The Guardian

by Alexshy

12. Sequence of tensions - part 1

Alex woke up earlier than Fluttershy on Saturday morning (the Sun just showed its edge above Everfree tops) and stayed awake in bed for good twenty minutes, thinking of what he was going to find out that day and how it might affect his future. To be honest, he had no faintest idea yet, which questions he could ask, if it was possible to ask them – if the unicorn was that bad, as Celestia said, then trying to communicate would be futile.

‘Anything I ask will depend on what I see,’ decided Alex, feeling how the unknown possibilities made his impatience itch: finally he had a chance to get closer to his arrival mystery. Alex was sure that his presence in Equestria and the Seekers were connected somehow, what was the reason and what – the consequence, was still an open question; yet finding out something about his arrival might help him to return.

‘I feel that I need to see that poor pony,’ Alex stretched under the cover and Fluttershy moved a bit. ‘Even if he is in some vegetable-like condition, maybe I can fish something from him. And if I manage to establish the contact, I may even get some answers. I can only hope…’

He was a bit worried yet that they could have certain problems with train tickets to Canterlot, buying them right before the departure. ‘What if there are no free seats? Ask Twilight for another balloon flight? Uggghhhh!!!’

Fluttershy opened her marvelous turquoise eyes and gave out a little smile, focusing on his face. She was pretty, even when sleepy and having a bed head, and Alex forgot about his concerns for a while, leaning to her, kissing and stroking behind her ear lightly. She squeakily yawned and moved closer to him, wrapping her fore legs around and snuggling into his chest.

“Good morning, dear!” Fluttershy stretched and managed to release him not at the same time: the motion of her coat against his skin made it crawl with goosebumps of sudden pleasure, and Alex squeezed her a bit tighter, making her squeak in surprise.

“Mhm…” Fluttershy looked at the clock, when their lips parted. “Don’t worry, Alex. There will be free seats on the train,” she made a perfect guess, Alex was to admit. “The Canterlot train is never overherded on an ordinary weekend. Special occasions, like the Gala, are, of course, another story.”

“You are so strained,” her gentle hooves ran across his shoulders. “Why you are so nervous about this appointment? We can’t be even sure that it helps, right?”

“Yeah… And I even don’t know where to start from,” Alex was about asking her to stop not, melting under her touch. “But I have a strong feeling, Shy, this is important, one way or another – I… we simply must see that guy!”

“We need to get up,” he sighed sadly, making Fluttershy giggle, understanding his regret. “Who’s first to the shower?”

“Why anypony should be first?” smirked Fluttershy. “Well… I know that it takes more time, if we go together, than any other way, but…”

Alex grabbed and lifted her, instead of an answer, making Fluttershy produce one more excited squeak…

As her little friends needed her attention and kindness, Fluttershy attended to the regular morning duties of feeding and taking care of the animals and Alex headed to the kitchen, estimating his chances for making a light and healthy breakfast. He reconsidered about anything involving milk this morning, his stomach already felt like a bag of fighting cats because of the nervousness, thus cereal and omelette were declined. He considered making a salad a nice alternative instead, and half an hour later they with Fluttershy did it deserved justice, appetizingly crunching on the vegetable mix.

“I hope, we can make it a one day trip,” Alex put away the fork and sipped his juice; he was jumpy enough without any coffee, but made a cup for Fluttershy. “If, as you say, we manage to get the tickets easily in the morning. I suppose, it takes a few hours to reach Canterlot on a train from here…”

“About three hours,” Fluttershy smiled above her cup. “If we get on the express, not a regular train, which can stop at a few smaller stations on its way. So, yes, about six hours to get there and return and we’ll have plenty of time for anything you plan to ask, examine or… well, do any other stuff, Twilight usually likes to do.”

“Excellent. I’m not extending my expectations that far to hope Celestia hath time or wish to set a guest room for us. And have absolutely no idea, whither to stop at Canterlot. Had no chance to find that out, at which hour I was sitting in four walls at their… “castle hospital”,” chuckled Alex, while Fluttershy perked her ear.

“Alex, you talk… strangely familiar,” she gathered the dishes, putting them into the sink and turning the water on. “Are you sure, you haven’t communicated too much with the princesses?” giggled Fluttershy.

“I don’t think, princess Celestia talks like that though…” squinted she, remembering.

Alex hid behind his glass, having no suitable reply.

“Mmmm… What would I do without you?” murmured Fluttershy, putting away the last dish, she washed, and planting a warm kiss on his cheek, when Alex approached from behind and leaned to her, hugging and stroking her shoulders.

“Oh, come on, Shy,” Alex laughed. “It’s just cut and mixed vegetables with some salt and a portion of condiments. Not that I spent half of the day, cooking something special…”

“Well…” she turned in his arms and booped his nose lightly with her hoof. “First, I would have my breakfast much later, if I was to prepare it alone… after my morning duties. And the main thing,” Fluttershy added meaningfully. “It’s totally different, when you return home and get something carefully prepared by somepony’s loving… hands.”

She threw a look around the kitchen, finding it in usual exemplary order now.

“We are filled, so are the animals, everything is done. It seems, we can go to the station, Alex. If this is our way of choice to spend this Saturday,” added Fluttershy, funnily wrinkling her nose.

“Oh, come on, Shy,” huffed Alex. “It is important. Besides,” he added with a sly smile. “I have certain plans for tomorrow, this is why it was important to make it a one day trip.”

Fluttershy looked at him with a question in her eyes.

“You see, I didn’t only hit a bar and participate in a fight,” Alex raised one eyebrow. “I passed the cinema yesterday and made a notice of what’s on this Sunday evening. I hope, you can choose the program for the rest of the day yourself.”

“Oh, is it finally a proper date?” Fluttershy nudged him lightly, blushing and habitually hiding half of her muzzle behind her sumptuous mane; Alex was to admit, she looked… divine, as he concluded without any overstatement. Another degree of divine than Luna or Celestia, but still…

“And the whole day of it,” Alex kneeled to her eye-level, he looked into her eyes, moving away the hair and touching her cheek. “I’m at work throughout all the days lately, solving my problems even at my free time, but…”

Fluttershy nuzzled his cheek, snuggling into him, and her happy sigh told Alex that he didn’t need to say anything else.

After a few minutes they hit the road to Ponyville, as they didn’t need to pack anything and Alex promptly took the drafts of the Seeker: they nested in his pocket tightly folded.

Alex watched the sky very carefully, while they passed the fields with the old white barn: he couldn’t allow another trick of Rainbow Dash, resulting in Fluttershy being showered with rain or something as improper. The morning breeze herded some light clouds, but nothing signed any problems. There was a fair chance that Rainbow reconsidered doing anything, seeing them together, but Alex would rather send Fluttershy forward, in case of any chance of being “pranked” by her determined friend, and keep the “prank” to himself – he had no umbrella to protect Fluttershy. As for Alex, he had enough reasons already and secretly promised himself to give Rainbow a good shower or something alike, if there was a chance. But it seemed, it was too early indeed for the rainbow nap lover and they managed to reach Ponyville without trouble.

Fluttershy turned left after the bridge and, despite it was indeed the shortest way to the station, Alex strained a bit: going through the south end of the town meant passing Carousel Boutique, thus passing Rarity. Lately Alex prepared himself to literally anything, being near her, and frankly speaking tried to limit that to absolutely necessary cases; the last episode in her house told that it was reasonable enough.

Despite his hopes that diligent fashionista could be still sleeping or busy with some of her dresses, they met Rarity indeed, while passing her colourful round house and salon. She held the watering can with her magic and waved her hoof to them enthusiastically, slowly moving along the front garden. Naturally, Alex and Fluttershy were to stop for a minute, as the common courtesy demanded.

“Ahlex! Flutters! Good morning,” Rarity said with a perfectly diplomatic smile. “Where are you going that early, if I may ask?”

“To the station and then to Canterlot,” Fluttershy threw a quick look at the clock tower, which was perfectly visible from any part of the town, pondering, if they had time to board the express. “Alex…”

“To Canterlot?!” Rarity dropped the watering can, fortunately, she was moving it from one rose shrub to another, so nothing suffered from the heavy drop. “You mean to the castle? Did the princess…”

“No. I’m not going anywhere… yet,” Alex stifled a laugher, properly guessing the reason for her confusion. “But there is a small chance that I get some answers. If I can ask proper questions… If I can ask any questions,” added he, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh…” Rarity picked up the can, her nose became pinkish; she understood that her reaction was too obvious and concerned. “Good luck then… I…”

“We’ll tell you, if there is anything to tell,” Fluttershy let out a small smile, then two sly sparkles appeared in her eyes. “Come to us later this evening, I suppose, we will return till then.”

“Yeah, and bring Twilight with you,” Alex quickly found, what seemed a partial way out. “I’m sure she would like to know everything straight from the horse’s mouth… Oh!..”

“Just a figure of speech,” explained Alex to both girls, who first stared at him, then started giggling. “Means “first-hand”. Don’t you have such a phrase?”

“We don’t and I hope, you don’t mean that Celestia must turn you into a horse to achieve that,” Rarity took her breath. “As you are supposed to be telling.”

Alex shuddered, imagining that.

“Okay, we really need to go, sorry,” said Fluttershy, still snorting. “Good-bye, Rarity.”

“Have a nice day!” Alex waved his hand.

“You both too, mates!” Rarity gave him a languid glance from under her long eyelashes.

Alex and Fluttershy headed through the town, which little-by-little became filled with ponies, as more of them woke up and addressed their daily routines. Fluttershy threw a quick meaningful glance at Alex, when they came up to the familiar bar; Alex shrugged and touched his cheek to check the bruise.

“Yeah, yeah,” nodded Fluttershy. “I hope you won’t scare the princesses by your looks,” she smirked.

“I doubt, there is anything I can surprise Celestia with lately, let alone scare,” Alex tried to imagine, what he could do for Celestia to consider unexpected. ‘Unless I decide to stay willingly,’ he ironized inwardly. “And Luna would rather appreciate that two bullies got a good manners lesson.”

He noticed how Fluttershy frowned a little: regarding his lightheadedness or him mentioning Luna – that was another question without an answer.

They passed candy fragrant Sugarcube Corner and a small queue of ponies, waiting for its opening and promising Pinkie Pie a busy morning; the square with fountain; the “Quills and Sofas” shop, which made Alex wonder and chuckle each time. The Library was all quiet this time, Twilight was sleeping most likely, so was Spike. Alex smiled, suspecting that their alicorn friend read too late yesterday or was busy with some experiments, giving Spike some hard time as well.

The railway station met them with almost deserted platforms, compared to daytime at weekdays. Alex remembered the schedule and thought that if the weekend one didn’t differ much from weekdays, the regular train must have departed a few minutes ago, while the express didn’t arrive yet. Thus the lack of the usual herd.

“Hey! Going anywhere… or just can’t live without the station already?!” a stallion in the porter uniform patted Alex’s back. “Morning, Fluttershy!”

“Oh, hi…” Alex smirked, sharing a hoof bump with the unicorn; Fluttershy waved her hoof. “Yeah. I decided to see it from another point of view, so to speak, using the service…”

The whistle of Canterlot Express approaching the platform drowned out the rest of his words.

“Alex, this is the one we need,” Fluttershy looked over her shoulder at the brightly coloured locomotive. “It stands for a while, but we need to hurry to the ticket office. Excuse us,” she added with an apologetic smile.

“Going to Canterlot? Serious business, I see,” nodded the unicorn. “Good luck, the King of Proper Stacking!” he pointed to the luggage cart with a narrowing pyramid of crates and bags. Each one was carefully placed according to its size and shape and the whole construction can be “disassembled” only using proper conscious handling, not an accidental bump. “Using your method and… there is something in it indeed, I don’t need to hold them with magic since then,” he waved after them.

“Already got some friends… and a nickname?” Fluttershy nudged him gently, when they were waiting at the ticket-office window for their tickets to be properly issued. “The King of Proper Stacking, eh?”

“Have no idea, who came up with that,” chuckled Alex. “I sincerely hope that’s not my limit! Just approaching my work methodically… Can I approach at least something methodically?”

“Except finding… errmmm… adventures?” Fluttershy raised on her hind legs and hugged him, looking into his eyes.

“Something like that,” laughed Alex, kissing her and making the mare at the office diplomatically cough, handing them their tickets.

They shared the four-seat compartment with two young mares, who were travelling together apparently and boarded the express earlier, maybe even in Appleloosa, having time to discuss every topic possible and waiting for new impressions. The two girls were chatting, when Alex found their with Fluttershy compartment and opened the door, and gasped surprisingly, when they saw a human: he seemed huge to them, sitting at the long soft seat, when he appeared in the doorway. Then they produced an involuntary sigh, when Fluttershy entered, surrounded by the cloud of her illustrious mane and followed by her long lush tail.

“Apologies, ladies!” Alex’s words made both mares unfreeze and nod quickly. “I hope we won’t disturb you much for the rest of the ride.”

Fluttershy sported a timid smile, sliding on the seat next to Alex and snuggling to him, the mares kept staring at them silently.

The express blew an ear-splitting whistle and jerked, gaining speed on its way to Canterlot. Little by little the initial awkwardness vanished and everypony continued minding their business, almost not paying any attention to the forcedly added neighbours. Almost, as both girls talked now in half voice, but threw quick glances at Alex and Fluttershy, whispering and giggling quietly. Alex noticed that one of them looked at him and Fluttershy more fixedly, with a faint shadow of unrealized recognition, and wondered, what that might be.

He and Fluttershy, on the contrary, didn’t watch their neighbours much. Alex sat at the window, these views of Equestria were new to him, as he didn’t find the strength to enjoy them from above, while flying on the balloon. Besides, the express moved on the different, longer path. So, Alex enjoyed the landscape, passing behind the window, and gently stroked Fluttershy’s hair. She finally relaxed and rested on the seat, putting her head on his lap and closing her eyes. She wasn’t sleeping, but rather thinking about something, looking up to him affectionately from time to time and causing more interested glances from the opposite seat.

