Everything was a blur as I ran. My left foreleg screamed in agony, but I kept going as the dark distortion followed after me. It paced itself, laughing every time I tripped over something and fell, tearing fur and skin on thorns and stray branches. Gasping, I rolled down a hill through the trees around me, sliding on the wet grass as I felt it land behind me, grinning.

Everything slid to a stop as I drove my hooves into the ground, gasping as I giant chasm opened up in front of me. There was no noticeable bottom, and it looked like it was gouged out of the ground by a giant claw. Shit! Looking both left and right, I noticed it spanned a good sixty yards in both directions. Slowly swallowing, I instead turned to face my pursuer, willing my armor up as fast as I could.

Nothing happened. No, why didn't it work?! "Because you're afraid. I scare you, just like I scare everypony else," it whispered, grinning at me with its distorted, black smile. I stared in horror at the wicked blades it called teeth. No, get away! I couldn't manage to even speak as it loomed ever closer.

"There's one problem, however, Mender," it whispered, close enough now to lean in against my ear. My eyes widened as I felt its hot breath along my neck and the saliva sliding onto my fur. It wanted to tear me open and feed. To feast on my flesh and blood. I started trembling, which only caused it to snicker.

"Everypony else can run away from me. You can't run away from yourself," it finished. No, this wasn't-

"I am you!" it screamed into my ear suddenly. A bladed tentacle whipped forth, and the last thing I saw was the point of the serrated spikes on it going straight towards my eyes. Everything exploded into pain and darkness, and I barely managed to scream out as it threw me backwards into the chasm, three more tentacles slamming through my torso an instant later. The pain was beyond anything I'd ever felt for just that instant, and then it yanked in three different directions...

My scream echoed through the tiny room, devolving into a gasp of actual physical pain and a coughing fit. Then I fell out of bed and landed on my face on the floor. The wooden planks of the cabin's floor greeted me as I wheezed for breath, shaking throughout my very core. My hooves grasped at my chest, feeling it solid and whole again before I let myself sag down and collapse fully against the floor.

My eyes could see still, and I opened them to look around the dim room. I was alone, which I was thankful for. That would have been awkward to explain. Weak sunlight drifted through the window shades next to the door, and I guessed it to be late evening without bringing Clocky up to specifically tell me. Nopony else was here though, so either before or after suppertime, and before bed.

Gently, I brought my hooves up to rub at my temples, wincing at the throbbing sensation tearing through my skull. I didn't know what to do with myself, and just ended up curling up, a soaked mess as my own sweat smeared across the floorboards. I felt cold, as if instead of waking up, I'd been brought back from the dead. Hell, maybe I had? Was I even really alive with all that shoved inside of me?

Hyper-sensitive at this point, I felt her 'appear' behind me next to the bed far before she announced her presence this time. Her grin echoed through my mind, and I pinpointed her location as soon as she landed. Her broken, decaying mouth opened, undoubtedly to spew more garbage out in the form of thinly veiled insults and passive-aggressive goading. No, I couldn't even think of a way I could deal with that right now. A tentacle replaced her face instead an instant later, both surprising her and tearing her in half before she could even get the parting chuckle out this time. Just to be sure, and hopefully to delay her regeneration in my mind, however she pulled it off, I stabbed her twice more through the chest as she fell, then ripped her into three more pieces with a sharp yank. I felt the heat through my head as the pieces burned away behind me. Go to hell.

Minutes passed as I just lay there on my stomach, face pushed sideways as I lay limp against the floor. Half my blue blanket had followed me off the bed and tied my legs up, but I made no attempt to free my lower half. My eyes ached as I stared into the darkness under my bed, finding all sorts of delightful metaphors from the fact I could still see fine in it. 'Monster' echoed through my head and I felt a spike of nausea shoot through me. No, I couldn't deal with this right now. Everything was adding together and I needed to just get away for a while.

There was, well, one solution, given what time it was in the day. My eyes closed again and I jumped at the chance for sanctuary. Inside of myself, I gave two gentle tugs to the connection to my mind.

There was a pause, then a jolt of surprise, and I smiled, making sure to keep my eyes closed throughout. "Oh, Mender? Uh, do you need, wait, two tugs! Uh, just a sec. I'll go turn the quantum generator on!" Keela managed to squeak out, sounding both surprised and delighted by my sudden appearance.

"Hurry," I whispered, no, more pleaded back at her through the link. My mind ached but I felt her pick up the pace, flat out running down what felt like a corridor before turning into a larger area. Her lab, I recognized.

The machine turned on a moment later, and I wasted no time in activating Prudentia, whom I discovered was next to me now. At this point, I was used to suddenly finding it when I needed to, so I didn't pay any attention. Feeling the link expand enough for my mind to slip through, I flung myself as fast as I could.

Opening my 'eyes' much more gently and comfortably this time, I looked up at an upside-down and somewhat bewildered looking Keela. Eh? Oh. I rotated myself and slowly climbed back to my feet, having literally flung my mental image through the portal created and crashed into a sizable bookcase. Thankfully, they made the bookcases and covers for bookcases out of sterner stuff than wood and glass in this dimension, and I had bounced off it with a reverberating ringing sensation.

"Eager to get through, were we? Err," Keela pointed out, then suddenly stopped as she tilted her head towards me. I looked up at her questioningly, earning a giggle. "Uh, not to sound crass or anything, but that's probably the best way to say this. You look like shit," she observed, snickering again and covering her mouth with both paws.

My ears flattened back and I sighed, nodding. Free of physical constraints, my headache went away and I found myself in the cold comfort of my purely digital self again. It was weird knowing that this body was just a construct, but a bit of a happy thought at the same time. I didn't have to worry about pain in this form. "Sorry, but I've been having a rough day," I excused, sagging a little, but perking as she gestured behind her to the couch.

