//------------------------------//
// Chapter 60- Punishment and Party 
// Story: Of Flame and Shadow 
// by Garuda IV 
//------------------------------//

		Giving a nervous gulp, Shining watched as Twilight and Celestia parted ways for Cadence to walk through before they quickly and quietly made their way out of the room.

"I was tucking Skyla back in her crib for the night after she woke up, when suddenly I recieved a message from Doctor Cura that you and Dark were both admitted to the castle's medical wing," Cadence said with narrowed eyes. "Care to explain why?"

Shining's eyes darted around nervously. "Uhh... wh-where is she?"

"Pinkie is foalsitting her for the moment. Now, what happened?"

"I-It's nothing, sweetie. Nothing that you need to worry yourself about."

"If it involves you being put into the castle's medical wing, then it is something I need to worry about! And why are you even in here with Dark to begin with? When you left, you said that you were called to Canterlot on important business."

"Well, it is important, or it was, at least," he said. "You don't need to worry about it, though, because I won't be doing it anymore."

"You're darn right you won't!" she barked. "And you still haven't told me how you two got beaten up to the point that you both had to stay the night here."

"Because he was the Coliseum Champion and I fought him," Dark blurted out, gaining Cadence's attention while Shining glared at him.

"Thank you, Dark," Shining grumbled.

"You're welcome," Dark smiled with faux innocence, knowing very well what he just did.

Slowly, Cadence turned back to Shining. "Is this true, Shining?"

"... yes?"

"And you never told me why?"

"Uhh..." Shining gulped before looking over to see Dark smirking. "Can we talk about this in private?"

"You're not allowed to move from bed."

"I know, I was just thinking about putting up a soundproof barrier around us and-"

"No can do, Prince Shining Armor."

Looking over to the door, Shining, Cadence, and Dark saw Cura walking in.

"Good morning, Cura," Cadence greeted.

"You too, Princess Cadence," Cura returned with a small bow. "Now, like I was saying, neither you, Prince Shining Armor, nor Dark, are allowed to use magic of any kind until you're cleared."

"So I'm confined to bed and can't use my magic?!" Shining asked in alarm.

"Pretty much," she shrugged.

With a groan, Shining flopped back into his bed. "This sucks."

"Maybe, but you're ignoring my question, Shining," Cadence reminded. "Why didn't you tell me that you are the Coliseum Champion?"

"Was," Shining corrected.

"Was? What do you mean by that?"

"He means that Dark kicked his plot and is the new Coliseum Champion," Cura answered bluntly. 

"Really?"

"Apparently," Dark answered her. "From what Shining told me, it was super close."

"How close?"

"Close enough that we were both knocked out and I collapsed first," Shining grumbled, crossing his forelegs with a small pout.

"How were you able to do this without me or anypony else noticing?"

He sighed. "Because I've been going under the stage name Ultimate Defender, and the guys at the Coliseum would contact me through a gem that we would use to send messages between each other."

"And why haven't you told me about this before?"

"... honestly? I don't have an answer for that."

Cadence closed her eyes and steadied her breathing as she rolled the answers through her mind.

At least he's being honest about it, she thought before opening her eyes again and looked directly at Shining. "Couch. One week."

"What?! Why?!" he complained.

"Because you've kept this from me for over three years, Shining," Cadence firmly answered him. "To be honest, I should make it more, but I think the loss of your title as Coliseum Champion is good enough. That is, unless I'm given reason to think otherwise."

"Yeaaahhhhh, about that," Cura said, hoisting up Dark and Shining's armor in her magic "What exactly did you two do to each other? Prince Shining Armor's armor is all dented up and has several gaping holes in it, while Dark's chainmail jacket has a massive hole going through the midsection of it."

"Dark?" Cadence addressed, turning to face him. "Can you tell the doctor and I what you did to my husband?"

"... uhh..."

"I'm not mad at you, I'm just curious is all."

"S-Sure," Dark stuttered, still nervous about redirecting Cadence's ire towards himself. "Umm... well, I actually got the idea from Spike."

Cadence raised a confused eyebrow. "Really? From Spike? How so?"

"I saw him playing a game on his Neighstation called Empire Hearts II."

"Oh, I know that game," Cadence said with a nod and smile. "I've seen Aunty Luna play it a few times. So, which of the Organization members did you get your idea from?"

"... how'd you know I got it from one of them and not some other boss?"

"Just a feeling. So?"

Dark gave her a flat look and gave her one name.

"Sanmex."

Cadence's eyes shot wide-open, now having an idea of what Dark did, but wanted to confirm it first.

"And... which move of his did you inspire from?"

"The last one where he had the hero and his friend trapped in a dark void surrounded by lasers."

"Really?" Cura spoke, looking over Shining's armor. "Well, that explains why the ends of these puncture holes appear to be singed and are dented inward like that."

"I couldn't make the lasers, though, so I had to substitute them with fire spears."

Cadence turned back to Shining. "And you made it through that?"

"Not really," Shining answered half-heartedly. "I tried to deflect as many as I could with some magical swords while maintaining the magical shell I had around myself, but there were too many coming in too fast. I didn't even see the spell end when I lost consciousness."

Nodding in understanding, Cadence glanced over at Dark's chainmail-lined jacket. "And what happened to you, Dark? I can see some blood on the black fabric and chainmail, and I can practically stick my head through the hole in here."

