Chapter 12: Truth and Reconciliation

Canterlot castle, Canterlot
Local time: 0800
Twenty-four days since arrival

It's been a week since I saved Luna from the griffins. Shinning Armor conducted a very through search of the castle, city, and surrounding area but found no trace of the griffin that escaped. In response the amount of guards in the castle has tripled and guards are patrolling the streets of Canterlot. My coat has started to grow back, but it's pretty uneven. Two days after the assassination attempt, Luna started teaching me how to use magic and I started teaching her how to play the guitar. Currently, I know three spells: telekinesis, teleportation, and the spell that lets me create the sound of other instruments with my mind. Even though I haven't come up with a name for that spell, I attempted to teach it to Luna. Every attempt has ended in failure. Luna has learned all the notes for the guitar and now knows as much as someone who's been playing for a year. It's surprising how quickly she learned everything.

Whenever Luna and I weren't teaching/learning, we just hung out or talked. Due to her royal duties, I haven't spent a lot of time with Celestia. Sometime when Luna and I talked, our conversations would bring up our dark pasts. A few years ago, a doctor told me the best way to recover from my experiences was to talk about them with someone who went through something similar. Back then I thought he was insane, but now I know he was right. Talking with Luna about my past has helped me a lot, and I think she feels better after talking about her past, too.

After all the time we have spent together, she has become my best friend and I've also identified what the feelings I have whenever she's around me are. It appears my heart is telling me I like Luna as more than a friend, but I can't accept it. She's a pony and I'm not. It wouldn't be fair to her. Today I return to Ponyville, and true to my word, I'll tell the rest of my friends about my past. I'm just not sure how to tell them, and I'll tell everypony how I got my scars. I still can't believe that I let Celestia talk me into keeping a journal. I guess I shouldn't have complained that I was so bored.

"Well that's done, and the fabrics I wanted should be here soon. So I guess I'll play some music..." I took out my electric guitar and started playing whatever song popped into my head.

POV change: Luna

As I went to meet my sister, I couldn't help but wonder why she wanted to speak with me. As soon as I entered her room, she shut the door and cast a spell to prevent our voices from being heard outside the room. "Luna, sit down we need to talk." I sat down and she sat down next to me. "Do you want some tea?" I nodded and she poured two cups. We sat there drinking our tea and I could tell she didn't really know how to start the conversation she wanted to have. "We need to talk about Steel. Well, we need to talk about you and Steel." This caused me to choke on my tea. "W-what do you mean?"

"I've seen the way you look at him, you like as more than a friend and it's my duty as your sister to talk to you about this."

"Fine, I like him and I think I'm in love with him. But it's not right. I haven't known him for more than a month yet. I shouldn't feel this way. But I've never felt this way before, I'm so confused Tia." By this time, I was hysteric and she put her wing around me in an attempt to comfort me.

"It's ok, I've seen this before. You're in love with him, but you don't want to chase him away by moving too fast." I frowned, "But Tia I don't know if he feels the same way, what if I ruin our friendship?" She seemed unsure what to tell me. "The best way for you to decide what to do, is to find out how he feels. If he loves you the same way you love him then you'll be able to make a decision."

"Thanks Tia, I should probably go get him. We're leaving soon." I left and went to get Steel. As I walked, I kept thinking about what Tia said. "She's right. I can't make a decision until I know how Steel feels. But what if he doesn't feel the same way? The last thing I need is to lose a friend. Most ponies still don't trust me." As I thought about what could happen if I told Steel how I felt, I heard music coming from his room, but I couldn't hear all the words. "Un-break your heart… the genetically modified salamander, with a face just like George Clooney... Never again, to be lonely, never again to be without a home, never... never again, never again, never again to be put down… soaring over it all, high up in the clouds, never again, never again…" When I entered the room, I saw Steel lying on the bed playing his guitar and as soon as he saw me, he stopped playing.

POV change: Steel

Once I saw Luna, I stopped playing my guitar and looked at her, "Steel, its time to go." I nodded put my guitar back in the case and levitated my new poncho over to myself. My new poncho had an urban camouflage design, with my cutie mark on both flanks and it was made from silk. As I put it on, I noticed Luna looking at me. "Steel, why do you have that? We already know you're an alicorn."

