Super Stallion

by PioneerofImagination

Chapter 22 Bonds

"If I was a changeling queen with a grudge and whatever the right words are to describe Prank Master, where would I be?" Super Stallion asked himself. "They got to be around here somewhere, maybe Twilight has an idea."

***

"So no luck finding those 2?" Twilight asked.

"No I was hoping maybe you had an idea of where I can look for them or maybe you knew a spell that could help me."

"Sorry no," Twilight answered. "Though maybe you should take it easy, you were poisoned only yesterday."

"That reminds me I wanted to thank you for really helping me out with all that. Thanks a lot."

"Oh no problem," Twilight said as she gave a little wave with her hoof. "Honestly Discord deserves to be thanked just as much as me."

"Discord? What does he have to do with all this?"

"Well that time you talked to me before the rouges captured you and the princesses I tried to tell you that I think you were poisoned. I went to the Badlands to investigate and found a small dart. I quickly connected that with the "thing" that hit your neck so I took it home with me and found a form of poison. After you left Discord gave me a little bit of his chaos magic. Which I used to make the perfect antidote."

"So why exactly did he give you a sample of his magic again?"

"He wants me to become his student."

"Wow, just just wow," was all Super Stallion could say.

"Yeah. But it was thanks to that chaos magic that I was able to get the antidote ready. When I learned you were in danger I made a plan to simply cause a distraction and give it to you."

"You'd make a very good sidekick."

"Thanks, but for now I'm sticking with the books. So you don't have any idea on how to find those 2?"

"Well there's one other idea. It's kind of a stretch but it's worth looking into."

"Really what is it?"

"You didn't overhear that Dr. Arachnid is Sapphire's brother. Also his name is Ruby. Maybe she overheard one of the rogues mention a place they could run off and hide in if the plan didn't go so well."

“Kind of long shot, don’t you think? Also her brother?”

“I know, but it’s worth a shot. And yeah, it was shocking for all of us.”

***

"Sorry honey I didn't overhear anything like that."

"You're sure that you didn't hear anything useful?"

"Yes I'm sure. Also, while it's great to have a superhero for a friend if you keep flying into my dressing room, ponies might start to think that I'm super close to Equestria's superhero. You can just come see me as Squeaky Clean."

"What?" Suddenly a chill of sheer shock was sent down Super Stallion's spine at the mention of his real name. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh please just because I'm gorgeous doesn't mean I'm stupid. I gave Super Stallion 2 tickets to a concert of mine that was all but sold out and suddenly Princess Luna and Swift Sweep, 2 ponies I never met before somehow got in because 2 tickets were given to them by Squeaky Clean. Don't worry I haven't told anypony and I don't plan on telling anypony your secret is safe with me, I promise." Super Stallion breathed a sigh of relief.

"That is very good to know. I can't believe somepony figured out my secret for something as small as a gift to a friend." Super Stallion then rubbed the back of his head feeling rather embarrassed.

"Out of curiosity does anypony else know?"

"2."

"Oh good, we should try to keep it a small number. By the way if it's not too much I'd like to meet Squeaky Clean."

"Well, I guess that's okay." Super Stallion then removed the sphere, shocking Sapphire Shores.

"So that's how you turn into Super Stallion. I must say even without the super look you're still pretty handsome."

"Oh, thank you," Squeaky said, actually blushing a little.

"Oh by the way a while back you told me you had the hots for Princess Celestia does she know that too?"

"Now Sapphire, I think we've figured out enough secrets for today." Sapphire then chuckled a bit at Squeaky's comment.

"All right I suppose that's fair."

"Thanks Sapphire." Squeaky then quickly changed back into Super Stallion and flew off to see Princess Celestia for reasons romantic in nature.

***

As she was lying on her bed Princess Celestia was looking at a picture of Stone Wall when he first became the captain of her royal guard. "If you were still here would I have been taken down and captured? You'd probably be ashamed of me for getting captured so easily and in my own home twice over."

"Princess!" Squeaky called out as he knocked on the door of the royal chambers.

"Come in Squeaky." Squeaky entered the room then noticed that Squeaky was looking at her framed picture of Stone Wall and her. "You miss him too?"