Meanwhile, they passed a few settlements, the express didn’t stop on the smaller stations, exactly as Fluttershy said. The loco reached its cruising speed and fields, meadows and forests flew by faster, making it harder to distinguish, what was growing there. Alex asked the mares, if they were not objecting, and opened the window slightly: the wind started blowing in smells of flowers and hay; distinctive, but not too unpleasant smell of cattle farm, when they passed one; the heavy smell of damp leaves and ground, when they rode through the rainy forest. A few raindrops fell through the gap on Alex’s face, but he didn’t stop smiling to some thoughts, looking into the window.

About two hours passed according to Alex’s impression, the landscape started going uphill. When the train rumbled across the bridge over the river (the metal trusses flew by the window, making the shadows dance madly in their compartment), Fluttershy yawned squeakily and got up, sitting next to Alex and putting her head on his shoulder.

“You like trains and riding them, Alex, don’t you?” she raised her voice a tiny bit to overlap the clatter of metal.

“Yup,” Alex turned to her and removed a stray hair strand from her face. “At least I can enjoy the ride and the view, not thinking solely about my life, compared to balloons.”

“By the way,” he leaned to her and whispered in her ear. “I wonder how you and Twilight dared to sneak into the castle grounds on the balloon overnight. Or there were more of you that night…”

Fluttershy’s soft ear twitched.

“Oh, and somepony told me that I seek trouble,” chuckled Alex, needing no answer, as her nose, which he kissed, became pinkish already. Fluttershy downcasted and Alex pondered, what she saw that night or what she was told by her “companions-in-crime”.

“I was wondering all the way, why Celestia allowed you to step in,” Fluttershy preferred to change the topic. “Or this case is connected to your arrival closer, than you tell, and you and the princess are keeping something in secret.”

“I told thee everything already,” Alex sighed inwardly about her shrewdness. ‘What can I tell thee now not to make thee scared and demand that I stop diving further into this?’ he looked into her eyes. The last thing he wanted was to involve Fluttershy right into the Seekers related problems, one victim of unknown future was more than enough. Alex clasped his fingers together nervously. “This case may be connected to mine problem indirectly, or may not. I need to sort it out forsooth. And Celestia… Well, she thinketh, I can affect that poor guy positively mayhap… She sees no contraindications so far.”

“The events, preceding tis mishap, were not entirely safe, I don’t want thee to get into troubles alike,” he sincerely revealed his main concern after the second thought.

“Do you hear yourself?” Fluttershy’s eyes dilated, she straightened on the seat and listened to Alex, covering her slightly opened mouth with the hoof, definitely recognizing the similarities.

The young mares at the opposite seat, whom Alex and Fluttershy seemed to forget about already, heard “princess Celestia” and everything following that fell on the deaf ears, fortunately. They dropped their jaws almost synchronously and stared at their fellow travelers in disbelief.

“Ahem… Errmmm… Excuse me, please,” unfroze one of them. “Do you know our princess personally? I mean… mmm… you were mentioning her highness so… in such an everyday manner…” she stumbled.

“We had to communicate,” neutrally confessed Alex, inwardly preparing for more questions. They were, of course, like a tenth of “Ginger”, but as he could already notice, talkative enough and only some natural awkwardness of casual small talk prevented them from asking their neighbours about everything bothering them.

“He is being overly modest. Although, it seems, Alex is a closer friend to princess Luna, right, dear?” Fluttershy said with a smile, but Alex heard the sad sarcasm in her voice and a faint shadow of real jealousy this time. “As we might hear already…”

“The Princess of the Night!” dropped another girl quietly, her pupils unconsciously narrowed and voice trembled slightly. “Wow… I…”

Alex forcedly smiled to both mares and shrugged.

“Shy, please,” he threw a reproachful glance at Fluttershy. “She helped me, when Celestia was… less positive and I’m immensely thankful for that, hoping for her support further on, if extremely necessary. But you painted our relationship as almost kindred.”

“Is it not?” Fluttershy raised her eyebrow, while both mares gawked at Alex. He heard though that her tone changed and she was merely teasing him at that moment. “Oh, thanks Celestia!”

She leaned to him again, putting her hoof on Alex’s chest.

“I’m sorry,” she breathed into his ear, her lips slid gently on his neck, making Alex gasp. “But she is definitely concerned about you. Those letters, her visits – Twilight told that princess Luna visited you in Canterlot, despite not being involved in Celestia’s research… What should I think?”

‘You can’t say, you didn’t know that was coming,’ Alex facepalmed inwardly, admitting that if he gets out this time, it would be only a temporary solution, miraculous, but still temporary.

“That we became good friends with Luna,” he looked into Fluttershy’s amazing eyes, putting a strand of pink hair behind her ear and stroking her cheek lightly. “Very good friends… But I’m with you, Shy,” Alex added barely audible, as the girls across the compartment perked their fluffy ears again. “I’m with you and at the same time trying to keep you out of the troubles, which follow my entire path through Equestria.”

“I know,” whispered Fluttershy, nuzzling his neck and wrapping her fore legs around him. “I’m sorry, I just can’t control myself, if I suspect somepony trying to take you from me… Even if she is a royalty.”

Meanwhile, the train reached the mountains and the tracks were visibly ascending; their path ran through several tunnels in the cliffs, putting the compartment into complete darkness for a few seconds, as the lights couldn’t turn on in time in short tunnels. Alex realized that they were approaching Canterlot, as they were practically spiraling around one enormous mountain. The train entered a high openwork bridge above a deep canyon with clubs of fog circling around sharp cliffs at the far bottom.

“It’s hard to sort out all, what I suddenly got into,” Alex felt the strong urge to turn away from the window at that moment, he felt as his fingers were treacherously trembling at that moment. Thankfully the deep turquoise lakes of Fluttershy’s loving eyes were the best remedy, Alex totally gave himself to. “My whole life became… well, different ever since that rainstorm back on Earth. And the things are going stranger and stranger each day, even when it looks like the routine life already.”

He hugged Fluttershy and brought her closer, she put her head on Alex’s shoulder, covering him by the cloud of her lush hair and unconsciously stroking his chest with the hoof. One of the mares stared at them fixedly again, it looked like she was trying to catch some memory, they (or Fluttershy specifically, as Alex knew, he never saw any of those two girls before) resembled, but couldn’t at that moment.

The train dived into a long tunnel, putting the compartment into complete darkness for a few moments and causing an involuntary exclamation from one of the mares. Alex felt the sweet breath and hot silky lips on his own and eagerly responded, holding Fluttershy closer, making his fingers travel through her hair. The obvious sound of the passionate kiss was followed by muffled giggling from the opposite seat, but they both couldn’t pay less attention, snuggling tighter into each other.

When the lights turned on – this tunnel was the longest and the last before Canterlot – both mares witnessed a most interesting view of their whole ride, at least that was clearly written on their muzzles. They let out an excited and a bit confused sigh, watching as Alex and Fluttershy almost dissolved in each other embrace, uniting their lips. Alex threw a quick glance at them and took a thick strand of Fluttershy’s hair, shielding them both from the curious eyes of the young mares like with a pink silky curtain. Fluttershy stifled a laugh, she started covering his lips with short fervent kisses, while it was a chance to. Her cheeks were flaming, but she was very determined about what she was doing, she threw a sly glance through her hair at the mares opposite.

“Oh, Celestia!” suddenly squeaked one of them, the one which was trying to remember something throughout their entire ride. “Of course! I knew, I saw you before.”

Alex and Fluttershy parted their lips and stared on their neighbours, keeping the embrace and frankly speaking straining a bit, while the girl continued.

“You are Fluttershy, right?” she pointed at Alex’s confused marefriend. “You must be her! I can’t be mistaking. You’ve worked as a model for Rarity and moreover for Photo Finish… Shortly unfortunately… But your fame isn’t something to fade that easily!” she laughed nervously, reaching for her bag. “I’ve recognized the glance and angle, when you and your coltfriend… well… errmmm…” the mare blushed heavily, but she couldn’t beat Fluttershy at that, whose cheeks could compete with some poppies perhaps.

“Oh, noes!” she breathed desperately in Alex’s ear, he almost saw, how she inwardly facehoofed. “I hoped, everypony forgot already. I guess, it was our luck to run into one of my fans,” she shuddered.

“… It was a total disaster, if you ask me, that you decided to prolong the contract not. For the whole equestrian fashion!” the mare kept talking fast, while convulsively digging in her bag.

Alex thought that he knew, what was going to happen next, fortunately, he could see the Canterlot station and the whole city in the distance. Yet it seemed, the determined fan was going to achieve her goal no matter what. He stroked Fluttershy’s shoulders, while she buried her face between his cheek and shoulder completely, now even her ears were flaming, and rolled his eyes when a fashion magazine and a quill saw the light, being taken from the depth of talking mare’s bag.

“Miss Fluttershy, please!!!” the mare folded her fore hooves together in the most pleading manner. Alex thought that she was already going to kneel in front of Fluttershy, who seemed to be ready to climb on his shoulders, like a cat from some threat. “Please, please! Million times please! I’m one of your most faithful fans, I have all of your photos, magazines and interviews… But no autograph. I was desperate, when you quit and I didn’t manage to get it…” she sniffed.

“Shy, dear,” whispered Alex in her pink ear, Fluttershy was already sitting on his lap. “It’s better to put a stop to that, before it escalates, I think. I can understand… but… could you please…”

“Okay…” Fluttershy quickly nodded, looking at him, like a small animal caught into a trap, and covering her face with her hair again. “You’re right… let’s get this over with.”

Alex was to take the magazine and hold it, while Fluttershy quickly scribbled something cheerful and signed, she snuggled into him, like if the mare was going to pounce her and drag to the collection as well. When it was done and both mares repeated their words of gratitude over and over again, a lucky thought came to Alex’s mind. He leaned forward, making the most serious face, he could in that situation, while doing his best to stifle the laugh.

“I have a personal request, young ladies,” he said quietly, but meaningfully, narrowing his eyes. “I extend mine expectations that this sensational news… that Fluttershy hath come to Canterlot, shall be kept unvoiced to the… ahem… broad masses. So, I shan’t need to ask Luna to visit you and explain privacy values, tonight mayhap!”

Both girls quickly nodded, while their pupils became pinprick again. They evidently got under the impression, as they kept respectful silence for the rest few minutes till their arrival and exiting the train to the platform.

*

Alex watched with eyes wide open, as they quickly passed green picturesque streets of Canterlot, after getting off the express on the station. Previously he had no chance to see the city in all its glory, travelling to it on the dreading balloon; he even saw the Castle partially only, especially from outside. It was amazing how the big city architects and builders managed to stay true to the ponies’ principles and close to the nature: the houses were surrounded by flourishing gardens, trees were planted on every street and square, despite the whole city was technically built on several rock terraces; some of which, Alex was sure, were made with the help of magic. He involuntarily remembered the White City from the “Lord of the Rings” book, although, the latter wasn’t so perfectly planned and gardened. Alex was sure that, for example, Manehattan was way less pleasant to the eye and breath.

The time was approaching noon and there were quite a few ponies in the streets, curiously gazing on the pegasus beauty and some strange biped creature accompanying her. Fortunately, they were restrained and polite enough, so nopony asked questions; yet Alex was on guard, he realized that not everypony could know about the people in general and him in particular, let alone was warned about his magic resistance, with all consequences it might bring.

They walked quick enough for some extended sightseeing anyway, so Alex decided to enjoy the views some other day and be content with what he could notice at that moment. The Castle was not too far from the station, it was well visible from almost every spot, but getting to it on the ground could be a problem for a newcomer. Although, Fluttershy perfectly knew the path through the net of wide and narrow streets, thus leading them the shortest way.

The guards at the Castle gate were evidently warned about Alex and Fluttershy coming, as they let them through, nodding without any questions.

“Excuse me, officer,” Alex addressed the commander of the shift. “Could you, please, notify the princess about our arrival? Unless her highness wanted us to wait at some specific location…”

“In a moment, sir. Her Highness, princess Celestia ordered to relay that you should wait for her at the hospital entrance,” the unicorn waved his hoof, denoting the direction.

‘Yeah, right, “hospital”,’ Alex inwardly shuddered at the memory, but squeezed out a smile and said. “Thank you.”

“Well, let’s go, Shy,” his smile to Fluttershy was sincere, her presence made his new “meeting” with “the hospital” bearable. “Better we wait for Celestia, than vice versa,” added he in half voice for only her to hear.

They headed right from the gate and, after a few minutes of walking among the hedges and trees of the front garden, exited to the clear place in front of the white featureless four-storey building. Alex subconsciously frowned, when they reached the entrance with the glass doors. He preferred to turn away from the “hospital”, while they were waiting on the small bench in the shadow of the single tree, and examine the white, shining in the sun mass of the Castle. He thought he could see the exact place on the wall, where windows of the long gallery opened to; both ends of it had larger windows and huge balconies protruding from the castle wall. Alex turned to the right balcony; if his spatial thinking was serving him well, that was Luna’s room exactly – his heart made a leap.

“I couldn’t imagine, they would place him here as well,” Fluttershy leaned to him, stroking his hand gently. “So you need to return to that… building. That’s a bit…”

“Sorry?” Alex emerged from his thoughts. “Ah, yes, “the hospital”,” he huffed ironically. “Don’t worry, dear, I’ll cope with that…” he covered her small hoof with his hand.

The princess didn’t make them wait for her too long and they soon saw her white graceful frame, landing further in the alley in the company of two pegasi guards and heading to the building entrance.

“Your Highness!” both Alex and Fluttershy bowed, when Celestia approached them.

“Good afternoon!” the princess smiled graciously. “It’s a pleasure, my dear Fluttershy, to see you again! Alex, are you ready to visit the unfortunate mage?”

“Thank you, princess,” Fluttershy bowed once more. “Mutually!”

“I’m ready,” shortly stated Alex. “Is there anything else, we should know beforehand, in addition to what you already told me, your highness?”

“I’m afraid, no,” Celestia slowly shook her head. “He is still completely inert. You’ll see it, Alex, he almost needs to be treated like a doll.”

