Two different guards fall in love, even when it is against the law.
Shining Steel, a new recruit in the Celestial Guard, has found his special somepony, someone from the infamous Night Guard, but are the laws restricting Celestial and night guards to be with each other going to get in the way of these two ponies and their new relationship?
Note: This is my first story so if it is bad in any way, please let me know, and also don't get mad about it. I have seen many good writers stop writing because of something one pony said in the comments. Thanks.
(Cover art is temporary till I can find someone who can draw me a pic. Note that payment may be difficult due to never paying things online. Also cover art is done by *Equestria-Prevails)
P.S. Updates might take a while since I am a very SLOW WRITER. + school. So yeah. Enjoy.
Peace had found Canterlot again when Shining Armour and Princess Cadence got married after the Changeling invasion happened. After the wedding party had finished, the next day Princess Celestia had ordered her Royal Guards to help the citizens of Canterlot in rebuilding the damaged homes. Now usually Royal Guards had no problem with these types of things but there was always one guard that did.
“Ah why the hay do I have to help with this clean up!” A male white Pegasus whined.
“Because the Princess ordered us to help the citizens so stop complaining Shine” replied the guard next to him. Shining Steel turned to the unicorn, staring daggers at her while still complaining
“I know the princess ordered us to do this but why me? yesterday I was finally recruited into the royal guard then get attacked by some pony shaped insects and my first order is clean up duty and your telling me to calm do…!“
“hey Shine, cut the whining and get back to work!” Yelled a grey Pegasus mare, furious at her new recruit for not working.
“Yes Commander Derpy” replied Shine while taking a breath and getting back to work. As much as Shine hated to admit defeat there was one thing he had learnt the hard way in training school and that was never piss off the Commander.
As the Celestia’s day was nearing its end and Luna’s night making its way to the sky, the repairs had nearly been completed and when Shining Steel was about to finish his area, he saw something moving up above into the early night sky, but he couldn’t see it very well, mainly because it was dark but also because it was quite fast. As he was about to take flight to find out what exactly what it was he saw but he was quickly stopped by his Commander who was giving him the dead eyes.
“Just what do you think you’re still doing out here at this time?” Derpy asked while trying to hold the Pegasus down. Shine had completely forgotten that the Day Guards were not supposed to be out when the night came.
He quickly retracted his wings and replied in a nervous voice “I-I was just f-finishing my duty when I saw something in the air. I was about to go and investigate but you stopped me."
Derpy in response just rolled her eyes and said “It was properly a bat, but right I want you to return to the palace and await further orders.”
“Is that a request or an order?” Asked Shine rhetorically with a goofy grin on his face. Derpy’s motionless face started to turn into a frown. Luckily Shine knew exactly what that face meant he quickly took a pace backwards. “Never mind” he said while covering his precious belongings. Derpy couldn’t help but giggle at Shining Steel’s reaction, so she decided to leave him be for now and head on back to the palace. Just before Shine was about to do as he was told and head on back into the palace, he ended up getting a cold shiver down his spine, giving him the feeling that he was being watched by something. He turned to see what it was that was watching him, but instead saw nothing. So he just shrugged and flew back towards the palace. What he didn’t see was that he was indeed being watched from a dark alley. The figure cautiously came out if it’s hiding place, grinning as it saw Shining Steel heading towards the palace .
“Oh, so that is what a Day Guard looks like. Well they don’t look like much to me,” said the mysterious pony as it faded back into the darkness.
When Shining Steel had arrived at the palace gates he still couldn't shake the feeling that out there in the darkness that something was still watching him
“Hey Shine get your shiny flank in here now!” yelled Derpy from a distance. Shine, snapping back into the present, quickly trotted towards Derpy who was waiting for him, tapping her hoof against the floor in impatience. “What is it with you today?” She asked. “I know that you were complaining about your first order from the Princess but lately you have just been staring into space. What’s wrong?” But all of what she had just said to Shining Steel was wasted for he wasn’t even listening to her. Shine, still staring at nothing in particular, recoiled as a hoof hit against the back of his helmet. Hard.
“Oww pony feathers!” He took his helmet off revealing his banana coloured mane and started to rub the back of his head and looked up at Derpy whining
“What was that for?” Derpy just rolled her eyes in annoyance and stormed off leaving the confused Pegasus behind. Quickly, he rubbed the pain away so that he could try and catch up to her while a few minutes had past looking for her he finally found her walking through the main corridor “Hey Derpy wait up” he called, she turned to look at him then turned away. “Ouch, cold shoulder,” he thought to himself. Then an idea came to his head as he called out to Derpy once more. “Fine then, I will leave you alone, I was only going to ask you if you would like to join me in going to the bakery to get some Muffins but I guess you’re just too busy.” The word ‘muffin’ made Derpy stop in her tracks, and if there was one thing Shine had heard about his commander, is was that she couldn’t resist muffins. Shine then just turned around and started walking away while calling back “Well see you later Commander” Shine started to count in his head.
3-2-1…
“WAIT!” Yelled Derpy as she quickly ran to Shine’s side. All Shine could do was laugh at how easy it was to get his commander to follow him and how red her cheeks were becoming.
“Huh, so now you want to come with me?” Shine said with a grin Derpy just looked at him for a second then turned her head the other way while mumbling “Shut up.”
As the two approached the royal bakery they were stopped at the sound of a mare yelling at somepony “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not letting you help out in my barky! Remember what happened last time you tried to give me your assistance?”
“Oh come on now don’t tell me you’re still mad about that. It was a simple mistake,” replied a stallion
“A simple mistake! You ate all of my freshly baked cakes that I worked on yesterday morning!” Yelled the mare, obviously furious at the stallion. “Wait! It’s not my fault, really. I swear the cakes were whispering to me, begging me to have a taste and before I realized it, I ended up eating them all. Oh, they were delicious by the way,” he replied. After listening to the argument for a while, it finally ended with the stallion storming out of the kitchen. He was a blueish-green Pegasus with blue eyes, red mane with orange stripes and his cutie mark was a flame with wings on the side. As he was about to take off he took notice of Shining Steel and Derpy staring at him he smiled at them and warned them, “Be careful I think she’s a bit mad,” then he took to the air and left. A few moments later the mare exited the kitchen. She had a golden coat with bright yellow eyes, cyan mane and her cutie mark was a cupcake. She saw the two and she quickly started to turn a bright shade of red in her cheeks and looked at the floor.
“Oh my goodness, sorry if you had to hear that,” she explained to the duo. Derpy just replied
“That’s quite alright. I take it that everything is under control now,”
The mare looked up at Derpy and gave a quick nod “Yes it is now! Oh sorry where are my manners? My name is Sugar Bliss, how may I help you” Before Derpy could order Shine took over
“We would like six blue berry muffins please and with butter” Derpy just looked at Shine with her classic confused face.
“Six blue berry muffins with butter ok that will be 8 bits thank you.” Sugar Bliss said as Shine reached into his saddle bag and picked out 8 bits and handed them to Sugar Bliss. After she took the bits and disappeared into the kitchen, Shining Steel noticed that Derpy was watching him
“What?” He asked his commander.
“How the hay did you know that my favourite type of muffins were blueberry?” She asked back. Shine just smiled “I didn’t.” Derpy frowned while hissed “So you were just going to order without asking the mare what she would like?” Shine’s smile just grew bigger. “Sounds just about right,” he said as he couldn’t suppress the laughter any more. Just as Derpy raised her hoof to hit Shining Steel in the head but the moment was quickly interrupted as Sugar Bliss came out of the kitchen with the bag of muffins
“Sorry for the wait you two” she said whilst handing the bag to Shine the two gave a quick nod and began to leave but not before Sugar Bliss called out
“Thank you. I take it I will see you two some other time?”
