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Hunter In Equestria: Chapter 10

By: BizzarreCoyote on Nov 9th, 2012 | syntax: None | size: 44.38 KB | hits: 75 | expires: Never

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Meanwhile in Ponyville...
---
"I'm still having trouble believing what Celestia did. Just *bam*, no more Anon." A stallion said, looking distressed. "I hear she was laughing the entire time, and did it right in front of Twilight Sparkle."
"Yeah, I know." A mare replied, looking at the darkened library. "Poor girl hasn't been out of that place in weeks...I hope she's okay."
They both walked into a bar, which was almost completely empty. The bartender nodded to them.
"What'll ya have?"
"Apple whiskey and a shot of carrot juice." The stallion replied.
A curt nod, and he pressed a button under the counter. A wall slid open, and stairs lead downwards into a cellar. The two entered, and just as quickly the wall closed behind them.
The pair made their way down the stairs, into what could only be called a command center. A map was stretched across a table, with a red flag over Canterlot, Las Pegasus, and many other cities. Two lonely blue flags sat over Ponyville and Baltimare.
The two cringed whenever they took a look at that map. It was a testament to just how outnumbered they were...though Celestia hadn't put any real effort into stamping out the resistance. In fact, nopony could remember seeing Celestia in about as long as Twilight had been holed up in her library.
A few ponies loitered about, either checking their weapons over or just idly chatting. A throat cleared, and all eyes went to the source of the sound.
Princess Luna, leader of the Resistance. She had removed her silver crown and shoes, instead roughing it like her soldiers. That caused quite a few ponies to follow her, deeming her more 'down to earth' as it were.
"Mares, Colts, listen up. We have an opportunity to strike at Celestia."
She walked over to the map, and pointed a hoof at a train track. "A train conducted by a sympathizer will be pulling in tomorrow. It leads straight to Canterlot, and he's making sure the train is empty, just for us."
"If we pull this off, we can dethrone Celestia and find a way to un-banish Anon."
Luna thought back to the conversation she and her sister had two months ago. They had both agreed that something had to be done, but they were split on *what*, exactly.
Luna had been a fan of simply monitoring Anon for a while, and seeing if a solution presented itself. Celestia, however, was convinced something needed to be done right then and there. The moon Alicorn opposed that, simply due to that line of thinking ending with Luna spending a thousand years on the moon.
Of course, Celestia waited until Luna was asleep to enact her plan, resulting in Luna leaving the castle and spurring Ponyville into disobedience when the blue pegacorn found out what had been done. The lunar princess also tried to find Twilight Sparkle, and had been partially successful. A powerful spell was blocking all forms of entrance into the library, whether it be teleportation or simply walking through the front door. She doubted that Celestia herself could break it.
Only Spike had been seen leaving and entering unhindered, and he wasn't speaking to anypony besides Rarity, who in turn had been keeping silent about Twilight's well being. None of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony had joined the Resistance, too concerned about Twilight to focus on much else. Besides, without all six, the Elements were of no use anyway.
The princess sighed out loud, causing a few wayward glances.
"Princess, is something wrong?"
"No no, simply thinking." Luna shook her head clear, she'd deal with those thoughts later. "The train will pull in at 0800 tomorrow morning, so get some rest. I want EVERYPONY at one hundred percent. We'll need nothing less than if we wish to succeed."
With that, the Princess bowed to her warriors.
"I cannot thank you all enough. No matter what happens tomorrow, your sacrifices and victories will not go unrewarded."
---
The Library
---
Twilight Sparkle sat under her covers, simply staring at the wall. She heard the door open, which signaled Spike coming home with food. The unicorn's stomach growled in spite of herself, goading her to actually get up for the first time all day.
"Twilight! I'm back!" Spike called, confirming her thoughts.
"I'll be down in a minute..." She replied quietly. Twilight slowly got out of bed, passing a mirror on the way down.
Her mane was a wreck, her eyes bloodshot and baggy. The usually colorful coat of hers was dull and lifeless...which is how she felt, if she was perfectly honest with herself. Celestia had excused herself almost immediately after banishing the unicorn's best friend...leaving Twilight completely alone in the room.
Twilight's heart had been torn in two. Anon's caring smile, his practical jokes, his mostly carefree way of dealing with daily troubles...
He was her hero, and now he was gone...torn away for reasons she couldn't and wouldn't understand. She simply refused to...it wasn't fair!
Twilight sniffled, but it wasn't out of sadness. Instead, pure anger consumed the unicorn as it had for the past couple weeks, causing her to lash out almost at random. The Library itself had seen better days, taking the brunt of Twilight's rages. Bookshelves were broken, books were damaged, windows were cracked...
Her magic lashed out again and tore the guest bedroom door apart. Spike jumped when the sound of splintering wood echoed throughout the Library, then he sighed. He didn't try to stop her though, he wasn't stupid. Last time he tried to stop her, he had nearly gotten killed. She didn't *deliberately* try to kill him, but she had hurled a bookcase into a wall, and a board from it struck the dragon in the head. He still had a small lump from it.
Instead, Spike waited. A thump was heard, and then Twilight's sobbing echoed through the tree. The dragon sighed again. This is how it had been lately. Twilight would randomly get angry, break something, and then break down crying. She was obviously depressed, but Spike wasn't sure how to comfort the unicorn. He had never dealt with this before...and asking Celestia for help was out of the question. After all, Celestia had *caused* this.
"Twilight, are you sure you don't want to let your friends in? They're hurting almost as bad as you are..."
"How do you know?" Twilight cried, her voice coming from inside the guest room.
"I *do* talk to Rarity, Twi."
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"
Twilight's crying stopped suddenly, and Spike shivered. The dragon knew he had just screwed up, but he wasn't sure how bad. He relaxed when the unicorn sniffled again, glad she wasn't going to blow him out a window.
"Twilight, c'mon. Let them in?"
The purple mare was silent for a while. The occasional sniffle penetrated the silence, but Twilight hadn't said anything.
"...fine..."
Spike wiped the sweat off of his forehead, afraid that she would retreat back to her room. Maybe she was opening back up...
Spike walked over to the front door and opened it, and Twilight's closest friends walked in. Rainbow Dash looked almost as bad as Twilight did. Bloodshot eyes, bags, faded colors...
Spike pointed at the guest room. "She's in there."
"Thanks sugarcube, we'll take it from here." Applejack said quietly. She seemed to be taking it better than the others, though the orange mare had always been known for being tougher than the rest as well, both emotionally and physically.
Spike nodded, then left the Library. He needed to find something to do, he didn't want to be around a group of crying mares, that would just make *him* cry. That thought brought a wry smile to his face, despite the mood.
"Alright Twilight, out with it. Why have you been keeping us out?" Rarity demanded as soon as the dragon was out of earshot. Twilight didn't respond, or even look at her. The lavender unicorn kept her gaze locked to the bed.
"Twilight? Hey, are you even there?" Rarity clopped her hooves together, snapping Twilight's attention towards her. "Now that I have your attention...what happened? All we know is what Spike managed to piece together, which is this. You came back, alone. You said you didn't want to be Celestia's student anymore, and then you stayed holed up in this place for over two weeks."
Rarity took a breath, and continued. "I mean really, look at you? You're a mess darling. Have you even taken a bath since then? Or even slightly taken care of yourself?"
"Yeah Twilight, Ah don't know what's going on, but you gotta take care of yerself. What would Anon say if he came back and saw ya like this?" Applejack picked up after Rarity. "Ah doubt he'd be too happy."
"...how would you know what he wants..." Twilight mumbled.
Rainbow slowly walked over to the unicorn...and then struck her across the face. "Pull yourself the buck together!" The pegasus shouted. "Do you honestly think you're the only one who misses him?! I miss Anon as much as you do, but do you see me MOPING?"
Twilight glared at Dash, her horn lighting up brightly.
"Dashie, Twilight, come on, don't fight!" Pinkie yelled, looking between her two friends desperately. She got in between them, trying to stave off the fight they all saw coming.
"Rainbow..." Twilight quietly started. "Get the fuck out of my home, before you get hurt."
Every pony in the room stared at Twilight. Rainbow's anger was replaced by blunt confusion.
"Wh-what?"
"Get. The fuck. Out."
Twilight didn't know the meaning of the word, but she knew for a fact in was a savage curse word from where Anon came from. They knew it too, they had heard him say it enough.
Dash abruptly turned around, walking out.
"Fine. I'll be around when you're done feeling sorry for yourself." She slammed the door behind her, rattling the window nearby.
It was deadly quiet afterwards, the only sound being Twilight breathing hard. Her horn slowly stopped glowing, and for the second time in less than half an hour, tears welled up in her eyes.
"Why am I so angry all the time..."
Applejack stepped forward.
"C'mon sugarcube, you need some time to relax. We're goin' to the farm, and Ah'm not gonna take no for an answer."
"And if I do say no?" Twilight asked. The orange mare produced a rope from her saddlebag, grinning slightly.
"Ya don' wanna say no, trust me."
---
Tartarus
---
You awoke with a start, to see Cerberus standing over you, growling. All three heads were staring at you, feral rage obvious. You noticed that the beast wasn't as big as you initially thought, but that thought was immediately pushed away by the demon slamming a paw into your chest.
You gagged and coughed up blood, spitting it into the demon's eye. It yelped and backed off, and your adrenaline flowed unchecked. Taking that instant to scramble away, you stood and drew your knife. If you were going down, this bastard was gonna feel it.
Cerberus lunged at you again, and you ducked and rolled, evading the beast. Your knife flashed in the volcanic light, slicing deep into the dog's forepaw. It yelped in pain, blood freely welling from the injury.
