//------------------------------// // Blackout // Story: Doorway side stories // by Java Joe //------------------------------// Author's Note: The start of the story takes place after "Second Chance" in the Side Stories and the middle part would take place between chapters 12 & 13 in Doorway. The beginning and end were told in 1st person while the middle is told in 3rd person as Rick is telling his kids a story in which he was a hero in Equestria. What you as the readers are told is the full story while the version he tells his kids a little more sanitised. We were in the middle of watching a movie as a family on a Sunday night. I loved these times that we all got together, no homework, no friends, no colts sniffing around my daughter. Just all of us sitting on the couch, watching a movie when the power suddenly cut out and we were plunged into darkness. A soft, lavender glow and a brighter cobalt glow filled the room as Twilight and Sterling both did their best to pierce the darkness. "Sterling darling, bring it down a bit, that's a little too bright, " Twilight asked. "That's better, " she said once he had dimmed it down to where it wasn't burning our eyes. Blinking a few times to get rid of the after images I asked our son to come with me so I could fetch some candles and give both of them a break. "So now what do we do?" Twyla asked once we came back and the room was lit by the softly glowing candles. "Can you tell us a story?" Sterling asked. Twyla immediately agreed as they both loved it when their old man went into full storytelling mode. I'll admit I liked it as well but I always got stuck on which story to tell them. "So what is it that you guys want to hear?" I asked. "Tell us how you and Mom first met!" Twyla begged. She loved to hear the story of how Twilight and I first met and I know Twilight loved it too but Sterling was kinda bored by it. "You've heard that one so often you could practically tell it yourself. No, let's do something different." I thought for a few minutes then said, "how about I tell you all about how I saved Princess Celestia's life?" Twyla immediately disagreed and said it wasn't possible and Sterling, seeing his older sister saying this joined in. I just smiled and looked at my wife saying, "would you care to confirm this?" She smiled and said, "yes. Your father is responsible for saving Princess Celestia's life." The kids looked at her in disbelief. While they knew that I occasionally told tall tales, their mother had never lied to them about anything and if she was agreeing with me then it must be true. "But how? Isn't she a goddess?" Sterling asked. "Yes, she is. But she's not immortal which means that she can get hurt and she can die. It just takes a lot to do so. More power than any one pony possesses, even your mother who is still the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria doesn't have the power necessary to even hurt the Princess." "So who did?" Twyla asked. "That's where the story starts. It all began shortly after the very first Hearts and Hooves day for me and your Mother. I was still the only human in Equestria, your mother could only change into a human for a couple hours on Earth, AJ and Rainbow Dash had just told everypony they were dating and neither of you two were even born yet..." ***** "Thank you so much for doing this, " Twilight said as they made their way through Canterlot towards her parent's place. It had been several months since the incident with Rainbow Dash and his near brush with death and he knew that Twilight's parents approved of him but Rick still felt uncomfortable around them. It wasn't that they were cold to him, quite the opposite her parents practically bent over backwards to provide for whatever he might want but he always felt like he was on display when he was there. But it was with good grace that he went with his fillyfriend to spend some time with her parents every once in a while. "Babe, I don't mind. I know your parents like me and they approve of me being with you but I just feel a little... out of place when I'm there. I'm sure it's only temporary and we'll get on great at some point. Besides the reason you come here is not to see them so much as it is to visit the library isn't it?" "No! I love seeing my parents it's just that sometimes they don't have the time and they're working and my Father just happens to work in the Royal Archives so that's where I go visit him, " Twilight said without a hint of irony. Rick just chuckled to himself and wheeled his small suitcase across the paving stones as they drew up to the Sparkle's house. He always felt odd seeing this place, it was so unlike the library and he found it hard to imagine Twilight or her brother growing up in such... well... luxury. The house was by no means overly impressive by Canterlot standards, but it was huge compared to anything in Ponyville and had an actual staff that worked there. They marched up to the front door and were immediately greeted by