A stray bolt of sunlight managed to contour the curtains, forming oblique light columns inside the room. Small particles of dust floated around the air. A blinding cyan glow interrupted the relaxing light show that had just begun.
Blaze closed his eyes and rolled over, shielding his eyes from the magical glow.
“Sorry… didn’t mean to wake you…” Said Luna with her eyes fighting to stay open but still managing to bring the moon down.
Blaze rolled over again and faced Luna. She was already sitting in bed while he was still unsure if he was awake. Luna’s spell ended and she wasted no time in lying down again. Blaze cuddled her, burring his face in her ethereal mane. It was like her own personal universe. Then he proceeded to kiss her.
“Morning.” He muttered still in the full grasp of the bed’s enchantment.
Luna giggled but she only woke up sensing her sister magic.
They stayed in each other embrace for at least half an hour.
“The ceremony is this morning.” Luna said as her brain slowly woke up.
“Can’t it wait?” Blaze responded while holding Luna in his hoofs.
“You can stay a bit more in bed, I’ll shower first.” She said as she got up.
Blaze watched as she struggled to leave the bed. Almost tripping in her own hoofs. He smirked.
“Shut up!” Luna embarrassingly protested as she noticed Blaze’s smirk.
She entered the bathroom. Blaze let his head fall in the pillow.
He was back.
He stared blankly at the ceiling with a smile on his face. The air on the room was a bit heavy but that wasn’t bothering him. He loved Luna’s smell. The perfumes were good and all, but her natural smell, that almost nopony notices, was almost hypnotic in a way. But the room definitely needed to be freshened before the maids arrived.
His calm state was altered as he remembered the ceremony. After it, he was officially back where he once stood: by the side of both princesses. But he was going to be in front of every eye in Canterlot. And he certainly lacked social skills.
Blaze got up, still fighting sleep, opened the window and went to the balcony. He stood there feeling the morning breeze slowly awakening him, as did all of Equestria. The bathroom door opened.
“You can come.” Luna called, already ready for the celebration.
She was wearing a discreet and elegant dress adorned with moonstone
Blaze entered the room, and looked at Luna.
“You look beautiful.” He said with a smile from ear to ear.
“Thank you. You need a shower, no offence.” She said with a teasing look.
“Yeah, yeah.” Blaze muttered as he stumbled to the bathroom.
But before he could be mad about it, Luna stepped close to him and kissed him. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds. Luna stepped aside and Blaze went to the bathroom. No words were spoken but so much was said.
“Oh Blaze, I really hope everything goes smoothly…” She thought. She opened the bedroom door and standing in the hallway was her sister.
“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t scare you, did I?”
“Tia? No, just surprised me.” Luna answered with a curious look.
“What where you doing here?”
“Just waiting for you. How’s Blaze?”
“He’s showering.”
Only then she noticed the Gala dress Celestia was wearing.
“Tia? Don’t you think that’s too much?” Celestia did like to “overreact” when it comes to ceremonies.
“Everypony in Canterlot is coming and some boutiques were kind enough to send me some dresses to the occasion.” Celestia looked at Luna
“You look beautiful, Lulu. It’s been a while since I saw you with that dress.”
“Well… It’s been a while since I was in love…” Luna shyly smiled.
Celestia shared her smile. And hugged her.
“You sure Blaze is ready for all of this?”
Luna could see through her sister’s question and broke the hugged.
“Tia…”
“I’m just worried Luna… What if…”
“No ifs Tia! You promised… Look I trust Blaze with my life. Now more than ever. If you still have doubts about him, can’t you trust me?” Luna was almost begging her sister.
“I’m sorry… Of course, I trust you. It’s just… It’s just… you’re still my little sister… And I worry…”
Luna didn’t let her finish and hugged her. Luna’s room door opened and from inside a stallion in shining armor stepped out. Blaze was already ready with his armor on and axe holstered.
“Good enough?” Blaze asked nervously.
