//------------------------------// // The Past, The Present, The Future Part 2 // Story: Pipers Tale // by Saro0fdemonz //------------------------------// Strawberry sighed softly, watching as Piper slept. When he had first dozed off he had been kicking fitfully and kept apologizing, though he finally calmed down when she laid down beside him. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sat with her, watching the pegasus. "So, have you told him yet?" Sweetie Belle asked with a knowing smile. Strawberry blushed and cleared her throat. She hadn't thought anypony had figured her out yet. "Well...we haven't really had time to talk about it and I didn't wanna just drop it on top of him what with all the fighting and the storytelling and..." she stopped ranting as Scootaloo shoved her hoof into her mouth. "Sometimes I forget you're Pinkies daughter. Listen Berry, you know he loves you and you love him. Just let him know and I'm sure he'll be happy." The pegasus mare said with a smile. Strawberry looked down at Piper, smiling as he rested his head against her. She brushed her hoof over one of the scars on his face and sighed. "No...he'd just feel worse and he'd get hurt keeping me safe. I can't put him through that and I shouldn't have in the first place." Sweetie sighed in frustration and rolled her eyes. "Berry, when me an Scoots were your age a lot of ponies didn't believe in our relationship and it was hard. I couldn't stand seeing her get hurt and it was the same for her, it didn't help our situation that we were helping Nyx protect Ponyville. But because we love each other we found a way to make it work and eventually everypony just accepted or ignored us." Sweetie said, giggling as Scootaloo blushed. "I don't understand." Strawberry spoke up, looking between them. Sweetie Belle sighed and put a hoof on Strawberry's shoulder. "My point is, no matter what, you have to listen to your heart. What is it telling you Berry?" She asked softly. The zebra looked down at Piper once more, nuzzling his cheek. "Its telling me that he deserves to know he's going to be a dad." The two sat awkwardly next to one another outside of Canterlot as the snow gently fell. Dinky's breath filled the air with a light fog and she began to shiver as a breeze drifted by. The kirin next to her watched for a moment as the snow clung to her coat, the way her chest slowly heaved with each breath, the way she held herself even against the cold. His sister was right, he loved this mare and now was his chance to show it. Amethyst wrapped his wing around the unicorn gently and exhaled slowly through his nose, filling the air around them with steam. Dinky smiled and blushed lightly, nudging his wing gently. "Thanks..." "Don't mention it." again the two sat in silence, watching the snow fall in the comfort of one another. Amethyst decided to break the strange silence, turning to face the unicorn. "Dinks...about what Emy said." "Its ok Amethyst. She's your sister, she's bound to say things like that." She said with a laugh, dismissing the thought with a wave of her hoof. She reminded herself that siblings had a way of trying to embarrass one another in situations like that and it only made sense Emerald would use such a tactic to calm her brother. "That's not what I meant Dinks. I kinda...do like you." he said, turning away. She blinked and turned her attention back to him, struggling to keep her jaw from hitting the ground. She had never seen Amethyst like this. True he always spoken his mind and he had always spoken the truth, but she had never seen him so unsure of himself. He turned back, speaking quickly. "Dinks I love y.." he stopped, his eyes wide as Dinky's lips met his. The awkward kiss lasted only a moment, but that was enough. Dinky slowly pulled away, her hoof on the Kirin's chin as she looked into his eyes. "Amethyst Darastrix Shrike, I never thought I'd see the day." she said, shaking her head. The kirin chuckled and grabbed her hoof. Again silence filled the air, but no words were needed between the two as they huddled for warmth in the moonlight. Not too far away, a Princess of the night shared a smile with her wife. "Whats it like being a pony all the time?" Kairi asked. Riku chuckled. "Well, its pretty normal. Hooves don't work the way you'd think they would in this world." He said, lifting a cup in his hoof for a moment to demonstrate. "I'll admit, it took me a while to figure that out. I kept thinking of them as hooves instead of hands. I had some help though." He said with a wink, Nyx blushing brightly and punching his shoulder. "Shush." the friends shared a laugh, all but Sora who sat at a nearby window, gazing outside and watching the snow fall. Kairi sighed and nudged Roxas gently. The colt yawned and looked up at his mother. "Yea mom?" he asked tiredly. "Can you go comfort your father? He needs a visit from the tickle monster." she whispered. The colt grinned and nodded, sneaking up on Sora before leaping