Galvanized Emotion

by Uictoriam Ducere

Charlie has been called many things in his life. A criminal, a thug, and now a deadman. Awakening in a world filled with headache inducing magic ponies who drive him crazy was the last thing he expected. He must now learn to keep his temper in check to stay on their good side as they are the only ones who can bring him home. Being murdered though, makes that kind of difficult… AU

13. Act 1: Heading Down the Drain

Hey, guys and gals, Ducere here, just a small revision to chapter 13.

I ended up adding another 5,000 words that was supposed to be the beginning of chapter 14, but it felt better attaching it to the end of 13 instead for story purposes so be prepared for a long ass chapter of almost 20,000 words. Because of this, the next chapter may be delayed a week as I'll have to start Chapter 14 from nothing again mid-week which goes completely against what I wanted my schedule to be, but we shall see. At least you all can enjoy a small read before the next chapter releases.

Sorry again for any confusion, fellow readers, and as always enjoy! ;D

Chapter 13: Heading Down the Drain

"To live is the rarest thing in the world.

Most people exist, that is all."

-Oscar Wilde

"SPIKE! GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!"

"You'll never take me alive!" Spike screeches after he used my stomach as a trampoline to jump away from my grasp.

"Fuck!" is all I'm able to scream, as yet again I'm kissing the floor like an old friend and see the scaled shit bucket flee in terror away from the bubble filled tub with a small filly already soaking inside.

After I mistakenly slipped on some water, a soot covered Spike saw this as an opportunity to escape my soapy wrath and I watch him Scooby Doo run away from the tub to out of the room entirely. I pull myself off the floor, leaving Sweetie alone, and give chase, sprinting towards the bathroom door after my fleeing prisoner, but I turn the corner into a suspiciously empty bedroom. No spike, no nothin'. Like he fuckin' vanished! I look over at the only exit out of the room and it's still locked tight as it was moments ago when I dragged them both in here, so I know for a fact the shit is in here somewhere.

I feel a smile come on as I realize what this is. Fucker is that desperate to hide from me? Oh man, this gonna be fun!

The hunt was on!

"Come out, come out wherever you are~! You can't escape this, Spike, I know where you live!" I take a couple playful steps liking the game Spike has presented for me.

The room remains deathly still. Not even a cricket could be heard chirping.

I stop by the bed, my smile still not leaving me, "You can't hide forever!" a suspicious lump resembling the shape of an adolescent dragon hiding behind the drapes makes my smile widen as I slowly get closer to my prey, "I can smell you, Spike! Hehehe and you wanna know what it smells like? Fear!"

The bulge makes no attempt to move during my playful chiding as I approach making this so much better.

I stop right at the drapes and turn around putting my hands on my hips, the smile still ever present on my face, "Huh, I guess I lost him! That's so weird because I could have sworn he was-" I spin around as fast as I could and slap the drape over, "RIGHT HERE, YOU FUCKHEAD!" I feel my elation slowly shrink and pause at what I see, "What?"

Now, the sight of a trembling Spike is what I should have seen, but instead a stack of books with a kickball placed on the top inconspicuously. The rush of catching my prey deflates, as does my smile. Huh, that's fuckin' weird. Who the fuck put this here?

I turn back around and again view the room and my eyes narrow, "I know you're in here, boots! Just fuckin' come out and I'll make this as painless as possible!" Nothing stirs in the room at all making me grumble, "The longer you hide, the worse it's gonna be I fuckin' promise you that much, you shit."

I stomp a frustrated foot on the ground as yet again, Spike has opted to stay silent. My little tantrum, however, causes the ball falls over and I follow it's path as it rolls into the middle of the room stopping by the bed with its sheets crumpled making me frown. Rarity is such a neat freak that I know the bed was made the moment she got up.

Eureka, you cocksucker.

I walk over towards the bed, still meticulously decorated with expensive curtains attached to a canopy, and the first thing I do is practically dive to the floor to look underneath the mattress and all I'm greeted with are dust bunnies and some odd boxes. Nope, no walking migraine down here.

"Where the fuck is he…" Is all I mutter as my forehead connects with the floor out of frustration.

As I stand up off the floor a little too quickly, a vicious spell of nausea smacks me, causing me to almost fall over, but thankfully I caught myself on the edge of the bed and sit down as I rub my temples. The headache has finally begun to dig its way into my brain, though I do admit, it's more than likely from the head injury.

I rub the sore area and sigh, "Should I go get someone to look at that?" I mull it over all of about 2 seconds and shrug, "Nah, I'm sure it's fine. Nothin' the old coconut hasn't gone through already."

I sigh as I look around the room, stumped as to where the fuckin' drake ran off too. Gazing around the room I realize there isn't really much else the little shit could be, much to my dismay. There is a closet, but it's wide open and there aren't enough clothes hanging for him to be playing E.T., so there's that. The dresser was way too small to fit that fat fuck inside of, so that clears that. The desks too, were not an optimal hiding spot as there's nowhere he can hide.

What the fuck, man, where did h-! Did he jump out the window?! The sudden thought makes me snap my head over in a worried manner, but again, the latch was locked and it was way too high for him to reach. So, he has to be in here! But where?!

As I'm dotting my I's and crossing my T's, I hear Sweetie Belle giggling from the bathroom, but I don't know if it's from the bubbles she was playing with, or she can somehow see the shenanigans going on in her sister's room. I shut my eyes as I feel my hands clamber to rub them and lean back into the delectably soft bed, laying there to get my brain in order. The headache from falling gets so much worse.

Still with my eyes shut I feel another sigh form as a craving for a certain hard drink I've gone months without smacks me again, "I fuckin' can't wait to go home. It's a shithole, but at least they know what the fuck whiskey is. I'll visit every fuckin' brewery from Rockport to Provencetown, I swear. Well, that is when I'm done with tearing apart that fuckin' prick, Bi-"

"ACHOOO! Darn it, Rarity! You should really dust up here…"

My eyes snap open to the sound of an annoyingly good hide and seek player and my eyes narrow at what I see. Spike was dangling upside down on the canopy like Spider-Man rubbing his nose as some snot runs down his snout from his sneeze. He sniffs to suck some of it back in and then freezes mid wipe, realizing how much shit his allergies just put him in.

He looks down at me, noticing that I'm staring at him like I was trying to make him explode with my mind, and laughs awkwardly, "uhh I can explain…"

My eyes narrow further, "Try again, shit lips."

He then does the most logical thing one can do in this situation. Panic.

Before I could scramble up to grab him, he lets go of the drapes, falling straight down onto my stomach for the second time today, knocking the wind outta me, and rushes towards the locked door. Luckily the knob for the lock was just out of his reach and he makes pathetic little jumps to grab it as I suck air back into my lungs.

"C'mere, sweetheart," I chuckle darkly as stand and purposely stomp over, making each footstep resonate with impending doom.

His efforts to grab the lock double, but to no avail. My hand snatches his tail and I yank him away from the door towards the bathroom. He whimpers like a dog and scratches at the floor making me bust out laughing like a super villain at his desperation. As we pass the bed he grabs onto the post holding on for dear life as I tug and pull till I was blue in the face, trying my damnedest to dislodge him. One by one, his fingers start failing him until just a single, small, defiant pinkie remained, determined to cling on.

But alas, it too also gives, making us tumble to the floor.

Spike was a little dazed from the fall, making it so much easier to finally capture the shit. I move my hands under neath his armpits and scoop him up and he kicks and bites at me every inch of the way making me cackle at his desperation. We soon enter the bathroom to see Sweetie Belle holding a loofah, smiling as she scrubbed away. When she noticed us, she started to giggle at the drake as Spike started to recreate Quint's death scene from Jaws.

"No! No! Let me go!" He screams as he dangles over the tub.

I chuckle again, loving every goddamn minute of this, "Let you go, you say? Well, if you insist!"

"NO! WAI-"

Before he could let out one more cry of mercy, I slam him into the tub like he was a football at an end-zone. The bubbly water slightly overflows onto the floor from the surface waves violent ripple. Sweetie Belle yelped in surprise and scooched over at her new sudden water roomy while I do a small victory dance making the filly giggle again. A small black circle of grime starts to form where I tanked him in the water and before you know it his head pops up as he gasps for air. After a second of hyperventilating, he runs a hand through his finned mohawk and scowls at me. I gleam in return.

"Are you trying to kill me?!" he yells as he shakes a fist in the air. "Because you're getting there if you keep this up!"

"Oh, shut the fuck up, sunshine, you're being melodramatic," I pick up a bar of soap and toss it at his dumb head, he wasn't ready for it so it just thuds on his scalp and falls into the water, "Now, fuckin' clean yourself up, you filthy animal."

He rubs his head, still glaring at me as he fishes for the bar, "Melodramatic, he says," He grumbles holds the bar up at me like a weapon when he clasps it, "This is coming from the Stallion who was allergic to water for like three months!"

"And this is coming from the literal fire breathing dragon who acts more like a filly than the one you're actually bathing with!" I cross my arms and look down at him, "I don't think your long-lost mistress will be very much into fillies if you ask me, Barney."

Spike's face glows red, "W-why yo-"

"Stop it!" Sweetie Belle cries, "Geez, you two are worse than Apple Bloom and Scootaloo!"

We both glare at her, "Keep out of it!" We both shout in unison making the filly flinch.

Sweetie just huffs at our shenanigans, "Stallions…" She mumbles and goes back to bathing leaving a miserable looking Spike who's staring at the soap like is was a pile of shit, but eventually sighs and starts his bath with a scowl sent my direction.

"That's fuckin' right, you son of a bitch," I pull over a chair I grabbed from the bedroom and take a seat, "I expect every nook and cranny to be scrubbed."

"Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do if I don't, hotshot?" Spike smiles up at me like he has a chance to win a word war in any degree.

"Then I'll take one of those old wash boards and I'll rub you on it till there's nothing left but your toes, you shit!" His eyes widen a little at my very real threat, "Yeah! So fuckin' get to it, ass munch." After his slight look of fear, he sighs and grumbles quietly as he grabs a back brush that he lathers in the soap.

Fuckin' baby. Who does he think he is giving this much trouble to bathe? Me?!

