Learning To Live

by Nekron Smauzog

A sensitive man was always trying his best to deal with life, whether his struggles with friendships or maintaining the best motives. Everything changes when he is supposedly killed in a deadly chase dealing with a dangerous criminal gang, and he appears in Equestria. What is his purpose there? But most to notice, why is he even there?

54. A Voice in the Dark - Part 1

A/N: Here it is at last! Another update for this story, and ready to go!

If you're wondering what has been going on with me; I'm in a lot of pain right now with the left side of my chest. Having coughed so much from a virus in my throat that got better, it's probably how it was made in the first place. It's just as painful as the bruised chest I got from seeing Gwar in the front row. Crazy, I know.

Meeting Nightwish was one of the best nights that I have ever experienced... period. I got to shake their hands, and even got them to have a picture I drew for them that was the members as ponies. (The fill-in drummer Kai really liked how his pony was the color red! xD) A fantastic night and I wish I could re-live it again! Black Sabbath's concert the night before was also really good as well.

In other news; Season 6 is starting next week Saturday and I am pretty excited to see Flurry Heart, the newborn of both Cadence and Shining Armor. Now some of you are wondering, will you do the Season 6 premiere 'The Crystalling'? Well, Brayden might not get involved but I will definitely give it a mention.

Alright, it's Review Response Time:

jvs12: Thank you. :) Glad you enjoyed it.

4theworldman: You're about to find out. All through Black Sabbath's show, it was fantastic! My father at the end of the show told me that Ozzy sounded off-key, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the show in the end. Can't wait to see them again, two days before my birthday in August.

Gto99: And you're about to find out what's going to happen now. ;)

Steve03: Anything can happen in Part 2. :)

Billykilly: I did feel a bit guilty myself for having Brayden yell at Starlight after all the commotion that he had gone through with the horrors of what could have been. I'm pretty excited for the next Deadpool movie, and I am glad you enjoyed it as well.

raven 2012: Here you go! :)

rd24: Thank you. You never know what will happen.

superstar 163: Not really, it'll be a completely different organization that is original.

ghostbusters fan: I'm serious about it. The third Equestria Girls is canon but Brayden doesn't go to the mirror world to experience it. But you never know, something could happen at the end of Part 2.

Sleestack: She is a human with dragon blood that... wait I'm not going to spoil it! ;) If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise!

vampire slayer: Besides Twilight and Coco, Brayden is allowed to love two other mare, thus making it four in total.

the master: I picture his actor being... JOHN CENA! *cue the John Cena theme* Haha, just kidding. But with all due respect I don't even know. :P

Gummy bear 345: No I haven't. I might check it out though. I still remember seeing Cloverfield in theatres when it came out by very early 2008.

Meg: Yes, the biker Khaln will in a future chapter. I will not spoil, but others I have planned involve Trixie, the return of King Sombra, an attack on Appleloosa and a surprise before and after the Earth visit chapters. Plus at least three friends to Brayden from Earth will be coming to Equestria by the time those are done.

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Ugh... I feel terrible this morning...

My alarm clock had rung out from all of the silence after having dealt with a whole night of trying to sleep. All that kept my mind awake though was all the voices of all those past memories I've gone through, keeping me angry from the events that occurred yesterday. I only let out an annoyed groan, slamming my hand onto the top of my alarm to turn it off.

I begin to slip out of bed, treading over towards my wardrobe to grab a pair of jeans and another shirt in the color of an orange-red mixture, as well as a random pair of socks from the pull-out drawer to slip onto my bare feet. After getting dressed for the new day ahead, I turn around to quickly make my bed.

Sure it would end up looking a little bit of a mess when I quickly make it, but I'm pretty sure that Fluttershy won't mind if it is like that...

Turning to my bedroom door and moving forward, I open up the door, moving past under the arch and closing the door shut behind me. As pissed as I am feeling right now, I don't want to give it away to Fluttershy that I am in that bad mood. Last thing she'd want if for her to ask me why I look so upset. I mean, I don't want to raise my voice at her.

I begin making my way downstairs, hearing the sounds from the kitchen as I proceed downward to the living room. I figure that its probably her just starting up breakfast for both her and myself. Hmm, might have to tell her that I'll go and grab some breakfast at the Sugarcube Corner instead this morning. I just hope I don't disappoint her in some way, cause it would pain me to see her like that when I tell her those news.

At the end of the steps, I can see a part of the kitchen wall from past the open arch, bright from the window by which the sunlight came shining through. Taking my feet off from the stairs' last step, I set forward to take a look at the full view of the kitchen. There's Fluttershy like usual, making breakfast while the window shines the warm golden rays of Celestia's sun into the room and practically the entire cottage.

She doesn't seem to notice me just yet, but with her head turned to the stove she's probably busy just making some pancakes by the sizzling sounds from the frying pan on top of the stove as well as the scraping of the spatula each time she goes to flip each side of the pancakes to give them a crisp, yet delicious golden brown tint to their color.

My right foot steps first onto the kitchen floor, sounding off in a quiet, yet muffled way. "Morning Fluttershy." I opened my mouth to say something to her in the silence besides the sounds of her small animal friends chitter-chattering in the living room.

She turns after having heard the sound of my voice welcoming her each morning like every other morning that I have said hello to her. A bright smile is upon her face when she giggled, her cyan eyes staring right at my own brown eyes. "Good morning to you Brayden! Did you sl-" She paused for a moment, only looking at my face for a few moments when the happy expression on her face changed and began looking a little concerned. "Um, is everything okay Brayden? You seem a bit... angry."

"Look, I'm fine. I just only had a bit of trouble falling asleep last night." I said to her, knowing that I had to brush this off or my anger was going to take a rise out at her.

"But why would you have trouble sleeping though? As I know, I usually find you fast asleep like a rock on most other nights... it might be rare for something like this to happen." She questioned once again, changing the flow of it into a bit of a statement.

"It's rather complicated to tell you this, so I'd like to not talk about it," I told her, keeping the anger from swelling up within. "Anyways, I just wanted to come down to inform you that I'm not going to have breakfast here this morning. I'll be having some over at the Sugarcube Corner."

"Breakfast at the Sugarcube Corner?" Her soft voice sounds rather curious when hearing my decision. "I understand they serve breakfast items there each morning before their regular menu listings for the afternoon and evening, but why go there for breakfast?"

"It's... it's not that I don't want to eat breakfast with you, I just thought that I should have a bit of time to myself to think for a while to, get things over through my mind."

"Are you sure?" She has an offering tone in her voice when her mouth grasped onto the spatula once again, scooping out the pancakes on a big white ceramic plate itself. She takes the spatula out of her mouth and continues. "Maybe you could have just one pancake? Two perhaps?"

"No can do," I responded to her offer. "But there's always next time, okay?"

"I see..." Fluttershy says to me with a bit of understanding, but still sounds a bit disappointed. "I'll save your pancakes for leftover lunch later today, if that's okay with you."

I am able to put a small smile upon my face when her voice told me she could do that, by my approval. "Of course Flutters, I might be back a little later anyway to eat lunch. Storing it away as leftovers for lunch will be fantastic." I said to her.

Fluttershy nods in contrast to what I said to her, taking a few pancakes from the big plate onto a more modern-sized wooden plate that usually she had in her kitchen cabinets. "I'm only a bit surprised Brayden. I didn't expect that you would want to have breakfast at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie would be so happy to see you visiting again."

"Can't forget about Sonata either." I responded with the realization that she forgot my other friend for a moment there.

"Oh right! I almost didn't think about her, my apologies Brayden."

I could only chuckle and say "It's not a problem at all."

"Anyways, have a good breakfast at the Sugarcube Corner. Let me know what is going on with Pinkie Pie when you come back for lunch this afternoon." Fluttershy takes the big plate of three golden-brown pancakes she left for me when she thought I was originally going to have breakfast with her like usual. She moves towards the pantry of food whether left-over or not, opening it and placing it inside.

"I will, and I do hope your morning goes well." I told her, keeping a warm smile on my face that kept the anger away for now as long as everything was kept in the flow of the peace from my closest friend. However it will not last because as soon as I leave the cottage, I know the anger will come right back to me immediately and I'll be in that foul mood again.

I turn around, heading out of the kitchen and into the living room to put on my boots. Even if my anger will start rising again, I can't let that kind of worry rise within my thoughts. I got down onto the mat, taking my boots and slipping them onto my feet and tying the laces afterwards. Once they're on and tied individually to my own comfort, I get up off of the mat onto the both of my feet again, taking my coat off of the coat hanger.

I walk forward towards the front door while I am slipping my coat on, and this time because winter season is close, it's a coat that is meant specifically for winter. If I know her, Rarity also supported in making this for me as seeing that I am human and practically the only human so far in all of Equestria. I don't exactly have a coat like everypony else, and it would devastate my friends to see me freezing in the winter chill without warm clothing like these. With these support from my unicorn friend, it is no doubt Rarity is one of my favorite friends to have good conversation with.

My left hand reached forward, taking and twisting the golden knob of the front door to open it up. Already, I can feel the cool breeze of autumn's last stand as soon as I began taking those steps into the outdoors of Equestria once again. Made sure on my way out that my right hand was gripping onto the knob on the opposite side of the door to close it shut once again. From there, I make my way down the small hill the cottage rests upon, crossing the small bridge and then moving right onto the dirt trail, headed left for the town of Ponyville.

