Chapter 9: Surf City
"Are our deeds written in stone or sand?"

I laid on the nice, soft, sleep inducing couch cushions. The feeling caused me to feel as if I were about to pass out again. The dream journal floated in front of me in jade green magic as I slowly flipped through its pages.

It seemed so real. I had felt the pain, suffering, and yet... this says it's not real.

This right now feels real enough. That pony I cut up last night felt real enough.

I set my hoof on the journal as I sighed at a passage with Midnight Bell on it. He was handsome but he didn't have talons, claws, and a beak, or wings.

I used magic to flip quite a few pages back and read a random passage out loud to my belly.

Bucky did not exist anymore, neither did Eclipse, nor that horrible plant monster. All that exists right now is this nice, amazing shower and soap. We do not care where they get their water and soap, but it is lovely. It smells like... apples.

“I was told you needed some towels, so here they are.” A deep male voice says from behind Us.

We gave a nod of thanks. “Thank you, mister...?”

“Cola.”

We did not look back as We roll Our eyes. “Let Us guess, the first half is Sparkle?”

“Pretty much.”

We facehoof as We groan and turn to look at the orange stallion. Our eyes pop open wide at the same time We shout, “alicorn!”

Ignoring the shower, We walk over to him while still covered partly in soap. Our eyes wide as We check out the powerfully built, and perfectly beautiful, stallion from ear to hoof. Our gaze lingers on his flank where he had an actual cutie mark. It was of said drink, though We do not know why he would have a cutie mark of Sparkle-Cola.

We stop at least a leg’s length away. His muscles were tense and ready to run as he flexed his wings for some reason We do not know. Our gaze move up to his yellow eyes as We ask. “How...?”

“Ever heard of Killing Joke?” We nod slowly because We have seen its effects first hoof. “I used to be an earth pony, but fell into some and ended up like this. Been hiding on this ship since because of that damn bounty.”

We took a couple steps closer as We ask, “how long?”

“A few months or so? Why?”

We smile as We step even closer, and almost touch his nose. He was now forced to look cross eyed at Us in fright.

“Because the Goddess has been looking for one such as you for a very long time.” Our hoof came up to caress his cheek. He flinched, so We lowered it. “Do not be frightened by Us.” We whisper to him in a sensual manner as We nuzzle his nose with Ours, "We can show you what it means to be an alicorn. All you have to do is open your heart to Us.”

“I’ve... got to go,” he replies as he bolts from the shower room.

Our ears fold against Our head as We look at the floor. Were We too pushy? Was that why he ran?

Then a smile crept up on Our face as We begin to chase after him. Two hundred years of waiting for...

I closed the book with magic as I frowned in disappointment. "Perhaps you're not ready to hear that sort of thing. Let's look at another part, Clyde." The book was opened and flipped a few pages back.

Our tank blasted across the green snow covered field. We were on the lead tanks left to cover that side. The rough ground caused all four of us to bump and bounce around slightly despite the suspension soaking most of the bad terrain up. Our three tank platoon was flanking a platoon of zebra heavy tanks and we had used a small hill to our advantage to swing around behind them.

We came around the hill as more of the toxic green shit rained down and the turret rotated left sixty degrees on the Commander’s command. The hydraulics, engine noise, and metal on metal contact made everything so loud you had to shout into a helmet intercom system to be heard.

The Gunner sighted in the Zebra heavy through her scope and pushed a button nearby.

Immediately the gun’s breech shot backwards as all sounds in the turret were drowned out by the report of the gun. As the breech momentarily stopped to slide forward it spit out a large brass casing. The breech slammed forward to its stop and I used my magic to put the empty casing into the empty side where the ammo was stored. I did not worry about the cordite smoke as some of it filtered back in through the barrel, because we all were forced to wear gas masks as even the air outside was toxic. The tank was not fully sealed.

“That’s a knockout.” The Gunner commented dryly as if she were bored.

“New target,” Commander ordered over the headset built into our helmets and masks. “Nine o’clock, middle tank. Load AP. Fire when ready.”

I turned around and engulfed an AP shell in with magic as I pulled it off the rack, and loaded it into the gun by pushing it with a hoof. I slapped the breech closed with a hoof.

“Round up,” I said as soon as I was clear of being smacked in the face by the gun.

The gunner adjusted the aim of the gun and compensated for our movement. “Firing,” she pushed the button again. The gun went through the motions and she swore. “We blew off his cupola. Load another, quick!”

“Right five degrees and give us more juice.” Commander ordered the driver while I complied to the gunners demands.

The tank complied and sped up. The breech shut and I shouted over the hydraulics. “Round up!”

“Firing!” She yelled and pushed the button then frowned as the gun went through the motions. “Bounced.”

I quickly loaded in another shell and was about to shout when, suddenly, I was thrown around the cramped turret at the same time something loud slammed into us. Our vehicle spun around to the left when its left side track disintegrated and sent our tank whipping around. The gunner quickly worked the hydraulics to aim and fired off a snapshot as I slowly recovered from hitting my head on the gun in the spin.

“Bail!” The commander shouted and we each opened our hatches.

My magic opened the hatch above me and I squeezed out into the toxic snow. I was not as used to the maneuver as the others and slipped on the slick metal. Which caused me to fall, hit my head again and tumble into the snow covered field.