“Even I have to admit that you look good in armor.” Celestia surprisingly commented.
“Wow! If you say so I must look amazing.” Blaze joked.
“You do.” Luna added.
Luna stepped closer to Blaze to adjust some parts of is armor.
“You look so cute together.” Celestia admitted.
“Again, what is it with you two calling me cute? How about awesome or something like that?”
Both sisters shared a laugh.
“We have to go, our counselor wants to make sure everything is perfect.”
And all of them started to trot towards the exterior courtyard. Blaze’s heart sped up with each step. When they opened the doors to the preparation room, they could already hear the commotion outside. The door was open waiting for somepony to step forward into the stage.
A couple of maids surrounded each princess, making sure every hair was where it should be and if every gold button was in the right place. One maid looked at Blaze like a judge evaluating a painting. She made sure every strap was correctly placed and even polished some parts of the armor.
The counselor gave the maids a nod and they withdrew from their jobs. He turned to the princesses.
“They’re waiting for you, princesses. When you’re ready.”
He walked up to Blaze.
“Good luck, from the stories I’ve heard in these two days alone, Equestria will earn a powerful ally.”
With the nerves controlling him, Blaze only could reply with a nod. The counselor withdrew from the room as did the maids.
Both princesses smiled at Blaze before stepping into stage.
Trumpets started to play, and all of Canterlot cheered at the sight of the princesses.
For Blaze, it was like time stopped. His heart beat at the pace of the princesses. He looked through the door to see the crowd and it was a thing of beauty. But little did he know it was about to become his worst nightmare.
“Mares and Gentlecolts!” Shouted princess Celestia in cheerful tone.
The cheering stopped as everypony’s senses focused on the princess.
“We have gathered here today to introduce Canterlot to a new soldier, and a very old friend of ours.” Celestia stepped back and let her sister continue.
“Some of you might already have seen him, and we are also here to explain some of the rumors that have been circling around, but rest assured he is one the most trust worthy ponies around.” Celestia explained the rest.
“It is true that this pony came from Tartarus.”
The crowd gasped almost simultaneous and rumbling of murmurs started. But it was nothing compared to the royal voice of Celestia.
“Yes, but he wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place!”
A lone tear managed to break Celestia’s façade.
“This is one story that no one here learned or heard about… I, in my selfish behavior, banished him to Tartarus…”
The silence that followed was breathtaking.
“I regret my actions and I’ve learned from my mistakes but more importantly my sister as forgiven me.”
Although they were still shocked the impatience was growing out of bounds. And Luna noticed.
She took a step forward and placed her wing on top of Celestia to comfort her. Celestia smiled and toke a step back letting Luna finish the speech.
“I did forgive my sister; everyone has a bad day. But this pony, despite everything, still came back to us, forgave us for everything and pledge to protect us once again, and his name is Blaze!”
Hearing his name, Blaze stepped outside with his heart. Everypony’s eyes deviated from Luna to the armored shadow that stepped into stage.
The atmosphere rose thicker with insecurity as the stripped Pegasus walked in the direction of the princesses, but someponies cheered, others just observed with their curious eyes; but one thing everyone was doing, was judging his every step.
“Before the banishment, Blaze was our personal guard. And thats what we are here for.” Luna continued.
Blazed stopped right by the princesses’ side waiting for orders.
“From this day forward Blaze is the highest-ranking soldier in all of Equestria. He does not command troops, he will accompany us not as a guard but as a friend. Many of you may have witnessed his strength, or the results of it, but I assure you he is docile.”
That seemed to lightened up the mood of everypony. Except for Blaze who would give his wing to get out of that stage. His old habits were still showing. His wing was rested on the handle of the holstered axe expecting someone to jump at him at any time, he was always looking around but everywhere he looked there were eyes looking straight at him. It couldn’t get worst, could it?
“But who better to tell you about Blaze than Blaze himself?” Luna stepped back and signaled Blaze.
Blaze’s heart just fell, he looked at Luna, as if she was sending him to a lava pit.
