into the air again, whipping into a tight corkscrew and spraying water off herself everywhere before shifting into a hover, shaking herself off in the air. Oh. She was doing the same thing I was. Washing herself. That was a, well, creative and violent way to do so. It fit her well.

"You could have given me a heads up!" I shouted at her from across the lake. She gave out a startled yelp instantly and fell out of the air in surprise, falling right back into the water she just got out of. Err, oops. Should I go make sure she wasn't drowning, or should I beat a hasty retreat so she didn't try to drown me instead after she got out?

Deciding I'd feel moderately bad if she drowned on my account, I snickered to myself and motored over to where she was, two tentacles shifting under me to form propellers under the water. She resurfaced a few seconds later, shooting me an annoyed glare as she rotated to face me. It only lasted half a second, however, before she shifted to surprised and wide-eyed instead, then blushing furiously as she fought to get out of the water again.

"Ah, no! Wet wings!" she groaned, not being very successful in escaping the water with nothing to kick off. Apparently settling for plan B, she started rapidly paddling towards shore again.

Smirking as I realized I caught her out of her element, I simply motored up next to her, my propulsion in the water being far superior to her hooves. A few seconds passed with me easily keeping pace with her frantic swimming while smiling at her, before she finally sighed and just stopped, idly floating while treading water.

"Okay, I can't get away, I get it. Just get it over with," she groaned, wincing and slamming her eyes shut as I drifted next to her.

My eyebrow raised, me having absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "Uh, get what over with?" I inquired curiously, a bit lost and the conversation hadn't even started yet. A new record!

She sighed and looked away, opening her eyes again while her flush shifted to just a light pink tint. "Ribbing on me for yesterday. I'm sure you have quite a few choice words after what I said to Fluttershy," she groaned, sinking her muzzle under the water and blowing bubbles in frustration after she finished talking.

Snickering, I inhaled before sinking back under the water, shifting under her in the same instant. I saw her eyes widen and her body lock up, but I brushed her onto my back instead before extending out all eight tentacles in different directions, holding them straight. The maws on the ends peeked up above the water and purposefully inhaled sharply, shifting every tentacle into a rather buoyant floatation device. Like a rescue platform, I entirely lifted above the water, Rainbow sitting on my back trying to keep her balance as she looked around. Realization hit her a moment later and she fluttered her wings open, taking to the air again with a light spray of water.

"Wait, you're just letting me go?" she asked, looking at me with a bit of surprise as I resumed my normal form, giving an airy burp as all the inhaled air flooded into me instead. Well, that felt funny.

I nodded back up at her a moment later, shooting her a smile. "I'm not mad, Rainbow. Just a bit surprised that you thought about me like that. You don't need to avoid me," I explained, just drifting there while looking up at her.

She blushed again and coughed lightly, looking away. "H-Hey! It's not like that! You were 'there' the entire ride, which was more than a little, um, distracting, so at 'that' moment, you were looking pretty good. Ugh. No, that was... well it's true, but it didn't sound very good," she groaned, smacking a forehoof into her forehead. I smiled at her, but just let her continue.

"Trust me, I'm so after AJ. Although, if I wasn't after her for some reason, you're definitely cool enough to warrant a sharp second! I'd probably be all over you," she added with a nod, grinning again.

Blinking, I rolled my eyes. Okay, that sounded like Rainbow again. "Second, huh? Well thanks, I guess," I returned, giving her a blank and somewhat skeptical stare.

She snickered and sprayed a bit of water at me from her tail. The smells coating it were more than a little potent, and I coughed violently, sticking my nose back into the water and blowing bubbles. She, of course, started laughing. "Smell good, do I? Imagine what it was like before the dip! I told you I get bad heat cycles. Still, second place is way totally high up there on the list. That means you're more awesome than Soarin', from the Wonderbolts! He got knocked down to third," she explained, winking at me.

I raised an eyebrow to her, but assumed who he was. At least I knew who the 'Wonderbolts' were. "Interesting. I'd ask why you rate me so high, but you probably don't want to say, so I'll respect that. Why are you even here, anyway? Isn't there a lake on the other side of Ponyville that you could use that wouldn't put you dangerously close to the stallion camp?" I inquired, tilting my head as I drifted in a slow circle, causing her to be upside down to me now.

She blushed again and looked away, coughing. "Okay, so maybe I was hoping to find you at some point today and properly, um, explain myself! Yeah. Obviously, I don't need to apologize or anything because it's totally an amazing compliment for me to want to mate with you," she concluded. I smirked, reading easily between the lines and accepting her apology anyway. Silently, of course.

"You don't have to be tough around me, Rainbow. I can feel your emotions at this range from the link, too. I'm not going to laugh at you," I assured, causing the light pink to shift red again as she squinted her eyes closed.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not used to this like Flutters is! Go easy on me, sheesh. I also was hoping to talk to you about the wing thing, too, for the upcoming race. I know you're cool, and not going to rat out me being here to anypony," she explained further, looking down at me with a smile again.

A light warmth danced into my chest and I nodded up at her, returning a happier smile. "Of course not. Battle partners, remember? Should we get to more stable ground to talk, however?" I inquired, gesturing with my head back towards my saddlebags on the now opposite shore. Keeping up with the active pegasus had carried me quite a ways off course!

She grinned and nodded, swooping down and hooking her forelegs with mine before using her wings to power us both towards the area I gestured to, her eyes perking up as she spotted my things in the grass. "Sure thing, Boss! Wait, what are you doing awake at this time of day?" she suddenly asked a moment later, remembering apparently that the sun was barely peeking over the horizon. Heh, that was a long story, but I guess we had time...

Chapter 48

Rainbow winced again as I laced another line of energy through the muscles in her left wing. It was apparently the more sensitive of the two. She had explained that for most pegasi, the wing opposite their favored hoof was the more sensitive of the two. I hadn't realized ponies had a favored hoof. Mine was easy to guess, however, being the one not covered in metal bracing.

"Are you sure you want me to do this, Rainbow?" I asked again, watching her shift to panting and squirming as I went through each of her flight muscles with the lines of energy.

She let out a weak groan and arched a little into my hoof's touch. I waited patiently, and she finally exhaled, shifting back under control of herself. "Hah, hah, yeah. Make them adjustable, remember. I want to be able to slowly increase the tension in them while practicing," she murmured.

The lines were meant to either enhance or restrain her muscle movements. After I'd explained to her what I could do, and was further surprised by her extreme knowledge of flight muscle anatomy, she'd told me that there were lesser flight muscles that were really, really hard to work individually. A lot of pegasi had problems with it, apparently, and she wanted to know if I could specifically help her exercise those. It, well, evolved from there.

"Just be careful with these. Not only are the wings going to get really tired, really quickly, but this enchantment is feeding off your own magic supply, so your fatigue will increase faster," I warned again.

Rainbow smiled back at me, cheeks rosy, before nodding. "I know. I'll stay low and over the lake. Uh, thanks for worrying about me, of course. Can you keep watch for a water rescue if need be?" she asked, eyes softening a bit.

I gave her a smile and nod, of course, and she grinned. At least by the shade of her cheeks, I was reminded that her squirms were from pleasure rather than pain. It was slightly awkward thinking I was the one giving it to her, but apparently it felt good when my magic went inside a pony's body. As in, really good, which made me feel even more awkward when I considered Pinkie's reaction a while back. At least it didn't seem to affect the Crusaders in the same fashion! Too young, maybe?

"I'm so never using my magic on anypony unless I absolutely have to," I muttered a moment later, causing her to laugh between pants.

"I dunno, Mender. You could just rake in the bits if you took up massaging. Oh, oh, ah, um, is there any way I could get you to keep going after you're done?" Rainbow asked, giving out another light groan as I tied off the line of energy into the main cluster on her back. Her wings were getting really complex now! I just kept layering the enchantments onto it, and tying them together. The jets from earlier were still technically there, but now I had wired muscle manipulation into them as well.

Sighing, I shook my head lightly towards her. "Rainbow, you know that's a bad idea. This is getting a little weird, too. I didn't realize you even liked me like that before today," I warned, more than a little uncomfortable in her request.

"I told you, Mender. I like both stallions and mares, but only because I happened to, well, start liking particular ponies of both genders, if that makes sense? Sexuality isn't as important as the individual that catches my interest. Soarin's more just a fantasy, honestly. I was kidding there. Applejack and you, so far, are the only ponies that, um, interest me," she admitted, her blush increasing slightly as she glanced back at me again. Oh. Well, that made more sense and made me feel a little better.

She just looked back at me for another minute before relaxing again and continuing with, "I only tried dating once before. That was way back in flight school with a dude my friend, Gilda, set me up with. It, well, didn't go so well. He got pushy and I broke it off barely a week in after he tried to go too fast. I mean, I like fast and all, but I'm not gonna let myself get used like that! It left a bad taste in my mouth for a while."

"That makes sense. I take it you started to get interested again after meeting Applejack?" I inquired, pleased to take her mind off the sensations during the last stretch as I wired up the central enchantment.

She snickered and shook her head, however. "Nah. We were friendly with each other for the most part, but we were more rivals than anything at first. She's an amazing competitor, and really pushed me when we went head to head. I guess the tension built to admiration, and then I realized that, well, I loved the mare. I really do. I care for her and want to be with her as more than a friend. That revelation surprised me, and got me thinking about a relationship again." By the time she finished, I had completed the enchantment and sat back up again, slipping off her back and sitting beside her instead. The leaves crunched under my weight, and I adjusted myself as Rainbow sat up again, stretching.

"Friendship first is a good way to do it, isn't it? I know I don't know much about relationships, but they seem more an upgrade to friendship than something that replaces it," I suggested, smiling as I watched the graceful mare stretch out her back legs, then each and every muscle in her wings.

She grinned at me, of course. "Of course! I imagine it's a lot like friendship. Only a lot stronger. Oh, and with sex," she agreed, nodding twice. I chuckled and shook my head towards her, causing her to grin further. "To be honest, Twilight and Fluttershy probably wouldn't mind. It's not like I'm a stranger," she added, winking and causing me to blush again.

"I'd say you had a one track mind, but the enchantment probably didn't help much," I admitted, averting my gaze. Hesitating for a moment, she finally nodded absently towards me.

"Well, yeah, it did feel good and the wings are sensitive on a pegasus anyway, but a big part of it was who was doing it, too, to be honest. It's weird, but I kinda feel better now that I admitted to liking you," she corrected, tilting her head in consideration.

It was strange how little it bothered me at this point. Sure, I was used to being 'new' and 'exotic' in Ponyville, which was probably why a lot of ponies were interested, but I assumed, and hoped, that would die down over time. This didn't bother me as much as normal, though, because she had real feelings behind it. It wasn’t just a shallow interest in something ‘new’.

"Why do you like me in particular? Even though I know you've said it a couple times, I thought you were just being silly and didn't think I was 'cool' enough for you," I asked, tilting my head towards her as she rotated in place and stretched one wing out at a time. Warm-up exercises, maybe?

"You're dependable and I can trust you to have my back, for one. That's super important to me and obviously a quality AJ has in spades! Sure, you're an egghead like Twilight, but I think she's cool, too! So, don't doubt me. I might not be Honesty, but I'm not lying." She puffed up while saying it, apparently having finished her stretches. A part of me was a little surprised when she gave that particular answer. She'd thought it through, I noted.

Considering it for a moment, I nodded in agreement. "I've trusted you for a long time. If I hadn't offended your sensibilities that night, things probably would have gone better. Even though what I was saying sounded absolutely crazy, you still checked on my story after going to get the doctor. You believed in me at probably my lowest point ever, and that means a lot," I decided, my mouth following along with my thoughts. Her eyes got bigger as I went on, and she got another light pink tint when I smiled back up at her. "Well, my point is that I don't have a problem with how you feel, because I already feel close to you and relaxed when around you, so it doesn't faze me. I don't want to distract you from your goal, however," I summarized, a little frustrated that I wasn't better with words. Twilight probably could have summed up everything in a couple sentences.

Her eyes shivered slightly and, just for a moment, she looked distinctly not Rainbow Dash. I'd never seen her features relax and soften in quite that manner before she peeked left, and then right over her shoulder. Eh? Apparently satisfied in what she did or didn't find near us, she nodded to herself and shifted closer to me suddenly. My eyes widened, but she simply leaned forwards and lightly brushed her muzzle along my jaw, her neck lightly resting against the side of mine.

A second passed as I lightly reached up with my left foreleg and hugged her back, understanding her intention suddenly. I felt her smile and press a bit closer, sighing softly and losing the nervous tension she'd been holding onto. What, was she afraid I'd laugh at her, or accuse her of going soft or something? Her hugs were surprisingly feminine, displaying a good deal of affection as I rested my jaw against hers.

We stayed like that for a surprisingly long time. Almost a minute passed before she gently backed up a bit, giving me a soft smile. "It's weird how easy it is for me to accept you, but I guess I see a part of me in you and can relate to your past. I know yours was far worse, but you're still here and trying to be positive, and I can respect that," Rainbow muttered, staring at me intently for a moment.

"I'm glad. I know that not everypony in Equestria is sunshine and happiness, so if you want to talk about, I dunno, things, I guess, I'm available to listen," I offered. My more ideal viewpoints on Equestrian life were shattered with the rather vicious news stories. Yeah, not everypony was friendly, that was for sure! I wondered if Dash had encountered some of those not-so-friendly ponies in the past as well.

She coughed and looked away for a moment. "Okay, starting to sound like some sort of therapy session or something. So not going there! If you wanna hear more about my amazingly awesome, super exciting past, you'll have to bribe me. The only way I'll confess is via pillow talk!" she declared, winking at me with her tail starting to whip back and forth.

I gave a slow blink, my mind unable to keep up with the conversation suddenly. 'Therapy' confused me somewhat, as I didn't immediately associate any part of her being injured that I might have been attempting to fix. Normally, I applied that particular word to muscle correction after severe damage was accrued. Stepping back, I went back to the root of the word. To heal or restore something, usually after a successful diagnosis. Weird. Wait, could she have been talking about her feelings? There were official means in which to fix feelings here? The concept was totally foreign and I made an immediate mental note to ask Twilight about it later.

'Pillow Talk' sounded more like a social event or reference of some sort. I, well, mostly doubted she was referring to a literal interpretation. Talking about pillows would be amazingly dull, and talking with pillows seemed impractical, if not a choking hazard. Given it being a cultural thing, I decided I had a very low probability of figuring it out on my own.

By the time I shifted back to reality, her smirk had faded, and she gave me a confused stare instead. "Oh, sorry. I was trying to figure that statement out," I apologized, followed by, "What exactly is 'Pillow Talk'? Is that where we pile up a bunch of pillows or something and lie on them while talking? Or is there some sort of ritualistic pillow combat I'm not aware of that decides the verbal victor and who gets to ask what to whom?" They were just guesses, of course.

It had been a high probability from the moment I decided to ask her, so I mentally counted down from three. I only got to one before she burst into laughter and rolled over onto her back, and I sighed, just letting her get it out of her system. While she was busy, I pondered if it was a good thing that I decided it was just faster to make an idiot of myself than try to explain my reasoning behind it.

It took her almost a full minute to calm down to just a few giggles and snorts. Sitting there, I kept my head averted, feeling a little dejected. Still, I was used to that feeling when sometimes dealing with Rainbow's verbal quips. While loyal to a fault and rather mirthful, she could be downright abrasive in personality sometimes. She finally noticed my posture and expression and sunk a bit, shaking her head.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. You're new here. Um, sorry. Pillow talk is when you're relaxing in bed with your head on the pillows with your mate, enjoying the relaxing feeling you apparently get after mating and just talking," she explained simply.

Oh. I blushed lightly, but nodded. Ah, she had been flirting again, then. "Apparently? You must not have ever mated before, then," I deduced, sitting upright again and out of my sullen pose.

She froze, eyes widening drastically before she started awkwardly laughing. "Oh, slip of the tongue! Of course I've mated! Lots of times! So many times, I've lost count!" she exclaimed after recovering from her stunned expression.

I just stared at her. Okay, I was dense, but if she had expected 'that' to work on me, I felt kind of insulted. She fidgeted slightly, then blushed and looked away from my gaze as if it burned her. "Oh fine. Just, um, don't tell anypony else! I'm kinda a virgin," she whispered, starting to sound like Fluttershy suddenly. I raised an eyebrow, a bit confused.

"Uh, maybe I'm missing something because I'm new here, but is it really that big of a deal? You're young, so I would have thought, probability speaking-" I started, running my thoughts by her out of confusion.

"Yes, it's a big deal! It's extremely uncool that I don't have any experience whatsoever with anypony! I'm the coolest pegasus in Ponyville, no, in Equestria! But I've never been with anypony?!" she interrupted, sinking a little in her spot. It was that big of a social event?

I blinked, and then pointed out, "Uh, I might be wrong, but I don't think it's really a social thing. Shouldn't you be more focused on simply being with a pony you care about and sharing your experiences with them?"

She stared at me for a second before sighing and sagging her wings down. "Well, yeah. I'm not going to mate with just anypony. It's just, I don't have any experience! When I finally do get with Applejack, I'm going to be horrible and that's just, well, not cool!" she continued. Ah, now that struck me as the real reason for her problem with it.

"I'm not sure if that's the important part or not. I mean, sure, I assume that a healthy sex life is good for a relationship, but I doubt Applejack is going to be upset, given that it's totally new to you. It might even be new to her and turn into something you two can experiment with and work on together?" I offered, blushing lightly as I realized I'd accidentally slipped 'experiment' into the statement. Damn it, Twilight! That word was ruined forever for me now.

Rainbow stared at me in surprise before thinking for a moment. "Um, I'd never thought about her not being experienced either. Now that I think about it, I've never, ever heard of her dating anypony, ever," she muttered, sounding more like she was talking to herself then realizing I was still here.

"See? She might think it's even more special that you're a virgin, too," I pointed out, followed by, "That worried me for a while with Fluttershy and Twilight, but Fluttershy especially pointed out that no matter what happens in the future, it's not going to change how they feel about me. I suppose that probably applies to if I'm terrible or not as well." I'd expected to not be very good, even with a ton of memories of mating as a Keldarian. Not that, well, I wanted to remember those memories. That I was remembering right now. Damn it!

