The Last Letter

by ManestreamStudios

War

The Last Letter - Chapter 4: War

The four friends soon found themselves upstairs, where the store took on a new life. Similar to her old place in Ponyville, this store doubled as a home. Though, unlike her previous house, all the amenities for living were found upstairs, instead of having the kitchen and dining room be downstairs. Rainbow Dash raved a little bit about her new garnet stud, which Spike helped cut and set for her. She also warned them not to tell Spitfire, who would have her flank on a silver platter if she was ever caught with it on. Rarity carried on about recent fashions and noteworthy encounters, while Twilight chose to share her political achievements. Rainbow Dash talked about her life as a Wonderbolt and her recent promotion, leaving Spike to talk about more humorous occurrences that he and Rarity experienced since moving to Canterlot.

As time passed on, the subject of Twilight’s guard came up.

“So, Twilight, you haven’t said why you have a guard, yet.” Spike inquired.

“And such a nice one, too. Usually, guards tend to be more… stoic.” Rarity commented.

Twilight stirred a couple of sugar cubes into her tea. After hearing about how great their life has been in Canterlot, she doubted that they would accept her offer. However, she could hear her father’s advice whisper in her mind.

”It wouldn’t hurt to ask, Twilight.”

Though she still held her doubts, Twilight decided to share the news anyway.

“Well, a couple days ago, Celestia visited me in Ponyville, and we had quite an interesting discussion.” Spike and Rarity seemed to lean in closer, signifying that their ears were open. Rainbow Dash chose this moment to look over a suit-covered hoof or two. “She had a task for me to do, and I couldn’t refuse. She wants me to settle the land of the old kingdoms, where an important relic lies. Since then, I stepped down from mayor-ship and have been looking for ponies to join me in building up this new kingdom. I was wondering if you’d like to join me as well.”

Rarity shared a contemplative glance with Spike, their neck bands glinting in the sunlight that danced through the windows. This lasted for a quick moment before they both looked back to their friend. “I think we’d love to go with you.” she smiled.

“I understand,” Twilight quickly belted out, “you both have a good thing going here, and - wait, what?” Her expression quickly went from hidden depression to surprise with a hint of confusion. “A-are you sure? I mean, I thought living in Canterlot was your dream?”

“Was being the key word, Darling.” Rarity explained, though Twilight still seemed confused. Actually, befuddled seemed to be a more accurate term now. “I’ll admit, it’s nice here in Canterlot. Close to my customer base, the social gatherings, the acquaintances. Living here has been nothing short of a dream! But, I’d drop it all, without a second thought, to help you build a new castle. Besides, think of the new avenues that would be available to me. Not many ponies get to design top-of-the-line fashion. Even fewer still are offered the chance to design interior decor for a royal castle! What, with the tapestries and the art, not to mention the prospect of discovering new kinds of gems. I’d be mad if I refused such a chance! Not to say I wouldn’t do it simply just to help you, Darling, I’d do it all the same. But it is opportunities likes these that get ponies recognized for generations! Generations that will want a castle designed in a fashion that they can be proud of and admire. I simply can’t allow any other pony to fill those halls with anything less than perfection! Not to mention the fact that I would be the first pony to design and supply fashion in your kingdom. After all that, I can’t think of a higher achievement for a designer like myself.”

Spike nodded in agreement. “And I wouldn’t be a dragon of my word if I refused to help either of you. Besides, All that glitters is not gold. It’ll be nice to have a little adventure again.”

Twilight still felt a little stunned. She had to face a lot of resistance in the past two days. For her to get an instant positive response twice within hours of each other just felt unreal. “I… I don’t know what to say.”

“You needn’t say anything, Darling. The honor is ours.”

“So who else is going?” Spike asked enthusiastically.

Twilight shrugged. “So far, just us. I have a night guard resting at my parent’s house, and there’s Pennyworth. Then I’ll be getting four more guards from the princesses. Beyond that, I haven’t asked anypony else yet.”

“Don’t try to lie again, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash warned, not having forgotten what she tried to hold back from her.

Twilight sighed, while Spike and Rarity looked to each other. Spike began to scratch the back of his neck, while Rarity found interest in the reflection of her tea. Rainbow Dash raised a brow slightly, thinking that was a bit odd for them to suddenly do. Finally, Rarity decided to speak up. “It’s about Applejack… isn’t it?” It was just too obvious to not pick up on.

It was Twilight and Dash’s turn to exchange glances now, before Twilight looked to them curiously. While Rainbow seemed a bit annoyed. “You… know about Applejack?” Twilight inquired.

Spike and Rarity both nodded slowly. “Part of it happened here in the store, I’m afraid.”

“Am I, like, the last pony to know or something!?” Rainbow declared rhetorically.

“Rainbow, calm down. This hasn’t been easy for any of us.” Twilight said, attempting to quell the mare.

“Calm down?” Rainbow huffed, jumping up onto her hooves now. Her wings flared out in annoyance. Annoyance that was now directed at the couple. “You knew the whole time, and you want me to calm down? Applejack is our friend. She’s my friend. My best friend. If I knew, I would’ve been there for her! Every day! No matter how long it took!”

“Rainbow, please, you’re blowing this out of proportion.” Rarity shot back sternly.

“Is that so?” Rainbow countered. “Because I happen to think I’m the only pony acknowledging the seriousness of the matter right now. Did it really not cross any of your minds that I might have wanted to know?”

“That’s enough, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight now stood up, flaring her own majestic wings.

That’s when Rainbow reared around to glared at Twilight now. “Does Pinkie know? Does Fluttershy know?”

Twilight didn’t falter, nor even wince. Though, in her mind, she could feel the seething anger burrow through her resolve. Then her eyes shifted slightly for a moment. “I know you know better than to pin something like this on Fluttershy.”

“So she does know, huh?” A level of pain seeped out from her tone now. But that was covered up by her apparent feelings of betrayal. “Did you even try, Rarity!?” The fire in her eyes now turned back onto the fashionista.

“You got something to say, Rainbow Dash?” Spike spat as he stepped before Rarity to defend her. But a hoof came up to his side, causing him to look down to the mare beside him. Rarity took her stance beside the dragon, starring Rainbow Dash down with eyes that showed both pride, and sadness. There, they stared each other down as if they were rivals. Passionate in their own beliefs.

“... More so than you’ll ever know.” Rarity finally expressed calmly.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed, as if looking for the slightest indication of lies or deceit. When the ivory mare refused to show weakness, that’s when she leaned in. “Then it wasn’t enough, was it?”

Twilight had enough now. Magenta magic gently moved the table aside, allowing her to step in front of Rainbow Dash and block her view. When Rainbow Dash looked up, her eyes met with Twilight’s. Tears streamed gently down her cheeks, but the slight blurriness in her vision did not stop her disappointed glare. When she opened her mouth, pain choked her tone, but resolve still commanded its presence. “Go get some fresh air.”

Rainbow Dash snorted in protest, but said nothing further. She promptly spun around and trotted out of the room. Twilight continued to stand there, watching her friend disappear behind the stairs. Soon enough, a bell jingled. Shortly after, a thunderous crack filled the air, causing Rarity’s tea set to vibrate for an instant. Out the window, one could see a shimmering rainbow arching to the south against the sunset sky.

A dot of moisture suddenly appeared on the floor with a ‘thap’. And then another. Twilight could feel her legs tremble slightly below her. Weakened by the emotional experience. It wasn’t until she felt a set of claws on her back when she realized that the tremors were not exclusive to her hooves.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Spike’s deepened voice asked.

A weak smile came across her muzzle, though her bangs continued to obscure her eyes. “This all could’ve been avoided…” she forced out through a burning coal in her throat.

“Nooo, no. I know that tone, Twilight.” Rarity began, going over to Twilight’s other side. Her and Spike both wrapped their friend in a blanket of warming love, the embrace causing the alicorn to plop down on her haunches. “There are things in the world that are simply beyond our control, Darling. Letting them get to you is the same as admitting defeat. Last I checked, you are not the kind of mare that rolls over so easily.”

“But… Rainbow Dash is-”

“-Being Rainbow Dash.” Rarity interrupted bluntly. “She has always been devoted to the ponies she cares about. Sometimes that devotion prevents her from thinking clearly. As her friends, we have to accept that. Though, that doesn’t mean we can’t expect an apology from her later on, Darling. But, for now, just let it be.”

Twilight sighed. She couldn’t argue with the logic, but it didn’t help much either. Even when it was easy, it was hard. Slowly, she rested her head on Spike. At least she found a little bit of comfort in the moment. “Thanks, you two. I should probably get going soon, though. I have a dinner date with the princesses.”

Spike and Rarity let go of the purple alicorn, Spike taking a moment to pat her back lightly. Rarity could tell that she was still down, though, and wondered if she could do more. Slowly, she smiled at a thought. “You know, Darling? I think we might have just the thing to help you feel better. When’s the last time you had your regalia resized?”

Twilight chuckled, rubbing the tears from her eyes. “My regalia? I haven’t worn those stiff things since my coronation…”

Rarity gasped slightly. “My word, Twilight, you’re going to be ruling your own kingdom before you know it! You simply must let us prepare you new ones, Twilight. It’s the mark of a princess, after all.”

“You can make them?”

“Well, not me specifically, no. But Spike here is very adept at metal crafting, and I’m certain to have some spare materials that would make you quite the fetch, Darling. Now, come on! Let’s see how silver or platinum works with your coat before I get too far ahead of myself.”

“Hmhm, you’re the boss.” she joked halfheartedly. On their way down into the store, Twilight noticed that Flash was standing just beyond the stairs on the ground floor.

Flash Sentry caught eyes with the princess when she finally came into view, notable concern in his eyes. When he heard the raised voices, he’d come over to make sure Twilight was safe, but stopped at the bottom of the steps when he could hear what was being said. “Are you okay, Princess?” he asked quietly, seeing the dried-up streams on her cheeks while he walked beside her.

She nodded slightly. “Fine. Just… just fine…”

The lack of confidence in her voice wasn’t very reassuring, but he wasn’t going to question it. Still, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to stay close by for the rest of the visit. “I’m certain things will work out for the best.” Flash thought aloud, which earned a small smile from the alicorn.

---

A yellow pegasus merrily strolled about the outside of her cottage, doing her daily rounds to make sure all her little critters were getting their dinners. Chickens gathered in circles about her until a mound of seed was poured out for them, which they quickly swarmed. Little bird feeders hung from the branches of nearby trees saw their own fill of feed. While the rabbits and mice received the nourishment they loved and craved. As the last feeder came into view, Fluttershy’s wings gently lifted her up to fill it with sweet, vibrant nectar while a small flock of hummingbirds waited in anticipation. “There you go. All good, and ready to eat.” came her benevolent tone. “Hah-Ah-ah-ah-Ahh!” She sang, and the hummingbirds hummed the rest of the verse in unison before taking delight in the red liquid. This was arguably her favorite part of feeding time.

Stepping inside to prepare her own meal, Fluttershy ducked quickly when a flying tortoise zipped on by. “Oh my.” she chuckled, gently catching him the second time around. That’s when she helped him out of his flying harness and set him down on the floor. “How about we take a break from flying to eat, Tank?” The little green half-shell gave a slow nod, which prompted Fluttershy’s smile. “Wait right here.”

Fluttershy disappeared into the kitchen, reappearing momentarily with a plate of leafy greens in one hoof, and a bowl of the same in the other. The plate found its home before the reptile, who lethargically took a piece of salad to begin munching. Fluttershy found comfort in dining on her food directly across from him. Just as she took her first bite and swallowed, a faint clap of thunderous sound caused her ears to twitch.

