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?"