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Forgiveness Pending

by Kiroberos

Chapter 72: Chapter 71

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Rarity frowned towards Twilight once more before extending the carefully wrapped box to her. "You have all the details, right? I've put a lot of, well, effort into the creation of this. Be careful with it," the pearly unicorn warned once more as Twilight took the box with an apprehensive look.

Spike, who sat sleepily at the base of the stairs, gave a mildly annoyed look instead, asking, "What exactly are we doing here, again?"

"I have no idea," I admitted, sighing as I watched the package exchange. At least we were inside now where it was warmer. Maybe I could convince Twilight to set more furniture on fire to keep us warm? If this trust exercise went the same direction as the last ones, that might not be that far of an extreme.

Twilight frowned over at Spike instead, apparently entirely ignoring my quip towards the process. "I told you, this is a trust exercise that's supposed to be geared more towards our specific problems, and I'm going to need your help to work with this thing. Mender, stay downstairs until I shoot you a mental message to come up," she instructed, glancing back over towards me with a nod.

I nodded simply in return, giving her a questioning glance that was mirrored by Fluttershy, who lay at my side, looking confused. My inquiry sent down her link returned a negative, sadly, revealing she didn't know anything more about this than I did. Although the way Rarity smirked as Twilight turned around and headed upstairs made me extremely uneasy.

"What exactly is this about, Rarity? Is this something you made?" I asked as Spike followed Twilight up the stairs towards her room.

The white mare frowned at that, then thought to herself for a moment before nodding and explaining, "I made most of it, although some parts were special order. This particular trust exercise is more, how shall I say, custom tailored to your particular issue. I was skeptical on whether the normal exercises would work, regardless." She could have admitted that before we had done them, and saved us, the custodian, and the royal grounds' keeper a whole lot of stress.

Sensing my frustration, Fluttershy sat up again and snuggled softly into my left side, earning a quiet exhale on my part. I closed my eyes and just let her nuzzle my jaw for a second before shivering and pecking her cheek, getting her to blush softly. Okay, yeah, staying in a bad mood with her around was really, really hard. I didn't particularly mind, however, and Rarity smirked at the image.

"Now you two, thankfully, don't need the exercises at all!" she complimented, smiling towards us and nodding. I started to smile in return when Fluttershy gasped instead, rapidly shaking her head.

"Oh no, I should probably do them as well. I hurt Mender not once, but twice! They were so terrible of me to do, and I have to make it up to him and get him to trust me again," she explained, entirely missing the point.

Blinking, I raised an eyebrow to her before pointing out, "Fluttershy, I do trust you. Almost unconditionally. Uh, and I really only remember one time you've done something even remotely painful towards me. Oh, except for that time you flew us into the river, but that was partly my fault, too." I mean, I was the one who couldn't walk straight after falling down, like, sixteen hills on my way towards Ponyville. Plus, I think there are only ten or so between Ponyville and my lovely crater site. I was just that bad at directions at that point, and probably hit a few several times.

She rapidly shook her head again, however, obviously disagreeing. "No! It was after you woke up as well. I let myself get so scared over what I saw in your memories that... I avoided you! That was horrible of me, and I know I don't deserve to be forgiven, but please, if there's anything I can do at all to help-" she continued quickly apologizing. Oh, that? She wasn't even dating me at that point, so 'avoiding' me wasn't really that big of a deal. At least I didn't think so, but I suppose I wasn't the leading expert on pony culture.

"Fluttershy, that was hardly anything major. It just confused me more than anything. Plus, what you saw was really horrible and I don't blame you in the least for not wanting to deal with it," I reasoned, knowing for a pony like her, it would have been even worse.

Rarity frowned and nodded in agreement, adding, "He's right, Dear. I know you had affection for him even then, but you were not actually 'with' him at that point, so hardly held to any social obligations. Plus, he's not angry with you, as you can see." I tried to nod at that, but the yellow mare pounced lightly into my chest with a squeak instead, holding herself to me as I wrapped my forelegs around her, giving an uncertain glance towards Rarity, who shrugged, looking uncertain at best.

We waited a few more minutes in silence, with me looking around the bottom floor of the tower. It was very nicely built, to be honest. I mean, sure, the engineer in me noticed things like that really fast, but it was more than just the structure of the room. A part of me still stared in wonder at how downright visually pleasing the architecture the ponies made was. It kind of made me wonder what the Keldarians could have created had it not been for that lovely galactic war thing. I think the most pleasant work of art my other self had witnessed was one of the artillery specialists 'doodling' a little flower with a smiley face on it onto the burnt remains of our third moon with a laser battery. I smirked inwardly at that. He'd claimed it would confuse the Grosh, who would have to stop and decipher what a 'smile' was. Heh. We all laughed...

I felt an ache in my chest as I slipped out of the memory and into the room again. The fireplace was warm against my fur, and I shivered, not realizing how cold I had become. I moved a bit closer to the fireplace, my hooves making light creaks as they pressed down upon the light-colored wood that the floor was made of. The fireplace itself was made out of the same cobbled stone bricks of the walls, making it look like it was just shaped out of the room via magic. Maybe it had been. The fire flicked back and forth in my gaze, and I just stared into it, blanking my mind as best I could. No, nothing was real apart from this moment. I was right here, and time moved onwards, with or without me.