As I lay there for a second, staring up at the clouds, I prayed to Celestia that my thick cloth barding protected me. Movement caught my eyes and I looked over at as Lead’s turret rocketed into the sky in a fireball before it fell to the green snow as it trailed fire. With an unladylike grunt I hauled myself to my hooves.

I closed the book again as I sighed and shook my head. "Perhaps this book isn't meant for you, Clyde." My magic engulfed said book as I slid it under the couch to hide it from prying eyes. "Let's take a nap. Maybe we can get back there and make it better for everypony." I told nopony and laid across the nice, soft, sleep inducing couch.

*** ***

I was jolted awake as somepony banged on my front door. A look at the clock revealed it was still early in the day.

The loud knocking continued.

"Alright!" I shouted and the knocking ceased as I got off the couch. My gaze went around the empty apartment. An empty apartment devoid of happiness.

I reached the door, opened it with magic and nearly gasped. There before me stood a green alicorn with a bloody bandage over her right eye. Her short, for an alicorn, green mane flowed slightly and there were many small scars on her left leg. She swayed on her hooves, and slowly blinked.

"Help..." she whispered in my mind as she collapsed in a heap and shut her eye. "Make them stop talking. Please, make it stop, make it stop!"

I poked my head into the hallway and looked up and down it, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, I grabbed the green alicorn by the mane with my teeth. She was pulled inside my apartment then I shut the door with magic.

I knelt down as I gave her a nudge in an attempt to get her attention. She opened her eye and smiled at me, but it was a pained smile that caused me to wonder if she was all there or not. I also noticed she had scars in the same general areas that I did.

"You're not real," I said as I sat up and backed away.

"But of course I am," she replied in my mind. "I'm... You."

I shook my head. "No, you're a figment of my imagination. I'm Lilium, not... some freakish monster that-" Her laughter reverberated inside my head and cut off my sentence.

"Did you enjoy killing that pony earlier?" she asked softly. “When you shoved your blade through his heart?”

I looked away in shame as I mumbled, "no, I did it to feel better."

"And do you...?" Her pained voice asked.

I nodded. "Yes, he was an asshole and deserved it. Besides, no pony knew who he was. Just some random crimson stallion."

She curled up into a ball and began to shiver as if she were cold. I placed my hoof on her head and sighed deeply.

"See, we are the same," she said in my mind. "I felt a familiar... hunger and followed it to its source. It hurts..."

"What does?"

"The voices... Can't you hear? Everypony here. I can hear them all. Make them stop! Find Mudpie, she'll... know what to do. We have endured something similar with her help, but... this... This hurts to even show you, yourself in this manner..."

I shook my head in disagreement. "If you're not real, she's not real. Look..."

I trotted over and pulled the journal out from under the couch. Then tossed it at her hooves. She chuckled inside my head and smiled, but her mouth had yet to open.

"We do not need to look inside, as We know the contents already. They have gone through Our memories. To create a world in which you would be happiest and not question its legitimacy. A monster chained and held in reserve, is better than a monster on the loose. But they did not... realise... Our telepathy would subconsciously pick up everypony's thoughts."

My eye narrowed in annoyance at her. "Let's pretend you're talking truth. If what you say is true, then why are you here?"

"Because it hurts to hear so many voices at once... I suspect I know why The Great... and Powerful Goddess failed... She could not think clearly. Please, Lilium, help Us. You're not really pregnant, you don't have foals, you can't. This place isn't real!"

"Shut up!" I screamed as I kicked her hard in the side with my metal hoof. She grunted and curled up tighter as she received a second kick. "I don't wanna hear any lies from an imaginary pony. I don’t care if this is fake. I like it here!"

I lifted my cyber leg and brought it down on her skull as hard as I could. The metal hoof passed through her head as if it were not there and slammed into the floor with a loud crack. My eye widened as she flickered and vanished like a bad light bulb along with the journal.

There was a knock at the door, which drew my attention before I could even comprehend what had just happened. I shook my head to banish the strange thoughts, recomposed myself and trotted towards the door.

As I cracked it open a familiar crimson face greeted my vision. I smiled warmly at Dawn Star's concerned expression. "Hey," she said and then mouthed. "Are you alone?"

I nodded. "I'm fine. There was... a bug." I grinned a fake grin at her to assure her everything was fine. Then looked back to where there was a hoof shaped dent in the floor. "I got it though," I said as I looked back at her, “the bugger was almost as big as my hoof!”

"Oh," she gave a half nod. "I was in the hall and heard shouting. I thought you were in trouble or something..."

"Have you seen Eclipse or Sienna? I need to talk to them about Midnight and I."

She shook her head and my heart sank. "Lilium,” Dawn Star began in a concerned tone. “If you see anything 'strange' you'd let me know, right?"

I nodded with a smile. "Like if I saw a green one eyed Celestia that claimed she was me? Of course I'd tell you."

She arched her eyebrow in response. "Yeah, like that. Did you make that up just now, or...?"

"Just now. I'm gonna get dressed and go look for the foals. You’re welcome to come if you want."

“I have to wash my mane,” Dawn Star said then turned towards her door. I shut mine and laid my head against it as I sighed deeply in frustration.

Nosy neighbors are never a good thing. If she gets worse I might have a need to deal with her quietly.