Starched Collar, the butler and major-domo. He took a dim view of Rick, thinking him to be nothing more than a social climber and unworthy of Twilight Sparkle's attention but he felt it wasn't his place to comment on this so he just treated Rick with cold formality. "Twilight Sparkle! It's always such a pleasure to see you again. You really should visit your parents more often, " Starched Collar smiled at and nuzzled the unicorn he had known since she was a just a foal and took her saddlebags. "Rick, " he nodded at the human. "Hey Starchie! Good to see you too. You always make me feel soooo welcome when I'm here. Nonono, don't bother trying to take my bag I'm more than happy to carry it myself up to the room." "I wouldn't dream of it, " Starched Collar said dryly as he led them up the stairs to their rooms. While here, even though he had saved Twilight's life and they slept together at home Twilight's parents were still uncomfortable with the two of them sleeping in the same bed. It wasn't a problem though. Every night when they went to bed Twilight would teleport into his room, they'd snuggle under the sheets and fall asleep together then the next morning she'd teleport back to her room and nopony was the wiser. They refrained from any kind of physical intimacy in part because it left tell-tale stains but also out of respect for her parents. Besides, it just made getting back together at home all the sweeter. After dinner, Twilight and Rick decided to head out for a walk and get some air. "How you holding up?" Twilight asked as they made their way through the streets of Canterlot. "I'm okay. You don't have to worry about me. We're here for a few days, you do what you need to do and then we go home and life continues as usual. And when you don't need me, I've got Canterlot to explore." "But I do need you!" Twilight said in a hurt tone. "Babe, I meant when you're going to the archives or something and you're in study mode. You're totally focused on that and you don't need me during those times. It might be different if I could help you fetch books or summarise stuff but I'm still learning how to read Equestrian. I need to be honest that while I want to be able to help you, in that case I can't. So here's what I propose. On those days you're going to be in the archives, I'll go and do whatever then come back and meet you there later and we'll do dinner or see a show or meet up with friends and family after. Then once we're all done we go back to your parent's place, say our goodnights and then you teleport into my room for a snuggle." "Just a snuggle?" Twilight asked mischievously. "Well, we can get all makey-outey if you want but it's a little... frustrating that we can't go any further than that and trust me when I say that when I'm with you I don't want to stop. But I respect your parents and molesting you under their roof is a line I don't want to be crossing." "Yeah, you're right about that, " she sighed. "But what if I knew a place that wasn't under their roof, was private and I could guarantee you that nopony would disturb us provided we're quiet about it." "I'm listening, " Rick said with feigned casualness. "The archives close at 6pm, but they let me stay there as long as I want. If you were to show up a few minutes before they close..." "You mean make out in the library? It's college all over again." "You mean students actually do that? In the library?" "Yeah. Not everybody, or everypony in this case goes to the library to read or study. Sometimes it's just a quiet place where there's nopony around, " Rick said with a leer. Twilight looked a little stunned at that. In all her years, she had never once considered the library as being anything other than a place of learning. Then she stopped in her tracks, started to snigger and finally fell about laughing so hard that she was attracting attention. Rick waited and smiled, wanting to hear what the joke was. After a few moments she managed to take a deep breath and wiping the tears from her eyes said, "sorry, that was just too perfect. I finally understood why it was my roommate in the magic academy kept insisting on going to the library to study with her coltfriend but her grades never improved. She wasn't studying magic but comparative anatomy!" Fresh laughter burst forth and Rick joined in as it was a pretty funny joke especially for Twilight Sparkle to have made. They wandered around Canterlot a little while longer before turning back and getting back to her parent's home. Once safely inside, Twilight appeared in Rick's room where they both snuggled together under the covers and made plans for a late night "study session" in the Canterlot archives the next day. The next day, Twilight left early with her father to get a start on the work she needed to get done which left Rick with a whole day to do whatever he wanted. He wandered about the manicured gardens of the capital city, admired the fountains and sculptures and generally got pretty bored with the whole