Fluttershy slipped up next to me again and tucked into my right side, sighing softly. To my mild surprise, Rarity also joined us, moving in on my other flank and lying down a little ways from me, also smiling into the flames. Smiling. I was smiling. As much as everything had hurt and how horrible things had been before, I was happy. This place made me happy.

No, it was more than that. I felt their every wish now. Their last thoughts as their lives faded. I'd always felt that it was my fault. If I hadn't existed, maybe whoever had those malicious thoughts wouldn't have had a place to put that weapon. Maybe they'd still be alive, then. A part of me now wanted to spit on my older, naive self at the same time. No, the weapon was put into me and fired off during those five minutes of loss of control. That's why all the data from that exact time frame was so corrupted inside of me. There was nothing I could have done to prevent what happened, and definitely nothing I could do now to change it. Failing some sort of magical time machine or something, what was done was done. The weapon would have been fired off with or without me.

All it did now was firmly root in my mind that everypony, and everyone, that could yet smile, or cry, or laugh... All who held onto their emotions and could feel equal in others; they all deserved a chance to be happy. Even those in BEID, who had tried so hard to hurt me. Only the ones who'd given up that, and tried to take the happiness away from others truly deserved their fate. The Keldarians might have been doomed, either from the Grosh or our own genetics, but that didn't mean they deserved it, or what happened to them. I wasn't the one who did it to them; I realized that now. But I could live for them, and honor their memories. Desperation, hope, sorrow, loss, pain, and fear... All their final thoughts were stored away inside of me, along with everything that had comprised of them and their genetic code itself. Plus, if I happened to ever find the individual who did do that to them... Well, that was one individual who'd need no hesitation on my part.

A mental yelp from Twilight snapped me out of my darkening thoughts, and my ears twitched as if I'd actually heard it as I looked up in the vague direction of her room, suddenly on edge. Fluttershy perked up and followed my eyes as well, with a questioning expression instead of concern.

"Ow! Spike, be careful! This is a lot tighter than I thought it was supposed to be. Use the buttons!" Twilight ordered, me turning my audio channel on just to make sure she was okay.

"Are you okay, Twi? You yelped," I asked out loud, flicking my audio over to 'speaker' instead, which projected from somewhere below my own vocal cords.

Twilight made a squeak, which was easily heard this time and caused Rarity to start, looking over at me in confusion. The lavender mare recovered fast, however, and answered, "Oh, Mender! Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I just got my leg snagged in this thing, and Spike's having trouble with it. Don't worry."

Rarity smiled at that and nodded pleasantly, adding, "At least you know he's always looking out for you, Dear. And such useful abilities!" I coughed lightly at that, looking away as I felt my cheeks heat up a bit. Okay, so I might have been a little paranoid, immediately jumping to potential assassination attempts and getting ready to sprint up the stairs and all. This was Equestria, where that kind of thing was unheard of. Even the weapons that Snapshot had used caused quite a stir, with those kinds of things being heavily regulated. The mouth blade had been bought, but the miniature crossbow was apparently hoof-made by her. Which was amazing, considering she had hooves.

If she was weirded out by it, Twilight didn't show it and just giggled instead. "I agree. Contrary to what he wants you to believe, he's actually a sweetheart. Now turn off the audio, Mender. This is supposed to be a surprise," she requested. I sighed and nodded to nothing in particular, disabling the speaker first.

"And what a surprise it is..." Spike tossed out half a second before I turned off the audio channel as well. He had sounded rather negative with that, an odd mixture of disturbed and annoyed. Well, that surely was a good sign!

Rarity giggled at that, not making me feel better in the least. So it was some sort of outfit or something that would help me build trust in Twilight, or help Twilight build trust in me. Sadly, I couldn't think of any particular piece of clothing that could even begin to facilitate that apart from the blindfold I wore earlier. Twilight was taking way too long for it to be a simple band of cloth, however, even if it tied in the back with a button for some unknown reason. Worse yet, she had magic! Why did she need Spike's help at all?!

Decidedly giving up on the strange mystery that would be solved for me regardless in hopefully a few minutes, I returned to just staring at the flames as they gently danced. It took me a moment to realize suddenly that there wasn't any fuel in the flames. Huh. Well, I could only assume magic of some sort, although I was a bit concerned as to the fact that I didn't notice the fire simply extending out of the stone floor of the fireplace. I had the oddest compulsion to stick my hoof in it and see if it was actually hot, or if the fire was just some sort of illusion to cover a lesser heat generation spell. Twilight would probably scold me if it turned out to be real flames, though.

It didn't take much time after that at all for the mental link to flick on again. "Um, okay. I think I'm set, Mender," Twilight revealed, my 'speaker' kicking in automatically as the connection activated. Rarity perked up at that, and Fluttershy smiled and nodded before the unicorn lifted up a hoof to her.

