//------------------------------//
// Song of Immortals Part 4: Novice Preening and Other Situations 
// Story: Brony Recon: Ascension 
// by Freescript the Bard 
//------------------------------//

Skyblaze's POV

"So let me get this straight," Luna said, rubbing her forehead. "The cult that we completely obliterated is trying to kill me, not for revenge, but to have their sub-deity force replace me as patron of the night. Then they would use their victory to rally others to their cause to take down Tia and have their false god replace her."

Shining Armor nodded ambiguously, but I shook my head. "They actually believe that their 'True Energy' is what controls the sun. All they need is for their reaper of death to replace you," I corrected. "Accuracy for the win."

Luna facehoofed at this. "Do I rub off on you, or have you always been like this?"

"Consistency for the win?"

"Ugh… you're hopeless." She walked over to her desk and began scribbling with a magicked quill on a piece of papyrus. "Shining Armor, the door is locked and the windows are shut. It is safe for you to remove your armor."

The captain gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Princess." His horn glowed as the fastenings on his armor became undone, the metal suit falling unceremoniously to the ground. His wings, tinged blue at the feather-tips, spread in reflex from being restrained all day.

I hissed through my teeth at what I saw. "Dude, you look like you haven't preened in forever." He gave me a look. "Oh… right."

Luna looked over her shoulder and mirrored my reaction. Shining Armor's wings were in a state of absolute chaos, the primaries all wrinkled and out of alignment. This was made worse by the fact he was covering them with metal plating twenty-four/seven.

The white alicorn looked at his wings and shrugged. "I just haven't had time to learn, is all. And with Cadence's pregnancy, she hasn't had the time to show me."

"Oh my gosh! Cadence is pregnant?! Dude, you're holding out on--" I stopped when I saw my fiancé's disapproving look. "Right, sorry, Back to matter at hoof…" Luna's expression changed, but to one that struck me as malicious. "Oh please, no. Anything but that!"

"I'm sorry, Skyblaze, my love, but I am SWAMPED with paperwork," she replied with malice. "Feel free to use the washroom."

Shining looked back and forth between us in confusion. "What's going on?"

I sighed in contempt. "C'mon, Captain," I ushered, motioning for him to follow me to the bathroom off Luna's study. "Somepony needs to teach you how to make yourself presentable."

Shining gave a confused look, but complied nonetheless. We trotted into the large bathroom, sitting in the middle of the room. I sighed at the memory of Luna showing me how to preen the first time.

"So… how does this work?" Wow, mood-killing must be a disease around here. I turned to face the stallion, who was holding out his right wing and starring at it intently.

Groaning, I held open my own wing. "First things first. Angle your wing so your outside primary is near your muzzle--"

"My what?"

I facehoofed at his ignorance. "The long feather at the end of your wing." This was going to take a while.

>><<>><<

"Thank the Fausticorn, we're finally done!" I exclaimed, exasperated. Shining Armor's wings were now straightened and aligned, in contrast to their original state. It took nearly an hour to instruct the decidedly thick-headed stallion on proper preening, as he had a very mediocre understanding of pegasus biology terms. Not to mention that he was born a unicorn and lacked the natural instinct of all pegasi.

"Now, remember that preening is a sanitary activity, meant to be kept on the down-low," I instructed. "So what ever you do, don't do it in public or have anypony else do it for you. If you were a pegasus, you'd understand."

"What about Cadence?" he asked, acknowledging my instructions.

"I guess, but really Luna and I are the only ones that I know of that preen in each other's company," I replied with a shrug. "For now, just do it behind closed doors. Literally."

Shining Armor nodded understandingly. Hopefully he got the message. We trotted back toward the door to Luna's study. Opening it was a mistake.

Knocking is a virtue, kids. In the middle of the room sat two earth ponies, both I knew all too well. Ben stared at me with a curious gaze, while Sure Hoof was looking at Shining Armor wide-mouthed.

Shining Armor shifted uncomfortably. "Um, good evening, lieutenant!" he greeted, trying to fold his obvious avian appendages against his body.

"I'm a… I'm a corporal… sir…" the orange-eyed guard replied shakily. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"G-granted."

"This is pretty bucking awkward," Sure Hoof said in an undisciplined voice.

"Indeed," remarked Ben. "While this is an interesting development, Derpy is waiting for me in my room. Have a good evening, Princess Luna, Prince Shining Armor, Markus." As he trotted halfway out the door, he stopped and turned to me. "Skyblaze, please meet me in my study at oh-seven-hundred hours." We all watched the green earth pony walk out the threshold and down the hall.

I rubbed the back of my neck with a hoof. "I guess I'm getting a chewing-out from him later."

"Oh I'm sure it's nothing," Luna said assuringly from behind her desk. "He was just here to check on a census update. So how was the… lesson?"

"Bucking awkward, thank you very much," I replied. "Hey, Sure Hoof? Do ya mind not telling anypony about…" I motioned to Shining Armor's wings.

"My lips are sealed," he said, making the motion of zipping his mouth shut. "Am I still permitted to speak freely, sir?"