Luna could see the panic in Blaze’s heart, but he needed to do this so she gave him a “Go on.” kind of look. Blaze stepped forward. He looked at massive crowed in front of him. And started to speak.
“Huuuuuuuuuuuuum…” But that was all the sound his mouth could generate.
Celestia was desperately trying not to giggle and Luna was fighting to keep her hoof from hitting her face.
“So… Yes, my name is Blaze… hum…” Every single cell in Blaze’s body was focusing on what to say so he could get the hell out of there.
“You probably have a lot of questions… What about we answer a few?” He did it! He said a full sentence! Not the greatest but certainly not the worst.
Every single pony raised his hoof.
A drop of sweet dropped from his face.
Blaze pointed to a young colt who was in the front row.
“How old are you?” The innocent little colt asked.
A majority of the ponies nodded in a consented way.
“Well… Time is not the same in Tartarus… you stop aging in fact… but it has been… a thousand years or so since I was born.” Blaze was finally calming down.
The colt’s eyes were as wide as the moon, and a rumbling of surprise formed.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t expect to last that long either. Next one.”
Again, a wave of hoofs lifted up.
Blaze signaled a mare in the second row.
“I have two questions… is that okay?”
Celestia recognized that voice.
Blaze nodded.
“How did you get to befriend the princesses?”
“Well… I was abandoned, right after I was born and I was left in the sisters’ castle. Fortunately, the princesses were in a good mood and decided to take care of me.”
The mare seemed satisfied with the answer. But then, she let out a smirk.
“You have told us that you are a close friend to the princesses, but… how close are your relations with Luna?”
That was Pink Strides, writer of the magazine with the same name, who specialized, well… on this. Celestia was also once a target, that was why she recognized her voice.
Blaze had no words to respond with, and many other ponies were also amazed at such audacity. But they were all waiting for a response.
“Well…” Blaze looked at Luna in despair.
Although Blaze’s fur was dark grey the blood rushing to his cheeks was hardly hiding. But his soldier posture wasn’t easily broken.
Luna stepped forward just simply said.
“May I remind you I reign in the plain of dreams?”
“No… Your highness, no need.” And with her tail between her legs, Pink Strides retreated into the depths of the crowd.
“Well, with all of the presentations done, and a few doubts cleared, I wish every pony a good day.”
And with the crowed still cheering behind them, the princesses and Blaze stepped out of stage into the privacy of the castle.
Blaze collapsed to the ground and muttered.
“Why...”
“It wasn’t that bad.” Said Celestia in either a mocking or comforting tone. Blaze couldn’t distinguish.
Luna lifted Blaze of the ground. And hugged him.
“You did great. If it wasn’t for that one pony everything would have gone smoothly.”
“Sure but I still looked like a fool.”
“Blaze. You had a rough start but you climbed out of it.” Luna broke the hug and looked at him.
“And I think I have a thing that will sheer you up.” Luna smiled, and reveled an axe with her magic.
Blaze just stood there looking at it.
“So, with everything you told me about your “perfect” axe, I went to the forge master and I think he made a good job.”
Blaze grabbed the axe with his wing. His mouth was wide open. He gave it a few swings. Analyzed it. And just looked at it.
“The handle is made with ebony wood, it has the… grips you told me about. I was skeptical about the curvature on it but the forge master knew exactly what it was. And the blade… You never told me what it was made with but I trusted him with that choice.” Luna smiled.
Blaze was still just looking at it.
“So what do you think?” Luna asked.
“It’s just like it… I mean the materials are a bit different, but the balance and everything… Perfect.”
Luna’s smile rose.
Blaze removed his old axe from the holster and replaced it with the new one.
“How?”
“Well we knew we couldn’t remake a perfect weapon, but that’s nothing a few enchantments can’t solve.” Celestia spoke out of nowhere.
“You were a part of this too?”
“Just a little gift.” Celestia said.