"No, Fluttershy. You should let Mender go up by himself first. This is important," she warned, looking solemn. Oh boy. The only time I'd ever heard anypony suggest going first somewhere was when it was a massive trap.

I gave the pearly unicorn a skeptical glance, but she just smiled and nodded towards the stairs instead of actually answering anything. I should have known. Looks like I would only get to know what poison I swallowed after it killed me. Well, no sense in delaying. "Uh, right. I'll go see what this is about, then. See you in a few minutes, Fluttershy," I muttered, managing a smile towards the confused looking pegasus.

Rarity giggled at that and added, "Well, I certainly hope you put a bit more effort in than a few minutes. This has been a lot of work, and you wouldn't want to disappoint Twilight," she suggested, giving me that playful pout she was so good at.

I rolled my eyes, sticking my tongue out at her playfully before standing again and heading up the stairs. Hopefully I'd live through whatever this was they had planned. I had a sneaking suspicion that it would undoubtedly prove far more painful than they'd like towards me. No, it didn't matter if I tempted fate towards it or not. Bad things happened regardless, and I'd just given up attaching any sort of superstition to them.

Spike was coming down the stairs as I headed up, interestingly enough. Whatever he helped her set up must be done, and he was sent away as well. Strange. He also looked a bit, well, greener than usual. I tilted my head towards him, but he just shuddered as he looked up at me. "Ugh. Uh, good luck, dude. Oh and, um, have fun? So not sticking around to watch, and now I have a few... questions for Rarity..." explained before hurrying past me.

Well then, that certainly instilled hope and confidence in me. Like being diagnosed with a rare blood disease, or finding out that you were actually a cybernetic abomination! Swallowing uneasily, I continued up the last spiraling flight of stairs before stopping in front of Twilight's room doors. They were still partially ajar, Spike having obviously not closed them entirely when he left, probably knowing I'd be up shortly anyway. A soft light came from inside, at least telling me that I'd be able to see my incoming demise. Although, it was odd because it was too dim for the main lights. Maybe that was just the fireplace?

Deciding I wasn't going to get any further information by just standing outside the door, I swallowed uneasily and slipped inside, slowly shutting the door behind me. If I was going to die horribly, I at least had the courtesy of sealing whatever it was inside with me, while simultaneously limiting the amount of horrible sounds those surviving ponies heard. That was just common courtesy! Oh, that and trying to minimize your splattering after being wounded. I greatly respected the janitorial positions and tried to limit any gore I either created or produced myself. Their job was undoubtedly hard enough as it was.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw within. My jaw dropped practically to the floor as I spotted Twilight on the rug in front of the fireplace. She was indeed wearing a blindfold, but it hardly stopped there. A rather large ball gag was strapped into her mouth, and a series of haphazardly positioned leather straps tied her forelegs to her chest, tufts of her coat sticking out between them. Her back legs were somewhat mobile still, a metal bar with hoof cuffs on each end lying idle nearby that she must have decided not to put on. Lastly, a metal clasp locked around her tail base, and a larger ring was strapped down at the bottom of her horn. Oddly, the horn ring glowed a light blue in color.

"Mmph?" she asked out loud, looking in the vague direction of my hoof steps. "Mender? Is that you?" she asked mentally instead. That costume couldn't be what I thought it was!

"Ah, yeah. It's me, Twilight. Uh, what are you doing?" I asked out loud, edging a bit closer as I looked the costume over. Yeah, it was made of that fake leather, consisting of a black color and covered in studs made out of a bluish gemstone. It was such an accurate likeness to the special gear from my old dimension that it left little room to doubt. But that sort of thing was used in, well, sexual manners, which deeply confused me as to this situation.

She relaxed somewhat and wiggled again, the straps tying her forelegs to her chest not looking the most comfortable. I saw that there were leg holes now that I was closer, as well as a collar with leash attached. The leash lay to the other side of her, seemingly ignored. "Good! Uh, surprise! I guess... I'm not entirely sure why Rarity thinks that this will bolster trust, but maybe it's just a more extensive version of the blindfold exercise?" she questioned, not sounding very sure of herself at all. Raising an eyebrow, I slid the metal leg strut over towards myself and peeked at it. Extendable, with a hoof cuff on each side. Was this one of those 'ordered' items? I didn't think Rarity was proficient in metal manipulation.

"Oh, I'm not sure what that part is for," Twilight continued, obviously hearing the scraping noise, and followed with, "This outfit seems to be some sort of highly specialized restraint system meant for unicorns. The suppression ring stops magic from being used, too." She didn't know how right she was... It was also really strange having a conversation using both audio and telepathy. I frowned, however, doubting the validity of that last part she mentioned.

"I somehow doubt it's capable of restraining you," I pointed out, sitting down slightly behind her and looking over at the glowing ring.

