Steve looked around for the source. He was surprised by who it was.
“The fucking librarian.” He said to Stone under his breath. It was the damn librarian being flow in by the rainbow pegasus.
“She’s Celestia’s most prized pupil.” He told him.
“Guards, Luna, stop.” She said.
“Twilight. What doth thou mean?” Luna asked.
“Steve is innocent,” she said causing several gasps from the guards, and a look of mistrust by a few, “but don’t take it from me, take it from someone who actually spoke to him.”
“And that would be?” Luna continued.
“Me.” An orange pony said, stepping forwards. “Ah spoke to him.”
“Applejack?” Steve asked.
“Howdy, partner.” She said. “Princess, ah’ve made friends with this here creature. I know him. He told me it was all a big misunderstanding.”
“But what about-?” Luna started but was promptly cut off by the orange earth pony.
“Yes, he told me about the Celestia incident.” Applejack said.
“And thou believes him?” She asked.
“Yes. Ah believe he is innocent. Not just me, but my friends do to.”
“Yeah!” A prismatic pegasus mare said, landing.
“Yes.” A white unicorn said following her.
“I do to.” A yellow pegasus said very softly. “If you don’t mind.”
“Me too! Me too!” Yelled a pink earth pony, bouncing out of the forest.
“We believe he is innocent,” said Twilight, “why don’t you?”
Luna opened her mouth to respond, but then closed it to think about it. She stood there good against her chin for a few seconds.
“Because she cares about her sister.” Steve said.
“What?” Everyone asked simultaneously.
“She loves her sister, and when she assumed I hurt her, she wanted nothing but to kill me.” Steve explained. Luna opened her mouth to argue, but then shut it again. “That’s why I don’t blame you.” Steve said.
“Wait what?” Luna asked in confusion.
“I don’t blame you. You know the saying ‘love overcomes everything?’ That’s essentially what happened. And I can’t blame you for that.” Steve told her.
“Steve!” A new voice cries out. They all looked up and were surprised to see who it was.
“Princess Celestia.” Steve said. “It’s about damn time.” He said, jokingly.
“Sorry, Steve.” She told him. “I had to run an MCTE scan just to make sure there wasn’t any lasting damage. Anyways, thank you for not blaming my sister. I didn’t want you to, and it appears you haven’t.”
“Sister?” Luna asked.
“Ah, Luna,” Celestia said turning to her little sister, “I hope you’ve learned something from this experience.” She told her.
“I think we all did.” The captain said. The other guards nodded their heads in agreement.
“Hey, Stone.” The Corporal said. “We’re sorry.”
“Apology accepted. Honestly, I’ve learned a couple of things along the way.” He said. The Sargent walked right up to his friends. He stopped and spread his hooves open wide. The three wrapped their arms around each other.
“Twilight,” Princess Celestia started, “thank you for your help.”
“Don’t thank me, ma’am, thank Applejack.” She said. “She was the one who became friends with Steve.”
“Nah, don’t thank me,” Applejack said, “thank Derpy. She was his first friend.”
“Derpy?” Celestia asked.
“Yep.” Steve confirmed. “Derpy was my first friend.”
“Wow.” Celestia stated simply. “Well, it’s late, we should probably go home.”
“Yeah.” Steve agreed. “I’m probably gonna stay here tonight. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
Steve walked through the forest, en route to Ponyville.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Steve asked.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure this will help you and us in the long run.” Celestia reassured him.
“Alright, I’ll try my best to keep calm.” He said.
“Let me handle it.” Celestia told him turning to the town. “Citizen of Ponyville!” She yelled garnering the attention of all the ponies. “I bring forth the ‘Monster of Everfree!’” She said. Steve watched as the crowd gasped. He looked to see a familiar face, Derpy. She probably thought he was captured. “Most of you probably think he is a threat to pony kind!” Celestia continued. “However, that is not the case! He is a hero, and should be honored.” She told them, eliciting a few more gasps from the large crowd. “We will answer questions later. For now, we must announce the discovery to the rest of the world. We will depart for Canterlot.”
“Wait, you mean the capital of Equestria?” He whispered.
“Yes. It would be better to make a statement there. We’ll probably hold a press conference.”
“Alright, well, let’s go. The sooner I can get this over with, the better.” Steve told her.