Good.
"If you bleed, I can kill you..." You growled. You were so close to the portal...and he was standing in your way. To hell with what you said before, this fucker was going down.
You weren't quite sure if this was you talking, or the adrenaline mixed with a hint of bloodlust.
Cerberus sized you up, eying the knife covered in his blood warily. His three heads growled, and he lunged again. You rolled, then grabbed onto the beast as he went by. Feeling you crawling on him, the demon began struggling. You made your way to his back, and started stabbing wildly. He howled in pain, thrashing around. You nearly fell off several times, but managed to keep your hold.
Your knife slashed deep, lodging under his spine. You grinned, and fueled by bloodlust, you twisted the blade and pulled straight up. There was a cracking sound, and Cerberus simply...fell over. He was still alive, but paralyzed from the waist down. He was also quickly bleeding out, likely to die within the next couple minutes. You slid off his back, using your knife to slow your decent. It slashed through the demon's skin easily, bleeding him dry even quicker.
Stepping to the portal, you stepped on through. Fiery pain overwhelmed you, and you felt yourself hit something rough...yet pliable.
The adrenaline left your body again, and you were so tired...so very tired...
Your heavy eyelids refused to open, and sleep took you.
---
Unknown Location
---
You groaned, opening your eyes slowly. You didn't know where you were, but you weren't in Tartarus anymore. That put you slightly at ease, as did the cool breeze. You confirmed you were indeed...somewhere that wasn't Hell, at least.
"Very astute, Anon..." You chided yourself. Sand was all over, and water lapped at your heels. "A deserted island, really? That's the biggest cliche in the book...I should know too, I've read most of 'em..."
Standing with some difficulty, you took a better look around. The sand stopped rather quickly, leading into grass and trees. So, not an island. Turning around, you saw the other side of the pond less than a hundred feet away.
Still confused how you had gotten here of all places, you set off in a direction at random. Not your best choice of action, but you needed to find SOME sort of landmark. That mountain in the distance seemed like a good place to start.
After about an hour of walking, you were up on higher ground and with a better line of sight. You looked around for a bit...and saw Canterlot Castle off to your left. It had a shield around it, but you weren't quite sure why. If it was another wyvern attack, then Celestia banishing you had done nothing at all.
Shrugging, you descended the hill and went towards the mountain.
---
Dammit, this was further than it looked. Night had already fallen...though to be fair, you weren't sure exactly when you had started walking. Your stomach growled, and you glumly realized you had no food. Water wasn't a concern, simply due to a river running nearby.
Maybe food wasn't an issue either. Where there's a river, there's food.
You walked over to the riverbank, snapping a branch off of a tree. You pulled a strip of bark off the tree, flexing it. Flexible, pliable...
You tied your knife to the branch, creating a makeshift spear. You sat in the moonlight...and waited. A small insect crawled near your foot, bait. You picked it up, tossed it in, and waited for the ripples.
The water's surface broke, the insect disappeared, and your spear flashed. It hit something, and that something was writhing on the end of the weapon. Pulling it up, a medium sized fish was stuck to the end, twitching and dying quickly.
You set it on the grass, letting it grow still. You pulled the fish off of the spear, freeing your knife for ease of use. Gutting and skinning the fish expertly, you dug a hole and threw the stuff you weren't going to eat inside. You buried it back over, it would make excellent fertilizer for something.
You snapped a few more branches down and began making a fire manually, not having your Golden Eclipse to make it easier. You grumbled about it, but you still remembered how to do it, fortunately.
Roughly half an hour later, you had a fire crackling merrily in the night. You had no rock this time, so you re-made your spear and began roasting the fish. The smell was driving you nuts, but you had to be careful about attracting other predators. You weren't in the Everfree Forest, that you were certain of...but you weren't sure just how widespread and common Timberwolves were, and you really weren't in the mood for that shit right now.
The muscle tissue turned white, with slight crisping at the edges. You waited a few minutes longer, watching the fish turn golden-brown.
"Haha, it's done..." You smirked to yourself. You pulled it back, waiting for it to cool a bit before digging in with earnest. You avoided the bones as best you could, spitting a few out into the fire. A howl echoed through the forest, and you groaned.
"Just ONCE I'd like to eat without being disturbed. JUST. ONCE." You grumbled, putting your fish down and picking your spear up. Another howl sounded, but further away. The first howl responded...two wolves, trying to find one another. Not after you or your fish after all.
You sighed in relief, then finished your meal in peace. Satiated for the moment, you extinguished the fire and moved on. You could sleep when you got this all sorted out.
---
The sun rose again, and you were on the path to Canterlot. You were already halfway up the mountain, shocked you hadn't seen a guard yet. As you recalled from Twilight, they were supposed to be stationed all the way up. It set you on edge...add to the fact there was a shield around the city...something was up.
You eventually made it to the barrier, and a small hole was opened up for you. Arching an eyebrow, you walked on through, the barrier sealing behind you. Several guards had seen you, but none approached. You figured that if you had just been dumped into a literal Hell like that, Celestia would tell her guards to be on watch for you.
You marched up the main street, towards the castle.
"HALT!"
There it was. Shining Armor was standing in front of you, in full guard armor and horn alight. You figured he would be the one creating the shield.
"Took you long enough. And to think, I thought I'd get through here scot-free." You gave a lopsided grin. "My luck isn't that good though."
"Shut it." He gestured to the two guards. "Take him to the Princess. Don't take your eyes off of him either. If he escaped Tartarus, there's no telling what kind of dark powers he wields."
"Didn't your sister tell you?" You sneered. "No magical ability. Or are you calling Twilight a liar...?"
"Leave her out of this, demon, or I will make your 'stay' with us very, very unpleasant." Shining growled, firing a magical bolt at you. It hit you and naturally had no effect, causing the unicorn to narrow his eyes as you leveled a near-evil grin at him.
Cuffs were placed on you, but they were meant for ponies, not humans. They were just small enough to stay on, but you could slip out of them if you wanted to. You didn't want to let them know you *could* unless you had to.
The massive doors to Celestia's throne room opened, and the Alicorn sat in her throne, reading a scroll. Another one of Twilight's 'Friendship Reports'? Judging by the Princess' reaction...no, it wasn't. She tossed the scroll away, into a large pile of other scrolls. A heavy sigh followed, and then she looked up.
"Ah, Shining Armor. What brings you to the thr-Anonymous!?" Shock, pure and simple, was written all over her face. "How did you..."
"I did what I always do. I fought." You replied. "Did I pass your 'test'?"
"Y-yes, you did. Exceptionally well, I might add." She replied, still stunned. She stood and walked around you, noticing the burn and various bruises, but little else. "Tell me, how long do you think it has been since you were banished?"
Was this a trick question?
"Uh, two days at most?"
"Anonymous, it has been three months, two weeks, four days, and fourteen hours since I sent you to Tartarus. In your absence, multiple monsters have attacked Ponyville, Canterlot, and many, many more places...I was wrong. I'm sorry."
You blinked.
"Okay, two things. One, it's kinda creepy you know that to the exact hour. Two..." You took a deep breath for this. "WHAT?!"
"Time flows differently between here and Tartarus." Celestia clarified. "It may have been two days for you, but it has been much, much longer here. We have...all missed you greatly."
"I'm sure." You replied, not completely convinced. The only ones you were sure missed you were the six or seven ponies that you knew well. The Apples, Dash, Rarity, Pinkie, Flutters...and Twilight. Possibly Lyra too, but you two didn't talk much.
You were suddenly very, very worried. Almost four months away...Twilight must be falling apart at the seams.
"Anonymous, I could use your assistance with an...issue that has cropped up in the past two months. Ponyville has organized a 'Resistance' lead by my sister. They believe your banishment was wrong, and things just...blew up from there."
"If you want me to defend your choice to throw me into the bowels of Hell itself, then you are SADLY mistaken." You stated bluntly.
"I only ask that you try to stop this. I haven't been forced to kill anypony yet, nor have my guards. I want it to stay that way. Please Anonymous."
"Fine." You started. "Don't misunderstand, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this because I don't want ponies to lose their lives over this."
"Then we are in agreement."
You turned around and slipped out of your shackles. You pitched them at Shining Armor, who caught them in a field before they hit him. Too bad.
"Princess, you can't honestly expect *him* to do something when even our best diplomats couldn't!" The unicorn shouted, glaring absolute murder at you. You returned the heated look. Twilight's brother or not, you still owed him a stab wound.
"Seeing Anonymous safe and sound will do more than you think, Shining Armor. Remember, those ponies admire Anonymous for his heroism a few months back. His word will sway more ponies than ours."
Celestia then turned to speak to you, just as you were about to exit the room.
"Anonymous."
You stopped, turning your head a small amount to show you were listening.
"I can send you to Ponyville, if you would like."
You thought it over...and against your instincts screaming at you not to trust her, you did anyway.
"Do it."
The same feeling of falling overtook you, and with a blinding golden flash, you were gone from the throne room.
---
You landed with a thud, face first in a pool of mud. Pulling yourself out of the muck, you wiped your eyes clear and looked around.
You were in the Apple's farm, and it was currently mid-day if you remembered right.
Or not, as the stars suddenly appeared.
Then the sun reappeared, only to just as quickly be replaced by the moon. This repeated a few times, threatening to send you into a seizure.
"Oh for the love of..." You muttered. A petty light fight between Luna and Celestia, really?
Eventually Celestia gave up, letting the moon hang high.