Twilight hesitated for a moment before I saw the ring flare up again, but sputter a second later. "Ah, yeah. I could overwhelm the enchantment on it, but it would short the ring out and damage it. This is Rarity's outfit, and I don't exactly want to break it," she muttered, frowning behind her blindfold before turning back and looking in my general direction. "I don't know what the bar is for either. It's obviously to restrain a leg, but I'm not sure what to do with the other end, so I didn't put it on. Maybe it's to attach to something solid and sturdy?" she theorized mentally, her tongue rotating the ball gag around in her mouth as she 'spoke'.

Smirking, I shook my head and corrected, "No, it's not for that. I'll show you what it's for. Move your back hooves apart a bit, Twi." She tilted her head curiously at that, but actually did so, slipping to her back hooves and raising her rump a bit to accommodate the shift. Curiosity killed the cat indeed, but I had a feeling that I was the doomed feline here instead. Unable to resist the amusement of seeing when she figured it out, I slid the bar into place anyway and pushed the cuff onto her leg just above the hoof.

Imagine my surprise when both cuffs snapped shut an instant later. The bar extended at the same time, earning a squeak from Twilight as her back legs were pushed apart a good foot and a half. Magic danced along her spine at the same time as the buckles pulled tight, and she let out a panicked yelp as the tail ring yanked into the spine brace of the outfit, pulling her tail up and out of the way completely. Ah! I flailed sideways, looking away from her so fast that I ended up falling over, thankfully not even catching a glimpse of any private bits.

Twilight was practically screaming into the ball gag by then, and I realized that falling over had been a mistake as her back left hoof flailed into my lower gut, smashing into me hard and knocking the air out of me. I rolled to clear some distance from her and started coughing on the ground as she managed to flip herself, roll once, and then get stuck in a standing position against the wall. The ring on her horn was going crazy as sparks and flares of magic were shooting off it, and I momentarily worried she was going to set the room on fire!

"Twilight! Calm down! I'm not looking!" I managed to cough out, ducking a stray bolt of energy that radiated off her sparking horn. I felt my cheek singe as my armor folded up over my face, covering my eyes just in case. The unicorn froze, panting heavily into the gag and shaking there as her horn flickered and distorted the air around her. The panic I felt down her link lowered a little, and I slid forward as best I could while coughing. The smell of burnt fur in the air that flooded from under my face plate didn't make breathing any easier! Her level of panic continued dancing between moderate and set fire to the room, but I kept sending her as clear of 'yielding' thoughts as I could while edging closer to her. Being able to see would help her...

The lavender unicorn gave a start as my mouth closed down on the tie on her blindfold, and I pulled it off instead, not caring as I tore through the fabric of it. Her sight restored, her eyes locked onto me instantly, suddenly seeming to realize that I was definitely in front of her rather than behind her sneaking a peek, or whatever she thought I was doing. I kept the armor up just in case as I bit down on the cord behind her ear next, snapping it and pulling the ball gag out of her mouth.

"I don't know what Rarity was thinking, but relax, Twilight. You know me better than this. I'm not going to take advantage of you, or hurt you," I reminded, exhaling as I fell over again, giving out a few more coughs as I finally managed to take a full breath. To hell with this. Reactionary armor was getting programmed in as soon as I had a down moment.

"I... Ah, w-what happened?! Why did you do that?!" Twilight asked hesitantly, glancing around behind her as she turned practically scarlet in the firelight. That one I could head off fast.

"I didn't, Twilight. The suit is magical, it would seem. Rarity must have enchanted it, but I don't know why she's doing this. Uh, this is something for, um, bedroom activities, Twilight," I warned, glancing towards her back and looking for anything I could see that might disable it. Wait, there was something white sticking out of her tail ring, that wasn't there before...

Twilight shivered and swallowed, looking back at me before rapidly shaking her head. She surprised me by instead begging, "Please, Mender. This isn't how I wanted, uh, our first time to go. Please don't look..." I just attributed it to the panic and shot her a stern glare.

"Twilight, do you honestly think I'd do that? Seriously?" I asked her, actually a little insulted at the insinuation. She looked momentarily surprised at my reaction before her eyes softened and she looked away from be, losing a bit of her blush. I rolled my eyes under the armor and instructed, "Hold still. It looks like a piece of paper popped out of your tail ring. I'm going to grab it."

She froze, eyes widening but holding still like I asked. Slipping forward, I leaned over her and carefully touched the piece of paper, pulling it out and rolling backwards away from her before she could do anything. She gave a start, and then looked over at me in confusion as I slowly eased out of my guarded stance and set the paper down on the floor. My entire stomach was still sore, and rolling hadn't felt very good, I realized as I rubbed the spot idly.

"M-Mender, I wasn't going to hit you," she muttered, and then looked down at my stomach in confusion.

"You accidentally kicked me when you panicked," I explained, folding the paper open that was still attached to my magic. Okay, Rarity, you had some explaining to do...

The paper had a smiley face on it, followed by, "Surprise! I'd say this was a present, Mender, but I have a sneaking suspicion you'll just let her go anyway, being a perfect gentlecolt. Which should be exactly what she needs. You two can be mad at me if you wish, and I apologize ahead of time. The safe word is 'Elegance'."

