“I think we’re ready to start searching for the Bronies,” I announced as I stirred the pot of food, the flames casting light into the darkness around us.

Bronwyn nodded from her seated position, messing with a small computer. “You two grasped Ego faster than most,” then she glanced my way, “and you were already very capable beforehand. So I think you’re both ready.”

Lance frowned from his prone position, rubbing a bruise on his face. After a moment, he sighed, “but now we gotta find them, and that’s going to be hard.”

I chuckle as I pour some stew into a bowl and place it by him, “come on, Lance, cheer up.”

He took his bowl, still upset, “you guys hit me, a lot.”

“You’ll be fine,” Bronwyn says as I hoof her a bowl.

I take one for myself and sit down, the three of us forming a triangle as we ate.

“So, is the music charm because you like music or something?” Lance asked as he looked at her sword, seeming to try and get a conversation going.

“You could say that,” she said, grinning at me. Then she looked back to his flank, covered by his trench coat. “What kind of cutie mark do you have?”

“Oh, eh,” he chuckles nervously as he stands and reveals his cutie mark; a crash test dummy symbol with angel wings greets us. “Kind of awkward how that little guy appeared.” At Bronwyn’s stare, he continued, “I got it when helping a friend test some tricks, and I stupidly thought ‘wow, I’m a good test dummy!’ and boom, got this. The wings appeared after I died and returned as an Angel.”

“Oh! You’re an Angel? What kind of Angel?” Bronwyn asked, taking interest in his words.

He looked a bit awkward as he covered his cutie mark. “Just a Guardian Angel for my family. I’ll be around till they’re all gone, then I’ll be returning to Heaven.”

She nodded, smiling widely, “That explains so much about you.”

Lance sat back down and went back to eating, making it obvious he wanted the subject to change.

Obliging him, she turned to me. “And how’d you get yours?”

“Oh, its really stupid,” I say, waving her off. “I just got it fighting some guys and I use to play cards a lot.”

“That’s not what you told me,” Lance suddenly said, head shooting up and staring at me.

My eyes widened as I realized I’d messed up my story, my face glowing red, “Oh, eh…”

“You lied!” Lance said, jumping up, smiling, “That means the story behind your cutie mark is embarrassing!”

“No!” I say as I stuff food into my mouth quickly.

“Oh, you have to tell us now,” Bronwyn said, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

“Nah,” was my reply as I stared wide eyed into the fire. “I’m good.”

Lance turned away, a faint blue glow coming from his front.

“Lance, what do you think you’re doing?” I asked, my Ego slowly inching towards him.

The blue glow flashed away and he turned, smiling.

“What?” I cautiously ask, my Ego tendril hovering over his hoof.

“Oh nothing,” he said, looking down at my Ego before suddenly striking a pose. “Except a trip into the mind!”

“Wait!” I yelped, my Ego attaching to him, but I was too late as we all appeared in a familiar dark void. “Fuck…”

“Oh, hey you guys!” Ayla said excitedly from behind me as she galloped up and danced in place. “It’s awesome to get to meet you for real!”

“Whoa!” Lance said in awe, staring up at the large slender pony.

Bronwyn eyed her in amazement, “When you said different, you weren’t lying.”

I just put my face in my hooves, already knowing why we were here.

Lance got over his awe and smiled up at Ayla. “It’s nice to meet you too! I’m…”

“Lance Greenfield, A.K.A. Girokon, the writer of Living the Dream!” Ayla leaned down, face to face with him, smiling happily, “I’m Ayla! I’m your number two biggest fan, next to Scamp!”

He smiled awkwardly, “Well the book is actually called Memories… but thank you, Ayla.”

“Whoa whoa whoa! This place is nicer than your head Lance,” Break said as he appeared next to Lance. I only groaned loudly at this, not realizing they could also appear here.

“Looks like the night sky!” Dawn said excitedly as he appeared.

A third one appeared, this one must have been Lance’s Ego weapon, Eclipse. “Well bite my bum and call me Chuck! This place is more beautiful than the sky at night!” He spoke like he was a cliche country guy, but had a british accent.

I do not like Eclipse.

Surprisingly, a woman appeared next to Bronwyn. She looked exactly like her, but wore a dress and her hair down.

“Hm, very unique,” was the only thing she said as she looked around.

“Melody,” Bronwyn said, seeing me looking up from my hooves at her Ego weapon.

Eclipse stepped up next to me and slapped his hoof down on my shoulder, “Buck up, Scamp! We’re all just gonna watch some memories and all have a laugh together.”

I glared up at him, and Ayla’s hoof slid between us, stepping between us.

“Take a few hundred steps back, little guy,” She said in the sweetest voice ever. “Or you’ll be walking on stumps back to your Soulbind.”

Eclipse smiled up at her, sweat starting to run down his face as he starts backing up quickly to Lance’s side.

Standing up, I look between everyone. “I want all Ego’s and consciousness to go. Now.”

Melody bowed and faded away. Ayla gave me a quick side hug and also disappeared, Eclipse not far behind her.