“Steve, wait,” Jean said, “listen, as much as I want to go with you, I don’t think it would be a good idea. I don’t think it would be a good look for you to have a big, scary dragon next to you as you talk at the-.”
“You’re shy.” Steve asked.
“What?” Jean surprisedly asked.
“You don’t want to join me because your afraid of going up there. I understand. Stay here. Look after Derpy for me.” Steve told her.
“Alright.” She said, smiling.
“I mean, you’re right, a dragon probably wouldn’t be a good look, anyways. No offense.” They shared a laugh before Steve turned to head out.
Steve walked through the halls of the castle. He was flanked by two guards and had Princess Celestia walking in front him. She signaled for them to turn into a room. She was about to open a door before she turned to Steve.
“Alright, Steve, I’m going to introduce you, then, you’ll come on and answer as many questions as possible. Try to keep your answers short as possible because-.”
“I’m gonna get a lot of questions.” Steve finished. “I used to do these all the time.”
“Really?” Celestia asked.
“I was the Secretary of Defense, so this isn’t out of the ordinary.” Steve said.
“Alright, well, I’m going to go introduce you.” Celestia informed him. She opened the doors that lead into the room. Steve looked to see roughly fifty reporters sitting there waiting for answers which is a pretty good good amount considering it was only confirmed Steve was not there to harm them a few hours ago.
“I must be hot stuff.” He joked to himself. He listened to her little introduction.
“Now without further ado, Steve!” She said as she pointed towards the door. Steve walked in as she stepped down from the podium. She smiled as she walked by him, before leaving the press room.
“Please, get me Sargent Stone.” She said to one of her guards.
“Yes ma’am.” They said as they left. Princess Celestia looked back at the press conference.
“Hello.” Steve said. “I am the Creature known as Steve. Or Steve, known as the Creature, depending on who you are. I’m sure you have many questions, and I’m willing to answer as many as I can. So fire away.”
Every hoof in the room shot up.
“Oh shit.” He whispered, away from the mic. “This is gonna be a long conference.”
“One more question.” Steve said, taking a deep breath.
“Who would you put to blame for these series of events?” A mare asked.
“I won’t put anyone to blame. I believe it was a misunderstanding on everyone’s part, including my own, and I don’t want to put the blame on anyone, rather increase positive relations with you.” Steve answered. “Like I said, that was the last question. Thank you all for attending.” He said as he waved.
The crafter stepped down from the podium. He walked to the exit, and left the room.
“That was quite the conference.” Celestia said.
“Yeah.” He said turning to face her. Standing beside her was two guards and Sargent Stone, who wore a massive smile on his face. Celestia and the guards left, leaving the two alone.
“Hey Steve.” Stone said.
“Hey Sargent. How are you doing?”
“I’m not a Sargent anymore.” He replied.
“Really? What happened?”
“Celestia was pleased with my action regarding the situation and how I took the initiative to actually make peace with you. So I’m not a Sargent anymore. Now, I’m Lieutenant Stone.” He said with a wide grin.
“Wow, that’s great!” Steve exclaimed.
“Yeah!” The lieutenant rejoiced.
“Stone! Steve!” Someone cried out. Stone turned around to look for the source.
“Corporal? Captain? What is it?”
“First of all, congratulations on your promotion, but we’ve got a problem.” The captain explained.
“And that is?”
“Well you know how I’ve always wanted to meet the Wonderbolts?” The Corporal asked.
“Yeah. Everyone knows that.” Stone said, in an annoyed tone.
“Well, I got the chance to meet them, but the thing is, they seemed pretty pissed.”
“About what?”
“For getting associated with a ‘racist’ military operation.” The Corporal finished.
“Wait what?” Steve asked.
“Here.” The captain said handing him a newspaper.
Steve read the title and sighed.
Secretary of Defense Resigns After Racist Military Fluke
This is “not the job it used to be.” Former Secretary of Defense Steel Mustang stated after racist operation.
“That old stallion was gonna resign anyway.” The captain said. “I remember he told me at the beginning of the year.”
“You met with him?” Stone asked.
“Yeah.” The captain answered. The Corporal scoffed.
“Yeah, right. Next thing you know you’ll be saying you’re dating a princess.”
“I did!” The captain defended.
“Guys.” Steve said, garnering all of their attention. “We’ve got a problem.”
“Right. So what are we gonna do about it?” The Corporal asked.
“Honestly,” Steve started, “I don’t know.”
The four stood in silence.