Dark was about to answer her, but his eyes caught the sight of Shining silently asking him not to. Feeling like he'd gotten him into enough trouble, Dark mentally sighed and subtly nodded to Shining.

"It was because-"

"That mean stallion threw a bunch of spears at Dark from behind and impaled him to the ground! And then he did it to him again!"

Turning their heads in surprise by the new voice, Cura, Shining, Cadence, and Dark looked towards the door to see Soul running in. When he got close enough to Dark's bed, he fluttered up on top of it and clung to Dark's chest while giving Shining a nasty glare.

"Umm... hello there," Cadence slowly greeted, blinking a few times in confusion. "Who are you?"

A second later, Twilight came running into the room. "Sorry about that. He came running over when I told him that Dark was awake."

"That's alright, Twilight, but who is he?"

"Oh, right. Cadence, Shiny, this is Soul, our... well... Dark? Would you mind telling them for me?"

"Sure," he shrugged, chuckling to himself as he was reminded of this with her parents. "Well, to be blunt about it, Soul is our adopted son."

Both Cadence's and Shining's eyes shot open and their jaws dropped while Cura dropped a tray of medical equipment onto the floor, her face mimicking their reaction at the news.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Twilight confirmed with a nervous chuckle.

Taking a few minutes for her mind to reboot, Cadence shook her head and looked between the three.

"So... does that mean that... you're a..."

Twilight nodded, knowing what she was trying to ask. "It's not quite how I expected it, but yes. I'm his adopted mother and Dark's his adopted father."

"And what caused you two to make such a decision?" Cadence wondered, getting a sad sigh from Twilight.

"That's a bit of a sensitive subject," she answered. "One second."

Twilight casted a soundproof barrier around Soul as she and Dark began telling Shining, Cadence, and Cura about the circumstances leading up to them adopting Soul. As they continued their story, Cura pulled up a chair for her and Cadence to sit in while Twilight sat on the empty space on Dark's bed. During the course of their storytelling, Shining and Cadence both gave looks of worry, relief, and a hint of resentment when they were told about how Soul had been living, how Dark found him and took him in, and about what Soul was. However, when Twilight explained to them the circumstances of how Soul had become an orphan, Cadence's expression turned to regret while Shining's softened slightly.

"So it's our fault then that this happened to him," Cadence said, glancing over to see that Soul had fallen asleep out of boredom.

"Sounds like it," Cura commented. "I'm still surprised that you decided to take him in regardless, Princess Twilight."

"He's a half-changeling foal who has no connections to what Queen Chrysalis and her army did," Twilight defended. "I can't hold anything that they did against him. It wouldn't be reasonable or fair to him if I did. Also, Soul doesn't know about whom the wedding involved, and I would like to keep it that way. At least, until he's older and is more mature to handle it."

"And what about his behavior?" Cadence wondered.

"He can be a bit of a prankster when he wants to be, but other than that, he's a good kid," Dark answered.

"And he's smart too," Twilight added. "He's got some of the better grades in his class, and they've been getting better ever since we've taken him in."

Cadence looked over Soul with a hint of caution. "Does he feed off of the love from you two?"

"He says that while he can sense our emotions, he doesn't feed off of them. Ever since we adopted him, he's told us that he hasn't needed to because of food he's eating now."

"I see. Shining? What are your thoughts?"

Shining sighed and rubbed his forehead. "As much as I want to be mad and disgusted with him, I can't. I don't know if accepting Dark as a kirin has simmered my mind about the changelings, but either way, Soul is Twilight's kid now, and we'll have to accept that."

"I'm surprised of you, Shining," Cadence said. "I thought that you would be more against this."

"Well, I've hated kirins much longer than I've resented changelings, and I've gotten over Dark, so why shouldn't I give Soul a chance?" he shrugged. "But, I'm not quite ready for him to start calling me his Uncle or anything just yet."

"That's alright," Twilight said, moving over to the side of Shining's bed to give him a hug.

"Thank you, Twily."

"You too, Shiny," she returned before letting him go to return to Dark's side and remove the soundproof barrier around Soul.

"So," Cadence began, "speaking of Soul, why is he here on a Monday? Isn't he and those three fillies suppose to be in school today?"

"Their teacher, Cheerilee, had a teacher's conference to attend to today, so school was called off for today."

"Ah." Hearing her stomach rumble, Cadence giggled, got up from her chair, and made her way to the door where she suddenly stopped. "You want to come with me to go get something to eat, Twilight?"

"Thanks, but I need to have a quick word with Dark," she replied, earning a uneasy look from him.

"Okay. And as for you, Shining, don't you think that I've forgotten what Soul told me. For pulling that little stunt on Dark again last night, you won't be getting any sex for a month!"

Leaving the room, Cadence didn't see the flustered looks on Dark's and Twilight's faces, nor did she hear the audible whimpers coming from Shining as a tear rolled down his face.





An hour later, Twilight left Dark and Shining to find Cadence with Soul walking alongside her. While she wanted to talk to Dark, it was less about the trouble he was in since he'd already gotten most of that after he woke up, and more about the 'Victory' party Pinkie was planning for him, which also doubled as his and Shining's 'Get Well' party, making it a 'Get Well Victory' party.

