A few more months pass- and Halcyon finally has her arm fully back. Now they're at their favorite place in Canterlot- the ice-cream shop.
"I missed you so much~" Halcyon said, hugging her own arm- although it proved a difficulty to do so.
"Please stop doing that in public." Blaze said, gesturing at the ponies that were looking at Halcyon like she was a crazy mare.
"What? I really did miss it..." Halcyon muttered, blushing.
Blaze put an arm around her shoulder. "All ya stallions, she's mine. So look away now, cause you don't have a chance here."
The ponies looked away, a little irritably- and this only made Halcyon blush even more.
"You can stop that now." she whispered.
"I could." Blaze said, hugging her tightly and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Ah! Blaze and Hal! Never thought I'd see you two together." the shop keeper said cheerfully as they stepped up next in line.
"She knows you?" Halcyon and Blaze said at the same time, looking at each other.
"Course I did." the shop keeper grinned. "This ice-cream shop here's the most visited in all of Equestria! Everypony comes here."
"Well... In that case... I'll just have a strawberry ice-cream." Blaze said.
"How about I give you that second one for free? Aye, Hal?" the shop keeper grinned again.
"If that's not too much trouble..." Halcyon said.
"Course not! Won't be making that offer if it were!" the shop keeper said, taking two large scoops out of the strawberry ice-cream container and squishing them into an ice-cream cone. "What about you Hal?"
"Blueberry, please." Halcyon said sheepishly. "And... We never caught your name...? Well, we always visit, but..."
"Name's Glacé." Glacé said, shaking Halcyon's hoof warmly then returning to take a big scoop out of the blueberry box.
"Talk about awkward." Blaze said, licking his ice-cream as they exited the shop.
"She's nice." Halcyon said simply, trotting alongside Blaze on the streets.
They walked on the sidewalks, window shopping the various stores lining the sides of the street. Blaze noticed Halcyon take a sudden interest in a fashion shop, and could do nothing but roll his eyes and follow her in.
The fashion shop gained no interest from him. All he did was pretend he enjoyed the experience, wondering through the stallion's section with fake enthusiasm. Maybe his acting was horrible, or he was just overdoing it- because he kind of attracted the attention of a few shop keepers, in which case Halcyon did what she always did- pretended she didn't know him.
"I'm going to go... Sit outside." Blaze said, pointing out the door and finally able to shake off the annoying shopkeepers. If only he had a royal guard badge to flash at them and could tell them to go away- not sure if that would count as public disruption, but it'll certainly take care of the problem.
Halcyon stayed indoors, slowly flipping through the clothes rack on purpose to annoy Blaze.
He let the breeze brush through his mane. Maybe he could go fetch a smoothie or something at that little stand over there.
He returned to the shop a few minutes later with a strawberry smoothie, to find Halcyon with a shopping bag full of clothes. He rolled his eyes yet again.
"Now can we go somewhere I would enjoy being?" he asked.
"As long as it's not the strip club." Halcyon shrugged.
"Wow. How very disappointing." Blaze said sarcastically, taking a long and loud slurp from the smoothie. "Wait, there's a strip club around here?"
"I don't see what the point of those places are anyway. We don't normally wear clothes anyway." Halcyon said.
"Indeed." Blaze sighed. "I'm going to go buy a jacket. Think I lost my old one."
*
Night time finally arrived. The stars rose above the tree tops, following the bright moon that lit up the darkness. The streets were slowly emptying out, only a few stores remained open. Most of the buildings that still had lights on were distant apartment blocks and pubs and bars.
The streets were frozen cold- it may be summer, but when night dawned it always became almost as cold as winter. The streets were dimly lit by the moon and the flickering street lights.
"Next time you should really restrain yourself from those drinking competitions." Blaze said, the door to one of the bars swinging open. Laughter and bright light poured out onto the streets for a brief moment, before the door closed and sealed all those things back in the confinements of the bar once again.
