Sup, what happened last time!?

1.) Taking a moment to properly introduce themselves, Nicholas and Trixie become quick friends.

2.) Nicholas inspires Trixie to try harder in his performances!

3.) Dax had secretly eaten an anaconda!

4.) Going back home, Nicholas explains how he 'stumbled across Dax's egg' to Fluttershy.

5.) Dax and Angel proved their obvious dislike for each other, Dax's being a bit more feral.

6.) Dax is doing unknown things to Nicholas in his sleep!

What could he be doing? Find out!

READ!

Disclaimer: I don't own MLP:FiM!

Chapter 26: Boast Busters (Part 3)!

"Man, did you see those fireworks!?" He exclaimed, making sound effects with his mouth, shaking his head as if he was acting as the fireworks themselves. "I mean, they were so amazing and colorful!" Next to him, a tall lanky unicorn nodded with equal excitement, smile stretching across his face. The taller unicorn had a brilliant amber colored coat that went along with his turquoise mane. One his flank was a frowning pink snail as a cutie mark.

"Of course, I did Snips." Snailsquirm, otherwise most known as Snails, replied with a short laugh. "I was there!" He told his shorter friend, who was a good head shorter than him. Snips was a unicorn as well with a grayish opal colored coat and an orange mane. There was also a pair of scissors as his cutie mark.

"I know you were!" Snipsy Snap, or Snips for short, laughed along with his best friend. "What I don't know is why you aren't freaking out as much as me! Didn't you love The Great and Powerful Trixie's show?"

"Dude, of course. Her magic tricks were out of Equestria!" Snails replied, with a dreamy look on his face. "If only she stayed just a little bit longer..."

"What if she's still around? Maybe we can ask for an encore." Snips gasped and bounced on his hooves. "Yes, yes, yes! An encore, just for the two of us!"

"As much as I want another performance from Trixie, how in Equestria are we gonna find her?" Snails asked with a less than enthusiastic look. Like he stated earlier, he was with Snips during her performance. But before they could ask for an autograph or even say welcome to Ponyville, the magician just vanished from the stage in an explosion of smoke.

"Ooh, we can ask somepony for help!" Snips suggested with a grin. "I'm sure one of them should know where she is."

"Yeah I guess, but that's too much work. Plus don't you remember everypony at the show? They were all upset at her after messing with Twilight's friends."

"What are you talking about? Trixie was just picking volunteers for her show." Snips interjected with narrowed eyes, but an amused smile was still present. "If anything, they should be jealous that they weren't picked as volunteers. I know I am."

"If you say so..." Snails said with an uncertain tone and looked around at passing ponies. "So where should we start asking for help?"

"Hm," Snips took a moment to pause and rub a hoof against his chin, his eyes looking around. It didn't take him long to spot a sign above a small building that said Now You See Me! Snips perked up and hopped around. "Oh, maybe Slick Trick knows where she is!" Snips didn't wait for his friend to follow before he bolted towards the shop. Snails blinked for a moment before following his friend. "Slick Trick? You mean the illusion shop owner?"

Snails had finally reached his friend, who had just stopped after entering the magic shop. When he opened the door, he saw Snips standing there with a gaping mouth and wide eyes. "Snips, what's wrong? What happened with finding Slick Tri-" The shorter unicorn placed a hoof over Snail's mouth and hushed him. The green unicorn started to bounce where he stood and took his hoof from Snail's mouth, pointing forward.

"It's her...!" Snips wheezed.

Snails finally followed where his friend was pointing at and his reaction wasn't far off.

There, standing in front of the counter with a large book, was a familiar blue mare magician. However this time, she didn't have the large hat on her head.

Trixie didn't seem to notice the two colts behind her and focused more on her conversation with Ponyville's resident magician/shop owner. On the other side of the counter was a pure white stallion with a black mane and blue eyes. On top of his head was a trademark black and white top hat that magician's owned and under his nose was a thin curly mustache. If a pony were able to see behind the glass counter full of stacks upon stacks of cards, they would see a blue question mark with a magic wand crossing over it.

"So how much is this book?" Trixie said, pushing the book along the counter with a bored face. It had read 100 Advanced Illusions: Master Edition. She had regarded the stallion in front of her with a simple look, but on the inside she was completely embarrassed about asking for a book on magic tricks when she called herself a master magician. Normally she wouldn't bother with such a 'tasteless action', but after meeting Nicholas, his words were deeply embedded within her head. Just like how he planned, Trixie had felt extremely motivated to improve her performance.

But so far the only things she's been able to do with her magic is levitate a bunch of objects out and about her mobile home. She would try more firework tricks, but she didn't want to either risk setting the Everfree Forest on fire or catch the attention of a predator again.