Rainbow finally smiled and nodded to me, looking quite a bit more relieved than she had been prior. We both relaxed for a moment before she opened her wings again and looked up at the sky again. I glanced up, noting it clear, if not somewhat overcast. There was a cool nip to the air that made me glad I had thicker fur. Taking to the air again, Rainbow experimented by hovering for a little bit, then sent the 'feeling' of the number two down the link. As requested, I shifted an impulse back to her, and the tension in her wings doubled. She winced momentarily as she almost fell out of the air, but managed to maintain her flight and nodded.

"Are you sure about this, Rainbow? You can just practice with the enchantment if you want," I pointed out, frowning at her faltering.

"Psh, it's fine! You just surprised me, is all. Now you get to watch the amazing Rainbow Dash as she puts on a private air-show just for you!" she announced, puffing as she lifted into the air further.

Smirking, I stuck my tongue out at her, wiggling the tip as it extended three feet from my body. Her eyes widened in surprise, then, half a second later, she blushed while staring at it. I didn't give her time to weird out and pulled it back into my mouth before gesturing towards the lake. Who knew what the silly mare was thinking? I'd rather distract her before she put her barbed tongue to use instead.

She grinned and nodded before flitting backwards, still sporting a soft flush as she spun and took higher to the sky. Her movements were slightly more sluggish, but her wing muscles were operating under twice their normal friction and strain, so it was to be expected. Frankly, I thought she'd just fall out of the air, but then I remembered that she could technically comfortably carry up to two full-size ponies by herself, so she was probably fine.

With that, her routine started, and I sat back to watch, smiling at the loops and darts and just admiring the mare's agility. Flight looked fun, but also so empowering. She could go anywhere, and there was something appealing to that. It took me a moment, but I accepted that I admired her in general, not just for her wings and skill, but her personality and mind. She had courage to fight through scary moments and get things done. It was a certain motivation that I lacked. Silently, I tried to take in as much of it as I could while watching her dance across the sky on prismatic wings...

Okay, Rarity was right. There was something to be said about a healthy air of paranoia and preparation. Installing the parachute enchantment into Rainbow's wings was definitely one of those. The stubborn mare had practiced for almost an hour under double tension, despite repeated suggestions for breaks. She was getting frustrated at my concern, but no more than three minutes after my most recent one, a bolt of pain shot through the link.

Having been zoning, my head snapped into position in time to see her gasp in midair, her left wing locking up and buckling against her side. The link told me muscle cramp before my mind even identified it, and I felt her start to panic as she careened over the lake. My impulse fired down the link a moment later and a parachute of thin barrier magic popped out her back, slowing her to a swaying drift as I dove into the water again.

Two minutes later, I set a soaked and gasping cyan pegasus onto the shore of the lake. I tried to detach the enchantment, but she swatted my hoof away a moment later and struggled to try to get back up to her hooves again. "I said I'd be fine! Why did you install a parachute?! Didn't you trust me?" she growled before gasping as her wing spasmed and she tripped, landing hard on her shoulder.

"This isn't exactly giving me much reason to, Rainbow. You promised me you'd take it easy, and you just worked yourself into a wing cramp," I pointed out, giving her a skeptical glare as I followed. Her energy tried to flow back into the enchantment again to activate its jet functions, but I turned it off before she could power them up.

"Gah! No! I want to keep practicing! This is nothing, Mender!" she groaned, lifting her torso off the ground before I physically pushed her back down again. "Hey!" she continued, shooting me a confused and slightly panicking look as I rolled her over.

Shaking my head, I sighed and informed, "I'm not turning the enchantment back on until you recover. Now relax your left wing." My tone surprised me by shifting rather stern and commanding, more so than I thought I could.

Rainbow's eyes widened slightly, and she surprised me even more by actually doing as I instructed and extending her left wing. "W-What are you going to do? You don't know healing magic, I thought," she asked hesitantly, accidentally admitting she injured her wing and not realizing it.

Gently, I extended my left foreleg, sliding my rough brace off before touching the top of her wing with my hoof. "I don't. I'm fairly good at massages though, and this helped Pinkie get over her pain," I reasoned, wanting to help as best I could. Rainbow's eyes shot open and she looked back at me suddenly, which surprised me a bit more.

"Ah! W-Wait, you don't need to-" she started to say before I rolled my eyes and shot a spike of my magic into her main wing muscle, combined with a gentle knead. "...to... oh. Oh.... Hah... oh, wow," she continued, stunned voice melting into a throaty pant as she immediately collapsed onto her stomach. Ha! Miss Tough Mare enjoyed massages, too, I noticed.

Smirking, I decided to lay it on thick and push more energy into her muscles, heating along the tense and twitching area as I softly pushed the knots out, letting the sore and tender wing get some much needed rest and attention. She was surprisingly vocal about it, giving out a low and long groan as I ran my hoof along the full length of her wing, my energy dancing through her fur.

"How's this, then? I've never tried massaging a wing before, but I think I'm familiar with the muscles in it. Do you want me to get the flight muscles in your back, too?" I asked, not wanting to linger too long on the wing itself. Twilight's mentioning of it being an erogenous zone was still fresh in my mind, and I only wanted to stay long enough to remove her pain. Her expression indicated that I had definitely managed that.

"Oh... ah! You can do anything you want to me, just don't stop," she murmured, sinking a bit lower against her stomach as she shook next to me. I raised an eyebrow, but shrugged as I shifted to her back between the two wings instead. After a light moan, she relaxed a bit more, this spot seeming less intense and more calming to her. That's when I realized her back muscles were a mess of spasming twitches. Joy.

It took me almost five minutes to get her relaxed to satisfaction. She lay in the grass, totally limp with both wings sticking stiffly out to each side of her. Her forelegs were spread out to each side of her head, and her back legs were pushed tightly together, her tail tip flicking back and forth as if fanning the hot air away from her. To my surprise, I was getting 'heat' through the feedback link somehow, my body temperature increasing the longer I worked on her. It was interesting to say the least, although I didn't know what was causing it. It was a bit electrifying, to be honest, but I stopped myself from continuing the massage past what was needed to get her feeling better.

After stopping, I relaxed against the grass and let myself cool off idly, enjoying the sounds of her light snoring slowly picking up intensity. A few memories of a barracks danced into my head, and finding odd comfort in my snoring squad. It was a reminder that I wasn't alone. Of course, I didn't need her snores to tell me she was there. The link was ever present and I was always 'aware' of where the owners were. Fluttershy's feeling showed her in the town market right now, while Twilight's was in the basement of the Library, undoubtedly busying herself with experiments. Pinkie was harder to track, but I finally picked up on her over at Sweet Apple Acres for some reason.

Of course, even if the link failed somehow, at this range, I could very easily smell the mare. She was normally accompanied by a sweetish smell of fruit that was hard to place. Something soft on the palette with a hinting of sweet, but not too potent. Now, however, there was also an underlying spicy smell to it, which I could only assume was because of her estrus pheromones. It wasn't unpleasant, exactly, but if I paid too much attention to it, I noticed my heartbeat picking up. Scary.

Instead, I pulled up one of my data sheets on the disks and started reading instead, deciding to distract myself and be useful at the same time. Twilight would be so proud...

It was almost an hour before Rainbow's whining and whispering about Applejack ceased, her wings repeatedly twitching and moving in her sleep. I counted no less than four full expansions and retractions as she dreamed. Of course, I was happy she was apparently having good dreams, but just a tiny part of me was irked that even though I had been the one to so pleasantly usher her into them, she still dreamed about Applejack instead. It was strange, stepping back and looking at the feeling. When had I started putting more emphasis on my own ambitions? I knew I only really wanted Twilight and Fluttershy, but I suddenly realized that I wouldn't necessarily be bothered if Rainbow was telling the truth about liking me. A part of me had always liked her, and hadn't she already proven to be the epitome of trustworthy and loyal?

A deep unease settled into my head as I frowned. This didn't feel like me, really. When had I become selfish, wanting more than what my station allowed? What did my station allow? I didn't really even deserve Fluttershy and Twilight. Suddenly I wanted Rainbow Dash, too?! Sighing weakly, I shook my head and flipped the page on the data sheets in my eye display. No, it wasn't right to think like that. All I needed were Twilight and Fluttershy.

The reading was proving dry at best, unfortunately. Apart from operating ranges for a 'remote uplink', all I'd found so far was composition and creation information. Well, if I wanted to make more of them, I suppose, I was set. Snickering to myself, I peeked back at the uplink data and noted the ranges. Biorhythm and audio could be accessed at ranges of nine hundred 'Mm', it said. As I knew the range on it was significantly larger than nine hundred millimeters, I could only assume it was actually in 'megameters', which was a little scary. Suffice to say, it would operate undoubtedly anywhere in Equestria. From the surface of my old home planet to our first moon's orbit was a 'mere' three hundred and ninety megameters, I suddenly recalled.

Regardless, the 'emotional composition' range was significantly shorter, listed at five meters. That must have been the empathy link I experienced. It was a little disconcerting that they labeled it as 'emotional'. That indicated they knew the sources of power were sapient. How much did Dr. Kyliona know about Equestria? I flipped through another page of specifications, starting to feel rather bored. None of this actually told me the purpose for these samples, or what the disks actually did to myself or the 'host creature', as they labeled it. That was a bit scary, too. I closed the file a moment later and moved onto the next, listed as 'LMNS Controls'. I had no idea what that was, but my search had flagged many listings of 'disk', 'crystal', and 'link' in the file, so it was next up on my reading priority. Maybe I'd get an official name for the bloody things and be able to refine my search a bit. Otherwise, looking through a few thousand data files was going to take a really, really long time.

My eyes widened as the title expanded on the first page that it opened up. 'Link Monitor and Nanite Surveyor' was at the very top of page, followed by a subtitle of 'Control Listings'. A detailed picture of one of the disks was under the subtitle, and I couldn't look away from it. Nanite?! Oh. Oh hell. My eyes flicked down to note the first section was a summary of the controls for one 'LMNS Unit', and showed the parts of the disk and what would light up when links were registered. Jackpot, for better or worse.

My hyper-alert mind jumped back to attention when I heard a thump and cracking noise in front of me. My ears snapped back around and I looked up into the woods near our clearing by the shore. A fast glance showed Rainbow was still sleeping, and an urge shot through me suddenly. No, she wasn't about to get ambushed by anything on my watch while she slept. Feeling protective, I stood up lightly and stared into the forest line, my barriers slowly lighting up along my legs and chest before sliding across the ground and forming a dome around her as well. Another light snap. Something small was moving through the brush close to the path used to get here. It couldn't have been bigger than a pony, by the sound of the movement. I remained alert as my ears swiveled, following the sound.

It didn't take long for me to spot a flash of orange in the bushes. I raised an eyebrow as a small, purple tail slipped under one of the lower trees, barely noticed by me. Scootaloo? What was she doing off the beaten path and trying to stealth? I relaxed a little, but kept my barriers up, just in case it was a clever mimicry of my young filly friend. Better safe than sorry, in my case.

My eyebrow rose even further as I watched the tail disappear from view, and silence resume from the bush. Was she hiding from me? A quick glance upwards showed me a still swaying branch, broken and hanging by a tiny strip of bark from a tree above the bush. Ah, she fell. Immediate concern drifted through me, and I sighed. Rainbow's barrier was left up as I walked past it, and headed for the bush.

Distinctly, I noticed it shivering lightly as I approached, and I lowered myself to peek under it. Two magenta eyes stared back, and she gave a weak swallow after freezing for a moment. "You don't have to hide, Scootaloo. Are you okay? Did you hurt anything in the fall?" I asked softly, attempting to appear as non-threatening as I could. It probably didn't matter, given that she knew what I was capable of.

"Ah, I'm sorry! I, um, I didn't mean to spy on you two! I was looking for you and I stumbled across you both and, um," she started rapidly apologizing.

Holding my hoof up, I opened my mouth to interrupt her when I was cut off by a particularly loud snore from Rainbow. Sighing, I waited for her to quiet again before assuring, "I'm not mad, Scootaloo. I'm surprised and a bit concerned if you hurt anything."

She stared up at me for a moment, as if gauging my sincerity before shaking her head. "Um, the bush broke my fall, so I'm fine. What are you doing out here with Rainbow?" she asked, easing up on her crouched down position and slowly sliding out from under the bush. Oh yeah, Rainbow wasn’t supposed to be here.

"She officially requested that I help her with an enchantment to practice better for the race coming up. I was actually the one that walked in on her, so don't get her in trouble, okay?" I requested, frowning a bit down at the little filly. She seemed to not care too much for authority, one way or another, so I doubted I had to worry really. Oddly, I heard a light choke amidst the snore behind me a second later, and a wave of surprise and happiness drifted through me. Ah, the brat was awake then and faking it. I was impressed. Her fake snores were amazingly like her real ones!

Scootaloo rapidly shook her head, eyes widening drastically. "No way! I'd never, ever get Rainbow Dash in trouble! I won't tell anypony else that she was here," Scootaloo promised instantly, causing me to smile again. Oh yeah, that was another good reason I didn't have to worry about Scootaloo telling on her. How had I almost forgotten about that? Dash sent a wave of what could only be described as pride at that. Heh.

"It just surprised me a bit to see you two, um, together. I was maybe wondering, since you couldn't be my dad and all obviously, if I might luck out and get you as a brother instead," she explained.

I gave a slow, confused blink, both at her suggestion out of seemingly nowhere, and the blast of shock and embarrassment from the link behind me, the snoring stopping instantly. Uh, okay, I was probably missing something again. "Uh, I didn't know ponies could adopt siblings, too. Is that, uh, common?" I asked, raising an ear up as I tilted my head at her.

She snickered and nodded, surprisingly. "Kinda! I was just, it was so, well, I mean, it was absolutely awesome when Rainbow said I could be her little sister! Best. Day. Ever!" she squealed, causing me to snicker and nod. It must be a thing here, then. The haze of embarrassment shifted to warm instead behind me, and I inwardly grinned back at Rainbow through the link. A stutter followed, and then a blushing scowl and I resisted laughing. What, did she honestly think I wouldn't notice she was awake?

"I noticed you seem to look up to her quite a bit. Although, she is an amazing mare," I agreed, nodding twice to the little filly. I got a massive grin back, and she nodded twice.

"Totally! I figured you thought so, too. That's why I was wondering, when I saw you two here, um, together. I mean, she totally let me in on her crush over AJ, and I know you know about it, but seeing you two..." She trailed off, as another brief bout of confusion hit me. Wait, that meant...

My eyes widened a little, and I stared back down at her in surprise. "How many ponies know about her crush, anyway?" I asked, undoubtedly adding the other two Crusaders to the list now, too. That was a lot of ponies!

Scootaloo snickered and shook her head. "Don't tell her I said this, but sometimes I think the only pony who doesn't know is AJ herself," she pointed out, averting her eyes and getting a light blush again. Hmm. There was evidence I'd noticed contrary to even that, but I decided not to say anything, feeling the irked sensation coming from Rainbow now. A wise pony knew when to shut up in front of angry mares.

"So kinda like Spike. Gotcha. Well, at least that means that it's widely accepted and she shouldn't have any problems when she finally tells her," I deduced, intentionally a few decibels higher in order to grind the point home. Instead I only got a bit of confusion, and sighed. She was almost as dense as I was. Almost.

The orange filly snickered but shook her head again, standing fully and stretching her wings out a little. "Nah. She doesn't have anything to worry about, I don't think. Not the way AB talks. Uh, Rainbow's not supposed to hear that, either," she reminded, looking past me at the 'sleeping' Rainbow Dash. Uh... oops.

Coughing lightly, I averted my eyes as the wave of shock hit through the link, and I felt her heartbeat skyrocket. The biorhythm readout also showed spikes of chemicals shoot into her bloodstream, and I felt her get a little 'wiggly', for lack of better words. Okay, this was awkward enough already. "Uh, don't do anything rash and get her in trouble, Rainbow," I warned finally, out loud. Scootaloo's eyes shot open fully and she looked past me again.

Rainbow sat up instantly with an exasperated look, eyes wide. "But, but, did AJ say something about me or something?!" she asked rapidly. Maybe I was dense, and sure, I'd only been here for a month or so, but that still felt like a live minefield she was walking into. Considering I noticed it, that was really saying something! Scootaloo's eyes bugged out, both of her forehooves shooting up to her muzzle, as if to hold back the secret she'd just accidentally confessed.

"Uh, you probably shouldn't ask that, Rainbow. Honestly, if you want to know how Applejack feels about you, you should probably just ask the mare," I suggested, covering for the now hiding Scootaloo, who was using me as cover.

Rainbow shifted to a skeptical glare instead, adding, "Why are you giving out relationship advice? Didn't you almost get run over by a bed when you tried to ask Twilight out the first time?" Well, that had gotten altered in her head a bit! My ears flattened back an instant later and I shifted to a flat glare instead.

"I didn't ask her out. You drew her attention to it in the worst possible way, and then ran off before helping to defuse the situation!" I reminded. She puffed a little, angling her wings down as her ears flattened, too. For just a moment, I found myself distracted, wondering why that was an instinctive reaction, before remembering that I was supposed to be mad.

"She's your fillyfriend! You're supposed to be able to handle her yourself, not rely on somepony else to," she shot back, missing the point completely.

Groaning, I reminded, "She wasn't at the time! She was your friend, too, and you created the problem in the first place."

Scootaloo got her gumption up again and hopped out from behind me a moment later. "Stop it, you two! It was a super long time ago, so it's not worth fighting over. Besides, Twilight's your fillyfriend now, so it all worked out, right?" she questioned, little wings flittering as she tried her hardest to smile up at me. I noticed hesitation in her eyes, and wondered why she had to drive herself to being brave around me.

Rainbow huffed and crossed her forelegs, nodding and agreeing with, "Totally! It all worked out, so you have no need to be angry with me!" My ears dropped again as my eyes narrowed at her, but Scootaloo hopped between us instead, rapidly shaking her head at Rainbow as well.

