Your Wings Were Made For Angels

by Still Breeze

Beseeching Promises

Chapter 14: Beseeching promises

“Hey you, yeah, you!” Came a voice from behind the white alicorn as he strode down the street, unaware of the large crowd of ponies that followed him until he turned around to see who it was had spoken.

“Yeah?” He asked as he turned, eyes widening as he saw the mass of ponies behind him.

“You! I mean… It’s you!” Yelled the dull yellow pegasus as he fought his way through the sea of ponies.

“Hey, watch it buddy!”

“Look where you’re goin’!”

“Keep your dirty hooves off me!”

These were the angered cries of the other Manehattenites as the pegasus stallion barged his way past them towards the alicorn.

There were two reasons Cantor came to Manehatten: one being that the city’s crime rate was rather high compared to the rest of the large cities. The other being that he absolutely adored the accent the ponies spoke with. It amused him how everypony seemed to be in a rush or angry in this cold and windy town.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Asked Cantor as the pegasus came and stood in front of him. The height difference was quite minimal; this pony was a lot taller than most others and his head was practically the same height as Cantor’s.

“Nothing’s wrong!” Answered the yellow pegasus. The colour of his coat reminded Cantor of a friend he once had. “You’re the guy from the paper, aren’t you?”

“Huh?” Replied Cantor, striking an expression of bewilderment. “What paper?”

Instead of answering, the pegasus thrust a rolled up newspaper into Cantor’s face.

“What’s this?” Asked the alicorn, taking the paper with his white aura. He shifted his hooves, they were freezing cold in the thick blanket of snow that coated the city. Heavy grey clouds hung over the city, partially blocking the sun’s light. Cantor unravelled the paper and experienced a feeling. The first actual feeling he had felt in the two weeks he had been away from… home.

The entire front page, except for the title of the paper: the very humorously named “Equestria Daily” was covered in events of him that had happened during the six months he had lived in Ponyville.

The amount of emotions running through his broken heart overwhelmed him and he felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes. He couldn’t help but allow a genuine smile creep onto his face and he forgot to breathe as the wondrous memories poured back into his mind. The time when he and Rainbow Dash were racing and he lost. Badly.

The day when he and Fluttershy shared their cooking expertise, finding out that the shy little pony deserved far much more than she was credited for. His eyes flew over more pictures: That day Luna had allowed him to rearrange the stars into pictures to scare everypony.

They laughed so much that day.

Good times.

There were also pictures of him and Twilight. Not even special, romantic ones, just pictures of him stood next to that spectacular mare. All except for one which showed him laid behind Twilight, his enormous wing protecting her from the darkness of a sleeping library.

Who had even taken those?

All the wonderful happy memories printed onto paper for the world to see started to bring the pieces of his heart back together again.

In the centre of the page, amongst all of the precious photos were the two most relieving, wonderful and tear – inducing words he had ever read:

“Come home.”

He laughed with joy as his heart came back together and pumped the blood around his body once more. He dropped the paper and tore into the air, an enormous grin on his face as tears of happiness streamed down his face. With three powerful flaps of his wings, he was above the skyline and soaring back towards Ponyville. He needed no directions; he didn’t need any sort of advice as to where to aim for on the horizon.

He knew where he was going because the town was calling to him, home was calling to him, and above all, Twilight was calling for him.

One day ago…

Twilight lay on the wet floor, her fur slick to her body as she heard the grunting of the spa ponies from atop the surface of the bath.

“What’s going on?” Asked the purple unicorn. When there came no reply apart from frantic screaming and more grunting, her pupils became pinpricks with remembrance. “Oh, Celestia, Rarity!” She gasped as she struggled to her hooves, falling over again on the wet tiles. She eventually found footing and scrambled up the short flight of stairs. The sight that greeted her stole her breath. Her best friend lay on her back, eyes closed and not breathing with the bright blue earth pony furiously pumping at her chest and the other pink one screaming and crying in horror.

Instantly, Twilight shook the emotional anguish from her mind and the logical part of her brain fired up. She found Rarity’s lungs inside her body with magic and squeezed them hard. A fountain of water erupted from Rarity’s open mouth and dribbled across her chin and neck. Twilight anticipated the coughing and spluttering, but no such sound came. “Oh, Celestia, no… please, no...” She whispered as she stared at her still inanimate friend, mane a mess and spread out underneath her like a purple explosion.

The cyan spa pony had joined the other pink mare in crying, not knowing what else to do to save the pony’s life. Thanking the books on emergency first aid, Twilight fell on top of Rarity and cupped her lips around the white unicorn's. She let out a long, powerful breath before straddling the unicorn and pumping at her chest with a strong and steady rhythm.

Twilight had barely reached the sixth compression before Rarity lurched forward and heaved another mouthful of water onto the floor. Twilight climbed off of her and begun smacking her in the back as Rarity wretched more water from her lungs, making gargling gasps for air. She continued to violently hack up more water until she was finished for now and she laid on her back, her chest was heaving up and down as the only thought going through her mind was: “get air.”

Rarity’s breathing softened a little, but she was still panting like a dog on a hot day. She sat up so quickly, it made Twilight flinch. “Twili- Twilight!” Rarity stammered before going into another violent coughing fit.

The purple mare began to rub her back hard, telling her to “Shhh, shh, shhhh…” like a mother would to comfort her terrified child.

Rarity finished coughing and flung her arms around Twilight, making loud, long, grieving cries into her shoulder. The mix of dopamine, affection, near death experience, oxygen starvation and great love overwhelmed Rarity and she passed out on Twilight’s shoulder, her body still heaving for air. Twilight said nothing, but allowed Rarity to sleep on her as she herself began to cry. The two brightly coloured spa ponies rushed to both the unicorns’ aid, picking them both up onto their backs and rushing them through the doors to some sort of small spa clinic.

For way over an hour, Twilight sat on the bed opposite Rarity, silently watching her doze peacefully.

“What did I do?” She asked herself in her mind. “How could I ever try to kill my best friend?” She didn’t feel sad, nor did she feel angry. Not with herself or Rarity… Rather, she felt nothing, empty, devoid of purpose. She had lost all consciousness of time; for all she knew, she could have been there for days, her mind buzzing with thousands of thoughts at once. She brought herself to avert her eyes from the sleeping unicorn and eyed the simple clock on the wall. Twenty to five in the evening. The sun had been tempting the horizon for some time now and it was finally beginning to set. She remembered how she never feared the dark anymore when Cantor was around. She gave a slight content smile at the happy memory of Cantor saying goodnight to her. Every night. He would always stay with her until she had begun to drift off into sleep. Every night. She had become used to the protective entity that stayed in her house… every single night…

“And now what?” She thought. For the last two weeks, she had taken herself to bed, she had longed for the firm, yet comforting “Good night, Twilight…” and every night for the last two weeks, she had cried herself to sleep. She had forgotten how violent the nightmares were until Cantor left and they came back, the early winter darkness making her edgy, fearful of the shadows. She had experienced three night terrors over the course of Cantor’s absence, and every time, she had woke up, screaming Cantor’s name for protection. But he would never come. Twilight was thankful for Spike; he would always offer his sympathy to her. And to some degree, it worked. But… as she said, she needed Cantor. She would have to get him back.

She didn’t know how he did it, whether it was some sort of magical presence that flowed out of him, destroying the monsters and letting her know love, or whether it was the fact that he did love her…

“Did he?” She asked herself ‘aloud’ though it wasn’t even a whisper in the room; she simply mouthed the words whilst exhaling slowly. “Did he truly love me like Rarity said?” Twilight cast a glance towards her friend. She could see her eyes moving behind her lids. “Sweet dreams, Rarity…” Whispered Twilight, something Cantor occasionally said to her whenever she was at the most peaceful. And do you know what? Twilight always obeyed. Right now, she remembered all of the wonderful long dreams she had about… him…

The purple unicorn’s lavender eyes widened at the realisation: she had dreamed about him… Twilight never paid any attention to dreams “Merely excessive brain activity during sleep.” That’s what she’d always said. Then… why did she dream about Cantor? It was as if… Her eyes widened even more at this even deeper layer of realisation. “It was as if… I wanted to be with him… even when I was asleep…” She murmured to herself. Her eyes faced in the direction of Rarity, but her brain only processed one image: the stallion’s face. Twilight didn’t move, just gazed into those wonderful, deep, warm, kind, beautiful orange eyes.

She reached out to touch him, but all she received was the small clinic coming back into focus. She tried to remember his eyes, but it was no use. She needed the real thing. She just had to get him back.

The stirring of Rarity beneath her line of sight caused her to snap back into reality. She groaned and her eyes slowly began to open, then shot all the way up when she realised she wasn’t in her bedroom and the last thing she remembered was being underwater, bubbles, pain and then darkness. She began to breath quickly.

