//------------------------------//
// CH: 3, The Train Ride 
// Story: New Royalty: Two Princes' Journey into Equestria 
// by Praeco Nigrum 
//------------------------------//

“Hey Devin where are ya!” Cory called as he and Celestia were making their way through the castle.

"Excuse me sir, I believe they are in the garden" said a pegasus guard.

“Thank you, my good sir… we shall be off!” Cory grinned as he picked up Celestia, eliciting a slight ‘eep’ from her, and slung her over his shoulder, letting her face the front.

"This is a bit undignifying" Celestia muttered.

“I am undignified!” he yelled, eliciting a giggle from ‘Tia.

“And awaaaaay we go!” And he took off like a rocket, right for a window, “Hold on tight ‘Tia!” Celestia's only response was "ahhhhh!" As they flew out the window.

“Weeeeeeee!” was they flew through the air.
When they landed on the ground, they spotted Devin hugging Luna in a tight embrace, and she looked extremely happy, so of course Cory had to ruin the moment by yelling out something completely awkward.

“... now if I didn’t know better I would say this was inappropriate conduct…” Cory was trying to hold back his laughter as he talked.

"Do you know what privacy is Cory?! We were having a moment!" Devin yelled back.

“Nope, I have never minded in all my life, so please continue to feel up the Princess!” Cory finally let out his laughter as Celestia fell off his back, joining him.

At that Luna let go of Devin rather reluctantly and he stormed over to Cory.

"Listen Mr donkey's behind, I might take things slow and be a nice guy, but I prefer it that way. I'm not like you, I don't do one night stands" Devin said coldly.

"I will place my size 13 boot so far up your flank you will taste the leather! Now get back here so I can hit you!” Cory yelled as he chased after Devin.

"No way! I ain't that stupid!" Devin said as he galloped into the thick of the garden.

Celestia and Luna then sat next to each other and started to talk.

“Did he just say his shoes were made of leather?” Luna asked her sister, not entirely sure of what he said.

"I believe he did. But I'm pretty sure its not any kind of major animal" Celestia replied.

“I hope so… It just sounds strange that he would wear another animal as foot protection…”

Just then, they saw an object flying towards them. They stared at the object and Celestia was readying her magic when they realized it was Devin.

"Yee haw! Looks like I figured these out!" Devin yelled happily as he flew around the princesses using his wings and landed after a quick victory lap. 

They then saw another object fly towards them… it just so happened to be a giant fern from the garden.

"Oh dear" Celestia said as the tree hit Devin square in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

“Fuck you Devin and your damned wings!” Was the shout they heard after it crashed on top of Devin. “That’s right, I got magic BITCH and I ain’t afraid to use it!”

"The sooner I learn some magic myself, the better protected I will be" Devin muttered from under the tree.

A red glow then enveloped the tree and it lifted off of Devin, Cory was then seen walking out of the garden with his arm outstretched. “Better man?” Cory bent down and grabbed hold of Devin’s front hooves and pulled him to his feet.

“Next time I think I'll try that maze I saw" Devin muttered.

“Yeah you do that!” He chuckled, he had looked at the maze and deemed it too much of a hassle to mess with.

"Or maybe by then I'll know how to teleport and a few other good spells to keep myself safe" Devin said.

“Well, that will be a test for the ages… but for now… me and Celestia must bid thee adieu… we’re going to Ponyville

"So soon? Well, good luck and have fun, but not to much fun" Devin said with a wink.

“We wish the same to both of you…” Celestia said with a wink, “We are leaving both of you in charge while we’re gone… Have fun!” she giggled at the blushes growing on their faces, Cory just chuckled and walked over to stand next to ‘Tia.

"Both of us?" Luna and Devin asked, perfectly synchronized and with incredulous tones.

“Yep, I suggested it… kind of, and Celestia decided she needed a break and that you two could use this time to get to know each other better.” They both smiled at Luna and Devin’s consternation.

"Works for me. Just remember you're there to learn magic, not flirt with any local barmares" Devin said.

"I'll keep him away from those quite efficiently" Celestia said, giving Cory the eye.

“Yeah… I already have more incentive than needed to NOT do something like that, thank you very much!” Cory replied with mock indignantly.