“Yeah till then!” Replied Derpy.
When the two had finally found a spot to sit in the palace and began eating their muffins. Shine couldn’t help but grin at the sight of his Commander and think to himself about her.
‘Wow, who would have thought that the great and powerful Commander Derpy Hooves would look so adorable while eating muffins’. He continued watching Derpy happily eat her muffins. But whilst he watched her he took noticed that something unusual was going on in Derpy’s eyes. He saw that her right eye started to trail off in the opposite way that the left eye was going,
“Derpy, is there something wrong with your right eye?”
She quickly looked up at him with a confused look on her face. “What?”
“Well to me it looks like your eyes are going walled eyed,” exclaimed Shine. In shock Derpy quickly stood up and turned the other way while mumbling
“Oh hay. Why now? Why the buck now?”
Concerned for his commander, Shine approached her and laid a hoof on her shoulder and asked “Are you alright Derpy?” In a quick response she looked at him then hung her head down “I’m fine!” she barked “But don’t you bucking dare tell anypony about this for if you do I…I will—!“
“whoa, whoa, hey Derpy it’s alright I promise that I won’t tell anypony on how adorable you look when you’re eating and that your eyes are wall-eyed,” he said in a calm voice, but realizing what he just said to his commander his cheeks started to become bright red. Derpy looked up at him and started to blush as well.
“W-what did you just say?” Derpy asked nervously Shine ended up lost for words
“I-I-I w-what I was m-m-meant to say was um that you….” Derpy just giggled and said
“Alright, alright, I know what you meant but just to make sure you don’t break your promise, I’m going to make you do the Pinkie Promise”
Shine just gave her a confused look “The Pinkie what now?” Derpy just looked at Shining, who was looking at her in confusion
“Wait, don’t tell me you haven’t heard of a Pinkie Promise” “Well let’s just say I haven’t” replied Shine. Derpy did another one of her giggles while saying “Repeat after me; cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye”
Shine just raised an eye brow “And if I don’t want to do that?” He asked
Derpy just gave an evil grin and answered “Oh, if you don’t then I can do another way to make sure you won’t break your promise by kicking you were it hurts” Shine gulped as he instinctively protected his weakness. “Fine, I will say it. Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. There happy”
“Very” she replied.
As the two finished their muffins and said their goodnights, Shine was still a bit confused on what the hay a Pinkie Promise was, and for that matter what it meant and should he have gone for the other option but quickly shook that idea out of his head knowing that even though Derpy isn’t an earth pony she can sure as hay puck one hell of a hit. As he was halfway to the barracks he had another cold shiver run down his spine. ‘Why is it that I keep having these damned cold chills.’ He thought yet whenever he looked around to see what is was that might have been watching him but still saw nothing. So instead he decided that he would walk back to the barracks so that he could get at least some sleep, considering Derpy was giving him orders all day and because he was tired from the clean-up. When he arrived in his bed in the barracks, he started whining in his head about how he didn’t finish his area and that he would have to wake up bright and early tomorrow in order to complete it. But right now he just sunk in deeper into his bed in an attempt to help him sleep quicker and prepare the events that he will have to put up with the next day.
The guard was sleeping peacefully in his cot before he was awoken by the voice of a calm mare.
“Shine time to wake up!” Shining Steel slowly opened one eye to find out who was trying to get him out of bed and out of the corner of his eye he saw a lone grey figure beside his bed.
“Derpy! What do you want I’m trying to sle-” Shine stopped mid-sentence when he noticed something unusual with his commander. Her eyes were no longer the regular gold colour, but a deep crimson red instead. Another thing that Shine noticed was that Derpy was smiling, but not a friendly smile he was used to seeing, but an evil, even sadistic kind, showing off a very menacing set of fangs which seemed very realistic.
“Derpy do you mind taking your Nightmare Night costume off? This really isn’t funny.” He asked her, but Derpy didn’t listen to him, her smile growing bigger. “You broke your Pinkie Promise and now you’re going to pay the price,” she said, licking her lips. Shine was now wide awake and breaking into a nervous sweat after hearing what Derpy said.
“W-what b-b-but I haven’t t-told anypony what happened last night,” he stammered nervously. Derpy started leaning closer to Shining Steel, who was trying to escape, but felt that he was pinned down by some invisible force. Derpy was now face to face with Shining Steel, who was trembling in fear.
“Calm down Shine, you will only feel a tiny prick then it will be all over.” Shine closed his eyes and prepared for the worst when Derpy opened her mouth to bite down on his neck. Also to provoke more fear into Shine, all of the lights went out, leaving only the glowing red eyes of the vampony Derpy.
*Oh sweet Celestia help me! I’m too young to die!* Shining thought to himself, suddenly feeling the fangs pierces into his neck. “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”
Shining Steel sat up in his bed, instinctively touching his neck with his hoof, feeling for any sign of the bite, sighing when he found nothing.
“Just a dream, it’s just a dream.” As soon as he finished the sentence, he noticed a flash of grey moving next to him, sending a cold shiver down his spine. “AHHHH PLEASE DON”T EAT ME!” He panicked, throwing his arms up in self-defence. Derpy raised an eyebrow, confused at Shine’s reaction to her.
“What? What do you mean EAT YOU?” Shine froze for a second, Taking the time to get a better look at Derpy, realising that the eyes were no longer the menacing crimson red and that Derpy no longer had any fangs protruding from her mouth.
Shine immediately felt a little heat rise in his cheeks. “Umm n-nothing”
Derpy laughed at Shine, who was blushing even deeper than before. “Uh huh… Anyway, I came into your room to ask if you wanted to join me for breakfast.”
“Umm sure, I will join you,” Shine replied with a smile. Walking towards the door, Derpy glanced back at Shine. “Great! I will wait outside your room for you because there are two things I want you to do first.”
“And what will those two things be?” Shine asked, curious as to what Derpy would want him to do.
Derpy just laughed. “Well first I want you to change your covers. Then you should go have a shower,” said Derpy, covering her nose with her hoof before leaving the private to his thoughts.
After Shine changed his rather sweaty covers from last night ad taking a rather lengthy shower, he donned his armour and rushed out the door, looking for where his commander could be. He spotted his commander, sitting against the fountain just outside the barracks and trotted towards her. Shine took a quick glance at Celestia’s Sun, which was rising just above the mountains to signify how early it was in the morning.
“HEY SHINE, IF YOU DON’T HURRY UP I’M LEAVING YOU BEHIND!” Yelled Derpy as she began to walk towards the palace.
Shine started to gallop in order to catch up with his commander. “H-hey wait up!”
Halfway to the bakery, Shine began to lag a bit behind Derpy, who in turn slowed down to allow him to catch up. “What’s wrong Shine?” She asked, making sure he knew she cared. Shine hung his head in embarrassment, deciding to hide his nightmare from Derpy.
“Nothing is wrong, just please promise me that you won’t tell anypony what happened this morning” Derpy, trying very hard to suppress the urge to laugh, nodded her head.
“Sure! I can Pinkie Promise you I won’t tell anypony if….”
*Oh boy* Shine thought.
“…If you buy me breakfast,” Derpy finished with a cheeky grin on her face.
When the two had been visiting Sugar Bliss to buy some muffins again, Derpy decided that it would be much nicer to eat in the Royal Canterlot Gardens instead of the busy ruckus of the mess hall. Finding a good spot to sit was easy due to being so early in the morning. Sitting down in silence, the two munched on their muffins, but something was bugging Shining Steel, or rather a couple of things.
“Derpy…” Breaking the silence, Shine decided that he should consult Derpy about the things that were worrying him.
Derpy took another bite of her muffin, not bothering to look up. “Yes Shine?”