This time she wouldn't have Nicholas to save her.

A blush came upon her cheeks, but she played it off with a bland frown.

"Uh, that would be 25 Bits." Slick Trick calculated on his cash register, watching Trixie with a neutral face, but his tone held a bit of irritation. The mare in front of him had been wandering around his shop looking at each product for nearly 30 minutes straight and so far, she's been saying her opinions on each one. Most of them being tacky, unoriginal, or tasteless. Not only that, but her presence in the shop had driven all of his customers out with her attitude.

Her earlier performance with a few of the Mane Six didn't help.

Trixie's horn glowed as a flap opened on her pouch and a few golden coins floated out, landing themselves down in front of Slick Trick. "Thank you." He was a little surprised to hear that come from the usually arrogant magician, but Slick didn't let it show on his face. In fact he just shook his head and placed her money in the register, pulling out her change and nodding to her.

Just as his magic levitated the money over to her, Trixie's magic aura took over and hastily pulled them into her pouch before she levitated her book. 'The sooner I get out of this shop, the sooner I can get back home.' she thought, unable to handle being in such a shop with a status as high as hers.

However the second her book left the counter, there was an excited shout and the book slammed back down on the glass.

"It's Trixie!" Two voices shouted simultaneously, causing the blue mare to turn around with a startled expression. There, she saw Snips and Snails making their way to the counter with wide smiles and glistening eyes.

"Uh, can Trix-I help you?" The magician corrected herself, still trying to break her verbal tick.

"You're the Trixie! the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Snips gasped as if he was looking at a higher being. The colt's stare unnerved Trixie enough to cause her to step back until he flanks were against the counter. She gave the two a nervous smile and nodded. "Oh my Celestia, we're like you're biggest fans!"

"Yeah what he said!" Snails added, a goofy giggle coming out of his lips as he took a step forward.

"That's uh, that's great and all, but I-I gotta go..." Trixie said kindly, but it sounded strained. She was never one to speak to anypony as an equal unless they were of a high status, like a King or Queen. But that didn't stop her from trying to act like a nice mare. Using her magic, the book on the counter quickly floated into her pouch and the blue colored magician trotted out of the shop. Snips and Snails didn't hesitate to follow in pursuit, leaving Slick Trick and his shop to himself.

"Trixie, Trixie!" The mare couldn't stop her lips from forming into an agitated scowl. She looked back and saw the two colts running up to her. For a moment she wanted to cast a low level hypnotism spell on them, one that would only last a full minute. Perfectly enough time for her to run out of town and escape. But with so many ponies around, Trixie was forced to forced to shoot that idea down.

With a forced, kind smile, Trixie looked at both of her sides were the colts walked beside her. "Yes, what can I do for you?" The words left a bad taste in her mouth. She wasn't sure if she was really not used to speaking like that or if the two were really starting to get on her nerves.

"W-Well, we were wondering if... if you could..." Snails blushed and started to mumble, his voice getting lower with each word.

"Yes?" Trixie said with heavy emphasis, her eye beginning to twitch in annoyance.

"An encore! We were wondering if you could give us an encore of your show!" Snips finished confidently.

"Sorry, but I can't." Trixie immediately shot the idea down, causing the smile on Snips face to vanish. "I'm busy with sometime else and I'll be leaving tonight anyway."

"But what could possible take up so much of your time?" Snails questioned with furrowed brows, just as disappointed as his friend. "Aren't you the Great and Powerful Trix-"

"Yes, yes I am, but that doesn't mean I don't have things to do!" Trixie quickly interjected with a hot tone. 'Wow, is that how it sounds when I call myself that? It's so annoying!' The blue unicorn looked at the two colts and sighed when she saw their downcast faces. "Look, I'm sorry that I can't give you an encore, but I really do need to go and pack for my next show. I need to think of a new act before I leave."

"Wait, is that all?" Snips asked before looking across to meet Snail's eye. "We can help you with that!"

"What are you talking about?" Trixie stopped walking and let the two colts stand in front of her.

"What if we told you we could give you a brand new act, one that would knock the cutie marks off of everypony!?" Snips suggested with Snails nodding at his side, but when his friend's words finally registered in his head, Snails was about to disagree before Snips nudged his side. Trixie had already noticed the confusion on the lanky unicorn and the obvious bluff in the chubbier one, but she didn't stop them from continuing. "Let's make a deal Miss Trixie. If we help give you an awesome new act by 8 pm tonight, you have to give us a personal encore. Deal?"

Snips held out a hoof and Trixie only stared at it.