thing about partway through. Yes, Canterlot was the premiere city in all of Equestria where the well hooved wanted to be seen but he just felt out of place not to mention alone in the vast metropolis. Eventually he made his way to Pony Joe's where he'd be able to drown his sorrows in some sugary treats and hot chocolate. "Hey there Rick! Haven't seen you in a while. Twilight not with you today?" Pony Joe called from behind the counter. "Hey Joe. Yeah, we're here seeing her folks and she's buried nose deep in some books right about now in the archives so I'm pretty much on my own." "Yeah, that Twilight is such a good student. Why she used to come in here with a stack of books this high, " he said bringing his hoof up to shoulder level, " and finish them all in one sitting. She'd eat 4 crullers and have two pots of hot cocoa to go with it all. Never saw a pony so interested in learnin' as she was." The two talked for a while about Twilight and Canterlot in general. Rick had a cruller and then decided to get some to go as well as some hot cocoa and meet Twilight in the archives a couple of hours early. She'd appreciate his coming, he'd try his hand at reading and maybe just being there with her would help his mood and remind him why he was here in the first place. "Thanks Joe, " Rick said as he picked up his order. "I'll tell Twilight you said hello and I'll make sure she comes down to see you at some point." "You take care Rick! It's always good to see you!" Carrying his cargo of sweet goodies back, he found Twilight in one of the Archive's study rooms, surrounded by a pile of books. He opened the door and cleared his throat to catch her attention "I'm still not done with these yet, can you come back later?" Twilight said absent mindedly as she wrote something down. "If I do that, your cocoa will get cold, " Rick replied with a smile. "Rick!" she cried out happily and got up to give him a big hug and kiss hello. "I know I'm early, but I started to miss you and I stopped off at Pony Joe's we talked, he mentioned crullers and hot cocoa and I figured that you maybe could use a break." "You're so sweet, " she said with a smile as she looked in his eyes. Rick placed the items before her and they chatted pleasantly while Twilight nibbled on one of her doughnuts and had some hot cocoa. "Oh this takes me back to my academy days, " she said with a satisfied smile. "Joe and I talked about that, he mentioned these specifically so I figured you'd enjoy it." "Well I did and I do. But I've still got a lot of work here to do. Why don't you come back in a couple of hours and we'll... play in the stacks, " she said with a leer. "Nice euphemism. But if it's all the same Canterlot is boring when you're all by yourself. You need somebody else to see the sights. But don't worry about me, I'll just keep myself amused, try to read something and maybe even look at the picture books." "Okay, if you're sure about that because I know you and you'll probably get bored." "Twi. I'm sure. Do what you need to do, I won't bug you." Twilight went back to work and Rick wandered about the library, occasionally pulling down a book and trying to figure out the contents before opening it up. He wasn't having much luck but did somehow manage to find a section of foreign language books with some books written in Neighponese. As he spoke passable Japanese and could read it well enough he took some of these back with him to see if he could make heads or tails out of them. At some point Rick must have fallen asleep because when he woke up it was dark and nopony was around. He looked about for Twilight, her things were still here but the library was completely quiet. Worrying slightly as this was very unlike her he walked out of the study room and was about to call out and go looking for her when he became aware of soft hoof steps coming towards him. They weren't the soft hoof steps of Twilight, but of some pony trying their best to be quiet. Something told him that he needed to be somewhere else right now so he quickly hid behind one of the nearby shelves and watched as a grey earth pony he didn't recognise walk into the study room, gather Twilight's things together and walk away. Rick kicked off his shoes as easily as he could and followed with only his socks on his feet, trying to make as little sound as possible while keeping the grey pony in sight. Soon he heard a couple of voices speaking and the grey pony turned a corner and presumably started talking to the two he couldn't see. Luckily, none of them saw him so he snuck up as close as he could without being seen to listen in on their conversation. He peeked through the books and saw three ponies but what made his blood boil was they had Twilight all tied up, a dampener on her horn and she had a nasty looking bump on the back of her head. He grit his teeth and had to stop himself from throwing himself at these ponies before he knew what was going on. "Are you sure you got everything?" asked a large dark