Immediately as I have predicted from stepping outside the cottage, I can feel the anger inside of me begin to spread into my mind once again. A few of the animals seen placing the last of the food they found into the tree trunks they'll be hibernating in, turn to see my face that had been calm for the last two or three minutes. By how angry I look, I don't think they want to cross into my path.

A few fillies and colts from the Ponyville School are galloping right past me from my left side, probably making their way to get to school early for class like there was something important going on at the time like a special guest speaker that Cheerilee might have invited... like a celebrity.

I swear though... I'm walking so fast along the trail of dry dirt that I probably don't even notice that I am getting much closer to Ponyville than I think. Only very few birds within the vicinity of the lined up forest on both sides, can be heard chirping a high-pitched song. I could see the stone bridge gaping over the small river that separated between the green valleys of Equestria and the town of Ponyville, with the shadow of Canterlot high above on the side of the mountain that overlooks the village below if you were up there.

From this approaching distance of the stone bridge, I can see the usual familiar faces that I always see while I make my way to start crossing onto the stable stone platform into town. There's Caramel and Sassaflash trotting together and talking with one another, and that's how I recognize them because from what both myself and all of Ponyville is aware, those two are dating.

There's Berry Punch approaching one of the open vendors selling bottles of varied fruit drinks in what seem to look like wine bottles. I don't really converse with her too much, other than to briefly say hello to her but my guess is that she is normally referred in Earth terms as a 'town drunk' though that term is probably different here in Equestria. Well, she does look completely sober to me, so it's all that matters.

Having crossed the stone bridge and passed a few buildings, I've had a few of the ponyfolk waving and saying hello to me. I'm not too sure how to respond to them, especially after they looked concerned when seeing that angry look upon my face. There's Lyra and Bon Bon sitting on the usual bench, and the smile upon Lyra herself as soon as I come into view. She appears to be waving her right front hoof from there in greeting.

She only paused there after waving when I came a little closer, not to face her but for her to see how angry I was without even looking at her. I don't think she has any idea that I'm on my way to get breakfast from the Sugarcube Corner already. She gets off of the bench, leaving Bon Bon to sit there while she trots over to greet me... ugh, I don't want a greeting right now.

"Hey Brayden," She says with a smile on her face. I can only guess that smile is to keep her hopes high that I'm not mad at her. "Lookin' a little bit of a grouch today I can see."

"Lyra, I'm not in the mood to say hello this morning." I responded to her, sounding a bit harsh from the tone of my voice.

"Why do you say that? You're always happy to say hello back to me."

"I had a nasty time sleeping last night, and all I just request is to give me some time to myself alright?" I gave off with a bit of a rude, but yet tired essence to my tone as I speak with her.

Lyra looks a bit surprised when she heard that tone in my voice. "Well somepony's being quite a grumpy pants this morning." She said, her eyes kind of almost forming a look to show she was only a little disappointed.

"I'm not being a grumpy pants... I just only wish just once for today that I could be left alone so I can have privacy to 'myself' so its all I'm asking."

As I continue walking, I am aware that she is trotting beside me on the right. I can feel as her left front hoof is placed on top of my right hand, and I turn to look at her. "Look Brayden... the reason I'm concerned why you look to be so mad... okay I understand you're also coming off a bit rude this morning, no offense. Why I'm concerned about you, is because I'm your friend and I care about you." She tells me, sounding a little worried and even the look of her eyes gave that expression off.

"I know you're my friend, and even then I would go out to protect each and everypony that I could meet, and keep harm from coming to them," I said to her, looking at her brilliant gamboge eyes. "Any that tried to hurt you or anypony else wouldn't want to try messing with me for that matter."

Her mouth was able to form a small smile once again. "It's why you have the Song of Order on you after all. Celestia assigned to you as the paladin of Equestria after all, and besides that Timberwolf incident during Nightmare Night everything around Ponyville has been peaceful without any sign of trouble."

"I still wonder how in the wide world of Equestria that a Timberwolf King was able to leave the Everfree Forest and just wander off into Ponyville? I mean, after hearing that Applejack was in the square during its attack, I was surprised that nopony warned her about those beasts and I had to help her out because if I wasn't there she would've been killed."

"Neither I know how such a terrible creature would get into Ponyville like that either. It's a mystery to all of us." Lyra confessed.

I could only exhale an audible sigh for her ears to pick up, turning my head back in a straight direction toward the distant, yet visible Sugarcube Corner from across Ponyville's streets. "Look, I appreciate that you've decided to come along beside me. I really do, but I think you're keeping our other friend Bon Bon waiting." I told her. I stop walking for a moment and turn in the other direction to see what my other friend on the bench was up to.

Bon Bon seems to look a bit impatient like usual when it came to Lyra taking a bit of a long time to talk with me when I was in my friendliest of moods. But at this moment from the hard night, she knows I do look a little bit pissed. Not wanting to push any other buttons, Lyra turns her head and her gamboge eyes to look at her friend seated on their trademark bench.

"I know! I'm coming!" Lyra calls with an annoyed tone in her voice, to Bon Bon who still is seated but rolling her eyes at this typical type of activity to stop me while I was moving along the way to get where I needed to go. She turns back quickly to look at me. "I really have to get going, Bon Bon's already getting impatient."

Inside, I'm doing my absolute best to contain all of my anger inside and try not to release it. "Sure... enjoy your day..." I said, knowing I said held that kind of attitude.

Lyra doesn't really respond to my answer, but nevertheless understood the words that I told her. She turns once more, trotting at a fast pace to get back to joining Bon Bon in another good friendly conversation like usual. Me? I continue forward towards the Sugarcube Corner for which I have got much closer while I was distracted and chatting with my friend.

The Sugarcube Corner in the early morn doesn't look busy at all, as it was just opening up by the looks of it for the day. I move closer towards the shop, my feet treading up the two wooden steps and then the both of my hands reaching out and pushing the both of the swinging doors lightly to enter inside.

The shop looks like it just opened up as I thought precisely. Near the round table on my right, sitting on the counter at the end of the room is three mouth-watering cakes ready to be sold to some lucky citizen of Ponyville who could be celebrating or buying it for a special occasion later that would make Pinkie Pie proud. The front counter even has smaller versions of cakes lined up on top for decoration.

Hmmm... oh yeah! I can remember that Sonata was helping out Pinkie in the Sugarcube's kitchen, so I can tell she was taking some real hard work and dedication to make them, judging by the look on the apron she had on yesterday from what I remember. I only chuckle to myself for a moment when I remember when she accidentally smudge a bit of loose cake frosting onto my previous shirt from yesterday. No need to worry about that shirt though, I made sure to change when I got home from Twilight's castle. Laundry day yesterday also explained changing into a new shirt as well.

From behind the counter, I can see that familiar reformed siren behind just checking the rest of the products being sold. Well, I couldn't just stand there at the end there at the front door. I move forward, approaching the counter by the bit register for her to notice I was there.

The kitchen's swinging doors are pushed open and from out of the kitchen is Mrs. Cake, carrying two or three boxes of cakes on her back, probably storing it in one of the freezers behind the counter to keep it cool and fresh. Sonata doesn't seem to still have noticed me quite yet, but Mrs. Cake is the first to turn her eye onto.

"Good morning Brayden!" She greets me with a happy, welcoming tone in her voice. "I didn't expect that you would be here this early."

"Of course..." I said to her, knowing that this was quite obvious that even Fluttershy was thinking the same as well. "I'm not too sure why, but I decided to get some breakfast from here this morning instead of Fluttershy's, where I am residing and have been since."

"Well, I won't tell you what to do then, but welcome!" She says to me, sounding more than obliged to wait until I made an order for the morning schedule.

I can hear a giggle from Sonata below, to which I look down at her raspberry colored eyes staring right back at my own brown eyes. "Morning Brayden!" She only greeted for a moment until she noticed a bit of the somewhat angered look on my face. "Uhhh... Brayden, is something up that's got you, err, grumpy?"

I can only shake my head to her question. "Nothing is making me grumpy. I've only had a long rough night from trying to get to sleep." I assure her and though I look tired, I had to keep that definite tone in my voice to ensure that all was fine. Crap... I can't believe I just lied to her there...

"I see," Sonata answered with that concern still in her voice. "So what can me and Mrs. Cake do for you? If you're looking for Pinkie, she's upstairs and will be down momentarily. Maybe you want to order some breakfast?"

"Breakfast here is what I came for, obviously." I said to her.

Sonata nods her head in understanding and after having checked the products made fresh from the kitchen, gets up onto her four hooves near the bit register. "So what can I get for you?" She asked me.

"I'll just order the usual cinnamon bun with frost glazing." I said, rolling out the two golden bits from my left pocket and ready to pay for breakfast.

"Of course, it's two bits by the way." She informs me as if I didn't know the pricing.

"I know," I said to her, placing the bits onto the table. One of the two rolls in a bit of a small circle before landing flat on the counter. "I've ordered this kind of treat just yerterday, so I am quite aware Sonata."

She takes the golden bits off from the counter, storing it inside of the bit register. My eyes can only watch as she turns to the back of the counter, lowering downward after taking a dry napkin of white to cover one of the cinnamon buns, freshly made from the oven. The first bun in the napkin is the one on display all in the back from my perspective while she takes it, getting on her four hooves and placing it out onto the counter for me to take.

"Hey, thanks." I respond to her. My right hand takes the napkin-wrapped cinnamon bun, opening it up for me to smell the freshness and the saliva building up within my mouth from even looking at these favorite foods.

