“Rise my Ponies…” Princess Luna ordered, adding after a moment, “and others.”
Joe stood, keeping himself at respectful attention as Princess Luna settled to the ground, magic still glowing around her horn and all five of the Changelings hovering in the matching effects of this. With negligent ease she brought them together to float over the stage as she furled her wings. She gave the group of glowing prisoners a slight regal sniff and then looked to Joe.
“We are grateful for thy efforts here,” Princess Luna assured him before continuing, “but this churl was correct that thee did not understand.”
“Then, Your Majesty,” said Joe, deciding another slight bow would not be misplaced and bringing his left arm across his chest, “I would welcome any explanation you would be gracious enough to give.”
“Behold…” Princess Luna replied.
The glow around the five Changelings intensified, and counter-intuitively darkened, for a moment and their shapes wavered to reform into those of three Unicorn and two Pegasi. They had all looked identical but now as well as being of different types of Pony they appeared to be different genders. The one clawed by Spike and their leader Unicorn males, the Pegasus that Rainbow Dash had stunned and Joe had speared a male as well, and the Pegasus that Rainbow Dash had fought out of the sky and the Unicorn that Joe had clubbed down both female.
Rarity gasped. “I know them, I saw them at the party earlier…”
“So we know how these infiltrated here,” nodded Joe as he straightened, “but…” He looked to Princess Luna. “What of the rest of Canterlot?”
“Safe, because you still do not understand,” Princess Luna replied. “This is not the disguises they affected, this is their true form. They are Ponies.”
“What?” asked Joe, in a rather impolite manner, too shocked to say something like ‘if you could explain that, Your Majesty, it would be much appreciated’.
Rainbow Dash blinked and wondered if that explained a couple of puzzles. If the wings were illusory on three and the horns illusory on two then that would explain why that actual-Pegasus had not tried to spear her with her horn and why none of the Changelings on the ground had tried to take off and attack Joe or the others from above.
“Oh my!” Rarity exclaimed. “And I think I broke that one’s jaw!”
Joe felt mildly guilty over clubbing a female into unconsciousness, but only mildly. It did seem there was equality here and it was not his fault she was disguised so he couldn’t indulge in foolish ‘gallantry’ and treat her more gently and less equally than her fellow conspirators. As he stood and watched the medical Ponies begin to arrive Rainbow Dash trotted across to his side, she’d landed to properly bow to Princess Luna, and the smile she gave him helped him to recover from his shock and guilt a little faster. He thought she looked charmingly windswept and she appreciated the mix of civilised suit and uncivilised improvised weapon.
Princess Luna got a nod from the medical Ponies surrounding one glow and lowered and released the Pegasus with the tent pole sticking out of his side to their care. Seeing this the smile Rainbow Dash had brought to his face faded and Joe moved forward a little to look at the Unicorn leader as he still hovered helplessly in mid-air and magic.
“Why would you pretend to be Changelings?” Joe asked, almost growling with the guilt of having speared a Pony.
“I don’t answer to you…” began the Unicorn in whiny defiance.
“But you do answer to me,” Princess Luna interrupted, her eyes flashing a little, “and my question is the same.”
“Yeah!” echoed Rainbow Dash. “What’s going on? Why did you make us hurt you?”
The Unicorn didn’t appear to have even heard Rainbow Dash he was so frightened of Princess Luna. He seemed so scared that he wasn’t even noticing the arrival of more medical Ponies and some of Princess Luna’s Guards. She had noticed this though so, as Rarity and Spike joined Joe and Rainbow Dash, she released the other Pegasus and the two other Unicorns to their care and custody so she was only holding the leader.
“Speak!” ordered Princess Luna, managing barely to refrain from the full Royal Canterlot Voice.
“Is he going to pee?” Spike whispered to Joe, maybe a little loudly as the difference in height meant he couldn’t bring his mouth close to Joe’s ear.
Joe tried to ignore this and hoped that Spike was not presuming too much, just because he had grown up as the ‘little brother’ of Princess Celestia’s personal student and so knew the Sun Goddess well did not mean the Moon Goddess he knew less well would appreciate the comment. From the snort she’d given it seemed Rainbow Dash did though.
“We… it was a prank,” the Unicorn replied, to Princess Luna rather than Spike. “We just wanted to make the party more interesting and show how boring what Fancy Pants had arranged was. Scare a few people, make things memorable, and then reveal ourselves once I'd got a reaction from him...”
“Boring?” sniffed Rarity. “We were having a good time.”