“Aw come on, Scamp!” Break whined. “Let us hang around, I want to personally see this embarrassing story.”

I turned my gaze to him, a fiery blaze igniting within it.

He smiled coolly back at me, but Ayla appeared next to him, a crazy smile on her face.

“Yeah, actually I agree with Scamp, Dawn, let’s go.” Break blinked out of existence. Dawn started to say something, but at Ayla’s slow head turn, he flinched and disappeared as well.

“Thank you, Ayla,” Bronwyn said, giving her a thumbs up.

Ayla looked to her and clapped her hooves happily as she slowly faded away.

“Your Ego weapon is scary,” Lance commented, then flinched as he looked around, worried she might reappear.

“She’s perfect,” I replied, sighing. “Now let’s just get this over with.”

Behind me, a small computer appeared. Rolling my eyes, I turn and step up to it.

“Smaller than mine,” Lance teased as he and Bronwyn stepped up on either side of me.

“Yeah yeah,” I say as I tap away at the screen, quickly figuring out how to operate it. Just like Lance’s, everything was labeled.

The top of the list seemed to be when I was born, so I scrolled a bit till I saw one labeled ‘Cutie Mark!’. Well that was simple.

I look at the two next to me; they both stared back expectantly. Reluctantly, I hit play.

Unexpectedly, the entire area around us changed, a crowd of school aged colts and foals surrounded us. They were all facing a stage.

“Okay, this is a lot more impressive than mine,” he admitted.

“Oh geez,” I said as I saw a much younger me run from backstage and take center stage.

“Hi, everypony!” Young Scamp screamed at the top of her lungs, looking very overjoyed as she stood there wearing a dress.

No one responded, which didn’t dissuade young Scamp as she performed a twirl.

“My talent is going to be dancing and singing!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, getting a few giggles from the crowd.

“Ehhhhh…” I cringe back as Bronwyn and Lance walk forward, stifling laughter.

On stage, young Scamp started twirling and dancing about as she tried to sing a cute song about friendship. It sounded horrible, and the dancing was terrible. The laughing colts and fillies didn’t help at all. Especially the laughing Bronwyn and Lance.

With a yelp, young Scamp tripped on her dress and slammed down onto the stage. This only caused everyone to laugh even louder, even the adults joined in.

“Oh I can’t watch this part,” I say as I hide behind a random colt in the crowd.

Young Scamp looked out over the laughing ponies, looking to have tears forming in her eyes. Then, like something snapped inside of her, she jumped up, glaring out over the crowd.

“You all know what?!” She screamed in anger. She ripped off her dress, stomping on it angrily. Instead of running off stage, she walked forward, standing on her hindlegs and grabbing the mic in her hoof.

She stared down the crowd as the laughing slowly stopped, everyone staring at her.

Clearing her throat, she puts the mic to her mouth and takes a deep breath.

What flowed out of her mouth was a mixture of screaming and yelling, her voice sounding a lot deeper than it did previously. Her voice sounded almost demonic as she sang about ‘the bullshit we put up with’. The crowd remained in stunned silence as they watched her sing with a voice that did not fit her tiny body.

After she finished, she threw the mic over her shoulder and looked out over the crowd, breathing heavily, face red from all the screaming she’d done.

It started slow, but the crowd began to cheer, all the colts and fillies going ballistic. Young Scamp stood proud as a flash happened, and a cutie mark appeared on her flank.

“My cutie mark! I got my bucking cutie mark!” She screamed as she jumped around the stage.

The memory came to a stop, everything fading out.

I looked up from where I’d been hiding to see the two staring at me, mouths hanging open.

“Hehe, yeah…” I said sheepishly, still cringing.

“I did not expect that,” Bronwyn commented as she still looked to be at a loss.

“What did I just witness?” Lance asked, confusion and worry on his face.

“Um, Death Metal?” I admit, standing up, ears down still.

Lance only blinked, “How the hell did you do that with your voice?!”

I only chuckle nervously as I back up to the computer and shrug, “Just practice.” I did not want to tell them I spent months screaming in front of a mirror with a Bronies kid helping me. My mom hated it when I’d randomly start singing like that.

“I’m not sure what to do with that info,” Bronwyn said before smirking. “You’ll have to sing like that for us sometime.”

“Hell no,” I replied quickly, shaking my head. “The last time I sang like that was at boot camp, and that will remain the final time.”

“We’ll see,” she said with a sly smile. I only glared back, standing my ground.

“What else have you got in here?” Lance asked as he stepped up next to me and started scrolling.

I allowed him, as that was the worst memory I had.

“What’s ‘Punk backpacking’?” He asked as he clicked it.

The scene changed to the side of the road, where four ponies were walking, heavy packs all over their bodies.

The lead pony turned to the group, seeing they were slowing down. “Eight more miles till the hotel. Push!”

Ah, this time period. Right after highschool and right before I left for bootcamp. I traveled Equestria for two years, walking and hitching rides to Brony settlements to look for clues about Lance’s past.