"I'mnotdrunk!" Halcyon blurted, leaning heavily on Blaze's shoulder and swinging an empty vodka bottle around in a hoof as they walked away and onto the streets.
"Sure you're not." Blaze muttered, helping her walk. Hell, she could barely stand up.
"Iadmit, thatlastbottlewasabittoomuch." Halcyon said, her speech slurred.
Suddenly her left hoof got caught on something, and she fell forwards. Her arm slipped from Blaze's shoulder, and he tried to catch her- but was a little too late.
She let out a surprised yelp and fell face first onto the stone walk way, the empty bottle shattering on the ground. One of the sharp pieces of glass sliced into her cheek and made a huge cut across her face. She groaned, tried to get up and only to fall back down again.
"Bucking hell..." Blaze muttered, picking her up off the ground. "Come on."
"Ow, ow." she mumbled as he slung her arm over his shoulder and lifted her up.
"We're going home." Blaze said.
"Butwhatabout-"
"We're going home." he repeated sternly, however not angrily.
"Ow..." Halcyon muttered again, wiping a small droplet of blood off her face.
A gentle breeze brushed against their skin, and for the first time Blaze noticed the sudden drop in temperature. Of course he didn't notice back then- he had his new jacket on. He felt Halcyon shaking from the stinging cold by his side, and sighed.
"Damnit Hal." he muttered, taking off his jacket and putting it around Halcyon. Her shivering ceased a little, but now Blaze was left out in the cold.
Simple, though. His horn glowed, and a small fire appeared in front of them.
Eventually they got home. Halcyon would be staying with Blaze for the time being- it made sense, considering she was completely drunk. It was a fifteen story apartment, and Blaze lived on the seventh floor.
The moment they got through the double doors leading to the main hall they were hit full in the face by the warmth. Blaze extinguished his flame, and felt Halcyon lurch to one side.
Then he heard the distinct gurgling of a vomiting mare. He took in a deep breath and held it.
Halcyon had thrown up in the main hall- but thankfully nopony was here. It would make a bad first impression- and his neighbors will probably laugh at him.
His horn glowed, and he cleaned up the mess. Then Halcyon started laughing, occasionally being interrupted by hiccups.
"Are you high or something?" Blaze raised an eyebrow, helping her get to the elevator.
"Wheeeee~~~!" Halcyon said, stumbling away from Blaze.
"I guess you are." he muttered.
Halcyon tripped over her own hoof this time, and fell backwards. Her head made a solid crack against the stone wall behind her.
"Damnit Hal-" Blaze rushed to her side. At first it seemed like she was crying, but as he got nearer it was clear that she was snickering.
"Ow, thathurt." she laughed, rubbing the back of her head and trying to get up. Somehow her hooves slipped on the floor, and she fell back down again. Still she laughed like a crazy mare.
"Come on Hal- get up-" Blaze lifted her up, then slung her over his back. She really needs to settle down, somehow.
So trying to restrain her and leave her on his back wasn't the best idea. The next thing he knew he had warm vomit trickling down his side. He ignored it and slammed the 'up' key of the elevator.
"Whoever wants us assassinated is gonna find us easy." he muttered as he looked back at the trail of vomit droplets.
Still Halcyon was giggling at pretty much nothing, with the occasional gurgle and hiccup.
Once they got into the apartment Halcyon went straight to the bathroom and started puking into the toilet. Blaze cleaned himself up, and knocked on the bathroom door.
"You okay?" he asked loudly over the gurgling.
"Haha *bleeeeeeh* I'mfine!"
Blaze sighed, and opened the door. Halcyon was on the floor, leaning on the toilet seat and throwing up into it. Unfortunately, quite a bit missed and ended up on the floor.
Blaze's horn glowed as he levitated the crap into the toilet and flushed them down.
"Been a bucking tiring day." he muttered to nopony in particular as Halcyon started throwing up again.
He walked towards the bathtub, half drifting to sleep. His horn glowed as he turned on the water, slowly filling up the tub.