Using her magic to shake his hoof, the mare sighed and walked by them. "Fine, I'll see what I can do. But if I don't like this act you keep promising, I'm taking my things and moving on to the next town. 8 pm, don't be late. I'll be in the Everfree Forest." It dawned on her that she had just revealed where her temporary home was to two annoyingly persistent colts, but she didn't let it bother her.

For now, she needed to learn more tricks.

Snips happily waved their idol goodbye as Trixie galloped down the street.

"Snips, what were you talking about? We don't know any magic." Snails questioned with a stern stare.

"No, but we know something that'll make Trixie 10 times more famous. C'mon, we going hunting!"

Meanwhile (Nicholas' P.O.V.)...

You know, out of everything I could ever dream of, I didn't expect to end up back here.

In fact, I didn't even think it had an ending.

I was back on Earth, standing on the sidewalk, my eyes completely glued on the scene in front of me. There was a truck with blinking lights, there was a siren coming up the street, an ambulance that was just driving up and a crowd of people gathering up in the streets. It didn't take a genius to realize that someone got hit by the truck since the truck driver himself was getting out of his seat, eyes wide in full panic mode. And if my accusations were correct, then I already knew who was lying on the asphalt.

The ambulance finally came to a stop and a crew of medics came charging out with equipment while policemen began clearing the circle.

Looking at the victim, I sighed. Figures I was right.

There he was, or more specifically I was, laying unconscious on the ground or even dead for that matter. My glasses were broken and were smashed beyond repair, lying in pieces a few meters from my body. One of my arms, my right arm in fact, was bent in a sickening angle. My jacket was ripped open from rolling against the street and large bleeding gash marks were seen through the holes and there was even blood trailing down my face.

I cringed at the sight, but for some reason, I didn't turn away.

In fact in a sick way, the scene actually intrigued me more than it should.

The medics had finally gathered their equipment and looked over the body's condition. There was a pulse, one of them announced before someone else placed a mask over the mouth. The shirt was ripped open so they could examine the gashes closer. And now that I could see it in more detail, I saw chunks of black mixing in with the red. Great, there was street inside his chest.

However another one noted that the body wasn't breathing or even moving for that matter.

I shook my head when they brought out a defibrillator.

It wouldn't matter even if they fixed his lungs. The asphalt in his blood would dissolve into his organs and cause internal dysfunction. And if that wasn't enough, I was sure the bumps over his chest was a sign that the crash destroyed his ribcage. It was like a demented sense of luck, having the pieces of your ribcage cave inward, but somehow doesn't pierce the heart. It gave the victim more time to be alive. But it was brutal to be forced to endure the last moments of life in total agony.

After getting the machine started and giving a loud 'Clear!', one of the medics quickly hit the body with a burst of electricity, causing his back to arch off the ground.

There was no reaction and the medic went again, sending another wave into the soon-to-be corpse.

It actually caught me by surprise when the body began to stir in pained movements. There was coughing and blood ended up on the inside of the mask. Then the unbroken arm, the left, began to raise into the air, a shaky hand reaching for whatever it could grab. I could see his eyes opening, his brown eyes blurring with the growing amount of tears. I started to feel bad watching myself plead for dear life.

But then I saw another hand grab his.

I could only watch in stunned silence when I trailed the hand back to its owner, a middle aged woman with light brown skin and short curly hair. Her eyes were flowing with tears as well and her lips wouldn't stop quivering.

"M-Mom...?" I couldn't stop the word from leaving my mouth.

It's been weeks since I even pictured her face, nevertheless seen it in such a pained expression.

Why was she even here? She kicked me out!

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry...!" She whimpered, falling to her knees and hugging his hand against her chest. "I didn't want this to happen. I don't want to lose you too." The me on the ground couldn't say anything and his eyes were constantly trying to blink away the tears. Mom leaned down and her voice started to crack. "P-Please don't leave me... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-" She stopped when his hand went numb in her grip. Her eyes went wide before she looked at his face, only to see a still expression, his eyes half-lidded.

He wasn't breathing anymore.

"No... no! No! NO!" Mom cried, tugging at his arm, shaking his shoulder. "Don't leave me! PLEASE!"

Seeing her attempts at trying to 'wake him up' getting a bit extreme, another set of hands gripped mom's shoulders and forcefully pulled her away. Her wails sent shivers down my spine and I saw a new, but familiar face. My older brother, Jerome, was holding mom in his arms. His face was held in a serious, firm expression and his jaws were steeled together, making him almost look impassive to the scene in front of him. But I knew better, I knew him better than that. I could see the overwhelming sadness build up in his eyes, just waiting for the opportunity to break lose at the smallest thing.