"an' another thing, Anon is so *hic* amaaaaaziinnng~!"
Twilight?
"Whoa Twilight, Ah think you've 'ad enough. Ah knew this was a bad idea..."
"It was *your* idea, darling. You know how Twilight is around this...swill."
"Ah just thought she needed to relax, and th' spa's closed!"
"I mean, Anon's strong *hic* and kind and soooooooooo sweeeet~!" Twilight continued, heedless of the mini-argument brewing between AJ and Rarity.
"If you feel that way, why don't you do something about it?" Pinkie teased.
"I will! When he com*hic*comes back, I'm gonna...gonna..."
"What egghead? Those books not helping you find the right words?" Rainbow joined in on the teasing.
"I'm gonna...I miss him so much..."
The sound of Twilight crying tore your heart to shreds, and you started walking towards the nearby barn. The doors were locked, so you had to find a way in.
There. A ladder up against the side, leading to the roof. With a little effort, you could go to the edge and swing in the upper window like a badass.
You scaled the ladder carefully, not wanting to make noise. You wanted this to be a surprise, so stealth was your friend. You crept across the roof, to the point where it hung over the open window. You dropped down and grabbed the ledge of the window, climbing in and leaping into the rafters. Pinkie looked up, seeing you and taking a deep breath in.
You immediately put your finger to your mouth, your eyes pleading that she be quiet. She nodded excitedly, then returned to listening to Twilight.
Said amethyst mare was obviously drunk. There was a bottle of cider in front of her, held in a wobbly magical grip. It was half empty, and no pony else had a glass in front of them. That worried you.
You leapt into another rafter, getting closer to the group. Twilight was sniffling, and then took a long drink from the bottle. Enough was enough.
You jumped down and hit the floor, rolling forward to stop from seriously hurting yourself. All eyes were on you when you landed, except for Twilight. She was laying her head on a table, head facing away from you.
"Twilight, you might wanna look over 'ere." Applejack said excitedly, poking the purple unicorn in the side.
"Why? *hic*"
"Just look, you stubborn pony!" Rainbow forcibly turned Twilight's head, and her eyes lock onto yours.
"Hey, I heard someone missed me." You said simply, smiling widely.
"A-anon...?" Twilight slowly stood up, wobbling somewhat. The unicorn slowly made a drunken walk towards you, staggering left and right. Her eyes were glazed over, but focused on you. She eventually made it over to you, sitting down in front of you.
"Hey Twilight..." You said softly.
"Anon...*hic*do you have any idea how long I've waited for you to *hic* come back?"
"Roughly four months."
Twilight's horn lit up, and she fired something at you. It washed over you, having no effect. You didn't want to know what she tried to hit you with.
"Four. Months. I cried, I *hic* shouted, I broke things...and all you have to say to me is 'Hey'?"
You supposed this is why AJ warned you about keeping Twilight away from alcohol. She wasn't exactly a happy drunk.
She launched another bolt, which missed by a large margin despite her being within two feet of you. "You're a jerk! I hate you!"
She stood and tried to push past you, when you simply knelt down and pulled her into a hug. She struggled initially.
"Let me go! I *hic* don't need you! I don't need anypony!"
You ignored her drunken ranting, you knew she didn't mean what she was saying. Instead, you gently ran your fingers through her mane.
That was a mistake. Her horn lit up again, and you had to roll to the side to avoid being hit with the table she had thrown. You still had Twilight in your grip, so she went on a ride with you.
"Shhhhh...it's okay Twilight. I'm here now."
"Let me go!"
Twilight's crying started again, her tears soaking your tattered shirt. "Let me go...I don't want to be around anypony anymore..."
You chuckled, ignoring the fact she just tried to seriously hurt you. "Good thing I'm not a pony then. Come on, I'm taking you home and putting you to bed." You looked at the others. "Thanks for taking care of her, I can take it from here."
They all nodded, wishing you a good night.
"Good luck Anon~!" Pinkie said, seemingly implying something. You shrugged it off, taking the drunken mare to the Library.
---
On the way home, you had to put Twilight down so she could empty the contents of her stomach onto the ground. You wiped her mouth off, as she was too wasted to do much else on her own. Half a bottle, and adding to the fact Twilight was a lightweight to begin with...
You were just lucky you still had a Twilight to talk to.
The Library eventually came into view, and you pushed the door open. It was unlocked, for whatever reason.
Said Library had seen better days. The destruction was impressive, Twilight wasn't kidding when she said she had been breaking things. It was like she just lashed out at whatever was nearby. You put the amethyst unicorn in her bed, then brought her a glass of water.
"Here, drink."
"Why...?"
"Because if you don't, you're going to have a hellish headache tomorrow." You had obliterated yourself on alcohol before, after all.
She finished the glass, and then you refilled it, making her drink one more time. Satisfied, you covered her over.
"Anon...?"
"Mm?"
"Please don't go..."
You smiled softly.
"Alright, but only because you earned it tonight."
You climbed into the bed with her, and she immediately latched onto you. She held you tightly, burying her head into your chest. You gently stroked her mane, and she eventually fell asleep, snoring lightly.
Smiling, you closed your eyes and tried to let sleep take you.
Feeling a set of lips on your cheek stopped that for quite a while. Your eyes opened and Twilight was 'asleep' again, her cheeks lit up with a furious blush. You let it slide. After all, it had been months since she had last seen you, and she was drunk out of her mind. She likely wouldn't even remember most of tonight...today...whatever it was, thank you Luna and Celestia.
You remembered why you had actually been sent here, but that could wait until morn-fuck it. Whenever you woke up. As of right now, you had an adorable unicorn to keep from being lonely.
---
You woke up before Twilight did, not having been tired in the first place. It couldn't have been more than three hours at the most, though admittedly you couldn't be sure. Twilight's clock was currently in a million pieces, so what time it was currently was anyone's guess.
You sighed at the sheer destruction in the Library, leaving the bed to start cleaning things up. Twilight whimpered when you let go of her, but then she just rolled over and went back to sleep.
Books, shelves, parts of the walls, a nightstand... It looked like the destruction was total.
You saw the book that you let Twilight borrow still intact. Opening up the cover, water stains were on the first couple pages. You had an idea where from.
An hour of straightening up made the place look livable now. There was some stuff that couldn't be salvaged, so you left them for Twilight to decide on. For now though, you had a job to do. You left Twilight a note and stuck it on her remaining nightstand, in plain view. You made an effort to remember to be back within an hour, though you had a feeling that wouldn't be happening.
You walked outside and down the street, trying to figure out where exactly Luna was. You noticed the Town Hall was no longer flying the Equestrian Flag, and was instead flying a dark, midnight blue flag. On it, was Luna's Cutie Mark and...your sword? You thought for a moment.
Golden Eclipse, Luna. Made sense, you supposed. You also figured that Town Hall would be a great place to start looking for the aforementioned Princess.
You pushed the doors open, only to run (literally) directly into Mayor Mare herself. Being much larger than her, you knocked her flat on her flank.
"Oh, sorry!" You said, helping the mayor up.
"Thank you Anony-Anonymous?! You're back!" She nearly shouted. "Princess Luna will want to speak to you, follow me!"
Shrugging, you did just that.
"Lead on."
---
You followed the mayor to the tavern, walking in after her. The bartender looked up, saw you, and hit a button under his counter. Your hand reached for your knife...until a wall just slid open, revealing a stair case going down. Mayor Mare went first, as was the case today.
She pushed open a door at the bottom, stepping through.
"Anonymous is back!" She shouted, sounding much too excited for somepony her age...though to be fair, you didn't know her age, exactly.
"Anonymous?!"
"I heard he was banished though!"
"Where? I wanna see the hoomin!"
Dozens of voices were suddenly around you. Ponies of all kinds, in full battle armor. What the...
"What's going on here?" You asked, slightly concerned.
"We're leading an attack on Canterlot, going to depose the witch that banished you!" One particularly excited stallion cried, which lead the others to cheer.
"Where's Princess Luna?"
"Right here, Anonymous."
You looked to your left, and there the midnight blue mare stood. She walked over to you, a tired smile on her face. "It's good to see you back. Have you come to join us?"
"I've come to put an end to this." You replied. "What's going on, exactly?"
"Celestia has gone too far." Luna replied. "She has abused her power time and time again, leading to many innocents being harmed. You, myself, and even Twilight were indirectly harmed by my sister's actions. She must be removed from power, before even more are harmed."
Ah, that's what Luna's doing, trying to play your heartstrings.
"Luna, your sister wants to end this before anypony DOES get hurt! Have you even tried talking it out?"
Luna thought it over for a moment.
"No, I admit it never came to my mind. However, talking has never worked when it is something of this magnitude."
"Why not? I just got back from being banished for no reason at all, and we managed to have a civil conversation." You argued. "Just try it? Please?"
"The last time I tried to talk to my sister about something like this, I ended up on the moon for a millennium." Luna deadpanned. "Trying to negotiate with somepony with absolute power is pointless."
"She doesn't HAVE absolute power. You saw it today, you *won* that little duel with her over the sun and moon." You sighed and ran your hand through your hair. "She's tired, Luna. Tired of seeing ponies hurting. I'm willing to bet seeing her personal student essentially destroy herself over this was the final straw. Or maybe her own sister being willing to go to war over my situation was what did it."
Luna thought for a little while.
"She truly wishes this to be over?"
"Yes." You responded.
"I see."
You watched carefully as Luna waged an internal war. One side wanting to depose her sister and take total control, the other simply wanting to go back to cooperation.
"Remember Luna...something like this is why you spent one thousand years on the moon. Apologize. There's been no loss of life yet, you two can simply write this off as a bad argument."
Luna's mental battle raged on, and she broke out into a sweat...before sighing softly.
