“This is perfect,” I say as I stood on a concrete slab with ropes put up around it to signify separate rooms. “Good size for the Training Hall portion of the building, and those little roped areas will be the office and locker rooms, right?”

“Right,” Drax said as he walked around with me, answering my questions as we surveyed the floor layout of the building he was having built for us. “I went off of your designs as best as I could, but we had to add and take away a few things here and there. For example, we will not be able to do a removable roof. I mean we could, but it’d take more time than we have.”

“We’ll make due without it, as long as the roof is high enough away that we can do at least some flying indoors,” I reply as I walk around the slab, checking to make sure the sizes are correct.

“That is doable,” he assures as he looks at his watch and sighs. “I’m sorry, Scamp. We’d have this done sooner if it wasn’t for Vicar Belletor and all his demands.”

“Is that the rich asshole moving into that mansion you guys are building?” I asked with a frown.

He chuckled a bit, “Yeah, that’s him.”

“What’s he like?” I asked, curiosity eating me up as everyone else would not shut up about him and his grand mansion.

“To be honest, I’m not sure. I speak to him on the phone sometimes, and he sends some of his own ponies down here sometimes to give us new designs and demands. If it wasn’t for all the bits he was sinking into this, I’d have passed it along to someone else long ago.”

“I don’t know why, but I get a bad feeling when I walk by the mansion you’re building,” I say as I measure the floor again. “Could this be a few feet longer in both directions?”

“Uh, sure, we can add some length to everything,” he said as he made a few notes. Then he looked back to his watch, “I need to get back, you know where to find me if you have any more questions.”

“You got it,” I say as I press my face to the ground, making sure everything was actually smooth.

As he walked away, I heard someone else flying towards me.

“Hey, Scamp!” Spark said as he landed beside me, looking at the concrete floors around us. “Is this the Dojo thing you’re building?”

“Some of it,” I say as I stand up and turn to him, giving him a wide smile. “You planning to join?”

“I don’t know,” he says sheepishly. “My mom is really against me and Fawn learning to fight. Says we should focus on studying and all that.”

“I mean, she’s not wrong,” I reply, much to his dismay. “But, who says you can’t do both? Little training and a little studying.”

“Apparently my mom says so,” he says, chuckling as he shakes his head. “It’s all for studying, or we’ll become lazy bums.”

I can’t help but snicker at this, as it sounds exactly how I imagine Twilight to view the world, “I’ll talk to her, see if I can’t get you two in for a few lessons from time to time.”

“Thank you!” he said in an excited voice. “So what kind of fighting will you be teaching?”

“The kind that’ll teach others to defend themselves and take out their opponents without killing them,” I responded, causing him to frown a bit. “What?”

“I just thought, you know, that if you were teaching it, we’d learn all kinds of cool and bad ass attacks! Like being able to kick the head off of a bad guy in one hit!” he said, jumping up and down as he spoke.

“I think you’ve let your dad fill your heads with too many stories,” I reply, patting his head. “We don’t need to know those kinds of things anymore. Everything is peaceful here. Learning to defend yourself will be enough to carry you through life.”

“But what if another big bad guy comes and attacks us?” he counters.

“Then, we handle it. There’s no need for you kids to have to get involved in stuff like that.”

“But!” he continues, “what if it’s later in life and all of you are too old to help fight? What then?!”

“Kid,” I laugh, giving him a thumbs up. “I’m immortal, so I ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. Everything will be fine.”

“That’s what dad said before the Watcher came,” he mumbled.

I blinked at him, slightly taken aback at his words, but I decided not to say anything. “Even though I’m just teaching defense, there’ll be plenty of ways to adapt it to attacking. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“It’s good enough,” he replies, forcing a smile.

“Oh you’ll like it,” I say as I walk over to one of the ropes and look over the space that will become a storage closet. “This needs to be wider…”

“Um, I do actually have a question,” he said from behind me, causing me to turn and face him.

“What’s up?”

He kicked at the ground as he looked a bit unsure. “My dad doesn’t talk about any of it, but what did you two do while on the Eternal Plains?”

I frowned at him, a few images flashing through my head. “We searched for all of you, you know the story.”

“I know the ‘safe to tell the kids’ version of the story, but I want to know what really happened. Dad isn’t like he used to be. He used to be all goofy and crazy, now he’s all calm and reserved.”

“Spark,” I began slowly, “I can’t tell you what really happened. Not because of what happened, but because it’s not my place. Your parents will tell you when they-”

“They won’t,” he interrupted. “They baby me. I’m ten! I’m not a baby anymore! They told fawn, but that’s because she’s fifteen and ‘old enough to handle it’.”

“I’m sorry, Spark,” I say carefully. “Maybe one day I’ll tell you, if they don’t.”

“Promise?” he asked, staring at me with determined eyes.

I hesitated for a moment, “I promise.”

“Thanks, Scamp!” He yelled as he looked overjoyed.

With a nervous smile, I returned to looking over the area around me.

“Another question?” he suddenly said.

A quiet groan escaped my lips as I turned to him, “yeah?”