"That's nice of her," Shining said once Twilight and Soul left them.

"That's Pinkie for you," Dark smiled. "She doesn't like to see ponies upset or sad, so a party's usually the answer for her."

"Sounds like she won't be able to throw it until we're both cleared, though."

"I know." Dark groaned and flopped back into his bed. "This is so boring! We both feel just fine, so why can't we just be discharged already?!"

"Because I said so," Cura said as she walked into the room.

"Okay, besides that."

"Because Princess Celestia agrees with me."

"... fine."

"Do you think we can get something to eat soon?" Shining asked. "I don't know about Dark, but I'm starting to get hungry."

"Dude, I haven't eaten since before our fight last night! Of course I'm hungry!"

"And how hungry would you say you are?" he asked before noticing the mischievous smirk on Dark's face. "Do not say what I think you're going to say!"

"What was I going to say?" Dark playfully asked.

"It was going to be about Princess Twilight, wasn't it?" Cura guessed, her eyes remaining on their medical charts.

"... well that took all of the fun out of it."

"With how easy it was to see where you were going with it, how couldn't I? Oh, before I forget, could I perhaps get a tissue sample from you, Dark?"

"Why?"

"Because you're a kirin, and a unique one at that. All I want is to run some tests and find out what secrets that your cells might hold."

A few seconds later, Dark shrugged. "Meh, why not."

"Thank you!" Cura thanked with an excited bounce. "Let me go get a scalpel and I'll-"

Before she could finish, Dark brought his arm up and bit a chunk of his skin off. As the wound began to heal, he held the chunk of skin in his magic for her.

"Here you go."

Hesitantly, Cura took the sample and sat it on a tray. "That was... not quite what I had in mind of acquiring it."

"Well a scalpel would take too long, and if it even did work, the blade would've been dulled by the time you finished."

"Is it really that tough?" she asked, taking the sample and moving it into a container she found.

"Just about," Shining answered. "His draconic limbs are extremely tough, which is why I tried to aim for his pony parts most of the time."

"Makes sense. Oh, and don't you two worry about your food. Some nurses should be by shortly with them for you."

"Thanks," Dark sighed. "I'm so hungry I could eat-"

"Don't say it!" Shining interrupted, getting a glare from Dark.

"A cow."

"... oh. Wait, you eat meat? When did this happen?"

"When I was sent to that other world last fall, I was accidentally introduced to meat. And let me tell you, Shining, it's sooooo goooooood."

"I bet," he said, seeing Dark starting to drool at the thought of bacon again.

"Well, if you two will excuse me," Cura spoke, "I need to get these to the lab and run some tests on them before the nurses get here with your food."

"It's not going to be like that crappy hospital food, is it?" Dark grimaced, remembering the food from his stay at Ponyville's hospital.

"Not here in the castle," Shining answered him. "They look after us pretty well, which also includes good food."

Nodding to confirm it, Cura left them with her sample in tow. A few minutes later after she left, Dark and Shining heard two sets of hoofsteps echoing down the hallway accompanied by the squeaking of small wheels.

"Finally," Dark sighed, smelling the food.

"Yeah," Shining agreed, smelling the food too.

"What do you think it is?"

"Not sure, but... wait... this smells familiar, and I'm not talking about the food either-"

"Oh my, what do we have here, Nurse Twilight?"

Snapping their attention towards the door, both Dark and Shining froze with dropped-jaws and wide-eyes at a sight that made the blood rush to both of the guys' heads. There in the doorway, Twilight and Cadence were both standing there wearing a white nurse's outfit, complete with makeup.

Twilight gave a coy smile and hummed. "Hmm, well, Nurse Cadence, it looks like we have a pair of bedridden stallions who need our immediate attention."

"Shining?" Dark whispered, leaning over to him. "Are we dreaming?"

Shining slowly blinked. "If we are, then I don't want to wake up."

"Well then, Nurse Twilight," Cadence spoke, silencing them, "we better get started with helping to cure them."

As the two princesses sashayed their way over to Dark and Shining, they both pulled a food trolley behind them with a pair of plates with food lids on them, and sealed the doors behind them. When they got over to the beds, Cadence went over to Shining while Twilight went over to Dark, both maintaining their coy smiles.

"So," Cadence purred, her hoof slowly caressing Shining's cheek and trailing down his neck to his chest, "how's my patient today?"

"Uhhhhh."

"Oh dear, you seem to have a problem with speaking today. Well now, maybe I can do something to loosen that tongue of yours?"

His brain starting to freeze on him, Shining watched as Cadence leaned towards him with a half-lidded gaze. Closing his eyes, Shining waited for what he was expecting to come his way. After what felt like forever of nothing happening, Shining was finally met not with the soft lips of his wife, but a spoonful of soup.

"Awww, was that not what you were expecting?" Cadence teased, earning a small whimper from Shining. "Sorry, but I'm not allowed to do that to my patients."

While those two were busy over there, Twilight was having her own fun teasing Dark. Straddling his lap, Twilight slid her forelegs around the back of Dark's neck and leaned in close enough that their muzzles were nearly touching each other.

"And how's my patient doing?" she asked Dark seductively.

Dark tried to say something, but his words failed him as he was too stunned seeing Twilight in a nurse's outfit, save for one.