“Can I ask you a few things?” Shine asked.
Derpy swallowed her mouthful of muffin and looked up at Shine, confused at what he would want. “Umm, sure, what do you want to ask me?”
“Well first things first, what is a Pinkie Promise and what does it mean?” Derpy thought for a minute wondering how to answer.
“Well, a Pinkie Promise is a very special kind of promise, one that is very well known. Pinkie Pie, a mare from Ponyville, made it up a while ago. Now some ponies think that if you break the promise that you would have to shove a cupcake into your eye, but some others believe that if you break it, an evil form of Pinkie Pie called Pinkamena Diane Pie, will come and get you when you least expect it. ”
“Alright then… Quick question though, who is Pinkie Pie?” Shine asked to her, raising an eyebrow in the process.
Derpy looked at him in shock “Your joking right?”
“Do I look like I’m joking?” Shine asked rhetorically, putting on a serious face to emphasise his point.
“Have you ever been to Ponyville before?”
“If the Everfree Forest counts then yes, I have,” said Shine, lowering his head.
“Wait, you used to live in the Everfree Forest?” Derpy asked, her eyes widening at the topic.
“NO, I WAS BORN THERE. NOW COULD YOU PLEASE ANSWER MY QUESTION?” Shine snapped, which caused Derpy to jump backwards and instinctively start flying on the spot. “S-sorry” Shine said with a low voice, trying not to let the tears escape his eyes. Derpy landed and slowly trotted up to Shining Steel.
The mare pulled him into a long hug and whispered into his ear. “It’s ok. Anyway, it’s quite hard to explain Pinkie Pie, so how about tomorrow I take you to Ponyville to meet my old friends?” This caused a small smile to appear on Shine’s face. As Derpy continued to hug Shining Steel, their little quiet time was interrupted by a voice above them.
“Derpy and Shine sitting on the grass, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” The two instantly split apart from each other and looked up to see who it was, sitting there in the tree above them was the bluish-green Pegasus from the bakery the other day. He started to grin as he said “Oh sorry, don’t mind me continue what you two were doing” Derpy and Shine both looked at each, both of them turning red in the face. Shine looked at him with a very pissed off expression, then proceeded to question the intruder.
“How did you know my name?” The Pegasus just rolled his eyes.
“Umm, I don’t know. Maybe I saw your name on your saddle bag.” Before Shine could retaliate, Derpy took over.
“Who are you and what the buck is your name?” She demanded him.
“Who am I? Well, I’m a weather pony and as for my name, it is--”
“WING BLAZE! THERE YOU ARE. I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO CLEAR THE CLOUDS AROUND CANTERLOT, NOT SLEEP IN THE GARDEN!”
The voice, high-pitched and loud, startled Wing Blaze, causing him to fall out of the tree he was sitting on.
“Yeah I know, you told me to do that but I thought that I would have a nap first,” Wing Blaze exclaimed, grunting in pain as he got back up to his hooves.
While the two were busy arguing Shine whispered to Derpy, “Hey Derpy, does it ever make you wonder if there is going to be a day that Wing Blaze isn’t getting yelled at by somepony? ....Derpy?” Hearing that his question didn’t get any response, Shine looked over to Derpy and found that she was too focused on the new arrival.
“Rainbow Dash is that you?” Rainbow Dash looked up at the two (or in this case down.)
“Derpy?! Is that you? OH MY GOSH DERPY! IT IS YOU! HOW HAVE YOU BEEN? I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU FOR QUIET AGES!”
“Yeah it has been a while Dashie, how have you been?” asked Derpy, with a huge grin on her face. Rainbow Dash flew over to Derpy, and the confused Shine, landing right in front of the two and smiled back.
“I’ve been just awesome, though I have been getting stressed out lately, you know, having to fly here from Ponyville just to get this colt…” She gestured towards Wing Blaze, who was rubbing his flank from after falling from the tree, “…to do his job properly.”
“Are you sure you’re not just coming over here because you can’t resist my good looks Dashie?” Wing Blaze joked, buffing his chest, causing Dash to grow a shade of red in her checks.
“In your dreams Blaze. Now go do your job before my hoof decides to say hello to your face,” jeered Rainbow Dash, pretending to hold her own hoof down. Derpy and Shine couldn’t help but laugh when they saw Wing Blaze’s smile turn into a worried face as he took off to clear the skies.
With a sigh, Rainbow Dash then turned to look at Derpy and then took noticed of Shining Steel. “So Derpy, is this handsome stallion your coltfriend?” Dash asked with small grin spread across her face. The two instantly stopped laughing and looked at each other, both quickly becoming a bright shade of crimson, they then turned to Rainbow Dash.
Shine was completely speechless and Derpy, who was lost for words, started to stammer, “Y-Yes, I-I-I mean n-no. He is j-just a c-close f-f-friend” Although Shine couldn’t find anything to say, he did notice that Derpy was starting to go wall-eyed.
Luckily for them both, before the situation became more awkward than it already was, the scene was quickly interrupted by the sudden appearance of Wing Blaze as he landed right next to Dash. As he touched down, he noticed how embarrassed Derpy and Shine looked, in addition to the fact that Derpy’s eyes were crossed and he just couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. He then looked at Rainbow Dash who was laughing hysterically, almost as if she was choking on something. He wrapped his forehoof around Rainbow Dash’s shoulder, causing her to stop laughing instantly, all the while starting to blush a really deep red, almost complimenting her cyan blue fur. Wing Blaze instantly burst out into uncontrollable fits of laughter.
“Aawwww, you’re so adorable when you’re embarrassed Dashie!”
“Yeah, yeah, very funny wise guy. Now do you mind getting your hoof off me before…”
But Dash never got to finish because they were interrupted by a sudden impact from right in front of them. However they couldn’t see what on Equestria it was because dust was blown everywhere. As the dust cloud started to clear, the small group saw that the impact had created a small crater and in the middle there was somepony in there. When the four realized who it was, Derpy’s eyes quickly straightened, Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes while Shining Steel and Wing Blaze’s mouths just hung open in shock, because standing right there in the middle of the crater, brushing the dirt off of his coat, was an Alicorn. However, this one was much unlike other Alicorns like Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, this Alicorn was a Colt. He had a grey coat, very similar to Derpy’s with green eyes and a rainbow mane and tail
“You always like to make an entrance don’t you Rainbow Breeze,” sighed Rainbow Dash. As Rainbow Breeze climbed out of the hole he made, he started to talk, the effects of alcohol clearly showing in his voice.
“You know me *hic* to well Dash. Umm, just excu *hic* excuse me for a sec.” Rainbow Breeze then turned around away from everypony, his horn starting to glow.
“Umm, I don’t think it’s safe for you to perform magic whilst drunk, even for an Alicorn,” Dash mentioned to Breeze. “Don’t *hic* worry Dassie, I know what I *hic* am doing. You ponies might *hic want to turn around. This might get a bit *hic* disturbing,” Breeze exclaimed.
Rainbow Dash and Derpy both turned around at his request whilst Wing Blaze and Shining Steel continued to watch, both standing there unmoving. What Rainbow Breeze did next is what a spell that only he knows. Using his Alicorn magic, Rainbow Breeze purged all of the alcohol out of his system, forcing him to throw it all up. Wing Blaze and Shine both span around due to the disgusting sight and blocked their noses to stop the smell. For the final part of his trick, Rainbow Breeze then made all of the greenish liquid soak into the ground and thought about fixing the crater he made, but then decided to ‘stuff it.’ Then he turned to the others
“Alright it’s over, you can turn around now,” he told them, showing that he was no longer under the effects of alcohol. Derpy and Rainbow dash turned to face Rainbow Breeze as well as Wing Blaze and Shining Steel, but rather slowly as they felt like they too were going to expel their last meal. A minute went by in total silence, everypony just staring at each other, that is until Derpy took the initiative to speak up.
