> Stallions of Harmony - Longest Night
>  by Jetto
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1. Punchstart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Awkwardness. A dreadful feeling. I'd rather go fight a pack of wild razor bears than this- thought Shining Armor, a new, lowest ranking royal guard. Better to get captured by... whatever wants to conquer Equestria this year, tortured and left to die alone, then be right here, right now. This place gave him the creeps. No, not the place. He had nothing against Cherry Shake’s place- it was a decent and comfortable, if small and not very popular cafe near university. Her namesakes, fresh cherry flavored hayshakes, were to die for. In fact the only thing that could make them better, is if she and Donut Joe were still working together and they could be served with sugar and sprinkles donuts. He still wondered why they broke up and separated their businesses, losing lots of potential clients to other venues and...

“Why the hell am I thinking about it right now?” 

He shook his head and sighed at his barely touched vanilla hayshake. He doesn't even like vanilla, why did he order this? Maybe he should’ve paid more attention when asked about his order, should’ve replied something else then “the same”. 

Twilight Sparkle, his little sister, loved vanilla and her cup was almost empty now that he looked at it. In fact, she was talking to him right now.

"...but then it turned out I just confused “magicite” with “magic light”, which really didn't make sense. Good thing Moondancer noticed that before we finished the report, otherwise we could be in trouble. Professor Silver Scroll doesn't like typos, I heard he rejected one students project because they wrote “teleportation” instead of “telekinesis”. Can you believe that?"

"Yeah... " answered Shining Armor passively, his eyes around his telekinetically moving straw, making circles in his shake.

"And then Moondancer asked several stallions around to join her for an orgy," continued Twilight

"..yeah."

"And then we all met up in a bar and had wild sex with anyone we could find, including a minotaur and two goats,"

"..yeah."

"I'm pregnant, and Celestia is the father."

"Ye...w-wait, WHAT?!"

The sudden realization made him spill his shake all over the table. Panicking, he tried to grab the cup with his hooves, which slipped out from his grasp and landed on the ground, shattering to pieces. A waitress looked at the damage and sighed at Shining Armor, as she walked away to get a mop.

"Uhm, I'm sorry, I...I’ll pay for it, I’m... sorry..."

Said Shining Armor, not moving from his seat, his ears drooped as he noticed his little sister looking at him. Awkwardness, my worst enemy, leave Twiley out of it! He tried to look away, but his eyes constantly took a peek at his sister, as she looked worriedly at him.

"Shiny, is something wrong?"

"What? No, nothing’s wrong. I'm perfectly fine, my job is awesome, enjoying an afternoon break with my little sister best friends forever, sun is shining, tomorrow is a Summer Sun Celebration, the coolest day ever next to Hearth’s Warming Eve and Nightmare night, the shake is good and... and... you’re not buying it?"

"Nope."

"You’re right, I hate vanilla."- as he said that, the waitress cleaning the mess around gave him a mean look, but said nothing.

"So... problems at work?"

"Kinda... Twily, you know I love you very much?"

"Shining!"

"As a sister! No weird hidden context, just a sister. Best sister. Pride of our family. Boy, I sure am proud of my little sister, talented magician and scholar, student of princess Celestia herself. Twilight Sparkle is truly the bestest pony in the entire world!"

"Shining..."

"Yes, student of Princess Celestia. Celestia, our great ruler, alicorn of sun and moon, immortal goddess, wisest and kindest of them all..."

"SHINING!"

For a brief moment the only thing that could be heard, aside from heart beats of a very nervous stallion, was echo that repeated his name several times. What few costumers and staff there were at this moment at Cherry Shakes place all turned their attention to their table, but quickly returned to their business, leaving only awkwardness of Shining Armor. He sighed deeply and lowered his gaze.

"Twilight, there is something I must tell you..." announced highly embarassed Shining Armor

Twilight gulped and looked at her brother. The last time he used these exact words were when he broke their parents old vase, heirloom which was passed around their mother's family line for seven generations, eventually going to either Twilight or Shining, whoever marries first. That problem was no more.

"You broke another vase?"

"Ye-I mean, no, not that. I mean, I didn’t break anything... I hope. It’s a long story." 

"Wanna tell me about it?" asked Twilight

"I guess I should. Promise you won’t freak out?"


Several hours ago, in Canterlot Castle living quarters, Prince Blueblood woke up with a terrible headache. Hangovers did not spare nobility. In fact, they were even more susceptible to them due to living in luxury not giving their frail, unicorn bodies a chance to build up a natural resistance to pain of everyday hardships, hard work or any sort of physical injuries other then paper cuts and sprained hoof from unfortunate accident during cricket match. Blueblood cursed his life every such morning. The pain of waking up after a party made him regret ever attending them, but won due to promise of noble mares old enough to “socialize”, but young enough to have fairly low standards and close to no personality of their own. He hated them. He also hated alcohol. And asparagus. Why is everypony so obsessed over those? At least asparagus he could get- they were healthy, good for lungs or whatever. And yet, why is it that he couldn’t say no? It’s like that every time- he tries to get back home, read a chapter of some book before sleep, but no! Some old “friend” would always catch him, invite (by which he means “force him via blackmailing and threats”) to a get together and forget he exists, using Blueblood as a chick bait. He couldn’t blame them for that though. Prince Blueblood was a popular pony in Canterlot. Young, handsome bachelor from a good family, voted by mares to be nr 1 stallion in Equestria many times (mostly due to previous champion, Fancy Pants, exceeding age limit for said contest). One day, Prince thought, one day I will tell them to buck off and leave me alone. That would be the best day.

He finally decided to leave these thoughts aside and get up, slowly while massaging his forehead. Stupid Scarlett Wine. By which he meant Scarlett Wine, daughter of Lime Wine, one of the richest businessman around, owner of the biggest vineyard in Equestria. Stupid wine, stupid Wine and stupid Wine, he thought, barely making his thoughts coherent. After a quick, cold shower and one box of good old hangover cure (some called it “carrot juice”), he was finally ready to step out of his quarters, where a maid waited with his schedule. He couldn’t for the love of himself remember her name, mostly because she was an older, married mare, the one type to not squeal at the sight of a handsome Prince (that actually happened more often than you think). According to her, his plan for today was, in that order: breakfast (sounds important), talk to his grandfather about family business (rejected, tell him I have better things to do), meet up with Jet Set (rejected, tell him I have filly pox; again?; yes!), consultations with his sewer (sewer?; that’s what you told me yesterday, sir; I meant someone to sew me a suit, a clothier), meet up with Princess Celestia (wonder what she wants from me), dinner and unexpected invitation from a FIHNIWAFOM to a party (what is that, sir?; friend I had no idea was a friend of mine; excuse me?; in other words, anypony who lives in Canterlot). 
Today was yet another one of those days. Another normal day.

The day went as was planned, for the most part. He had to share dining room with his brothers and grandfather, but thankfully all their involvement in his life today was just being there, not saying a word or doing anything other than “sitting and eating quietly”. He quickly avoided his grandfather before he spoke anything about “you’re a bane to your family, your parents are rolling in their graves, give a better example to your little brothers” etc. Jet Set was not seen that day, for the best, and his sewer (CLOTHIER, DAMNIT BRAIN!) outdone himself with yet another glorious creation. One pony clearly not against him in this world, mostly because their relationship was pure and honest- you make me suit, I give you money. No subtext, no romance, just business. That said, he was a genius craftsman and his creations were part of what Prince didn’t hate about Canterlot. He was gladly trotting around the center streets, donning his new piece of white suit in plain view, gladly accepting any compliments on the way.


"S-SUSPENDED?!" shouted Twilight Sparkle, as she stood up and slammed her hooves at the table, almost spilling her own hayshake, just like her big brother did before today. He shushed Twilight and gently put her back to her chair.

"Y-yeah, I’m not on a break now." answered embarrasingly Shiny "Well, I am, only longer this time."

"B-but why? What did you do?" asked still shocked Twilight

"You remember I love you very much, right, sis?" asked Shining Armor, smiling innocently

"Shining..."

"Alright, alright. Well, it started a week ago..."

One week ago.
"Sir, Im afraid Im gonna have to write you a ticket." said Guard Shining Armor on his patrol, telekinetically writing a ticket in front of a very angry stallion.

"What? TICKET? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" screamed back angry earth pony

"A noisy pony. Now please calm down before I charge you with assaulting a guard on duty."

"That doesn’t sound wrong." admitted Twilight

"I gave him a ticket for littering the park. Then he started to get violent, so I cuffed him and drove to nearest police station."

"So what’s the problem?"

"He was a representative from Phillydelphia. He was scheduled to meet with Princess today for a very important meeting, but missed it due to being, well, in jail. I’m lucky he didn’t sue me."

"Ouch." admitted Twilight and patted her brother on shoulder "It’s not your fault Shiny, he had it coming. Important pony or not, he should have respected the law."

"I know, that’s what I told to Captain Blitz Shield. But, that’s not why I’m suspended. That was just the beginning..."

6 days ago, Royal Guard HQ

"SHINING AAARMOOR!!" shouted some very angry pegasus in red guard uniform, a Captain of Royal Guards himself, boss of any guard such as Shining, Blitz Shield. 

He was a very tall grey coated pegasus with short black hair and electric round shield as a cutie mark, altough the thing that caught your eye was the, well, lack of left eye, lost long ago and covered by a scary eyepatch. The history of this eye is something that spawned many myths and legends, among most frequent were “about ten angry fire breathing hydra’s with bat wings riding a skeleton clouds”. How is that a thing or how you lose an eye to that is anypony’s guess. 
That pony was currently Shining Armors problem.

"First the representative, which I can forgive because you never met the guy, but today you actually THREATENED Silk Thread with jail, for, excuse me, what exactly?"

"Ummm, she parked her... carriage at the... no parking spot?"

The rest of the dialogue included mostly growling, so let’s skip it.

5 days ago, same place
"SHINING ARMOR! What the HAY did you think you were DOING arresting the mayor!"

4 days ago
"SHINING ARMOR!!"

3 days ago
"SHINING ARMOR!!!"

2 days ago
"SHIIIINIIIIINGG ARRRMOOOOORRRRGHHHHGHGHGHGHG!!!!"

Yesterday, you get the drill.

"Talk about bad luck..." admitted Twilight, uneasily looking around the room, thinking of a way to cheer up her brother, somehow, someway. After all, he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary here. In fact, he was just doing his job properly. Just because he happened to catch important ponies breaking petty law didn’t mean he was bad. In fact, he was actually one of the best guards there was- finished the military school with highest grades, was stronger than most of his earth pony comrades and his shield spell had no equals, save for Celestia herself. Twilight was considered a magical prodigy and even with her mentor’s help, her shield was not even half as potent as Shining’s. There’s no way in hay they could just suspend him for doing his job.

"But what really nailed the coffin, happened just few hours ago..." continued Shining Armor, his tone weaker and weaker as he kept on going.

Prince Blueblood liked his suits. A lot. As much as he hated attention from some ponies that tried to get to close to him, he secretly enjoyed being in the spotlight. Those headlines in magazines made his hair look fabulous, his sparkly white smile all the more alluring and overall enjoyed when mares fainted around him. Yes, that only happened once and she had anemia, but it happened. A little bit of narcissism might seem like a bad thing to have, but he didn’t care what ponies thought. He had the right to be handsome just like birds had right to fly and Chocolate Cream Cake had the right to be delicious. Which reminded him, it was almost time for dinner, but before that, he had meeting with aunt Celestia. 

The long family line of Bluebloods was, as a matter of fact, NOT related by blood to Celestia. Several generations down the line a tragedy occurred. Some fire or flood or whatever, that wiped out almost all the family save for one pony, Ceasar Blueblood. Ceasar, being only a little colt, required a guardian and with nopony around to take that role, Princess Celestia adopted him as her own. It was shortly after dealing with Nightmare Moon, back when Celestia lost herself and abandoned ponykind for a short time. The tragedy took place mostly due to her absence, so she took the responsibility as a means to help her get in touch with those she abandoned. That said, hardly anypony remembers or even cares about those times and over generations, Bluebloods built themselves a reputation of “prime royal family” and it just kinda stuck, with all members being un-official nephews and nieces of sun goddess. And yet, she hardly interacted with any of them, aside from token attendance at the galas, important parties and ceremonies. Time passed and most Bluebloods never looked at Celestia more than “pony Im related to, so I'm important”. Even though they were not.

Prince, however, was not one of those ponies. Since the passing of his parents, his grandfather has become his legal guardian, but wasn’t doing a good job of it. Young Prince Blueblood was more attached to the giant winged unicorn he dubbed “auntie’tia”, much to everypony’s horror... and Celestia’s amusement. He became her favorite as a colt, whether it was because she felt sorry for his loss, or maybe he reminded her of Ceasar or because he showered her with more honest attention- it was a fact. She even took her time to “teach him magic”, which was more of an excuse to have some off time to go and play hide and seek. Over years, he grew up, auntie’tia became Aunt Celestia and their roads split, only occasionally ever meeting again. Not like she has any time for someone like me, thought Prince Blueblood. She has better things to do. 

The sudden train of thought was interrupted with a splash. Or by it, rather. Prince Blueblood liked his suit, very much so. What he hated the most (other than alcohol sometimes and family most of the times) were stains, mud and general dirtiness. And that’s exactly why all of those things had to get on his new suit. Soaking wet, confused and angrier by the second, he really didn’t care that the little filly scout didn’t mean to ride her scooter right through the only puddle on the road. She didn’t mean to destroy his new favorite suit with mud and she really tried to apologize and was feeling sorry. All Prince ever thought was about rage.

"You... YOU LITTLE BRAT! LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO MY NEW SUIT!!"

His screams were loud enough to wake up all the cats within a mile and break a glass in nearby cafe. Not with voice, but by startling a clerk, who dropped a glass full of juice on the floor. But Prince didn’t stop there, he got on and on, lashing any insult he knew about on the little bugger who DARED to destroy piece of art he covered himself with. Never mind that it was dirt cheap for him and making another would take hour or two, while a child’s psyche would be damaged forever. And it was starting to crack, as the little filly was starting to sob, barely making out the apologies from her bawling, until finally she was about to cry a literal river. But then, it happened.

"I woke up today, looked into the mirror and said to my reflection: Shining Armor, you will not screw up anything today. You will not arrest Fancy Pants for crossing the street on red light. You will NOT cuff anypony for missing trash can with tissue. Yes, YOU CAN DO IT!"

Twilight Sparkle felt like Shining Armor had problems, but waking up and talking to mirror was not one of them. And when that isn’t a problem, then what is? She was about to find out.

With new mindset, Shining Armor was determined to be as bad at his job as possible. Ignore ponies breaking law. Ignore littering, wrong turns, bad parking, speedy chariots and walking on red light. He was a new guard, the type that doesn’t lose his job and doesn’t get reprimanded by his Captain every day. He was going to be like everypony else. Blind to law. Chaotic. Lawless. Discordian. He could do it, it was within realms of possibility. For example, that colt who threw away empty pack of chips? Totally not noticing that little criminal. This pegasus stationed his chariot on a handicapped parking lot, despite being completely fine? Whatever, not like he hurts anypony. And that unicorn filly just dropped an ice-cream on the pavement. It’s ok, just a kid, can’t control her telekinesis properly, been there, done worse. Speaking of ice-cream, it was getting hotter every second. In fact, he was sweating like in a sauna. Princess sure outdone herself with the sun today and probably his uniform is too hot. Maybe he should write a petition to change their design for hot weather? After all, how can he do his job when somepony just tossed a glass on the street and didn’t bother to clean it up. It could hurt somepony not wearing a proper horseshoes, but that is ok, he won’t be fired today. We was on fire. Or rather, felt like on fire, why is it so hot around? Why are all those ponies walking around like it was a perfectly average day? Are they sick? Is this some kind of magical deodorant that controls body temperature that he didn’t heard about? Maybe I’ll ask Twily when I’m on a break, he thought. He looked at the nearest clock tower. Still three more hours of patrol and that kid just stuck a chewing gum on somepony’s carriage. Must stop him, but what if he’s some important colt? What if his parents write a complaint letter to his superiors. What if Blitz Shield gets demoted by Princess for his incompetence? No, he was gonna turn a blind eye on all and every law being broken, for the sake of his career. He promised Twiley he’ll aim to be a Captain of the Royal Guard, like he dreamed. He can’t do that if all week long ponies are complaining over every detail. Not like anything happens. Not like somepony is getting hurt. There are no crying scout fillies around, crying over some stuck up noble in soaking wet suit screaming at them at the top of their lungs and OH THAT’S ENOUGH! He rushed toward the white coated unicorn shouting at a filly. Once close enough, he took a long swing with a right hoof and, well...

"You did not just..." said Twilight, not believing her own tone

BAM!

"Oh my!" exclaimed some random bystander

The last thing that Prince Blueblood remembered, before shortly passing out, was a hoof coming close into contact with his snout. All his life flashed before his eyes- all the parties, his parents at Hearth’s Warming Eve, parties, Celestia with a workbook, parties, mares, parties and most of all, his suit soaked by muddy water. And then, in a flash, he was lying in a puddle he once dreaded so much, looking at the sky with blank stare, as his snout was slowly becoming warmer and warmer, his eyes getting more moist every second. A while later there were two ponies crying.

"SHINY!" screamed Twilight Sparkle

"I know, I know!" answered Shining Armor, covering his face out of shame

"No, you don't know, otherwise you... you punched some stallion in the face!"

"He made a little filly cry!" quickly replied Shining Armor, mostly out of desperation then conviction "That was a good reason enough for me."

"Well, hope you're proud of yourself, Mister ex-guard." asked Twilight, as she crossed her hooves, not approving this one bit

"Well, to be completely honest with you..." his eyes went back and forth as he tried to force himself to say something else.

"Wait, there's more?" asked Twilight, and he nodded and braced himself for quite possibly the worst part of today.

Two hours ago, at Royal Guard HQ. 
A guard punching somepony was rare, but happened. A guard giving some noble troubles, was uncommon but possible. But having both at the same time was... well, it never happened. At least not while Blitz Shield could remember. And he didn’t care to be honest. He wanted this to be the last time EVER and wanted to make sure everypony, all the guards available were there to witness the greatest scolding in history of ponykind. So they were all here- roughly three dozen guards, everypony he could gather on a short notice, standing in line while one of their own, a certain white coated, blue haired unicorn stood out there on display.

"Private Shining Armor. Do you have ANYTHING to say for yourself?"

"N-no sir."

"Oh really now? All week long... all week long I had to listen to complaints from, pretty much everypony. Most of that, was rubbish, not important. Stuck up nobles abusing their positions, nothing to fuss about. But this. Just... just why?"

"S-sir, I ... I just had to do... s-something..." Shining Armor tried to be coherent, but couldn’t think straight. Not with at least few dozen eyes watching him, mostly with pity. " ...he made a filly c-cry."

"Oh, he made a FILLY cry? That bastard!" said Captain sarcastically. He walked toward and knocked a few times on Shiny’s head "Do you have a brain there, soldier?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"NO YOU DON’T!"

Poor unicorn just lowered his face to the ground, fighting an urge to not cry as echoes repeated the statement. Real stallions do not cry.

"Do you ever THINK? What if it was his parent, or brother, and she cried because they didn’t buy her ice-cream? What if they were scolding her because she had bad grades, huh? Well?"

"N-no sir, it was diff-..."

"Just last week I grounded my filly daughter because she got into a fight over which doll has better mane. Are you gonna punch ME too?"

"N-no, sir."

Then there was a silence. Not the good kind of  “it ended” silence. Rather a “its gonna get a lot worse” type of silence. The awkward one, the ones he hated the most. Captain Blitz Shield was a very patient stallion, kinder than he looked and a lot more forgiving then his predecessors. It takes a lot to throw him off. A feat that none of his recruits managed to pull off yet. 

Shining Armor was one of a kind.

"Let me ask you this, soldier." said Blitz Shield, then paused for a moment to take a breath "If you were to ever, I don’t know, notice Princess Celestia, walking on the streets of Canterlot, casually like she does sometimes, and suddenly she, say, yelled at a filly scout for blocking her way. What would you do?"

"Sir, I..." Shining Armor was about to answer, but stopped his mouth. He was just told to start thinking, using his brain. That must be it, he thought, it was his last chance. What should he do?

"Well?"

"I... I would punch her in the face!"

Suddenly, Twilight Sparkle’s brain stopped. And did not restart for a long while.
> 2. Interresting day of Princess Celestia
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyday trials and tribulations of Princess Celestia were a things of legends. Few dared to ask questions about the kind of hardships an immortal alicorn of sun had to endure to ensure peace and safety to her subjects. Very few knew that it wasn’t all that hard at all, at least not anymore. Day starts, she hides the moon and lifts the sun with simple spell (by simple, we mean “it takes only about a century to learn and master”), then some paperwork which, contrary to some beliefs, wasn’t a mountain of trivial stuff, but rather a small folder with most important reports. The trivial stuff, such as “what kind of forks to use” or “should the statue be imbued with emeralds or topaz” was up to nobles themselves. Princess Celestia learned over years that controlling everything was not only bad because “it limits the freedom of speech and stuff”, but because she’d go bonkers if she kept up with it.
That, and she wouldn’t have time for what’s really important. 

Teaching new generation of unicorns the art of magic, for instance, was amongst her top priorities. She secretly regretted that earth ponies and pegasi magic was so innate, instinctive and easy to learn and teach, that she wasn’t needed in education process of two thirds of the population. She had nothing against unicorns, but last several centuries she hardly had any time or chance to meet anypony but unicorns. Rumors has it that she’s been favoring one tribe over another, which was of course a blatant lie. Most unicorns she knew were nobles, like her extended not official but still kinda sorta family and they were not necessarily the best company. And then there were the students of Academy for Young Gifted Unicorns. Said gifted unicorns were mostly nobles as well, but also talented fillies and colts from middle class families that were granted stipend to learn from the best. One such unicorn was now sitting alone in the classroom, uneasily looking over same book page for several minutes already. That worried Princess a little, as she rarely saw anything but enthusiasm over her work.

“Twilight, is something bothering you?” she asked gently, trying not to startle a purple mare. And failing, as Twilight gasped and shoved her book to the ground. She smiled apologetically and picked the book with magic, placing it back on the desk.

“N-no, everything’s fine, Princess Celestia. I was just, umm...” Twilight scratched the back of her head. Celestia sighed. So much time has passed since she became her student. Will she ever get over her anxiety? Hope dies last, they say.

“It’s quite alright, my dear student. If there is anything bothering you, don’t be afraid to talk about it.”

This was Twilight Sparkle in the nutshell- always worried about smallest things, like typos or non-perfect scores on her test. A perfectionist with little tolerance for her own mistakes, probably because she wants to impress her teacher and mentor way too much. Poor filly doesn’t realize that she’s doing more then she needs to, her zealous race for knowledge is in fact slowly burning her out, fatigue making her lose focus and closing her mind on so many possibilities. It’s a wonder she even has friends. Spike aside, how were Moondancer and Sunset Shimmer keeping up with her? 

“Umm, Princess, it’s nothing really,” she starter blushing more and more “just... can I ask you something? It's a little embarrassing...”

Oooh, little Twily has a crush? Finally, I swear that filly had her libido swapped with another brain. Now it seems like there might be a stallion she likes, probably one of the students. Or, what if it’s a teacher? The new conjuration teacher, Red Blast, was an eye candy, nice personality, smart, funny and barely older than his students. That can’t be good, but nothing that can’t be fixed with some serious talk. 

Or maybe it’s not a stallion, but a mare? Doesn’t matter, so long as she’s happy, so am I. Wait, don’t tell me... it’s me? Not again! Did I overuse the “dear student” too much? Was I showing too much affection, which is easily confused with romantic intentions? It doesn’t get easier no matter how often it happens.

“Could you please spare my brother and not banish him somewhere and throw him into a dungeon in a place where you banish him to?”

Pause. Ok. That was new.

“Did something happen to Shining Armor?” 

“Well, no, not really, he’s fine, just... he was suspended today.”

Celestia blinked. Suspended? THAT Shining Armor? Aspiring guard, pride of Blitz Shield, BBBFF? 

“Please explain from the beginning.”





“Punch her. In the face,” repeated Twilight Sparkle, right after 'that guy she talked with' just proposed the worst atrocity she could think of, save for eating roasted orphans. With mustard.

Shining Armor, on his part, could only do what he was doing all this day- whimper and scowl like a scum he has become in her eyes. 
Twilight Sparkle was a calm pony. Conflict was not something she sought, but something she avoided. Her solution was simple- get up from her chair, leave a few bits to cover for her vanilla shake, then slowly leave. 'That other pony' did the same and walked after deadly silent little sister. He thought before was awkward, now it was downright tense, in the worst way imaginable.

“Twilight?” asked Shining Armor, which made mare before him stop in her walk and slowly turn around, eying 'that guy' with hostility. He continued “Umm, don’t you want to, you know, know the rest?”

“No.”

“But, Twiley please...”

“DON’T YOU TWILEY ME!” the usually calm and collected unicorn mare exploded “Y-you... you monster! TRAITOR! I... I don’t even know you. Who are you, strange pony following me for no reason? Get away from me or I’ll call guards!”

“But I am a guard...” answered Shining Armor with little less conviction then ever.

“No. You are a scum! Assassin! A... an idiot!” lashed Twilight. For those less observant, Twilight Sparkle has not yet had the pleasure of reading “Insults and Swearing 101” by Sailing Seas. 

“Twilight, please, I’m your brother.”

“I HAVE NO BROTHER!” she screamed loud enough to alert everyone in Canterlot. Or at least, on this street. “I don’t know who you are stranger, stop stalking me. HELP, SOMEPONY, THERE IS A STALKHHHMPPPF!!”

Few ponies can talk with their mouths full of somepony’s hoof, and while miss Sparkle had many talents, that was not one of them.

“Will you PLEASE listen to me? Of all ponies, I hoped at least you would trust me.”

Twilight struggled for a moment, but finally calmed herself down just enough, to make Shining Armor un-strangle her without her calling for police. She fixed her mane and coughed.

“You have two minutes, mister.”

Shining Armor sighed with relief. He started with a question.
“Twiley, you know Princess Celestia better then anypony, right?”

There was no answer, as this question was about as obvious as color of the sky.

“Would Princess Celestia you know, EVER do something bad?”

“... No.” answered Twilight reluctantly 

“So, if she would, for some inexplicable reason, do something wrong, like hit somepony without reason, or abuse her power...” 

“Princess would never do such a thing!”

“Exactly!” announced her brother happily and continued with that train of thought  “So, if for some reason it happened, IN THEORY, what would you think?”

That question was something she never considered in her life. Princess Celestia was the kindest, gentlest pony to ever exist, like a second mother to her, best mentor she could hope for, paragon of all that’s good and just. Since she couldn't answer, Shining Armor continued.
“Would this be the Princess you know and love?”

“Umm...”

"Captain Blitz Shield told me to think about my answer. So I thought, 'why would Princess do something like that?' and here’s what I came up with.
One, this is not The Princess we know, but impostor. A doppelganger, shapeshifter, changeling or whatever, something evil using her image for its own, evil plans!”

“Well, I guess, but how would it...”

“Two,” continued Shining “Princess Celestia is being manipulated by some evil force, like I dunno, Discord or some evil schmooze making her go bad. In that case, we need to take her down before any damage is done!”

“But schmooze doesn’t make you evil, it just is a lot of evil goo. And Discord...”

“And three, it is Princess, but she’s having a bad day and starts acting evil! So if somepony has to beat some sense into her, I’ll take all the responsibility!”

Twilight eyed her brother carefully, her brain gears moving along as she arranged the pieces. It actually made sense, what he said. 
“Ok, so you had a reason.”

“Of course I did. Why would anypony just punch Celestia without a reason?” said Shining Armor, treating this statement like an obvious fact “Too bad Captain didn’t let me finish. He just up and screamed “YOU’RE SUSPENDED!” and threw me out. And then we got hayshakes.”

“You’re stupid, you know that?”she said with deadpan expression. After a short pause she smiled though and patted his head “At the very least you could start with something less... wrong.”

She extended her hooves and hugged the poor, silly big stallion, which was exactly what he needed at the moment. He hugged her back, glad that at least one pony is still on his side. Once they un-hugged, she looked at the clock tower nearby.

“Well, my break is over, so I got to go. I’ll talk with Princess Celestia, see if she can un-suspend you back.”

“Y-you’d do that? For me?” his eyed shined for a moment, as he listened to his little sister

“Of course. Anything for my BBBFF.”

“Thanks, LSBFF.”





“...and that’s pretty much it,” ended Twilight “So, please don’t execute him for being silly, please?”

As an initial answer for that, Princess Celestia started laughing. Not the unstoppable force that took your breath away, but still a laugh as if she heard a great joke.
Little known fact- Princess Celestia loves teen drama books. It’s a guilty pleasure of her, so much that few ponies ever discovered her shelf full of them, collected over a century since said genre was first established. Something about commoners and their small problems endeared almighty immortal ruler of all ponies, probably because she never got to experience it herself. Life of her subjects, her students in particular, was ten times more engaging then any book she ever read, due to its randomness and unpredictable nature. And while life of Twilight Sparkle was mostly uneventful, it was at least building up to something big. This moment right now might not be that, but seemed like a pretty good side story in itself. 

“Your brother is indeed a weird pony,” said Princess once she regained her breath “I can’t help but admire his bravery.” 

“Bravery?” asked Twilight

“In all my life, I have rarely met ponies brave enough to doubt me.” 

She walked towards windows, passing her really puzzled student by. She looked at the courtyard- students all across the academy walking around, professor Silver Scroll being followed by a pleading colt, a group of older students talking about nothing or something.

“I lived for centuries. Saw many things, many of which are stuff but legends. Discord. Tirek. Nightmare Moon. Schmooze. Crystal Empire. Legion of Myrmidons.”

“Who?” asked confused Twilight, wondering which book she forgot to read

“Exactly. I was faced with many trials, learned a lot about myself, ponies, all the world. I am many things ponies say I am, but of all this, there is one thing they are all wrong. I am not, and never will be, perfect.
I’ve done many things I regret. Sometimes it’s not a big deal. Sometimes, it can be fixed. Other times...”

Princess Celestia went silent, a unique occurance. Not often did the almighty alicorn show some sort of weakness, like admitting to past mistakes. It was in rare feat altogether, especially among the royalty.

“I did a lot of bad things, that while ponies might not remember, I do.” she continued, her eyes looking deep into her from her students “Damage was done, and some injuries would never heal. Many times during those moments, after all was said and done, I wished there was somepony, some silly stallion who would come to me, punch me in the face and tell me to 'get a hold of myself'. I don’t know if I’d listen or what I’d do to him in response, but regardless...” 

She sighed once again, looking at startled Twilight Sparkle with a face of seriousness, but also a small smile on the corner of her lips.

“Twilight Sparkle, your brother is a pony I wish to have by my side for as long as possible and, provided he can make a proper explanation for assaulting the crowned Princess, he may punch me when he sees it necessary.”

Twilight Sparkle. Confused. And yet, this was the second time the most nonsense thing she ever heard made sense, in a very strange way.

“So, will he go back to his work?” asked shyly

“That is up to Captain Blitz Shield to decide. But rest easy, I will be meeting with him later today and I’ll speak about it.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” In a spur of the moment, Twilight jumped at Celestia and hugged her hard. Only seconds after the fact, she realized what she’s done and tried to get away, but a giant, white wing over her back and gentle smile forced her to stay like that a little while longer.





Prince Blueblood hated life. He hated wine. He hated parties. He hated filly scouts. Mud. Stains. Being Punched. But most of all, he hated the fact that despite having the best doctors in entire Canterlot, years of magical school, potions and enchantments of various kinds and no less than three painkillers, his nose still hurt like hell. He was walking through the castle corridors leading to Celestia’s study, naked all the way, since his new suit was, well, dead. Short life, but at least it was fabulous. Also, he hated those band aids on his nose, which were making him look and sound funny. Not the best way to present yourself to nobles he passed by, no doubt already plotting against him, spreading rumors and whatnot. If Aunt Celestia didn’t wait for him right now, he would just give up on life and hang himself on the front gate, just in spite to everypony. Or go sleep in his room, that worked too.

As he entered the office, she was already waiting inside, reading some book on a stand, probably to kill time before his arrival. He didn’t catch the title, but it seemed a little too modern for somepony as old as Celestia. Not like he cared about her personal life anyway. She closed the book and walked towards him slowly, greeting him with a nod. If she noticed the band aid, she didn’t show it.

“Good to see you, my dear nephew. Are you well?” she asked in a formal, but cheerful tone

“Ordinary day, Aunt. Why did you want to meet?”

Of all ponies to talk about his day, Celestia was probably the last one he wanted to inform of his adventures today. Probably because she would start by listing why he’s wrong, how it was somehow his fault and that he needs to change his ways. Worst part- he could never find a good enough counterargument. 

“Please, sit down. There is something I would like you to do.” she showed him a few pillow by the table, as she telekinetically grabbed a few documents and continued ”I need somepony I can trust to run a few errands for me tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” asked Prince, his voice slightly muffled by band aid “Is this about Summer Sun Celebration?”

“Bright as always. This year’s celebration will be held, as you probably already know, in a small town near Canterlot. In Ponyville.” answered Princess, as she unrolled a map of Canterlot and its nearby areas, small village of Ponyville visible just under the mountain.

“Ponyville? Not that I doubt you Aunt, but... seriously?“

Celestia raised an eyebrow.
“Is there something wrong with Ponyville?”

“Nothing if you want to set up a farm, open a factory or stop for supplies when traveling through trade routes to Canterlot, but for a Grand Annual Ceremony?  That’s not exactly...”  He stopped, looking for a good word, one that would signify how much he didn’t like the idea, but not to sound like he wanted to burn down a village full of productive workers. Which he didn't care about at all anyway.

“I understand your concerns, Nephew. You’re probably wondering why I chose a small rural town instead of a bigger metropolis, like Manehattan, or even Seaddle.”

“The question crossed my mind, yes.”

“I guess I could explain to you how it’s to establish a good relationship with common ponies, show them that even though I ruled for over milennia I still show appreciation for small societies, how I hope this event would be a landmark for next generations to come and all those other valid reasons, but...” she stopped for a moment, looking for a proper sentence. Blueblood rolled his eyes and continued for her.

“You want this day to be over with without fanfares and not travel half the globe?”

“Yes!” bursted Celestia, glad that her nephew knew that much about her.

“So, what am I supposed to do, then?”

“Ponyville has been going through preparations for an entire week already. I need somepony for a routine inspection, for formalities sake.”

Prince raised his eyebrow.
“And you chose me? Why?” Instantly after asking he wished he could turn back time five seconds and bite his tongue of. Why indeed, he was going to find out and he didn’t like what he was about to hear.

“Because quite frankly my dear nephew,” answered Celestia, her tone dramatically changing from cheerful aunt to stern teacher/mother “you are the only pony with time to spare on such a short notice.”

Please don’t say it.

“Since you have left the school, you have not found a productive job for yourself, spending all the time on, what exactly?”

Prince tried to word it right, find some explanation. Excuse. Something. But nothing came out, just like every time they talked. Celestia continued, even more stern this time.

“Oh, I remember now- nothing!” she answered herself dryly “You did nothing, other than partying, socializing and reading books. This has been going for too long.”

“Okay, fine, I get it, I’m a lazy good for nothing freeloader!” shouted Prince, crossing his arms and turning sideways “There, I said it, happy?”

And that is why he hated life, family and Canterlot in general. Each and every day just hearing about it made his blood boil and wish he was never born. 

“No, I’m not happy,” answered Princess sadly, as she got up and walked around the table to meet face to face with her nephew “If you think that finishing the school was impossible or futile, so be it. But I can’t stand seeing you waste your life and time like that. If it’s time or help you need, I’ll give you all I can. But you must do something by yourself as well, even if it’s something as small as a little errand to a small town nearby.”

As always, he couldn’t argue with her. She was right and he felt pathetic even thinking that he can outsmart or outtalk a Princess. He finally resigned and answered shortly.

“Fine, I’ll go.”

Not like he had a choice in that matter. Princess Celestia cared a lot for him, but wasn’t above issuing an order, even to a family. And that’s what this was- an order, just worded in a way to sound harmless and convincing enough to not make anypony question her. At least, not openly. He was about to leave and forget this conversation (at least until tomorrow) and leave the room before it gets even worse. But just as he was about to open the door...

“By the way nephew, what happened to your nose?”

Well, buck. He sighed deeply and turned around to face her close enough so she could see it up close.

“What happened, my dear auntie, was one of your guards,” started Blueblood “To be precise, his hoof. Straight into my nose, in bright daylight, right there in the middle of the street for no reason at all!”

Princess Celestia took about half a second to widely open her eyes and gasp. So he was the unlucky noble that had the pleasure to meet Shining Armor on his worst day. Canterlot is way smaller then she thought.

“Oh my, a royal guard?” asked Princess, feigning ignorance and stifling a giggle “Why would he ever do that?”

“Well my dear auntie, maybe you should raise the requirements for ponies joining the royal guard. Maybe, I don’t know, give them a brain inspection. To see if they have any. Apparently, not all ponies are equipped with one, contrary to what they taught me in class.”

Princess Celestia was seriously fighting an urge to giggle.

“Here I was, walking the street in my new suit, minding my own business,” continued Prince,  oblivious to the fact that Princess was covering her mouth not out of shock, but to hide her grin “when a little rascal splashed it with mud. MUD! And when I was trying to talk to her, some guy walks and punches me, no questions asked, no warnings! Can you believe that?”

“Hardly, nephew, hardly.”

“How can you allow such... such BRUTES to even walk among the streets?! What’s next? A killing spree in orphanage? Next thing you know, he’ll walk into throne room and punch you!”

“BWAHAHA!”

Just as soon as she exploded with laughter, she held her hoof at her mouth. She looked around, trying to find and excuse.

“Oh my, so much, erm, dust around. Makes me sneeze all the time,” she smiled innocently  “Achoo.”

Blueblood just stood there, with puzzled look on his face. She smiled widely. They looked each other in the eyes, him not buying it, her knowing that but still smiling innocently.

“I’ll just go back to my room now.” said Prince, as he slowly moved towards the door and opened it with small telekinetic push. She nodded and said nothing in response.

And then he left, allowing Princess to take a breather and calm herself down. This kind of development in real life was just too good. Coincidences like that don’t happen for no reason and there was no way Princess Celestia was going to waste this one. And a plan was already forming in her head.





Even later that day, in throne room, after getting through all her duties, Princess Celestia was facing one last point in her daily schedule. Normally it was a boring formality, but this time she was really looking forward to meeting with Captain of the Royal Guard. Blitz Shield himself was, as always, stating the daily report, which usually consisted of “nothing, nothing interesting, not much and nothing”, in that order.

“And that concludes my today’s report. Permission to leave?” saluted Blitz Shield, awaiting approval to leave the room. No word about Prince Blueblood or Shining Armor. He probably wanted to avoid spreading the news even further.

“Before you leave, Captain.” she stopped him

“Yes, your highness?”

“There is a matter of Private Shining Armor and my nephew.”

Blitz Shield opened widely his only eye, then sighed, gulped and braced for impact.

“Your highness, I take all take all the responsibility for...”

“Captain,” she interrupted him with a hoofwave “I need you to clarify something for me first.” he looked at princess with frightened expression, as she continued “Is it true, that when asked about the incident, Shining Armor used the words, let me paraphrase “punch Princess Celestia in the face”. Is that correct?”

Captain Blitz Shield was old, especially for a soldier. He awaited his retirement eagerly, being able to spend more time with his wife and daughter he barely ever saw due to his tight schedule. Hopefully he wont spent rest of his days in prison. 

Princess noticed his tension.
“At ease, Captain. I assure you, there will be no further punishment for either of you.”

Blitz Shield sighed with relief.

“I do have to ask you, Captain, what is your opinion of Private?”

Blitz Shield took moment to think. Last week was Shining Armor's worst time of the service, but he couldn't judge him based on that alone. So he answered.
“He is a hot blooded, stupid excuse for a royal guard who causes troubles when not thinking and disasters when actually thinking.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow and waited for more. There had to be more.

"That said, he is a prime example of what a royal guard should be otherwise. He excels at physical activities, has a strong sense of justice, doesn’t go for compromise when executing the law, has a strong heart, leadership skills which he demonstrated during training course, along with loyalty to crown and his comrades.” finished Captain proudly.

“You make it sound like he’s your best stallion.” asked Celestia with curious tone.

“He is. From the moment he entered the academy, I saw the limitless potential inside him. But... “ he paused for a moment “If it was just the Blueblood incident, I’d let him off with token punishment. If the whole “punching princess” thing had been between him and I, alone in my office, I would send him for one hundred laps around Canterlot and forget about it,” announced Blitz Shield, fully aware of what he was saying and who he was talking with “But,” he continued, but this time with much more serious tone “in the eyes and ears of forty other guards, I could not let him go like that. What kind of example would I be giving to my men? That it’s okay to bend the law? That there won’t be any consequences for assaulting the crown?“

“I believe he had his reasons, Captain. Did you even hear him out?”

“That is irrelevant, princess. If there ever was a drastic moment like that and it proved to be a correct action, then it’d be forgiven in special instances. But that is a one to milion chance, not something I wish to implant to all my recruits. “Buck the system” is a great slogan for a t-shirt, but not something to live by, especially for law enforcement.”

“I don’t know, I would probably buy the “Punch the sun” shirt if there ever was one.”

For a moment there was a pause. Princess Celestia stood there, smiling from her great joke, while Blitz Shield just stood there, confused. Seconds passed and Celestia started doubting her humor and was about to apologize, when he burst out with laughter, Celestia joining him as well. After a good few seconds their laughter slowly faded away and they caught their breaths once again. Captain coughed twice and regained his seriousness.

“Princess, I will not undo the suspension, especially not after the word spread around the castle. Once Private Shining Armor learns his lesson, he’s welcome to resume his duties.”

He really did cared, thought Celestia. She knew he had a soft spot, especially for promising recruits, but this big, muscled one eyed pegasi was a big softie inside.

“I never told you to undo the suspension," she said calmly. Blitz Shield raised an eyebrow “I trust your  judgement in this matter, Captain” answered Princess Celestia, as she walked toward her Captain and put a wing over his hoof.

“I would like to borrow Private Shining Armor for a certain... errand. If that’s fine with you.”
> 3. Beautiful start
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“TWIIILEEEY!” shouted Shining Armor, as he literally threw himself onto his sister and almost broke her bones with huggiest of all hugs, filled with joy and hope. And for Twilight Sparkle: pain. If his sister had anything to say, she couldn’t because the lack of oxygen, which was forcefully ejected from her lungs, made her words hollow. After her physical efforts proved futile, she instead glowed her horn, concentrated on a spell and blinked out of existence and reappeared right next to him, breathing heavily.

“...I...almost...died....” panted Twilight.

“Ehehe, sorry.” Shiny smiled uneasily and scratched his head, waiting for Twilight to recover from near death experience. Once she looked alive enough, he quickly started talking, before she shouted some unworthy words. “I don’t know what you did, but it worked!”

“What worked?” asked Twilight, while her temporarily red coat slowly regained its glorious lavender color.

“I just got the news from Captain. He said that Princess talked to him yesterday and I’m getting another chance!”

Twilight gasped, this time for a different reason and proceed to hug her brother, albeit much less maliciously “Oh Shiny, that’s great! You’ve got your job back!”

“Well, not really.”

“What do you mean?” Un-hug. “You just said...”

“That I got another chance, not my job back,” answered Shining Armor, as they started walking towards the university “See, Princess Celestia needs someone to...”



“...protect you while you’re on your assignment.” explained Celestia to her nephew on their way.

“You got me a bodyguard?” asked Prince Blueblood, positively surprised for a change. He couldn’t help but smile a little. Suddenly he felt respected and liked it very much.

“Yes, I did. While Ponyville is a small, peaceful community, it is bordering with Everfree Forest,” explained Celestia ”Though monsters hardly leave the forest, so you should be fine. I would like you to have somepony by your side, just in case.”  she continued, as they both walked towards the throne room.

Aside from those two, the only ones around the hallways were three guards, among them Blitz Shield himself, walking a few steps after the royal family. Blueblood looked suspiciously among the other two guards, but admitted with relief, that neither of those two were the one who punched him yesterday. According to Captain’s information, he was suspended from duty. Good riddance.

“So, which one will accompany me?” asked Prince, looking back at two low ranked guards

“Private Shining Armor,” explained Blitz Shield. “My best recruit so far.”

”So, which one of you is it?”

“None of them,” answered Princess Celestia while opening the gate with telekinetic push. “He’ll join us in a moment. First, I’ll need to get you up to speed about your assignment. First, you’ll need to...”



“...inspect some stuff for Summer Sun Celebration, in Ponyville.” Shining Armor vaguely explained, as the unicorn siblings approached the castle gates. Truth be told, he wasn't told much, since it happened earlier in the morning.

“Wow, that’s an important job there,” admitted Twilight, smiling brightly. “And all I did was asked for some mercy for you.”

“And I’ll never thank you enough, sis.” He stopped just so he could stroke her hair, maybe a little too hard, as she walked back to avoid further hair damage.

“Start by stop trying to kill me, please,” replied Twilight with a sarcastic tone.

“Hehe, yeah, sorry. Again.”

They laughed. It was a great day, especially after what went yesterday.

“So,” started Twilight, “do you know which noble you’re going to protect?”

“I think his name Blue Blood,” replied Shiny. “Prince Blue Blood.”

“Prince Blueblood... hmm…” She stopped for a moment to think. “I feel like I know this name.”

“Well obviously, he’s a Prince. Who else would Princess appoint for such a...”





“...trivial and easy task,” added Celestia, as she concluded her briefing.

Blueblood looked through the checklist he was given. It was a short one, barely filling one page and pretty vague in itself- food, music, decorations, weather, performance and safety protocols, along with some hoof drawn descriptions from Princess herself, which he skipped for the time being. All he had to do is meet up with ponies on the list, confirm a few details and that was pretty much it. A little colt could do it in his sleep, much less an educated young adult.

“I guess so. Well, I guess I’ll be going then. Where is my bodyguard?”

“It’s still early, but he should be here any minute. He’s a very punctual pony, from what I heard,” answered Celestia, handing him the rest of the notes.

“Good. I’d like to see a competent guard for a change. No offense, Captain.”

“None taken.”

Then, there was an awkward silence, as both royal family and guards found themselves without a single topic. Blueblood looked over the checklist for details. Food was supplied by a single apple farm. Decorations were done by a local boutique. Music by bird chorus. Weather by local group of pegasi. All things considered, boring and primitive. There were supposed to be Wonderbolts performing, so there's one highlight of the day. Not like he was excited about them anyway, seeing as he attended their events regularly. His sudden train of thought was interrupted by Princess Celestia coughing to catch his attention.

“Nephew, I understand you might be a little... underwhelmed by this assignment...”

“No,” objected the Prince, very sarcastically though. “Why would I be underwhelmed by being sent to a small hole near a dangerous magical forest to check on things which a child could manage perfectly? I mean, really, they can’t be worse than my usual company.” And once again, Prince wished he could bite his tongue at the right time. There was one more topic he never wanted to move when near his aunt.

“About that...”

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to complain about that too?” he rolled his eyes and desperately wanted out of this conversation.

“As far as I’m concerned, my nephew, you have no...”



“...friends that are waiting for me,” said Twilight, as she noticed two unicorn mares waving from the distance.

One was dark orange with red with yellow streaks hair, as if they were made out of fire, the other white, with red hair and purple streaks. Shining Armor recognized Twilight's school friends, Sunset Shimmer and Moondancer, respectively. The latter waved to him and winked. He wasn't quite sure why, but he waved back anyway out of courtesy.

The University was right next to the castle, so they walked all the way to the gates together. They looked at each other one more time, before bidding their farewells.

“Best luck on your assignment.”

“Thanks. You have fun too, sis.”

And so they finally parted ways. Twilight joined her two friends.

“So, how's Shiny?” asked Moondancer

“Great! Princess Celestia gave him an important mission. On my request, of course,” answered Twilight, specifically directing the last statement towards Sunset Shimmer. She snorted in response.

“Yeah, I bet,” replied Sunset, matching her eyes with Twilight's. “Celestia would do anything for her little pet.”

“Oh?” answered Twilight with sly tone. “I thought you said something, but I didn't quite catch up what. Only something about 'I'm so jealous I could die right now’ or something”

“What did you say?” asked Sunset, shooting metaphorical daggers at her best friend. “Trying to pick a fight, Sparkle?”

“Oh no, not at all,” Twilight hoofwaved. “I don't like to bully little ones.”

“Hmph. Tough words for somepony who placed second to last in multi-dimensions. Unlike somepony who is actually, you know, smart. Like me.” Sunset added with sly smile, putting her hoof on her chest. Twilight turned completely red from anger and closed in with her face, so close they were touching horns.

“Oh yeah? Well, apparently I'm not good at complete nonsense and absurd theories about dimensions that don't have any logical reason to exist in the first place. I prefer facts, not fantasies.”

And so the bickering continued as always, trading insults that hurt nopony in particular. And their fights usually ended in stalemate; good thing that there was always a tie breaker.

“Moondancer, help me out here,” asked both fighting mares, perfectly mimicking each other’s gestures. Moondancer was however, distracted by something else.

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Moondancer waved her hoof, as she continued watching in the direction of castle gates. The fight between Twilight and Sunset quickly stopped as they both facehooved at the same time. Sunset Shimmer walked towards her friend and blocked her view with her entire body.

“Hey, no fair, I can't see!” complained Moondancer, as she tried to take a peek around.

“Moondancer,” started Twilight, voice incredibly annoyed. “What did I tell you about making moves on my brother?”

“Hey, there's no harm in watching!” answered Moondancer with insulted tone, as she finally had enough of Sunset Shimmer blocking her view of the hot stallion, so instead of trying to look around her, she leaned on her friend's head and watched a certain white unicorn stallion from that position. “...yeah, shake dat plot baby!” said perverted mare in the lewdest tone possible, much to her friends’ disgust.

“Ok, that's enough for today, class is starting,” announced Twilight, as she magically grabbed Moondancer's ear and pulled her along with her, freeing Sunset Shimmer from being used as a stool.

“Owowow, I'm going, I'm ...”



“...not going to let you down, Twily!” announced Shining Armor to himself. He took a deep breath and entered the castle, full of determination. He was stopped before the entrance by other two guards, each blocked his entry with two spears.

“Halt, authorized personnel only,” stated fiery red unicorn stallion guard.

“Haha, very funny. Now let me in,” Shining deadpanned in response.

“Authorized personnel only. Now scram.”

Shining Armor rolled his eyes and looked at the two guards.

“Fire Strike, Silver Sword, cut with the jokes and just get me inside. I’m late for an important meeting.”

“Sorry Shiny, you’re not a guard anymore,” answered the other guard, a white unicorn. “We can’t let you in.”

“Oh, you have got to be bucking kidding me.” He facehooved.

“Nope, sorry, you need...”



"...to find some real friends, Nephew," finished Celestia. Prince Blueblood stood there in silence for a moment, before replying.

"Friends?" asked Blueblood. He snorted at the thought. "Pass. Friendship is overrated."

"Friendship is the greatest power in the entire universe," started Celestia, once again repeating what he heard many times over. "You may not believe that, but it’s ponies I met and befriended over years that helped me establish Equestria you know."

"Sure, whatever works for you," Prince answered dryly.

Princess Celestia couldn’t help but sigh and roll her eyes. She really tried to open him up to other ponies, but no matter how many conversations they had, he was still as close minded as always. Can’t really blame him, after what had happened last time.

"Still, I wish you could give Ponyville a chance, get to know who they are."

"Farmers and plebeians. Not exactly my type of ponies."

"And what is your type then?"

"Simply put the ones that are not..."



"...as incompetent as you, dimwit!" ended Shining Armor, after spending almost five minutes arguing over entering the castle like he was supposed to. He and the red unicorn guard were already butting heads and exchanging insults like drunken sailors on a stormy sea.

"Not as much as you, Princess Puncher!"

"Wanna say that again, Tie Burner?"

"Oh I might, Knuckle Brainer!"

"Oh then do, Paste Eater!'

"SISCON!"

"SOCKLOVER!"

"GRRRRRRRR!" finally agreed two mature stallions, as they lost all comprehensive thought's and were about to finally start the action.

Just as the two were about to get serious, the other guard, a white coated unicorn, stepped between them and telekinetically held some papers in front of Shining.

"Two things," started Silver Sword, as he eyed both of them. "One, kiss already."

"HEY!" they both exclaimed, awkwardly stepped away from each other.

"Two, he’s on the list." the guard announced with a smile.

"Wait, he is?"

"Of course I am, dumdum."

"Then why didn’t you say so, poopiemane?"

"Because he was on a VIP list."

The other two gasped, as they were shown a list of VIP ponies for today, with only one name listed on it. Shining Armor smiled slyly and looked at Fire Strike.

"Told ya. Now, can I get in?"

"Sigh, fine," groaned Flame Strike, opening the door and letting him in. Shining stepped through, but quickly turned back again.

"So, Friday night poker still on?" asked a cheerful Shining Armor.

"Sure. Get the chips."

"Okay, see ya then, moron."

"Douchebag."

And then he was gone. They closed the door behind him and returned to their post. After a short while, Fire Strike spoke to his friend.

"You knew about that list from the beginning."

"Indeed I did."

"Then why didn’t you say so?"

"And lose the show?" snorted Silver Sword. "You two don’t realize how hot you look together."

Fire Strike shuddered at the thought.

"For the last time, I’m not into that, so shut up already."

"Alright, I will shut up." and so did Silver Sword, as he ceased talking. For about ten seconds. "You know, if you could just give it a cha-"

"Oh for the love of..."



"...Princes Celestia, I apologize for the delay, he should be here any moment now," said Blitz Shield, as he checked his hoofwatch.

"Best recruit, huh?" sighed Prince. "Guards these days have rather low standards, it seems."

Princess Celestia gave him a mean look, to which he only shrugged.

"Just saying."

Before they could say anything more, the large doors opened and a very distressed white coated unicorn entered and immediately saluted.

"Private Shining Armor reporting for duty, I apologize for being la-..."

He couldn’t even finish the sentence, when his eyes landed on a strangely familiar, white coated blonde unicorn, with wide open eyes pointing his hoof at him.

For a short moment there was a pause, a silence in the air with tension so dense, you could cut it with a knife.

"AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" announced Prince Blueblood.

"AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" agreed Shining Armor.

"AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" both of them continued to scream in terror, which especially intensified once they both realized what awaits them.

"Oh brother," Blitz Shield facehoofed and turned to Princess Celestia. "I hope you’re happy, Princess."

Princess Celestia smiled brightly.

"You have no idea."
> 4. Welcome to Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Private Shining Armor, suspended from his duties of a Royal Guard by punching royal family two times too many.

Prince Blueblood, a spoiled noble university dropout freeloader.

Both of them were silent. Both were dreading the day they met. Both had to work together for at least one day. Both sat on the same train, from Canterlot to Ponyville, on the opposite seats, but refusing to look at each other. Prince avoided his newly appointed bodyguard with contempt, reasonably so, considering that their last (and first) meeting ended up with his nose being broken pretty badly. Luckily it healed through the night. He instead concentrated on the view outside the window, cursing the mountain they rode on and adding it to an already big list of “hate”. His bodyguard on the other hand, had trouble sitting in one place from nerves and awkwardness. Ever since their fateful reunion and departure from station, they had yet to exchange a single word. Under normal circumstances, that would be all fine and good for a bodyguard-employer relationship, but it didn’t feel right this time. The least he could do is apologize for his actions, maybe then the feeling would go away and this job would become a tiny bit more bearable. He looked at Blue Blood, opened his mouth... and then quickly closed it, lacking the courage to speak. He tried again, but he had nothing. How do you talk to somepony you assaulted with cold blood just yesterday?

He gulped and tried once more.

"Prince Blueblood?" asked in a hushed tone, barely heard out of the noise made from the train.

Prince didn’t react.

"Prince Blueblood?" asked again, this time a bit bolder and louder, but still there was no reaction. He coughed a few times and tried once again.

"Excuse me, Prince Blue..."

"I heard you the first time," answered the prince bitterly, not even facing away from window. "Which part of my ignorant silence didn’t you get?"

Shining Armor tried to continue, but his throat got so sore he almost choked on air alone. He coughed again and bravely continued.

"Sir, about yesterday..."

"Yesterday?" interrupted the prince. He turned his gaze towards his bodyguard. "What about it? Did something happen the day before today? Any crazy adventures did you partake in?"

Shining Armor felt really small. And he thought talking to Twilight or Blitz Shield was awkward.

"Umm, I… about that, I-I was gonna say... umm..."

"Huh? What’s that?" Blueblood put a hoof to his ear. "Can’t hear you."

"I’m... I’m..." tried Shining Armor, but instead of producing words, arguments and excuses, he could only produce sweat, which he was already soaking in.

"What, you punched some handsome noble stallion in the middle of the Canterlot streets in broad daylight?" laughed Prince Blueblood. "Don’t be silly, who would be stupid enough to do that?"

Shining said nothing, only whimpered and lowered his head.

"What kind of idiot would just do this sort of atrocity? I mean, really..."

Shining Armor finally gave up and fell onto his hooves, screaming.

"OKAY, FINE! I’M SORRY!"

For a moment, everypony in the train cast their gaze at the shouting unicorn, standing right before another one, who finally turned toward him and paid full attention. He resisted the urge to cover his face in fear of another strike.

"I’m sorry about hitting you, it was wrong and I... I feel horrible! I never wanted to become this... this brute who punches ponies for no reason, but that day, that week. All week long, only screw ups and... and Captain Blitz Shield kept warning me and warning and all I wanted to do is my job, but, but... and then the filly scout was crying and I just couldn’t take it anymore and... and Twily said I'm a stalker and, OH, HOW IS THIS MY LIFE!?"

And then, with no regard to dignity of himself or his employer, he broke down and started sobbing. Prince Blueblood didn’t see that one coming, as he looked shocked at the bawling ex-guard. He glanced around and noticed ponies gossiping, talking under their noses and quickly averting their eyes once he looked at them.

"Oh brother..." said the prince, scratching the back of his head and wondering how to deal with this.

He rolled his eyes and slowly moved away from his chair and examined at the broken mess of a unicorn. He raised his hoof for a second, and then put it down again. Ponies around were still looking in his direction, judging his every move. He took a deep breath and raised his hoof again, this time slowly moving it toward Shining Armor and, carefully, put it on his shoulder. Shining twitched a little in response, stopped bawling and looked into the prince’s eyes. The prince sighed once again and slowly began.

"Fine, I forgive you."

Shining Armor blinked and sniffed.

"W-what?"

"I forgive you for punching me," said a bitter Prince Blueblood, avoiding eye contact. "You CLEARLY regret it, so stop crying already. You’re making a scene."

Despite the cynical tone and bitterness of his words, all Shining Armor registered was enough to stop his tears and put on a weak smile on his face. He wiped the tears away and stood firmly on the floor.

"R-really?"

"Yes. Now calm down before I take it back."

Smile grown wider and wider and Shining Armor made a complete psychological 180.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" announced Shining Armor happily, as he stood on his rear hooves and spread his front hooves. Blueblood automatically panicked as he realized what was happening.

"Touch me again and I’ll make sure you spend your remaining days guarding royal toilets. Got it?"

Shining Armor stopped and lowered his hooves on the ground, took a step back and saluted.

"No touching. Got it, sir."

That didn’t sound quite right. Prince Blueblood sighed deeply. But whatever, at least his incompetent bodyguard was calm again. Last thing he needed was a depressed stallion on a verge of tears during his first true work as a royal inspector.

Back in his youth, Shining Armor always taught his little sister that honest apologies were the best way to fix most problems in the world. He never thought he was going to use it as an adult and make it work, to boot. His spirits were already pretty high and while he was still suspended, at least the future looked a bit brighter now. His employer seemed like a nice enough pony, even if he did appear as a cynical bastard at first. His job was just going to be guarding one pony from danger, which weren’t even there to begin with. Summer Sun Celebration is a huge event; nopony was stupid enough to cause trouble there especially since other royal guards, led by Captain of the Royal Guard himself, would be there. It is near the Everfree Forest, which was rumored to house many dangerous creatures, but they rarely if ever came out of it, content with living inside the spooky forest. In fact, if there hadn’t been an incident yesterday, he doubted Prince Blue Blood would even have a bodyguard to begin with and the princess only appointed him on Twilight’s pleas. Best sister ever.

And then it dawned to him. If stories he heard about Princess Celestia were true, then it was a test. If he can make Prince Blue Blood to send a good word about him, then surely Captain would realize that he’s learned his lesson and is ready to resume his post. Yes, that was the plan: become the best assistant ever. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

Prince Blueblood shuddered. He had a bad feeling about today.

Once out of the train, two white unicorns finally got a better look at the majestic, if small, town of Ponyville.

"Majestic my plot," commented Blueblood, as he looked over the description the princess left along with his checklist. He threw it to Shining Armor, who caught it with his telekinetic aura. "Here, make yourself useful, for a change."

"Yes, sir." He saluted, not that the prince cared as he walked out of the station and took a better look at the surroundings.

Small two story houses, a little marketplace which smelled of fruits and vegetables even out here, dirt roads unfit for any fancy carriage, barely anypony walking around the streets, nopony with clothes like some sort of animals. He felt out of place in his new suit (even newer than the one that died recently). Not a chance in the slightest he was ever going to mistake it for Canterlot.

"I hate this place already." he muttered through his teeth, as he started slowly walking forward. Shining Armor quickly caught up to him, but remained two steps behind, like a real servant should.

"It doesn’t look that bad," admitted Shining Armor, as he looked concerned at the surroundings. "It has this, umm..."

"Rustic charm to it?" recalled Prince, as Shining Armor looked at the princess’s description which used the exact same words. "Yes, it sure is lovely... if you’re a cow!" declared the prince, slightly hurting feelings of a lone Cow that they passed by, who Shining Armor could only apologize to in a hurry before catching up to his boss. He coughed and looked over the list of things to do.

"It says here that the first thing we should check is food," said Shining Armor as he read the descriptions left by the princess. "It’s provided by a place called ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ and the pony in charge is named Applejack."

Applejack, thought Blueblood. Nothing good can come out of a pony named after a strong, primitive alcoholic beverage. He imagined a big, burly, smelly stallion with blackened teeth and jug as a cutie mark. Just the type of pony he could live by and never seeing.

"Fine then, ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ it is. Which way?"

There was a pause as Shining Armor looked over the list.

"Umm, no idea," he finally announced.

"What? Give me that." Prince Blueblood grabbed the list with strong telekinetic grasp, scanned it thoroughly and concluded with irritation. "No directions... of course." He sighed deeply and returned the list.

Shining Armor didn’t lose any enthusiasm though.

"That’s not a big deal, sir. Just ask somepony local for directions."

"Yeah," started Blueblood, nervously looking at the local ponies. "I was afraid it was going to happen eventually."

The less interaction he had to make with country ponies, the better. He wondered if anypony even spoke Equestrian here. Shining Armor made the first effort by walking toward the first pony he encountered.

"Excuse me miss, could you please tell us where we could find..."

"GAAASSSP!!!" gasped the mare.

"AAAHH!" screamed two unicorns, as the pink, frizzy haired mare jumped up and ran away with at the speed of sound, only leaving behind a trail of dust. They stood there spooked for a few more seconds, before the prince recovered.

"W-what was that?" asked Prince Blueblood, as he looked at the dust settling down.

"I don’t know," shrugged Shining Armor. "Maybe she saw a spider?"

"WHAT?! WHERE?!"

A moment passed before Blueblood realized that he was not on the ground anymore. He had somehow just climbed up on Shining Armor’s back, like he was some kind of a stool and nervously scanned the area for any arachnids. Shining didn't react act first, only turned his head around to look at frightened noble. Their eyes met and locked into each other for awhile.

Once Prince Blueblood regained himself, he coughed and jumped back down, acting as if nothing happened. Shining Armor opened his mouth and tried to say something, but was met with a threatening glance.

"Not. A. Word."

Shining Armor closed his mouth.
> 5. Clan of Apple (and Orange) assassins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After finding a better source of information that didn’t gasp, jump and run, the duo found themselves at the entrance to a rather large property. From the distance they could see a small, two story cottage, with a large barn right next to it. No mistaking it, they were in the place. And a large sign next to the entrance that said “Sweet Apple Acres”, confirming their thoughts.

It was exactly what Prince Blueblood expected it to be- a rundown, smelly farm far away from civilization, even worse than Ponyville itself. He could already say goodbye to his suit now, there was not a way in the world he would get the smell of this horrible place out. He just wanted to meet the pony responsible and get out while he’s still not throwing up. 
They quickly found a strong looking, if rather young, blonde ponytail, orange coated mare with cowboy hat on her head and three small apples cutie mark, as she was dragging a cart full of apples. A cute one too, for a commoner at least. Blueblood approached the mare.

"Excuse me, miss," he said, as the mare noticed him and took off the reigns. "My name is Prince Blueblood, I'm here to inspect your products for..."

"Oh, the summer sun celebration," interrupted the mare with thick accent "Why howdy there, fancy meetin’ ya, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!"

She started shaking his hoof before he could interrpt. Once she ended with Prince Blueblood, she did the same to Shining Armor, although he wasn’t at all shaken from it as much as Blueblood, who still massaged his hoof, for the first time realizing how strong a country mare could be. Nothing like sophisticated mares he used to date. Not so cute anymore.

"The name’s Applejack," the mare continued "me and mah fam’ly prepared a feast worthy of a princess, if ah do say so m’self. Lemme call'em right away." she took a small breath and then screamed from out of her lungs "GATHER UP, EVERYPONY, WE HAVE CANTERLOT GUESTS!!"

Before their ears stopped ringing, two unicorns felt a slight tremor on the ground, which intensified by the second. Before they could duck and cover for incoming earthquake, it stopped. When they opened their eyes again, they were surrounded by ponies. Ponies everywhere, earth ponies of all age, gender and color, though they did share one thing in common- their cutie marks were all somehow apple related. And a few oranges, for some reason.