"Well, lie down and rest for a bit. You can talk about anything you want with me, of course. I'm willing to do anything I can to make you feel better!" she chirped, looking pleased with herself before turning and heading for the very couch she pointed out.

Aching a little, I limped over to the thing and hopped up on it, feeling content at the prospect of resting my tired mind. Sleep wasn't the issue so much as I felt heavily stressed. "Thanks for this, Keela. Sorry if I woke you up," I apologized, noticing suddenly that she was still in her morning robes. They were a secondary layer Keldarians used to cover up whatever they happened to sleep in, be it pajamas, underwear, or nothing. Mornings, when not under the covers, could get a little bit nippy.

"Nah, I was sitting in the lounge nursing my 'breakfast'", she assured, holding up a clear mug of what looked like very, very black, unsweetened coffee. Scary!

Snickering, I shook my head at her. "It's unproven, I know, but I hear that stuff stunts your growth. You should be careful," I teased playfully.

She shrugged before grinning and suddenly shifting both paws towards herself, cupping her upper set of breasts through the robe. "Eh, I'm big enough already, so I don't mind," she added, mirthfully looking back up at me as my blush radiated through my colored barriers and I averted my gaze.

"Keela!" I whined, trying my best to look upset and grumpy.

She laughed and dropped her paws again, grinning at me before apologizing with, "Sorry, sorry! I know. I'm just teasing you. Figured you wouldn't mind a bit of visual stimulation after the pent up stress of the estrus season in Equestria." That didn't make it better!

"That's not better! Anyway, that is kind of why I was so insistent on visiting this time," I chewed out, a little irked at her now.

She shot me a sympathetic expression and held an open palm towards me, the universal sign of not having any weapons. Kind of pointless, as I was indestructible here and she had advanced magic that came out of that very palm, but it was still an ingrained gesture, I realized. "Relax, I was only teasing you. You know I'm not going to do anything. Rest, Silly," she suggested, patting the couch cushion next to her.

Exhaling softly, I nodded to her before flopping onto the cushion in question. "I miss Twilight," I muttered almost immediately upon flopping over. Keela grinned and nodded, but didn't look over at me.

"I understand, honestly. She's gone for estrus, right? That means you only have to wait a week or so. What about Fluttershy?" The Keldarian looked over at me expectantly, and I shook my head.

"Of course I miss Fluttershy, too, but I actually meant that I miss sharing dreams with Twilight. It's hard to miss that with Fluttershy, seeing as I never had that to begin with," I explained, frowning down at the fabric of the cushion absently. Could you miss something you'd never experienced, or was there a different word for that? Longed for, maybe?

Keela frowned for a moment, and I saw her keen mind whirl into motion. It was entertaining to me to watch ponies and other individuals think, I discovered, knowing I spurred it on. Well, except for Pinkie. Her 'thinking' looks never interested me as much, because I could never tell if she was thinking about what I'd just said or revealed, or if her mind had hopped off onto a totally different tangent. Heh, much like mine just did.

"Because her brother found out, I'm guessing? There was some sort of meaningful symbolism or something surrounding the mutual sharing of energy, wasn't there?" she inquired a dozen seconds later.

"Yup. Turns out, I discovered that it's extremely similar to being engaged. I snagged one of Twilight's culture books after I got out of the hospital, and it explained that it was a mostly permanent bond between two ponies, not necessarily unicorns, that linked both life force and empathy. It listed a surprising amount of side effects and cultural ramifications," I furthered, shuddering as I remembered the extremely detailed entry. Of course, if Shining hadn't made such a big fuss over accidentally assuming the wrong thing, I probably never would have looked it up.

Keela let out a slow blink, and then snickered in amusement. "She must trust you if she placed you in a situation where you could potentially form a bond like that without her consent. The magic involved intrigues me, though," she admitted, perking her ears up and glancing back over and down at me again.

I nodded, continuing with, "There wasn't much detail about the magic itself. Between two unicorns, or apparently magically enabled individuals, in my case, it's spontaneous and can be done at will. If one of the partners isn’t magically enabled, a ritual is used instead to momentarily 'open' the 'static' individual, or individuals. It's common, apparently."

Despite not having the technical details of the ritual, Keela still looked interested enough. "That sounds rather romantic. And remarkably dangerous. I can guess at some of the side effects. That pool of energy that the magic inside of us comes from... you exchange part of yours for someone else’s? Considering most magic practitioners use that synonymously with 'soul' in most regards, I can see why it's a big deal," she agreed, softly shaking her head afterwards. Yeah, I'd thought about that already.

"Empathy is just the start. It would create a bond similar to what the disks do, but more extensive. Physical constitution is partially linked, too, so when one partner gets sick, they usually both do. A perk being that it works in the other direction, too. If one partner is sick or hurt, the other one being healthy and pulling themselves above their peak will often drag the other back into healthiness. To the point that there are healing techniques specifically for linked individuals," I continued. I couldn't help but also find that much interesting. I'd never even considered such a practice, and the applications it could have to lifestyle and magic were amazing, honestly.

Keela surprised me by blushing lightly and nodding, giving me a soft smile. "Very romantic indeed. Mostly permanent, though?" she inquired, shifting to a skeptical look a moment later.

I shuddered, remember reading about that. "Yeah. There's an... extensive ritual to get one removed that requires the assistance of an external unicorn, regardless of being magically enabled or not. It takes a good six hours and is extremely risky. Permanent energy loss, complete destruction of emotions, and death are all side effects. Hence the 'mostly' part," I elaborated, coughing lightly.

She stared at me for a second before breaking into giggles. "Yeah, I can see the incentive to not try to break one of the connections. What if one of the partners passes on?"

"It's far gentler, but often described as a hollow sensation afterwards. There's surprisingly little information on it, with only a few actual experienced individuals explaining what it was like. They felt a constant tugging, and a longing to join their other half again, but other than that, refused to elaborate," I muttered, frowning slightly.