"Anonymous."
"Yes, Princess?"
"Despite my warriors being ready...I think I will take my sister up on the offer of a truce. Truth be told..." Luna looked back at a map on a table, with two colors of flags on it. The blue side, you assumed the rebellion, was 'losing' badly. The blue pegacorn sighed, then continued. "Truth be told, we wouldn't last in an actual war. We number too few and we don't have the skill of the Equestrian Guard." She was silent for a moment, looking her disappointed troops over.
"I will talk to my sister. Hopefully this can be done and over with."
With a blue flash, the Princess teleported away.
"Hey, Anon."
You looked over and saw a blue coated earth pony mare waving you over. Her mane was light green, tied up in a tight bun and under a medic cap.
"I've got a present for you."
"Hmm?"
You followed her in...and on a table was your armor and sword, both in perfect condition.
"The Princess...appropriated your things from the armory, in case you ever got free from Tartarus. The guards never managed to replicate your weapon either, there were too many injuries." The pony continued.
"How do you know that?"
"I was one of the nurses treating the burn victims." You took a quick look at her flank, and indeed there was a cutie mark of a flaming medic cross. You assumed that meant she was good at treating burn injuries, and not that she was a "hot nurse". That cliche would have been too obvious. "After the tenth scientist in a row nearly died from it, Celestia called it off. That's some dangerous toy you have, Anon."
You nodded, glad Golden Eclipse was currently in its sheathe.
"There's a reason it only comes out when I want to kill something." You replied darkly. "It only does one thing, but it does that thing very, very well." Well, it was meant to do one thing, at any rate. Lately you had used it more as a tool than anything, though that Rathalos and those Velociprey came to mind.
You cringed a bit when you saw the dust collecting on your armor. Celestia wasn't kidding, you really had been gone for a third of the year. You collected your items, then proceeded to return to the Library. You wanted to get back before Twilight woke up and began panicking, you knew her well enough to know that's what would happen.
Besides, you had a Pinkie Promise to keep up on.
---
You opened the door to the Library an hour later, just in time to see Spike leave. Upon seeing your questioning look, he simply said "Rarity's". You shrugged, letting him pass and entering the building yourself.
A thought suddenly crossed your mind as to why you wasted your time building a home. You had been in it...a week, tops. You simply shrugged to yourself in response, setting your armor on the couch that was miraculously still intact.
Twilight was still asleep, amazingly. Usually Spike being up meant Twilight was too...but then again, she had drunken herself into a stupor last night, so it made sense. In fact, she'd probably be out for another few hours.
You picked your armor back up, took it outside, and began cleaning it. There were obvious repair patches, and a feeling of horror overtook you when an azure scale came off in your hands. You groaned, then knew exactly how you would use that house on the edge of Everfree: Your own personal forge. Use it to store materials and whatnot. It would be great for you too, especially with what you had in mind.
With the continuing rise of wyverns and such, you thought it only made sense. You were going to ask to start a Hunter's Guild. You had a feeling it wouldn't take much convincing. No, the difficult part would be remembering how to make an elemental weapon. You figured you'd start with fire first, having fire immune armor. You'd also be doing that *outside*.
---
An hour of polishing, and your armor at least *looked* serviceable. The repair job the guard had done was mediocre at best, and outright terrible at worst. Some areas were repaired better than others. The gauntlets and helmet were still in good condition, not having been damaged too badly to begin with.
The chestplate and leggings had horribly done repair marks, and it looked like they had simply crammed whatever metal they could find into the cracks. You'd have to replace everything at this rate...but you weren't sure what passed for Carbalite around here. Finding an Azure Rathalos for parts wasn't a problem, you were sure another would show himself eventually.
You began to wonder what Equestrian Steel was made of. They obviously had it, the weapons and that train was proof of that. You just weren't sure how rare it was, or how difficult it was to make.
A yawn and a groan from inside let you know the amethyst mare was awake.
"Ow...my head...unnnngh..."
"I told you to drink some water, didn't I?" You called in through the window. She simply grunted at you.
"Please be quiet...my head's pounding like a drum..."
"Drink some more water, go back to sleep. You'll feel better later."
Your thoughts returned to your supplies. You had no potions, no antidote...
The antidote would solve itself, there were plenty of Rathian and Rathalos around, if the Princess were to be believed. You still knew how to make it too, no exotic materials required.
The sound of Twilight vomiting brought you back to reality, and you walked inside. She was in the bathroom, bringing up almost nothing but bile. You pulled her mane out of her face while she finished evacuating her stomach. You cringed, vomiting was never a pleasant sound.
She finished a couple seconds later, extremely shaky and uneasy. You grabbed a towel and wiped her mouth, throwing it into the nearby hamper for wash.
"Bed. Now." You commanded. "I'll bring something up to you."
Twilight nodded slowly, then staggered up to her bed while you went into the kitchen. The good thing about ponies? Almost all they consumed was grain products...most of which were excellent for upset stomachs. You grabbed some bread slices, taking them and a tall glass of water up to the hungover mare.
"Here, this will help." You gave her some bread, which she ate slowly. "Helps absorb stomach ac-
"I know." She cut across, swallowing and taking another slice from you. Right, bookworm.
The sun came up uncontested, which you assumed to mean the 'civil war' was over. If only your world could have bloodless civil wars. Looking out of the window and towards Canterlot, the shield was indeed gone, no longer needed.
Now all you had to do was take care of Twilight, and today could be called 'a good day'.
A light snoring behind you told you that this would be simple enough. You occupied your time straightening up the place and reading, trying to keep the noise down to a bare minimum. You were reading one of those "Daring Do" novels that Dash loved so much, and you could see why. They were kinda exciting, it was easy to get lost in them.
A few hours passed in silence, with you getting up to check on Twilight now and again. You had woken her up once to make her eat something, and she promptly left the land of the conscious directly afterwards. She hadn't thrown up once since the first time, which was good.
You went outside for some fresh air, and to go find something that you could eat. You were craving some meat at the moment, which Twilight didn't keep at the Library. No need to when she didn't eat it. Satisfied the mare would be asleep for a little while longer, you went into the market. Last you recalled, there was a Griffon in the marketplace selling meat...
--
An hour and 6 bits later, you were full and heading back to the Library. The door was locked now, which was a problem as you still didn't have your key. You knocked on the door.
No answer.
Assuming Twilight was still asleep, you knocked one more time. Same result.
"Ah, to hell with it."
You looked around for a way up, climbing the tree with some difficulty. You reached the balcony and started pulling splinters out of your hands, while at the same time pushing the balcony door open. Twilight never locked this one, despite the fact that some ponies could, you know...fly.
Said mare was still asleep, drooling on her pillow. You chuckled and let her be, closing the door behind you and pulling a few more splinters out of your hand. You figured that tonight you'd crash on the couch, you didn't want Twilight getting sick on you if she hadn't moved all that alcohol out of her system.
The door slammed open and Spike sprinted in, running up the stairs without even saying 'hey' to you. He held a scroll in his grip, the seal torn open.
"Twilight! Twilight, there's a problem!" He shouted, trying to wake the sleeping unicorn up. He shook her a bit and she woke with a jolt.
"Wh-huh...?"
"Princess Celestia just contacted me! Says she needs Anon there pronto!"
The glare that Twilight gave Spike could have melted clean through your armor.
"Give me that letter, Spike." Twilight said coolly, levitating the parchment to her. She unrolled it and read it for a bit, before scoffing and tossing it to the side. "Nice try Celestia, but I'm not losing Anon again."
You went upstairs to see what the commotion was about, and picked up the scroll from the floor. You read the letter silently, growing more concerned by the minute.
"Trouble in Canterlot, another wyvern attack, send Anonymous, help needed
- Celestia"
It was obviously rushed, with the lack of punctuation and grammar errors that the Princess wouldn't make by accident.
"Twilight, what if it's not a trick this time?" You asked.
"I don't care, last time she wanted you there she banished you! What if it's a trick, just to send you back!?"
"Twi, you're being irrational. I've already spoken to the Princess, she was the first one I spoke to when I got back. Well, technically your brother was, but whatever." You sighed at Twilight's unconvinced look. "If she wanted to send me back to Tartarus, she would have done it when I got there. If Canterlot really *is* in trouble, then I need to be there."
"...okay."
You arched an eyebrow.
"That's it? No fight?" You questioned.
"No fight. If you want to run right into the place that wants you gone, be my guest."
Oh great, passive aggressiveness.
"Well, either I go there and potentially walk into a trap that Luna herself will be there to prevent, or I don't go and dozens of ponies die."
Twilight thought for a moment, and then caved.
"Fine. Fastest way there is teleportation, but...seeing as you're immune to magic, next fastest way is...by Rainbow Dash."
"I can't ask Dash to carry me and a hundred pounds of armor to Canterlot." You said. "Dash might be tough, but she's not tough enough to carry a quarter ton of flesh, scale, and metal."
"Balloon then. It can get you there in two hours." She replied.
"Do it."
Twilight hopped out of bed and wobbled slightly, her horn alight. A hot air balloon freed itself from the treetop, inflating and flight-ready in a matter of moments. She hopped in, and waited.
"Come on!"
"You're going with me?"
"Yes, I am. I'm not letting Celestia take you twice, and if there's even a hint that you're going to be sent away again..." She trailed off dangerously. You shuddered in spite of yourself, you didn't much like this Twilight.