"He was always trying to keep a level head in any situation..." I whispered, thinking back to several times where I had problems that would normally be overwhelming for my age, but it was all thanks to Jerome that I managed to get through it all. No matter what, he kept looking at the positive and pushed away all the negative and that's what gave him the strength to keep moving on.

I had almost wanted to smile, but my face felt unusually numb.

Maybe it was because I realized just how much the situation was weighing down on him.

Jerome wasn't the same as before. He didn't have a calm attitude or an oblivious sense to anything bad. No, not this time.

I could see every little twitch in his muscles and I could just tell he was holding everything back just to keep the situation from getting out of hand. Specifically our mother, who was still trying to claw her way out of his arms, trying to reach her son's-my body on the ground.

I bit my lower lip.

Why?

This didn't make any sense.

Why would she be crying so much over my death? It's not like she ever loved me in the first place.

...

...You know that's not true...

I know exactly what I mean and I know for a fact she's never shown me the tiniest bit of love. Not after him...

...Look at her, how her eyes flood with mere emotion...

I had no words to reply with. The voice was right about that. But it left a chilling thought in my head.

No, this isn't real. It's just a dream meant to haunt me. There's no way she'd react like this.

...You never know that... You've always ran away from your problems before looking at the details...

This time is different. I already know her, I already know how everything would turn out if I stayed. I was only trying to make it easier for me. If not just me, but for... her and Jerome.

... Note that you don't even call her your mother anymore... Is that how you treat someone who's loved you since birth...?

My hands balled into fists and my jaws clenched angrily.

She doesn't deserve that luxury, not from me. Not after abandoning him and neglecting me for years! She's lost my trust and there's absolutely no way she's getting it back!

...Is that what you really believe, that everything you're saying is the truth...?

I said nothing in return.

...What proof do you have to back up your claims? Just look at the scene before you and tell yourself it's not real...

I-It's not, it's just a figment of my imagination. There's absolutely no way she would care about me.

...You sound uncertain... After all, there's no real way to prove who's right...

Then why do you continue speaking to me, whatever or whoever you are?

... You don't get it do you...?

A saw everything in front of me come into a complete stop. The motions of all the people froze, the lights on the vehicles stopped blinking, the anguished sounds of everyone nearby were silent.

Before I could do anything else, I felt a sudden constriction coil around my arms and torso. I grunted and looked down, seeing a black scaly figuring tying itself around me and coiling all the way up to my neck. I tried to break free from whatever was binding me, only for the coil to tighten around my neck. I choked before a figure finally propped itself before me, one that I've seen before. If only for a moment...

There was a bat like creature with pitch-black fur and 2 thin, red glowing eyes that glared into mine. I saw 2 sharp fangs poking from the creature's mouth before looking down to see what exactly was coiling around me. From the black fur came a random scaled tail that was a shiny black as it stretched down and around my body, seemingly like it was never ending. I shivered under the creature's harsh glare.

"What, what are you?"

The bat's eyes widened and the glow intensified before two long wings snapped open to each side. The bat exposed his rows of teeth to me as it hissed in my face, almost as if it was insulted by my words.

...I'm YOU...!

The bat's lips didn't move with the voice, but I could tell that it was him who was talking now.

The bat closed his mouth and almost seemed amused by my lack of words, or better yet, me being shocked into pure silence.

... To put it simply, I'm your deepest fears and regrets... Everything you couldn't handle, everything you pushed away to the deepest, darkest depths of your mind...

The bat leaned closer until his nose pressed against mine. I cringed at the smell of burnt fur.

... In other words, I'm the real you...

"But how? This shouldn't even be possible!"

... Didn't you say this was a dream...?

I paused.

... After all, there's no physical proof to tell if I really exist... Maybe you're just having a meltdown...

The bat gave a humorless giggle.

"But why are you tormenting like this," I craned my neck to the side as much as I could to see the frozen scene behind the bat. "forcing me to watch this?"

... There are many reasons. Maybe I just enjoy breaking you down from the inside out... or maybe you're already going crazy being stranded from Earth...

...

I was losing grip on whatever the hell was even happening! And the bat was getting more entertained by the second.

I shook my head with a defiant scowl.

No, you're not real. None of this is real. Everything I believe in is the truth! I belong here, in Equestria, not on Earth!

The devilish smile on the bat's face vanished in an instant. At first I thought he was going to burst out in rage, but that was until I noticed a lingering smoke lifting into the air. The smoke was coming from the endless tail that bound me where I stood, slowly dissolving whatever he was made of. But the bat's face remained neutral as he stared at me. Little by little, the bat's tail was nearly gone until it was about to reach the patch of black fur.

