My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © Hasbro, Studio B Productions, and Lauren Faust (like a faust).

Dilemmas of the PerpliXing

Chapter 4

Not literally, of course. I was soon back on my hooves looked at the ponies that nearly killed me. One stallion and five mares, one pink and jumpy one already in her pajamas, were holding their sleeping bags and smiling.

"Twilight!" I called.

She walked up to me. "Yeah?"

"The floor wasn't as fun as you made it look."

She giggled and turned to our friends. "Looks like everypony has their sleeping bags. Why don't we head upstairs and set up?"

Pinkie raised her hoof. "Miss Sparkle! I have a question!"

"Yes, Pinkie?"

"Where am I keeping all the candy I brought. There's enough for everypony."

"We'll put the candy in the center of the room and make a circle around it. Sound good?"

Everypony nodded. "All right, let's stay up all night!" I turned to Pinkie. "Which, thanks to Pinkie, will be a little more possible."

They all headed up the stairs, except for Luna, who stayed in her chair, facing the window. I sighed and walked over to her. I put my head on her shoulder. "Come on, Luna. It'll be fun."

"I know, but…"

"What is it?"

"I guess it's just… don't hurt me for saying this, but I feel like your spending more time with Twilight than you should be. I just feel…"

"Left out?"

"… Jealous."

I lifted my head off her shoulder and turned her head so she was facing me. "Of Twilight?" She nodded. "I… I'm so sorry I haven't been spending time with you. I just… like her, a lot, and I've been so wrapped up in that that I haven't even thought about how you felt." I looked at the floor. "I didn't know I was doing this to you. How about this," I looked her in the eyes. "Tomorrow, it'll be just you and me, sound good?"

She shook her head. "I don't want you to disregard Twilight like that just because I'm feeling a little jealous. I know you want to spend more time with her and I want you to." I could see her eyes turning red as she held back her tears.

"Why are you crying?"

"I just… don't wanna be alone. Please, I don't want to loose you again." The tears finally left her eyes and streamed down her face. She was smiling the entire time.

I didn't know what to say. I had no idea she felt this way about everything. I put my hand on the back of her head and put her face on my chest. She cried onto me as I stroked her mane. "I will never forget about you, even if everything between Twilight and I goes right. You'll always be with me, just as I will always be with you. Remember that."

"Ozone, you're the best friend anypony could ask for. I will never forget about you."

"Thanks." I pulled her up so we were face to face. "And I'm serious about tomorrow. Just me and you."

She was hesitant, but nodded. "I…"

"Don't worry. Relationships come and go, but friends are forever. Remember that, too." She smiled and I wiped her tears. "Come on, let's go upstairs." She nodded and hopped off the chair. When I was next to her, I felt her kiss my cheek. I smiled as we walked side-by-side up the stairs.

The sleeping bags were in a circle around a massive pile of candy. Rainbow and Twilight were talking off to the right, Applejack and Rarity were arguing off to the left, Fluttershy was sitting peacefully, watching Pinkie jump in and out of the pile of candy.

Fluttershy saw Luna and I walk in and said told everypony that it's time to start. Or, at least, tried. Her voice was barely audible over the talking and arguing.

"'AY YO! WE GONNA DO THIS OR WHAT?" I yelled as loud as I could. Everypony cringed at my volume and looked at me.

Rainbow walked up to me. "Heh, sorry. We didn't see you there."

I hugged her. "That's okay. Now," I looked around the room. "I think we should start with the story of how you all met."

Everypony got into their sleeping bags (except for me) and grabbed some candy. Twilight spoke up. "Well, it all started with me studying the Elements of Harmony…"

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

After hearing about all their adventures, I decided to head out to the balcony. I didn't bother asking Twilight to come with me; she looked like she was busy with our friends.

I spread myself across my sleeping bag and looked at the sky. It was already night, the stars had long since lit up. I just kind of wish I could come out and say it. This is all happening way to fast. I just met her, and I already have a crush on her? I sighed. Great, now my life is like a bad romance book. Except it's a lot hotter because I'm involved. I laughed at my own joke. Why do I have to like Twilight?

I heard hoofsteps behind me. I turned and saw Pinkie slowly walking towards me. "Ozone? We need to talk."