Keela shivered before whispering, "That's a little scary, honestly. If you believe in ghosts, that's practically an assured haunting, there." I smiled at her, rather amused, honestly. First admitting to liking the romantic aspects of a relationship, and now hinting that she might believe in supernatural effects... Keela had surprised me today. She was more open-minded and positive than I thought Keldarians could manage.

I opened my mouth to comment when I heard the door slide open behind me. Instinctively, I whipped around to see whom it was, the barriers getting ready to activate as an extension of the book that rested against my leg in Equestria. He stopped, looking honestly as surprised as I was.

"Oh, I didn't realize you had company, Keela. My bad! Hahaha! Wait, you're Mender, aren't ya?" he asked.

Keela smiled to him and nodded, offering, "This is indeed Moon Mender. He's visiting at the moment, nothing formal. Mender, this is-"

"Instructor Tymiandius!" I managed to choke out, eyes widening even more. Damn, he was still alive?! Wait, no, that honestly didn't surprise me. Hell, rumor had it he could breathe void and was immortal, so long as there was something left in the universe he hadn't blown up yet...

Keela looked bewildered, and Tym started laughing heartily. "I see! If you know my name, do you also know that I prefer-"

"Captain Tym," I finished, smiling at him. He had been my instructor so long ago. Not just instructor, but mentor later after my schooling was over. Well, technically, he had been my original's instructor and mentor, but same difference, honestly.

"Y-You know him? Wait, does your memory extend back as far as..." Keela started to ask, tilting her head towards me curiously.

Tym frowned and walked forwards, scratching the thick braid of hair he kept from his chin as he examined me. Keela looked towards him instead as he moved, hesitating suddenly, as if remembering something she wasn’t supposed to tell him. He looked more interested in me, though. "Hmm. Scrawny and downright slacker posture. Insatiable curiosity and habit of interrupting when convenient. Oh, and Keela's fawning all over you. Yeah, ya kinda remind me of my last, and honestly, best apprentice," he commented, causing my ears to flatten back.

"Hey, I've been exercising more! If Nirru hadn't injured my leg, I'd be doing worlds better by now! Wait..." Halting, I blushed lightly as I glanced back at Keela, who had averted her gaze. In my spontaneous and confusing urge to defend myself against his verbal barbs, I had only listened to part of what he'd said. Damn it!

"I, um, think I understand. You were the mentor of his original self, then? The Keldarian he was cloned from? I’d not realized you two had known each other when-" she inquired, tilting her head.

Tym snorted and rolled his eyes, waving his paw lazily towards her. "Eh, that was the official crap, anyway. He was a good kid, if not a bit of a smart-ass. Still, he's dead now, so as far as I'm concerned, this guy here is the real deal now, no? Are ya gonna start things up again?" he inquired, snickering.

Keela glared at him, pink turning to crimson a moment later. "You jerk! Now you're just teasing me. No, I'd rather, um, really not think about that!" she squeaked, causing him to burst out into laughter again and me to get confused. I had the sneaking suspicion I was missing something again.

"Ya know, for being such an inquisitive guy, I never understood how you could be so damn dense sometimes. It's downright contradictory, Mender!" Tym pointed out, resting a hand on his hip. It was a little strange, seeing the considerably larger Keldarian and having him act like he knew me perfectly fine. Although, did he know me? Technically, I had tons of memories of him that were rapidly popping into the forefront of my mind now, and it felt like I really knew him.

"Um, I guess so. Twilight says I can be really dense sometimes, too," I muttered, frowning as I remembered her playfully teasing me about it.

Captain Tym stared at me for a moment before snickering lightly. "Scratch that. You ain't entirely him after all. He would have gotten pissed at that. You're a bit more level-headed, and slightly more boring than he was," he deduced afterwards. I flattened my ears back and glared at him, earning another round of laughter from the large Keldarian. His fur was as blue as the rest, but patched somewhat by the lines of scars I knew resided under it. He was ancient, even in Keldarian standards, but his body just would not give up. He was as muscled and defined as I remembered him. His eyes were a bright green in color, somewhat uncommon for that light of a hue. The left ear was still missing its tip as well, and I realized he still refused to have it regenerated. He said something about it driving the girls crazy when asked.

"Well, I think that's pure improvement, Captain," Keela defended, gently hugging me from behind almost protectively. Lying down like this, I was actually a little smaller than she was due to position of body mass. I tilted my head back questioningly at her, a little surprised she wanted to defend me in this regard.

He smirked, and I suddenly had flashbacks from Rainbow Dash. Uh oh. "Careful, Keela. Are you sure you want to admit that this version is 'even better' than the last? Do I have to point out that you technically mated multiple times with the prior version?" he inquired in amusement.

I wasn't entirely sure who reacted worse to that statement. Keela exploded into a flush across her entire face until I thought she'd die from blood loss to the rest of her. I spasmed and broke into a coughing fit as it felt like I accidentally inhaled a piece of my lung. Oh! So Nirru didn't walk in on our 'first' time, then! Of course, then all the memories had to come back.

"Aaaaaah! Why did my brain pick now to suddenly remember all of that?!" I yelped, curling forward and grabbing my head with both hooves.

"That's it! You're upsetting Mender! Out, Captain!" Keela commanded, pointing towards the door. I wasn't entirely sure he heard her through his copious amounts of laughter, though.

It took him almost a fully thirty seconds to recover, as I remained tucked into my ball, refusing to look at anypony due to the absolutely rock bottom gutter thoughts flowing through my head. It wasn't even technically 'me' that did it! "Ha! Oh, you two are too much fun. I forgot how entertaining this was," he added, snickering.

"You technically promised to keep that all a secret! Mender also technically isn't him, so you just broke your promise!" Keela squeaked, still blushing furiously but trying her best death glare at him.

