//------------------------------// // Chapter 69 // Story: Forgiveness Pending // by Kiroberos //------------------------------// "Yes, yes I know, but do we really have to do this now of all times?!" I heard Twilight ask in a mildly annoyed tone somewhere in front of me and to the left. Heh, admittedly, this particular task I didn't exactly get the meaning of, but... "Twilight, you know what you said last night," Fluttershy reminded in return, softly but with a stern edge to her voice. Ah yeah, that had been exceedingly awkward. Fluttershy had been fine with trying to get Twilight to relax, of course, and watching those two kiss had certainly been, well, interesting for me. Sadly, the second I attempted to massage the lavender mare's shoulders during so, she freaked out bad enough to spin around and clock me in the side of the face with her hoof. I was fairly certain it was an accident, of course... Even after the horrified apology, it had effectively ended our 'experimentation' attempt about two and a half minutes in after we finally found the ice pack Fluttershy had brought along. I should practice pulling my armor up, even when I'm not expecting to be attacked. Actually, no, I should write a program that automatically did it for me based off incoming proximity momentum. Moving my left eye around a bit, I was pleased to note it completely restored. Thankfully, she'd ordered me a sizable bedtime snack afterwards, and I'd used the fuel and mass to rapidly regenerate myself. Another use of my cybernetics! Recovering me from my, uh, high-risk lifestyle... Yeah, that was it. Twilight groaned lightly and sighed before returning, "Yes, I remember. Try Rarity's trust building exercises, and then try again tonight, but at a much slower pace." Slower? What, we're we going to take a heated bath while discussing advanced magical theory and smiling at each other in a flirtatious manner for a few hours? Hmm. Actually, that didn't sound all that bad. Mares were fun to massage, too, I quickly realized. If I didn't apply my magic and just kept it low key, I just got to listen to their pleased murmurs and get the warm fuzzy feelings from making them feel better. Of course, mentioning that I'd technically gotten the training from my other self's combat medical training only needlessly complicated things, so that should be avoided. Hooves were harder to use than fingers, though! "Good! I just, um, don't want you giving up. Well, what I mean is, that wouldn't be the best for us as a herd, of course. I'm not trying to be bossy or, uh, tell you what to do! Um, I'm sorry if you think that," Fluttershy quickly apologized, apparently deciding to cover all of her bases. I resisted slapping my forehead and just stood there, polite and oblivious. It was easy enough to picture her expression, even if I couldn't see her through the thick blindfold I was wearing. Well, I could if I really wanted to, but Twilight made me promise not to cheat and use my scanners. She said I could cheat and use my armor, however, if I fell off anything on accident, however. "I don't think Twilight wants to give up, Fluttershy. She's just nervous. Although I'm not entirely sure how leading me around blindfolded is going to help," I admitted, scratching at the side of my head under the thick fabric. Why was it whenever you were denied access to an itch, it always felt so much worse? I 'felt' Twilight smile at that, as a tingle danced along the side of my head and her magic lightly scratched the spot instead, causing my tongue to hang out and my back leg to spasm a bit as I sighed contentedly, leaning into the motion. Oh, never mind! So much better... She giggled as I almost fell over when she stopped, and steadied me again. "It's simple. It's meant for you to boost your confidence and trust in me by having me navigate for you when you can't see. You'll realize I'm dependable and not going to let you get hurt!" she explained, and I could almost picture her nodding along to her own lecture, as if reciting it from a book. Or from Rarity, in this case. I frowned a bit at that, wondering what sort of obstacle course she had lined up for this. "Uh, and what do we do when I inevitably maim myself during this exercise?" I asked, hoping there was a trauma team standing by or something. Although Fluttershy was here, and she was close enough, I guessed. "That! That is what we need to fix! I'm not going to let you get hurt. You can trust in my abilities!" Twilight announced sharply, giving me a start. It wasn't neededly her abilities I didn't trust. That much I kept to myself, however. Just because she was capable of pulling apart- "Mender! Think fast!" I heard shouted in a distinctly Rainbow Dash voice from somewhere to my right. Huh?! Instinctively looking that way, I remembered very rapidly that I was technically entirely blind. Something light and rubbery impacted my face at extreme velocity a heartbeat later, however, with enough impact force to actually knock me back around and topple me over... Then I promptly fell down the flight of stairs we had been standing next to that went out into the inner Palace garden, thankfully popping my armor out as I went. Only my pride and dignity suffered damage by the time I crashed into the dirt just off the side of the path at the bottom of the stairs. "Rainbow! He's blindfolded!" Twilight screamed from somewhere below me. Err, above me? I felt like I was upside down, given the direction that gravity was going in. I tucked my tail up between my back legs for modesty and waited patiently for somepony to come and right me. There was a long pause, followed by, "Oh. Uh, my bad. Should I ask why he's blindfolded? I mean, I didn't think you two were into that sort of thing, especially not in the middle of the daylight in a public place." Uh, no. So much no. This was followed up with, "Ah! No, not the wings! Stop! I'm sorry!" Heh, I guess Twilight agreed with me. "Uh, I'm kinda upside down, I think. Could somepony at least turn me over before somepony gets a free glimpse of my unmentionable bits? Again?" I asked impatiently in the general direction I heard the horrified pleading coming from. The pleading stopped the second I asked of course, and I knew I instantly had Rainbow's attention, given the sudden interest that flicked down the link oh so momentarily. "You're not part of the herd, Rainbow. Thoughts to yourself... And on the mare you're after," Twilight reminded coyly before I heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs and wiggled my legs in the air to draw any attention towards me, just in case I fell into a bush or something and was hard