//------------------------------// // Chapter Seven: Challenging Craters // Story: A Brush With Fate // by RadBunny //------------------------------// Steel knew this office. The view out of the skyscaper window. The shelves…the pony behind the desk. There was no hate, no more anger. It had burned out over the course of a few years, leaving only a void lacking of any trust. How can I trust him when he betrayed everything he taught me? Never to be like ‘those’ ponies. Always look out for your workers. Always make sure they are treated fairly. Always consult experts. Following the money yields profit, but can destroy your soul. ….how is your soul faring then, Father, when you went back on that statement? “Luna?” Steel called out, making the memory pause. In an instant, the Princess appeared in his dream, looking around curiously. “Steel? What is it?” she asked, the earth pony shrugging. “I just- this memory, I wanted you to see it,” he explained, now averting his eyes. “It’s a bit painful, and it’s something that will come up eventually. So…” “Are you sure?” His gaze snapped up, and Luna felt a warmth rise in her chest at the affection in Steel’s eyes. “You were there for me during this time. So, yes.” Luna couldn’t quell the affectionate butterflies in her stomach, stepping to the side with Steel as his memory dream played. An older earth pony sat behind the large desk, shuffling through a series of papers as the Manehatten skyline was visible in the wall-sized window. Two knocks sounded, the protests of a secretary echoing in the background as three ponies strode through the door. “What is the meaning…of….Steel?” the stallion asked in shock, two royal guards at his son’s side. The younger pony was still limping, magical casts soaking his limbs with healing spells as fur and tendons regrew. Yet Steel’s eyes held more strength than any pony in the room, gaze burning with a fiery loathing, an absolute disgust for the stallion behind the desk. “This is a matter of courtesy, Chairpony Pen Heart,” the lead guard stated flatly, levitating a stack of folders over to the stallion’s desk. “The company you serve as a co-founder is being struck with a lawsuit by over a dozen ponies. Trainee Steel Heart being one of them.” Shock stamped itself across Pen’s face, looking up to his son in shock. “Steel? What is the meaning of this?” he asked, a flicker of betrayal echoing across the stallion’s face. That emotion vanished as Steel limped forwards, nearly falling as his guard escort steadied him. “Twenty thousand bits,” Steel whispered, glaring at his father with unabashed loathing. “Twenty. Thousand. Bits.” “What are you talking about?” The loathing and borderline hatred was now replaced with genuine hurt and shock on Steel’s scarred face, the stallion’s jaw quivering. “You never even read them.” “Read what, son? What is all this about? A lawsuit? On what grounds?” At a slight nod, Steel motioned to the guard, the unicorn dropping another stack of folders onto the desk. “Criminal negligence, violation of building code. Those are the primary charges,” Steel relayed. “I don’t think there’s a law for everything else you did.” “Steel, this is ridiculous! Explain yourself!” Steel blinked, clearly surprised at his father’s boldness. “Your company oversaw the construction of that office building, didn’t it?” he asked. “At the same time running for a political office. It would have severely impacted your campaign expenditures and public view if the building ran over budget.” Now Pen’s orange face began to drain of color, teal eyes widening slowly. “Twenty thousand bits. That’s how much you saved ignoring my warnings of using shoddy wiring that didn’t meet code. And now how many are dead?” Steel whispered. “Twenty thousand bits divided by those bodies, is that the price of a life?” “I n-never meant…” “You went forwards with it, and the building ignited. You ignored my warnings for safety measures to be installed first as per code. And now they’re dead, and I have to live with that,” Steel added. “You didn’t have to run in there!” Pen exclaimed. The guards stared in shock, Steel snarling at his father and standing up a bit taller. “You don’t even know me anymore, do you?” he bellowed, sides heaving with exertion. “You barely visited me in the hospital! And the times you did…how many cameras were there? HOW MANY?” Quailing under his son’s outburst, Pen shook his head a cold sweat now spreading across his brow, utter horror plastering itself across every aspect of the stallion. It wasn’t the look of a pony who had willfully been malicious- but the one reaping the rewards of such actions. “You were in a coma; I didn’t know if you could hear me….” Pen lamely responded, ears lying flat even as the words turned to ash on his tongue. “I heard it all, or at least the lack thereof,” Steel huffed. “I know mom cried at my bedside when she visited, hoping I was alright, and wondering where you were, why you wouldn’t come and see your own son!” Pen Heart’s eyes now began to water, the façade of reality he had built up now fracturing. “And the cameras. Four times you visited out of seven. ‘Pen Heart visits son in hospital.’ Four. Times! How could you?” Steel whispered, the anger now fading to disgust. “You used me, my pain for your ratings. You used your son for that.” “I never meant for that…I….I just….” Pen shook his head, words failing the stallion. “The only pony there for me had a country to help run, and she still found time to talk with me, even for a minute, each night as I lay in bed trapped in my own head,” his son continued. “Of the thousands of things she could be doing, a Princess made sure I was ok. Where were you?” Pen shook his head, tears of shame now falling freely down his face, not able to meet the gaze of his son. “I am moving to Canterlot to continue recovery and training. I’ve sold all of my shares in the company and donated them to the surviving families. The colts and fillies who have to grow up without a parent, the mare or stallion without a spouse,” Steel said sadly, head shaking slowly. “What happened to you, dad? I remember you caring about ponies…and now you’re just one of them. One of the politicians you always said never looked out for those ‘beneath’ them.” Pen’s eyes widened in horror, looking up to his son as the younger stallion’s jaw quivered, then setting firmly as he looked back at the older pony. “You’re everything I hope never to be.” With that, Steel limped out of the room and left his father to sob quietly behind his desk in self-loathing. Steel sent the dream fading away to a meadow, leaving a shocked Princess to stare at him. “So that’s how it happened. Steel, I can’t imagine….” Luna began, ears flattening. To her surprise, the stallion simply shrugged. “I’ve had a few years to get over it,” he replied. Luna stayed silent for a time, finally breaking the peace with a simple question, one that she could draw a few similarities to in a general sense. “Do you hate him?” Steel didn’t immediately respond, finally shaking his head. “Not anymore. For a while I did, but now I just feel sorry for my father,” he finally said. “Holding on to hate for so long…I could feel it starting to fester. So, after some thought, I managed to see through it. Because of that, I feel sorry for him, among other things. My father became everything he hated about politics, the noble class…and in the end it destroyed something a lot more valuable than status.” “You don’t speak with him?” “No. Not for some time, and only curt messages if that, same with my siblings regarding him. I think I’m going to change that though.” Luna stared at Steel in surprise, the steady strength in his voice giving her pause. “Oh?” He nodded, taking a deep breath and examining the scars along his forelimbs. “He destroyed that bridge, and I most certainly helped. I had no desire to reconnect with him, not unless he has changed. But I’ve been hearing from my mother that he has changed, that he’s starting to be the stallion she fell in love with decades ago. I’d be a worse pony if I didn’t recognize a creature’s willingness to change, a want to be better.” His eyes then flickered over to Luna with a smile. “I’d dare say that you’d agree, if I had to guess.” Luna chuckled, nodding in agreement. “Indeed. Second chances, when an individual wants to be better, is indeed a healing thing. Thank you for showing me this, Steel.” “Of course. You’re my marefriend, why wouldn’t…I….uh….” he stammered, eyes widening as he let out a huff. “I mean, if you’ll be my marefriend?” “Not exactly how I imagined you’d ask, but of course,” Luna giggled, looking over to him affectionately. “You know, if you slept earlier, we could have more of the night together.” “Perhaps. But I do still need your help occasionally.” Luna scooted over to give her special somepony a brief nuzzle on the cheek. “And I am most glad to help. I look forward to our date late.” “I’ll bring the raspberry shortcakes.” Steel couldn’t help but laugh at the adorable squeal that left Luna’s muzzle. His marefriend’s muzzle. “You. Are. Perfect,” Luna proclaimed as she devoured a second shortcake, the pair sitting on their usual hill above the cove. “I have my moments,” Steel chuckled, thoroughly enjoying his deity-like status Luna bestowed upon him for delivering the delectable pastries. The earth pony paused as Luna was occupied, retrieving an item hidden behind the picnic basket. “Steel what is-” *SQUEAK!* Luna stared at the grinning stallion, a plushie brush firmly grasped in his hoof after having batted her with it. “I KNEW one of those went missing!” Luna accused Steel as he laughed, ducking a swing as the Princess retrieved her own plushie weapon. “It’s only fair!” Steel teased, getting a solid whack from the brush as he sent his own implement swiping towards Luna. “For?” “For commemorating today!” Luna tilted her head, pausing her assault for a moment as Steel trotted forwards. “Hmm?” The stallion blushed, lowering the brush to look at it, then glancing up at the Princess. “Well. You said you’d be my marefriend,” he said slowly, a sincere and rather affectionate smile on his face. “So…this all began with a brush.” Luna could only let out an adoring squeak of her own- a sound that was quickly cut off as two lips gently brushed her own briefly. Seeing Steel’s face still an adorable pink, the alicorn scooted a bit closer, a wry smile now twitching at her features. “It’s not the first date, now is it?” she asked, Steel’s nerves evaporating at the friendly words. “I s-suppose nMMFF!” Luna felt Steel freeze as she gave him a deep kiss, and for a moment the alicorn thought she had overstepped…. That is, until a hoof wrapped around her own, Steel delving into the affection gesture just as much as she did. When they separated, Luna could only trace her muzzle down Steel’s neck, then pulling back and sniffling. The affection and trust in her stallion’s eyes were enough to make her melt… Her stallion. “I wish to duel you, my esteemed Princess,” Steel stated, lifting his own brush with a smile. “Oh? And what shall be the prize?” Steel grinned scooting a bit forward. Luna leaned down, expecting another kiss- And her lips met a plush, velvety exterior with a soft *squeeeeeeeeeeak.