//------------------------------//
// The Breaking of Chains 
// Story: How my Little Brother Became an Alicorn 
// by WiseFireCracker 
//------------------------------//

The white stallion frowned as he watched the clouds of smoke rising from the train’s chimney. The fumes were growing thinner, invisible in the last remnants of the twilight. From his position on the balcony, he could hardly tell how many ponies had got off the train. What mattered was the tingling sensation at the base of his horn. A subtle change in the air made his fur stand.

Closing his eyes, he fought to squash the instincts of a soldier rising in him. This was not his station anymore, and tonight would not require that kind of work from him. There would be many here being entertained by the Princesses, certainly, but a far more important goal had to be complete. Urgh, he hated this. He was not done to play the part of the courtier.

“Shiny…” called a soft feminine voice.

“Hm?” The Prince of the Crystal Empire hummed, turning to face his wife. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, her body draped in a vaporous dress, her mane cascading around her face and shoulders, eyed him with a hint of worry. “Do you feel that?”

For a short moment, Shining Armor had to shake his head and fight back the bout of desire that had been born at the sight of her. Blushing more out of embarrassment than anything else, he glanced between her and the sight of the city below. 

“You mean the arrivals?”

“No, I meant something that’s already…” she paused, unsure, then sighed and relented. “Oh, it’s probably nothing, love.”

Shining Armor was ready to speak up in protest – leaving a possible security concern out of mind was a disaster waiting to happen –, but as he tried, a gentle strawberry-scented feather pushed against his muzzle. The words died out, becoming nothing more than weak protests with a vaguely whine to them. In his defense, his wife’s nuzzles were refined into an art form.

Her hooves ran over his shoulders, light and delicate, until it seemed they stopped over a hardened muscle. With expert technique, Cadence’s horn lit up and a small field of magic massaged the area.

“You’re so tense, Shiny. What are you nervous about?” She frowned. “We’re barely part of the ceremony tonight.”

Shining Armor sighed, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes in defeat. Leave it to his kind and attentive wife to notice. 

“It’s not that, sweetie. It’s about Twiley. She’ll be here tonight.”

The princess’ brows furrowed together. “I fail to see how that would make you nervous. In fact, I would think this would be something that should cheer you up.”

“Well…” Shining Armor pawed at the ground nervously. “Remember what we talked about with Twiley when she visited us for Mother’s Day?”
The couple exchanged a meaningful glance, and the stallion’s eyes briefly darted to his wife’s stomach.

“It’s about Celestia’s cousins, isn’t it?” Cadence said, and knew, by the way her husband scowled, that she had hit bull’s eye. “Shiny, you can’t protect her forever! If she has a coltfriend, then you should acknowledge that as a sign that she’s coming out of her shell for good and does not need protecting anymore.”

The way Shining Armor sullenly crossed his front legs over his chest was positively childish. “My offer to harm him violently still stands.”

“Stop making that joke,” Cadence hissed, glaring this time. “You know it makes Twilight even more nervous about her possible relationship when she thinks you disapprove. Remember how it was for us at first?” 

The proud former captain winced, ears flat on his skull. “I know, I know…” He grimaced and leaned in for a kiss. “I just can’t help it. Every time, I get that burn in my chest thinking about it. He better do his best to make her happy. As for the rest… nopony’s going to give Twily any trouble on my watch.”

Cadence sighed. “Why do I get the feeling you’re going to put your trailing training to good use?”

Shining Armor grinned, eyes lit up, and he nuzzled his wife more intimately than he would dare once the guests had arrived. “Feminine intuition, sweetie.”

“Oh hush you,” Cadence said without heat as she pushed him back. “It’s starting.”

Together, they turned toward the great hall’s doors, held wide open for the occasion, and awaited the official beginning of the festivity. Around them echoed the voice of the herald slowly going through the list of guests as they stepped in. 

“Presenting the Honorable Baron of Hoofington, Sir Soft Metal and his wife, Brow Beat!”

--

We arrived into the antechamber via personal escort. None of the stone-faced guards had said a word other than to answer our questions, which were few besides the obvious ‘where are you leading us?’. Where Celestia wanted us to be was equally obvious. 

Thadal, Calx and I were currently waiting in an annex not too far away from the ballroom. Though a bit on the small side of things, its imminent luxury was a good enough remember of the castle we had left behind. The tapestries alone depicted an epic battle between ponies, griffons and some sort of shadowy creatures. Celly’s radiant form oversaw the battle, raining down rays of light on the enemies, flying side by side with a crowned griffon. The significance of this particular scene in what was a waiting room for diplomatic meetings was not lost on me. 

With a smirk, I imagined how Celestia used that kind of reminder to subtly influence the ambassadors that came her way. With so many years as a ruler under her belt, she likely had one of these for every occasion. Now then, I wonder what she means to tell me, right now…

The smirk on my face slid off as I gave that question more serious consideration. Despite myself, I found something comforting at being put into this situation again. That was how things were in Canterlot for me.

Tartarus! For somepony who couldn’t figure out what his true self was, it was ironic how familiar this place felt to me now. The walls of our quiet little house in Ponyville never gave out the same vibe. Everything was adequate back there, but it wasn’t the same. It felt… good to be back. Granted, it was under the illusion, but it was still a great deal than being chased off the side of the capital.

Cutting through all that, Calx suddenly tugged at my leg nervously. “Huh, Sam… is Dad around?”

For a second, his words struck me speechless. Of course! Quickly. I put on a sad smile for him. “I’m afraid not, lil’ brother. I can’t hear him anywhere.”

Calx looked down, his cheers lost, and I pulled him closer to me. Their absence had grown more palpable where the rest of our family lived. Ignoring the emptiness where my heart should be, I held Calx, all the while my mind swirled with questions.

This was not actually Father, but it certainly felt the same. It was the same power that clung to every fiber of his being, only… more diffuse. But why were we getting this vibe now? Why not before? What had changed since the last time we were around? The answer to that was distressingly simple. Me. Calx. We were the one that was different. It had been a learning experience, being away from Celly’s authority. I wouldn’t throw curses around, I wouldn’t privately contemplate a few murders; I had changed. The windigoes were gone and Caelum’s shadow had been dispelled from the recesses of my mind. I was whole.

And this…

Flashes of crimson red, the very same shade as Calx’s eyes, came to mind. His voice, his powerful build, the look of hurt and guilt mixing on his face.

Father…

“We’ll see him soon,” I whispered in his ears. “It shouldn’t be long now.”

Hooves shuffled closer, and I caught a glimpse of brown fur. “He’s right, Tom. Together, your brother and I are going to find a way back, so don’t worry.”

The grip on my leg weakened, and for that, I shot Thadal a grateful look. He seemed embarrassed at that, rubbing at the back of his head and blushing, and he started trotting around the room. His gaze went to the chandelier and the paintings of famous ancestors, but his eyes were unfocused, and I noticed his tail flicking to the side twice.

He swallowed and asked the empty air, “Why did she invite us all here?”

“I believe I can answer that.”

The light flashed. 

Both my brother and I quite suddenly returned to our original appearances. Strangely however, Thadal still looked like an earth pony. In that split second, I saw the realization hit him as it hit me. There weren’t many ponies that could do that.

Smiling despite myself, I turned around to greet the Sun Princess. 

“Celestia!” Tom galloped straight to her and closed his legs around her neck. 

For a very short and amusing second, Celly’s eyes widened with shock. The air of solemnity she had held had been crushed in one fell swoop. Her smile, however, told us she didn’t mind much.

“Have you been doing well, Calx Iugum?” she asked, brushing his mane with the care of a mother. “Is Ponyville to your liking?”

“Duh, best place ever!” he boasted, then blinked and added sheepishly, “Like Canterlot, y’know, your place’s nice…”

Celestia chuckled at his blatant salvation attempt, playing along while Calx tried to whistle and failed. “My, I am glad to see you have appreciated your new home.” Gently, she put him down on the ballroom’s floor and rearranged the little bowtie on his neck with a spell. “I do hope you will enjoy tonight. Balls are not usually to a foal’s liking, but knowing you were coming, I took the liberty of organizing a few things.”

Calx perked up, and even I had to lean in out of curiosity. 

“What things?” 

Celestia’s smile grew mischievous, and she gestured toward the open doors behind her. From there, we could see the castle’s gardens. Just outside the great glass windows, a few colorful balloons floated around, tied to some of the decorations. The staff’s words about the chocolate fountain and the historical play both pleased and worried me. This might turn out to be the greatest and worst idea Celestia ever had. 

Judging by the gleaming amusement in her eyes, she probably knew it. “A few games and plays, though which ones I will not tell right away. A surprise is better, isn’t it?” she added with a wink.

“Hay yeah!” Calx shouted, rearing on his hind legs. In a second or so, he would bolt out of the room to enjoy the many, many fun games laid out before him.  

“Ahem!” I loudly cleared out my throat, and he fell face first on the ground.

“Whaaaaat?” he whined.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” I cocked a skeptical eyebrow up. “Hint: it comes from your mouth.”

“Err…” He grimaced, then looked up pleadingly in an blatantly fake angelic manner. “Can I go, pretty please?”

“No, that’s not what I meant… Though I’m glad you at least figured that out.” I rolled my eyes, nudging him toward a certain princess. “It’s not something you should tell me…”

Calx quickly looked between me and Celestia, and I saw things click in his head. 

“Oh! Yeah!” He grinned and turned toward our cousin. His forelegs closed onto one of her front legs, as he flashed her his most grateful smile. “Thanks, Celly, you’re the best!”

I chuckled. “There you go. Now have fun, but don’t get in trouble.”

Calx lost no time with a taunt, every pore of his being oozing the confidence that if he did do something to get in trouble, he wouldn’t be caught. Sometimes I wished he could tone it down, because from the look Celestia sent me, she got the message too.

Smiling very widely, a bit of pain cramping up my facial muscles, I said, “He’ll figure out his manners eventually.”

She remained impassible for another moment, her face unreadable, until she reached and patted my cheeks. “Oh, but I do not mind at all, Ventus. Youthful energy is a wonderful thing.”

A memory of a bunch of screaming restaurant employee came to me, accompanied by loud snickers and boastful statements. And then, death. We’re still banned from that place too.

“Most of the time,” I deadpanned.

Eric snorted behind me. Clearly, he recalled some of the more… creative incident of our past. Hopefully not too many. And with even better luck, he wouldn’t mention them and create a few memories. That spider would be in my nightmares for a long time.

“Oh, but whatever incidents you have in mind, my young cousin, those are the spice of a long existence. I can assure you.”

“Not to be impolite, Princess, but can I ask you why we’re here. Your package more or less did not include anything.”

“I’m afraid part of the reason this ball is happening at all is political. I would hope to bolster trade agreements with other countries while the dignitaries are there. Our fields are as fertile as ever, and I believe we are making a few breakthroughs when it comes to art and aeronautic sciences. The reminder of our value as an ally in times of peace is rather precious at the moment. As for you specifically, Thadal, I must say your presence is simply an invitation extended in goodwill. You may simply meet with the guests and enjoy yourself.” She gestured to the door with her wing. “You are free to mingle while I discuss a few things with your friend before the ball starts proper. Remember to follow my instructions, however.”

My ears ticked at that. What instructions? Her explanation hadn’t included any…

Unfortunately, Thadal only gave a short stoic nod, looking anywhere but toward me, and trotted out of the room. Celestia and I both looked after him until he reached a few groups of ponies to mingle with. In the back of my mind, I swore something fierce. Those two kept a secret or two from me.

It was hard not to sigh at the cosmic irony. How do I like them apples?

“So… Celly?” I asked, keeping my voice even. “What exactly did you wish to talk about now?”

As Celestia’s eyes turned serious, I grew aware of the many things that she could want to talk about concerning me, Tom or Eric. Us being Alicorns of Chaos being at the top of that dreaded list.

“I had a few requests to ask of you.” Celestia sighed, and I perked up in interest. Requests? “Now, I am uncertain as to how deep your connection to my student goes, but I will ask you to refrain from drawing attention to your couple tonight. The situation is… delicate.”

My heart sank in my chest as I imagined, no, knew that Rarity had worked tirelessly on a new dress for her and she had to be stunning in it. To take that away from me just made the evening’s lights dimmer. Perhaps we could have spoken a bit about her latest work… I could have thanked her in person. She had never been one for formal events, but if I could have led her on the dance floor…

All a moot point, really.