“A prank,” Joe repeated. “How stupid are you?”
“It was going okay until you…”
“Until four partygoers, out of the dozens here,” Joe interrupted, “objected to your threats and rants…”
“Would have been more you know,” commented Fancy Pants from behind him. Joe turned slightly to look and saw that as well as Fancy Pants there were half a dozen stallions ranked there alongside him. “But you seemed to have things under control and be working well together. Didn’t want to crowd you.”
Joe nodded to Fancy Pants and turned back to the Unicorn. “So this is what happened when four objected,” he said, gesturing at the wounded, “and if there had been room you could have been fighting nearly three times that number..."
"We weren't supposed to have to be in the disguises that long!" the unicorn interrupted. "Just long enough to give a quick fright and then... 'poof'... fooled you." The unicorn glared at Joe. "If anypony thought we were still Changelings after that we'd have let ourselves be arrested. We didn't think anyone would be so barbaric as to attack without giving one warning!"
"After the threats you were making?"
"I... I was," the unicorn, very, reluctantly conceded, glancing at Princess Luna, "running out of things to say. I had to keep it going and had to make each taunt worse than the ones before..."
"You're lucky those Guards didn't arrive while you were still free…” interrupted Joe, trying to not remember how stupid people could be as if he did then he'd feel even more in the wrong. Hearing themselves be mentioned the Guards straightened and braced themselves. “With no offence intended to my friends…”
“None taken, I’m sure,” Rarity graciously allowed.
“Or to Fancy Pants or those who would stand with him…”
“Of course,” Fancy Pants agreed with equal grace.
“What we did to you is nothing by comparison. The Guards with their armour and weapons and training… they’d have torn you to shreds in a single charge, and given what you were pretending to be they’d have been justified in doing so.”
Princess Luna remembered Joe’s dream of the Changeling attack on his people’s Royal Wedding and wondered if he was as well. Or if he had not overcome the block she had placed on his memory of that dream then perhaps, at least, some of the feelings might have lingered. He did seem to regarding Changelings as being enemies on a more personal level than simply hearing the accounts would allow for, even allowing for what she had learned about their nature from that dream and the one of the night before.
Meanwhile Rainbow Dash had glanced at Joe as she felt a little insulted that he thought they’d done ‘nothing’. She muttered to herself about the Guards not being that tough and drew a glance from the head Guard Pony. Rather than protest that he decided to speak to Joe and mildly protest the other.
“Ah, sir,” the Guard said, deciding too much respect was better than too little. “We might have tried to take prisoners.”
“My apologies,” Joe nodded, “and you would have been quite right to do so. I meant you could have torn them apart rather than you would.”
“Understood sir, that I won’t argue about.”
“And you’d not argue that a Changeling invasion would be more than five.”
“No sir. So if you are going to say we’d have wanted to deal with them fast so we could fight the others then I’ll not argue with that either,” the Guard agreed before adding. “Nor that though we’d prefer prisoners the safety of the civilians would matter more, which would be another reason to deal with these fast.”
“So thou art lucky, as well as stupid,” said Princess Luna to the still floating Unicorn. “More of thy blood and that of thy friends could be on the ground.”
“A lot more,” Joe sighed before nodding to the Guard again. “My apologies once more for the contraction of speech making it sound like I was suggesting you would be less restrained than I was.”
“No offence taken, sir.”
“Restrained?” protested the Unicorn, trying to squirm in the magical grip. “You bastard, you threw half a tent pole into my friend!”
Joe gestured at the tear in his shirt and waistcoat, beneath which he was starting to feel some pain. “And your other friend was trying to drive their horn into my chest…” He met the Unicorn’s eyes. “You were trying to drive your horn into me or trample me when Princess Luna snagged us!”
“You attacked us!”
“You were pretending to be Changelings and told Fancy Pants he’d see these Ponies suffer!” Joe roared with a mixture of pain and embarrassment and guilt over the tent pole throwing and anger at the hypocrisy and stupidity. “But I was still restrained enough you didn’t get this end of the tent pole…” He waggled the half still in his hand. “…in your guts rather than just the heel of my boot. And that I didn’t stab your other friend rather than hitting them with the side of the pole.”