"Uhhhhh."

"Well that won't do at all," Twilight said with a playful frown. "Guess I'll have to do something to fix that." She levitated a strawberry up from Dark's plate of food and dangled it in front of him. "Is this what you want?"

Dark slowly nodded and opened his mouth... only to see Twilight slowly eating it instead.

"Mmmm. That was gooood. Nice and juicy. I think I'll have another one."

Whimpering slightly, Dark raised a claw up to grab a piece of food off of the plate... only to feel that sometime while he was distracted, Twilight had bound his claws to the bed rails with magical restraints. Glancing down to his restraints, Dark gave another tug before his attention was turned back to Twilight as she gulped down another strawberry and sighed contently.

"Ahh, you have no idea how good that was," she cooed.

"I would like to," Dark meekly said, causing Twilight to give him a half-lidded smirk.

Reaching down, Twilight picked up another strawberry, but this time with her mouth. Holding half of it in her mouth, Twilight leaned over to Dark so that he could take it from her with his mouth. When he did reach for it, though, Twilight quickly sucked in into her mouth before Dark could get it and slowly chewed it. While Twilight closed her eyes and enjoyed the strawberry, she was unable to see the corners of Dark's lips tremble.

This sucks.





Almost a half-hour later, Twilight and Cadence left the room with the empty food trolleys behind them and closed the doors. Letting out a sigh, Cadence began to giggle before being joined in by Twilight. Soon enough, the two were laughing while Celestia walked up to them with a smirk.

"I take it that my advice worked?" she knowingly guessed.

"Like a charm, Aunty Celestia," Cadence answered.

"Yeah," Twilight agreed. "I don't think that those two will be pulling what they did last night again anytime soon."

"By the way, Twilight, that was clever how you put a spell on the food lids to make them smell good like that."

"I do feel a little bad for teasing Dark like that, though."

"Ah, but that's the whole point, Twilight," Celestia spoke. "You're suppose to tease them like that."

"She's right," Cadence agreed with a smirk, "so don't worry about it, you did fine."

Giving a small smile, Twilight and Cadence followed Celestia down the hallway to change out of their borrowed clothing. As they continued down the deserted halls, a thought came to Celestia's mind.

"You know, Twilight," she began, catching her attention, "I might have a book that you'll probably find rather... enlightening for you."

Twilight's ears perked up in interest. "What kind of book is it?"

"One that I doubt that you've ever read or have even heard of before."

Hearing the news of a new book she's never read, Twilight eyes began to sparkle while bearing a Pinkie Pie-sized smile.

"A book I haven't read?! What is it?! What's it about?!"

Celestia smirked. "Cadence actually has a copy of one. Tell me, Twilight, have you ever heard of the Pony Sutra?"

"No, I haven't," she answered before turning towards Cadence. "Hey, Cadence, what's this book about?"

Cadence's face instantly turned red before she looked away from Twilight to hide her embarrassment.

"I-It's... w-well, Twilight... you'll just have to wait and find out."

Meanwhile, back inside the room, Shining and Dark were laying silently in their individual beds staring up at the ceiling.

"Shining?" Dark spoke in a monotone voice.

"Yeah?" he groaned.

"Please tell me that that was just a bad dream."

"I wish it were, Dark." Shining sighed before looking over to Dark and seeing a haziness in his eyes. "I'm probably going to regret asking this, but was that the first time Twilight did that to you?"

"Mhmm."

... wow. Alright, thank Celestia I was wrong about that one. "In that case, since that was your first time, what did you think about it?"

Dark slowly turned his head towards Shining and gave him a blank stare.

"I was thinking to myself 'This could be Heaven or this could be Hell'."

"... yeah, that sounds about right."





Later that day, Twilight and Cadence returned to visit Dark and Shining. While the two stallions weren't all that happy about what they pulled on them, after they were told that that was their punishment for nearly killing themselves and each other, they then felt guilty again. And while Twilight did feel somewhat guilty about putting Dark through that, the new book that Celestia gave her quickly diminished that as it filled her with new ideas that she was eager to try out once she and Dark got back home.

A few hours later, Night and Velvet also came over to check up on them. Despite Velvet knowing that they would be fine, her motherly instincts wouldn't allow for her to properly relax until she saw that they were both safe in person.

"How are my boys doing? Does it hurt anywhere?" Velvet asked, setting herself down in one of the chairs.

"Thanks, mom, but I'm fine," Shining answered. Sitting up in his bed, Shining watched as Cadence sat Skyla onto his lap and took a seat next to him on the bed.

"And you, Dark? How are you doing?"

His attention turned away from him and Twilight cuddling with Soul having plopped himself between them, Dark looked up over to Velvet.

"I'm doing alright," he answered.

"I know it can get boring in here-"

That's an understatement, Dark thought.

"-but at least you both have a beautiful mare here to help look after you. I'm sure that with them around, things haven't been quite as boring for you two."

Dark and Shining shared a knowing look.

"Yeeaaahhhh," Dark slowly spoke. "I suppose you could say that. I'll admit that they've made things... umm..."

"Interesting?" Shining inquired.

"Yes, interesting."

"Well that's good to hear," Velvet said satisfied, oblivious as to what had happened earlier that day.

Night walked up and took a spare chair between the two beds.