"Rainbow! You always told me that if you cause a problem, you should be loyal first and foremost and fix it for your friends, right? I heard your prank did get Mender in a lot of trouble, and hurt his feelings, so shouldn't you fix that instead?" the little filly asked softly. Idly, I wondered if she kept a Rainbow Dash quote book or something, but the sentiment was still nice to hear. Yeah, that was actually good advice. I decided to take it to heart myself as well.

Dash's expression softened into a frown instead, and she relaxed her tightly held forelegs a moment later. Seeing a potential opening, Scootaloo chose that moment to attack. "Besides, isn't he currently doing you an important favor in order for you to better win over Applejack? If you're mean to him, he might not help you train anymore," she reasoned. Ouch. That was a low blow, and I stared in surprise at the little filly, not realizing she could be so downright devious. Although, that was kind of defeating the point of her prior show of morality.

Rainbow's face dropped into a look of stunned revelation and I inwardly groaned. It wasn't like I was going to ruin her chances with the race just because I was mad at her. She didn't really think I was that shallow, did she? "Ah! Um, uh, shoot! I didn't think of that! Um, I'm really sorry, Mender. You'll still help me practice, right?" she asked hesitantly, shifting a little closer and moving her forehooves together with a light begging gesture. Or she did think I was that shallow...

Sighing, my ears drooped lower and I stared at her sadly. "Rainbow, even if I'm upset with you, you're still my friend. This race is super important to you, and I'm not going to lessen your chances with it by not helping," I assured. Her face fell as she probably picked up my intent through the link.

There was a light, awkward silence between the three of us for almost a full ten seconds, a nervous Scootaloo looking back and forth between Rainbow and me, unsure of what to say, it looked like. Finally, Dash smiled lightly and opened her wings up fully. For a split second, I thought she was going to fly away. She lifted airborne in a fluid hop, easily drifting over Scootaloo's head with a single flap, and then glided downwards at an angle directly into me.

My eyes widened, but I caught her and cushioned her impact as she fell into a gentle and relaxed hug against me. "Yeah, deep down, I knew that. You might not match Honesty all the time, but you're a pretty good example of Loyalty. I think that's what I like best about ya," she admitted, pulling herself tighter and squeezing over my shoulders. Smirking at the rare display of affection from the cyan mare, I wrapped my forelegs around her waist and gently squeezed, earning a sigh. Admittedly, I didn't hold myself to any standard in truth telling, but loyalty was something I felt strongly about. I'd never really thought about it before, though.

Scootaloo made a light gagging motion with her hoof behind Rainbow, but remained silent. I couldn't help but notice she also wore a rather pronounced blush, and grinned at her. She glared back, of course. Rainbow cut in first, however. "Okay, enough mushy stuff. You're cool, and I admitted that, so there! Don't tell anypony," she finally requested, blushing lightly before letting go of me again. I let her slip backwards and away from me, still amused.

"Aww, I'm hurt. I'm sure if it was Applejack, you'd hug her all day," I teased, actually finding her rare cases of carefully concealed affection rather endearing. Deep down, I realized she really was a nice mare, if not a bit stubborn and blustery. I wondered idly if there was a term for that. She kinda ran hot one moment, and cold the next.

Rainbow predictably blinked, then tinted lightly pink with that, looking a bit flustered as Scootaloo snickered and nodded. "W-What?! Hey, you're no different than her. What, do you think I wouldn't?!" she asked, narrowing her eyes and puffing herself up a bit in defiance.

A bit of confusion hit me, and then I realized she didn't know I was teasing. Hmm, note to self, I'm still not the best at getting my point across in a social situation. I decided to try to remedy the situation as best I could. "Uhm, well, actually I was-," I started to mutter, also suddenly realizing I still was bad at social situations and didn't know how to remedy it in the first place. With nothing else for it, I decided honesty was probably the best policy. It would probably get me bucked into a tree for teasing her, but she wouldn't be mad afterwards! I hoped.

"Oh, that's so it! Scootaloo, time me!" Rainbow ordered suddenly. Huh? The little orange filly threw a salute and dove sideways to Rainbow's saddlebags, which she'd deposited next to mine before I layered her with the enchantment. She retrieved a stopwatch from the left one, as if knowing exactly where it was, and nodded to Dash.

"Uh, time what, exactly? I don't-" I started to ask before Rainbow gave a short nod to Scootaloo and promptly pounced me. Oh. Oh hell!

"Twenty-four hours! I'll show you!" she boasted, smirking before squeezing me a bit harder and burying her face in my fur. My turn to blush. Coughing, I tried to pry her off of me, but she just grinned at my attempt. "Ah, going to really make it a challenge, huh? Don't make me give you incentive to hold me," she warned, causing me to stop instantly. Ack! She didn't mean...

"Rainbow, I was just teasing you! Uh, I appreciate the gusto, but you really do like Applejack more, so it's to be expected. It's not like I was really sad or-" I tried to explain.

Scootaloo held up a hoof and shook her head to me. "You're not helping, Mender," she warned, causing Dash to snicker and resume her resting position. Suddenly, I realized that this wasn't so much about her wanting to 'win' anything as an excuse to snuggle with me.

Frowning, I decided to go with the civil approach first. "So, this is your heat talking, right?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow towards her. Predictably, she blushed and looked away from me, but didn't directly answer. Scootaloo gasped, however.

"Do you really like him like that, Rainbow?" she asked, looking surprised as that faint blush came back to her cheeks. For 'not being interested' in things like this, she was awfully inquisitive.

Rainbow smirked and turned back to me, slowly edging forwards instead. "Yeah, he's a pretty cool stallion, like I said. Not to every mare's taste, but he definitely suits mine. I wonder if I could convince AJ to join his herd," she murmured, voice shifting lower as her eyes lidded slightly. I felt my entire body heat up, then realized that it was actually hers heating up instead. My eyes widened as that smell suddenly flooded the area, and I felt...

No! Bad! My chest, hips, and shoulders exploded into tentacles, causing both Rainbow and Scootaloo to yelp. The mare on top of me didn't have time to react, however, as she was yanked off me and tangled up in the extra limbs, hauled into the air and away from me. Panting, I glared up at her, unable to get that smell off me or slow my heartbeat, it would seem. Damn it, Rainbow!

"That's it! This is... no. You can't do this, Dash. This is why you're not supposed to be here!" I suddenly realized, announcing it out loud at the same time. She yanked lightly at the tentacle wrapped around her right forehoof before smirking and looking back down at me instead.

"Oh, come on, Mender! I mean, if this is the way you want to play, too," she cooed. Okay, definitely her heat talking. Heat. Huh.

Raising an eyebrow to her, I shrugged suddenly. "Fine. If your heat is this bad, time for a bit of cooling off," I suggested. Her eyes widened momentarily before I dropped the tentacles back down and dunked her into the lake. After making sure she went into the water, I simply let go and pulled my tentacles back in before anypony wandered into the clearing accidentally. That would be my luck, too.

Scootaloo started laughing when Rainbow resurfaced and gave me a soggy glare. The cyan mare treaded water for a moment before yelling out, "Jerk!" I laughed finally before shakily standing up again. The throb of blood danced through my ears and that smell drifted all around me. Damn. Shaking my head to try to clear it, I ran at the lake on sudden impulse. Rainbow's eyes widened, but it was far too late even as she brought her hooves up. My cannonball formation hit the surface less than a meter away from her, and she gave out a shocked yelp as she got washed sideways, dunking under again.

Surfacing, I gave a pleased groan when I realized I couldn't smell it anymore. She floated a good two meters away from me now, giving me that oh-so wonderful death glare. I shot my best one back as Scootaloo ran up to the shore we had just departed. "Don't give me that look. You know you were out of line," I warned, getting kind of tired of this. She didn't need to know, of course, but it was hard enough telling myself not to be selfish. I was with Fluttershy and Twilight, however, and Rainbow was definitely not a part of the herd. Sure, she was cute, dependable, and downright sexy sometimes, but I... I really cared for both of the mares I was already with, and it wasn't worth hurting them. I was better than that.

She stared at me for a moment, undoubtedly tasting the flurry of emotions I just shot through. Finally, she relaxed and nodded while floating there. "Okay, yeah. That was underhooved of me. I knew my smell would get to you. Uh, I'm sorry, Mender. I Pinkie Promise that I'll be good for the rest of the cycle," she suddenly apologized, eyes softening a little. I was somewhat proud that our relationship had developed to the point where she rarely tried to hide her intentions and feelings from me anymore.

Slowly, I nodded to her, accepting her promise. "Okay. It's a promise, then. I'll keep helping you with the wing thing, just ease off the flirting, okay? Even joking, it's a bit, um..." After I hesitated, I realized I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to say there. What was it, exactly? A temptation? No, that implied there was a chance I'd go for it. It was certainly stressful, but that wasn't quite what I was going for either.

She nodded anyway. "Yeah, I'll lighten up on it. My heat just makes me do, uh, embarrassing things. Well, it doesn't make me, but it does make it seem like a pretty good idea. Cheating is bad, though, and you so don't have permission to be with me," she agreed, coughing lightly and totally missing the point. Wasn't she supposed to be after Applejack?! Also, it wasn’t ‘just’ about permission. She kinda had to get mine, too, which she seemed more intent on simply seducing out of me.

Scootaloo, however, was far faster on the uptake than I was. "Hey, don't forget about Applejack! She's the whole reason you're doing this," the little filly reminded.

Rainbow glanced her way for a moment before smirking lightly and nodding. "Of course! I've got to get her to say yes, first. Then, maybe with a bit of hard cider helping me out, I might be able to broach the subject of a herd. Heh," she murmured, eyes dancing mirthfully.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Your heat's getting to you again, Rainbow. Dip back under the water for a bit before we start practicing again," I suggested, paddling back towards the shore again. Eh, screw it. Dealing with this was getting to be a bit much for me right now.

She muttered something quietly as I swam back, but I missed it as my head dipped under. Looking back, I saw her giving me a look of innocence as she slowly sank back under the water with a grin. Well, that was probably a bad sign. I hesitated for a moment before shaking my head. Eh, Future Mender could deal with it. Current Mender was going to take a nap, as I was now exhausted.

Scootaloo smiled at me and helped me out of the water once I hit shore. I gave her a tired nod before flopping onto my side, not so interested in moving anymore. The swimming was starting to make my leg hurt from all the exercise, and I exhaled, just letting my body rest.

"Are ya tired, Mender? Maybe you should sleep for a bit?" Scootaloo asked softly, actually giving a rare look of concern towards me.

I smiled and nodded idly. "Yeah, I probably should. Hopefully Rainbow's going to be too busy practicing for a while and won't try anything while I'm unconscious," I muttered, closing my eyes softly.

"She Pinkie Promised not to. You don't break a Pinkie Promise. Ever," Scootaloo explained, and I felt her shiver even without looking. Okay, she had me curious, but it sounded like one of those things I probably shouldn't ask about. I just assumed professional hit squad and left it at that.

Resting, however, I suddenly realized that technically only my body was tired. In order to get just a bit more out of my time, wouldn't it be best to tire my magic out, too? If the theory was right and they were both 'plugged' into the same spot, then that would get me better even faster. But what to do in order to use up more magic?

Smiling suddenly, I opened my eyes again and looked back up at Scootaloo, who gave me a curious look after realizing I was staring at her again. "I need to use up more magic and don't feel like moving too much to do so. But I have an idea. Could you turn around, Scootaloo?" I inquired politely, smiling at her.

The orange filly tilted her head towards me, looking a little unsure, but she nodded and slowly rotated around in place, still sitting down. My eyes lit up and a particle scan shifted along her back to analyze the muscle structure. As I predicted, they were underdeveloped for her size, which was probably the reason foals couldn't fly until they were older. Their wings and muscles had to expand to fit their larger bodies. Still, if I could shrink the enchantment down, the results could be interesting! Plus, I wanted to practice my contraction techniques anyway.

"Uh, w-what are you doing?" she asked, fidgeting a bit under my intense stare, then hesitating after nothing happened for several seconds, apparently.

Frowning, I extended my left hoof out and traced along her spine, causing her to start as I fed a bit of energy into her. "Wah! That tickles, Mender!" she squeaked, blushing lightly as she looked back at me.

"Oh, sorry. I wanted to use up more of my magic, and I was considering trying to shrink the enchantment down to fit you as well, just for practice," I explained, absently feeling along her flight muscles with the energy lines. Her body wasn't displaying the telltale shivers or flushing that Fluttershy and Rainbow got, but she did have the secondary twitching of the wings when I fed energy into the muscles. It should technically work still, and I was glad that it wouldn't affect her in, well, 'that' way. While I was just barely comfortable enough to help Rainbow, doing the same to Scootaloo was a huge no for me.

The little filly frowned, but relaxed a little now that she had been told what I was up to, it would seem. A second later, a damp Rainbow Dash wandered back over, shivering a bit but looking considerably more coherent than before. She momentarily gave us a questioning look before shrugging and sitting down next to me again.

"Sorry about that, by the way. I did warn that my heat is, like, really bad. I'm a lot better now," she assured, voice sounding a little tired and soft, but it struck me as honest again. I was glad she was leveling with me, and the relaxed attitude was definitely helping. I nodded to her while focusing.

"It's okay, Rainbow. I understand. Just try to keep me in the loop with what your plans are involving me, okay? It's kinda scary sometimes when you get pushy," I asked, sighing weakly afterwards. It wasn't an ideal situation, but she was my friend and talking it through would help.

Her ears shifted back a ways and she got a momentarily glum look about her before nodding. "I know. Uh, I'll be totally frank with you, then. I like you. You've got a lot of personality traits and stuff that I like, and you're easy on the eyes, if you catch my meaning. I'm partial to blue," she informed, smirking lightly as she nudged the fur up on my foreleg. I gave her an amused yet skeptical look, but nodded for her to continue while I layered on the basics for Scootaloo's wings. Interestingly enough, the little filly seemed content to just listen to Rainbow, smiling the entire time with her ears rotated to face her.

"Still, I haven't known you anywhere near as long as AJ. Don't get me wrong. I definitely trust you. As much as I trust anypony, really. You've proved yourself and paid your dues, and I can totally respect that," she continued after collecting her thoughts for another half a minute. I shivered at that one. Dues? Is that what it was called? I tried not to be bitter, of course, but I realized that my thoughts had been getting darker lately. Slowly, I was shifting more and more negative, which only made me more irritated. She kept going this time, however, knocking me out of my self-reflection. "So yeah. You're a cool pony, got a lot of things I like, and are admittedly tasty to look at. The heat just makes that last part so much worse! But I still haven't known you as long as AJ. Honestly, I don't know you any better than most of the other girls do. Actually, I think only Twilight knows more than any of us. You're closer to her, I can tell. But..."

Noticing the hesitation, I sighed and nodded while finishing lacing the flight muscles and beginning on the actual jets. "You don't like me as much. I get it," I assured, frowning as I realized the normal thrusters wouldn't fit on her wings. I'd have to make an energy extension just to add the normal amount of jets, rather than the extras like Rainbow had access to in an emergency.

Rainbow's ears flattened back and she sighed a second later. "Well, yeah, but you don't have to sound so negative about it! Sheesh. I like you, like you. You're only the second pony for me to feel that way about. I mean, really feel that way about, not the stupid crushes I had when I was little." She tried to make me feel better, but I was a little confused as to where this was going.

Scootaloo squirmed a little, and I couldn't tell if it was the conversation or my manipulation of her wing muscles. A moment later, she revealed it was the topic by asking, "Does that mean I might get Mender as a brother after all?!" She grinned over her shoulder at the same time, and I rolled my eyes. This time I was on to her cute little indirect reference.

Rainbow snickered before I could say anything, though, shaking her head. Yeah, honestly, that's what was the most obvious outcome. I mean, Applejack didn't- "I've obviously gotta talk AJ into it. I can't be a member of two herds at once, so combining makes more sense," the cyan pegasus elaborated, a mirthful sparkle in her eyes.

I almost, almost fell on top of Scootaloo in my shock. Thankfully, I recovered fast and glared back at her, having no way to tell if she was serious or pulling one on me. Again. She just smirked, telling me absolutely nothing to my frustration. "That's very much not a good idea. You'd better be joking," I warned, flat look of annoyance probably reflecting in my tone.

Her eyebrow rose a bit, and she inquired, "Oh? Why is it a bad idea?" Seriously?

"I didn't think I'd need to point out how much Applejack and I aren't exactly on good terms. Not just what happened that night, but ever since meeting her. I got off on the wrong hoof and never recovered. She'll never agree to it, and think less of you probably for even suggesting it," I reasoned, look of annoyance shifting to a softer, more neutral expression as I looked away from the two pegasi.

Rainbow watched me for a moment before sighing weakly and stretching her wings out. "She wants to be your friend, Mender. You gave her another chance, and she sure isn't going to waste it like that. Don't underestimate her," she warned, sounding rather sure of herself. I gave a light sigh, then turned back to continue on Scootaloo's wings. She was giving me a rather sad frown, but looked away when I moved to look at her back again.

Absently, I finalized the compression and started stringing the enchantments into her energy pools. It felt like I was starting to sink in negativity, honestly. Ever since I found out what I was, after Nirru ruined everything, it felt like I was stuck. I couldn't escape and as much as it tore me apart inside to admit it, I was forced to realize that I could never actually achieve what I really wanted all along.

It really sank in, finally. I'd never be a normal pony. I'd never know what it was like to have my own existence outside the shadow of somepony else. To have memories that didn't bleed through into events that I never experienced. I didn't have parents. I didn't have family. My old race was dying rapidly, and my new one I just found out I wasn't a part of. I was the first and last of my kind, and there was no changing that, or looking away.

Giving a light tug, I tied off the enchantment from myself and let the magic go. It felt like a part of me fell away with it, and I was suddenly hit by a good amount of fatigue, a throb going through my head. Scootaloo perked up, and then glanced backwards at her wings a second later, undoubtedly having realized that was what I was messing with, and feeling me stop. She looked almost disappointed when she saw they didn't look any different. Dash eyed us both cautiously, also looking for changes.

"Visualize using them, and open them up," Rainbow suddenly suggested, going off the very correct hunch she undoubtedly got from her own enchantment.