“ENOUGH!” declared Princess Luna, the Royal Canterlot Voice making its appearance and making Joe’s roar sound like Fluttershy’s merest squeak. There was a brief silence before she continued in a more normal tone. “It is Our Judgement, as Princess and co-ruler of Equestria, that no blame shall attach to these four for their defence of others, but no credit since their actions were hasty. It is also Our Judgement that these five shall face no consequences other than what they have suffered this night and Our Hope that they learn from this the dangers of such ‘pranks’…” She paused to turn her head slightly and look at Joe. “Dost thou intend to keep hold of that all night?”
“Hmm?” Joe asked, then he looked down at his hand. “Oh,” he added with another slight bow, “of course, Your Majesty.”
As Princess Luna looked back more towards the floating Unicorn Joe also looked in that direction and as he met the Unicorn’s eyes he twirled the half tent pole around in his hand, something a lot easier with this than it would be with his stabbing spear, and with a short jerk threw it down into the ground hard enough to stay upright. The magic might have made him stronger, as it the Ponies and other creatures of this world, but soil was just as soft. Princess Luna noticed this byplay and had to suppress a small smile as the Unicorn twitched.
“The events of this night shall not lead to further conflict,” Princess Luna continued. “Our Judgement is clear on that. Any attempt by the four to seek glory from their victory shall draw Our Displeasure and that of Our Sister, any attempt by the five to seek revenge for their defeat shall bring punishment for their crimes…”
“Crimes?” protested the Unicorn before stammering. “Oh, my apologies for interrupting Your Majesty…”
“Crimes,” Princess Luna repeated. “Thou hast posed as enemies of thy country and sought personal gain from that pretence. That thy motives were ‘humorous’ rather than treasonous allows thy punishment to be merely thy injuries. But should thee disdain Our Mercy then thou shalt suffer Our Wrath. Understood?”
“Of… of course Your Majesty.”
“And thee?” Princess Luna asked, looking again to Joe.
Joe glanced to the others, who seemed happy for him to continue to be the focus of Princess Luna’s attention and the one speaking to her. Rarity and Rainbow Dash might two of those that had saved her from being Nightmare Moon, and Rainbow Dash had even been pranked by her one Nightmare Night, but there was a difference between personal and official attention.
“I feel there is no glory in this night…” Joe began to say.
“What?” protested Rainbow Dash. “We kicked…”
“Shush!” Rarity said, while Spike just tried to look innocent and harmless.
“We fought Ponies who were unprepared for any attack,” continued Joe, almost as much to Rainbow Dash as to Princess Luna, “and as stupid as the prank seems it does not seem stupid enough to warrant, as he put it, having half a tent pole thrown into you. So it is an embarrassment best forgotten, or rather best learned from since it could have been so much worse.”
“We still won,” Rainbow Dash grumbled softly, “I’m not embarrassed, outmanoeuvred that one and ‘wham’.”
“Then let it be so,” decreed Princess Luna, giving Rainbow Dash a look that made her stop grumbling and give a slight squeak. “These five shall receive treatment for their wounds and these four… I think it best you depart now.”
“So much for going to Pony Joe’s for Doughnuts,” Spike sighed.
“Though for my part you are still quite welcome,” said Fancy Pants, “and… to make things clear to you, Your Majesty.” He gave Princess Luna a deep nod, dipping his head as much as he could without bending his forelegs. “And to you,” he added, giving the Unicorn a scornful look as he raised his head. “I not only did not object to what these four intended I told them their help would be appreciated, and acted as first diversion for their attack. It was unfortunate their foes were pranksters rather than what they appeared, but they did act with my full approval.”
“So heard,” Princess Luna smiled, not immune to Fancy Pants’ charm, “and thy reputation for honour is proved once more as thee freely volunteer thy part despite the trouble it could cause thee.”
Fancy Pants smiled back to Princess Luna. “Hardly have let them take all the displeasure.” His monocle glinted as he looked again at the Unicorn. “Or let anyone think they could pursue a grudge against them without that involving me.”
The Unicorn ‘eep’-ed slightly at this unsubtle threat. Princess Luna had great power but she was constrained by this and her position and history. For her to take notice and act would be major politics and she might have needed more proof of grudge-following before she charged them with Treason. Fancy Pants on the other hoof had more subtle options available to him as well as more sources and connections throughout society, so he could more easily find proof and act on less. Assuming of course that he would wait for any proof as though Princess Luna had said she did not wish further conflict she had not specifically forbidden Fancy Pants from ruining them socially.
“Nonetheless,” Princess Luna nodded, “the four shall depart now.”