into the air, pouncing his father and quickly joined by Namine, the two of them bringing him to the ground in a fitful mess of hooves and laughter. Kairi sighed in relief, watching as he played and laughed with their children. It seemed everything was back to normal, for now at least. Alone in their room lay an Alicorn and a Kirin, held tight in the others embrace upon the bed they shared. They had been through so much together, and now they faced even more challenges. "Emy...what are we gonna do?" Nova asked softly. The kirin closed her eyes. "I'm not sure Nova...We'll figure something out. We can't change what will happen, we can only take action when it does happen." She replied. Nova sighed and rested her head against Emerald's shoulder. "And what about the foal? Is it right to bring a child into the world at a time like this?" "Don't even think like that! We've both wanted this for so long and we've waited so long to have it. A family, our family." Emerald placed her claw over Nova's stomach, making the mare blush. "Y...You're right Emy. I'm just worried is all." "Don't worry, I'll always be here to keep you safe." the two shared a smile. "What about your brother? Isn't he our 'Guardian', appointed by Harmony herself?" Nova asked. Emerald looked out the window, her smile growing. "I think he's a little busy." A soft sigh escaped the mares lips, quickly followed by a giggle and a hoof slapping away another hoof. "Hehe! Quit Braesy!" Pinkie giggled as the stallion ran a hoof up her side yet again, easily finding her weakspots and forcing the mare into a fit of sighs and quiet moans. "How can ah when ya'll keep makin th' cutest noises?" he breathed against her neck. The pink earth pony felt a pleasurable shudder through her entire body, letting out a low moan before throwing her hooves around his neck, their eyes meeting for a split second. Out of respect for the two the blinds pulled themselves closed, hiding them from the moonlit night. Fluttershy busied herself with watching the younger foals, holding back her giggles as she watched Melody play with Sunshine. The two seemed inseparable and though Melody seemed to be maturing faster than the young colt the two had found a way to speak without words. The mare glanced over at the sleeping form of her husband and smiled, it was much the same thing the two of them shared. She silently wondered if the two foals would share her fate. Fluttershy blinked in surprise as Sweetie Belle sat beside her, watching the foals. The younger mare glanced at the pegasus who shared her smile. "They make a cute couple." the unicorn remarked softly so as not to wake Big Macintosh or Piper who lay not far away with Strawberry. Fluttershy nodded. "I worry about them though...so much is about to change." Fluttershy spoke up. "I don't know if it will be safe for them..." she continued. Sweetie Belle bit her lip. "Honestly...I feel the same...But me an Scoots will do whatever we have to to make sure they have a future." "Well said Sweetie Belle." Dinky spoke up, surprising them as she entered the massive room with Amethyst at her side. The purple kirin looked around the room. "Wheres Emy?" he asked, he wanted to thank her for giving him the push he needed to tell Dinky how he felt. Scootaloo chuckled a little. "Oh, her an Nova are uh...in their 'Personal chambers'" She said with a small smile, the room filling with a heavy strange silence. The sound of a groaning pegasus finally coming to snapped the awkward silence in half. Piper stretched his wings and yawned. He gave a start as Strawberry nudged one of his wings, pouting slightly. "Piper...when was the last time you preened these things?" she asked, giving him a flat look. While she hadn't said it aloud, it was obvious she was upset at him for not taking better care of himself. "I..." he looked back at his wings, realizing he hadn't done anything with them. They had always been taken care of by battle scars healing over old feathers and making his wings like new. He had never had time to think of such things. Before he could answer the Zebra had already begun picking at his wings and prying the loose feathers free with her teeth without any care for the ponies watching, Piper doing his best to hold back his groans. Scootaloo held back a laugh and stood. "Hey Berry, maybe you should wait before doin that in front of everypony." the pegasus suggested. Strawberry turned to her, a few feathers in her teeth as she looked around the room. Her face changed from pink to red as she realized they were all watching. She gasped, her eyes wide as she realized what everypony must've thought she was doing. "OH! I...UM..I DIDN'T MEAN T.." Piper kissed her, quickly silencing the tirade of rambling that would've ensued. Scootaloo smiled to herself. He's definitely my kid. Underneath a tree, just outside Canterlot Castle, sat two mares, watching the snow fall in the beautiful moonlit night. An earth pony sighed softly, relaxing in the