create a new version of this paste RAW Paste Data

Meanwhile in Ponyville...
---

"I'm still having trouble believing what Celestia did. Just *bam*, no more Anon." A stallion said, looking distressed. "I hear she was laughing the entire time, and did it right in front of Twilight Sparkle."

"Yeah, I know." A mare replied, looking at the darkened library. "Poor girl hasn't been out of that place in weeks...I hope she's okay."

They both walked into a bar, which was almost completely empty. The bartender nodded to them.

"What'll ya have?"

"Apple whiskey and a shot of carrot juice." The stallion replied.

A curt nod, and he pressed a button under the counter. A wall slid open, and stairs lead downwards into a cellar. The two entered, and just as quickly the wall closed behind them. 

The pair made their way down the stairs, into what could only be called a command center. A map was stretched across a table, with a red flag over Canterlot, Las Pegasus, and many other cities. Two lonely blue flags sat over Ponyville and Baltimare.

The two cringed whenever they took a look at that map. It was a testament to just how outnumbered they were...though Celestia hadn't put any real effort into stamping out the resistance. In fact, nopony could remember seeing Celestia in about as long as Twilight had been holed up in her library.

A few ponies loitered about, either checking their weapons over or just idly chatting. A throat cleared, and all eyes went to the source of the sound.

Princess Luna, leader of the Resistance. She had removed her silver crown and shoes, instead roughing it like her soldiers. That caused quite a few ponies to follow her, deeming her more 'down to earth' as it were.

"Mares, Colts, listen up. We have an opportunity to strike at Celestia."

She walked over to the map, and pointed a hoof at a train track. "A train conducted by a sympathizer will be pulling in tomorrow. It leads straight to Canterlot, and he's making sure the train is empty, just for us."

"If we pull this off, we can dethrone Celestia and find a way to un-banish Anon."

Luna thought back to the conversation she and her sister had two months ago. They had both agreed that something had to be done, but they were split on *what*, exactly. 

Luna had been a fan of simply monitoring Anon for a while, and seeing if a solution presented itself. Celestia, however, was convinced something needed to be done right then and there. The moon Alicorn opposed that, simply due to that line of thinking ending with Luna spending a thousand years on the moon. 

Of course, Celestia waited until Luna was asleep to enact her plan, resulting in Luna leaving the castle and spurring Ponyville into disobedience when the blue pegacorn found out what had been done. The lunar princess also tried to find Twilight Sparkle, and had been partially successful. A powerful spell was blocking all forms of entrance into the library, whether it be teleportation or simply walking through the front door. She doubted that Celestia herself could break it.

Only Spike had been seen leaving and entering unhindered, and he wasn't speaking to anypony besides Rarity, who in turn had been keeping silent about Twilight's well being. None of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony had joined the Resistance, too concerned about Twilight to focus on much else. Besides, without all six, the Elements were of no use anyway.

The princess sighed out loud, causing a few wayward glances.

"Princess, is something wrong?"

"No no, simply thinking." Luna shook her head clear, she'd deal with those thoughts later. "The train will pull in at 0800 tomorrow morning, so get some rest. I want EVERYPONY at one hundred percent. We'll need nothing less than if we wish to succeed."

With that, the Princess bowed to her warriors.

"I cannot thank you all enough. No matter what happens tomorrow, your sacrifices and victories will not go unrewarded."

---
The Library
---

Twilight Sparkle sat under her covers, simply staring at the wall. She heard the door open, which signaled Spike coming home with food. The unicorn's stomach growled in spite of herself, goading her to actually get up for the first time all day.

"Twilight! I'm back!" Spike called, confirming her thoughts. 

"I'll be down in a minute..." She replied quietly. Twilight slowly got out of bed, passing a mirror on the way down. 

Her mane was a wreck, her eyes bloodshot and baggy. The usually colorful coat of hers was dull and lifeless...which is how she felt, if she was perfectly honest with herself. Celestia had excused herself almost immediately after banishing the unicorn's best friend...leaving Twilight completely alone in the room. 

Twilight's heart had been torn in two. Anon's caring smile, his practical jokes, his mostly carefree way of dealing with daily troubles...

He was her hero, and now he was gone...torn away for reasons she couldn't and wouldn't understand. She simply refused to...it wasn't fair! 

Twilight sniffled, but it wasn't out of sadness. Instead, pure anger consumed the unicorn as it had for the past couple weeks, causing her to lash out almost at random. The Library itself had seen better days, taking the brunt of Twilight's rages. Bookshelves were broken, books were damaged, windows were cracked...

Her magic lashed out again and tore the guest bedroom door apart. Spike jumped when the sound of splintering wood echoed throughout the Library, then he sighed. He didn't try to stop her though, he wasn't stupid. Last time he tried to stop her, he had nearly gotten killed. She didn't *deliberately* try to kill him, but she had hurled a bookcase into a wall, and a board from it struck the dragon in the head. He still had a small lump from it.

Instead, Spike waited. A thump was heard, and then Twilight's sobbing echoed through the tree. The dragon sighed again. This is how it had been lately. Twilight would randomly get angry, break something, and then break down crying. She was obviously depressed, but Spike wasn't sure how to comfort the unicorn. He had never dealt with this before...and asking Celestia for help was out of the question. After all, Celestia had *caused* this.

"Twilight, are you sure you don't want to let your friends in? They're hurting almost as bad as you are..."

"How do you know?" Twilight cried, her voice coming from inside the guest room.

"I *do* talk to Rarity, Twi."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" 

Twilight's crying stopped suddenly, and Spike shivered. The dragon knew he had just screwed up, but he wasn't sure how bad. He relaxed when the unicorn sniffled again, glad she wasn't going to blow him out a window. 

"Twilight, c'mon. Let them in?"

The purple mare was silent for a while. The occasional sniffle penetrated the silence, but Twilight hadn't said anything.

"...fine..."

Spike wiped the sweat off of his forehead, afraid that she would retreat back to her room. Maybe she was opening back up...

Spike walked over to the front door and opened it, and Twilight's closest friends walked in. Rainbow Dash looked almost as bad as Twilight did. Bloodshot eyes, bags, faded colors...

Spike pointed at the guest room. "She's in there."

"Thanks sugarcube, we'll take it from here." Applejack said quietly. She seemed to be taking it better than the others, though the orange mare had always been known for being tougher than the rest as well, both emotionally and physically.

Spike nodded, then left the Library. He needed to find something to do, he didn't want to be around a group of crying mares, that would just make *him* cry. That thought brought a wry smile to his face, despite the mood.

"Alright Twilight, out with it. Why have you been keeping us out?" Rarity demanded as soon as the dragon was out of earshot. Twilight didn't respond, or even look at her. The lavender unicorn kept her gaze locked to the bed.

"Twilight? Hey, are you even there?" Rarity clopped her hooves together, snapping Twilight's attention towards her. "Now that I have your attention...what happened? All we know is what Spike managed to piece together, which is this. You came back, alone. You said you didn't want to be Celestia's student anymore, and then you stayed holed up in this place for over two weeks."

Rarity took a breath, and continued. "I mean really, look at you? You're a mess darling. Have you even taken a bath since then? Or even slightly taken care of yourself?"

"Yeah Twilight, Ah don't know what's going on, but you gotta take care of yerself. What would Anon say if he came back and saw ya like this?" Applejack picked up after Rarity. "Ah doubt he'd be too happy."

"...how would you know what he wants..." Twilight mumbled.

Rainbow slowly walked over to the unicorn...and then struck her across the face. "Pull yourself the buck together!" The pegasus shouted. "Do you honestly think you're the only one who misses him?! I miss Anon as much as you do, but do you see me MOPING?"

Twilight glared at Dash, her horn lighting up brightly. 

"Dashie, Twilight, come on, don't fight!" Pinkie yelled, looking between her two friends desperately. She got in between them, trying to stave off the fight they all saw coming.

"Rainbow..." Twilight quietly started. "Get the fuck out of my home, before you get hurt."

Every pony in the room stared at Twilight. Rainbow's anger was replaced by blunt confusion.

"Wh-what?" 

"Get. The fuck. Out." 

Twilight didn't know the meaning of the word, but she knew for a fact in was a savage curse word from where Anon came from. They knew it too, they had heard him say it enough.

Dash abruptly turned around, walking out. 

"Fine. I'll be around when you're done feeling sorry for yourself." She slammed the door behind her, rattling the window nearby.

It was deadly quiet afterwards, the only sound being Twilight breathing hard. Her horn slowly stopped glowing, and for the second time in less than half an hour, tears welled up in her eyes.

"Why am I so angry all the time..."

Applejack stepped forward. 

"C'mon sugarcube, you need some time to relax. We're goin' to the farm, and Ah'm not gonna take no for an answer."

"And if I do say no?" Twilight asked. The orange mare produced a rope from her saddlebag, grinning slightly.

"Ya don' wanna say no, trust me."
---
Tartarus
---

You awoke with a start, to see Cerberus standing over you, growling. All three heads were staring at you, feral rage obvious. You noticed that the beast wasn't as big as you initially thought, but that thought was immediately pushed away by the demon slamming a paw into your chest.

You gagged and coughed up blood, spitting it into the demon's eye. It yelped and backed off, and your adrenaline flowed unchecked. Taking that instant to scramble away, you stood and drew your knife. If you were going down, this bastard was gonna feel it.

Cerberus lunged at you again, and you ducked and rolled, evading the beast. Your knife flashed in the volcanic light, slicing deep into the dog's forepaw. It yelped in pain, blood freely welling from the injury.

Good. 