I lean back into my chair waiting for the mental deficients to finish bathing, but boredom hits me pretty quickly. God, I wish I brought my journal with me, I could at least doodle Spike in a not so friendly manner for the shit he just put me through. Now I know how Rarity feels during my tantrums and let me say it's much better throwing it rather than receiving it.

To be completely fair, the baths have been pretty nice especially after a long day out in the cold at Applejack's place despite my reservations about taking them. So now, you must be wondering what jaw dropping, fucked memory is making me avoid being clean and just taking the bath. Nothing! There is no memory, I just don't like being told what to do. That's it, no sob story, no dramatic memories, just good old spite. These fuckers could tell me bathing is a crime punishable by death and I'd be scrubbing with a bar of soap as I'm getting strung up in the gallows just because I can.

What? Fuck you, don't fuckin' look at me like that. There's nothing wrong with being difficult for the sake of it and I won't hear otherwise. I look over at the semi-clean children who were gazing at me in a perturbed manner, I look behind me but I don't see anyone so they must be staring at me.

My eyes narrow, "What the fuck are you looking at?"

"Who are you talking to, Charlie?" Spike asks with a look of concern, "You just kinda started monologuing for a minute there. Something about being difficult and getting strung up with soap?"

I feel my mouth part open a little, "Wha…" I shake my throbbing head at what I thought were my inner ramblings, apparently not. "Did I- did I say all that shit out loud?!"

The look at each other still holding faces full of wariness, "Uhh yeah? Were you not talking to us?" Sweetie Bell inquires.

Fuck… I'm losing my mind.

Spike turns back to look at me, he cocks his head at my confusion, "Are you sure okay, Charlie? You must have hit your head a lot harder than you thought. I could send a message to Twilight if yo-"

"Absolutely fuckin' not! I'm fine!" He doesn't look convinced, "I just got a little bump on my head is all, I assure you. I. Am. Fine." I snarl.

Spike shakes his head, "I don't think you ar-"

"Spike! If you call that walking and talking almanac over here, I'll fuckin' throttle you into next year! The last thing I need to hear is her chewing my asshole out because I didn't get you clean at exactly 5:30 on the dot and hear her read me a book for the next 12 hours on how not to be a clumsy dick hole," as he opens his mouth to respond, I continue, "Besides, you would just make it worse with how you've been acting around her, you fuckin' wet cunt hair. It's bad enough she's always on my shit about everything, but you've been making everything so much fuckin' worse with your newfound sense of self. Now, she's been usingme as a venting gimp instead of you and it blows dick! The fuck is wrong with you anyways? She do something wrong, boots?"

His eyes narrow, but I do see a hint of nervousness hidden in his eyes, "She's annoying! That's it, end of story."

I breathe a small sigh of relief knowing my tactic of changing the conversation worked and play with this new one I've summoned, "I fuckin' doubt that, sugar tits," I laugh a little as I lean into my chair, "You spent your whole life riding her coattails and all of sudden you start barking at her like a dog with rabies? Nuh uh, no way, try again. Something happened while I was out and I want to know what it is. You two have been driving me crazy and I'd at least would like to know why!"

He glares at me, "Nothing happened! I'm just tired of how she's been treating me! That's it!"

I smirk at how flustered he's getting, "Can't say I'm convinced with that bullshit, dick pie," I tap my chin like I was deep in thought, "I think you're just scared that your mommy will hear you…"

His face grows beet red from anger and embarrassment, "Why you-"

"STOP IT!" Sweetie Belle screams, she looks between us with distaste as she rinses her cotton candy swirled colored hair of shampoo, "How you two live together, I'll never understand. All you do is bicker all the time!"

I sigh as I slump back in the chair, "Oh, Sweetie Belle, you have no fuckin' idea what bickering is until you've met Scrappy Doo here and Velma go at it in the library."

She looks at me weird, "Who's Scrappy Doo and Velma?"

I wipe my face of contempt and mutter to myself, "Out of all the shit covered planets I could of landed on, I end up on one where the residents don't know what Saturday cartoons are. Christ alive, Wily Coyote has no idea how fortunate he is to have an acme anvil to put him out of his misery every fuckin' episode…"

"…What?" She turns to Spike who is scrubbing behind his ear fin things, "Does he always talk like this?"

Spike just chuckles at her confusion, "It's best if you just pretend you get what he's saying, Sweetie, it's easier that way." He turns to me, "I'm sure Willy Canine would happily let you borrow his anvil, Charlie." He says smugly, like he said it wrong on purpose.

"WILY COYOTE! HIS NAME IS WILY COYOTE, SHIT STAIN!"

"That's what I said. Wily." he states like I'm a complete baboon making my face go red in anger.

A small zap corrects my anger like I was in a certain Orwell novel and I glare at him, "I hate you so fuckin' much."

He chuckles again while he rinses his head, "Whatever you say, Charlie…"

Silence then overtakes us as the two shit birds work overtime to get washed with good reason. I've been glaring at them like a fuckin' demented person every time they stop to goof off. After about like 15 minutes, the feeling of impatience starts to overtake me and I fidget like a crack head without his glass pipe. A clock on the adjacent wall catches my attention that read 5:52 and I pinch my nose as a spell of exhaustion sets in after a long infuriating day.

"Are you two fuckin' done yet?" I yell suddenly, making the two jump.

They start inspecting themselves to make sure they're clean and I double check as I don't want to hear it from Rarity when she gets home later. If one grain of sand was found on them, God fuckin' forbid, I won't hear the end of it until the sun burns out.

"Yeah, I think I'm about done," Sweetie starts as she looks at her shimmering tail. "See! I'm practically sparkling!"

"Uh, I still have some more it looks like," Spike glumly mumbles as he looks down his back still seeing some ash.

"Well, fuckin' hurry it up, boots, you still have dinner to remake!" I spring up and pull Sweetie out of the tub, pretty ungracefully I might add, and pretty much plop her down onto a towel. "Sweetie, go fuckin' dry yourself off and start brushing that mop you call hair."

"Sir, yes sir!" She playfully salutes as she giggles and wraps herself around the towel slightly rubbing it back and forth before fake marching out of the bathroom leaving me and Spike alone. Soon after I hear a blow dryer on full blast in the other room making me roll my eyes.

Fuckin' idiot, She's almost worse than her sister.

"Hey! You leave Rarity outta this!" My head whips down to Spike, "I won't stand here and listen to you belittle my one true love!"

I blink as I rub my head a little annoyed at this new big mouthed development I've contracted, "I fuckin' said that out loud again, didn't I?" He looks at me and slowly nods, "What the fuck."

Spike eyes me up and down and shifts closer towards the chair, "Are you sure you're okay?" I was gonna tell him to go fuck himself, but he continues, "It's just me and you in here so you don't have to worry about the filly overhearing, I'm just worried is all. It's bad enough with you not sleeping the last few days, but now you've got this head injury…" He lets the sentence die and looks at me expectantly.

I freeze and my face twists into irritation as I cross my arms, "I don't know what you're talking about, I've been sleeping fine."

He lets loose a short incredulous laugh, "Yeah, like an angel…" He rolls his eyes and leans into his arms on the edge of the tub, "Charlie, I've been sleeping in your room for a better part of three months, I know when my personal tail warmer is sitting in his pouting chair brooding instead of getting shut eye like he's supposed to be."

"Personal tail warmer?" I repeat as my eyes narrow.

He shakes a dismissive hand and brushes off the comment quickly, "Ah ah ah, that's not the point, stay on topic. What I'm trying to say is I know that you've been purposely avoiding sleep recently and I want to know why." He looks at me for a second like he was gonna regret asking me something, "Have the nightmares been getting worse?"

I shrug like an idiot, "What nightmares? I never heard of no nightmares."

A scaly eyebrow lifts on his stupid noggin, "Charlie, you scream in your sleep, there's no point in trying to hide it." Just as I was about to berate him, he lifts up his hands in defense, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, I get it, they seem pretty bad, but I just want to know if they're becoming more of a problem."

"Why the fuck you want to know? Huh?!" I snap and itch my beard impatiently. "So you can go run home and babble to Twilight about what's eating Charlie and then she'll bug the fuck outta me for the next two weeks about it?! No fuckin' thank you."

That comment looked like it offended him, "I'm honestly hurt you'd think I'd do that. Why would I go blab to the mare who's been making me pull my scales out as of late?" I don't find an answer making him smile, "Exactly! Now, I'll ask again; are they getting worse?"

I stare at him for some time, still hearing the dryer growl in the other room, before sighing, "Yeah… They are. Nothing I can really help."

I scratches his head as if her were thinking, "Well, if I can send a letter to Princess Luna maybe she can-"

"I've already talked to her, she can't stop them." I state flatly making Spike cock his head.

"I don't remember you ever talking to her, and besides, her whole shtick is helping ponies with dreams!" His face scrunches with confusion, "How can she not be able to help?"

I rub my tired eyes and fall into my hands, "Apparently, human minds are made of sterner stuff or I'm just that much of an asshole; she can't manipulate my dreams like she can with you or anyone else for some fuckin' reason, so I'm fucked in that regard."

I hear Spike splash a little in the water, but I don't look up, "Huh! I've never heard of that before! A pony who can withstand royal magic? That's incredible! Those two can almost do anything with the kind of magic they have. Hmmm, Twilight would have a field day poking that bear…"

I groan with my head still in my hands, "Spike, if you tell tweedle dick about this, I'll kick your chest through your back and use your spine as an ass scratcher. I already feel like dog shit as it is." I look up to see Spike still deep in thought, so I grab the brush out of his hand and thump him on the top of his head. "Not a fuckin' word to her! You get me, cocksucker?"

"Yeah yeah… I get you" He sighs as he rubs the spot and snatches the brush back from me, "You know, you're in a really bad mood today."

"Naw, really? What makes you think that, you fuckin' used condom!?" I growl at him.

He starts scrubbing on his semi-clean back again, "I don't know why you're being such a jerk anyways, you didn't have to really do anything."

"On the fuckin' contrary, dick bag," I lean forward in my chair and point an accusatory finger at him, "If it wasn't for you, I'd be kicking back and relaxing at the library by now, but no! You just had to open you're big fat fuckin' mouth about me watching the kid!"