"Really? Then what was up with all those barmaids in London? You know, the three or four that came back with you to the hotel room next door to mine" Devin asked with a mischievous grin.

“...... I will skin you and wear you as a coat Devin… So help me god I will…” He deadpanned to Devin, “And for the record… they drugged me and pulled me in there… I was trying to get you to come help me out of that mess…”

"I thought you wanted everypony to like you and that you didn't’want to be feared. That would not send the right message at all" Devin said with a devilish smile while Luna tried hard not to giggle.

“Yes… but you are a special case my friend… oh so very special indeed….” He smiled tightly, barely hiding the malice in his voice.

The two mares next to them were astonished by the amount of threats being tossed between the two of them… but mostly by the threats made by Cory, he was starting to annoy Celestia with his descriptive crap.

"Don't worry, I don't think I'm special enough to be in that position" Devin said as he flared his wings and looked like he was going to charge at Cory.

“Bwuahahahahaha!” Cory busted up laughing and fell to the ground, the smile on Devin’s face gave it all away to the other the princesses and they started making growling noises at their friends.

"Just get going. We have better things to do then listen to this nonsense!" Luna said.

“Fine we’ll leave you be, just as long as we come back and there aren’t any mini HIM’s running around the place!” Cory jabbed a finger accusingly at Devin and laughed.

"That would be physically impossible Cory. The cycle takes a while and the mare in question would have to be in her heat cycle" Luna said indignantly. 

“...you don’t know that… we could be gone for months!” Cory laughed even harder, soon being joined by Celestia. she couldn’t understand it, but the Cory was able to make her laugh like no other stallion before him.

"If you're gone that long, then there'll be mini YOU's running around" Devin retorted, jabbing Cory in the gut with his hoof

“...MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYBEEEEEEEEE… But you don’t know that!” Cory laughed even harder.

"I don’t want to know, either" Devin groaned as he smacked himself in the face with his hoof.

“Alright guys, our train is going to leave soon, and we were going to grab Rainbow and Silent before we left… So we will see you both later.” Cory sighed and tugged on ‘Tia’s mane slightly to signal it was time to go.

"Well, I hope you actually learn something for once" Devin said truthfully as they began walking away.

“Hey, I’m the leader of my country, of course I'll learn something new!” He chuckled and closed the double doors behind them.

"That's always your excuse. Besides, you don't rule a country right now" Devin pointed out as he and Luna walked down the hall away from the doors.

“True, but that might change in the future!” He said as he winked at Celestia.

"I hate to burst your bubble Cory, but if he marries Luna, then we ALL would be ruling Equestria" Celestia said.

“And that would be completely fine with me, he’s like my brother anyway, so why not actually be my brother, but in law?” He said, being completely truthful.

"I almost think this is working out a little to well" Celestia said happily.

“Eh, things will happen, but we will just make the best out of it… Right?” He looked over at Celestia, not entirely enthused about having to face hardships of the romantic kind.

"I honestly don't think it could be better. And I'm happy for all of us, my sister especially. She was so lonely after she returned..." Celestia said as her mind drifted.

“Returned? When did she leave?” Cory asked confused by what she said.

"Well, I'll explain the best I can. You see, about a thousand and three years ago to be exact, my sister became jealous of how ponies flourished and enjoyed the daytime and did nothing but sleep during the night. She became so jealous that her anger turned her into a completely different pony, and she gathered an army and attempted to take total control of Equestria by force" Celestia said.

“Hmm… I can understand her feelings… But please continue” He saw that his questions should wait till the end.

"In the final days of the war, she stormed Canterlot with what remained of her army, but they were defeated, and I was forced to banish Luna to the moon until she could be purged of the anger that became known as Nightmare Moon, or sometimes referred to as The Nightmare. After waiting a thousand years, a group of six ponies used the Elements of Harmony and purged the darkness from my sister's heart, and ever since she has struggled to get ponies to like and accept her, though the servants and guards accepted her almost immediately" Celestia explained.

“I’m so sorry… I wish we could have helped… But she was Sealed for HOW long?!” Cory looked at her in disbelief, that would make Celestia and Luna over a thousand years old… How long do they live?

"It took a thousand years before a group of six ponies emerged that had the potential to wield the Elements of Harmony" Celestia said sadly.

