>You sit in your lounge , a single skylight allowing the midday sun through, reading some books borrowed from Twilight. You wanted to read up on Equestria history, wanting more ideas on what to carve for your sudden 8 clients from Canterlot.
A:Daddy I’m bored…
‘Don’t call me that.’
A: Awww, but you are our daddy.
‘I will punish you.’
A: What? No playing with the fluffy ponies, Daddy?’
>You flip over the page and Alice screams in pain.
A:What….what was that?
‘That’s what Mark feels only at a weaker strength.’
A:How weak?
‘He feels it at 50% strength. You had 0.5%.’
A: A hundred times that? HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM?!?
>Alice pushes you off the couch, and you drop your book.
‘How could I do that to him? HE PUT THOUGHTS OF KILLING IN MY HEAD!!  He may be your fucking brother, but he wants murder. I HAVE FUCKING NIGHTMARES ABOUT BEING SURROUNDED IN BLOOD!! You can’t control him, and I can’t control him.
>you throw the book at Alice and it flies straight through.
‘Fucking Hell Alice! What if he hurt Bizzle, or Dakota? What if he hurt a child? HUH?!?’
>Alice starts to cower in fear
‘You don’t realise that if he kills, I GO TO JAIL! I get fucking raped and stabbed and beaten. You can only see the good in people. Open your fucking eyes Alice. I only punish him when he needs it and only when he knows he has done bad.’
>you pick yourself up from the ground and storm up the stairs and out the house. You walk outside to yell when you see Mark sitting on the guttering of your house.
 
M:What’s all the yelling about?
‘Alice is upset about how I punish you.’
M: How much did she get?
‘0.5% strength.’
M:Oh lord Anon. I feel bad for you.
‘Oh shut it. I know when to hold back. It’s barely a pinch.’
M:So does she know why?
‘You go tell her. I’m sick of her seeing the good in people. I will admit you have changed, but she didn’t see the dreams I had.’
>You sit up against the house, Mark floating down next to you.
M:If it helps, I’m sorry about all them. I wouldn’t make you kill your family. I just wanted attention.
‘Look Mark, I have noticed the change in you. You help me a lot more than you used to. I barely have to punish you. Hell, I feel bad when I do because you barely mean it.’
M: Then why don’t you stop.
>He gives you a sly smile
‘Spare the rod, spoil the insanity form.’
>Mark chuckles
‘Can you go talk to her? She seems upset, and I don’t want to get upset at her again.’
M: Anonymous, why do you do this? Why do you insist on fighting with yourself?
‘Maybe because when I’m gone, you won’t have to remember how much I meant to you, only how much of a jerk I was when you left.’
>Mark stood up and floated into the wall. He stuck his head out a second later.
M: No matter how much of a jerk you are to us, you won’t be forgotten so easily. You are like family to us.
>As Mark floated back inside, you realise for the first time since they appeared, you wanted to give Mark a hug for being there for you.
 
>You walk back inside, striding straight for your bedroom. You didn’t care what Alice was talking to Mark about. You didn’t want to interrupt them, you only wanted to get out of the sun.
>Closing your bedroom door, you turn on your light to take in everything you owned. Your wooden echidna sat on a shelf, proof that you still could have a piece of home even across dimensions. Next to the shelf sat the black minotaur horns you “confiscated” from Steel Shock, now known as Run Away. You had been meaning to make something out of it. Today seems like a good day to do so.
> You take out your new 30-piece chisel kit and grab one of the horns. Sitting on the edge of your bed, you chisel off a few pieces of ivory.
>You spend about 2 hours working over the ivory, shaping a dagger, straightening the edge and perfecting the hilt. You lightly graze your finger over the blade’s edge, testing the sharpness.
>It doesn’t feel as sharp as you would prefer, but you were shaping it with a chisel. If you want more refined, go make it with a sander.
A: Anon?
‘Yeah Alice?’
A:Can I come in?
‘Yes you may.’
>There was quiet for a second.
A:Can you open the door?
>You stand up and open the door. Alice walks in looking upset, Mark just sat on the couch. She takes a seat on the bed and you crouch down in front of her.
A:I want to apologise to you for getting upset. I shouldn’t have been upset without finding out the whole story.
‘It’s okay. I’m sorry for yelling at you. I just don’t need to be reminded how much I hurt my friends.’
 