Celestia sensed my disappointment. “I am sorry, Ventus, but both your status as Equestrian Royals make this bigger than your enjoyment of the evening. Truly, refrain from interacting with Twilight unless you can keep it formal and proper.”

I really wished I could keep a better poker face. We were just starting to really take it to a new level. 

“…Regardless, it might become irrelevant, as my next request will take quite a bit of your time. You might not be aware of this yet, but some people outside our borders have grown curious about you.”

Actually, I do know, now. I almost said so, but I held my tongue. That was fair play for her blatantly keeping things from me with my friend. 

Celestia continued, taking my silence for curiosity or consideration. “Now then, I believe that there are a few people you might need to go talk to as soon as possible. They are quite curious and they have a few questions for you. I, of course, expect you to be on your best behavior.”

I did not miss the hint of sternness in her last words, nor did I imagine the slight squeeze of her wing over my back as she led me through the ballroom.

--

Lethargy weighed her steps down. 

From the minute the letter had arrived, she had run herself ragged trying to accomplish the impossible. Through some brilliant stroke of good luck, inspiration had only been more fertile under duress – a rare thing for her. The result? Six more ball-worthy dresses to her name and on her friend’s backs. 

They shone as six miniature suns of good taste amidst a sea of extravagant and only occasionally well-designed suits. 

In an hour or two, she might feel rested enough to appreciate the compliments her friends were getting on their attire.

Ungracious as it was, Rarity wanted only the opportunity to slip away unnoticed for some time, just enough to get her energy and savvy back. It would not do to embarrass herself or others through an ill-constructed comment she would not have made in less… tiresome circumstances. 

So, of course, the first thing that happened was her bumping into somepony just as she was leaving the gardens.

“My apologies,” she said on auto-pilot, quite up to the point she heard the reply, and whom the deeper voice belonged to. “Oh.”

A small smile tugged at the corners of Prince Blueblood’s mouth. “Miss Rarity. What a nice surprise.”

“Likewise…”

It was all she could think of. Even her voice sounded out of it to her ears. Oh, this was a disaster! She would faint on the spot if she had the energy.

As proof, Prince Blueblood eyed her with sincere concern, and she did not start to hyperventilate hysterically. Her pose remained as graciously still as possible, for movements sent twinges through her legs and shoulders. 

“You seem… slightly less alert than usual, my lady.” 

“Oh, this…?” she asked, waving her hoof aimlessly. “Oh no, do not be fooled. It… it is… something… refined, very common… in Canterlot…”

The prince’s eyebrows shot up, a few twitches shaking the corner of his mouth. In her addled mind, she could not quite put a hoof on it, but she hoped that a former crush of hers wasn’t currently fighting his amusement at her lack of refinement. 

A very practical part of her started planning her exile to the Badlands on the spot.

“Ah, you got me, Lady Rarity,” Blueblood surprised her with a pleasant smile. “Recent events have let me unable to catch up with the latest trends in Canterlot. In fact, I wanted a moment to myself before mingling with the rest of the, ahem, ‘refined’ ponies, to better observe and mimic them.”

She caught the meaning and gratefully used the opportunity to sit on the magnificent cushions placed there by the staff. While the prince imitated her, she could not help but gaze at him with a critical eye. Her inner gossip and her attention to detail did not allow her to let these things slip by. “Am I wrong to believe that those ‘recent events’ have something to do with your airship, my prince? Or that those same events included trivial things such as heroism?”

Blueblood’s face colored a nice shade of pink, pale enough to be difficult to notice from afar. Her words seemed to have taken him out of his element, as he stared awkwardly, so far from the image of the confident royal stallion he projected. Sadly, Rarity realized that it may have been the closest thing to a genuine compliment he had received in quite some time.

“Thank you,” he said in a hoarse whisper.

Without a word, Rarity gently reached for his shoulder with her hoof. “Do keep your composure, darling. It would be unbecoming to be seen gawking next to a simple seamstress.”

“Heroine,” Blueblood replied with a bit of heat, stomping. “Lady Rarity, you were at the center of it all. I was merely part of the backup and it was the scariest experience in my life.”

The romantic in her swooned. Music to her ears. A veritable symphony. If only they were deserved. 

“Oh no, I was merely following my friends,” Rarity objected, shaking her head. “Twilight’s lead was a greater factor than my contributions. Why, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were positively impressive in terms of sheer determination, as was dear Fluttershy in facing her fears so bravely. And, as always, there are no words to precisely describe what Pinkie Pie does either, but I feel quite inadequate in comparison to them all.”

As she looked back to him however, Rarity realized that Blueblood’s eyes had widened and he had grown speechless. Briefly, she tried to readjust her dress and accessories, certain that in her carelessness she had thrown something in disarray. Oh, her looks must have been unworthy of the aristocracy gathered, and he most of all must regret ever sharing words with her! 

But her nervous hooves were stopped when an ocean blue aura held them down. With gentle care, the magic made her garments slid over her fur into their correct places, exactly where they had been before her minor breakdown. And all through this, the prince had never stopped staring at her with such alien wonder. His voice trembled, and the hushed whisper barely reached her ears. “Was I always blind to such graciousness?”

Her head started spinning, fire exploding across her face. Her hooves shot to her chest, hammered heartbeat throbbing through her veins. “P-Prince Blueblood!”

“I…” He seemed to realize their position, and he moved back, his horn no longer glowing. “My apologies, Lady Rarity. I did not mean to overstep my bounds.”

Still seeing foalhood fantasies parade before her very eyes, Rarity took a deep breath. “None are necessary, my prince. My fatigue must be clouding my reactions.”

Together, they pretended that, of course, it had simply been a normal reaction overblown by an unfortunate but understandable lack of rest from an overworked seamstress. A falsely comfortable settled between them as they gathered their wits under the eyes of a few nobles and merchants also using the gardens to exchange pleasantries. Within moments however, the tension had left them, and the silence grew more amicable. 

Smirking, Blueblood suddenly spoke on the tone of conspiracy, “Do you know what is starting to become ‘en vogue’ here? I give it to you straight: tangerine orange and magenta.”

Her mind buckled.

“No…” Rarity gasped. “You must be joking.”

The prince chuckled, a suave sound to her ears. “Tell that to my personal tailor, Miss Rarity. Spinning Wheel has insisted that I commissioned such a monstrosity for grand occasions like this one.”

“Oh, I shall have a few choice words with them, Prince Blueblood. Believe me, I shall.”

They laughed together, a short moment of camaraderie passing between them and staying after they had both calmed down. In that moment of silence, the two of them seemed to have reached an understanding of sort. There needed no more word to be said, and Rarity leaned against the prince’s fur to rest.

Blueblood’s smile turned pensive. His eyes flickered briefly to the ballroom, then to her dress. 

“Prince Blueblood?” Rarity asked, a delicate brow lowered. “Is something troubling you?”

“Well, not as such, no,” he said, and his gaze glinted with amusement. “However, I would very much like it if you would do me the honor of a dance.”

--

He was faced with a dilemma: he could make a detour to see the servants serving some hors d’oeuvres and risk missing Rarity… or he could go the very close-by dessert tables and get a bit of fondue. 

His claws stroked his chin slowly. If he were to pick some fondue, well, he knew it was going to be absolutely delicious. The big problem was that it could make a sticky mess of his hands or his suits, and nopony wanted their knights in shining armor to look like they had no table manners, least of all Rarity. 

On the other hand, the hors d’oeuvre looked to be made of three different kinds of lettuce and a bit of rutabaga… 

His nose wrinkled, Spike discreetly ran to the dessert table and grabbed a handful of sweet, chocolate-covered fruits. The perfect crime! Now to quickly satisfy his dragon appetite before his princess walked by…

“Spike?”

All four treats flew into his mouth at the sound, his cheeks puffing out. But that hadn’t been Rarity…

The little dragon blinked, swallowing his chocolate treat, then looked around himself in vain. Nopony seemed to have called him. The second call however made him glance up at his friend who was standing atop a statue. “Calx? What are you doing?” 

“I got bored of the comedic act. It’s a bit too kiddie-friendly for me,” he said while making airquotes. “But hey, it’s really cool that you’re here. I didn’t know you were gonna be around.”

The alicorn colt landed right in front of Spike, grinning, and they hoofbumped.

“Almost didn’t come either.” The little dragon sat down on a cushion, letting out a big sigh of content, wriggling his toes. “My feet are killing me. I’ve been running around all day giving letters to the girls and helping Rarity.”

Calx snorted. “You were making dresses?” 

“Hey!” Spike blushed, crossing his arms over his chest. “I was just helping the most amazing mare in the world. She just happens to be a dressmaker and she was making dresses.”

“Sorry, sorry.” 

Spike quickly brushed it off with an absentminded reply, his eyes already glazed over with fantasies of the most beautiful mare in the world. The green of his eyes quickly turned pink, and the irises took the shapes of heart. 

Seeing his friend placated, a sly predatory grin appeared on Calx’s face. All to his lovestruck daydream, Spike did not notice and took the sweet innocent tone at face value, “Do you know how to sew then?”

“Do I? Pffft, it’s easy.” Spike rolled his eyes, boasting a confident smile. “I even know how to make a double stitch. Rarity told me it’s a hard one for beginners too.”

For a brief moment, he naïvely thought that his claim had impressed Calx. After all, Spike had nearly exploded with pride when Rarity had taken the time to compliment him on his work, even when she was running herself ragged trying to finish everything. Unfortunately, Calx was not. Spike deflated when his friend collapsed on the ground laughing.  

A heavy blush colored his facial scales. “It’s not that funny,” Spike grumbled.

“Alright, sorry,” Calx said, and to his credit looked sincere. “Just thought it was kinda funny. You hate girly stuff.”

“Yeah, but I love Rarity so it’s fine.” Spike picked a few strands of grass from the grass and split them in two without looking. “Just doing my best for the one I care about, y’know? I do plenty of boring stuff for Twilight too, but she’s like a big sister and a mother rolled in one.”

His friend said nothing.

“Calx?”

The colt blinked out of his thoughts, suddenly jumping to his hooves and squirming like he had trouble standing still. “Oh, huh, yeah, sorry. Yeah, I get you. You’re cool.”

He held out his hoof, to which Spike was only too happy to answer with a high five and their secret hoofshake. Maybe it was a little childish, but it was theirs! And the thought made Spike’s chest heat up with more than just dragonfire. 

Calx was his friend, not just a shared friend with Twilight. He-

“You!”

The two boys turned in unison toward the source of this new shout. Neither knew quite what to make of the pink filly glaring them down, barely a few meters away.

“What are you doing here?!” She snarled. “This place is for refined ponies! Not brutes like you!”

“Says the bully!” he shot back.

Diamond Tiara flinched, sending nervous glances aside. Nopony seemed to have noticed, thankfully. Stomping, she butted head with the prince. “Stop saying that!”

He met the challenge. “Stop being one!”

“I’m not!”

“You are! And the day you stop being one, I’ll stop calling you a bully too!”

Her face twisted into an ugly sneer. “Oh yeah?” 

Calx did not hesitate. “Yeah! I’m not liar!”

“Well, I’m not a bully! I’m Diamond Tiara, a refined filly that will grow up to be rich and famous! I’m a much better pony than you are! ”

Calx’s wings flared with his temper. 

“Prove it!” he shouted, standing up. 

“Huh… guys?” Spike timidly tried to interject. The adults were starting to turn around and stare. Not that he was worried that words might get out and reach somepony like Twilight or Rarity or even Celestia, but… Okay, he really was worried.

To his despair, the two foals were locked into a death glaring contest, foreheads pushing against the other’s, and Tartarus would probably become a snowy mess before either of them backed down. 

Calx’s snorted and pushed back even harder. “I bet you can’t even make a friend here even if you try real hard!”

Whatever words had been in the filly’s lungs died out, her jaw hanging low and her eyes wide as if she’d been struck. She slid a few hoof lengths in the grass, before gathering her wits back and pushing the colt off.

“I can’t?! ME?! Y-you’ll see!” Diamond Tiara’s face turned a darker shade of red. “I will make so many friends… I’ll be so nice that ponies will side with me over you! Then we’ll see who laughs in the end!”

“Guys…” Spike repeated, with a bit more urgency in his voice. There were three noble-looking ponies over there whispering, and he was pretty sure it was about them…

They didn’t hear him.

Calx’s grimace turned into a cocky grin. “Cool, come at me whenever. With all your friends. I’mma be there waiting.” He pointed to his spot, shrugging. “I’m not worried about… what? Two ponies?”

On the filly’s face, a frown cohabited with a widespread blush. At that moment, she truly hated being so weak as to let her body dictate her reactions to his displays of confidence. 