“Oh, and one of the blacksmiths was really curious what you made your axe blade out of, since we know so little of Tartarus.”
Blaze laughed.
“Well… It was made out of the hipbone of something really large and nasty. It’s a great story.”
Luna’s eyes widened.
“Yes, but first lunch Luna.” Celestia quickly said knowing her sister would happily sit there for hours listening to monster stories.
“Oh, yes. Food is good.” Blaze agreed.
They walked up to the dining area where lunch was already waiting for them.
No matter how bad of a day, or in this case morning, you had a meal with your best companions with some unbelievable stories always manages to cheer a pony up. Blaze didn’t even remember to take of his armor.
Some hours passed.
“So, what’s there to do this afternoon?” Blaze asked.
“Well, I’m going to try to calm things down in Canterlot, and maybe pay miss Pink Strides a visit.” Celestia answered.
“I’ll go and see if our prisoner is a bit more talkative today. Want to join?” Luna invited.
“I would love too. But I think I’ll go to Ponyville.” Blaze could feel the pressure of the princesses’ eyes.
No one really knew what to say.
“Hum… It’s one more opportunity to test the armor and I’ll get to know the village. And… Of course…”
“Yes… You know where it is?” Luna tried to break the tension.
“Yes I think I can find a village.” Blaze joked.
“You two try not get yourself into trouble while I’m gone.” Blaze said, as he was getting ready to leave.
Celestia approached Blaze.
“Blaze, can you-” Celestia tried to ask before Blaze read her mind.
“I will try my best.”
And with that said Blaze left the room and stepped outside the castle. He flared his wings and lifted off towards Ponyville.
It was the best kind of release, flight. And even though the armor was weighing him down, he was truly free. Dodging clouds and the occasionally fly by near the forests. He could see Canterlot grow smaller behind him and the wilderness augmenting in front of him. And after a few minutes, he could see the vast apple orchards and the small village, Ponyville.
The massive crystal castle was like a land lighthouse. Blaze didn’t want to go straight to it. He wanted to walk around the village first. He saw a small bridge near the borders of the village and, with a puff of dust, he landed.
And already some ponies’ eyes were staring at him. But it was nothing like in Canterlot. First, there were only two or three, and second, it was a curious and inviting kind of stare. He started to walk towards the village center. As he walked by, he watched the country life he had forgotten that still existed. Ponies talking, buying food, fillies playing, no rushes. And the occasional stare of course.
As he walked in the dirt roads he saw a building that contrasted with the rustic houses: A floating cloud house! If he remembered his history lessons that should be Rainbow Dash’s house. But his attention was drawn to something else. A little dragon scurrying through the dirt roads. And once the dragon saw Blaze it jumped and started to run away. Blaze let out a single laugh and decided to follow the dragon.
Blaze followed the dragon to the other side of town into a lonely house surrounded by animals. He could hear ponies inside. As he walked up to the house all the animals hid in their little houses and shelters. Blaze knocked. He could hear the steps of the dragon running to open the door.
The dragon opened the door and as soon as it saw him he jumped behind the legs of a purple pony and a yellow pony in the back, with a squeaky sound, simply vanished.
Blaze looked at the purple pony and sure enough it was the alicorn of Friendship.
“Twilight… That’s him…” Trembled the little dragon.
“Sorry for coming unannounced princess.” Blaze bowed.
“Blaze?... How did you find me?” Twilight was confused.
“Well, how many ponies have a dragon pet?” Blaze smiled at the dragon.
“Twilight? You know him?”
“He’s… He’s a friend Spike.” And with that Spike, cautiously, stepped behind twilight.
“How are you doing? Can we talk?” Blaze asked.
“Yes, of course. Hum… Fluttershy, you can come down, he’s a friend.” Twilight tried to calm her down.
But the only thing that resulted was a muffled, high pitched noise.
“How about you and Spike go for a walk while I talk with Blaze.”
That seemed to work. The yellow pegasus grabbed Spike and flew out of the house as fast she could.
