A/N - Not much to say here, this is the second chapter of the latest double-update.

Pinkie's jaw literally hit the floor at my statement. Before any of them could react, I continued. "I won't sell it to you, because I'm going to give it to you for free; I'd never try to capitalize off of one of my grandmother's recipes, as far as I'm concerned, they're meant for all to enjoy."

Pinkie's jaw slammed shut with a sound that reminded me of an old-timey cash register and she began hopping around me. "You really had us going there Blakey!" She exclaimed.

The Cakes both smiled. "You certainly did dear, though I'm glad to see you're as generous as Pinkie claimed." Cup said warmly.

Almost another hour later, I had given the Cakes the recipe for the cake pops, as well as a few other choice confections that apparently didn't exist here, at least not before I came along. Once I had given the ones I could remember off the top of my head, I bid my farewells to the three with the promise to return if I thought of any more they might like.

I headed back to the library to continue my magic lesson with Twilight. I opened the door to the library to find it empty, save for a note. I picked it up and read the short missive.

Dear Blake, Spike and I had to run to Canterlot for an errand, we will be back before long. See you soon!

I shrugged and set the letter down again. I considered practicing magic on my own, but decided against doing so without someone nearby who could stop me if they noticed I might be doing something dangerous. I instead decided to go for a walk around town, in the hopes of running into Derpy, Lyra or Vinyl, none of which I had seen since I first arrived.

I had only been walking for a few minutes before my hopes were realized. "Hiya Blake!" I suddenly heard from above me.

I looked up to see none other than the mailmare who had been my first friend in this place. "Hiya Derpy! Long time no see!" I called back up to her with a wave.

She began veering towards me to land, but seemed to forget to watch her surroundings. "Hey Derpy, watch out for that-" *WHAM* "… building…" I was unfortunately too late, as the grey Pegasus collided with a building I didn't recognize.

I began jogging over to where my klutzy friend had crash-landed; wanting to make sure she was alright. I was mere meters away from the entrance to the alley she had fallen into when I heard a frightened yelp and some rather malicious-sounding laughter. I quickened my pace and rounded the entrance to see a sight that both horrified and infuriated me; there were two earth pony stallions, both of which were wearing clothes you would expect to see in some middle-eastern country, complete with turbans and, more frighteningly, falchions sheathed on their sides.

Derpy was backed against one of the walls in the alley with a look of fear in her eyes. The two stallions hadn't noticed me yet; Derpy however, noticed me almost as soon as I entered the alley. "We'll teach you your place, mare!" The one on the left growled in a heavy accent that matched his garb.

Judging by the "swords" that were halfway unsheathed underneath them, I knew exactly what they meant by "teach". The thought of anyone wanting to do that to anypony else, let alone a sweet mare like Derpy stirred a rage in my heart I'd only felt once before in my life. I growled in my throat, gaining the attention of the two stallions.

They both turned to face me, looks of surprised anger on their faces. Their looks became confused as they laid eyes on me. "What are you supposed to be, creature?" Spat the same stallion who had spoken before.

I looked beyond them to Derpy. "Run." I told her with a quiet urgency.

She must have sensed the steel in my voice, as her eyes both snapped in a single direction to focus on me before spreading her wings and taking flight away from where we were. The two turned back just in time to see her clear the building top and move out of sight. The two turned back to me. "You'll pay for that, interloper!" The other one snarled in an accent that was just as thick, though slightly different from his companion's.

Now that my friend was safe, my perception tunneled, focusing solely on the two stallions that had put her in danger to begin with. "I'll give you one chance to explain your actions before I turn you inside out." I said in a tone that would likely give the devil himself chills as I felt my entire being become saturated with white-hot rage.

The two stallions however, had other ideas. One charged me while the other reached for his blade. I cocked my fist back, slamming it so hard into the charging stallion's face that his charge was stopped dead in its tracks as he fell, limp and unconscious, to the ground.

His companion did not seem at all deterred by this, and charged me as well, the falchion held in one of his wrist joints as he galloped on three legs. The stallion reared back at the last second and swung at me; I somehow managed to dodge with what felt like a grazing cut to my side as I spun counterclockwise with the blow. I continued my spin and built up more momentum as the stallion struggled to recover from the unexpected lack of resistance of his sword solidly connecting with my body. As I righted myself to face him again, I planted my right foot and spun once again in a fluid motion, before lashing out with the left and connecting squarely with the off-balance stallion's sternum and sending him flying through a fence at the opposite end of the short alley and tumbling into the streets of Ponyville beyond it.

