The morning sun streams into the room, your head feeling like it was in a vice, as you blink against it, wondering just what you’d done to piss Celestia off. Blinking against the headache you knew was coming, you try to brace yourself, before finally opening them all the way, and then suddenly having all thoughts of a headache banished from your mind.
You were in bed. That was nice, though you had no memory of going into one, which was odd, though you knew you’d probably forget some things, with as much of that dog whiskey as you’d drunk. You’d expected to be on a couch though, or one of the sitting rooms in the palace, not where you were, which was in a bed, staring into Octavia’s face, as she nuzzled up into your chest.
It was then that you made two farther discoveries. One was that you were naked. That was…unusual for you, even now, as you’d gotten into the habit in the last two months of sleeping with at least a night shirt on, mostly because Rarity made them, and you didn’t want to appear rude by not making use of the product of her labors. The second was that you had morning wood, and it was pressed between the two of you as she snuggled up against you.
Gently as possible you wiggle out from between her hooves, letting her lay on the bed as you try to get up without waking her. This proves easy enough, as nothing you don’t see your clothing on inspection of the room, though you do notice two posters, one for DJ Pon-3 playing at some hall, and then another for the Equestrian Ensemble playing in the same place.
That information in hand, you realized you had to be in Vinyl and Octavia’s house, though how you got here is still a mystery, especially considering it was on the other side of Canterlot from the palace. Trying not to think too hard about the fact that you probably came here naked, you creep to the door, and then let yourself out, shutting it behind you so it doesn’t make a sound, and then sneaking into the main room of the house.
“Hey dude, I was wondering when one of you love birds was gonna get up,” said Vinyl, and you instantly remember that hangover that you’d forgotten, her voice, though normal, making your eyes ring as you place your hand on your forehead and rub it a bit.
“Please Vinyl, not so loud” you tell her, and you can hear her laughing at your misfortune as you move towards the sound of her voice, finding her in the kitchen preparing breakfast, along with three pegasi and an earth pony seated at the table.
“Dude, you look like something a hydra spit up,” said Soarin, and you just stare at him.
“And a good morning to you too, Wonderboy,” you tell him sarcastically, taking a seat at the table along with the fliers.
“Oh, don’t mind him. Here, drink this,” said Spitfire, pushing the glass towards you, and you drink it down without a thought. Instantly you feel better, your head clearing, and you blink a few times, before turning to her.
“What the hay was that?” you ask, setting the glass down.
“Just something my gran showed me. It helps to fix hangovers, a broken heart, and it makes nice horseshoe polish too,” she said with a smile, and you laugh, though wondering if that last one was a joke, as the drink suddenly makes you belch, and the taste in your mouth is not pleasant.
“So, how’d you like last night, rocking the casbah?” asked Vinyl with one of those smirks that make you want to hit her. Of course, right then your mind is on other things, as you imagine the night you must have had and…
“Oh, sweet Celestia, tell me she’s lying,” you say, rubbing at your head some more. Looking up, it seems that Rainbow is about to say something, but a stern look from the earth pony stallion and Spitfire causes her to shut up.
“She’s most definitely lying. What you did last night was far from appropriate behavior for a savior of the equine race, among others, but it wasn’t quite that out of line with your normal modus operandi,” said the stallion, sipping at a tea cup, and you turned to him at last. His brown coat wasn’t familiar at all, but that smile on his lips, that was, and it took you a moment of staring to figure out why.
“Captain, is that you?” you ask, and he does that deep chuckle of his, before nodding.
“Indeed, and that means you owe me a pie Soarin,” said the stallion, turning to the pegasus.
“Aw man,” went Soarin, folding his hooves in front of him.
“Heh, don’t be a sore loser. Soarin bet the Captain you wouldn’t recognize him without his armor on,” explained Spitfire, patting her squad mate on the back.
“I almost didn’t. He still looks like him, I mean, but he’s so…gruff looking,” you explain, and everypony in the room gets a laugh at that.
“He is a bit rough around the edges, but he’s still the same Captain we all know and love,” said Vinyl, turning back to the stove top where she was making breakfast. A look over her shoulder showed you it was something that looked like fried grass, not appetizing to you in the least.
“Speaking of rough, what did I do last night?” you ask.
“Let’s see,” said the Captain, pulling reaching behind him and pulling a pad off the counter.
“You actually wrote it all down?” asked Rainbow a bit incredulously.
“No, Vinyl did,” he explained, as he opened the pad and began flipping through pages.
“Blackmail for Octy later, just to remind her when she says my parties get a bit out of hoof,” said Vinyl, attempting to justify her behavior, before the Captain cleared his throat and began.