A flying chariot settled in to a landing and Joe felt a bit surprised that the Pegasi Guards pulling it had Bat wings. In some ways that made more sense as horses and bats were both mammals but even if bat wings were quite soft with their fine fur and flexible skin and flight feathers could be quite stiff and harsh he was still glad that Rainbow Dash had the wings she did. Even if she did take advantage of the ticking options they gave, or maybe because she did.
“Farewell to you then, and don’t worry… you’ll not miss much,” said Fancy Pants reassuringly. “Thanks to this fellow and his friends the night has been rather spoilt and I can see people leaving now Princess Luna has passed her judgement.”
“Leaving to gossip no doubt,” Princess Luna sighed, her gaze sweeping across the diminishing crowd.
“No doubt at all Your Majesty,” agreed Fancy Pants. He winked to Rarity with the eye without a monocle. “I’m not sure if this is as spectacular as the Grand Galloping Gala, but I expect Ponies will be all of a tizzy for a while.”
“Wonderful,” Joe grumbled. “And when Rarity invited me to come to your event I’d been worried I’d embarrass her.”
“And when I mentioned the gossip about Ponies being glad something dangerous had not been brought to Canterlot, rather than you, Miss Dash objected. Now I can see why.”
“To be fair if I am dangerous now I was not then,” Joe replied, not sure he liked that judgement. “I’ve had plenty of exercise the last few months and magic to aid my strength and speed to the same degree as you Ponies are born with.”
“Another fine story to be told!” exclaimed Fancy Pants delightedly. “But your chariot awaits.”
“Good to have met you,” Joe smiled, “I hope your next event goes more to plan.”
“As do I,” nodded Fancy Pants, turning away to organise the aftermath.
The quartet started walking towards the chariot and the Old Unicorn Mare took the chance to approach the floating Unicorn and start telling him how his mother would be ashamed of him, though she admitted his great-grandfather on that side might have done the same sort of stupid impulsive thing, he was a wild young Colt with little sense before he learned better…
Amused by this Rarity took a quick diversion to get Joe’s jacket and the bag with the rest of Rainbow Dash’s dress while Joe showed that fingers made a reasonable, if very coarse toothed, comb. Rainbow Dash seemed to appreciate having her mane combed out this way to remove the last remnants of the styling and bring it back to its natural state and to be disappointed when Rarity returned and Joe had to stop so he could carry his jacket and the bag. The quartet boarded the chariot as Princess Luna looked to the medical Ponies.
“Are thee ready?” Princess Luna asked.
What seemed to be the head medic glanced to the others and seeing no objections nodded. “Yes, Your Highness.”
Princess Luna concentrated and the glow that had been surrounding her horn the whole time brightened with the extra effort to envelop not just the other four members of the ‘Changeling’ group, as well as their leader, but the medical teams as well. With a flap of her wings she took off, easily supporting a dozen Ponies in the five separate glows of her magic. The Unicorn seemed glad to be going up and away from the Old Unicorn Mare and her effort to work through every member of his family she had known in her long life and their probable reactions to his deeds of the night. Deprived of her target the Old Unicorn Mare nodded to the four in the chariot and then bustled off to tell her friends all about everything.
“Oh my!” Rarity breathed as Princess Luna rose with her ‘burden’.
“That is impressive,” agreed Joe.
“Sit down back there, please,” one of the bat-winged Guards asked, looking back over his shoulder at the chariot he wanted to get started on pulling.
“Of course,” smiled Rarity.
There were no chairs or benches so Joe sat cross-legged on the chariot floor, his back resting against the side of it, and seeing the lap being provided Rainbow Dash decided to take advantage of this and join the jacket already lying across it. She snuggled her front half onto Joe and rested her head against his chest, the corner of Joe’s eye twitching slightly as she leaned against where his shirt and waistcoat was torn and he felt a twinge. But despite that slight pain, that confirmed he’d been caught by the horn, it was cosier having her there than not so he did not protest.
“Yes, very impressive magic,” Rarity said, continuing the admiration of Princess Luna. “I had enough trouble carrying that many bags at once, was how I met Fancy Pants when I literally walked into him.”
“He seems glad of that,” nodded Joe, “so good thing you didn’t have Luna’s power or a power ring.”
“A what?” Rarity asked.
“Humans can decorate their fingers,” replied Joe, raising his left hand to wiggle the fingers on that rather than the right, since that hand happier where it was on Rainbow Dash’s back, “by sliding jewellery on them.”
“I suppose that makes up, a little,” Rarity mused, “for not having tails to style and decorate. Though this jewellery would have to be quite small?”