"Yeah I do." Princess Celestia then grabbed Squeaky and pulled him on her bed and right beside her while hugging him a bit.

"I try to put on a strong face but I can't stop thinking about him or where he is or if he's okay."

"I'm sure he's okay, it is Stone Wall after all I mean nothing could ever take him down."

"I suppose you're right about that," Princess Celestia said after chuckling. "I've been working on making a search team to find him and I even asked Super Stallion to keep a look out for him. I just hope he comes back real soon."

"Yeah, so do I." The 2 ponies then got even closer together and started to cuddle as they continued to think about the pony that they missed.

"Do you think he'd be ashamed of me?" Squeaky became rather shocked at Princess Celestia's question but when she explained about her recent captures he understood.

"Oh I see. Well Stone Wall was always the more rescue first lecture later kind of stallion. Besides I don't think you should be too hard on yourself, even Super Stallion got captured." Squeaky had actually thought about what his old friend might say if he saw how he was captured as Super Stallion. "The way I see it, you can't change the past we, uh that is you will just have to learn from our, I mean your mistakes so you won't repeat them."

"I suppose you're right," Princess Celestia said, starting to feel a little better as she put the photo away.

“By the way, I always wondered, you adopted Stone Wall, didn't you?”

“Yes.”

“How exactly did that happen?

“Well, I was treating myself to the donut shop. It was a dark and stormy night, little did I know that my life was about to change forever.” Elsewhere in the castle Shining Armor was approaching his bride to eventually be.

"I'm not in the mood to talk Shining Armor," Cadance said.

"Then just listened," Shining Armor pleaded. "Look Twilight still doesn't want to talk to me, so I doubt I can convince her to be my best mare again. But maybe we can convince her together.

"Well...I guess if all 3 of us sat down and talked it could work. But I don't know."

"How about we talk it over at our favorite restaurant?" Shining Armor asked as he playfully elbowed Princess Cadance.

"Alright," Cadance said with a smile. "I'm sure if we work together we can figure out a plan."

***

Chrysalis and Prank Master who managed to sneak into Canterlot and were keeping an eye out for anypony that might blow their cover. Or rather Chrysalis was, Prank Master was doing front flips. "Are you trying to get us spotted?!" Chrysalis asked who took the form of a unicorn with a light green coat & a brown mane.

"What, I have trouble doing back flips?"

"Just stop acting like a nut long enough for us to get in, grab the stuff, and get out. Are we close?"

"Yeah it's just like an opportunity," Prank Master answered and who stopped doing flips.

"What?"

"It's right around the corner." Prank Master then entered a store. Chrysalis decided to stay outside as a sort of look out. After a minute Prank Master came out and the 2 rouges made their way out of Canterlot with hardly any pony the wiser.

"All right we made it but let's wait until we get a little further away."

"Okay with me I've been meaning to exercise more, a lot more actually I've found I have trouble saying no to sweets." Before long the 2 made their way into the wilderness and Chrysalis took her true form ready to get the plan in motion.

"All right, let's get to work, what did you get exactly?"

"Well I mostly bought protein bars. These come in chocolate flavor but it's healthy. Can you believe that? Healthy chocolate, what will they think of next?"

"How is that going to help us exactly?"

"Well I told you I have a problem with sweets and I figured these could be more than a great substitute. But you already have a good figure."

"No you brain fried pony! How will those help me with my revenge?"

"Revenge? We don't need any of these for your plan." Chrysalis in a near blind rage picked up Prank Master and started to choke her.

"You mean we sneaked into the capital of enemy territory just so you could get something to eat!" Chrysalis then threw Prank Master on the ground who took long breaths as she got herself back up.

"Well excuse me if I get a craving for chocolate once in a while." Prank Master then got out a staff and used it to shoot out her rubber glue that covered her horn. "That'll learn ya."

Chrysalis tried to use her magic to remove the rubber glue but could not. “What’s going on? Why won’t it come off?”

“Oh so I didn’t need the collar,” Prank Master said.

“What?”