“I’m dead.” She thought. “I’m dead.” She couldn’t shake the assumption from her mind as she struggled to sit up. Suddenly, she felt two warm hooves wrap around her mid-section and hoist her onto her flank. She turned around to see two lavender eyes gazing back at her. Rarity froze, she was at a mix between seeing Twilight as the pony who had tried to take her life away and her best friend. Though she could see in her eyes that not an ounce of hatred was present, though they did show heaps of remorse.

“I’m so sorry, Rarity!” Exclaimed Twilight, pulling Rarity over her shoulder at a really awkward angle. “I don’t know what came over me but it’s alright now I know what I need to do to make everything alright I have to get Cantor back and I have an idea how oh Rarity I’m so, so sorry for trying to hurt you but it’s alright now and I suspect you’re going to hate me and never want to see me again but I just want you to know I’m so, so, SO sorry!” Twilight broke down into tears and hugged Rarity tighter than ever. For all she knew, she would never be allowed to hold her friend like this again. All of her sorrow turned to joy as she felt Rarity’s hooves wrap themselves around her back and heard Rarity begin crying too.

“It’s okay, Twilight… I forgive you…”

That sentence was like music to Twilight’s ears and she happily listened. The two cuddled each other for another five minutes until their tears had dried up. They brought their faces from off of each other’s shoulders and looked each other in the eye.

“I’m so sorry, Rarity…” Twilight repeated.

“It’s alright…” Replied Rarity. She had stopped crying, but her voice was still a little croaky. “I know you must hurt a lot now.”

“B- but I tried to KILL you! I’d never do that! So why did I try!?” Twilight wasn’t crying, but she was feeling incredibly remorseful.

Rarity gave the most unsuspected reaction Twilight was waiting for: she chuckled. “That’s the effects of heartbreak, my dear…” She smiled.

Without another stray sentence, Twilight beamed and blurted out loudly into Rarity’s face her brilliant plan: “I know how to get Cantor back!”

“So, an entire planet’s worth of front page news, for one day, in the hopes that he’ll see it?”

“Yes. If that’s not too much to ask.”

“I don’t know, Twilight… What if he doesn’t see it? Something like that would take so much magic to put the page in every editor’s mind.”

“But can you do it?”

“I can, but I still need your help…”

“What do you need me to do, princess?”

“I need you to think of all the happy memories you and your friends shared with him. Picture them as clearly as you can in your mind and think about nothing else. Also think of the message you want to give to him.”

“Oh, thank you princess!” Cried Twilight, throwing her arms around the mighty alicorn before realising what she was doing. She let go and backed away. “Sorry…” She mumbled.

“Not at all.” Replied Celestia. “Now think. Think back through your times with Cantor, Twilight. Think about nothing else except what you and your friends did with him and think about what you want to say.”
Twilight nodded and closed her eyes. Her horn began to glow a bright pearlescent white, with just the tiniest tint of violet as she concentrated her thoughts onto the memories.

She remembered the good times they shared so vividly, it was as if she was actually there watching them unfold. She saw herself curled up next to Cantor as they all slept on the library floor. She looked back on the time where they were all playing with Cantor’s power to manipulate the elements. She giggled when she remembered Spike telling Cantor to send a gust up the skirt of a young skittish mare.

She remembered slapping him hard that day, but it was all in good fun.

She remembered watching him stand up for a pony he had barely known ten minutes at the gala. She remembered the night they almost kissed in the hospital. One time, a mare who was giving Twilight a hard time had about fifty buckets of icy water land on top of her, destroying her self – centred ego in front of everypony watching. Twilight remembered the look of absolute trust and friendship he had given her shortly after doing this, making her tears at the harsh things said go away.

“Come home, Cantor.” Twilight whispered. “Please come home…”

The entire length of Celestia’s horn blazed with the pearlescent aura and she released the immense spell, sending a thin white shockwave around the entire world. Bells chimed and birds fluttered away from the unsuspecting sound.

The global editors the message was directed at instantly froze, no matter what they were doing. They immediately stopped the presses and drew up a quick image onto paper, picture perfect to the one they had in their mind. Even the most artistically challenged of ponies picked up a pencil and drew the images they saw.

Somewhere above Manehatten, on the tallest building he could find, a certain white alicorn peering down over the grid like roads looked up when he could have sworn he heard that purple mare he thought he loved whisper to him: ”Come home…”

He shook the voice from his head and chocked it down to the depression that covered the shrapnel of his heart, making him desperate for everything to go back to the way it was. He took in a breath of high altitude air, reminding himself that a life with Twilight was never going to happen. And, bored with the gloomy sky, cleared every single cloud with the slightest flick of his horn, allowing himself a beautiful view of the setting orange sun.

Celestia’s right foreleg collapsed slightly before she regained her strength. She breathed heavily; the global spell had taken much energy out of her, even more so than raising the sun did. Twilight was unaffected by the spell and she rushed towards Celestia.

“Did it work!?” She asked frantically. Celestia pretty much ignored the question. She stepped past twilight and towards a balcony which protruded from the side of her throne room. The younger – much younger – purple mare followed her outside.

The pair overlooked the blazing orange horizon as the enormous red ball stopped just above the point where the sky met the world. The princess’ horn lit up again and she closed her eyes. With an expression of peace and serenity on her face, the sun dipped into the horizon and the alicorn mare stumbled back slightly. The pair watched the sun slowly set, dispersing the entire spectrum of colour across the sky, slowly filling with little points of light.

“You know, Twilight…” Princess Celestia started as the bottom quarter of the large red disc disappeared from view. “Cantor raised the sun once…”

“He did!?” Twilight gasped in wonderment.

Celestia merely hummed an amused ‘yes’ before turning to face her student. “What I like to think is that somewhere out there, he is watching the very same sunset…” She blinked once and for some reason became aware of Twilight’s rate of breath.

“I like to think of that too, princess…” Twilight replied as the very tip of the sun disappeared for another day.

“Every single night…”

It had taken him a whole day – an entire day's worth of flying to finally reach the peak of the mountain in which he could see the beautiful gem of a town in which was undoubtedly his home. Ponyville. His wings felt as if they were on fire. He could have sworn he didn’t need to exert himself this much when he… left.

He dove towards the town at ridiculous speeds, going as fast as he possibly could to return to the one he loved. He shot through clouds which drenched his body and soaked his mane, but the only thing on his mind was the glowing tree in the centre of the settlement.

Twilight had requested Spike left her in solitude for the night, adamant that Cantor would show up, but even though it was just passed midnight, she didn’t feel at all tired. However, even with every light in the library turned on, she could still feel the vulnerability of being left alone. She sat on her sofa, which used to be the stallion’s bed and had drawn the curtains too; she kept seeing shadows skim across her periphery and was becoming very distressed at the pale faces she thought she could see leering in at her.

“iiiiiiii”

She heard the sound of something distant, quieter than a whisper to her, but the sound carried urgency with it. Before she could think about all the scary things it could have been, another sound, much louder than before came from outside.

“Twiii – liiight…”

It was calling her name, whatever it was. She listened, and sure enough, she heard the extremely distinct male voice shouting her name. “Twilight!” It shouted. She instantly recognised the voice she had been begging to hear outside of memory for the past two weeks and as soon as she heard him, the fear and anxiety left her as if it were a flame that had just been snuffed out.

“Cantor!?” She asked, although she already knew the answer, much to her overwhelming joy.

“TWILIGHT!” Came a desperate cry from the other side of the door, when, without warning, it burst open, revealing the scratched, dirty, exhausted looking alicorn. He looked a right state, but to Twilight, he was the most handsome pony she’d ever laid eyes on.

“Cantor!” She squealed in glee before charging towards him and squeezing him as tight as she could; for she would never let go again. Both ponies had tears of reunited joy brimming in their eyes. Twilight pulled out of the embrace and looked up at Cantor. She bit her lower lip and brought her hoof up.

Smack!

The loud echoing sound ringed through the alicorn's head as her hoof made direct contact with the side of his face. He didn’t touch the sore spot on his cheek, instead, stared bewildered at the purple mare.

“That’s for leaving!” She snapped before throwing her arms back around Cantor’s neck and locking her lips around his.

Allowing Twilight to take lead, Cantor opened his mouth, closed his eyes and improvised with her, their tongues dancing inside each other’s mouths. They kissed with all of the missed passion that had been brewing for months for what seemed like hours, but in reality, only lasted a few minutes.

Twilight eventually stopped, pulling away from the perfect feeling. Cantor saw her eyes streaming with tears. The sight caused him to show all of his emotions as well.

