“Ty… Ty… Dude…” I was half-asleep, but someone was trying to wake me up. Rather than do so, I turned around and lethargically swatted away at the offender. “Wake up!”

*Slap*

“Ow! What the…!?” I sprang to life with a mix of annoyance and confusion, holding my cheek. I looked around to see that there was no sign of the unicorn I’d remembered sleeping next to the night before. Instead, I was greeted with the sight of a small purple dragon standing on the bed beside me. “Good mornin’, Spike…” I wearily greeted with a strong, lengthy yawn.

“Morning? It’s like eleven o’clock. You overslept,” he informed, to my shock.

“What?? Eleven? Aw damn…” I grumbled, wiping my eyes and stretching. “Where’s Twilight at?”

“She left a little while ago. She had a few errands to run around town. She’ll likely be done sometime this afternoon.”

“Oh great… I remember her sayin’ she had somethin’ t’ tell me, too…”

“Oh! About that…” Spike trailed off before pounding his chest a couple times to force a burp in my face. Oh god, his breath was RANCID! He spat out some green flames and out came a scroll that wasn’t wrapped with an official seal. “Twi told me to give you this…”

“What is it?” I asked as he handed me the letter.

“I’m not sure. I never took the time to look at it.”

“Hm… Alright then, le’ss find out…” I opened the letter to read its contents:

Ty,

If you’re reading this, then that means you’re FINALLY awake. Sorry I couldn’t be there to welcome the morning alongside you, but Mayor Mare needed some assistance with some minor touch-ups around town. I don’t quite know how long I’ll be, but if it isn’t too much to ask, could you please stay at the library until I get back? A peculiar request, I know, but there’s something I need to discuss with you, and it’s imperative that we do so as soon as we can.

Hugs & Kisses,

Twi

P.S. I gave you a small boost in magic for you to maintain your form throughout today.
P.P.S. Happy Nine Month Anniversary!

“Ineterestin’…”

“What’d it say?”

“She wants me t’ stay here until she gets back. Whatever it is she wants t’ tell me, it must be important…”

“Probably… well in any case, I’m goin’ out.”

“Wait, what? Where??”

“Hanging out with my friends Snips and Snails. I was waiting until you woke up to go and see them in town. And since you’re up…”

“Hol’ up!” I demanded, stopping the dragon in his tracks as he tried to bolt out of the bedroom door. “What about the library? Don’t you have some organizin’ or cleanin’ or somethin’ to do?”

“Took care of that last night while you were with A.J. So while there isn’t anything urgently keeping me here… Have fun!”

"WAIT!"

"What?"

"Brush ya teeth first. Ya breath smells like old cheese mixed with dirty sock sweat..."

"What??" he asked in offense. "It can't be THAT bad, could it...?" He cupped a hand around his mouth and blew into it before taking a sniff. I could tell that he got the message when he scrunched up his face in disgust. "Ugh... good call." With that, Spike zoomed out of the room to brush his teeth (which suspiciously took him under a minute) before dashing out of the bedroom door, leaving me all by my lonesome.

“*sigh* Fantastic… I get to sit here all alone… Might as well clean myself up…” I got up out of the bed to stretch my aching legs that still hurt from the workout I got from apple buckin’. I staggered and wobbled towards the shower room, wincing, grunting, and groaning in despair on every step. It felt like Applejack had bucked me in the legs as practice before we started. I cleaned myself up, made sure to fix Twilight’s bed as orderly as I possibly could, and exited the bedroom, only to be greeted with my new worst enemy… stairs.

“Aw, this is gonna hurt…” With that, I began my Trail of Tears down the stairs, stumbling a couple times before quickly grabbing hold of the wall with a foreleg to keep my balance. Slowly and painstakingly, I successfully traveled down to the library area of the tree house. Seeing as I’d be sitting here doing next to nothing, I figured I’d browse the archives of this place to see if I could find something interesting to kill time reading. This library expectantly had books of all kinds of genres, from fiction, textbooks, and novels, to spell books, instruction guides, and documentaries… with a bunch more topics on a wide scale. Eventually, I decided on a Daring Do book. If somepony like Rainbow could get into them, I figured I could, too. So I picked the first one in the series, The Quest for the Sapphire Stone, settled down near where I picked the book out, and delved into the text…

*Knock knock knock*

…Or, I was about to. Fighting through pain to get back up, I shelved the book in its rightful place before going to answer the door.