*** ***

My saddlebags were slightly heavy with a .44 revolver, ammo, bits, and paper. I was wearing a slightly loose brown dress that hid my curves slightly. And I acted as if that encounter with that... one eyed green freak never happened.

My metal hoof thumped twice on the door as I knocked and waited until it was open by a white earth pony. She faked a smile at me and I nodded a greeting even though I did not like her much.

"Hello, I'm looking for my daughter, Eclipse."

She frowned. "Who? I don't kno-"

"Eclipse!" I shouted and held my cyber hoof to about chest level. "She's a teal earth pony, and about this high."

She went to shut the door, but my metal hoof was wedged between in. I did not feel the pain but I heard the crack of the wood. The white mare sighed. "Lilium, you don't have a teal filly, just Sienna."

My eye widened slightly and twitched at her completely false remark! "She's a friend of your daughter, Rose!” I screamed in her face, “I have two fillies!"

She nodded as she let out a deep sigh. "Midnight told me to turn you away, okay?"

She shoved my hoof back through the gap and slammed the door in my face. The wood almost bumped my nose and I slumped into a sitting position, then looked down the hall where no pony was. I shut my eye and pondered this.

Then I remembered Eclipse's hateful words. 'Maybe I will'.

I slammed my hoof against the door a few times and it opened again. She barely cracked it open this time so she could see out with one eye.

"Wait," I said before she shut the door in my face a second time. "Where is she? I need to talk to her, please, it's very important. We can't part ways on the words we said last night."

"Look, I don't know what you must be going through, but leave. Midnight picked her up yesterday. I'm sorry."

The white mare gently shut the door. I heard it lock as I sighed then trotted towards the elevator. Dawn's door was closed, as was everyone else's. The elevator dial was slowly moving up from the ground floor.

I stopped at the brushed metal doors and looked at my vague reflection. Though it was green with a flowing green mane. I ignored the psychological reflection as I tapped my hoof on the up button and waited.

As the doors opened, I stepped into the empty lift and tapped the button for two floors up. The doors waited a few seconds then shut and my stomach did flips as I was jolted upwards.

The lift ride wasn't long and they opened again to reveal an identical hallway.

I trotted forward as I looked at the grey flooring and white walls. Efficient, yet ugly. Arid Rain's apartment literally was directly two floors above mine. Even down to the location in the hallway.

I knocked gently and a slightly tall dark blue unicorn mare opened the door. "Hello, Nova," I waved my hoof at her in a greeting. "How's things?"

She smiled and opened the door further. "Greetings, Lily, the foals were just taking a nap. I'll go get Sienna."

I grabbed her by the hoof with my normal hoof before she could turn around. "I just thought you should know. Last night... Eclipse caught Sienna kissing Arid Rain and said they were whispering sweet things to each other, but I'm not sure how true it is. "

Her blue eyes went wide in shock as her mouth dropped a little. "What, my Arid Rain is a...? Are you serious?!" I gave her a firm nod. "Well then! I suppose I should give her a little talk as to where her priorities should lie. Like colts."

"If The Goddess wishes her to be a fillyfooler, then that is her will. Good, bad, I support Sienna to grow into the mare she wants to be."

"I know they've been friends practically since they were born," she sighed. "But can you at least discourage it when they're at your place? I don't know about you, but I want grandfoals."

I smiled at her and gave a nod. "I will see what I can do. But I know Eclipse most certainly prefers colts. So I do not have to worry so much in that department."

She looked down at my hoof that still held hers, which I only just now realized as well and my cheeks heated up in a slight blush.

"Well, some of us don't have the luxury of more than one foal." Her brows knitted together as she sat down and ran her other forehoof over mine while her horn, and hoof, glowed a soft blue . "You're troubled by dark thoughts, old memories... and strange desires. I could help you to relieve these desires and thoughts."

I rolled my eye and yanked the hoof away then stomped it down. "Nova Blue, please go get Sienna. I have no patience for your parlor tricks today."

She nodded and disappeared in a flash of blue light. Only to reappear almost a minute later with a groggy looking Sienna.

As soon as Sienna saw me her face lit up brightly. The filly bolted towards me and clamped my regular foreleg in a bear hug that felt like she was trying to kill all blood flow to the area.

"I had the bestest day ever! We went out an' had pizza!"

I smiled as I nuzzled the top of her head. "That is good. What do you say?"

She looked at Arid Rain's mother. "Thank you for an awesome day, Miss Nova Blue."

Nova waved a hoof. "I'm sure Arid enjoyed it as well. A little birdy told me she liked you a lot."

Sienna shook her head so quick I thought it was going to fall off. "Nuh-uh! I slipped an' she caught me, but she also slipped an' we fell on top of each other. It was an accident!"

The aforementioned other foal walked up and peered around Nova's hind legs. "Bye, Sienna." she said with a wave.

I saw the look Nova gave Arid Rain. It was a look my mother once gave me. A look that says 'you're in deep shit and I'm going to lecture you about fillies and colts until your ears bleed'.

"Bye, Arid! I'll see ya at school!" Sienna waved.

I turned towards the elevator as I nodded at Nova Blue. "Thank you for watching her."

"It's what friends are for," she replied with a nod.

*** ***

On our way home we ran into Mango. The gryphon had passed by a news stand and picked up the days paper. The headline? An unidentified stallion was gruesomely murdered in some alleyway with no witnesses or clues as to who did it. Of course they won't identify him. His head was weighted, tossed in the bay, and the sharks have most likely already feasted on it.