“What?” she pondered aloud, looking over to nearby windows until she found the cause of the familiar sound. A ribbon of rainbow colors raced its way towards Ponyville, which simply looked marvelous against the sunset. If it weren’t for being baffled by the sighting, Fluttershy might be overjoyed. “Rainbow Dash? But… she just had last weekend off…”

Knowing where this prismatic streak was going to end, Fluttershy quickly rose to her hooves and made off into the kitchen again. She took a bowl out and grabbed the remaining spring mix from the cinched bag, pouring it out into the bowl. A few other things found their way onto the dish, mostly flavorful accents. Seasoned croutons being the last thing added. Just as she picked up the prepared meal, Fluttershy heard the front door open, and wore a smile as she trotted on over into view. “Rainbow Dash! You’re just in time for dinner. I started making your favorite salad the moment I saw-” Fluttershy’s train of thought ground to a halt when she noticed Dash’s peeved stare. These days, it took a lot to aggravate the cyan mare, which left Fluttershy with a few pieces short of the puzzle. Her mind tried random tiles to see if they would fit. None seemed to stick well, however. “... i-is something wrong, Dashie?” she asked nervously, her forced smile giving way to internal fear.

The moment Rainbow opened the door, she stood there in silence, going over the endless number of conversations in her head. Even as Fluttershy showed up and inquired, her hoof was held solid against the door. Staring at her with unmoving eyes. In the periphery of her view, rosey-violet eyes locked on to the figure of her beloved pet merrily crunching on a fresh lettuce leaf. Dash forced a smile as she finally stepped in and shut the door. Carefully, her hooves picked up the lovable tortoise, where she proceeded to nuzzle their noses together. “Hey there, Buddy.” her affection for him voiced smooth and warm, before setting him back down and patting his shell. From there, the happy pet continued to eat. “Fluttershy. Kitchen.” her motherly voice continued, professionally masking the bite her tone was suppose to emphasize.

Fluttershy couldn’t help feeling stunned. She’d never seen this side of Rainbow Dash before, and she couldn’t help a flinch when she heard the mare speak her full name, where the sting of her words were most prominent to her. Silently, she abided, fearing for the worst. ’Is she mad at me? Did I do something wrong? I can’t imagine why, or whatever for. Maybe something happened between her and the Wonderbolts. Oh, I hope she wasn’t dropped for some reason...’ These thoughts quickly emptied her mind when she turned around in the middle of the kitchen to see the mare was suddenly right behind her. A sub-zero tremor shot down her spine, not having heard a single hoof step, nor a wing beat. It was very unsettling, especially under her scrutinizing gaze. It made it hard to fathom the idea of voicing her concern, yet she could not replace the thought with an apologetic plea if she didn’t know what she could’ve possibly done. Caught between a rock and a hard place in her mind, the only thing she could manage to do was wait patiently for something to happen.

“How long have you known?” finally came her cold tone, equally matched by her icy eyes.

“Wha-... what do you mean?” she asked out of confusion, though shrunk away slightly after finally getting that it was something she’d done.

“Applejack.” was all that she elaborated. Fluttershy’s eyes quickly became the size of peas, which was confirmation enough for the rainbow mare. “How long have you known!?” she reiterated, a bit louder this time.

Fluttershy heaved a heavy sigh. “I-I’m sorry, Dashie. I was only trying to-”

“Fluttershy.” Rainbow commanded her attention once more. “How. Long?”

Fluttershy nervously rubbed one fore-hoof against the other, unable to make eye contact with her anymore. “... A few years, now…”

“Years!?” she exclaimed, causing Fluttershy to flinch. “What possible reason could you have to justify this? Why am I only just finding out today, that my best friend was hurt? Is hurting!? After all this time, all that we’ve shared! How could you do this to me, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy was pushed to the point of tears now, physically shaking while attempting to bury her face as much as she could. She always feared this day would come, but the reality was worse than she ever imagined. It wasn’t the anger or the shouting that got to her the most, but the disappointment. Dash’s disappointment. Her own disappointment. “I… I didn’t… want to… see you hurt, Dash. I never meant to… to…”

Rainbow Dash pushed herself to step back, mentally. She had to remember that Fluttershy always tried her best to do well by her friends. Seeing her like this, the images of Twilight’s sorrow and Rarity’s resolve flashed through her thoughts.

’Go get some fresh air.’

Rainbow Dash bit her tongue as Twilight’s words resonated through her ears. Finally taking a moment to look away from the yellow pegasus. “... I’m going to go see AJ. When I get back, we’re going to talk about the things you can’t censor from me anymore.”

Fluttershy looked up to her, eyes welled up from her silent sobbing. “Dashie, wait! I-I’m sorry! Just-”

“No.” She dismissed her with a hoof. “The fact that you kept something like this from me… I feel like you don’t trust me anymore, Fluttershy. Now, all I can wonder is if this is the only thing you’ve hidden from me.”

“Nothing!” she choked out. “I’ve never kept anything else from you! I promise!”

Rainbow Dash looked back to her, then down, and back away again. “How am I suppose to believe that?” The spite that once filled her tone was now replaced with pain. While she had half-hoped for a response, all Fluttershy did from there was bury her face again. After a moment, Rainbow Dash slowly trotted out of the cottage.

---

Applejack sat alone in her room, belly-up on the bed with a tired, blank stare cast upon the ceiling. Another day. Just another day. They all passed by so slow that time seemed to blend together anymore. If she had to guess, she'd hold enough confidence in today being a Wednesday.

Once that felt settled, thoughts of Twilight danced in her mind for a bit. The events of her visit five days ago... five? No... that doesn't seem right. Two, maybe three days at most. Or, maybe it was farther back? She couldn't tell anymore.

Tossing over to one side, Applejack sighed heavily. Why was she even thinking about her? It’s not like Twilight cared. Not truly. That thought caused a small ember to root itself in her throat. A discomfort that she wanted to get rid of.

Letting a fore-hoof slide off the edge of the bed, Applejack felt around under the frame until her hoof laid on cardboard. She pulled out a hidden box she had, and opened it to reveal its secret contents. Whiskey, in a decent-sized bottle that looked like it cost her fifty bits to purchase. Taking it into her hoof, she popped the cap off and stormed down a good eight gulps before tilting the bottle back down. A heavy, somewhat satisfied sigh left her as she replaced the cap and stuffed it back into its original hiding spot. Normally, she wouldn’t care what anypony caught her with, but after a couple of incidents that transpired while she was in a drunken stupor, Big Mac would probably kill her if he found out she got more alcohol.

As the warming burn settled in to her throat, finally masking the pain of the ember, her mind slowly began to swim through the buzz. A pleasant feeling that ever so slightly curved the corners of her mouth. For a short time, Applejack could forget about the pain and the suffering. She could forget about her friends and family. Lost love and missed connections. None of it mattered. For, there in that moment, Applejack felt nothing but subtle bliss.

After a few moments, Applejack heard knocking at her door. Three firm raps. She sighed heavily. “What?” Applejack asked plainly.

“AJ! Open up, will ya?”

Applejack immediately sat up at the sound of the voice. It sounded like Rainbow Dash just asked her to open the door. Though, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d mistaken a voice. She pushed herself off the bed and went over to the door, unlocking it before turning the knob and revealing the rainbow mare. Applejack stared at her for a moment, wondering if she was having another one of those realistic dreams again. As she watched her, AJ noticed that the mare seemed to be holding something back. From the moment the door was opened, Rainbow smiled, then let her mouth hang slightly agape, before visibly forcing it into a small grin with water beading at the edges of her eyes.

“L-long time, no see! H-how are ya, AJ?”

The cyan pony before her choked out her conversation starter. Applejack wasn’t paying close attention though, eyes scanning her face while her mouth struggled to find an appropriate emotion to portray. In her search, Applejack noticed the stud in her ear. That was something new. There was also this odd-looking indentation on the side of her neck, like a card was resting under her suit. Applejack felt like she was suppose to be looking for something specific, but couldn’t seem to put a hoof on it.

“AJ?” came her small concern.

“Huh?” Applejack blinked back into reality for a moment. So many thoughts were going through her mind, it was hard to organize them. A similar feeling she had when it was Twilight standing there before her. At the thought of Twilight, her last visit surged to the front of her mind, which caused her to close the door enough to not let the mare’s eyes wander behind her. This seemed to surprise Rainbow Dash, who’d taken a step back. Applejack gave something of a scowl at her now. “What do you want?”

Rainbow Dash thought quickly, not wanting to have to yell through a door to be heard by her friend. “Hey hey!? Chill out, I just wanted to hang out for a while. Maybe go get a drink or something. Do I need a reason to want to cool off with my best friend now?”

“Best friend?” Applejack asked, opening the door completely now. She watched the mare before her look beyond now, gazing in awe at the mess in her room. “Now ah know you’re lyin’ to me.” Applejack commented, her tone becoming harsh again. It was just like when all the others visited. They’d claim to be her friend, but all they wanted was to make themselves feel better. Masking it with concern and worry. She was already tired of it, and now Rainbow Dash wanted to go through the same old song and dance. Taking steps forward, she resolved to end this conversation the way it always does. “You’ve got some nerve, ya know that?”

Rainbow was more than surprised to see this negative reaction from her. But unlike the others, Rainbow was not going to back down. Applejack attempted to intimidate her by chesting up, so she mimicked the motion. “What’s that suppose to mean?” she shot back, just inches from her face.

“You claim to be my best friend. What makes you think we’re even friends?”

“What? What kind of question is that!?”

Applejack pushed out a sarcastic laugh. “Name the last time we hung out then.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened slightly, before she plunged deep into her memory. “I, uhh… after the rally in Ponyville! I know that one for sure!”

“Wrong.” Applejack replied flatly. “Not that ah expected you to get it right to begin with. You spent the rest of that day gettin’ wasted with your little flyin’ club pals, before you stumbled your drunk flank over to your buck-buddy’s cottage, an’ howled at the moon all night long!”

“What!?” Rainbow Dash backed down now, sweat visibly forming while her eyes darted around, making sure nopony else was there. “Me and Fluttershy are not buck-buddies!” She declared in a hushed tone.

“Ah didn’t say it was Fluttershy’s cottage ya went to…” Applejack remarked coldly.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip some, walking blindly into Applejack’s trap. “I… uh… how would you know something like that anyways?” came her attempt to turn the conversation around.

“Ah ain’t dense, Rainbow. I’d be more surprised if nopony else knew! Ya moved all your stuff into her place, ya spend entire weekends with her alone, and ya aren’t exactly subtle.”

“Whatever.” She forced the subject aside to get back on topic. “What does any of that have to do with anything anyway? I’ve never stopped being your friend, Applejack. I’ve never done anything to even make you question it!”

Applejack put a hoof to her forehead in aggravation. “You’ve been foolin’ that filly so much that some of her stupid rubbed off on you.”

“Fluttershy is not stupid!” Rainbow quickly defended. “Leave her out of this!”

“Why don’t you just git outta here and go buck your marefriend’s brains out like you always do, Rainbow Dash!?”

“Not until you tell me what the buck is going on with you!”

Applejack grinded her teeth now. She hadn’t pushed this hard since Pinkie Pie insisted on finding out what was wrong. But even Pinkie Pie had her limits. “Like you even care!”

“I do care!” Rainbow shot back. “I’ve always cared!”

“LIES!” she shouted. Before she realized it, Applejack’s hoof collided with Rainbow’s face, who was knocked into the wall before she slipped to the floor. Applejack panted heavily, glowering at the image of sheer shock. Pain shot through her leg, which she ignored. Though, it was easy to tell that she favored it now compared to her other legs. It was silent for a moment, until Applejack decided to shatter that silence.

“If ya cared so much, it wouldn’t have taken you years to come around, would it!? If ya cared so much, why is she the first one you go to? Better yet, why am ah the last!? If ya care half as much as you claim, why is it that you were the first one to leave!? Why so quickly!? Was stayin’ here and bein’ friends so bad!? Was ah just too borin’ for you, Rainbow Dash!?”