to see. Not that I felt any shrubbery or anything around me, apart from what felt like an unfortunate flower that I had landed on. I hoped it wasn't expensive or exotic. Rainbow snorted but didn't reply directly as I felt Fluttershy reach me first, hooking onto my foreleg and helping pull me up and onto my legs again. That familiar feeling energy danced around me a second later and helped me stabilize as the lavender mare caught up. "Are you okay, Mender? Rainbow's compulsive assault didn't hurt you, did it?" Twilight asked, pointedly directing that last part right down the link towards the cyan pegasus, who felt like she was shifting closer through the air. I heard her wings beating as well as she touched down, and then a spike of irritation shot from her towards Twilight, in the form of a glare I guessed. "I didn't mean to knock you down the stairs! I didn't see that you were blindfolded until, uh, after I had sent the beach ball hurtling at your head. Sorry. Speaking of, AJ and I wanted to know if any of you were up for a friendly game of volleyball?" she inquired, sounding hopeful as she quickly changed the topic the second after her apology. Wait, why were they using a beach ball to play volleyball? I knew you could technically do it, but the dynamics would probably be off by- "Why are you using a beach ball?" Twilight asked, cutting off my inner contemplation by just cheating and asking. That was hardly as fun! There was a long sigh after that, and Rainbow revealed, "Rarity won't let us play with a volleyball while on Palace grounds. She says a beach ball is much lighter and softer, and less likely to destroy something valuable when we inevitably get 'wild' with it." "Like my face?" I suggested, raising an eyebrow to the mare before remembering she wouldn't be able to see it anyway. Dash snorted at that before outright laughing and adding, "Nah, I said 'valuable'!" Oh, ouch! Heh, that was a good one, and I'd walked right into it. "Hey! His face is very valuable. I happen to think he's a very handsome stallion, and given your actions over Estrus, I think you do, too!" Twilight accused pointedly. Oh hell. Please, please don't start talking about Estrus week! Rainbow squeaked, and I could practically feel her blushing from here, but Fluttershy cut both of them off with, "Oh, I agree. Mender is oh so handsome, and I wouldn't want him getting hurt, no matter where it was he was injured at. He's very important to us, Rainbow." Her voice was in a whisper, and sounded remarkably close. Practically right in front of- Her lips gently touched mine mid-nuzzle, and I sighed, pushing back lightly as her chest fur brushed along and mixed with my own. Her fresh, flowery scents entered my nose from this close, and I inhaled softly as I felt the wet of her nose bump up against my own as she giggled into the kiss. This I'd never get tired of. I loved everything about her, if I was honest with myself. Her warmth, her cute and almost musical voice, the kindness that almost seeped off her, the lovely smells that reminded me of a warm, spring day... She broke off and smiled against my muzzle, kissing my cheek softly before just resting her head in the crook of my neck against my shoulder. I relaxed and just held her close, realizing my forelegs had slipped around the smaller mare as she kissed me. I couldn't stop smiling, which I was suddenly self-conscious of, but felt happiness coming from both nearby mares, instead. Huh? "Okay, normally that kinda thing grosses me out, but that was kinda cute. Of course, I think Fluttershy makes everything cute," Rainbow admitted, snickering at her own realization. I smiled a little wider into the top of Fluttershy's head, unable to resist. "Not everything..." I corrected, half a second later. It was one of those things I immediately regretted saying due to my impulsiveness, but it was rather worth it as all three mares present immediately picked up my implication. Fluttershy squeaked, Twilight suddenly felt startled, and then, if the signal from Dash was accurate, Twilight was hit by a rapidly expanding cyan wing and knocked over. All three were bombarding me down the link with embarrassment, however, and I barely resisted laughing as I squeezed the fidgeting Fluttershy a bit tighter. "It's natural, Fluttershy," I whispered, down the link, quietly this time. At point blank range, I knew she'd hear it if anypony could. She relaxed ever so slightly against me a second later, indicating she had. "Whoa, Mender making a dirty joke?!" Dash exclaimed in disbelief, her eyes wide and wings still loosely expanded to each side of her, a light flush dancing across her cheeks. Twilight rolled her eyes after climbing out of the flower bed I had just landed in previously. "He's getting more comfortable with us. It's to be expected, given that he came from a different dimension and originally thought we cannibalized our males like some mantis or something," she remarked pointedly. I groaned and rolled my eyes under the blindfold. They didn't have to see the gesture to feel my mild annoyance. "You had to remind me of that. I didn't even know what I was, let alone anything about your culture. Plus, my only prior memories weren’t even mine, of a galactic war that was more than a little mind horrifying and mind numbing. I think I've improved quite a bit," I defended, flattening my ears down lightly. Fluttershy pushed into my chest again and nuzzled me, and I sighed. Okay, it was hard to stay grumpy with her being affectionate. Twilight giggled in front of me again and agreed with, "You have indeed come a ways, Mender. I was reminding you of where you started to illustrate that. You flirting with us now isn't just okay, but totally amazing, all things considered." Huh. Well, that was a weird thing to apply it to, but I could see her point, I thought. It was always hard to tell with Twilight, however. "Uh, right. Sorry, but this is the first time I've even seen him flirt. I'm glad to report that he definitely didn't return any of the affection sent his way during Estrus, no matter how, uh, uncool I got... Sweetie, too, of course," Rainbow reported, voice dropping heavily at the 'uncool' part. There was a sense of deep frustration from her, mixed with utter embarrassment somewhere akin to disgust. She was mad at herself, I suddenly realized. I shook my head before any of the others could say anything and interjected, "I said it was fine, Dash. I'm pleased that you're sincere and apologetic about it and forgave you, but you shouldn't keep beating yourself up over having a few slips. You had a lot of hormones shooting through you, and a ton