"If you bleed, I can kill you..." You growled. You were so close to the portal...and he was standing in your way. To hell with what you said before, this fucker was going down. 

You weren't quite sure if this was you talking, or the adrenaline mixed with a hint of bloodlust. 

Cerberus sized you up, eying the knife covered in his blood warily. His three heads growled, and he lunged again. You rolled, then grabbed onto the beast as he went by. Feeling you crawling on him, the demon began struggling. You made your way to his back, and started stabbing wildly. He howled in pain, thrashing around. You nearly fell off several times, but managed to keep your hold.

Your knife slashed deep, lodging under his spine. You grinned, and fueled by bloodlust, you twisted the blade and pulled straight up. There was a cracking sound, and Cerberus simply...fell over. He was still alive, but paralyzed from the waist down. He was also quickly bleeding out, likely to die within the next couple minutes. You slid off his back, using your knife to slow your decent. It slashed through the demon's skin easily, bleeding him dry even quicker.

Stepping to the portal, you stepped on through. Fiery pain overwhelmed you, and you felt yourself hit something rough...yet pliable. 

The adrenaline left your body again, and you were so tired...so very tired...

Your heavy eyelids refused to open, and sleep took you.
---
Unknown Location
---

You groaned, opening your eyes slowly. You didn't know where you were, but you weren't in Tartarus anymore. That put you slightly at ease, as did the cool breeze. You confirmed you were indeed...somewhere that wasn't Hell, at least.

"Very astute, Anon..." You chided yourself. Sand was all over, and water lapped at your heels. "A deserted island, really? That's the biggest cliche in the book...I should know too, I've read most of 'em..." 

Standing with some difficulty, you took a better look around. The sand stopped rather quickly, leading into grass and trees. So, not an island. Turning around, you saw the other side of the pond less than a hundred feet away.

Still confused how you had gotten here of all places, you set off in a direction at random. Not your best choice of action, but you needed to find SOME sort of landmark. That mountain in the distance seemed like a good place to start.

After about an hour of walking, you were up on higher ground and with a better line of sight. You looked around for a bit...and saw Canterlot Castle off to your left. It had a shield around it, but you weren't quite sure why. If it was another wyvern attack, then Celestia banishing you had done nothing at all. 

Shrugging, you descended the hill and went towards the mountain. 

---

Dammit, this was further than it looked. Night had already fallen...though to be fair, you weren't sure exactly when you had started walking. Your stomach growled, and you glumly realized you had no food. Water wasn't a concern, simply due to a river running nearby.

Maybe food wasn't an issue either. Where there's a river, there's food.

You walked over to the riverbank, snapping a branch off of a tree. You pulled a strip of bark off the tree, flexing it. Flexible, pliable...

You tied your knife to the branch, creating a makeshift spear. You sat in the moonlight...and waited. A small insect crawled near your foot, bait. You picked it up, tossed it in, and waited for the ripples.

The water's surface broke, the insect disappeared, and your spear flashed. It hit something, and that something was writhing on the end of the weapon. Pulling it up, a medium sized fish was stuck to the end, twitching and dying quickly. 

You set it on the grass, letting it grow still. You pulled the fish off of the spear, freeing your knife for ease of use. Gutting and skinning the fish expertly, you dug a hole and threw the stuff you weren't going to eat inside. You buried it back over, it would make excellent fertilizer for something.

You snapped a few more branches down and began making a fire manually, not having your Golden Eclipse to make it easier. You grumbled about it, but you still remembered how to do it, fortunately.

Roughly half an hour later, you had a fire crackling merrily in the night. You had no rock this time, so you re-made your spear and began roasting the fish. The smell was driving you nuts, but you had to be careful about attracting other predators. You weren't in the Everfree Forest, that you were certain of...but you weren't sure just how widespread and common Timberwolves were, and you really weren't in the mood for that shit right now.

The muscle tissue turned white, with slight crisping at the edges. You waited a few minutes longer, watching the fish turn golden-brown. 

"Haha, it's done..." You smirked to yourself. You pulled it back, waiting for it to cool a bit before digging in with earnest. You avoided the bones as best you could, spitting a few out into the fire. A howl echoed through the forest, and you groaned. 

"Just ONCE I'd like to eat without being disturbed. JUST. ONCE." You grumbled, putting your fish down and picking your spear up. Another howl sounded, but further away. The first howl responded...two wolves, trying to find one another. Not after you or your fish after all.

You sighed in relief, then finished your meal in peace. Satiated for the moment, you extinguished the fire and moved on. You could sleep when you got this all sorted out.

---

The sun rose again, and you were on the path to Canterlot. You were already halfway up the mountain, shocked you hadn't seen a guard yet. As you recalled from Twilight, they were supposed to be stationed all the way up. It set you on edge...add to the fact there was a shield around the city...something was up.

You eventually made it to the barrier, and a small hole was opened up for you. Arching an eyebrow, you walked on through, the barrier sealing behind you. Several guards had seen you, but none approached. You figured that if you had just been dumped into a literal Hell like that, Celestia would tell her guards to be on watch for you.

You marched up the main street, towards the castle. 

"HALT!" 

There it was. Shining Armor was standing in front of you, in full guard armor and horn alight. You figured he would be the one creating the shield.

"Took you long enough. And to think, I thought I'd get through here scot-free." You gave a lopsided grin. "My luck isn't that good though."

"Shut it." He gestured to the two guards. "Take him to the Princess. Don't take your eyes off of him either. If he escaped Tartarus, there's no telling what kind of dark powers he wields."

"Didn't your sister tell you?" You sneered. "No magical ability. Or are you calling Twilight a liar...?"

"Leave her out of this, demon, or I will make your 'stay' with us very, very unpleasant." Shining growled, firing a magical bolt at you. It hit you and naturally had no effect, causing the unicorn to narrow his eyes as you leveled a near-evil grin at him.

Cuffs were placed on you, but they were meant for ponies, not humans. They were just small enough to stay on, but you could slip out of them if you wanted to. You didn't want to let them know you *could* unless you had to.

The massive doors to Celestia's throne room opened, and the Alicorn sat in her throne, reading a scroll. Another one of Twilight's 'Friendship Reports'? Judging by the Princess' reaction...no, it wasn't. She tossed the scroll away, into a large pile of other scrolls. A heavy sigh followed, and then she looked up.

"Ah, Shining Armor. What brings you to the thr-Anonymous!?" Shock, pure and simple, was written all over her face. "How did you..."

"I did what I always do. I fought." You replied. "Did I pass your 'test'?"

"Y-yes, you did. Exceptionally well, I might add." She replied, still stunned. She stood and walked around you, noticing the burn and various bruises, but little else. "Tell me, how long do you think it has been since you were banished?"

Was this a trick question?

"Uh, two days at most?"

"Anonymous, it has been three months, two weeks, four days, and fourteen hours since I sent you to Tartarus. In your absence, multiple monsters have attacked Ponyville, Canterlot, and many, many more places...I was wrong. I'm sorry."

You blinked. 

"Okay, two things. One, it's kinda creepy you know that to the exact hour. Two..." You took a deep breath for this. "WHAT?!"
 
"Time flows differently between here and Tartarus." Celestia clarified. "It may have been two days for you, but it has been much, much longer here. We have...all missed you greatly."

"I'm sure." You replied, not completely convinced. The only ones you were sure missed you were the six or seven ponies that you knew well. The Apples, Dash, Rarity, Pinkie, Flutters...and Twilight. Possibly Lyra too, but you two didn't talk much.

You were suddenly very, very worried. Almost four months away...Twilight must be falling apart at the seams.

"Anonymous, I could use your assistance with an...issue that has cropped up in the past two months. Ponyville has organized a 'Resistance' lead by my sister. They believe your banishment was wrong, and things just...blew up from there."

"If you want me to defend your choice to throw me into the bowels of Hell itself, then you are SADLY mistaken." You stated bluntly.

"I only ask that you try to stop this. I haven't been forced to kill anypony yet, nor have my guards. I want it to stay that way. Please Anonymous." 

"Fine." You started. "Don't misunderstand, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this because I don't want ponies to lose their lives over this."

"Then we are in agreement."

You turned around and slipped out of your shackles. You pitched them at Shining Armor, who caught them in a field before they hit him. Too bad.

"Princess, you can't honestly expect *him* to do something when even our best diplomats couldn't!" The unicorn shouted, glaring absolute murder at you. You returned the heated look. Twilight's brother or not, you still owed him a stab wound.

"Seeing Anonymous safe and sound will do more than you think, Shining Armor. Remember, those ponies admire Anonymous for his heroism a few months back. His word will sway more ponies than ours."

Celestia then turned to speak to you, just as you were about to exit the room.

"Anonymous."

You stopped, turning your head a small amount to show you were listening.

"I can send you to Ponyville, if you would like."

You thought it over...and against your instincts screaming at you not to trust her, you did anyway.

"Do it."

The same feeling of falling overtook you, and with a blinding golden flash, you were gone from the throne room.
---

You landed with a thud, face first in a pool of mud. Pulling yourself out of the muck, you wiped your eyes clear and looked around.

You were in the Apple's farm, and it was currently mid-day if you remembered right.

Or not, as the stars suddenly appeared.

Then the sun reappeared, only to just as quickly be replaced by the moon. This repeated a few times, threatening to send you into a seizure.

"Oh for the love of..." You muttered. A petty light fight between Luna and Celestia, really? 

Eventually Celestia gave up, letting the moon hang high. 

"an' another thing, Anon is so *hic* amaaaaaziinnng~!" 

Twilight?