I sat up. "What about?"

"What you're really doing here."

I sighed and scooted over and patted a space next to me. "Come on, sit down. This is gonna be a little difficult to explain."

She took her seat next to me. "You said you'd be here until early December. You said you were here because Princess Celestia wanted you to spend time with your friends and family," She looked at me. "Ozone, you spend all day in the library. Are you okay?"

I sighed and nodded. "Okay, I'm gonna tell you the reason, but you have to promise not to tell Twilight."

She proceeded to Pinkie Pie promise. "That may seem like a joke to everypony, but to me it isn't. I really commit when I make one of those promises."

"I know you do, Pinkie. And right now, I need that." I looked at her. Her eyes were full of concern. "I kind of… have a crush on Twilight. I've been trying to spend more time with her."

"Wait… you like Twilight?" I nodded. She smiled the biggest of smiles. "That's great! I hope it works out between you two, because it would be really awkward if she rejected you because you two live in the same place. Plus it would probably result in us having to choose between you and Twilight and I don't want that to happen."

"I don't either. I just…"

"Ozone, I just need to ask you one thing." I nodded. "Are you sure what your feeling isn't really just a crush? I mean, you two met not even a week ago."

I sighed. "I hope it's real. I want it to be."

"Well, as long as you want it to be…" She hugged me. "Good luck."

"Thanks, Pinkie. You're a great friend."

She got up. "I'm gonna go back inside. Are you sure you don't wanna come?"

I nodded. "I'm just gonna go to sleep."

"Okay. Good night, Ozone."

"Night, Pinkie." She smiled and walked back inside. I got into my sleeping bag and fell asleep.

POV Switch

«Ozone—§ OUT

IN §—Twilight»

"So, about your crush…"

I choked on my own breath at hearing that. I saved myself and turned to Rarity. "Rarity!"

"What?" She shrugged. "You didn't make me promise not to tell."

I gasped. "You didn't…"

She smiled. "Oh, but I did."

I tackled Rarity to the ground. She resisted, but I pinned her. "You told him!"

"I said you weren't sure, nothing more."

"What did he say?"

She stopped and smiled. "He was smart and made me promise not to tell. Pinkie Pie promise."

I groaned and got off of her. I began pacing. "Okay, Twilight. Calm down, it's not the end of the world. She said you weren't sure, not that you liked him. There's still a possibility he thinks you don't like him."

"… So you do like him?"

I stopped and stared blankly ahead of me. I sighed. "You know, I think I have this whole time, but I've been avoiding it."

"Well, it took you long enough to admit it." Rarity smiled.

"Who ya talkin' about?" Pinkie bounced in.

I sighed. "Ozone."

"Really?" She lit up and quite literally it the wall. "That's great!"

"Wait, did I hear you guys right?" Rainbow walked in. "Twilight finally fell for Ozone? You know-"

"Ahem!" Rarity couldn't have don't that louder. She shook her head to Rainbow, and Rainbow nodded.

"Well, I'm gonna hit the hay. Lates!" Rainbow zipped into her sleeping bag and started to fake snore. However, they soon turned into real ones.

"Ah think it'd be a good thing if we all got some sleep." Applejack said.

"Your right." I got into my sleeping bag. I fell asleep, smiling, to one thought. My first crush…

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I was the last to wake up that morning. I heard talking downstairs as I got out of my sleeping bag. I looked at the mountain of candy in the middle of the room. Well, it was more of a handful at that point. I walked downstairs and smiled when I saw everypony sitting at the table.

"So, what's everypony doing today?" I asked.

They all looked at me. "Nothing, really." Rarity said.

Everypony agreed. Everypony except for Luna. "Well, Ozone and I were gonna sort of… hang out today."

I felt my smile fade away. "Really? Alright then." I looked around and noticed something. "Where's Ozone?"

"He's still asleep." Rainbow said. "Just leave him. Sometimes he just needs it."

I nodded, but turned around as I heard hoofsteps. "Awake, are we?" I asked Ozone with a smile.

"As awake as I can be." He coughed. "Got anything to drink? My mouth's kind of dry."

"I'll be right back." Spike walked into the kitchen. He came back with a glass of water.