“Small, but can be elaborate. Men’s rings more in having the metal be engraved or be more complex a shape than a simple band, Ladies’ rings with different gems and settings.”
“Hmm,” frowned Rarity. “I wish you had mentioned this before.”
“Probably fortunate I didn’t,” Joe smiled, “as you giving me a ring would have been more confusion.”
“Why in Equestria would that matter?”
“It wouldn’t really, I’d have assumed it was a friendly gift, but I would have been tempted to tease you since offering someone a ring is a traditional part of a proposal of marriage.”
“Offering…a… ring,” Spike said, pretending to take notes, “… check!”
“Oh,” blinked Rarity, “but why a ring?”
“Necklace can be under a collar, bracelet inside a sleeve, but hands are generally seen and…” Joe raised his left hand again. “can be shown.”
“Need some way to mark you,” murmured Rainbow Dash. “Maybe a crystal sphere.”
“That sounded threatening,” Joe commented, “and I’ve not noticed any special jewellery on Mr or Mrs Cake.” Rainbow Dash chuckled at his words. “And now I really am scared,” he continued, “throw myself out of the chariot if I had a parachute, and if she couldn’t fly, and if I wasn’t comfy.”
“And, more important, if she wasn’t comfy,” smiled Rarity, Joe nodding at the truth of this. “But, you said a ‘power ring’?”
“One of the heroes I mentioned who is like Mare-do-well…”
“Or Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity, “she can perform much the same deeds as Mare-do-well did in her brief career.”
“So even more like that modern hero version of Thor,” Joe nodded, “but one of the sort of ‘powers’ is to have a magic ring…” He paused as he remembered his earlier battle cry and that the man with that sort of ring and the feisty winged girl had been romantically involved in that cartoon. Perhaps that was what made him think of the rings in connection with Princess Luna’s magic. Deciding that was irrelevant he continued. “And one of the things those can do is envelop things in a glow and carry them. So if debris is falling… snag it all at once. That sort of thing.”
“One of the things?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Well if you can lift something else then you can put a glow around yourself and fly.”
“Twilight can do that,” Spike nodded.
“Landing now,” the bat-winged Guard that had spoken before said, surprising them as it had taken a lot longer on the train.
“Okay,” said Joe, glad for the interruption as he didn’t want to talk about the ways the rings could be used to fight.
But it had been the truth when he’d said he was comfy so he was not glad to be losing Rainbow Dash from his lap and she seemed reluctant to disentangle herself as well. The chariot swooped down to land in a thankfully deserted Ponyville street. It was not that late as the event had been scheduled to allow people to get home, and that it had been less than half over when it was interrupted and the chariot was so fast meant it was even earlier. But the residents of Ponyville seemed to keep country rather than city hours.
Once Rainbow Dash had finally got up the motivation to move they stepped or hopped, in the case of Spike, down from the chariot and Rarity gave the two Guards another smile. “Our thanks to you both.”
“Our pleasure miss,” the other Guard said, breaking his silence. They trotted forward a little to gain some speed as their bat wings beat and then they and the chariot curved up to be lost in the night sky.
“I’d offer to walk you home,” Joe smiled to Rainbow Dash, “but I doubt you are going to walk.”
Rainbow Dash smiled back and then this became a grin as she leapt with a single wing beat up into Joe’s arms to kiss him soundly. He was not as surprised as the first time so despite the bag and jacket he was carrying he caught her better, and the few days to get used to the idea made this feel less strange. But that was different from not feeling strange at all, things were getting towards glowing rather than just smouldering but still not catching fire. Glowing was more than good enough though to keep the kiss going for a while. Rainbow Dash disengaged and flapped back a little to hover and look into Joe’s face, smiling again at what she saw.
“Goodnight Joe, pleasant dreams.”
She winked and streaked back and away into the night sky, as her path curved flying on her back for a moment before she rolled, and managing to leave a rainbow trail even in the moonlight. Joe could feel a distinct prickle on his cheeks and forehead and wondered if he was blushing too noticeably. The kiss would have been enough, the breathy voiced comment even more, and the audience to both an extra bonus.
“Wow. I am impressed,” Spike commented. He turned to Rarity and exaggeratedly puckered up, she chuckled and kissed him on the cheek. “Aw!”
Joe smiled, it was obvious that Spike was not actually disappointed. “Goodnight you two.”
“Wait, I’ll take those for cleaning and storing,” Rarity said, horn glowing and bag and jacket floating away from Joe. “Goodnight Joe”
“Night Joe,” echoed Spike.