“And that’s for coming back.” She said, leaning in for another kiss. Cantor didn’t protest: this was what Twilight wanted, and he wanted nothing more other than to give her what she wanted, which graciously fell in line with what he wanted as well.

Cantor raised Twilight off of the floor in a shroud of her own coloured magic, shut the door and locked it at the same time. He rotated Twilight so she was upside down, being very careful not to upset the delicate moment of intimacy. He began making his way up Twilight’s staircase, still locking lips with that astounding mare.

Not once did it occur to him that she was not from the same world, not once. Because he loved her, and that’s all that mattered.

He approached the edge of Twilight’s soft, cushiony bed. A small part of him just wanted to snuggle down next to her and go to sleep, but the rest of his being wanted to show her just how much he cared. He very slowly laid Twilight down on her back atop her mattress and pulled his head back. He gazed longingly into her perfect lavender eyes and she stared right back up into his. There was something about them now, a new element nestled in his subconscious.

“I love you, Twilight Sparkle.” He spoke forcefully, showing that every single atom in his body knew that this was the truth.

Twilight’s half closed eyes blinked once as she opened her mouth to speak. “I love you too, Cantor…” She sighed. Her mouth remained open, even when she had finished speaking. The stallion pressed his gentle lips back onto hers and allowed himself to melt into her. Twilight wrapped her arms tightly around Cantor’s solid neck and in a wild moment of deeply growing passion, making up for months of lost love on this night. She pulled, dragging him on top of her. He didn’t resist, neither did she, they both simply allowed the magical moment to unfold by itself, as they finally began their beautiful relationship…

Celestia’s bright sun had long since peeked over the horizon and was now flooding Twilight’s bedroom with light. It was nearly noon, and the sheets around the alicorn lay in a mess. The winter morning was silent and surprisingly hot; condensation had formed on the large circular window at the edge, blurring the otherwise perfectly round white ball of fire in the sky. Cantor’s eyes opened quickly and stayed in his signature tiny frown of determination which only left his face when he laughed. He realised he was laying horizontally. In a bed. Twilight’s bed. His eyes widened and a great smile crawled onto his face. He turned over to see the empty half of a bed. His smile dropped and he furrowed his brow in thought. Sitting himself upon his flank, resting his back against the headboard. His sucked his lips inquisitively, they tasted… unusually sweet, with a most destinct taste on them.

His eyes scanned the room. He was alone, although he could hear feint coughs and mumbles coming from downstairs.

Drearily, he clambered from the soft bed and landed on his hooves. He was still rather groggy, but he also felt immensely refreshed after a night's sleep in a proper bed. Cantor re-made the bed for Twilight as he tried to remember last night, but he just couldn’t. maybe it was because he was distracted by the act of bed making, “Yeah…” He thought. “That must be it…” he continued to make the bed manually; he couldn’t find the concentration to use magic.

Once the bed looked perfect again, just how Twilight would want it, pillows plumped and all, Cantor sat on the edge of it, indenting the starstruck duvet a little. Last night began to replay in his head. He already knew he had… bonded with Twilight he chuckled softly to himself in his throat, remembering how he could now add the most intimate of memories to the list. His eyes widened when he remembered how the session had finished… falling asleep in each others arms, and one of the two’s pair of wings.

However, this had come shortly after Twilight had replaced her bedsheets. “Oh, God...” He mumbled in absolute embarrassment as he remembered just how much there had been – six months worth of… ‘resources’. That’s how much.

Twilight had seemed completely fine with it, but Cantor needed to know if she was really comfortable. His face a beet red, he made his way downstairs and spotted the gorgeous purple unicorn flicking through a newspaper on her couch. His attempt at tip-hoofing came to an unlucky end as he misplaced his foreleg, overstepping one step and nearly having a heart attack as it hit the one below it. He lost his balance and toppled forward, making Twilight practically jump out of her seat as the alicorn fell down the rest of the stairs in a tangle of legs and a mass of feathers. Instead of rushing to Cantor’s aid, she merely giggled at his clumsy nature. Another thing she had greatly missed.

“Morning, Cantor.” She said as he lay in a ridiculously awkward position on the hard wooden floor.

The stallion quickly drew himself upright and replied. “Good morning, Twilight…” The two remained in awkward silence for a moment before Cantor spoke again. “Look, Twilight… Ab- about last night…”

Twilight hummed peacefully. “Last night was amazing, Cantor…” She sighed.

“But my- I mean, I… your bed…” He began to blush horrendously, his face taking on the colour of Big Macintosh’s. “I’m so, so sorry Twilight; I didn't know what else to do... I just don’t know what came over me…”

“Well I sure did…” Replied the unicorn seductively. It took Cantor only a second to realise what she had said, before exploding into immature, rapturous laughter.

“Don’t worry about that…” She giggled childishly and blushed herself. “Actually, it was quite fascinating…”

Cantor let out a heavy sigh, ending in a wide smile. “Everything’s fascinating to you, Twilight, isn’t it?”

“Yes, well… I’m always willing to try new things…” She replied, glancing back to her newspaper.

“Your first time?” Asked Cantor, tilting his head slightly. Twilight nodded without looking up. “Mine too.” He added.

Twilight brought her eyes to his. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped in her tracks. “What is it?” Cantor asked.

Twilight shook her head vigorously. “Nothing. Don’t worry…”

“Go on.” He insisted.

“Well…” She began, a redness flowing across her features and increasing as she spoke. “You know alicorns are really rare?”

“Yeah…”

“And not much is known about them?”

“Yes…”

Twilight held herself back. “No, just forget about it.”

“Go on,” Replied Cantor, beginning to walk towards her.

“You see…” The unicorn continued, her blush now bright red. “I’d really like to… ‘study’ you…”

Cantor gave her a wary look, though her sentence didn’t deter him from taking the seat to her side. “How do you mean?” He enquired.

“I mean… I’d like to find out just how powerful your magic is; what it could become... among other things…”

“Like what?”

“…Genetics…”

“Oh…" Cantor mumbled, a little lost. "OH!" He re-enforced as the implied intentions became clear. "Oh, well um what do you mean by… gen- genetics?”

Twilight smirked; he knew exactly what she was getting at. “Well I’d like to find out, statistically, the likelihood of an alicorn being born when there is a single alicorn parent in a couple…”

The white stallion’s head turned downwards, away from Twilight’s. “Do you know why I… finished like that last night?” He asked the ground.

Twilight giggled, her blush refusing to go away. “No, but I’m sure not going to forget it!” She laughed.

Cantor remained staring at the floor. He sighed. “Do you… do you want a- a… family one day?”

Twilight drew back slightly, eyeing her empty teacup which rested on the edge of the coffee table. She exhaled loudly, though it wasn’t intended as a sigh. “One day… yes… But now I’m far too young to have to worry about foals!” She giggled and Cantor returned his eyes to hers. “And especially after last night! We’ve still got so much to try…” She fiercely replied, her eyes changing to those very seductive half – closed jewels. “Anyway…” She muttered, “Why did you um… yeah…”

“I just wasn’t sure if you wanted to get pregnant, you know, especially since it was your, actually both our first times…” The stallion answered admittedly.

“Well I would have been, no doubt!” She cried in excitement. “There must have been a litre of the stuff at least!” She was finding much fascination in the situation. Cantor, on the other hoof, found the talk about this lusty little act incredibly… inspiring… “I didn’t know there was that much involved!” She exclaimed.

“Neither did I…” He muttered. “It was, ah, how to put it… ‘pent up’…”

“Pent up?” Twilight quizzed.

Cantor chuckled foalishly. “Remember when we met, back in September?”

“Yeah…” The mare replied.

“Well not since then…” He felt the blood begin to pool in his cheeks once more.

“Not what since then?” Asked Twilight in genuine misunderstanding. Cantor just raised his eyebrows and waited for her brilliant mind work it out.

“No!” She gasped. “You haven’t… for…” She briefly thought about the time. “Six months!?” She exclaimed in astonishment. “Even I-“ She brought a hoof to her mouth before she could say anything else. The Purple hoof also aided her in obscuring her horrendous blush.

Cantor could see her eyes were filled with the upmost shame, but when he smiled knowingly towards her, she released some of her awkwardness. “I didn’t know about this side of the innocent young librarian, Twilight Sparkle!” He joked.

“Oh, stop it!” She giggled.

“No wonder there’s so many of ‘those’ books in the restricted section…”

“Cantor, stop it!” She replied, giving him a playful punch in the shoulder.

“So ‘that’ sort of stuff is in your fantasies, hm?”

Twilight threw her arms around Cantor’s neck and once again, pulled him on top of her.