Ozone sat down and held it in his hooves. He chugged it in under five seconds. "Alright, I think I'm good." He got up and turned to Luna. "You ready to go?"

She nodded. "I still say we don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"But I do want to. Now come on, it's," He turned to look at the clock. "eleven o'clock. I wanna burn as little daylight as possible."

They were soon out the door, and I was left with a free day. No Ozone to distract me, I can do whatever I want for the first time in… I thought about how long Ozone's actually been here. Four days. He's only been here for four days. Maybe I do need a day for myself.

"Twilight, you should come to the spa with me!" Rarity suggested.

Well, there goes that.

POV Switch

«Twilight—§ OUT

IN §—Ozone»

I guess nothing went wrong as far as planned events went. We ate lunch at Sugarcube Corner (Pinkie's cupcakes make a great lunch) then hung out in the park.

After that, we really had nothing to do. We ended up just walking and talking. That's when I ended up bumping into a pony. Whoever it was wasn't very strong, because they dropped like brick (without the weight). I looked to see who I had bumped into.

"Holy crap…"

The light turquoise pony shook her head and rubbed her temples. "'Holy crap' is right! Geez, your like a brick…" She looked at me and her eyes widened. Those pretty orange eyes. "… wall."

"Ozone, do you know this-"

"Ozone! It's you!" Lyra jumped and tackled me. She had me wrapped in her arms like a foal hugging a stuffed animal. "Ozone, it's really you! It's been so long!"

I smiled and hugged her back. "I know, Lyra. I missed you when I never saw you after Pinkie's party."

"Ozone, you have no idea how sorry I am for that." She got off me. "We have a lot to catch up on." She turned to Luna. "You don't mind, do you princess?"

She shook her head and smiled. "To any of Ozone's friends, it's just Luna."

"Luna, are you sure-"

"What did I tell you earlier?" She turned to Lyra. "Why don't we find a nice place to sit?"

"The benches near Pinkie's bakery are a pretty good spot." She turned to me. "You in?"

I nodded. "Let's roll."

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

It was really nice talking to Lyra again. She said she patched things up with Bon-Bon, and they were the best of friends. I told her about everything. Everything was perfect.

Too perfect.

The screams to my left alerted me, and I turned to see a sword flying towards my face. I quickly deflected it with my wing as I did with Twilight on the first day. I turned to see a red pegasus stallion with robotic forelimbs clear on the other side of Sugarcube Corner. He looked angry.

I got off the bench. "Change of plans, you two. Don't go too far, but stay somewhere safe. I know you two can help, but this guy obviously has some sort of beef with me. I don't want you getting hurt in the crossfire."

"But-"

"Come on," Luna said. "If he says he can handle it, let him." She turned to me. "Don't die."

Obviously. I nodded and turned to the stallion. He was approaching, and he was doing it pretty fast. I ran up to him and stood on my hind legs. He did the same, and our forelimbs crossed. His nose was visibly fuming and his eyes were bloodshot. "Who are you? Why are you here?" I asked.

He didn't respond. Instead, he pushed me backwards and tried to slice me with a wrist blade. I blocked it with my wing and stepped backwards. "You're a really annoying kid, you know that?" He said to me.

"Do I know you?"

"Yes, but that's a story for another day. If you survive today, that is." He charged me and tried to punch me, but I dodged it and punched him in the gut. It felt like a brick wall. I tripped over myself and was on my back. He jumped really high, and was falling straight on to me. He flicked out a wrist blade and pulled his hoof back. I rolled to the left just in time. His impact shook the ground, and it helped me get back up on my hooves.

"Is there any specific reason your trying to kill me, or are you just an angry pony in need of a hug?"

"With you out of the way, we have a better chance at killing Rainbow and not having it backfire on us."

Everything clicked into place. "So, you're working with that masked mare? You know, I'm starting to think this is more about killing me than killing Rainbow."

"Well, you were the one who destroyed our original laboratory, but again, that's a story for another day. Right now, I'm supposed to kill you, and-"

"If your going to kill me like this, wouldn't the honorable thing to do is tell me your name? Right now, you're just some pony who attacked me on the street."

He gave me a confused look. "I… yeah, I guess I should tell you my name. You should know the name of your killer." He exited his battle stance. "My name is Crawler, because you might as well rip off my wings. I'm to heavy to use them."