“Oh, my! What’s this, pray tell?!” she leaned closer, examining his cheekbone with almost faded bruise of very distinctive shape.

“It’s fine, your highness, thank you,” Alex felt uneasy, while Celestia looked at his face from different angles. “Yesterday I visited a bar in Ponyville, hiding from heat and looking for a refreshment. A couple of stallions tried to convince me that I was an ape.”

Celestia frowned, Alex spotted the small nodules on her cheekbones going up and down, as she squeezed her jaws automatically.

“And I convinced them, their interpretation of good manners was far from exemplary forsooth,” quickly added he. “Don’t worry, no magic was involved,” he let out a small chuckle. “But next time those two will think twice.”

He saw how the princess relaxed, stifling a smile.

“Well, if you think, that was enough…”

“More than,” Alex nodded. “I’m okay, your highness… in that aspect at least.”

“Fine then!” Celestia welcomed them inside with a nod. “Up to our appointment.”

Heading towards the doors with Celestia, Alex made it that way, so the princess was between him and Fluttershy, like a common courtesy. The guards followed at a reasonable distance.

“Please, your highness,” Alex leaned to Celestia, telling her in half voice. “If I may ask, could you avoid mentioning the details about the Seekers and… the rest… to Fluttershy as long as possible? I would like to keep her out of those problems, she knows about the accident in general only, taking it as a random event yet.”

“I see your reasons and it seems, we can allow that so far,” Celestia slowly nodded in agreement. “But you must understand, Alex, that the circumstances may change at any moment. Besides, the longer you stay, the harder will be to keep your friends uninvolved.”

“I know, princess. That’s one of the thoughts burning me mercilessly,” Alex gritted his teeth. He threw a quick glance at Fluttershy to ensure that she didn’t pay much attention to their short exchange.

“Your Highness, w-what we are g-going to see exactly, if I m-may ask?” Fluttershy’s sudden question was at the same time timid and ultimately straightforward; Alex strained.

“A victim of an overly strange magical accident, my dear,” to his relief Celestia easily avoided the sharp edges. “Which might help us understand Alex’s arrival and further events a little better. Especially if Alex knows the proper questions and how to ask them,” she chuckled lightly, trotting along the hall.

‘Here you caught me, Tia,’ sighed Alex mentally. ‘I just want to see his reaction to the Seeker’s images and if he can remember anything. He was the one, affected by the monster directly and might know… well, keep that information deep inside his memory… something about those Seekers. Maybe it helps me understand their supposed connection with my arrival. Maybe…’

The familiar nurse met them inside, Alex granted her with an involuntary wide smile, seeing his petite unicorn guardian-angel again.

“Your Highness!” the nurse bowed low, then she turned to Celestia company. “Alex! It’s nice to see you… finally as a visitor,” she couldn’t hold back the smile as well. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss Fluttershy!”

“You’re much more famous than you can confess, my dear!” sly sparkles danced in laughing Celestia’s eyes. “Oh, what’s wrong, Fluttershy?” she asked, seeing how Fluttershy suddenly became red as a carrot and subconsciously held closer to Alex.

“We met one of Fluttershy’s fans at the express, princess,” elaborated Alex, hugging Fluttershy protectively. “You know… We could barely get rid of them finally.”

“Oh, right, the model career…” Celestia let out a small smile, then addressed Fluttershy. “You shouldn’t sweep under the mat, what you naturally mastered with perfection, my dear. That was your star moment. And, frankly speaking, I have one of your best photos as well,” she added quietly.

‘Just don’t ask her to sign it, okay,’ inwardly prayed Alex. ‘Or Shy will drop unconscious.’

Nevertheless, Celestia’s words seemed to patch up Fluttershy’s condition, as she regained her normal colours, quietly telling the princess something in response.

“So, how was it going, while I was away?” Alex jokingly asked the unicorn nurse. “Is “Ginger” still getting late every time?”

“Ginger?” she stumbled for a second, then giggled like a school filly. “Oh… And, yes, she is incorrigible in that. Do you have a nickname for me as well, by the way?” she squinted at Alex.

“No.” sincerely confessed Alex. “Speaking of which… As I’m not the “test subject” now and the policy of controlled reticence spreads on me not anymore, can I at least know your name?”

“Scarlet Rose” she downcasted modestly. “My parents are florists and they hoped for me to follow the family trend. I think, it was a surprise – my cutie mark and my work. But they still guessed right, I mean my love for roses,” she looked up at him with a smile.

“It’s a pleasure,” nodded Alex. “And thank you for your love for roses specifically,” added he in half voicee, meeting her surprised glance, but explaining no more.

They got to the first floor of the building and entered the long hall, coming through the whole storey.

‘Now, if they put him into the same room, that would be something,’ Alex rolled his eyes, when they stopped at the door with a peep hatch, but without a magical barrier this time. He couldn’t tell if that was the same though.

“Now please stop for a minute and listen to me,” the nurse stopped and turned to them all. “The patient is… resting at the moment and the doctor asked to relay that he would come shortly. You can ask your questions, well, try to. I will stick to my duties, if you don’t mind my presence during your appointment.”

“Not at all,” Celestia nodded shortly. “Besides, it will hardly take too much time.”

Scarlet Rose opened the door and they entered. As Alex could see, the room was indeed very familiar, almost the doppelganger of the one, he spent over a month in. The only difference was the bed and one totally unknown to him unicorn, occupying it at the moment. He wasn’t restrained, but Alex spotted immediately that it was hardly necessary – the unicorn’s eyes stared at the ceiling, like button eyes of a teddy bear. Their complete emptiness and lifelessness made Alex stumble a little, while the nurse approached the “patient” and helped him get up.

Meanwhile, one of the guards followed Celestia inside, another stayed behind the closed door.

“Please, your highness, stay at the entrance,” asked Alex quietly, watching as Scarlet almost made the unicorn get up and walked him slowly to get seated at the table in the middle of the room. Alex witnessed that the doll comparison wasn’t some exaggeration, as the Seeker’s victim hardly bent his joints, moving only when somepony made him to. “Fluttershy, please stay with the princess, just in case. I don’t want him to be distracted by many of us… if he can be distracted,” added Alex forcedly.

“Reasonable amendment,” Celestia leaned to Alex’s ear. “I wasn’t joking, saying he was treated like a doll, as you can now see, Alex. If he falls from that chair, he will need somepony’s help to be seated back, despite how awful it could look and sound.”

“I’m still going to try…” Alex turned his head slightly, looking into her eyes. The nurse left the unicorn sitting and got aside, moving something on a smaller table at the wall, probably preparing to the doctor’s visit.

Alex slowly approached the table from another side. He didn’t take the chair and remained standing, reaching into his pocket and taking the folded drafts out.

“Good afternoon, sir!” said Alex in calm relaxed voice, despite his body froze from inside. The unicorn kept sitting, looking straight in front of him without any expression in the eyes, resembling unpowered light bulbs. “I’m going to ask thee a few questions. First of all, dost thou hear me? Can thou understand mine words? If ‘t be true thou can, but can’t tell, blink thy eyes twice, please.”

Celestia’s eyes dilated, but she slowly shook her head, confirming the futility of Alex’s attempts. Alex unfolded the sheets of paper and straightened them out on the table; neither the pose, nor the direction of unicorn’s sight changed.

“Okay,” sighed out Alex. “Let’s try more straightforwardly…”

He took one of the drafts, leaning closer, and placed it right in front of the unicorn’s eyes at the half-yard distance.

“Dost thou recall…”

The unicorn suddenly blinked, Alex saw, how his eyes started darkening, filled by the rage, flooding the poor stallion from inside.

The following happened like in slow-motion. The unicorn popped up, like stung by a wasp, and slammed both his hooves at the table crumpling the rest of the drafts. Alex leaned back, the stallion’s fore legs got under the table, lifting it and throwing aside. At the last moment Alex saw nurse’s eyes, widened from the terror; she turned to the noise and realized, where the whole wooden mass would land the next second. With a blasting kick of his foot Alex intercepted the table mid-air and sent it to the back wall, making it smash at the protruding windowsill and lose a leg with dry crackling. He jumped to the nurse and shielded the petite unicorn mare by himself. But before he turned to shout Fluttershy and Celestia to leave the room, what he least expected happened.

A yellow and pink flash dashed past him and Fluttershy stood right in the way of enraged “patient”.

“NO, YOU WON’T DO THAT, MISTER!” Fluttershy’s voice, becoming suddenly strong and loud, filled the room and Alex almost saw this time, how the waves of energy spread from her widely open eyes, which stared… no… Stared at the unicorn. For the short moment the time itself seemed to stop. The unicorn staggered, like hitting the concrete wall in the middle of his mad rush. He slowly dropped on the floor and blinked several times. His eyes started moving, like ones of a living creature, not a mannequin, and tears flowed out of them.

“W-what’s happening?” his voice came like from the bottom of the well. “Where am I?” and then quieter and more desperately, grabbing his head. “Who… am I?!”

Alex loudly breathed out, releasing the nurse, whom he was blocking by his back before. He was surprised by her self-control and endurance, she hurried to the unicorn, like nothing happened, calming him and trying to get to the bed again. He was trembling, cried like a foal still, asked several times, what was happening, and once for help. There were no symptoms of any rage attack anymore, yet the guard immediately got at the other side of the patient, ready to restrain him at any moment, another guard entered the room as well.

Alex considered some strong reaction possible, but he wasn’t ready for this, as he admitted to himself. This looked like somepony turned a switch… and, to tell the truth, was really scary. He approached Fluttershy, who stood at the same spot still, and kneeled next to her, wrapping his hands around her graceful frame. She shuddered, unfreezing and almost falling in his arms with a fitful sigh. Alex gently stroked her mane, cooing into her soft ear that everything was alright and she was incredible and other things. He felt a light touch on his shoulder.

“Quite impressive reflexes, Alex,” Celestia’s soft voice sounded right above his ear.

“Thank you, princess. I’ve already missed one hit,” Alex looked up at her, he touched his left cheek, hugging Fluttershy with another hand. “Not going to repeat the same mistake anymore.”

Celestia nodded, then addressed Fluttershy.

“How are you, my dear? That was unexpected, yet I must admit very effective, as we all witnessed.”

“Better now, your highness,” quietly said Fluttershy, holding on Alex. “I don’t know how, but it happened spontaneously, as usual… I’ll be fine in a moment.”

“I suppose, we all understand how important, what we saw here, could be,” Celestia cocked her head. “Guard. Escort my guests to my study, please,” she threw a strange glance at Alex, then addressed them both again. “You should wait there for a while, I’ll attend to you shortly, as soon as I can sort this out,” she nodded towards the still shaking mage.

“It’s okay,” Fluttershy looked at Alex with a weak smile. “I can walk fine on my own,” she turned to the guard.

“Alex, stay for a word, please!” Celestia’s tone was unobjectionable.

“Tis fine,” whispered Alex in Fluttershy’s ear. “I shall catch thee up in a minute.” She nodded and Alex noticed that she didn’t twitch at his old speak this time. Perhaps she was still in a slight shock, as she didn’t react at Celestia’s wish to speak to him privately, moreover, without Fluttershy, as there were still other ponies in the room.

When the guard left the room, followed by Fluttershy, Celestia turned to Alex.

“First of all, I’d like to say that the situation changed, Alex,” she said sternly. “You saw the effect the Stare made on the Seeker’s victim. I’m going to admit, that could be a coincidence, of course, but chances are high, she is the only remedy in that case. Do you understand, what it means?”

Alex got up and nodded shortly, it seemed that his plans to avoid involving Fluttershy in more troubles were busted. Meanwhile, the princess continued.

“If we get more victims, we will need to try everything to return them to the normal condition…”

“Apologies, but tis looketh normal condition alike not,” huffed Alex.

“He reacts, talks, feels… for a change,” Celestia frowned. “That is why I need specialists’ conclusion, thus making you wait for me for a while.”

“Returning to our main question,” she raised one eyebrow. “I can grant you my trust to decide, when and how to explain her everything, the most important parts at least, but it will depend mostly on the conclusion, the medics give on his case,” she nodded towards the unicorn. “Don’t linger too long anyway, Alex! We may need her anytime soon and she’ll better be informed about everything.”

“I see your point, princess,” Alex downcasted. “Just give me some time…”

“And one more thing, what’s going on with you using the old language sometimes?” inquired Celestia, yet in more relaxed tone. “Luna speaks that way, as you might have noticed, but you didn’t, when you first arrived.”

“I don’t know why it’s happening,” Alex looked in Celestia’s eyes openly. “I’m trying to control myself lately, but it always comes out naturally, when I’m worried or angry… generally in the moments of strong feelings.”

“So does Luna; in the moments “of strong feelings”, as you say, it becomes more pronounced,” Celestia closed her eyes, thinking.

“I guess, the sleepwalking didn’t come alone,” Alex sighed.

‘You were quite alike even before that, I don’t know why and where it leads, but that bothers me,’ Celestia watched him for a minute, then waved her hoof, letting him go.

Alex caught up with Fluttershy outside, the guard led them through the front garden to the Castle entrance; this place was familiar to Alex, but not the rest of the way. They took the central stairs, passing the familiar throne hall and getting to the third floor, but considering the height of the ceilings here, it equalled to regular tenth probably. Alex instinctively tried to keep further from windows, scolding himself inwardly for this weakness he only started to overcome. When they entered the long hall, the guard turned to the right, trotting along the huge gallery with columns and statues.

“Keep up with me please, one can easily get lost here for the first time,” dropped he over the shoulder.

Alex coughed, stifling a laugh – he couldn’t get lost here for sure, as he recognized the gallery and most likely knew, where they headed. Naturally, he wasn’t going to tell that he knew, which rooms were located at this gallery and where, but he smirked, when they passed the high ornate double doors to Celestia’s bedroom and entered the next one.

“Take a seat and wait for her highness, I’ll be behind the doors; notify me, if you need something,” the guard left them alone.