"Apples," once again said Applejack "meet Prince Blueblood and... uhm, did’n quite catch yer name, gentlecolt."

"Shining Armor, m’am."

"... yes, Shining Armor. Mr Blueblood, Mr Armor, meet mah family."

And so started the countdown of at least a few dozen ponies, each introduced in about ten seconds by Applejack. There was Apple Strudel, Apple Pie, Apple Cake, Apple Fritter, Apple Dazzle, Apple Bumpkin, Caramel Apple, Crimson Gala, Golden Delicious, Peachy Sweet, Red Delicious, Naval Orange, some other apples...

" ..., mah little sister Applebloom.- she notioned to a tiny, yellow filly with red hair tied by a large ribbon, her flank absent of a cutie mark of any description. She said a healthy  “howdy”, almost overloading their cuteness level to critical state, while Applejack continued.

"...mah big ol’brother, Big Macintosh."

True to his name, he was a big, strong earth pony stallion with dark red coat and ginger hair, wearing an old work horse collar. His cutie mark was a big, green apple cut in half.

"Eeyup." said simply stallion.

"And of course" continued Applejack, as she approached a sleeping on a chair old green mare with white hair tied in a bun (was she here before? thought Blueblood) "...Granny Smith. Granny, wake up, we have guests." she gently shook the old mare, who suddenly woke up and looked around with panicked eyes.

"Whoa, where, what? Darn kids, get out of my lawn!"

Applejack softly patted her back and quickly came back to the Canterlot duo.

"Uhm, don't mind her, she's plenty tired after all the work we put inta our good'ol apple delicacies." said Applecjack and turned towards her family "Come on, everypony, let's show them two gentlecolts how we Apples roll!" there was a loud cheer and neither unicorn dared to interrupt it.



"Wow." stated Prince Bleblood. Shining Armor nodded.

Prince Blueblood never much cared for common folks or farmers especially, always assuming they were lower class citizens with simple ways and nothing special to offer. Never in his life did he manage to underestimate an entire demographic as much as today. He expected Apples to serve him, well, apples. And that much was true, but only partially. What he did not expect, however, was a giant table, easily enough to serve the entire lineage of Bluebloods, managing to feed everypony till they drop dead once again from gluttony. What his eyes met, were all sorts of treats. Caramel apples, apple pies, apple cakes, apple strudels, apple fritters, apple cider, apple “I have no idea what it is but looks good” and generally anything you could associate with apples. Along with two or three orange based dishes, which bothered him a little, but not enough to raise an objections. Both him and Shining Armor were seated right in the middle of the table as guests of honor, while each Apple family member introduced their famed products. He looked over at his bodyguard sitting nearby. Obviously, he was lavishly gazing at the food, not even bothering to wipe the saliva dripping from his mouth.

"R-right, I guess the catering looks fine." stated Prince, once all the Apples (and Oranges) finished their presentations. He got up from his seat and tried to walk away, but found Applejack standing in his way.

"Aren't ya gonna, ya know, try some o'those?" she asked curiously

"No, I believe that is not necessary," he waved her away " I trust your skills, but I must go now. Come on, servant." he grabbed Shining Armor by ear via telekinesis, interrupting his attempt to grab a bite of a rather big cake.

There was a massive groan of disappointment from the entire clan. But as soon as he passed by Applejack, there was an obstacle much more dangerous right behind her. One that could potentially kill an unprepared rookie from big city.

"Aren't ya gonna stay for the brunch?" asked Applebloom. With puppy eyes. No chance.

"Hnghhh." Blueblood suddenly felt a pain in his chest. He pressed his hoof in the general area where his heart was, fighting the urge to die. Not like this, not by... THAT! He could hear the whispers from the crowd.

"Oh boy, she done it again."

"Poor lad has no chance."

"Eeyup."

"Ain't ever seen a pony able to resist our lil'l Applebloom."

He averted his eyes away from little blank filly and faced Applejack again.

"F-fine, I'll stay, just... just make her stop."

Applejack smiled brightly and her eyes shined.

"Sure thing, sugarcube." 



"No... no more... I’ll die..."

"Seconds please!"

No sooner then he said that, another slice of Apple Cake (the pastry,not cousin) found itself on Shining Armor’s plate, which he swallowed in few bites as well, just like anything that was there before it. Apple fritters. Apple Pies. Caramel Apples. Orange Apples, whatever that was. Apples Apples. Curry Apples, odd as they might seem. He could not get enough, and yet there seemed to be enough not just for him and his boss, but for celebration as well. He was in heaven.

"This... is... hell..."

Prince Blueblood on the other hoof struggled with many things. He struggled with the amount of sugar all those deserts had him take. He struggled from having a very small stomach, used to small but exquisite dishes served in the palace.
But the thing he struggled with the most, was the fact that out of all the ponies serving him today, one particular yellow filly kept coming back with another plate of something. He dared not to refuse, worried about his weak little heart having a stroke in the middle of the job. It continued for a long time, until he finally had enough and just did not care anymore, he was ready for Tartarus.

"No! I-I won’t take any more, or I’ll explode."

Applebloom looked at him for a moment. Their eyes met, Blueblood was staring right into his doom.

"Okay." answered little filly and took away the plate.

So, apparently all it took to make the little devil stop, was to ask. Typical. At least it ended and he didn’t have to eat anything else.

"Ah hope ya’ll enjoyin’ the treat, gentlecolts?" asked Applejack

"This is delicious!" answered Shining Armor, licking his lips and patting his belly, now full of apples "Can I get some for later?"

"Sure thing, sugarcube, take as much as ya’ll need, plenty more where that came froml. But, before ya’ll leave, there’s one more thing."

The two could swear they heard fanfares, but it was probably just their imagination going wild. They saw Big Macintosh walking towards them, with a plate full of cupcakes on his back. They had this weird feelings as if it was something big, something they could not comprehend by their own logic minds. The aura of the cupcake bowl was just too strong. 

That, or it was sugar poisoning.

"Don’t forget dessert!"explained Applejack, putting a single cupcake on each of their plates. 

Blueblood looked at it. It was a cupcake, with rainbow colored frosting. He looked at Applejack. She observed him expectedly. So did the rest of the family. Was he missing something? He looked over at Shining Armor, who already swallowed his cupcake and was now... absent. Just sitting there, looking blindly into the sky, a single tear going out of his eyes.

"That..." said Shining Armor, but stooped and couldn’t find any other words. 

For a moment, Prince wondered if the cupcake was poisoned and Apple family was actually a hired clan of assassins. They tried to take his life by overload of cuteness (which almost worked), overload of sugar (which was painful, but horribly inefficient) and now, desperate for success, just used poisoned pastries. If that doesn’t work, will they just take out knives and get it over with?

Finally, Shining Armor spoke.

"That was... like I never knew what taste was before... and now I found out."

A single tear shed just a moment ago was just now being joined by many other drops, which he didn’t even bother to stop. Big Macintosh, who happened to be right next to him, passed him a box of tissues, which unicorn gladly accepted.

"No way!" shouted Blueblood, once again facing his cupcake. 

There was no way a single pastry could be so powerful and so tasty to make a pony shed tears. Besides, he already saw Shining Armor cry over nothing (well, punching him wasn't exactly nothing), this was no big deal. A dimwit like him had no account for taste anyway, or an idea of what true delicacy is. This was a child’s food, a snack for poor ponies without any perspective of the culinary world. And he was going to prove it by eating it and showing them that no matter how well made, how tasty, sweet and delicious, a pastry is just a...

His brain stopped.

Apple family and Shining Armor looked at Prince Blueblood and smiled brightly.

"Ah guess that means you like it, ah presume?" asked Applejack

"Are you kidding me?" answered Shining Armor "This is the best thing I ever had in my life, like, EVER! It’s... it’s like nothing I ever tasted!"

"Oh shucks, now ya’ll makin’ me blush." she scratched the back of her head, blushing a bit as other Apples and Oranges cheered and high-hoofed in the background.

"What is this?" asked Shining Armor, looking over other cupcakes on Big Mac's plate "It doesn’t feel like any apple I tried."

"Glad you ask, sugarcube. This aint no normal apple ye tried there," as she talked, fanfares could be heard from somewhere "...but a “ZAP APPLE CUPCAKE!”

"Zap apple cupcake?" repeated puzzled Shining Armor, to which all Apples nodded. 

"Eyup, Granny Smith original recipe," answered happily Applejack "might seem like a normal cupcake to any other pony, but the secret is on the inside. Ya see, Zap Apples are no normal things growin’ on da trees like any other apples. They appear only once every year, have ta be harvested in a very specific way and prepared carefully using only the proper type of tools, techniques and ingredients that make zap apples satisfied."

"Satisfied?" asked Shining Armor

"Damn straight, pardner," answered Applejack, lightly smacking him on the back "Zap apples are magical, with minds o'their own, only evah listenin' and workin' for those that show dem proper respect. This is a secret passed in Apple family for generations, since we settled in this land not so long ago, way before it was even named “Ponyville” in the first place. Granny here was among the settlers who first found themselves here and she discovered the zap apples herself as well."

"Wow." all Shining Armor could do was gasp in awe. As weird as it sounded, he couldn’t deny that the cupcake he tried just a moment ago was too good to be just a regular food. It denied explanations, it just was. Like a new law of reality was invented just to explain why they taste so good.

And apparently Prince Blueblood was even more impressed then he was.

"Oh shucks, Ah knew it was good, but this fella must really enjoy a good Zap Apple Cupcake."

Prince was sitting on his seat like he did before. His face was already covered in tears, flowing like a river from his eyes, his mouth twitching. He went silent for even longer then Shining Armor did and they all expected him to eventually recover and explode with praise. 

That did not happen. He was in fact tearing up even more, twitching harder and his coat was becoming more red by the second.

Big Macintosh was the first one to react, as he quickly dashed toward Prince and grabbed him over his belly and started squeezing violently.

"He’s chocking!" somepony in the crowd announced.

Few moment later, after several squeezes, Prince finally gave in and puked last 10 minutes of Apples. It was one image nopony will ever erase from their heads.

"Are you okay, Mister Blueblood?" asked Macintosh, once Prince stopped twitching. He mumbled something incomprehensive and lost conciousness. Big Mac quickly put the unicorn on his back.

"Applejack, Ah’ll take’em to hospital. This ain't just chocking 'ere."

And so he ran towards Ponyville Hospital, with Shining Armor quickly joining, leaving one worried Apple family behind.



"Why is this happening again?" asked himself quietly Shining Armor, as he sat down on a bench in a waiting room of Ponyville Hospital. One day job, barely afternoon and he already let his employer almost DIE from eating too many apples- that took quite a lot of incompetence. He tried to keep his nerves on the check, but all he could think of was how he just sat there and watched as Prince almost choked to death, right now probably fighting for his life in doctors office. His train of thought was interrupted when a giant, red hoof handed him a can of soda.

"Y’okay?" asked Big Mac. 

Shining Armor looked at the farmer and after a long sigh, accepted his offer and telekinetically grabbed the can of soda and put it on his lap.

"Yeah, I’m fine. Unlike somepony I was supposed to protect." answered Shining as he looked down at the ground. Big Macintosh sat next to him.

"Ahm mighty sorry about what happened, Ah’ll take all the responsibility for everythin’."

"What, no! No, no, no!" refused Shining Armor "You're not the ones to blame here"

"And you are?

Shining stopped for a moment. "To be honest, yes. I... I can’t do anything right!"

"Look here, pardner, it was an accident."

"Not just that! Everything I do is just... argh!" Shining Armor groaned and hit the wall with his hoof "All this week, I’ve done nothing but fail. I failed as a guard, I couldn’t go a day without a major screw up, then yesterday I just... I blew it big time! I lost lost my job because I’m too stupid to think before I act. I dissapointed my comrades, my superiors, Princess Celestia, my parents, my little sister, and most of all, I dissapointed Prince Blueblood. Again!"

Macintosh listened in silence. He opened his own can and took a sip of cold soda before asking.

"Y’have a little sister? What’s she like?"

"Oh, Twiley?" he perked up "Heh, she’s great. The best. And I mean it, she’s like a better half of me. She’s a great magician, studies in the most prestigious school, she’s tutored by Princess Celestia herself!"

"Sounds like a nice filly."

"Not just nice, she’s talented, friendly, smart and... and she even asked Princess to give me another chance, so she made me a bodyguard of her nephew. ONE JOB!" screamed suddenly Shining Armor. The nurse walking nearby walked to him and shushed him, showing a sign “quiet please” on the wall. "I had one job." repeated with a hushed tone "Keep him safe for one. Bucking. Day. We were supposed to be walking around Ponyville, inspecting preparations, but where am I instead? A bucking hospital!"

Big Mac listened carefully, his face showing no emotions at all. He raised his hoof to pat the back of a poor bodyguard.

"Listen, Shinin’ Armor. Ah dunno what ya been through before, but Ah can sure as hay tell you this." he grabbed Shining’s face and turned it toward his, looking him deep into his eyes "This is an accident. You were unlucky and there ain’t nothin' you can do about it. As Ah see it, Yer mistake’s is not reacting fast enough. Ya say yer a guard, right? Then buckle up, stop foolin’ around and get youself together!"

The unicorn ex-guard took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. He tried to remember what happened just a few minutes ago. And truth be told, Big Mac was right. While Blueblood was hurting, it was his job to notice it right away and do something. If Big Macintosh wasn’t fast enough, it wouldn’t be just his job on the line. It was a ponies life, one thing he swore to protect. Not as a temporary bodyguard, not as a royal guard, but as Shining Armor. A stallion.

"You’re right." said Shining Armor, then wiped away his tears, opened his can and drank all the soda in one go, throwing empty can to trash can nearby. "I need to get myself together! Princess Celestia counts on us and we sure as hay won't let her down!"

Big Mac smiled and nodded. Just as they were done talking, the door to the doctor’s office opened and a white, earth pony nurse with red cross as a cutie mark notioned toward them. Him and Big Macintosh quickly stood up and walked toward her.

"Nurse, is he going to be okay?" asked terrified Shining Armor

Nurse Redheart smiled lightly and nodded. "He’ll be fine, don’t worry about it. It’s nothing serious."

Both stallions sighed deeply.

"So, what happened to him?"

"Allergy." answered nurse quickly. 

"Allergy?" Both stallions looked at each other and then at nurse

"Yes, simple allergic reactions to something he recently ate. Apparently, he’s allergic to honey."

"Honey?"

"Eeyup," interrupted Big Macintosh "Zap Apples Cupcakes has honey in’em. Ah’m terribly sorry, if we knew we would’a never given it to him."

"To be honest, I didn’t know either."  answered Shining Armor..

Seemed like Big Macintosh was right, thouht Shining, it wasn’t his fault at all. He barely met Prince Blueblood, there was no way he could know such a thing. Or maybe it was his fault for not asking about those kind of things, especially right before tasting a bunch of dishes?
He shook his head. Whatever happened, happened, but lesson learned- next time, be more careful, even if Prince is not. 

"Thankfully he only swallowed a little bit of it" continued nurse "I already gave him some medicine to counteract the symptoms. He should be fine and healthy tomorrow morning."

"What? Tomorrow?" asked shocked bodyguard.

He stopped on his track and panicked. Prince was not in any shape to carry his orders anymore, so it pretty much left only him to finish the job himself. It wasn’t all that hard, he saw the list, it was just a matter of walking around the town and filling the blanks on the sheet of paper. He could just go now, leave Prince under qualified supervision and once he woke up, everything would be taken care of. It’s the least he could do.
But on the other hoof, was he really qualified to finish the inspection? What if the word comes by and Prince gets into trouble? It would still be better then walking around with half dead noble unicorn, but maybe, just maybe, there was a way.

"Nurse, isn’t there anything you could do?"

"I’m sorry, but I did what I could. He should stay in bed and rest."

"But he can’t! He has an important job to finish today. Maybe you could find something, a spell or anything?"

Nurse Redheart deadpanned. He should’ve bit his tongue and realize that earth pony nurse might have a limited array of magical possibilities. He continued.

"I’m sorry, but it’s really important. It’s for summer sun celebration, we don’t have any time to spare! If we don't finish the inspection, the entire celebration could be cancelled!" pleaded Shining Armor, almot falling on his kneew before Nurse Redheart. She thought for a moment and scratched her head.

"I do have something that could get him up on his legs again, but..."

"If it’s the price, Ah’ll cover it all." interrupted Big Macintosh

"It’s not bits that’s a problem. We keep a magical potion for such emergencies, but it might have some..." she stopped for a moment, looking for a good choice of words "...unwanted side effects."

Shining Armor gulped and asked "What side effects?"




Few minutes later, streets of Ponyville.

"Aaaayeeeee, loooooooooveeeeee, EVERY~THING!" sang Prince Blueblood, as he slid from the streetlamp he just jumped onto.

"Me and my stupid ideas."
> 6. Nothing happened
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

„My name is Prince Blueblood, and I am here to say,
that doesn't rhyme, but what the hay, I will sing it anyway!”

This day was getting weirder and weirder for Shining Armor. Barely an hour passed since they left the hospital to go to their next assignment and Prince already managed to sing three different songs, dance in several styles and seduce almost every mare they met. He managed to make three earth ponies at the flower stands faint, one after the other, by just walking to them, looking into eyes, gently stroking hair and perfectly matching the lyrics of a love ballad he was singing to the colors of their eyes, taking no longer then 2 seconds with each. That was quite possibly the scariest and most awesome thing Shining Armor has ever laid his eyes on. He did have a good singing voice, though.

“It doesn't matter now, if you have wings or horn,
my song will make you truly glad, that were really born!”

Back in the hospital, Shining Armor checked the correct bracket on the checklist and assured Big Macintosh that he will make sure Apple family won't be brought to face the consequences, seeing as they couldn't predict the outcome of something as simple as tasting a single cupcake. He bid farewell to Big Mac and quickly left the hospital, before Prince Blueblood seduced all the nurses and patients. 
Nurse Redheart had limited knowledge of said potion, aside from the fact that it works, it's safe for health in small doses and usual side effects were irrational anger or depression. 

“Cause I love to see you smile, smile, smile, yes I do,
it feels me with desire to go on, it sure does!”

“Anger and depression, my flank...” commented Shining Armor.

Shining looked over the checklist once again and put a simple enough plan. Go to town hall to check decorations, then head to the outskirts to see how bird chorus was performing and on the way he should find weather ponies and Wonderbolts around for a quick chat. Once everything is done with, they were supposed to stop at Golden Oak Library, where they could rest a bit before reporting to Princess.
Thankfully Prince was limiting himself to dancing and harmless flirting, leaving mare after mare unharmed, if a little dazed, sometimes unconciouss. Otherwise Shining Armor would intervene and stop him from taking a lead on a certain gray mare pegasus they just met. Judging from her hat and saddlebags, she must have been a local postmare. She blushed nervously and tried to walk away, but Prince wasn't letting her go that easily.

“Umm, excuse me, I have to... could you please... sir!” lamented the gray mare. She turned back to a stallion walking after her “Doctor, help!”

A brown earth pony called Doctor laughed at the sight “Oh come on Ditzy, where's your playful spirit? I thought you ponies loved to dance and sing all days.”

“Well, yeah, but not in the middle of my job!” answered Ditzy, as she desperately tried to escape the unwanted attention.

Shining Armor groaned and walked between Prince and Ditzy “Okay, that's it, she had enough.” 

“Aww, but they barely started!” complained Doctor, turning to Shining Armor “She's always work, work, work, never any time to have some fun.”

“Well excuse me for having a life and responsibilities!” pouted Ditzy as she looked at Doctor.

“Hey, I have responsibilities too! Or did you forget who saved this town from rabid yeti infestation last year?”

“First of, you wouldn't have done that without me and my muffins.” said Ditzy “Two, it's not last year, but next year. It didn't even happen yet.”

“Really?” asked Doctor, as he tapped his chin and looked into skies “Fancy that, you're right! What was it last year?”

“Matter-eater plant-colts," answered Ditzy "And it was in Detrot.” 

Doctor and Ditzy shuddered at the thought. Shining Armor didn't understand a word and he didn't care. But something did seem out of plac here - Prince was actually silent and still, as his eyes were concentrated clearly on one thing.

“Your eyes...” said Prince Blueblood to Ditzy, as he moved forward again, their faces almost touching, Ditzy becoming more red out of embarrassment, trying desperately to run away, but somehow found it impossible to avert her sight “...are so pretty.”

As a response to that, Ditzy's head was now steaming. Shining Armor looked at Prince with irritaion, then at Ditzy and noticed...

“OH SWEET CELESTIA, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR EYES!” shouted Shining Armor and soon after that he covered his mouth with both hooves “I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to...”

“They can see all the world!” interrupted Prince Blueblood, fully concentrated on derped eye of gray mare, who tried to cover it with a wing, but Prince gently pulled it away with his hoof “Why hide such beauty? Let the world see and grow jealous, my little angel.”

Between Shining's scream, Prince's flirting and Doctor's snickering, Ditzy went completely dizzy opened her mouth and said only gibberish, and finally could not take it anymore and just flew away with the speed of a bullet, leaving only dust and three stallion behind.

“Wait, my angel!” called Prince Blueblood, as he walked few steps in the direction that Ditzy dissapeared. He shrugged and waved in that general direction “Call me!”

Shining Armor facehooved and had an urge to punch somepony. No, not Prince Blueblood, but himself yesterday and an hour ago. He turned to Doctor.

“I'm so sorry about him, I swear he's not like that usually!”

“Nah, think nothing of it,” said smiling Doctor, hoofwaving “She loves attention, she's just too shy to admit it. I would be more concerned about your comments, though.”

Shining Armor's head drooped “I'm sorry, I just... ugh,” he shook his head “I have no excuse. I need to find her and apologize!”

“Oh, don't worry about it, she probably won't even remember it. She's stronger then she looks, a comment like that doesn't bother her anymore.” said Doctor, as he trotted toward Prince Blueblood, who just made another mare faint while they were chatting “But I must say, I've been living with ponies for years now and your friend here sure is fascinating.” he knelt over fainted mare to check her pulse. He confirmed that she was alive and just asleep, with a grin.

“Living with ponies?” repeated Shining Armor, as he scanned Doctor a bit more. He was a clearly adult brown coated earth pony stallion, with hourglass as a cutie mark. He shook his head and just ignored the previous statement, concentrating on the problem at hoof “It's all that medicine he just got from the hospital.”

“Mhm.” hummed Doctor, as he was performing a checkup on Prince Blueblood's body, with the former not issuing any protests, but humming a cheerful tune. Shining Armor continued talking.

“I mean, I had no idea he was allergic to honey and that those Zap Apple Cupcakes, the tastiest thing I ever had, was made out of it and it almost killed him, but then Big Macintosh saved him...”

“Ah, so you met the Apple family already?” asked cheerfully Doctor, as he continued inspecting Prince's body, now asking him to open his mouth and say “aah”, to which prince gladly obliged. “Fancy that!” announced shocked Doctor

“What?” asked worried Shining Armor.

“He has a filling in his molar!” he laughed “I didn't even know you ponies HAD these! You learn something every day.”

“R-right...” commented Shining Armor, even more confused then before. He probably should react somehow to Doctor checking up on Prince as well, but he seemed like he knew what he was doing.

“And what happened next?” asked Doctor. Shining Armor shook his head and continued.

“Well, we got to a hospital nearby and he was supposed to stay for the day, but he has a job to take care of and it's too important.”

“Summer Sun Celebration?” asked Doctor, not even taking his eyes from Prince

“Yes. How did you know?”

“Two strangers walking around town day before the biggest celebration this town had to offer, visiting Apple family, who were supposed to provide catering. Lucky guess,” answered smiling Doctor. “And his wallet has a mark of Blueblood clan, they tend to do this kind of stuff.” added Doctor, as he held a brown wallet in his hoof. That alarmed Shining Armor and made him come and grab the object in question with his magic.

“You took his wallet?!” 

“No, he just gave it to me.” answered Doctor, as he pointed at Prince.

“Please, take it as a token of my gratitude, pretty gentlecolt.” said delicately Prince Blueblood, smiling seductively at Doctor. Shining Armor gagged.

“This is seriously getting out of hoof!” commented bodyguard, trying really hard not to cast a wholesome barrier on Prince Blueblood and just drag him over Ponyville just to be sure he won't cause trouble. 

“Oh, I don't mind.” said Doctor, still smiling.

Shining Armor ignored it. He coughed and finished his story to Doctor “Anyway, nurse gave him some sort of magical potion, which was supposed to make him angry and depressed, but instead he's like... that.”

They watched as Prince Blueblood now joined a group of fillies on the jump rope. 

“Yinyang panacea.” said shortly Doctor, his face losing the previous smile. Shining Armor looked at him with puzzled expression.

“Yigyon what?”

“Yinyang panacea. That's the name of the potion he was given, right?”

“Umm, I don't know. Maybe?” answered Shining, ashamed of forgetting a small detail like asking what the hay they fed to his employer.

“Ah, that would explain it all. You see my little pony...” he began, and snickered at his words “I'll never get tired of saying that!” Doctor coughed “But anyway, Yinyang panacea is an old magical potion used for quick regeneration of the body. In itself, it has no healing properties at all, but it accelerates the rate at which the body recovers on its own. A single dose is usually an equivalent of a few hours of doing nothing. Back in the day soldiers used it to keep themselves awake at long shifts. Bad idea though, as continous usage causes weakening of body immunity and stagnation of bones and muscles. Well, that should be pretty obvious, it does accelerate your body significantly, it's like you're getting older by the seconds. I heard one soldier abused it so much, he grew older than his grandfather, can you believe that?”

Shining Armor blinked “There's a medicine like that?”

“Why yes, although very old and rare, used only in emergency, like main inspector of  big ceremony having health problems, which could cause the entire event to be canceled.”

“But, nurse said that the side effects would be, well, not this.”

“Ah, Nurse Redheart, I presume? A lovely lady, but she didn't realize that Yinyang panacea doesn't do that. It reverses your mood.”

“Reverses mood?” 

“Why yes, my dear friend, reverses. Most Ponyville patients are jolly and positive folk, so I assume that's why everypony thinks it makes you unhappy. It turns your mood completely around, so if you were happy go lucky, you ended up gloomy under the weather. If you were sugar, you became salt. And if you were a sad bastard, you would become...

“... a happy nice pony!” finished Shining Armor, his eyes widened at the revelation. He looked at Prince Blueblood, playing hide and seek with several school foals, smiling and laughing like he was one of them. Never in his life did he felt so depressed when watching somepony having fun.

“Makes you wonder,” said Doctor, as he joined Shining Armor in observations “...what must somepony be like, when this is your opposite self.”

They stood like that for a few moments more. Shining Armor knew Prince for a very short time and from what he saw, he wasn't exactly the best example of a friendly pony. Did he really hate this place so much? Was this some sort of punishment to him? And if it was, does that mean that sending him as an escort was also one? He could see that now, maybe it was Princess idea of showing bad guards and servants what awaits them once they screw up? He couldn't quite wrap his mind around that and probably thought too much about a simple mission. A mission he still had to finish, no matter the reasons. 

“Doctor, are you sure about this?” asked Shining Armor “Maybe it's a different potion, or it didn't work properly...”

“Nah, I'm positive. It's not nearly as popular nowadays, especially not in big cities like Canterlot, but smaller hamlets and towns still tend to use it, sparingly though.” explained Doctor “Besides, everything else matches the descriptions. Higher body temperature, shrinking irises, hyperactive behavior, sunflower and baked corn breath...” said Doctor. Shining Armor raised his brow “...don't ask, I'm still wrapping my head around the idea of magic being real. But anyways, it's what it is. Believe me, I brought this little medical miracle to use myself, if I do say so myself.”

“You made it?”

“No, not exactly. The actual recipe is centuries old, made by an amazing zebra shaman, I believe his name was Rozzir. Funny fellow, talked only in rhyme. That is, unless you asked him about oranges. Then he went completely silent!” announced Doctor with a laugh

“Oh, so you used his recipe, then?”

“Nah, I could never make it work. I can't even work with regular, unicorn magic (not at all due to my lack of horn, mind you), you have no idea how hard brewing is, all this baking portals and whatnot. I just asked him to come and do it himself.”

“Oh, ok the-... w-wait, what?” asked Shining Armor, looking suspiciously at Doctor “...asked him?” 

“Well, technically, it was Ditzy. He couldn't possibly be convinced with words, believe me I tried. Probably angry about those oranges. I was about to force him with blackmail (oh don't look at me like that, he was going to let a whole village suffer, that bloody prick!), but then she just asks him nicely and bakes him a muffin.” Doctor put a hoof to his chin, closed his eyes and nodded “I swore back then to never doubt a muffin anymore.”

Right now, Shining Armor was positively wanting to be out of this conversation, as enjoyable as it was for the most part. It didn't seem like Doctor was lying about anything, though he might believe a little too much for comfort. Weird ponies happened and if anything, he learned to let it slide and just let them be as long as they don't cause troubles.

“Right then, Doctor,” said Shining Armor nervously and took a few steps back “...I think we should be going now. Thank you for help and again, sorry about Ditzy.”

“Don't mention it. If you ever need help, just ask.” nodded Doctor “After all, what are friends for?”

“Y-yeah, thanks.” answered nervously Shining Armor.

“Well then, see you at the Celebration then, Shining Armor.” 

And so Doctor left the duo of unicorns. Shining Armor sighed and once again turned to Prince Blueblood and took him away from another session of “duck, duck, goose” he was enjoying with a bunch of kids. He'd rather take him away before the Yinyang panacea wears off and he starts throwing them at walls. Or shouting, whichever he's in a mood for at the moment. Once they were on the way to the Town Hall, Shining Armor realized something.

“Wait, did I even tell him my name?”



The area around Town Hall was busy. All around the building they could see townsfolks working around, pulling carts with wood and tools for stands, which ranged from different foods, carnival attractions, fortune telling booths and a stage for some local music bands. Apparently, the entire inspection was only covering the official points, with everything else set up independetly by anypony who so wished. Prince Blueblood was now running from stand to stand, conversing with each pony he met, making cute eyes and flirting even more, making even more mares blush and fall on their knees. Somehow, with great effort, Shining Armor was able to guide him to the town hall without a single punch. There they were greeted by ribbons. A bunch of ribbons, perfectly matched curtains, ribbons, ornaments, ribbons, stage set up for Princess  and even more ribbons, some of them had ribbons in them. All in all, Shining Armor thought it looked good, if a little gaudy for him, but what does he know? Prince was however, enamored.

"So beautiful!" exclaimed happily Prince.

"Yes, I guess the decorations are fine then, let's just..." as he was about to put a check on the list, Blueblood interrupted him"

"No, I mean her!" he pointed forward, his voice even softer and slower then before, his smile even wider. 

According to Prince Blueblood, the most beautiful mare in the world (right now) was a marshmellow white unicorn with a perfectly styled purple mane and tail, right now busy with figuring out which ribbon was more perfect for the column, trying to decide between blue, blue or blue. 

"Well yes, she is pretty, but we should go now."

"No, my dear servant. Flowers are pretty. Sky is pretty. She is... a gift from the heavens, sent to Equestria so she could be praised as a goddess of perfection!"

"I thought you said that Ditzy was an angel?" why Shining Armor asked this, he did not now, but regretted afterwards.

"This pure white goddess isn't an angel!" Prince raised his voice "She has no wings, silly." giggled Blueblood, leaving Shining Armor silent where he, stood unable to deny or even comment, as Prince walked slowly towards the unicorn mare in question. Shining Armor did not dare to follow, but from the distance he could see their body language. 

Prince walked towards her, saying something with a smile. She looked back with curiosity, blushed and shushed him away with her hoof, although she obviously didn't want him gone. He got closer to to her and whispered something to her ear. She blushed and giggled, her ears perked and eyes now following Prince seductively. He took the ribbon she just dropped with magic and gently tied it to her hair. She looked happily at the ribbon, said something, visibly stuttering.

Shining gagged and couldn't take it anymore, so he turned back and left the town hall, decing to wait outside. Once there, he looked around the list. Finding a mare called Fluttershy should be easy, everypony knew where he could find her. Weather team and Wonderbolts were tougher bites, as they were still in motion. Without wings, it was hard to catch up to them in the skies. Not that most pegasi could catch up to Wonderbolts anyway, seeing as they were the fastest team in Equestria. They had to have accomodations somewhere on the ground, maybe a hotel he could try to check out. And as for weather, he could see lots of lone clouds floating above the town, where it was supposed to be competely clean. Somepony wasn't doing their job and time was running out. Somepony on the list called Rainbow Dash, the weather menager.

SLAM!

The doors to the Town Hall opened violently, spooking Shining Armor and making him drop the checklist. He quickly picked it up with magic and looked at the cause. 

"We are leaving!" announced angry...

"Prince Blueblood?" asked Shining Armor, not quite believing that he saw his employer without a smile. Prince was visibly pissed off, his eyes burning red with anger as he trotted away from the Town Hall.

"AND NEVER COME BACK, YOU RUFFIAN!" shouted voice from inside the Town Hall, probably belonging to the unicorn mare from before.

"AS IF I WOULD EVER FACE A HARLOT LIKE YOU EVER AGAIN!" replied Prince, barely facing back.

Shining Armor was now full of questions. Did the potion ran out now? Were the side effects changing? And most importantly...

"What happened back there?"

"Nothing," answer bitterly Prince "and if you ever ask me that again, consider yourself FIRED forever. Understand?"

Shining Armor gulped and nodded, wondering what exactly could have happened in two minutes that he was gone. He looked at the checklist and nervously asked.

"Ummm ,sir, the decorations?"

"Huh? Oh, yes, they are done and fine. Whatever."

As much as he regretted to admit it, he missed the playcolt Prince already.
> 7. It's all Dash fault
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Without the knowledge of Ponyville topography, it would seem like finding weather management headquarters would be difficult. More difficult due to the fact, that all of its members on duty would be scattered around the sky. In reality, all Prince Blueblood did, was find a small cafe around one lone cloud and enjoy a cup of tea while waiting for some pegasus to fly by. 

Enjoy being a very loosely used word, as this place hardly knew what a tea was, not to mention how to brew it properly. Instead, all Prince could count on was a tea bag inside a cup of boiling water with spoon of sugar and a single lemon slice. He dared not to risk ordering milk tea, all too aware of what could happen to his stomach if they messed up something as simple as an afternoon drink. He also refused to take buy snacks, still digesting all the apples and oranges from before. A simple sight of apple pie behind the counter made his heart ache, worried that it'd be served by hellish blank filly with large puppy eyes.

Shining Armor did not join him at the table for two reasons. One, he was not invited, and out of all tables outdoors, Prince chose the only one that had a single seat next to it. Two, most importantly, Shining Armor was scared. Really, really scared.

Ever since Prince Blueblood recovered from his... ailment, he was even more unpleasant than before. He spoke even less, asking simple questions, interrupting every time he got an answer longer then 2 seconds and never once looking him in the eye. And worst of all was the cold tone. Anypony not speaking equestrian could listen to him and hear an order of his execution, even if he asked for the weather.
Shining Armor could swear it was mostly due to meeting with the unicorn mare from town hall, what's her name, but he dared not to come closer then three meters, not to mention asking about it. Neither of them mentioned anything about the past hour, so he probably had no recollection of what happened while he was "reversed". Or was he just being silent about it? All his bodyguard knew, was that the less they talk, the less were his chances of being sent to guard royal toilets for eternity. He didn't know if Prince had such power or influence and he didn't need to find out. He was content with just standing nearby and scouting for any weather pegasus flying by.

By the time Prince was halfway through his cup, a lone pegasus mare flew around and started inspecting their cloud. Shining Armor waved towards the mare and she landed right next to him. For a moment, Shining Armor stood there speechless looking at her. The posture, the face, eyes, the single streak in her long, straight hair... if she wasn't a white coated pegasi, if her hair wasn't pink with green streak, he could swear he saw Twilight. Or at least, how she would look like if she was of a different color. And race. And if she had freckles. 

The mare blushed a bit after being stared at too much. "I'm flattered, but taken. Sorry." announced the mare, giggling. Shining Armor shook his head and blushed as well.

"N-no, I didn't mean that!"

"Oh?" the mare raised an eyebrow, smiling slyly and walking toward him "Not cute enough for you, stranger?"

"N-no, I-I mean you're... c-cute and all, but..." Shining stuttered and steamed from embarrassment, while the mare barely stopped herself from bursting with laughter, clearly enjoying the teasing. Prince looked at the scene and rolled his eyes, but did not leave his place.

"Y-you just look like somepony I know, that's all!" exclaimed quickly Shining Armor

"Oh, okay..." said the mare. After a short pause, she added "Must be somepony dear to you, I presume?"

"Y-yes. My little sister," answered happily. And then he realized how it sounded. "I-I mean, I didn't mean that I would..."

"Ok, now it's getting creepy," interrupted the mare, still fighting an urge to laugh out loud "How about we just forget about it? I have work to do."

Just as she was about to fly away, Shining Armor coughed and finally said it.

"Actually, we're looking for a pony called Rainbow Dash."

"Rainbow Dash?" the mare stopped on her tracks and stared deeply at the unicorn, then smiled "Well, good luck with that. It's hard enough to keep track of her on normal days. With Wonderbolts around, she's gone rogue completely. My advice, find Wonderbolts and look around the bushes and other hiding places."

"And my advice to you, miss..." announced Prince Blueblood, as he took of from his seat and walked toward the pegasus mare "... is to find her and bring her here, right now."

The smile on mares face instantly faded. She walked towards Blueblood and poked her hoof at his chest, looking deep into his eyes with contempt.

"And my advice to you, bucko..." she started "...is learn some manners before you start talking. I take no orders from likes of you."

"Rich words, coming from a low class  community worker." 

She rolled her eyes and snorted "Really? That's all you got? I have better things to do then bicker with some stuck up snob."

She was about to walk away, but she saw Shining Armor, sweating like mad pony, gesticulating a lot. 

He formed an x with his front hooves.
Shook his head and gestured the 'head-slice'.
Finally clapped his hooves together for a prayer. 

She understood none of it and looked at him quizzically. Prince, on the other hoof, yawned and coughed toward Shining Armor.

"Take note," said calmly Prince, as Shining Armor reluctantly took his pen and prepared for the worst. Prince started "Due to the following circumstances: unacceptable behavior of weather management staff, missing main manager and inability to keep sky clean from clouds according to schedule, I, Prince Blueblood, Royal Inspector..."

At the sound of it, the white mare covered in sweat, her eyes widened and looked toward Shining Armor, seeking confirmation. He nodded, assuring her that she's pretty much screwed. She dashed to Blueblood and smiled innocently.

"Oh, I'm so, so sorry, I thought you were some creepy stalker, you know. Ponies keep saying weird things, with all this stress and all, hehe..." she laughed nervously, now sweating like crazy "I p-probably should've stayed home, I'm not feeling well, I'm unbearable when I'm sick, achoo."

Prince looked at her, showing absolutely no reaction. She smiled brightly. Shining Armor gulped.

"What's your name?" he asked coldly

"B-Blossomforth, Mr inspector," she perked up "But my friends call me Blossom."

"Take note: on further notice, I recommend detailed inspection of Ponyville bramch of weather management, due to inappropriate behavior of an employee Blosso-..." he was interrupted by a pegasus mare bowing to his knees, pleading.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I called you a snob, PLEASE PLEASE DON'T CANCEL THE CELEBRATION! I'LL DO ANYTHING, JUST PLEASE!" 

Two times. That's how many times somepony fell on their knees and begged him for forgiveness this day. It felt awkward both times, this time however he didn't feel much remorse for the mare who dared to insult him just because her boss was being tardy. At least that useless tag-along bodyguard had conscience, not self-interest, in his mind when he apologized.

"Rainbow Dash. Right now."

"Yes sir!" she quickly stood up and saluted "I'll bring her right away!"

And she quickly took of, leaving dust after her. They watched for moment as a small white blur flew from cloud to cloud, until she disappeared from their view. Prince shrugged and took his seat again. He looked distastefully at the cold remaining of his tea, while Shining Armor stared at him

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking," said Blueblood, probably towards Shining Armor, even though he didn't take his eyes away from teacup "and I don't care. Ponies like her only care about anything if their neck is on the line. She should be grateful I stopped at an empty threat. I know a lot of ponies with less patience."

Shining Armor wanted to say a lot of things. Like the fact that Prince started it by being rude himself. Or that he made her cry and plead in the center of Ponyville. That all he did until now was drink tea while he was on the lookout. That he never smiles, unless drugged with zebra potions. How Yinyang panacea confirmed just how bad he was. Or that he treats him like a slave. Or many, many other things.

"So you're not worse then others, big deal!" Shining Armor muttered under his nose.

"Bigger than you think." answered Blueblood, as he pushed his cold tea away. 

Shining Armor's eyes widened at the answer, as he just realized that he actually said it out loud. Thankfully, it seemed like Prince wasn't going to delve deeper into it, so he too decided to drop it.

They waited for about ten minutes. Prince was sitting and scanning through the menu out of sheer boredom while Shining Armor looked for return of Blossomforth and her manager. Prince was on the verge of giving up and walking away, when Shining Armor caught his attention and pointed at two figures descending from the sky. One was a familiar white mare they met before. Along with her was a tall, black coated pegasus with a very distinct white/teal mohawk, with a gray, thundering cloud as a cutie mark. They both landed next to Prince, who threw the menu away and got up from his seat.

"Took you long enough, Miss Blossomforth. But if I recall correctly, Rainbow Dash was supposed to be a mare, comprised of more, let me say, live colors."

The stallion ignored the remark and walked toward him, wearing a very serious face. He coughed and introduced himself.

"Rainbow Dash is out of commission today, so I'm replacing her as her second in command. My name is Thunderlane."

"Out of commission, you say?" asked Blueblood "If I recall correctly, when asked, miss Blossomforth said she was, how did it go? 'Gone rogue' and 'hiding in bushes near Wonderbolts'."

Thunderlane raised his eyebrow and looked suspiciously at Blossom, who in turn blushed nervously and averted her eyes. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I know how that sounds," started annoyed Thunderlane "which is why I'm here to assure you that our job will be finished in time, with or without her involvement."

"Is that so?" replied Blueblood, looking over cloudy skies over him. He pointed his hoof up "Because from where I stand, there is plenty of work to do and inspection has already started. I'd say the time is up and explanations are in order."

The two stallions looked each other deep into eyes, neither blinking, just standing there silently, while their respective assistants watched them nervously and gulped in complete unison. Neither Prince nor Thunderlane seemed any bit intimidated by each other, but in reality Thunderlane was only keeping the facade for as long as he could, before he could come up with a good explanation. 

"Well?" asked Prince "Forgetting about the matter of competence of you manager, what do you have to say for you team's performance?"

"We..."Thunderlane hesitated "...we are currently heavily understaffed, due to two of our members falling to Feather Flu, which leaves only three of us to prepare an entire town. But we will finish it long before Princess arrives.” 

Prince looked suspiciously at Thunderlane. He looked for that glint in his eyes, shifty eyes, that single bead of sweat indicating he was lying in his face. There was none.

Small towns like Ponyville barely ever had a hooffull of staff on their branch of weather department. Usually the nearest big city supplied them with any qualified pegasi required. Ponyville itself is barely big enough to have its own branch. But even than, these branches were very small, ranging from three to ten ponies at most, responsible only for routine rain and keeping the wild clouds from nearby “wild place” (in this case- Everfree) out of the town limits.
Keeping that in mind, Prince Blueblood had no real reason to believe that Ponyville branch only had five members and two of them could fall sick on the same day. He was never in danger of getting Feather Fly himself, but Prince knew it was too serious to let them roam freely in skies.

“Alright then, assuming you're telling the truth about the sickness...” continued annoyed Prince “...considering your lack of active members, the questions should be: why haven't you contacted other branches with requests for help, and why is your manager running around celebrities instead of doing her job and making her SECOND in command do her duties?”

Thunderlane visibly shuddered at the sound of the highly accented word, but kept his nerves in check “Well, to answer your first question, our other members called in sick just this morning right before the shift began, so we had no time to send a call to Canterlot. And even if we had, there was no guarantee they would arrive in time.”

“So you didn't even bother? Good, continue.”

Thunderlane gulped “Rainbow Dash decided... that we should deal with the problem by ourselves and take double shifts.”

“And I thought Canterlot nobles are arrogant.” Blueblood snorted. Thunderlane finally lost his cool and made a step forward.

“Well, maybe we would've made more progress if we didn't waste time on explaining why we don't work.” announced Thunderlane, only after the fact realizing he should have kept his mouth shut. Prince did not ignore that.

“Watch your tone, peasant. You're already stepping on thin ice here, don't push your luck!” he looked around the sky once again “We're wasting a lot of time and I still haven't seen a rainbow blur cleaning the sky.”

“Rainbow Dash...” started Thunderlane. He took a deep breath and said with confidence “Rainbow Dash might be a little bit eccentric, but she's a great weather pony. Once she gets back to work, I assure you the sky will be clean in ten seconds.” 

“Ten seconds?” Prince looked at the overly serious Thunderlane

“No more. Ten seconds, flat!” 

Whatever Prince Blueblood had to say after that was lost, as he burst out with laughter. Thunderlane did not react at all and waited patiently for Prince to stop. Shining Armor and Blossomforth kept being nervous. Finally, Prince stopped and took a breather, before backing to his old cynical tone.

“Hilarious, really. But I'm not here to laugh, 'Mister Second in Command'. I'm supposed to rely the information to Princess, saying that everything is fine and Celebration will be held in proper conditions.”

“And it will be. I give my word for it.” 

“Yes, except I don't value it as much as you think.”

Thunderlane had words he wanted to say. The exact line he had in his mind right now was “maybe you will, when I buck you so hard, your bowels will loose up just enough, to make that giant pole sticking out of your plot slide out along with your royal crap”.

Thunderlane had to resort to his last line of defense. He really wished it wouldn't come to this, but stakes were too high.

“Would you like to bet on that, Mr Inspector?”

Blueblood raised his eyebrow “Excuse me?”

“A simple bet. I say the skies will be crystal clear in less then an hour from now on.”

Prince Blueblood smiled “Hour, you say?” he looked at the clouds. A similar conditions usually took an hour to clean up in Canterlot, which had an infinitely more horsepower in their department, even if Ponyville wasn't two members short. Three, counting one that gone rogue. “Impossible.”

“So, do you accept?”

“That depends on the wages. What do you propose?”

“If you win and in one hour there will be even a single cloud in the skies...” he smiled and looked at Blossomforth, who stared at him with a very much scared expression. He turned back to Prince “All five of us Ponyville weather ponies will become your servants for an entire week. No charge, starting day after Celebration finishes.” 

Blueblood opened his mouth, but failed to think of a cynical remark. Or any remark at all, for that matter. Either Thunderlane was the craziest pony he ever met, or the greatest liar ever. 

“THUNDERLANE!” shouted panicked Blossomforth “Are you CRAZY!? I never agreed to that!”

Shining Armor was equally shocked, but also couldn't say a single word. Like his boss, he couldn't see a single sigh of Thunderlane lying about anything. He was apparently very confident about his bold choice of words. 

“And, what if I lose?” finally asked Prince

Thunderlane smiled “Then we will forget about everything and enjoy the celebration like originally intended. You have nothing to lose, Mister Inspector.”

Blueblood thought for a moment. He had no shortage of servants in his quarters and money was never a problem to begin with. But still, it would be amusing to have five more pegasi on his every whim. And as Thunderlane said, he had nothing to lose.

“Fine then, let it be so. But I have to warn you, I'm a stallion of my word.”

“So am I.”

And so they wrote the deal on a scroll, signed and finalized with Blueblood clan seal. Blueblood took the deal with him.

“Well then, Mister Thunderlane, I will see you in one hour to take what is rightfully mine. Don't be a fool to try and escape the town.”

“The thought never crossed my mind.” 

And with that, they parted their ways, Prince walking towards the outskirts of Ponyville. Shining Armor followed him, but stopped a few steps in and looked behind him at the pair of pegasi. He really wished he could help them right now, but even he realized that cleaning the sky with three pegasi in one hour was a futile effort. Maybe if they asked Wonderbolts to help, they could stand a chance? They were conveniently in Ponyville right now, so maybe it was worth a shot? Chances were slim, but better then slaving under Prince Blueblood.
He thought he should share that idea with Thunderlane and Blossomforth, so he ditched Prince for a moment and dashed toward the pegasi pair.

“That has to be your stupidest idea ever!” said Blossomforth “Why in all hell did you bet everypony?”

“Because 'somepony' had the bright idea and provoked a friggin noble on inspection!” replied Thunderlane “I had to think fast!”

“Fast, but not stupid, you moron!” she shouted back “You and me are bad enough, but why did you mix in Cloud and Rainy, of all ponies? And Dash? Do you really think SHE will go for it?”

“Oh heck no, knowing Dash she'll blow up his mansion if she finds out. But that won't happen, because the skies will be clear!”

“And how are WE going to do that?”

“Not we. Dash.”

“Thundy, I know you and Dash go way back, but...”

“She is a braggart, she's annoying and brash, but damnit, if anypony can do it, it's her! Trust me, babe.” he put his hoof on her shoulder “Believe in me, believing in her.”

Blossomforth snorted and calmed down a bit “Ok. Fine. Leave it all to Dash..”

They stopped their chatter when they noticed Shining Armor approaching.

“What do you want?” asked Blossomforth, very bitterly.

“I-Im sorry about what just happened...” started Shining Armor, scratching back of his head “... but maybe, if you could ask Wonderbolts, then...” 

Thunderlane raised a hoof “Stop now!” Thunderlane interrupted “If you want to help, then don't bother. This is our problem.”

“B-but...”

“No buts. I appreciate the thought, but we dug ourselves into this, and by Celestia's plot, we will get out by ourselves.”

They looked each other in eyes. Thunderlane seemed like such a confident pony before, but right now, not so much. This was like looking into a mirror- both had a rough start, made a stupid decision that seemed like a good one and now have to live with it. At least Thunderlane had Twi-... Blossomforth (I can't be the only one who sees it, right?) with him. 

“You sure you can handle it?” asked Shining Armor “One hour isn't a lot. Even if you find Rainbow Dash, will it even make a difference?”

Thunderlane snorted and put his hoof on Shining's shoulder.

“Ten seconds, flat.” repeated Thunderlane “You don't have to believe me, but you'll see.” he laughed. Shining Armor looked at Blossomforth, but she just shrugged.

“Well, that was a rough start. How about we start over? What's your name?”

“Shining Armor. Nice to meet you,” he extended his hoof toward the black pegasus. And so did Thunderlane ”Sorry for my boss.” 

“I can relate. Leaders can be pain in flanks.” admitted Thunderlane

“Tell me about it...” muttered Blossomforth, eyeing Thunderlane. Her comment was swiftly ignored.

“Well, we gotta go. I hope our next meeting won't end up with slavery.”

“That's not legal anymore.”

“So they say.”

They both laughed and parted ways, Shining turning toward Prince Blueblood, while both pegasi launched into the air.

“By the way...” added Thunderlane “...if you happen to find a rainbow maned blue mare, tell her two things. One: clean skies, right now!”

“Ok. And the second?”

“Avoid me.”

“Why?”

“Because I'll kill her in cold blood if I ever see her again.”

> 8. Three painfully awkward conversations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“A little bit higher there, Doug, oh nono, Clementine, try a tinsy-bitsy bit louder, oh and Benjamin, darling, you start your part too soon, please try to wait a quarter second more, if that’s okay with you...”

“Quack!”

“No, Duckie, I’m sorry, you can’t join the choir.”

“Quack.”

“Yes, I know you’ll do your best and I love your singing voice.”

“Quack...”

“I’m serious, I really do! It’s just that, you see, it’s a little bit too include you. The celebration is in few hours and we have so little time to practice...”

“Quack.”

“I know you practiced a lot and I know you memorized all the lyrics, but we’re full. I’m sorry.”

“...quack...”

“Oh come on, you know I wouldn’t lie to you!” the gentle yellow pegasus walked towards the duck and gently patted its head “There, there, who’s my little Duckie?” 

“Quack?”

“Yes, you are!” she nuzzled the ducks bill “Don’t worry, there will be next time and I promise, you’ll be the first one to know.” she turned back to the rest of her choir, composed of about two dozen of birds of many types and colors.

“Okay now, let’s get this one more time, but this time, imagine Princess herself is listening,” she raised her baton and was about to start again, but noticed two hummingbirds chirping with each other “Kenny, Katja, can I have your attention please?”

“Chirp chirp!”

“We’re all tired, I know, so let’s try our best. Once we get it right, we’ll have a break. What do you say?”

“Chirp!”

“You just went ten minutes ago.”

“...chirp?”

“Yes, I keep count. Now please, just hold on and be nice.”

“...chirp.”

“Kenny, language!”

“Chirp!”

“That’s better. Now, on my count, three, two, o-...”

“Excuse me!”

“MEEEP!”

The yellow pegasus mare jumped and turned back, only after the fact realizing that the nearest tree, her cottage or any other hide-able object was way too far away for her to subtly move herself into a safe place. Instead, there she was, out in the open field, exposed and vulnerable, as her flying friends scattered away. Instead, all she had for protection, was her very long, pink mane, which she often used to shield herself from strangers. 

Prince Blueblood and Shining Armor have just arrived to witness a fragile, yellow pegasus with beautiful, long pink mane that covered half her face. Which perfectly described the one they were supposed to meet here.

“You’re Fluttershy, right?” asked annoyed Prince. The mare looked around, then moved her mouth, but no sound was heard.

“I’m afraid I can’t hear you.”

“...s, ‘m...f... tter...y...” she whispered. Blueblood rolled his eyes.

“Oh brother, it’s gonna be one of these...” he muttered under his nose. He coughed and made one step forward, but once he set his for on the ground, she instantly made one step backwards. He stopped for a moment, then made another step and tried to introduce himself, but she took another step backwards, carefully observing the stranger. He could see her tremble in fear. He looked at her with annoyance. She kept her eyes away, but once in a while took a peek at him, but just as fast turned her gaze away. He took one more step forward, she took another step backward.

Blueblood sighed and looked at Shining Armor “I give up, you take over.”

Unlike Prince Blueblood, Shining Armor had a smile on his face ever since he first laid his eyes on Fluttershy. Yes, she was pretty, in a very classic way, but that’s not what charmed him. As he looked at her, he fought the urge to d’aww from the cuteness. She reminded him mostly of a stray kitten, protective and scared, but also intrigued and seeking attention, just failing to gather the courage to express it properly. He realized that comparing a pony, especially adult, to a stray kitten was really wrong, but he couldn’t help himself. Or, in other language, his big brother instinct kicked in. 

He slowly, but surely, walked forward and talked in a very gentle manner.

“There, there, we’re not going to hurt you.” he cooed her, pulling his hoof forward. The mare was surprised, but against all odds it worked much better then Prince’s approach, as she looked at him with curiosity.

“Hello there, my name is Shining Armor. What’s yours?”

The mare shifted her eyes, but finally took a breath and answered “F-fluttershy...”

“Fluttershy...” repeated Shining Armor “...that’s a very pretty name.”

Fluttershy blushed, but did make a step forward, revealing a bit more of her face.

“Oh, it’s nothing special...” she answered, nervously stomping her hoof on the ground “...I-I like your mane, I-I mean, name too...” she blushed even more.

“Thanks,” answered Shining Armor with a smile “we heard your bird choir, it’s quite something. We don’t have many of those in Canterlot.”

“Oh, they’re not mine. I mean, I a-assembled them, but they’re not my pets. Just f-friends from the Whitewood forest. We only started a few months ago.”

“Really? But they sounded gorgeous!” Fluttershy blushed at the comment “Like they were training professionally for years!”

“Oh no, it doesn’t work that way!” said Fluttershy, her tone suddenly more confident and louder, but still fairly quiet for pony standards “A lot of ponies in big cities think that they have to keep them closed alone in cages and train them from birth, but that only makes them feel really bad and confused. If they can’t feel the nature around them, they’re depressed and their voices can’t develop naturally. Not to mention they lose all contact with their kind, where they grow through hardships and experience, and through rivalry for mates, who are attracted to their singing and...” she suddenly stopped, when she saw a surprised face of Shining Armor “...oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to bore you with this!”

“Oh, nonono, please, keep going, it’s very fascinating!”

“Ekhem!” Prince Blueblood coughed “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Right...” Shining Armor scratched his head “Miss Fluttershy, this is Prince Blueblood, the Royal Inspector from Canterlot. We’re here to see if preparations for Summer Sun Celebration are going as planned...” Fluttershy’s eyes widened “...but, we see that everything is good, so we can go now and not disturb you anymore.”

He was about to turn around and leave, but was stopped by a hoof reaching his tail. A bright yellow coated hoof, to be precise. He turned to see Fluttershy, her face mostly obscured by her hair, so only one, large pleading, beady eye could be seen.

“Umm, don’t you want to... listen to them some more? If... if that’s okay with you?” she asked in the most cutesy, squeaky voice possible. Shining Armor froze for a moment.

“BY SWEET CELESTIAS BEARD, WHY ARE YOU SO CUTE!? THERE SHOULD BE A LAW AGAINST THIS MUCH ADORABLENESS IN ONE PONY! STOP BEING SO CUTE OR I’LL GET A HEART ATTACK!” Shining Armor did NOT say that, but definitely had that thought roaming inside his head.

Prince Blueblood groaned and facehooved, but was glad that this time it wasn’t him. “Fine. One song. We still haven’t found Wonderbolts.”

Fluttershy whistled into the air, which made all the birds come back to their respective place. She took a stand before them and once again grabbed her baton.

“Okay my sweeties, show these gentlecolts what you can do! And a one, and a two, and a thr-...“ she stopped, when a loud voice came from the skies.

“INCOMING! GET DOWN!”

“What...” started Blueblood, but couldn’t finish, because...

SLAM!

Prince Blueblood had a strange feeling of deja vu. Once again something hit him very, very hard and very fast, but to him it felt like eternity, as a blue figure slammed into him without warning (there was one, but his memory of it wasn’t clear). They rolled on the ground for few good seconds, until they finally stopped, Prince lying on his back, crushed by a weight of a giant (actually, average sized), extremely heavy (not really, since pegasi have hollow bones and low body fat) monster (pony stallion). 

“Owww...” moaned the stallion on top, massaging his head “...that could’ve gone better...”

“You... don’t... say...” muttered Blueblood, stopping himself from screaming, only because his lungs were crushed by a set of hooves. Once his eyes stopped being all blurry, he looked at the assailant that lay atop him. He could feel the irony slamming harder than any pegasus, as he noticed a stallion in a wonderbolts uniform, standing dark blue hair and cracked goggles. Just who he was looking for. He saw him once already, but couldn’t quite remember his name. Meanwhile, Shining Armor went toward the nearest bushes, trying to calm Fluttershy down, since she ran there and now trembled in fear. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry, darling,” said the blue pegasus ” must’ve been blinded by your beauty.”

“What...”

“Though you do sound a little...” he stopped talking, took a short pause and took his goggles away, revealing his green eyes. He looked carefully at Blueblood, eyes meeting. They blinked.

“You’re not a mare.”

“No s**t, Sherclop!”

“Well, heh... that’s just awkward.”

“I’d say.”

“I never thought I’d crash into a guy before... not sure what to say here.”

“No idea.”

“Well, not that you’re ugly or anything, I gotta admit you are one handsome devil, but I’m not that kind of stallion. So, no hard feelings?”

“It’s alright. You’re a Wonderbolt?”

“Yes. Name’s Soarin.”

“Right, Soarin... Could you do something for me?”

“Sure, depends. Nothing too hard, I presume?”

“No, just a little favor, nothing too complicated, but it’s something that could make my life a bit easier.”

“Ok then, shoot.”

“GET THE BUCK OFF ME!!!”

Fluttershy, who almost walked out of the bushes with Shining’s help, now ran away even faster, leaving only speck of dust in her place, spooked by Blueblood. Shining Armor sighed and decided to leave her alone for now. He added her to the mental list of mares to apologize later. That list was growing rapidly.

Soarin quickly flapped his wings and jumped away from Prince Blueblood, who stood up on his hooves, not without problems though. He swayed a little bit and closed his eyes, waiting for the feeling of vertigo to go away. 

“You okay, man?” asked Soarin, as he went to help Prince keep his balance. 

“Somepony just slammed into me!” replied Blueblood, then raised his voice “DO I LOOK OKAY?”

“I guess that’s a no, then...” realized Soarin, as he scratched his head “We have a good field medic, maybe you’d like her to check you up? She’s a cutie, and very thorough with her work, if you know what I mean.” He smiled and winked. Blueblood gagged.

“Over my dead body!”

“Oh...” he thought for a moment “...she has a twin brother, I heard he’s just as thoro-...”

“Are you insinuating something?” he looked angrily at Soarin, who raised his hooves to stop him

“Woah, I never said anything! It’s just that, there’s nothing wrong with...”

“IM NOT GAY!”

“Okay, I get, I get it! I never said you were, geez!”

“Then why did you said that thing before?”

Soarin feigned ignorance “Said what?”

“About the medic?”

“She’s a mare.”

“And her brother?”

“What about him?”

“You said he’s just as thorough.”

“That’s what I heard.”

“Then why did you bring it up?”

“Because it’s true... so they say.”

“What does this have to do with...” he stopped and shook his head “Arghh, I’m wasting time here!” he turned around and walked away.

He came back few seconds later, once he realized something.

“I forgot was looking for you.”

“Then why did you just lea-...”

“STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS!”

As the two were arguing, Shining Armor looked from the distance and decided to wait it out. Mostly, because he was kinda-sorta supposed to protect Prince from any harm, including stray pegasi in the skies. He sighed and wondered if Fluttershy would be back so he could apologize, but he noticed something in the bushes. They were shaking, as if something was inside them. Could this be... danger? An actual threat? Shining looked over at Prince who kept arguing with the Wonderbolt and after making sure he was fine (relatively speaking), he sneaked towards the bushes. He carefully took a peek inside, expecting an assassin or a timberwolf, but instead found...

“Yes, I am that awesome. But that’s cool, you can still hang out with me... no, way too selfish, How about... Oh yes, I watched all your shows, I know the moves inside and o-... no way, that makes me sound like a creepy fangirl! Maybe... oh you know, if there’s a slot, I’ll gladly fill it, if that’s okay with you... no, no, no, NO! That makes me sound like Fluttershy! Arghhh, words, why are you so hard?”

Shining Armor couldn’t help but giggle at the light blue mare hidden here, practicing her speeches loudly, not even noticing him. He looked from a different angle and noticed something familiar. That mane, all those colors...

“Rainbow Dash?” asked suddenly.

“AAAAAA!” screamed mare just as suddenly. In response to that, Shining Armor quickly dove into the bushes himself and tackled the mare to the ground, putting a hoof to her mouth, muffling her completely. Outside, Prince Blueblood and Soarin heard a sound.

“Did you hear something?” asked Prince

“Sounded like a surprised, tackled fangirl.”

Prince looked at him questionably. Soarin shrugged in response.

“I'm a Wonderbolt. It happens.”

Back in the bushes, Shining Armor was laying on the ground, Rainbow Dash’s muzzle restrained by his one hoof, while her wings and front hooves kept by second hoof, his hind hooves held together hers. Rainbow Dash was super strong for someone with hollow bones, but she couldn’t force herself out of unicorn’s grapple, even though she tried really hard. Shining Armor on his part struggled to keep her under control, which was not an easy task and achieved only due to his extensive close quarters combat training with best instructors that Canterlot had to offer. He peeked out of the bush and sighed with relief, once he confirmed that the coast was clear and Blueblood didn’t notice. He then whispered into her ear.

“Look, I’m not going to hurt you, I promise!”

Rainbow Dash struggled for a moment, but finally calmed herself down, so Shining could slowly let her go. 

And then she kicked his balls!



Moondancer gasped loudly and took her attention from the book she was just reading. Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, who sat right next to her in the University library, looked at their friend with concern.

“Moondancer, are you okay?” asked Sunset Shimmer

“This feeling...” started Moondancer, looking into the distance. Her two friends looked there as well, but noticed nothing out of ordinary “...somepony just took a hard blow to their stallionhood!” a single tear ran through her cheek. 

Sunset and Twilight looked at her. Then at each other. They rolled their eyes and ignored her, going back to studies. 



“W-why...?” asked pained stallion, as he rolled in the ground.

“Creep!” she kicked him again, but this time he was shielding himself with hooves.

“Ow, stop it... I... wasn’t... going to...”

“What the hay dude! Who jumps at ponies like some creepo molester, anyway?” she quietly screamed (or loudly whispered). She started wiping herself with disgust “Ewewewew, I need a shower!”

“Listen...” continued Shining Armor, fighting off the pain with all his willpower. Good thing they were still in the bushes, he had no qualms in laying on the ground in pain “... you... need... to... damnit, it hurts so much!”

“I sure hope so!” replied disgusted pegasus “What do you want, creep?”

“You are... needed... sweet Celestia, it feels like they’ll fall off!” he took a deep breath and finally managed to sit on his hooves properly “...okay, I’m better now... damn it filly, learn restraint!”

“I don’t wanna hear that from you!” she huffed and crossed her hooves

“Anyway, Thunderlane and Blossomforth are looking for you.”

“Oh, THEY sent you...” she rolled her eyes “... I told them, I’ll take care of it on my pace.”

“You might be running out of time here.”

“Pfft, filly please,” Rainbow Dash snorted and waved a hoof “I have plenty of time. The inspection won’t be here for hours anyway.” She smiled smugly. 

Moments passed in silence. They looked each other in the eyes. Smile on Rainbow Dash’s face slowly faded, as he brain very, very slowly connected the dots. She was now starting to sweat as she looked at Shining Armor. Her eyes widened.

“Umm... by any chance...” she started, smiling nervously.

“By any chance what?”

“Y-you’re not the... i-inspection guy? Right?”

Shining Armor smiled brightly and waited with his reply, making Rainbow Dash sweat more. Sure, he was a kind hearted guy, but his stallionhood demanded justice. Or at least, a little bit of revenge. Few seconds of nerves were all it took to satisfy Shining’s cruel side.