blue pegasus with ragged wings who had a scar running down his face and across a milky white eye. "Yeah, all her things were just laid out on one of the desks. I got them, " the grey pony said as he finished one of the crullers. "And you didn't see anypony else?" Scar asked. "C'mon boss, she admitted she was the only pony here when I made my rounds an hour ago and besides, I would have heard anypony trying to sneak around this place." "Okay. So now that we have Celestia's favourite student she's going to be the one to help us get rid of her once and for all and give Luna the chance to take the throne all by herself, " Scar said. The third member of their group was an olive green unicorn that had yet to say anything. He just sat there staring at Twilight Sparkle and licking his lips in a way that made Rick more than just a little uncomfortable. Scar turned to him and said, "knock it off you creep. We need her whole and untouched for this to work. When we're done, you can do whatever you want with her. Now how much time do we got before we can put the plan into action?" "When the stars are at their zenith and the night is at its deepest we strike, " the olive green unicorn said in a thin, reedy voice. "It will take some time to prepare the ritual but we can get this done by tonight at midnight." "Good, do you got everything you need? I'm going to have to get back to the guard tower soon so I can't be watching over you two knuckleheads every step of the way. I'll keep Luna busy at the right time when you two bring the brain to kill Celestia. Okay?" Scar asked his compatriots. They agreed and when he turned his head to leave, Rick noticed for the first time that his good eye had a cat-like appearance and his ragged looking wings were actually more bat-like. Scar, or whatever his name was, was one of Luna's Royal guards. This was not good and he needed to find a way to prevent this coup from taking place, but also he had to somehow rescue Twilight. Scar snuck out of the library and left the grey pony and the green unicorn alone with Twilight. The olive green pony, or Sickly as Rick thought of him smiled and took this opportunity to lick Twilight's face and run his tongue over her horn. She whimpered weakly at this intrusion but made no attempt to wake up or do anything else. "Hey, you're not supposed to do anything to her other than get her ready. The boss said so, " Grey complained. Sickly turned to him, a manic light in his eyes and asked, "what are you going to do about it? The boss isn't here, she's not going to be hurt by this and I can still get her ready. Now why don't you go do what you need to do and leave me alone?" He turned back to Twilight, nuzzled at her and continued to molest her. Rick's anger grew at this intrusion but he knew that he couldn't take them both on and needed to wait. Slipping back into the darkness of the library he took a few moments to compose himself and take a couple deep breaths. "Never strike in anger Rick, " he whispered to himself. He needed to go into this with a clear head, but he didn't know how long this preparation would take or what it would entail so he had to act quick. He heard what he assumed to be the grey pony trot off towards the library entrance which meant that Sickly was the only one left. Recalling what he had learned from Rainbow Dash when she taught him some pony martial art tricks in dealing with unicorns, their source of power and their greatest advantage was also their greatest weakness. When they were channelling magic through their horn, it became very sensitive and sharp blow to it would really hurt and possibly knock them out. The only problem was, it only took them a fraction of a second to react so you had to hit them hard, and fast and if possible when they weren't ready. Earlier, in a far corner he found a broom closet and while it wasn't something he'd want to use, the mop there was a cheap substitute for the bo. He made his way there and grabbed it, unscrewed the grimy mop head from the shaft and hefted it a few times in his hands before nodding grimly to himself and walking out to face his foe. Shortly, he became aware of Sickly murmuring some kind of spell. Or at least that's what he thought he was doing. He had never known Twilight to have to chant or speak a spell but then he really didn't know much about Equestrian magic so maybe some spells needed this. It didn't matter though. He needed to get close enough to Sickly to do this. Stealthily he crept forward until he could see Sickly through the shelf of books. The unicorn had placed a medallion around Twilight's neck and she was surrounded by a green aura as he worked whatever spell on her. Rick bit his tongue hard to keep from yelling out and tasted blood. Ignoring the pain, he readied his makeshift bo, pictured his target in his mind and with a sharp thrust struck at the unicorn's horn. Three things happened in quick succession. There was a blinding flash of green light. There was an unearthly