“Shut up!!” Rainbow finally found the sense to retaliate, sending her own hoof against the orange mare’s face. It was now Applejack’s turn to stumble back and fall over, though her own fall was more violent. She lacked the weight and strength she once had, making it much easier for Dash to do some damage.

Applejack laid against the floor for a bit before she struggled back up to her hooves. She’d forgotten just how strong Rainbow Dash was. Applejack’s cheek was already swollen. A searing pain made itself known to her after that, which her tongue tried to sooth. After a moment, however, she turned towards Rainbow Dash and spat, a bloodied tooth bouncing to the floor and stopping against her cyan hoof. A spattered trail of blood and saliva in its wake. That might have hurt more if she hadn’t already drank a good portion of alcohol. Though, she might have gotten up faster as well.

“Do ya still feel loyal, Rainbow?” she asked, looking up to her face now. Rainbow Dash was practically in tears now, and visibly shaken. A war going on within the mare’s mind. “That’s because you ain’t nothin’ but a self-centered deserter.” Feeling that her job was done, Applejack lethargically trotted back into her room, not bothering to close the door just yet. The first thing on her mind was getting rid of the pain. Once more, a hoof searched under the edge of her bed until it pulled out a box. The bottle of whiskey touched her lips again, holding the drink in her mouth this time and washing her wound in it. She grunted and groaned hard while the alcohol burned intensely. Soon enough, however, the pain numbed up a bit, and made the sore more tolerable. The blood-stained whiskey had little left to do now but slide down her throat. The flavor made her cringe a bit, but she got over it. The numbing warmth that seemed to course through her core made the flavor worthwhile. By now, Applejack felt like she was floating. The experience might be more fun if Rainbow hadn’t been there.

Rainbow Dash just watched her for a bit. Something in her saw that AJ's argument held a valid point. But she desperately tried to find something to counter back with. If she just gave up and left now, she’d only be proving her right. That wasn’t a move she’d be willing to take. Applejack was too important to the mare. Some of her best memories were with her. Memories…

It didn’t take her long to find something. Even with the tears rolling down her cheeks, Dash regained her air of confidence, pushing herself to stand behind the mare once more.

Applejack heard the hoof-steps stop behind her, prompting an annoyed sigh. “Don’t you know when you’re not welcome anymore? Leave! Ah ain’t got the patience for you anymore."

“No problem,” the prismatic pegasus began. “just one last thing, Applejack. One last question, and if you can provide a reasonable answer, you won’t see me ever again.” She was willing to bet her friendship on this one. AJ stared at her blankly, finally raising an eyebrow as if acknowledging the challenge. That’s when Rainbow’s eyes narrowed intensely, forcing her gaze through welled-up eyes. “If you had the time to go visit Rarity and Spike, why didn’t you ever even stop by to say ‘hi’ after any of my races or events?”

Applejack’s eye’s went wide now. Thought’s didn’t seem to process right anymore, and her feelings became conflicted. Applejack had attended a few of her events in the past, but she didn’t think Rainbow was able to single her out in the massive crowds.

“I know you attended a few of them. Aren’t many orange cowponies in the Crystal Empire, or Canterlot, are there?”

“Ah… err… ah…” she stammered. Trying to find the right response. “... what, in all things oats an’ apples, makes you think that ah spend time with Rarity!?”

“Don’t try to bluff me out, AJ! If you want proof, I’m wearing it!” A hoof quickly pointed to her garnet stud in her ear. “She told me that, whatever the buck you’re flank-hurt about, it went down in her shop. And I tore her a new plothole for not telling me sooner! I’ll tear everypony a new plothole if that’s what it takes to show you that I do care. But I’ll be horse feathers if you think that this is somehow all my fault. You had just as much opportunity to take time and visit me as I did you! And don’t give me any, ‘how was ah suppose to find you?’ bullsnot, all the Wonderbolt rallies and events are advertised throughout Equestria. There’s no way in Tartarus that you couldn’t have known where I’d be staying!”

“Well,” She thought quickly. “how in tarnation was ah suppose to even say ‘hi’? First thing ya did after each rally was shrink away with the rest of your pals!” she defended.

Rainbow Dash shook her head some. “All you’d have to do was talk to security. Somepony would’ve come by to confirm that you were my friend and let you in!”

The whole time, Applejack could feel her world crashing in on her. Suddenly, all of her arguments with everypony seemed invalid and built upon lies. Anger collided with sadness, resentment mixed with loneliness, fear, anguish. It was dizzying. “No…” she began, fighting with every fiber to remain in the right, to bring back justification to everything she had done. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if it was all wrong. What else could she have done?

“No…!” she shook her head some now, eyes dilating from the strain. “No! You… you can’t shift this on to me! Not when you were wrong!”

Rainbow Dash sighed. Looking away slightly for a moment. “I’ll admit that… I didn’t come spent time with my best pal as often as I probably should have. And… I’m really sorry for that, AJ. But, I didn’t think that you needed me at all. I may have been the first pony to leave chasing down her dreams, but I wasn’t the only one. Rarity got her store and made frou frou friends. Twilight became Mayor and got her political connections going. Pinkie had the Cakes. I guess I just assumed that you had moved on to bigger and better things too, in my absence. Was it so wrong for me to believe that you were living the good life, regardless of if I was there with you or not?” The atmosphere around seemed to settle down some now. The need to yell was gone, and the tension could be felt easing off.

But this moment of near-peace was short lived.

“Get out…” Applejack began quietly. She couldn’t take another word. Her morality was already placed upon a fractured, rickety pedestal. If any more guilt and regret were to plague her mind… “just… just leave me alone. That’s all ah want.”

“I want to help you, AJ, but I can’t do that if you don’t let me in.” Rainbow Dash insisted.

“Ya wanna help? Leave! That’ll help loads!” She began, turning away from her to tend to her secret stash box.

“I wont leave you like this, AJ. You want to go loosen up at the bar, that’s fine with me. I don’t expect you to spill out everything on me, but at least accept what you wanted to begin with. You want me to hang? I got all buckin’ night!”

Applejack could feel some part of her twinge at that. “Ah don’t want to go to a bar. Ah don’t wanna go anywhere! An’ especially not with you! So, go away!”

“Fine, we can stay right here then.” Rainbow then firmly planted her flank to the floor.

Applejack growled now, her anger reaching its boiling point. “Just leave me alone, Rainbow Dash!”

“No! If you didn’t want my help, you wouldn’t have gotten so bent!”

“I’ll bend you if ya don’t leave!”

“Try me!” Rainbow challenged.

“Go!” Applejack said while she shoved Dash. Which achieved little. Rainbow Dash was prepared now, and thus felt like trying to push a boulder around.

“Just tell me what’s wrong, AJ!”

“No!” She continued her efforts to force the mare out of her room. Efforts that proved to be fruitless.

“You don’t have the strength to push me around, so just give it up.”

“Celestia help me, ah’ll put you through a damn wall if you don’t leave this instant, Rainbow Dash!”

“Would you look at yourself, AJ? You couldn’t put me through a wet paper bag!”

Applejack physically got the shakes. She couldn’t take it anymore, she needed to regain control of the situation. By any means necessary. Without even thinking about it, a hoof reached back to grab something, anything. Anything to finally get the peace and quiet that she wanted. “GET OUT!”

Shatter! “ARGH!” Crash! Thump! Thump!

Applejack panted heavily with a broken bottle neck dripping liquid sanctuary. Dilated, seething eyes glared down at the rainbow mess on the floor, while her mind trudged through her panic attack. Before she knew it, Big Mac had raced up the stairs, coming to find the scene before them both now. He seemed to be stunned for the moment.

Having finally regained control, and some semblance of her sanity, the reality of what she’d just done finally hit her. Suddenly, Applejack’s breath caught, causing her to drop the broken bottle in her hoof. “... R-Rainbow? ……. Rainbow?” At first, Applejack was quiet, but the second inquiry was slightly above normal volume.

Big Mac couldn’t believe what he was looking at. Shattered glass littered the hall, alcohol was splattered against the wall, and a small pool of blood slowly began to form beside Rainbow’s limp frame. The last time he saw a level of violence like this…

“Git outta my house…” came his gruff tone, looking back at Applejack now with dead eyes. She looked at him with complete shock. But didn’t respond, nor move. “Git! Outta! My! House!!” he bellowed now, his words ringing through the walls. Before he could hesitate further, Big Mac swept Rainbow Dash up onto his back and carefully hauled her away from his sister. “Apple Bloom! Cheerilee! Help me take Rainbow to the hospital! Quickly!”

Applejack continued to sit there in her doorway, completely beside herself now. The whole situation was starting to feel like a nightmare that she couldn’t wake up from. Unable to do more than stare off, Applejack listened as the others got together a couple of things and rushed out the door. It was dead silent for a moment, until she could hear shaky hoof-steps make their way up the stairs slowly. After what felt like half an hour, she could see Granny Smith come into view in the hall. While Big Mac and Apple Bloom had always made an effort to love and care for her, Applejack had lost her grandmother’s favor a while ago. Granny Smith still cared, but AJ had made mistakes in recent years that she hadn’t been very willing to forgive yet.

And now, she was staring Applejack down with intense disappointment. The worst kind of steely gaze that she’d ever endured. “Ah-ah’m sorry!” she blurted out to Granny, who didn’t let up. “Ah didn’t mean to-... ah just wanted to be alone…!

“Well, now, you get to go anywhere you want to be by your lonesome. Just not here, not anymore.” she retorted with a cold bite in her words.

“Ah’m sorry!” Applejack slumped to the floor now, hooves scrambling to try and dust away the broken glass into a pile. “Ah’m so sorry…”

“You heard yer brother. Don’t mind yer mess none, and just go.”

Applejack solemnly admitted defeat now, pushing herself back up and slowly drifted over to the stairs, repeatedly having to correct her balance. Just before she was about to pass Granny, tearful eyes looked back up to her. “Ah’m… not comin’ back… am ah?”

Granny heaved a sigh, closing her eyes to think on that one for a moment. “That’s somethin’ the rest of us are gunna have a talk about tomorrow. If’n ah were you, ah’d be more concerned about that poor filly you just attacked…”

The burning coal came back full force in her throat by now, and all she could resolve to do was wander down the stairs and out the door, and maybe hope she had enough bits on herself to get a room for the night at the bed and breakfast.

---

Luna entered the dining hall of her castle shortly after having raised the moon, finding her sister in her usual seat whilst a few other ponies there busied themselves with the settings. “Good evening, dear Sister.” Luna called as she made her way to her own seat.

The table itself was a unique, hoof-crafted piece made from a large, old redwood stump. It was round, and allowed for as many as thirty guests to sit comfortably. The face of it was engraved with an intricate design that combined the sun and moon in the middle, leaving one half of the table to portray the princess of the night dancing against her star-lit sky. The other half held a regal sun alicorn who brought forth the warming light of her sun for the kingdom. These engravings were accented with a masterful burning to bring out a high level of depth in this otherwise ordinary carving, completed with a lacquer coating to both preserve and enrich the final product. The chairs that accompanied this set was also treated with the same care, all decorated with smooth carvings under their coat of finish. On opposite ends, the princesses’ larger chairs were emblazoned with their cutie marks on both faces of each backing. One was then given stars around its edge with a crescent moon at the top. The other decorated by the sun’s rays with her solar insignia up on high as its finishing touch. The rest of the chairs were also themed to match their half of the table, but less extravagantly so.

“Good evening, Luna.” Celestia chimed contently, indulging in a small cup of tea while she waited.

Luna looked around for a moment, noticing that the guest of the hour was not there yet. That’s when she turned back to Celestia. “Where is Twilight? It is not like her to be late…” she asked with slight concern.

Celestia gave a soft chuckle. “Few things in this world put Twilight off of her schedule. I’m sure if she’s caught up with something, it is because it is important.”

“I suppose…” Luna sighed slightly. She wasn’t sure if Celestia should be right or wrong for not showing the slightest bit of worry. But that thought negated itself quickly. There was more to Celestia than her composure implied. For all she knew, Celestia could be just as concerned, if not more.