on your mind with the race and your own feelings." If she was like me, being reminded about things would help. Rainbow hesitated, but I 'felt' Fluttershy smile, which I probably would never get entirely used to. Not that it was an unpleasant sensation, by far. "He's right, Rainbow. We knew you liked Mender, too, and while we told you that trying to squeeze in practice during Estrus with him was a bad idea, nothing really bad happened. You're our friend, and we know you better than that," the yellow mare added softly. There was no hesitation to her voice at all, and I knew she meant every word of that. There was a bit of surprise before I felt Rainbow relax. She needed to focus on practice and Applejack for now. I didn't know what the future held for her in regards to me, and I didn't particularly dwell on it all that much. It didn't feel right to distract her or myself from what should be our focuses right now, which for me was Twilight and Fluttershy. Sure, the mare was cute and her personality was very appealing, but we both had obligations elsewhere at the moment. I'd be delighted if I could see her happy with Applejack. Uh, not that I could see anything with the blindfold on. Yeah, focus on the present, Mender! "Thanks, everypony. I was seriously worried that you two were going to be super mad at me. Um, and thank you, Mender, for not freaking out on me as well. I think I got off lucky with the few launches into the lake. I'm gonna go play with AJ and Pinkie for a bit. Call if you need anything and, uh, good luck with whatever it is exactly you're doing..." Dash muttered, another brief bout of confusion as I felt her glance over at me again, probably at my blindfold. A light spasm of irritation shot through Twilight, and I started to realize how exactly high strung she was on a regular basis. She wasn't very good at relaxing... "I told you, Rainbow. Trust exercises! I lead him around blindfolded so he can gain trust in my navigation abilities, and me in general for being his eyes!" she yelped out rapidly. Dash started snickering, of course, and then inquired, "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm guessing you switch places afterwards, or something?" Oh, we hadn't discussed it that far, yet. I felt Fluttershy turn towards Twilight questioningly, but there was a burst of hesitation from the lavender mare instead. "Oh, uh, wait, why would we do that? Um, I trust Mender a lot already!" she stated. She did? Fluttershy felt momentarily bewildered before it shifted to apprehension instead. "Twilight, um..." she whispered, sounding rather uncertain. Idly, I kind of wished I could actually see, as facial expressions still read better to my mind than these raw feelings. "What?! I do! I trust Mender a lot!" Twilight attempted to assure, kind of doing the exact opposite given her somewhat suspiciously specific denial. Rainbow coughed lightly to draw everypony's attention back her way, and giving me a verbal cue of where she was again so I had a direction to look in, before suggesting, "That sounds exactly the opposite. To be fair, Twilight, you should probably partake in the trust exercises as well. If you truly trust him, it will benefit him regardless because it would show him, no?" I suddenly suspected she'd only pretended to not know what the blindfold was for to get under Twilight's skin... That was indeed a good suggestion. Of course, it also had the effect of, if Twilight had been bluffing, calling her on it and putting her in an awkward position. All three of us shifted back to her instead. Well, I did, and assumed the uncomfortable silence and tension from Twilight meant the others did as well. After a prolonged period of tension, she finally groaned out and agreed, with, "All right, fine! I'll do the trust exercises as well. I already trust Mender, so it's kind of pointless, but if it makes him feel better, then I'll do it." I suddenly had the sneaking suspicion this was going to go very poorly... * * * * * Okay, so 'fate' couldn't be tricked out with reverse logic, it would seem. Sighing, I carefully balanced on the board I felt under me, a bit uncertain given that I knew it was balancing out the window with only the support of a large table and bookshelf from inside the hall. Twilight realized that, given my natural level of rather high punishment endurance now, I didn't gain much confidence in her from having her escort me around like normal. So, this being Twilight Sparkle, she decided to up the ante a little and try catching me as I fell instead. Of course, off the lower balcony was easy, so the gain wasn't that great. Expounding upon that, I could fairly easily figure out why I was now balancing on a wooden plank propped out a window in the tower that was six stories off the ground. Most would wonder if this was a suicide attempt at a glance. Nope! Trust building! Of course, I didn't have the heart to tell her that this still wasn't particularly dangerous to me, and the higher up she got me just increased the amount of collateral damage whatever I happened to land on endured. At least she remembered to warn the guards not to wander underneath... Sighing, I listened to the wind drift past, daylight rapidly dwindling to night as I stood there, waiting for Twilight to tell me to blindly jump forward into open air, under the assumption she would catch me using her magic. Instead, I was treated to the bickering of her and Rarity down below over the 'misinterpretation' of technique, heard quite clearly courtesy of my enhanced ear cybernetics. Of course, I had to admit to being a little insane myself. Here I was actually going through with this plan just because I knew it would make Twilight happy. If I'd had my way, I'd be inside now instead, in Twilight's toasty room, working on my design for the dimensional link interceptor. Sighing, I scraped my hoof idly against the wood, wondering at exactly how long I had before it inevitably gave out from my weight. This was technically attempt three, with attempt one having the board fall out of the window before we could get the counter weight on it, and attempt two being Twilight chickening out at the last second, refusing to shout out ‘Ready’ as agreed. This gave Rarity time to find us, attracted by the noise of the first board splintering into the ground below. Twilight had secured the board with magic this time, so I had no doubt that the base would at least be securely attached until I jumped. Of course, that didn't protect it from snapping under my weight. I frowned a second later, the odd creaking I'd originally heard a minute or so ago shifting into a lower, slightly