The large room under the high ceiling was decorated in light colours, just as Celestia’s bedroom. The walls were almost entirely covered by the bookcases and Alex thought with a wry smile that Celestia chose herself a perfectly fitting apprentice. The high window let the sunlight flood the room and make the noble furniture and some books’ spines shine, reflecting in thousands of pendants of the large single chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling. The heavy table could easily compete with the billiard one and the high armchair behind it completed Celestia’s workplace. Alex took a look around, avoiding the window, and chose the small couch, fairly supposing that a double seat was exactly what they needed.

Fluttershy trotted next, following him on the thick carpet, which muffled the hoofsteps almost completely, and sat next to him. Alex hugged her, comforting the girl, letting her overcome the stress under his psychological protection. She snuggled to him tightly and hid her muzzle on his shoulder, while Alex stroked her mane.

“Sweet Celestia, what was that?!” whispered she barely audibly after a while.

“Some severe magical accident, I suppose,” Alex closed his eyes, what he did, wasn’t pleasant to do at all. He decided to tell at least a part of the truth. “Something caused this guy to totally lose his identity… well, till you… did something to him. Now it seems better… errmmm… better than it was for sure. Let’s wait for what the princess tells.”

Fluttershy shuddered convulsively, like from a cold draught. There were none though and Alex held her closer.

“It’s okay, Shy. I’m here… I… shouldn’t let you come with me and see all that.”

“Don’t say that,” Fluttershy looked into his eyes. “I’ve chosen to go with you myself, besides that made this poor unicorn wake from his… stupor in the end of the day. I’m not regretting anything, neither should you, dear.”

They waited for about half an hour, when they heard the hurried hoofsteps behind the door, and in a minute Celestia quickly trotted in.

“Apologies for the waiting!” her tone was fairly cheerful though, Alex thought that the good news was exactly what they needed. “He was shortly examined by the medics and…”

“And?..”

“I had my pleasure already to find out that patience was not your strongest virtue, Alex,” chuckled Celestia, placing herself behind her desk and moving some papers aside. “Sometimes it’s a blessing, of course, but sometimes…” she made a meaningful pause.

“The good news is – our patient exited his totally unknown and unmanageable condition and, as medics claim, is now in some sort of severe amnesia, so, it is at the very least curable within our capabilities,” continued she, when Alex’s face showed at least some signs of remorse. “The bad news – this will take time, long time to fully recover him and restore his memories. But still, it’s better than to deal with a… “hollow” pony.”

“I want to thank you again specifically, dear Fluttershy, for what you’ve done,” added the princess with a bright smile. “Even if it was a spontaneous act… It seems to be a feasible method to help similar cases. I hope you won’t mind, if we ask for your help in future, if necessary.”

“And I’d like to thank you, Alex, as well. Without your actions we wouldn’t have found out, what we know now… and we wouldn’t have had the hope to help this pony. But… next time, please, at least inform me of what you are going to undertake,” Celestia looked at him fixedly.

“Your Highness,” Fluttershy found the strength to sit straight, her fore hoof still rested on Alex’s knee though. “W-what happened to this poor stallion, if… if I may ask?”

Celestia threw a quick glance at Alex, who returned it fully, widening his eyes and silently asking her to follow the agreement.

“Well…” Celestia closed her eyes for a second, making some uneasy decision. “My apologies, Alex, but the situation changed significantly and I must revert from my previous decision.”

Alex buried his face in his hands, he imagined the shock Fluttershy could be in the next moment and her possible suspicions. He didn’t bother much about Rainbow’s opinion about himself, but Fluttershy was another story. Luna was extremely rational regarding his possible connection to the Seekers. Would Fluttershy show the same level of non-emotionally driven prudence? On the other hand, she needed to know everything sooner or later, considering her role in the situation at that moment. Perhaps, Celestia was right, thinking that sooner was better. Alex threw a quick depressed glance at the princess and nodded sentencedly.

Fluttershy put her hoof on his knee and stroked it reassuringly, she seemed to pay less attention to the “previous decision” words, than they deserved.

“We came across some strange creatures appearing in Equestria recently,” the princess was extremely straightforward. “What we deemed to be the remnants of King’s Sombra power appeared to materialize as magical hostile entities, not of Sombra’s origin. They look like a human torso without the head and arms planted on the horse body – entirely formed of the dense Dark Mist, the black fog-like substance we found before.”

“Their general form is somewhat familiar to Alex, as there are similar creatures in his home world’s mythology,” continued Celestia, making a pause for the previous information to settle in. Alex noticed how Fluttershy’s eyes started dilating. “With the exception that centauri from his home world were purely mythic and didn’t possess the same physical features and magical effect on others. Namely, they had arms, heads and were not draining positive emotions from the living beings around.”

Alex nodded and Fluttershy quietly asked in disbelief.

“You highness, you want to say that…”

“Moreover, I’m already saying that,” confirmed Celestia. “The unicorn, you saw, was subjected to direct impact of the Seeker’s powers, resulting in the condition, he was found in. The condition you, my dear Fluttershy, was able to revert by merely using your Stare on him.”

“What creatures must those… Seekers be to cause damage like that?” gasped Fluttershy. Then added after a second. “Why “Seekers”, i-if I may ask?”

“They aren’t some living creatures as we suppose,” Celestia looked fixedly at Alex. “They are somepony’s magical “puppets”, entities used for some purpose, we don’t know yet…”

“Okay, if we took this route already…” Alex decided to cut it straight. “Shy, her highness, princess Celestia wanted to say, that she suspected direct connection between me and those Seekers.”

Celestia’s cheeks got some pinkish tint and Fluttershy looked into Alex’s eyes for a whole long minute, then slowly shook her head. She was shocked by the news no doubt, bewildered, stunned, but to Alex’s enormous relief, there were no panic, hostility or suspicion in her turquoise eyes.

“They drain all the positive emotions from ponies on the certain range, causing fear, despair, bringing back painful memories instead,” continued Celestia; she squinted and Alex wondered what “painful memories” the first Seeker revived to her. “Apparently the impact and drain are so strong upon direct contact, that it causes identity loss of the subjected pony. Answering your question, Fluttershy, we started to call them Seekers, because they literally look for something, when not disturbed…”

“Him?!” Fluttershy threw another quick fearful glance at Alex, fearful for his fate, not of him, to Alex’s surprise.

“No, not Alex,” Celestia allowed herself a small smile. “Some recent events showed that Alex is the only one here, who can easily take a Seeker down without any mental risk for himself. Yes, they can feel him and if they can’t attack him physically, they try to flee.”

“I can feel their presence on a short distance, but nothing like others do – no fear or unease… it’s hard to tell, I just feel them,” said Alex carefully, still unsure what reaction all the given information could cause from Fluttershy. “And they can feel my presence, as I don’t know, if they can actually see. They feel, I’m dangerous for them. Look, Shy, I drain magic and reflect the hostile impact, thus I can destroy them by simply… touching them.”

“What was clearly demonstrated by him and my dear sister on the day Alex left Canterlot,” said Celestia.

“There was a Seeker in Canterlot…” gasped Fluttershy.

“No, quite far from here actually, but that doesn’t really matter,” Celestia waved her hoof and Alex threw a thankful glance at her, grateful for not touching the details of his mental bonds with princess Luna. “What really matters is, if we assume that Alex is not the one, who controls the Seekers and sets their aims, I still can’t take the fact, they appeared in Equestria almost at the same time, as a pure coincidence. There are some more similarities,” Celestia downcasted, then made a “control shot”. “That unicorn was subjected to an extremely strong power drain, even life energy drain, as we can safely assume. That is why Alex and I concluded, this case can be connected to Alex’s problems and give him some answers. Apparently, it brought more questions for now instead.”

Alex strained, getting ready for the reaction, he considered being the most natural at that moment. That was why he wanted to tell Fluttershy everything differently, not giving the natural, but so unfair by fact, accent to the situation.

“Do you think, Alex’s reaction to magic can cause identity loss as well? Making him dangerous…” Fluttershy covered her mouth with the hoof, struck by that possibility. Nevertheless, she moved closer to him, Alex could feel her reassuring warmth. “We must do something to help him. He can’t stay like that then…”

Celestia let out another small smile and Alex swallowed a lump, which suddenly formed in his throat.

“No, I don’t think so,” finally said the princess. “Alex drains magical force, not the mere life power. That happens, when somepony applies magic to him, and he is not controlling the process… or initiating it consciously.”

“As for the rest of your concerns, dear… Alex already IS dangerous, as anypony with numerous unknown aspects about them; we try to find out, how we can lessen that danger or avoid it completely, but at least he is not intentionally dangerous… Albeit, when you start behaving impulsively, Alex, I barely hold myself from putting that statement under doubt,” Celestia gave him a long fixed glance. “And deciding, if he can stay like that, is completely out of our power, I’m afraid.”

Fluttershy let out a fitful sigh, squeezing Alex’s leg.

“Unfortunately, that’s all I can tell for now,” Celestia looked at the wall clock, getting up and approaching them. “Excuse me, as I can’t devote you more time, too many things demand for my attention.”

“You will be escorted… unless Alex can find the way himself,” sly sparkles lit in her eyes, Alex understood that innuendo clearly.

Fluttershy bowed, following the formalities to say goodbye to the princess, and headed to the door. Alex lingered for a second.

“Thank you, your highness,” he said with a faint tint of sad irony. “Surprisingly it went better, than I expected. I would like to keep Fluttershy out of all these problems, but I guess, it will be much harder to accomplish now.”

“Sometimes circumstances are stronger than us,” with the meaningful expression Celestia cocked her head, making her illustrious mane flow. “If she stays around you, she has the right to know, what you are going into. Especially, considering her newly found ability. I extend my hope, we’ll meet in a more relaxed atmosphere next time. Good luck, Alex!”

“Have a nice day, princess!” Alex bowed, then he remembered something. “And… Oh… Never mind, sorry!”

“I’ll tell Luna that you both were here,” chuckled Celestia, following him to the doors. “And what we found out today. Stay safe both of you.”

Alex’s bewildered expression, when he looked back at her, amused the Princess of the Day much.

*

It appeared that they had plenty of time to get back to Ponyville, so, Alex and Fluttershy bought tickets to a regular train, not to wait longer for the next express and had their late lunch at the station.

“Why haven’t you told me anything about the Seekers, Alex?” Fluttershy woke from her deep thoughts and raised her beautiful, yet sad eyes on him. “You knew about them already, when you returned to Ponyville…”

“That’s an easy question to answer, the decision was much harder to make though,” Alex let out a heavy sigh. “I wanted to protect you from those troubles. I don’t know, if I bring them with me or it’s just a coincidence indeed… but the least thing I wanted was you dealing with anything, related to the Seekers. I still think that Tia… princess Celestia was too straight to the point.”

“Tia?” Fluttershy raised one eyebrow, then waved her hoof, asking instead. “Wasn’t it completely futile to hide that information from me, while we all are in the same danger? Except maybe you, as the Seekers don’t affect you much.”

“When we all shared the same risk, it was exactly rational not to drag you deeper into the problem, not to scare you,” Alex pointed out meaningfully, he leaned forward, looking into her eyes. “I could protect you from an accidental encounter just being near you, Shy. Now, when you are involved, I can’t be sure… Celestia can need your help at any moment… but the risk is too high…”

“But I want to help!” retorted Fluttershy with sudden passion, she put her daisy sandwich aside, barely touching it. “What chances that poor unicorn had? He could die in a few hours, if not constantly helped, simply because he had no… no passion to live… Now he has a chance to become himself again at least. How can we judge, if somepony deserves this chance or not?! Of course, I’ll agree to help, if the princess needs it! Wasn’t it necessary to take my own opinion into the account as well?”

“That is why I regret our discovery,” muttered Alex woefully. “It’s always easier to judge, when you see the victims with your own eyes.”

“What if you become subjected to that Seekers’ effect, Shy?” his voice became stronger. “I know arrant, I can’t… “stare” thee into thy normal condition! I… I fear for thee, Shy… Is ‘t selfish? I guess it can be deemed as such, but…”

Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hoof again. Several minutes passed, Alex watched the impudent sparrows, whisking almost under their table, he had no more words to say. Fluttershy got up and around the table and suddenly hugged and squeezed him tight with her fore legs.

“I’m sorry, Alex,” whispered she. “I knew your motives and I… Well… Now I can’t stay completely out of this I’m afraid. We just need to be careful,” she nuzzled his cheek. “I know you wanted to protect me, but we need to think about others, who may need our help. Don’t think that I’m not scared, because I darn sure am!”

Fluttershy shuddered and Alex wrapped both hands around her.

“Forgive me, Shy. I didn’t think about your own opinion indeed, was too concerned about your safety. About the safety of somepony dear to me,” he ran his fingers through her hair and Fluttershy snuggled closer to him. “Promise me that you won’t rush to the point of attack, whatever happens. And… when I’m not around, being at the station or somewhere else… If you ever feel irrational fear, unease or depression out of the blue, stop doing anything you are doing and… run to… to Twilight. She has magic at least and direct contact with Celestia. Don’t do anything to make me regret, we came to Canterlot together today.”

Fluttershy let out a fitful sigh, resting on Alex’s chest; he could feel her trembling ever so slightly. The adrenaline blockade of the moment started to release her, giving Fluttershy back to the impression of today’s appointment and disturbing information, she was given.

“We can’t tell Rarity all the details,” Alex stroked Fluttershy’s back gently. “Celestia wants to avoid broad publicity and I tend to agree with her here. The complete information will bring panic only…”

“But she can’t keep everypony completely uninformed either!” Fluttershy looked up at him.

“I know, Shy,” nodded Alex. “I’m thinking about that, how all the ponies can be warned at least about how to avoid direct contact with those things. And I’ll try to make some plausible version for Rarity… for now at least.”

“Merlin’s pants, I guess, the problems have only started to come,” added he, but the noise of arriving train overshadowed his words.

Boarding a regular train turned out to be a doubtless advantage, when they found out, they had the entire compartment for themselves. No mad fans, no chatterboxes…

“I wonder how many of her friends now… well, not right now, but eventually… will be informed about her getting an autograph of a famous model, even after the latter finished her career, not being a public pony now,” Alex laughed, imagining the mare gathering others alike and bragging with the speed of machinegun.