“So Rainbow Breeze, what brings you out here this morning?”
Rainbow Breeze who had just been staring at Rainbow Dash and Wing Blaze turned to face Derpy, replying, “Well I did come down here to tell you something, but right now it seems I have another thing that I have to take care of.” Saying that, he then turned back to the other two eyeing Wing Blaze
“Is there something wrong Breeze?” Asked Wing Blaze, taking notice that Rainbow Breeze was staring at him yet again. “Why yes there is something wrong. Do you mind moving away from Rainbow Dash, like now,” he demanded in a serious tone
“Why you her coltfriend or something?” With that reply, smoke started to rise from Rainbow Breeze’s body and a tone of rage started to seep into his voice.
“No I’m not and it’s none of your business. Now do as I asked and move away from her before I get really mad.”
“How about…… no.” But before Rainbow Breeze could get the chance to launch Wing Blaze to the other end of the rainbow and back, Rainbow Dash quickly stepped in between the two, looking rather annoyed.
“Oh, for Celestia’s sake! Rainbow Breeze, shut up! And Wing Blaze, stop trying to piss off my Brother!” Dash demanded the two. *Pause for dramatic effect…* She thought to herself.
“WHAT!” Yelled the Blaze, Derpy and Shine together, whilst Rainbow Breeze just glared Rainbow Dash.
“Was it necessary to tell them that Dash?” Asked Breeze in a very annoyed tone.
“Why yes. It was and for a number of reasons.” replied Rainbow Dash
“Oh really?! Do tell.”
“Ok first, I really wanted Wing Blaze and you to shut up and stop arguing. Second they would have figured it out eventually and third, I just wanted to see the looks on their faces and it was totally worth it!” replied Rainbow Dash trying desperately not to burst out into laughter.
“So, um, Rainbow Breeze, you mentioned that you had another reason on coming down here. What was it?” Shining Steel asked, trying desperately to change the topic. The realisation hit Rainbow Breeze like a brick, eyes widening in shock. “Oh buck that’s right! Commander, Luna asked me to get you to gather your troops and head to the throne room for a meeting ASAP”
“A meeting? At this time of day! Do you know what the meeting is about?” Derpy ask in a concerned tone. The Alicorn shook his head
“Sorry but Luna didn’t tell me specifically about it, but I do think it might have something to do with not completing the repairs yesterday. Anyways, I best be off before Luna starts wondering what is taking me so long.” Just before he took off, he turned to face Wing Blaze one last time and gave him a glare that would rival Fluttershys, warning Wing blaze that he was watching him closely. Then, with a few flaps of his powerful wings he was gone.
When the Alicorn had disappeared, Derpy let out a sigh. “Well it appears I have a job to do. Come on Shine.” Shine look at her in confusion
“Why do I have to come?”
Derpy rolled her eyes. “Were you listening at all about what Rainbow Breeze said? ‘Commander, Luna asked me to get you to gather your troops…’” But before She could finish, a certain somepony interrupted her.
“Because she is in love with you.” Wing Blaze called out, laughing hysterically. At that point, Derpy looked like she was going to explode out of embarrassment and rage.
“Wing Blaze, could you come here for a second?” Derpy asked in a mock sweet and innocence voice.
Wing Blaze stopped laughing and stared at her in confusion, but Derpy was only smiling at him so he slowly walked up to her. Shine, having known Derpy for a little while know, instantly realised that some bad was going to happen.
*Oh no.*
When Wing blaze was in front of Derpy, he started to get a little nervous. “Y-yes? Do you want to te-
--- CRACK! ---
But he was suddenly cut short as a hoof smashed into the bottom of his jaw, forcing him land heavily on the ground, knocking him unconscious in the process. After a moment of shock and silence, Derpy turned to look at Shine to finish what she was going to say “Anyway, long story short, you need to come along because Breeze and I said so. Now get to it!” Derpy barked the last few words at Shine to get him moving as she stormed off in the direction of the castle. Shine looked at Rainbow Dash, who was standing there with her mouth wide open at what she had just witnessed.
“Umm Rainbow Dash...” Shine called but received no answer. He walked up to her and waved his hoof in front of her face, grabbing her attention. She looked at Shine, but said nothing. “Rainbow Dash, you might want to take Wing Blaze to a hospital to get his mouth checked” Shine said in a soft voice. Rainbow Dash still said nothing, but nodded her head in agreement, then slowly walked over to the unconscious Pegasus. Shining Steel followed to help in lifting Wing Blaze onto her back but the voice of his commander stopped him in his tracks.
“Private do not make me wait for you.” yelled Derpy with a sigh. Shine turned to Rainbow Dash who was looking at him “Will you be alright in getting to the hospital from here?” He asked Rainbow Dash who nodded her head. She then took off towards the nearest hospital, whilst Shining Steel quickly went over to Derpy’s side to follow her as she gathered the rest of her troops.
“Celestia damn it. We’re late,” complained Derpy as she arrived at the throne room with her platoon.
“Well it’s not my fault commander. Nopony told me about a meeting happening early in the morning,” explained a unicorn guard whilst rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
“Nopony was told about the meeting until this morning now shut it Corporal.” Derpy hissed as they entered the throne.
“You’re late, Commander” said a really annoyed Captain. Derpy lowered her head.
“Sorry Shining Armour but some of us refused to get out of bed,” she replied, whilst glaring at two of the earth ponies in the group. Shining Armour rolled his eyes.
“That’s fine Commander and the matter of fact you’re in luck. The princess is just about to begin,” he replied with a grin, earning a sigh of relief from Derpy and her platoon as they all entered the throne room.
As everypony took their places, Shining Steel stood next to Commander Derpy. However, Shine’s eyes widened with surprise when he saw the Princess of the Night standing alongside her fellow princess and sister. He had heard of Luna before, but has never seen anything but a glimpse of her during his wedding dance, mainly because she had been known to be only active when it was time for the night to replace to sun in the sky. He turned to Derpy but she showed no emotion at the sight of the Princess. He figured it was because she somehow had already met her. Celestia’s horn emitted a bright flash to get everyponies attention so she could begin.
“My loyal subjects, I thank you for coming to this meeting, especially at this time of morning and I apologise to some of you who were still asleep after the repairs the other day. But as some don’t yet know what the meeting is about, then I’m here to tell you that half of those repairs have not yet been completed. Now this could be dues for a number of reasons, like some ponies were still recovering from the recent Changeling attack, whilst some were complaining about the work that had to be done….”
Shining Steel felt blood rising to his cheeks, for he had a feeling that the last comment was directed towards him, especially after he felt the numerous pairs of eyes locking onto him. He ingnoring them as best he could and concentrated on Celestia’s speech again.
“…but for whatever reason this is now does not matter as the final repairs were completed overnight.” Everyone in the room involuntarily gave a sigh, but a few then began to question how it had been done in one night, and more importantly, by whom?
“I can hear some of you questioning who did the final repairs, and for that I will let Princess Luna explain. I will leave the details to Princess Luna.” Celestia took a step back to give Luna her space as she explained.
“Thank you sister. What thy sister speaks of is the truth. Whilst all of thou were off duty, I had my personal guard to do the rest of the repairs for you.” Before she could continue she took notice of a hoof raising in the crowd “Is there something on your mind Corporal”
“Who are the night guards and why haven’t we seen them in the barracks or anywhere else?” Asked the Earth Pony. Luna’s eye’s widened with confusion, facing to her sister whilst asking “Did thou not tell them about my guards or the reason for their secrecy?” Celestia looked at her younger sister with a sorry expression.