Spike blinks, "What does a baby goat have to do with this?"

"FILLY! FUCKIN' FILLY!" I feel some mild shocks, but ignore it,

"Oh c'mon! Are you for real? It can't be that bad," he scolds at me, "It's just one day of foalsitting…"

"Will you do me a huge fuckin' solid?" Spike perks up an eyebrow as he finishes his back, "The next time you feel the sensation of saying something retarded, just fuckin' zip it or I'll remove your tongue and eat it!"

His face falls into confusion, "How am I supposed to know what I'm not supposed to say?"

I clear my throat, "Simple, toe cheese, you just play a simple game of: If it will make Charlie angry, don't do the talky. Capiche?"

He rolls his eyes, "Everything makes you angry, Charlie, at that point I wouldn't be able to say anything at all!"

I wink and snap a finger, "That's the spirit! See? You're a natural at the game already."

The sudden ceasing of the blow dryer makes me and Spike look over towards the door and soon enough the filly walks in sporting, I shit you not, an Afro that would of made the Harlam Globe Trotters jealous. Oh my fuckin' God, that's gonna take forever to brush straight. Maybe it'll be easier if I just set her on fire…

Sweetie frowns at me, "You don't have to be so mean about it! It's just some knotted hair."

I rub my forehead in a tired manner as for the third time today my inner thoughts have been broadcast across Equestria like it was a fuckin' soap opera. I look down and see Spike checking his teeth in one of his newly shiny scales on his tail, letting me know the shit is finally clean. At least something went somewhat smoothly today.

A wicked smile forms on my face as I realize the shit still needs to be dried. I can at least have fun with this…

In a way that could be described as swiftly, I scoop him up in a towel, quickly dry him off in a rough manner. Make the mental image that he's like a bowling ball that needed to be polished. The muffled screams make me giggle as I walk out of the bathroom continuing my absorbent assault while herding the other little shit with me and plop him in the middle of the floor of Rarity's room. The fuckers eyes are literally rolling around in his head like he was a Looney Tune making me again cackle like the asshole I am.

He shakes his head and stares up at me with hatred, I simply laugh again and point, "You should see the fuckin' look on you're face right now! So fuckin' worth the foalsitting, dude!"

"I guess I deserve that one…" He grimaces as he stands up and looks over at Sweetie whose trying her best to brush her mop to something presentable. Key word: trying. He sighs before walking over to her grabbing the brush from her hooves, "Just hold on, Sweetie Belle."

"You know, this won't score you any brownie points for swooning that graham cracker of a mare you've got a small hard on for, Spike." I cackle as I walk towards the bathroom.

Spike huffs at me as takes his first stroke with the brush on tangle mountain, "I don't have to be helping somepony for some ulterior motive. General kindness is still a thing around here, you know…" I turn to him and he's got his hands on his hips. He then blinks like he realized something, "How is Rarity like a graham cracker?"

"They're disgusting and I hate them?" I say, like I wasn't all convinced of my own remark and continue towards the bathroom, "I don't know, but that doesn't change the fact that you'll try anything to get into her metaphorical pants. Christ alive, man, you really need to- Ah!" A sharp pain shoots its way through my skull making me pause.

"What the hay happened?" I turn to see Spike had run over holding the brush like a sword. "Who hurt you?! Let me at em!"

"No one's here, idiot!" I rub my temples as the memory of the feeling still remained, making me wary, "I just…" I stop to think of a good cover story, "…just stubbed my toe is all."

Spike's eyebrows fall and his lips purse, not believing a single word out of my mouth, "Charlie, if somethings going on you need to tell us so we can-"

"I'm hunky fuckin' dory Goddammit," I look down and he's still staring with worried eyes but doesn't respond, "I'm fuckin' fine, Spike, nothin' I haven't gone through before. Just go fuckin' get ready already."

His eyes narrow, "If something's wrong you have to tell us! What if it's connected with the Mark or something."

"Connected to the- For fucks sake, boots, not every goddamn thing is because of the fuckin' mark!" I shake my head and walk towards the bathroom, "The last two weeks you've been up my ass, shrieking till you're blue in the face, that the mark is behind everything! I trip and fall down the steps? Its the mark. I take a shit and there's no toilet paper? The mark did it." I stop mid stride and Spike bumps into me making me turn and stare down into him, "It's something to control my temper, not the fuckin' boogeyman! Unless you know something I don't, scaly!"

He looks as if he was about to say something really important, but just deflates and shakes his head, "No…"

"That's what I thought." I turn again, "Now, excuse me, bitch."

"I don't get why you're acting like this. He was just worried about you," Sweetie Belle announces, making her presence known to me again. I simply roll my eyes and ignore her as I enter the bathroom, pulling plug to let the dirty water drain so I can refill it for myself. "I don't know much about this mark, but you hit your head, Charlie, that's not something to just pretend didn't happen."

"I said I'm fine! Why the fuck does everyone think I'm lying all the time!" I blink down at the two who are standing around, staring at me, still not getting ready, "Now hurry up, get her nice lookin' and get the fuck outta here. I still need to take a bath before your cunt of a sister gets home."

She blinks and her eyebrows knit together seemingly forgetting my little aneurysm altogether, "What does 'cunt' mean? You've been saying it all week and Rarity won't tell me."

I pause, holding the plug before I erupt with laughter, "Hahahahaha it means 'good pony' and be sure to tell it to everyone you know. *snirk* Especially to Flash Sentry when he shows up to nab me later. He'll love it!" I move towards them and shove her out the door with the dragon. I point at the drake, "Spike, brush her hair and shit so I can bathe in peace, dammit."

He kinda huffs, "And what about dinner? We still didn't-" A door slamming in his face cuts him off as I breathe a humongous sigh of relief. Spike yells out, muffled on the other side of the door. "Ugh! You're really one giant jerk, Charlie! C'mon, Sweetie, lets get you ready, I guess." Some footprints walk away from the door and soon enough, I'm in complete silence.

Fuckin' finally, I hate babysitting so goddamn much. With the sideshow freaks out of my way, I wait for the dirty brown colored water to drain fully and I start refill the tub with fresh hot water for myself. Oh man, this is actually really gonna feel good. After the day I had? Fuck yeah.

As the tub slowly starts to refill, I disrobe, letting my clothes lay scattered on the tiled floor with the exception of the yellow dandy shirt that made me look like one of The Wiggles. I threw it at the door out of disgust and it hooked onto the door knob where it now laid. It's smug aura mocks me and I hate it. I can't wait till she finishes that new shirt, dude, I fuckin' hate yellow.

As I move towards the tub, my naked reflection catches my attention in the mirror, which I would of ignored, however, some kind of curiosity was pulling me towards it that didn't feel like my own. Soon enough my I gaze into my own cold dead eyes for the first time in quite a while. I don't like lookin' at myself and I try my damnedest not to, but something just yelled at me to walk over to the mirror. Fuckin' weird, but what isn't these days.

As my skinny body is in full view a frown begins to form and for good reason. Let me tell ya, I look fuckin' terrible. Christ alive, I need to eat a sandwich or something. I can see my individual fuckin' ribs, haven't been able to do that since I was living in the apartment with the shit stain. Eating once a week would do that to anyone, I suppose, just like now. However, the difference being I have food all over the fuckin' place here.

By all accounts, I should be hungry, but… I don't know, I just haven't had an appetite. I thought it was just from the lack of variety, but I was wrong. The fish that Fluttershy's been providing has been a Godsend for sure, don't get me wrong. I don't know whats wrong with me, but whatever it is, it needs to sort itself out and fuckin' soon before I blow away into dust. While staring at my skeletal form, something catches my eye on my arm and my frown deepens even further at the sight.

The fuckin' runes…

After my little episode with the hat a couple of weeks ago, these weird marking's clawed their way up my arm just before the elbow. Just like the mark, these new 'runes' protrude slightly off my skin like a deep scar. Almost every square inch of flesh had some kind of alien marking making it look like I'm some kind of fuckin' crazy person. To be fair, they've been kinda fading thankfully. It's only somewhat, but I do see that they're slowly disappearing as the days go on which is beyond strange as they look the kind of scars that would of taken years to heal from. Another thing that's odd is that light up somewhat after a particularly bad punishment.

The only symbol I can truly make out is that wicked looking 'W' sprinkled around here and there. It's fuckin' freaky, but that isn't the worst part about it. For some Goddamn reason it looked I wrote it; the W holds a striking resemblance to my own penmanship and it's fuckin' worrying. I only noticed the other day as I was writing something down when it clicked. Don't know why it took me so long to make the connection, but there it was as I flipped through my entries seeing the pattern. Talked to Twilight about it, thinking something bad was happening, but if I'm being honest she was kinda tight lipped about the fuckin' curse for some reason.

Actually, now that I mention it, Spike has been too… Hmm. I'll have to grill em later about it.

Shaking out of my thoughts, I keep staring at myself like I was looking for something in particular, but I don't know what. I don't know how to describe the feeling, it felt like I was exploring a new planet which is fuckin' funny considering I've had the same body for my entire life. Hope that doesn't change anytime soon, but who the fuck knows with the ass candy life's been handing me.

"The fuck is wrong with me?" is all I berate myself with as I look over every inch of my body, trying to get this fucked feeling out of me for good.

Just as I was about to turn and ignore it, something on my forehead catches my eye and alarms start going off in my head like I've hit the jackpot. At first I thought it was grime or just how my hair was sitting, but as I moved closer I slightly gasp. Using my free hand, I move the long strands of what's left of my hair and there it is. A round scar placed right by my hairline. I hadn't seen before. Is that… What the fuck. When the fuck did I get that? I don't remember anything that could of-

"ARRRG" A sharp pain zips through my brain just like before, making me grasp the sink in anguish. "THE FUCK!"