“No, that’s not me.”

Rainbow Dash fell on her knees with relief “Oh thank Celestia... Don’t scare me like that, man!”

“But that guy is.” He pointed at Blueblood, smiling.

Then Rainbow Dash screamed again and once again, Shining Armor tackled her again.

“I swear I heard something this time!” said Blueblood, looking around the area, but once again seen nothing of interest.

“Sounded like a panicked pegasus mare assaulted by a really strong unicorn soldier." he was once again met with surprised stare "...what?”

“Will you stop doing that?” asked Shining Armor, as he laid there on the ground on his back, Rainbow Dash atop him on her back, while his hooves covered her mouth. She struggled, but not as hard as before “I’m trying to hide you from him, so you could clean the skies! You have less than thirty minutes already!” he removed his hoof from her mouth, but still kept a steady grip on her body.

“Okay, okay, I’m going already, geez.”

They were silent for a moment. Shining Armor realized that right now Rainbow Dash was blushing and their bodies were touching a little too much for comfort. His breath was reaching back of her head and they could hear each others heartbeats. His face got covered in blush as he slowly realized how it looked from the outside.

“If I let you go, you’re gonna hit me again, are you?”

“I might.”

Shining Armor slowly released Rainbow Dash from his grasp. She slowly stood up, fixed her mane and coat. He did the same. They both looked at each other, but quickly averted their eyes. They scratched their heads. She didn’t kick him this time.

“So... should we pretend that nothing happened?” asked Shining Armor.

“Because nothing did.” Answered Rainbow Dash

“Exactly.”

“Yeah.”

They stood there for a few more seconds.

“So, I should go now. You know, clean the skies. Because I’m the weather manager.”

“Yes, do so.”

“Yup.”

“Mhm.”

Another pause.

“Just to be clear, nothing happened between us here.” said Rainbow

“Nope, nothing.”

“We didn’t develop any relationship.”

“Not really, nope. If that’s cool with you.

“No, I’m okay. And you?”

“I’m good.”

“Awesome.”

“Cool.”

They stood there for a while longer. Rainbow Dash hated awkwardness just as much as Shining Armor.

“Ok, bye!” and so Rainbow Dash, well, dashed out of the bushes and quickly disappeared on the skies. Shining Armor would probably gaze after her, if he just didn’t remember how painful part of him felt, it was almost unbelievable. But he was a stallion, and like a stallion should, he walked out of the bushes, careful not to alarm Prince Blueblood or Soarin of it. It seemed like he succeed and walked towards the pair, who were in the midst of a conversation. It seemed like nopony found out.



About ten feet away, another bush shook. A small, dark orange filly with purple mane, emerged from it, her eyes wide.

"Wh-what just happened?" she asked herself and slowly walked back to Ponyville.




“... but if there’s only two, then how do you split it between seven stallions?” asked Prince, baffled by Soarin’s point of view.

“That’s simple. First, you need to take half a dozen fresh pineapples... oh hi there.”

They stopped their conversation once they noticed Shining Armor was back. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the context of this conversation. 

“Where have you been all this time?” asked bitterly Blueblood. Shining Armor shifted his eyes and smiled.

“Umm... little colts room...?”

“Sure, whatever. So, back to our conversation...” he turned back to Soarin, but couldn’t resume the talk because...

“SOOOOOAAAAAARIIIN!” shouted a very, very angry mare in the skies.

Soarin gulped.“Oh, balls.” Muttered Soarin, as he looked away. Shining Armor shuddered at the bad choice of swear words.

Soon after, a wonderbolt mare landed right next to them. There was no mistaking it- that small, but incredibly fit figure, flaming orange standing mane, those brown eyes. Spitfire. A true legend among the Wonderbolts, a record beater on almost any race track, the face on almost all posters from last few years and the most often spoken name everytime a topic acrobatic flying comes into conversations. Despite being very young, roughly their age, give or take, she was an accomplished Wonderbolt for five years already, captain of the own team for two years.

And she was swearing like a sailor at one of her members.

“Where in flying *** were you doing, you *** ***!?*” started but did not end for a long time and kept on going. Shining was a guard for some time and he saw and heard a lot of things, but hearing her made him feel dirty.

Once she stopped shouting at Soarin, she finally gasped and smiled “Well, I’m glad you’re okay. But go to med bay anyway, just to be sure. And as for you, mister.” She turned to Blueblood and bowed her head very low “I’m terribly sorry for my stupid subordinate. I will take all the responsibility for his reckless behavior.” As she was talking, Soarin stood behind her and moved his mouth to imitate her speech, complete with mimicking her head movements, but adding some eye rolling to it. Shining couldn’t help but snicker at it. Blueblood was not amused. Neither was Spitfire.

“I know what you’re doing, Soarin.”

“Dangit!”

Prince Blueblood coughed “Well, I guess since no permanent damage was done, I’ll let it slide for the time being. In the meantime, I’m conducting an inspection of the celebration and, for once, I would like to speak with somepony competent.”

And so they moved away from Shining Armor and Soarin, letting the two low level stallions sigh with relief.

“Geez, I thought she was never gonna end.” Whined Soarin, as he sat on the ground, wiping sweat. 

Shining Armor joined him on the ground “She’s a... charming lady.” 

“Yeah, truly a beautiful monster. ‘Join the wonderbolts’, she said. ‘It’ll be fun!’... yeah, I bet she’s having fun watching me suffer.”

“But still, to shout at somepony like that. Does she hate you that much?”

“Hate?” asked Soarin, then burst into laughter “You kidding? She’s my best friend!”

“Really?”

“Yup. Ever since kindergarten, we were pretty much inseparable. We still are. Even though there is a light year long skill gap between us, she still insisted on having me on her team.” 

"I see."

Moment of silence passed.

“By the way...” mentioned Soarin, as he raised his hoof toward Shining Armor. And waited. Shining looked at the raised hoof, then at Soarin, looking for an answer “Hoofbump, please?” added Soarin. Shining Armor shrugged and bumped his hoof, if only because there was no reason not to. 

Or was there?

“Why were we hoofbumping?”

“Because you scored.”

“Scored what?”

“That rainbow chick. Just a while ago.”

Shining Armor stopped. His brain froze. And then burned so hot, that his forehead, cheeks and everything on face and nearby area became very, very red.

“Bah-bah-bah...” muttered unintelligibly Shining Armor

“Oh come on, don’t try to deny it, you sexy demon, you!” Soarin bumped his shoulder “I saw it when you jumped into the bush and made her scream not once, but twice in a matter of minutes!”

Shining Armor wanted to deny everything. All of it. His entire last hour of existence. But couldn’t shape a single word that could be looked up in dictionary. Soarin continued.

“But seriously dude, be more careful next time. All this time the bushes were shacking madly, at times your hooves or tails were sticking out and once you were all done, she flew so fast, she left rainbows and dust trail leading there. Not to mention, you walked funny and had a giant blush on your face. And I admire the risk you took, just like that, in bushes like a boss, but there was only so much nonsense I could come up with to keep your boss distracted for you. No, no, it’s okay. You'd do it for me too, I can tell.” he patted him on the back.

Shining Armor continued to blush, but abandoned all pretense of explanations and just nodded. In fact, he preferred this version a bit more, if only because the other alternative was confessing to the groin shot.

“Heck, she was stalking me for an hour, just when I found a free moment to finally talk to her, see what kind of mare she was, I lost control midair and crashlanded into your boss. I didn’t realize she was one of those ‘easy’ types. I prefer mares with more personality, dreams and self-esteem, you know, those that won’t throw their plots at first uniform they see... not that I dislike that type either, once in a while.”

Shining Armor was... no, he wasn’t. Not at all.

“But still, it’s dang good to meet a fellow player around here. We gotta go get a drink sometimes, exchange tips, help each other, you know. We hunters gotta stick together.”

And just then, Spitfire and Prince Blueblood went back, after talking about the actual important stuff. Blueblood walked to Shining Armor, telekinetically pulling out the checklist from his saddlebags and checking the Wonderbolts. He also checked the bird choir while he was at it.

“Alright, it was good to talk to somepony competent, for a change.” Said to Spitfire. She nodded.

“Likewise, Sir Blueblood. I will see you at the celebration, then. Come on, Soarin.”

“Coming, honey!”

“Come again?”

"That's what she said."

"What?"

“Nothing.” He sighed and made a few steps toward her. He stopped, turned back to Shining Armor and whispered to him.

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. See ya later, buddy.”

And the Woonderbolts were gone. Shining stood there, still stunned. At least his gonads weren’t hurting anymore. Prince Blueblood watched as the two Wonderbolts left and noticed something else.

“Well what do you know, the sky actually IS clean!” he admitted, looking at the clear skies, then at his hoofwatch “And they still have twenty more minutes. Huh, I guess that Rainbow Dash mare isn’t as overrated as I thought.”

“Yeah...” admitted absently Shining Armor “...she’s... something, all right.”
> 9. It gets bad
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prince Blueblood had enough of Ponyville and its inhabitants for many years. About one hundred, possibly more if he ever had the misfortune of achieving immortality.
After a long and painful journey he was done, his job complete and over with and he was finally able to get some rest, at least until he’ll report back to Princess. He had about one more hour until she visited, just enough to lay down, relax and calm his nerves. After all, what place was more comfortable and silent than Public Library and if he ever saw one more crazy pony from this town...

“SURPRISE!”

Two Canterlot unicorns screamed when they found Golden Oaks Library was full balloons, streamers, confetti and, most of all, ponies, all bundled together in one place, looking expectantly the two newcomers. Shining Armor could recognize a lot of them. There were a lot of Apples (and Oranges) he met at the Sweet Apple Acres (though Applejack,  and Big Macintosh were strangely absent), many mares they passed and Prince left unconscious, ponies working near town hall on their own stands (with marshmallow 'goddess' thankfully absent) and many ponies he never saw before. Weather management ponies were not present, neither was Fluttershy. He did saw Ditzy and Doctor in the crowd, both waving towards them, Ditzy quickly averting her gaze, blushing. 
But most of all, they saw one pony they did not expect, but did not forget either.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie and I made this party just for you!” quickly said the pink, fizzy maned mare, as she approached them with party hats, putting one on each of their heads without asking “You remember me, right? I was near the station today, just walking and saying hi to everypony, then I saw you and I was like GAAASP! And you were like AAAAAH!, because I didn’t know you, and I know everypony here, so if I don’t know you, that means you’re new, and if you’re new, you must feel lonely (although you seemed like close friends, so maybe I overreacted) because you don’t know anypony in Ponyville, so I decided to throw you a PARTY! Now everypony can meet you and you will get tons of friends!” she stopped to take a long gasp, then continued “Do you like it? We have everything! Sodas, sarsparillas, spaghetti, sundaes, sunflowers, cider, which sadly breaks the alliteration, but phonetically it’s the same so I let it slide because it’s deeeelish! Not hungry? We have dance floor with pop, polka, polka-pop, pony-polka, pop-pop, polish poppy polka, pubstep (which is just dubstep, but I wanted to keep alliteration going, because it’s funny that way) and pink metal, not sure what it is, but it’s pink so it should be cool, oh and we have games! We have boggle, bobble bubble bundle, big bomb baldness, bippity bop buttoms and no party is complete without  pin the tail on the pony. Yes, I know the last one doesn’t fit, but it’s my favourite, I couldn’t help myself. I would’ve gotten more, but I was running out of time so I had to improvise a little.” She took another deep gasp and wiped the sweat.
“So, what do you think?”

Prince Blueblood and Shining Armor were standing in their places, jaws dropped, staring at Pinkie Pie. She smiled brightly and waited their answer, like everypony else gathered.

“It’s...” Shining Armor was the first to break silence “... nice?”

Everypony cheered loudly, the music started and the party has officially begun, with everypony starting to enjoy themselves on the dance floor, games or just chatting. Several ponies approached the two and started bombarding them with questions. 

Shining Armor tried to satisfy all of them, but felt much too overwhelmed by the amount of attention from all those mares, especially by those who asked him to dance, to the point of arguing between each other over order, drawing straws and taking dibs. Never in his life was he surrounded by so much females, garnering for his attention. And they enjoyed his awkwardness a little too much.

Prince Blueblood, on the other hoof, was the exact opposite. He hated parties. He swiftly ignored all the commotion and walked toward the tables with drinks, as he needed one right now to not explode. That did not discourage mares from following him around anyway, their memories of earlier charm way too fresh to dissuade them. And one especially couldn’t get the hint.

“Hey, why the frowny face? This is a party, party ponies should be smiling, because party is funny and not saddy. It’s a new word I just made up, it’s like funny in reverse, which is kinda funny, except not! Wanna dance?”

“No.”

“Oh, maybe a round of bippity bop buttoms? I must warn you, I’m a champion.”

“No.”

“But I can go easy on you, if you want...”

“No.”

“Oh, then maybe...”

“Which part of me ignoring you don’t you understand?”

She stopped for a moment, raised w hoof to her chin then shrugged “All of it?”

Prince groaned and kept on ignoring her, as she kept on bouncing after him and showered him with attention anyway.



“Can you believe her?” asked a certain cream earth pony mare with rose colored hair “Does Pinkie Pie know the concept of ‘I saw him first’?”

“Technically, she met them before any of us,” added bright magenta mare with lime mane “so she has dibs on both. Also, it’s her party.”

“It’s THEIR party,” argued rose maned mare “she just started it.”

“You say it as if Pinkie had some ulterior motives! Or maybe you have some, eh, Rose?”

“S-shut up, Daisy!” she covered in blush and looked away. Daisy giggled in response.

“What do you think, Lily?” asked Daisy behind her, but heard no answer. She turned around “Lily?”



Lily Blossom wasn’t a very sociable pony.  She was very much liked by her friends, family and the entire town, even if she couldn't quite speak to them all that well. Born an earth pony in a traditional, completely unicorn family in Neighpon, she was treated as a disgrace to her bloodline, living in a society ruled by unicorns and attending almost purely unicorn school. She was very pretty even back then, her raspberry coat and blonde hair being rather rare occurrence in back home. She wasn't even trying to attract popular colts, or make other fillies jealous, but it was enough for them to consider verbal and physical abuse, forever scarring her gentle soul. But ever since moving to Ponyville, she lead a happy life, sharing house and business with her two best friends, Rose Luck and Daisy Wishes. Her life was good and she was content with what she got- a low pay, hard and dirty job of growing, caring and selling flowers. She couldn’t ask for more. She didn’t dare ask for more. She had no right to ask for anything out of her reach. 

She was really grateful to Pinkie Pie for inviting her, like she always did, even if just because she was always near Rose or Daisy. They were the ponies you wanted to know- both pretty, smart, easy to talk to, kind. Next to them, Lily felt like an awkward extra accessory that comes as a bundle. Take two, you must get the third one. And she felt really awkward even being here, especially as two new stallions appeared in town, which was rare, and every time it happened, mares were fighting over each other to get to them first. She didn’t want to take anything or anypony away from other great mares, much more deserving then her. So she was sitting alone by the wall, sighing over a half empty paper cup of apple cider, looking out of the window, wondering if she should just go back home.

“WATCH OUT!”

Lily barely noticed a mare that slipped on a spilled whipped cream on the floor, carrying a stack of glass punch bowls, which were now flying toward her, with only seconds to avoid. Lily only watched and couldn’t even shriek in fear, only covered her head from the incoming glass, realizing that it was futile. Then she heard a noise of crashing glass, falling right next to her, as she just stood there helplessly. Only after a few seconds  and realizing she was unscathed, she slowly opened her eyes and looked. She saw everypony in library looking at her and glass shards few feet away. Everything was strangely colored in purple, like she was looking through a smoked glass.

“Are you alright, miss?” asked a concerned voice of a tall, white stallion that just walked to her. His horn was glowing and she could see that it’s glow was connected to the purple wall. He lifted the barrier and carefully grabbed her hoof. “Miss, are you alright? Are you not hurt somewhere?” asked gently Shining Armor.

Lily froze and couldn’t say a thing, partly from shock caused by near death experience, but mostly because of those big, concerned blue eyes that she couldn’t take her gaze of off.

“Oh dear, Lily, are you alright?” asked a mare who dropped the glass bowls “I’m so sorry, I slipped, I didn’t mean to!”

“She’ll be fine.” Assured her Shining Armor with a smile “She’s just a bit shaken, but otherwise unhurt.”

“Lily!” Rose quickly dashed toward her friend and hugged her “Oh, thank Celestia you’re alright! We were worried sick about you! Daisy!” she shouted and waved to their friend “I found her, she’s fine. She’s... Lily?” Rose looked into dead eyes of her friend. She waved a hoof before her face “Daisy, I think Lily’s broken!”



“Umm, mister Prince?” asked shyly Ditzy Doo, as she approached Prince on his way to drink table, managing to slip in the second Pinkie Pie was gone for a moment to entertain other guests. He quietly growled as he scanned the mailmare, but quickly grunted with disgust as he noticed her derped eyes “About what happened before... umm, I’m flattered and all, but I-I don’t think I’m ready for any sort of relationships, so, if you don’t mind, we could just be friends?”

Prince deadpanned and looked at Ditzy with a very, very bemused face “What made you think I need any friends?” he passed by her, completely ignoring the mare. She stood there for a moment longer, thinking.

“I warned you,” said Doctor, as he walked toward her and put a hoof on her shoulder “this is his true self. Quite sad, don’t you think?”

“Yes,” Ditzy nodded “he’s really hurt. More than I thought.”



“Ya think it’s a good idea?” asked Applejack, as she walked with his brother through Ponyville, coming to a Pinkie Pie party they were both invited to.

“Eyup.” Answered Big Macintosh “If he won’t remember anythin’, it’s all fine’n’dandy an’ we can pretend nothin’ ever happened. But if he does, then sooner we apologize, the better.”

“Ah guess ya have a point... but still, t’aint fair we have’ta apologize for HIS allergy! HE shoulda watch out for this kinda stuff ‘imself, not us!”

“Ah know, AJ,” Big Mac nodded “but shiftin’ blame ain’t ever solve anythin’. Besides, we insisted on feedin’ him, so we take at least part of blame.”

“Well, Ah insisted...” admitted Applejack, lowering her head. Big Macintosh gently pattted her head.

“Ah know, you did'n mean any harm. Now come on, let’s get this over with.”



"We go there, confirm that we won, then go back, got it?" asked Blossomforth "No Pinkie parties!"

"I know." answered Thunderlane, rolling his eyes.

"Don't rub it into his face. No taunting and no victory dance, okay?"

"Why in all hell would I ever do that?"

"Why in all  hell would you ever bet all your co-workers, including filly-friend and a boss, into slavery?"

"...point taken." he blushed and looked away.

"And if Rainbow Dash is there, DO NOT kill her, okay?"

"I was just kidding! Besides, not like any stallion could even touch her, anyway."

"Well, that's true. I doubt she'll even be there. Last I heard, when Pinkie asked her to come, she said that she'd rather choke and die than see 'that creep' again."

"I can only imagine what their interaction was like." answered Thunderlane, and they both snorted, imagining Prince Blueblood talking to Rainbow Dash.



"Oh come ON, Spitz!" yelled Soarin "How can I amaze those ponies, if I can't even interact with them?" he took out a small envelope “I was even invited to a party tonight!”

"No means no!" answered Spitfire "I can't let you wander of in a town full of single mares."

"But... it's a town full of single mares! And they're all..." he paused for a moment, looking for a word "...friendly!"

Spitfire sighed "I miss the days when castration was an option."

"And I miss the days of freedom. Ever since I got into team, all I ever do is practice, practice, practice!"

"And yet you show almost no progress.” she added, deadpan.

“Pleaaaaaaaaase?” he knelt and joined his hooves in a plea.

“No. No matter how many times you ask.”

“Okay...” Soarin pouted and frowned “...I get it, I get it.”

Moments passed. Spitfire was busy with paperwork she worked on on a table of her hotel room, while Soarin just sat there with the saddest possible face and looked out the window.

“Soarin, could you stop that?”

“Stop what? I'm just sitting here, being sad. Is that against rules?”

“Well, no, but... you know what, forget it.”

She stamped a few more papers. Soarin didn't move from his place and kept observing the empty streets of ponyville. He sighed deeply, making Spitfire miss the document with her stamp.

“Don't you have anything better to do?”

“No, not really. There's this party, and festival going on, but my grumpy, stuck up boss won't let me out. So I'll whimper and be miserable, so she'll feel bad.”

Spitfire snorted “Yeah sure, good luck with that.” and she got back to her work. She was a trained professional, she cared not for making her best friend since childhood down. He could scowl and whimper all he could, make the biggest and saddest eyes possible, look miserable all he wanted. Not even looking at her like that would work. There was just no way...

She slammed her hooves on the desk “OKAY, FINE! You can go!”

Soarin instantly cheered up and flew up “YESSS! Ponyville- HERE COMES SOARIN!” and he rushed towards the door, faster then he ever showed during the practice. Spitfire walked to the doors and shouted after him “If you're not back in two hours, I'll have your a**!” after a short pause she added, because he was Soarin “AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY!”



Pinkie Pie always made sure everypony was having a good time at her party. She took a lot of effort to make sure nopony is alone and in rare instances it did happen, she greeted them, made a short conversation and introduced to somepony else who they might share a topic or two. She was very proud of herself, helping create bonds between complete strangers that would later become best of friends. She was the one who introduced Doctor to Ditzy Do and so far they seemed like best friends, maybe even more, who knew? She also managed to introduce new filly pegasus, Scotaloo, to Sweetie Belle, just after the latter got into a heated argument with her former best friend. And now they were inseparable. 
She was still only one pony and was already spreading her attention everywhere and she struggled. She had a hard time figuring out who might be a match for Prince Blueblood, the only frowny pony on the party and he did his best to ignore every single mare interested in him. A tough case, but for Pinkie Pie it wasn't a problem. It was a challenge. She bounced in his direction, as he looked around the tables with drinks, analyzing each punch bowl and bottle. She had to start a conversation somehow, something that would then lead to the most beautiful friendship ever. Something good, something original, something groundbreaking.

“We have a very nice weather today, don't you think?” 

Perfect, thought Pinkie Pie.

“Everypony is always like 'grrr, clouds are in sky, why doesn't anypony clean them?', and then Rainbow Dash goes WHIIIISH, BOOOOOM, ZAAAAAAP! And it's all good! Too bad she couldn't come today. She said she would choke and I don't want her to die. Because then she'd be dead and that would be really bad. And Cloudkicker and Raindrops are sick, so they can't come either, but Thunderlane and Blossomforth are coming. They said they wanted to see you, isn't it cool? They can be best of friends!”

“You don't say...” answered Blueblood, not even bothering to look at the pink pony, still looking through the bottles.

“Yup! And I haven't seen Applejack and Big Mac in here. They said they'll be late, because they're busy and all.  They asked me to not make anything with honey. Not sure why, but they were pretty serious, so I said 'okay' and there is no honey anywhere.”

“Good.”

“Oh and guess what? You know Wonderbolts? Pfft, of course you do, everypony knows who Wonderbolts are. They're only the best fliers in all Equestria! I found one of them and gave him an invitation! Isn't that cool? I never had a celebrity at my party!”

“Pinkie, can you tell me what THIS is?” asked Prince, as he held a bottle in his hoof.

“Oh, that's Sweet Apple Acres Apple Cider, the best there is.”

“And this?” asked, pointing at a punch bowl.

“Cherry-Lime Punch, low sugar for those that wish to keep their slim figures.”

“Okay then, can you tell me one thing then?” he looked at her nodding “Where, pray tell, did you put all the alcoholic beverages?”

“Silly Prince,” she snorted and hoofwaved “there aren't any.”

“What.”

“A real Pinkie Party doesn't need alcohol! We can party, play, dance and have all sorts of fun without it! Besides, Summer Sun Celebration is in few hours, we can't go all drunk before that! That would be silly.”

“Yeah, silly.” replied Prince, as he smiled slightly and started giggling. 

Pinkie Pie sighed with relief, as she finally managed to get a positive reaction out of him. She joined him in the laughter for a while. However, as time went on, her smile slowly diminished, as Prince was still giggling madly.

“Okay, that was funny, but it's enough.” said Pinkie Pie.

Prince still laughed, slightly louder than before, making pink pony feel rather uncomfortable. She shifted her eyes left and right and kept a forced smile.

“Okay, now it's getting a tiny bit creeee-pyy. Please stop.” 

He finally stopped and looked deep into Pinkie's eyes with a very angry expression. 

“So are you trying to tell me...” he made a step toward her, while she stepped back to avoid collision “...that you spent an entire day preparing a party, all that food, drinks, games, decorations and music, and one thing you decided to NOT get, was... alcohol. Yes?”

“Umm... yes?”

“I had a rough day. I was drugged, slammed, dragged along, confused, stuffed, embarrassed, insulted and humiliated more then I ever had in my entire life!” he slowly walked towards her, as she lowered her head and slowly backed away, trying to escape “And when I'm finally done and wish to rest, what do I see? A PARTY! A frickin party! I HATE PARTIES! Full of farmers, commoners and simpletons, loud, obnoxious music and childish, boring games, getting followed by the most annoying, pink mass of flesh, with cotton candy for a brain! AND I CAN'T EVEN GET DRUNK?” as he shouted the last part, the entire party seemed to stop, the music suddenly muted and everyponies eyes were concentrated on the Prince and Pinkie.

“I-I j-just...” stuttered Pinkie, but the look in Bluebloods eyes made her, of all ponies, too scared to say a word.

“You just WHAT? Wanted to help me get more FRIENDS? I guess all the ponies in this stupid, backwater town are too dumb to get my oh so subtle hints, so I'll say it loud and clear.
I don't have friends, I don't need friends and most importantly, I DON'T WANT FRIENDS! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!”

Aside from his voice echoing through the room, there was an absolute silence. Everypony was too busy digesting these words to gossip. All the mares trying to get a hold of Prince wee instantly pushed back and looking at him with disgust. And Pinkie Pie...

“I-I-I d-didn't...” her speech was lost in the midst of constant sobbing. He puffy hair suddenly dropped and her eyes started tearing up. Finally she gave up, turned back and dashed out of the building with tears in her eyes.

Blueblood on the other hoof, was still furious as he watched her run away. He looked around the place, noticing everypony was completely scared and slowly leaving. Not fast enough. 

“Didn't get the memo? GET OUT! EVERYPONY GET OUT, NOW!” his horn glowed brightly and sent a small magical shockwave, which made all the glass bowls, bottles and several windows shatter from the vibrations, making a lot of noise and scaring the living life out of anypony inside, making them run for their lives in disorderly fashion. Only few seconds later, the library was almost empty, now full of trash, chaotically thrown away cups and plates, spilled drinks, scattered cards from various games, used up streamers and popped balloons. As far as he could see, all Prince was left with was an after party mess, and one more pony.

“You went too far!” Shining Armor said angrily, as he moved closer towards Prince “Why did you have to do that? All she wanted to do was welcome you, and THAT'S how you repay for her kindness?”

Blueblood didn't flinch. In fact, he looked Shining deep into his eyes.

“Kindness? THIS is kindness to you?” he pointed at all the party leftovers “No, this isn't kindness.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Kindness is saying good morning. It's letting an old mare go first in line. It's picking up someponys wallet and giving it back. THIS, on the other hoof, is flattery. Butt-kissing. No sane pony would go this far for a stranger they just met, who is in this town for only one day. Unless, oh I don't know, they were expecting a good review from a Royal Inspector or something.”

“T-this is insane...” Shining Armor shook his head at Blueblood “...they just tried to be friends!”

“Friends? No, they wanted to be close enough to get benefits.”

“What benefits?”

“Like, oh I don't know, getting money from a rich noble? Or be close enough to stab my back?”

“....what?”

“Speaking of which, my little bodyguard, good job on failing miserably!” he walked closer and poked his chest with a hoof. Shining Armor had a really bad feeling, but couldn't say anything “Where were you when I was chocking on the damn cupcake?”

“Ah crap...” Shining's ears drooped as one topic he dreaded most has come up.

“Yes, I remember that! But it gets better! So I'm in hospital, suffering due to my allergy, which by the way, HURTS LIKE HELL, and what does my brave guard do? Leave me in hospital where I am safe? NO! You drug me with some primitive zebra potion, because you know, that's a smart idea, and drag me along the entire town as I make a complete fool of myself! Yes, I remember all of it, every line of the song, every dance move, every dirty mare I touched... ugh, I even tried to woo that freak-eye!”

“Ditzy's not a freak!” shouted Shining in response, but was swiftly ignored.

“And don't even get me started on that clumsy excuse for a Wonderbolt, which by the way, also hurt a lot!” he took few steps forward, pushing Shining Armor further back, until his backside reached the door “Ever since I met you, I've been a subject to all matter of abuse from everything around! Do you enjoy seeing me suffer? WELL?”

“N-no...”

“GET OUT!” he shouted right into his face “GET OUT AND NEVER SHOW YOUR FACE TO ME AGAIN, YOU INCOMPETENT MORON!” he then telekinetically opened the door and magically pushed Shining Armor out and violently closed the door. 



Once outside, Shining looked at the magically closed doors and sighed. For some inexplicable reason, he felt like the worst kind of pony. And he thought nothing could top his last week and daily scolding from Captain, up to including the last, infamous one that suspended him.

He heard a deep voice behind him “Hey, you okay there?” it belonged to Big Macintosh, who stood outside the house. He wasn't alone though. Along with him was his sister Applejack, and behind them he saw Thunderlane, Blossomforth, Doctor and Ditzy, all six of them waiting in front of the Library. He turned to them and sighed deeply, before saying.

“I'm so sorry about this. I didn't expect it to turn out like that.” he scratched the back of his head and turned his head away, not sure what else he should say in a moment like that.

“It's not your fault, mate,” said Doctor, as he walked to him and put a hoof on his shoulder “I'd say your friend, or not really, put himself there, all right. I expected him to be quite angry and rude when out of potions influence, but this is...” he stopped to think of a word.

“A little over our heads.” finished Ditzy. Everypony nodded.

“We saw Pinkie on our way here,” mentioned Thunderlane “I don't think anypony has ever seen her sad, much less crying.”

“Well, it's Pinkie we're talkin' about,” said Applejack “she'll be down for a while, but she'll get better. And Prince won't be comin' back to Ponyville after this... right?”

“I don't think anypony will ever want him back,” replied Blossom, then looked at the downed Shining Armor “but hey, you're always welcome again, Shining Armor.”

Everypony nodded, which made Shining feel a bit better, as he smiled weakly. There was an awkward silence, nopony exactly sure what they were supposed to do now. On one hoof, they had no intention of sticking near Blueblood any second more, but couldn't leave Shining Armor alone like that, while Shining Armor wasn't sure if he should stick around and at least pretend to do his job, or leave it and risk wrath of his superiors. Anything was better than facing Prince Blueblood again.

Suddenly, they heard a yell from the skies “Fillies and mares, fear no more, 'CAUSE SOARIN! HAS! ARRIVED!” as he said that, he landed perfectly right before the library and small gathering of ponies. “Lets get this PARTY! STARTED!” he raised his hoof in a cheer.

Nothing happened. They stared at him awkwardly. Soarin lowered his hoof and scratched his head “I'm too late, am I?”

Suddenly, all ponies gathered gasped with surprise, looking in Soarin's direction, then knelt in unison. He hoofwaved at them and blushed “Oh come on, it's not a big deal, I'm just a rookie Wonderbolt, no need to...” he paused and asked “...somepony's behind me?” he looked away to confirm and gasped loudly, kneeling as well.

“My little ponies, let me take care of this.”



The doors to library opened suddenly, much to Prince's annoyance.

“I thought I said I never want to see your fa-... oh, it's you.” said passively.

It's rare that she heard these words spoken so casually, but wasn't a little bit surprised by his tone. She slowly trotted forward and looked Prince into eyes.

“We need to talk, nephew...”
> 10. Just say sorry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeing his aunt, Princess Celestia herself, signified to Prince Blueblood that day was about to end and he could say farewell to this crazy town. Or better yet, leave without a word and hope he’ll forget it soon enough. Now the worst that he could hope for was seeing that crazy Wonderbolt on the derbies again and maybe passing his inept bodyguard on the street, this time hopefully learning his lesson and staying away. Who was he kidding? He would probably hit him again, this time harder, and they'll promote him.
His aunt was in a bad mood, which was unusual for sun goddess, especially so close to her favorite day of the year. He grabbed the saddlebags and took the checklist from it.

“Here,” said Blueblood, as he handed her the list “It’s all fine and peachy, can I go home now? I’m getting sick of this place.”

Celestia, however, didn’t bother grabbing the list. She ignored it completely and looked around the messy library. She looked at her nephew and spoke.

“On my way here, I met several ponies in tears, and they all pointed me here,” said Celestia in a very cold tone, so unlike the motherly, kind voice she usually has “could you explain this to me?”

Blueblood snorted and rolled his eyes “This?” he pointed at the mess “This is trespassing and conducting an illegal mass event for a canterlot representative in a public place meant for silence and knowledge. Or as they called it, ‘surprise party’.”

“You know what I mean!” said Celestia loudly. Blueblood sighed.

“Yes, how dare I be so unkind and uncaring to a bunch of flank-kissing low class primitives? Probably because I despise being here, while they do their best to shove their plots under my nose. I could lie and pretend to be delighted, but that could give them ideas.”

“So instead you act around like a selfish snob?”

“Selfish? You have no idea what I’ve been through today! Anypony else on my place would burn this place for half the things I went through!”

“That’s why I don’t send anypony I don’t trust,” answered Celestia, stomping her hoof on the floor with irritation “Although now that I see it, I probably made a mistake on your part.”

“Mistake?” asked Blueblood, once again lifting the list with his magic and levitating it closer to her eyes “You asked me to inspect this town and I did! I took my time and personally checked every-single-point, to a tee, to make sure it holds the standards. So I made a few enemies on my way? Big deal, I'll be out of this town soon and I'm not some sort of spokespony for entire upper crust.”

Celestia kept staring into his eyes. Her anger slowly mellowed and right now was slowly being replaced by sadness. She could not comprehend why somepony, her family especially, would want to make enemies anywhere. 

“Is this how you wish to live the rest of your life, nephew?” she asked sadly “Surrounding yourself with enemies?”

“Better then letting anypony close enough to stab me in the back again!” answered Prince Blueblood right into his aunts face. Realizing what he just said, he turned away and walked back, stopping only when reaching a puddle of red liquid on the ground. Only a second later he realized it was just spilled punch, nothing to be concerned about.
Meanwhile, Princess Celestia sighed deeply, slowly walked toward her nephew and put a wing on his back. 

“I know it still hurts, after what happened with Lottery Charm...”

Blueblood interrupted her by shaking the wing away “I never want to hear that name again!”

Celestia continued “You can't judge everypony because one let you down. These are good ponies, I asked you to give them a chance!”

“And how are you so sure of it? It's not like you actually...” Blueblood stopped the sentence when he had an epiphany “...know them.”
His eyes widened as his brain put together pieces from several last conversations they had. He turned toward Princess Celestia. She didn't reply, so Prince continued.
“This was your plan all along! You didn't send me here to inspect anything, but to meet those ruffians!"

For a moment, they kept on the silence, as they stared at each others eyes. Finally, Princess gave in and let out a small sigh.
"Yes, I planned all of this."

Prince stood there dumbfounded "Why?" he asked coldly.

"Because you needed it, even if you didn't realize it yourself."

"Needed what? Exercise in patience?"

"Friends!" she announced that very seriously, sprung out her wings to appear more intimidating, as she walked forward. Prince was the last pony to be intimidated by his aunt, but even he couldn't help but step backwards, not even realizing that he stepped in the previously inspected puddle.

"And I'm talking about real friends, not those leeches and flatterers you keep around yourself. Ponies you can trust, those that won't ask for anything in return aside from you being you. This is why I sent you to Ponyville! Why here of all places? Allow me to explain." she took a few more steps, successfully interrupting him from whatever thoughts he was about to share.

"Ruling a kingdom, raising sun and moon, teaching students, I take all my duties seriously. But once a  year, for a day, I allow myself to take a break, leave everything in hooves of my advisers, while I explore my kingdom in disguise. I visit a random place, meet random ponies, see how they manage their lives, think of a way I could improve their everyday hardships. But more then anything, I enjoy being treated like a normal pony, not a princess of entire kingdom, with everypony bowing at my sight. I enjoy paying for my meals, ordering any unhealthy looking trash on the menu, standing in lines, flirting with low class stallion, shooting down potential dates after accepting their drinks etcetera. Where am I going with this?"

"You see, my nephew, this year I decided to finally visit Ponyville. I still remember when I gave this little plot of land to settlers, but I never had a chance to see it up close. And what did I encounter? Let me count the things that happened to me. First, I entered through the main road, only to realize that in my haste, I didn't pack any bits with me. That’s when I met several descendents of the original ponies, who after hearing my story invited me over for a dinner and offered a place to stay. Then, when I left their household and flew into the skies, I met the members of weather management of Ponyville, who greeted me kindly and gave a tour around the town. Then, a distinct boutique, or rather a gorgeous dress inside, caught my eyes and I had a pleasant, intelligent conversation with its designer. Then, once I got a little tired, I walked to the outskirts of the town, where I met a shy, lonely mare. Once we broke the ice, she invited me for a tea and we had a lovely little chat about animals and trees. And just when I was about to leave and  go back to the castle, I was dragged, almost by force, to a local bakery, where a certain pink pony prepared a Welcome Party for me, a lone pegasus just passing by. I spent hours dancing and playing, like I haven't done in, well, never.”

“And you know what the best part of it was?" she smiled widely "Not one pony out there demanded anything in return! None has seen through my disguise as well, and even when I demanded to pay them back somehow, all they asked in return was that I would visit them again."

"Needless to ask, my nephew, I never had this much fun in my life and never before have I seen so much kindness."

"So you chose those specific ponies for me to visit, right?"

"Indeed. I wanted you to experience what I did back then..." her smile weakened "...but, it seems like I failed at that." she sighed deeply. 

Prince Blueblood was... conflicted. On one hoof, he appreciated that she tried. He knew that she wanted the best for him. But on that same note, he was still mad for all he went through.
"Maybe you should stop expecting everypony to think like you?" he started, quickly realizing how it was going to sound, but deciding to not go back on anything he said "You thought that these ponies would entertain me, cheer me up, that I would forget about all my life and have a jolly good fun with plebs? I just experienced one of the worst days of my life! THAT'S what your brilliant plan did to me!"

Princess wanted to calm down and just leave this conversation behind her. But she didn't.
"I thought you would at least TRY and stop acting like a complete jerk!" a second passed, before she realized what she just said and was already forming an apology. Prince had none of that.

"And why do you care? Don't you have anything better to do then meddle with my PRIVATE life?"

"I CARE because I love you, no matter how stupid you are, and I want you to be happy!"

"Then why don't you  just leave me alone!"

"If you really wish for it, then I will!"

"FINE!"

"FINE!"

Both huffed and turned away from each other. For few agonizing minutes, they just stood there in complete silence. As far as their relationship goes, they never had a fight like this before. They had their disagreements, they argued over trivial things before, but none of that ever stuck and they made up almost instantly. All they had to do was turn back, apologize and set everything to where it was before. It was that easy. Yet, every time any of them wished to do so, they turned only halfway, then quickly changed their minds. As childish as it seemed, they were much too stubborn to make first move. 

"My advisers warned me..." Celestia finally broke the silence, as she quietly spoke without turning back "...that you would be a waste of time. I never listened."

"Maybe you should have. That's why you had them."

"I always wanted to believe that I could fix you. Mend your heart, help you grow..."

"Oh, don't give me that, aunt. We both know what you wanted!" Celestia turned back, looking at her nephew very suspiciously "You just wanted to have another Ceasar.”

Her eyes grew, jaw dropped almost to the ground “...what did you say?” she asked slowly.

“That's why you keep Bluebloods around, don't you? Not because we're some important clan, but because you can't get over your precious little Ceasar."

"Don't you dare..."

"You must be disappointed, eh auntie? Here's your perfect occasion to have another perfect 'son'..."

SLAP!

Prince stopped talking. He couldn't form a cohesive sentence in his head, let alone speak it out loud. His right cheek burned like crazy. Princess stood there, her hoof was still raised. While she could be loud, intimidating and angry at times, she never, ever yelled. 

Until today.

"Don't you DARE talk about him like that! So yes, I treated him like my own, is this a crime? And yes, I wanted you to be like him, because Ceasar was a great pony. I had hopes that his descendents would turn out like him, but instead they grew arrogant, too reliant on their connection to crown and lineage. I couldn't stand watching them drown themselves down, but I couldn't do anything. And then you came along. A lonely colt, blaming himself for a tragedy he didn't cause. A child that needed somepony to take care of him, to raise into a proper stallion. I was too blinded with the idea of reliving some of the best years of my long life to realize that you are not, and never will be, half the stallion he ever was!"

She stopped to take a breather. If there ever was a moment to apologize, that would be the last call. But he didn't. Neither did she.

"So to answer your question, yes, I am disappointed in you. But more then that, I'm disappointed in myself. I had hopes in you. THAT was my mistake!"

After a short pause, she turned around and walked toward the doors. Halfway to the door, she turned away once again and added.

"Once the celebration is over, you are dismissed."

Prince looked at her with anger. He could calm down and still fix it, but if she wasn't going to restrain herself, neither was he.

"Good, I don't need you anyway! I'll be better of without you meddling in my life!" and then, he said something not deemed to be possible, something nopony has said in almost a millennium.

"I HATE YOU!"

Princess stopped for a few seconds, but ultimately ignored it, as she opened the door and left the building.

Prince Blueblood was now alone in a messy library, just like he wanted. He finally had a moment to relax after the one of the worst days in his life. He now had time to digest everything that has happened. And he came to one conclusion- he couldn't see anything in front of him. His eyes were tearing too much. 

"...I...I didn't mean it..." he muttered to himself. After all, he was alone. Just like he always wanted.



Once Celestia left the library, she couldn't stop her tears. Her hooves weakened, she just wanted to run away back to her chambers so she could cry herself to sleep. But she was still a ruler of the land and this was the most important day of year, there was no way she could disappoint them. Not because one let HER down. And more to the point, she couldn't show any weakness in front of them. And yet, here she was, outdoors, sobbing like she just faced the biggest tragedy of her life. She was immortal, none of this would matter years later, these were the thoughts she tried to use to calm herself down, but they weren't working.

"Princess Celestia? Is everything alright?" asked Shining Armor worriedly, as he carefully walked closer. He was, thankfully, alone in front of the library, other ponies nowhere in sight.

"Are others gone?" she asked through tears.

"Yes, they went to the festival." 

In reality though, he sent them away after first sign of loud noises coming from inside. It was the least he could do.

"Good, I shouldn't be seen like this in public." she answered, wiping her tears with her wing. She looked at Shining Armor. He was very worried and probably wanted to say a few things, but didn't have the courage to ask openly.
"I'm terribly sorry about my nephew. You must have had a very hard day."

"N-no ma'm, it was nothing." he lied.

"Shining Armor,” she started "did you ever felt like you said something stupid and desperately wanted to go back in time, just to stop yourself from it?"

Shining Armor answered shortly "...yes."

Princess' eyes widened as she realized "Right, the whole punch me thing." she remembered their conversation she had yesterday with Twilight. She couldn't help but smile a little bit especially as Shining Armor on his part looked away with a blush, probably thinking of some sort of explanation for himself and quickly realizing that she knows the entire story anyway. He was so predictable. She walked forward and patted him on his head.

"Thank you. I feel a little bit better now." she answered with a weak smile. Shining looked at her confused, but nodded and smiled as well, not sure what he did there.
"What do you think I should do now?" she asked suddenly. 

Shining Armor's eyes widened. Was he just being asked a very private, life counseling question by Princess Celestia? Was she expecting answer, or was this just rhetoric? From the looks of things, she was serious about it. He looked around for some hints, but saw nothing of sorts, obviously. He could think of things to say, delve deep into her psyche (immortal goddess, no less) and come up with sage advice. 
But then he realized that he could do nothing of sorts. Instead, he relied on one thing he was confident in more then anything else in this world. His one and only pride.

His brotherly instinct "I think you know exactly what you must do, Princess" he said confidently. Princess looked at him curiously "If your nephew is so important, that you cry over one fight, then you must do anything it takes to get him back. Or else, you will both regret it forever."

Celestia just stood there, dumbfounded. She looked at her ex-guard with blank, amazed stare, as if he just grew a pair of wings and announced himself a king. Then she snorted and started giggling.
"You said that exact thing to Twilight, when she had a fight with Sunset Shimmer."

"And it worked!" he announced proudly.

Celestia sighed "I guess you are right then. He may be not what I wished for, but he is still my nephew and I love him. I need to apologize!" she said energetically. Shining Armor could finally see his princess back to herself, at least a little bit.

"If I may ask, how will you do this?"

"To be honest..." her ears drooped a bit "...I don't know yet. But I will before the night is over!"

"Can I help?"

Celestia looked brightly at her guard "You already helped me a lot... but, I need to ask you one more thing."

"Anything!" he saluted.

"Make sure my nephew attends the main event. Take him by force if necessary. I'll take it from there."

"Yes ma'm!"

"Good. Untill then, you are dismissed. You had a very stressful day, try to get some rest."



As soon as Celestia left, Shining Armor finally had a time to sigh with relief. This could be a step forward to ending his suspension, but more importantly, he could help mend broken family ties. 
He slowly opened the door to the library and looked around for Prince. He found him, lying on the couch with a blanket, quietly sleeping. He could tell that he had a hard day as well, so Shining decided to leave him alone for now. Princess dismissed him for the time being, so he left the library, shut the doors (ignored the broken windows) and left towards the town hall, where the festival took place, hoping that at least there, he will be able to collect himself.

On his way there, he looked up in the clear skies and saw the full moon, as it was shining much brighter then usual. Or at least it seemed like it. He took it as a good sign of things to come.
> 11. Welcome to Ponyville, for real!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The festivities in Ponyville met Shining Armor's expectations. Previously carried around tables and tents were now stalls with food, attractions, games and gift shops. The streets were full of ponies of all kinds, in fact, there were more ponies than he ever thought possible could live in a single town. He could also notice several donkeys, wearing colorful tropical shirts and straw hats, gryphons flying around in an orderly fashion and even saddle arabian horses, towering anypony they passed by. This small hamlet has been turned into a tourist attraction, the sight of Princess Celestia raising the sun was just one of the reasons. 

He wished Twilight was here with him, she would love this place, even if he had to drag her here by force. Sadly, she was extra busy with studies, so he had to have some fun alone. He also realized that he shouldn't be thinking about his sister in a town full of mares. He passed several of them, most of them he remembered from the party. They did not seem angry at least, if anything, they were ogling him a little too much. He blushed and trotted away faster, looking for a good place to sit. And he found it, a giant set of tables full of familiar dishes, right in the middle of the entire town, next to town hall. And it had a giant apple logo on it.

"Hey there, parnder." Big Macintosh happily greet him, as he moved to the counter "Now you look awfully happy, considerin' what happened."

"Well, I can't say too much, but things are turning out good."

"Happy ta hear. Got time for a snack? It's on the house."

"Gladly!" he said, as he licked his lips and looked around the table full of already deliciously confirmed apple (and orange) tasty treats. As he scanned the table, among all the things he tried, he noticed a lone, mini apple strudel, which he remembered as being delightful, more so than anything short of zap apple cupcake. He moved his hoof towards the treat, but collided with another hoof. 

"Eeep!" the mare squeeked scarily. Shining expected to see Fluttershy, but instead noticed a raspberry earth pony with blonde mane. She had a lily in her hair. He could swear he saw her at the party, but couldn't remember her name. He smiled at her regardless.

"Oh, hello there, didn't see you, my bad." he laughed nervously, as the mare shook her head, but said nothing. He grabbed the strudel with his magic and put it on her  plate.
"You can have this, I already had one earlier. It's delicious." he announced happily, looking into her eyes. She was now trembling in fear and couldn't take her eyes away. She opened her mouth and started forming words.

"T-th...h..t..." she stuttered, blushed, grabbed the plate in her mouth, then turned around and quickly ran away.

"Miss, watch out for-..."

KNOCK! SLAM!

"...bench!" he was about to run after her, but as soon as he thought that, two more earth ponies ran towards her. Rosemaned one gently patted her on the head, while a lime maned one helped her stand up and wiped her dirty mane with a tissue. He couldn't help but smile, looking at power of friendship working in full motion. 

Friendship... Why would he reject something like that?

"Wow, she likes you." announced somepony standing nearby the stalls. He was a fairly tall, light blue pegasus with dark blue long hair tied back in a ponytail. He also had thick hipster glasses on his nose.

"Yeah, sure." answered Shining Armor, as he returned to the table and helped himself with a fritter.

"Yup, this is a nice fritter alright." mentioned the pegasus.

"Yeah, delicious." agreed Shining Armor. The pegasus snorted.

"Huh? Oh yes, the food's good too." replied the hipster pegasus, as he licked his lips and looked over the stalls. Shining Armor blinked. He looked in the same vague direction, but saw only several apple ponies working. Applejack was here, Big Macintosh and one light yellow mare with green  mane tied by a single, red ribbon.  She had an apple fritter as her cutie mark. What was her name again?
Big Macintosh noticed that and intervened.

"Better get yer hooves where we can see 'em, buddy," said Big Mac, as he walked over "she's engaged."

"Oh... Well, shoot." he shrugged and moved his eyes a little bit to the right.

"And better not ogle my lil'sister, either."

Hipster pony sighed with annoyance "Okay, fine. Chill, plenty more mares to choose from. This town is chock full of them, I love it!"  He grabbed himself the nearest treat he could find. Shining Armor recognized the rainbow pattern on the cupcake and looked at him curiously, as he took a single bite. The pegasus froze in place, his eyes widened significantly and tears started flowing from his eyes. He wasn't convulsing, thankfully.

"Did I look like that?" asked Shining Armor, pointing at frozen pegasus.

"Eyuup."

"Huh... that is just too weird."

"Eyuup."

Their conversation didn't become too awkward, as they were greeted by few more familiar faces, as he noticed Thunderlane, Blossomforth, Doctor and Ditzy walking by.

"Hey, I see somepony more cheerful than they should be." announced Doctor "I'm guessing everything is going fine, then?"

"Well, it's better."

"He's not here, isn't he?" asked Blossomforth warily, looking around the fair.

"No, he's back in the library, sleeping."

"Oh, ok. That's good, I guess."

There was another awkward pause within the group. Ditzy looked around them and coughed.
"So, Shining, how do you like Ponyville so far?"

He smiled and looked around the fair "It's nice, I guess. It's small, but there's something every corner. And ponies are friendly, too."

They were soon interrupted by two small, shouting figures. There was one little pegasus colt with white coat and black mane, and the other was a little, light purple-grayish filly unicorn with blonde mane. Both completely blank and adorable. They stopped near the adults and bounced with boundless energy.

"Two bits, shooting range, plush Ursas! No time to explain!" shouted rapidly the colt, as he looked expectantly at Thunderlane. 

"Oh I don’t know, Rumble..." Thunderlane looked smugly "...I would, but you seem to be forgetting something, don't you?"

Rumble stopped bouncing and looked at Thunderlane with beady eyes "Umm... please?" he smiled.

"Much better." replied Thunderlane, happily giving the energetic colt two golden bits. 

"Awesome! Come on Dinky, it's time to hunt ursas!"

"YAY!' they both shouted.

And as soon as hey appeared, they vanished, Ditzy tried to tell them to be careful and don't run, but to no avail. Shining Armor smiled as he looked at two kids. Twilight used to be like that too, except she was a bookworm, didn't yell this much, wasn't into parlor games, didn't beg for bits for attractions and come to think of it, she was nothing like them. She was still cute, though. 

"That filly looks a lot like you Ditzy," he said to the derp eyed mare "she's your sister?"

Ditzy blushed and giggled "No silly, she's my daughter."

Shining Armors jaw dropped at the revelation. He looked closely at Ditzy, but all he saw was a young mare, barely adult, probably even younger then himself. Or was she? He couldn't tell her age, but he could tell that she was a little bit flattered. He turned to the other pair for distraction.

"And you two have a really energetic son," he announced towards Thunderlane and Blossomforth "he really looks a lot like you."

Suddenly, all the smile from previously cheerful Blossomforth disappeared. Her mane instantly lost all color (it was white anyway, so they barely noticed), eyes lowered to the ground. Thunderlane facehoofed, while others started giggling. Shining Armor looked around, searching for answer, until Thunderlane finally explained.
"Rumble is my brother, not son."

"...son...old..." muttered Blossomforth, as she slowly, unconsciously dug into the ground.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! He just looked so... I mean..." he stopped and also covered himself in blush. 

Finally Blossom started sobbing, as she laid herself upon Ditzy, who took her under her wing.

"Ditzy, I'm too young to be a mother!"

"We're the same age." answered coldly Ditzy, but was swiftly ignored.

"It's the eye-bags, right? I just worked two shifts, I'm just tired, not... not... do I have wrinkles? It's the cloud moisture, I sweat!"

"Blossom, you're panicking again!"

"I'm too young and ambitious to be a mother!"

"It's not the end of the world, I'm a mother too... I mean, you're not!"

"Everypony thinks I'm uuuuglyyyyyy!" and she finally broke down into full on crying over Ditzy's shoulder. The gray mare gentle patted her on the back.. Thunderlane sighed deeply and stroked her hair.

"That's not true, honey. I think you're beautiful."

"YOU DON'T COUNT! YOU LOVE ME ANYWAAAAAAAYY!"

Thunderlane stopped for a moment, then looked at others.
"How am I supposed to react to this?"

"I'll take care of her." announced Ditzy, as she moved sobbing Blossomforth away, getting Thunderlanes nod of appreciation. Thunderlane looked at Shining Armor and patted his back.
"Don't worry, she'll be fi-."

"SWEET CELESTIA THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!"

They all turned toward the previously forgotten hipster pony, as he finally woke up from his zap apple induced taste coma, his cheeks still wet from tears of bliss.

"So slow." they all announced, as they looked at the pegasus.

"Oh hey guys, when did you get here?" he asked happily, finishing his cupcake in rapid motion. Nopony answered him, so he shrugged and reached for few more treats. Meanwhile, the other three (four, if always busy Big Macintosh was counted), continued their conversations.

"Anyway," started Doctor "what did the Princess want with good old mister Blueblood?"

Shining Armor thought for a moment "I didn't really hear the entire conversation, but from what I heard, they used to be very close."

"They're not related?" asked hipster pony.

"No, they have a more aunt-nephew relationship from the looks of it." answered Shining Armor.

"Long ago, Blueblood Clan used to be just a small noble family," explained Doctor "but after most have died in a fire accident, the sole survivor was adopted by Princess. He started the entire generation."

"Really now?"

"It was hundreds of years ago," continued Doctor "they mostly forgotten the truth about their ancestor and gossips started forming. Some said that Ceasar, the original Blueblood, was Princess husband and she gave birth to his entire line. Others claimed that he was Celestia's son, and some claim that he was her loyal subject, that she made immortal, but as he grew in power, he lost himself and became a monster, so she turned him to stone to save everypony."

"And the truth is?" asked hipster pony while chowing another slice of pie.

"Lost in time, I'm afraid. Back then hardly anypony bothered with recording history, and what little there was got destroyed or falsified. Many accuse Princess of manipulating records for her own benefit. Some say that she staged the story about Discord with high level illusions and transformations, and later used him to blackmail feuding noble houses. Others claim that Nightmare Moon was actually Celestia's daughter gone bad, so she banished her on the moon and spread a  false legend, so ponies would offer candy to her statues every year, just to keep her existence in ponies mind. Some claim that Celestia takes the all that candy for herself."

They all looked at Doctor with disbelief. He shrugged.

"These are the legends and myths, at least. There is a grain of truth in them, but whose to say which on-... Oh, is that a double bubble apple pie?" he asked, pointing at the slice sitting on hipster ponies plate. He shrugged and handed it to him with a smile.

"Help yourself."

And he did, as he ate the entire piece in one bite and chewed on it happily. Shining Armor looked at the mysterius pegasus that he couldn't help but feel was familiar. He looked closer, attracting his attention.

"What? Am I dirty somewhere?"

"No, it's just that... do I know you?"

After a short pause, the pegasus snorted "Nice one! Almost got me."

"No, seriously, who are you?"

Pegaus's laughter slowly died, as he looked at Shining Armor "...wait, you don't remember?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Shining Armor shook his head. Others did so as well. He deadpanned as he looked at them.

"We just met today, like, two hours ago."

Nothing. All four of them raised a hoof to their chins and tilted their heads, carefully inspecting the mystery stallion.

"... Soarin. The Wonderbolt." he answered annoyed, rolling his eyes. They all looked a bit closer at his face, mane, coat, then finally got the right idea and checked his rear for a cutie mark. They gasped with shock, as they noticed the familiar bolt of lightning with gray wings.
As if they weren't convinced, he took of his glasses and let loose his hair, revealing the exact face they all saw on posters.

"Wow, totally different!" they all announced. Soarin smiled at the reaction.

"Yep, that's my undercover mode, whenever I want to eat a slice of pie without being bothered by fangirls. Works every single time."

"Then why did you expect us to recognize you?" asked Thunderlane.

Soarin thought for a moment. "Because... shut up!" he looked away and blushed, while others couldn't help but laugh out loud. Soarin rolled his eyes and looked away, but couldn’t hide his smile as well. But then, his eyes went really wide.

"Woah, hot twins on my one'o'clock!" he announced to others. They curiously looked away and noticed a pair of two pegasus mares, both pale, light gray colored with white hair, almost identical to each other. The only difference between them, aside from cutie marks, were their hairstyles. One had a straight long hair tied with a bow, the other more spiky mane.

"Okay, I need a wingpony, fast! You game?" he quickly asked Shining Armor. The guard blushed and shook his head nervously.

"No, no, no, I, umm... I'm still kinda on duty, sorry."

"Okay, sure... how about you guys?"

"Nnoope, busy workin'."

"I'm taken."

"No thanks."

Soarin groaned "Fine, more for me then. Now..." he fixed his hair and brushed his hooves "...watch and learn from the master. This is gonna be legen--, wait for it!" and then he was gone, as he rushed towards the two cuties. 
Meanwhile, Doctor, Thunderlane and Big Macinosh couldn’t help but snort. Shining Armor looked at them confused.

"What? What's so funny?"

Thunderlane closed to Shining and put a hoof over his shoulder "He's about to get a good taste of 'Welcome to Ponyville'."

"Welcome to Ponyville?" asked Shining, and others nodded in agreement. Thunderlane continued his explanation.

"You see, everypony that enters Ponyville, can't miss the three important events. They will happen eventually, no matter who you are and what you do to avoid them. You already had the taste of the first one, which was Surprise Pinkie Party."

Shining Armor nodded and kept listening.

"I don't want to spoil the second one, so let's just say that the keyword is "Crusade". You'll know what I mean when it happens."

"And the third one?"

"That would be finding out that Cloudchaser and Flitter over there are not sisters, and are in fact happily in love with each other. Extreme filly-foolers, no boys allowed club."

Shining's jaw dropped at that. He could swear that both mares were pretty  much the same except for hair. Or maybe it was just the general lack of proper lighting that obscured such things?
He looked at Soarin, as he got the mares attention and started talking.

"Anytime now." said Thunderlane, as they all observed.

Soarin first said a few things, while both mares looked at him with amusement, then at each other, giggled and said something to Soarin, making him take a sudden step back.

"And there it is. Welcome to Ponyville, Soarin." announced Thunderlane, wearing a smug smile.

However, Soarin's interaction with Cloudchaser and Flitter did no end there. He stepped forward again, said something which made the pair raise an eyebrow, then giggle, which slowly turned into a heartfelt laughter. Not the mocking 'you gotta be kidding me' kind, but sincere 'you are a funny guy'. Cloudchaser turned to her fillyfriend and asked something, to which she aswered and nodded, and Soarin's wings fluttered happily.

"Ok..." noted Thunderlane confusedly "...that never happened before."

"Eeyuup."

Soarin said something to the mares, then quickly flew back to the dumbstruck stallions. They looked at him wide-eyed. He coughed and took a deep breath.

"...-dary!" he announced happily.

"How?"

"Secret. Now I'm off to spend my last half hour break with two bombshell lesbians. See ya!" 

Then he was gone, soon to get between two mares, chatting and laughing with them. Thunderlane's jaw dropped almost to the ground. 

"No..." he said slowly "...that did not just happen! It can't!"

"Looks like it did." said Doctor

"But its impossible! I know Cloudchaser and Flitter since highschool, they DO NOT swing an inch away from themselves, EVER. It has to be a trick, some kind of magic!"

"He's not a unicorn."

"Then... then some gryphon magic, or zebra, or I dunno?"

"Gryphon magic doesn't work like that. They have no inner mana inside their bodies or a way to channel them, in fact there is no signs of any kind of sorcery from them aside from occasional protective runes carved on their fortresses and armaments, but even they are actually of unicorn origins. They were given to them by Princess as a part of the peace treaty, and they don't use them lightly, seeing as they need to be powered by magical crystals, which became an expensive commodity ever since Crystal Empire vanished from existence one thousand years ago.
And zebra magic isn't a magic per say, but alchemy, which can be replicated by anypony, so their shamans keep their recipes a secret to rest of the world. Believe me, I know firsthoof they don't like sharing. And even if he got the recipe, it requires a lot of ingredients found mostly in dangerous places, so buying them requires a wallet bigger then even a wonderbolt salary can provide, and getting them by yourself is close to suicide, usually requiring a highly specialized, well trained team to get a small amount and come back alive."

Then there was silence.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing," ansered Thunderlane "thank you, mister exposition."

"Pleasure is always mine."

Shining Armor looked at Doctor with curiosity. He knew he was strange from before, but he seemed like a cool guy to have around. One thing bugged him though.

"So, Doctor... I don't think I caught your name."

"It's Doctor."

"Doctor Who?"

"BWAHAHAHAHA!"

And then brown stallion completely lost it and fell on the ground, laughing like a madpony. Thunderlane and Big Macintosh only shrugged as Shining tried to look at them for answers.
Doctor's hysteric laughter lasted for over a minute, until he finally lost breath and slowly stood up and wiped the tears.

"I'm  sorry, I haven't heard that one in a while. Still as priceless as ever."

They all decided not to ask him too much questions anymore and concentrated instead on more down to earth conversations. Despite some overall weirdness surrounding this place, Shining Armor couldn't help but feel at ease. 

The only regret he had, was that he still had to take care of Prince Blueblood. Just once more, then he would never have to deal with him ever again.
> 12. Nightmares
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wow, you are huuuuge!" 

Everypony gathered in the conference room gasped with terror, as the forbidden words were said, by a little colt, no less. His parents quickly grabbed him with magic and pulled him away, scolding him for insulting the Princess. Celestia laughed, walked towards the colt and sat right next to him.

"Well, aren't you a precious little thing."

"I'm not little!” protested the colt “I'm four and half years old!"

Celestia laughed again "Alright, I guess I was wrong then. You're a precious BIG thing, then."

"That's better!" he said, beaming proudly.

"Prince, manners!" said a tall, white unicorn, as he magically grabbed him and pulled away from Princess. He struggled to get away from the magical field he was held in, but eventually gave up and crossed his hooves in annoyance.



Four years later, he found himself in a big, dark cavern. It was so poorly lit, he could barely see anything in front of him, aside from walls two other ponies.

"Take a good look at this, son. One day, it'll all be yours!"

"Dad,” he looked at his father with deadpan expression “it's just some dumb rocks."

A light pink mare with long, golden mane walked towards him and patted his back.

"Not just any rocks," she added, as she placed her hoof on the wall "this cave if full of magicite, the most powerful magical battery in the whole world. There's only few of them left in the entire world, this one is the biggest in Equestria. If we took all there is here, we would have enough power to lift Canterlot into the skies for entire century!"

"Wow, and it's all going to be mine?” he smiled brightly “But what about my brothers?"

"They will get other Blueblood properties,” answered his father and started counting “We have the gold mines, university in Manehatan, airship factory..."

"Hey no fair! I want that one!" interruped Prince, with a stomp.

"But, this cave is full of treasures!" protested his father.

"It's full of rocks! That's not cool."

"Airships are fueled by these rocks, you know."

"So what? Rocks don't fly!"

"They do sometimes!"

"No they don't!"

"Yes they do!"

His mother facehooved "Good grieves, I thought we only brought ONE child!" she said and tried to calm them down, but was interrupted by slight tremors.



"MOM! DAD!" Prince screamed through his tears, as he looked over his parents, lying on the ground of the collapsing cavern. He tried to pull them out of the rubble, but his hooves slipped on a puddle, which he found out was not just water, but blood.

"D-don't worry about us, son..." said weakly his father, as he reached his hoof to his son "...your mother and I will be fine, just go!"

"B-but..."

"JUST GO!"



Moments later, he was wrapped in bandages and a warm blanket. Despite that, he was still trembling, his body felt cold, as his gaze was focused on one corner of the tent, not moving an inch.
He heard some muffled voices outside the tent. Through the white fabric of medical tent, he could recognize silhouette of his aunt, as she spoke to somepony that just approached her.

"Princess Celestia, we found them."

"Are they all right?"

There was a short silence.

"I'm so sorry."

He spent all the rest of the time nuzzling the blanket and crying, until he felt a large wing covering his entire body. He slowly raised his head and looked to his side at his aunt, as she sat next to him. He didn't want her to talk. He just wanted to use her neck to cry himself out. She didn't object.



Many years later, on university hallway, a young, light brown unicorn with short, golden mane with green highlights, ran towards him. Prince stopped and looked at him curiously.

"Hey, wait up!" he shouted, as he took a breather once he caught on "Prince Blueblood, right? Of course you are, duh. Listen, I have a deal for you..."

"Whatever you're selling, I'm not buying it. Go away before I call guards." he answered coldly, as he resumed his his walk.

"Wha... oh, I see!" he laughed as he followed Prince "No, it's nothing like that. Listen, I need a little help with something, I promise you won't be disappointed."