“Oh! Um… hi, Ty…” greeted the visitor, hiding her face behind her mane.

“Well hello, Fluttershy. Wha’ss up?”

“I… was just looking for Twilight. I needed her help taking care of some of my animals. But it’s okay if she’s not here… I’ll just go ask somepony else… unless you’d like to help…?” I was torn… she was giving me such an adorable, pleading look, but Twilight specifically asked me to stay put.

“Well gee, I’d love to… but Twilight wanted me to stay here until she got back.”

“Oh… well I-I promise not to keep you for too long… all I need you to do is help me feed some of them… Please?” Again, one of those submissively adorable looks of hers. I’d feel like a total jerk to say no to such a face…

“*sigh*… fine… but this had better be quick!” I gave in.

“Oh, thank you so much! I promise you won’t be there longer than maybe a half hour.”

“Yea… plus, I don’t think I’ve been t’ your house before. I see it as a good opportunity t’ go an’ have a look.”

“Yes… my house is nice. It’s on the outskirts of Ponyville, near the Everfree Forest. Should we go now?”

“Yea…” with that, I made sure to double check to see that everything in the library was in order before leaving Twilight a note in the case that I didn’t get back in time. I closed the door behind me to go and accompany the buttery-yellow pegasus…

Later…

As Fluttershy and I had traveled through the town on the way to her house, I noticed that she’d been largely silent, yet casting nervous sideways glances at me as I limped and staggered along, trying my best to ignore the pain from Applejack’s chore. I figured she still wasn’t quite used to me yet. So I tried to start a conversation with her.

“Nice day we’re havin’, huh?”

“Huh?” she practically shouted in alarm, seeming to have been snapped out of a daydream. “O-oh, yes… um… very nice. The weather ponies did a good job today…”

“Yep… so… how’ve you been?”

“I’ve been… good. How about you?”

“Could be better… but I can’t really complain…”

“I-if you don’t mind me asking… is there something wrong? You seem… hurt.”

“Jus’ a li’l bit sore from helpin' Applejack last night.”

“Oh, dear! I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were in pain…”

“It don’t hurt too much… I jus—!”

“Here, let me help you…”

“Fluttershy, really. I—!” Before I could finish my sentence, the worried mare hoisted my foreleg up, causing me to grunt in agony.

“Oh! S-sorry. I’ll be gentle. But if I’d have known you were in so much pain, I’d have just found somepony else…” she stated as she rested my leg around her neck.

“I’ss fine, really. Besides, we’re friends. What are friends for?” I smiled at her. She smiled back. “Now le’ss go feed some animals, shall we?”

“Yes…” with that, Fluttershy allowed me to use her as a sort of crutch all the way out to her home, which was much farther away than I’d anticipated.

“You smell nice, by the way…” I complimented, taking a small whiff of the air around us to invite the enticing scent into my nose. “…Like strawberries…”

“Oh! My… Um… thank you… y-y-you smell nice too… like um… like… something nice…” she quietly rambled. I chuckled at her ingenious comparison of my aroma and ‘something nice.’ She let out a short, uneasy-sounding giggle. We’d eventually come to a single, solitary cottage that graced the surrounding area very well. The pathway leading to it featured a small bridge built over a small river. The house itself almost looked like a giant bush with how leafy the exterior looked, with the exception of the walls, which appeared to have been made of the same material that the average Ponyville home was made of. In addition, the door was visible and so were all the windows. There were miniature birdhouses surrounding the building itself, as well as a nest or two in the trees looming nearby, as a few more birdhouses in some of the other trees. The area surrounding the house was rich in forestation and healthily populated with flowers. As we approached, a whole slew of various animals came to greet us, all of them smiling warmly at their caretaker.

“Wow… your house is amazing…” I commented, breath taken by the serenity of the naturalistic theme of the cottage and the area around it. It was almost as if someone had planted the cottage there and it simply sprung out of the ground as is, fitting seamlessly into the landscape.

“Thank you…” she modestly responded as we arrived at her doorstep. She lowered her head, allowing me to painstakingly remove my foreleg and place it on the ground. I looked at her to see that she was looking down at the ground, seeming to be very nervous.

“No problem… Thank you for practically carryin’ me here.”