It took me a good minute to regain some function as I stare at the figure in the mirror and we scowl at each other waiting for the other to blink. The blink never comes as the sound of the tub nearing it's limit pulls me away from the mirror to turn of the water. I look back at the mirror one more time and rub the new blemish as whatever feeling to come over me fades like it got what it wanted. What in the Bruce Willis Sixth Sense shit is this? First Pee Wee and now this…

I sigh as I stare at the steaming water, "Whatever, I don't fuckin' have the energy for this shit," is all I mutter as I slip into the blissful pool of warmth and let out an audible moan of pleasure, "Fuuuuuuuck yeaaaaaaaah. I really needed this, especially after the fuckin' day I had…"

My mental fiasco with what happened outside soon disappears entirely, like it never happened as the heat consumes my very being, releasing all kinds of knots I didn't know I had. Though I shouldn't be that surprised about it considering everyone's been using me as a personal slave, courtesy of Celestia's orders. Fuckin' cunt.

I don't understand the whole point of this 'rehabilitation' thing. How the fuck is slaving away in a library, a sweatshop, that fuckin' shithole the Cakes own, the incest farm, and Bilbo Baggins shire going to fuckin' fix me. It's actually insulting, if I'm being frank. You want to know what I think? I think that this whole fuckin' thing is just some kind of show for the town so she doesn't have a rebellion on her hooves. The fuckin' town want's my ass mounted and displayed for all to see, that's for fuckin' sure. Though the ones who probably wants it the most is Rainbow and the Mayor.

I grimace thinking of Mayor Mare and my first in person meeting with her. That was beyond fucked and I was completely innocent, I swear!

This was when Twilight trusted me a little more so she let me off on my own, not like now. I was just exploring the town really, but mostly to get the fuck away from the library. It must have been like a couple hours of just sightseeing and scaring some foals when I got a little hungry and what do you know, the Hay Cafe was nearby and I thought what the hell, let's get something to eat.

When I entered, the immediate glares were more than obvious and I fuckin' knew that shit wasn't gonna go down in good way. The fuckers refused me service even though I had the money. They claimed that they had the privilege to not serve me anything after I stole some food a couple weeks prior which I totally did.

So I had the privilege to get really, really, really mad at them.

I just wanted a fuckin' sandwich, that's it! They just had to fuckin' make things difficult! So yeah! I broke a table and threatened to mutilate their cadavers with a dinner plate. Nothing too serious and I would've too if it weren't for the meddling Mayor and her guards.

In almost an instant town guards descended on me like a pack of wolves in an instant and all but dragged me to the mayors office. The fuckers must have been tailing me with how fast they got me, on the Mayor's orders no doubt. Speaking of the cunt in chief, when I entered her office she was reading some kind of report that she just received as I was pushed toward her. She then started listing shit off that was illegal in her town and was accusing me of perpetrating them.

During her bereating, I unenthusiastically tossed a bag of bits at her to just forget the whole incident and that should have been that. Had I known how much shit that put me into I'd of kept the money to myself and took the couple of days in the dungeon. The Mayor almost started foaming at the mouth while she ranted and raved that the idea of betraying her people to such a degree was the most disgusting act she'd ever blah blah blah blah…

That was such a fat sack of bits too, so I don't know why she didn't take it. Seriously though, who the fuck ever heard of an honest public politician?! We did it with the cops all the fuckin' time at home, so what gives?!

I would like to say that was the end of it, but it isn't. It gets so much worse.

That little stunt of mine halted the steady inflow of cash I was pocketing every week. You see, Celestia was giving me a weekly allowance of sorts so I can buy shit and live, no doubt some kind of reparation for the inconvenience. It was a lot of money too, so much in fact that I fuckin' felt like Scrooge Mcduck with how many bags of the shit I had accumulated in my room before I had to give most of it away for property damages.

Long story short, the royal pain in my ass heard of the incident, more than likely from the Mayor herself, and cut all my money she was giving me, rendering me broke as shit. That really fuckin' blew, dude, I had to beg from Twilight all the fuckin' time for bits and even she was annoyed that the Princess did away with my income. However, that was before I destroyed the town and when I was still window shopping all the time. I kinda stopped doing that with this whole ponywatch bullshit started obviously.

In all honesty, I really haven't needed money for anything lately. Maybe food, but again I haven't been eating either so I've been pretty good on living without an income.

You need money to pay for Dinky's new hat, idiot.

I frown as the thought reverberates in my skull, reminding me of my good deed from earlier. Fuck her, I shouldn't of done that. The fuck did I get out of it? My insides feeling sweet and warm for a minute? Of course not, this is me we're talking about. No, I fuckin' felt pity when I saw the filly playing in the snow. Not for her, but for myself. I never had anybody to look after me, not really. Despite how calloused I am, it was pretty sweet of Ditzy with how she looked after her kid. Making sure her needs were met even at the cost of her own sake.

If I had someone like that growing up I may of turned out a little different.

"Maybe even approachable to these fuckin' ponies," I muse to myself as sink further in the tub, getting frustrated. "Who the fuck am I kidding? I was born an asshole and I'm gonna die an asshole. I mean, I did die an asshole, but that's beside the point." I dip my head fully under the water and just sit there a moment, holding my breath as I thought away.

I can't really say I didn't have anyone. I did have Mr. Campbell for a short while, but… Well didn't exactly end well. And of course, I did have Bill, but I'm beginning to believe he just used me to get what he needed. In fact, I don't think he really gave a shit about me at all. It actually makes a lot of sense if that was the game he was playing, I was just some muscle. Even at Wellington's, he just saw someone who could break a few eggs and boy, did I make some fuckin' omelets for him. I was critical to him for protection even after we left that forsaken place.

After they pulled me outta there, he must of remembered my talent for wrecking shit when he discovered where I was living. It's no wonder why he scooped me up at Mr. Campbell's when he did. To think I was actually happy to see him…

It was about a year in when they sent me to Milwaukee to the jolly old farts house. He was a pain in my ass, but even so I… I really kinda miss that old fuck. I had to do what I did though and I'd do it again. What choice did I have? Bill told me he found him and that's all that mattered in the end. I had to get to him…

I feel my face twitch at the memory as I pull myself up out of the water and frown as I hear the old farts words echo in my mind.

"There you go, boy, this isn't half bad!" Mr Campbell scratched his long white beard while he gleamed upon my work. "See what happens when you apply yourself? I knew you had it in you."

I shrug as I gaze upon the jewelry box the short middle aged man was inspecting, "It's just a fuckin' box, old man, don't get too worked up over it."

"Just a- Son, this is more than just a box," He picks it up and shakes some to exemplify his point, "This is your future!"

I scoff, "What? Am I gonna be a piece of wood when I'm able to cash out my 401k?"

He shakes his head and sets it down on his workbench, "Charlie, what I mean is that this box represents something more than just making a fist at people and making rude comments." He looks at it still kinda proud like, "That with great effort, you can become something more than what you think that you are."

I cross my arms, "What fortune cookie did you read that one from?"

He sighs as he rubs his fully bald head and studies me some, "Do you want to know what I thought when I read your file? When they were deciding where to put you a year ago?"

"That you couldn't wait to touch me while I was sleeping?" I snarl and lean against the beam in the old barn, "I don't know and I don't really care. What the fuck does this have to do with some stupid box?"

He blinks and continues without acknowledging my comment, "That this is a fellow who just needs some guidance," He picks up the box as it slightly sits upon his extended belly while he opens it, "Someone who just needed to be nudged a certain way to make all the difference."

I jut a finger at myself, "I feel real nudged alright…"

His face falls some as he sets the box down and taps it with his fat fingers like he wants to say something he might regret, "The file they gave me had everything in it. The fights, the escape attempts, almost murdering a fellow student, and even what happened in Boston…"

I look away without giving a response.

He turns to me and walks over and stops in front of me, "Charlie, can you look at me for second?" I want to refuse his request, but eyes hesitantly flicked over to him, "When they gave me a whole bunch of files to look at, yours always stood out. Every person I talked to about you, they all said some of the nastiest, defaming things anyone can hear and not once did I agree with any of them. I looked at your file and saw untapped potential. A potential to be something greater than what you think you are."

"Can you get to the fuckin' point please!" I snap, but all this does is make him smile.

He lifts up the jewelry to me, "When I asked you to craft something, anything, this morning, why did you decide to make this?"

I shrug, "I don't know! It was easy?"

He looks down at the intricately made box and gives it a skeptical look, "This was easy? No I don't think so," He hands me the box, "This was something that came from the heart."

"The heart? You can't seriously think tha-"

He interrupts me and places a hand on it, "This box was made because you deemed it so. You wanted it to be made and so it was. Do you remember what I told you when I first showed you my workshop?"

I shake my head no.

He smiles up at me, "If you can turn a piece of useless lumber into something worth meaning, then why can't that be applied to life, son." he slightly taps the box, "My father told me that years ago when I was a small lad like you and even then it didn't make too much sense to me, but you'll see."

I look down at the box and my face twists with confliction.

He turns to leave when I don't respond and stops at the entrance, looking back, "Make sure you lock every up tight when your done out here, the weathers gonna turn for the worst. I think we're gonna have burgers tonight…" He muses to himself as he rubs his belly and he leaves me alone in the aging barn.

I sigh as I put the Jewelry box down back on the workbench and stare at it with a puzzled look. My expression quickly changes when I notice a small smudge on the top making me grab a rag to wipe it down again. In no time at all I start polishing the box from head to toe and I feel a small smile form while doing so.

"A little sanctimonious, ain't he?"

The sudden voice makes me spin around in surprise at a figure standing in one of the empty pens. I slowly take a step forward as recognition flares through me at the sound.

"Bill? Is that you?" He steps out of the dark with his hands out like he was caught red handed. Oh it's him alright, no one can mistake those fuckin' freckles for someone elses.

"Guilty, your honor!" He looks around the barn with some distaste, "You know, when I found out they sent you out here to the boonies, I couldn't imagine you holding a pitchfork with a straw hat… But here you are!"

"I-you-" A smile forms on my face and a deep laugh resonates within me as I close the gap between us and embrace him like an old family member much to his dismay, "I can't fuckin' believe it! I didn't think I'd fuckin' see you again!

"Easy, lenny, you're gonna break me in half!" He chides as I tighten my hug a little, but laughs.

I shake my head in excitement, "Here, let me look at ya!" I pull back a little and stare at his features some and narrow my eyes some, "Yep, still the same piece of dog shit I know too fuckin' well. How the fuck did you even find me?"