“I’ll show you! Y-you’ll see!”

“GUYS!” 

The two stilled, ears flinching, and they looked to the side.

Spike, now well the center of attention to two riled-up foals, blushed under his scales and tried to keep his voice even. “Err… no, you two went on too long. I was going to ask you to keep it down, but it’s kinda pointless now.”

Diamond Tiara raised a single eyebrow, her face an illustration of skepticism and deadpan. She seemed instants away from a scathing reply.

Calx, his eyes still locked on the filly, glared. Did she think she was going to put down his friend in front of him? The muscles in his jaw tensed, the beginning of a snarl twisting away at the friendliness he usually showed. Through some effort, he managed not to explode, and instead whispered hotly, “No, you know what? We can do this right now.”

“R-right now?” Diamond Tiara asked, voice faltering.

“Yeah.” He grinned. “What’s wrong? Can’t do it?”

She closed her mouth shut and glared. Its strength slid off the colt’s back, who gestured for her and Spike to get closer.

The three children gathered in a small circle, waiting for any onlooker to look away. When he was truly satisfied they could not hear the content of this super-secret meeting, Calx began explaining what he had in mind. Surely enough, the thought both thrilled and worried Spike, but he squashed it to listen to the end. At that point, Calx had spread his front legs in the air, and expected the applause. Diamond Tiara was quick to burst his bubble him.

“This is stupid! They’ll never let us get away with it!” she deadpanned.

“What? Scared you can’t do it?” He stuck out his tongue, prompting Spike to wonder if he really was older than every other foal around by decades.

Whatever maturity he lacked, the tactic seemed effective as Diamond Tiara’s eyes narrowed on him.

“F-fine!” She growled. “I’ll find friends and we’re going to crush you right here, right now.”

With a haughty huff, she raised her nose in the air and turned around. The two boys watched her leave the gardens, right until the point she accosted a very richly dressed couple and their filly. After that, Calx seemingly lost interested, trotting toward the buffet.

It took a second for Spike to catch up, and when he did, he had a confused frown on his face. “…Okay, what happened, Calx? Diamond Tiara said she’ll be nice and make friends with others.”

“Huh, yeah. She said that. Like she can.” He waved a dismissive hoof. “Maybe if she stopped being mean, but she’s not going to. Eh, I bet she’s not even going to come back.” He levitated two pieces of chocolate from the buffet and offered one to his friend. “But hey, if she does, you’re gonna have my back, right? T’would be fun.”

“Yeah…” Spike agreed a bit reluctantly. He was still looking around for somepony to tell them they were going to get in trouble for making such a ruckus. Except most ponies and non-ponies just pretended they hadn’t seen it. It was weird…

Not even when Calx had gone directly to a white unicorn colt following his parents did they react, beyond a polite greeting. He was free to waltz around and pitch his plan to the newcomer, who looked hopefully to his parents. Both nodded a bit numbly, fake smiles on their faces, and the newly formed trio started trotting to find their next recruit.

“Alright, come along, Captain Noble Origins,” the prince declared to his companions, one hoof pointing at the sky. “We’ve got an army to create.”

His words would have had no greater effect if he had announced a second Hearth’s Warming Eve. The white colt looked so excited he might spontaneously combust. Twice. “This is so cool! Mother and Father never let me play like this! I can’t believe they said yes!”

“Oh, Captain Noble Origins, we are going to be so awesome tonight that it’ll be written in history! Every single one of you noble foals will remember tonight as the best night ever! Oh, and thanks to our secret weapon, aka Spike the number one dragon, we are sure to win!”

Spike had to admit it to himself, it was actually pretty nice to have somepony look at him like Noble Origins did then. He might have bragged about his hard scales or his fiery dragon breath when the colt started asking questions in rapid fire. The impressed ‘whoaaaa’ that came in reply was music to his ears.

The second and third foal reacted the same way, and suddenly, when Calx let it slip he was even older than them, it did not matter. They just looked at him like a leader for their game.

The second Calx came back with a fourth foal in tow, there was no contesting it. He had been made into the second-in-command and everypony was fully satisfied. 

Blushing, Spike held out a paw and clasped his claws over his friend’s shoulder. “Wait, Calx. I have to ask… Are you doing that on purpose?”

His friend paused in his little recruiting operation, tilting his head to the side. A blatantly innocent grin stretched his mouth. “Doing what, Spike? This is all in good fun.” He reared on his hind legs and shouted. “Come now, my Legion! We have a treasure to protect!”

--

It was something she would never admit to Rarity for fear of being the subject to another rant on the marvels of high society, but as she walked by decorations worth more than a year of her earnings, Applejack started to feel a sour and bitter taste slip on her tongue. She had never been a gal for the frou-frou and the superfluous, and consarn it if this place didn’t feel like both. She got the importance of looking good to your business partners, that much was a staple, and this was the Princesses’ castle, the heads of Equestria themselves. Still, that didn’t make her feel more adequate, the farm mare in a pretty dress.

She allowed herself a more sincere smile as she trotted to the gardens, where a more earthy scent greeted her. There had been a reason she had set up her stand outside a few years back. Coming back now, well, it did give her a strange feeling of nostalgia. Hard to believe a mare like her would have gone on to do so much big stuff for her country. 

Just then, in the middle of her recollection, a strong smell of cinnamon and apples reached her nostrils and her stomach rumbled. Time to hit the buffet! she thought with a smirk. The smirk got bigger when her eyes laid out on the apple-tastics treats that her family had provided for the event. A private contractor contract. That was going to rack some bits in this time, a lot more than trying to compete with a free buffet. A small part of her had protested that getting royal favors like that wasn’t entirely fair, but the princess had made a mighty fine argument in her letter. And Big Mac, ever the practical stallion, had mentioned they couldn’t really afford not to take a catering contract these days. So they had worked triple in order to harvest enough to supply the castle for the night. Just thinking about it made her stomach growled twice as loud.

“Alright, alright, yeh beast,” she chuckled and eyed the pastries.

Her choice ended up being the fritters Granny had perfected. Licking her lips, Applejack reached for one that glistened particularly well under the moonlight. The slightly hot treat in her hoof, she moved to give somepony else the chance to grab some grubs and bumped into some tall brown stallion.

“Crap,” the stranger said, seeing his treat splatter on the grass.

“Whoa, mighty sorry ‘bout that, stranger.” She quickly tilted her hat to him. “Shame about them fritters. Granny really put her all in it today. Here, yeh can have mine. Didn’t bit it yet, promise.”

Despite her stomach’s renewed growls, she held out her fritter for the stranger to pick, but he barely paid it any attention.

“Applejack,” the brown stallion said, his eyes wide. 

All of a sudden, he didn’t seem to be that concerned about the lost fritter anymore. 

“Eeyup, ya know me?” Her eyebrows lowered in a thoughtful frown. Had she seen that pony before? He looked somewhat familiar…

“Ah, huh, well…” He rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish. “I heard about you, a lot. Elements and all that.”

Oh, that would explain it! She chuckled, thinking back to a few times where she’d wish that had happened. “Eh, funny. Ain’t often ponies have. Something the princess said about the trappings of fame, Ah think.” 

“Oh,” he said, as if the statement had shed light on a question of his. “D-do you mind?”

“Mind whut?” Applejack cocked an eyebrow and held a teasing smile. “Not being extra famous? Meh, pal, Ah’ll tell yah, Ah saw what it did to Shy and Ah wasn’t impressed. They can keep ‘em fame, Ah’ll be back on my farm at the end of the day. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“I see,” the stallion said, eyes widening as if he realized something. “You’re a lot more modest than I gave you credit for. I think it would bother me if people I saved never gave me any recognition.”

“Yeah? And who are yeh?” she asked, fiddling with the silk tie on his impeccable suit. “Y’all look pretty fine to me, though Ah coud have sworn s’not the first time we meet. Name?”

Blinking, the stallion opened his mouth, but stifled the first sound that came out. Applejack couldn’t make out what he said, but she sure as hell noticed the very strong shade of red that spread across his face. 

For some reason, the slip-up made him glance toward the ballroom, where all the big shots were still in. When he looked back at her, she thought he might want to dig a real nice hole to hide in forever. “…Raincloud?”

“Usually, ponies know their names when Ah ask,” she deadpanned, fighting hard not to smirk.

One eye twitching, ‘Raincloud’ smacked his hoof into his forehead, producing a noise loud enough to make Applejack wince in sympathy.

“Oh Tartarus…” He hung his head low. “How in the name of God does Sam manage to do this?”

“Sam?” Applejack repeated, her eyes growing wider before suddenly narrowing into thin lines. “Not a lot of ponies that use that name. Less so that act this suspicious. Y’ain’t an alicorn though… What gives?”

The stallion sighed, muttering something about being killed by his friend and Princess Celestia simultaneously. With a remarkable detachment toward impending doom, he looked at her like he wanted to be anywhere else. “Don’t let my lack of horn or wings fool you, there’s more to me than these hooves alone.”

Stupidly, she felt the urge to poke around his forehead, just for confirmation of the horn she now knew had to be hidden somewhere. Unless it was a transformation thing? She wasn’t sure, though who knew when magic was involved?

In the end, Applejack simply shook her head and judged him from head to hooves.

“So yer pals with the princeling Twi’s pinning for? That right?”

“Yeah…” ‘Raincloud’ sighed, glancing around. “I just wanted to come help him. He’s my friend and I figured I could help, give him support or something like that. Just… you know?”

“Eeyup, Ah reckon Ah do.” She nodded, then punched his shoulder in a friendly matter. “Yer a good guy. Ah was almost afraid yeh’d be one of those changelings fellow, but doesn’t seem like it. Not sure if prince love-colt really needs help, but Ah like ya.”

‘Raincloud’ smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “He does, but I don’t think he wants to admit it. He’s scared.”

It took a second for Applejack to swallow that revelation.

“Yeah? Didn’t look like it to me.” A grimace twisted her mouth. She did not like where this conversation was going… “Ah suppose he keeps it all under wrap well?”

“Sorta?” He shrugged, then bit his lips. “S-… Ventus tries to, but when he blows up, it’s never pretty. Like, it scares me a bit, knowing how far he goes when he’s really pissed. There’s just too much underneath, and it all boils over so he doesn’t think clearly enough.” 

Briefly, Applejack looked back on her admittedly few interactions with the golden prince. He’d been guarded, that much she remembered, but had he really looked like he was hiding stuff? Sure he had been sort of… fancy, but that was more the Rarity kind of polite. Though… though being in this ballroom, it reminded her of the last time… 

Princess Luna had come for a quick hello, greeted everypony, but when she’d look at her lil’ cuz, her warm look had briefly morphed into a glare of disdain. And just before that, she’d seen the flicker of fear in his eyes. It hadn’t last, but it had been plain to see because he had thought nopony had been looking his way. 

Applejack felt the temperature drop a few degrees. “What is he scared of?”

‘Raincloud’ let out a long suffering sigh. “Remember that time Applebloom tried to deliver apple pies on her own?”

Her expression darkened. “Eeyup.”

“The fire swamps are dangerous places, full of monsters and hazards. It takes just a misstep to be horribly injured… And she didn’t know her way around,” he spoke with a distant voice, as if the words were escaping him, and the images flowed freely in her head. The noxious air that bubbled underneath the surface, the fire, the chimera. Applebloom. “It could have gone horribly wrong…”

Her hoof came down on the tiles with a booming crack. “What’s yer point?!” 

The stallion jumped, startled, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to care. Her heart had crawled up to her throat.  

He seemed to realize what he had done, his eyes worryingly going over her stern expression. “I… sorry, I just wanted to explain… When you realized she had put herself in danger… He’s always feeling like that.”

Applejack’s eyebrow shot up to her mane, struck silent. For a second, she tried to imagine herself in those horseshoes, back in the fireswamps, only this time it would stretch on for days and weeks on end. It made her legs weak.

“Dang…”

“Eeyup,” ‘Raincloud’ nodded, his voice grim. “So I need to figure out how to make him see it’s not quite the fireswamps here. He’s just been too hurt to see it before.”

Silence fell between them. Around them, nopony seemed to have noticed their intense conversation, all to their talks of trade agreements and political alliances. Applejack’s lack of true notoriety was all too apparent when ponies walked by her to get to the buffet without even a glance her way. More surprising to her however was the frown she noticed on the stallion’s face when they did so.

An easy smile found its way on her face.

“Y’know, Raincloud,” she drawled mockingly, patting his shoulder, “yer a good guy.”