He snorted, proving hers was just as effective as mine. Well, we shared that in common, anyway. "Eh, he's close enough. Your face already says as much. Anywho, don't ya wanna know what my information was that I was looking for you for in the first place?" he pointed out, reminding me that he still hadn't gotten to, well, any points at all, except for embarrassing us.

Keela growled and gave him an annoyed look before nodding once. "Speak then. And then you can leave!" she reminded, yelling the last part. I noticed two guards had popped into the room behind the captain, reminding me that Keela probably still had the highest seniority on the ship, even though they'd be pasted if they tried to apprehend Tym.

He laughed even more before nodding, unfazed by her flustered state. "Sure thing, Princess! Your external sensor results came back finally from the test site. You should probably take a look at the readings, as they're more than a little interesting," he revealed, taking a short stack of papers from his side pack and handing them over to both of us, sliding them across the couch.

I uncurled enough to reluctantly peek at them, as Keela leaned over me and shifted the top page closer to her to look. "Wait, what? The feedback isn't static?" she asked, sounding beyond shocked. I was also impressed with how fast she recovered after the topic change.

"Er, what was the test?" I asked, not having anything to base the readings off.

"Quantum wavelength tests in the area where our planet was, based on Equestria's samples. We decided to do a residual passive scan, but filter out any wavelengths that didn't specifically match Equestria's, just to see if there were any fluctuations," she explained.

Ah. She was looking for 'weak spots' in the dimensional barrier where it would be potentially easier to pass through. The results were definitely, well, not what I'd expect them to be. My processor ran the field numbers almost instantly off her database.

"Graphed out using spatial quadrants, this forms a concentrated sphere at a point very close to where the original portal was. Anything more than a kilometer away from the portal point has the readings dwindle away into almost nothing," I reported, giving Keela a start.

"Er, wait, what? How did you figure out the shape so fa-" she started, before wincing and stopping the sentence instantly. I raised an eyebrow to her, but she giggled to herself and shook her head. "No, sorry. Forgot about the computer thing. So, instead of bleeding through on a universal scale like I had anticipated, it's actually only a very small effect at this specific point? That actually makes sense, honestly. I doubt that even the connection of an Aegis Artifact could manipulate quantum wavelengths in an entire universe. The energy requirements would be phenomenal!"

I shrugged idly and relaxed into the cushion again, considering it. "Well, to be fair, we thought that it was a specific effect that adhered to the nature of the planes before, not something localized. That meant it would take very little effort at all to keep the planes 'linked' to each other. In reality, this means they're only linked over a very specific area," I corrected. In truth, I'd only been thinking out loud. This was a good thing overall. That meant that, even if something else repeated the exact effect that created a portal, unless they did so specifically within this two-kilometer wide area of space, they wouldn't get a portal to Equestria. Two kilometers compared to, well, all of space, was laughably pathetic. So pathetic that I couldn't even fathom how pathetic it was. Further, you couldn't even detect quantum wavelengths at greater than five kilometers. They'd have to literally know exactly where to look.

Keela nodded, as if reading my mind. "This data is now classified as top secret. Nobody is to mention these results to anyone," she ordered. Reading between the lines, I realized she actually meant anyone involved with Nirru.

Captain Tym nodded again and gave her a thumbs up before turning and promptly walking out without a single other word. I blinked and watched him go in slight confusion, and then looked over at Keela, who wore an annoyed face instead. "Smart-ass. He did say he'd leave right afterwards," she murmured, shaking her head a moment later. I gave her a perplexed shrug.

Her stare continued for a moment before her cheeks tinted pink again and she looked away from me, coughing lightly. "Ah, sorry about all that, by the way. Uh, technically it wasn't you, if it makes you feel better," she reminded, tone shifting awkward instantly. I became keenly aware of the heat from her stomach that was pressed up against the back of my neck as I coughed as well.

"Ah, it's not so much that I'm grossed out. I'm just, well, in a committed relationship with Twilight and Fluttershy. Any memory that goes against that feels, well, awkward, even if it wasn't me. I still get treated to, uh, every single recollected sensation," I explained, feeling my cheeks heat up as well.

Keela groaned and buried her face in her paws, rapidly shaking her head. "I so didn't need to know that. Um, okay, this is getting really uncomfortable, in a mixed-feelings kind of way," she complained, peeking out over her fingers at me. Well, her claws were still retracted, so I took that as an awkward instead of annoyed frown.

"Well, I suppose it really doesn't change anything apart from my knowledge. Honestly, to try to be positive about it, at least I have a lot of pointers that I can use for when, uh, wait, mixed?" I asked, suddenly confused by what she said. How did that word apply to this situation?

She blushed even harder and looked away from me before explaining, "Well, there's the whole different species thing that makes it a little weird. Plus, the fact is that, honestly, you're not actually him. You just act a lot like he used to and have his memories." I stared at her blankly, and then watched her start to fidget a little under my scrutiny. Those were both negative. Where was the 'mixed' part of her prior statement? Thankfully, she knew what I was going to say.

"Yes, I know. What makes the feelings mixed is, well, honestly, none of the prior mentioned things has technically stopped me from thinking about it?" she finished, giving me a hopeful smile. Oh hell.

With a light groan, I fell forwards onto my face. Okay, she actually laughed at that. Regardless, 'thinking' about it was a far cry from actually considering, planning, or doing anything about it. I decided that I ultimately appreciated her honestly slightly more than how much I was weirded out by all of this. It was cutting a sharp contrast with me trying to realize in my head that all of these memories came from a dead guy I was cloned from. Her attempting to pretend that I was actually still him was a little weird for me. Especially since that 'pretending' part was about romance and sex.