"Yeah you know, but the rest of Ponyville doesn't. Let's go. We can't keep the train waiting forever." I grabbed my guitars and spare poncho (Forest camouflage) and followed Luna to the train station. When we arrived I noticed that there were some guards waiting by the train and a few of them came with us onto the train. As the train started to leave, I started looking around for Celestia, but I couldn't see her. Surely she wanted to know about the rest of my past. Luna must have seen me looking around because she addressed my concerns. "Don't worry Steel, my sister will meet us in Ponyville later. She just had a few things to take care of." I nodded and looked out the window for the rest of the trip.

When we arrived in Ponyville, we went straight to the library. We didn't even stop to drop off my stuff at my house. As we entered the library, I saw that all my friends were present including Derpy, Vinyl, and Octavia. I also saw Shinning Armor and somepony I didn't know talking to Twilight. Normally I wouldn't care, but this pony was also an alicorn. As I walked by, Twilight called me over. "Steel, I want to introduce you to my brother and his wife."

"Shinning Armor is your brother?" She nodded, "Shinning is my brother and this is his wife Princess Cadance, who also happens to have been my foalsitter." I immediately tried to bow, but couldn't due to my injuries. Luna then came over and led me to a couch. "Steel, you shouldn't be bending over. Your back isn't fully healed." As Luna helped me onto the couch, I noticed Cadance looking at us and as soon as I looked at her she smiled. And it wasn't a normal smile, it was a smile that screamed 'I know.' I returned her smile with a confused look causing her to frown. I'll have to talk to her later. I sat on the couch trying to figure out how to tell them about my past, while everpony else talked. After awhile, Celestia arrived, and it was time for me to tell them about my past. "Alright everypony, I think its time for Steel to tell you about his past."

They all gathered around me waiting for me to tell my tale. "Wow… I honestly though telling this story the second time would be easier… why couldn't I be right." I started telling them the same thing I told Celestia, Luna and Shinning Armor, but this time I told them about the show. Saying they were surprised is an understatement. They had no idea how it was possible for people from my world to view their world, I guess it's just another mystery that will never be solved. The story took about an hour and when I was finished I was unprepared for their reactions. Pinkie Pie started asking random questions, Twilight asked questions about the Human Race, Rarity passed out from shock, Applejack was speechless, Candice and Fluttershy just stared at me and Rainbow Dash was watching me like I was a potential threat to her friends. "Quiet! Now, you can ask me any thing one at a time. Twilight, because you're going to want to know everything, you're going to be last." I started with Pinkie, just to get her out of the way. She asked about the types of parties humans would through. I then moved on to Applejack who asked about farming techniques and Fluttershy who asked about the animals and the weather. They all gasped when I told them the animals fended for themselves and the weather happened naturally. Rarity asked about fashion which I had no knowledge in and Cadance had no questions which surprised me. "We what type of guards do you have?" asked Shinning Armor.

"Well, we have the police force which deals with minor crimes, the FBI and CIA that deal with major crimes and the army that deal with threats from other countries." He looked confused, "Don't you have good relations with the other nations?" I sighed. "Not all of them. My country has good relations with most of the other countries, but there are a few that would like to see my country destroyed." He asked some more questions about the military and I told him about the Army, Navy, and Air Force. I also talked a little about the National Guard, Marines, Navy Seals, Army Rangers, and the joint task forces we have with other nations. After he was done, it was Rainbow Dash's turn to ask questions, great.

She flew right up in my face before asking her questions. "Alright, how come you didn't trust us enough to tell us this before?" I pushed out of my face, "Why do you think? Would you have believed me if I told you I wasn't really a pony? 'I'm glad you guys are my friends, by the way I'm not even a pony. I'm really something called a human from a different planet, dimension…' you get the idea. You guys would have thrown me into the loony bin once I told you." Chuckled and scratched the back of her head indicating that she would have thrown me into the loony bin. She asked me a few more questions about different things. Once she heard about NASCAR, I must have talked about it for an hour.

When I finally got to Derpy, she asked about the mail system and the types of muffins humans made. Octavia and Vinyl asked questions about music, shocker. By the time I reached Twilight, she was ready to explode from excitement. She asked questions about everything and I mean everything, from history to physics, from our diet to our technology, and everything in between. They were all surprised that humans couldn't use magic and disgusted when the found out we ate meat. She was extremely fascinated by airplanes and helicopters. "I don't believe it you found a way to fly without wings, how fast do they go? How big are they? Can anypony use them?"