"So, did the doctor give you an exact time of when you two will be released?" he asked.

"They shall be released tomorrow evening."

Turning their attention towards the door, they watched as Luna walked in to join them.

"Please excuse me for the interruption," she apologized. "I just wanted to check in on these two and see how they're doing."

"We're doing better, Princess," Dark replied with a bow.

"So I see," she said, hiding her smirk as she saw Dark and Shining with their individual families. "I also came here to inform you, Twilight, that the train to Ponyville will be leaving in an hour."

"Do we have to go, Twilight?" Soul asked, using his puppy dog eyes.

"Yes, Soul," she told him. "You have school tomorrow, so we need to get you back home."

"Aww. But what about the party tomorrow?"

"You and the others will be coming back for it, then we'll all go home after that."

Night raised an eyebrow at Twilight's wording. "You make it sound like you're not going back with them tonight."

"That's because I'm not."

"But what about me?" Soul asked, earning him a nuzzle from Twilight.

"Spike will be there to look after you for tonight and tomorrow morning," she told him.

"But what if somepony breaks into the castle tonight while you and Dark are away?"

"Don't worry, bud," Dark said, gently ruffling Soul's mane with a claw, "the castle's protected by hundreds of my guards. Nopony will be able to set so much as a hoof in there without getting caught."

"Really? Then why haven't I ever seen any of them?"

"Because they hide in the shadows where nopony can see them and lulls them into a false sense of security. That way they'll think that they're all alone and sneaky, but in reality, they're completely surrounded."

"Wow. Cool."

"Yep. Now, run along and get your stuff packed. We'll see you tomorrow. Oh, and make sure to behave for Spike. He's in charge."

"Okay."

Sharing a hug with him, Dark and Twilight watched Soul jump off of the bed and run out towards his guest room.

"You know, Twilight," Dark began, "you don't need to stay here if you don't want to."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" she playfully asked.

"Nope. Just saying that you don't have to feel like you need to stay here because of me."

"Good, because I want to."

"But aren't you going to see them off at the train station with us, dear?" Velvet wondered as she and Night got up.

"Yes, I will."

"Then we better get going," Night said.

Sharing a quick kiss with Dark, Twilight got up off of his bed and followed her parents out of the room.

Once they were gone and had closed the doors behind them, Dark looked over to see Cadence smirking at him.

"Sooooo, Daaaaark" Cadence slowly began, "now that Twilight and our parents are gone, Aunty Celestia told me about the little talk you two and Shining had about Twilight."

Knowing what she was referring to, Dark darted his eyes away from them, but failed to hide his blush.

"How much did she tell you?" Dark slowly asked.

"Just about everything. Soooo, when can I start expecting to hear wedding bells?"





The next day came and drawled on far too slowly for Dark and Shining. As the two laid bored out of their minds in their beds without Twilight or Cadence there to keep them company, they waited for Cura or one of the other doctors to discharge them. Once noon passed, Twilight and Cadence did come to visit them, but it was only for a brief moment. Even Night and Velvet came over to visit briefly before having to leave.

Now alone together again, Dark and Shining took this time to get to know one another better with a series of questions. Of course, they agreed to avoid any of the more personal questions. It did help them in relieving the boredom that they were in for a while, but after a few hours of asking questions and answering them, the two started to get bored again. Thankfully for them, it was short to last as Cura walked in looking at a pair of clipboards in her magical hold in front of her.

"Okay, I got good news and bad news," she told them. "So, what do you guys want first?"

Dark and Shining looked to each other before nodding in silent agreement.

"Bad news," Shining said.

"Yeah," Dark agreed. "Let's get it out of the way first."

"Okay," Cura shrugged. "In that case, the bad news is that according to this, you two aren't allowed to use any magic until tomorrow morning."

Shining groaned in annoyance. "Then what's the good news?"

"While you're not allowed to use magic yet, you two are cleared to leave."

"Finally!" Dark shouted in joy.

Throwing their blankets off, Dark and Shining rolled out of their beds and began to stretch their stiff limbs, earning a satisfying pop from each of them.

With his body loosened up, Dark sighed in relief before a thought came to mind.

"Umm, Cura?"

"Yes?"

"You said that we couldn't use our magic, right?"

"Yes, I did and I mean it."

"Is that just unicorn magic, or my Scaleless Dragon magic too?"

"In your case, Dark, both." Cura bopped Dark on the head when he began to grimace. "Now don't give me that face. While your magic is still unique and unknown to me, I'd prefer that you play it safe and not use any of your magic instead of having Princess Twilight mad at me."

"Fine," he grumbled.

"It's only for one night. I don't see why you'd be so upset about it."

"Because I have a special pocket of shadows that's holding the majority of my bits, and I was hoping to get something done in Canterlot today before the stores closed and we leave for Ponyville."

"I'm sorry, but you'll just have to wait for another day."

"Dark," Shining spoke, gaining his attention, "are you going to do what I think you're going to do?"

"Depends. Are we thinking the same thing?"

"About what you told me and Princess Celestia yesterday after you woke up?"

"Eeyup."

"In that case, who are you going to see?"

"Gem Cutter again. She did a wonderful job with Twilight's necklace, so I was hoping she could do this too."

"In that case, you better hurry up. I'm sure that she'll understand if you talk to her about it."