To her amusement, the stallion blushed from his mane to his neck. “T-thank you, Applejack,” he said with a small smile. “I think I’ll be going now and let you enjoy yourself. It’s your night after all.”

He inclined his head to her and made to leave, his blush starting to recede. After the first few steps, he stopped, a sturdy orange leg pushing against his barrel. 

“Now wait a sec here. Maybe Ah can help. Whatcha gunna do about yer pal?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged, worry flashing in his eyes. “I’ll think of something. It’s why I’m here.”

“Ventus is in a dangerous place right now,” she had said. “I fear that if he is not reminded of what is precious, of friendship and family, then he might become one of the Fallen. Please, Thadal Fragor, help him.”

--

Tonight. Was. PERFECT!

She loved how the wind slapped her bangs and stroked her whole body. Always had. The cold whipped her blood into a frenzy every single time. It made her feel as if the world was at her command. But what mattered the most this time was the good-natured encouragement shouted at her from her left. The glimpse of the blue and yellow uniform made her wings pump faster than they ever had before. This was her big chance! She had the moves, she had the looks, the style, the technique, the speed! Nothing could shake her stance! By the end of this ball, she’d be promoted to-

Confetti.

Her brain lapsed for the shortest moment, as the stream of high speed confetti flew right in front of her face. The absurdity of it all slapped her out of her daydreaming ambitions, and she frantically turned mid-manoeuver to slalom around the bits of red, green, yellow and pink confetti. Behind her, she heard the shout of warning and panic. 

Her heart hammering in her chest, she rolled over, spinning down to make it look as intentional dangerous as possible. The ground was closing in on her dangerously fast. She could not mess this up, or else her career as a stunt flyer might end with two flattened wings and more.

Not yet… 

Pegasi dove after her, hollering her name.

Almost...

Ponies looking up shouted in panic.

Now!

She pulled back with all her strength, her muscles screaming in hot pain, her wings perfectly still. The grass scrolled down her sight, hedges of the labyrinth taking their place briefly, before all she could see was the Princess’ night and the stars. The weightlessness hit her hard at the top of her loop, almost enough to make her dizzy, but she cocked a grin to the pegasus above. Her tail flickered, she dove backward and flipped. Her four hooves touched down at the exact same time hard enough to lift dust. 

Stunt completed. 

Despite herself, she let out a long sigh of relief. Made it, she thought. It was only a few seconds later, once that burst of adrenaline had dried up and her legs started shaking, that she searched and found the pink source of her impromptu stunt.

“Pinkie!” she almost snarled after zipping to her place. “Did you just shoot your party canon at me in front of the Wonderbolts?!”

Pinkie seemed nonplussed, and confused, by the accusation. A pedestal appearing out of nowhere, she rested her chin on her open hoof and looked pensive. “Did I? I thought that was the foals. They tripped when they tried to aim.”

“The… foals…?” she repeated, glancing around.

“Mhm.” Pinkie nodded. “I lent it to the thieves so they could break apart the guards’ mud wall.” 

Rainbow blinked, still trying to process it, as the pink mare in her deep burgundy dress leaned in to whisper, “Just between you and me, I think Bladey’s cheating a little with that.”

Shaking her head, Rainbow glanced around in hope of seeing the bright pastel blue cannon. She had no idea what was going on, but she had heard ‘thieves’, ‘cannon’ and ‘foals’ in the same sentence. So it was only logical that she be wary, and thus her slight tuning out of her friend’s ramblings about the rules was a lesser evil. 

She did indeed spot the cannon, somewhere in the melee. Of foals. There were a bunch of foals galloping around the gardens with half of them wearing party hats and the others running away from them. 

Oh.

In the corner of her eyes, she spotted a pink filly leading a lesser hatless group atop a small mud hill. “Come on, maggots! Do you want our enemy to win?! I thrive for victory and so do you! I won’t be able to rub it in his smug face if you don’t hurry up!”

“Oh, it’s not his face you’ll need to rub…” came a distinctively evil voice. “It’s yours!”

Before she even had the time to shout a biting comeback, the highest rampart broke down, falling into pieces. Each block lost its solid form, becoming almost liquid and sliding down the hill at high speed. Her dress seemed to only have a few more seconds to live, but it was not to be, one of Diamond Tiara subordinate diving to take the brunt of the mud for her. The beige colt fell on his backside and let out a cry of agony. 

“I am sorry, commander…” he said over deranged laughter that came from atop the hill. 

Now Rainbow Dash thought she might be dreaming. “Is that… Spike with a moustache over there?”

“Eeyup!” Pinkie giggled. “I had a spare one lying around in case-”

“-of moustache emergency. Yeah, I can see that.” Dash finished on reflex. Alright, that was actually looking a bit cool. Shame the CMC weren’t able to come. They probably would have loved playing this one, especially the mudslide. Except Sweetie Belle. Her sister would strangle her for considering that.

Fortunately, it looked as if even injuries wouldn’t be a deterrent. A small banquet table had even been requisitioned and transformed into an emergency nurse office, ran by a very familiar pegasus. At the moment, she was tending to a youngling holding a scrap of tissue, a needle between her feathers and all her maternal care directed solely at the crying filly. 

“There, there, sweetie,” Fluttershy cooed, kissing the sniffing filly on her forehead. The stitch seemed invisible, hidden in the folds of the dress. “It’s all better now. You can go back to play with your little friends. Just be a tinsy bit more careful, okay? I’m sure your parents won’t be mad.”

Swallowing a sob, the foal nodded and returned to the game. Very soon, the rest of her comrades brought her back into the ranks of the thief army. Rainbow Dash lost sight of her after that. 

In part because of the pink hoof that moved in front of her eyes. “Dashie? Do you want to play with us?”

“Pinkie!” she hissed in a low voice. “I can’t be seen playing a foals’ game with the Wonderbolts around. They’ll think I’m too childish to be a Wonderbolt!” Her hooves grabbed Pinkie’s shoulders and started to shake her. “Heck, they’ll think I’d rather become a babysitter than be a Wonderbolt! They’ll ask me to fly their kids around while they put on shows all over Equestria! And you want me to play Guards and Thieves?!”

Pinkie Pie, eyes wide, mouth shut in a thin line, hazarded a timid “Maybe?”

A strand of fur suddenly tingled at the back of her neck. The air pressure changed ever so slightly, as it always did when pegasus magic was used. 

“Wait, who’s playing Guards and Thieves now?” some stallion called from behind her. “Not that I’m complaining, nice move there.”

Oh.

No.

No, no, no, no, no, noooooo! She wasn’t ready for this! They’d guess, they’d know! It had to be written on her face!

She twisted around at impressive speeds, smiling as widely as physically possible toward Soarin, who eyed her, bemused.

“Haha, yeah, I’m awesome, but a foal’s game? Noooooo, me? No, noooo, I don’t do foals’ games. I was just talking to my good friend… Pinkie Pie!” She grabbed her friend by the neck and pulled her into a ‘hug’. “Remember her? National hero, Element of Laughter and baker.” 

“Hi, Soarin!” the pink party pony piped up from under Rainbow’s sleeves. “Nice to meet you!”

“You as well, Miss… Pie?” His eyes glinted with interest. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to know… well, it’s in your namesake, so I assume…”

There was a strange ‘Pop’ and Rainbow was only holding air. In the time it took to look down, her friend was already standing in front of the Wonderbolt and going on about her favorite caramel pear pie recipe. She blinked again, and it seemed as if the stallion had run his tongue over his lips. Nah. No way.

“-so that’s how you get to Sugarcube Corner, Mister Soarin. Can’t miss it!”

“Great, I’ll be looking forward to it. Gingerbread house on Ponyville’s mainstreet. Shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

Rainbow landed right next to him, breathing hard. Her brain had more or less given up, and she was operating on pure adrenaline. This was one of her chances. She couldn’t actually miss it over foals’ play!

“Oh yeah, I can show you that, Soarin. Heck, I can show you lots of things.” She pointed to her flexing wings. “These babies can pull a mean turn. Heck, I’ve been working on – and I don’t mean to brag –, and I think I can do a pret-ty decent Tempest Brigadier.”

To her eternal glee, Soarin whistled low. The friendly smile on his face really made her heartbeat quicken. “Really? Never heard of a rookie that could do it before. Keep it up, Rainbow Dash, and I might just see you flying side-by-side with me and Spitfire one day.”

She came this close to letting out a supersonic squeak. Only unequine efforts let her keep a cool head in the front of that bit of praise. 

“Ohmygosh!”

She slammed her hooves over her mouth, under the curious gaze of both her friend and her idol. Too much, she chastised herself. It was not the time to lose it. Cool as a cucumber! Cool as the breeze and winter wrap-up clouds!

“Eh, I mean, meh.” She held her hoof and examined it under every angle, as if she wasn’t pointedly trying to show that one of the coolest pony in the country wasn’t a big deal compared to her. “Thanks, or something.”

Nice save, Danger Dash. Just keep playing it cool. 

--

Once upon a lifetime, there had been questions as to how alicorns like Celestia and Luna could ever be anything less than world’s rulers with their dominion over the cycle of the day and night. Such a power should have cowed every other government, right? Well, apparently not and the reason why… The answers were now staring me down with hostility and barely concealed contempt. A very uncharacteristic chill washed over my spine as I swallowed nervously. 

The cloven hooves clicked before me, and pulled back with the swift and gracious pulse of the muscles rolling beneath the white fur. I could barely tear my gaze away, I could not fight the images flashing before my eyes. Within the curves of the coat were carved pine trees, the shades, the shape of the land, and knots were pinecones, ready to burst and spread new forest. When the thin legs moved, the forest became another, each strand as a thread of silk in a tapestry. Animals ran, from the smallest insect to the mightiest giant, all between the trees and the body of Cernan. 

Two sharp spikes of wood brushed past my cheeks as he lifted his head. He eyed me in silent contemplation, as one would expect from the Marvelous Deer, Guide of the Forests. Shades of green and brown danced beneath the black of his eyes. So many questions were asked of me then, that I found it easy to bend the knees and bow in turn.

“So very young,” rumbled a thunderous voice, and my heartbeat quickened. “So very naïve and blunt.”

I looked up, flinching in the face of the stern glare aimed my way. Minos, Father of Bovine, urged Cernan back with a hoof, prompting the deer spirit to eye him curiously. 

The tiles beneath my hooves trembled as Minos stepped forward, and stopped just inches away from me. Hot air brushed the fur of my face with every one of his breathes, and every inch of the great bull radiated a burning power. I felt tiny, a colt at most, in the face of the oversized bovine glaring me down. 

“Bold, bold child, if you thought your attempt would go untraced,” he said softly, yet every word seemed like thunder.

I resisted the urge to flatten my ears against my skull and clenched my jaws. This was not the time to fold. They knew, they were aware of what I had done. Some of it, at least. For the shortest moment, a part of me wondered what the intrusion had felt like. Had they known more than the sudden shrilled screech of their senses as a spirit entered their domain?

Time to find out, I thought, putting on a somewhat shaky smile. 

“I assure you, honored guests, that any harmful intentions you lend me are simple misunderstandings. That night my intents were merely t-”

The rest of my words died out, even as I formed them and spoke them. Croaks came out instead, the caws of crow and raven echoing into the air. My heart jumped in my throat, another one. Bipedal, cloaked. Smaller than me.

A seething mass of black feather looked at me from its shoulder, bore its eyes into my skull. Darkness swirled, the shape of a beak barely visible as a long raspy croak racked at my eardrums.

“How…?” the figure asked and reached forward with two shriveled red arms. The claw-like paws closed over my shoulders, the dry grip grating over my skin. “How would we know, if you are indeed speaking no falsehoods?”

I wanted to back away, but the hands held firm. I searched in me for the words, for the blatant reassurance that I needed. “W-well, as part of the Equestrian Royal Family, I am meant to be representative of the state in some function… which implies that any failure to disclose the truth now is a mark against my cousin.”

Pain twisted in my shoulders.

“Lies. Not a cousin…” they said, and my heart stopped in my chest. “Less so a son… You are nothing of The Sky-Fire’s kind.”

But those were not the words I heard. 

You are Chaos, the twin spirits were saying. Burning, cold, uncaring child. Unpredictable, dangerous. 

From beneath the hood, I felt the eyes of Coyote tearing at my golden mask. The trickster knew lies too well. Its speech unfolded again and what it said echoed differently in my mind. 