"Whoa Twilight, Ah think you've 'ad enough. Ah knew this was a bad idea..."

"It was *your* idea, darling. You know how Twilight is around this...swill."

"Ah just thought she needed to relax, and th' spa's closed!"

"I mean, Anon's strong *hic* and kind and soooooooooo sweeeet~!" Twilight continued, heedless of the mini-argument brewing between AJ and Rarity.

"If you feel that way, why don't you do something about it?" Pinkie teased.

"I will! When he com*hic*comes back, I'm gonna...gonna..."

"What egghead? Those books not helping you find the right words?" Rainbow joined in on the teasing.

"I'm gonna...I miss him so much..." 

The sound of Twilight crying tore your heart to shreds, and you started walking towards the nearby barn. The doors were locked, so you had to find a way in.

There. A ladder up against the side, leading to the roof. With a little effort, you could go to the edge and swing in the upper window like a badass. 

You scaled the ladder carefully, not wanting to make noise. You wanted this to be a surprise, so stealth was your friend. You crept across the roof, to the point where it hung over the open window. You dropped down and grabbed the ledge of the window, climbing in and leaping into the rafters. Pinkie looked up, seeing you and taking a deep breath in.

You immediately put your finger to your mouth, your eyes pleading that she be quiet. She nodded excitedly, then returned to listening to Twilight.

Said amethyst mare was obviously drunk. There was a bottle of cider in front of her, held in a wobbly magical grip. It was half empty, and no pony else had a glass in front of them. That worried you. 

You leapt into another rafter, getting closer to the group. Twilight was sniffling, and then took a long drink from the bottle. Enough was enough.

You jumped down and hit the floor, rolling forward to stop from seriously hurting yourself. All eyes were on you when you landed, except for Twilight. She was laying her head on a table, head facing away from you. 

"Twilight, you might wanna look over 'ere." Applejack said excitedly, poking the purple unicorn in the side. 

"Why? *hic*" 

"Just look, you stubborn pony!" Rainbow forcibly turned Twilight's head, and her eyes lock onto yours.

"Hey, I heard someone missed me." You said simply, smiling widely.

"A-anon...?" Twilight slowly stood up, wobbling somewhat. The unicorn slowly made a drunken walk towards you, staggering left and right. Her eyes were glazed over, but focused on you. She eventually made it over to you, sitting down in front of you.

"Hey Twilight..." You said softly.

"Anon...*hic*do you have any idea how long I've waited for you to *hic* come back?" 

"Roughly four months."

Twilight's horn lit up, and she fired something at you. It washed over you, having no effect. You didn't want to know what she tried to hit you with.

"Four. Months. I cried, I *hic* shouted, I broke things...and all you have to say to me is 'Hey'?"

You supposed this is why AJ warned you about keeping Twilight away from alcohol. She wasn't exactly a happy drunk.

She launched another bolt, which missed by a large margin despite her being within two feet of you. "You're a jerk! I hate you!" 

She stood and tried to push past you, when you simply knelt down and pulled her into a hug. She struggled initially.

"Let me go! I *hic* don't need you! I don't need anypony!" 
 
You ignored her drunken ranting, you knew she didn't mean what she was saying. Instead, you gently ran your fingers through her mane.

That was a mistake. Her horn lit up again, and you had to roll to the side to avoid being hit with the table she had thrown. You still had Twilight in your grip, so she went on a ride with you.

"Shhhhh...it's okay Twilight. I'm here now."

"Let me go!"

Twilight's crying started again, her tears soaking your tattered shirt. "Let me go...I don't want to be around anypony anymore..."

You chuckled, ignoring the fact she just tried to seriously hurt you. "Good thing I'm not a pony then. Come on, I'm taking you home and putting you to bed." You looked at the others. "Thanks for taking care of her, I can take it from here."

They all nodded, wishing you a good night. 

"Good luck Anon~!" Pinkie said, seemingly implying something. You shrugged it off, taking the drunken mare to the Library.
---

On the way home, you had to put Twilight down so she could empty the contents of her stomach onto the ground. You wiped her mouth off, as she was too wasted to do much else on her own. Half a bottle, and adding to the fact Twilight was a lightweight to begin with...

You were just lucky you still had a Twilight to talk to.

The Library eventually came into view, and you pushed the door open. It was unlocked, for whatever reason.

Said Library had seen better days. The destruction was impressive, Twilight wasn't kidding when she said she had been breaking things. It was like she just lashed out at whatever was nearby. You put the amethyst unicorn in her bed, then brought her a glass of water.

"Here, drink." 

"Why...?"

"Because if you don't, you're going to have a hellish headache tomorrow." You had obliterated yourself on alcohol before, after all.

She finished the glass, and then you refilled it, making her drink one more time. Satisfied, you covered her over.

"Anon...?"

"Mm?" 

"Please don't go..."

You smiled softly. 

"Alright, but only because you earned it tonight."

You climbed into the bed with her, and she immediately latched onto you. She held you tightly, burying her head into your chest. You gently stroked her mane, and she eventually fell asleep, snoring lightly.

Smiling, you closed your eyes and tried to let sleep take you. 

Feeling a set of lips on your cheek stopped that for quite a while. Your eyes opened and Twilight was 'asleep' again, her cheeks lit up with a furious blush. You let it slide. After all, it had been months since she had last seen you, and she was drunk out of her mind. She likely wouldn't even remember most of tonight...today...whatever it was, thank you Luna and Celestia.

You remembered why you had actually been sent here, but that could wait until morn-fuck it. Whenever you woke up. As of right now, you had an adorable unicorn to keep from being lonely. 
---

You woke up before Twilight did, not having been tired in the first place. It couldn't have been more than three hours at the most, though admittedly you couldn't be sure. Twilight's clock was currently in a million pieces, so what time it was currently was anyone's guess.

You sighed at the sheer destruction in the Library, leaving the bed to start cleaning things up. Twilight whimpered when you let go of her, but then she just rolled over and went back to sleep. 

Books, shelves, parts of the walls, a nightstand... It looked like the destruction was total. 

You saw the book that you let Twilight borrow still intact. Opening up the cover, water stains were on the first couple pages. You had an idea where from.

An hour of straightening up made the place look livable now. There was some stuff that couldn't be salvaged, so you left them for Twilight to decide on. For now though, you had a job to do. You left Twilight a note and stuck it on her remaining nightstand, in plain view. You made an effort to remember to be back within an hour, though you had a feeling that wouldn't be happening.

You walked outside and down the street, trying to figure out where exactly Luna was. You noticed the Town Hall was no longer flying the Equestrian Flag, and was instead flying a dark, midnight blue flag. On it, was Luna's Cutie Mark and...your sword? You thought for a moment.

Golden Eclipse, Luna. Made sense, you supposed. You also figured that Town Hall would be a great place to start looking for the aforementioned Princess.

You pushed the doors open, only to run (literally) directly into Mayor Mare herself. Being much larger than her, you knocked her flat on her flank.

"Oh, sorry!" You said, helping the mayor up. 

"Thank you Anony-Anonymous?! You're back!" She nearly shouted. "Princess Luna will want to speak to you, follow me!"

Shrugging, you did just that.

"Lead on."
---

You followed the mayor to the tavern, walking in after her. The bartender looked up, saw you, and hit a button under his counter. Your hand reached for your knife...until a wall just slid open, revealing a stair case going down. Mayor Mare went first, as was the case today.

She pushed open a door at the bottom, stepping through. 

"Anonymous is back!" She shouted, sounding much too excited for somepony her age...though to be fair, you didn't know her age, exactly.

"Anonymous?!"

"I heard he was banished though!"

"Where? I wanna see the hoomin!"

Dozens of voices were suddenly around you. Ponies of all kinds, in full battle armor. What the...

"What's going on here?" You asked, slightly concerned.

"We're leading an attack on Canterlot, going to depose the witch that banished you!" One particularly excited stallion cried, which lead the others to cheer.

"Where's Princess Luna?"

"Right here, Anonymous."

You looked to your left, and there the midnight blue mare stood. She walked over to you, a tired smile on her face. "It's good to see you back. Have you come to join us?"

"I've come to put an end to this." You replied. "What's going on, exactly?"

"Celestia has gone too far." Luna replied. "She has abused her power time and time again, leading to many innocents being harmed. You, myself, and even Twilight were indirectly harmed by my sister's actions. She must be removed from power, before even more are harmed." 

Ah, that's what Luna's doing, trying to play your heartstrings.

"Luna, your sister wants to end this before anypony DOES get hurt! Have you even tried talking it out?" 

Luna thought it over for a moment. 

"No, I admit it never came to my mind. However, talking has never worked when it is something of this magnitude."

"Why not? I just got back from being banished for no reason at all, and we managed to have a civil conversation." You argued. "Just try it? Please?"

"The last time I tried to talk to my sister about something like this, I ended up on the moon for a millennium." Luna deadpanned. "Trying to negotiate with somepony with absolute power is pointless."

"She doesn't HAVE absolute power. You saw it today, you *won* that little duel with her over the sun and moon." You sighed and ran your hand through your hair. "She's tired, Luna. Tired of seeing ponies hurting. I'm willing to bet seeing her personal student essentially destroy herself over this was the final straw. Or maybe her own sister being willing to go to war over my situation was what did it."

Luna thought for a little while.

"She truly wishes this to be over?"

"Yes." You responded.

"I see."

You watched carefully as Luna waged an internal war. One side wanting to depose her sister and take total control, the other simply wanting to go back to cooperation.

"Remember Luna...something like this is why you spent one thousand years on the moon. Apologize. There's been no loss of life yet, you two can simply write this off as a bad argument."