“Presenting Princess Twilight Sparkle!” called an orange guard, who then stepped aside to allow Twilight passage into the hall.

Luna gasped quietly while Celestia’s smile simply broadened at the sight of her. Twilight walked in at a slow pace, boasting her new set of regalia. Platinum covered each hoof, all of which given a similar, single engraving for a hint of accent. The forward two sported two magenta-colored gems cut in the shape of a star-burst, like her cutie mark. On either side of each sat smaller, purple gems. The shoes on her hind-hooves were of similar scheme, but instead of having star-bursts as the gem of focus, they were just larger gems of the same magenta hue, cut with seven perfect facets.

A necklace adorned her, resting just above the withers. It was almost small enough to consider a choker, but wasn’t as snug of a fit. This band held more ornate engraving underneath another star-burst gem, and four other smaller purple gems along either side. Lastly, her crown was styled similar to Celestia’s - perfectly matching the outline of her shoes - but was a couple inches shorter. This, too, held a rosy-pink star-burst gem with two small purple gems on either side in a matching scheme, all perfectly drawn together with decoratively simplistic engravings. This star-burst was slightly different from the rest, and for good reason. Twilight had Spike form the setting to the exact dimensions of her Element of Magic. When she made it back to Ponyville, she intended to give her old relic a fresh new look upon this crown. To top it off, Twilight’s mane had been given a little extra volume and bounce to bring some life into her basic mane-cut. All in all, if captured in the right light, you could see the metal turn silvery-blue hues before returning to a vibrant, near-chrome color.

“I hope I haven’t kept you waiting long.” she began, holding a small bit of blush on her face while she took a seat right in the middle of day and night. She had the opportunity to see herself in a mirror before leaving, and felt that it was all a bit much. But she trusted Rarity’s fashion sense, despite her own thoughts on the look. It also did make her feel better in its own way, too. She was quite pleased with the hoof shoes. Having been custom made for her hooves, they seemed significantly more comfortable than she remembered her old regalia feeling. She doubted she’d go entire days in them, but it was still a nice fit.

Luna marveled at the majesty of Twilight’s new regal accessories, her eyes wide and sparkling. She probably loved the new look more so than Celestia did. “Mother of me! Twilight, you look amazing! Where in Equestria did you get those made?”

This just made her blush a little more. “Spike seems to be quite adept with metal-crafting…”

Celestia tilted her head slightly, picking up on something. “You don’t like your new look?”

“No, no, I do!” Twilight quickly defended. “I really appreciate all that they did for me today. It’s just that… it feels… overdone?”

Luna shook her head. “I think it suits you well, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Thanks.” Twilight replied sincerely. She was actually kind of surprised to see Luna show so much interest in it. But, then again, it did have a similar silvery-gleam to hers, and there were stars all over her now. Realizing that, she wondered how Luna wouldn’t love it. That’s when a thought came to mind. “You’d probably get a kick out of this, Luna. Some of the gems change color with the ambient light. When it’s darker out, they are purple. But when it’s lighter out…”

Suddenly, Twilight’s horn lit up with a simple light spell, causing all the purple gems her light could touch to shift to more of a magenta hue. Letting the spell fade, and the gems return to their previous color, Luna gave in to a little bit of clapping. “Simply magical! You have quite the befitting set of royal garnishes.”

“Let’s not let it go to our heads, now.” Celestia chortled.

“Do I detect jealousy, dear Sister?” Luna quipped playfully.

“Not at all.” she replied plainly, taking a moment to drink more of her tea. Looking back up, Luna gave her a knowing smirk, while Twilight resumed her small blush, combing a hoof through the end of her mane a little. “Perhaps a little.” The three shared in a small chuckle. “It really does look nice on you, Twilight.”

“Thanks, Celestia. I’m glad you both like it.”

"I take it that your efforts to gather your friends is going well?" Celestia asked, deciding to change the topic now.

Twilight thought for a moment, nodding slowly as she did so she wouldn't appear to hesitate. "I've gotten three so far. Just three more left." A smile forced its way upon her mouth, which neither seemed to question.

"And I see you've gotten yourself a fine pair of guards." Celestia continued.

Twilight looked back to find that Solleret had joined his friend at the door when she wasn't looking. She caught eyes with Flash Sentry, who seemed to be waiting for her to notice. She gave a small nod away to him, silently giving him the go ahead to find a place to rest for the night. Once he turned away to leave, Twilight looked back to the sisters. “An exceptional pair indeed.” she agreed with a smile.

“Have you worked out all the details?” Luna inquired, deciding to jump right into a discussion about the task.

“Mostly.” Twilight hummed. “I figure the bulk of my settlers will come from Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and Appleloosa. Both Ponyville and Appleloosa have grown a lot over the years. Much of their population are experienced in farming and construction. All of whom are no stranger to hard labor. And Cloudsdale turns out many great weather pegasi. Under the pretense that I acquire thirty ponies, excluding my friends and guards, I should have a pretty tight outfit. Five ponies will prepare the land for crops under the care of Applejack. Five will be in charge of food and gathering supplies with Pinkie. Another five under Rainbow Dash will manage the weather and do general land surveillance. Fluttershy’s team will handle the documentation - and relocation, if necessary - of the local fauna and flora. Leaving Spike and Rarity in charge of a team for construction.”

Luna did the math in her head as Twilight listed off the teams and their duties. “Okay… and the remaining five?”

“Divided up between Spike, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Fluttershy will oversee seven ponies, Spike and Rarity will share the other eight.”

“And, for you?” Celestia inquired, though she already knew what the answer was.

“Naturally, I will be utilizing my skills to oversee the entire operation, making sure everything is completed on schedule, and supply help where needed. As other teams finish their duties, I will also be handing reassignment.”

“What about a medical team?” Luna chimed.

“Fluttershy’s team will consist of at least one trained nurse and one experienced doctor. Fluttershy herself is a capable veterinarian, so she will be caring for any critters that need attention. In the grand picture, the guards will have their knowledge of proper field dressings, I can perform some medical magics for mild cuts and abrasions if needed, with the doctors there for treatment of more severe illnesses and conditions."

“And then safety precautions?” Celestia asked on reflex, though it sounded more like a statement.

“Everypony will be working in groups of two or three, and will be advised to not work alone. Ponies will have to report to their team leader once an hour, and team leaders will report to me every two hours. Lastly, Flash Sentry and Black Solleret will continue to be my personal guard, while the remaining four will do general policing, or even aid in tasks if they wish. Flash will head the day guard, Solleret will head the night guard. This will ensure that both guards can keep up healthy communications at dawn and sunset. Lastly, expeditions away from the settlement will be assigned one guard for every three ponies, with a maximum search team of six ponies and two guards possible. As long as everything goes as projected, I should have a decent little town of my own within a few months at most, and maybe a castle after one year. If the railroad were to begin expanding its reach towards the old kingdoms the moment I leave Appleloosa, I could likely have it all done sooner.”

After having mentioned the guards and their duties, a thought occurred to her. “Princess Celestia?”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“I had something come to my attention earlier today that I wanted to inquire about. Is it true that the day guard work the whole day, and the night guard the whole night?”

Celestia and Luna both exchanged knowing glances before returning their attention back to Twilight. “It is true.” Luna confirmed.

“But, doesn’t that make it hard for them to lead normal lives?”

“It does.” Celestia nodded slightly, pausing for a moment when a few ponies came into view with serving platters. Laid before each princess was a dish with steamed mixed vegetables, a sweet roll, and a small serving of cheese lasagna. Perfectly proportioned for a not-so-athletic lifestyle, while still big enough to enjoy. Once the servers left, Celestia chose to continue. “It is unfortunate, but at present unavoidable. Many ponies understand this, and come to accept it in their own time.”

“In the kingdoms before,” Luna chose to elaborate some more, knowing the purple mare would question further. “It was a policy of the royal guard to draft stallions when their numbers fell below a set integer. This ensured that all guards were given shorter hours to allow for adequate social interaction, but this also removed many ponies from a line of work they enjoyed because their exports were deemed unnecessary.” Luna’s disdain was made apparent at the notion. “As such, when Tia and I defeated Discord and took up position as rulers, we changed the policy so that only those who desired to be guards were accepted into training. In the beginning, we had plenty of guards, but their numbers did not increase with the population…”

“Ahh, yes, I remember those days quite well!” a sinister voice resonated throughout the hall.

The three alicorns seemed slightly startled by the sudden presence of the voice, Twilight notably more so than the other two. Soon enough, Discord’s figure faded into existence in one of the chairs at the table, on the opposite side of Twilight. Solleret noticeably tensed up, ready to cast magic the instant he was given a sign of trouble. Without even looking back, however, Twilight held out a hoof, and then lowered it slightly. A gesture he took to mean for him to stand down. He respectfully refused, however, remaining steadfast.

“Discord.” Twilight addressed him, though with the slightest hint of impatience. She’s not had the brightest of histories in her begrudging friendship with the draconequus. She took notice that the other two alicorns seemed to show a level of indifference, though. Perhaps they were just better as masking their disdain.

“Twilight Sparkle! It’s so nice to see you again, I can hardly remember the last time we had the chance to talk. Mind if I join you?” At the snap of his fingers, a platter and utensils appeared before him, covered by a dome lid. Discord elegantly removed the cover, revealing a large stick of butter.

Twilight felt her stomach flop, knowing Discord fully intended to eat pure butter in front of them. Deep purple eyes followed the knife as it carved out a piece, only for him to stick his fork in the large portion and take a bite from that. Wrapper and all. Suddenly, Twilight’s appetite ran away from her. “Please do.” her lips pushed out, actively forcing herself to mind her reactions to the chaos spirit.

“How have you been, D?” Luna began, who lifted her own silverware into her light blue magic to begin eating as well.

“Oh, my day has been simply de-lightful! Drama’s are my favorite genre of entertainment. Wouldn’t you agree, Celey?”

“Quite.”

Choosing to sit back and observe, Twilight managed to ignore the butter enough to begin eating as well, not wanting to give Discord any ammunition against her. She noticed that Luna seemed to express genuine interest, while Celestia just appeared to hold a tolerant demeanor. It was no big wonder that it meant Discord popped up in the castle frequently.

“Speaking of drama, how is Applejack doing, Twilight?” Discord asked with a knowing smirk.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and she hoped it wasn’t enough to notice. “Well enough.” was all she was willing to say on the matter. Something told her that Discord knew exactly how Applejack was doing, and asked merely to push her buttons. Pushing buttons seemed to be a hobby of his. “So, you were talking about the old policy of the guards?” Twilight pushed back on topic. She figured that if Discord was going to be there, he’d make himself useful.

“Oh, yes, how rude of me to forget.” Discord continued, taking another large bite of the butter. Twilight had winced slightly after that, and put her food down. Apparently, she just couldn’t enjoy lasagna. He couldn’t help but wonder why, as he gave a thoroughly appeased smirk. That’s when Celestia spoke up.

“Not to be rude, Discord, but I couldn’t help noticing that your haunches seem bigger than I remember them being…”

“Oh, I know!” Discord whined, turning himself to rest his weight against his neck. Allowing him to hoist his lower body into the air. Twilight gave a puzzled look, until his legs visibly grew to twice their size. “I’ve just been an absolute mess lately. Fluttershy’s been having a dreadful time coping with a few things, and I couldn’t help but empathize. I feel like I’m falling apart!” At that, Discord literally fell into pieces in his seat before his head poked up from under the table. “It isn’t showing too much, is it?”

“Might I suggest a diet that isn’t high in fat?” Twilight couldn’t help but jab at the fact that he was eating butter. In a very small way, it made her feel good. But mostly, she just wanted him to stop.