Scootaloo nodded to her before focusing and stretching her wings out. Orange and crimson light danced out from them, a web of energy expanding out in a much larger wing shape, lit up by glowing thruster disks and hundreds of balancing tabs, not unlike feathers. Her eyes widened as she took in the glow, and Rainbow smirked as she watched.

"You gave her the jets?" she asked, a moment later, shifting her attention to me instead of the filly.

I nodded absently, laying down on my side and feeling my whole body throb. My magic was definitely hooked into my vitality, I confirmed. It felt like I'd just run fifty laps after doing martial fall recovery practice. "Yeah. Not like yours. Just enough to balance out the thrust to weight ratio. Mmm. About like normal wings for an older pegasus," I explained in brevity, deciding that even talking sucked.

Rainbow shifted to a concerned look, but gave a sudden start as Scootaloo let out a high-pitched squeak next to her. Both of us looked over again in time to see the little filly hovering a couple feet off the ground, gently trying to keep her balance while her body also tried to squirm in excitement.

"R-Rainbow! I'm flying!" she almost screamed, eyes looking huge and dancing with energy. It brought a certain warmth to suddenly see her look so delighted, and even though I felt like crap, I felt her slowly hauling my mood back up again.

Rainbow didn't need any help beaming at her, and nodded. "Heck yeah! I didn't expect ta have to teach ya for a year or so more, but with Mender's help, I guess we can get a jump on it! Want a flying lesson?" Rainbow asked, smile shifting to a knowing one instead. Uh oh.

The light from the wings flared up as Scootaloo's emotions literally caused the wings to lift her even higher into the air, her whole body shivering in shock and excitement. "R-Really?! You mean it?! Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" she exclaimed, spinning in a circle, and going totally off balance as she did so. Rainbow laughed as she hopped forward and caught Scootaloo, who was now upside-down and going into a nosedive.

I snickered, not realizing that it would make the little filly so happy. The two hugged for a moment, Rainbow smirking down at Scootaloo before glancing over to me instead. I spoke up finally, giving the standard warning. "They're going to make you get tired far faster, Scootaloo. They're hooked into your energy supply. There's also an emergency parachute in them that will go off under several conditions. If it does, the wings will power down until it fills back up with enough energy to work again, so take breaks or the wings will turn off for a while." Rainbow's chute technically had the automatic safeguards, too, but I figured the wings going away would be considerable incentive for the little filly. Rainbow already knew her limits. She just willingly chose to disregard them...

Scootaloo's eyes widened for a moment before she nodded rapidly towards me. She surprised me, however, by hopping off Rainbow and pouncing forwards, grabbing onto my chest and squeezing into an unreserved hug. My eyes widened, but I smiled gently a moment later and wrapped my right foreleg around her back, careful to not singe myself on her overactive wings that now refused to turn off.

"Thank you, thank you, Mender! You really are an awesome stallion! Aaaah! I can't thank you enough," she murmured, backing up slightly and looking down at me with wide eyes.

I snickered and shook my head. "Thank me by having fun and practicing well. I expect you to be showing me tricks Rainbow taught you by the end of the week. I'm, uh, I think I'm gonna take a nap, so don't mind me," I excused, getting really tired. Yup, I imagine this is what a unicorn felt like after using a lot of magic.

Rainbow frowned, despite Scootaloo's oblivious laughing and spinning. "You sure you're okay, Mender?" she asked hesitantly, looking concerned.

Weakly, I gave a nod and tucked myself up again after Scootaloo fluttered off. "Yeah. I wanted to get myself tired out using magic, and I guess it worked. I'm just going to take a nap while you two practice. Remember, be careful," I cautioned again, smiling at the mare.

She gave a gentle grin back and nodded, taking to the air on just her normal wings. "Of course. I'll make sure nothing happens to her, or me. Thanks for worrying, Mender," she cooed, winking and turning away, zipping after the out of control Scootaloo, who was now doing barrel rolls along the tree line. I blushed, the way she said that having stirred many a thing inside of me. The tone she took saying my name especially was electrifying, and I suddenly realized it might take longer to fall asleep than I had initially counted on.

Groaning, I flopped back onto my side, listening to the laughter and happy shouts. Not everything was negative. Life was slowly normalizing again, despite my penchant for ungodly horrible luck. Again, I drifted back to hoping Sweetie would talk to me again, and idly thought of ways I could try to appease her. I really had no idea what to do. My body slowly relaxed, as I tried to think back to everything she said. There had to be something, but I just couldn't think of anything that would make the situation better. Heh, plenty that could make it worse, of course. No, I wasn't going to let it get worse.

Feeling tired again, I gave my last bit of mental resolve to promising to try harder when I woke up. It was about time I got a hold of my own life. I'd get back in control of things, and force myself to stay positive! I had to. Giving up wasn’t an option. With that declaration sapping the remainder of my fortitude, I relaxed and let myself slip into dreams.

Chapter 49

It's amazing how time sort of slipped together and blurred when nothing noteworthy or distinctive was happening. Further, the more awareness one gave to the actual process of time's passage, the slower it seemed to go. Yesterday had been one of those blurs after I woke back up and helped Rainbow get Scootaloo out of the tree she was hanging in via her parachute. They practiced for a surprisingly long time, honestly, so it was no surprise that her wings finally gave out. Rainbow bid me farewell for the night after securing the tired and sleeping Scootaloo to my back, and I headed back towards the cabins.

By the time I'd arrived, of course, Spike, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom were sleeping. Big Mac gave a soft smile as he saw me walking up with the missing Crusader, apparently having anticipated her being with me. The two of us got her into bed, I gave Tank his supper and evening bath water, and then I, too, lost consciousness, leaving Big Mac as the only still functioning member of our little group. He'd been writing some sort of letter before bed, but I didn't pay much attention. Probably just to AJ as to update her.

Now, time had ground the other way. Despite the rather interesting name for the disks, there wasn't a huge amount of data on them in that file. Well, their overall function was well documented, and so were various commands I could give them, but there was a surprising lack of the 'how' and ‘why’ parts of what they did present. The data they were passing to me, combined with 'nanites' in the title, didn't bode well. Tiny machines measured on the nano-scale were drifting through my bloodstream right now, actually. They were responsible for my hyperactive regeneration and immune system, along with most of the biorhythmic data I could take on myself. Given the rather similar comparison to what I could pick up on Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, I could only assume, really. Did the disks introduce nanites to their system? If so, what did they do? If they didn't stop at just taking readings, I had a feeling we'd have a bigger problem coming up.

Out of pure paranoia, I kept a secure lockdown on my connections to the girls. Encryption and passkey, not to mention firewall and active scanning. At this point, until I figured out the extent of the connection, I didn't want anything passing through that line without my explicit permission. It only made matters worse in the fact that they didn't use conventional radio or psionic channels, as far as I could tell. There appeared to actually be my race's magic involved in supporting the link. Wonderful. Because a mixture of magic and technology never caused problems before.

I rolled my eyes idly while flipping to the next page. At this point, the manual was projected out my right eye and I was reading it with my left, 'physically' flipping the pages. After the sixtieth page, I had started to get a bit of eyestrain reading it right off my display adapter, I discovered. This was far gentler for me. I wasn't exactly concerned with ponies finding me, regardless.

Glancing up again, I took in my hidden view of the lake. The sky was somewhat clear today and actually had a bit of sun starting to peek over the horizon and across the water. A thin mist hung over the entire body of water as the air rapidly heated up, and I smiled at the early morning sensations. It was cooler this time of day, and I felt far more comfortable without the sun glaring down on me. No offense to Tia, of course. It was in my name, after all. I was more of a night pony. The hidden bluff I rested on was nicely covered by thick foliage and was partially into the tree canopy, so I couldn't be spotted from the air, and they'd be very hard pressed to see me from the lake. I could see them, though.

Speaking of, my eyes locked onto the two foals playing in the water still. They'd come by a good twenty minutes earlier, and seemed to be enjoying the water. They were much too far away for me to see anything apart from their colors without bothering to magnify my vision, but one of them looked vaguely like the filly that was with the Crusaders during the accident. What was her name? Pinch?

Also too lazy to peek into my database to verify that, I shifted my attention back down to my reading. I had a lot of data to weed through before I saw Twilight again, and she was expecting me to get this done. A part of me oddly felt better, however, knowing I had my sensors and occasional visual peek at the foals. They weren't accompanied by anypony, and after what happened the first day here, I realized that if I could make a difference, I definitely wanted to. If something did happen and they needed help, I was in a position to provide just that on extremely short notice. That, and get a message back to the other adult ponies quite quickly.

Smirking, I glanced over at my only other companion again, remembering I wasn't technically alone. Tank was smiling gently while watching me read, seemingly perfectly content with lying in the shade and relaxing. I made sure he was nice and washed up this morning, and picked out some choice greens for him to eat alongside my surprisingly large breakfast. After the last two days of driving myself quite hard, I discovered my appetite had skyrocketed!

The next page showed the start of chapter sixteen, entitled 'Root Commands'. Everything I grasped so far looked rather zealous for just information gathering. Sampling, I understood, but there was also mention of manipulation of both bodily processes and energy pools. In other words, manipulation of the magic and bodies of those that touched the disks. Who made these, and for what purpose?! Worse yet, what would happen if I registered all six of them? The code for their processing and sampling was open to me, and I'd already thoroughly examined it, but the root coding and signal manipulation was black boxed on me. Thankfully, it was just a partition, and I was in the process of breaking down its encryption right now, but I still didn't like things hidden from me.

My eyes widened as I skimmed through the index of the chapter. Root commands appeared to be orders directly to that black box. It sent 'root' level commands to the disks themselves, instructing them to... do things to the hosts, as they put it. Basic things were there, such as localized sampling of tissue and biorhythm data, and reading different types of energy outputs, of course. It went beyond just scanning, however. My ears flattened backwards against my head and I glared at the page, rapidly flipping past the scans and going directly to the 'orders' I could give.

It went into something about producing and storing various chemicals, and apparently one of the commands was introducing them in either localized or system-wide amounts. The chemicals were indexed separately, and listed, unfortunately, by their formula. I cursed myself for not knowing proper chemistry, apart from the basics of engineering. For probably the thousandth time, I caught myself wishing I'd taken medical training.

The second of three direct manipulations listed was electric in source. That appeared to be physical nerve manipulation, and it actually appeared to have interface capacity. I was even less comfortable with the sounds of that, and didn't particularly agree with the idea of physically controlling the hosts' movements. Twilight was going to have a field day with this.

The third was energy manipulation, the only non-physical variant. The amount of commands was staggering, however, and this appeared to be the 'main' purpose of the disks, I decided. The commands were focused on taking samples, and then mixing them across the disks to try to figure out how they interacted with each other, for some reason. I could only guess that Doctor Kyliona had found something to do with the way the Element Bearers interacted. Could it be hinting at the Elements of Harmony themselves? Honestly, I knew next to nothing about the actual titular power source. The fact that she called it our race's only hope kept running through my head, and I groaned, sighing as I read on. Once I got the black box cracked open, the first thing I was going to do was find a way to nuke all of these options and commands.

Cracking sounds distracted me, and I perked my head up again, ears swiveling as I checked on Tank. He hadn't moved from his position, however, and was slowly turning his head in the direction of the offending noise as well. My scanners went active, and I easily picked out the two fillies wading through the underbrush at the bottom of the cliff. Outline profiles began running on them as I frowned and waited.

"Are ya sure he's around 'ere somewhere? Why would he be way out 'ere in tha first place?!" I heard muttered in a distinctly Apple Bloom voice from the rear filly. I switched the profile to just matching for her and got a ninety-seven percent positive, which was the best I could hope for at this distance. On a hunch, I ran the other two fillies against the lead pony, and got a positive, ninety-four percent match on Scootaloo.

There was a soft snort, followed by, "I'm not. It's just something I noticed yesterday. The wings he gave me have a disk on the front of my chest that holds my parachute in place like a harness. It glows slightly brighter the closer I get to him," she revealed. Oh, the harness brace I put in to cushion against g-shock. Clever filly! That doubled as the signal feedback to me, so it would get just slightly brighter the closer she got. I double-checked my magic signal, and it did indeed show her extremely close to me in that direction.

"Really? So we could'a wandered out 'ere fer no reason whatsoever?" Apple Bloom asked, annoyance shifting into her tone. I smirked and stood up, slipping quietly towards the cliff edge to peek over at them.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and turned around at that, giving Apple Bloom a frustrated glare. "You're the one who agreed to find him. Got a better idea? I just hope this works, or all of this will be a waste of time," she groaned, looking to her left again towards the lake.

"She's our friend, Scoots! Ya gotta trust her. She says she wants ta properly apologize-like, an' has ah way ta smooth things over, so she does. She ain't dumb," Apple Bloom defended, stomping her right forehoof down as emphasis afterwards. Heh, both of them being out here in the first place was a testament to their loyalty. They must be talking about Sweetie, then. Guessing they weren't going to ambush me or anything weird, I decided it was rude to further eavesdrop.

Scootaloo sighed and nodded, looking a little glum for a moment. It was rapidly replaced with surprise and panic as I snagged her torso with a tentacle, wrapping it around her in an instant and yanking her upwards. Apple Bloom whipped back around at the surprised squeaking noise, then gave a start when she saw her friend no longer in front of her where she was a moment ago.

The orange filly stopped struggling after I pulled her up to the cliff level. She stared at me for a moment before smirking and nodding, relaxing inside the tentacle wrap. A moment later, I grinned and launched another down, just as the filly on the ground looked upwards instead.

Apple Bloom yelped but didn't dodge quick enough, being snatched up in my tentacle as well and hauled upwards. She didn't fight, however, pushing a tentacle away from her long enough to look at it, then smile. Heh, not only was she stronger than Scootaloo, I noticed a more level head about her.

"Okay, Ah take it all back. Ya know yer stuff, Scoots," she admitted upon touching down on the cliff surface next to me.

Snickering, I nodded to the little pegasus in question, setting her down as well. "Finding me like that was indeed clever. You're very observant, Scootaloo," I complimented gently.

"Just Scoots, please! You're awesome in my book, especially after giving me these! That means I'll let you use my nickname," she decided, opening her wings up and displaying the radiating jet extensions with a grin. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes.

I smiled softly to her and nodded, happy that it made her happy, anyway. "You've been behaving with them, right?" I asked, a light stern tone to my question.

She threw me a salute and nodded. "Apple Bloom can confirm, Boss! Short flights only with rests in-between. I've also stayed low to the ground, just in case!" she relayed. I peeked back at AB as well, who nodded twice and smirked at her friend.

"Very good! I'm proud of you, Scoots. With your loyalty, you'd make Rainbow proud. I'll put in a good word later for you," I offered, smirking as she puffed up almost instantly and beamed. It was easy to make her happy, but she was oh so adorable when grinning.

Apple Bloom snickered at her for a moment before nodding and shifting to face me again, sitting down gently on the rocks. "Ah'm ah bit jealous, honest. Ya think it would be possible ta work somethin' up like that fer me, too? Maybe runnin' faster, or kickin' stronger or somethin'?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

I hesitated, and then tilted my head towards her, considering it. Earth Ponies had the same magic pools as everypony else, if I recall. Muscle enhancement for speed and strength would actually be easier than the wings, enchantment-wise. What made the wings insanely complex were the micro-jets hooked up into the muscle nervous control. Oh, and the backup emergency systems for the parachute and chest support. Plus, if Rainbow got any faster, I might have to install heat shielding...

A moment later, I carefully nodded to her before explaining, "A lot of the same issues would be involved, but I could make an enchantment that enhances your muscles and dermal layer, yeah."

"Dermal?" Scootaloo asked, tilting her head as well as she looked between us.

Extending my right foreleg up, I nudged my skin lightly with my other hoof. "Dermal is your skin. I'd make you stronger, faster, and tougher. The only issue is, like Scootaloo, the only way I have to power it is your internal magic supply. You'll get tired a lot faster, and might pass out if you're stubborn and overuse it," I explained, warning her the same way I did Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom didn't stop grinning, however, and nodded twice. "Yeah, Scoots was explainin' ta me! She said it gets easier tha more ya do it, or somethin'?"

Smiling again, I nodded to her. "Yeah, training up your magic pool is like training any other muscle. The more you use it, the bigger your pool gets. Overuse will make your whole body sore, though, and it gives actual magic users nosebleeds and headaches from the tension," I elaborated. Both fillies were surprisingly interested, and I realized I might be onto something here. Still, it worried me a bit if this got out.

"Oh, and don't tell anypony else about this, okay? Everypony is going to want this sort of thing if it becomes public knowledge," I deduced, frowning to myself. Apple Bloom looked momentarily bleak, but Scootaloo just nodded and waved her right forehoof towards me in assurance.

The little filly opened her mouth to comment, when all of my focus was suddenly shifted directly to the right. My ears whipped around as I picked up a very, very light clicking noise, followed by a mechanical whirling sound from quite a distance to my right. Er, what was that?!

Both fillies stopped and gave me a questioning stare as I turned my head to the right. The noise stopped instantly and I frowned. That sounded remarkably like a camera. That other colt's had sounded the same, except his had an additional flash noise. Hesitantly, I scanned the thicker clusters of greenery near where my little ledge joined the rest of the woods, eyes picking up a slight glimmer that rapidly moved out of view. A reflection of light. A lens?

"We have company, and not of the nice sort, I don't think. Stay here," I ordered to the two fillies, lifting my left foreleg up and forming a barrier in a hemisphere around them. I doubted the glint was a rifle scope, but I wasn't about to risk their lives on an assumption.

"Aaah, be careful, Mender!" Apple Bloom hissed, scanning the plants as well, a frantic light dancing in her eyes. Tank, whom I accidentally neglected to put in the barrier, took to the air a moment later, light buzzing noise only temporarily distracting me.

Nodding to Apple Bloom, I slowly made my way towards the edge of the area before calling out, "I know you're out there. Do you want to talk?" It was a long shot, but being civil was preferred.

I waited. Lightly, I heard a bee buzzing a few yards away. Quiet bird chirps joined somewhere behind me. Frowning, I scanned the area where the glimmer of light had come from again, widening my eyes as I picked up a hasty but subtle movement underneath the larger bush in the area. A shift, and something brown sliding along the dirt. Skin? No, it was a little shiny. Manufactured?