I stalked through the rest of the alley after the fallen stallion, picking up his fallen sword as I did so. Once I reached the exit of the small alleyway, I spun and thrust the blade in between the wall of one of the buildings and the sturdy beam that was once part of the now destroyed fence. With a mighty heave, I wrenched the blade to one side and snapped it off near the hilt with a loud, metallic *clang*.

I trudged over to where he had landed and threw the ruined hilt next to him, the remnants of the blade embedding in the ground centimeters from his face, before grabbing the barely conscious stallion by his throat. I quickly noticed Derpy at the forefront of the small crowd that had gathered. "Now, what do you have to say for yourself!?" I demanded.

The stallion opened one eye weakly and stared at me. I could see the fear in it. He opened his mouth. "I-I'm s-sorry. Ple-please forgive me…" He groaned out, obviously more out of pain and fear than any sincere regret as his hooves grasped futilely at the hand wrapped around his throat.

I turned both of our gazes towards the local mailmare. "I'm not the one you should be begging to forgive you." I growled into his ear.

"What is the meaning of this?!" a feminine voice that shared the same accent as the stallion I was holding exclaimed from behind me.

I turned to see an exotic looking mare that was somewhere between Celestia and Luna's height and very slender approaching us. Her coat was white while her mane and tail were both a deep blue. She seemed to be wearing some kind of fancy garb, likely meaning she was a dignitary or some kind of royalty. Before I could respond, the stallion in my grasp shouted to the best of his ability. "My Lady! This beast attacked us out of nowhere!"

The mare's gaze hardened upon me. "Why have you assaulted my escort so violently?!" she demanded.

It was then that I heard wings flapping behind me. "Yes, why indeed Blake Marshall?" Came the voice of the solar princess. "Why would you so blatantly disregard the trust my sister and I have placed in you?" She asked in a regal tone.

The two mares both walked towards one another until they were both in front of me. "Tell me now beast, why have you done this to my escort?" The foreign mare demanded again.

Once again before I could reply, a grey blur swooped down and landed between myself and the two larger mares. "You leave Blake alone! Those two wanted to… to hurt me, and Blake saved me from them! He's a hero, and you should be treating him like one, instead of yelling at him!" The klutzy blonde mare exclaimed rather forcefully.

Snapping out of my near bloodlust, I reached out and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It's alright Derpy, they don't know what happened, and they're just trying to find out." I turned my attention to the two regal mares before me. "She's right though, these two were going to hurt her, in more ways than one." The look I gave Celestia, as well as my tone, caused her eyes to widen, the princess seeming to comprehend just what I meant by that.

She then turned her attention to the stallion that I had finally dropped. "Is this true?" She asked incredulously.

The stallion coughed as he stood. "The mare nearly landed on us, we were merely going to punish her for her disrespect, as is custom." He stated rather boldly.

It was the foreign mare's turn to speak this time. "That 'custom' has been outlawed for some time, you are both aware of this; and even if it were not, we are not in our land, we are in the land of Equestria, and you were made well aware that you are to observe its laws." Her voice was dripping venom. "Since you have broken this country's laws, you shall be tried and punished according to them. Guards, arrest this stallion and his companion!" She ordered the other ponies that were near her, all wearing much the same clothing as the two I had just confronted.

The mare then approached me after the stallion had been dragged away, his partner receiving the same fate, though he remained unconscious. "I am sorry I called you a beast… Blake Marshall, is it?" I nodded and corrected her to just call me Blake. "I see. I am called Desert Star in this language. Again, I am sorry, both for my own actions and for those of my soldiers, they were trained to know better than that."

"With all due respect, as I told your soldier, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." I responded with as much courtesy as I could muster.

Desert Star turned her gaze upon Derpy, who had moved from her defensive position between the two other mares and I and was now sitting next to me. "It would seem my soldiers have brought injustice upon you and shamed both themselves and our nation. Please, if there is anything that can be done to make amends for this, let it be known and I shall see it done."

The grey Pegasus shook her head. "It's alright; Blake stopped them before anything bad happened, so your apology is good enough for me! Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my route." She said brightly before hugging me tightly then taking off into the afternoon sky to resume delivering mail.

I waved at her as she left, even though I knew she wasn't looking my way. "You know, I'm honestly not sure if she's just putting on a brave face, or if she really doesn't know what almost happened." I said to no one in particular.

As I was lowering my hand, it quickly shot to my left side as a sudden pain flared up, reminding me of the slicing blow I had received during the fight. Celestia was quickly at my side. "Blake! Are you alright?!" She asked worriedly as I began unbuttoning my shirt to inspect the damage.