"Okay. Thanks, Shining," Dark thanked before giving him and Cura a wave. "If you two will excuse me, I need to get going. See you two at the party."

And with that, Dark ran down the halls through the castle. Once he'd made it through the front gates, he took to the skies, remembering exactly where Gem Cutter's store was and made a beeline for it. Minutes later, he landed in front of the store and opened the door, sounding the bell hanging above it.

"Hello?" Dark called out, not seeing anypony there.

"Just a moment," a voice answered him. A few seconds later, Gem Cutter came out from the back and smiled as she recognized her customer. "Mr. Dark! It's good to see you again. How are you feeling? I heard about that fight you had with Prince Shining Armor in the Coliseum."

"Please, Miss Gem Cutter," Dark began, raising a claw, "after that necklace you made, you can just call me Dark."

Gem Cutter chuckled. "Well then, if I can call you Dark, then you can drop the Miss for me."

"Alright," he chuckled.

"And as for you question, all of Canterlot has been talking about it."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. Everypony has been talking about it since it happened. I'm surprised that you didn't know about this."

"Me and Shining were both stuck in the castle's medical wing, so we didn't know. We were actually discharged from it not too long ago."

"So you're both okay now?"

"Yep."

"Thank Celestia," Gem Cutter sighed in relief. "So, I take it that you're here for something?"

"I am," he nodded before nervously rubbing the back of his head. "But... can you do me a favor?"

"That depends," she answered, raising a curious eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I'll need for you to keep this order of mine a secret."

"Okay, but if you're wanting it to be a secret, then why are you telling me?"

"Well you're the one who's going to be making it, so why should I tell you?"

"... fair point. So? What is it about this order that's so secretive?"

Dark looked around the room the see if anypony else was there. Seeing that they were alone, Dark shuffled a claw around.

"Ring."

Gem Cutter blinked. "Sorry?"

"I need a ring."

"A ring? Why would you... wait... no! Are you...?!" Getting a meek nod from Dark, Gem Cutter squeed as she rushed up to him and gave him a congratulatory hug. "I can't believe this! Another Royal Wedding! And I get to work on the ring!"

"Not so loud!" Dark hissed, looking around to see if anypony walking outside of the establishment had heard her outburst.

"Oops, sorry," she apologized, setting him back down. "Wow. Now I understand why you're wanting it to be so secretive. Does anypony else know?"

"Princess Celestia, Cadence, and Shining."

"And when's the wedding?"

"That's the thing here. You see, I'm not quite ready to ask her yet. I just want it on claw for when the time does come up."

"Ahhh, I see. Still, though, I can't wait for it to happen."

"I'll be sure that you get an invitation."

"Good. Now then, do you have materials that you're going to provide like your last order?"

"Not this time. While I may be discharged, Doctor Cura told me that I'm not allowed to use any of my magic, including my magic that has my materials and bits stored in it."

"So my materials then?"

"Yeah. Also, you don't mind if I pay you when it's finished, do you?"

"It's no problem for me. It worked well last time, so I can trust you to come through again."

"Thank you," Dark sighed in relief and thanks.

"You're welcome," Gem Cutter replied with a smile. "Now then, anything special you want with it like with that necklace?"

"Actually, considering that I've never done this before, I was hoping that maybe I could let you make that call? After all, nopony knows what a mare wants in a ring besides another mare."

"Oh, I'm sure I can think of something that she'll love."

"Thank you again. When you're finished, could you send me a letter so I can come pay and pick it up?"

"No problem. Same place as last time, right?"

"Yep."

With his thanks and a wave, Dark left the store and made his way back to the castle. Once he got there, one of the guards at the front gate told him that he was expected in the throne room. Thanking the guard, Dark walked down the halls towards the room. When he got there and opened the doors, he was met with a blast of confetti to the face.

"SURPRISE!"

Brushing the confetti off of his face, Dark looked around to see that the entire throne room had been decked out with tables with an assortment of foods and non-alcoholic drinks, streamers hanging from the ceiling with balloons near the top, an assortment of games setting off to the side, and an empty DJ turntable set back near the throne. But the biggest thing he saw were those that attended. Along with Twilight and her friends and family were the Crusaders, Celestia and Luna, Cura, Anvil, First Strike with a sack behind him, and..

Dark blinked in surprise at the last guest. "Snow Flower?"

Twirling her opened umbrella, Snow Flower stepped forward in a kimono identical to the one that she wore when they fought.

"Hello, Champion Dark," she greeted.

"Uhh... hello. I didn't expect to see you here."

"To be honest, neither did I," she said with a shrug. "I came by to check on you and Prince Shining Armor when this Miss Pinkie Pie suddenly dragged me over here. When she told me about what's going on, I decided to go along with it. That is, if you're alright with it."

"Sure. I don't see anything wrong with it."

"That's great!" Pinkie said. " Oh, and you can just call me Pinkie, Setsuka."

"Very well," Snow Flower replied, not bothered by the name that Pinkie had called her.

"Good. Well then, let the party begin!" Pinkie exclaimed before turning towards the DJ table. "Yo, Vinyl! Spin that shizzle!"