“Wow… I must say… my world has had some pretty bad experiences with tyrants and dictators… But to be turned on by your sister and have to wait for a thousand years… not many things compare to that kind of tragedy….” Cory sighed, thinking back to the last world war and how he had lost his great grandfather and later grand father to the war.

"There is only one thing that was ever worse. I once had an immortal friend, one that I even considered a brother, but he turned on Luna and Myself and we were forced to remove him from normal society. It was a heartbreaking loss worse than that of Luna's" Celestia said sadly.

“Sounds like hitler and stalin in some ways…”He smirked at the memory of the two murderers.

"Who?" Celestia asked.

“Hitler and Stalin were two leaders from before either I or Devin were born… Hitler had created this regime called the Third Reich, and he made the country of Germany, one of our neighbors, a very prosperous land… Stalin was a ruler over a country similar to Germany, named Russia,... they both were dictators… they ruled with iron fists and no one could stand against them… they both created mass genocide against their own people and a people named the jews… killing hundreds of millions of people… But the thing is, they were friends… very close and dangerous friends… at one point in the second World War Hitler betrayed Stalin and and killed hundreds of thousands of Stalin's men and other citizens… leaving none alive in their wake.”

"Well, surely somepony stood up to them. Otherrwise you would have grown a terrible world" Celestia said.

“Yes, many countries stood up to them… mine and Devin's being chief among them… we were but the smallest of pests to his armies… they had hundreds of thousands of men… we had mere thousands… we barely had a chance against their war machine… but once the Americans joined the war we started to beat the back.”

"Americans...that seems like a familiar name...but I can't place from where" Celestia said, pondering over where she might have heard it before.

“They were a country from across the sea, covering over a few hundred thousand miles of land… they were THE world power next to Germany and Russia. They had joined the war under terrible circumstances… they had lost most of their fleet and were already fighting a nation called Japan… but Hitler declared war on them… which made them join us in the war effort… but after four years we had beaten germany back and finally called a truce and peace treaty…”

"I am really upset now. I feel like this is familiar..but I can't place where I could have come up with this information" Celestia said in a severely confused tone of voice.

“Well, you might have heard it from Devin… but  doubt it…” Cory shrugged.

"Very doubtful, you two have only been around for a short while, and he has spent most of his time with... Luna" Celestia said.

“hmm, I don’t know ‘Tia… but I can assume we will be able to find out some time in the future…”

"Wait a second... Luna said something about seeing another dimension from the moon, and watching its history take place through a telescope she had conjured up" Celestia said, realization dawning on her.

“Really? sounds interesting…” Cory tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Oh my goodness, Luna told me of these things during the time after she returned from the moon, but I was too happy to pay close attention" Celestia said.

Cory looked at her strangely and sat down on a chair, “What exactly do you remember her telling you about this alternate dimension…”

"There were many groups of people who traveled throughout the lands, and as the lands shifted they ceased to travel from certain places by foot. And eventually some of these wandering groups settled down, and eventually died out mysteriously" Celestia said, recalling what she could remember.

“ah… I know what she saw…. and I’m surprised she saw that at all….” Cory chuckled.

"What did she see?" Celestia asked curiously.

“She saw the beginnings of the human civilisation… many thousands years ago in my world, around twenty thousand years or so… maybe longer… but that’s what it sounds like she saw.” He shifted in his seat to get a better look at ‘Tia.

"And I also remember her saying that she witnessed these creatures create marvelous things. Things that projected, and things that moved quickly through the streets, and they even began launching things to the moon, but none of the creatures ever came to the dark side of the moon where she resided" Celestia recounted.

“Hmm…. if that is true…. then SHE is the reason we did not go… we had scanned the moon at one point and found that there were structures on it… so we deemed it necessary to stay on the light side where we could keep a better eye on our men.” Cory explained a possibility of what had really happened.

"Structures? Luna can become shadow and vapor, she can reside in the thinnest crevice, she never had any sort of structures on the moon" Celestia said.

“yes, large crystal structures… several hundred feet tall… then we were right… there was something else happening in our galaxy…” Cory laughed.

"Large crystal structures, several hundred feet tall?" Celestia asked in a concerned tone.

“Yes… they were of such clarity that one could not see them when up against something…. like the night sky or the ground…” Cory explained.