There are no bonds between you and her. She could not truly care for you, not for any one of your own. She is no kin of yours. She’s not being kind, merely pragmatic.

I tried to imagine it. I actually tried. I recalled the times she had been playful, the times her hugs had calmed me down, I remembered the whispered words of pride, and I tried to imagine it being a lie. Every gesture, every little thing, emptied of its meaning, and the kindness in Celestia’s eyes dried out until her gaze was Caelum’s. 

No. It could not have been so!

I refused to imagine Celestia’s kindness as a lie! 

Anger churned in my chest as I took a step forward, looming over the hidden figure, and what was on my face only met the bare qualification for a smile. It showed teeth. 

“Now, now, you’re the one spouting lies, Coyote and Raven.” The entity stilled under the accusation, a fire lit behind its amber gaze. The challenge only made my words come down harder, spoken tense and loud. “Celestia is part of my family, and I will not hear you insult her any longer on that matter by calling her a liar in her own castle. Many would be appalled to know you have done so, would they not?”

The muzzle tipped outside of the shadow of the hood, scrunched up, black lips pulled up. Fangs were hinted at, glistening in the orange light of candles, and the claws on the entity’s paws twisted. 

“Lying child,” it said in a hiss. 

Of course, Coyote and Raven was right. But since when were politics a matter of truths? Appearances mattered far more.

“As I was saying…” I said, easily affecting an apologetic tone. “I have yet to truly grow into my power, and at the time, acted on an impulse of kindness rather than thinking it through. I respectfully apologize for the fear my actions might have caused you.”

The paw clenched, and droplets of a shining red fell to the ground by the trickster’s side. The crow cawed, looking me dead in the eyes, and cawed again, a deeper croaking noise that sounded wrong. Not a word, but a meaning. 

Fear, it said, and fear seized my heart. In the back of my mind, I could almost hear a hiss and a cry for crystals. Fear, it said. Darkness that surrounded me, engulfed me. 

And then, it was gone. In the blink of an eye, I was back in the ballroom, surrounded by the spirits of other nations. 

“Could you do it again?” A calm tenor voice rang.

Blinking, I turned to Cernan, realizing that those had been the first words he had ever spoken to me. The Marvelous Deer awaited an answer, so silent and immobile I had to remind myself I was not looking at a statue.

A shake of my head cleared my thoughts. “I… I suppose, but it would be difficult and I do not feel like it would be good for my health to attempt it anytime soon.”

A concession to get that bastard trickster to calm down and untie the twist in its panties. In political speak, that was as good as a promise and an admission of their rights. The trickster spirit noticed, as it seemed to relax somewhat under its cloak and the terror drilled into my mind eased up.

Whatever reply it intended to make would never make it however, as two words flared up above all noises in the ballroom.

“Princess Luna!” 

As one, every single guest turned toward the edge of the dance floor.

Oh. 

That was all my brain could come up with. No word, no clever lie, no warning. In that split moment, it felt as if my mind had gone blank at the sight of Thadal kneeling before my cousin.

Ponies and non-ponies gave a wide berth, their curiosity lit aflame by the sheer volume of the Royal Canterlot Voice in close quarter. But that small spark ignited and spread like wildfire as more and more guests realized that Thadal had both horn and wings. 

His eyes flickered to the assembled people around the two of them, a confident grin on his face. A hint of tenderness softened his features as he looked upon Luna, and what he was doing hit me like a freight train. 

NO!

Too late. Of course, too late.

“I, Thadal Fragor, Alicorn of the Tides, Heir to Wilderness and Regent of the Seas, ask for your hoof in marriage. I wish to become your husband from this day, till the end of days.”

Without exaggeration, I could honestly say that everywhere within hearing range of that statement had suddenly become eerily silent. Ponies and non-ponies alike stared with unblinking eyes and unhinged jaws. 

The air where I stood had suddenly grown difficult to breathe in, so thick and heavy it had become with pure power. I felt submerged underwater in a boiling pot. Anger radiated from every wrinkled of Minos’ scrunched up face. My eyes remained glued to his hooves, with a rapid, frantic prayer playing over and over in my head. Do not paw. Do not lower your head. Do not paw, do not lower your head. It’d be an incident. An international incident, which nopony wants to see. Minos, for the love of my parents, do not start things up!

I thought my heart would explode as I became aware of the sound of clopping hooves. At the moment, my body had been submerged into icy water, but then I realized that Minos’ hooves were still all on the ground. Looking up, I saw the crowd parted open strong enough to throw a few guests to the floor while a tall and richly dressed minotaur broke through the oppressing silence.

The minotaurean ambassador fell to his knees before the baffled Princess of the Night, and I knew from the frantic look on his face this was going to be tragically hilarious.

“Princess Luna, Lady of Dreams, Diarch of Sacred Darkness, I wish to present a request on behalf of the minotaurean people and my own. In the light of the Sun and the Moon, we would unite our people together and usher an age of great prosperity, if you would only accept the hoof of our Leader in marriage.”

The thunderous declaration broke the charm that the crowd had been put under. From the dais near where Celly had been standing, a large griffon took off to throw himself at the minotaurean ambassador and slid right in front of Luna, sinking to his knees as well. Before he had even opened his beak, many were shuffling through the assembly to break through. His voice thundered.

“Princess Luna, Warrior-Maiden of Night, the Griffon Empire offers Gilbert Tailwind, second son of the emperor, as concubine for your pleasure, in hopes of strengthening the alliances between both our nations.”

Another pushed his way to Luna and spoke grandiloquent words that meant roughly ‘will you bang our king/leader/emperor, pretty please?’, while my poor cousin showed the world her interpretation of a deer in headlight. The resemblance was disturbingly strong. Likely, the affection she had so long craved for was being handed to her in perhaps a bit too powerful an avalanche as no foreign diplomat seemed ready to be the one that had not solicited an alliance with the Princess of the Night while quite literally everyone else had. 

Literally. Everyone. It looked as if a third of the people in the ballroom had assembled to prostrate themselves before poor Luna. Even the obscure little ones were offering now.

“Princess Luna! Please accept the offer to marry the Warlord of Unicornia! He will offer you riches beyond imagination and your children shall inherit a growing kingdom!”

The words made me pause and blink. The boldness of that pony. Were that sort of proposition made in a less frantic circumstances, that would have been an insult to her status as a ruler of Equestria. Fortunately for everypony, that one was drowned within the many more that flowed. 

“Princess Luna! Please!” 

“Princess Luna!” they all shouted in a frenzy, piling on themselves and the words of others. 

Their oh so precious façade as highly civilized beings crumbled into pieces. Tiny, tiny pieces. Flashes of light erupted from every corner of the room, paparazzi revealing themselves without shame in the chaos. This kind of incident was worth getting thrown out. Already, the shouts of Shining Armor and another high ranking officer beckoned the guards to get things under control.

I could have laughed if I hadn’t wanted to scream. This was more or less turning into exactly the next best thing to a worst case scenario. Or so I thought.

In the middle of the chaos, I caught sight of the one that had caused it all, his form mostly hidden from me by the larger minotaurean ambassador. But there was cause for concern with what I could see – what little I could see, both his eyes. 

They were not on Luna.

They were on me, and they were stone amidst the sea. There was no panic in them, albeit a bit of unease. He may not have seen the escalation coming, but he was focused and he could weather the greatest of the storm. Thadal’s lips made a confident smirk. 

You’ve got to be clopping me! I thought with a sudden chill seizing my guts. 

“E-excuse me…” I muttered to the spirits around me. “I have to go.”

None of them moved to stop me. None gave any indication they might have even heard. They seemed to be looking purely at Luna, awaiting her reaction, her choice. Luckily for everypony, she still didn’t seem to know what to say beyond an earth shattering “BE STILL!”

Most attendants closed their eyes and ears as an understandable defense mechanism. I used the opportunity to spirit Thadal away. 

--

“Did you notice she didn’t say no?”

Of all the paths I could have seen this conversation go down, this was not one of them. No, seriously, we were in the middle of a dark corner of the castle, somewhere far from the ballroom and the first thing he told me was that? How was I supposed to react? 

Unfortunately, Thadal took my silence for an agreement, and he showed a lopsided grin.

Elders!

“S-she didn’t say anything!” I sputtered, hoping to get through his thick head. “You’re lucky she was too stunned to react. Did you even notice the mass hysteria that caused?!”

Thadal winced, his smile losing its luster, his ears flat on his head.

“Well, okay, maybe that was a little boneheaded…”

“A little?!”

“…A little boneheaded. But come on! Princess Luna. She’s awesome.” Some red went to his cheeks, and he looked away, his tail flicking to the side. “Plus, I never really noticed about how well her mane contrasted with her coat before. Did you see the constellations before?”

“Focus, Romeo!” I punched his shoulder a bit harder than necessary, the adrenaline oblige. “What the fuck?! Why did you do that?”

Eric did not flinch. He did not back away. He did not apologize. 

He looked at me with warmth, grinning and more confidence than I knew him to possess. “Because you needed that relief.”

I recoiled, stunned. T-that couldn’t have been it! Did he really do that for the sake of a good laugh?!

Pain exploded in my forehead as my hoof smacked it hard. A happy idiot. Thadal was a happy idiot! 

“Are you insane?! Do you realize what might happen to you?!” I wanted to bite some of his mane off. “You went after the single most popular non-Mane Six character and proposed to her as a joke?!”

“Yup.” Thadal grinned, so smug the air frizzled around him. “And I’m still there, aren’t I?”

“You’re lucky she didn’t stomp your face into the ground! It was literally the first thing you ever said to her! Do you not think before you act?! Don’t you realize that this is real!?”

The idiot tried to pinch his legs. With his hooves. His embarrassed little smile made me bristle. “Okay, I might not be able to prove it, but I know this is not just a dream. It’s real. And I’m still here, even after I asked Princess Luna’s hoof in marriage. Sounds like one rabid fanbase isn’t quite as vicious as you figured, eh?”

I felt the ground crumble beneath my hooves. 

“W-what?” I croaked.

Thadal’s lips parted into a proud grin. “I asked for Luna’s hoof in marriage and I’m still here. Right? What do you think of that?”

“W-why wo-” My throat tightened and my eyes widened. I… had he…? I couldn’t wrap my head around it! “What are you saying…?”

“I’m saying…” He paused, placing a gentle hoof on my chest. “That you don’t need to be so scared of them all the time. You needed proof and I gave it to you. You’re not going to disappear if you piss off a hypothetical group of fans a world away.”

I could not meet his eyes. Not anymore. If I did… 

If I did, I might know he was telling the truth, I might find the confirmation to a terrible fear of mine, and I did not know if I could take it. A bundle of chains covered my mind, keeping a single thought captive and ever present, and even it could feel the dangerous blow Thadal had just dealt to its restraints. The metal links were brittle now, fragile as glass and a brown hoof hovered just overhead.

“…Why would you do something like that? We’re just friends… You didn’t have to risk your life on a gamble…”

“Hu-uh…” He rolled his eyes. “Obviously, you need a lot more help than you’re willing to accept right now. It just happens that I am willing to go over your fat pig head and provide the help unsolicited, free of charge.”

I heard the stomp, and the breaking of chains.

“T-that…”

A quick bump on my shoulder cut me short.

“Shut up, Ventus, and listen for once. It’s about time you did.”

There was something in his grin then. His breathing slowed down as he closed his eyes to focus. The air around us trembled, a softer type of power filling it. Every little inch it covered was a drop of warmth poured onto me. Chimes and notes floated around us, summoned through an ancient and most fundamental power. 

In the space of an instant, faster than I could comprehend, something appeared over him. A greater being, somewhat the shape of an alicorn and nothing like it. It had looked at me, with a care that I saw reflected in my friend, then faded away. Afterward, Thadal’s eyes opened, shining with Magic, and he started to sing. 

~A true, true friend helps a friend in need…~

“You’re not…” I said, eyes wide.

His grin then showed all his teeth, and his leg shot up to catch me by the shoulder. 

“I am,” he whispered, just before he belted yet another line. 

~A true, true friend will be there to help them see ~

~A true, true friend helps a friend in need…~

~To see the light that shiiiiiiines –

“You bastard…” I cried, but I could have laughed. That only made him sing louder. In fact, he added some steps to the singing and started shaking his flanks. It was growing stupider and sillier by the second, yet I would not do a thing to stop it. Soon, my voice joined the chorus.

We were both complete idiots and we ended up on our back, lying down as the last of the magic died and we wiped our tears.

Ah, we’re going to die. If a conflict doesn’t erupt, it’ll be Celestia strangling us with her mane. I wouldn’t put it behind her at this point.