“Sorry Luna. I would have told them but the nobles would not allow it.” Luna rolled her eye’s thinking how naïve the Nobles can be
“It’s ok big sister. I forgive you, but it certainly does not make it any easier for me to explain,” she said, whilst turning her attention back to the crowd who were by now beginning to talk among themselves, none to quietly either. She started to overhear one of the conversions.
“Well, what my farther has told me about them is that they are nothing more than abominations, blood thirsty monsters that should be sent down to the deepest pits of the Tartarus.” As he finished his sentence, his noticed that silence has once again fallen throughout the room and realised that the Princess of the Night was glaring directly at him.
“We… um, I mean, I surely hope you don’t think that way about my subjects.” The guard, stopped caught off guard, started to stammer.
“U-u-umm n-no. Of course not P-princess,” The guard replied with as much strength as he could muster, giving Luna the validation to her suspicions, but she decided that she would leave him alone for now.
“Well as you all must know, my subjects are not abominations at all, they are just … different.” Luna had dropped the Royal Canterlot voice, almost as if she didn’t want anyone else outside to hear, or to make it easier to understand for everypony. “Just like there are earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi, well, you could almost say that they are very close to pegasi…” Before she could continue another hoof caught her attention. She nodded her head towards to guard, signalling for him to speak.
“May I just ask what makes them different from us pegusi?” Shining Steel asked.
Luna took a brief moment to think on how to explain it. “Well first off, their appearance is very different and some of the abilities that they contain are specific only to them, however I will not tell you any details about these said abilities as it is rude to reveal secrets.” With that she noticed a few disappointed looks in the crowd, but then saw another hoof rise from the crowd. “Is there something you wish to ask me Commander Derpy?”
Derpy took a deep breath before asking the Alicorn, “Instead of explaining what they look like, wouldn’t it be easier to just show us?” Luna nodded her head in agreement.
“You make a very good point Commander.” With that last comment, she closed her eyes in order to concentrate, her horn glowing for a very dark blue, before the aura disappeared and a couple of seconds later her eyes reopened. “They should be here in a moment,” she exclaimed to the group and sure enough, the sound of beating wings filled the room.
Everypony’s battle hardened instinct told them to look up and found what had caused this meeting. Hovering a few just under the roof was a Night Guard. Shine couldn’t believe his eyes. Sure, the Princess said that they were a little different, but he didn’t expect anything like what he was seeing now. Once the Night Guard had landed in front of the Princess of the Night, Shine was able to get a better look at it and what he saw surprized him.
It was covered dark and light purple armour. It’s eyes, or rather eye, was a dark blue, it also wore an eye patch over its left eye and its mane and tail were a blueish-black colour. But what makes it entirely different from pegasi were its bat like wings, the cold eyes of a predator and its slightly longer ears. But then Shining Steel took notice that something was slightly off. *I’m sure that Luna said there were two guards still awake,* he thought to himself and when he saw the look Luna was giving to her guard, it confirmed his suspicions.
“Shadow, do you know where your comrade is?” asked Luna. The guard named Shadow looked at her, then began to look in all directions before returning his gaze to Luna.
“Ummm, sorry Your Highness but she was with me a moment ago. Do you wish for me to go look for her?” He offered which in reply got a nod from Luna.
“Yes please, it may help explains things a bit better. That is if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Besides, I’m not really wanting to answer all of the questions that they have to ask by myself.”
So with that he took off in search of his missing comrade. When Shine watched him exit the throne room, it wasn’t long till he started hearing voices coming from outside, and by judging by the silence of the group, they heard them too. One of the voices he recognised to be Shadow’s, even after only having a brief glimpse, but the other voice he heard sounded like a mare. Everypony in the throne room was in silence so they could all hear the conversation that was going on outside.
“There you are ………… you’re meant to be in the throne room with the Princess and me.” Shine was sure that Shadow mentioned the mare’s name but couldn’t hear it dues to somepony sneezing beside him. He continued to listen to the conversation, hoping that the name would be mentioned again.
“I know that, but you know how much I hate crowds. Beside you will do a lot better without me being in there,” The mare said. Shine thought to himself that the voice reminded him of Rainbow Dash’s voice, just not quite there.
“Oh for crying out loud! You really need to get over your fears of crowds, let’s get you started right now,” Shadow said in an annoyed tone.
“H-hey let me go you asshole, I won’t warn you again,” replied the mare, the threat to Shadow’s safety sounded genuine to Shine.
“Oh for luna’s sake stop acting like a filly and grow up besides I know that you won’t hit me Ni….”
*SMACK*
The doors of the throne room burst open with Shadow sliding across the floor, stopping right in front of Derpy and Shining Steel. Everypony then looked back to the open doors and saw the owner of the other voice. Shine only caught a brief look at the mare, noticing her beautiful golden eye, almost like Derpy’s own eyes. But was all he got before the mare shot off into the morning sky, leaving everypony stunned. This also made Shine annoyed for he only got a hint on the mare’s name. He just shook his head in disappointment for he wanted to see the kind of names the Night Guard use.
So he looked back to the dazed Night Guard in front of him and helped him get on his hooves. When Shadow finally got back to his senses, he took his place back at Luna’s side whilst sighing in defeat.
“Well I guess that’s all we’re going to get from her. So now I have to put up with these questions myself” Luna then thought for a moment and smiled, then looked down to Shadow
“Don’t worry I will be sure to give her a bit of a talk to and give her a suitable punishment for having to make you answer the questions” Luna said while still grinning.
Shadow looked up at her and nodded his head in approval. “Fair enough, now who has got a question about our race?”
“Well that was incredibly lame,” Shining Steel complained as he stormed out of the throne room. “He didn’t really answer any of the interesting questions, the only ones he did answer were the ones how long they have been around and that they guard all night and most sleep all day. That dude was such an ass. ”
‘Hee-haw!’
“Huh how did a Donkey get in here? Oh wait, sorry, anyway what do you think Derpy?.... Derpy?” When Shine looked back towards the throne room, he saw Derpy talking to Princess Celestia about something. He waited for a moment until his commander had finished talking to the Princess and started to approach him looking very happy about something. “What was that all about?” Shine asked.
Derpy just looked at him, still smiling. “I will tell you soon, first just walk with me for a bit.” Replied the commander.
After a full 10 minutes of walking, Shining Steel was starting to get impatient. “Derpy could you please enlighten me what has made you so happy?” He asked.
“Ok fine, Princess Celestia said it was alright for me to take you to Ponyville for a few days.” She replied with a squeal. Shine smiled at her reaction.
“Well that’s good so whe…” But before he could finish he was interrupted by a familiar voice.
“Did I just hear that you two are going to Ponyville?” Called out a certain mare. The two looked to the left and saw Sugar Bliss approaching them.
“Oh, hi Sugar Bliss and yes you heard right. Shining Steel and I will be heading off to Ponyville tomorrow,” Derpy said as she greeted the baker. Sugar Bliss’ eye’s widened at the news.
“Oh my gosh! Really!? Is it alright if I join you guys?” She asked the two.
Derpy thought for a moment before answering. “Well I don’t really mind. What about you Shine?” The two mares turned to shine waiting for an answer from Shine.
“I don’t mind either, but why do you want to come with us?” He asked Sugar Bliss, who reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a note.
“Because a friend of mine sent me this letter from Ponyville,” she said whilst allowing the two to read it letter:
To my dear good Friend Sugar Bliss, today I was in the market when I just found out that DJ PON-3 is in Ponyville and she brought you know whom with her. I believe that they are staying till the end of Nightmare Night so hurry up and get your flank down here. Also Wing Blaze is in hospital and Rainbow Dash said there was an incident with him in Canterlot. So I just have to ask, did you buck him into the wall again? If so, you did a good job. Anyway, I hope to see you in Ponyville soon and please send me a reply letting me know when you arriving ok? From you good old friend, BB.