"I'm not going to do anything about it, relax. You're just, well, really kind to me, despite everything you've experienced and been through. He changed a lot after what my sister did to him, and it shocks me that technically you have all those memories yet you're not, well... You're a good guy, still," she explained, tone softening significantly. A couple warning bells were set off in my head. Duh! Of course she would have sought him out after the lovely torture events with Nirru! She talked to him afterwards then, and apparently he didn't choose to start the relationship up again? When I first mentioned him, she had no idea what had become of him or where he was. Generally those bits of info were fairly readily available if you were in a relationship with somepony, I suspected. I felt uneasy suddenly, but I couldn't figure out where the sensation was coming from.

Keela kept rambling, however, starting to sound like she was afraid that if she stopped talking, I'd freak out and disconnect. "Look, I know this is weird. You're a really, really likeable clone of my ex, which sounds weird just saying it! I admit, openly and honestly, that a part of me was and is considering what it would be like to date a pony. That sounds even crazier, trust me. But the big part is that I'm not going to do anything about it! I don't want to scare you or make you angry with me and lose you as a friend, Mender, so unless you give the green light first, I'll be just your friend," she continued rapidly, allowing for no space large enough for a reply anywhere.

Finally, she dwindled off and just watched me, cheeks pink and apparently waiting for some final verdict now, which kind of bewildered me, given the nature of her request. "Uh, you want me to decide on that now?" I inquired, confused at what she was waiting for.

"Ah! No! Of course not! I mean, you could if you wanted, because I have no idea what I'm doing right now, and this wasn't in any of the research materials I've been looking over about xeno-dating, or even in their source material, which was a little frustrating. I'm sorry! Uh..." she resumed, noticeably panicking as she raised up both paws to give me a double 'relax' sign this time.

Okay, Rainbow might have rubbed off on me a bit. I couldn't help it, and started laughing. "You have no idea how adorable and silly you're being right now. Relax, Keela!" I assured, giving her hands a gentle push downwards. She looked momentarily bewildered before smiling again and looking down at her knees sheepishly. I had a strong hunch at this point, however.

Tilting my head at her, I softly asked, "Who exactly are your friends, apart from me?" It probably was being fairly intrusive, but I had the sneaking worry that-

"Apart from you? Captain Tymiandius and, well, my sister, although that's more than a little soured after she, you know, tried to kill you and blow up Ponyville," Keela informed, exactly as I realized.

Frowning, I looked at her for a moment. "That's why you don't want to lose me as a friend, then," I muttered after another moment's thought.

"Mender! I wouldn't want to lose your friendship, even if I had a thousand friends. But you're right in the fact that I get, um, really, really lonely. It's mind-numbing sometimes," she agreed, coughing lightly and looking away from me. After her sister did all that and was now technically in their prison, I imagine her life got a lot lonelier.

A half a minute passed as I considered everything. She patiently waited and watched me mull it over in my head until I nodded. "I'll talk to Twilight. She'll understand what you're going through, and the two of us can keep you company more often. In fact, all the girls are really nice and you'd probably have six new friends if you really wanted," I suggested.

Keela widened her eyes, looking honestly surprised at my offer as her jaw sagged an inch or so. "I don't know about that. It feels kind of wrong to seek their friendship after what my sister did. I know that it wasn't me doing those things, but my naiveté and denial were what enabled her to go to Equestria in the first place. I've been trying to pretend she's a good individual for years," she murmured, eyes softening a little.

Years? That surprised me a bit. It took me a moment to realize that losing her 'lover' was really fresh for her. My entire life was over the span of weeks she could count on one paw, but her perspective placed losing him a very short time ago. "Did you know what she did to him?" I asked, my tone a little colder than anticipated, but I felt a little colder on the inside, too.

She winced and looked away, telling me the answer right there. "They wouldn't tell me anything directly but, um, I had educated guesses. Mender, I can't excuse anything she's done. I agree with you. She's a monster and is more than a little unbalanced. But she's my sister! I know it sounds weird to hear from a Keldarian, but she's my only family and I love her. She's taken care of me since I was old enough to realize I was being taken care of. After, well, what happened to her, her outlook on everyone else changed. And not for the better..." she explained, starting strong but ending in barely a whimper.

"She was raped," I concluded, closing my eyes gently. Keela gave a start against my back, and I could only imagine her expression at that. But I didn't want to know, in truth.

"H-How do you know that? She only ever talked to me and our mother about it!" she asked, sounding more shocked than offended.

My eyes slid open and I peeked back at her as I explained, "Her memories were partially uploaded into the body she used to kill me. After I turned into that other... thing, I absorbed her memories and DNA when I killed that body."

Her expression softened, and she looked sad at the memory for a moment before nodding. "I see. That explains it. Um, yeah, she was captured and held by two of her magic instructors after practice when she was twelve. They held her down and, um, took turns in one of the lounges. I don't have the full story, but it was said that they were trying to get back at our mother for her council chair decisions on magic tutelage. They probably fully expected what happened," she explained, flattening her ears down to the sides of her head.

I stared at her for a long five seconds or so before nodding. "She killed both of them after she finally found her, right?" It was more for confirmation than any actual curiosity. From the broken and fragmented memories, I had gathered that they died on the spot.

"Our mother was known for a lot of things. She was the war council chair, which Nirru took over after she died. She was also unmatched with a blade, and was known for her fiery temper and sense of duty and morals. No, they didn't even get to be arrested. She killed them both instantly. I don't think there was even a fight," she muttered, tone of voice mixed and hard to read. It seemed like she looked up to her mother. Wait, blade?

"Ventosus Lacuna?" I asked, ears perking up.

Finally, Keela smiled. "You're very clever, Mender. Yes, our mother wielded the blade. She was the last true owner of it. Our great, great, great, great grandmother was the one who created it almost a hundred and ninety years ago. Back then, the sword design was brand new, introduced by our new allies just a decade prior when they first appeared in our system," she confirmed.