My systems flared to full processing an instant later as something ducked out of the bush. The dark green colored pony shape whipped its foreleg sideways as it dove out of the hiding spot, and a blast of powdery smoke came up out of nowhere. My eyes narrowed, cybernetic muscles shooting down my legs in the same instant before I took off, avoiding the smoke and kicking off a tree to the other side of it, giving a wide berth. Something round glimmered where the smoke came from as I dove sideways, setting warning flags off in my head. Coming out of my hasty roll, I sliced with a thin energy blade up and out at a forty-five degree angle, tracing a line across the object in an instant before tearing after the pony. I heard the explosion behind me prematurely go off in the background, and a few chunks of shrapnel bounced off my flank armor as I ran. Low-grade shrapnel explosive using some sort of rock salt or something. It was meant to stun or slow me, probably. What the hell was with this pony?!

By the time I righted myself and had gotten running, I saw the mysterious pony almost forty yards ahead of me, flowing golden brown mane whipping chaotically in the wind. Damn, they could run! No wings, I noticed instantly. Picking up speed, I sprinted after them to catch up, forcing sharp breathing from my mouth. My target must have heard me, and picked up speed a moment later, dodging between two trees and sliding down the embankment into the valley. The light sound of rotary blades came from behind me, signaling that Tank was following, but I ignored him in light of leaping past the two trees and just falling the entire way to the ground below.

They glanced back a heartbeat later, and I noticed genuine surprise on their face when I smashed into the ground on all four hooves and didn't even stop, kicking up dirt before leaping towards them again. The sight of widened, light gold eyes greeted me, and more importantly, no horn. At this range, I noticed the body structure was light and slim, with only moderate muscles and definitely a focus of mass balanced between the front and back of the body. A mare?

She dove sideways instead, rolling out of the way before bolting along the face of the embankment we'd just leapt off, going deeper into the woods. I slid before kicking sideways and rolling after her to keep my momentum, hot on her hooves and definitely not going to lose her in the woods. She had saddlebags as well, and I counted on them slowing her down. Something loose hung around her neck from a strap, but I couldn't tell what it was at this speed. She was damn fast, and it was all I could do to keep up without fully transforming my legs. That would definitely tell her something was up, however. I marked it down as a last resort in case I needed to prevent her escape.

The woods opened out suddenly into a clearing, barely noticed at the speed we were running. She dropped suddenly out of viewpoint. I saw it coming and fell sideways, feeling the wind shoot over my fur as I rolled past both her lashing out back legs. She hopped away again as I spun to my legs, skidding to a stop as she made a sideways whipping motion with her head. Her posture righted itself into a spread out stance, and the glitter of metal was in her muzzle. Some sort of mouth handle attached to a quarter meter of blade. Interesting. I didn't realize they had weapons like that. The handle itself also looked strange, and I remained wary as she slowly paced sideways, keeping herself wide and ready to dodge.

"Knock it off. I just want to talk to you. You don't have to run away or attack me," I growled, shifting my dermal armor up near the surface under my skin. Not exactly wanting to hurt her wasn't mutually exclusive to not wanting to get stabbed by a psychotic mare, so I was better safe than sorry.

"Mhack ohf!" she snarled back a moment later, eyes narrowing at me.

I blinked. "Uh, what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to her. Her glare shifted to a deadpan expression instead, mixed with mild annoyance. Her jaw unclenched a moment later, and she shifted her tongue visibly over the handle of the blade.

"I said, back off. Stop chasing me," she corrected, flicking the blade back into guard an instant later and slowly starting to shift backwards herself.

Figured that's what she said. Frowning, I kept the same two-meter distance between us, slowly shifting forwards instead. "I'm not attacking you. You attacked me. But I can't let you run away either until I talk to you," I warned, sticking to the honest approach. I pretended Applejack was on the sidelines applauding.

The mare gave a frustrated snarl through the blade instead of answering. Her rear legs snapped back at the same time. Widening my eyes, a flash of memory suddenly reared up. I was much, much too young. Day after day, it was all the same. It just got worse, of course. In order to eat, we had to grab and pull off a collar tag. It didn't matter from whom. If ours got pulled off instead, it was fifteen lashings with a studded paddle. I learned fast, and still felt the burning sensation of the red streaks across my lower back. My stomach rumbled as the targets dwindled. Barely any tags left.

A flash of insight. Selfishness. Hatred. Maybe even a bit of defiance. A mock chase later past the instructor set everything up. I pounced. The fellow blue blur dodged, of course, which set it up perfect as our captain turned to watch. Spinning sideways, I lashed out at the instructor's tag instead.

Captain Tym didn't let me even fully extend my arm. His left paw only flicked me sideways, sending me crashing through several training dummies. Of course, he thought it was hilarious. That night, I got supper. The next day, he started training me himself.

My hoof hit the bundle of muscles in the corner of her jaw and kept going, hooking under the hilt and whipping the knife sideways as I rolled under her lunge. She hit hard on her shoulder and rolled with a startled yelp, me flipping back up to my hooves an instant later. She came out of the roll with another flick of her head. For a split second, I anticipated another knife, but rapidly tossed myself sideways just in case. I'd been wrong.

Tiny and thin, like a pencil, the steel bolt flicked past my shoulder an instant later, and I kicked off the ground as I rotated to the left. My left shoulder now facing downwards, I checked her in the chest with my full weight before she could flick the second of three bolts down into the tiny mouth crossbow. She gasped as I landed on her, but rapidly rolled backwards, kicking me off at the same time. I landed, her crossbow latched firmly in my teeth before I bit down, snapping through the wood and tearing the string off an instant later with a low growl.

She looked more than startled, and whipped something off the side of her saddlebag an instant later. My eyes widened, but I closed them an just before the blast of smoke hit me dead on. My proximity sensors flicked up a heartbeat later, just in time to see her book out of the clearing like her tail was on fire. Damn it!

Okay, the straightforward approach wasn't working. My nanites came alive and started processing the smoke that now covered me. It wasn't just for covering things, I noticed, as several irritants and a light nerve agent were picked up in the residue. So, kinda like the tear gas we used to use in my old dimension. Shrugging, I set them to work sucking up the dust while I put a filter over my eyes and nose, hopping up again and flicking myself into the air with two fast tendrils. Instead of chasing her this time, I moved into the treetops, rapidly slipping from branch to branch and following behind her with quick and quiet tentacle flings. The last time I'd used this was against Nirru. Overkill for this mare, but she was really starting to annoy me. The irritation surprised me, but I just chalked it up to having a rather bad day since she showed up.

Dirt flaking off me, I dashed to the side and kept a light distance, watching as she slowed down and looked over her shoulder again, cautiously cantering to the left as she looked. She was skilled, but not a professional. At least not according to my squad based tactics.

I slipped closer, watching as she slowed to a halt and looked around rapidly, her chest heaving like crazy. No, she didn't hold herself like a soldier. A scout, maybe? It felt like her training was more revolving around not being detected than outright combat. Training. She worked for somepony, and had been watching me. Those fliers! My eyes narrowed as she dropped a few more points on my personal karma meter. If she worked for whoever was behind that, I definitely couldn't let her escape.

"Ha... wow. Okay, his leg... must be injured still. Uh... transmission!" she suddenly whispered to herself, hastily tossing her saddlebags off and digging through the right one. Transmission? My ears perked up as my eyes zoomed in more.

The crystal array she pulled out of the saddlebag was pretty looking, variants of green and light blue gems all woven together in a practical looking, silvery stand. It was compact, and looked vaguely like a satellite dish, honestly. A communication device?

A moment later, the case around her neck hit the forest floor, too, hastily opened back up to reveal a similar device to what I saw when I got here. That must be a camera that ponies use! Damn it. She took pictures of me? Oh, the tentacles! My eyes narrowed as I slipped one tree closer, right above the clearing she was in now. She hesitated, looking the device over before giving a weak groan.

"Uh, energy crystal! Uh, where did I put them?!" she muttered, rapidly checking the other bag. She was panicking still. Her mind probably was picturing my recovery and running after her again, and I smirked. I'd not felt this way since Nirru, and my long tongue licked out along my lips, tasting along my grin. I'd forgotten that it was fun, too.

My body shifted the second she moved to the left, ducking into the bag. My tentacles braced out below me, not a single scrape sounding out upon landing, and I slipped them back inside of me in an eyeblink. My hoof reached out, lightly brushing the device of crystal and taking a quick scan. There was no energy in it at all. Good.

A smirk twisting up at the corner of my lips, I tipped the device over and pushed my right forehoof against it, watching her curiously from less than half a meter away. She grinned as she pulled out a glowing crystal, and then rotated to face me. The expression faltered in less than a second, and I almost swore she'd accidentally swallow the thing as her eyes shot open. Her heartbeat skyrocketed, bursts of blood rushing through her veins as I watched her pupils slowly shrink. Fear. Panic. She reeked of it, and it was delicious. I grinned to her as my hoof pushed down, crushing her device in half in an instant and snapping the metal under my strength.

"Injured leg, huh?" I inquired playfully a moment later. She yelped and spit out the energy crystal, lashing out with a hoof. It was pointless of course, and I just felt her blow hit the organic metal in my cheek. She screamed in pain as her hoof rebounded, barely jarring my head to the side. My smile didn't falter as I slowly walked forward still. A whimper sounded out, and then she glared up at me again and lashed out with the other hoof to my neck this time.

There was a cracking noise, and it didn't come from me. She gasped and leaped backwards away from me, landing into a stumble as her left foreleg gave away under her weight. Now she was just being stupid. I snickered, a light whispering dancing through me that I barely acknowledged. She did smell really good. Making her pay a little for everything she just put me through wouldn't take too long, would it?

"S-Stop! Please, no! Don't kill me, I give up!" she exclaimed, limping backwards as I continued slowly strutting forwards, that familiar stirring inside as her delicious words reached me.

"Shouldn't you have thought of that before trying to kill me instead?" I suggested playfully, grinning wider as her look of horror set in and she fell backwards, trying to crawl away from me. It would be so easy to grab her with tentacles, but I held them in reserve with what little willpower I could muster. She smelled so good!

I pounced instead, landing on her prone form as she screamed, trying to feebly shove me off. Her strength was shot, however, and I was much too heavy now that I'd released quite a bit of muscle from subspace into myself. Inhaling softly, I smelled along her collarbone, and she froze instantly, eyes shivering and widening as I held her there. "Oh... oh no, please. I, um..." she whispered, slowly looking back up at me instead. She really did smell good. She was in heat too, as expected.

"What? You told me not to kill you," I pointed out softly, smile widening as she swallowed and nodded, rolling over onto her back, letting her forelegs drop to her chest and spreading her back legs. Submitting just like that? That wasn't any fun.

My eyes narrowed, but something nagged at the back of my mind. No, I didn't want to be weak. I didn't want to keep being a pansy doormat that everypony walked all over! But wait. What? No, I didn't want to hurt her! My eyes snapped open an instant later and I inhaled sharply, sitting back up again. She scrambled up and out from under me immediately, shifting to a confused expression instead of anger. Wait, what was I just doing?! Why did I...?! Why had I even considered doing that to her?!

"G-Get away from me! Wait, no... Y-Your eyes??" she asked, looking stunned as she shoved herself away from me, sliding into a sitting position again. I was jarred backwards, not really feeling it as confusion shot through me. No, I wasn't supposed to listen to that voice! I wasn't a monster like she said.

The buzzing noise shifted loud enough for me to no longer be able to subconsciously ignore it at the same time my proximity sensors fired off. Oh. Oh hell. "Duck!" I shouted to her, head whipping to the left and lashing out just an instant too slow.

"Hu-?" was all she got out before a tortoise came in at high velocity and rebounded off the side of her head. I saw her lurch sideways, head whipping painfully into her left shoulder as her eyes went vacant with shock, and she hit the ground on that side, unmoving. Uh oh.

Slowly, I shook the murky feeling out of my skull and edged closer to her. "Uh, Miss? Are you okay?" I tried asking, noticing a bit of blood coming from the right side of her head. She didn't respond, or move, and I swallowed, scrambling forwards and feeling her neck.

Exhaling softly, I relaxed as I felt the heartbeat, and noted the slow breathing. She was just knocked out, then. "Uh, thanks, Tank. I, um, really didn't know what to do there," I muttered, deciding the judgment call on his part was probably actually the wisest path. Sure, she'd wake up with a whopping headache, but at least I, um, stopped. I swallowed weakly and stared down at her for a second before slowly shaking my head. Damn it. My view shifted to the book connected to my left side still, tucked between saddlebags. What was wrong with me?!

I felt the bubble I'd left the fillies in disrupted, but I didn't care at that point. All I could manage to do was sit there and stare down at her. There was nothing in my cybernetic programming to cause that. What did that mean? Slowly, that cold ache drifted back into my chest, and I crushed my eyes closed, staring at her having started to cause physical pain. All I could manage was a painful swallow, and it felt like the truth was sucked down with the lump in my throat. It reverberated through me, and I hated every ounce of it. It was me. Nirru had been right. Parts of me were monstrous after all. The admission left me with nothing but that oh so familiar hollow ache, and I suddenly felt lost again. Confused. For the first time since so long ago on Fluttershy's couch, I suddenly thought about it, and realized I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Everything had been a reaction, hadn't it? I'd been forced to just keep moving and reacting to things as they came up. My only 'plan' so far, if one could call it that, was to get a job as an engineer and enchanter.

I heard them run into the clearing a little before the wind danced past and brought their smells to my nose. Still, I couldn't open my eyes yet. I'd see the monster I was turning out to be if I did. I had two mares interested in me even, yet that beast on the inside almost... I shivered, but halted myself soon after, scared to even move. Two mares. That thought should bring happiness and a warm elation, shouldn't it? Then why was I absolutely terrified?! It came down to the realization that I had no idea what I was doing. I'd found myself in a position of surprisingly unwanted authority, doing a job I hadn't wanted to begin with, and holding responsibilities for other ponies when I could barely ensure my own safety, let alone that of anypony else! What was I doing?!

"M-Mender, are ya okay?" was asked, the soft yet uncertain drawl reverberating through me, having no consideration for my mindset.

That... That was a good question. I decided she probably meant physically, which apart from dozens of cybernetic additions, was true. I was healthy, and my leg was healing still. I'd sustained no damage. The answer obvious now, I slowly shook my head negative, refusing to open my eyes.

"No. I'm really not. Uh, I'm not hurt, it's fine..." I whispered, my own voice feeling foreign, and I coughed to suddenly clear the hoarseness gathered around my vocal cords.

"Whoa! You so kicked her flank! What was she even doing out here?!" Scootaloo asked softly, apparently deciding that was all that mattered, and that the unconscious mare was more interesting. Her wording caused me to wince, regardless.

After a moment, I shook my head and finally opened my eyes again, correcting her with, "Actually, I was trying really hard not to hurt her. I'm, well, I'm not a monster. I don't want to be a monster. Uh, Tank was technically the one that knocked her out." It felt like an excuse, and left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. My tongue recoiled, and I rubbed it against my teeth for a moment to drive the feeling away.

Tank hovered in, breaking orbit around my head to land gently in front of me and start the extremely slow process of nodding in agreement. I smiled down at him and returned it preemptively, gently patting him on the head. My red-maned friend moved into my viewpoint and ducked down, face next to Tank so she could peek up and at my eyes, however.

"Mender, yer not ah monster. Ya tried ta not hurt her, so relax. What was she doin' out 'ere?" she asked softly, shooting me an assuring smile. I swallowed, but couldn't manage to look away from her, forgetting how adorable she could be sometimes. As much as it burned in my chest, I realized that meeting her eyes was probably, well, better for me than avoiding them.

"She was taking pictures of me in secret. From her extreme reaction, I'm guessing she either works for, or is an associate of the ponies who printed those smear fliers last week. I should, well, probably get her back to the camp and put her under arrest. Spike should be able to send a letter to Tia and let her know about what happened," I reasoned, my head clearing a bit to the point where I could finally consider what to do. Apple Bloom's gentle smile burned its way into my mind, and I felt myself relax a little. She trusted me. That must mean I wasn't a bad pony, right? I stopped, and that had to mean something! Even if the temptation was there and, uh, something seemed to take over, it didn't succeed. I didn't hurt the mare. That was the important part, wasn't it?

Deciding Fluttershy would say yes and hug me, I smiled down at the little filly and nodded. Her grin widened and she returned it before trotting over to Scootaloo instead, finally letting me free of her subtle spell. I suddenly realized that I was a total sucker for adorable foals. What would it honestly be like with my own to take care of? I blushed lightly, thinking back to what Fluttershy said, and decided it was best to immediately drive it out of my mind for now. Heh.

I sighed and turned back to the fallen mare, contemplating a way that we could actually get her back to the camp. Suddenly, I realized that this was almost a perfect use for alteration. Smiling, I gestured towards the woods, after walking up to the two fillies. "I have an idea for getting her back to the camp. Could both of you go gather as many sticks and branches as you can find? I'll start the enchantment," I requested. They both saluted, and I nodded back...

It was more than a little awkward wandering back into camp, admittedly. Many ponies were giving me strange stares, but that much I was used to. What I wasn't used to was being followed by a spider abomination made of wood, with a mare tied to the top. Still, it was easier than carrying her all this way myself. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both walked proudly to either side of me, chests puffed up as they assisted me in making my first ‘arrest’. I honestly didn't think it was that significant, but if they were pleased, I was happy.

Nurse Redheart saw me coming before Spike did, who was talking to her. Tank pulled out of his usual orbit around me, and drifted over to the dragon as he turned around, wondering what Redheart was giving the shocked and disturbed stare to. His expression shifted to startled, but with a bit of jaded mixed in. I resisted snickering, but was cut off by Big Mac and Carrot Top just as I got over to where Spike and Redheart were.

"Whoa, who's the mare, Mender? Heh, ya catch her off in the woods growing from a bush or something?" Carrot asked, smirking and winking to me.

Coughing lightly, I muttered, "Actually, you don't know how accurate that was. But no, nothing like that. She's actually under arrest," I explained, glancing back at my captive to make sure she was still secured.