After the two handed the letter back to Sugar Bliss, Derpy had to ask her about something.
“Umm Sugar Bliss what about the bakery you work at? Don’t ponies need some bread and other things?”
Sugar Bliss started to giggle while saying “Silly, I am not the only baker they have. There are 10 others in Canterlot so it will be fine if one of the bakeries are closed for a while, oh and what time will we be leaving?”
“We will be leaving early in the morning so we should at least get to Ponyville at lunch time,” Derpy replied .Sugar Bliss wrote something down on a piece of paper before calling over a mail pony, giving him the piece of paper who then took off into the sky with it. Sugar then turned back to the two.
“Well then, if it’s early in the morning then I guess I better start packing see you two then.”
After saying goodbye to Sugar Bliss, Derpy turned to Shine. “Well that’s that. Come on Shine we’ve got patrolling to do, then we have to go and pack for the trip tomorrow. I’ll be right back.” She said before heading off to the barracks.
“Hurry back.” Shining Steel sarcastically said, rolling his eyes for he knew it was going to be a long day.
‘Huh where am I and how did I get here?’ Shine thought to himself.
He had finished his patrolling in Canterlot, but had nothing to do afterwards so he headed back to the barracks in order to pack for his vacation with Derpy and Sugar Bliss. After everything was packed and ready to go his eyes felt heavy from exhaustion so he thought he would catch some sleep, he found himself here. Shine took a look around to get familiar with his surroundings. Shining Steel found himself in the middle of a forest, not a bit of light coming through the canopy.
“This place seems familiar,” Shine said to himself whilst he strolled through the forest. Something out in the distance caught his attention. As he approached the clearing his eyes widened in shock and just a small bit of fear. Sitting in the middle of the clearing was a wooden fortress. Shine stood there, contemplating wether this could be real or not. 5 minutes passed with Shine standing in disbelief until the front gates started to creak open. Shine reacted to this and galloped behind a tree to hide so he could see what came out without being seen himself. None too soon, he ran behind the tree, two shadow forms walked out of the wooden fortress. One looked to be a Pegasus while the other a unicorn Shine continued to watch them walk away from the fort Shine before hearing some growling and judging from the couple they did too Shine turned his attention back to the gates what Shining Steel saw made his heart stop, for from the gates emerge four timber wolves.
And as soon the couple saw the timber wolves they started to run towards the trees but they weren’t fast enough to out run the timber wolves Shine quickly looked away as he heard the screams of the couple been ripped to pieces by the wolves. He noticed that another timber wolf started to approach him from the bushes but stopped as it was right in front of Shine who was starting to shake with fear. The timber wolf then got ready to pounce in which caused Shining Steel to get into a defensive stance.
“Time to wake Shine.” Growled the timber wolf which caused Shine to lower his stance in shock.
“W-what?” He stammered but before he could say anything else the wolf pounced onto him whilst starting to rip him apart.
“Gaaaaah” Shine quickly shot up whilst hitting his head on something hard and wrenched at the pain despite him wearing his gear as the pain slowly started to disappear he noticed that he was sweating all over which made him remember that it was just a dream.
“What the hay was that all about?” He said to himself then he quickly checked the blankets for anything but sighed in relief as he found nothing.
“Well at least I didn’t wet the bed this time.” But then wrenched in pain as his head started to hurt again.
“Ow what the hay did I hit my head on.” He whined but then Shine heard a slight moan to his left when he found the source of the sound his heart nearly stopped for their laying on the ground was Derpy. After a few seconds had past Shining Steel finally snapped back to himself.
“Oh crap Derpy are you ok?” Shine ask worriedly, whilst getting out of his bed. He failed as his hooves got caught in the blanket luckily he manage to stop himself from landing directly on top of Derpy. He couldn’t help but blush about how cute Derpy looks when she is at peace despite the fact that he was the reason that she was in this state but he still continued to stare until he heard a knock on the door followed by it opening.
“Derpy have you woken Shining Steel yet because if you don’t hurry up we will miss the trai… oh my.” The moment Sugar Bliss walked in was the moment she wished she hadn’t her cheeks grew a shade of red and she quickly galloped out of the room whilst slamming the door shut behind her leaving a rather confused Pegasus in thought in what the hay just happened, he looked back to Derpy who was still in her unconscious state and then it hit him he looked at the position he was in then looked back to Derpy.
POOFH
He looked to where Sugar Bliss was a moment with his face as red as a tomato “Oh hay no!.” He yelled out loud.
One hour and twenty-three minutes later Derpy finally regained consciousness but as she stood up she noticed Shining Steel sitting next to her looking worried and embarrast at the same time. But she frowned as she recalled what happened.
“Celestia, damit Shine don’t wear you armour to bed.” She whined whilst rubbing her head, but before she could say anything else she was interrupted by Sugar Bliss calling out from behind the door.
“If you two have finishes your fun time can we go now? We have only a seven minutes left before the train leaves” Derpy’s eye’s widened in confusion just as Shine’s face reddened Derpy turned back to Shinning Steel.
“Are you all set to go Shine” She asked. Shine nodded but before he could grab his saddle bag and walk out the door he was stopped by Derpy who jumped right in front of him staring at him.
“Is there something wrong.” Shine asked but Derpy gave him a stern look.
“Just to remind you what we’re doing, we are going to Ponyville for a visit not on duty so what I want you to do right now before we head off is remove your armour for I’m pretty sure that you won’t be needing it” Before Shine could complain, he quickly thought that it would be best if he allowed her to win this one after all they didn’t have much time left before the train departed. Before he started to remove his armour he took note that Derpy was still watching him, which to him felt really awkward.
“Umm Derpy if it’s not too much to, ask but could you please look the other way while I remove my armour it just that I don’t feel comfortable with somepony watching me as I undress.” He asked out of slight embarrassment. Derpy rolled her eyes whilst turning the other way to give Shining Steel his privacy, but she couldn’t help but smirk as she noticed that there was a mirror in the direction that she was looking. The first thing Shining Steel removed was his helmet which caused his mane to change from blue to a banana colour. The length of his mane was rather short but it didn’t change the fact that Derpy was finding it interesting to see what Shine really looked like. The final step was to slowly remove his body armour. Whilst doing so, Derpy’s heart started to race for in a few seconds she would see the real Shining Steel. As the body armour was placed on the ground nothing happened. Shining Steel’s coat remand white which in return started to confuse Derpy.
“Err Shine didn’t I tell you to remove all of your gear?” In which it was Shining Steel’s turn to be confused. What was she talking about? and how the hay did she know that he had remove them but, that second thought was quickly answered when he saw the mirror.
“Hey I told you not to watch” He said in an annoyed tone but Derpy didn’t reply at first for she was too busy chuckling at Shine’s reaction.
“Not my fault, somepony put a mirror in the way.”
Shine just grunted in response “Anyway moving back to my first question I thought I told you to remove all of you gear” Derpy asked again whilst turning around to get a better look at Shine but Shining Steel raised an brow to her question.
“Umm Derpy in case you haven’t noticed that I have already removed my gear” He replied with a slight grin appearing on his face.
“Wait, so your coat really is white?” Asked Derpy Shine nodded in agreement. Before the conversion could continue the door opened and in walked an annoyed Sugar Bliss “We have now missed the train.”
45 minutes later at the train station…. Finally
“Look Sugar Bliss I’m very sorry that we weren’t able to leave on schedule but I didn’t know that time would go so quickly”, apologized Derpy, Sugar Bliss facehoofed in annoyance.