The paper was now sitting on the coffee table. Mango was cooking something. Sienna was sitting on the couch and I was on the floor looking into her eyes. I placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"Sienna, I..." I bit my lower lip in worry. Because I was not sure if the ten year old filly would understand. "I messed up big time, okay? You remember yesterday when I told you about Clyde?"

She nodded and hugged herself as she twisted side to side. "Yup! He's gonna be the bestest little brother in all of Equestria!"

"Well... Your... Your father..." I shut my eye and sighed as I settled on a lie. "Your father has taken Eclipse on a trip to... The gryphon kingdom." I silently groaned as I facehoofed.

"I wanna go!" She hopped up and grinned. My ears folded back as I set the hoof down. "Let's go see them."

"I... Um... I have a better idea! Let's go to..." I grinned at her as an idea came to mind. "The Crystal Empire." Her eyes went huge as she fell on her haunches. "I can show you all the amazing things there. Like the Crystal Heart that projects love all across the world. And my old neighborhood. Call it a belated birthday gift. Sound like fun?"

Sienna nodded rapidly again. "Awesome fun! Can we bring Arid Rain? She would love it ‘cause she thinks your sparkly coat is pretty too. Why doesn't mine sparkle?"

"It will in time. But I'm afraid we can't bring her along. I don't think her mother would approve of it. You see, Arid's mother isn't as... Forgiving, yes. She isn't as forgiving as I am when it comes to matters of, well, love. Only a crystal pony, like us, truly understands what it means. Promise me, Sienna, promise me that you'll make an attempt at talking to colts."

She stuck out her tongue. "Yuck! Colts have cooties!"

I pointed my cyber hoof at her. "Sienna... I'm being serious. Promise me, if they talk to you, you'll talk to them and not beat them up."

She let out a deep sigh of frustration as she rolled her eyes. Then went through the motions while she said. "Cross my heart an’ hope ta fly, stick a cupcake in my-Aah!" She hit her eye with a hoof in an attempt to Pinkie Promise. "That hurt..."

I smiled at her. "Well it was good enough. Now remember, Pinkie Pie is watching you," my hooves came up and I waved them about, "ooooOOOooo."

She squealed in mock terror and bolted for her bedroom. As the door shut a pair of eagle arms wrapped around me and pulled me into Mango's embrace.

I sighed contently as I felt his warm feathers on the back of my head. "That went much better than I expected. Did you get her something for her birthday?"

"She’s not too bright, and no. I didn’t. She’s not mine." he replied and rubbed at my chest with his talons.

I turned around as I pushed away with a glare strong enough to drill through his skull. "Go get her something for her birthday!”

"Huh?" he tilted his head.

"Get the fuck out of my house and don't come back until you found her something she'll enjoy!"

Mango practically flew into the door on his way out. I laughed silently. Then my smile turned into a frown as I slumped into my forehooves and groaned.

"Knock, knock," a pony that sounded like Dawn Star said. Again I groaned in annoyance as they walked in. "Anypony home?"

"Yes," I said as I looked up at her standing next to the entry way. "I'm not in the mood for idle chat right now, Dawn."

She pointed a hoof towards the stove where smoke was beginning to rise. "Something's burning."

My eye widened as I shot up and bolted over. I used my magic to quickly move the pan off the burner onto an unused one, then shut the burner off, and shoved a lid over the pan as the smoke started filling the room.

"Thanks," I said in boredom.

"So I passed by a gryphon on my way over. I take it that was the father?" I nodded slowly. "How'd Sienna take the news?"

My gaze went to Dawn's and my brows knitted together. "Do you work for Ministry of Morale or something? Because you sure do ask a lot of questions about my personal life."

"Nope," she shook her head.

I sighed deeply and nodded. "Sienna.. She... I... I couldn't tell her the truth. I told her we're going to visit the Crystal Empire, while Midnight and Eclipse visit the gryphon kingdom for a while. It was all I could think of."

I lifted the lid up and was greeted by tons of smoke, but no fire. I placed it under the faucet and ran water over the pan to fully cool it. "Mango pissed me off.” I told Dawn. “He called Sienna stupid for believing the story I told her. In her eyes I have no reason to lie to her."

"Are you gonna see him again?" I nodded as I shut the water off and tossed what was being cooked in the trash.

"Well we do have a thing and if he makes her happy, I'll be happy."

"I’m sure there’s another stallion out there that would be happy to have a mare like yourself."

I smiled at Dawn Star. "Would you like some tea? I'll put a pot on. I have a special brew for friends only."

"Sure." Dawn Star nodded and went over to the couch.

I set about getting the tea ready. I put water in the pot, then placed it on the burner, and turned it on. As I was looking for the actual tea bags I said. "Your place is nice, roomy, and clean."

"Well it's just me," she replied. "And I don't have much."

I pulled the correct box of tea out and set it on the tray along with two mugs. By this time the water was boiling, so I took it off the burner and put a few bags into the pot. I had to make sure I didn't spill any of it as I set the floating tea pot onto the tray with the mugs.

My magic engulfed it all and I trotted over to Dawn Star. The tray was gently set down on the new table. I sat on the comfy couch next to her and made sure the dress didn't get wrinkles in it.

She reached out with a hoof, but I lightly knocked it away with mine. "Not yet. The tea needs to seep."