Sniffling, fighting to salvage what little remained of my dignity, I found the strength to chuckle. “C-come on, let’s go back before they think I killed you in defense of my cousin…” 

“You would never hurt me,” he said in a singsong voice that was all too smug.

“Oh no, I would never. Which is why I would kill you now, quickly and painlessly, before somepony got their hooves on you,” I explained with a hint of mischief. “Luna and Celestia are going to be pissed. You might have just caused a diplomatic incident.”

And now the consequences of his brilliant plan were dawning on him.

“Oh crap…” 

My best friend, ladies and gentlecolts! Are we not two peas in a pod?

--

“Let me do the talking,” I had said. 

Impulsiveness ran in the family, no doubt. 

That was the thought I nursed as I felt the pull of Celestia’s magic drag me through the room. On the way, I got to see some of the toppled chairs and tables. A few ponies were cleaning out, while most of the guests were pretending that the incident hadn’t happened. Celestia didn’t give me the time to observe more however. A bit abruptly, we trotted to the stage. I suspected she could not afford to be out-of-sight right now, or there would be hell to pay from that perceived conspiring. The risks I imagined in that considerably shrank as her horn glowed faintly, and a faint outline in the floor cut off sounds to reach further. 

It was difficult to tear my attention from that. The particles of air and magic interacted so strangely at the frontier. The barrier only reacted if the air came from our side. This was the kind of spells I should be trying out next…

…Celestia was still glaring at me.

…Sighing, I hung my head and turned to face the thunders. You owe me one for that, Eric… Okay, that’s not true, but you better be appreciative! Not every day that somepony had the privilege of feeling the temperature rise from sheer proximity with the Sun Princess. 

So, the prodigal cousin returns to his place on the line of fire. 

“Whatever you’re going to say, I just want to point out first…” I took a deep breath and remembered those times when she had comforted me. This was my cousin, not the immortal ruler of Equestria. “T-the tides follow the moon. It’s a part of the natural Order. There, I said it…” 

It was no lie. I just hoped she would misinterpret that truth. 

Celestia needed not even speak up to explain how much she wasn’t buying it. The flat look on her face it all, and made me shrink on myself.

“Well, this answers my question, Ventus. I am guessing this was not done purposefully, likely not with your input if I read correctly,” she asked me, and I nodded frantically. “Unless, of course, you consider it fair play in return for not being allowed to dance with Twilight.”

My brows furrowed together and a bit of inner fire ignited. Despite my best effort though, my tone still came out as more sullen than I would have liked. “I am not that petty, Celestia.”

Unfazed, she replied, “You have been before.”

That shut me up quickly. It stung, to be honest. Celly wasn’t usually this blunt. Subtlety was her game, though in my case, that hadn’t worked out so well. Perhaps that was why. 

“If I swear to you that it was not in any way a vengeance of sort, will you tell me how badly things will go? Is there something I can do to salvage it?” I could not help the way my thoughts immediately went to Calx, Thadal and Twilight, all of them in the same room with the foreign spirits. An itch crawled under my wings. How fast do I need to grab them and leave?

To my surprise, Celestia sighed and looked at me with a certain fondness.

“Sometimes I forget how much you worry…” The tip of her feathers gently brushed the back of my head and neck. A single stroke seemed to have been enough to force the tension out of me, and I suspected something deeper than simple contact. Her expression turned stern, though not unkind. “In truth, Ventus, I do not know the extent of the damages done to our political standing. Your friend at least had the presence of mind not to announce himself of Equestria, so that accusation will be moot. On the other hoof, quite a few of our neighbors have suddenly undusted the marriage proposals they had been sitting on for years. It might just be the solution to this impasse. A well-chosen alliance might bolster relations that had grown weaker in the passing years.”

A sudden thought made me frown. “Have you chosen somepony for Luna then?”

Celestia chuckled. “I truly doubt anyone in this world might be able to choose for my sister. Would you be the one to enforce the decision? Poor groom, wouldn’t you say?”

I completely failed to rein my amusement, snickers shaking my form as images of the dignitaries from earlier all showed up in my mind, cowering before the eruption of Luna’s anger. An impressive number of them declared their desire to do something less stressful than marry an unwilling Princess, such as trying to steal an ancient dragon’s treasure or attempting a new world record in free-falling without wings or parachutes.

Celestia settled a hoof on my shoulder, getting me to calm down somewhat and wipe my tears. 

“Luna will make her own decisions. She is my equal in the eyes of the Equestrian Law. If I can, I will hopefully be able to guide her choice away from the more reckless options, but ultimately, I will not have control over this.”

There! That was what my mind had ticked on before. “Then, who else might be required to marry?” My heart squeezed as I realized the possibilities, and my voice grew weaker, “O-other than Luna, who else might…?”

“I wonder…” Her gaze wondered off in the distance. What memories of her long existence played out then? What her memories brought forth made the light in her eyes dim. Resignation weighted every syllable. “Your friend hasn’t announced his fealty to Equestria and I will push the delegates to accept that version of events. As I said, it will make him more sought after, but our relations with others will not worsen unless Luna agrees to the match. As for others… I believe that marrying me to one or the other foreign power would be a mistake. My long history as this country’s leader would give a much too great weight to any single alliance I could secure. No one else would remain our ally, considering any marriage to one perceived as lesser than me like the worst of insults. It would be seen as favoritism and they would fear the sway it could exercise on me.”

A futile if understandable fear. There was no way in Tartarus Celestia could have her emotions played against her duty. Her sister’s turn hadn’t been enough. She would not give in so easily. Celestia would definitely fight a threat to Equestria, one way or another. 

Even if I’m the threat.

As soon as that thought had been created, I could feel its pull on me. It made me sick to the stomach to consider it, but it was certainly a possibility. It made the impending question harder to ask, as I began to saw the trappings in the shadows of her words.

“So, if it cannot be you or Thadal…”

Celestia’s voice strained. “There are a few unwed members of Equestrian Royalty that could strengthen our alliances, but I think they would be seen as too little, in comparison to an immortal alicorn…”

My heart sank. I could only choke out a few words in protest, “But… there aren’t any other celibate alicorn that could…”

Please no… We… we had just accepted one another…

“There would be three of age in the best case scenario.”

“Celly,” I pleaded, voice raw. “You can’t do this…”

“Ventus, I promise you that neither Luna or I will try to break up your relationship to Twilight unless it becomes an absolute necessity. However, in return, will you promise to do what needs to be done for the sake of Equestria?”

My hooves felt nailed to the spot. I could not move. Her words had become as binding as dozen chains. She was looking at me in earnest, hopeful in spite of the sadness that radiated from her. Ever the dutiful alicorn, Celestia. As kind as she was cruel in that.

I could not say it. I could not. Never. I… this was beyond me. I could not sacrifice my love for Twilight in return for the safety of strangers! If I spoke now, I would not be able to take back my words. A dark thing nested in my chest, protectively curling over my feelings for my marefriend.

Celestia’s inquiry remained without answers.

“I understand that it might have been too much to ask of you so quickly,” she said not unkindly. She withheld contact this time, perhaps reading that it would be insulting. There was a moment during which she hesitated, and I caught a glimpse of her age then. In her eyes, there were centuries of choices like this one repeating tonight. A single sigh of hers carried it all and so many more stories. “Regardless of methods and motives, this was not how I envisioned this evening to unfold.”

In that, I noticed a faint accusation, but not toward me. Her gaze seemed aimed back to the ballroom, to where this disaster had started, and Thadal’s image flashed before my eyes.

A surge of protectiveness rose within me. “Right… and who should be blamed for that?”

Surprised, Celly turned back to me, her mouth becoming a thin line. The faint curve of her brow rose, and I sensed a rare emotion in her: indignation. 

“Did you tell him?” I asked, speaking more clearly. “Did you make sure to tell him the reason why another alicorn in Equestria would make things a lot worse?”

For once, Celestia’s expression flickered with regret and annoyance. The corners of her mouth curled into a grimace, and twice she looked at me without a word. One of her little ponies would have begged for forgiveness already. I just faced her steadied stare with my own. 

There was a lesson to be learned by more than just me this time. 

Finally, she nodded slightly, acknowledging my point as much as she could in public.

“I suppose you have heard of this through your power,” she said, smoothly transitioning to another topic. “Was this something you picked on recently?”

I shot a glance to my left, where I could feel the burning gaze of a fox-like spirit and its winged companion trailing after us. Had I considered them, she asked? Had I ever wondered about Coyote and Raven, or Minos, or Cernan? Of course not. Half of the knowledge had only recently been shoved into my brain. The rest… it had been buried beneath darker rubbles. 

“No…” I forced myself to look her in the eyes then, to reflect the inquiry with as much honesty I could ever show. “Discord gave me a crash course on this yesterday. I did not consider those repercussions at all before.”

She looked down, to her golden horseshoes and the motives of equines on the floor. Her voice barely reached my ears, almost hidden in-between the words of the crowd, and it was said with a tone I had never heard from her before. “…What did he tell you?”

“That we’re screwed and that we better get used to Equestria.” The name brought a quiver to my whole body, and I fought to steady myself. The glance I shot Celly then held an unspoken challenge. “Was he wrong?”

Did I even need to ask at this point? We had sat there, speaking of possible marriage alliances and long-term political moves. At which point did that imply a swift return? 

Celestia looked away, and I disappeared in the crowd. 

--

For the longest time, I mindlessly mingled with the aristocracy. My mind swirled with the words of both Thadal and Celestia. They were so heavy, so dangerous, that I felt grateful for the comparatively meaningless banter I exchanged with the guests. My sudden departure left the whole Canterlot reeling from the hole where its princes were supposed to be. Or so they explained high and low, on every possible angle, disregarding that we hadn’t been around for very long. We hadn’t done anything spectacularly meaningful either. But to hear them, they wept bitter tears until tonight.

Let them, I thought, feeling vindictive. Go on about missing the occasion to suck-up. 

The worst part? They actually did. 

“My apologies, sirs, milady.” I nodded to them with gritted teeth. “I am afraid duty calls me elsewhere.”

Their gazes lit up with the clear hope I remembered their names and would repeat them to either of my cousins. Not in those circumstances, I didn’t.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I quickly trotted through the assembled guests, feeling a sudden urge for a familiar face. The only one that I could currently keep a clear track of was Calx, and he was playing something epic in the gardens. He didn’t seem to need a bummer like me right now. As for Thadal and Twilight, their voices did not join the crowd’s. 

Where could they be? 

The lights in the ballroom suddenly dimmed, the flames of the candles strangely withholding their shine. The conversations in the room stilled, stopped by the darkness falling over the guests. Instead, hushed whispers spread around, all of them asking about what was going on. 

A ray of light shone down on the stage, abrupt as the flick of a switch, and all the guests could see Celestia trotting at the front of the scene to address them. 

“Tonight is a special occasion,” her voice rang clear, perfectly audible no matter where one stood. “Tonight, we are gathered to celebrate another victory of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Together, they have defeated a new foe that had arisen from the depths of the Everfree Forest with the intent to overturn Equestria. Those six mares have prevented that.”

An appreciable silence followed her words. A few ponies near me gulped.

Celestia, radiant in her spot above the crowd, continued her praises.

“Citizens of Equestria, esteemed guests, I bid you all to applaud the heroines that have once more saved our country from the monster that tried to wrestle it away from us.”

From beyond the spotlight, six shadows stepped forward and the light widened to show them all. Everyone in the room could see them in their dresses, confident, nervous or relaxed. In that moment, they looked everything they were meant to.

Another voice boomed, deeper and rougher. From the other end of the stage, Luna trotted on, clad in a shroud of the blackest night. “For their acts of bravery and selflessness, the Dual Thrones have seen fit to bestow them with the highest honor our nation possesses, in addition to a boon of their choosing. We thus invite you to welcome the first holders of the title of Harmonious Knights in three hundred years.”

“We invite Applejack, bearer of Honesty, to step forward and receive her reward,” Celestia said.

The farmer looked a touch uneasy at being honored first, a faint darker shade of orange on her face, but she made her way to the front all the same.

The Princesses called them one after the other, alternating between day and night to honor the Mane Six. Each of them bowed graciously before either diarch and polite applause followed every time.

For having been somewhere near the middle of the fray of battle, my clapping was far more sincere than most. Those nobles and merchants couldn’t wrap their heads around the danger the girls had faced. I had had a glimpse, and my admiration of them had only grown.