* Glaring at the offending brush and her cackling colt friend, Luna levitated her own weapon with a growl. “Oh, thou dare mock me!” she challenged, Steel not able to resist a laugh as he lowered in a battle stance. “Mock? Never, my lunar firefly. The prize shall be what you bestowed upon the brush!” Luna laughed, ducking a swing as the two dueled with their deadly combing implements. All smiles as she trotted towards the dining area, Luna couldn’t help but hum to herself, swaying this way and that down the halls. A date to remember indeed. I finally got to kiss him… Repeatedly. And I suppose I wasn’t the one leading the entire time. “He said yes!” Celestia squealed, ambushing Luna in a tight hug as soon as she entered the dining hall in a hug. “Who? What?” Luna asked, then blinking as Celestia set her down. “Wait, Celly, you asked him to marry you already?” she teased with a grin. The other alicorn blew a raspberry at Luna, shaking her head happily. “Oh goodness no! Something more important, if I’m being honest,” Celestia admitted. “I mentioned one of the deal breakers; forever aging, the chance he could join me in such. And Seaspray actually was happy about it!” she gushed. “And in the most romantic way too, ‘If I was to age with you, my dear Celly, even as everything turns to ash, how could that be a bad…thing’,” Celestia’s voice trailed off, the alicorn’s tone turning to that of concern. “Lulu? Are you alright?” Luna brought a hoof to her face and noticed the tears running down her cheeks, and she then hung her head in shame, her barely-hidden secret now easily seen by her sister. Her joy of the night had evaporated in an instant, fear icing her heart over. “It’s…I’m happy f-for you sister, I truly am. It’s just an issue a b-bit close to home,” Luna whispered, tears turning to shame at ruining her sister’s joyful outburst. Luna found herself wrapped up in a loving hug, Celestia holding her tight. “Lulu, that’s what has been bothering you, isn’t it?” The Lunar Princess nodded ever so slightly, trying her hardest to stem the few fearful tears leaking from her closed eyes. “Ask him.” Luna drew a sharp breath, looking up at her older sister as Celestia had her jaw set firmly with a nod. “Ask him, Lulu.” “I c-can’t! I barely-” “Are you starting to love him?” Celestia’s question gave Luna pause, the younger alicorn averting her gaze with a slight blush. “If you do not love him already, do you feel the inklings for it? The start? If so, and you think there’s even a chance he feels the same, then ask,” Celestia stated resting her forehead against Luna’s. “And I think you’ll be surprised. Steel adores you. Don’t wait so long like I did, because I certainly should have addressed it sooner. Seaspray sat on me until I finally brought it up.” Luna couldn’t help but giggle, sniffling slightly at that. “Sat on you? Couldn’t you have-” “Oh of course I could have thrown him off with ease, but that would have shown my stubbornness and confirmed something was wrong,” Celestia paused, now smiling gently at her sister. “Luna, if this is the question that has been paining you for months, Steel was second only to me to see it.” “I’m afraid of his answer,” Luna whispered. “And I was not for the ‘griff I’ve fallen head over hooves for? But if you don’t say something, it will fester…and if they care for you, they can tell,” Celestia replied. “Seaspray saw right through me, and I’m sure Steel has too.” “I….” Taking a few moments to collect her thoughts, Luna finally reached forwards and gave Celestia a hug. “Thank you, Celly,” she said softly, her forelimbs trembling slightly. “I think I’ll ask him.” “You think?” Luna couldn’t help but smile as her older sister looked down at her in mock sternness, the Lunar Princess letting out a slight laugh. “Ok, I will ask him.” “That’s my Lulu.” “And if he says no, then I’ll bribe him with more kisses.” “Wait, more? I take it your date went well?” Nodding, Luna sat down for their meal and regaled Celestia with an outline of their date, her fears being placed on the backburner with the help of her supportive sister. “I knew those brushes would come in handy!” Celestia crowed. “Indeed, they are quite fun. Now then sister, I think you had a date too. What is it like kissing a hippogriff?” Luna thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed the blush on her sister’s cheeks at that, the pair laughing together as they ate together and went over the bullet points of the royal duties for the day and night.