A:Imaginary friends…
‘No. You and Mark are by best friends. Not imaginary, real. Who cares if no one can see you? I can, Mark can, Derpy can. Who else do you need?’
>Alice blushes, and wipes away a tear.
‘You wanna come to Twilight’s with me?’
A: I don’t know…
‘You wanna be me on the way?’
>Alice’s face lit up immediately
A:REALLY?!
‘Yeah. But don’t think it will be a regular thing, especially if we fight.’
>You close your eyes and feel Alice enter your consciousness.
Anon: No taking it for joy rides, no speeding, no doing donuts in the parking lot.
>Alice giggled and she stood up to walk out. As she walked up the stairs, Mark followed.
M: You have to be kidding me? She throws a hissy fit and you give her control?
‘Ever wonder if I can cause the same pain on you while controling the body?’
M: I’ll be good.
>You chuckle as you follow them.
>The trip into town was fairly nice. Alice kept her cool as all the ponies surrounded her. She was in heaven. She took her chance to pet some of the ponies, and a mint green one started to follow her. She started to get scared and ran to Twilight’s library.
>The minute Alice got inside the library, she locked the door and left your consciousness. You landed on the ground with a thud.
 
>You awoke to Spike slapping your shit.
‘Oi, I will drop kick you.’
>S: ‘Good, your awake. We got worried.’
>Twilight walked downstairs to check on you.
>TS:’ Anon, what happened? You ran in here like a mad man, and then collapsed.’
‘Heh…Alice did that. She was too nice to that obsessive mint green pony, and she got scared.’
A: SHE WAS CREEPY!!
M: Creepy fluffy…
>TS: ‘You let Alice control you into town?’
‘I like to think she was driving.’
>TS:’I assume you had a reason for coming here.’
‘Oh shit yeah.’
>You jump up off the ground and take the dagger  from the back of your pants.
‘I was wondering if there was a way to sharpen this. I did all I cou…’
>Looking at the dagger, you were lost for words.
>What was once just a dull, black ivory dagger was now a shiny black ivory dagger.
>TS:’Anon, where did you get that from?’
‘I…uh… I made it. I came here to ask about minotaurs.’
>TS: ‘Anything in particular?’
‘There horns. I need to know about their horns.’
>Twilight levitates a book off the top shelf, and started to read it aloud.
>TS: ‘Minotaur horns are rare to find, as minotaurs don’t usually travel into pony society. Horns can be used in the practice of pharmacy, as well as making ferterlizer.’
>Twilight suddenly goes ‘Hmm…’
‘What is it?’
>TS: ‘it says “Rumours state that minotaur horns, when hardened, can become so strong, its only rival is that of dragon material.”’
 
‘What does it mean?’
>TS:’If that’s what I think it is, it might just be unbreakable. We need to run some tests. SPIKE!!’
>Spike bounds down the stairs, with a pile of books in hand.
>S’Yeah Twi?’
>You take your dagger and try to cut his arm.
>S’ OOOWWWW! What the hell man?!’
‘Sorry bro. Twilight told me to do it. Are you bleeding?’
>Spike looks at the scratch and shakes his head.
>S:’Nah, but it still hurt like crap man.’
>TS: ‘I guess these rumours are true. What are you going to do?’
‘I dunno. Hide this away. I might try to make something else, but it’s harder to think about this.’
>TS:’Anon, if you don’t mind me asking, why did you make a dagger?’
‘Truth? I had a fight with Alice. I never told you this, but I can punish Mark or Alice. It’s like I concentrate and they clutch their head. I only had to do it to Mark, and only when he was seriously bad. Alice was upset at me because I punish him like I do. So I went to my room to do something, and just made a dagger. I just needed to clear my head.’
>TS: ‘Would you be willing to let me see you punish them?’
‘Hmm…’
>You look at them with a smile
M: Don’t do it
A: Please don’t do it.
‘No, they didn’t do anything to deserve it.’
>Twilight looks disheartened.
‘No, don’t give me that look. I guarantee some ponies still see me as a monster, I am not going to act like one just to satisfy your fetish for learning.’
>TS: ‘I-i-it isn’t a fetish… it’s just.’
‘Save it Twilight. I’m going home.’
>You walk out the door, slamming it shut behind you.
 
>Your walk home is slow and deliberate. You were still upset at Twilight. Hell, this isn’t a good day for you.
A: You shouldn’t be angry at Twilight.
‘Really? Why not?’ you grumble.
A: She just wants to learn.
‘She asked me to hurt you both just for learning. Even for my standards, that’s inhuman. I thought ponies were supposed to be kind and caring.’
M:Nope. It’s all in the sake of learning, even if you kill something in the process.
>you burst into your house and walk straight into your bedroom. Once again, you needed to clear your mind. You might as well make something of use.
>You carve away at the minotaur ivory, stroke after stroke. Each one deliberate to form the shape you need. With your new chisel set, you find things easier to make. After you finish, you set it down and walk out to the lounge and lie down. Sleep finds you quickly.
>You are awoken by the sounds of knocking at your front door. You stand up and quickly straighten your clothes. As you walk up the stairs, you wonder who would be knocking at your door. Or what time it was. Living underground had it’s disadvantages.
>You open the door, and look at your visitor.
‘Oh, hello there.’
 
END