“You and Ms. Octavia first danced on a table top, not too unusual, and that had been encouraged by Pinkie Pie doing it a few minutes earlier. After that, Ms. Pie decided to make you two permanent additions to her party, and proceeded to lead the guard on a merry chase through the castle, popping into rooms, covering them with party supplies using her cannon, and then vanishing before anypony could catch you,” he continued, flipping the page.
“After over an hour of this, you were finally cornered on the palace roof. Nopony is quite sure how you got there, as there were no unicorns or pegasi in your group, but we got you down, you and Octavia passing out soon afterward, while Ms. Pie vanished again, and to my knowledge, has yet to be found,” he said, putting the pad back on the counter after closing it.
“Since most of the bedrooms are still being restored in the palace, it was decided to bring you with Octavia to her home. Once we arrived, Vinyl was the one to suggest letting you sleep in their bed, while she took the couch, and the rest of us made do,” he said, pointing towards the living room with one hoof. On the floor were some sleeping pad things. Oddly, while two of them were laying on opposite sides of the room, two were pushed close together, and looked rather used.
“Umm,” you said, pointing at the one, and Vinyl smirked again, while Soarin and Dash chuckled nervously, blushing a bit.
“While you and Octavia may have done nothing, my partners were a bit more awake then you two, and needed some…exercise to burn off all that energy,” explained Spitfire, and you couldn’t help but smile at that, as Vinyl finished cooking, and began to push the grass stuff onto the plates in front of the Captain and Bolts, as well as two more places, probably her and Tavi.
“Ah, just like mother used to make,” said Vinyl, before raising a bit of the grass off her plate and chomping into it. Those around you, not having magic to float their food, just dove face first, with Spitfire and the Captain taking small bites from the edges, while Soarin and Dash seemed to be competing to see who could finish their meal in the fewest number of bites.
“Heh,” you chuckle a little as you rise up, taking a glass of milk that had been sitting in your seat, and then walking off with it, sipping it a little as you make your way to the back of the house. Opening the bedroom door gently, you find Octavia still asleep, and decide to be nice and get her up for breakfast. Setting the glass on a bedside stand, you sit down on the bed, and then lean closer to her.
“Ocatvia…Tavi, it’s time to get up,” you say gently, running your fingers through her mane. Her forehoof smacks at you, slapping your hand away, as she rolls over.
“Five more minutes Vi,” she whispers.
“Not Vi,” you tell her, and then, on a whim, kiss her cheek. Instantly her eyes pop open, and you see her with a panicked expression, as she turns to your smiling face, and then looks down at your body, before pulling the covers towards herself.
“Oh my, um, bah, you’re naked,” she finally gets out, and it only makes you smile wider as you pull the covers off her with a jerk, and she tries to cover herself up with her hooves.
“And so are you,” you tell her, and you can see a blush reach her cheeks as she starts to finally unwind a bit, and then shuffle out of the bed, her hooves clacking on the floor.
“Did…did I do anything untoward last night?” she asks, and you shrug.
“Honestly? I don’t know. Though according to trustworthy sources you and I merely had a fun party, and then were brought back to your house to sleep it off,” you tell her, as she pulls open a drawer, which contains several collar bows, with her picking one of red coloration, and snapping it in place, before running her hooves through her hair, causing it to fall just the way she always wore it.
“That’s a relief…er, I mean…,” she kind of just stammers off, and you put your hand on her shoulder in what you hope is a reassuring gesture.
“I felt the same way when I asked them about it. Now come on, Vinyl made some kind of grass for breakfast,” you told her, and escorted her back to the kitchen, grabbing your glass, draining it on the way, so that you could set it in the sink, and then took your seat beside her at the table.
“Ah, finally joining the living I see,” chided Vinyl as Octavia sat down, and she got one of those early morning stink eye looks from Octavia, before the gray mare bit into her food, chewing it slowly, and finally swallowing.
“Well, your cooking could wake the dead any day, Vinyl,” countered Octavia, reaching over, grabbing her glass, and chugging down a few swallows before sighing.
“Aw, come on, you know you like it,” said the unicorn, getting the last bit from her plate, and chomping it down, loudly, and probably rudely. For the next several minutes, the others ate in silence, as you sat back, pondering what you might find edible in the house, until Spitfire, done with her dish, got up and grabbed something off the counter.
“Oh yeah, here’s something for you, straight from the Princesses,” said the Wonderbolt, tossing her head, and throwing the bag at you. Catching it, you open it up to find one of those blossom things inside, which you silently thank the Princesses for, before shoving it in your mouth, and swallowing, the sweet light of the thing hitting your stomach, and making you feel awake, alive, and ready to face anything the day might have to offer.
“Even better when you don’t have to tear pieces off,” you say, licking your lips of a few stray bits of pollen, and then getting up as the others do, and walking to the living room. Once there, the pegasi all change into their Wonderbolt uniforms, while the Captain puts on some armor that flashes brightly, before he’s standing there as a black unicorn, his horn glowing with power.