"Really?" I smiled. "That's interesting."

Go ahead, use your Alchemy. The masked mare's voice was in my head.I wanna see you use it on a live specimen. I don't care if he's one of us, just do it.

I guess I have no other choice, considering physical attacks do next to nothing. I licked my lips and stared him down.

"Whoa, what's that look your giving me?"

"You'll see." I smacked my forehooves against the ground. The ground shook violently as an electric blue circle formed around Krawler.

"Wh-what's goin' on here?" Next a star made of two triangles, trapping him in a hexagon. Circles formed inside the points of the star, and soon electric blue bulbs were rising from the circles. They floated, suspended in the air. Trails of electric blue led from the circles to Krawler's body. The trails started glowing brighter and brighter, until the bulbs let go of the trails, piercing his body with the trails like arrows. After the spears pierced him, everything faded away, leaving Krawler a fountain of blood. He was stumbling from left to right trying to walk, but tripped over himself and fell on his face. Blood was pouring out of the holes in his body, and he died in less than a minute. His body just went limp, blood still rushing out of the holes in his body. I looked at my hooves.

"Wh… what did I just do?"

Good job, my young Ozone! Quite impressive indeed. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting you to kill him on the first try, and I expected you to collapse again, but that just means your making excellent progress! Krawler will be missed, but it's all for the greater good.

"Or evil, in your case." I said out loud.

Yes, I suppose your correct on that account. I'll leave you alone now, it would seem you have some explaining to do.

"What are you…" I turned to meet the faces of tons of terrified faces. "Oh, them."

Lyra and Luna approached me. Lyra kept her distance. "Ozone, wh- what was that? What did you do to him…" Lyra looked genuinely scared of me.

Luna sighed. "That was a lost magic called Alchemy. It's very unstable and dangerous, as Ozone just demonstrated." She turned to me. "But I must ask… did you mean to…"

"Of course not! I didn't know what was happening. I-"

"It's okay. I trust you." Luna smiled. "Although, I'm not sure you have the trust of the rest of these ponies."

I looked around to see everypony still hiding. "Lyra, how about you? Do you trust me?"

She looked down at the ground, but nodded. "Luna said it was a very unstable type of magic, do I know you can't possibly have any idea what you do when you use it. Especially because of the fact you're a pegasus and have no experience with magic."

"Thanks… I guess. With you guys on my side, I don't care about the rest of them."

"What about Twilight?" Luna asked.

I suddenly began to panic. I looked around. "She isn't here, is she?"

"She shouldn't be. Wanna go back to the library to make sure?" Luna suggested.

"I'll go by myself. I wanna tell her myself."

"Wait, why are you so concerned about Twilight?" Lyra asked.

"Because Ozone has a huge crush on her."

"Well, don't go telling everypony. I don't want Twilight to find out." I said before running towards the library. I got all sorts of looks from the ponies that witnessed my… fight with Krawler. I was almost out of Sugarcube Corner, when a familiar face caught my attention. "Rarity?"

She smiled awkwardly. "Hey, Ozone. How's your day been?"

"Did you see what just happened? What do you think?" She recoiled at my tone. "Sorry, it's… listen, have you seen Twilight?"

She nodded. "We were going to the spa, but somewhere along the way she must have slipped away. I suppose she's at the library."

I nodded. "Thanks." I ran towards the library. Once I made it to the library, I knocked twice.

Twilight answered with a smile. "Hey, Ozone. Where's Luna?"

"Listen, I have to tell you something really important. I don't know if you'll look at me the same way after I tell you, though. Can I come in?"

She already looked scared, as if knowing what I was about to tell her, but nodded and let me in. She closed the door behind her. "Ozone, are you alright? You look… shaken."

I nodded. "It's just… okay, here's what happened. Luna and I were walking through Sugarcube Corner, when I bumped into Lyra. We ended up sitting down and talking. All of a sudden, I was attacked."

She gasped. "By who?"

"A pony named Crawler. He's a pegasus that can't fly because he's too heavy."

"Explains the name."

"Anyway, he launched a blade at me, and I deflected it with my wing, the same way I deflected your punches." She nodded. "I was just dodging attack after attack, until we finally got some distance. At that point, I…" I decided to leave out the part about hearing the masked mare's voice in my head. "I used my alchemy."