We sat there in silence for almost ten minutes. The whole time Dawn Star had a look on her face as if she were deep in thought. I just stared at the tea with my one eye.

Eventually I poured the both of us nice, hot, steamy cups of delicious tea. Dawn Star went to take a sip and grimaced in insufferable pain.

"Hot!" see said through clenched teeth.

I smiled. "Silly Dawn Star, the tea is hot!" She gently blew on hers and my gaze lingered on her lips, then moved up to her pretty gold eyes. "You have pretty eye coloring," I absently commented.

She stopped blowing on the tea to look at me with a very faint blush on her cheeks. "Thanks, I guess. This tea smells really good."

I nodded and took a sip. It burned my tongue but I made no move to spit it out. Sweat began to form on around my horn so I quickly gulped it down. She took a sip and winced. And so we drank like that. Dawn wincing as she drank hers, I slightly sweating as I drank mine.

Finally I set my mostly empty cup down with a sigh. "Dawn, I'm bored. Do you want to go do something?"

"Like what?" she asked and I smiled.

"You'll find out, come on." I got off the couch and held out my hoof. She took it, I gripped and hauled her off the couch. Dawn star looked down at the tea. "Don't worry about it. Nothing’ll happen to it while we’re gone."

The two of us walked across the room to where Sienna was. I used my magic to gently open the door so I could peer inside. With the blinds closed it was dark and slightly hard to see, but I could make out Sienna playing with a stuffed doll of Spitfire.

She was hugging the near filly sized toy and whispering to it. "I know. It's just I'm gonna miss her. Mommy says she went-"

"Sienna?" I asked quietly. Her ears perked up and she looked at me, then smiled. "I'm going out with a friend. Would you like to come? We're gonna go to the boardwalk and get some ice cream."

She immediately dropped the toy and shot up. "Yay, ice cream!"

I smiled.

*** ***

Dawn Star walked next to me in her uniform as I followed Sienna along the wooden pier. An ice cream sundae floated in front of me while Dawn had to use one of her cyber wings like a gryphon uses their talons to hold onto an ice cream cone.

Our hoofsteps were hollow thanks to the wood planking beneath us, mine even more so. A mass of ponies surrounded us as well as food and game stands.

Sienna stopped and excitedly pointed her hoof at one that had stuffed pony's as prizes before she galloped over to it. We, of course, followed.

The brown unicorn filly propped her forehooves up on the counter and pointed at a stuffed Celestia doll about the same size as Sienna. She hopped up and down slightly and grinned. "Can I have it?!"

The bored earth pony behind the counter looked at me as I set my sundae down. "How much to buy the Celestia doll?"

He took a sip from a drink and pointed a hoof at the sign saying you had to knock down the zebra face way in the back to win a Celestia doll. I sighed as I magically set five bits down from my bags. The pony pushed a button and Sienna ran for one of the little airgun things.

Then all hell broke loose.

Everything inside the game started moving around and the flashing lights made it hard to see. Yet Sienna aimed the little rifle as best she could and sent yellow foam ball after yellow foam ball at the zebra face.

Every shot missed or was deflected by the other targets in between the two. The game shut off and Sienna's ears drooped.

So I put five more bits down and the machine started back up. Sienna tried her hardest again, yet it wasn't enough. She groaned and hit her hooves on the stand in frustration.

Dawn Star tossed the remaining bit of her ice cream cone into her mouth and walked over while chewing.The earth pony held out his hoof and I dropped five more bits into it.

Dawn grabbed the toy air rifle as the machine started up. I smiled while she looked determined to win the toy. Her shots were more precise and she got farther.

One struck the zebra face and Sienna jumped in joy, I grinned. After a few seconds the game stopped and we all looked at the earth pony.

He took a sip from his drink and pointed a hoof at the sign. "Sorry, ladies, rules are rules."

"That's bullshit!" Dawn shouted. "There's not enough kinetic velocity to knock it down!"

"My turn," I said as I dropped five more bits on the counter. As the machine started up I concentrated my magic on the pony's drink, ripped it from his grip and tossed it at the zebra head.

My blow almost missed, but it knocked the face down. With a smile I pulled the Celestia doll off the shelf and gave it to Sienna. She hugged it tightly and smiled.

"That's against the rules!" the pony shouted.

I glared a laser beam at him. "And so is having a rigged game. No where in your rules does it state I have to use your stupidly underpowered airgun. I won fair and square. Now good day, sir."

I felt a tug on my dress and looked down. Sienna pushed the Celestia doll towards me. "Can you carry her? She's too big for me."

I nodded and levitated the doll onto my back in a manner where she wouldn't fall off. We left the game stand and continued through the mass of ponies. After perhaps a few minutes of watching Sienna running around pony legs I was forced to sit down on a bench.

I looked up at the clear blue sky as the warm summer sun beat down on me. Inside the dress I was sweating badly, outside the sweat barely covered my face, and I was beginning to feel sick to my stomach like I was going to vomit.

Then my face went pale when I saw a dark silver unicorn mare walking through the crowd as she looked down at ponies like she was better than them. I grabbed Dawn Star's collar and whispered. "Hide me! For Celestia's sake, hide-"

"Granny!" Sienna shouted and bolted for Midnights mother. I groaned in annoyance as the foal nearly tackled her in a hug then dragged her over.