Then the bat leaned forward with a sick smile.

... You believe in what you want to, but know this...

His body had began to break apart just as he dove forward, a maniacal glint in his crimson eyes.

... You can't escape from the truth...!

I closed my eyes as the smoke impacted with my face, driving itself into my nose and mouth, forcing me into suffocation.

Then everything vanished into a white blur.

Regular P.O.V.

"Gah!" Nicholas's eyes shot open. His arms pushed him off the floor as if his make-shift bed burned him.

There was sweat clinging to every part of his skin and his breathing was labored. His jaw hung loose as he heaved, trying to even out his breathing before a sick feeling built up in his stomach. The world around him began to spin and his body moved in an attempt to find balance, tipping over onto his side without proper control. Nicholas' hand reached up into his pounding his and he was slowly trying to take in his surroundings.

He was back in his/Fluttershy's room, laying down in his bed and his covers were entangled between his legs and tail.

Nicholas took a couple of seconds to pick up pieces of reality. His throat felt dry, his heart was pounding in a rush of adrenaline, his body was practically on fire from the heat and stress.

"Oh fuck, my head..." He groaned, closing his eyes and trying to relax into his pillow. The pains in his head wouldn't leave and any sudden movements made the pain worse, forcing him to lay completely still. He hissed through his teeth when he tried to place everything together. The memories of his recent dream, no nightmare was a better word, was filling the blanks in his mind and everything was rushing in.

There was no words to describe what happened. One moment he was watching himself die on a street, next he was confronted by a demon bat of some sort, then he's back in the real world, a splitting migraine to top it all off.

Nicholas heard something stirring behind him and he quickly sat up in panic, picturing the bat coming back for some sort of revenge. His sudden movement sent a huge wave of pain through his skull, causing him to wince and hold his forehead with a hand. That didn't stop him from cracking open an eye to see what caused the noise.

There, squirming on his back, was Dax as he tried to move with the sweat soaked blankets coiling around him.

Nicholas only watched in blank amusement. Then it finally clicked that Dax must've fallen asleep on top of him and his jumping around was the reason he was struggling to get out of his sheets.

With a sigh, Nicholas reached out with both hands and lifted the tatzlwurm up into the air. For a moment, his arms felt all tingly and nearly dropped back to his sides, but he managed to hold his brother up. "Hey buddy," Nicholas' voice sounded dry and hoarse, causing him to actually flinch in surprise. "Sorry about that. Here, lemme get up for a second." The teen set Dax down on the carpeted floor before he sluggishly kicked his blankets off his lower half. With a grunt of effort, Nicholas forced himself to stand on his two feet.

Just as he stood at full height, another wave of dizziness nearly caused him to tumble back to the floor. Luckily he caught himself by grabbing the dresser next to him, keeping him upright while he gasped.

Dax, sensing something was wrong with his older brother/father, slithered closer until he was looking straight up into Nicholas' eyes.

The teen himself nearly panicked when he saw a familiar pair of eyes gaze into his, but he quickly remembered that it was Dax instead of... Nicholas took a long breath before he shook his head and stood straight. Taking a moment to regain his bearings, the teen stretched out his wings and cracked his stiff spine. "Come on, let's go downstairs. I need something to drink." If anything annoyed him as much as his pounding headache, it was the scratchiness in the back of his throat.

Dax only nodded, but still looked at Nicholas in concern, worried he might tip over again.

"Oh my Celestia!" Fluttershy gasped with a hoof over her mouth. "Nicholas, you look terrible!"

The mutated teen sighed as he poured himself a cup of freshly made tea, courtesy of Fluttershy herself.

By chance, she had already began to brew up some tea and she was going to wake Nicholas up for dinner if he was still asleep. Nicholas was feeling a little lucky to have such a considerate roommate and he had to admit, his stomach definitely felt empty. But he was quite sure a salad wouldn't fill him up. "Thanks Shy, I haven't really gotten the chance to look in the mirror."

Nicholas took a few unsteady steps until he sat himself down on one of the kitchen chairs, sitting right across the worried yellow pegasus. He took a sip of the tea, not even bothered with the heat, but he did in fact enjoy the sensation of something wet moistening up his dry mouth. Although if he was looking at himself in Fluttershy's eyes, he would've noticed the obvious bags beneath his eyes and overly exhausted state his body was in.

"Nicholas, are you alright?"

"How long have I been asleep?"

"For nearly the entire day." Fluttershy said quietly, looking at the clock. "Usually you don't sleep that long."

"I don't, huh?" Nicholas sipped on his tea before looking into his cup with an empty eye. "Well I had another nightmare..."