“Why is Mr. Bleak avoiding town?”

This caused me to grimace, “ah, that’s a bit of my fault…”

“How?” he asked, cocking his head, “he was at the wedding and he seemed alright there.”

“He was there, yes, for the wedding itself. Not the reception,” I said, thinking back.

Despite him being my father in my timeline, he hasn’t taken to it like Adry has. She’s been nothing but loving and caring with me and Mallogory. But, Darkest Bleak has been a bit reserved, a stark contrast to the version of him I met when I died.

The two of us only spoke briefly, a few days after we came back from fighting the Watcher. It was the most awkward exchange I’ve had so far, and that’s saying something.

He congratulated me on saving Lance and stopping the Watcher, but when he learned I was his daughter in another timeline, he pulled back. Adry had tried to speak with him, but she had no luck as he took his leave after a few choice words.

Words I’d rather not dwell on right now.

“It’s complicated,” I finally finished, seeing Spark stare at me with expecting eyes.

“You two need to get together and talk about it all,” Spark said. I raised an eyebrow, causing him to continue. “Dad told me about some of your past, and who your parents are. I don’t think you two will be happy if you keep avoiding each other.”

“Wise words from a child,” I say, walking over and ruffling up his mane. “Thanks, kiddo.”

He huffed as he fixed his mane, then gave me a wide smile, “my mom is Twilight after all, the smartest pony in Equestria. Only natural I take after her.”

“Okay, gloating makes you look less wise,” I teased as I messed his mane up again, to his annoyance.

“Stop that!” he whined as he jumped back and fixed it again. He lifted into the air, out of my reach, “I just think you two should try and get along, okay?”

“Okay, Spark, for you I’ll speak with him,” I give him a little bow as he laughs happily and flies off.

Then I frown, “at some point at least.”

Finally alone, I turned back to examining my soon to be Dojo. But upon turning around, I found myself face to face with a young colt. Luna’s son, Star Chaser.

“Oh fuck!” I yelped, but then composed myself, “I mean, hey, Star Chaser!”

He frowned at me, fluttering his wings a bit, “Can anyone join your Dojo when its open?”

“Uh…” I stared at him, still caught off guard at the sudden appearance of the young Alicorn. “... Yep! You interested in joining?”

“I am,” he stated matter of factly. “With Father gone, I need to become the head of the castle, and take his place as one of the rulers of Equestria.”

“I’m sure you don’t have to worry about all that right now…” I said as he slowly glared at me. “BUT! If you want, I will teach you just like everyone else.”

“Not good enough, royalty deserves special treatment,” he stated, flipping his mane. “When you’re up and running, myself and my sister will require private lessons.”

“I… will see what I can do,” I say slowly, seeing a smile form on his face.

“Excellent! Till then, Miss Scamp,” he said as he bows and flashes away.

Once I was sure he was gone, I exhaled, “creepy little prick…”

“Rude to say to a child,” I heard behind me, causing me to sigh loudly. Was I ever going to be allowed to be alone?

Turning around however, I saw the one pony I had not expected.

“Mr. Bleak? I’ll be honest, I was not expecting to see you,” I said with genuine surprise.

“I was watching over Spark when he came to speak to you,” he began, but saw the weird look I was giving him. “That does sound weird, but, when he sneaks out of his house, Twilight usually asks me to make sure he’s alright.”

“Fair enough,” I say, squaring up with him.

“I heard the conversation you two had though,” he began, frowning.

“If we’re going to talk about that, then I want you to know, I do NOT forgive you for what you said to me when we first met,” I said with a scowl.

He looked a bit sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head, “I may have said a few things I’ve come to regret, yes.”

“You said, and I quote: ‘she is no daughter of mine!’. Which is true, not your actual daughter. But the next little quote hits a little differently.” I cleared my throat as I imitated his voice, “‘Get that ugly wannabe out of my sight!’”

Mr. Bleak covered his face with a hoof, groaning, “I’d hoped you wouldn’t remember word for word what I’d said.”

“Kinda hard to forget,” I retorted. “I don’t know if there is a way to repair what you’ve broken.”

“And that is fine,” he says, removing his hoof and staring into my eyes. “I want to start over. You don’t have to forget what I said, but I want a second chance. I’ve had time to think about it, and I want you in my life.”

I made a sucking sound with my teeth as I shook my head, “Ooo, is that so? Probably should have thought of that before you…” I stopped myself, seeing his ears flatten. I closed my eyes and counted down from ten slowly. When I opened them, I continued, “you want a second chance?”

He could only nod in response, looking unsure of my next words.

“Fine. I’m not fond of you right now, but I’m willing to try. For the sake of our friends and families, and Adry.”

With a sigh of relief, he nodded, “Yes, I’d do anything for her. I wish I could take back what I said, but finding out I have a kid on the way, then shortly after that finding out I have another kid from a doomed timeline, it was a lot to take in. I didn’t get taken by the Watcher, so I was stuck in limbo with the rest of this forsaken dimension. So everything was very sudden for me.”