Clearly there, I have a bit of a sweet tooth addiction... but even I have my limits on when its okay to eat these kind of stuff. Fluttershy would be proud to know that I eat vegetables, but even then I haven't told her about my purpose of being an omnivore. I think only when the time is right, I'll tell her then about the fact of me eating 'meat' including everypony else. Not sure how Rarity will react once I tell her about my omnivore counterpart being that to eating meat, but I'm pretty sure she'll be a bit disgusted.

"How's everything going for you Brayden besides this morning?" I can hear Mrs. Cake asking me while she is stocking some empty cake boxes on one of the shelves, high above the counter behind the usual display glass counter.

"Doing good," I told her, and I feel like I'm rushing this a bit as my anger inside is pulsating once more... probably an annoyance there. "So far, me and Twilight were on a bit of adventure in time. Other than that, me and her have been going out on a few dates together. It sometimes can be at her place, or we'd be out and about in Ponyville to have dinner together or have a stroll beside one another."

"I have seen both of you out one night, probably sometime during the summer if I can remember..." She paused for a moment, trying to recall that specific memory of catching me and Twilight dating. "I don't remember too much, only remembered watching you pass along with her in your arms."

I look a bit surprised myself when Mrs. Cake told me that. "That actually was when it was the first date she went out with me with."

"Now I suppose everypony who's seen you dating her will question if you're going to propose marriage to her. That would make the sweetest night for her."

When she brought up the ideals of proposal and marriage, I rose my left hand to signal the situation to be calmer. "Whoa there, as much as I do want to marry her... I need to give my relationship with Twilight a little bit more time before I make a decision." I informed her, remembering even the failed attempts of others trying to date me when I was back on Earth as a reminder.

"Oh... my apologies for asking then." She returned, and I can tell that she had only a small bit of regret in her voice for inquiring a question that's a bit personal at the moment.

"There's no need to apologize," I said to her. "It was only something personal to me, and you didn't know. It's perfectly alright." Inside myself, I'm not even sure how much longer I can contain the overwhelming amounts of anger fuming inside of me.

"Anyhoo, I do hope you enjoy your breakfast," Mrs. Cake told me, turning towards me with a bright smile upon her face. "Your friend Pinkie Pie is probably on her way downstairs right now, so she'll be quite surprised to see you here."

"Of course." I could only simply respond to her statement, turning in a different direction and walking towards the round table to have some breakfast.

At the end of the room, I take my seat among the many other empty seats by this table, being at the other side with all of the decorative cakes made from yesterday perhaps, to be sold away pretty soon. For now, nothing wrong to have them as decoration to show the purpose of the Sugarcube Corner after all. From my seat here at the end, I can actually have a good view of the majority of the shop so I can keep an eye out to make sure everything goes smooth and that no trouble arises.

I unwrap the cinnamon bun completely, taking a bite out of it to begin eating breakfast. My eyes are twitching only a little bit, as inside... I still try all that I can to contain the anger within, starting to snap at the mental strings inside of my head, breaking my sanity one at a time. The fury is like a bubble, bound to pop at any given moment that it can.

I can only hear the sound of the sharp ringing starting to appear from within my head, along with the voices of all those who have given me trouble in my past. The pain inflicted from the anger... it's too great for me. I don't scream from this, but only a small yet quiet groan comes out of my mouth. The voices that teased me or put me down... so much for me to tolerate and even I could believe this at all. I had to bottle up somehow though...

"Hi!"

The sound of my close friend Pinkie Pie seems to have halted the sharp ringing in my ears, as well as those teasing voices of the past for now. Yes, I meant that it was for now because at any moment, it could get loose and then I'd really let out my anger onto everypony. It's something that I really don't want to do though.

I let out a bit of a tired-like groan from my mouth, as even my eyes look tired from that long night. "Morning to you Pinkie..."

"Gee Brayden, it doesn't look like you slept well last night." Pinkie starts trotting over towards me around the table, getting into the morning light of Celestia's sun above.

"Yeah yeah, I know that..." I sound a bit tired and with the enormous amounts of anger, I think I could hear a bit of annoyance in the tone of my voice. Pinkie herself, even looked a little shocked when I put that kind of tone into the sound.

"Wowza! You REALLY are grumpy this morning!" Pinkie is surprised, but puts a smile upon her own mouth. "Don't worry Brayden, whatever went on... your good friend Pinkie Pie is here to ensure you that everything is going to be a-okay later for your day! After all, everyday should be seen as a positive!"

"I'll take that into consideration..." I responded to her, taking another bite of my cinnamon bun laying there on the table, on top of the napkin.

"Soooo how's everything else going for you?" She says, those innocent and friendly cyan colored eyes of her, moving closer towards my face. I don't feel uncomfortable from this at all, as Pinkie always wants to know what's going on with everypony. Not at all in 'that' way, as she knows that I'm in two relationships by now. She is good enough with Cheese Sandwich after all, as they do have a lot in common.

A sigh is exhaled silently when she has asked me that question. "Everything else is doing okay... both myself and Twilight had to deal with something that went on at the castle yesterday. Something involving time travel and time loops, that sort of thing." I explained to her, taking another bite from my breakfast that I bought.

Pinkie looked like everything had gone a bit awkward for a few moments there. "Well, I was at the castle the same day like yesterday to deliver a random cake for apparently no reason. Probably something for her and Spike to celebrate I assume after that speech in Canterlot that same day too. I saw you come along with her, and I decided to follow behind with the cake, but I was moving much slower on that part because I didn't want to accidentally splatter the cake!"

"What a story Pinkie..." I said to her, only a small bit interested in hearing this and what other stories that actually happened were on her mind.

"It does explain why I have some singular cake deliveries on a metal trolley! And the point of that is for a single surprise for the guest alone, but again this was Twilight, and I was so sure that you guys would dig in as soon as you saw it. It's funny because I only remember watching you walk alongside Twilight into her castle. You guys were nowhere in the castle as soon as I checked every room to surprise you to my own dismay!"

"And?"

"And so, I figured to myself that you guys were in a hurry and disappeared before my own eyes. So I pretty much decided to eat the cake! You would've love the taste of the cake! It was made by both myself and Sonata days before that day. Pink cherry and strawberry mixture, your own personal favorite!"

"Oh really?" I questioned, taking another bite from the pastry my hand picked up from the napkin off the table. After having bitten off a piece, I place it right back onto the table and continue to listen.

"Of course!" She exclaimed. "After eating that cake all by myself, I clean it up from the map room and leave back to the Sugarcube Corner. Sonata was only a tad bit disappointed, but she knew she didn't want to bother you or Twilight, if time was being spent together in privacy. Well that is what she thought, but as soon as you brought up time travel I know the reason why you just disappeared!"

She continues to talk about what went on that day, only making a few giggles every once in a while. My ears are listening to what she has to say about the events that went on like the customer that Sonata had to deal with while Pinkie was in the kitchen, seeing how there was only a bit of a mix-up in the customer's order. Even after the mix-up, the customer didn't really know how to comment on it, pretty much saying that she would take the other order meant for another customer waiting to get it later. Thank goodness she came out from the kitchen on time to figure things out, as the customer was really patient enough but still confused.

She went on about how everything else was normal and what was going on with the Cakes running the Sugarcube Corner. But even I was starting to notice that something was wrong, as there was the feeling of the pain in my head once again. From my hearing, there is the sharp ringing screeching out in my ears once again. Dammit... it can't be happening... not now...

I place the both of my hands onto my head as soon as I could feel the pain worsen, letting out only a bit of a groan. My eyes can only pick up a bit of light from openings in my hands that weren't covered.

"Brayden, is everything okay?" I thought I heard Pinkie Pie ask me while the sharpness rang much more louder, so it was all that I could really decipher. I can feel her hoof touching my left arm, probably trying to make sure that I am alright and that this was worse than she thought about me being grumpy.

"Wimpy brat... Pest..."

No... those voices are back again, but unable to be held back anymore. They only get louder and louder, accompanied with the ringing and the pain that was breaking the strings of my mentality within. Each voice was repeating itself sometimes, saying something different.

"You little brat! You're a disgrace to this school! The world would appreciate it if you crawled in a hole and stayed there to rot!"

I can't even take it anymore... from among those voices that have caused me trouble for the past years on Earth, I thought I could hear my friend Rebecca.

"I'll never even think twice of falling under the spell of those shitty ponies, little douche like you shouldn't be deserving of a friend to me sometimes! Everything would be much better if you weren't such a pussy!"

From there... the final string in my head that have been holding all the anger I have been bottling up inside for the past 18 years since it all started as a three year old... all the pressure was too much for it, so the anger pretty much blew the nail in the coffin from it, severing the mentality from there... The voices grew silent, the pain I can no longer feel and the ringing gone dead... and I have no control on what was about to happen in the next moment...

I snapped...

My hands slam down onto the round table at a quick, alarming rate with a bit of a bang that startles Pinkie herself who was right next to me. I can't even see the expression upon my own face, but you could tell that I was pissed now. The both of my hands grip onto the table from underneath, giving out a full force that made the table fly off from the ground, landing upside down for a moment.

The cinnamon bun bits left over that I haven't ate yet, was on the round table by the time my hands flipped it, and it leaves only a small mess of bits squished onto the wooden planked floor. Though my ears couldn't pick it up big time, I only caught an audible gasp of shock from Pinkie right beside me as soon as I flipped the table, before my eyes turn to each chair, grabbing the closest one behind me.