All three ponies present widened their eyes a little, but to my surprise, Spike looked more amused instead as he perked up. "Whoa! Dude, I didn't think you were going to actually use that capacity! What did she do?" he asked, walking up closer and peeking up at her. Her coat was considerably dirtier now, and her mane was disheveled, sticks sticking out here and there.

"Wait, you can make arrests?" Carrot asked, tilting her head towards me.

I started to nod towards her, but Nurse Redheart cut me off and nodded as well, adding, "Yes, he technically holds the position of a secondary captain in the royal guard, but he's more a researcher. This must be a special case." Her observations were just as sharp as ever, I noticed.

Smiling, I nodded to her. "Yeah, related to me in this case. We caught her taking pictures of me in the forest from hiding. She ran when confronted, then tried to use force to escape. Uh, Tank was actually the one to subdue her," I explained, stepping back as Redheart shifted up, lifting the mare's head, then wincing at the bruise on her temple.

"Wait, there were paparazzi all the way out here?" Carrot asked, shifting to surprise instead as she too got a closer peek.

Big Mac raised an eyebrow, however, and stayed back. "Eenope. If'in she used force, an' considerin' she was all tha way out 'ere, Ah'm guessin' she's workin' fer those ponies that made tha fliers last week, an'-" he started guessing, before suddenly widening his eyes and holding his right forehoof over his mouth. Huh?

Carrot Top's demeanor changed instantly, and I literally watched her expression twist into one of rage instead. Her right ground into the dirt in a slow pawing motion before she grabbed the mare's nape with her teeth and yanked her off the top of my makeshift platform. Oh, oh hell.

"Carrot, stop! I already subdued her, and she's going to be arrested," I spoke up, stepping past the rapidly retreating Nurse Redheart.

The orange-maned earth mare shifted a glare back at me before spitting my captive back onto the grass. "Oh, I'm so not letting her off the hook that easy! They're nothing but a bunch of dirty rats, hiding in the shadows and trying to nip at you while you're not looking! They don't deserve sympathy!" she growled, surprisingly vehement as she turned her gaze back to the mare on the grass.

My eyes widened as her hoof rose, and I hopped forwards. My right foreleg hooked around hers as she brought it down, and I stopped it a few centimeters short of smashing into the fallen mare's skull. Damn, she was strong! The muscles activated along my foreleg as Carrot attempted to yank her leg back, and I held it there, rigid.

"Hey! Why are you stopping me from... How are you so strong?!" she asked, shifting from anger to surprise the second she realized she wasn't getting her leg back.

"He's right, Carrot. Ya don't wanna drop yerself down ta their level. We gotta do things proper an' civilized, right? 'sides, ya shouldn't hit ah pony that can't fight back, anyways," Big Mac spoke up, walking to her other side and gently pulling her backwards a little. Seeing him with the situation under control, I relaxed and let her foreleg go. She looked a mixture of bitter and guilty before sighing and hesitantly withdrawing her hoof.

There was a weak groan from the forest green mystery mare, and then she sighed, startling me as I looked back at her. Her light gold eyes stared back, not at me this time, but Carrot. "He's that strong because he's a monster that's going to destroy us all. He's just pretending to be a pony," she whispered, sounding rather raspy in tone.

My eyes widened as the blood slipped from my head, letting a cool chill sink down my spine. Monster? How much did she know about me?! Carrot reacted far differently than I had anticipated, however. Instead of asking what she was talking about, she snapped back to attention at the mare with a snarl and glare before diving forwards again, both forehooves whipping into a stomp. I barely managed to extend a barrier across the mare before Carrot brought both forehooves solidly into it. I winced as it exploded into light and a distorted ripple. The farm mare only screamed in rage before laying into the barrier with a flurry of blows, actually causing the mare to widen her eyes and shrink back away from her.

Big Mac wrapped both forelegs around Carrot Top's barrel a second later, however, physically lifting her up and away from the now terrified mare. A little dizzy, I withdrew my barrier and rubbed at my temples from the exertion. I'd not been prepared to defend against such a ruthless rage like that!

"W-Why?! Why didn't you just let her hit me?" my captive asked, looking over at me with what appeared to be genuine shock.

"Because he isn't a monster, Stupid!" Scootaloo spoke up instead, giving a little hop towards the mare and spreading her stance out, wings flaring up with light as the little filly narrowed her eyes.

Apple Bloom nodded rapidly, also frowning at her before adding, "It's true! He tried ta talk with ya tha whole time! Ah saw it. You were tha one that attacked him an' wouldn't listen."

Sighing, I nodded gently to her, looking up again and away from the filly to each side of me. "I'm placing you under arrest, of course. I've no intention of hurting you, or letting you get hurt, and I only want you to cooperate and answer our questions," I explained. Slowly, she closed her muzzle again and stared blankly at me for a long moment. I took that as the first sign of that whole cooperation thing, as she wasn't trying to stab me again. Turning, I looked over at Spike, who grinned and had already taken out a scroll from, well, somewhere. Efficient and overly prepared. I could definitely tell Twilight raised him!

"I got it. I'll send the letter to Princess Celestia, explaining the situation. Anything extra I should add?" he asked, starting to write on the parchment.

Frowning, I considered it. I had no idea how to actually make an arrest in this dimension, and didn't know how it differed from my old world. It was already different from being a ranked officer and dismissing soldiers, which would have been my only experience in the matter.

"I'm not sure. You should mention she's injured and should be treated with care, probably. Uh, is it too much to ask if you could look her over, Redheart?" I asked, looking back at my white and pink friend. She smiled softly and perked up as I turned, shaking her head before walking over to the confused looking mare.

"But, they said you were an alien, and would destroy everything we loved," my confused captive muttered, frowning at me and completely ignoring the nurse looking her head over.

Another snarl came from the still pissed off looking Carrot Top. "Maybe if you stepped out of the shadows and gutters for long enough, you'd see that maybe, just maybe, you're an idiot!" she oh so politely pointed out. The darker colored mare shrunk down a little and flattened her ears back away from the seething farmer, which I honestly didn't blame her for. Even with her fighting skills, I had a fairly solid guess going that Carrot would stomp her flat into the dirt with pure rage. She was kinda like a berserker... I immediately decided to never, ever tell the mare herself that.

"It's true. It's a smear campaign. I would have thought you'd understand as much, as you look like a fairly intelligent mare. Mender is a gentlecolt, for the most part," Redheart chirped, giving the mare a wink afterwards as she applied a soft rag to her forehead, dampened with water. To my surprise, the mare winced lightly but then blushed, looking back over at me with a more skeptical, appraising look instead.

"I, well, admittedly a few things didn't add up, based on what they told me. I mean, aliens helping us? It was supposedly an alien that attacked that night. Why would another alien defend us at the same time?" the mare questioned, frowning to herself before wincing again as Redheart applied cleaning agent to the cut. Note to self, never get hit by Tank without my armor on. He apparently could generate a good amount of force behind that shell.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes before adamantly defending with, "Mender's nice, no matter what anypony says! He's done so much for all of us, and really just wants to be treated like normal. Why do you want to hurt him for that?!" That was a good point, but the mare was lied to. Manipulated. I wanted to know who was behind that instead, and why they were so intent on destroying any life I tried to make for myself here. What had I done to deserve their ire? That was the question. Also, they seemed convinced I was an 'alien' as well, even if I wasn't entirely sure if they knew what they were talking about.

"I, um, think I might have made a mistake. Look, I don't actually belong to whatever organization they do. I'm an independent scout and surveyor down on my luck, and they offered me a 'lot' of bits to get pictures of you doing, well, anything weird or potentially incriminating. Failing that, I was to get pictures that could be easily doctored to show those instead. I'm obviously not going to do that anymore, of course. Uh, I'm Snapshot, by the way," my newly identified captive explained. She shifted her saddlebags up along her flank at the same time, revealing a cutie mark of a camera with a flare of light coming from the flash. Interesting.

Sighing, I nodded wearily. An organization was involved then, and apparently they were well funded. Wonderful. "Okay, Snapshot. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, then?" I asked softly, attempting to straighten my posture and appear polite. I heard a cracking along my lower back as I did so, and winced at the light throb that shot through me. Apple Bloom started snickering, and I shot her a glare. She returned her best 'innocent angel' expression before hopping around behind me. She was such a brat sometimes. It was funny how I was getting to know them quite a bit better due to this little 'vacation'.

Actually, now that I thought about it, this was kind of a really crappy vacation so far. "Uh, of course! Um, could you answer something real fast first? Are you really an alien? Those tentacles looked really realistic and, um, that would be really cool!" Snapshot suddenly spouted out really quickly, eyes widening and dancing a little with a somewhat creepy level of energy. Er, what?! She sounded surprisingly excited about the prospect, seemingly coming out of nowhere with it.

Carrot Top lifted a single eyebrow towards me for a moment as I swallowed nervously. She looked away a second later and back at Snapshot instead. "Does it matter if he is or not? He's proven he's nice, and way more forgiving than I am. He did stop me from beating your sorry flank into the dirt, then using you as a washboard," she pointed out, surprising me on so many counts that I just gave up keeping track. As a side note: ow. That sounded amazingly painful.

Snapshot apparently agreed with me and paled significantly, shrinking down and away from the exceptionally hostile farmer. This vacation was now getting even worse. I sighed and prepared for the worst, asking Snapshot a few questions on the side while waiting for Spike to finish the letter.

Staring up at the sky watching the chariot fly off, I couldn't help but wonder why I couldn't just enjoy this little 'vacation,' so to speak. It was kind of unfair how nothing ever seemed to go exactly as planned, but at least I was getting used to it. The guards had shown up to pick up Snapshot only twenty minutes after Spike sent out the letter. Tia had written back a private letter, indicating that catching the mare would indeed help the investigation, and warned me that she desired to pull me away to Canterlot in the future to privately discuss the affairs, apparently deciding that Spike's flames could be intercepted or something. I didn't know anything about it, of course, so I just went along with it.

"You always have such eventful days, Mender," Redheart added from her position next to me, a snicker following. I rolled my eyes, and then glanced back over at her as she tested my foreleg's range of motion. "The good news is, the exercise you gave your leg didn't do any harm whatsoever. Your other ability must protect it while active?" she guessed, slipping vague again because Big Mac and Carrot Top were still here. Big Mac knew, of course, but Redheart didn't know that he knew. Oddly, Carrot didn't seem to care one way or the other. She was either strangely easygoing, a seemingly popular Apple Family trait, or incredibly jaded from her life in Ponyville, which seemed to be hit with a disaster of insane proportions at least twice a season.

"Trust me, I wish I didn't. I just wanted a proper vacation out of this. I'll be happy if the rest of it is uneventful, anyway-" I started to complain.

Carrot Top's hoof found my muzzle a second later, stopping me in mid-sentence by pushing my jaw closed. I blinked at her, but she winced and shook her head. "Drat! I was hoping to stop you before you got it all out! Never, ever say anything like that, Mender! It's called tempting fate, which is a fickle mistress and loves to call your bluffs," she warned, nodding twice afterwards in a sagely manner.

I raised an eyebrow to her, but snickered after my muzzle was released. "I didn't peg you as the superstitious type," I admitted, tilting my head a second afterwards. They technically had magic here, however, some of which apparently ran quite wild in nature. Maybe she was on to something?

"Normally I'm not. I leave the superstitions to the flower mares. That one, however, is the only one I adhere to. Just pretend you're in a book or story. What happens to somepony in a story the second they say something like that?" she asked, eyes narrowing a little.

Swallowing, I sighed and admitted, "Normally they doom themselves to exactly the opposite of what they want happening." That didn't always happen in real life, of course. Honestly, what I physically said had little to no bearing on what actually happens to me. I'd probably be just as screwed if I'd simply remained silent.

Scootaloo started snickering, but Big Mac nodded as well, which surprised me a little bit. "Good advice, Ah reckon," he decided, followed by, "Even if ya don't believe in that sorta thing, keepin' ah positive mindset has ta subconsciously help ya do better an' relax more." That was, well, actually pretty good advice. Further, it just added to my case file about Big Mac actually being extremely intelligent behind all that stoic silence!

Smiling towards him, I nodded confirmation. He certainly seemed to be a master at taking things as they came. It took me a moment to realize it, but I decided that I definitely admired the stallion. Strong of mind, body, and will, he was quite impressive, honestly. Then I wondered what would happen if I gave him the muscle and stamina enchantment I was considering giving to Apple Bloom, and shuddered. No, watching him uproot trees with a kick would be far too mentally scarring for me. He makes do just fine on his own, obviously. There was really nothing practical I could think of for him using such magic. I mean, maybe to haul an entire orchard worth of apples to Canterlot in an hour or less?

"Well, I think I'm going to take a bit of a breather after all that excitement. A walk along the river, maybe," I muttered, standing up after Redheart released my foreleg.

The nurse nodded to me and gestured at my shoulder, adding, "Your range of motion still isn't what it should be along your shoulder. I'm guessing there's damaged tissue along there still due to taking the brunt of the damage. Try doing light stretches with it once you find a spot to rest, and I'll look it over tomorrow for a bit of physical therapy." That was indeed the part where the 'tear' happened. It didn't really surprise me in the least that it was the slowest to recover.

"We'll look after him, don't worry," Scootaloo assured, beating her right forehoof against her chest as she puffed up a bit in her sitting position.

Apple Bloom started to snicker at her before suddenly gasping, eyes extending fully. "Oh no! Sweetie! We forgot about her. We were out lookin' fer Mender because she wanted ta smooth things over an' was settin' up somethin'," she suddenly exclaimed, causing Scootaloo's eyes to widen as well. Oh, well, that was only forty or fifty minutes ago, not including however long it took them to find me in the first place.

"She probably thinks we ditched her! Come on, Mender! We gotta take you to her," Scootaloo requested, hopping up and gesturing the other direction from the lake, upriver this time, but further east of their 'dam' location.

"Can I come, too? I've finished the letter back to Princess Celestia, and am kinda bored," Spike asked cautiously.

Safety in numbers, so to speak. Normally not the case with me, and I probably shouldn't say that out loud, but being terrible at social interactions, having another pony, er, drake there as morale support even, would be nice. "Sure. Both you and Tank can come along," I agreed. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at each other somewhat skeptically, but Scootaloo shrugged a moment later, earning a nod from her friend. Having apparently reached some sort of silent conclusion, both fillies rotated and headed towards the direction indicated earlier.

Spike gave them a curious stare as they trotted off at a brisk pace, and I mimicked the shrug to him before turning and crouching down for a moment. I felt his weight settle on my back before standing up again and following the fillies, running for a bit in order to catch up. The telltale sound of rotary blades followed me, of course. Oddly, I kinda felt 'better' with Spike and Tank there. I wasn't really sure why. Something about the entire thing seemed weird to me, but I couldn't place the source of the apprehension. Catching up to the two fillies, the five of us continued our hastened pace in hopefully the direction of Sweetie Belle. Now just watch them get us lost...

Chapter 50

Not having realized that the small river branched off from the direction towards the 'dam' from earlier, I was pleasantly surprised at the rather peaceful feeling of the woods as we trotted along. My leg was feeling better after I rested it up, and even though I felt a little guilty over it, I knew transforming it earlier had repaired some of the muscles in it. I really needed to look into a way to turn that off. All the matter that was crammed inside of me was totally unsorted, and I had no way of knowing if what I drew out was mineral and rock, or organic, post-Keldarian. It didn't feel right at all using somepony else's flesh and bone to repair myself, so I didn't want to use ANY of the mass on my own body, if I risked that. Even tiny amounts. Of course, I had needed the muscle, and wouldn't have been able to catch Snapshot without it. The tentacles were totally not me at all, so I didn't care what mass they used to form themselves, as I just tossed the matter back into the pool after I finished using them. They weren't 'permanent', so to speak.

My passive daydreaming was rather rudely interrupted by a rock jutting out of the riverbank. Spike let out a surprised yelp as I suddenly lurched and planted my face into the ground, feeling him roll off me along my neck. Sighing, I popped my head up again from my fallen form, dirt flaking off my face as I slowly relaxed my under-armor. Having that stuff ready to pop out at an instant's notice was really handy, and I was able to keep the basic stuff just under the surface of my skin, so I looked 'normal' still. It wasn't the fancy, ablative stuff, but it was suitable for, well, my 'daily' needs. That was a little sad to word that way...

Scootaloo burst into laughter upon turning around, but Apple Bloom just winced and trotted back, helping me up again. "Ya okay, Mender? We're almost there," she informed, using her right forehoof to wipe off some of the dirt on my chest.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Dumb rock..." I muttered, glaring back at the offending chunk of hardened minerals.

The orange pegasus rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Hard to be mad at something that didn't move into your way to begin with. Besides, what could you do to it in the first place? Scold it?" she pointed out, her wings popping out and stretching, the light distorting off them as the disks appeared around her due to the motion involved.

I glared at her for a moment before my first CPU gave me a targeting analysis. The second CPU fired up and gave me an instant-based movement calculation, and I sent the go-ahead. A tentacle popped out of my right shoulder and lashed out behind me as I continued to glare at her, neatly whipping downwards with a massive slamming noise, and I felt it fragment the rock neatly in two before slipping back inside my body a heartbeat later.

Scootaloo's eyes bugged out and I resisted chuckling until she surprised me with, "Whoa! Awesome!" Figures, she'd be less intimidated and more delighted... She really did take after Rainbow Dash.

Apple Bloom slipped around behind me and picked up the two halves of the rock, looking surprised before smirking at them. It was actually a rather pretty rock, tannish-white and surprisingly round, if not a little lopsided. For a moment, I felt bad that I'd hit it. The little filly then smiled and rotated the stone around, showing me the fractured insides. To my surprise, it was somewhat hollow and lined with a pretty yellow crystal.

"A geode? What are the odds?" I asked, surprised at the pure probability of the rock I tripped over being such.

"What's a geode?" Scootaloo asked, shifting closer and sitting down next to me.

"A volcanic or sedimentary rock that forms with crystals inside of it. Oooh, that's a surprisingly clear quartz formation of the citrine variety!" Spike exclaimed, forgetting he ever fell and popping upright to peek. Whoa! He knew a lot about crystals.