“Which is why I’m willing to give you a CHANCE to fix things,” I responded, doing my best not to blow up on him again. The anger was still there, but I was doing my best to keep it down.

“I’ll never replace your real father, but I hope we can at least become close,” he said awkwardly, clearly like me when it came to this kind of stuff.

“We’ll try at least,” I replied, relaxing my shoulders and forcing a smile.

“That’s all I’m asking for,” he said, kicking a rock off of the concrete. “If you’d like, my wife and I can take you and yours to Canterlot for dinner? Maybe some theater afterwards?”

I tapped my chin, then shrugged, “sure, I’ll let Adry know when we’re free.”

This brought a relieved smile to his face as he bowed to me.

“Don’t bow, it's weird,” I chuckled, causing him to blush.

“Ah, yes, it is in this instance, isn’t it?” He stood up and flared his wings. “Well! I need to catch up to Sparky boy, make sure he doesn’t get into any more trouble.”

“Be seeing you,” I say, giving him a salute.

“Salutes are weird too,” he laughed as he shot away.

I rolled my eyes, “Salutes are not weird…”

Looking around, I saw I was finally alone, no one else heading towards me.

I waited a second, giving anyone else time to make themselves known, but no one did.

Happily, I turned my head back to look at the floor design over… and felt myself lurch forward as I tripped and slammed face first into the floor.

“Oh my! Are you okay?!” Luna yelled as she rushed from her throne and used her magic to help me up.

“Are you serious?!” I yelled out, realizing I’d been teleported to the palace. Then I saw Celestia and Luna looking at me with puzzled looks.

“Bad time?” Luna asked sheepishly.

Reluctantly, I sighed and shook my head, “not really, I guess… So, why the sudden teleportation?”

Luna just smiled as she returned to her throne, “no real reason, we just wanted to see how the pregnancy was coming along.”

“It’s ah goin’,” I responded, eye twitching in annoyance at this being the reason for the summons. Then my eye widened and I muttered under my breath, “Oh shit, this is how Lance must have felt…”

“What was that?” Celestia asked, a bit of a smirk on her lips.

“You know what I said,” I said, then chuckled to myself. “Sorry, I’m just not used to how things work here. I’m used to uncaring rulers and a hateful government ruling over everything.”

“It is a bit of an adjustment,” she said with a thoughtful nod. “I know of your world, thanks to Lance sharing his memories with us. But you lived it in a much different way than he did.”

I just gave a shrug back, not sure what to say to that. I don’t really want to talk about my time there, not right now at least.

Sensing my thoughts, she changed the subject. “Now! Back to why we summoned you here, is there anything we can do to help make your pregnancy any more comfortable?”

“Yes actually!” I suddenly said, smiling widely up at them. “Don’t teleport me without warning! That’ll be the best gift you can give me right now!”

“Ah, yes,” Luna laughed nervously, “I believe we can arrange that. Anything else?”

I thought for a moment, but could not think of anything else at that moment. “I got nothing. I’m still in the early stages of all this, so the only things I want right now are to be left alone… did not mean for that to sound so rude.”

“It is okay, Scamp,” Celestia chuckled, horn glowing. “We’ll come to you in the future if we need you, how’s that sound?”

“Sounds awesome,” I reply, giving a thumbs up. “Just give me a warning, would hate for you to see something terrifying and scaring.”

“What possibly could that…” her eyes widened as she saw an image pop up in my mind. “AH! YEP! On you go, Scamp!” Her horn flashed and I found myself back at the slab of concrete.

I couldn’t help but laugh loudly at the situation. This place sure knew how to keep things interesting! In a none deadly way too!

Checking my surroundings, I was sure I was FINALLY alone. Walking over to a table, I picked up a notepad and began to jot down new dimensions and ideas to give to Drax.

Definitely going to need this main floor to be much bigger.

“Oh hi, Scamp!” I heard someone say from above me. Looking up revealed Lance as he slowly flew over head.

“Fuck it!” I suddenly yell, startling him. “I give up! I’ll get this tomorrow!”

“You good?” he asked as he landed next to me, but realized that was a mistake as I reached out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him to my face.

“Am I good?! I could be good! But you all keep bugging me!” I scream, inches from his face.

He winched a bit, but smiled back at my angry face. “OH! Is this a mood swing brought on by pregnancy?”

“You did not just say that…” I growled as I opened my pocket dimension and pulled out a large mallet.

“Oh shit…” Lance said with wide eyes. “I may have used a poor choice of words there…”

“You think?!” I reply as I hold the mallet above us, eyeing him hard.

“I’m sorry,” he says, trying to calm me down. “Now, just calm down! There’s no need to overact like this!”

“You’re an idiot,” I growled as I let him go and swung the mallet towards him.

“What’d I say?!” he yelped as he was wacked away, flying high into the air and landing in the forest across the street.

I tossed the mallet back into my pocket dimension and huffed. With a bit of attitude, I picked up my notepad again and began to add notes to it.

Next Chapter: Viper Claw! Estimated time remaining: 29 Hours, 2 Minutes