“Um…I do kinda notice my armor’s not here. Neither are any of my clothes in fact,” you mention, looking around, and the Captain nods.
“We’re still not sure how, but between the time of you, Octavia, and Pinkie Pie raiding the kitchens, and the running pie fight the three of you had through the halls, she somehow got the armor off you. I sent the suit down to my brother to make sure it was still sound. It should be here any minute,” he said, and you all looked up expectantly towards the palace, which stood there, with no sign that anypony was coming from it to this house.
“I suppose it would be too much to ask for him to get it done in time to show up once we’re finished with breakfast,” says the Captain with a sigh, and then sits down. Looking down at your still naked body, you decide to sit down too, not really sure you could do the nudist look outside, especially on a windy day like they’d been lately.
“So, I’m guessing you guys don’t have any board games, right?” asked Dash as she began to roll up the spread she’d been sleeping on last night.
“Not ones Vinyl hasn’t thrown out the window because she was losing,” says Octavia, looking towards the pop pony.
“Monkeys! I keep telling you, it was invisible monkeys,” defends the white unicorn, and everypony in the room just looks at her, before she nervously chuckles.
“As a monkey, or at least, a close relative, I find this stereotyping of my brothers and sisters as board game thieves highly insulting,” you tell her, and she suddenly pops up and points her hoof out the window.
“Oh hey, is that Princess Luna coming from the palace with your armor!” she shouted, and you all looked at her skeptically.
“Hey! It is!” shouts Rainbow, and you turn to find out that indeed, there seems to be some smudgy shapes on the horizon, the others all rushing outside while you stop at the door, and just stick your head out, still unable to see the details of the pair of pegasi pulling a carriage behind them. Inside said carriage was Princess Luna, as well as your armor, which was standing up like someone was wearing it.
“Good morning to all of you. Our sister believed Our human guest would like the armor returned with all speed,” said the Princess as she stepped off the carriage, her two dragon pegasi guards unhitching themselves and then running to assist her, grabbing the armor with their necks, and carrying it off.
“Oh, you have no idea,” you said from your position, as they brought it closer, and you saw that inside was some kind of standee. Motioning for them to stop just in front of the door, you grabbed the thing, grunting a bit, and dragging it the rest of the way inside.
“Let’s see, now how does…yes, that looks like the catc-OW!!!” you cry, tripping the catch for one of the vambraces’, causing it to fall on the floor, and smack your foot, hard.
“Are you alright in there?” came Octavia’s voice, as you bounced on one foot.
“Yeah, just got a case of terminal stupidity,” you shout back rubbing at your toes, while removing the feet and then the chest and other vambrace, setting them aside so you can finally slip into the gray crystal mess under suit. Luckily, the proved easier than you’d have thought, as the thing seemed to open up at the top, and all you had to do was step inside, working your legs and arms into the appropriate holes. A minute later, you step out, trying your best to look heroic, even as you limp a bit walking towards the others.
“Ah, truly a hero for the ages,” chuckles Vinyl, and you look down at her. It was still a bit weird to be the one looking down at the ponies, at least when standing, but you smile down at Octavia, who has an expression that says, to her, you’ll always be a hero.
“Indeed, a valiant knight. But what good is a knight, without a weapon?” proclaims the Princess, and turns back to her pegasi, who bow, and then retrieve a wrapped bundle from her carriage.
“For the honor of Equestria, and the future of our nation, We, Princess Luna, do present you, with this blade. May it serve you well,” she said, using her magic to undo the cloth, and then holding out the weapon you’d seen the day before in the forges.
The sheath had been polished, and indeed had a few more runes on it. That was your first thought, looking at the shiny, dull red sheath. The second, as your hand locked over the weapon, was that it was lighter than the day before, and now came with a belt that seemed to use the same clasp as your armor, which your wrapped around your waist, and clicked into place.
“I accept this gift, as a friend, and offer a pledge in return, to do my best to make this world a brighter place, and to defend Equestria from the enemies who would seek to darken Her spirit,” you declare, drawing your blade with a dull hiss, an then holding it in front of you. Now, in the raw light of day, you could see why it had been named SpectrumFlash, the blade glimmering in the morning light, flashing as you turned it over, and set the blade a few inches into the dirt, so you could bow towards the monarch.
“This I swear to you, your sister, and all the friends I’ve made,” you tell her, and you then feel a hoof on your shoulder, pulling at you to rise.
“We know you will,” she whispers to you, as you resheath the weapon, and smile at your friends, the sun seeming to flash for a moment, telling you that Celestia apparently agreed with her sister, bringing a smile to your face as you began to chat with the others.