“Sorry about that, it’s not often that a fully armored pony comes knocking.”
“No problem, I’m used to it.”
They just looked at each other for a couple of seconds.
“How are you doing?” Blaze finally asked.
“Fine. You know, everything is... fine.” Twilight might be good at many things, but lying is not one of them.
Blaze just looked at her.
“What do you want me to say?...” Twilight just collapsed on the chair.
“I know you don’t really know me, but we are going through a lot right now… And you can speak with me.”
“I just… How could Celestia have done this?” Twilight was constantly swinging from anger to sadness.
Blaze knew exactly what Twilight was going through but he wanted to fix it, not feed the fire.
“Twilight, everyone makes mistakes and bad choices some time in their life, even Celestia.”
“Yeah but… I… The worst part is that she thinks she’s right… Even after seeing what it caused…”
Blaze stood in silence, not knowing to say.
“I looked up to her for so long… And now…”
That triggered Blaze.
“You want to know a secret? Celestia looks up to you. She sees in you everything she wants to be.” Twilight looked in disbelief, and before she could say anything, Blaze continued.
“And I’ve only known you for a couple of days and I already know this, so think about it.” Blaze sat close to Twilight and hugged her with his wing.
“You are the Princess of Friendship, so tell me, isn’t friendship about forgiveness? And who his worthier of a second chance than Celestia?”
Twilight rested her head on Blaze’s chest. Her whole body was covered by his wing. Like a filly hiding underneath the blankets.
“You’re right… I just need time to think this through.”
“And time you’ll have.”
Twilight’s tears had dried up.
“Now come on, staying in here is not going to do you any good. How about you introduce me to the rest of the saviors of Equestria” Blaze smiled.
And that also managed to put a smile in Twilight’s face.
“Sounds good, besides, if we stay like this for much longer Luna is going to kill me.” Twilight joked.
That hit Blaze like a train.
“Wow, news travel fast.” His cheeks were starting to heat up.
“So it is true! Eheheh!” She was giggling and jumping like a filly.
Blaze’s face was as red as it could be. He had fallen for it.
“Okay, okay that’s enough. Can we go?”
“Yes of course!”
They left Fluttershy’s cottage, towards Ponyville. Twilight continued giggling for the entire afternoon.
It was a funny feeling seeing Blaze leave to Ponyville. She just wanted to grab him. She couldn’t lose him again. But Luna controlled herself. She stayed near the window seeing him fly away. Her sister left the room.
Blaze was now a mere dot in the sky.
Luna stayed there for a little longer hoping he would come back, but after a couple of minutes she gave up and left the window.
She began making her way to the dungeon, through the narrow corridors of the castle. Her steps echoing down the stairwell announcing her arrival.
The guard that was stationed there bowed.
“So, how is our prisoner doing?” Asked Luna.
“He has improved, your majesty. He is already able to talk.”
“Good. Could you leave us alone?”
“Of course your majesty.”
The guard left the dungeon.
Luna opened the cell door and against the opposite wall was a light green unicorn with a brown mane. She couldn’t see his cutiemark. Luna walked into the cell in silence, followed by her ethereal tail.
She closed the door and sat in front of the unicorn.
“Good afternoon. I think you know why I’m here.”
“To transform me into a mindless drone to power your army? To chain me here until I root? OR to gut me like your friend did to the others?” The unicorn shouted.
Luna conjured a spell that surrounded the unicorns head with a cyan aura and collapsed into his horn.
“What was that?” The unicorn demanded to know.
“Astonishing… No mind control spells. You really believe all those stories…” Luna maintained a neutral face but her mind was blown.
The unicorn tried to speak but Luna’s voice overpowered his.
“So, what else do they tell you about me?”
The unicorn face was confused but in his eyes, was hatred.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe that you are Nightmare Night, that you plan to over throne Celestia and bring darkness to Equestria!!”
A dark aura started to raise around Luna.
“Well I can tell you that nothing of that is true, I’m actually a nice pony once you get to know me.”