He swings his arm around my shoulder and starts walking me towards the workbench. "A wizard never reveals his wizard secrets or however the fuck that saying goes," he laughs some and hops up onto the table when we get there and looks at me some, "Jesus fucking Christ, when the did you get so goddamn tall?"

"And how'd you stay so short?" I snort as I move the jewelry box over slightly, "Guess that happens when two years pass by without seeing each other."

He shakes his head like he couldn't believe it, "Two whole years gone like that. It seems like yesterday we were all shoved onto a buses heading to different area codes." He leans back and sports a proud look as he taps his temple, "All according to plan."

I sigh as I remember the events before that day, "Still can't believe that fuckin' worked. We got that whole place shut down like it was fuckin' nothing," I give him a punch on the shoulder, "All cause of you, you ginger fuck."

He rubs his shoulder like I hurt him and shrugs, "Ah can't take all the credit, it was all of us. Couldn't of done it without you, that's for sure."

"All of us…" I repeat and a small smile forms, "Oh, I miss the fellas. We were somethin' alright."

"Yeah, we were," He taps the table and looks around, "So, hows playing farmer dick been? Seems like that fat bastard's a little preachy for my likes. You gotta be bored to sin out here."

"Who? Mr. Campbell?" I shrug, "Naw, he's alright, he's done me no wrong. He's actually kinda funny when you get to know him."

He rolls his eyes, "Yeah, real funny alright," He then slides the box over and presents it to me, "This was something that came from the heart." He mimics him like he was trying to be a smart ass.

I quickly take the box back and start wiping it down again,"Hey easy with that! Took me all morning to finish this…"

"Oh, c'mon!" I stop and look over at Bill whose smirking at me, "You didn't buy any of that gobbledygook he was spewing earlier, did you? He was ridiculous. You needing to be nudged like a lemming? Get the fuck outta here."

"No, of course not, I told you though, this shit took me all day to make," Stopping my wiping session I take a piece of cloth and wrap it so no more hands can get at it, "Besides what if I did? What he was saying isn't that fuckin' outlandish…"

"Oh my fucking God, you do believe him!" He laughs and slaps his knee, "You know, I took you for a lot of things, but a sucker wasn't one of them."

I pause and stare at him for a moment, "What are you doing here, Bill, we're a long way from Rhode Island."

He seemed to sense the tension that started to build and he raised his hands up, "Just wanted to see my long lost friend is all!" He picked up a chisel and started playing with it, "Thought if there was one person to give my afternoon to it would be definitely be 'The Wild Boy' Charlie."

I grimace at the moniker, "It's been a long time since I heard that name…"

Bill seemed to sense my mood sour and he rolls his eyes, "Oh puh-lease! You wore that name with pride back in Wellington's!" He pokes my arm, "You're not going native now, are ya?"

I pull back the arm he pokes, and I stare at him, almost scowling, "There's nothing to be proud of in that motherless dick hole of a building," I snap. "Now, I'll ask again; what are you doing here?"

He sighs and shrugs as he tosses the chisel to the side, "Guess your right that this is more than just a social call, but I am here in good faith," He jumps and leans against the table, "Truth is, I've got a proposition for you."

I scoff as I start putting the tools laid out in their designated spot, "Here we fuckin' go, one of your 'plans' I take it?"

He smiles at me, "Something like that! I've gotten in contact with someone in Boston for some work. Figured I'd stop by and see if you were interested, considering it's your hometown and all that."

I pause as I grab a bottle of glue, "Boston? You want me to go back to that shithole? Why on God's green earth would I do that?"

"To do what we talked about when we got out!" He takes a step closer and swings his arm up over my shoulder again, "That we'd be the ones on top for a change. We'd have money, women, and all the respect one can get and no one will get in our way!"

My frown deepens, "Bill, we were scared kids who thought the world had it coming. It isn't much of a dream…"

He lets me go and scowls at me, "What's the matter with you? I show up and offer you the chance of a lifetime and you slap my hand away. Surely you can't be happy out here in the middle of fuckin' nowhere!"

I don't answer as I look over at the workbench with a somber face.

He waves a dismissive hand at the door where Mr. Campbell left, "Forget that clown, Charlie! This is us! Our dream! The return of the prodigal son to his city! We'll be swimming in cash by the end of next year if this plays out the way I think it will and it will." He puts a hand on my shoulder, "Doesn't that sound fuckin' amazing?"

I slowly remove his hand off me, "Listen, it's been great seeing you again, really, but I'm gonna have to decline your offer. I… I like it out here. Its peaceful and shit, you know? After living in the city for so long, this place will do me some good and I owe it to Mr. Campbell. I hope whatever you find in Boston will be good to you."

He studies me a moment before putting his hands in his pockets and the biggest smirk in human history forms on his face, "Okay, I get ya. I know when I've overstayed my welcome. It was good seeing you too," He gives another hug and turns to leave and continues talking over his shoulder, "It's a shame, we could of grabbed Wally, he was on the way to Bos-"

"The fuck you just say?" I feel my body freeze as he turns back around.

"Wally. I know where he is," He states flatly making me slowly approach him with clenched fists.

"Wally? My Wally?!" He nods and I grab onto his collar and pull him closer, "You know where he is?!"

He practically gleams at my reaction, "Yep!"

I feel my eyes narrow, "… That's not fuckin' funny, Bill."

His smile drops, "And I ain't laughing," I still don't look convinced and he rolls his eyes, "How do you think I found you? I broke into one of the facilities that set you up out here and found your file," He pulls a piece of folded paper out of his pocket and holds it up, "And right next to yours, was his. He's in Pennsylvania, somewhere out by Pittsburgh."

He hands me the paper, I shakily unfold it and pause as I see the picture of him along with an address for, what do you know, Pennsylvania. I feel my breathing start to get heavy at finally finding him after so fuckin' long.

Bill takes my silence to continue, "We can't come back here if you want to go get him, you're the first person they'll suspect if he goes missing all of a sudden. So, here's the plan I think will work out for all of us: we go get him, ditch Pennsylvania as fast as possible, and make our way north towards Boston to start anew."

I look up off the paper and blink still not really registering the news that was just dumped on me.

He looks at me and sticks a hand out to shake, "What do you say? You wanna do this, Ch-arlie! Can you hear me?!"

I jump as a familiar voice shouts at me, knocking me out of memory lane, "Wha- Who-"

I look over to see a Flash Sentry with a strange expression on his face, "Finally, I've been calling you through the door for like five minutes and you weren't answering," he breathes a small sigh of relief and dons a playful look, "I was hoping you drowned, but I'm not so lucky it seems."

My face twists from confusion to loathing as I realize the shit completely barged into the bathroom during my bath, "And here I was thinking that I still had a minute fuckin' shred of privacy in this shit hole, you fuckin' freak." I throw a bar of soap at him, he ducks before it could connect with his head and it soars through the air colliding with a wall.

He adjusts his helmet after the maneuver and scowls at me, "If it were up to me, I'd have just let you soak in your own filth, ape…"

I scratch my forehead, "Then why the fuck are you in here then, cock goblin?"

He sighs as he looks toward the door, "Spike informed me you've been in here a worrying amount of time and he sent me to go check on you. He said you've been in here for over an hour…"

An hour? I look over at the clock and what do you know, it had been an hour since I kicked the little shits out. Huh, it felt like I just got in here…

I stand up rather suddenly, still fully nude, and stare down at the shithead, "Taking orders from children now, Flash? How fuckin' low you've fallen." His eyes snap to my Johnson and he stares for an uncomfortable amount of time making me huff, "You know, I was joking about the whole closeted thing, but you're really starting to make me think."

His flick back up and a smile starts to form while he points a hoof at me, "Here we have a wild Charlie in his natural habitat; territorial by nature, he will use his loud filly screams to scare off incoming predators who stumble upon his nest," he says in a way that would have made Attenborough proud. "Gaze upon his tiny genitals, a trademark of his species."

"I fuckin' hate you so fuckin' much," I snarl as I step out of the tub, dripping all over the floor and point at my junk, "It ain't much, but it gets the job done, asshole."

"Whatever makes you feel better, Charlie…" He says smugly making me groan as I walk over to the towel rack to dry off.

As I grab a towel I turn and still see the shit smirking, "What?!"

She slightly shakes his head, "Oh nothing~" He sings and chuckles, "It just makes sense why you're loud and obnoxious is all. Compensation at its best."

I shrug, "Well, I could stick my dick into sheep like you do every Sunday, but I'm not into that kinda thing personally, champ."

He blinks and his smile falls, "You're disgusting."

I put my hands on my hips, "Do you say that to Beeehhhtsy when you're all done with her? Or do you like to stay and cuddle your wool pleasure toy? I want to get it right so when I tell everybody about your amorous deeds the people can trust what they hear. Just want to be as accurate as possible."

"…" He looks at me and then shakes his head, walking away from me towards the bedroom, "I'll be downstairs…"

The sound of the door slamming angrily makes me give a hearty chuckle, looks like I made him mad! "You're getting better at the war of words, my young apprentice, but you still have much to learn! HA!"

I give a content sigh knowing I ruined his day and start getting redressed to convene in the kitchen where I'll be giving the small drake a new one for sicking his dog at me. Seriously, that fuckin' worrywart needs to lay off. I'm childish, not retarded! I can fuckin' breathe oxygen on my own, unlike Spike. I'm sure Twilight has to cast a spell on him to tell his brain to 'move the leg ja'. Fuckin' freak.

Soon enough, I'm fully dressed and am currently tying my shoelaces when I feel like I'm forgetting something. Again, like the mirror, it didn't feel like 'me' per say. Just a feeling. I don't know really how to describe, but it's odd. As I was about to ignore it, a breath of air was blown at the back of my neck making shit almost projectile out of my ass in fear as I spin around to see no one. Not a Goddamn thing.

I rub the area where hairs are currently standing up and sigh, "What the fuck…" A glint on the floor catches my eye and recognition fills me, "Oh, my watch, how could I forget?"

The military watch was apparently my grandfathers like that meant something to me. He died before I was born so I never met him and shit bag never talked about him, so fuck em. Picking it up, I gaze at it for a second looking at the motionless hands stuck in the same spot they'd been since the day it broke as well as the other measurements of time making me frown.