What? I stared blankly at the paper, ignoring Twilight's gasp. She continued with, "Oh no, Mender! Are you okay? I just panicked and didn't think about where you were. Ugh, I'm so stupid! Of course you're not going to-"

I cut off her rambling by saying 'Elegance' out loud, getting a confused look from her. The bar snapped off a second later, however, folding back up and away from her legs as all the chest and back buckles came undone, the costume literally falling off her into two parts. She looked beyond surprised when the horn ring flared up and shot off her as if pressurized, looking slightly blackened from the whole ordeal as it rolled to a stop, free of the draw cords that had held it on, and spun for a few rotations in front of the fireplace.

Seeing the ring off her, I realized she was back in full control of her magic and sighed, folding the armor off my face and wincing lightly as it brushed tenderly over my cheek. Burns never felt good, and I shivered, numbing the nerves in the area with my cybernetics.

"Just like that?" Twilight asked, looking down at the note, and then back up at me before widening her eyes at the burn.

I nodded, however, and pointed out, "This wasn't my idea, and I don't know what Rarity was thinking. She says this might be 'just what you needed', whatever that means. Where did she even get a-"

Twilight pounced me, however, her horn lighting up as we momentarily fell out of reality. I was used to her teleporting at this point and just closed my eyes until everything pulsed back, and we found ourselves in a bathroom instead. Her bathroom connected to her bedroom, more specifically. She started levitating first aid supplies out from the cabinet while resting on top of me, pulling over ointment and a clean cloth.

"I'm sorry, Mender. The flares of energy discharge when I panicked must have burned you. I'm so stupid! Rarity's right, I was so dense that I needed this to really prove the point. Fluttershy's right, too. I... I didn't think I was particularly nervous around stallions, but... No, you're not going to hurt me, are you? Why did I think you would?" she whispered while applying ointment to the cloth. I felt my cheek slowly regenerating but just relaxed while she tended to the burn regardless, watching her as she talked mostly to herself. Fluttershy? I remembered the yellow mare's issues with thinking males were scary, but I didn't think Twilight had any particular fear of them. Although, maybe Twilight's only extended to the sexuality of males instead? She seemed to only be particularly nervous or afraid when that topic was brought up...

"It's natural to be afraid, Twilight. Especially when restrained like that. Rarity didn't have to go to that extreme to prove a point," I retorted, lifting up the paper I had been holding when she tackled and teleported us.

She read it for a moment before sighing and shaking her head, resuming applying burn ointment. "I'm not sure, Mender. It's like what Fluttershy dealt with. I don't know why I'm scared of you, though. I mean, logically, I know you're not going to hurt me. You obviously care about me and... You just let me go. You didn't even peek," she muttered, slowing down her soft rubbing along my cheek.

I opened my eyes again and looked up at her, tilting my head as I saw her frown down at me, hesitating. Noting her not continuing, I decided to add, "You didn't tell me to do anything to you. Any situation like that is supposed to be consensual, even with one of those outfits. That's why Rarity set up the safe word to unlock it so fast." I neglected to mention that Keldarian females didn't bother with that 'consent' part, but figured she probably could already guess as much.

Instead of answering, Twilight blushed softly and smiled down at me. I started to give her a questioning glance again when she leaned down instead and softly kissed my lips, melting against my chest as she relaxed. Okay, this was unexpected, but I couldn't complain. My forelegs slipped up and I gently held her close to me, feeling her coo pleasantly into the kiss.

I wasn't entirely sure how long we stayed like that, but it must have been at least a few minutes, as soon enough, Fluttershy spoke up through the link. "Um, I don't mean to intrude and I'm sorry. Uh, I just wanted to make sure that you two were all right," she asked quietly. Were we?

A glance towards Twilight showed her smiling happily, and she nodded, answering with, “We're just fine, Fluttershy. You can come up now if you'd like. Oh, and Rarity, too. I think we have a bit to discuss." Uh oh. Her smile didn't fade, and I suddenly couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing.

"Oh, um, okay. We'll be right up in a moment," Fluttershy returned, the link going quiet after. Well, whatever happened next, at least I felt a little closer to Twilight after all that. The mare in question smirked and pounced me into a kiss again almost immediately, apparently determined to squeeze a few more in before they got up here. It would seem that she felt closer to me, too. Suddenly, I think I realized exactly what Rarity had been thinking...

* * * * *

Yawning, I lazily stretched out on the bed, feeling comfortable finally, and perhaps a bit more like myself now that I had a gauze bandage pad stuck to my right cheek. Twilight lay next to me with her legs tucked under her, eyes lightly closed as she rested there. Of course, on the inside, I was gently navigating her through the sensations required to 'feel' where the other link holders were. We didn't have time to get very far, though, as I realized that Fluttershy's link showed her rapidly approaching the main doors to Twilight's bedroom suite.

Both of us opened our eyes at the same time, her glancing slightly to the left at the entrance to her bedroom, and me staring blankly at the wall in front of me. This was either going to go amazingly, or devolve into an awkward yell fest. Again. Twilight might need cough drops by the end of the night. The lavender mare stood up a moment later, hopping off the bed and wandering out into the main room. I hesitated for a moment before sighing and following after.