Discord gave a watery-eyed smile, assembling himself together again while returning his body back to its normal physique. “Ah! As always, you are right Twilight. What ever would I do without such good friends?” Having got his kicks from disgusting the princesses, Discord snapped his talons. A basket of pears then appeared before him. The pears jumped out of the basket, the butter hopped off the platter, and the two combined under a quick breath of fire to make a heap of butter-roasted pears. Discord grabbed one by the stem and took a large, obnoxious bite from it, visibly enjoying the delight to his core.

Twilight quickly found her appetite return to her at the smell of the delectables. Something she would never admit. At least she was comfortably able to resume eating.

“Mmph! I’m going to have to remember to thank Mr. Hyde for this wonderfully delicious idea…” Discord remarked with his mouth full.

Twilight waited until she finished her bite to try and steer the topic back on course. “About those guards, Discord?”

Discord raised a brow slightly. “Guards? You’re more concerned about the past than you are of your friends?”

Twilight sighed. “If Fluttershy is having problems with something and didn’t come to me, she must not want me to know about it. While I am concerned, I will respect her privacy and wait for her to feel comfortable enough to talk to me. I am not so low as to weasel information about them from others.” She then took a moment to eat a bit more of her food before continuing. “If you wish to talk about it, that’s your prerogative. But I would like to remain on the subject of my journey, and political problems I would like to try and resolve for my future kingdom, while I am here with Celestia and Luna. Now, please, if you will?”

Discord gave a heavy sigh, snapping his fingers once more to have his plate of food disappear without a trace. “Well, since you asked nicely. I suppose I could indulge my favorite princess.” Nimbly, he twirled a finger against the table, and the carvings appeared to blend together like a smoothie. Bending the details to his will, it began to play animated scenes for Twilight’s enjoyment.

“Before the time of the Princesses, the military of each pony type did draft stallions from time to time. Because of this, stallions didn’t always pursue their dreams because they felt that eventually, they all would be forced into the position of a guard. Any who did not show up when picked were considered deserters. Depending upon the kingdom, punishment ranged from hard time in jail, to outright banishment to the desert. One of the reasons why it is called the Badlands. Used to be my favorite place to stir-up some good ol’ fashion chaos…”

The carvings continued to play out the scenes until he stopped talking. It then swirled into a vortex once again, before forming back into its original scene. “I assume you know what happened next. I got bored and played with all of the ponies at my leisure, Celey and Luna found the elements of harmony, and I became the most handsome garden ornament for a thousand years! Yadda yadda.”

“Because of the disharmony caused by forcing ponies into guardianship,” Celestia began, picking up where Discord left off. “It was in all of Equestria’s best interest to abolish that policy and have the guard rely on a volunteer basis. So many ponies were so grateful that we had saved them back then, that guards were plentiful. Each guard only served two or three hours a day. They had plenty of time to achieve their dreams and take up trades as they wished. But, even with the many things they were grateful for written in the history books to remind future ponies of the hardship they would otherwise endure, the reasons faded away to distant memory. Leaving simple gratitude for just being here to remain. While I have personally vowed to never reinstate the drafts, my kingdom cannot be guardless for large portions of the day and night either. All I can do is promote the position with the promise of high honors, compensate the guards as much as I reasonably can, and hope I never have to take drastic measures...”

“Guards have had many reasons to stay over recent years.” Luna furthered. “Some stay for the honor. Some stay because they have somepony to protect. Some stay to uphold the law. Some stay because they truly wish to be a guard, and others still do it for the mares. But many of them choose to be a guard because they know that if they don’t do it, nopony else will. It gives many, many other ponies the opportunity to live a happy life and follow their own path. Even if most of the guards never came to understand the fact that they have allowed another filly or colt the benefit of so many options, my sister and I could never give enough thanks to their sacrifices. And it hurts us greatly to see them struggle to have normal lives of their own.”

Twilight nodded slightly, having felt very enlightened on the subject and its troubles now. Though, she did notice something there. “You mostly talk of stallions when it comes to the guards. Have you ever tried advertising to the mares as well? Though mares are smaller and have a harder time equaling the strength of a stallion, it would definitely help balance the numbers. Shining and Cadance have a few mares in their guard themselves, and the one that I spoke with sounded very gifted.”

Reactions to the inquiry varied across the table. Celestia abruptly paused to pat a napkin over her mouth momentarily. Luna looked away with something of a rosy blush across her face. While Discord snickered, secretly wondering who would say it first.

Celestia was the first to respond. “We have advertised to mares once before, but that caused a greater problem…”

Twilight didn’t seem to catch on. “How could it have caused an even greater problem?”

Luna swallowed some of her pride to continue for Celestia. “The first mares who were accepted, when the guards were beginning to experience longer hours… well, all had to take maternity leave within the first few months of active duty, save for two mares.”

Twilight found herself with a blush to call her own now, and wondered how she didn’t see the problem sooner. “O-oh… I see.”

“The palace garden at night was quite the lively place in those times.” Discord chuckled, earning a disapproving stare from all three alicorns. “Oh, please! Like none of you ever think about it! I happen to know for a fact that you have a secret admirer.” Discord threw at Luna, who gasped, before looking over to Celestia. “You don’t even have room to talk.” Celestia tried to remain unfazed, but the lightest hint of a blush betrayed her, as well as a slight increase in the heaviness of her glare. “And you…!” Discord now turned to Twilight, tapping a talon to his chin for a moment. Trying to find something against her. “You…! Have a suspicious fondness of books?” Discord then proceeded to shrug, “Honestly, I don’t even know about you. Sometimes, I wonder if you even swing that way.”

“That’s quite enough, Discord.” Twilight balked the subject, while trying to remain civil. Though the shock of him suggesting that she might be lesbian made her want to slug him where he sat. “It is not our place to discuss the personal lives of others.” she reiterated to him.

“Oh dear! Celestia forbid I should ever talk about sex in front of you gaggle of prudes.” came his disappointed tone. Discord held his arms up into the air, a set of hoofcuffs appearing and ensnaring his wrists. “Fine! Slap the cuffs on me, throw me in the slammer! Tell me I’ve been a bad little foal!” he continued dramatically, until he fell onto the table in a fit of laughter.

“Contain yourself, Discord.” Celestia warned gravely.

“But I have been already!” Discord threw his cuffed claws into the air, and giggled some more. When he looked upon Celestia’s face however, he sighed heavily, teleporting back into his seat, proper and unbound. “Don’t you ever miss being fun, Celey?”

The three chose to ignore him for the moment, allowing Twilight to jump back on topic once more. “That is certainly a problem. Have you ever tried promoting the use of contraceptives?”

Celestia nodded. “I have even offered full reimbursement for ligations…”

“Yet another problem arose from the promotion of even everyday contraceptive practices. Many complaints arose that we were, in a way, promoting sexual deviancy among the ranks, and the officials were not sitting well with the idea either. They wanted us to enforce abstinence instead. None of these were turning out to be viable solutions, however. So we stopped the encouragement of mare guards completely. We have not denied any since, but we do make sure they are aware of the dangers. Overall, it’s simply not a popular concept.”

Twilight sighed heavily, having finished her meal like the others by now. “The more I think about it, the harder the problem gets…”

Discord nodded thoughtfully. “If only there were a way to make it so not as many guards are required for the same duties…”

He seemed to be teasing them with the idea, as if he knew a solution that could solve the whole dilemma. This annoyed Twilight some. “What are your thought’s, Discord?” she asked, shifting the spotlight onto him now.

As the other three now stared at him, awaiting his response, Discord shrugged. “I personally don’t see the need for guards. They haven’t exactly been effectual during any of the major attacks in the past.” he smirked. All three gave him a disappointed look, almost commanding him to try running the thought by them again. Twilight even gently lifted a brow at him, looking on expectantly. “Perhaps if they only had a faster means of communication. A way to relay an emergency message over a distance that wouldn’t alert any unintended recipients…”

Twilight thought on that for a moment. The benefits were there if every guard could communicate with each other, and each other only, over a large distance. That would mean that fewer guards could cover the same area, and make a call for additional support when needed. Trouble was, without installing hard lines all across Equestria and having call boxes placed all over the streets, and an adequate power source, technology couldn’t answer the question.

Or, could it?

Twilight’s eyes brightened as a thought suddenly occurred to her. She looked back to Black Solleret, instantly catching his eyes. “Black Solleret, could you come here for a moment?” she asked with the standard gesture.

Black did not hesitate to comply with his princess, quickly coming to stand at attention beside her. “Yes, your highness?”

“I require a demonstration of your null field.”

“Null field?” Luna asked. Celestia and Discord both seemed equally interested. “What is a null field?”

Black didn’t seem sure of where this was headed, but proceeded to explain. “The nullification field is a battle magic I developed myself, that cancels out all other magics in a given area. If no pony is currently using their magic right now, I could show you.”

“Hah!” Discord leapt up into the air over the table now, coming to hover just before the red unicorn. “Magic that cancels magic? Preposterous! Such a thing would collapse under its own pretense.”

Black looked back over to Twilight, who gave a nod paired with a smirk. Solleret returned the smile, and focused on flooding the immediate area with unadulterated magic. None of them seemed to notice it until he began pulsing it randomly, to which all the princesses reacted as if their horn had been enveloped by an unseen force.

Discord could feel it too, though the sensation was very odd. He laughed some, none the less, seeing the unicorn so thoroughly exert himself. “Oh no! My magic is suddenly gone! Somepony stick a fork in me, I’m done for!” His talons snapped to do the usual dramatization of what expression he was using at the moment, but nothing happened. It was quite odd. Annoyed, he gave another snap, but in the direction of Twilight’s silverware. Instead of bringing them to life like Discord intended, several copies of each utensil leapt out of the original, making a loud clatter as they all bounced across the table unceremoniously.

The noise of the duplicated silverware launching themselves from the original caused a few gasps to be made. All now looked to Solleret, along with a dumbfounded Discord. Solleret stopped the null field after that with a bit of a blush, feeling like a fool after Discord was able to do something. “Eh-heheh… it’s not perfect. But it does work most of the time…”

“I’ll say…” Discord sneered.

Each of the princesses shared in a small giggle at Discord’s expense, who crossed his arms in reaction. “Ha-rumph! Maybe it is possible. But I don’t see how such a thing could be useful in increasing the effectiveness of the royal guard. If anything, it would make them even more useless.”

“That’s where I disagree, Discord.” Twilight began, calling upon everypony’s attention. “You might have a great imagination when it comes to entertaining yourself. I, however, put my creativity to the benefit of all.” A magic beam shot out from her horn to trace out a projection field with which she could use to illustrate her idea. “The thought came to me when Black Solleret first told me about the null field. He explained that he used wavelengths in alternating patterns, which could be felt by the horn. which got me to thinking. If the horn can feel magic at certain wavelengths, while magic casting in general goes unnoticed, perhaps there is a wavelength in which can’t be felt, and won’t interfere with other unicorn magic.”

The image of a pony casting the null field then showed up, the null field being represented by a visible wave pattern emanating from its horn. The random wave patterns then leveled out to a uniform one. “If I can make a devise that passively senses this proposed wavelength, and creates a tone when this wavelength is within range of it, we could use Horse Code to allow unicorns to send out messages across a given area, which can then be interpreted by the recipient in real time.”

Celestia smiled some, while Luna put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. “Seems like an interesting theory…”

“Just one problem.” Black interjected. “Thus far, I can only project the field at a maximum distance of fifty yards. Though it wouldn’t take long for other unicorns to learn the magic, I expect ranges will be much of the same until I can develop a means of broadening the effective area. Even if this device were to work, how would it drop the number of required guards? Something like that would demand more than what’s already here.”