Luna's mental battle raged on, and she broke out into a sweat...before sighing softly.

"Anonymous."

"Yes, Princess?"

"Despite my warriors being ready...I think I will take my sister up on the offer of a truce. Truth be told..." Luna looked back at a map on a table, with two colors of flags on it. The blue side, you assumed the rebellion, was 'losing' badly. The blue pegacorn sighed, then continued. "Truth be told, we wouldn't last in an actual war. We number too few and we don't have the skill of the Equestrian Guard." She was silent for a moment, looking her disappointed troops over.

"I will talk to my sister. Hopefully this can be done and over with." 

With a blue flash, the Princess teleported away.

"Hey, Anon." 

You looked over and saw a blue coated earth pony mare waving you over. Her mane was light green, tied up in a tight bun and under a medic cap.

"I've got a present for you."

"Hmm?"

You followed her in...and on a table was your armor and sword, both in perfect condition.

"The Princess...appropriated your things from the armory, in case you ever got free from Tartarus. The guards never managed to replicate your weapon either, there were too many injuries." The pony continued.

"How do you know that?"

"I was one of the nurses treating the burn victims." You took a quick look at her flank, and indeed there was a cutie mark of a flaming medic cross. You assumed that meant she was good at treating burn injuries, and not that she was a "hot nurse". That cliche would have been too obvious. "After the tenth scientist in a row nearly died from it, Celestia called it off. That's some dangerous toy you have, Anon."

You nodded, glad Golden Eclipse was currently in its sheathe. 

"There's a reason it only comes out when I want to kill something." You replied darkly. "It only does one thing, but it does that thing very, very well." Well, it was meant to do one thing, at any rate. Lately you had used it more as a tool than anything, though that Rathalos and those Velociprey came to mind. 

You cringed a bit when you saw the dust collecting on your armor. Celestia wasn't kidding, you really had been gone for a third of the year. You collected your items, then proceeded to return to the Library. You wanted to get back before Twilight woke up and began panicking, you knew her well enough to know that's what would happen.

Besides, you had a Pinkie Promise to keep up on.
---

You opened the door to the Library an hour later, just in time to see Spike leave. Upon seeing your questioning look, he simply said "Rarity's". You shrugged, letting him pass and entering the building yourself.

A thought suddenly crossed your mind as to why you wasted your time building a home. You had been in it...a week, tops. You simply shrugged to yourself in response, setting your armor on the couch that was miraculously still intact.

Twilight was still asleep, amazingly. Usually Spike being up meant Twilight was too...but then again, she had drunken herself into a stupor last night, so it made sense. In fact, she'd probably be out for another few hours.

You picked your armor back up, took it outside, and began cleaning it. There were obvious repair patches, and a feeling of horror overtook you when an azure scale came off in your hands. You groaned, then knew exactly how you would use that house on the edge of Everfree: Your own personal forge. Use it to store materials and whatnot. It would be great for you too, especially with what you had in mind. 

With the continuing rise of wyverns and such, you thought it only made sense. You were going to ask to start a Hunter's Guild. You had a feeling it wouldn't take much convincing. No, the difficult part would be remembering how to make an elemental weapon. You figured you'd start with fire first, having fire immune armor. You'd also be doing that *outside*.
---

An hour of polishing, and your armor at least *looked* serviceable. The repair job the guard had done was mediocre at best, and outright terrible at worst. Some areas were repaired better than others. The gauntlets and helmet were still in good condition, not having been damaged too badly to begin with.

The chestplate and leggings had horribly done repair marks, and it looked like they had simply crammed whatever metal they could find into the cracks. You'd have to replace everything at this rate...but you weren't sure what passed for Carbalite around here. Finding an Azure Rathalos for parts wasn't a problem, you were sure another would show himself eventually.

You began to wonder what Equestrian Steel was made of. They obviously had it, the weapons and that train was proof of that. You just weren't sure how rare it was, or how difficult it was to make.

A yawn and a groan from inside let you know the amethyst mare was awake. 

"Ow...my head...unnnngh..."

"I told you to drink some water, didn't I?" You called in through the window. She simply grunted at you. 

"Please be quiet...my head's pounding like a drum..." 

"Drink some more water, go back to sleep. You'll feel better later."

Your thoughts returned to your supplies. You had no potions, no antidote...

The antidote would solve itself, there were plenty of Rathian and Rathalos around, if the Princess were to be believed. You still knew how to make it too, no exotic materials required. 

The sound of Twilight vomiting brought you back to reality, and you walked inside. She was in the bathroom, bringing up almost nothing but bile. You pulled her mane out of her face while she finished evacuating her stomach. You cringed, vomiting was never a pleasant sound.

She finished a couple seconds later, extremely shaky and uneasy. You grabbed a towel and wiped her mouth, throwing it into the nearby hamper for wash.

"Bed. Now." You commanded. "I'll bring something up to you." 

Twilight nodded slowly, then staggered up to her bed while you went into the kitchen. The good thing about ponies? Almost all they consumed was grain products...most of which were excellent for upset stomachs. You grabbed some bread slices, taking them and a tall glass of water up to the hungover mare.

"Here, this will help." You gave her some bread, which she ate slowly. "Helps absorb stomach ac-

"I know." She cut across, swallowing and taking another slice from you. Right, bookworm.

The sun came up uncontested, which you assumed to mean the 'civil war' was over. If only your world could have bloodless civil wars. Looking out of the window and towards Canterlot, the shield was indeed gone, no longer needed.

Now all you had to do was take care of Twilight, and today could be called 'a good day'. 

A light snoring behind you told you that this would be simple enough. You occupied your time straightening up the place and reading, trying to keep the noise down to a bare minimum. You were reading one of those "Daring Do" novels that Dash loved so much, and you could see why. They were kinda exciting, it was easy to get lost in them.

A few hours passed in silence, with you getting up to check on Twilight now and again. You had woken her up once to make her eat something, and she promptly left the land of the conscious directly afterwards. She hadn't thrown up once since the first time, which was good. 

You went outside for some fresh air, and to go find something that you could eat. You were craving some meat at the moment, which Twilight didn't keep at the Library. No need to when she didn't eat it. Satisfied the mare would be asleep for a little while longer, you went into the market. Last you recalled, there was a Griffon in the marketplace selling meat...
--

An hour and 6 bits later, you were full and heading back to the Library. The door was locked now, which was a problem as you still didn't have your key. You knocked on the door.

No answer.

Assuming Twilight was still asleep, you knocked one more time. Same result. 

"Ah, to hell with it."

You looked around for a way up, climbing the tree with some difficulty. You reached the balcony and started pulling splinters out of your hands, while at the same time pushing the balcony door open. Twilight never locked this one, despite the fact that some ponies could, you know...fly.

Said mare was still asleep, drooling on her pillow. You chuckled and let her be, closing the door behind you and pulling a few more splinters out of your hand. You figured that tonight you'd crash on the couch, you didn't want Twilight getting sick on you if she hadn't moved all that alcohol out of her system. 

The door slammed open and Spike sprinted in, running up the stairs without even saying 'hey' to you. He held a scroll in his grip, the seal torn open.

"Twilight! Twilight, there's a problem!" He shouted, trying to wake the sleeping unicorn up. He shook her a bit and she woke with a jolt. 

"Wh-huh...?"

"Princess Celestia just contacted me! Says she needs Anon there pronto!"

The glare that Twilight gave Spike could have melted clean through your armor. 

"Give me that letter, Spike." Twilight said coolly, levitating the parchment to her. She unrolled it and read it for a bit, before scoffing and tossing it to the side. "Nice try Celestia, but I'm not losing Anon again."

You went upstairs to see what the commotion was about, and picked up the scroll from the floor. You read the letter silently, growing more concerned by the minute.

"Trouble in Canterlot, another wyvern attack, send Anonymous, help needed

- Celestia"

It was obviously rushed, with the lack of punctuation and grammar errors that the Princess wouldn't make by accident.

"Twilight, what if it's not a trick this time?" You asked.

"I don't care, last time she wanted you there she banished you! What if it's a trick, just to send you back!?" 

"Twi, you're being irrational. I've already spoken to the Princess, she was the first one I spoke to when I got back. Well, technically your brother was, but whatever." You sighed at Twilight's unconvinced look. "If she wanted to send me back to Tartarus, she would have done it when I got there. If Canterlot really *is* in trouble, then I need to be there."

"...okay." 

You arched an eyebrow. 

"That's it? No fight?" You questioned.

"No fight. If you want to run right into the place that wants you gone, be my guest." 

Oh great, passive aggressiveness. 

"Well, either I go there and potentially walk into a trap that Luna herself will be there to prevent, or I don't go and dozens of ponies die." 

Twilight thought for a moment, and then caved. 

"Fine. Fastest way there is teleportation, but...seeing as you're immune to magic, next fastest way is...by Rainbow Dash."

"I can't ask Dash to carry me and a hundred pounds of armor to Canterlot." You said. "Dash might be tough, but she's not tough enough to carry a quarter ton of flesh, scale, and metal."

"Balloon then. It can get you there in two hours." She replied.

"Do it."

Twilight hopped out of bed and wobbled slightly, her horn alight. A hot air balloon freed itself from the treetop, inflating and flight-ready in a matter of moments. She hopped in, and waited. 

"Come on!"

"You're going with me?" 

"Yes, I am. I'm not letting Celestia take you twice, and if there's even a hint that you're going to be sent away again..." She trailed off dangerously. You shuddered in spite of yourself, you didn't much like this Twilight.

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