Popping up from behind the turntables, Vinyl gave Pinkie a quick salute before working her music magic to turn the throne room into a party room. With the music and lights, everyone broke off to either dance, eat, drink, or talk with each other. While most of the party-goers were having fun dancing, Dark was off to the side with First Strike and Snow Flower.

"I know it's a little late, but congratulations on winning, Dark," First Strike said, shaking Dark's claw.

"Thanks," Dark thanked with a hint of half-heartedness.

Snow Flower, noticing Dark's tone, arched an eyebrow. "Something the matter? If I were you, I'd be happy about becoming the new champion."

"I am, Snow Flower, but it's how I won that's kinda bothering me."

"Ahhh, I see now," First Strike nodded in understanding. "Don't feel like you've earned it, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well either way, in the end, you won. So don't let it bother you too much, Dark."

"Yeah," Snow Flower agreed before giving him a look. "And besides, if anypony should be upset, it should be me and the other gladiators."

Dark and First Strike looked confusingly at her. "Why?"

"Oh, don't pretend like you don't know, Dark. With what you pulled against Prince Shining Armor with that dragon transformation, you could've easily had beaten all fifty of us within a matter of minutes, if not sooner."

"I know, but where would be the fun in that?" Dark questioned. "And besides, Twilight didn't want for me to use that kind of magic until Shining ate that Rage Pellet."

With a huff, Snow Flower turned her attention to First Strike. "So then, I take it that since Prince Shining Armor was defeated and is no longer champion, that means that he'll be the fiftieth gladiator and I'll be bumped down to ninety-ninth."

"Not quite," First Strike said. "Shining Armor informed me that he won't be returning as one of the fifty, so the spot is still yours."

"Thank you. Oh, and Dark?"

"Yeah?"

Before Dark could react, Snow Flower swiftly unsheathed the hidden sword in her umbrella and sliced Dark's ear.

"Ouch! What was that for?!"

"That was for giving me those third degree burns from that fire breath of yours at the end of our fight," she told him, cleaning her blade before sheathing it. "And don't complain either. You've appeared to have already regenerated your ear."

"Yeah, but it still hurt."

Snow Flower gave him a half-lidded glare. "Third. Degree. Burns. Even after all of the healing that's been done to me, I'm still a bit sore."

"In more ways then one apparently," Dark muttered under his breath.

Sensing the tension increasing, First Strike cleared his throat to gain their attention.

"I suppose I should also give you this," he said, pulling a large bag from behind him. "Here. This is the prize money for winning."

"Sweet," Dark smiled before taking the bag and opening it to look inside. "Wow. That's a lot of bits. I should have plenty for what I need, get some more materials for my forge, and still have a good chunk to store away."

"Speaking of yer forge, lad, how's it been?" Anvil asked as he joined them.

"Doing pretty well. The guards are keeping me plenty busy, along with the orders from the other townsponies."

"That's good to hear, but I'm here for another reason." Anvil rubbed his forehooves together eagerly. "So, what kinda gear are ye wanting me to forge for ye? Got anything in mind?"

"I do, but the schematics are back in my saddlebag. Give me a moment and I'll go get it for you."

"Ye don't have to do that already."

"But we leave for Ponyville after the party is over, so I probably should get it to you now."

Leaving before they could add anything further, Dark went over to Twilight and asked her where they put his saddle bag at. After a quick explanation on why he would need it, Twilight decided to save him the trouble of leaving the party to look for it by teleporting his saddle bag over to him. Once he fished the scroll out, Dark kissed Twilight in thanks before she returned it to their room and Dark returned to Anvil.

"Okay, here you are," he said, giving Anvil the scroll.

Unraveling it, Anvil looked over it in interest. While he was intrigued by the design of the armor, he was also unsure.

"Are ye sure this is what ye want, lad?" he questioned.

"Yep," Dark answered.

Anvil looked back at it again. "Are ye sure that ye can even handle the weight? I mean, if ye were an earth pony or alicorn, then I wouldn't question it much, but yer not."

"Don't worry, Anvil, I'll be fine. I already figured out the weigh of it, and it should be light enough that it won't affect me too much."

"'Light enough'?" First Strike questioned, looking over Anvil's shoulder at the scroll with Snow Flower.

"But you're already tough enough," she said. "Why would you even need this kind armor?"

"It's only my wings, arms, and tail that are tough. Everything else that's pony, while not as vulnerable as a normal pony's hide, is still weaker than my draconic limbs. And besides, I already have some light armor-"

"That ye'll need to have repaired," Anvil reminded.

"-that I'll repair, but I don't have any heavy armor."

With a sigh, Anvil rolled the scroll back up. "Ye'r not gonna budge on this, are ye, lad?"

"Eenope."

"Fine, I'll make ye yer armor, but don't come back to me complaining if it's too heavy for ye, aye?"

"Alright," Dark chuckled, offering a clawshake to Anvil, which he met with a hoof.

"Well, this'll be interesting to see," First Strike commented. "Your greatest weakness to me was your defense, and with this new armor, you'll definitely be tankier than before."

"Yeah, I can't wait to see-"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! HOT!!! TOO HOT!!!"

Wincing from the loud shouting, Vinyl cut the music as she and everyone else in the room turned their heads to see Celestia sweating while panting with her tongue hanging out. Darting her eyes around, she quickly spotted the punch bowl and darted over to it before guzzling the cooling liquid down. Once the punch bowl was empty, Celestia slammed the bowl down on the table like an empty tankard and sighed in relief.