January 24, 2008, 5:43pm and 23 seconds. A day that will forever live in infamy. That sixth sense feeling starts to leave me making me quirk an eyebrow as I look around the empty room. A pain starts to pulse through my brain causing me to squeeze my eyes shut and hold onto the tub.

"Fuck this shit, man…" I sigh as I rub the back of my head again and look at my hand, a small amount of blood could be seen. "Maybe… Maybe I'll talk to Twilight when I get home."

Standing up, I look at the absolute shit show you could call a bathroom and snort. There were wet towels littered all over the floor along with puddles of water from when I was tossing Spike around like a soccer ball. I simply shrug and leave to head downstairs as it's not my problem to clean it. Rarity wanted us to bathe, she didn't explicitly demand that we clean afterwards. Soon enough, I'm walking down the hallway towards the kitchen where I hear some bickering between my lovely dragon roomy and the bastard of a guard who was peeping at me about 10 minutes ago.

"-ally won that bet! What are you talking about!?" Flash screams.

"Nuh uh, we agreed that Charlie would've agreed to foalsit." Spike corrects.

I turn into the room and see a very angry Flash staring down Spike wearing an apron. An amused Sweetie Belle was looking between the two as they spoke while eating some kind of salad it looked like.

Flash snorts some steam out of his nose, "But he refused!"

Spike looks at him with a smirk, "Did he though?" He looks over at Sweetie Belle, "Cause I could have sworn that he was foalsitting~" He sings making Flash have an aneurysm.

"I-He-" He groans and picks up a bag of bits and tosses it at the dragon, "Here! That is the last bet we're doing…" He says glumly as he glares off into the distance.

Spike picks up the bag and gives it some test tosses to feel it's weight, "That's what you said like 3 bets ago…" He sits back up into his chair, he smiles when he sees me, "There he is!"

"Another one?" I ask in a knowing manner as I glide towards the table, "Now I know why you fuckin' suggested it, you little shit."

He positively gleams, "Yep! All according to plan!" He lowers his voice and leans over to me when I sit down, "Flash is a sore loser."

"I am not!" He grumbles, "It's just ridiculous I haven't won a single bet since we started almost 3 weeks ago. I'm almost out like 600 bits…"

Spike gleefully chortles as he counts out his coin, "You want to make a bet that I'll make it to 1000?"

Flash looked like he took that as a challenge, "You're so on! There's no way you can swipe that much money from me!"

Spike sticks his hand out to shake his hoof and the bet was made right then and there, "Hehehehehe sucker…" He split the pile of coins into a 70/30 split and sent the latter towards me, "And here's your cut, Charlie."

I look at the pile of about 6 coins and smile, "Good haul today, boots, I'm impressed."

"Wha- Cut?" Flash looks between us almost enraged, "Are you in on this?"

I blink, "Hmm? Oh no, I had no idea what the bet was between you two, but I made a separate bet that you'd lose the next one." I stare down at Spike with disappointment, "I can't believe you even had hopes for Flash to begin with. Never bet against a winning horse, boots."

He shrugs as he sticks a tomato slice in his mouth, "What can I say? I like rooting for an underdog." He looks back up to me, "Wanna bet 20 bits I'll get the 1000 in two months?"

I tap my chin as I consider it, "Make it 30 and that you'll get it in one."

"Deal!" We spit on our hands and shake on it.

Flash stutters as he looks between us like he was about to lose his mind, it kinda reminded me of Twilight and it was so much better coming from him, it amused me greatly. Eventually he deflates as he looks sadly at his dinner and started to nibble on it. Speaking of dinner, it literally looked like a big bowel of some kind of Caesar salad making me huff.

I turn to Spike, "What happened to Roasted vegetables?"

He pointed a fork at Sweetie Belle, "She broke the oven!"

Looking over at the oven, it did appear to have seen better days. The door was bent in a funny angle and some of the burners on the stove top looked like they popped off in a way that could be described as broke as shit. Fuck, dude, that's the second oven I'd seen get its shit wrecked. We're still waiting for a replacement for the one at the library.

Sweetie Belle huffs, "I didn't break it!"

The drake blows a raspberry, "Yeah huh!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yeah h-"

"Stop it! The both of you!" I rub my hand from a small painful zap, "And for the record, Sweetie totally broke the oven."

She sinks in her seat and gets visibly upset, "I didn't know they were fireworks…" She sniffs.

Oh man, I don't need a fcukin' crying filly right now.

I cough into my hand gaining her attention again, "And for further record, it's Pinkie Pies fault it broke to begin with. Why she'd leave actual explosives in the kitchen is beyond me," Sweetie perked up at that.

"Fireworks?" Flash questions.

"Ah ah ah, not important," I look over at the two youngin's, "By the way, we don't fuckin' tell Rarity about that. If she asks about the oven just say you put too many spices in the dish. Got it?" Spike and Sweetie Belle salutes and I give an affirmative nod.

Dinner went by incredibly slow as I didn't partake in it, despite how much Spike was bugging me to eat something. I just brushed him off and I said we'd eat some 'real' food later and that seemed to shut him up. Eventually we just had a small conversation, nothing really noteworthy. I'm just waiting for that walking glitter bomb to come and collect her sister.

And fuckin' finally, she did.

"Darlings! I'm home~" She gleams as she enters the kitchen with a ridiculous number of bags following her with magic.

"Rarity! You're home!" Sweetie screams and runs to embrace her sister, "How was Canterlot?!"

"It was as impeccable as ever," She looks at the bags, "We finished early, and I was able to go shopping!" She squeals making all the men wince,"I will say that it was a dreadful day, especially for a train ride. I'm actually glad you didn't come, Sweetie, the rails were iced over making it a bumpy ride."

I see Flash grimace at that for some reason but fuck him.

Rarity looks over at me and face contorts into suspicion before looking down at her sister, "And how was your day? Nothing too bad I hope." She states with a rather admonitory tone as she eyeballs me again.

Sweetie starts bouncing up and down and starts talking at the speed of light in one long continuous sentence in a single breath, "Oh! Oh! Oh! We had so much fun we got right to work on the hat and it turned out great and Dinky loved it soooooooooooooo much you should of seen the look on her face when she got it and Ditzy tried paying for it but she didn't have enough money so Charlie offered to pay for it through working the evenings and then they hugged and she left and then we went into the kitchen to make roasted vegetables and OHP-"

Rarity uses her magic to clamp her mouth shut with a look of genuine shock, "What did you say?"

The magic releases and Sweetie look up, "We went into the kitchen to make roasted vegetables?"

She shakes her head, "Before that."

Recognition flares through the filly, "Oh! Yeah, Ditzy was low on Money so Charlie offered to pay for it even though he doesn't have any money! He said he'd work more hours so that means we can have more foalsitting days!" She looks over at me making me wish I could vanish, "Isn't that right, Charlie?"

I narrow my eyes, "Abso-fuckin'-lutely not. This was a one and done kind of thing, like a hooker, but not a good looking one."

Rarity cocks her head at me, "You… offered something to somepony for nothing in return? That's…" She couldn't seem to finish her sentence as she looked at me and so did the others.

I lean into my chair as I got progressively more and more frustrated at the stares, "It's just a stupid fuckin' hat! We spent so fuckin' long making the fuckin' thing, I decided to fuckin' make sure it didn't go to fuckin' waste sitting in a fuckin' bin somewhere! So now I have to fuckin' work overtime because Ditzy doesn't know how to work a fuckin' street corner and get that fuckin' dick up her ass! Fuck!"

A very aggressive episode of artificial lighting shot up my arm caused my cursing to magnify as I went on my tangent. The room was exceptionally quiet after I settled down and I rub my eyes.

I turn to Rarity, "Am I done here?" She looked like she wanted to say no and grill me some more, but eventually nodded making me abruptly stand and don my quilt-cho, "Finally! You coming, Spike?"

"Uh, I think I'm gonna stay here for the night again, I kinda made Twilight really mad this morning," He looks at Rarity sheepishly, "If that's okay with you?"

She looks at the drake and sighs, "I'm going to start making you pay rent at this rate, but yes you may." She looks back over to me, "and as for you, I expect you here at 5:30 sharp so you can-"

"Massage your cunt, yeah yeah way ahead of ya…" I mutter as I storm off to leave the Boutique.

I hear Sweetie Belle yelp like he had an epiphany, "…Oh that reminds me! Flash you're a cunt!"

"SWEETIE BELLE!" Rarity screams making me shake my head in amusement as I open the front door into the cold to return home.

I wonder what Twilight's up to, probably by the fireplace relaxing after doing dick all…

Twilight POV

"This is so FRUSTRATING! This just can't be happening!" I scream inside of the main chamber as the avalanche of borrowed books held no relevant information at all! "Maybe if I read it upside down? No, that's stupid."

My magic pulls over the last book left I didn't open yet and look through its pages meticulously; examining every inch, every symbol, every dirty stain for any clues to what I'm looking for, but it never comes. I sigh as I slam my head onto the table in frustration. I spent all last week sending letters to other librarians to lend as much information they could and to their credit, they did with much enthusiasm after I explicitly claimed it was an emergency.

However, not a single book held any knowledge I was looking for, including the book in front of me now, making me toss it to the side and groan, "I don't understand! These are all the tomes I could scrounge from libraries all over Equestria about curses, hexes, and anything else I could think of, and not a single one of them has any information about this mark! That's just not possible! The curse is ancient and there should be more than just one source of knowledge! Something can't just exist for eons and nopony knows anything about it! Ugh!"

As I rub my temples, I slowly look over at the spot where my scaly assistant's designated spot, it's dreadfully empty making me sigh some more as it's been that way for a while. Normally this would be the part where he'd chip in words of encouragement in my time of need, like 'you shouldn't give up' or 'I'm sure you it's right around the corner!'.

It seems the days of Spike's comfort are days of the past…

"Spike…" I mutter the drakes name with annoyance as I recall our morning argument.