howl of pain. And Rick flew back against the shelves and had the wind knocked out of him. It took a moment or two for him to catch his breath and come back to his senses but there was a keening sound in the air as if somebody was crying in pain. The source was Sickly and the reason for it was obvious. When Rick struck with his bo, the unicorn's horn had snapped off and only a ragged stump was left. Ignoring the wounded unicorn, Rick rushed over to Twilight to check on her. He ripped the medallion from around her neck, removed the dampener from her horn, untied her limbs and gently patted at her cheeks until she opened her eyes. "Rick? What happened?" she asked weakly. Overjoyed that she was okay he hugged her fiercely, stroking her mane and not wanting to let her go but eventually he had to. He explained everything he knew, told her of Sickly and what the rest of them wanted to do with her. Twilight shook her head slightly as if trying to clear it and brought a hoof to her cheek, feeling the sticky residue that Sickly had left behind. "Did he...?" and she left the rest of the question hanging. Rick nodded with a rather disgusted look on his face. Her pity for the wounded unicorn changed to disgust and she shuddered at the thought of him touching her like that. They tied up the unicorn and Twilight mercifully put him to sleep if for no other reason than to shut him up. She took a look at the medallion but couldn't figure out what it was. "Do you know what they were doing?" "No, except that that thing was around your neck and Sickly here was muttering something while channelling his magic. Obviously they were going to use you against Celestia but I don't know why exactly or how other than it would take place around midnight. We need to warn Celestia about this. Can you walk?" It was about that time that they heard a commotion outside and they heard the grey pony coming back. "Hell!" Rick swore, they were so close to getting out and now they had to face the second member of this cabal. He readied his mop handle to strike when the pony would pass him by but Twilight motioned for him to step out of the way. She lay back down, and gave Rick a wink before he smiled and hid where the grey pony couldn't see him. "What the... Star Spell! What happened?" he called out to the unicorn whose name was obviously Star Spell. When he reached his friend, there was a flash of lavender light and the grey pony found himself trapped in a bubble of energy. He gave a surprised yelp when he saw Twilight Sparkle was awake and staring him down and gave a strangled cry when Rick walked into view with a thunderous expression on his face and holding the mop handle in his hands. "What do you think we should do with him?" Twilight asked. "Gimme five minutes with him, " Rick said as he casually tapped the mop handle on the stone floor, letting Grey know that it was a solid and heavy piece of wood. "That's all I'll need. Just five minutes and he'll tell me everything. I was too rough on Star Spell there, I broke his horn with just one blow. I never knew you ponies were so... fragile." "Rick! You can't do that! It's not right!" Twilight protested. "He hurt you Twi. Left you with this pervert and they were going to use you against Celestia. I don't think she'll mind one less traitor in her realm. Just hold him still, I don't want to have to whack him too many times. It's cleaner if the bone breaks with just one strike, " Rick crouched down into a fighting stance and swung the handle around in an overhand manner as if warming up. "Wait! Please! I'll talk! I'll tell you anything just keep him away from me!" the grey pony cried in terror. "What's your name?" Rick asked. "My name is Night Moon, I'm the night watchpony for the royal archives." "Okay Night Moon, you want to tell us why you three want to kill Celestia?" "I can't! He'll kill me if I say anything!" "In that case you have a problem. He's not here, I am and while I don't plan on killing you I have no problem with hurting or maiming you in the process. I mean you can live with no eyes, one kidney, no legs. Hell, I could break all your teeth and smash your jaw so you wouldn't be able to speak again and would have to eat for the rest of your life through a straw. You'll live out the rest of your life in pain and misery, but you won't die. Dying is easy, it only takes a little bit of time. My way, you'll be in pain for the rest of your miserable life. Now talk, " Rick said completely without emotion as if he was discussing the weather. Night Moon turned to Twilight and pleaded with her, "you can't let him do this! I'm a pony! I have rights!" "Sorry, I can't control him when he's like this. You better do what he says or else there's not much I can do." Rick smiled inwardly as Twilight caught onto the good cop / bad cop routine he was playing. He had explained it all to her once after watching a movie where two cops did this to get a confession out of a criminal. And in the end it worked. Night Moon