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.