The day began like any other really, I awoke to begin my morning routine throughout the library which included the grueling task of waking Charlie up for the day. He protests in drowsy insults every morning, which is no surprise whatsoever considering how much of a night owl he's been lately, so I just assumed it would go like any other morning.

Me poking him for 20 minutes and eventually he gives up.

When I barged into his room and shouted to get up, I was more than surprised to see only a small lump that was indeed the dragon without any trace of the human at all making me wonder where he could have been at such an early hour. My confusion was only granted for a small amount of time as, unfortunately, my shouting woke the dragon, and he didn't take it well at all.

Had I known how bad that argument would have been I'd have just slept in for the day…

Spike laid into me in the likes I hadn't seen before. We've been arguing left and right, sure, but not like that. He actually spit fire at me at one point which he'd never done before, when we got exceptionally heated, excuse the pun. We went at it for some time and quite loudly, I may add. Loud enough for a disheveled looking Charlie to charge in from downstairs and swipe the dragon away from me before I could be turned to ash, or he burns down the library.

He gave us a single disgusted look, walked away with the drake tucked under his arm, and without a word headed to Rarity's. Elation was the feeling I'd describe when the dragon was no longer my problem despite my trepidations of Spike being alone with the human for so long. At the very least, I didn't have to deal with him for today so I'll take what I can get.

As for Spike's behavior, he's been getting more and more curt since our fight in the classroom and it's only getting worse. Much worse, in fact. He turns everything into an argument now, even something as simple as saying hello seems to him sets him off and then we kick and shout until we're blue in the face.

I know I do that with Charlie already, but I expect that from him, not Spike. Charlie's entire personality is to be difficult, so he just gets used to it after a while, especially since he's been like that since I met him. The human is also much more laid back in terms of our arguments compared to the dragon as he doesn't really take anything I say seriously. Instead of quarreling with me, he just kinda ruffles my feathers instead of actually being malicious.

I'd even go as far to say that the human has been better company these last few days and saying that in itself is not something to scoff at.

I… kind of wish Charlie was here right now honestly. At least then I'd have somepony to bounce ideas off of, even if they're sarcastic ideas. It would be better than sitting here by myself or screaming at the moody baby dragon all night, that's for sure.

This is going to sound terrible to say, but I hope Spike doesn't come home today.

I really don't want to deal with him, not after the complete waste of a study session I had. The day of research yielded absolutely no fruit at all and it's so infuriating! I sorted through an anthropology of tomes for nothing! I cleared my whole schedule and even canceled very important meetings I had set up weeks ago for nothing!

"AND WORST OF ALL I DIDN'T EVEN LEARN ANYTHING!" I collapse onto the table and look over at Star Swirl's book which was open to a drawing of the mark, the only example of anything relating to it I've found, "I just don't get it! I understand that it's a close guarded secret of the Princesses, but there has to be something! Some kind of clue or secret code or, or… I DON'T KNOW SOMETHING!"

In my desperation, I even tried asking Princess Celestia to allow me access to the restricted section to do further research, unsurprisingly however, she denied my request and quite rudely as well I'll say. She was rather terse about the subject of the mark, even though I explained what happened with Charlie in the kitchen and how much danger he was in, but she didn't seem to really share my concerns. She even went as far as treating me like a foal again, saying I was just being a worrywart for nothing and that she was well aware of the events that had already transpired and that it was being handled.

'Like hell it's being handled!' was what I'm going to paraphrase when I told Charlie about it. It was a lot more vulgar, but I'm just going to assume you already knew that and let your imagination go wild. I shake my head once more and stare upon the absurd number of tomes, scrolls, books, and encyclopedia's. There are even foal books in here…

As I said, I was desperate.

"It's almost like somepony tried erasing any evidence of the curse from existence!" Looking over at one of the books in particular, I grimace at the sight, "The same could be said about this Ensemble character too…"

I sigh as I pick up the only ancient biography I could find on the composer and even then, there wasn't much in it if I'm being honest. The cover held the image of a variety of different musical symbols I wasn't very privy to and it seemed to form a heart out of them. In the center of this heart was a music box with intricate designs carved into it. I look at the title and grimace.

Ensemble of Canterlot…

Apparently, he was quite the musician in his hay day at the capital city, but seemed to have fallen into irrelevancy sometime after Princess Luna's banishment as I've never heard of him or his music, but the strangest part is it seems he was not something to scoff at. If there was an instrument that existed, he knew how to play it masterfully and even revolutionized how we write and listen to music today. Ensemble also had a plethora of symphonies under his belt if this book is anything to go by. Ponies from around the world would come to see him conduct his music, even pulling foreigners from other nations to visit just to have the chance to witness it.

What I don't understand is how somepony with that high of stature can just not exist. History moves on, that I can understand, but how can he be that famous and just never exist. I think the weirdest thing is the book just ends abruptly, like it was never finished. I was reading about how the Princesses started seeking him out for private showings after they enjoyed one of his concerts and then nothing. The next page was quite literally blank, like the words were just taken somehow.

Who writes a Biography, doesn't finish it, and still get it published?

I guess shouldn't be too worked up over it considering it was just a shot in the dark in terms of helping Charlie. I thought that maybe if I could get more insight of how he got the mark I could figure something out for my angry friend. Any information about the composer would've been welcomed at this point…

"Especially information about his-" I shake my head at the thought of how his end came, not even wanting to imagine it. "Burning your self alive… Just how desperate could he have been to do such a thing?"

I shudder at the thought of his own immolation and brush it aside as I levitate another book, I finished hours prior to see if I could find anything new, however, all this did was topple the mountain of books to fall down and knocks me to the floor, covering me head to hoof.

"I just can't catch a break…" I mutter as I lay their motionless and this causes me to pout further, "Great, now I sound like Charlie."

As I sulked on the floor, the main entrance suddenly slammed open hurriedly and shut with a bang. This made me wince as there's only one stallion it could have been at this hour, and he sounded none too happy either. I poke my head up out of the pile to see Charlie leaning against the now shut door looking down at his feet as he breathes a sigh of relief before taking off his trusted quilt and hanging it on a hat hook nearby somewhat tiredly.

He places a hand on the wall like he was about to fall over and yells, "Fuck! This is some bullshit! Busting my ass every fuckin' day for that cunt. I thought Spike following me around all day was already fuckin' terrible, but now I've got to watch her sister? I'll be babysitting the whole fuckin' town at this rate. Maybe if I ate a wandering foal no one would ask me to do it again…" He muses to himself as he walks in and his eyebrows shoot up upon seeing the library in tatters from my studies, "Holy shit! What the fuck happened in here?"

"I happened…" I moan making him jump in surprise, I guess he couldn't see me with the combined knowledge of Equestria burying me alive. He blinks and walks around the table seeing me laid out on the floor.

His face falls into amusement and snorts, "Rough day, dork?"

I give a small laugh as I sit up, feeling some of the books fall to the floor, "Something like that," I look up at him and then past his legs, looking for his scaly companion, "Where's Spike? Is he not with you?" He blinks and gives me a blank stare, "Charlie?"

He shakes his head like he didn't hear me, "What? Oh! Oh, yeah, he wanted to stay at Rarity's which fuckin' works for me, I'm at my wits end with that walking cum rag."

My ears raise up at the news that he won't be returning tonight causing me to relax some, "That makes two of us, Charlie, he really is getting worse."

He rolls his eyes as he kicks one of the books in front of him, "Well, maybe if you fuckin' apologized for whatever the fuck you did to him, then you wouldn't be in this mess, shit-fer-brains."

Letting out an exhausted sigh, I sit up out of the pile letting the books tumble around me, "I already tried, but he doesn't want to listen to me. He thinks I'm lying…"

"And are you?" Before I could answer he follows up immediately with another question, "What the fuck did you do to him anyways? I've never seen him actually hate your guts before so whatever it is, it must have been quite the showstopper."

I blink at his comment and my face falls some, "He… He said he hates me?"

He groans at my reaction, "Oh Jesus Chr- No, he didn't exactly say that, but he's fuckin' livid with ya is what I meant dammit, so don't start crying you fuck."

I sniffle and look up at his tattered mane covered head, "Yeah… I kinda figured that out already." I feel myself slump down again on top of a cushion of pages, "What am I going to do, Charlie?"

He just shrugs, "Just buy him some fuckin' sweets, I don't know," he kicks a bunch of opened books out of a seat nearby and sits down, "Or maybe ask Rarity to blow him or something. That'll make him 180 on ya for fuckin' sure if he finds out you arranged that for him. Hell, he might even start sniffing your underwear for a change."

I chuckle some at his crassness, "I really doubt Rarity would ever agree to that, Charlie."

He shrugs again, "Then dress up as Rarity and rim job him yourself. I'm sure that there's tons of books in here that will show you step by step how to preform fellatio with enthusiasm. Here, I'll even give you a pointer, free of charge! If you go along with it, just make sure you swallow every drop when he's done and then tell him how big he-OW!" His lewd tangent was cut off as I launched a book at his torso, "What did I do?"

"You didn't stop four sentences ago…" I shake my head consigned to the fact that I'm stuck living with a creature who doesn't have any clue what shame is. "And besides, I'm not doing that."

He rubs the spot where the book hit him and sighs, "And here I was thinking that you getting some good dick might mellow you the fuck out and you can actually enjoy yourself for a change…"

I feel my face scrunch, "I enjoy myself…"

He actually busts laughing, "The fuck you do! You just sit in this cold, empty fuckin' library all goddamn day and stare at words when you could be out with your fuck buddies or something."

I quirk an eyebrow at him, "Just sit in a library all day? Are we talking about me or you?" He opens his mouth to give me a rebuttal, but it snaps shut as it seems I finally won an exchange. "Exactly, and besides I enjoy the library; it's peaceful."

He snorts and motions towards the mess, "You call this fuckin' peaceful? Looks like a migraine to me…" He ganders around the table and crosses his arms, "Holy fuck, dude, how many books were you even reading?" He mutters to himself as he bends down to pick one up. "You must have been here all fuckin' day."

"Yeah, I was, and I didn't read enough apparently, given I didn't find anything I was looking for," I rub the back of my sore neck as I sit up off the floor and look at the mess, I know I'm gonna have to clean by myself, "You never realize just how much help an assistant does for you until he isn't there anymore." He hums in response while he stands and starts scooping up books placing them in neat piles making me stare at him strangely, "What are you doing?"