“Well, when I captured Princess Celestia with the rubber glue, I wasn’t sure if it would cancel out her magic so I used the collar. I made the rubber glue from the sample of this blob I once met that could also cancel out magic. What was his name again? The Booze? The Gooze? The Splooge?”

How can this pony be so intelligent and so stupid at the same time?

"Did you get all that?" Prank Master asked.

"Yes I did, so can you take me back into the past now?"

"Not yet I need to go back to Canterlot."

"You're not getting more chocolate protein bars!"

"No, I need something from the library. But can we get some chocolate protein bars along the way?"

"No!"

***

“After that I said he could stay at the castle and wait for his sister to show up. In no time at all I came to love him as my own son and the rest as they say is history.”

“Wow, that was a good story. Rather short, but still fun and emotional.”

“Yes, well you should probably get back to your cleaning.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right, but first.” Squeaky kissed Celestia then got back to his job. After a while he came across Shining Armor who was training several other royal guards. "Good morning Captain Armor, how are you?" Squeaky said.

"Good morning, I just helped these guards finish a pretty intense workout."
"Well it was nothing we couldn't handle," a light brown colored stallion guard said who wasn't even out of breath.

"Yeah, Stone Wall pushed us much harder," a female guard said.

"That was because he made us train and work out until we blacked out. We need to focus more on our job and less on getting stronger," Shining Armor said as he turned to the female guard.

"Well I don't know, you all seemed to do a good job balancing training with your jobs."

"I agree with Squeaky, maybe we should train some more. I wouldn't mind," the third guard said, who was a white coated stallion.

"What you're all gonna take the janitor's point of view." Shining Armor said as he turned his head to Squeaky. "What exactly would you know about balancing your job with training yourself to protect Equestria when you needed to?"

"More than you might think," Squeaky replied and Shining Armor started to get annoyed.

"Oh is that it? Or are you just saying that because Stone Wall was your best friend? Face it Squeaky he pushed us too hard."

"Well maybe he had a good reason for that," Squeaky replied, starting to get mad. "I don't want to argue with you, Shining Armor but I would appreciate it if you would stop being hard on my old friend and your old captain. Well actually our old captain but you know what I mean."

"You do seem a little too quick to criticize him quite a bit, Captain Armor," the female guard said.

"Oh like he never criticized us," Shining Armor said to the guards.

"Well maybe you should try seeing things from Stone Wall’s point of view," Squeaky said once again getting upset at Shining Armor for talking bad about his childhood friend.

"His point of view? What point of view was that? The view that didn't have to work out like crazy day in day out?!"

"All right that does it!" Squeaky almost shouted getting the attention of the guards and especially Shining Armor. "I wasn't going to say this because Stone Wall told me not to but you need something to help me get through that thick head of yours! Before Stone Wall took…a leap of absence I had a conversation with him during my break."

***

"All right, listen up!" Stone Wall said to a rather large group of guards. "Recently it's come to my attention that the large bullseyes we've been using for spear throwing practice have been falling apart. So I've taken the liberty of getting new bullseyes and I've been told that these new bullseyes are much more durable."

"All right thanks captain," one of the guards said. And then several other guards thanked Stone Wall as Squeaky came out to rest in the open.

"I'm not finished," Stone Wall continued in a tone that wasn't assertive but got the attention of the guards. "I need somepony to test out the new bullseyes so we can make sure they’re more durable. So who wants to test out 1 of the new bullseye?" None of the guards answered Stone Wall to his annoyance. "Oh so that's how it's going to be huh? All right, fine here's what we'e gonna do, the next one of you that says something stupid has to do it."

"Um, how stupid does it have to be captain?"

"Congratulations Shining Armor you just signed up!" Shining Armor then smacked himself on the head while a couple of the guards around him laughed.

"Me and my big fat mouth."

"Shining Armor come with me and the rest of you get back to your usual duties." The other guards ran off while Stone Wall walked over to an open grass area using magic to carry a bullseye while Shining Armor walked behind him with his head down. "Raise your head, royal guards walk with pride."

"Yes captain," Shining Armor said quickly following his captain's order. Squeaky Clean had sat on a bench and Stone Wall placed the bullseye not too far away.