“Alex, please, don’t remind me about that…” Fluttershy shuddered, she was still under the impression of their appointment and the reaction of the unicorn. “Like if it wasn’t that awful. Those mad herds of fans exactly made me stop the so-called career, not the photographing or attending fashion events, despite I don’t like being in the center of attention,” she let Alex get to the window, in the corner of the seat under the lamp, then nested next to him. “Thinking of it now, I could hold more, purely for Rarity’s benefit, if only those fans didn’t pester me. But considering how it was, I’d like to forget about that part of my life.”

“Okay, okay, won’t touch that topic again,” Alex lowered the curtain, as the Sun was shining right into the window now. The compartment drowned in the intimate twilight. “I just think that you truly have everything for that work, Shy… and if it was within your mood and character, you’d keep it done perfectly.”

“Stop it…” Fluttershy blushed, nudging him lightly. Alex comically raised his hands, giving up.

This time the road took about five hours, as the train stopped at the several smaller stations, Alex saw on the way to Canterlot in the morning. He wasn’t watching the passing by landscape, thinking about something and absently staring in front of himself. Fluttershy curled on the seat near him and it was obvious, she tried to recompose after the events of that morning, probably thinking about Celestia’s words regarding the incident.

She looked strained and concerned and Alex ran his fingers through her mane, stroking her head, scratching behind her soft ears and trying to comfort her, while still thinking what to do with the load, placed on their shoulders by Celestia.

‘Right when I wanted to keep her out of all those troubles… Damn it! She is not a universal medic… What now? Making her attend every case, when some hay-head stupidly gets subjected to the Seekers’ effects? The last thing we need, the last thing I need is to get Shy near those bastards, risking her own sanity. Of course, she can kick somepony back on track by her Stare, but I doubt she is ready to confront the Seekers… I have no doubts, if I try to take down more of those monsters, if they appear, she will follow me,’ Alex closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. ‘I can’t risk her!’ he reached Fluttershy shoulder, stroking it gently.

Little by little Fluttershy relaxed, her strained muscles softened and her shoulders became less stiff; it took more than an hour, but the change was visible and Alex was glad that stress finally released the girl. She raised her head and Alex could meet the glance of bright turquoise eyes, not veiled by concern or fear anymore. Fluttershy smiled gently, she got up on the seat and leaned closer to Alex. Her soft silky lips touched his own and the time seemed to stop for a while, albeit differently, than when she stared the mage today. She closed her eyes, listening to her feelings, while Alex watched her, wholeheartedly giving the kiss back. Fluttershy’s small hooves traveled randomly on his shoulders, chest, arms, like trying to feel that he is still here, not going to vanish suddenly.

“Did you lock the compartment door?” she breathed out in between the kisses.

“Right after… we entered and… I saw, we were lucky… having no co-travelers this time,” Alex nuzzled her nose, when she stopped covering his face with short, but demanding kisses. “I didn’t want that to change!”

“Excellent!” cooed Fluttershy, snuggling into him with her whole body.

In about three hours they got off the train at Ponyville station and were to go back home on slightly wobbly legs. No wonder that the whole road took a bit longer, despite Alex felt like a kite and Fluttershy got some dancing tint to her gait. The clock on the tower showed almost 7 pm, when they saw it, and Alex remembered that they were to host still: Rarity and Twilight, they invited them both in the morning. Alex racked his brains to find a way to tell Twilight everything, not informing the other two girls about unwanted details. Besides, he had one more talk planned for that night, the talk which demanded proper timing, otherwise, he couldn’t reach the one, he wanted to see.

*

“Tea or coffee, Shy?” Alex was to shout, as he already entered the kitchen after bringing himself into order and changing upstairs.

“Huh?!” she turned off the water, Fluttershy wanted to wash her mane, getting rid of “Ponyville’s roads dust”. “What did you say, dear?”

“Take your pick, tea or coffee,” repeated Alex, lighting the stove.

“Are you kidding, Alex? Drinking coffee in the evening? I’m not…” Fluttershy stumbled. “Tea of course. I’m so tired, ready to fall, wonder, if I can hold, while the girls are here…”

‘Not drinking coffee in the evening, because she is not whom?..’ smirked Alex. ‘Was she going to mention Luna again?’

‘Well, tea it is for both,’ Alex got the kettle and filled it with water. ‘I surely need some sleep as well. First, because I really need it, and second, because I must get asleep to see Luna!’ he checked the clock, then the window – the Sun was slowly going down. ‘And before she attends to her duties, or I can’t reach her in Canterlot.’

Right when the kettle started whistling and Alex finished making the sandwiches (he decided that the lunch was history, besides, girls could come at any minute), he heard somepony knocking at the front door. There were more than two voices behind it and Alex raised his eyebrow, wondering who that could be. He saw Fluttershy going downstairs, she braided her tail and made a huge towel turban on her wet mane.

“It must be the girls.”

“Hmm… There are more of them, than Rarity and Twilight, as I could hear,” Alex shrugged, opening the door. “Oh, good evening, Rarity!”

“Ahlex, darling, Fluttershy, good evening!” Rarity pecked him on the cheek, putting some hot parcel, she levitated, into his hands. “I hope we are not too much of a burden…” she returned him a slightly guilty look and Alex wondered, what else was going to happen. “My sister, she wanted to come so much and I couldn’t leave her at home, alone and bored… So,” she stepped aside and revealed… all three fillies to Alex’s sight.

“You’ve said “alone and bored”, Rarity,” Alex made a mischievous face, he heard from behind something resembling a gasp, a snort and a giggle at the same time – Fluttershy seemingly appreciated the situation as well. Now Alex understood what was that rustle behind Rarity’s back, resembling the sound produced by mice; three big mice, to be exact. How he managed not to drop Rarity’s parcel at that moment was a separate question.

“Squee!” Rarity shrugged and made her best “puppy eyes”, like saying. ‘What could I do with them?’

“Okaaay!” slowly breathed out Fluttershy. “Don’t know what kind of entertainment we can provide… but why not.”

“Now we won’t fall asleep for granted,” she whispered to Alex.

“Hi!” said all three fillies, looking up at them. “Not going to be a problem, honestly,” smirked Apple Bloom, the other two nodded.

“Hi, girls,” Fluttershy took the process in her hooves firmly, shaking off her sleepiness, even if temporarily. “Come in! Did you have any adventures today?” she took the girls into the living room quickly, Alex followed them with his sight.

“Evening, Alex,” the last in the “queue” was Twilight with “That wasn’t my idea” expression on her smiling muzzle.

“Evening. What’s up, Twi?..” her smile seemed to Alex too meaningful, maybe his face was still dumbfounded or she simply intercepted his glance at Fluttershy taking care of the fillies… and made her own assumptions.

“Nothing, I’m glad to see you both being fine,” Twilight trotted inside, letting Alex close the door. “How did the Canterlot appointment come?”

Alex looked back to make sure that Rarity followed the girls. He leaned closer to Twilight, taking her saddle bag to place it on the small table by the door.

“With unexpected results, but I didn’t find out much about my problem,” whispered he in her ear. “Fluttershy knows everything or almost everything now, as you wanted. Celestia told her, what we both knew about the Seekers.”

“But?..” Twilight eyes became bigger than teacups.

“Not now, Twi,” Alex looked back again. “Rarity isn’t involved and doesn’t need to be for now. I’ll tell everything, but mind that I am to keep the real reasons in secret yet. So, the victim and the effect I describe are of Seeker’s origin, not some undefined magical disturbance or experiment, as I am forced to say,” he added quickly.

Twilight nodded, becoming serious at once.

‘Now, what can we do to keep the girls busy and entertained at the same time,’ pondered Alex, following Twilight to the living room. ‘There won’t be any problem, if they hear, what I’m going to say, I’ll keep it masked enough, so they won’t find much interest in it, perhaps.’

“By the way, what’s this?” he asked Rarity, nodding towards the parcel, he held in his hands still.

“Oh, this is my berry pie,” Rarity sported a bright smile. “I’ve made it specifically for the evening and it appeared to be even more handy… as we came as a bigger herd,” she looked over the company.

Alex unwrapped the pie, putting it on the table. He stared at the top of Rarity’s culinary masterpiece, resembling a lattice, every cell of which was occupied by a berry of different, but fitting together sorts; that gave Alex an excellent idea.

“Girls, do any of you have a grid copybook and some pencils?” he addressed the fillies. Meanwhile, Fluttershy made a cup of tea for everypony and Rarity cut the pie. “I’m not sure, if our talks can entertain you, but I know, what probably can.”

“Don’t know about the girls, but I have one for sure,” smirked Twilight, levitating a copybook from her saddle bag.

“Thanks, Twi! A saviour of the evening,” Alex took three sheets of paper out, found the pencils and put the whole set on the table. “Now, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, did you ever heard of “Battleship” game?”

To his utter surprise, despite all the similarities of two worlds, noosphere was unable to reproduce that simple Earth game into Equestria realm and all three fillies puzzledly shook their heads. Other girls did the same, to be honest.

Alex quickly drew a couple of 10x10 fields on each sheet, then after the second thought, added the third field to each, marked the coordinates and quickly explained the simple rules.

“So you are free to place your limited number of ships as you like, they just must bend or overlap not,” Alex gave each filly her own sheet of paper and a pencil. “Here is your own field, those two are of the opponents. Thus each of you can make two shots in her turn, instead of one, if you were one on one.”

“This makes the game harder a bit,” insinuatingly noticed Alex. “But when did challenge scare you since?”

Scootaloo huffed meaningfully and Twilight threw a quick respectful glance at Alex. Now he could be sure that the fillies were busy and entertained at the same time, as they got involved in the game with great enthusiasm. Even if something of adult talk reached their fluffy ears, it wasn’t harmful and was overshadowed by the game quite nicely.

Alex quietly told Rarity and Twilight in brief, what happened at the Castle “hospital”, inwardly smiling at his story being interrupted by cheerful “Miss!” and rare sad “Hit!” coming from the girls, none of them managed to “destroy” one whole ship of the others yet.

“That must have been horrible,” shuddered Rarity, her eyes dilated and Alex noticed that it wasn’t some acting, but truly her reaction to the incident. “Even being told by you, not witnessed myself!” she held her cup of tea in both hooves, not with her magic, like using its warmth to repel her own chilling fright. “What kind of magical accident can make this damage?”

“I don’t know exactly, what kind of impact and of what nature can provide that effect,” Alex shrugged. Twilight threw a quick evaluating glance at him, Fluttershy examined her teacup intensively. “Being magically resistant doesn’t mean that I became a specialist in all that stuff suddenly.”

“Ti… Princess Celestia has no idea either… how that was done,” Alex put away his cup and rubbed his nose bridge tiredly. “The worst thing is that the unicorn is still in severe amnesia condition, thus he can’t tell a word about what he really got into. The rest was exactly as she told, he was totally inert, not reacting on words, acts of others or any other events.”

“Until you showed something to him, right?” re-asked Rarity, alternating from Alex to Twilight; she must have spotted the glance of the latter. “What was on those sheets of paper, Alex, that made him exit his stupor?.. Moreover, in such an enraged way.”

Fluttershy strained, watching Alex; Rarity clearly felt some awkwardness of the moment.

“Hmm…” Alex tried to relax inwardly, looking over Rarity’s head, trying to avoid her eyes subtly. “These drafts were found at the place of the accident, so they could be connected to the process or the reason to the mage… identity loss. Celestia showed them to me in hope, I can recognize something, but I didn’t. There were dark spots, stripes, some red light of sort, nothing that could be deemed as a portal, to be honest. Well, according to how I can imagine a portal anyway…” Alex tried hard to balance on the thin borderline between the truth and… well, “partial truth”. At least he managed to describe the images quite close, not giving the whole impression though.

“You know, portals can be different. Sometimes they don’t look like a swirl or whatever you expect them to be,” Twilight rolled her eyes, it looked too far-fetched for her, but nopony objected.

“It’s your talent – magic, not mine,” retorted Alex with a chuckle. “I won’t recognize one, if my wallet… Merlin’s pants, I even don’t have one now… So, even if my theoretical wallet turns into one, I’ll start suspecting something, only when money begins to vanish through it.”

“Did you come here through a portal?” Apple Bloom turned to him, distracted from the game.

Alex squinted, he would like to forget some aspects of his arrival completely.

“The problem is, I have no idea, what it was,” he answered sincerely. “I was riding a car…”

“A car?” all three fillies perked their ears. “You mean, by a train…”

“No,” smirked Alex. “Well, it’s hard to explain in brief, but a car, an automobile is a big self-propelled carriage. It moves by using combustion power, like the train. I got into an accident with another car… tried to help those people, but their vehicle got on fire, when I was in… and then a lightning hit it.”

Three fillies fell silent, freezing in bewilderment; Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity heard the details already, nevertheless, they shuddered involuntarily at the image.

“The next thing I could remember was finding myself at the top of the Old Castle tower. Back then I was too shocked to think about it, but now I can say, finding myself not fried was a big surprise as well,” Alex stared at the tea in his cup almost for a minute, until the fillies started fidgeting impatiently. “As for your question – to me it looked least as a portal, but as Twilight said…”

“Wow!” breathed out Apple Bloom.

“Anyway, returning to our story,” continued Alex. “We left the drafts there, they must have trashed them already.”

That was part truth only – Alex managed to keep one draft, the one exactly he showed to the mage; he crumpled it, when the incident happened, but kept holding it automatically, then folded and hid it later.

“I have a feeling that you haven’t found out anything for yourself today, Ahlex,” pensively muttered Rarity. “You aren’t closer to your problem solution, as you don’t even know, if that case is connected… And this unicorn talking is a quite far perspective.”

“Well, technically I did nothing today,” confessed Alex. “And I have nothing to be proud of indeed, But… we found out that Fluttershy can help with cases alike. At least she can put the victim on the road of healing quite effectively.”