"Brayden, what are you doing!" I could hear her shouting at me with a scared tone in her voice. But my ears are deaf to her question as my hands toss the chair towards one of the walls.

From there, I began making my move towards the cakes that were for decoration at the counter there, as my hands grip into the frosting to grab onto the one cake in front of me. Regardless, I wasn't afraid of getting my hands dirty... so it seems. I threw the cake behind me, making a mess everywhere in a small path from its skidding. "Stop, please!" I can hear Pinkie trying to beg me to calm down.

I can't calm down though, as I take another cake to toss, almost practically hitting her with it and yet I don't even notice this. "Oh my goodness!" I can hear Mrs. Cake shouting from across the room.

The last cake sitting on a glass plate is thrown right towards the other side of the room with another messy 'splat!' being sounded off, so my hand grips onto the plate that the cake has been sitting on, throwing it with force across the room to sound off a loud yet smash from there.

"Sonata, I need your help to pin him down!" I can hear Pinkie shouting behind me, while I go for the rest of the chairs that were positioned at the round table, proceeding to toss them in one single direction for each chair that I pick up with my now-messy hands from all of the cake that I was tossing.

I can hear the sound of hooves galloping, stopping and galloping again from the sides, out of my sight while going for another table and flipping it to make another mess from cupcakes, breaking more ceramic objects as well. I could find myself unable to control myself from all of this, but I began to make my move towards the glass counter at the other side of the shop.

"Please stop this!" Sonata shouts at me, standing before my eyes to prevent me from causing further destruction to the Sugarcube Corner. My ears are deaf to her as well, as with my aggression... I find myself bringing harm to her. My hands literally pushed her to the side forcefully, letting her fall to the floor.

She let out a bit of a surprising scream when I had pushed her out of the way. From the right side my ears can pick up the sound of galloping, but I am only looking straight ahead. I bend down for only a moment to scoop up a broken arm from a chair that I have tossed that had been smashed.

"NO BRAYDEN DON'T!" I can hear Mrs. Cake screaming at me, as I got up and approach the glass counter, ready to just about smash the glass in and make a worse wreckage out of all of it.

From behind the glass counter when I lift the arm of the broken chair to strike, I certainly did not expect Pinkie Pie to come flying out from behind it to pounce on me. Even her face was frightened at the same time when she jumped on me, knocking me down onto the wooden floor.

I want to get up somehow, but Pinkie's hooves are pinning the both of my arms to the floor to prevent me from causing damage. "Easy there Brayden! Easy!" Pinkie is saying to me, trying to keep the situation calm but still frightened from the way I am still acting right now, even as I am struggling to get up.

From there, my head only vibrates from the inside for a moment while my breathing is heavy especially during all of that... and then, my breathing just stops right there and my head just collapses onto the floor, with the vision's sight starting to fade to a slow black. I am unable to break anything anymore...

She was moved from my vision, but I can hear Pinkie gasp loudly in worry that caught my attention barely. I have all of a sudden, lost emotion with my sight turning to black until there was nothing but what seems to be a sleep for me...

I have lost control of everything... and I don't think I will... wake... no...

---

Twilight's POV

My, this book is so good yet so addicting to get into!

I'm laying on the couch in the study room with Spike just browsing his eyes into one of his comics like usual or either sorting his Wonderbolt figures when he wasn't too busy being my number one assistant. Even a baby dragon needs to have a bit of a break from working once in a while, so I'm sure he's alright with that.

You're probably wondering yourself what went on yesterday? Well, to tell you briefly... I end up finding myself with both Spike and Brayden in a time loop, caught with Starlight Glimmer herself who wanted revenge on me and my friends for the entire village fiasco. My words must have been able to convince her to give friendship a chance which she accepted after sharing a tragedy in her fillyhood.

Brayden though didn't look like he was going to fall for that truth she spoke. After my forgiveness to her, she's staying in the castle until I can figure out how to see that she is truely accepted by my special somepony. He seemed more angry than usual, and that is really unlike him at all. After going through alternate versions of Equestria like the Queen Chrysalis attacks or the Nightmare Moon reign in that time, he just lost it and yelled at her. I don't know why, but it looked like he wanted to do that as soon as we all got back to the original timeline.

Last that I was able to see Starlight this morning was when she was in the spare guest room across from the hall, sitting there by the window and observing everything that went on outside like the friendships that were forming that she could be a part of. She looks a little sad, probably trying to think it over especially when it will be a new beginning for her from the friendship she lost between her and Sunburst.

Spike is doing fantastic this morning. He's been helping me out after that long adventure yesterday, helping to clean the kitchen with me. Even as the Princess of Friendship, I took on the bigger tasks whilst he performs more smaller tasks that were within his reach like doing the dishes that haven't been clean since last night's supper.

Wait... I can hear the distant sound of the doors downstairs slamming a bit, and the sound afterwards is quiet, but it sounds like hooves trotting from downstairs. Hmm, pretty sure it's Derpy, the mailmare just rushing in some late mail from anywhere.

I don't take my eyes off from the pages of the book though, as I have found myself in a good part of Starswirl's history when he journeys into the heart of the isle Edonna as the Zebras have called it that for the majority of all of Equestria's time. History for this island even stretches as far back before the formation of a pre-Equestria. His quest being something to do with finding a lost book of transcriptions from ancient temples far back before even pre-Equestria in the first place.

According to Starswirl the Bearded, he made his discovery of three isles from close to the Breach which is located at the end of the North-East of Equus. The three islands are recognizable to anypony who has read their History well to know of them. Ert, Edonna and Evisica were the names of the three that I believe, but Starswirl also found a fourth isle past the three of them and close to the darkening void below.

This fourth island was unnamed and neither him nor I nor anypony else in Equestria know of this lost land hidden within the mists of the Breach. His documents suggested that the isle would be somewhere on the oldest map available to him. The only thing he found was a tear, that part of the map being lost in time... unable to reveal a name for him to know, like it was trying to be kept secret. Any other generic map of Equus only seems to show the three isles, so why not this particular isle? Could it be trying to hide something?

The sounds of hooves that were quiet continue on, taking my attention off from Starswirl's history book once again. By the sound of the galloping, I could tell that something would be wrong but again I could be mistaken. Derpy's probably in a big hurry to deliver the rest of her last packages or letters to the citizens throughout all of Ponyville. Even since the Golden Oaks Library had been destroyed by Lord Tirek, I only had to change the postal code so she would be able to deliver to the castle.

"Twilight! TWILIGHT!"

Pinkie Pie? By the sound of that voice I could tell that was her, but she sounded both distressed and really upset by the tone from it. Something's wrong by the sound of it and I know that I have to act upon this to find out what could be having her act this upset. I got onto the four of my hooves, getting off from the couch that I've been sitting on for some time. I start galloping out from the study room and begin making my way to the position of Pinkie in the halls.

She sounds like she is crying a little bit, which pumps more adrenaline into me while I was galloping. Whatever has happened with Pinkie, I'm pretty sure that I can do all that I can to help her out in this time of need. Even the sound of her sobbing must have caught the attention of Spike himself, who was following right behind me out of the study room.

There she is, tears flowing down from her eyes and with a recognizable figure unconscious and on her back. Wait... it's Brayden! I let out a bit of a worried gasp when I saw him lying on his back, looking unresponsive to anything or him not having knowledge of Pinkie carrying him.

"Pinkie, what happened?!" I find myself galloping towards both Pinkie and stopping there to place my hoof onto Brayden's left hand.

"It- it was horrifying!" Pinkie sobs, her eyes looking a bit red and puffy from the crying all the while she had been galloping to get here. "I don't know why it's happening right now! Brayden's not waking up! I can only remember that he just got so angry and started destroying stuff around the Sugarcube Corner... okay, the usual room he's always been. After I pinned him there on the ground from a pounce, I was trying to calm down, but he just falls unconscious! Me, Mr. and Mrs. Cake and Sonata have repeatedly tried to wake him up, but his eyes aren't opening up!"

"Great Celestia herself!" I can hear Spike coming right beside me when he exclaims that. "This is not good at all! I've heard of ponies going into comas, but this might be one we are talking about!"

"It's probably not a coma at all, but this might be a cause from all of the anger he has unleashed," I explained to both him and Pinkie. "Whatever he's been through back on Earth has only done much damage to keep it bottled up." I can only sigh and look at the sleeping special somepony of mine with a look of both worry and concern.

"We need to get him to a bed! It would be at least good for him to be a bit comfortable, especially when in this state." Spike makes a suggestion for me to consider.

Pinkie sniffles for a moment, taking out a tissue from nowhere to blow her nose. But if you think about it, Spike does prove a valid point. I can only do the right thing for him, channeling magic to my horn which covers him up to levitate him upwards off of Pinkie's back.

"I'll place him to rest in my bed. Even if he doesn't awaken immediately, I'll take some pre-cautions." I stated to her as I turn around, trotting at a very fast pace with Brayden above, sleeping while my magic carries him.

"Pre-cautions?" Spike asked.

"Getting into contact with both Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon immediately! If I know them both, they both share the abilities of entering dreams, but this could be an entire different scenario and they might have to resort to a different spell."

"B-But will Brayden be okay?" I turn my head after hearing Pinkie sniffle once again, saying it with a tone that was down in the dumps.