The cut ran straight across my side below my ribcage, though fortunately didn't seem very deep. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to only be around six millimeters at its deepest, which fortunately made it little more than a long flesh wound. The princess's horn lit up its familiar gold color. "Please Blake, allow me heal you; I'm not as good with healing magic as my niece, but I can fix something small like this easily." I nodded and moved my hand, allowing her access to the wound

Blake! Darling, are you alright?" I heard Rarity's familiar high-class voice from my right. I looked over to see her trotting up with a worried expression. "I was out purchasing supplies for a large order when a commotion started, but by the time I got here, there was already a large crowd, so I couldn't see what happened." I looked around to see that except for a few ponies, most of the crowd had dispersed. Even Desert Star seemed to have taken her leave, probably to more thoroughly rebuke her soldiers.

Among those who were left were Vinyl and Lyra, the former had her trademark shades perched on her horn, looking over the scene with those awesome crimson eyes of hers. Lyra however, looked somewhat distressed, though seemed unsure of what to do.

Turning my attention back to Rarity for the moment, I responded. "Don't worry Rarity, I'm alright, just a little scuffle, that's all.

She gave me a look that told me she knew I was downplaying things. "Darling, that was more than 'just a little scuffle'. Just look at your shirt, it's ruined, and…" She stopped for a moment and gasped as she noticed the new scar left behind from the injury that the princess had just finished healing. "Oh my, you've been hurt again haven't you?!" she asked in an even more worried tone.

I waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry, it wasn't deep, a virtual papercut compared to these." I explained as I pointed to the scars from the timberwolves. "Besides, Princess Celestia here was kind enough to heal me, so I'm good as new."

"It is the least I could do my friend." She said. "Though you really must stop putting yourself in danger before my sister and I run out of ways to reward your brave actions." The princess of the day remarked playfully.

Rarity nodded as I noticed Lyra and Vinyl trotting over. "Yes Darling, you may not have been here long, but you're still our friend and we all hate to see you getting hurt, especially for our sakes."

"She's right dude, this is the second time I've seen you get hurt helping somepony else. As much as we're glad you were there, we don't want to see you laid up."

I chuckled. "You all make it sound like I'm doing this on purpose. It was just coincidence that I was there, though if I hadn't been, Derpy probably wouldn't have crashed into that building." They all gave me questioning looks. "She saw me and was waving at me from the air, so she wasn't paying attention to where she was going."

"Well, still, please be more careful. I still have a lot more to learn about you after all." Lyra chipped in with a playful wink, earning a groan from Vinyl.

We chatted for a moment longer before Lyra, Vinyl and Rarity all bid their farewells, the fashionista promising to repair my shirt and return it to me as it had somehow not gotten any blood on it. That left Celestia and I by ourselves. "As much as it pains me to see you injured, I am truly thankful that you were there to save one of my little ponies from such a terrible fate. It seems that I once again owe you a debt of gratitude."

I shook my head. "You don't owe me anything. After the things I've seen in my life, I'd never let something like that happen."

Celestia's face fell. "That's right… your sister…" She said solemnly.

I placed a hand on her shoulder. "I don't want to dwell on the past right now; how about we walk around and get to know each other some more? I've had plenty of opportunities to talk with your sister, but hardly any to get to know you."

She nodded and smiled. "That sounds like an excellent idea, though what would you like to do?" As soon as she asked that question, both of our stomachs growled loudly.

I chuckled. "Well, I guess that answers that question. Twilight told me about a nice café here in town, why don't we have lunch there?"

Celestia smiled, though this was different from her usual motherly smile, it seemed genuine, not practiced. "That sounds like a wonderful idea! I've always wanted to try the food at that café. Come on, I'm starving!"

I smiled and followed after the sun princess, glad that I got to see what I considered to be the real her. We only had to travel a short distance to reach the café, which looked to be only moderately patronized at the moment. Celestia led us to one of the outdoor tables, taking a seat on one of the small piles of hay around the pony-sized table. I eyed the hay pile across from her, contemplating the best course of action. After a moment, I started shuffling the hay around with my foot, creating a flatter surface before sitting down on my knees with my legs tucked under me as I usually did at one of this world's smaller tables.

I had barely gotten comfortable before a waiter rushed over to take our order. He wore a white collar with a red bow-tie and had a slicked-back mane and tail and had a tiny pencil mustache. "Greetings and welcome your majesty! Here are your menus; can I start you off with a beverage while you and your guest decide?"

Celestia ordered chamomile and lavender tea while I ordered raspberry lemonade. The waiter wasted no time in taking off to fill our drink order. As we looked over our menus, I noticed several meals that seemed to be essentially the same as earth dishes, only with the different meat-flavored plants I had come to recognize instead of their meaty counterparts. The waiter returned quicker than expected with our drinks, and pulled out a pad and pencil to take our orders with.