“I’m glad you asked, Black Solleret.” Twilight chimed, returning her attention to everypony again. “It has been studied and documented that certain antenna arrays can amplify magic. Though research into the discovery had been limited after finding that it didn’t increase raw power, it had been noted that these arrays could increase the distance at which magic could be used for things such as levitation. If sentry towers were to be strategically placed inside of the city, with a transmission amplifier antenna on top, it could possibly increase the distance that this signal could be projected. For the sake of example, lets assume that Canterlot would only require five towers…” The light display shifted to an overhead view of the city. Each block was represented in a sky-blue color. Yellow lines then broke up the map into four quadrants, and then five red dots appeared all at equal distance from each other. One in the middle of each quadrant, with one in the center of all four. “Then, assign one pegasus and one unicorn to each tower, and give them three hour shifts. Each tower would then only require eight operators over a twelve hour period, which is forty ponies by this diagram. The pegasi can do aerial patrol while the unicorns serve as a general lookout. While teams of two ponies do rounds on the ground. If something occurs, the ground units simply have to alert aerial patrol, who can then signal the tower to send out a message to all the receivers in the quadrant, and perhaps even each tower if they’re placed within range. Guards would then receive the message and, if they’re close enough to the source of the disturbance, can provide additional support. Just as well, if I could devise a receiver, I might be able to figure out how to store magic into a ‘cell’ of sorts, which could then be used in an emergency transmitter with a set message. With this placed in range of the tower, we can cut down the number of guards needed further still.”

Several small orange dots now appeared, all placed within an approximated range of each tower. “Cut each quadrant into sections, and place one ground patrol unit to each section that does not have an adequate number of transmitters, and you only need six ground units per quadrant. That’s an additional forty-eight ponies. Give the ground units four hour shifts, and that brings the grand total of required guards to one-hundred and eighty-four for every twelve hours.”

Twilight smiled now, happy with her figures. “With these projected figures in mind, how many guards do you each have?”

“I currently have just shy of two-hundred and fifty guards in all.” Celestia chimed.

“And I, just above two-hundred.” Luna commented.

“Perfect!” Twilight clapped her hooves in excitement. Feeling proud of herself for having figured it all out. “Give the towers some basic amenities like showers, offices for the paperwork, and perhaps a gym, and you have one complete system which drastically increases the efficiency of the guard, with plenty leftover to monitor the castle if it were supplemented with a similar transmitter-receiver system. Celestia may have to reassign some of her day guard to a night shift to compensate, but I don’t think that would be a problem.”

“Not at all.” she smiled.

After the magic projection faded, Solleret couldn’t help one extra concern he found. “This is all great in theory, but even if this were all feasible, Horse Code can take a while to send a whole message. And the guard will need to be able to react quickly to any given situation.”

“I’ve already thought of that.” Twilight sounded out, almost in a boastful tone. “Messages will be coded in a strictly numerical system, and broken up into three individual numbers. The first number will be the crime or situation in progress. The second will be the quadrant, and the third will be the block number. For the sake of example, lets say that the message - four fifty-nine dash one dash twenty-three - is guard code for a burglary in quadrant one at block twenty-three. A pony trained in Horse Code could transmit this message in about five seconds, the tower would then be able to resend the message over the entire security net within the same time frame. Allowing for proper response inside of a minute. Efficiency through simplicity. Of course, this is all figuratively speaking. I’d still have to work out the science behind it all, but I’m confident that I can make this solution a reality. Determined, even.”

“Well, I think that I speak for everypony here when I say that I have every confidence in you, Princess” Discord commented, over-exaggerating the little term of endearment at the end.

“Thank you, Discord.” Twilight deadpanned.

“You will be a fine princess, indeed, Twilight.” Celestia added in her own comforting tone. Twilight seemed to take that more to heart.

“Are you certain you won’t require more guards for the trip?” Luna asked, trying to mask her deep concern all the while.

“No no, six should be plenty.” Twilight reassured. “Taking away too many guards will only make everypony’s job harder, and I want to try and keep this group as small as possible. Once the railroad is extended, we can discuss the idea of more ponies.”

“Perhaps I could lend a hoof?” Discord chimed as enticingly as he could, giving off the gestures of a typical school-filly.

“No!” Twilight quickly shot out, before placing a hoof over her mouth. Discord acted as if he took offense, but something deep inside her knew he was just trying to play her. “I mean… no, thank you. I already have more than enough help.”

After he was finished playing like his feelings were hurt, Discord smirked slightly. “Hmhm, well, as much fun as it has been, I have some chaos to monitor.”

Twilight raised a brow slightly. She’d never heard that one before. “What does that mean, exactly?” came her suspicious tone.

Discord gave a wry smile, knowing she’d ask. “Maybe you should write me sometime and find out.” He then gave a small, teasing chuckle. “You know how to reach me!” he called before disappearing from existence.

Once Twilight was certain enough that he was gone, her attention was drawn to Celestia. “Do I really want to know?”

Celestia took a moment to try and figure a way to put it that she might understand. Luna took the opportunity to speak up, knowing a bit more about it. “It’s something akin to a royal duty.” she began, now finding the explanation to be a bit more complex than she first anticipated. “You see, Twilight, Immortals such as ourselves have certain tasks of our own to uphold. Almost all ponies ever know is what we do here in the physical realm. But we also have duties that extend beyond the physical. My job is to monitor the dreams of ponies and help them overcome the fears that create nightmares. Discord monitor’s the level of chaos in the realm. He’s not ever told me what he does to resolve the problems that arise… but he does insist that he takes measures to prevent chaos from running rampant in Equestria. I feel like I can trust that much most of the time.”

“Okay… I guess that makes sense…” Curious now, Twilight turned back to Celestia. “And, what do you do? If you don’t mind my asking, that is…”

Celestia visibly sighed, though the untrained eye would mistake this for a slightly deeper breath. “I maintain the balance. That is… all I’m willing to say on the matter.”

Celestia seemed to speak as if her role bared down horribly on her shoulders. Given the vague description, Twilight could only imagine why that might be. But given the hint of a grave tone, she was afraid to inquire further. It was simply another secret her mentor kept, and Twilight knew the alicorn well enough to trust that she kept certain things hidden deep for only the best of reasons. Twilight decided to shift the subject from Celestia. “Well… are there any duties I need to fulfill?”

Celestia smiled slightly, the air around her seeming to lighten, even if only a little. “But of course, my little pony!” she responded, accidentally giving in to a force of habit. She immediately noticed it, but Twilight didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, it felt like the endearment made her smile that much brighter. “Just as Cadance spreads the light of love in other ponies, you promote friendship and harmony in all those around you.”

Twilight seemed slightly confused now. “Huh? But, I don’t know of any spells like that…”

Celestia chuckled slightly, seeing where Twilight might have gotten that notion from. “Not all feats of harmony require magic, Twilight.”

“Oh!” Twilight blushed with a silent squeak. “I see, now.”

The three shared in a small giggle before Celestia continued, nearly on a serious note. “Don’t ever forget your lessons, Twilight. No matter what challenges you face, no matter who you meet, friendship is always a solution. If nothing else, Discord serves as an example, and reminder, that friendship can be found in even the strangest of strangers. Even if you don’t always see eye-to-eye with them.”

Twilight rolled her eyes at the mention of Discord. She found it hard to get behind the draconequus. “Is it wrong to hope he doesn’t make it a habit to start popping up randomly in my castle?”

Celestia chuckled warmly. “I know that Discord can be… rough around the edges. And it makes it hard to empathize with him. But, believe it or not, Discord was once a good-natured being with friends of his own.”

“I find that hard to believe, Celestia.” Twilight tossed out. She didn’t want to speak negatively behind his back, but she also didn’t need to explain why she just couldn’t put faith in him.

“The life of an immortal is not a kind one, dear Twilight Sparkle.” Luna began, more serious than Celestia now. She couldn’t always agree with Discord, but she has made efforts to call on him as a friend once more. Sometimes, he does display good taste in humor, and it has brightened her day on a few occasions. After having somewhat been in his shoes, she could not help but at least defend him a little.

“We have had many close friends come and go with the ages. We have done many things we regret. And, sometimes, we regret the things we haven’t done equally.” Twilight slowly grew more downtrodden in the face of Luna’s revelation. “Evil is not born, Twilight. Some just... have a harder time coping with negativity…”

Twilight nodded slightly. Somewhere in her mind, she felt like a bad individual for holding the past against Discord. Another still also reminded her that it was his own fault. “I should… probably give him more of a chance, next time. I guess…”

Luna raised a hoof while shaking her head slightly. “I am not saying that you should always give him the benefit of the doubt, nor for you to give pity. But, it wouldn’t hurt to open up to him a little here and there, and allow him to do the same. Once you get beyond the antics and occasional ill humor, you may find that he can still be a good friend.”

Twilight nodded, seeming a little less down now. A few days ago, she might not have fully understood the meaning of this lesson. However, she felt like she knew how bad it was to lose a friend. Though she could hardly hold a candle to any of their hardships, Twilight could imagine the weight they feel. “I understand. I’ll be sure to keep that all in mind next time.”

Celestia and Luna both shared a smile, but Celestia’s was visibly warmer. “It was nice talking with you again, Twilight. Though, I think that we should get some rest now. I’m sure it has been a long day for you.”

“Too long.” Twilight sighed, getting up from her seat.

“Will you need a place to sleep?” Luna asked.

Twilight shook her head. “I promised my parents that I would sleep at home tonight. I should get heading back now, anyway. I’ll be by first thing in the morning to pick my guards, though.”

“Do you have any preferences, Twilight?” Luna inquired.

“Just that they be volunteers. I can work out the details at the lineup.”

Both sisters nodded at once. “I’ll put word through my night guard before I begin my duties, then. Good night Twilight.”

“Sleep well.” Celestia bid.

“Good night.” Twilight chimed to them both, heading out the way she came with Black Solleret.

When she left, Celestia looked over to Luna, choosing to address something that she’d placed on the back burner in her mind. “So, you have a secret admirer?” she smirked.

Luna blushed slightly, brushing off the fact. “One of the guards, I presume. He is… quite the talented writer.”

“Do you plan to do anything about it?”

“I-I don’t know…” Luna seemed to take interest in her hooves now, rubbing one against the other for a moment.

Celestia chuckled slightly, taking Luna into a side-long embrace to help make her feel better. “Don’t wait too long this time, Lulu.” Celestia commented, before giving off a small yawn. “I’ll see you in the morning, Sister.”

“Y-yeah. Good night, dear Sister.” Luna called as Celestia walked away. She then turned towards a different door to start off on her duties.

---

As the two traversed the city streets under the pale light of the moon, Black Solleret’s ear flicked at the sound of his princess heaving a weighted sigh. “What’s wrong, Princess?” he asked out of concern.

Twilight gave a half-hearted chuckle. “I don’t think anything is more humbling than to be told by one pony that you’re the princess of friendship, and then immediately be told by another that you’re not being a very good friend…”

Black nodded slightly. “Well, to be fair, Princess, it’s not like Discord doesn’t deserve the scrutiny.”

“True as that is,” Twilight began, “Luna does hold a strong point. I cannot expect others to do better, if I do not hold the same expectations against myself. He may not be the best of friends with Celestia or Luna, but he must not truly be all that bad if Luna is willing to defend him. And I know he’s been trying to call my bluffs for a long time now.”

“Call your bluffs, Princess?”

Twilight nodded. “I’ve done things for him before, for the sake of being a friend. But only because he held my friendship morals against me. Morals that he shouldn’t have had to drape over my head to begin with, if I was as much of a good friend as I claimed to be. If anything, Fluttershy has been more of a friend to him than I have ever been with anypony.”

Solleret looked down at his hooves as he trotted alongside Twilight. He didn’t personally know this Fluttershy, but he could tell that she must be one hell of a pony by the way Twilight mentioned her. “Don’t put all the blame on yourself, your highness. Discord may not have been born bad, but he wasn’t forced to be evil either.”

Twilight remained silent for a short while. By the time they were halfway to her parent’s estate, a late night bar came into view after rounding a corner. After all the drama of her day, a glass of drink or two didn’t sound half bad to unwind with. Just before they were going to pass it, Twilight stopped, staring at the door and its invitation. “Would you like to get a quick drink, Solleret?”