I stop at the beginning of the hallway my bedroom would be located, turning around to look at one of my best friends. Tears are still streaming down from her eyes as I approach her with a look of assurance that everything hopefully was going to be alright in the end. The sadness in her eyes, and the sniffles she made. It pains me even as a princess to see my best friend in this condition, and even I know that something will be worked out.

With a friendly and gentle approach, I lift my right front hoof and place it around her neck gently. She in return, placed the same hoof around mine, sharing a friendly hug together to both comfort my friend and give only a bit of hope for us.

"I Pinkie Promise that I will make sure Brayden's okay." I could only find myself to respond to her with those only words I can think of there.

Our hug lasts for a couple more seconds, but eventually I and Pinkie release from our hug. She still has a bit of tears crawling down her face, but she understood my Pinkie Promise completely when I motioned 'cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye'. But from the words I've said; where there is hope, there is always a way.

"I... I have to go back and clean up at the Sugarcube Corner..." Pinkie says, not really upset anymore, but sounding a bit depressed that even her poofy mane deflated a bit, not all the way but it was in a worrysome state on the condition of both a friend to us, but a special somepony to me in my heart. "Please help him..."

"I will..." I find myself responding to her, sharing almost the same tone of sadness that she had in her voice and her current mood.

Quickly, I had to get Brayden into bed so that I could figure out everything that could be from the aid of Princess Luna and Nightmare. My hooves trot once again, making my way down the hallway to get to the spiral room that I have always been sleeping in, and know that room was recognizable from when we were helping Princess Luna retrieve the Tantabus from our nightmares.

He hasn't even stirred awake to find himself leviatating from the magic emitting from my horn to my own surprise. My eyes can only not look at him, but more rather to the left as that is where my bedroom would be located. Straight ahead would only bring me onto the balcony with the sight of Ponyville and the distant Everfree Forest if I kept trotting forward.

My hooves approach my bedroom door, pushing it open with alert. My ears could hear a bit of a door creak from right behind me, and I know that it was Starlight Glimmer in that silence; unaware and wondering if everything was okay after hearing Pinkie crying down the hall.

I am lucky to have not let Brayden hit his head from the magic that I am channeling, as it would probably disturb him in his sleep or inflict a concussion... as even I don't want to end up in a situation where I hurt him by accident. My bed is on the side of the round wall by the window, and I trot forward with careful approach towards my bed.

With the magic in my horn still emitted, I carefully set Brayden on top of my bed before my magic settles down and the aura disappears around him. I didn't really want to put him under the covers for the pre-cautions of Luna and Nightmare's magic to release him from wherever his mind has gone off to... it couldn't be the dream realm itself as I would have seen his eyes twitch in sleep or the snoring. He just looks like he isn't eyes open or moving at all.

"Gee, I didn't know it would be this bad..." Spike tells me while he hops up onto the bed to examine my special somepony. My assistant crawls forward and places his ear onto the chest of his to listen in and hear if there is a heartbeat. Moments pass when he turns to look at me to give the news. "Well, his heart is still beating so that's good news."

A sigh of relief, but mild sadness comes into the tone of my voice while my ears flop down sadly. "I know... but I'm really worried about him right now on what's going on with him, and even if there's still a bit of hope; neither of us don't want to lose him." I can only find it in myself to get up onto the bed and move my head forward to gently nuzzle the side of his face, while I'm trying my best not to start crying at the state Brayden was in. "I don't want to lose him either..."

"Well, I've always got a scroll ready and able to go," I can hear my assistant saying while he gets off from my bed and stands there at the end of it, taking out a blank scroll with a quill blotched with ink at its tip. "Whenever you are ready, you can tell me."

"It's most urgent that I send a letter immediately to Princess Luna. I don't really want to have Celestia see these news, as even then... well, they have settled down about those news, but I don't want her too worried."

Spike still holds a concerned look upon his face, but has brought the quill close to the blank parchment, ready to start writing at any time that I have spoken. I stop nuzzling Brayden's cheek, getting up and off my bed and begin to pace slowly within my room; just like the times when I couldn't sleep. That kind of pacing allows me much time to think over what I could do that would be a helpful solution, and even then I have solved problems without pacing. I take in a bit of a breath before I began to speak for Spike to make that letter to the night princess.

"Dear Princess Luna,

This morning our best friend Pinkie Pie had come into the castle crying, and it is to when I have discovered that it is Brayden himself who was lying unconscious on her back. I can tell by the tone in her voice that something must have gone down at the Sugarcube Corner where she explained that he just became angry all of a sudden and was destroying everything. Pinkie managed to keep him still to prevent more damage; but he just falls unconscious.

We would be happy if you or Nightmare Moon could come to our aid; for this is a relative for you that has considered you a dear friend when you brought him here. We await your response, and hope you are available.

Princess Twilight Sparkle"

Once Spike was done, he rolls up the letter and prevents it from opening up by a red ribbon with a tag to signify its urgency to read immediately. He inhales a breath of air, releasing the green flame to encase the letter into a mist that goes flying off through the slightly opened window. I find my pacing come to a halt when I stopped at my bedside.

"Do you think she'll receive it?" I ask him.

Spike nods his head to my question. "Of course! The tag I placed on the ribbon lets them know that it must be read immediately."

My mind traces into my thoughts on what Fluttershy had told me after her visit to Canterlot to introduce Brayden to Celestia; I can recall that while the both of them were leaving the cottage and on the trail to Ponyville's train station, he just grew to look sad only for a few moments until she asked him what was wrong. He seemed to dismiss it though. Now I'm thinking: what if he had been bottling up his sadness and it only began to build up with anger to keep himself from breaking down?

Spike begins to walk by his two dragon feet towards the bedroom door. "Look, I'll go and get some tea from the kitchen. Maybe that'll cheer you up a little bit." He assures me, just about approaching the door and opening it up with his right dragon claw.

SLAM!

The door was thrown right open immediately without warning to Spike himself. At this moment, he must be a little smashed up from there behind the door and between the bedroom wall. Poor Spike, always ending up flying into the wall as usual whenever something urgent comes to us in dire need. Okay... it doesn't always happen all the time.

I figured that it was Princess Luna slamming the door right open, holding a mixture expression of worry and horror upon her face. Guess that letter Spike sent off to her had her coming straight to Ponyville as fast as her wings could carry her. From behind her, I can see Nightmare Moon whose facial expression is different. She seems to look upset by all of this, judging by the distress on her face.

"Where is Brayden?!" Luna cried out when she trots into the room. "Is my nephew alright?! Is he here?"

I trot backwards a few steps to reveal to her the inactive Brayden, resting there without even a breath coming out from him. The iris' in her eyes shrank at the sight of her seeing him there, galloping quickly over towards the bedside to look even further and to examine him.

After Nightmare Moon has followed her inside, I can hear the door creak for a moment to be closed shut by Spike who was sticking there to the wall. He pulls himself out and I can catching him murmuring to himself. "That happens to me sometimes too many..." I could hear him while his eyes turn to look at both Luna and Nightmare Moon, one at each side of the bed. At the right sided edge, I am joined alongside Princess Luna to continue figuring out what is wrong with our friend.

"Brayden... why?" I can hear Nightmare on the other side of the bed, moving her black hoof to the right hand of his, placing it on top of it. "I never saw it coming to him..."

Luna gets up onto the bed, channeling magic to her horn to begin what looks to be a bit of a scan to analyze his body and the activity from within his head; most likely the thoughts going on in his head. Moments pass while I am waiting patiently, but at the same time still worried.

When Luna's horn had lifted its aura from the spell she was casting, I turn to look at her. "Do we have any idea on what we could be dealing with, Luna?" I find myself asking her while her moderate cyan colored eyes turn to look at me. "Could this be a spell that somepony cast on him when we weren't paying attention at all, or that he was unaware about? Why would he just lose his cool?"

"I have analyzed him throughout, and there is no curses that one had given to him, not even in his head. Only I have been able to catch a dark glimpse from within his brain..." She stops for a moment to exhale a sigh before she continued. "This glimpse is all his anger that had been building up from within of all his past memories and it was probably the bad ones that affected him all too much. At first, he could have been sad and emotional; only for it to become too much to turn a new direction for his anger to come slipping in."

"It all doesn't make sense," I find myself saying with disbelief. "He wouldn't just simply bottle up his past like that. Even Sunset warned him that bottling it up could cause great damage, and he didn't pay full attention to that."

"I think he said that when he talks about his past, it would only build up more stress for him." I can hear Nightmare saying, still looking down at my special somepony. "The only conclusion was that he could only snap like that, leading him to unveiling all of it towards everything in that rage contained."

"But what is there we can do to wake him up?" Spike asks.

Nightmare could only shake her head. "We don't know. Even if he does manage to awaken by chance, there's no guarantee that he will not attack any of us."

I can only let out a soft sigh and pause myself for a moment. "If only there was some way that we could enter his mind and figure what was causing him to do this and why he was so angry for the past day."

"Twilight?" I can hear Nightmare Moon acknowledging me. I take my eyes off of the sleeping Brayden, and moving them to look at the black mare on the other side. "He was in that mood after finding out the truth, and I could only witness that such an event like that had almost happened here at the castle. He could only grab his head and find himself screaming as if something was trying... trying to manipulate him from the inside. I can sometimes hear those screams in my sleep."

"We're all worried about him Nightmare," I responded to her. "So you're not alone."

Luna had been silent the entire time, some expressions on her face of how I mentioned somehow travelling into Brayden's mind like it was trying to study ideas on how such a thing could work. "Princess Luna, do you have any thoughts on how we can help him?" I turn to look at her with question.