“Y-you’re… welcome…”

“…Hey, is there somethin’ wrong? You don’t look very comfortable…”

“Oh. No, I’m fine…”

“Can you look me in the eye an’ say that?” I joked with a smirk, somewhat amused by her shyness. To my surprise, however, she actually showed signs of extreme hesitation when she tried looking at me. She finally brought it in herself to do so after a couple of minutes, but the look on her face shocked me even more. She was… blushing. Very unusual... She shot me a somber, apologetic look, which I took as her possibly being very uncomfortable with me being here. “Hey… are you… sure you want me here? You don’t seem l—!”

“Yes!” she hastily interrupted before gaining her composure. “I mean… I’m just… a little worried about how Angel Bunny will feel about you…” I was skeptical about her response. If she was so worried about what her pet rabbit would think of me, why would it suddenly be so hard for her to look me in the eye? I shook my head and put the thought off as we entered the cottage. The interior was beautiful. It had such a humble, comfy setup about it that seemed to make all who entered feel at home. “Excuse me for a moment while I go and get the food…” with that, she trotted ahead and made a turn into a different room, leaving me to observe the abode. I paced around for a couple of minutes before I felt something land on my back. I craned my head around to see a small, white rabbit eyeing me up like I was about to steal something.

“Eh… what’s up, doc?” I asked. The rabbit remained silent as he meticulously paced up and down my back like he was looking for clues of some sort. Afterwards, it jumped onto my head and looked me in the eye from an upside-down perspective. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I stood perfectly still. The rabbit finally jumped off of me and onto the floor, where it turned to face me, offering its paw up for what I could guess was some sort of shake.

“What the hell? Is this rabbit her guard dog or somethin’?”

“How… do you do?” I uneasily asked as I placed my hoof in the rabbit’s paw. At that moment, Fluttershy came back into the room carrying a few large bags of various animal feeds and a set of bowls of various colors and sizes.

“I see you’ve met Angel Bunny…” she said, smiling lightly.

“I er… suppose I did,” I answered as I watched the rabbit bound over to its keeper and nuzzle into her leg.

“Aww… Momma missed you, too… I know you’re hungry, but so are a lot of our friends today. Ty… could you please come here?”

“Yes?”

“Can you fill these bowls up with food depending on the sizes and colors of them?”

“Of course. Jus’ lemme know which type o’ feed goes int’ which bowl.”

“The red bowls are to be filled with these feeds…” she instructed as she pointed towards two of the bags; they featured pictures of furry animals, which I interpreted as those bags being for mammals. “The green bowls are to be filled with this feed…” the next two bags she pointed to had pictures of lizards on them. I guessed those were for reptiles and possibly amphibians. “…And the blue bowls are to be filled with this feed…” the last bag she pointed to showed a picture of a bird on it. “Once we’re done, I’ll need you to set up the bowls accordingly around this room.”

“Okey doke. How do you want it?”

“Small mammals eat together on that side of the room while the larger ones eat on that side of the room,” she began. “The smaller mammals, with a few exceptions, are herbivorous, while a good percentage of the larger ones are carnivorous. There is also a fair share of omnivores, but those are very rare amongst all the critters and creatures that live here with me. The green bowls will be set up over there by that corner, but not too close to the wall over there. The animals eating from these bowls will need their space, much like the others. Their eating habits are about the same as the mammals, but the sizes of their bowls are much more relative in terms of consistency. The blue bowls, you don’t have to worry about. Those are for the birds, and I can deliver their food to the birdhouses outside. That isn’t too much to handle… is it?”

“Uh… nope,” I assured, although not feeling all that sure myself. There was quite a bit of specific instruction when it came to feeding these animals. I was already worried about screwing up and feeding a plant-based meal to a carnivore or vice versa.

“Okay… While you’re filling the bowls, I um… kind of need to run to the store and get the ingredients for a special salad sundae for my little Angel Bunny here...”

“Wait, what?? Why didn’t we just go an’ pick that stuff up before we came here??”

“The animals here were waiting long enough as it is when I went out looking for one of the others to help me. I promise I won’t be long. If you’re having trouble, then Angel Bunny will be here to help you…” Rather than argue with her, I let out a defeated sigh before nodding. I figured I might as well get this done as soon as possible so I could return to the library in time for Twilight and I to have this apparently-urgent discussion.