spread out pace. That wasn't creaking... Turning, I listened carefully to the enchantment at the other end of the board instead, hearing it tick ever so quietly in a slower and slower manner. What was this? What possible function would there be for Twilight's magic to make noise? Nudging my blindfold up ever so slightly, I peeked at the anchor point she'd put against the heavy table, noting the slowly rotating disk that seemed to tie the magic together on the top. Every time it shifted, it made a tick noise, which was beyond weird. Tying in an audible enchantment into your magic was usually meant to serve some sort of purpose, but there were no markings at all on it, and it seemed to be... The disk exploded an instant later, earning a yelp in surprise from me as the blast disintegrated my blindfold and sent me, and the remainder of the board, out the window while on fire. Was she trying to murder me?! I flailed as I rotated twice in midair, trying to center my gyroscope sensor and figure out how I was rotating so I could at least land with some dignity. Sadly, the blast had charred the protective crystal lenses over my eyes, so I couldn't actually see a thing. As a precaution, I turned my inertia dampener on to avoid the inevitable impact the ground represented, and just sighed as I flipped once more before smashing into one of the royal flower gardens in a giant fireball. Landing back first had the added bonus of not landing on my bad leg, which probably would have hurt even through the shock absorbers. Bits of the board rained down around me, pinging off my armor and adding to the collateral damage in general. Twilight, who had been in the middle of loudly voicing the virtues of her exponential expansion of risk verses trust gain, let out a panicked yelp half a second after I crashed into the garden somewhere in front of her, if my calculation for descent trajectory was correct. Just because I had reinforced armor, back up biological functions, and inertia dampening systems now, didn't mean everypony had free reign to see how badly they could damage me! They probably plotted out sadistic methods to hurt me in private, even... I just lay there with my legs jutting into the air, swaying them back and forth in a listless manner until she caught up in a flash of light I could barely see. "Ah, Mender?! Are you okay?!" she shouted from somewhere above me now. I sniffed lightly, and note the burnt smell alongside the familiar crackling of flames. "Your explosives charred my eye lenses so I can't see anything. Also, I think I might be on fire," I warned, not entirely sure if it was me or the ground burning. Or the bits and pieces of the poor board. Wait, was the castle on fire now?! That table the explosive enchantment had been on was made of wood, after all. Why did she even put an explosive enchantment on it?! Rarity ran up a moment later, sounding less than happy with her immediately released indignant huff. "Are you satisfied that it was a bad idea now, Twilight?! Frankly, this has done practically the opposite of building trust with him!" she lectured almost instantly. Well, at least Fluttershy hadn't been here to see this, probably coming back with snacks about now. We could probably get the crater patched up before she got back this time. I was mildly surprised when it felt like half the contents of the nearest fountain was dumped over me, sizzling sounding from all around on my external metal plates. Ah! I was the one on fire after all. I rubbed at my eye lenses as the water got dumped over me, and cleaned them off eventually enough to see as I smiled back up at the horrified looking Twilight. Oh? Looking over, I instead saw that Rarity was the one levitating the water, and Twilight appeared to have encountered some sort of system error and locked up. Great. Thankfully, Fluttershy drifted in to my left, picnic basket of goodies attached to her left forehoof and a worried look on her face. "Oh dear. Did something backfire?" she asked softly upon landing and setting the basket down. I was kind of amused that me lying on my back in a sizzling crater provoked roughly the same level of reaction you'd expect from somepony spilling a glass of water. The inquiry snapped Twilight out of it in an instant, sending her right into panic mode instead. "Ah! Mender, I'm so sorry! I set the minor discharge rune up to knock the board out of the window and stop me from hesitating next time, but I didn't expect it to be that strong! Why was it so strong?! It was supposed to just push the board out of the window! Oh no, you must trust me even less, now," the mare groaned out in exasperation. Hmm. Would it help or make things worse if I admitted that it actually hadn't really changed my opinion of her in the slightest? Her 'minor' discharge rune had still blown me at least twelve meters clear of the side of the tower if I landed over here, so she was still scary powerful and prone to accidents involving that. I didn't quite know what this was supposed to accomplish regardless, as the parts I didn't trust about the mare were on a more personal level than just being at risk of blowing me up. That, I had a sneaking suspicion, was going to be a daily thing. "Actually, I'm fine, Twilight. I'm more concerned about the hole we put in the royal garden, and the fact that there are flames coming from the tower window," I pointed out, gesturing past her and to the orange lapsing flicks coming just above the sill. She spun around fast as the other two looked that direction as well, of course. Well, that lovely table had probably bitten the dust at this point. Twilight let out a piercing yelp and flashed away in a teleport again, another coming from the window on that floor. Sighing, I stood up again and shook the dirt off my back before extending two tentacles for utility purposes. Thankfully, the palace grounds were private, anyway... That thought out of the way, I used the two tentacles to fling myself up towards the burning window a half a second later, earning a squeak from Fluttershy as I shot past. I might as well help Twilight put out the fires. She seriously had to tone down her 'trust exercises'! * * * * * Rarity honestly worked wonders, given her resources. I went from being covered in soot, dirt, and mud, to brushed and dressed in my nice suit vest again in less than an hour. Which was good! The complications involving putting out the raging inferno on the third floor, repairing the table with my magic, and helping the servants scrub the smell out of everything had put us back a good two hours! It didn't help that Tia had laughed for at least five