Fluttershy was walking up to Twilight when I exited the bedroom, while Rarity herself lagged behind slightly near the main doorway, looking a bit hesitant herself. I locked eyes with her as I walked out, and she smiled oh so slightly. I returned it, and she relaxed just a little. It was gone a moment later, however, as Twilight's horn lit up instead, levitating the 'outfit' out of the bedroom as well, securely tucked back into its bag, which I had assumed it came out of.

"Ah, yes. I imagine you're done using it now. Uh, any damages I should be aware of?" she inquired quietly.

Twilight gave her a skeptical, slightly annoyed look before adding, "Just the magical suppression ring. It got a little singed after I panicked when it locked me in," she returned, a sharp tone to her voice that made the mare wince.

"I also had to bite through the cord on both the ball gag and blindfold, but it didn't look like those were part of the set anyway," I added, remembering that they had been made of cloth, while the outfit itself was that fake leather stuff.

Fluttershy was blushing rather heavily at this point, and glanced over at the bag with a somewhat neutral expression. Rarity sighed and nodded towards the two of us before adding, "If it helps, I fully apologize, of course. I stand by my idea, however, and truly believed it would help you."

Twilight frowned and started to open her mouth again, but I cut her off with, "It did. Thank you, Rarity. While your execution wasn't well thought out, the idea worked and I think we both trust each other more."

Twilight looked genuinely surprised by my statement, turning to look at me as it replaced her prior anger from the link. If she was surprised, however, Rarity was entirely bewildered. "Oh, um, it helped both of you? It was more geared towards Twilight realizing you weren't going to harm her," the pearly unicorn muttered, tilting her head ever so slightly towards me.

"I think she knows that now, yes. But it also helped me realize that. I didn't think Twilight trusted me at all prior, and that... Well, it frustrated and hurt at the same time. But she trusted me to help her take the outfit off without panicking, so..." It was hard to explain what was going through my own mind sometimes, so I just said the words as they came out this time.

All three mares were smiling by the end of it, and the tension faded between the two unicorns. Twilight exhaled and nodded, admitting, "Yes, it did help. I didn't even realize how nervous Mender made me prior to it, but not only did it make me aware of the issue, it also went a good ways to letting me realize how much he cares for me. Especially as he puts up with all of this." I smiled towards her, but she leaned sideways instead and lightly kissed me on the jaw, a pink tint shifting into her cheeks. I felt a few heated thoughts drift through the link, causing Fluttershy to blush as well, but the lavender unicorn quickly banished them and turned back to Rarity instead.

"That out of the way, I guess all that's left is to apologize for damaging the outfit. Uh, specialty wear like that probably isn't cheap," Twilight spoke up. That was a political way to avoid asking why Rarity had gear like that in the first place.

The pearly unicorn frowned, and then simply shook her head, explaining, "The blindfold was the one you used earlier, and thusly, yours. The ball gag was merely a three bit purchase from a, well, novelty store I knew about in town. I picked up a few other things there, too, and it was hardly a big ticket item." Oh. Well, apart from the uncomfortable levels of information she just provided, at least that meant we had only destroyed Tia's sleep mask. I really should have recognized it. Further, the present she gave Fluttershy that I'd found in her drawer didn't seem all that strange anymore.

Twilight blinked in mild confusion, then totally ignored all the awkward information in light of instead asking, "What about the magic suppression ring?! I kind of burnt it up, and last I saw, magic suppression items go for easily a hundred bits, special order!" Oh yeah. Making an item that could slow or halt magical flow in such a magically saturated dimension like this one was probably no easy task...

"Oh, no, Twilight, I made that one," Rarity answered plainly, in the same way one might comment on the cake they baked. Oh.

Twilight blanked completely, her link reading about as surprised as I felt. To complete the finishing touches on the critical system errors we were experiencing, Fluttershy instead spoke up with, "Oh yes, Rarity is good with magic that requires lots of small details! I've watched her do it, and it's quite pretty." Rarity herself smiled and nodded towards the yellow mare.

"I wouldn't say I at all compare to Twilight, who embodies the Element of Magic, but I am proficient in spells that require an eye for detail. Cloth enchantment especially. That's what I use the magical suppression spell for the most. Ponies like a mild version of it on their clothes to protect from, well, incidents. They're good at resisting the elements and fire as well," she elaborated, nodding twice before hesitantly glancing toward me instead. Ugh. I saw it coming and flattened my ears down before she appended, "I put several dozen more layers onto anything I make for Mender, of course." Eh?!

At that, Twilight finally started to snicker a little, and Fluttershy coughed lightly, looking away from me. I twitched lightly before asking, "How many layers normally go into your outfits?" A number without any context didn't have much meaning.

"Oh, why one, usually. Or two for expensive or work clothes," she answered simply. Twilight started laughing instead, of course.

"Hee, you do have terrible luck, Mender. Even without the gravity thing," she reminded unnecessarily.