"All right throw your spear and use magic to bring it back to you so you can throw it again. Do this about 100 times and if it doesn't break then we'll know it's more endurable."

"Couldn't I just blast it with my magic?"

"You could, I suppose, but then you couldn't train yourself to bring your spear to you with magic. It doesn't take much magic and in the right situation it can save your life."

"Okay, but do I have to do it 100 times? Can't it just be 50?" Stone Wall then hit Shining Armor on the head with his own spear.

"No, now get to work! Then maybe later I can teach you how to block. Honestly I might do that anyway. We need to make up for lost time, considering how many times you've shown up late to your shifts."

"My alarm clock broke and I haven't gotten a new one yet," Shining Armor said.

"Always with the excuses," Stone Wall said before making his way to the bench where Squeaky was.

"Hi Stone Wall, how's it going?"

"Oh you know the stress of being captain of the royal guard but it's nothing I can't handle."

"Would you like to share my sandwich? I'm not as hungry as I thought?"

"No thank you I still have work to do," Stone Wall answered as he sat next to Squeaky and got several papers out of his saddle bag. "Princess Celestia wanted me to take a look at these forms."

"Well since you're here there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"What?"

"Well it's just, you really push the guards to their limits, why are you so hard on them?" Hearing that Stone Wall place the papers down and gave Squeaky a blank but serious look.

"You want to know why? All right fine, I suppose it all started when I was a young colt in Canterlot. It was a little before I got my cutie mark Princess Celestia had me join a class that taught young colts how to fight and defend themselves. I wasn’t too fond of it but after." Stone Wall stopped to look around making sure nopony was listening. "Getting my cutie mark I pretty much used everything I learned in that class. At first I thought Princess Celestia was torturing me but she was actually helping me reach the potential she knew I had in me."

"Well that part I already knew."

"Yes, so you see that's why I'm always hard on the royal guards, to toughen them up. So that when things get tough they can all push back. I want to help them find the potential they have deep down like how Princess Celestia did for me. It's not easy to do that for so many ponies and some potential is deeper than others. But I think I'm proud of just about every single one of them, most of all Shining Armor."

"Really Shining Armor most of all?"

"Yeah he has powerful magical abilities just like his sister. I think when I retire he'd be the best candidate out of all the other royal guards to take my place as captain. If he ever stops acting like an arrogant brat." Just then Shining Armor threw his spear and not only hit the bullseye, but also used magic to pull it back and catch it. He even did an impressive spin attack with the spear.

"Wow I'm really getting the hang of this," Shining Armor said feeling a little excited. Stone Wall suddenly hit him in the shoulder.

"Don't you dare tell him that I said that," Stone Wall told his friend. "The guards don't need to learn about my soft side. I got a reputation after all."

"All right geez," Squeaky replied as he rubbed his shoulder a little. "You don't need to hit me."

"It was a little test. You need to sharpen your reflexes a bit just like a certain potential future replacement."

***

After hearing all that, the guards were stunned, especially Shining Armor. "Stone Wall really said that about us? About me?"
"Yeah he did," Squeaky answered, still upset at Shining Armor.

"So the reason I got my shot, that thing you whispered to Princess Celestia."

"Yeah, that’s what I told her. That's how you got your chance to become captain of the royal guard. Though from what I've seen lately maybe I should have kept it to myself."

"Well, maybe if he lightened up once in a while I would have seen his nicer side myself.

"Oh my gosh," Squeaky said frustrated. "You think you're so grown up, but you have a lot to learn." Squeaky then walked away and the guards were left in silence.

"I don't think Stone Wall would be proud of us right now, captain," the female guard said. Meanwhile elsewhere in the castle Prank Master and Chrysalis made their way into the castle without hardly being noticed.

"This had better be worth it!"

"Well you keep going on and on about how much this revenge thing means to you and doing this will get me the things that will help you get that said revenge, so this will most likely be worth it, Prank Master who was wearing a guard uniform Chrysalis managed to swipe for her. “Wow, that was a long sentence. I think I almost forgot to breathe, has that ever happened to you?"

"Focus!"