"Oh my...so that's where he hid it" Celestia muttered.

“Who, and what?” Cory asked.

"You remember how I told you my niece ruled over The Crystal Empire?" Celestia asked.

“Yes… how does that help this?”

"Before my niece took over rule of the empire. It was ruled be an evil king named Sombra. My sister and I defeated him after we heard news that he had enslaved the population of the empire. But as we banished him to the snow and ice of the frozen north, he made the entire empire disappear. I now have reason to believe he teleported it onto the moon and froze it within a time spell to protect it until he returned" Celestia explained.

“Pft, an evil king named sombra… sounds like a play on Sombrero Haha!” cory chuckled, “But he sounds like a piece of work…” he sneared at the thought of such a being.

"He was. And after my niece defeated him, she and her husband took the throne and have presided over the empire since" Celestia said.

“I thought you said you had defeated him?!” Cory asked completely confused.

"Apparently, the spell was slightly disconfigured, and instead of sealing him In a tomb of ice, it turned his body into shadow and emptiness" Celestia said.

“hmm… sounds like the soul of many a dictator from my world…” Cory chuckled at the poor joke, “But that sounds like it had it’s drawbacks…”

"The only good thing was that there was a time spell placed upon the empire, so the ponies within it did not age or die, they were merely stuck in time, waiting for the spell to wear off" Celestia said.

“That’s a saving grace… but I bet they didn’t completely understand the new world that they came back to.”

"It actually went quite smoothly. They were a bit isolated in the north anyway. The only difference was tourists and technology" Celestia said with a smile.

“HA! I guess that made it interesting for a while.” Cory said plainly. 

"It was rather...amusing, watching the crystal ponies and their attempts at using modern technology at first. A few of them had minor heart attacks when they saw what has been accomplished since their time" Celestia said, smiling slightly.

“I bet it was… we have had many instances with the tribal peoples of my world… some of them have never changed from how they lived when their people first came into being.” Cory laughed at remembering some of the faces of the tribes when they saw a tractor or a phone for the first time.

"A tractor, a phone? What are these things you speak of?" Celestia asked.

“Did you just read my mind?” Cory asked, flabbergasted.

"Oops, you weren't supposed to know I could do that..." Cestia said with a small blush.

“Ha! hahahaha! That’s Awesome!” Cory laughed and cheered.

"Really? Most ponies hate it when I read their mind and find out their true intentions" Celestia said.

“Hey, if I don’t guard my thoughts then the are just begging to be read! Haha!” He laughed, he had left his mind unguarded and open to anything that wasn’t his own.

"That’s good to know. I generally feel bad about reading ponies' minds" Celestia said.

“It’s fine ‘Tia, I just need to guard my thoughts closely if I don’t want them to be read.” Cory sighed and embraced the slightly distraught mare.

"Oh my gosh! We need to get going or we're gonna miss the train!" Celestia said as she jumped up and they ran down the hall towards Silent and Rainbow's rooms.

“OH SHIT! LET’S GO!” He yelled, he picked up Celestia and ran for the train station.

______________________________________________________________________________


“I wonder what we should do now?” Devin asked as he and Luna walked down the main hall.

“I can think of something…” Luna said with a twinkle in her eye.

“If you’re thinking about what I think you are, we probably shouldn’t. I know you have been lonely for a long time but that’s rushing in way too fast and something could happen that we would regret” Devin said.

“I wasn’t referring to that. I want to get to know you better first anyway, and that’s what I was going to suggest. We could go out to a relatively well known club and get to know each other better” Luna said.

“That doesn’t sound too bad. But won’t more than a few ponies notice if two Alicorns walk into a club, especially when one is a princess?” Devin asked.

“Half the ponies in the bar will be drunk and they won’t remember us even being there. And if anypony cares that badly, they’ll just think we’re two Alicorns out on a date” Luna said with a shrug.

“Works for me, this is as good as a date anyway” Devin replied.

“Really?!” Luna asked excitedly.

“I don’t see why not” Devin replied.

“Okay, then let’s go!” Luna said as she grabbed Devin’s hoof and slightly dragged him down the hall towards the kitchen.

“Why are we in the kitchen?” Devin asked.