They laid there for a minute or so before the wonderfully tender kiss broke. “I like this new side of Twilight…” The large white stallion commented, his wings broadly extended behind his back.

That ridiculously sexy look Twilight gave with the half – closed eyes had just been taken to the next level as she bit softly on the tip of her hoof. “Same thing again tonight?” She said softly and alluringly.

Cantor smiled warmly and, looking into her deep lavender eyes, simply replied in a voice as equally sensual: “I really like this new side of Twilight.”

They slowly began to draw closer again before a young, husky voice called in behind them “Are you guys talking about… what I think you’re talking about?”

Cantor slowly turned away from Twilight and looked towards the intruder. “That depends, Spike,” He said whilst turning. The dragon gasped in delight as he clocked who it was. “What did you think we were talking about?”

Spike squealed in joy and bounded across the room towards the friendly white alicorn. “Cantor!” He cried as he landed on the stallion’s back. “I really missed you!” He enthused.

Cantor chortled in agreement. “I’ve missed you too, Spike…” He replied, nuzzling the dragon quickly.

Spike revelled in the moment of being reunited with a close friend. What also lit up his soul was the first truly happy smile Twilight had worn on her face in the fortnight Cantor had been away. His attention suddenly snapped back to the position the two ponies were laying in.

“Wait, were you talking about what I think you were talking about?” Asked the baby dragon again, climbing off of the stallion’s back from between his flared wings.

Cantor shot a trustworthy smile towards Twilight before returning to look at Spike. “Might have been…” He answered meekly, pumping fake embarrassment into his tone to make the dragon edgy.

Spike turned bright red again and asked: “You mean you… you know… with Twilight?” Cantor nodded softly, attempting to steer the conversation away from his as Twilight's intimate persuits. “What’s it like!?”

“Spike!” Protested Twilight, squirming from beneath Cantor and bringing herself to stand upright on the thick wooden floorboards and scowling at the youngling. “That’s personal! How would you like it if I asked you what you fantasised about when I leave you alone for a couple hours?”

“I don’t do anything when you’re not here!” Spike retaliated, defending his ‘innocent’ appearance.

“Oh please, Spike, every adolescent being capable of comprehension does that at every chance they get.” Twilight continued. Cantor shuffled awkwardly on his hooves as Twilight said this.

All three fell quiet and a very awkward silence descended onto the room. The electricity in the air was tangible as it would only take one of them to say the wrong thing and an angry argument would explode right after Cantor had come back. Cantor took the risk and said what he hoped Twilight was thinking too.

“Look, Spike… What we’re trying to say here is that you’re… old enough to understand the um… ‘mechanics of desire’-“ His eyes widened and he turned towards the purple mare. “That’s a pretty good scripture, don’t you think?” Before Twilight could reply, Cantor turned his head back to face Spike. “Yet… you’re not mature enough to talk about it openly…”

“Well are you?” Spike asked back sharply.

The alicorn replied with a great whooping laugh. “Oh yes, Spike…” He let out a few more loud waves of laughter. “All the time!”

Twilight sighed overdramatically. “Ugh! Boys!” She raised the teacup from the table in a brilliant white aura. The sight shocked her, nevertheless, it made her feel very happy and content with life. “Could you get the door, Cantor?” she asked the stallion. He instantly obliged and the door, surrounded by the same blazing purple as his horn shut. Twilight’s smile broadened significantly as the thick red door left open by her dragon assistant closed near to silently, separating the warm contents of her home from the frigid February air, “Can I interest you in a nice cup of tea, Cantor?”

The scruffy white alicorn turned away from the door to face Twilight, a mischievous and nostalgic smirk carved into his loveable face. “Don’t you always, Twilight?...”

His return felt like a parade, everypony in town greeted him with great waves and friendly smiles. As he, Twilight and Spike peacefully walked through the centre of town, ponies everywhere who weren’t horrendously busy rushed over to say hello.

Cantor felt so welcome, so happy. This place was his home, and he wouldn’t choose to live anywhere else on the entire planet for all the bits in the world.

“Welcome back, Cantor!” Called Derpy Hooves as she flew over him, letters and parcels poking out of her saddlebags.

“Thanks, Derpy!” He replied, watching the pegasus disappear between two houses.

“Hi, Cantor!” A pink mare with a bright green curly mane called out from across the street.

“Hi!” Replied the alicorn, not having the faintest clue who she was, but feeling very grateful that she did.

“CANTOR!” A furious sounding male voice came from behind him.

Cantor halted and turned around quickly to come muzzle to muzzle with the ex-weather team leader. “Hi, Al!” He said cheerfully.

“Hi? HI!?” The fuming pegasus yelled before compressing his rage. He sighed before continuing, “Welcome back. But one thing I have to ask you is um… what do you think is wrong with this town?” He asked in an overly sweet and inquisitive manner.

“Ummm…” Thought Cantor.

“What month is it?”

“February…”

“And what is the typical weather this time of year?”

“Ohhh…” Cantor groaned, peering up at the sky. It was completely void of clouds, just the winter sun failing to heat up the planet enough to make it summer, but still giving the appearance of a warmer season without the signature grey winter clouds.

“I’m really sorry, Al…” Said Cantor, dropping his ears to the sides of his head.

The coffee coloured pegasus sighed in defeat. “You really fu- um, messed up the weather patterns by leaving; we’ve got two weeks worth of snow piled up and we need to get it falling pretty much now.” He tried to sound sympathetic towards Cantor, but he just sounded disappointed.

The alicorn thought it was a little strange that the voice of his supervisor was so comforting to hear. “Right now?” Asked Cantor.

“If you would…” Replied Al.

“I’ll see what I can do, sir…” Said the alicorn.

Cantor had an attempt at bringing in the snow clouds, but the extreme weight of nine days worth of gentle snowfall massed to way more than Cantor was used to put way too much strain on his magic. He had made snow fall for three days in early December, but those had been relatively light dustings, and now he needed to bring together four feet of snow for today.

His horn lit up indigo before quickly fizzling out. Cantor lurched forward at the unexpected jolt. “What happened?” Asked Twilight, looking up at Cantor.

The alicorn chuckled. “Oh, nothing much, it’s just there’s a lot more than I expected… Could you just… hold on a moment, Twilight?”

“Of course!” She happily exclaimed, stepping away from Cantor slightly. He spread his griffon – like wings and hoisted himself into the air. He remained just above the roofs of houses and hovered there, locating the spec in the stark sky that was Cloudsdale.

He brought his forehooves up in front of him to help shape the clouds. He grinned at the epic moment he was about to perform. Most ponies in Ponyville had craned their necks to the sky, seeing the angelic form rise above the rooftops and extend his arms like some sort of mage. Cantor closed his eyes and concentrated on the city tens of miles away. His serine face contorted to a straining grimace as he pulled millions of tons worth of snow towards the small town of Ponyville. The workers at the weather station in Cloudsdale cheered when they realised the clouds moving at such a rate could only mean one thing: Cantor had returned.

The clouds drifted closer, starting off slowly but then increasing dramatically until they circled around the outskirts of Ponyville and began to fill in until there was only a small patch of blue sky remaining a few hundred metres across. The alicorn slowly rotated his right forehoof in great circular motions, creating a whirlpool – type effect in the formation of the clouds. Cantor could feel the strain that magic on this scale put upon him, and he nearly gave up right at the end, but a collective roar of cheers and stomping from below spurred him on to finish the job. The last grey cloud squeezed it’s way into the little hole in the middle of the sky, throwing the whole town under a blanket of darkness.

Having exerted every ounce of strength he had, Cantor’s wings failed him and he plummeted downwards into a collection of wooden barrels, causing them to shatter and spill the water they were holding all over the floor.

Twilight, and everypony watching gasped and rushed over to where the stallion had landed. By the time they had closed in around him, he had crawled out from under the splintered wood and was lying on his stomach, breathing heavily. By now, Twilight had come to expect this sort of thing from Cantor and merely laughed among all of the concerned looking faces.

Twilight bent her neck down so her head was nearly touching Cantor’s horn. He bought his eyes to meet hers, but refused to lift his chin from the ground.

“If I had one bit for every time you’ve ended up hurt, bleeding or in some kind of general trouble for doing something stupid,” Twilight started, smiling down upon him, “I’d be a very rich pony…”

Cantor shut his eyes, shook his head and grinned before trying to bring himself to his hooves. He placed a tired foreleg out in front of him and, as expected, received trembling as a response from the disobedient limb. What happened next filled Cantor with a variety of happy feelings: four other ponies whom he had never met stood at each of his quarters and hoisted him upwards.

“Thanks guys.” He returned, standing gingerly in one spot, fighting just to keep his balance, still rather unfamiliar with the kindness exerted by the ponies in this town.