He pauses with his hands full and looks over, "I'm fuckin' cleaning this shit before you ask me to. Why? Do you want me to burn them instead? It is kinda chilly in here." he holds one book up and shakes it to exemplify his point.

"Wha-no!" I shake my head, "It's just, you've never helped without me ordering you around."

He sighs and continues stacking the books by where I was sitting, "I'm just skipping the fuckin' semantics, Twilight. This is how this would've gone down if I just sat here: You would of asked me to help you clean and I'd say no obviously, we'd then argue for like an hour getting absolutely nowhere, and then eventually I'd give in because you're an unrelenting force of nature who won't stop nagging me until I've finally thrown myself off a cliff."

I roll my eyes, "Charlie, I nag you because there's no pony else to keep you in line. Who's gonna be able to yell at you to brush your teeth without me?" I poke him in his side, "And by the way, dying won't stop me from bossing you around… I'll just visit your grave and preform seance." I say smugly.

He pauses and I see his lips purse, "Dead's overrated anyways…" He mutters making me cock a head at him.

For some odd reason, I get the feeling that sentence had a double meaning that was lost on me. Just as I was about to question him about it, but before I could he starts muttering to himself like a madpony.

"Who fuckin' knew landing in horse land would get me to clean all the fuckin time. That seems to be all I do now is clean after other peoples shit and I can't fuckin' stand it. Well, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised I'd be doing that shit here considering that was pretty much my job at home. All the fuckin' time I was called to fix shit, but I guess that's what paid the bills. Well Bill's bills, that is. Besides, putting out fires was my bread and butter. Someone hasn't been paying their dues lately? Call Charlie to bring a baseball bat. A fed van is snooping around Casper's again? Call Charlie to throw a molotov at it while one of em takes a piss. Pee Wee got his fat fuckin' hand stuck in the pickle jar again? Call fuckin' Charlie to find a hammer to bash his thick skull in with it. The fuck do I look like? The CEO of Janitors R' Us? Give me a fuckin' break."

Is he-Is he talking to me? No, he's talking to himself… What?

I blink again and watch as he continues to clean, "Are you feeling okay, Charlie?"

He pauses when he as I ask and he turns to me, "I'm fuckin' fine, Twilight, why is everyone asking me that?" A glare forms on his face when he sees me staring in befuddlement, "You see something you like, sunshine? You're staring like I'm some kind of-" His eyes widen like he realized something, "I-I fuckin' said all that out loud again, didn't I? FUCK! This is some bullshit!" He throws a book onto the floor making me cringe. "What the fuck, man! I get one little bump and that's it?! I lose my mind?"

I shake my head still confused, "Little bu-What are you talking about?"

He looks over at me and sighs as he rubs his forehead, "I… I hit my head when the anal sandwich known as Rarity asked me to do something outside and I've been kinda loose lipped since," He waves an uninterested hand at me, "It's fine, nothing to worry about, I'm sure it will resolve itself in the morning."

Gasping, I almost lunge at him, "Charlie, why didn't you tell me?! Brain injuries are serious!"

He glares at me like I was overacting, "I'm fuckin' fine! There's no need to be-WOAH!" Using my magic, I summon a chair from the corner of the room and force him to sit in it. "TWILIGHT WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Ignoring his blatant attempts to escape my magical grasp, I float over a medical book and open it to a specific page about cranium injuries and some questions regarding a prognosis.

I begin to read, "'How to distinguish a minor head injury from a major one' here we go…

Charlie snarls at me as I get closer, "Let me go now and I might decide on not smothering you to death while you sleep!"

My eyes flick through the pages and I turn to him a moment, "The quicker you assist me in a diagnosis the quicker you can kill me. Does that sound fair?"

"As fair as a blackjack table, you used tampon."

"Good! Then you shouldn't have any problems with answering some questions then?" I walk around in front of him with the book still in view, "'Discover where the impact of the cranial injury occurred…'" I look up at his death stare, "Where did you hit your head?"

"Your sisters' cunt!"

I narrow my eyes, "I don't have a sister, now I'll ask again; where is the impact area?"

"You're really gonna do this, aint ya?" My unwavering expression makes him sigh as he lowers his head, "I hit the back of my head okay! Can I fuckin' go now?!"

"Back of the head you say…" I inquire.

Using my magic, I tilt his head slightly over so I can observe the area of impact as the book wanted me to do. Immediately I pause at the dried blood that had been slowly trickling down his neck and gaze upwards to the area. It looked bruised, but at least there's no visible bump. A typical sign of a moderate cranial concussion it seemed but let's not get too hasty. There are still more questions to ask.

I start reading from the medical textbook once more, "'Cranial injury prognosis question one: Do you have any signs of a headache or irratability?"

"You're the fuckin' headache, you fuckin' shit covered anal bead! OW!" He winces as he screams at me like his head was hurting.

"I'm just going to put those down as a yes…" I clear my throat and read the second question, "Are you suffering from any drowsiness or blurred vision?"

He answers by hocking a loogy at me and it lands square on my forehead.

I pause, slowly wiping it off, and nod my head in approval of my evaluation, "It seems your vision is unaffected, that's a good sign. Are you suffering from any hallucinations or items that don't appear to be real?"

He opens his mouth like he was going to insult me again, but it clamps shut giving me an answer, "What did you see, Charlie?"

He scoffs and looks away, "Celestia's scat video. That mares into some nasty shit, let me tell ya."

I look up from the book and I feel an annoyed look start to form, "Charlie, concussions are not something to joke about. If you saw something I need to know what it is so I can deduce if it is a part of the diagnosis."

His eyes flick over to me for a moment, "…I… saw someone who wasn't there right after I fell."

Nodding, I float over a clipboard and start taking note of everything I've learned so far, "Are you sure it was a hallucination? It might have been somepony who was trying to help."

"I'm pretty fuckin' sure, Twilight." He says curtly.

I feel my eyebrows knit together, "Why would you be-"

He explodes in anger cutting me off, "I saw a fuckin' dead man, okay?! Someone I used to know! So, unless you brought another asshole here and revived his cross-eyed fugly face from the dead, then I think you can check that symptom off the list, asshole!"

A silence overtakes us as his heavy breathing fills the air, creating tension that's thicker than butter.

He… saw someone who wasn't alive? That's not- Wait! Cross eyed? Not it can't be! The picture! The picture in his journal! The big fellow in the back! Was that who he was talking about? And he's dead? His cold glare makes me slump a little as I realize he was more than likely close to this mystery stallion, and I just rubbed his passing in his face.

"You got all your fuckin' answers now, Cunterella?!" He yells breaking me out of my thoughts.

It takes me a second to respond, but eventually nod as I look over my notes, "Yes, it seems you have a mild concussion which is thankfully treatable with my own magic. Hold still…"

Feeling horn power up with golden light, I cast the healing spell onto him, and he grunts as his body absorbs the magics. He grunts some in discomfort, but soon moans a little in pleasure as the magic does its job. When it's finished, I release him from my grip entirely and he sits there a moment moving his jaw around as if testing the waters, to see what has actually been done to him.

He stares at me with silent malice, "That spell could have been fuckin' useful when I looked like I was a fried egg a couple weeks ago…"

I sigh tiredly as I thought this argument had been settled days ago,"As I told you before, my magic stores were completely tapped out that entire week, Charlie, I couldn't. It just wasn't possible."

"Excuses…" He grumbles as he rubs his forehead.

Eventually he stands up, stretching his back, and breathes a sigh of relief as it seems the headache caused from the fall has dissipated. The relief doesn't stay long as he looks down at me with a glare and pushes me aside to continue cleaning without a word to me. It seems the reminder of that stallion soured his mood… Or soured it further, I mean.

My curiosity gets the better of me, "Charlie, was this pony someone you were close to?"

As he about to set down another pile he freezes and looks at me with eyes that made me want to disappear. I knew immediately that I made a mistake in asking and definitely shattered any trust I'd built up to this point.

"You fuckin' ask me that again, I'll scoop your eyeballs out with my fingernails." He says in a very cold voice making me flinch, "You need to fuck off with that shit. I thought we had an understanding; My business is my fuckin' own, Twilight, and that's that. You keep out of my shit, and I won't destroy you with my mind. Comprende?"

"I…" My voice dies in my throat as the question I want to ask is just too much, "I just want to know if you're doing okay. You're my friend and I care about you."

He sighs and deflates some, "I'm so fuckin' tired of you fuckin' ponies asking me that," he turns and glares at me again, but the stare is empty this time, "You all think I can't process shit on my own and that I need to be babied through every fuckin' minute of my life like I'm a fuckin' mental midget. It's infuriating. I'm an asshole, sure, but I'm not retarded. I can fuckin' take of myself like I always have."

I feel a small sad smile, "It's okay to need help sometimes, Charlie, even I need it on occasion."

"The only help you need is one in the form of a straitjacket! You and that pink blob thing that you claim is a pony!" He groans and raises a book over his head to be thrown at me, seeming to be pleased with my flinch, he continues, "I. Don't. Need. Your. Help. Now, with that out of the way, can you just fuck off somewhere else already so I can clean this shit in peace and fuckin' quiet?!"

"But I-"

"WAS LEAVING!" I open my mouth to return a response, but he cuts me off again, "NOOOW!"

"…Very well, Charlie…. good night." I walk away from the man and towards the entrance of the stairs to my room. I turn around one more time to see the human eyeing me, "I meant what I said, you know."

"About what?!" he growls as he clenches his fists.

I give a small smile, "That I do care about you…"

His face twitches some like he wasn't expecting to hear me say that again and pauses. Quickly shakes his head and he doesn't give me another word as he looks away from me with a sneer continuing his cleaning. No doubt hoping that I had my fill of digging him for today.

I am… For now, it seems.

Climbing up the steps up to my room I trip and almost stumble down the stairs, making me give a tired laugh, "Maybe Charlies right about one thing, I could definitely use some mellowing after the day I had…"

With that I head to bed for the night, completely oblivious that a certain dream giving Princess was listening to our conversation with growing concern.