told them of the whole plan which involved using the medallion which would weaken Celestia and would then allow him to kill her with an enchanted dagger. He would then kill Twilight Sparkle to get rid of her. Then, Midnight Spear would conveniently excuse himself, claim he killed Twilight Sparkle in a struggle and make sure the other two managed to escape. Princess Luna would take her rightful place as monarch of the day and the night and rule over Equestria as she was supposed to. "So what do we do next?" Rick asked Twilight. "We take them to the Princess and see what she wants to do with them." "Okay, you bring Nighty here, I'll bring Sickly, " Rick said as he hoisted the green unicorn onto his shoulders and they made their way through the castle to the throne room. It didn't take long before they were found by the guards and Shining Armor was called. They told him of the planned coup and Shining Armor was going to send a bunch of guards to place Midnight Spear under arrest before Twilight stopped him. "Let him think for the moment that everything is going as planned. We'll talk to the Princess and see what she says. If she wants you can send some troops to arrest him. But we should let her decide first, " Twilight said. Shining Armor agreed and he led them down the halls to the throne room where the captive ponies were brought to the Princess and their plans revealed. "Could you call my sister please? I think she needs to hear about this as well, " Celestia said to Shining Armor. He turned to two of his guards and asked that they fetch Princess Luna immediately. "And Rick, I would like to thank you for your part in discovering this treasonous act. I am in your debt." "Thanks Celestia, but if anything we're even. You saved my life during that altercation several months ago and now I've just had the chance to repay it in kind. You owe me nothing. I may only be a resident of Equestria part of the time but you're still my monarch when I'm here. Consider this my patriotic duty." The Princess smiled and bowed her head at this as if to say she understood. Shortly after, Princess Luna arrived in the throne room and not surprisingly Night Moon threw himself to the ground when she passed him by. Star Spell was of course still under the effects of the sleep spell so he just lay there and drooled slightly. "This is indeed troubling news. Sister, know thee that we desire not to take over the throne of Canterlot all for our self, " Luna stated to her sister and indeed to all gathered there. "I know Lulu, " Celestia said using the name they called each other in private. "We just wanted to bring this to your attention and as it's one of your guards see what you felt was adequate punishment for this." "This is high treason Tia, " Luna said responding in kind. "The ones responsible need to be dealt with and made an example of." "No! We did it for you Princess Luna! You're the rightful ruler of Equestria and with your sister out of the way you can rule as you were meant to!" Night Moon shouted. "Guards! Muzzle him!" Luna shouted and Night Moon was quickly silenced. Celestia and Luna conferred for a moment, then asked Shining Armor to bring some guards with him and bring Midnight Spear here. "Begging your pardon Princess, would you mind if I make a suggestion?" Shining Armor asked. Luna nodded in response. He took a deep breath and said, "If I take several guards to the guard tower to arrest Midnight Spear, there is a chance we'd have a scuffle on our hooves and if he thinks that he's going to get caught he might get desperate and do something stupid. Wouldn't it be better to let him think that everything is going his way then when the time is right and he goes to Celestia's chamber to finish the deed, we catch him there unprepared and off guard. We'll have the advantage, there will be no other pony there other than me my guards and you can literally tell us when this is going down by sending us a message." "You have a point Captain Armor. Very well, we will do as you ask. Twilight Sparkle? I will ask that you and Rick join me in my chambers as well to wait for the arrival of Midnight Spear." With those words, Celestia marched regally off to her chambers, flanked by Shining Armor and his guards and followed by Twilight, Rick and the two doomed ponies. And so they waited while the charade played on. By now, Midnight Spear was guarding Luna as she took over her duties as Goddess of the Night, Shining Armor and his guards had staked out positions in the royal chambers where they could ambush the night guard if need be, the two conspirators had been put away under guard in another chamber and Celestia, Twilight and Rick awaited the coming of Midnight Spear. Hours later, Twilight was dozing with her head on Rick's lap as he lay sprawled on one of the couches and Celestia's head was dipping slightly as she struggled to stay awake. In a flash her eyes came and clapping her hooves together called out to everypony in the room, "get