That was a really old blade. I wondered how old Prudentia was. Not very, considering my original 'made it' somehow. They keep telling me the creator has to die, but that obviously wasn't the case for him. It was 'Prudentia,' I knew for a fact, at least as far back as his schooling days.

"Regardless, I'm not telling you any of this to try to redeem my sister. It's just so you understand why I can't just, well, kill her. I love her and she's my only family I have left. She's a complete monster, yes, but that doesn't change that she's my sister. I've been trying to talk to her, of course, and get her to realize the error of her ways," Keela continued explaining, snapping me out of my thoughts on Aegis Artifacts.

I stared at her for a moment, expression blank. "How's that been going?" I asked a second later, trying my hardest to keep the ocean of bitterness from tainting that statement. My feelings were still very, very fresh regarding Nirru. I hated her. If it had just been me with a say in what happened and it wouldn't have affected anypony else, I wouldn't have hesitated in the slightest at ripping her head off. Call me soft and weak, but I didn't want to make Keela cry.

"Awkwardly. She's mostly silent and, well, confused, for the lack of a better term. She doesn't understand why you didn't kill her. She doesn't seem to fully understand why I'm so angry with her and locked her up, either. She had resisted arrest and severely injured three Keldarians before Tymiandius got there and forced her to surrender," she explained, closing her eyes and relaxing backwards. Mine closed, too, and I just lay there for a moment, considering everything that happened.

It had confused me at first, too. Why had I let her go? Keela was the only reason. At least, I was pretty sure she was. A part of me hadn't wanted to drop myself to her level, but that was just childish thinking. Somepony had to get their hooves dirty if they wanted to protect what was worth protecting, and as far as pure kill count went, mine was already pitch black. No amount of karma or happy thoughts would erase the fact that I outright murdered almost two and a half billion innocent individuals. I was fairly certain that put me down as the biggest mass murderer in the history of pretty much anything, as a singular, anyway. The Grosh as a race easily beat me, of course. They killed about three times as many Keldarians, given the population of our other, smaller colonies.

"Thank you for sparing her, Mender. I know you only did it for me, and you very much didn't want to. I felt that much through our bond. But you spared her, all for me. So sincerely, thank you. If there's anything I can do to help you, ever, let me know," Keela suddenly spoke up, surprising me. Glancing back at her, I realized she was just giving me a soft smile. Hesitating, I nodded back a moment later, deciding it couldn't really do any harm. We were almost assured to have a long road ahead of us together in the future, given the permanency of the bond she gave me. With her newest confession, a part of me wondered if she did that on purpose. Was it just an excuse to be 'stuck' to me for longer? No, I doubted Keela would give up so much just for that.

"I didn't want to, no. But you're my friend and I didn't want to make you cry. You sounded so desperate, and that was the only thing that stopped me. I apologize, but I hate Nirru. Not only did she kill me, but she outright threatened everypony I know and love. There's no forgiving that," I apologized, looking away from her.

She was silent for a moment before nodding gently. "I understand, of course. Honestly, I agree with you. She went too far. I wonder, really. If you'd met her long ago, would you feel differently? She seems so absolutely bewildered by you sparing her, that I wonder if the her from back then isn't pointing things out. But no, she's staying locked up. She hasn't even tried to escape so far," Keela murmured, sounding more reflective than anything. I just let her talk, ears twitching a little as I lay on my side.

It was rather peaceful after everypony had left us alone. Keela gently sighed and slid me sideways until my head rested gently in her lap, then gently massaged my shoulders while I relaxed. I guess I was real enough to her, even with my smooth and solid-colored body. I probably looked like a character from a videogame or something. My sensations were hooked into this form, however, and it gave the proper give to my muscles for her, apparently. I relaxed as she gently kneaded my neck and back, seemingly pleased to just be near me.

Honestly, this was what I'd wanted from the start. Just time to relax with a friend and get my mind off everything for a while. Too much had started to happen, and I found myself losing pace with the rest of the world. A little rest and relaxation was what I needed. Future Mender could worry about Sweetie Belle, Keela, Rarity, Canterlot Newspapers, sanity loss, and strange graphical glitches. Not in that particular order.

Oddly, being massaged like this kind of made me feel like her pet. It didn't bother me as much as I thought, probably because deep down, I knew I wasn't, but being pseudo-pampered was still rather relaxing. I understood Opal a little better now. Smiling, I just let myself relax and zone out as we rested there in the comfortable silence. This was a good break from my bad dreams after all...

Jolting awake rather roughly, I winced as the dawn light slipped into my eyes. Lifting my hoof up to rub at them, I realized that I was back on my bed and had a blanket tossed over me. Huh. I didn't remember doing it, but guessed that Big Mac might have tossed me back into the bed after he got back. Wait, dawn?!

Looking back up through the sliver of sun rising up through the crack in the curtains, I noted that indeed it was in the opposite position that I remembered. I peeked at Clocky a moment later and noticed it was oh seven hundred hours. The days were getting shorter, it would seem. That meant I'd slept for about nine hours total, not including the time I had been awake but visiting with Keela. I fell asleep while she was massaging me at some point and ended up disconnecting, drifting back to my body as normal. Huh.

Slowly, I sat up and looked around the room. Big Mac's bed was empty, of course. He was an early riser, I had heard. Spike was curled up into a little ball not unlike a cat, vaguely near the small of my back but not quite touching. His snoring was impressive as always, of course. At least Twilight and Fluttershy didn't snore...

Shifting further to the left, I saw all three Crusaders still in bed as well, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to either side of Sweetie Belle, both holding her gently. She actually wore a smile, which made me happy, even if I knew it wasn't made by me. A slight twinge of regret shot through my chest, and I looked away from all three of them. No, staying here wouldn't work.