"Yes... I believe I do." Her hoof reached out for the other hand of her nephew, holding it. "Such a spell to travel into his mind does exist, but I can only put it into effect when it's night and the moon is out in the skies. It can allow two others to travel through the memories and such functions the brain can have."

"But Princess Luna," Nightmare said with only a bit of surprise when she told us this. "Such a spell like that could be dangerous as well! Celestia forbade that when it was a thousand years ago!"

"The thousand years have passed Nightmare, and this is my nephew. I cannot risk leaving him this way for his anger to build even further," Luna commented to her statement. "You will be joining alongside me to enter his mind and rid of the root that brings him downward into the deadly spiral."

After having listened, I feel like I want to go on ahead to stand up and join them as well for the journey within. "Yes," I respond to the both of them. "I'm in. I will join the two of you to purge the anger and-"

"No, Twilight."

"WHAT?!" I was surprised to hear that it was even Princess Luna who denied me from joining. Why would not want me helping out my special somepony when he is in this big heep of trouble!

Nightmare gives the top of Brayden's right hand gentle strokes to ensure that everything is calm, though it would be in a friendly way. "The spell has its boundaries and it must be used wisely if we want to succeed like the certain number of alicorns who is by the influence of the spell."

"Having three alicorns within his mind could cause the spell to overpower even itself; which could shift to make her wake up from whatever is going on and let the anger and rage win itself, just like it has already done. It's only the first stage, but the second stage would be the worst I fear. Both myself and Nightmare need to have a powerful unicorn with us capable of keeping the spell in balance."

After listening to Princess Luna explain everything, I can only put my mind to the test and try to think to myself. A unicorn along with the two of them inside of Brayden's mind? Well there is our best friend Rarity; but I'm pretty sure that she probably wouldn't want to be involved with that as I know I don't want to distract her from her business often times at the Carousel Boutique.

Think about this Twilight, who would be available with a good amount of power in their magic to bypass into the spell? I'm not even sure that Discord would be a good option because he wouldn't have any idea what any of us were talking about at all, and I am sure he is busy with Fluttershy right now; having tea on their spare time.

Wait... I got it! I've dealt with her already, but even after she had demonstrated her powers before my own eyes; I feel like this could be quite a shot for her.

"Well now," I can find myself putting a hopeful smile upon my face when the focus of my thoughts was brought to somepony that can help us. "I think I know who can enter Brayden's mind with you, and make things the way they were again."

"Who is it you speak of?" Nightmare Moon sounded rather curious by the tone of her voice.

I keep that smile upon my face when Nightmare had asked me that. She is the closest choice that we have in order to get him back... but it will be a risk to take no matter what happens. All I can really say to answer her question was quite simple. "You are about to find out."

---

Starlight Glimmer's POV

"You want me to join them to save Brayden?"

I was rather shocked when Twilight had told me that she needs me for this spell that the Princess of the Night and the black alicorn were going to perform upon him. Never really expected that coming when she had summoned me from the guest room to come into her private chambers.

Night has already come over the land of Equestria, with the moon rising slowly from the east after Celestia's sun had gone to rest from the western horizon. From all of Ponyville outside, all of the homes and shops in the innocent town have gone dark for a good night's rest while the lights are still on throughout the interior of the castle with the exception of Twilight's bedroom where everything was in preparation.

"He is a dear friend to us. If nothing is done immediately, who knows what could happen to him if he wakes up from whatever is going on inside." Twilight tells me, a little bit of sadness in the tone of her voice as she spoke to me. "You hold as powerful a magic, and seem capable of aligning with the spell cast by Princess Luna by your own magic to keep it active."

"But to go inside of his mind and see all those memories?! I couldn't do that!" I cried in a still shock from the task being given to me. I can hear her bedroom door open up with the sound of hooves trotting outside from that room into the hallway. I don't turn around, as my focus is still placed on Twilight in front of me. "If he finds out that I have snuck into his mind with the two I'll be joined with, he'll know and I could never see the light of day again!"

"He's not going to kill you Starlight. Why he said that was because the anger was starting to get the best of him as it was growing at a large capacity," She responded to my question and my concern. "I know him though, he told me and all of us that he will never bring harm to anypony nor let any creature or monster dare to hurt us."

The same hooves I heard join up beside me, placing a hoof gently onto my shoulder. I turn around to see the Princess of the Night standing there before my own eyes. At the point as even a young filly or when I had been the leader of the village, I only remembered seeing only Princess Celestia herself. But to see both Princess Luna in her prime and Nightmare Moon does give me quite a surprise as they would usually be solving the problem themselves.

With all due respect though, Nightmare Moon was never a ruler even when she was a huge part of Princess Luna. I still remember that night lasting longer and the questioning coming from my friends at the village... I miss them and I know I have to apologize to them when I get the chance. I do hope they know I really am sorry...

"Do not fear Starlight Glimmer," She spoke to me with a calm touch in her voice. "As I cast the spell, I will connect the chain of sharing our magic as we enter an out-of-body experience so things are going to feel a little bit funny. Even as Brayden's aunt, I must ensure that he will be okay. My sister Celestia would be really disappointed in me if I have failed to purge the anger from within."

"I was already aware that Princess Celestia was the mother for him." I confessed myself, remembering when I had gone into the castle to spy on the human in secret.

"Did you now? Do tell us how you found out this, as he still isn't comfortable with anypony these news as of yet."

"When I was seeking revenge on Twilight and her friends for what they did at the village while I was still that past self, I figured that I saw him in Canterlot and decided to follow him. A simple invisibility spell allowed me to remain undetected by the Canterlot guard while I watched his every move. Each conversation he had with you and Princess Celestia, I would be seeking out one fact that could have helped me to put him down and have him feel weak... something I regret doing." I breath in silently for a moment, exhaling a sigh afterwards before I continued to speak. "I was too blind to turn back from this, and I figured that I was only a little surprised when I was listening in on the argument that went on in Celestia's bedroom. Now that I look back on all that I did to find that out, I don't want to be my past self again."

"And you don't have to," Twilight said to me. I turn back to look at her, putting a soft smile upon my mouth. "When you took my hoof back in the past, you chose this. Inside, your heart was telling you that you wanted to give friendship a chance again. This task could very well be the first step for you to take in order to find that light inside of you once again."

Luna trots forward by two hoofsteps, getting into the view from my sight. "Then there isn't much time to waste. I suggest we begin the performance of the spell immediately if my nephew is to come back to us, but even after we are in the sequence... there are certain risks that can be quite dangerous." She informs us.

"What risks?" I had asked her, only gulping with mild nervousness.

"There are only two risks that could disrupt the spell if anything goes wrong," She turns to look at me while she continues. "The first risk is that nopony is allowed to enter the room when the spell is commenced, as this will entwine themselves into the sequence and overpowering it, forcing me to cancel it should something like that happen. The second is mostly for when we are in the sequence, as we should not try to leave his mind, as such one user leaving will throw us out from the sequence, aborting the spell and could risk awakening Brayden in the process."

"If it is the only shot we have, then I suggest that Starlight takes it." Twilight commented.

Luna nods her head as the saddened frown remained on her mouth, before turning to look at my new friend. "Princess Twilight, it is not much to ask of you. But neither you, Spike nor anypony else can enter the bedroom. I don't want to take that risk and must suggest that you lock the bedroom door to keep anything from happening."

"I only request a brief moment between both myself and Brayden before the three of you begin the spell." Twilight says, a tone of concern entering her voice. "I want to do this in case something bad happens to Brayden."

"Of course, take that time you need to wish him good luck in the process." Luna responds to her, while I turn around to start making my way into the bedroom to be ready and able for whatever was going to be expected for us. By the sound of their hooves behind me, I know they are following right behind me.

Nightmare comes into my view as I turn and enter the bedroom, headed out of the hallway. The black alicorn herself is positioned right next to Brayden's right side from where he would be looking. A depressed look is upon her face, whilst her left front hoof is holding onto his right hand, even giving the top of it gentle strokes as well as giving his right cheek a nuzzle.

She isn't crying but I can tell she was close to doing so if that was the case of losing the one who spared her life as Twilight had told me yesterday after those time-loops we had gone through. I could really see there why Brayden did play an important part in her redemption after all to becoming such a dear friend to her, but even by looking at her cyan cat eyes I can sense there is something more in there than I thought I'd see.

"Spending some moments with Brayden before we begin?" I asked her.

Her head propped up by surprise from hearing me, her flopped ears moving upward and her head turning to look at me. Without the armor as she was described to have in the books of Equestrian prophecies, she no longer looks like she would be a menace to all of society for that matter. "Yes..." She responds to me, the tone of her voice sounding lower but yet so quiet from the alicorn herself.

Twilight joins at the other side of the bed where Brayden lies sleeping, knowing that it was time to put the plan in motion for the coming moments up ahead after Twilight has done what needs to be done for her special somepony.

Her hooves get up onto her bed, sitting next to him lying there and his head looking right up at the ceiling with those eyes of his closed. My hooves trot forward to the end of the bed, watching everything that was going on while the soul inside of me was feeling so bad for everything that I had done to him, like how I forced him to go through everything in that time-loop of alternate versions of Equestria itself if the Rainboom never happened.