ready, he's on his way!". All took their places and waited for Midnight Spear to show up. It didn't take long before he walked in, bold as can be and called out to Night Moon, "so how did it go? Did the old nag put up much of a fight?" He was immediately surrounded by half a dozen guards, the captain of the guards, a pissed off unicorn, an angry human and the very much alive Goddess of the Day. "What do you think?" Celestia asked him. A single blast from her horn and he crumpled to the ground unconscious. Turning to Shining Armor she said, "captain, please escort Midnight Spear and his two conspirators to the dungeon until we decide what is to be done with them. Make sure they're not treated harshly by your staff. We are after all not monsters." Shining Armor had the conspirators taken away and turned to Twilight and Rick. "Thank you both once again for all you've done for not only me, but my kingdom as well. Do you need a suite made up for you tonight or would you rather go home?" Twilight looked at Rick and said, "we never did get around to playing in the stacks..." she said with a knowing smile but he could see the tiredness in her eyes that matched his own. "I think we're both too pooped to play and I would imagine your folks are worried about you so it's best that we get you back there as soon as possible." "Don't worry about that. I took the liberty of informing your parents of what transpired here tonight so they know you're both safe, " Celestia said. She got a strange look on her face and added, "but I'm not sure what to make of the message Twilight Velvet asked me to tell you." "And what did my mother say?" Twilight asked. "She said, 'we know what goes on at night but are surprised at what's not going on during that time'. Does that make any sense to you?" Both Rick and Twilight blushed at the knowledge that they weren't fooling her parents and that they seemingly had their blessing to be carrying on. "In that case, I think we will take you up on that offer of the suite. Are you coming to bed?" Twilight asked Rick with forced casualness. The monarch of the Day just smiled and said, "go my children, you've earned your reward." ****** "And then the next day there was a big parade and a ceremony and a banquet and I got the Equestrian Order of the Dragon. It's the highest honour a civilian can get in all of Equestria. Your mother got the Equestrian Order of the Phoenix, not quite as good as mine but it has its perks and your Uncle Shining Armor got the, what was it called again?" I asked as I turned to my wife. "The Solar Sunburst, " Twilight said. "Yes, the Solar Sunburst. The first one that had been given out in over 100 years. Your Grandparents were so proud of all of us. In fact after that point they started thinking of me as their son-in-law and would introduce me to people as their son-in-law even though I hadn't even proposed to your mother yet. So yeah, that is how I saved Princess Celestia from being assassinated." "So where's your medal if you did all this?" Twyla asked. She wasn't going to give this up without a fight. I smiled and said, "it's upstairs somewhere. I can't find it now because we have no lights..." and upon saying those words the lights came back on as if summoned. "You were saying?" Twyla said with a smirk. "They're on the shelf in the closet?" I asked Twilight. "I think so. If they're not there, they're going to be in that area." "Cool, I'll be right back, " I said and made my way upstairs to provide evidence to our doubting offspring. A few moments later I came back downstairs with a couple of ornate wooden boxes with Equestrian writing on them. "This here is your mother's, " I said opening her box and displaying the Order of the Phoenix. It was a bejeweled ribbon made to be worn around a pony's neck and had the fiery look of a phoenix's flames. "And this this is mine, " I said opening my box which displayed a heavy looking medallion with a jeweled dragon on the face held up by a sturdy ribbon. The look on their faces was amazing. In that moment our children realised that their parents were not only a lot cooler than they had imagined but were a lot more important in Equestria than they could have ever dreamed. But it was now time for them to go to bed so we sent them upstairs to get ready while Twilight and I kicked back on the couch a little while longer. "I noticed that you left out quite a few details of your story, " Twilight said. "Babe, they don't need to know everything like what really happened to the conspirators, or how Star Spell's horn was broken and not just bruised. I tried to keep it as kid friendly and PG as I could. Besides, do you really think kids want to hear about how their parents went about having 'victory sex' once everything was done?" "No, you're right, " she said standing up and stretching. "Are you coming to bed?" she asked me while holding out her hand. "I never get tired of hearing you say that, " I said taking her hand in mine and following her upstairs.