Twitching in a slightly more pronounced way, I shot back with, "Some of it isn't luck so much as, I don't know, my fillyfriend planting magical explosives on the wooden plank she precariously balanced me on, six stories in the air?"

Twilight looked momentarily horrified, but then it was Rarity's turn to burst into a fit of giggles, which rapidly shifted the lavender unicorn to an annoyed expression instead. Fluttershy looked up the stairs at that point, probably looking for escape routes. I sent her a mental image of the full tower layout I'd collected a second later, giving her a start. Ah, right. She wasn't as pragmatic as I was sometimes.

"I said I was sorry, Mender! Ugh, I'll make it up to you, I promise," Twilight assured, quickly turning back towards me instead. I actually anticipated her reaction and stepped forward as she rotated, her eyes widening but her not being able to react in time before I cleared the distance and kissed her gently on the lips. Her startled reaction quickly melted into a soft sigh as she leaned into my mouth a bit, starting to return it.

Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Rarity slowly start to blush, looking away from the two of us once she realized what she was doing, fully. I smirked into the kiss and pulled the lavender mare against me, just holding her there as I enjoyed the sensation of her soft lips against mine. Of course, then the door opened...

"I think I picked up all the food that you wanted. Was there anything else that, uh, whoa," Spike admitted, eyes widening a little as he looked up from his tray of food and saw Twilight and me.

Knowingly, I released the mare in time for her to blush and quickly back off a little bit. What actually surprised me was that she didn't actually break away from my embrace, instead just turning her head to look at Spike and smile sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Spike. Mender was, uh, forgiving me," she apologized, giggling at her own coy joke.

"Is that what they call it now? My, it certainly gives one incentive to be bad if that's the sort of forgiveness you can expect," Rarity mused, eyes oh so subtly shifting back to look at Spike as he was setting out the food from the tray, oblivious to her attention, ironically. Heh, at least she was warming up to the idea. Ooh, and he'd brought sandwiches!

Twilight smiled at that, however, hauling my attention back to her with a gentle kiss to my jaw. "I agree. But for now, I think we're all hungry enough. Are Rainbow and Applejack joining us for a late night snack?" she asked, glancing back to Rarity instead.

The pearly mare jumped slightly, as if startled out of some deep thoughts before quickly looking back to us, asking, "Oh, um, what was that, Dear? Terribly sorry." Oh?

Fluttershy gave a soft giggle before reiterating, "Um, Twilight asked if Applejack and Rainbow were going to join us. Oh, and where's, um, Pinkie? Isn't she rooming with you?" Oh, that's a good question. Was she in their room already, sleeping? I kind of had her pegged as a night owl, which made that concept weird. Plus, I hadn't seen either of the other two mares since getting back from escorting Octavia out.

Rarity smiled finally and shook her head at Fluttershy. "No, Pinkie and Rainbow are out exploring the castle, despite already staying here a dozen times prior. I believe that's actually code for them being bored and looking for some hapless guard to harass. Applejack, however, wasn't feeling very well and turned in early. I'm a bit worried about her," she revealed, frowning towards the end. Uh oh. I knew the night before had, well, bothered her. She hadn't quite acted the same since then. I hadn't anticipated her having such an adverse reaction to just seeing my scars.

The yellow pegasus wilted a little at that, but Twilight shot her an assuring smile from my embrace, suggesting, "We can always check up on her later tonight after we're done eating. Maybe bring her something to eat if she's awake? I'm sure she wouldn't mind the company." Yeah, I'd feel better checking up on her as well. I knew what horrible dreams could do, which is why I absolutely detested sleeping by myself.

Fluttershy smiled at that, as did Rarity who nodded twice. "Indeed. The poor dear is losing sleep again, I hear. I've been meaning to ask if there's anything you can think of to help her, Twilight?" the unicorn asked, looking uncertain again.

The mare that snuggled against me scratched her chin momentarily, the gears revving up in her mind as she considered the question. It took her almost fifteen seconds, but she eventually answered with, "While Princess Luna is certainly the most proficient with dream magic, and can visit ponies innately due to her status as Moon Princess, there are techniques in which we can visit other ponies' dreams. Mender himself developed a definite technique for visiting dreams without needing a unicorn's assistance, and could also probably help." Oh! True. Why beat around the bush when we could just go directly to the source of the problem? Smiling, I nodded before adding something I'd been considering since sharing the dreams with Sweetie a while back.

"One thing I'd been wondering about, actually, is if I could use the links to pull ponies into our dreams without being physically there? If so, it might be possible to help Applejack without needing to stay at the farm. But that's an experiment for another night, obviously," I reasoned, tilting my head towards Twilight for input. She perked at that answer, eyes brightening significantly as I saw her sharp mind immediately start to formulate information from that little suggestion.

"Oh, I forgot about the links! Yes, it might very well be possible. Although from our experiences, in order to have a truly lucid dream for all, Mender would have to go to sleep first. He's the only pony apart from Princess Luna that I know of that can lucid dream without any sort of prior practice or training," she deduced. Yeah, I wasn't able to pull Fluttershy into a lucid state when she went to sleep before me. Everything was hazy, and I could tell she wasn't considering what was going on to be real.