Again, I cringed when I saw myself in the middle of the group. Ears pierced with multiple loops and studs, snake bite loops on my lips, of course a nose piercing, and my hair chopped short. Fuck I hate this phase in my life.

“You look like a goth chick,” Lance says, a bit of Break in his voice.

Punky Scamp rolled her eyes as she picked up her pace and walked past the leader, “Then keep up.”

The memory faded after this.

“That’s it?” Bronwyn asked, clearly expecting more.

“These memory banks only really store memories that you remember or think about often. Sometimes it’ll have some forgotten memories, but usually, you have to dig deep for the good stuff,” Lance said, clearly knowing a lot about this subject.

“Yeah,” I say, frowning, “Now let’s stop looking through my memories.”

“Oh shit, ‘First time’, what ever could that be?!” Break said through Lance as he clicked it.

My eyes widened, as I knew what we were about to see.

A destroyed room faded in, gunshots and screams in the distance, explosions going off randomly.

With a crash, two ponies wearing military style gear stumbled into the room. A worn out and dirty Scamp ripped off her helmet, coughing loudly. The pony next to her, looked around frantically, gun shaking on his side as he scanned the room.

“I don’t know if they saw us enter!” He said in a panic.

Soldier Scamp wiped her face, trying to fix her busted looking rifle.

The other soldier, who I know is Lime Pie, walked to a window and peeked out. “Looks clear to me. The Griffons didn’t see us.”

With a nod, Soldier Scamp gave up on her broken rifle and turned to him, “We need to regroup with the main battle group before we get pinned down again.” Her eyes suddenly widened as her gun tried to fire. “LIME!”

Before he could react, a Griffon burst through the window and tackled him, the two tumbled as they fought. Soldier Scamp didn’t waste time as she jumped in and knocked the Griffon off of Lime Pie.

The Griffon recovered quickly and stood facing them. Lime Pie’s gun had been ripped from his side during the fighting, same for the Griffon, luckily.

The three stared each other down before they engaged. It was messy fighting, but the lone Griffon was able to slice Lime Pie’s throat with its talons. Soldier Scamp roared in anger as she tackled the large bird, and they tumbled around. The talons ripping at her uniform and vest, but she fought back with her hoof blade.

They rolled till she asserted her dominance on top and began to viciously stab the Griffon in the chest over and over again, sending blood and feathers everywhere. Once she finished her onslaught, she stood and stumbled back.

She fell to her flank and pushed herself against a wall. Looking over the carnage and her bloody hooves, she put her head in her hooves and stayed that way as the memory faded.

No one spoke right away.

Finally, Lance let out a awkward laugh, “So I thought that was…”

“My first fuck?” I ask, knocking him away from the console. “Yeah, no. I know that was Break that did that, but I’m holding you accountable for that one, Lance. Even if it had been what you thought, you think it’d be cool to see that?”

I scroll to a random moment labeled ‘One night stand: Ponyville’. “See that? That what you wanted? Or maybe this?!” I scrolled to another one, ‘Fourth times a charm’.

Lance kicked the ground like a colt being lectured by an angry parent. “No, I’m sorry. I should do better at controlling Break.”

“Yes you should,” Bronwyn interjected. “Some memories should never be relieved, let alone gawked at. The cutie mark memory was fine, but any after that was going beyond the scope of Ok.”

Sighing, Lance nodded in agreement. “I understand, I also need to work on my impulse control.”

“Good,” I say as I hit the back button, but miss as a memory starts playing. I panic for a second before seeing what it was, calming down a bit.

Karma hit hard as Lance had to sit and watch me fight the tyrant Queen, ending with the brutal finish of me literally eating her throat. As traumatic as all that was, watching it from the outside was amazing.

Lance looked green as he stood over the Queen, his wife in another life.

“God fucking damn, I heard what happened, but it was so much worse to watch,” he whined, walking to sit down.

“Even better in person,” Bronwyn praised as we bumped fist to hoof. “You are one tough, mare, Scamp.”

“Why thank you,” I reply, laughing at Lance’s reaction.

Then he looked at the slowly fading Greg. “Huh, he did more than I thought he did. I thought you two were exaggerating his part.”

“You need to chill out on Greg,” I say, finally having the subject come up. “I really would have failed and died without Greg.”

Lance worked his jaw, chewing on his lip, “I guess.”

I sigh, it would take some time, but I will fix this Lance and Greg issue.

“Ooo!” Lance suddenly turned to us, changing the subject. “Let’s check out Bronwyn’s memories!”

“Absolutely not,” she stated, her tone and face demanding he drop it.

He almost missed the massive hints she was giving him, but when he did, he acted like he didn’t notice. “Actually, no, I’ve learned a valuable life lesson today.” He looked at us, trying to act tough in the moment, “We do not view others' memories without their permission. Remember that, you two.”

“Uh-huh,” I say, raising an eyebrow at him.

Bronwyn only shook her head at him.

I turn to the console and press the power button.

Next Chapter: Onward we go! Estimated time remaining: 37 Hours, 11 Minutes