“Because there’s a secret exit here in case of fires. Nopony will know we even left. The exit comes out on the far side of the castle and there isn’t much over there except for the mountainside and a few houses” Luna explained.

“Hmm...smart and attractive” Devin muttered just loud enough for her to hear, causing her to blush as she opened the fire escape in the back of the kitchen.

“Its a slide? I think this will be rather enjoyable” Devin said happily.

“Its to keep it from being used as a way INTO the castle. It’s a one way exit” Luna explained.

“Do you want me to go first so I can catch you at the bottom?” Devin asked.

“I would love that” Luna replied happily.

“See you at the bottom” Devin said as he jumped onto the slide and zoomed down rather quickly.

As Devin went down the extremely twisted and bumpy slide, he realized what made it a one way exit. Nopony could ever climb up it, and there wasn't enough space between the ceiling and the slide to fly upward.

Devin finally found himself at the bottom of the slide, and he quickly turned at the perfect time to catch Luna in his forehooves.
"Wow, I must say, that was fun. And the end of the ride was the best part" Luna said happily.

"Oh, this will be just the beginning of the best part" Devin said as he lead her out a small wooden door and out into the mountainside next to a few houses.
______________________________________________________________________________

The three ponies, and one human, had made it just in time for their trip to Ponyville. Rainbow and Silent had taken up residence in one of the open air carts towards the back of the train, they were a new invention used to make long trips for pegasi much more enjoyable… letting them fly during long trips. Celestia and Cory had gone to one of the dining cars to ‘talk’ more about what they might be doing in the future.

“And then he dropped the soap!” Cory cried he laughed so hard, Celestia was sitting there, not completely understanding what the joke ment, but laughed nonetheless.

“Dear GOD that was bad… but it’s nothing compared to when we got kicked out of our plane… OH my GOD that was horrible!” Cory chuckled and barely contained his tears.

“Why is that?” Celestia asked, a gracious smile plastered to her muzzle.

“Oh ho ho… WE were going on a skydiving trip to about 70,000 feet… well we got to about 45,000 feet… we had made a few comments about the skill of the last dive instructor we had… well it turned out he was the pilot’s brother… so we, along with the other twenty-eight people on the plane made an emergency dive when he started to threaten to crash the plane with us on it… he wasn’t exactly all there…” Cory snickered as he recalled the threats and whatnot the pilot had issued towards himself and the other passengers.

“My goodness, and he was just going to kill all of you!?” ‘Tia asked incredulously

“Yep, but we all jumped out and got to safety, but while we were falling we had done some really funny things!” Cory chuckled, “We had… made some very interesting… shapes… while we were gliding through the air…. like a giant ferris wheel… at one point we all made a mock flight battle, we had all made sure to be padded for just such an occasion, and we flew around like we were fighter jets and slammed into each other… we all had a blast, even if our pilot was a prick… and we all landed safely… though me and Devin kind of crashed through a barn door and into a giant pile of hay… that was kind of awkward when the farmer came out and started laughing at us…” Cory sighed, a good sized smile adorning his face.

“You’re crazy Cornelius… both of you are… How can you be so calm talking about falling out of a flying vehicle forty-five thousand feet up and crashing into a barn!”Celestia exclaimed.

“Well… we weren’t… we were scared out of our minds… but looking back on it we could laugh at how close we had gotten to death… it gives both of us a sort of perspective in life… ‘Cherish what you have…’ thats what it taught me…” Cory smiled as he leaned back in the booth. They had sat down towards the end closest to the engine. The view of the hills and mountain peaks dashing by was grand, it helped both of them settle into a comfortable air to talk.

“You had mention a ‘World War’ earlier… Cory… does your home have wars often…?” Celestia was slightly intrigued with what his answer might be… she wanted to know more about the place he came from and what it might have had in the way of influencing his life growing up.

“Sadly… yes… there is always a war raging somewhere on my planet… and the war I had told you about was the ‘Second World War’ there was one before it… both of them were the cause of millions of my kind killing each other over bits of land and resources… and that was around 70 years ago… but even now we have a war what seems every other day or so… but everyone just tries to ignore it and just pitch in whenever they can… It’s kind of why neither of us want to leave this place… there hasn’t been a war declared the entire time we have been here and it just looks so peaceful…” Cory sighed, he turned sideways in his seat and leaned up against the wall, getting extremely comfortable.