Slowly slipping sideways, I slid out from under the covers and drifted to the floor. Silently, four tentacles shot out and braced against the wood instead, lifting me off the ground and shifting me towards the door like a silent snake. Stealth was a lot easier with eight extra appendages. The door opened with a light squeak, and I saw Scootaloo shift lightly in her sleep, so I held still. A second later, she smiled again and snuggled back into Sweetie's side, and I exhaled. Sharp senses on that one.

I didn't lower my tension until I was outside, tentacles rapidly pulling back up into me before anypony who happened to be awake saw them. Making sure the door was closed and locked again, I slipped the key into the saddlebags I now wore, and stretched out, giving a happy groan as my back cracked in three different locations. I'm glad nopony noticed that I didn't have my saddlebags in the room. Smiling, I pulled Ventosus Lacuna and Prudentia out of my subspace pocket as well and hooked them both to my left side before looking around.

The camp looked practically empty, of course. Including Big Mac down by the river, I counted only three ponies up and about, and one was questionable. For some reason, there was a dark brownish pegasus sporting a rather unique mohawk on the roof of one of the cabins. He was oddly hanging upside down from the chimney by his back leg, but was curled up very comfortably, looking like a bat, and appeared to be sound asleep. I decided I very much didn't want to ask.

Shrugging, I trotted in the direction of the stream, angling to go down the flow of water this time. I slipped a small map out of my right front saddlebag and peeked at it, glad Twilight had insisted on giving it to me now. It showed the stream angling slightly northeast, east as it headed off and away from Ponyville. Smiling, I saw a small lake that was naturally formed this time, and decided to make a beeline for that.

Big Mac saw me walking past, and we exchanged nods before I returned to my course. I could appreciate a stallion of few words. He appeared to trust me enough to leave me to my own devices while he washed up a few of his towels, anyway. Oddly, that made me feel rather good. At least somepony thought I was dependable enough to not accidentally kill myself, or anypony else if left alone for a few hours.

The walk itself was amazingly peaceful, and I enjoyed the cooler air of the morning as I shuffled through the fog. The forest was still sleeping around me, and apart from a cranky squirrel and a startled but sleepy looking raccoon, I didn't see any other animals. Oddly, neither were scared of me, the squirrel in particular seeming more irate that I had tripped over the log he was sleeping in and sent us both tumbling down a decently sized hill. I apologized when we finally stopped spinning at the bottom, of course, but he didn't appear happy regardless.

After a quarter of an hour or so, I finally made it to the lake, only slightly dirtier than I had been prior. I set my saddlebags and Aegis Artifacts down at the end of the river, where it met with the lake, and slipped down into the shallow water near the shore. Sighing, I let the cool liquid flow around my fur as I eased the brace off slowly. Wincing, I realized it had gotten a little stuck after my leg swelled up, which I had predicted. The water softened my skin and relaxed my muscles, however, and I slipped free of it after a moment's effort, letting it drift towards the shore. More muscles were growing back in my leg now, and I'd have to adjust the brace soon anyway to be wider in the straps.

After I washed all of the dirt and grime off my fur, I just let myself drift on my back in the water. It was very relaxing, in all honesty, and it felt good to just let my left foreleg float freely, no strain or aching needed. I zoned out, shifting back inside of myself for a bit as I double-checked on my various passive projects. The DNA was fine and ready to send to Keela in our next visit. She just had to finish the adjustments to the scanner she'd built on her side to receive the data. My database-sorting project had also finished, and I had many folders now to separate everything neatly, including information on the weapon and disks. Those I would definitely peek at today.

Even more interestingly enough, my silent scan had finished and set up hundreds of root access backdoors to almost every part of my systems, also informing me of several anomalies discovered. It looked like mild corruptions of code in a few of my drivers from all the damage I suffered coming into Equestria. I headed towards the auto-repair, but stopped myself suddenly. Wait, what?

Frowning, my eyes opened again and I looked back towards the shore. The little blue filly stood there in the mist, mostly transparent but smiling at me. I watched her for a minute before she slowly shook her head and faded away. I stared at where she was, realizing she'd never done that before. Normally she hid behind something or only appeared in my peripheral vision, but she seemed to be getting less shy suddenly. Further, she felt like she was directly inputting into my action this time.

My mental hoof shifted away from the auto-repair, and I decided to just leave it be for now. Eh, I was functioning just fine for the moment, and I should probably look into the repair algorithms before just giving it free reign. She was right. Smiling, I silently whispered "Thank you..." into my mind, feeling a light pulse from Prudentia before I shifted back to floating again without direction. I'd have to see if I could talk to her again soon. I wanted to learn more about her and the book. If I was going nuts, I might as well be cordial to my other personalities. I had a feeling cooperating would be much healthier in that situation.

Smiling, I relaxed again and opened up the first file about the disks, settling in for a bit of reading. My proximity sensor went off less than a second later, of course. My eyes widened as my armor popped on, the water exploding around me in what could only be described as a very noisy Mach cone skipping across the lake at point blank range next to me! I swore I heard a 'Whooo!" as it shot past, momentarily tearing a 'tunnel' in the water and flinging me at least five meters into the air.

Given my newly discovered velocity and falling distance, hitting the water again momentarily jarred me, the armor folding over my face as I went under, creating both functioning goggles and activating my rebreather system. Okay, what the hell? Glaring, I just let myself sink as my sensors activated, sending particle scans up through the water and spotting the UFO as it swerved around, coming in for another 'bombing' run. It was a little smaller than I was and had wings... Damn it, Rainbow!

The 'U' having been removed from the UFO equation, I shifted my back legs a bit and surfaced again, considerably farther offshore now. My face armor folded back as I watched her skim the surface again, a ways from me this time. Ah, she wasn't attacking me so much as she probably didn't even notice I was there. Wait, why the hell was she here?! Mares weren't supposed to visit the camp during the estrus, even if this was somewhat away from the main area. Hmm. Did it still count as part of the camp? Further, why was she here this early in the morning?! From what I heard from Twilight, she was usually comatose until well past noon.