Apple Bloom gave him a skeptical look before shaking her head. "Ya can't eat it, Spike. Mah brother collects these an' uses 'em fer bookends, actually. If ya don't mind, Mender, could Ah give 'em ta him?" she asked politely, smiling up at me.

Nodding happily, I decided to take it with good fortune after all. "Sure. I didn't realize he collected them, but if my little accident can benefit somepony, I'm all for it," I agreed, nodding twice more afterwards.

"Weird. I didn't know Big Mac collected rocks, or read that much anyway," Scootaloo muttered, tilting her head towards Apple Bloom. It sounded more curious than degrading, and the little farm filly just smiled towards her.

"He actually has ah whole collection 'o books in tha basement. Tha geodes make good bookends, an' somehow he gets 'em ta glow in tha dark an' make good lamps! It's pretty down there. He don't talk about it much, though, so don't go spreadin' it around, Scoots," Apple Bloom warned, frowning lightly at her friend.

I shook my head gently at her caution. "There's nothing wrong with reading or having hobbies, Apple Bloom. Your brother is very intelligent, and I respect him for it," I assured, mentally vowing not to tell anypony either.

Scootaloo perked and nodded at me, however. "Yeah, reading is awesome! The coolest ponies read, so there's obviously nothing wrong with it. Still, I won't blab," she promised. Her reaction surprised me a bit, but in a good way. She didn't strike me as having the patience for a good book, but I liked to keep an open mind until proven otherwise, lately. Beats, I don't know, thinking all mares were carnivorous or something, as a good example...

Apple Bloom actually blushed lightly, but smiled between the three of us, obviously not able to see Tank without craning her head back high enough to view his slow orbit above. "Ah thank ya'all, o' course. Ah few ponies think mah brother is 'simple' is all, an' would be right surprised ta find out he's well learned an' good with math. Ah think it's because he works hard ta support tha family, they just think he's all muscle or somethin'," she muttered after considering it for a moment, eyes softening as her ears lowered a bit.

"Well, that's their loss," I pointed out, gently rubbing her on the head with my right forehoof. It had never occurred to me to associate 'muscular' with 'simple' in the first place, but they might have a different culture here.

Apple Bloom smiled softly towards me and nodded, nuzzling my forehoof with her snout momentarily before turning and continuing down the path. "Ah know. Brother always says ta tolerate other's differences an' try ta realize that Ah'm just as different ta them," she continued in a softer voice, Scootaloo falling in next to her. I smiled at that and nodded to myself before standing again. She was doing even more with 'my' differences. She wasn't just tolerating me, but seemed to truly enjoy being my friend, even though I was very, very different from her. Maybe there was a truth in her statement.

With a pleasant smile on my face, I nodded to an extremely skeptical looking Spike, momentarily wondering why he was giving me that look before tripping over the two halves of the geode we had forgotten about and promptly falling sideways into the river...

It was fifteen minutes and forty meters down the hill before the two fillies and Spike managed to help me get out of the elongated underground stream I'd managed to break through into. Sighing, I stared at the makeshift waterfall I'd created in the ceiling from the riverbed, the entire small 'tunnel' of sorts lit up by dozens upon dozens of large, glowing crystals lining the walls. Okay, the probability of me finding that geode wasn't looking so low anymore.

Sadly, it had taken another five minutes for me to finally calm Spike down. It turns out gems were something of a delicacy to him, and me blundering into a natural cavern literally layered with the things was kinda like walking into a sweets shop. At least I got him to focus more on pulling the ones out of me now, instead of going after the ones on the walls!

"Hey, cheer up. At least it had a lower cave exit further down the hill. Plus, these are absolutely delicious," Spike pointed out, pulling another crystal shard out from under my armor ridges. There was occasionally a light crunching accompanying the bigger ones, and I only assumed he was getting a free snack as well. Falling into several crystal formations on the floor tucked amidst the water had gotten dozens wedged into the armor folds along my back. None of them were anywhere near tough enough to pierce my second or skin layer of armor, of course, but I couldn't directly absorb them from my plates. That, and I was a little hesitant in introducing anything that was glowing of its own accord into my body. The last time I did that, I was puking bubbles and frogs.

"That an' it's really pretty in 'ere. Think we can bring mah brother 'ere later?" Apple Bloom asked, her voice leaking so much awe that I honestly couldn't stay pissed off at my luck. She was just too cute, and really ruining my bad mood.

I gave a weak grunt before sighing and checking the map I'd been building of the area in my database. The location program was still running fine, and I had an exact spot for myself, so I simply flagged it on the map and nodded. "Yeah, I can find this spot again easily enough, so we can come back here," I assured, shifting the inner 'window' to the side before smiling at her again. I liked to keep my eye-space free and clear of clutter. I was oh so observant already, and didn't think it was a wise idea to add blind spots into the mix.

Apple Bloom perked up and nodded to me, starting to smile before we both heard a grunt to the left. I glanced in time to see Scootaloo yanking backwards on one of the larger, prismatic crystals with all her body weight and wing power. I raised an eyebrow as she tore the crystal free, causing a fracture to shoot up the wall. My eyes widened and four tentacles shot forwards, catching three falling crystals while the fourth whipped rapidly around above her and knocked the smaller shards away. The little filly didn't even seem to notice as she gathered up the prismatic gem and trotted happily back towards us. Ugh. These fillies were going to be the death of me. If not in their defense, of a heart attack instead.

"You should really be careful, Scootaloo," Spike chimed in as the filly drew back into our group and under my defensive umbrella barrier again. She already knew I was worried about the ceiling collapsing!

The orange filly made a scoffing noise before presenting her rather large rainbow gem, roughly the size of my hoof in diameter before retorting, "This was so worth it! Besides, Mender's here, so nothing could have hurt me."

My turn to scoff. "Scoots, I'm not perfect. I'll definitely try my hardest to protect all of you, but you shouldn't take risks like that. At least warn me next time so I can extend the barrier over you before you do that," I requested, frowning towards her.

"Or just ask him ta get tha gem. Still, she's also right, Mender. You are really strong. Ya make us feel safe, regardless," Apple Bloom suggested gently, still sitting just in front of me. I stared at her for a moment before blushing lightly, unsure of how exactly to handle compliments and gifts still. I wasn't getting any better at dealing with them at all, so I had a feeling that this would always be an awkward point for myself.

"Ha! You pasted those crystals super easy from a dozen feet away! You're too hard on yourself. Plus, I think you're the first adult to not actually tell me not to do the thing I'm in trouble for," she deduced, scratching her chin with a forehoof.

Snickering, I shook my head towards her. "You're not in trouble. Besides, you wouldn't have listened anyway," I guessed, smirk growing on my muzzle. Apple Bloom matched my expression and gave her friend a knowing grin, while Spike just chuckled and yanked out another shard of crystal. At least I’d finally gotten him calmed down now.

Scootaloo grinned back at us before shrugging and nodding. "Nothing can stop me from getting a present for Rainbow if I find one that's cool looking! But, uh, thanks for being cool, Mender. You're the first adult to look out for me and still actually listen to what I want, and that, well, means a lot," she thanked, grin melting into a warm smile instead. A bit of heat fluttered into my chest, and I ruffled the front of her hair with my right foreleg, earning a series of giggles. No, Scootaloo was different from Rainbow in quite a few ways, I realized. This just cemented it further. She wasn't as hardened up as Dash, which was probably a good thing. In some ways, she was braver. I don't think my cyan friend would have been able to admit what Scootaloo just did with an audience around her.

"Hey, all of you crusaders are awesome in my book! Spike included, of course," I assured, resting again as I felt another tug at my back. Then more crunching. Okay, he was eating at least half of them...

"You should meet tha fourth crusader, then!" Apple Bloom chirped, smiling and nodding twice at the two of us.

That caused me to stop for a moment and consider it. Fourth? "Aren't I technically the fourth crusader?" I asked, tilting my head to her.

"Nah. You're actually the fifth crusader for our local branch. Apple Bloom's cousin, Babs Seed, is the fourth. She's also started a Manehatten branch of crusaders!" Scootaloo chirped in response. Oh! That was interesting indeed.

The farm filly did a happy bounce and spin in place before rotating around with a grin towards us. "Yeah! Babs is comin' fer tha harvest festival that marks tha end o' fall an' start o' winter! Ya can meet her then, an' watch tha Runnin' o' tha Leaves with us!" she excitedly offered. I started to smile before Scootaloo perked up and nodded as well.

"Yeah, that's right! All of us can totally watch Rainbow win the Cloudy Sky Dash, too! She's been practicing super hard for it," she added. Oh, was that what the event was called?

"Ya seem awfully sure o' her winnin', Scoots. She must really be practicin'," Apple Bloom admitted, giving her a skeptical glance.

Scootaloo smirked and nodded, adding cryptically, "Yup! She's got a lot riding on this race! She has to win."

"Oh, is this tha race she's plannin' on...?" Apple Bloom started to ask, perking up before her friend nodded to her. "Finally! Ah'm pretty sure Sis has ah thing fer her, too. Won't admit it fer nothin', though, but sure goes red when Ah ask her about it, an' changes tha topic right quick! Brother just grins when she does," she added after another moment, grinning widely again.

Okay, I didn't know much about relationships, especially in Equestria, but it sounded like Rainbow was definitely going to get a positive outcome. I smiled along and nodded to both fillies involved. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to say anything else as my eyes locked onto the gem that Scootaloo had risked getting maimed for.

In an instant, I couldn't move. Both my eyes locked onto the gem as symbols flickered on along the right side of my display, a targeting lock appearing on the thing. What the hell?! My eyes widened as my scans activated by themselves, running a deep analysis on the gem as the little filly carried it closer. "W-What?!" I suddenly managed to spit out, shaking as I fought against the lock that was trying to hold me there as the scans completed.

"Huh?!" Apple Bloom asked, noting my tone, it would seem, and immediately shifting to a concerned one of her own.

A second later, I ran a side script and managed to turn on my projection displays, showing a three dimensional view of the scan going across the gem and data readouts appearing as information was discovered. "It... It's forcing me to scan that gem. Try to-" I started to ask, hoping her moving it out of sight would make this stop!

There wasn't a chance to finish, however. The scan displayed a full data readout, and I jerked in one spastic motion before falling on my face again from the sudden snap release of my muscles. "Mender!" Apple Bloom squawked, and I heard a rapid bound of hoofsteps before two forelegs wrapped around me and gently helped me up again as I shivered. My stomach swam and I felt a wave of nausea as I tried to relax again, opening my eyes into the status display.

The text was written out in front of everypony, myself included. "Scan completed. Unknown Element 003 located, and sample scans saved to local drive. Scouting objective four successfully completed. Samples should be acquired. Scripting disabled." Everypony stared at it in mixed shades of surprise. The message devolved into code after that, which I recognized as an indexing number a second later. I ran the number into my file database and drew up a sheet on 'Element Three' instantly. I tossed that file up, too, and read its leading paragraph, frowning.

"Trace samples of Element 003 discovered on subject. Alongside Blood Particle 001 and Hair Filament 002, this is the third unknown element this specimen has examples of. More might be located after a successful autopsy, but data analysis is given for now. High energy readout displays unusual properties when manipulated with aether energy, producing what can only be described as non-Euclidean energies! With this discovery, we might be able to replicate the element and produce all sorts of technological advances with-" I stopped reading, another wave of numbness and nausea shooting through me. No. Why would this be...? We already knew how to manipulate non-Euclidean space, and had known how since our allies showed up with the technology! Sure, we expanded upon it to make our FTL Slipstream Engine in ways they couldn't even realize, but we'd gotten the technology centuries back. Why was this document discussing the discovery of non-Euclidean energies from something in...

My mind started spinning as I slowly shook my head. Specimen? "W-What is this, Mender?" Spike asked softly, frowning as he looked over the display before adding, "These look like the lab notes I help Twilight take sometimes. She talks formally like this while taking notes." Lab notes.

"Mender, yer scarin' me. What is all this?" Apple Bloom asked, both fillies looking back at us as Spike's eyes got bigger and bigger in shock.

"Really, really bad news. This is a document from a long time ago from my old dimension that's talking about some sort of specimen they found that supposedly had these crystals on it. Crystals from Equestria!" I groaned out, shaking my head rapidly.

Calm down, Mender. Think. Okay, this didn't change too much. It actually explained some stuff. A new element was introduced and we figured out how to replicate it, discovering it could manipulate non-Euclidean space to form our FTL Drive. That's how we figured out folded space and FTL in the first place, both technologies extremely advanced compared to what our allies could do. That's why! The element didn't exist before it was introduced and replicated.

"That means that a long time ago, something made the transfer over into my dimension from here. An experiment gone wrong? An accident? Gah. Um, okay, Princess Celestia probably knows about this. I need to get this data to her fast," I muttered, mostly talking to myself. Scootaloo started to look excited, while Apple Bloom had shifted to uncertain.

"Aether is a fancy word for Magic, isn't it?" Spike asked, digging into his backpack and pulling out another parchment and quill. I stared at him for a moment as he started writing things down rapidly, then glanced back at the gem. Magic. Reaching out, I touched the gem lightly with my hoof, Scootaloo having dropped it to the floor when I started scanning it. Just a little drop of magic, and I focused on the simple image of the other corner of the cave. This would ultimately show us if this was true.

Due to the short distance and low amounts of energy, the transfer was actually almost faster than I could see. Scootaloo gasped as her gem flared with light, the twin ribbons forming and wrapping around it in a blur, and the whole thing disappeared. No. No way. They were the catalyst for our FTL drive! "Hey, my gem!" she squeaked, eyes widening and staring sadly at where it used to be.

Smiling to her, I shook my head and gestured over to the corner with my hoof, drawing her attention to the gem as it spun lightly in place, steaming. "Don't touch it for a couple minutes. It's really hot. This... is bad, but it doesn't change too much. After I tell Tia the discovery, I'm sure she'll know how it affects things," I muttered, staring at the steam coming off the gem. Calming down, I relaxed and started to think things through again.

"Whoa. It teleported? Ah didn't think ya knew how ta teleport," Apple Bloom murmured, also staring at the thing as it slowly came to a stop.

"Technically, it just moved over there really, really fast, but close enough, yeah. Those are the gems we use in our big spaceships to move really, really fast and travel through space," I explained, keeping it simple for all of our sakes. My brain might explode if I tried to fully register what was going on.

Spike held up the letter a moment later, the page gently illuminated by the light of the crystals as I looked it over. If nothing else, he was more than professional with his writing skills, I noticed. Eyes softening, I wondered what Tia would want to do about all of this. I felt a little lost suddenly, but nodded to Spike with a light swallow. It was one of those moments where I felt very small and insignificant.

The little dragon nodded and rolled the scroll gently up, sealing it before tossing it into the air and blasting it with a spout of green flames. It was gone when the blast cleared, and I suddenly snickered, realizing how silly this all was in perspective. If this had been my other self, he'd probably freak out at the fact that Spike just seemingly disintegrated the scroll. Well, no, he'd be too busy freaking out over the dragon and talking ponies, probably.

"Come on, Mender. Let's get out o' this cave an' into tha warmth ah bit. Spike'll let ya know when Princess Celestia responds," Apple Bloom suggested, still looking significantly uncertain while staring at me.

Hesitating, I glanced back over at Scootaloo's gem before extending a tentacle out and snatching it up with it. Three others zipped out and broke more samples off the cave walls, hauling them towards me and dropping them into my bag. Twilight needed to see these, too. Why hadn't the ponies discovered this already?! Swallowing, I nodded to everypony, noticing Scootaloo intently focusing on the gem still in my tentacles.

Smiling, I shook my head and added, "It's hot. Let's dip it in the stream outside to get it cool again. Then you can have it back. I'm not going to take your gem, Scoots." She perked up at that and nodded, offering me a little smile and subtly informing me I was accurate with my guess of what she was worried about.

With that settled, I gave in and the five of us headed outside, Tank hauling another crystal sample along with him, and Spike snapping off gems as we walked, apparently determined to bring half the cave’s supply with him as we left...

Sighing, I walked along with a small barrier floating off my chest, an entire folder resting on top of it and shifting about as I sorted through it all while we walked. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were walking in front of me leading the way, and I only passively paid attention, following along after them instinctively. The folder was sizeable, and Tia had certainly surprised me with it.

Of course, I felt extremely bad after Spike spent almost five minutes leaning over a rock and coughing it all up for me. I'd asked if there was anything I could do to make it up to him, but he assured me that Twilight had once insisted he transfer an entire encyclopedia set from her room in Canterlot, and that was much, much worse. My tentacles had snapped off large amounts of amethyst from the walls regardless, causing him to perk up in shock and delight as I dropped them all in front of him.

"Mmm! They taste so good! It's like a crunchy cream soda," the little dragon murmured next to me, swaying as he walked along and crunched down another gem. I smiled absently, but kept my eyes glued to the documents. If they tasted that good, hopefully they washed out the taste of these things!

Why was she so insistent about this? I stared at the paperwork documenting my official rank in the royal guard and status as Head Dimensional Researcher. Of course, apart from Twilight, I was really the only dimensional researcher. Alongside the documents was a Royal Guard Lieutenant badge with both neck cord and minor "Camouflage" enchantment, which I was now wearing, and a research clearance card for royal material, level four, whatever that meant. I slipped that into my saddlebag and shook my head. This had to be because of what was going on with the newspaper thing. This gave me credentials if I required them, of course, which further solidified what she told everypony at the conference thingy.

Sighing, I read her letter over once more, just to make sure I got everything. She wanted not just me, but all eight of us to come to Canterlot two days after my return from the cabins. She explained that normally she'd request my presence immediately, but realized I wasn't in a position to return to town just yet. Further, Twilight was having issues with something and Tia predicted that she would need a few days to work through it. Mental images of the library exploding or burning down without Spike there to help her came to mind, and I shook my head sadly. Hopefully she hadn't tried cooking something!