"Help with what?" asked annoyed Prince, as he stopped and looked at the stallion. He noticed his cutie mark as well. Four leaf clover drawn on a small ticket "Also, who are you?"

"Right, where are my manners?” the stallion coughed and extended his hoof “My name is Lottery Charm. But you can call me..."



"...Lott, are you sure about this?"

"Trust me, Blue. I'm feeling lucky today."

"You always feel lucky!"

"I always am. Come on, when did I ever let you down?"

"Let me count..."

"Never mind, just roll!"

Prince Blueblood gulped and finally decided to throw the dice. All the eyes were focused on five ebony colored dice, as they rolled over the green table and bounced of the walls. All the breaths were held as they waited painfully few, long seconds, until...



"... and then, he rolled a poker of sixes! You had to be there, the crowd went nuts!" announced Lottery Charm happily, to a table full of ponies, all high, mighty and beautiful "Here's to the best gambler ever, my best friend in Equestria- PRINCE BLUEBLOOD!" 

The entire room full of guests cheered and lifted their mugs, as Prince had his face all covered in blush. He regained composure and also made a toast.
"Oh don't be so modest Lott, none of this would have happened without your support. Cheers to my partner in 'crime'- LOTTERY CHARM!"

Another round of cheers passed. Lott waved it away and looked away, smiling.
"Ow, now you're too kind, Blue. But hey, don't let any of us take all the glory. After all, we're a team! Your brain and dashing looks, my luck and connections. Together, we cannot be stopped!"



"You sure this is a good idea, Blue? I don't know if you can just bring strangers inside the castle at night."

"Nonsense, you're not a stranger, Lott. If anything, you're more of a brother to me then all four of my actual ones, combined."

"Heh, yeah. You don't get along with them too well, do you?"

"Not really. Not since my parents died, they used to blame me for that and stuff. To be fair, I wasn't the best big brother anyway."

"Woah, man, I didn't mean to bring that up!"

"It's okay, past is past. What's more important is present. And right now, I'm not letting my friend walk around the streets of Canterlot alone at night, especially with a bag full of hard earned bits."

"Or you could just, you know, send some guards to escort me back home safely."

"Now you sound like you don't want to hang out with me anymore."

"Ok, that was low. Fine, if you insist, I'll stay for a night in a friggin castle, no sweat."



"Woah!" Lottery Charm gasped, as he looked around with amazement. He smiled as he planned his next sentence "Yo dawg, I heard you like room, so we put a lot of room in your room."

Prince snorted and started laughing. 
"That was terrible! You'll burn in Tartarus for this joke."

"Nah, I'll burn for something else. But still, damnit Blue, this is one big bedroom!" he commented, as he walked around spacious bedroom of Prince Blueblood "I'm actually afraid to think how big room Princess Celestia has."

"Smaller then you think, actually." answered Prince, as he took of his tie and threw it at the bed "Not even half the size of mine. She only ever uses it for sleeping and relaxing. She has other rooms, roughly this size, for guests and work."

"You been there?" he asked “You know, in Celestia's bedroom?”

"Yeah, quite a lot actually. She took care of me after my parents died. Technically, my grandfather was is my legal guardian, but he really hates me more then anything else in this world, so Princess pretty much adopted me all but officially. It worked for the best in the end, so I don't mind."

Lottery Charm was quiet for a moment, then sighed "If you say so."

There was a short silence, as Prince unpacked his saddlebags and opened a window to let some night breeze in. Lottery Charm took something out of his saddlebag, then walked slowly to Prince.

"Blue..."

"Yes?" 

Prince turned back. His friend smiled brightly as he held a small object with his magic. 

"Happy Birthday, Blue!"

That object turned out to be a small package wrapped in a dark-blue gift paper, tied by a golden ribbon. Prince looked at it confused.

"Umm, my birthday is in ten days."

"I know, I know, but..." he scratched his head and looked away "... I won't be able to come to the party."

"What? Why?"

"Family business in Trottingham. It's a long story. But don't worry, I'll be back and we'll be unstoppable once again." He opened two small bottles and levitated them to each.
"Cheers to you, pal."

They poked their bottles, then took a few sips. Prince quickly gagged and almost threw up.

"Eww, what is this?" he looked at the bottle. On its label was a picture of an old gryphon wearing a military uniform, holding a machete in its beak, standing next to a big, smiling pig "Gross Schwein?"

"Imported from Gryphon Kingdom. They say it's a delicacy." he took one more sip and licked his lips happily "Peculiar taste. They don't make anything like it in Equestria. It takes a little getting used to, but it's actually pretty good once you do."

"Yeah, I'll pass." he put the bottle away on the table and instead concentrated on the present. He delicately unfolded the ribbon, looked around the box to see where the duck tape was, so he could remove it without making too much noise and mess, but his eyes were getting a little too heavy for precise actions. He finally gave up, grunted and violently ripped it apart, leaving only a small, paper box. He was about to take the lid off, but his magical grip suddenly weakened and dropped the lid. He barely felt it as his hooves went numb and he fell on the ground.

"I'm sorry, Blue," said Lottery Charm, as he put the empty bottle on the counter and walked toward him "I hope you can forgive me someday. See ya, pal."

Prince Blueblood couldn't form any words due to numbness, before he passed out. 

He never saw Lott again.



"YOU BLOODY IMBECILE!" yelled an old, bearded unicorn with glasses "Do you have any idea what you've done!?"

Prince Blueblood sat quietly in the study and didn’t even bother to look at his grandfather. He knew exactly what he's done and could not say anything in his defense, instead locked his view on the walls. His grandfather continued anyway.

"Almost half a dozen magical artifacts straight from the vaults, most of them priceless and powerful enough to endanger the entire kingdom! I don't know who is more stupid here- guards who missed a thief robbing national treasures on their watch, or YOU, letting him inside without anyponies permission! I swear, your parents must be rolling in their gra-..."

"That's enough, Tzar," said Princess Celestia as she entered the room "your grandson is as much a victim, as we all are."

"You always keep his side," muttered Tzar Blueblood, current head of the entire clan "how much more damage does he need to do before you finally do something about it?"

"Tzar, you should leave." ordered Celestia, as she looked at her older nephew. He looked her in the eyes for a moment, but finally huffed and left the room, quietly swearing under his nose.

Celestia sat in front of Prince and looked at him sadly.

"Would you like to talk?"

"No. Can I go back to my room? I'm tired."



His bedroom was exactly how he left it. He looked at two bottles of most disgusting beverage he ever had, one empty, one almost full. There was also a golden ribbon, ripped apart blue gift paper, and one box, still unopened. He walked towards the box and looked at it disgustingly.

"Sir, wake up, please."

His room suddenly turned dark, as shadowy mist enveloped everything around him, leaving only himself and the box visible. He screamed at it, then kicked it so hard it hit the wall and bounced back, opening it and releasing its content.

"Wake up!"

He walked towards the object that fell out of it. A figure made out of darkness followed his every step and looked carefully at it as well.

"WAKE UP!"



Prince lazily opened his eyes. He was lying on couch in the Ponyville library, covered by a smelly blanket, while his incompetent bodyguard stood there and looked at him. Prince ignored him and turned on the other side.

"The main event will begin in fifteen minutes." announced Shining Armor.

"I don't care. Leave me alone."

Shining didn't budge "By orders of Princess Celestia, I'm making sure you will make an appearance there, so please come along, or else."

Prince didn't answer anything. Shining Armor's horn glowed and forcefully took away his blanket, then surrounded Prince with a light purple bubble of magical energy, which lifted him from the couch.

"WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU DOING? RELEASE ME AT ONCE!" he started hitting the force field, but it had absolutely no effect.

"I was given permission to use force. Come along peacefully, please."

"Get this bloody barri-"

"Shut up or I'll punch you again!" yelled Shining Armor, feeling both fear and immense satisfaction from saying it.



Prince Blueblood agreed to go by himself, if only because he had enough humiliations today to spare himself the floating magical bubble prison. They both arrived at the Town Hall on time, just minutes before the main event of the entire night and following day. Every year, one city had the privilege of seeing the daily routine being seen from front rows. For Princess Celestia, it was about as common as waking up, eating and saying hello, but to masses of ponies, and other creatures inside, it was a spectacle they would not forget for the rest of their lives and they were eagerly awaiting it.



“Your majesty, everything is in place. You may enter now.” announced Captain Blitz Shield. Celestia nodded. 

“Thank you, Captain. Tell Ms. Mayor to start then.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

One-eyed captain bowed and left the waiting room. Princess Celestia stood by the window and looked at the moon and sighed.
“I'm not going to make that mistake again. So please, wish me luck, Lulu.”

“Good luck.”

Celestia's heart stopped. Her eyes opened wide, she tried to say something, but no sound came from her mouth, as she slowly turned around and saw a figure she never imagined would ever appear before her, outside of nightmares.

“Y-you...!” she slowly muttered, still not believing her eyes.

“Yes. Me!” answered the shadowy figure “Long time no see, Tia!” she smiled widely, as both her eyes and horn started glowing.



“Allow me to introduce,” finally announced the Mayor after a long speech, just as the bird choir started singing their fanfares “the wise, the benevolent, our ruler, Princess Celestia!”

The curtains moved away from the balcony, revealing...

“She's gone!” said a pegasus guard, as he searched the hallway and nearest area. 

The crowd started muttering and rustling impatiently. Guards searched the entire town hall, but so far nothing came out of it and there seemed to be no sign. Somepony pointed at the balcony where she was supposed to appear, where a very thick, dark blue mist started forming a silhouette of somepony. For a moment everypony's mind was at ease, as they must have realized that Princess was pulling a prank and scaring them on purpose, but they could not be further from truth. Their first hint was a loud, growing laughter that came from the mist.

“Hahaha, rejoice my little ponies, for I HAVE RETURNED!”

The mist dispersed and revealed the one inside. She was a very tall, pitch black alicorn, wearing a dark blue helmet and large neck armor with crescent moon symbol, same as her cutie mark. She had no mane or tail to speak of, in their place was however a flowing mist shaped to resemble such, with texture similar to night sky, full of stars and planets.

“It's so good to see your little faces once again, my loyal subjects.”

Captain Blitz Shield stepped forward and faced the mysterious mare with a spear in one wing.
“Who are you and what have you done to princess?”

The mare snorted “Oh, am I not royal enough for you?” asked smugly, then quickly shifted tone to more serious “Don't you know who I am? Is my existence kept secret from you sun loving lot? Did everypony forgot about me when I was banished one thousand years ago?”

“The mare in the moon...” said one pony in the back of the stage. All the gazes turned to Prince Blueblood, as he looked at her with terrified expression. He gulped and continued “...you're Nightmare Moon!”

Everypony in the hall gasped. There wasn't a single one who didn't heard, at least in passing, about Nightmare Moon's legend. The versions varied depending who you ask, but one thing was universal across every version- she was very, very evil. 

“Ah, so you DO remember me!” Nightmare Moon laughed “That makes it easier then. Then you all should know why I am here. Now, bow to your new ruler!”

There were no bows. There were panicked murmurs, ponies trying to get away from the hall, but noticing that every exit was now locked and all windows covered by solid black mass of energy, leaving only lanterns on the walls and pillars as only source of light. Some ponies hid behind something, foals stuck behind their parents. There were also those who felt no fear.

“As if!” yelled Spitfire, as she flew into the air and pointed her hoof at Nightmare Moon “Give us Princess Celestia back, or else!”

“Spitfire,” Soarin quickly flew to her and tried to get her back on the ground “don't provoke her!”

Spitfire kept her eyes on Nightmare Moon, who at this point was beyond amused and slowly getting more and more irritated. Her horn glowed with dark energies, which she then shot at Spitfire at a speed that took even Captain of Wonderbolts by surprise. She couldn't dodge, but she did shove Soarin out of the way before taking the hit. The beam exploded and the she fell on the ground with a loud thud. Soarin rushed towards her, only to discover that she wasn't quite dead. Instead, she was now made out of stone, turning her into a statue with very terrified face. 

“Spitfire!” shouted Soarin, as he sat before her and tried to wake her up anyway “Come on, don't do that to me, Spitfire! SPITFIRE!”

As this was happening, Nightmare Moon addressed the rest of the gathering.

“Let this be a lesson for everypony that forgot how you speak to royalty with respect. I will forgive you that one time, as long as you pledge your loyalty to me, RIGHT NOW!”

“Never!” announced Captain Blitz Shield, as he assembled all the guards he had with him “I won't let you hurt anypony else! GUARDS, ATTACK! DON'T LET HER NEAR CIVILIANS!”

Countless magical bolts, thrown spears and arrows flew towards Nightmare Moon, all exploding at the balcony, completely demolishing anything it hit, leaving only dust and smoke behind. Meanwhile, all the ponies on the ground rushed toward the exit and desperately tried to force it open. The door gave in eventually and masses finally started to leave the building. Apple family took it upon themselves to somewhat coordinate the panicked mob, herding them like a stampede of cows, but to their credit, it did the job. Weather patrol ponies, all three of them at least, helped by remaining Wonderbolts, under Rainbow Dash's orders helped evacuate those that hid around the place and guided them towards the exit. 



“Soarin, come on, it's not safe!” said one of his Wondebolt friends, as he tried to pry him away from turned to stone Spitfire. Soarin shoved him away.

“I'm not leaving her!” said Soarin, as he tightly hugged the statue of his friend.

“Don't be foolish, if something happens to you, her sacrifice will be in vain!”

“Don't talk about her like she's dead! She's just... just...” he stuttered, as he almost choked on his own tears.

“There is no time, go!”

Reluctantly, Soarin managed to stand up, wipe his tears and turn back, dashing away from the battlefield. 



“Captain! Let me help!” shouted Shining Armor, as he approached Blitz Shield.

“Get everypony to safety, now!”

“Sir, I can fi-”

“PROTECT THEM!”

Shining bit his lip, but saluted and ran off to help with evacuations, mentally preparing himself for shielding everypony with the strongest barrier he could manage. Among the confusion, he lost track of Prince Blueblood, but realized that he probably fled as soon as there was a chance. Which was for the best, as that meant that Shining could concentrate on protecting everyone else instead. 



“RUMBLE!” shouted Thunderlane, as he flew around the hall, nervously scanning the area for his brother “Rumble, where are you? Anypony seen my brother?”

As if on cue, the colt nervously peeked from under one of the tables and looked around. He was far away from the entrance, almost too close to the actual battle, so he was afraid to walk away even for a moment.

“There you are!” said Blossomforth, as she flew towards him and extended her hoof “Can you go?”

“I-I'm scared!” 

“It's okay, darling. Come on, hop on my back!” 



After the initial barrage stopped, there was silence. Where once was a balcony where Nightmare Moon stood, now only smoke was left. The royal guards, only a dozen of ponies, stood there and nervously waited, fully prepared to continue their attack if she appeared again. Blitz Shield looked behind for a moment and sighed with relief as he saw evacuations going smoothly and in time there won't be any civilian left to worry about.
He heard something landing on the floor. A tall, towering figure slowly emerged from the smokescreen. And she was not pleased, but also not hurt at all. Everypony gasped in horror, as they saw Nightmare Moon slowly walking forward, without a single scratch on her, looking at Captain with great anger in her eyes.

“I gave you a warning. I was playing nice. But you still had to act like fools!” 

As she walked along, several pegasi guards flew at her with spears, but were all stopped by some invisible shield she was surrounded with. 

“If you wish to act like fools, then I will treat you as such!”

Her horn glowed again, this time however it wasn't a petrifying beam, but a powerful explosion around her barrier, sending the guards and debris all over the place. As luck would have it, a piece of the floor flew straight into flying Blossomforth, carrying Rumble. It hit her wing, crashing her and colt on the ground. Blossom wanted to scream due to broken wing, but held it in herself and instead looked for Rumble. He quickly got up and other then few scratches, he seemed fine, which was good enough for her. She tried to stand up, but yelped from pain and fell on her side. 

“Blossom, are you alright?” asked Rumble, as he dashed toward her.

“I'll live.”

“BLOSSOM! RUMBLE!”

They both heard Thunderlane as he landed nearby.

“Blossom, you're hurt!” announced Thunderlane, as he looked at the crushed, bleeding wing.

“You don't say!” deadpanned Blossom, as she held her injured wing with one hoof.

“Come on, we have to get you to safety.”

“Don't worry about me, get Rumble first!”

Thunderlane looked at Blossom's bleeding wing again, then at his scared little brother. He groaned.

“I'll be back in a second, baby.”



“I'm getting tired of this nonsense,” announced Nightmare Moon, as she concentrated on another spell, this one much bigger then both before, if growing, pulsating, pitch black aura surrounding her horn was any indication. Blitz Shield cursed and looked at the exit. Some ponies were still inside, not to mention that lady with injured wing. He gulped and charged at Nightmare Moon with a war cry, fully realizing just how futile it was, yet still determined to stop her at any cost.

“SHINING, NOW!”

Shining Armor gulped, took a deep breath and concentrated every little bit of energy he had in his body. He couldn't save everypony, nor could he place a barrier around Nightmare Moon strong enough to contain her for even that one spell, but if he limited the range to just a smaller bubble around everypony still waiting to get out, then he probably had a chance. And right now probably was all he could afford. 
Both spells fired of almost simultaneously. Nightmare Moon's spell enveloped everything in a very bright, blinding light, while Shining Armor's purple barrier stood strong, separating the battlefield from the entrance. 

“BLOSSOM!”

“THUNDERLANE!”

Upon the impact, Shining's barrier looked like it cracked and he felt a great pain in his horn, but despite that, he still managed to double the effort and keep it from shattering. Right next to him stood Thunderlane, who even despite the blinding flash could not keep his gaze away, as he looked at his fillyfriend getting enveloped in complete whiteness.

Once it was all over, Shining Armor finally gave in and collapsed on the ground along with his barrier. He could barely breathe, but managed to open his eyes and look at the battlefield. It could not be called that anymore, as anything and anypony that was not protected by his magic was now turned to stone. He looked terrified at his comrades from Royal Guards, along with Captain himself, who lied on the floor right next to Nightmare Moon, both his hooves extended and wings spread, as he tried to strike her one last time, but never made the target. He also just now noticed a lone mare pegasus turned to stone as well. His heart stopped beating for a second, before he realized it wasn't Twilight, but Blossomforth. It didn't make him feel better in the slightest.

“LET ME AT HER! I'LL KILL HER! I'LL RIP HER APART!” yelled Thunderlane, barely held tight on the ground by Applejack and Big Macintosh.

Nightmare Moon on her part sighed deeply, as she looked at her work, as well as those that avoided petrification.

“I see somepony here has quite a skill. I'm impressed. Since I got what I wanted, I'll let you live. As I expected, without your so called goddess, you ponies are helpless before me.” she smiled widely “I hope you enjoyed your day, for it was your last. From this moment on, THE NIGHT! WILL LAST! FOREVER! HAHAHAHAHAHA”



Barely minutes passed since Nightmare Moon left the town. All the ponies were gathered outside, where Mayor Mare made a roll call of all Ponyville citizens to make sure nopony was missing, but she could do nothing about guests and tourists from outside the town, so there was quite a lot of chaos as families and friends were still trying to find each others in the crowds. They gathered all the petrified ponies in one place building to keep them from getting damaged. Thankfully, the victims were limited to twelve members of Royal guards, captain including, Spitfire and Blossomforth. Shining Armor couldn't gather the courage to look Thunderlane in the eyes, and apologize for not being able to do anything to save her. Soarin was in a similar state right now, standing before Spitfire's statue and silently crying, looking so differently then funny, flirty guy from before. He saw that the entire extended Apple Clan was helping around, providing support in form of food or blankets wherever they could. They were joined by Doctor and Ditzy, who despite being there and experiencing the same thing, seemed less shaken then others, but still far from relaxed.
One pony he could not find, was Prince Blueblood. Last time he saw him was when he revealed Nightmare Moon's identity to everyone, then he was just gone, either mixed with the crowds, or escaped before the exits were sealed. He could think of only one place to look for him.



Shining Armor entered the even messier library, if that was even possible. Now aside from after party trash, there were countless books thrown around the entire room, with Prince himself surrounded by a big stack of them, facing back to the entrance and reading one such tome.
Shining was about to approach him, but was interrupted when somepony entered the library. 

“YOU!” yelled Thunderlane, as he flew toward Prince “You knew who she was, so you must know more!” Prince ignored him completely. Thunderlane kept on talking “The princess is gone, Blossom and others has been turned to stone, so if you know anything, say it!”
Once again, there was no reaction, so he grabbed Prince by the collar and smacked him into a bookshelf, yelling “Stop ignoring me!”

He instantly regretted doing that when he saw Prince's face. There was no smug smile or irate scowl, now replaced by reddened blue eyes, as tears kept on flowing on his cheeks even now. Prince wiped his face and tried to look away.

“I know... she's gone...” he muttered through his tears “... I-I couldn't do anything! She was like a mother to me, always there when I needed her, she never stopped believing in me... and I ... I told her I hate her, and now...”

Thunderlane let Prince down and calmed down, if only a little bit. Shining Armor noticed that three other ponies also joined them, likely for a similar reason as Thunderlane. Soarin, Big Macintosh and Doctor saw the entire thing, but thankfully didn't say anything regarding that. Big Mac put a hoof on Thunderlane's shoulder, trying to calm down his friend. Doctor noticed the cover of the book that Prince was reading.

“Elements of Harmony?” said Doctor, as he scanned through the pages and read parts of them aloud “...were used by Princess Celestia, one thousand years ago, to banish Nightmare Moon on the moon!”

That instantly caught everypony's attention, as they gathered next to Doctor who kept on reading page after page at a great speed, quoting it loudly once in a while.

“Don't bother, there isn't much useful information in this book anyway,” said Prince ”All I found out, was that after being used, they lost all their power and remain in the ruins of old castle. That is, if somepony didn't outright took them away.”

“It also states their names!” added Doctor as he read them out loud “Out of six elements, there are: loyalty, kindness, generosity, honesty and laughter.”

“Laughter?” asked Soarin “You sure it's not a mistake or hoax? And that's only five, what about the sixth one?”

“It doesn't say anything,” answered Doctor, as he closed the book “apparently that's something lost in time as well.”

“So, they are s'possed to be in old castle...” started Big Mac “...where is it?”

“They say it's in the middle of Everfree forest, probably.” answered Doctor.

Everypony gulped. Going to Everfree forrest was thought to be one of the stupidest things to do, almost a guarantee you'll die or come back less complete then you were previously. There were very few documented examples of anypony traveling there and coming back in one piece, not to mention that it was a very big forest that kept on changing, so even if somepony made a map of some parts of it, they were outdated almost one month later.

“So,” started Soarin “our only hope is a set of six things, one of which we don't even know what it is, that we don't know what they look or work like, if they still work in the first place, hidden somewhere in middle of a magical, evil forest full of monsters and ghosts, while an extremely evil and powerful being, one that took out a being able to move sun and moon no less, could strike us at any second. Did I miss something?”

“That this legend could be false to begin with.” added Thunderlane.

Soarin sighed deeply “That's good enough to me. I'm going!”

“And so am I.” added Thunderlane, as he nodded to Soarin. 

“Me too.” said Big Macintosh.

“And me as well.” nodded Doctor.

Prince Blueblood looked at the gathered stallions and shook his head 
“This is suicide. You do realize how slim the chances of success are, do you?”

“Does that mean you'll stay?” asked Shining Armor.

“Of course I'm going! I'd rather die trying then stay here!” 

Shining Armor smiled weakly “Good, I'm glad. That means I can still keep an eye on you.”



“It's like you told me back then,” said Soarin, as he stood in front of Spitfire “I'll protect you, you'll protect me. I know I wasn't too useful so far, but I'll get you out of it, I promise.”

He turned back and made a few steps, but stopped and looked at her face once again. He gulped and scratched his head before saying.
“Spitfire, I... I always wanted to tell you...” he stopped and shook his head  “no, that can wait. Wish me luck, buddy!”



“Mac,” said Applejack, as she approached her brother while he was walking away with packed saddlebags “yer goin' to Everfree, right?”

Big Macintosh nervously looked left and right, then sighed “Eyup.”

“Then Ah'm going as well!”

“Nope,” he stopped her with a hoof “yer needed here more. If anythin' happens to me...”

“Don't ya dare finish that sentence!”

“Ah know, sorry,” he gently patted her head “Ah'll be back in no time, Ah promise.”

Without warning, Applejack hugged her brother tightly. He hugged her back.



“Doctor, I know this face,” said Ditzy, as she approached the brown stallion “you're going to fight Nightmare Moon, aren't you?”

Doctor scratched his back “Weeeeell, I wouldn't use the 'f' word here. No, that doesn't sound quite right.”

“I'm coming with you.”

To anybody seeing her for the first time, Ditzy Do seemed like a very silly pony. Those who knew her better recognized her as a smart and dependable pony who kept getting back on her hooves despite many hardships. Doctor knew her even better and she knew him better then anypony else in the entire world. He couldn't wish for a better companion.

“Sorry, you can't. Not this time.”

“Doctor, you can't go there alone!”

“Ditzy, years ago I would've dragged you on any crazy adventure with me, but not today.” he pointed behind her. A little, scared unicorn filly looked at them from a distance. Ditzy sighed and looked at the ground. She knew she couldn't rationalize leaving her daughter alone, while she got on a dangerous mission that she could not return from. 

“She needs you a lot more then I. Besides, I won't be alone there. Sure, they're not nearly as amazing as you are, but they're still pretty good anyway.”

He passed Ditzy and walked toward Dinky. He patter her head and smiled at her.
“Dinky, I need you to protect your mom while I'm away. Can you do that for me?”

Before Dinky responded, she threw herself at him and tightly grabbed him with both hooves.
“Please come back soon!”

“I will, Dinky. I will.”



Thunderlane found his little brother where he expected him to be. He was standing near Blossomforth, holding back his tears and carefully watching over her.

“Hey, big guy.” said Thunderlane as he moved toward Rumble. He tried to sound as positive as possible, forcing a smile, but failing miserably to look relaxed. 

“Hey...” asked Rumble as he faced his big brother “...Will Blossom be ok?” 

“Now there's a silly question? Of course she will!” answered Thunderlane, as he put a hoof over his shoulder “In fact, I'll go and make sure of it myself!”

“You're leaving?”

“Just for a day or two. I'll be back once we get this done with.”

“B-but...” before he could continue, Thunderlane quickly interrupted him. 

“Rumble, I need your help with something! Can I count on you?” upon saying that, Rumble stopped on his track and looked at him curiously “While I'm gone, I need you to keep Blossom... no, entire Ponyville safe! I know that's a lot to ask, but it's really important and I can't think of anypony more suited for that job! In fact, why don't you stay with Mayor in her house? You know how she can be, somepony needs to keep her calm. I know you're scared, but I believe in you. And I need you to believe in me as well!”

Rumble looked at his brother. He wiped his face and made a wide, confident grin, then nodded.
“Ok! I'll do my best!”

“Atta boy!”



Shining Armor didn't have much preparing to do, if only because he had nothing with him to begin with. He waited for others at the road leading to Everfree Forest. In the distance, on a mountain range, despite the darkness, he could still see Canterlot Castle. Only about half hour passed since the attack, most ponies in Canterlot probably still didn't know what happened and keep wondering what's taking Princess Celestia so long to raise the sun. Eventually the panic would ensue- without Princess and Captain of Royal Guards, the city could fall into riots and mass hysteria, leaving other guards job to keep the streets safe even harder. He wondered what Twilight was doing. It was very late, most days she would either sleep or stay longer to study, but today was Summer Sun Celebration, so she probably had a small party with her friends. He really wished he was there with her, if only so he could keep her calm. Or rather, keep himself calm. He never experienced anything like Nightmare Moon's spells before and dreaded the time they meet again. If Elements of Harmony won't work... no, they will! He took a deep breath and kept waiting.



Finally, after saying all the goodbyes and preparing for the journey, six stallions faced the entrance to the magical forest. Prince Blueblood gulped and lead the way.

“I'll save you, aunt...” he said to himself quietly “...it's a promise!”
> 13. Welcome to Everfree
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everfree forest. Quite possibly the most dangerous place you could name from the top of your head, in case your foal was in dire need of being scared, so it won't play outside too long and actually feel the need to come back home before it gets dark. Dragons, hydras, cockatorices, timber wolves and manticores were only a small, documented part of Everfrees ecosystem, with much more hiding in darker corners, just waiting for travelers to stumble into wrong parts. Despite the fact that sun was down, it wasn't nearly as dark as anypony expected. The combination of light bugs, glowing magical flowers and lone wisps flying around, made the scenery lit enough to see what's in front of you, making traveling all that much easier. Of course, magical flowers and wisps flying around made it incredibly eerie, but as long as they stood away from them and didn't make the direct contact, they were relatively safe. The other creatures, on the other hoof, were a different problem. 

Six stallions were well aware of what Everfree had to offer and willingly entered the dreadful forest in search for elements of harmony. They were walking for about half hour, barely exchanging any words with each other, each too spooked of the place and too shaken about recent events. It was becoming more clear however.

"We are so lost!" announced Prince, as he looked over the horizon. They found themselves on an edge of a cliff, the same one they've been on already. Twice. First time they been here, Prince almost walked one step too far and fell down about two hundred meters into a bed of rocks.

"Looks like there ain't paths around," said Mac, as he pointed over the canyon "we gotta get there from here."

"We could fly us there, you know." proposed Thunderlane.

"I don't like this idea," said Shining Armor, as he looked behind him at several glowing wisps "I have a weird feeling that whatever is in this forest, just waits for us to get separated."

Prince groaned "For the last time, these wisps are not dangerous. They're just lost souls of small creatures violently hunted by local predators, just wandering without aim." he explained "They're harmless."

Soarin gulped "I might have felt better if you didn't use the word violently. And hunted. Predators. Lost souls... you know, if you said nothing?" 

Prince rolled his eyes and ignored him, instead concentrating on finding a safer way down. He looked to his left and right, but as long as his eyes could reach, there were no safe paths, but it was so dark that he couldn't see too far away. For a moment he contemplated sending Thunderlane or Soarin to scout ahead, but his bodyguards comment actually made some sense for once. Everfree was fairly uneventful for them so far, but it was that kind of cocky attitude that killed ponies that made it here. The worst part of Everfree forest so far, was the fact that nopony knew what to expect. There were monsters, carnivorous plants and old spirits around the place, sure. But there was more to it than that and that part scared him enough to stop him from using any magic at all, most of all any light spells, as they might attract unwanted attention. 

"Hey, did you hear something?" asked Doctor, as he looked around. They did hear a single crack of some sorts, followed by a series of few more. Once they realized what that was, the ground started trembling and before any could run away, it collapsed, sending them to plummet to their deaths. Soarin and Thunderlane instinctively flapped their wings to remain afloat, but seeing as others had no such benefits, rushed towards them. Thunderlane managed to grab Big Macintosh's tail in his teeth as he slid down the slope and slowly, but surely, managed to slow his descent and finally lift him in the air, seriously wishing he'd lay of the apple pies. Soarin caught Doctor by his chest and flew high into the air, both looking back to two unicorns that had less luck then them.
Shining Armor rolled on the steep slope, but managed to grab a hold of a branch, while Prince rolled much further and caught the slope in the last possible moment, stopping himself from falling. He barely held the grass by his front hooves, while his hindhooves moved around and desperately tried to find something solid to stand on, with no luck.
But before they had time to curse their situation, their eyes widened at the sight above him.

"AVALANCHE!" screamed Soarin, as he moved away to avoid getting himself and Doctor crushed under falling rocks. 

Shining Armor cast his shield almost instantly, creating a magical roof, which stopped a mass of rocks from crushing him or falling even further. If he had more than a second to gather his mana, he could have made a bigger one, the one that would bounce the stones away to keep them from accumulating, but had no such luxury right now. Holding himself by a lone branch with only mouth didn't help the matter. He felt every single boulder that landed on his shield, every hit was like a small needle poking back of his head, but he ignored the pain and held it strong. 
He noticed Prince Blueblood struggling below. His hooves were starting to slide of, no matter how desperately he tried to keep a hold of it. Shining Armor released the branch he held and slowly slid down, catching him just in time before he fell.

"G-Gotcha!" said Shining Armor with pained voice. He grit his teeth, as he tried to keep his shield up along with holding Prince and not letting go either, no matter what. Prince could see beads of sweat on his bodyguards face. He also saw that his shield, the only thing keeping them both alive right now, was slowly cracking, having accumulated a great mass of rocks on it, which still kept on falling. While it felt like eternity, not even a minute passed and their pegasi companions were still too far away to save them.

Prince gulped and made a bold decision.

"Let it go!" probably one of the stupidest in is life yet.

"I'm...not...leaving...you..." Shining Armor struggled to mumble, as his hooves were getting more slippery from his sweat, while the ground he was on was starting to crack as well.

"Not me, the barrier!

Shining Armors eyes widened "Are you insane?!"

Time was running out, he wasn't sure what will fail first, the slope they were on, Shining's grip of his hooves or his shield. Either of these fails, they all fall to their deaths. He had no time to explain either. This is when Prince Blueblood did something he never thought he was going to do ever again, as he said these two magical words.

"TRUST ME!"

Shining Armor's eyes and mouth opened wide, but he did not question anything and instantly let go his shield, sighing with relief as his headache weakened. Now nothing stopped the avalanche from falling through the slope, giving them only few seconds to react. Shining Armor looked with terror, as a giant boulder rolled right at them, unable to protect them from it. He closed his eyes and waited for inevitable.

Then he hit something, broke it, then landed on the ground. For a moment he panicked and thought that he broke his hoof or rib, but there was no pain. In fact, he was strangely alive after an avalanche of that size. He slowly opened his eyes and massaged his forehead. He saw a tree right above him, several branches broken by a sudden impact. Branches he was just lying on, in fact. He lazily got up and looked around. Just in front of him, he saw the slope he was just on a few seconds ago.  Or what was left of it once the avalanche passed, destroying anything on its path. Except he wasn't there. Neither was Prince Blueblood.

"Ouch!" he heard him growling behind him, as Prince slowly got up from the ground, no worse then he was. They heard voices coming in their direction.

"Hey, are you two alright?" asked Soarin, as he landed just next to two unicorns, other three joining after him. Shining Armor nodded, still a bit dizzy from experience, but he didn't need to ask anything as Doctor spelled it out for him.

"That was brilliant!" announced Doctor happily "Teleportation! I never thought I'll see it myself, but you just did it, you brilliant bastard, you!"

"No joke, we thought you were both dead!" added Thunderlane.

"Eyup!"

Over his headache, Shining Armor slowly put together the pieces. 
"T-that wasn't me!"

They all gasped and slowly looked over at Prince Blueblood, who paid more attention to his ruined mane and coat, magically pulling splinters from all over his body, wincing from pain with each one he took out.

"It was you?" asked surprised Thunderlane. Prince just shrugged and kept removing twigs from his hair, cursing quietly under his nuzzle.

"It could have gone better," said Prince "it was damn hard to concentrate, not to mention that shield was disrupting my own channels, that's why I told you to stop it, by the way. Good thing we fell on trees, it would hurt much more if I missed my mark even a little. I never used it that far and on another pony, so it was mostly dumb luck."

They all kept on looking at Prince wide-eyed. He noticed their glares once he cleaned himself enough to start paying attention to anything else other then himself.
"What? Am I still dirty somewhere?"

"You, my good sir," said Doctor "have no right to remain this nonchalant, not right after performing one of the most amazing spells known to ponykind!"

Prince stepped back and averted his eyes from them "No, that's nothing, really..." 

"You just saved my life!" announced Shining Armor loudly, as he walked towards Prince, smiling brightly "That's SOMETHING to me."

He could argue that he saved mostly himself, that he felt obliged to take him too only because he owed him for stopping the avalanche. He couldn't say anything to five stallions nodding happily in his direction. It felt wrong. 

"Let's just go on, we're wasting time."



"... and then when I finally dropped Doctor, I wanted to rush to you right away, but you were nowhere to be seen! Just gone! You guys scared me shi-"

"We know..." Prince stopped Soarin from retelling their recent unfortunate adventure "...it happened ten minutes ago. I was there."

"And boy am I glad you were!" admitted Soarin, as he stopped in the middle of the track and turned to others, smiling "Anypony else then you and we would have a 'Shining Sandwich'!"

They instantly stopped and looked at Soarin, as he smiled brightly and awaited their reactions. There was only silence coming from five highly surprised faces. Soarin's ears dropped.

"Nopony can appreciate a good reference these days..."he mumbled something about Devils and Presidents, but was not met with ignorance, but fear and uneasiness. The air around him suddenly became a bit hotter.

"I know it was terrible, I was just kidding. It was just a lame line from a..."

Something dropped on his mane. It felt wet, a bit slimy. Probably just a bird. A bird that just growled above his head. Birds don't growl like that, he though. Or maybe they do? Please let it be just a bird.

"...lame... movie..." he continued talking in a slightly higher pitched voice. The growling intensified, now the air started feel more like somepony hard breathing over his shoulder. Please let it be a bird.

"Soarin," said Doctor in a hushed voice "stand still and don't make any moves. And do not, I repeat, do not look up!"

Soarin stood frozen in one place. It was just his luck, that every time something had to appear behind, it had to be his rear. He took no pleasure in being taken by surprise from behind. He was too scared to even giggle at this naughty joke he just thought of. 
Don't look up, don't look up, he repeated to himself, slowly raising his head up. Something dripped on him again, but he couldn't pay any attention to saliva that just landed on his nose. He was way too busy with a steamy breath, coming from a giant maw, which held a set of giant, sabertooth teeth, just wide enough to fit his entire head inside. 'It' was damn large, had a body and head of an overgrown lion, wings of a bat and a long, scaly scorpion tail, ending with a long, sharp needle.
But by far the most important was a pair of giant, catlike eyes that looked deep inside him. Soarin faced the manticore with dignity worthy of a Wonderbolt.

"...mommy!"

The beast roared loudly right into his face, covering it with saliva and more fear than he ever felt in is life. He screamed loudly, his wings folded from panic and all he could do now was cover his face with his hooves, as the beast moved its jaw onto him.

That was a moment Shining Armor was waiting for, releasing a spell he held for a while now, creating another purple shield, right above Soarin's face. Manticores nuzzle bounce from a construct that just appeared before it and looked at it puzzled. It didn't stop from attacking again, this time  stood on its hind hooves and tried to body slam itself on Soarin. Big Macintosh rushed toward the Wonderbolt and tackled him away from Manticores reach, as it slammed through small magical barrier like it was made of matches. Shining stepped back and massaged his head from the magical backlash.

Big Mac shook Soarin around, trying to wake him up, but stopped once something heavy hit the side of his head and sent him flying into bushes. The view of his friend getting hit with a giant, scaly tail brought Soarin back to consciousness. It also angered another pegasus who just flew into the air.

"Oh, now it is on!" said Thunderlane as flew straight into the manticore as fast as he could, then extended his hind hoof and jump kicked the beast right into its face, just barely restraining himself from shouting a battle cry. Upon contact, the monster staggered and took a few steps back, but seemed otherwise unharmed, even more furious then before. Thunderlane couldn't finish his cursing when it pounced at him, which he gracefully dodged by flying higher in the air.

"Ha, can't catch me up here, can you?"

The manticore flapped its wings and flew right after him. 

"Oh come on!" he lamented, then turned away and began to flee from rampaging beast going for his blood. He tried to just outrun him with sheer speed, but quickly found out that this beast was actually catching up to him pretty easily, defying any and every logic there was about giant creatures with such small wings flying as fast as it did. Thunderlane blamed it all on Everfree magic. He changed his plan and dived into the forest, zig-zagging around the thick mass trees, where a giant sized monster had much less room to maneuver, struggling to find its way around the trees, breaking branched one after the other, as Thunderlane easily sneaked past. He flew in the direction of others, hoping they had any better ideas. Then, he heard a shout from above.

"GERONIMO!"

He heard a thud and took a peek behind him, to see that Doctor now joined the battle and was now sitting on Manticores back, climbing by its mane further into its head, until he reached it and covered its eyes with hooves. Thunderlane smiled and nodded, instantly hatching a plan.

"Come on, catch me if you can, you overgrown freak!" yelled Thunderlane, as he flew forward, searching for a good object to use against it. And found one in a form of a lone, big boulder covered in moss. He headed in that very direction while taunting the blinded manticore along the way. As they got closer, Thunderlane suddenly turned and missed the boulder, while Doctor jumped of the manticore, only a little too late realizing he was about twenty feet in the air and a world of pain was nearing.

"GOTCHA!" shouted Soarin, as flew by and caught the earthpony midair.

Then, they heard a very loud slam and saw a big, scary manticore plastered on a lone, big boulder, which cracked upon impact. The monster slid of, seemingly unconscious. 

"Nice timing." commented Doctor,  all three safely reached the ground. They high-hooved to celebrate their teamwork.

"Hell yeah, that thing had no chance whatsoever!" gloated Soarin, as others rolled their eyes, realizing he didn't do all that much, but were glad regardless. They laughed for a while. Until they heard another roar, as it jumped at them and bit Soaring by his tail and started pulling him away. 

"HEEEEEELP!" cried Soarin, desperately scratching the ground "I'm too young and sexy to become a Soarin sandwich!"

Doctor and Thunderlane quickly grabbed his hooves, but their efforts only slowed the beast. 

"COVER YOUR EYES!" yelled Prince Blueblood, as he  and Shining Armor rushed toward the manticore, Prince's horn exploding with a blinding light. The beast roared loudly, releasing Soarin's tail, sending him and two stallions flying in the opposite direction, as it brushed its eyes. Shining Armor jumped over three stallions as they flew by, and ran toward the manticore. Using his momentum and beasts temporary blindness, he delivered a powerful buck straight into its face, sending it flying many, many feet away.

Just as they all got back on their hooves, they heard the roar yet again, as the beast, despite many cuts, bruises and crushed nose, still had the fight in it. 

"He just doesn't know when to give up!" said Shining Armor, as they all took a battle stance "Ok, everypony, let's do this!"

"YEAH!" they all shouted.

"Nnnope!" one shouted.

They all turned to see Big Macintosh has caught up to them. They sadly realized that they all forgot about him, but sighed with relief when they saw him being alright, aside from a little bleeding cut on the side of his head. He passed them and stood in front of the agitated manticore, matching it with his eyes.

"Mac, what are you..." started Thunderlane, but Macintosh interrupted him.

"Ah got this. Stand back."

"Mac, don't be stupid! You don't think you can beat this thing alone?"

"Eyup!" Big Mac stretched his neck and cracked his hooves.

They tried to argue a bit longer, but manticore jumped at them before any said anything. Shining Armor tried to cast a shield. Prince Blueblood thought of any good spells. Thunderlane and Soarin rushed through the air. Doctor stood his ground and waited for a good chance. 
Big Mac stood on his hind hooves, extended his front hooves forward and stopped the monster on its way, grabbing both of its paws and holding it down in a clinch. Five sets of jaws dropped to the ground, as they stopped anything they did to witness quite possibly the most absurd moment thus far.

Manticores weighted a few tons, at least, and they knew firsthoof how strong it was. There was no chance all five of them could hold it down with brute force. Yet, Big Macintosh did it, alone. Not only he didn't collapse under the weight of a monster five times his size, he actually made a few steps forward, making the manticore step back to avoid falling on its back. 

"What..." said Shining Armor, as they all watched in awe.

"Fascinating!" remarked Doctor, and they all nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile the manticore was just as surprised as they were, so instead of forcing itself forward, tried to bite of Mac's face, but he moved his head away with every bite.

"Ah've seen an' bested bigger an' scarrier then ya!" he shouted as he stepped even further, pushing it back.

He waited for the beast to make another bite at his face, which he avoided, but before it moved its head back, he struck it with his own head. The beast staggered and growled with pain. Mac used that short moment to grab one paw with both his hooves. He turned his back to the beast and pulled both hooves with a yell, throwing the beast over his shoulder, straight into the ground. 

The earth shook under their hooves, sending massive shockwaves across the area, making them almost lose their balance.

Mac did not stop there and while it was down, quickly latched onto beasts neck. Manticore struggled for a moment, but lack of oxygen weakened its moves, until it slowed down considerably. His five companions were still too awestruck to say anything. 

Macintosh spoke "It's okay, Ah don' wanna hurt ya!"

Of course, the others protested, most of all Soarin.

"Mac, did you miss the time it tried to eat me? TWICE!"

Mac ignored them "Hush now, Ah promise to let ya go, if ya leave just us alone!"

The manticore struggled and growled for a few more moments, until it calmed down and stopped. Mac took it as a sign of good will and slowly released its neck. The beast stood up and quickly jumped away from Macintosh, turning back and roaring in their direction once again, but did not attack them anymore and ran away instead. 

They all let their breaths out and collapsed on their knees with relief.
"I thought I was gonna die!" said Soarin, as he collapsed on his back and breathed heavily. Shining Armor moved to Big Macintosh and caught his attention.

"Mac, I, uh... I heard about earth pony strength, but this... I dunno..."

Macintosh shrugged "What can Ah say? Ah live on a farm, Ah have ta be strong for my family."

"Why did you leave it alone?" asked Prince Blueblood as he walked to them "That thing could come back and hunt us again!"

"Nnope. Ain't happenin'."

"And you know that, how exactly?"

"Simple. Back when she smacked me first time, Ah flew next to her nest. There were three little hatchlings there. She wasn't trying to kill us, she was just protectin' her territory an' we tresspassed. Besides, manticores don' eat ponies."

Soarin deadpanned "This one must've missed the memo!" he muttered, looking at his messed up tail, still wet from saliva, missing a few inches of hair.

"What Ah mean,” Macintosh continued “is that it can eat ponies, but usually doesn't, and hunts other animals instead. Ponies aren't filling enough for them and much too hard to find, so they don' bother unless desperate."

"How do you know all this, farm boy?" asked Prince, looking at him  suspiciously. 

Mac shrugged "Ah travel a lot. Never been to Everfree though, but Manticores are alike anywhere."

"Just that? You TRAVEL a lot?"

"Eyyup."

"That's why you know all this?"

"Eyyup."

"And that's why you have super strength?"

"Eyyup. Ah was taught by the best."

Soarin remarked "In the future, can you remind me to never step on your hoof?"

"Eyyup."

Prince tried to ask something else, but was a little too tired to care. And so did others for that matter, just glad that ridiculously strong earth pony was on their side. They decided to just stop wasting time and get along. Their quest was still far from over.  And surprises and dangers were only going to get worse.



"Wait, you said it's a she?" asked Thunderlane "When you talked about manticore?"

Big Macintosh nodded. "Eyyup, this was a young female guardin' the nest. Ah don' wanna be anywhere near the male when he's back from the hunt. Mah hooves ain't big enough to grab that fella.”

They nodded and continued their march. Soarin stopped on his tracks, his eyes twitched.

“THAT WAS THE SMALL ONE?”
> 14. Hope
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After their not so happy adventures with avalanches and manticores, the group had a little more luck and common sense to avoid further surprises. First was a lone, wandering hydra, which they spotted miles away (literally, it was that big) and made a rather large detour, carefully avoiding its attention. Next in line was a large patch of red, very pleasantly smelling flowers, just begging to be eaten by lone travelers. Thankfully, Big Macintosh stopped them from going any closer, instead letting them observe as a bunny had a taste first. When leaving, the question was 'how in Equestria can a small flower have teeth larger than itself?'. Prince Blueblood lacked any knowledge on Piranha Roses, as they were called, but was sure to do some research on them later. Preferably in secured library, with a book that had no pictures. His mental image of bunny blood splattering everywhere was too strong, he was in no risk of forgetting it.

Finally, the inevitable caught up to them. It was a wonder that it took them this long to fall for it, as Shining Armor stopped to yawn and rub his eyes, but continued his march. It wasn't the only time he did that and others were also feeling fatigued. They lost any sense of time since they entered the forest, everything happening either too fast or too slow. According to Bluebloods hoofwatch, it was about 1 PM. Their journey started around 2 AM and they were all on their hooves since early morning yesterday, working harder then usual in preparations for the ceremony. Now the adrenaline was slowly wearing of.

“Are we there yet?” asked Soarin, as he took a big yawn. Others stopped on their tracks and looked at him with annoyance.

“What are you, five?” asked Prince, rubbing his temples “No, we haven't found any ancient magical artifacts yet!”

“Woah, sorry man, I'm just barely standing anymore.”

“You asked for it, nopony forced you to go. Now...” Prince stopped to take make a long yawn “...stop whining.”

“I'm not whining!” protested Soarin “I'm just complaining! You don't want to hear me whining.”

“Please don't start, then.” interrupted Thunderlane. He took a yawn as well “But yeah, Soarin has a point. We've been walking for hours, not to mention Blossom and I had to pull double shift yesterday.”

“So did I!” said Soarin “Spitfire was slaving me around even more than usual. And not in a good way!”

Both pegasi stopped talking and sighed deeply. They spent so long paying attention to Everfree, they almost forgot why they were inside it in the first place. Shining Armor took note of that and walked to them.

“I think we all need a little rest,” he proposed, putting his hooves on their shoulders “nothing good will happen if we collapse in the middle of the forest.”

Everypony agreed and soon after that, located a small cave with a very slim entrance, barely able to let a single pony slip through, let alone a bigger and more dangerous creature. Inside was dark, wet, smelly and dusty as all heck, but it proved to be spacious enough to house six adult stallions, if only they didn't mind crowding. And considering how cold it was and that they had limited blankets with them, they were far from complaining. 

With one exception. 

“You're coming?” asked Shining Armor, after almost everypony was already settling inside. Prince Blueblood stood before the entrance and carefully inspected the insides of it. Dark, mysterious, tight rock corridor. He gulped and took a step back. Shining Armor rolled his eyes and pushed Prince towards the entrance “Come on, you'll get a shower later.”

“T-that's not the problem!” exclaimed Prince, offended “I just... I don't feel comfortable spending time in a cave. Especially a dark one, in a deadly forest!”

Shining Armor looked at him carefully “You're claustrophobic?”

“No, I just don't trust them...” he looked away. A few memories flashed in his mind. His parents. Stupid argument about floating rocks. Their blood on his hooves. His train of thought was interrupted by a hoof placed on his back.

“Don't worry,” Shining Armor smiled to him “we'll keep a watch at all times. If anything happens, we'll be out of here in an instant. Besides, it's safer than outside anyway.”

“But...”

“Trust me.”

That one line was enough to shut Prince Blueblood completely, if not exactly convince. For some reason he couldn't argue with his bodyguard, especially since ever since leaving Ponyville, he was showing more and more competency. Or was he just too tired to argue with five other ponies? He sighed and entered the cave, expecting the worst to happen, eventually. Instead, after huddling between Big Macintosh and Soarin under one blanket, the warmth combined with his fatigue made him fall asleep almost instantly. Others were not too behind him, leaving Doctor and Shining Armor as the last ones standing. Shining Armor yawned again, but kept himself bravely on all four hooves.

“You don't seem too good,” said Doctor, as Shining Armor's eyes were constantly closing and opening, as his head bobbing up and down “get some sleep, I'll take the first shift.”

“I'm fine,” said Shining Armor, as he shook his head and rubbed his eyes “that's nothing compared to...” he stopped for a yawn “...my training.”

“I don't doubt that. But still, go on, I'm not even tired at all. Unlike you guys, I wasn't doing anything yesterday, so I'm full of energy.”

Shining Armor thought for a moment, but couldn't argue that Doctor looked a lot better than others. He had no bags under his eyes, his voice was constantly clear and loud and, as weird as it sounded, he has not yawned a single time 

“Okay, but wake me up in an hour, I'll take the second shift.”

“Sure thing, lad.”

No matter how much time you spend with Doctor, you can be sure to... never be sure of what he is like. Can he be trusted? What is his plan? Why did he agreed to go to Everfree forest? How does he know so much, yet keeps forgetting common knowledge? Or is he even a pony to begin with? These questions have as many answers as there are those who ask them, but even they can all agree to one thing.

Doctor lies. 

He had no intentions of waking Shining Armor up in time. Nor was he planning to let anypony else take a turn at watching over their camp. A simple truth of the matter was that he did not sleep at all! Nights are among the most boring periods of time for him, since everypony else was inactive, sleeping and recharging their energies for next day, while he was there, all alone, bored out of his skull. He used to read books, but he rushed through them so fast, the library couldn't keep up with him, so he stopped and tried to find another hobby to pass the time. He tried his hooves at art, but his drawings ended up being mocked even by Dinky, as much as she tried to be nice about expressing her opinion. He tried writing, but that also backfired as he ran out of paper and ink halfway the prologue, barely six hundred pages in. Ponyville nightlife also wasn't a thing for him, for one reason or another. And lets not even bring up his attempts at inventing. Ditzy was not amused when she found the fridge. In three different places.

On the bright side, their household was never dirty anymore. Ditzy told him to help with chores, might as well do them all to kill time. Two birds with one stone, as they say. He never really understood why this term was even used by ponies, who are herbivores and would have no use for dead birds or their meat anyway. Perhaps it dates back to the time they were dangerous predators and actually hunted ponies? Or was that a loose term for a gryphon back from the war, centuries ago? Or maybe that term was borrowed from gryphon societies AFTER war ended and migrations started happening between both kingdoms? Normally that thought alone would provoke him to run through the dictionaries and history books to satisfy his curiosity. Unfortunately, he had no such luxury here and his forms of entertainment were severely limited.

“...and I ate one, so now I have seventy five thousand, eight hundred sixty two muffins left on the tray (a very big one, might I add)...”

Needless to say, it was going to be a long, boring night. Hopefully not eternal. 

Doctor lost track of time completely as his song just ended, while others still slept. He estimated about six hours have passed, which should be just about enough, so he lazily stood up and stretched his hooves and neck. He first gently nudged Shining Armor.

“Rise and shine, lad. Time to hunt some harmonies.” Nothing happened “Wow, somepony is a heavy sleeper. Come on, wakey wakey!” he nudged him much harder, but even that proved to be ineffective. Doctor scratched his head and moved over to next pony in line.

“Thunderlane, wake up!”

Still nothing. He tried it a few more times, shaking them more violently each time, but all of this had absolutely no effect, as they kept on sleeping like the dead. They weren't though, as Doctor safely confirmed after checking their pulse and breathing. They didn't seem to be sick as well, no sweating or convulsing, there were no changes in their bodies aside from not reacting to his words. This was not good, that much was a fact. 

“Okay, calm down and think, what do I know?” he started saying to himself, as he nervously stomped the ground and looked over his compaions.

“Five ponies, all adult stallions, different races, fell asleep and won't wake up. Not dead, not sick, probably, hopefully. What else am I missing... I'm fine, but that could mean something else, or does it? Come on, what else... Everfree! We're in Everfree forest, a lot of weird stuff, like... magic! It must be some curse, or ghost or... Nightmare Moon? No, not her, she wouldn't spare me and she'd make us know it's her, not like she even knows about it. I was here the entire time and I saw nothing, so, magic, ghosts... ghost!”

He coughed and spoke loudly.

“Nice trick, whoever you are, but you missed one! Come on, what's the matter, too scared of a single, little pony to come out and show yourself?”

Nothing happened. That did not stop Doctor from trying anyway, as he donned a smug, if fake, smile and kept provoking the air.

“Is that because I'm awake? Can't touch me until I go to bed, eh? Well too bad, I don't sleep, so if you want to talk, you'll have to do it in the open!”

Still nothing happened. Doctor was starting to have his doubts, but had no other ideas, so he kept on trying. If he's lucky, maybe his crazy rambling would wake them up and this would all be just a crazy misunderstanding. If only.

“Oh, I see how it is! You're afraid! Afraid I might do something, that I could stop you from... whatever you're trying to do! Am I right?”

There was no answer, except from his own voice echoing in the cave.

“What are you, a chicken? Chirp chirp chirp! Little chicken ghosts too afraid of a big, nasty pony?”

“CEASE YOUR INSULTS, MAGGOT!”

“WOAH!” Doctor jumped back, as a mysterious, ominously sounding voice interrupted him. He looked around, but saw nothing that could possibly speak to him. He still smiled, if only because he was a step toward the answer.

“Ha, hate being called names, are you? Your types always are. Now answer me, is this” he pointed at his friends lying unconscious “your doing?”

“Yes. They made a mistake of stepping into my home. They had to PAY!”

“Ooh, I see! Well, allow me to apologize on their behalf, we had no idea this was anyponys, or whatever you are, home. Now if you could please, just lift whatever spell you used on them, then we'd be on our merry way, not bothering you ever again. It's a promise!”

The ghost started laughing in response. Doctor's ears drooped 

“Oh, that's never a good sign.” he said, scratching his head.

“No, they are all mine! MINE, YOU HEAR ME! I waited for so, so long for somepony to come here! Now I can finally be free!”

“Free?” asked Doctor, his eyes widened “So you're trapped here! You need somepony to get out of here, which means...”

“Yes, YES! So long, I have waited for so, SO LONG! I stopped counting time long ago, waiting, patiently waiting, for a new body!”

“New body, eh? Well then, mister ghost...” said Doctor, once again smiling brightly as he realized one thing “... if you have your body, a lot to choose from in fact, then why are you still here? Why wait and talk to a lonely earth pony, huh?” asked Doctor and waited for an answer. There was none.

“You can't! It's not that easy, isn't it? What's stopping you? Look over there, five strong, powerful stallions. One hits like a truck, two are talented magicians and two are superb fliers, a great pool to choose from, if you ask me, you won't get a better chance. You're missing something. What's stopping you?”

The ghost took a time to answer, but did so before Doctor provoked it further.

“Hope.”

“What?” asked Doctor.

“Their hope. But they will break, I know they will! THEY WILL BREAK INTO DESPAIR! And when they do, nothing will stop me!”



Shining Armor found himself... somewhere. It wasn't Everfree forest anymore. He was in Canterlot, but everything seemed different. He saw ponies gathering around him. Citizens of the city all surrounded him, forming a mob, some of them held some tools either in mouths or by magic. Brooms, scissors, hammers, knives, bats and then some. And they were all aiming them at him.

“THERE HE IS! GET THAT MONSTER!”

Shining Armor was surrounded from all sides so he could not run away. Nor was he in any condition to fight them, not that he would ever lift a hoof on civilians anyway.

“T-this is some sort of misunderstanding, please I...”

“DON'T LET HIM LIE TO YOU! GET HIM!”

Before the mob could advance at him, they were interrupted by a sudden arrival of a garrison of guards, along with...

“Princess Celestia!” announced Shining Armor happily, as he ran toward her. He was stopped by about a dozen guards, each pointing their spears in his directions.

“Go a step further, and you'll wish for death!” said angered Captain Blitz Shield, as he moved towards Shining Armor and looked intimidatingly with his one good eye “You were my pride, my best student,” he started tearing a little “I TREATED YOU LIKE A SON! And that's how you repay me?”

“W-what? What's going on? What did I do?” Shining Armor looked around for somepony who could give him answers, but all he got were angry and scared stares. A poster on a wall caught his eyes. It had his picture and name under a big “Wanted”, along with a ridiculous amount of money reward, dead or alive. He could not read what he was accused of, but it had to be a lie. He looked around for something, anything. He found her.

“TWILIGHT!” he shouted, as he ran toward his sister. The crowd moved away from him with fear, allowing him to move close enough to Twilight, who looked away and... cried? He could not get too far, as two ponies blocked his way.

“Don't you DARE go a step closer!” growled Sunset Shimmer, as her horn and eyes glowed with bright red color. 

“She believed in you, like we all!” added Moondancer, as she joined Sunset Shimmer in her blockade. Her eyes were full of hate, as well as grief “How could you!” she spelled through tears.

“B-but I don't even know...”

Before he could finish the sentence, he was grabbed by two guards and pulled away. Twilight didn't dare look at him, as she was consoled by her two friends. He was brought to face Princess Celestia, who looked at him with disgust.

“Shining Armor, for your crimes against Equestria, you are sentenced to an immediate execution!”

“WHAT?!”

He nervously looked around, as two ponies in black robes and masks moved to him. Both had giant axes held by magic.



Thunderlane woke up, but it wasn't a damp cave from before. Was this Ponyville again? It seemed like it, but something was off, he couldn't point a hoof at what. He couldn't think more of it, as he saw Mayor Mare walking away from him, along with Rumble, as he moved closely to her. Thunderlane didn't hesitate a second and ran towards them, shouting their names, but they ignored him and hastened their moves. Once he caught up to them, Mayor quickly turned toward him and shoved him away with a hoof. 

“I thought I told you to stay away! Now get out before I call for help!”

“W-what? Why would you do that?”

She didn't answer him, only looked at him as if he should figure it out on his own. He gulped and looked over to Rumble. His eyes widened, as he noticed what his brother was like now. One of his wings was covered by a very thick bandage, just like his left front hoof, as he was looking at him with only one healthy eye, the other being covered by a medical eye patch. But more than anything else, what bothered Thunderlane the most, was that he was trembling, hiding behind Mayor, not saying anything to avoid getting any more attention from him.

“You have the nerve to ask those questions!” Mayor growled at him and shoved him away once again “Go away, you made enough mess already!”

“M-me? But I didn't...”

“Leave us behind?” said a feminine voice behind him. His eyes widened, as he turned back to see...

“BLOSSOM! You're alright!” he was about to rush toward her and hug her, but the look on her face stopped him. She was even more angry at him than Mayor Mare.

“Not thanks to you, scum!” she said with disdain, as she passed him and joined the other pair, putting a wing on Rumble “If there's any conscience left in you, then do us a favor and leave. And never come back!”

They turned away and continued walking, leaving a dumbstruck stallion alone on the road.



Big Macintosh lazily opened his eyes, woken by sunshine striking through the windows. Once he realized he was not in cave, he quickly scanned the area. He was in his own room, laying in his own bed, while outside sun was already high in the skies. Where were the others? Why is there sun? Did all this happen, or was Nightmare Moon just a nightmare? But then, why was he waking up so late, he should be out there, working.

“Mornin', Mac!” announced happily Applejack as she walked in his room, her back had a tray with breakfast ready. Some peeled apples and a glass of juice. Not exactly what he called an Apple Family breakfast. There were also a few pills, neatly stacked in a little plastic box, standing right next to the glass. 

He tried to say something, but after he opened his mouth, no words came from it. Applejack looked at him, smiling weakly. As she closed by and put a tray on the table, he noticed something was not right about her. She looked much smaller, as if she lost a lot of weight, her eyes were red, bags under them. 

“Ah bet yar starvin', eh, big boy?” she took a single piece of apple and navigated it towards his mouth “'ere comes a chuchu train!” not sure what to do, he opened his mouth and grabbed the apple, then slowly chewed it, feeling tired with every small move he made. Applejack smiled and took another piece to her hoof.

“There we go. Ah bet yer more obedient than Ah was back when you fed me when Ah was lil'. Heh, good times.” as she continued feeding him, he noticed she shed a single tear doing it. He desperately tried to say something or move his body, but couldn't. 

“Applejack, Mac, Ah'm back!” announced Applebloom, as she walked into the room. She looked about as pathetic as her sister “How's Mac doin'?”

“He's good, just finished breakfast! Come 'ere sis, tell yer brother what's new in school?”

Applebloom walked toward the bed and they looked each other in the eyes. The filly hesitated, but after getting a nudge from Applejack, she spoke up.

“Oh, umm, we had a test today, Ah dunno if Ah did well, 'couse Ah was busy with chores yesterday, but that's ok, because Ah helped on the field, and umm... Sweetie Belle has a birthday party tommorow.”

“That's great!” said hapilly Applejack “Ya should go an' 'ave fun, then.”

“Ah told her Ah won't come,” she said sadly, head looking at the floor “Ah'll spend all day tomorrow workin', like Ah always do.”

They fell silent, while Mac's eyes widened. What was going on? He still couldn't say anything, as they both walked away, talking loud enough for him to hear.

“Applejack, will he... ya know, like Granny...”

“NO!” Applejack replied sternly “And don'tcha dare say otherwise! He'll get better, everythin'll be fine... and... and...” she stopped, and all talk was replaced by quiet sobbing.



Soarin had no idea where he was. It was so dark, he felt like he just woke up from that cave while others already left, but as he walked, he didn't encounter any walls, and nothing else as well. 

“Hello? Anypony there?” he received no answer “Shining Armor? Thunderlane? Doctor? Big Mac? If it's a joke, it's not funny!”

He stopped when he bumped into something. Whatever it was, it swayed for a while, until it finally fell on the ground and shattered. Just then, somepony turned on the light, which illuminated only a small part, the one where he stood, just so he could see the thing he just broke. He screamed from terror as he saw the much too familiar object.

“SPITFIRE!” 

He knelt next to the shattered stone statue of his best friend. His hooves trembled, as he closed them to the pieces of what was once the most important mare of his life. One time she really needed him, he failed in the worst way he could. He couldn't stay there and grieve however, as he heard hoofsteps coming from the shadows all around him. The light above him grew in size and revealed hundreds of new figures. And he recognized every single one of them, all mares he ever spent night with. And they were not happy to see him.

“Would you look at that...” said one of them “... he finally broke one, literally.”

“After all those years of breaking hearts, you finally gone all the way. Bravo!”

“Which one of us will be next, huh?”

“Maybe me?”

“Or me?”

Soarin looked at all the mares and couldn't wrap his head around what they were saying.

“I-I never meant that!” he said apologetically and tried to turn away, but several mares sneaked up there and were already blocking his way.

“Sure, that's what they all say.”

“What gives you the right to think you're different?”

“What's going on, stud? Forgot your lines?”

“Or do you expect a wingpony to help you?”

Soarin didn't like being here a moment longer and tried to fly away, but he soon discovered that... he had no wings! In their place were two limps covered with bandage. One of them mares walked towards him with two bandaged appendages, still bleeding.

“Looking for something, sweetie?”

“Oh but we are silly, that won't solve our problems.”

“Yes, we need to get rid of something else...”



As the ghost spelled out its plan, Doctor looked over his companions. They started sweating and struggling a lot more then before, muttering barely comprehensive words to themselves. Whatever that ghost was doing, it started to get worse. Doctor pretty much figured out what's going on, as it wasn't a hard guess. It was attacking them in their sleep with nightmares, just waiting for their willpower to give in and accept him into their minds. It was all up to him, but what could he do? 