"All right all right fine but side note have you tried those protein bars I got? They are delicious."

"No, changelings only feed off the emotions of other creatures."

"Really that's it. What do emotions taste like?"

"I-I'm not sure because I don't have anything to compare it to." Prank Master then got out a protein bar and offered it to Chrysalis.

"Well now you do, go ahead give it a try."

"Will you take that 1 track mind or rather utterly random mind of yours off food."

"Well what about you? You invaded Canterlot trying to feed off the many forms of love within Equestria so you think about food a lot too don't you?" Chrysalis was stunned. "Come on, what we need is this way."

Unbelievable, outwitted by a nut ball. Not too far away Squeaky Clean was cleaning the floor covering for Swift Sweep a little understandably tired.

"Excuse me," Prank Master said. "Can you help us we're new here and we're also a little lost."

"Oh that makes sense this is a really big castle," Squeaky replied.

"I know right, why can't they just make us little maps so we can find our way around."

"That would be a really good idea actually."

"Oh thanks sometimes I just say what I think and more often than not there's a good idea in there somewhere." Chrysalis tapped her from the back. "Ah anyway, we're looking for the Star Swirl the Bearded wing. I left a book there. Do you know where it is?"

"Oh yes I do, it's just down that hall on your right you can't miss it."

"Chocolate sweetness thanks." Prank Master and Chrysalis then went off in the direction that Squeaky pointed to.

"Chocolate sweetness? What a completely random thing to say." Squeaky then got back to his cleaning but then suddenly stopped. "Random. Wait a minute didn't that new guard look a lot like…Prank Master!"

"Here it is!" Prank Master said as she found the Star Swirl the Bearded wing and managed to open the gate with nothing but a bobby pin. "And here is this, I had a feeling I'd find it here." Chrysalis then got a look at the book that Prank Master grabbed.

"The complete and unfinished spells of Clover the Clever?"

"Eeyup this is just what I needed to help you with your whole great revenge whatever."

"So was this all you needed?"

"Yes, all I needed. All I needed was this. Needed all was this."

"Do you think maybe you can not be utterly random for 5 minutes?"

"I don't know, I haven't tried since I got here."

"Well we're here let's go." Chrysalis then grabbed on to Prank Master and then the 2 suddenly disappeared.

Super Stallion flew into the wing just before they disappeared.

"No! I should have been faster! What would Stone Wall do? What would Twilight do? Wait Twilight, she might have an idea." Squeaky made a quick change into his alter ego Super Stallion and made it to the Ponyville Library as quick as a flash.

***

"And then they disappeared?" Twilight asked as Super Stallion finished explaining the story to Twilight.

"Yes, so is there anything I can do or we can do to find them?"

"I don't think so sorry, but we're just gonna have to wait until they strike again."

"Well what should I do in the meantime?"

"Well in the meantime you can listen to what I have to say," Discord as a disembodied voice said. As Super Stallion looked around for where he could pop up he nearly had a heart attack when Discord appeared right behind him.

"What are you trying to do give the superhero a super heart attack?" Super Stallion asked, taking several deep breaths.

"Maybe, but I wanted to show a couple things to Twilight."

"Me?" Twilight asked in confusion. "What?" Discord made a portal appear with the snap of his fingers and Twilight and Super Stallion saw Apple Bloom with Babs Seed.

"Babs why didn't ya tell me that y'all were being teased out the yin yang about being a blank flank?"

"I was just embarrassed I guess."

"Ya guess? I get teased by bullies too about being a blank flank but I don't take it out on other ponies."

"I know I was just so worried that I would get teased again that I started acting like one of the bullies so they wouldn't pick on me. I-I was scared, but that's no excuse. I'm sorry, Apple Bloom."

"Oh it's all right. I'm sorry I broke your nose."

"You did not break my nose," Babs said, getting a little defensive. "You just gave me a nosebleed."

"Well that still means ah got a mean left hook," Apple Bloom said putting her left hoof in the air and giving her cousin a look of sheer smugness which made Babs laugh out loud.

"Yeah," Babs said while still laughing a bit. "I guess it does. Listen I know we didn't get off on the right hoof, well we kinda did but I messed up. I'd still like to be a Cutie Mark Crusader like you and your friends."