minutes... "Hmm. No, this won't do either. I'm going to try adding a bit more spray to the left side," Rarity muttered, seemingly more to herself than to anypony else. Then, there were times when she got a few kinks in her organization, I noticed. like now. I felt her shake the can before more spray hit my mane as she combed it down again. It already felt like I was wearing a stiff bowl on my head! Still, Fluttershy kept brushing gently along the other side, right along the fur on my neck and shoulders, occasionally getting my back right leg to twitch. It felt amazing, and as long as she kept that up, Rarity could take a blowtorch to my mane for all I cared. Twilight, however, seemed less than entertained. “Rarity, some ponies just have naturally spikey manes. Isn't it good enough yet?" she asked, an impatient edge to her voice. Rarity huffed at that, of course. "We are going to potentially one of the fanciest restaurants in town, Twilight! We cannot afford to relax our public image at such a place. Although admittedly, it would be easier to manage your style without the braids on each bang. Are you sure that-" she started to ask yet again. "No, I'm not going to get rid of them. Fluttershy gave them to me, and they're special!" I adamantly declared, getting a little bit impatient with the process. Fluttershy stopped brushing for just a moment, and I felt her blush through the link. Sadly, I missed the cute spectacle, as I had to keep my eyes closed. Well, I didn't have to, but I was told that getting hairspray in my eyes was a very unpleasant experience. I had enough of those to last several lifetimes now, and was in no hurry whatsoever to acquire more. Rarity let out a sigh, and probably would have continued her protest had Twilight not huffed and reminded, "We have to be at the place in less than thirty minutes! Rarity, I know you want his mane to look perfect, but isn't it even worse for our 'image' if we show up three hours late?" That was a rather good point! There was hesitation before my impromptu mane stylist sighed and I heard the can get set down. "Fine. But if his mane explodes out in his typical spikes and pokes somepony's eye out, you shall have to explain it to them!" she finally relented. Hey, my mane wasn't that spiky! It was more, well, 'messy' as I'd call it. I was rather lazy when it came to my own image, and didn't put much effort into maintaining it at all. That said, it usually just sort of rested wherever it happened to fall after I finished washing it. Oh, except for the twin braids, but I didn't technically do those, so I suppose that didn't count. Fluttershy giggled at the exchange and set her brush down as well as my eyes flickered open. I gave her a soft smile of assurance as I caught her eye again, and she returned an amazingly warm one back to me, looking outright happy. It was always nice to catch her in private like this, around ponies she was purely comfortable with. She was free to be herself then, and seemed so much more 'alive' with her warmth and happiness. Sadly, Twilight interrupted my musings and scenery gazing by shoving me in the rump with her shoulder, pushing me towards the door with a sliding motion. Oh, right, the time. I'd forgotten how punctual she strived to be... Of course, I tended to forget a lot of things for a bit when staring at Fluttershy. Her brother must have shared her punctuality, I decided. He was waiting patiently for us down by the front gate of the palace, Cadance sitting calmly next to him. Or maybe it was the alicorn that was the punctual one, and her babysitting had rubbed off on Twi? I mused upon the possibilities while moving rapidly towards the two, soaring oh so gracelessly through the air. The mares and Spike floated around me, in various stages of annoyance while Twilight sprinted underneath, floating us all along over her like so many oddly lumped balloons. I didn't particularly care one way or the other, and Fluttershy looked perfectly content resting against my chest regardless, but Applejack and Rainbow were less than pleased. Pinkie seemed to actually be having fun, which honestly didn't surprise me, and Rarity just looked mildly annoyed as she used her own magic to keep the wind speed from messing up her mane. Well, that answered a theory I had never been particularly interested in asking about. Unicorns could use their magic inside the effect of another unicorn's spell. "I'm going to hazard a guess that they were moving too slow, Sis?" Shining questioned, raising an eyebrow towards us as we approached. One of the gate guards actually broke his stoic posture long enough to slightly mimic the eyebrow raising, but quickly snapped it back down into the static, uninterested look they seemed to perpetually generate. Twilight slid to a stop, her brother raising his hoof to gently push against her chest as she slid in, halting her forward momentum. She panted for a few seconds before coughing out, "We were late! Oh no, are we late?!" She had announced, with horror, that we were a whole fourteen seconds past eighteen hundred hours when we'd reached the bottom of the tower, after all. That's when we all got picked up. Oddly, the field didn't dissipate when she stopped moving, and we remained lazily levitating above her. Her magic had nothing to do with her physical stamina, I realized. "Uh, by maybe a minute. Although, uh, did Miss Octavia Harmony tell you where she wanted to meet? I don't remember you telling us earlier," Cadance asked softly, straightening Twilight's frazzled mane with her hoof. Twilight froze instantly, and I took a guess at the answer as I watched her pupils shrink a little. Well, this was a lovely time to be actively caught in her magic. I activated my subdermal armor, and prepared to throw shields up around my floating friends just in case. The lavender mare's ears drooped almost instantly, and her magic flickered a second later. Oh. My shields activated, instead making crudely shaped cubes under us all as her magic gave out, and we all flopped a few inches onto those instead, Fluttershy and Spike landing on top of me with a yelp and a squeak. "Aaah! No! I forgot to ask her where she wanted us to meet her tonight in the letter! Now it's going to be too late, and I have no idea where we're even supposed to go, and-" Twilight started to rapidly spew out, flailing her forelegs into the air as she panicked. A soft, yet deeply amused laughter reached our ears, cutting her off. I looked past Shining and was greeted by the sight of Octavia herself sitting calmly over by the sidewalk. Her mane was impeccably styled, and she wore a sleek yet simple black dress