“Come on, think Doctor,” he muttered to himself “I'm still missing an important piece here, something simple, something... AHA!” he smiled at an epiphany he just got. He walked toward Thunderlane, put him on his back and slowly moved towards the exit.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU FOOL, PUT HIM AWAY!” the voice screamed with anger. But that only made Doctor even more motivated.

“You said it yourself, mister. You can't leave this cave, but they can! So if I just pull them out, all the connection should be lost! Ha, not so tough now, eh?”

“YOU WILL NOT LEAVE!”

At the sound of that, Doctor felt a sharp pain inside his head. He fell on his knees, dropping Thunderlane of his back and grabbing his throbbing head. It felt like hundreds of tiny drills, all trying to pierce his brain from different angles, but fortunately for him, it was not the first time it happened. Didn't make it hurt any less, though.

“I was going to leave you for the last, but you'll pay! YOU'LL PAY DEARLY!”

“...over... my... dead... body...”he muttered in response.

“SO BE IT! I have no need for all of you! Just one is enough and you... YOU ARE NOTHING!”

“...I... hear... that... often!”

The pain was getting worse over time, but Doctor was not about to give up that easily. During his meetings with telepaths over the time, he learned one thing. Mind is as strong as your memories and motivations, the more will you have towards keeping them, the better. He kept recycling everything that he could think was important to him. Every single pony, creature, item, dream, food, anything that kept him going. Two things kept repeating more often than others.

“...Ditzy... Dinky...”

“That's your hope?” said mockingly the voice “HAHAHAHA! A freaky mare and a foal? I SAID YOU WERE NOTHING, AND SO ARE THEY!”

“NO!” he protested, as he stood on his hooves “They are... lightyears stronger... more valuable... more precious... than you will... ever be!“

“NONSENSE! They will not save you, no matter how many times you call them! YOU ARE ALONE!”

“NO!” Doctor yelled from the top of his lungs “They saved me more times than I can count! They save me every day, when they wake up, bake a muffin, say good morning, when I tell a goodnight story, or when we talk about silly stuff every-single-day! Even far away from home, from them, as I spend my valuable time talking to creepy dream-eating-ghosts, I'm never alone. In fact...” he smiled smugly and proudly stood his ground “The only one who is alone, is you!”

“WHAT?! HOW DARE YOU!?”

“Huh, is that a yes? Let's count, shall we, what we have. I have, a home, my own couch, two good friends always with me, a town full of kind folk, friends from all around the globe, five guys who are willing to go on a suicide mission, I want them back by the way, a mission of the utmost importance, memories of great adventures, satisfaction from my life so far, some regrets, life full of white lies, muffins every morning, some other stuff I keep forgetting... what do you have? A stinky, dark cave and eternity of waiting for a fool to sleep in your hideout! I mean seriously, do you even have a name? Memories? Any plan on what to do once you get out? Huh? I don't think so!”

“SILENCE!”

“Or what? You'll take over my friends and mentally attack me? Oooh, scary, except you're doing it anyway!”

“I SAID SILENCE!”

Another mental bolt struck Doctor's head, this one much stronger then before, but Doctor didn't feel it nearly as much. In fact, he was feeling adrenaline pumping so much, it made him immune to any sort of pain. It also made him do reckless things.

“You know what, this is getting us nowhere,” said Doctor, as he took a deep breath and announced his newest plan “you won't get inside no matter what, so how about compromise?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Simple. You want a strong mind, don't you? Promise you'll release the others and I'll give you the strongest mind that's available.”

“You would offer yourself? For THEM?”

“Yes. Is that so hard to believe? Is your heart (if you even have one) so black and tainted it won't recognize such altruistic motives? Do you expect me to have a catch?”

“Nopony is this crazy!”

“Hello, I'm the Doctor! But yes, there is a catch and you'll find it once you're inside.”

“What do are you blabbering about? SPEAK!”

Hook.

“You see, I don't think you're tough enough for my brain. I mean really, its taking you FOR-EVER to break these guys, I doubt you'll stand a chance with me.”

Line.

“THEN SO BE IT! YOU'LL DREAD THE DAY YOU LET YOURSELF OPEN!”

And sinker.

Doctor looked over at the others. If everything would go as planned, they should be free once he takes over him. Then it's just hoping nothing will go wrong. Something will. Just hoping it's nothing big. 

“Okay then, ghost. Now's your chance, while I think of pears!” he said, ending with an unpleasant grimace.

“YOU WILL REGRET THIS!”

“One of us will!”



Shining Armor couldn't stop asking, 'what did he do?' , but no matter how much he did so, nopony gave him an answer, even as he was being publicly executed in the middle of the Canterlot, on everyponies eyes, no less. It was wrong, so, so wrong. Wrong.

“...wrong...” he said to himself, this time loudly. He felt much stronger now that he realized this “...wrong, this is wrong! Of course! IT'S WRONG!”

Two axes quickly fell on his neck, the crowd gasped. But his head was still in place, as blades stopped on a barrier just created by their victim. 

“This is WRONG! It's not real!”

Guards threw themselves on him, but he easily deflected every attack, taking down each pony with either a well placed shield bash, kick or punch. This was wrong either, he could never beat them all so easily, which solidified his theory.

“YOU!” he pointed at Princess Celestia, as he slowly walked towards her “You are NOT Princess Celestia! You're a parody who DARES to impersonate her! But...” he started running faster. Celestia ordered more guards to cover her, but he rushed through them with ease, jumped into the air, reading his hoof for a strike.

“I WILL SHATTER THIS ILLUSION! WITH! THIS! HOOF!”

CRACK!



Thunderlane turned away from everything he ever cared for. His little brother. His fillyfriend. Mayor Mare. It was wrong. He was about to open his wings and fly away, but then it hit him.

“...it's wrong!” he said to himself, as he looked around the environment. There were ponies walking around, there were buildings, clouds in the sky, but it all felt... different. It was wrong. All of it. The sun, Blossom cured, Rumble getting hurt. This was not reality and it would never be. He flied as fast as he could towards the trio. They barely noticed as he grabbed Rumble on his way and only stopped when they both landed on a cloud nearby. Colt didn't have time to scream and run away, as Thunderlane grabbed him by hooves and looked deep into the eye.

“Rumble, I don't know what happened, but if I screwed up, you know I didn't mean it, right? We're together in this, you and I, we're a team! I'm not perfect, but I'm trying, so please... I need you to trust me, to believe in your big brother! Please!”

Rumble was at a loss of his words, but something seemed to get into his head, as he calmed down and opened his mouth to say something. He was interrupted, as Blossomforth landed right next to them, shouting at Thunderlane. He quickly turned toward her and, without saying a single thing, locked his lips with hers, and didn't let go until she stopped struggling and returned the kiss.

CRACK!



Big Macintosh never felt this weak in his entire life. He promised to take care of his family, but now he was in their care. They cared about him just as he would in their place, but couldn't stand to watch them suffer. It was wrong. Whatever happened to him, it was not possible. It was too surreal, too sudden, too...

“...-ong...” he muttered, as he desperately moved his mouth in an attempt to say anything. “...-rong, -ong, wro-... wrong!”

He moved so suddenly, he fell of the bed with a loud thud. Applejack and Applebloom quickly entered the room and rushed toward him, but he stopped them.

“NO! This is wrong!” he screamed, as he summoned all his strength to move. He could only manage to move a single front hoof, but it was enough to make him crawl along the floor, with his two sisters watching in amazement combined with fear. His head hurt, all the muscles in his body that he could feel ached like crazy, but all he wanted now, was to get out of this room, if that was the last thing he did.

“Ah... AH REFUSE TO BE A BURDEN!”

CRACK!



Soarin tried to run away, but everywhere he ran, there were always more mares waiting for him, all of them had complete hate in their eyes, as they chanted 'hurt you back' everywhere he appeared. In this featureless place, he eventually found a wall, which turned out to be his demise, as he had no more places to escape, while a mob of mares approached him. This was wrong on so many levels. What did he ever do to deserve their hate? And why did they chose now to exact their revenge... revenge for what? Being a one night stand? This was...

“...wrong,” he said, as he looked at their faces and realized something. He remembered them, every single one “This is wrong! I didn't give you a reason to hate me!”

“Huh?” they all stopped on their tracks, as if he said something brilliant. This was his cue, as even wingless, after breaking statue of his best friend, he was still confident about one thing he never had any doubts.

“You are wrong. I never hurt a single one of you. Look at yourselves! Who do you think you are?”

“Victims!”

“NO!” he loudly proclaimed “You are all beautiful, great mares that I take pride in knowing. Not because I enjoy a good banging, although I'd lie if I said it wasn't important to me. No, I'm happy to have met you all, because you all made me glad to be alive, to feel special, even if for a short time. And you know why I felt happy? Because I made you happy as well.” he turned to one random mare.

“Were you not happy when somepony offered you a drink after a hard day of office work, after which you took him home and had a your wildest fantasies come true?” he turned to another one “And you, weren't you happy to have somepony who listened and consoled you, after you got dumped by your coltfriend? I wasn't the one who wanted to stay overnight, but you needed me, so I was there.” he turned to yet another one “And you just wanted to have a fun night on the last day of your vacations. If I didn't live up to you, then you must be the best liar in the world.”

All the mares eyes widened, as they started whispering among each other. He smiled and sighed with relief. Until a single mare caught his eye. This one held a special place in his heart, but in a different way. He slowly walked to her.

“But, I must admit I made one big mistake in my life...” he stopped before her and lowered his head “...and I'm sorry. But as weird as it might sound, I want to say... “

He rose his head and looked at her with a warm smile.

“Thank you. For making me who I am today. I know I hurt you, but it made me realize that I must be better then that. And for that, I will always be grateful, even if you'll forever hate me for it.”

CRACK!



In an instant, four ponies woke up from their nightmares. They were all covered in sweat, breathing heavily, but happy to be in the reality again, even if it wasn't exactly perfect. Soarin was glad to notice that his wings were still where they should be, while Big Macintosh was glad to just be able to move again. Doctor stood in the middle of the cave and talked to himself, or that's how it looked like.

“See? I warned you,” he said to the spirit “but thankfully you were so full of yourself, so cocky and predictable. No wonder you're stuck here for centuries.”

“Doctor?” asked Shining Armor, as he approached the earth pony “What's going on?”

“I'll explain later. First of, everypony get out of here.”

“Doctor!” shouted Soarin “Prince isn't waking up!” he said, as he tried to shake him back into consciousness. Doctor sighed, expecting something like this to happen anyway.

“Get him out of here. I need to have a few words with my new acquaintance.”

They looked at each other and shrugged, realizing that listening to Doctor was right now the best they could do. Big Macintosh grabbed unconscious Prince Blueblood on his back and together, they all walked out of the cave, leaving only Doctor alone with the ghost. It was silent, but he could still feel his presence. 

“What...” started ghost, but stuttered “...what are you?”

Doctor smiled “That is a very good question. Tell you the truth? I was many things. And I will be a lot more. Usually, I'm the Doctor, a crazy pony that does not like when something messes up with what he cares about. And right now, at this moment...” he started walking out of the cave, smiling heavily. He stopped just before the exit to turn back and finish the sentence.

“...I'm hope. Goodbye.”



Once Doctor went outside, the others sat in circle around sleeping Prince Blueblood. He was afraid that of all ponies, he wouldn't have enough willpower to get out by himself, even with ghost's telepathic control out of the picture. 

“Doc, what do we do?” asked Thunderlane nervously, as he violently shook Prince, who refused to get up, just like they all did before. Doctor hummed as he looked at them. He walked closer and leaned towards Prince, carefully examining his head.

“Hmm, I was hoping he'd wake up by himself, like you all did, but I guess I'll have to use some drastic matters now. I'm not going to like this.”

Soarin looked at Doctor “What drastic matt-”

SLAP!

Prince instantly sat up and touched his aching face.

“WHICH ONE OF YOU BLOODY IMBECILS HIT ME?!” he shouted furiously, looking over the gathering of four stallion gazing at him wide eyed, jaws dropped. And one smug Doctor.

“I stand corrected,” added Doctor, proudly smiling “it feels more satisfying than I thought.”
> 15. Punching and loving
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...but then I realized it was wrong, so I beat them and woke up." 

Everypony looked at Shining Armor curiously, wondering if something was missing in the story of his nightmarish conquest. 

"That's it?" asked Thunderlane, raising an eyebrow "Just beat the guards and poof? No climax, no final boss or stuff like that?"

Shining Armor looked away and gulped "It's a dream, not a movie."

He looked at the expecting faces of his companions, who just confessed to their worst nightmares (although Soarin did leave a little detail out, unknown to others). Doctor insisted they all shared their stories, just in case something like that would happen again, especially considering that their main adversary had 'nightmare' in her name. Shining sighed and finally spelled it out reluctantly.

"Then I called Princess a fake and I ..." he paused, his head lowered "...punched her."

They immediately stopped their march and gasped in unison, staring wide eyed at the ashamed ex-guard. 

"You monster!" said Soarin, as he took a step back and shook his head "I'm sorry, we can't be friends anymore!" he looked away and shed a single, fake tear. 

"Oh come on!" Shining rolled his eyes and continued "IT WAS A DREAM! It's not like I would actually do that!” he lied “Besides, she was going to execute me publicly for something I never did! In fact, I never found out what I was accused of, that goes against the law, as stated in..."

"Whoa, I was just kidding!" Soarin raised his hooves to stop him from further ranting "Chill out, I know you wouldn't do any of it."

Prince Blueblood rolled his eyes and snorted.
"Yes, that is clearly outside the realm of possibility," said Prince Blueblood mockingly "there is no possible way you would mean any HARM to anypony, especially not ROYALTY. Am I right?" he looked at his bodyguard with accusing glare. Shining Armor grunted.

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" he muttered through his teeth.

"Sorry about what?" asked Thunderlane, quickly making Shining Armor blush. They stopped on their tracks again, all eyes once again concentrated on Shining Armor. Prince smiled smugly and added.

"Just for the record, I did not imply anything!" now suffer for it, he thought, but decided not to say it out loud. He was satisfied enough as it were. 

Currently, Shining was feeling incredibly awkward, and hated it as always, getting drilled by eyes of four confused stallions. There was such thing as 'too much knowledge', so Shining looked for a distraction. He turned to Prince Blueblood.

"So, what about your nightmare? What was it about?"

Prince huffed at the mention "Oh no, don't you dare turn it back to me!"

"Well, as much as we enjoy teasing our armored friend over here," said Doctor "he does bring up a good point. Especially since you didn't wake up like the others."

Prince did not answer to that. He resumed their march and ignored the comment completely. Others followed, but did not drop the issue. Doctor asked again.

"Well?" 

"I don't want to talk about it." Prince answered coldly. 

"Oh come on, we poured our souls into our stories!" complained Soarin "Shining over there even confessed to national crime!"

"IT WAS JUST A DREAM!"

"We all shared our nightmares to prevent anything like that happening again,” continued Doctor “to have a better understanding of ourselves and each other. And that holds especially for you," he looked Prince in the eyes "since you didn't wake up with others. We need to know exactly why and what you saw. For everypony's sake." 

Blueblood looked over expecting faces of his companions. He realized he won't be able to avoid this matter and there was no point in lying. He sighed and told them all of it.

"First, I was eight years old, running in a collapsing cave, leaving my parents crushed under a giant boulder. I could smell their blood on my hooves."

All five stallions opened their mouths and let out a small gasp. None of them was expecting to hear that. Shining Armor remembered something he was told before they entered the cave.

I don't trust caves.

"Then, just about two years ago, I was in my room. My so called 'best friend', while making a toast for my birthday, drugged me to sleep, so he could rob the castle, and left with national treasures, which we still haven't found, by the way."

Or be close enough to stab my back.

"And last but not least, I told Princess Celestia, my aunt who was like a mother to me all those years, that I hate her. Because she wanted to help me. And then it came back to the start and repeated over, and over, and over again."

There was silence. Nopony dared to say anything or comment.

"Three worst moments of my entire life, in a loop. I couldn't stop them, because no matter what I did, nothing will change what happened.”

“So yes, my nightmare wasn't some one in a million 'maybe will happen' event, because it already happened! Execution, getting dumped, terminal disease, all your exes forming an army? Give me a break! How simple minded can you get when sun won't go up!?"

Doctor stepped forward "Okay, you're going too fa--"

SMACK!

Everything stopped. The only thing heard within their nearest area were heartbeats of six stallions. One of them laid on the grass, massaging his broken, bleeding nose, fearfully looking over one who assaulted him, as he stood before him and looked him deeply into eyes with great contempt. Other four observed from afar and still couldn't wrap their heads around what just happened. Prince shivered from a mix of pain and shock. That wasn't a mistake, crashland or wake up call. 

"T-Thunderlane?"

Thunderlane brushed Doctor away and moved closer to Prince, fuming with anger.

"DON'T YOU DARE MOCK MY DREAMS OR NIGHTMARES, YOU SNOOTY, ARROGANT PIECE OF GARBAGE!"

Prince didn't dare to respond, neither were everypony else gathered, all of them too focused on dark, steaming pegasus.

"So you had a crappy life? BIG BUCKING DEAL! You think that makes you special? You want to be pitied because your parents died, your one excuse of a friend turned out to be a douchebag and you had a fight with Princess? Well guess bucking what, I don't care what you did in the past, or how much life screwed you over, if you're an a-hole, you're and a-hole! Want to compare lives?"

"When I was thirteen, my parents got to a dinner night on the day of their anniversary. Few hours after they left, I was visited by police, that told me that me and my baby brother were now orphans. Then, I spent months fighting with social workers, so they wouldn't separate me and Rumble. I almost ran away from home with him, but was thankfully captured, beaten some sense into and given an ultimatum. Pass the school with 90+ grades, get a job, pay for my house and they'll let me be his legal guardian. So I spent all my days and nights studying, and mind you I'm not the brightest stallion ever, so I barely did it! And ever since I turned 18, I was working non-stop, to pay for rent, food and education for my little brother who deserved a better life than an angry, stupid, impulsive, trigger happy excuse for big brother as his only family!"

He stopped to take a few, slow breaths. Others still did not dare to stop them, while Blueblood tried to look away, but kept peeking at Thunderlane, as he slowly regained his mind.

"Your life sucks? You made some bad decisions? Too bad! If you want to spend the rest of your life in self-pity, be my bucking guest. But don't you ever dare mock those who keep going and try harder, just because you're jealous that they have more balls than you!"

They fell to silence once again. Four stallions in the background knew few things. For one, Thunderlanes great monologue had a lot of holes and was completely uncalled for. But on the same note, it was something that flew from his heart, not brain, obviously. Prince also didn't act, they weren't sure if it was because of the talk, or was he still recovering from the hit before. 
Moment passed, after which Thunderlane gulped and spoke first. 

"I-I'm sorry," he said, his head looking at the ground, ears flat "I-I went too far."

Prince looked up and hesitated before replying.
"I-I'm sorry too. I shouldn't insult your lives, especially since I knew nothing of it."

Thunderlane slowly walked closer and looked apologetically at Prince.
“And sorry for punching you. T-that was wrong, no matter how I felt. I have no excuse.”

Prince shook his head “No, that's fine. I'm getting used to it.”

A moment of silence passed. Prince kept a hoof on his nose, trying to stop the bleeding. Thunderlane scratched his head and looked away.
“I-I mean, you're not that bad,” continued Thunderlane “without you, we wouldn't be here and you did go to Everfree, and fought that Manticore with us and... stuff...”

“That was no--”

“NO!” protested Thunderlane, as he walked towards him “Don't say it's nothing! You showed some serious balls and skills ever since we entered the forest. I thought you were going to whine and need to be saved every five seconds, but so far we're kinda even.”

Prince snorted “Funny how things turn out when there's danger around.”

Thunderlane snorted as well “Yeah.”

The two smiled and Thunderlane extended his hoof to help Prince stand up again, which he gladly accepted. They didn't say anything else and just nodded and resumed their march. As soon as Prince took out a tissue to clean himself up.

Shining Armor's eye twitched 
“What the buck was that?” he asked others observing the spectacle. They shrugged.

“I think they just had a fight and they apologized right after...” answered Doctor “...you know, like grown stallions should. But never do.”

Shining Armor grunted with frustration.
“Seriously, when I hit him I got suspended, but when he does it it's a-okay? What kind of justice is that?!”

“Wait, so you DID hit him?” asked Soarin, instantly making Shining's mood all more awkward. Lack of answer was confirmation enough “Oh wow, you really did! Just what happened between you two before we met?”

Shining dropped his head and muttered “I don't wanna talk about it...”

“Wait, so that means,” Soarin continued “that we at some point in time, we all physically hurt Prince Blueblood, right? 
First there was Shining, then I accidentally crashed into him, then Doctor wake up slap, now Thunderlane... no, wait, Big Mac still didn't hit him!”

A moment later, Prince found himself being shoved away by a powerful, red hoof. He turned to see Big Mac, looking at him nervously.
“Umm...” he looked around and started sweating “...Ah jus' didn' wanna be left behind!”



About an hour of a rather uneventful, if paranoid, march later, they encountered another obstacle on the road. A wide, stormy river divided their path. Swimming through it was not an option, as the current was so strong, they doubted anypony short of Big Macintosh could swim there by himself. Their first idea was to just let their fliers carry them over to the shore, although an idea of teleportation and creating a magical bridge was also thrown out, but shot down due to magical strain that would cause, not to mention the fact that Prince wasn't very confident about his success rate. As always, they spent much longer time discussing then actually doing anything, but eventually stopped as Soarin called their attention.

“Guys, quiet. I think I hear something!”

They instantly shut up and formed a battle formation, wearily looking and listening around for any signs of danger. Nothing dire came their way, but the sound intensified and was now being identified as...

“Is that... crying?” asked Shining Armor, looking to his right, at the thick gathering of trees and bushes, which obscured whatever was behind it. They gulped and slowly tried to walk away, but Soarin had no such plans, as he went there and disappeared behind the trees.

“Soarin! Get back here!” shouted Doctor, but heard no reply, so they followed after their Wonderbolt companion.

Once on the other side, they saw Soarin looking in the direction of the river, jaw dropped lower then ever before.

“Soarin, don't just run away like that, we were...” Doctor stopped as he noticed what took Soarin's attention “... worried...”

Five more jaws joined Soarin, as they all observed one of the most ridiculous views in their entire lifetimes. For one, they found the source of crying they heard before and it was nothing they never expected to see, as long as they lived. It was very, very large serpent, covered in tough purple scales, coming out of the water and leaning on the land on its shoulders, sobbing while looking at a small hand mirror he held in one of his hands. But what caught their attention, was a styled back, long ginger hair, along with long mustache of the same color. Except, one side of the mustache was now cut of, leaving a very unnerving asymmetry. The serpent stopped sobbing for a moment when he noticed six ponies gathering. They quickly flinched backwards, but the serpent didn't attack. Instead, it covered its face and turned away.

“DON'T LOOK AT ME!” the serpent cried a plea, waving them away “I'M TOO HIDEOUS!”

As shocking as finding out that it could speak was, the group looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Nothing good would come out of messing up with the serpent right now, so they decided to leave it alone before it gets any weird ideas. Shining walked to Soarin and tried to pull him away, but pegasus shook his hoof of and instead flew into the air towards the serpent. Five ponies gasped in terror, as their companion talked to the serpent.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

The serpent held his tears as he took a peek at Soarin flying around his head. After a moment of hesitation, it sighed and turned to the pegasus, still holding one hand over his left mustache. 

“Oh, it's no-nothing...” it spoke back, stuttering “... it's just... just...” he finally couldn't help himself and exploded with a waterfall full of tears “MY MUSTACHE! MY BEAUTIFUL MUSTACHE, RUINED!”

Aside from metaphorical waterfall of tears coming from its eyes, the rest of his body moved violently and erratically, which at first wasn't easy to notice considering he was half submerged in water, but they did took note that the current of the river was moving along with him. They were in no position to argue how this was even possible, once again blaming it on Everfree magic. 
However his latest crying fit made the water shake even more. They only managed to scream, as a tidal wave washed over them, drenching them completely. Except Soarin, who was still flying.

“Really? That's it?” asked Thunderlane, as he tried to get his flowing hair into a mohawk up again, failing “You make a dangerous hissy fit over a ruined mustache?”

The sea serpent and Soarin both gasped with terror.
“That's it?” repeated the serpent “THAT'S IT? How can you be so insensitive to a personal tragedy of this magnitude!”

Soarin nodded and crossed his arms “Yeah, shame on you Thunderlane!”

“Do you even realize how much effort that kind of stylish looks take?” continued... Prince Blueblood, as he looked over his soaking wet mane, removing seaweeds from it “One is not born  with this much fabulousity, it takes months if not years of careful grooming, proper diet, tons of nutrients, shampoos, not to mention regular visits at beauticians, all to be ruined by an accident you had no control over. I can't even BEGIN to think what would happen if I lost my mane like that.”

They all stared at Prince.

“What? It's true!”

“R-right, sorry,” said a flat eared Thunderlane “but still, it's not the end of the world... I think.” he shrugged. The serpent took a long sigh, calmed down a bit and leaned over the shore, looking at the ground with defeated gaze.

“Yes, you're right, it's not the end of the world,” he looked away, letting a few more tears pass through his cheeks “but it might as well be for me.” 

Soarin put a hoof to his chin and hummed. He landed right on the serpents nose, looking him into the eyes.
“Let me guess, love troubles?”

The serpent opened his eyes wide at the mention.
“H-how did you know?”

“I can tell just by looking. You're afraid that your sweetheart will reject you because you lost some of your charm?” the serpent didn't give an answer, but looked down and sighed. Soarin nodded with sympathy “Look, this might sound a bit harsh, but you should confront your lover anyway. If you're rejected, that means you're not meant for each other.”

Now he really caught his interest. And other ponies as well. 

“Trust me when I say this, if all your relationship is built around your looks, it's just waiting to fall apart. I can see how much you care, you're a good guy and would be a great match for anypo- serpent lucky enough to get you. But this works both ways, if they can't accept you for this,” he put a hoof to his own face “then they won't accept you for this!” he pointed as his chest.

The serpent hummed and sat silently for a moment. He finally opened his eyes and stood tall, hands forming fists which he lifted into the air with determination.

“You're right! I can't waste my time here, covering in self pity, I have to go and face my problems head on!”

“Yeah, that's the spirit! Go and tell him you love him!”

“That's right, I'll go and tell her I love her!”

“...wait, her?” this comment however went ignored, as the serpent kept on talking.

“So what if I'm imperfect, nothing is! She'll have to accept me as I am!”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Soarin interrupted him, flying over his face once again and waving his hooves before his eyes “What do you mean 'tell her'?”

“Umm, that I should talk to her about...”

“No, what do you mean, 'her'? Don't you mean 'him'?”

He raised an eyebrow “No, why would I call her that?”

And then he asked that monumental question.

“Aren't you gay?”

The serpent blinked “What?”

“You know, fan of your own gender, colt cuddler, homosexual...”

“I KNOW WHAT A GAY IS!” he yelled in response, hitting the water surface, causing yet another tidal wave, which washed over the stallions. This time, however, as they removed their hooves from shielding their faces, they realized they were not any more wet then before, courtesy of a purple force field deployed by their guard friend. He gained a few grateful nods of appreciation, as the conversation above continued.

“And you say that... you're not?” asked Soarin, tilting his head, observing his new friend carefully.

“No I'm not! Where did you even get that idea from?”

Soarin closed his eyes and thought for a moment. He turned to his wet companions on the ground.
“Guys, what did you think when you first saw him?”

“He's totally gay!” said Thunderlane flatly.

“He fits the archetype.” added Doctor, nodding.

“Eeyuup.”

“Not that there's anything wrong with that!” added Shining Armor, forcing a smile on his face.

Prince was less then amused.
“Oh come on, really?” he looked them with mean glare “Just because somepo- serpent takes a greater care of his appearance and acts in a very fabulous, eccentric way doesn't necessarily mean he's gay!” there was a short pause. Prince scratched the back of his head and added, blushing.
“Although to be honest, that was my first guess too.”

“See what I mean?” 

The creature in question opened his mouth to say something, but only breathed in and out a few times, too baffled to even answer that. He huffed and crossed his arms.

“Th-that's ridiculous! How can you make such assumptions to someone you just met today? I'm not gay, I never was and never will be! In fact, my heart belongs to only one!” he smiled brightly as he pictured his object of adoration in his mind “Oh, those sleek, polished scales! Her magnificent hair, especially when it's dripping after she emerges from the deep ends of the lake! That smile that melts any cold-hearted beast that lays their gaze upon her! Those eyes, that I could drown in if I looked too long! And don't even get me started on her sweet, angelic voice when she calls my name,” he covered himself in blush, hiding his face behind his hands “ooh, I would steal the stars from the sky if she could smile for me just this once!”

Soarin smiled and nodded, but one thing stopped him from cheers.
“You haven't told her you love her yet, did you?”

The serpent stopped in his tracks and lowered his eyes.
“N-no... but I'm making progress! We're already great friends, we share a lot of things and talk all the time, and we make each others hair and...

“Oooooh!” Soarin facehooved “I get it! I think I can see what your problem is.”

“What? What problem?”

“You see my new but dear nonetheless friend, your problem is that you are...”

He paused, to let everypony and serpent gasp with anticipation. They all looked at him with expectations. Soarin pointed a accusing hoof at the serpent and stated his theory.

“You're a GAY BEST FRIEND!”

All ponies gasped. Thunderlane put a hoof to his chin and analyzed it, but it made sense. Doctor put both hooves together and nodded. Big Macintosh rolled his eyes, as if this was something obvious. Prince Blueblood saw it coming from a mile away. Shining Armor … did not, as he was about as oblivious to love as it gets.

“B-but I already said I'm not gay!” protested the serpent. Soarin shook his head in response.

“I know that. You know that. But does SHE know that!”

Once again the serpent gasped loudly, but couldn't find any proper counterarguments.
“Oh no! Does she really take me for...”

“I'm afraid so,” Soarin shook his head “best friend for years, interested in fashion, never making a move on her. Can I assume that your mustache was also her idea?”

The serpent nodded sadly. His eyes were starting to water again and everypony prepared for another torrent, Shining readying his barrier.

“Hey hey, don't worry man, it's not a lost cause!” Soarin reassured the serpent, who looked at him curiously, hopefully “But to fix that, you must trust me.”

“Trust you? With what?”

“Just trust me.” he smiled brightly. The serpent took a little while to consider, but eventually realized that he was desperate enough to listen to some unknown creature he just met. He made sense so far.

“Okay, I'll trust you... why exactly?”

“Oh, I have a plan. By the end of the day, she'll be in your hoo-- arms.”

He flew down and scanned serpents body, looking over his purple, tough and rather sharp scales. He grabbed one with his teeth and yanked it away, ripping it from his skin. The serpent cried melodramatically from the pain, but couldn't react further as Soarin flew back to his face level, purple scale in mouth, and took a swing.

SLASH! SLASH!

“Soarin! What the...” asked shocked Doctor, as he flinched and looked away.

“Oh the ponykind!” whined Shining Armor, disgusted.

“Travesty!” exclaimed Prince Blueblood.

“Eyuup!”

“I dunno, looks good to me.” Thunderlane shrugged.

The serpent closed his eyes for the time being, but after the comments died out, he slowly opened them.  His gaze lay upon floating pegasus in midair, spewing out his scale away. He slowly but surely looked down at his nose, naked of any sort of hair. He looked even lower at the shore, where a long lock of ginger hair just fell. His eyes widened, jaw opened in shock, as he touched his face, not believing his eyes and confirming that it was gone. 

“My mustache...” he quietly muttered, eye twitching “...my mustache! MY MUSTACHE!” he yelled again, then again and again. Soarin observed his reaction with neutral expression, rolling his eyes as he waited for him to calm down. Which took a while.
“GONE! DEAD! Oh, what a world! WHAT A WORLD! This is... this is...” 

“Better then ever.” finished Soarin, interrupting the original thought. The serpent growled at him.

“Better? How is this any better?”

“Well, for one it's symmetrical.” chimed in Thunderlane, rolling his eyes.

“What he said, for one,” explained Soarin, flew closer to his face and looked him deep into eyes “but most importantly, this is... A TEST!”

“Test?” asked everyone gather, tilting their heads and looking at Soarin as he proudly explained.

“Yes, a test! Can you tell me, what is the most important thing to have when you're looking for a mate?”

The serpent opened his mouth to try and say something, but stopped without saying anything, looking for a good answer to that question. Ponies on the ground looked at each other and took a  guess.

“Looks?” said Prince.

“Experience?” proposed Doctor.

“Personality?” added Thunderlane.

“Job?” guessed Big Macintosh.

“...umm, wingpony?” asked Shining Armor, earning a few glares at his direction. He smiled nervously and looked away.

Soarin shook his head and crossed his arms.
“No, neither of those. They are important, but you can lack any of them and still succeed. Looks are not everything as a lot of mares look past the cover. Experience is something you get along the way, but you must begin somewhere. You can be dull, snobby and a jerk, yet mares seem to dig that type... for some reason. Having a job makes you more attractive, but you'll be surprised how many unemployed players are there. And wingponies are great sidekicks, but you can't rely on others forever. No, the real thing you need the most and must absolutely have, is...”

Yet another dramatic pause to increase tension. 

“CONFIDENCE!”

They gasped... again.

“Confidence?” they repeated after Soarin and he nodded.

“Yes, confidence. If you're not sure of yourself and doubt your strength, then why should others believe in you? And you, my good friend, seem to be lacking it in spades. Which is why you must approach her, mustache-less, and confess. This is a test for you and her. Are you a bad dude enough to express yourself? Is she good enough for you?”

“B-but, I-I'm not ready!”

“You will NEVER be ready! Time is running out, each moment you don't do anything, is a chance for others to take her away from you. So buckle up, gather your courage and go!”

And so they fell to silence once again. The serpent nervously looked left and right, on Soarin, who confidently flew just before him and smiled, encouraging him to go all out. Other five ponies nodded and smiled as well. He took one last peek at his mustache, no longer fabulously emphasizing his face, now just a dead lock of hair lying on the ground. 

“Alright, you convinced me! I'll go there and tell her all about my feelings!” he smiled brightly and rose his fists... then quickly fell on the ground and covered his head.
“B-but I-I don't know how! What do I say? How do I act? What if she...”

“Hush now!” Soarin interrupted him with a hoof “I understand how hard it is to start. First step is the worst, so here's what you say...”

And so he told him. Barely two sentences of the greatest pick-up lines they have ever heard somepony speak. They could not believe their ears and neither could the serpent, as he gazed at Soarin wide-eyed.

“A-are you sure? This sounds a little bit...”

“Crazy?” asked Soarin “Insane? Ridiculous? Out of place? No way it could work? And yet it works. Every. Single. Time!” short pause “...well, ok, 99% of the times, but that's still damn good.”

“Wait a minute,” Thunderlane flew next to him “are you saying that if I said... THAT, any mare would be mine? Just like that?”

“Oh heavens, no!” protested Soarin “But judging from the situation and both parties involved, this would work wonders. Try saying that in a bar and you'll end up with a drink, if not slap, to the face!”

None of the gathered ponies, or serpents for that matter, could wrap their heads around that kind of logic. As far as their experience has gone, finding what to say to who, especially opposite gender, was a topic of the greatest debates and failed experiments to understand half the world. Or 90% of Ponyville, as it stood. And yet, their minds were still fresh from barely a day before, when they witnessed that same, crazy stallion score not one but two mares, lesbians to a boot! 

“Well, if you say so...” serpent finally agreed, deciding to trust in his new friend. Which he didn't even know his name “Oh my, here we are talking about such intimate matter and I didn't even introduce myself yet!” he bowed down to the ponies “My name is Steven Magnet, it's a pleasure to meet you.”

“And I'm Soarin. Always glad to meet new friends, especially in places like this.”

“Speaking of which, I have to wonder, what are you six gentlemen doing in the middle of the Everfree forest to begin with?”

Soarin was about to open his mouth, but was stopped by Thunderlane. They looked over the four stallions on the ground, none of them sure how much information they should share with a newly met creature, even one that seemed so nice and harmless. They eventually nodded between each other and gave a trusting nod to Soarin. He nodded back and explained.

“We're looking for the ruins of the old castle. Although if I'm going to be completely honest... we're kinda lost.”

Steven touched his chin and hummed.
“Oh, you mean that old abandoned palace down the river?” he asked “It's a few miles down the current. I pass next to it all the time.”

Six jaws dropped. Especially since Steven was pointing at the exact opposite direction they were originally intended to go.

“R-really?” asked Soarin “Oh man, you have no idea how much trouble you saved us!”

Steven handwaved it “Oh, it's nothing. That's the least I could do to show my gratitude.” he smiled brightly. The other stallions stood up and prepared for the new journey, but were stopped by their new friend “Would you like a ride there? I'm going in the same direction anyway.”

“Wait,” Prince stopped them on the tracks “not only we get directions, but a safe transportation?”

“And all thanks to a dating advice,” added Doctor and snorted “I love my life sometimes.”

“Eeyup!”

And so they all got up on Steven's back, as he took off downstream, where they were all supposed to meet their destiny. 

“WAIT!” Soarin suddenly shouted, stopping their ferry in half, alerting all their attention “That line I gave you, I just remembered something important about it!”

“What? WHAT?”

“I need to make sure of something,” he took a deep breath and asked Steven right in his face “is your love... ginger?”

Blink. Another blink.

“No, she's blonde. Why?”

Soarin sighed with relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Whew, crisis averted. Nevermind then.”

“What's wrong with gingers?” asked Doctor, raising an eyebrow with strange offense. Big Mac huffed, being ginger himself.

“That line... does not work on ginger haired.”

Blink.

“Why?” asked Thunderlane.

“I wish I knew...” his face dropped, as he took a deep sigh “...I really, really wish I knew.”
> 16. Hunt over
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...so then I said 'you can, but I left it...'" Steven snorted and held his tears back to finish the story  "'...UP THE RUMP!'"

Massive snorts later turned into a full blown laughter, as six stallions fell on the scaly hide, rolling and crying, just barely keeping themselves from falling into the icy cold river. Soarin wiped his eyes and climbed back on his hooves.

"Steven, stop it, or I'll," he snickered and held his a hoof at his mouth "I'll die! I-I can't breathe!"

Their laughter eventually died out, as they closed to their destination. They had to admit it, this sea serpent (away from sea, but they didn't ask) seemed innocent and mild, but he had some really intense stories to tell. It took maybe an hour, but unlike their previous misadventures, time passed much faster when they were in a cheerful company, exchanging stories, jokes and anecdotes, instead of worrying about every single thing in the forest trying to kill them. Everfree was still full of danger, monsters and chaotic magic flowing around it, but once on a giant serpents back, all of it just faded away. The river was far from safe, they could swear they saw alligators (or crocodiles they couldn't tell) passing through, or glowing, yellow eyes looking at them from treetops, but none approached them. For the first time in what seemed like eternity, they felt relaxed, all thanks to their host and ferry. 

But like any journey, this one had to end eventually, as Steven stopped near a small, empty beach, right next to an entry to a larger lake, where several streams connected.

"Well, that's as far as I can take you," he said, as ponies one by one jumped out of his back. He pointed far away at the horizon, where they could all see a lone, tall tower standing out from the trees, reminiscent of a the ones in Canterlot.
"The castle is right over there, just go straight forward, you can't miss it. I heard there's a large canyon out there, so be careful."

Six stallions nodded and smiled with appreciation. Though they've known him for a very short time, they already knew they would miss him a lot. It did leave them with one surprising insight, that Everfree forest wasn't just made out of evil magic, but some kindhearted beings as well. 
Shining Armor looked at the large lake before them, wide enough that he couldn't tell where the other side was, mostly due to thick mist, only illuminated slightly by wisps reflecting on the water. He did saw a few other figures though, all very tall, scaly and familiar.

"Hey, are those your kind?" asked Shining, pointing at the other serpents swimming in the lake. Steven turned to have a look, but just as he was about to answer, he gasped and took  quick dive, creating another wave. They only had enough time to scream, as it passed through them once again, sparing not even one of them, as even Soarin was on the ground this time.

"OH FOR PETE'S SAKE!" cried Prince Blueblood, once again having to clean his recently dried up mane. Steven didn't give them too much time to complain, as he emerged suddenly and leaned towards them.

"Oh my gosh, she's here! SHE'S HERE!"

They followed Steven's finger and looked upon the so hyped up female they heard so much about. Not a single lie has been told about her. She had shiny, light-ish purple scales, long, blonde hair tied in a neat ponytail, large eyes and small, red lips. All in all, to them, ponies, it was like seeing even more fabulous looking Steven Magnet... with lipstick and eyelashes. Their heads tilted.

"Well... she's something." admitted Thunderlane, smiling sheepishly.

"Yes, an ... exotic beauty." added Doctor, swallowing and looking away.

"Quite a view." Prince nodded, smiling.

"Umm..." started Shining Armor, scratching his head "... I like her hair!"

"Eyuup!" said Big Mac, so glad he was a pony of few words.

Soarin shrugged "I'd hit it."

You can only imagine the glares he was given in response. He hoofwaved and replied.

"Books and covers, guys. Books and covers."

"I don't want to know what you're reading." asked Prince, sarcasm dripping from him along with water drops.

Thankfully, if Steven heard anything, he didn't give it away. He was shaking strong enough to cause another wild current in the stream, Shining Armor preparing himself to cast yet another defensive bubble. Soarin approached the serpent and put a hoof on his hide, stopping the inevitable tidal wave.

"Calm down! Just go and say it!"

Steven looked into Soarin's trusting eyes, then over at the lake. Then back at Soarin.
"I'm scared! What if I fail? What if she hates me?"

"No more 'what if's', this is a moment of truth! Go and claim what belongs to you!" said Soarin, holding a hoof high in the air "If that's okay with her, that is." he quickly added.

Steven took a moment to look at his new friends. Soarin's eyes burned with passion and unmeasurable confidence, as he nodded with approval. That was a man who believed in him, probably the only one who ever did. Other serpents treated him like a joke, not once acknowledging him as part of the tribe or even a man for that matter, constantly ridiculing his appearance and mannerisms. Most of his friends were female for that matter, his best one being his biggest crush. He looked over at the other five. They weren't fully convinced themselves, but they had faith in Soarin, who had faith in him. 

“I'm going!” he finally announced “Wish me luck.”

“You won't need it.”

Without further delays, Steven took a deep breath and swam towards the middle of the lake, where his love (which he never named, now that they thought about it) awaited. Once she spotted him, she waved towards him, but suddenly raised her eyebrows when he got closer, probably surprised to see lack of mustache. They talked for a small bit, Steven nervously scratching his head. He took a peek back and looked at Soarin. The pegasus nodded with a smile, Steven replied with a small nod himself. He turned back to his sweetheart and said 'it'. Initial response was a jaw drop, as she looked baffled at Steven, who was about to submerge himself in the lake and escape. And then she smiled and started giggling. The ponies on the shore (aside from Blueblood) recognized this as the same kind of reaction that Flitter and Cloudchaser responded to Soarin's attempts. And then she closed herself to him and whispered something to his ear. Whatever it was, it turned Steven completely red and still. Moment later she submerged, while Steven slowly turned back to ponies, donning the biggest smile possible and gave them a thumbs up, whatever that was supposed to mean. Then he disappeared underwater as well.

“Well, somepo- serpent is getting laid today,” announced Soarin, as he proudly wiped a single tear from his cheek “my work here is done!”

And so he trotted away, humming under his nose.

"What are you?" asked Thunderlane, baffled.





"Say, Steven..." asked his lover, a blonde haired sea serpent, now all but official lover of one particular Steven Magnet "...who were these men you talked to on the shore?"

"Oh, they were some of the most amazing gentlemen I ever met. They were looking for old castle ruins, so I gave them a lift. Great guys, especially Soarin, that blue one with wings." he changed my life, he thought, but I'll tell you that some other day.

"I never seen zebras so colorful before," she hummed "then again, I only ever seen one. You think they're friends with Zecora?"

Steven scratched his head "Hmm, I forgot to ask. Oh well," he shrugged "let's ask her next time we see her."





"No, I'm sorry, I can't tell you!" insisted Soarin, for about third time since they left the river. He was slowly getting uncomfortable with others asking questions. It was understandable, he couldn't blame anypony for being curious.

"Look, it's not that I'm hiding it from you guys to keep all mares to myself, but..." he hummed, before continuing the thought "... it's just that I've seen many ponies use these... tactics, incorrectly and fail miserably. I'm fine with sharing some lines or assisting, but it's on a case by case basis, for your own good."

"So what you mean is 'mares are hard'?" asked Doctor.

Soarin thought for a minute. Talking to females was never a hard thing for him, it always just went naturally, proper words came by and before he knew it, they were enamored with him and ended in his bed, or he in theirs, whatever was more closer. Sure there was a mistake and failure here and there, but he managed to patch them up fairly easily. He had no idea why nopony else could do what he did, so he decided to not abuse his so called 'gift'. Too much. With mixed results.

"Yes." he lied.

Prince Blueblood snorted at that "Why thank you for that, Captain Obvious. I would've NEVER figured that one out myself."

Soarin snorted.
"Well, you're all welcome to join me next time I go on a 'hunt', I can teach you everything you'll need to know. All six of us together, we'll be unstoppable!"

Blueblood cringed at that. Not because he was getting some bad flashbacks, but that he was just being included in a 'hunt'. Like he ever needed help with that to begin with, with his face, lineage and money he had pretty much any mare he ever wanted, at least back in Canterlot. Heck, most of his acquaintances used HIM as a chick-bait to begin with! Celestia only knew what could happen if two of them went to a bar together, looking for dates. And now that he thought of her, he suddenly remembered why he's here in the first place.

"Make that five," said Thunderlane "count me out."

"Oh come on, why not?" asked Soarin as he bumped into him.

"Because I have a marefriend."

Suddenly, any sense of safety or humor they maintained since their initial meeting with Steven was gone, destroyed by a single line. All of a sudden reality caught up to all of them. Nightmare Moon, disappearance of Princess Celestia, Blossomforth and Spitfire turned into stone, and that was just the start. No more smiling, no more laughs, only harsh truth awaited them as they closed in on the castle, now visible through unnaturally thick mist covering the large open area in the middle of the forest. 
Reality was a wrong word for this though. To them, it was more like a bad dream, not unlike the one they experienced back in the cave, with the dream-eating ghost. And just like back then, they had something that held them together despite everything. 

Hope.

"It's here," announced Shining Armor, as he stepped forward as he eyed the ruined palace "we actually found it! The elements must be here!"

"That's of course assuming they are there to begi--" Prince started, but was interrupted by Big Macintosh putting a hoof on his back and shaking his head, as if telling him not to finish that sentence. Ever. So he didn't.

"Okay, I decided!" announced Soarin, as he flew forward and faced his companions "Once we're done with this mess, let's all go on a massive 'hunt'."

Thunderlane rolled his eyes and grunted.
"Soarin, seriously, this is not the time..."

"I'M SERIOUS!" 

They stopped at their tracks and stepped back, wide eyed. Soarin coughed and continued.

"After we deal with this mess and get some rest, I'm taking all of you to the coolest venue I can find, we'll all have plenty of drinks, jokes and hoofbumps after any of us score, making sure nopony is left behind alone. No, don't worry, I'll guide you if you're not sure what to say or do, trust me on that." he then turned to Thunderlane and stopped him as he opened his mouth "Blossom can come too, if she wants to. Heck, I'll find a foalsitter for Rumble and Dinky, so Ditzy can come as well. Little known fact- mares are among the best wingponies ever! Heck, double the power since they even  have wings!"

"I dunno..." started Shining Armor, scratching back of his head. Soarin once again was a step ahead of him.

"What if I'll try and force Spitfire to join us?" asked Soarin, making five sets of ears perk up "You guys would never believe how adorable she looks in her disguise (and yes, every Wonderbolt has one). Three words- cute, glasses wearing librarian... ok, that's four word's, not the point."

Blink. They tilted their heads.

"Cute." deadpanned Prince.

"Glasses wearin'." said Big Mac, blushing.

"Librarian." finished Shining Armor.

They all took a pause and closed their eyes, trying to picture Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, out of her uniform, wearing reading glasses and... no, that was impossible to imagine. Wonderbolts were by nature well built and in top physical shape, so it wasn't unheard of that some became models in their time when not airborne (sometimes even then) and Spitfire was one of them, forced to take regular photo shoots by a very talented, if obnoxious, fashion photographer. Quality pinups and posters of her in different risky clothes, socks or even sexy lingerie were plenty and easy to find in magazines, movies and commercials, helping colts discover puberty way before their time, but what Soarin implied was beyond that. The view alone was probably worth all the effort.

Also, booze.

"I can think of worse ways to spend an evening." Thunderlane shrugged, blushing weakly. No harm if it's only watching. Besides, Blossom will probably fangirl even more then him.

"That sounds like a brilliant plan to me." admitted Doctor “Never a bad thing to explore some quality nightlife.”

"Eyup."

"Ok, if you insist." Shining Armor shrugged, totally not lured in by a famous flier in cute clothes.

Prince Blueblood did not give an answer. He didn't quite hate them as much as he expected, but that was mostly because they shared the same goals and required cooperation to survive. But hanging out with them of his own free will? Not a chance in million years. Especially not the 'hunt' (seriously, who talks like that?) and booze, which he was sick and tired of. He could probably consider it if they choose a different activity, like watching paint dry or playing miniature war boardgames for six hours straight. At least those were things he wasn't sick of after doing it for years and long ago lost their appeal. Well, that part after the successful 'hunt' (sweet heavens, I'm starting to think like him!) was still very fun, but that's beside the point. 

Having Soarin stare directly at him from a distance bordering on 'my precious private space' did not help.

"For the record, puppy eyes don't work once you hit puberty." he told him.

Soarin kept staring anyway, now with even more whimpering.

"No, seriously, it doesn't."

"Shush, they work on Spitfire, they'll work on you too!"

Prince facehooved "If I say 'maybe', will you stop?"

Soarin's eyes narrowed as he smiled smugly "Maybe."

Prince grunted heavily, fully considering punching Soarin in the face, if only to wipe the grin from his face. They hurt him five times already, might as well issue a payback right now. It's just one punch, they won't mind. Or two, just to be sure. Or maybe he could just agree and once they're done, issue a restrain order on him? He was being a threat of some sorts, their first meetings ended up with a severe head and full body aches in more ways than one.

"I'll think about it. Now, can we go back to saving Equestria, please?" 

"Sure thing, boss!" Soarin happily saluted, fully satisfied with vague answer, as he happily trotted forward. Prince grunted once again, as his urge to punch Soarin rose, along with the urge to smash the nearest tree with his own head.

While the road to the castle was short, they had to move on very slowly and cautiously, even more so than before, as the mist was getting thicker and thicker, covering the entire ground in white fog, similar to clouds, yet not solid enough for the pegasi to walk or touch it without blowing it away. On the plus side, it was barely neck high, any higher than that was clear as a night. Once again, they tossed it aside as Everfree magic, not even bothering to come up with logical, scientific or regular magical reasons.

"Be careful where ya step," said Big Mac "there could be a predator or carnivorous plant waitin' for us."

"Yeah, great," complained Thunderlane "because we weren't through enough crap, now let's all get gobbled by a frickin' plant!"

"Right, careful," said Soarin, as he gulped and carefully placed every step "don't step into anything, avoid traps. This is easYYYYYYYYYYYyyyy!!"

Their hearts stopped the moment Soarin's head vanished from their sight, as he fell down into the mist, leaving only trail of his scream, growing weaker with every moment. They ran towards where he disappeared, but one after another were stopped by Big Mac, as he pointed at the edge of what appeared to be a cliff. They looked over at Thunderlane, who nodded and extended his wings, but stopped when a lightning fast, blue figure emerged from the mist right into the sky. It stopped mid-air, showing himself only as a barely visible silhouette with moon at his back, before expertly landing right behind them. Once on the ground, he stood up in an epic pose, one hoof slightly raised, head up in the air, wings proudly raised.

Everypony just remembered that he was a Wonderbolt. To be fair, it's easy to forget it.

"Ok, that was badass!" admitted Thunderlane, everyone nodding.

Soarin stood like that for a moment... until his knees started shaking too hard and he fell on the ground in fetal position.

"OHMYGOSHITHOUGHIWASGONNADIE!!"

Prince had no more doubts- Soarin really was that stupid. 

"Well, I'm sure glad HE was in the lead this time," said Shining Armor, as he looked at the, who knows how deep, canyon in front of them. "no offense." he quickly added, but Soarin couldn't listen, as he was now in the blissful state of 'I'm glad I have wings', hugging and kissing them tenderly. 

"Steven said something about a canyon, now that I think about it." mentioned Thunderlane "wonder how deep it is, I can't see anything through that mist."

Doctor put a chin to his hoof and thought.
"Judging by how he didn't smash himself on the ground and managed to get enough momentum to fly this high... I'd say deep enough to declare that this forest makes even less sense the further we go."

As they helped Soarin get back on his feet, Bic Macintosh grabbed a pebble and threw it down the canyon, listening for the sound of impact. And listened. And listened. Nothing. They decided against examining how deep it actually was and concentrate on getting across. After confirming that the other side is only about a hundred hooves away, they started hatching another plan to get across.

"Let's just fly everypony over it, not a big deal."

"Oh no, I'm not risking falling there again!"

"Neither am I! I don't even have wings!"

"Why don't we build a bridge of some sorts?"

"That would take hours!"

"Oh yeah sure, makeshift bridges are a LOT safer than being carried by trained weatherpony and a fricking Wonderbolt."

"A wonderbolt who kept on falling and crashing into things... no offense."

"None taken."

Prince Blueblood wasn't including himself in that conversation, fully content with watching and listening from the sidelines, hoping they would figure out a better solution to something he never thought would become a problem. 

"What if there's a giant monster just waiting for us to be separated?"

"Which is why we leave Big Mac for last, he can take on anything! If you don't mind."

"Nnope."

"Ok, how about if Shining Armor made a long barrier over the gap..."

After tackling a manticore, dream eating ghosts and avalanches, Equestrias only hope was stuck on a frickin canyon. Prince couldn't help but facehoof and slowly massage his forehead, trying to stay calm. It was a lost cause.

"If only we had a plane..."

"Where would you even get one in the middle of the forest?"

"Where would you get one, period?"

"Ok, then maybe let's have Big Mac 'throw us' there, one by one..."

"That sounds even more dangerous then flying!"

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF SUN!" Prince finally yelled, as he moved towards them, magically grabbing Doctor, Shining Armor and Big Macintosh by one ear each, pulling them towards himself. Before they could voice any complains, he put his one hooves over them and made his horn glow brightly.

BLINK!

They screamed, as they fell on the ground, their hooves somehow failing them, making them all fall face flat on the grass, one next to another. Shining Armor was familiar with the feeling, but for both earth ponies teleportation was something... different. Their eyes and brains were still getting used to sudden relocation, as if they fell from a much greater distance, but there was no force behind the impact, or any air friction along the way. Worst of all, they couldn't blame it on Everfree magic this time. 
They couldn't quite trust their hooves to carry rest of their bodies, so instead opted on staying on the ground for a while longer. They turned their heads around, confirming that they were in fact, on the other side of the canyon, Soarin and Thunderlane barely visible as they flew towards them.

"Well... that did the job." announced Doctor, laughing sheepishly.

"Eeeh... yup..." agreed Big Mac, as he held his hooves over his mouth, desperately fighting the urge to throw up.

"Don't you think that was a little... sudden?" asked Shining Armor, as he slowly got up from the ground "Didn't you say you it was risky?"

"You stopped talking, it was worth it."

"Or you could do that." said Thunderlane as he and Soarin landed "You could have warned us, you know."

"I could. But then we'd spend another thirty minutes pondering if we should do something instead of, you know, DOING SOMETHING!"

Soarin snorted as he happily announced.
"Should we DO something? We should DO something?" but as expected, he was met only with confusion "Timer to Last Tragedy... nopony?" he looked over other five, completely oblivious. He rolled his eyes "Read a comic book! Not this one though, it was awful."

There was a matter of safety issues, trust between the group, taking unnecessary risk and all that teamwork things, but they decided to forget all about it, along with Soarin's obscure reference to... whatever it was. It was safer this way, for all parties included.

"Ugh!" Prince grunted heavily, as he grabbed his forehead and massaged it.

"Yeah, I also had a headache when reading it."

"No, it's not that," Prince sat on the ground and took a few deep breaths, as his head was killing him a lot faster then Soarin's jokes "I think I overdid it with that last spell."

"Are you alright?" asked Shining Armor.

"I feel like morning after a drunken orgy, except I didn't get laid... no, that's not fine."

"Woah, dude!" Soarin moved to Prince and put a wing over his back "That bad?" Prince just nodded, glad that at least one pony in the crowd knew that feeling. Great, he thought, now they were this close to actually bonding.

They decided to take a short break to let Prince recover from his headache. The correct term was 'overcasting', channeling more mana towards spells then necessary, where excess energy did not leave the body, but traveled back all the way through horn into the brain, causing fairly harmless, but not less painful, headaches. It was a common rookie mistake, often performed by foals just learning to use all their power lift small objects. More uncommon but still prevalent were older unicorns trying out new and different spells, or manipulating ones they already knew in different ways, but lacking experience in proper fields. Or, in case of Blueblood just now, casting under heavy stress and body fatigue. It faded with time thankfully, though he did regret not bringing any  medicament’s with him.

"So," Soarin stood up and walked closer to the castle, then turned to others "you still didn't give me an answer."

"To what?"

"The hunt. You coming or not?"

"I already told you, I'll think about it."

"Yeah, right. You'll bail out of the town before giving me an answer and then issue a restrain order on the basis of me ramming into you when we first met." 

Silence. Blueblood dropped his jaw, his eyes opened wide Soarin rolled his eyes "I'm a Wonderbolt, that's how our management deals with overzealous fangirls." still silence, Blueblood looked more terrified by the second.

"What? They can become dangerous if not..." he stopped and turned to other stallions, each one's expressions matching Prince's. This was far beyond a reaction to a bad joke. He knew exactly what caused it. And didn't like it one single bit.

"Why is it always me" he whispered to himself and gulped. Standing still and making no sudden movements "What's behind me this time? Giant space bear? Shmooze? Headless horse?" he quietly asked, way too afraid to actually look back. He did however, looked down at the ground, noticing that pearl white fog was no more. Now it was pure black darkness. His eyes widened at the realization.

"We meet again, my little ponies," said a malicious, female voice behind him "I was waiting."

Last shreds of dignity Soarin had were gone the moment he shrieked like a scared filly and rushed towards the group, hiding behind Big Macintosh. They couldn't blame him, for they would most likely did the same, given the situation at hoof. They expected it to happen eventually, but it was much too soon. Shining Armor gulped before announcing.

"Nightmare Moon!" 

The pitch black alicorn laughed as she slowly approached the group, her ethereal mane flowing along with the wind, the almost tangible darkness around her darkening the fog under her hooves where she stepped.

"Oh, so you remember me now? Funny. You spend centuries raising the moon, painting the sky with beautiful stars, protecting the dreams and land from danger... yet all it took to remember me was turning some ponies into stone! HA!" Thunderlane was barely stopping himself from rushing forward and bucking her good "If I knew that, I would've done that much earlier!"

"WHY YOU--" Thunderlane muttered through his teeth as he was close to lunging, stopped only by Big Mac's hoof, though he was almost as close to joining him right now.

"What have you done to Princess Celestia?" asked Shining Armor, as he stepped forward. He was trembling all over, but mustered enough courage to get closer "Release her at once!"

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You didn't say please. Not that it would've mattered, your Princess is gone for good. If you want to live and enjoy your lives anymore, I suggest getting used to new order. I'll give you last chance." she extended a hoof towards them "Bow down to ME and swear eternal allegiance. Then I will spare you. In fact, I feel generous today, so I'll even turn your loved ones back to life. How does that sound?"

This gave them a pause. Thunderlane and Soarin perked and opened their mouths, not saying anything without thoughts. They looked at Nightmare Moon, then at the rest of their group. The others couldn't say anything mostly out of fear.

"Will you free Princess Celestia?" asked Soarin, as he stepped out of Macintosh's shadow. 

She laughed at him "You still have the audacity to ask for more when offered so much? The answer is no, sun will never raise again!"

"Then my answer is..." he took a deep breath, then quickly said looking her deep into eyes "... go to Tartarus and ** yourself with ** in the **, you ** **."

Thunderlane coughed "I would just leave it at 'buck you', but yeah. No way in hell I'll ever bow to somepony like you!"

Nightmare Moon looked at them both and raised an eyebrow. Her face betrayed no emotions, as she just shrugged.

"Pity. Then I have no use for you."

Her horn started glowing dark purple, as the stallions stood right before her, preparing for the impact. Shining Armor once again concentrated all his energy on a barrier to surround all of them, he couldn't help but feel like no matter what he does, it wouldn't be enough, just like last time. He gulped and awaited, sweating like crazy, mentally forcing himself to keep his eyes open and fixed on the black alicorn.

"WAAAAIT!"

Prince Blueblood suddenly jumped out of the formation, startling everypony, including Nightmare Moon herself, as she stopped the spell. He gulped as he looked her into her dark, cold eyes.

"I surrender!" an announcement was met obviously with shock on the pony side, although all reaction he could muster from Nightmare Moon was a curious raise of an eyebrow. He continued "I... we tried to stop you, b-but I know when I lost, so I surrender, I'd wanna live!" he ended that with a very low bow, earning the ire of his fellow companions.

"TRAITOR! COWARD!" yelled Thunderlane, once again barely stopped by others before lunging at the Prince.

It was the only way, he thought. They couldn't fight her openly and finding the elements was now out of question, at least not now. If he could just convince her, get close enough, then maybe, just maybe there will be a gap in her defenses, some opportunity to strike, then maybe he had a chance. He couldn't help but regret that he was the only one who thought of that kind of deception instead of playing defiant to the end. Here's hoping she'll bite the bait. And hope they'll get turned into stone instead of getting outright killed. She did mention that it could be undone and it was the only hope he had, so he had to cling to it as hard as possible.

"Interesting," Nightmare Moon mused over Prince as she approached him "so you wish to join me, of your own free will?"

"...y-yes." beads of sweat dropped from his forehead, but he kept kneeling.

"And you are ready to abandon these ponies behind you, and your dear Princess Celestia, for me?"

"...yes, mistress." endure it, he thought. Hold the tears, throw out any dignity and self respect I had left. This is the only way.

Nightmare Moon giggled "Do you think I'm stupid?"

He froze as he looked at her wide eyed "H-huh?"

"Did you really think you could fool me? Get close enough to backstab me once I lower my guard?"

Oh crap. The way she just said it, this could only mean one thing. Is she...

"Reading your thoughts?" she asked with a smug smile "Yes, I do. And I applaud your cunning, my little pony." she touched his chin with a hoof and lowered her head to look him very close in the eyes "But I'm afraid your words don't matter, for I have different pla--"

"NOW!"

She was interrupted by not only a scream, but also something breaking behind her. She couldn't bother herself to turn around, only tilted her eyes to notice splinters and remains of a stick that just got broken on her invisible force field. Soarin didn't really think that sneaking up behind and striking her would solve their problem, but he was hoping to get at least SOME reaction, after putting all his strength into that attack. It was then followed by Thunderlane who used these precious few seconds to gain enough momentum to deliver a massive flying kick, which was also stopped by a barrier behind her, hurting only his own hooves. It did however forced her to turn back and shoot a glare at the two pegasi, which was exactly what others needed.

"Don't just sit there!" said Doctor, as he ran to Prince and pulled him away "RUN!"

No sooner then they walked a few hooves away, Prince looked at Big Macintosh and Shining Armor, side by side, together lifting a giant boulder over their heads, which they then threw right at Nightmare Moon while her attention was turned to two pegasi, who flew away right before the impact. The stone crashed right into the alicorn, breaking into pebbles, sending dust flying everywhere, obscuring any view in or out of the crash zone. 

"Did we get her?" asked Thunderlane as he landed next to Big Mac and Shining Armor. 

"Nnope. We gotta run, now!"  

The plan was good- use the time Prince bought them and strike her with all they had. The problem was, they didn't have much to strike her with, aside from literal sticks and stones. And as such, it didn't do anything else then anger her even more. She sent a gust of wind around herself to disperse all the dust, glaring at the stallions as they tried to gallop their way into the castle. Her horn glowed once again and she sent a purple energy in their direction. The magical ball split itself into six small snake-like tendrils, each one aimed at a different stallion. 
First tendril struck Thunderlane, reaching his wings and tying them up like a lasso, extending even to his hooves, making him fall down on the ground face first, Soarin joining him right after. Doctor tried to outrun his, but it proved futile, as it grabbed his hind hoof and dragged him over to Nightmare Moon, ensnaring rest of his body along the way. Bic Macintosh fared no better, as even with his ungodly physique, he was no match for the dark magic that now covered him hooves to neck like a cocoon.

Shining Armor and Prince Blueblood were left alone, as Shining's barrier barely stopped the tendrils from reaching them, as they smacked repeatedly over the shield, causing it's user a bigger strain then he was ready for. The force of impact moved him a step back each time, until his hoof failed to step on the solid ground once he reached the edge of the canyon, sending few pebbles down the canyon.

"Any ideas?"

"Only one." Prince grabbed Shining by the shoulder and concentrated, imagining the castle in the distance, if only they could transport there right now, find elements and...

"ARGH!" he fell on the ground and screamed from pain. He cursed this piercing headache, that stupid conversation and most of all, his impatience. Of all times to get a magical backlash, this was the worst possible moment.

Shining Armor's barrier finally broke, as he winced in pain and fell, barely grabbing the edge of the cliff with his hooves, Prince quickly running to him and grabbing his hoof, desperately trying to get him up again, but failing not only due to headache.

"I gave you a chance," announced Nightmare Moon as she slowly walked towards the pair "but you had to play heroes. A shame, too. You fought valiantly, yet there will be no songs, no tales of your courage, no inspiration for coming generations. Only one thing awaits you."

