//------------------------------//
// Loyal-Bound Revelations 
// Story: What Followed The Dawn 
// by Anemptyshell 
//------------------------------//

"Well, those are four words you never want to hear before a daring nightscapade into the trenches of an enemy fortress. Let me guess, you're pregnant?" I said. Sabre restrained a smile. Curse that stoic guard training. I nudged Sabre. "Come on, what's the matter?"

It seems that the foolish guard has finally grown a spine. The two of you would ruin my appetite if I possessed such things in this mental prison of yours," Nightmare said. She held a hoof over her mouth and made a very unladylike gagging noise.

"Shut up."

I blinked when I realized I'd said that out loud. The chuckle that followed, at least, didn't leave me completely backpedaling. Sabre had cracked a smile after all. He tapped a hoof to his temple. 

"I assume Nightmare Moon is whispering in your ear."

I nod. "Something like that."

"Then I'll try my best to give her as little ammo as possible. Sound military tactics: never surrender your weapons to the enemy, not even in retreat. To do so is to arm those same enemies further."

"He is not wrong," Nightmare said. It was her turn to grin. Her vengeance was swift, and I'm sure it was far from cold at this point.

"Right, well then. The floor is yours, Sabre. Hurry before Nightmare fills the silence with her sweet nothings," I said. That earned a huff from the bewitching demon. Let it not be said I went down without a fight.  

"Star," Sabre said. He made to continue but retracted whatever thought he had planned and fell silent. His brow creased, and he gazed around as if looking for a sign or cue. There was nothing. Well, there was plenty goings on deckside. We had plenty to do to prepare. The rolling seas beneath us the gentle breeze as we sailed through the skies. There was plenty, but not whatever Sabre was looking for. 

I wasn't sure why, but the uncertainty sent shivers down my spine. The look in Sabre's eye made me a bit nervous. Sabre wasn't prone to doubt. He stared down Sombra, Nightmare, and Tirek. Yet, whatever was happening in his head, his eyes betrayed fear. Nightmare's chuckle in my mind attested to my own worries. The two of them were going to drive me crazy before this whole adventure ended. 

"Damn," Sabre muttered to himself, 

I don't think he knew I heard him. My wings twitched as I considered just how quickly this conversation became a pair of awkward morons trying to out awkward the other. I wish Bright or Thorax were here. They'd know what to do. At the very least, Bright would out awkward everyone else, thereby breaking the stalemate once and for all. 

"Sabre, you okay?" I asked. 

I hated that question. It was redundant. It was asinine. Everyone asks, but for better or worse, you already knew if they were, in fact, okay. Then, there was the fabled response. The type of response everyone gave because it was the polite and dismissive staple. I couldn't help but scoff. It almost made it not worth asking. Almost.  

"I'm fine."

There it was as if the very gods read my mind. He wasn't okay, I knew it before I asked, and he knew I knew. We stood there, Sabre avoiding eye contact and me pretending it was no big deal. 

"No, you're not. So, why aren't you fine?"

"Well, little Stargazer taking command, how brave," Nightmare cooed.

Sabre shook his head, eyes still pinned to the deck floor. "I've been practicing, you know?"

My brow rose, and my eyes swiveled in pace as I was caught off-guard by his answer. "practicing what?" I asked. 

"This," Sabre pointed between himself and I. "What I wanted to say. It was never this stilted, this frustrating."

I couldn't help it. I snorted. I held back a laugh, forehooved closed over my smile. He practiced. Of course, he did. Couldn't take the routine out of Captain Light Sabre if you tried. A soldier through and through. 

"It isn't funny."

Sabre crossed his own forehooves and pouted. The dam broke, and I laughed. I tried to stop. I really did. Then, Sabre joined me. I had no chance after that. The two of us laughed like giggling fools.

"It kind of is."

Sabre took a moment to collect himself. The edge of tension seemed to ebb away. At least a little bit. The look in his eye was something different now. There was some level of nervousness, but something else too. Something I could not place. Only when Sabre coughed into a hoof I realized I'd been staring perhaps a bit too hard into Sabre's eyes. He'd noticed. I could feel my cheeks heat up as I shrugged in surrender. 

"Maybe a little," Sabre responded. "But, well. Everything I prepared really doesn't work in practice, it seems. So, maybe I should stick to what I'm good at."

"Beating around the bush?" I quipped. 