"Hello, Lilium," she said in a raspy voice as she smiled at me and then looked at Dawn Star. "Who's your friend?"

Dawn held out her hoof. "I'm Corporal Dawn Star. Lilium's neighbor. I moved to this city a few days ago and she was showing me around with her wonderful daughter."

"Oh," she looked down at Sienna then around in concern at the ponies that were ignoring the four of us. "Where is my son and other granddaughter?"

I quickly looked around myself and spotted a colt about Sienna's age then nudged her in his direction. "Sienna, why don't you go talk to that nice young colt over there?"

"He's got cooties," she whispered.

I glared in disappointment at her as I pointed my hoof in his direction. "You Pinkie Promised, remember?"

Dawn's cyber wing came down and began to pull her away. She looked at me and nodded. "I'll watch her to make sure they don't get in trouble."

Synthie's mother and I watched the two as they walked out of earshot. Then we looked at each other. "Bad news I take it?" she tilted her head and an ear twitched.

I nodded and kept glancing at Dawn Star to make sure she didn’t try to run off with Sienna.

"Yes... I messed up badly. I was seeing another pony and Midnight found out." Her eyes went wide. "He practically forced me to sign divorce papers and ran off with Eclipse before I could even say good bye." I facehoofed with both my forehooves. "I'm such an idiot!"

I set my hooves down and looked at Midnight’s mother. Her normal snobbish expression had changed to one of contempt. Then, without warning, a dark silver hoof slapped me audibly across the face. She stomped it down as I held the spot in shock. "Trollop! You had everything a pony could want and you threw it all away, and for what? A quickie with some pony that doesn't give two shits about you? You imbecile!"

"I fucked up, okay? I know that." Her blow stung more than her words did. I did not need a pony to tell me I screwed up, again.

She pointed her hoof at me and her eyes narrowed. "You can forget about being invited to our family gatherings ever again. But..." Her gaze softened slightly. "Next time I see my son, I will make him bring Eclipse to you so you can say goodbye. A mother should at least have that."

I nodded, "thank you."

She harrumphed and stuck her nose in the air as she trotted off. I leaned back as I groaned and set the toy aside, even though it went better than I thought. Dawn, Sienna, and the colt came over in a small group along with his father.

The maroon cyborg pegasus sat down next to me and our flanks accidentally touched. I didn't mind it so much because it distracted me from the verbal assault I had received.

The yellow stallion gave a half bow. "Hello," he stuck his hoof out and I shook it. "Dawn Star was telling me how you beat that game and I wanted to say, good thinking. I had tried myself and gave up."

I absently wrapped my cyber leg around Dawn and pulled her into a hug. "Well Dawn tried and failed too. I got pissed at the pony running it, I really did. It's not fair to trick a pony in such a manner."

He smiled. "Well, Sienna is lucky to have two wonderful parents like yourselves."

My jaw dropped as I pulled away from Dawn Star. "Were not married... We... uhh... I don’t like..."

"She's just a friend," Dawn added for me.

He nodded. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to take Junior home for dinner."

My face heated up in a blush as the stallion and his colt walked off. Sienna grinned at me. I looked at an equally blushing Dawn Star.

"I swear this wasn't that kind of a date," I told her.

A faint smile formed on her face but her blush stayed. "Well... I did enjoy today. So thank you for a good time."

Slowly, a thought churned over in my head. A thought that was screaming at me to ask and it was wrong, yet also right. I smiled back at her. "Would you like to cap it off with dinner?"

"Lilium, I'm not a fillyfooler." she replied and crushed my terrible, terrible, dreams. "Sorry."

Regardless, I gave a nod of understanding. "Neither am I. It never hurts to ask, you know?"

"Right, well I'm gonna head home and go iron my uniform for tomorrow."

"Bye," I waved.

Sienna practically hopped and waved at her. "Bye, Miss Dawn Star!"

"See you two later," she spread her metal wings and took flight.

I facehoofed as I groaned.

*** ***

As Sienna and I stepped off the elevator, with Celestia on my back, I saw a familiar face next to my door and leaned against the wall.

Mango was scratching lightly at the floor with his talons and his back was to us. I made a silencing motion with my hoof to Sienna, she nodded, and we crept forward.

Our hooves barely made a sound as we slowly closed the distance. I slapped him hard on the flank with a hoof to get his attention.

The gryphon squawked in shock as he took to the air with a flap of his wings. Both Sienna and I giggled at him. He glared at me as he landed on the carpet and folded his wings. I got in close and hugged him with a nuzzle to the neck as he was much larger than I. Mango's foreleg arm wrapped around me in the hug.

"Did you get her something?" I asked in a whisper and he nodded. "Good. Then I have a surprise for you later.”

He smiled as he looked at the now open door. Sienna had dragged Celestia inside and was brushing the dolls long mane. The brush was held in a very shaky levitation field, which caused me to smile.

My hoof tapped the gryphon next to me and I pointed at her. "Look look," I whispered softly in excitement. "She's levitating the brush!"

"Fascinating," Mango deadpanned with a roll of his eyes. Then he walked over to her quietly and looked down. I shut the door so as to not make a sound and walked over. Mango knelt down to look into her eyes. "I heard your birthday was yesterd-"

Sienna yelped in shock and her magic field popped and fizzled, the gryphon recoiled in shock as well. She looked up at Mango with a wide eyed gaze. "Huh?! You scared me, Mister!"