Fluttershy blushed and said quietly.

“I prefer that there are no such cases to remedy anymore…”

‘I know, dear, I know… Merlin’s pants, if only I could grant that,’ thought Alex.

“Woohoo!!!” Scootaloo’s loud whoop made them all jump on their seats, the filly managed to hit all Sweetie Belle’s ships and now was to confront only Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle pouted and looked so sad, that Alex took another two pieces of paper and suggested.

“Tis a game only. Shall we try again?” he drew new fields and handed one sheet to Sweetie Belle with a smile. “Thy fleet versus mine… While thy friends are finishing their match.”

Fluttershy sighed, Twilight squinted at Alex and only Rarity noticed nothing, watching him and her sister with a pleased smile.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom continued their battle and it looked like a really hard one, as they managed to take down all of the larger ships and “swept” the enemy’s field, searching for the rest. Alex played with Sweetie Belle, talking to girls at the same time. Perhaps his attention was spread, or he didn’t take the competitor seriously enough, but Belle hit the targets quite effectively, making him lose the match soon. Almost at the same time Scootaloo won against Apple Bloom in the epic battle having only one, one square ship left; Apple Bloom took that defeat stoically, she definitely decided to take revenge next time. As the result all three fillies were rather happy about that evening, Alex knew that they heard almost everything, but apparently that didn’t interest them enough to stick in.

After a short while Rarity threw a quick glance at Fluttershy, who was almost sleeping on Alex’s shoulder and said that it was time to go; she was to walk the girls home as well. Fluttershy shook up a little and followed Rarity and the fillies to the door, while Twilight lingered for a while.

“What was on those drafts?” she leaned closer to Alex, putting the pencils back into her bag. “I mean, actually…”

“The Seekers,” sighed Alex, the answer was obvious. “Other mages, who were lucky to watch them from the distance, draw them… and Celestia showed the drafts to me.”

“So the worst thing the Seekers can cause,” whispered Twilight. “Is the identity loss… And Fluttershy can revert that damage merely by her Stare, right?”

“Yes, but I preferred that we didn’t find that out, Twi,” Alex shook his head. “Now it’s only a matter of time, when another victim appears and Celestia needs her help.”

“Isn’t it good that we have at least anything against their damage?”

“Putting Fluttershy into all that - isn’t!” dropped Alex. “I don’t want her to become a victim, whether the Seekers are connected to my arrival or not… And making her involved puts her under the risk more than…”

“I don’t think that not telling her the entire truth was a way out either, so you did right finally,” Twilight put her hoof on his hand.

“Not me, Celestia did, in the earnest,” chuckled Alex. “I was to conform under the pressure of circumstances.”

“Anyway, you both did right,” said Twilight, then added meaningfully. “And one more thing, watch thy tongue better, please.”

She trotted out to follow Rarity and girls, Alex stood in the kitchen, leaning on the table.

‘Thou art right, Twilight… As usual. Now I must find some way out of this!..’

Fluttershy entered the kitchen and started gathering the teacups and sheets of paper from the table; Alex still looked at one spot, totally occupied by his thoughts. Suddenly he felt her soft embrace and a kiss on his neck: Fluttershy snuggled to his side, handing him his own “Battleship” paper… where he was drawing the ships, all the time around squares, which Sweetie Belle hit. Alex shrugged with a smile, looking into her loving eyes and getting one more kiss, on his lips now.

“Let’s go,” Fluttershy dragged him upstairs. “I’m dropping dead almost…”

*

They fell into the endless well of dreams, as soon as their heads touched the pillows, so exhausted they both were, physically and mentally. Alex was even afraid that sleepwalking, demanding for certain mental powers, wouldn’t work that night. But to his surprise it happened very fluently: one second ago he was holding Fluttershy, breathing evenly on his chest, and the next moment he stood in the so familiar room in Canterlot Castle.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too late, Luna was still in her bed, sleeping on her side, her head rested on her fore legs and her hair covered the pillows with the luxurious veil of starry night. She was smiling through her sleep like a small filly, so her cheeks became prettily round and the small dimples on them made Alex’s wish to touch and stroke her cheek almost irresistible. Luna’s long eyelashes trembled slightly, she was going to wake any moment soon. With a wide smile Alex ran his fingers through her mane, breathing full lungs of lavender, then kissed her shoulder lightly; her nose funnily twitched at the moment.

Alex stepped back and sat in the armchair, taking an open book from it, marking the page and putting it away. Waiting for her and watching the sleeping beauty waking up wasn’t a bad occupation at all. He threw a quick glance through the half-curtained window: the last thin stripe of clouds, highlighted pink by the setting Sun, drowned into the darkness. Luna sighed in her sleep and straightened her fore legs, stretching with her eyes still closed and making Alex’s heart race, so exciting was the look.

“Mmm…” cooed the Princess of the Night, slowly opening her beautiful eyes. “I knew ‘t wast thou, mine lief!” she wiggled her shoulder, Alex kissed, and her sly dark blue eye stared at him through her mane, which covered half of her face, as Luna got up.

‘Just like Fluttershy in the morning!’ flew in Alex’s head, he caught himself watching her with slightly open mouth and quickly made a more neutral face.

“Mine apologies,” Luna shook her head, cocking it proudly, and her mane streamed in the insensible wind. “Now it’s better,” she giggled, heading to the bathroom. In a minute Luna trotted back fully awake and ready for her night, as Alex clearly read in her shining eyes.

“Good evening, my princess,” Alex barely had time to say that, before Luna grabbed him in her warm embrace, sitting in front of him.

“I missed thee much, mine lief!” cooed Luna, wrapping him in her wings and bringing nose to nose with her.

The first kiss turned out to be hasty and insatiable and Alex tried to feel each tiny second of it, while her soft lips and tongue danced with his own. After a while, Luna calmed down a bit, except for her racing heart, Alex could easily feel, placing his hands on the soft coat on her chest. She opened her eyes, so he could dive deep into them, while still gently sharing his breath with the princess. Luna watched his half-lidded from pleasure eyes and threw back her head with a happy silvery laughter.

“I can see, thou didst likewise,” she snuggled him closer.

Suddenly Luna frowned and got slightly aback, carefully examining his face. Alex realized that she noticed the almost faded bruise in form of a hoof on his cheekbone; he sighed. ‘Three… Two… One…’

“What miserable soul from the forsaken depths of the Tartarus dared…” her eyes shone furiously, or maybe that was the glint of the hearth fire, anyway the steel notes of hers were the Royal Canterlot Voice precursors. “I shall rip ‘t to pieces and fill with endless nightmares!”

Alex ran his fingers through her mane, behind her soft ears, making Luna let out a quiet uncontrolled moan of pleasure, and covered her mouth with his lips.

“Mmmmfff…” started Luna, but soon relaxed and wrapped her fore legs around him; her gentle hooves travelled all over his shoulders and back, like looking for a fulcrum to bring him even closer. Alex released her, only when Luna calmed down completely, becoming soft and to be honest quite hot and fluttery in his hands.

“Still…” started she in inquiring tone, throwing a glance at him.

“There is no need to rip those souls, regardless of them being miserable or contrary to that,” chuckled Alex. “I suppose they have got their retribution for the act fully.”

He told Luna about the whole accident in the bar on Friday; she gritted her teeth at the description of the racist and aggressive outburst of two builders, with new hot sparkles appearing in her beautiful eyes, but finally laughed at the image of both bullies getting their lesson the hard way.

“Ha-ha, I like the way it turned out!” she brought Alex’s head closer to her chest, laughing like a school filly.

“I still can’t understand, what got into their heads,” sincerely wondered Alex. “Big Mac said, they could think I’m taking the limited vacancies in Ponyville, but… I haven’t ever appeared at the building site…”

“In tis case they are getting their jobs out of control, if ‘t be true they still fear thy pressure.”

“Anyway, I regret nothing!” Alex removed a stray hair from her face and put his palm gently on her cheek. “It must be impossible, but you become even prettier, when enraged, truly adorable!” confessed Alex with another soft kiss.

“Doth that mean that thou art going to enrage me oft?” wondered Luna with a sly smile. “Simply for the show.”

“Only if it is totally safe, for me and others around. But I know a better method…” with these words Alex put his fingers on Luna’s wings margins.

It took only a faint move, like a butterfly wing touch, to start the marvelous transformation: Luna’s wings spread out; her luxurious mane formed a dark, silky, starry halo around her head, like blown up by some insensible wind; she bent her swan-like neck, glancing down at him with dilated glowing eyes.

“Thou! Thou art a tease…” almost moaned she, Luna’s mouth stayed slightly opened, as her breath suddenly became faster and voice deeper. “I tell thee, thou shalt avoid touching them like that, if ‘t be true thou art ready for the consequences not…”

“Okay, okay, not doing anything!” smirked Alex, removing his hands. “As I said, I knew a better way to reveal your divine look in full glory.”

Luna squeezed him, kissing, then put her head on his shoulder, breathing out loudly into Alex’s neck.

“I barely holding myself,” huffed she, her hoof unconsciously stroked his shoulder. “Thou should know better. I crave for a comparable revenge,” Luna let out a silvery laughter.

“Apologies, mine goddess,” Alex tenderly kissed her in her nose, then in her warm silky cheek, then started coveting her closed eyes with soft gentle kisses, feeling how his heart almost jumped out of his chest in its turn. “I tend to think ‘t was worth the risk forsooth!”

Luna gasped, throwing a quick surprised glance on him; she didn’t get used yet to be mirrored.

“Oh, I have forgotten almost,” she giggled quietly in a second. “Thither is the duty I can’t sabotage under any circumstances.”

“The Moonrise!” guessed Alex, when she released him and headed to the balcony. He followed the princess almost without any hesitation, this view was always worth overcoming his acrophobia a little. Nevertheless, he stopped right behind the door, not approaching the railing and watching, how Luna spread her wings and soared in the quickly darkening night sky.

Her horn glowed with the blue aura and the Moon appeared from behind the mountain, raising in the sky, obedient to the will of the Night Princess. Luna turned to face Alex and for a short moment her gracious figure with widely spread wings and flowing mane and tail appeared against the Moon, highlighted from behind with soft silver light.

‘Truly divine!’ with widely open eyes and heavily thumping heart Alex watched her, descending to the balcony. ‘Girls, what are you both doing to me?!’

“I can say that thou enjoy the view greatly, simply by looking into thy eyes,” chuckled Luna, floating in the air above the balcony; her mane formed an amazing flowing halo around her head again.

‘Just of the different colour,’ thought Alex involuntarily, his heart made a passionate jump. ‘Starry night instead of soft pink!’

“I thought about a small walk, Alex,” meanwhile suggested Luna, watching him freezing in awe obviously gave her much pleasure. “The night is so beautiful, tis a crime to spend it in four walls, in the earnest.”

“But…” Alex unfroze and glanced at her in surprise. “Where, my princess?”

“The garden is hardly less beautiful at night,” Luna gave him a cheerful smile. “Thou haven’t seen it yet, right?”

“The garden is a few galleries and stairwells from here, thousands of steps and nopony knows how many guards,” said Alex with a bewildered look. “I doubt it is a good idea, if they all see me here.”

Luna simply darted down from the balcony, instead of an answer, and when Alex was going to rush to the railing, forgetting about his fear of heights, she soared back to the same level.

“Thither is another way, thou knowest,” teasingly giggled the Night Goddess. “The garden is less guarded and… one doth need to walk far not.”

“Thou knowest, thou can do it,” Luna approached him, looking deep into his eyes. “Thou hath done and thou art capable of much more… Remember thy fight with the Seeker!”

She pressed her lips firmly to Alex’s, still floating in the air, and slowly backed up, not breaking the kiss. This way they almost reached the railing.

“It’s not so hard, right?” with another smile Luna fluttered higher and over the balcony railing.

Alex felt the fresh wind on his face and the tantalizing aroma of night flowers from the garden below; he gulped loudly.

“Okay… I know I can regret this,” he squinted. “What’s down below, Luna?”

“A gravel court,” Luna giggled. “No trees, no buildings, no rocks, if ‘t be true thou art asking about things alike!”

“It better be a haystack,” muttered Alex quite loudly, causing another silvery laugher from the princess. ‘Okay, I can do it. Merlin’s pants, I truly hope, I can… The mill with the Seeker wasn’t of a high-rise building height though!’

Alex straightened, concentrating on the task – moving himself in the air was considerably harder than controlling different objects or simply jumping higher, when he was sleepwalking. He raised in the air and reached over the railings. To be honest, his heart was beating somewhere above his throat, when Alex felt the cold wind whistling in his ears, while he descended fluently, straight as an arrow with arms outstretched slightly for balance. He would never confess that to Luna, but descending from this height was scary enough for the first time and, as Alex was going to admit, that hardly seemed to change anytime soon. Nevertheless, as the blissful relief, one of his feet met the ground and then another; he managed to keep balance, not falling or kneeling upon landing.

“Tis was wonderful, mine lief,” Luna landed next to him and covered his shoulders with her soft wing. “Believing, as I said, is the key to the mastery.”

‘I won’t tell you that I did it with eyes tightly shut this time!’, Alex breathed out noisily.

“Are you sure about the garden?” re-asked he, looking up to the balcony and shuddering inwardly at the height. “Because last time I tried to take a walk “around the castle” on my own, Tia didn’t take it well.”

“Mayhap it was, because thou sneaked into her room and took a few flowers,” giggled Luna.

“I deny anything!” Alex made an innocent face. “Besides she doesn’t snore and looks quite elegant while sleeping… Not as divine as you, of course,” he added with a smile, Luna wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue to him in a totally non-princess-like manner. “But she has nothing to worry about…”

“I wonder, if ‘t be true thy cheeky deeds bring thee more adventures, than thou expect.”

“You probably won’t believe, but my life before was routinely boring most of the time,” Alex followed Luna on the gravel path to the green hedge, which contours became clearer in the darkness with each step they made towards the garden.

“Hmmm, what else we are to witness, at which time thy… inner Alex compensates the bore?” chuckled Luna.