Luna stood up.
“But they forgot a small detail. I’m nice to whom is in my side. The ones against me? Well…”
Luna levitated a dagger that the unicorn had hidden in the cell. And in an instant, she crushed it and turned it into red hot liquid metal and let it drip to floor.
The unicorn was sweating. The hatred replaced by fear.
“Let’s just say that you don’t want to be in their side.”
Luna stepped close to the unicorn. He could only see Luna’s face and her mane circling him.
“So tell me. Are you with me? Or…”
For a quick second a darker version talked. One that only legends talked about.
“Against us?”
Luna stepped back.
“And before you answer our next question, keep in mind that death is a relief in our world… But in dreams… Death is… much more real.”
Luna sat and asked
“Who ordered the attack?”
Celestia spent most of the time inside the castle and there were few times for her to admire it. The jewel of Canterlot, standing tall in all of its glory. And it seemed even more welcoming after that horrendous visit to Pink Strides. She had prepared a full argument in her head to put to shame her acts, but as soon as she knocked on her door, Pink Strides was already bowing, almost kissing her hoofs, begging for forgiveness. And, of course, her forgiving natured kicked in, but that didn’t stop Celestia from lecturing her on social conducts. And after, some warnings and promises. She was already leaving.
Celestia walked around the city, admiring it, and making sure that Pink Strides didn’t cause any troubles. The city, the ponies, everything was still the same… Life goes on. It was like nothing really happened. She started making her way to the castle.
The guards opened the gates of the castle with a bow, letting the princess in.
Although it could be quite monotonous, the castle life suited Celestia.
She walked up the staircase that led to a balcony that looked over the main courtyard. All the walls were decorated with paintings and portraits of great ponies. Most of them forgotten, lost in memories, but all leaving a mark in history and a weight in Celestia’s soul.
Celestia rarely had time for herself, and after Blaze’s return she felt like she didn’t even have time to breath. She lost a great friend and almost her sister. All because of… She didn’t know… Her heart says it’s Blaze, her mind says Blaze isn’t trust wordy; but the whole world seems to disagree with her. But her sister is the heaviest argument. She trusted her sister with everything. And if she trusted Blaze what could she do?
The evening sky was calming, peaceful. The wind was bringing a cold breeze to contrast the warm sun. But Celestia’s mind was too cluttered with doubts for her to notice. After all she was the ruler of Equestria, her heart was never wrong… But her sister was her weakness.
The cold sound of marble being stepped on waked her up.
“Mind if I join you?”
Celestia turned her head in an ambiguous move to identify the pony.
“Of course, I was just catching up with myself. Lately I haven’t really had the chance.” Celestia answered Blaze, with a smile.
“Did you go talk to that loud mouth?” Blaze asked as he walked towards the guard-rail.
Celestia sighed and joined Blaze, admiring the city.
“I think I never saw somepony give up so easily as she did. Sometimes it would be nice to actually have an argument with good arguments. Instead, all I had was a child who played with fire and got burnt.”
Blaze smiled in agreement. The city movement was slowly settling. The tones starting to change from the yellowish white to dark orange leaving a warm atmosphere despite the cold breeze.
“She forgave you.” Blaze let go of the weight.
“W-What?” Celestia almost jumped.
“Twilight. She forgave you. She was more confused than anything else. You are almost a second mother to her and she expected you to share the truth, no matter how hard it was.”
Blaze could feel the words getting stuck in Celestia’s throat. He turned to face her.
“But she’s hurt. And it is going to be hard to win her back. But she is willing to give you a chance.”
With nothing else managing to escape her mouth, Celestia let go of her façade.
“Thank you…” Celestia hugged Blaze, her eyes already watery.
“No need, I didn’t do anything. You too love each other too much to let a single pony get in your way.” Blaze said jokingly.
Celestia broke the hug with a laugh.
“And Luna, have you seen her? Did she manage to get anything from the prisoner?”