He smiled and knelt down again. Then his talon brought out a terribly wrapped box with twine to tie it off. Sienna dropped the doll and was like a zombie as she crawled over to it.

"What is it?! What is it what is it what is it?!" She chanted over and over.

By then I was laying down next to Mango with his wing draped over me in a cuddle. The heat of his body was making me sweat slightly, but I did not care. Sienna grabbed the box in her hooves and failed at opening it.

"It would not be a surprise if he told you." I giggled at her as she gnawed on a corner of the box with her teeth.

Sienna stopped to stare at the box as she scrunched her face up and sweat started to bead off her brows. A flicker of magic surrounded the knot and failed. She stuck her tongue out and tried again.

I nudged Mango with a hoof as the glow surrounded her horn again. He smiled at Sienna. "You can do it!"

The glow surrounded the knot and it came loose as she pulled. Her brown hooves furiously tore the wrapping apart in a blur. The brown paper covered up her expression as she looked inside the box but the squeal of delight was all I needed to know.

She used her hooves to pull a cylindrical object with a screen attached to it. My eyes narrowed at the polished, brand new, silver Pipbuck. However I smiled at the filly and laid my head against Mango's neck with a content sigh.

Sienna looked at the device, then tilted her head. "What is it?"

"A Pipbuck," I told her with a smile. "A device that has truly wondrous abilities. May I see it first, please?"

She held it out with her hooves and it was engulfed in my magic as I brought it over. The device was inspected closely for traps by pulling the brand new padding back slightly.

I found none. So I floated it back over to her as I said, "choose which foreleg carefully because they are very hard to remove."

She looked at each of her forelegs, then placed it over her right foreleg and clasped it shut. A grin formed on her face as it most certainly booted up. I noticed the screen was a dark blue and wondered if it was like the Pipbuck in my dream in that she saw blue and orange bars.

I dragged the Celestia doll over in my magic and looked at the filly sized toy, then to Sienna, and smiled. "Sienna, why don't you go get your Spitfire doll and we'll play a game? Your pick of the game."

With a silent nod she scrambled off to her room to retrieve said doll. I looked over and nuzzled Mango's beak. The gryphon gave a warm smile and I sighed.

"Thank you for giving her that. Where you got it, I don't care. Would you like to come around more often, like... daily?"

"Perhaps," he replied with a shrug. Then he nodded his head towards Sienna's room.

She had Spitfire done up in a makeshift flight power armor with straws as the energy rifles. The suit was made out of cardboard, and was very ugly, yet she had made it herself and so I never mentioned the fact that it was ugly. I gave Mango a quick glare that said he better not make fun of it, then made Celestia stand with my magic as a jade green glow surrounded the doll. The Celestia doll already had her wings out as if they were trying to flap in flight.

I stood her on her hind hooves and pointed a hoof in the air. "Halt!" I mock shouted. "Who trespasses on Our realm of Home?"

Sienna propped Spitfire up with her hooves and pointed the straw tubes at Celestia as I set my doll back to all fours."It is I, Captain Sienna, your highness."

I made my doll tilt her head in confusion. "We are not Celestia, We are The Great and Powerful Goddess! Thou will join Unity or perish. Raaawwwwrrr!"

Sienna rolled her eyes, "Mommy, there's no such thing! How can Celestia-"

"Quiet thou ungrateful whelp!" I lowered the Celestia Dolly's head and said. "We smite thee with thine magic missiles!"

Sienna pulled her doll to the side and re-aimed her 'rifles'. "Your magic missiles are no match for my laser rifles! Pew pew pew!"

Celestia doll grabbed her chest with a hoof and fell over. "Ugh, you've... got Us... Our reign... Is at an end!"

Spitfire doll was dragged over and Sienna jumped in joy. "Haha! I win!"

"Not yet," I replied with a cackle and floated the doll into the air. "Thou foalish mortal cannot comprehend one such as I, The Great and Powerful Goddess!"

Celestia doll swooped down and tackled Spitfire doll then jumped into the air. I made her fly around in a circle while cackling maniacally as Sienna watched the doll. She lifted her doll and aimed the straw rifles. "Only the great Captain Sienna can stop this monster and save Equestria!"

Sienna looked at me and pleaded with her eyes. Spitfire doll was engulfed in my magic as she took flight to chase after the pseudo Goddess doll.

Celestia doll looked back. "What's this?! Thy mortal foalishly thinks they-"

"Pew pew pew!" Sienna shouted as Celestia doll dodged her 'shots' and Mango chuckled as he watched the display.

Then Celestia doll’s horn lowered, "We, The Great and Powerful Goddess smites thee with magic missiles!"

Spitfire doll flew higher, almost scraping the ceiling, and swooped down. Sienna made more make believe laser noises. I made Celestia doll fly erratically, then spiral out of control and crash into the couch with a soft oomph. Spitfire doll flew a wide victory loop as Sienna clapped her forehooves together.

"Yay!" she giggled as both dolls were brought over in my magic field.

I patted Sienna on the top of her head with a hoof as I roughed up her mane. "You keep practicing your magic and one day you might be as powerful as Celestia."