They reached the arched entrance to the garden and Alex could have a look at it with his own eyes. It wasn’t some banal labyrinth of green hedges, geometrically correct, molested shrubs and boring squares with fountains and benches. To Alex’s surprise and delight, it was more of a park; the garden looked as close to wild and natural as it was possible, while still keeping it well-groomed and beautiful. The strict plan and caring hoof were present everywhere, yet the trees and shrubs looked like randomly grown, where they “wanted”; flowers formed small meadows, rather than deliberate flower-beds; and benches, fountains and statues, where they were visible, didn’t spoil the whole naturalness. Alex breathed deeply, the aroma of night flowers mixed with lovely lavender of his princess, he could hear distant nightingales deeper in the garden and some other night birds, he didn’t know. A late squirrel whisked in the tree top, rustling the leaves. Alex alternated from smiling Luna to the magical image of the moonlit garden and felt, how his heart was filling with inexplicable happiness.

“Come hither, tis not a problem if ‘t be true thou art with me,” Luna approached him, seeing that Alex was still hesitating; she pressed her nose against his and looked into his eyes. “I shan’t enjoy mine walk as much without thee, mindst that.”

Alex put his both palms on her silky cheeks and gently kissed Luna instead of an answer. She squeaked from surprise and quickly pulled him closer, so the gentle kiss switched to the rather passionate one. Alex felt, his head was ready to start “floating”, while Luna’s hooves wrapped around him and her fragrant hair surrounded them in a soft cloud of living silk, when a quiet metal clank attracted their attention.

Not breaking the mutual embrace Alex and Luna turned to see a frozen on spot and totally bewildered guard. Alex stifled a snort, readying to break out at the hilarious expression of the unicorn, and Luna quickly told the latter with her widened glaring eyes that he was dismissed and could attend to his duties… somewhere else. The guard “picked up his jaw” and vanished almost magically.

“Well… ahem… this one shan’t tell anything,” she turned back to Alex with sly sparkles in her beautiful blue eyes. “Tia doth need to know everything right away not. Shall we go, Alex?” Luna led him somewhere deeper in the garden. “I want to show thee something.”

“Because you spotted him, Luna,” huffed Alex. “Others, whom we might notice not, will surely discuss… But know what? I don’t care…” he stopped her and squeezed tighter, continuing interrupted pleasure.

“By the way,” noticed Alex, when they took a break for some air. “Tia definitely knows or at least suspects something already…”

“She said that she will tell you about our today’s… experiment, when I was only about to suggest something alike,” explained he, as Luna stared surprisingly at him.

Alex briefly told her about the victim of the Seekers’ evil magic, about their with Celestia decision that it could be connected to his story indirectly, about their appointment earlier that day and about the rage attack, the unicorn entered upon seeing the drafts of the Seekers. He already described what happened next and Fluttershy’s sudden act, resulting in partial recovery of the victim, and was telling Luna, how Celestia decided to tell Fluttershy the significant part of the information, as she could be very important in confronting them.

“…and when we were going to leave, I decided to relay you a message, my princess,” Alex rubbed his forehead, realizing that it wasn’t the smartest act perhaps. “But reconsidered. Yet Tia guessed what I was going to say in a wink and suggested the same herself. Needless to say, I was dumbfounded instantly. She was going to tell you everything in the upcoming morning, I suppose.”

“I mean,” Alex pleadingly looked in Luna’s eyes. “Show her a bit of surprise at least, when she does, please. Like if you haven’t heard everything from me already.”

“Fine, mine lief, I shall cover thee. Methinks ‘t shalt be an entertaining talk,” Luna’s eyes laughed, while she dragged him further, until they reached a small pond.

“’t seems we arrived too early,” she observed the water surface, expecting something and not finding it yet. Luna threw a quick look at the sky. “The Moon is not high enough yet…”

“But what…” Alex watched the pond surface fixedly, then turned to Luna. “…we are supposed to see there.”

“Patience, mine lief,” Luna hugged him, wrapping in her wings. “Tis a surprise!”

“Okay, like you say, my princess,” Alex put his head on her shoulder, stroking her silky dark coat and inhaling the lavender aroma.

“Hey, why don’t we use the time, you insist to spend waiting, for our practice,” he looked up in Luna’s eyes teasingly. “Or you feel completely confident in dancing already.”

“Art thou joking?” huffed Luna, but her eyes shone with anticipation. “Standing on two legs is not mine common practice, let alone acting alike. I’m all for yet another lesson… with thee,” added she meaningfully.

“Shall we waste our precious time not henceforth?” Alex raised one eyebrow.

After a few passes Alex was to admit Luna’s considerable progress at “human dancing”. She felt far more confident that night, raising on her hind legs and handing him one fore hoof, while another was firmly placed on Alex’s shoulder. Alex accepted her accurate hoof like some precious jewellery and held it gently, leading the princess in their dance, trying to ignore the silky softness under his another hand on her waist, not to lose the rhythm… and his head completely. He noticed that they didn’t need any counting already, perfectly feeling the pace and each other; moreover, Luna didn’t need as much Alex’s support, as when they started only, moving on two legs much better, than their first time.

“I’ve practiced a lot lately,” confessed Luna with a slight pink tint on her cheeks, Alex never got tired to admire and be amazed by the prettiness of that simple manifestation on her face. “Surely dancing without a partner is a totally different story. I broke a vase,” her nose became pink as well, but she managed to keep the balance despite embarrassment.

“Are you sure, we can pull this out at the Gala?” Alex looked deeply in the blue lakes of her eyes. “Moreover, that you can cope with it in your dress… because it’s going to be different, perhaps considerably different.”

His words weren’t groundless, tango was noticeably harder for ponies, even for alicorns, to succeed at. Alex explained and showed Luna everything, but was to take out a couple of non vital, but very advantageous to his opinion, elements – they were hardly doable for a pony, even on two legs. Besides, Luna was larger and a bit heavier than him; Alex was to look up constantly to keep eye contact, otherwise, his eyes enjoyed not higher than the silky coat on Luna’s chest. Judging by Luna’s regretful look, she would be glad to keep and employ the mentioned elements, perhaps even more eagerly than Alex. Nevertheless, the progress was obvious, she didn’t stomp on his feet a single time that night and generally became more fluent and natural in her movements.

“Tis mine idea,” Luna cocked her head, returning Alex his glance. “And I shall do mine finest to succeed. With thy dear help, of course.”

Alex didn’t ask about the music this time, Luna ensured him that she was keeping that aspect under her personal control, the very tight one. The glare in her eyes told Alex that poor orchestra would rather learn any human dance in a couple of days, or even nights, than fail afore of the princess.

More passes made them breathe heavier finally, maybe because of Luna’s constant laughing at her remaining clumsiness; for Alex that laughter was better than any accompanying music though. Thus they decided to take a break and have some rest, the nearby low bench looked suitable enough, but Alex lowered himself right on the grass at the pond bank and Luna followed him, seating herself behind.

“It seemeth, it’s the right time, Alex,” whispered she in his ear, wrapping him in her warm wings and placing her head atop of his, as usual. “Lookest thither, mine lief!”

Alex wanted to say something and suddenly stopped, looking at the pond: surely the water mirror was beautiful itself in its green lush frame, its calmness; the moon track shone across the water, the nearby trees bowed their lower braid-like branches to the pond. But the reason for him freezing on spot was different: a few opalescent “diamonds” were there, right in the moonlight, among the large dark green leaves on the water surface. Each white flower with light golden middle almost tingled in the still air, seemingly emitting the visible glow. Large, bigger than his open palm, as he could evaluate, they seemed to be woven from the moonlight itself. Alex couldn’t care less, if he looked stupid, staring at them, he literally gasped.

“These are the Canterlot Water Lily,” Luna was quite amused by his reaction and to be honest pleased much as well. “The… younger sister of the Star Lily.”

‘How must the Star Lilies look, if those are “younger sister” only,’ Alex kept staring at the amazing flowers, which attracted a few large moths already.

“They produce almost no aroma and are smaller than Star Lilies, which are about the size of thy head. The Star Lilies are pristine white, very beautiful and rare,” Luna ruffled his hair with her nose. “I remember only one place, whither they grow – the pond in the Old Castle garden… If ‘t be true this pond still existeth…” added she with a faint shadow of sadness in her voice. “’t was seemingly aeons ere, at which time I was a filly.”

‘There is nothing impossible to overcome on the way,’ flew in Alex’s head, while Luna told him about the beauty of her favourite flowers. ‘I could easily get there and back in a couple of days… if not that suspension bridge over the canyon. It brought the creeps, when it was unbroken, now it is a complete nightmare!’

“If they are still there, mine princess, I’ll bring them to thee, somehow. I don’t know how yet… But I shall do it, in the earnest,” Alex leaned on Luna’s shoulder, running his fingers up her neck, cheek and diving into her amazing starry-night mane, stroking it and making Luna almost purr, eyes closed, while she was kissing his face, searching for his lips and finally sharing her breath with her human adorer.

*

The cinema attendant in uniform showed them their seats, so, Alex and Fluttershy could nest with comfort without too many strangers making a noisy herd around. There was one particular reason, why Alex insisted on taking their seats slightly beforehand – there were still enough ponies to eagerly stare at him, while they came to the cinema. Even more that evening, as he was with Fluttershy, thus both gaining double attention. Now though they could quietly take their seats right in the middle of the auditorium, after the wide walkway; thus Alex didn’t need to strain his legs much, trying to fit between the rows, still they could see and hear everything perfectly, while being not too close to the screen.

The auditorium was slowly getting filled with ponies, as it was a bit early and some preferred to have a chatter with kith in the hallway or spend some time in the cinema café. Sitting on their places Alex and Fluttershy were not catching too much sight and Alex thought once again that it was a nice idea, as walking in, when the auditorium was full, would be comparable with some red carpet stroll, which he was happy to avoid.

Alex noticed Applejack and Big Mac a couple of rows higher and accurately waved, getting two smiles and a hoof wave in return; Apple Bloom must have stayed with Granny Smith (perhaps with her club mates) as the movie had scenes not suitable for fillies.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were here as well, but Pinkie, as Alex assumed, stayed home with baby Cakes, letting their parents have a break. Somehow Alex was sure that Pinkie could have much fun anyway, with her character babysitting wasn’t a big problem.

Three familiar manes passed his view, making their course through the fifth row; Alex wasn’t sure that watching a movie on a big screen from that close was better, but Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow could have their own reasons. Twilight spotted them with Fluttershy and nudged both her friends, then waved them enthusiastically.

“Hi, pals!” Twilight winked. “Decided to compare, Alex, eh?”

Alex nodded with a smile, he understood what Twilight was talking about: sticking to his noosphere hypothesis, there must be certain similarities between movie superheroes of his home world and Equestria.

Rarity squeezed a small smile, she was still pouting for the morning; Alex naturally didn’t understand how they could do otherwise. Then she started “questioning” Twilight about the comparison, Twilight mentioned, and Alex stifled a laugh: curiosity followed generosity very closely.

Rainbow Dash simply huffed meaningfully and turned away to the screen, taking her seat and not paying much attention to the reproving glance of Twilight. Alex inwardly chuckled, he would be surprised, if something had been going differently in her case, but he preferred to address his memories instead…

The morning! The morning started from Fluttershy waking up and facing a large, no, a huge, no… an enormous bunch of fragrant field flowers at the footrest of their bed. She trotted downstairs with starry eyes and hung on Alex’s neck; he was to wipe flower pollen from her nose before kissing and offering her some coffee, thinking with a smile that gathering them all at midnight was one hell of a work, yet it was entirely worth the result.

After the breakfast Alex could find out what Fluttershy chose as the ideal date program, first they went to the lake. Both were light on their feet and hooves, so, in less than half an hour they could swim, sunbathe and generally horse around, enjoying the weather and themselves.

Laying on the sand and holding Fluttershy’s hoof Alex noticed Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow, who seemed to make a similar decision regarding their Sunday morning. Thankfully they were on the opposite bank of the lake, as Alex, having nothing against Twilight’s company, couldn’t take much of both two other mares at once. Rarity already noticed them and waved Alex and Fluttershy, inviting to join their company; Alex was sure that if it was a swimming pool, not a fairly deep lake, Rarity would easily swim to them, so excited she looked. Alex in his turn thought that swimming and sunbathing in Rarity’s proximity wasn’t the best idea, considering her unrealized desires.

Rarity told two other girls, but Rainbow seemed to notice them with Fluttershy on her own, as she cocked her head in disapproval already. Alex was still thankful for no attempts to make a local rain over him, obviously affecting Fluttershy. He pretended that he noticed nopony and he was sure that Twilight exactly held Rarity back from making any further plans.

Alex realized that Fluttershy noticed the girls as well, but she didn’t show it, preferring to wrap around his body in the water, in tranquil solitude of their distant small beach, to some larger company. Three other girls didn’t interfere, but that couldn’t prevent them from seeing Alex and Fluttershy spending time together and enjoying each other; thus Rarity’s pouting was easily explicable.

When the Sun became too hot, Alex and Fluttershy headed to Ponyville and had a lunch in a small café. Alex told something funny, making Fluttershy giggle like a school filly; she tried to attract not too much attention, yet failed each time at the most hilarious moments.

Later they took a walk at the edge of Everfree and Alex realized that it was a completely different story, to walk in that forest with a beloved somepony, instead of doing it alone. He was to admit, this idea of a date fitted his own taste quite well. Watching Fluttershy, walking between the flowers, listening to her melodic voice, telling about different animals and birds, made Alex’s heart happy and serene, almost singing. He was amazed, each time like the first one, how seemingly wild critters trusted his marefriend and approached them without any fear. For the first time in his life, Alex saw, how a bird perched on his outstretched hand and… sang! That was easily explicable – Fluttershy, the epitome of divine kindness in the crown of her amazing hair, shining in the sun, was near, smiling and nodding in approval, whispering something in Alex’s ear and kissing his neck. Alex didn’t hear, what she said at that moment, all he could hear, was the thumping of his own heart…

The third ring interrupted Alex’s musing, but before the lights slowly went down, an attendant (not the same, which followed them to their seats) trotted to the stage in front of the screen. The whole auditorium quieted down in a minute automatically and everypony looked at the stallion interestedly, as the pre-movie announcements were not common, unlike onscreen advertisements, thus might contain something really important.