Fluttershy took her eyes off the clock when she noticed Nicholas' tone had gone from simple to dark. "What was it about?" She didn't mean to pry into his personal thoughts, but it was necessary on her part, she believed. "That is, if you don't want to tell me-"

Nicholas held up a hand and gave her a strained smile. "No," He interjected politely before looking down to the table with a frown. "I think it's time I confessed... yeah, it's time..." Hearing that, Fluttershy sat idly in her seat while Nicholas took the moment to think of what to say. She wasn't going to lie. She's noticed how he wakes up, sometimes having moments forgetting where or who he was and other times, he woke up crying. Many times she wanted to talk about it, but he would always play it off like nothing happened. It bothered Fluttershy to no end when she couldn't help a friend in obvious need, but she kept telling herself; when he's ready to speak, she'll be ready to comfort him in any way possible.

And now was the time.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Angel walking in the kitchen with an empty bowl dragging behind him.

Before the bunny could even demand a refill of his bowl, he froze when he saw a very stern glare from Fluttershy. Her eyes drilled into his and her head slowly shook to the sides. 'Now's not the time.' Fluttershy mouthed to her pet, who slowly backed out of the kitchen with a wary expression on his face. In front of her, Nicholas must've been in deep thought if he didn't even hear Angel's irritated mutterings around the corner.

For another few seconds, it was silent until Nicholas broke it with a sigh. "My dream..." Fluttershy's ears twitched as her attention focused back on her roommate. "I've been getting nightmares about my home... my family on Earth."

"Do you miss them?"

"That's the thing, it's complicated." Nicholas gave a depressed chuckle.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I... hold on, let me start from a different angle." Nicholas sat back in his seat and blew out a thin stream of fire, making sure it wasn't near anything flammable. "I'm the middle child out of 5 kids. I have 3 brothers, 2 of them older than me, one younger. And I have a little sister, the y-youngest out of all of us..." Fluttershy could see his fingers shaking and grasping the cup tightly. "We all live in a single house with just my m-mother to provide for us." Then Nicholas' eyes narrowed and his tail wrapped around one of his chair's legs. He started to growl under his breath. "Or that's what it's supposed to be like."

"Nicholas, if you're not ready, you don't have to strain yourself."

"No, it's ok. I need to get this off my chest before something happens."

Nicholas rubbed his thumbs alongside the cup. "At first, everything was perfectly average, my days in school were normal and I'd go home to play with my younger siblings, a constant routine. But that's when the day came... when my older brother needed help." Nicholas's mouth curled into a sad frown. "And it wasn't the normal type of help, like with a job or anything, no, it was something completely different, serious. My brother, John, he was... involved with gangs." He gulped. "And after a problem with owing someone money, he tried to come to us for help. At first, I wanted to help him, but then my mom... it caught us all by surprise."

"When John told her the news, she just blew up. She flipped out on him, scolding him for even being related to a gang, saying how she never raised a thug." His breath hitched and he took a moment to pause. Once again, his throat felt dry and he brought the tea to his lips, the cup shaking violently in his hand. "After arguing with him, my mom decided she wanted nothing to do with a criminal." The word came out as if it was a plague. "And before we knew it, John was kicked out onto the streets. For hours my oldest brother, Jerome, and I tried to reason with her and get John back. But she wouldn't even listen to us anymore, even threatening to kick us out."

"It finally came to the point where I was about to go look for my brother myself, but then the police showed up at our door." Nicholas' voice began to crack and Fluttershy saw tears start to build up in his eyes. "T-They told us they found a body, his body lying dead in an alley way..." The pegasus' eyes widened. "He was shot in the heart and he was dead before they could give him proper medical care. They didn't know who was the murderer, but we had a good guess."

"The gangs?" Her voice was quiet.

Nicholas shook his head. The tears were flowing freely down his cheeks. "No, it was a dealer who gave him a supply of drugs. He must've sent someone to jump him when he didn't pay him back."

Fluttershy's eyes softened. "Oh Nicholas..." She whispered.

"After his funeral, everything started to fall apart. My grades started to drop in school, I started to ignore my friends, I didn't even try to talk to my family anymore. I just locked myself in my room. I didn't care anymore." There was a cracking noise. When Nicholas noticed that his tail was breaking one of the chair's legs, he tried to calm himself down. "I loved him, more than anybody else. We always hung out, laughed, played games together, hell he even bought my IPod for me. After his death, I just changed. For nearly a year, I was always angry and I didn't want anything to do with anybody. But after a few more months, Jerome decided it was time to pull me back into humanity. Countless times he's forced me into social things. Going out to eat, watching live sports, watching movies with his friends."