"Really...?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Well..." I half shrugged with my metal hoof, then laid my head against Mango's neck again. "Not as powerful as her, but you could be pretty powerful. Who knows? All it takes is determination and devotion," I said as I lightly tapped her on the head with with my regular hoof. Then I looked at Mango. "Would you like to stay for dinner, and maybe the night?"

He scratched his beak in thought for a few moments before he shook his head. "Can't. I gotta be up early, sorry, Lils."

I shrugged as he got up and scratched my head with a taloned hand, causing my mane to fall in front of my eye. Mango's lion tail wrapped around my neck and gently tickled under my chin as a giggle escaped my lips.

"I'll see you tomorrow afternoon," he mouthed and I nodded. As the gryphon walked away he gave a wink.

I grinned at Sienna, she tilted her head as her ears twitched in wonderment.

"How would you like pizza for dinner?" I asked.

"Yay!"

*** ***

The sound of my bedroom door opening woke me from my soft slumber. I was still groggy, but rolled over onto my chest and let my regular hoof hang down from the bed.

"Come on," I mumbled into my pillow without opening my eyes. "I'll keep the monsters away."

I felt the little brown unicorn filly climb up my leg like a ladder, then she walked over my back and cuddled next to my side. I zoned out into that place between when you're awake and sleep.

Eventually I drifted back into the blackness that is sleep.

*** ***

When I had awoken, Sienna wasn't there, only her new Celestia doll. This had not worried me while I cooked breakfast, which consisted of reheating leftover pizza. Sienna was, of course, overly excited about having pizza and oblivious to the real reason I have been trying to make her so happy for the last few days: Her father left us because of my screw up.

She sat on the other side of the table as she devoured her slice.

I set my floating slice down and wiped the grease off my face with a napkin. "So you had a bad dream again?" I asked before I lifted a milk glass in magic and took a sip.

Sienna mumbled around a mouthful of food, "nuh-uh. I slept all night."

My head tilted as my ear flopped sideways at her response. I clearly remembered her coming in last night and cuddling next to me with the Celestia doll. My gaze went to my messy room where the doll was still where I had left it. "Are you sure?"

"Mhm, positive!" she replied.

I looked at her in confusion, which slowly turned into a half smile, then gave a nod. Sienna went back to her meal and I stood up. Slowly and carefully, I made my way from the living room towards my door.

My magic gripped the handle as I turned it and opened the door partly to look around the room with my good eye. Celestia doll was where she was when I awoke, but she had turned around and was facing the door in a sleeping position, and the sheets were now perfectly made.

"I'm watching you," I whispered to the toy before I opened the door farther. A faint smile slowly formed on my lips as I turned around towards the kitchen. "Sienna, are your things ready for school?"

She pulled her small bag off the couch and opened it to show me it's contents. "Yes!"

"Got your books?"

"Mhm," she nodded.

"Lunch, and a snack?"

"Yup! I grabbed more pizza."

"How about a hat?"

She tapped her chin with a hoof in thought, then shook her head. "Nuh-uh, Mommy. Weather is suposta be clear."

I nodded at her response. "Yes that may be, but it never hurts to be prepared for any occasion and the sun is very hot. Here, take this one."

I looked over with magic as I selected an extremely large, for a young filly, brown floppy hat from the wall, placed it gently on her head and tightened it. Sienna looked up as the brim flopped down in front of her eyes then she frowned.

"Moooom, this hat is too big!"

I knelt down to look at her as I adjusted it to sit on her horn and not fall down. "Better?" I asked. She nodded. "Good. Now what are you doing in school today?"

"Learnin' 'bout the history of Eqwestria!" she exclaimed as she hopped off the ground and grinned.

I nodded slowly. "And if a colt talks to you?"

"I roll out of tha way an' buck ‘em in tha face ‘cause he has cooties!"

A chuckle escaped me as I shook my head. "No no, you are going to talk to him. Remember your promise?" She nodded rapidly and made the brim of her hat flop around. "Good, now let's get you to class. Being late is never good."

*** ***

Sienna was at school, Midnight and Eclipse were still gone. I had expected him to come back for their things, but apparently with all their money they did not need too.

I was cleaning up the apartment after the weekend, with the front door open of course, and had the Celestia doll sitting on the couch. As I went about my routine I felt like I was being watched. Like somepony was inside my head watching my every move and could hear every thought.

So I stopped cleaning, set the brush down and made my way over to the plush doll. She was lifted to eye level by my magic and I glared a laser beam at her with my one eye.

"What are you?" I asked the doll quietly and received no response. She looked at me with a smile like yesterday. Except today her wings were folded instead of extended and her eyes were shut and her pose indicated she was sleeping.

"I know you're not a doll. Dolls don't open doors, walk into a pony's room, or make their bed, so what are you?!" I got no response again, but felt like the doll acknowledged my questioning. "Alright look here, Celestia Doll, I don't care if you're some freaky possessed toy or not. There are rules in my house that you need to know if you’re going to stay here. The first and major one: If you harm my daughter Sienna, I will personally stuff you as slow as possible into the blender tail first!"

I sat down as I grabbed its head with my forehooves and brought it closer to where it filled my vision. "Here are my other rules: Protect her, watch her, be kind to her, and guard her like your life depends on it. Or its the blender! Do I make myself clear?"

For some reason, I thought I saw the faintest of nods come from the toy.

Shell Shock: 5% to next level. Did you think you gained xp here?! Silly, silly, alicorn.