At last, all but one of the mares had been called up, and Celestia’s expression reflected tenderness and pride.

“And, leading them in cooperation with our finest commanders, Equestria’s newest princess and a mare very dear to my heart: Twilight Sparkle.”

This time, a short moment of silence followed Celly’s call, almost as if ponies were gauging the leader of the Elements. Applause came again, but I saw in many a noble’s eyes that they were intrigued. And those were only the most insignificant of reactions. 

When Twilight stepped at the front of the stage, the magic in the room shifted. From the foreign delegations, the power resorbed, fled to be hold more closely. Every alicorn, every outstanding mortal would have felt the immense unease of the spirits assembled before the youngest alicorn. 

I was nothing to them, but a youngster that wielded his power with the subtlety of a drunken star beast. Twilight… Twilight was the bearer of the Element of Magic, she was the leader of their group and she commanded a power beyond even an Elder like Discord. 

Pride burst into my chest. The Mane Six were heroines in the greatest meaning of the world, and the entire world knew it. 

This is your moment, Twilight. You and your friends have proven yet again that mortals are greater than those above give you credit for. Did you hear Celestia? That was her declaring that you are her pride and joy. You’ve done it.

So overwhelming was the emotion that I could not stop myself, and I sent a whisper to her.

“You are more than worthy of the crown on your head, Twilight.”

Surely enough, to hear my voice so close to her startled her, but she faltered only a second. Her eyes scanned the ballroom, looked between all those applauding aristocrats, and found me. As our gaze met over the crowd, as a subtle smile lightened up her anxious traits, Celestia’s request came back to me. 

She didn’t want to break us up, I knew she was sincere about that… but she might. And when that happened, what of us?

Twilight may love me, but I can’t ask her to defy Celestia. Even if… The thought made my legs heavy. Even if she would… it would hurt her so badly to act against her mentor. How could it be worth it for her to stay with me then? We could run, it would literally be a breeze, but it would mean abandoning her friends, her family, her beloved teacher and her country to a mess she could have prevented.  

Celestia and Luna led Twilight away from the stage, beginning another speech on the importance of friendship, cooperation and good relations. I tuned it out, torn at the choice before me. Parts of me wanted to rush at her side, to hold her and never let go. We would whisper sweet nothings to each other, gentle reassurances and beautiful promises. We would kiss, we would make love again and we would never separate, politics be damned! 

But another thought stopped me cold. She chose me because I was convenient candidate. I was supposed to be a safe choice in love, something to help ease her into her role as a princess. I was not a choice she would need to fight for.

Royalty doesn’t marry for love. There were duties to the station.

She loves me…

I love her.

The beast inside hissed furiously. It lashed out at empty targets, futilely trying to grasp at the lock I was placing over it.

It’s not enough. If we keep it up, she’s going to suffer. 

I saw her, tears streaming down her face, kept at an equal distance between me and everypony she ever cared about. In that daydream, there was a moment of hesitation for her, but that was likely my vanity speaking. And if it wasn’t… then… the best thing… 

The noble Prince Ventus would have let her go. That was how her fantasy would have gone, but the creature in me wanted to bind her and bring her to my side. And that was why I made my choice.

I’m not worth the cost of keeping, Twilight.

I left before the end of the ceremony. If I kept looking at her, I wouldn’t be able to do this. 

--

“It’s over!” Eric cried out as he let himself fall over his bed. “Why did nopony tell me how exhausting a ball was?”

I snorted, which was not something very wise in my current position. Blue feathers bristled at the sudden blow of air, and I felt trails of dirt splattered over my muzzle. Grimacing at the taste of mud, I spat out the loose feather and ran a towel over my tongue. I suddenly had a lot of sympathy for our parents. I’d been a bit of a crazy kid too when I was Calx’s age. 

Didn’t stop me from pestering him about it. Big brother privileges.

“There,” I said, patting his head condescendingly, “all preened like a good colt. Next time, you’re doing it yourself.”

“Awww,” he whined and pouted. “But it’s so much better when you do it…”

I gave him a flat look. “You’re more than old enough to take care of it on your own, squirt. Now, bathroom then to bed.”

Puffing his cheeks, he sulked his way into the bathroom. At least, he did it in silence. That was already a good day as far as putting him to bed would be. 

Allowing myself a sigh of relief, I leaned my back against the wall, feeling all the weight of today’s events crash on me. It felt as if it had lasted for weeks on end. Nearly over now. Without looking, I let my magic pull out my tie and drop it on a drawer. I almost didn’t bother with my suit, but the thought of waking up with it on my back won out in the end.

I sighed again, once those trapping bundles of fabric came off. Damn it, I really wasn’t made for wearing clothes anymore. So much better in the buff.

My newfound freedom however would not be celebrated just yet, as I noticed an annoying detail coming from the bathroom. 

“Are you brushing your teeth in there?” I asked with a warning voice. “I’m not hearing any brushing...”

Calx’s voice came out half-muffled, as if he was biting on something. “’M doin’ it…”

Grunting, I rolled my eyes and trotted toward the bathroom. He had better be telling the truth. 

No water seemed to be running, but as I stepped into the doorframe, I saw his toothbrush held between in teeth, the toothpaste splattered on a few of them, but that was of no interest. The scolding words died out in my throat as I saw what he was doing. Was he squinting his eyes at his own reflection?

“What are you doing, squirt?” 

His reflection looked at me with a thoughtful frown. His red eyes acknowledged me, but they returned to him just as quickly. “Trying to remember what I look like.”

I nearly fell over. My hoof had slipped on the doorknob. Through some great stroke of luck, he didn’t see it.

“I dunno why...” he spoke slowly, articulating each word like he was testing them to his own ears. “I just feel like they shouldn’t be red.”

If I thought back hard enough, I could see a little boy, Tom, as he had been before. Mostly… m-most of his face was there, all committed to memory. B-but… as for the color of his eyes when he was human…

I was drawing a blank. 

They could have been blue, brown, green, gray. I could just as easily swap the colors in my mind, and none of them jumped at me. None really seemed to be inherently right. The only thing that stuck was the very same crimson I had seen for a little over sixty years now.

Yet, that was also the very color I knew was wrong. Were my eyes different than they are now? It seems like such an insignificant detail…

“They’re…” The words got stuck in my throat. It was hard to speak. “They were brown… L-like Mom’s.”

I don’t even know if I’m lying…

“Like Mom’s…” Tom repeated slowly, more focused than ever. 

Was he trying to remember what she looked like next? 

A flurry of emotions ran through me then. The word alone had brought the images of an alicorn and a woman, the latter a blur. And yet, of the two, she was the saddest. It almost made me choke, yet the strongest thought at the front of my mind was that I hoped he didn’t ask me. 

I’m a coward.

He didn’t ask. After a time, he put back his brush, spat out the paste and the water. As he stepped down from the stool and started to trot out, he suddenly slowed down, his eyes going wide for a second. His steps stopped right before me, and he seemed almost timid.

“Sam?” he called, his voice small and his confidence smaller. 

I swallowed, desperately trying to appear somewhat calm. “What is it, Tom?”

My little brother pawed at the ground, swallowing. His tail flicked to the side, and his wings clamped on his sides. He seemed shrunk on himself, like he was not sure if he could do what he was about to. “I was thinking… We’ve been in Equestria for a while…”

I froze.

“Are we going back soon?” he completed his inquiry in earnest. 

Faking every inch of confidence I put into it, I winked. “I can always do a Pinkie Promise if you want.”

The prospect made his whole face light up. He nodded and even stomped for good measure.

Making a bit of a show of this, I performed the gestures firmly, my back straight and my voice solemn. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eyes!”

And with one hoof over an eye, I grinned to the lil’ squirt, who grinned back. Of course it would be enough to reassure him. I was the one making the promise, and big bros didn’t fail their words.  

Feeling the accumulated fatigue aching in my limbs, I got him to get into bed. He did so without too many protests, to my relief. For good will’s sake, I stayed close enough until his eyelids were too heavy to keep up.

Peace only truly started to come back once I could hear soft snores coming from the bed. Started, only. Behind me, I heard the quiet sound of hooves clopping against stone. Each step was hesitant, cautious. “Sam?” came the whisper.

Quickly, I surrounded us with a sound barrier. Once satisfied, I turned to face Thadal, who seemed to want to be somewhere else. 

He hung his head, guilty. “I heard what you and Tom were saying…”

“Oh,” I said slowly. I wasn’t sure what else there was to say. That hadn’t exactly been private, but at the same time, I didn’t like the idea of him seeing us like that. “I imagine it was reassuring for you. That was a promise I intend to keep.”

The dryness of my tone made him flinch. I regretted it the very next moment, but too late. Thadal had taken a step back, and he had looked away, a thoughtful frown on his face. He bit his lower lips, ears drooped, sheepish. 

“There’s something else you should know... before…”

I only nodded, hoping to come across as encouraging despite the way my heartbeat had quickened.

“I know I should have said it earlier, but I didn’t know… I was afraid what it might do to your resolve. It’s not about your parents, I swear!” he quickly added when my face fell. “It’s something you ought to consider, w-w-well, maybe not consider. I-” He looked down, shaking, and whispered it all at once. “You’re… the police is looking for you…”

The words seemed to repeat in the darkness. “The police is looking for you.”

My brows furrowed together. “As a missing person, I would at least hope they are – or were – searching…”

“N-no… you don’t get it.” He shook his head, jaw clenched. For a moment, I saw raging waves in the depths of his gaze. “They found out… about the hacking, the thievery, the death threats… They realized it all happened right before you were last seen. They think…”

Ignoring the nausea rising in my throat, I closed my eyes. My head was starting to spin, the words were indistinct, until I noticed they had stopped coming altogether.

Thadal had paused, and I felt him hesitate, his breathing uneven. He swallowed, took a step closer. His voice trembled, but he still said it, “There’s a search warrant for you as a possibly dangerous individual. They think you might have been serious.”

“I was.”

Thadal shook his head. His lips formed a silent ‘no’. He looked almost a child then, moreso than even Calx, whose sleep remained so far undisturbed. If blocking his ears had helped, I thought he might have done it.

“You weren’t serious! You couldn’t have been serious about that!”

My tone was gentle. “Eric, you trust me too much… I’m not… I was never a very good stallion…”

“You’re a human, Sam!” His hoof came down on the ground hard. “You came here because you feared for Tom’s safety and you… you did some bad things, but you are not bad!”

Why and how? Those were always the questions. Somehow, I had a gift for befriending people that were too good for me. 

“I don’t really recall what I said or did, but I know that I meant it.” I forced my gaze to meet his; I held it as I added, slowly, “All of it.”

“I don’t believe that, Sam.” He gulped down, blinking hard before fixing me with a challenging stare. “I know you. We’ve been friends for longer than most mortals in this world have lived. If you try to tell me you’re all bad, you can give up right away because you won’t convince me. You’ve always cared for those around you.”

And it’s precisely why I was serious back then, I wanted to say.

But that was not what I did say. It was not what he needed to hear. 

His strong stance had started to falter, a flutter in his wings and his legs. Parts of him clung hard to what he knew of our previous lives. He had known Sam, as I had been, and in truth, he was right that I hadn’t been a terrible person. But he hadn’t known me at my worst, and that was something he could not reconcile with that young man. 

I couldn’t force him to give up those fragments of before.

The smile I showed him was genuine, the thanks I gave as well, and we hugged, one leg around the other’s neck. His eyes shone with pure relief, and this deception I wouldn’t feel guilty for. 

“Get some rest, Eric,” I told him, and after a moment of hesitation, he relented with a sigh and a ‘goodnight’.

He would need the rest, I feared.

Tomorrow, they’ll come for you. The diplomats, the petty lords and ladies, they will want you. An alicorn, even as young as us, would be too big a prize to ignore and you don’t have the protection of Celestia behind you. 

A chill that had nothing to do with the night’s air washed over my coat. Too suddenly, I was aware of the breathing of the minotaurean ambassador in the West wing of the castle. I could feel the high pitched whistling of air as it moved through the beak of the griffon chancellors, the rumbling snores of the few bison, the peaceful breathes of Unicornia’s warlord prince.

Any of them could have wished to get a hold over Thadal. A few of them… I knew were not the most moral fellows.

My breath got stuck in my throat, and I shot a worried glance at Thadal, who was climbing into his bed. What will they do to get you?

I could almost hear Caelum’s whispers again. It felt as if I would, if I truly wished to. The shadows on the wall swirled on the whims of the few lit candles left, and their shapes looked vaguely equine by moments. 

If it were him… there would be ice and death.