Her skim slowed as she hopped higher into the air again, whipping into a tight corkscrew and spraying water off herself everywhere before shifting into a hover, shaking herself off in the air. Oh. She was doing the same thing I was. Washing herself. That was a, well, creative and violent way to do so. It fit her well.

"You could have given me a heads up!" I shouted at her from across the lake. She gave out a startled yelp instantly and fell out of the air in surprise, falling right back into the water she just got out of. Err, oops. Should I go make sure she wasn't drowning, or should I beat a hasty retreat so she didn't try to drown me instead after she got out?

Deciding I'd feel moderately bad if she drowned on my account, I snickered to myself and motored over to where she was, two tentacles shifting under me to form propellers under the water. She resurfaced a few seconds later, shooting me an annoyed glare as she rotated to face me. It only lasted half a second, however, before she shifted to surprised and wide-eyed instead, then blushing furiously as she fought to get out of the water again.

"Ah, no! Wet wings!" she groaned, not being very successful in escaping the water with nothing to kick off. Apparently settling for plan B, she started rapidly paddling towards shore again.

Smirking as I realized I caught her out of her element, I simply motored up next to her, my propulsion in the water being far superior to her hooves. A few seconds passed with me easily keeping pace with her frantic swimming while smiling at her, before she finally sighed and just stopped, idly floating while treading water.

"Okay, I can't get away, I get it. Just get it over with," she groaned, wincing and slamming her eyes shut as I drifted next to her.

My eyebrow raised, me having absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "Uh, get what over with?" I inquired curiously, a bit lost and the conversation hadn't even started yet. A new record!

She sighed and looked away, opening her eyes again while her flush shifted to just a light pink tint. "Ribbing on me for yesterday. I'm sure you have quite a few choice words after what I said to Fluttershy," she groaned, sinking her muzzle under the water and blowing bubbles in frustration after she finished talking.

Snickering, I inhaled before sinking back under the water, shifting under her in the same instant. I saw her eyes widen and her body lock up, but I brushed her onto my back instead before extending out all eight tentacles in different directions, holding them straight. The maws on the ends peeked up above the water and purposefully inhaled sharply, shifting every tentacle into a rather buoyant floatation device. Like a rescue platform, I entirely lifted above the water, Rainbow sitting on my back trying to keep her balance as she looked around. Realization hit her a moment later and she fluttered her wings open, taking to the air again with a light spray of water.

"Wait, you're just letting me go?" she asked, looking at me with a bit of surprise as I resumed my normal form, giving an airy burp as all the inhaled air flooded into me instead. Well, that felt funny.

I nodded back up at her a moment later, shooting her a smile. "I'm not mad, Rainbow. Just a bit surprised that you thought about me like that. You don't need to avoid me," I explained, just drifting there while looking up at her.

She blushed again and coughed lightly, looking away. "H-Hey! It's not like that! You were 'there' the entire ride, which was more than a little, um, distracting, so at 'that' moment, you were looking pretty good. Ugh. No, that was... well it's true, but it didn't sound very good," she groaned, smacking a forehoof into her forehead. I smiled at her, but just let her continue.

"Trust me, I'm so after AJ. Although, if I wasn't after her for some reason, you're definitely cool enough to warrant a sharp second! I'd probably be all over you," she added with a nod, grinning again.

Blinking, I rolled my eyes. Okay, that sounded like Rainbow again. "Second, huh? Well thanks, I guess," I returned, giving her a blank and somewhat skeptical stare.

She snickered and sprayed a bit of water at me from her tail. The smells coating it were more than a little potent, and I coughed violently, sticking my nose back into the water and blowing bubbles. She, of course, started laughing. "Smell good, do I? Imagine what it was like before the dip! I told you I get bad heat cycles. Still, second place is way totally high up there on the list. That means you're more awesome than Soarin', from the Wonderbolts! He got knocked down to third," she explained, winking at me.

I raised an eyebrow to her, but assumed who he was. At least I knew who the 'Wonderbolts' were. "Interesting. I'd ask why you rate me so high, but you probably don't want to say, so I'll respect that. Why are you even here, anyway? Isn't there a lake on the other side of Ponyville that you could use that wouldn't put you dangerously close to the stallion camp?" I inquired, tilting my head as I drifted in a slow circle, causing her to be upside down to me now.

She blushed again and looked away, coughing. "Okay, so maybe I was hoping to find you at some point today and properly, um, explain myself! Yeah. Obviously, I don't need to apologize or anything because it's totally an amazing compliment for me to want to mate with you," she concluded. I smirked, reading easily between the lines and accepting her apology anyway. Silently, of course.

"You don't have to be tough around me, Rainbow. I can feel your emotions at this range from the link, too. I'm not going to laugh at you," I assured, causing the light pink to shift red again as she squinted her eyes closed.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not used to this like Flutters is! Go easy on me, sheesh. I also was hoping to talk to you about the wing thing, too, for the upcoming race. I know you're cool, and not going to rat out me being here to anypony," she explained further, looking down at me with a smile again.

A light warmth danced into my chest and I nodded up at her, returning a happier smile. "Of course not. Battle partners, remember? Should we get to more stable ground to talk, however?" I inquired, gesturing with my head back towards my saddlebags on the now opposite shore. Keeping up with the active pegasus had carried me quite a ways off course!

She grinned and nodded, swooping down and hooking her forelegs with mine before using her wings to power us both towards the area I gestured to, her eyes perking up as she spotted my things in the grass. "Sure thing, Boss! Wait, what are you doing awake at this time of day?" she suddenly asked a moment later, remembering apparently that the sun was barely peeking over the horizon. Heh, that was a long story, but I guess we had time...