A purple glow surrounded Prince and pulled him away from Shining Armor, who was barely clinging on for his life. She threw his other companions right next to him, all still entangled in the black tendrils, shaking and flailing, but to no effect. She held Prince up in the air however, as she looked at the others.

"Any last words?"

Shining Armor's hoof slid of the slope, but he kept a tight grip anyway, still looking at Nightmare Moon with determination.
"Equestria will never be yours!"

"Yes, I heard that before." she answered, as her horn glowed even darker "I didn't believe it back then, either."

The magical energy from her horn took a form of a lightning bolt, which struck the ground right before them. For a moment, nothing happened, but before they could say or do anything, it shook and cracked, dropping the entire section right into the canyon, leaving only weakening screams of five ponies falling into their deaths.

"NOOO!" screamed Prince, as he watch them vanish in the white mist below. He stared blankly into the empty void where all five of his companions disappeared. There were no more words he could muster, he could only stare into the void speechless, trembling too much to move a single muscle.

Nightmare Moon levitated him right before her face.
"Now to finish what I was saying before we were so brutally interrupted," she smiled "I have different plans for you, my little Prince."
> 17. Complex/Situation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Summer Solstice, more often known as the longest day in the year, in which sun was not supposed to come down until later in the evening. The key word being 'supposed to'. Equestria had families, circles of friends and other larger gatherings of ponies celebrating, hours before the official ceremony, eagerly awaiting. Alarm clocks were set just few minutes earlier, giving enough time to find a good vantage point and have a toast in the beautiful sunrise. Many traditions were tied to this. The most obvious one was of course the first kiss in the sunrise, which was supposed to guarantee stability of a relationship. Families shared a single loaf of bread, hoping to never be in danger of starvation. Farmers would take a single batch of the best produce from that day and burn it in a campfire, which was supposed to convince fire spirits that they weren’t forgotten and had no reason to burn anything to remind anypony of their existence anymore, a custom which survived ever since before unification of three tribes.

None of these happened today. In fact, today did not happen like they had anticipated. At first, the citizens of Canterlot were mildly curious as to why there was a delay with the sun. Then, the jokes  about Princess becoming a bit lazy started. Theories of an epic prank from Princess, for no good reason other then laughs. It was just a matter of time before the entire city was struck by a mass hysteria and chaos worthy of Discord reigned through the city, with barely anypony qualified to contain the panic. Eventually, a police state was announced. Nopony was allowed to leave their homes or shelters until the situation was either fixed or a decision was made. A decision made by nobles without the supervision of Princess Celestia or Captain of the Royal Guards. To say the situation was dire would be a great understatement.

The streets of Canterlot were empty, save for paroling guards searching for any trespassing ponies. Such as the ones that sneaked past two pegasi guards, before they continued their gallop further down the city gates, avoiding any light sources and stopping by every dark corner, slowly but surely approaching the train station. Upon making sure it was empty, three cloaked figures moved towards the front car of the train and after a simple spell unlocked the door and opened it with a glowing purple aura. Once inside, however...

"Ok, so we're here... now what?" asked one voice, making the second one scratch her head while looking at the alien machinery.

"Well, we gotta make it move. Somehow." she looked around the car and perked when she noticed a desired object "AHA! Just what we needed!" she exclaimed happily as she grabbed the object with her magic. The other two looked at each other, then back at their comrade as she opened the recently found book and started reading it, illuminating it with purple glow from her horn.

"Seriously? You're gonna read a book? Now?"

"Why not?" asked the third one "It's not like we have any better ideas. Besides, nopony is going to come here anyway anytime soo-" she stopped when a voice outside interrupted her.

"Is anypony there?" asked a guard pony standing just outside the train "Leave the vehicle and identify yourself!"

Instantly, all three figures ducked for cover, glowing horn fizzling out. A weak smile appeared on the third cloaked pony as her companions shot deadly glares her way.

“You said the coast was clear!” whispered one of them.

“It was! This guy is good. Like a ninja!”

"There is no such thing as a ninja!"

"That's what THEY want you to believe!"

They took a peek outside. The train station was weakly lit, but they could still see a fairly tall, red coated unicorn stallion in a standard issue golden guard armor.

“Maybe if we're quiet he'll think it's nothing and walk away?” asked the first one.

The guard disappointed them.
“I know you're in there, I can see you inside. Answer now!”

The third one moved a bit closer the windows.
“Meow! Meow!”

“You're not fooling me!” answered the irritated guard. 

Two ponies inside the car silently facehooved, while third one shrugged “Hey, it was worth a shot!”

The second one finally sighed and massaged her head. She stood up and placed her hoof on the door handle.
“Fine, let me take care of this.” despite her companions silent pleas, they couldn't stop her from leaving the car and approaching the guard, but only after she made sure that the hood was obscuring her entire face. She had to curse her beautiful horn for sticking out of it no matter how much she tried. Once outside and facing the guard, she coughed and concentrated on making the best first impression possible.

“Oi, meh wants no problems, see,” Celestia only knew which accent it was. Actually, probably not even Celestia knew.

“Tell me she's not...”

“She is!”

“...meh jus' a poor gypsy bahd, lost in a big city, wit no home, no bits, only rags und mah sad memories of home long lost. Please, good officer, be kind to poor little pony, meh means no harm!”

Her two companions back in the car barely resisted the urge to slam their heads into the floor, only resorting to groaning silently and delicately facehoofing. If the situation wasn't so dire they might have burst into laughter as well. The guard was, however, not finding any of this funny and just rolled his eyes with annoyance.

“You think he bought it?”

“I wouldn't.”

“But they're just guards, right? That usually works in books.”

“Adventure novels take a lot of liberties.”


“Yeah, right,” the guard snorted “I might have been fooled if not for the fact that you have a brand new saddlebags with University logo on it.”

The “gypsy” raised her eyebrows and looked around to catch a glimpse of her saddlebags. After so many years of wearing them to every class, she completely overlooked the fact that they were standard issue ones given and exclusive to every single student. A shame, they were the biggest and most comfortable ones they had.

“Also, for a homeless poor gypsy you smell way too much like cheap perfumes.”

“THEY'RE NOT CHEAP!” she suddenly stepped forward to face him, not even noticing that the hood just fell of her head, revealing a light amber face with long, red and orange hair, very much reminiscent of sunset they longed for since yesterday “I'll have you know they're from the most renowned perfumer found in Canterlot and I pay very generous price for my very own custo-...” she froze. The guard smiled smugly and waited for her to continue. She had little more to add “... buck!”

“Not to mention that terrible attempt at an accent.”

Her eyebrow twitched “Oh no you didn't!” she stepped forward and poked his chest “That's how they talk on the provinces near the southern borders and I wasn't attempting, I'm the real deal!”

“Yeah, sure you are,” the guard shoved her hoof away “you and your two friends will have to follow me to the station for further interrogations.”

Great. And he knew that she wasn't alone. Just bucking great, the entire plan ruined by a guard who had the audacity to break any stereotypes and actually be competent. That only left her with one last idea. She pointed a hoof behind him and shouted.

"LOOK! The sun is rising!" 

The guard raised an eyebrow, clearly at the end of his patience. 
"First of, that wasn't funny. Second, the sun rises from the opposite direction."

"OH FOR PETE'S SAKE!" 

The guard didn't even have a moment to react before the mare charged at him and pressed her face towards him, to the point that he got a very good look at her cyan eyes. His only immediate reaction was covering in a deep red blush, as the mare whispered.
"Sorry."
Their horns collided and one emitted sparks.

BZZT!

The guard twitched and fell on the ground, parts of his body still trembling from the literal shock. The mare sighed with relief, glad that her early days tricks were still a useful as she remembered them.

"SUNSET! What have you done!?" shouted Twilight Sparkle as she ran out of the car and approached her fiery colored friend, no longer bothering with the cloak to disguise herself. Sunset just shrugged.

"Relax, I just stunned him a little, he'll be fine."

"No, he will not!" she walked to the guard and poked him with her hoof. He only twitched a little more and gargled something incomprehensible "Didn't you hear him? He knows who we are, and when he wakes up they'll send wanted posters all over Equestria!" she walked to Sunset, grabbed her shoulders and looked her deep into her eyes "We're criminals now! CRIMINALS!"

"You're panicking, again..." 

"I knew this was a stupid plan. STUPID PLAN! All I ever wanted was to borrow that train, get to Ponyville and save Princess and my brother, not... WHAT HAVE I BECOME?"

"Twilight, seriously..."

"Do you think they'll still let me take tests in jail? I mean, I am a top student, right? Ooh, I can already hear them talking already! 'She was such a good girl, how could she become a... CRIMINAL!'" tears started flowing from her eyes and for some reason, her hair was becoming a mess with every second. Sunset Shimmer could only roll her eyes as she slowly raised a  hoof.

"My parents... they had such hopes for me and this is how I repay them? By forever cursing my family to be known as those filthy CRIMINA--!"

SLAP!

Twilight stopped her whining to massage her now burning hot left cheek. She looked Sunset into her eyes for a few moments and finally sighed. Her first instinct would normally be lashing out and starting a heated debate over using physical abuse on their own friend, but she did not feel angry. At least not at her.

"Thanks. I needed that." she buried her eyes into the ground. Sunset slowly patted her head.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. He only saw my face, so I'll be the only one wanted."

Twilight looked at Sunset Shimmer, her eyes widened "B-but..."

"No buts!” she shrugged with a fake smile “They already think I'm evil anyway, might as well give them prove them right. I don't care, so long as you two are..."

"No."

Sunset blinked. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"Listen, Missy," Twilight stepped towards Sunset and poked her chest "first of all, this was my stupid plan and I shouldn't drag any of you into this, so no, you are not taking all the blame for it. And two,” another poke “most importantly and mark my words," she took a deep breath.

"You are not evil! You never were and you never will be. And don't let anypony tell you otherwise."

During all these years of living with Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer often wondered why they were friends to begin with. All they ever did together was bicker, complain, compete for grades and attention in classes. And Sunset lost most of the time. Yet, here they were, protecting and consoling each other while ruler of their land was gone and darkness filled the sky for almost two days already. As Princess Celestia herself kept telling them, 'friendship is weird'.

"Thanks," replied Sunset, as she averted her eyes, trying to hide a few tears that appeared in her eyes. Failing. "I needed that."

"What are friends for." answered Twilight Sparkle averting her gaze from her friend to not look at tears on her face. Failing.

"Awww, that's so adorable!" they heard the third voice coming from the car, one easily recognizable as their best friend, Moondancer. As to whose best friend she was specifically was still up for debate, as neither wanted to give up on such claim.

"So, will they ever kiss?" asked a strange, male voice nearby.

"Sadly, no."

Twilight and Sunset gasped and quickly turned towards the car to see their friend standing in front of it, also abandoning her hood and revealing her white coat and red and white mane. But what really bothered all three of them, least of all Moondancer, was a long, sharp blade only about an inch away from her throat, as well as a long hoof of a white coated royal guard that held her hostage. With a smile on his face. 

"I told you, like a ninja!"

"H-how long were you two there?" asked Twilight, as she and Sunset took a battle stance and started charging their horns.

"Since 'it was a STUPID PLAN', I think" replied the guard, not really bothered by the two aggressive mares "So, do you surrender, or should we get dirty with it?"

Dirty? That was a keyword Moondancer used to some other activities, preferably ones that did not involve slitting her throat open. She felt awful- the mission barely begun and all she contributed to it was overlooking two ninja guards and getting herself captured. But no more, it was her chance to shine, performing an action only she was able to do properly. Or actually, do at all. And get hugs and feels for being the best friend ever.

"Ooh, I wouldn't mind getting a bit 'dirty', especially with a stallion like you," she slowly said in the sultriest possible voice, emphasizing the last word with extra special lick of the lips. Her two companions froze as they recognized it as 'mare in heat, will bang anything with pulse' mode she used so much. In public. With witnesses. When near them. Sometimes directed AT them...

...why were they her friends again?

"Why don't you hide that big sword of yours and let me take care of your... 'BIG sword'."

The guard snorted "Nice try miss, but I'm gay."

"OH COME ON!" she threw her hooves into air, almost too dangerously close to the blade, as she pouted away. The guard raised and eyebrow.

"If it's any consolation, I would completely fall for it otherwise."

"Yeah, sure, that’s what they all say..."

After the noble failure of Moondancer, it was up to her two friends to save her from this one. They knew they couldn't try and risk anything reckless. They doubted that this guard would ever try and harm anypony's life even if they tried to force their way out, but there was still plenty of danger if anypony made a single mistake. Not to mention, if the two of them managed to sneak past three mares, who was to say there were only two and not a lot more waiting in the shadows. Moondancer's crazy ninja theory proved right twice already, might as well bet on more.
To make matters even worse, they heard a heavy groan behind them, only to notice that the red guard once stunned was once again on his four hooves.

"Oh hey Fire Strike, I bought you some time to wake up." asked the armed guard.

"Yeah, joy," exclaimed the lazy guard, as he stretched his hooves and glared at Sunset Shimmer "you'll pay for that, wench."

Sunset turned toward him and returned the glare and smiled.
"I wanna see you try and get me, then."

"Oh I will! And your silly tricks won''t work on me again."

"Good, because I have plenty more!"

"Then come and get some!"

Moondancer smiled at the view. She looked to her captor.
"Five bits says they'll bang by the end of the month."

"Hey, you're talking about my good straight friend... ten bits says they won't."

"Deal!"

SNAP!

"EVERYPONY- SHUT UP!"

They all stopped whatever they were doing or talking about once Twilight Sparkle, number one student of Canterlots University for Gifted Unicorns, finally snapped.
"Sunset, stop threatening the royal guards, we're in enough trouble as we are right now! I told you that you're not evil, stop acting that way!"

"He started it!" she huffed and pointed hoof in direction of Fire Strike. He was the next target.

"And you, mister Fire Strike, I'm sorry for my friend and what she had to do, we were desperate and out of options, ok?"

"But she zapped me!" protested Fire Strike "That was completely uncalled for!"

Sunset protested.
"Hey, nopony badmouths my perfumes and home accent!"

The armed white unicorn giggled.
"And that's why you're forever alone, Fire Strike." said Silver Sword, making Fire Strike blush and turn away, mumbling.

"And you, mister... umm..." Twilight stopped and scratched her head "...I didn't catch your name."

"It's Silver Sword."

"Right, mister Silver Sword, could you please stop aiming a dangerous weapon at my friends throat? We're scared already as we are."

"I'm not scared." Moondancer shrugged.

"And you, Moondancer..." started Twilight and paused short after. Her hoof touched her chin as she struggled to find something to say "...umm, be more scared! You have a blade at your throat!"

"Well, sure I have, but," started Moondancer, scratching her head "it's not like he'll actually hurt me.”

There was a short pause, after which Silver Sword glowed his horn (and everypony just now noticed he was a unicorn), which made the blade on his hoof turn to mist and disappear. Once free, Moondancer trotted happily to her two friends. Fire Strike also joined up with his partner.

"So," started Silver Sword, as he looked at the three unicorn mares "could you please explain to us why you were hiding in the train during the police hours?"

Silence. Twilight Sparkle averted her eyes from the guards and considered answering the question. To the duo guards credit, they did not nag her and instead patiently awaited. She looked right and left to her friends. Both mares were in agreement on this one and nodded, trusting Twilight with her decision. It was, after all, her plan all along. She finally coughed and spoke.

"We need to get to Ponyville, as fast as possible."she explained. Silver Sword hummed, but did not reply, letting Twilight continue "I-I don't know what happened and why Princess Celestia is gone, but I know that something happened in Ponyville, where the ceremony was supposed to take place!"

"And you wanted to take a train?" asked Silver Sword, to which Twilight nodded.

"Yeah, it was a stupid plan, I know, but I couldn't just leave him there!"

"Him?" asked Silver Sword, raising an eyebrow and smiling. Twilight opened her mouth but did not say anything and covered herself with blush. Moondancer answered in her stead.

"Her big brother is in Ponyville. She's just worried."

The guards raised their eyebrows and looked at each other, then back at Twilight, still blushing furiously. And then they started giggling, trying to stifle their laughter by putting hooves to their mouths.

"What's so funny?" asked Sunset Shimmer, as she jumped ahead in her friends defense, almost roaring at the two stallions.

"Because one," started Silver Sword and smiled from ear to ear "that's just too adorable. Little sister worried about her big brother best friends forever. Priceless!"

Twilight walked past Sunset and almost fumed with anger.
"What's wrong about caring abo--" she froze midway the sentence "wait, what did you call him?"

"And two," continued Fire Strike, completely ignoring the question "whatever attacked Ponyville and Princess Celestia, is in serious trouble once Shining Armor gets to it."

Three sets of jaws dropped pretty much to the ground, much to the guards amusement. There was a lot going on on the heads of three mares and explanations were in order.

"Yes, we know your brother, miss Twilight Sparkle. It just so happens that all three of us were roommates in the academy.” said Silver Sword, proudly smiling.

“What a coincidence...” said Sunset Shimmer, rolling her eyes. Her comment was left largely ignored.

“And he wouldn't shut up about his perfect little sister.” added Fire Strike, making Twilight blush even more as she looked at the stone pavement, wondering if she could smash it with her head and bury it inside there for the rest of the conversation. “Seriously, he would NOT. SHUT. UP! Ever.”

“Ha, she won't shut up either!” added Moondancer “One time she almost burst out in a song about her BBBFF!”

Sunset giggled and joined in “And she talks to his picture when nopony is watching!”

“SUNSET!”

“Oh. Oops, that was a secret,” she shrugged and smiled wide “sorry, my bad!”

The air was filled in laughter, all sides completely forgetting about the previous attempt to steal a train, assault on officers of law and actual death threats. Out of all five gathered ponies only Twilight Sparkle was too busy being red and embarrassed to join in on the fun made on her expense. They were still in great danger, Princess was still gone, yet they took all their attention to making fun of simple sibling love. She huffed and threw her hooves in the air.

“Fine, laugh, whatever, I don't care anymore. Make all the fun of a little brother complex I apparently have!”

Moondancer stopped laughing, just barely, to wipe a single tear from her eye “We did not use the 'c' word. Yet.”

“Also, not 'little'.” added Sunset Shimmer, much to Twilight's further annoyance.

Once they finally calmed down, Silver Sword coughed and changed the topic.
“Anyway, miss Sparkle. I appreciate the enthusiasm and goodwill (if not necessarily legal methods), but we are already aware  of the situation in Ponyville. The Investigations Division was already sent to Ponyville, along with several court magicians, already working on the case. Your assistance is not necessary, even if you're the number one student.”

Twilight pouted “I know, but still...” she was interrupted, as Silver Sword walked toward her and put a hoof on her shoulder. He looked her in the eyes and smiled.

“He's fine. If I want anypony to be in any danger, it's Shining Armor.” he snorted “Because he's really, really stupid.”

Predictably, he was met with confused looks from all three mares, if not angry altogether. Fire Strike explained.

“During the training exercises, we had a meme. 'Too stupid to die when killed'. And Shining Armor... he was the dumbest of us all.”





“Achoo!”

Cold. This was the first feeling Shining Armor had after a sudden sneeze woke him up. His muscles ached, so was his head, so at first he opted on lying on the... ground or wherever he was, for a moment longer. He had no idea where he was, but it was surprisingly comfortable, if a little bit chilly, but that was to be expected from a forest, especially one at night, everlasting one at that. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up. Only white fog, probably the same one they walked in before.

His nose itched, but despite his truest intentions, he could not scratch it with his right hoof. Neither he could with his left. His eyes shot open as he just now noticed that his entire body was covered in something. He blinked few more times to get a better sight at it. Vines, anything from his neck down was tied with dark green, tight vines and no matter how much he struggled, they were not getting any looser. Where the heck even am I, he asked nopony in his mind and proceed to scan the area. He was lying on his back, not the most comfortable position for a pony, but under him was a fairly large, soft green surface. It sprawled for a fair distance, about a hundred hooves in length, before ending in a pitfall, going even further into the canyon. To his left and right the view was similar- two walls of solid stone, the surface he was on attached to them, much like a spiderweb, but made of plants. He couldn't twist his head to see what's behind him, but he expected it to end like it did in front. 

He tried to think of the recent events leading to this. Nightmare Moon, the fight, their last stand, falling down...

“DOCTOR!” he screamed, as he twisted his body trying to get out, not making any progress “THUNDERLANE! SOARIN! MACINTOSH! ANYPONY HERE?”

“We're here,” answered the voice of Doctor from his back “a bit tied up, but mostly fine.”

Everypony confirmed their presence after Doctor, which put Shining Armor at a relative ease. Prince Blueblood was not heard or seen, but his whereabouts were not a mystery. His fate, on the other hoof...

“We need to get out of here!” he stretched his muscles to try and get out again, but once again it was futile.

“Eyuupp!” he heard Big Macintosh whine behind, as he had the same idea. And from the sound of it, he had just as little luck with breaking out as he did, despite his enormous strength.

"Okay, I'm open to ideas. Anypony?"

"AH, PONY WAKE?" asked a very deep baritone voice coming from below the web. Before they could ask any further questions, Shining Armor noticed a set of long, green appendages latch onto the walls before him, which slowly pulled up a figure...no, a thing attached to it.

There was a mutual silence between all five stallions, as few words expressed the view in front of their eyes. Thunderlane found a few, but they could describe a lot of things in Everfree. 

For one, it was a huge, huge sort of a plant, resembling an oversized cabbage, with upper half of its body covered in smaller, messily placed dark green leaves which gave the impression of a mane which demanded a brush and shower. The lower part was mostly devoid of the leaves, leaving only a thick moss to serve as a skin, which covered every single part of its body except for a giant maw, filled with rows of rotten yellow set of teeth covered in slimy, green substance, each tooth larger then any of them. On its base was a root of some sorts, from which multiple appendages stuck out, two of which were used to climb the wall, while several were tied directly into the web they were lying on.

"ME HATE FOOD SCREAM!" It grinned from one non-existant ear to other, licking its lips with delight.

Soarin screamed and they couldn't blame him for it, especially after it climbed over them and sat on the web, right behind Shining Armor and started inspecting Soarin, who couldn't even tell where it's eyes were. If there were any.

"ME START WITH BIRD PONY. ME LIKE WINGS." the vines holding Soarin suddenly raised him above, very slowly closing him to the endless void called opened mouth. Understandably so, Soarin had different ideas.

"WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME?!" 

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Thunderlane chimed in "Pick up someone your size!"

The vines stopped mid-air as the monster tilted its head.
"HUH? BUT ME BIG, PONY NOT BIG."

"Well, then," Doctor joined in the conversation "why don't you try and hunt something else? Face it, we're barely a snack, you'll be hungry again in a matter of minutes anyway."

"Eyuup!"

The monster hummed. Then looked at Soarin, who wasn't sure if he should already just faint and be done with it... or wet himself. Maybe then he'll leave him alone. Or at least, wash him before his early demise.

"PONY RIGHT. ME GET BIG FOOD, SO ME NO HUNGRY!"

"Atta boy, I knew you were just as smart as you look." Doctor did not lie.

"ME EAT PONY NOW AND ME GO FIND MORE FOOD!"

"Exactly, that sounds like a brilliant pla-- no wait, what?"

"ME NOT EAT PONY FOR A LONG TIME! ONLY BIRD. AND BOAR. AND ALLIGATOR. BUT NO YUMMY. PONY IS YUMMY!"

"Well, I tried."

"When I said we'll be eaten by plants," started Thunderlane "I DIDN'T MEAN IT!"

Shining Armor could clearly hear, but not see the conversation that took place right behind him, neither did they see him, as giant cabbage monster blocked the view entirely. Not that he could even twist his head back enough to notice, anyway. On the bright side, neither was monster paying attention to him, which gave him some time to work with and try to get out. Try as he might, his brute strength was no use here, the vines being much tougher then they looked. He tried to surround himself with barrier and enlarge it just enough to slip out. It could work, but no matter how much he concentrated, he couldn't create a shield slim enough to fit inside. Most of his magical training was spent on efficiency, durability, shape and size, not subtlety, which he started to regret now. If he ever gets out, he swore to get more lessons. Maybe Twilight could tutor him in their off times? Not a bad excuse to spend more time with his little sister. If she was here instead, she could probably just teleport out and incinerate the bloody thing. 

His train of thought was interrupted by a whisper. He couldn't quite tell who it was, but definitely somepony behind him. He twisted his neck the hardest he could to notice Big Macintosh in the edge of his eye. He couldn't quite see him as a whole, only his hind hooves tied by vines, but one of the hooves did stuck out and rose a bit higher. Shining could swear that Mac was trying to tell him something. Or rather, not tell, but show. Shining Armor's eyes widened at the realization and looked at the vague direction he was showing. And then he saw it.

When they all woke up, they were tied up and too scared to notice that their saddlebags were gone, probably fell down the canyon. Not all however. On the right stone wall, in a very dimly lit place, was a single tree branch, sticking out of the stone, on it a single saddlebag, barely holding on a little twig. He narrowed his eyes to get a better look at it. It wasn't that far, all things considered. If he tried hard enough, he could reach it with magic. He gulped and took a deep breath, before glowing his horn and covering the bags with his aura.

"H-hey, come on, w-were all rational here," Soarin stuttered, as he tried to keep calm "we can help each other out, like buddies!"

"YES, PONY HELP ME. PONY GET EAT. ME NO HUNGRY!"

"N-no, I mean't with umm, you know..." he looked around for hints, finding nothing of sorts "...oh, I know! You seem like a pretty swell fellow, but you're alone, right?"

"HUH?" cabbage monster tilted its head. So did other stallions, except maybe Shining Armor.

"Come on, I bet there's a cute, cabbage lady out there that you had your eyes on (wherever they are)," he smiled brightly, others rolling their eyes once they saw it coming "I happen to be a pro matchmaker and love guru. Ask anypony, or anything in this forest! I have a 100% success rate in Everfree!" by which he meant all one instance. Still more then anypony could claim  "what'ya say? Help me, help you?"

The monster used two appendages to shrug.
"ME NO GOT GENDER."

"OH COME ON!" yelled Soarin, as he tried to raise his hooves up. He couldn't, they were still tied up. 

The conversation above did buy Shining Armor a little more time, which he spent levitating the saddlebags across. He didn't try to be fast, concentrating more on stable grip, fully realizing that if he failed halfway, his last hope would drop dead into the oblivion. Once before him, he identified the apple prints on the bags as ones belonging to Big Macintosh. And he clearly remembered that he had a fruit knife somewhere in there. Shining opened the bags and rummaged through its content. Among the blankets, few cups, unfinished sandwich and some other tools, he did found the knife. A small one, used mostly to peel apples and small vegetables, but what mattered now was not the size, but it's sharpness. And they did cut coconuts with it here. Everfree magic apparently allowed coconuts to grow in a forest, obviously.

He grabbed the knife and took a breath once again. Now that he thought about it, what would he do if the monster felt the stab and looked behind? All these vines were technically part of his body, but did he have nerves in them? Only one way to find out.

"TALK BORING. ME HUNGRY!" 

The cabbage opened it's mouth and closed screaming Soarin closer, when suddenly...

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIT!" 

Everyone turned their attention to Thunderlane, who gasped for breath. He gulped and said.
"Don't eat him...first!" everyone tilted their heads "I-I mean, I'm a lot tastier then he is!"

"REALLY?"

"You are?

"Of course I am! I mean, seriously, look at him!" the cabbage did so, but only saw Soarin sheepishly smile "He's a mess! Barely any meat on him! And you know what he does in his free time? Seedy bars, alcohol, banging left and right. Seriously, he could have some weird disease on him."

"NO I DONT!" Soarin protested. He knew it was a trick, but it still hurt.

"Compared to him," Thunderlane continued "I'm all natural and healthy. None of that fast food crap he stuff himself with!" mostly because it's fast food, and it was expensive in Ponyville, which cannot be said about vegetable grown there.

STAB!

Shining Armor successfully stabbed the vine he was tied by. He looked behind him to see if there's any reaction from the cabbage, but so far it looked like the coast was clear. So he proceed on freeing himself one slice at a time, which would take some time, but it seemed like his friends had it under control.

"Nnnope!" Big Macintosh interrupted them on their conversation "Ahm the tastiest one here! Ahm all muscle, no fat!"

"RED PONY SMELL APPLE! ME NO EAT PLANT! ME NO CANNIBAL!"

SNAP!

One vine down, several more to go. Still no sign of detection.

"Oh, oh, me!" Doctor chimed in "I have two hearts!"

"WHAT?" they all shouted, as Doctor tried to shrug.

"No really, I have two hearts. And two hearts means that I pump more blood, so I'm a lot tastier then them, who only have one, so they pump twice less. Simple science!"

Thunderlane rolled his eyes.
"I don't know what's a bigger bullcrap. The science, or your anatomy."

"Hate me all you want, but that is the truth!

SNAP!

Two down, Shining Armor could almost free his front hooves now. He kept sawing.

"ME CONFUSED. ME EAT ALL PONY!"

"NO!" everypony protested.

"BUT ME HUNGRY!"

"Well yes, but pony tasty," said Doctor "if you eat us all now, then we're gone. Don't you want to savor the taste a bit more?"

"UMMM..."

"Yeah, he's right!" Thunderlane agreed "You don't get many ponies around here, do you?"

"NO, BUT..."

"Then you MUST treasure us," added Soarin "we're a delicacy you know!"

“UMM, ME NOT KNOW...”

"Actually, why not do the smart thing?" Doctor added as a sinister plan entered his head "Why not just keep us as livestock and breed some more?"

"WHAT?" everyone shouted.

SNAP!

Another vine snapped, letting Shining Armor finally move his front hooves freely. One more and he's out.

"You can't be serious!"

"PONY NOT WORK THAT WAY!"

"Eyuup!"

"Trust me, I'm a Doctor!" he gladly pronounced,  convincing a total number of zero listeners "I have two hearts, so there's twice as much blood flowing through my brain, therefore..."

"BULLCRAP!"

SNAP!

The cabbage monster finally snapped and roared at the ponies, scaring the living hell out of them and covering them with more slime then they wanted.

"PONY ANNOY! ME EAT SILENT PONY FIRST! SILENT PONY NOT ANNOY!

SNAP!

With one last snap, Shining Armor was finally free and able to stand on all four hooves. He stretched his muscles and already focused his thoughts on freeing others. Maybe if he could somehow get them to make him look the other direction, then he could free Macintosh, then act as a bait until Mac frees others, and then...

"WHY HORN PONY FREE?"

Shining Armor could not see its eyes, still hidden behind a messy leaves acting as hair. But he saw the mouth. There were no smiles.

He blinked once. And then one more time.

"...buck."
> 18. Willpower and determination
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A legend tells the story of a young hero, as he went on an journey to save his kingdom from evil. Along the way, he encountered countless adventures. He met ponies from different places, some were kind and gentle folk that helped him get through, other were malicious and greedy, ready to stop him. There were majestic places, full of rich flora and fauna not yet discovered and there were barren wastelands, full of dangers. 
The hero was not alone on his journey, not for long at least. Along the way he was joined by various companions, all bringing unique talents hero did not possess, and friendship, which he soon learned was valuable more then power his enemies had. Eventually, his party faced the evil right in its core and after a long, painful and dangerous battle, they emerged victorious, once again bringing back peace and safety to the lands. They were awarded greatly with fame, fortune and lands, but the hero refused any of it, his grand prize being the adventure itself and friends he made.

Which legend was that, some might ask? The answer is, most of them, all coming from the same events that happened in the early past long forgotten. Only a grain of the original story remains, the rest was later added by traveling minstrels, changing it more and more until the story we know today was no longer the history, just fiction.

Prince Blueblood wondered, did the original hero really win the fight with evil? Or was he defeated and some other force brought the peace to the land? Or the forces of evil were just misunderstood, benevolent forces and hero was an insane maniac, rebelling against a new world order? Who knew, maybe thousands of years ago there was no sun, only darkness, until some unknown force appeared and...

"ARRGHHH!" he growled and shook his head "These are all lies! Stop it! Stop showing me these images! I won't be fooled by your tricks!"

"Tricks? And why would I do that?"

Prince had no idea how much time has passed since he was brought here. Here being the inside  ruins of the old castle, right in the middle of the Everfree forest. His vision was blurred and could hardly tell what was around or where he was placed. All he could gather, was that it was a fairly large room on the top of the castle. The ceiling was long gone, allowing the moon to shine above and illuminate the debris of this once glorious place. Was this the old throne room?

"Why would I tell lies to a weak, helpless pony like you?"

He could not move. His hooves were restrained to the cobblestone floor with very thick, dark mist, rendering him completely immobile. He couldn't tell why, but his horn wasn't working either, as if it wasn't even there anymore to begin with.

"Why am I here?" he asked with a tired voice "Just kill me and get this over with!"

Nightmare Moon smiled subtlety as she walked towards Prince and looked him deep into his eyes. Try as he might, he could not find enough will to avert his gaze.
"I could end your pitiful, miserable little life right here and now."

Blueblood gulped "What's stopping you?"

She laughed "Because you asked me to spare you before!"

"That was a trick and you know it!"

"Maybe it was. I did give you all chance to surrender and join me, yet I was met with anger and resentment. They spit on my acts of generosity and called me a monster!" 

There was a small pause, during which they still looked each other in the eyes. She coughed and continued.
"But you were different. Compared to them, you were... weak. Out of place. Broken. Alone. With nothing to keep you going, except a strong desire to be loved again by somepony who threw you away like a trash, once she realized you are not a perfect little toy she always wanted."

His eyes widened. He knew that she could read his mind, but he didn't realize how deep she went, until it was too late to deny her.

"She openly admitted that she tricked you into becoming somepony else, never once accepting you as you were, merely tolerating your existence, until you became... him!"

His eyes twitched. Memories from that faithful night were brought back again, culminating in a moment of his greatest regret. Now that he thought about it, he cared less and less about that night in particular, realizing that he went into the forest solely to apologize for... what exactly? 

"But it's not just her, who treated you unfairly. Think about your life, what have you done wrong? What are your crimes?
Was it your crime, that you left your mother and father to die, as you ran for your life?
Was it your crime, that you put your trust in a charismatic, backstabbing thief?
Was it your fault, that your idol and parent figure was taken away?
Or perhaps, you blame yourself for your companions untimely demise?"

Prince could not answer. He looked down on the floor, not sure what to think about anymore. Was she messing with his head? Was this just a spell? Or was she actually opening his eyes for the first time in his life?

"But what they truly despise about you, is their very own jealousy! Think about who you are. 
A university dropout, yet already mastered one of the most advanced spells in existence! 
A coward and weakling, yet one who entered and survived Everfree forest.
A loner, yet one who can lead a group of five ragtag morons without killing each other.
A buffoon, yet who was the one who recognized me first? And found about the only way to stop me? Speaking of which..."

Prince raised his head and looked at Nightmare Moon levitating several objects right into his eyes, before she dropped them on the cobblestone before him. He squinted to see these objects, which turned out of be a set of five stone balls roughly the size of a bowling ball. There were some markings on them he couldn't recognize, but his eyes widened once he realized what he was looking at.

"Yes, my little pony, this is exactly what you think it is."

He gulped and opened his mouth, slowly muttering what must have been the moment his hope broke altogether, when it was supposed to be the other way around.

"Elements of harmony!"





"PONY NO WIN! ME STRONG! PONY WEAK!"

Shining Armor squinted, but ultimately ignored his throbbing head. It was nothing. For most regular ponies, repeated strikes from long, strong vines would prove fatal or at least very painful, but his shields were designed to survive more than that. Each hit felt like nail hammered into different parts of his skull, but for now that was all he could do. He couldn't move in this state, as then he would have to concentrate on moving the barrier along with him, which would decrease its effective hardness, a handicap he could not allow himself now. He could cancel it and just dodge with his hooves alone, but this was much too risky and a single hit would break several of his bones. And as stupid as the giant cabbage monster was, he doubted it would fall for the same trick twice.

"PONY STOP FIGHT AND LET ME EAT PONY!"

He was seriously out of options and not liking it at all. Fighting it head on was out of question, he'd be gobbled in a second. And he couldn't even free his companions. Just walking to them was dangerous enough, then setting another barrier would take a lot of energy, then he'd have to concentrate on cutting the vines, which were connected to the monster anyway, so it could use them to attack. Not to mention that it could just crush his friends altogether, if it wanted. 

Shining Armor was a royal guard. As a member of a larger military unit, he was trained to work best as a part of a synchronized team. His role was mostly to garner attention and protect, while others did the dirty work, rarely joining the actual fight. 

Royal Guard Academy often organized mock team battles of three pony team. He, Fire Strike and Silver Sword were among the best, complementing each other with their special talents. 
Fire Strike, despite his rash behavior and 'in your face' mentality, was a very talented battle mage, with his specialty being, what else, setting things on fire. His casting time was longer then most battle mages, so he relied on his team to cover him when he did so.
Silver Sword on the other hand, despite his calm and collected style and cheerful personality, was a master close combatant, very fast and efficient, but relatively fragile. 

Their team fight consisted of Fire Strike starting a spell, provoking others to concentrate their efforts on him, which prompted Shining Armor to protect him. And while they were busy on one front, Silver Sword snuck behind enemy lines and took out their weakest link. By the time enemy team realized what was going on, their biggest problem was a giant fireball flying their way.
That formation was later introduced as a new standard under the name 'Shining Silver Strike", or 'ThreeS' in short. Sadly, it required a specialized set of members to pull it of, limiting it to exactly one team on the roster that utilized it with any degree of success.

Shining Armor wondered how things would've gone, if they were around.





"Wow, Shiny never mentioned he had an entire formation named after him!" said Twilight Sparkle, putting a straw in an apple juice box, before taking a sip.

"Named after all three of us, if you don't mind," added Silver Sword "but we're not really supposed to brag about it. And really, it's a simple tactic that just makes sense and uses our respective special talents."

Twilight Sparkle's team, consisting of herself and her two friends, Sunset Shimmer and Moondancer, failed their own mission and aborted any other attempts to leave the city. Canterlot was closed of and even if it wasn't, the three realized there was nothing they could do, so reluctantly chose to stay. They did not, however, taken a shelter and instead waited outside for the sun to come out, however long was that going to take. Silver Sword and Fire Strike rolled their eyes, but didn't feel like forcing them back to dorms, so they kept them company instead. As it happened, they had cookies and plenty of juice boxes with them, happily sharing them with two stallions.

"Shiny sounds even more awesome then I thought," said Moondancer, as she blushed lightly "hot, nice AND tough, he could protect me any day."

"What did I said about fantasizing about my brother?"

Fire Strike snorted in between sipping his juice "Yeah, good luck with that."

Moondancer pouted "Just because I failed to seduce him a few times..."

"'Few hundred'." added Sunset Shimmer.

"...doesn't mean he won't be mine! You hear that? MINE! ONLY MINE! BWAHAHAHA!"

Sunset Shimmer turned to two guards "And they say I'm the evil one."

"Again, stop fantasizing about my brother!"

Two stallions looked at each other, both smiling wide and barely holding up the laughter.
"Oh trust me, it's not your fault he doesn't chase your tail," said Silver Sword "it's just that, Shining Armor doesn't have a... thing."

Moondancer put a hoof to her chin and thought.
"He's castrated?" she asked confused, making both Fire Strike and Sunset Shimmer spit-take on their juices.

"No, not 'that' thing," replied Silver Sword, laughing "he's just not interested in mares, that's all."

"He's gay?"

"I wish..." Silver Sword gasped and looked down the road. There was a short pause, as nopony was sure how to react "He's just not interested, at all. Right now he's married to his job. I imagine his suspension must have felt like a divorce."

"Yeah, no kidding," Twilight nodded "I've never seen him that down before."

"Back in the academy he was a one dang popular stud!" said Silver Sword, making Fire Strike grumble out of jealousy "He got hit on by mares all the time! Every single break, he received love letters, invitations, hints, flirts. And he turned them all down."

"Seriously," added Fire Strike "dude broke more hearts then Princess Celestia!"

Twilight raised her eyebrow. She didn't remember Shiny ever talking anything about other mares, now that she thought about it. He mentioned something about guys sending him joke love letters or girls mocking him on the hallways, but he ignored them completely until one day it stopped, though he wasn't sure why. Probably they got bored of it.

"It stopped," Silver Sword continued "once a rumor spread around, that apparently he got himself a fillyfriend."
Three pairs of ears perked at that information. Even Sunset, who for the love of her could not figure out what all of Canterlot's mares saw in him, was intrigued.
"Some mare saw him at Joe's Place, hanging out with, and I quote, not my words," Silver Sword coughed and slowly but surely said "'some really nice flanked, purple unicorn cutie'."

Twilight put a hoof to her chin and thought.
"Hmm, I don't remember Shiny dating anypony. I mean, he would've told me... about... some...pony...ah!"

Her horn fizzled out, dropping magically held juice box onto the ground. Eventually, her brain finally froze along with the rest of her body, leaving only her twitching eye and a giant blush as only signs of being still alive. 

Moondancer waved a hoof before her face.
"I think she's broken."

Sunset Shimmer mumbled under he nose "Her flank's not that great..."





"B-but..." Prince  Blueblood muttered, as he looked at five stone balls in front of him, not sure what to say or ask. He expected something...different. A spell book, maybe. 

"If you wish to ask where the sixth element is," Nightmare Moon moved closer to him and raised his chin with her hoof, so he could look her deep into eyes "it's gone for good. Destroyed exactly one thousand ago, back when Celestia used them to banish me. And without it, the rest lose any magical properties and become just dumb, useless rocks." as an emphasis, she kicked one of them, sending it rolling down the stairs and into the wall.

Prince stopped thinking. With all his companions dead, Princess gone, trapped inside enemy lair, with his last hope turning out to be a complete dud, he was left with nothing else. Probably dying alone, achieving a grand total of 'not a bucking thing' in his life, failing everything, everypony and then some.

"Kill me."

"No," she answered coldly "I already told you, I have different plans for you. I told you that, did I not?"

Prince thought for a moment. It wasn't hard to figure out what she could want from him, considering the circumstances "You want me to join you,” Prince looked at her carefully. She nodded, yet her face was unreadable at this moment, as she patiently waited for his reply.
"Why me?"

Nightmare Moon sighed deeply and smiled lightly. 
"Because we're alike," she answered, prompting Prince to snort, which she ignored "You have a potential to become somepony great, better and more powerful than Celestia would ever dream.  Yet all your life was filled with misery, tragedies you had no influence over and ponies that used and discarded you like a tool once you outlived your usefulness.”

Prince stood and listened in silence. 

"I know your pain, for I suffered the same. That's why I'm offering you a chance."

Her horn once again glowed, which created a dark mist that flew right beside her and slowly form into a solid, tangible shape, that of a large, purple framed mirror.
Prince hesitated and turned his gaze away, but deciding it was pointless to resist right now, he looked into his own reflection. Or at least, that's what he expected to see.

The stallion on the other side looked at him with smug, victorious smile, with burning red eyes that despised and looked down on anything he witnessed, and rightfully so. He was at least one hoof taller than him, his entire coat- pitch black, aside from long, silver horseshoes and chestplate. His mane was shiny silver, flowing freely like an aurora.
If he saw this image anywhere else, he would never recognize himself in it, except if it wasn't for the same, albeit darker and larger, compass rose cutie mark. 

"You can see him clearly, can't you?" asked Nightmare Moon "Can you feel his power? His presence? His elegance? That is not you, my little pony. But he could be."

Prince Blueblood couldn't take his gaze away from the reflection. On one hoof, it was intimidating, fearsome and vicious, but at the same time, grand. So powerful. So... tempting.

"With a little push, even a little prince such as you, could become..." she walked to and reached his head, only to whisper.

"...a king!"





He tried. Shining Armor really did everything he could to think of a good solution to a giant vegetable problem, but he had to face it- he wasn't the brightest pony, especially not under the pressure. Usually it was Silver Sword who came up with any plans and if he wasn't around, there were usually others ready to guide him. Currently, his only companions were in much worse positions and unless they somehow freed themselves, they were even less qualified then he was. 
Which left him with one last plan.

"I am Shining Armor, a Royal Guard of Equestria. In the name of Equestrian law as written by Princess Celestia, I order you to surrender and release your prisoners, NOW!"

Silence. The cabbage monster stopped attacking and opened its maw, but couldn't muster a single word. It eventually snorted and exploded in a fit of laughter.

"HAHAHAHA! PONY NO ORDER ME! PONY BE FOOD! FOOD BE EAT"

Shining Armor's eye twitched. He had little hopes of this ever working, but was still hoping for a miracle. He hated the alternative.
"This is your last chance. Please, give up now and I promise that you will be--" a vine hitting his shield interrupted him.

"PONY SILENT! PONY GIVE UP AND LET ME EAT PONY!"





"There was that one time," said Silver Sword in the middle of a cookie, gathering others attention. He looked at Fire Strike "remember the 'Hammer incident'?"

Judging from the shudder that went through Fire Strike's skin, he did. Red stallion put away his cookie back to the box and looked at the ground with a terrified gazed.
"So much blood... We had nightmares for weeks!"

Three mares instantly gulped. With a name like 'Hammer incident' mentioned alongside large quantities of blood, their imaginations went wild in many different directions. And even normally lewd mind of Moondancer was far away from any kind of pleasures. 

"So, remember those mock battles I talked about? And how we were winning with our formation?" he was met with reluctant nods "There was this one time, when our enemies saw through it and let's just say that everything went completely wrong..."





This was wrong on so many levels. So cliche as well, giving in to your dark side, turning evil due to villains temptation. He saw that one in any trashy novel he read and it was as unbearable and unbelievable no matter how many times he saw it. Now that he was in their horseshoes, he wasn't feeling all that brave. All sorts of conflicting thoughts flew through his mind right now. On one hoof, this was madness, giving in to the dark side, especially one committed to eliminating the day in favor of eternal night, was crazy and stupid beyond comprehension. Not to mention, this was the same pony (if she could even be called that anymore) that took out Celestia, turned royal guards to stone and just recently killed his companions out of cold blood. There was no way anypony sane would ever side with her.

But really, was it such a bad idea? What choice does he have? There is no defeating her, unless a miracle happens, which he was sure he just ran out of long ago. Dying here won't achieve anything for anypony, not that she would let him just die anyway. But if he decided to join, of his own free will, if a bit hesitant, what then? So much has changed over one thousand years, even somepony as powerful as her would be overwhelmed by the new age, she could use somepony more familiar with modern times as an adviser. And who knows, maybe he could overthrow her eventually and bring back the world to its proper order? She would surely watch her back around him, but that's something to work on later.

And maybe, just maybe, she's not that bad at all? Maybe the world under Nightmare Moon will prove to be a good place to live in? Sure, you need sun for growing vegetation, but maybe she has ways around it? After all, ancient magic was capable of miracles beyond comprehension.

“Are you ready to answer?”

Prince opened his mouth, but shook his head instead. She was messing with him, he knew it, but couldn't quite shake it off. Every time he even considered giving in and joining her side, the same flash repeated in his mind, where five stallions whom he learned to appreciate more over last few days, fell to their deaths. Why couldn't she just turn them to stone and use them as bargaining chip against him?

He gasped. His eyes opened widely at the sudden realization. 'Why' indeed, it was actually a very good question. He looked at Nightmare Moon, who still observed him with patient look, no emotions at all, no signs of a mood change.
Prince Blueblood did something he hasn't made in a very, very long time, at least not honestly. 

He smiled.





“I'm giving you one last warning!” Shining Armor yelled through his teeth, not bothering to mask his anger anymore “Release us, or else!”

He was met with similar reaction as before. He squinted after getting his shield whipped a few more times.
“ME TIRED OF PONY! PONY STOP RESIST!”

Shining Armor ignored the throbbing pain in his head. He quite frankly got used to it by now. His eyes closed and he took a very deep breath, put a hoof to his chest, then slowly ran it outwards, exhaling it along with the anger. The only thing in his lungs right now, was determination.

“You want to eat me?” his horn dissipated the glow, along with the shield it held up “THEN COME AND GET ME!”

Four trapped ponies shouted, warned him, begged him to stop, but he listened to nopony, when he charged right at the beast.





“See, there was this guy in our class who, for some inexplicable reason, chose Shining Armor to be his number one rival. His name was 'Crystal Hammer'. A very obnoxious fellow, kept trying to one up Shiny in everything, sometimes to a very unhealthy degree.”

Twilight nodded “Yes, I know the type. Can be really annoying.” 

Sunset Shimmer was in the middle of opening another pack of chocolate chip cookies, when she shuddered and noticed two mares glaring at her “What? Do I have something on my face?” she inspected her face, looking for cookie crust that wasn't there to begin with. Her friends rolled their eyes and allowed Silver Sword to continue.

“So when he heard about mock battles, he devised a formation of his own, which completely crushed us on every point. Long story short, me and Fire Strike were out very fast, leaving only Shining Armor, all battered up and bruised at the mercy of three other recruits.”

Twilight gulped “What happened then?”

Fire Strike sighed “Normally, he'd be beaten to pulp and lose, no biggie, it's just a training. But Hammer wanted satisfaction, so he went further. And he went a bit too far...”





“Why did you kill them?”

Nightmare Moon sighed deeply and rolled her eyes.
“I already told you. They were in the way and refused to join my side. They had to be eliminated, before they became a danger.”

Prince waited a moment, looking at her. His eyes closed, as he donned a subtle smile of confidence.
“Let me rephrase the question,” Prince raised his head and looked her in the eyes “Why did you kill them, instead of turning them into stone?”

Nightmare Moon's mouth opened, but she didn't spoke, as if she really was considered her next answer.

“Don't tell me you can't, because you did just that when you first appeared, against a bunch of trained guards, no less. And just today, you said you can turn them back, which I assume you didn't lie about.”

She marched a brew “What's your point?”

“My point,” he started “is that I would've been much more cooperative if you held them hostage and you know it.”

“I still don't see your point.”

“It got me thinking. First of all, you bested Celestia, yet it's been two days and what did you do in that time? Nothing! Waited patiently here... for me. Instead of conquering Equestria, city by city, gathering armies of followers, like a real conqueror should.”

“What are you...”

“Also,” he interrupted “for somepony with supposedly unlimited magical power, you're not doing all that much. These bindings,” he pointed at his hooves, still covered in dark, sticky mist “while strong, are also fairly low cost, same as the ones you used to immobilize my companions. And those images in my head- basic level hypnotics, nowadays mostly banned, but easy if you know what to do. It's as if you refuse to use your more powerful spells.”

Nightmare Moon's face turned to a frown, which in turn made Blueblood's smug smile even wider. 
“This is preposterous! What sort of proof do you have?”

“I'm glad you asked. My first proof, was your refusal to use petrification spell, which I imagine requires a rather large amount of mana, that you recklessly depleted back in Ponyville and had to take it easy for some time.”

She snorted and almost growled at Prince.
“That's not a proof at all!”

“Then I have one more you cannot deny and you just confirmed it for me. Do you know what that is?”

Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes and thought. Her eyes shot wide open at the realization of her own mistake.

“You're not reading my mind anymore!”





No amount of warnings could stop Shining Armor, now that his eyes were fixed on a single target and one objective. He knew clearly how bad of an idea it was and how one slip-up could mean the end. But it was still much better then waiting and tiring himself out by standing in one place. And all things considered, for a unicorn, a tribe that was said to be the least physically capable, Shining's muscles were developed far beyond what many earth ponies achieve during their lifetimes and his agility he displayed while avoiding one vine after the other, would make many professional pegasi fliers jealous. 

The cabbage monster was clearly not expecting this much resistance, growing more confused with each missed strike to the point of tangling his own appendages with each other. This gave Shining Armor just enough time and room to buck right into monster's belly. 
The amount of power, amplified by the speed of a gallop would surely turn any normal buck into a powerful weapon, capable of breaking rocks and falling down trees... yet it harmlessly bounced of the elastic hide of a giant vegetable.

“THAT ALL? PONY PUNY!”

Shining Armor cursed and jumped back, only now allowing himself a short break while monster worked on unwrapping his hands from themselves. 

“So much for that plan...” he looked at the cabbage monster, analyzing it's body a bit closer. In situations like these, he was told to look for weak points and concentrate all his efforts on doing all the damage on them, hoping the enemy will surrender once it's on a disadvantage. That said, this was a giant cabbage with teeth, there weren't any weaknesses exposed or even implied. Except maybe one...

“I wanna see you eat us without those teeth of yours!”

“HUH? WHAT PONY SAY?”

“Grit your teeth,” said Shining Armor, lowering his head and stomping the ground, readying himself for another charge “because I'll BREAK THEM ALL!”

He rushed forward once again. The monster panicked, still struggling to free his appendages from themselves. Shining Armor used the tangled up vines as a ramp and jumped into the air, readying his hoof up in the air for the greatest strike ever, mimicking the one he used on “Dream Tyrantlestia”. 
The monster, however, smiled. Right before the hoof struck, it opened it's mouth wide and shoot it's tongue at the unicorn, wrapping it around him while he couldn't do anything to dodge it. Shining tried to force himself out of it, but just like before it proved to be completely pointless, as the monster instantly pulled him inside.

GULP!

Four ponies once again gasped, as they witnessed their companion get swallowed alive on their very own eyes. The monster, once his vines were all free, patted itself on its belly.

“MMMM, DELICIOUS!”





“Shiny was just lying there, completely broken and helpless, when Crystal Hammer walks to him and does the worst thing one could imagine.”

There was a slight pause, mostly to let other three mares work their imaginations. And one was working a little too much, as Moondancer raised her hoof and opened her mouth, but after a while decided against it, much to her friends relief.

“He said, and once again I quote, not my words:”

'Say, Shining Dolt...'

“He did not just call him 'dolt',” Sunset Shimmer snorted “what is he, five?”

'...I met your little sister yesterday. Nice flanks. She gave me a better look for free,'

“Oh no, he didn't!” said Moondancer.

'...and she let us plow her for a bit.'

Silence. Complete and utter silence befall all the gathered ponies. Silver Sword shrugged.
“I think you can imagine what happened next.”

“So... much... blood!” said Fire Strike, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“I'M NOT LIKE THAT!” lamented Twilight “THOSE ARE LIES!”

“We know, sweetie,” Moondancer patted her on the back “that sounds more like something I would've done, not you,” short pause “except that bit part. My folks are plenty rich, I don't need money.”

Twilight slowly turned towards smiling Moondancer, quite possibly the only pony in existence who wasn't afraid to admit to her slutty side in a casual conversation during the end of the times. 

“Come to think of it, that could have been me back then,” she raised a hoof to her chin, thinking, attracting everyponies attention “I'm terrible with names. Did he have a blue mallet as a cutie mark? Because there was one guy like that, he bought me a drink during Happy Hours for one bit. Did he even tell me his name?”

She received no answers, only blank stares.





After the initial shock, Nightmare Moon shook her head and tried to calm down. It might be so, that one pony actually figured out some of her secrets. So what? He was still just a nopony, he couldn't do anything and had nothing or nopony to help him. 

"That changes nothing," she said "you are still at my mercy, alone, while Celestia is no more. She proved to be a bigger problem then I predicted, but so what? The outcome remains the same."

"Mercy? HA!" Prince laughed loudly "Oh please, you expect me to believe that? At this point you're not fooling me, but only yourself."

"What?"

"See, along the way here, me and my... team, we had an encounter with a certain ghost, that attacked us in our dreams. Everypony managed to fight it of with their willpower alone. Except me," there was a small pause. Prince noticed Nightmare Moon watching him carefully, patiently awaiting his story. Still not reading him, good.

"You see, a good Doctor told me that the best way to fight any sort of corruption, is to find hope, something or somepony dear to you, then cling to them tightly, use them as your anchor to sanity. I had no such thing, or so I used to believe, so I had to be saved by them..."

"FOOL!" Nightmare Moon stomped the ground, shaking the elements away "If you realize this much, how do you not see that right now, you have even less?"

"Maybe. I had nopony to cling onto. No parents, my family hated me, I have no friends..."

"...and the only ponies who cared about you are gone."

"Yeah about that," he smiled at her face "she was like a mother to me. Me, the most despicable, snobbish, idiotic, unsympathetic piece of trash to ever exist, but she loved me anyway, which I took for granted. She wanted to be a mother to me, she wanted me to be her son... but what do YOU want?"

Silence. Nightmare Moon looked baffled, as Prince Blueblood asked her a simple question. She knew the answers and wasn't afraid to admit her desires... yet she couldn't speak and she couldn't figure out why.

"And don't give me that 'we're alike' or 'you have potential' crap, because we both know that you don't actually want me," he looked her deep into eyes and smiled "you NEED me!"

"P-preposterous!'

"Question then: how do you break a pony, said to be unbreakable?" he asked. She opened her mouth, but couldn't speak, so he answered instead "By taking away something precious, that one little, pathetic thing most important to her..."

"Stop it!"

"...something like, say, the last family member she had any sort of--"

SLAP!

He stopped talking, not because he was just smacked right in his face, which he was quite used to by now, not because it hurt like all hell, no more then few hits he had received earlier, but because his mouth was filled of blood. He spit it out, smiling maniacally as his theory was no longer that, but a fact. He needed no more proof.

"Hit the nerve, huh?" he asked, wishing he could actually move his hooves to massage his red cheeks "Go on, strike me again, but this time put some actual effort into it. I wanna see where this is going!"

Despite her anger, Nightmare Moon stopped herself from any further show of violence. She breathed heavily, desperately trying to stay calm or at least hide it, but deep inside she knew it was too late for that. He knew. Somehow, he figured it out.

"She's still alive!" he announced happily "I don't know where she is and what you've done to her, but she's still there, fighting. That's why you conserve your energy, why you hide in the woods and why you tempted me to join you. Because she will not give up, so long as her last hope is still there. And if she picked me as her hope, then I will do the same for her! Together, nothing will break us. Not. Even. YOU!"





They long learned that no matter the struggle, they would not achieve anything other then tiring themselves out and wasting time and precious energy. Thunderlane cared not for that fact, not after witnessing his new friend getting eaten alive by a vegetable.

"LET ME OUT, I'LL KILL YOU! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"

If the cabbage monster cared in the slightest, he gave no indication of it, allowing itself to burp and massage it's tummy with its vines.

"GOOD PONY. NOW ME EAT MORE TASTY PONY!"

"Then come on, ugly face!" Thunderlane taunted it "Eat me next! I'll make sure you choke on my bones!"

"Thunderlane, stop taunting him!" yelled Soarin "We're in enough trouble as it is!"

"Not that It'll change anything," added Doctor, still desperately trying his best to find a way out.

"Nope!" said Big Macintosh, also struggling to release himself, with no success at all. If only Shining dropped the knife a bit closer.

"HMM, NOISY PONY ANNOY ME. ME EAT NOISY PONY, SO NOISY PO--..." it burped again "...NOISY PO--" and again, this time louder. It started massaging it's stomach more and more, as it's face soured "...ME NO FEEL GOOD! ME TUMMY HURRRPPP---"

Four stallions looked curiously, a little bit scared, as the cabbage monster slowly, but surely, grew in size, his stomach gaining a few sizes, then even more, as it held it's body and moved it's jaw around without words, too stuffed to actually say a thing, inflating like a balloon. Soon enough, it grew twice, then three times it's size and it's vines started shaking uncontrollably, loosening up around the stallions, but they couldn't react to that, much too busy looking at the monster, twitching from the pain, until it slowly started cracking up and then...

POP!

They closed their eyes and looked away, trying to avoid getting hit by the slimy intestines, flying around after exploding from the inside, in one of the most painful ways to die they could think of. Once covered by green goop and leaves, they finally allowed themselves to look back at the place where once a big monster stood. Now there was only one thing called a monster, and only metaphorically. His horn fizzled out, turning the giant purple shield off. He looked around the mess he made.

"BUCK!" Shining stomped the ground, with face full of anger. And tears.





"So," Sunset Shimmer started "basically he beat up all three of them to save his sister's honor?"

Silver Sword nodded "That's the gist of it, yes," 

"Pfft, another story of how perfect that guy is," Sunset rolled her eyes and got back to chomping her half eaten cookie, mumbling under her nose "family full of perfections, that's what they are." 

"He would've been perfect," Moondancer admitted "if he was a bit easier to do."

Twilight decided to ignore Moondancer once again.
"How bad was it?"

"Four days of intensive care, a little more and they would've been handicapped for the rest of their lives." answered Fire Strike. Once again, three mares went into silence. For a short while at least.

"Don't you get, you know," Sunset started "thrown out, or suspended for that?"

"Normally, yes," said Fire Strike "But in his case, it was a bit more complicated..."

"You see, after the fact, when he was summoned to the Captain's for reprimands, he just... resigned from guard altogether."

That bit of revelation was met with a long, awkward silence. Three brains slowly registered the last sentence, before stopping on their tracks entirely. 

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATT?!?!!?"

Silver Sword could hear the echo and ringing in his ears for a good ten more seconds, but he could only blame himself for that. 
"Ladies, please, it's still police hour..."

"No, don't you 'ladies' us," Twilight rushed towards him and poked her hoof on his chest "Shining Armor loves being a guard more then anything in his life, what do you mean 'resigned'?"

"By that," he stepped back to recover precious personal space "I mean that he wouldn't be one anymore... if we didn't snap him out of it."

"I had to punch him, TWICE!" added Fire Strike, hiding a smug, proud smile.

"Ok, seriously," Sunset Shimmer chimed in "what kind of friends punch each other?"

"It's a 'manly friendship' thing," answered Moondancer, putting a hoof at Sunset's back "Just roll with it."

Fire Strike leaned to Silver Sword and whispered "Should we remind her who slapped Twilight Sparkle just few minutes ago?"

Silver Sword rolled his eyes and continued with his story.
"He reasoned that if anything like this happened on his duty, ponies could get really hurt or worse, and that he didn't deserve to protect others, that others should be protected FROM him. It took both of us AND Captain Blitz Shield to get him out of it. He was supposed to get suspension, but Captain feared it might have made things worse, so instead he settled on three months of community service and weekly therapy sessions for the rest of the training. But even then, he felt like crap."

Twilight hummed. She thought she knew her brother inside out, that there wasn't anything he didn't show when she was around. The closest she ever saw him to actual anger, was the day he got his cutie mark and even that was tame by comparison to this. There was a time period when Shining didn't show up at their usual meetings, but she just shrugged it away as him being too busy with training. Was that why he avoided her for so long?

"So, what was the point of this story?" asked Sunset Shimmer "That Shining Armor is an unstoppable rage beast when enraged? Because that doesn't make me feel any better."

"There's a common misconception about him," explained Silver Sword "that he's a completely incompetent guy that never uses his brain. That's not exactly true."

"Could have fooled me..." Sunset snorted. Her retort was met with a jab in the chest by two mares, whose opinions of Shining Armor was significantly higher.

"He usually has a way for any problem, no matter how dire and dangerous. It's just that, most of these plans involve a somepony, or something, getting hurt or damaged, badly, so he tries to find another way. And when he's too stressed out and without options, he panics and does something reckless."

"Like punch random nobles on the street?" asked Sunset Shimmer, once again met with evil glares. She shrugged "What? We all know it happened!"

"So basically," Fire Strike summer up "he is an idiot and a big softie. But more then that, he's a warrior at heart."

After letting that sink in for a moment, Moondancer smiled.
"Just for the record, that doesn't make him sound any less attractive."

Massive groan ensued.
"Stop fantasizing about my/her brother!"





Four entangled stallions managed to finally free themselves of the vines, now that the thing it belonged to was, well, not a problem anymore. Their coats were covered in green, smelly muck, but it didn't seem poisonous or dangerous by itself, so they shrugged it away as a problem that would go away with a single shower. 
Once they stood up on all fours, they looked at Shining Armor, still standing still in center of what was once a giant, cabbage monster, surrounded by vegetable remains, slime and what could be parts of a stomach, all only slightly less disturbing then a flesh and blood corpses. The unicorn in question was no less messy then his companions- his mane in particular was wet and slimy, covering his eyes, as he looked deep into the ground, not moving. 
Big Macintosh walked to him and shook his back.

"You okay?" he asked gently, receiving no answer. He looked at the other ponies who just gathered. They all shrugged and couldn't quite decide how to approach him, as he stood there. They could hear his heavy breathing. He was shaking too.

"I messed up..." he said suddenly, scaring others "...I couldn't find a way..."

Soarin looked at the unicorn, gulped and moved closer.
"What do you mean? We're free, thanks to you. You don't look good, are you hurt?"

"I-I tried..." Shining stuttered "...I warned it, I-I... I didn't mean to..."

"Shining, that was a giant, evil carnivorous cabbage (that's something I never thought I'll say)!" said Thunderlane "It tried to eat us all!"

"THAT'S NO EXCUSE TO TAKE A LIFE!"

They went silent, not quite sure what to say right now. Shining Armor stood in the middle of the web, surrounded by green guts and his friends, who barely avoided getting eaten. He knew it was a good call, that if he didn't do anything they would all die a horrible death and that any of his superiors would accept and approve of it in most cases. But that still didn't take away the fact, that there was once a giant, talking, sentient creature, but there is no more and it's his fault. Because he couldn't think of anything better. His train of thought was stopped when a big, red hoof reached his face.

SMACK!

“What did Ah tell ya about foolin' around?”

Shining couldn't talk. He was much too busy massaging his swollen, red cheek. He completely forgot what it felt like to be actually punched directly, especially by somepony as strong as Big Macintosh. No, scratch that- it wasn't even half of his strength, otherwise his head would explode into pieces.

“If ya wanna whine an' wallow in self pity, be mah guest, but, before ya do that,” said Macintosh, pointing up “there's more thing's we ought a do first.”

Shining Armor looked at Mac for a while, before sighing in defeat. There was no arguing it, their mission was far from over. He wiped the tears and nodded, forcing a weak smile of determination. The one thing not gone from his face at all.





She made a mistake. Somehow, somewhere, she did something wrong, but for the love of her, she couldn't figure it out. How did the situation reversed itself so quickly, from his despair and her triumph, into the exact opposite. He did not fear her anymore, nor death or even pain. This made things considerably harder, but she wasn't going to give up either way. 
Nightmare Moon once again glowed her horn, betting everything she had on one last spell. He complained that she was holding back, did he not? Now was the time to show what happens when she holds no punches. She walked to Blueblood, who, looking deep into her glowing, black eyes, slowly faded the smile away, as she bent over him and touched his horn with hers. 