"Brayden..." I can hear Twilight saying to her, her left front hoof reaching out and taking his left hand to hold onto it. "I know this will be quite the risk for Luna, Nightmare and Starlight Glimmer to enter inside of you to free you from this anger. If you can hear me from there..." I can see a few tears starting to crawl down from the both of her eyes as she was speaking, with some tears landing on the bed sheets. "Please be okay and get out of this, and I ask of you to find it in that good heart and soul of yours to forgive Starlight Glimmer for the mistakes she made, as I have..." She scoots much closer while letting go of his hand, sniffling quietly to herself while she nuzzled the side of his face. Her head finally moves again, with her head moving closer to his to press a gentle kiss on his lips as he slept. After releasing her lips from his, she moves her right front hoof to gently stroke the side of his face. "I love you Brayden... and I always will... I-" She lets out a bit of sobbing like this could be a tragedy that could be placed upon her if he doesn't make it. "I hope you know that you'll always be in my heart no matter what... nopony could ever replace you..."

A few moments of silence came from the three of us, watching her and feeling bad for what is going on right now. Twilight was still crying from this, but after saying what had to be said and with a final kiss on his cheek, she scoots towards the edge of her bed, moving herself off from her bed and ready for us to use to for the will of the spell.

Her ears were flopped and her head lowered down, looking at the floor as she was trotting outside of the bedroom for the privacy to begin. She closes the bedroom door behind us, and we could hear the door itself locking us in this room with him.

It was only me, Princess Luna, Nightmare Moon and the inactive Brayden in this room by ourselves. We only had gone through a check ourselves to ensure that nopony else but us were in the room. To our relief, not even Spike was hiding in here as he knew that we were borrowing the bedroom for the night and that the lounge was available to both Twilight and her friend Spike to sleep in during the events that would transpire.

"Alright, let us get ready." I can hear Princess Luna as she trotted to the end of the bed dead center to face our friend with Nightmare Moon joining on her left, whereas I was on her right and waiting patiently for her horn to begin channelling magic.

I can hear the magic channelling great power into her horn, igniting the aura of magic to show the color of white instead curling around the edges of her horn. "Nightmare Moon, Starlight Glimmer... power your horns please." She requested calmly, waiting patiently for our response.

I channel the powerful magic within me, into my horn to emit the aura around it. When my eyes turned to look at Nightmare across from Princess Luna, her horn began to glow as well to power the magic she had in her. My eyes quickly move and focus on the horn of the night princess, which makes white linings of magic spread out between the both of us and then towards Brayden himself.

"Get ready," She warned us as soon as I began to see a bit of a mystic tunnel in my sights once I have turned my eyes back towards the sight of the unconscious human I now knew in front of me on the bed. "Things are going to feel a little bit funny in the sequence."

With more power being drawn to Luna's horn, the environment of Twilight's bedroom around us begins to fade and the tunnel in my vision began to appear more in the way like we were on the way through some dimensional wormhole that most of the scientific ponies in Canterlot were going on about in their studies. Brayden starts to disappear, and already I can sense that there is a somewhat ticklish feeling from the spell that has been cast by the time the entire room has disappeared.

---

The tunnel was spiraling onward into the waves of Brayden's mind like we were on the way of being processed. I can no longer hear the aura of my magic activated from reality as we were travelling through like we were on a roller coaster at one of those amusement parks I recall them having around Equestria in certain locations. I can see objects throughout the outside of the wormhole, like they are the normal random objects you see every day.

One passage into the split part of this tunnel nearby finds that we are being sent towards the connections that kept Brayden functioning and how his human body works on the inside. Like caverns, open holes were rushed past revealed a huge part that must have caught my attention as this was the center of all operations within his head: the brain itself. I can only see glimpses of it while we continue travelling through.

No other random objects are in sight, but more like floating through into the darkness once again, but the wormhole has enough light emitting by itself to show us where we are going right ahead. A large opening can be seen up ahead to signify the exit of this darkness within, while my head turns to look at both Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon.

The both of them look the same, but the only thing different are their hooves, illuminating a bit of a shine from the spell the night princess had cast. My hooves also gave off a shine once my head looks downward at them to look as well, and even the shine was like that of the color peridot from what I could describe.

The passage turns us into the central, and from there the brain could be seen before our own eyes. But to see the looks on it from the inside, seems to be that it was rarely this active judging by the pulses of green that travel from different parts of the body to get the brain and then back to them in the usual cycle they would be in. The bottom of the brain itself seems to host three colored beams of light like it was a support to keep it in place; illuminating in the colors of orange, blue and yellow in the connection.

With the spell in motion, I can't really tell if we have shrunk to probably the size of ants or atom as we float in the tunneling ethereal path towards the top of the brain itself. The speed we were going at is quite moderate for the beginning and while we were headed towards the center of it all... but it starts to speed up the closer that we were towards the human's thought processor. It all had gone into how fast the Friendship Express would travel to get to one destination at even the far reaches of Equestria, like the Crystal Empire close to the Arctic North or Appleloosa in the South.

We find ourselves moving upwards in the path towards the top as the three colors supporting the brain as it stood moves out of my sight. "Those three colors at the bottom... what were those supporting his mind?" I asked out of my own curiosity.

"I do not know. My mind is unsure of what they are," I can hear Princess Luna responding to my question the higher we were getting to the top. "I will have to remember that occurrence so that I can question my sister Celestia about it."

Nearing the top of the brain, I look ahead of the path to see it going as far as to have an entrance into his mind. At the speed we were going at, I was going to have to brace myself if the soonest we entered, we began a short sudden fall towards the ground so I will have my magic ready at any time to catch my fall.

A twist in the curving turn sent us into another direction towards the sacred mind, for what reveals to be a gateway itself... a portal of light-blue to emit as the way through into what could be his mind as of right now. Time has sped us up closer towards the portal, and I can feel myself slipping in past the event horizon of the fluid-like essence as it feels like the usage of magic I have been under to get in has just disappeared.

I can feel myself starting to fall for only a moment, but I was able to channel some limited magic to my horn to emit the levitation spell to catch myself, and begin my descent down towards the black nothingness where both the Princess and Nightmare Moon were flapping their wings to get down to the same pathway lit down below for us to walk.

"Worthless..."

I thought I heard a voice speak out in the darkening silence accompanied with quiet tone of gentle crystalline sounds in the distance like it was another crystal cave, still full of shining jewels or hidden diamonds among them. The voice actually sounded a little bit like Brayden's, which startled me only for a moment. No... I have to keep focus. Twilight chose me to save him, and in my good way for an attempt to get him to trust my new self, I will find out what's going on.

"Where exactly are we, Luna?" I can hear Nightmare asking, her head turning to look around while my hooves touch the ground and I stop using the levitation spell.

"This is the one place where Brayden makes his choices within his own thoughts, and chooses his actions by will. We are in the mind of my nephew and we all did have expectations on how it would look, but it is but a surprise to me as well," Luna explains to us, her horn lighting up to conjure a bright ball of light to illuminate everything around us, like we were to be in some sort of room. "Each part of this empty void we are seeing right now is inactive after his unconsciousness kicked in. It is up to us now to find the source of what made him angry through the memories... the emotions... and what keeps him mentally stable."

The bright ball of light emits its rays to show each place in the void that were afloat through what look to be like stone and sand mixed together to form platforms, a skill that can be quite difficult to do even if this was part of his imagination.

We slowly begin to trot forward, looking around as the rest of the room was lit by the expanding ball of light Luna has conjured. "Loser... pathetic scum..." Those voices I can hear once again speaking to us from the dark that had been crawling out and into the distance on the pathway is where it would be covering up that one platform so we can never really know what it hides.

"Did you hear that?" I asked out loud.

"Speak freely Starlight." Nightmare responds to me after having heard the shocked tone in my voice. "What exactly did you hear?"

"There was voices seconds ago, as well as when we were coming in."

"I heard them too," Nightmare confessed as we continue to trot down to any of the platforms of our choice. "Scattered memories most likely that have drifted away from where the memory chamber is. From the emotions over to our right, it seems that it remains unaffected by everything."

"But wouldn't the anger have gotten free to shatter his will?"

"The anger, yes. It would be highly contained there with the other ones he shares, but by now it probably has escaped. The memories that have put down to expose his weakness and to keep him from being happy... it's broken what could keep the anger stabilized."

"But where would the anger be if it was loose from those experiences he had? I would have expected such an emotion to show up by its own form." Nightmare says, her cyan eyes turning to look around within the mind of her dear friend and what look to be crystals shining brightly from a long distance.

"That over there would be the crystal itself that contains his functions and is a part of what should keep him stable, though something must have severed what kept him aware of his feelings." Luna points out, to the distant crystal which looks to be covered partially by black smoke, like it was the anger. "That there is the anger, clouding his mind to prevent him from moving or even awakening... I will admit myself that it reminds me of when the Tantabus was loose, but this smoke isn't related in any way by the look of it."

From even that distance on the small memory tower, I watch as the cloud of smoke whips about for a few moments before pieces of black shadow separated from it to form eight figures that reminded me of timberwolves, but in a different shape.

"Wolves..." Nightmare Moon claimed with her own choice of words to describe them. "They're mammals from where we had found Brayden, the world he called Earth. It wasn't by pure chance though when Princess Luna was examining the stars farther that usual when she came across that world of humans where he resided."

"It was my sister who first found it while Nightmare was still a part of me during our thousand year exile from Equestria, but I eventually regained my power to enhance my magic further across the galaxy of stars to get to where he lived. Close to dying, I was lucky to have snatched him before death was able to take him away to the afterlife."