"I'm gonna put on some hot water. You can take a bath and clean yourself up once you're done with that." he said, slowly walking out.
"Thanks." Halcyon said, and he stopped at the door. For a few moments nothing happened, and then he nodded and walked out.
He slumped down on the sofa, exhausted with the extremely long day. At least trying to survive in the woods was exciting. He picked up the remote and turned on the TV. Not much was going on, but there was a small part about their survival through the woods and the train crash. He could only hope media doesn't swarm them.
Eventually he heard the splashing in the other room stop. Halcyon must've turned off the tap.
He gave a gentle knock on the door, but there was no response.
"Hal?" he knocked again, louder this time. "Hal!" still nothing. "Damnit..." he muttered, opening the door- and of course, Halcyon had fallen asleep in a tub full of water. Good thing her head was above the surface- because drowning would be a very ironic death for her.
"Wake up Hal-" Blaze began, but stopped. Maybe it would be a bad idea to wake her up.
So he levitated some shampoo into her hair and started cleaning her mane. Once that was done, he carefully gave her a quick rinse and dried her off, careful not to wake her.
*
Halcyon woke up on a bed, Blaze next to her watching TV. She briefly remembered the events from earlier, but couldn't remember anything from the point where she thought she fell asleep in the tub. She just couldn't help it- she felt so dizzy. In fact, she still feels dizzy. That was only physically- mentally she felt terrible too. She could only imagine what she put Blaze through.
Blaze heard Halcyon snickering again, and sighed. He ignored her for the time being, then noticed the difference in her giggling. He looked down- and she wasn't smiling at all. She was curled up in a ball, and whimpering. There were tears sliding from her eyes.
"Hey- you okay?" he asked, laying a gentle hoof on her shoulder.
She burst out crying, and hugged Blaze's arm as tightly as she could.
"Whoa Hal- what's wrong?" he asked, giving her short squeeze and trying to meet her eyes- except, her eyes avoided his.
Halcyon was saying something, but Blaze couldn't tell because of all her sniffing and whimpering.
"Hey... Calm it down and tell me what happened." he said, giving her gentle strokes on her back.
She sniffed, trying to control the crying. Slowly she was able to suppress it, but still she was shivering.
"Please don't leave me!" she blurted out, hugging Blaze tightly and crying again.
"Wha-?"
"Please... I'm sorry..." she cried, hugging him as tightly as she could. "I've been so stupid."
"Hey, hey... Who said I was gonna leave you?" Blaze asked, giving her a tight squeeze. Still she refused to look him in the eye.
"I don't know... I was just acting all weird, and I got really really drunk... And you had to-"
"Don't worry Hal." Blaze said, placing a hoof on her mouth and shushing her. "I ain't leaving you- ever."
For a moment no one talked. The only noise came from the TV, and a few occasional sniffs from Halcyon.
"I'm sorry." she said, her voice barely audible. She snuggled up against Blaze, listening to the TV. "I... I just had a bad dream."
"Think telling me would make you feel better?" Blaze asked, rubbing her lightly on the shoulder.
Halcyon thought about it for a moment.
"It's okay if you don't want to." Blaze said, changing the TV channel.
Halcyon nodded lightly, closing her eyes as she felt a little sleepy. The air conditioner made everything inside warm and cosy even though it was near freezing outside.
"I... I guess I just couldn't stop thinking about what-ifs." she said finally, shaking her head slowly to herself. "What if something happened. I'm not sure what I'll do if we for some reason left each other. A month ago I would've said that it wouldn't matter, but-"
"You're over thinking everything, Hal." Blaze said, giving her a reassuring smile. "When things happen, they happen. We can't do anything about that." he said, giving her a kiss on the forehead.
Halcyon snuggled deeper under the sheets, sighing. She wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye- slowly she started feeling stupid. Why did she ever doubt that? After all, Blaze did come back for her in the woods even after she was pretty much dead. He almost died too.
"I suppose it's easier to always overlook the positives and only see the negatives. I've been trapped way too many times now- I should've known better." she said, yawning loudly. "Sorry."