“…fine…”

“Oh thank you, Ty!” the now-elated yellow mare said as she wrapped me up in a surprisingly strong hug. I did my best to return it, despite my aching legs. “I’m really sorry to make you do this on such short notice, but I’ll make it up to you… I promise.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout payback. All you need t’ worry about is gettin’ back here soon enough. I don’t wanna mess anything up while you’re away…”

“Are you sure? I mean I could pay you… or maybe teach you how to take care of your own pet if you ever decided to get one… or maybe we could um… hang out or something…?”

“No payback necessary, Ms. Shy. Although I wouldn’t mind spendin’ some time with you… but we’re wastin’ time at this point. Go getcha recipe,” I told her as I let her go. She took a bit longer than I expected to let go of me, but didn’t need me to remind her. She was out the door in a flash, leaving me to perform the odd job with the assistance of her pet rabbit.

“I am not lookin’ forward t’ this…” I looked at the rabbit to see it eyeing me up like it did when we first met, although much more scrupulously. I gave a look of perplexity at the small creature, basically asking it why it was staring me down the way it was. It shrugged nonchalantly before pointing towards the bags and bowls, signaling for me to get cracking on the task at hand. I wordlessly nodded, moving to get started. I have to say, it certainly was odd communicating with a rabbit that didn’t speak without saying very much myself. I thought little of it, however, and just accepted it as I worked on distributing the food…

Even Later...

By the time I was done filling the bowls up, Fluttershy had returned, groceries in hoof. She set the bags down to inspect my progress.

“Very good! The bowls are filled almost exactly like how I would fill them,” Fluttershy congratulated.

“Yeah… I prolly woulda messed up big time if it wasn’t for your bunny friend here…” I said, gesturing towards the rabbit lounging on the sofa with a newspaper in its admittedly-adorable little paws. It raised its foreleg to form a sort of thumbs-up before continuing its reading… I didn’t even bother to question how a rabbit could be literate to the point of being able to read, or how it acted very much like a human being minus the ability to speak.

“Good, good… I’ll be in the kitchen making Angel Bunny’s lunch. Would you like anything?” the kindly mare considerately asked as she picked her grocery bags back up.

“Sure… quick question, though; I thought Angel Bunny ate with the rest of the animals. Why is it gettin’ a specific meal?”

“Normally he would, but he’s been so helpful around the house lately that I decided it would be nice to treat him.”

“So it’s a boy, huh? Honestly, I wouldn’t-a guessed that, given the name…”

“What would you like to eat, Ty?”

“I honestly don’t know… you know me, bein’ from a different world an’ all, I dunno what types o’ meals are fit for a pony here. Surprise me?”

“Okay. I’ll be right back, then.” With that statement, she trotted into the kitchen to fix lunch for Angel Bunny and me. I took the initiative to try my hoof at distributing the bowls as evenly as I possibly could.

“Bigger red bowls to one corner except for a couple, smaller red bowls to another corner except for a couple… green bowls in that corner, but not too close to the walls… but still separate from each other based on size… Jeez, why can’t they jus’ be organized by color instead o’ this?”

There were quite a lot of bowls to set up and even amongst the red bowls, I could only use my sense of judgment to distribute them accordingly. The only other way I was able to accurately place the bowls was by looking at the types of food in them, but even that didn’t help much. The green bowls were even harder. They were almost all the same size, and they were all going in one corner. I still guessed that I’d need to separate plant-food bowls from meat-food bowls, and something else, and…

“D’ahh screw this…! I’m losin’ my patience…” I just set the bowls down wherever, but still made sure they were at least separated by color.

“Done already??” Fluttershy asked in surprise.

“Yyyyep,” I responded while feeling at least a little unsure about the bowl placement.

“Good! Your lunch is on the kitchen table next to Angel Bunny’s. I’ll join you right after I let the others know that it’s lunch time and feed the birds…”

“Mm-hmm, take ya time,” I excused her as I walked into the kitchen, which was surprisingly set up very much like one in a human home. There was a sink, a stove, a fridge, and a table with four chairs set up on each side of it. I took notice of the food. Three large bowls; one filled with some ridiculously extravagant-looking salad sundae with lettuce towering far past the brim, decorated with some miscellaneous features, and complete with whipped cream and a cherry on top. The other two bowls shared the same meal; salads that contained various fruits and berries and at a much more reasonable size than the sundae. As I entered the kitchen, I felt something bounce off of the top of my head and spring towards the seat with the sundae in front of it. It was Angel Bunny, looking ravenous as he drooled all over the table, licking his lips as he anticipated the very moment he would tear into that sundae like it would be the last he’d ever have.