“... just ignore it? And millions died? How can your people be so cold to that kind of bloodshed?” Celestia leaned forward, pressed her snout up against Cory’s cheek and stared right into his right eye, not breaking contact.

“Well… when you hear about different conflicts erupting every day… you kind of become hardened against such depressing news… But yes millions… there are over Seven billion people on my world… we have an almost unlimited amount of soldiers for our armies… making wars last for years and years at a time… but we still manage to end them peacefully… sometimes…” He sighed again and closed his eyes, not wanting to continue the current train of thought.

“Well then… might I ask how you have dealt with being thrown into our world so well? I mean really, you have shown very little in the way of mania or any other delirium since being here… so, how?” Seeing that he was not going to continue his previous conversation, Celetia had asked him about his well being, she was truly interested in how he was coping with a new world and a different set of sentient species.

“Well, at first my mind was just going into a ‘Fuck-it we are just going to roll with it’ mode but seeing as that kind of got me in trouble… I took over and just came to terms with it, and it’s not like this place is bad and what not… it’s just different and about a hundred times better than earth.” Cory turned his head to her and smiled proudly.

“Um… thank you Cory…” ‘Tia blushed, she was grateful that he didn’t want to leave, and that he loved her country so much… it made her heart flutter.

______________________________________________________________________________
"So where's the club at?" Devin asked as they walked down the road.

“OH, on the rotunda down by the water falls…” Luna replied with a mischievous smile.

"That sounds like a great location" Devin replied enthusiastically.

“It has a grand view of the plains and hills.. Especially when the sun sets and the moon crests over the horizon.” 

"Sounds a lot like a place I know from my world" Devin said as he looked towards the sky.

"Really? Did you like that place?" Luna asked.

"I loved everything about it. And the best part was watching the moon rise directly over the waterfall" Devin sad as he sighed, lost in memory.

"Is everything okay?" Luna asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine but, I gained a lot of pain one day as I sat there, staring at the stars" Devin said sadly.

"Why, what happened?" Luna asked with a worried tone.

"One day...me and my family went swimming there...and there was a horrible accident..." Devin said.

"Oh dear, what happened?" Luna asked.

"While I was swimming, there was something in the water, some sort of mutant beast, and it followed me back onto land. Later, while I sat beside my family under the stars, the beast attacked, and it bit off my right arm from the elbow down" Devin said as he lifted his right hoof.

"But you have it again now, aren't you happy?" Luna asked him.

"No, I've never had it" Devin replied sadly.

"You're not making any sense, what is that then?" Luna asked as she pointed at his right hoof.

"It is a fake, a very realistic fake. It is sturdy plastic mixed with metals and machinery to form a moving, and very realistic seeming, hand. Or hoof in this case now" Devin said as he stared at the prosthetic hoof.

"But it looks so real, and it feels extremely real" Luna said as she reached out and touched it with her hoof.

"It was made by the best people my father could hire. And it is so life like that even I didn't remember it was fake, until I heart the slight metallic ringing that came from it as a was flattened by the tree Cory threw at me" Devin said sadly.

"Wow...that's sad. But at the same time, if you can forget that it is fake, doesn't that mean you were too happy to notice?" Luna asked lightly.

"I suppose you're right" Devin replied, his expression brightening ever so slightly.

"And I'm sure if we go visit those falls and watch the sunset tonight, you'll feel very happy again" Luna said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"I already am very happy" Devin said as he turned to her, a big smile plastered on his muzzle.

"Really? That's great! But how did you become happy so quickly?" Luna asked.

"Because I have you at my side, and I've never felt as happy as I have been in all my life" Devin said as he began walking closer to Luna as they continued in the direction she had pointed.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that" Luna said as she smiled up at him as they continued to walk.

"You know, all my life I've lived without actually living. Do you know what I mean?" Devin asked.

Luna was slightly startled by the question. "I'm not totally sure. Would you please enlighten me?" 

"I've lived without loving, and I've lived without trying to find love. Cory always said that I needed to try to be more like him when it came to women, but I never agreed. The truth is I've never even been with someone. I've always sat back and let Cory have all the fun. But now, I've found love in the most unexpected of places" Devin said as he looked at Luna again with his large smile.