"Sure thing Babs no problem but if y'all step outta line again." Apple Bloom then stuck her hoof out again and Babs playfully acted scared.

"Woah easy now put that thing down." The 2 apple cousins then started to laugh and Discord closed the portal.

"Something that happened a while back that I felt like sharing. These 2 little ponies had a little…quarrel, is that the right word? But now they make jokes about it, I don't get it."

"Well Discord sometimes things that aren't funny become funny later. I think that's where the phrase timing is everything comes from," Twilight said.

"Oh I think I get it." Discord then made an anvil fall on Super Stallion who struggled for a second to lift it off his head. "So will that be funny later too? Though honestly it's pretty funny now."

"You big jerk!" Super Stallion then threw the anvil that Discord dodged and the anvil broke through the wall. "Oh no!" Super Stallion then fell through the hole that the anvil made wanting to catch it before it broke something or somepony.

"So is that "hole" thing going to be funny now or later?"

Super Stallion managed to grab the anvil right before it landed on Granny Smith and laughed an embarrassed chuckle before placing the anvil beside her. "Here, have a free anvil." Super Stallion then made his way back to the library as Granny Smith looked at the quality of the anvil.

"Uh, how am I supposed to carry this?" Back at the library Super Stallion was ready to throw Discord out but stopped when he saw another portal showing Sapphire Shores visiting her brother in prison.

"You're just in time, this is something I found a bit more recently."

"I was surprised to hear that you came to see me of all ponies," Ruby said.

"I was worried you wouldn't even come," Sapphire said.

"What exactly do you want?"

"I want to tell you my side of the story."

"Excuse me?"

"You were right. We were close when we were young but once I got my cutie mark I was so focused on expanding my talent that I almost forgot about you. And when I heard the accident I wanted to visit you but I was already on the other side of the Equestria. By the time I got there you were already gone. I looked for you but I didn't see you again until you first filly napped me no matter how hard I tried."

"You, looked for me?"

"Of course I did, you're my brother. Despite the fact that I barely treated you like it. Ruby, I was jealous of you," Dr. Arachnid as well as the pony watching were shocked.

"You. Were jealous. Of me?" Dr. Arachnid asked, still in shock.

"Yeah you were always better at me when it came to grades and school. Plus when my music career got started it was stressful and I took it out on you. I'm sorry Ruby, I'm truly deeply sorry and I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me." For a while Dr. Arachnid didn't say anything.

"You actually want to try and be friends again even knowing I'll be in here for who knows how long for several pony nappings and that business at the castle."

"Actually I never pressed charges." Dr. Arachnid and the ponies watching were shocked once again.

"You, you didn't? Why not?"

"I treated you so badly you tried to ruin my career. Maybe we can call it even." Dr. Arachnid then placed his hoof on the glass and his sister did the same thing.

"Maybe there is a change for us to-" Suddenly the portal closed.

"Well it kind of goes a bit on from there but you get the point," Discord said.

"Did you want to show me this because it was a touching moment between 2 ponies that were once close but drifted apart and now have a chance to become close again?" Twilight asked.

"Actually seeing this for the first time made me think that you ponies are rather too forgiving for your own good. But I suppose I can't complain about that too bad it got me another chance after all."

"I think he may be on to something about over forgiving," Super Stallion said to Twilight. "I think I'll go see how the pony of pop is feeling."

"Actually before you go we kind of have a problem. Discord knows." Super Stallion didn't respond for a while as he didn't quite understand.

"He knows what?"

"I know what's under the metaphorical hood Squeaky Clean." Super Stallion's jaw nearly hit the ground. "Quite the shocked expression you got there. I wonder how shocked everypony would be if I made newspapers with your secret on the front cover all over Equestria."

"No! Discord you can't!" Twilight said. "Please, please you have to keep this a secret!"

"Oh really I have to?"

"Yes friends keep secrets."

"Ah yes, friendship. Something I still have trouble understanding. I suppose I can keep it to just myself if." Discord paused as he raised his eyebrows several times while leaning closer to Twilight.