Prince had to summon all of his will just to stop himself from screaming. The pain he felt was unimaginable, way past the point of needless or sledgehammer pounding the brain, this was a completely different level. If his hooves weren't glued via the black energy, he would've fell on his knees. Just a little more and he would probably faint, but she had none of it, striking him with mental bolts strong enough to make him remember and dread more, but not enough to destroy his mind directly. That wasn't her plan.

“I don't know why everypony keeps on refusing my generous offers,” she said in between the blasts “but if you won't join me by yourself, then I'll get your feeble little mind by force!”

She struck him with another mental bolt, which he once again had to hold in himself and bear it within himself. More bolts, more pain. He once heard that once you're struck a few times by telepathic strikes, you build up natural defense and they stop hurting altogether. Yet another legend, completely busted. But he wasn't going to give up, it just wasn't an option anymore. Not after all he's been through, not after all these sacrifices.

“Don't you realize the position you are in? I offered you a place where you could belong. Where everypony accepts you, where nopony dares to ignore you and all your hard work, the place where you can be...”

“...just like you?”

She froze. Her mouth opened and closed many times, but no words came out of it. Prince was glad for that, as he was covered in sweat, desperately longing for breath and few moments of rest, as she started her monologue.

“I gave them everything,” she said “beautiful night, glowing stars that illuminated the sky, constellations that helped them find the way, the government that dealt with their problems. I personally guarded their dreams from nightmares and they knew it. And yet, there was no gratitude. No respect. No acceptance I so desired, just fear. Instead, they gathered around Celestia, like a bunch of moths to a light, blinded by her radiance.”

“So instead you chose to destroy everything?” Blueblood interrupted “Yes, that seems like a mature reaction.”

“BE SILENT!” she stomped the ground for the emphasis “You have no idea what I've been through, so don't you dare judge me!”

“True. But unlike me, you gave up.”

Her eyes widened “What?”

“And now you're jealous, because there is a little, puny pony before you, who despite all he's been through, still has more courage to carry on then you ever did!

This was the end of all reason. Nightmare Moon heard enough and wanted no more of this, so she continued with the mental assaults, this time twice stronger and more vicious, damn all reason to hell, if Celestia breaks loose, it'll be a problem for later. This pony was worse then those who feared  and opposed her. He was insulting her by sheer existence. So similar, so much alike, yet rotten to the core, far worse then anypony she ever knew. He dared bring hope for her, somepony who understood her, who shared her pain and could offer her companionship she always longed for, then broke it almost instantly. There was no place for him.

Prince Blueblood hit a few nerves of Nightmare Moon today, but this one must have hurt a lot more then any of the previous ones combined, as she let loose on all the most painful spells that went over his imagination. Still not ready to give up, he braced himself and wished for a little something to calm him down even a little, to help ease the pain, to make it go away or at least slow it down just a bit.
He finally gave in and let out a loud, painful scream get out of his lungs, filling the castle ruins with echo of his own misery he was no longer able to contain. He couldn't take this anymore, it was too much. It...

SMASH!

...it stopped. Prince Blueblood was finally free from the spell and was allowed a longer breather. He lowered his head to the ground and waited for his heartbeats to calm down, the blood to return to his vessels and his eyes to concentrate on anything more then looking at sweat drops, dripping from his forehead unto the cobblestone. It took him a few more seconds to even realize that she wasn't torturing him anymore, so he slowly rose his head and looked at her. Nightmare Moon turned away from Blueblood and was now concentrated on a wall, or lack of one, where now the only thing visible was gray dust flying over debris. In the mist of dust, few silhouettes appeared and slowly walked out of it, showing themselves.

“You? But how?” Nightmare Moon asked, baffled.

Prince cursed his eyes for lying to him outright. Then he thought it was his mind, showing him pictures just to mess with him even more, but moment after moment, he had less things to blame for his new, impossible visions. He he didn't even notice, or cared, when his eyes started tearing up like never before. The pain was long gone, instead replaced by a great warmth.

The white coated unicorn, leading a group of several others, walked forward.
“NIIIIGHTMAAAAREEE MOOOOON!” Shining Armor yelled, catching attention of black alicorn “We... would like... to have a few words... with you!”
> 19. Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...t-they...they're alive!" 

Nopony but himself could hear what Prince Blueblood muttered under his nose. Quite honestly, after what he's been through, he barely had any strength to even talk at all, much less loud enough for somepony to hear him, but that didn't matter. What mattered, was that indeed, they were still alive! A giant boulder fell from his heart, just seeing them here, all five gathered and still in good enough shape to come back for him and fight. He couldn't deny it anymore, not to himself or anything that existed- he never felt happier in his life. No longer alone, he felt stronger then ever.

Nightmare Moon had a different opinion, though for the most part, her anger was still caused by Prince himself, not them. If anything, their appearance gave her something to vent the frustration on.

"I do not know how you managed to survive the fall," she said "but I must applaud your stupidity, for you have plenty of it to show yourselves in my domain again. If you seek death, I advise you turn away and look for less painful means," her eyes, along with horn, glowed with dark energy "for I have no mercy left for fools!"

Since climbing back to surface and washing away the slime in the river, the team decided that this time they would approach Nightmare Moon with more creative plan then 'hit her with everything we got'. With that in mind, they managed to sneak in just close enough to notice her and Blueblood talking, even if they couldn't register any words from their distance. The brainstorming was cut short once they heard Prince's scream of agony, which prompted Shining Armor to literally crush the wall with one solid buck, interrupting further tortures.
And as reckless as this was, they couldn't blame him for it, for Prince was in much worse shape then they expected and time was not something they could afford any longer.

Now they all stood together, side by side, against a being that could crush them with a single move. To say that they were scared was an understatement, but they couldn't afford to show any of it. Shining Armor stepped forward.
"Nightmare Moon," he said, with no stutter in his voice "I'll give you one last chance. Release Prince Blueblood AND Princess Celestia, or else."

As predicted, Nightmare Moon snorted, her anger being the only force stopping her from outright laughing.
"I am in no mood to laugh at fools anymore."

Shining Armor sighed. He knew it was for nothing, but he had to try anyway. Now there was no escaping it anymore, no miracle survival in the abyss, no pony eating cabbages, just them and her.

"Well, gentlecolts," said Soarin, forcing a weak smile on his face "it has been a pleasure working with you. I couldn't ask for better company." aside from maybe a cute mare with bazooka, but he didn't say that.

"Don't talk like we're all gonna die!" said Thunderlane, not quite as angry sounding as he wanted "I have a little bro waiting home. I promised I'll be back for him and I'm keeping it!"

"So am Ah," Big Macintosh join in on he conversation "mah family's waitin' for me."

"Don't worry guys, I've been through worse," Doctor hoofwaved "everything will be fine and we'll all joke about it later."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" added Shining Armor.

"Oh, so we DO have a plan?" asked Soarin.

"Yeah," Shining Answered, locking his glare at slowly approaching Nightmare Moon "throw everything you got at her until she stops moving!"

Thunderlane sighed one final time "Yeah, this is gonna end well."

Nightmare Moon looked at the group of fools that tried to beat her face to face. It was the dumbest plan she heard in a while and expected them to last all of few minutes, at best. However, she felt something odd about them, a thing not noticeable by eyes alone. What was it and why did it feel so... unnerving? She knew that feeling, she remembered. There was something similar happening way back. She looked back at Prince Blueblood, whom she hadn't paid her any attention since they appeared. He was different, no longer a smug bastard, not even a broken shell she expected him to be after all this torture. He was... smiling? And his tears were not those of sadness, but rather happiness. 
She snorted. Of course, so that's what was happening. They brought something more to this fight then their stupidity. They brought him hope. 

But even so, she could turn that back to her favor.
"Take a good look at them, little prince," she whispered to him, smiling viciously. Prince looked at her and almost instantly banished the smile "for the hope they gave you just now... I will shatter it!"

Crap. Buck. Damn it all to hell.
"NO, DON'T! PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU! DON'T YOU DARE!" but his words only motivated her more, as she slowly walked towards the group and focused all her will on a single objective. Even as weak as she was right now, she had enough power to carry it.

The group braced themselves as Nightmare Moon gave them little time to react, starting with a single blast shot straight at them. It exploded upon contact, thankfully stopped by a quick barrier. The purple force field cracked from the impact, but otherwise did it's job and they remained unharmed, saved for a little headache to Shining Armor. Realizing this wasn't going to work forever, he issued a quick order.

"Spread out, we're too easy to target in group!" they nodded back and went their own ways. Soarin and Thunderlane flew into the air, thanking heavens that ceiling was gone, giving them much more room to maneuver. Big Macintosh and Doctor ran two separate ways, hiding behind the pillars and debris, leaving only Shining Armor standing in his original, exposed place. 
Nightmare Moon stood in her place and looked around, easily finding all of their hiding places, but saw no threat in any of them separately. Except for one, who time and again displayed a minimal amount of power, just enough to defy her for a while. She eyed Shining Armor, her first target.

Another exploding blast was shot, once again cracking the barrier and sending Shining Armor to his knees. He feared he wasn't going to keep it up for another shot, but had no time to dodge, so he braced himself, as another blast fired his way. This one didn't even reach the shield, but exploded almost right next to her face, making her cover her head with a hoof, temporarily blinding the offender.

Shining widened his eyes trying to wrap his head around what just happened. Did her spell backfired? No, it couldn't. While still dazed, a piece of debris smashed itself on Nightmare Moon's invisible barrier. And then another, as Big Macintosh had plenty around him to keep on bucking it straight at her, one after the other. Her blast must have exploded on one of the rocks. Shining gave him a grateful nod and braced himself for a charge. He couldn't cast any good offensive spells, but he still had his hooves and could give her a solid buck if need be.
While he ran, she turned to Big Macintosh and shot another blast in his direction, literally blowing up his cover, with Mac himself barely jumping away. 

Nightmare Moon was about to strike once again and fry the earth pony while he was getting himself up, but she noticed a charging unicorn in the corner of the eye. Time slowed to a crawl, Shining Armor planted his front hooves firmly in the ground and using his momentum quickly spun around and aimed both rear hooves right at the alicorn, as she spread her wings... but fell on his belly instead, hitting nothing. Nightmare Moon leaped into the air and kept flying away from guards reach. Her moment of breather was stopped, as she noticed two sets of hind hooves closing in on her. Soarin and Thunderlane rushed at her with all the speed they could muster in those few seconds, gathering force powerful enough to crush solid rocks, but not a magical wall, which suddenly manifested before them. The two squinted from pain, no doubt taking a considerable damage to their hooves, but smiled anyway as they, noticed that they were not the only ones in pain. Nightmare Moon also grinned and blinked, no doubt feeling that strike mentally. Unfortunately, it also made her even angrier.

Her eyes and horn glowed once again and the wall before them exploded, generating a shockwave that sent them away, both crashing into a nearby wall. 
Despite probably several bones broken, many bruises and a small concussion, both were still moving, if only slowly managing to get themselves up, not giving up that easily.

She was powerful, stronger then all of them put together. Yet, even though she was determined to destroy them, they somehow managed to outmaneuver her time and again. What especially caught Prince's attention, was when she took to the air to avoid a buck from Shining. Normally, she would create a quick shield, but not this time. She really was weakening with every second and her rage made her moves reckless. They had a chance... if they won't exhaust themselves first, that is. So far the five of them were in a tough spot, but not impossible. 

Except, wait, there were only four of them...

"Hello there," Prince almost jumped, if he didn’t have any bindings on his hooves. Brown earth pony next to him greeted him with a smile "don't mind me, I'm just here to get you out, once I figure out what these even are..."

"Doctor!"

"In the flesh. You don't look too good, you should go see a Doctor," he said, examining the black energy, then grabbed Prince's hoof and tried to pull it out "which is a good thing I am one! Just give me a, hnngghhh, moment! Oh bollocks, I'm rubbish when it comes to magic."

"Don't bother," said Prince weakly "she needs me here, these bindings won't go out that easily."

"Any idea why you're still here? Alive, that is?"

"Princess Celestia is alive," he said, Doctor nodding  as if it was obvious "Nightmare Moon wants to break me. Apparently I'm the only hope that Princess has left."

"Yes, that does make sense," he hummed "aim for the family, I hate when that happens. Well, now that we're here, we won't let her!"

Prince couldn't help but smile along with the Doctor. He still couldn't move or cast any spells, but that won't stop him from fighting. Somehow, he could do something, anything.

"Doctor, see these orbs over there," he pointed his head in their direction "these are the elements of harmony!" 
Doctor gasped and looked at the stones lying near Prince, along with one at the walls not too far from here.
"But," Prince paused, looking down, but quickly shook his head. This was not a good time for pessimistic thoughts "one is missing and apparently they lost their power.  At least that's what she claimed."

Doctor hummed and nodded.
"You know what I say about magical artifacts that lost their power?" he asked. Prince tilted his head, waiting for the answer. Doctor let out a smug smile before saying.
"Bollocks. Wait here, I'll be right back with solution!"

"I'm not moving... anywhere." Prince sighed deeply, as he saw Doctor quickly gathering all the orbs in one place and investigated them thoroughly.

"Honestly, a drowning pony will grab to a razor."

Prince stopped and looked around. Did he hear somepony say that? Prince turned left and right, but still couldn't see it. He clearly heard a voice, a familiar one at that 

"You are just fooling yourself. Delaying the inevitable instead of grasping what could rightfully be yours."

A figure appeared behind him, slowly walking to his side and making himself visible. It did not made any sounds as it walked. 

"Great. Now I'm going crazy!" Prince Blueblood lamented, as he now looked straight into his eyes. His own eyes. Or rather, the  red eyes of what could only be called his Dark Self. His more powerful, evil side he once saw in a mirror.

"Oh, don't mind me," the mirror image said, smiling "I'm just waiting to take my rightful place. That is, for you to accept me as your future, King Blueblood!"

There was exactly one pony in history of Blueblood clan who was named King. Odd, considering how many times the same names has been repeated in different generations. Heck, Prince himself was 15th pony named like that, his brothers being also numbers above ten. King Blueblood was a pony that was not talked about, erased from Equestrian history, a taboo topic even within family. There was a strict rule- you may not name your child a King.

Back on the battlefield, neither side wanted to give up, yet both were slowly running out of energy, everything suggesting that if one won't fall from wounds, it will from exhaustion. Shining Armor was very close to that, as he was once again standing, shield up but cracking after each successful blast that could wipe him out completely. He considered an agonizing headaches a fair price to pay for his life.

"Do you think I'm impressed by your little tricks?" asked Nightmare Moon, as she slowly walked forward and kept shooting "What do you think you can accomplish here? You, a bunch of weaklings, lucky enough to have survived so far. Your luck has ran out, little ponies."

Shining Armor kept his magic on, in fact much preferring that her attention was kept on him, giving others plenty of openings to exploit and time to recover. If his theory was correct, she couldn't cast or maintain two spells at the same time, which was exactly why she had to avoid his earlier buck by flying into the air, too busy readying her next blast. Which by the way, she was throwing away like candy on Nightmare Night. The irony was staggering.

"Do you think I'll fall for the same trick twice?" she turned around to notice Big Macintosh charging at her. His eyes widened, but that only made him run even faster, as he tried to outrun the blast she was going to send his way... but she didn't, instead shaping her energy into an all too familiar black whip, which flew right at the red pony and wrapped itself around his neck. Mac only barely managed to insert one hoof into the loop, thus only getting lifted with literal pain in the neck instead of choking to death. Nightmare Moon flung him in Shining Armor's direction. Shiny panicked and lowered his shield, so he could catch the big earth pony without him breaking on the barrier. But that meant one thing.

"Buck!" Shining Armor cried as he realized, that there was nothing in the way between him and exploding beams of certain death.

Two pegasi were slowly getting back on their hooves. Slowly.
"As weird as it may sound," started Soarin, as he massaged his aching wings "Spitfire's warm-ups are way worse!" he took a few good breathers, before rising up to his all four hooves.

Thunderlane didn’t get up as fast as his Wonderbolt companion. Maybe he was weaker physically, maybe he got hurt a bit more, but even so, he was too busy watching the sky. 
"Hey, Soarin?" he asked "Can you distract her for a minute or two?"

"How much will I regret it?" asked Soarin, giving Thunderlane a helping hoof.

"Depends," he grabbed the hoof and stood up, still looking in the sky "on how good my idea is."





"The way I see it, they're dead in... two minutes. Maybe three, if she enjoys the tortures. Four."

"Shut up!"

"And when that happens, Equestria will bow to their new king. Even you would enjoy it."

"Shut up!"

"Because I will be YOU! And you will become ME! Though technically, we're both one and the same."

"Shut up! You're not even real!"

"Not yet, I'm not. But in a while, I will be."

"Over my dead body!"

"Details, details."

You know you're not right in the head, when your dark image doesn't treat this seriously. Either his mind was in worse shape then he thought, or Equestria was in far more trouble then he imagined, which would be impressive in and of itself. But he did have a point- they were actually losing badly, even as Nightmare Moon kept on shooting left and right, she only showed slight fatigue, unlike others. But even though he was in worse shape then them, he still wished to be there, do something to help. Anything. Instead, he was stuck here, talking to his imaginary evil self. 
He had to get out, right now! The bindings were too damn strong and without magic, without tools, all he could do was try harder. He struggled and struggled, desperately moving hoof one after the other, hoping to at least loosen them up a bit, to get at least one hoof out.

"Don't bother," said King, yawning "you'll just get all sweaty and smelly. I want my first action as a ruler to be something else then a shower."

Prince didn't listen, more intent on moving his body like crazy, trying and failing to pull his hooves out.

"Like talking to a wall," King rolled his eyes and shook head "You have few minutes of your conscience left, try doing something more sophisticated. How about a nice little game of chess?"

Prince groaned and pulled even harder. King shrugged.
"Right, you can't move. Well, there wasn't really a point to it, I know your thoughts anyway."

Prince stopped struggling to sigh. He silently wished for a facehoof, which only strengthened his desire to get out.
"And I thought Soarin was annoying..."

Soarin was indeed annoying, but to somepony else right now. He flew right above Nightmare Moon, who was once again concentrating on exploding beams, this time aimed at Shining Armor and Big Macintosh during their most vulnerable, shield-less moment.

"Geez, somepony is getting cranky. I suggest getting laid there, sister," the taunt did managed to get her to look his way, but not enough to make her forget her original target. That came later "lucky for you, this stud right here doesn't mind old, wrinkled harlots!"

And then there was a scream of anger, sound of explosion followed by another squeaky scream of high pitched stallion that just narrowly avoided death.

"YOU WILL EAT THOSE WORDS, INFIDEL!" 

Big Macintosh and Shining Armor were torn. On one hoof, they were safe and able to get up without danger of exploding. On the other, Soarin was now being chased by furious alicorn, shooting fireballs all over the place, only barely missing. One such blast pierced right through his right wing, thankfully not exploding in place, but flying even further away. Soarin screamed in pain as he lost altitude and finally crashed into the cobblestone, rolling several times before he stopped. It hurt like... well, a bit more then usual Spitfire warm-ups. He looked at furious alicorn, gasping in anger, horn aimed at the injured Wonderbolt.

"Umm, I said I don't mind, didn't I?" she walked closer, no change in attitude. He laughed nervously, desperately trying to come up with some charm he usually oozed with "Not that you look bad," and failing  "actually you're quite a cutie, in a Hearth's Warming Cake kinda way, especially for one thousand... years... old... uh, I really like your mane?"

As Soarin found the hard way, immortal evil alicorns were quite immune to his charms. He couldn't blame himself for not knowing that little fact, but he did regret ever agreeing to this plan. Where was Thunderlane anyway? He could really, really use his help right now.
Nightmare Moon was getting closer and closer, her horn becoming darker with magical energies with each second, covering all her body in shadow. 
Shadow... why was she in a shadow all of a sudden? She took a peek up to the skies, but only had time to widen her eyes, before she saw what hit her.





Thunderlane. The assistant manager of Ponyville branch. That wasn't exactly the thing to brag about, considering their office was all of five ponies, him being a number two to one of Equestrias most prominent young fliers. It was like most branches in small towns, but Ponyville was slightly different. Lack of busy weather schedules in the town was balanced out by being located nearby Everfree forest, where weather acted on its own. Usually, it meant little to weather ponies, they kept themselves away from Everfree as possible, only occasionally scouting for problems. On a chance there were storms or other anomalies that could endanger Ponyville. When that happened, they called for backup from nearby branches, sometimes even the main division itself to let them, the professionals, take care of it, their own involvement being mostly to support, rarely go into field themselves. Some did volunteered anyway, gaining bonus salary and reputation. 
Rainbow Dash was after one of those things. Thunderlane needed the other. These two were the only ones who ever volunteered . 

Those little side jobs not only paid lots of bills, but also taught Thunderlane a lot about the weather of Everfree. The clouds were erratic, moving on their own, generating much more moisture and energy then regular, Cloudsdale manufactured ones. Thunderlane was no rookie, moving clouds was his bread and butter. 
A bigger problem, was avoiding getting zapped by stray electricity, more often then not seriously injuring the poor pegasus who wasn't careful enough. For Thunderlane this was not a problem. True to his name, that was his special talent and when it came to generating and containing electricity in clouds, he was second to none.

Nightmare Moon found it the hard way, when one solid  buck in the cloud created the biggest thunder she has ever seen, aimed directly at her. The flash and cracking thunder noise were of the charts, blinding and deafening everypony nearby, even Thunderlane, who knew it was going to be big, but not this big!

It took them a good while before the ringing in the ears stopped and noises slowly turned into actual sounds. It took even longer for their eyes to slowly regain their sight, much too slow for comfort. On the bright side, the were still alive, which meant that Nightmare Moon...

"...is...is this it?" asked Thunderlane, as he observed the smoldering crater he just created. Admittedly, he never tried to weaponize thunderclouds, so he wasn't sure what the end effects would have been. 
The smoke inside slowly dissipated, when suddenly something grabbed him in midair. He only managed to take a glance at the dark vines that entangled his body along with wings, before getting slammed directly at Shining Armor and Big Macintosh. Before they could react, the same thing happened to Soarin, who only yelped and got smacked into them as well.

From the smoldering crater, Nightmare Moon emerged, not a single scratch on her body, her eyes and horn glowing even darker then ever before, but this time her face betrayed no emotions. Her anger took a more tranquil form, but it was still there, they could feel it. She stopped and looked behind, this time telekinetically grabbing Doctor, who at this point was still busy examining the elements. Without a single word, she threw him, along with the elements, into the pile with the others.

"I made a mistake," she admitted "I took you lightly. I underestimated your capabilities. And I overestimated my own power. I admit that much," she took a few more steps forward, as unemotional as ever "but no more tricks!"

Another blast exploded right before them. Shining Armor winced from pain, as his shield cracked. He took a quick breath and sent more magic into it, slowly covering the crack with more energy.

"No more mercy!" another shot came, once again creating a crack, bigger and ore painful one.

"No more hesitation!" and another, this one almost breaking the shield completely. Shining Armor knelt, but still kept his magic on. Only his determination kept him awake at this point.

"DIE!" 

Another blast reached the cracked, energy shield, this time crashing it into million pieces, like a stone thrown at a glass. Shining finally gave in and collapsed with a scream of agony. His friends grabbed him before he fell on his face, but they were in no better position. Thunderlane and Doctor were still tied up in dark energies and could not move. Soarin had an injured wing, even without it was considerably too beaten up to move. That left Big Macintosh as the last one standing, fresh out of ideas, other then shielding his friends with his body. He took a lot of beating in the past, one or two explosions shouldn't make much difference. Probably.

"NO!" Prince screamed and struggled through his tears, desperately moving is hooves, cursing his weakness and those wretched dark energy traps that kept him glued to the stone. He refused to give up, even if it meant biting his hooves of.

"Woah, careful there, little prince," King warned him "I'm gonna need those."

"Shut up!"

"No, I won't shut up! You know who should shut up? YOU! Because you lost! I won! You will be me in a manner of seconds!"

"You are not me! I am me, the only me there is and I refuse to give up!" he struggled harder, moving his left and right hoof.

"Yadda, yadda, all you ever do is WHINE! Game over, prince! You had your fun, let the true winner take over now,!"

"NO! NEVER!" 

Crack...

"Look at them! Save yourself the pain of witnessing their deaths and just get lost, kid!"

"NO! NO!"

...crack...

"Argh, this is getting annoying! Give up already!"

"NEVER!"

...crack..."

"I am sick and tired of this crap! What do you think you will achieve, huh?"

"NO,"

CRACK!

"I WILL,"

CRACK!

"NEVER,"

CRACK!

"GIVE UP,"

CRRRRAAAACK!

"TO YOU!"

Prince launched his hoof towards King Blueblood's face...

SMACK!

King only managed to widen his eyes in surprise, before getting smacked into the oblivion, disappearing in a mist he actually was. 
Prince took a few deep breaths before he noticed his hoof, still raised in front of him.
"I'm... I'm free!"

"Umm..." Soarin yelped, as Nightmare Moon concentrated on her final attack. Not one of them could move away, due to either bindings, exhaustion, injuries or sheer refusal to leave friends to their doom "can I have a last wish before dying, at least?"

"NO!" she answered coldly "You had enough! NOW PERISH"

This was it. One last spell to end them all. Not even Shining Armor's spell could block this one, even if he was still capable of casting anything, instead of lying on the floor, barely conscious enough to even look and listen. The aim was set, the spell fired...

"NOOOOOOO!"

Nightmare Moon's head jerked, slightly altering her aim, which sent a beam right past her target, charring few golden locks of Prince Blueblood's mane, never even meeting it's original target, instead blowing up far, far away from anyponies sight. Prince Blueblood didn't dare turn back to see what size the explosion was, much too fazed by the fact that A GIANT EXPLOSION JUST PASSED HIS HEAD BY A HAIR, LITERALY!

"W-what?" Nightmare Moon growled, as she barely missed killing her precious hostage, who somehow ran right into her view and blocked his companions "H-how did you..."

Prince knew exactly what was going on, but at the same time, he had no idea what was happening. Reality check- he just got out and managed to block others, even surviving it, if by sacrificing some of his gorgeous hair. One inch in the wrong direction, his head would be everywhere in the room, except his neck. Nightmare Moon was in front of him, still pissed of, but at least too shocked to act. Great, that gave him about... ten seconds? Now all he had to do, was think of the greatest plan ever, defeat her, bring back Celestia and sun and go on a hunt with Soarin, all while he was exhausted, tired, aching, hurting, pained, sweaty and smelly, with only adrenaline keeping him awake anymore.

No, his mind was not working properly. Considering recent events, it was a miracle it even did in the first place. 

"HOW?" Nightmare Moon yelled, making Prince take a step back "How did you free yourself? What did you do?"

Okay, she was confused. Good. Very good. And he still had no idea what to do. And as time will pass, her confusion will turn into even more anger, she'll imprison him again and they'll be back in the beginning, meanwhile Prince still won't have a solution. 
What would a strong pony do? A strong pony like...

"Look, a giant lizard!" he pointed hoof behind her.

Buck... billion possibilities, tons of stupid ways to get yourself killed and all he could think of was a 'behind you' trick. This couldn't work! There was no way! Even if she didn't read his mind, she wasn't dumb enough to fall for the oldest trick in the book. The trick that was...

"What are you talking about?" she asked, turning her head back "I see no lizards here!"

...a trick that she was older then, apparently. Prince wasted no time and instantly charged and just as she was turning back, he raised his hoof and...

SMACK!

Five stallion gasped, as their jaws and eyes widened considerably.

"Oh my!"

"Duuude!"

"Woah!"

"Blimey!"

"Eyup!"

Nightmare Moon stumbled. She had to take a step backwards and flutter her wings just to keep balance. Once her hooves, all four, were firmly planted in the ground, she just... stopped. For few good seconds, she ceased to move. She blinked once, then slowly raised her left hoof to her face, along the way noticing that she was shaking. She tried her hardest to stop it, but had no power over her hooves. She ignored it for the time being and carried over with her original plan and put her hoof to her left cheek. It was cold, very pleasant and comforting, a perfect contrast to her cheek. 
It stings. Burns. She wanted this feeling gone. She hated it. She didn't want it. She almost forgot how it feels.

"It..." she whispered, still massaging her cheek, now red, with an imprint of a hoof on it "...hurts?"

Prince just stood there, watching in disbelief the most disturbing view thus far. Nightmare Moon. The Mare In The Moon. Completely frozen in place, examining her burning cheek, otherwise standing straight, barely moved from her place after Prince Blueblood hit her with everything he got. 

"It... hurts..."

After long, exhausting fight with five (well, four) stallions, attacked with hooves, rocks and a giant thunderbolt, one and only thing that passed through her defenses was about as effective as hitting a branch during a stroll through the forest. Regular forest, not Everfree.

"It hurts."

Sure it might sting and burn for a while, but otherwise has no lasting consequences, other then a bad mood.

"It hurts!"

Because apparently she wasn't mad enough.

"IT HURTS!"

Prince Blueblood didn't think this one through. He blamed Everfree magic, if only because the only other culprit was him. Whether it was a mistake or not was of no importance right now, because he angered an immortal, evil alicorn. At this point, she probably forgot she needed him for her plans, which was bad news for both sides, for Prince twice so.

"RUN, YOU FOOL!" he heard Doctor screaming at him. A sagely advice, he realized, so he made his dash, but instantly realized there was nowhere to run, at least not like this. So he ran to the only thing that he could think of now- his team.

"What are you doing?" asked panicked Soarin, but Blueblood didn't stop, only ran faster, while Nightmare Moon charged her spell right behind his back.

"JOIN YOUR HOOVES!" he yelled at his companions, as he jumped right at them and concentrated on his own spell. Buck overcasting, he put all he got into it.

Time once again slowed to a crawl. Prince soared through the air, slowly but surely reaching his hooves out for everypony else, who gathered in a pile and extended their hooves to him. His horn glowed brighter and brighter every second. Shining Armor tried to put a shield between Prince and Nightmare Moon, but failed to scrounge even an ounce of his magic, suffering from a terrible headache, much worse then ever before. His failure couldn't stop a giant, purple energy ball, which flew straight into Prince Blueblood, and by extension, everypony else.

Then there was an explosion! Nightmare Moon ran out of any patience and wasn't satisfied with waiting. She ran into the smoldering crater that her spell just created and violently flapped her wings, fanning away the smoke and looking for any bodies, alive or not. 

Nothing. No bodies, no blood, no ponies. She gnawed her teeth and screamed into the moon.





Six stallions screamed, then crashed into the floor, one on the another, forming a chaotic pile of barely alive ponies, now with teleportation sickness, yet still glad to be alive. Also glad that nopony has eaten anything in almost a day. 

"Ah will..." Big Mac started, as he rolled over his teammates. "...never... get used... ta this..." he gagged, barely stopping himself from throwing up, much to his friends relief.

"Mac," said Prince Blueblood on the bottom of the pile "get of me... please."

Once they untangled themselves, they fell on their backs in a circle, too exhausted and sick to stand up just yet. After a moment, they finally took a deep, collective breath of relief.

"Remember when I said you were brilliant?" asked Doctor, looking at Blueblood "Because you bloody are!"

"You..." Soarin started "you PUNCHED her! In the face!"

"Yes, I remember that."

"You PUNCHED," Thunderlane also said "an immortal, evil alicorn. IN THE FACE!"

"I know!”

"YOU PUNCHED NIGHTMARE MOON IN THE FACE!" whined Shining Armor.

"I DON'T WANNA HEAR THAT FROM YOU, OF ALL PONIES!"

They fell silent for a moment. Then, one after the other, they snorted and exploded in laughter. Considering how much damage they received, number of broken ribs and fatigue, this was the most painful laughter they ever had, but damn all, it felt good.

They instantly stopped once they heard a loud, roaring scream coming from a distance. Job was nowhere near done, so they got up on their hooves and faced each other.

"Okay then, I have good news, and bad news," said Doctor, prompting everypony to gulp with terror "the good news is," he extended his hooves towards the middle of their circle, where five stone orbs stood "these are Elements of Harmony!"

Another collective gasp came from four ponies.

"The bad news is... that's all the good news I have."

Yet another collective sigh ensued. The group carefully looked at the five stones in front of them. Aside from being almost perfectly round, lacking one and having some markings on them, nothing stood out. They had nothing so far.

"Okay, brainstorm time," said Doctor, clapping his hooves "what do we know?"

"There should be six of them," said Prince "but one is missing. Nightmare Moon claimed that it was destroyed, but she lied to me already, so..."

"Wait, wasn't the name of one of them also missing?" noticed Soarin. Doctor stomped the ground with enthusiasm, being the only pony slightly less exhausted then others.

"Right! So we can safely assume that the unnamed one is not here. Which makes the rest of them," he pointed at the five stones and counted the names.
"Generosity, laughter, loyalty, kindness and honesty. That we know, but what does that mean? Why were they named like that?"

"You don't think it's just names, right?" asked Shining Armor. Others looked at him "I mean, I know a guy who has two hoof-blades he named Kami and Oni."
More glares. Shining blushed and scratched his head.
"It's neighponese for 'God' and 'Demon'. He thought it sounds cool." he shrugged.

"Yeah, cool story bro," said Thunderlane, raising and eyebrow "but ancient ponies didn't know what 'cool' meant."

"You would be surprised," noted Doctor, but nodded "but that's a good point, things have names for a reason. And if there's a reason, then that means there's a pattern, and if we find it..."

"We could find da name of the sixth element!" Big Macintosh finished, making Doctor nod in appreciation.

“Right! So everypony, think. What these five have in common?”

“They're all positive?” asked Thunderlane, shrugging.

“That's a start. What else?”

“They're non-violent.” added Mac. Doctor nodded and waved his hoof, prompting others to think further. 

“They describe the Princess!” announced Soarin “Kind, honest, generous, loyal, always smiling. That's how most ponies see Princess Celestia!”

Prince thought. As much as he idolized his aunt, she wasn't nearly as perfect as most ponies thought. Especially recent events showed that she can be a trickster, though she technically didn't lie to him outright, just avoided the truth. That, and she wasn't always smiling. There were plenty moments where he witnessed her being far from happy. Like the last time he saw her, which was completely his fault. But even without him, she had plenty down moments, though he wasn't sure what the actual reasons were. She rarely talked about past. Heck, she never even mentioned Nightmare Moon as anything other then a legend. Not that she ever liked talking about it.

"Hate to break the optimism here," Prince interrupted the talk "but even if we can find the name, we still won't activate the other elements.”

“We don't know until we try,” reasoned Doctor, but Prince shook his head and proposed a different plan.

“Nightmare Moon will catch up any time, so before that happens, the elements need to go to a safe place. Canterlot is our best bet. Even without Princess, there are plenty of powerful mages, they have a better chance of figuring out the elements then we do here.”

“What do you propose?”

Prince sighed. He wasn't liking it any more then others “You need to take the elements and run for Canterlot...”

“Woah,” Soarin interrupted “I don't like the 'you' part. Didn't you mean, 'we'?” 

Prince shook his head “I'll go the opposite direction. She wants me more then you or the elements,”
he paused. They looked at him, jaw opened widely, as the implications hit their minds. Prince sighed and continued.
“If things go as I expect, I'll be able to buy you few hours, maybe even a day or two...”

“No,” said silently Shining Armor.

“That's the least I could do,”

“I said NO!” Shining stomped the ground for emphasis “I promised I won't let you get hurt, I'm not letting you go there alone!”

Prince groaned and massaged his head. Of all times to argue about safety “Oh for the love of... forget your stupid job and just go!”

Shining Armor didn't say anything. He took few slow steps towards Prince Blueblood, not once breaking the eye contact, and finally when he was close enough, he raised his hoof. Prince panicked, but couldn't do anything, only ever managing to close his eyes and turn away, awaiting another strike, which Shining Armor...

...did not do. Instead, Prince felt something on top of his head. A large, but surprisingly gentle hoof, patting him. He slowly opened his eyes and turned to Shining Armor, smiling gently. He did not leave his hoof of the head.

“First of all, protecting ponies is not a stupid job!” he said with great conviction “It's the greatest honor, one I take with great pride. And secondly,” he finally took his hoof away and took a breath before continuing.
“I'm not protecting ponies because it's my job. I'm doing my job, because that means protecting ponies. I'm not doing this because Captain Blitz Shield gave me an order, or because Princess Celestia asked me to take care of you. I do it because my name is Shining Armor and you need my help. So whether you like it or not, I will not leave your side. That's just the kind of pony I am.”

Prince stopped on his tracks. He couldn't take his eyes of Shining Armor's, one full of truth and dedication, not a single trace of hesitation or regret could be found anywhere. This wasn't just foolishness, it was something a lot more. Prince shook his head and looked at the others.
“D-don't be stupid, you all have your families waiting for you! Y-you can't let them down!”

“Don' be silly, pardner,” Big Macintosh walked to his side and gently patted him in the back “if what we've been through don' make us family, then ah dunno what does!”

“W-whuh...?”

“Exactly!” Doctor smiled and placed himself at the other side, also patting his side “If Nightmare Moon wants you, she'll need to get through us first! That much I can promise you!”

“Besides,” Thunderlane joined the circle and bumped his hoof of Prince's forehead “if I wanted to run away, I'd be half way to Canterlot already. I told you, you showed some serious courage thus far, it's only natural I... WE can't do anything less!”

“What they said,” said Soarin, barely fitting himself in between Thunderlane and Shining Armor to also bump his chest, if only because of peer pressure “you deserve ALL the mares in the world for what you did and Celestia be my witness, you'll get them if it's the last thing I do! Well, okay, I'll save some for myself and others, but you still get the better share!”

It took him a few seconds, but Prince eventually managed to step away from five overemotional stallions. He turned away, head lowered into the ground.
“This... this is stupid...” he started, stuttering with every word “...you w-want to t-throw away you l-lives... for m-me...” he paused, legs shaking like mad “...you guys... you guys...”

He finally raised his head and slowly turned back to meet their faces. His eyes were no longer holding themselves back, nothing blocked the waterfall of tears that rushed through his cheeks, as well as nothing stopping his nose from running along with them, creating the most vulnerable, unsightly picture possible. Not that of an adult, serious stallion, but a weak, suffering foal. 
And yet, it was exactly the right thing to show.

“YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!” he screamed, barely holding onto his hooves “I don't deserve it!”

And with that said, he finally lost control over his hooves and fell down on all knees, crying himself out on a stone floor, not caring about anything else in the world, other then the fact that they were here. With him. For him. And there was nothing fake about it. 
As he was lying there, he felt a hoof patting his head. He raised his sight to notice Big Macintosh, smiling brightly.

“Eyup you do. More then ya think.”

Prince couldn't take it anymore and threw himself on Macintosh, wrapping his hooves around his neck and buried his face in his giant, red shoulders. Mac jumped, but didn't resist. He wrapped one hoof across Prince, not bothered a single bit by his wet mane.

“Aww, don't hog him for yourself!” Doctor protested and joined the hug, which soon turned to a group hug, once all five surrounded themselves on a single pony. 

“Not the kind of affection I'm used to,” said Soarin “but I'm okay with it.”

“Soarin,” said Thunderlane “shut up. You're ruining the moment!”

“Sorry.”

Their 'moment' was abruptly interrupted by yet another explosion from afar, echoing around the corridors they were stuck in. They instantly un-hugged and wiped their tears and snot of their faces. As it turned out, Prince Blueblood was not the only one who embarrassed himself with overabundance of emotions, much to his relief. With a smile on his face, they went back to their original plan. Doctor coughed and continued.

“Okay, five elements known, one more to go. It's a pattern, they refer to Princess Celestia somehow. What else?”

“Actually,” Prince hummed and theorized “not just Princess, but Equestria as a whole can be summed up with them!”

“That... makes sense!” admitted Doctor “Hardly any other country has laws for 'freedom to smile and be happy' actually WRITTEN in the codex! Which by the way is the best law, period!”

“Okay, so where does that leave us?” asked Thunderlane, nervously shifting in his place, expecting a certain evil alicorn to burst to their place any time “Does that mean that sixth element is in codex?”

“Well,” Doctor scratched his head “maybe, but it's way broader then six lines...”

“Arghh,” Shining Armor groaned. What at first seemed like yet another headache caused by overcasting, turned out to be a prelude to a facehoof “of course, six lines! How could I forget!”

His friends looked at him confused. Doctor asked “Forget... what exactly?”

“A poem!” he answered “At the entrance to Canterlot University, there is an old stone tablet with a poem. It's right there in the main hall, I always saw it when I visited Twilight!”

'Greet with peace, not war,
give yourself, don't take others,
speak truth, not lies,
let them smile, not cry,
never leave those dear,
then unity will stop any evil.'

“That was before they invented rhymes?” asked Soarin, getting only annoyed glares as an answer “Sorry.”

“That does sound like the elements, even if they didn't quite use the same phrasing.”

Unity... Prince Blueblood was buried deep in the thought. He thought back to his previous conversations with his aunt. She told him so many times, how most problems are solved not by yourself with great power, but with others, no matter how small any of them are. Like right now, for example, with everypony having some new light to shed on a problem none of them could figure out by themselves. This feeling of being together, set on a single objective, turning impossible into real. This was the greatest power she kept talking about. It took them so long to realize, that the answer to problem is just... working together. 
Prince laughed weakly. It was so simple. He was drilled the answer to this riddle all his life, yet only now did he get what the greatest power truly is. He finally realized the answer to what the actual sixth element is. 

It was...

“I FOUND YOU!” an evil voice boomed from the entrance, now smashed to pieces, making way to their greatest fear “YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE ANYMORE!”

Crap. Ten times more crap occupied Prince's mind once he saw Nightmare Moon, finally catching up to them, as angry and uncontrollable as ever, once again preparing for a deadly spell, aimed straight at them. Shining Armor once again jumped forward and lighted his horn, but instead of usual barrier, his horn emitted only few sparks, as he fell on the ground, cursing his weak head for not letting him do anything more.
They were this close, almost figuring out the answer, but now it was all lost. Prince Blueblood was lost. Equestria was lost. His new friends, his only friends, were lost.

“NO!” screamed Prince, as he jumped right in front of the group, extending his hooves in a desperate attempt to stop Nightmare Moon from shooting, hoping that deep under all this rage, she still recognized him as vital to her plans and stopped at the last moment. 
Sadly, no such thing happened, she kept looking at them with bare teeth and glowing eyes, no change, no distraction. He couldn't protect them with his magic. Heck, the only useful thing he could do was teleport away, but with no time to grab them all, the best he could do was escape by himself, leaving them to die. 

Not an option. 

He laughed weakly. At the very least, the pain will end. And if there is heaven, they would meet there again. Which honestly didn't sound all that bad, all things considered. Too bad he was letting his aunt down. But she would forgive him, hopefully. He did his best. He really tried his hardest and was very close. The only regret left he had, was not being able to apologize for yelling at a mare he considered his mother. She knew he didn't mean it, right?

Once another blast was shot, Prince closed his eyes and accepted his fate. Then, there was a giant explosion, much larger and louder then ever before, but he couldn't care less to look at it... until he realized that his body was still in the same pain as before, with not even slight change in the wind touching his body. He opened his eyes, slowly. There was dust flying in front of him, but not reaching him or anypony inside a... barrier?

“T-that's not mine!” he heard Shining Armor announce behind him.

Prince took a better look at the transparent force field before him. He saw Shining Armor's barriers on many occasions, this one was not like the others. For one, it was a very light shade of yellow, no- gold in fact, while Shining's were always various shades of purple. And upon closer inspection, it seemed like unlike most magical force fields he knew, this one took the appearance of a flying, golden dust, which sparkled in air, like sand on a sunny day.

“W-what?” Nightmare Moon stepped back, finally letting go of her anger, changing it into disbelief, then confusion, which eventually became something more powerful even “B-but that... that's impossible! IT CAN'T BE!”

For the first time ever since her return, Nightmare Moon felt fear. Not just shock or confusion, but true and utter fear. 

Prince extended his hoof and tried to touch the barrier. It was warm, incredibly pleasant, much akin to rays of sun. Is Celestia free? Did she do it? No, it was something different, but very, very close. His eyes widened with realization, making him look back to the elements lying further down. They were glowing brightly, like small suns and more importantly, they were floating, slowly moving themselves in their direction, each orb closing to one of his five companions. He noticed something else. Threads, small golden dust threads leading from each of the elements to the barrier, but also to himself, surrounding him with warm, pleasant feeling, which dulled the pain of his body. 

Nightmare Moon looked at the show with ever growing fear.
“This is impossible! The elements were supposed to be gone! Destroyed! Powerless without Celestia! How can this be?!”

Prince allowed himself to sigh with relief, before donning the most smug, confident smile he could afford. For once, he was completely justified in his confidence.

“This is it, Nightmare Moon. You lost, the everlasting night is now over!”

Nightmare Moon on her part, disagreed, emphasizing her point with another explosive blast. Six stallions averted their faces from it, but as before, nothing reached them. She considered firing more, but deep inside her head, she knew just how useless it was. She remembered how well it ended last time, one thousand years ago. But still, it was different, her enemy was all powerful Princess of the Sun, not a group of normal ponies. But that scared her even more.

“HOW? Why do you have so much power? Only Celestia should be able to do that, but...”

Prince shook his head and explained.

“Want me to tell you about power? And I mean, true power, not a bunch of mana to explode anything you see and don't like. True power is...”

As an emphasis, one glowing orb floated around Big Macintosh, who observed it with curiosity, but not fear. The warmth calmed him down, so he allowed it to do... whatever it was doing.

“Power,” Prince continued “its having strength to crush anything that stands in your way... and still have enough empathy to show mercy,” the orb stopped in midair, right at Mac's eyes, then it exploded in bright, but not blinding, light, which moved around like a liquid until it surrounded his neck, slowly shaping into a form of a large, golden necklace, with a gemstone inside it, formed just like Big Macintosh's cutie mark- a big, green apple.

“Kindness!”

Mac touched his new accessory and nodded with approval.
“Eyup!”

“Power, it's being ready to do anything, to pay any price including the ultimate one, for the sake of  others,” next one happened to Doctor, his eyes widened and jaw almost at the floor, as his necklace took form of his own cutie mark, a brown hourglass.

“Generosity!”

Doctor raised his eyebrow and smiled.
“Well, I guess necklaces are cool, too.”

“...it's being able to say and act true, no matter how much it hurts us, because this is the only way to convey true feelings, to truly unite everyone,” Thunderlane's necklace also took his own form, a gray lightning bolt coming from a cloud.

“Honesty!”

Thunderlane shrugged.
“Huh, sure, why not?”

“...it's giving others the reason to smile and be happy, making life that more interesting and encouraging... even if he's a pain in the flank sometimes!” Soarin's necklace formed into an obvious form, that of a yellow lightning bolt with two angelic wings.

“Laughter!”

Soarin rolled his eyes at the comment.
“I cause something in the flanks, but not pain... no, wait, I didn't...argh, damn!”

“...and finally, it's never leaving those who need you the most in the times of need, even if you think  you don't need it,” he turned back to see Shining Armor, nodding to him in approval, as his necklace took shape of his own cutie mark, a purple shield.

“Loyalty!”

Shining Armor saluted with a smile.
“You can count on me!”

With that said, the elements were in their own places, at their bearers, which left only one small detail...

“Ha, you still don't have the sixth element!” Nightmare Moon taunted, but Prince didn't even blink “You must by now figured out what it is, right? If so, then you must also know how useless it is to you. You, a pony whose life was filled with misery, lies and fake relationships! They might be able to serve as vessels to their elements, but you... you are broken, unfit to lead them at all!”

Prince didn't say anything. The golden dust was already starting to gather around his body, but there was no orb, no light like those with other elements. For a moment they feared that something gone wrong, that the element was indeed destroyed and not coming back. Or it wants to come back, but Prince Blueblood was no fit for it. Either way, nothing happened. Even Nightmare Moon regained her senses and confidence.

“Think about it, little prince,” she walked few steps closer “how history loves to repeat itself. There will no doubt come a time when those you call friends will betray you, just like the one before...”

“DON'T LISTEN TO HER!” he heard Thunderlane scream “She's trying to fool you again!”

“Yeah, she's lying!” added Shining Armor “there's no way any of us will leave you, we promise!”

Nightmare Moon snorted and continued.
“Or what if YOU fail them? There might come a time when they will need you, but you'll fail... just like you failed your parents!”

“IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!” Doctor screamed from the back “You were just a little foal, you can't blame yourself for everything!”

Prince Blueblood still stood where he was, not moving an inch. He heard everything around him and even more. It made him think about a lot of things. He sighed and finally answered.

“Nightmare Moon,” he looked the alicorn in eyes “you're right.”

Five ponies gasped in terror in the back, but couldn't answer, much too shocked. Even Nightmare Moon was slightly taken aback from it. Soon after, Prince continued.

“Maybe I'm being blinded, like I was earlier... and maybe I'll be too weak to protect them like I should... however...”

He took a deep breath. The golden dust around him started moving even faster, growing in mass and length.

“...when you started torturing me, all I ever hoped for was dying, hoping that would make Princess Celestia angry enough to break free. But then, when I saw them back, alive... it made me happy. More then I ever imagined it would have. I didn't want to die anymore. I wanted to live, to save them, let them know how sorry I was for everything I have done so far... heck, I'm looking forward for the 'hunt', too!”

“YEEESS!” Soarin shouted in the background. And then he was smacked by Thunderlane.

“So, to make the long story short...”

The golden dust gathered in air, melding together and slowly becoming a mass of similar appearance as the other elements of the harmony. This time however, it was much bigger, gathering on his head, instead of neck. It slowly moved and shaped itself, until it covered most of his head,  resembling a helmet. Finally, on the forehead, a shape of an eight pronged star appeared, becoming a white, sparkling gem shaped just like his own cutie mark, a diamond shaped compass rose.
Nightmare Moon was right about one thing. With his new crown on his head, he looked more like a king then anything else. He still dared not call himself that, though. 

“... my answer is,” he took a deep breath, before shouting from the top of his lungs.

“NO MORE NIGHTMARES!”

His horn glowed. His new crown also did so, creating a blinding golden glow. Some would think that operating a magical artifact like that could take practice, but to him, it felt like it was never any different and it was a part of him since he could remember. Maybe it was a part of him he wasn't aware of, or maybe every unicorn has something like that inside them. He didn't care about it, instead opting to do what he promised from the very beginning, concentrating all of his his, and crowns, energy into a single spell. However, the crown itself had a much different function altogether. It had no power of its own. Instead, it took it from other sources it was connected to, which were of course, other five elements, which in turn took it from their bearers. 

All the elements glowed. If they were cursed, like many other artifacts of that kind, they would siphon ponies life force and use it to power the crown without their knowledge. But they didn't. What elements did instead, was ask. They had no sentience and didn't use any words, but subconsciously, their bearers heard their pleas for power, to give as much as they could. The bearers did not hesitate. They felt no ill will from elements, saw no need to be suspicious. Instead, they opened their hearts and mentally said 'take all you need'. And they did. But unlike most magical items, it didn't feed of their life forces, or mana or anything like that. It was fueled by feelings, bonds and connections they had with each other, and with the rest of the world.

It wasn't a normal spell, but it was, indeed, magic. True magic, the strongest kind of magic there was. Elements of Harmony didn't recognize mana as magic. To them, only one thing worked.

To Elements of Harmony, only Friendship is Magic!

Prince felt all of the friendship in his horn and crown. It was heavy, but not painful. If anything, it was pleasant, so much that he hesitated whether he should even strike it at the evil that stood in front of him. But then he did it anyway, letting crown take over, trusting his new element to know better what to do. And it did know, letting outside a lot of energy in form of all too familiar golden dust, which, once grown big enough, glowed in all the colors of rainbow and shot right into the sky. Once it was high enough, it took a rapid turn, taking straight aim at Nightmare Moon.

The alicorn screamed in defiance and tried to shield herself, but the approaching rainbow smashed through it like it was a very weak glass, shattering it and striking Nightmare Moon directly, exploding in a multicolored flash.

Bearers of the Elements of Harmony shielded their eyes from the blinding lights and waited a few moments for it to stop. Eventually, silence returned to the castle, only interrupted by Prince's heavy panting. Despite crown doing most of the work, he still felt exhausted after channeling the biggest, most unique mass of energy he ever experienced. His eyes felt heavy and he stumbled, tripping and almost falling on the ground, held by a hoof in last moment.

“Hey, you okay?” asked Shining Armor, stabilizing Prince on the ground. Prince nodded weakly and tried to think of a good, snarky reply, but he was too tired to work it out. He was interrupted by some news.

“Look!” Soarin pointed his hoof at the horizon. One wall of the chamber they were in was completely destroyed, giving them a good view at the most beautiful sight they ever saw in their life.

“The sun...” Prince muttered “... the sun is rising!”

Six stallions, each donning their new elements, lined up to observe the most satisfying, beautiful sunset they could ever dream of. There were no words, but they all agreed anyway. All this pain, all the risk, the danger, life threat, mental and physical tortures, all of it...

...worth it.

Prince wished they could have a loaf of bread right now. For one, he never managed to do that part of the tradition, what with having no family he wanted to be with, aside from Celestia, who was too busy with actually moving the sun. And two, he was hungry, now that adrenaline was wearing off. With no more things to do, he allowed himself to finally close his eyes and fall unconscious. 

He smiled in his sleep. There were no more nightmares.
> 20. Because it wasn't awkward enough
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everything was just right- the sun was shining brightly, but not blindingly so. The sky was almost crystal clear, aside from those few stray clouds, which didn't detract from the moment in the slightest. The grass was green and soft, just perfect for lying around on your back and doing nothing, just relaxing, with his head lying on a set of warm hooves, with one more carefully and gently stroking his mane. She was just like he remembered- light shade of pink, long blonde mane which reflected the sun, bright smile and caring eyes. He was also there,  a white unicorn with perfectly kept mane, almost spitting image of his offspring, gently nuzzling his wife as they all enjoyed the weather. Together. 

"It's a dream, isn't it?" asked Prince. Much to his surprise, the stroking did not stop, neither did the smiles.

"Yes, it is." his mother answered calmly.

"Then... it's all in my head?"

"Yes."

"So, none of this is real?" he asked calmly. He took a deep sigh "I just collapsed from exhaustion and all of this... is just in my imagination, right? Figures. But this is what I wanted, right? To see you two, together... alive. So I wouldn't feel lonely again, for at least a little bit. But..." 

It took a lot of willpower to force himself to stand up and separate himself from the two.

"... I realize just now, that I'm not lonely. Not anymore. I never really was. I mean, auntie Celestia is always busy, what with all the kingdom to rule, but she did all she could. I need to go back and apologize! And I also made a promise to  my friends. So, you know, I can't stay anymore and, and... I'm talking to my imagination!" he facehooved. 

All things considered, it still felt good to get it out of his system. He turned to invisible stairs, leading right into the sun itself. He couldn't ask himself questions like why were there stairs and how he knew it. Dreams are dreams, they make no sense by definition.

"So, I gotta go now!" he took the first step and stopped. He could still go back, stay a little while longer. Nopony would blame him for that. Nopony would even know.

"Just go," Prince's eyes widened as he heard his mother speak. He turned around to see her just sitting there, holding hooves with her husband "we have all the eternity ahead of us. We can wait."

Prince froze in place and just stared. His father nodded to him.
"Go. And don't try to come back too soon."

Prince nodded in confusion and turned to the stairs once again... then took a sharp turn and ran towards the pair, throwing himself on them with a tight, tender hug. Maybe this was just his imagination. But to hell with that, he can do anything he wants in his own dreams. And there was  one thing he wanted to say for a long time.

"Goodbye!"

Actually, two things.

"I love you!"

"We love you too, sweetie."

Once again, he forced himself away, quickly wiped his tears and rushed towards the stairs, not allowing himself too look back anymore. 

"Time sure flies when you're not around," Duke Blueblood sighed, then smiled at his wife "He has your eyes..." 

"...and your everything else," she smiled and leaned her head on his shoulders, as they both observed their son climbing through the sun. As Prince got close and closer, the light started hurting his eyes more and more, but he didn't mind, he just closed his eyes and rushed forward.





When he finally opened his eyes, slowly and lazily, the light was still there. Everything else in his surroundings was alien to him. For one, he missed the comfortable grass, unlike this bed. His parents made a better pillow then those designed to be such. But even so, he was just content with lying on his back, staring into the white ceiling. Then, his gaze slowly shifted towards the open window, where curtains waved and danced from the wind, as sun shined through them. He looked further right and couldn't help but open his mouth at the sight.

Flowers, lots of them, of many colors, filling the room with gentle, appetizing aroma. Gift cards  saying "Get Well Soon". Small chocolate boxes. Few baskets with fruits sticking out of them and even airtight box with four muffins. And weirdest of all, two wooden frames, both with crude, childish, yet charming at the same time, drawings of some sort of white monster with yellow hat, smiling like a murderous maniac. 

"Those two are from Dinky and Rumble," a soft voice said in between munching something "that was the least they could do."

Prince quickly turned around and froze as he witnessed one pony he wanted to see the most. She was eating a banana.

"I helped myself to a few, I hope you don't mi--" Princess Celestia couldn't finish her sentence, or even her banana which she dropped on the floor after getting surprise tackle hugged by her nephew. She sighed at the wasted snack and wrapped her wing around Prince Blueblood.

"I'm sorry!" he muttered "I'm so sorry!"

Princess giggled "It's just one banana..."

"N-no, I meant..."

"I know," she nuzzled his cheek "And I'm sorry too. For all I said, back then... I," she looked back and sighed "I should have known better then to force my ideals at you."

"No, You just wanted my best... even if I didn't." his head lowered. Princess raised his chin with a hoof.

"That is all in the past. You more then made up for your mistakes. What do you say we forgive each other and go back to the way we were before?" Prince looked into her eyes, but soon after started tearing again, before throwing himself with a hug once again "I'll take that as 'yes'."

Their tender moment was interrupted with a sudden, garbling noise coming from nopony other then Prince Blueblood himself, who had a sudden realization. He hasn't eaten in days and his stomach was not happy about it.

They rolled their eyes and laughed. Prince got back to bed, although reluctantly. He wasn't tired or injured, as if nothing happened. Even his hair was in perfect shape, no sign of charred remains from a certain almost deadly explosion. Princess Celestia levitated a single, giant apple from one of the baskets and broke it into several smaller pieces, disintegrating the inedible parts into nothingness. She conjured a small, ceramic plate, on which she placed all the slices of apple, except one, which slowly flew towards Prince.

"Here's comes a mailmare!" she cooed happily. 

Prince rolled his eyes and averted his face.
"Auntie, I can feed myself."

The apple slice stopped mid-air. Celestia didn't say anything, but slowly lowered her head and gazed at the bed.
"Oh, right... I forgot," she gave a big sigh "how foals grow up quickly. Then they don't need you anymore. Leave the nest, forget about good, old, useless aunt..." as she kept talking, her mane gradually lost colors, losing it's rainbow pallet in favor of simple pink. Prince Blueblood knew she was trying to trick him. He knew she was just acting. And yet, he groaned and chomped the floating apple, chewed it thoroughly and swallowed.
As expected, she immediately regained her colors and smile. If Princess Celestia wants something, she gets it, even if by cheap tricks.

"Happy?"

"Very!" 

Prince looked at the amused face of his aunt and decided that if this little humiliation would help humor her, he would allow it. That, and he was really hungry and couldn't say no to a sweet apple flying straight into his mouth, even if it made him feel like a foal again. But pride aside, why was that a bad idea again?

"What happened to my friends?"

Princess took another slice of apple.
"They are all fine. The Elements of Harmony healed your bodies completely," which explained why his hair was intact, for which he grateful "but in your case, damage was as much physical, as mental, there was only so much Elements could do." 

"The sixth element," he ate the apple and continued "What is it, exactly?"

"Magic," Celestia quickly replied and took another slice of apple "friendship, unity, quintessence, Core, root of creation, power of bonds... and many other names were used to describe it, none coming even close. But quite honestly, there isn't much to know about it, you have to FEEL it. And from what I heard, there were many feels."

"Yup," he nodded and ate another apple “I'm sure that isn't a proper sentence."

Princess shrugged "Works for me," another apple from the basket got sliced and diced magically "as long as nopony from press finds out. I don't need another 'Princess is acting silly' article, thank you very much!"

"Like that time when somepony took a photo during 'cake time'?"

Princess groaned "I would like that smart-flank pony to know, that raising the sun is more tiring then it looks! Just because I don't sweat or even blink when I move a giant ball of fire, doesn't make it light...no pun intended. I need those extra calories to keep my figure the way it is!" she sighed again took a bite of an apple herself "I mean, nopony is praising me for giving not just one or two, but FIVE well paid jobs to bakers from all around the Equestria. Or for hosting variety of pastry related events with generous prizes coming out of my PRIVATE pocket money. Or the annual 'Cake for Everypony' charity events, but nooo... all they ever say is 'Princess is a glutton!'"

Now that's the aunt he knew and loved. A frustrated, middle aged (counted in thousands) mare with small problems. And he might be the only one to witness this side other. He never gave it much, but if he wasn't there, what would she do? Would there be another pony she could rant to? Somepony she could have regular, equal to equal conversations with? 
Maybe his life was more important then he thought.

"Yeah," he nodded "besides, if you didn't eat those cakes, then what? You'd turn into a walking skeleton!"

"Exactly!" she exclaimed happily "And nopony wants their leader to be a zombie pony! Except maybe in Tartarus."

The urge to ask his aunt about inner politics or fashion sense in Tartarus was thankfully subdued. 
"Let's be honest, auntie, Canterlot ponies would probably take that as the new fashion."

"Oh heavens, no! I can barely watch those poor models these days, all skin and bones. I might be a wrong pony to judge, but when I see one of them, my first instinct is to offer them a sandwich!"

"You truly are the kindest of mares."

"That's what they say."

There was a short pause. Slowly, their smiles grew wider, until they couldn't contain it anymore and let out a long, loud, healthy laughter. They weren't even sure what was so funny anymore, but couldn't stop regardless. It was way too long since they enjoyed a moment like that. No business, no duties, no work, just spending time together, eating fruits and talking about nonsense. 
With his mood fixed and starvation turned into simple hunger, Prince realized that he still had a lot of questions to ask. One of them was especially overdue.

"By the way, where am I, exactly? And how long was I out?" 

"Room 203, Ponyville Hospital," she calmly answered, as she continued feeding him with more apples "You have been sleeping for about 40 hours." 

He really shouldn’t be surprised. Even with Elements of Harmony healing his wounds, he expected to learn that he was in coma for years. It was hard to believe it even happened in the first place, yet here he was. If his aunt wasn't here herself, he might have still thought that this was all a honey-induced dream.

"And Nightmare Moon? Is she really gone?"

The apple stopped in midair. Prince looked at his aunt, as she stared blankly into the window, but eventually turned to him and smiled weakly.
"Yes, she is gone for good," she hummed, then stood up and put the apples on a table "I would like you to meet somepony. I'll be right back." 

They nodded to each other and Princess was gone behind the door, slowly shutting it as to not cause a noise. Prince sighed and concentrated on ceiling once again.

"By the way nephew," before the door shut completely, Princess slid her head inside "your dream, just now. How was it?"

Prince raised an eyebrow at the odd question, but answered regardless.
"It was... good. No, actually it was perfect. I can tell you about it, if you want."

"No. That's all I needed to know." and then she was gone again. Prince once again sighed and looked at the ceiling, wondering, when the door opened once again. His aunts head stuck out once again. This time she only glowed her horn and levitated a single banana from one of the baskets. 

"What?" she asked her glaring nephew, as she peeled it away. He just shook his head and snorted as she disappeared again, this time for longer.

Prince lost the track of time before she came back. He spent it by glaring aimlessly at the walls, decaying paint on the walls and a butterfly that flew inside the room, but soon after left, not interested in anything inside. He couldn't blame it. Then, he shuffled through the gift cards. As he expected, they were from his new friends, although Macintosh sent one for the entire Apple family, curiously signed only by himself, Applejack, Applebloom and Granny Smith, no Oranges or any other members he remembered or forgot. Among the good news, Blossomforth, Spitfire and other petrified ponies were cured once the sun rose from the sky. The muffins were from, who else, Ditzy Doo, with added 'Thanks for taking care of my Doctor'. And she was plenty grateful, because they were delicious. Common food or not, his taste buds couldn't care less. That came from a mare he almost seduced (not entirely his fault) and then publicly insulted (that was). He gladly took her gratitude as punishment and devoured all the muffins. Except one, which he saved for his aunt.

Princess Celestia came back just as Prince was about to take a bite of some of the roses, out of sheer boredom more then hunger. She opened the door wide and stood right next to them, making way for somepony else.
"Come on, don't be afraid."

Prince gulped. He couldn't even begin to guess who could that be, but he felt his/her presence even from here. The feeling was... strange, to say the least. The presence was powerful, tense and great, yet at the same time subdued and timid. She walked inside very slowly, first revealing a dark blue horn, longer then most unicorns, but not quite as much as Celestia's. Then, he saw her short, but well groomed hair of similar color as her mane, all darker shade of purple. He couldn't quite concentrate on her face, because as she went further he noticed a pair of wings. His eyes widened. An alicorn? And finally his jaw dropped once he saw her flank, cutie mark to be precise. It was the same one, he remembered clearly. He was looking at her, but did not dare to speak the name. Why was she here? And why was his aunt so calm about it? And most importantly... why was she so small? 

Sure, compared to most ponies she was about the normal size, roughly his own size, but next to Celestia she was tiny. Gone was the animosity, hatred and pride, instead what he witnessed was fear, though not the same one she displayed before getting struck by elements. And most importantly, shame.

"Dear nephew, I would like you to meet somepony very dear to me. I though I lost her forever, but thanks to you and your friends, I am happy to have her at my side once again. Please welcome my little sister, Luna."