She nodded. "So, what happened?"

I took a deep breath. "I killed him." The room was silent. I could almost hear my heart beat. "Listen, I need to talk with Princess Celestia for a bit. I should be back before nightfall." I didn't hear her protest, so I walked out the door and flew to Canterlot. If Twilight doesn't accept me, then I don't know what to do… I need help.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I was exhausted by the time I landed in front of the castle. I looked at the two guards, who blocked my path with their wings.

"Remember me?" No response. "Didn't think so." I extended my wing and got the guards to go wide-eyed.

"Oh, sorry Ozone." The guard on the left (which by the way was female) said. "We can never just assume these days."

"That's okay, I understand. I just need to talk to Princess Celestia for a while. There are some things I need to sort out."

"Sure." She turned to the guard next to her and nodded. They both retracted their wings, as did I. "Do you remember how to get to her quarters, or do you need me to escort you? Because I can get one of the other guards to cover-"

"Thanks, but I remember." I began to walk past them, but I turned to the female guard. "Oh, and nice to see you, Hawkeye."

She smiled. "Nice seeing you, Ozone."

I walked past them and into the castle.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I knocked on Princess Celestia's private quarters. I didn't get a response at first, but I heard hoofsteps and the door opened. She looked at me and smiled. "Hello, Ozone. I wasn't expecting you."

"I'm sorry I didn't let you know beforehand, but I really need to talk to you. Can I?"

She nodded. "Come right in."

I did as I was told and entered. She closed the door behind her. I looked around. Nothing's changed, huh? There was still a fireplace with a rug in front of it, and a desk for her writings I guessed, since it was covered with supplies. There were sofas of either side of the rug. She had old paintings all over her walls. There were only two windows, which were covered by blinds at the moment. She layed down on one of the sofas. "Please, relax yourself. You look tense." I did just that. I took up the other sofa. "Let me guess; you wanted to talk about what happened at Sugarcube Corner?"

My heart started beating faster. "You heard about that? From who?" We both said "Luna" at the same time. "Yeah, I did actually. It was one of the ponies working with the masked mare."

"Is she still talking to you?"

I nodded. "She's the one who told me to use my Alchemy. She wanted to see what effect it would have on a live specimen."

"Hmm. I see."

"Do you know who those ponies are? I asked you before, but you refused to answer me."

She gave me a confused look. "You don't know about them? Who they are, what they're trying to accomplish?"

"Just that they're trying to kill Rainbow Dash."

She sighed. "I thought Luna would have slipped by now." Her look grew serious. "It's all linked back to you. They go by the name 'The Hybrid Seekers.' They're a group of ponies trying to artificially create an alicorn, or as close to an alicorn as they can get. They originally started with 48 members. Right now, there are only three surviving. Their names are Crawler, Denzel Weiss, and an unconfirmed mare."

I looked at the floor. "The masked mare…"

She nodded. "Something happened a little over a thousand years ago, and because of you they lost a lot of their progress."

"Wait, I wasn't alive a thousand years ago. How is that possible?"

She paused. "Actually, you were… born a thousand and thirty-nine years ago. You were one of their test subjects. In fact, you were bred to be a part of their experiments. One day, you broke free and destroyed their laboratory. You were captured about a year later and put into cryogenic sleep. You were unfrozen almost seventeen years ago, things went wrong and they had to revert you back into an infant. They dumped you on a random pony's doorstep and left a note saying your parents abandoned you. It would seem that the year you were asleep, that compound we found in you, your Alchemy, your wing, were all results of The Hybrid Seekers final test on you."

"So, it was them who attacked me in the forest…" I looked at her. "Where are you getting all of this information from?"

"Rainbow Dash's ancestors always had a way of leaking information to us." She paused. "I'm sorry. If you thought you had any chance of seeing your parents, I just completely dashed them."

I shook my head. "I'm actually okay with it. I mean, think about it. If none of that happened, I wouldn't be here right now."

"You also wouldn't have killed a pony."

Princess Celestia and I both turned to see Twilight in front of the door. "Twilight? Who let you in? How much did you hear?" Princess Celestia asked.