"Okay okay. If you swear to keep his secret I'll keep testing out your chaos magic. I was thinking of testing it out anyway, for research purposes."

"Good until next time my to be a student very soon." Discord then pet Twilight a little and teleported away.

"And Super Stallion before I forget, maybe you should tell Princess Celestia about the book that was stolen."

"Right," Super Stallion said and left soon after that. Not too long after that there was a knock at Twilight's door and Twilight's friends were all there to her surprise.

"Hi Twilight, can we come in?" Applejack said.

"Um okay," the mane 5 then entered their friend's home. "I haven't seen any of you in a while."

"Yeah, we wanted to give y'all some space after you recovered," Applejack said. "After that adventure we talked things out and after giving you said space we all wanted to say sorry for...everything."

The others joined in on saying sorry.

"We also wanted to say thanks for stoping the changeling queen all on your own."

"You really gave that there changeling queen a mighty beatin Twi," Applejack said.

"Yeah I really did, didn't I?"

"Yeah you really came to our rescue, you deserve a party."

"You saved us darling, again."

"Well I didn't do it all alone. You 5 really had my back too. Not just with Chrysalis, but throughout the whole journey."

"It was short of the least we could do, we let you down at the almost wedding Twilight. We were super uncool, unawesome, and unradical."

"And we acted like big meanies."

Applejack then approached Twilight taking off her hat after Fluttershy's comment. "We really let you down but I hope you know that when you really really need us we'll always be there for you." That comment nearly made Twilight cry tears of joy.

"I forgive you." Twilight's friends then ran up and gave her a group hug.

"WHAT!" Suddenly Discord appeared after saying his comment.

"I thought you left," Twilight said.

"Doesn't mean I'm not watching over you. But more importantly, you forgive them? After the way they treated you?"

"The ponies that are closest to you can be the ones to hurt you the most. Forgiveness is a very important part of friendship. I realized that now."

"I see, clearly there's more to friendship than I thought."

***

The next day Squeaky told the princess about the stolen book then he got back to his cleaning and ran into Swift Sweep. He wanted to cover Squeaky's shift to return the favor now that he was feeling better. "Oh that's so nice of you Swift Sweep thank you but you don't need to do that."

"It's no problem I was brought here for an early shift anyway so we can help each other twice the cleaning in half the time.” The 2 janitors got to work cleaning but when Squeaky decided to do a super patrol on his break Swift Sweep came across Princess Cadance.

"Oh hello Swift Sweep, how are you?"

"I'm feeling better. What are you doing here?”

"Well I came here to visit my aunt, Princess Celestia to tell her how the Crystal Empire is doing but I also wanted to see Shining Armor real quick. He made reservations at a really fancy restaurant for the 2 of us but something came up and I'll have to cancel. I just wish I knew where he was right now so I can tell him."

"I could find him and tell him for you," Swift Sweep said, still in the mood to help other ponies.

"You would do that for me?"

"Sure it's no problem," Swift Sweep answered with a smile.

"Thank you, that is so nice. Knowing him, he'd probably wait around for me all night." Swift Sweep then flew around the castle looking for Shining Armor but also remembering to clean. After a while he finally came across Shining Armor who had his hooves full training a group of royal guards.

"Hey Shining Armor," Swift Sweep said as he approached Shining Armor.

"Hey," Shining Armor replied, trying to focus on training the guards. He couldn't forget what Squeaky told him the other day and decided to push the guards a little harder to make Stone Wall proud of him if he ever returned.

"Princess Cadance-"

"Look if you want to offer me advice I've had far too many ponies as is giving me their 2 bits about it. So I'd appreciate it if you just kept it to yourself," Shining Armor interrupted.

"But captain-"

"Look I get it some ponies think they're real love experts and great with advice but I've heard too much of it already," Shining Armor interrupted again starting to get mad.

"I just want to say that-"

"Look I know you're a little on the stupid side but can't you see I'm busy with something?"

“But-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! Do you have any idea how hard it is to do anything with you babbling like the idiot that you are? But if it'll shut you up just say it and let me get on with my life. Now what? What is so important?"

"..........Never mind.”