Solleret noticed that Twilight stared at the bar longingly all the way up until they stopped at it. When she asked him, he gave a slightly uneasy cough. “Uh… I normally wouldn’t refuse, but I don’t drink while on duty, your highness.”

“Oh!” Twilight exclaimed, looking back to him. Though the armor made it blatantly obvious, she had forgotten about it. “I’m sorry, Black Solleret. I’m not used to having a guard.” She gave a nervous blush now. “Nevermind, we should just go back.”

Black chuckled some, holding his hooves up in protest. “There’s no judgement here, Princess! I’m all too familiar with those kinds of sighs. If you want a glass of something, you’re more than welcome to it.”

Twilight smiled warmly, though it was weighted by her slowly growing fatigue. “Thanks, Solleret.” He went over to open the door for her, proceeding while he held it. “I promise I’ll be quick. I just want a little bit wine to settle my nerves.”

“Take as long as you need, Princess.” he replied reassuringly, trotting in after her.

Twilight drifted right over to the bar, where she took up a stool with Black taking a seat on his haunches behind her. She didn’t actually notice it until she sat down, but there were no other ponies there save for the bartender. A pale, light-blue stallion, wearing a hoof-combed mane of an off-blue color. If ice were to have the lightest of blue tints to it, that would probably best match his coat. Befitting, seeming as his golden-yellow eyes looked as cold as his color.

The bartender finished up with cleaning a glass and setting it aside before he finally looked up to his customers. He immediately recognized the purple mare to be an alicorn, which kind of surprised him. Though he’d never seen her before, part of him felt like he should recognize her. “Princess?” came his thick accent in a slower, gruff tone. Though somewhat surprised, the stallion came over to take her order, figuring that the guard sitting with his back turned meant he wasn’t planning on drinking. “Vwhat can I get you zhis eveningk?” he asked as politely as he could manage. Normally, the stallion didn’t have a very welcoming demeanor for other ponies. But it would seem he was serving royalty tonight.

Twilight gave the bartender something of an off look. He bore an accent she’d never heard before, which made her pause in curiosity. It also took her a moment to process the words into an understandable phrase. When she realized she was staring, however, she nervously busied her eyes with the wide selection sitting upon the shelves behind him. “Oh! Uhm… sorry. I just want a glass of wine, please.”

The barkeep nodded slightly and pulled out a small rocks glass, setting it down before her. “Any specific kind?”

“Whatever kind you’d recommend for a long day.” Twilight let some of her fatigue leak out in her tone now.

“I know zhe feelingk.” he thought aloud. Without hesitation, the icy stallion went over and picked a bottle from a grouping of crystal clear alcohols, bringing it over and filling the glass to about a third full.

Twilight eyed the drink curiously, bringing it up before her with her magic. This was certainly an odd wine, being devoid of color or even a single bubble. Letting it drift down below her muzzle, she took a whiff before backing away slightly. She could smell the strength of it, as well as… grain? “What kind of wine is this?” she asked curiously.

The barkeep let the smallest of smirks pass over him for a moment. “It is bread vwine.”

Twilight laid eyes back on the cup. Figuring it couldn’t hurt, she took a drink from it to sample the flavor. The resulting face of thorough displeasure jerked a few good laughs from the stallion. It tasted of something along the lines of a dry wheaty-potato flavor, but the strong acidic quality of the drink overpowered any desire she could find in it. It went down hard, leaving something of a burnt aftertaste in her throat.

“Somezhingk tells me you’ve never had bread vwine before, da?”

“And I hope I never do again.” Twilight commented, giving off a hesitant chuckle. “Can I just get some red wine instead?”

He gave a firm not, seeming to be a bit brighter for the moment. “My apologies, Princess. I should’ve vwarned you zhat it’s not a popular drink here.” Taking the time to set up another glass with a fruity, sweet wine. Seeing her take much more delight in that, the stallion took her previous cup and set it under the counter. Something about her itched at the back of his mind since he saw her, but he couldn’t place a hoof on what it was. “Have vwe met before, Princess…?” he asked in a way as to inquire her name.

Twilight stopped for a moment, shaking her head. “I would remember an accent like yours. I’ve never heard it before.” she then smiled slightly. “You can call me Twilight Sparkle, though.” Twilight noticed that the moment she said her name, the barkeep’s expression dropped significantly. This caused her own small smile to lose its strength. “Is something wrong?”

“No.” He said abruptly, busying himself with the cleaning of another cup. “Vwill you be havingk anyzhingk else?”

The sour disinterest was palpable to the alicorn mare. “Uh… no, just this is perfect, thanks.”

“Zhat’s good.”

Twilight looked at him curiously for a moment, then turned back towards Black. He seemed to have noticed it too, because he looked to her at the same time. Her expression begged the question, but Solleret shrugged his answer. Well, at least he noticed it. That’s all the confirmation she needed. “Have I offended you, mister…?” it was her turn to ask for a name now, realizing she hadn’t gotten it yet.

“Oliver.” he said plainly. “And it’s nozhingk you did, Princess.”

Twilight’s eyes widened when he said his name. Still fresh in her mind, she could hear friend’s voices explaining the story.

”... AJ found this stallion by the name of Oliver Salad. A bit of an odd pony. Held an odd accent ah'd never heard before…”

“... They were pretty happy for a while, takin' turns visitin' each other n' such. After about a year, though, somethin' happened between the two…”

“Part of it happened here in the store, I’m afraid.”

The pieces of the puzzle were aligning up perfectly, now. “Oliver Salad?”

Oliver instantly froze in place. He didn’t think that Twilight knew of him. But, considering her sudden shift in tone and knowledge of his full name, she’d been told something. After a pause, He continued cleaning the cup. “Da. Oliver Salad.” he confirmed grimly.

A torrent of emotion crashed through her being now. Anger, sadness, hatred. Among others of similar shades. Twilight pushed the glass away now, getting to her hooves and treading firmly over to stand before the stallion, the counter keeping them separated. Despite the many trials and villains she’d faced before, Twilight never felt this strong an urge to buck someone just for the satisfaction of having inflicted pain on them.

Still, Twilight was a reasonable pony. Though she wanted to, Twilight kept her hooves on the ground. But if looks could turn ponies to stone, she imagined Oliver would be petrified right now. At least, he would if he wasn’t remaining focused on the glass that was surely clean enough already.

Black had gotten up as well, but hung back for fear of getting caught in the crossfire. However, at the same time, he wanted to pull her back and just leave the stallion alone. Mixed up in his indecision, he resolved to hold off intervention until it looked like it was going to get physical.

“You’re going to Ponyville with me, Mister Salad.” Twilight finally said in a commanding, yet calm tone.

Oliver’s eye twitched slightly, choosing to finally put the glass down and look up to the alicorn. She was obviously holding back, and he knew he should tread carefully around the angry princess. But his pride kept him from showing any give. He merely returned the scowl in kind. “Vwhy, in all of Equestria, vwould I go zhere vwizh you?”

“Because, if you have even a shred of dignity, you’ll swallow whatever notion of pride you have that allows you to sleep soundly at night, and apologize to Applejack for the pain that you’ve caused her.”

Oliver blinked a couple of times, as if he’d been asked to publicly humiliate himself in Canterlot Square. “Apologize?” he echoed. “To her?” Oliver visibly began to seethe now. “Zhe pain I caused!? Vwhat pain could I have possibly inflicted upon her!?” Grinding his teeth as he took the glass and put it away, he began to mumble something angrily to himself in a foreign tongue for a moment. He then looked back to the Princess, who seemed a little less sure of her ways at the moment. A hoof pointed out to her now. “Tell me, zhen! Tell me vwhat it vwas zhat I did vwrongk, and I’ll gladly apologize to her.”

Twilight hesitated. Her scowl receded, leaving analytical scrutiny in its wake. Watching his expression and body language. Counting the intervals of his breathing. Factoring his tone of voice.

After the few moments of silence, Oliver sighed heavily. “Do you even know vwhat happened?”

“By all means, enlighten me.”

Oliver’s eyes narrowed some. He then trotted over to where she previous sat, and pulled the glass of bread wine out from under the counter top. He then came back and placed it on the table between them. “Have a drink, and I’ll tell you.”

Twilight gave off a confused, slightly bitter look. “Why not just tell me?”

“I don’t know!” Oliver began sarcastically. “Because I don’t appreciate it vwhen ponies vwaste my favorite drink. Because you have zhe nerve to point zhe hoof at me before gettingk your facts straight. Because seeingk your displeasure gives me joy. Because cleaningk glasses settles my nerves. I’ve got a whole list of reasons, pick your favorite.”

Twilight sighed heavily. At least she could agree with the second reason. Grudgingly, the glass was lifted into the care of her magic, which floated the nasty beverage to her mouth. There was a short pause as she thought of the best way to attack this. Deciding to go with the band-aid strategy, Twilight’s head flicked back with the edge of the glass against her mouth. Trying her best to let gravity carry the liquid down her throat without touching her tongue as much as possible, her head came back down after a hard swallow. Her coat and tail visibly ruffled themselves while her muscles tremored uncomfortably in disgust. Having failed in preventing some alcohol from splashing against her tongue, she began to rake her teeth against it a couple times in a fruitless effort to scrape off the overpowering desire to puke. She could swear it tasted ten times worse the second time.

Reaching her magic out to the unfinished cup of red wine, Twilight took a large gulp in from the sweet drink, washing away some of the horrid burnt flavor. Once Twilight was certain that her blood wasn’t being curled anymore, she leveled eyes with Oliver that demanded what he owed her now.

Oliver smirked proudly to himself, taking the glass to carefully begin cleaning it. She tried to intimidate him with a silent gaze, but seeing her begin to slowly rock to and fro ever so slightly, it was just too comical for him to take her seriously.

Though, for as much joy the event granted him, dark and sullen thoughts filled his mind, robbing him of that momentary happiness. Preparing his thoughts, attention was brought back to the glaring mare and her guard. Both of which were standing there expectantly. He didn’t like that. “It is as cheap sittingk as standingk, Princess.” It seemed to take her a moment to process the expression, but dropped her plot in short order. Even tipsy, she caught on a lot faster than most ponies did.

“Applejack… vwas by far zhe most unique mare I have ever met. Strongk. Dependable. Honest. Mostly…” Taking a moment to inspect the clarity of the glass, Oliver continued after deciding to scrub it further. “A few years ago, on zhe day of our… how you say, date-iversary? I had Applejack come to my restaurant, vwhen I vwas a head chef. I made her zhe Apple Sharlotka zhat vwon me her heart, vwizh a glass of fresh apple cider. I zhought it vwould be perfect…”

A hoof left the cloth in the glass for a moment to reach into a vest pocket. In short order, Oliver pulled out a thin necklace with a golden ring looped in, a green gem stone set flush in the band. This was place on the counter and pushed towards Twilight, who took it up in her magic to examine. “I placed it in her drink. It vwas zhe most romantic vway I could zhink of doingk it. Vwhen she saw it, and I proposed, I could see it in her eyes. I vwas sure I had done it right…” A hint of residual passion accented his words now, before Oliver simmered down to something of melancholy.

Twilight was unsure of what to say as she looked upon the ring. This? In a drink? Twilight had never even thought of such a way to be proposed to. The beauty of it all formed teary beads at the edges of her eyes. After a moment, she noticed that Oliver had stopped and looked away. Returning the necklace to the table, Twilight brought her attention back on him. She already had a vague idea of what came next, but the question burned all the same in her mind. “What happened?”

“She ran.” he said simply. “Vwizhin zhe blink of an eye, her gaze vwas filled vwizh horror, and she ran.”

“Damn…” Solleret commented sympathetically under his breath.

Twilight’s mouth hung slightly agape. If she wasn’t hearing it directly from him, and able to see his pain, Twilight would never have believed it. Part of her still couldn’t. That sounded nothing like the Applejack she knew. For the moment, words failed her. None could convey the sheer awe.