"Much better," she said to herself before scanning the crowd. "Alright, who put sun pepper sauce in my cake?"

"Sun pepper sauce?" Dark whispered in confusion to Anvil. "What's that?"

"It's the hottest pepper in Equestria that's supposedly as hot as the sun," he whispered back.

"But she's the Princess of the Sun. How's a pepper that's suppose to be as hot as the sun able to burn her mouth?"

"Beats me, lad."

As Celestia looked around everyone who was there, she didn't hear Dark and Anvil talking. However, after a third look, her sights locked onto a certain foal who was trying their best to hold back their laughter.

"Soul," Celestial called. "Were you the one who spiked my cake?"

Unable to hold back any more, Soul burst out laughing as he began rolling on the floor along with Pinkie, Spike, and Rainbow.

"S-S-So-Sorry,"  Soul said, trying to speak through his laughter. "It was just- just too easy to not do it."

Shaking her head, Celestia smacked her lips a few times before going to another punch bowl to fill herself a cup.

Well played, young Soul, she mentally praised with a smirk. Twilight and Dark weren't kidding when they said he can be a bit of a prankster. I'll have to keep an eye out incase he pulls another one on me.

"Um, Princess?" Soul called, gaining her attention. "You're not upset about it, are you?"

Celestia gave him a reassuring smile. "No, I'm not. However, I would like a slice of cake. Preferable one that isn't spiked by hot sauce?"

"Okay."

"Pinkie Promise?"

Soul looked at her confusingly. "I don't know what a Pinkie Promise is, but I promise that I won't give you another spiked cake."

"Thank you."

Giving her quick bow, Soul made his way over to the desert table. Along the way, Luna walked up along side him before giving him a small wink.

"That was quite impressive," Luna commented, giving him a hoofbump. "Not anypony can prank my sister like that."

"I didn't think it was all that hard really," Soul said, "but I promised that I wouldn't do that again."

"So it would seem," she said, levitating a large piece of cake onto a plate and giving it to Soul. "Here, take this to Tia."

"Who?"

"It's the nickname that I'll sometimes call Celestia."

"Oh, okay. Thank you, Princess."

Sliding the plate onto his back, Soul carefully trotted off back to Celestia. Once he was far enough away, though, he was unable to hear or see Luan as she brought a hoof up to cover her mouth to hide her snickering.

Meanwhile, over in another area of the throne room, Dark joined Twilight and her family.

"It really is too bad that you, Dark, and Soul can't stay for longer, Twilight," Velvet said.

"I know, mom," Twilight replied with a hint of regret, "but Soul has school tomorrow, and Dark has to get his forge running again."

"Technically I pick the hours that it's open," Dark reminded her before quickly adding, "but I think I've been away from it long enough."

"That's a good answer," Cadence said before smirking, "because I think that Twilight's got something planned for when you guys get back."

"Oh?"

Twilight blushed and fidgeted with her hooves. "It's just something that Celestia gave me to share with you."

"Oh. Well that was nice of her. What is it?"

Twilight's blush increased and found herself unable to answer.

"You'll just have to wait and find out," Cadence mercifully answered for Twilight. "Don't worry, though. I'm sure that you'll like it just as much as-"

Cadence cut herself off as she heard a vibrating sound coming from her side. Looking down, she saw that it was coming from Twilight, but that wasn't what piqued her confusion.

"Hey, Twilight?"

"Yes, Cadence?"

Cadence pointed to her flank. "Why is your cutie mark glowing and vibrating?"

Snapping her eyes open, Twilight looked back at her flank. "The map is calling me. There must be a friendship problem that needs my help."

"Sweet. It's about time that we got paired up for one of these things," Rainbow said, hovering above their heads.

"Does this mean that you need to leave now?" Night asked.

"I'm sorry, dad, but we can't ignore this," Twilight told him.

"Then you two take care," Celestia said, joining their group. "And don't worry, Rainbow Dash. I'll tell Spitfire that you're gone on a sudden mission so you won't be in any trouble with her."

Rainbow sighed in relief. "Thank you, Princess."

"You're welcome. Now off you two go."

Giving everyone a quick goodbye, Twilight teleported herself and Rainbow back to her castle to check out the map. Once they were gone, Soul walked up with the plateful of cake on his back.

"Where did Twilight go?" he asked.

"Something came up and she and Rainbow had to leave," Dark answered him. "They'll probably be gone for a few days."

"Okay." Looking over to Celestia, Soul smiled and walked up to her. "Here's your cake, Princess."

"Thank you, Soul," she thanked, taking the plate from him.

Holding the cake up to her face, Celestia inspected the cake for any signs of tampering. Once she saw that there didn't appear to be any, she licked her lips and took a bite of the cake. Mulling the taste over, Celestia hummed in content before she was suddenly hit by a wave of burning pain. Recoiling with tears from the burning sensation in her mouth, Celestia dropped the cake and grabbed her head in pain.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! SOUL!!! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T-" Celestia silenced herself as she saw a certain somepony laughing out loud.

"Pfhahahaha! Soul was right! That was too easy!" Luna bellowed while holding her side.

"You're going to pay for that, Luna!"