"Stop apologizing all the time. I start feeling like I've done something wrong." Blaze said, a light smile on his face.
"S- I mean, ok." they shared a laugh, and Halcyon threw her arms around Blaze and almost squeezed the life out of him. "Oh, how I love you."
*
Nightshade was peacefully asleep when her alarm clock went off. Her immediate response was to teleport to her saddle bag, whip out an EMP knife, and throw it across the room. The knife lodged itself into the LED clock's screen, denting it inwards. Then the EMP went off, taking out the clock with a wave of blue sparks. Unfortunately, the clock wasn't the only thing damaged.
An alarm went off, indicating damage had been done to the secret base's systems.
"Whoops..." Nightshade yawned- she must've taken out the power supply to quadrant 3's defense systems again. She lived in an underwater base of operations, called the Atlantis and located at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. And this wasn't the first time she took down several turrets on her own before. By accident.
"Captain..." Second Lieutenant Bluefyre sighed, knocking on Nightshade's door. "Did you take the sleeping pills the doctor assigned to you?"
"No." Nightshade said, yawning again and opening her dresser locker as the yelling of technicians and mechanics filled the air outside.
"Er... Might I ask why not, ma'am?" Bluefyre raised an eyebrow.
"I told him I wanted orange flavored pills. The ones he gave me tasted terrible. They tasted like medicine." Nightshade said, shrugging on her armor.
"....You're meant to swallow them with a gulp of water, ma'am." Bluefyre said. "And they are medicine."
"I know that." Nightshade said, her eyes only half open. "But they still tasted horrible."
"I'll see what I can do about that then." Bluefyre sighed, stepping aside as Nightshade left her room and walked into the busy corridors of Atlanta. They weren't busy until she woke up.
"And my coffee?" Nightshade yawned again.
"Already being made in the command center." Bluefyre said, following Nightshade by her side.
"Ah, good. That cheers me up." Nightshade said. "Second Lieutenant, you are now First Lieutenant."
"Uh... Ma'am?" Bluefyre frowned, an uncertain look on her face.
"You got promoted." Nightshade said as if it were nothing.
"For what reason, ma'am?"
"How about 'Excellence in Service'? Sounds good to me." Nightshade shrugged.
Bluefyre was about to say something, but decided not to.
"Captain." a few officers saluted as Nightshade dreamily walked into the command center. It was as if she just woke up- well, she kinda did.
"What's the matter this time?" she asked.
"It would appear that power to quadrant 3's defense systems have been cut off again. If this keeps up, we're gonna have to hire new technicians." a pony with a clipboard said.
"Hmmm. Wonder what could've caused that." Bluefyre said, heavy with sarcasm. Nightshade ignored her.
"Just fix the problem. But what else?" Nightshade asked.
"We intercepted a letter with a date and time- the Princess will be at this year's Best Young Flier's competition again in Cloudsdale. And, it would seem this is an assassination plan." the pony said, handing Nightshade a printed copy.
Nightshade frowned at the letter. Blaze and Halcyon were off duty for the time being, meaning they'll need new bodyguards for the Princess- but there was no pony Nightshade could think of as of yet. She could be there personally, which she was much too lazy to do if she were honest with herself. But she'll have to be there anyway.
"I want Secret Service in on this immediately. Let them hide in the crowd. I know we don't have many pegasi members, but get everypony we have." she sighed. She had no choice about this. "Notify Blaze and Halcyon immediately. I want them by the Princess's side." she put down the letter, walking up to the large glass wall at the front of the command center. She stared into the darkness of the bottom of the Atlantic- not even sea life could be spotted here. "As for me- I'll be there too."
"But wouldn't having all those agents and the royal bodyguards there be enough?" the pony asked.
"The letter is way too obvious. It's as if it were left for us- and maybe it was." Nightshade shook her head, picking up the letter again. She tore it in two. "Something tells me they're after the guards, not the Princess."