“She broke it off not longk after zhat…”

“Oh my gosh… I’m so sorry…” she voiced weakly, feeling like her words meant little more than putting a band-aid on a third-degree burn.

“She vwouldn’t even tell me vwhy!” he blurted. The cup hit the counter with a loud thunk. His aggression spiked once more, causing him to slam his hooves against the countertop. “Vwhy!? Vwhat have I ever done to deserve zhis!?” His teeth clenched, and eyes shut to try and hold back the tears, he could hear the last thing she’d said to him.

”... Ah guess ah never loved you to begin with…”

Oliver yelled something incomprehensible as he struck the empty glass, sending it into a shattering collision with the wall to his left. Twilight flinched at the sound of broken shards bouncing around the floor. All she could do was watch him sink back and hold himself. Presumably to quell his trembling. Something told her that if she wanted to get Applejack out of whatever she was stuck in, he might be the key. But then, of course, she’d have to get him to go. As well as not blow up the moment he saw her.

Hesitantly, she asked the one question that would ultimately decide if he could help them or not. “Do you still love her?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? Oliver himself wasn’t sure anymore. He was certain that he’d put it behind him. But, if he did, why did he still have the ring? His eyes reluctantly fell upon the golden band now as it glimmered in the dim light on the table. After he had enough time to think about it, Oliver slowly pushed the ring off the counter, hearing it drop to the floor on the opposite side. “How can I love somepony who betrayed me?”

Twilight looked away for a moment, contemplating his answer. She took notice that Solleret was looking at her, and he nodded towards the door once. Twilight confirmed with her own slow gesture. Twilight finished what was left of her drink and set it down at an empty table. A few bits were produced and stacked neatly on the counter, before the ring necklace was gently lifted up and suspended before Oliver. Her next words came from a princess who understood love more so than any other pony Twilight has met.

“Love doesn’t begin and end the way everypony seems to think it does. Love is a battle. Love is a war. And choosing not to fight anymore... doesn’t end it.” One of his hooves slowly came up to receive the necklace, to which Twilight let it drape down into his grasp. When he looked to her, Twilight pushed herself up to a stand, heading out with Solleret. Before she left, she looked back to Oliver one last time. “I’m going to Ponyville tomorrow, to pick up the fight. I sure could use your help. Think about it.” With nothing left to say from either party, Twilight left, longing for a bed to rest on after the stress of today.

Author's Note:

The second part to an incredibly drawn out chapter.

Originally, this one and the previous were one whole, and titled "All That Glitters" because the main focus was originally on the ease with which Twilight found in the recruiting of Pennyworth, Rarity, and Spike. On top of that, Pennyworth was going to simply be a call back to one of my favorite childhood series. Kudos if you can figure it out.

But as I wrote the chapter, it seemed to transcend it's original focus, turning over instead to what I can only call matters of the heart. That instantly reminded me of the saying that all's fair in love and war. So, for having to split the chapter into two parts, and seeing an almost perfectly even divide between the shifts in moods, I decided to aptly tittle them "Love" and "War". So, yeah, enjoy that fun little play on words.

For all you Sparity fans, I do hope you enjoyed this, and will come to enjoy their further interactions in the future. Sparity and Flutterdash ( or Rainbow Shy ) are my most favoritest ships! ( that's right, favoritest. Because 'favorite' was not adequate enough )

Again, big thanks to my editors and collaborators, you know you are, and enjoy the read! :3

Comments

[ArgoFlamehoof]

Damn! What the hay Applejack...?

[ManestreamStudios]

3966772 What the hay Indeed.

[Path_of_cloud]

Alfred Pennyworth is Bruce Wayne's butler, confidant, guardian, father like figure, and behind the scenes... partner? to Batman. That is admittedly all I can come up with

[ManestreamStudios]

3974074
Congradu-pony-lations, you get a kudo!

Now for the big question: how will he serve me?

[Neutrinos are Magic]

Fucking A! Another long adventure type story. With Sparity as a bonus! This shall be faved!

[ManestreamStudios]

3976634
Well, hay! Glad you like it! And thanks for the fav

[Level0Hero]

A long adventure story with the added bonus of Sparity? Hmmmm. *liked and faved*

[DanvilleBengal]

I'm gonna preface this with a disclaimer: I am commenting on this, having just made what looks to be a quarter of this character already, so obviously reading further will understand things a little better. Just that my comments on it had to leave my mind before I lose it to the depths and forgotten. Also, I started reading this from chapter 3, because of the Sparity. (I know, flame me if you want, anytime I see Sparity, I'm gonna check on it.) I have to re-read this from the beginning to get a better grip on the overall.

That said: I wonder how it's been since Applejack's been like this. And I have to speculate that even though the true motivations are complex, the real nitty gritty is this: Applejack's jealous. Simple as that. Apparently, Rainbow and Applejack were friends through thick and thin, the kind of friend that you would love to spend the night in jail together with because he/she stayed with ya. But now, Rainbow's following her dreams with the Wonderbolts and is spending more time with them. Also, I always kinda had a feeling between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Regardless of her boasts and ego, I always knew that she had a soft spot for her fellow pegasi friend, and from what it looks like, there have been several times over the years where RD has come home from her duties as a Wonderbolt and just stayed there with Fluttershy, probably weekends, if not weeks at a time. Which that really means is that officially, RD and Fluttershy were marefriends in all but name, and it definitely was in RD's persona to use her time off to have sex with Fluttershy over the years. (A friends with benefits situation, if not able to commit to a relationship at least.).

That's what I'm getting. I hope I'm wrong, but it looks like that's the case.

[DanvilleBengal]

Luna took the opportunity to speak up, knowing a bit more about it.

“It’s something akin to a royal duty.” she began, now finding the explanation to be a bit more complex than she first anticipated. “You see, Twilight, Immortals such as ourselves have certain tasks of our own to uphold. Almost all ponies ever know is what we do here in the physical realm. But we also have duties that extend beyond the physical. My job is to monitor the dreams of ponies and help them overcome the fears that create nightmares. Discord monitor’s the level of chaos in the realm. He’s not ever told me what he does to resolve the problems that arise… but he does insist that he takes measures to prevent chaos from running rampant in Equestria. I feel like I can trust that much most of the time.”

“Okay… I guess that makes sense…” Curious now, Twilight turned back to Celestia. “And, what do you do? If you don’t mind my asking, that is…”

Hmm....so if I can put that in laypony terms....what Luna says is her duty as the gatekeeper of dreams is to prevent nightmares, which could easily make ponies want to make them somepony's unfair or unfortunate actions leading to crimes, or murders, or other things. Basically preventing a problem before it could even get started. And apparently, Discord is surprisingly in the role of maintaining balance---any way that he achieves to that responsibility. Chaos is necessary, just like order is needed. And letting it happen too far in either direction, regardless of realm is really bad. Hence all the apparently unorthadox methods that Discord does that one way or the other, tends to either help or harm Celestia or Luna just enough to make sure things are all level.

Is that right??

[DanvilleBengal]

Now I've read this chapter to the end.

Thoughts:
-- Like I said before, Applejack's jealous, but it's not what you think. Sure, she knows that RD and Fluttershy are fuck-buddies at least, if not already marefriends. And strangly it seems that when RD comes to check on AJ, it does look like at first glance (in AJ's eyes at least) that RD's unintetionally taunting that she's in a relationship, even with another mare, while AJ's still suffering about being jilted. Though, it looks more like she jilted that Oliver guy. Definite commitment issues on Applejack's end.

-- It's good to see that even though Discord is as chaotic as usual, he's more of an misunderstood guy that is good to know, especially as Luna puts it. Twilight is still learning after all this time, which is good. The day that you actually stop learning is the day you start to decline.

-- I like the idea that what Twilight has learned from her dinner with royalty is equipping her with what is needed to finally get a resolution between Oliver and Applejack. So many arguments and bad blood happen because we don't know both sides of the story. Now that we know what really happened, there should be some recollection.

[ManestreamStudios]

3980445
I've kind of always envisioned Velvet to be the doting mother. So it just made sense to me that she would do things like that.

Also, she may have Skyla, but Skyla's roughly 16-ish now. She can still be spoiled, but she's not a foal anymore, lol.

Lmao, expecting Spike and Rarity to have kids? I'd love to see her try and make that both subtle and rational.

Part of AJ's problem is jealousy. Though, mostly, not for the reasons you think. And I know I probably should've made a mention of it by now, but AJ's not been herself for roughly... 3-4 years now. That may be subject to change though. Dates and times won't be set in stone until the next chapter is completed.

Lets just say that Discord and Celestia work closely together.

Thanks for the comments, though. I'm glad you were able to enjoy it!

And yes, please read from the beginning. There's more here than just a story. Plenty of laughs, D'aww, and gasps to go around. ;3

[Solitair]

Jeez. I can't help but think you have a horrible ending for Applejack planned out. I'm not sure if I like this characterization of her better than what I normally see of her, where she tends to have her head on straight more than any of her friends.

[ManestreamStudios]

3987393
Don't worry, I have no intention of any bad endings for Applejack here. I have a separate story lined up sometime after this one that will explore darker paths and suppressed evils. Whether that one will be relevant to this one or not, I'm not sure of yet. But that'll be a topic for another time.

But yeah, no. I just super love drama, and it makes me do messed up stuff. Sorry.

[Solitair]

3987901
Alright. Whenever I see a fic tagged Tragedy, I infer that it's going to have an unhappy ending, and yours doesn't look to be leaning that way at all. Applejack's story was the only one that I saw potential for one in. But you've enthralled me pretty well so far. Keep up the good work.

[Twilight Best Pony]

i want to read this, but the hole flash tag is pushing me away,
is he with twilight in this? i hope not.

[ManestreamStudios]

4083537

Well, unfortunately, I don't want to ruin it for the others, so you'll have to settle for, "figure it out yourself." While Flash is in the story, I have yet to make any indications that he will be sharing a relation with Twilight.

Will he? That's the part you need to figure out yourself.

On that note, I'm intrigued to know why it is that Flash Sentry is a deal-breaker for you. If I may inquire?

[Twilight Best Pony]

4083552
i just don't like him.
he was pointless love interest from a horrible movie that never should have came to light.
i loathe the flashlight ship.

[ManestreamStudios]

4083567

I do agree that the love angle of the movie was pointless.

I'd go farther into saying that the movie itself was almost pointless, but at least the graphics were pretty cool, and I got a few good kicks out of it.

My main problem with Flash, however, was that just like Sombra, his character was horribly unexplored. Ere, when taken at face value, Flash appears to be a Gary Stu because there are no listed character flaws. And everybody hates a Gary Stu, right?

I put Flash in this story so that I could take his half-baked cookie-cut profile and build on top of it to make him a fleshed out, dynamic character. It pains me to see under-developed characters to go under-appreciated.

My only advice would be to read the story and decide for yourself later if it was good or not. The only thing you stand to lose is a couple hours of time. If you really must know about Flash's role before you decide, you'll have to make your inquiry via my mail box.

Otherwise, I kindly implore you find more solid reasons to dislike something before deciding to spend the efforts to avoid it. Big Mac is no more explored and equally as pointless as Flash Sentry, and you don't see epic amounts of people hating on him. Rather the opposite, I mostly see people begging for backstory about him.

Moreover, Discord himself, along with the princesses, have almost zero backstory, not to mention that I can count the number of episodes dedicated to their character development on one hand for each. I've yet to see hate for them specifically.

[ph0enix]

Before I begin the story. Does it ship spike with anyone.

[ManestreamStudios]

4131756

Spike is married to Rarity.

[ph0enix]

4132328 seems legit I guess I'll go ahead and read it then.

[ManestreamStudios]

4132521

Hope you enjoy the story. ;3

[Fury of the Tempest]

Oh... OH. OOOOOOH.