that hugged her form, with a softer gray choker sporting a amethyst replica of her Cutie Mark as a clasp. The outfit was accented with a silver bangle on each ankle, and a simply massive cello case strapped heartily across her back. Wait, no, the case more clashed with her outfit than anything, given those heavy leather straps. Still, she was dressed a little more simply than the rest of the mares and myself, which made me feel a bit awkward. Even Spike was wearing a tux for the occasion, as Rarity had insisted on going all out. "I figured not having arranged a spot to meet, I'd just pick you ponies up instead. Oh my! Everypony's so finely dressed," the mare commented, looking us over a second later. Yeah, overkill. This was going to be an awkward evening. Well, not as awkward as last night's, probably, but- To my honest surprise, a taxi rolled up at what I could only assume was breaking land speed records for the stallion pulling the thing. Night Light, of all ponies, bailed out of it into a roll and almost crashed right into Octavia's massive cello case as he slid past her. He momentarily gasped at her rather bewildered look, but then really did crash into the street light instead, getting tripped and sent flying into the shrub next to the castle wall. Actually, I was kind of impressed at the distance he managed to get. Although I might have been able to catch him had I reacted a bit faster... Twilight Velvet stepped out of the taxi with a far more relaxed movement, shooting a skeptical glance towards the flailing bush before shaking her head and walking up to Octavia, who was now smirking. "I apologize, but my husband wished to meet you again, and I agreed that it would be nice to share another dinner with my kids and their new herds. We'll be paying for ourselves, so don't worry about it," Velvet explained politely, giving the gray mare a smile and getting a more knowing one back. Okay, scratch that. This was going to be even more awkward. "Wow, I didn't know you could even slide like that on the concrete! I wanna try!" Pinkie exclaimed a second later, diving off her box and bounding towards the taxi, who's 'driver' was panting and recovering still from his probably strenuous journey. Maybe it would be a new sport? Although pavement sliding didn't sound all that pleasant, honestly. Applejack climbed down off her cube with a much slower pace, while Rainbow simply took to the air, looking pleased to be flying under her own power again. Fluttershy just didn't care regardless and simply smiled again, shifting up next to me and sitting against my right thigh. Spike momentarily eluded me, having no link for me to shortcut towards finding him with. I turned and looked over my shoulder in time to see him on his hands and knees, acting like a stepping stool for Rarity as she moved down off her cube. Uh... "Thank you, dear Spike. You are most assuredly a Gentledrake," she oozed out smoothly, adding a giggle onto the end. It oddly gave me the sensation of watching somepony slowly pour creamy chocolate over a tasty looking cake, and I tried not to drool. Spike looked like he felt it, too, only significantly worse as he visibly swooned while ogling her. By the looks of it, however, she was eating the attention up and posed lightly for him, flicking her mane back. I made a mental note to carry him if he passed out due to forgetting to breath. Rarity, however, continued past him and trotted over to the taxi driver instead. Driver? Puller? It was essentially a yellow carriage with painted checkerboard stripes on the side of it. "Oh dear, this won't do at all. Here, sit down and take a rest, good stallion. You're clearly overworked," she cautioned, helping him sit down, then levitating a cloth out of her saddlebag to dab at his forehead. Spike followed after her, of course, still looking a bit dazed but hopping past to untangle the still taut cords that helped secure the undercarriage to the stallion. Yikes! How fast was he going?! He would have had to make one heck of a turn to twist them like that. Octavia drew my attention instead as she walked up towards Twilight, Fluttershy, and me. "Sorry about the short notice, Mender. When I heard that you and all your mares would be coming to Canterlot, I rushed rather quickly to arrange a nice dinner," she apologized softly, in that hanging accent I remembered. It was more pronounced now that she was closer. Wait, my mares?! "Uh, technically I'm only dating Twilight and Fluttershy!" I hastily corrected, feeling the soft heat enter my face. Curse my penchant for blushing! The gray mare in front of me smirked, and I knew in an instant that she had said that just to get under my skin! I didn't even need a link to realize that much. My surprise doubled when Applejack's foreleg hooked over my shoulders and she gave me a sideways squeeze, playfully retorting with, "Aww shucks, Sugarcube. We like ya just fine regardless." Fluttershy blinked as she was pushed into a lying position when AJ leaned over her, but she smiled up at her friend regardless. Eh?! What was that supposed to mean? Rainbow landed on my back an instant later, pinning Applejack's leg to my back and causing me to stumble slightly as I glanced over my shoulder at her smirking visage. "Yeah! You're our super awesome friend, and we aren't afraid to admit that. Plus, you know that I personally think you're fairly easy on the eyes on top of that," she reminded, causing me to blush slightly. Or I was just heating up from all of the bodies in fairly close proximity, Twilight still smiling lightly as she pushed into my left side. Gah! She instead took it upon herself to attempt to clarify, being easily close enough to catch my confusion over the link. "I think what Applejack is trying to say is that even if you're not dating them specifically, you're a good friend, Mender. All of us have friends outside of each other, as the Elements of Harmony. Sure, we each share something in common and are really good friends, but that doesn't prevent us from growing attached to others," she elaborated, nodding twice afterwards and not seeming to really care that Rainbow's left wing had lazily flopped over her back. Well that much I had, uh, kind of known. I wasn't entirely sure if I accepted it or not, of course, because I somehow couldn't see myself ever being as good of friends with them as they were with each other. That status was 'special', wasn't it? It gave them something in addition to just friendship that connected them. Plus, they were practically world heroines, weren't they? Comparatively, I really was just a normal Earth Pony in the eyes of outsiders. And