“Fillies and gentlecolts!” the stallion raised his well-trained voice a bit to make sure, even the last rows can hear every word. “Good evening and welcome to our cinema. Before you all immerse into exciting adventures of our beloved Mare-Do-Well, I would like to make a short announcement.”

“We don’t usually issue any like that one,” continued he, hearing a few quiet, yet surprised voices. “Besides, each of you receives a copy via regular mail. However, this one was issued by her Regal Highness Princess Celestia herself, thus we suppose, it is of certain importance.”

Omitting the titles and usual in those cases foreword the message consisted of the following:

“The Department of Experimental Magic of the Royal Council warns: As the result of a few ongoing transportation magic tests the stray magical anomaly appearing is possible. For the attention of everypony: In the case of appearance of anxiety, unexplained fear, sad or painful memories, etc of the similar kind without any reasonable premises, please, leave the area of the aforementioned effects immediately and notify local authorities or/and the royal guards, if present! The anomaly may be accompanied by visual manifestations in form of shadowy horse-like creatures. Be aware, these creatures are dangerous, as well as approaching the epicentrum of the effects, and may cause serious mental damage to those, objected to their impact. Stay safe and attentive.”

“So, the egg-heads from the Council bucked it up again,” huffed in half voice a mid-aged stallion to the left. “As usual, we pay the taxes, they unleash some nasty trash after our flanks!”

His wife said something about it being not severely dangerous, as she didn’t notice increased guards presence, calming him down; but the foals should play near the house only, according to her next notice.

Alex heard several similar sentiments quietly voiced by nearby ponies. Rainbow Dash huffed something like “Huh, stray anomaly? Yeah, right!”

Only three knew what that announcement meant actually, Fluttershy took his hand and Alex noticed how Twilight’s shoulders strained, but she kept looking at the screen. One more knew about the ground events partially. Rarity couldn’t hold herself and turned back, throwing a concerned and caring glance at Alex.

A few muffled voices still discussed the announcement, when the lights went out and the screen lit, presenting short advertisements and movie trailers as usual before the main session. Alex and Fluttershy had nothing to discuss here, they already knew a lot more, than was said in the message; sharing a meaningful glance both decided that Celestia was cautious enough in her announcement not to inflict panic among her subjects. Alex tended to agree with her here, complete information and some inevitable panic as the result would certainly do more harm than good.

Alex slid down on his seat, as low as he could, almost laying in it, not to obstruct the view of those, who happened to seat right behind him. The pose wasn’t entirely uncomfortable, more likely unusual enough for watching a movie in the cinema, not on the couch at home. But it allowed Fluttershy to easily put her head on Alex’s shoulder and hoof on his chest, thus entirely compensating for even tiny inconveniences. Alex nuzzled her hair, inhaling the floral aroma and getting a quiet happy sigh from the girl, when he kissed her behind her ear.

From the first few minutes after the titles Alex realized that he knew the certain earth equivalent of that movie, that being not a turn down for him though, but rather making the whole thing more interesting. The similarities of the stories: masterful usage of the lasso and whip (but the epee), the masked hero, among others clearly told Alex, that was “equestrian Zorro” – the home version of which he knew and loved as a kid. That naturally made his impression of the movie even brighter.

The main character – Mare-Do-Well – saved the common ponies from the dangers, natural and not so much, helped the poor and unfortunate, but the main plot rolled on the rails of saving the locals from the oppression and exploitation by the infamous diamond dogs. Thus the action took place at the north-eastern border of Equestria and at times before sisters’ regime explained the toothy offenders the status quo once and forever, usage of “the iron hoof” included. Prior to that diamond dogs capturing the ponies and making them work in the mines was a quite frequent type of incident in that region. So, Mare-Do-Well did her best to fight that… perversity, this among other gests of the daring masked hero.

“I wonder what other… superheroes do you have in Equestria?” whispered Alex in Fluttershy’s ear during the less intense scene. “Do young fillies dream to become… errmmm… Supermare or Batmare and colts – Captain Equestria, or somepony else alike?”

“How would you know?!” softly chuckled Fluttershy. “Yes, we have Wonder Mare indeed, and Superfilly…”

“Wow!” that was the first which came to Alex’s mind at the realization of the solidity of his noosphere theory, similarities between worlds included. “We do have Wonder Woman, no joking. That’s among some others, whose names will definitely sound familiar to you, Shy.”

“So, does your Wonder Mare also dodges and reflects bullets, outruns time and so on?” Alex ruffled Fluttershy mane, making the flower aroma even stronger.

“Well, we don’t welcome firearms widely in Equestria,” squinted Fluttershy. “But generally – yes, like you say…” she snuggled tighter into him, a romantic scene was on the big screen right at that moment, so, they both decided to follow suit and shared a tender kiss.

“Hmm… That makes me think…” Alex chuckled after a few minutes of watching. “If Wonder Mare is a secret identity of our cheerful friend Pinkie Pie.”

“The ease both manage to defy the laws of physics sometimes,” explained Alex under the surprised glance of Fluttershy. “You won’t deny that some of her tricks make one think deeply, being hardly achievable without a… special special talent.”

After momentary thinking Fluttershy quietly snorted, obviously, that didn’t come into her mind under that perspective, but at the moment Alex said it…

Both quietly giggled at the idea, getting a stern quick glance over the shoulder from a mare on the row across the walkway. However, she could neither object their silent kissing, which followed, nor do anything with, even if it distracted her from the movie itself.

*

“So, you want to say that you have already seen this,” Fluttershy turned to Alex in continuation of their relaxed talk on the way home. They discussed the movies, including the one they saw, and stunning similarities between the heroes of Earth and Equestria.

“Not exactly “this”, but the whole plot was familiar and recognizable to me,” Alex looked into her smiling eyes. “That didn’t make it boring or tiny bit less enjoyable, in the earnest.”

He leaned and picked her up, making Fluttershy produce a surprised, yet excited squeak, as he held her tenderly, but strongly.

“Everything was awesome, the date, the movie… The evening is awesome!” said Alex, touching her nose with his own and noticing happy sparkles dancing in Fluttershy’s eyes. “And thou art awesome, mine love!”

Yet another surprise for this evening awaited them, when Alex and Fluttershy crossed the wooden bridge over the stream near Fluttershy’s cottage: a fairly large carriage was parked at the gate and a few delivery workers rested under the nearby tree, obviously waiting for the addressee to come. Alex and Fluttershy paced up, exchanging glances; Alex supposed, he knew what was in the carriage.

“Good evening, sir, miss!” a unicorn in delivery uniform saluted them, bringing the fore hoof to his cap. “Special delivery for you, sir. As I believe you must be Alex… the human.”

“Good evening, gentlecolts!” Alex waved to the whole company, Fluttershy slightly raised her hoof, totally puzzled by the event. Alex wasn’t sure, if it was the best time for that exactly delivery, as he had no idea how Fluttershy could take yet another… manifestation of involvement from Luna. “I extend mine hope, ye all didn’t wait for us for unforgivably long time.”

“Not very. Just about half an hour,” the stallion squinted with a smile. “I beg your pardon, but you speak too familiar, sir, to ignore that. The sender, I mean the princess insisted specifically that we waited for you as long as necessary, fairly supposing you can have your own affairs on Sunday evening.”

“Oh, fine then…” Alex blushed a bit under his smiling glance. “How much…”

“The delivery is pre-paid, sir, no worries. Where do you want us to put the crates?” the unicorn levitated a scroll and a bag forward. “There is a letter and… this as well.”

The unambiguously tinkling bag fell into Alex’s hands followed by the lavender fragrant scroll, when the unicorn added meaningfully.

“The princess specifically asked to not accept anything, if you try to return. I believe, she was sure that you could try to.”

“I’ll get inside and take care of the supper, if you don’t mind, Alex,” the true meaning of that quiet Fluttershy’s phrase was known to him only and Alex inwardly sighed. “Have a nice evening, gentlecolts!” she nodded to the rest of the company, heading to the front door.

“Just a minute, dear,” Alex caught her, handing her the bag and the letter. “Can I use the old shed on the backyard, Shy? We need to stack them somewhere,” he pointed to the carriage.

“Surely, you can,” dropped Fluttershy over her shoulder, the happy sparkles in her eyes noticeably faded, making Alex produce another sigh. “They can’t lay outside anyway, I suppose there is enough space in the shed, if you rearrange some stuff…”

It took quite some time to carry and place all the crates and parcels into the shed, despite the assistance of the delivery workers; but when they finished, Alex could have quick and fairly easy access to all the materials, yet there was even some free space left. Alex thanked the workers and wished them good luck; they were actually surprised – the addressee actively helping them with the heavy load was perhaps a rare case.

The bag and scroll lay on the table and Fluttershy was flitting around the kitchen, when Alex entered. He took the chair and tiredly placed himself on, leaning on the table. The money bag – and what else it could be, judging by the sound – was quite big and Alex inwardly squinted. Hasn’t he asked Luna not to worry and put him in an uneasy position?

“Omelette will be in a couple of minutes,” Fluttershy poured him a big cup of tea, placing a bowl with baked apples on the table. “Have you managed to squeeze everything in?”

Alex realized that she wasn’t that interested in the delivery or the crates, but needed to talk about something to hide her tension, looking for proper words to voice, what bothered her.

“Yup, perfectly,” muttered Alex, than brought Fluttershy closer, hugging her and making her sit on his lap. “Shy, please! What’s up?”

Fluttershy kept silence for a while.

“I guess, she is up,” finally squeezed she a small sad smile, nodding at the scroll. ‘And I’m down!’ wasn’t said, but was thought “loud” enough to be heard by Alex. “Up, high enough to provide invaluable help and take part in the building of your future like that. There is nothing to complain about here, right?”

‘And I’m not naming other aspects, still fearing them to come true, if not being true already,’ inwardly shuddered Fluttershy.

“Come on, Shy,” Alex wrapped his hands around her slender warm frame, kissing her above the eyebrow. “Nopony is… questioning your presence in my life, let alone your contribution in the mere fact, I still have any life. But… I was nobody here till about a couple of weeks ago. Frankly speaking not very far from that yet.”

“I didn’t want to be somepony’s burden since the first day, you know,” he gently stroke her shoulders, trying to soothe Fluttershy’s tension. “But it appeared next to impossible without some initial help – the favour, I still hope to return fully as soon as possible. Whom could I ask for that, if not the princesses? And it was endlessly generous of Luna to help, when I asked.”

‘Why not Celestia then? And you keep calling her Luna all the time…’ thought Fluttershy. “It seems, princess Luna is endlessly interested in your well being, Alex!” she raised one eyebrow, sporting a dry smile.

“I guess she is, thou art likewise, by the way,” Alex kissed Fluttershy behind the ear, feeling how she became softer at once. “But I’m here, not in Canterlot right now.”

“Shall we see, what she wrote?” said Alex more cheerful, than he actually felt, inwardly embracing himself and hoping for Luna’s prudence, while he opened the sealed scroll. Fluttershy leaned on his shoulder, she seemed to calm down and regret about being a bit harsh, while Alex started reading a fairly short letter.

“Dear Alex (just a common formality, yet it made Fluttershy strain a bit again),

I extend mine sincere hope, that moderate assistance, thou got (as we agreed), shalt support thy ambitious plan and bring its realization sooner. Thou deserve far more, than some loader’s “career”…”

“Hmm… You’ve started working after leaving Canterlot Castle,” Fluttershy nudged him lightly, but Alex felt, she was only partially joking at that moment.

“I believe, her sister told her everything, and I doubt, anything about my life here is a secret for princess Celestia,” Alex shrugged quite naturally.

“…therefore everything supplied with this letter, shall not be returned… At that moment at least. As for the bits, thou hath had undoubted urge to return… I shall demand back thrice than that, at which hour thou art capable to afford (Alex chuckled at that phrase). And I am deadly serious… or mayhap not that much.”

‘Oh, Luna! You’re such a filly sometimes!’ Alex imagined her expression, with which Luna was writing those lines, and his heart ached again – he loved, now he was sure, both equally.

“At this entirely enthusiastic note, I spread a good wish upon thee and thy uneasy endeavours.

Thine sincerely,

Princess Luna.”

Fluttershy meaningfully huffed at the signature, throwing a quick glance at Alex.

“Hey,” Alex was truly surprised to see the post scriptum. “There are a few words for you, Shy!”

“P.S.: My dearest Fluttershy, I’m endlessly grateful to thee for thy concern and care about Alex, the same glorious kindness thou hast shown once, at which hour thou hast been helping me at mine laborious path back to equestrian society. He could hardly fall into more caring hooves.”

‘Except mine…’ finished Alex the phrase for Luna, inwardly chuckling, yet praising the tact and neutrality of her written message. She knew that Fluttershy would be near Alex at the moment most likely… and she openly showed that knowledge of hers, yet only an entirely paranoid one could find anything “criminal” in that letter, which, to be honest, left Fluttershy rather puzzled, than annoyed by Luna’s motives. She was, no doubt, suspicious still, but masterly defused for the time being.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Why does everyone in the picture look bored?

[Alexshy]

8563530
I forgot to add Ronald McDonald to mine story, so did mine artist. Apologies!

If seriously: They are facing the apocalypse - nothing to smirk about.

[Alexshy]

8585615
Shan't be disappointed, mine friend, in the earnest

[Shadowblade019]

on your new cover it seems that you just gave a spoiler away that's if it's cannan in your story

[Alexshy]

8587399
Mayhap... But it's thither since previous version, so... Besides, at which hour we say something is done, we don't automatically reveal when, how, why (etc) it's done

[Alexshy]

8833295
Definitely yes. If 't be true thou filter the stories by length, thou shall find 2M words stories easily, mine friend
This one is still WIP, but naturally not the longest at the moment.