That earned me a jab to the shoulder. I took it without complaint. 

"Being direct," Sabre countered. 

I managed a wry smile. "By all means then, Captain."

Sabre planted a hoof on his forehead. "You really aren't making this easier, you know?"

"True," I agreed. 

"You two make me sick. Stop your ceaseless stalling and admit thy truth, you sniveling excuse for a guard," Nightmare screamed in my mind.

"Nightmare says you have her on the edge of her seat in expectation. I would almost say she's excited. It's almost cute."

That earned a choked laugh from Sabre. And a roar from Nightmare. Between the two of them, I'm going to lose my mind. "Well then, I won't keep our audience waiting. Besides. I don't think words do it justice."

"Oh!"

I stiffened as Sabre cupped my chin with a hoof and tilted my head up just a bit to match his slightly larger frame. I blinked. Sabre blinked. The whole of the world around us seemed to go unnaturally silent, aside from my brainmate, who hummed in dissatisfaction. 

For several seconds, we stayed like that. Frozen in place as we looked at one another. A need for more words was right. I couldn't conjure any up if I wanted to. I could feel a heat in my muzzle. My wings flittered as I tried hard not to retreat backward. 

Sabre stared at me. An intense glint in his eye as he seemed to debate what to do next. I could see the light red under his pale coat. He matched mine to a tee. 

I swallowed hard. I leaned in just a bit. Sabre's hoof pulled me as he retracted it towards his breast. A sudden snort had me all but jump out of my skin.

"You two daft foals." Nightmare groaned. I would have ignored Nightmare Moon. If this were any normal circumstance. It wasn't terribly hard to drown her out when I had the mind to do so. This was, however, slightly different. I felt a pull in the back of my head. Then, with a muffled yelp, my face lurched forward. My eyes went wide as my lips pressed into Sabre's. 

"You may thank me for my generous assistance later. I think the Changeling and I were at our combined wit's end."

My brain turned to soup. Fire coursed through my veins as Sabre pushed into the kiss and pressed his lips against mine a bit harder. My heart played a tempo that matched my own scattered thoughts. His breath gently sent the fur on the tip of my muzzle on end. His look was still as intense, though distant, as if he were looking through me to the horizon beyond. I resisted closing mine as we stood there, lips locked and nowhere else to go from there. We stayed like that for an indiscriminate length of time. However, it was far too short, regardless. 

When Sabre did release my chin and step back. I was left teetering between falling forward onto my face or back onto my rear. I managed to sway my fall backward, eyes still locked with Sabre's. 

"You okay?" Sabre asked. 

I spoke before my mind could make sense of the words. "Yes?"

"So, uh, I, I didn't practice that part."

I licked my lips. I could still feel the tingle where Sabre had been a moment ago. "Sorry."

Sabre tilted his head. "Sorry for?"

"I... don't know. I wasn't expecting any of this, to be honest. I mean, I liked the kiss. But you kind of caught me off guard. Nightmare knew, and Thorax, I think, But I didn't. Then you say we need to talk, and I just wasn't prepared. Sorry." I shrunk in place. My cheeks flared back up, this time in embarrassment.

Sabre shook his head. "Nothing to be sorry for. I've been thinking about this, about confessing for weeks. I just, I've never done any of this before. I've never had a special somepony. Never had the chance, really. Then, after all we've been through. It just made sense. It just felt right."

"Neither have I. But it makes sense. Now that I think about it. It feels nice. If there was anyone, anyone at all. I'm glad it was you. First kiss and all that. I never really put much stock into fireworks, but I get it now.

"So?" Sabre asked. 

"So," I repeated. 

"I will end the both of you," Nightmare hissed from her spot in the dark. The shadows danced in the corners of my vision, but they obscured nothing. I wouldn't let them hide anything right now, not one thing.     

"Where does this leave us?" Sabre asked. 

I rolled my eyes. "On an airship headed straight for The Storm King's Aris fortress to defeat a crazy mare who has kidnapped the princesses," I said with a shrug. I could feel the facehoof from Nightmare so well I'd almost mistaken it for my own. 

"Star."

I smiled. "Do I need to get Throax for this? I'm pretty sure we've made it as clear as two romantically novice ponies can be. Unless you don't want to be my special somepony," I said, stepping forward and planting a hoof against Sabre's chest. His blush redoubled as he seemed to chew on my words. 