in my own mind, I realized. Even though it was absolutely stupid, a part of me still longed to be 'normal'. "Oh! Oh! Me too!' Pinkie added an instant later, jarring me out of my thoughts as she hung on the last syllable while sliding across the concrete from the top of the cab. Ah! It was much too late as she crashed into me instead, almost running Octavia over, who was forced to dodge out of the way as she came in. As I was rather weighed down, she didn't move me in the slightest, only knocking the air out of me while flattening herself into my front like she hit a wall. Instead of pain, however, she started giggling hysterically, popping her face out of my chest fur and grinning up at me, legs still splayed out in each direction under her. "Hiya! Me too, Mender! I might be friends with absolutely everypony, but you're still super-duper special to me! You'd better not forget that. I'll remind you any time you ask," she offered, smiling rather honestly up at me, which surprised me a little. It was just a small shade of seriousness, but far more than the silly mare normally showed. Although now I was definitely warming up, and it wasn't from blushing at all so much as having five mares pushed into me from all sides. Okay, I might have been blushing a little bit... Octavia snickered at my obvious awkwardness as she slipped back up into my viewpoint. "As I'm sure you all know already, I was merely attempting to get a reaction out of him, which succeeded spectacularly. This is far more pleasant a reaction than I anticipated, however. How long has Mender been with you all?" she asked curiously, tilting her head towards us. A brief jerk of motion occurred from my left before I could even fully consider the question, Velvet finally prying her husband loose from the shrubs and tumbling over backwards with him, the stallion looking quite a bit more untidy than prior. Cadance and Shining moved over to help him pull twigs out of his mane while he stewed there, looking unhappy. I think that was the first time I'd seen him not directing that towards me! Twilight looked momentarily amused by his dilemma, but turned back towards Octavia a moment later, seeming not bothered in the least by the proximity of Pinkie, whose tail essentially covered her entire chest. "Mender and I have been unofficially dating for the better part of a month, with Fluttershy quickly following just a few days later. It's felt like a lot longer than that, however, and everything's really falling into place easily. Uh, minus a few snags and goof ups, of course," she elaborated, smiling after. Heh, snags? If them forming the herd without me wasn't bigger than a 'snag', surely me turning out to be an abomination of organic metal was. I guess, in comparison, things were going amazingly well. "Ah, right. I'd heard about the snag with the herd. I'm glad you're all making it through that in reasonably one piece," Octavia agreed, politely nodding after that as Rarity and Spike rejoined us, the dragon giving me an amused smirk. Applejack shook her head towards him before he could say anything, however, heading off any potential comments with, "He's ah proper gentlecolt fer all o' us tonight, as his savin' Octavia is why we're here. No reason why he can't get some hugs." I let out an airy puff and shot her a skeptical glance, pointing out, "Hugs are fine, but you mares are kind of squishing me..." I doubt I'd leave a good impression with Twilight's parents if I expired before getting to the restaurant. Fluttershy perked up at that from under Applejack and looked up at me hastily. "Oh my. Are you okay, Mender? I can move over a little if you can't breathe," she quickly offered, truly the only one who actually cared for my plight. Rainbow snickered impishly from my back before I could respond, assuring, "He's fine, Fluttershy. He's just embarrassed that so many smokin' hot mares are giving him attention." Okay, admittedly she got to me with that comment, and I felt my cheeks heat up a little bit. Two of them! I was dating two of them, and that was all! Why did she like to tease me so much about it?! I had a sneaking suspicion that the heat in my cheeks was the exact reason. Pinkie let out a burst of giggling before squeezing my chest a little tighter and wiggling back and forth, shifting the entire pile of mares with her as she swayed. "Mender's super nice, and isn't going to take advantage of any of us anyway. Shhh, don't tell anypony, Octavia, but Mender really, really likes protecting ponies. He's kinda like a superhero," Pinkie whispered after looking both directions down the street. Uh, what? The combination of the pink mare being uncharacteristically somber, whispering instead of making sure half the block hear her, and being genuinely gentle to me had confused me beyond reasonable understanding of the situation. Although, I had actually seen the mare calm and gentle before, so I guessed I shouldn't really be surprised. Octavia certainly didn't seem so. "Oh, I know, Pinkie. He didn't hesitate to put himself in a lot of danger, and quite a bit of awkwardness to save my life, remember? I'm aware that those articles on him were fake. Twilight's articles as well, as I highly doubt any of the Elements of Harmony would use dark magic, or anything even vaguely similar," she reasoned, averting her eyes and looking entirely unimpressed with the topic of the fake articles. I'd figured she'd be one of the ponies unaffected by them, but it was nice to hear it clarified. Still, superhero? I chalked it up to Pinkie just being... Pinkie. Luckily, everypony else seemed to as well. Applejack let out a soft sigh, pulling her foreleg out from under Rainbow and sitting down next to Fluttershy instead, looking a bit dejected. "Ah can't believe anypony believed any o' that trash. Sure, Mender is reasonably new ta tha public eye, but Twilight certainly ain't! And if her story was fake..." she reasoned. Octavia looked contemplative for a moment, and then shook her head, revealing, "I'm not so sure that many ponies did, exactly. The Inquirer is known for its fanciful stories and I think a good chunk of their readers get it largely for entertainment rather than news. I heard some mistrust towards both Twilight and Mender, but quite a bit more confusion. A lot of the ponies I talked to about it felt that Mender's story was discredited more due to their claims that Princess Celestia herself was 'corrupted' by him." Okay, that I chuckled towards, drawing everypony's attention again. "I'm sorry, but that's honestly funny. I do know Princess Celestia personally, and she's so far beyond my level of power that just