“Ahh Derpy for the twentieth time I said that I forgive you and besides I’m not really the one that you should be apologizing to” Derpy took breath of relief only to became curious on what she meant by that.
“Ok then who should I be apologizing to?” Sugar Bliss look at Derpy with a worried expression but still answered her question in a low voice almost like a whisper.
“The one that you have to apologize to is my friend who will be now at Ponyville train station expecting us to be on the early train that I mentioned in the letter and I will tell you this now, she will not be happy to find that it turned out that weren’t on that train”. Derpy nodded her head slowly in understand but giving it some though she realized that Sugar Bliss never really told them about her friend whom they were expecting to meet in Ponyville.
“Say would you mind explaining this friend of yours for I’m rather curious about her?” Sugar Bliss recoiled to Derpy’s question obviously not expecting that question to come so soon. She took a moment to think about it but then she realized that they were missing something or to be correct somepony.
“Umm Derpy before we start talking about my friend where is yours?” Sugar Bliss asked.
“Errr Bliss I think we might of left Shining Steel waiting for us at the public toilets” Sugar Bliss looked at her in confusion so Derpy continued.
“Well you see when we told him to wait for us at the entrance and I kind of forgot that there was a back entrance so in short we left Shining Steel waiting for us at the front entrance while we went out the back”. Sugar Bliss soaked in the info and thought for a minute, soon she started to chuckle “So how long do you think he has been waiting for us?” asked Sugar Bliss while trying hard not to laugh. Derpy thought for a few minutes then grinned.
“If I’m correct he has been waiting for us for forty minutes.” The moment Derpy finished her sentence Sugar Bliss couldn’t suppress her laughter any longer which was soon followed by Derpy joining in. After the two had their moment they both decided that it would be best to go and see how Shine was going. Eight minutes away from the train station Shining Steel was on the brink of losing it. He continued to pace around in a circle while still waiting for the mares to finish their business.
“Oh for Celestia’s sake what the hay is taking them so long? it feels like I’ve been waiting here for forty minutes” He mumbled but stopped to have a quick think “That’s because I have been waiting here for forty minutes” He sighed, he looked at the toilets then he looked both ways and saw nopony out in the streets he looked back to the toilets he took a deep breath and slowly approached the toilets. When he was in front of the two doors of either gender he took one last look around but still seeing nothing he entered the mare’s toilets.
Derpy and Sugar Bliss:
After a few minutes of walking had past of total silence Sugar Bliss thought it was time for a conversation while they were going to re-join their missing companion.
“So Derpy how long have you known Shining Steel for?” At first there was no response but in the end Derpy faced Sugar Bliss.
“Oh I never really met Shine till he graduated and became assigned to my platoon so I’ve only really known Shine for about one and a half mouths”
“Ok then but what was he like back then?”
“Oh well from what I’ve heard from the officers that trained him he hasn’t really changed much since then but they did say that he used to be very distant to everypony for some strange reason I guess it has something to do what happened to him in the past.”
“Really what happened to him?” Sugar Bliss asked with great interest but took notice that Derpy’s head sank low.
“I’m afraid I’m not sure whenever I ask about it he always tends to snap or try to change the subject…. Or both (sigh). The only thing I’ve learned is that he was born in the Everfree forest”
When Derpy turned to face Sugar Bliss she saw that she was no longer walking beside her but had stopped completely behind her, walking up to the frozen mare in confusion, Derpy shook her slightly which brought her back to realistic.
“Are you alright Sugar Bliss?” Derpy ask worriedly.
“Huh oh um y-yes sorry for a moment there I thought you said that Shining Steel was born in the Everfree forest, but that can’t be true for nopony is crazy enough to live in there right” The baker laughed for a bit but stopped as she heard that nopony was joining in she looked at Derpy in the eyes which showed nothing but sadness.
“You weren’t joking were you” Derpy shook her head as a response. After what felt like hours of total silence Sugar Bliss’s ears perked up as an idea came to her.
“Hey Derpy” She called getting Derpy’s attention she continued.
“How about on the train we try and get Shine to talk about what happened in his past?”
“Ummm Sugar Bliss, not to ruin your fun or anything, but there is such a thing called privacy.” Derpy replied as she continued on with her walk towards the public toilets.
“Aww fine I won’t try and make him tell us about his past.” Sugar Bliss whined whilst still smiling ‘Though I will still ask him about it.’ Noticing that Derpy was ahead of her she quickly re-joined to her side while still smiling which Derpy saw it made her feel a bit uneasy.
“Umm Sugar Bliss”
“Yes?”
“Could you please promise me that you won’t tell Shining Steel that I told you about some of his past?” Sugar Bliss gave her a confused look, but applied by doing a familiar motion.
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
“How do you know the pinkie promise”
“Pfff please, who hasn’t heard of the pinkie promise”
“Apparently Shine hadn’t”
“You’re kidding me”
“Nnnope” as the two had their laugh, off in the distance a scream of a mare was heard in the direction that the two were heading.
“Umm I think we better leave our conversion till later and quickly find out what that noise was about” Sugar Bliss suggested receiving a nod from Derpy the two quickly galloped to the source from which they heard the scream.
When the two finally arrived at the toilets, the back entrance door swung open and a very angry looking mare stormed out. As she was about to disappear around a corner she took notice of Derpy and Sugar Bliss staring.
“If you two are going in there I suggest that you be careful for there is a white Stallion pervert hanging around” After she warned them she left leaving the two to facehoof as they had a pretty good feeling that, that white pervert was. As the two mares walked around the toilets towards the front they saw Shining Steel sitting a fair distance away from the entrance while facing the other way as the mares slowly approached Shine must have heard them approach.
“I swear on Celestia’s royal flank I didn’t see anything!” He screamed with his face as red as a tomato the two mares chuckled before Derpy spoke up.
“Aww and here I was going to ask did you like what you saw in there” Shine’s ears perked up in recognition and quickly turn to face the mares while reliving a swollen black eye.
“Where the hay were you two for I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t take forty minutes to come out of the toilets!”
“Well sorry we kind of forgot that there was a back entrance so we sort of forgot about you” Sugar Bliss said while trying to recover from all the shouting. But before they were able to continue the little reunion there was a sound of a whistle off in the distance.
“Oh crap the train, come on you two love birds we’ll talk about this later on in the meantime let’s not miss this train” Sugar Bliss called out as she galloped off towards the train station. She was soon followed by the others but not before Shine called out.
“Where not in love with each other where just friends” While Derpy’s ears folded back.
10 minutes later on the train
“Well that was fun, we nearly missed the train…. again” Sugar Bliss said, taking in a deep breath.
“Yes and that time it wasn’t my fault” Shining Steel pointed out “Well it wasn’t our fault”
“Who were the ones that left me waiting at the toilets then?”
“Oh… Well…. some of it’s your fault”
“How?”
“Well because somepony wasn’t smart enough to see if there was a back entrance to help confirm that we weren’t in there”
“You were the one who told me not to go anywhere”
“Well then nex..”
“Oh for Celestia’s sake will you two shut up its noponies fault because we didn’t miss the train!” Derpy yelled ceasing the argument between Shine and Sugar Bliss then they both look at each other then moved away. Shining sat next to a window alone on the far end of the train while Sugar Bliss sat next to Derpy with a smile spread across her face which confused Derpy.
“Hey Sugar Bliss”
“Hmm”
“How can you be smiling after having an argument with Shine?” Sugar Bliss turned to face her.
“Because I reckon that I’ve just found out a bit of his past” she explained in a low voice.
“Well you see as he started to walk away I caught a glimpse of a symbol on his neck hidden underneath his mane”
“Oh that. Yeah I’ve already seen it he told me he got it before he join the guard” Derpy explained whilst looking at the scenery outside.