“Why is it not snowing?” Asked Spike, staring upwards at the dark sky. It was so dark in fact, that one could mistake the time of day as dusk, rather than one o’ clock in the afternoon.

“I just gotta… get it started…” Replied Cantor, breathing deeply. “Just let me… catch my… breath…”

“Wow, Cantor, I’ve never seen anything like that before!” Exclaimed Twilight. She too, was scanning the sky. “I love snow.”

“Me too, Twilight. It’s my favourite… my favourite type of weather…” The alicorn responded, his breathing rapidly becoming more stable. “Just give me a minute... and there’ll be snow…”

After said minute, Cantor stepped into a large clearing in the town centre with a perfect shot at the middle of the heavy snow cloud. He turned to the ponies stood behind him.

“You may not want to be there…” He warned with a smirk. Almost instantly the ten or so ponies behind him cleared the gangway and shuffled around to his sides. A few more ponies were standing in their doorways after venturing outside to see what had happened to the sky. It must have seemed strange for them to go from a bright blue day to nearly night time in less than two minutes.

Readying himself for another magical purge, Cantor lowered his head to the floor and closed his eyes. His horn glowed brightly to start with and quickly grew to a brightness which would be painful to look directly at. After the twenty second mark, Cantor’s horn was layered with thick helpings of magical charge and the sheer enormity of the point of energy was confusing the very laws of physics and making sounds that without tweaking would otherwise be impossible. With one final push, the alicorn reared up and released the energy spike. The blast was so powerful that he was blown ten feet backwards, leaving two small trenches in the dirt where his back hooves were. Simultaneously, a crack of thunder could be heard as loud as if a bolt of lightning had struck where Cantor had been standing. The blast had made the journey across hundreds of metres of sky instantaneously and struck the bottom of the cloud, causing a magenta shockwave to ripple across the surface.

Everypony craned their neck up hopefully and began cheering in delight as the first few snowflakes came into sight. Cantor had just finished filling in the grooves he had made in the ground when the cheering started. He too joined the ponies in gazing up at the sky. For some reason, snow seemed always the ‘happiest’ weather; a lot of fun can be had in it for all ages. Cantor had made it snow three times before, but they were only light dustings, this snowfall would be the one to last several days. The alicorn reached out and caught a snowflake on his hoof, melting it almost instantly. The ground of Ponyville looked like it had a disease: white spots all over the surface as the snow had just begun to fall.

Spike suddenly belched out a large green flame, causing Cantor to flinch at the unexpected outburst. A small scroll materialised from the fire and Twilight picked it up with her magic and began to read aloud. As soon as she started reading, a beaming smile exploded onto her face.

“I’m glad to see Cantor is back.
-Princess Celestia.

P.S: Me too!
-Princess Luna.”

“Well I Think the princess just saw that show!” Declared Twilight, stowing the letter inside her mane. “I’m proud of you, Cantor.” She continued with a bow. “That sort of magic is so unbelievably powerful; I’m glad you’re using it for good rather than evil.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Twi… LIGHT!”

The unicorn giggled. “It’s okay, Cantor, You can call me ‘Twi’ if you like…”

Cantor smiled and gave a short, content snort from his nostrils. “Thanks, Twi…” His smile grew until his teeth showed and by now, the snow had already formed a very thin layer over the roofs and streets of the town. The snow falling beneath the entirety of the cloud blocked out any direct sunlight from the sides, making the light from the sun above dampened and giving the appearance of night time to the ponies below. Several pegasi were lighting old – looking street lamps, causing the snow around them to glow a dim yellow. The lamps didn’t do much, but they helped, and besides, they did look absolutely marvellous.

“I love the snow…” Cantor murmured to Twilight.

“It really is the most beautiful weather.” She added.

“But not half as beautiful as you.”

“Oh, that’s so cheap!” Twilight replied.

“I know, I’m full of cheap ones.”

“I’ll let you try again.” She said, meeting his eyes.

Cantor thought for a moment before replying. “Anypony can write poetry to try and describe their love, but one glance can speak more than any sonnet possibly could, especially when I look at you.”

The young purple mare tittered again. “That’s a little better…” She returned, unamused, meeting cantor halfway for a quick peck on the lips.

“Ugh, gross! Are you two lovebirds done?” Spike protested, raising his hand as a shield towards the scene. “Can we just go along now? My scales are hard, but they do let the cold in!”

“Alright, Spike.” Twilight replied, “Come on…” She then motioned for Spike to hop onto her back. The trio then set off for Sweet Apple Acres through the thick, but still rather gentle snowfall.

“So why are we going to the farm again?” Enquired Cantor as he trotted briskly by Twilight’s left side.

“We’re helping Applejack paint the barn,” Started the mare, “but… I don’t think that’s going to happen because of all this snow…”

“So why are we still going?” The alicorn asked.

“Because it’s nice to visit, Cantor…” She answered, sounding as if she were scolding him slightly.

“Yeah, I agree, I’m just saying that… being anti-productive is out of character for you…" He frowned. "And Applejack, come to think of it.."

“I don’t have any work to do anyway…” She muttered in response. “Besides, I’m sure Applejack is dying to welcome you back.”

“Really?”

“Of course! We all missed you so much while you were gone… especially Pinkie and me.”

“Pinkie?”

“Yeah, you know how she is with friends…”

Cantor dropped his head to the freezing white ground and sighed sorrowfully. “I’m so, so sorry I just upped and left without saying goodbye; I just thought it would hurt less…”

“It’s okay, Cantor, I forgive you.” Twilight replied with a comforting expression.

The stallion gazed upon her and she smiled, amplifying her care and trust.

“Thanks, Twi,” (though he felt it now acceptable to call this mare ‘Twi’, actually saying it to her still felt rather strange.) “I promise I won’t do anything like that again.”

“Good.” Twilight responded with a nod. “Because I’m not going to let you!” She laughed, pecking Cantor on the cheek.

The two ponies and one dragon continued trotting through the snowstorm. At first, the wind had been minimal, even perhaps absent when the snow had started, but now, it had picked up dramatically and the snow now whirled around in the air in untidy swoops. Visibility was on the verge of nothing and the small group would be certainly lost given that this particular snowstorm was comprised of nearly nine days worth of snow ready to fall until next morning. Twilight sent out a powerful beam of light from her horn, casting a cone of yellowish light through the blizzard. The torch spell didn’t help much at all, only illuminating the snowflakes further away. Beyond that, there was nothing but darkness.

“Can’t you hold off this wind?” Groaned Twilight, shivering in the intense cold.

“I can for a little while…” Cantor returned, illuminating his horn with a soft purple glow. The wind slowly died down until it was nothing more than a gentle breeze to keep the snow falling in front of them. “But after about five minutes, I’m afraid I’m going to have to stop…”

Twilight sighed in relief of not having to put up with the bitterly cold winds. “Why’s that?” She asked, light still being cast from her horn.

“After about five minutes, of any element, it starts to hurt… like… like a vice on either side of my head being tightened really quickly…” Cantor replied glumly.

“Well just stop whenever you feel uncomfortable.” The unicorn announced with a hearty smile. “But we should be at the farm by then…”

After a couple of minutes more gentle trotting along the barely visible path, the small group spotted a feint silhouette of the Apple family’s great barn amongst the white storm.

“Over there!” Called Twilight as she and Cantor picked up their pace and gained on the barn before the energy draining air – control spell could take it’s toll on the alicorn. The trio of friends had reached the large doors to the cavernous barn in under thirty seconds. “Come on, let’s wait out in here until the wind dies down a little.” Twilight proposed, nudging the door open just enough for the two ponies to slide through.

“Are you sure Applejack won’t mind us being in her barn?” Asked Cantor, his ears and hooves burning from the sudden change in temperature.

“Oh, yes, Cantor…” Replied Twilight slyly, “I’m sure she’ll be fine with it…”

…

“SURPRISE!!!” Was the momentous cry of some ten ponies as the big lights overhead blasted on, erupting with light and illuminating the hidden inhabitants of the barn as they leapt from their hiding places. At this outburst, Cantor shrieked and his wings shot from the side of his body, sending the young dragon flying from Twilight’s back and into the wall where several lengths of rope hung. Spike fell to the floor and the ropes landed on top of him, creating a strange knotted mound. Everypony except Cantor and Spike had been sent into laughter. The stallion scanned over the friendly faces of the crowd. His five other friends were there, along with their siblings, including Big Macintosh all laughing as the little purple dragon clambered out from under the ropes.

Cantor, now processing what had just happened, beamed happily around the faces of the ponies he had greatly missed in his time away.

“Sorry, Spike…” He chuckled, casting a glance across to the baby dragon as he stood up and brushed himself off.