thinking of me somehow managing to influence her is laughable. I don't think even Twilight could attempt that, and she's the strongest magic user I've ever seen," I explained, looking to my left. Twilight blinked twice in surprise before blushing softly, the hue barely visible against her lavender fur. A bolt of realization struck me suddenly from seemingly nowhere. Pinkie could blush all she wanted and nopony would be able to tell! To my surprise, Cadance giggled at that statement. I glanced over at her and she nodded to me, explaining herself with, "It's a largely true statement, but I can picture her face scowling if she'd heard it. Aunt Celestia doesn't like it when ponies consider her personal abilities, although it gives many comfort to realize she's so capable." Well yeah, having your ruler essentially being a physical goddess was probably comforting. Well, I didn't think she was quite to the level of being an actual deity yet, as even she admitted to mistakes and inability to know everything, but she was damn capable! Octavia made a light humming noise as she looked over at the extra four ponies, raising an eyebrow as I guessed she finally fully considered their existence. "Ah, we have additional guests coming to supper?" she inquired softly, with no noticeable hint of irritation. Whew. "Twilight's parents are paying for themselves, and I'm covering Shining and Cadance, don't worry. You only agreed to treat the Elements, Spike, and myself, I know," I assured quickly, before that came next. I received a nod from Twilight in agreement next to me. The gray musical mare waved her hoof absently, adding, "I wasn't worried about it. As you can see by my accessory, I just came from a gig and the, uh, paycheck is sizable in Canterlot at this level. I could get them as well if you-" "Nope! I've got them covered," I cut her off, smiling towards her as she smirked back. It felt kind of good to do that in return to somepony instead of it just happening to me all the time! Something about having bits was empowering, even if I didn't have very much. It felt good to be able to treat ponies instead of always being the one being treated. Uh, minus the fact that she was already treating me... Damn it. She giggled at my suddenly dejected face, as if knowing what was going on in my mind, before assuring, "Relax. I'll let you, then. I know how downright stubborn stallions can be, although I openly admit to you being one of the most geltlecoltly I've seen in a while. I should really get you hanging out around Vinyl more often. She might ease up on her opinion about stallions," she suggested, contemplating it while rubbing her chin softly with a forehoof. Rarity smiled and nodded back towards the now fully recovered and chipper looking cab 'driver' who was still parked in our location. "Not to rush us, but I was merely curious if we were walking to our destination, or if I needed to hail for a few more cabs," she pointed out politely, smiling at Octavia expectantly. The gray mare froze for a second, obviously not anticipating the question, but then quickly smiled and shook her head. "Oh, no. The spot is close to here and easily within walking distance," she revealed. Ah, good! I'd been against getting into a box that was meant to rapidly roll across pavement at high velocity with no discernable breaks or safety precautions. Rarity nodded at that and then returned the gesture back to the stallion, who grinned towards her and nodded as well before taking off. Heh, I guess it was easy to stand at attention when a pretty mare beckoned. Spike seemed oblivious to the stallion’s enthusiasm, however, as Rarity turned back and smiled back towards him instead. His focus was shot almost instantly and he got that swooning look again that I saw so frequently around her. Heh. He was so transparent with his feelings. I was kind of envious of that, honestly. He didn't really let it bother him. My own stomach grumbling interrupted my thoughts, and I blinked before looking down at it. Fluttershy started giggling softly at the noise and Octavia lifted an eyebrow before suggesting, "Well said! Perhaps we should head towards our destination sooner rather than later?" The burst of dust and sudden weight lifted off my back instantly told me that Dash fully agreed and had taken to the air again. She smiled down at us and nodded happily before adding, "Yeah! I'm hungry, too, so let's go! I hope this place offers some real food, though." Real food? As opposed to what? My mental image of a cardboard cutout sitting at a table was interrupted by Rarity scoffing violently and demanding, "Must you be such a ruffian?! Just because an establishment knows how to properly present its meals doesn't mean that it's not real. Show some class, Rainbow." Eh?! Dash glared down at her for a moment before Octavia raised a hoof, shaking her head towards her. "Ah, I don't believe you'll find yourself wanting, Rainbow Dash. This place serves what I feel is the most delicious food in Canterlot. I eat there quite often," she assured carefully. This caused Rarity to puff up and nod instantly, standing again. "Indeed, a mare of class! Well said. Let us not waste another minute, then. Mender deserves his sustenance," she cooed, sounding oddly as if she'd won some prize or something. I tried not to snicker, wondering if this place Octavia had picked would live up to the image undoubtedly running through her head. The gray earth pony smiled at her exuberance and nodded, standing fully now. "Yes, let's get going, then. I wanted to show you a couple spots afterwards, too, and that would be hard if we completely lose our light," she revealed, gesturing up towards the lowering sun as she headed to the right along the sidewalk. I, and essentially everypony else, stood as well and followed after, Fluttershy still pressed tightly to my right side, as if she'd drift away if she left physical contact with me. That seemed to be her new preference, of late. Octavia started going into details about the docks as we headed in their direction, giving interesting tidbits of information about imports and exports, and new music coming in from other countries while we walked. I listened to the gentle sounds of the wind as we walked, glancing over at the slowly drifting airships nearby with their large balloons and spinning propellers. The world always seemed so alive when I was watching others move about, doing their own thing. Idly, I wondered what other countries were like as we walked along, making a mental note to ask Twilight about them later. Oh, and to ask Octavia how she knew we were coming... Eh, maybe over supper.