“Somebody’s hungry…” I jokingly mumbled as I took my seat to get a closer look at the delectable meal gracing my vision. A short time later, Fluttershy reentered the kitchen wearing a bright smile as she trotted in to take her seat.

“Sorry to keep you waiting… you can eat now, if you'd like,” she permitted.

“Alright! Here we—!” I was interrupted as I heard a buzz saw sound coming from Angel Bunny as he literally turned into his own rendition of Taz the Tasmanian Devil, devouring his salad from top to bottom in less than five seconds. Once his vicious feasting had come to an abrupt end, he lay down in the now-empty bowl, stomach full to bursting as he let out a small burp. He then yawned and stretched before getting up and bouncing slowly out of the room. I could only assume two things: One, that rabbit had a VERY large appetite. And Two, he got a case of ‘The Itis’ after he was done. “…well then…”

“He tends to do that when he’s really hungry…” Fluttershy informed with a small, cute little giggle.

“I see… in any case, how’ve you been?” I asked as I dug into the salad.

“I’ve been… good. How about you?” she asked as she did the same.

“Good, good… Y’know, I really haven’t seen much o’ you since that Hearth’s Warming party a while back…”

“O-oh! Um…” she took a look of shock, her cheeks already turning a bright pink. “…y-yes. It’s been a while, huh?” she let out a nervous titter.

“Yea… I know I said we’d never talk about that again, but I hafta ask… were you okay after that prank Rainbow pulled on us? I mean… did you talk t’ her about it?”

“Y-yes. She said she was sorry. She didn’t m-mean to make me feel… uncomfortable…”

“Tha’ss good. Uh… I still wanna clarify though; the kiss. I’m sorry if I shocked you or anything. I understand if you felt uneasy around me… or if you still feel un—!”

“No, no, it’s okay. I wasn’t avoiding you if that’s what you’re implying. You only did it to follow tradition. I-it was just that I didn’t expect you to do it… You see, I’ve… never been… um… kissed before… not like that, anyway…” she admitted almost in a whisper, to my surprise.

“Really?? Oh wow… Now I feel really bad… Your first time is supposed to be special… and I ruined it for you…”

“No, you didn’t ruin it,” she countered. “It was nice… I… liked it…” Again, I was taken by surprise.

“Oh! Um… well now… I don’t know what t’ say…” I felt my face heat up a little as I suddenly lost my appetite halfway through the delicious fruit salad.

“*gasp* Oh, I’m sorry! I… I mean, I liked it as… a friendly gesture. I-I know you didn’t mean it like that… oh my…” she was blushing hard and began fidgeting with her mane, pulling it over one of her large, enticing turquoise eyes. She pulled gently on her long, pink hair as she turned sideways in her chair, glancing back at me with a look of fear.

“Er… it’s okay. I understand what you mean. It was purely platonic. Nothin’ more. Right?”

“Y-yes…” the kitchen fell awkwardly silent as the air around us seemed to get thinner.

“…well, thanks for lunch, Fluttershy. I think I should get goin’, though…” I uneasily said to break the silence as I got up and picked up my bowl.

“N-no, wait. Let me get that for y— WHOA!” she said, offering to take both of our dishes before she tripped. I was quick to set the bowl down before moving to catch her, having to endure the sporadic pain in my legs to do so. The pegasus mare was slow to recover, but stopped once she looked me in the eyes as I held her in my forelegs. Those eyes of hers… they were such a rich, vibrant, glimmering ocean of greenish-blue… seeming to convey thoughts and feelings she’d dare not speak aloud… She stared into my very being, seeming to be captivated by something as the timidity on her face melted away, being replaced with a look of… endearing curiosity I’d only ever seen on the face of a certain purple unicorn mare… At that instant, a huge red flag raised in my head.

“This would PROBABLY be a good time to G.T.F.O… NOW!”