"You are referring to me, right?" Luna asked.

"What in the world makes you think I wouldn't be referring to you?" Devin asked, but when he saw the smile on her face he knew she was joking.

"Well, I'm glad that you're so happy. And you actually said that you're in love with me" Luna said happily, supporting a slight blush.

"I'm proud to admit that. And the best part is that we can always be together since I'm an Alicorn" Devin said.

"I'm very glad about that, but what about Cory?" Luna asked.

Devin stopped dead in his tracks. Cory had magic, but that doesn't make him immortal. Suddenly Devin sat down on the ground with a look of deep look of concentration upon his face.

"There has to be something that can be done. I can't imagine life without Cory" Devin stated.

"I feel the same way about Celestia, but what can we do?" Luna asked.

"After our little date, we need to look into some magic so I can begin learning. And if there isn't some sort of immortality spell, I'll invent one" Devin said sternly as he rose from the ground as they continued walking.

"You would do that all for Cory?" Luna asked.

"If you were told you were going to live without Celestia after a certain point in time, wouldn't you try and do the same?" Devin asked.

"Of course, but immortality is not the same as immunity. An immortal Alicorn can still die of unnatural causes" Luna said.

"I already guessed that, actually" Devin replied with a small smile.

"How did you manage that?" Luna asked.

"Well, there aren't very many Alicorns as far as I can tell, so most of the population must have died off" Devin summed up.

"Wow, you came up with that just because there aren't many around?" Luna asked.

"Oh, and I'm thinking they might have died in some sort of war?" Devin said uncertainly. 

"Yes, they did. Are you good at guessing or did you know already?" Luna asked incredulously.

"I made an educated guess. But let's not dwindle in the past, we've got someplace to be" Devin said as he spotted the club up ahead and they trotted over to it. The distinct noise of loud dance music filled the air as they approached and the stallion at the door wearing a black overcoat and sunglasses nodded to us and opened the door for us as we went in.

"This will be awesome" Devin said as he saw all the ponies partying it up and not caring that Princess Luna was right there next to them.
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“Imperialis Derivative… Delirium Culpos dividium… Death and honor…” Silent groaned as he read one of the books that he had grabbed from the canterlot library. “Do you understand any of these words Dash?”

“Dude… I know less about that crap than I do about magic… and I don’t even understand half of what happens when Twi does her mumbo jumbo!” Dash waved her hooves around in the air, motioning her knowledge of nothing.

“...OK then…” Silent just shrugged and leaned against one of the many chairs in the car.

“I’m going to go check on the royalty… an’ make sure they don’t do anything stupid…” Both Rainbow and Silent guffawed at the thought of what she might see.

“Well, just make sure to close your eyes… you don’t want to be scarred for life do you?” Silent asked jokingly.

“Nope!” She laughed and took off towards the forward dining car.

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“OK, on three, we down our gasses… One… Two… THREE!” Cory and ‘Tia slammed back their cocktails, eliciting  choking noise from Celestia and a sharp laugh from Cory, “A little strong ain’t it!” He laughed heartily, a tear staining his eye.

“Yes… not exactly what I was expecting… but ooh that was good!” She smiled as she choked out another laugh.

“Well, we should be coming up on Ponyville soon… What do you wanna try now my Queen?” Cornelius asked smoothly, bowing slightly in her direction, his little act brought a blush to the princess’ white furred cheeks, gaining a smile from Cory in return.

“Well, maybe… we should figure out what each other likes… seeing as we have a fair amount of time left…” She smiled lightly at Cory, running a hoof up the side of his right arm, eliciting a cathartic smile from him.

“Well, if the Mi’lady insists…”He smiled and took her in his arms, leading them to one of the oen aired cars on the train.

“What would thee like to know first?” Cornelius asked, not caring for her wait in the slightest… she felt feather light to him.

“Um… How old are you… you speak of years with a slight encouraging amount of wisdom… but you look young…” ‘Tia pondered aloud to her ‘friend’.

“I am of the ripe old age of 22 my good lady… I have about oh… a hundred years left in me if i stay in perfect health…” He smiled to her, she was slightly shocked to hear that she might be able to spend that much time with him, usually ponies only lived for about 60 to 80 years before becoming Mentally infirm.