Luna. He heard that name before. Everypony knew her, but hardly anypony spoke of anymore. Celestia's sister was long thought to be gone, though the circumstances of her disappearance were unknown... until now. Nightmare Moon's words echoed in his head. All of it suddenly made more sense. Luna averted her eyes from Prince, probably realizing that he recognized her at first glance. Celestia walked to Luna and pushed her forward.

"Go on, Lulu."

Princess Luna squealed, reminding him of his encounter with Fluttershy. Just like the pegasus mare, Luna seemed lost and scared beyond any comprehension, though he could understand her a little bit more. It's not easy facing somepony you recently tried to corrupt and kill. 

"W-we..." she started, shifting her eyes around "... I-I mean, I... I..." she knelt and almost exploded with tears "I'M SORRY! I'm so, so sorry for... everything I did!" all of a sudden, any last shreds of fear Prince Blueblood had, were gone. That wasn't Nightmare Moon.
"I have no excuse for myself or any of my actions. I don't expect you to ever forgive me,"

"I forgive you."

"but I just wanted to let you know that... that..." she paused to raise her head "huh?"

"I forgive you. You shouldn't bow to me, Princess."

"B-but..."

"I won't repeat myself," he crossed his hooves and looked away "stand up. It's not suited for a Princess to bow before her subjects."

Luna did slowly stood up, more out of surprise and intimidation then reason.
"How can you just forgive me like that?" she asked, no longer stuttering "After all I have done, all those atrocities..."

"...were committed by Nightmare Moon!" Prince interrupted "Which I, along with my friends, destroyed. She is no more. Her crimes are not yours and that's that!"

If Luna tried to say anything else, she couldn't, as Celestia put a hoof on her back, startling her.
"We do not say you are without a fault here, Lulu. But so am I. Past one thousand years I had to live with my greatest regret, which was not being able to save you. Now that you're back, I only wish for us to be together again. As rulers. As sisters." and as an emphasis, she nuzzled her sister gently, which she accepted, if reluctantly. 

Seeing two sisters together, reunited, helped him realize few things. For one, he was jealous. Up until this point, the only one who received so much intimacy from Celestia, was himself. But seeing as his aunt was happier then ever before, he let that one slide. And two, which was a lot weirder once he gave it a thought, Luna was... his aunt. Now that one thing would take a while to get used to, but he wasn't against it. 

Two Princesses stayed in the hospital room for a while more, but Luna didn't speak anymore, instead letting Prince up to date on everything that happened so far... which was a grand total of nothing interesting. Except the part about keeping the existence of Elements the secret, as well as identities of their bearers and connections between Luna and Nightmare Moon, at least for now. Other element bearers were already informed of it too. Before they made their exit, Luna turned to her sister.

"Umm, I would like to talk with Prince Blueblood for a while. In private, if you don't mind."

Celestia hummed at the request. She looked over at her nephew, also confused. He considered his answer carefully. As much as he warmed up to his new aunt, there was a possibility that this was all just act and she just waited for a moment to strike. All it took was a single moment and he, along with his element, would be gone for good. But...

"I don't mind."

...it was about time he started trusting others.

Celestia nodded and left the room, leaving only Prince, Luna and awkward silence behind. They stared at each other for a good while, their stares being interrupted only by occasional blinking. Prince started shifting in his bed, half expecting her to burst into dark flames and incinerate him alive, with no friends or elements to protect him anymore. Or maybe she was reading his mind again? He half considered thinking about naughty stuff to see her reaction, when she finally spoke.

"Why," she said with much more intense tone then before, spooking Prince as he sat "did you forgive me so easily?"

Prince blinked "Huh?"

"My sister can't hear us anymore, so you can be honest with me. If what you said was influenced by her presence, then you may speak truth now. I won't be mad."

"I... still don't understand what you mean."

Luna groaned, closed her eyes and massaged her head, before exhaling and once again facing her confused new nephew.
"We kidnapped Princess Celestia,"

"Nightmare Moon did, not you!"

"I turned ponies to stone," she continued "made you go through Everfree forest, tried to kill and corrupt you on many occasions. I do not believe anypony would be able to just forgive such crimes so easily!"

Prince blinked and sighed. So that's what it was about.

"What happened back then, one thousand years ago, when I waged war against my sister and got banished... that wasn't just Nightmare Moon. She isn't just a shadow entity that took over me. She was me, yet also another at the same time. And what happened back then and later, that was me as well. You of all ponies should be able to tell. Why forgive such monster?"

Now it was his turn to get annoyed and angry.
"Oh, so you just admitted to being a monster, did you?" he asked "Then why bother with talking to me? Nopony is around, this is the best shot you have at me!"

Luna stepped back "Wh-what are you..."

"I can teleport out of this room, gather my team and blast you again! Sure, it will hurt aunt Celestia, but she'll understand."

"N-no, don't!"

"Don't what? Ruin your plans again?"

"N-no, I-I mean, I'm not going to..."

"And how am I supposed to trust you? You turned your back on her once!"

"I don't want to hurt her anymore, or anypony else..."

"Then what are we even talking about?"

"I... just..."

"Do you want me to forgive you or not?"

"Y-yes, but..."

"BUT WHAT? What's your problem?"

"I DON'T DESERVE IT!"

The conversation stopped. Once the echo passed, the only sounds that could be heard in the room, were two heartbeats, one only slightly slower then the other, both beating like crazy. And sobbing coming from a Princess.

"Ever since I returned, all I ever encountered from other ponies was kindness, as if nothing ever happened! My sister can't stop telling everypony how happy she is! Royal guards stop and salute me, like I'm their ruler! And even your friends, after all they suffered, all forgave me without second thought. But worst of all, are commoners, who worship me! ME! They are deceived by not knowing the truth, that what once wanted to rule them with iron hoof, now is their new object of adoration. I... I can't stand this!"

Any doubts left were gone. Prince Blueblood had no more reservations or contempt left. He was, annoyed, but for entirely different reasons.
"Would you rather if they hated you?" he asked. As expected, she didn't have an answer, but judging by her staring into the floor, it wasn't hard to tell what she felt. Prince sighed. He was about to hate himself.

"Then go back to the moon, see if I care!" his sudden outburst caught her attention "Do you have any idea what my aunt, your sister, has been through because of you? She puts up a strong front, but I heard her sobbing every now and then, and I didn't even know why, until today. I can't even imagine how she felt one thousand years ago, all because you threw a big hissy fit. Because ponies didn't like my night, they slept through it... WELL DUH! That's what night is for! What, you wanted ponies across the world to sleep through the day instead? And would that turn Celestia into evil tyrant instead? How would YOU feel if you had to banish your own sister, your only family, to the sun, huh? Well? Would you get a nephew and his motley crew to save you via elements instead? 

"..."

"And now that you're back, instead of being happy to be free again, all you do is whine! Oh no, look at me, they love me even though I'm such a bad pony! Gah, give me a break!"

Some anvils had to be dropped and this one hit them both. He really hated saying all those things, especially seeing her reaction. She wasn't angry, she didn't leave, instead listened, while glaring at the floor. She probably also cried, but that was to be expected. He went too far, but it was necessary. 
Princess Celestia saw her little sister back as a blessing and couldn't hide it. Other ponies were confused, but welcomed the idea of another alicorn princess in the kingdom.
Prince Blueblood saw a foal. A very guilty foal that did something bad and had nopony to confess it to. She wanted to be scolded. And he, her nephew, hundreds of thousands years younger, was the only pony who could do it. This is what every parent feels when they scold their child.

"Look," he started once again, averting his eyes from the miserable picture of what was supposed to be the ruler of the night "I'm not going to pretend to know how you feel, or think, or what you've been through all those years, or how you became who you were... but what you once said, back in the Everfree forest, is true."
Luna slightly rose her head, now revealing her reddened eyes and moist cheeks. As if he couldn't feel any worse now.
"We are alike. I also though I didn't deserve friendship. And while I still think that's true, I also realized one more thing, just before the elements materialized," he paused to finally look at Luna "THEY deserve better. Yet they chose me, of all ponies. I don't know about you, but I decided."

He smiled and looked outside the window, where sun was back and as beautiful as ever. 
"Now that I know what friendship feels like, elements or not, I don't ever want to lose it. I'll earn it, if it's the last thing I do."

For once, Princess Luna finally smiled, weakly as it was.
"That is a noble goal. But I'm afraid my crimes heavily outweighs yours."

"So is your lifespan," replied Prince "we both have a long way to go, but the sooner we start, the sooner we'll be able to feel better."

"I'm not sure if I can. What if I become Nightmare Moon again?"

"Then I'll gather the elements and blast you again," he answered with a grin "so please don't! I don't ever want to do that again."

"Neither do I."

Pause. After a moment of awkward tension, they allowed themselves to snort and smile. This was about the closest they could get to laughter as they could afford. It might be a while until they go together to a baseball match, but it was a progress.

"Thank you for... everything," Luna bowed and turned to the door "I should be going now."
Prince nodded nervously. He looked at the side of his drawers, at a small, airtight box.

"Wait!"

Luna turned to Prince once again, but her sight was blocked by a levitating object. It smelled like chocolate. Amazing, that she could tell what chocolate smelled like, after all these years. She grabbed the pastry by her own magic.

"A single muffin won't solve your problems," Prince said, but was interrupted mid sentence.

"...but it won't make them worse." finished Luna, as she smiled at the little muffin before her nose. Prince had no idea muffins were even a thing thousand year ago, but just shrugged it away. Luna continued "A certain pony once said that to me."

"Sounds like somepony I know." Prince hummed.

"Keep that pony close. He'll be a valuable friend."

"They all are."

They stood there for a few more seconds, before Luna finally shook her head and turned to the doors again.

"See you later, aunt Luna."

She stopped midway. She turned and nodded.
"Yes, I'll see you later... n-nephew."

Once she was gone, Prince let out a deep sigh. This was quite possibly one of the most awkward conversations he ever had. Probably only second to his meeting with Soarin. And the train cry-pology (a word he made up, and he felt terrible). And his entire drug-induced episode. And his dark self. And his fight with aunt. And that marshmallow fashionista he'd rather forget.
Come to think of it, his life was full of weird conversations. All of them happened in Ponyville. And Everfree. Technically, one was in train on route to Ponyville, but who cares at this point? 

The door opened once again and another friendly face entered the room.
"Hey." said Shining Armor, waving.

"Hey." replied Prince, also waving.

And then silence begun. All this talk about friendship, starting a new life, making amends. And here he was, unable to start a conversation with his (ex?) bodyguard, element of loyalty. To be fair, neither was he, as they both just stood or sat there, nervously shifting their eyes.

"So," Shining started "I heard you were awake. From Princess."

"Yup. I am."

"Cool," pause, blink "How do you feel?"

"Good, I guess. A bit sore. You?"

"Okay, I guess."

"Good."

All that was missing were crickets to make this scene even more uncomfortable. Prince looked around the room to find anything to start a conversation about. Maybe the cards, or flowers, or offer him a muffin? No, he just gave last one away, carelessly getting rid of the best icebreaker he had. Note to self- keep muffins around for emergency awkwardness. Why was friendship so hard?

"Umm, wanna go for a walk?" asked Shining Armor. Prince blinked.

"Sure. I could use exercise after 40 hours of sleep." he stretched his hooves, only now realizing how sore they were. He slowly sat on the edge of the bed and prepared to get off.

"You need help?" asked Shining, slowly trotting to the bed. Prince hoofwaved.

"No, it's fine. I can get of by mysEEELF!" SMACK!

Pain. Just when you think you forgot how it feels, karma serves you with another batch for future reference. Prince cursed to himself, as he slowly lifted himself from the floor. 

"Are you okay?" asked Shining Armor, offering his helping hoof. For once, Prince accepted it and stood on all four, massaging his plot.

"Yes, I'm fine. I just slipped on..." he levitated the hostile object to himself and couldn't help but groan.

"Is that a banana peel?"

Prince grumbled "Thanks auntie..."





"Is something bothering you, sister?" asked Luna, seeing her bigger sister lost in her thoughts.

"I feel as if I forgot something, but I can't remember... oh well, if it's important it'll come back to me. But more importantly Lulu, where did you get that muffin?"

"Your... our nephew gave it to me."

Princess raised an eyebrow. So little time passed and they're already this close to each other? She was starting to feel slightly jealous. But only a little.
"A single muffin won't solve your problems," Celestia started.

"...but it won't make them worse." Luna ended. They shared a smile.

"So, did you tell him?" Celestia asked, as they walked towards the exit "About the dream you gave him?"  

"No. I'm just glad he liked it. That's all I need to know."

They smiled at each other and resumed the walk. Along the way, Luna took a single bite from the muffin. Judging from the smile on her face, Celestia could tell that she enjoyed it. She watched as Luna took small bites, savoring all the mouth watering sweetness and aroma of chocolate. Luna noticed Celestia.

"Umm, would you like a-"

"I thought you'll never ask!"





The conversation wasn't nearly as riveting after leaving the room, but at least the environment was changing. The hospital in Ponyville was about as he remembered it- normal. Even better, it was almost empty, with corridors filled with nurses chatting around corners, doctors walking around and few and relatively healthy patients waiting in the hall. Boring, but the alternative was a bunch of sick ponies, so they couldn't complain.

Prince held a hoof at his eyes, blocking the sun that attacked him once they left the building. Hopefully he won't be bothered by any nurses for leaving his room.
"I still can't believe it all happened."

"Yeah..."

"And all of this because one unicorn punched me." he quickly turned to Shining Armor "DON'T you dare apologizing again, okay?"

"Okay, fine," Shiny rolled his eyes "and technically, it was the second punch that nailed the coffin."

"You punched more then one noble that day?"

"No..." he gulped and scratched his head. Prince's glares didn't helped "I might have kinda sorta implied that I would punch Princess Celestia too... under certain circumstances only, of course."

Prince paused. He wasn't surprised in the slightest but couldn't help but deadpan anyway.
"How were you even allowed to be a guard?"

"Volunteer work and weekly therapy sessions." he answered flatly, looking away.

"Forget I asked."

"About what?" he asked with a smug smile. Prince raised an eyebrow. Was he just being snappy? 

"But really, that punch," Prince continued "changed our lives forever. Without it, I would probably never meet you."

"And nopony would ever try that weird old medicine on you, so you'd spend the entire day in hospital, without the happy drug."

"I would never flirt with Ditzy and meet Doctor."

"And if I wasn't there, you'd never be able to talk to Fluttershy and Soarin would either crash into her... or ground."

"Not sure which one's worse."

"And then there's the whole Everfree thing..." Shining Armor added with a big grin on his face. A grin which was surprisingly contagious.

"Avalanche." Prince started.

"Manticore."

"Dream eating ghost." 

"Stephen Magnet." Shining Armor hummed "Do you think we'll ever see him again?"

"Not unless he walks out of Everfree forest, because I'm never going back. Ever. Under no circumstances."

"Seconded."

"By the way, what happened to you guys when you fell into the canyon?"

Shining Armor suddenly paused and looked into the ground. Prince noticed a great regret in his friend's eyes. 
"Umm, you don't have to talk about it."

Shining Armor waited for a moment, before raising his head and confessing.
"I killed a giant, talking, carnivorous cabbage that captured and tried to eat us." he calmly explained. Prince wasn't sure how to react.

"If it's any consolation, I spent all that time talking with Nightmare Moon. I almost fell for her tricks," he snorted "your death helped me see through her tricks and figure out some of her weaknesses, so... thanks, I guess."

"You're... welcome, I guess."

Awkward pause. 

"So," Shining continued, scratching his head "Nightmare Moon is Princess Luna. That's something."

"Tell me about it."

"I mean, I never imagined that Nightmare Moon, of all ponies, would turn out to be..."

"Small? Nice? Sister of Celestia?"

"...cute." Shining finished, covering with blush.

"Cute?" Prince asked.

"Cute." Shining confirmed.

On one hoof, he wanted to berate his bodyguard/friend for talking like that about his new Princess, his aunt to boot, even if he was right. But on the other, this seemed like a good opportunity.
"Ah, I see how it is. Lusting over your new ruler like that? Shame on you!"

"W-what? NO! I'm not lusting over Princess Luna!"

"Oh really now? Then what was that comment before about?"

"You know, she's cute, but not cute-hot, uhm..." he stuttered, his face becoming all shades of red "you know, like Fluttershy!"

"Fluttershy..." Prince hummed, observing his sweating, nervous friend. This was too much fun to stop "So you like the small, frail ones. Figures. Big, strong knight and his little princess. Like in a fairy tale!" he snorted. Shining Armor flailed his hooves around and blushed like crazy.

"N-no, it's not like that!"

"I'm not going to complain about Fluttershy, but are you trying to hit on my aunt?"

"No, I'm not... w-wait, aunt?"

"Yes. Celestia is my (non-blood related) aunt. Which makes Luna, her sister, my aunt as well."

"Okay... that's going to take some getting used to."

"Tell ME about it."

With another conversation derailed, two stallions once again fell silent. At least the weather was great, with hot sunny day only better with slight, cool breezes. Which didn't help their conversation skills at all, aside from possible weather conversation. Which they both avoided.

"You know," Shining Armor started again "I've been thinking..."

"Oh no..."

"I still can't get over the fact that I punched you that time..."

"If you say sorry one more time, I'm teleporting back to my bed!"

"So," he turned to Prince and looked him deep in his eyes "punch me!"

Prince blinked "What?"

"It'll make us even. Punch me, as hard as you can, right here!" his hoof pointed to his nose. 

"What? NO!" Prince stepped back, but was soon followed.

"I want that incident behind us!"

"I'm not going to punch you!"

"I INSIST!" Shining pushed forward...

"I REFUSE!" while Prince turned around and started marching away...

"JUST PUNCH ME AND GET THIS OVER WITH!" march turned into trot...

"STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!" and then into full on gallop.

"PUNCH ME, PLEASE!" he shouted nicely, as they passed a patient on a wheelchair...

"NO, THANK YOU!" along with Nurse Redheart.

Doctor Stable went outside of his office to check on the ruckus that was disturbing his paperwork. He witnessed two adult, white unicorn stallions chasing each other on the yard behind the hospital, one yelling at the other, asking for a punch, while other refused just as loudly. 
"Nurse, is there a logical explanation to this?"

"Maybe," she shook her head "but heck if I know it."

"I suppose you don't know either?" he turned to the patient.

"WHOOF, WHOOF!" answered the blue coated mare.

Even though they disturbed the peace of the entire hospital area, nopony dared to stop them. It was a fairly amusing spectacle and most ponies present were awed by sheer absurdity of it. Until...

"I-I... c-can't...b-breathe..." Prince panted his way through last lap, until he finally stopped and fell on his belly, sweating madly "...time, let-let... let me take... a break..."

To his credit, Shining Armor stopped and no longer bugged his exhausted friend. Exhausted after what most guards called 'one fifth of the pre-warm-up'. He was probably still weakened after his sleep.
"You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," he paused to let his heartbeat stabilize "I'm not used to this much activity."

"Right..." Shining scratched his head "...so, about that punch..."

"Oh for heaven's sake, will you cut it out already?"

"Not until we're even."

"We saved each others plots multiple times back in Everfree. We ARE even."

"What happened in Everfree, stays there."

Prince raised his hoof as he was about to respond, but... couldn't. That was actually a very good point, he couldn't argue with it. 
"I'm still not going to..."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not a brainless, giant brute who solves all his problems with vio-..." he cut short once his brain helped him register meaning of the words he just said. And what effect it had on the other unicorn, whose face slowly soured, as he slowly lowered his gaze towards the ground.  And now his hooves were shaking, which could mean only one thing. And Prince did not want to see a crying stallion again.

"OKAY, FINE!" he finally yelled, attracting Shining’s attention "I'll punch you!" Shining Armor smiled weakly "But only once! No more!" Shining gladly nodded and smiled brightly, as he stood straight and proudly presented his nose, waiting for the strike with anticipation.

Meanwhile, Doctor Stable and Redheart enjoyed the bizarre show from the distance.
"What is this, I don't even..." Doctor Stable facehooved. 

"Stallions..." Redheart shook her head, as she awaited with a first aid kit.

"WHOOF!"

Of all the things that happened over past few days, this might not be the most ridiculous moment... but it was close. Top 5, he guessed. Maybe even 4. 3. But if punching him meant earning his trust and strengthening their bond, then he would smack his new friend. It still felt wrong. First shouting at Luna, now this... how is this his new life? He was pretty sure there was nothing about hurting his friends in any books about friendship. 

Except the part that says 'DON'T'.

Smack!

Shining Armor felt a hoof. He stepped back and opened his eyes. No doubts about it, Prince Blueblood still had his hoof extended and breathing heavily. Heavier then him, at least. He put his hoof to his nose. There was blood. Some blood. A drop, maybe two. No more.
"What..." Shining said flatly "...what was that?"

"U-um..." 

"I asked for a punch."

"Well, I..."

"YOU CALL THAT A PUNCH?" he yelled, stepping forward and pushing Prince back "I call that 'a gentle nudge'! I mean, seriously, what the hay?"

"B-but..."

"No buts! I asked you to PUNCH me, not PET me! I hug my sister harder then this!"

"W-well, I... w-wait, you what who how then what?"

"D-DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT, SOLDIER!" Shining Armor shouted, but couldn't quite shake of the blush he inflicted on himself "I asked for a true punch in the nose!" 

Another awkward pause filled the atmosphere. And since they were outdoors on a sunny day, it said a lot when it overtook Celestia's great afternoon. At the very least, a doctor, few nurses, patients and some random ponies were enjoying it as well. Redheart heard several of her younger staff giggle and blush at the spectacle. And quite honestly, she couldn't take her eyes either. 

"Wait..." Shining started, his eye twitched as he looked at Prince "...was that all you had?" the lack of definite answer and awkward shifting in Prince's hooves said it all "THAT was all you had?"

"Well excuuuuuse me for not lifting weights in my spare time!"

"B-but, that was the level of..."

"Okay, so I'm not very strong! Big deal! I spent most of my life lazing around, reading and sleeping, cut me some slack!"

Shining snorted "My little sister hits harder then this."

"Then tell her to smack you in my stead, you dolt!"

"Don't call me that, you snob!"

"I will call you however I please, numbskull!"

"Pansy!"

"MORON!"

"WHAT ARE WE EVEN ARGUING ABOUT?"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

After 'who knows how long' of heated, if nonsensical debate, two unicorns finally took a well earned breather, once again going into the silence. For some reason, it didn't feel nearly as awkward as before. Was it because of the punch? Either way, the two smiled and snorted, which soon after turned into loud, healthy laughter. Several of the nurses dawwed and blushed, while everypony else just nodded in appreciation. They had little idea of what was going on, but they appreciated a good show when they saw one. 

"So, are we even now?" asked Prince, after he recovered "Because I'm not punching you anymore."

"You couldn't do that properly once," Shining rolled his eyes "I won't ask you to embarrass yourself anymore."

"Why thank you kindly." Prince mumbled through his teeth. But that aside, they were both happy to have that behind them. Shining Armor coughed.

"We never introduced ourselves properly to each other, so..." he extended a hoof and offered it with a smile "my name is Shining Armor. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

Prince snorted, but rolled with it anyway and extended his own hoof to bump his.
"And my name is Prince Blueblood. It's a pleasure to 'properly' meet you, Shining Armor."

The spectators dawwed again, much to two stallions obliviousness.

"Oh, wow," Shining raised and eyebrow "I think this is the first time you ever used my name!"

"I did?" Prince put a hoof to his chin and thought of all his interaction with Shining Armor. All the time it was just 'him', 'that guy', 'bodyguard', 'that idiot', but not once did he recall ever calling him by his name. To be honest, he couldn't recall even remembering it, not before they reunited in Everfree castle ruins anyway.
"Well, I guess there's a first time for everything." he shrugged.

"True. But friends can just call me Shiny."

"Okay... Shiny."

The public dawwed again, this time even louder. Few weaker hearted nurses fainted in the background. Redheart was tougher then these softies. 

"So," Shiny scratched his head "should I call you by your first name too?"

"Sure, sounds fair." Prince shrugged. 

"Okay then... Blue."

Prince Blueblood hissed. This brought back memories. Painful ones, making all sorts of assumptions jump into Prince's mind, delaying his response long enough to make Shining Armor significantly worried.

"Only one pony ever called me that," confessed Prince "and he turned out to be the biggest scumbag I ever met."

"So, I shouldn't?"

"No. I want you to call me that," he brightened "even if it's not my first name."

Shining Armor's head tilted "It...isn't?"

"Umm, yeah." answered slightly confused Prince, but not nearly as much as Shining Armor. Prince thought for a moment. One blink. Two. Then smile got bigger and turned into snort.
"Wait, don't tell me, you think my name is..."

"Blue Blood... right?" asked Shining, blushing as he recognized what the problem might be, while Prince was on the verge of exploding with laughter "I mean, when they introduced you, they said you were Prince Blue Blood, from... clan... Blueblood... oh..." and that was all Blue could take.

"PfffttBWAAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHA!"

"Wait, your name is PRINCE?!" Shiny asked. Even though he fell on the grass and almost rolled over himself, Prince still managed to somehow nod "B-b-b-b-but, you're Princess' nephew! And, and you're a noble, and you're a prince and... HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!"

Prince couldn't answer his question, as he was too busy rolling on the grass and ridding his lungs of any air it had, which took a while. Shining Armor stopped talking, just sat there, embarrassed and glad his friends weren't here to hear it. Or at least, that's what he thought, but still paid no attention to the mob gathered around.
Eventually Prince ran out of air and stopped laughing, slowly getting back on his hooves while breathing slowly.
"Oh, wow, just... you, my good sir," Prince started "when it comes to hilarious incompetence, have no equals. Nopony is even CLOSE to your level."

"Yeah, yeah..." Shining crossed his hooves and looked away.

"Are you trying to tell me, that since punching me, all the way since the train, entirety of Ponyville adventure, to Everfree and later when I was asleep, you never once even known my full name?"

"S-SHUT UP!" Shining yelled, but his frustrated expression only amused Prince even more "I bet you didn't know my name either!"

"True," Prince nodded "but what do I cared? I hated everything.."

"Oh yeah? Well, I didn't care either!"

"FINE!"

"FINE!"

Another awkward pause.

"We're still friends?"

"Yeah, I guess so..."

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA'S PLOT, WILL YOU TWO KISS ALREADY?"

Sudden shout from the crowd finally grabbed their attention. All of it and there was a lot of attention to be had. They gathered practically every single doctor (even Doctor), all the nurses, some of them happily unconscious (not Redheart though, she held on strong), most patients and even more random ponies around, creating a mob of around three dozen or so. In front were of course the other four element bearers, with Soarin being the most vocal one, though every single nurse (and then some) nodded to his idea. 

“H-how long...?” asked blushing Blueblood.

“Oh, just a while,” Thunderlane hummed “since 'my sister hits me'. By the way, not cool.” he shook his head, half joking.

“N-no, that's a misunderstanding!”

“Eyup, Ah bet it is.” said Macintosh, also forcing himself to hide the huge grin “So ya two ain't kissin'?”

The reply was synchronized pretty much perfectly.
“WHAT? NO! EWW!” they yelled, then stepped away from each other and turned away, blushing.

And as much as they enjoyed it, their friends felt obligated to help them.
“Okay, you heard them, everypony,” Doctor turned to the mob “no kissing today. Show's over, nothing to watch!”

The mob groaned in disappointment and slowly dispersed, with doctors and nurses going back to their respective jobs, dragging patients and fainted nurses away, leaving only six bearers of elements alone in the yard.

“Just so you know,” said Soarin “I am one hundred percent for. As long as you two are happy, I will be too. Love and tolerance, all the way.”

“Soarin,” Prince put a hoof on his pegasi friend “I appreciate you as a friend... but say one more word, and I'll break your nose.”

“I thought you don't want to punch anypony?” asked Shining Armor.

“I'm willing to make exceptions.” he muttered through his teeth, making Soarin smile a bit less comfortably.

“Nah, it's fine,” Thunderlane said, leaning over to Shining “he won't make any damage anyway.”





The rest of the day was spent in relatively awkward-less environment. Since leaving the hospital, they didn't do anything interesting. They had a proper meal in nearby restaurant, talked about stuff and generally did nothing unusual, yet hours went by in no time and sun was already setting down. It was officially time to say goodbye, as all Canterlot ponies concluded all their business concerning Nightmare Moon incident. Prince Blueblood's business in Ponyville was done and he could now come back home. Home sweet home. To the castle he didn't like, ponies he despised, streets he had no attachment to, places he associated with bad memories.

“Is anything bothering you, nephew?” asked Princess Celestia. She was among the last ponies who left Ponyville. Unlike other officials who traveled via train, she had her own chariot, now with an additional passenger. Aside from her, only a hooffull of guard ponies remained, including Captain Blitz Shield, who kept close to his princess.

“No, not really,” Prince shrugged “it's just, now that everything is over, I have a feeling my life will become a lot duller.”

“Yes, that is a possibility,” Celestia nodded “not much evil entities trying to take over Equestria remain back in Canterlot. Some, maybe. But most of the days will be filled with boredom. Trust me, I know,” she paused “though now that Lulu is back, I guess it'll be a bit more bearable.”

“Good for you auntie,” he sighed “well, I guess Shining Armor will be back in Canterlot too, and Soarin goes all the places so he'll visit. Not to mention, I could visit Ponyville once in a while. It's just few hours of train ride anyway.”

“Speaking of which, nephew, what are your plans for future? I'm guessing this adventure gave you a few things to think about.”

Prince thought. There was no way he was going back to his old life of parties and lazying around. Friendship aside, Everfree adventures taught him just how powerless he can be, especially alone and his friends won't always be around at his every call. But more then that, he learned how useful he could be with just a single well placed spell. Something had to be done about it.

“I want to go back to school,” he said, raising his head high to match his aunts surprised eyes “I was so close to graduating, I should fix that first. Then I'll think of what else to do with my life... does that sounds good?”

Princess smiled brightly and nuzzled him gently.
“You have no idea how happy that makes me. Of course that sounds great and I'll support all your decisions from now on.”

With that said, Prince's life was taking a different turn once again. All that was left to do, was to say goodbye to them. Well, not all of them, but he would still miss those crazy guys he learned to appreciate. Even Soarin. Princess Celestia smiled brightly and unleashed her one last weapon.

“By the way nephew, did you know that we support correspondence courses?”





“Hey, where did that smile come from?” asked Doctor, as Prince soon joined them, smiling way too much for somepony who was just about to say...

“I'm staying!” he announced happily. Apparently, all it took to take correspondence courses in university, was having all the books and reference materials, along with a fairly simple spell to exchange letters with teachers, which would take about an hour to learn.

“So, I guess only I'm saying goodbye...” said Shining Armor, scratching his head. All of a sudden, other five realized that despite being element of magic, world did not revolved around just Prince Blueblood.

“Hey, you can still visit, right?” asked Thunderlane, bumping Shining Armor.

“And I'll still have to go get exams in Canterlot, we could hang out then.” Prince reassured him. 

“Yeah, but still, I'll miss you guys a lot.”

The conversation was interrupted by Captain Blitz Shield, who walked to Shining Armor and cough, catching his attention. Shiny saluted.
“Sir, Private Shining Armor ready to go back to the line of duty, sir!”

“Yes Private, about that... you're still suspended.”

Shining Armor's face bleaked.
“B-but...”

“Oh come on!” Prince protested, his claims supported by his other friends “He helped save Equestria and saved us more times then I can count! Or is being element of goddamn LOYALTY not enough to be a guard anymore?”

“He left struggling village after it was attacked by ancient evil entity,” said Blitz Shield, moving closer to all five of Shiny's friends. And despite being outnumbered, his presence pushed them back easily “ignored my order to protect civilians to go on a suicide mission without consent of any superiors and succeed only due to a massive fluke.”

“B-but, Nightmare Moon...?” Prince started, but was immediately shut down with a single glare.

“That said, Private!” he turned to Shining Armor “Due to Princess Celestia's request, you are assigned to become a private bodyguard and servant of Prince Blueblood, for the entire time of his studies, until graduation or any further notice.”

“W-what?” Shiny's eyes widened significantly. There were many cheers from his friends, most notably Prince Blueblood, even if he downplayed his emotions. He looked over at Princess Celestia, who winked at him. 'Well played, auntie!', he thought. She planned this all along and he was fine with it.





“So, this is goodbye then,” said Princess Luna, just before boarding the golden chariot of her sister “Next time we see each other, it'll be under better circumstances, I hope.”

“So do I,” Prince nodded “we both have a lot of work before us. But, if you ever wish to talk to somepony...”

“Yes, I know,” she nodded as well “Take care of yourself... nephew.”

“You too, auntie.” they stood there for a moment, deciding if it was okay to show more affection, but settled on just exchanging nods. One step a time.

After Luna sat in the chariot, there was only one thing left to do. He turned to Celestia.
“So... we'll see each other later, then?” asked Prince. Celestia nodded.

“You still need to come back to castle for your baggage. And to fill out forms in university, and pass the entrance exam once again...”

“Yeah, I know...” he rolled his eyes “Oh, and auntie, back when we talked about Ceasar...”

“Forget I said that. You are not him and I don't expect you to be like he was...”

“Actually,” he interrupted her “he sounds like a really great pony. I would like to hear some more stories about him. You know, over tea, once in a while...”

Princess smile grew tenfold, as well as her heart.
“I would love that!” she happily exclaimed. There was a short pause, before her smiled turned sour and she added “He was a klutz.”

“W-what?”

“Ceasar, Your ancestor, was a giant klutz!” her face soured and she closed her eyes in irritation “Yes, he was smart, kind and a great pony overall, but sweet heavens, I lost track how many tea cups shattered in his hooves. He even destroyed a special unbreakable crystal cup, made for him especially... I didn't even know it was possible!” she groaned at the memory.

“He... sounds like quite a character.”

“You have no idea...”

Well, that came out of nowhere. Prince decided it was time to end this conversation, and the best way to say goodbye, was a hug, which he did. And she wrapped her wings around him as well.

“You're the best aunt ever.” 

“Do me a favor, nephew,” she started while they were still together “say that again once you get to know Luna better.”

“I'll make no such promise.”

“Oh, why you little...” she shook his head with a hoof.

“What, are you getting jealous?” he asked slyly.

“No way! There's no way I'll be replaced by my little sister...” she looked away “aren't you jealous that you won't be my only close family?”

“No way! There's no way she'll ever take my spot in your heart.”

They fell silent for a moment. So it was possible to have awkward moments with Celestia as well, Prince thought.
“Okay, I am jealous,” admitted Celestia “but just a little.”

“So am I... just a bit.”

Laugh was the last thing they exchanged before un-hugging.





After both Princesses left Ponyville, it felt... quiet. Now that six bearers of elements were finally alone, there was one urgent business left to attend.

“Okay, you kept quiet for a long time,” Thunderlane turned to Soarin and wrapped his wing around his shoulders “now we can talk about that 'hunt' you kept bugging us about all this time.”

“Yeah, there's only so much time before you have to leave Ponyville,” said Doctor “when do you leave, by the way?”

Soarin hummed. His trademark smile was somewhere else, not on his face.
“We have plenty of time for that. I won't be moving from Ponyville anytime soon.”

As expected, this comment was met with five confused faces. 

“They fired me,” he calmly confessed “I'm not a Wonderbolt anymore.”

Pause. Blink.

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--??!!”
> 21. One last time, Welcome to Ponyville!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soarin loved Ponyville. He spent his early days in Cloudsdale, later moved to Manehattan and lived there for almost all his life till adulthood, before becoming a Wonderbolt and sticking mostly to Canterlot. Ponyville was the first time he experienced what slow life meant, and he loved it! The roads were empty, but what was there in form of ponies, were all nice and kind folks, unlike the snobby, self-centered citizens of big cities. 
Not to mention, it was full of eye candy, regular candy and even eye-candy serving regular candy. Bonbon's bonbon's were super good. Too bad BonBon was not interested. Other then that, Ponyville was a sweet place to be, even better once Prince finally wakes up and all six of them would finally go and rock this town... in a good way.

All it was left, was keep his end of the bargain and gather the courage to convince Spitfire to come. Shouldn't be too hard. She plays tough, but breaks easily once he whines enough. With that plan in mind, he walked to her hotel room and raised his hoof to knock. He stopped, as he heard some loud noises coming from inside. 
Intrigued, he quietly put an ear to the door and listened.

"... sorry Spits, but we all agree on this one!" the voice belonged to Cloud Star, the vice-captain. After previous leader retired, he was considered to be his replacement, but Spitfire was chosen instead. A choice he supported wholeheartedly.

"You guys can't be serious!" Spitfire objected "Sure, he's not the greatest flier there is..."

"Then why is he here?" this voice belonged to Misty Breeze, ranked nr 1 in terms of sex appeal among all the fliers around the Equestria despite being a complete tomboy "Did 'not the best' become the new tag-line of Wonderbolts when I wasn't watching?"

"Misty has a point," the voice belonged to Echo. She was awesome due to one simple fact- she was blind, yet perfectly capable of navigating with echolocation. And she was still leagues more skilled then Soarin "hundreds of trainees are dying for a place in the team, all of them way more talented. How is that fair to them?"

"Guys, can't you just give him one more chance?" Spitfire tried to sound calm, but didn't do a good job of it "I mean, he's making progress..."

"Not fast enough!" interrupted Fleetfoot. Despite being a model Wonderbolt, she had the misfortune to look almost exactly like Echo, but have a perfect vision. She struggled to make a name for herself, other then 'not a blind one'.
"We gave him a chance. And another. And then another. Just face it spits, he's just not good enough."

"And how do you know that?" Spitfire raised her voice. He could hear a chair falling near her "This was supposed to be his first major show! It's not his fault it was interrupted by ancient evil goddess!"

"Look, we're not blaming him for being scared. That's a perfectly natural reaction," said Cloud Star "but I'm not going to put my trust in a pony that runs away FOR DAYS, when the team needs him the most!"

That was it. Soarin really wanted to enter the room and confess everything, tell them that he's the element of laughter and risked his life to save them all. Unfortunately, nopony was to know the truth, so he had to make a lie about running away from Ponyville and hiding for several days. Maybe if he asked Princess Celestia, she would make an exception. The list of ponies that were 'in', other then Princesses and Captain of Guard, was limited, but existed. 
Ditzy and Dinky knew, because Doctor doesn't keep secrets from them.
Applejack was informed as well and she swore to keep it to herself.
Rumble knew, but only because Thunderlane told him before they were informed of the secrecy.
Spitfire was his best friend, he knew her since pretty much forever, it wouldn't hurt to at least tell her.

But then what? She would keep a 'hero' among their ranks. A hero who ran away, keeps on screwing up and can't catch up. His mere existence caused fighting among the group. The longer he stayed, the more he would drag them down and worst of all, Spitfire would lose her credibility as a leader for allowing her incompetent friend to stay, despite general disapproval.

"Look, it's not that we hate him," Cloud Stars claim helped, but only a bit "he's a great guy, a good friend and best wing pony I could think of. But he's not a Wonderbolt."

"Be honest with us Spitfire," said Misty "none of us would be able to get away with half the stuff he does."

He heard a loud sigh. Probably Spitfire.

"I know it's hard for you," he heard Cloud Star "but the sooner he leaves, the better for all of us. Especially for him."

That was all he needed to hear. 





Throughout his entire life, Soarin was many things. Recently, he was a Wonderbolt. Clumsy, unskilled, but a Wonderbolt indeed. Now, he was alone, pondering. Not something he did often, but it was about time, now that the biggest chapter in his life was ending.

One of the many great things about Ponyville, ponies aside, was the scenery. Soarin flew a long way just to find the most green hill he could, with the best panorama imaginable only to lay on it and observe in peace. Looking at the setting sun was a completely new experience, knowing how hard he worked and how much he risked to bring it up again. It was worth it, but the cost was dear.

"Hey." he heard the sweetest, friendliest voice call him. In any time of his life, it would instantly pull him up from the grass, but now he didn't want to face her.

"I said hey!" too bad she put her face right in front of him. And sweet Celestia, she had her hair down, held by two black hair clips on the sides. And she wore glasses. He looked away. Stupid sexy librarian Spitfire, why is her face so pretty?

"Hey." he answered, less enthusiastic then ever. She did noticed he wasn't in a mood, but pressed on anyway.

"So, where's the lucky lady of the day? Let me guess, she'll be back with friends and I should scram before I get mixed up in one of your o--" she couldn't finish, as Soarin interrupted her.

"Just tell me I'm fired already!" 

Spitfire's ears drooped, as she looked at her friend, lying on the ground. He was depressed, a rare view.
"You eavesdropped us?"

"Yeah..."

"Pfft, don't listen to these morons. Cloud is still jealous that I'm in charge, and Misty..."

"...is right. They all are."

Spitfire tried to interject and deny it, but couldn't. They both knew what the truth was. And it hurt.
She walked next to him and fell on her back, enjoying the same view he did.
"Damn, you picked the most awesome view! That is one kickass panorama!"

"Mmhm."

They didn't say anything for the longest time. Minutes passed, the sun was slowly going down, soon to be replaced by the moon.

"This is not fair," Spitfire broke the silence first "we dreamed about this our entire lives! Who died and made THEM a leader, huh? If I want a clumsy manwhore in MY Wonderbolts, who the buck are they to deny me that, huh?" Soarin didn't say anything "Do they have any idea how hard we worked to get here? Motherbuckers just step on pony dreams like it was some trash in their way!"

"Spitfire..."

"Me, biased?! HA! So I chose you over hundreds other ponies because you're my friend? BIG BUCKING DEAL! I know you better then anypony and I know you'll be the biggest and baddest bucking flier there is!"

"Spitfire..."

"And I trained you like a bucking slave to get you where you are. But no, you need to be this awesome to enter the team... says bucking who? If they're oh so perfect, why do they even train anymore?"

"SPITFIRE!" he finally yelled "That's enough!"

"B-but..."

"I'm just not good enough, end of the story. No use lying to ourselves."

Once again they fell into silence, again content with just observing the sun fading away. 
"Okay, it's decided then," Spitfire stood up and sat in front of Soarin, blocking last rays of sun with her well shaped, sexy body "you're fired!"

Relief. Soarin was able to sigh, now that the worst part of the day was over, going away with the sun. To be completely honest, it didn't feel that bad. No more trainings, team will get a new, better, replacement, a pony who dreamed and worked harder then he ever did. He'll be free again to date and hang out with anypony he wished. Best of all, he and Spitfire are still friends, nothing will change that. Maybe being a Wonderbolt wasn't for him...

"See you next tryouts then."

...he had honestly no idea what he was supposed to do now. Find a different job, some new apartment now that he's out of Wonderbolts dorms and...

"Wait, what?"

"You were right," she said "my training regime was a bit too much for you, you burned out quickly. You are you and I gotta respect that, which is why," she closed her face dangerously to his own. Urge to kiss and ravage her was strong... if he wasn't scared so much "take some break, bang some nameless hoes left and right 'Soarin Style' and later at the tryouts, you'll show'em who'se da boss!"

"Umm..."

"Who's da boss, Soarin?"

"Umm..." he shifted his eyes, then pointed hoof at her "...you?"

"BUCK YES I AM!" she sent an echo throughout the valley "And you know who else will be?"

"Umm... Cloud Sta--?"

"YOU!"

"EEEP!"

She lifted him up on all four and glared him deep into the soul.
"Yes, you! I made a mistake of picking you up when you weren't ready, but this time you will be." she wrapped her wings around his shoulder and extended her hoof forward, pointing at setting sun "Because by the time you're back, you'll be the biggest and baddest of asses they ever seen!" She smelled of burnt logs and almonds. A damn weird combo, not very feminine, but sweet Celestia, he loved it.
"So what do you say, next-boss? Are you with me?"

Soarin shifted his eyes left and right. If she saw his giant blush, she ignored it "Umm... yes?"

"Can't hear ya. Say it louder."

"Yes..."

"Louder."

"Yes."

"LOUUUUDEEEER!"

He gasped as much air as he could, before exhaling it all.
"YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSS!"

Some birds flew away from a tree. Soarin breathed heavily, too absorbed with hype and emotions to notice, that Spitfire's wing was no longer on him. When he finally came to his mind, he looked down at the messed up Captain of Wonderbolts, with disheveled hair and  shattered glasses, twitching on the ground.

"Umm... too loud?"





Next day, six new friends met at a small cafe to officially commemorate three new residents of Ponyville over a glass of soft cider. It was only afternoon, harder stuff had to wait till later.
"So, Soarin," Thunderlane started "did you find a place to stay? I have a spare guest room in my house, if you want to."

"Nah, I already got this covered," he hoofwaved and displayed the big grin "remember Cloudchaser and Flitter?" he asked the others. Prince was filled on this detail the other day, how Soarin managed to score two lesbians in a threesome. Anypony else he would doubt, but this was Soarin, so it was legit.
"I met them yesterday evening. Turns out, Flitter has this big, expensive house from her parents and Cloudchaser was unemployed for the longest time, so they were looking for a roommate to share the rent. And here I am." he preened proudly "Under one roof with two beauties, helping their financial status and all legal. Life is awesome."

He received some nods of approval. They couldn't help but awe at their friend, realizing dreams of all the stallionhood in reality. There was only one pony not quite okay with this.

"Oh come on!" Thunderlane shot his arms up, almost spilling his cider "I offer you a place out of my sheer kindness and you... you... How do you even do this? This isn't fair!"

Soarin raised an eyebrow and smiled smugly.
"Jelly?"

"YES I AM JELLY!" he stood up with the statement, ignoring the fact that he was now in center of attention "I mean, jealous over the fact that for some inexplicable reason, YOU of all ponies get all the ladies!"

"Would you rather be in his horseshoes?"

"YES!" he answered quicklz  "What's fair about one guy who gets it all without trying? Why can't I get some action too?"
instantly, all his friends hissed and pulled back "I'm an adult, handsome stallion in a town full of mares! What does he have that I don't?"

Much to his surprise, his friends didn't bother answering. He expected some nasty comments and jokes. Good looks, charm, money, fame, better haircut- the possibilities for a joke were too good to pass on, yet...
Doctor shook his head. Big Macintosh facehooved. Shining Armor kept crossing his hooves into an x. Blueblood kept gesturing the 'cut throat' with his hoof. Soarin put a hoof to his mouth and stifled laughter. What did they mean?

"OH, so you want MORE action, huh?" he recognized the voice behind him. And he wanted to buck himself "Well, you're on a very good way to get some... FROM SOMEPONY ELSE!"

Thunderlane was covered in sweat, as he turned to Blossomforth, with the 'I might be smiling, that but just hides my rage' look on her face. 

"Oh, hehe, hi sweetheart," he gulped and walked to her slowly. She did not budge, but he could feel the heat coming from her. And not the good one "you look especially lovely today."

"You want some action? Here, let me give you some," she answered through her teeth, then walked right past her coltfriend to the table where his friends sat terrified. Without asking she grabbed Soarin's cider mug, which was almost full, then splashed it straight into Thunderlane's face. 
"There, you liked it?" she asked viciously, while gently putting the mug back "Because that's the last time you get something from me!" she once again turned to other stallions, who instinctively covered their faces "Good day, gentlecolts!"

With that said, she flew away, leaving all five stallions relatively unharmed, and her coltfriend dripping with cider. Thunderlane sighed deeply and slowly got back to his seat. Then he shot his face into the table and left it there.

"I know we should be consoling you," said Doctor, scratching his head "but you had that coming."

"Shut up." replied Thunderlane, not even bothering to lift his head up, content on just looking at the table the moment.

"Shouldn’t we do something about it?" asked distraught Shining Armor.

"Nope," Bic Mac shook his head "happens all the time. They'll be back together tomorrow mornin'."

Soarin resisted his urge to make a snappy comment. Thunderlane suffered enough, as guilty as he was. Nothing good will come out of telling them that he was glad that for once, it wasn't him. Then he'd have to explain that he meant 'something behind me', not the splash in face. That only happened once. She was ginger.

"Umm,excuse me!"

The awkwardness was interrupted by the newcomer, a pink mare with long, straight blonde hair, decorated with a single lily. Shining Armor had this strange feeling that he knew her... but couldn't honestly tell why. He remembered she had a lily cutie mark, but forgot her name, if he ever knew.  Right now, she stood before the table, with some kind of big package wrapped around in a paper on her back, trembling once Shining looked at her. She blushed and shifted her eyes left and right, opening and closing her mouth rapidly, but aside from few squeeks and whines, no sound came out.
She was soon joined by two more mares, one with rose, other with daisy cutie mark. They pushed her toward Shining Armor, where she panicked and started stuttering. Rose maned mare jabbed her at the flank and gestured to finally get over with it. Whatever 'it' was.

She finally stepped closer to Shining, took a deep gasp and said.
"Umm, I, umm... Iwanttotahnkyouforthehelpatthepartyandsavingmeandthengivingme
thatcakeatthefairitwasgoodbutIranawaylikeacowardsohereIamtosay 
<long gasp>
thanksandIbroughtsomeflowersfrommyshophopeyoulikethembythewaymynameisLily
anditsgettinghotinhere... so... KAYTHANKSBYE!"

With that said, she put the package at the table, bowed and rushed away from the table.

"Miss, watch out for..."

SMASH!"

"... cart!"

Shining Armor was about to stand up and rush to her to help, but was outpaced by her two flower friends, who rushed towards her and helped her with wiping the dirt and tears. He could swear the rose one glared at him with disgust, but couldn't tell why.

"Did that just happened?" asked Prince, tilting his head as he observed the flower trio.

"I blinked, what did I miss?" asked Doctor, looking around the table. Breaking one of his oldest rules always made his life worse.

"I have no idea." answered Shining Armor. He looked at the package and took a peek inside. Sure enough, it was full of flowers, which smelled like a delicious snack. Or decoration. Or a gift to somepony, which they technically were. If only he knew why.

"I told you, man," Soarin smiled at Shiny "she llllikes you!" he giggled and used that moment of confusion to order another mug of cider.

"Yo!"

Unlike previous encounter, there was no way his testicles could forget the next pony. And not in a good way.

"Rainbow Dash?" he asked, looking at the rainbow maned pegasus, standing there, nervously shifting her legs. She was wearing a small satchel around her head, looking around nervously. 

"Yeah, so, umm..." she started nervously scratching her head “what's with Thunderlane?”

“Blossom.” Mac answered shortly. Rainbow nodded and shrugged.

"Anyway, I just wanted to, you know... give you this!" before Shining could ask, she pulled out a small box, cheap looking box of chocolates and nonchalantly threw it on the table. Stallions, sans Thunderlane, looked at the box, then back at the now furiously blushing Rainbow Dash.

"D-don't get the wrong idea!" she said nervously, flailing her hooves "I-I don't like you or anything, it's just to show gratitude for, you know... earlier..."

Shining's eyes widened as he connected the dots "Oh! That. Y-you didn't need to..."

"I always pay back my debts! Yeah, that's what it is, a debt!" her blush wasn't convincing anypony, except Shiny of course "Thunderlane, back me up! Do I pay back my debts?"

"Yeah, sure boss." he waved his hooves, not even bothering to raise his head from the table.

"See? Now we're even, kay?"

"Umm... sure." answered Shining Armor, more intimidated then convinced.

"What happened between you two?" asked curiously Prince Blueblood, not exactly sure when they even met. Probably when he was in coma, there was no other way.

"NOTHING!" they shouted in unison, noticed it, blushed and averted their eyes from each other. Soarin tried very hard to stifle his giggles.





"Did you see that? Oh, that guy has some nerves!" asked angry pegasus filly, as she pressed her eyes dangerously close to binoculars.

"See what?" asked a white unicorn filly at her side.

"He threatened her! That villain is making Rainbow Dash his slave!" she growled viciously at her target.

"Who? Shinin' Armor?" asked Applebloom, as she and the unicorn filly looked at her pegasi friend "He ain't a bad pony. Big Macintosh says he's a good friend o'his."

"Shining Armor..." the pegasus repeated "...you'll pay for what you did to her at the day of Summer Sun Celebration! Nopony assaults THE DASH on my watch!" even though he did exactly that, but she didn't say it.

"Scootaloo, are you sure?" asked unicorn filly "They look more like they actually li--"

"I'LL DESTROY HIM!"

Her two friends stepped away from the bushes and had a private conversation.
"Applebloom, what do we do? She started talking like Rarity. She scares me!"

"Ah know Sweetie Belle. We gotta keep'er away from 'im. Ah dun'want any of us to have a 'murder' cutie mark!"

Sweetie Belle stopped to think.
"What would it even look like?"

"Ah dunno. And Ah dun'wanna know!" they both nodded.





"Umm, excuse me?" another voice came out from... behind Rainbow Dash? 

“Wait, there's more?” asked Prince to nopony in particular.

Even Dash was surprised to see that nopony else, but Fluttershy managed to hide herself behind her much smaller friend. She had a gift of creating an invisible aura around her when she wanted to. And now she walked out of Dash's metaphorical-shadow into the view, looking at Shining Armor.

"How many more are there?" asked confused Prince, getting no answer from either Mac or Doctor. Thunderlane didn't care. Soarin had to turn back not to look at Fluttershy and make the same mistake Shining did, instantly locking his gaze into her eyes. His urge to hug and pet her was very strong, but he fought it back.

"Mister Shining Armor, I wanted to apologize for running away before, I was so scared of that noise, I didn't even think of saying goodbye!" 

Shining Armor inhaled and exhaled at the dangerous speed. Groping and molesting, even non-sexual in nature, were crimes he would never forgive himself for. Even if molesting is technicallya sexual assault in definition, but he couldn't think straight. Sweet Celestia, why was Fluttershy so cute?

"So, I, umm," she pulled out a basket (where did she even get it from?) and put it before Shining Armor "I made some brownies for you and your friends. I hope you'll like them... if they're okay, that is..." she stepped back and averted her head, making her hair cover half her face "...I'm not a very good cook, but I did my best, so, umm, please try and enjoy them, if that's okay with you."

Shining Armor froze. His eyes stopped on Fluttershy's embarrassed face, awaiting his answer. He took a breath and stood up.
"Excuse me, I need to... freshen myself up. I'll be right back."

He turned right and ran straight forward.
"The toilet's that... way!" said Prince Blueblood, pointing left, at the opposite direction.

Even Thunderlane raised his head to observe with others as Shining Armor ran straight towards the small bridge, jumped right from it into the river, making a loud splash. Few seconds later he emerged from the water and slowly walked towards his seat. He sat once again, dripping all over the way, but smiling regardless.

"Umm..." Fluttershy tilted her head "...are you feeling alright?"

"Perfect," he replied with a bright, wide smile "I feel much better."

"Rrright," Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes "Fluttershy, I think we should go now." the yellow pegasus nodded and they stepped back. 

"Umm, I guess we'll see each other later," shy pegasus said quietly" if you don't mind, so... bye!"

And gone they were. Shining Armor turned around to his table. Prince telekinetically grabbed all the presents- flowers, chocolates and basket of brownies, and pulled it away, before Shining Armor FACED the table, Thunderlane style.

"This town..." Shiny started weakly.

"...is awesome!" Soarin ended, laughing out loud.

Everypony nodded and sipped on their cider. The thought of helping themselves to a brownie crossed their minds, but they opted on letting Shiny take a well deserved rest instead. At least nopony disturbed them anymore.





"Dashie, I must say, I'm really proud of you." admitted Fluttershy on their way back. Dash raised her head with pride, welcoming a much needed ego-grooming after all that happened.

"Of course you are. After all, I'm your bestest and awesomest pony ever!"

They walked for a few steps more.

"By the way, which part of me are you impressed with today? And don't say 'everything', I already know that."

"W-well, I'm impressed by how humble you acted today," Fluttershy answered. Dash raised an eyebrow. That wasn't something she often heard about herself.

"I mean, you spent all that time at the table, calm and collected when you thanked Shining Armor for... well, I'm not sure what but that's okay with me... while a Wonderbolt was sitting right next to him! 
Everypony always keeps saying how that's the only thing you talk about and you would do anything to talk to them, but here you were, acting like a real mature mare. This just proves that... Dashie?" she looked at her left to notice that Rainbow Dash was not walking with her anymore. She turned around to notice her stopping and sitting on the ground, looking at the ground, many steps back. Fluttershy carefully walked to her friend.

"Shy..." Dash said quietly, looking at her trembling front hooves "...what is happening to me?"

Fluttershy couldn't answer this question. All she could do was pat her poor friend and hope for the best.





After saying goodbye to their friends and drying up a bit, Blue and Shiny finally left to their new home. Apparently, the library, where so much happened, was currently deserted after previous librarian retired and moved away to Trottingham to live with her foals and grandfoals. It had two bedrooms, kitchen, two bathrooms and even a basement, among other attractions. The downside was having to actually run it, but Ponyville was a small town anyway so it shouldn't be too busy. And it was full of reference materials for Prince's studies, it was just perfect for his new life.

Except... an orange filly blocking their way just appeared before them. They stopped, all of Shiny's gifts levitating behind them. She stared Shining Armor straight into soul, at least so it seemed, as he awkwardly looked around.

“Umm, can we help yo--” Shining started, but was interrupted.

“You'll pay for your crimes, scumbag!” she suddenly said. Her proud, intimidating speech she spent all two minutes of thinking up was taking effect. As in, Shiny and Blue raised their eyebrows and looked at each other, shrugging.

“I think you confused me with somepony else...”

“Don't think I don't know what you did, SHINING ARMOR!” she pressed on, scaring exactly nopony. It was actually quite an adorable look, but they didn't want to say that to her “And I will make sure justice is served!”

Shining Armor raised his hoof to say something, but was lost. She clearly knew who he was and had something against him, but he couldn't figure out what.
His train of thought was interrupted, when two fillies tackled the pegasus , pinning her into the ground, where she struggled and moved around, growling like a little beast.

“Oh, hehehe, please forgive Scoots,” said the white filly unicorn “she got, umm, excited! Yes, excited!” 

“We were just playin', you know...” added Applebloom “...oh hey, look at the time, we need ta go to...” she thought. Thankfully her unicorn partner backed her up.

“Dinner! We need to go get dinner! Can't be late, or Rarity will, umm... you know...”

“BYE!” yelled both, as they dragged the orange filly with them. She managed to wiggle her mouth out of their hooves and say her last words.

“Sleep with your eyes open, villain! Because you never know when JUSTICE finds you! AND I AM JUSTIIIIIICE...” she announced while being dragged by the other two.

When the fillies were gone, the stallions still stood on the road and pondered for a moment. Shining felt a hoof at his back. He turned to see Ditzy Doo, in her full mailmare uniform and saddlebag full of letter. She was smiling at him, eyes as derped as ever, when she said:

“Welcome to Ponyville!”




The beginning...
> TEASE#1: Oh my DARLING!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Life in Ponyville was rarely boring, even for a farmer like Big Macintosh. Especially Big Macintosh, one of the very few, but very much desired, bachelors left in this town. For one reason or another, single stallions were a rare commodity in Ponyville and what was there left, was usually not somepony you wanted to date. Unless you REALLY liked jelly...

Mac had to break hearts all the time, sometimes even having to be saved by Applejack, who unlike her kindness incarnate big brother, didn't have reservations on using force to say 'no, get yer buckin' hooves of mah brother!'. Perhaps the arrival of not just one, or two but three new stallions, all handsome and unique in their own ways, would somehow help his case. He doubted it. 

“Macintosh, you have mail!” Granny Smith was just finishing the dinner for today when Mac came back home. She pointed him at the table, where several envelopes laid waiting. Some were obviously just bills, there was one farming magazine they subscribed, along with several letters, probably from relatives that couldn't join them this years reunion. And there was one more, addressed to Big Macintosh himself. He reached out for it with eagerness, when...

“YOINK!” 

A small figure of a filly leaped at the table, grabbed a desired letter with her mouth and jumped away, before Macintosh could react. All in a span of two seconds. 

“Applebloom!” said slightly irritated Macintosh, as his little sister walked few steps back and examined the envelope carefully.

“Oooh, it's from... Darling!” she giggled and blushed a little, as she read just that on the sender “Big Mac has a filly-friend!” she sung. Macintosh walked to the filly, but she was too fast and dodged just as he was trying to grab the letter.

“Applebloom, give it back!” he ordered, but was completely ignored as little filly was dancing around him.

“Mac and Darlin', sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-UGHH!”

Her dance was stopped when she collided with another tall figure that suddenly appeared from around the corner. She fell on the ground, dropping the envelope on the ground, which her big sister picked up and examined carefully.

“Applebloom, what did Ah say 'bout takin' somepony's correspondence?” asked Applejack, looking straight into her filly sister.

“Ahm sorry!” her ears drooped, as Applejack nodded and pointed her at the table, where the filly obediently walked to.

Glad that this was resolved, Big Macintosh smiled at his sister (the bigger one) and walked to her.
“Thanks AJ.” he extended his hoof to reach for the letter... but Applejack moved her hoof to the left, avoiding his. He raised an eyebrow and tried to take it again, but she moved her hoof with letter again. And then again. And one more time.

“Applejack!” muttered Big Macintosh, looking at a smug smile on her face.

“Ya didn't say 'please'.”

“AJ...”

“That's the least ya could do for yer... DARLING!”

Macintosh grunted and turned to one last sane pony in this room.
“Granny, tell 'er somethin'!”

“Play nice, children!” answered Granny, not even taking her eyes from the stove. Mac grumbled again. It was going to be one of those days again...

> TEASE#2: Nerds!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two days ago, Canterlot was on a verge of apocalypse, without sun, without Princess to rule or even Captain of guards to keep the order within the city. Today, sun was shining, streets were clean and lively as always, Princess was back and even brought another with her. Apparently Nightmare Moon attacked Ponyville, but the Princess managed to not only take her out after long battle, but also save her own sister, Luna, from thousand years imprisonment she suffered from Nightmare Moon. 
So aside from having two rulers, nothing changed and life was going as slowly as ever, especially in the University dorms.

“So, how do I look?” asked Moondancer, as she finally left the bathroom, now sporting a fancy, tight red dress, along with a golden necklace and matching purse. Twilight and Sunset, both sitting at the small foldable table, glanced at her.

“Like a tramp looking for porn producers to hire her.” answered honestly Sunset Shimmer, yawning. 

“I wouldn't use these exact words...” Twilight Sparkle scratched her head “but yeah, what she said.”

“Perfect!” announced Moondancer, as she looked into their door mirror and made few last adjustments “Don't wait for me girls, I'll be late today.”

“You always are.” said Twilight “Even when you say you'll be late.”

“Well, that's the cost of being able to live a little,” Moondancer shrugged “you girls should join me once in a while, get some life.”

“Pass!” they both announced, now nervously tapping the table and waiting for her to get out. They loved her, but like family, at times she was the best when she was far away from them. 

“So, who is the lucky bastard today?” asked Sunset, more out of boredom then curiosity “Anypony we know and should mourn already?”

“Yup, you know him. We all met him just two days ago.” she answered calmly, not taking her eyes of her reflection.

Twilight and Sunset nodded and looked back at their table, but quickly realized something.
“Wait, two days ago was...” Twilight Started, but Moondancer interrupted her.

“Yes, Summer Sun Celebration,” she nodded “I'm going with Silver Sword.”

Her friends looked at each other, raising an eyebrow, then back at Moondancer.
“Moonie, you do realize that he's...” Twilight started.

“Gay? Yes, I know.”

“You're not trying to 'convert' him, are you?”

“Oh heavens, no way!” she turned back to the two “Don't you girls see it?” Moondancer smiled brightly and waited for about a second, before bouncing and giggling like mad “I have my very own GAY BEST FRIEND! SQUEE”

Her happy outburst was met with a long pause and general ignorance.
“Sure, whatever makes you happy.” Sunset shrugged, Twilight nodding.

“Well, it's been fun talking to you girls,” she walked to the door and opened it with magic “but 'the hunt' won't begin by itself. So... see ya, nerds!” and with that she walked away and closed the door.

Sunset and Twilight looked at her for a moment before snorting.
“She did NOT just say that!” said Twilight, shaking her head.

“Like she's any better then us,” Sunset hoof waved and turned back to the table “okay, so where were we?”

“Right, let's see...” Twilight picked her hand of cards (why it's not called 'hoof' was beyond her) and looked through her options, humming. She levitated one of them into the air.
“Okay then, I summon Flamengo!” she put a card on her territory. It showed a large, burning flamingo that breathed fire. It had a power level of 3000, with 2000 life, with 'Energetic' keyword, meaning it could attack the same turn it is summoned. Just enough to defeat Sunset's Fireptile, a chameleon-like creature with flaming eyebeams, power level 1000 and 2000 life, with double attack special power. But something was wrong- Fireptile was immune to fire damage. Did Twilight make a mistake? No, impossible, this is a newbie error. Unless...

“And I'm attaching 'Twist the Elements' to it!” she announced happily, as she put a certain card from her hand to it. Sunset gasped. Twist the Elements was a 'modifier' card that is attached to your creature. Whenever it attacks, you may lower it's attack by 500 and change it's element to any other. A very rare tactic, requires a pro player and well made deck to pull of.

“And I'm attacking your Fireptile with it! HA!” she turned the card sideways, signifying that it's using its action (usually attack) “Any counters?” she asked with a smug face. 

Sunset cringed. Twilight knew Sunset had nothing, because she just earlier used 'Demagify', which forced her opponent to discard any spells she had. All Sunset was left with, was a 'Sacrifice' (which could only be used on her turn and it was too late to use it without losing) and 'Electrical Rod' (which dealt lightning damage to its user, so it's best used on those immune to it).  She shook her head and removed Fireptile from the game, also throwing a 'point' token to Twilight, who gladly accepted it. 

She had just one token left, the end was near. Sunset had to trust her deck to pull out something amazing this turn. She pulled out...
“Hex Salmon?” she cried and FACED the table, shaking all the cards on it. It didn't matter, she lost anyway. Witch Salmon had a special ability- 'if this monster is in play at the start of your turn, you may take a monster from any trash pile and substitute it with it, paying no cost'. It sounds good, until you realize that protecting it for a turn was harder then just playing these monsters normally. 

“Why do I even have this in my deck?” she lamented, while Twilight did her victory dance “I'll get you next time, Sparkle!”