If it were him, but I am not him. I never was.

I shook my head and sighed. Perhaps it was time for me to go to bed. With that in mind, I trotted to the nearest candle with the intent to put out the light. 

The flame was weak, having devoured most of the waxed rope already. Soon enough it would die. It struggled frantically against the simple nightly wind that entered through the balcony. The sight of it made my stomach churn.

I had seen this pattern of fire before. It was burned into my memories, a single moment of relief when an unnamable fear had been lifted. Through the haze of pain, I had seen a circle of fire and a pupil, before it had flickered and died to fight off another transgression.

My gaze went to Thadal’s room, the description he had given of his burns now at the front of my mind. How long did we have left? The slightest hint of Chaos would probably allow him passage now, and we were in the middle of a period of political unrest. 

I blew out the light with a thought, a bittersweet smile on my face. We had always lived on borrowed time. 

Thoughts of sleep were now far from me. The ticks and the tocks of the clock on the wall resonated in my ears, each the step of a fiery alicorn-like creature nearing on us. Its eyes shone with a glee that echoed those of yellow eyes and red pupils. It would be the same, and in that image, it turned on the colt that hid under his blankets. 

Ice filling my veins, I twisted my neck hard enough to get whiplash, the lines of fantasy and reality blurring. I almost saw Judicium, a shadow hovering before my family, but there was no one. Relief came, but it fell short, for I noticed something else. 

Tom squirmed in his sleep. Whatever dream he was having, it wasn’t a good one. I moved closer to him, sat by his side and ran a gentle hoof through his mane. Mother did this to us before, when nightmares replaced the dreams. The grimace on Tom’s face faded, but he still trembled.

Frowning, I carefully climbed next to him, then laid my wing on him. The added warmth made him jump at first, but he rolled over on his back and almost relaxed. With a feeble groan, he grasped at my wing and held it against his chest. His hold sent twinges of pain through my right side, so tightly he clung to it. 

“Mom? Come back, please…” he cried out weakly. “I-I promise I’ll clean my room, please…”     

My heart shattered. Elders Above, please no!

“Don’t cry, Tom…” I whispered. “We’re going to see them again, remember?”

“You lied, lied, lied and lied some more.” 

“What would you do, for Rumble’s happiness?”

“It feels right, Twilight.”

“I promised…” Droplets dampened the sheets underneath. “I… I Pinkie Promised you. How could I… how could I ever let you down? I’m your awesome big brother, r-remember?”

You deserved better from me. 

A boiling shout of anger, of pure self-loathing and contempt threatened to tear me apart. It rose and rose stronger, closing its grip on my throat slowly, a inch closer with every thought, every instant that I had taken to forget.

YOU DESERVED BETTER! 

It felt as if hours had passed when his hold on me became loose. Letting go of him was the most emotionally draining thing I had had to do tonight. I left a piece of me with the lingering heat on that bed. 

Silently, I trotted to the drawer we had chosen to throw our stuff on, sparing a glance to the adjacent room. Eric’s breathing was slow and steady. A breeze raised my previously discarded suit to eye level. 

My determination faltered when I recalled that scent of lavender and ink, that little something that was Twilight. 

Without a word, I forced a small amount of magic to course through my horn, and from the sole pocket in my suit, I levitated a folded scroll. Letting out a shuddering breath, I looked down upon that single piece of paper, on which a complex spell circle had been traced. The ink still looked at its darkest, fresh, no older than a day. In truth, it hadn’t been even half that long.  

It was not meant to last. Royalty doesn’t marry for love. 

In the end, I really had manipulated Twilight’s feelings for me.

--

Within the dark confines of Canterlot Castle, a lone remote hallway waited patiently to the rhythm of four beats of metal against rock. Its entrance itself was a secret, kept hidden by a single branch of the Royal Guard, of whom the commander obeyed only to the Captain or the Princesses. It had remained a relatively peaceful post to be stationed at, until recently, when Princess Celestia had made an addition to the collection guarded.

Dire warnings had been told and the security had been increased yet again. That night more than the others, with so many guests in the castle, their mission was of the utmost importance. 

The lowest level, the deepest, was illuminated by the faint glow of runes and that of a single pony’s horn, the owner of whom faithfully patrolled the length of the corridor, watching. 

Moved by an instinct refined by years of service, the stallion suddenly turned on his hooves and faced the hallway. His horn’s glow grew brighter and the shadows fled away from him, until he could see the stairs leading out of the vault. There was nothing, not even a mouse to squeak and run under a hole. 

But the guard’s frown did not fade, and he stepped toward the stairs. There was somepony around, he was sure of it. His horn’s aura became like a star. The shape of a stunning spell appeared in thin air. It did not help. As the sensation reached its peak, he felt a breeze stroke his coat. In that split second, a sound, almost equine, faintly rang to his ears. 

The guard pony’s legs gave out under him. He fell in a silent clank of metal, hooves pawing at his throat. A desperate plea barely made it past his mouth, but nopony heard it. His eyes closed slowly.

My hooves materialized next to his body. The air gathered into my form, and I levitated a key from the guard’s belt. My hold was unsteady. Despite the frantic beats of the stallion’s heart, I still felt on the verge of throwing up. For a few seconds that had stretched far too long, I had seen the absolute fear and desperation in that pony’s eyes. 

And to think I had contemplated it before…

I clenched my jaws so hard they hurt. 

The key floated up to a nearly invisible lock on the wall, and an audible ‘click’ followed. 

The door opened to a cave wide enough for an ancient dragon, whom the stall air within reeked of dust and humidity. Wrinkling my muzzle, I hurried inside, my hooves falling steady on the rocky slope, all the while unable to shake the impression of being an intruder to the vault itself. 

I followed the path dutifully, my senses screaming whenever my hooves got too close to the edges. Magic tingled at the tip of my wings simply from being in this room. The electrifying feeling reached deeper whenever I trotted past a pedestal or another. From the corner of my eyes, I could see artifacts of great power, and I gritted my teeth, a voice not unlike the windigoes tempted me to stay and look. Surely, there was something of use in here. 

“No.”

I had a purpose. A real purpose. For the first time, I saw things clearly. I had hoped for some solution to fall from the sky, from a quick and easy fix that would harm nopony. 

There was no such thing. The only way out would be carved in blood and sweat.

I stopped before an unassuming chest, wooden with iron joints. Unremarkable by any mean. Yet if I made a single step closer, every single layer of protective spells that separated us would flare back to life. 

Regrets and anger seeped from the invisible lines on the ground. The magical power within was a furious beast just waiting for the occasion to unleash all its pent-up fire on the unwise.

But beyond that, there was a calm and warm power.

“Father…”

A soft weight fell onto my outstretched hoof. Something like silk slid across my leg, stroking my fur in a way that felt almost conscious. I felt myself still in the sight of the crimson piece of fabric. 

This is it.

My breath shuddering, I lifted the cape and tied it around my shoulders. 

Strength carried me.

The World became mine to see, to hear and feel at every level. I was across the oceans and above the lands at once. Seas of green blades and fields of rolling waves scrolled past my sight in an instant, and stayed with me. All sounds came to me, from the faintest of whispers, inaudible even to their speaker, to the grandest, loudest roar that shook worlds apart. They were all of me, belonged to me, all winds, all movements of air, all across, all. 

The skies were mine in their entirety. I was the skies to look upon every single life below. The light filtered by my skin, the meteors disintegrated by my heartbeat, all life contained underneath myself.

I soared and soared higher, parts of me detached by the climb, attachments to a mortal existence breaking, until all that I was barely understood its own name. And, at the height of the wonder, agony tore it down into pieces.

I stumbled forward, coughing. Red mist sprayed from my mouth, tainting the floor and my right leg in spots of blood. A wet coppery taste filled my mouth. My throat burned. My lungs burned. My whole body was devoured by the power surging through me. Every inch of me fought with the intrusion of this foreign, alien magic.

Father’s magic. Order. 

Chaos and Order never mixed well, and this cape on my back was Order in its purest form.

We never were your sons, Father. This is all usurpation, and the thought pierced through the veil of pain. Back then… back when I had seen him for the first and last time, I had denied it. I had been right.

And for this stallion to desperately long after strangers through a twist of fate… it seemed to me an insufferable joke. 

It’ll stop soon, Father, Mother. I will reverse this, and you will be freed of this fake bond.

My legs shook as I pushed myself to stand straight. Short panted breathes made my chest heave, and I fought so hard to calm the frenzied heartbeats in my chest, feeling the tides of Father’s power washing over me. The pain was growing steadily easier to keep under wrap, the initial spike hitting its low. I felt stronger, much stronger than I had the right to be, and only had burns across my back to show for it.

We could use this kind of power to go back. With Thadal’s help, we might have enough to reverse the spell and go home.

Home…

When the word hit me, when the reality of our return dawned on me, I felt overwhelmed by a terrible combination of joy and regret. 

I heard the hoofsteps before the voice had even arisen. Curses rang through my mind as I turned slowly, and saw a mare wrapped in light and flames.

“Ventus,” Celestia called with a voice that was harsh and unforgiving as fire, “what are you doing here?”

Ice gathered near my hooves. 

Steady. I took a deep breath. Steady, no more turning back. This is it.

“It’s exactly what it looks like. I’m taking back my father’s…” I stumbled over the word, guilt grasping at my throat as I did. “My father’s artifact.”

Her eyes narrowed, and the air between us distorted. “How did you manage to get past the enchantments?”

“The cape broke them itself.” A low bitter laugh rumbled in my chest. “My father’s magic resonates strongly with my will, it’s that simple. I am his eldest son, after all. This artifact is meant for his blood.”

Celestia’s frown deepened. The flames at the tip of her tail flickered. “This artifact was not meant to exist in this world, Ventus.”

Neither were we, but here we are…

My eyes quickly went to the great doors, closed behind Celestia. My heartbeat hit a peak, as I struggled to maintain an amicable mask over my face. “I did not answer you back then, Celly.”

For the shortest moment, the impending sense of doom lessened, curiosity taking a weak hold over Celestia’s mind. I was all too happy to oblige, willing more power to flow through me in the meantime.

“You asked me, after the events at The Royal Crown restaurant, who I was.” I chuckled, strangely serene despite the situation. “I finally have an answer to give you.”

Celestia almost seemed friendly again, less of an irate minor goddess and more of a kind teacher. 

“I’m a desperate child way over his head, a fallen alicorn, something that should have never been part of this world, a brother, a friend and a son; the answer has many facets and I haven’t even named them all.”

“Nopony is a single word, Ventus… Every choice we make molds the ponies we are a little bit more, our mistakes and our successes equally.” 

Except this isn’t really your mistake. 

“Sorry. It’s really not your fault this time, Celly,” I said, and her eyes widened. Flames faded. “I swear it, on the Powers Above, the Depths of Tartarus and the Binds of the World. You have nothing to feel guilty about. You’ve been good to us, better than you needed to be. You’re… you’re a little like a big sister or an aunt.”

I choked on the last words, the heartache tearing me from the inside. If there could only be one little kindness for me to give, let it be this one.

“There is literally nothing you could have done to help. Nothing at all.”

Celestia stared.

In that gaze, I saw longing, hope, a terribly selfish wish. She wanted it to be true. No words could ever express it, not in the way her eyes spoke to me then. In all her years of existence, they had been her dearest wish. How many times had she recalled Caelum? Luna? The countless ponies that had lived and died before her? And the smallest part of her had always hoped to be freed of the guilt. 

But it had never come to pass. She had shouldered it all, year after year, and weathered it on her back, the responsibility hers by choice. And just like that, the deepest glance I ever had into Celestia’s soul ended, her resolve steel once more.

“That is only because you only see one solution, Ventus,” she shouted, her voice hoarse and her tears threatening to spill over. “You believe only in one path for your happiness and that of your own, but that is not true. There is kindness in you, love still. I know you can see it. What you were before changes nothing to what you are now. You only need to stop before the line is crossed.”

Here, on the verge of the fall, the temptation to stay had never been the strongest. It had never held such a pull on me. I stared into the abyss, the thinnest barrier keeping it at bay, and my hoof on the lever. Behind me, the light held an incomparable shine. 

The truth was easy: I could be happy in Equestria.

I looked at Celestia and smiled. “I’m sorry. It’s not just my happiness at stake. There is only one solution.”

There was no coming back. We both knew it.

Blinding flame rose to encircle us.

“Ventus, I will not let you do this to yourself.”

Howling winds screeched.

I whispered, “Thank you for everything, Celestia.”