"I did, I mean do. Even if this isn't the best time. I just, we keep being thrown into these life-or-death missions. I just wanted to be clear, just in case. I didn't want to lose the chance."

Sabre stumbled over his words. This time, he was the one to fall on his tail. The somber implications left me shaking my head. When I stopped. I leaned forward and gently pressed my lips into Sabre's. It was fleeting, a second at most. A whisper of the first. A gentle reminder. It felt right. 

"Too late. You're stuck with me now," I said. 

Sabre smiled. A gentle, relaxed smile. The kind one doesn't really have time for when facing down evil. It matched my own perfectly. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
 
Then, a pair of hooves swung around from behind and lifted off the deck. I flailed helplessly as the hug grew tighter. "About time, you two. Oh, this will be so cute when I put it in my next book. You two are just so cute together. Yay!"

I went limp. Bright Pitch tossed me about like a teddy bear. A big, batty bear who would totally get him back for this later. 

"About time, indeed."

Blueblood had sidled up beside Sabre and smiled up at me. I'd offer a few choice words if I wasn't struggling to breathe. Bright hadn't stopped gushing yet, and I doubt he'd have heard me if I had given him a sample of the words buzzing through my head at that moment. 

"I swear, the two of you are helpless. Between you two and Sombra's conflicted feelings on a particular princess, I thought I'd have to get a sign or something. I mean, I'm not the type of Changeling to go spoiling someone's feelings like that, but still. To be honest with each other, You two shouldn't need a potential death to express what you truly feel."

Thorax chastised Sabre and me as he jabbed a hoof into Sabre's side opposite Blueblood. The fact was, the whole deck had gone silent and had been watching. Someone needs to teach these jerks the words private conversation for Faust's sake. 

By this point, Bright had finally hugged himself out and lowered me back to the deck. I welcomed the ability to breathe again. Sabre shook his head but otherwise made no move to shoo Bright away, who was still floating above me, his notepad in hoof. 

"You're right," Sabre said, turning to Thorax. "But it did. So, we'll move forward with that in mind."

Thorax jabbed Sabre again. "Don't make me smack you."

"I believe the warning is supposed to come before the assault," Blue said, leaning past Sabre and winking at Thorax. "Something like. You'd best behave or else, Captain." Then Blue whacked Sabre across the back of his head.

"Oh, right," Thorax said and nodded along. 

"That's enough."

Sombra had decided to join our little pow-wow, Spade right behind him. The gravedigger wore the grin of a stallion who just won a bet. 

"How much do you make?" I asked. 

Spade went to answer, only for Sombra's magic to clamp his muzzle shut.

"Enough," Sabre said with a chuckle.

"Congratulations, Captain, Star. I expected no less. If not far sooner," Sombra said. The tight-lipped smile he gave was one of the most genuine displays of joy I'd ever seen the grump make. It was enough to melt one's heart. If it was opposite day, and you were in the sun. Still, the thought was what counted. I offered Sombra a smile of my own. 

"That does seem to be the consensus."

"Well, better late than never, right?" Bright asked. 

"This mission is just full of strange situations."

The group turned to see Tempest approaching, Grubber at her heels. She offered a curt nod and the ghost of a smile in my direction. 

"Agreed," The whole group said at once. 

Tempest looked past the group to the skies beyond. "Our approach is minutes out. I suggest celebration and merriment after we crush Starlight under our hooves."

"Fair enough. But just to be clear. I intend to take these two lovebirds through the grinder later," Spade said. That earned a laugh amongst the group. They never could leave well enough alone. 

"Prepare for landing," a deckhoof shouted from the bow. The airship lurched slightly as we began our descent. The landing was the easy part. The sneaking into a fortress of Yeti's would be the fun part, and Starlight, she would be the hard part. I needed a vacation.

"Everyone ready. Deep dive in ten, then we make for Mt. Aris. For Seaquestria, for the Hippogriffs, for all of Equuis," Skystar shouted as she flew by over the port side, smiling all the while. Her entourage was gathering by the same deckside as their princess. Guess we'd be going aquatic commando in that direction. I felt my chest tighten. The shadows jumped, clawing at my periphery. My heart was pounding, my throat ached. Then, something pressed itself to my side. 

I didn't look, I didn't need to. I smiled. They say all is fair and love and war. They forgot to mention the part of love in war. I pressed myself into Sabre's firm frame. We'd figure the rest out later. For now, we had some yetis to evict.