It looked strained, but there was a smile. Nicholas started to wipe off the tears from his cheeks. "It took a while for me to understand that Jerome wouldn't take no for an answer. And slowly, I started to come back to my senses. I started talking more and went outside with friends, but it wasn't like before. I was still prone to getting angry easily, especially when someone mentioned my brother. We had therapy lessons and the doctor told me I was still unable to forget everything that happened." Nicholas sucked his teeth and shook his head. "I told them it wasn't easy to forget a piece of your life was gone forever. Especially when there was a constant reminder walking around each day."

"Who? The murderer?"

"At first, I thought that too. But no. It took a while before they caught him, a man named Vinny Thompson. You wouldn't understand how happy I was to hear about his trial. He was charged was drug abuse, several rapes on females, numerous theft attempts and finally, murder on my brother. All of that combined gave him the death penalty." Nicholas looked up into Fluttershy's eyes for the first time in a while. They were filled with a strange glee, one that wasn't normal. "It was sick for a 14 year old to enjoy knowing that my brother's killer would be getting the electric chair, I know, but it didn't matter. He was gone and proof of it was in the newspapers, that was all that mattered."

"However it wasn't him." Nicholas' smile dropped and his tone became emotionless. "No, it was my mother."

"But why?" Fluttershy questioned, completely perplexed. "How could you mother-" She stopped.

"Yeah, you remembered what I said earlier? How she kicked him out and completely ignored her own children?" Nicholas started to growl. Fluttershy didn't know what else to say. He was right, but that didn't help the situation. All she did was meekly nod in response. "Well that was the reason I wasn't getting better. She was the reason he died! Each day I see her and each day, she acts like she doesn't care, as if nothing happened. It drove my insane how easy she forgot about him!" The teen tried to calm himself down with deep breaths, rubbing his throbbing forehead. The headache was coming back. "I tried my best to ignore it and move on. But of course, she didn't make it any easier."

"My mother, once known as a kind and gentle soul, soon turned into a heartless bitch." Nicholas spat out, not even bothering to excuse his profanity. "Whenever I messed up with my grades or didn't bother helping around the house, she'd scold me nonstop until I'd listen to her. We've gotten into arguments, a lot, and usually Jerome was the one to break up most of them. Then I took it upon myself to make it easier for everyone. I tried to avoid her as much as I could."

"Was that really the best thing to do?" Fluttershy asked.

"At the time, it seemed like it was working. But it really wasn't."

"Nicholas, please don't tell me you still hate her."

"I'm sorry, Shy, but I do. And it'll never go away, the hatred of my own mother." Nicholas sighed and leaned forward on the table, looking Fluttershy dead in the eye. "I'm not gonna lie Fluttershy. Everything I did, everything I tried to fix on my own only ended in blowing up in my face. Hell, I even tried to kill myself. It was too much to handle and I didn't see any hope in recovering from it." The way he said it with a straight face unnerved Fluttershy to know end. Speaking of his life as a simple matter, as if it was yet another thing to just throw away... this wasn't the Nicholas she knew, not the same smiling Nicholas who always joked about everything.

"I'm so sorry..."

"There's nothing to apologize for." Nicholas said coolly. "In fact, it was the complete opposite. I should be thanking you girls."

"What?"

"Let me say it took me a while before I started getting a hang of things. I had tried to reconnect with everyone I could, my friends and family, excluding my mother. I managed to get my friends back, after a few trust issues. And I finally started to hang out with Jerome and my younger siblings. At first I couldn't believe that things were starting to look bright for me again, but once again, my mother had to bring it all back down."

"It was my grades in school. I had needed to skip an entire grade because I failed all of my classes." Nicholas gave a sarcastic chuckle and rolled his eyes. "Out of everything she could care about, it was my education. I guess she still focused on raising me like her child and not a failure like my older brother. But it wasn't a couple of reassuring words, it was a lot of yelling and threats on my social life if I should flunk. And it finally got to the point where our arguments lasted hours. It got bad enough where I was about to run away."

"That... doesn't help me understand. How did we help you?" The more she thought about it, the more Fluttershy grew afraid of the answer. Especially when Nicholas continued to stare at her without any clue of what he was thinking.

"Like I said, I was planning to run away, with friends I could trust to help me out. But before I could get everything sorted out, poof," Nicholas gestured his hands into mini explosions. There was an actually, genuine smile adorning his face. "A random portal popped into existence right in front of me."

"Twilight's spell?" Fluttershy gasped and placed a hoof over her mouth. "Oh no..."