"Hmm… I believe I'll have a spring salad with garlic croutons and a side of cucumber slices please." Celestia told the waiter.

He then turned his attention to me after writing down her order. "And for you, umm… sir?"

I folded up my menu and addressed the waiter. "I would like the Fettuccini Alfredo, with a side of grilled baby carrots and a small salad with Thousand Island dressing." I told the waiter, still somewhat mystified that this world had the same names for many of the same foods as Earth.

He took our menus and ducked back into the café to fill them, leaving Celestia and I to ourselves for the moment. "So Blake, how are you liking Equestria thus far?"

"I smiled slightly. "All things considered, it's been wonderful so far, I've always wanted a simple life, without all the trappings of modern technology, and I have that now, along with great friends, and burgeoning relationships with both your sister and Applejack, something that would've been highly frowned upon and likely illegal on Earth, though it's still a new concept to me."

Celestia smiled that genuine smile again. "I'm glad to hear that. I'll admit, we were worried when we brought you here that you might reject this way of life or the denizens of our world, even though we did our best to find somepony who would be open to the ideas."

I nodded as I sipped my lemonade. "I can understand that, it must've been quite taxing to do what you did, and making a mistake in your choice would likely have had some pretty serious consequences."

It was at this point that the waiter returned with our meals before disappearing to wait on other patrons. While he was serving our meals, a thought popped into my mind that I decided to ask once he was gone. "Speaking of bringing me here, right before that spell fully activated, I saw a flash of light behind you while we were still in Limbo. Luna started to say something to you, and she seemed distressed about whatever happened. What exactly was that?"

Celestia's bright face darkened. "That is a matter older than even myself. I shall tell you, but you must swear to me that what I am about to tell you will follow you to your grave, unless I instruct you otherwise." She said in a deadly serious tone.

I nodded, somewhat unnerved by the sudden change in her demeanor. "I swear it to you Celestia, whatever you tell me here and now will not be known by another soul."

She nodded in turn and her horn lit up. "I have cast a silence spell around us; no sound can escape this bubble. Now as to your question; there was once a creature, of great and terrible power, who had the ability to suck the very magic from ponies and add it to his own might. He came here from a faraway land that no longer exists with an unquenchable thirst for more power. He began in secret, draining the magic from unicorns that had no family or friends; slowly, over many years, draining only a hoofful every year so as to mask his trail. Once he had gained enough power, he began to steal the magic of flight from the Pegasi."

I listened silently; bewildered that such a powerful and malicious being could exist in such a peaceful world. "Eventually, this being gained so much power that he began blatantly stealing the magic from all ponies, unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies alike. His ultimate goal was to steal the magic of the Alicorns, which would have made him unstoppable. His reign of terror continued for many years unopposed, until eventually, a few brave ponies stood up to him and challenged his reign. These poor souls didn't stand a chance, and after he drained their magic, he destroyed them as a message to any who would oppose him." I was shocked and saddened by this, ponies being violently killed for doing what was right.

"This act of self-sacrifice had the opposite effect that the beast desired however, and spurred the many nations of this world into action to put a stop to him. Unfortunately, many of these nations had no desire to work together to defeat the fiend and many lives were lost in pointless battles against him. Eventually, the griffons and Minotaurs joined forces in an effort to overwhelm the beast, but alas, to no avail. Your kind had opted to remain out of the conflict up until this point, believing that his lust for power would eventually be sated and he would leave this land. However, a group of humans, comprised of Ancients and Magi opted to ignore this and came to Equestria's aid to join our father and mother in one final assault against the terror that had taken so many lives for no better reason than to further his own power. It took quite some time, but together, they were able to formulate a plan to defeat the beast. It took some experimenting, and the lives of several of that brave group, but it was discovered that human magics could not be stolen. And so, with our parents as a distraction, these brave souls sacrificed themselves to cast a spell that would cast him into Tartarus; imprisoning him forever as punishment for the sins he had committed against so many." She paused for a moment. "There is no need to fear, however. My sister and I have already looked into the matter, and he remains in Tartarus, his bonds still hold him firmly there."

"What did he look like?" I asked when she seemed to finish her tale.

She hesitated for a moment, seeming to contemplate whether or not to tell me. "His upper body is that of a red-skinned Minotaur with large, black horns, and he has the lower body of a black stallion. His name, which has been forgotten by the histories, is Tirek…"

The mention of the name sent shivers down my spine for some reason.