Rarity looked intrigued at all the new information and nodded slowly after a long ten seconds or so. "It would be possible, then, to interrupt whatever nightmare she's having and replace it with hanging out with us, instead?" she inquired, obviously trying to get a summary. I shook my head, however, smiling towards Spike, who slid a sandwich over towards me knowingly.

"Interrupting it would be a good thing, but I hope that we can actually dissect the bad dream and show her that it's just that. Maybe, if we can do that, she won't have as many in the future and will be able to sleep better?" I suggested, snatching up the sandwich with a glowing hoof and immediately digging in. This would help my cheek repair itself, too!

Rarity giggled at my exuberance before politely picking up a small cup of the tea she'd poured herself, floating it to her muzzle with grace. Twilight looked more lost in thought, and Spike frowned towards the tray as if staring past it. "Just, uh, go into her dream by yourself first?" he suggested slowly, looking back up at me with an uneasy expression. Huh? Oh.

Twilight paled, immediately understanding the problem, but Rarity frowned, lowering her cup a little while Fluttershy tilted her head, giving Spike a confused look. To my surprise, the lavender mare shook her head as she settled back into a laying position next to me instead.

"No, I think I can go in with him. I saw a lot that night, too," she whispered. We hadn't talked about it all that much. She'd found my leg lying in a smear of blood and gore on the second floor of the library and promptly ran into the bathroom to throw up. It had been blown in through the door to the balcony, I imagined, when Applejack smashed the entire thing free from the side of the tree. It hadn't looked good at all, but she organized a search party for me regardless with Princess Luna's help. She hadn't given up on me, even with overwhelming evidence against me being alive still.

Rarity's eyes softened a little bit, and Fluttershy shrank down to my other side, suddenly realizing what we were talking about. She especially was not going in with me until I 'secured' the dream from all gory details that Applejack might be remembering. "You don't have to repeat that experience, Twilight. This is to help Applejack, not make you sick," I reminded, frowning down at the tray. I suddenly wasn't as hungry, but decided I should still make myself eat. I needed the energy to fuel my regeneration. It was kind of amusing how Twilight had started abusing that aspect now, getting me food whenever I got injured. Heh.

"It's okay, Mender. I'll be expecting it this time, so, well, it won't be as bad. Still, only we should go in first. Nopony needs to see that sort of thing that doesn't have to," Twilight continued, stirring her tea while Spike poured it, the spoon glowing softly with the colors of her magic. It made sense, and I didn't question it that far. To be honest, I trusted Twilight to know what she was capable of managing. Spike finished pouring her cup and set the larger pitcher down again as I took another bite of my sandwich. He looked uncertain for a moment before speaking up.

"Wouldn't Rainbow want to be there, too? Just a thought." Heh, and what a thought it was. Everypony smiled knowingly at that, and I found it amusing how certain things could be universally understood like that so quickly.

Rarity smirked further a second later. "That's an astute observation, Spike. Rainbow would certainly gain 'points' with Applejack if she helped to take away the-" she started to deduce. She was cut off by my suddenly surprised expression, followed a second later by Fluttershy's and Twilight's. Rainbow herself popped in over our mental channels, her heart rate going through the roof. I flicked on my speaker just in case.

"Ah, M-Mender, help! Pinkie and I just got back and... AJ is..." she started to quickly explain, panting tiredly. She still let what she was saying out loud bleed through into the mental connection, I noticed.

"What's wrong with Applejack?!" I asked quickly, pulling up her status connection. Oddly, it showed all green and sleeping soundly.

Rainbow centered herself, the sensation feeling a bit on the weird side through the link, and then explained, "She's having a nightmare again, yelping and rolling back and forth in bed. I can't wake her up!" Eh?! Frowning, I looked back at the normal display results, shifting that window over to my projector. Rarity gave it a blank stare as it popped up, but Twilight frowned at it, apparently recognizing the 'nominal' results of an electrocardiogram readout. Wait...

I ran the active scan results through a pattern filter. It only took three cycles for it to pick up the fact that her breathing was alternating on a very specific pattern, as was her heart rate. An organic creature couldn't do that... Nopony could regulate their breathing that precisely. Narrowing my eyes, I fired a ping off instead, straight down her link. Three seconds passed, and then four. It should have only taken a hundredth of a second at best, at this range. That wasn't... No, that couldn't be possible.

"We need to get up there, now," I warned, standing up immediately and abandoning the remainder of my sandwich, which I normally wouldn't do for the world. AJ held one of the special places in my heart, however, even if she could be a stubborn pain sometimes.

Twilight nodded and lifted a hoof towards Rarity again, Fluttershy standing and flopping over my back to touch her hooves against Twilight's side. Spike barely managed to dive in time and grab Rarity as reality fell away, pulling us all inside the implosion in an instant, then yanking us upwards.

Next Chapter: Chapter 72 Estimated time remaining: 22 Hours, 33 Minutes
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