"Of course," Nightmare responded to her, and somehow she wasn't in any way offended by the banishment comment that had been used to make a point. "But the anger itself has formed the shadows of wolves among us, and I can only feel that it will hunt us down like we are prey to them."

I stopped listening to the both of them for a moment when my ears were able to catch the quiet, yet distant low growls coming up from afar with the wolves down the path and to the large crystal on the memory tower looking downward at us from up there with the black smoke making nothing but emitting a windy sound. Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon have stopped communicating and turn to look at the scene.

The crystal of white itself shone brightly, and I think I was able to catch a small glimpse of what could be in there. It looks like it was human legs inside of there, frozen in time and unable to move at all. In my mind, I can only process that it was the heart and soul of the true Brayden itself, being locked away in there by the fury of raging anger.

The shadow wolves began to pounce off from that platform, probably having smelt us out from such a short distance where we located at between the rest of the emotions and the memory chamber itself, that could bring us to any single memory that could be residing within the mind of who will be my new friend if I succeed and only if he forgives me after all I had done to make him angry towards myself.

Princess Luna looked rather shocked when the shadow wolves were speeding rapidly towards us with the black teeth with no color nor saliva dripping out, moving right towards us with a lust for food under the current spell we were casting.

"We... we must go to the memory chambers! We can lose them from there!" Princess Luna proclaims with a bit of a panicked look upon her face.

I can only find myself turning to the left and begin galloping up the platforms with the two alicorns while the wolves follow too far behind, but I am only too aware that even when in packs like timberwolves in the Everfree Forest; they are going to catch up nevertheless. I still have my magic with me here and separate from my real body outside of the spell, so I am still willing to use it and fire beams of magic at the wolves if they are in close proximity.

The crystal essence began to grow darker the closer we gallop towards the doors towards the memory palace. The black alicorn herself was the first to reach it from there by the boosts she would take from spreading open her wings to burst ahead. She opens the door to unveil a strong sense of light emerging from the door arch itself, holding it open and getting her magic ready in case she was ready to fight the angered wolves following close behind.

The sounds of barking were putting fear into my heart that I might not be galloping fast enough. During my gallop towards the portal, I can only turn my head around and look back to see one of them within range of biting as it was targetting the Princess of the Night herself. The power in my horn dispersed a beam of magic towards the shadow wolf to hit the side of its face and begin tumbling downward, before picking itself up again to join in the pack; continuing its hunt.

"Hurry!" Nightmare calls out to us as I can only feel how strange it is right about now; having the path upward to the memory palace feeling like it was much longer than I thought. I hear the sound of my hooves as I push forward to get away from the darkness that followed us from behind.

The portal into the memory palace remains open and I witness as the black alicorn herself calling to us, turns the both of her eyes towards the way in, jumping in through and disappearing. We are getting much closer than I thought we would by now, and it almost feels like the force of it is drawing near.

More barking from the shadows behind Luna who follows behind, I turn to look and see one of them baring their blackening teeth and approaching Princess Luna with their own hopes of attempting to bite her. My horn channels magic and I fire a bolt towards the wolf itself, though it must have become self-aware of my own attack when the beam had missed and hit the ground, making a skid where the beam was supposed to make contact.

Princess Luna was lucky enough to look behind her to see these wolves coming, channeling her magic to emit from her horn in order to fire various bolts of offensive magic towards the ever-growing pack of shadows. Neither of us can waste more time fighting the shadows... the more we fight, the less time that we could have trying to save Brayden by the time the sun has already risen over the Eastern horizon to deactivate Luna's spell.

The portal is close by as I press more adrenaline into my hooves to keep me going, while I can hear Luna's magic going off at occasions with the growling of wolves as well. Almost there Starlight, you can make it... and with close proximity in this and the memories of Brayden awaiting, I am aware that the wolves have caught up, and one is probably reaching to gnaw on me right about now.

My hooves press down and I push myself into jumping forward, making contact with the portal's event horizon to get into the memory palace. Everything seems to have gone white at first, but then the blinding color fades to reveal myself entering a foggy-like setting like this was another one of those cloudy days without rain.

I began to look around, even checking behind me to see if the portal back to the main central of his brain was there, but... there's nothing. All I'm seeing here is miles and miles of what look to be fog and mists.

"Starlight Glimmer, is that you?"

I could hear a voice call out to me from there, and turn my direction to see Nightmare Moon approaching from a random direction as it looks like there isn't even a single way out from this strange phenomal in this part. I should really get used to not mistaking both Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon for sounding almost the same.

"Thank goodness that I'm not the only one here," I said to her, my hooves trotting through the grass below my hooves. "Where in all of Equestria are we right now?"

"We're in Brayden's memory palace. It is where he hosts all of his good and bad memories together, so he can look back in the days and remember them... thus triggering the emotions from the central zone of his mind. From where we are, I can only suggest that we are in a past memory of his days on Earth... judging by the grass itself looking different from the plains of them in Equestria."

"But what kind of memory?" I find myself asking, as this could be any randomly found within his past.

"I am unsure, but I believe I have a feeling that this is from childhood years judging by how the grass itself feels much different and displays only a white line in the grass to cover it."

"Everything feels strange in Brayden's mind and soul itself, doesn't it? So many unanswered questions like the flying objects randomly appearing in the dark tunnel on our way here... it's something that I've never seen before not even in my lifetime." I find myself explaining as I remember the journey through the spell's journey into the mind of Princess Luna's nephew. "I'm not sure where Princess Luna is, but I do hope she wasn't held back by the shadow wolves that had been pursuing us."

"Uh, Starlight?"

"I would just be devastated if she was still fighting them before she even slipped in through the memory palace to join us here. If she is here, I hope she is alright and can find her way into this one to join us."

"Starlight."

Having not paid attention to when Nightmare Moon acknowledged my name for the first time, hearing her got me to turn my head to look at her. She looks rather shocked herself while looking past me like there was a large shadow wolf standing before us; an alpha to be exact though I haven't seen one yet from the chase into here.

I can only find myself to turn and see that shape unsifting itself from the fog, standing still and tall among the both of us with the sound of the wind blowing in our faces. There is words on the top-left of the building itself that seems to be a bit like a name that is most uncommon even for the most typical Equestrian names.

The mist lifted further and the name revealed itself to be "George A. Way" with only a few more to come into sight when both myself and Nightmare Moon trot closer to investigate this further. The words finally came into our sight and without even saying the entire thing, I can tell at the end that it said "Public School".

I can see only a bit of small shadows in the distance and what seem to sound like fillies playing happily in the distance... but as we move much closer, it all becomes clear to me as to what is going on by what these figures are before our eyes.

Humans, younger versions of what Brayden would look like but much more smaller and seem to be the most playful as I can see through my eyes. Some are climbing onto the playground or riding on what look to be almost like their definition of what could be us. Such innocence even on this foggy day while each tree in the distance look to have orange-red colored leave attached to them.

"Is... is that... Brayden?!" I can hear Nightmare Moon ask in what her tone could tell to be that she was horrified.

I turn to look at her, seeing as she pointed her hoof towards the group of three taller boys surrounding a smaller kid in the corner of the school building with some laughing coming out from their mouths. My hooves step away from Nightmare and begin approaching the boys, trying to see if one of them was Brayden or not.

Their backs are turned, so I can never really have a look at their faces too well. But I can hear a little boy crying... and his whimpering sobs though... I can only feel a bit of pain for the boy that is being surrounded by these bullies.

"You'll never try to even beat us up, crybaby!" The boy in the middle, wearing what looks to be a cap, but on the opposite side of his head is saying to him. "Don't think you'll run away from us either, we'll follow you until the day you graduate to leave for middle school!"

"Crybaby, crybaby..." The boy on the left as I approach between him and the one in the middle taunts, laughing as he could only see the kid was becoming more hurt than ever.

"Let's toss him and give him a little soak in the small river, shall we?" I can hear the boy on the right proclaim.

"No, no!" I can only feel bad for the little boy screaming in agony after having heard that suggestion.

The boy in the middle moves closer, placing his left hand behind his left ear. "Did you hear that boys? I think he said that he 'wants' to go for a dip!" He said, releasing a laugh afterwards.

"No, please!"

I managed to finally squeeze into the view of being able to see the small boy they were surrounding with my own eyes, looking to see that boy with dark brown hair and a lighter tint of brown to his eyes as he looks up at his bullies with a panicking expression on his tearful face to beg himself away for something not to happen.

"What if we don't do it to you, you going to cry for your mommy? She's not here, and it's just us. The teachers are inside and the recess monitor isn't looking. Even she might appreciate us giving you a dip into the small river by the bridge. Full of leechs within those waters... they'd love to get an absolute 'bite' out of you!"

With the laughter accompanied, I should have known by the look on my face that it was Brayden himself, but looking much younger. I can only watch as the boy on the right moves forward and grabs him by his left arm, letting the young version of what could be a new friend to squirm and scream for help before the boy on the right grabbed his other arm and lifting his weak self off of the ground.

Both the bullies on the left and the middle pass me, and from there I can only turn around to see that river becoming quite clear before mine of Nightmare's own eyes who had been watching the entire thing, while Brayden is screaming for help from a teacher to save him but to no avail.

I can only gasp right there as this younger him was brought onto the bridge by the three boys, holding him over like this was his last day alive. I wish I knew about his past during my dark times myself... what have I done to torment him more?

TO BE CONTINUED...