“Oh ok then *sigh* well I don’t think I will ask him about it for he doesn’t look like he’s in the talkative mood at the moment.” Both mares looked at Shining Steel who was staring back at the two mostly eyeing Sugar Bliss before turning his attention back out the window.
“Yeah well he has had a pretty rough morning….. Hey speaking of mornings Sugar Bliss do you mind telling me what happened. For all I can remember is us two meeting early in the morning, whilst waiting on Shining Steel. And from there I went to go get him which, it turned out that he was still asleep and having another having a nightmare which ended when I told him to wake up also making him shot up. But then it all goes blank, mind you then waking up finding that we only had a few minutes left and you saying something about fun time. So if you don’t mind me asking what happened?” Derpy asked but before she got her answer they were quickly interrupted by a sudden bang both mares looked towards where Shining Steel sat and saw his face completely pressed against the window with his checks showing a shade of red.
“I think he can hear us”, Sugar Bliss pointed out causing another smile to appear on her face.
“Well we are the only ones in the cart” Derpy pointed out.
“Oh right…… Anyway what I recall is when you were taking so long just to wake Shine up so when I walked in I saw you on the floor and Shine was on top but I didn’t know that you were unconscious so that means that Shine….”
“It’s not what you think!” Shine yelled out from the other side.
“Then how come I saw you on top of her?” Sugar Bliss asked, Derpy’s mouth hang open after hearing what Sugar Bliss said and slowly looked at Shining Steel whose face was showing a lot of embarrassment.
“T-that’s because when I knocked her out I tried to get up to help her, but my hooves got tangled in my blanket and I only just manage to stop myself from landing directly on her” Derpy slightly relaxed but it left Sugar Bliss with one question.
“Wait how did you knock her out,? Did you punch her?”
“Not exactly when I woke up from a nightmare my head accidently collided with hers” Shine said sheepishly, Sugar Bliss nodded her head in slight understandment but it was now Derpy who had a question.
“Hey Shine, isn’t this your second nightmare in a row? That isn’t a good sign, so if you don’t mind me asking what was that Nightmare about?” Shine winch at memory of the dream, but he didn’t think it would be best if the mares knew about it yet.
“Umm sorry but I don’t really remember much of it but let’s just say it wasn’t a pleasant memory” Derpy stared at him expecting that there was more to it than that but thought it would be best to drop it for now.
“Err well sorry about that incident. But you can’t really blame me, for what was I supposed to suspect when you see a stallion on top of a mare” Sugar Bliss said, whilst rubbing the back of her head, Shine waved it off before looking back out the window. As Derpy rested back on her seat the silence didn’t last long as Sugar Bliss spoke out.
“Well whose up for a game of I spy?” which caused Derpy to giggle and Shine to facehoof.
“Well fillies and gentlecolts welcome to Ponyville”, announced Sugar Bliss as she stepped out of the train that was then followed by the other two at first Shining Steel was a bit surprized at how peaceful this town was and how many ponies were up and about. As he looked at his surroundings he found that he already started to take a liking to this place but as he looked further out, he saw a forest that he knew all too well. Derpy took a deep breath of the fresh air of her former home enjoying every moment of it.
‘It feels good to be home again’ she thought when she looked at Shine to see what he thought of Ponyville but saw him staring off into the distance to where the Everfree forest was. Sensing the discomfort, Derpy quickly thought it would be best if they found this friend of Sugar Bliss who was supposed to be waiting for them.
“So Sugar Bliss how about we go look for this friend of yours?” Derpy suggested but Sugar Bliss shook her head.
“There’s no need for that because she’s right over there”. Derpy and Shine both looked to were Sugar Bliss was pointing and in the middle of the town square was a fountain where a few ponies sat which Derpy recognised. One of them she was an earth pony with a cream coat with a navy blue colour mane and tail with a pink running along the middle.
“Wait! So Bon Bon is your friend that we are meeting up with?” Derpy asked but Sugar Bliss gave her a confused look.
“What? Oh no! My friend is the one that is sitting on the far end of the fountain”. Both Derpy and Shine look more carefully to were Bliss had pointed out and sure enough there was a pony there, but they couldn’t see her very well due to the distance.
“Heh, it looks like she’s asleep, come on!” Sugar Bliss said as she started to head towards this mystery mare.
Shine and Derpy both looked at each other and shrugged before following Sugar Bliss. As they approached, the two were close enough to get a better picture of the mare. She was a unicorn with a purple coat, a long but wild yellow mane, as well as a long tail which was also yellow and her cutie mark was some sort of a speaker as for her eyes the two didn’t know because she was asleep. When the three were in front of the mare Sugar Bliss moved directly in front of her face after a few moments Sugar Bliss had an evil grin on her face whilst rubbing her hooves together, then not a moment too soon she pushed the sleeping mare into the fountain which resulted in the mare waking up in a small pool of freezing cold water.
“Huh wha who” Stammered a confused and wet mare but when her eyes fell on Sugar Bliss her confused face turned frown.
“Suugaar Bliiiiss”
“Yes?” She replied with an innocent look “You are so dead!” Moments upon finishing her sentence Sugar Bliss quickly galloped away from the mare whilst laughing as the very wet and angry mare went on the chase. While the two ran around the town square Derpy and Shining Steel watch in amusement as the chase was on and as they were watching they couldn’t help but laugh as the mare chasing Sugar Bliss continuously crashed into something’s and some ponies due to having her wet mane pretty much covering her face. But it all ended when the mare crashed into a building which resulted her horn getting stuck.
While Shine and Derpy started to approach they saw a number of ponies trying to get the mare free including Sugar Bliss, but from what the two saw was that the ponies were too busy laughing than to put much effort into trying to get her out. Shine and Derpy couldn’t blame them for its not an everyday thing to see a unicorn get their horn stuck but it all ended when the mare finally came free from the building. The owner of the house wasn’t too happy to see a hole in their wall so to avoid any argument the mare quickly fixed the hole with her magic before re-joining to Sugar Bliss’s side as she approached the rest of the group.
“Well that was fun” exclaimed Sugar Bliss as she wiped the tears away.
“Maybe for you cause you weren’t the one who got stuck” Barked the wet mare whose mane was still covering her face.
“Well guess who wasn’t smart enough to move their mane out of their eyes hmm”
“Hey I was angry at you for one …. Two reasons one you weren’t on the early train like you said you would and two you pushed me into the freezing water” Sugar Bliss looked at her friend with a smile spread across her face.
“Well sorry but how else was I surspose to wake you”
“Well you could of…” But the mare was quickly interrupted as Shining Steel coughed to remind them that they were still here.
“Oh sorry you two, B these are the other ponies I mentioned in the letter”
“Hello there my name is Shining Steel” Shine said introducing himself which Derpy took as a sign it was her turn.
“And I’m Derpy Hooves” The mare nodded her head in acknowledgment before she spoke.
“Well you two nice to meet cha as for me you may call me ….”
“Oh for Celestia’s sake would you at least be civilized enough to get your mane out of you face or even better dry it” Sugar Bliss interrupted which received a groan from the mare possibly because she was interrupted again.
Within moments her horn glowed a dark purple before steam started coming her body after a minute she gave her mane a finishing touch by giving it a shake which returned it to what it was like before and this time they were able to at least see one eye which was closed due to focusing her magic, but the other one was covered by her wild mane, as the magical aura disappeared, the mare reopened her eye which surprisingly appeared to be a similar colour to a ruby. After the rest of the stream disappeared into the air she turn to Sugar Bliss in waiting of an answer Sugar Bliss stared for a moment before giving her a nod of approval then the mare turned back to the rest before continuing were she left off.
“Anyway as I was saying my name is Bass Blitz and I will be your guide here in Ponyville.”