Swaying from the post – impact dizziness, Spike managed to mumble a response. “It’s okay, Cantor…” He said, trying to walk straight, “Glad you were surprised…”

The alicorn nosed around the decorated barn, streamers of bright and happy colours like pink, yellow and green were strewn across the rafters along with balloons and shimmering confetti. To the rear of the room, a table, composed of several hay bails with a simple pale spearmint cloth covering them presented a large, impressive buffet consisting of many sweets such as sponge cakes, chocolates, boiled sweets, nuts, fruit and even more brightly coloured cupcakes. At the centre of the table rested several bottles of fizzy liquid, the words ‘Colta-Cola’ were written across the labels of a couple. As well as this, there were clear bottles filled with lemonade and a luminous red one that looked very intriguing, being named rather fetchingly: “Pegasus revive”.

“Welcome back!” Everypony cried in almost perfect unison.

“Wow…” Cantor awed, an enormous grin on his face and tearing up ever so slightly. “Is this for me?”

“Of course, silly!” Replied Pinkie pie. “Do you like it?”

Cantor was slightly breathless. “I- I love it… I don’t know what to say… Thank you all so much!”

“Anything for a friend.” Replied the bright pink mare, her mane bouncy and full of life.

The six mares then closed in on Cantor, embracing him in a group hug. The stallion could feel himself welling up, but he managed to keep his cool and breathe deeply through his nose. “I love you all so much… Why the hell did I ever leave?”

“Aww, that doesn't matter now; that’s in the past… the important thing is that you’re back.” Answered Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah,” Added Applejack, “it jus’ weren’t the same without you around, but as Rainbow said, you’re back now. That’s all that matters.” She then proceded to tighten her grip around his strong neck.

“Thank you. Everyone…” Cantor murmured.

The group soon released him and set about talking to each other. A great red stallion strode up to the alicorn. He punched him on the shoulder, intensions for being gentle absent. “Good to see ya’ back, kid.” Big Macintosh said in his deep southern voice.

“Thanks, Big Mac.” Replied Cantor, rubbing his aching shoulder blade.

The red stallion then rotated on the spot and made his way towards Fluttershy, who was laying down on some hay bails next to Applejack, crudely arranged to look like a couch. Out of nowhere, music began to blare out of some hidden speakers.

“Come on, everypony!” Cried Pinkie from the centre of the dance floor, “Leeeet’s Party!” She immediately began her ecstatic series of moves on the dance floor, which was simply a clearing in the middle of the room. She was quickly joined by Rainbow Dash and the three fillies. Cantor, Twilight and Rarity remained close to the door.

“I cant dance for shi- uh, I mean at all…” Remarked Cantor, watching Pinkie’s ridiculously precise areal acrobatics.

“Don’t worry,” Twilight started, “neither can I.”

“Well there’s more to a party than just dancing.” Stated Rarity. “Let’s sit over there.” She said, pointing a hoof towards
another hay – sofa. Her two friends accompanied her to the seat and sat down beside her, Cantor to the right of Twilight, and Rarity on the left. Seeing as there was no room for him on the chair, Spike jogged over to the dance floor, joining Sweetie Belle in some strange, uncoordinated, yet still amusing dance.

“Where did you go?” Twilight asked, turning her head from the show to her stallion beside her.

“Manehatten.” He replied. Rarity ‘oooh’-ed in wonderment. “And not the nice part…” Cantor added, a slight sense of bitterness in his voice.

“What do you mean, ‘not the nice part’?” Asked the white unicorn, her face dropping in mild disappointment.

“The back alleys; bin fires, street fights, muggers, rapists, the full deal…” He answered.

“What did you do?” Twilight contributed.

Cantor sighed before replying, the buzz from the surprise quickly wearing off as he remembered some of the things he had done in the vile city. “Helped.” He said bluntly.

Twilight and Rarity met eyes and exchanged a look of mild concern towards the alicorn as he watched Big Mac and Fluttershy meekly making a shy attempt at light conversation.

“What do you mean… ‘helped’?” Asked Twilight, becoming concerned and echoing Rarity’s previous question.

“I helped… stop the… bad guys…” Cantor answered hesitantly.

“How so?” Twilight interrogated.

Cantor sighed heavily again. “I… I hurt some ponies, Twilight…”

The lavender mare’s eyes widened. “Cantor you… you didn’t…” She cast a glance towards the rest of the party scene, the music was so loud, the two more active mares in the room were dancing vigorously with the fillies and Spike, and Applejack had joined in her brother’s and Fluttershy’s conversation, quite forcefully, by the looks of things. “You didn’t… kill anypony did you?...”

Once again, Cantor exhaled deeply. “Whatever happens in that city, would never make it here, this little town is so perfect and excluded from the horrors of the world, everypony is so nice and friendly and kind… the things I’ve seen: they’re no horror show, but they certainly make you take a step back and appreciate your sheltered life here…”

“That still doesn’t answer my question, Cantor… Did you kill anypony?” Twilight asked bluntly, staring up at Cantor’s eyes, though he didn't match the stare. She already knew the truth before he answered. That’s what that new element in his gaze was when she peered into his mind last night.

Cantor closed his eyes. “Yes. Yes I did.”

Twilight seemed surprisingly unaffected by his reply, Rarity, on the other hoof, simply listened, slightly in shock towards the reply, but still believing every word she was hearing.

“Two, as a matter of fact…” The stallion added, unable to look Twilight in the eye.

“Why?” She asked, bringing her soft purple hoof to Cantor’s thigh.

“Are you sure you want to know?” He asked, which was more intended as a warning.

“Yes.” Twilight answered sternly, not angry, not sad, not excited… but curious. Well, that’s Twilight Sparkle all over!

Cantor blew the air from his lungs in a long, slow exhale through his nose before starting in a solemn tone, unable to hear the happy music that would have been deafening at any other time. He kept his eyes closed as he allowed the scene to replay in his mind.

“It was last Wednesday… about ten in the morning; the shops had been open for around two or three hours…”

Three days ago…

“Just put the money in the bag… and nopony gets hurt. Got it?” Was the shaky demand from one of two desperate souls, he wore a woven black balaclava, covering his main features. Accompanied by a stab-proof vest which covered over his cutie mark so as to avoid detailed enquiries. His partner in crime wore similar attire, except his balaclava had a hole torn in the top of it, in which a light blue horn protruded. Both bandits branded long, sharp, shiny street knives at ponies who got too close. The shaky gold coloured pegasus pointed the knife straight at the receptionist’s throat, the razor sharp point just inches away from her fur.

“Okay, sir…” Said the baby blue Earth pony mare who sat behind the bank’s large oak desk, actually trembling with fear, yet she kept remarkably calm. “Just… don’t hurt anypony.”

“We wont if you hurry up and put the money in the bag! NOW!” Exclaimed the light blue unicorn from under his balaclava, a knife of his own surrounded by a sky blue aura. “And don’t think about callin’ the cops! Because if you do…” He prodded the pack of explosives strapped around his waist “…boom…”

At this notion, several of the customers in the shop cried in anguish, to which the unicorn barked at them to “Shut up!” And they promptly obeyed. For it was worth their lives.

The receptionist gingerly took the brown sack from the gold coated pegasus and turned around, her whole body still trembling as she opened the first draw of a filing cabinet and begun scooping bundles of fifty notes depicting 50 bit value each, the first draw of the four-draw filing cabinet contained somewhere near a hundred of these, making the whole cabinet worth nearly a million bits: a life changing amount of money.

“A bank job?” The words of a new male entity were followed by a short, fake chuckle. “How cliché…”

Everypony in the bank turned to where the sound had come from. One mare in particular gasped as she saw the great white wings spanning three metres across, sinking into a sturdy white stallion with long rusty hair and intense orange eyes.

Her fear was dispelled instantly, but she remained on the floor so as to not provoke the bandits. The light blue one was the first to move, snatching a little pink unicorn filly from her mother’s arms with magic and holding the knife edge to her throat.

“No!” Cried the pale rose coloured mare as she shot from the ground to save her baby. The blue unicorn’s horn glowed brightly as the mother’s body was forced backwards until she was a safe distance away. He then bent the mare’s right foreleg inwards with magic until it snapped.

“Mommy!” Cried the filly as she watched her mother crumple to the carpet. The mare cried out in pain before she was silenced with her daughter’s death threat from the stallion. Her cries of pain subsided to soft whimpers. She took a peek at her arm and nearly feinted when she saw the bone sticking out the back of her knee.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the fuck!” Cried the alicorn, taking a step towards the unicorn robber.

“You watch yourself, too!” Ordered the light blue stallion, scraping the knife edge along the filly’s throat at a ninety degree angle, shaving off some of the hairs and displaying the full with of the blade to Cantor.