"For fear of what's going to come from your sealed mouth, I'm going to say no," he replied returning to an authoritative stance. "Carry on, Sergeant Sure Hoof."

"I'm a corp--" he began, then stopped as I started laughing.

"Dude, you just got a promotion…" I paused to continue laughing. "…and it just went right over your head!"

>><<>><<

Aegis' POV

"Ngh!" I heaved the pile of firewood off my back and onto the pile. Summer had gotten out of bed early to do some morning chores, so I offered to help. There was something satisfying about the weight of a workload on my back before the sun came up. I guess it came with being an earth pony.

At first, Summer refused my offer, on the account of my broken leg and injured head. It made sense, as I could barely stand on three hooves yesterday without getting dizzy.

But when she removed the bandage on my head, she was shocked to see the injury completely healed, with a light-colored scar on my temple. An additional examination of my leg confirmed her suspicion. I had fully healed over the course of two nights. How, I had no idea. Memory loss, what can I say? Summer mentioned something about me having a larger amount of earth pony magic than normal, but again, it's all gibberish to me.

So there I was, hauling firewood out in the snow. I wasn't by any means complaining. The hard work actually relieved some of the stress that was in my muscles and took my mind off my lost memories. The snow was ice-cold on my hooves, but I hardly felt it.

Yet I couldn't help but turn my chosen name over in my head. Aegis. It was like my name connected me to the world. This world. For some odd reason, I kept thinking of the realm around me as if this wasn't the only one. Were there other worlds out there than this one?

"You almost done staring into space there, Aegis?" Summer trotted up behind me and dumped her own load of logs onto the pile. She was stronger than she looked, probably from being an earth pony and living out in the woods. However, being larger and more muscular, I was able to carry more than her, reducing the work time to about a third.

"Yeah, is that the last load?" I asked, pointing to the pile leaning against the side of the cottage near the door.

"That should be enough," she replied, examining the pile of firewood. "Thanks for helping."

"Hey, you saved my life. It's the least I can do." I looked around the cottage clearing. "Is there anything else that needs to be done?"

A growl from my stomach answered my question. "Breakfast, maybe," she replied with a giggle. Suddenly, her own abdomen gave a rumble that rivaled my own in volume.

I smiled and chuckled. "Definitely breakfast."

"Great! What do you feel like?" she asked as I followed her inside. "I can make eggs, pancakes… um…" Summer glanced around her small cottage in search of another source of breakfast. "That's pretty much it."

I looked at the ingredients she had on her counter. Cheese, some vegetables, eggs… Aha! "Omelets!" I exclaimed.

Summer raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"I can make omelets! You know, eggs, cheese, throw some peppers in… BAM! You have an omelet!"

She looked quizzical. "I don't get out of the woods much, so excuse my ignorance. But what in Equestria is an omelet?"

"Don't short size yourself, Summer," I said, drawing her into a hug. "You're a great cook. C'mon, I'll teach you."

We spent the next half hour on breakfast, me teaching Summer Blossom how to make an omelet. It was fun, and more often than not, we ended up with egg yolk on our clumsy earth pony hooves. Thirty minutes later, we had two semi-circular flats of eggs and cheese, with diced green and red bell peppers spotting the yellow surface. As well as a messy counter top that I insisted on cleaning myself, in spite of Summer's objections.

Finally, we sat at the small, round table in the cottage, enjoying the fruits of our toils. Of course, like yesterday's eggs, we had to eat them by grazing. It turns out that Summer doesn't have any proper silverware, or a spare magnetic bracelet for me. The one she did have was to lift the woodcutting axe outside.

I sat back as I finished my breakfast, watching Summer as she ate hers. Unlike the arguably messy display from yesterday's eggs, she ate slower, with less embarrassing noises. Up until then, I hadn't really realized how attractive she was. The pearl mare had a lean, yet slightly built figure from her chores around the cottage. I continued to stare, completely unaware she had finished her omelet.

"What are you looking at?" she asked as I caught myself looking at her flanks.

"Um…" My cheeks flushed red, hopefully hidden by my maroon coat. "I was… wondering what your cutie mark meant." I pointed to the ruby heart on her flanks.

She giggled. "You're a terrible lier, you know that? And yes, your blush shows."

Buck. Initiate subject change… now. "So… do you live here alone?" Wait, what?

Summer sighed and looked at the ground. "Yeah, I do. It's alright most of the time, kinda peaceful. Nopony to bother you…" Her face turned solemn as she continued. "But sometimes, that means nopony to talk to. I get lonely sometimes living in the woods. It's hard to get over, but somehow I--"

She stopped as I brought her into another embrace. Being larger than the average pony, I was able of completely circle her form with my forelegs, whereas when she returned the hug, her hooves didn't even come close to meeting. "You don't have to be alone anymore."

She looked at me, her light-blue gaze perplexing. "What do you…"

I gave her a sly smile. "I have no idea where I lived before, and you're the only other pony I know. I don't have any other place to be but here, with you."

Her frown quickly disappeared into a smirk. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were hitting on me."

"Oh I don't know," I said, releasing her. "How about we do lunch at your place?"

Giggling at my pseudo-ignorance, she wrapped her hooves around my neck. "That sounds lovely."