"Yup. To tell you the truth, I was completely out of it. It was just another school night and I was walking home from a friend's house to get some sleep, but I couldn't. Even if I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. I just stared at it in front of me, swirling around and sparkling with magic. I was dazed by it, completely out of it. And before I could think like a normal person, I walked through it with one thing in mind. I needed to escape." Nicholas said with emphasis. "Right when I got sucked it, the force of the portal finally brought me to light. I realized that I had just walked straight into an unknown portal and had a meltdown. I panicked like any other person would."

"You mean to tell me-"

"Yeah," Nicholas said with a softer smile. "You guys saved me from making one of the biggest mistakes of my life. Though I'm not sure if I should count walking into a magic gateway into another universe as a mistake too."

Fluttershy pushed her chair from the table and quickly raced around towards Nicholas. Who blinked in surprise when she suddenly tackled him into a hug, causing his seat to skid back a couple inches. The teen could only stare at his chest where the yellow pegasus was sobbing, shaking and wrapping her hooves tightly around his back. "Fluttershy?" Nicholas pulled her further into the hug, rubbing the top of her head with a hand. "Hey, what's with the tears?" He tried to chuckle, but it came out uncertain. "If anything, I should be the one crying-"

"You were in so much pain," Her muffled voice cried into his shirt. "All of that and you're still hurting..."

"Hey, don't let it bother you." Nicholas said reassuringly. He leaned onto her head and closed his eyes with a smile. "I'm just happy I'm not alone anymore."

"B-But, but-"

"Shhh," Nicholas hushed softly. He ran his fingers through her mane, slowly calming her down. "It's alright. Thank you for listening to me. I really needed this."

Fluttershy didn't say anything else. While the sobbing in his chest didn't stop, it was slowly quieting down. But Nicholas didn't care. Fluttershy had listened to his entire story before he came to Equestria and now it was his turn to help her. If she was going to cry, he wouldn't let her deal with it alone. He already knew she was prone to get emotional over the smallest things and this was just another example. But this time it gave him a reason to hug her back.

He continued to drag his hand through her mane and rubbed his thumb against the back of her ears. "Let it all out."

It was a soothing embrace between them and Nicholas couldn't deny how much it made everything better.

He smiled to himself.

'Nothing could ruin this moment-'

BOOM!

His thoughts ran cold, just as Fluttershy's crying ceased almost immediately as well. Although she let out a surprised squeak in his shirt when the room began to violently shake. Countless plates and bowls clattered together, some of them falling to the floors and breaking. Nicholas clenched Fluttershy closer to his chest as he looked to the side, where the cottage's back door was located. Looking through the glass windows in the door, Nicholas could only see a huge plume of smoke blocking his view to the outside. It took a moment before the shaking finally subsided into tiny vibrations in the floor.

When the time was deemed safe, Nicholas gently pushed Fluttershy off of him before racing to the door.

Nearly ripping it off it's hinges, Nicholas flew outside and used his wings to blow away the lingering amounts of smoke. By the time the smoke had cleared, Fluttershy galloped outside as well to see what caused the quakes. Only for both of them to gape in surprise and terror when they saw what was left.

A hole, a huge hole that was 3 times bigger than Nicholas was in front of them.

And there was thin lines of smoke coming out, meaning whatever was digging through Fluttershy's backyard was still burrowing deeper and deeper...

Nicholas slowly landed next to Fluttershy, gently pushing her away for safety reasons. Then he stepped up and looked down into the hole, where he could've swore he saw dim flashes of red in the darkness below.

"Holy shit..."

There we have it! Took me a while to actually get into this chapter well enough to type it out. It was a lot to deal with and I'm pretty sure there's mistakes, so please don't flame me and actually tell me if I need to correct some stuff. But I'm pretty sure you guys can remember Nicholas' first dream in Chapter 5: The Nightmare? Well both of his dreams in that chapter and the previous finally connect together! And it drove Nicholas to the point of revealing his past! Betcha guys didn't see that coming did ya? Not only that, but I got a little NicShy going on there. Finally started to up! I plan on adding more to both of these a bit later, but for now...

1.) What could the two dumbasses be up to!?

2.) Will Nicholas' past finally come back to bite him!?

3.) What caused the large gaping hole in Fluttershy's garden!?

Find out soon!

REVIEW PLEASE!

(PS-If you guys got any ideas on filling chapters to entertain yourselves with Nicholas, don't hesitate to suggest them to me. I really don't want to type up the entire MLP:FiM plot-line with only a few minor changes. I want to add original moments with Nicholas or even other ponies take up chapters. I'm already thinking of a couple of things, but it's up to you guys if you want to be a part!)