The new stallion stopped dead in his tracks, even taking a step backwards and folding his wings away. “Take it easy, man… she’s just a child… she’s a child!” He emphasised his point.

Taking his ‘boss’s’ lead, the golden pegasus grabbed a peachy coloured mare from the floor and pressed his knife against her throat. She cried silently and pleaded with Cantor’s orange eyes, begging for a chance. Cantor could easily see that the pegasus was uncomfortable with doing this, and decided he was the best one to reason with.

“Don’t do this; you know you don’t want to do this…” The alicorn pleaded, trying desperately to get at least this one to see clear.

“I have to, man. You don’t understand, I need this money!” He was breathing rapidly and beginning to panic. He spoke with a slight eastern accent, not oriental, but from another more ‘rough’ country. “I need this money, man…” He repeated.

“Keep it together!” Growled the unicorn, keeping his watchful eyes on Cantor.

“You don’t have to do this, either of you.” Cantor reasoned. “I know it may seem like the only way out, but I can help you, I promise. Just let the girls go.”

“That sounds like a cop!” Exclaimed the blue stallion. “Do it!” He ordered.

“What?” Shakily replied his pegasus accomplice.

“FUCKING DO IT NOW!” Bellowed the unicorn viciously.

The dull gold pegasus whimpered and obeyed, throwing the peach mare to the floor and reaching under his belly. Cantor’s horn burst into life, snatching the blades from both ponies, drawing them up and away from the hostages before arcing them back down towards the thieves. The pegasus’ hoof had just reached the ripcord that would trigger his pack of explosives, when his blade was stolen. He froze for a split second, but that’s all it took. The expensive street blades buried themselves into the eye sockets of both robbers, only stopping when the tip struck the back of their skulls. Cantor released his grip on the knives and the bandits sunk to the floor. The unicorn fell onto his side, but the pegasus lurched forward before he died, landing on his face and jamming the rest of the blade through his skull and the gleaming red tip of it poked through the top of the balaclava when the last piece of the handle was driven all the way into his face.

The little filly had fallen down and landed on her small hooves when the knife sunk home and the magical grip was lost. She begun to turn towards her attackers, but Cantor grabbed the back of her head and pushed her face into the inside of his right foreleg. He instructed her: “Don’t look.” And she didn’t resist, but wailed openly into the alicorn’s soft fur. “Why don’t you come over here with mummy. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

The filly mumbled three inaudible syllables into Cantor’s coat. He decided against asking again and instead led the filly to her mother, who clutched her tightly against her chest.

Cantor swivelled on his heels and touched the bare legs of the two dead ponies before teleporting them out of the bank to the rooftop where he slept, he would think of what to do with them later… in less than ten seconds, the alicorn had teleported, laid the bodies down in a dignified pose and found some old newspapers to wrap around their faces. With a gracious bow, respecting the dead, even though these stallions were scoundrels, Cantor still felt that he had performed an abominable act. The alicorn returned to the scene of the crime for one last job.

The ponies inside the bank were breathing a collective sigh of relief when Cantor returned. He flashed back into existence in the middle of the room, standing in the small pool of blood which had flowed from the now deceased robber’s eye sockets.

Cantor turned to the pale rose coloured mare with chestnut hair, made his way towards her and laid on his belly beside the filly. “What’s your name, dear?” He asked in a soothing voice, stroking the mare's thick mane.

“J- Jessica.” She answered, breathing heavily to try and keep the pain at bay.

“Do you mind if I take a look?” The alicorn asked, staring at the bone which protruded from the back of the mare’s knee.

Jessica gingerly used her other hoof to rotate her destroyed foreleg around so it was facing the roof.

Cantor gave a pained expression, sucking air through his teeth. “You were very brave, Jessica.” He said, hoping to get her confidence up. The mare said nothing, but gazed into his orange eyes, she found comfort and sustenance in them; he had just saved the lives of everypony in the bank, including her own foal, and hadn’t asked for a ‘thank you’ yet was still trying to help. Jessica smiled over the pain at this notion.

The stallion examined the break at the top of the bone, it was a relatively clean break; no jagged edges and it hadn’t torn up her flesh on the way out. “Now,” He begun, “this may hurt for a tiny moment, but I promise it will feel better in less than five seconds…” Cantor looked back up at the mare’s bright purple eyes. She was hesitant at first, but decided to let him do whatever it was he would do. She nodded firmly and stared down at her broken limb.

“Ready?” Asked Cantor, to which the Earth pony briskly nodded again. With that, the stallion set to work as fast, but still accurately as he could. The mare writhed in agony and tried to pull away, but cantor held her shoulder tightly with magic.

She constantly screamed in pain for the quick operation, the bone sunk back into her leg, realigned with the other break and the stallion created more bone matter to hold them together.

As promised, the spell was over quickly and the mare grasped her foreleg gently, looking into the deep wound. “There’s just one more bit.” Said Cantor, drawing the mare’s attention back to his eyes. He could see the incredible pain in her tear – filled eyes, although they showed copious amounts of gratitude too. Cantor chuckled softly. “Don’t worry, this bit wont hurt at all…”

Jessica nodded again and like before, presented her foreleg to cantor. His horn lit up white again, his appearance changed and the sensation of warm water being poured onto her leg met the teary - eyed Jessica as the hole gradually closed up and left no trace of scarring or a scab. She unexpectedly leapt from the floor and flung her arms around Cantor, crying into his shoulder.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you, thank you!” She cried, her words muffled yet still distinguishable. “You saved my baby! Oh, thank you so much!”

“It’s… oka-“ Cantor begun, putting his own forelegs around the mare’s back when she pulled away from him and looked him in the eye.

“If there’s anything I can do for you, anything at all, just ask.” She interrupted.

Cantor pushed her away gently and helped her to her hooves. “Your thanks is reward enough…” He humbly replied, trying his best not to burst into laughter at how cheesy that had sounded. "Listen, that leg will be okay to walk on until it's fully healed, just don't go too hard on it, and you may want to see a proper doctor about whether it needs a cast..."

Jessica thanked him greatly again – twice – before Cantor turned to the rest of the bank. “Is everypony else okay?” He asked openly, slipping a small, discreet wink to a certain coffee coated mare with emerald eyes and streaky purple and red hair, to which she blushed and smiled at the ground. The stallion waited for a response, but when none came, he simply bowed graciously and teleported hastily back to his cold, windy rooftop.

Present day…

“And then, two days later, I saw the front cover of the newspaper with pictures of our memories…” Cantor finished, the dim barn coming back into focus, along with the music, although it was now much quieter and only the beat of drums could be heard. The rest of Cantor’s friends had gathered around his seat on the sofa, listening adamantly to his story. “Guys… I’m so sorry…” He sighed, noticing the astounded expressions on the other ponies’ faces.

“About what?” Asked Rarity, leaning around Twilight and drawing his gaze.

“Well… I’m a murderer…” He replied solemnly.

“You’re not a murderer, Cantor…” Twilight replied.

“But I… I killed those ponies…”

“And in doing so saved how many?” Applejack contributed.

Cantor pouted as he thought. “I don’t know, probably… fifteen, maybe twenty…”

“And a foal.” The orange mare added.

Cantor sighed once more. “I know, and I keep telling myself that, it’s just… I can’t help but feel it could have gone a better way…”

“And what if it couldn’t?” Asked Twilight in the deepest sympathy. “Not only could they have blown up twenty ponies, including a filly, millions of bits, possibly killed ponies on the street, but…” She leaned in towards Cantor and lowered her tone. “I could have lost you…”

Cantor couldn’t find the words to reply, he just sat there, gazing at Twilight before he turned to the floor with a heavy sigh.

“You couldn’t have changed them…” Came a deep voice from directly in front of Cantor, surprisingly, it was Big Macintosh who had spoken.

“What?” Asked Cantor, bringing his eyes from the straw covered floor to meet the big red stallion’s green eyes, his sudden out of character statement leading cantor ever so slightly into confusion.

“You heard right; fer a pony to be driven into killin’ themselves to get outta’ a’ situation...” Big Mac shook his great head. “Ain’t no changin’ somepony like that.”

“He’s right,” Twilight added. “Even if you’d stopped them, let them go, or maybe even turned them in to the police, they’ll wind up in exactly the same situation…” She pulled him closer to her face so their noses were almost touching. The mare’s loving lavender eyes filled Cantor’s vision. The next time she spoke, she spoke with definition and order.

“You can’t change the world, Cantor... the world changes us…”

The alicorn frowned and blinked slowly. “Your right…” He accepted. “There really wasn’t any other thing I could have done, is there?” The whole room shook their heads. “And anyway,” He declared, his voice raising to it’s regular cheery volume, “That’s in the past; can’t change the past… so lets make the future one to remember! Come on, guys, this is a party, get the music up!”