“How long does your people usually live for Cory?” She was highly intrigued by what she was hearing and wanted to know the full potential of his race.
“Well… roughly we can live from anywhere of 78 to 125 years… the average being the 78 and the longest being 125… but lately my people have been getting older and older as time marches on… genetics and DNA management has given us many tools to prolong our life times… I was among the first to receive such a set of genes from my families personal hospital.” HE thought back to his days of gene therapy… it was a dark time in his life… full of pain and misery for his body and mind.

“Oh my…” She cringed as she heard his thoughts… they weren't words but feelings… she could feel his torture from the gene therapy… it was mind boggling that he had lived through it.

“Yeah.. I can tell that you heard that… I’m sorry you had to hear that ‘Tia… please forgive my indiscretions….” Cory looked to the side to avoid her gaze, he thought that he had offended her in some way by not hiding those feelings as well as he should. But he was surprised when a hoof hooked around his neck and brought his cheek closer to her, what surprised him more was the feeling of lips pressing up against his cheek, blotting out a tear that had escaped his eyes.

“You will never offend me… not when you speak or think the truth… I will never forsake you…” Celestia then placed her forehead against his and held him close, letting their tears run down their faces, not caring who might see the two Royal giants in their most intimate of moments… 

Cory found them a seat on the next car down from them, it wasn’t an extremely large train… but it had it’s fair share of room on it. they sat there in each others arms, and forehooves, for what felt like ages, not straying from each others sides.

“My king… what will I ever do with you…” Celestia smiled as they both fell into a sweet slumber.

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*Steam release* “Hmm!” Cory and Celestia said at the same time, they got up so fast they slammed each other in the head with their own skulls. “OW….” they exclaimed at the same time, falling out of their chair.

“Well that was a pleasant wake up call… the rest however was heavenly…” Cornelius smiled devilishly at his now blushing counterpart, she was rubbing her forehead slightly as she looked at him… a smile slowly making its way across her face.

“Well… I'd say so too… but it seems our ride has come to an end…”  Celestia and Cory sighed at the thought of having to face the fanfare outside… But stopped when they saw the forms of Silent Rain and Rainbow Dash slouched against each other in one of the other booths in the air car. It was a cute sight, them both snoring as they were wrapped in each others arms.

“Should we wake them?” ‘Tia asked as she trotted over to get a better look.

“Naw, just put Rainbow on your back and I'll carry Silent… it may look a little weird but it will turn out better in the long run…” Cory shrugged and placed Silent over his left shoulder.

“Cory… thank you…” Celestia lowered her head and whispered into his ear as they walked.

“Thanks for what?” he was perplexed by her gesture, by the look on her face it was something she had been meaning to say.

“No one has ever just treated me as a normal Pony before… it’s always been ‘Princess this..’ or ‘Princess that’ or even ‘Yes my Princess…’ … but never anything like what you have done for me the last two days...holding me as your equal and nothing more… it’s… refreshing…” she smiled and leaned into him, not a care in the world.

“IT’s the least I can do ‘Tia… if one is not humble then one is not a true leader… and being treated as an equal has it’s advantages… like pranks and what not, if I treated you as my peer and not as my equal I would be loath to do anything to you… but I don’t so I’m not!” He smiled his most disarming smile and placed an arm around her neck as they made their way for the door.

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“Deaths door has been knocked upon… my friends… it has opened and we must now close it again… What will you do?” A pony, clad in midnight blue and grey armor spoke… there were hundreds of other ponies before him… each one was of a different breed and stature. He was among the largest, standing around five feet tall at the crown of his skull and four at his shoulders.

“WE WILL FIGHT!” They shouted back at him, not even wavering at what might become of their actions.

“WE WILL FIGHT TO THE END!” The leader shouted back, smile all the while. His men were ready… and the abominations that had landed in their home lands were now going to have over a thousand different reasons to watch their backs at night.

“Now go rest my brothers…. We will move against the Demon soon enough… He won’t know what hit him!” His men cheered, and after a few moments he raised a hoof to calm them, “Yes, go and rest… for in a few days we will march!”

The ponies filled out of the room, leaving only the pony that had been leading them through the speech.

“Soon my brothers… soon we will watch the Hu-Mane burn!” He laughed maniacally and left the large cavernous room.

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