"Well, if you can pay for a ticket you can use them. Their speed is determined by their size, weight, and engine power. Rainbow could probably fly circles around the larger passenger and cargo planes. But she would have problems keeping up with planes that could break the sound barrier and one that could fly extremely high." They all stared at me when they found out that there were planes that could break the sound barrier at will. "Wow. If you guys are surprised by that I better not tell you anything else." Twilight looked like she had been slapped in the face. "There's more, how can there be more?" I chuckled, "Well I haven't talked about rockets and space shuttles." If it was possible all of their jaws, including the princesses', would be on the ground. "Before you ask, no not everypony can use them. Only the extremely rich and government workers, called astronauts, can use them. We even managed to build a working building in orbit around the planet. Last question Twilight, you look like your ready to pass out from everything you've learned." She pouted, "Fine. What the farthest that one of your space craft has gone." I smiled, "You probably won't believe me, but we've put people on the moon." I saw Luna look saddened by this, "Don't worry Luna they weren't banished there." We took a small break so Celestia could lower the sun and Luna could raise the moon. They asked a few more questions before Celestia reminded me why she was here. "Steel, you've answered our questions and we've been talking for hours, but you still haven't told us how you got those scars"

I sighed. "I was honestly hoping you had forgotten about that. *sigh* About four months before I came here, I was captured by a group of enemy soldiers who ambushed the me and a group of other soldiers. They took me to one of their many hidden bases. For six weeks, I was tortured for information that they never got, at least not from me. Eventually, they gave up and strapped an IED…" They all looked at me confused. "It's a device that explodes. Anyway, they strapped it to my body hoping they could use me to kill others. They forced me into a market filled with innocent people. Luckily for me, my friends were walking past and saw me. The enemy soldiers were captured, the bomb squad was called in, and the IED was removed. When I got back to base, the doctors told me that the wounds would heal but I would have some scars. That's why I have these scars and please don't make me tell this story again, the memories are too painful." They all looked sad and pulled me into a group hug. After a few more questions, I decided it was time to go home. "Guys, it's been a long day so I'm going to head home and just relax." As I walked towards the door, Twilight stopped me. "Steel, there's one more thing I want to know. I know this spell that would show what your true self is. For example, earth ponies who have always wanted to fly ask a unicorn to cast this spell on them and if they turn into a Pegasus, then they're a Pegasus at heart. By using this spell, we could see what you looked like when you were human. After thinking about it I just shrugged, what the worst that could happen. She cast the spell on me and luckily it wasn't painful. After it was finished, I stood in front of them in my army uniform as a human. They looked at my body and after a few minutes we heard something from out side.

"Are you sure about this, Lyra?" "I'm sure, Bon Bon. I made this spell myself after years of research," said the one called Lyra. "I guess so, but the last time you used the spell, it brought you to that new pony Flamingsteel," retorted Bon Bon. "Yes but its stronger this time. I know there's a human around her somewhere." Realizing that they were looking for me I looked for a place to hid and climbed into the rafters. "They entered the library and the pony I'm assuming is Lyra began running in circles while everypony else watched. Eventually, she stopped right under me, "I don't understand it should be right here." She started looking around and, by sheer luck, looked up and saw me. My body started to feel funny so I jumped down assuming that I was turning back into a pony. Lyra was so happy that she proved humans existed that she didn't notice me starting to turn back into a pony, but Bon Bon did, and could only stare as I turned back into a pony. Celestia pulled them both to the side as I started to leave most likely to tell them not to say anything about what they saw or something along those lines.

When I left the library, Luna followed me back to my house. We talked on our way they and apparently she's going to stay here for a few days to make sure I'm ok, I don't think it's necessary, but who am I to argue with a princess. As soon as I opened the door to my house, I knew something was off. I barely saw the form of a pony shift in the shadows. Normally I wouldn't notice, but I've been on high alert since the assassination attempt. I slowly moved into a fighting stance and motioned for Luna to get behind me. As I walked into my house I could smell baked goods and saw the outline of a table, "They didn't…"

Authors Note: Not sure if I like how this chapter came out so I might rewrite it.