warmth of the nearby pegasi's wing. "Do ya'll really think what he said was true Dashie?" Applejack asked softly. "That we're gonna lose Canterlot? I dunno AJ. We've never lost before, but things have never been THIS bad. We've never had a war on our hooves. It was always just handlin Discord or Nightmare Moon, or the Chrysalis incident...which to be honest was all Twilight, but still. And on top of that...its not like we're as young as we use to be..." the pegasus said sadly, hanging her head. Applejack rolled her eyes, nuzzling the depressed pegasus. "Dashie, ya'll listen t' me an ya'll listen good. Ah don't ever wanna hear ya talkin like that again. Ya ain't old, ah ain't old, yer jus' outta practice cause ya been so darned hard-headed an depressed 'bout Piper. But ya can rest easy now Dash, he's back. He's got some scars an he's done been to Tartarus an back, but he's a better stallion cause of it." "But Aj..." "No buts Dashie. Besides, ya'll heard him. Ain't nothin gonna happen fer at least another three years or so." Rainbow Dash sighed, casting her gaze up at the stars above and the thick clouds drifting by. "Three years can go by pretty quickly AJ...what do we do then?" she asked softly. Applejack had no answer. "Spike, I wish you would stop fussing over me." Rarity said with a sigh as the Dragon helped her into bed. "I'm not fussing." he muttered under his breath, smiling once he was sure the unicorn was comfortable. "Yes, you are darling. Something is on your mind that you aren't telling me." She drove her words home with her hoof against his chest. The dragon winced visibly. Rarity had hit the nail right on the head. She sighed and placed her hoof on his cheek. "Whats wrong?" she asked, looking into his eyes. He grabbed her hoof in his claw and looked away. "Rarity...I want you to go hide. To be safe and out of harms way." Rarity looked at him in shock. "Now see here Spike, I will not...!" she stopped as he placed a claw against her lips. "When the heartless attacked us, I fought with all I had to keep you safe and even then it almost wasn't enough. When Discord trapped us, I barely managed to set you free, only to have you come rushing back like a silly filly, determined to die alongside me. I've come so close to losing you to all of this...and now a war is about to begin. A brutal war with creatures who did horrible things to an innocent filly just to hurt one of their enemies. Rarity, I don't know what I would do if I lost you and I can't stand the thought of the Gryphons getting their claws on you. So please...just promise me..." tears begin to pour down his cheeks. "Promise me you'll run away this time." he managed to say through the lump in his throat. Rarity wrapped her hooves around him, pulling the drake close to her as he cried his heart out, her hoof idly brushing along his spines. This was her dragon. Her big powerful Guardian who had done so much for her and had always been so strong and unbreakable. And now here he stood, crying like a newborn foal. It was enough to shatter her heart. "Spike...I...should a time ever come...that I must leave..." she bit her tongue. She couldn't abandon Spike, she just couldn't. Not after all they had been through. A small smile touched her lips. "Spike, do you remember our wedding?" she asked softly, placing a hoof under his chin. The dragon nodded, placing a claw on her cheek. "How could I forget?" he said, a smile slowly forming. "On that day, we both made a promise. That no matter what came our way, we would stay by one another, for as long as we both shall live. No matter what comes our way, I will stay by your side. I do not care what tries to drive us apart. I would not be able to live with myself if I simply abandoned you to fight alone." "But Rarity!" "Spike, please hear me out on this. We swore on our lives that day, the day our hearts were tied together for eternity, that we would always stay by each other. We have had our rough patches of course, but that is true for all couples. Should the time ever come that I must run away then you will simply have to come with me." she said, hoping to drive her point home with a passionate kiss. When she pulled away, she saw a sad smile spread across Spikes face. "The things I do for love..." he muttered under his breath, wrapping his arms around the mare and earning a loud squeal in return. As if by magic, the curtains closed themselves, hiding the two from prying eyes. Twilight and Luna sat high above Canterlot, watching their friends and loved ones. "Are we doing the right thing Luna?" Twilight asked, unsure of the actions they were about to take. "The right thing is not always the thing that must be done my love. Sometimes...we must do things we regret to help the ones we love. Sometimes it is the only way to ensure the continued harmony of Equestria." She spoke softly, a tear trailing down her cheek. "What will we tell them?" "The only thing we can...we tell them...that we are sorry."