It further assured me not to worry about the gems and to just get samples, and that she'd fill me in during my stay there. The visit was for three days, so I assumed she had quite the itinerary for us. Still, why request the Element Bearers and Spike as well? They all had important things to do around town, and couldn't just drop everything because I had discovered yet another problem with my old dimension interfering with theirs. I was getting downright tired of it, frankly, and would be glad to sever the link in a more permanent fashion, if only to let everything return to normal here. Hopefully, Twilight was making progress with a way to do so without hurting Keela.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I exhaled softly and felt my heart slow down again. Anger came easier for me lately, and even the frustration of being a burden to everypony had gotten me upset. What was wrong with me? Was I just getting too stressed out with all this stuff? I tried to relax, reminding myself that I didn't like being angry at anything or anypony, and that it really wasn't me. After a few deep breathes, I managed to ground myself again and really put into focus whom I felt I was. Barely remembering anything I could truly call my own, I wanted to be really careful with what I considered me, honestly.

"Uh, Mender?" I heard Scootaloo ask, causing me to wince at the distraction before sighing. Wait, it sounded like she was right next to me when she said that.

My eyes flicked open gently, just in time to see a very confused looking Sweetie Belle half a second before I crashed into her, tripping and purposefully falling to the side so I wouldn't land on top of her and squish the poor filly. Three seconds later, the world finally stopped spinning and the two of us were a pile of fur and legs, her ending up shoved under my left foreleg and stuck, apparently upside down. Carefully, I tipped over and set her back down on the ground before coughing, a light blush coming to my cheeks.

"Uh, sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going while reading all this stuff," I apologized, gesturing towards my fallen folder with my right forehoof.

The small unicorn sat upright again, also blushing lightly but giving me a soft smile and shake of her head, pawing at the dirt with her right forehoof awkwardly. "Ah, no, it's okay! I hesitated too long and didn't move like I should have. I'm sorry as well for tripping you, uh, Mender," she apologized, not looking me in the eye as her ears twitched about with little spasms.

"Sweetie, calm down. Yer fine, an' he's fine, so everything's fine! What was this thingy ya wanted us out 'ere fer?" Apple Bloom inquired, tone of voice rather soothing as she trotted up and rubbed a hoof over her friend's left shoulder.

The little white filly swallowed but nodded, seemingly bracing herself before looking up and meeting my eyes again. I just smiled and waited patiently for, well, whatever was going to happen. To be honest, I didn't know what to do or say in the first place, so I was really hoping she'd take the lead. "I'm sorry! I, well, I shouldn't have gotten so upset over you turning me down, and I should have realized that I'm much too young for you. I'm sorry for being so mean over it and, well, I made this as an apology!" she spit out all at once, sounding afraid we'd interrupt and tear her down if she stopped talking for more than a second.

Raising an eyebrow, I glanced past her as she gestured, noticing a large blanket spread out on the grass in the clearing we'd made it to, and a rather cute looking wicker picnic basket resting on top of it. Oh, she made us lunch? Wait, there was something I was supposed to be remembering about this.

Scootaloo tilted her head back and looked surprised more than anything before carefully asking, "Wait, you, uh, cooked something for us?" Her tone was rather biting, however, and I frowned. Hadn't I heard an offhooved comment somewhere about Sweetie's cooking?

Apple Bloom shot a glare at Scootaloo, however, and whipped back to facing Sweetie, shaking her head. "It's ah very nice gesture, Sweetie! Ah think this is right nice o' ya. Are we invited, too?" she asked, smiling positively. I smiled as well, realizing that even if the food was indeed terrible, the little filly was trying to apologize and it meant a lot to her. It wasn't so much the apology that was important, or even needed really. I saw it for what it really was. She was trying to smooth things out between us again.

The unicorn perked up at that, but then widened her eyes further as I sat up and rubbed the top of her head, hoof straightening her mane again with a few gentle brushes. "Thank you for this, Sweetie, but you don't need to apologize. This is a good way to get used to each other again, however. I actually meant what I said about simply waiting a couple years. When you turn the proper age, would you like to try going on a sort of test date with Twilight, Fluttershy, and myself?" I suggested for her, trying to drive the point home while also setting it up to not just be a one on one thing. Everypony would be more comfortable that way, I had a feeling. Of course, I'd have to talk to Fluttershy and Twilight about this.

Sweetie's eyes were massive by the time I finished, a deep crimson flooding her cheeks. Scootaloo made another gagging motion, but wore a playful smile this time, while Apple Bloom just grinned at the two of us. "Y-You were serious? I thought that was, um, just something you were saying to be nice," she whispered, suddenly looking down and away from me, a pang of sadness dancing across her features.

"I really meant it, Sweetie. I'll need to talk to the mares, of course, as they're involved, too, but I don't think they'll mind you. It's just, well, hard for me to say because you're too young right now. I have trouble picturing you as older, which is probably my fault, but I'm willing to give you a chance when the time comes," I explained. Her level of focus she was giving me was kind of a little intimidating, which was a strange sort of paradoxical sensation given it was coming from such a cute little filly. For a moment, she seemed deep in thought before slowly nodding to herself.

"So, you're having trouble picturing me as an... adult then, right? I didn't think of that. Um, I might have, well, no, I definitely overreacted earlier. I really am sorry," she whispered, shrinking a little but nodding twice and galloping back to her picnic blanket. Scootaloo gave a sigh, a light bit of frustration showing through in it, but Apple Bloom just nodded to me before looking back over at Sweetie Belle.

I hesitated, but the yellow filly nodded and added, "Yer doin' amazin'. She's super nervous obviously, but just keep bein' yerself an' she'll be back ta normal again in no time, Ah think."

"I hope so. This is really awkward," Scootaloo muttered from my other side. I nodded to both fillies before walking forwards again, trying to put on my most reassuring smile as I headed towards the blanket, noticing the white filly sitting opposite of our approach. Given how absent-minded I'd been lately, it was no real surprise when Apple Bloom deposited my folder into my left saddlebag a second later. Oops. I forgot I'd dropped it when I tripped over a small unicorn. Never thought I'd say that sentence either, probably. It was getting amusing to keep thinking of all the things that would probably break my original self's brain.

Her hoof rose up to point at the spot across from her, and she smiled weakly. "Mender's spot is there. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are to each side," she informed once we got within easy listening distance. She didn't want me sitting next to her? I swallowed lightly, but maintained my neutral smile as best I could. She might have been feeling awkward still, but maybe she just wanted me within the easiest viewpoint? I tried to stay positive as I nodded and sat down where she gestured.

"What about Tank and me?" Spike inquired, smiling as he trotted up next to me, the aforementioned tortoise orbiting him instead. Pity. I had kind have grown affectionate of my orbiting body for a while there. Maybe it was bias, however. My inner mass was envious of the planet and its moon.

Sweetie Belle momentarily blanked out after he spoke up. Heh. I figured that she hadn't taken five guests into account. Thankfully, I had stuffed the dragon full of gems before we got here! "Oh, you can sit next to Mender, of course! I packed plenty of food," our young hostess chirped a second later, gesturing dramatically towards the picnic basket. She recovered fast! I guessed that her social graces were developing rapidly from her sister.

"Uh, I hope they didn't let you near an oven to make this stuff..." Scootaloo muttered, sitting down and giving the basket a suspicious stare. Eh? I didn't think most picnic food required baking. Did they do it differently in Equestria? I suddenly imagined all sorts of fried foods, brown and crisp as they steamed lightly in the cooler air. My stomach growled lightly, and I tried really hard not to drool.

Sweetie Belle made a pouting gesture while crossing her forelegs. "Big Mac wouldn't let me use it! He carried me away from it really fast and told me that it was too hot for cooking. It's colder today than yesterday when he made those baked potatoes!" she protested irritably. Apple Bloom exhaled gently in what almost looked like relief. Oh yeah! Hadn't somepony mentioned that Sweetie Belle's cooking was terrible?

"Eh, at least we won't choke and die on charcoal. What do we have instead, sandwiches?" Scootaloo asked bluntly, reaching towards the basket a moment later. I noticed she was picking up some of Rainbow Dash's less than stellar personality traits, too.

"Scootaloo! Don't be rude! This 'ere is Sweetie's picnic. She serves tha food, and is treatin' us all, so be nice!" Apple Bloom cut in, swatting her friend's hoof away from the top of the basket at the same time. I nodded in agreement towards the little pegasus, lightly pushing her hoof back as she winced and rubbed at it.

"Ow! Sorry! You didn't have to whack me," she whined, frowning down at her hoof. Her eyes widened slightly as I reached forwards again and took her hoof in mine. Her hesitation melted into a smile a moment later as a bit of magic danced into her hoof, spreading soothing heat along her nerves and ankle muscles. She gave a little shiver before smiling back up at me with a nod. "I'm sorry, Sweetie. I didn't mean to be rude," she apologized properly a moment later, settling back into a sitting position.

Apple Bloom looked quite happy over the turn of events, but Sweetie simply gave a blank look, her cheeks blushing still as she watched us. She recovered fast and shook her head, smiling again a moment later. "Oh, no, it's no problem, Scootaloo. I'll get the sandwiches out for us if you're that hungry. I also brought some fresh grape juice!" she exclaimed, nodding twice and lighting up her horn.

The lid of the basket shakily opened, her apparently not having a whole lot of power behind her magic yet. That got me thinking, as I watched her pull out the sandwiches. Could I use enchantments on her, too, in order to enhance her abilities? I knew Apple Bloom wanted something to enhance the physical skills, but maybe I could do something to magnify magic as well? Idly, I started working out the concept in my head as she pulled out three full thermos bottles full of purple liquid. Whoa. Okay, she brought a lot of juice!

Smiling, I helped her steady my cup as she shakily poured the least full one first, giving me a grateful smile as I helped her. Her cup came next, and I suddenly realized the silly filly had given me priority. I tried not to snicker as I realized she really was worried and trying to smooth things over. The first thermos didn't survive both of our cups, and she screwed the cap back on and set it aside, having a lot more trouble lifting the heavier, full one.

Gently, I reached out and stuck my hoof against it, another bit of my magic expanding through it. Her eyes widened, then she smiled as gravity stopped working on the thermos. Discovering it much easier to manipulate, she nodded and smiled to me again as she poured the remaining three cups for everypony else. It took her a moment, of course, to realize she needed to shake the bottle to push the juice free of the no-gravity field I'd put on it. She grinned once she finished and left it floating in the air over the basket, lightly spinning in a circle.

Relaxing finally, I picked up one of the sandwiches with my hoof and sniffed it lightly. It smelled quite good, a spicy mixture of dandelion and alfalfa, if I guessed correctly. My pallet must be significantly different as a pony, as I never anticipated alfalfa to have a spicy flavor to it. A hard crunching noise came from my side as well, Spike resting against my hip as he continued munching on the amethysts. Idly, I wondered what they tasted like to him, having just been on the topic of racial taste buds.

Sweetie started on a sandwich, too, while Scootaloo sniffed at her cup of juice and Apple Bloom smiled over at Sweetie instead. I took the momentary distraction to sate my curiosity, leaning over and asking, "I just realized alfalfa tastes different to me as a pony. What do those taste like to you?" Spike glanced up at me before smiling, light purple flakes in his teeth as he offered up a medium sized chunk of amethyst.

"They taste kinda rooty, like a thick cream soda," he explained, adding, "Wanna try one?" He flattened the palm of his hand out, claws flexing out flat and offering the gem on it.

Apple Bloom snickered at the two of us, warning, "Spike, Mender's ah pony. Ya know he can't eat ah-" Interrupting her, I bent down and snatched up the gem with my muzzle, crunching into it lightly with a couple of chewing motions and running it over my tongue to sample it. Sharp mineral taste, and the oh so familiar sensation of rock. Nope. Guess I wasn't going to luck out and acquire a dragon's taste buds. Darn.

"Ah... uh..." Apple Bloom continued a second later, eyes wider than they had been as she just stared blankly at me. Spike just grinned at my expression and laughed.

"Guessing it's not as good for you?" he asked, snickering as I sighed and shook my head. Crunching the rest of it into chunky dust in my mouth, I just shrugged before swallowing it down. Scootaloo started laughing hysterically, of course, having momentarily forgotten about her drink.

"Wow! You can eat gems, too, Mender?" Sweetie asked, tilting her head towards me curiously.

"I can eat pretty much anything I want. Alien robot, remember?" I returned, averting my eyes and blushing lightly.

Apple Bloom finally recovered and snickered, shaking her head. "All tha same ta me. It don't matter none, honestly. Just surprised me!" she defended, raising her hooves up and waving them in front of her lightly.

Smiling, I shook my head towards her. Scootaloo had recovered and returned to examining her drink, of course. "This smells really like grapes. Like, more than grape juice should. But oh well. I practiced flying a lot this morning, and I'm way too thirsty to be picky!" she chirped, finally smiling and taking up her cup, taking a big swig of it. Uh oh. I suddenly realized there was indeed something Sweetie could have made in our lunch.

I realized I guessed right as Scootaloo's eyes bugged out, her whole body shivering. Sweetie gave her a curious glance, mouth still full of sandwich. A second later, she was blasted directly in the face with grape juice ejected from the little pegasus filly, who started hacking and coughing afterwards. Sweetie yelped and flailed, knocking her own cup over Apple Bloom, who rapidly ducked and shielded her sandwich from the flying refreshment, eyes wide now. I gave a little sigh. Never a dull moment.

Sweetie gave Scootaloo a somewhat annoyed looking glare, purple liquid dripping off her face as her friend rolled onto her stomach, hacking and coughing. "Oh come on. It can't be that bad!" the unicorn protested, sounding annoyed.

Apple Bloom, who had sat up and been just watching, frowned and picked her own cup up instead. "Ah'm sure it ain't that bad, Sweetie. Scoots is probably just bein' all, what's tha word? Mah sis calls yer sis it all tha time," she asked, raising her glass up.

"Melodramatic?" Sweetie offered, glancing over at Apple Bloom, glare shifting to a smile instead, despite the fact that she was covered in grape juice. Rarity? Melodramatic? I averted my eyes and lightly bit my tongue. No, she had been kind to me almost, almost always, so I shouldn't speak ill of her.

"Yeah, that's tha word!" the yellow filly agreed, nodding and taking a much smaller sip of her juice. She coughed and winced a moment later, looking back down at her glass. "Okay, ya might'a added ah mite too many grapes. This must be homemade?" she inquired, shivering lightly but looking much better than the face down pegasus across from her. Maybe Scootaloo just had more sensitive taste buds? Although she did practically inhale the stuff. I patted her lightly on the back between her wings, hoping to knock some of it loose or something. She peeked up and smiled at me, nodding. Heh. She really was starting to feel like a little sister, I noticed. So did Apple Bloom. I considered it for a moment, and suddenly realized Sweetie didn't. What did she feel like, then? I couldn't really place it. It wasn't the same as Twilight and Fluttershy either, that was for sure.

The filly in question frowned and licked some of the grape juice off her face, shuddering a half a second later. "Ah! Oh no. I really did add too many grapes!" she suddenly muttered, eyes softening as her ears drooped down. I swallowed the lump in my throat, the urge to hop over and hug her growing rapidly. Leaving my spot would probably be rude, though. What was Equestrian table etiquette, now that I thought about it? I should probably find a book in the library about it at some point, if Rarity was going to keep hauling me to social functions. Being a lieutenant in the guard and eating by smashing my face repeatedly into the plate seemed kind of improper.

"Hey, cheer up, Sweetie. It's the thought that counts, and I'm really happy you went to all of this trouble for all of us. So thank you," I tried to assure, giving her a soft smile.

She blushed lightly and looked down again, shaking her head. "Ah! No, it's not that much trouble. Um, nopony obviously has to drink any more of it. I feel so stupid!" she murmured, ears flattening rather than just drooping as she glared at the basket. It was like she was personally wringing my heart out, however, and I frowned.

"I'm sure it's not that bad. Mine even looks a little lighter than the other mix, so here. I'll give it a try," I offered, raising my cup up as well. Well, life, I'll miss you, but anything to appease the adorable little filly! She raised her head up instantly, looking surprised and uncertain at the same time. I almost saw a bit of guilt mixed in, too, but I just smiled to her and raised the cup up, deciding to just get my undoubtedly horrifying fate over with.

"Mender." It echoed through my mind and I stopped, frowning as I opened my eyes again. Sweetie still looked at me with that expression of surprise, happiness, and apprehension. It looked a little weird with her just staring at me, frozen in place. Wait...

My gaze shifted to Apple Bloom, who was also stuck in place, head in the middle of rotating over to look at me. A peek at Scootaloo showed that she, too, was unmoving, midway through extending her hooves out towards a sandwich. Apparently, she had decided the crisis was averted after expelling the juice all over Sweetie Belle's face. Regardless, it didn't surprise me when I noticed our clearing had fogged over considerably. Returning my gaze to Sweetie, I saw the dark blue filly with the clouded up eyes step out from behind her, looking over at me sadly.

"Prudentia," I whispered, earning a soft nod from her, her whole face shifting down to look at the cup, empty eyes holding rigid in their sockets. She really was blind, then.

"Don't drink it, Mender. Please," she warned suddenly, her voice a whisper as her eyes softened, giving her a sad look.

Frowning, I inquired as to why as I looked down at the juice again. A sharp intake of breath later, I barely resisted throwing the cup away from me as I beheld the black ichor frozen inside, looking like diseased blood. Well, that wasn't what it looked like a moment ago!

"That's its true form. It's poison, disguised as juice," she explained, shifting her blank eyes back up to me as she gestured to her right. I followed her hoof and locked my eyes on Sweetie's fallen cup, a meter or so away. She'd spilled it. It was poured from the same thermos. But it was an accident. She didn't mean to spill it! Why would Sweetie...? A pang went through my chest and I looked back at Prudentia, expression falling into a frown.

"W-Why would Sweetie try to poison me, though?" I asked her, not entirely believing the mysterious filly.

Prudentia looked even sadder before shaking her head weakly and correcting, "It's not a poison meant to kill. It's true purpose is to destroy aspiration, twisting your every desire and wish in life until you're an empty shell, only desiring one thing." I stared blankly at her, my mind unable to fully process that. How could Sweetie Belle attempt to do something so downright malicious? It literally refused to acknowledge itself as even a concept in my mind. Instead, I tried to understand it better.

"Desire what?" I whispered, frowning at the sound of my own voice. Uncertainty made it feel like a sin to speak above a light murmur. No, Sweetie wouldn't do something like-