“*Ahem* well… I should probably get goin’ now,” I nervously stated as I helped the mare back on her hooves. “Again, thanks for the food an’ it was a pleasure helpin’ you. But I should prolly go back an’ see Twi now. Bye!” I rambled as I hurriedly left the kitchen and burst out the front door, presumably leaving behind a hurt, confused Fluttershy. I felt a wave of guilt and worry overcome me, for a number of reasons…

“Aw man… I hope she doesn’t feel what I think she’s feelin’… I mean… maybe she was just happy I didn’t let her fall… but then… she’s been sendin’ signals since she saw me! The look she gave me when she brought me here… the hug that lasted a little too long before she went t’ the store… that little incident in the kitchen… Oh boy… First Twilight wantin’ t’ talk about somethin’ important that I have NO clue about, now this… could this shit possibly get any worse?” While I was mentally rambling, I lost a great deal of awareness as I entered town. I wound up bumping into somepony yet again.

“Oh, sorry. Excuse me.”

“On the contrary… You’re just the pony I’ve been looking for…” the stranger said, much to my intrigue. It was a unicorn stallion a bit shorter than I was. He had a coat of beige and a long, somewhat spiky mane and tail that were colored black. His eyes were a menacing shade of red and I noticed he had a goatee and was wearing a pair of glasses when he turned to look at me. I noticed that his flank had featured a picture of a six-pointed star that looked much like Twilight’s, but minus the five other stars surrounding it or the white star underneath. Instead, this pony’s Cutie mark was a six-pointed star that was colored the same blood red as his eyes.

“Is that right…?” I asked. “Well tha’ss great an’ all, but I’m in kind of a hurry. Maybe some other time when I’m not so busy,” I said, stepping past him. I didn’t get more than a couple of feet before I walked into a wall of magic, colored a deep purple. I turned around, annoyed that this guy was intent on keeping me here for whatever reason. I noticed that he had company, however. Suddenly standing beside him was a unicorn mare, a bright cerulean in coat color. Her hair was a wavy shade of a light purple, styled similarly to Applejack’s if the farm pony were to ever remove her hair ties. Her eyes were sea foam green and angled menacingly at me as she bowed her head. Her horn was glowing in the same shade of purple as the arcane wall I’d walked into. "Seriously? I need t' go. I don't have time t' talk."

“I’m afraid I can’t let you slip my grasp just yet…” the stallion spoke. “There’s something about you… that is… unfamiliar, compared to other ponies I’ve observed around these parts… and I intend to find out what. Now, I’ll give you a choice. Either come quietly, or be dragged against your will back to my refuge in the Everfree.” I could tell this guy and his friend were going to be trouble, and I wanted no part of it.

“How’s about you let me go before you start pissin' me off?” I boldly stated, bracing myself as I approached. He smirked.

“Dragged back to my refuge it is, then! Comet Gazer. If you please…?”

“Gladly…” the mare complied as her horn took on a deep purple glow once again. She shot a blast at my hooves, which I jumped away from.

“Okay, somebody’s askin’ for it…!” I angrily said as I lowered my head and in an instant, charged at the stallion. I got in close and threw a punch.

*SLAM* Just inches away from his face, a shield of gray magic materialized, blocking the attack.

“Oh, how delightful. You actually think you’re going to make it out of here,” he taunted as I lowered my hoof. “An Earth pony taking on two unicorns? You hardly stand a chance. I suggest you come with us without quarrel.” Instead of answering, I threw another quick punch.

*THUMP* I managed to catch him off-guard as he stumbled back, holding his snout. I also saw his glasses hit the ground, one of the lenses cracked.

"So much for not hittin' a guy with glasses..."

“You’ll pay dearly for that…” He disdainfully spat. “Comet! Subdue him!” The mare nodded before charging her horn up again. Just as I was about to move, I felt a sudden tingling around my hooves. I couldn’t move, no matter how hard I struggled to do so. I looked down to see that my hooves were encased in a shroud of silver, indicating that the stallion, despite holding his injured snout, had cast a spell on me that immobilized me.

*ZAP* “DAAAAAAAGH!” I felt a vicious flurry of stings and pains course through me as I writhed and twisted in torment. It was so similar to being electrically shocked all over my entire body at such a rapid rate that I could hardly stand the pain. After a few seconds, everything went completely numb as I collapsed on the ground, my vision blurring as I trembled on the ground. I moved to get one last look at my assailants, who looked down at me in triumph.

“You… You won’t… get away… with this…!” I strained, feeling weak to the point of passing out. “Whatever it is… you’re doin’…!”

“We’ll see about that… Ponder Memoir…” with that, another agonizing shock was administered to me and before I knew it, everything went black…