“No, I haven’t seen her yet…” Celestia answered.
They both looked at each other with horror in their eyes.
“She’s going to kill him.” Blaze realized as both of them started to trot towards the dungeon.
“She wouldn’t be that merciful.” Celestia concluded.
They sprinted towards the stairwell only to find her in the main hall walking towards them.
“Hum… What’s the hurry?” Luna innocently asked?
“Please tell me you didn’t kill him.” Blaze asked.
“Luna, I don’t want to give another speech explaining the screams coming from our castle, please tell me you were a bit more reasonable.”
Luna took a step back with all of that.
“First of all, why do you always assume this every time you leave me alone with someone. Second, why does it seem that most of the time you two agree with each other as to do with my… way with ponies…”
“Okay, sorry, how did it go?” Blaze asked still catching his breath.
“Very well, I know their leaders and the location of their headquarters.” Luna answered full of pride and a smile from ear to ear.
“And the poor prisoner?”
Luna scratched her ear.
“To be fair, we did warn him and gave him plenty of opportunities to talk… he brought it to himself.” Luna had a guilty look, like a child that had misbehaved.
“Lulu…” Celestia enforced.
“Well… we did get a new record… Five nightmares, both ending in different yet equally traumatic and painful deaths… And he still wouldn’t tell us what we wanted! So, the more traditional method was applied, with success! And we didn’t forget to use sound barriers. This time…”
“Luna, you know how that “we” makes me feel…” Celestia remembered darker times.
“Sorry… I’m sorry.” Luna hugged her sister. “It’s me.”
Blaze was still stuck on something though.
“I only got through three… how…”
“He was tough. Since birth he was educated to hate me. There was no magic, no spells just… brainwashing.” Luna helped clearing Blaze’s mind.
“And how is he, after all of this?”
Luna looked almost ashamed.
“He is not talking again… maybe there was a friendlier way of doing it.” Luna admitted.
“Doesn’t matter those who try to hurt you must pay.” Celestia finally let go of one of her demons, while hugging her sister.
“Oh! And…” Luna remembered.
“Blaze did it… Twilight is giving me another chance.” Celestia smiled.
“Again, I didn’t-“
“Oh shut up!” Celestia yelled as she pulled Blaze to the hug using her magic.”
Actions speak louder than words. And that suited Blaze, although he could surprise with some of his speeches, he felt more comfortable doing the right thing than saying the right sentence. The doubts were still in the air, but they were just a rainy cloud looking over a sunny day, any pegasus could go there and push it away.
Both princesses started working in bringing the night to bear. They ate, talked.
The moon was high already. Celestia, for once, fell asleep peacefully while Luna and blaze cuddled each other to sleep. But while Blaze’s body was asleep, his mind was far from it.
“Luna!!??” Blaze asked as he saw himself in a very familiar place.
The stench of sulfur and rotten meat identified the place as Tartarus. He was back.
His heart beating in his mouth at the speed of trotting horses. He looked at every angle looking for the nightmare that chased him ever since he stepped hoof there. But as he saw the shadow covering him, he knew it was too late. He turned to try to defend himself. But with a powerful roar and a painful goodbye, he was back in his bed, covered in sweat.
“Shhhh, it’s just a nightmare, calm down”
Luna was hugging him as tight as she could, feeling his heavy breath pushing her mane back and his heart punching her chest. She petted him and kissed him in hopes he would respond.
And he did.
His hoof crawled around her bringing her closer.
“I’m sorry… There are nightmares I can’t touch… I’m- “
Blaze stopped her with a passion filled kiss.
“You’re here. That’s all I need.” His breath still heavy.
Luna cradled him to sleep. Behind the thick walls of a warrior, Blaze was still an orphan colt begging for love.
Luna stayed awake until Blaze was calm, digging her muzzle through his thick mane. She could see tiny scars all over his body. Whatever happened in Taratarus broke him harder than Celestia ever could.
As soon as Blaze settled. Luna closed her eyes and joined her lover.