"I teleported in. I know you don't like me doing that, but I needed to know what you were talking about. As for what I heard, I heard everything. I didn't expect to hear Ozone's past, though."

"Twilight, what you just did was illegal, and I could have you detained for it. You took a serious risk coming here like that."

"I know and I'm sorry." She turned to me. "I'm also sorry I didn't say anything back there. I didn't know-"

I stood up and approached her and looked at the floor. "Twilight, I don't need an explanation. I just need to know if you can still look at me."

"What am I doing right now?" I looked up at her and she was smiling at me. "I don't think any less of you for it. I can't say I'm okay with it, but I can't say I hate you. I could never hate you."

I smiled. "Thanks, Twilight. I really needed to hear that from you. Now come on, give me a squeeze."

"A what?"

"A hug."

"Oh! Um, okay…" She hugged me and I heard Princess Celestia clapping her hooves together.

"It's good to see you two make up," She turned to Twilight. "But it still doesn't make what you did right."

We looked at each other and smiled. Twilight's horn began to glow, and we teleported out of there.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

We were laughing like mad when we appeared in the library. "Twilight," I said in a serious tone. She stopped laughing and looked at me. "That was so bad!"

She smiled. "I know it was, and I'm probably in a lot of trouble for it, but it felt… good."

"Oh no, we got a rebel!"

"Oh, stop it." She punched me and laughed. "Okay, I'll let you get back to your day with Luna."

"No, that won't be necessary." Luna was sitting at the table, eating an apple. Next to her was Lyra. "I think after what happened earlier, Ozone would be better off laying low for a while." She got up and headed for the door. "I'll keep you posted. I'll let you know when it's safe to come out. Under no circumstances can you leave. I don't want to risk another attack or something." She walked out the door and closed it almost noiselessly.

"Mmm! These apples are delicious! Where did you get them?"

"Sweet Apple Acres. You can go there if you-" The door slammed shut before she could finish. "Yeah."

I smiled. "Well, looks like I'm stuck here for a while. Whaddaya wanna do?" We kind of just stood there in silence for a while. Neither of us could think of anything to do. I finally thought of something. "So, you heard my story. I'll tell you about my most recent life if you tell me about yours. Deal?"

I think she literally lit up at the idea. "Where do I start?"

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

It was well past nightfall by the time we were done exchanging stories. We had moved up to the balcony for obvious reasons. We shared quite a bit of laughing, and sometimes cried a little. I even told her about Rainbow's nightmares.

"I have to say, you have a pretty interesting life." Twilight said.

"I guess it comes with the package. You know, one wing, Alchemy, psycho ponies trying to kill my sister." I yawned. "It's getting late. I'm gonna turn in."

She yawned as well. "Yeah, I guess it is a little late. See you tomorrow." She got up and walked away.

Come on, Ozone! This is your chance to tell her you like her, just do it! "Uh, Twilight?"

She stopped and looked at me. "Yeah?"

Don't back down, you got this! "Um… are your highlights natural?" Idiot.

She nodded. "Why?"

"They're pretty." Well, at least you got the compliment part right.

She visibly blushed. "Thanks." She paused. "I… ugh, I'm not good at this." She thought for a minute, then smiled. "Remember two nights ago when we were listening to music and I thought I was being annoying?" I nodded. "Your eyes looked amazing under the moonlight when you were saying I wasn't."

"Really? Thanks."

Yet another awkward moment. "Well, goodnight, Ozone."

"Night, Twilight." She walked inside after that.

I fell onto my sleeping bag. "Ozone, it's four simple words." Twilight, I like you. "It shouldn't be this difficult."

Aww, isn't that adorable? Little Ozone, letting a filly get the best of him. And calling me a psycho isn't very nice.

"Listen, you. Get out of my head!"

What, you don't like our little exchanges?

"Your making me go insane."

That's too bad. I'm starting to enjoy this.

"I think you're even more insane than I am."

That might be the case, but to everypony else it's quite the opposite. I think I prefer this instead of invading your dreams. You know what? Forget your dreams. From now on, this is our form of communication.

"And I don't have a say in this?"

Why would you? She sighed. I'll let you get your sleep. I, for one, am quite the busy mare.

"Please, just leave me alone." And that she did. I sighed and fell asleep immediately.

To be continued…