Everypony cheered and Pinkie disappeared, almost instantly, the music began blaring out again and the party returned to it’s previous happy atmosphere.

“You didn’t just say that to get everypony away, did you?” Twilight asked, still looking at Cantor.

“No,” He replied with a happy little sigh, “no, I… I actually mean it… thanks, you always know the right things to say, Twilight…” He replied, a legitimate smile on his face.

“The feeling’s mutual…” the purple unicorn returned. “Now, this is a party, as you said… care for a dance?”

“Wh- I can’t dance… like, at all!” Said Cantor, shaking his head.

Twilight grinned broadly. “Don't worry... neither can I.” She leapt up, yanking Cantor to his hooves and tugging him towards the straw – covered dance floor to give this ‘dancing’ malarkey their best shot.

“This snowstorm’s really… violent, now…” Remarked Rarity, poking her head through the broad door at the whirling wind and vicious cold that followed.

“What, what? You want me to make it stop? Okay!” Replied Cantor, who now after guzzling nearly half the two litre bottle of Pegasus revive, which he was later informed was one of the most potent energy drinks on the planet, appeared literally buzzing with energy, and the caffeine levels and high sugar content only caused his heart to beat faster and his respiration rate to subconsciously grow with every passing minute as the drink sunk into his bloodstream.

He began to trot on the spot, igniting his horn in a strong magenta glow and the snowfall stopped dead. It didn’t even ease off or begin to stop, instead, each snowflake froze perfectly where they were falling in mid air. Bouncing up and down with his steps, Cantor scanned his audience. Their mouths were agape and their eyes were fixated on the strange world outside.

Even Pinkie Pie seemed astonished. “Come on guys! Let’s go out!” He exclaimed, bolting through the door in a white and orange blur.

Applejack turned to Twilight, though she hesitated before she spoke. “…Is this… safe, Twilight?” The Earth pony asked, joining Twilight’s side and watching the alicorn stir up the frozen snow with his wings.

Twilight herself had to pause to think of a suitable response to the question. “This level of power? Yes. Extremely dangerous… What he’s doing with it?…” She watched him line up a long trough of snowflakes before running the length of it with his mouth open, swallowing the long train of snow. “I don’t think so…” Twilight finished, shaking her head in amusement as Cantor took off into the sky at a speed Rainbow Dash could be proud of.

“Where’s he goin’?” Growled Rainbow playfully, taking off out of the barn doors in hot pursuit.

She had just flown a small distance into the snow covered orchard when a spotlight appeared in the sky, illuminating every snowflake it hit on the way down. She bared her teeth and pulled up at an alarming angle, climbing towards the tiny pinprick in the clouds. The microscopic hole soon grew to a much more suitable size for an alicorn stallion. Rainbow shot through the circular break in the grey clouds to come to a vast plain of pale slate clouds with a small image of a pony running at a ridiculous speed along the surface.

“Hey, Cantor! Wait up!” She yelled in a voice not nearly strong enough to span the distance between them.

The blue pegasus took off flying, soon catching up to the hard galloping alicorn. Though he was hammering at a cloud, his thunderous footsteps still caused mild vibrations in Rainbow’s teeth. “Cantor!” She panted, and upon hearing her voice, the white stallion skidded to a halt, small mounds of clouds building around his hooves. Rainbow Dash collided with his rump at around forty miles per hour without warning. She had just enough time and distance to brace herself and crash into the alicorn with her shoulders. She crumpled to the soft, mattress-like cloud with an “Oof.” And shakily climbed to her hooves.

Cantor swivelled round unsettlingly quickly and came face to face with Rainbow Dash. Catching sight of his appearance, the young pegasus fell to her haunches, intimidated.

“Hi, Rainbow!” He snarled through interlocking, dagger-like teeth his ears pulled behind his head. Rainbow could see her scared reflection in the stallion’s eyes, the whites of which had glazed over a glossy black. The strong contrast between the vibrant orange and the unnatural jet black filled Rainbow with anxiety. “You wanna see somethin’ cool!?” The alicorn grinned, his lips revealing the teeth to the sides of his head.

“Yeah… I gue-“

“GREAT!” Shouted Cantor, snapping his head towards the sun and looking directly at it. By now the energy drink was working at it’s peak, sending unimaginable amounts of power throughout the stallion’s entire body.

When he turned away from Rainbow to look at the sky, the mare noticed his great wings un-furrowed broadly from his sides, the end feathers just touching tips to create a perfect circle surrounding his head in a very recognisable fashion. She started to smile immaturely at the alicorn’s excitement until she saw what he was doing. The violet light from his horn was plastered so thick that it looked to be well over three foot long and easily a foot wide. Though the alicorn didn’t seem at all phased as the sun slowly began to move across the blank sky.

Rainbow gazed half in awe, half in fear as she squinted at the orb of fire increase in speed across the sky, sinking into the horizon as the moon came out and followed it. “Day… Night…” Said cantor, sounding like a crazy maniac as the sun set and the moon arose from the east. The speed of the cold, stony celestial object grew as it flew across the sky. “Day… Night… Day, night,” Cantor continued as the two heavenly bodies whirled above, growing ever faster. “Day, night, day, night,” he continued to chant, his entire head following the sun and moon across the sky, which was now changing from navy blue to a pale cyan once every second.

“Day, night, day, night, day night day night day night AhahahAHAHAHA!!!!” Cantor began to laugh manically as his horn grew blinding, forcing rainbow to shield her eyes, two days and nights passing every second, the sky now not too far off of a strobe light, the sun and moon leaving white trails across their paths. The stallion continued to cackle until he heard the little whimpering voice behind him.

“Cantor… I’m scared…”

Bang.

The sound of a sharp, heavy collision rocked the entire cloud as the light from the stallion’s horn dissipated into the air. The day – night cycle stopping exactly where it had started.

“Wh- What?…” Cantor asked, turning towards Rainbow, looking pained as if the energy had been ripped out of him. The blackness in his eyes receded to the corners on the opposite side of his tear ducts and his teeth shrank to their regular size, quickly being covered by his lips. His raging wings began to deflate slowly as he took a step closer to the shaky pegasus.

“I- I said… you’re scaring me…” Rainbow repeated, breathing heavily, her voice a little stronger, however.

Cantor lost his breath. He couldn’t believe he had scared his best friend like this. “I’m- I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash…” He apologised solemnly, dropping his large head close to the floor, the cloud.

The pegasus rose from her flank and stepped up to Cantor. “I guess you just got a little excited, huh?” she giggled, prodding his half – inflated wings.

Cantor laughed nervously too.

“Well…” Started Rainbow, her voice back to normal and her breathing settling down nicely. “No harm done!” She finished with a broad smile, which the alicorn awkwardly returned. Rainbow Dash dug a hole in the surface of the cloud and dove through into the blizzard below. Using the energy he had wisely this time, Cantor re-stopped the snow and followed the rainbow haired Pegasus towards the ground. Though the Pegasus energy drink was very evident in his body, his heart pounding like a jackhammer and his breathing faster than usual, he now at least had a clear mind about what he was doing and what he was going to do.

The pair returned to the barn where Cantor was instantly met with Twilight Sparkle, a troubling expression of concern and fury on her face.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” He asked, taking a step towards the unicorn. But before he could get any closer, Twilight thrust a scroll into his face, surrounded by her brilliant white aura.

“What?” Asked Cantor before he read the letter, more intended as a response to the sudden movement than an actual question. He quickly scanned over the three letters written entirely in capitals in the centre of the scroll and he felt his heart sink. The words were very defined, threatening and to the point:

“CANTOR. HERE. NOW.”

Comments

[Firewire]

Celestias gonna be pissed!

[Menelaus Redz]

Yeah...Cantor's screwed.

[Deathpony]

ahahah Cantor you troll you cant wait for the next chapter

[FacelessPanda]

Black covered eyes(?), dagger teeth, and stretched back ears ... damn Cantor you scary when you get a caffeine rush

[Lord Etters]

Hehe HE DEAD!

[Blazing_Mane01]

Aha! There's that Elemental twist I've been waiting for! I can honestly say I've been waiting for Cantor to take it too far with his magic.

Oh my gosh, I'll probably dream about that scene tonight. End up muttering those two words over and over again in my sleep, too, probably.

"Day... Night... Day... Night..."

Oh shit, I'm already doing it!

All joking aside, I forgot to say something about the previous chapter - Well, not so much about it, but I just wanted to say the plot of Don't Know What You've Got Until It's Gone reminded me of 'Believe' by Skillet.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Uh oh......